Oh look, a chapter that doesn't revolve around HuttMol or characters going on dates, incredible. Wehey I can write platonic outside the Cooper siblings!

...

Mike leaned back in his chair, the words in his revision guide swimming in front of him as he struggled to make head or tail of what he was reading. Maybe he'd been at it too long, because sitting inside was making him irritable and nothing was going in. He wondered if he could allow himself a five-minute break, but his mock exams were only a week away and he was already stressing over everything.

Still, it could be worse. Last year he'd barely scraped through his exams, preferring to procrastinate and wallow in anxiety than do anything. It was just another reason to be unhappy. He'd not had any real friends, just a handful of acquaintances he could never be himself around, who only saw him as the cool, suave new student from the US who was perfectly bad and didn't care for the rules. Truth was he was just unfocused, and trying to settle into a new country.

Now he had Oscar and Sal, both of whom were determined to at least scrape through with passes, and it was safe to say those two were keeping an eye on him. He had no idea why though. Friendship? Seemed so. But even Sal, who could be an airhead as times, was balancing work and study fine and making sure the others were doing the same thing.

The only times the three of them met up outside of school was for revision sessions, and all three had told Charlie they'd have to skip a few meetings, at least until the mock exams were over. It was fun when they studied together, and to his surprise they all knuckled down and focused those times, and he learnt a lot! He preferred pictures and videos to learn, rather than reading, and apparently his friends quizzing and teaching each other was effective too. Not that they didn't have a laugh during those times too.

Mike threw the book down on his desk with a groan. Yeah, he really needed a break before his head melted.

Taking out his phone, Mike supposed he could afford five minutes of puppy videos, so long as he didn't keep watching for the rest of the evening. One or two wouldn't harm anyone.

"Aren't you supposed to be studying, little dude?" Alfred barged in, not really paying attention to his brother's startled scream. "Always on your phone huh?"

"Oh come on!" Mike considered throwing his phone against the wall, "dick and cheese man I just picked it up!"

"Right," the smile Alfred threw him just infuriated Mike further.

"Fuck off it's true!"

"Whatever you say," Alfred raised his hands as he made his way over to the bed, not actually starting whatever conversation Mike suspected he was working up to, instead glancing around at everything on the shelf above Mike's headboard. Yeah, it was messy, he knew, from his old Thomas the Tank Engine toys to a novelty cactus to gardening books to the remains of a homemade rocket that met an ill-fated end at the park. Who even had time to tidy and take care of anything with GCSEs on the brain? He'd not picked up a piece of underwear in weeks, and everyone gave his room a wide berth now.

Good thing Oscar was too busy to pop round all the time, or he'd have to be ashamed of his mess.

"Whaddya want?" he growled as Alfred picked up his teddy bear and poked its one remaining eye.

"Well, look, bro, me and Mattie been talkin', and…"

"You're disappointed in me for something?" Mike rolled his eyes, "whatever happened it wasn't my fault."

"What? Nah." Alfred fell silent, setting the teddy down, "but, I get why you would say that."

"You do?" Mike raised an eyebrow.

"I've been harsh on you, I know."

Well, he never thought he'd hear his brother admit to that. Not when they were kids and Al wasn't harsh on anything- in fact, he was the more reckless sibling- and not now when he thought he was being a good parent. It was what their parents did, he supposed, control everything they did. Probably why a lot of the brothers' childhood was spent sneaking about, lying, covering their tracks every time they did something even a little out of line in regards to their many rules.

And there he was thinking things would be better now he didn't have to live with them, but Alfred just replaced their parents in that sense.

No wonder he was getting stomach aches. It wouldn't surprise him if the stress dissolved his own insides and turned his rockin hair grey and thin.

"Yeah, just a bit," he grumbled, harsher than he meant to be. "Look, I know you and Mattie are the oldest in the house now, and you want to look after me and all, but you're making Matt look like the fun brother! That's how bad things are. You're a stick in the mud compared to Mattie, let that sink in!"

"I know," Alfred sighed, "Matt and I were talking a while back, and he told me to calm my tits on the whole thing. You're not a bad kid."

"Good to know," Mike grunted.

"I've been doing this for a reason though, I swear!" Alfred's bottom lip wobbled, "I'm not just being a dick."

"You've been a dick though," commented Mike.

Alfred blanched. "I figured. But the thing is, if mom heard you were failing here, she might try and take you away from us."

"How would she find out?" asked Mike. He could see why Alfred was paranoid though.

"I don't know. I'm an idiot and she tends to weasel information out of me. I'd never forgive myself if you had to live with her again."

"I guess, you always were the weak link with mom," Mike swivelled round in his chair, finally turning to face his brother. "I don't wanna live with her either."

Alfred nodded. "It was bad enough last yeah because you were clearly going through shit and being with her wouldn't do you any favours, but now? You'd have to leave your friends behind and that young man you told me about."

Mike blushed. He was right though, moving back to the US would tear him away from everyone, and if he and Oscar tried to date long distance, she would soon find out and…

"She's such a bigot you'd be unhappy there," Alfred added.

Mike's eyebrows shot up and he exhaled sharply. "Fucking hell," he sighed, "I know I've said this before, but don't ever let her take me back. Please."

"I won't, I promise."

A silence settled between the two, and Mike wondered if the conversation was done. But no, there was something else Alfred needed to get off his chest, apparently.

"Have you told your mates she's coming over for Christmas?" he asked.

Mike blanched. His conversation with Oscar during their first date came to mind once more, and how he'd simply been unable to stare him in the eye tell him the truth. Not when he looked like that. Terrified. Gutted.

"I still have time to tell them," he reasoned. But fuck he wasn't looking forward to that particular conversation.

"Two weeks," Alfred warned, "look, I promise to back off on everything and give you some space, but here I have to nag, because if she gets even a little suspicious, you're gonna be with her on that plane back to America and me and Mattie won't be able to save you."

...

Fucking family and shit ain't that beautiful? I feel warm inside, but I am trying to sweat out a cold.

Dick and cheese is actually what I yelled today when it started raining horribly while I was outside. My mum was horrified.

Okay, just to clear some things up: you take GCSEs in year 11 [and some in year 10] in your last year of high school at 15/16. Mock GCSEs are the practice exams, to give a flavour of exam conditions and help work out your predicted grades.

I want to say the next update will be just as frequent, but I'm not looking forward to writing it. It needs a lot of sensitivity, tact, concentration and work and I'm really reluctant to start it.