This is a one shot suggestion from FrankElza set just after Brax was sent to prison. With Casey struggling and feeling lost without Brax, and Heath going out on benders, it's left to Kyle to be the sensible and strong one to look after his brothers. He's now basically the owner of Angelo's with Brax gone and also looking after the gym to make sure it doesn't go under. All the stress gets too much for Kyle and he becomes overwhelmed with the added pressure on him and he has a breakdown, leading to a realisation for Heath that he needs to start stepping up and being the big brother to Kyle and Casey, making sure they know he won't ever fill Brax's shoes.
Ever since Brax had been arrested, things had been going bad with the brothers he left behind. Casey had been struggling really bad not having his big brother around, he felt lost and didn't know what to do with himself. Heath had been going out on benders every night, coming home so drunk he wouldn't have any memory of what happened the night before when he woke up the next morning.
And then there was Kyle. He felt like he had to be the strong one now and take care of the family before it fell apart even more. He was trying to look after his brother's lives as well as now being the owner of Angelo's in Brax's absence. He was finding it hard with all his new responsibilities that he was starting to neglect his own life and lose control of things he should be focusing on.
"Kayla, can you keep an eye on things for me. I just need to go and check on the gym." Kyle says to one of his employees, who he was actually considering making a manager if he really became stuck trying to juggle all of his responsibilities.
"Sure, you go." Kayla nods as Kyle then walks out.
As he walked down the stairs towards the gym, he noticed a small crowd of people standing outside of the gym, all looking fed up. Kyle and barely reached the bottom of the stairs when John stormed over to him, having a go at him over the gym not being opened up yet. Once he was able to get away, he apologised to everyone before opening the gym up, wondering where his brothers were. He called Casey first, it ringing out a few times before going to voicemail, so then he tried Heath, which also went to voicemail.
"Where's your managers?" One of the regulars asks.
"I'm not sure, I'm trying to get hold of them now." Kyle says, noticing he was also missing most of the staff, so calls the only trainer that turned up over. "Where's everyone else? There should be four trainers on shift."
"They quit." Will replies.
"What, when?" Kyle frowns.
"A couple days ago. This has been happening everyday, but no one ever turns up to open. I don't have a key to open so have been stuck as well. Where's Heath and Casey?" Will asks.
"That's what I'd like to know." Kyle sighs. "Thanks for staying here instead of quitting as well. If you could help me with this place, there will be a good bonus in it for you."
"I'll stay as long as you get more staff, and because I need this job. I'm not working all of this by myself if nothing changes." Will says before going to help the clients that need it.
"Great." Kyle mutters to himself, no idea how he was going to get more trainers when he had Angelo's to run as well.
He tried calling his brothers again, still having no luck. He thought about calling Bianca to see if she knew where Heath was, but he also knew they weren't in the best of places right now and he didn't want to make things worse. He knew he had to do the gym books while he was there, but made sure to prioritise finding trainers first. He quickly wrote up an ad before posting it online, printing a few off to put up around town in the hopes it would reach people faster.
Once he had printed the jobs ad out, Kyle let Will know about it before working on a few things around the gym. It took him a little longer doing the books as they hadn't been done for a lot longer than he was led to believe. Once he'd finished them, he went out to help Will, even though he had no idea what he was meant to be doing. Luckily for him, Casey turned up a while later, not happy Kyle was there.
"Don't you have a job to be at? Brax trusted you to look after Angelo's while he's in prison and you can't even be bothered working there." Casey spits as he storms into the office, Kyle following him inside.
"I've been at Angelo's all morning, actually. I came down to check how things were going here and the place hadn't even been opened! From what I can gather, no one has actually opened the gym up in days, let alone told staff you weren't going to bother turning up. You know you're only down to one trainer now because all the others quit?" Kyle says, Casey not even looking bothered about it. "I've put out an ad for more trainers, I've also printed some out to put around town. There's no need to thank me, it's not like I haven't got loads of other things to worry about trying to keep Angelo's running as well."
"You don't think I haven't got worries either with this place?" Casey scoffs.
"No I don't, not when you can't even be bothered opening the place up. Brax bought the gym for you and Heath, and this is how you repay him? By abandoning the place, not paying bills or even informing staff and clients that your hours are changing?" Kyle frowns. "I think if anyone needs to be at their job, it's you."
"You know what, you seem to know more about this place than I do, so you can run it. I quit!" Casey shouts, storming out of the office before Kyle could stop him.
"Casey!" Kyle gasps, wondering if he was being serious or not.
"Did I hear right, Casey just quit?" Will asks as he walks to the office door.
"Uh… He's not being serious, he can't be." Kyle mutters.
"I'm not staying her-"
"Please don't quit as well, I need someone here to help me with this place. I promise I'll find more trainers to help out, just give me some time." Kyle pleads.
"How am I meant to run all of this when it's open long hours everyday?" Will asks.
"I'll work something out. I've got posters here to put up around town, I'll get them out right away if you can run this place by yourself for half an hour?" Kyle asks.
"Fine." Will reluctantly replies. "But if you can't find anyone, then I'm sorry but I'm out."
"How long are you giving me?" Kyle asks, at a loss of what to do if he couldn't find anyone quick enough.
"I'll give you till the weekend." Will says, grabbing some clean towels from the side before walking back to the client he was helping.
"This just gets better and better." Kyle mutters, hoping he'd be able to find people in time.
"Okay, and when can you start? Immediately? No, that's great. I'll email you more details this afternoon." Kyle says down the phone before hanging up, walking out of the gym office. "Will, have you got a minute?"
"Sure, what is it?" Will asks as he walks over to him.
"I've got three personal trainers that are able to start immediately. If I shut this place up over the weekend, could you show them the ropes and give them any extra training that they may need?" Kyle asks.
"I haven't had a day off this week." Will frowns.
"Uh…" Kyle mutters. "I can shut up on Friday as well, give you that day off? And I'll also give you extra pay on the weekend as a thank you."
"Fine. But I want extra days off as soon as these newbies are settled in." Will says.
"Deal." Kyle nods. "I know things are a bit hectic right now but it won't be like this for long."
"It better not be. I'm not carrying on in this job if it's like this any longer." Will says.
With things not feeling right at home anymore with Brax gone, all Casey did was go surfing or into Yabbie Creek to get drunk, whichever he felt more drawn to on the day. Today he felt like a surf and sat out to sea on his board. He was originally going to stay home and watch TV, but Heath and Bianca were home and he didn't feel like listening to them argue again.
He couldn't even go to the gym to occupy his time, not that he wanted to. Brax had made him a co-owner along with Heath and he felt guilty for quitting, he just didn't want to deal with that anymore, not when everything else had changed. On his breaks, he wasn't going to see Brax behind the bar or even seeing him pop into the gym to see them. He was struggling with that.
By the time he'd finished his surf up, heading up to Angelo's where he hoped to have a beer while he decided what he was going to occupy himself with next. As he was about to head up to Angelo's, he remembered that Kyle would be there, and wondered if he could be bothered listening to whatever he had to lecture him about today, but he wanted a beer more. Although he didn't quite make it up to Angelo's before being stopped by him.
"Hey Casey, wait up!" Kyle calls over to him, catching up to him moments later.
"What do you want?" Casey asks as he turns to face him.
"I just wanted to ask if you were being serious about quitting your job. It's really busy at the gym and we could use your skills to help the new trainers I hired." Kyle says.
"New trainers? Sounds like you're doing just fine without me. I quit for a reason and I don't need you on my back trying to get me to come back. Now back off!" Casey hisses before heading up to Angelo's.
He couldn't understand why Kyle was so desperate for him to go back to work when he'd made it clear enough he had quit. Heath wasn't happy when he found out, not that he was that interested either which made Kyle even angrier. It's like he was trying to take over from Brax, trying to get control of their lives to keep the gym running, but Casey wasn't going to let that happen. No one would replace Brax.
"When are you going back to work?" Bianca asks.
"I dunno." Heath shrugs.
"I heard Casey quit, and a couple other trainers, so who's running the place?"
"Geez, Bianca, I don't know!" Heath shouts.
"There's no need to talk to me like that, I was just asking a question." Bianca scowls.
"No, you're going on like a broken record! Last I heard Kylie was running the place, so I'm not needed there!" Heath argues.
"Are you seriously going to let him run the gym and Angelo's as if he doesn't have anything going on either?"
"Like he's got anything going on." Heath scoffs. "Maybe he should man up and stop complaining about it. Brax could've sold the place instead of letting him be in charge of it."
"You should all be sticking together right now, not falling apart like this. What would Brax think if he knew this family was falling apart?"
"Well how would I know? He's in prison and doesn't even want to see us anymore." Heath says before attempting to walk about, but Bianca stopped him before he could.
"Just talk to me, I am your wife!" Bianca sighs.
"And what do you want me to say, Bianca?" Heath groans. "Haven't we already been over everything already?"
"No, there's some stuff I just want to know."
"Like what?"
"Why are you letting this family fall apart just because Brax is in prison?" Bianca says. "I get that things are really tough now he isn't around, but imagine how hurt he would be if he knew this was happening to you all. Brax was a man who adored his family, he only ever wanted the best for you guys, and this is how you repay him? By going out every night getting drunk, not turning up to work at all, leaving everything for Kyle to deal with like he isn't going through this as well? Things need to change."
"Where's all this coming from?" Heath asks. "Have you been speaking to him?"
"No, I haven't." Bianca shakes her head, taking a deep breath. "I know we've been going through some tough things lately, but I love you, Heath. As much as I hate getting into arguments with you, it proves to me how much I love you, and would be crushed if I was to lose you." She says, just wanting to get through to him.