Duck and Yellow shoved at each other playfully in the front yard while Red watched from the sidewalk. It was another nice day. Just like almost every other day. The world was still empty, and he was still tired. Things were nice though, Red supposed. He wouldn't really have it any other way. It wasn't like he had anything to complain about. Yes, he was just being pathetic, that was all. Red refocused his eyes on his brothers after realizing that he was zoning out.

Duck shoved Yellow to the ground and prepared to body slam him (or at least the 10 year old child equivalent) but Yellow rolled out of the way and kicked him away, with perhaps a bit more force than needed, as Duck practically flew 5 feet across the ground. That didn't deter him however, and he sprung up to once again charge an attack. He knew he'd never win a play fight against Yellow, what with his freakish strength. That didn't mean he was going to give up easily though. He slid under Yellow's pathetic karate chop and swept the leg, as they say in the business. Yellow fell forwards and face planted directly onto the pavement of the empty road, and didn't get up.

"Ha! I DID IT! I won!" Duck hopped up and down for a good 10 seconds before realizing Yellow was probably hurt. "Oh- oh crud are you okay?!"

Yellow peeled his face off the cement and turned towards his brother. "Uh huh, I'm fine!" he spluttered, blood spraying out of his mouth. Duck spotted a tooth on the road and picked it up, waving it in front of Yellow's face. "This doesn't look very fine."

"Aw, it's okay! I'll get better, it was just a baby tooth."

"That's not the problem though, you're literally spitting blood all over me every time you talk. Now shut up and let's go get dad."

Red watched as the other two retreated to the house. He pulled his legs to his chest and zoned out again. The teen didn't want to go inside, not yet. There was still some time to contemplate his meaningless and worthless existence (not that he'd tell anyone that.)

...

It didn't take TOO terribly long for Red to finally return to the warm embrace of indoors, and he aimlessly wandered towards the general direction of his bedroom. Everything felt especially fuzzy today, as when he set his hand on the doorknob, he felt very... outside his body. The cold metal barely registered with him as it froze his skin.

Red was greeted with a strange sight. Yellow sat on his bed, twiddling his fingers with an anxious expression on his face, one that Red thought he was a bit too young to have. Duck on the other hand, looked completely empty, as he was curled up in a ball, lying on his side. Red immediately felt more awake as he sat next to him and moved to rest a hand on his shoulder. Much to his own chagrin, Duck flinched away for a second before realizing it was his brother and leaning into him.

Red looked across the room to Yellow and asked, "Could you leave for a little bit? I want to talk to him."

The little boy nodded and hopped off his bed before exiting.

Pausing for a moment, Red let the possibilities run through his head, and he didn't like any of them. He hesitated before slowly patting his little brother on the head.

"Something bad happened, didn't it?"

Duck nodded and pulled away.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The little boy sucked in a deep breath. "He was really mad that I hurt Yellow."

"It was just an accident."

Duck shrugged. "He told him to leave so he could talk to me in private and..." Duck raised a shaky fist, as if trying to act out some sort of motion, but he couldn't go through with it. "I don't wanna say it. He might hear me. He might hear me." His eyes suddenly widened and a shiver rushed down his spine.

Red resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It's not that he didn't care, he just thought that last notion was a little ridiculous. "Here, you can whisper it to me."

Duck looked up with exhaustion and terror in his eyes before leaning in close and whispering in Red's ear.

"What the fuck?! He does NOT get to treat you like that, I'm talking to him RIGHT NOW."

Duck sprang out of his seat as Red stomped towards the door, pulling on his arm. "No NO! You can't do that please! He'll just hurt you!"

Red felt a pang in his heart at the sight of his brother's horrified expression.

"It's fine, I'm almost 16, I can take care of myself. I think I can handle ONE old guy." Duck loosened his grip on Red's arm slightly. "Look, I need you to stay with Yellow. Everything's going to be alright."

Truthfully, Red wasn't sure if he was doing quite the right thing, but it wasn't like he was just going to LET this happen. Not without consequences. As he walked out the door, past Yellow, a thought struck him that this might have happened before. Before they'd arrived here.

No, surely he wouldn't? He probably just did this because he thought less of Red and Duck, he probably thought they didn't count. Yes, that was the perfectly fine logic Red used as an excuse to not worry about his other brother.

...

Red slammed open the door to one of the many, MANY rooms in this nightmare of a house and found himself face to face with that slimy, bastard of a man. Roy looked mildly expectant, but he could never really discern ANY emotion from that freakish, empty face.

Red started his speech right off the bat, knowing Roy likely wasn't going to say anything anyways.

"I know exactly what you did to my brother, and I want you to know that you AREN'T getting away with this. You can't treat us like that without consequences, so let me get something straight." He walked closer to Roy. "If I catch you doing that to ANY of us ever again, you'll regret it," he finished, jabbing his finger in Roy's face.

The man waited for a moment, still breathing as heavily as always, before asking, "Is that a threat?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll just have to see."

Roy grabbed Red by the neck and slammed him against the wall, almost hard enough to crack the brick. He crushed down on the boy's windpipe as Red desperately clawed at his hands. He remained expressionless as he began his own monologue.

"You don't make the threats around here. I do. I wouldn't keep going down this path of yours. It won't end well for anyone involved."

He waited for a few more seconds before dropping Red to the ground and kicking him to the side. The teen gasped and coughed violently, grasping at his throat. He clasped his hands close to himself and turned to glare at Roy, tears threatening to spill out of his strained eyes. The tall, spindly man casually exited the room as Red continued to take shuddering gasps for air.

...

Months of quiet followed. Well, not exactly quiet, but nothing as bad as the initial incident. Yellow seemed blissfully unaware as the other two tried their best to continue on as "normal." Duck didn't hold anything against Yellow, After all, it wasn't his fault his dad was such horrid, awful garbage. Red found it a bit more difficult to not blame him, having been burned like this before, but he tried to keep it at just snapping at him on occasion.

Yellow wandered down the hall, humming a tune to himself that he heard on television. His ears pricked up at the sound of his dad and Red talking. The small child tiptoed his way to the edge of the door and eavesdropped. Sure, it wasn't the best way of learning things, but no one ever told him anything anyways. He was tired of feeling stupid.

Red painstakingly filled out his schoolwork as his head buzzed from lack of sleep.

"You're going too slowly."

"I know."

"Finish it faster."

"I can't."

Roy slammed Red's head on the table. "Finish it faster," he repeated in the same monotone voice.

Red groaned in frustration and shoved the man away, scribbling furiously on the page.

"You know, you're lucky to even be here. Most kids your age have to ACTUALLY go to school."

"I don't feel very lucky," Red muttered under his breath, grimacing.

Roy leaned on the table and looked at him with just the slightest hint of anger. "Remember what I said."

Yellow pulled away from the room.

"Great. It's happening again," he grumbled to himself. "Do I have to fix everything around here?"