Theo was frozen in his spot. He was not scared of Brett, in fact, even though Brett was taller, Theo felt like he could take him if it came to that. The problem was't that Brett was in the doorway. The problem was that his brother was in the doorway. Theo had always thought that he was an only child. The closest thing he had to a brother was Jordan, and Theo liked it that way. Now here he stood, his half-brother, right in front of him. Theo expected some kind of conflict. Take Brett's notorious asshole behavior out of the equation. Here Theo was, the bastard son, coming in after all of these years. Any normal person would feel threatened and conflicted, and he suspected Brett would feel that way too.

The tension in the room lightened a bit when Lori finally spoke up. "Brett, you are going to freak him out." She walked up to Theo and put her hand out, "I am Lori, I am your younger sister. Well, half-sister, I guess, but that is just a minor detail." She smiled warmly as Theo shook her hand. In a strange sense, she reminded him of Mrs. Talbot, if Mrs. Talbot actually had a soul. "Don't mind Brett, he's just an asshole," she laughed.

"I don't think I could really judge either of you right now," Theo confessed, feeling a bit more at ease due to Lori's sunny personality. "I understand how weird this must be for you two. I know the rumors going around town, but I am really not trying to destroy your family."

"Then what are you trying to do?" Brett asked. He was blunt, and a bit brash, however, he was also honest. Theo could respect that.

In truth, Theo really did not know how to answer. In his head, Theo had this elaborate fantasy to get revenge on Mr. Talbot for what he had done to Theo and his mother, however, in truth, being in the Talbot home would not accomplish that. The only way to get anything out of Mr. Talbot would be in the courts. "To get to know him, my father, that is. To get to know you two. I spent my whole life thinking I was an only child." Perhaps Theo had even answered his own questions with his response. He wanted to get to know this family, to see if he really wanted to drag their family through a court case.

Brett's expression softened. Secretly, Theo wandered what exactly Brett had originally thought Theo was here for, but he decided not to ask. If he had won Brett over, he did not want to push it. "I guess it is nice to have a brother, even if it is one that is friends with Dumbar," Brett said with a small laugh.

Theo smiled a bit, trying not to take this light banter seriously. However, he would stop things if they ever got to far, after all, Theo was Liam's... boyfriend? Friend with benefits? The details were not exactly important, but either way, Theo was loyal. "What is your obsession with Liam anyways?

"I am not obsessed with Dunbar, I am obsessed with winning, and Liam just gets in the way of that. It is friendly competition, but you know, the heat of the moment can make it no so friendly at times. The kid's a hothead," Brett said with another laugh. Theo to laugh a bit too, Liam's temper was notorious, even if Theo found it cute at times. "Besides," Brett continued, "I am sure in whatever sport or club you're in, you have that one opponent."

"I actually do not play any sports or do any clubs like that, I just go to school and work," Theo explained. He had considered himself athletic, and enjoyed playing sports for fun, but the high school sports scene was not really his thing. He did not have the stomach for all of the brutal competitiveness.

"Oh, well, you won't last a day here then. Dad expects his kids to excel, if your grades aren't perfect, then you better be doing some extracurricular. I am captain of the lacrosse team and member of the honor society. Lori is one of the best tennis players in the country, and captain of the mathletes. He will expect something from you," Brett explained. Theo really did not think Mr. Talbot would care at all what Theo was doing, seeing as Theo was his bastard son, but Brett's tone seemed firm.

"Thank you for your advice, but I do not expect him to care about anything that I do," Theo replied, before he heard them all three be called down to the dining room for dinner.


Theo followed his siblings down to the elaborate dinning room, filled with expensive dishes and silverware. The center of the room featured a large dark wood table, with intricately carved chairs. "Sit next to me," Brett whispered, much to Theo's confusion. However, when Mr. Talbot walked into the dining room, the rest of the table robotically moved to their seats. Mr. Talbot sat at the head of the table, with his wife on his right, and Brett to his left. Lori sat down next to Mrs. Talbot, so Theo sat down next to Brett, across from Lori.

The table was silent, almost so much that it was loud. Erica slowly walked in, carrying a tray with small bowls. She announced some kind of soup that Theo had never heard of, before serving them each their bowl, starting with Mr. Talbot of course. Erica made almost too much effort not acknowledge Theo, so he decided to play along and not push the issue. The silence broke when Mr. Talbot spoke up, "Brett, Lori, how is school going?"

As if rehearsed, Brett spoke up instantly. "All A's but one C in history. I am trying my best to bring it up, the teacher is not very understanding about the lacrosse schedule." Mr. Talbot did not seem pleased, but Theo could already see that his true focus was sports. "Our game this weekend is with some school I have not even heard of. Should be an easy victory."

"No victory is easy, play as if you are playing against Beacon Hills, and get that C up," Mr. Talbot replied in a cold and stern tone, as if he were some kind of King, and Brett was his subject. "Lori?"

She put down her spoon and placed her hands in her lap. "My doubles partner sprained her ankle, so she will not be able to practice or compete with me. I will have to partner with Sarah instead. In addition, elections for the mathletes are up, and I am running against Matt for re-election as captain." She looked at her father who said nothing, and merely raised his eyebrows. She quickly add, "And all A's."

"At least I have one smart child," He scoffed at Brett who looked down. "Practice twice as much for your tennis match. We can't have Sarah ruin your record." She nodded obediently. Theo sensed a fear in the Talbot children, which shocked him. They both seemed so confident and strong-willed, yet they seemed to fear their own father. "What about you Theo?"

Theo almost did not respond, as he was shocked he was even acknowledged, "Oh, um, I have B's and C's. I also work at the Dunbars' house."

"Yes, I suppose you need to learn how your mother lived, but now that you're my son, you have standards to uphold. You can keep your job, but you must get your grades up, and start gaining some extracurriculars, its bad enough that everyone knows who you are now, but you can at least be a decent son," Theo was was getting angry, and he clenched his fists, but he knew he could not do anything. "You cannot pick and choose when I am your father or not. You want to live here, be my son, be my children's sibling? Then you have to follow my rules." Theo merely said nothing. Mr. Talbot kind of had a point, if Theo wanted to spend time with this family, he would have to follow the rules. At least long enough for him to decide whether or not he actually liked anyone in this family.


Dinner remained quiet and was over eventually. Theo had an exhausting day, and wanted to get some sleep, because he still had school tomorrow. In fact, he had to wake up early the next morning, as he was out of his school district, so he could not take the bus. He needed to wake up in time to catch the city bus to Liam's side of town, and Liam offered to drive him to school, per Mrs. Dunbar's request. Theo knew there was more to her than meets the eye.

Theo was in his room, with a nice, Queen sized bed, all to himself, and, his very own bathroom. If there was a silver lining to all of this, it was that he got to live in a nice mansion during his time with Mr. Talbot. Theo went into the bathroom and took a nice warm shower, before getting out and drying off. He checked his phone and noticed a few messages from Liam, who was just trying to see what Theo was doing. The message chain ended with "I know you are probably overwhelmed with everything, but message me if you need me! Goodnight!"

Theo smiled at Liam's message and texted him back, "Sorry, I could not check my phone at dinner. I will talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight!" He then slipped on his boxers before crawling into his nice comfy bed. He set his alarm on his phone before pulling up the blankets and falling asleep. Theo was sleeping peacefully before he was awoken by some distant sound. It was coming from Brett's room. Someone was crying out it seemed.

Theo got up and walked across the hall to Brett's room, to see what was going on. Part of him just suspected Brett had snuck someone in and they were just doing what teenagers do. However, he could hear Brett call out, "No, please." Theo slowly opened the door and saw Brett alone, in a sweat, stirring in his sleep.

Theo approached the bed, and gently said, "Brett, Brett, wake up, its just a dream." Then, with a huge gasp of air, Brett shot up instantly turning to Theo. "Brett, its me, I know you were having a nightmare, may-"

"Get the hell out!" Brett yelled, bolting out of bed, and pushing Theo right out the door so hard, that Theo fell to the ground. Then, Brett slammed the door so hard, that if the house weren't the size of a palace, it probably would have woken everyone up.

Theo sighed and he sat up, before noticing Lori standing right down the hall. "This is probably my bad. I probably should have warned you about him. He does this, like, every night. He gets really defensive if anyone sees, like some kind of toxic masculinity thing. I don't know, but from now on, just don't bother him."

Theo nodded, and she offered her hand to help him up, which he took. "Don't bother him." He repeated and walked back to his room. The chilling thing about what Theo had just witnessed, was that it was so familiar. The cries for mercy, the immediate anger after being woken up. It was like deja vu. Then, Theo understood why it was so creepy to him, because it was just like what happened with Liam.

A/N: I am back, and with a question. What sport should Theo play? Soccer, Swimming, or Baseball?