A/N: I've been feeling motivated to work on this story and get it done so here's the next chapter.
Please enjoy!
The silence was slowly killing him.
The other three males in the house were never home during the day. They all were out dawn to dusk doing Mike didn't know what; his best guess was that Noah let Scott and Vito loose in town while he attended to other things.
There was always a list of things for Mike to do that kept him inside and out of the festival happening a mere fifteen minute walk away. He wouldn't go out even if he didn't have a million chores to do, as he had a single set of clothing whose whereabouts he was only certain of because they were consistently on his body. Noah had hidden his other clothing away.
The loneliness he felt every day when he was left locked inside caused him to try and combat the eerie silence of the unfamiliar house. He hummed while he swept the floor that was free of any dirt, found a bookshelf and read aloud some of the volumes there... sometimes he'd simply have conversations with himself and think out loud.
I'm finally going off the deep end he muttered in thought at one point.
The day of the great party arrived, about three days after they'd come to the capital, and for once there was activity. Noah was getting Scott and Vito prepared to possibly meet the princesses while Mike dusted things off and eventually was forced to help them dress since they couldn't do it themselves.
"How hot do you think the ladies will be at this dance thing?" Scott asked his brother as he was handed his waistcoat by Mike, who was met with a silent sneer.
"Ey, they're gonna be done up real nice, bro," Vito replied as he slipped on his nice overcoat. "Lookin real hot."
Scott grinned mischievously. "Bet I get one first." He looked at Mike and frowned. "Hurry up!"
"Sorry, sir…" Mike apologized quietly as he buttoned the waistcoat up for Scott and then handed him his coat.
"Ey Mike, hand me my hair stuff," Vito said. He was looking in a mirror.
Mike nodded and started to head to the dresser where it was being kept.
"What's with you being so nice to the servant?" Scott asked Vito with a suspicious look.
Vito shrugged as Mike grabbed the product and brought it over, placing it in his hand. Vito started using the stuff on his hair to slick it back.
Scott narrowed his eyes as he ran a hand through his own orange and spiky hair. "Can I get some of that stuff?" he asked Vito.
"Chill. When I used it enough I'll give you some," Vito replied.
Scott waited a second and then swiped it from Vito. "Ey!" Vito protested. "Not cool, yo! Give that back!"
"Come get it!" Scott ran out of the room and Vito quickly followed. This left Mike alone in the room.
The room was the shared bedroom of Scott and Vito. An idea struck him. Glancing at the door to make sure his two stepbrothers were out of sight, Mike walked to the chest of drawers he knew contained some of their clothing. Vito's clothes were more likely to fit him than Scott's, so he looked for some of those. Anything that was nice. It took a little while but he found a shirt and a pair of pants eventually. He found an old overcoat of Scott's that had been brought for some reason and grabbed that as well. Hurriedly he took the items to his room, down the hall. It was a somewhat spacious closet that he'd cleared out days earlier. He stashed the clothes there and rushed back to the other room before Scott and Vito could return and find him absent.
Soon enough it was time to depart. Mike had to quickly change into his clothes and hope his stepfamily didn't notice the borrowed items. He'd never seen the other two wear these items, after all. He doubted Noah had either.
Unfortunately he was incorrect. Scott, Noah and Vito-mostly Noah and Scott-were aghast to see Mike stepping out of the house behind them in clothing that not only wasn't ripped, but looked nice and didn't belong to him. "I finished all my chores and I found something to wear," he said when Noah questioned him.
Scott shoved him backwards so Mike fell to the steps below, wincing. "I can't believe you even had the nerve to steal from us!" Scott sneered at him, grabbing his jacket by the sleeve and trying to take it off Mike. This only caused the sleeve to rip. "You look hideous."
Seeing this apparently gave Noah an idea. He walked over and pretended to help Mike up-by pulling on his shirt collar, causing that to rip as well. "Such awful clothing construction," he remarked despite having bought the clothing himself. "I thought you had friends in the costume industry. That's what this is, servant-a costume." He tore apart the fabric further until it would be useless to wear, and let Mike fall back onto the stairs. "Let's go," he said to his two sons. He walked off towards the carriage and Scott and Vito followed. Scott put one more tear in the jacket.
Mike teared up as he watched them leave. He was in pain and his clothes were ripped and worthless and he didn't know what to do. He shakily stood up and closed the door. He sniffled and turned around. There was a mirror not to far from the front and he looked at himself. He looked sad, worn out. His hair was long and dirty and his face was bruised and scarred, as were his arms. His posture was horrific.
He slid the jacket off and threw it onto a chair. He then took the shirt off and did the same with that-the pants he wore were still intact. He slumped into a different chair, shirtless, and placed his hand over his face, feeling the water from his eyes starting to escape. He didn't know what to do at this point. He just didn't know.
Please review of you feel so moved. See ya next time :)