"Come out your cave, evil dragon! I have come to slay you and save the beaut'ful princess!"

"RAWR! You can not pass, 'cause I breath fire, roar!"

There was a lot of things TJ could've been doing on a Saturday afternoon. Sleeping. Walking dogs at the animal shelter, maybe. Eating. Hell, a good run sounded nice right about now; it's been a while since he went on a run. But he was a person who kept his promises, from going to Menlo's birthday party every year, to the promise he made to babysit his cousins.

"Don't worry, Princess TJ, I'll save you!" One of the girls, Sarah shouted. She, like the other 2 girls in the group, wore princess costumes, along with cardboard armor decorated with markers.

"ROAR! You and what army?!" Louis, one of the boys, said. He stood with two more boys, and all three of them wore cardboard costumes with drawings on them to resemble a fierce, fire breathing dragon. Or so they said.

"Me and THIS army!" As she raised her sword, three more girls jumped out of the bushes, ready for war. "We are the legion of super pretty and pow'ful princesses! He fight for love and justice! And in the name of the kingdom, the father, the son, and the holy spirit-"

"WE'LL PUNISH YOU!"

In hindsight, letting them watch Sailor Moon was a fantastic idea.

While the kids around him played with their cardboard swords and shields TJ pulled out his phone, making sure not to hit his cousin Davie when he moved. Out of the seven, he was easily the quietest, and was glued to his side as soon as TJ stepped out of his bedroom. Granted, they all were usually hovering around him when the family was together, but Davie was the most attached today.

For as rowdy and excitable as the kids could be, they at least gave him an excuse to each a bunch of junk today.

ZZ

Even at twelve, TJ knew there wasn't much he could've said to convince his parents that he didn't need to see a therapist. And he racked his head something. Anything. It's not like he didn't have experience in convincing adults of his perspective, but this time, he had nothing.

By the following weekend, he was sitting in a psychologists office, and it looked every bit of the stereotype, complete with a large window and one of those weird couches.

The therapist, Dr. Hardy, asked him a few seemingly harmless questions at first. His name, his age, what grade he was in. Nothing TJ gave much thought about. But he did notice the doctor writing things down each time he answered.

"Why do you think you're here, TJ?"

". . ." TJ didn't answer that one right away. He was the therapist. His parents must've talked to him before about why he was brought here. What was the point in asking him? "My parents already told you why I'm here."

"But I'm asking you," said Dr. Hardy. "I want to hear why you think you're here."

"It doesn't matter why I think I'm here. My parents told you why. I'm not answering a question you already know the answer to."

ZZ

"I'm hungry. . ." Davie whispered.

There was a chorus of 'me toos' following his statement.

"Okay, okay. You're all hungry. I am, too. It's about time for lunch, anyways," TJ said. "I'll toss a couple pizzas in the oven, hows pizza?"

There was a second chorus of excited 'PIZZA'. He left them to continue playing in the backyard as he went inside, with Davie holding onto his hand tightly, of course.

By some miracle, he has yet to have see the others poking their noses around his house. Maybe they took his request to be left alone seriously for once. Or they had a life. Please let them have a life, one that keeps them away from him and out of his business.

"You sure you don't want to play with your sisters and cousins?" TJ asked Davie. The 4 year old shook his head. His aunt had said Davie has been very quiet since his older brother went off to college. "Okay. But that means you have to help me with the pizza."

He was starting to feel old. It was barely noon and these kids were running him ragged. With the pizzas in the oven, he stayed at the kitchen table, watching the kids through the screen door. They'll be fine and the backyard was fenced. They were gonna be running around twice as fast after lunch. . .he could take them to the park. He definitely needed to start running again.

ZZ

"The thing with any mental illness if that there is a threshold that had be met in order to make a diagnosis."

At the end of every session, Dr. Hardy always wanted to talk to his parents alone. While he didn't like being talked about like he was a problem to be solved, it gave him time to walk around the halls and get a good look of the city out of the buildings windows. Besides, any protest at that point would just give them more to talk about.

"Considering the reason you brought your son to me, I had thought that Major Depressive Disorder would be a suspect, but your son simply doesn't meet the full diagnostic criteria for it. He may have a bit of minor, temporary depression, it's nothing that a doctor would be rushing to prescribe him something for."

They rarely came to the city, especially this part. They probably would have if their mother kept her promise about taking them to shabbat more often. Ah well. TJ liked his weekends just the way they were. Until recently that is. He'll be coming down here in a few months for his bar mitzvah anyways. He stopped walking when he caught sight of that huge comic book store he went to back in forth grade. Comicopolus, was it? It's been a long time since he stepped inside.

"There is however this disorder, called schizoid personality disorder, that I feel fits your son much more closely. This is marked with lack of interest in social relationships, detachment, apathy, and emotional coldness towards others. The problem with making this diagnosis and any case is that it's difficult to discern from someone who is simply extremely introverted. But you told me that your son was extremely social until a few years ago, which had me thinking of it."

Then again it didn't take long after elementary school for him to lose interest in comics all together. His old ones were packed away in an old toy chest in his room, untouched for the last two years now. Still, he hadn't found a hobby to replace it.

Just as he was about to keep walking, his foot nudge something small. Looking down, he found it was the office cat. One of the people working here told him her name was Millie, and she tended to follow him around when he ran into her. He crouched to down to give her a scratch behind her ears.

"I'm going to send the file I made up of you soon to a psychiatrist. They'll be able to determine if any medication is needed. I understand if the two of you would like to have a second, or even third opinion on what I've told you, so if that's something you all want to be done, we'll be happy to give you a list of child psychologists nearby."

Like always, Millie followed him back to the seats outside of Dr. Hardy's office. She made herself comfortable over his lap, happily accepting the pets he was giving. At least someone here wasn't asking him a million useless questions.

When his parents finally came out, his mother was the one to give him a look. She always looked worried when they walked out of Dr. Hardy's office, but this was different. He sat Millie aside and followed his parents out the buildings. Passing Dr. Hardy's office, TJ gave him a look that could kill.

ZZ

TJ?"

"Hmm? What is it, Davie?"

While the kids were running around on the playground, TJ was taking a break on a nearby bench, keeping an eye on them.

"I miss my big brother," Davie said. "He's really far away. We rode for a long time to take him to where he is now. I miss him. He's my buddy."

If that wasn't the sweetest thing, TJ didn't know what is.

"Do you think he misses me?" Davie asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure he does," TJ said. "You should ask your mom to call him for you. Maybe you two could talk on the phone once a week."

"That sounds nice. . ."

"It's okay, Davie. Everyone misses their buddy when they go away. But your brother will come back, okay? Besides, you still have your sisters and cousins to play with until then."

"I know. . .but they're both girlies. Me and my brothers were the boys," Davie pouted. "Can you be my buddy?"

"Of course I'll be your buddy."

Davie nodded and leaned against him. Poor little guy. While the others were playing without a care in the world, he was missing his big brother. TJ couldn't exactly relate; he and Becky weren't particularly close, though that unspoken contract of 'if you mess with them I'll fuck you up' between siblings was still there. But he could imagine being four and seeing you big brother go far away for a long time would make a little kid sad.

"Can you play monster with us?" Two of his cousins came over carrying a few of the drawn on boxes they brought to the park.

"How do you play?"

"You gotta chase us around and trap us in the dome and if one of us taps someone you caught they can get out!" One of them said. "Do you want to play?"

"Sure," he said, taking the boxes. "I'll give you a minute to hide, but be ready to run, okay?"

"Okay!"

They ran back to the playground to tell the others.

"Are you gonna play with us, Davie?" He asked. Davie nodded and climbed off the bench. "You might want to go join them, then, so I don't catch you."

Davie nodded again before running onto the playground. Hopefully he'll be able to wear them out so they'll be ready for a nap when they get back home.