Chapter 7; revised! Honestly, you all have stuck with me this long despite how chaotic my story and writing were, especially those who still re-read this story, so you'll know this is for you. Bless, you're all the real MVP's here!
Dinner passed along more swiftly than lunch had, which Greg was thankful. Their mother interrogated them about whether there would be alcohol, how neither of them was allowed to have any. Rodrick rolled his eyes while Greg.
Greg was about to help clear the table, anything to pass the time before the inevitable. Of course, that was too much to ask, considering his mother shooed him away, saying that he needed to get ready to make a good impression. Greg furrowed his eyebrows in his customary 'what the hell' expression. What impression, they already knew each other? Rolling his eyes, Greg headed inside to do just as he was told and get changed. Taking a handful of clothes from his bag, he headed towards the washroom to change. His outfit consisted mostly of a plain long sleeve red shirt followed by a Twisted Wizard hoodie. Pants were baggy dark gray sweatpants with white stripes. All in all, comfort was what he needed the most right now in terms of clothing when he knew for a fact that Rodrick most definitely had a plan up his sleeve to make Greg feel uncomfortable.
Picking his dirty clothes from off the floor, he balled them up as he headed out of the washroom. Going to their parent's room and throwing his dirty clothes in their hamper to be cleaned later before stalking over to where his shoes laid crookedly next to each other, slipping them on and tying them up. He passed by Rodrick on the way, and deciding to be the bigger person; he ignored him. Greg still felt that small brush against the back of his hair as they passed, though.
It didn't take long for Rodrick to get changed before he was walking outside in a pair of black jeans and a Löded Diper hoodie. His older brother didn't bother waiting for him to get off the front porch's stairs before heading out. Greg jumped up, almost tripping over his own two feet in his haste only to get his footing back soon after, jogging up and trying to keep up with Rodrick's longer legs. Curse him. He walked briskly behind his Rodrick, arms stuffed in his hoodie and brooding in the night, mood already sour at all the laughing and noise coming from different houses who also had the bright idea of doing a late-night campfire. Greg dragged his feet behind him, causing the gravel to make a lot more noise than what was necessary.
"Do you want to hold my hand, so you don't get lost, shrimp?" Rodrick had his face turned towards him, walking slightly backward with an arm outstretched, clearly instigating and trying to get on his last nerve. He swatted at his hand, glaring up at him before his pace changed briskly.
Being the one to lead the way now, Rodrick closely behind, laughter bubbling out and doing a horrible job at trying to hide it. Greg huffed indignantly and crossed his arms over his chest, brows furrowed, lips turned downwards with contempt. Rodrick always kept treating him like a child despite him being sixteen. It was an infuriating habit that his older brother kept doing because he knew how much Greg hated it. It was like a tape on repeat, anything that Greg hated; Rodrick would be sure to keep shoving it in his face knowing that Greg wouldn't do anything about it.
Rodrick brought his arm back, hands pocketed in his pants pocket as he strutted next to Greg, a bored expression that stared ahead of him. Greg wondered why Rodrick was even coming; he never wanted to hang out when his friends when they were around, always making excuses to get out of hanging with the children, as he liked to put it. Dusk had started to settle, casting the sky in hues of purple and red. Crickets were already beginning to come out and play. Greg didn't know how he did it, but they somehow ended up at Holly's place if the fact she was waving at them was an indicator.
"I'm so glad you both could make it! Everyone's already in the back, come and meet them. My parents are inside watching a movie, so at least we'll be left alone." Holly smiled at the both of them, her eyes-of course-kept flickering to Rodrick. Greg felt his fists ball up in his pockets, but a small smile remained on his face. He was somewhat better at hiding what he was feeling at least.
"No offense, but I'm scared of your dad, so this works out." His laugh was dismal at best, but Holly didn't seem to care much, giving him a small smile that felt a lot like she was humoring him. Ouch.
"Greg is also a scaredy-cat, so honestly, it's not surprising." Leave it to Rodrick to make him feel even worse than he already felt. It felt like an even more significant blow when Holly just enabled Rodrick and giggled along. Greg's cheek flushed an unattractive red as he punched Rodrick in the arm. It had come out of nowhere, and Greg was expecting Rodrick just to hit him right back. It was a shock when all he got was his hair ruffled as he walked past Greg, trailing behind Holly, who was on her way to show them to the backyard. Greg, with no other options, followed along.
The fire was blazing, Greg noticing the four other people surrounding the flames all wrapped up in blankets and slumped in their camping chairs with sticks holding marshmallows over the fire. Greg stood awkwardly next to Holly; Rodrick glued to his side as she went ahead to introduce everyone to them both.
"This is Greg, a classmate from school. And this is Rodrick, Greg's older brother!" Greg tried not to grimace at how more enthusiastic Holly had been at introducing his older brother. He decided to play along, waving to at least try and make a good impression on people he'd most likely be seeing for a couple of weeks.
"I'll introduce everyone, over there with the long brown hair is Krissi, and she's been my Salt Lake buddy for the last four years." Holy pointed towards Krissi, with her light brown eyes and a tan complexion. Wrapped in a cocoon of the red blanket that hugged her as she waved and smiled.
"And then you have Eric and Jake, they're twins, but I find that the best way to tell them apart is by what they wear. Eric wears bright colours and Jake wears neutral. They like to switch it up together sometimes, of course. They've been coming here since they were little kids." Holly giggled out as both Eric and Jake nodded at them. Both had short black hair styled relatively the same way, with matching honey brown eyes.
"And then Sarah, she's new here like you both, she and Krissi are best friends since elementary school." Sarah waved meekly and averted her eyes from them. Shy and petite, Sarah had medium curly red hair accompanied by greenish-blue eyes, wrapped up in the fluffiest green blanket he had ever seen. It looked very soft.
Introduction aside, Greg didn't waste any time at the prospect of just sitting and hiding in the chair, following along as Holly went to sit down herself, technically rushing to get the middle seat. Greg liked to think it was because Holly wanted to sit next to him too, but he was realizing that he had instinctively gone after the middle seat himself as well. He had been trying to separate Holly and Rodrick. Chewing his bottom lip in frustration at the discovery that Holly had her own agenda and was making it quite obvious, Greg headed for the open seat next to Sarah. He wasn't feeling in the most talkative of mood, and Sarah being timid gave him hope of not being prodded or poked.
The fire warmed his body, the flames trickling into hues of orange and red, spitting embers out with loud cracks — the fire itself resembling a lot like the turmoil happening in his chest. The conversation had picked up with no lull, questions directed at Rodrick, the oldest and coolest looking one out of all of them, and Greg wasn't surprised that his presence was almost non-existent. It's what he had wanted in that instance, but he couldn't help and feel defeated about it anyways.
"So, Rodrick, what do you do for fun?" Holly didn't waste any time at sinking her nails into his older brother, metaphorically, of course. Her posture was leaned to the side and open, resting herself on the armrest. Her fingers twirled strands of hair around, softly smiling as she gave all her attention to Rodrick, Greg almost seeing hearts for eyes. Was this how he looked when he first met Holly, and why was he feeling like that crush was slowly fading away.
Rodrick was playing along with Holly from what Greg could see, talking mostly about his band and less about himself, which Holly ate right up. Greg liked Holly; he had really liked her, and yet she was showing more attention to someone who was only playing with her because that's what Rodrick did. On the other side, Greg didn't want Rodrick to play along, not just because Greg had wanted to see if he still had something for Holly. He didn't like being pushed to the side because something better might have come along.
No. This is what Rodrick wanted. He was playing, and no matter what, everyone was always just a toy to him.
Holly was a nice person, and she didn't deserve this just because he was jealous and petty. Greg glared at Rodrick, head perched on his fist, trying to say with his eyes that he wasn't happy and that his older brother should stop while he's ahead. Rodrick, of course, chose to ignore, not threatened in the least.
"Oh, that's why you look so familiar, Holly, wasn't he in the video you showed me where a lady was dancing weirdly to their band. It became such a popular video; it was so funny. That's amazing, Rodrick, you're like, almost famous!" Krissi exclaimed, a sudden realization flashing across her face.
Greg groaned; he had forgotten about that. He could see the exact moment when color drained from Rodrick's face as his eyes hardened, losing a spark despite his smile. What scared him the most was the way Rodrick's eyes flitted over to rest onto Greg's face, his mouth drying up as he tried hunching more into his chair. That had been a time where Rodrick was the angriest, he's ever been at Greg. Posting that video with Rowley had been a spur of the moment, but the impact it left was not. People still talked about it sometimes 3 years later. Either way, he was fucked, because it seemed that anger was just progressively bubbling underneath Rodrick's skin.
"I wouldn't say famous; the video was mostly about our mother after all. Gregory wanted to embarrass me and deemed that moment to be the best way to get back at me." Rodrick ground out, posture rigid, and Greg knew that he was secretly seething and keeping it in until his older brother could be alone with him to unleash his fury. Like clockwork. Bless for Holly; she seemed to sense how things were starting to go downhill. Reaching next to her, she pulled out a bag of Jumbo marshmallows.
"Who wants marshmallows! We don't have any more sticks, but you can go into the forest and find something if you'd like." Holly chirped out happily, directing that question mostly to Greg. He was happy to have any excuse to get away, not liking the tension directed at him with his already sour mood.
"Yeah, I'll go do that. Two sticks are coming right up." Greg said as he got up from his chair and started heading towards the forest. No sticks were long enough on the outside of the woods, deciding to brace his way against the mosquitos he knew would come after him, he headed slightly more in-depth into the crowds of trees, foliage, and bushes covering his figure. The sound of chatter was still loud enough for him to follow as well as the light from the crackling fire. He was rummaging around on the floor, coming upon two branches that would be good enough for marshmallows. Sound of cracking branches was heard from behind, turning his crouched body around just as a wave of dirt and discarded branches kicked his way.
"What the hell was that for?!" Greg sputtered out angrily, jerking up and away from Rodrick who had come out from behind a tree. Spitting out the dirt as he rubbed at his eyes, tearing up from the stinging as his body blazed with heat. A deep frustration, fear bubbling up suddenly at the fact Rodrick kept approaching him with a dark sheen to his eyes, Greg steps continuously moving backward until he found himself caged between a tree and Rodrick. A gloss of sweat pooling down the base of his neck, heart quickening as Rodrick leaned down, both arms on either side of Greg's head. Keeping him in place.
"I had forgotten about that video…I never did punish you for it." Greg's eyes drifted towards Rodrick's lips, noticing the tongue darting out to moisten them up as they turned into a feral grin. Head jerking back up as Rodrick drew closer, those long fingers digging into the back of his head, hair grasped in a hold as he yanked, causing Greg to wince slightly. Both hands came up, grasping the collar of Rodrick's hoodie as he tried pushing at him, feeble with how his hands shook.
"I said I was sorry when it happened, what else you want from me?" Greg uttered out, voice trembling, cursing to himself at not being able to hide it better. A small yelp left him as Rodrick pulled at his hair harder as he raised his fist, causing Greg to bend backward, neck exposed with eyes shut tight. Grimace pulling at his face, expecting to get hit.
But it never came. The pain stayed in his scalp, where Rodrick's hand had loosened but still kept him in place. Greg's heart feeling like it was ricocheting out of his chest, his blood pumping through his ears, the sound was deafening, the ache and the adrenaline coursing through his veins as his body seized up, bending towards Rodrick and not knowing what was going on. Confusion and fear were two hard emotions to have together because the excitement made him open his eyes. Gaze locking onto the fist still hovering over his head before slowly drifting them towards Rodrick's face, his eyes that continued to bore into his own, pensive expression,
"You know what, hitting you won't make me feel better. Maybe I should keep playing, I noticed how mad you were getting at me giving Holly a lot of attention. I wonder how you'd feel if I started touching or kissing her." Greg let out a noise of frustration.
"Don't give me that look, you know it could happen, and it wouldn't even be that hard. She's throwing herself at me." Greg's face morphed into one of defeat, brows furrowed with a look of hurt cracking against his skin. His bottom lip trembling at how far Rodrick was going with this, at how now he was going to hurt Greg. This was hell, Rodrick had won. He cared for Holly; she was his first real crush, he couldn't let her get hurt, and not when Greg could do something to stop it. He shrunk in on himself, shoulders sagging as his bod leaned against the tree, fingers still latched onto Rodrick's hoodie. Greg could feel the irritation rushing off of Rodrick in waves, the heat from the other cascading over him and drowning him in something dark, bitter.
"Please don't…Holly didn't do anything; you can't hurt her like that. I won't let you hurt her." Greg bit down when he felt another tug. Rodrick wasn't happy with that answer.
"Fine, I'll do whatever you want, please, leave her alone!" Eyes locked onto Rodrick, figuring his brother would want to see how much he was hurting him, physically and mentally.
"Please, I'm begging you." Greg sputtered out, his tone articulating his fear at Holly getting hurt because of him, at the pain in his chest was feeling at the thought that Rodrick maybe would never indeed be a brother to him. Everything was too much, he was falling apart, and Rodrick looked like he was enjoying this. Greg, on the brink of falling to the ground floor, the only reason he stayed upright was the hand that Rodrick had hooked around his waist, pressing him against the tree.
"Anything I want? Bold of you to offer, but I'll bite. I only have two things I want. First, you will need to do everything I say during this dumb trip. And that means no complaining or outing out what we're doing; it's a secret between us or else I'll do everything I said I would do. The second one, which I assume you will hate." Rodrick cackled lightly, face only a few centimeters away from Greg's "You will let me kiss anytime I want." Greg didn't have any chance to voice his displeasure before Rodrick swooped in and crushed his lips against Greg's. The moment of surprise caused Greg's mouth to open, letting Rodrick have a clear way inside, tongue invading his younger brother's mouth. Whimpers fell out of Greg as Rodrick took his time to explore, fingers digging into Greg's hips before dragging himself away. Greg was holding onto Rodrick as if his legs were rubber, lifeless and useless, exactly like how he felt. Rodrick took hold of Greg's chin in-between his fingers, Greg's eyes tearing up slightly but kept them at bay to not show how much he shattered.
Greg was scared and humiliated, dehumanized, and felt lower than dirt. He knew this was what Rodrick meant when he threatened him; his older brother loved nothing more than to make Greg miserable, taking a chance at swiping at his legs so he would fall. This time, it was starting to feel like there was no point in standing back up. He felt hopeless. Rodrick may stop humiliating him in front of Holly, not try and hurt her, but that didn't mean he would end his usual routine when it was just the two of them.
Greg shook his head, trying to push Rodrick away, he hated this. He hated how Rodrick made him feel. Rodrick never looked at him like a brother; he was nothing more than a plaything to pass the time because Greg never really fought back. All this was becoming clear to him, solidifying his intentions and pushing him forward to prove himself and save those he cared about, determined.
He couldn't give up. He wouldn't. Rodrick may have won this time, but if Greg was good at one thing, it was being stubborn and not giving up despite the odds. Greg knew now that the kissing was only a way for Rodrick to humiliate him. If Greg kept telling himself it meant nothing, then after a while, Rodrick would stop and get bored at how it wasn't bothering Greg anymore. At least, he would try not to let them affect him.
Greg let his arm stretch outwards towards Rodrick, his brother side-eyeing the limb before setting back onto Greg. Suspicion swam across his darkened eyes, eyes narrowing, trying to figure out what angle Greg was playing.
"Fine…" Rodrick blinked and smiled down at him, allowing Greg to rest both his hands-on Rodrick's shoulders. "I agree with your rules." Reaching upwards, standing on the tip of his toes as he pushed himself against Rodrick, surprising the other slightly as Greg brought his lips against Rodrick one more time. In a way solidifying the rules and proving to Rodrick that he wouldn't just stand there and take it.
He wouldn't let Rodrick know how devastated he was at losing his first kiss to his older brother.
He might be the mouse in Rodrick's game, but that wouldn't stop him from showing his teeth when he had the chance.
