Hello, dear readers. I present to you now, in celebration of my coming birthday, a three-part mini-story. It is once again based around TK and Matt, and although it has nothing to do with birthdays or celebrations at all, I am very excited to be getting this out there ASAP. The next part should be up within the next few days; look out for it!

Disclaimer on profile.

TK refused to answer the phone. He lay on the sofa, eyes glued to the ceiling and stubbornly avoiding the person who had been calling him repeatedly for the better part of the last hour and a half.

The answering machine clicked on again and TK's eyes finally closed. He listened to the pleading, the uncomfortable silence--the caller knew he was there; where else would he be except at home--and TK almost laughed feverishly at the mere thought of himself being the one with the upper hand for once.

Throughout his life, his brother had always been the one in charge. If Matt said it was too cold to go play outside, then TK shuffled back to his room and read a book. If Matt wanted the last cookie, well, Matt usually got the last cookie (because generally speaking, he was the one who'd made them in the first place). And if Matt's opinion clashed with TK's, then the eldest made sure he was the one who had the final say.

It had always been like that. TK hadn't minded. He knew that, in a way, Matt was protecting him and he liked that characteristic of their relationship. It felt nice to know that someone was hell-bent on keeping you safe. But this, this had crossed a line. What Matt had done... TK shook his head just thinking about it. There wasn't anything Matt could say that would make things go back to the way they had been.

Maybe... maybe if Matt had told him beforehand. If he'd divulged his plans to his little brother, then this wouldn't have been such a shock and there wouldn't have been a reason for this uncomfortable anger between the two of them. TK was mad because Matt had kept such a huge secret from him and Matt, TK knew, was starting to get pissed that his younger brother wasn't answering the phone when he called.

The boy sighed as, once more, the telephone rang down the hall. Was he overreacting and letting his instinctual emotions take over? Probably. But he didn't want to deal with Matt's sure-fire reasoning at the moment. His older sibling always had a valid reason for doing whatever he did; he wasn't the type of person that rushed into potentially risky things without thinking it through thoroughly. That said, he also wasn't the kind of person that would stab someone in the back while they weren't looking.

Or so TK had thought.

The whole problem had started just the other day, when TK came home to find a note from Matt waiting in the mailbox. It was addressed to both him and his mother, but she wouldn't be home for a while, so TK opened the envelope and read what was inside. He could still recall the shocking jolt of astonishment and sense of betrayal as he realised that Matt--foolish, idiotic Matt--had moved away.

Yes, moved away.

The note said something about trying a different city out for a while--a city no less than two hours away--and that he'd call when he got there to let them know how he was doing. Also, he was getting some of his buddies to help him ship his stuff to his new apartment, so Mom didn't need to worry about any of that.

TK had shut himself up in his room for the rest of the night and ignored his mother's voice down the hall as she chatted with his callous, insensitive wimp of a brother who didn't have the balls to say to his face that he'd be moving. She seemed happy enough, seeing her first-born son forging his own path through life, but didn't she want to know why he hadn't told them earlier? Wouldn't that have been the nicer, more appropriate thing to do in these circumstances? TK barely saw Matt as it was--maybe once or twice a week--and now, with Matt moving, he'd see him even less… once a month, if he was lucky. But those weren't the kind of odds he was really excited about.

TK rolled over on the comfy couch, embracing the silence now that the phone had finally stopped ringing. His gut twisted and writhed at the guilt he felt for purposely ignoring Matt. His loneliness, though, overpowered that pesky remorse easily. He could foresee the future now: himself, eating blueberry pancakes (a Sunday morning ritual him and his brother shared) all by himself. And of course, no one to go to the local bookstore with who would unconditionally understand his need to slurp a steaming cup of hot chocolate while browsing the selection of titles. Their bond was strong, no doubt about that, but would it survive the distance that separated them now? Or would telephones and computers make it easier to talk to each other? Perhaps, instead, technology would not work in their favour and would only hinder how strong their bond could be. Seeing each other, face-to-face, was the only way TK could imagine communicating with his brother. He liked telling his brother about his crappy day and watching as the sympathy played out on Matt's face. And TK loved making his brother smile, best of all. It just wasn't the same when a filter of technology was there between them.

Which was exactly why TK refused to pick up the phone. If Matt wanted to talk to him so badly, he could bloody well drive back here and say it to him in person. The upset boy got the feeling that unless his brother said it to his face—that he was leaving and that this decision meant he wouldn't be able to make it to all of TK's basketball games anymore, despite how much he wanted to—TK wouldn't be able to fully accept the situation they were both in.

Socked feet hit the floor as TK sat up abruptly and walked over to his bedroom. He felt tired; exhausted by the emotional turmoil he faced in the coming days as he knew he would. Trying to come to terms with Matt's choice to depart without letting him know beforehand was going to be hard to handle (especially with Matt not actually there to help him through it). TK needed sleep and he needed to think about how drastically this would change his life—for better or worse. Plus, TK was ninety-nine percent sure that he desperately wanted to run back to that machine he'd been hating on for the past hour and simply call Matt just to listen to his voice plead and argue.

But he understood himself well enough to know that he couldn't handle the emotions attached to those actions at the moment. No matter how much Matt thought he had protected TK by keeping him from the truth, the youngest brother knew that it had been the absolute wrong choice. It hurt more now—the ache of not being trusted enough to handle such a gigantic secret stabbed TK fiercely—and this wasn't something that Matt could fix with pretty little words and hollow promises of coming to see him every other week.

Everything had changed.

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