The notion had been nagging at Bro for the better part of a year, but it still seemed to hit him all at once when Dave asked if he could start going to public school. Dave was growing up, and fast. He wasn't gonna be a little twink forever; the kid wanted his own life. It was summer, he was turning twelve that winter, and he wanted to go to a public middle school. "We've tried public school before, lil' man, you didn't like it. Remember?"

"Hardly," The pre teen scoffed. "I was like what, five?"

Bro knew it was stupid, but he took Dave's request a little personally."What makes you want to try again? Don't you like it here?"

"Yeah, I like it here," He said, shrugging. "But it's just us, you know? We don't have sports, clubs, dances, or anything like that. I don't know."

Bro was quiet for a while, but he nodded. "Alright, kid," He said. "You can start in the fall."

"I'm gonna go tell John!" Dave said enthusiastically, turning on his heel and scurrying down the hall. He disappeared behind his bedroom door and Bro could almost hear him booting up his computer. Dave was always on the computer. If he wasn't schooling or doing his martial arts, he was always on the damn computer. Bro wasn't really worried, but he felt a little jealous. He knew Dave was talking to that John, some kid his age that lived half way across the country. Bro wasn't sure how he could be best friends with someone he never even met. Even if John was the most amazing twelve year old on the face of the earth, Bro was still baffled by the amount of time Dave spent cooped up in his bedroom.

That evening Bro ordered a large meat lovers pizza, wings, and some soda and when it arrived he rapped lightly on Dave's closed door. "Hey kid, soups on," He called, hearing almost frantic typing and the shuffling of Dave moving around the room. There was some hushed muttering, but no answer. "Dave?"

"I'll be out in a minute," Dave huffed, voice muffled by the door. "Start without me."

"You don't want to pick out the best slice?" Dave always wanted to claim the best slice.

"You take it this time."

"Whatever you say, lil man."

Bro put his hands in his pockets and walked back down the hall, frowning thoughtfully. "Something's wrong," he murmured to himself. "Either very different, or very wrong."

Despite his unease, Bro flicked open the box of wings and plucked a few out, dripping them on his plate. He ate them slowly, dipping each in ranch until they dripped. He left the pizza alone. He couldn't make himself take the first slice, it didn't feel right. Eventually Dave turned up, face slightly flushed in sweats and a rumpled tee shirt. "Hey Bro," He said, opening up the pizza box. He examined the pie carefully, and then reached for the slice that was not only biggest, but was covered tip to crust in meat. He could hardly see the cheese.

Seeing Dave's face when he hungrily devoured it made him smile. That kid had the appetite of any grown man, and as they settled into a comfortable silence to eat, Bro's worries lessened a little bit. When they were finished, they could hear the soft pitter patter of rain on the roof and Dave made a face, shooting Bro a look of dread. "We're not gonna brawl in that, are we?"

On a relatively daily basis Dave and Bro had recreational fights on the roof in place of gym class, sometimes they even fought through the rain, but after a moments consideration Bro just patted his stomach, shrugging. "Nah, I'm too damn stuffed," He admitted, smiling at the sound of Dave laughing. "We'll just take a lazy day, how's that sound lil man?"

"Sounds awesome," Dave said.

Before he could say something back, Dave was getting up from the table and going back into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Bro frowned, sitting at the table for a bit. He had wanted to pop in a movie or play some games, but Dave clearly had other plans. He was starting to miss the days Dave clung to his leg.

Sighing, Bro cleaned up the dinner mess and made his way to his own room, sewing up a few smuppets to kill time until finally it was late enough for bed to be a suitable activity. He stripped down to his boxers, listening to the now heavy rain pound. A large crack of thunder had him looking over his shoulder at his open door. The hall was dark, silent, and nothing was moving but the ticking hands of the clock. Dave hated thunderstorms. He tore his gaze from the kid's door, shaking his head. Dave was growing up, he wasn't going to jump at a little thunder, right? Just in case, though, Bro left his door open as he crawled in bed, putting his shades on the table to his left. He stretched out on his stomach and closed his eyes, drifting off easily with his full stomach and the sound of the storm outside. It wasn't long though before a soft creak had him stirring.

He didn't open his eyes, but he listened carefully to the soft padding of feet, trying not to be heard. He held back a smile as the tiny sound got closer and finally, he felt the weight of another person crawling into the bed beside him. A cold finger gently prodded him on the arm. "Bro?"

Cracking an eye open, he glanced up at Dave, and without a word he lifted the covers.

Dave climbed in eagerly, curling up very close. Bro turned onto his side and took Dave into his arms. Dave was cold, as if he hadn't even gotten into bed before coming in. He felt the kid shiver against his chest, then cuddle close, obviously eager to share the warmth. Bro softly pet Dave's hair until he was asleep, listing to the thunder that clearly had his brother spooked.

He of course hated to see Dave scared, but at the same time he loved it when the kid crawled in bed with him. Bro got a little lonely sometimes all by himself in such a big bed. He wasn't afraid to be alone, he grew up alone, but he didn't like it. Having a cute little kid so near was comforting. He chuckled as Dave muttered and moved around in his sleep. He could have closed his eyes and joined Dave, but he liked watching him dream, and dream he did.

What Bro noticed though, was that Dave was behaving sort of unusually. Whenever he watched Dave sleep as a kid he would murmur inaudibly, rub his eyes and yawn cutely when he was dreaming, but as he watched now he saw Dave toss and turn, grunting things Bro just barely misunderstood. What finally made Bro realize what was going on was when Dave pressed a bit closer, and he felt it. Dave was clearly hot and bothered by something, or someone, in his dream and his body was responding accordingly. Bro didn't move, completely at loss for what to do in such a situation. Eventually he gathered his wits and gently peeled Dave off of his chest, replacing himself with a firm pillow before getting up and heading to the kitchen for a quick drink. He'd play dumb, he decided as he poured himself a glass of orange crush. No sense embarrassing the poor kid, right? He gulped down his soda and shoved a few dozen swords out his the sink so he could rinse out the glass and go back to bed. When he stepped in the room though, Dave had either forgotten where he was or was acting in his sleep, because Bro could clearly see Dave's hand moving beneath the waist band of his underwear.

The first thing that came into Bro's head was the word "Shota." Little, blonde, cute, and sexually immature, Dave wasn't even touching himself correctly. An image of the correct way popped into his head soon after, but he shook that thought from his mind at once, shocked it had gotten lodged there in the first place. "Fuckin creep," He muttered at himself. He glanced at the clock. It was about one in the morning, way too early to actually start functioning and way too early to wake anyone up without a damn good reason. Bro wanted to get back to sleep, but there was an eleven year old jacking off in his bed and he couldn't make himself get back in there, knowing that was going on. It gave him thoughts he knew he shouldn't have about his little man.

Finally he reasoned that his smartest option was to sleep on the couch. His sleep was restless, he kept thinking about Dave, the little shota snuggled up in his bed. When he opened his eyes his face felt flushed and he shook his head, muttering to himself about pedophilia as he dragged his feet back to his bedroom. Dave was laying there still snoozing, sprawled out on his stomach with his boxers riding up so far Bro could see the bottom curve of his ass. He chuckled despite the situation, lifting the kid up carefully and putting him on the couch as he changed the now messy sheets. He'd go with the original plan and play dumb, no kid wanted anyone knowing about their wet dreams. When everything was clean he put Dave back in bed, climbed in himself, and pulled the covers over them both. He could pretend that night never happened. He kissed Dave on the forehead.