WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTIONS OF SELF-HARM. DO NOT READ IF IT WILL TRIGGER YOU.

Bro sat on the couch, shades on and beer in his hand as he watched the moving picture on the television screen. Every few seconds he could feel the cool light breeze hitting him from the fan moving back and forth in the corner, trying desperately through the Texas heat to relieve the apartment of its humidity. Though his face was facing the television, his mind was somewhere else entirely. Someone could walk in and see Bro relaxing, when in reality he was silently trying to figure things out, the noise from the TV keeping him from going mad as it provided some sort of background noise.

His mind, though only he knew about it, was in an entirely different place. Dave had been acting weird lately; not talking, spending more time in his room, looking more tired, and not eating. Though Bro was sure that Dave would never admit it, something was majorly wrong. He just couldn't figure out what, and it was beginning to bother him.

Bro set his beer onto the table, sighing as he did so. He hunched over, taking off his shades to rub his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose in a weak attempt to make his oncoming headache leave. After a moment, Bro set his shades back onto his face as he got up and decided to investigate Dave's room, while he had the time. He glanced at the clock before going into Dave's room, seeing how much time he had. '20 minutes till he gets home from school,' he thought to himself as he turned the doorknob and walked into the teenager's room.

He stood in the doorway for a good ten seconds with the door open, looking around the room with squinting eyes. Everything seemed fairly normal. Computer, desk, chair, bed with messy covers, a dresser to store clothes, and a small laundry basket with clothes scattered around it, probably in a lazy motion to toss them into the basket. He took a few steps into the room, wondering where he should start first. He didn't really know what he was trying to find in here. Maybe some clues as to why Dave was acting so odd lately? Bro shrugged, walking over to Dave's computer.

He sat down in the rolling chair, moving the mouse a bit to bring the monitor out of its sleeping state. He looked around the screen, seeing what was on the desktop. Pesterchum, Internet browsers, some pictures of Dave's friends... Nothing unusual.

Bro got up from the chair, walking towards the dresser. He opened some of the drawers, quickly looking through the clothes to see if he would hide something under or between them. 'Nothing,' Bro thought boredly. 'I don't even know why I'm doing this. Dave's probably fine, just being a moody teenager and going through some sort of phase or some shit.'

Bro shut the dresser drawers before turning around looking at the room again. He walked over to the small circular laundry basket and picked up the dirty clothes around it, actually managing to put them into the basket to get washed. He then turned to the bed and lifted the cover off of it, seeing if anything was on the bed. Only more clothes. Bro sighed, tossing them into the basket with the others. He set the cover back down, not even bothering to make it look nice. He moved the pillows, only to see the covered mattress under them.

"Why am I even doing this," Bro murmured to himself. "The kid is fine."

He knew he was only trying to convince himself of a lie, though. Older brothers know when something is wrong with their younger bro. It's like their job. Some sixth sense shit. Therefore, Bro couldn't get the nagging feeling out of his mind that something was wrong and that he should keep looking around the room. He stood there in his spot for a moment and set the pillows down, thinking of where else Dave could possibly hide something. He stood there, thinking hard. '...Under the bed,' he thought, somewhat smirking.

Bro got down on his hands and knees, moving the cover so he could see under the bed. He lifted his shades from his face, not being able to see if anything was there in the darkness, and smirked somewhat bigger when he spotted a box a foot or two back. He placed his shades back correctly on his face, and reached to the box, just barely managing to get it out from its spot.

Bro held the box in his hands, sitting on the floor facing the bed, before deciding that if he got this far, he may as well see what's inside of it. He lifted the lid off the box, coming face to face with pictures. He looked at them confused for a moment before picking one up, seeing that it was himself and Dave when he was younger; probably around 6, by the looks of how small he was. Bro couldn't help but let a smile slip onto his face as he shook his head and set the picture face down on the ground next to him before picking up the next one in the stack. The second one was a picture of himself and Dave again, this time eating ice cream. Dave had had his ice cream smeared all around his mouth as he smiled largely up to the camera, visibly missing a tooth or two in his grin. Bro was laughing in the picture, giving Dave a noogie while he took the picture with his other hand.

After going through a stack of countless pictures as quickly as possible, he picked up all the facedown pictures and was about to put them back in the box before he saw something sitting in the bottom of this box. He set the pictures back down, squinting his eyes from behind his shades at what was in the box. "Dammit, Dave," he said quietly, his heart dropping as he stared at the thin silver metal in the box. Bro had noticed that a razor had gone missing, but he didn't expect this. He had assumed that the blades just needed to be replaced.

"Bro, I'm home!"

Bro stayed in his spot, still staring at the small object in the box, already knowing that Dave would see him in his room as he heard the door shut. Bro listened as Dave tossed his book bag onto the floor in the small kitchen, and then listened as his footsteps got closer.

"Dude, where are you?" Dave called out, beginning to walk towards his room. "Are you even ho-" Dave cut his sentence short, looking into his room and seeing Bro sitting on his floor with his picture box. Dave gulped, knowing that with all the pictures out of it, Bro would have seen the small blade. He tried to calm himself down, though that didn't do a lot for him. "What are you doing?" Dave asked uneasily.

Bro turned his head to Dave, his face expressionless. "Nothin'," he said blankly.

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever; Dave not sure what to do out of fear, and Bro trying to process what to say. Bro turned his head back to the box, picked up the small shiny piece of metal, and held it between his fingers as he looked back at Dave, holding it up for him to see.

"Want to explain this, little man?" he asked.

"Are you giving me an option."

"Sure, why not."

"Then no."

"Wrong answer," Bro replied, making Dave become quiet and draw his mouth into a thin line, knowing that Bro was probably pissed with him. They stared at each other again, neither of them sure what the other would do. Bro hesitated asking the question that he wanted to ask, not sure how Dave would take it.

"...Is there any more, other than this one?" Bro asked, getting a sick feeling in his gut.

Dave shook his head, humming. "That's the only one," he managed to choke out, also getting a sick feeling in his gut. Bro set the empty box on the floor, standing up with the small blade in his hand. He began walking into the bathroom, and said something as he passed Dave. "Put some pajamas on," he said, walking into the restroom.

"But it's only 4 o'clock," Dave responded, obviously confused.

"Don't care!" Bro yelled back, easily dropping the shiny metal into the toilet before flushing it, not feeling guilty or any remorse. Dave sighed, knowing that Bro had just flushed the small yet harmful thing. He quickly took off his shades and tossed them onto his bed, getting a giant shirt out of his dresser. Dave stripped off his pants, deciding that a t-shirt and boxers were suitable enough for pajamas. He tossed the jeans over by the basket, then lifted off his long sleeved shirt and tossed that over as well. Dave, about to put on the baggy shirt, hesitated. He glanced to his left arm, disgusted with what he saw.

Little to Dave's knowledge, Bro had been standing in Dave's doorway again, watching what he was doing. "You okay, little bro?" Bro asked. Dave jumped a little bit, then nodded, his shirt still only halfway on. Bro stared at Dave for a moment, and sighed when he realized that he probably wouldn't get himself dressed. Bro walked back into the room and stood in front of Dave, his gut twisting and his heart dropping when he saw the numerous marks, but forced himself to look at Dave's face from behind his shades. He grasped the shirt and lifted it over Dave's head, it then easily falling around Dave's torso.

"There. All dressed," Bro murmured, crossing his arms and still looking at Dave. "...Dave," Bro said, noticing that he was spacing out a bit. Dave hummed in response, acknowledging his brother. Bro sighed after a moment, taking off his shades as well and tossing them next to Dave's on the bed. "Come on," Bro said quietly, putting his hands on Dave's shoulders and turning him around to walk out of the room. "We can watch a movie together," he smiled, trying to make Dave feel better.

"You're not wearing your shades," Dave commented.

"Nah. I don't need 'em if I got you around, kiddo."

"Hey Bro?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for being."

"...For being what, Dave?"

"Just... being."

A/N; So, hi. I apologize for the long break between uploads (I was surprised some people were still sending reviews!), and this really wonky chapter. Some stuff happened lately that hit me really bad. So, a vent chapter was created! Hope you guys don't mind. So yeah, I should be writing more in hopes to distract myself from everything, so that'll be good for you guys! Anyways, I'll you next time, kiddies. 3