A/N: Hello to all you Gregrick fans! Recently I dragged my boyfriend to 'Roderick Rules' so I could see it again. He thinks I am crazy for my addiction to this brotherly pairing. I told him it keeps me motivated. C;

'Talk to Rodrick as soon as possible.' That was on the top of Greg's to-do list.

But after school, in his brother's van, it was just too eerie to bring it up. Greg remembered too clearly that it was in this very van – last night - where his brother had messed with him in the first place. No, it seemed like a much better idea to bring this up alone at home in the safety of a brightly lit house.

Besides that, the CD player was blasting Rodrick's recent recorded drum solo, and the older brother was 'rock' driving the whole way home – completely lost in his own music. Greg knew that even if he did say anything, Rodrick wouldn't hear him.

His plans were ruined almost immediately. As soon as they walked through the front door, Rodrick's phone went off – and without a word, the teen sauntered into the living room to talk to whoever it was on the other line.

Furious, Greg marched upstairs. As he started on his homework, he pushed his pencil to his forehead and promised himself that as soon as dinner was over, he was going to try again

"Are you serious?"

Greg didn't know where these words had come from, but he was too angry to care. Rodrick had just asked permission to skip dinner, successfully ruining Greg's plans once again.

"Woah, Greg. What's the matter?"

His mom was looking at him curiously through her glasses, the frames casting a more concerned look than necessary. Greg tried not to pay attention to Rodrick, who was leaning a shoulder against the wooden frame to the kitchen, looking bemused about his little outburst.

Flushing, Greg stuffed his fork into his mashed potatoes angrily. "Nothing," he said. The last thing he wanted to do was give Rodrick another reason to hate him. If he made a fuss about not spending as much time with Rodrick, Greg knew his mom would force the older brother to stay home for his sake. Staying quiet was better.

"Well, it's a little late notice, Rodrick..." she hesitated, glancing around at the fully set table in front of her and taking a good hard look at the plate she had set for the teen.

"Mom. Come on! How do you expect me to live a normal life if you don't let me go to the mall?" The voice was edgy and pleading exasperatedly at her.

Warily, Greg's mother began cutting small chunks of chicken up for Manny as she contemplated letting Rodrick leave. "I suppose you do need some new underwear," she sighed finally. Greg felt his jaw drop.

"Yea! Underwear! So, that means you'll give me money?"

On top of it all, Greg watched his mother dig into her purse and hand the wild teen some cash. How was this happening? Why did it seem like Rodrick and Manny always got away with murder? Where was twenty bucks for Greg to go and buy his own underwear? Lord knows it was time he stopped wearing the tightie-whities his mom continued to buy.

"Bring home the change," she warned now, and Rodrick quickly pocketed the money.

"At least let me buy something to eat while I'm there," Rodrick said, and when their mom sighed and nodded, he pulled his fist towards himself while relishing some sort of victory. "Yes! Alright, see you later!"

When the front door slammed, Greg sulkily pushed his plate away. Right now, there was a problem, and its name was Rodrick. What was his deal lately? He was always going out - leaving Greg behind. It used to be that they spent a majority of the week together doing stupid things or talking about cool stuff. Like Holly, or his brother's band.

Just last month they'd been caught by Mrs. Four-Doors-Down eating candy on the curb past 11 o'clock. Greg remembered the look on his mother's face when she had found out. But he remembered Rodrick's too, when later up in the attic the older brother glowed with an adrenaline that was making him smile ear to ear.

Ouch.

A throbbing sort of pain emanated from a ghostly familiar part of his heart. Why did that feel exactly like two years ago, when Greg had lost Rowley as a friend? Why was the same loneliness he hated coming back again?

It was about 9 o'clock when Greg was struck with the temptation to go up into Rodrick's room. Maybe there was a clue up there as to what was going on – an answer to the reason his brother was ignoring him recently. Or the reason for the bruise.

But when he reached the doorknob to the closed stairs leading to the attic, Greg stopped. No, he remembered how Rodrick had definitely tried to kill him the last time he had gone snooping around the attic bedroom.

"The fuck you think you're doing?"

Before he had a chance to pulls his hand away from the doorknob and turn back to his own bedroom, the booming voice from behind him caused Greg to jerk away from the door in a panic and trip backwards. He slammed into Rodrick's body and the two toppled over, crashing to the floor in a jumble of legs and arms.

"Wha – ah! Get off me nerd!" Rodrick heaved himself off of the floor first, and then shot a glare down towards where Greg was recovering from his heart attack. "You weren't about to go into my room, were you?" Rodrick growled dangerously.

It was happening again. Here in the dark hall, Rodrick looked scary. Greg managed to whip his head side to side in an effort to clearly demonstrate his innocence. "No, I – "

"Really? That's what it looked like to me," he hissed.

"No, Rodrick. Listen –"

"Do you remember what I told you would happen if you went into my room without my permission again?" Rodrick asked. His voice was so icy that Greg couldn't help but shudder as it washed over him. No. This was a mistake. He had to speak louder to be heard.

"I changed my mind! I wasn't going in there."

Rodrick crossed his arms and swept his gaze tiredly across the younger brother. Greg realized a little too late into the appraising stare that he was still on his ass, and as he pushed himself from the ground he willed his suddenly weak knees to hold himself up - at least in front of Rodrick. He'd been scared out of his skin by the unexpected arrival of the other.

Suddenly, Rodrick opened the door to his bedroom. "Get in," he snapped.

Greg blinked stupidly at Rodrick. This was the irritated tone Rodrick usually took with him, so it was nothing to be afraid of - but Greg was confused. Why on earth would he want to go into the attic now, after his brother just scared the shit out of him two nights in a row?

"Stop standing there and get in," Rodrick repeated.

"Uh, no thanks," Greg said slowly. He had to get out of there, now - before Rodrick could freak him out any more. Greg decided to bring up the bruise another time as he turned away and began to make his way towards the safety of his bedroom.

He had taken two steps before his arm was suddenly yanked roughly behind him, causing his body to jerk to a stop. Spinning around Greg barely had any time to register what had happened before Rodrick was dragging him through the darkness of the attic staircase. "You wanted to be in my room so fucking badly, so now's your chance. Get. In."

A/N: Review for more~