I've had this chapter written up for AGES, honestly think I wrote this consecutively with the first chapter, but I wasn't sure whose POV I should focus on and it was a jumbled mess of both of their POVs, ultimately it felt the most impactful from Matt's POV with what I have planned for the next chapter in T.K.'s POV. For now I will be writing these in alternating POVs between the brothers.

No promises when I'll update next, but please enjoy.

Chapter 3 - Concern

Matt POV

Matt sat in the waiting room, his knee bouncing up and down nervously. He had his palm to his forehead and his cellphone to his ear, waiting for the ringing to stop.

"Hello?" the singsong voice answered. "Matt?"

Matt swallowed hard. "Hey." He cringed at the sound of his own voice, much sharper than he intended. He cleared his throat and said it again, kinder. "Hey, Sora."

"Are you almost here?" she asked gently, clearly concerned.

"No." He paused. "I'm at the urgent care."

"What? Matt, what happened?" Sora asked, panicked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Sora." He tried to calm her. "T.K. broke a glass when he was cleaning up after dinner. He cut his hand."

That did little to quell her worry. "How bad?"

Matt sighed. "It looked like he was going to need stitches. He's back with the nurse right now. He didn't want me to go back with him."

Sora relaxed, chuckling at that. "No, really?"

"It's not funny." He ran his hand through his hair and leaned back in the uncomfortable blue waiting chair. "I was leaving when it happened. I literally should have been out the door. He… damn it, Sora, if he had tried to take care of that by himself at home… it was deep."

"Matt, you were there. It turned out fine. Try to relax."

"When he saw I was leaving, I could tell it upset him, but I was going to leave anyway. I didn't want to be late for our… plans."

Sora sighed. "If T.K. needed you, you know that wouldn't have upset me."

Matt groaned. "That's the thing. He was fine tonight. He was acting like his normal self."

"You thought your mom was overreacting earlier?"

"Yeah, kind of?" Matt admitted. "And this was important for us tonight. I wasn't going to bail on you."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Whatever made you stall long enough to be there for T.K. was a good thing, and we'll just postpone until tomorrow."

Matt inhaled slowly. "You won't do it without me?"

Sora laughed. "No, silly. I'll wait until tomorrow."

Matt sighed. "Sora, what if…" he paused. "No, never mind."

Sora could hear the apprehension in his voice. "Why don't you just go home with T.K. and spend the night with him? We'll talk in the morning. Alright?"

Matt sighed. "He won't want me to."

"What makes you think that?" she asked lightly.

"I snapped at him when I saw how bad the cut was." He let out a soft groan. "He thinks I'm angry because I told him I had band stuff tonight and this caused me to miss it."

Sora paused thoughtfully before she spoke. "Why don't you tell him what we're going to be doing tomorrow?"

Matt raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? You want me to tell T.K.?"

Sora laughed. "He's the only one I think could keep it a secret, and it'd give you someone to talk to."

Matt smiled lightly. "You're right. As long as you're sure."

"Yep." He could hear the smile in her voice.

Just then, Matt looked up to see a nurse bringing T.K. out to the front. He stood, saying a quick goodbye to Sora, and pocketing his phone before joining his brother at the check-out counter.

He eyed the bandages wrapped around T.K.'s hand and wrist. Nothing too bulky, but enough to keep the wound protected.

"Great. You're all checked out." The nurse smiled brightly at them.

"Thank you." T.K. nodded and smiled politely at the receptionist. He looked at Matt, motioning toward the door.

Clearing his throat, Matt stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground guiltily as they walked toward the exit. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell earlier. I just… I'm sorry, alright?"

"Don't be sorry. I'm the one who ruined your plans, after all." He could see T.K. trying to hide the guilt in his expression with a soft, reassuring smile.

"No, that's not what this is about—I lost my cool because I was worried about you. I keep thinking what if…" his voice wavered.

"No, Matt, really. I'm fine." T.K. raised his hands, smiling apologetically. "Thank you for bringing me here."

Matt sighed as they reached his car. "Just let me apologize, alright? I was a jerk and I'm an adult enough to admit it."

T.K. hummed lightly with a slight nod, avoiding eye contact. "Thanks."

#

When they pulled up to the apartment complex, T.K. readied to get out of the car, saying a brief thank you and goodnight when Matt turned the ignition off and gave T.K. a skeptical look. "I'm staying over tonight." The horror in T.K.'s expression sent a knife into his chest. "Don't give me that look."

T.K. looked down, quickly composing himself, but still he looked upset, his hand still clutching the door handle. "You don't need to. I'm fine. Really."

Matt rolled his eyes. "I don't have anywhere better to be now, and I have something I'd like to talk about since we have the time."

T.K. gave him a look. "I'm honestly just really tired, Matt. I'm probably just going to go to bed."

Matt expected this. "Fine. I'll make breakfast when we get up and we'll talk then." He ignored the frustration in T.K.'s eyes.

"Then just come back in the morning." T.K. said firmly.

Matt narrowed his eyes at his brother. "That'd be a waste of time and money. Cars don't run on air, ya know? Come on, let's go inside." Before T.K. could continue his protests, Matt was out of the car, motioning for him to get out so he could lock the doors.

T.K. closed his eyes in defeat and got out, following Matt up to the apartment.

#

Matt opened the door, walking in first. T.K. hesitated and then followed. "I'll clean up in the kitchen and then find you some blankets…" he paused. "You could use mom's room."

Matt gave T.K. a look, raising his eyebrows incredulously. "You think I'm going to let you clean the kitchen? After what happened earlier?"

T.K. opened his mouth to argue, but stopped short. "I can—"

Matt waved his hand at T.K., interrupting him. "Don't worry, I got it."

"Matt…" T.K. groaned.

Matt sighed at the defeated look on T.K.'s face. "Come on, T.K. Just pretend like you're not angry at me."

T.K. let out a soft moan as he kicked off his shoes. "I'm not mad at you. Don't even joke about that."

"Well?" Matt gave him an exasperated look.

T.K. shook his head, his voice shaking. "I just don't want to put you out anymore. I already ruined your night. I just feel like I'm…" He trailed off. "You don't have time for all this. I'm sure you have stuff going on tomorrow, too. You don't need to—"

Matt put his hand up to stop T.K., waiting for his brother to look up and meet his eyes. "You're not putting me out. You didn't ruin my night. There's nothing fair or unfair about an accident. We just deal with them as they come."

T.K. exhaled, annoyed. Looking away, he walked past Matt further into the apartment. Matt saw him purposefully avoided looking into the kitchen and walk straight to his room.

Matt stepped into the kitchen, avoiding the blood on the floor. He grabbed a towel and carefully cleaned out the broken glass. Running warm water and getting out the disinfectant spray from under the sink, he made quick work of the blood on the counter and floor and finished up the dishes.

Matt looked up as he heard T.K. come into the living room, seeing his hair was damp and he had changed into a black t-shirt and a pair of gray shorts. He had his phone, which he was using with his left hand, his right hand resting gingerly against his abdomen. He looked like he was in pain but was evidently trying to hide it.

Matt grabbed a hand towel out of the drawer, turning he leaned against the counter and slowly dried his hands, watching his brother closely. Earlier, he couldn't see what their mom was talking about. He seemed fine. But now? Seeing the resting scowl on T.K.'s face and reflecting on his overall demeanor since they got back from the urgent care, he wasn't as convinced.

It was one thing entirely for T.K. to give him grief. T.K. took pride in being able to give him a hard time, and he didn't let many people get under his skin like him either, which typically gave T.K. all that much more satisfaction. But tonight, this wasn't that. He'd never seen T.K. react so negatively to spending more time together, whether or not he felt bad about what happened tonight, he shouldn't have looked so… panicked. Matt grimaced at the thought, but there was no other way to describe the look on his face. That and the fact that he tried that hard to change his mind was telling him something was definitely wrong.

He let out a breath and tossed the hand towel onto the counter by the sink, murmuring lightly. "Damn it, T.K., what's going on with you…?"

#

Matt watched T.K. glare at his phone, fiddling dumbly with his phone in his left hand. T.K. plopped it down on the couch next to himself and leaned back, resting his head on the back of the couch, running his left hand over his face before resting his arm over his eyes tiredly.

Matt jostled him, sitting next to him on the couch. He lifted his arm and looked at his brother. Matt reached his hand out, offering T.K. a glass of water. "Try not to drop this one." Matt poked fun at T.K. expense, hoping to ease the tension. "Aaand… some aspirin." He held out his other hand with the two small pills, giving him a gentle smile.

T.K. looked exhausted, not even bothering to return the smile. "Thanks." He murmured as he grabbed the pills, tossing them in his mouth before taking the water from Matt.

"I thought you wanted to go to bed." Matt mentioned casually.

T.K. shrugged. "Soon."

"In that case…" Matt turned and propped his back on the arm of the couch, so he was facing his brother. "…I have some… potential…. news."

T.K. frowned curiously, looking at Matt expectantly, some of the tiredness easing from his eyes.

"Well, it's been almost five years since me and Sora got together." Matt tried not to grin when he saw that he'd piqued T.K.'s interest.

T.K. had a thoughtful look on his face. "Almost a year since you proposed, too."

Matt smiled contently at the memory. "Yeah. Well, we still haven't set a date." T.K. nodded in acknowledgement. "But we may need to speed things up a bit… depending." He paused, searching T.K.'s contemplative expression.

"Depending on?" T.K. gave Matt a look. Maybe he'd guessed it, but thought better than to just say it.

"Well, Sora might be, possibly… pregnant." Matt held his breath, waiting for T.K.'s reaction.

T.K.'s eyes widened and for a second Matt was afraid T.K. may react badly, but then a genuine smile lifted his lips. "You're going to be a dad?"

"Maybe. She's taking the test tomorrow. And that means that maybe you're going to be an uncle." He was having a much easier time saying that than admitting he could be a dad. Even though he was twenty -one, with a good-paying career and a wonderful fiancé, he was not sure he was ready to take the title of father just yet.

T.K. chuckled at Matt lightly, drawing him out of his thoughts. "What's going through that head of yours? I mean, you had plenty of practice being the overprotective big brother with me when I was a kid."

Matt rolled his eyes. "When you were a kid? I think tonight proves I'm still actively practicing. I don't know if I got it down yet. Good thing I still have you to practice on."

T.K. hesitated at that, but quickly chuckled and shook his head. "Don't worry, you can be the overprotective dad. I'll be the cool uncle who helps them get away with all the fun stuff."

Matt wrinkled his nose. "My kid will have plenty of fun."

"Yeah, when your back is turned?" T.K. smirked, obviously joking.

Matt and T.K. talked, laughed, and made jokes at each other's expense for another hour before they drifted into a comfortable silence.

After a while, Matt muttered. "I'm kind of a nervous wreck over the whole thing. We'd decided that while I was pursuing the band life, it'd be best not to start a family. With tours taking me out of town for months at a time and just being so busy… I'm worried I'll have to quit or end up being an absent father."

T.K.'s voice was groggy. "You're nothing like dad." Matt didn't bother opening his eyes, but he felt T.K. shift and his voice got a bit quieter. "You'd be more involved in your child's life across the world than our dad was 4 blocks away at the TV station."

Matt didn't think of their dad as being absent, because growing up he saw how much he did to give Matt everything he possibly could, given the circumstances, but that didn't change the fact that T.K. was right. "Thanks T.K."

After a few minutes of silence, he knew T.K. was out. Matt rolled over so that his face was toward the back of the couch and hooked his arm up under his head, quickly drifting off to sleep.