* * * A/N I usually keep these chapters as Patreon Exclusive chapters. But this one contains too much important info to keep from y'all. So, I hope you'll enjoy this read too! * * *

Saturday

After spending his Saturday morning searching furniture stores for a closet, nightstands, a decent bed and a desk chair to go with the desk Tessa and Dean had previously already bought, and—after a bit of pushing from Tessa and Killian—a plant to decorate his otherwise plain bedroom.

With a bucket of paint, two rollers and other painting necessities, Senn spent the afternoon painting one wall in his room and putting up the bed as a start.

Not once did he feel guilty towards his parents. On the contrary, he knew they would want him to be happy, and pushing away people that loved him wasn't going to help him. Neither was wandering around without having a place to call home going to do any good. No, he needed his own space, and ever since Tessa and he had made a lot of progress in their relationship as aunt and nephew, Senn did feel more at home.

He felt welcome.

But once his wall had been painted baby-blue—like his old room—and needed to dry, Senn had used up all possible distractions from Elio and his behavior at the party the evening before. Buying furniture and paint accessories, setting up a bed, making up a bed in Killian's room to sleep while they were still painting, and even writing in his diary when painting the room caused a memory from years ago to surface.

But all excuses aside, he really wanted some answers from Elio, especially since last night. Elio, apparently, hadn't ever gone to a party thrown by friends before. In fact, nobody had ever seen him go to a party, or go out for that matter.

Nobody, except Senn, on the night of their first kiss.

Elio going out, felt like a bad sign.

Senn's mind had taken him places—mostly towards Julian and Elio— while his feet took him elsewhere. Which was how he found himself in front of his old home, at the doorstep of Elio's house, even though he 'just went for a short walk outside'.

He rang the doorbell, even though he never planned to visit Elio that evening. But now that he was there, he could as well try and get some clearance on Elio's motives for his 'break-up' with Joyce.

It wasn't Elio who opened the door, but a guy that looked a bit like him. Just slightly darker hair, a little taller, and definitely slightly older too.

"Oh, eh, hi," Senn stuttered, tripping over his own words, "I was looking for Elio. I'm a friend... Senn."

"Elio!" the guy yelled over his shoulder. "Senn's here for you!"

Senn smirked, though the corners of his mouth dropped as soon as he remembered how Killian used to call him like that whenever one of his friends was at the door. At the exact same door. And Elio was most likely in the exact same room as Senn had been all those times Killian called for him to come down.

"He'll be here in a second, wanna wait inside? I'm Fabio, by the way." The guy offered him a hand to shake, which Senn did shortly.

"Senn?" Elio sounded... well, kinda shocked. "What are you doing here?"

Senn wanted to reply, but before Fabio had been able to close the front door behind him, Elio had stopped him, and prevented Senn from entering.

"Now's not the time."

It sounded harsh, and Senn didn't know how to respond to it. He hadn't ever seen Elio like that before. Sure, he had been angry in the bathrooms of school. But this was plain simple ice-cold staring. His shoulders instantly slumped down in response, and his jaw tightened as he tried to keep himself composed.

The combination of the memory of Killian in that door opening, calling for him—something his parents never liked, because why not just ask someone inside before you go and get the other without shouting—and the fact Elio was so harsh, made him want to cry in the spot. This house still did things to him, and Elio wasn't helping.

Elio's eyes softened almost instantly, as if he melted by Senn's demeanor. He sighed and dropped his head, shuffling a foot. "I'm just busy with... something."

"Something?" Fabio snorted. "If Joseph finds out how you call him something, and that you're trying to hide him from your friend over here? He's going to throw his biggest hissy fit ever. You know he understands it when you're embarrassed because of him."

Elio groaned, slapping Fabio on the back of the head, visibly annoyed for being called out. Though Senn had no idea what he was called out for exactly. Hiding Joseph? Who even was Joseph?

"Leave, you pest," Elio grumbled to Fabio, who smirked and left to head up the stairs. Elio sighed, grabbing Senn's arm to pull him inside.

"I can come back later?" Senn squeaked, not wanting to disturb Elio in whatever he was doing that involved Joseph. Was Joseph another guy he was seeing? Is that what Fabio meant by being embarrassed? Embarrassment over their sexuality? "If you need privacy..."

"What?" Elio stopped walking, while he had been pulling him towards the room that was formerly used as an office by his father.

"Is he someone you're seeing?"

"Senn, Joseph is my brother. There're just things I rather not share with people outside this family. Not because I'm embarrassed though." He opened the door to the office, which was now turned into a large bedroom. A guy was seated at a small table in front of the window, with a game of half-finished memory in front of him. "Joseph, this is Senn. Senn, Joseph."

"Hi!" Joseph cheerfully said, waving an uncoordinated hand.

By the looks of... well, everything... in the room, it became clear to Senn that Joseph had special needs. The bed looked a lot like the bed he had in hospital, and there was equipment in a corner that Senn remembered from his own therapy sessions. There was an extension to the back of the room—brand new—with a bathroom of which the door was open. Everything was accommodated to suit Joseph's needs.

"Hey Joseph," Senn answered kindly, waving back.

"Joseph and I were playing memory," Elio explained. "He's getting too good to defeat though."

Joseph laughed warmly, pointing towards the stack of cards he already collected before clapping happily. "I'm winning," he said. Everything about him screamed joy and fun, and it made Senn happy to see him that way.

"Joseph, I'm going to talk to Senn, and then we're going to make dinner together, okay?" Elio said, kind of in a childish way. But Joseph didn't mind. On the contrary, he excitedly clapped his hands and nodded his head.

"Bye, Senn!" Joseph called after them.

"Is he gonna be okay on his own?" Senn asked, looking over his shoulder while Elio closed the door.

"Yeah, he can be alone for now." Elio nodded. "Why are you here?"

"Oh, I just wandered over here and since I had some questions, I guess I decided to actually ring the bell."

"Same questions as yesterday?"

Senn nodded.

"Okay, I'll answer those for you. Joseph has been home for about a week now. And I had to take care of him because dad got an emergency and had to leave home for two days. Which is the reason I wasn't in school but did go out on Friday. I needed to clear my mind."

"It can't be easy, taking care of him."

"It's not, no. But he's my brother. Besides, it's the least I can do for him. He wasn't always like this and the only alternative is the place we just got him out of."

Senn remembered how familiar everything looked in Joseph's room, causing him to swallow. "Is it... because of the accident?" Senn whispered sadly.

"Yeah, it was really bad. He's still making progress, but it's not much and he's always going to need someone to take care of him."

"You know the accident wasn't your fault, right?"

Elio shrugged. "Most days, yeah. Some days? Especially when Joseph is having a bad day..." Elio slumped down on a barstool, sighing deeply.

"You could've told me. If you need to vent, or something..." Senn scratched his head awkwardly. People had been on this side of the conversation with him a gazillion times by now, yet his mind couldn't remember which things where the nicest to hear while being on the receiving end. "I can be here for you. And I understand, well, somewhat understand what he's going through. I had a lot of therapy to regain my ability to walk and such."

Elio smiled when he looked up, grabbing him by his wrist and pulling him closer. "You're cute, you know?"

Senn smirked, putting his arms around Elio's neck. "You still haven't answered the most important question, though."

"You mean if I turned Joyce down for you?" Elio frowned.

"Yeah."

"I already answered that question yesterday."