"Pizza again." Zach tossed aside the twenty dollars on the table rolling his eyes.

Zeke ran in tossing his items onto the nearby chair, barreling past Zach until he reached the table. Beside the money was a note:

Meeting tonight will last until tomorrow morning. On the table is money for pizza. Love and miss you

Mom and Dad

"Can we get a supreme pizza?!" Zeke jumped up and down like a child waiting in anticipation.

"I really don't care. We have pizza every night."

"Is something up?" Zeke stopped grabbing onto the back of the chair that was propelling him up and down to talk to his brother seriously.

"Look." The oldest brother grabbed his jacket and swing it over his shoulder about hitting Zeke. "Just dial the pizza place, tell them to deliver it, then hang up. I'll find something out there."

"Ah no." the one with a sweatshirt on stood in front of his brother to stop his movements. Both knew this was futile, but he had to try. "You know Mom said no more hanging out with those guys."

"She also said not to be going out while they aren't home, but here I am walking out."

"Zeke. Come on. I don't want you to keep getting in trouble."

"I wouldn't keep getting in trouble if you didn't weren't such a blabbermouth." he snapped back. "Now move." Zeke could hear the threatening deep tone in his voice like the one he uses when he is out with his friends and threatening people for money. The younger brother sighed and stepped to the side.

"I'll see you later tonight."

"No you won't!" he yelled back before slamming the door.
-------------------------------------------------------

Entering the house Zeke took off his hat as he noticed the surroundings were pitch black. It was the time of night that when one looked around the eye would trick itself into making you think someone was in the corner but truly it was the old lamp their grandmother passed along to the family that no one used. Looking up at the clock, it struck midnight, the chimes going off all around the house in an echo to announce to everyone it was late, you need to be in bed.

Even though he knew no one should be up, the teen still looked around the house just in case someone was lurking around a corner or something. It was Saturday and he figured that, by now, Zack would be in bed asleep and his parents wouldn't be back till morning. From these two facts alone he decided to come back home instead of coming back late and hearing another lecture from two parents that didn't care, plus the boys were starting to get a tad annoying out there.

Passing by Zach's door the only thing Zeke could think of doing was roll his eyes. He knew he should check on the kid, but...he just didn't care right now. It's not that he hated the thirteen-year-old, but... let's just say if the circumstances were different they would have a different relationship. Zach was adopted by his parents a few months ago. Something about a car crash killing them. The problem was his parents adopted the kid. Not him. But just as expected his parents are maybe home three hours of the day at the most. The most. The rest of the time their off working with snooty rich guys trying to help with businesses. Sometimes they weren't home for days and checked up on the two by calling home, meaning Zeke was the one taking care of Zach. He made sure he went to school, made supper, helped with homework, everything. Becoming a parent at sixteen, you tend to be a bit stressed around the kid you should call brother. Right now he just wasn't in the mood to see his face.

Passing by his door, Zeke decided against going straight to his room and went for the living room instead. He wasn't really tired, so he figured he'd watch tv for now.

Walking into the living room he went straight to the remote so he could flip through all the late-night shows and crap no one watches during the day. As the light of the screen dances over the couch as he flicked through the channels something caught his eye. Something small.

Turning around completely, he moved closer to see if the dark was tricking his mind or not. Laying on a pillow completely passed out was a kid. A four-inch kid to be exact. Zeke couldn't help but crouch down to see if he was seeing things or not.

In full view with nothing hiding him was a brown-haired person with a jacket on. Zeke reached his hand out to poke the figure. He had to make sure one of his friends didn't slip him something in a drink but quickly retracted his hand when the boy adjusted himself. He turned his body so it was facing the human. Zeke on the other hand froze in his spot. The boy seemed to go right back to sleep after adjusting himself, but his face was now looking right at the giant. He didn't seem to mind since the tiny boy's eyes closed once more after rubbing his face closer into the pillow as if that was his only heat source.

The problem was with Zeke. The boy in front of him was a teen, thirteen to be exact. He knew this because the teen was his younger adopted brother.

Staring down in silence and with wide eyes, he quickly put the pieces together. From his personal experience with his friends, he knew borrowers existed. They were commonly used out on the streets as carriers or transporters. They would sneak messages or "product" to other people without being detected. Most only lived a few months because they would die in the service for humans...but this...this wasn't a borrower. He was a human last time he checked.

Zach must have started to feel the presence just looming over him because he started to stir a bit on the pillow. It looked like he was trying to cuddle closer into the surface to hide from the world. When the presence didn't seem to leave his eyes started to flutter open with grogginess still attached to them.

The boy got up on all fours then flopped over so his back was to the large teen. "It's late Zeke. Let me sleep." Taking a few minutes to register what he just said, the borrower sized teen suddenly shot up then stumbled backward. He went a bit too far and fell off the pillow causing him to skitter backward like a spider until his back hit the couch. "Zeke...w-what are you doing back?" he was hyperventilating to the point he was on the verge of stuttering with heavy breaths.

Zeke replied in such a way it seemed like he was talking to a regular person. "I didn't want to deal with mom finding out I was out till morning. What are you doing?"

The younger brother looked down at himself trying to figure out what to say. "Um, sleeping?"

"Not funny."

"What! What am I supposed to say?!"

"Well you could start with...well this." he poked at the borrower making him stumble back a bit.

Before answering he pushed the finger back then closed his eyes. He didn't want to explain the whole situation while he could see him. He didn't want the disappointment or anger. "Well." he squinted harder. "I've always been able to do this. Just never showed...well anyone, not even people at the foster facility. It's kind of hard to detect who you can trust." a breath of air left his lips before continuing. "It happens anytime I'm upset, super uncomfortable, or anxious. I can sometimes control it but not too often."

"Oh." Zeke thought back to what happened before he left the house. He blew him off and yelled at the thirteen-year-old, plus he left him alone till midnight. Any one of things could have triggered this...so this situation was all his fault. "Well." he tried to pick his words as precisely as he could to not trigger anything else. " You honestly could have just told me." he watched as Zach's eyes slowly and hesitantly opened up, almost as if he was skeptical about the words. Zeke made sure his eyes were all the way open before shrugging to make sure he saw. "It was bound to come out anyway with how often we are around each other and I don't tend to change that."

"Really?"

"Yeah, kid. You really need to stop freaking out about what I think. If I didn't like you...trust me I would tell you. Ask anyone." he watched as his younger brother wrung his hands together trying to not look away from the massive teen in front of him. "Did you want to come to my room until you turn back to normal?"

Zach seemed even more surprised by the offer and didn't hesitate to answer. "Yes! I mean if you don't mind."

His older brother watched as the anxiety seemed to melt away the more the two talked that night. He tried not to seem too out of character and soft, but sometimes you needed to play the puppy once in a while. "I offered, didn't I? Come on."