Trigger warning: Mentions of abuse
•••

Tadashi sat behind the wheel and focused on the task he brought upon himself; taking Linder home.

He was required to, but he didn't have to drive. There were enough chauffeurs for that. Still, he sat behind the wheel.

Linder's head lay against the headrest of the seat opposite him while he stared out his window quietly, clearly in deep thought.

"That was a little harsh," Tadashi began. "What happened back there... with Mason."

Linder didn't even turn. "If this is you trying to start a conversation with me, it won't work."

The drive back home was a long one, so Tadashi left the radio on. He figured they might as well talk.

Tadashi chuckled. "Maybe it is, but as far as I know, it's already working."

"Prick."

"Aren't you just the sweetest little thing?" Asked Tadashi rhetorically and completely unaffected.

"If I tell you what you want to hear, will you leave me alone?" Linder asked.

"If it's the truth, yes. But I can't say."

Linder sighed. His fingers tapped on the armrest as he paid it no mind.

Tadashi waited.

"He deserves better, he has to accept that," Linder finally said. He was obviously talking about Mason.

"You're hurt," said Tadashi.

"No," Linder replied and laughed the saddest laugh he'd ever heard.

Whatever it was hurt him, Tadashi could see it. Anyone should be able to see it. The puzzle that was Linder got more complicated, and he wanted more of it.

"Why do you pretend to be a bad person?" He asked.

The surprise registered. Linder's eyes widened before he could school his features again, but with a few glances, Tadashi caught it.

"You forgot to leave me alone here," he sighed. "I am a bad person."

"I'm not blind, just mildly interested."

"Then shove your interest up your ass and sit on it. What do you want from me?" Linder got defensive.

"Yikes, so spiky, but it's wasted on me. I've got a high tolerance for well... people like you."

"Good for you."

Irritated lines drew all over Linder's face. He looked like he was barely there, like his mind worked a thousand times per second.

Tadashi took it as a sign to leave him alone then. Out of a hunch, Tadashi turned the music on the radio off and the car was quiet.

Linder relaxed further, as if even he didn't realize it.

Tadashi decided he'd rather see Linder like this. It was better than his tear stained face and red nose.

He didn't bother him again, he didn't know about Linder but it was a comfortable silence for him.

It could be the same for the man next to him, even if he twitched in his seat like he couldn't wait to get out of the car. Up until the time they stopped.

"Well," Tadashi killed the engine and turned to him. "We're finally here just like you wanted."

After a while, Tadashi held his hand tight, not willing him to go. Linder startled.

"What?" He spat.

"You kind of zoned out there."

It was clear Linder hadn't even realized it. Immediately the car had stopped, he'd stopped too and remained stuck with his hand on the car door. Completely still like he was in a trance.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," said Tadashi.

Linder pulled his hand away and got out of the car immediately, leaving the man inside to stare after him.

He got out and pulled his luggage—one of the bags—because he couldn't actually carry them both with him.

He watched him disappear into the house then decided after a while that he might as well take the other bag.

Linder was taking a while.

Yanking his door open, Tadashi got out and opened the trunk and pulled it out, then walked to the door.

It was left open so he got in, the bag weighing nothing in his hands.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" Tadashi heard a rugged voice demand.

At the same time he placed the voice, shock rippled through him. He saw the big man fling Linder to the side like he was nothing.

His head hit the edge of the wall and Linder dropped to the floor, a little dazed as a stream of blood trickled down one side of his face.

Right in that moment, a girl ran down the stairs, she couldn't look older than fourteen. Thirteen possibly.

"Lin!" She knelt by Linder, taking his head in his arms. "Linder! Stay with me." She sounded calm and seemingly mature for a girl her age.

"Get back to your room you little bitch!" The man growled.

She hugged Linder to her chest and defiantly turned her chin up to the man who could easily be three times her size. "One day I'm going to break all your bottles and curve your heart out with your favorite one," she told him.

Everything seemed to happen in a second. In one very slow second.

She got a punch directly to her face. Surprisingly, she took it well.

"No blood? You're getting sloppy," she said. Then she fucking smiled.

That seemed to throw the older man into a rage. Tadashi didn't even know when he'd dropped the bag but he was already moving.

"I'm going to kill you you little shit!"

The man closed his hands around her neck and squeezed, tightly from what it looked like.

She had to be struggling to breathe, but she didn't seem obliged to give him the satisfaction of showing it.

Tadashi's blow came seconds later, stunning him enough to let the girl go and send him back a few steps.

There was no way he was drunk, but this close, he reeked of alcohol. And like he could really use a shower.

He was definitely going to need one when Tadashi was done with him.

He didn't give the man enough time to recover, he hit him again, then dragged him a little bit further away from where Linder and the girl were.

"Who the fuck are–"

He didn't get to finish, this particular blow sent him to the ground. Tadashi was on top of him punching over and over.

How had Linder been living like this?

He didn't stop punching him. He had strength, and in this situation, the fact that he worked out and kept in shape gave him an advantage. The big man beneath him had that type of strength you are born with, but he never really cared to keep it up.

The voices around Linder didn't make sense for a while, but his sight recovered first. Finally making sense instead of the things that had been swimming before him.

Tadashi punched his dad on the floor. He'd never seen that expression on his face, nor had he ever seen him out of his element. His eyes were wild and for a moment Linder basked in the situation.

Even as Tadashis knuckles turned red, he didn't stop. Linder watched.

His dad deserved it, he deserved so much more than that. He deserved to suffer.

It felt so good to see him down for once, to see his blood gush out of him for once. A taste of his own medicine.

He stopped moving but Tadashi didn't stop. No matter how much he didn't want to, Linder knew he had to stop him.

He rushed to his side. "Hey Tadashi, stop this," he said.

Tadashi didn't respond to that.

"Tadashi! You'll kill him!"

"Good," he replied but didn't stop.

"Please, you'll get into trouble," Linder said. He couldn't even think that clearly but he needed to stop Tadashi.

Lily's hand gripped Tadashi's forearms, making little difference. "You need to stop," she told him.

"What the fuck?!" The voice carried, then she came closer, a look of horror all over her face. Great. His mom was here.

"What are you doing?! Who are you?!"

Things were probably going to get really ugly. Their dad was more important to her than anyone else. She placed him above everything, making excuses for all of his actions like she was blind.

Tadashi finally stopped but made no move to get off. The damage would most likely buy them some days as his dad recovered, but after that, they'd have it worse.

Linder must have been lost in his own thoughts not to hear the sirens blaring. The door flew open and suddenly footsteps rushed in.

Tadashi was being hauled off his dad by two officers. His mom might have called the police.

Of course she had, it probably looked to her like a stranger broke into her house and started to beat up her lovely husband, and she just had to play the role of hero.

Linder followed them out after his dad was put on a stretcher and carried out.

He saw Tadashi's tall frame pushed against a cop car as his hands were cuffed behind him. He wasn't even resisting. If anything, he was letting them cuff him.

Until their eyes met.

He tried to move towards Linder, but the cop next to him, a burly man, tried to restrain him.

Tadashi head butted him and made his way to him anyway. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Linder wanted to laugh. What he just did was considered assault against a police officer. And all for what? To ask him if he was okay? He was the one being taken away for God's sake.

The two cops that had pulled him off his dad, now pulled him back. Trying to back him against the car once again.

Linder was so tired. Of everything. Of letting everything just happen.

"Leave him alone!" He screamed at them. "Leave him the fuck alone!"

"Calm down," an officer said. "This man hurt you."

What the fuck?!

How did he not punch them instead? He thought of his dad on the stretcher. How did he tell them it was the real monster they were saving?

"Leave him alone he did nothing wrong," he said. Linder tried to push them away, to get them away from Tadashi. But he wasn't as strong as he was, and they held him in place.

"We know what we saw," one said, blocking his path from Tadashi. "He won't hurt you again."

"The fuck is your problem? What about what I saw, huh? Before you got here, what about that?"

The cop didn't answer immediately, like he was looking for the right words to say.

"Do you want to write a statement?"

What the fuck was wrong with these people?

Lily was by his side. Her hand on his arm was the only thing that calmed him down. He let her lead him away.

"Let it go Linder, For Mikhail's sake if anything."

At the sound of his brothers name, Linder lost the fight in him. Lily was right. Like she always was.

There was no way he could make a statement, the last time they tried, it didn't go well. His dad had somehow worked around it, and there had been hell to pay.

The police took Tadashi away. His mom left with the paramedics taking care of his dad.

He stood with Lily on the front porch, until everything was quiet again. It just happened suddenly. They both turned and hugged each other so tightly like the other wasn't real.

"I know what you are thinking," said Lily. "We'll find a way to help him, whoever he is. For now, I'm just glad you are back."

She was talking about Tadashi. Linder wouldn't just leave him like that obviously. "So good to see you," he told her.

"Four months," she said. "Not six?"

"I needed to get back. Where's Mikky? How is he?"

"It's been harder for him to sleep since you've been gone. He's on my bed," she said.

He saw that Mikhail had fallen asleep, his hands now lose over his ears but had he been awake, he'd be pressing tight.

He hated noise, and loud sounds. They always made him feel unsafe and uneasy. He once said the noise to him meant their dad was hitting someone and he didn't like that.

Linder settled against his small frame and the little boy stirred awake. He looked dazed at first, and then his eyes finally focused on Linder.

He was child, but his eyes had no spark in them, they lacked the playfulness that should have been there. Instead, they were dead all the time.

It broke Linder every time he saw them.

This was the result of them. This was what they did. Every single last one of them. Men like that, his father. Men like Alexander. Men who were stronger than everyone else. Men who had power.

Predators. Every single last one of them.

Thinking of what he did to Pierre still made him want to puke his guts out but if that was what it took to protect him from such a thing, then so be it.

Pierre was too kind, he reminded him too much of Mikhail. Of the light in his eyes before he'd died inside. He'd wanted to keep it that way.

"Linder! You're back!" Sleep laced his little brother's words.

"Yes Mikky, I'm here."

The little boy hugged Linder's middle and wrapped his legs around him.

Lily got onto the other side of the bed and draped the covers lightly over them.

"You can go back to sleep now Mikky, we'll talk in the morning okay?"

Lily kept staring up like she was in thought. "I'm just wondering," she started. "Who was he?"

Linder wondered how he should answer her when he didn't want to get into details about the Master's game at the moment.

"I'll tell you everything tomorrow," he said at last, he noticed the little boy didn't show any signs of going to sleep soon. "Go on Mikky, go to sleep, I'm here." He kissed his head. It really had been a while.

"I missed you so much. Please don't go away again."

Linder wished the boy in his arms could cry, but Mikhail never did anymore. Their mom was the last draw, after she started giving their dad excuses and taking his side, he seemed to just break.

"I'm not going anywhere okay?" Linder tightened the arm draped over him.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

This felt right. The three of them together again as it should be. The three of them against the world.

He never should have left, it didn't help anyone, certainly not his siblings. For all he knew, his absence could have been an excuse for his dad to make them suffer even more.

Lily seemed exhausted and the quietness meant she'd already fallen asleep.

Tomorrow might be a good day, without the monster around.

When Linder closed his eyes, he saw blue and red lights flashing everywhere. And Tadashi stepping into a cop car with his hands held together behind his back.

꧁___꧂

I kinda just want to say, be nice y'all.
People really be going through some shit out there.

And to most of the people in the comment section above, I'm not talking about Linder OMG. You can have any opinion you want of him, it's your choice.

I meant, be nice to people out there ✨in real life✨ because we never know, but people go through a lot.

🖤