WARNING, THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES MENTION AND/OR IMPLICATION OF:
Physical Abuse
Injuries
Alcohol/Drinking
Cigarettes
Panic Attacks
Suicidal Ideation/Action

This is a pretty heavy chapter (as you could probably guess from the TWs). If you can't read it and need to leave, that's perfectly okay, and I understand. I left a synopsis at the end of the chapter so nobody misses any major plot points. Remember to be safe, lovelies <33 /gen/pos

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Jimmy ended up having to sit out of the rest of rehersal, though he had to stay due to Lizzie being his only way home and she was set on staying the whole time. He'd gotten some worried glances from Scott, which didn't help ease his nervous stomach very much. At one point it seemed like Scott was making his way over to Jimmy until he noticed Zach waving Scott over just a few seats down.

The end of rehersal seemed to come later rather than sooner on Jimmy's part, but he was glad when it was finally over and he could go home. He could go home and sleep forever. At least, if forever lasted as long as thirteen hours.

"You doing alright?" Lizzie asked as soon as Jimmy had practically waddled over to her. She frowned when he shook his head, putting a hand up to his cheek. "You don't feel warm. Maybe food poisoning?"

Jimmy shook his head again. "No," he managed, and he felt like he was going to be sick again. "Can we go home?"

Lizzie gave him a soft smile. "We've just gotta wait for Joel and Grian," she said. "Grian should be done in a minute, and Joel's gone to the bathroom."

"'Mmkay." Jimmy leaned into Lizzie, which she responded to by giggling, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a gentle squeeze from the side.

It was odd how out of it Jimmy felt compared to just half an hour before, when his head was empty, his thoughts were clear, and nothing ached. Now, his head was pounding, his thoughts were foggy, and he wanted to lay in bed and cry.

"You all right, Timmy?"

Jimmy blinked, not even noticing Grian standing right in front of him. "Oh, hey," he said so quietly he could barely hear himself.

Lizzie huffed. "He's not feeling well," she told Grian. "Have you seen Joel?"

Grian shrugged in response, turning to the double doors leading to the main hallway of the school. "He went to the bathroom last I heard," he said, and looked back at Lizzie. "You're driving me home, right?"

"Yeah." Lizzie paused. "I'm gonna take Jimmy out to the car so he doesn't have to wait." Grabbing Jimmy's coat, she draped it over his shoulders and slipped her arms through her own jacket. "Wait for Joel, please?"

Nodding, Grian sat down on a pew.

Lizzie whispered a soft, "C'mon," and nudged Jimmy toward the door. He'd managed to drag himself along most of the way, but he had to lean on Lizzie for a good portion of the walk to the car. Luckily for him, they'd taken the van to school that morning, having driven Fwhip, Gem, and Grian.

Jimmy went straight to the very back seat, lying down immediately. Lizzie giggled and clambered back with him to pull his coat over his torso like a blanket. She pressed a kiss to his temple and climbed out of the van, closing the back door and hopping into the front seat to start the vehicle.

He started to doze off until he heard Grian and Joel laughing obnoxiously loud as they climbed into the car. Jimmy could hear Lizzie shushing them, then a couple whispered apologies, then silence.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying in his bed, stretched out like a five-tentacled octopus, and the T.V. was quietly playing Lovejoy's EP Pebble Brain on repeat. Grian sat on top of Jimmy's desk while Lizzie sat on the rolling chair and rubbed a cut on Grian's cheek with an alcohol wipe. He was wearing an over-sized T-shirt rather than his iconic red jumper, and had bandages wrapped around his forearms. Large band-aids were spotted around his arms, shoulders, and neck as well. Jimmy assumed that Joel was either at his apartment or somewhere else in the house.

"Are those new?" Jimmy asked groggily as he propped himself up on his elbows.

Lizzie jumped, placing a hand over her chest. "Jimmy," she said, laughing. "Morning, sleeping beauty." Grian snorted.

"I think he's more of a beast when he sleeps rather than a beauty," Grian said, trying his hardest not to laugh.

Jimmy narrowed his eyes in a half-hearted glare.

Grian chuckled before sighing. "Yes, these are..." He paused, flinching when Lizzie added peroxide to the cut on his cheek. "There are all new."

"All of them?" Jimmy asked, now resting his back against the headboard.

"All except the scars," replied the boy in glasses. He relaxed after a Band-Aid was pressed to his cheek and Lizzie moved onto another bad cut on his jaw. "Mum and I... we had a bit of a disagreement." Grian flashed an awkward, joyless smile then fixed his gaze onto the floor.

A scoff came from the doorway and Jimmy turned his head to see Joel (funnily enough, wearing sunglasses) holding a cup tray with foor drinks. Balancing the tray on one hand, the brunette lifted his sunglasses and propped them up on his head. "A disagreement, my ass," he spat as he grabbed a drink labeled 'Royal English Breakfast Tea Latte' and sat it on the nightstand next to Jimmy. "You better not be excusing her for beating you, Grian."

"I'm not," Grian answered, eyes still fixed on the ground. "Just sugar coating it."

"None of that either." Joel handed Grian an insulated cup that was much smaller than Jimmy's. "Listen" -Joel handed Lizzie a cup then turned back to Grian- "I know you asked for coffee, but I also know that you really like the mint hot chocolate so I got that instead." The brunette ruffled a hand through Grian's hair, making the younger squirm and Lizzie giggle.

Grian whined and swatted Joel's hand away. "You act like I'm your son," he grumbled despite the happy sparkle in his eyes.

Joel smiled. "Well, you are four years younger than I am," he pointed out, "and you do act like a toddler quite often."

"I do not," Grian objected, clamping a hand over his mouth in shock when his voice cracked.

Jimmy snorted. "He sounds like one, too."

Lizzie shook her head as she shook her drink a bit as a way to stir it. "Oh, you guys."

Joel threw his head back in a laugh as he plopped himself down on the foot of Jimmy's bed.

"Why'd she get upset this time?" Jimmy asked, and suddenly, the atmosphere didn't feel as light anymore.

Grian spit out his drink and started coughing, making Lizzie jump and let out a squeally, "Oh!" Covering his mouth, the boy ran toward the bathroom off of Jimmy's bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Joel stared at the closed door in confusion. "Is he okay?" His head turned at the sound of Lizzie sighing.

"He... he cried this time," the girl with the faded pink hair said quietly, and Joel mouthed a silent oh while Jimmy glanced over to the bathroom door. "He won't tell me what happened or what she did to give him all of those wounds, but... he was hysterical when he called me to come pick him up."

The thing about Grian, was he never cried to anyone if he had any say in it. The last thing he would ever be caught doing was crying. He'd always hated the thought of showing any kind of weakness to anyone, and Joel, Lizzie, and Jimmy all knew it was because of his parents.

Growing up, Grian had a pretty decent childhood. It wasn't until his older brother, Impulse, left that things started to go downhill. His parents divorced not long after Impulse left, and Grian hadn't seen his father since he was six. His mother started drinking and smoking when Grian was almost eight. It was his birthday the first time she hit him.

Jimmy could still recall the last time Grian had come crying to him. They were in elementary school, Grian was in third grade, and it was during recess. A group of fifth graders had been picking on the poor boy, so Grian ran away to find Jimmy on the swings for help.

"They hurt me," Grian had said, making Jimmy come to an abrupt halt. "They hit me like Mum did."

Jimmy hadn't known how to deal with the situation, so it never got reported to the teachers or police, and Grian's been too scared to report it himself. He convinced Joel and Lizzie to not say anything to anyone until he was sixteen so he could move in with Joel, but it was getting harder for all of them to not do anything.

Lizzie sighed, dragging Jimmy out of his thoughts, and said even quieter than before, "He had a panic attack when I brought him into the house. 'Locked himself in the bathroom downstairs for a good half hour and just screamed."

"That's why you called me," Joel said as he stared at the floor, and Lizzie nodded. Sighing, Joel flopped back against Jimmy's bed. "I swear, I'm gonna call the cops on her one day, and I'm taking custody of him."

Lizzie giggled. "I think you'd have to wait until your eighteen." She smiled fondly at her boyfriend. "I feel the same way. He doesn't need to be going through-"

The sound of glass shattering caught everyone's attention.

Joel shot up. "Where-"

"The bathroom," Jimmy muttered.

Lizzie darted to the bathroom immediately, knocking on the door more calmly than she looked. "Grian?" she said, and there was no answer. "Grian, is everything alright?" She fiddled with the handle for a moment then turned to look at Joel, mouthing It's unlocked. She slowly began to push the door open but was met with a resisting force. "Grian-"

"I'm sorry, I'll clean it up," Grian's panicked voice came from the other side of the door. "I'm sorry-"

Lizzie stopped pushing back, but didn't let the door shut. "I don't care about whatever mess you made," she said gently. "Are you okay?"

"I'm- I'm sorry, I-"

"Grian."

"I'm sorry!" the younger sobbed. "I'm sorry!"

Lizzie relaxed, and she nudged the door open just enough for her to slip through. "Oh, Grian-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make a mess," Grian murmured. "I shouldn't have- I didn't mean to-" He cut himself off with a painful cry. "I'm sorry."

She began to whisper to him, too quietly for either Joel or Jimmy to hear. Jimmy could see Lizzie pull Grian into a hug.

"Why is Grian's arm blee-" Jimmy cut himself off as the realization hit. "Oh. Oh."

Joel huffed and stood to leave. "I'm so done with this bullshit," he practically growled.

Jimmy glanced over at the brunette. "Don't you dare do anything."

"I'm not," Joel said. "I'm just... going for a walk."

Jimmy hummed an ok and laid back down as Joel left the room. He didn't feel sick anymore, but he was still exhausted. He closed his eyes, eventually able to block out Grian's crying, and fell asleep.

When Jimmy woke up, Grian was lying practically on top of him, one leg tossed across Jimmy's and Grian's head resting on Jimmy's chest. Though his arm was tingling and falling asleep from being underneath Grian's weight, Jimmy didn't mind it much. It was like sleeping with a weighted blanket, except the blanket snores and... talks in his sleep?

Grian mumbled something incoherent before Jimmy could make out a single word. Mumbo.

Jimmy snorted when he recognized the name, and he had a hard time trying to stop himself from laughing and waking Grian up. The crush Grian had on Mumbo was so obvious it was almost painful to see Grian pining over him all the time.

Grian's gentle grip on Jimmy's shirt tightened before he let go, turning over onto his other side. Finally able to move, Jimmy sat upright and stretched his arms and yawned before throwing the blankets off of himself and hopping off the bed. He went to leave the room but stopped and covered Grian with the blankets before exiting.

Still being exhausted and used to the dim moonlight that came through his bedroom windows, Jimmy squinted at the bright light in the hallway and held a hand above his eyes to shield them as he stumbled down the hall to the stairs.

That was a mistake.

He stepped down one stair, then another, then a third and a fourth, then caught his foot on his ankle and fell face-first into Joel's back as he was hugging Lizzie.

The three fell into an awkward pile on the floor.

"Pff-" Lizzie snickered at the sight of Jimmy sitting on a laying Joel's lower back with his hands on the brunette's waist. "That's, uh-"

Joel scoffed as he sat upright, shoving Jimmy off of him. "Liz, don't even say anything."

The girl covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to hide her giggles. "-very suspicious," she managed to finish her thought between laughs.

The two boys let out a similar groan in unison, along with a half-heartedly agitated seriously? which made Lizzie laugh even more.

Joel sighed and lifted himself off the ground, dusting off his pants. He reached a hand out to Jimmy, who took it without hesitation.

"What happened with Grian?" Jimmy asked as he helped Lizzie off the floor.

Lizzie sighed. "He was a bit more than hysterical, I'd say," she answered. She wrapped her arms around herself and shifted her weight to one foot, not making eye contact with her brother. "He broke the mirror trying to, uh... y'know..."

Jimmy nodded after a moment, and he didn't look at her either. "Did he tell you why?"

Another tired sound came from Lizzie. "His mom kicked him out of the house," she said straightforwardly, and Jimmy looked up from the floor. "She smashed a bottle over his head and started screaming at him. He said he didn't get scared until after he yelled back."

"Oh," Jimmy muttered.

Lizzie smiled weakly, though it didn't reach her eyes, and continued, "I'm, quite frankly, a bit proud of him for sticking up for himself."

A moment of silence weighed heavy on the three's shoulders before Joel spoke.

"We're going to take turns housing him," the smallest of the three said. "He'll stay a week with you guys, then a week with me." Joel looked a bit uncomfortable as he said this. "I'm not really that on-board with the idea, though. I don't think he'll take too kindly to it, considering that staying every other week at one person's house, then every other week at another is what happens when parents divorce, but..." He sighed.

"I work at a run-down auto shop in practically the middle of nowhere," the brunette continued, chuckling. "I don't make nearly enough to support two people a hundred percent of the time. If I could, I'd be renting out a condo, not an apartment."

Jimmy smiled a bit at the joke, and suddenly his shoulders felt a little lighter.

Joel sighed again, though it didn't sound as tired as before. "I'd love to take him in myself and have him live with me," he said, and there was a type of fondess to it that Jimmy could only describe as fatherly. "That's been the plan this whole blumming time, but... I need a better job, and I need a place that's in better shape."

"No better time to start saving," Lizzie said, nudging Joel with her shoulder.

Joel nodded and shoved a hand into his pocket. "I should probably get going." He cupped his free hand over Lizzie's cheek and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "I'll be back in the morning with Fwhip."

Jimmy blinked. "Uh, what?"

Lizzie giggled. "You know how Grian likes to go to the mall because of the carousels?" Jimmy nodded. "We're going to take him there tomorrow to try and distract him a bit. 'Let him have some fun for the weekend." Jimmy nodded again, and Joel sighed.

"Goodnight," the smallest of them said, and he gave Jimmy a quick hug before heading toward the door. "Love you guys."

Jimmy and Lizzie smiled identically and said in unison, "Love you, too."

Joel waved as he walked outside and shut the door behind him. Lizzie waited until he was driving away to wrap an arm around Jimmy and say, "You think you can sleep now that you've been in bed all afternoon?"

Jimmy barked out a laugh. "Not a chance."

Jimmy ended up sleeping on the sofa that night, letting Grian have his bed. Jimmy had gone back into his bedroom only to grab his phone and make Grian was still asleep. Upon checking his phone, Jimmy found an interesting notification from Snapchat.

Scott has added you as a friend!

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SYNOPSIS

Lizzie takes Jimmy, Joel, and Grian home, and Jimmy sleeps during the car ride since he's feeling ill.

Grian was taken in for the night by Lizzie when she received a panicked call from him. When Jimmy wakes up in his bedroom, Lizzie is helping clean wounds on Grian's face. A bit later on, Joel makes an appearance, and a little after that, Grian rushes away into the bathroom where he has a panic attack. Glass shatters, and Lizzie rushes to comfort Grian.

Jimmy falls back asleep and wakes up with Grian sprawled out on top of him. Once Grian finally rolls over, Jimmy goes downstairs but trips and falls into Joel and Lizzie on his way down the steps. Lizzie explains to Jimmy that Grian's been kicked out of the house by his mother and isn't allowed back home, so they're going to have him stay every other week with them and the rest of the time with Joel at his apartment. They plan to take Grian to the mall in the morning with Fwhip to help Grian feel better.

When Joel leaves, Jimmy settles for sleeping on the couch since Grian took over his bed. Jimmy receives a notification on his phone saying that Scott added him as a friend on Snapchat.

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Okay, so- uh, writing this chapter was a bitch, for a lack of a better word- /lh/nup

And who decided carousel would be spelled that way? It's literally pronounced carasel?? English confuses me. /lh/nup/nm

I hope this chapter flows at least decently? I feel like it's a little too blunt, but every time I reread it, it seems fine until the end? I don't know. It's very very important to the plot, though, so it's not like I can just not have it. I also hope it's not too heavy or anything, I don't really want to get into the heavier things until later. /gen/lh

Also, why is Joel having anger issues like an appealing thing to me? Like, not necessarily attractive, but like- it's intriguing, I think is the right word. Either way, you'll be seeing that later on. No spoilers, though, because what's the fun in that? /lh/pos

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and have a wonderful rest of your day, or evening, wherever you are!