Chapter Text
“Come on, dammit,” Laurence growled. “Stay down!”
He glared into his car’s rearview mirror as he spat into the palm of his hand. He roughly wiped it over the cowlick that he was impatiently trying to comb down just behind his right ear only to have it bounce back up again. He never did get a full night’s rest. How could he with his left eye still slightly throbbing from hitting the corner of his father’s dining room table? He had only compressed the wound with a frozen bag of peas for under a minute, and the wound was becoming a purple, crescent-shaped mark just above his cheekbone.
After leaving the house, he drove for over two hours before fatigue started to set in, and he parked his car under a large tree in a community park so that he could try to get a decent nap before continuing his journey. The heavy rain, however, pelted so violently on his car roof all night, and he was only able to doze for about half an hour. He groaned as he climbed out of the back seat and behind the wheel once more. As he drove along the park’s roadway, he had spied a restroom near the jungle gym. He parked in front of it and grabbed a clean shirt from his duffle bag, hoping that the doors were unlocked and hoping that he wouldn’t find any trouble.
He had to freshen up.
“Ah, fuck it!” he finally said, grouchily throwing his comb into his glove compartment and slamming it shut. He checked his reflection once more and mentally kicked himself for not swiping some concealing powder from his mother’s vanity. It would have covered up the wound very well. He rubbed his slightly bristled cheeks as he took a deep breath and picked up a large brown parcel from the passenger side floor.
His appearance wasn’t too bad, he thought, and it would probably go unnoticed.
“What in the hell happened to you?” Tasha asked him, frowning as he approached the front desk.
He cleared his throat, reaching for the pen that rested on the guestbook. He signed his name in lazy strokes and wrote the time for 7:47am.
Tasha raised an eyebrow, surprised that the stubborn middle Soong brother was actually complying with the home’s guest regulations. “Where’s Danny?” she asked.
“Last I checked, honey,” Laurence replied in a low, tired voice. “Danny and I are not conjoined. I’m here to see my brother, of course.”
Tasha placed her hands on the desk and leaned forward. “What makes you think he wants to see you after you stormed out on your birthday?”
“Spare me the lecture,” he told her. “I have a right to see him.” He eyed her with a solemn expression and removed his jacket to place it over the parcel he was carrying.
Her own stern countenance did not change. The Laurence that she was familiar with was always slightly drunk and trying to hit up the med aides, and his current unshaven, puffy-eyed appearance still made her uneasy. However, she bit her lip and walked around the desk, motioning for him to follow her.
He trailed behind her to the dining room where he caught a glimpse of Billy sitting at a small table by the window. He was eating a piece of toast with lots of strawberry jam and reading the black and white comics from that day’s newspaper.
A lump appeared in Laurence’s throat as he watched Tasha approach him. He had a sudden urge to turn around and get back in his car, to drive away like he had never made up his mind to come to the home. But he stayed in the doorway and waited patiently.
Tasha gently tapped Billy’s shoulder and he turned to her, chewing on a piece of his toast. “Morning, Tasha,” he told her before going back to his comics.
“Billy…” she whispered to him, leaning close to him. “You have a visitor.”
“Who is it?” he asked, as he started to read Garfield.
“Your brother is here to see you.”
“Danny’s here?”
Tasha sighed but forced a smile. “No, hon. Not Danny.”
Billy was confused, but then gasped loudly as he dropped his toast onto his comics. He looked over at the doorway and saw his younger brother, who gave him a big smile.
“Laurence!” Billy shouted as he jumped out of his chair, making the other residents jump in surprise. He trotted over to him, his arms already stretched out for a hug and Laurence was nearly knocked off his feet as Billy flung himself into him, making the parcel and his leather jacket fall to the floor.
Laurence tried to match the strength with which his older brother was hugging him. He sniffed to restrain the tears once more and swallowed the lump back down into his chest as he gently pushed Billy away and held his face in his hands.
He let out a throaty laugh as he wiped the toast crumbs off his brother’s chin before swiping away a tear under Billy’s eye.
Billy reached out and patted his brother’s stubbly cheek. “Hi, Laurence,” he said in shaky voice.
“Hey, Brother,” Laurence replied, moving one of his hands to Billy’s shoulder. “Do I really look that bad?”
Billy sniffed as he shook his head. Laurence ran his fingers through Billy’s dark, messy locks. “Geez, Bill. Who combed your hair? Stevie Wonder?”
“It’s messed up,” he said, quietly, but then looked away to hide a sneaky smile. “Like your face.”
Laurence cocked his head and smiled.They looked at one another for a moment until Billy moved closer again to rest his head on Laurence’s shoulder.
Billy squeezed his waist. “Did you get in a fight?” he asked.
“Long story,” Laurence told him, moving away again to pick up his items from the floor.
Billy attempted to take the package, saying, “What’s in here?”
Laurence gently pulled it out of his grasp. “It’s a surprise.”
Billy looked at him, his bright blue eyes shining hopefully. “For me?”
His brother didn’t answer but just motioned toward Billy’s table. “Go on. Finish your breakfast. I’ll wait for you in your room.”
“No!” Billy exclaimed and grabbed his wrist. He tugged Laurence behind him back into the dining room. “Sit with me! Tasha will help your bruise. Won’t you, Tasha? Can you fix my brother’s face?”
“If there’s a God,” she muttered as she stepped aside so that her excited charge wouldn’t knock her over on the way back to his table.
“You need food, too, Laurence,” he continued. “That will help you feel better.”
Laurence sat down. “I’m not very hungry,” he said.
“Just eat a little,” Billy insisted. “The toast is good. Oh! They have coffee. I know you like coffee. I hate it. It tastes like chalk. You have to eat. Just a little. I’m your big brother. I know best because I’m the oldest.”
“Ugh, here we go,” Laurence playfully groaned. “You’re not that much older and smarter than me, you know?”
“I’m three minutes smarter! We were born three minutes apart so I’m three minutes ahead of you.” Billy giggled at his own joke.
He started to walk over to the coffee bar until Tasha stopped him, a tube of ointment in her hand. “Honey, I’ll get it for him. You finish your food.”
Billy nodded and sat in his seat again and watched Tasha bend lower toward his brother. She made no eye contact with Laurence and ignored his irritated groans as she applied the ointment over his wound. “It’s starting to open a bit,” she said. “So this cream will help. You should have put on an ice pack when you got it since there’s still swelling.”
“Gee,” Laurence whispered sarcastically. “Never thought of that. You are so smart. Did you finish at the top of your cla—ow!” He yelped as she slapped a bandage over the ointment.
She rose again and looked down at him, her fist on her hip. “How do you take it?”
A mischievous grin spread across Laurence’s face. “Why, Tasha…” he purred.
“The coffee,” she said in an ominous voice.
He placed his belongings on the floor by his chair. “Two sugars…thank you.”
Tasha walked away as Billy chewed on his toast again. He leaned forward toward Laurence and whispered, “See? All better. I know best because I’m the oldest. You forget that sometimes.”
“I guess I do,” his younger brother replied as he rubbed his tired eyes.
“Breakfast is important. So is bathing. You smell like old clothes. And cheese, but not the good kind! Like…the kind Papa Ira used to eat with his liverwurst and crackers. Remember? It was smelly, like you are now. Oh! You can use my shower. And I have some shirts you can change into, and—“
“Hey,” Laurence interrupted his excitable sibling. “I’m not moving in. I’m just visiting.”
Billy took a sip of his orange juice and nodded. He looked at his lap. “I know…” he muttered sadly. “All day?”
Laurence sighed. “I can’t stay too long.”
The older brother licked his lips. “Can we…can I show you my tree?”
“You have a tree?”
“Yeah!” Billy said, his face brightening up again. “We have a garden here and a hot house and I have tree.”
“What kind of tree?” Laurence was now intrigued.
Billy shook his head. “You have to stay longer to find out.”
Laurence shrugged and nodded in agreement. “Fine…we’ll look at your tree.” He observed some of the residents smiling at them. The others, however, were giving Laurence suspicious side-eyed glares, and he knew they were making it a point to chat softly so they could witness first-hand this rare visit.
Laurence’s ears began to burn, but he let out a grateful sigh when he heard Billy's voice boom. “My brother came to visit! My little brother…” he announced to them, proudly. He reached out and patted Laurence’s hand as Tasha approached with his coffee.
Even she couldn’t help but give them a smile.
“Will you stay for lunch, too?” Billy asked his brother as his nurse walked away. “We’re having my favorite: egg salad. I know you hate eggs but I like the egg salad here. Maybe they can make you something else. You’re my brother. They’ll do it for me.”
Laurence leaned toward him, whispering, “Well, Bill, I was kind of hoping we could go out for a burger.”
“Really?” he exclaimed with a wide smile. He then leaned back and creased his brow in concern. “I don’t think I can, Laurence,” Billy said. “I usually don’t leave unless we take a day trip. Sometimes we go to the museum or the park…or one time we went to the zoo...I didn’t stay long, though.”
“You’ll be with me, man,” his brother told him. “You’ll be okay.” He leisurely sipped his coffee as they spoke.
“I know, but…” Billy suddenly looked down at his lap again and started to twitch his fingers.
Laurence watched him. “What’s wrong?”
Billy raised his eyes to him again, saying, “I don’t like to go away sometimes…”
“What? You just said that you go on day trips.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like it all the time,” he explained. “Tasha says it’s good that I try…and I do try, but…what if we go out today…and I don’t like it…I don’t want to not like it. You’re my brother and you…I want to have a burger with my brother…but I don’t know if I can…I like to go outside, but I…I don’t…”
Laurence set down his coffee as he rose from his chair, sitting in the one next to his brother. He had forgotten that his brother was practically fixed in a steady routine. He always had been since they were kids. His brother also didn’t like being in public places where there were lots of people. There was never a problem when the family would go camping when he and his brothers were younger, but Billy never fared well around crowds.
How could he forget that? How did Laurence suddenly forget all the times they went out as a family and Billy would start to cry because he wanted to be in his room or be in his sandbox in the yard? Had it really been that long since he visited here? No. He visited last year on their birthday. Or was it the year before? Or before that?
He softly held Billy’s twitching hands. “Hey…” Laurence whispered. “It’s okay. We don’t have to go anywhere. I can stay here with you and we don’t have to go out.”
“Really?”
“Sure, man. I’ll stay through lunch. I’ll have some chips or something.”
“Okay. Sorry…” he whimpered as he tucked his dark hair behind his temple.
Laurence squeezed his hand. “You have no reason to be sorry.” He noticed that Billy’s fingers stopped trembling and he let go of his hands.
His brother continued to gaze at him until he reached up and once again patted Laurence’s stubble. “You need to shave,” he stated in a serious tone.
Laurence laughed. “I know.” He stood to put on his jacket. “Show me this tree of yours.”
Billy smiled. “Okay. I need to go get my sneakers from my room, first. I don’t like dirty slippers. It’s muddy outside from all the rain. You didn’t get stuck in the rain, did you?”
Laurence picked up the parcel from the floor. “For a little while,” he said. “Get your coat, too; it’s a bit chilly out.”
“Haha! You sound like Mom. She was always worried we wouldn’t have a coat.”
“Or clean underwear,” Laurence quipped. Billy laughed out loud as he ran his fingers through his unkempt hair.
Laurence followed him out of the dining room and down the hallway, stopping every now and then to be introduced to everyone they passed, even the residents who were sitting quietly in their rooms.