Chapter Text
“You asked him to do WHAT??”
“Please don’t be mad, P’Newton, I only thought-”
“Your brothers are worried about you, New.”
Newton pinched the bridge of his nose. Hard. On most days he really really loved his little brothers. He loved that Faifa was sunshine incarnate, always trying to make everyone around him happy, even if it sometime was to his own detriment. He loved that Yotha was a fierce spitfire, not afraid to face injustices head on, misguided as he might have been sometimes. What he didn’t love was when the two of them deemed it necessary to mingle in his personal life decisions.
Especially when his best friends also decided to side with his siblings. Klao currently had a supportive hand on Yotha’s shoulder (when those two had become besties had definitely escaped Newton, though he can’t say that he wasn’t happy with that unexpected development), shooting Newton a frustrated look. Warich, who was casually leaning on the other side of the bar counter, nodded along.
“And I appreciate that you worry about me, guys, really I do,” he tried to reassure his little brothers who looked dejected at being scolded, “but there is no need for that. I’m just fine with the way things are. I’m so glad that you found your other halves, but that doesn’t mean that I’m unhappy being single. Also, it’s my duty as the eldest to worry about the two of you, not the other way around.”
Klao and Warich exchange a quick look that Newton couldn’t quite decipher. Yotha’s shoulders slumped further. It was Faifa who spoke up next, his brows drawn together and his eyes unusually serious.
“That’s the thing, Phi. You always took care of us, raised us when Mom and Dad were to busy fighting – which, by the way, was always – cooked for us, read us bedtime stories, helped with our homework, studied with us for exams, even if you were just a teenager yourself. Don’t you think it’s time to let us do something for you as well?”
Newton pressed his lips together, feeling a familiar sting behind his eyes. It was true, he had done everything in his power to ensure that Yotha and Faifa had at least the semblance of a happy home life when they were younger. Had tried to shield his brothers from their mother’s manipulations and their father’s cold indifference, taking them along to his band practices or on long walks around the block, where they would spend hours playing and talking; Newton always hoping that when they returned shortly before sunset, their parents would have turned in for the night and his siblings wouldn’t have to witness the destructive wrath of their parents’ broken marriage.
As if reading his mind, Yotha piped up and it broke Newton’s heart how unusually small his voice sounded.
“We know that whenever you took us on impromptu picnics or trips to the museum, you were protecting us from Mom and Dad. We know that when you turned up the music, it was so we wouldn’t hear them argue. We know that when we got home from school and you told us to go straight to our room and get everything ready to have a dinner party there instead of in the kitchen, it was because you were cleaning up the broken dishes they had thrown.”
Yotha kept staring at the ground while he spoke, his voice starting to shake the longer he went on. Newton saw Klao’s hand tighten on his shoulder, saw Faifa’s eyes big and wet with unshed tears.
His fingers subconsciously wandered to an old scar on his left hand, where he had cut it in his hurry to clean up the mess of shards his parents had left, before his brothers returned home. When they did and saw Newton’s bleeding hand, he told them he had dropped a plate. At the time he had thought they believed him. Yotha had run to get the first aid kit, while little Faifa had sternly berated him for not taking better care of himself. In hindsight maybe that should have been his first clue.
He blinked the tears away as Warich sidled up next to him, gently bumping their shoulders together.
“You were a kid as well, New. I remember how often you told me and Nop that you couldn’t hang out, because you had to take care of you brothers. You missed our school dances,” Yotha and Faifa shared a distressed look, but before Newton could interject Warich continued, “because your parents couldn’t be bothered to fulfil their role of guardians. You even brought them along to our meetups, just so you could make sure they were alright.”
“Which is how you ended up meeting Yotha, so I fucked up even that part of his life,” Newton said bitterly.
“You didn’t fuck up shit, I managed that all by myself,” Warich responded. Klao and Yotha, still next to each other, shared a pointed look and nodded in semi-amused agreement at that, before Klao turned to Newton.
“My fiance’s past misbehaviour aside, the point still stands nevertheless, Newton. You should have been busy with falling in love or studying or hobbies or whatever, not with being a stand-in parent. So why not accept a little help in the dating department now? Even if it’s from uni students, the perfect 10 liners seem to have a pretty solid track record when it comes to relationships.”
Newton shook his head. He wasn’t entirely sure what had convinced his friends that he suddenly needed a partner, but what he did know was that he absolutely didn’t need the help of his little brothers and their ragtag team of idiots to find one. “It’s not like I’ve never dated before. I’m not some blushing virgin, nor a hopeless romantic desperately searching for ‘the one’. Have you all ever considered that maybe I like being single?”
That made his friends exchange uncertain glances, but before Newton could feel triumphant at having gotten through to them Warich gently asked “Do you though?”
The worried sincerity in his tone gave him pause. “Because I see the wistful smile on your face whenever you interact with couples at the bar. You know that you deserve to be happy, too, right New?”
Suddenly Newton felt a hand carefully slip into his. For a second he felt transported back in time, a time when a five year old Faifa would always hold fast onto his hand, as if afraid that he too would leave him behind if he let go for even a moment. He squeezed his youngest brother’s hand, unbidden emotions welling up in him like waves about to crash into the shore.
“You don’t have to build your life around us anymore, Phi. Yotha and I are safe now. Mostly because of you,” his breath hitched, “I fear that we can never repay the debt we owe you for everything you sacrificed so that we could be happy. But I need you to know that we are. Happy that is. And you deserve to be as well.”
Newton felt his eyes sting again, stronger this time as Faifa sniffled and pulled him into a hug. He felt Warich leave his side, so that Yotha who had stepped around the bar could join his brothers in the embrace.
“Idiots, you don’t owe me anything!” Newton murmured, as he tightly held his little brothers, who he realised truly weren’t that little anymore, gently cradling them as he had done so often when they were young. He heard Yotha whisper ‘We love you’ against his shoulder and if at that the tears that had threatened to fall the entire time trickled down his cheeks and into his brother’s hair, it was for them to know.
Klao and Warich watched them fondly, before Faifa broke the moment.
“Also, yes, we know that you don’t need a relationship in order to be happy, but you did quite dramatically lament your lack of a partner the last time we all got drunk together.” Newton’s eyes snapped open as he incredulously stared at his siblings.
“I did what now?”