Why Are You Hurting

Porchay woke to loud banging which seemed to bounce around inside his head. With a groan he dragged himself from his bed to go answer the door cursing under his breath at whoever was trying to break the door down, "What?" he yelled at the other person, eyes still closed, earning himself a smack on the back of his head.

"What took you so long to answer?" Porsche pushed past the disorientated child in front of him and let himself into the room taking in the mess on the floor.

"Hia, why are you here so early?"

"One, you weren't picking up my calls, and two, it's twelve in the afternoon. You have twenty minutes to get ready and then we're going shopping. Tankhun is convinced you need a new wardrobe or something along those lines." the older man said plopping down on the messy bed and looking up at his little brother who looked a right mess with his hair all over the place and wrinkled clothes.

"I don't need new clothes, hia," the boy protested still rubbing at his eyes as he stumbled to the bathroom.

He walked out ten minutes later to find the clothes he had discarded on the floor in his attempt to get comfortable before going to bed the night before in the washing basket. The windows were also open, no doubt being his older brother's attempt at airing out the room without actually telling the boy that his room reeked of alcohol. There was also a note in his brother's chicken scratch handwriting to get down in five minutes because Tankhun was getting impatient. The boy put on a random hoodie from the back of his wardrobe and a pair of shorts before running out of the room to find his brother.

The drive to the mall was quiet with Porsche staring at something on his phone and Porchay trying to sleep the headache off. When they reached their destination Tankhun was yelling at Arm about time management and how much he didn't like being in the sun but his mood clearly shifted when he saw the young boy walk towards him as he squealed and pulled him into a tight hug, "My baby! I missed you so much."

"Khun you literally saw him yesterday," Porsche said finally climbing out of the car and pulling a pair of sunglasses on.

"Oi Porsche, you wouldn't understand. It felt like I hadn't seen him in forever. If it were up to me I'd keep him locked up in the house for the rest of his life," the older man said pulling away from the hug leaving Porchay reeling.

"Where do you want to go first? I saw the new Versace releases and..." the older man was stopped in his tracks when Porchay's stomach suddenly grumbled loudly causing the culprit to smile sheepishly, "This is why I was against him moving out! The poor boy hasn't eaten and it's already this late!" Tankhun was back to trying to squeeze Porchay's life force out of the little boy causing his brother to roll his eyes.

"Of course he hasn't eaten. He literally just woke up less than an hour ago and I can bet a thousand bucks he's hung over too," Porsche said walking past Tankhun and the two bodyguards followed by his own, "Let's go get something to eat first."

The group followed Porsche into a Korean restaurant where he led them to a table in the back discarding his glasses as he waited for everyone to be seated. He ordered a bunch of spicy food for his little brother and tried to ignore the urge to send Tankhun home as he went about talking really loudly to Porchay who looked like he was ready to bury himself alive just to get away from the noise. Just as the food was served Tankhun suddenly shot out of his seat looking down a few tables from where they sat before shouting seemingly having forgotten that they were in a public restaurant, "Pete!"

He made a beeline for the table, pulled the poor man out of his seat, and hauled him into a bear hug. Pete squeaked at the sudden gesture but went on to awkwardly pat on his former boss's arm while looking pleadingly at Porsche who had made his way over to the table, "Vegas, Macau," he said in place of a greeting, "Khun, let him go. People are staring."

"I don't care! I haven't seen my Pete in so long," the man whined tightening his grip on the helpless man who just kept awkwardly smiling and muttering how much he missed Tankhun too.

"You're interrupting our brunch cousin," Vegas crooned rolling his eyes at the chaotic scene before.

This seemed to be enough to snap Tankhun out of it as he finally let go of Pete and turned to glare at his cousin who just smirked at him, "Why are you even here?"

"The same reason you're here I guess, I'm here to get food with my people and you're interrupting that."

"Why is Pete your person? You already have your annoying little brother," Khun protested.

"He just is..."

Macau sat dimming out the exchange between his brother and his cousin and let his eyes trail around the restaurant before stopping a few tables down at the reason he didn't get much sleep the night before. The boy was stuffing his face with some sort of soup looking like he hadn't eaten in a while. He looks a little like a chipmunk with his cheeks stuffed like that, Macau thought narrowing his eyes at the boy. As if feeling that he was being watched, Porchay's eyes shot up and he found the source of the eerie feeling staring at his. Macau wiggled an eyebrow at the boy causing him to choke on whatever he had stuffed in his mouth sending the bodyguards at his table into panic mode, "What the hell are you smiling about?" the question was aimed at Macau causing him to look up to find his cousin glaring daggers at him.

"Nothing Phi, I was just trying to figure out how the hell you always manage to look like you belong in a circus," he replied smiling smugly, "I mean, what's with the getup? Are you finally auditioning to be a clown?

Pete dropped his face into his hand praying to whoever or whatever was listening for Tankhun to go back to his table before one of the brothers did or said something that would trigger Tankhun even more. The older man huffed at Macau's comment before turning on his heels and storming off to his table. The young boy wiggled his fingers at his cousin as he walked away with his two bodyguards scrambling to follow him. Pete practically deflated in his seat once they were left alone, "You really need to stop riling him up like that," he said to Macau taking a gulp of his water.

"Why would I do that? It's so fun to see him so bothered by my mere existence," Macau smiled innocently earning himself an eye roll from Pete.

"Your classes start next week right?" Pete asked moving the conversation to something that was actually relevant.

"Technically."

"What does that mean?" Vegas asked glaring at his brother, "Do they or do they not?"

"They do but I'm not going to school next week," Macau shrugged nonchalantly.

"And why not?"

"I have things to take care of next week."

"What things?" Vegas was getting visibly irritated by his brother's behaviour and while Pete knew he would never do anything to hurt his brother it still spooked him a bit to see the man so triggered.

"How about we talk about this later?" he suggested trying to defuse the tension building up between the two brothers.

"No, we're..."

"Vegas..." Pete said sternly causing the man to sink back into his seat pouting like a child. This caused Macau to snort; it was always fascinating to see how easily his brother folded when it came to Pete, "Stop it," the man warned.

Macau raised his hands in mock surrender with a shit-eating grin plastered onto his face.

*~*~*~*~*

Macau was walking home from his last class when he heard violent retching coming from the alley next to his apartment building. On a normal day, he would have just ignored it but he was in a good and oddly giving mood. He didn't know what to expect but a certain Mafia boss's baby brother was not it, "Didn't you have class today?" he asked wrinkling his nose at the sight before him.

"How is that any of your business?" the boy breathed still hunched over next to a huge dumpster.

"It's not, goodbye," Macau adjusted the strap of the bag he had on his shoulder and began to walk away.

He didn't care much for Porchay or anyone closely associated with the major family but he knew what it felt like to be in the boy's position. By the looks of it, he was drinking himself senseless in an attempt to drown out some pain he was feeling; Macau knew how that went. That's how he got through most of his break before school started. With his father dead and his brother in a coma he didn't know what to do so he drank until he couldn't feel anything and when it wore off he drank a little more.

He had just walked into the building when he remembered that Porchay lived on his floor. The boy rolled his eyes and walked back out into the alley where he found a now unconscious Porchay with a suspicious man lurking over him. He didn't think before he did anything really. His body moved before his mind could catch up and a moment later he was standing over two unconscious people, one drunk out of his mind and the other bloodied up beyond recognition. He hauled the boy onto his back and walked back into the building earning himself a few looks from some of the residents in the building. When he finally go to their floor he realised that he didn't know the password to the boy's apartment and he couldn't wake him no matter what he did. The first thing Macau did when he got to his apartment was find Porchay's phone and called the last contacted person not really caring who it was. The call connected after a few rings, "Hey, Chay I'm a little busy right now can we talk later?" Porsche whispered into the phone.

I probably should have checked who I was calling first, the boy thought face-palming himself but it was too late now. "Your brother got completely shit-faced and passed out in the middle of an alley. I'm not exactly in the mood to babysit a drunk child so please come get him."

Before the older man could ask any questions Macau disconnected the call and tossed the phone onto the mumbling boy on his bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up before someone went to fetch the mess he had dragged into his room. About twenty minutes and a hot shower later there was banging on Macau's door. The boy slung the towel he had been using to dry his hair over his shoulder as he walked to the door, "It would be a lot better if you tried not to break my door down, please and thank you," he said as he opened the door only to be ignored and shoved to the side before a panicked Porsche and three bodyguards stormed into the room, "Please come on in," the boy rolled his eyes. He closed the door and leaned against the door frame watching the men trying to figure out if the boy on the couch was dead or not.

That was until the boy had had enough of the shaking and decided to deposit whatever he hadn't already evicted from his body onto Macau's couch, "Okay, that's enough. All of you need to get out of here now!" he said through gritted teeth finally having used up his last bit of patience, "You've got your brother now please," he opened the door and motioned for them to leave.

The bodyguards walked out first one carrying Porchay on his back and the other looking around like he was waiting for something to come flying at them. Porsche stepped out after them but lingered a moment longer in the door watching his brother being carried away. Macau just stood trying to figure out why the man was still standing there instead of going after his brother, "This is the second time you've found him like this." it wasn't a question.

Macau hummed in response, what is he getting at? "Thank you," with that Porsche walked down the hall disappearing into a room a few doors down.

Porsche dismissed the guards when he walked in. He knew Porchay was dealing with something but he never got around to actually talking about it. Between finding out his mother was still alive and suddenly becoming the head of the minor family he didn't exactly have time to focus on his baby brother not that that was a valid excuse. He walked to the bed and sat on the edge next to the boy running his hand through his hair, "What's hurting you Chay? Why are you so upset?"

The last thing he wanted was for Porchay to be in so much pain that he imploded but it looked at that moment like he was halfway there. They usually tell each other everything or rather...they used to. Now it felt like they were strangers playing the role of siblings. They had grown up together with Porsche playing the role of both parent and older brother so he was basically a safe space for Chay but after he started working as a bodyguard and since Porchay found out they had drifted. The older man got up from his spot on his little brother's bed and set out cleaning up the room not that there was much of a mess to clean up anyway. He just wanted something to keep him busy so that he wouldn't have to deal with the sickening feeling that he had failed his brother.