her weird, wonderful brother
five times emma keener learns something new about her brother, and one time she realizes that he's still the same harley she grew up with.
1. he’s gay
When Emma shoulders her overnight bag and starts the walk home, Gillian’s house only a couple streets away from her own, she’s in a good mood. She has good friends, she got to watch a movie she’s been hoping to watch, and Harley promised to show her how to set up her new laptop in a way that makes it so their mom can’t track what she’s doing and give her the links to the websites he uses to watch all the movies and shows that their mom refuses to buy.
But when she gets home, Harley isn’t there, and neither is their mom.
Emma comes to a stop at the top of the stairs and listens to the vacant nothingness of their house with a furrow to her brow and a small frown pulling on her lips. It’s pretty rare for Harley not to be home when it isn’t a school day. Emma may not have many friends, but as far back as she can remember, Harley hasn’t had a single one. He’s always at home, on his laptop, tinkering around in the garage, taking things apart and putting them back together for fun. “I’m learning,” he always tells her, whenever she pushes open his door and asks what he’s doing. If she wants to know more, he’ll spin his laptop around to show her whatever it is that’s on the screen and explain what he’s working on.
It’s always something complicated, which Emma finds funny because her brother, in contrast, is fairly simple. Harley is kind, and warm, and comforting. He finds stupid things funny and always goes quiet when their mom is in the room. Whenever Emma gets scolded for being too loud or too harsh or too much, Harley always sneaks to her room and tells her, “You’re perfect just the way you are, Em.”
He says it heavily. He says it sadly. Emma always wants to ask him why he sounds like that when he talks, but she never gains the courage.
And now Harley isn’t here, and Emma… Emma can feel that something is wrong.
read chapter one here. dedicated to @emmedoesntdomath














