baby brother
Of course there was the concern about him. Time had seen it coming, but admittedly had no idea what to do about it. There wasn’t a lot that could convince his brother, other than sheer necessity. Even then, there tended to be protest.
“But this is partly my fault,” Time said. “Maybe something could have been done about this sooner if I had said something. I shouldn’t leave you to pick up the result of my mistakes.”
Time wasn’t sure if that would work, but he was going to try, at least.
“It ‘ain’t so much your mistake as it is my failing, Time. I’m the one who’s supposed to take responsibility for you, makin’ sure you’re okay-- and it took me this long to find out something was seriously up with you, nevermind to do something about it.”
Oil hated to think about it, but... Time had even said so himself. You’re my problem. Still, he didn’t want to bring that up now. He wasn’t about to guilt trip him for being a little indirect with what was wrong. Oil sighed and knelt down, bending his knees without sitting on them.
“Real talk: I don’t want you to come with me. Mostly ‘cause I don’t want you to put yourself in danger, but also because I’m scared of what it’d mean if you did get hurt. It’d mean I screwed up protecting you. So if you’re serious about coming with me, I’m going to be as annoying as possible about keeping you safe.” Oil’s lip quirked. “You realize that, right?”























