Mimi could immediately see him deflate when she started asking about him. Her brother was like that sometimes, always so focused on her that he always forgot about himself. it was sweet even if it did make her worry nearly all the time. She moved closer so she could rest her head on his shoulder. Looking down at his shoes, she frowned.
“I’m buying you a new pair. Those are terrible and I know you pulled them out of a dump aeons ago. I got my first order through my shop and I’m going to get you something! Anything you’ve been eying? Anything you need? Your little sister is here to help!”
She saluted him in the same way she had when she was little, following him around like he was the captain of her ship. Sometimes make believe was the only thing that got them through the days. Her favorite game had been any of the ones she was allowed to be picked up or tossed around like a small sack of potatoes.
Well, to be fair that was still her favorite kind of game.
It was her turn to freeze when he mentioned The Isle. That place…that place was nothing to her anymore. It was hell and misery and trigger after trigger. That was not the kind of life she had ever wanted to live and now they didn’t have to. It broke her heart to know her brother couldn’t see that, couldn’t see that they could both be so much more than they had been there. He could go on to be the biggest chef that Auradon had ever known and they could live together in a house they bought, happy, healthy, content with no one to answer to but each other. They would show anyone, everyone, who had ever thought they were less by living the greatest lives anyone could imagine. Maybe Elle could be in a little house out back just for herself where she could blossom in the sunshine. That was the life she wanted, but it could not happen if he wasn’t part of it. A life without her brother would be misery in it’s truest form.
“I don’t…think I ever want to go back,” Mimi admitted softly. “I don’t want to see any of those people again. We’re past that. We’ve moved on. Val we’re both so much bigger than that place! What’s there to go back to? I’m here, you’re here, and Elle’s here. That’s enough, right?”
The thought that she was failing him was nearly heart breaking. He had given her to world and yet she could tell she was disappointing him.
No one had ever been as soft with him as his sister. He didn’t know if he even had it in him to ever let anyone but her so gently rest their head against his shoulder; he never liked anyone to get too close if he could help it. “Damn,” he said, clicking his tongue, “I make you a nice meal, and this is how you repay me? By saying my shoes look like shit?” He feigned hurt for a mere moment before he laughed, breaking from character to reassure her, “Nah, I don’t need anything.” Even if he did, it wasn’t as if he’d tell her. It wasn’t Mimi’s responsibility to worry over him. He’d bear what he could on his own shoulders to ensure hers were as light as could be.
However, his smile dipped the moment he felt her tense at his side -- shit. Shit, shit, shit. While his mind raced on how he could reel her back from wherever she went when she went so quiet, he could feel his grip on the fork in his hand tighten. If he wasn’t careful, he knew it’d bend in half, which he had, admittedly, done one too many times back at home, when his anger teemed just under the surface as Cruella unleashed her maelstrom of insults upon him dipped in malice, fueled by her unrelenting disgust. That tended to end with plates crashing to the floor or a punch through the drywall, though, so he was doing well to keep himself in check considering.
“You’re enough,” he said, and that much was true. Had it not been for her, he wouldn’t have even considered leaving the isle for even a second, but he couldn’t bear the thought of being anywhere she wasn’t. “I’ll head back for just the weekend. Gotta bring over some stuff I forgot back there, but I’ll be here all week leading up to it, so you, me, and Elle can celebrate by doing whatever the fuck we’re supposed to do on Thanksgiving.” Sit around and talk about what they’re thankful for? Lame as fuck, but he kept that part to himself. “I can cook something. Or if you really want to give me a gift, maybe you’ll show me what you got in the kitchen. Been cravin’ something sweet. Maybe a pie? I don’t know. Surprise me -- that is, if you’re up for it, princess,” he taunted her only mildly, nudging her shoulder with his while he donned a grin he hoped appeared easygoing.