CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS

After what happened at his hockey game, Aaron was left with a rather painful, dark purple bruise on his cheekbone.

Of course, that was nothing compared to the apparent mess Charlie's face was in, but then again, that was only what the blond had heard. He hadn't actually seen the older boy since, Aaron feeling so bad about what he had done that he couldn't even bear to think about it too long.

Sure, the boy had been giving him bother for months. But still, Aaron felt a tremendous amount of guilt permanently sitting on his chest at all times.

Never would he ever have imagined that he would be in such trouble at school, literally just the thought of it made him nauseous.

And yet, the second the older boy had spoken about the brunette - who he had grown more than accustomed to having around him - in a way he didn't like, he'd acted completely unlike usual.

And he hated himself for it.

He didn't want to be the type of person that would lash out at people at any point when he was pissed off. Or the type of person to resort to violence when someone was picking at him. He didn't want to be that type of person.

And he wasn't. He wasn't that type of person, that's why it bothered him so much.

Aaron was a nice boy - he really was. Despite what Steve would tell him, it was something the blond would almost pride himself on. That he was the nice one.

He wasn't like the rest of the boys around his age, the ones who picked at people or messed around with people's feelings or tried to purposely hurt anyone else. Aaron wasn't like that.

Aaron was nice.

But then again, maybe that was just it. Aaron was nice. Was. As in, in the past but not at present. Sure, he was still nicer than most boys his age, but would someone who was so nice cause such physical harm to someone else? Aaron didn't think so.

But then again, it didn't really matter what Aaron thought. It didn't matter how hard he tried to be nice to others, or how quiet he was, or how shy he was, or all the things he'd gone through in his short life.

Because now, whenever someone thought of him or his name was mentioned, all people would think of was how he beat up some kid during a high school hockey game because of his temper.

It didn't matter if people didn't know him personally. In his classmates eyes, he wasn't quiet, or shy - he wasn't nice. He would now be known for having a short temper, for an apparent tendency to instantly turn to violence as an answer to his problems. He was now known as just another guy who acted like an asshole.

Aaron was just like everyone else.

But on another hand, Aaron argued with himself that perhaps if he really was such an asshole he wouldn't feel all the guilt he was feeling. That maybe he wasn't as bad as he thought he was.

Aaron didn't know what to think, his mind was a mess at the thought of it all. It frustrated him that he was now portrayed in a way that he knew he really wasn't, he wasn't the violent type of angry. He knew he wasn't.

The blond let out a frustrated groan as his mind would simply not allow him to rest, shifting to the side to glance at his alarm clock. Much to his dismay, it was nearing 2:30 in the morning.

He let out a sigh, moving onto his back as he looked to the ceiling and bit his cheek in thought. The boy stayed like that for a moment before he sat up and got out of bed abruptly, mumbling to himself as he made his way towards his bedroom door.

With his small stuffed rabbit that he slept with every night tightly under his arm, the blond began making his way down the big flight of stairs in the house.

Hesitantly, he opened the door to the room which Kimmy currently slept in. Hoping she was still awake, the boy crept over to the side of the bed which she was at and looked down at her. His heart dropping in disappointment when he realised that she was in fact asleep.

He'd just wanted to talk to her, to tell her what was bothering him and why he couldn't sleep so she could help him. Aaron found that she always found a way to help him out, even if she didn't know she was actually giving him help. She just seemed to know what to say to him to momentarily put his problems at ease.

Aaron didn't know what to do. He could either go back up to his room and struggle to sleep due to worry, or he could stay with her and struggle to sleep all the same, just with her sleeping silently next to him.

After several moments of inner debate over the matter, Aaron decided he'd rather stay with her. Even if it meant he would still be up for the next couple hours from stress.

With that said he walked around the bed the brunette was on and crawled in the opposite side. Shuffling close enough to her so that they were just touching, but not too much or to the point his presence woke her up.

Aaron watched her for a moment, their faces inches apart. He just looked at her, as if he didn't see her everyday.

Aaron realised that he did that a lot, just looked at her. Usually he'd do so without realising, only coming to his senses when she glanced to him and he snapped his gaze away from her as he tried to refrain from showing his embarrassed expression.

Aaron didn't actually think he'd ever said it out loud before, but he thought she was beautiful. He would have been lying if he said he hadn't thought so when they'd first met also. Aaron had always been... intrigued by her.

And it puzzled him that she didn't think so, it was quite obvious that she wasn't all that confident in herself, and that she didn't think she was even the slightest bit pretty.

Maybe it was because she was insecure, because she'd grown up in a household where she hadn't had the best upbringing - where she didn't have two parents on her side. Rather, she had two adults pulling her down.

Or maybe it was because Aaron had never told her she looked beautiful.

Looking back, he didn't even know if he'd ever told her she looked pretty before. He was pretty sure the only thing remotely close to her looks that he'd ever actually said to her was that she looked nice.

Sure, it was a compliment. But nice and beautiful wasn't the same, not even close.

It wasn't that he didn't say those things because he didn't think she looked good, he just found it flustering to be so forward with her about her appearance.

But maybe she would like being told she looked good, Aaron didn't really know.

While furrowing his brows and his eyes still on her, he made sure to remind himself to tell her she looked pretty more often.

Aaron did eventually manage to drift off, but as expected it took him a lot longer than usual.

...

The next morning, Aaron was left rather confused when he woke to find himself practically slumped against the brunette. His old teddy still in his clutch, although his other hand was being used to hold onto the sleeping brunette tighter than he probably needed to.

Widening his eyes in surprise, he sat himself up and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, reluctantly kicking back the blankets on his side of the bed and getting up.

The boy headed for the kitchen, hoping he'd find some sort of decent breakfast before he had to leave for school.

He still had his pyjamas on and his hair was still rather scruffy, anyone could tell he had just woke  up. However he'd gone to the bathroom and cleaned his teeth, the blond hated the feeling of unbrushed teeth in his mouth.

He knew most people waited until after their food to brush their teeth, but Aaron would rather his first meal of the day taste a little off due to his toothpaste rather than keep his teeth unbrushed for longer than he had to.

After some thought, Aaron decided he'd make pancakes. Kimmy liked the pancakes he'd make, and he had enough time to make them before he had to get ready.

Just as he had finished mixing the mix together, the brunette walked into the room. Her hair was still in two braids, but they were much messier than they had been when she'd fallen asleep. She also still had her pyjamas on as well as her fluffy slippers.

She had only got those slippers when she started staying at his house all those months ago. When she'd first started staying over after she'd been put in hospital, Steve had gone over and got her stuff for her. But even then she didn't have a lot and most of what she did have she'd grown out of.

Because of this Aaron had Steve take them to get her more stuff. Of course, Kimmy hadn't wanted to do so. Not wanting the two brothers spending any more money on her. She felt bad enough for all they'd done for her anyway, but Aaron had insisted.

It wasn't like he was buying her stuff she didn't need to keep her happy, he was literally getting her the necessities that her parents should have been getting her anyway.

"What are you making?" She asked him in a tired voice, clearly still half asleep.

"Pancakes." Aaron shrugged simply.

It was just himself and the brunette that were actually in the house at that time. Steve was off staying over at some girls house that Aaron didn't know the name of. Aaron didn't actually know if Steve was over at a girls house, but whenever he wasn't at the house at night, the blond knew that's where his older brother would go.

If he wasn't out at some girls house, he was at his new job, the one that had quite frankly taken him so long to get that Aaron was surprised he'd even managed to get it.

It was at some sort of video store in town, and he worked there with Robin. Although the two had only been working there for a few weeks, Aaron and Kimmy would occasionally go and see them - but then again that was on rare occasion.

Kimmy simply hummed in response, too tired to think of a proper answer. She then took a seat at the kitchen table, placing her head in her hand and did her best to keep her eyes open.

It wasn't long before Aaron was sitting with her also, a large plate of pancakes placed in between them that they shared.

There wasn't anything said between them, the two far too tired to strike up conversation between themselves.

Aaron glanced to a sleepy looking Kimmy for a moment, remembering what he'd reminded himself while struggling to sleep the night before.

"You look pretty." He told her in as nonchalant of a voice as he could muster, trying not to show how stressed he was over three words.

Kimmy glanced to him with a taken aback expression, furrowing her brows before hesitantly speaking up. "Pretty? I'm in my pyjamas."

Before Aaron could respond, the sound of the front door slamming could be heard, Aaron flinching at the noise before rolling his eyes. The boy understanding that it was Steve who had waltzed in unannounced through the door.

Although just as he turned his head to tease his brother with some remark, his face dropped at the sight of the two clearly pissed off adults standing in the kitchen doorway.

"What the hell is this?" Aaron shrunk back in his seat as his father snapped at him, using his finger to motion between the blond and the brunette sat at the table.

"I- breakfast?" Aaron replied in a cautious tone, not knowing what else he was supposed to say.

"You have some nerve talking to me that way." The older man scoffed as he shook his head, Aaron didn't miss the look his mother sent him either. "Not after the shit you've got yourself in at school."

Aaron pursed his lips at the sight of his parents angered expressions. He knew why they were home, and unfortunately it didn't mean anything good for the blond.

"Really, Aaron?" His mother shook her head at him, her brows furrowed in irritation. "Are you so out of control you can't stop yourself from attacking some poor boy? Steve was on the basketball team for how many years? And he never got into any-"

Aaron stood abruptly and left the room, ushering his parents out, the boy did not want to have the conversation that would no doubt spiral in front of the girl still sat at the table.

"Aaron Harrington!" His mother snapped at him once the three were out in the hallway. "You do not treat your parents-"

"You are fourteen years old." His father began in a scolding tone, angrier than Aaron had ever seen him. "What the fuck gives you the right to start a brawl in the middle of a hockey rink? In front of the entire school? How does that make your mother and I look?"

Aaron looked to his father with a blank expression, simply blinking before speaking up in a small voice. "I'm fifteen."

His mother placed a hand to her forehead and shook her head, scoffing in disbelief before speaking once more. "That is not what's important right now, Aaron. You have beat up some poor boy in front of a crowd of kids, and you care more about your birthday? You are unbelievable-"

"A crowd of kids?" Aaron repeated in an irked tone. "Half of them were older than I am-"

"And so you think that gives you the right?" His father jumped in next, furious with the blonds attitude towards the situation. "Where we went wrong with you, I'll never know. And now, you think it's perfectly acceptable to have girls stay over when we aren't home-"

"I don't have girls stay over." Aaron bluntly retorted with an eyeroll. "I have a girl stay over. And I don't know why it's such a big deal when Steve has had-"

"We are not talking about your brother right now." His father's tone was harsh now, the man had his finger jabbing into Aaron's shoulder roughly as he spoke. "Not when you are the one who screwed up. Not have I ever  been so embarrassed a day before in my life, and you are not to have that girl over again. Do you understand me? You will not have a girl sleeping over as long as you live under my roof-"

"It's hardly your roof." Aaron couldn't stop himself from scoffing at the older man's words. "You're never here-"

"That is enough young man." His father snapped at harshly him. "You are to listen to me. You are a child who is doing nothing but making a complete fool out of himself while in school. You know what kind of kids get into fights? Washed up kids who have nothing going for them, that's who. Is that what you are? That what you want to be known as?"

Aaron didn't give the man the satisfaction of responding, simply walking away from the two and heading back into the kitchen.

"Where do you think you're going?" The older man yelled after him, only growing angrier as Aaron ignored him.

"To get ready." The blond told him with a calm expression. "Or do you want me to be late for school now too?"

He was met with no response, however Aaron knew this wasn't the end of his lashing just yet. The boy would definitely be in for it once he was home later that day. And he knew it.

...

I wrote this while watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory lmao.

Anyway hope everyone had a great day!!! TYSM for all the support!!

-AJ :)