Devery Short Story; Static Lives
Devery, age 22
Axiom (younger brother), age 21
Orinoco (elder brother), age 26
Logan (elder brother), age 28
Tacey (mother), age 46 (deceased at 36)
Barrett (father), age 48 (deceased at 43)
Garvin, age N/A
*TW; Blame Shifting, Victimizing, and probably other stuff too.*
*~*~*~*
When Devery woke up and found an empty apartment during late August, he knew that meant Garvin had officially left for who knows how long again. His friend would be back at some point, probably. He didn’t really care all that much either way though. He had things to do, after all.
--
What was he so busy with? Today was his younger brother’s birthday and he had spent the better part of three months trying to find him. It wasn’t as hard as he had thought it would be, what with how all of his brothers had basically cut him out of their lives. He was still pissed about that, on some level. But… There wasn’t much he could do. Other than track them down, which he hadn’t done before. He hadn’t thought to try. It had been years since he’d last seen any of them, before the last three months, at least. Finding Logan and Orinoco had proved much easier than finding Axiom, anyways. And he’d only gone about trying to find those two because he was looking for Axiom and he was fairly certain that they would know where he was.
--
Orinoco had been the first he found, but he had found Logan soon after and tried getting the information from him first. The blank stare he’d gotten, the clipped tone that held nothing but whatever Logan was forcing into it, and the one-sided argument that they’d gotten into was enough to send Devery on his way. He tried Orinoco after that, and was met with grins and smirks and smug glares that were almost worse than the words he spewed in their argument. The laughter was the worst of it though.
--
He tried bribing Logan, money worked on most people. Not on his eldest brother though, apparently. Not with how he just kept up his apathetic gaze and told him to leave. Orinoco, though? Yeah, he was much easier to persuade with cash. So Devery ended up getting Axiom’s location from Orinoco, along with a warning full of smug laughter, like his older brother knew more than he was telling him, and was down a hundred dollars. He was almost surprised he’d managed, almost. Money worked on most people, after all. And Orinoco was no exception, not like Logan was.
--
So Devery was up and getting dressed for the day pretty easily. He’d go out and find his brother where Orinoco said he was at, and… Something. Celebrate his birthday, maybe. Talk to him. Enjoy his brother’s first time legally drinking.
--
He wasn’t actually sure. He hadn’t talked to Axiom in years, hadn’t seen him in just as long. Would he even want to see him? Orinoco said that his life was looking up, to not ruin it for him. Being there wouldn’t ruin it. Right? It wasn’t like Devy was a terrible person to be around. It wasn't like they weren’t brothers. It wasn’t like Axiom had a reason to reject him. He was just trying to be there for his brother… His younger brother, who just like the other two, had cut him out of his life as soon as their dad died.
--
Whatever. He could still try. Right? It wasn’t like just seeing him was going to do anything. He was getting nervous for no reason. Which was dumb as shit, he shouldn’t be getting nervous over seeing his little brother. Everything would be fine.
--
Still, his nerves refused to leave. He knew he could just use his ability to get rid of them but, well, he was trying to not do that right now. The last thing Axiom needed was for him to be anything like Logan today. So, instead, he turned towards the second best thing. He grabbed a bottle of vodka from his stash that was always hidden from Garvin, though he had a sinking feeling that maybe he needed to find a better one, and opened it. He wouldn’t drink all of it, just enough to calm his nerves. Just enough to make sure he wouldn’t back out of it. He was going to see his younger brother on his birthday regardless of whether or not he was wanted there. What kind of brother would he be if he didn’t? Especially after missing the last three or four of them. Or maybe five.
--
So he did. He drank just enough of the bottle to make sure he wouldn’t back out and stashed the bottle back into its hiding place. With that over and done with, Levy finished getting dressed and ready for the day.
--
When he did, he ended up wearing a black button down over a simple white top, black pants, and black shoes, his phone in one of his pockets. It wasn’t fancy, he didn’t think it needed to be. It was just him going to see his little brother for the first time in years in order to celebrate an important stepping stone birthday. But casual was better than fancy anyways. Just in case. Of what, he wasn’t really sure.
--
Either way, after he had a cup of coffee and another sip from the bottle of vodka, Devery was making his way out of his apartment. He locked the door behind him and began his descent to the lobby of the complex before actually leaving completely. Once outside, he glanced around and brought up the address Orinoco had given him on his phone.
--
Walking there wouldn’t take long, so that’s what he did. Sticking to sidewalks and just not really paying attention to the people around him, only keeping an eye out for if he saw Axiom before reaching his destination. He didn’t though, and after fifty minutes of walking through different streets, he reached a part of town that wasn’t familiar to him. He’d been lucky to learn that his immediate brothers were in the same city as him. Logan was the only one that wasn’t. Devery wondered briefly about what might’ve happened between the other three, but he was crossing the street towards a law firm before he could get anywhere with it.
--
And, really, the law firm was a lot bigger than he had been expecting. Though he wasn’t too sure what that was either. All he’d been told was that Axiom had managed to get an internship here while he did law school. Devy glanced at the time on his phone, trying to decide if he wanted to go inside or not. He had a feeling that he probably shouldn’t, given what he did as a side job and all, but he also wasn’t sure if he could wait until his brother’s lunch to find him. Though, it was already pretty close to when he’d probably have it. Maybe another thirty minutes max? And, really, what was another thirty minutes? He had waited years before.
--
So with that decided, Devery took a seat on a nearby bench in order to wait for when he’d see his brother walk out of the firm. He didn’t have to wait as long as he thought he would. Five minutes after taking a seat, he saw him. The ever-so-slightly shorter than himself, gray haired, green eyed young man walking out of the law firm. The most telling sign that this was actually Axiom instead of some random old guy though, was the scar through his left eye.
--
Without wasting any time, Devery stood and started on his way over to him. Before he got over to him, he could see as Axiom saw him and his eyes lit up in recognition. Then those eyes narrowed and his brother was stepping back a bit, shifting how he was standing.
--
“What are you doing here, Devery?”
--
And… Devy paused, just a bit away from his younger brother. Axiom did not look too happy to be seeing him, or sound too happy either. Still, he put up a smile. “What? Am I not allowed to see my little brother on his 21st birthday?”
--
Axiom scoffed and shifted to start walking away, “When it’s the only one you’ve been around for since my 16th one, yeah. I’d say so.”
--
He followed pretty quickly, “Oh come on, I’m here now, aren’t I? Besides, I’m not the one who cut my brothers out of my life.”
--
A glare met him, “Well I know for a fact that I didn’t cut anyone out.”
--
Devery raised an eyebrow, “Then why are you so upset about seeing me? Would’ve thought you’d like to know that whoever did cut me out wasn’t making you do so too.”
--
A pause, and then, “Just go.”
--
He stared at Axiom, “Seriously? Why?”
--
His brother stopped and looked at him, “You’re asking why? You know why.”
--
Devery shrugged and stopped with him, “Obviously not.”
--
“Oh my—” Axiom huffed, crossing his arms, “Okay, fine. You don’t know. Whatever. You don’t need to. Just go.”
--
Devy stared at him, “What- No. Tell me why. Are you too good to spend time with your older brother or something?”
--
Axiom glared at him and then sighed, “You know what? Yeah, I am. Do you know why, Devery? I didn’t cut you out, Orinoco didn’t cut you out. Fuck, Logan didn’t cut you out. You cut us out, or did you forget? You left. Not us.” A pause, Devery couldn’t find his voice. “And, you know what, it was probably the best choice you ever made. My life’s been going just fine without you in it, after all. So, yeah, you can go ahead and leave again. I don’t need you ruining what I have going on. I’m finally moving on, making something of myself instead of having you three pull me down with you.”
--
And… Anger bubbled up before he even realized it. “Oh, fuck you, Axiom! You’re not some innocent lamb either! Just because you’ve gotten yourself into some fancy law school doesn’t mean shit. You’re just as bad as the rest of them!”
--
“You mean the rest of us? You’re no better, Devery! I bet you don’t even actually care! All this is, is just you trying to get a drink without seeming like an alcoholic— Isn’t it?”
--
He sputtered, scoffing. “What? No! I’m here to see you! Not use you to get a— Get a drink!”
--
“Oh come on, you all are the same! I bet you’re not even sober right now! Seems like something you’d do!”
--
Devery huffed, “What, you’d rather Logan be the one here?”
--
Axiom glared, “For your information, Logan’s the one paying for my law school. So, yeah, actually. I would rather him than you.”
--
“Seriously, you’re having him pay for your school? After the shit he’s done?” He had a feeling that maybe he shouldn’t have showed up, after all.
--
“Better than the shit you never did. How’d you even find me? Logan told me that he wouldn’t tell you.”
--
Well, no wonder money didn’t work on him then. Devery huffed. “Orinoco.”
--
“Thought he hated you?”
--
He glared, “Yeah, well, money’s a pretty good incentive.”
--
Axiom rolled his eyes, “Wow, so you bribed our brother in order to find me. Did you ever think maybe that meant that I didn’t want to see you?”
--
Devery shrugged, trying to keep from reaching out towards his ability. “Thought it was more likely that Orinoco was just being a piece of shit.”
--
His brother huffed, “Yeah, well. I don’t want you here and I don’t want to see you. So just leave me alone, Devery. Just because your life sucks doesn’t mean you get to ruin mine by being in it.”
--
And with that, Axiom was walking away again. This time, Levy couldn’t really find it in him to follow after him. He’d made it pretty obvious that he didn’t want him around anyways. He huffed and tugged at his ability as he turned to go back to his apartment. So much for trying to keep any of his brothers as his, well, brothers.
Fall 
Day 
Fog
