simplepuzzle | Under The Mistletoe

That's unfair.

"So you're just going to give up? On...on all of this?" On the fight that led to all of them being together? On Chuck? On everything they went to to get where they were?

"What do you want me to do? Be miserable? Grow to...to hate you? Him?"

That isn't fair. You know what you got into, Chuck. You know it's unconventional.

And Raleigh knew what he was getting into, knowing his issues with his older brother. He did it anyway and seemed fucking fine with it.

"I thought you loved him too," he says, a little snappishly. "Or was all of it just pretend for me?" Don't you fucking dare pretend that, Raleigh, not for Chuck.

His eyes narrow.

"Oh fuck you Chuck. Don't be ridiculous of course I love him too. But I can't share you anymore."

"Where the fuck is this coming from?" he bites out, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his sides, hands fisted. "You were happy enough to jump in back in Vegas!"

Or does Chuck have to remind him he's not a fucking thing to be passed back and forth until Raleigh gets bored.

"I said I'd try! I tried! Be happy with him, if that's what you want! But I'm not doing this anymore."

Excuse him, he's going to storm out of the party now. Chuck is his own man and can do as he pleases but that doesn't mean Raleigh has to be privy to something that's hurting him.

No it doesn't but it also doesn't mean Chuck deals well with watching people he loves walk away from him because he's not giving them as much as they want from him.

And it sounds like Raleigh's made up his mind, so.

So.

Chuck grabs one of the bottles of rum intended for eggnog and takes it out to the balcony and glares at anyone who dares approach him.

A few minutes later Yancy finds him, a frown on his face as he comes up behind him.

"Chuck? What happened to Rals? He just -- stormed out. Is everything okay?"

Chuck wishes Yancy had waited until he was drunker, but there's not too much he can do about that.

He glares at the bottle and takes another vicious swig. "He's decided he doesn't want me if I'm going to keep fucking you," he says shortly. "Apparently it's 'killing him'."

Yancy blinks, glances over his shoulder and then looks back to Chuck.

"He -- seriously?"

How the fuck had Yancy not noticed any of Raleigh's tells?

"Seriously." Chuck offers the bottle, not looking at Yancy. "He's giving up."

Because Chuck can't give all of himself to Raleigh and--it's selfish, right? Chuck's being selfish because he can't--because he wants both of them?

He takes the bottle dazedly, looks down at it before taking a sip and handing it back.

"If...he can't do it, he can't do it, Chuck."

"Whatever." He grabs the bottle back and drinks it roughly. "So then I'm breaking up with you, too, or...whatever."

Because he's selfish he's the worst and he doesn't want Yancy without Raleigh, he doesn't want to choose so he'll...take neither.

It hurts. It...hurts a lot, actually. Feels like someone grabbed his heart and ripped it right out of his chest and smashed it.

He takes a deep breath, the hitch betraying him but he ignores it.

"I --"

He swallows again, jaw set.

"Alright."

"Seriously?" Chuck snaps over his shoulder, glaring. "You're not even going to argue it?"

Not that it's something he really wants to argue but--

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?" he demands. "We're all fucked up, all three of us, why can't we--" it's not fair.

"Do you want me to argue it?" Yancy asks through clenched teeth. "I'm not going to argue with you about what you want. I won't -- push you."

He runs a hand through his hair, a gesture that Raleigh echoes more often than not.

"Yeah, we're fucked up," he grits out. "We're really fucked up. Me and Rals more than most. Maybe he just needs some time. That's all. If it's hurting him--"

He cuts off and turns away.

"I don't want to hurt my brother."

"Fine!"

Chuck grips his bottle against his chest, looking away from Yancy. "I don't want to hurt him either but we went ahead and did it," he says shortly, quieter. "It doesn't sound like he needed time, Yance, he said he was miserable."

He looks down and takes another healthy swig. "I'll leave. I'll--I'll stay somewhere else tonight, I'll find a hotel. Text me when neither of you are home so I can get my shit out sometime this week."

The rum makes saying it hurt a little less, but it still hurts like hell.

"Chuck.."

He's quiet, pained. His eyes are brimming a little, but no tears fall.

"I..I don't want..."

This. To lose it. But he doesn't know how to fix it if Raleigh's miserable.

"Me neither."

He takes another swig and pulls back again, heading indoors.

"Tell Raleigh goodbye."

He doesn't want to lose it. But being around Yancy means never seeing Raleigh again, likely.

Chuck grips the bottle neck tight enough to turn his knuckles white and his shoulders shake only a little when he walks away from Yancy and out of the party in search of a cab.

"Chuck--"

Fuck. Fuck--!

He gets it. He gets why Chuck is doing this and it's better because...if they stay together then Raleigh would hate them both and he can't have that, but that doesn't make this hurt any less.

Yancy's left standing on the balcony by himself, a hand on the railing, watching Chuck go. He doesn't know where Raleigh went, and for the first time in his life, he doesn't know what to do.

Raleigh has actually gone home, gone to get his things and get out because he can't be there any longer. He knows Chuck doesn't understand. Yancy probably won't either. But it hurts...and he feels so second rate. Chuck was always calmer and more easy going around Yancy and Raleigh always just made everything so difficult, didn't he? Even now, he was the one tearing them apart because he can't handle sharing the person he loves with the other person he loves.

God he's so fucked up. And he's sorry. And he's selfish. And he's leaving.

Hey he can't leave, Chuck's leaving, he'll leave the two brothers alone to actually have some semblance of a functioning remaining family.

Chuck'll stand by his promise to leave them alone, to stay away until Yancy texts him to tell him it's clear to come and get his stuff away from them. He's not sure where he'll go--he can get work anywhere at least, maybe he'll go home to Australia, somewhere as far from here as he can.

He's already leaving. Got his things packed and he's gone by the time Yancy gets home.

Which is when he texts Chuck. Jesus Christ, he's already gone.

Chuck's checked into a hotel by that point and is just about ready to sink into the jacuzzi with the rum and settle in and he really doesn't want to hear this so he texts back,

so call him and tell him I'm leaving, he doesn't have to go anywhere

i've tried to call him, he wont answer. i got home and his stuff is just...it's gone.

Well I can't go after him he BROKE UP with me remember I'm at the hotel just text him and tell him I'm leaving too so he should feel free to go home

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