Chapter Text
Lunar was hiding in the bedroom closet.
Now, this isn’t unusual, but it definitely wasn’t good. Terra could tell because first of all, he wasn’t anywhere else downstairs, and second of all, she could practically hear him hyperventilating from outside the door.
Eclipse was in a screaming match with Moon in the kitchen, and KC was still at work for another twenty minutes. He would usually not be home on days where he worked his second job, but he’d taken off today, for whatever reason. Sun was trying to calm the argument down, which would normally be Terra’s job, but this time she was more worried about Lunar. Solar was at work. Sun would be fine for now, but she made a mental note to check in with him later. She knows how Moon’s temper scares him sometimes.
“Lunar?” She knocks on the door gently, waiting patiently for any sort of response. The sobbing gets louder. “Is it okay if I open the door? If you don’t want to speak, just tap once for yes, two for no. If you’re feeling too overwhelmed right now, that’s okay,-“
Lunar taps on the door once.
“Alright. I’m going to open it now.” She narrates, slowly turning the handle and pulling it open. And there he is, curled into the back corner, hugging his knees to his chest. He looks up at her, tears flowing down his face. Terra tries for a reassuring smile, slowly crouching down to her knees in front of him. The yelling gets louder. Lunar tries to control his breathing, but fails miserably. She puts a hand out, about halfway between the two.
She stays like that for a moment, before Lunar takes it. Terra pulls him close, keeping her breaths steady and even. Lunar is shaking, hiding his face in his scarred hands.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” She repeats, as Lunar finally manages to match her breathing. She hugs him close, covering his ears as the world storms just down the stairs.
“Oh, so now you’re taking his side?” Moon snaps, looking directly at Sun. His dark, medium-length hair is a mess, and tears prick at the corners of his mismatched eyes. Eclipse is fuming from across the kitchen, waiting for Sun’s answer. Quickly, he stammers: “I’m- I’m not taking sides here! I just think- I just think we all need to take a step away and-“
“Oh poor Sunny, can’t even handle a fight.” Eclipse hisses. Moon walks across the kitchen, getting up in his older sibling’s (technically adoptive nephew’s) face. “Don’t you dare talk to him like that. Ever.” “And what are you going to do if I don’t, Moon, please tell me.” Eclipse pushes Moon backwards, putting distance between them. Sun rushes over to stand between the two, speaking to Moon first. Disarming this situation was vital.
“Can you two please stop? You’ve been at this stupid argument for twenty minutes, and it’s gotten nobody anywhere!” “Let me handle it, Sun.” Moon says, taking a step forward. Sun puts out his hand to stop his twin, who looks just that much angrier. “I said let me handle it! You’re just making everything worse!” Moon yells, his hypocrisy evident. Sun drops his arm.
Eclipse laughs as Sun takes a step away from both of them, his own tears threatening to spill as he looks between the two. “You know what? Fine. Fine!” Sun throws his hands up in exasperation, storming out of the kitchen. “Good job, Moon.” Eclipse sneers.
The screaming picks back up, but Sun can hear less of it as he goes to his, Solar’s, and Moon’s shared room down the hallway. He closes the door as quietly as possible, letting his tears fall now that nobody could see him. He puts his back to the door, sliding down into a sitting position against it.
His hands reach up, tugging at his hair in a feeble attempt to calm himself down. He stays like that for a long time before he hears the front door open. His heart stops, as does the arguing.
He cracks the door open carefully, peaking out into the hallway. He listens.
“What the hell is this?”
“K.C., it’s- it’s not-”
“Moon. Go to your room.”
“Oh so I get blamed for it?”
“Silence.”
Sun backs away from the door as he hears the footsteps, going to sit on the lower part of the bunkbed in the corner of the obviously cramped room.
Moon barges in, slamming the door behind himself. Sun winces at the noise, keeping his eyes trained on the carpet floor. He notices a stain.
Moon is silent as he walks past Sun, to the window. He unlocks it. Sun looks up, panic seeping into his mind. “What are you doing?” He whispers. Moon has opened the window now. “I can’t stay here. Not right now. If you’re not an idiot, you won’t say a word.” Sun wilts at his tone, but tries to push away his hurt. This is just how Moon was sometimes, he reasoned, he didn’t mean it.
“You’ll- you’ll come back though, right?”
“Isn’t that what I just said? Keep this window unlocked, I need to go cool off.”
Sun nods shakily, hugging himself as Moon leaves. He can just barely make out the conversation happening in the kitchen.
“Explain yourself.” KC says, rather simply.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. I’m practically a grown man, and you have no control over me anymore.”
KC crosses his arms, leaning against the counter now and obviously not threatened by Eclipse, who raises his voice. “Well? Say something!”
“If you’re so grown, what makes you think you are welcome under this roof? In this home?” He asks, standing to his full height. Towering above his adopted son. “If you think you are so independent, I’d like to see you last a day on your own.” “Wh- you’re kicking me out? Seriously?”
“No. I’m daring you. You think just because you turn eighteen next year you can stop listening to me, you think you can do whatever you want.” He jabs a finger into Eclipse’s white long sleeved shirt. He looks up at KC, intimidated. “I will not be disrespected in my own home. You can either apologize to your brothers and remain a part of this family, or you can pack up right this second and get out. Because I refuse to tolerate it any longer.”
“They’re not even my real brothers, they’re yours! Just because you pretend to care about all of us does not give you any sort of right- and right to-“
KC silences him with a glare. It’s a while before Eclipse breaks the silence. “Fine. I’ll give them a stupid apology.” KC nods, signaling to Eclipse he could leave, which he does promptly. He exhales shakily. He refuses to cry. He’s above this.
He opens the door without knocking, to find only one of the twins who should be there. “Where’s Moon?” He asks, making an effort to be quiet. Nothing good happened last time KC found out one of them snuck out past curfew. Sun gets off his bed, hurriedly wiping away his tears. He points at the window, shaking his head briefly. Eclipse frowns harder, crossing his arms. He can see the teardrops on Sun’s dull yellow hoodie. He feels no remorse.
“Please, Eclipse, you can’t tell him. Moon is- he’s- he’s just angry. He’ll be back any time now.” Sun whispers, his expression some mix between anxious and certain. Eclipse decides to be a douche. “And what if I do? Might serve Moon well to finally take accountability for once.” He whispers back. Sun’s eyes widen. Eclipse smiles mockingly, turning around. He’s in the doorway when Sun whisper shouts at him. “If you do that, I’m going to tell him about the fight you had with Montgomery.”
Eclipse freezes. He remembers the ordeal, the absolute embarrassment of losing a fight to someone two and a half years younger than him. He’s more afraid of the word getting out than dealing with KC, his ‘Father’, so he turns back around.
“Fine. Let’s compromise, then. You don’t go tattling, and I won’t either.”
Sun nods once. Eclipse exits, going back into the living room. KC is there, of course, looking at him expectantly. Eclipse nods, and this seems to be enough for the taller man. He goes back to doing what looked like taxes in the old armchair they’d gotten from a garage sale. He wears reading glasses.
Eclipse flops down onto the couch, his bed since the accident with Lunar, who ended up having to be hospitalized. It wasn’t his intention to nearly blow up his sibling, but it had happened nonetheless. That had been a while ago. Now some of the only strong indicators something had happened were Lunar’s scars, and Eclipse sleeping on the couch. He was fine with it, seeing as nobody really hung out in the living room.
With seven people total to share two stories, two bathrooms and three bedrooms, it was only moderately cramped by his standards when everyone was home. But it definitely wasn’t a small house. Eclipse idly wondered how KC could afford it, even with Moon selling his ability to do homework to cover some grocery costs. Solar didn’t even try to hide the fact he helped with the bills. Sun and Earth were babysitting. The only reason Eclipse wasn’t being ‘useful’ is because he’d been fired a week previous.
The train of thought made him bitter, and he eventually decided to try and get some sleep.
KC shut the hallway and upstairs lights off, one by one. He could barely stay awake. Even with the help of not having to work an all-nighter, he was utterly and entirely exhausted. He walks into the kitchen, starting to make coffee. Eclipse was asleep on the couch. KC assumes everyone ate before he got home, judging by the generally messy state of the area. Usually Sun would clean at least half the house after school if he wasn’t busy, but based off of what KC walked in on when he got home, he guessed he was preoccupied trying to break up the argument.
He didn’t hold it against Terra for not being there. It wasn’t her fault Moon and Eclipse weren’t getting along right now. Solar would be home any minute now. He worked at the small local cinema, a good ways into the pseudo-city they lived in. KC worked relatively close to home, so he allowed Solar to use the car to get to and from work. KC himself just carpooled to their neighborhood with a coworker who lived close, and he got a ride providing he paid for half the gas used.
Truth be told, he resented himself. Resented his inability to solve his family’s problems. Resented the fact Solar had to help buy basic necessities for everyone. Resented the situation he’d put himself in. Taking in his much younger siblings was a no-brainer, of course, but adopting three more children? It’s not like he regretted it, no, he couldn’t even fathom regretting that— it was just he was unable to provide for them all consistently without working 24/7, and that upset him infinitely more than anything.
He has made bad choices. He has done terrible things. But he swore to himself he’d do better, not just for himself, but for anyone in need. There was a time when his only talent seemed to be violence. But with this new life came opportunity, and may karma knock on his door if he ever wastes it.
He grabs the coffee, setting it aside on the countertop as he cleans up the kitchen, which ended up with him cleaning the living room too since the rooms were adjacent. The noise doesn’t even seem to bother Eclipse. By the time he gets back to his coffee, it’s cooled off enough for his standards.
He grabs the last of the mail he’d brought in, grabbing a key from his pocket. He goes over to what was probably the only locked compartment in the house. Two missing person posters greet him as he opens the drawer, and he dumps the mail on top of them before closing it.
All was quiet.