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Dave snorted. They sure were a pair.
People often worried endlessly about Dirk. His frequent anxiety, his valleys of depression, his deblitating fears and shakes and nightsweats and screams and nightmares. His stresses, his triggers. His happies and his sads. His angries and his indifferents. His highs and his lows, and his ups and his downs.
No one seemed to notice his own issues.
While he loved his brother dearly, his own problems and concerns went under the radar. Parents paced, teacher teared up, students stared, and that rose Dirk's mind as top priority. Dave knew that their mental states were different, but they both desired the same things, the same love and compassion from others.
It was an unspoken tragedy. Cast out from others in favor of his brother's downfalls. It felt selfish thinking it, mumbling it to himself, but loneliness was his best friend at times. It didn't seem fair.
He excelled wherever he could, in academics, in clubs, in sports. Volunteered and did odd jobs and paid for his own car, yet all he received was a pat on the back, a couple 'good work's.
"This blows," Dave pulled his knees to his chest, arms folded behind his head as he settled his spine to the back of the couch. He unfolded his arms, then reached over to snag a sheet of paper from the coffee table. His eyes peered at the contents for the third time that day before shaking his head and smashing it into a ball in his palms. Dirk, off to the side, shifted weight from one side of his body to the other before finally sitting himself down across from him. "What does?"
"All A's on my report card."
He lifted a brow, "Isn't that a good thing?"
Tossing the crumpled ball of paper at Dirk, he snorted and folded his arms once more, "No one gives a shit, dude. Not my teachers, not our parents, no one. Who am I doing this for, anyway?"
"You shouldn't be trying to impress anyone," Dirk cleared his throat, "But if it makes you feel any better, or make this situation blow a little less, I certainly give a shit. I've seen everything you've done lately."
"Like what?" Dave narrowed his eyes behind his shades, "Gimme a few examples."
"Your car, your scoring goals last game. You made your first album a couple days ago, too."
"How'd you know that?"
"Because someone around here pays attention to you."