Christmas had been awkward, to put it bluntly. Only for him though, not for anyone else. Nobody else had to sit through Xander and their father smoking cigars and drinking whiskey and laughing about dumb fucking bullshit elitist garbage. Nobody else had to withstand their mother fussing at him all damn day- why aren’t you wearing the clothes I bought you? When were you going to brush your hair? Oh Avery don’t get so defensive, I’m just asking! I want you to look your best, why don’t you ever try? At least he could hide out with Hope in the stables while she groomed the horses, and have a sneaky cigarette. He used to smoke a lot when he was about eighteen or nineteen. Never did now, except when he came home for any length of time.
Hope was really into the influencer game these days, a side hustle for her show jumping career. Mom and Dad were so proud. She’d been gifted a new show horse because she was taking a year out before college once high school ended in July, to focus on getting to the Olympics. Avery had liked horses once, but it had never really gelled. He didn’t mind helping Hope out though, and there was something nice about the rhythmic sound of the brush through hair.
Dinner itself was alright. Avery messaged Lyra under the table instead of paying attention to Xander bragging about how “well” he was doing at his meaningless post-grad paper, and Dad banging on about all the “great work” they’d been doing for the cause. In fact, Avery managed to stay under the radar despite his enforced participation until the night of Boxing Day, the day before Lyra was to arrive.
Xander’s MO, when they’d been younger, had been to corner Avery where he couldn’t easily get away, and then punch him in the crotch or the stomach and knock the wind out of him. Bruises were never easily seen that way. The incident in the haunted house had been an anomaly to which Xander had claimed innocence, and gotten away with. The plastic surgeon had done wonders with Avery’s nose anyway, so no harm done, right? Plus now the whole school thought he’d got a nose job like a girl, even though it’d just been put back the way it’d been before.
This time, Avery knew it would come. He’d been waiting, alert to it since the moment he’d arrived. After that whole thing with the curse and the shorts and Apollo calling Xander out publicly for his homophobia, there was no way he’d let it go. Plus, Lyra was coming tomorrow. He’d want to get his hits in before then. So when Avery came down the stairs in the evening to sneak outside for a smoke and to message Lyra some more, Xander was lying in wait, and Avery was ready.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” he said, before Xander even got a word out.
“Who said I was gonna? Man, why’re you so uptight?”
“Fuck off, Xander.”
“Hey don’t you walk away from me-” Xander grabbed at Avery’s shoulder and he spun to face him, adrenaline spiking.
“I said don’t touch me! We’re not kids anymore, dickhead, you can’t treat me like that!” he said, his voice rising, and Xander held his hands up, glancing upwards for a moment in case anyone was coming to the top of the stairs. “I know what this is about. You’re not getting in with Archer Goldenhawk like you thought you would. I’ve heard the lies you’ve been spinning for Dad. Well, I know. You went back for a whole fucking year of postgrad and it’s wasted cos you ain’t even close to the top of the pile, and guess what, he likes me-”
Xander’s fist was fast but Avery’s was faster, catching his brother on the cheek. No hidden bruises for him, although it had been a glancing blow. He wanted people to know he was fighting back. Xander yelled and it would have gotten worse, but Hope had appeared at the top of the stairs and informed them that Mother had asked for Xander. Avery had held her eyes for a long moment before he saw a twitch of a smile on her face as Xander passed her, absolutely fuming, having to put on a brave face for Mummy. Of course Avery had been dragged over the coals at breakfast for roughhousing too hard right when he knew there were photos to be taken and Xander always whined about having to wear concealer, but it’d been worth it.