Burn After Reading Pt. 2

Chapter 4

 

“What on Earth were you thinking talking to Lil Muggie?” screamed Batista to Lil Battie in the car ride back from the protest. “You could have been seriously injured, or something far worse, touched by a Mugdown!” Batista stated with a sigh so heavy that you might assume that it took every breath he had in him. Lil Battie, still reminiscing on his brief encounter with Lil Muggie, looks out through the car window with a mournful expression on his face, wondering if that truly was the last time he would feel truly alive again.

 

Batista growing more annoyed with Lil Battie’s refusal to respond or even give a slight acknowledgment to anything he’s saying, pulls the car over to force Lil Battie to have a conversation about what had happened earlier. “It is a lot of nerve for you to do the silent treatment after getting us all into that fight back there,” Batista angrily directed at Lil Battie, who whispered his response under his breath as if he were revealing a secret he promised to never tell. “Come again, what was that?” Batista questioned Lil Battie, who finally looked in his direction with tears flowing down his cheeks. The river streaming through the eyes of Lil Battie disarmed all the anger Batista had been charged with for the entire car ride. This time around he was more soft-spoken and gentle with his younger brother whose current fragile state was a mystery to him.

 

Batista said with resignation,  “Lil Battie, I am sorry for directing my anger towards you. I think the pressure of this whole protest got the best of me.”

Lil Battie responded with his head held down in mourning of what could have been, “You are fine, it’s not about you, it’s just that I, nevermind…”

Batista cut in, “It’s just what Lil Battie? I want you to know I am here for you”

“Well, it’s just that…..during the protest, I felt true passion about something that looks to be doomed.” Lil Battie looked up at his brother, fear shining clearly in his eyes.

Batista’s eyes softened. “Come on Lil Battie, don’t give up so easily, the Battalion isn’t going anywhere. Pres. Banks knows we’re not going down without a fight. Also, it warms my heart that you feel passionate about the family business, for a while we were all thinking that you didn’t care much for it,” he said with reassurance.

Lil Battie rolled his eyes in exasperation, “Batista, the rush of adrenaline and passion I felt had nothing to do with the family business or the protest. I found love and it is destined to be a failure.”

Batista did not say anything for a moment, just thinking over Battie’s words. “Wait..is it-”

Lil Battie drew his gaze back to his shoes and responded quietly, “ ….Yeah.”

 

Batista nodded to acknowledge the words spoken by his younger brother, but also used that time to process and carefully find the necessary words his brother needed to hear. “Lil Battie, this news will be quite heavy to tell mom and dad, but you don’t have to carry the entire burden yourself,” Batista said encouragingly as he reached for a hug with Lil Battie, who embraced him with all his might. Through the tears flowing from the two brothers who will now forever have this bond between them, Batista jokes, “I’m sorry I almost knocked out your man, but he had to know it’s always on sight with them.” Lil Battie laughs for the first time and motions Batista back to the steering wheel and the two drive back to their home.

 

The Next Morning at The Mugdown Household

 

A knock on Lil Muggie’s door made him stir to the other side of his bed, where he had been laying since the tragic events that occurred yesterday, thoughts of Lil Battie relentlessly polluting his head. The knock was followed by a louder banging, the sound of his father’s voice following shortly, “Lil Muggie, let me in. We need to speak about what happened,” he paused, choosing his next words carefully, “You are not in trouble and we are not going to scold you, we just want to discuss things, that’s all.” Lil Muggie made no move toward the door and did not respond. A sigh was heard from the other side of the door and footsteps growing faint signaled his father had left.

 

Lil Muggie grabbed his phone from the nightstand next to him and opened Instagram to scroll through Lil Battie’s profile, at the top of his suggested searches. A few travel pictures, artistically posed solo shots, and family photos littered his feed. Lil Muggie went to the highlights and selected the one cleverly titled with a dumbbell emoji. Lil Muggie started clicking through slowly, admiring the dimly lit sultry pictures showing off the seemingly unending ripples of muscles spanning across Lil Battie’s body. With a low groan, Lil Muggie shoved the phone aside and buried his face in his pillow. A bright ‘ding!’ and a light from his phone made him reach for it once again and unlock it to discover a new direct message waiting in his inbox from @LilBatt. Lil Muggie excitedly opened it to read: “Hey…you up? Been thinking about you”

 

His heart was drumming a beat so loud he could barely hear his thoughts, the sound of his blood rushing in his ears from nerve-wracking excitement uncontainable. Hands shaking, he typed back: “I’ve been thinking about you too…” A small ‘seen’ receipt popped up as he watched three bubbles dance on the screen as Lil Battie typed.

Lil Battie: Would you be down to meet up and talk maybe?

Lil Muggie: Of course, but how? You saw what happened the last time we talked 🙁

Lil Battie: I think I figured out something…

 

Lil Muggie watched his text bubble and active status disappear with confusion. A sharp sound had Lil Muggie snap his neck up to see the source of the disturbance. The quick taps came again from the direction of his window. Lil Muggie dragged himself out of bed for the first time all day to draw back his dark blue curtains. A sheepish grin peered at him from the other side of the glass, Lil Muggie’s mouth ajar with shock as he stood frozen in place, gazing at Lil Battie, perched on his fourth-story window ledge.

 

A muffled, “Well, are you gonna let me in?” came from the window, propelling Lil Muggie back into motion. He gripped the window locks and yanked the glass upwards and snapped the mesh out of its frame. Lil Battie swung his legs over, his feet kicking the jars of pens off the desk under the window. The crash of the pens clattering onto the hardwood made Lil Muggie wince. Lil Battie froze at the sound of the pitter-patter of footsteps outside the door. Mama Mug’s voice called in, “Is everything okay, Lil Mug? I heard a crash!” Lil Muggie stuttered back, “Oh-Uh-Um Yeah everything is good, um, just dropped some pens while um- journaling!” Lil Battie mockingly mouthed “Smooth”. Mama Mug replied back, “Oh I am glad you are using writing as an outlet, sweetheart! Journaling can truly be so freeing! I will let your father know you are doing better, holler if you need anything and come out whenever you are ready okay?” Lil Muggie said, “Sure mom, thanks,” desperate to get her out of earshot as soon as possible.

 

Lil Battie finished his obstacle course over the desk and chair and finally stood in front of Lil Muggie, neither of them uttering a word. The sound of their quick breathing was the only sound in the room as they longingly gazed into each other. The both of them started to speak at the same time,

“What are you doing he-”

“So how have you been-”

They both chuckled. The tension in the room was practically visible, the sexual energy between them a fuze waiting to be lit.

“Okay, you start,” said Lil Battie.

“What are you doing here, do you know how dangerous this is?” whispered Lil Muggie.

“Are you asking me to leave?”

“No!” Lil Muggie replied too quickly. He cleared his throat, “No,” he repeated softly. “How did you even get up here?”

“The Battalions like to go climbing on family excursions,” he said with a shrug. Lil Muggie pretended he didn’t already deduce this from the numerous rock climbing and mountaineering pictures he ogled at on Lil Battie’s profile already.

Lil Battie kept speaking, “But there are other things I’d like to climb on too,” giving a knowing glance towards Lil Muggie.

Lil Battie took a step closer, “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head Lil Muggie,” he muttered without breaking eye contact.

“Me neither, but my family has kept me under strict watch, how will this work if I can’t even see you?”

“You’re seeing me now, aren’t you?” Lil Battie said with a sad smile, quickly turning into a mischievous one as he continued, “And do you like what you see?”

Lil Muggie nodded his head quickly, unable to form a thought in his brain much less words to say. His eyes darted down to Lil Battie’s lips, watching as his tongue slowly dampened the soft cushion of his lips, held slightly open.

Lil Battie took another step closer, the space between them no wider than the length of a yellow HB graphite Dixon Ticonderoga unsharpened pencil. Lil Battie watched Lil Muggie swallow hard, their chests heaving with shallow breaths.

Lil Muggie softly responded, “I like what I see very much,” dragged his eyes away from the earthy soft pools of coffee that were Lil Battie’s, slowly moving his gaze down his body, taking in every inch and savoring every second. Lil Muggie’s breath hitched as he drew his gaze lower, meeting a smirk on Lil Battie’s face as he looked back up.

Lil Battie opened his mouth to speak softly but sincerely, “Father Batt keeps a strictly vegan household, something about non-vegetarians being suspicious. But…after meeting you, Lil Muggie,” he swallowed, “I’ve been craving meat more than ever.”

A loud buzzing interrupted, coming from Lil Battie’s pocket. He drew out his phone and Father Battalion’s face lit up the incoming call screen. He declined and looked back at Lil Muggie, “Now, where were we…”

As Lil Battie leaned ever so closer to Lil Muggie, head tilting slightly, the phone started buzzing again. Lil Battie closed his eyes with a sigh of exasperation and leaned back, this time answering the phone.

“Yes, Father?”

Lil Muggie sat down on his bed, collecting his breath, unable to hear the dialogue through the phone, and instead watched Lil Battie.

“I’m with some friends right now, I can’t come home yet.”

Lil Battie’s eyebrows knit together with concern, “What happened, is anything wrong?”

“Okay, yeah I am heading back right now,” Lil Battie said as he hung up the phone, throwing Lil Muggie a regretful glance.

Lil Muggie asked, “Is everything okay at home?”

“I don’t know, my dad seemed pretty emotional when he called, I better get back,” Lil Battie responded as he began to climb back over the desk to the window. He held out his hand as he perched back on the ledge, Lil Muggie grasped it and gave a reassuring squeeze.

“I will see you again Lil Muggie Mugdown,” Lil Battie said with confidence, “We will figure out how to make this work. I will convince my father, and you speak with your family, okay?”

Lil Muggie nodded, “I will see you again soon.”

 

The Battalion Family Household

 

Lil Battie rushes into a home full of family members weeping uncontrollably. Bethany and Bates try to console Mama Batt to no avail, while Uncle Opinion and Papa Batt embrace each other in the masculine way of silence and making eye contact that is enough to convey more than words ever could. “Dad, I got here as fast as I could, what happened? Did we get shut down already?” Lil Battie frantically asks as he tries to put the pieces of this mournful puzzle together.

 

Papa Batt, with a hand on his youngest child’s shoulder, begins to weep as he chokes out with a thick voice, “It’s your brother, Lil Battie, he’s dead.”

 

The ground seems to have started moving under his feet, somehow propelling him towards the exit from this horror movie-esque scene that was surely a dream. Lil Battie rushes out through the door in hopes that as he leaves, the bad news will leave as well. The brother who he had shared a bond with just the day before is now gone, and his secret is gone with him too.