Siblings

"What strange creatures brothers are!" - Jane Austen

"Dean, Dean, look at me! Look at me! I'm flying!"

Dean flicked a piece of lint off of his trousers and looked up. "Be careful, Ruby," he said.

When Mum asked him for a favour a few hours ago and he said yes, he wasn't expecting to be the one forced to take Ruby to the park. Usually, she asked him to do stuff like take the garbage out or mop the floors, something he could do. Ruby was the youngest of his four sisters, as well as the most rambunctious, loud, and excited. Nobody could ever keep track of her, and they had already gotten three calls home since preschool had started the week previous for her lack of manners and misbehavior.

An example of this had happened only this morning, when Ruby had asked Mum for a cat.

"No, honey, Dean's allergic to them."

"If we get rid of Dean, Mummy, then can we get a cat?"

Dean sighed and looked up at Ruby, as she gripped the pole above the slide and awkwardly swung herself on top, balancing precariously.

"Ruby, be careful. Seriously." He stood up from the bench and walked towards her.

She twisted around to look at him, loosening her hands. "I'm not a baby, Dean!"

"I know, just be -"

Dean wasn't able to catch her in time as she went tumbling down.

People think I'm insane because I'm frowning all the time

All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy

Seamus chucked his textbook against his bedroom wall, and let his head fall to his desk with a bang.

Why did his mother have to have more than one child? Why?

Being an only child sounded like a very appealing option right now.

See, the problem was that Jack Wilfred Finnegan was in the midst of what Seamus liked to dubover dramatic teenage rebellion. Which meant his fourteen year old brother had moved into the garage, found the oldest stereo he could, and started blasting Black Sabbath so loud the house shook.

There was also a distinct smell of smoke coming through the bottom of the door that connected the house to the garage. Jack really couldn't be that stupid to actually go and smoke inside of the house, did he?

Neither Seamus nor his parents had any idea what to do with Jack, seeing as only six months ago he was wearing polos and pressed trousers to school every day and informing them that he'd gotten yet another A on his essay about whatever piece of important English literature.

(Seamus didn't know. He was studying chemistry, anyway.)

He was trying to study for an upcoming exam - worth a good chunk of his final grade - when the Black Sabbath had started up again.

The smoky smell was becoming more and more strong, and Seamus stood up. Enough was enough, really. What was he doing there, having a bonfire?

Stomping down the hall, the last thing Seamus expected to see was the door leading to the garage on fire.

At approximately 8pm, Seamus slumped into a chair at the waiting room in the hospital, still coughing and half-asleep. The house hadn't been totaled, but the garage had sustained significant smoke and fire damage. Luckily, the firefighters had been able to get Jack - dressed in black denims, ridiculous-looking runners, and a black shirt, with his hair a mess - with only a few slight burns.

Apparently, he had been smoking, and had dropped a cigarette onto a stack of Dad's old university papers stored in the garage, which set the garage into flames. The irony was unreal.

Even better - Mum had no clue, yet. He'd called dad, who was currently making arrangements for the night and trying to contact Mum, who had went to go meet her newest niece all the way up in Belfast and was clearly too busy cooing over little Aoife to answer her mobile.

Which was why Seamus was at the hospital, completing the long and unnecessary task of filling out papers.

Only two people were allowed in the room when Ruby's injuries were getting assessed, and so Dean was sent to the waiting room while Mum and his stepdad stayed in the room. His stepdad had been furious with Dean, and it had only took the intervention of Mum for him to stop yelling at Dean and focus on Ruby, who had dislocated her shoulder and broke her collarbone. Nothing serious, the nurses said, no lasting repercussions, but still.

Dean picked a random chair, leaned back, and rubbed at his temples. God, he felt so awful. He should have been paying more attention. He knew Mum was upset with him for not paying closer attention to Ruby and his stepdad (who had never really liked him in the first place) was absolutely furious and probably this close from kicking him out of the house.

The only person who actually said it was an accident, that Ruby's always been very hyper was Evie, and that day he'd never been more grateful for the sibling that was closest in age to him.

Dean surveyed the room around him. There was another boy, probably around his age - eighteen - sitting next to him, with a face full of ash and large bags around his eyes. He had a very nice shade of sandy hair, and a cheery-looking face, one that seemed like it was made to tell jokes. Dean shook his head, ridding himself of those thought. Now was not the time.

"Er," said Dean, getting his attention, "you do know you have, um, something, around…?" He gestured to his own face.

"Yep," replied the boy, in a distinctly Irish brogue. "I know. I'd go shower at home, 'cept my brother gave that smoke damage, too."

Dean raised his eyebrows.

"My brother set the garage on fire accidentally. Room 221-B, with mild second-degree burns on his arms," the sandy-haired boy explained.

Dean nodded. "That's...ah…"

"Unfortunate. Idiotic," finished the boy. "See, the difference between myself and my brother is that I have the ability to blow things up in a controlled environment - chemistry is tons of fun, by the way - and he is fourteen and pseudo-rebellious."

Dean's first observation was that he liked the way the boy talked - in a humorous but not offending manner. He was able to take a little bit of the stress off.

"My sister fell backwards off the play structure," Dean said. "While I was watching her, too. Even better."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah. Broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder. She'll be okay, but still…"

"Yeah. Sorry, mate."

"You too."

Seamus felt very short compared to this giraffe - for he was tall and lanky - of a guy. He had to be at least six feet, compared to Seamus' measly five-foot-six. He also had nice, clean features, and intelligent eyes.

He was just about to break the ice with the tall, admittedly attractive stranger again when his mobile began to vibrate in his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Seamus, I still haven't gotten a hold of your mother."

"Oh. What about the house?"

"I'm talking to the insurance company right now. Fire department says the garage won't be fixable, but the house is fine. We'll just need to clear out for a week or so."

"She won't be happy about that."

"No, she won't, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. Her attention is diverted right now with Aoife. How's Jack?"

"Fine, a little shocked. Probably embarrassed."

"Okay. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Seamus put his mobile down. The waiting room was silent.

Dean felt the silence gnawing away it him, destroying him. He was bored, nervous, terrified, really.

He decided to try and lift the heavy silence.

"So, ah, er... where do you, er, live?"

Oh, no. That came out a bit more creepy than he intended it to. Luckily, with a quick glance at the Irish boy, he didn't seem to be extremely weirded out by his random, invasive question.

"Here," he said, "we moved here from Dublin when I was eleven, seven years ago. I'm going to take a guess and say you live here, too?"

"Yeah," laughed Dean, "yeah. I'm not all that great with... well, talking. It really sucks."

"No worries, mate. We all have things we aren't good at. Me - I'm terrible at reaching the top cupboard in the kitchen."

It took Dean a second to realize that he was making fun of himself. He laughed. "I don't know. You're lucky. You must not hit your head on the shower head every morning."

Irish Boy winced in sympathy pain. "Nah. Being short has some advantages - for example, I could fit in the bottom shelf of our refrigerator until I was fifteen."

"How do...?"

"It's a long story. Trust me."

They both looked at each other, and despite the insanity of what went on today, they laughed.

"Is your brother your only sibling?" Dean asked. "Er, I'm sorry if I'm getting too- "

"No worries," Irish Boy grinned, "it's a good distraction. Jack is, unfortunately, my parent's only other progeny. You?"

"I have four younger sisters - Evie, Daisy, Lola and Ruby."

"Jack has a friend named Evie," said Irish Boy, musing thoughtfully. "Before his 'rebellion' phase, he used to draw her name in little hearts inside his history textbook."

"I think there's a Jack in Evie's class," said Dean, "although there's Jacks everywhere, really..."

"I'm Seamus, by the way," Irish Boy said. "I don't think I ever introduced myself."

"Dean," said Giraffe, "Dean Thomas." Good. Now he could stop calling Dean giraffe in his head.

"What about you, Dean Thomas? Do you have a girlfriend, mate?"

"Can't say I do," said Dean, smiling a little bit uncomfortably. Seamus felt as if he was breaching a topic Dean didn't really talk about. "Nor can I say I'll ever have one."

"Why's that?" asked Seamus.

Dean shrugged. "I'm kind of... well, um, I'm a bit gay-"

"It's okay to be more than a bit gay," Seamus said, grinning.

"I'm gay, then," Dean laughed. "Is that..."

Seamus grinned even wider. "Why, I think we may have something in common, now."

"Really?"

"I sure am," said Seamus. "Actually, though, I was officially designated Flag Marcher #5 in this year's Pride Parade. I couldn't hold the cannon, though, because I blew it up at rehearsal."

"Really?"

"Yep. My mum found out when I was sixteen and I let her borrow my laptop - the first 'suggested search' was David Beckham, and after that James McAvoy."

At this, Dean actually snorted.

Seamus looked at him. The grin hadn't wavered.

"You know, being stuck in this hospital because my idiot brother set the garage on fire by accident really isn't that bad."

Dean felt something like elation bubbling in his chest. He was more ecstatic than he'd been in ages. Did this - did Seamus maybe hint that... no, it couldn't be. But still...

"No, it isn't."

a/n - When given an opportunity to write Dean/Seamus, I will write Dean/Seamus. *cuddles bbys* Anywho, if you couldn't tell, this was a modern muggle AU. It was a plot bunny of mine. I also liked the idea about expanding upon their personal lives and families, because they are pretty minor Harry Potter characters. For the HG comp, I used dialogue, emotion, word, pairing, word count, and weapon. My word counter on my computer says this is 1,785 - it's ffn that's messed up.

Anyway, review and enjoy!