Goodnight Syrus

A/n: This is what I get for having nothing else to do. I'm on a kick so here's my drabble.

The digital clock flashed 12:00 AM, and that was only when Zane looked up, he hadn't bothered to check the time for the passed thirty minutes, maybe even later then that. In fact, he'd been too busy working on a homework assignment that he didn't have time for anything but the paper. Of course, it was just his luck, the middle of summer and he had been assigned homework. He was entering his second year at Duel Academy, and already he had made a good impression. He was already the top duelist in the academy.

It had taken him at least three hours to come halfway to finishing the assignment, but it still wasn't good enough. He was nowhere near done with it. Go figure. But it was getting too late; he would have to finish the rest of the assignment tomorrow night. He had to get up early, he promised his parents he would baby-sit his little brother while they were on vacation, and usually his brother was up at six.

'I'll save it now and then go to bed.' he thought to himself, his mouse was even on the top of the screen where it said 'File' but the second he clicked that, the lights flickered and went out, causing the computer to go out as well. Zane mentally cursed. Just his luck, he was so close to finishing the damn thing only to find the power had gone out.

Now what he supposed to do? Half of the assignment completed. It took a lot of research and a lot of patience just to finish half of the dammed assignment, and now he had to start over? Sighing, the teen rubbed his temples, staring at the computer for three hours straight had given him a headache. But he didn't move. He kept his eyes on the computer, as if hoping for some kind of miracle. Hoping more than anything that the computer would turn on again and the assignment would still be there.

No such luck. After ten minutes of sitting there and thinking how stupid he could've been for not saving the assignment hours ago, the computer remained off. And just as he was about to get up to return to his room for the night, he felt something tugging on his blue blazer. For a minute, he expected it to be the golden retriever puppy his parents had bought his brother. Zane was about to tell the dog to get away, but his blue eyes looked down to find a boy standing there. He looked fearfully up at Zane, hugging a teddy bear close to him. "Go to bed Syrus." Zane said, his brother was supposed to be in bed hours ago, what the hell was he doing up so late?

Syrus didn't move he stood rooted on this spot, death gripping the teddy bear, "I'm scared…" Syrus whimpered.

For the second time that night, Zane let out a sigh. Giving his brother an irritated look. "What do you want me to do about it?" he asked.

Syrus just stared at him, tears formed in his eyes, and a few slid down his cheeks, "Read to me?" he asked, hopefulness in his voice.

Zane stared at him, as if expecting his brother to say he was just kidding. When was the last time he had ever picked up a book and sat down to read to his brother? Hell when was the last time he bothered to talk to his brother?

He continued staring at his brother before finally standing up, "Come on." he said, walking toward the door. He stopped when Syrus didn't follow him, turning around he said again, "Come on, Syrus."

"It's dark…" Syrus said.

"You came down here alone; you can walk upstairs without me holding your hand." Zane said firmly, again he turned away from his brother and continued walking. He stopped when he heard his brother sniffle. 'God…' Zane thought, turning he walked back to his brother, taking his hand and leading him upstairs, only stopping to find a flashlight, before returning his brother to his room.

Syrus climbed into his bed while his brother clicked on the flashlight, scanning the bookshelf for a book to read to him. Finally picking one out, he joined his brother on the bed and opened the book.

---

By the middle of the book Syrus had already fallen asleep; he was still hugging his teddy bear, with that same death grip as before. When he finished the book, Zane turned and looked at his brother, thankful he was finally asleep. Slowly, he took the glasses off his brother and placed them on the bedside table; he stood and walked across the room, book in one hand and the flashlight in another. He placed the book back onto the bookshelf and walked to the door.

He was halfway out of the room when a flash of lightning flashed across the sky, causing all of the dark corners of the room to be lit by some light, but only for a second. After the flash of lightning was clap of thunder, big enough to shake some of the things in the room.

The noise seemed to bother Syrus, because he let out a whimper, hugging the teddy bear closer to him. Zane stared at his brother for a minute, hoping like hell he wasn't about to wake up. If he woke up now he would want another story, or would want to sleep with their parents, and that wasn't going to happen as they were out of town. So then he would refuse to go back to sleep until the storm ended.

He continued watching his brother for a minute, before another flash of lightning and boom of thunder sounded. Again, Syrus whimpered, clinging to the bear still. Odds were he was going to wake up. And Zane needed some peace. Finally, he walked back into the room, joining his brother on the bed again.

He lay there, staring up at the ceiling for a while, being unable to sleep. He just had to be the good brother tonight, of all nights. And when he was halfway asleep, a clap of thunder caused him to wake completely. He turned and looked at his brother, this time Syrus had abandoned the bear altogether and was now clinging to his brother.

'Why me…?' Zane thought to himself. He watched his brother, and soon realized that after every clap of thunder, his brother wasn't whimpering. It was like he thought he was safe now.

'He looks up to you,' a small voice said in the back of his mind. 'Why shouldn't he? You're his older brother.'

'Of course he looks up to me. He's always looked up to me.' Zane told the voice.

'Surprising though…' the voice replied.

'What?' Zane questioned. And only after asking, did he realize he was stupid, he was having a conversation with himself. He was losing his mind.

'No matter how mean you are to him….He still looks up to you.'

Zane didn't bother to reply, he was silent, as he thought about that. Maybe the voice was right. He had noticed it. Even when he was mean to Syrus, the younger Truesdale continued looking up to him.

In a way, it was sad. For once he actually felt bad for Syrus. True, he was always mean to his little brother, but that didn't stop Syrus from looking at Zane as a role model. 'I'm not always mean to him though…Am I?' Zane asked himself.

'What do you think…?' the voice asked.

Zane sighed, and again he didn't reply. Okay, most of the time he was mean to his brother. There was rarely a time when he ever showed he cared about Syrus. But he did really care. He cared about his younger brother. It was just that he never really showed it, not until tonight at least. Tonight was different; he actually sat down and read to his brother. Usually, he would've just told Syrus to stop being such a little kid and to go back to bed. But tonight was different. It was like Zane realized that's exactly what Syrus was. He was still just a little kid.

But still…

He couldn't change the way things were. He was never the one that liked change. But the least he could do was try, right? He could try to stop being so mean to his little brother. Maybe spend a little more time with him. Things weren't going to change completely, and Zane knew that. But he could at least try to get along with his brother every so often. Just like his mom would always say. She would always get tired of Syrus running to her just because Zane said or did something to Syrus, she would always tell him to spend more time with him during the summer, because while he was at school, he ever would get to see his brother.

This would be a good way to show her he could at least try. And so far, he was off to a good start, with the whole having to read to Syrus and sleeping with him for the night. But was he doing it for the wrong reason? First, he did it to get his brother to go back to sleep, and hope that he wouldn't wake up again. But now, he was actually trying to be nice? It seemed almost unlikely for the two of them to get along, especially since Syrus was so much younger then Zane. But they could try right?

A/n: I kind of like this which is surprising. But I'm on a huge Zane kick. Anyways I hope you guys like it.