Rosinante sighed as he looked down at his phone, seeing it vibrate intensely as it rang.

  He was a bit hesitant on answering the phone, since he knew his brother was calling, and that only meant one thing. And he knew that he wouldn't like the consequences if he kept him on hold for longer.

  ”Hello?” He hummed as he put the phone up to his ear.

  ”Hey~” Dyn answered, his tone mischievously happy. “How’s my favourite brother doing?”

  ”I’m your only brother,” Rosinante corrected with a small roll of his eyes. "I’m doing fine. Are you still picking Lolo up from kindergarten ter?”

  “That doesn’t change it,” Dyn insisted, clearly trying to suck up to him. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll pick him up~ But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

  Rosi raised his hand to pinche the bridge of his nose, knowing what was going to come next. “What did you do?” He asked anyway, suspicious for his antics.

  “I have news about Crumbs~”

  "...Of course you do,"

  Rosi frowned, shaking his head. He was honestly sorry for Cir that his brother had singled her out as his newest toy, he wouldn't wish that upon even his worst enemy. "What is it now? Did you rehire him?"

  "Not exactly~ She came begging for the position back. It was so adorable, I couldn’t help agreeing." Dyn expined, the situation clearly all being just a game for the sick man.

  "Well, of course she did, she needed that job. I can’t imagine it's easy to go without work with her kind of sary." The man replied, knowing how unfair they acted towards their workers. He felt a little bad sometimes, although there wasn't much he could do to help them with it.

  "So, sent her back to the same old position?"

  "Suddenly you do like listening, huh? Well, she was never fired in the first pce. Did you really think I'd do the paperwork for that? I'm just... 'switching up' her role a little bit.."

  Typical of him to do that, Rosi thought, wondering what kind of sins does a person have to commit for his brother to click with them. Even if he rarely ever talked with her, he still knew that Cir was a hard worker from reports, and could imagine she might find it hard to adapt to a new role. Part of him wondered if that was the point of it.

  Ignoring the other man's words, Rosinante asked “At least you gave her work again. It's been… what, two weeks now, in her new position?"

  "More or less, yes," Dyn agreed, knowing it was a short time despite still feeling like years. "Although, she hadn't been exactly… working, if you know what I mean~"

  Not liking how ominous that sounded, Rosi raised an eyebrow. "...How come?" He narrowed his eyes skeptically.

  Despite the two being miles away, Dyn's smirk could practically be heard from his side of the phone as he answered.

  "Well... let's just say being my personal assistant is quite… distracting for her~"

  Rosinante's eyes went wide as he heard those words, praying that he heard that wrong. He knew his brother was an ass, but he didn't expect anything as bad as this. "Dyn! Didn't you say she's dating someone? You're sick!"

  "Oh, shush, I didn't mean it like that," Dyn huffed, acting defensive, as if he didn't phrase it suggestively on purpose. "We haven't done anything... yet, at least. I’m just making her do more things for me, as an apology for the way she acted."

  "Weren't you the one who fired her for no reason?"

  "Huh~ Yes, I suppose so," He drawled, "But she was the one who chose to be with another man when she knew I was perfect for her, wasn’t she?~"

  Rosi pinched the bridge of his nose, going silent for a few moments before sighing in exasperation.

  "Is that all, or did you find more ways to torture the poor girl?”

  "Torture?" Dyn repeated innocently, not seeming to realize what the things he was describing sounded like. "I'd hardly call it that from how much she obviously enjoys it. But no, I did take your advice on taking my time."

  At least he listened to one thing he said. "If you keep acting this cocky, she isn't going to reciprocate, you know."

  Dyn huffed, before speaking in an almost mock-offended tone. "What do you mean? Of course she loves me! Even if she won't admit it. Who wouldn’t?"

  "Do you seriously still believe the world works like that? We’re not children, Dandy. You saw how it ended up with our parents when father acted this exact same way.”

  "It’s not even close," Dyn insisted, "Mother deserved much better than him, but she and I are perfect for each other. Father was meant to die, anyway~ now I can spoil my Crumbs with what he left behind."

  Every time Dyn would say something like that, his brother would wonder how they were reted. Almost every part of his brain wanted to bme his brother, run away, find a way to expose him and make sure he’s locked away from society. But a small part of him knows he’d never be able to do that. Maybe blood is that much thicker than water, or maybe a part of him needs his brother too.

  "Don't you think Cir is going to have a problem with dating her boss? Especially if she’s already in a retionship, possibly a marriage from how you've described it."

  "Please, she’ll be fine... it's not just any boss, it's me. And that retionship isn't serious, he wasn't smart enough to put a ring on her yet. By the looks of it, they’re in the process of breaking it up anyway.”

  Rosinante mentally face palmed. How stupid was his brother?

  "She- she has a kid?!"

  Dyn huffed pyfully, not taking it seriously. "Yeah, so what? He's cute, and he likes me already. I'm sure he'll see me as his stepfather in no time. No- as his dad~"

  "Dyn, you..." Rosi started, before letting out a sigh. He knew that he had no chance of convincing his brother to give up on this idea, he'd tried many times before. The best thing he could do for now is just try to make him act nicer to whoever this Cir is. He just hopes that she would put up with his brother better than he does.

  "Just... just try to be nice to her. Don't push it too far, and don't do anything that makes her uncomfortable. You can be good when you wanna be, just please try to do that. You need to remember that you're not entitled to anything from her. You need to be a good person if you want to be good for others."

  Dyn rolled his eyes, although his tone surprisingly became a bit more serious. "Yeah, yeah, whatever... I will. Trust me, I'll remember."

  Rosinante sighed, both relief and annoyance in his voice. He just hoped that Dyn would keep his word, although it very much was unlikely that he'd do so. He knows his brother better than anything, and although he might like the power imbance, if Cir isn't going to get bold he'd likely just throw her away.

  "Alright. I'll see you ter with Lolo?"

  "Yeah, yeah. Later." Dyn said before he finally hung up.

  Rosinante looked down at his phone for a few moments before shutting it off and pcing it on the table next to him. He was not looking forward to seeing his brother again.

  Rosinante sighed deeply, trying to distract himself from the conversation he'd had with his brother a few hours ago.

  He was pnning on taking the rest of the day for himself as he waited for Dyn to drop Lawrence off at his house, wanting to clear his head.

  Currently, he was sitting on his couch, a cup of coffee in hand as he read the daily newspaper. As one of the managers of his company, he had to do a lot of research and be up to date with the world, especially since his brother almost never did his part of the work.

  That was his pn, at least, if he didn't receive a call on his phone which snapped him out of the heaven he managed to drift to while he read.

  He begrudgingly picked up the phone, expecting to see the name of his brother on the screen, but it wasn't him.

  Instead, it was a good friend of his.

  He did accidentally call him earlier, he was very clumsy and often mixed up people's names on his phone, so he expected a short phone call where he expined that his finger slipped. Just another one of those, nothing too major.

  "Hello?" He hummed into the phone.

  "Hello, Rosinante." Came out of the phone, the tone cold and monotone, although Rosinante was used to it.

  "I need a favour."

  A favour? That was strange, he thought to himself. The other man was usually very independent, rarely seeking him to even hang out let alone ask for help. But he digressed for the sake of being polite. "Right. What is it? I’d have expected you to be a lot more upfront. Is everything okay?"

  It took a few moments of hesitation, before the man answered "Do you think my son could come to your house and py with Lawrence today?"

  "So a pydate?" Rosinante checked.

  "More or less, yes," The man agreed, seeming annoyed. Rosi wondered for a moment if he had done something or if he was just imagining it.

  A few moments of awkward silent passed before Rosinante cleared his throat, speaking up again.

  "At what time would you be coming?"

  "We... I need you to pick him up from kindergarten."

  And Rosinante thought this conversation couldn't get any more ominous. "My brother is picking Lolo up today, but I think it can work, if that's fine with you." He checked, knowing that if he knew what kind of person Dyn was, he would never agree to it.

  "Yes, yes, that's fine with me," He agreed, brushing off the concern. It worried Rosi a bit, since he always spoke dismissively about his son. "I'll pick him up from yours in the evening."

  "Alright," Rosinante agreed, figuring he could help a friend in need. Although Lawrence wasn't exactly the most social guy, it wouldn't hurt him to make a friend. However, it felt a little shady to agree to this, although it might just be his business skills instincts prompting him to continue. "Is there any reason for this?"

  The man paused again, his sigh being heard from the other line. He spoke up again, his tone much colder than before.

  "I have some... business with his mother."

  That was all Rosinante needed to know. He didn't want to be involved in some family drama, and he was fine with ending it like this. He heard very little about the man's partner, knowing he wasn’t one to talk about his family usually.

  "Alright. I'll make sure Liam gets here, pick him up whenever you can. I'll see you ter, I suppose?"

  "Thank you, yes. See you ter."

  Mavik said before he hung up the call.

  -

  Notes:

  Rosinante sure does love talking on his phone alright. He’s one of those people who spends hours on puzzle games like candy crush then fail at solving a nearly-finished Rubix cube.