Their parent's death was sudden and unforgivingly painful. It was a different sort of pain, not like the pain of falling and scraping your knees, or the emotional pain due to strained friendships or lovers. It was the sort of pain that left your mind blank in disbelief and your chest feeling completely and utterly hollow. The tears would always come before they were felt. They flowed down russet cheeks constantly, showing no signs of ceasing. No amount of endearing terms of affection and sympathy could take away the deep gorge left in the heart of the siblings who were orphaned in a matter of minutes due to a car hydroplaning.

The younger sibling, once boisterous and bright, now clung quietly to her older sibling's hand, gripping so tightly that she was sure she was cutting off the blood flow to his fingers. She feared that he too would slip from her grasp as her parents had. They wouldn't even get to see their daughter walk across the stage for graduation, she was nearly half-way through her senior year.

The older sibling stood tall and strong, although his eyes were bloodshot from having crying while others, most importantly his sister, were at unawares. Everything had fallen to him. The body preparations, the funeral, the caskets, the tombstones, his teen sister. All of it was left to him. Livie, try as she might, could not do too much to help lighten the burden. She was still just a kid, after all, hardly an adult. She hadn't even finished high school.

After the shock of their parents' sudden death, the panic of not knowing what to do followed when it came down to arrangements for his childhood home and his baby sister. The will his parents had left behind stated that if they had died before the house was fully paid for that the children would sell it and use the money from it to take care of themselves but, if the house was fully paid for when they died, the children could either keep it or sell it. It was theirs. The house wasn't paid for though, and the fact that there was no way Ethan could afford the payments to buy the house for him and his sister was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Olivia, affectionately called Livie, had found him in the kitchen of their family's home after the funeral had ended gripping a fist full of hair and choking down sobs. He thought that he'd apologized to her a hundred times that night but she only silently shook her head, there was nothing he could do, nothing she could do, and nothing anyone to do. "This house is nothing but a house without them. It's not home to me anymore. Home is where my family, that being you, is." Livie had said, which had surprisingly managed to calm her brother down enough for him to get a grip on the situation at hand.

It had taken a month for the siblings to take care of the arrangements for their parents and what they had left behind for them to handle. That one single month had felt like an eternity and it was an eternity that Olivia had cared to never reside in again, at least not any time soon. She understood very clearly that death was a part of life, that things did not last forever but, the ending of two lives that she had known since she came into this world had come too soon.

Taking a deep and letting it out, Livie opened the passenger side door of her brother's truck and looked up at the apartment complex where her brother lived, where she now lived. They were the generic apartment complexes that you could find all over the city, all over the state even but, it was where she would be calling home from now on.

She helped her brother unload her things from his truck, two boxes, at most, at a time. Whatever they could not bring into the apartment was going to be stored in their personal garage that came with the apartments. Halfway through hauling up boxes up two flights of stairs, Livie had paused on her trip back down. Baby hairs from her long ponytail that was now falling from the top of her crown, were slicked back out of the girl's face as she roughly re-tied her highlighted blonde hair back into a more firm bun. She let out a sigh and leaned back against the stairs behind her on the lowest stair step where she sat.

"Don't tell me you've quit, we have six more boxes Livie and then we're done." Ethan encouraged as he passed her going down the steps to grab two more boxes.

"My arms feel like noodles." The blonde groaned, her head falling back as if she'd completely given up, "Just give me five minutes." She swatted her hand in front of her, ushering him to leave her be.

They'd been friends since that fateful day first year of college when they'd both shown up at the same dorm and found out they were to be roommates at least until the end of that first year. Steve - as he preferred to introduce himself - had gone most of high school with few enough friends, but college was a different beast. It was nice to have a friend, especially one who was just as happy to keep him a roommate subsequent years in college. For a guy that didn't have a lot of friends coming out of senior year - having dove pretty hard into his classes to place well his junior and senior years - that friend was pretty much a life preserver when he let school swallow him up from every other friend he made at college.

Spending the next few years as roommates after college acted as much the same life preserver. He'd moved away from his own family - only seeing them when he could afford time off to make the trip. Considering how much Ethan had done for him, with or without knowing it, he wanted to help as much as he could when Ethan's life was thrown on its head. All his offers just felt empty compared to the weight he knew was weighing on his friend. He didn't know how to make arrangements for funerals or any of that. The best he could do was offer his condolences, give his friend a shoulder when he wanted it, and at least try to make things easier. He had been saving for a trip to see his own family at the time, but he'd offered to cover the full costs of their apartment while Ethan got his family's affairs in order. Not much, but it was something he knew he could do.

That left a long month of pulling as much over time as he could to help make the whole transition smooth. They already were renting a three bedroom - it helped them set up a room as an office for them both to use to work from home without crowding their rooms with desks and computers. That wasn't going to be the case anymore. But Steve hadn't even really given it much thought until last weekend when he and Ethan talked about him helping get the place ready for Olivia to move in. It was weird to think that after seven years of it just being him and Ethan sharing a place with their various friends coming and going there'd be someone else there. But he'd made sure to get that third bedroom cleared of their stuff, and properly hook up their computer set ups in their own rooms. Once that last computer was running, it was like some kind of clock started ticking.

When he got home that afternoon, he hadn't even noticed Ethan piling up boxes to carry in. There'd been a brown out on the company's grid the night before and he'd gotten called in early to try to trouble shoot and get them operational before work hours. He and the other two poor souls that received the same call weren't lucky enough to get everything going, and it left pretty much everyone in the building complaining about having issues with everything from computers to phones. All day had been spent getting everything up and running with everyone prioritized from company need.

Needless to say, his mind was fried and he was looking forward to just going in his room to crash. Steve scrubbed his face with one hand while the other held his work bag over his shoulder. Completing that scrub, he slid the hand back through his short - well it wasn't short now was it? he needed a hair cut like two months ago from how long it had gotten - brown hair to finish with scrubbing the shorter hair on the back of his head.

His olive green eyes opened to fix on a familiar looking girl sitting on the stairs. Stopping, he blinked. His brain was working a bit slow since it took him another blink before he realized what the teen looked familiar. "Oh, hey, Olivia. I completely forgot you were moving in today. Awesome." He offered her a friendly smile as he dropped his hands to his sides. "Did you have move to unload? I could help finish bringing stuff in," he offered. Yeah, he was tired. That wasn't going to stop him from helping his best friend move his orphaned sister into the apartment.

Here his sister was, wanting to join the military when she graduates, giving up after hauling in boxes that didn't weigh any more than twenty pounds for an hour and a half. Not that he could say anything as his arms weren't too happy either but, he knew that she was going to be in for a rude awakening if she went into training with the same sort of giving up attitude once she'd reached her limit. Ethan decided to not push her, she wasn't in the sort of mood to handle playful jabs being thrown in her direction. It would be taken too seriously due to both of their mindsets. That and they were going up two half flights of stairs.

"Fine, fine." Ethan said, passing by her on the stairs once more. He had barely noticed that his roommate had just arrived home from work. It wasn't until he heard his voice did he realize that it was Steve. The guy was a good friend and a godsend. Honestly, if Steve would've been just any other friend or roommate, he would've really struggled with dealing with the apartment and working on preparing for Olivia to move in with them. Steve had done a lot for him this past month, he really didn't know how to thank him, except for maybe taking on more bills so Steve could go see his folks at some point. After everything that has happened with Ethan's family, he felt more obligated to push others into spending as much time with their family as they could and to not take a minute for granted.

Hearing the sound of footsteps other than her brother's coming toward her made Livie bring her head up. She looked at the man approaching, immediately knowing that it was her brother's college friend and roommate. They'd met before when their family would visit Ethan at college and then again at her brother's college graduation. God, her friends back home would fall out in the floor if they knew she was living with a recently graduated college guy along with her brother. It appeared that it took him a moment to realize who she was. Curious, she tilted her head at him wondering if she looked different now that she was older since she'd last saw him.

Pouty pink lips returned his smile as she then decided to stand, finding it improper to stay seated in a rather sprawled out state as she had been. "Hi Steve, been a minute." She shook her head no at his offer. "No way, you've done so much already. Besides, there's only one more trip left with Ethan and I." It was as if she suddenly wasn't exhausted anymore.

Footsteps came down the stairs behind her and she knew it was Ethan who followed with the sound of them. "Hey Steve, long day at work?" Living together with someone after a while you come to know their body language fairly well. Which was why Ethan asked, as he did he went to grab two more boxes from the back of his truck.

Ethan questioning the other man made Livie give Steve another once over. Perhaps she hadn't noticed when he first walked over to her but, now that her brother asked he did look like he could've had a long day at work. Then again she didn't know him all that well so he didn't look too much different than what she considered as normal.

"Livie, come grab these." Her brother had paused in his conversation with his roommate to regain her focus on the task at hand. Without a word she had left her new housemate's side to collect the two boxes on the tailgate Ethan had set out for her. They were heavier than the last few but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Despite her complaining about noodle arms, she wasn't the type of girl that was lithe with no muscle as most were her at her age.

No, Livie was the type of curvy that a woman in her twenties would be. It was due to her time in weight training at school and diet she'd been able to mold herself into her desired figure quiet early. However, she did it because she was preparing herself for her life after high school so she could actually pass a physical training test for the military without having to scrape by like some girls who went into training would.

Steve had opened his mouth to say something, try to argue the point that they surely had been moving a lot in and could use a break, when he heard Ethan’s voice. He’d heard someone coming, but it hadn’t really added up that it was probably his friend until after the man spoke. It distracted him from the conversation he’d been starting up with his roommate’s sister. A soft, a bit modest smile slid onto his face with a soft laugh. “Yeah. But you know how it is. Higher ups want things running and that’s just how it’s gotta be.” He shrugged slightly as he spoke.

It wasn’t a big problem for them that Steve sometimes worked long or weird hours. It was what it took to really get his foot in the door at the firm he worked for. And it was that work ethic that had gotten him promoted to senior technician quickly. Well, that and being good at his job. Since he was single, it wasn’t like working long or weird hours was a problem for anyone except Ethan if he made too much noise leaving for a super early morning emergency or pulled long hours. It paid bills, helped him save up for trips, and was definitely helping pay off his student loans. If he kept up all the over time he was doing, he could probably pay off his debt in another year or two.

“Is there anything you guys need help with? Or would like help with?” He slung the strap of his work bag over his shoulder as he followed the siblings out to the truck. While he took Olivia at her word that it was only another trip - maybe two - between the siblings to get her things upstairs, he still felt bad not being back in time to help move more in. Surely there had been a lot, or at least it had felt like a lot. Steve knew he wasn't exactly the strongest - or strongest looking - but he did stay in at least a little bit of shape. He didn't need to be muscular, but he at least stayed trim, which was better than most others that mostly sat in front of computers all day.

He paused for a moment, seeming to think over the offer for a moment before he looked back at the siblings. "Actually, if you guys think you have that - why don't I go order something for everyone to eat? How about pizza? It's fast, it's easy. It's pretty much moved into a new place classic." He wasn't sure about Olivia's dietary preferences, but he kind of just figured pizza also made for a good comfort food too. There was science behind why, but he didn't put much thought into it. He did know why it was classic 'moved into a new place' food - because usually people didn't unpack their plates and pizzas were an eat by hand food.

Yeah, it had been a long day for Steve. Or at least he was assuming by his answer anyway. Ethan closed his truck's tailgate and picked up the last two boxes off of the ground. His back was probably going to kill him tomorrow but that was something he would deal with later. Unlike his sister, he wasn't athletic. In high school he had been but in college and now with work he didn't have time to be but, he was still the same as he had been since high school, tall and slender with slight muscle tone. "Yeah, I know." Was Ethan's empathetic response, he knew how upper management tended to work, along with corporate as he was in the same position himself.

"Ah, well unless you can drive a manual, moving the truck would help. The keys are in it if you are insistent but this is the last load. We're okay for right now." The brother spoke while adjusting the boxes in his arms as he headed towards the steps with Olivia in front of him. It was then his roommate mentioned pizza. If Ethan could speak for both him and his sister he would say that they were both starving, or at least he was as his stomach was already in protest of not being fed.

"That would be wonderful, Steve." Olivia chimed in suddenly. Apparently, she too was enticed at the idea of pizza, or food in general. "Also, I want to park the truck Ethan. You said I could. I need the practice anyway."

Did he say that? An exasperated look crossed his features as he looked to his roommate for help. Olivia had been driving for a while now, and sure she could drive a manual but she was definitely not used to being in a tuck. God, why did women have to hold everyone and everything accountable for anything they'd ever promised. "Ahh, why don't you worry about unpacking your things and getting your bedroom set up? I'm sure you would want to have your bed arranged for tonight."

Smooth save.

Steve was all about helping in some way, so the fact that he could potentially help with moving the truck was great. Ordering a pizza was nothing. It would take two minutes once he actually dialed the phone. He was about to answer regarding the truck when Olivia piped up. He'd caught the look from Ethan. It was a look he was very used to when his siblings were having issues with each other and wanted an escape. It was something he was kind of thankful until now he didn't have to put up with anymore. But this was a stressful situation for them, to say the least. He could at least make things easier on his friend.

"I know when we moved in, getting settled in was all I could think of. It helped we had someone willing to move the truck for us." He'd phrased it carefully, because he certainly didn't want to bring up the fact that it had been her late parents that had moved the truck for them. They didn't exactly feel like his parents, but they'd impacted his life the few times he'd been around them and he was grateful for every time.

His gaze shifted to Ethan, raising his brows slightly like a questioning shrug before looking at Olivia again. "Why don't you go settle, and I'll get the truck moved and pizza ordered? You'll be happier in the long run doing it like that. Then once you're settled I'm sure your brother can help you with learning manual." He'd have made the offer to help too, but that was more a brother sister thing than something he could step in on. Not without talking to Ethan. As sure as he was his friend was going to be working hard and a lot the coming weeks to make up for all the time off in the past month, he couldn't just invite himself into their relationship more than they were already intertwined now.

Steve offered both his roommates - a concept that was starting to freak him out a little now that it was a reality - a smile before heading to the truck and climbing in the driver's seat. He wasn't going to let on that he was a bit freaked about it - that was entirely unfair after suggesting it to make everything easier. It wasn't a problem. It wasn't; it was just the thoughts going through his head of what his family would think having a teen girl living with them. Everything else about being in a bachelor pad - not that Steve or Ethan threw wild parties, but it was definitely a different freedom not really worrying too heavily on influencing an impressionable teen - kind of went into the air too. But they'd make it work. He wanted it to work, since it didn't feel like he'd done much else to help with the whole awful situation of coping with their parent's death.

Disappointment filled in the girl's chest and welled into her throat. Immediately her lips were in a tight frown, her cheeks puffing out into a pout. It was the expression she always unintentionally took on when she was disappointed or didn't get her way. Olivia wasn't necessarily spoiled but when she was looking forward to a promise being fulfilled it was always a let down when she didn't get what was promised to her. She was glowering at her brother when Steve spoke up. Fortunately for Ethan, Olivia had missed the silent plead for help that he had sent to his roommate who was handling the situation a lot better than he would have.

Ethan wasn't short-tempered but more so short of patience. Handling an argument with Olivia was not on his agenda right now as the blonde could be rather...persistant. As Steve spoke Olivia's features softened, her cheeks deflating as her hazel eyes settled on him. She took his words into consideration, her eyes lowering, lashes fluttering as she nodded her head, completely missing the glance Steve and her brother shared. Her eyes had moved back to Steve when he finished. Her expression completely dissolved into one of submission. Letting out a sigh, she turned from the two men and headed up the stairs without a word. God, why does Steve have to be such a cinnamon roll. She blushingly thought to herself, finding it hard to argue with the man after his well-spoken words of reason and smile.

Ethan's shoulders relaxed as he mouthed a silent 'thank you' to his roommate. The man was truly a lifesaver in more ways than one and Ethan was going to owe Steve big time when all was said and done. If anything he owed him a drink, or two, for that matter. Ethan followed his sister up the stairs to their apartment mentally noting that he also needed to take a page from Steve's book in how to carefully diffuse pouty teens.

Setting down the last two boxes into what as now Olivia's room, rather than the two men's makeshift office, was a like a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. Running a hand through his mousy brown hair that was nearly falling into his eyes now that he was close to being due for a hair cut, he went to go slump into the couch in the living room but, it seemed that Olivia already had the idea to do so before him. The blonde was sprawled out on the sofa on her stomach, taking up most of the cushions. Ethan sighed, instead deciding he needed something to drink.

Two sodas in hand, one for himself and one for his sister, he made a move to take up a spot on the couch by placing a cold soda can against the back of his sister's leg that wasn't covered by her denim shorts. Olivia jerked, immediately moving to sit up on the couch, "What the hell?" She asked throwing a playful smack toward Ethan before taking the offending soda from his hand.

"You were taking up too much room on the couch, I saw an opening and took it." Ethan said simply, sinking down into the couch and opening the soda.

Moving the truck had taken only a few minutes. It was the just letting the siblings have some time to get Olivia settled - or at least finish putting her things away and for Ethan to take a breather - that left Steve sitting in the truck for an extra ten minutes after ordering a large pizza half combo half cheese only. The reality of the situation was still settling in. They not only got a roommate, but said roommate was one of their siblings. Even for being adults - and for Olivia being almost a legal adult - that still left siblings often acting like siblings. He hadn't lived with his family since he went to college. This whole living arrangement was going to be rough on everyone.

The only saving grace was they had relatively busy schedules. Well, at least he and Ethan did. He was just kind of assuming Olivia did. She had to be close to the end of her high school career. He knew his brother Chris, who was about her age, was busy; that may have just been because his brother was on the track team and played baseball, and was getting ready for college. Surely she was busy with trying to prep for college.

A soft sigh left Steve as he scrubbed his face for what, he figured, wouldn't be the last time that night. Things would get easier. Everyone would get used to living with each other. Those things were inevitable. It was just the initial growing pains of remembering there was a teen girl in the apartment that would be his hang up. "Come on, Ethan's probably going to wonder what's taking so long," he murmured to himself.

So the tired techie walked up to the apartment, only hesitating once when he reached their floor. He entered their apartment and spotted the siblings relaxing on the couch. A soft smile came onto his face as he tossed his keys into the key dish on the table behind the door. "The pizza should be here in about fifteen minutes." He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out enough cash to cover the food and driver's tip. He placed the money on the table next to the key bowl. "This should cover food and tip. I'm going to jump in the shower. Would one of you mind paying the guy when he gets here?"

Steve didn't exactly wait for an answer. He just headed straight for his room. After all, if the answer was no - which he doubted it would be - he could still take a shower and be dressed in time to deal with it if he started now. He casually tossed his work bag and walled onto his bed as he started to loosen his tie. Tapping the door with his foot, he pushed it closed - or at least mostly closed - even though he wasn't getting fully undressed in there. That was the part that was going to need to be remembered. He couldn't just towel it up between bathroom and bedroom; he was fairly certain Ethan wouldn't like it even if Olivia didn't care, but it wasn't proper regardless of if either of his roommates minded it. He could still go from his bedroom to the bathroom in his undershirt and pants, though. Which was the next thing to happen - removing his button up and discarding it into his hamper. Finding some comfortable clothes to change into, he carried the pile with him into the bathroom - not really paying the siblings much attention.

In response to Ethan's justification of sticking the cold can of soda to her leg to make her move, Olivia had snorted with a roll of her eyes. Whatever. Typical Ethan, yet it made her smile. The playfulness between the two was sure to wear out shortly as it was just a temporary excitement in being able to spend time with each other after not being around each other much for the past four years due to Ethan going off to college and beginning his own life. Olivia tucked her feet under her legs and began to scroll through the notifications on her phone. Some were text messages asking how she was, when she was going to start school, others were snapchats of her friends sending her ridiculous pictures or videos. One video she began to laugh at so hard she had to cover her mouth with her hand, stifling her laugh that was to be eventually fleeting. The bubbly feeling in her chest never stayed for long these days.

Ethan had looked over in question to her hysteria when Steve walked through the front door. He had been gone longer than what he should have been but honestly, Ethan didn't think much of it because his mind was elsewhere. "Yo, I'm paying half." Apparently, his mind wasn't too far off to not notice his friend trying to buy dinner for all of them. Olivia's eyes had lifted from her phone to glance between the two, then back down at her screen. She was glad her brother had someone to depend on and honestly she wished that she was able to be a person he was able to lean on. There wasn't much she could do for him but try to be happy or at least act it so he wouldn't worry about her as much.

Fifteen minutes later the pizza was there. Olivia had gotten up from her spot on the couch, finding it necessary to keep her self busy doing something seeing as Ethan had managed to doze off on the couch, phone in his hand that rested against his chest. "Thank you." Olivia had told the delivery boy after paying him. She shut the apartment door softly behind her, taking the pizza into the kitchen before calling out to the two men in the house. "Dinner is ready, boys." Her voice carried through the apartment as she went to grab a few paper towels to keep things less messy. As she did she noticed Ethan didn't budge.

Should she wake him? The girl eyed her brother for a moment before deciding it was best to leave Ethan be. He was tired after all. Honestly, she could go for a catnap too. She hadn't been sleeping well since her parents passed. Olivia helped herself to a slice of pizza, before leaning up against the counter in the kitchen. Her eyes were glossed over as if she was deep in thought but really she was just tired. Every night when she tried to sleep she ended up staring up at her ceiling as the reality of her parents being gone from the world that she knew settled into her mind's understanding. The thoughts and emotions swarming her when she lay down at night made it hard for her to settle into a peaceful slumber, and now that she was in a new home she was sure it wouldn't be any better.

The only hope she had of getting a nights rest in was if she just exhausted herself to the point of her body forcing her to sleep.

"Dinner is ready, boys."

By the time she had called over, Steve had already headed back into his room after getting dressed. He wasn't hiding - that's what he told himself. He was just taking his sweet time finishing up drying his hair and putting his stuff away. Ethan wanting to pay half was nice, but it wasn't necessary. It wasn't like he didn't get a decent wage. Actually, from what he heard from a few of his former classmates, he was making really good money starting out. A fact he wasn't going to take for granted, even if it came with calls to come in at odd hours and work late.

When he walked out of his room and realized Ethan was asleep on the couch, he chuckled softly to himself. Today was a long and difficult day for all of them. The last time he'd seen his friend pass out like that, it had been when they finished moving in. They'd both fallen asleep on the couch, even though both had every intention of just taking a quick break off their feet before finishing unpacking. Now it seemed it was the same situation all over again. Except it was moving someone else into their home.

His gaze drifted over to kitchen, where Olivia seemed to be taking her time eating a slice of pizza. Not a bad call doing it that way. Less dishes to clean up. Something he could totally get behind on days like this. After a second, he realized she wasn't really focusing on anything in particular. It made sense. Moving into a new place, likely still dealing with her loss - it was a lot. Especially for someone still in high school.

Steve walked into the kitchen and picked up a slice of pizza. He leaned on the counter opposite her as he took a small bite. "Thanks for taking care of getting this from the delivery guy," he said softly. It was just an innocent comment, one intended to break the ice. If they were going to be living together, it would serve them well to get to know each other a bit better. At least, better than her being his best friend's sister and him being her brother's friend. "If you ever decide to order pizza, I recommend this place for pretty much everything. We tried a few other shops around, but this one is the best."

The sound of Steve's voice caught her off guard more than the fact that Olivia hadn't realized when he'd walked into the kitchen, let alone taken to leaning against the counter opposite of her. God she really needed to rest, her brain was only functioning on fumes. Her response time to Steve's initiation in conversation was only further proof of that. "Ah, yeah no problem. Thank you for buying dinner." She had managed a smile but she ended up biting her lower lip out of an old anxious habit that she wasn't necessarily conscious of.

"Oh yeah? It is pretty good, better than most I've had despite me not being much of a pizza connoisseur like some I know." Her eyes flickered to her sleeping sibling on the couch, obviously a teasing jab at him until she shifted her gaze back over to Steve as well. Maybe it was a teasing remark to him too but maybe it wasn't. Taking another bite of her pizza it appeared she was more alert than she had been before Steve had come into the kitchen but she still seemed thoughtful. Her brow furrowed as her gaze shifted downward, obviously crafting her words carefully in her mind before she spoke,

"I, uhm, really appreciate you being a such a good friend to Ethan. I'm glad he has at least one person to lean on through all of this... mess." For lack of a better word. She cleared her throat softly before smiling again. "It means a lot..." Before things began to tread on the thin ice of emotional instability for her she changed the subject, "And ... I hope it's not weird having a female in the house for you. I mean, I don't know if you have any sisters or anything but I'm basically a wallflower and growing up with Ethan there isn't anything I haven't seen, smelt or heard so don't mind me."

Olivia's change of subject just ended up with her blabbering on about a topic that shouldn't really be much of a concern considering Ethan's reassurances that it would just be as if she had another older brother living in the same space. Yet, she still felt the need to let Steve know that he could be completely himself and comfortable around her without any complaint from her. A part of her empathized with how strenuous and or awkward it could be with a younger female in the house with two older men but she was determined for it not to be that way.

Steve chuckled at her comment about pizza connoisseurs. She didn't look like someone that would eat pizza often. That was probably a good thing. Up until recently, she'd probably been lucky enough that she didn't have to survive on something she only needed a paper towel to eat. That had been about the first month or so in this new place before they got their finances in order. Well, because of that and the fact they constantly had their friends over for minor parties. Nothing crazy enough to get noise complaints, but definitely stuffing a lot of twenty-somethings into an apartment barely big enough to handle them. Those days were over, but not because of Olivia moving in.

"Well, we can certainly give you pointers on all the best take-out and delivery in the area if you ever want it," he said with a smile. "With all the OT I've been pulling lately, the cash for a pizza and tip is barely a scratch. We've been converting to a new data entry system at work, and then today's power outage...Let's just say I'm very happy it's Friday, and I don't have work tomorrow." He let out another chuckle before taking another bite of his piece.

When Olivia started talking about the whole situation, the smile slowly faded from Steve's face. His brows rose at about the same rate. He hadn't really expected her to thank him for that. Especially because he didn't really think he was doing much. He paid the bills while his friend was on leave from work, he'd offered a shoulder and sat around quietly at the funeral and wake, and remembrance because he honestly didn't know what else to do aside from maybe block people from going and bothering Ethan when he excused himself from the crowd. Pretty much, he thought about what he'd want someone to do for him if it had been his parents, and just tried to do that. But it didn't feel like a lot.

"It - " He stopped himself from finishing that statement. She looked half ready to cry with the way she brought it up. "I'm glad there was at least something I could do to help," he said instead. "If you need anything, too, you can just ask. Like you said, we're going to be living together."

He smiled afterward, though. Because they were both had the same thought. Establishing having each other as roommates. "Well, I do have a sister, but she's nine years younger than me. I doubt she really remembers living with me. But I have an older brother, so I know what you mean," he said with a chuckle. He supposed Vivian might also have gone through that, but it was likely more with his brother Chris than it was with him. When he was living at home, and until he got used to the more casual environment of college life, he usually just took his clothes into the bathroom to get changed after a shower, even in the high school locker rooms. Since third year of college, he'd gotten a bit more comfortable not doing that, even with co-ed showers, but he still wasn't about to walk around in just a towel. If it were Vivian, he'd still revert back to like he was living at home as far as decency around the apartment was concerned. "But I don't really think you have to worry about that kind of stuff with me."

After a bit of a pause, Steve offered Olivia a bigger smile. "Honestly, I'm not really going to be adjusting my habits. I'm a pretty low impact person, and generally do the majority of the cleaning anyways. But we should hang out or something this weekend and get to know each other - get all three of us used to the living situation. Or maybe we could introduce you to some of the people from the building. Or, if your brother's cool with it, you could have people over to get used to this being your space too."

Olivia nodded at Steve’s offer of directing her to the best take out places. Not that she ate out too often, she preferred to cook for herself and others. Mostly to keep up her physique, her muscle tone in particular, and because her body felt much better in general eating freshly home cooked meals with fresh produce. Perhaps if Ethan gave her money for groceries she could cook for all of them.

Her brows raised as Steve began to tell her of his work stressors. So he was more technologically inclined. Olivia wasn’t tech savvy, she could do what she needed to and that’s all she preferred to do. Technology was tedious, tedious in a way that made her want to pull her hair out with how time consuming and fickle it could be. “ I would be glad to have the next day off too if I were to be in your shoes. Dealing with technology in that form is nothing but a raging migraine.” She deadpanned while taking another bite of her pizza. God it was so good.

Olivia’s eyes had managed to stay dry, even when Steve offered his shoulder to her. Inwardly she was grateful for his empathy but if she were to show her thankfulness with more words than she could muster, she feared tears would threaten to fall. “Thank you.” On another note, Olivia was glad that Steve was seemingly laid back and on the same terms of becoming comfortable living with one another. Maybe the reality was that he was going to be adjusting just as much as she was. The only person that had it easy was Ethan, who was still snoozing on the couch dispose their chatter.

At the mention of siblings, particularly a younger sister, Olivia’s eyes lit up with excitement. If only she had the benefit of having a younger sibling, more so a younger sister she could poke at and dress up. “You have a younger sister?”

The words came out of her mouth before she could think, “You should invite her over sometime! I’d love to meet her! You’re so lucky.” She smiled, this time with more ease than the rest of her smiles had been the last month. Somehow the knowledge he had a younger sister made her more at ease, despite that he didn’t live with her long, at least there wasn’t much to worry about now. Well except for her keeping her makeup and other whatnots out of the bathroom. She had a habit of strewing her things about the house without realizing she was doing it.

Her brows raised when he suggested they go out somewhere. She was new to the area after all so maybe it would be a good idea for her to familiarize herself with her surroundings. Maybe some of the neighbors kids would be attending the same high school as her too. That was another hassle they had to go through the past month and Olivia was perfectly happy with doing anything to distract her mind from the ‘new kid’ nerves. “I’m open for doing that.” She paused, “I’d love to go out and explore the area to see what it is you two do here for fun.”

“Or, we could go to the mall, is there even one around here?”

At that point Ethan woke up, apparently a female voice and the implication of shopping was what startled him. “Oh Jesus you’re not talking about going to the mall are you?”

Ahh, his expression said it all. The impending doom of hours of waiting while she debated over what outfit she’d chosen would end up in her closet was written all across his features. “If there is one, sure.” Olivia said, finishing off her slice of pizza, “You don’t ha-ve to go-“ She exaggerated before shrugging, “Steve and I can just go.”

“Uh, no.” Ethan said flatly before up rather slowly to make his way to the kitchen for a slice, or two of pizza. “I’m not letting you drag my friend into that sort of hell.”

“Seriously, Steve you have to watch her. She’ll trick you into doing things and you end up wasting five plus hours of your life.”

Steve smile a bit more when Olivia seemed to brighten up over the thought of him having a little sister. It had been a while since any of his family had come to visit; almost a year to be precise. It was easier for him to go back home than it was for any of them to come here. So the thought of having Vivian come to visit was actually appealing. She liked the trip the last time, but it had been just her and Chris and it was a chance for them to feel a bit of freedom. It was about time he asked if any of them wanted to come out to see him instead, and he was sure his sister would jump at the chance to come out again.

"Yeah, I could talk to my folks and see if we could arrange it sometime in the next month or so. She's a little younger than you - fourteen - but I'm sure she'd love to meet you too." At least that much he was sure of. His sister was a social butterfly. Really, everyone in his family were far more socially adept than he was. The only difference between their socialness and hers was that for some reason she had an interest in meeting the people in his life. Like it was some oddity or she needed to vet them or something.

When she mentioned seeing what they did for fun, he couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. It wasn't like they did a lot for fun. Having people over or going out to a bar with some of their friends was kind of it as far as he was concerned. Considering they both had demanding jobs that kept them pretty busy, or at least exhausted, they weren't terribly exciting. At least, that was his opinion. Plus, what they did for fun wasn't exactly something she could do as well.

Steve opened his mouth to answer Olivia's question when he heard Ethan's voice. He chuckled at his friend's comments, he couldn't help it. Yeah, walking around a mall wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his weekend, but then again it did mean getting to know his new roommate. If Ethan hadn't voiced defense for him, he honestly wouldn't have thought twice about agreeing to it until they were actually at the mall and he realized the rabbit hole he'd stepped into.

"Well, to be fair, I did make the offer for us to all spend time doing something this weekend to, ya know, get used to each other. I suggested a bit of a tour and meeting the others in the building and showing her around the neighborhood. If she likes the mall..." He shrugged a little. "I honestly don't mind showing her where it is. I mean, if it turns into a thing, it's not like I don't need things I can get there." Not that he really wanted to sign himself up for walking a teen girl around a mall on a Saturday, but he did want this all to be easy for everyone. If that took volunteering to walk around the mall, then so be it.

"It's not like there's a lot of places we hang out that she can join us." He offered Ethan another shrug.

Ethan’s words had only elicited a narrowed eyed stare from his sister, as if she had made him endure hours of toture when he would often leave her to her shopping to browse the newest video games or to cowardly watch a group of cute girls he would end up not having the courage to speak to. “Yeah, it’s not like I can go bar hopping with you.”

There was a smug smile on Olivia’s lips as she crossed her arms in victory. She was pleased that Steve was still on “her side” for the mall trip despite her brother’s worried brow. After taking a bite of the slice of pizza he’d taken from the open box he sighed. “Yeah, no bar hopping for you, even when you are of age.”

“I guess going to the mall will be fine.” Ethan surrendered, “If you don’t meet any of your new classmates in the area here at least you may meet some shopping.”

Olivia shrugged, obviously not too interested in having to deal with meeting new classmates immediately with all that has been going on the past month. In fact, she'd be okay with not running into any of them at all until Monday morning when she’d start at her new high school. Sure it was a couple districts over but as far as she knew she didn’t know of anyone who had connections to her new school. “Yeah maybe.”

Quickly changing the subject, Olivia perked herself back up, “Steve said he would talk to his folks about having his little sister over sometime.”

Turning to Steve she smiled, “I’d love to have someone to dote on! It could be a girls weekend to even out the gender scale.” The teen teased, both the men before concluding that since she was done eating it was time for her to do a little more work in her room.

“If you’ll excuse me I’m going to get my bed set up before I’m too tired to do anything else.” With that she left the two men to themselves.

Ethan’s gaze followed after his sister as she closed herself off in her room. For a moment he stared at the closed door in thought before turning to his friend. “You know, getting her out and doing things is actually a great idea Steve.

“She hasn’t really been herself lately, despite her managing to keep face.” Ethan shook his head as if he were shaking out his worries. It was impossible to worry when only time would be able to heal her emotionally.

“Anyway, how are you? I feel like I’ve been gone for more than a month.”

Had he just created a trap for himself? The thought only occurred to Steve after he’d seen the look passed between the siblings and heard how exasperated Ethan sounded about taking his sister to the mall. It would definitely be good to reach out to his parents and see if he could arrange for his sister to come over for a weekend. It would at least give Olivia someone a bit closer to her own age that she could hang out with.

The fact she brought up the offer was when he tuned back into the continued conversation. He blinked, realizing he’d probably missed something else. It wasn’t surprising. He’d been up for a while troubleshooting at work. A nervous smile spread on his face when Olivia turned on him, not because she’d focused on him but because he wasn’t sure if there was something else he’d missed.

A soft chuckle escaped him. “She’d love that. Growing up in a house full of brothers makes her appreciate girls weekends, or so she tells me.”

A soft, more at ease, smile stayed on his face as he put up a hand in a goodbye wave. “Goodnight.”

His attention turned back to the pizza all but forgotten in his hand. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea for all of them to get off to bed. He took a bite as his gaze shifted to his friend across from him. “It makes sense,” he said around a mouthful of food. “It probably hasn’t been any easier on her than it has been on you,” he said around a bite of food.

He shrugged, swallowing before he continued to talk. “I’ve been good. Busy, but good. Marissa stayed over a few times so it’s not like I’ve been completely alone here. Plus work’s been crazy, so I’ve been grabbing up more OT than usual. Crazy to think that it’s only been like two years at this place and I’m already a senior tech for it.”

After finishing another bite, Steve threw the rest of the slice away. He’d been full the minute he stopped actually eating, but couldn’t bear to throw out a half finished slice of pizza. Assessing his friend, he looked a bit more somber. “Worried about being swamped going back to work?”

Steve was right, it hadn't been any easier on him than it had been on Olivia. The man's guarded state fell down, his lips falling to a frown and shoulders falling slack as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess so." Ethan's voice sounded far away as his gaze had glazed over and brow furrowed before he decided to pull himself back to the then and now in a matter of seconds. That had been happening more than usual, tuning out and tuning back in, and it wasn't because of lack of sleep, but more so his mind trying to process and settle with the changes around him. It was annoying but it was almost soothing, mesmerizing somehow.

"Marissa huh?" A bemused grin pulled his lips up from his frown as he gave Steve a raised eyebrow. "Good to hear she kept you in good company." There was a teasing tone to his voice as he shook his head, on another note it wasn't hard to believe that Steve was already senior tech, "You work hard, do your job well so it seems, doesn't sound too crazy to me." It wasn't really Ethan's style to go too far with flattery with his friends but he was happy, proud even, of his friend's accomplishments.

"Not really," Ethan combed through the dark strands of his hair before scratching the back of his neck, a tick he'd recently picked up from where, who knew but when he became conscious of doing it he stopped and his hand fell to his side. "Honestly, I think the work will be good for me to engage my mind on something other than this past month." With a sigh, his eyes flickered to the spare room that was now Olivia's. Ethan's frown returned with his furrowed brow as his eyes switched back over to Steve,

"The only thing I'm worried about having my hands full with is Livie. " There was a pause as Ethan chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before speaking again. "There are going to be times when I have to go out of town and I don't need her coming off the rails, so I'm going to push her to focus on academics and other after school activities to keep her out of trouble." Or at least he'd hoped it would keep her out of trouble, he knew that there were other recreational activities that she could possibly end up falling into in her fragile state and he wanted to keep her as far from that as possible.

God, is this what his parents had felt like raising him and Olivia? Jesus, how did they ever do it? "I want to put her into therapy but I think she would be strongly opposed to that." Oh yeah, beyond opposed. She'd probably swing on him if he'd even suggested it, and she had one hell of a right hook; he knew from horseplay.

"Either way, in doing this I'm hoping it will keep her out of your hair too. I can't have my little sister trying to latch on like a leech to my roomie." That's when Ethan managed to smile that was only a shadow of his usual toothy playful grin.

Steve’s brows rose at his friend’s mild teasing. “No, man, I didn’t - “ He cut himself off with a sigh. That was exactly how it sounded, didn’t it. Like her staying overnight meant things happened. “I didn’t mean it like that. She’s a friend that’s a girl, and we were just watching movies and stuff. She crashed on the couch.” Why he felt the need to explain, he wasn’t sure. Things had the chance of getting physical with her, both seemed to acknowledge it in their own, unspoken, way. The problem was that he wasn’t sure he wanted that. That usually ruined friendships, and Marissa had been part of his life for the past few years. But...

Things were changing. Not necessarily between him and her, but definitely in his world. It wasn’t just him and Ethan renting this apartment together. It was Ethan’s sister too. There was adjustments to be made. Things that were both familiar - living with a younger girl - but it was still change. Maybe changing two things at once might be good.

“Don’t worry so much about Olivia. It’s good to get your mind back on track with work, but when you’re not here - I can help. I don’t have to travel for work, and it’ll be easy enough for me to check in with her. Maybe - like - if there’s weekends you’ll be away, or during school breaks if you gotta go, I can try to arrange with my parents to let my sis come out.” He shrugged. “That’d be easy enough to help if she doesn’t connect with school.”

He chuckled at the mention of trying to avoid having Olivia leech onto him. “One sister is enough for me, thanks.” Giving Ethan a solid pat on his arm, Steve smiled a bit more. “That’s my guy. I’m sure things will settle and everyone will adapt. These things just take time.”

Even with the cheerful mood they were taking, he couldn’t help but yawn. A quick scrub of his face as he glanced at the clock, and a tired smile stuck around as he dropped his hand. “I don’t mean to cut the reunion short, but if I don’t head to bed now, I might not make it there.” He gave his friend another pat on the arm as he walked past. “It’s great that you’re back, though. Even with Marissa here a few nights, it’s been pretty empty and I’m sure as hell not used to having a place all to myself for so long.”

After offering Ethan another soft smile, Steve headed for his own room to get ready for bed.

It was hard to believe that there was nothing going on between Marissa and Steve. Staying over to watch movies and lounge around together, her sleeping on the couch? Ethan had only raised his brows in suspicion but instead of teasing Steve about it any further than he had, he let it go. He supposed there were some cases in which a man and woman could have a completely platonic relationship, not that he ever experienced it for himself in adulthood. That could be because Ethan wasn’t the sort to spend time with a woman unless he was interested in her, friend or not. Back to the main subject at hand, his sister, Ethan was grateful that Steve was so willing to help out and keep an eye on her despite him not having to carry that burden, he still was kind enough to help his friend.

“Thank you, it would be nice for her to have another girl around the house.” Hopefully, she would make friends her own age at school too. Ethan wouldn’t put it past her to, Olivia was social, but with their parents' death he was curious as to how that would impact her nature to draw people to her. Only time would be able to tell.

It was getting late, and Steve wasn’t the only one who was becoming more tired as the minutes ticked by, his snooze earlier had been what had him wanting to trot off to bed as well, “I think I’ll be doing the same.” Ethan said, chuckling before giving a yawned “Goodnight” to Steve, finding it best not to tease the other man any further than he had earlier about his female companion. With a soft sigh, Ethan pushed himself away from the countertop where he’d been leaning against and put away the rest of the pizza before turning in for the night. On his way he’d checked on Olivia who was somehow still awake, busing herself hanging wall tapestries and string lights in whatever way appealed to her.

After telling her not to stay up too late, he retired to his own bedroom, which was the same as he’d left it. It was strange being home after what felt like months but he was grateful to be back in his normal environment, as it was giving him a sense of normality that helped him sleep soundly through the night.

Going against Ethan’s instruction, Olivia had stayed up too late, not that she had wanted to but she was too awake to close her eyes to let sleep tuck her in to rest. So she had spent a couple of hours past midnight finishing her room to her liking, trying to make it as comfortable and aesthetically pleasing to her eyes as she could. When Olivia was satisfied with the majority of her room decor she had begun to work on a makeshift vanity area where she would ready herself every day, but as she was organizing and arranging she had fallen asleep on a pile of decorative floor pillows that she used to sit on.

When Olivia woke up, due to the chill she felt from sleeping on the floor, she was confused as to where she was, why she wasn’t in her room before she realized she was at her brother’s apartment. The realization of where she was now and would be only served to tug her lips into a frown as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. What was worse was that she had woken up before dawn, the sun hadn’t even crested the horizon, she saw as she peeked through the blinds of her window.

Maybe a hot shower would help lull her back to sleep? Olivia took a bet on that option as she dug through her belongings still strewn across her new room to find her toiletries. Once found, Olivia had them gathered together with a change of clothes, a large red Marlboro sweater with black cotton shorts with a pair of her favorite fuzzy socks for her consistently icy feet, and plain lacy blue underwear that matched a blue sports bra she had managed to find at the last minute. Olivia was quiet as she snuck off to the bathroom from her room. It had taken her a minute to find the linen closet for fresh towels but when she did she was quiet about it. It was so strange to be in an apartment. Olivia felt as though every noise echoed and reverberated off the walls, unlike at her parents’ home where the sounds were muffled to a certain degree.

She would miss having her own bathroom but she would have to readjust to sharing again like she had when she and Ethan were young. The concept was strangely comforting. After her shower, Olivia found herself wide awake again much to her dismay. But what could be done but nothing? Wrapping the length of her blonde hair into her towel she opened the bathroom door before brushing her teeth, letting the steam and scent of vanilla mixed with sandalwood escape the bathroom. When she was done she made sure the bathroom was as she found it, besides the edition of her own items that could be left, she cut the room’s light off and wandered into the kitchen with her phone in hand to see if Ethan still had a taste for any sort of tea.

Washed up, changed, and in bed faster than he realized, Steve wasn't sure how long it had been that he'd been asleep - one of the few times he didn't check his phone one last time for any messages before his head hit the pillow - but he knew hadn't been enough time. It took him a few rings to finally realize the ringing was in real life and not part of his dream. A few swipes to the side, and he finally gathered his phone in his hand just in time to answer the call. "Hello?" he asked as he yawned.

"Steve, it's Mike - "

"Mike, are you kidding me?" Steve sat up, working an eye with the heel of his palm. "Dude, I thought I got all the bugs out today. What time is it?" He swung his feet over the edge of his bed. A quick stretch and he was on his feet already headed for his computer. "Nevermind, what's up?"

"I know I'm the on-call, but the network keeps crashing and it's not responding to my admin password."

Steve sighed as he waited for his computer to boot up. Cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear, he scrubbed his face again to try to get his brain working a bit. "Was there another brown out?'

"I don't know. What I know is that it's not working and I gotta get this back online because marketing is trying to get their meeting with Hong Kong going."

"So no pressure. Great," he mumbled. It took only a few quick inputs to get his computer logged in remotely. "Okay, I'm going to reset your admin, then you need to give it a try while I'm on the phone." As he spoke, his fingers raced over the keys. "Okay, did you get that email?"

"Yeah. Give me a second...Okay, yeah. I'm in. Thanks."

"Sure, no problem. If you need anything else, call Rebecca. She's supposed to be senior on call tonight."

"Sure thing. Sorry to wake you. Thanks again!" With that, the line went dead.

Steve sighed and scrubbed his face again as he put down the phone. Another middle of the damn night phone call. As tired as he was, he knew he wasn't going to be able to fall back to sleep without some assistance. A nice cup of tea usually helped that. He powered off his computer, and headed out of his room.

Seeing someone else in the kitchen threw him off for a minute. He just stood in the middle of the living room staring, trying to recall who and why. Who knew that the potential of a break-in would leave him looking like a deer in headlights? And feeling stupid when he realized the who was Olivia - Ethan's sister - and the why had to be food related. Geeze, the few hours of sleep really wasn't enough. Hopefully he wouldn't wake up too early after having that tea.

He continued into the kitchen and went straight for the cabinet he kept his loose leaf tea. "Can't sleep?" He offered her a soft smile as he settled on an herbal blend meant to help the pulse and encourage sleep. Perfect. Placing the canister on the counter, he filled his tea pot and set it to heat up. "I'm going to make a pot of tea. Would you like some?"