just dive in [reed bishop spin-off] ✔️

twenty-eight

— t w e n t y - e i g h t —

TRACKING BROOKS DOWN WAS hard, most likely because he was hiding from them. It didn't matter that he hadn't heard any of Reed's threatening comments about silencing and dealing with him; Brooks had probably had enough interactions with him in the past to know Reed's automatic response would be aggression and anger. It seemed Reed wouldn't be the only one who needed to try giving the benefit of the doubt. From what Oliver had seen, Brooks avoided him as much as Reed avoided him. As much as Oliver loved Reed, he knew how much of an asshole he could be when he really wanted to be and Oliver didn't doubt Brooks had received the brunt of that for the majority of the last five years.

It didn't help that the Montgomery house was huge. They may have memorised the route to Adam's bedroom years ago, but neither of them had ever had any reason to go anywhere near Brooks's bedroom before. He wasn't even in there once they finally located it. It took a lot of peering around doorways into extensively furnished yet largely untouched rooms and wandering up and down stairs before Oliver heard the faint melody of piano keys. Adam was still in the shower (thank god for his obscenely long showers, giving them more than enough time to do this), Inkeri was humming cheerfully as she bustled around the kitchen, and Adam's parents wouldn't be home until this evening. That meant the piano playing had to belong to Brooks.

They followed the music to the conservatory at the other end of the house. Through the glass doors, Brooks sat at the piano with his back facing them, hands gliding across the keys with an enviable ease. Oliver's parents had put him up for piano lessons when he was ten but it soon became apparent he wasn't musically inclined in the slightest and he quit after grade one, finding it cumbersome and boring learning the pieces. Watching Brooks play made him almost wish he'd stuck with it.

"He's good," Reed said grudgingly, and jabbed Oliver in the side with his elbow. "See? I can be nice. That was me being nice. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt."

Oliver snorted. "I'm so proud of you. Try saying it to his face next time. Another time," he clarified. "Let me do the talking today, okay? Just stand there and nod along."

Reed rolled his eyes. "Yes, master."

Oliver slid the door to the conservatory open as quietly as possible and knocked lightly on the glass to get his attention. Brooks started, the piece he was playing breaking off in an abrupt, discordant mess of notes that sounded much more like the kind of music Oliver produced when he sat at a piano. Brooks turned in his seat and his surprise quickly faded to alarm when he saw them, wide eyes darting from Oliver to Reed. Oliver didn't miss the way his gaze also darted to the door behind them as if already planning a speedy getaway.

"You play the piano well," Oliver said, an attempt at assuring him they were here with good intentions. From the way Brooks was staring at them, Reed in particular, as if waiting for someone to produce a knife, it was clear he would need a lot of assuring. "Do you play grades?"

"Yes," Brooks said slowly, as if feeling out the question for any trickery in it. "I have my grade eight exam next week. I'm practicing for that."

"Good luck. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Um, thanks."

An awkward and somewhat tense silence settled over them. It was clearly taking all of Reed's willpower to keep his mouth shut and Brooks looked as uncomfortable as Oliver felt, fidgeting with his sleeves as he shot the door another helpless look. Oliver wanted to grab Reed and escape this unbearably awkward conversation none of them knew how to breach, but they'd come this far already. Better now than leaving Reed to corner Brooks in some shadowy corner of the house when Oliver wasn't looking. Already, Brooks was shooting suspicious looks in Reed's direction, his thoughts undoubtedly taking a similar route.