Our little brother

Chapter 17

*TW in second half of chapter, vaguely mentions sexual abuse*

Noah's POV:

Soapy soapy soapy, wash wash wash, my hands are all clean now! Hunter helps me dry them in the towel, and Reid is getting lots and lots of things out. He hits some bowls together and it makes a loud noise, too loud. I cover my ears, and Hunter goes to help Reid. Reid tells me the bowl slipped that's why it was so loud. I hope it doesn't slip again, I don't like that sound. "Okay, Noah, can you help me fill this pot with water, and then we need to count the potatoes." Hunter says, and I nod trying to climb the stool in front of the sink. Hunter helps me up and we fill the water. Wow, it's so much water in there!

Hunter brings the big pot and puts it on the stove. He says it's very hot and not to touch it, so I stay by Reid and watch what he's doing. He's holding a weird floppy thing, "Wh-what that?" I ask. "This is the chicken we're gonna clean and season so it tastes yummy" he says, helping me onto the stool. I watch him clean it, it looks funny. "Okay, I'm gonna need your help now. See these?" He says pointing to some bottles. "These are the seasonings we're gonna use, I want you to shake it over the chicken and I'll tell you when to stop" he says. I nod, slowly picking one up, looking at him to make sure this is the right one. He nods and tells me to start shaking it, I shake it and nothing happens? Frowning I look at Reid and he's laughing! Why is he laughing, is it broken? "You have to turn it upside down and then shake it up and down, here I'll help with the first one." He dried his hands and holds my hands that are both holding the bottle. He starts shaking it, and stuff falls out of the bottle onto the chicken! It smells yummy, I wonder what it is.

When we finish shaking all the seasonings onto the chicken, Reid puts it in a big bowl and Hunter stands back at the table with me. Reid puts the big bowl in the oven, I can feel how hot it is all the way here! I hope he doesn't touch it. "N-no touch! H-hot" I say frowning. Reid's gonna get hurt I don't want to see, so I turn towards Hunter closing my eyes. "Reid's okay Noah, he didn't get hurt. He wore these special gloves to protect him. The gloves make sure he doesn't get hurt, but you're not allowed to use the oven okay? One of us will always be here with you when we're cooking." Hunter says. Peeking out at Reid, I see him by the sink, pouring the water out of the pot. He tells me it's really hot so Hunter and him will peel them and then I can help mash them!

After we mashed the potatoes, Hunter says it's time for a bath. I don't know what that is, but I follow Hunter up the stairs. We go to his room, it's so big! He gets some things out of the bags of things we got today, and he goes into another door, he has another room? Wow! I follow quickly behind him, and see a potty room. "W-what b-bath? I ask him he walks over a big big bucket, and turns something, water starts filling up like the pot! He pours something in and then bubbles come out of nowhere! "This is a bath, you take a bath to get all clean, and look, you even have some toys to play with" he says holding a ducky and a boat.

*TW starts now, until the end of this chapter. If you dont want to continue and read this part, that's fine, skip ahead, the next chapter will also touch on this, so skip that one as well*

Hunter turns off the water, and says he's gonna help me, and takes my shirt off. I frown looking at the water, I don't want to go in there, daddy used to make me go in water too. Hunter won't do what daddy did right?

Hunters POV:

Once everything's all set, I start helping Noah get undressed, but notice him frowning. I thought he would love the bubbles, he has so much fun just washing his hands playing with the soap. "What's wrong? Do you not like the ducky and boat? Do you want more bubbles?" I ask trying to figure out what's up. He shakes his head slightly backing away from the tub, muttering no bath over and over again. Gently I take his little hands in mine, and rub them with my thumbs, trying to calm him down. "The bath won't hurt, I promise, it's nice and warm and you can play with your ducky and boat while I help you get clean, I won't leave you alone, I'll be here the whole time." I say. He shakes his head, his eyes tearing up, for a split second horrible thoughts fill my mind, and I really don't want to know, but I have to ask. "Noah have you ever had a bath before?" He nods, and I sigh knowing I'm not gonna like the answer to my next question. "What used to happen when you took a bath?" I reluctantly ask.

Noah stays quiet for a minute just staring at the bath, before telling me his daddy used to put him in water, but with no bubbles or toys. "C-cold c-cold wa-ter, h-hold No-ah un-un-der. D-daddy fr-friends c-come in water t-too. H-hurt N-noah. N-no l-like b-bath" noah stutters out quickly, looking more worried each second. They held him under water so he couldn't breathe, that much I understood, but the friends in the water too... that's more concerning to me right now. The hospital said they didn't find any signs of sexual abuse, but they were only referring to penetration, they could've done other things to him that wouldn't have showed up in their preliminary tests. I ask him what his daddy's friends did in the bath with him, and if they were wearing clothes, holding my breath, scared to hear the answer.

Ah cliff hanger, but a double update! I'm sorry lol, this chapter started out really cute and happy and then turned really dark really fast! At first it was definitely not going in this direction but it sort of just happened, anyways, next chapter will be short and focus on the continuation of this scene, but I promise not to focus too much on it, Im going to add a TW, at the beginning of this chapter, and next, just in case, even though I won't go into lots of detail, I know even just the mention of these things can be hard for people. Next chapter will be short so that if anyone needs to skip it, they won't be missing out on any other storylines. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed at least the first half of this chapter! I'm hoping for the next chapter to be out in 1-2 days, but we'll see.

May xx