Victor and Jehan Callahan
March 21, 2018 8:25 AM
For you, I'd hang the moon and the stars by Victor and Jehan Callahan
Jehan looked up innocently as his older brother grabbed him by the arm in the corridor.“Would you rather be able to fly, or breathe underwater?” Jehan asked, the question being one that he had been pondering recently. Victor glared at him. For once, he was not in the mood for one of Jehan’s games.
“What the hell did you think you were doing, asking Luke Powell to the ball?” he berated his younger brother, pulling Jehan round the corner to a more deserted area.
“Asking Luke Powell to the ball,” replied Jehan, an uncharacteristic half-smirk on his face that was at odds with the upset he felt inside. His Victor had never talked to him like this before.
Victor narrowed his eyes and released Jehan’s arm. He knew his brother, knew that the sass was just a cover. “Jehan, there are some things you’re not supposed to do, you know that,” he chided, more gently now. “And I can’t keep covering for you forever.”
Because that was really at the heart of Victor’s problems. His desire for Jehan to be happy, to do as he liked, was warring with his ambition, and his desire for the Callahan family to be seen in the best light possible. At home, Jehan could read muggle books, refuse to eat meat, do the million-and-one small things that irritated their parents, and it didn’t matter. But at Sonora, things were more serious. Jehan had upped his game and, if he continued like this, how was Victor supposed to make everything okay?
In addition, this particular event looked like it would have a bigger effect on him too. Victor had planned to ask Gwen Fintoc to the ball, but now he had to clear up Jehan’s mess by aiming as high as he could. The Fintocs were a good pureblood family, but now Victor needed someone else, in the hope that society’s gaze would focus on the success of the older brother and ignore the actions of the younger.
Pleadingly, he looked at Jehan. “Tell everyone it was just a joke?” he asked, but he knew Jehan. He knew it was hopeless.
And, true to form, his brother shook his head. “I’m sorry, Vito, but no. I can’t, not even for you.” He loved Victor so much, but Jehan wouldn’t change himself for anyone. He wanted to go to the ball with a boy, and he wasn’t afraid of everyone knowing that, even if it meant Victor felt he had to cover things up.
“I never asked you to fix things for me, Victor,” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears as he looked at his brother, who was so determined that Jehan would fit into his world. “I’m not afraid of the consequences of being me.”
No one was around and, after a quick glance to check, Victor pulled Jehan into a hug. “But I am,” he muttered into Jehan’s curly hair. He was scared for his beautiful, different, stubborn brother, and what the world might do to him. But he knew he had to make things right. Because older brothers were meant to fix things.
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Victor and Jehan Callahan
For you, I'd hang the moon and the stars
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Victor and Jehan Callahan
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