Through a Brother's Eyes - An Excerpt

I recently started writing a fanfiction (oh close your mouth, for goodness sake) story, but after a couple of chapters I started thinking about turning it into a original story. There's something dark about the whole idea that just appeals to me. Here's an excerpt of the story, with the names changed, for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think - worth pursuing an original, or stick to fanfiction?

Through a Brother's Eyes

The first time he'd killed, he'd been nine and in his freshman year at senior high. It'd been an accident, and he still can't really remember what'd happened. Something about velocity, impact, and the mathematics of aerodynamics... He'd always known that he was different – genius they called him – but when he had looked at that dead chick, feeling only disappointment that his hypothesis had been incorrect, it'd been the first time he'd wondered if different was wrong.

He hadn't thought about that chick again until five years later. He and his brother were graduating – and everyone was so proud. His parents were so obsessed with taking pictures of their young genius; they hadn't noticed when their eldest son had slipped away. But he had. Tony loved his brother. Even though they were never that close, Mikey had always been there when he really needed him. He protected against bullies, and held him through the nightmares. And hugs... hugs were precious – precious because they came from his brother, and they came very, very rarely. Yes, he loved his older brother very much, and he knew him very well... so when he saw Mikey slip away, Tony knew that his older sibling was unhappy at being left out again.

It wasn't difficult to distract his parents. Soon enough they were in deep conversation with a college professor who wanted to 'recruit' him for their program, and he was out hunting Michael down. Today was a hug day. His brother, Tony found out, had the same thought. Only, Michael wasn't hugging him today. Instead he was hugging a strange girl, hidden in a dark corner far away from the crowd. He'd seen her before... She was a cruel girl, often making fun of him and his equations, looking down on everyone around her... and now she was stealing his hug! But it wasn't just the hug. He could hear them moaning as he crept closer, watching with wide eyes when he realised just what Mikey was doing with the girl...

Two days later, as he watched the blond corpse sink into the depths, Tony realized something interesting. The numbers were quiet. Not silent, never silent, but instead of being a near blinding chorus in his mind, they had become a pleasurable, comfortable hum... but he also realised something else. She was never going to touch Michael again, because Michael was his Michael, and maybe, just maybe, he loved Mikey a little more than he technically should.

When Mikey had left, he'd thought it might just be a good thing, even if he almost hated him for it.

The next few years, Tony threw himself into his work. He threw himself into several other things as well, but they always had dark hair and dark eyes and he never knew their names. He didn't want to know their names. But it wasn't until the trip to give a lecture on his groundbreaking Convergent Hypothesis in Los Angeles when one of his faceless, nameless Michael's thought he could break the rules. He heard something on the news when they got back two days later, but he already knew the cops weren't going to find anything. Just like he knew that he liked carving the bastard up.

He'd had to face the truth after that. He thought he cared about them. About dad and Melissa and Harry... and mom. But when mom was dying, and his dad yelled at him almost every day to go and say his goodbyes... he still couldn't leave his study. They would all believe that he'd lost himself in the unsolvable equations he so loved to tackle, because he couldn't deal with his mother's death. It was a lie he let them believe. He didn't work at them because he wanted to ignore his mother's illness, but because he just couldn't understand why the thought of it didn't frighten him, or make him sad. He knew it should...

The truth was, he worked on them because maybe, just maybe, solving someone else's unsolvable problem would help him solve his own.

Heartless. That's the word he'd ascribed himself during those months. Emotionless. His father had certainly told him that more than enough times – and Tony almost believed it, too. Until Mikey came back. So different... and so the same. The same dark hair and dark eyes, the same voice, same rough hands and powerful body... and when those hands jerked him away from his blackboards, shaking him in anger, Tony knew it was time to leave the study. He wasn't heartless or emotionless. He'd found the solution to his problem, the other side of the emotional equation. He wasn't too surprised by it either.

 The answer could only ever have been Michael.

Very slowly, their lives began to settle into a pattern. Michael was still Michael, and Tony still turned to faceless shadows. Sometimes he even thought it was funny, how no one could see him for what he was. They all thought he was sweet and funny and so intelligent, if a little socially awkward. Professor Tony Bennes, who can't see the way Melissa looks at him, who's probably still a virgin, and who could never hurt a fly. If only they knew...

Then, one day, everything changes and suddenly Tony is involved with the NYPD, helping them on their cases. No, not helping them... helping Michael. He'd walked into the building, expecting to feel a certain... fear. There were, after all, still cold cases in this very building that related to things he'd done. But when he stepped off the elevator, there was nothing but excitement to see and help his brother. And did they ever work well together, just like Tony had always known they would.

 He allowed himself to get a little... closer, every now and then. Like after the shooting. He'd practically folded himself into Mikey then. It wasn't so much because of the shooting itself, but when Michael had rushed forward and held him, he took advantage. Life went on, but sometimes Tony could almost believe that Mikey felt something for him, too. A look that lingered, a touch or a squeeze that lasted just a second longer than it should between siblings...

 And then came Elizabeth Darro.

When he'd found the box and the ring inside it, Tony had stared at it for a good, long while. Someone had come very close to stealing his Michael away... Three days later, Tony showed up at Michael's door with the box. He'd settled in on the couch with him, a happy little smile on his face. Michael had chosen to stay here, with him, even if there had been a woman waiting for him. And Tony knew that Michael would always be his.

Thirty eight hours later, Michael and his team were informed that Elizabeth had mysteriously disappeared. His brother had nearly killed himself in an attempt to find her – but Tony knew he never would. She would be just another cold case... Instead, when Michael finally broke two months later, it was Tony that sat with him in the dark of the apartment. Tony who made sure that Michael didn't drink too much, that he ate and took his showers while they waited for him to be approved for active duty again. It was Tony who comforted him, running his fingers through his brother's soft hair as Michael lay on his lap while they watched Gulliver's Travels together.

 And he knew that, if anyone was ever going to catch him...

 ...it was going to be his Michael.