Memory

"Don' jump Seb! You's gonna hurt yo'sef!" James said, folding his arms across his chest as he normally did. The expression on his face didn't really show much concern, but his tone was quite fierce coming from such a small mouth. Although the sun was giving off a mighty glare that made it difficult not to squint, it was obvious that his brother Clint, who was standing steadily on top the jungle gym, had his eyebrow raised with a sort of questioning gaze.
" I didn' say I was gon' jump."
James simply shrugged the statement off because he had been standing there the entire time and knew that it had never been said.
"Never says you was. Jus' sayin' if you do, you's gonna get hurt."
"I don' it 'fore!" he replied. James forced out a low snort at his brother's reply as it had come rather quickly, now raising his own eyebrow as he kept his vision above.
"I ain't never seen you do it b'fore," he said, allowing a small amount of a taunt to weave it's way into his words. There weren't many kids around the park at the moment, so he had hoped his Clint could easily sense the challenge that was now being thrown towards him. As he stood there on the ground, tapping his foot in a slow rhythm, silence overtook the area only to be forced away shortly after by the sound of a few swings beginning to creak nearby.
"Well…Y-you wanna see me do it then?" Clint asked, his reply coming a little bit slower than before. James, of course, couldn't help but roll his eyes. It was obvious from his brother's tone of voice that he was completely unsure of himself, yet he was still going to give it a try. He really didn't see much logic in that, but he would get a kick out of it either way.
"You prob'ly won' even do it, I bet."
Before the words had even fully left James mouth, he saw a determined glare shoot across his brother's eyes. There was no doubt that he was hooked in now, taking the bait as easily as a fish flopping madly in the dirt.
It all had seemed to happen in slow motion; through squinted eyes, he saw Clint bend his knees and take the leap. A loud thud, which had oddly brought the swings still creaking nearby to a sudden stop, sounded throughout the park. James didn't even dare try to keep his urge to laugh suppressed once he realized that his brother hand landed face first on the ground.
"I tol' you! You's such a dummy Seb, should'a listen'd to me but no!" he taunted, dragging out his last word before continuing, "You think you's tough, don't you? Well ob'iously, you ain't!"
Clint remained face down in the dirt for a moment before slowing pushing himself to his knees, still keeping his face buried in the ground. Something of a deep red color was starting to lightly spread near where his head was which immediately caused James to tilt his head very slightly as his eyes grew distant. Before he could say anything else, some boys who were likely to have been behind the creaking swings had pushed him to the side, forcing their way to stand directly in front of Clint. These kids were obviously much bigger than either of them, especially one boy in the particular who seemed to take the lead. Pulling a hand up to run across his thick auburn hair, the boy in front laughed.
"That was a nice fall, idiot, although you really need to work on your landing skills." The other boys behind him laughed rather quickly, completely unaware that James was now giving them all a furious death glare. Clint now lifted his face up off the ground, bringing his hand up to clutch his nose as blood and moisture ran along his cheeks all the way down to his chin.Their was a struggle falling into his eyes and for a moment, he just simply opened his mouth as if to speak, letting it fall finally indicating that there was nothing to say to that.
"Ey!" James said, slamming his hand down hard on the ground before pushing himself back up to his feet, stomping his way over to the boy who had spoken.
"Oh look guys! Another idiot identical to this one!" he replied, a cackle leaving his lips, but before any of the others could react, James had already slammed his body against the boy knocking him straight to the ground. Older or not, he didn't care. Shifting himself so that he was now kneeling on top of the boy, he grabbed him by the shirt collar, narrowing his eyes quite dangerously.
"Don' you ever laugh at Seb again. You go' tha'? Ever!" he yelled, his words ringing out through the entire area, "He's mine! I laugh, not you!"
As his land few words were spoken, James pulled his hand up and forced the back of his hand to hit hard against the boys face, repeating this several times before he was pulled off by the others. He thrashed angrily, repeating his words about Clint being his several times.
"You little brat!" the boy hissed as he brought himself back up to his feet. He snapped his fingers once and before James get himself away, one boy had grabbed onto his hair and the other his back, holding him still.
"You's wish I was a brat, dummy!"
"Jamesy, 'top talkin'!" Clint chimed in. stepping forward as if he was going to try and help his brother, although he was quickly shoved back to the ground.
"Ey! I jus' tol' you he was mine! Don' touch him," James said, clenching his jaw as he started to struggle against the grip again. The older boy took a step towards him, rolling his eyes as he spoke.
"Shut up, freak."
"You shu' up!" he yelled in reply. The boy took this moment to clench his fist and raise it, not even hesitating for a moment to slam it straight into James left eye. His head snapped back the moment the fist had made contact, a short grunt passing through his lips. The stinging pain that was now surrounding James' eye was severe, but he was not going to cry. No matter what happened before the end of this, those boys could not leave thinking they had one.
"Still ain't gonna shu' up," James spat, keeping his eye completely shut. With that came another punch, this time landing on his mouth. He could taste iron within seconds of contact and the pain was starting to throb. Yet again though, he didn't care. This time, he took his fury a step further and simply collected some of the blood into his mouth and spat it directly into the boy's face.
"Goal," James said, a smug little smirk running across his lips. Clint, who was now just sitting on the ground without interrupting, gave a small frown, unable to decide whether he was proud of what his brother was doing or not.
Everything was quiet for a moment; the boys holding James were obviously waiting for their leader's orders which didn't seem like they were going to come. The boy simply narrowed his eyes, wiping the spit from his face before reaching out and grabbing James' shirt collar and pulling his forward.
"You aren't worth the effort, idiot," he hissed once again before forcefully shoving him to the ground next to Clint and snapping his fingers again. Just like that, the boys waited for him to take lead and filed out towards the parking lot. James rolled his eyes, reaching a hand up to wipe the blood on his lips away.
"Wha' a waste," he mumbled beneath his breath.
"J-Jamesy…..?" Clint whispered, placing a hand on top of his brother's shoulder.
"Hmm?"
"Why did you do tha' for me?" he asked. James raised an eyebrow, jerking his shoulder away and pulling himself back up to his feet as he brushed himself off.
"Dunno," James said simply.
"W-well do you lov's me?" he questioned, tilting his head to rest his eyes on his brother. James just sort of starred blankly at him for a moment. The park was now completely deserted, but he didn't really care. He wasn't about to admit anything to anyone, no matter how alone they were. He simply shrugged his shoulders and turned on his heels, heading off towards the direction of the woods that led back to their home.
"W-wait!" Clint shouted, jumping to his feet, "Leas' tells me if you's okay!" James heard the words clear as day, but kept walking off and just like that, Clint's heart sank miserably beneath his chest.