Sebastian started clapping. Christian whirled around, almost falling out of his chair in the process. His eyes got so big that Sebastian was afraid that they would pop out of his head; his mouth worked but nothing came out and his face flushed fifty shades of red.
“Nice, shithead, real nice. Were you ever going to tell your family that you can sing like that?” Sebastian snapped.
Sebastian moved forward. Christian stood, setting his guitar down so that it rested against the chair that he had been sitting in. He took a couple of steps back as Sebastian advanced on him.
“Sebastian...I...” he stammered, holding his hands up to try to ward Sebastian off.
Sebastian gave him a bored look before grabbing one of his wrists and pulling him into a hug. Christian stood stiff for a moment in his arms before he finally relaxed.
“You have an incredible voice, Chris, just incredible,” Sebastian murmured, patting the back of his head.
“Really?” Christian croaked.
Sebastian released him only to grab his shoulders and look at him as if he was crazy. “Do you really not know how good you are?”
Christian’s eyes dropped and he shrugged pitifully. Who was this guy? Sebastian has always thought Christian was confident and self-assured. Now all of a sudden, he was doubting himself and looking dejected. Sebastian gave him a shake.
“Hey, look at me,” Sebastian said, ducking his head slightly to catch his little brother’s eye.
Christian lifted his gaze and the raw emotion in them made Sebastian’s heart seize.
“I know that I can be an insensitive bastard sometimes, but right now I’m being completely serious. I would not fuck with your head about something like this; you have a gift. Not only are you an amazing artist, but now I find out that you sing like a freakin’ angel. You should not be hiding yourself away like that; you should be sharing everything that you have to offer with everyone. You are the only one out of the four of us who has any kind of real talent, and we want you to take advantage of that. Shit, Christian, not everyone is a meathead like Henry, Quinn, and me.” Sebastian finished with a smirk.
Christian choked out a little laugh.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Sebastian asked quietly.
“I didn’t want you guys to try to make me sing in front of people. I have only sung in front of Shea, and that is hard enough. I couldn’t handle being up on stage in front of a crowded room,” Christian whispered.
Sebastian sighed heavily and hung his head. What kind of brothers were they if they made the youngest of them feel like he had to hide things from them because he was afraid of what they would do to him or how they would react? A bunch of assholes, that’s who.
“Shit, Chris. I’m sorry. None of us ever meant for you to feel that way. We would never make you do anything you didn’t want to do,” Sebastian said sincerely.
“Like making me eat poisonous mushrooms from the yard?” Christian asked dryly.
Sebastian’s mouth dropped open. Dammit, he forgot about that.
“Or how about the time you guys made me shave my legs? Oh, oh, and that one time you made me put a flaming bag of dog shit on the neighbor’s porch and the cops caught me and took me home to mom and dad?” Christian said bitterly.
Sebastian bit back a laugh. “You didn’t have to do it.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You and Henry threatened to make me eat the dog shit if I didn’t do it!” Christian said in disbelief.
“We wouldn’t have, though.” Sebastian chuckled.
“I was eight! How was I supposed to know that?” Christian shouted, giving Sebastian a shove.
Sebastian couldn’t hold back his laugh any longer. “I’m sorry!” He laughed.
“No you’re not,” Christian muttered, rolling his eyes.
“Okay, I’m not sorry for that because it was funny as fuck, but I am sorry that we made you feel like you can’t trust us. We’re all adults now, Chris. We can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
Sebastian watched as Christian took a deep breath and nodded. Sebastian could tell that there was something else bothering his little brother, but he didn’t want to push it. Christian has the tendency to close up if pushed too hard, and Sebastian wanted him to sing again, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Will you sing something else for me?” Sebastian asked.
Christian’s whole body locked up. “I don’t know if I can...” Christian wheezed.
“I’ll stand behind you like earlier, pretend I’m not here. Please? I would really like to hear you sing again.” Sebastian pleaded.
Christian stared at him for a moment before finally giving him a single nod. Sebastian moved back over to the door while Christian sat back down on the chair and brought his guitar back to his lap. He started strumming the guitar and Sebastian again immediately recognized the song, because if you didn’t know this song then something was wrong with you, it was Somewhere Over the Rainbow. He really liked the way Christian sang it; it was his own version, a little more upbeat than normal.