Shadow of the Hall of Fame (Mae/Kota)

[nicholas bary Kaelimm]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #3d1a26 solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] In restless dreams I walk alone credits template by irish! Steady and rhythmic, focused and determined. Those were what kept Nick going. His arms ached, his legs throbbed, his lungs screamed, but he kept going. One after another. Pull ups, pushups, sit-ups, sprints, jog, hydrate, repeat. Sweat soaked his shirt and dampened his hair. It ran in a steady stream down his forehead and stung his eyes, but he wiped it away and kept going. The look on his face could be described as nothing less than a scowl. No one knew what his glare was focused on, no one except for himself. Dakota. He wasn't here, but Nick could see his face just fine as plain as day as if he were here right now. The reason for his scowl? No matter how hard he tried, he was always a step behind Kota. Even in his own imagination, he couldn't beat his older brother. No matter how many hours he spent in this damn gym, Kota was always a step ahead. It wasn't just physical. Mentally, Kota was Einstein, Nick was Joe Biden. Dakota was pretty well always at the top of his class without even trying while Nick struggled to pass his classes. It was like whatever powers there might be reached down from wherever the hell they resided, and gave Kota double his share of "wonderchild" and then when Nick came along he got none because they'd already used it all up on Kota. It hardly seemed fair that Kota was the super star child without even trying, while Nick put everything he had into everything he did, and still came up short of his older brother's standard. His parents doted on Kota for his "outstanding performance" while Nick was left to sulk on his own without praise. Certainly, in Nick's own mind it was worse than it really was. His parents weren't completely obsessed with Kota the way he thought they were, but it sure sometimes felt like it. "It wouldn't surprise me if you could walk on water too." he mumbled irritably under his breath as he finally stopped jogging. Completely out of breath didn't even begin to describe the way Nick was feeling right now. His lungs were on fire, even though the rest of him was pretty well drenched. He wiped the sweat from his face and threw the towel in the laundry bag before walking a couple of laps to cool down, then headed for the showers. He was quite sure that by now he smelled like he'd spent the night on the manure pile at the stable. After a quick shower at the gym, he trudged back up to his dorm room and practically fell through the door and straight onto his bed. His entire body ached from the workout and he felt like if he never moved again he would be content. What was the point of trying to keep up with Kota? It was like trying to keep up with Jesus. He hadn't bothered with closing his door. Few people bothered him anyway. He was just "Dakota's little brother" with nothing at all special about him, so closed and locked doors were rarely to be found in his room so long as he was the last one through the door. In an all boys dorm it mattered even less to him, than it did at home. At least here he didn't have to worry about his sisters coming by and driving him crazy. He probably looked just about as pathetic as he felt right now, lying facedown on his bed in just his gym shorts, gym bad left in the middle of the floor where it had essentially fallen from his hand. Trying to out-do your brother was an exhausting chore, but no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he should just stop because it didn't matter anyway, he just kept right on doing it, and he probably always would.

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[Dakota Noel Kaelimm]

Kota was bored which was an unusual thing. He usually always had some girl or some party or some math problem. But today he was just bored. Jude was still passed out from the party they went to the night before. Kat was with her girlfriends. And Gia, well he wasn’t sure where she was. Not that it really mattered. She was just the next conquest on his list. Once he got with her he would move on. Simple as that. Kota didn’t let himself care about others. That took too much effort. Plus he would soon be on his way to Yale so why would he even want to try and get attached to some silly girl. Although if he ever let himself dwell on it for long enough he knew that a small part of him did care about the girl. As much as he shoved it away, he did care. So he turned his emotions off and went about with the little game he was intent on finishing, and finishing with a win.

The male had literally gone through all of his contacts in his phone trying to figure out something to do. No one popped out at him though. They all seemed boring, done before, or just not someone he wanted to spend his time with willingly. As he scrolled back up the list stopped on the n’s. There in front of his face was the word Nicky. A small smirk grew across his face. When all else failed he could always go and bug his little brother. The little twerp always seemed to have a stick up his butt and Kota couldn’t help but want to press his buttons. Like with Gia, deep down Kota did care about Nick, unlike how he felt about his two little sisters. But like Gia, he never would say a word. Instead he would continue torturing him just to see how much he could push him before he hit him. Nick had yet to ever try to deck Kota, but maybe today would be the day.

Kota sauntered over to Nick’s room, nudging the door open a little more. He slid in, silent as he could be. He didn’t want Nick to know he was the quite yet. He wanted to catch him off guard and tackle the younger male to the ground. Kota slipped around corners, looking for Nick, until he reached his brother’s room. He had to stifle a laugh as he saw the state his brother was in. Without a word or anymore hesitation, Kota ran towards Nick’s bed, running and landing on top of his brother. ‘Hey Nicky,’ he said with a smirk, disheveling his brother’s hair before rolling off of him.

[nicholas bary Kaelimm]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #3d1a26 solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] In restless dreams I walk alone credits template by irish! Nick wasn't entirely sure how long he had been lying there on his bed, but his tired achey muscles had finally started to relax. There was no feeling better than that of feeling the soreness drain out of your body as you just laid there. Nick had about halfway drifted off to sleep involuntarily, his tired body vetoing his will to stay awake, when he was quite suddenly jolted out of his descent into slumber by a rather large mass landing on top of him. A groan emitted from the younger teen as he was crushed beneath his older brother's mass as his whole body screamed in protest. He really should have known better than to think that it might be possible for him to relax for a little while. Kota had a knack for knowing when his younger brother was trying to sleep and interrupting that. Nick half-heartedly jabbed an elbow towards Kota, which missed as the older male rolled off of him. "Can't you pick on someone your own size?" He asked in a bit of a mumble as he rolled over onto his back and sat up slowly despite his body's protest. As much as Nick wanted to dislike his brother in the same way he disliked his sisters he just couldn't. He wasn't really sure why, but he figured it probably had something to do with the fact that he and Kota had been pretty close when they were younger. Nick had never felt any sort of connection to his sisters, but not so with Kota. Try as he might, he had to look up to him. He was fairly sure that it was in the manual for younger brothers to look up to their older brothers, no matter how much of an ass Kota was. He reached up and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to wake himself up a bit before running his hand through his now wild hair, thanks to Kota, in an attempt to tame it. "What do you want Kota?" he asked, figuring that if Kota had decided to pay him a visit he must need something. He rarely saw his brother unless it was to come steal food or something of that nature. Their relationship had changed a lot over the years, and definitely not for the better. Kota shut Nick out every which way he turned so he had pretty much just given up on trying to fit into his brother's life. Kota obviously had no room in his wonderchild life for a little brother who didn't meet the Kaelimm standard, so there wasn't any point in trying anymore.

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[Dakota Noel Kaelimm]

A smirk was planted firmly on Dakota’s face as he laid next to his brother. Messing with the younger male was his favorite past time. Ever since Kota knew what pestering was he had done it to Nick. It all just came second nature to him. Mess with his brother and then go get into trouble of his own. As they got older the pestering changed and the trouble he got into afterwards. One thing never changed though. His threats to Nick later that night when he snuck in to not tell their parents. They always ranged from punches to different things he could do to sabotage his room. It was all in brotherly love though.

‘You are my size.’ Ok so he was a bit smaller than Dakota, but not much. They were about the same height and same build so picking on him wasn’t a problem. In actuality if the two got into a fist fight they would be evenly matched. Dakota would most likely in the end win, but until the end they would be evenly matched. Him and his brother would never physically fight though. No there would be a threat of a fight, but nothing would ever break out. As much as Dakota liked to torture his brother he would never hurt him too badly.

Kota shrugged once. He really wasn’t sure why he had come by. Mostly just to bug his brother. He didn’t have anything else to do right now to pass the time so why not. ‘Can’t I come see my favorite baby brother without wanting something?’ No. The answer was no. Whether the something was an alibi for something or cheap entertainment, Dakota always came to Nick just for something. Never to come and just say hi. No that wasn’t their relationship and it never had been. Probably never would be. So yes Dakota was here for Nick to entertain him until he was ready to go out for the night.

[nicholas bary Kaelimm]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #3d1a26 solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] In restless dreams I walk alone credits template by irish! For many years, being littler than Kota had been Nick's copout. While their dad always told Nick he needed to learn how to properly defend himself even against guys who were bigger than him, if Kota picked on him too much, the older boy was always told to pick fights with someone his own size who actually stood a chance. Bullying was very much frowned upon in the Kaelimm family, and they pretty well defined bullying as picking on someone smaller who couldn't defend themselves. Up until recent years, Nick had always been able to use that to his advantage. Now that he was only an inch or two shorter than Dakota, he couldn't use that excuse anymore. Generally when he tried, Kota just picked on him more for even trying it. "No. You always want something." Nick muttered in response to Kota's question, even though he knew Kota already knew the answer to that question. His brother was never interested in the things that were going on in his life, he never stopped by just to talk, and they both knew it. The most interaction they'd had since Nick came to Easton was Kota coming around to terrorize Nick. "So what is it this time? If the cops come asking, you were here all night? If some guy shows up with a shotgun asking for you, you've moved to Panama?" This felt rather like an alibi visit, where he needed Nick to make up some response if someone came around asking incriminating questions. He was used to this by now. This had been their relationship for years. Kota got himself into trouble, Nick told a lie to get him out of it. Nick wasn't really too keen on being Kota's alibi right now. He was slowly but surely getting pretty tired of being used by his brother. If they were in a court of law, Nick would have been arrested a long time ago for perjury. Luckily, he had pretty well mastered the art of lying to their parents about Kota's whereabouts, and that usually transferred over to other cases where he had to lie to other people. Nick didn't like lying for Dakota, but he was the only brother that Nick had, and if lying for him was the closest thing he got to having a relationship with him, then he'd take it. He was a little bit desperate for any form of a relationship with someone in his family. He wanted to feel like he belonged, and if being Dakota's alibi was the only way he was going to belong, then he was going to just keep doing it.

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[Dakota Noel Kaelimm]

‘Not always. Just most times.’ This time it just happened to be for cheap entertainment and maybe food. It wasn’t really like he had anything better to do. Plus bugging his brother was always a favorite past time to him. He stretched out a bit on Nick’s bed before sitting up and looking around. ‘I’m not asking for an alibi.’ Kota had nothing to ask for an alibi for as of recent. Or at least he couldn’t think of anything he needed an alibi for. ‘Maybe I just wanted to check on my baby brother.’

Kota stood up and went and leaned in the bedroom doorway. ‘But I mean if you really don’t want to spend time with your older brother then I guess I’ll just go.’ Kota started to slowly make his way out the door. He had done this hundreds of times. He knew Nick would stop him. He had a twisted knowledge of how much Nick looked up to him and how he would do almost anything to get attention from the older male. And Kota played on that. He played it up as much as he could. Mostly because he loved watching his brother squirm.