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When Abed gets back to he and Jeff's shared apartment, the last thing he expects to see is his recently rediscovered brother. Well, maybe that's not true. The sight of his long-lost (and recently reunited) twin is a welcome one, for sure, but he certainly didn't expect to see him curled up on the couch, wrapped in a weighted blanket. The previous times Abed had met him, he had seemed composed, put-together, and suave ("Like you, in season one," he had explained to Jeff). Now, he looks more like Abed does after a meltdown- drawn, exhausted, and quiet.
Jeff is sitting on the couch beside him, with an arm around his shoulder. "Hey," he calls, softly. "Brad's here."
Brad glances up. "I didn't know who else to call," he whispers, like it's an apology. His mouth is a thin line.
"That's okay," Abed says. "I'm glad you're here." He hangs his bag on a hook by the door, and notices Brad's coat hanging up, too. With a small, careful smile, he approaches the couch in the same way one might approach a startled cat.
"It was a scary phonecall," Jeff says, as Abed reaches his side. "He kept saying something about his brother."
"The adopted one," Brad clarifies.
"Right." Jeff places a hand over Abed's. "But, for a moment, I thought something had happened to you."
Abed holds his gaze for a second, before turning his attention to Brad. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Brad inhales shakily, and shakes his head. "Not yet."
"Cool." Abed settles at his side. "Cool cool cool." He wraps his arms around Brad, holding him tight as his breathing settles. They sit like that for a while, and Brad rests his head on Abed's shoulder, getting visibly calmer.
After a while, Jeff stands up.
"Abed, could you help me decide what to make for supper?" He says, with a meaningful look.
Abed follows him to the kitchen.
"What happened? Did he say anything?" Abed asks, in an undertone.
Jeff shakes his head. "Not really, but he's not eaten today, I know that much." He looks sheepish as he says that, but Abed nods. Regardless of whether Brad told him outright, Jeff is in a better position to guess these things than most. He embraces him briefly, and gives him a peck on the cheek before returning to the lounge.
Abed goes back to Brad's side, murmuring words to him in Polish. Brad nods sharply, and Abed gives Jeff a thumbs up.
He smiles, and disappears into the kitchen. When he next emerges, the two of them are busy assembling a blanket fort, though Brad seems slouchy and reluctant. Jeff grins to himself. Privately, Jeff thinks it's fitting- Abed is still able to indulge his inner child, which is probably good for Brad, who, by the sound of things, never really had a childhood. He overhears snippets of their conversation over the sound of the water boiling, and feels a pit in his stomach. It all sounds very familiar. Without fully realising it, he strokes the scar on his stomach with his left hand.
"I wish we could have been adopted together." Abed muses, as they lie side by side in the pillow fort.
"We would have hated each other," Brad says, automatically. His eyes are fixed on a point above them, a dark blue blanket. "No offense. But I don't have a good track record with brothers."
"It's okay. I thought I was an only child until about three weeks ago," Abed says, with a small smile.
Brad closes his eyes. There's a short pause before he speaks again. "I found our birth parents too, you know," he says, hollowly. "I didn't make contact with them."
"Why?" Abed says.
Brad turns to face him. "You know they gave us up at eighteen months, right? That's when the first signs of autism start to show up."
Abed's breath catches. "It could be a coincidence."
Brad snorts. "It doesn't feel like a fucking coincidence."
"Well, maybe we should ask them-"
"- If you want to," he says, without enthusiasm. "Just leave me out of it, okay? I'm pretty sure I've reaped all the benefits I was ever going to find from my search for biological family."
Abed blinks at the unexpected compliment, and grabs his hand. Brad tenses almost imperceptibly, but relaxes into the touch, resting his head on Abed's shoulder again as they fall silent.
"You know, there actually were a couple of coincidences," Abed murmurs. "We both speak Polish, and another second language."
"Yeah, but you got Arabic, and I got Hindi," Brad quips. "We actually are half-Indian, by the way, my-" he scowls. "- Adopted parents- got that right."
Abed decides against mentioning that his Polish mother was also half-indian. He doesn't like thinking about her these days.
He lets go of Brad's hand.
"It seems strange they went to all that trouble but they couldn't keep us together. I thought it was easier to place siblings as babies?"
"Only because they're usually young and cute," Brad snorts.
"And less hassle?"
Brad looks up.
"I've been reading up on the adoption system ever since you showed up," Abed admits.
Brad gives him a tense smile. "It's depressing, huh?"
Abed nods. His mind has been racing with thoughts of other possibilities- other timelines - ever since Brad showed up, but it's not as all-consuming as it was at Greendale. Extrapolating alternate realities was always easy back then- Greendale gave them structure, predictability. Life outside Greendale is chaotic, and ever-changing.
Life outside Greendale gives him unexpected twin brothers.
*
Jeff questions the logistics of trying to fit three 6-foot-something men into such a confined space. Brad is actually a little taller than Abed, who was on the tall side to begin with, so Jeff crouches in the entrance with two bowls of buttered noodles.
"Hey," he calls into the fort. "I know it's a long shot to assume you have the same comfort foods as Abed, but-"
"I don't have any comfort foods," Brad says.
"Then this is a great time to search for some."
Brad holds his gaze until it's clear Jeff won't back down. With a sigh, he takes the bowl from him, and wraps a noodle around his fork. By the time Jeff returns with his own food, Brad has taken a small bite, and realised he might actually be pretty hungry… And so, he keeps going. The food is inoffensive, and surprisingly tasty.
"More?" Jeff asks, once he's polished off the contents of the bowl.
Brad hesitates. "I-"
"Let me," Jeff says, as he takes the bowl.
Brad allows him to take it with, and, when Jeff returns, moments later, he's surprised to find that he's actually hungry- normally, he's able to tune it out.
Scratch that. It's not the fact that he's hungry which surprises him- it's the fact that he actually wants to do something about it. He actually wants to have someone he can make a blanket fort with, someone who'll gently bully him into eating buttered noodles, and a family who actually cares about him.
As he looks around the cramped space (and Abed swats Jeff away fondly when he attempts to put his feet in his face), he figures it's never too late to start.