The Pack and Sidemen Oneshots

Mitchlan- Hearing

Lachlan's P.O.V.

I was only 2 years old when Mitch was born, but I think I knew from the beginning that something was up. He was the third of four children so my parents had already had experience with what was normal and they knew too- we finally got the diagnosis we were looking for right after his first birthday. Mitch was deaf.

He grew up hearing nothing, too young for many years to undergo such a risky surgery that might not even work- until he was ten years old. That week was one of the scariest of my life, he was going in for an incredibly precarious surgery that had a high likelihood of failure, all while I was at school. I visited every day, in the days before the surgery, on the day he lay in bed still coming out of anaesthesia and in the days after, waiting to find out the news. Had it worked?

It had. For the first time in my life my brother could hear and he begun his long and painful journey to normalcy, well, as normal as he could be with an implant loud and proud on the side of his head. It was bright purple now, his favourite colour, and after years of being ashamed of it he learned to show it off.

The big problem we had was teaching Mitch how to speak and how to understand English. He could read and write but not understand or speak english, so it was a long journey to get him speaking and understand enough to go to a normal school without an aid with him. At 20 he was able to speak english fluently, with a bit of an Australian accent too, which I loved to laugh at.

It obviously came with problems now and again, situations we hadn't encountered before, bullying and harassment, that sort of thing. We dealt with it as it came and it led to my somewhat overprotectiveness of him, considering what he had dealt with in school. I was the big, overbearing brother and lord help you if you hurt him in any way because you would face my wrath. Everyone knew it too, even after I moved into secondary school because the threat still loomed- most people left him alone after that.

But my protectiveness remained and as Mitch moved into high school too I think it began to annoy him, but the bullying got a little less as people just didn't give a shit. He was normal except for an implant and this was a public school, no one, no one, gave a shit about anything or anyone. He had some good friends too, focused on grades and having some fun without the legality of their actions coming into question, and he enjoyed his time there, as did I.

And then the YouTube thing happened. I wasn't expecting it, nor was anyone else I think, so I decided to make the most of it while I could. But I grew and grew and eventually Mitch started streaming too, gaining a small following of his own fans. His disability wasn't much known outside his audience, and that was where the problem began.

It was just after Mitch's YouTube channel hit 100,000 (GO SUBS TO HIS CHANNEL BTW- IT'S CHANZES) the two of us were invited to a Fortnite convention in England. It was an odd place, normally that sort of thing was hosted in America, but it was a chance for me to see Vikk and Sideboy's again and for Mitch to experience a new place, all while being paid for, so of course we accepted.

However, none of them knew about Mitch's disability. Vikk knew, obviously, he had met my brother on more than one occasion, but none of the Sidemen did and the people hosting the event likely didn't either. There was a problem there because too many voices at once, or even too much noise, made it hard for him to distinguish one thing from the other and he simply shut down for a bit. Yes the implant allowed him to hear, but it wasn't all that great and the technology needed to be greatly improved in the area surrounding picking one voice from the next.

I reassured him just before we left that it would be fine, I would be there the whole time.

"It'll be okay." I mumbled, hugging him tight as he leaned against me, stood in his messy room of half packed clothes. "I'll be there and of course the others won't mind. They don't give a shit about most things honestly."

He stifled laughter but I could tell he was still nervous. He was meeting all but one of these boys for the first time after all, while going to a strange country.

"I promise."

------------------------------------------------------

His first meeting with the Sidemen went great, better than I could ever have hoped. Vikk greeted him like an old friend and as soon as I was reacquainted with them, I introduced Mitch. He was shy, a bit overwhelmed if I was honest, but not a single person commented on his hearing implant, they just laughed and joked with him like he was me. It was much appreciated.

There was a few questions when my brother wasn't in the room and I answered them, understanding that they would be curious. They quickly moved on, more focused on the event.

Just as I expected, Mitch was nervous and pretty clingy the first day of the event. He barely left my side and the others noticed, making sure to give us some space and keeping us to the back hallways of the event, away from the crowds and into the YouTuber and streamer only sections. We could still hear the yelling and cheering through the walls and Mitch would occasionally reach up and cover his ears or play with his implant, frowning. I pulled him aside, making sure he was alright.

"You okay?" I asked quietly, reaching up to pull his hand away from his head. He nodded.

"Yeah just... already going weird." He shook his head as a particularly loud shout came through the wall. The thing couldn't be turned off, so he was stuck with it unless he put on noise cancelling headphones over the implant, not over his ear because the implant sat just behind his ear. "I've got my headphones though."

"Good." I whispered, smiling. "I'll be here if you need me."

-------------------------------------------------------

We enjoyed the event, and Mitch did too once he forgot about his hearing and got into it. We made the most of it and filmed and roamed the event hall and hung out with the others, and by the end of it we were exhausted but happy. There were still a couple of days before we went home and Mitch had formed a tight friendships with Tobi, Josh and Vikk, who were thankfully the sensible ones. I was glad to see it, and let him do his thing.

The day before we went home Mitch sidled up to me as I packed my bag, wrapping his arms around my waist. I looked back at him, smiling.

"What's up?" I asked, not worried because he was smiling too.

"I just wanna say thanks." He mumbled into my back, giggling when I tried to undo his wrench-like grasp.

"For what?"

"For dragging me out here. I never would've come on my own and I had a lot of fun. I've made some friends." He said, sounding genuinely sincere. "So... thanks."

I turned around and hugged him tightly, smiling as he buried himself in my chest.

"You don't need to thank me Mitch, it's what I do. I've been protective of you for lord knows how long so I think it's time for you to get out there, do your own thing. It's my job as a brother, and I want the best for you." He giggled and headbutted me playfully, finally just closing his eyes.

"I'm still gonna thank you anyway." He breathed, squeezing me tighter. "Cause that's what I do."

As we stood there in the middle of the room I ran my hand over his hearing implant, reminding me of everything we had been through together. I was glad he was my little brother and I was glad we had lived our lives like this, so close with so much of our lives intertwined.

God, I loved my little brother and I knew he loved me back.