don't worry, I'm wondering the same thing.
My writing skills are NOT good lol. But I remember telling you this time lol unlike for the last chapter :/

Chapter 10: With Age Comes Pain


Ever since his mom’s birthday, Stephen stayed at home. Lexi had officially moved in, after the long fight Adriana put up with her father to let her stay. Stephen was sleeping peacefully on his bed, his entire body covered by the blankets, when someone decided to rudely awake him.

“Stephy, wake up! It’s our birthday today!” Lexi jumped up and down on his bed. Stephen groaned in annoyance, changing his position on the bed.

“Correction, it’s MY birthday today. Yours isn’t until tomorrow, now go away and let me sleep,” he said, pulling the blankets closer to his head, making Lexi fall to the floor. But then his puppy, Rocky, decided to jump and make his way under the blankets with Stephen, licking his face. “Okay, I’m up, I’m up!”

“Good, because mom says come down for breakfast,” Leonard said from the door and headed back out. Sighing, Stephen got out of bed and headed down the spiral stairs of his house. In the kitchen, Adriana and Giovanni were making breakfast like muggles did. “Ignore them, they wanted to make everything ‘special’ for you two,” Leonard laughed, heading over and sitting at the counter.

“Um, good morning,” Stephen said, eyeing his parents who seemed to be struggling with the cooking.

“Happy birthday, sweetie!” Adriana greeted Stephen and Lexi, kissing them both on the cheek and gesturing her hand for them to sit. “So after breakfast, how about you open presents and then we go somewhere special?”

“Where is there a special place to go in the middle of winter?” Lexi asked, her eyes glistening as Giovanni placed a plate of food in front of her.

“Dunno, but hopefully they’ll be some place,” Adriana added, placing Stephen’s plate in front of him.

“Anyway, I want them to open presents NOW,” Leonard spoke, getting up from his seat and rushing to his room. By the time he came back, everyone else had finished breakfast, since it was never such a big deal in this household. “This one’s for Lexi, and this one is for little Stephanie,”

“Shut up, but thanks,” Stephen said, slightly lifting up the box. Lexi wasted no time in ripping off the snowflake printed paper and tossing it onto the floor. She shrieked and Stephen knew he was definitely deaf in one ear now. Leonard had given her a pair of sparkly lavender colored heels she had wanted since Christmas, but didn’t have enough money to buy. Being even more curious now, Stephen unwrapped his present, to see a book inside. “You remembered?” he laughed, covering his face with the present box.

“Of course I did. I may not remember much, but I knew you really wanted this so I decided to help you out,” Leonard hugged his brother’s head, only to have him pushed away.

“What are you two talking about?” Giovanni asked, watching Stephen as he quickly began to read through his new book.

“We were talking about what type of career we’d like to have in the future. Leonard stuck with being a musician, I’m undecided for now and Stephen wants to be a healer. So the book Stephen’s reading is about how to become a healer and succeed. It was actually nice of Leo to get him something like that,” Lexi explained, trying on her new sparkly shoes and walking around with them. Both parents looked surprised and pulled out their presents before Lexi fell and broke her neck.

“Oh, what is it?!” Stephen asked, taking the present from his dad and shaking it. Stephen opened it to see a broom cleaning kit inside. “Um, thanks but I don’t have a broom,”

“And I don’t have one either,” Lexi said, taking out a cleaning kit from her box too. Adriana pulled both of them into the backyard, covering their eyes. Once passed the screen doors, Adriana put her hands down and watched as Lexi and Stephen jumped up and down like little children. The pair rushed to their brooms and began to ride them around. Close to the ground of course, since they did live around muggles. Stephen had gotten a green broom, for his favorite color. Lexi received a purple one, her favorite color as well.

“Alright you lot, go get cleaned up so we can head out soon,” Giovanni called out. Lexi and Stephen hugged his parents as they rushed inside to get ready for the day.

--

“Ugh, mom, leave my tie alone,” Stephen complained as Adriana kept adjusting his lavender-colored skinny tie. Tyler’s mom invited them all to a wizard’s fashion show she was part of every year in February. Stephen debated whether to go or not, but once Lexi begged him over twenty times a day, he had given in. Last week, the Fanellis flew to New York City for the fashion show. The muggles also had their own show going on the same day, so it was more likely wizards and muggles wouldn’t bump into each other much.

“There, it’s all fixed now. You won’t look like you just rolled out of bed now,” Adriana said, smiling and walking over to her husband. Lexi came over; wearing a lavender dress and the heels Leonard gave her for her birthday.

“Are you all ready?” she asked, slightly fixing her hair and adjusting her dress. Stephen nodded, linking arms with Lexi and walking out onto a red carpet where their pictures would be taken. His mom was already there, along with his dad, Lucy and Tyler. Being a bit camera shy, Stephen tried to escape, only to have Lexi pull him back next to her.

“Can we go already?” Stephen whispered in her ear. Lexi responded with a nodded and hurried into the building where the show was being held. Signing to each other, the pair went in search of Kat, who had become one of the models for tonight. “Why is she here?” Stephen asked, stopping in his tracks and looking away.

“Who?” Lexi asked. Stephen nudged his head to the right and pretended to look at the marble statue figurine in front of him. Lexi turned her head to see Aimee, standing with her cousin in the distance. “Maybe her cousin was invited by someone else and she brought Aimee along. Stop being stubborn and go talk to her,” she said, continuing her search for Lucy and Tyler. Stephen followed behind her, until he heard someone call out to him.

“Stephen? What are you doing here?” Aimee greeted him with a hug. Yes, Stephen felt a bit awkward since the breakup but he wasn’t going to show it right now.

“My mom’s boss invited the family so I got dragged along. So how have you been and why aren’t you in school?” he asked, wagging a finger at her.

“I’ve been alright, just worrying about NEWTS later this year. I just took this week off for this since my cousin didn’t want to come alone. Her boyfriend is in the fashion show,” Aimee explained, turning her head to see her cousin calling her over. “Well, I have to head over now. Hopefully we’ll get to talk more later,” With that, Aimee followed behind her cousin into the seating area. With his blood beginning to boil, Stephen went in search of Lexi, to find her in the makeup rooms where his mom was painting Kat’s face.

“Stephen, why are you huffing?” his mom asked, placing eye shadow on Kat’s eye lid.

“Running around, trying to look for you guys,” he answered, pulling Lexi towards him. “I think Peter is here too. Aimee said her cousin’s boyfriend is in the show and it was the same cousin from the party,”

“Great, that little twit is going to ruin things by starting another fight with you. What are we going to do?” she asked, taking her wand from the holder on her leg and placing it into her purse.

“Just stay away from him, and if something does happen, I want you to get out of here as fast as you can,” Stephen warned her. Lexi seemed scared, but nonetheless nodded. “Where’s Nathan?” Stephen asked Lucy and Tyler.

“He’s with my sister and Ashley. I’m pretty sure he’s in good hands,” Tyler said. Adriana then shooed them all away into the seating area, where the show was about to begin soon. Stephen sat next to Lexi, near the front and being a bit fidgety about Peter Davies being here. But as soon as the show started, his nightmare came true. Peter was the first to walk out and model. For the duration of the hour, Lexi cheered loudly whenever Kat walked out and didn’t fall. That was until the final run through where she slipped on her dress and fell on top of his mom.

“Do you think he’ll actually try to start something?” Lexi asked, getting them both drinks before heading out soon.

Stephen shrugged. “Maybe only if he sees me. Otherwise, I think we can have a peaceful night with him being around,”

“Stephen Fanelli?” a man walked up to them. Stephen nodded, looking at the man in front of them suspiciously. “Your mother would like you to get her makeup bag and equipment from the room,” The man left in a hurry. The pair looked at each other and headed towards the room, but of course someone else joined them.

“Guys, did you laugh when I fell?” Kat asked, changing into sneakers to walk around better.

“Can’t say we didn’t,” Stephen answered.

“So what did you and Aimee talk about when I left you?” Lexi smirked, opening the door to the makeup room.

“How we’ve been and schooling for her,” Stephen answered and walked in with Kat hot on his heels. Taking his mom’s bags and cases, he looked up to see none other than Peter Davies leaning on the wall towards the back.

“I didn’t know they allowed mudbloods here too. What is happening to the wizarding world nowadays?” Peter smirked, taking out his wand. Giving the stuff to Lexi and Kat, Stephen took out his own wand.

“You two need to get out of here. I have a feeling this time he isn’t going to hold back,” he said, turning to them behind him. The girls didn’t move. They didn’t want to leave Stephen here knowing Peter has been going after him since they met about five years ago while visiting Tyler. “I said go!” Stephen said firmly, finally being able to make Kat and Lexi leave.

“Do you remember why I began to hate you so much, Fanelli?” Peter asked, slowly walking closer to him. Stephen shook his head, though trying to remember the reason from many years ago. “You don’t remember that I used to fancy your friend Lexi? I asked you to talk to her for me and you blankly said no. Since then, I always knew you wanted her to yourself, selfish little brat!” Peter launched Stupefy at Stephen but missed, though one mirror was broken by the spell.

“Are you serious right now? This is why you’ve disliked me all these years besides me being muggleborn?” Stephen asked, casting Expelliarmus at Peter, hitting him on the shoulder. Then the pair began to go at it again.

“Confringo!” Peter shouted. Many chairs and mirrors were now broken. Stephen had a cut on his arm from being hit with a spell, causing him to fall back and cut himself on a broken mirror piece. Stephen felt exhausted, but he had to keep going or else Peter wouldn’t give up on making his life miserable. Not paying attention, Stephen got hit on the chest with a stunning spell. “Seems like the little muggleborn boy can’t defend himself,” Peter laughed, standing over Stephen. Just as Peter was going to attack Stephen again, he went flying into the air, landing on the floor about ten feet away from him.

“Didn’t I tell you guys to leave?” Stephen said, taking Lexi’s hand and getting to his feet. Rolling his eyes, he walked towards the door to finally leave. Hopefully no one would make him clean this up.

“Ugh, my dress got caught on something,” Lexi said. Stephen stopped by the door and leaned on it, hoping she would at least let it rip so they can get out.

“Haven’t people ever told you to mind your own business?! Sectumsempra!” Peter yelled, casting the spell at Lexi. She tried to pull harder on her dress, but it just wouldn’t budge. Lex prepared herself for the curse, but something or someone had blocked it. She felt something heavy fall on her, only to see Stephen’s body in her arms. Her chest became heavy, as if someone had tied something tight around it. Lex carefully placed Stephen on the ground and ran to the door.

“Help! HELP!” she screamed from the top of her lungs, hoping at least one person had heard her. Lexi hadn’t cared that Peter was still in the room. Her best friend was on the verge of dying because he had saved her life. Quickly running back to Stephen, she heard his low cries as more gashes appeared on his body. “Stephy, don’t leave me, not yet,” Lex began to cry, taking his hand and kissing the back of it. Hearing footsteps behind her, she kept talking to Stephen, hoping he would answer. “You’re the only one I have left and ever had. You were there when no one else was, even if you didn’t want to be. I still need you around,” Lexi cried harder, watching his eyes as they went from a bright green to almost pale in an instant.

“..I’m not leaving anytime soon,” Stephen said, in a voice so low, that one had to be close enough to his mouth to hear him.

“Stephen?! STEPHEN!” he heard his mom screamed and beginning to cry. Adriana hurried over to Stephen and knelt next to her almost unrecognizable son.

“What did you do?!” Tyler yelled at Peter, who was still in shock, witnessing Stephen practically give his life up. “Immobulus!” he casted the spell at Peter and hurrying out to go get security.

“Come on, we have to get him to St. Mungos,” Adriana said, taking Lexi’s hand and apparating. All Stephen could hear were people yelling orders at each other and felt his body being levitated away from his friend and mother.

“We're losing him, hurry!” someone called out. Stephen slowly closed his eyes, hoping he'd be able to open them again later.

--

"Do you think he'll finally wake up today? It's been three days since then," someone said someone else. Stephen stirred on what he guessed was a bed and covered his face away from the light. But that didn't really help considering the blankets were very thin.

"Go away and let me sleep!"he huffed. But then a certain little person jumped on his bed and hugged him. Stephen knew exactly who it was, so he hugged them back.

"Thank you," Lexi sobbed quietly into the sheets.

"You know I'd do anything for you," he said, kissing the top of her head and pulling her closer.

"How are you feeling?" Adriana asked, wiping some tears away.

"Alive," Stephen laughed, to receive the same reaction from his mother. Adriana kissed his forehead and left the room. He guessed she was going to tell the healers he had finally awaken from the long slumber he had greatly enjoyed.

"Why can't you ever stay safe when I'm not around?" Leonard walked in, placing his guitar case on the floor and walking over to the right side of the bed. "Dad told me what happened. Feel special I left the tour to come visit you on your death bed,"

"Now why would you do that?" Stephen asked. Lexi finally let go and sat on the bed, playing around with her small fingers.

"Because you're my brother and the same way you protect Lexi, is the same way I'd protect you," Leonard smiled, sitting down on a nearby chair. A trio chatted a bit more until more guests walked in.

"You really shouldn't scare people like that, Stephen. They become very sleep deprived," Kat said, walking in with Lucy, Tyler, Nathan and Giovanni.

"How are you feeling, son?" Giovanni asked, waving his wand to open the window curtains. Squinting his eyes, Stephen used his hand to block the light.

"Fine, until recently," he pointed to the window. "I'm sorry I worried you guys. It was just something I had to do,"

"We understand. I think any of us would do the same for each other," Tyler said, sitting down and taking Nathan in his arms.

"Seems like you're one popular guy, Mr Fanelli," a healer walked in and headed to hi bed. "I'll just be checking to make sure you don't have any scars from the attack. I'd say, you're a lucky one to be alive from such a powerful and forceful attack like that one," she added, checking his arms and legs. "But you seem completely fine now and may head home," With that, the healer walked out and onto other patients.

"So what do you want to do when we get out of here?" Leonard asked.

"GET REAL FOOD!" Stephen whined, feeling his stomach grumbled from the hunger.