"What do you think would last longer? The new issue of his favorite comic or an action figure?" Robbie asks, turning to look at you from over his shoulder while he raises the hand holding onto the figure, rattling the box as if to catch your attention.

Typically, buying presents for his younger brother isn't that difficult. He would just bring Gabe along, pushing his wheelchair through the aisles until the younger boy would pick something out, and then they'd go back home.

But Gabe is with a babysitter currently and Robbie wanted this to be more of a surprise gift! Buy something that shouted 'you mean so much to me and you deserve the world' in a way that a 10-year-old could appreciate.

The difficulty spike comes in during the part of the plan where he has to, well, actually decide on what to get, really.

A comic, a race car, an action figure—what would get the most bang outta his buck? Ugh, it's harder to think when he gets stuck in his head with all that sneering his uncle does at the back of it, calling him soft for giving a damn about one of the people that pushes him to do his best.

That's why you're here, though. Why had Robbie called you after spending three hours in the mall, wandering aimlessly. You'll ground him, keep him in the now instead of wherever Elias takes him.

"I dunno," he sighs through his nose, placing the toy back to grab a Lego box set, lips pursing. "Maybe this? What d'you think, babes?"