It was an affliction of his that used to be in the extreme. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and OCD when they were both little. It took him longer than his brother to get ready in the morning because he would incessantly take his shirt on and off, or untie and retie his shoes. In school he had a hard time paying attention long. His mind would wonder off and he would start tapping his fingers in sets of three's. It never bothered Connor, that his brother was like that. People made fun of him because they thought he was stupid and he wasn't; he was actually very bright, he just couldn't sit still long enough in class and would have to go outside and walk down the hall periodically.

He hated being called stupid. It made him so mad and that would always trigger his OCD and he would wind up straightening everything around him. It was why their apartment stayed so clean. Murphy couldn't stand anything to be out of place. Which is why he was on the floor now. It had been just a stupid little argument between him and Connor. Usually they ended in little play fights and that was it. But this time it had gotten heated and Connor had called him stupid before stomping out of the apartment. Murphy had stood there biting his nail and pulling on his hair. He had looked around and spotted a stain on the floor that had been there when they moved in. He had tried before to get it out and it wouldn't come out so Connor had put a rug over it so it wouldn't bother Murphy. The rug had been slung over in their fight and it was visible to him. He grabbed some cleaning stuff and a scrub brush and began scrubbing it furiously. An hour later he was still in the same spot scrubbing away when Connor had come back. He took one look at his brother and sighed.

"Come on Murph get up. Ye know it won't come up." He tried to lift his brother off the floor. Murphy snatched his arm away.

"No." More scrubbing.

"Murphy, ye know it won't come up. Let's just put the rug back over it"

"Leave me alone."

"Murphy-"

"Leave me alone Conn! Why don't you just go out somewhere so you won't have to be around yer stupid brother!"

Regret laced Connor's eyes. "Ah Murph ye know I didn't mean it. I don't think yer stupid, ye know that."

Murphy looked up at his brother, tears shining in his eyes. "Do I? Maybe yer just tired of dealing with me. Not sure I can blame ye, I'm a freak."

Connor plopped down next to his brother and grabbed his chin making him look at him. "Ye shut that shit up right now Murph, yer not a freak and yer not stupid. I was just mad over something dumb. I didn't mean it honest."

Murphy looked down, half heartedly scrubbing the spot still. "I'm not stupid Conn." He half whispered.

"I know."

"I can't help it, the way I am. I wish I was normal."

"Ye are normal Murph. Ye just got a few quirks is all."

Connor once again tried to get him to stop and this time it worked. Though as soon as Murphy let go of the scrub brush, he began pulling on his hair looking at the stain. Connor moved the rug back over and helped his brother up. Murphy's stare was fixated on the rug as if he could still see the spot. Connor guided him away, Murphy looking over his shoulder at it.

"It's still there Conn."

"I know. I'll have to get some paint of something to cover it fer good."

"Okay." He still kept looking back at it. Connor tapped in front of him.

"Murph look this way. The spots covered."

Murphy started biting his nail continuing to pulling on a lock of his hair. Connor pulled his hand out of his mouth out of habit. Murphy started his tapping. One, two, three…. One, two, three… over and over again. Connor put his hand over his brothers.

"Murphy, ye've got to calm down, it's getting worse."

"I can't stop. It's like it'll be real bad if I don't keep doing it." His leg started jumping in time with his fingers. His breathing got slightly erratic.

Connor stood and held his hand out to his brother. "Come on Murph, lets walk around a while."

Murphy seemed to have a war with his body, before finally yelling, "Fuck!" He all but slammed his head on the table. He lay there trying to slow his breathing back to normal, his fingers curling from stopping himself from tapping.

Connor pulled on his brother to get him to stand. "Come on, lets walk the block, that should help."

Murphy looked at his brother with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Connor gave his brother a hug and felt his brother shake with suppressed tears. "It's alright brother, now lets go walk this out of ye."

Murphy followed his brother out and knew that his brother would make it alright again. With that knowledge, Murphy walked out with his brother and didn't even look back at the spot on the floor.

A/N: Ok so this is my piece of some sweet brotherly affection going on, hope you like! I own nothing!