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“Adopted wuss,” MJ mocked, giving his kid brother a small push. Being the manly age of eighteen, he didn’t have the patience to be putting up with his youngest siblings’ bothersome behaviour.
“Am not,” DJ said sullenly, straightening his shoulders and giving him a glare that was entirely inherited from Danny Senior, despite only being a pint sized eight year old.
“Well maybe not adopted,” Luka piped in with a grin, always eager to join in with the taunting of his kid brother. He lapped up any attention from his far luckier brother, MJ, who had all the freedoms he’d yet to discover being only fifteen years old. “But you are the accident.”
MJ sniggered, despite it being a low blow and Luka grinned that he’d managed to impress him with his wit.
“I am not,” DJ said again, giving Luka a push which was shaken off like a leaf on the wind.
“Yeah you are,” MJ retorted, the voice of authority being the oldest. “Pop and Dad didn’t ever plan to have any more kids after Lu.”
“Well why would they?” Luka asked, puffing out his chest proudly. “I’m awesome. Sorry Deej but, you weren’t ever meant to be here. You sorta just – happened.”
“Yeah brah,” MJ said, giving DJ a poke in the ribs not too kindly. “Like we said - accident.”
DJ batted his hand away before giving him another push, kicking him lightly in the shins.
“Am not, am not, am not,” He said in frustration, knocking a few punches into his arm at the same time. MJ laughed them off and gave him a harder push, DJ stumbled to get his balance.
“Get lost accident,” MJ told him. “Go annoy someone else.”
“Yeah we can’t be bothered with babies,” Luka said. The older brothers grinned at each other and took off onto the beach, laughing and joking. DJ watched them leave with a jealous wistfulness despite their teasing; he wasn’t allowed onto the beach without one of his Dad’s around. Pop was at work and Danno was inside the house making dinner.
DJ wandered into the kitchen with a dejected air, climbing onto a chair as Danny paused and turned to give him a smile.
“Hey, what you up to?” Danny asked him.
“Nothing,” DJ shook his head, sinking his chin onto his hands.
“Yeah? Where are your brothers?” Danny said, turning the hobs onto low and pulling out a chair to sit by him.
“Out on the beach,” DJ said quietly. He paused in thought before turning with a confused look to Danny. “Daddy, was I an accident?”
“An accident?” Danny asked with a frown. “Well that’s a strange thing to say. What makes you ask DJ?”
“MJ called me an adopted wuss and Luka said I wasn’t adopted but I was an accident and that you and Pop didn’t want any more babies after MJ and Luka only I came along and I was an accident so you didn’t really want me,” DJ said all in one breath, giving Danny a wide eyed look. “Is that true Dad? Didn’t you want to have me?”
“Of course I wanted you,” Danny told him, pulling him close. “Your Pop and me both did. Come here.”
DJ let Danny pull him closer onto his knee and was hugged hard.
“You are not an accident baby and you are wanted and loved very much,” Danny assured him comfortingly. “Your brothers should never have said that to you.”
“I hate them,” DJ said in a huff. “They don’t like me, their always making fun, they never let me play or want to do anything I want to do.”
Danny smiled and gave him a squeeze, “You know when I was growing up, I used to fight with my brother and sisters all the time. But when you’re older, you’ll be real good friends. You may not like each other right now, but don’t ever say you hate them. They’re your family DJ.”
“They don’t want me around,” DJ said quietly, resting his head against Danny’s shoulder. “They’re always calling me names and stuff. I don’t think they want me as a brother.”
“Well tough, they’re stuck with you,” Danny said firmly. “You’re not going anywhere. They may not want you, but I sure do and so does your Pop. Our family wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“Even if I’m the accident,” DJ sighed sadly.
“Hey now, stop with that,” Danny said, pulling apart to look him in the eye. “Let me tell you something, you weren’t planned okay. Not like we planned to have MJ and Luka, but you are not an accident. You were – you were our surprise and that’s special DJ. You came along when we weren’t expecting it and we knew when you were born that our family was complete. Don’t let anybody ever tell you different.”
“Ok,” DJ said with a small smile, wriggling on Danny’s knee. “Can I go play outside?”
“If you stay on the lanai,” Danny told him with a nod. “Later after dinner we’ll go on the beach, ok?”
“Promise?” DJ asked him excitedly.
“Cross my heart,” Danny grinned, setting him on the ground with a quick kiss and giving him a small push towards the back door.
~
“Dad, hey, what’s for dinner?” MJ asked as he walked into the kitchen and headed straight for the refrigerator.
“Spaghetti and meatballs,” Danny said calmly. “So no snacking, it’ll be ready soon.”
MJ grabbed two sodas and tossed one to Luka across the room.
“When’s Pop gonna be home?” Luka asked as he caught the soda one handed.
“He just called, he’s on his way home now,” Danny explained. “You two go wash up. DJ!”
DJ appeared in the doorway holding some toy soldiers in his hands.
“Go wash up, I’m putting out dinner soon,” Danny told him. “MJ help your brother.”
MJ made a face but didn’t say anything as they all trooped out of the kitchen and upstairs. They weren’t gone five minutes when Danny heard the ruminations of an argument beginning upstairs. At first he ignored it but the shouts got louder and he went to the foot of the stairs, listening and yelling up.
“MJ, Luka, DJ,” He shouted sternly. “Don’t make me come up there.”
The boys fell silent long enough to convince him they were behaving themselves. As he turned away the front door opened as Steve let himself into the house.
“Hey, right on time,” Danny grinned, willingly allowing Steve to pull him close and press a warm, eager kiss against his mouth. “What’s that for?”
“Just needed something to keep me sane,” Steve grinned as he pulled away. “I missed you today.”
“Yeah well, Rachel will be home in a few days and we’ll be back to the regular routine,” Danny pointed out. “I won’t deny I’ve enjoyed being at home with the boys, although your two oldest are pushing their luck today.”
“My two oldest?” Steve grinned, following him into the kitchen. “How come when they are in trouble, they are entirely my sons?”
“Because my sons are perfect angels,” Danny laughed as he began putting out dinner.
“Can I help?” Steve asked.
“Drinks,” Danny smiled.
“So – what have they done?” Steve asked as he got out drinks from the fridge.
“They’ve been telling DJ that he was an accident,” Danny explained, giving Steve a long look before turning his attention back to the food. “Telling him we didn’t want him really, that he wasn’t meant to be born.”
“Huh,” Steve said and Danny looked at him again. Steve had a look on his face, the kind that said he wasn’t exactly sure how to react other than be very very angry. The fact he had nothing to say also warned Danny the comments had hit a nerve.
“Don’t say anything over dinner,” Danny said quickly. “I’ve had a talk with Deej and I think we need to talk to the other two when he isn’t present. They’ve been real impatient lately with him. MJ because he’s too cock sure being eighteen and starting college soon, thinks he’s a full grown man and doesn’t have the patience for his little brother. And I think Luka is just copying MJ because he knows it’ll win him brownie points. It’s hard for DJ being the baby, there’s seven years between him and Lu, ten between him and MJ. Makes a big difference when you’re only eight years old.”
“Uh huh,” Steve said again, still not making much conversation. Any attempts at such were shut down as they heard the boys coming down for dinner. “We’re talking right after we’ve eaten.”
“I promised DJ we’d take him out on the beach,” Danny told him.
“We can all go, as a family, and while DJ is playing, we’ll talk to the boys,” Steve said, going quiet as said boys trooped in.
~
“Lu it’s your turn to do the dishes,” Danny pointed out.
“MJ you can help,” Steve said as MJ got to his feet to leave.
“I did them yesterday!” MJ complained, finding it highly unfair to be on dishwasher duty twice in a row.
“Well you can help tonight too,” Steve informed him firmly, eyeing him until he petulantly began helping Luka. “DJ, you want to play soccer on the beach?”
“Can we go to the rock pools?” DJ asked excitedly.
“Sure can,” Steve nodded with a smile. “Go grab your stuff.”
Steve grabbed plates himself, handing them over to MJ who was rinsing them off before Luka filled the dishwasher, listening to them discussing plans for the rest of their evening.
“You guys aren’t going out,” Steve informed them with a shake of his head. “Well you are, just not by yourselves. You’re coming with me, Danny and Deej.”
“What? Aw c’mon Pop,” Luka whined with a roll of his eyes.
“Why do we need to go?” MJ asked with a scowl. “We were going to go surfing.”
“Yeah, the waves are great tonight and I need the practice,” Luka complained.
“Because Danny and I need to talk to you two,” Steve informed them.
“But Pop-,” Luka started arguing again but Steve gave him a look not to push it.
“You’re both coming, end of discussion,” Steve said before leaving them to finish the dishes alone.
~
“DJ stay where we can see you okay?” Danny said as DJ dashed off ahead to the nearest rocks. The tide had come and gone so the pools had plenty of life to explore.
“Well this is fun,” MJ moaned, dropping onto his ass with a sigh.
“Yeah,” Luka grumbled in agreement, sitting down nearby. “It’s like totally where I wanna’ be right now.”
“You know I’m getting real sick of your attitudes lately,” Steve said as he settled down next to them. “You’re both turning into a couple of smartasses, you think it’s cute, but it’s actually far from it.”
MJ and Luka exchanged nervous glances before looking over at Steve and then Danny who’d sat just in front of them keeping one eye on DJ who was exploring not too far away.
“Are we in trouble?” MJ asked them.
“What we do?” Luka asked with a frown.
“You’ve been telling DJ he was an accident? That we didn’t actually want him?” Steve said, waiting for an explanation.
MJ gave a laborious sigh and leaned back a little, “It was just a joke Pop, nothing serious. He was being annoying.”
“Well he didn’t find it funny and neither do I,” Steve said firmly.
“Me either,” Danny piped up quietly. “And I think it’s a pretty serious remark to make to an eight year old kid.”
Luka said something under his breath and rolled his eyes, which got Steve’s hackles right up.
“Got something to say Lu, say it out loud. We didn’t bring you boys up to mutter,” Steve said sharply.
“I said he’s such a baby,” Luka said, looking over at Steve with a scowl before it quickly dropped under Steve’s warning look.
“He’s a little boy,” Danny corrected him. “And your little brother. So please stop talking about him like you don’t care about him.”
“We didn’t mean anything by it Pop,” MJ said, sitting up and taking in both his parents demeanours, realising how serious they were about the whole thing.
“Then why say it?” Steve shrugged at him. “Me and Danny both know what it’s like to have annoying younger siblings, but I don’t think I was ever cruel enough to Mary to say she wasn’t wanted by our parents.”
“We never said he wasn’t wanted,” Luka pointed out to them both.
“Not in so many words,” Danny said to him. “But telling him he’s an accident, that he wasn’t planned for – pretty much the same thing.”
“But he wasn’t planned for,” Luka continued, even though it was pointless to argue. He knew he was in the wrong, he was just too proud to admit it without making an argument first. “You and Pop both said it yourselves.”
“No he wasn’t planned, he just happened,” Danny said, looking back over to where DJ was excitedly gathering something from a pool into his bucket. “So did Grace. Rachel and I hadn’t planned for a family, she just happened. She was our surprise and so was DJ. And I can’t imagine not having either of them in my life and I’d never imply they weren’t wanted when they were.”
“How’d you like it if we went around telling people you were both accidents?” Steve asked them. “I guess now you’re old enough to understand, but if you were younger do you think you’d understand that concept other than meaning ‘I wasn’t planned, I must not have been wanted’.”
“You know that little boy used to think the world of you two,” Danny said quietly. “That’s changed these last few months. He used to talk about you two all of the time, now he doesn’t because you don’t want to spend time with him anymore. He thinks you don’t like him, says that more and more these days.”
“Look, we know you’re both growing up and having an eight year old hanging around isn’t exactly what you want all of the time,” Steve said to them. “But you get to go out and hang with your friends; you’re in the house less and less. It’s gone from three to one and that’s hard for him. And we’re not going to insist you spend time with him, I don’t think it would do anything but cause more friction if we forced you to spend time with DJ when you don’t want to. Just lay off with the teasing and being nasty okay? We’ll tell him to keep himself to himself if you don’t want to spend time with him, it’s not like he hasn’t gotten the hint lately off you two anyway, though I bet he’s wondering what he’s done wrong that his older brothers can’t be bothered with him anymore.”
“Pop,” DJ’s voiced shouted over to them, full of glee and excitement. “Come see this crab. He’s ginormous!”
Steve’s face lit up into a smile as he looked over at DJ who was standing on top of a rock waving over at them. As he got to his feet and ran over, Danny turned back to their other sons.
“You two can take off if you want,” He told them quietly, looking from one to the other. “We just wanted to clear this up. Like Steve says, if you don’t want him around that’s fine. Keep yourselves to yourselves.”
“Dad -” MJ started, interrupted by DJ’s yelling and laughing with Steve.
“Daddy, come see him, he’s like gigantor,” DJ laughed, jumping around Steve as he picked up the giant monster and held it out to him. “It’s bigger than my head.”
“Wow, he is huge,” Danny said enthusiastically, getting to his feet and walking over to them. “Don’t let those claws get too close, they might steal your nose.”
“Want to go surfing?” Luka asked MJ, not sounding his usual excited self about hitting the waves.
“Yeah sure,” MJ said with a shrug as they watched DJ, Danny and Steve putting the crab down and climbing further over the rocks.
Neither of them moved and Luka made lazy circles in the sand by his side.
“Hey Lu, you remember that time we came so far up the beach that by the time we turned around to head home it was getting real dark. The tide was coming in, so we headed up to the road and started following it back,” MJ asked in thought.
“Yeah only the road wound away from the beach and into the neighbourhood and we didn’t know where we were,” Luka said with a nod. “I was real scared.”
“Me too,” MJ admitted. They had only been twelve and nine. “But I was glad you were with me. I’d have been more afraid by myself.”
“Me too,” Luka sighed in agreement. “I remember crying and you didn’t, you just kept saying we’d be okay, that you’d look after me and that Dad and Pop would come get us
“I cried,” MJ smiled sheepishly. “When Dad and Pop did find us. I guess – well I guess when you think about it, Deej doesn’t have that. We’ve always treated him like the baby, but he’s my brother same as you. If he got lost, he’d be all by himself. I’d never want him to feel like we did and at least we had each other.”
“Yeah I guess,” Luka reluctantly agreed. “He is annoying sometimes though.”
“Well yeah, but then you annoy me sometimes and I still hang with you,” MJ grinned, giving him a small push. “Any way he can be funny sometimes too. That little act he does pretending to be in the Navy.”
“He idolises Pop,” Luka laughed in agreement, pushing him back. “Can’t wait to follow in his footsteps. He’s pretty good setting up all his soldiers for battle. I never had the patience for that kind of thing.”
“Well, he loves the Navy like you love the waves,” MJ pointed out. They fell silent, watching their fathers and DJ as they began chasing each other on the sand. “We should apologise to Pop and Dad for what we said. It hurt their feelings as much as DJ’s.”
“Yeah,” Luka said quietly with a nod, looking out over the ocean. “Y’know it’s getting calm out there, the waves don’t look as good as I thought tonight.”
“Guess we could hang out here,” MJ agreed, getting to his feet.
“Been a while since I explored the rock pools,” Luka smiled as he stood up. “I used to love doing that.”
They wandered over to where their dad’s and DJ were. Steve and DJ up on the rocks as Danny looked on with a smile, taking pictures with his phone. MJ climbed up onto the rocks as Luka lingered by Danny.
“Thought you guys were taking off to catch a few waves,” Danny said to him, smiling as DJ quickly explained to MJ about something quite fascinating in the pool they were looking into.
“Nah, we decided to stick around,” Luka shrugged, scrubbing a hand through his untameable hair. He glanced at Danny who was still paying attention to Steve, DJ and MJ. “Dad – we’re sorry for what we said. Guess we hurt your feelings too when we said that.”
Danny smiled softly and turned his attention to him, “He was unexpected. But entirely wanted and loved. Just like you and MJ.”
“Yeah well,” Luka said awkwardly. “Sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” Danny grinned, putting an arm around his shoulder. “Y’know, the way you look up to MJ is the way DJ looks up to both of you. You two should remember that – that kid thinks you’re awesome. You should see how excited he gets when we come see you surfing – brags to everyone about how his big brother is going to be a World Champion one day. Those rare times you try and give him surfing tips, it’s like all his birthdays and Christmases have come at once.”
“Y’know, Pop already gave us the guilt trip,” Luka laughed lightly.
“I’m not saying it to guilt you,” Danny laughed in reply. “Just telling you the facts.”
“Dad! Look at what MJ found!” DJ shouted over to them before bending down again to see exactly what MJ had found in the shallow pool.
“I’ll go,” Luka said as Danny went to pull away. He climbed nimbly over the rocks towards his brothers and Steve patted him on the shoulder before making his way over to Danny.
“You know for a man who was always worried about being a parent,” Danny laughed quietly as Steve wrapped his arms around him. “You certainly learned the sophisticated art of guilt tripping.”
“Guess it must naturally kick in when you become a parent,” Steve grinned as he gave him a squeeze. “I’m not expecting them to be saints with him.”
“No and I think they get that,” Danny nodded in agreement. “But I think they also get what it means to be the big brothers, the responsibility of that.”
“It did get me thinking too though,” Steve said wistfully. “About MJ going to college soon, Luka’s surfing, that conversation his coach had with us about the pro circuits – soon it will just be the three of us.”
“Firstly, MJ is going to Rem and will still be living at home,” Danny laughed against him. “And yeah, Lu is possibly going to make it in professional surfing, but he’s only fifteen years old babe, still in school – we don’t know what the future will hold for him. Things haven’t changed for us just yet.”
“Still, it’ll be quiet without them around all of the time,” Steve said in thought.
“We’ll still have DJ,” Danny pointed out. “Things are never dull with him around. And just think, if he hadn’t been that surprise eight years ago, things would be very different around here.”
“Did you ever want more kids Danny?” Steve asked him. They hadn’t ever really talked about it. When it had just been the two oldest boys, they’d talked about having more kids but it wasn’t like they were getting younger at the time and DJ had been a surprise, but a very welcome one.
“What, after DJ?” Danny said, watching their small brood laughing together on the rocks. “No, we were hitting late forties already – I wanted him, but I knew that would be it for us and I was quite content for it to be that way. Why, did you?”
“I dunno,” Steve shrugged in reply. “I mean we talked about having more after Lu, but it wasn’t ever the right time for us – but then we had DJ and yeah he was unexpected, we can’t deny that. But it sometimes makes me think we could have tried harder in between Lu and Deej. Not that I’m not happy we didn’t have more, just when I get to thinking sometimes.”
“Just think, if we’d have been together from a younger age,” Danny smiled over to him. “We might have had several, maybe a few girls amongst the crowd.”
“Yeah maybe,” Steve laughed lightly. “Ever wish we’d had a girl?”
“I got a girl remember,” Danny reminded him. “Do you?”
“No, Grace is daughter enough for me too,” Steve grinned. “And those boys are my life.”
“Mine too,” Danny said, cuddling into him again. “And you, my happy, crazy family.”
~ fin ~