Work Text:
Cody's Home for Wayward Clones
The music was loud, way too loud! The thumping of the bass reverberating off of the walls and the wooden floor. The words sung, nay, shouted were incomprehensible. At least to someone not as fond or familiar of such… music?
“Iiii hate you!… Youuuu hate me!… Weeeee… hate… Every One!…”
Certainly not an uplifting song by any standards!
And Cody was really not a fan. Not at the moment especially while suffering from a splitting headache. Something of a constant in the past week or so and it was only getting worse.
Cody was trying everything to avoid blowing up. Pillows against his ears, earplugs, not even his noise cancelling headphones were helping as the thudding was felt throughout the structure of the house and furniture.
Cody got up from the sofa he had been lying on for a while as his bedroom was not an option due to the noise. The living room being farthest from the rooms occupied by the boys in the house.
The younglings of varied ages Cody was keeping house for.
Cody having become the surrogate father to a few of them several years back and then having opened his home to boys who had none of their own and nowhere else to go. The number of them having grown steadily, housing some thirteen of them at the moment, some younger, some older. All of them a family now.
Cody was trying his best to keep them all fed, clothed and having after school activities to keep them off the streets. Mostly succeeding in his tasks, having reduced his own workload as an architect while working from home to become more of a teacher/father figure for the boys.
It had been great for a long while but with the current state of the world, the economy and all failing for most, the home run on both Cody’s salary and the donations from their supporters growing less in the past few months. Cody having tried to keep the household running the best he could himself, taking a few loans to support the difference, but as it was, his own work had been reduced as well and so, situation had gotten worse in the past few weeks.
To add to the troubles, some of the boys had been acting up in school and Cody having had several talks with the teachers in regards. He could not really blame them though, as clearly, his own mood wasn’t the best to say the last. And Cody was sure, despite trying to hide things from them, keeping his cheer up and all, they could sense it. They were clever kids after all.
All and all, the past month had been the worst one yet.
And then, there was the headache!
Cody had never raised his voice, never berated, never blamed the boys for anything. If they had misstepped, done something wrong, they had always managed to talk things through. The roughhousing a given thing of course, which Cody had tolerated without issue knowing they were all safe in his house even if the noise level sometimes got too loud. This, was their home.
But, tonight, enough was enough for Cody!
Cody reluctantly got up from the sofa, his head pounding as he pounced to the source of the noise. The older boys room.
Ripping the door open Cody stood there staring at the space, with some of the boys there dancing while others were air-playing instruments, mimicking the band playing or something of the sort.
“TURN DOWN THAT DAMNED NOISE!” Cody was shouting at the top of his lungs, a first for sure. “PLEASE!”
The boys turned to see the red faced father figure at the door, the lot freezing in shock and surprise only able to stare at Cody mouths agape. Never having heard him shout at them before.
One of them got their bearings, managing to finally turn off the music completely.
“Thank you!”
Without any further words forthcoming, Cody left the room banging the door closed behind him as he did.
The boys stood there for a longest while, staring after Cody. Not really sure what had happened. Not really.
“Um… that was… odd.”
“Yeah.”
“So, guess we go to sleep now then?”
“Yeah, we better.”
The boys moved quietly, the lot of them getting into their own rooms to go to sleep. After all, it was shocking to see Cody in such a state. And keeping it quiet was their best option in their minds.
After the younger kids had left to their own rooms, Waxer and Boil sharing the room with Wooley remained awake. The tree of them talking about what had happened.
“You think it has something to do whit the call we overheard the other day?”
“Could be. It sounded really serious.”
“Yeah, ya think! Money talks are always serious!”
“It was the first time I’ve ever heard Codes talk about money.”
“It was. But, you’ve seen the news.”
“Yeah, we all have. And everyone is suffering. Some kids at school were talking about hearing their parents having troubles too.”
“We should do something.”
“Well, we already have. Guess it’s time to step up though.”
“I agree. The new bikes can wait. We should help him. Help us.”
“Cody really has helped us all. A lot.”
“We owe him.”
“He always says we don’t. But he has spent a lot on us all.”
“I know, but if we can help, we should. Even a little bit helps, right?”
“Right!”
“Let’s do it!”
The trio spat onto their palms and slapped them together, making their pact official.
*
The next morning Cody woke up, feeling stiff on the sofa he had finally fallen asleep on. The pain meds having kicked in finally and the headache having somewhat subsided thankfully! Cody found himself bundled up in a warm blanket and his head was resting on a soft pillow. Not something he had managed to take care of himself the night before. The boys had done it!
Cody was reminded of the nigh before, when he had been angry and gone to shout at the boys. His boys. And because of simple music being played too loud! Cody regretted doing it. As despite the circumstances, it was wrong on so many levels.
As Cody got up, he could see something on the coffee table. A card.
Cody picked up the card and saw the hearts drawn there, with all the boys names written on it. As he looked down at the table, there was an envelope there too. Picking it up, Cody could see it contained money. The boys money. Something they had earned from doing odd jobs around the neighbourhood and part time jobs to save for new bikes and such they wanted.
Cody felt the warmth and love in this very notion, his heart swelling, his eyes watering as tears started falling. Oh how he loved his boys, they were the best for sure!
*
Cody was up and about. Having had a shower and a shave, some coffee and a thought or two about the overall situation and what had happened the night before. The most thoughtful present sitting in front of him.
But he could not accept it.
Cody sipped the last of his coffee and headed to the boys rooms. It had been usually quiet all morning, the Saturday usually more noisy at the hour, but none of them had come out from their rooms yet.
Cody knew the reason why. He had scared them. Making them feel unsafe. Despite it having been a minor incident. But, most of these boys were from broken homes, the system or even the streets and Cody, had always been a rock for them.
Cody needed to remedy the situation before it got out of hand and so… Cody knocked on the older boys room. Hearing the faint come in from the inside.
“Morning boys.” Cody smiled now, acting more like himself again.
“Morning Cody.” The chorus responded.
“Please, get the others and join me in the common room.”
“Sure Codes!”
Cody left and waited in the living area, also known as the common room for the boys to arrive.
As the trotted in, carefully, still rather quiet for the usual ruckus happening any regular day, Cody could tell something had shifted. They all sat around him, none of them speaking a word. Cody could not blame them. He understood their attitude and fear well enough. Not unfamiliar with the similar situation of his own past himself. Having been a kid of the streets himself.
“Boys,” Cody let his glance roam across the small somewhat fearful looking faces looking back at him with wide eyes. “First off, I want to apologise to each and every single one of you.” Cody let out a sigh, the boys seemingly surprised but no words forthcoming, letting Cody have his say. “I was, out of order. And there is no excuse. Not really.” He had debated on how much he should tell them, as it wasn’t something he wanted to burden the kids with.
But…
“It’s about the money isn’t it.” Wooley always the one without filter commented.
Well, guess the cat was out of the bag and the boys knew more than Cody had expected them to. Despite the surprise having waited for him in the morning. Guess he wasn’t too good in hiding things from them.
“Well, guess it was obvious, huh?”
“We, we overheard the phone call.” Waxer revealed.
“Yeah. The three of us did.” Boil added.
Cody knew these were smart kids. And so, guess keeping the truth from them was moot at this point.
“Was that why I woke up to the nice surprise this morning?”
The lot of them exchanged glances before turning to Cody.
“Guess yeah.” Wooley responded on behalf of them all. “We all chipped in.”
“It’s not your job to…” Cody tried gently but was cut off. “It’s your money. You’ve earned it."
“We don’t want to lose our home or you, Codes.”
“Yeah, those bikes and whatnots can wait.”
“We can do more, ya know, work and such.” Waxer tried to be the voice of reason, clearly the boys having already talked about the whole deal amongst themselves, if the soft agreeing murmurs were any indication.
Two of the smaller kids, Tup and Dogma got up from the floor they had been sitting on until then and made their way to Cody, sitting on his lap like usually and looking at the man with larger than large eyes.
“This is our home, dad. We can help.” Dogma started.
The younger kids had started calling Cody dad, sometimes even the older ones slipping and doing the same. Even if they used Cody and Codes trying to be more, grown up. And Cody totally loved to hear it. The word, dad.
“We can sell lemonade.” Tup offered.
Cody could not help but smile. His boys, were the best for sure. And they clearly understood more than he had realised. And perhaps telling the truth and working together, they could get over this situation after all.
“You lot have this all figured out haven’t you.” Cody tried to sound more serious.
“We have!” The unified front responded immediately.
“And there is nothing I can do or say to change your minds I assume.”
“Nope!”
“Not a thing!”
“Alright, but, we need to agree on two things if were are doing this. First one is, that school will not suffer. Secondly, this is only temporary. I’ll… we’ll figure out something more permanent for the future. Agreed?”
“Agreed Codes, Cody, Dad!” They all responded in a mixture of noises.
“Good!” Cody chuckled. “Now, can you introduce me to that music you were playing last night? But a little less volume, please?”
“Sure Codes. It’s called punk rock and the…”
The situation soon enough getting back to normal in the household of Cody and his wayward boys. After all, working together was the answer, no matter the age. And Cody suspected there was nothing he and his boys could not overcome.