Chapter Text
The week is already off to an amazing start, if you ask Colt. Armed with an ice cream, exactly fourteen bananas, a can of spray paint, and a tin of fish food, he’s definitely winning this thing.
“Aw, c’mon Colt, you know that's not fair.”
Colt just grins as Dan’s whine filters out of his phone speakers. “You’re just mad that I got to Old Man Freddy’s post before you did.”
“Oh fuck you, you sneaky, bullshit spewing traitor.”
“You say such sweet things,” Colt says, “but not as sweet as this win is going to be.”
He can hear Dan snort on the other end. “Don’t rule Jody out yet, man.” The sound of a car unlocking. “But I definitely lost, fuck you.”
Colt laughs as he balances his phone against his ear. It’s time to get to work. “Love you too Dan. I’ll be back at the spot in thirty, and then I’ll be collecting my victory.” He hangs up.
Reliable ol’ Freddy had put out a post on Facebook two minutes after Jody and Dan split off from him, and when he was the first one to reply to his post, Dan and Jody both sent him simultaneous middle finger emojis his way. The wildest request in the neighborhood, check.
It was simple, but fun, like all his requests were. Cover his least favorite neighbor’s car in a highly specific mixture that would take ages to wash off, extra points if he managed to somehow get it inside the car without breaking any windows. And afterwards? A crispy forty dollars was his.
Maybe not the most outrageous request that Fred had ever put out (Colt was particularly fond of the “show up at the nearby police station in a pig costume, egg their windows, and not get arrested” from September (this one was obviously not done on Facebook)), but usually his jobs were the most entertaining in the neighborhood.
In a bright mood already, Colt empties half the tin of fish food into where he knows the internal vents are. Fred appreciates some creative thinking from time to time.
He’s practically skipping when he makes his way back to the nearby laundromat entrance, where Jody and Dan are already lingering.
“Hey beautiful,” Colt says, sidling up to Jody. “You new around here?”
Jody rolls her eyes. “Get lost loser, I have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah man, back off.” Dan huffs, though he loses the fight and a smile breaks out a moment after. “You guys are really gonna beat that dead horse every chance you get, huh?”
Colt flutters his eyelashes in Dan’s direction. “What, me?” He can see Jody’s smile stretching out in his peripheral vision. “Jody finally put a ring on it after all these years and we’re not even allowed to celebrate?”
Jody lets out a betrayed gasp. “Dan, I was going to ask you to be my best man!”
Well that can’t stand. “Jody,” Colt stammers, clutching at his chest, “Jodes, you can’t steal Dan from me! I called dibs!”
Dan makes a halfhearted swipe in their direction, grinning fondly. “You guys are obnoxious, shut up and stop being gross. Being official doesn’t give you a freebie to be embarrassing.”
Regardless, they giggle for a few more minutes before properly getting into the weeds of what they’re gathered for.
“I got twenty-five for clearing out Ms. Luna’s bird nest,” Dan says, obviously having accepted defeat sometime in the last half hour.
Jody eyes Colt. She’s trying to pick out weakness in him, but jokes on her, Colt is confident he has the golden prize. He does let himself wriggle his eyebrows at her though, just to see her scoff fondly at him. “You going next, Grace?”
“Hey, it’s Seavers now.”
Dan rolls his eyes. “Dude, nobody is calling you that.”
“And I’ll have you know,” Colt sniffs, ignoring him, “that I’ve already won.”
He pulls up a selfie he took with the vandalized car, sitting in all its banana, ice cream, spray paint, and fish flake covered glory. “Forty to smear random shit on Josh’s car.”
Dan whistles. Jody squints at the screen and then starts laughing.
The consensus is that he really could’ve used more spray paint, though Dan gives him an extra point for not drawing dicks. It’s just too obvious, y’know? Colt sensibly leaves out the other angle of the car, which is covered entirely in drawn dicks and one “:3” directly on the driver side window.
“Not gonna lie, that does seem like a pretty fun request.” Dan is still zooming in on the photo, admiring all the artistic flourishes Colt added (read: tiny drawings of batman and spiderman).
Colt is practically preening.
But Jody isn’t convinced. Whatever she found, it must’ve been something to make her so confident.
“Now now boys,” Jody says with a flourish, “watch and learn from the pros.”
Forty dollars, same as Colt. But Jody had gone door to door in the downtown apartment complex that her aunt lives in, like a madman. Her job? Help four frat boys bake a lopsided chocolate cake that had Edward Cullen’s face as an egg printed on top, iced delicately with “Eggward.” On the surface, it's funny. But the video?
Apparently part of the job was to help the boys record a video for their friend (who has a birthday this week, hence the Eggward cake). So Dan and Colt got the pleasure of seeing Jody break a wine bottle over every single one of their heads.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Colt asks, wincing as yet another frat guy goes down with a hefty crash.
“Yeah, but I mean, I think they were drunk way before this,” Jody says.
Video finished, the council decides on the winner.
“I hate to say it, but Jody wins,” Colt sighs.
As per their tradition, the winner of the most fun odd job gets to choose where they spend their collective spoils. Jody insists they go to the theatre so she can add even more niche movies to her “watched movies” notebook. A classic, coming from her. Dan and Colt have no problem with it, seeing as it’s her go-to every time that she wins.
It’s as they're moving back to where Dan’s car is parked that Colt feels his phone buzz.
“Oh, hold up guys, I got a call.”
Colt moves away by a couple steps, and glances down at the screen. Ryland.
He furrows his brow. Isn’t Ryland still at work? His brother rarely calls when he’s out, always a stickler for the “no phones at work” rule.
“You alright?” Is out of his mouth the moment he picks up.
He can hear the muffled sounds of metal clanking and people shouting in the background of his brother’s call. Must be in the back then. “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry to call, I know you’re out with Jody and Dan.”
Colt shoots a thumbs up back at the two and mouths Ryland. He gets two thumbs up in response. “Nah, everything's good, what did you need?”
His brother sounds rushed and harried, and despite the knowledge that Ryland is always rushed and harried, it automatically puts Colt on edge. “Nothing bad, just–” Colt hears Ryland’s voice go muffled, like he covered the mic with his hand. He’s shouting over to someone that he’ll be back out in just a second. “–just, can you pick Court up?”
What? “Of course,” Colt says, “but I thought he was supposed to be at the park ‘til five?”
“Yeah, I just got a call from Sarah–she’s the one supervising–she told me that Court got hurt so she’d rather someone pick him up early.”
Oh my god. “Is he–?”
Ryland cuts him off. “He’s fine, she said it was just a small thing, apparently got nailed with a stray softball.” His brother is rushing through his words, he must really be in a rush. “Listen–I’m really worried but she said it was nothing serious and I can’t get away from work right now, could you pick him up for me? If Dan could drive you that would be even better, tell him I owe him one.”
“Dude, of course, we can be there in fifteen.” Colt starts stepping back towards Jody and Dan, who definitely heard everything he said. Dan is already opening the passenger door for Jody, while Colt makes for the backseat. “Go back to work, I’ll pick him up and we’ll wait for you at home.”
Ryland sighs, but Colt can hear the relief in it. “Yeah–yeah that would be great. Thanks Colt, and tell Dan and Jody I said hi. I’m gonna get back to work, but call me if anything’s wrong.”
It would take a lot to get Colt to call Ryland while he was busy with his job, but this is more for Ryland’s peace of mind than anything else. “Yeah, of course dude. See you at home.”
Call finished, he tells Jody and Dan that Ryland says hi, and asks them if they mind swerving to pick Court up from the nearby park. “Sorry guys, I’ll make it up to you next week, my treat.”
“Nah, don’t worry dude,” Dan says, putting the car in drive, “we can go kidnap your little brother and watch that movie, easy.”
Jody giggles. “Well, don’t say it like that.” She turns back to look at Colt, smiling reassuringly. “But of course Colt, you know we love hanging out with Court.”
God, he has the best friends in the damn world. Colt feels warm from head to toe as he continues chatting with them.
Court doesn’t really have friends in his grade. It was something that worried Ryland and Colt to no end. Court himself always said he was fine, that he wasn’t lonely and there weren’t any bullies, and that there was nothing to be worried about. But Colt knew it kept Ryland up some nights. That worrywart was always chewing his nails over thoughts that Court was isolated or going to be socially stunted in some way. Not that there was anything Ryland could reasonably do about it.
But when Colt had relayed these worries to his friends, Jody and Dan apparently took it upon themselves to integrate Court into their friend group. They always asked if Court would be tagging along when they went to the skatepark or movies, they brought him disgusting flavors of gum because it always made him smile. They had seemingly adopted Court as an honorary member of their circle. It struck Colt right in the center of his chest, that his friends always took such care with his little brother.
Court adored the two in return. Maybe not anything obvious, Court had always been pretty quiet, but Colt could tell that his brother had accepted the two into his small and private little circle of people he held dear. He would definitely treat it as a nice surprise to see them pull up to the park.
He spots a gathering of school kids near a handful of adults and points next to Dan’s face. “Over there! I see him on the bench.”
Jody grabs his hand away from Dan’s grumbling face.
They decide to all get out of the car, form a little surprise entrance for Court. “Court!” Colt calls, waving his arms above his head.
Court is sitting on a separate bench near the cluster of adults. He looks up when Colt shouts, and Colt feels a smile grow on his face when Court immediately lights up.
He doesn’t move, lets them jog slowly over, just waves shyly in return. A lady sees them and stands up to greet Colt. “You’re Court’s brother?” She asks.
“Yes ma’am,” he says, reaching for Colt, who is picking up his things to hand over to his brother. “I heard Court got benched?”
She grimaces. Oof, bad sign. “Court here was just drawing near us but the other boys were playing softball just a bit away,” she motions to the field next to the benches, where a little group of seven boys are playing what looks to be makeshift soccer, “Court got hit with a stray ball after one of them kicked it, it looked like it hurt.”
Colt frowns. “Where’d it hit him?”
Court shuffles from where he is next to him. “It hit me in the head,” he mumbles.
“Yikes,” Jody hisses from behind him. Dan elbows her.
Before Colt can react similarly, the lady cuts in. “He said it didn’t hurt, and the ball is pretty soft. We checked, there’s no bump and he says there’s no dizziness or anything, but we figured it was better for him to get picked up early.”
Colt doesn’t really like the sound of it, but he eyes the ball the boys are still kicking around, and it does seem to be a softball, one of the big rubber ones that are always in the schoolyards. He doubts there’s any actual damage from it.
“I got it, thank you for watching him.” He offers the lady a smile, and motions for Court to say bye.
“Come on, Court! We’re gonna ditch this playground and do cool shit!” Colt crows as they all walk back to Dan’s car.
“Language,” Court mumbles, but he’s smiling.
Colt groans. “God, not you too. Ryland’s always up my ass about it.”
Dan laughs at him. “Come on dude, Court’s twelve, don’t do Ryland like this.”
Ryland is way too prim and proper for any twenty year old, but Colt digresses. So he’s got a huge nerd for an older brother, but Ryland makes up for it in other ways, like making Colt look cooler by comparison.
Even though Court might disagree with that. The kid is always looking at Ryland like the sun shone out of his ass.
Colt also thinks Ryland is the coolest person on the planet, but he’d rather die a fiery death than ever have anyone know that.
“How was the park?” Colt asks, bumping into Court playfully. “Seems pretty lame compared to us, but I heard they had free pizza.”
Court actually deflates a bit. Oh shit. Grass kicks up near Court’s feet as his brother starts dragging his feet a bit. Dan shoots him a concerned look.
“What’s up?” He asks, pulling the side door open for his little brother.
Court stays silent as he buckles the car seatbelt, but speaks up in a flat tone afterward. “It was okay.”
Damn, dry answer. Court wasn’t usually much for high energy or big bursts of energy, but Colt prided himself on knowing the difference between Court when he was just being Court, and Court when he was turning into a sad little gray robot.
There wasn’t much that he could do beyond push him about it, which Court typically didn’t respond well to unless it was Ryland, so Colt turns to his friends for help.
All Dan can offer him is a shrug, which is fair. But Jody bypasses acknowledging him at all. Instead, she twists completely around to face Court and offers, “Do you want to go to the store with us? We were going to make Ryland some cards for his birthday.”
Colt furrows his brow in confusion. What?
Dan obviously catches on before Colt does. “Yeah, we’re gonna make one huge card and a few little ones so that Ryland can hang it up on that empty wall next to the kitchen.”
They were very much not going to do that, but since Jody is the one who derailed them, Colt doesn’t open his big mouth to ruin it. It’s a close thing though. Dan and Jody are both looking at him expectantly. He coughs.
“I mean, we could always go to the movie instead if you don’t want that,” he says, trailing off a bit at the end when both Jody and Dan start glaring at him.
Court is definitely more perked up at the mention of crafts in relation to Ryland’s birthday. “The cards sound fun! I’m definitely down for the card plan.”
Always a bit predictable. All of them know that one of Court’s favorite things to do is make things for his brothers and his other loved ones. Whether it be a glittery thank you note, or a well crafted meal, Court was incredible with the things he made with his hands.
Jody grins in a way that reads all according to plan.
Any lingering guilt at derailing their plans dissipates watching his brother act genuinely passionate, speed walking through the aisles and holding different paper options up with a deeply serious air. Colt, of course, needs to fulfill his god given right as an annoying older brother by stealing and hiding different options, and generally being a nuisance.
Jody and Dan had split off once they were in, saying that they’d hunt down a poster board so they could make a huge sign for Ryland, if Court and Colt could just hunt down some fun paper and extra glue sticks. Colt takes the opportunity to pester his brother, just in a slightly more serious manner.
“You sure you’re feeling alright?” He calls over while they both peruse different markers and glue pens. He picks up a standard elmers stick, just to do something with his hands.
He feels more than sees Court go stiff next to him. “It wasn’t that bad,” Court says, “it was an accident, Ms. Lev told you already.”
She did, and Colt does know that there’s not much damage you can do with a ball that was made out of 95% air and 5% rubber, but it still leaves a bad taste in his mouth. The fact that the chaperone had called for Court to be picked up early rather than just send him back out meant they saw something he didn’t.
Especially since… “I’m pretty sure I saw a familiar face out there, was Dustin the one who kicked it?”
Court huffs. Bingo.
Dustin Waller, or as Colt knows him, “that dipshit,” had a chronic condition known as “being a tremendous douchebag.” Ryland would hiss at him for his language, but all three brothers knew of the guy, and not for his sunny smile or great looks. Dustin, for reasons unknown to literally any of them, hated them.
He was in Colt’s class, and he thought, sure, fine, maybe it was because Colt saw him harassing one of the younger girls and proceeded to whoop his ass at P.E. dodgeball so bad that the guy called off sick for a week to avoid the laughter in the cafeteria. But in his defense, it was funny as hell. Less funny, was the way that Dustin immediately made it his life goal to harass every person Colt was even tangentially involved with. Nasty rumors about relationships with teachers and staff started cropping up about Ryland and Jody, Dan and Colt both dealt with balled up papers and erasers thrown at the back of their heads during class, and worst of all, Court would sometimes be seen anywhere near the ball courts and have a stray basketball or soccerball “accidentally” thrown/kicked straight at him.
Why Court was the only one dealing with that particular issue, Colt didn’t have a clue, but it made his blood boil.
“I’m gonna dunk that guy in a toilet next time I see him.”
Court winced. “It wasn’t even that bad.”
“It shouldn’t be happening at all!” Colt drops the stick in his hands and turns fully to Court. His brother is still pretending to look through the same selection of marker packs that he’s been looking at since they started talking. “This is so unfair and you shouldn’t have to deal with him being an obnoxious shithead all the time.”
“Ryland–”
“Ryland doesn’t want you dealing with loser bullies either,” Colt bulldozes over the other, “he’d agree that this is too much and Dustin needs to get over it.”
“Actually,” Court snips, some of his rare temper starting to emerge, “Ryland would prefer that you don’t get expelled for getting into a fight that you start with Dustin just because he’s annoying.”
Colt is going to argue very fair points about how he can make it look like Dustin kicked his own ass when both hear a cough from behind them.
“Well I for one, think you two idiots shouldn’t be making comments on Ryland’s behalf.”
The two turn to see Jody turn the corner into their aisle with Dan trailing behind her. The two seem to have found the poster board.
“I–”
“Well–”
“Nope,” Jody cuts both of them off, “you guys are going to stop being dumb and just bring it up to Ryland later like big boys. He can handle being involved.”
Court and Colt mumble, but they both decide that fighting against Jody is a fruitless affair. Colt, in all the three years of knowing Jody and two weeks of dating her, has never won a single argument. Comes with the territory when you're a student representative of the theatre club, he guesses. Fighting for your life on the regular.
They file behind Jody and Dan without a fight, marching towards the check out. As much as he still feels the sting of wanting to win, Colt bumps Court’s shoulder with his own.
We good?
Court isn’t looking at him, but Colt can see the small twitch of his lips that means all is forgiven.
And because he can’t help himself, Colt snags two bags of skittles, one regular and one sour, for Court and Ryland respectively.
Nothing better to ease some of the stress in the house than some good ol’ candy.
Jody, Dan, and Colt all do their usual song and dance over who is paying for their supplies, shoving and snipping at each other before the deeply tired looking teen at the register asks them to please step to the side and come back when they’re ready. All three, ditched by Court who is now standing patiently by the entrance, file back into line sheepishly, settling to split evenly amongst themselves.
“Ryland! We’re home!” Colt bellows as he swings open their front door.
Seems like his favorite older brother isn’t home quite yet, seeing as nobody has come stumbling forth to tell him (politely and hurriedly) to shut the fuck up.
“Dude, one of these days you guys are going to get a noise complaint.”
He shoves at Dan while all four of them file neatly into the cramped hallway. “There’s nobody in this apartment under the age of sixty and you know it.”
It’s one of the reasons that Ryland chose it, Colt knows. The building is quiet, far from the main hub of the city but close enough to the bus station to be accessible. The only downside is that the building only has one elevator, a slow and shaky thing that’s down more than it is usable, but the brothers rarely use it anyways, given the other occupants need it more than them.
Oh, and the apartment is the size of a New York shoebox, but Colt liked cozy places anyways. Builds character, as their dad used to say.
All four of them offload their various goods onto the kitchen counter. It takes a bit of balancing, the counter is covered in all sorts of miscellaneous items, but they manage to relocate some to the floor or couch. They need a little bit of room for arts and crafts, after all.
“It really is a wonder you guys can find anything in all these piles,” Dan says. He’s busy moving all of their clean laundry off the counter and onto the couch, where Colt and Court’s textbooks already sit. He’s gotten used to how blasé the Grace brothers are with people touching their laundry. “Y’all ever heard of spring cleaning?”
“Hey, don’t knock the pile method until you’ve tried it,” is all Colt bounces back. Coming from anyone else, he would have taken some serious offense to the poking about their apartment, but Dan and Jody have never once made him feel as though the way he lives is actually a problem to them. It’s simply another way they bond by teasing him. “And it’s barely February, jackass.”
Jody snickers from where she’s helping Court spread out the papers they have, making sure their little artist has enough room to visualize what he wants. “You know Colt just likes feeling like a little animal in a cozy nest. He’s actually pretty genius for it, if you really think about it.”
Colt hums approvingly. “See, and this is why I chose you over Dan.”
“Hey! It’s not my fault you have no taste, no offense Jody.”
“Full offense taken! Consider yourself uninvited to our next hangout.”
“Ladies, ladies!” Colt laughs, “there’s enough of me to share.”
The three of them giggle and snicker, which evolves into laughing when they catch sight of Court grimacing in Colt’s general direction.
They eventually get settled. Court runs art and craft time like a wartime general, directing them to color which part in what color, to layer what paper over what glue patch. He hands Jody the single vial of purple glitter like he’s handing over a live grenade.
It ends up all over all four of them anyway, but it’s really the thought that counts.
In the end, they have one glorious poster showcasing Ryland as a generic superhero (sixteenpack included, of course). They’ve all attached their cards to the back of the poster, wishing him a happy birthday, saying how glad they are to have known him, etc. Court pencils a little doodle of Ryland in a cap and gown, and quickly erases it (not before Colt sees it).
Biggest Smartest Older Brother Award! It declares in large multicolored bubble letters. The stars surround superhero Ryland, and he holds a little Earth in his hand, where miniature drawings of Colt, Jody, and Court pop up, their little stick hands sticking up as if in celebration.
It looks hideous, but that's more because of Colt and Jody’s lackluster artistic abilities. Dan’s bubble lettering and Court’s drawing of planets and stars are incredible.
The aftermath of their project looks a bit like a tiny explosion of art supplies–but Court is practically glowing in happiness.
Jody and Colt share a soft look between them. Seems the incident at the park is all but forgotten now.
Thank you, he mouths.
She just smiles in reply.
Colt doesn’t know if they’ll ever truly believe him, about how much he appreciates them filling in all the spaces in this paradoxically small apartment of theirs. That they’ve embraced not only him, but both of his brothers as their own.
It probably doesn’t even need to be said, he thinks. Jody and Dan are such good people, this is probably just another day to them.
They can’t stay the night. Jody and Dan need to get back home to their parents before the sun properly goes down and the traffic starts to clog up the streets. But they have enough time to hang out until Ryland gets home, they say like they always do. Sticking around so they can give Ryland a hug and pat on the back.
So they kill a bit of time cleaning up, scraping glue residue off the counter and helping the brothers hide the poster by taping it loosely to their ceiling (Court’s idea). And they’ve finished just in time for the sound of jingling keys to reach the couch where they’ve all piled together (Jody is in Colt’s lap, and Court is perched on the arm (it’s a tight squeeze)).
“–yes, Rocky I know how brains work. No, I am not being stupid. No, I am not taking too many hours. Yes, I got enough sleep–” Ryland sounds bone tired. He perks up significantly when he catches sight of the four of them piled on the couch, sandwiching his bag against his chest and the wall to free up a hand to grab at his phone where it’s perched precariously against his ear. “The guys are waiting for me Rock, I gotta go but I’ll see you and Adri this weekend?”
Colt can almost hear Rocky’s accent getting thicker with his affront. “Grace!” He hears Ryland’s phone bark out, “We’re not done talking–!”
Ryland hangs up the phone.
Colt can’t help the grin that splits over his face. “Was that Rocky?” His favorite of all of Ryland’s friends, hands down. God, he hasn’t seen him in ages.
Ryland is busy shucking off his coat and beanie, but he makes his way to them in quick, sure steps. “It was, he was just being his usual worried self.” He waves his hand as if to physically dissipate the topic. “Jody! Dan! What are you two doing here?”
Meeting them both in front of the couch, Ryland doles out brief hugs. He leans down to ruffle Court’s hair while Jody explains picking Court up for some quality bonding time at the local craft store.
“And,” Colt adds in, “Motherhen Grace will be happy to know that Court is prime as a pickle, not a single scratch on his pretty little head.”
Ryland huffs a laugh. “Thanks for that by the way,” he leans towards Colt to bump their heads together, “I owe you one.”
“Yeah, yeah, add it to the tab.”
Once Ryland has stopped fluttering around them in his post-work haze of greeting people and hospitality requirements, he disappears behind the partition to change out of his work clothes.
“We’ll be heading out now,” Jody says, leaving a small kiss at the side of his mouth. Colt has to fight the urge to chase the touch.
Dan slaps him on the back as he too starts gathering his bag and jacket.
“They’re not staying for dinner?” Comes Rylands voice from behind the partition.
“Nah, we gotta be heading home, as good as Court’s food is,” Dan calls back.
“Thank you for the invite though!” Jody pipes in.
Colt and Court show them to the door, laughing as they hear Ryland fumble and mutter behind them, no doubt scrambling to get changed fast enough to see the two out.
He manages just enough to near-crash into the two brothers in the entryway, waving at Jody and Dan as they make their way to the stairway exit. “Goodbye! Thank you for looking out for these two!”
Colt recovers from Ryland’s velocity and looks behind him.
And promptly bursts out laughing.
“Ryland!” Court sputters, having also seen the mess that is their eldest. He shoos both Colt and Ryland back inside. Only in the privacy of their closed off apartment does he start giggling as well.
Clothes trail pathetically from where Ryland had knocked down the partition entirely, obviously having scrambled over the thing in his haste. His brother is wearing a clean shirt, but it's bunched up in the back, giving him a very strange shrink-wrapped look. His pants are halfway down one leg, clean shorts pooling on his opposite ankle.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you clowns,” Ryland pretends to grouse, “I didn’t see you helping when our guests were leaving while my pants were down.”
That sets off another healthy round of giggles, and Ryland finally breaks with an amused huff.
“You guys are gonna help me clean this up right?”
Dinner is a calm affair. Their little cleared counter space works wonders for how smoothly food preparation goes. Court directs them, Colt and Ryland behave as his loyal little puppets. Diced tomatoes, the last of their pasta sauce, half a jar of italian herbs and spices, and a fuckload of spaghetti–tada! Easy peasy spaghetti. No meatballs, seeing as Colt had forgotten them in his last grocery run.
They crowd in to sit on the kitchen floor and dig in. “God, Court you really work some magic for having only twenty minutes to prep,” Ryland mumbles around a mouthful of food.
“It would’ve been better if Colt didn’t forget the eggs and meatballs,” Court says, eyeing Colt.
Well, fine. If Court wanted to be a little jerk about it–
“And I would’ve remembered if you weren’t constantly reminding me about how we ‘needed to get Ryland’s strawberries, god Colt, we need to get the ones with the bright green leaves and no white spot, Colt we have to get the ones with the darker red not the mushy spots because Ryland doesn’t like–” Court kicks out at him.
Ryland cuts off the start to their squabbling by cradling his bowl to his chest with a yelp. “Guys be careful, if I drop this bowl before I finish, I’ll start crying.”
He apparently doesn’t like the way that Colt is still eyeing Court, so he reroutes the conversation.
“You know, one of my coworkers mentioned that her daughter was really excited about their upcoming field trip. She’s calling off work so that she can chaperone.” Ryland says it breezily, just another recap of work for his brothers. It would’ve been typical, if not for how Colt sees Court freeze out of the corner of his eye.
Court recovers quickly. “Does that mean you got more hours?”
”Well, no, Cindy is already covering for her,” Ryland replies around another heaping mouthful of pasta. ”But, funny thing is that I’ve met her daughter before. Braided pigtails with the fun beads? Last name DuBois?” Ryland is definitely fishing for something, but Colt has zero idea who the hell he’s talking about.
But Court does. His brother is avoiding Ryland’s gaze like it’ll burn him. Never been a good liar, Colt thinks fondly. Court is hard to read, but to his brothers he may as well be an open book with an answer key in the back. It felt wrong, Court admitted to them, it felt wrong to lie to family. It had always been easier for him to not say anything at all.
Ryland softens and stops teasing. “Court, why didn’t I also get a permission slip for this field trip? You don’t want to go?”
Colt stays out of it, careful not to interrupt whatever direction Ryland was trying to steer the conversation. But he does make sure to reach out a leg to lightly nudge at Court, just so his brother knows everything is okay.
“I just. I’m not really interested in museums.”
Yikes, 3/10 attempt right there. Colt keeps his head down in his bowl.
Ryland sighs. “Court. I know you love museums. Or you’ve been lying about loving museums for the past ten years, which is going to be a bit of a shock to find out right now.”
It’s a little painful to watch Court squirm on the receiving end of Ryland’s scrutiny. But Colt is curious himself at what the issue could be.
Court doesn’t last long. Never does, against the full weight of his brothers’ concern.
“Dustin’s brother is going to there, and Dani isn’t going ‘cus her mom is sick, and Mr. Lamier says we’re not even going to the Ancient Egypt exhibit, and the ticket is like forty bucks, and I don’t like any of the chaperones, and I really don’t want to eat the included lunch.” He’s hardly taken a full breath since he started his list, and he looks like he might be taking his first breath to gear up for more, so Colt pipes in.
“Damn, that bad?”
Ryland shoots him a warning look, but Colt waves him off. “He had another run in with Dustin today, shithead kicked a ball at his head.”
“What?!” Ryland whips over to look at Court, like the kid was going to spontaneously keel over. Court holds his hands up like he’s prepping to fight him off.
“Chill out, Ry, it was a softball,” Colt says, “he’s fine, but I can see why he wouldn’t wanna go and deal with bully number two after dealing with bully number one for half a day.”
Court shoots him a grateful look. Colt just nods back.
“Well,” Ryland says, deflating a bit, “don’t you still want to go to the museum though? You get special tokens if you go with your class.”
It’s obvious that he thought Court would be gearing up to fight about the price, but Court’s been thinking about this all day, Colt bets. He probably has a crumpled note somewhere detailing all the little believable things that he didn’t like about this trip.
Colt also knew the problem was 100% because of the price.
“I’d rather go with you guys at some point,” Court says simply.
Genius strikes. “Oh! We can go for your birthday!” Colt squeaks, and then tries to continue like he wasn’t embarrassed about his pitch, “it’s on your off day this time right?”
“It is…” Ryland squints at him, “I thought we were just gonna be low-key about it this time though?”
They were. Since it was one of Ryland’s rare off-days, they were planning to just take the opportunity to catch up on some very necessary chores and household upkeep tasks. Ryland insisted that he didn’t need any celebration or cake, that he’d much rather get rid of the looming threat of patching the hole Colt accidentally kicked into one of the walls before the landlord checked on them.
(Colt and Court had also definitely invited all of Ryland’s and Colt’s friends to bring cake and presents the day of, because Ryland was being stupid.)
But Ryland didn’t know about all that so Colt just bulldozes over it without blinking. “Well I’ve suddenly changed my mind, I think it would be sick as hell to go to the museum with you two dorks.”
He can see Court nodding his head with him, definitely on the same track. They’ve always been good at sniffing out an opportunity.
Ryland rubs the bridge of his nose, letting his glasses hang off his ear. “Are you two sure?”
He doesn’t even get to finish his question, Colt and Court are already saying yes.
They continue on with their small routines after that.
Colt washes the dishes and Court puts them away. Half the room away, Ryland ducks behind the partition to start clearing away laundry. All three of them hum along to the generic pop song ringing out from Colt’s phone.
It’s nice. It’s familiar. It’s everything Colt wants for his brothers for the rest of their lives.
Just them in their oversized pjs, going about a routine so well worn that it’s become an instinct.
Ryland falls over while cleaning with a crash, sees their little poster tapes up to the ceiling, and cries so hard he gives himself a headache. Court and Colt laugh at him, but they help him get settled on the couch and bring him a glass of water.
His older brother insists on calling both Jody and Dan to say thank you, and Colt only narrowly convinces him out of it by telling him they’re coming over next week.
Court shyly accepts every blubbering compliment that pours out of Ryland, curled up primly next to Colt on the couch.
And when Ryland stops crying and Colt stops feeling as if his heart is going to explode, they all file together like little ducklings into their bathroom. Ryland and Colt squabble over the toothpaste and Court climbs into the shower.
The bathroom is so small that Ryland is half in the hallway, but they manage to still share the sink. Colt squawks when Court opens the curtain to splash him with water, but he can’t exactly get into a fight with a guy while he’s actively taking a shower can he? (He has before, it didn’t work well. Turns out that the non-wet party will always be at a disadvantage, who knew?)
It takes way longer to get all three of them ready for bed than if they had simply waited in turns, but that was never an option.
They stumble out of the bathroom with two new bruises (Colt, he slipped in the shower while trying to throw a handful of water at Court), soaked through pjs (Ryland, who stupidly tried to catch Colt when he slipped. Just ended up tackling Colt—who had managed to catch himself on the slip guard—and falling into the shower on top of Colt), and red-faced from laughing (Court, who somehow (despite Colt’s best attempts) is bone dry).
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else for your birthday?” Colt whispers.
Court is settled nicely in between Ryland and himself, burrowed with his head pushing aggressively against Ryland’s chest. From experience, Colt knows it’s uncomfortable and Ryland will at some point have to rearrange Court to be a little further, but for now Ryland is content. It does mean they have to stay a bit quiet. Court isn’t the lightest sleeper, that would be Colt, but they’ve got years of experience talking quietly.
Ryland gives him a fond look, only vaguely recognizable in the dim ambient light of the city filtering through their window. “I really am,” he says, “I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my day than babysitting the two of you.”
On some level Colt knows that Ryland is joking. His brother probably doesn’t expect Colt of all people to be genuine right now, but it hits an oddly tender part of his chest. “Ry, we don’t have to go. You should take the day off, hang out with Rocky and Adrian alone.”
The blankets rustle around them as Ryland reaches out to poke Colt lightly. “Hey, I wasn’t joking. I really don’t mind.” He obviously sees Colt open his mouth to continue pushing because he quickly follows it up with: “You think I’d rather go to the museum with Rocky and Adrian? Alone? No thanks, it’ll take maybe three minutes for them to find some quiet corner to make out in for the entirety of our time there.”
Okay yeah, fair. But, “They don’t do that all the time, and you’ve been really busy and…” he trails off.
Ryland waits for him.
“I just. Maybe it’d be nice for you to get some free time away from just watching me and Court, y’know?” He turns to stare up at their ceiling, the water damage stain that kinda looks like Florida is his favorite. It keeps him from seeing Ryland's reaction to all this is. His brother has always been so damn expressive. “I can watch him for the day, we can clean up the house a lil’, and you and your friends can hang out together again on your free day. I just feel like I haven’t seen you do the things you wanna do for a really big while.
“And I know you don’t mind watching us or hanging out with us, but I…” he takes a breath, “don’t you get tired of it sometimes? I definitely would, I’d lose my damn mind. So maybe you can just take the day off and treat it like the old days. I can hang out with Court for a day. And I promise we won’t get into any trouble, because it’s your birthday.”
Silence stretches for a few moments after he stops, and Colt feels heat starting to gather in his cheeks. God, where had all that even come from?
He’s about to tell his brother to forget about it, he can do whatever he wants actually, who is Colt to tell him what to do(?) when Ryland draws in a deep breath and lets it all out with a soft whoosh.
It’s not exactly a sigh, not from Ryland, more a sign that he’s thinking. That he’s working Colt’s words over in his brain bit by bit, assembling it into something digestible and workable.
“Colt, I love hanging out with you guys. I’m always going to like hanging out with you guys.” Ryland’s voice is soft, coated in so much soft adoration that Colt instinctively feels like he needs to cover his ears and pretend they aren’t having this painfully earnest talk right now. He fights off the urge, but only barely. “I don’t know where you got the idea that I think of it as babysitting and not just hanging out with my brothers. Just because I don’t have enough time to meet Rocky and Adrian as often…” His brother trails off, rethinking his words. He continues, “just because I don’t see them as much, it’s not because of you guys, or because of what happened with dad.”
Colt gives him an incredulous look, and Ryland rolls his eyes in response. “Okay, fine, it was a little bit that, but they’re also busy now. They’ve got so much to juggle with their schoolwork, it was just natural I wouldn’t be seeing them as much. In fact, I think they come around more because they miss you and Court so much.”
It’s hard not to keep a smile off his face at that. He really likes seeing the couple when they drop by for a visit or invite Ryland’s little brothers out on excursions with them. Rocky is the smartest person that Colt knows, and Adrian is the coolest. And the two have made it crystal clear that they see all of the Grace brothers as part of their own.
Ryland sees his smile, damn him, and softens further. “I’m doing alright dude,” he says, practically dripping sentimentality, “I’m right where I want to be, minus about ten billion dollars.” Colt snickers.
“I’m not sure my kidney is worth ten billion, but the guy I sold it to said the prices were premium right now.”
Ryland reaches out to poke him again for that one.
“Oh you talked to Bill too? He said he’d give me double for mine.”
They both look down at Court, who still has his eyes closed, but Colt can see the edges of a small smile on his face. “Wha–” Ryland sputters, “you two better be joking, you’d sell your kidneys–?”
“‘Without me?’” All three of them finish, Court and Colt with an eye roll, while Ryland leans back from them to put an overdramatic hand on his chest.
A second, and then all three dissolve into muffled giggles.
Once their laughter peters off, the silence that takes over is–warm. Colt has closed his eyes by now, sleepily registering the sound of Ryland shuffling Court a bit further away.
This is good, he thinks drowsily. He’s happy. It felt like he would never get here, but he is genuinely, truly happy. Listening to his brothers breathe and shuffle and start to snore, he wouldn’t trade this for anything.
He hopes it stays like this forever.