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Today was supposed to be a simple day for Courtland: drop Colt and Ryland off at school, grab groceries then go home, finish the chores at the house, pick the twins up from school and go to the park for a few hours, then go home and cook dinner and keep the boys in their room after their dad got home.
It was simple. It was easy. It was the same routine he followed most days, but today just needed to be different.
"Can Mr. Courtland Gentry please come up to the front please?" A woman's voice said from the store speakers, confusing Court.
He had come here alone, dropping the boys off at school beforehand. There should be nobody here who knew his name or needed him to come up to the front, unless their father had followed him for something he needed, likely alcohol or cigarettes. Maybe he'd come to drag the boy home for something he wasn't sure he'd done wrong or for something new he'd found to punish him for.
Either way, it was best if he just went up to the front and get it over with before he had to go back to the school to pick Colt and Ry up.
"Uh, hi," Court began, garnering the attention of an older woman at the front. "I'm Courtland Gentry. I was just told to come up here."
"Oh," she gasped slightly, taken aback at the young boy, expecting someone older. "You can follow me. They're waiting for you in the back here."
They? Court questioned to himself, but stayed quiet and alert, following the older woman to a small room in the back where 2 identical faces were gazing up at him happily.
"Court!" Colt yelled out, throwing his arms wide open for a hug, nearly smacking Ryland in the face who just waved silently.
"Seriously you two?" Court groaned out, kneeling down and pulling them both in for a tight hug. "I didn't even bring you two with me. You're supposed to be at school."
"Ry got nervous and wanted you," Colt explained, lacing his twin's hand in his as Ryland looked down at his feet, slightly embarrassed. "So we followed you here and lost you at the entrance, then this nice lady asked if we needed help and asked where our mom was. I told her we didn't have a mom, but we have a Court."
"Oh," Court breathed out, placing a hand on each of the boy's shoulders. "Good job, Colt, but next time, just have the school call me, okay? I don't want you two getting lost. Are you feeling okay now, Ry, or do we need to go home?"
"I'm feeling better now," Ryland said quietly, biting the inside of his cheek. "I think I was just nervous about my presentation today."
"The one we've been working on?" Court clarified, to which Ryland nodded in confirmation. "That's okay," he continued to soothe. "We'll just talk with your teacher and see if you can just present it to him, okay?"
"Okay," Ryland happily agreed, smiling brightly now with all of his anxieties washed away.
"Thank you for watching them," Court thanked the older woman, holding each of his brother's hands. "I'm sorry if they gave you any trouble."
"Oh don't you worry about that, hon," she waved him off. "They were very well behaved and I'm just happy we were able to find you. Have a nice rest of your day."
"You too!" Colt wished her loudly before anyone else could, making the room burst out in chuckles as Court left with his brothers to keep shopping.
~~~
Walking back from the grocery store, his two younger brothers stayed in front of him, keeping themselves side by side. Colt had bags in each of his hands with a few on his arms too, the straps digging into his fingers as he walked, listening into the twin's nonsense conversations that bounced from topic to topic faster than he could keep up with.
Court never let them carry the bags. It was their job to just enjoy their walk, he would always carry the heavy weight to keep it off their shoulders.
"If aliens exist," Colt asked, skipping slightly as he strayed forward, turning to face Ryland as he walked backwards, "how come I've never seen one?"
"They do exist!" Ryland argued. "There's got to be life outside of this solar system. You've just never seen one because why would they come and visit you? They'd go see the really smart people first," he explained. "Like NASA or the ESA."
"Sure," Colt sighed out, rolling his eyes as Ryland huffed, his small face contorting in anger.
It wasn't often Ryland's temper emerged, but Colt always knew what buttons to press to make his brother want to fist fight him.
"One of these days I'm gonna bring home an alien and show you. Then you'll have to believe me," Ryland pressed, bound and determined to not be proven wrong.
"I'm sure you will," Court said, flashing his youngest brother a smile and received a thumbs up in response. "And when you do, both Colt and I will be here to celebrate with you."
"If it ever happens, I will," Colt agreed. "But it never will because aliens don't exist."
"They do!"
"They don't!"
"They do!"
"They don't!"
"They-"
"Enough," Court butted in. "That's enough you two. I don't want to hear another word about whether aliens do or don't exist for the rest of this walk, okay?"
"Okay," the twins solemnly agreed in unison, pouting.
"Hey Ry," Colt began, an idea popping into his head. "C'mere I have something I want to tell you," he said, gesturing for his younger brother to lean in so he could whisper in his ear.
Ryland obliged, leaning in and letting Colt cup a hand around his mouth as he whispered something to Ryland that Court couldn't make out.
Ryland gasped immediately, putting his hands over his mouth and leaning away from Colt, turning to Court.
"Court! Colt just called me the B-word!"
"I thought you could spell, Ry," Colt shot back, snickering at his twin, a devilish grin on his face. "Motherfucker doesn't start with a 'B'."
"I can spell!" Ryland shouted. "You called me a bitch first! That starts with a 'B' like bastard, which you are!" He emphasized, pointing a finger towards his double.
"Hey," Court coughed out, weakly attempting to hold back his laugh and his need to fall to the floor cackling because, for the love of god, his brothers were hilarious. "Language."
"English!" Colt shouted, causing Court and Ryland to give him confused looks. "What? Court asked for a language. English is a language."
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Court chastised, sighing deeply as they got to their house, watching as Ryland opened the door while Colt grabbed some of the bags from him. "Keep swearing to a minimum, both of you. And we never cuss each other out. We're all we have. Now, help me put groceries away and then we can go to the park."
~~~
After finishing putting everything away and answering a call from the school about the Grace twins missing class today, Court kept his promise, despite how tired he was, and was dragged to the park by the twins.
He kept a close eye on them as they raced to the park, joking and laughing the whole way there, whispering to each other at one point before falling into a fit of giggles, ready to get rid of the excess energy they both always had.
Court never minded it thought, it made him happy to see them smile and laugh, especially after days when those smiles couldn't be protected. Court was counting down the days - 1,623 days to be exact - until he could fight for custody of them as a legal adult and get them out of that house.
"You sure you don't want to play?" Colt asked, tilting his head at Court as he sat down.
"I'm good, kiddo," Court assured him, watching as Ryland already took off, finding his place among the slides and swings. "Go enjoy yourself," he said with a smile, a mask he had to never letting his siblings know just how tired he really was. "Stay in view, okay?"
"Okay!" Colt agreed, running over to the jungle gym and climbing up the side of the structure, an area that wasn't built for climbing, with extreme ease.
Court just shook his head at Colt, used to his need to jump off of things, climb objects, and basically treat any vertical structure like his own personal parkour park. He tended to find his way onto the roof at night, dragging Ryland up with him to gaze at the stars, all while staying out of the house for as long as they could.
Court didn't mind, occasionally joining them himself, as long as they never got injured. He didn't want Colt to get injured now.
"Hey, Colt! Get down from there please! Let's use the equipment how we're supposed to," he called, cupping his hands over his mouth as he yelled, carefully eyeing Colt as he hung upside down over the side of the roof, his feet precariously holding him in place using the bars.
"Fine," Colt groaned out, pulling himself back up to sit on the roof of the playhouse before shimmying his body back onto the floor of the jungle gym. "Better?" He asked sarcastically.
"Much."
Court watched as he stomped off, climbing back out of the jungle gym and walking over to the water fountain, pulling off his jacket all the while.
Oh no you don't, Court thought to himself, getting up and running, chasing after his younger brother who was sprinting towards the fountain.
"Colt! Don't you dare!"
Coming up close behind Colt, close enough to grab him, Court felt a push from behind as he tumbled into the fountain, his knees buckling as he hit the edge of the structure and fell into the cool water, spitting up the liquid with coughs as he sat in the fountain, soaked from head to toe.
Standing in front of him, Colt and Ryland were laughing their asses off. Those two demons had planned this.
"Oh you little," he playfully growled at them, grabbing them around their torsos and lifting them into the air as they screamed. "Get over here," he laughed, falling back into the fountain, dragging both of them into the water, leaving all of them soaked now.
"That's what you get," Court joked, keeping a tight grip on them, not letting them fight out of his arms.
"I'm sorry," Ryland laughed, giggling as he spit water out. "Colt made me."
"Like hell I did!" Colt argued. "This was your idea!"
The three fell into a fit of laughter, soaked to the bone and all in desperate need to get dried up, but happier than they had been in a long time.
Court wouldn't trade this for the world - they were his world, worth more than they ever knew.