My Best Friends Brother

Chapter 74

JOSH'S P.O.V.

Chrissy didn’t even have the decency to say anything when I was at her door, instead choosing to shove Liam out through it when it was barely a crack open before slamming the damn thing in my face again.

I’m beyond grateful that Miles agreed to stay in the car and not come up here, seeing this place is the last thing I want. It’s fucking disgusting...

“Hey little man,” I ask into the side of Liam’s neck as he wraps himself around me even tighter. Carrying him up and down this staircase has become somewhat of common practise since the new social worker got involved and Chrissy refused to walk him down the stairs to meet me anymore. “Everything okay in school today?”

Liam nods and opens his mouth to answer but when we hear someone else approaching up the same staircase, he slams his mouth shut again. I make sure to move us directly against the wall so the woman and her two kids can get past. She smiles gently at me, the grease on her waitressing uniform so thick it smells like she’s cooking bacon right here.

The little girl with her looks about Liam’s age but I bet they've never even spoken to each other, it’s not like Chrissy is desperate to make any other mum friends.

“So, school?” I try again as the footsteps of the other people fall out of earshot.

“Y-yes, it was get good...  We did an experiment with a potato and my light bulb stayed on the longest.” He buries his face quickly back into my neck the moment the words leave his lips. He’s always been a super shy kid... Shit, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

We make it to the bottom set of stairs, the traffic from outside now making itself heard, along with people coming in and out of the foyer. I consider sitting with him to let him know what’s about to happen but when I take a look at the steps I can’t imagine that sitting down here would result in more than a tetanus shot.

“Little man, do you remember the last time we went to the diner and we were talking with Heather’s uncle?” When we’d gone inside that day I had to explain to Liam who the guy that stopped and spoke to him was.

Liam nods, his breathing is already calmer from what it was when I first picked him up. “Yeah, her uncle Milo. She said that he’s funny... and takes lots of photos with her.”

I smile remembering him taking that selfie with Heather back in Brie’s kitchen, right after pinning me to the guest bed. She really adores her uncle and it's clear to see why.

“That's the one. I was wondering if it would be okay for him to come for food with us? He wants you to teach him how you got that top score on that game with the weird little aliens.”

“N-now?” He responds with a shaking voice. Under any other circumstances I would have given him a few days to get his head around this but I’m kind of desperate to see how they are together.

“Only if that’s okay. He’s in the car but I can just drop him home before we go there if you aren't feeling up to it, it's up to you, he won't mind if you want to do it on a different day.”

I brush his fringe back out of his eyes so I can get a good look at him. I only got it cut a few weeks ago but unfortunately he’s like me and it grows like a fucking weed.

He’s rolling the idea around and around in his head, he’s a bit of a pushover and a total people pleaser but I need him to know that it’s absolutely fine if this isn’t okay for him.

“You know what, why don't we just do it another time?”

Liam raises his head off my shoulder as we step down from the bottom step and observes me with my own eyes. Sometimes when I look at him all I see is Steve, at other times it’s like looking at my own reflection.

“N-no, it’s okay. He can come... but can I still sit by you?”

How can Chrissy not see how precious this boy is? I wrap my arms around him tightly and he returns my squeeze tenfold as I kiss his little chubby cheek. I know it’s a bit of a risk for them to meet right now but I figured we could just tell people we ran into each other if anybody asked any questions.

Miles was still waiting patiently in the passenger seat when we came out of the building, his face radiating joy as he smiled over at the two of us. Liam jumped down out of my arms just as we got to the car, Miles was waving at him like a crazy person but Liam just kept his eyes on his shoes then gave a small subtle wave. He didn’t run away or have a panic attack, that’s a good sign.

He wouldn’t let me do his seat belt, taking it out of my hand and doing it himself. I guess no matter how shy you are, nobody likes to be treated like the baby brother in front of other people.

“Hi Liam, thanks for letting me tag along. Josh said that you'll teach me your mad skills with space invaders. I need some serious help if I ever hope to beat your top score.”

Liam nods but doesn’t respond, staying quiet just as I predicted he would. Miles doesn’t seem bothered though, I bet in some ways it's nice to have a kids that just keeps to himself around when you’re used to dealing with a little whirlwind like Heather.

We pull into the car park of the diner, and I’m quickly realising how hard it is to be secret around other people with this guy. We’ve spent so much time alone together now that it’s just become instinct to do things like hold his hand or have my body touching his in some way. A few times on the journey both of us twitched to reach out for the other but pulled it back, Liam finding out about us as a couple will be a whole different conversation... I mean, we’d actually need to be a couple first...

Liam jumps out of the car as soon as I do, taking hold of my hand before we all begin to walkover to the entranceway. I look over at Miles to make sure he’s still okay but he just smiles back at me. This isn’t exactly how I thought we’d be out in public for the first time together, but honestly, just being able to see him makes everything fucking better.

The place is already busy, but we find a booth in the back corner before Liam settles himself in next to me with Miles opposite. Most people would be trying to force a conversation out of this kid but Miles seems quite happy to just let him decide when to talk.

“This place does the best mint chocolate milkshakes you've ever had in your life.” He proclaims as me and Liam look over the options.

“There’s no mint chocolate milkshake on here?” Trust me, I’d know if there was, they’re my favourite.

“No, they’re on the secret menu.” Liam’s eyes shoot wide as he looks up at Miles, who doesn't seem to realise that he's just dropped treasure in front of a kid that lives for that kind of stuff.

“W-what secret m-menu?” Liam asks through a stuttered breath.

Miles glances up over the plastic menu in his hands, looking between mine and Liam’s confused faces before the reality dawns on him.

“Wait, you guys don't know?” We both shake our heads, he almost jumps for joy as he leans halfway across the table and starts opening up games on the screens. “Liam, what's your best game?”

“Ummm... Tetris?” Miles hits a few buttons on the screen in front of us, pulling up Tetris and then skipping through the levels until he finds the one that he wants.

“Can you beat this one?” He asks Liam, who quickly agrees, reaching out and beginning to play the game. I look over at Miles for an explanation but he’s too busy watching Liam at work, not remotely hiding the fact that he seriously impressed with what this kid is doing right now. When Liam hits a perfect score he leans back over and points to the bottom corner. “See that red button, hit it.”

“B-but it says don’t push the button..”

Miles smiles at him. “It’s a test, to see who the brave treasure hunters are, the ones willing to break the rules... To only let the worthy get access to the glory that are mint chocolate milkshakes...”

Liam giggles, like really giggles with excitement, before hitting the button. Suddenly the game clears and a whole menu I’ve never seen pops up, his eyes so wide like he’s just found a cave of wonders. “If you can get a perfect score on any level numbered 316, then you unlock the secret menu, different games have different things added too – so there’s always something new to find.” Liam gets all giddy and quickly start swiping through all the options as Miles settles back in his side of the booth, smiling back at him when he sees how happy Liam is right now.

“Hey you three, what can I get you?” A waitress who’s clearly been on shift for a while, considering how smudged her purple lipstick is, approaches the table with enough fake gusto that I’ll be sure to leave her a decent tip to make up for whatever shitty customers she's had to deal with before she got to us.

“I’ll get the space burger, extra onion rings and a mint chocolate milkshake. Better bring some curly fries as well.” Miles responds like he is been rehearsing for this moment for the last few minutes.

The waitress nods with a smile before turning her attention to us.

“I’ll get the same but no extra fries for me. And he’ll have..” I looked down at Liam and he quickly points to the kids rocket ship pasta from the secret menu. “the pasta please.”

She leans down on the edge of the table, scribbling down notes in her little notebook.

“a-and a mint ch-chocolate milkshake please.” Liam hardly ever talks to strangers and it shows, his words coming out as more a babble than a sentence but the nice blue haired girl just smiles at him before adding it to her list.

“No problem handsome, how about I add an extra scoop of ice cream just for you? Cuties should get more ice-cream.” She asks touching the tip of Liam’s nose with her index finger and making him giggle. He quickly buries his head into my arm but I can see how red his little cheeks are as he tries to avert his eyes from the pretty young girl. “He's adorable, he's the double of you.”

Yeah, he is. She quickly collects our menus before scurrying back off to the counter. Liam eventually lifts his head but his usually milky white complexion is now more resembling that of a fresh beetroot.

“The boy’s got skills, even Eli would have been impressed with that display.” Miles jokes, leaning forward to see which game Liam is selecting. “Forget teaching me one of these games, you need to teach me how you did that. You hardly said two words to that girl and she was putty in your hands.”

Is he serious right now? Fucking flirt.

“B-Brie says I’ve got natural g-game, like Steve...  She says it must have skipped a generation with Josh.”

Miles’ loud laugh seems unnecessary, Liam adding to the sound with his own chuckle until all I can do is throw my head back in disbelief. Of course she would fucking say that, the woman has no fucking shame. I’ve got game! Bagged myself that guy right there didn’t I...

“It’s not his fault Liam, he's just so old that nobody finds him attractive anymore. He’s forgotten what it was like to be young and fit like us.”

Okay, I let him get away with asking my baby brother for tips on how to pick up women but like fuck is he getting away with that too. I attempt to kick him under the table but miss completely and end up smashing directly into the base of the bench.

“Ah fuck!” It hurts like a bitch, the giant smirk on Milos face tells me he understands completely what just happened.

“Your hip gone again Granddad?”

I don’t know what’s more annoying; that stupidly smug yet incredibly beautiful face of his, or that Liam isn't defending me but just laughing along with everything that Miles says.

“H-he is really old. He couldn't even remember what space invaders was called when he asked me to help you... he called it the w-weird little alien game.”

Liam does remember he’s my brother right? Throwing me under the fucking bus here...

“I didn’t forget what it was called! I just never bothered to learn anything about these games. I never played them growing up.”

Both Miles and Liam freeze what they're doing, before snapping to look at me like I’ve just said I’m partial to a bowl of toddler limb soup.

“You never played Space Invaders? What’s wrong with you?” Miles asks with all seriousness as Liam erupts into a fit of giggles. He turns to look at him and his smile radiates throughout his entire body. “Liam, I want you to very slowly move away from whatever alien has been pretending to be your brother for all these years, it's definitely not human to have gone your entire childhood without playing Space Invaders...”

I fully expect Liam just to explode into laughter again, but to my absolute horror, he slides completely out of our side of the booth and races over to sit next to Miles.

Is this seriously happening right now? First Charlie can’t shut up about the guy, to the point that I genuinely think he’s ready to adopt him, and now even my little brother is picking his side over mine.

“Judas.”

Miles just sticks his tongue out at me, which Liam notices before shoving his out at me as well! I don’t like this... they’re like a little team made to make me feel old... They then get so lost in their game that they don’t even notice when the waitress turns up with our milkshakes.

She glances between the three of us, smiling as she places a milkshake in front of us all in turn, then leaning over to pinch Liam’s cheeks before being called over by another table.

I can see how much he’s blushing, and almost get up to move him back next to me so I can give him a hug, when Miles reaches out and wraps his arm around my little brothers waist without ever looking up from his game.

Liam has never been particularly good with physical affection from people that aren’t me, unfortunately he’s not had a lot of it, but Miles’ nonchalant attitude appears to be working because he quickly becomes calm again and enters back into the digital world on the screens in front of them.

Wow.. okay...

I thought maybe Miles was just playing for Liam’s sake but when he becomes so frustrated that he can’t beat his level, I quickly realise that this is just part of who he is, there's still a small part of him that is just the kid I once knew buried deep inside the man I’ve become so lost in.

A different waitress brings over our food, one that is definitely not as happy as the nice girl that was serving us previously. We all dig into our meal but the screen heads in front of me manage to eat most of it with one hand free to continue their game.

“Dude, that was epic. How did you do that?” Miles asks through a mouthful of heart-attack-waiting-to-happen giant burger. Liam doesn’t say anything, but immediately leans over and starts showing Miles his tricks on his own screen. I’m not sure what they gave this kid at lunch but it clearly it wasn’t enough because he’s devoured his pasta and now is making longing eyes towards Miles’ plate of curly fries.

I go to scoop some of my own fries into Liam’s bowl, but without a word Miles reaches over and places his plate right between the two of them to share. This kind of wordless exchange is exactly what somebody like Liam needs, but rarely gets. Everyone is always so busy trying to reassure him that he’s okay, that they forget sometimes the kid just wants to be treated like everybody else, without having to say anything.

My heart starts to race like crazy as I let my body fall back against the seat and just take in the view of the two of them. He’s incredible, beyond that in fact. He has managed to do with Liam in a hour what it’s taken other people months to achieve, he's not tried to force anything which means that all of Liam’s natural instincts have been allowed to flourish and let him decide that he wants to be near Miles for himself.

I realise that we’ve hardly said two words to each other throughout the time we’ve been here but the explosion in my chest is enough to know that this time with him is fucking special. I think, if we ever decide to tell him about us... Liam would be alright with it... That’s all I’ve ever wanted.

We clear our plates until there’s not a scrap of food left, Liam looks ready to implode by the time the nice waitress comes back over to us.

“Can I get you guys anything else? Would you like some cake little cutie?”

Liam shakes his head, Miles runs his eyes from Liam to the waitress and back again before leaning down and whispering something in his ear. Liam smirks sheepishly down at his shoes upon whatever Miles just told him, before looking up at the waitress and smiling.

“I-I don’t need any cake... b-being  around you is sweet enough.”

The blue haired girl clutches her notepad to her chest and I can almost see her ovaries trying to pound their way out of her skin at how cute Liam looks right now.

She crouches down to Liam’s height and leaves a big purple tinted lipstick kiss on his cheek, the rouge colour on his skin making it look even more prominent, especially next to his bright white smile.

Miles looks down on him like he's never been more proud of anyone else in his entire life. Maybe introducing these two was a mistake, I could end up with the next generation of Eli or fucking Chad Wilson on my hands here.

“You are gorgeous. If I’m still here in fifteen years I want you to come find me handsome, you may be the last of the gentleman.” She jokes before rising back to her feet and smiling between me and Miles. “You two have done such a good job with him, you're a really beautiful family.”

My heart leaps up into my throat, she walks away smiling but when I catch Miles’ face I realise her smile has nothing on his. How does stuff like this just wash straight over him? She completely guessed that we could be together, and basically implied that we have a kid, but he's still just smiling like it's something that happens to him everyday. He really doesn’t care...

None of us say anything, I’m not sure Liam even understood what she was implying, but when I look at the two of them I can’t help but think how right she is, they look so cute together. We all do.

Miles tries to fight me over paying, but I’m the one that made him come here so there’s no way I’m letting him pay for it. I make sure to leave the nice girl a big tip before Liam slides out of the booth and immediately locks his hand with mine. We make it almost to the door when he pulls back and makes us stop, waiting for Miles to catch up. As soon as he’s close enough, Liam stretches out with his other hand and captures his fingers so we each hold him with us.

I must have walked into this diner with Liam holding my hand two dozen times, I never dreamed we’d be walking out of it with him holding another guys hand to. My guy’s hand.

“Wait... We haven't done the picture.” He turns and looks up at Miles as we approach the car. “Heather said that you always do a picture before you say goodbye.”

Liam almost pulls me over as he slots himself right in next to Miles, who’s already crouching down so the two of them can fit in the frame before whipping out his phone and flipping the camera.

He waits for a moment with both of them staring into the screen before turning up to face me.

“What are you doing? You’re not going to be able to get in the photo all the way up there, come on.”

This boy is lucky I love him because I hate getting my fucking photo taken... I mean Liam, Liam is lucky, obviously I meant Liam...

Crouching down, I try not to fall over as Miles starts to take photos of the three of us. The stars in the night sky seem to glow brighter in the reflection of the screen as we all smile into the lens, as he hits the capture button again I can’t help turning to face him, he seems to have the same urge as he meets my view and continues to take images of us staring into each others eyes whilst Liam maintains a smile with absolute conviction.

God I want to kiss him. Right now in this moment, I know exactly what Steve was talking about. I just want to tell the entire world to go fuck itself and scream from the rooftops that I found the guy I’ve been fucking waiting for.

He’s so beautiful without ever making you feel unworthy, he shows compassion on instinct not with effort, and he managed to make a little boy riddled with anxiety feel completely safe next to someone who only moments earlier was a stranger.

Liam likes him. Charlie likes him. I fucking like him. Shouldn’t that be enough?

If Aleah or Tara or Brie or Cole or even fucking Jayce can’t accept this, does it really even matter? Shouldn’t it be our opinion that is the one that counts?

Please remember to vote and comment beauts ❤