Gracious

Chapter 20

A/N - I am so sorry ❤️

TW for pretty much the whole chapter...

~~~

"I want to talk to you all about Alexander's diagnosis", I'd gathered four of my five brothers in the living room to have this conversation, all of them watching me intently from their places on the sofas, "and what this means for him as well as us".

"Is it bad?", Caleb asked instantly and I shook my head, wrapping an arm around Xavier and letting his head fall against my shoulder.

"We just all need to learn how to help him, yeah? What to do, what not to do", they all nodded and I cleared my throat, "what Alexander has been diagnosed with is a behavioural disorder, it doesn't really change anything but his behaviour- he's the exact same as he was yesterday, and the day before that".

"So it's to do with his temper?", Prescott asked and I nodded, crossing one leg over the other.

"It explains why he loses his temper quickly, why small things can set him off, why he's quick to try and hurt one of you", I explained and they all listened.

"But he doesn't mean it", Xavier defended his twin, lifting his head from my shoulder and looking at the others.

"He doesn't mean it", I repeated, "we don't need to treat him any differently yeah? Just gotta try and make his life a little easier".

"We wouldn't treat him differently", Chase shook his head and I smiled, "he's still our brother". Caleb nodded in agreement while Prescott's gaze shifted to something behind me.

"What's up Xan?", he smiled, cocking his head as footsteps filled the air from behind me, before I knew it Alexander had dropped into the sofa, to my right.

"Are you talking about me?", he asked and everyone looked at me.

"Just a small conversation about yesterday", I replied and he nodded slowly, apprehensively looking at our brothers.

"Please don't look at me differently cuz of it", he mumbled, fiddling with the bottom of his t-shirt, "I don't want anything to change".

"And it won't", I promised, pulling him against me.

"Yeah, it won't", Chase repeated, "we promise".

"Good", he sighed, "I uh, I love you guys- even though I fight you a lot".

"Don't get all sappy", Caleb rolled his eyes, the blush on his cheeks portraying a different emotion, "love you too".

"We all do", Prescott smiled, reaching over and ruffling Alexander's hair, "we've got each other's backs yeah? Always".

"Always", we all nodded and I smiled, as long as I had them, nothing else mattered.

~~

Sure we were only ten days into the year, but things were looking pretty fucking good. I hadn't seen Cairo yesterday because he'd been working, but today was the day I was due to pick him up later and bring him here, where we'd tell my brothers that we were together.

I'd been racked with anxiety from the second I opened my eyes after yet another restless night's sleep, both dreading and anticipating their reactions to our news. I knew they wouldn't mind that I was dating a guy, they were more accepting than most adults, I knew they wouldn't mind that it was Cairo, they fucking adored him.

I had no reason to believe this would go wrong, but my mind was doing everything in its power to convince me otherwise.

"I wonder what Izzy's doing right now", the living room fell silent and I stole a glance at Prescott first, he'd paused mid-bite of his sandwich and stiffened; while talking about our sister should have been a normalised thing under this roof, the mere mention of her still put everyone on edge.