Brothers In Arms

Chapter 14

"Your family is great." I commented as we curled up on the couch in the family room. We could still hear all the banging and crashing as they cleaned up from dinner upstairs.

"I guess. Loud though." He snickered as I opened my eyes wide and nodded at him.

"Oh hell yeah. I thought my sisters were noisy but that is just amazing." I was pointing above our heads as we heard the thunder of footsteps clomping around. Someone was chasing someone else around the house from the sound of it. Vincent winced when he heard a thump and a crash as something metallic hit the ground.

"It was worse when we were kids, if that's possible." He commented drily. I perked up at the words and looked at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Do you have any pictures you can show me?" I blinked at him and jutted out my lip when I saw his hesitation.

"Yeah, alright. I guess you can see the mugshots." He got up and took me just down the hall to a closed door, paused with dramatic flair and then flung open the door. I nearly dropped my jaw at the room beyond. It was an office, the homey kind that any mom might have, but for one wall completely dedicated to her kids.

It was covered in pictures, trophies, ribbons, certificates and childhood projects that came home from school. Five boys worth of them. All the sports you could think of, debate club, chess club, fencing, boxing... it looked like they had all tried multiple activities over the years.

I was in awe as I approached and picked out the corner dedicated to Vincent. There were adorable pictures of him as a muddy faced kid, flanked by all the brothers. I grinned at the t-ball picture and laughed outright at one of him in football gear. It was way too big for him and he was pouting in it.

Then I caught on to what was in the middle of each kid's section. A recent photograph with custom made matching frames for them. They all had nicknames. That was what his mother had been calling them, and what had been confusing me since they arrived to pick us up.

"What's with the nicknames?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Kind of a family joke. It started with Alan. He would say he was always right. One of his friends put it in a card for his birthday, only spelled it like our last name. 'Always Wright' you know?" He pointed to the framed card at a far top corner.

"Then when Ian came along..." I prompted. He grinned.

"Well, he was a smart ass but really smart. So whenever he would spout facts, my dad would say 'Invariably he was right.' So he picked up a nickname to go along with his name." He said.

"Then why are your other two brothers the opposite?" I asked as I looked at their frames.

"Riley accidently mispronounced words a lot while growing up. He gave my parents the nicknames 'King and Queen' because he couldn't pronounce Kinsey or Quinn. Mom was not thrilled at first since they were backwards, with her the King, but now I think she owns it."

"So that's why he is Rarely right?" I made a face.

"Pretty much. Sydney wasn't too much better. He didn't have as much of an attitude though, or so I was told." He grabbed my hand and pulled me back out of the room. The living room was filling up with more people and Vincent tried to grab two seats before they could take up all the couches.

"Shove over bro, just let your boytoy sit on your lap." Riley said with a grin. Vincent rolled his eyes at him.

"No, we are watching a movie not canoodling on the couch. Go grab a cushion and sit on the floor." His mother said with a glare at her son, then she looked at me with a kind smile. "Not that I think you'd be inappropriate dear, but boys will be boys."

"Yes, Mom." I said to her with a friendly smile back.

"See, such a polite boy. Why on earth you kids couldn't figure out such manners yet is beyond me." She mumbled with a glare at her oldest three.

"I'm polite, Mom." Sydney protested with a hurt look.

"She wasn't talking about you, son." Their father commented as he flopped into his easy chair with a groan.

"Sorry." He mumbled and looked back down to play with his phone.

"Okay, what will it be tonight? We have Thor number two, or Spiderman something. Show of hands for Thor." Mom called out from the front. A couple hands went up and the others booed.

"Majority is Spiderman." Dad said with a grin. Their mum gave him a look and shook her head.

"Hands up for Spiderman." She demanded. The rest of the hands went up and she nodded. "You never know when folks will forget to vote. It isn't over until the poll is in."

"Really Mom? Politics lessons over Spiderman?" Riley groaned. I covered my mouth as I chuckled and his mum just glared and pointed at him.

"You will thank me when you are older." She sat next to Sydney with a sigh and put up her feet. We all settled in to watch the movie then, and it felt rather good. With all the noise, banter and general quiet as the credits came to an end, well I realised I hadn't felt this comfortable in my own home in quite some time.

*

"Alex." The soft voice was like a warm balm as I stirred again the strong shoulder I was leaned against. My eyes blinked open and saw Kinsey grinning softly as she corralled the other boys up the stairs. I yawned and looked over to the smile on Vincent's face.

"Mm, movie is over." I mumbled. He nodded and helped me to sit up.

"Yep. Come on and I'll take you up." He held out his hand and I grasped it so he could help pull me up. My legs felt a little wobbly from just waking up.

I wasn't surprised that I fell asleep during the movie, but I was a little embarrassed doing it in front of his family like that. It had been a long week though, what with packing, saying goodbye to my friends, meeting the family, and travelling all this way to their place.

When we reached the hallway, I could hear the others moving around in the various rooms down the hall as they settled for bed. A toilet flushed and a shower turned on shortly after, creating a soft buzz of noise in the background as we glanced at each other.

"Own rooms boys. No hanky panky while the rest of us are here." Kinsey said gently with a grin and waggling finger before ducking into the last room at the end of the hall.

"Aww mom." Vincent whined with a mischievous smile. I grin sleepily and pulled him close to me.

"You heard her. No hanky panky." I whispered before I leaned up and in to kiss his throat. He groaned and tilted his head back to give me access.

"You... are such a tease." He growled before leaning in to take my breath away with a kiss. I hummed and let him dominate my mouth until we were both panting from it. I leaned back and bit my lip to keep myself from doing something stupid, like inviting him in.

"That was hot. Now go to bed you two. Separately." I glanced over with a blush to see Alan watching us with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky grin. Vincent just rolled his eyes, pecked me quickly, adjusted himself a bit, and then strolled across the hall to his own room.

"Yes mom." He replied sarcastically to Alan, then turned to me and whispered a gentle, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I responded to him, then waved a little to his brother and went in my own room.

1353