Chapter 5

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September 28th

Atlas's POV

"Hey you got school tomorrow you two should be
getting to bed" dad jokes catching Asher and me on the couch. "Dad I'm 16" I groan as Asher giggles next to me. "Don't care because I have to deal with you for a full class I don't want you being moody" he smirks knowing damn well I'm going to be moody... it's school.

"You also have school tomorrow" I mock him making him send me a glare. "Fine fine give me like 20 minutes and I'll go to bed" I give up and he nods happy with a compromise. "Well all your siblings are asleep or at least in bed so I'm also going to bed" he informs coming over to ruffle my already messy hair.

"Really?" I groaned trying to flatten it again. "Yes now goodnight I love you" he smirks kissing the top of my head. "I love you too" I roll my eyes getting the finger from my dad. "I'm telling papa" I shout as he walks away just to get the middle finger again.

Turning back to Asher who was still laughing he moved to stare up at me. "You've been acting differently at school would you please tell me what's going on" I sigh grabbing his hand.

He tenses up darting his eyes to the floor. "Ash it's been getting worse I can tell" I continue letting go of his hand. "I swear there's nothing going on I'm just stressed" he smiles back up to me before looking at his hands.

"Ugh come here" I sigh pulling him into my arms.  His head goes to my chest while I wrap my arms around his back.  "W-what's going on?" He questions me while I set my chin on top of his head.

  "I know you're not going to tell me so I'm going to comfort you while I can" I mumble kissing the top of his head.  "Oh okay," he whispers his voice on the edge of breaking.  His arms wrap around my torso squeezing tightly. 

"Wait what time is it" he shoots back looking around the room.  I turn to find the grand clock and sigh "you gotta get to bed" I whisper kissing his head again. "Why?" He whines his grip becoming tighter.

"It's midnight" I bite my lip ready for his reaction.  "Fiddlesticks!... papa and dad are going to kill me" he scrambled to get out of my embrace. I laugh letting go of him so he can move freely.  He goes to the floor jumping up attempting to run off.

I stand up with a hurt look "excuse me" I murmur.  He spins around to find me pointing at my cheek.  "Sorry" he spits out running back over.  I lean over while he goes on to his toes giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

"Goodnight" I whisper and he turns to run off again "goodnight" Asher shouts back while I make the trek to my room.  Silently opening my door I leave it open a crack before flopping onto the bed.  "Fuck school" I groan grabbing on to an extra pillow

Closing my eyes I already feel tired.  I remember when I could stay up the whole night..... then I became a mom too... Ivy... Iris...Asher... my siblings.... sometimes dad.  9 sometimes 10 kids... I practically have wrinkles by now.

Yawning I turn to my side my eyelids barely able to stay up.  "Atlas" one of my siblings whispers into my room. "What!" I groan sitting up and rubbing my eyes.  I'm met with Emerald.  "Hey what's wrong," I ask as she wipes some tears from her eyes.

"I'm just really stressed out over school.... and I'm not taking it well" she whispers with a sniffle.  "Em come here" I call opening my arms for her.  "You're the badass sibling no crying" I laugh making her giggle while plopping onto the bed next to me.

"I just don't want to fail... everyone is doing so good and I'm just going to disappoint everybody" she cries trying to fight back her tears. "Em your so smart don't say that.... have you met our dad you can't disappoint anyone" I joke making her laugh some more.

"Now if you ever need help with anything you can always come to me" I reassure her and she nods a quick thank you.  "Let me guess you want to sleep in my bed tonight" I sigh once again, she nods a big goofy smile on her face.

I scoot back underneath the covers Emerald getting on the other side. "Night night" Em giggles facing the other way. "Nigh-" I get caught off by another little voice.

"I- sweep with you pwease" The one and only Emerson fully pushes the door open. My old stuff animal in his free hand. "I see you brought Wolfie" I chuckle and he nods running forward.

"You wanna sleep with me too," I ask raising an eyebrow. He pouts raising his arms up. "Pwease Atwas" he whines and I sigh picking him up. Emerald snorts to herself as I let the child lay on my chest pulling the cover over us.

"Night" I whisper kissing his head. "Bye-bye" he giggles laying his head down. I smile to myself my eyes ready to close. Yet not even a minute later a slight knock on the door wakes me up.

"And why are you here" I groan at Seren standing in the doorway. "Simple I'm cold and as soon as I heard Em walk by... because she's loud" Seren starts explaining getting cut off by Emerald herself "hey!" She shouts getting whacked by me. "Quiet" I hiss putting a hand on our almost asleep brother's back.

"Anyways I knew EJ would have heard and would follow her" she continues stepping into my room. "Okay..." I answer unsure of how to actually answer. Seren goes to Em's side shoving her over.

"Give me room you oaf" Seren sneers at her as Em groans flipping over. Getting under the covers Seren latches onto her sister in a hug. "By the way, Lyra will probably be here soon, she more and likely can hear us talking" Seren starts to go off getting cut off by Lyra herself.

"Just close the door and get in" I groan.  She quickly closes the door jumping right in the middle.  "Is everyone comfortable" I sarcastically ask getting an answer from Lyra only.  "Can I go to your other side" she whispers and I just nod massaging the sleeping boy in my arms.

Lyra crawls over griping my arm while Em and Seren scoot closer to me.  "You guys probably woke up dad and papa" I sigh turning while closing my eyes.  "Nah dad wakes up to nothing" Em snickers making Lyra giggle.  "Oh, and papa would be stuck in Dad's grip anyways" Lyra adds as I shake my head.

The only thing we're good at is making fun of our dad... "wait before any of you go to bed" I interrupt myself making sure they were all awake besides EJ of course.  "Don't you dare drool on me" I warn them.
  "Got it" Lyra smiles while I can literally feel Seren roll her eyes "I'm too far away anyways" she points out.  "No promises" Em smirks as I shiver knowing how crazy that woman is.

Emerson starts to move around small whines coming from his mouth as I move my hand from his back.  "Hey buddy it's okay" I whisper trying to calm him down.  His eyes open quickly as he looks around clinging to my shirt.  "Why- why up?" He rambles readjusting his position on my chest.

I play with his curly brown locks before answering "we were just going to bed" I assure him and he nods before letting his head fall back onto my chest.  "You're going to be a good dad" Seren whispers making me blush from embarrassment.. thank merlin it's dark. 

"Not really" I chuckle regretting it as the child on my chest whines and starts to move again.  "Hey shhh shh go back to bed" I coo talking him back to sleep.  "You're just proving our point Emerald whispers yawning into her hand.

"Oo and Asher will make a good mom" Lyra randomly joins the conversation as I put a hand to my mouth to stop myself from choking.   Both Seren and Em attempt to hold their laughter as I stare at the ceiling wide eyes holding in coughs. 

"What! He will" Lyra adds as I attempt to breathe evenly, the blush on my face becoming evident, but now for a different reason. "I don't think big brother wants to think about that right now" Seren pipes in saving me for a moment as I stay silent.

Maybe I can just play dead.  "What? It's obvious they like each other" Lyra whines squeezing my arm "you do like Asher right?" She mumbles giving me big puppy-dog eyes that she definitely got from papa.

   "I'm going to bed goodnight we can talk about this... never"

  "Goodnight everyone"

  "Night"

  "Night night!

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