the art of letting go

fourteen - family

the art of family

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It didn't take long to reach Nico's apartment. We'd been inside for barely five minutes before somebody was knocking at the door.

In the midst of an argument about space in the lounge, Nico had stepped away from the others and headed towards his front door, opening it as Kady stepped in with Coden. Brayden and Frankie had taken full advantage of Nico's temporary distraction by spacing out across the couch.

You wouldn't think that they were two fully developed adults but, no, that was who they are.

"Hello!" Coden shouted, running into the living room with an action figure in his hand. His face lit up joyously, like a kid on Christmas Day, as his small eyes found the couch,  "Uncle Bray!"

"Hey, kiddo." If Coden's expression was delighted, then Brayden managed to out-do him by a lot. Brayden laughed wholeheartedly, pulling himself up with little effort and lifting the boy up for a huge bear hug. "I missed you."

Coden nodded into the embrace, squeezing his arms around Brayden's neck as tightly as he could. His blond hair reminded me so much of his mother's, but that kind shyness was all Nico's. "It's been a lot of days."

"A lot?" Frankie boomed gleefully, gasping in exasperation as Coden's wide eyes turned to him. "Oh wow! It's been even longer since I've seen you, squirt. Do I not get a hug?"

Coden gasped at Frankie's dramatic pout before throwing himself at him, climbing on Frankie's lap so he could get his arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, 'Kie, I missed you too."

Frankie grinned over Coden's shoulder, sticking his tongue out at Brayden as he started a conversation up with the little boy. Brayden jumped into it too, not even being able to be out of the spotlight for even a second as he moved over so Kady could sit next to him. I don't think he even noticed that his arm shifted naturally to rest behind her shoulders.

Well that was suspicious.

Nico moved to sit next to me on the high seat in the kitchen, and we watched his son's interactions with our friends. We stayed quiet for a bit, comfortable, as if last night didn't even happen.

In all fairness to myself, Nico was the one who decided to leave before things got awkward in the morning glimmer. That was his decision, I was just respecting it.

Coden sounded his excitement even further when Frankie began to pinch at his nose, squealing before slapping the man's hand away.

"Where'd 'Kie' come from?"

Nico let out a long sigh, chuckling lightly as he turned to me. "Struggled to pronounce the letter F for a while, so he was calling him 'Rankie'. Frank got tired of Brayden laughing every time Coden spoke to him so they came up with 'Kie' as an alternative, and it just stuck."

I laughed softly at the mental image, "Still can't believe you let that boy near them of all people. Aren't you scared of Brayden corrupting him?"

Amongst other things.

"Kind of, if I'm honest. They'll be awful when he's old enough to understand everything Brayden says." Nico's lips curved into a smile. "He's so good with him, though, there's no one I'd trust more with my son than Brayden. He's been here from the start of it all."

We both go quiet again. We watched the boys interact, with Kady staying silent and laughing whenever Brayden made a light comment. Coden's laughter mixed in with Frankie's, and his face lit up whenever Brayden upped his dramatics. The silence stretched, until I noticed Coden toying with the bracelet on Brayden's wrist. The same bracelet that Brayden never seemed to take off.