Smiley and Sunshine

34.

"Smiley, Sunshine, Austin wants to talk to you in the living room."

"In the middle of a game," Glen replied, his tongue poking out as he stared intently at the television. He, along with Francis, were playing the newest Call of Duty, courtesy of Austin. The eldest brother had thought Glen could use a pick-me-up after braving the doctors so they did a drive-by to GameStop on the way home.

Funny how he didn't hear Francis complaining about bribes when it benefited him as well. The youngest brothers immediately made it their mission to defeat the whole game in 24 hours, which Austin didn't exactly approve of but he was too tired to care at the moment. It was Friday night, and as long as they kept the noise level down and weren't causing all sorts of ruckus, he didn't feel the need to kill their fun.

"Now," Colton said, plucking the controller straight out of Glen's hands.

Glen turned around where he sat on the floor, his mouth dropped open at the disrespect as Colton went and sat down on the couch, instantly picking up where Glen left off. Though not as nearly obsessed as his younger brothers, Colton enjoyed playing video games every now and then.

It also didn't hurt that he was good at it.

"What?" Colton asked, a smirk playing on his lips as he glanced at Glen. "You can have it back afterwards, don't worry."

"Sure," Glen grumbled, not believing him. He got to his feet, shaking out his legs that currently felt like pins and needles. Besides the mandatory break for dinner and saving his relationship with Hayes, he'd been in that same position for quite a while. Too lazy to wear his glasses, so he sat on the floor to be closer to the television and used the coffee table as a backrest.

Speaking of, their little sister had been been the definition of turmoil, going from all snuggly to a flash of irritability in seconds. And now she was finally asleep...

Francis let out a whoop, high fiving Colton in excitement. They had successfully completed the level that Fran and Glen had been struggling with for some time. A video began playing to set the next stage, so Francis jumped into their conversation.

"It's alright, baby brother. Let the big dogs play for a bit." He rubbed his hands together, the anticipation building for the next level. They were on to something now.

"That doesn't include you," Dakota reminded Francis as he moved his laptop off his lap, placing it next to him on the couch. He stretched his arms up, getting out some of the kinks that built up from sitting in one position for two hours too long. He would of left the room earlier to go hang out in the privacy of his room, but he felt responsible for keeping watch over his sister.

Not to brag or anything, but Dakota was Hayes' favorite at the moment, decided by the fact that he was the last person she had been snuggling with.

Then the dog jumped on the couch and it was all over.

Chubba won, every time.

Damn dog.

"Arooooo," Francis howled, a little loudly earning a smack to the back of the head.

"Keep it down, Fran," Colton reprimanded as he flipped back to his stern nature, looking pointedly at their little sister who was asleep on the couch on Dakota's end. She looked adorable, curled up on her side as she used Chubba for a pillow. It was blatantly obvious to the brothers that the dog chose Hayes as his favorite human.

Maybe because she was the weakest link and would feed him table scraps, or maybe because Chubba just loved the girl.

At some point, one of the brothers laid a blanket on her because as the late evening approached, the temperature dropped outside, creating a nice chill in the house.