expect the unexpected | nick centered sturniolo triplets alt au

chapter three; chris.

Chris had a pretty normal childhood. Nothing much to complain about, maybe except few things, but that's life, right?

He grew up with his mom, Mary Lou Sturniolo. He never met his dad, since he died before he was even born. So all he had was his dear mama.

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"Chris, please I beg you, eat your soup..." Mary Lou said feeling defeated and tired with Chris tossing his food and moving himself non stop.

"I don't wanna!" said a young boy shaking his head constantly.

Mary Lou signed and thought for a moment.

"Chrissy, if you eat your soup, we'll go on a walk to that park you like! Maybe we can even invite Alahna to join us!" his mom said and his eyes immediately lighted up.

"Okay!" he said as he grabbed a spoon messily and started eating, he couldn't stop kicking his legs from excitement though.

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Chris grew up to be a friendly and open, maybe a little too open. And maybe that's why kids didn't want to be his friends in kindergarten and elementary school. Most of them saw him as attention seeking, when he was just being his own self.

But he wasn't alone all his life, don't worry. After going to middle school he started to be liked by most of people. His optimistic energy always brighted everyone. He started doing sports and talking to more people. He even had his own friend group. He wouldn't die for them, but that was always something.

But one thing about Chris was that he was loyal. Even after gaining some popularity and shit, he never forgot about his dear childhood best friend, Alahna.

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A latina girl cried in his shoulder as he stroked her back slowly in attempt to comfort her. Alahna's long time crush just rejected her. She was heartbroken to say at least. And Chris was heartbroken too. Cause whatever Alahna was feeling, he felt it too.

"What's wrong with me...?" she sobbed quietly and Chris looked at her.

"What? There's nothing wrong with you. You are amazing Alahna, and if she doesn't see it, that's her loss honestly." he whispered watching her emotions change a bit, her face lighting up at ressuring words from her dearest friend.

Chris never, ever lied. He never needed to, he never wanted to, and he was bad at it anyway. So Alahna knew he out of all people was serious.

She gave him a smile and wiped her tears with a sleeve of Chris's grey hoodie she was currently wearing.

"You are the best." she said and he kissed her head softly. "Can I sleep over?"

"Of course."

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Chris was always an energetic kid. Too energetic even. He couldn't concentrate on one thing, getting frustrated and angry when someone was interrupting him. At some point he even started to be aggressive. So that's why Mary Lou took him to the doctor and he got diagnosed with ADHD when he was 9.

He started to take pills, go to doctors and see many different therapist. He was so sick of all that. He was just a normal person like everyone, why was he treated like a freak?

But he knew his mom just wanted to protect him. She always wanted just that. She was way too protective if you ask him. Keeping him safe was her love language.

She didn't let him go out often, especially to parties. She was scared someone would drug him or use him or kidnap him or-. He was all she had left after her dear husband passed away. She couldn't lose him too.

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Mary Lou quietly opened the door to her teenage son's bedroom. He was peacefully sleeping after a long day at school. She smiled to herself as she approached his bed.

She sat next to Chris's laying figure and started stroking his hair softly humming a song.

She thought about how all of this would look if she didn't give his brothers up to adoption centre, a lot. But she always just ended up appreciating she still had at least Chris around. Thinking about all of it was always hard for her, and the worst part was that she had to keep it secret from her little boy. He would never forgive her.

She smiled sadly at all the thoughts and kissed her son's head.

"I love you." she whispeared giving his hair one last stroke before leaving the room.

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But Chris eventually found out. How? He was looking through his mom's drawers to help her find some papers she need for work when he approached a transparent document sleeve with some papers and documents in it. But what really got his attention was a picture of three newborns.

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Chris took a picture and looked more closely. The newborns looked like... like him! They looked exactly the same as he looked as a baby. All three of them.

They newborns were laying on their backs, one of them was obviously laughing, the one in the middle just smiling looking at the laughing one, and the one on the left looked like he just stopped crying, looking curiously at the other two.

The traced his fingers along the photo, he started to feel a strong feeling he couldn't describe... It was some kind of grief, but also peace? He didn't know what to say, what to do... but he didn't have to do anything.

"Honey..." he heard his mom's voice behind him. He looked at her and noticed her glassy eyes. He just looked at her the most confused in his life.

She signed starting to stroke his hair and then she told him.

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She told him everything. She told him that she was supposed to have triplets. That she and her husband were so happy. She told him about Jimmy's cancer and passing away in the 8th month of her pregnancy. That she had to give birth to 3 kids alone, still mourning her husband.

That she knew she won't raise 3 little boys alone. And that she had to do it for their good.

She gave his two older triplet brothers to adoption centre.

All this time she spent thinking that if Chris ever finds out he will hate her. But he didn't. Not even one bit.

He understood it was a hard situation. I mean, who would have a strength to raise 3 kids alone right after their husband died? Chris wouldn't.

She regretted it. She regretted giving them away every single day and every single night. That's why she kept the picture in a first place. She wasn't able to let in a thought that she'll never see them again.

That's until one day the phone rings in Sturniolo's house and they hear what they never expected to hear.

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word count: 1140 words

ik this chapter is kinda shit and i didn't show much of chris's life as i did with nick and matt, but i promise we'll find out more about chris later in a story.

thanks again for all the support and i hope you enjoy the story so far. chapter 4 is currently in making so watch out.

love yaaall