Love and Family | Port Orthos 4

chapter 43: fern's fondness

chapter 43: fern's fondness

       As soon as I get to school, the first thing I do is go to Kiro's locker to see if he's there. He normally is there waiting for me, even if he has already grabbed everything he needs for first period, so it's no surprise to see him there.

       I hurry over to Kiro and wrap my arms around him. "Happy birthday," I say.

       Kiro hugs me back. "Thank you. Would you like to come over to my house after school to hang out?"

       "Of course," I say. It would be nice if we didn't have school today so we can celebrate Kiro's birthday the entire day but with both our birthdays being in February, it's inevitable that at least one of our birthdays will be during school.

       At least school goes by today at its usual speed. It doesn't feel like it's taking forever for the day to end so soon enough, the final bell rings. I text Harlow to let her know that I'm going to be going home with Kiro so she doesn't have to wait for me at her car. She replies with a kk, let me know when you'll be home and kiro will be home alone.

       I furrow my eyebrows, wondering why Harlow would want to know when Kiro is home alone. Kiro is looking at my phone as I text Harlow and must have noticed my confusion. "Oh, Harlow is my assassin now," he says.

       "Really?" I ask. "How did you figure that out?"

       "I found out who my assassin was and bribed her to let me know if Harlow ever eliminates her so I would be one step ahead," Kiro says. "I'm not going to lie, Harlow is one of my biggest threats in the game. She knows where I live, she can probably figure out if I'm home alone, and I'm over at your house all the time. She can easily get me out when I'm not expecting it, so I needed to get the upper hand."

       I frown. "Does that mean you can't come over to my house until the game is over?"

       "No, of course not," Kiro says. "She can't get me out if anyone witnesses it, even if the witness isn't part of the game. As long as you're always in the same room as me, then it will be fine."

       "Oh, okay, good." I'm so used to Kiro coming over to my house just to hang out, so it would be weird with him not being there. I mean, we can always hang out at his house, but I always feel more comfortable in my room. It's my safe space. I still feel safe in Kiro's room, but it's not the same as being in my own room.

       We head to Kiro's house, immediately heading to his bedroom to relax on the bed. Reuben is in an after school program today, so it's just me and Kiro at his house for the time being. We, unfortunately, have homework today, so we decide to do our homework first to get it done and over with. It doesn't take as long so when we're done, we decide to just watch a movie together, snuggled up on his bed.

       Kiro's padre, Ari, is the first one to get home out of his parents. Ari must have picked up Reuben on his way home because Reuben suddenly bursts into Kiro's room. "Padre says to keep the door open," he says.

       "You can at least knock before coming into my room," Kiro says.

       "Why?"

       Kiro sighs. "Forget it. Just keep the door open a crack when you leave."

       Reuben doesn't leave. Instead, he walks over to the bed and flops down on it on the other side of Kiro. He looks at the laptop resting on Kiro's lap. "What are we watching?"

       "You are not watching anything," Kiro says. "Go away."

       Reuben scowls. "I'm going to tell Padre that you're not letting me hang out with you."

       "Go ahead," Kiro says. "I'm hanging out with my girlfriend. Padre isn't going to just make me hang out with you."

       Reuben gets off of the bed and stomps towards the door. He mutters something in Spanish before walking out of Kiro's bedroom, leaving the door wide open.

       "Watch your mouth!" Kiro calls after Reuben, so I'm guessing Reuben said a curse word in Spanish. Kiro sighs heavily. "Sorry about him. He's just been wanting to hang out with my every single minute."

       "Oh, now I feel bad you made him leave," I say.

       "Don't feel bad," Kiro says. "It's okay. I'll watch a movie or play a game with Reuben after you go home. I just can't spend every single waking moment with him. Little siblings sometimes just go through a phase where all they want to do is hang out with their older siblings."

       "I guess that makes sense," I say. The only younger sibling I have is Forest, but he's only a year younger than me so we're very close in age. I don't know what it's like to have a much younger sibling, like Kiro and Reuben who are eight years apart. Even then, Forest never really had a phase where all he wanted to do was to hang out with me and Harlow. He preferred to spend his time alone.

       Kiro's other dad, Atlas, gets home right around dinner time. Ari has made a huge serving of nachos since it's one of Kiro's favourite foods. Along with it, Ari has also made empanadas, another one of Kiro's favourite.

       As we're eating dinner, I can see Reuben pouting. "What's wrong, Reuben?" I ask.

       "Nothing," he mutters.

       "Are you still mad I kicked you out of my room?" Kiro asks.

       "No," Reuben says. "I don't care about hanging out in your stupid room with stupid you."

       "It was only because Fern is here," Kiro says. "She's not going to be here all day. She's just here for dinner, cake, and presents, so as soon as she leaves, we can play a game together, okay?"

       That's enough to make Reuben smile. "Okay." I can't help but smile as well. Kiro is such a great big brother and always knows exactly what to do or say to cheer Reuben up.

       "Oh, before I forget, Kiro," Ari says. "Your mom did want to send you something, but she's back in..." Ari looks at Reuben and realizes he can't say exactly where it is. If I had to guess since I know enough about Kiro's birth mother, it's that she's back in rehab. "Well, you probably know well. If she can, she might call later."

       "Oh, okay," Kiro says. "It would be nice, but I'm not going to get my hopes up."

       "You know she wants to," Atlas says.

       "Yeah, I know," Kiro says. "And I know she tries. She just forgets her promises constantly. It's okay. I'd rather her focus on herself first."

______________________

just a quick explanation for kiro's birth mom: she gave up kiro when he was five because she realized she was not fit to be a mother and wanted what's best for kiro. ari and atlas do let her see kiro whenever, but it's hard for her at times because she's an addict and constantly gets into relationships that enables her addictions. she's also reuben's birth mom, just with a different dad, and let ari and atlas adopt reuben as well so reuben would still get to have a sibling bond with kiro.