Criminal Case Oneshots

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Matteo's POV

"I'm going to start making these cookies now." Aunt Mimi says as she walks into the kitchen.

"Make sure to use oat milk!" I call out.

"Yes, I remember that you three prefer oat milk, are there any other dietary restrictions or preferences?" She responds.

"Not to my knowledge we don't," Gabriel replies, not looking up from his book of probably smut.

"Well they don't necessarily have to be plain sugar cookies, should I make chocolate chip ones? Is everyone okay with that?" Aunt Mimi requests.

"Chocolate chip seems to be a universally liked flavor unless you are allergic to chocolate. We should just have chocolate chip cookies with the oat milk." Sophia replies.

"Okay, I'll go with that. They should hopefully be ready in the next hour." She hums, her head ducking back into the kitchen.

"Well, I know that you three are going to graduate college soon. Do you three have any plans? I'm sure that could be an interesting conversation to have while we wait," Uncle Marco says.

"I was thinking about moving into a cabin near Misty Grove. It's not far from the University and it's not far away from the animal shelter that Mary works with." My brother answers.

"You want to live in a cabin in the middle of the woods? Why?" I query.

"And you want to move into a place with your two friends?" Uncle adds on.

"I like the peace and quiet of the forest. It helps me focus on my books more and I'm going to need to be able to focus on the task at hand if I want to write my fantasy novel... also I like the reclusiveness of it. I feel like it would help control my anxiety, it gets bad when I get overwhelmed." Gabriel starts.

"You want to move out to Misty Grove and be away from your family but you'll let those two geek friends of yours live with you? I don't know whether I should be hurt or surprised by your boldness." I remark, feigning a pained expression.

"You know I love you two and all of our family but you know that things are rough at home... I can't stand it! I hate it when they argue and it makes me feel tense and overwhelmed." He retorts.

"Hey, I'm sure that Matteo was just putting his theatre degree to use. We all want a bit of escapism from home, that's why we're here in the first place." Sophia comforts.

"Your mom and dad are still fighting? I know that those arguments probably aren't fun to witness." Uncle Marco mutters.

"It just feels like the arguments are getting worse. Dad keeps getting more irritable and judgmental by the day." I huff.

"With just you three? Or your mom? Or is he bringing other people into this?" He continues.

"I don't really know how to answer that question. It seems like anything could set him off. Maybe Dad's just hitting that grumpy old man age where he complains about everything? Ever since I told him that I wanted to be an art major and found my style of clothes, he finds things to nitpick about me all the time." My sister complains.

"I don't know either. You three know that I have never really liked your father... he and I don't see eye to eye. Don't listen to what he criticizes you about though, your art is amazing and your outfits are so creative." Uncle Marco returns.

"I usually ignore his comments, but I can't help that they can get under my skin and cause me to stew on them... Dad has run out of new things to criticize me about so it has been easier to ignore and not think about his comments since he's just like a broken record." Sophia said.