braiden: "you're taking care of your sister tonight." your mom muttered as she fixed her earrings in the mirror. you stopped dead in your tracks, mouth hung open. "mom, my date with braiden is tonight! i haven't seen him in 2 months!" you argue. "he's a sweet boy, but your father and i are having a much needed date night." "but!" "i'm not changing my mind. you're watching olivia." you knew she wasn't going to give in, so you just sighed and walked back into your bedroom, taking your shoes off as you hear the front door slam shut. "i got ready for nothing..." taking out your phone, you texted braiden telling him that you had to reschedule your date. about 20 minutes go by, no reply. "great, he's mad at me." you mutter angrily, flopping on your bed. "sissy, what's wrong?" olivia asks, running and jumping on your bed. "nothing, i'm okay." "no you're not! i know when someone's sad." she argues, placing her hands on her hips. what a sassy little 3 year old... you thought. "i can't go on my date tonight, i have to babysit you." "take me with you!" "sorry, booger, but i can't. maybe another time." just then, the doorbell rang. puzzled, you open it to see braiden standing there with food, movies, and a blanket. "i thought we could have our date inside tonight." he smiled, opening his arms for a hug. you quickly run into them and embrace him tightly. as he pulls away, he leaves a longing kiss on your lips before a small giggle interrupts. "sissy, that's gross!" as you pull away from him, she runs to hug his leg. "hi! i missed you!" "i missed you too, munchkin!" he laughs, picking her up and taking her inside to the kitchen. your date consisted of movies, cuddles, and lots of playtime with olivia.
toby: "toby!" your little brother max yelled as he ran down the hallway, hugging him tightly. "hi, big guy!" max is only 4, and he loves toby to death. "(y/n), this is secret. go in the other room!" he demands, pointing to the door. "fine, pushy!" you say, retreating into the living room. "can you help me make (y/n) a present?" "sure! what for?" "she's the best, and i love her! i can't just make one for mommy and not for her. but shh, it's a surprise!" he laughed at his comment before following max to the crafts cabinet. "what are we making for her?" "i want to color a picture for her!" max decides as he pulls out a piece of paper, some crayons, some glue, and some macaroni. as he begins to draw the picture of you and him, he begins to ask toby some questions. "why do you like my sister so much?" "i think she's a beautiful girl, and she's fun to be around." "what's your favorite thing about her?" "everything." he replies honestly, with a dumb smile on his face. "that's good. i don't think you like her more than me though. she plays with me all the time!" the two sit making the picture for about a good 30 minutes before you come back into the room, wondering what they're up to. "sissy, no! i'm not done!" max squeals, hiding the picture under his arms. "yeah! we're not done!" toby teases, covering the picture with his hands as well. max then puts the last piece of macaroni on before yelling, "tada! for the best sister ever!" as he runs over to deliver the picture to you. you begin to tear up a bit as you observed the picture of you, him, and toby all holding hands. "we're all best friends, so why not draw it and make it official?" the small boy reasoned. you laughed as you got a magnet and promptly hung it on the fridge. "perfect!" you said, admiring the drawing some more. "(y/n), did you know that toby glued on most of the macaroni? he made the picture look even better!" max chattered happily. "wow, toby, i had no idea that you were such an artist." you tease as he wraps you up in a hug. "you bet i am!"
connor: "please stop crying, please stop crying." you whisper, ready to cry yourself. you've been a volunteer at your local daycare center for years now, so it's nothing new when a toddler starts crying. but this one? she's been wailing for an hour. non-stop. she's new at the daycare, so you imagine that she's more scared of being in unfamiliar surroundings than anything. as you're bouncing her softly, you're phone begins to ring. "hello?" you answer, sounding exhausted and teary. "are you alright?" connor asks, beginning to become worried. "i'm fine, it's just this baby won't stop crying and i don't know what to do!" "i got this. be there in a second." he replies, hanging up promptly. you threw your phone to the side as your hand goes to rub the baby's back. her voice is becoming raspy, and you can't help but feel bad for the poor girl. the daycare door then opens slightly as you see a slim figure slide through the doorframe. connor's come with a small stuffed giraffe in hand, and open arms. "can i hold her?" he asks, and you immediately hand over the wailing child. "don't cry, sweetie! i bought you're a present." he tells her, handing her the stuffed toy. she looks at it, taking it in her hands cautiously. unfortunately, it doesn't help much as she still continues to scream. he then turns to singing the chorus of soldier to her. slowly but surely, she stops crying and looks at him with a smile. "cheesing her up with your own songs, hm?" you ask with a small laugh as you breathe out a sigh of relief. "whatever, it worked!" looking back at the baby, she laid her head against his shoulder and started chewing on the horns of the giraffe. finally, some silence!
thomas: "thomas!" a small voice cooed. "slide! slide!" you and thomas had agreed on taking his little cousin josh to the park while the adults had time to catch up. "alright bud, go over to the slide, i'll be at the bottom." the tiny tot sped to the slide ladder, climbing up it with ease. "thank you for coming with us, he really likes you. it just takes him some time to crack him." thomas says as he squeezes your hand in a reassuring fashion. you and josh had a rough start. as soon as he found you were dating his older cousin, things went downhill. he's super protective, and doesn't want him getting hurt. you shrugged a bit before heading over to the tallest slide, where josh was perched at the top. "come on, slide down!" thomas encouraged him, but he seemed uneasy. "i'll catch you, i promise." "no!" josh cried in fear, backing up from the slide. "buddy, you have to come down the slide to get down." "no!" he squealed again. "do you want me to come up there and slide down with you?" "no." he sniffles, wiping his nose with his tiny hands. "do you want (y/n) to?" "yeah." out of shock, you stood there stiffly for a moment before snapping out of it and climbing the ladder to josh. "ready?" you ask, placing him between your legs. "mmhm." he says, with a bright smile. "one, two, three!" you count down before going down the slide. thomas was at the bottom, there to catch you both like he promised. "thomas, swings now!" josh yelled happily. you three stayed at the park until sundown, when josh was starting to get tired. on the walk home, he held both yours and thomas' hand.
riley: "you're mean!" your little brother austin yelled at riley. "why?" "because! you leave my sissy out and have all this fun without her!" "no no, i don't mean to-" he started, but your austin's twin sister aubrey interrupted. "then take her with you!" "i can't all the time." "yes you can! you just don't want to because you don't like her!" riley's face twisted up with pain for a second before he excused himself into the kitchen, where you currently were. "what's wrong?" you ask him immediately after seeing his face. "your brother and sister hate me." "they can't-" "they think i don't like you anymore. they're also kids, and they don't lie." your face softened as you brought a hand to his shoulder. "they never see you anymore, so they just assume the worst. don't worry; i'll talk to them about it." you say, giving him a kiss on the cheek. he sighs and sits at the breakfast bar, pulling out his phone to check twitter. upset, you walk out into the living room seeing aubrey and austin playing happily with their legos. "guys, we need to talk." the two kids look up at your serious face, and put their toys down quickly. "why would you say those mean things to riley?" "he doesn't like you if he leaves you out!" austin defends. "he has a job like mommy and daddy, but he travels a lot and does fun things while he works. he doesn't do it on purpose, i promise." the kids ponder it for a second, before looking down at the ground. "sorry, (y/n)." "don't say sorry to me, go say that to him. you really hurt his feelings today, guys." as you go back into the kitchen to talk to riley, the two crawl over to their bookshelf where they pull out their favorite book, cloudy with a chance of meatballs. riley walks back out into the living room to get his phone charger when aubrey taps on his leg. "we're really sorry about the mean things we said." she mumbles, looking at her shoes." yeah, we just don't want our sissy to feel left out like we do sometimes." austin chimes in. "would you read us a story so we can be friends again?" she asked, lifting up the book. riley takes it in his hands and leads the two kids to the couch, where he'd read them their favorite story until their nap time.
