Kings in Hiding

Chapter 3

The boys walked into the inn and sat down at a booth. A waitress comes by, takes their order, and leaves quickly to retrieve the food.
"So, you finally were able to find a woman for your own? I'm shocked," Kirk says teasingly, smirking at Leo.
"Yeah, I got a wife. What's it to ya?" Leo remarks. He seems a little unsteady.
"Relax, I was just joking," Kirk says. He looks over at young Kyle and flashes a kind smile. "Are you feeling better yet?"
Kyle nods; he's no longer shivering from the cold. "Just hungry," he whispers.
Grey grabbed Kyle's hands from across the table and says, "Don't worry! The food's coming soon!" with a bright smile. Kyle smiles back.
"I don't know how he got lost... I swear, I have to keep my eyes on him or Kyle just goes running off on his own." Leo leaned over the table, touching his forehead with his gloved hands in frustration.
"Don't blame him for Kyle getting lost, if anything it's your fault. Hold onto your kid's hand or something when you go out with him," Kirk adds on, concerned. "One day you could lose your son forever, and I don't think his mother would like that..."
Leo rolled his eyes, taking off his gloves. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya..."
The waitress comes back with a few plates of food. As she sets them down, the kids' eyes start beaming; the warm, heaping piles of food made their mouths water. Kyle picks up a fork and starts shoving in as much food as he can; he seemed more hungry than Greg, who hadn't eaten anything all morning.
"Awe, look, he was hungry. Leo, you promise me you'll be a better dad for that kid, alright?" Kirk exclaims, pulling a marinated chicken leg up to his lips.
"I promise... geez, let me raise my kid and get off my back," Leo says, rolling his eyes.
The men work on their meal slowly as their sons both finish quickly. Greg asks if he can take Kyle outside to play while they waited for their fathers to finish, Kirk and Leo let them go. Kyle rushes back outside, giggling as Greg chases after him. Kirk and Leo watch from behind a glass window as Greg and Kyle work together to make little snowmen happily.
As the two boys are about to finish their snowman, a ball of snow hits Greg in the cheek, sending him back a few steps. Kyle looks up from their sculpture and sees five other kids with snowballs in the crooks of their arms, giggling and pointing at Greg. Kyle then looks over at Greg, who's laughing as he wipes the snow away from his face.
"Yo, Greg! Who's the little one?" One of them shouts. He gently sets his snowballs on the ground and rubs his pink nose.
"Huh? Oh, this is my cousin, Kyle! Come say hi!" Greg exclaims, standing close to Kyle. The other four kids drop the rest of their snowballs and run over to the two cousins, and Kyle, being shy, had pulled his scarf up to cover his face.
"Nice to meet you, Kyle!" A little girl says, about the same age as him. "I'm Lala!" She sticks his hand out for Kyle to shake, smiling brightly. He hesitates to grab it. Greg gently pushes him to take his friend's hand.
"Hi, Lala. I like your name," Kyle says, taking her hand.
The other kids start pushing Lala away, trying to meet little Kyle. They warm up quickly to Greg's cousin, making him feel welcomed in this busy village. Kyle soon became familiar with all five of them, smiling brightly as they talked to him.
"Greg, do you think we could play down by your house later? None of us have anything to do for the rest of the day," one of them, his name was North, asked. He pulled some of his dark red hair out of his face as he sneezed.
Greg tapped his chin for a moment; "I'll have to ask my dad," he stated. "Normally, he's okay with it, but we just met up with Kyle's dad after a long time. He might want some time to talk things out, ya know?"
One of the other girls, Bella, piped up. "That's fine! Just let us know when you've got time!"
The kids run off as their parents call out their names. Greg and Kyle smile at each other, continuing to talk.
"They're really nice... do you have more friends like them?" Kyle asks sweetly.
"Yeah, of course! I know all the kids in this town. I've lived here for about eight years, I think."
"That's nice..."
Kirk and Leo come out from the inn, talking about work. They pause their conversation when the little boys run up to them, hugging their waists.
"Dad, are we going home now?" Greg asks. He seems to be shivering.
Kirk messes with his son's snow-covered hair, smirking. "Yeah, we're going. You go get the horse and we'll go back immediately, m'kay?"
Greg nods, dashing over to the stalls where the family horse was resting. Leo pulled his kid from out of the snow and hoisted him on his hip.
"You think we could stay at your place for a bit? I have some, uh, business to attend to here, and since we're family and all..." Leo asks his brother, looking at Kyle.
"Yeah, no problem. Anything for you, brother," Kirk exclaims kindly.