A True Hero

Chapter 18

I love writing sibling bonding time.

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Micah's pov

"So, what exactly are we doing again?" I looked over to Niko as we were stopped at a red light, my hands falling off the steering wheel for a moment.

"Birthday shopping! Just me and you buddy!" I smiled and my hands went back to the wheel as the light turned green.

"What are we shopping for?" He tilted his head and looked at me. I shrugged and turned into the mall parking lot.

"Whatever You want. It's your birthday this week." I found a parking spot and turned the car off, smiling at him.

"Clothes."

"You want clothes?"

"Yep." I nodded and shrugged.

"Okay, clothes it is."

We talked and laughed as we made our way inside, him pulling me to the clothing store he had in mind. We pulled out a few outfits he liked and I saw him keep looking across the store, to the girls section. Specifically to a single item.

I saw him do it again and I smiled, keeping my eyes on the shirt I was looking at.

"What'cha keep looking at over there?" He jumped and shook his head.

"Nothing!" He took the shirt from me and nodded towards the dressing rooms. "I should go try these on." I nodded and followed him as we made our way to the fitting rooms.

"...Was it a skirt?"

"No!" He snatched an outfit away from me and locked himself in the room. I sighed and sat the other clothes on the bench where I sat down. He showed me the first outfit, and it looked really good on him.

"Do you want to try one on?" He ignored me and grabbed the second outfit we had picked, disappearing back into the fitting room. When he came back out in that one, I nodded in approval. "You know it's not bad if you want to, right?" He paused in grabbing the third one and looked down, picking at his nails.

"Its not?" I shook my head and smiled.

"No."

"But What if people think I'm weird?" He looked at me and I pulled him to sit beside me, wrapping my arm around him.

"Then let them think so. You be you and if they have a problem with it, then that's their fault. You're perfect no matter what you wear or who you like. Okay?" I rubbed his back and he nodded, smiling at me.

"Okay. I'm gonna try on this last one so we can go choose a couple skirts!" He grabbed the last outfit and skipped into the room to change with a smile.

"You're a good dad." I turned to look behind me and saw a worker smiling. I quickly shook my head and waved my hands.

"No, he's not my son. He's my brother. I'm too young to have kids." I laughed and she apologized.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't know! I just assumed-" I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

"It's fine." I glanced around the empty store before looking at the worker. "Its not too busy today, is it?" She shook her head and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"No, not really." She looked around the empty store before shrugging.

"Wanna sit?" I patted the spot next to me and she nodded, sitting down and crossing her legs.

"So what brings you two here?" She leaned back I to the bench and I smiled, nodding towards the changing room my brother was in.

"It's his birthday in a few days. I brought him shopping and this is where he wanted to go." She nodded slowly.

"Really? How old is he gonna he?" She brought her hair around to one shoulder, giving me her full attention.

"Twelve. It's weird. It's already been that long?" I shook my head and she laughed. I looked at her hair and hummed. "I love your hair." It was long, black and looked incredibly silky.

"Thanks!" She laughed and ran her fingers through it. All of a sudden I heard Niko's voice.

"You better not be flirting with her!" I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"I'm not!"

"I'll tell Titus!"

"I promise you, that was a strictly gay comment." He laughed and I shook my head with a smile. "That boy is something else." She smiled and stood as more customers entered.

"I can tell. It was nice meeting you. I'm Kiara." She held out her hand and I shook it.

"Micah." She nodded and walked off to see if the others needed help.

"How's this one?" Niko stepped out and showed me the outfit and I nodded.

"That one looks really good. Everything fit okay?" He nodded. "Okay, then get your clothes back on and we'll go pick out some skirts." He cheered and quickly changed back before we were making our way to the other side of the store.

He immediately led me to a rack of skirts and started looking through them. I looked and found a few in his size before helping him find matching shirts to go with them, as well as a few other outfits.

The first one he tried on was a pair of baby blue overalls with a white undershirt. Simple, but it looked really good on him. Next was a red skirt with a black sweater and he had the biggest smile on his face.

"I won't be able to wear this one until it warms up again, but I like it!" He gave a little twirl accompanied by a giggle. "Next one!" He came out in the pink skirt and did a little happy dance, which I found adorable. The shirt had a pink sparkly butterfly on it.

"Wow! I like that one!" I gestured for him to spin and he did, causing the skirt to flare out.

"Me too! Again, I cant wear it for a while, but it's cute!" I clapped and he laughed. "Two more!"

The fourth one was a pair of black jeans with a pink knit sweater. He showed me before trying on the last one. As he was changing I grabbed a yellow flower hair clip. He came out and looked at himself in the mirror, smoothing out the fabric of the long sleeved, black, yellow flower patterned dress he was wearing. He had on black leggings underneath and we had found cute fuzzy boots to match.

He was rather quiet about this outfit and I walked up behind him, fixing his hair for the clip. "How do you feel?"

"I feel....pretty." He smiled as I clipped the flower in his hair and stepped back.

"You look very pretty." I saw his cheeks flush and he looked to the ground, still smiling as he ran his fingers across the floral fabric.

"I like it." He looked back at me.

"Yeah? Let's get it then." He made his way back into the changing room and put on his regular clothes before we bought his outfits and headed to get lunch.

Once we were back in the car and driving, he pulled out the pink skirt and just stared at it with a small smile, running the fabric between his fingers. I inhaled before asking a question that I'd been wanting to.

"Hey, Niko?" He hummed in acknowledgement before looking out the window. I kept my voice soft and accepting. "Are you my little brother or my little sister? Or neither?" He seemed to think it over, nervously turning the fabric in his hands before shrugging.

"I dunno." His voice was quiet and he seemed timid.

"Do you want me to call you my brother or sister for now?" I glanced to him and he looked at me.

"Brother for now." I smiled and nodded my head.

"Okay. Whenever you know, just tell me, alright?" I could see him smile and nod from the corner of my eye.

"Okay." He looked back out the window and we made our way home.

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