They Motivate Me (OT4/G!P)

-12-

The first few hours of school breezed by for most of the children.

It was currently recess, and Joshua was sitting by a tree with his little sketchbook, humming to himself. His siblings were all playing around with other kids.

He was discouraged since he has yet to make any friends. He tried once while the kids were having a bit of free time, but he was too shy. He figured that if he wasn't so shy, he'd be able to make friends easily.

Amelio was the least shy of them all and Josh wished he could be that confident.

"Whatcha drawin'?" A girl's voice calls from behind him, startling him. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," she frowns. "It's okay," Josh mumbles, watching as the girl took a seat next to him.

"I'm Kiana. Kiana Brown," she smiles. "Joshua," he replies.

"Whatcha drawin' in your book there?" She points to his sketchbook that he closed with his finger bookmarking the page. He glances down at the red cover than to her.

"Just doodles," he says. "Where are you from? You don't sound like you're from London." He furrows his eyebrows, "Neither do you."

"I'm from Arizona. That's in America. I just moved here," he just stares at her.

She tilts her head to the side.

"You don't talk much, do ya?" He shrugs. "Why are you sitting here all by yourself? Why aren't you playing?" He sighs, "Because I don't have anyone to play with. I wanna draw anyway."

Kiana's eyes sparkle excitedly, "You can play with me!" Josh raises an eyebrow and sets his book to the side. "Really?" She nods, then taps his shoulder. "Tag, you're it!" She gets up and starts running.

Josh smiles slowly before getting up as well, "I'm gonna get you!"

From a few feet away, his twin brother watched as he chased after a little girl with a smile on his face. Langston was actually a bit worried Josh would go home sad because he couldn't make friends.

Look at him now!

"And he was worried he wouldn't make friends," Jasmine crosses her arms over her sweater. Langston shakes his head then looks at her. "He's a shy guy," he shrugs.

Jasmine nods in agreement before going back to playing with her friends. Langston shakes his head in amusement since the youngest girl is pretty much allergic to sitting still.

Leon and a classmate were on the jungle gym, pretending to be secret agents when that Bobby kid from their class came up to them.

"So, you and Prince are really brothers? Like real brothers?"

Leon glances his way briefly, but continued the game. "I still wanna know how are you twins when you're different colors?"

Leon looks down at him with furrowed brows. "We have the same mammy and the same-,"

"Are you even from here? You sound weird," Leon pouts a bit. He didn't like how this kid was talking to him. "I told you, our mam's Geordie and we sound like her. Jasmine and Amelio are that way, too."

"How are you black, but you have white skin, like me, and blue eyes? Your 'siblings' all have brown skin, except for you?" Bobby raised a bushy brow.

Leon felt intimidated by the boy; everything about him made him uneasy. From his fiery red hair, to his piercing dark eyes, to his towering height.

"W-We're all half black. Jazzy said Mammy ran outta ink when I was born," he says, recalling his sister's joke from earlier. Bobby kept the same expression. "You sure you aren't adopted?"

"I'm not," Leon was close to tears by this point.

Bobby laughs, "You definitely are. I can tell." He then walks away, leaving a whimpering Leon sitting by the slide. Tears pooled his vision before he starts full blown crying.

Amelio, who was playing tag with Josh and some girls from their class, spotted him and called a timeout on the game.

Josh followed after him when he too saw Leon crying and wiping his face on his sweater.

"El, what's wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" His older brother began look for any marks by examining his red, tear soaked face.

He doesn't answer, letting more tears fall. "Leon, why are you crying?" Josh asks with seriousness in his hazel eyes.

The blond didn't like getting people in trouble. He strongly dislikes confrontation and for things to escalate. He knew if he told, it wouldn't be good given the near scary look on Joshua's face.

"I-I hurt my knee," he holds his leg up for emphasis. "El, don't lie," Amelio says softly while wiping away his tears. "What's really wrong?"

The question just made the youngest child cry again, bowing his head as he did. Amelio wraps his arms around him in a comforting hug which he automatically receives.

"Leon, is someone messin' with you?" Josh asks while rubbing the boy's allegedly hurt knee. The boy continues to cry in Amelio's arms. The older brothers look at each other with worry.

"Promise to tell us later?" Amelio asks him, receiving a little nod. He had calmed down some, his cries reduced to sniffles and shaky breaths.

Just then, the kids were called inside to resume their day of learning.

Joshua and Amelio help Leon to his feet and Josh got out some tissues he kept in his pocket to clean the boy up. Since they had different classes, Amelio gave Leon to Josh, who gingerly wraps an arm around the boy.

"See you at home, Meli," he waves and his brother waves back. They exchange I love yous before heading inside.

When the end of the day came, the kids were all waiting outside for their parents to pick them up. They talked about their teachers to each other and Langston cringes at what Jordin shared about her and Amelio's.

"Sounds like a propa nightmare."

"Compared to yous, yes. But I like her. She doesn't treat me like a kid."

"JJ, did you forget she's a grown up and you're actually a kid?" Jasmine asks while playing with her tie. "I am not. I'll be six soon."

"Us, too," Prince says. "You also forgot that."

"Sis, yer memory isn't good, aye," Amelio giggles. Jordin rolls her eyes with her arms over her chest.

A familiar dark car pulls up in front of them with one of their moms in the driver's seat.

The children had to wait until their parents actually exit the car before they went to them. Jesy was the one that got out of the car to meet them.

All seven got up and ran towards her excitedly, going on about their days.

"In the car, loves," she directs them. The kids pile inside, with Leon being the last to enter. Jesy noticed the sullen look on her youngest's face.

"Leon, what's wrong, Baba?" He looks up at her and shakes his head. His mother frowns and decided she'd ask him again when they got home.

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