Heartbreak hotel

Soren found that, unlike the adults in his family, he enjoyed summer, the break, the long days, the late-night walks, and the whole atmosphere that came with it. It was when everyone was home from university on their summer break: Ace, Isaac, Thea, Melody, and Bailey, and they were together again briefly. Although when he was first brought home from the orphanage a couple of years ago, he often found himself overwhelmed by how chaotic everything could be, he came to enjoy it. They were his family, after all. The one thing he thought he would never have. Silas and Soren had been sitting on the couch in the living room, watching the latest season of Arcane one evening, when his father, Ash, walked in through the living room's sliding doors, groaning as he massaged the side of his neck. He held his tie and blazer in his hand and slumped onto the couch beside both men, leaning his head back. Soren paused the show and waited for Sebastian to follow in behind him, as he often did, as both his fathers went to work together and came home together, but when the older man didn’t walk in, he turned to give Ash a confused look. “Hi, Ash. Where’s Sebastian?” “Why?” Ash muttered as he undid his top button and untucked his shirt. “Am I not enough?” Soren’s eyes widened as he waved his hands before him a little, panicking slightly. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that.” Ash paused to look at his child and snorted. “I know, kiddo. I’m just joking, learning to let go. He’s still at work and should be home soon. f*****g overtime.” “How do you know?” Soren asked. If Sebastian had overtime, he would not be home soon, as Ash put it, although he would never admit it out loud, he was a bit of a workaholic. As if on cue, Ash’s phone rang. He smugly scooped it out of his pants pockets and turned the phone around to show them the screen. The name ‘Bubbles’ appeared on the screen, and with a grin, Ash answered the phone with a smug smile. “Hello, Bubbles.” Soren didn’t know what Sebastian was saying. He could just hear him yelling intangibly. “First of all,” Ash said, frowning, as he stared at the vase in the corner, courtesy of Aunt Olivia. “I get that you’re annoyed, but you take that tone with me, and you’re on the couch for a week. Second, you’ve been working overtime for the past two weeks. I’ll unlock your computer tomorrow. Get home. Love you, bye.” Ash hung up and ran a hand through his hair as he stared at his child and nephew. “Did either of you do anything productive? You know, besides breaking my f*****g couch.” “We went for a walk,” Silas deadpanned. “Are you lying? Is he lying?” Ash asked, staring at Soren with a raised eyebrow. Soren sighed, but then nodded slowly. Silas was lying; they had not gone for a walk, but had been watching Arcane since they woke up. Ash rolled his eyes and ran his hands through his son’s hair before he went through the archway into the dark kitchen, where Alex, Ash’s brother, had been making dinner. He could hear the two men talking as Bailey, Alex’s child, walked through the living room and went to the sunroom at the back of the house without a word to him or Silas. Bailey was one of Soren’s five cousins from Ash’s side. And the only one of Ash’s siblings not to live with them. He claimed he needed a break from Lucky, Ash, and Olivia occasionally, and if they all lived together, he would be driven insane, so he lived next door with his son, Bailey, Nathaniel, and his spouse. It turned out that almost everyone in this row of houses was related to Tomas’s family or very good family friends, and they spent a considerable amount of time together. It had been an odd adjustment for Soren, who had gone from having nobody to having so many people. Soren and Silas focused on the large television hanging from the wall and played their episode. However, they had to pause again almost ten minutes later when the sliding doors opened, and chaos ensued. Isaiah, Midnight and Royal appeared, talking to one another at alarmingly loud levels. Isaiah was one of Luca’s children, while Midnight’s uncle was a family friend and lived with Luca while his uncle and his partner travelled the world. Soren didn’t know much about Midnight’s familial situation, mainly because no one would tell him, and the man scared him too much to ask him himself. Royal was Isaiah’s best friend. He also spent most nights with them. That trio were often referred to by everyone as the stoners, mainly because they were rarely not high. Royal’s heterochromatic eyes were a bright shade of red, and he held a lazy smile. He was the only one of the three wearing something other than an all-black outfit, featuring a beige T-shirt with a little bear in the corner and white pants. Royal was staring at Isaiah as he ranted about how he was sure sometimes the clouds were fake. “Soren,” Isaiah said when he spotted the man staring at them with a raised eyebrow. He pulled a small tin out of his jeans pocket. “Want some weed?” Silas sighed. “f**k off, Izzy. Don’t offer him weed.” “Don’t offer my child weed without offering me some first!” Came Ash’s yell from the kitchen. Soren smiled a little when he heard Alex chastise him, and then he would be snitching to Lucky. Soren turned his gaze back to the sliding door when he heard the front door open again. He sighed; now that everyone was slowly coming home, he could not continue his show in the living room. This time, the group, often called the girls, came in; it was his sister, Thea, Wendy, another of Luca’s children, and his cousin Melody. And with them came Sebastian. He smiled tiredly as he said hello and went into the kitchen. Once Soren had seen his family inside, where they were safe, he relaxed and focused on the ramblings of a stoned Isaiah, who had sat on the couch near them and continued on his tangent of why the clouds were fake. ~*~