ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ｔｈｉｒｔｙ

After getting let out early from work, Mikey decided to surprise his family with food from McDonalds. He walked in with the bag and a drink container, having trouble opening the door without setting either down. His youngest brother was walking up the stairs seeing as all of them had just gotten home a couple of minutes ago—their grandmother picking them up from their respective schools—and he turned on the step.

Max eyed the bag with a twinkle in his eye and asked suspiciously, "is that for all of us, or is Jasper here already?"

Mikey shook his head and told his younger brother about the food he got them. So, the two of them shouted for the other two Balm boys and they congregated in the kitchen. Max yelled for their grandmother and she appeared from the basement with her arms full of trash bags and a black sweatshirt.

She extended the sweatshirt to Mikey and he gasped. "That's Jasper's."

Thanksgiving flashed behind his eyes and immediately he looked away, cheeks warming up. Max laughed and asked for his food, already looking and reaching in the bag. He helped Mikey display all the food and Mikey pointed out Max's food and drink (a ten piece nugget and an orange juice). Noah and Aiden followed the smell and Mikey handed them food and drinks, then Marlene stepped over and she was given the two hamburgers, fries, and a sweet tea Mikey bought for her. The family ate at the table.

From across the table, Aiden smirked and he called out to their grandmother. Mikey watched carefully, not liking the look he was given right before their grandmother looked towards him.

"Did you know—"

Mikey threw a fry of his own at Aiden and glared at him. "Shut the fuck up Aiden."

Aiden threw the fry back and went back to telling his grandmother, "did you know that Noah has a girlfriend?"

With his hand raised to throw a fry, Mikey's jaw dropped, eyes swiveling towards his quiet brother. Everyone's eyes did the same and soon the middle Balm boy's cheeks were flaming red and he was drinking his soda. He coughed before reaching over and punching Aiden's arm.

Noah cleared his throat and looked to their grandmother shyly. "Um, yeah. She's in my math class."

Then he narrowed his eyes and spitefully stated, "and did you know, Nanny, that Aiden is dating Cadence? I saw them kissing the other day in the toy room."

Now it was Mikey's turn to look at Aiden, both choking on their food. Mikey only joked around about Aiden and Cadence dating since his brother always did it with him and Jasper, but who knew they would actually be dating? He simply thought the two were close friends, being touchy was fine since it's the twenty-first century and boys can be affectionate with their other boy friends. But this was a massive pill to swallow for Mikey.

Aiden glared at Noah and grabbed his food, taking it with him to Mikey and his room. The door closed and the table was awkwardly quiet. The person to disrupt the silence was Max and he cheerfully said, "I kissed Brody today at school!"

Brody was Max's best friend and Mikey laughed from it, seeing the resemblance of him in Max: kissing their guy best friends and having no shame over it.

Mikey looked at his eight year old brother and nodded, telling him, "congrats. What happened?"

The rest of the Balms listened to Max talk about his best friend and how they were dared to kiss from the other third graders at recess. Noah and Marlene shook their heads at the antics from other students and Mikey encouraged his little brother to keep telling him the details so he could tease him for it later. Now, Mikey has something for every brother—it was a dream come true for him.

.

..

...

Hours later and sitting in his room, Aiden still sulking on his bed while playing his Switch, Mikey watched his tv show. A notification from Jasper had him exiting and opening the message.

Yo I just got off work and I need to tell you what I just heard from my boss

I'm coming over

That's fine with me, I also have tea for you

Mikey looked over to the side of the room Aiden had and watched his little brother smash the buttons on his console. Getting up, Mikey flopped next to his brother and asked to play, bored out of his mind and wanting to talk about him and Cadence getting together. A small part of him wanted to cheer up the sixteen year old.

Aiden finished his match of Super Smash Bros and shoved the red controller at his older brother. Then they started playing against each other, Mikey playing as the Ice Climbers and Aiden picking Ike. They played until they heard their door open. Mikey looked up, eyes raking over Jasper's body and his button-smashing halted, giving Aiden the advantage. He quickly took the distraction and kicked Mikey's player off the edge.

For Mikey, his eyes followed Jasper's body from head to toe and he smile shortly from the outfit. Jasper had on a plain black v-neck shirt, and light grey jeans that hugged his thighs. He pulled off the jacket he was wearing and stepped out of the all white adidas he wore, then stepped over to the two Balms.

To the boyfriends' surprise Aiden groaned, "oh my god, just fucking kiss and get it over with already."

Mikey didn't have to be time twice. His fingers curled on the bottom hem of the shirt and he tugged Jasper down to his level, partially sitting up to meet him. He felt his best friend's hand cupping the side of his neck and he smile into the tiny kiss. Jasper stepped away and sat beside Aiden on his other side, looking at the screen where it was showing that Aiden won the round.

Jasper whined to play, so Mikey has to hand over his controller from behind his brother's head, on the way back to bringing his hand to his side he reached out and smacked Aiden for no reason. The older of them smirked, flinching when Aiden's hand came flying towards him. He got a punch in and Mikey called it even.

The two picked their characters and world they wanted to battle on, then Jasper was asking, "so what was the 'tea', Mikey?"

There was a point where Aiden death-glared at his older brother in hopes he wouldn't spill the news, but he knew that wouldn't happen. And Mikey did just that, he leaned forward to say, "so Noah's got a girlfriend, and Aiden here is finally dating Cadence."

Jasper took his eyes off the screen and gasped at Aiden. The sixteen year old's eyes were focused on the screen with a certain hardness behind them. Mikey rolled his eyes at his reaction and told him, "stop getting pissy over this, Aiden. You would have done the same exact thing to us, we all know it."

He growled while pressing the buttons on his controller harshly, "we aren't dating and fuck you guys."

With extra force, Aiden sent Jasper's flying off the map's screen and the Ice Climbers splatted on the screen, sliding down before they respawn. The other two widen their eyes and Aiden spared a glance to both. He gave a questioning look and Jasper was the one to say, "why are you so mad at that? Do you not like him? For God sake you were like sitting on his lap like two days ago, every time we mention you two dating you blush, and you're always around him."

"Well, apparently, Cadence doesn't like me."

His voice wavered, but he looked away, down to his lap. Mikey frowned and sat to face his brother, dropping his teasing act he was going to do if he didn't react like this.

Mikey asked, "what do you mean he doesn't like you? Bullshit."

"I don't want to talk about it, Mikey. Can you guys go though?"

Mikey went to refuse, but Jasper was grabbing his arm and pulling him off the bed. They watched as Aiden attached the side controllers to the screen and turned the device off, placing the console on the corner of his bed, laying down away from them.

Jasper forcefully took Mikey out of the room after they grabbed shoes and left the room for Aiden. Mikey felt his body tensing from all the anger he felt towards this sixteen year old and he clenched his fists tightly. The hand on his back didn't help him calm down at all, but he grabbed it right before they stepped out of the house. They let Marlene know where they were going—Jasper's house—and left after she said it was okay.

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Gonna split this up again. I also just like the idea that Mikey and Aiden don't get along as every other book I see on here where the siblings are nice to each other. But, I also like the idea where Mikey is a hardass to Aiden, but will throw down for him.

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