sliceitwithwind

Nearly nineteen year old Braig? He was going to just... "I'll let you handle the mixing, Aya. I don't think blackberry and orange is going to be my kind of drink mix. Besides, I'm still drinking my shot."

Dilan made a small, whimpery sound in his sleep and curled up tighter between the other two.

Yinsi nodded as Nevada spoke, "That sounds about right. There are probably things that we're missing, but we can cross those bridges when we come to them. I have your number and you have ours."

"Alright, but I may want to compare to the color in your glass before you finish." Eleven year old Aya was serious! Well, serious when she wasn't carefully petting Dilan's hair. The whimper had distracted her from the drink mixing! She'd get back to it eventually!

"There are always things we miss," Nevada admitted quietly. "I'll need keys, to the house so I can seal it up properly."

"Then I'll drink slowly." Thank you, powers that be, he has an excuse not to try Aya's mixes. He loves her (he'll marry her one day, he swears it) but...ew, man.

Dilan quiets under the petting, from both of them as Braig found a different patch to stroke, and settled deeper into sleep.

"Of course, I'm sorry." Yinsi turned to the key-rack near the kitchen door and pulled off Lenna's keyring. "House, garage, and her car."

It wouldn't taste that bad! And she had enough years spent with Dilan that she thought Blackberry/Orange was perfectly reasonable! "Do you think we should get him to lay down? There's room across our laps..."

Nevada accepted the keyring, then arched an eyebrow. "What should I do with the car? I'm not sure how well it could be sealed and still have any...resale value?"

"I'll hold him." Braig said, "That way you've got your arms free for mixing. Lets just take over the spare bedroom tonight, all three of us fit on that bed and it will be better for Dilan in the long run."

Yinsi blinked for a moment, then sighed, "I'll talk to Braig tomorrow, see if he wants to buy it from the estate. He's been talking about getting a car. If not, sell it. Katzu don't drive well and avoid it as much as possible. Considering Dilan's hunting skills, I'm betting he's got a fullblood's predation instincts and will fall into that category."

"Okay." To Aya that meant she was draping Dilan's legs over her lap. That way the boy tilted toward Braig more and she could still touch him! That settled, she leaned her elbows on Dilan's shins and started carefully pouring tiny amounts of juice and judging color changes! "And the spare bedroom is good! I'll move some of our stuff there after this." So Braig and Dilan didn't have to move until the bed was ready!

Nevada rubbed a hand over his head in thought and then sighed, "No. He will want a car with no associations so that Dilan can ride easy in it. If I purchase it from the estate, I can take it to be traded in...then let Braig negotiate to get the car credit from me, and then negotiate with the dealer to see how far that credit stretches." Because he was a big believer in making someone Braig's age earn their first car? It made them more responsible with it!

"Sounds good." Braig agreed, falling quiet and watching her mix and match. He wanted to hit something, anything, to bleed off some of his own grief and stress...and thinking about what this is doing to Dilan only makes it worse. He was smart enough to know that there wasn't anything to hit, but...that didn't stop the urge.

"That sounds about right." Yinsi pinched his nose and took a deep breath, "Good thought, Nevada."

He should possibly mention that to Nevada? Nevada was good with violence, truth told! As for Aya, well, it was matter of mixing, tasting, comparing to Braig's glass...mixing more...the 'proper' mix had more blackberry than orange and was never going to be as clear as the liquor. Oh well.

"I'll take it in the morning after I am done taping, if you will talk with the estate and see how much they wish me to reimburse them. This way Dilan doesn't even get the urge to clean it too." Nevada knew he was possible one of the better functioning adults at the moment since he hadn't known Dilan's mother well. It just meant he was thinking through most his decisions extra carefully before saying them aloud.

He probably would. Later. When Dilan was doing better...or at the very least when Dilan and Aya were tucked into bed together and he could get away without feeling like he was abandoning Dilan.

"I can do that." Yinsi agreed, nodding, "I can call the lawyer in the morning, and then call you and let you know what to do." It was, he had to admit, a hell of a relief to have Nevada around and helping out like this. "I need to call the labs, too. Have someone watch our experiments."

There was time. No matter how breathless and cramping, and utterly hopeless that time felt it was there. Nevada would be available when Braig felt like he could take his eyes off the other two.

"I will keep my cell on me then." Because normally, when he intended to work on something, he set it in a glovebox or on a counter somewhere. "If you're feeling stressed you should sit down now and start writing out care lists for your experiments. Sometimes the details help buy you an hour or two of calm." And he could get the children tucked into bed when they were unconscious.

For now, though, Braig was just going to keep his little ones close and slowly drink his alcohol. And, just a bit, cry for the woman who was his other mother.

"That's...that's a good idea." Yinsi agreed, glancing out at the kids and then sitting down to start writing out his experiments.

Aya was going to sniffle a little herself before drinking her juice and curling against Braig with Dilan and falling asleep.

Nevada...eyed the adults, and stepped past them all to take over the kitchen. He could assemble sandwiches with the best of them, set them at elbows, and then take a plate in to Braig. He wasn't sure whether to offer the food or the handkerchief first. "Do you need more to drink?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." the older boy allowed, "But not until they're tucked in." He swallowed and admitted, lowly, "I'm not okay, Uncle Nevada. I'm trying to be, but I'm not okay. I want to hit things."

"It's not the kind of situation you have to be okay in." It was important to let him know these things. Very important. "When they're tucked in we'll get you another glass and you can show me the stances you were suppose to practice this week." If the boy had the stances down properly Nevada would show him some non-regulation throws and holds.

"Okay. You wanna grab Dilan? He's heavier than Aya." And Nevada is bigger. Braig is egotistic, but not dumb enough to think he can carry Dilan with ease. "Not sure how steady I'll be with three glasses in me." he figured a warning would be a good idea.

"Yes, I can get Dilan. Please try not to drop Aya too often." He set Braig's plate of sandwich aside and went to his knees by the couch. It was easy to get his arms under the sleeping boy...trickier to get him unwound from the other two children.

"The room you will all be sleeping in is...?"

"I'd never drop her." Braig said with a certain slightly-drunken dignity, "I'm gonna marry her someday. Both of them. My room. Dilan's and mine. We've got the big bed."

Blink.

Blink blink.

He followed Braig automatically, feet sure and easy on the stairs while his brain churned that little statement over. "I was not aware that this had been decided." It was as neutral a statement as he could manage right now. It was also designed to encourage more talking.

"Well, they don't know yet. Obviously." Braig had Aya cradled like she was the most precious thing in the world, and he moved her thirteen year old body with the ease of years of practise. She tried, bless her, but she was not as much of a night owl as the boys and they'd both gotten used to pouring her into bed.

She was set on the bed and he pulled her shoes and jeans off before tucking her in, without even the slightest hint of impropriety. "I...have known for the last eight years. Can't live without them."

Nevada settled Dilan in the bed beside Aya, tugging off shoes and shirt for him. He knew how young men slept, and shirts could get very tangled. Only when the children were tucked in properly did Nevada wave Braig back to the hall.

With the door safely closed to eyed him, then started back downstairs. "Obviously they don't know. And shouldn't. And you're going to explain your logic to me while we're outside. Don't forget your sandwich."

Dilan tucked himself against Aya and whimpered softly in his sleep.

"Do you...have any idea," Braig said seriously, if blearily, "how much of a fuckin' socio I'd be without them? All the good things in me? Is them. Are them. Gotta let them grow up, though. Right? An' decide they want me. I can wait."

"I'm not entirely convinced of how sociopathic you'd be. You're a brilliant young man, you would have found alternate coping mechanism if necessary." He was nothing if not frank at times. He was also grabbing the Chambord, a glass, and holding open the back door for the boy.

The adults, he was confident, could use as much quiet right now as they could get.

"And yes, they need to grow up free of that particular expectation. Especially considering how much they already tailor themselves and strive to your expectations."

"Total fucking socio." Braig insisted, heading out into the backyard obediently, "I know." morose, now, "I try to...to let them grow up. I jus' want ev-erything to go well. For all of us. Bes' parts of me, Uncle Nevada. Bes."

"It may take a very long time, Braig. Should they love you in that manner at all." He wasn't the best when it came to relationships, but he did understand devotion...and patience. "Eat your sandwich now. You will get nothing more to drink, and certainly no sparring, until you've done so."

He sat himself on the edge of the deck and stared up at the stars, thinking. Could he handle the boys, and this one in particular, taking care of Aya as she grew older? Perhaps, they were good kids. More importantly though..."If you try to shape them, Braig. Even by accident, if you convince them to do something against their desires I will kill you." Just so the boy knew where he stood.

Braig chewed on his sandwich and nodded, "That's good. The killing thing. I don't want to man-ipu-late them. I want them to grow up to be them. An' if they don't want me, okay. I can be a good uncle. Like you, you're an awesome uncle. I can do that. But I won' marry anyone if I can't have them."

It was serious, if not sober, and he kept eating until the sandwich was gone, looking out across the neighbourhood, "Was when she fell into the lion pit. My hear stopped. Literally stopped. Then Dilan went in too an' I just...I'd've died if they'd been hurt. An' I've known since then. I love them. Like I love science."

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