"Hey, Zeke, guess what?" William asked excitedly, looking down at the boy who grinned up at him.
"What?" Ezekiel asked, looking between Noah and William for the answer.
"I have a surprise for you." William said in a sing-song voice, turning on his heel and beginning to march back up the stairs. "Come on." He said, gesturing for Ezekiel to follow.
"William." Cailen warned because he didn't know what this surprise was and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.
"Don't worry, it's nothing bad. No sweets or anything." William said, making Ezekiel pout before following William up.
Cailen was about to protest but a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and he shut up.
"Let them go. Wil's just trying to win him over." Asher whispered in his ear. "You know, trying to be the 'cool uncle’ type... thing." Asher explained, making Cailen snort as he lifted his hand and rested them on top of Asher's where they joined together in front of Cailen's stomach.
"Yeah, okay." Cailen sighed, turning his head slightly to give Asher a quick kiss.
"Oh, Asher, I was wondering if you could help me with something, love." Eden said from behind them, making Asher release his hold on Cailen and turn to look at her in curiosity. "Come, come, I need some muscle." She said playfully, motioning Asher along as she headed out to the kitchen.
Cailen was assuming she was going for the backyard because he couldn't imagine her needing muscle for anything in the kitchen.
"Of course." Asher said, turning to give Cailen a chaste kiss.
"See you later, Muscles." Cailen teased as he watched Asher follow Eden into the kitchen, Dean following Asher.
There was a silence that filled the room as Cailen and Noah were left alone in the foyer.
A moment went by and then, Noah was turning on his heel, going to take a step, probably in any direction that would lead him somewhere where Cailen wasn't but Cailen grabbed him by the collar before he could get anywhere, making him stumble back and choking him slightly.
"Where do you think you're going?" Cailen asked, turning the blonde around so he could look at him properly.
"Um," Noah said, looking anywhere but at Cailen.
Cailen could tell Noah knew he was in for an earful, it was in the way he seemed to be trying to make himself disappear, slumping his shoulder and hanging his head.
"You didn't think we were done talking about this, did you?" Cailen asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Noah shrugged.
"There's nothing to talk about, Cai." Noah mumbled, daring a glance up to meet Cailen's eyes.
"Oh, yes there is." Cailen argued. "You can't just run away like that, Noah." Cailen told him, stepping closer.
"I'm not running. I'm going home." Noah countered defensively.
"You're running and we both know it." Cailen corrected. "I know things are hard right now, Noah, but you- you can't leave. What about us?" Cailen asked, trying to imagine a life without Noah and feeling a small lump forming in his throat.
Noah ducked his head again and cleared his throat as he too crossed his arms over his chest, though not in the authoritative way Cailen had done, more like he was trying to hold himself together.
"I'll visit." Noah mumbled meekly.
"Or you could just stay." Cailen countered immediately.
Noah didn't respond right away, making Cailen think that maybe he had won this one but he knew better than to get his hopes up.
"It's too hard, Cai." Noah spoke, his voice shaking and Cailen knew that if the blonde were to look up, there would be tears in his eyes. "It hurts so much. I- I can't-" Noah cursed under his breath, unfolding his arms long enough to wipe at his face. "I can't stay here." Noah shook his head, still refusing to look at Cailen but Cailen was kind of glad for that.
He wasn't so sure he wanted to see the pain that he could hear in Noah’s voice reflected in his eyes.
"I love her and- and I can't go anywhere without being reminded of her and- and I just can't handle it."
Cailen pulled Noah into a hug, unable to stand by while his friend broke down infront of him. Noah went willingly, unfolding his arms in order to cling onto Cailen, his face now buried into his head, because of course, he was taller than Cailen.
"I don't think that's going to change by moving to Scotland, Noah." Cailen admitted. "It's only going to change with time, whether you're here or in Scotland."
Noah didn't say anything after that. He just continued to cry into Cailen's hair and Cailen let him.
He would let him think about it, he wouldn't push him too far because he didn't want Noah upset with him and the man was dealing with a heart break at the moment.
When Asher returned, sans parents, Noah was still holding onto Cailen, though Cailen thought he had stopped crying because the only noise he made now was a small sniffle once in a while.
Asher looked a bit confused at first, but then he seemed to pick up on what was going on and came to stand by them, resting a hand on Noah's shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze.
Cailen knew Asher didn't know of Noah's plan to go home and he thought that maybe, he should tell him but it wasn't really his to tell so he stayed quiet. Noah would tell him eventually if he still planned on going, which Cailen hoped he didn't.
"Asher! Cailen!" Came Ezekiel's voice from the top of the stairs.
All three boys looked up now, Noah wiping at his face hastily.
Ezekiel stood at the top of the stairs with a big grin on his face, William standing behind him with a matching grin.
In Ezekiel's hand was a guitar, smaller than the one Noah had been teaching him on- small enough for him to play properly- Cailen assumed.
"Look what William got me!" Ezekiel said excitedly, making his way down the stairs while holding the guitar by the neck.
Cailen didn't even think about what he said, he just thought about Ezekiel falling down the stairs because the guitar was too much of a liability for the boy to carry down the stairs.
Cailen rushed up the stairs to meet him half way and grabbed the guitar from him and it was as they were making their way down the stairs that what Ezekiel said sunk in.
"Wait, what?" Cailen asked, turning to William before he got to the bottom.
William smiled innocently at his brother, as if he had done nothing of the sort.
"William," Cailen said, exasperated.
"What? Noah told me how much he loved it. I couldn't resist." William defended, making his way down the stairs.
Cailen sent him a look- a look that he hid from Ezekiel because he didn't want the boy to feel as though he had done something wrong. It wasn't that Cailen didn't want Ezekiel to have a guitar, if that's what Ezekiel liked then so be it, but William shouldn't be the one to buy it for him.
William couldn't afford to buy it for him. He really didn't make a lot of money doing the gigs he did and he refused to take any money from their parents.
"Isn't it cool, Asher?" Ezekiel asked, running over to Asher and looking up at him with big brown eyes.
"Yeah, buddy, it's really cool." Asher agreed, obviously not seeing the problem with this.
"Look!" Ezekiel said, running back over to Cailen and grabbing the guitar from him.
Ezekiel quickly took a seat on the floor and placed the guitar in his lap, looking over the neck to place his fingers on some strings, getting ready to play.
It took a moment but then Ezekiel was strumming out a chord, over and over again, a look of concentration on his face.
Noah chuckled slightly, stepping over to the boy and bending down in front of him to move one of his fingers over, making the chord sound better.
"Wow, you sound great, Zeke." Asher encouraged.
Ezekiel looked up at them then, a wide smile on his face and any and all anger that Cailen felt towards William vanished because Ezekiel looked so happy there, playing his new guitar.
"Yeah, won't be long till you're a rock star!" William added, sounding quite proud of himself.
Ezekiel giggled at this, looking down at his fingers and trying to smoothly switch to another chord but Cailen thought it didn't work as well as he had planned, though it didn't seem to faze him.
Noah reached out again, though this time, he didn't reach for Ezekiel's fingers but one of the nobs that tuned the guitar and twisted it a bit, changing the sound of the chord.
"There, rock star ready." Noah complimented, standing upright and smiling down at the little boy who was focused solely on the guitar in his hands now.
Cailen couldn't wipe the smile off his face even if he wanted. Seeing Ezekiel this happy made him ridiculously happy so he supposed the guitar wasn't a horrible idea.
"Get out of your head." Asher whispered in Cailen's ear, his arms sneaking around his waist again and pulling him close to Asher where Asher placed a quick kiss to his cheek.
Cailen snorted at him, slightly amused at how well Asher knew him.
"I'm not in my head." Cailen tried but only received an unconvinced hum in reply.
"Okay! Lunch is ready!" They all heard Eden call from the kitchen, making Ezekiel's strumming pause.
"Are you hungry, love?" Cailen asked, taking a few steps to get infront of him, taking the guitar from him.
Ezekiel nodded his head, getting to his feet and shuffling over to Asher who stood, waiting with his hand out to lead him to the kitchen.
Noah followed, probably fearing being left alone with Cailen again, but now leaving William alone with Cailen.
"Wil," Cailen started but apparently William saw this coming.
"Oh, come on, Cai. Can't I buy gifts for my nephew?" William asked, sounding a bit amused.
"Well, yeah... but-"
"But nothing, it's no big deal." William cut him off.
"It is a big deal. This probably wasn't cheap." Cailen said, looking the guitar over.
It was a nice guitar, blue in the middle but fading into a black around the edges, but that didn't change the fact that William couldn't afford this.
"How much was it?" Cailen asked, planning on paying him back.
"You're not paying me for it." William argued, obviously knowing his brother too well.
"William-"
"Cailen." William cut him off, rolling his eyes when Cailen sent him a glare. "I got it for free, okay? I know a guy who owed me... It's nothing, really." William assured, looking Cailen in the eye. "You know I couldn't afford it any other way." William reminded him.
"You promise?" Cailen asked, setting the guitar down, leaning it against the wall by the door so they wouldn't forget it, not that Ezekiel would probably let them forget.
"Promise." William swore.
"Alright..." Cailen sighed, heading for the kitchen, William following.
Cailen didn't want to be an ass about this but he couldn't help but worry about his brother. He knew he was in no real danger, their parents would never let him get too far in debt or anything like that, but he also knew that their parents, unfortunately, would not be around forever.
William had to start learning how to be independent.
He couldn't rely on them all the time, but he supposed that was a discussion for another day.