CakePops

Children

  Crow pulled a light sweater over his head on his way down the stairs. His doorbell rang rapidly, it was probably the worst noise the house could make at 7 am on a Sunday. On the front porch Cecil sat on the ground out of breath and a little kid with similar features to hers bounced an inch from the door.

  "He wanted to meet my boyfriend," Cecil panted. "Xavier was hibernating but he didn't take no and you were the only other- other guy I could-" She took a few deep breaths. "God I hate children."

  Crow watched the kid bound past him into the house, straight through the living room to the kitchen. Cecil called for him to come back but as soon as the kid decided he wanted inside there was no stopping him. Crow shrugged off the apologies and moved aside to let her in.

  "Did me and Enzo wake you up?"

  Crow let out an exhausted sigh and put his hands on the sides of Cecil's face. "Cecil, my sweet, you two woke up the continent but I need you to relax."

  "Sorry, I just don't want to bother you."

  "That's fine. Now where did the little one go."

  "The fridge probably."

  Enzo had been in the fridge but as soon as he saw them enter the room he stuffed his face and ran off. They followed him around through a few rooms before they found him passed out on the living room couch.

  "That kid may be a slippery little bastard but there's no way his foot long legs and your stamina made it all the way over here from Xavier's. It's an hour drive." Crow's comment had startled Cecil, who was facing a wall covered in photos. She laughed and turned back to the wall.

  "We took a bus to the grocery store on the other side of town and he ran from there. He apparently has a friend who lives on this street."

  She gingerly took a photo off the wall to see it better. Crow had short hair so she guessed he had already come out. It was the oldest photo where he had light patches of skin. Cecil lifted the photo up beside where he was to compare. "That spot around your eye started as a wonky star shape"

  "My mom says the same thing." Crow stepped behind her and reached under her arms to hold the frame. "I never saw it, I always just thought she was trying to make me feel better."

  "How old were you in this photo?" Cecil asked, slightly turning towards him. Crow leaned closer to her to see it better.

  "8? Maybe 9."

  The frame was missing a few parts holding the back on. Cecil turned the remaining ones to check the date on the back. "It says November 2008 so yeah somewhere probably 9. You look so sweet in this photo." She pointed as his wide, bright eyed smile.

  "Yeah. My mom loved this photo."

  Their moment was interrupted by Cecil's cousin waking up and taking off again, this time up the stairs.

  Cecil lifted Crow's arms above her head to get out and tried to go after him. Crow caught up to her on the stairs and pulled her back a bit by her waist. "He'll be fine, Cecil. Everyone's already awake. The worst he could do is pop out and startle someone."

  She exhaled, it was noticeable she wanted to go get him anyways but she trusted Crow. He smiled at her as she instead leaned backwards into him. "I'm so tired."

  "I can go get you a blanket."

  "Thank you."

  Crow smiled at her and followed Enzo up the stairs to grab her a blanket. She awkwardly kicked at the ground before sitting on one of the couches. A few minutes later she looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Crow's mother holding Enzo a few feet above the landing. Both were giggling and Enzo was spinning around trying to get down.

  "Look who I found upstairs trying to get into Misty's room." Crow's mom put him down and leaned to his level to tell him where the door for the backyard was. As soon as she was done talking he was off again.

  "I'm sorry about him, Crow said he wouldn't bother anyone."

  "Aw no he didn't Misty adores him. He got into the pantry and was passing her bags of goldfish under the door."

  "That's Enzo alright. Misty is Crow's sister, right?"

  Crow's mom sat on the couch beside her. "Yep. Misty's the baby. Crow always bugs her about it."

  Cecil beamed. "That's so sweet."

  "It really is." His mom looked at her and nodded. "You're the artist one right? Cecil?"

  They had a conversation about themselves to break the ice. Misty sat down halfway through the conversation and watched from the top of the stairs, interested enough to listen but not enough to engage. Misty's mother got up and went to go play with Enzo. On the way out she waved Misty down and told her to talk with Cecil. They sat in an awkward silence until Misty spoke up.

  "I really appreciate you and June and all of you guys taking care of my brother. I know he's kinda hard to read, hell even we never know what he's thinking. It's not that he can't open up, he just doesn't I guess. He's just a more inward person, everyone in our family is."

  "I really appreciate it, but Crow takes care of himself. And even if we did take care of him it'd mostly be June doing it. He opens up more with them."

  They both jumped in surprise as Crow cleared his throat on the stairs behind them. "I heard people talking about me."

  They all stared at each other, then Cecil leaned towards Misty. "Is he mad?"

  "No," Crow reassured her, the corners of his lips twitching up. "I'm not mad, I just didn't think my baby sister would be talking behind my back at 8 in the morning."

  Misty grabbed the nearest pillow and swung at him. He ducked under the first blow but the second swing hit him square in the face. Enzo came back just in time to watch him fall. Misty handed him the pillow and watched as Enzo repeatedly hit him in the face with it. Enzo howled in laughter and lifted the pillow above his head to look at Crow, then swung down full force.

  "Kiddo I think he's dead already." Misty pointed out. Enzo looked at her sadly and then dropped the pillow to the side and sat down beside him to see if he was alive.

  "Hi?"

  "Ow."

  Enzo hit him a few more times after confirming he was alive, then got bored and laid down on the couch beside his cousin, who was curled up with the blanket Crow had gotten her. He stared at the ceiling for a minute, everyone occasionally laughing, then he got up.

  "You two need a ride home?" He asked.

  "Yeah we can get out of your hair now don't worry."

  Crow gave her a funny look. "Oh I meant like later when you leave."

  "Are you two leaving?" Misty asked curiously, looking up from her phone.

  Cecil looked over at Enzo, who was trying to argue with her to stay. "No, we'll stay. I have to watch him for a couple more hours so I'll just leave then and take him home."