Our Boys

Love Is Earned

Tobi let out quiet laugh. "She's beautiful, Harry."

He almost regretted saying that when he heard the snickers from across the table, and looked up to see the terrible two grinning evilly at him. "Aww, look at him Josh," Ethan laughed, "in't he cute?"

The other boy nodded, meeting Tobi's glare with a cheeky smile. "The cutest."

Tobi just sighed and rode out the comments and giggles. It was often the best way to deal with them. And he thought they were meant to get less annoying as they got older. Vik was at the only one who hadn't annoyed him so far! All that Tobi could tell as far as the younger teens went, was that they were getting smarter and therefore had more knowledge at their fingertips to help with their teasing.

"So what were you planning on for this weekend then?" Simon asked after sending the two a look which meant one thing. Stop.

Tobi shrugged again. "I was going to go round her house, she doesn't live too far away, and we were going to go to the trampoline park that her brother works at. And then the weekend after she was going to come here and I was going to show her the horses." He looked up for approval. "I mean if that's alright. We were kinda going to alternate between each others houses most weeks."

"Course it is Tobi," JJ insisted, "just came as a bit of surprise."

"I'm fifteen Papa."

The man held up his hands in defence. "I know, I know, still growing up too fast for me though."

Tobi chuckled. If his papa had his way they'd all stay kids forever.

"Well, looks like it'll just be us six then," Simon said. "Unless any of you have girlfriends you want to reveal to us?" The chorus of "no's" echoed around the room, the loudest coming from Vik, making everybody laugh. They all just assumed that at five years old the idea just wasn't very appealing to him, but that was just normal kids stuff. At least that's what they all assumed.

Later on, as he was sitting in the den watching TV with Ethan and Josh, Tobi found himself answering more questions about the revelation he had made earlier. Josh, having returned from getting a drink from the kitchen, paused in front of Tobi, obstructing the older boy's view of the screen.

Not moving when Tobi tried to wave him away, the younger boy gave him a long look, a strange expression on his face. "So you've been together for a few weeks, right?" he asked slowly.

Tobi let out a huff. "Yeah," he said in annoyance. How many times did he have to explain this?

Still Josh didn't move, and instead a small frown crossed his face. "So everything's been all nice and cute and new so far?"

"Yeah," Tobi mumbled, his annoyance shifting into confusion at the line of questioning. "It's been good..."

"What's gonna happen if that changes?"

"What are you getting at Josh?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably under Tobi's intense gaze, reminding the older boy for a split second of the tiny, quiet kid he'd first met. "Just...at school you always see people getting together and breaking up within a month. And it's always the girl that ends up getting the hate afterwards, I mean most of the time anyways. They get called a bitch or a slut or a psycho and I hate it. And I hate the guys that do that to them."

Tobi's heart softened at the words. It was just typical of his brother to be protective over a girl he didn't really know. Few people had offered the teen kindness before he'd come to live with them, the majority who had being women, including his own mother. As such, he had developed something of a defensive and protective streak when it came to the opposite gender.