A/N - very much alive 🫡🫡
Some Marco crumbs for you all❤️
~~~
"That's your second bowl of cereal", I took a seat at the head of the table and looked to my right at Caleb, he was shovelling it down his throat like he hadn't eaten in days.
"And?", he shrugged, not even lifting his head, "I'm hungry". I grimaced at him speaking with his mouth full and focused on my coffee, internally happy that all six of us were sitting around the table without an argument in sight.
"Me too", Xavier agreed, lifting his bowl to his mouth and drinking the milk that remained in it, causing everyone to either groan or look at him in disgust, "what?".
"You're gross", Alexander told him with a shake of his head, eating his food at a much slower pace, "who's taking us to school?".
It'd been two weeks since what had happened with Alexander, and he was no longer suspended from school; I'd also managed to have a meeting with his teachers in school and come to a compromise- my brother was currently on half days at school to see if it would 'minimise his stress'. The fact that a fourteen year old had enough stress to take him out of school for fifty-percent of the week did nothing but hurt me.
"I'll take you and Xavier", I replied, cracking my knuckles, "I'll pick you up at lunch, Caleb can bring Xavier home".
"Taxi service", the eighteen year old grumbled, amusement clear in his tone.
"You're lucky you get a half day Xan", Xavier sighed wishfully, "I want a half day".
"I'm not lucky, it's shit", his twin muttered, chewing on his cereal harshly, "you're the lucky one, you're normal".
"None of that", Prescott took the words right out of my mouth, "we're all normal, that's not the right way to go about it". The table fell silent and I cleared my throat, going to speak up just as the front door knocked- nobody ever knocked at this hour of the morning.
All of my brothers looked at me expectantly, a hint of worry mixed into the twins' eyes.
"It's fine", I assured them, rising to my feet and approaching the door, frowning when I opened it, "what's wrong with you?".
"How on earth do you cope with five of them?", my cousin stepped past me, rubbing his temples with two fingers on each hand, "I am on the verge of insanity".
"I think you've passed the verge", I told him, closing the door and turning around, "what's happened now?".
"Nothing happened, they're just insufferable", he replied, rolling up the sleeves of his white button-down shirt and revealing the tattoos on his lower arms, "they talk and talk and fucking talk, if I have to listen to Milo talk about hair dye any longer-,".
"Vale, relax", I couldn't help but chuckle as I slapped a hand on his shoulder, leading him towards the kitchen, "although I can't promise it'll be less chaotic in here".
"I doubt that", he muttered, entering the room and stealing my place at the head of the table, "cousins".
Well then.
My brothers all replied in some form of greeting, and I watched as Xavier was the first to leave the table, disposing of his empty bowl and rushing out of the room, saying something about his school bag.
"Why are you here?", Alexander asked our cousin, his bluntness making my lips twitch up into a smirk. I stepped over to the table, taking my coffee from in front of Marco and sipping it, staying planted behind the twenty-two year old who was watching my youngest brother.
"My brothers are tiring pieces of shit", he gave it to him straight and I snorted, Caleb and Chase chuckled while Alexander hummed.
"Tell me about it", he said and I narrowed my eyes at him, "that was a joke". It was hard to tell, with his stoic facial expressions and basically monotone voice.
"You grow to be more and more like your brother every day", Marco said, craning his neck to look at me, "any peppermint tea? Poor hospitality cousin". I rolled my eyes, stepping back and rummaging in the cupboard knowing full well I didn't harbour such poison in my house.
"He's like Zane? Please, Xandy is in a league of his own", Caleb chuckled, pulling the fourteen-year-old into a headlock, "in a good way".
"Call me that and I'll beat you up", he swore, wiggling out of our brother's grip and standing.
"You love me really", Caleb flashed him a grin, "and remember who can box".
"And remember who can box", Alexander mimicked him, earning him a laugh from Chase and Prescott; the slight lift of Marco's ears signalled that he was smiling too, or smirking at least.
You had a better chance at seeing a unicorn than seeing Marco smile.
"We're leaving in five, go and find Xavier", I told Alexander and he nodded, leaving the room in the blink of an eye, "are you joining us for the ride little cousin?".
"Little?", he scoffed, rolling down his sleeves and standing, "I'm not doing anything else". That settled it then, he was joining us for the school run...
~
"It stinks Xav, move away from me", I rolled my eyes, not even glancing over my shoulder as the twins bickered in the backseat.
"It doesn't stink, it's just popcorn", he defended himself, crunching away behind me, "tell him Zane". Marco looked at me, smirking when I rolled down the window in reply; Alexander laughed hysterically while Xavier huffed in annoyance.
I was just happy to hear my youngest brother laughing to be honest.
"They're just as insufferable as Eli and Zeke", my cousin muttered, shocking everyone by just pulling out a fucking gun from his trousers and inspecting it.
"Woah", Xavier gasped, their argument a thing of the past, "why do you have that?".
"Took the words right out of my mouth Xavier", I sent a glare to my cousin and he surrendered, dropping the weapon into his lap in an instant.
"It was hurting my leg", he defended himself and I rolled my eyes, "you two don't need to let your little legitimate heads worry about me". I slapped his head and he scowled at me, focusing his gaze out of the window soon after- he may expose his brothers to all sorts of shit, but he wasn't doing the same to mine.
"What's legitimate mean?", Xavier asked and I huffed, I'd beat the shit out of Marco when these two were out of the car.
"Nothing", I replied, "I was thinking of taking the two of you to the ice rink on the weekend". I wasn't, but I knew that would take at least Xavier's mind off of the topic at hand.
"Finally!", he exclaimed, "you know I'm better than both of you on the ice".
"I'll still kick your ass on the ice", Alexander insisted and I rolled my eyes, always violence with that boy.
"Can you ice skate Marco?", I glanced at my cousin briefly, quickly enough to see the break in his usual emotionless expression; he scrunched up his face and shook his head.
"I see no reason for me to move around on frozen water with blades on my feet", and people said I was the formal one.
"You speak like Zane", Alexander said, making my face fall, "you sound boring".
Little shit.
"I am boring", he replied monotonously, humming when I pulled up at the school, "time for your day of hell to begin". Alexander groaned, as did his twin brother, and the pair of them opened their doors simultaneously.
"I'll see you at lunch", I told my youngest brother and he nodded, "Xavier, find Caleb at the end of the day, hm?".
"Uh huh", he agreed, the pair of them bidding us farewell and disappearing side-by-side.
"Why will you see him at lunch?", Marco asked the second I started driving, "another appointment?".
"He's currently going in for half days", I replied and he hummed, "what opinion do you have on the matter now?".
"Well since you so graciously asked", he smirked, "I think he'd benefit from another...outlet for his anger".
And here we go.
"And what would you suggest? I stick a gun in his hand? Get him into the underground fighting scene from now?", his lips twitched up in amusement as he gave a small shake of the head.
"I can't deny I wouldn't try those methods on my own brothers", of course he wouldn't, "Caleb can box, correct?".
"Exceptionally well", I hummed, squeezing the wheel, "you want him to teach Alexander?".
"Merely a suggestion", he replied, tracing a finger down the top of his gun, "the boy has a temper that has no signs of disappearing- get him to utilise it". I stayed quiet, hating that my twenty-two year old cousin had a point.
"I'll think about it", I nodded and he hummed, cracking his knuckles, then his neck, "you want to grab some food? You don't seem in a rush to be productive today".
"I'm always productive", he said it as if I'd offended him, "so long as we pay them to close the restaurant, I can't bear being in proximity of the general public".
He was a different breed, I was sure of it.
~
"How's work? And don't brush me off because I'm not a part of it", I took a bite of my avocado toast while Marco did the same, his deep green eyes unmoving from mine as he chewed slowly, seemingly trying to figure me out. My cousin saw everyone as a threat at some point, sometimes I didn't even think he realised he was analysing people like that, it was second nature at this point.
"Exhilarating", he replied after he'd swallowed his food and sipped his peppermint tea, "nothing I can't handle".
It was a lot to handle, one of the main reasons I decided to stop in the first place; between the drug and arms trafficking, the fighting, the murder, the businesses to put on a legal front, it was too much.
Of course, not for Marco.
He got a fucking adrenaline rush out of this shit, as if he was on a permanent high from causing destruction.
"You alarm me", I commented, taking a sip of my black coffee- always black coffee. Marco flashed me a grin, not a friendly one, the type that should come with a warning sign, and lifted a shoulder nonchalantly.
"Happy to be of assistance", was all he said, focusing on his food as a comfortable silence fell among us, "can I ask a personal question?".
I'd never heard him say that in my life.
"Mhm", I nodded, not knowing where this was going.
"Loving someone. It makes them a liability within our world, does it not?", I swallowed my food and watched him for a moment, he did the same to me.
"Speaking from experience", I cleared my throat, the thought of Cairo filling my mind as clear as day, even five years later, "you're putting them at risk, it's your job to protect them".
"And if you fail?", I clenched my jaw the second he said that and he winced, intertwining his fingers, "surely we're better off alone, no?".
"I don't think so", I denied, my appetite now a thing of the past, "I've been in love before, the feeling alone is something I believe we both deserve to feel". He hummed, staying silent as he sipped his drink with a grimace, apparently he wasn't hungry either anymore.
"I think I beg to differ", he announced and I raised an eyebrow, "for me at least, I'm destined to be alone and I've accepted it".
I hoped for his sake that wasn't true.
~
"A fucking word search?", Marco squinted at the piece of paper in front of him and Alexander, sending me a look across the room, "this is what they do in class? I wouldn't have dropped out if they kept this up".
"You dropped out?", my brother asked, fiddling with his pen and glancing between us.
"He dropped out to replace school books for weapons", I scoffed, "you say that like you had a choice".
"You're right", he flashed me a grin again and I rolled my eyes, "this is the work they sent you home with?".
"There's math too", Alexander replied, pulling out another sheet from his bag and handing it to our cousin who looked at it in disgust.
"Numbers", he tutted, placing it down and focusing on the word search.
Marco and math didn't mix- never had and never would.
He saw numbers the same way Caleb saw letters, a 'jumbled mess' apparently.
"Here you go", I placed a grilled cheese in front of my brother and smoothed a hand through his hair, "I'm proud of you".
I'd say it at the most random times of day if it meant it drilled it into their heads.
He thanked me, holding the food in one hand and the pen in the other, focusing on his work before he sparked up a conversation with Marco again.
"When did you drop out?", he asked, I turned away from doing the dishes just in time to catch the smirk on my cousin's face.
"When I was fourteen, your age", he replied, my brother's face lighting up in an instant.
"Does that mean I-,", he smiled.
"Not a chance in hell", I muttered, watching his face fall, "you're smart, no need".
"I'm flattered", Marco pressed a hand to his chest and looked at Alexander, "if you could have any job in the world, what would it be?".
"A chef, something to do with food", the fourteen year old replied and I smiled, "I'm good at it, I think".
"You are", I chimed in, his cheeks flushing a moment later.
"What was your dream job Marco?", I snorted, trying to cover it with a cough.
"Didn't have one", he muttered, "my life was set in stone before I existed". As unfortunate as it was, it was true.
Mine had been too.
"You must've had one, everyone has one", he insisted and Marco raised an eyebrow, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Oh yeah?", he asked.
"Xav wants to play hockey, you know mine, Chase wants to do boring building stuff, Cub wants to paint or box, Scott makes cakes-,", he reeled off, his pen long discarded as he focused on the conversation instead.
"And Zane?", Marco raised an eyebrow, humming when my brother frowned, "exactly".
"What was your dream job Zane?", he asked and I smirked, abandoning the dishes and turning around fully.
"Didn't have one, my answers the same as his", I replied honestly, not being able to remember a time in my childhood when Santiago hadn't dictated my life.
"Oh", Alexander said, picking up his pen, "that's boring".
I chuckled, Marco smirked, and the pair of us went back to our respective jobs of helping my brother with his work and doing the dishes.
And that was the end of that.
~
"Your favourite brother has returned!", I jumped when the deep-ass voice of my eighteen year old brother filled the room, spinning around from my place on the sofa and pretending to be shocked at the sight of the blonde haired boy beside him.
"Theo's here, that's new", I muttered, standing and slapping Marco on the head as I passed, "school okay? Where's Xavier?".
"Gone to see Xan upstairs", Caleb waved a hand, "you're still here? What about your brothers?".
"School was- was okay", Theo replied to my previously ignored question and I nodded, watching the pair of them drop onto the sofa with Marco.
"I'm sure they can fend for themselves for a day", he waved a hand and cracked his knuckles, "Theo".
"Marco", he nodded at the man before clearing his throat, "we uh- we were uh, talking about how it's- it's nearly Feb-February". I clenched my jaw from behind them and swallowed, knowing that meant August's 19th birthday and his anniversary were in the same week soon.
"We wanted to do something, we don't know what yet", Caleb added, turning to me, "and we don't want to go to the cemetery, we can't yet". I nodded understandingly, going to speak- but our cousin had other ideas.
"You may never be able to go", he told them and I frowned, "it might sound bad, but some people simply cannot bring themselves to go". I knew full well he was part of "some people" but kept my mouth shut, listening intently from behind the sofa.
"Ever?", Theo asked and Marco hummed.
"People believe there's an obligation to go to the cemetery, when in all honesty you can keep someone's memory alive in other ways", I don't know where this side to him had come from, but I did know that his way of keeping his mother's memory alive was to be the very image of the man who had driven her to her death, if not worse.
He had a strange way of showing his love for her, that was for sure.
"Like what?", Caleb asked, making me focus back on the three of them.
"Go to his favourite place, do something you used to together, sit there and cry", he waved a hand and I frowned, "do whatever feels right".
"Thanks...I think", my brother said slowly and Marco saluted them, "we'll be okay".
"I believe you will", Marco hummed, I did too.
I hoped so anyway.
~~~
A/N - I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm so excited for Marco's book🧍🏾♀️
Extra scenes on the way...❤️