I've combined Stacey--Louise's and fathanah28's requests to make this one shot! When Tobi reveals he's got a girlfriend, the boys all have very different reactions. However Vik's reaction ends up revealing something far more than just an innocent child's opinion to Tobi.
Wednesday evening was always interesting. It was the time of the week were both fathers and sons alike were usually at their most tired. The middle of the week grind often resulted in slightly more petty arguments amongst the boys or more occasions where both men would snap at each other. No one ever got too upset, they all knew everyone else was probably feeling just as tired as they were, and any sort of stress they were feeling, could often be alleviated over the family dinner, when they would all get together to talk over the day and make plans.
With such a large family this was one of the few times they could all be in the same space and it was a huge tradition of bonding that Simon and JJ had enforced. They weren't very strict parents but that was one of their few rules : everybody ate at the dinner table. A few times in the past that rule had been broken but only by general consensus, and those times had been because they'd ordered a take away in order to watch a film or sporting event on the TV, otherwise, it was the kitchen every evening. They chose to eat in this room rather than the dining room purely because their growing sons would often demand more, and it was simply more convenient to get up and walk a few paces to the oven or fridge, instead of walking through another room.
JJ was currently the one leading the conversation over the family favourite meal of spaghetti bolognese, suggesting ideas for the coming weekend. "I was thinking we could all go to the zoo this Saturday, it's been a while and I know you've been wanting to go for ages," he said, giving the youngest sat next to him a gentle nudge.
The five year old beamed up at him, red sauce covering most of the lower half of his face. "Yeah! Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!" he exclaimed, hitting his small fork against the table and splattering some more sauce across the wooden top.
Simon just laughed it off. They'd worked out a long time ago that most boys didn't really learn table manners until at least the age of nine.
Grinning as Vik positively buzzed in his seat from excitement, Simon addressed his other sons. "How about it boys?"
"Fine by me," Josh shrugged, "we ain't got any plans have we Ethan?" he said to his brother.
The other boy shook his head. "My plan was to teach Molly how to shake hands," he admitted, before sighing and shaking his head. "But I guess that can always wait," he decided, knowing that it would be very unlikely the young dog would learn that trick in one day anyway. Sweet, the little spaniel might have been, but brains were not her forte. "What d'ya think Vik?" he asked, leaning down so he could meet his little brother in the eyes. "Should we go and see those cheeky monkeys?"
"Yeah!" the youngster cried out, getting even more excited, making his chair shake from his movements.
Harry laughed. "But you don't need to go to a zoo when you've got one right here!" he exclaimed, directing his thumb to himself, and beginning to make "ooh, ooh, ah, ah," noises.
"Yeah but they have better hygiene than you," Ethan mocked.
"Be fair Ethan," JJ put in. "Harry showers more than you do," he reminded the teen.
"Showers more, yes," Ethan agreed. "But he's in and out in five minutes," he said, lifting his head with pride. "I on the other hand will do things properly and take a bath."
"For four hours," Simon muttered, a smirk tugging at his lips as Ethan gave him moody look.
"Dad..." he moaned while Josh giggled beside him.
"Like the princess you are Ethan," the other teen teased him. "Like the princess you are."
JJ shook his head fondly at them all. "So that's sorted then? We'll try and aim to leave by nine on Saturday?" he clarified, looking around the table and receiving nods from all the boys. Well, all except one.
Clearing his throat, his eldest finally spoke up amongst the others. "Actually guys...I um - well, I think I'm busy that day," he told them, and although he looked slightly guilty he didn't offer any suggestion that he could change anything to make it along.
JJ frowned in confusion. "You think you're busy?"
Tobi glanced up and bit his lip, before nodding his head once in confirmation. "I am busy," he said.
"You got a lot of homework?" Simon asked in sympathy, knowing the boy had his GCSE's coming up soon.
"No it's..." Tobi sighed, and in a rare occurrence for him, appeared slightly awkward. "I already promised someone else I'd do something with them," he said quietly.
"Who?" JJ prompted.
"Alexa."
"What? Alexa?" Ethan piped up, one side of his mouth pulling up into a lopsided grin. "You mean the 'Alexa, remind me to buy tennis balls and dog biscuits' Alexa?" he joked, referring the little gadget Simon had bought.
Josh laughed and played along. "Alexa, put on my Buster playlist," he declared, copying the well known advert, before both boys launched into a hyperactive rendition of "Just The Two Of Us".
"No," Tobi said simply, ignoring their boisterous behaviour. "My girlfriend."
A few things happened after he said that. Harry's face lit up in intrigue, Vik stared open mouthed at him, food only just managing to stay in his mouth; Ethan and Josh paused in their song and gave him a funny look, while Simon smiled in understanding and JJ promptly choked on his drink.
"When did that happen?" the blond man asked, thumping JJ on the back a few times while the man spluttered.
Tobi's eyes glanced upwards in thought before he answered. "A few weeks ago."
"Did you two know about this?" JJ asked the two other teens, after he'd finally gained his breath back.
The two shared a glance, wordlessly conversing with one another before shrugging nonchalantly. "Eh, we're too busy interacting with our fans these days to care what he's up to," Ethan claimed, waving a hand at the eldest brother.
Tobi rolled his eyes at the put on attempt of cockiness. At least he hoped it was put on. There was no denying his little brothers popularity had seen a sharp spike of increase during the past month. They had always been well liked by most of the others, but they had recently appeared in a video with Simon that had literally broken the internet, and turned them into something of an icon at school. Tobi had faith that they weren't going to be getting big-headed any time soon though.
"So this Alexa, she's in your year?" Simon fished for more details.
"Mhmm," Tobi nodded in confirmation, "she moved to our school earlier in the term. She was a bit shy at first but then she heard my dads were YouTubers and she came to talk to me about it," he shrugged, "and then it kinda went on from there." He wasn't really keen to go into too much detail about it. This was his private life after all.
Unfortunately being part of a large family meant privacy was very hard to come by. Especially with little brothers like his.
"Is she fit?" one of them asked straight away, proving this theory.
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.
"It's cause you're a good man, Josh," Tobi smiled gently at him. "And I like to think I am too."
The younger boy considered this, before nodding shortly at him. "You make sure you treat her right, okay?" he said, holding his head up authoritatively. "Or you'll have me to answer to."
"Message received and understood," Tobi said, giving him a mini salute before kicking his leg out to move the boy to the side. "Now get out the way of the TV you little runt!" That name didn't really make much sense any more seeing as Josh was almost the same height as him now, but whatever, all his little brothers would always be midgets to him in his mind.
As that was going on, Ethan had suddenly shouted out: "The TV!" and Tobi turned in amusement as the thirteen year old's face dropped in horror. "Will you be spending all day with Alexa when she comes round?" he asked Tobi hurriedly, leaning forward.
"Probably," Tobi confirmed.
"Aww!" Ethan cried out, throwing himself back against the sofa in a huff. "But you promised you'd watch the basketball with me!" he complained. "No one else will!"
"You can watch it by yourself," Tobi said calmly. He was pretty sure no agreement had been made between the two of them. It had just sort of become tradition that they would watch it together, being the only two really interested in the sport.
"But it won't be the same!" his brother continued to moan and pout.
Josh threw a cushion at him. "Quit being a baby, I'll watch it with you if you're so bothered about it," he offered.
"No that's even worse cause you'll just be asking questions the whole time."
Tobi smirked. "Sometimes in life Ethan, there comes a point when you have to man up and watch a basketball game all on your own, it's a part of growing up," he said with pretend wisdom.
Ethan stuck his chin out defiantly. "Sometimes in life there comes a time when you have to make a decision. And it's always bros before ho–" He was cut short by the older boy jumping on him, playfully holding his arms down.
"Yeah?" Tobi inquired while the boy squirmed. "You wanna finish what you were saying?"
"No! Ah get off me!"
"Yeah," he muttered with a smile, giving the boy one final shove as he stood up, "thought as much." Still got it, he thought, still got that big brother power.
Deciding that he'd take himself to his room early rather than risk anymore questioning or complaining from these two, he headed for the door. "They'll always be other games Ethan," he said to the teen who was still looking grumpy. "Who knows, maybe she's a fan too, I haven't asked her."
That seemed to placate the younger boy for now, his face lighting up in consideration. "Hmm," he murmured, and Tobi suspected that he was formulating a plan to get Alexa into basketball either way.
Heading up to his attic bedroom, a room he'd acquired a few months after Vik had moved in, due to their different sleeping schedules, he sat down at his desk and opened up his music editing software. He could easily spend many hours mixing and creating tunes and often had one of his fathers coming up to check he was alright because he was so quiet. That was the benefit of his room though, it was kind of out of the way of the rest of the crazy house. Another benefit was that it was very hard for someone to creep up on him, as the act of climbing the ladder up to him caused the floorboards to shake and groan.
Therefore Tobi was not surprised when Harry clambered up and pushed open the door on the floor. "Hey kid," Tobi greeted as a blond head of hair poked itself into his room. "What d'you want Harry?" he asked when the normally loud boy didn't immediately launch into a string of words.
"Can I ask you a question?" the young boy asked as he pulled himself the rest of the way up and sat cross legged just next to the opening, his tongue poking out slightly from the corner of his mouth as if he were concentrating very hard.
"Shoot," Tobi said, swivelling his chair so he could give the boy his full attention.
Harry was still quiet for a few seconds, his tongue still poking out, but then he caught Tobi's gaze and seemed to come back to reality. "Have you seen when they put it on a banana?" Or maybe he'd just gone completely crazy.
"What?" Tobi asked incredulously.
Harry leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Have they showed you how to do it by putting it on a banana? The white stretchy thing."
Tobi stared at the youngster for a moment, trying to fit the mismatching pieces together. "Harry...are you talking about a condom?" he finally stuttered out.
"Yeah, that's what it was called!" the blond exclaimed, face lighting up. "We've been having sex-ed this week...it's disgusting!" He laughed out loud to himself. "But they said you have to do that to make sure you don't get sick or anything."
"Don't worry kid, I've...I've been taught about that too," Tobi assured him, even though he felt as if he might die at any moment from embarrassment at the fact that he was having this conversation with his little brother, especially when Harry was so naive about the whole thing. "And anyway, we're taking things slowly," he told him, finding that he couldn't quite look the boy in the eyes.
Harry was oblivious to his awkwardness however, and beamed at him. "Okay that's good, I just wanted to check," he said, starting to climb back down the ladder. Pausing when he was nearly out he gave Tobi another cheeky grin. "I don't think Dad and Papa want another kid around here yet!"
Tobi shook his head as he heard Harry's laughter echo away. "Crazy kid," he muttered.
It was almost eleven when he finally decided to start getting ready for bed himself. His dads were fairly lenient with allowing him to go to bed when he pleased but he usually liked turning in quite early anyway. Usually he would lie in bed and watch YouTube videos on his iPad for a few hours until he felt tired enough to go to sleep.
That was his plan for tonight too but as he was getting ready he realised his iPad was not in his room. Casting his mind back to last night he remembered Ethan borrowing it from him so he could use it to film Vik playing on his mini keyboard, a gift from a friend of the family that the little one absolutely adored. He made an educated guess that it had been left in Vik's room, as Josh probably would have brought it back by now if it was in his and Ethan's room.
Heading out of his room he could hear no noise from downstairs but his dad's office light was visible under the door and he could hear the voice talking to himself, or the camera, whatever. All was quiet inside his youngest brother's room and he was able to use the nightlight to work his way past the toys and books on the floor to the bedside table, hoping that was where the iPad might have been left.
It wasn't. There was just a drawing of Molly. Cursing under his breath he took a step away from the bed only to step on the item in question that was poking out from underneath the bed. Crouching down as quietly as he could he almost had a heart attack when he looked up and saw a pair of dark brown eyes staring straight at him. "Hey, it's just me. I left my iPad in here," he whispered to his youngest brother, who was just blinking owlishly at him. "Go back to sleep," he hushed, placing a gentle hand on the dark head.
Vik continued to stare at him and Tobi figured he was only half awake anyway, but when he started to walk away a tiny voice called out to him. "Tobi?"
"Yeah?" Tobi smiled softly as he crouched back down again.
The little boy sniffed and pulled his duvet up higher. "I don't like her," he mumbled quietly.
"Who?" Tobi inquired.
"'Lexa," the boy replied quietly, almost hiding himself under the covers.
Tobi let out a soft laugh. "You don't even know her Vik," he pointed out, sitting himself on the edge of the bed.
His brother shook his head firmly. "Don't like girls," he said. He seemed pretty adamant on the point.
"Oh," Tobi smirked. "I remember those days baby bro, but that all soon changes, don't you worry about that!" He thought Vik was just being a typical five year old, with his mind set that "boys are better than girls" still in place.
However Vik's next sentence had him drawing a sharp intake of breath. "Nuh-uh, girls only care about cars, clothes and money," he spoke matter of factly.
Reaching out, Tobi stroked back the dark fringe from the small forehead. "Who told you that?" he asked gently.
The duvet moved as Vik's shoulders shrugged underneath them. "No one. I know it already."
Tobi was dumbfounded. He'd never heard his youngest brother sound so blunt before. "Well I'm still a little confused Vik..." he continued. "Could you explain it to me?"
The youngster seemed to perk up at Tobi's interest and pulled himself up a little so he was more upright. "Girls are good at saying stuff they don't mean to get what they want. They do pretend stuff to make them look good but it's not real." At the earnest look on his face Tobi realised this was something the kid truly believed.
"Can you give me an example?" he asked. "Please?" he persuaded when Vik glanced down.
The boy sighed a heartfelt sigh. "Um...like when my mum used to make me go out to posh places with her so I could help her make money. She would say she loved me in front of the rich men but then she'd leave me at the hotel and she never said she loved me, not when we were alone."
Tobi felt his heart rate pick up. This was the first time in his knowledge that Vik had ever openly spoken about hs mother. The woman who had dropped him off at the house where he'd witnessed God knows what horrors had never been found, even after the police had put out alerts. They didn't even have a name to go by. There was of course a name on Vik's birth certificate but it had turned out to be fake. Getting information out of Vik hadn't proved fruitful either. He'd told the detectives his mum had many names, and the ones he had given didn't get them anywhere.
It had been a great mystery. Why exactly had she needed so many names? And why had she just left the boy with people who were practically strangers?
Tobi knew he had to take this opportunity to get some answers they really needed. "How was your mum making money?"
"She liked tricking people," Vik told him. "She liked nice things but she never bought them herself so she tricked others into getting them for her." His eyes grew wide with sadness. "And she never let me share. She always just left me at the hotels or other people's houses and most of them didn't like me."
"She sounds...like a very silly woman." There were many other words Tobi could think of to describe her but none of them were appropriate to say in front of a five year old. Plus he had the feeling that if Vik was anything like he was at that age, he still harboured a certain affection for his mother, no matter what she had done to him. "But Vik, you know not all girls are like that," he reminded the boy. "You like Rachel and Zoe and Miss Lizzie, even though she can be a bit scary at times," he teased.
Vik smiled slightly, knowing even their dads got scared by Lizzie - who used to be Ethan and Josh's social worker - sometimes.
"They don't want anything," he argued.
"Huh?"
"You said 'Lexa only started talking to you when she found out they were YouTubers..."
Tobi took in Vik's words and then gave him a funny look. "You're worried she only wants to be my girlfriend because of that?" he asked.
"My mum would have tried to if she were her," the boy explained. "So she could try and get money and stuff."
"Well I know there are some people out there like that," Tobi admitted, knowing Vik was smart enough to understand there were bad guys out there. "But for most of us, money comes second, as long as we've got someone who cares about us then that can make you feel like the richest guy on the planet." He leaned down so his face was close to the boy's. "I really like Alexa, Vik, and I hope once you meet her you will too," he said softly. "And I'm sorry about your mum."
The dark eyes studied him, examining his face for any trace of doubt. When they found none he seemed to relax a little. "I think she did love me," he decided. "She always used to buy me really expensive presents after she'd been away for a long time."
"Did that make it better?"
The boy paused, and then frowned. "Not really, and she used to get mad if I didn't really like them." Vik took a deep breath and acted out his best impression. "She used to say 'this is a token of my appreciation for you and you should be grateful for it'."
She sounded like a bitch.
Tobi smiled wistfully. "No one can buy your love baby bro," he told him, ruffling his hair. "We're all here to earn it and we're all going to try very hard because your love is amazing kid." Vik was quiet and Tobi felt the need to reassure him some more. "Tell you what," he began, "how about you come out to the horses with me and Alexa when she comes over? You can get to know her and size her up a bit for me, then you can really be sure if she's honest or not."
Vik looked up at him in surprise. "But I thought it was just s'posed to be you two?"
"Yeah...but you're my baby brother and I value your approval very much," Tobi told him. "Plus you know more about the horses than I do."
Vik was quiet for a few more moments but then his face was breaking out into a toothy grin. "Kay," he agreed.
"Alright," Tobi whispered, standing up. "Night Vik, love you." If his dads were still awake he thought he better go and tell them now what Vik had just told him, while it was still fresh in his mind.
"Love you," the boy repeated back.
"See?" Tobi said, glancing back. "Didn't need to give you any money to make you say that," he pointed out.
His little brother smiled. "That's cause you've already earned it," he said, before snuggling back under the covers.