*Sephie*
I hooked my arm through Viktor’s as I followed him to his desk while Adrik had his meeting. “What’s his schedule like today, Papa Bear?” I asked.
“Three more meetings after this one, then he’s done. Unless I hear back from Henry’s office saying he can meet tonight,” he answered me in Russian, since there were plenty of ears around the office.
“What about Vitaliy? What’s he doing today?”
“He begrudgingly left this morning and said he won’t be back until tonight. I don’t think he’s going to stay much longer. He’s annoyed at having to see so many people,” he said, trying not to laugh.
“I find it both ironic and hilarious that he’s as popular as he is when he returns to the city,” I said. I thought for a few moments, then asked, “when will you know if he has an extra meeting tonight? I’m trying to make a plan for feeding you all since I’ve been slacking on my duties lately.”
He chuckled. “You’ve been exhausted, sestrichka. You haven’t been slacking. I’ve already ordered dinner for tonight anyway, so you don’t need to worry.” I squinted my eyes at him, but didn’t argue. I decided I would spend the afternoon making him a treat instead.
I looked around to see who else was in the office. Stephen was the only one, other than Viktor. I couldn’t steal Viktor since he was on master of schedule duties. “Yoden, are you busy this afternoon?”
He looked up from his computer. “Nope. I’m just staring at the screen pretending to be busy right now. It was starting to get boring, so I should thank you. What do you need?” he asked as he closed his laptop.
I reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling him up. “You’re coming with me,” I said.
“Where are we going? Do you have a plan? Do we need supplies? How long will we be gone? Am I properly dressed? Do I need a coat? Never mind, I don’t get cold. It’s physically impossible,” he said. He let a sly smile slip out when I looked up at him. Very uncharacteristic of him, but I loved him a little more for it. He quietly slid his arm around my shoulders as we walked to the elevator, creating a visual barrier between me and curious eyes.
Once we were on the elevator alone, I said, “have I mentioned how fucking funny the Vlad jokes in front of Vitaliy are? Like I love you even more each time it happens. The look on his and Alyosha’s faces is just perfection. They’re so lost. It’s so great.” We were both laughing when the elevator doors opened.
It took Stephen such a long time to warm up to me, but now that he had, I adored him. He was so smart and so freaking funny. He was so quietly hilarious that he kept us all entertained. And he could say anything with a straight face, so those who didn’t know him thought he was completely serious while saying some of the dumbest shit you’ve ever heard in your life. It was a true gift.
Because he ended up as backup for Viktor in his master of schedule duties, it meant I didn’t get to spend as much time with Viktor and Stephen as I did the other three. I was starting to suspect that wasn’t helping those two realize how they were special, so I’d decided to try and change that as much as I could. It was easier to get time with Stephen on my own. I was going to need Adrik’s help to get time with Viktor.
We walked into the kitchen and I started to pull a few things out of the cabinets. Stephen said, “you know Viktor already ordered dinner for tonight, right? You don’t have to cook, Seph. You should still rest today.”
I smiled at him. “I know, Yoden. I’m making him cookies. You’re helping.”
He groaned. “My stomach is having a love affair with you. I hope you know that. It’s a little weird. It’s very unorthodox, but he’s very much in love with you. It’s to the point that he almost revolts if I eat food made by anyone else. He’s not happy about it and he’s very loud about that fact.”
I laughed at him talking about his stomach like it was a whole other person inside him. “My stomach feels the same about Vinny. So much so that I think Adrik got a little jealous in the beginning.”
It was his turn to laugh. “Is he capable of getting jealous? I’ve never once seen him jealous with you.”
“Not when it comes to you guys, no. Not usually. Although he did struggle with feeling jealous this last time I got hurt. I spent so much time with all of you guys since I did nothing but sleep and apparently I’m incapable of sleeping on my own anymore that he started to feel jealous. It’s why you guys only just found out about my eyes. That’s been happening for quite a while now. He wanted to keep it just between us for a while,” I said. “But he’s very possessive in front of other people that aren’t you five.”
“Huh. I never noticed.”
“Because you’re too busy analyzing what’s been said or what you have noticed. Your brain is very busy. You should cut it some slack for not noticing insignificant things,” I said.
“Guilty. It’s a gift and a curse,” he said. He followed me to the pantry so I could hand him everything I needed for this project.
“I think it’s more of a gift than a curse. You just struggle with believing in yourself so you’re overanalyzing. Your first instinct is always right. Stop second-guessing yourself. Whoever told you that you were dumb when you were younger was completely wrong.”
“You’re not supposed to be fishing in my head, remember?” he said, as I piled ingredients in his arms.
“I wasn’t. It’s so obvious that I didn’t need to fish. Much like Ivan doesn’t want people to know how wise he is because he values his peace too much, you don’t want people to know how wise you are either. But it’s because you’re insecure with your wisdom. For the record, I find it endearing, but also hilarious. You’re seriously one of the smartest people I know. Especially when it comes to how best to mindfuck someone. I’m guessing you felt very misunderstood as a kid?” I asked.
He squinted his eyes at me, like he was unsure he wanted to answer. He sighed, but agreed. “I was. I was very quiet as a kid. My sisters are loud as fuck. So are my parents. I stuck out. While they are loud and obnoxious to distract from what they don’t want people to see, I took the opposite approach. I was always quiet, never talked much. My middle sister used to tease me relentlessly for it. She would tell her friends that I was retarded and they would all pick on me. My youngest sister always went along with everything the middle one did, so when she got old enough, she would tease me as well. My oldest sister would join in sometimes, but not always. She never stopped it though.”
“Do you want me to kick your sister’s ass? Because I’ll do it,” I asked.
He chuckled. “No, I think she’s already getting her own Karma. I don’t talk to my sisters often, but my mother keeps me updated on them. My middle sister is on her fourth husband. She struggles to keep a job for very long. It’s because she’s a miserable human being, but of course she blames everyone else.”
“What about your youngest sister?”
“She’s not much better, although she hasn’t gotten married yet. That’s mostly because she has a very loud reputation for being very easy. She’s slept her way through the entire town we grew up in. She moved to a larger city, trying to increase her chances of finding a husband. I think she only increased the number of STD’s she has.”
I couldn’t keep from laughing. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny. I shouldn’t laugh at that.”
“Oh no, you can laugh. She brought it on herself. Nobody forced her to be a slut,” he said, very matter-of-factly.
I giggled again. “I used to always wonder what it would be like to have a brother or sister. I think after hearing this, I would’ve preferred brothers. You guys are much better to deal with than that.”
“It’s why I took so long to warm up to you. I was waiting for you to turn mean,” he said.
I stood and stared at him for a few moments, comprehending what he’d just told me.
“That’s heart-breaking. I know I pick on all of you, but I don’t want to be a dick about it,” I said.
“You’re not. There’s a very big difference in picking on things that people do versus picking on who someone is. You never pick at things we can’t change about ourselves, which means it’s always coming from a good place with you. My sisters would pick on who I am as a person, just because I’m different than they are. Huge difference.”
“I’m secretly glad you don’t talk to your sisters very much because it means I’ll never have to meet them. I don’t know if I could keep myself from beating them senseless.”
He laughed. “Well…”
“Uh oh.”
“They’ve been talking about coming for a visit. It hasn’t happened yet, but there’s a chance. My youngest sister apparently hasn’t finished her STD collection. She’s trying to get a full set, so she needs new partners.”
“Is she cute? I could hook her up with Max.”
He laughed loudly at that idea. “Seph, you’re just the best,” he said, hugging my shoulders and kissing my cheek.