happy bday to my sister (like last week, oof). daniel's actually not gross in this one. w o w.

[07:58pm]

"Now remember," Christine began for the fifth time that evening, "don't let Tommy watch anything age-inappropriate, Rob's friends cannot—I repeat, cannot stay the night, Mel's going to Jonathan's tomorrow morning around eight, and make sure everyone brushes their teeth." She pointed an accusatory finger. "That includes you and your friends, too. I don't care if you're almost eighteen, good dental hygiene is important."

Daniel smiled both in humor and embarrassment. He knew Diego was behind him, but where was Jax? Probably listening in somewhere, coming up with ways to insult him the second his mother left. "Yeah, Mom, I understand. You left the to-do list on the fridge."

One of Rob's friends passed the living room and let his jaw drop. "You're so hot, Christine."

Swiftly, the only friends Daniel could tolerate, Cole and Isaac, appeared behind the guy. All three were carrying snacks, no doubt heading back to Rob's room to pig out. Isaac shoved him out of sight and shook his head apologetically. "You look nice, Mrs. M." Cole nodded in approval before they disappeared.

In all honesty, Christine did look pretty hot. She was showing the most skin Daniel had ever seen her show in the backless black cocktail dress she had on. Her hair was straightened for the first time in ages, and she was wearing more makeup than she normally did. The occasion was a special one, though: she had a date.

Rob had acted disinterested the entire time she explained, but Tom had confided in Mel and Daniel that as soon as they went to bed that night Rob threw a fit. Daniel didn't think much of it. Rob had always been closest to Rick, just like Daniel was closest to Christine. Well, maybe not just like that. Christine never got drunk off her ass and wouldn't even consider leaving her family behind.

But Daniel, though. His mom going on a date with a coworker wouldn't have been a big deal (and it still wasn't really a big deal) had it not happened on a night the house was full. The people Daniel saw regularly made life chaotic enough, but adding Rob's irritating pack of friends into the mix? Fantastic. Still, Christine deserved a night out and a chance at happiness, and Daniel wasn't about to take that away from her because her seventeen-year-old son couldn't handle being a super-babysitter for a few hours.

Jax rounded the corner into the living room, looking startled. He pointed a thumb behind him and asked, "Were those guys just hitting on you?"

Christine sighed. "Just one, yes."

Jax walked to the couch and took a seat next to Diego, resting an ankle on his knee. "Well, you do look lovely, Mrs. Miller."

Daniel gagged silently. Turning on the charm for his mom? Were there no boundaries?

But Christine just smiled. "Thank you, Jax, you're very kind."

Before Jax could continue schmoozing, Daniel clapped his hands together and announced, "Yeah, so the all-nighter should run smoothly since I'll be following the list, Mom. No need to worry."

Diego made a face. "Dude, just call it a sleepover. 'All-nighter' sounds like a planned orgy."

"What?" Daniel couldn't even grasp that Diego had just said that in front of his mother. "That's not how it sounds."

"It does when it comes out of your mouth."

Jax covered his mouth, leaning into the arm of the couch to muffle his laughter.

"No girls over tonight, right?" Christine clarified, choosing to skip over the comment. It really wasn't worth the struggle.

Daniel nodded in agreement. "Mia and Andi will be here for breakfast."

Christine turned to Jax. "Emma?"

He stifled more laughter. "No disrespect meant, Mrs. Miller, but with your son here? Not likely."

Daniel frowned and grumbled, "It's my house. Where else would I be?"

Finally, Christine fixed her gaze on Diego. "And Maddie?"

He smiled and shook his head. "She hates Rob's friends."

"We all do," Christine and Daniel said at the same time, only a small amount of defeat showing.

As if summoned, the same crass friend from earlier stuck his head into the room and began, "But seriously, if you're going clubbing, I'd be more than happy to tag along. I've been told I'm very mature for my age and look older too—AH!" Two different hands grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out of sight.

Christine sighed, the defeat full-on this time. "Right. So I'm heading out." She turned toward Daniel and accepted the hug he offered.

"Have fun, Mrs. Miller," Diego said as she passed him. She gave him a smile.

"But not too much fun!" Jax teased, winking at Daniel when he sent him a glare. The door closed.

Something that sounded like a stampede got louder and louder until it culminated with all of Rob's friends spilling out of the hallway, looking expectant. "She left, right?" one of them asked, braces glinting in the light.

Daniel took a step back cautiously, concerned. "Yeah, why—"

"WE'RE TAKING OVER THE LIVING ROOM!" someone yelled, followed by a round of snorts as the room filled and people descended upon the couch. Diego latched onto Jax's arm, who promptly shook him off and pushed out of the group.

Jax wiped his hands on his jeans and flicked his gaze to Daniel. "So is this why you invited us over for a sleepover? To help babysit?"

"All-nighter!" Daniel corrected, frowning. "And no, but I thought you had siblings."

"Twin sisters, yeah," he agreed, making a face. "Not exactly the same as sitting in a room smelling of extremely sweaty nerds. And Diego."

Diego finally stumbled out of the group, panting. "Who are half these guys anyway? I've never seen them around school before."

Daniel shrugged, looking into the group. "Isaac!" He waited until the tall boy looked at him. "Know if anyone here's a sophomore like you, or all freshmen?" Isaac simply shrugged, going back to the game controller he had in his hand. Daniel shut his eyes, exhaling. "Who cares. Let's go to the garage."

[08:27pm]

"Seriously, did your math study group suggest getting together with people your age and this was all you could come up with, or…?"

Daniel glared at Jax from across the room. "Look. You're with Emma. I don't want Emma. I don't see why we can't try to get along when it's pretty clear our friend group is going to stay together."

Diego shoveled more nachos into his mouth and nodded. "We want you here, Jax."

Jax wrinkled his nose at him, but accepted Daniel's reasoning. "Still, though. Not Sebastian?"

Daniel blinked. "Who?"

[08:55pm]

"Oh my GOD."

"I'm," Diego leaned further into the toilet bowl, "sorry!"

[09:03pm]

"AGAIN?"

"Stop eating nachos!" Jax complained, pulling his leather jacket's collar up to cover his nose.

Diego moaned sadly into the toilet.

[09:29pm]

Jax was banging his head back against the couch. "Daniel, can't you make them shut up?"

Daniel slapped his thighs. "If that was even a possibility, don't you think I would have?"

He stopped hitting his head long enough to hold his gaze. "Probably. But you're not good with probabilities, right?" He grinned.

Diego groaned from on top of the coffee table. "I guess I could eat some more nachos and throw up in the living room to scare them off."

"No!"

[09:46pm]

Daniel had tried to send Rob's friends running with a plunger, and Diego had even lit it on fire for effect. It didn't work.

They gave up.

[10:32pm]

Briefly—and Daniel did not investigate it—there was girlish laughter coming from the living room and definitely the sound of something shattering.

Jax glanced up from his phone, the grin he had from texting Emma vanishing. "Did they break a lamp or something?"

Daniel closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead. "I'm not. I'm not even gonna look right now."

Diego poked his head in from the hallway. "Daniel, Mel says Tom's scared and she doesn't know what to do."

He sighed and leaned back in his seat, pausing the game and tossing the controller aside. "Have her lock her door and quarantine them. I need a root beer."

Jax snorted. "Root beer."

[11:00pm]

Later, when Christine arrived back home and fixed Daniel with a pointed look after she'd walked through the living room, her eldest son ushered his guests up and out of the room. He had no clue what the etiquette was when your mom had just had her first date since your awful father left the picture, but he knew they'd eaten pounds upon pounds of nachos and Diego had thrown up twice and that didn't even begin to explain what bad shape the house was in. So, suffice to say, the least he could do was honor her wish for them to brush their teeth.

They passed Rob and Tom's room where hushed whispers could be heard—of course Rob's friends hadn't left—and also Mel's open bedroom door, showing her and Tom playing a card game. Tom waved excitedly at the boys, making them smile at his enthusiasm before they walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Jax started opening cabinets while Diego posed the question, "Why do we need to brush our teeth right now?"

"Maybe because you've vomited two times?" Jax suggested, nose wrinkling as he peered at shelves of medicine.

Daniel irritatedly closed the cabinet Jax was looking in and said, "Because my mom will be mad if she doesn't at least think we're doing it, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather actually brush my teeth than awkwardly stand around in the bathroom with two guys."

Jax had continued looking through personal items, but Diego took a moment to let that sink in. "...See, THAT'S why it sounds like an orgy."

"Dude!"

Something slammed against the other side of the door, and the guys jumped.

"Gosh dammit, you have to open the door!" Rob's voice carried through his door into the bathroom.

Whatever friend of his was on the other side knocked this time, audibly shuffling his feet. "I, uh, I gotta shit."

Daniel could not have hated his life more, and Jax knew that if his priceless expression was any indication. "Give us a minute!" Daniel called out, angrily opening a cabinet and grabbing his toothbrush.

Diego scratched the back of his neck. "Daniel, do you have a toothbrush I could borrow?" Jax smirked and cast a quick spell before grinning his pearly whites at the Kanay. "Hey, no fair!"

Daniel sighed and rummaged around in the drawer. "There should be one around here somewhere. Hold on, lemme just get my toothpaste…" Just as his hands closed around it, the guy banged on the door again and Daniel squeezed the tube. It exploded instantly, landing on Jax's shirt and Diego's hands respectively, but not only through the popped-off cap. It flew out of several holes in the tube.

Jax reared back and immediately made to take his shirt off. "Son of a bitch!"

Daniel put the cap back on and called out, "Ha ha, nice job, Tommy! Not like you're growing up or anything…"

"Yeah, like Rob's not a douche or anything!" Melanie yelled back from her room, and suddenly Daniel understood why her door was open and Tom was so thrilled to see them.

Rob's friends snorted from his bedroom. Another frantic knock sounded. "I can't help but feel like this is a bad time," the guy said.

Daniel sighed, aggravated, and slammed the toothpaste down onto the counter. It exploded all over his midsection.

There was a pause while Diego looked down at his hands, at Jax who was now shirtless, and at Daniel's pants. "Now see, man, the color of this toothpaste isn't helping your case—"

"Oh my gosh."

[07:44am]

The morning was worse.

Daniel woke up to screaming in the kitchen and Diego rolling off the couch and onto Jax, who made an "oof!" noise and then proceeded to shove his body off him. Daniel sat up in the bean bag and rubbed at his face, just about to ask them what was going on when another scream sounded.

"DANIEL, YOUR CRAZY SHORT FRIEND IS BEATING MY FRIENDS UP!"

Jax perked up immediately, but Diego and Daniel had identical worried expressions. They all clambered to their feet and rushed out of the garage, their footsteps warning Rob when they'd arrive and allowing him to intercept them in the hallway.

Rob pointed into the kitchen, where Andi was, indeed, wrestling not one but two of his friends. They rolled around the kitchen, although it was clear who was winning. Mia had her phone out, laughing and filming the entire ordeal, but Daniel didn't match his girlfriend's amusement.

Jax and Diego pushed past the brothers and into the center of the fight. Daniel's eyes flickered over the room. "Rob, what the hell is going on?"

Rob pushed at his shoulder and exclaimed, "Andi's killing my friends, that's what, jackass! Look at them!"

Daniel put his arms out, affronted. "Yeah, I can see that, Rob. I meant WHY?"

His younger brother shuffled his feet and turned around to watch the fight as well. "They all smelled waffles at the same time—"

There was no way anyone in that house had made them. "Where'd the waffles come from—"

"—but Andi had to get pissy and throw 'em out by their asscracks."

With an incredulous look, Daniel turned to his girlfriend. "So what happened?"

Mia chuckled and tapped her phone once, putting it down on the counter. "Your mom made waffles before she left—there's a note on the fridge—and when Andi and I got here she started wolfing them down, but then these nutsacks tried to intervene and ran into her cleavage." She crossed her arms, eyebrows raised at the scene. "It's totally deserved, babe."

Daniel stepped into the room and contemplated grabbing one of the boys, but decided against it. He wasn't touching these people, Andi would kick him in the balls if he tried for her, and she'd stop soon. Maybe.

Diego circled the group and suggested, "Maybe if we make more food they'll calm down? Also, I'm starving. Who wants pizza?"

Jax gave him a look of disgust. "Pizza for breakfast? An American thing, I suppose?"

Rob smacked Daniel in the chest as Mia moved to grab bacon from the freezer. "Who gives a shit about pizza? Someone get her off of them!"

Mia turned her head and snapped, "Hey dumbass! Aren't you on the football team? Hands off my boyfriend." It was a good comment, as everyone knew Rob wouldn't point out her boyfriend was also his brother.

Daniel turned to Jax and, as much as he didn't want to, made eye contact and said, "Can't you just…" He made a weird hand motion.

Jax stared for a moment before letting out a laugh, shaking his head. "You owe me, Danny Boy. I'm not going to forget this," he promised, before subtly casting a spell. Instantly, Andi was beside him and the guys were laying on the floor, groaning.

Andi blinked, hair in her eyes before it clicked. She turned toward Jax and said, "Hey!" punching him in the arm.

"Ow!" He rubbed at his arm. "Lay off."

"Go home, Birdman," she taunted, flipping her hair out of her face. Her fingers got caught in it though. "Oh, ew! Syrup." She glared at everyone in the room and walked into the hallway. "I'm gonna take a shower."

Daniel sighed. "I should go make sure Tom's okay. Was he out here?"

Mia shook her head. "He took one look at the room and went outside."

One of the beaten-up boys sat up. "Wait, did she say she was showering?" He nudged his friend. The two looked at each other, snorted, then got to their feet and ran out.

Diego rubbed his arms. "Those guys give me a weird vibe." He turned to Jax, as if he'd been talking about the room in general. "Oh, not you, Jax."

But he wasn't listening, instead watching the boys run off. "Yeah, I'll be right back," he said absentmindedly, heading after the dorks.

The hallway ended at the garage, but about halfway down was the bathroom. Jax registered he could hear the shower running before he realized that not only were the two perverts standing outside the door, but they had it cracked open and were peeking in, too, giggling to themselves.

Jax sauntered up and grabbed the doorknob, slamming it shut loudly. The boys jumped at his presence and shrunk into themselves. "Alright, nothing to see here," he decided, fixing them with a charismatic smile that didn't reach his eyes. Curiosity struck, and he opened the door and glanced in. "Yeah, really, nothing to see here."

"Hey!" Andi's offended cry sounded.

Jax grinned and laughed, watching the boys run back to the kitchen. "I didn't really look, Cruz!" As he started back toward the kitchen after them, Rob's door opened and several guys nearly trampled him. "Whoa, what the hell?!"

"Pancakes!" one of Rob's friends exclaimed, pointing into the kitchen.

Another hit him on the arm. "Those are waffles."

He pointed again, using the exact same excited tone. "Waffles!" The group hustled in for breakfast, Cole and Isaac casually walking in while Rob ended up hanging behind.

Daniel put his hands on his hips and looked down at Rob disapprovingly, finally getting down to the matter at hand. "Mom said they weren't allowed to stay the night."

"How come your friends are allowed but mine aren't?" Rob challenged, glaring. He didn't even mention that everyone clearly knew his friends had never left.

Jax started to open his mouth but Daniel whipped around and it stopped his comment. Turning back, Daniel said, "That's because two people spent the night. You have, like, twelve."

He scoffed. "There's not twelve."

"Then how many are there?"

Rob's eyebrows drew together in concentration, a frown beginning to appear on his face.

"Anyway," Daniel continued, ignoring his brother's face, "the point is, Mom only approved of Diego and Jax, and probably Cole and Isaac if you'd have asked. But not the entire group of gross kids." He wrinkled his nose, watching said group devour everything on the kitchen table. Cole quickly grabbed a napkin before one of them shoved it into his mouth. When he saw that Daniel was looking, he smiled sheepishly and held up two fingers in a wave. Daniel sighed and looked back to his brother.

"Since when do I care what Christine says?" Rob remarked, crossing his arms defiantly.

Daniel narrowed his eyes. "She is our mother and you will treat her with respect."

He snorted, eerily similar to half the guys in the room. "Yeah, right, like Dad treated her with respect."

The look Daniel gave him could have killed. "Hey, you can't call him Dad. There are two options there: Rick, or deadbeat. Take your pick."

Rob rolled his eyes and moved to leave the room. "God, can't you stop trying to be a momma's boy and admit Dad got out before things got bad?"

Mia hadn't taken her eyes off their conversation once the entire time, but one second Rob was walking away, and the next he was stumbling into the table and Daniel's hand was bleeding.

"Things got bad because he left us with next to no money and your shit attitude," he threw back, a satisfied grin on his face despite the pain his hand felt. Mia grinned with him, enjoying Rob's shocked expression.

Daniel cracked his knuckles and Rob shoved him back into the sink before he could get punched again.

In the background, Mia picked up the ringing house phone. "Hello? ...Yeah, don't worry Christine. Andi beat up some of Rob's friends, Diego's hitting on Jax, and Daniel punched Rob in the face already, so everything's normal."

Daniel looked back at her and whispered, "Babe, don't tell her I'm hurting him!"

At that exact moment Mel was quietly walking behind Daniel, light on her feet and her purse in her hand. Daniel turned back just as she was about to leave the room.

"Whoa, whoa, Mel," he said in an authoritative tone, shoving Rob's face away from him and walking over to their sister. He barely registered that she was wearing a skirt that was a bit too short, instead focusing on her makeup. "You look good."

She beamed up at him. "Than—"

"Too good," he clarified, crossing his lanky arms. Rob bled behind him, glaring at the back of his head. "I don't like this. Take that lip gloss off."

Andi, clad in loose pajamas and a towel piled on top of her head and having took the quickest shower, picked her way through the gaggle of geeks and pulled a chair out from the table, sitting down. "Don't worry, Dan-o, it'll come off when they're making out."

Daniel turned around and pleaded, "That's not helping!"

Mel gave Andi a thumbs up and a wide grin before announcing, "I'm leaving, bye!" and running out of the house.

Daniel spun back to where his sister was a second ago. "Agh, Andi!"

Andi propped her feet up on the table, instantly being crowded by the nerds. She crossed her legs at the ankles and frowned, watching how one kid stared a little too long at her feet. "I'm pretty sure that was your fault, Daniel."

He gaped. "How was that MY fault? You let her leave before she could change."

Jax walked closer to the two, an exasperated look on his face. Diego trailed behind him, and the group just barely heard the tail end of his sentence. "—smells really good so I was wondering if you'd let me have it. T-to impress Maddie, of course."

Jax heaved the biggest sigh in the entire world and collapsed into the chair beside Andi (to her chagrin), eyes roaming over the room. Mia waved his attention away, putting her back to him to hear Christine more clearly through the phone. He finally noticed Rob's mess of a face and frowned. "Whoa. What happened to your mess of a face?"

Rob spit blood into the sink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Ask my douche of a brother."

Jax glanced at Daniel, who simply shrugged and leaned against the table nonchalantly. Jax extended a hand and shook Daniel's bloody one. "Good job."

"Hey!" Rob objected, eyebrows drawn together in frustration. "I thought you hated him!"

Jax put his arm on the back of Andi's chair and looked at Rob closely. "Yeah, but I think I hate you more." Andi started clapping and nudged him in the side.

Daniel grinned. "Amen."

"Are you gonna take that towel off anytime soon?" one of the guys said quietly, standing directly beside Andi now.

"Are you gonna take those clothes off anytime soon?" another one said under his breath.

Both Jax and Andi got to their feet at the same time, Daniel shaking his head in disapproval of not only Rob's friends but Rob himself. "All-nighters," he grumbled. Diego cut his eyes at him, mouthing the word 'sleepover.'

While the nerds were getting beat up, a knock coming from the front of the house sounded and Rob complained loudly, "OH, who actually wants to come into this house?!" before stomping off to answer it.

[08:10am]

When Emma knocked on the Millers' front door, the morning got even more awkward. A scent that somehow combined both violence and waffles hit her in the face as soon as Rob, sporting a quickly bruising and still bloody black eye, opened the door to meet her gaze.

"Ew," they said simultaneously with mutual disgust.

Emma drew the cardigan she'd thrown on tighter around her body as if trying to shield herself from his personality. "Is Jax in there?" she asked, sighing. Maybe it should've been a blessing that her boyfriend had spent the night somewhere so close to her home, but when was anything to do with the Millers a blessing?

A loud screeching came from within the house, something thumped on the ground, and Mia's voice could be heard hollering, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" A few seconds passed before she, presumably answering Daniel, said, "Oh sorry, would you like to talk to your mother about why you punched Rob in the face?"

Emma's eyebrows rose, piecing together that her ex-boyfriend had finally punched his jerk of a brother. Rob ignored her and groaned exaggeratedly, having just turned around to likely call for the man in question (or announce her presence, just to get the house stirred up even more) when a small, scrawny boy that smelled of ham poked up from behind his shoulder.

Emma started and blinked at him.

He stared at her a moment longer before snorting. Like, actually snorting. Loudly. "Heh heh, Rob. Is this the girl?"

Rob whipped his head to look at him. "No, it is not."

She raised her eyebrow, already offended. "Am I what girl?"

Rob gave the kid a firm shove. "Dude, go eat something, go kick Daniel in the shins; I don't care, just get out!"

Another boy appeared, giving Emma the same greeting by snort. "LMAO Rob is this her?"

LMAO? Emma loosened her grip on the cardigan and took a step forward, attempting to steer the conversation back to the reason she was there. "So . . . Jax?"

The newest boy chortled and said gleefully, "OMF it is her!" He punched Rob in the arm lightly, but Rob wheeled back and hit him hard. The kid coughed in pain before yelling, "Guys! Get in here! It's Rob's girlfriend!"

Emma's face dropped just as her breakfast rose up in her throat. "Oh my god, what?"

Suddenly a pack of—nerds, for lack of a better term/the only accurate term, were huddled around Rob in the doorway, switching their attention from Emma to their friend and back. All snorting, of course.

Emma only recognized one of the guys. Cole Allison took her in and immediately raised a hand in a friendly wave. "Oh, hey Emma. Get that calculus homework done?"

Rob whirled on him. "You have calculus with her?"

A stockier unknown male bumped into Rob. "Whoa-ho-ho, is that jealousy I hear? Don't worry, Cole doesn't bat for that team."

Cole goodnaturedly rolled his eyes and smiled at Emma. "They're dorks."

Yet another guy—how many people were in that house?—walked up behind the group, rivaling only Cole and Rob in height. He could easily see over the smaller boys giggling like children. "Ayee, Rob, is this the girl from the rumors that never comes to our football games to support you?" he asked, clapping his buddy on the back.

Rob turned to glare at him in warning. "Isaac…"

Emma appreciated how Isaac stated it, less like he was teasing and more like a 'so this is what I've been hearing about' kind of tone. "You're all on the football team—er, I mean, what rumors? Jax!" she called out, risking the horde of prepubescent boys and leaning forward to project her voice into the house.

"Haven't you been secretly seeing Rob since 'Dan-o' cheated on you with Mia at the beach two summers ago?" one of the boys asked, breathing heavily at her and elbowing Rob in the side until he smacked him over the head.

"I—I have not, and that wasn't—it didn't—" Emma fumbled, flabbergasted. Who even was this kid? Why was he on the football team? And why was he talking to her? "Don't bring that up!" she settled on protesting, choosing to focus more on the fact this rumor was saying she'd been dating Rob for the last. Two. Years. Gross!

Rob made a gagging noise. "Yeah right. Everyone shut the fuck up and go get the Australian."

"Awe, so supportive of your girlfriend's boyfriend," someone cooed. Then there was a flash of movement as Rob jumped the guy, several of the nerds fleed, and the door was slammed shut in Emma's face.

She was still in shock when the door was yanked open again a moment later and Jax stepped out, running a hand through his hair and exhaling, "Let's get out of here."

She let him take her by the hand and start heading across the street before she managed to get out, "Was it really that bad?"

He sighed and made a face, thinking. "I guess not, but Diego's hitting on me now, so."

"But—but he's straight," she managed, face contorted.

Jax snorted. "Yeah. Alright."

He continued leading her up her driveway in silence, so Emma closed her mouth as well. Confusion was settling in deep and she was very perturbed by whatever had gone on inside that house, but she could've gone her entire life not knowing about the Rob rumors and she'd prefer to be in the dark about this too. She matched his pace and squeezed his hand just as the Millers' kitchen window shattered and water started spraying out, Andi yelling, "Dammit Rob, your gross friends broke the sink!"

review bc i actually wrote something.