Callum’s POV

Things with the twins had been tense ever since their fight three days ago. As far as I can tell neither of them have talked to the other since then and they will barely look at each other. It was clear both of them were being affected by it. Axel was jump and constantly looking around for something to happen but he hadn’t had any attitude since the fight and his nerves seemed the be shot at this point. Weylyn looked absolutely exhausted. It was clear he hadn’t been sleeping well since the fight. He had bags under his eyes and seemed to be lagging in general to the point where it took his several minutes to understand that someone was talking to him. 

Now it was the weekend and while I wanted them to be able to stay at home and rest and hopefully make up, we were in the mall. Jax was willing to let us push it back one more week now that at the very least we had a school picked out but Ryder and Liam were insistent. Liam had said it would do them good for them to get out of the house and having new things could help them be more relaxed at home. Ryder just wanted to go shopping.

“So what all are we looking for,” Ryder asked as we began walking around the mall.  “We could get more clothes or we could get some posters, some random knicknacks.”

“You were the ones who bought us here,” Axel said with an eye roll. “Shouldn’t you know what we need?”

“Remember this is what you want though,” Liam reminded them. “We don’t know you well enough to tell you where to look for things you want. Hopefully this will help us learn a bit more about you.”

“Why don’t we just start in here,” Jax asked as he pointed to the Spencer’s sign. “We all like it in here well enough. Surely they will too.”

“Jax no,” Ryder said with his eyes blown wide. “That’s so not appropriate for their age!”

“I used to shop there at 14,” Liam said with a shrug.

“Yea and I went with Kyle and Kellan all the time. What’s the big deal?”

“Maybe the sex toys and ‘daddy’s boy’ shirts around the entire store?”

“But they have lava lamps,” Weylyn said in a timid voice as he peered into the store.

“Holy shit they have fake bongs back there,” were Axel’s last words as he darted into the shop with Weylyn following on his heels.

“I’m counting that as a win for me,” Jax said as he walked in with a smirk on his face.

“Dear god put those down,” I said to Axel as I ripped a pair of booty shorts out of his hands that said ‘slut’ across the ass.

“Why? They would show off my thighs don’t you think?”

“You’re a child, you should not be showing off anything,” Axel rolled his eyes but continued walking. “Thanks Jax,” I sighed as I put them back on the rack. 

“You’re welcome. See, Weylyn has already picked out something. This was a good idea.”

I wouldn’t lie, seeing Wey; the kid who never asked for anything, pick out something without being prompted to was a win in my book. Thank god it was just a lava lamp.

“Can I have a bong?”

“Absolutely not.” Axel groaned.

“Keep it up and I will be bringing you to Claire’s and you will only get things from there.”

“They do piercings there right,” Axel asked with way too much excitement.

“You are not getting a piercing from Claire’s,” Jax said firmly. “If you want a piercing and Callum says yes then you’re going to a reputable shop to get it done. Those guns are literally one of the worst ways to get one done.”

“You aren’t getting a piercing anywhere,” I said after taking a deep breath. “We are here for clothes and decor not body alterations.” Axel pouted but seemed to cheer up when we walked into Box Lunch.

He ended up finding a good amount of things there. A few lego sets that I just couldn’t say no to, a poster about some anime that I had never seen, and a hoodie that he swore he was going to wear despite it being 80 degrees out. 

Weylyn found a few new things too: a bookshelf, a weird looking demonic goat plushie that cost way too much money, a hoodie that matched his brother’s, and a new book that I don’t even know how he found.

After about the fourth shop they stopped asking me for things seeing as I was going to be the most strict with what they could get so they turned to Liam and Jax mostly seeing as they were all for the ‘cooler’ and inappropriate stores. Every now and then they would guilt trip Ryder into something, knowing he would do almost anything of their approval.

By the end of the day I had made several trip back to the car so we wouldn’t be holding things all day and when we finally called it off for the day we could barely close the trunk with all the stuff they bought.

“We are never going shopping again,” Jax said as he began hauling everything into the house and letting the twins divide everything up.

“I’m sorry if we spent too much money,” Weylyn said with a frown as he looked over all the bags. “It didn’t feel like that much when we were getting all of it.”

“He’s not worried about the money,” Ryder soothed as he looked through the bags with them for the one shirt he has also bought. “He just doesn’t like shopping.”

“No I don’t like broccoli, I hate shopping,” he said as he collapsed on the couch.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I scoffed.

“We were there for 3 hours.”

“Poor baby,” Liam teased as he plopped in our husband’s lap. “You didn’t die did you?”

“Fuck off.” Liam only hummed as he pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

Before long Liam made dinner, a movie was playing, Axel was putting together his new set in the floor, and Weylyn was sitting next to him reading a book. It seemed as if having new things made them forget they were mad at each other.

“Why do we always watch movie,” Axel asked as Ryder was about to pick out another one. “I mean these streaming services have shows on them too. Why not pick one of those?”

“Back at camp we didn’t have internet in the cabins so if you wanted to watch anything you had to save up for a TV and get movie to watch,” Ryder explained. “Box sets were always way too expensive.”

“Or you could have your sponsor buy all of it for you,” I teased as I nudged his side with my foot.

“We can watch a show though, if you want to,” Liam said as he took the remote from our husband, who was hovering over the movie Love, Simon.

“I like shows more,” Weylyn said as he looked up from his book. I didn’t even know he was paying attention to us. “They last longer.”

“I do too. You get more out of it at the end of season 5 then you do from a two hour movie.”

“Show it is then,” Liam said as he started to look for any show that caught is attention.

Before long the show was started and we sat in silence as we all took in the new format. 

I couldn’t help but watch with a smile on my face as I stared down at my brothers. We hadn’t even gotten three episodes in and the two of them were already passed out. Weylyn was curled up into his brother’s side while Axel had a protective arm around his side.

“I think they had fun,” Liam said when he followed my gaze.

“At the very least it looks like they are done fighting,” Jax noted. “Should we carry them up to bed or wake them up? They can’t sleep on the floor all night.”

I didn’t answer as I nudged Axel’s shoulder. “Bed time,” I said when he peaked an eye open to glare at me. He gave a weak nod as he, with only slight effort, picked up his brother and began walking up the stairs. “Some things never change,” I said when they were just out of ear shot. “Axel used to carry Wey to bed all the time.”

“He’s a good brother,” Liam noted.

“Well he does learn from the best,” I tease. “I want them in therapy by the end of the month.”

“I thought we said we were going to wait until they were more comfortable with Andrew,” Ryder asked with a frown.

“I don’t think we can wait that long,” I said with a sigh. “Weylyn has said too many concerning things at this point. I mean the pedophile comment he made to Carter and then when Axel questioned it he said ‘it’s not like it happened to you’. I don’t like how that sounds. And I want them to have someone to talk to about starting school. Both of them seem to not want to be separated there and if there’s a reason for that I want someone to be able to help them through that sooner rather than later.”

“So you caught that little comment too then,” Liam noted as he looked over to Ryder. “I’m with Callum, I don’t like the way it sounded but if it is what we think it is then you should be the one to make that call. Would he even trust someone that he doesn’t know? You hated being alone with people for a long time after it happened.”

“I think he needs help,” Ryder said after a while of thinking. “But we shouldn’t push. If he’s not comfortable being alone with Andrew then we should offer to let someone sit in with him until he is or have a panic button for one of us while we wait outside in case he gets scared. And he says he wants to quit we should let him. If he’s not ready to talk about it then we shouldn’t make him.”

“What about Axel,” Jax asked. “He’s not very fond of Andrew and I doubt he ever will be at this point. We could call Seth and make a meeting appointment for them. Carter has never had a complaint about him.”

“It is helpful for siblings to have separate therapists,” Liam commented. “It could make them feel more safe and help them know there is no way the therapist is sharing secrets with the other sibling. We all know Andrew wouldn’t do that but they don’t.”

“That and the fact the Axel and Andrew will probably never vibe well. Andrew is too… well, Andrew. He’s too pushy and Axel doesn’t seem like the kind of person to handle that well,” Jax said. “Seth will let the conversation drop in a second if he has hit a nerve.”

“It seems like a good plan,” I nod. “We’ll call Seth tomorrow and see when his next opening is if he even has one. We’ll get Weylyn to see Andrew. Then they’ll start school and hopefully make some half decent friends that they can rely on. Sound like a plan?”

“It’s a very good plan but we all know how good we are at following plans,” Ryder teased. “We were supposed to remain kidless.”

“Well that was out of my control.”

“We were also supposed to get a dog,” Jax said with a pout.

“Well someone wouldn’t let me get a pug,” I pointed out.

“And I told you to pick literally any other dog and you wouldn’t.”

“I just wanted a pug.”

“Too bad for you.”

“I wanted a cat.”

“Ryder no.”