they are all the same; and i'm rare.

“Thank you! ‘Cause if you decided to start peekin’ in on my dates, I’d have to start accompanying you on yours.” He says it like a joke, but he would absolutely follow through. “Hey, I didn’t say anything about redo. I said you can add to. And what’s wrong with black jeans? They look good, and they go with everything.”

“What dates?” Serena asked, gesturing to an invisible audience. “If you get to go on my dates, I wanna get to go on my dates, too.” 

“Sounds like a pretty weird rule to me, right Cece? But hey, what do I know? You’re mama’s always been smarter than me, and that’s why she’s the boss.” Rafael is good at being an uncle or uncle figure, but when it comes to him thinking about having his own kids, he’s out of his depth. “But hey, if me being myself makes you look bad, you’re gonna have to take that up with you,” he teases.

“Don’t answer the question, mija,” Nina told her daughter. “Raf, you know that’s not fair. I’m never gonna be as fun or as cool as you, I’m her mom. I’m the one who makes her sleep before she wants to and backs up Kyle when he says she’s had too many sweets. You’re gonna make me look bad no matter what. Tone it down,” Nina teased. “Maybe don’t be yourself every once in a while. How does that sound, Cece? You wanna tell Uncle Raf he’s boring?”

“That’s… gonna be a one thousand percent hell no from me. The stalking me on the date part. You can buy me all the clothes you want.”

“Zay!” She wouldn’t have suggested something like this in high school. Serena hadn’t known much about dating or putting herself out there or, more importantly, skin care. She liked to call this personal growth. “OKay, if those are your boundaries then I guess there’s nothing I can do except redo your closet. You have too many black jeans.”

“Uh huh, I’ve heard that one before.” It’s moments like these when he realizes he’s turning into his father, and he’s got it take it back about two hundred steps. Isaiah falls back onto the nearest couch, prepared to follow whatever direction his sister gives. “So catch me up, then. What’s new with you?”

“Well recently I discovered my brother really needs some help with self-care, so I’ve been trying to find him some nice clothes and some good skincare products and I’m hoping eventually I can secretly stalk him when he goes on a date.” 

“And what’s wrong with my skin, you little goblin?” He’s used to his sisters teaming up on him or giving him a hard time, so it’s his natural playful response. “And what else are we gonna do, so I’m not just sitting here with these thirty-two products on my face?”

"Nothing’s wrong with it, it could just be better.” Serena shrugged. “We can talk and catch up. It won’t take that long, there’s only, like, three things you need. And they’ll change your life.” 

“Yeah, well, that tone in your voice is a threat, so I’m just gonna go ahead and say yes to the face mask. Did Leia already shoot you down or somethin’?”

“I didn’t ask Leia.” Not tonight, anyway. “I just thought your skin could need it. I bought you a face wash and some moisturizer, too.”

“Is this you asking me if I’m gonna hang out with you while you put face masks on us, or you telling me?”

“I’m asking, Zay, but I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.” 

“Definitely needed, I can feel a pimple coming on my chin! ”

“Been stuffing your face with chocolate?” 

“Ten minutes fishing?” Hannah said with a chuckle as she shook her head. “Sounds about right. Did you at least have a little fun?” She asked with a small crinkle in her nose. “Ya think he enjoyed it because of the peace and quiet. I mean five kids at home? Who could blame him?”

“Not really,” he shook his head. “Have you ever gone fishing? It doesn’t smell very good. At least the kids are cute and funny and we love them. I don’t care much for fish. How are you feeling, by the way?”

@splendiclsuns

“Don’t ask me, like I’m the one in charge.” His got a big grin on his face as he says that, even if Cece, who’s currently seated on his shoulders, can’t see him. “That’s your mama. Always been in charge, always will be in charge.” Rafael turns his smile toward Nina. “So what d’you say? Ice cream? Or no ice cream?”

The look Rafael was sporting now was so different from his shock and surprise at seeing her with a kid. Now they were easy around each other, which made life easier for her. She couldn’t have friends who didn’t like her kid. She couldn’t separate being a mom from the rest of her— even if it wasn’t the only part of her identity, it still affected how she thought all of the time. “No ice cream, baby, you had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. You know the rules. And you,” she turned to Raf, “you’re making me look mean in front of my kid.”

“I couldn’t think of a better kingdom I’d want to be apart of,” Maia replied with a chuckle. She gave another quick glance at the ingredients scattered on the kitchen island before she began to pull her sleeves up to her elbow. “I think I’m even more intrigued to see what becomes of all this. What can I help with?”

“So you have good taste,” Chandler said raising his eyebrows at his daughter as she clapped at the statement. Thank God Maia was being such a good sport about this— if he’d stopped by someone’s house and been asked to bake with them and six children, he’d have stuck around awkwardly. She didn’t seem awkward at all. “You can start by melting the butter and the chocolate together. These kiddos aren’t allowed near the stove and I have to watch them to make sure they don’t get any egg shells into anything.” Almost as if to prove his point, Charlie, Rafe, and Tucker picked up eggs, hitting them against the sides of their bowls— now there was yolk on his counter. Tucker had clearly not inherited Hannah’s baking skills. “Everything gets a little messy in the Heine house.” 

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” Charlotte quipped back, holding back a gleeful grin– it was probably not normal to be so happy about the fact that everywhere he’d turn, he’d see a little piece of her. She hoped it’d drive him a little crazy. Knowing this made her feel just a little bit better about herself. 1 point, Charlotte. Leo, zero. “If I’d let you do the decorating, it probably would’ve ended up looking like we lived in a frat house, babe.” Taking another sip of her coffee, she leaned back in her seat. “Pretty sure you gave me that perfume, so it’s your own fault…. Can you blame me, though? It smells amazing.” And it made her think of Leo every time she sprayed it on her wrist before walking out of the house each morning– god, she was pathetic. Plastering on the biggest fake smile she could muster, she shrugged. “Anyways, there’s fresh coffee. Help yourself.” She popped one earbud back in and resumed her music as she pretended to read the newspaper– not the comics section like she had been a before he walked in, of course. 

Oh so they were joking about their break up now? Their divorce. Whatever. The woman was smiling and acting like everything was totally normal, and they’d been out of sync for so long Leo couldn’t figure out whether she was pretending. For all he knew, she did do all of those things she’d mentioned, and she only wore the perfume he’d bought her because it smelled nice. Calling him babe was totally chill, as Andrew and Jules would say. How long had stuff been falling through the cracks with them and he hadn’t noticed? Leo had spent so long hunched in his office trying to slam out pages in his fictional world, he’d lost the plot of reality. 

“I was only in a frat for one year,” Leo said, holding up a finger. He didn’t take any more steps into the kitchen. He felt like a dark cloud showing up to ruin her otherwise sunny day. The coffee smelled great, though, and he knew there’d be bagels in the fridge. He was out of cream cheese, that was the only reason he was moving in closer. As he moved around the island to get to the fridge, he looked at the newspaper from the corner of his eye. “Are you reading about taxes?”

When Charlotte had woken up that morning, she’d seriously considered not getting out of bed all day– maybe to brush her teeth and grab all the junk food in the house, but only to bring it all back to bed. Fortunately, she’d convinced herself to get up and be productive, and she was especially glad she’d done so when her husband– soon to be ex husband, walked into the kitchen. She quickly pulled out her air pods, internally thanking the universe, whatever karmic force was out there that had gotten her to get up instead of mope around the house– the least thing she wanted Leo to see was her with unbrushed hair, no makeup, inhaling a gallon of ice cream; no, she needed to be the one who was doing the best between the two of them. She had to be the one who wasn’t fazed by the fact that her marriage was deteriorating and her husband– soon to be ex, she kept having to remind herself– was picking up his things. At her request, of course, but him taking his belongings– his old CDs, books, the awful sweater he’d had forever and she had never been able to convince him to get rid of– it made their impending divorce all the more real. And she hated it. 

So she took a sip of her coffee, cocking her eyebrow at him. “Hey,” she replied, setting down the mug and leaning on her elbows. “Right, I worked late last night, so I sorta slept in today for the first time in forever. Not like me at all, I know, but I’ve turned over a completely new leaf. I might even do yoga today. Meditate. Or rearrange the entire living room,” she rambled. “But anyways, you can pretend I’m not even here.”

“Very productive plans,” Leo nodded. The button down had been a good call. He’d listened to Blake for once, even if he didn’t think he was going to get his favorite chair— Leo resisted the urge to crane his neck to try and see it in the living room. Did it miss him like he missed it? Of course not. It was a fucking chair. 

So here he was, thinking about a love affair with an inanimate object, standing in front of his wife who looked way cooler than him. The airpods, the casual sip of the coffee, just the easy way she was sitting. Meditate. Yoga. Sleeping in. She’d really ditched him and started to live the life. She didn’t have to keep talking, he understood. This was a good thing for her. Some freedom. “That’s gonna be kind of hard,” Leo said. “This house has you written all over it. I could smell your perfume in the foyer.”

Don’t overthink it, dude. Down the hallway, make a left to the living room, do not look at the KitchenAid mixer. She could have the KitchenAid mixer. 

He turned to go into the kitchen, just wanting to see the thing he’d once made homemade ice cream in, only to find Lottie sitting at the kitchen island. “Oh. Uh. Hi.” Leo waved awkwardly. “ I did not think you’d be here.” 

“Um, no he did not.” Hannah paused, eye narrowing at her brother. “Do I even want to ask what happened? Or is it better if I don’t know?”

“We didn’t do anything terrible, Han,” Chandler said, raising his eyebrows. “You have no faith. We just spent a lot of time searching through my garage, spent maybe 10 minutes fishing, and then just hung out instead. Fishing is very boring, don’t know how Pops does it.” 

“I’m wonder woman, I always find time.” Hannah pointed out with a smile. “But I do think Pops would like to see us. Maybe we can do the cookin. Maybe you boys can take him fishin? A day with his favorite people who could he be mad.”

“Fishing,” he nodded, thinking about the last time he’d done that. “Did your husband ever tell you how that worked out for us the last time?”