#team-lasses

The Lads and Gents lounged nicely on their couch, huddled around the movie that was playing. Blankets were shared, draped across bodies from left to right. But, no one could doubt that someone was missing from the makeshift family.

Jack wasn’t lounging in his regular spot, in between Ryan and Ray. He wasn’t bringing Gavin off the floor and onto his lap. He wasn’t adding his laughter at the jokes that were said. And it seemed to be a bit more chaotic without Jack’s calming tone.

Of course everyone missed him. But that wasn’t even the worst part. Sure, they always hated the times where he had to travel across the country, but this time, it was worse to have his absence throughout the office and home.

He was going to miss Valentine’s Day.

Not all holidays mattered to the group, but Valentine’s Day seemed to be the most important. It had always been a tradition to celebrate together, as their large bunch. After a day of shoving flowers into each other’s faces, they would spend the night eating a dinner made by Chef Geoff, surrounded by candle light, making the day that much more romantic.

So when the day came by, and Jack still hadn’t returned, they knew they had to do something. They needed their sixth love, the missing Gent, and they needed to spend the holiday with him.  

And that’s what caused all the boys to rush home and set up the perfect date. 

Candles were lit; flowers were placed all around the kitchen, mostly covering the dining table. Geoff had already started to make the Valentine’s Day dinner. The Lads were in charge of the most important part, getting Jack. Ray was the one to suggest the most logical solution to their missing Gent problem back at the office, so they knew exactly what they had to do.

The Lads quickly disappeared into the hall, while the reaming Gents continued to cook the meal, Ryan finding a place next to Geoff at the stove to help stir parts of the dish. They stayed in silence, Geoff scrunching his eyebrows once in a while, making him seem like he was doing something terribly wrong. He wasn’t of course. Or, at least he hoped. 

The Lad’s finally returned, giggling as they drug in the laptop. They began setting up the computer, plugging it in to the closest plug. Gavin made sure that he opened Skype, and made sure he even had Jack’s contact up. Gavin smiled warmly as he saw the profile picture of his most loving Gent, like he couldn’t move his eyes away. 

The dinner was about ready, the Lad’s set up the computer far away enough so they would all be able to be seen in the shot. It was perfect, full proof and a great fix for their missing mate. Geoff and Ryan quickly set the table, the smell of tomato sauce wafting the room. 

They all quickly flooded into the webcam, Gavin and Ray having to climb up the other’s to be in the shot. They all gave a quick laugh, but quickly got back to their task at hand.

Michael stretched his arm across the table, quickly tapping the call button. They sat for a moment, hearing the way the call echoed though out their dining room. There was a tinge of fear that Jack wouldn’t answer, and each one of the boys tensed up for a moment. 

But, that fear flew away as Jack’s face appeared in the screen, looking sleepy but extremely happy at the same time. All of the other men gave ear to ear smiles, all yelling “Hi Jack!”

The bearded man smiled back, giving a sleepy “Hey guys!” back.

“Sorry, did we wake you up or something?” Michael gave him a concerned look. He hoped that wasn’t the case. He didn’t’ want to be that asshole.

“No! Of course not!” Jack gave a large smile to his boys. “So, what’s this about?”

Geoff gave him a puzzling look. “Wait, don’t you know what day it is?”

Jack shook his head. “No.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Valentine’s Day. You know, a day where countless of people were gunned down?”

“Ryan!” They all exclaimed in worried tones. Ryan just snickered back in response.

Jack chuckled softly. “Sorry guys. Guess with all the stuff I’ve been having to do, I lost track of the date.” Jack gave his boys a smile. “So, you didn’t even want to leave me out of this Valentine’s Day?”

“Of course!” Gavin squawks, popping up, tackling and crushing Geoff’s head under his weight. He jumped closer to the camera, and gave a small smile to Jack. Jack gave a smile back.

“Okay, okay. That really hurts. Please get off, now!” Geoff growled, managing to throw Gavin’s small weight off of his back.

Jack gave a laugh, then planting the loving smile right back to his face. “You know, I really love you guys,”

“We know,” Ray smiled, feeling as if Jack was in the room right now. Sure, he missed him, but this was still great.

The night rolled on, them finishing the small meal that Chef Geoff and Ryan had created, and having loving small talk throughout the whole thing. After everyone was finished, they each got their own time to talk with Jack. Most of them asked if he was doing alright, and telling him that they loved him. Ryan’s chat got a bit weird, but there doesn’t really need to be detail on that subject.

And almost a few days later, Jack strolled back in to the house, dragging his luggage and letting out a hearty, “I’m home!” as he walked through the door. The Lad’s were out of the room in a flash, tackling him in the process. They all greeted him with large hugs and small pecks, explaining that they missed him so much. He clearly returned the hugs and the pecks, happy to be back with his boys.

The other Gents eventually made their way into the living room, giving Jack the same treatment the Lads had given him. He was so glad to be back home. He missed seeing everything so much.

“So, did you like our Valentine’s Day?” Geoff said with a smirk.

Jack gave a large smile, thinking back to the night. “It was perfect. I wouldn’t trade being with you guys for anything, even if it’s from other parts of the country.”

They all gave loud “Aw!”’s, and entered a group hug, Jack being trapped in the center. 

Gavin pushed past Jack as they entered the house, leaving the man in the hallway as he entered the living room.

“We're back!” he shouted as he entered the room.

Ryan was sat on the couch with his laptop and sent a small smile in Gavin's direction before returning to whatever it was he was doing. Michael, Ray, and Geoff were seated on the floor with a deck of cards and several brightly colored chips around them.

“Welcome back,” Ray greeted, sending him a small smile before returning his attention to his cards. “How was the podcast?”

“Fun. Crazy per usual,” Gavin reported. He glanced around. “Did the boys go to bed already?”

Michael shrugged, “I put Eris down and then they ran off to their bedroom.”

“Patrick said they had multiplication worksheets to do,” Ryan answered. His fingers stilled on his keyboard. He added, “It’s a bit odd that they didn’t ask me for help though. They’re always trying to convince me to do it for them.”

Gavin nodded, stretching out, “I'll go say goodnight and make sure they're not plotting to blow the roof off the house again.”

As he started down the hallway, he heard Ryan muse, “I think I'd be upset if they did that without asking for my help.”

(--------------------------)

Gavin rapted his knuckles against the door twice. 

He tried the doorknob once, surprised to find it locked when the boys had never locked any of their parents out before, before he heard Patrick yell, “One second!”

Gavin was fine with the statement, trying to squelch the worry in his stomach with thoughts that perhaps they were just changing into pajamas or had snuck a snack up the stairs. 

That is, until there was a series of crashes and bangs. He heard the younger twin let out a, “owie” and all his reservations flew out the window.

“Open this door right now, boys,” Gavin insisted, giving the door two more hits. There was a pause. “If you don’t I’m going downstairs and your dad can kick it down.”

There was a squeak before the door cracked open and Patrick poked his head out. He gave a nervous laugh and a small grin, “Hi daddy. How was everyone? Did Uncle Burnie have any new toys for us because Peter really loves that catbug one that-”

“Patrick,” he cut the eldest of his children off, “step aside and let me in. I want to make sure you’re brother is okay.”

Patrick glanced back into the room before saying, “He’s alright. He just-“

“Patrick Ramsey!” The boy wilted, smile dropping and head hanging as he stepped back and opened the door. 

Gavin paused for a moment when he saw the scene in front of him. In the space between the boy’s beds was a pad of brightly colored paper, the rubber stamp kit Peter had gotten for their birthday, fifty washable markers, one hundred and twenty crayons, and three separate containers of glitter.  

Peter was lying by all of it, gripping his knee.

“Are you okay Peter?” he questioned, bending down and peeling the boys hands from his skin to make sure there wasn’t any blood.

Peter nodded, his eyes a little watery, “Uh huh. I just banged it against the bed when I tried to stand up.”

Gavin pressed a kiss to Peter’s knee. “All better now, right?”

“Uh huh,” Peter answered, voice still a bit strained. 

The British man glanced around before asking, “Boys, what are you doing with all of this stuff? You know the glitter glue is supposed to stay in the living room.”

“We know,” Patrick piped up. He looked at Peter before saying, “We wanted to make everyone Valentines cards!”

“Papa said he’d take you to get cards for your class tomorrow, remember?”

Peter shook his head, “Not for the class daddy! For all of our daddy’s.”

Gavin’s mouth fell into an O. He glanced down at the paper before saying, “I’ll keep it a secret then. But you have to be more careful, boys.”