Bubbles
By: Riley
Summary – Big Time Rush shows Sydney that sometimes the best that can be hoped for is when the bubbles pop and everything you've been holding in comes spilling out.
Water rolled over Sydney Jackson-McGuire's head and filled his nose and ears as he dove into the pool. All of a sudden everything whipped into a frenzy of motion; stroke, kick breathe, and he's doing it all simultaneously, gracefully, speeding through the water with each sharp movement of his limbs. He could see the lines on the bottom of the pool; turning is head to the side every now and then to suck in some air before pressing his face into the water once more. Reaching the other end of the pool, he sucked in a breath of air before tucking his head and rolling over in a front flip. His feet planted firmly on the wall, Sydney bent his knees and used the explosion for force to propel him back the other way.
He did a few laps before reaching out a hand and slapping the cool, tile wall. He broke through the surface of the pool and gasped for air, water droplets flying, the sun glittering on them, making them sparkle like diamonds. Sydney removed his goggles from his face, dropping them around his neck, and then raised his arms, allowing himself to sink back under water. He opened his wide, blue eyes and watched the flurry of bubbles erupt from his nose and mouth like a swarm of butterflies. His arms cut gracefully through the quiet water, but came back empty-handed. There was nothing to grasp; just a place of peace, beauty, and wonder. His legs performed powerful kicks in time with the strokes of his arms, letting him gently float through the pool. It was a good feeling, to float along with the soft pull of the water.
It was where he belonged, in a way.
The perfect contrast to some of his earliest memories; things that he didn't particularly remember in the way his brothers and sisters did. They remembered the smoke and the heat and the flames, he didn't remember anything other than the coolness of the night as he was brought outside, flashing lights from the ambulances, and missing the warm feeling of being in his mother's arms. A son or daughter always knew when they were being protected by their mother, being in her loving embrace, they recognized her scent immediately. He always tried hard to remember what it was, but he could never remember, no matter how hard he tried.
"Good job, Syd!" James Diamond congratulated, walking over to the edge of the pool. He held out the stopwatch that hung around his neck, kneeling down by the side of the pool. Sydney turned his head, shifting his arms and stroking his way over to him. "Personal best this time. You were really flying!"
"Beauty." Sydney lowered his legs to the bottom of the pool and kicked his way over to the ladder. Grabbing onto the ladder, he hauled himself out of the pool, water running off him in rivulets. Reaching up, Sydney grabbed the goggles around his neck and ripped it off his head, shaking it back and forth. Closing one bloodshot eye, he leaned forward and looked at the time on the stop-watch. "If only I could beat my time with the dolphin kick."
"Considering how good you already are with swimming, there has to be at least one style you're not particularly good at," James reminded him. He looked the younger boy up and down. "I mean, you're only twelve and you're like a fish."
"I get that a lot," Sydney said without a shred of modesty. "But, it comes with the territory. Growing up at the beach, living by the water all my life, it's gotten to the point where my hands are, like, permanently pruned." He laughed, raising his fingers to wiggle them in James's face. Sydney hiked up his swim trunks as they started to slip down his hips then leaned over to grab his towel. "Let me just get changed and we can go back to the crib, ok?"
Getting no response, Sydney looked over his shoulder to see James starting intently at his back. Sydney briefly glanced at the ceiling before turning around and facing James completely. The tall brunette had the decency to blush, knowing he had been caught looking at the scar that ran from Sydney's right shoulder, across his back in a diagonal stripe, ending at his left hip. "Ipsum orthopedic," he said and explained at James's confused look—he got that a lot as well. "In other words; muscular surgery or in my case, spinal surgery." Sydney reached up his left hand and touched his right shoulder, his fingers moving over the puffy skin. "One time we were trying to get away from Robert, we got in a car accident and I severed my spine." At James's wince he gave a nonchalant shrug. "It's not that big a deal, mate, I'm fine now."
"I know," James said slowly. He shrugged. "It just sucks sometimes, and you don't really talk about it."
Sydney snorted and turned away, walking towards the locker room. "Why would I want to talk about it? I really don't have anything to talk about. I had surgery on my back, I had broken bones a couple of times, and I'm in a famous band." Dimples appeared in his cheeks as he gave a wry smile, keeping his eyes forward. "I think more people are interested to hear about the band, bit."
Sydney started to laugh at his own joke, and then his laughter faded as he lowered his gaze to his feet. He hated to talk about himself just as much as he hated to talk about his band. He was twelve years old for god's sake, why wasn't he able to talk about sports and computers and books and movies and music that he liked to listen to? Instead, he was constantly billed as 'the twelve year old music prodigy' the number being changed each time a birthday came around. All he was normally known for was his vast knowledge of music theory, knowing how to play numerous instruments, knowing how to produce his own music, and whatever else vast knowledge he had with any other thing that was thrown his way. Practically since he was born and Robert had gotten a hold of them, he had been shoved into the music industry earlier than he, admittedly, would have liked. While they had seen a lot of success, it affected him in a way n one else could understand.
He was stuck in a bubble with a million things inside that bounced and ricocheted off him day after day. His public image of being sweet and charitable, his dark past that seemed to haunt him every day, his intelligence gave him opportunities to work with some of the biggest names in the science industry, he was pressured to live up to his father's accomplishments, and he had to do all of that while trying to work through his past and be a twelve year old kid. There were many days that he just wanted that bubble to burst so he could finally be free.
He didn't have any friends his age. No real friends his age, anyway. His backup dancer, Ava, was the closest as they worked with each other a lot; otherwise he only talked to the kids on his swim team back in Australia and the one he had joined in California that he didn't see a lot. Otherwise, kids his age shunned him. He was called 'stuck up', 'a showoff', and 'a snob' from kids his age. Whenever he was back at school, he was usually by himself, studying works that were far more advanced than the age level he was in, isolating him even more. Instead, he stuck close to his siblings and their friends.
His true support group.
That's what he liked about music; he wasn't only seen as a the 'insert number here prodigy' as he had been dubbed a few times—like his sisters had been dubbed the 'Punk Rock Princesses' and Patrick and Noah had been named Princes of Punk–he was able to put his emotions into songs and experiment with different sounds when it came to creating music from scratch. As his siblings had always said, it was a way to escape things that they had been through before. He didn't dwell on it as much as his siblings did and it was probably because he hadn't been through it as badly as they did; his siblings made sure that he was safe whenever Robert would go on one of his tantrums, but the psychological damage was still there.
"You know that Robert really only started to lay a hand on me when I got old enough," Sydney continued. He opened his locker door and dropped his towel to the ground; standing on top of it, protecting his feet from the millions of germs that he knew thrived in those conditions. James lifted a leg and straddled the bench, listening quietly. "Probably because he didn't want to be known as a baby beater." Sydney gave a hollow laugh and changed out of his bathing suit, into his street clothes.
"Probably because he had at least some shred of humility in him," James corrected him. "Even if it is about as tiny as an ant."
"He's not that bad, really," Sydney said.
James's eyebrows rose in surprised. "You're defending him?" He asked. That was news to him. Then again, now that he thought about it, even though he was friends with all of the Jacksons, he didn't particularly know Sydney that well. He knew the twelve year old boy to always have a smile on his face, dimples indenting his skin, and his big blue eyes shining with happiness. He never thought about how much his parents death would have affected him, even though he was a baby when it happened.
What could it have been like?
To be an infant and know nothing but being in your mother's arms and then suddenly having it all ripped away from him without knowing what happened? What was it like to grow up from there, obediently and loyally following his brothers and sisters around as they tried to protect him from every bad thing that could happen to him? Their age difference was so noticeable now; he was five years younger than Patrick and Noah, seven years younger than Riley and Rhuben, and ten years younger than Julius. It was a big enough age gap that that he had to have been alone more often than he would have liked.
"You have to think of it this way, JD," Sydney pointed out, pulling a black Metallica t-shirt over his head. "There's always a reason that people turn out to be the way they are. If Robert was abusive to us, then his father was abusive to him. It's a vicious cycle that has to be broken some time and ours was." Finally, Sydney smiled, his dimples appearing, and he reached out, lightly punching James on the shoulder. "And we have you to thank for that, yeah?"
"Yeah." James smiled back at him.
"Besides, the way I see it…" Sydney's eyebrows crinkled together, much like it did when he was stuck on some sort of an equation. And if Sydney was stuck on an equation, ones that Einstein may have had problems with, you knew it was difficult. "My brothers and sisters and I, we had to work through a lot of darkness every day. But…considering I wasn't hurt as badly as they were, I'm a bit more optimistic about life than they are. Sometimes, it's exhausting trying to be there for them and I don't think they see it sometimes, but I get it. And I love them and I'd do anything to make sure that they're ok. Just like they did for me."
Sydney, being the youngest, had watched a lot of what his brothers and sisters had done for him and equated a lot of those happy moments to what drove him forward day after day. He wanted to be able to show to them that even if they were working through their own problems, they had done a really good job raising him. He had a few hiccups here and there, but that couldn't be helped, they were all affected in different ways. Sydney…always wanted to go back to when he was happy.
After the first couple of times, he had been sent to be checked out—probably because Robert was creeped out and confused by his change in behavior—and found that he mentally regressed whenever he was in high levels of stress or potential trauma. Sometimes he was conscious of the change, realizing that his mature, intelligent thoughts were shifting down to that of a five year olds—though he was pretty intelligent at five as well—other times he was stuck in that carefree place, wondering what was for dinner, pestering his brothers and sisters, looking for his favorite toys, clinging to their sides for protection, and…looking for his parents, having a small grasp of what death and heaven was.
He could see the sad expressions on his siblings' faces each time they had to explain that 'Mummy and Daddy are in heaven and they weren't coming back' and 'no, you can't go and visit them yet'. He always had the vibe that something was wrong at that point, and the times he wasn't conscious of it, and would sit down and cry and have a tantrum, wanting to see his Mum and Dad. When he would finally go back to his 'normal mind' as he called it, he would feel terrible about having to put his brothers and sisters through that again.
"So if you ever have any questions about it, feel free to ask, I don't really care, mate." Though the sharpness in the way he slammed his locker door shut would have said otherwise. Sydney turned back around to James and slung his sports bag over his shoulder. "Now, you can go and buy me ice cream." He smiled sweetly.
"I'm sorry." James laughed as he stood up. "Why should I buy you ice cream? I already agreed to drive you out here and to time you."
"Yeah, but you're forgetting that I was the one that had helped you clean, refurbish, and reformat Mama Knight's computer after you knocked that bottle of Cuda Massive hold all over it," Sydney pointed out. He tilted his head to the side, his eyes flashing as he smirked at the older boy. "I could have left you high and dry. Who else do you know that has an extensive knowledge of computers and knows how to get that done in less than five hours when she was on her way back from a day trip to San Diego?"
James bared his teeth. He remembered that day, he had been ready to go out on a date and had accidently knocked the hair care product all over the computer that just so happened to be sitting on the coffee table he was working at. James had contemplated everything from buying a new computer to fleeing the country before he had begged Sydney to help him. And being the devious little twelve year old that he was; he had managed to do so, for a price. For the next month, James had to do whatever it was that Sydney wanted.
"Hey, I needed to look good!" He defended himself.
"No." Sydney's smirk widened. "You needed to fill your insatiable need to be the center of attention by using gross domestic products that are dreadful for the atmosphere and the environment as well as your own health and instead of creating and even bigger hole in the ozone layer, you gave Mama Knight's laptop death by hair crème." He held up his hand, sticking out his thumb and pinkie fingers. "You owe me." Sydney reached out and tapped James's mouth closed before reaching over and pulling the wallet out of James's back pocket. Opening it, he flipped through a few bills before pulling out a twenty. Closing the wallet with one hand, Sydney pocketed the bill with the other, and tossed James his wallet back. "That should cover it." He stepped into a pair of flip flops and slapped a combination lock on his locker before walking out of the locker room. "Let's call the other guys and you can pay for their ice cream too."
James nearly let out a yelp as he, begrudgingly, followed Sydney out of the locker room. Carlos could eat his weight in ice cream if he wanted to. He didn't have that sort of money; snacks, CDs, clothes, sunglasses, and beauty products for his regime, ate a lot of his money nearly as soon as he got it. Oh this kid was going to pay once the month was up.
Sydney seemed to have been able to read James' thought for his tilted his head back and laughed loudly, condescendingly, as he went. The two left the gym and climbed into the Big Time Rush mobile. James called Kendall, Logan, and Carlos to meet them at Pinkberry's before he drove off to the frozen desert restaurant. Sydney leaned forward and opened the glove compartment, grabbing a large CD case. Sydney hummed to himself as he opened the case and started to flip through CDs.
His upper lip curled as he looked through the albums. "You guys have crappy taste in music, yeah?" He murmured.
"How can you say that?" James cried. "We have some classics in there!"
"Because it's true," Sydney replied, matter-of-fact.
James scowled at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you can be arrogant?"
"All the time," Sydney said, causing James to chuckle. Unfortunately, it was a side of him that he didn't particularly like. Being so smart, there were times that he didn't like to be around other people because of the way they thought and how they acted. Sometimes he didn't understand that things he found to be particularly simple were difficult for others. He had a tendency to be arrogant and condescending when he talked to other people, because f that, and had a habit of not realizing it until the other person was offended. Sure, he liked to be able to sue big words to make Patrick feel stupid, but that was his brother. Anyone else, he would legitimately get upset if he managed to do that to them and he didn't notice. "Why do you think everyone hates to play Scrabble against me?"
"I don't like Scrabble."
"That explains a lot."
James let out a huff. "Do you ever not have a comeback for everything I'm going to say? It's really starting to get on my nerves." He reached out a hand and poked Sydney in the cheek, where his dimple would be. "I swear I'm going to get my revenge once this month is up. I'm going to get you back with everything you've ever done."
"I'd love to see you try," Sydney said and smiled sweetly.
James pulled into the parking lot of Pinkberrys, having been stuck in traffic for a while he and Sydney finally agreed on a CD to listen to, and turned off the car. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos were waiting outside for them. As soon as James turned off the car, in his excitement, Sydney practically kicked open the door to the Big Time Rush mobile and hurried out of the seat. He ran across the parking lot and over to his friends. "Hey Kendall. Hey Carlos. Hey Logan." He gave each of them a high-five in greeting. "What's up?"
"Not much," Kendall said. "How was your swimming practice?"
"Personal best," Sydney replied. He made a show of blowing on his fist and rubbing it against his chest. He then crossed his arms over his chest and his smile faded a little. "The dolphin kick isn't going that great, however."
"I'm sure you'll get it." Kendall reached behind him and pulled out a rolled comic book. "Hey, I just found this one, recently. You can have it." Sydney took the comic book and studied Spider-Man's pose on the front cover before rolling it back up and sliding it into his own back pocket. "Thanks Kendall, it's really cool!" He held up his hand and bumped fists with Kendall. Glancing up at the sign on the building, Sydney was suddenly filled with energy and started to bounce up and down. "Come on! Let's get some ice cream!" He reached out his hands and shoved Kendall and Logan out of his way and headed towards the door.
Behind him, he could hear Big Time Rush laugh at his antics as he headed inside. The ringing bell above the door clanged as Sydney headed inside and raced over to the counter, pressing his face against the glass to see the different flavors of ice cream and toppings that he could choose from.
"Good afternoon, what can I get you, today?"
Sydney looked up at the cashier as he moved to stand in front of him, his glove covered hands ready to pick up scoopers and cones when he needed to. Sydney's eyes widened as he took in the guy that seemed to be in his mid twenties. Though Sydney stood at an even five feet tall and was still growing, he was never comfortable around guys that were bigger and taller than him. Not at first. It reminded him of Robert; the way he towered over the little boy and intimidated him as much as he could. Sydney felt himself start to shrink up, moving his hands closer to his chest, as if to protect himself, and backed up a few paces, his eyes immediately moving to the floor. He had the idea of 'don't talk to strangers' engrained in his head so long, he practically expected a sharp slap to the back of the head or the side of the face when he lifted his gaze to the cashier once more.
Robert had spent much of Sydney's first years screaming in his face and berating him for every little thing, not raising a hand to him until he was about five years old. He remembered the first time he had been hit in the face, he had been too scared to leave the bed at night to go to the bathroom and wet the bed. Robert had heard the commotion when his brothers and sisters had tried to get him to stop crying and clean it up and came storming into the room. Unfortunately it had been at a time where he had been drinking and when he saw the giant pee stain in the bed, he rounded on Sydney and hit him in the face so hard he had a black eye for weeks. That was the first time he had to lie and as Sydney had the almost near capability of always telling the truth, it had really cut him deep, more than the blow itself.
"Um…" Sydney said quietly, his voice barely audible above a whisper. "Um…I…I want…uh…" Sydney lowered his gaze, feeling himself starting to shake. He wiped his hands off on his t-shirt and swallowed thickly, pinpricks behind his eyes alerted him to the possibility of starting to cry. "Um…uh…"
"He'll have a banana split," Carlos said, stepping up to Sydney's side. "With cherries and chocolate sauce." Sydney looked up at Carlos and blinked gratefully at him, moving aside so Carlos could take his order. "And I'd like the chocolate supreme."
"Carlos, you don't need that much sugar," Logan protested.
"And you don't need to be such a nerd, but you do it anyway," Carlos replied. Logan rolled his eyes as Kendall and James laughed good naturedly. "And can you put as much whipped cream as you can fit on there."
"Sure, but keep is PG kids, this is a family establishment," the cashier said, causing the boys to laugh again. The boys got their ice cream and they took a table in the corner of the restaurant by the windows, and sat down, starting to dig in. Sydney eagerly picked up the biggest spoon he could find and cut into his banana, scooping up ice cream and cherries as well.
Opening his mouth wide, he shoved the whole spoonful into his mouth. Working the ice cream around his mouth so it would melt enough that he could swallow, Sydney looked over at Carlos, who had done the same thing. Whipped cream was dribbling out of the boy bander's mouth, falling down his chin.
"Dude," Sydney mumbled, pointing to him. "You got whipped cream on your chin."
Carlos turned to look at the young boy and seeing that his cheeks were bulged up as much as Carlos's was, he started to laugh, sending ice cream and whipped cream all over the table. Sydney burst out laughing, blowing out whipped cream as well. Logan gave a groan of disgust and Kendall and James laughed hysterically, moving their bowls of ice cream out of the way to be sure theirs wouldn't get hit in the crossfire. Reaching out to grab a napkin, Sydney dabbed at his mouth, and then swallowed his mouthful. Then he shoved his fists into the air, his eyes shining.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!" He shouted.
"Good distance too," Carlos agreed and the two high-fived. "We should make a game out of this."
"Or we could see who's going to puke first," Logan said. Sydney rolled his eyes as he looked over at him. "And I think I'm going to be the one to win that bet."
"You're such a party pooper, Logan," Sydney pointed out. "You don't know how to have any fun."
"I know how to have fun, I just know when 'fun' is keyword for 'stupid'," Logan protested.
Sydney blinked blankly at him for a moment before shrugging. "And that's not 'fun' to you?" he asked, sounding a lot like his brothers and sisters at that one moment. "You need to learn how to live a little. That's what my Dad said, anyway. If you aren't doing anything fun, you're not really living."
"Your Dad was really big about having fun, wasn't he?" James asked.
Sydney, who had spooned another mouthful of ice cream into his mouth at the time he asked the question, nodded rapidly. He licked his lips and swallowed his mouthful before responding. "Oh, totally. Dad was definitely an adventure guy, which, as you can tell, we took after him. He was always on the go, doing something that many people wouldn't. Snorkeling, sky diving, bungee jumping…you name it, he's done it."
"What did he do for a living?"
"He was a rocket scientist." The right side of Sydney's mouth raised in a half smile as Logan choked on his ice cream and the others' eyes widened. "Ironic, right? He was a rocket scientist and Mum was his assistant before she started having us and then became a math teacher. They met while they were in college, got married the year after they got out, and started having kids not long after."
Kendall pushed his bowl away and folded his arms, resting them on the table in front of him. "Do you remember anything about them?"
Sydney's lower lip trembled for a moment as he thought about it. He recognized what they looked like from pictures. He had heard stories about them from his brothers and sisters. He had seen some videos of them from their wedding day. He still got some things from them that came from their will as well as things that had been salvaged from their old house. Things the fire hadn't managed to destroy. He briefly remembered being in the hospital when he was checked for smoke inhalation. Otherwise, there wasn't much that he remembered at all. In a way, he hated that he was the only one that didn't know anything about them; however he was also glad he didn't remember them before the fire. That way it didn't hurt him as badly, though he did get sad, angry, and frustrated from time to time that he was the only one that couldn't distinguish a dream from what really happened.
"Umm…" he stalled for time, stirring his ice cream as it melted. "I remember that Mum was really sweet. She would give us individual time so we wouldn't feel left out. She liked to help people. Dad would too, on the weekends, because he worked during the week days. I remember Dad was always giving us some sort of souvenir from the places he's visited. Mum was a good cook. Dad had a great laugh. He was funny." Sydney started to talk a mile a minute, kicking his legs back and forth as he did so. "And Mum always had her hair up in a ponytail that I liked to play with. And Dad would always bring me to the gym with him when he was working out and would teach me some things that a baby had no reason to learn, but he liked to see the smile on my face. I have Mum's smile. I have Dad's curious tendencies; he was always trying to figure things out."
Sydney twisted his mouth to the side then shrugged again. "That's all I can remember. Or all I know really. It's not like I knew them very well." His eyes widened as he sat back. "Whoa, that came out more bitter than I thought."
"It's alright, Little Man," Carlos reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We know that it wasn't easy on you."
"If that's the case, then why does everyone care so much about Riles and Rhubes and Pat and No and how they feel when our parents died?" Sydney's eyes narrowed. "Because they had Mum and Dad for as long as they needed to. I didn't. I was only learning how to walk when they died. So if anyone grew up without parents, it was me. Not them." Sydney clenched his hands into fists. He had wanted to say something like that for a while but had never gotten the chance. Robert made sure he kept his mouth shut, not liking the way that he would easily confuse the older man with his technical jargon and big words. Dr. Angelo was doing a good job at making sure he didn't keep everything inside, it was some of his practices, probably why he was so arrogant to people, but he couldn't help it. He was twelve years old, in the public eye, and had three fathers before he was even a teenager. "Don't get me wrong, I love them and I love what they did for me, but…"
"You don't need to explain," James reassured him. "We get it. And if you ever need to talk, we'd like to be there to for you."
"Thanks." Sydney nodded. He pushed his ice cream away, he wasn't hungry anymore. "What do you guys want to do now?" He racked his brain for idea. Though he would have liked to have James spend more of his money and watch as he had a breakdown in the store over not having Cuda products—again—there had to be something that they could do to have fun and to take the attention off him. "Oh!" Sydney pushed back his chair, standing up and leaning against the table. "When was the last time you guys had the Palm Woods derby?"
"The time Gustavo made us get jobs," Kendall said. A dark look settled over his face and he nearly shuddered. "All those kids…" he murmured.
"So? Let's go have a race then! We can make the course the whole Palm Woods." Sydney rubbed his hands together. "It'll be ace! I'll design it myself, that way we can utilize everyone's talents for it. And, of course, mess with Bitters while we do it." He spread his hands, rapidly raising and lowering his eyebrows. "My favorite past time."
"You had me at Bitters!" Kendall declared, leaping to his feet.
"Whoo! Let's go!" Carlos cheered. "I'm ready to reclaim my title."
"Yeah? The only title you're going to get this time is the title of 'Biggest Loser' because that's what you're going to be when you lose." James declared. He dropped a couple of dollar bills on the table as the boys got up and left the restaurant. Sydney started to follow them, and then stopped when he noticed a display set up at the end of the counter.
Sydney studied it for a moment, seeing that it was a jar of soap bubbles and if you bought some, the money would go for charity. That was ok by him; he liked to give to charity when he needed to. Sydney grabbed a bottle of soap bubbles and quickly paid for it, before leaving the restaurant. He walked over to the Big Time Rush mobile and clambered over Logan and Carlos to get to the back, smiling to himself as he purposefully stuck his feet into their faces as he rolled over into the back seat.
"Sorry, did that hurt?" He teased.
"Were we really this annoying when we were twelve?" James shook his head.
"Probably even more, considering there were four of us, and we were constantly bored," Kendall said from the front seat. He grabbed the keys from James and stuck them in the ignition, starting the car. "Did I ever tell you the story where I drove Mom insane by repeating her all the time?"
"No." Sydney spun the bottle of soap bubbles in his hands and started to unscrew the cap.
"Don't give him any ideas," James warned. "This kid may have dimples and a cute smile, but he's pure evil."
"Good luck proving that," Sydney said. He laughed to himself. "Tell me the story, K-Dawg," he instructed. Getting the top to the bottle open he lifted the wand out and gently blew it, allowing bubbles to fly out of the car, leaving a trail of bubbles in their wake.
As Sydney listened to Kendall's story, he started to grin, his dimples appearing again. The smell of the soap bubbles wafted around him, enveloping him in a protective shield.
Just like a mother's hug.
A/N: So a lot of people were asking if we would do more with Patrick, Noah, and Sydney and here's my take on Sydney. He has a more positive outlook on life than his brothers and sisters, obviously so, but there are still some things that get him down. So here was some background on him and the way he sees things going on around him as well as the way he was raised. This is the second time I wrote a BTR and Sydney friendship one-shot, apart from Suds and I really like this one. I have a story that's centered on Patrick, Noah, and Sydney coming up as well as a story that focuses on Sydney coming up.
I hope you guys liked it.
Cheers,
-Riley