Nerf Guns and Family Dinners
By angellwings
"Dude, I don't see why we have to be here. She's your girlfriend," Joe huffed as they stood on the Misa's front stoop.
Kevin sighed. "Joe, do us all a favor and stop talking. You made us go on that family picnic of Stella's last week."
"Yeah, because her dad hates me. I mean he does now anyway. He didn't used to when I was just Stella's friend, but now that we're dating…well, he glares at me all the time. You'd think dating his daughter was a federal offense or something," Joe muttered bitterly.
Nick clenched his jaw and glared at Joe. "I've never met Macy's family before. She has brothers, Joe. Brothers. Older brothers to be exact. If they decide to beat me up I'll need back up, and sadly…you're the only back up I have."
The front door suddenly opened and an orange nerf dart landed on the glass storm door. The Lucas boys jumped and instinctively ducked despite the glass that separated them from the dart.
"Hold your fire!" A familiar voice screamed from somewhere inside the house. "Civilians are here!"
"Civilians?" Kevin asked worriedly. "Nick…I'm scared."
"We all are, bro. We all are," Joe said as he patted Kevin's shoulder.
The door opened, and a hand shot out to pull Nick inside. Joe and Kevin followed closely behind. Nick was jerked behind the sofa and pulled down by his shirt collar. Kevin and Joe stayed standing for a few seconds until they realized they were the only ones not under cover. They quickly ducked and joined Nick.
"Hi, guys," Macy said happily. "So…welcome to my home."
"Um, it's lovely?" Nick said uncertainly.
"Aw," Macy gushed. "Thanks. I like it."
"Hey! Can we start shooting yet?" A deep voice yelled.
"NO!" Macy bellowed. "Gimme a few minutes, sheesh!"
"Hurry up, Eustace! No kissy face behind the sofa over there! I'll tell dad!"
"Oh, you did not just middle name me! It. Is. On. You just wait until I reload this gun, dude! You're so dead!" Macy yelled. She glared at the back of the couch before she turned to Nick and her expression softened. She gave him a brief peck on the lips. "You, sort of, walked in on the middle of a Nerf war."
He smirked at her. "Yes, I see."
"A Nerf war?" Joe asked. "If I'd have known that I'd have brought my old Nerf bow! I killed with that thing back in the day!"
Macy laughed and reloaded the darts into her gun. "It, sort of, spiraled out of control. My nephew got one for a belated birthday present and then dad dug all of our old Nerf guns out of the garage and…well, now we're in the middle of a major battle."
Nick chuckled and placed a kiss on Macy's temple. "You're adorable."
"Are we gonna get guns or are we just gonna be the helpless passers-by who get caught up in this shoot out?" Kevin asked.
"Um, mom has the extra guns. To get to them you'll have to cross the room to the kitchen. Good luck with that," Macy said as she pointed to the opposite end of the room. "Mom's Switzerland. No, fighting in the kitchen. She's cooking."
"Okay, that's enough stalling!" A more mature male voice added. "We're resuming war on the count of three."
"Oh, geez," Joe said with a gulp. "We need to get to that kitchen. Fast."
"Run for it, dude!" Nick yelled as he shoved his brothers toward the kitchen entry-way. He winked at Macy before he followed close behind them.
"ONE!"
The three brothers made it to the TV room.
"TWO!"
The kitchen was within their sights.
"THREE!"
A dart whizzed by Nick's ear just as he made it into the kitchen.
Their eyes landed on the cardboard box on the floor and they all jumped for it. They each grabbed a gun and a handful of darts.
"I see they have more recruits." A warm voice said with a laugh. The boys turned to the petite dark haired woman by the stove. "You must be the Lucas brothers. I'd know those three faces anywhere."
Nick cleared his throat. "Mrs. Misa?"
She smiled kindly at him. "That's me. The one without the Nerf gun."
"I'm Nick," He said as he held out his hand to her for a shake. He nodded to his brothers. "And this is Kevin and Joe."
She smirked at him and whipped her hands on her apron before shaking his hand. "Yes, I know. I've seen the many photo albums from this summer."
"Do you need any help?" Nick offered.
Mrs. Misa shook her head. "No, no. You boys go ahead. Have fun. Dinner's almost ready anyway."
"I'm making a break for it," Joe said seriously. "Cover me."
Kevin cocked his nerf gun and nodded. "You got it."
The boys ran back for the couch and fired as many darts as they could along the way. They made it to Macy in one piece. Joe jumped over the couch and landed in front of Macy with a thud.
"Ow."
Macy laughed at him. "That was stupid."
"I forgot these were hardwood floors."
"Like I said," Macy chuckled. "Stupid."
"Says the girl who volunteered for surfing lessons with Stone Stevens," Joe said with a vindictive glare.
Macy glared at him and aimed her gun at his chest.
"Macy," Joe said warily. "I was just kidding. Really, I—OW!" Joe held his chest where the dart had bounced off of it. "That hurt!"
"It's your own fault," Macy said primly.
Nick sighed and shook his head. "Joe, when are you going to learn to just stop talking?"
"This is Joe. He'll never learn to do that," Kevin smirked.
A dart clipped Nick's ear and Macy suddenly stood up and fired four quick shots. Those shots were followed by four distinctive pops. It was the sound of plastic smacking skin. Cries of pain surrounded them and Macy smiled victoriously. "I win."
Another dart came out of no where and hit Macy on the nose.
"Nope," said a young voice simply. "I win, Aunt Macy."
Her jaw dropped and she glared at the ten year old. "You little sneak!"
"What can I say?" the boy shrugged. "I learned from the best."
"Hey," Kevin pouted. "I'm still in."
The boy lifted his gun and shot Kevin in the leg. "Not anymore."
Kevin sighed. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"
Joe and Nick nodded while wearing matching grins.
"Game over, yet?" Mrs. Misa asked. "Dinner's on the table." Macy's male relatives took a step toward the kitchen but Mrs. Misa cleared her throat. "We have guests. Guests that need to know our names."
"Shawn. The oldest," The tallest one said with a nod as he moved to stand behind the little boy. "And this is Michael. My son."
"Taylor. Second oldest. No kids." The scrawny one said with a smirk.
"It's cause he's a nerd," Macy muttered to her three friends.
"Hey! Some girls like nerds! We make lots of money!" Taylor protested.
Macy rolled her eyes. "Sure, Tay. Sure."
"I'm Kaleb. The sensible one."
Shawn chuckled and shook his head. "Sensible meaning boring."
"Shawn, be nice. You may be an adult now, but I will still ground you," Mrs. Misa said with a glare.
"Sorry, mom," Shawn mumbled.
"I'm Aaron. The quiet one," The last brother said with a small smile.
"Aw," Macy said as she nudged Aaron's shoulder. "You're not that quiet. Just shy."
Mr. Misa stepped forward and shook each Lucas brother's hand. "Harvey Misa. Nice to meet you boys."
"Okay, they know our names. Can we eat?" Michael asked impatiently as he looked to Mrs. Misa. "I'm hungry, Gramma."
Mrs. Misa laughed. "Fine, we'll talk more during dinner. Come on in, there's lots of room at the table."
The Misa boys took all the seats around Macy. She huffed and glared at them. "Really?"
They all shrugged guiltily, but didn't move.
Nick gulped nervously and sat down across from Macy. She gave him an apologetic look. The dishes of food were passed around the table in the silence. Finally Shawn spoke up.
"So, what's a rockstar doing dating our Macy?" He asked Nick pointedly. Kevin and Joe winced and focused on the food in front of them.
"Shawn!" Mrs. Misa and Macy scolded simultaneously.
"No," Mr. Misa smirked. "I like this question. Do tell us, Nick."
Nick huffed. He couldn't help it. The question irritated him. "I'm not just a rockstar, you know."
Macy glared at her oldest brother. "You're a jerk."
"Hey, I'm just looking out for you, Squirt. That's all," Shawn said before he turned to give Nick a challenging look. "It's not my fault that he can't answer a simple question."
"I can answer the question," Nick said in a controlled tone. He was having a very hard time being polite.
"Then what's stopping you?" Shawn asked.
"Shawn," Mr. Misa said sternly. "That's enough. Give him time to think."
"Macy knows that I'm both a normal guy and a rockstar. She's seen how crazy my life is, and she knows first hand how difficult it is to balance two sides of yourself. She does it all the time. She knows that I'm a little too intense sometimes and I tend to get carried away with my logical thinking. And thanks to all of you, she understands how important my family is to me. She's perfectly patient and absolutely amazing. That's what I'm doing dating her. She just…gets it in a way that no one else has before," Nick admitted honestly as he flashed her a warm smile.
She blushed and smiled brightly back at him. "Nick, that was…beautiful." She quickly turned to give her father and her oldest brother a stern look. "But you shouldn't have to answer to these meanies. I didn't bring you over here so they could interrogate you. I brought you over here so that they could get to know you, and they won't get to know you with questions like that."
Shawn sighed. "Hey, I always interrogate your boyfriends. You've never had a problem with it before."
"Because those guys deserved the third degree," Macy told him.
"And Nick doesn't?" Taylor asked with a quirked brow.
"No, he doesn't."
Taylor made a thoughtful noise. "Interesting."
Kaleb and Aaron shared a knowing look with the other two brothers before they all turned to smirk at Macy.
Her eyes widened and she gulped. "What?"
"Hello? Anyone here?" A female voice called.
"Gwen! We're at the table," Shawn called to her just before he motioned for Kaleb to scoot over and make room for Gwen. "Move, dude. The wife's here."
A fair skinned red headed woman stepped into the kitchen. Her eyes widened at the sight of the table. "Oh my. We have guests."
"Yes," Aaron grinned. "Macy's boyfriend and his brothers."
Gwen smiled slowly. "Oh really? Are you boys being nice?"
"No," Macy answered in a pout. "They're being horrible, and dad's not doing anything to stop them."
Gwen quirked a brow at Macy. "I remember someone being pretty horrible to me and no one stopping her."
"Hey, I had to make sure you were strong enough to last in this family. We're not easy to get along with," Macy told her defensively. "At least you knew what you were getting into."
"So," Gwen started pointedly as she sat down next to Shawn. "You tortured me in order to prepare me for life with this family? Hm, imagine that."
Nick's eyes widened and his gaze met Macy's. She blushed and looked down at her plate.
"Oh," Macy said simply as she picked up her fork. Conversation continued like normal around the table but neither Macy nor Nick spoke. Occasionally Kevin or Joe would join in, but both Nick and Macy were too distracted to make conversation. Once dinner was over the boys volunteered to clear the table and do the dishes and Mrs. Lucas called to remind the boys that they needed to be home early tonight.
Nick sighed and frowned at Macy. "Interview for Great Morning, USA tomorrow."
"We'll be, ah, waiting in the car," Kevin said as he led Joe out the door. They called out a thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Misa as they left.
"I'll walk you out," Macy said shyly as she took Nick's hand and walked toward the door. The front door closed behind them and Macy immediately turned to him. "I'm sorry about, you know, them."
"Mace," Nick chuckled. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You've been dealing with my family for nearly a year now. If anything I'd say we're even."
"My family is more intimidating than yours," Macy told him. "I can't believe that treated you the way they did—"
"From what I understand they didn't do anything they don't normally do when meeting one of your boyfriends," Nick said as he grinned.
"First of all, I haven't had that many boyfriends. Second of all, they were all idiots, and you're not an idiot. You didn't deserve any of what you got tonight," Macy said with a sigh.
"It's fine," Nick said as he squeezed her hand. "I get it. They just want to make sure I'm not one of those 'idiots' you've dated before. Really, it's no big deal." He tugged on her arm and pulled her in to hold her close. He kissed her cheek and smiled. "Besides, I think they liked me."
Macy laughed softly. "If they didn't before then I think they do now. You were very impressive in there tonight. You only snapped at them once. I was proud. And that speech…well you certainly would have won me over if you hadn't already."
"It was the truth, Mace. It wasn't a 'speech.' All I did was tell your family how I honestly felt," He said as he tightened his hold on her.
She smiled affectionately at him. "Really?"
He nodded. "Really."
She placed a slow lingering kiss on his lips and pulled away with a contented sigh. "So, my family's getting together for another dinner in two weeks…do you think you would want to—"
"I would love to come," He told her with a bright smile.
"Without your brothers this time?" She asked with narrowed eyes.
He laughed and nodded. "Without my brothers."