This is a one shot about everyone forgetting Kyle's birthday, so he carries on as if it's a normal day because he doesn't want it to seem like he's making a fuss by reminding them. The next day, Brax sees a belated birthday text from a friend, and he feels guilty, so calls the family together. They throw together a quick barbie to make up for it, knowing things would have to change.
It was just a normal day, that's how Kyle was going to act anyway. It was his 24th birthday today, and here he was working another double shift in Angelo's. He'd been on his phone a few times replying to messages from his friends in Melbourne, that was until Brax had a go at him for being on his phone during his shift. He didn't know whether he was surprised or not that his family forgot his birthday, in some ways it bothered him, in others it didn't.
"Are you going to do your job or not?" Brax huffs as he walks over to Kyle, noticing him look at his phone again. "If you don't want this job, then just tell me so I can find someone who's actually going to bother."
"I don't need you having a go at me again. I'm sorry for checking my phone, I'm just waiting on a call from someone." Kyle sighs.
Every year without a doubt, his best friend since birth, Joe, had called him, but he hadn't gotten that call yet. He knew Joe was away on business as he'd spoken to him a few days before, it just hurt knowing that he couldn't speak to him about his family forgetting. He'd thought about telling them, but he knew it was too late in the day for that considering he was finishing up the dinner rush.
"If you wanna call people, do it your time, not the time I'm paying you for. You're really slacking lately." Brax shakes his head before walking back to the office.
"Fire me then." Kyle mutters, although he was lucky in a way that Brax didn't hear what he said, else he'd properly be shouted at again for giving attitude, or whatever excuse Brax could come up with.
He wished he was back in Melbourne with people that actually cared about him and remembered the important things. Joe was the main person he missed. They did everything together growing up, nothing got in the way of that, not even getting different jobs or moving away from each other. He was now tempted to move back there, to get out of the Bay. He was passed caring about what his family thought about him anymore, they proved they didn't care.
After working tirelessly into the night, Kyle had gotten home at 1am by the time he finished everything. He had to be back in at 7.30am to open back up for the day. It was only a morning shift which he was happy about, but he wished he didn't have to go back in at all with all the shifts he was being made to work recently.
And by the time he did get to work that morning, he was just as tired as the night before. He'd barely slept through the night, his mind racing over whether he should stay in the Bay for longer, or move back to Melbourne where he could start rebuilding his life again.
"Are you being serious?"
"Huh?" Kyle frowns, being broken from his thoughts by Brax, who was standing in front of him with a glare.
"Do you not want to be here, is that it?" Brax asks.
"I don't know." Kyle shrugs, Brax merely laughing at him.
"I gave you a roof over your head, and a manager's job, and this is how you want to treat me? You know what, if you're so desperate to be somewhere else, then go. I'll find someone else who will actually start respecting me and my family, because you don't."
"You think I'm the problem?" Kyle scoffs. "I've done nothing but good for this family, and what have I got to show for it? You talk like I'm the one with a problem with how things are done around here, but I actually liked it until recently. I'm going to finish my shift and then get out of your face, cause I can tell that's what you want."
"Go help with that table in the corner and then go, I can't be dealing with this today." Brax shakes his head as he walks around the bar.
"Fine." Kyle hisses, storming to the kitchen to check on the order, as he knew it should be ready any minute now.
Brax shook his head once more as he watched Kyle walk out of sight, wondering what was causing Kyle to act out. That's when he saw the text on Kyle's phone that was still on the counter, and he saw it was from Joe - Happy birthday for yesterday bro. I'm sorry I didn't get round to calling you, I'm free now and really want to talk to you. Your voicemail last night has worried me. Call me back when you see this text.
"Shit." Brax mutters, now realising that Kyle was acting like this because they forgot his birthday, their own brother's birthday.
"The orders are done and I'm going out. Don't bother calling me in for another shift today, cause I'm done." Kyle hisses, grabbing his phone and walking out before Brax could even think of anything to say that would make up for how he'd treated him.
He knew he had to do something to make it up to Kyle, he just wasn't sure what. In the end he called together a family meeting so he could get some ideas from the rest of them, considering they'd forgotten about Kyle's birthday as well. It didn't take long for them all to gather in Angelo's, and that's when he revealed why they were all there.
"It was Kyle's birthday?" Ricky gasps, not even able to think about how they could forget something like that. "Where is he now?"
"I don't know. I kind of had a go at him again, and told him to leave. That's when I saw the text from his mate and realised why he'd been acting out. We need to make it up to him somehow." Brax says.
"Why don't we throw him a belated birthday party to say sorry for forgetting? And if he doesn't like to make a fuss, we could just do something at home." Bianca suggests.
"That's not a bad idea. We could throw a barbie or something." Casey agrees.
"I think it's going to take more than a few snags on the barbie to make up for forgetting his birthday. I'd be so pissed if that was me." Heath says.
"We'd never be able to forget your birthday because you like reminding us every day for at least two weeks before." Casey says.
"Back to Kyle's birthday. A barbie isn't a bad idea, we'd definitely be able to get something together in a couple hours." Brax says.
"Well we better go and get some things in, so I'll head to the shops." Ricky says, glancing at Bianca, who nods.
"We could also get some presents while we're at it." Bianca says. "Why don't you three go and set the garden up?"
"Yeah, we better head off and do that." Brax nods, all of them getting up to leave.
After walking out of Angelo's, Kyle had gone down to the beach to cool off. He was struggling to get his head around how much things had changed over the weeks, and what even caused it to start changing. He'd tried calling Joe to talk about it, but he wasn't answering again, despite his text about calling him.
He just wanted to know what had changed between him and his brothers. He was still getting on really well with Joe, so he wasn't sure what was going on there either. It was times like this he didn't know who he could talk to. The girls would always side with the boys, and he could understand that in a way, he just wished it wasn't always like that.
"Hey." Kyle hears from behind him, so he turns to see who it was.
"Joe!" Kyle beams, standing up to man hug him. "What're you doing here?"
"I had to come and see you, especially after you weren't answering your phone. What was that voicemail about last night?" Joe asks.
"I was just tired and ranting about nothing. It doesn't matter now. Weren't you going to be spending a few days away with Molly after your work trip?" Kyle asks.
"She understood how important it was for me to come here, and you know how bossy that wife of mine can be." Joe smirks. "You said your family forgot your birthday, I wouldn't call that nothing." He says, able to tell that it had upset Kyle, and he couldn't blame him. "Family wouldn't do that, especially if they cared as much as you make out they do."
"Things are just so different now. I don't feel like there's anything for me here anymore and I wish I never moved away from Melbourne. I miss the old times." Kyle sighs.
"In the old times you never had a real family. Are things really that bad that you want to move away from all of this?" Joe asks.
"I don't know if I want to stick around here when I'm not happy. I know I never had a family before, but at least I was happy because I had all of our friends that I could meet up with whenever I want, and would pay attention to the little things. No one around here even remembered my birthday, and I used to have people like Samantha reminding me at least a week before. I can't fit in here." Kyle says, feeling like he was about to start ranting again, so he had to stop himself.
"Come on, we're going to speak to this family of yours. I'm not having them treat you like this."
"No, we don't need to. I'm going to go back to Melbourne with you and we're going to forget this part of my life. Do you need to head back to Adelaide or are you going home after this?" Kyle asks as they start making their way up the beachfront.
"I'm going to find your family, I'm not taking no for an answer. If not to have a go at them for treating you like this, then to find out who my bro has been living with since he ditched me back in Melbourne." Joe smirks.
"As long as you don't go starting fights with them, they're really not the type of people to get on the wrong side of." Kyle says, leading Joe towards the Braxton household.
"They haven't hurt you, have they?" Joe frowns, not liking how Kyle phrased it.
"No, of course they haven't." Kyle mutters.
"Then why say they're not the type of people to get on the wrong side of, and then start acting weird?" Joe asks.
"I haven't started acting weird, I just don't want you to fall out with them and then they make me choose a side. You're my longest friend, more like a brother to me, but they're my biological brothers."
"Well let's just go and see what happens, but just know I won't be making you choose sides. If they really care about you, they wouldn't either." Joe shrugs.
By the time they got back to the Braxton household, Kyle and Joe had caught up on a lot and felt like they were back in old times when they used to hang out together all the time. Kyle wasn't sure how it was going to go with Joe and his brothers meeting for the first time, especially since he now thought they had started to hate having him around.
"Are you sure about this? We can always go hang out for longer before we have to come back here." Kyle says as they reach the driveway and walk up the path towards the front door.
"We're here now, so no. We can hang out after. You've already agreed to this, so there's no backing out now." Joe says.
"They're probably all at work anyway." Kyle mutters, walking inside to see Bianca and Ricky at the dining table unpacking some shopping bags.
"Kyle, you're back." Bianca says, quickly moving one of the bags out of sight.
"Well I do live here." Kyle says, just as Brax walks in with Heath and Casey, seeing him standing by the doorway with Joe.
"Mate, you're back already?" Brax says.
"I wasn't planning on it, but Joe came to town and wanted to meet you. I'll be gone soon." Kyle lightly glares.
"No, don't go." Ricky says. "At least not yet."
"And why's that?" Joe asks, staring at them. "Don't think I don't know how you've all treated Kyle since he moved here, he tells me everything. I might not know you, but what I do know, it doesn't leave a good impression on me. I was going to convince Kyle to stay here and give things another chance with you all, but if he wants to come back to Melbourne, I won't be stopping him."
"You're going back to Melbourne?" Heath frowns.
"I was only ever here to get Casey off murder charges, there was no reason for me to stick around after that. My home is Melbourne, that's where my family is, even if they're not blood." Kyle says. "I'm going back with Joe in a couple days. I'll find you a new manager for Angelo's before I go, so you don't need to worry about them being disrespectful or slack at their job."
"Look, I'm sorry for what I said to you, I never realised why you were being like that until I saw a text on your phone from Joe." Brax says. "We're all sorry for forgetting your birthday and I understand why you want to leave, but we're going to make it up to you."
"How can you make up for forgetting your own brother's birthday?" Joe asks. "If you cared about him as much as you make out, you wouldn't have done that, you wouldn't even treat him like dirt. He deserves to be around people that are actually going to notice him, and treat him right. I can already tell that isn't you guys."
"Are you going to let him speak to us like that?" Heath scoffs, staring at Kyle.
"Yeah, I am. He's the only person I trust most and he's helped me have a good life. I'd probably be homeless or dead if it wasn't for Joe, so he can speak to you however he feels right. And before you go playing the 'family' card, I've known Joe since I was born, so I'll never fall out with him because you want me to." Kyle says, wanting them to realise he'll never put them above Joe.
"We don't want you to fall out with anyone, not him or us." Brax says, glaring at Heath to keep quiet. "We know we messed up massively, and you can hate us all you want, but we're trying to make up for it. Just come out to the garden and see."
"See what?" Kyle asks.
"Come on." Brax says, gesturing to the garden before they all walk out there.
They'd set all the garden up during the time Kyle was gone. The girls had decorated the garden with lights in case it got dark while they were still out there, and they'd even laid out the table ready for when the food was ready. While they did that, the boys were in charge of getting the bbq ready and making a start on the food. Heath had also gone to Angelo's to get alcohol in for the night, although they had wondered why they trusted him as he came back with double the amount they planned.
"We haven't quite finished setting it up, but we wanted to hold a belated birthday meal." Ricky says. "We went with something here as we weren't sure if you'd want a big fuss made or not."
"As I said before, it doesn't make up for forgetting your birthday, but we're trying." Brax says.
"You didn't have to do all this." Kyle mutters, surprised at the amount of effort put into it in so little time.
"It's the least we could do." Bianca says. "We also got you a few presents as well. They're not a lot, but we didn't want you to go without."
"No, it's okay. Thank you." Kyle lightly smiles.
"I'll start the barbie up. Are you staying?" Brax asks Joe, who stares at him before turning to Kyle.
"Of course you are!" Kyle smiles at him. "Aren't you?"
"Yeah, I guess I can if there's enough for one more." Joe nods, wanting to make sure Kyle would be alright before heading back to his motel room for the night.
"Sure there is." Ricky smiles.
While they waited for the food to be cooked, Kyle was given his gifts from them all. He was surprised by those as well considering it was a last minute thing as he was given some more accessories for his guitar that he needed, a lot more alcohol than planned thanks to Heath, and some vouchers to his favourite restaurant in the city. Kyle couldn't help but forgive them for forgetting his birthday as they'd put a huge amount of effort into making it up to him, which was enough for him. And as the night went on, he started to feel more included again.
"We won't make this mistake again, be sure of that." Brax says from where he stood against the fence overlooking the storm water channel, Kyle stood next to him.
"I know. I guess it's also my fault as I never said anything, so I'm not putting you at full blame here." Kyle says, watching his brothers and the girls talking to Joe, who he could tell was revealing stories about his childhood thanks to someone asking.
"Are you still leaving us for Melbourne?" Brax asks.
"I am going back to Melbourne, but I've decided it's only going to be a trip to see all of my friends. You gave me another chance, so I'm giving you one." Kyle lightly shrugs, wanting to see what the future brought for him in the Bay.
"Make sure you come back, yeah?" Brax says, knowing it was going to take more than a barbie in the garden to make up for how he'd been treating Kyle in the lead up to today. "Things are going to change around here for the better, but you need to be here for it to happen."
"I will be. I just need to take these few weeks away to clear my head and meet up with friends back in Melbourne. If you need me back before then because of Angelo's or whatever, then call me."
"Nah, don't worry about work while you're away, I've got it covered. You had some paid holiday to take anyway, so we'll be fine."
"That's good to know. Anyway, I need to go and stop Ricky before she gets baby photos of me." Kyle says, quickly walking over to them before it could happen, and then Joe made his way over to where Brax was still standing.
"You good?" Brax asks, wondering what he wanted.
"Kyle told me he's going to be staying here longer instead of moving back to Melbourne after his trip, but don't think it's a final decision. Kyle's never had a family to call his own, that's why he so desperately wants it to work out here, so it better. I don't want to have to come back here on a bad note again, so make sure you treat him right. If I get a call saying you're not treating Kyle right, he'll be on the first flight back to Melbourne. You might think I'm being harsh, but he's a brother. I wouldn't have forgiven you this easily, but it's who Kyle is. I've seen him through some of the worst times of his life, and you're not going to be added to that list, got it?" Joe firmly says.
"Got it." Brax nods. "Sounds like Kyle's been lucky to have you."
"Yeah, he is. He's a great friend and I won't let you bring him down again."
"These tough times you two keep mentioning, what are they?" Brax asks, wanting some insight as to why Joe and Kyle were so close.
"I don't think that's a conversation for now, just know that he's come so far and this is the happiest I've ever seen him, despite you forgetting his birthday. He might choose to tell you one day, he might not." Joe shrugs. "Anyway, it's getting late so I'm going to head back to my motel. Thanks for dinner, and for doing all this for Kyle, it means a lot to him."
"No problem." Brax says.
They both walked back over to everyone else before Joe said his goodbyes for the night. Brax could notice the difference in Kyle after what Joe said, and realised that his brother did seem a lot happier compared to when they first met him. They had all agreed to make changes around the place, and Kyle was going to be included a lot more after his trip away, that was a given.