A/N: Thanks for reading! :D
Disclaimer: Glee's not mine, cause if it were it wouldn't piss me off. - Still 100% a true statement...(12/21/12)
"Boo!" I shout loudly from my position that I had snuck to behind my sister causing her to shriek in panic and jump about a mile and a half into the air, and also causing her to drop the sandwich she was currently in the middle of making onto the floor. She turns around while spitting out a mixture of Spanish and English curses with a glare that would send any sane person running for the hills, but I just smirk knowingly as her glare slides slowly from her face to be replaced by a look full of disbelief that eventually settles. She takes all of five seconds before she's shrieking again (This time in happiness and excitement) and throwing herself into my arms roughly. Thank God I was prepared, otherwise we would've ended up like her sandwich...
"Oh my God! Rayden! What are you doing here?!" She shouts into my ear, causing me to immediately recoil from the sound. I forgot how loud she can be. Sheesh...I just squeeze her tighter for another long moment before pulling out of the hug and walking over to sit at the kitchen table.
"We're back," I tell her with a shrug, a huge grin plastered on my face. Which I need to shave cause my facial hair's getting a little to long for my tastes. Should I completely shave? Or do something with it? Hmm...
"Wait like back, back?" She asks me skeptically, trying to hold in her hope and excitement. I nod and she mimics me before speaking again. "As in you and your dads are living here again and you'll be attending my school on Monday?"
"Yes, Santana. We're back and I already made my dads promise me that we're not going anywhere until I graduate. I mean don't get me wrong I love New York and I plan on moving back to be on Broadway as soon as school's over, but I missed you guys," I tell her in one breath. Santana's smile is splitting her face as she plops down into my lap and throws her arms around me again.
"Good Ray cause Mami, Rigo, Aria, and I missed you like crazy," she says into my chest. I just hold onto her tightly and kiss the top of her head.
"Where is everyone anyway?" I question a few minutes later as Santana gets up and begins to make another sandwich.
"Mami and Ari are at the grocery store, Rigo's over at his friends house, and my Papi's at work," Santana answers. "Hey you want a sandwich?"
"Yes, please. No meat or mayo. You know how I like it," I tell her before getting up and heading to the bathroom.
As I'm washing my hands I take the time to study my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Pretty plain. Nothing special. I'm around 5' 8", I have light brown eyes, lightish brown hair that's borderline curly and pretty shaggy at the moment, and a biggish nose that works with my facial features and the stubble I've got going on at the moment. I finally walk out of the bathroom after drying my hands, and I hear voices and the rustling of plastic bags before I reach the kitchen. I quickly turn around and sneak back to the bathroom, pulling out my phone to text Santana.
Ray: Do they know I'm here?
Tiny: No ddnt tell em. Fig u wld wnt 2.
I scowl at her poor use of grammar before grinning and sneaking back towards the kitchen. I pocket my phone quickly and see that both my baby sister and my mom have their backs to me. I hear Ari talking to Santi about something that Mami ended up buying her at the store, and I see my mom rooting through the plastic bags containing the recently purchased food.
"Mami! How many times do I have to tell you that those bags are detrimental to our environments health?" I playfully scold her from where I'm now casually leaning against the doorway. She spins around immediately with her hand placed over her heart, and stares at me lovingly with tears forming in her eyes.
"Ray!" Aria shouts as she scrambles away from her spot at the table and tackles my legs into a hug. I bend down to pick her up and hug her to me as she squeezes me around my neck in a vice like grip. I'm sure my hold is almost as tight. I've missed everyone, and now I just need my baby brother.
"Hola, Mami," I greet my mom again as I set Aria back on the ground. As soon as Aria's out of the way my mom throws her arms around me and proceeds to try and squeeze the life out of me. Aria's hold x20.
"Oh, mijo. I've missed you so, so much," she mumbles into my chest, tears soaking into my shirt.
"I've missed you too ma, but don't worry cause I'm not going anywhere until after graduation," I reassure her.
She finally pulls away after a few minutes and turns back to the groceries while wiping her eyes with what looks like a now permanent smile. I try and help her but she just swats my hands away and makes a shooing motion, causing me to retreat to the table across from Aria and Santi. Santana pushes my sandwich towards me and I start eating, listening to Mami and Santana bicker and just enjoying being around them again.
Mami and R.J. end up inviting my dads over for dinner that night so now everyone's gathered around the formal dining-room table and I can't wait to dig into my Mami's cooking. It's been way too long. Don't get me wrong; New York has some amazing places to dine, but nothing will ever be able to beat my Miami's cooking. So with that being said, as soon as I get the go ahead to dig in I start piling everything with in reach on my plate, Rigo copying my every move.
"I'm so glad you've decided to move back. Just seeing Ray a couple of months during the summer and during some holidays just wasn't cutting it," Mami tells my dads.
"Which is exactly why we decided to come back," my Dad, Leroy, answers with a soft smile.
"Yes. We saw how upset Ray always became when y'all had to separate again, and he wasn't the only ones missing you guys so now we're back," my Papi, Hiram, says.
I tune out the rest of their conversations to just stare around the table and think about my family. It's in no way what-so-ever a traditional family, what with my dads asking their best friend Maria Sanchez (My mom) to have a baby for them, her saying yes, and then me being born on February 5th. She was supposed to be in my life only as an aunt, but once my dads saw the connection she had with me and how much she already loved me they couldn't do that to her. They allowed her to stay in my life as my mom, but they had full custody of me.
Not even two months later she became pregnant with Santana and ended up having her not even eight months later on October 30th. She was pre-mature and everyone, including my dads, were afraid that she wasn't going to make it. She did and Mami ended up marrying Santana's father Rodrigo Allen Lopez Jr., A.K.A. R.J., afterwards and the rest is history. My dads always stayed close to them so I could grow up knowing my younger sister and my mother. My mom had Rodrigo Allen Lopez III, A.K.A. Rigo, four years later, and then she had my baby sister Aria Jaedan Lopez four years after Rigo.
Three years ago, when I was twelve, my Abuela on my Papi's side got sick. We ended up moving to New York so my dads could help take care of her. She ended up dying not even a full year later but my dads thought it'd be a good idea to stay there for a while longer, and now we're finally back.
"Rayden?!" R.J. screams across the table, tearing me away from my thoughts.
"Si?" I ask and at his amused and confused look I explain. "Sorry I was kinda lost in thought," I apologize sheepishly.
"It's fine kiddo. I was just asking if you're excited to start school and see your old friends again?" R.J. asks me with a small smile.
"Yeah, I am actually. From what Santi says that school's a nightmare, but I can't wait to turn it into my bit-," At the stern stares and eyebrow raises from every adult at the table I cut myself off and backtrack quickly, "I mean I can't wait to see if what she says holds any merit," I finish with an awkward grin.
"That's better," Dad tells me while Santana scoffs at me and the other three adults nod in agreement.
It's now Sunday morning and I'm lounging around my house in nothing but my Scooby Doo boxers and some Rick and Morty socks, eating a bowl of cereal and watching cartoons. I set my empty cereal bowl on the coffee table and begin to doze off when the sound of my front door opening tells me someone's here. I know for a fact it's not my dads because they just left like an hour ago, so it has to be Santana.
"Wow Santi, you're brother got super hot," I hear a vaguely familiar voice say somewhere from my right. I simply smirk but keep my eyes closed.
"Please don't inflate his ego Britt, cause the damn thing's already bigger then mine," Santana says before smacking me in the face with a pillow. I growl at her but otherwise ignore her. "Wake up puto and go get dressed. We're going to the mall," she orders me before smacking me in the face with the pillow again.
"Fine pendeja," I murmur as I finally stand up and grab my glasses from the table next to my now abandoned cereal bowl. "Hola, Brittany. It's great to see you again," I say to her with a wink as I pass her. She pulls me into a tight hug before I get by so I hug her back for a few seconds before letting go and sprinting upstairs and into my room.
I pull on a simple pair of black cargo shorts and a white v-neck before slipping on a pair of white chanclas. I slip on my glasses (Cause I'm too lazy to put in my contacts) finger-brush my hair to try and calm the mess a bit, and then grab my wallet and keys before heading back downstairs.
"Ok. That would be extremely hot if you weren't my sister, but since you are I now have to go and gouge my eyes out," I comment upon seeing Brittany and Santana making out on my couch.
"Whatever bitch. You know we're hot," Santana tells me with an eye-roll as Brittany helps her up from the couch.
"Well...I mean, I know Brittany is. But you? Well...Na. I just can't see it," I tease her with a shudder. She slaps me on the back of the head as she passes me and Brittany follows behind her while skipping.
"Thanks and you're hot too, but S is way hotter," B says as she passes by and heads outside. I just chuckle to myself as I follow them both and hop into Santana's car after locking my door.
"Wow this place is smaller then I remember," I say more to myself than to the other two as we walk into the Lima mall.
"Yeah, well that's because the last time you were here we were in the six grade," Santi says from my right, her hand intertwined with Brittany's.
"That's true. So what are we doing?" I ask carefully. I have nothing against shopping, but shopping with Santana is kinda scary. She gets...Let's just go with intense.
"I wanna see that new movie The Lorax, so Santana said that's what we're doing first," Brittany informs me as we head towards the theater.
"Sounds good to me," I say with a nod.
Santana informs me of everything I'm going to need to know for tomorrow while we wait in all of the lines and for the movie to start, and by the time the opening credits are rolling I think I've got the gist of it. I definitely don't like it and there's no way in hell that I'm going along with it, but I've got the gist of it. It's like I was saying Friday night at dinner, I'm going to make that school my bitch.
After the movie's over we head over to the food court to grab some lunch and as we're eating I decide to voice my thoughts on McKinely.
"Your school sounds so fucked up that it's insane," I say after I swallow my mouthful of veggie burger.
"Yeah I know, but that's how it is," Santana says with a shrug.
"You're in the Glee Club, right?" I ask slowly.
"Yeah?" Santana answers hesitantly because of my tone.
"And they still get bullied?" I question incredulously.
"Well, yeah," Santana answers like it's obvious, "I mean the only reason we're in that stupid club is because our coach is using us as spies." Brittany just stares down at her food with a frown.
"Uh huh, sure it is Santi," I say, disbelief coating my tone.
"What the hell does that mean?" She snaps at me defensively.
"It means can you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't enjoy being in that club?" I challenge her. She just glares at me for a minute straight (I know cause I count), me matching her furious glare, before she finally gives in and shakes her head. "That's what I thought," I tell her smugly.
"Well what the fuck am I supposed to do about them getting bullied? They're losers," she questions me, exasperation clear in her voice.
"Oh, I don't know...You can maybe try and befriend them? Or hey, here's an idea! Put a stop to the bullying they receive," I tell her in mock thought.
"Look I would Ray. Really," she adds at my skeptical look, "but it's hard enough to keep those culos in line already because I'm gay. I can't do anything to jeopardize my position at the top because I have to keep Britt safe," she tries to explain, her eyes pleading for me to understand. And I do understand. I understand wanting to keep the ones you love safe no matter the cost.
"I understand Santi," I say and I hear her release a relieved breath, "but you and Britt have me now and I can and will protect you both. I'm not going to hold whatever you decide against you, but at the same time I'm not going to just sit around while poor defenseless kids get bullied either." She looks uncertain once I'm finished speaking and it's tense and silent for a few moments before Britt breaks it.
"S, can we get ice cream?" She asks eagerly, bouncing up and down in her seat with a huge grin firmly in place. We both laugh, thankful for the distraction, and stand up to throw our trash away and go get ice cream. While we're walking over to the Ice Cream Vendor Britt shoots me a thankful look and I just wink at her. How my 'tough as nails' little sister ever landed someone so pure and kind-hearted is beyond me, but I'm thankful that she did because Brittany's good for her.
Thanks for reading y'all! :D