The mornings air was crisp as Chris leaned over his window sill casually. He was generally the type to enjoy sleeping in a few good hours, but the unusually bright sunlight caused him to wake earlier than usual. Of the three brothers, Michael was the only one to enjoy early mornings strangely enough. He and Thomas were the type to throw the closet and heaviest objects at whatever dared disturb their slumber. But as it had been quite dreary and wet outside the last week or so, Chris couldn't help but enjoy the early beams of heat warming his groggy body.

"Chris? Are you awake?" Michael popped in, causing Chris to jump from the sudden intrusion. Of course Michael was up this early—but Chris was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't notice his door open from behind him.

"What—yes of course." Coughing slightly to cover the faint blush that had spread across his face, Chris attempted to keep a calm demeanor in front of his younger sibling. Although he couldn't help but notice a small laugh escape from behind the formers hand.

It was rare, far too rare, to see Chris acting in such a flustered manner. Seeing as he had yet to wake up from his usual morning stupor, Michael took the opportunity to jibe him along.

"You should hurry up and get dressed Chris! We all know how long it takes you to do your hair in the mornings." He dared splutter out at the end. Taking advantage of his brothers brief confusion, Michael sped swiftly, yet loudly from being unable to contain his laughter, away from the other. Unable to keep a grim grin from stretching across his face, Chris inwardly beamed at the younger's new-found playfulness. It had been far too long since he had heard his youngest sibling laugh so…thoroughly.

Though this held no avail against Chris's place as Michael's older brother. Skipping a beat or two from his pleasant reflection, Chris charged after the other, not sure what he was going to do once he caught him, but was having too much fun to care. When they had been younger, in what felt like many a lifetime ago, Chris had usually been the one to pull Thomas off Michael when they had their own disputes. Now however it seemed the youngest felt himself big enough to take on Chris.

Well maybe not "take on", but a challenge was a challenge.

"Thomas! Come save me from Chris—tina!" Michael gulped under genuine fright. The "Tina" part kind of slipped, and he felt he may have crossed a line there. Peaking up to examine Chris's face, he felt a wave of relief upon realizing his older brother's attempt to appear angry was merely a front. Chris was gnawing at the sides of his lips, trying to contain his smile, and his voice quaked with laughter when trying to threaten the other.

It was strange for Michael to raise his voice, at all. Angry or cheerful, he had the tendency to keep a calm demeanor, referring himself after Chris. Although after seeing his brothers grimacing, yet clearly amused, glower, Michael just didn't want it to end.

"D-did you just call him…Christina?" Yet another rare occurrence occurred as Thomas rose from his room into the hall where Chris had Michael corned.

"…maybe…" Michael wasn't able to feign any kind of fear, as his lips dripped with unsurpressable laughter.

"All right. Let me give you a hand there, bro," Thomas nodded, but to Chris, not Michael.

"Gotta' teach the kid his place."

"Thank you—Tammy." Chris added subtly. Tammy wasn't very clever, but humor wasn't exactly Chris's strong point. Nonetheless, Michael couldn't help but break down in a fit of giggles as Thomas's cheeks burned a deep red.

"Fine! Take Michelle's side!"

"…you all have been through far too much together to be arguing over girls." Byron interjected, observing the scene with curiosity. His not too young sons had been recently been a fair bit more cheerful since the defeat of Doctor Faker…and the defeat of himself. Byron was content with being with his sons peacefully, but when he saw the three of them arguing and screaming to each other so early on had him on guard. He would be dammed to the lowest pits of hell if he let something as trivial as a woman get between them.

He never did talk to them about these kind of…things. They, with the exception of Chris to an extent, were still teenagers. An echoing longing that usually nestled itself in his deepest dreams for his wife twinged at the end of his mind. She would have been able to handle a situation like this much more smoothly than he ever could.

"Dad we're not—" Thomas began, but Byron held up a hand to silence him. His mask hid the greater part of his face, so his children weren't able to see how truly panicked he was. He needed time to think…time to properly form his thoughts so he could properly explain to them…

"It's a beautiful day out. Let's all go as a family for a walk…" He nodded and turned away from his sons before they could argue any further. He should have expected something like this to happen, he needed to get his thoughts together. He was a man of science, and was never particularly sooth with women or talks of feelings and emotions. He had been fortunate enough to find love in one safe place and have it reciprocated. Even so he was well aware of the troubles romance could cause.

"I suppose it's time for me to do that kattobingu, eh Kazuma?"

About a half an hour later the four Arclights made their way down to the park. Thomas was furious with Michael for causing the confusion with their father, even though he was the one to cry out the name, "Michelle". Deep down, he inwardly admitted to himself how nice it was to be out with everyone for a change. Michael had gone back to school and had made a few new friends, so it was a rare bit to tease him nowadays. Although it was fun to tease him about not having a girlfriend or bother him around his friends.

Chris had lightened up considerably since before, but he still had the tendency t o act like a big-shot. At least in Thomas's eyes. He had gone back to working with their father on God knew what. He wasn't particularly lonely…he had visited Rio in the hospital a few times, though making sure Shark wasn't around to see, and his fans did practically worship the ground under his feet…

But it was different to be with his family, just together all of them.

As unreal as it felt, he couldn't help feeling nervous regarding their fathers composed demeanor. Was he mad at them for being so loud? Did he…was he going to…Thomas felt embarrassed for thinking so much about it, so he remained silent on the topic. Instead, he directed his energy towards blaming Michael. At least that got his mind off…other things.

Byron, much like his middle son, had his mind racking over worst case scenarios. What if his sons ignored him? He didn't deserve this second chance—what if they were disputing because he never taught them—

"I forgot how beautiful it was out here." Michaels voice interrupted Byron and Thomas's thoughts, as they paused to see what he was talking about.

After the heavy rainfall from the previous week, the sun blazed down fully onto the parks grass, causing it to glimmer like diamonds. Chris smiled gently, rubbing Michael's head gently, before sitting down on a nearby bench and pulling out a book.

Sitting next to his eldest son, Byron inwardly gulped before trying to speak with the boys. He needed to be confident…calm…these were his sons. His sons. Nothing to fear…

"I wanted to talk to you boys about this Michelle." He began, his voice coming out naturally, casually. Good. Now…what else was he going to say?

"Such a sweet girl…" Chris murmured under his breath, casually flipping a page. Thomas could tell his brother wasn't actually reading, his eyes stayed fixated on one spot, and his smug grin only solidified the point.

Byron felt heat rise to his face. The mask…how glad he was for the mask right now. He needed to say something, quickly.

"Boys you should know—"

"No dad! Don't listen to them!"

"Thomas it's fine. But—"

"Michael is Michelle! We were just messing around this morning, and stuff. It's his fault!"

"You were the one who yelled it" Michael calmly added, smile turning wicked as Thomas turned on him, face a blaze.

"Oh yeah?! Well you were—"

"Umm…e-excuse me…" a tiny voice interrupted. Byron was still inwardly thanking the stars, so didn't notice as the young girl came towards to four bashfully.

"Oh, can I help you, sweetie?" Michael offered, leaning down to make eye contact with the young girl. She couldn't be older than seven, maybe eight.

"I well…was wondering…if I could…" whispering into his ear, the girl flushed a considerably dark shade of red when pulling away.

Michael himself blushed faintly when standing right up, the others eyes fixed curiously on the pair. He scratched his head in slight confusion, before deciding it would be best to address everyone present.

"She said…well, she asked if she could play with my 'cute brother'." He shrugged, looking towards Chris. Chris looked at Thomas, and Thomas narrowed his eyebrows looking at Michael.

Wasn't Michael the cute brother? He knew he was the sexy one, and Chris was the grumpy one or something—

"Oh—oh my God." Chris cackled, slapping his hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter. His eyes watered considerably, and he was laughing too hard to think about the young girls feelings. She pouted at this, a small frown etched across her face, as Michael too realized what she was asking.

"What…what do you mean, kid? Our cute brother..?" Thomas sized her up. Did she mean Chris or?

"Yeah! Your…cute…little brother…" she turned away, not able to meet Byron's eyes.

"Wha—HEY! THAT'S NOT MY LITTLE BROTHER. THAT'S MY DAD." Thomas couldn't contain his voice, it came out in a harsh, unforgiving tone. To his great surprise though, the girl faced him down with great vigor.

"It's rude to lie you know!" She lectured, sticking her tongue full out at Thomas. At this, Michael too couldn't help but follow in Chris's suit, laughing more at Thomas than anything else.

"I'm not lying! What would you know, kid?!"

"Now Thomas, you need to be kind to a lady." Byron calmly broke in. At this, the girl flushed even deeper, turning away and waving.

"Well! Maybe we can play some other time! When your lame older brother isn't around!" Giggling to herself, she sped off before anyone could answer her.

"Dad! You can't just—no!"

"I know Thomas, but these things are inevitable. You shouldn't talk to girls like that. You need to be respectful."

"Yeah Thomas, grow up" Michael prodded, poking his brother in the ribs.

"This is your fault! A-and not tickle me—!" Glowering at the other, Michael knew he had pushed his luck too far today.

"Catch me if you can!" Turning away to run, Michael booked it as fast as he could away from his brother before Thomas could pick up speed.

"Just wait you-!" Feeling a faint smile spread across his face, Thomas chased after his brother, unable to help feeling a pleasant warmth from the nostalgic act.

"Dad, you shouldn't tease them so much." Chris smiled, completely missing his father's attempt to teach his sons about women.

"Ah…yes, I suppose." Leaning back on the bench next to his son, Byron took out a book and followed in suit.

There was time to teach them later…there was plenty of time now.