-1The four Sons were in their pajamas, in Caleb's living room; Tyler, Pogue, and Reid sat on the couch while Caleb was on the floor, rifling through his DVD collection.
"Scream?"
"Stupid."
"Dude, Where's My Car?"
"Seen it like a billion times."
"The Pacifier?"
"Gay."
"Oceans 13?"
"Why? So Tyler can drool all over himself watching Brad Pitt? Yeah, right."
"Hey!"
"You know I'm kidding, baby boy."
"Better be."
"How about Edward Scissorhands?"
"Nope."
"Reid, just pick a movie already!" Caleb sighed in aggravation and gave up on looking through his DVD collection.
"Put in… The Exorcist." Reid smirked when he felt Tyler stiffen up; the boy could never handle any kind of scary movie.
"Finally," Pogue teased as he reached over Tyler to hit Reid with a couch cushion.
Caleb started the movie and turned all the lights off before sitting down between Pogue and Tyler, who was fidgetting already.
"Calm down, baby boy, the movie's just starting," Caleb chuckled and put a comforting arm around Tyler.
"Psh, get your own, Caleb," Reid joked and wrapped his arm around Tyler's waist. "Tyler's mine."
"I thought we agreed to share Tyler," Pogue cut in.
"That was only when he had the gummy bears."
Tyler wanted to whimper when the playful banter around him died, it had been distracting him from the movie, but now with everyone else paying attention to the TV, he had to, too.
By the end of the movie, Tyler was no long between Caleb and Reid; he was behind them. And Pogue. Somehow he had managed to make a human shield out of the three of them and he would peek his head out over one of their shoulders every now and then, then quickly duck back down whenever something scary happened.
When the movie finished, Pogue looked over his shoulder and chuckled, "Movie's over, Tyler. You can stop hiding behind us now."
"Can't I just fall asleep back here?" Because he knew he would have nightmares. He always did.
"You might be nice and comfy back there but there's no way I'm sleeping sitting like this," Reid shook his head and pressed back in the couch, squishing Tyler's legs as he did so.
"You wanna camp down here tonight?" Caleb suggested, "I could bring down pillows and stuff."
"You can't call it camping if we're in your living room, stupid," Reid pointed out. "What you wanna do is called a, oh my gaw! Sleepover!"
Reid's girl imitation even made Tyler laugh.
"Cute, now seriously, is that alright with you guys?"
"…I call the couch."
"I call the spot in the middle of everyone else."
"And I call the recliner."
"I take that as a yes," Caleb said as he got up, "And lemme guess, Reid, you want like 5 pillows, Tyler wants 2 and Pogue's good with one?"
"Wow, you're good," Pogue remarked with a slightly amazed tone.
"Yeah, well, I've been basically been your nanny since we were kids," Caleb muttered as he headed towards the stairs. When he came back down, Reid was spread out on the couch, Pogue was in the recliner, reclining, and the coffee table had been moved so Tyler was sitting on the rug in the middle of the room.
"You could have helped," Caleb commented as he dumped the pillows and blankets in his arms onto the floor.
"Your hallways creep me out."
"I was comforting Tyler."
"I… just didn't want to."
At least Reid had the balls to tell the truth.
Caleb threw each of them their pillows and a blanket before settling down near Tyler on the floor. "You all good?"
"Yes sir, big brother, sir," Reid answered, giving Caleb a thumbs' up. Pogue chuckled and Caleb took that as another yes.
"What about you, Ty?"
"I'm good, thanks," Tyler murmured as he snatched one of Reid's pillows and added it to his pile of two.
Caleb chuckled and got as comfortable as he could on the floor, "That's it, no asking me for anything after this, got it?"
"Oh then, can I get a back rub?"
"Shut up Reid."
Reid snickered but fell quiet and soon the room fell completely silent, with the exception of the sound of the boys' breathing.
Tyler was laying there peacefully, feeling sleep coming upon him slowly, then he felt something else… someone, something was watching him. And he didn't like it.
He opened his eyes slowly and came face to face with Reid, but he didn't recognize Reid at first, so he screamed and squirmed away to Caleb; he was pretty sure he almost just had a heart-attack.
"That was too funny," Reid laughed as he dragged himself back to the couch. "You're such a chicken, baby boy."
Tyler was too busy catching his breath and trying to steady his heartbeat to answer.
"You're such an ass, Reid," Pogue commented, even though he was laughing himself.
"Leave him alone," Caleb sighed and reached over Tyler to pull his pillows and comforter closer. "Here, you sleep next to me."
"Uh oh, Ty, Caleb's trying to get into your pants," Pogue teased.
"I'd rather have him in my pants than Reid in my face," Tyler grumbled, getting situated next to Caleb.
"Ohhh, burn," Pogue chuckled.
"Shut up, Pogo."
The four of them eventually fell asleep, even Tyler, who felt safe and comfortable with Caleb next to him.
In the morning, Tyler was surprised to find, not one, but two pairs of arms around him. He blinked open his eyes sleepily and looked behind him; there was Reid. A glance over Caleb showed Pogue snuggled up behind him.
Mhm, who were the chickens now?
