"Why are we pouting?" Jess brushed Miguel's hair back like he normally wore it, "You don't want to come hang out with me and Rio?"

"I do," he muttered, "But I thought it would be a day for us?"

"You gotta share mama, boo," she kissed his forehead, "That's what happens when you have such a cool mommy."

Mig grumbled something she couldn't hear.

"Don't fuss," she pressed a pacifier into his mouth.

"Miles has remote cars," Hobie remarked, playing with Gunner and his toy phone.

Mig huffed quietly, putting his cheek in his palm.

"We're about to head out, babe," Jess grabbed her taller kids.

"Tell them I said hello," Virgil called out.

"Will do."

X

"Hi boys," Rio welcomed the group in, "No Gunner?"

"Nope, Virgil is probably gonna rap Dr. Suess to him and teach him a new dance," Jess shrugged, giving the woman a hug.

"He should get Jefferson to beatbox for him," the women joined in a laugh, "Miles is out with his other friend, Ganke I think. You feel free to play with his toys, but don't make a mess."

"We won't," Hobie quickly pulled Miguel, "Come look at his cars."

"When did you get a thing for cars?" Mig pocketed his mouth piece. He was still a bit bashful about having it around others.

"From Nana," he grabbed the remote, "Oy, aunty Rio, can we play with the cars?"

"Yes that's fine," Rio called back, beginning some banter with Jess.

Hobie handed Mig one of the remotes, "I call the red one," he turned it on and began spinning it in circles.

Mig tested out the controls before playing around with it himself. Definitely fun. It had been a surprisingly long time since he had played with electric cars.

"You know what we could do?" Mig pulled a doughnut, spiraling the vehicle around Hobie's feet.

"Line up a bunch of toys and do a monster truck jump over it?"

"Read my mind," the giant nodded, setting the remote down to find some books to build a ramp.

Hobie danced happily, going back into the toybox to gather some little people or animals to lay down as their test subjects for the super cool monster rally jump!

"Miguelito," Rio called.

"Si?" he stood, going to the kitchen.

Hobie watched him go, he sulked for a moment before following at a distance.

Miguel stood in the kitchen talking to Rio in spanish. The giant smiled, speaking between both women for a few moments before leaning down for Jess to caress his cheekbone and say something.

Hobie shifted his jaw.

Miguel smiled again, leaving the kitchen and walking past him, 'What? I thought you were setting up the victims for the jump."

"What were y'all talking about?"

"Nothing," he kneeled, gauging the height of the books versus the speed of the cars. Hobie whined, pinching at his waist, "Stop," Mig brushed his hand away, "Go get your car so we can test this."

"What were you talking about?" he whined again.

"Don't worry about it. Now do you want to do the jump or not?"

Punk pouted, going to grab his car. He was clearly still unsatisfied and didn't like being ignored, but dropped it for a few seconds to play.

"Ok, try it now."

Hob did a doughnut before ramming the toy into 2099's ankle

Mig winced, lifting his foot, "The ramp, dummy!"

"Do not name call and do not shout," Mommy reminded him from the table.

Mig grumbled, walking further from the ramp to grab his own remote and play.

X

They played in relative peace for a while, if not silence. Soon Hobie was getting bored again and decided he was ready for a new game.

"Hey," he reached over, grabbing Miguel's waist, "Let's play spaceship."

Mig looked at the time, "Give me a second," he began to walk back towards the kitchen.

Hobie grabbed his arm, pulling him back, "No, let's play spaceship!"

The giant sighed, calling to the kitchen in Spanish again. Punk didn't appreciate this, viewing it as him being excluded and demanded.

"Speak English! I want to talk too!"

"I'm asking for water, what is your problem?" he scoffed, pulling his arm away.

"Hobie, there is no need to yell," Jess scolded.

Punk glared at Mig's back as he turned away from him. Without another thought he reached out, pinching his hip hard.

"Ow!" Miguel reacted in kind, reflexively slapping the 20 year old across the face as he grabbed his waist in pain.

"Miguel!" Jess gasped, rushing over to check Hobie. Punk immediately hugged mama as she looked at his swelling cheek. She unwrapped herself from his hold to grab her older child's elbow and give him several hard swats across his rear, "You don't hit him like that. Do you hear me?"

Mig winced, leaning away, "I didn't mean to."

She swatted him again, "You do not hit his face. Do you understand me?"

Rio shook her head, guiding Hobie to the kitchen so she could put a compress on it, "Let's put something cold on that before it swells too much."

"But he pinched me really hard," he pointed in the direction the younger man had been escorted.

"So you hit him in his face?"

"No, I mean, yes. I didn't mean to!"

"Have I ever hit you in the face as punishment?"

2099 huffed, subtly trying to pry mommy's grip from his arm, "No."

"Has daddy?" a disagreeing headshake, "Has Peter? Cuz I'll kick his a$$."

Miguel vigorously refuted the thought, "No, he never did. Not you, or daddy, or Peter. I…I didn't mean to, it just really hurt."

"Where did he pinch you?" she lifted his shirt when he pointed. There was a clear swelling, red stripe on his waist. There were even small nail indents.

Jess sighed, lowering his shirt and turning her face back up to him. She still wore an upset expression, but it was far softer this time, "You do not hit him like that. Hitting him in the face is not ok." she watched as he nodded.

"Hobie, come here."

The man looked to Rio, begging for help. But she was a mom herself and gently waved him to the front room. Slowly he slid from his seat, walking to the summons, still holding the bag of frozen veggies to his face.

Jess crooked her finger, "Right here."

He shuffled over to where she pointed, tugging his lip ring.

"Why did you pinch him? You hurt him, you know that?"

"Mmm…" he hummed, shuffling in place.

Jess crossed her arms, "Do you realize you hurt him?"

Hobie nodded, keeping his gaze to the ground.

"Why did you pinch him?"

A few words were jumbled in his attempts at talk, the main things pieced from his comments were 'ignore'.

"You hurt him because he was ignoring you?"

A response of silence.

"Hobie, when mommy asks you a question I want an answer. Did you pinch Miguel, biting your nails into him, because you feel like he ignored you?"

Punk shrunk in on himself, tugging at the ring again, "I-I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't mean to. I just wanted us to play."

Jessica listened to him whisper his flimsy excuse, "That is not appropriate. Do you hear me? Miguel should not have slapped you, not at all, and I'm not happy with him," she threw a glare at her tallest child, leading him to bite his thumb, "But I'm not happy with you either. You have no excuse for hurting him. None whatsoever."

Her voice was never raised to either of them but she made her disappointment in both their behavior and unkind actions towards each other clear.

"I'm sorry," Hobie whispered, hugging himself.

"You don't owe me an apology, you owe Miguel one."

"Sorry Miguel, I didn't mean to hurt you," he reached out, petting the man's side.

Mig tensed at his touch, keeping his eyes to the ground, "Sorry I slapped you."

"Find yourselves against a wall," she pointed off, "Think about how to treat each other nicer."

The muttered agreements as they sat in timeout for the fifteen minutes she designated. After the alarm pinged she called them both to the kitchen.

They stood in front of her again, Hobie rocking and Miguel shuffling.

"If Miguel isn't paying attention then you have to find another way to get his attention. And if Hobie hurts you, you need to tell if you don't think you can deal with it in a better way. Understood?"

"Yes," they both nodded.

She eyed them, "Ok, come on and have lunch with Rio and me."