"Why are we picking on him?" Virgil asked. Hobie shuffled in place, keeping his eyes on the wall, "Huh?"

"I'm not picking on him, I was helping," he tugged at his lip ring.

"Did he ask for help?"

A response of silent annoyance.

"Go get his coloring book so I can see the page."

"I don't remember which book he had."

Daddy grabbed his arm, pulling the boy closer and pointing at his face,"Yes you do. You lie again and I'm going to wash your mouth out. Go get his book now, Hobie."

Punk shrunk at Virgil's tone, hurrying back to Miguel's room for the book. He returned quickly, slowly walking over.

"Give it to me," he held his hand out. The younger man reluctantly passed it over, twiddling his thumbs as daddy turned the pages, finding the one Miguel had been coloring.

It was pretty obvious this was the one Hobie colored on, considering the main medium was marker and there was a sloppy streaking of red crayon. A smear was more accurate since Hobie had tried to wipe the crayon off.

"Why are you drawing on his things?"

"I was trying to help."

"He did not want help. You tried earlier and he told you no, so why would you do it again?"

"He was gonna let me color his page," Hobie pointed to Jay.

"He is not Miguel, if Miguel said he didn't want you to draw on his page you should not have done it," Virgil scolded, "You know he doesn't like that and you are being mean to him."

"I'm not being mean!"

"Yes you are," he sternly shot down his argument, "And you know you are."

Punk stamped his feet, snatching the coloring book from daddy and throwing it on the floor, "I'm not, I'm not!"

Virgil crossed his arms, watching him have a tantrum, "Ok, I'm calling Nan."

"No!" He whined, grabbing his surrogate father's arm and shaking it, "Don't call, don't call!"

It was no use, he already had the woman on speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bma, can you talk to Hobie? He is having a lot of trouble sharing and being nice."

Bre raised an eyebrow, hearing her boy cry in the background, "Trouble how?"

"He's been picking at Miguel a lot lately. Today he decided that he was going to scribble on his coloring page and have a fit about it.

"Put him on the phone."

Virgil turned, handing his cell to the wickhead.

Hobie looked pitifully at the phone before taking it, "Hello?"

"Come home."

"I don't want to! I'm not being mean!"

"So why am I getting a call? Are you saying your daddy is telling tales?"

"No! I was just trying to help!"

Bre rolled her eyes, listening to him whine, "You come home, we're going to talk. I think you need a reminder on how to behave when visiting."

"I do know how to behave!" He sobbed.

"Give the phone back to Virgil. You be here soon."

Punk set the phone on the table and dropped to the floor, having a meltdown.

V sighed, taking the phone from the table, "Hello? Ok. I'm sending him back with a note giving you the basic rundown, but I want him to tell you what he did. Hopefully you can better help him understand how to treat others when playing."

Hobie laid on the floor, crying and gripping Virgil's pantleg, "I don't want to go home!"

"I suggest you put him down for a nap, he's clearly in need of one. Right, bye. Come on, Hobie, get up," he attempted to help Punk stand but was met with limpness.

Virgil merely bent down and fully picked him up from the ground, grabbing the note and the coloring book and carrying the crying boy to the dining room.

He sat Punk in a chair, holding him in place. Didn't want to send him out during a meltdown.

"Jason, would you go get Lizzy please?"

"On it," he hurried off, leaving Miguel to pout on the other side of the table.

After a few minutes, when Hobie had mostly calmed himself, Virgil wiped his face, "I want you to go straight to Nan. I'm going to call her and make sure you got there, understand?"

A somber nod and grip to Lizzy.

"We want you to come play, and we know you want bro bro's attention, but you have to play nice. Negative attention is not what you want. This is negative attention and it's leading to you having a much shorter play day and people being upset with you."

Hobie sniffed, wiping his eyes as he nodded, "S-sorry."

"We'll try again next time," he rubbed his back.

X

Brei read the note, holding the coloring page as the boy pulled his lip ring.

"Come on, to the kitchen," she stood with a quiet grunt.

Hobie whined, following. Soon as he was near the counter he knew the routine. He pulled his pants to his knees, since he had a crop top on there was no need to hold his shirt up, but still decided to hold it, just to have something to do with his hands.

"You know why you're getting this?" She shook the ladle.

"Because I was mean to Miguel."

"Again."

He bowed his head in shame, "Again."

"Exactly," she brought the ladle down hard on his left cheek.

Hobie yelped, gritting his teeth.

"We talked about this last time. When Nan sends you out to play with your friends you are supposed to play nicely. That means being nice to their person and their items, doesn't it?"

He shifted, bouncing from foot to foot, "Y-yes!"

"Is it nice to do what you did? When he told you he didn't want you to?"

Punk grabbed his bottom, hoping in place from a particularly sharp strike, "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Move your hands."

"It hurts Nana, it hurts!"

"Yea? So do that boy's feelings," she grabbed his hand, raising the ladle again only to hear her cat growl, "You stay out of this."

Yujin glared from the table.

"He should have got this last time when he pinched him. If you can't be a silent spectator then you can leave," she waved the weapon at the cat threateningly.

The cat huffed, turning away.

She shook her head. Her own pet judging her parenting, "Hands up."

Punk obeyed, quietly sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"You should be," Nan continued where she left off, "And when we're done you are going to write an apology letter to him and your mum and dad, being very detailed on how you plan on fixing your behavior."

The heavy silicon cut through the padding of the nappy like it wasn't even there, leaving him to hop and dance with every strike.

"Yes Nan, I'm really sorry," he sobbed, struggling to keep from putting his hands down again.

Bre gave him another two whacks before putting the ladle on the counter and taking his hand, "I don't want any more of that mean behavior. Understand?" A nod, "Nan is very disappointed, because we talked about this once already."

"I'm sorry, don't want to be a disappointment!" He virtually fell into her arms, "I'm really, really sorry, Nan!" Hobie cried into her shoulder, clinging to her.

"You aren't a disappointment, Dumplin. It's your behavior is disappointing. My boy is not a disappointment," Bre hugged him tight, patting her boy's back, "Ok, we're going to have to have another talk. I know you want big brother to look at you, but we're going to come up with other ways."

"I don't want anyone mad, I'm not trying to be mean. I… I don't know why I did it, I didn't mean to make Miggy cry."

"You might not be trying to be, but you are, Dumplin," she rubbed his back, "Let Nan make you a bottle and put you down. Then we're going to do your letter and brainstorm some ways to nicely ask for attention. Ok, my little boy?"

X

Jason smiled, rubbing 2099's head, "It's ok, my brothers are annoying too."

"He's not my brother, he just keeps coming over here and bothering me," Mig wiped his damp eyes.

"He kinda is your brother, baby," Virgil corrected, rubbing his cheek.

"No! I don't want him as a brother!" He slammed his palm on the table, "No, no, no!"

Virgil pressed his pacifier into his mouth, "Alright, enough of that. You're, understandably, in a bad mood. We're going to wait until mommy gets home to talk about it."

Miguel sniffled, hugging Daddy's waist and leaning into him.