It was late when Denes dragged himself home after work, a fact he wasn't pleased about. The show they were doing was longer than their usual runs, and as a stagehand he was required to stay afterwards and reset the stage for the next day. As a result, when he walked in the door, he dropped his bag on the floor and himself in the nearest armchair, almost disappearing from view.
"Long day at the office?" a nearby voice asked mockingly. Dorian smirked, not even sparing a glance at his bedraggled brother. His attention was focused on the television, which flashed with bright colors. Moments later, a blue racing car passed a red one, and the smirk vanished abruptly.
The pastel-haired bunnyboy next to Dorian giggled delightedly, pressing buttons on his game controller in rapid sucession. In response to the motion, the blue car sped out of sight, leaving the red one in the proverbial dust. The top part of the screen showed a checkered flag, and the boy let out a squeal of delight.
Dorian jabbed his controller furiously in response. "Dammit, Uri! I wasn't ready!"
"Language, Dorian," Denes commented tiredly. He didn't move any muscles other than his mouth, and even if he had wanted to he wasn't sure of his ability to stand at that precise moment. Instead he let his body sink deeper into the plush chair. "Where are the others?"
Pausing the game, Dorian jerked a thumb behind them. "Zero's washing dishes, and Kyu's in the darkroom. He said he'd be up soon."
"And Dor's up here, getting beat in Racers," the bunnyboy added with relish.
"And it's past your bedtime, Urian." Amused to see twice the unhappy looks he expected, Denes nonetheless nodded firmly. When he didn't see any motion he looked at the two of them seriously, and was relieved when the youngest brother shuffled off to the bathroom without further complaint. He doubted any of them had the energy to argue much.
It was silent for a few moments longer, save for the dull background music of the paused video game. The basement door then creaked and swung open. Wiping his hands on his apron was the second-eldest brother of the house, who looked up as if caught by the police. "You're home!"
That was certainly stating the obvious. "Good evening, Kyu," Denes replied. "Deadline coming up?"
Kyuubi shook his head. "Just some new stuff I'm trying. Different chemicals, new techniques, and the like. But I'm done for tonight. We saved some dinner for you, Denes, if you haven't eaten."
"Someone cooked?" The mere thought made Denes' stomach turn slightly, but his interest was piqued nonetheless. None of his brothers were good cooks, or even decent ones, and while Urian showed some potential with simple recipies, the other three had to band together to boil water.
Dorian laughed bitterly, rocking back and forth on the floor. "Not after last time. We've still got tomato residue on the ceiling, or had you forgotten? We got Chinese takeout. Shrimp with lobster sauce sound good?"
Before Denes could answer, his stomach growled noisily. Giving a reluctant smile, he nodded. "Yes, please."
"I'll get it," Kyuubi offered. "I want to wash my hands anyway, and the water down there's questionable. Oh, and Den, the mail's on the coffee table, and-" The rest of the thought was muffled by the kitchen door, which closed abruptly.
Denes and Dorian shrugged at eachother. Groaning from pain and effort, the younger brother leaned forward and plucked the small rubber-banded stack of mail from the table in front of him. "Bill," he muttered, sorting through quickly. "Bill, junk- we don't want to join a cheese of the month club, or have whiter teeth. Your video game magazine subscription is almost up," he told Dorian. "Did you want to renew it?"
"Heck yeah! It's better than your cooking magazines any day of the week," Dorian asserted.
Refraining from comment was a bit difficult, but Denes wasn't in the mood to fight, especially over periodicals. Instead he set the invoice aside to deal with later. The next letter had a postmark from Port Gino, and was also set aside. Whatever DS wanted from them could wait. The last envelope looked vaguely official, so he opened it, unfolded the single sheet of paper, and started to read.
Dorian shut the video game off and looked over at his brother, who seem immersed in the letter. "Who's it from?"
"The Fourth Wall Center," came the distracted reply.
"What's that? Some acting thing?" Dorian wrinkled his nose in confusion, then in impatience. Getting answers from Denes when he was reading was like pulling teeth, or worse.
Still reading, Denes finally spared enough attention to laugh shortly. "It's that adoption center I looked into a while ago."
"You found it?" A steaming plate of shrimp emerged from the kitchen, carried by Kyuubi. He set it and a plate of devil's food cake on the coffee table and sat on the couch, waiting for some kind of news.
As if in shock, Denes paled slightly and started to read again, from the top. His mouth formed the shape of words, but it was impossible to tell what they were. His eyes darted across the page rapidly, almost frantically.
"It's small," Dorian noted. "Guess they didn't have much to say, eh? Sorry, Den."
"Don't be." Color returned to Denes' face in a rush, and he smiled widely. "My application was accepted. We're having a baby, boys."
~Safetysave
