*Here's an image of what I imagine Johnny to look like because I found a whole bunch of Tyler Young GIFs online*

[ It's not really relevant to the plot, but it's nice to look at ;) ]

I am also working on aesthetics for the important characters that should be posted some time this week.

***

On Friday, like every other morning, the Santoros were off their beds before seven. 

No alarms. No snoozing. 

Carter heard something crash, Frankie curse and Luca laugh. And that was it. A new day had begun.

Carter had been living with them for six weeks and his body was finally adjusting to the rhythm of life with the Santoros. He sat up, rubbed the sleep off his face and turned off the alarm on his phone, set to ring in twelve minutes. He was used to waking up before his alarm by now.

"Move."

Carter groaned, leaning his head against the bathroom door, which he was in the process of closing. Someone pushed it open from the other side and Carter had to jump away from the impact.

"What the hell, Bella?"

"Move."

"We can't have this argument every morning," Carter mumbled, exasperated.

Bella smiled cynically. "Good point. Move."

"No, I need to shower."

"So do I. And I got here first," Bella insisted stubbornly.

Carter scoffed. "I am literally standing inside."

"Fuck that. My bathroom."

"No, our bathroom," he correct. Every morning, it was the same thing. And, every morning, Carter gave in. "This is ridiculous." He sighed. "I could've literally showered already, while we stood here. It won't even take me two minutes."

"If you take less than two minutes, then you're not even doing anything in there but wasting water," she argued.

"I just need a quick shower to wake up," Carter insisted.

"For God's sake, one of you just get in the shower already and the other can use the one upstairs. Mike and I are both done," Jack chimed into their fight. He was wet-haired and fully clothed, but the groggy look in his dark eyes and the rasp in his voice was the same as Bella's. It seemed there were two Santoros who hadn't quite caught up to the rooster gene.

As Carter assessed the light post-hot shower flush on Jack's tan cheeks, Bella sidestepped him and pushed him out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Carter stared at the door in shock for a fraction of a second, before the anger finally settled in.

"Really mature," he spat.

Bella answered by turning the water on. When Carter looked over at Jack, he found a recognizable glee shinning in his dark eyes.

"Two years," Jack said, patting Carter's shoulder. "You'll have to live with her for two years. We have seventeen and counting."

Carter exhaled heavily. Jack's supposedly comforting words did near  nothing to comfort him. Carter had a feeling Bella's brothers dealt with a much different side of her than he did. Especially Jack.

With a defeated sigh, he walked past Jack and went up to the attic.

Mike's room was spacious, neatly organized and brightly lit. There was an already made queen-sized bed, a cleared out desk, several shelves of books and folders, and another desk with a computer, a computer tower, a printer and columns. As well as a camping foam mattress with haphazardly rolled down sheets on the floor – the only trace of untidiness – where Jack had slept.

Carter imagined the room must have looked different when Richie or Jack used it before Mike. From the stories he heard and the quick personal contact he'd had with them, they both came across as more sports-oriented, active guys. There was a large set of weights outside in the back yard that Frankie had told Carter used to belong to Richie, passed down to Jack — Mike had them moved outside when he moved up to the attic

When Carter got down to the kitchen, Mike, Luca, Frankie and Charlie were already sitting around the table. Jack stood by an open fridge looking inside, while a very active Tony strolled around, cooking and replacing emptied plates.

"Morning," Luca said through a full mouth

"Swallow before you speak," Mike said from his seat.

"What he said," Tony supported absently, finishing a plate of scrambled eggs.

Carter smiled at Luca. "Good morning," he replied, sitting next to Mike. Jack pulled up the chair to his side.

"Do you two have plans after school?" Tony asked, setting the eggs on the table.

Luca and Frankie looked at each other, while Jack reached for the eggs.

"Not until the football game," Frankie answered.

"Then I have an idea for you," Tony said. "I have a day off today. You could bring me that dirty monster of clothes rotting away in your bedroom chair.

Frankie snorted. "What chair?"

"You do know you two used to have a chair?" Mike said, almost like a question.

On Carter's other side, Jack reached over the table to tug on Charlie's wrist and take away the spoon he was munching on.

"We have two chairs, actually," Luca said. "I haven't seen them in days, though."

"That's because the clothes don't carry themselves to the laundry basket," Tony chimed in, as Carter finally reached for the cereal and a bowl. "Last time I went into your room, the stack was reaching my height. That's not messy anymore, boys. It's plain, absolutely disgusti—Ah, no, no, Charlie! Take that out."

Tony grabbed the spoon Jack had pulled off Charlie's mouth before, which had found its way back almost fully down the kid's throat. While Tony threw the offending spoon into the sink, Luca reached for the shelf behind him to grab a Twizlers, sliding it in Charlie's hands.

"He shouldn't eat candy for breakfast," Mike chided.

Luca shrugged. "He shouldn't eat the metal spoon either."

Carter smiled, grabbing the milk. As he tilted the package over his bowl of cereal, a couple of drops fell and then nothing. Carter's eyebrows pinched.

"Yeah, Frankie finished that just now," Luca explained as he got up to go to the fridge.

Tony looked up from what he was doing, back at the stove, and reached for the package. He flattened it and threw it in recycling before continuing mixing eggs. The last eggs.

"I'm going grocery shopping today," he assured them. "I'll just add milk to the list."

"Add shaving gel, too," Frankie told his dad. "And you got juice in the fridge if you want, Carter."

Carter looked over at a frozen Luca, by the fridge. He was holding the juice package over his mouth, upside down. "Uhm..." Luca shook the empty package in his hand, grinning sheepishly. "Not anymore. Sorry."

Jack laughed to Carter's right, while Mike shook his head in disapproval. 

"No problem," Carter said with a sigh.

"Yes problem," Tony retorted. "What did I say about drinking from the package? We're not animals."

"Well," Jack conveyed. "We are not. Luca's a different breed."

Tony shot him a warning look, though still well within the safe zone of the Tony Santoro temper scale.

"Guess you should add juice to your list too," Luca said, sitting back between Charlie and Frankie. 

Carter started spooning down his dry cereal. Not his ideal breakfast, but he wouldn't die from it.

"Alright then," Tony muttered, grabbing pen and paper from a drawer. "Milk, juice... shaving gel..."

"Are you making a grocery list?" Bella asked as she came into the kitchen with her hair in a weird sloppy knot atop her head. "Add tampons."

Carter choked on his cereal.

"Easy, man," Jack said, patting his back with a little too much strength in his touch and a little too much enjoyment in his grin.

"Also, chocolate and ibuprofen if you can," Bella continued, unfazed as she sat next to Jack. "Where's the milk?" She frowned.

"Frank's fault," Luca accused. Frankie slapped the back of his head.

"Is there juice in the fridge?" Bella asked, already starting to get up.

A satisfied grin formed on Frankie's lips. "Luca's fault," he called. Luca shoved his middle finger in his face.

"Swear Jar."

"No swear words were voiced," Luca exclaimed at his father, outraged.

Tony smiled. "Then, Stupidity Jar. And if you complain, you'll put down for the Bitching Jar too. It's a new thing I'm starting. Feels right."

"You and those jars," Carter's mom mused as she walked into the kitchen wet-haired and with an only half-buttoned blouse. Tony smiled at the sight of her and they kissed quickly before Abby added, "Not that I'm criticizing your parenting methods."

"Kinda sounded like you were," Bella muttered. Carter glared at her, but his mom just smiled.

"Good morning, Bella," she said on her way to the fridge.

Mike got up from the table. "There's no milk and no juice," he warned as soon as Carter's mom opened the fridge. She frowned, closing the door again, while Mike left his dirty dishes in the sink.

"Blame Tweedledee and Tweedledum over there for that," Bella said, helping herself with eggs.

"Wait. Who's Tweedledee and who's Tweedledum?" Luca asked, pointing between himself and Frankie.

"You're definitely Tweedledum," Frankie declared surely.

"Why?"

"Because he's uglier and fatter, duh."

"They're twins..."

"Yeah, but Tweedledee's the smarter one."

"I thought he was the prettier one."

"He's both, that's why you're Tweedledee."

"Wait, I thought you said I was Tweedledum and you were Tweedledee."

"No, I definitely said you were Tweedledum and I was Tweedledee."

Mike sighed loudly. "Calling the pair of you Tweedledee and Tweedledum seems like an exaggeration of your cognitive skills," he commented.

"Okay," Tony spoke loudly. "Bella, stop chastising your brothers. Mike, stop fueling it. And, Luca, Frankie... just don't talk. You sound stupid when you do that," he finished, rubbing a hand down his face.

Charlie giggled excitedly. His breakfast Twizzlers was now gone and another spoon was back in his mouth. 

"Frankie's stupid," he repeated. Luca shrieked with laughter, like a hyena.

"Hey, hey, now." Frankie frowned, taking the spoon from his little brother's hand and pointing it at the kid. "That's not what dad said. He said we're both equally stupid. Don't distort his words."

"What's distort?" Charlie asked.

"To twist something out of its initial shape," Mike answered.

"Kinda like a truck seems to have done to Carter's face," Bella added.

"Bella."

"Ah, hilarious. Like your morning face," Carter spat irritably.

Frankie brought both hands down on the table loudly. "Carter Parrish, ladies and gentlemen, joining in on the match for what seems like the first time," he said excitedly. "It seems like a tie at one-one so far. If the next dig continues the thread, I'll grant the offender an extra point. Ready, set, go!"

"Frankie, shut up," Tony huffed. "Actually—Stupidity Jar."

Carter's mom exhaled loudly. "The jars," she muttered.

"They're a long-lasting educational tradition in the Santoro family," Tony explained, while Jack wrote down on a piece of paper from Tony's grocery list Frankie's one-dollar debt and put it in the jar. "It's how my parents paid for their vacation in the Greek islands. Of course, they had to leave me, Robbie and Cece behind, but still... They paid with our money."

"Yes, but we are not taking any trips with our kids' money," Abby said pointedly.

"No, but I can use it for groceries. Besides juice, milk, shaving gel, tampons and chocolate, does anybody else need anything?"

"A brain would be nice," Bella suggested. "Thing One and Thing Two could share it. Half a brain would be more than what they have to work with now."

"How about some manners for your daughter?" Frankie shot back.

"Heard there's a sale on that on Target today," Jack mused jokingly.

Luca reached over to remove yet another spoon from Charlie's mouth. Carter couldn't even tell where the kid was getting those spoons. 

"I vote on a muzzle for Charlie," Luca petitioned.

"I vote on a muzzle for Bella," Carter mumbled.

"Carter."

He huffed at his mom. "How come when I say something it's wrong, but she can bully her way around this house and it's fine?"

"Aw, it's so hard to be you, isn't it? Need a tissue? Maybe the old man should put that down on the list," Bella mocked.

"Bella, that's enough. Carter's right, you know?" Tony intervened.

"Of course he is," she said cuttingly. "Carter Golden fucking Parrish is always right, isn't he?"

Carter's mom frowned. "I think that calls for the Jar," she muttered.

"How about we make a Carter Jar?" Bella scoffed. "For every fucking time somebody hurts little Carter's fucking feelings?" 

While everybody stayed quiet, Bella got up and pulled out three one dollar bills from her pocket and shoved them in the Swear Jar. She then left the kitchen, her eggs half-eaten on her plate.

"Is it just me or she always brings money with her, every morning?" Luca asked.

"I think she just likes to live a realistic type of life," Frankie mused.

Slowly, Jack, who had finished his eggs, reached for Bella's unfinished plate and started forking down her leftovers. Leaning against the sink, Mike raised his eyebrows at his older brother. Jack shrugged. "What? It's not nice to waste food."

"He's not wrong," Frankie agreed.

"I think you should also write down eggs, by the way. On the list," Jack added.

"And beer?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Sure, I'll bring eggs and beer. Just not for you, Luca."

"I can't have eggs?"

Jack snorted. "Nice try, little dude."

They all fell back into the normal morning rhythm. Even though no morning ever truly felt normal in the Santoro household. 

Carter's mood had sunk, though. He was quiet when he entered Seth's car. Joey sat in the passenger seat next to Seth, and Carter let him without protest. Normally he would tell him to hop in the back. 

Seth and Joey spent the drive arguing about the music settings. Joey turned up the volume on some crude, generic rap song and Seth lowered it to almost silence. Joey then set the volume even higher and Seth turned off the radio. Joey switched it back on and Seth changed the station. Carter didn't even bother saying anything.

At lunch, Carter didn't try to engage in the pre-game excited talk. He sat through his Calculus class absently, failing to copy everything Mr Thomas wrote on the board. When the bell rang, he gathered his things quickly, readying himself to go meet the rest of the team to prepare for the game.

"Going somewhere?"

Carter turned around, finding himself face to face with Johnny in the hallway, directly in front of their classroom door. Despite the mood that had set the tone for the first half of his day, Carter smiled.

"It's a game night," he answered.

Johnny smiled back. "Yeah, I know." He rolled his eyes in light playfulness. "It's homecoming week, I'm not that clueless. It was a joke."

"Oh."

Johnny had to step out of someone's way, toward Carter. His hair brushed Carter's chest over the t-shirt when he looked down.

When he looked back up, Johnny took a single step back. They were still close enough Carter could see the perfectly round darker rim, lining the edges of his honey-brown eyes.

"Just wanted to wish you good luck," Johnny said.

"Will you be at the game?" Carter asked.

The other boy shrugged. "Not sure. But I thought I could wish the captain good luck either way."

"Co-captain," Carter mumbled in correction. Johnny bit back a smile and Carter rubbed his neck. "Thanks, though."

"I won't hold you any longer. I know there's team traditions before games. Especially homecoming game."

"Uhm, yeah. See you," Carter said. "Or not," he added lamely.

Johnny's lips twitched upward at the corners. "Something like that."