Boy Like Me.

Uncle Jason was about six feet tall and always had an intimidating look on his face. He was really nice though despite the hard exterior and cold stare he would give with those round blue eyes. His polished leather brown shoes made a heavy sound when he walked in through the door. Dropping his blue duffle bag he lifted his red beanie off his head revealing his tousled golden brown hair.

"Uncle Jason!" Liam said happily with a smile on his baby like face. He jumped off the last three steps and gave his uncle a big hug. The man had a deep laugh, but it was definitely friendly. "Thanks for coming." Liam grinned as he pulled away.

"No problem, anything for my favorite niece and nephew." Uncle Jason smiled patting Liam shoulder. The tall man pulled off his huge tweed jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.

"We're your only niece and nephew, so you can't say that." Kendrix said knowingly as she leaned on the railing of the loft overhead.

"Well look at you Kenny, you're beautiful." Uncle Jason chuckled and the pretty blonde waved him off running down the stairs. She jumped in his arms and he laughed once again picking her off the ground and then dropped her back onto her feet.

"It's good to see you Uncle Jason." Kendrix said as she stepped away from him.

"Now Liam, meddling in me and my wife's affairs is something you should stay out of," Uncle Jason said turning to the teen on his right. Liam laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck shrugging his shoulders. "But I thank you anyways. Tamara tells me you have a favor needed from me." Kendrix furrowed her brows and turned to her brother who got tongue tied for a minute.

"You just got here," Liam said hoping Kendrix would just forget about what Uncle Jason had said. "Why don't you rest and we can talk later." Liam smiled and Kendrix looked at Uncle Jason who shrugged and agreed to it.

"Ah, I thought I heard you," Aunt Tamara spoke as she walked out of the kitchen with Mrs. Daniels. "Were you going to say hi to us?" she questioned him bitterly. Even though they loved each other they hated each other about just as much.

"Really guys it's Thanksgiving," Kendrix said looking between her aunt and uncle. "Let's not fight, okay?" she asked waiting for the two to comply, which thankfully they did.

"Jason, Happy Thanksgiving!" Mr. Daniels said as he came from the garage. "How was the trip?" the man asked running his fingers through his dark hair.

"It's was good," Uncle Jason nodded. "I'll go get settled in." he said picking up his bag. Mrs. Daniels smiled and offered to show him to his room.

"Kendrix, Liam I got the Christmas lights down," Mr. Daniel said to his two children. "After lunch will you help me get them up?" he asked.

"Sure thing." Kendrix smiled and Liam agreed. With that Tamara and Mr. Daniels both left them in the living room alone. Sighing softly Liam smiled at his sister and started for the stairs, but she grounded the hood of his jacket and tugged him back. Kendrix crossed her arms over her light blue sweater and eyed him suspiciously.

"What?" Liam asked nervously.

"What are you planning?" she questioned and Liam furrowed his brows trying to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about. "Don't play dumb, it has to do with Ryan doesn't it? I overhead you and Aunt Tamara talking." Kendrix accused and Liam opened his mouth to say something, but he knew his sister was too smart for him to talk his way out of it.

"Look, Ryan wants to see his sister, so I figured I'd at least try and help." Liam explained himself shoving his hands into his gray hoodie pockets.

"I knew it!" Kendrix exclaimed and Liam gestured for her to keep the volume down. "You really like him, don't you?" she asked softly and Liam blushed a bit before stiffly nodding his head. Kendrix giggled lightly and wrapped her arms around her brother. He slowly put his own arms around her and smiled weakly.

"Now that you know," Liam paused and glanced around making sure his parents or aunt and uncle weren't nearby. "You have to promise not to say anything to anyone, I want it to be a surprise." Liam told her and Kendrix nodded.

"I promise." Kendrix smiled as they pulled apart from each other.

"Cross your heart." He told her and she smiled crossing her heart with her finger. Nodding his head Liam thanked her and jogged up the stairs to his room.

-&-

"She must be someone real important if you're busting out the fancy plates." Ryan said as he watched Benjamin cleaning off the table and laying out the white and blue fancy china. He was dressed up and seemed to be in a panic, which was very amusing to Ryan. Never had Benjamin seemed so lost and confused about what to do.

"No just a really good friend." Benjamin said as he put the silverware beside the plates. Ryan nodded once and pursed his lips pushing off the wall.

"Like bed buddies?" Ryan asked and Benjamin froze turning around to look at the handsome teen who was smiling. "I'd put it another way, but I know how you are about cuss words." Ryan blinked innocently and Benjamin clenched his fist, sometimes Ryan was just to blunt about things.

"Check the ham." Benjamin said as he walked out of the kitchen heading towards his room. Rolling his eyes Ryan went over to the oven and pulled it open. The sweet aroma of the honey baked ham made his mouth water. He couldn't wait until they could eat; he hadn't eaten anything all day.

"So Ben, tell me are you and this lady like doing it?" Ryan asked shutting the oven. He turned around as Benjamin walked in with two bottles of Cristal champagne.

"What's with this weird and intimate questions?" Benjamin asked trying to ignore the hormonal teen standing beside the oven. Ryan laughed and shook his head crossing his arms over his chest. "You look nice today, thank you for dressing up." Benjamin said gesturing to Ryan's outfit, a button down blue and white striped shirt with a white t-shirt underneath it and a nice pair of jeans. He looked really good all dressed up and his hair neatly combed and spiked.

"I can go have Thanksgiving elsewhere if this is a special event." Ryan said and Benjamin furrowed his brows shaking his head.

"No, no. You are more than welcomed to stay." Benjamin told him and Ryan leaned back against the countertop behind him.

"See you're giving me an option." Ryan said pointing at Benjamin who looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" Benjamin asked him.

"You said 'more than welcomed to stay', which is like saying you can stay, but I'd prefer it if you left. Right?" Ryan asked and his social worker pulled on his nice red tie shaking his head. "Oh come on Ben, I'm not an idiot. You wouldn't be this nervous if you done it with this woman already." Ryan said knowingly and Benjamin's mouth fell open. He couldn't believe he was having this kind of talk with a teenager that was twenty years younger than him.

"What makes you think we haven't?" Benjamin eyed the teen who laughed loudly and sarcastically.

"Oh please! You're nervous as crap, breaking out champagne, and fancy china," Ryan listed as he walked over to the top and then picked up a candleholder. "Candles, flowers, cooking the meal, it's all for impression." Ryan explained putting the candleholder down. He smiled triumphantly that he had Benjamin talked right into a corner.

"You're just some sort of conversational wizard aren't you?" Benjamin asked as he opened up a cabinet and pulled out a silver ice bucket to chill the champagne in. Opening up the freeze he broke some ice trays and started filling the bucket. Ryan knew he was right, mostly because Benjamin wasn't saying anything else and pretending he didn't care that an eighteen year old was aware he wanted to have sex.

"I'll call Liam." Ryan said and Benjamin shut the freezer looking at Ryan.

"What? No." Benjamin shook his head while putting the bottles into the ice bucket.

"Ben it doesn't take a genius to see what you want." Ryan told him pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Stop," Benjamin said putting the bucket down in the middle of the table. "Nothing's going to happen." The grown man told him and Ryan laughed lightly shaking his head.

"Then why did you buy a new pack of condoms?" Ryan questioned and Benjamin stiffened he wouldn't get out of that one. "I hope you score." Ryan smiled and walked away dialing Liam's number.

-&-

"Hey thanks for having me over. I didn't want to intrude." Ryan said as Liam opened up the front door for him. The shaggy haired teen waved the matter off and let him in so he could get out of the bitter cold.

"It's no problem, come on we just set the food down," Liam smiled as he took Ryan's coat and hung it up. Ryan looked around the empty room finding they were alone. Taking Liam's hand he spun him around and place a soft kiss on his lips. He pulled back and smiled at him and Liam bit his lower lip a small blush coming over his cheeks. "Happy Thanksgiving to you too." Liam chuckled softly as Ryan kissed his forehead.

"Let's go." Ryan said and Liam nodded leading him into the dining area beside the kitchen.

"Hi Ryan," Kendrix said walking away from the table to give him a hug. He smiled and hugged her and then looked around seeing four adults staring at them. "Glad you could come." She smiled and Ryan turned to her nodding his head in agreement.

"So you're Ryan, nice to meet you in the flesh." Mrs. Daniel said adjusting her black skirt as she walked over. She held out her hand and Ryan smiled taking it. They shook for a few moments and she tilted her head. "You are very handsome." Mrs. Daniels added and Ryan flushed a bit causing Liam and Kendrix to laugh.

"Thank you ma'am, you have a lovely home. And thank you for letting me come over," Ryan smiled at her and she smiled back at him pulling him into a warm hug. "Food smells great too." He commented as she pulled away from him.

"All the more to please you with, hi I'm Tamara their aunt." The black haired lady in a black dress smiled holding out her hand and Ryan shook it firmly.

"Nice to meet you." Ryan smiled.

"Hello there son," Jason said walking over holding a glass of wine dressed in a brown sweater and beige pants. "I'm Jason their uncle." He said gesturing to Liam and Kendrix who smiled weakly.

"He's kind of intimidating," Ryan whispered to Liam as Uncle Jason walked over to talk with Tamara and Mrs. Daniels. Next up Mr. Daniels walked over and seemed to be a very kind man. He held out his hand and Ryan smiled taking it. "Nice to meet you." Ryan spoke.

"I'm David Daniels," Mr. Daniel introduced and Ryan nodded as they let go of each other's hands. "Happy Thanksgiving." Ryan told him the same.

"Alright dinner is served!" Mrs. Daniel smiled warmly calling everyone over to the table. "Enjoy everyone." She spoke as everyone started to gather around the table and sit.

Everyone was finally seated. Liam was between his sister and Ryan and across from them were Tamara and Jason with Liam's mother and father at an end of the table. Liam smiled at Ryan who was staring at all the delicious food.

"Kendrix why don't you give thanks this year?" Mr. Daniels questioned and Kendrix nodded as everyone took the others hand. Bowing their heads and closing their eyes Kendrix began a small prayer. Once she finished everyone began talking and started to feast on the beautiful dinner laid in the middle of the table.

-&-

"You're family is great," Ryan said while helping Liam clean up the table. The shaggy haired teen smiled and rolled up his gray sweater sleeves. "I haven't had a Thanksgiving like that in a long time." Ryan whispered softly and Liam frowned putting down the stack of plates in his hand.

"Hey, come on be thankful that you have a good life now," Liam said placing a soft hand on his face. Ryan smiled placing his hand on top of Liam and nodded. "Come on smile and let's hurry so we can have some dessert." Liam chuckled getting on his toes and kissed the tip of Ryan's nose. The spiky haired teen smiled and nodded his head gathering up some plates.

Ryan hadn't felt the love of a family in so long, it was so surreal to him. In eleven years he'd never felt so welcomed by a family, but tonight that all changed.