Like A Farris Wheel

"I just can't believe you would do this without talking to us about it first, Zacky! Do you not understand how fucking stupid that was!" Brian exclaimed, tugging not so lightly on his spiky brown hair.

"I-I just thought.. Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?! Just leave him there?! You killed his parents while he was in the room! The least we could do is give him a normal life. One that's not in foster care." Zacky muttered, trying to get his point across.

"Yes, Zacky, we get that. But how are we going to do what we want with the CEOs son? It's kidnaping, dude." Matt tried to reason.

He didn't want to yell right now. After last nights events, he got the courage to put his arm around Johnny's shoulder. He was on cloud nine the whole night afterwards, the thoughts of two dead bodies not impacting him as much as it would have. 

Johnny was confused though; he didn't know if it was meant as a victory jester, or if he should make it into something more. Like Matt, he was up thinking about it all night.

"Well maybe we should stop thinking about us for just one second, and talk about what we're going to do about the kid." Jimmy spoke up, walking into the room.

"His name's Codie." Zacky murmured.

"Now you're getting attached! It's like selling a dog, Zacky, once you name it, your not going to want to let it go!" Brian exclaimed, jumping up and pacing around.

Zacky sighed, "I wasn't just going to refer to him as 'the kid' if that's what you wanted. And I don't know what the big deal is anyway... He can stay with me, until I move out in a couple weeks. I'll get a friend to hook me up with a birth certificate and a social security card for him." Zacky said. 

He didn't know if his plan would work or not, but he was hoping for the best. He didn't want Codie to have the life he knew so well. Jumping from house to house, family to family. Of course he had his own family, he just chose to leave. Now he's staying with Jimmy in his van. As soon as Zacky could get an apartment, he would care for the boy himself.

Jimmy's head shot up as he looked at Zacky in confusion, "Your going to get your own place? What about our plan?" 

"What plan?" Brian asked.

Zacky sighed, "Jimmy and I talked about getting a place together." 

"Why didn't you tell us about it?" Johnny asked, a bit of hurt in his voice. Matt looked at Johnny for a moment to see the slight saddened expression on his face and instantly shifted a little, debating on if he should comfort the boy or yell at Zacky and Jimmy for making him sad.

Zacky shook his head, leaning all the way back in the big fluffy couch that was the interior of Brian's step-mothers living room.

"We were still working out the kinks." Jimmy said, noticing the distress in Zacky's posture. 

"Besides that, what are we gonna do about the ki- Codie?" Brian asked. 

All of them looked at Zacky expectantly. This was going to be a big decision, not only for Zacky, but for all of them. If anyone caught on to who the little boy was, they'd all be connected to the murder of the CEO and his wife. That was something that none of them wanted.

While that conversation was going on, the subject of their talk was awake from his nap in the guest room and had made it half way down the stairs. Codie being the shy boy he is, waited until the voices died down a little until he made his entrance.

With Zacky's back to the staircase, Brian was the first to notice Codie, and his reaction was less than pleasant. Brian couldn't stop the glare that made it's way to his face as he took in the boys features. He was adorable. Stunning green eyes, black hair, a baby face that came with an automatic pout. He couldn't help but glare at Codie.

Brian knew he was being rational, he just didn't know why. The emotion he was feeling wasn't.... normal for him. Aside from the dislike for Codie, he also felt a little jealous. He couldn't believe it himself, but he was jealous of Zacky's attention towards the boy.

Almost instantly, Zacky followed Brian's eyes to Codie. The smile on Zacky's face when he seen the boy was gone in a flash when he saw the fear in Codie's eyes. He somehow knew it was from the way Brian was giving him a cold look.

Zacky was about to get up and talk to the boy, but Jimmy beat him to it. All eyes were on the two as Jimmy knelt down and gave a big grin at Codie, causing him to let out a unbelievably adorable giggle. The sound brought smiles to everyones face, even Brian's lips twitched a little.

"Hey buddy. Sleep well?" Jimmy asked, poking Codie's tummy softly. 

Codie giggled again, squirming at Jimmy's touch. He liked the tall boy, and he could tell that Jimmy would be his favorite of the group.

"Well aren't you just the cutest! But you look like your hungry, so why don't we go feed your tummy?" Brian's step-mom came in, spotting Codie before all of the other boys.

She picked him up, giving the boys a knowing smile before taking Codie to the kitchen, asking him what he liked.

Matt stood up and streched, "Why don't we just see how this works? We'll just have to lay low for a while. And Zacky, he's your mistake, so he's your responsibility." 

Zacky nodded, a smile on his face at his friends words.