Epilogue

~Josh

Yawning, I pushed open the door. Today was exhausting and all I really wanted to do was shower and go to bed. And maybe dinner. I should probably eat something. I wonder if they left me any food tonight. They usually do.

I headed straight for the kitchen, knowing that if I didn't go there first, I'd probably end up passing out without eating eating anything.

On the way to the kitchen, I had to pass by the living room. I glanced in, noticing someone curled up on the couch. Stopping in the doorway, I took a second to process why Logan was sitting with a pillow to his chest and his sweatshirt hood pulled over his head, nearly covering half his face.

"Hey, Log," I said. "You doing okay?"

The slight tilt of his head towards me was the only indication that he heard me. Then he spoke after a moment. "I'm fine, Papa." Except his tone said he was anything but fine.

Looks like dinner was going to have to wait. I walked over and sat down on the couch next to my son. Carefully pushing back his hood, I saw what he was trying to hide.

"Who did this to you?" I asked, referring to the black eye that was forming.

He shook his head. "No one. It was nothing. I'm fine."

Before I could pry any further, he got up and left the room. This wasn't the first time he's come home from school bruised. He's never wanted to talk about it, though, and I hated that I couldn't help him. Even if he told us why he was getting into these fights, then maybe we could do something. But I just feel useless when he avoids the topic completely like this.

Sighing, I, too, stood up and left the room, although I continued towards the kitchen where I had been heading before. I might be able to get him to talk later. But then again, I was a teenager once, I get it. I understand not wanting to talk about the bruising - it was me too, at one point in my life. I just hope he wasn't being bullied, not that I'd rather him starting fights with people either.

In the kitchen, I found Ashley typing away on her laptop. Where were my husbands in this house? Were they even here?

She looked up when I entered. "Hi, Papa. I made lasagna for dinner. There's some left over in the fridge for you."

I smiled. "Thanks, sweetie." Walking over to the fridge, I pulled out the container. "Why'd you cook tonight? Where are your dads?"

She shrugged. "Felt like cooking. And I don't really know where they are. Around, I guess." She went back to typing and I dropped the subject, focusing on heating up my dinner.

Once my food was microwaved, I sat down across from her. That's when I noticed her bruised knuckles.

"Ash," I said, getting her attention again. "What happened to your hand?"

She looked back down at her laptop. "Nothing."

"It doesn't have anything to do with your brother's black eye, does it?" I questioned. They've never had a history of fighting with each other, but I couldn't be so sure right now.

She groaned heavily, shutting her laptop and standing up. "Don't worry about it, Papa. Just leave it alone. But I didn't hit him, if that's what you're thinking." Then she left the kitchen without another word.

I sighed. What was I going to do about them?

~ Jackson

I walked by the kitchen, noticing Josh sitting at the table with a half-eaten plate of food in front of him and his head in his hands. Placing the basket of laundry down where I was in the hallway, I went over, sliding into the chair next to him.

He looked up when I sat down. "Hey." His voice was small, like something was wrong.

"What's up?" I asked. "Everything okay?"

"Have you seen our children today? They're getting into fights and they're not talking to me about it."

Right. That. I didn't know either. Just because they came home from school bruised doesn't have to mean they're causing trouble or that they're bad kids. It happens all the time in high school.

"What if they're being bullied, Jackson?!"

"They're not being bullied, Josh." I think we would know if they were, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't happening to them. They were strong kids. What was there to pick on them for?

Josh looked upset and kind of angry. "How would you know? Please, explain that to me, Jay. Have you ever been bullied in your life? Because I have, and I know, for a few years, I didn't say anything to anyone, not even to my moms. Okay? I didn't know I could talk to them, or anyone. Our children could be in a similar situation, and I refuse to let them go through that same pain."

I sighed. No, I was never bullied when I was younger. Maybe Josh did have a point. But I also figured we raised Ash and Logan so that they'd feel comfortable coming to us about anything, including situations in which they might be getting bullied. I wanted to believe they were fine.

"How about," I started, "we call them down here - Leo and Kyle too - and have a family meeting. We can talk about it."

Josh thought for a second before slowly nodding his head. "Yeah, okay. We can at least tell them it's okay for them to talk to us. It could work."

He started getting up from the table, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you finish your dinner first?"

He nodded again. "Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea."

~ Leo

The stream of hot water was raining down our backs and Kyle was getting ready to push into me when the shower door slid open. At first, I thought Josh was actually going to join us, but when I saw that he was still fully dressed and that eye roll he gave us at our current position, I knew I was wrong.

"We're all going to meet downstairs in five minutes," he said. "Five minutes. I mean it. You both better be there. It's an important family meeting."

Family meeting? What kind of bullshit was this? And now of all times? That just wasn't fair.

But Kyle backed away from me, choosing to lower the temperature of the water to help us get rid of our little problems as we quickly finished our shower. Then, about seven minutes after Josh had come in, all six of us were crowded around the living room. Ash and Logan were sitting next to each other on one of the couches looking extremely miserable. Same, kids, same.

"So what's up?" Kyle asked as we sat down. "Everything okay?"

"Apparently we don't talk to you," Ashley muttered, then spoke up a bit when she realized we were all listening, "which is stupid. Why do you feel you need to be all up in our business like this? It's not fair."

"Because you're getting into fights," Jackson answered. "And fighting isn't the way to go. Whatever is going on, we want to know so we can help you."

"You guys can talk to us," Josh said. "Please, we're not going to get mad. Maybe a little disappointed if it turns out you're starting things with other kids. But if you're in trouble, we want to help fix it. Seeing you both bruised hurts us too."

Both of them? I only knew about Logan's black eye. How was Ashley involved? "Wait, Ash, too? What happened?"

She lifted her hand to show me. "Apparently cut open knuckles means I've been punching people." She lowered her hand and looked at Josh. "Nothing's going on. Can we leave now? I have homework to finish."

My husbands and I all looked at each other, coming to a mutual understanding, even without needing words. If they weren't going to talk, then why force them? They'll come to us when they're ready.

Josh sighed. "Fine."

As soon as the word was out of his mouth, Ashley was out of the room, heading straight upstairs to her room. We all watched her go, then turned our eyes towards Logan, who hadn't moved yet.

When he noticed us looking at him, he shrugged. "This kid was kinda picking on me and saying shit after school today. Like how it's wrong to have four dads. Ashley punched him. That's what happened." Then he, too, stood up and left the room.

~Kyle

It was frustrating. There was absolutely nothing we can do about this situation. At least Logan told us the truth, though. Not that it made anything better, only allowed us to know what was actually going on.

The four of us looked at each other. Josh looked absolutely devastated. I didn't blame him.

"This is our fault," he said quietly. "Because of us, Logan is getting beat up at school. There's no way to fix this."

Leo pulled Josh towards him, wrapping an arm over his shoulder and kissing his temple. "We'll figure this out, love. We will. We always do."

"You know," I started, not exactly sure where I was going with this sentence. "We got some pretty impressive kids." They all looked at me, so I continued. "They're sixteen. What other sixteen year olds do you know of that would willing come home bruised to defend their parents? They could have given in, said, 'yeah, it's weird and gross', but instead, they're sticking up for us. They love us, all of us. Yeah, it sucks that they're even in this kind of situation, but we can talk to the school or call this Henry kid's parents - I'm sure I could get that information - we can try to do something to help."

"Damn right," Jackson said with a smirk. "This family sticks up for each other, we've always known that."

I looked over at Leo and Josh, wondering how they felt about it. Leo was smiling a small smile, looking down at Josh, who had managed to fall asleep against Leo's chest. He was so exhausted all the time. I wish he would stop working so hard, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen.

"I think we can't do anything tonight," Leo said, looking back up at us. "But tomorrow, definitely, we call the school, call Henry's parents, do all that shit. Now, I think it's bedtime."

Heading to the room, I paused in the doorway to Ashley's bedroom. She was sitting in the middle of her bed, laptop open in front of her and her headphones in. She looked up at me after a second and took off the headphones.

"Dad, if you're going to question me more, don't. Please."

I shook my head. "Nah. Just wanted to say I'm proud of you." She gave me a small smile but didn't say anything. "Don't stay up too late, okay? I love you."

I left her alone, but not before I heard her say 'I love you, too' back to me. I smiled. I knew she did, but it was still nice to hear.

My next stop was one room over, where I saw Logan was fast asleep already in his bed. I walked in and slowly took off his shoes, then pulled his blanket over his body.

Just as I was about to leave, my eyes landed on his old Simba stuffed animal on his headboard. These kids have gone through so much in their lives, but they've come out so strong because of it all. Sure, they still have battles to fight - that will always happen - but they will always have us right by there side, doing whatever we physically can to get them through it all. Because we were family.

A/N: Hey guys! So this is the end of More Than Just Lovers.  Please vote and comment! And definitely check out my other books if you're interested. Thanks!