Page 22 of Broken Chorus

The kids were doing an awesome job of singing their parts and holy shit, somehow, on the spur of the moment, Aaron hadmanaged to turn four simple lines into something special. The first round ended and the second one started and Hawk felt himself humbled and at awe as he played his part.

Song after song, Aaron helped them create something fun that was all theirs and gave each of them a moment to shine. Hawk couldn’t have been prouder than if Aaron had written the words himself. Hell, he was certainly recomposing them into something amazing. When the timer on the oven buzzed, Hawk got the Monkey Bread out and started getting their snack ready, though his thoughts weren’t on the drinks he was pouring or even the song Aaron was leading them through alone.

It was back on that turtle, and how proud Hawk had been of him that day, not only for what he’d done for that injured creature, but because of how much he genuinely hated to see any living thing unhappy. Hawk had never understood how he could go out of his way so effortlessly and without any prompting.

How many times had he seen Aaron take extra time with a fan, like the guy in Tulsa who’d just lost his brother, who’d been a huge fan of the band. They’d had tickets and backstage passes the guy had surprised his brother with for his birthday, so the man had brought them and his brother’s picture and held them up for the whole show. When he’d come to the back afterwards, he hadn’t been with the flock that had rushed the band waving things for them to sign. He’d hung back, holding that photo, but somehow, in all the chaos, Aaron had noticed the tears in his eyes and the desperate, despondent look on his face, and slipped away from everyone to spend some one on one time with him

Aaron truly was special.

Which was why it was so hard for Hawk to accept that he wanted to give all of that up to hang out here and clean frosting off the ceiling.

At three am.

Which was when Hawk had woken to find him out of bed, again, and in the living room with the television on and a notebook and pen laying on the arm of an easy chair. Instead of writing, he was standing on tiptoes on a chair with a plastic scrapper in his hand and a couple Clorox wipes, cleaning up the mess Hawk kept forgetting.

Aaron’s hands were meant for better things than that, and a seething Hawk had found it difficult to thank him without also chastising him for putting himself at risk standing on the chair that way. And Aaron being Aaron had just shrugged and finished his task like Hawk wasn’t even in the room.

“Alright guys, final song, and then it’s snack time,” Aaron announced.

“Can we still do something together after we eat?” Ella begged.

“Please!” Liam added.

“Please, please, please,” Dani chanted.

“Of course we can,” Aaron replied. “With all the sugar we’re about to consume, maybe we should play games outside so we can run around and burn it all off.”

“Freeze tag, freeze tag,” Liam cheered.

“Freeze tag sounds like an awesome plan,” Aaron said before walking them through their last song, a fun play on Humpty Dumpty in which the kids ended the song by shouting outhe was pushed.

Laughing, Hawk helped the children get settled while Aaron took the guitars back to the music room with the key Hawk warned him not to lose. The last thing he expected was for Aaron to linger there. The kids were almost finished by the time he emerged, slipping into his seat with his hair in his eyes again. Hawk longed to brush it back so he could stare into them and kiss him breathless, but it was neither the time nor the place, not when they’d have three kids to explain their unofficial relationship to.

Even Aaron had agreed that they shouldn’t let the kids catch on that there was anything between them until they were certain whatever it was would last this time, but having him so close and yet so untouchable for the better part of the day was rapidly driving Hawk to distraction. Nap time couldn’t come soon enough. There would be no housecleaning or meal preps done when they went down this time. He was getting his hands on Aaron and kissing the hell out of him for suggesting that they go play something as wild and boisterous as tag.

Hawk watched him wolf down three pieces of monkey bread, then distribute the other three on his plate to the kids, one for each, before he downed his milk and hurried to rinse his dishes.

“Hey, you could have finished,” Hawk admonished as he joined him at the dishwasher, Ella’s empty plate and cup in his hands.

“I did,” Aaron said. “You gave me too much. I need to be able to fit into my leather pants.”

“You mean the pants you hate wearing because you prefer performing in kilts and cutoff jean shorts?” Hawk challenged.

“I still need them to fit for those rare times when I decide to slip into them.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Besides, I’ve got a game to oversee, and you have something in the music room that needs your attention.”

“What the…” Hawk began, biting back the curse word he’d planned to utter while Aaron collected the rest of the dishes from the kids. “Aaron what did you do?”

“Nothing that can’t be erased if you don’t like it.”

“Erased?” Hawk muttered, thrown and battling back the temptation to rush down the hall and see what the fuck Aaron was talking about.

Aaron made a shooing motion at him before turning his attention back to the kids. “Go get your play clothes on,” he encouraged.

Didn’t have to tell them twice, they scrambled for their rooms while Aaron chuckled and pushed their chairs back in.

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