Chapter Eight
Steve

"How far into the book is he?" I ask Jo, who is lounging upside down in a beanbag chair next to me. All of us are in the treehouse right now; Livy and Zy against the opposite wall of us, her head leaning against his shoulder, me on the beanbag chair next to Jo and Liam in the chair on my other side, his hand secured tightly in mine.

Jo shrugs. "Jo just sold her hair."

"Whose his favorite character?"

Jo shakes her head, giving me a knowing look, one of pity. "Beth."

I sigh through my teeth, understanding her pitiful look. "That poor bastard doesn't know what's coming. I bawled like a teething baby when she died."

"I doubt Daniel will have a similar reaction."

"You never know."

"I'm glad things are getting better with him," Zy says with an encouraging smile, though it's a little forced. This past month Zy has been so busy, so exhausted, we hardly ever have time to hang out. Thankfully today is a slow day and we all managed to sneak in some time together, though it's not forever. We have to be back at the palace in about twenty minutes.

It's hard to discern Jo's expression due to her being upside down, but her tone conveys a glimmering hope as she says: "They really are. How about you, Liam? I never got to ask how things ended with your parents."

"It's complicated, but they're trying," He says with a squeeze of my hand. "I'm going to dinner at their house next week. I don't know how it will go, but I'm hoping we can start reforging some sort of connection."

"I'll go with you," I assure him with a smile. "If you want me to."

He smiles back, his cheeks beginning to blush, in turn making my own do the same. "That'd be nice."

"Alright something happened," Jo says a little aggressively, swinging her legs around to sit upright, her face conveying the same look she has when she reads a big plot twist. "You're holding hands and you're blushing and smiling at each other like idiots. Spill. I need all the details."

"We kissed last night." I whisper yell, not able to contain my excitement. Jo squeals, clapping her hands together several times.

"I fucking knew it! Bast, am I good. This is the second time I've been right. I should be a match maker."

"Please don't." Livy begs in a dreaded tone.

"So are you two dating now?" Zy inquires with a proud grin.

Liam, looking a little embarrassed and shy, nods his head, his voice quiet: "We are."

"You owe me the gritty details later." Jo whispers in my ear. I wink at her and nod, more than willing to share those details with her.

Livy sits herself up a little, Zy absentmindedly placing his hand on her back, his fingers tracing lines across her skin. "It appears you had a really busy night. Mom told me this morning you brought more stuff for your room and you're going to be living with us permanently."

Liam nods, now looking a little apprehensive. "Is that okay with you?"

Livy nods several times. "Of course. I couldn't be more happy to hear it."

"Neither could we," Jo adds, trying to get out of the beanbag chair with little success. With a huff, a swinging arms, she manages to stand, looking at Liam sternly. "Which reminds me of why I called this emergency meeting. As you know by now, we call ourselves the four musketeers, and this is our sacred meeting place. We don't let anyone come up here, not even our parents."

Zy, with the same seriousness, continues by saying: "With you now living here permanently, we have made an unanimous decision."

Livy finishes by saying: "We officially offer you a place in the musketeers."

Liam darts his eyes to me, searching my expression to find any hint of hesitation or doubt. I give him neither, I only smile. After realizing we're being serious, Liam looks around at the others, the muscles in his face tense like he's trying to hide how he feels. His voice betrays him, it cracks slightly as he asks: "Really?"

We all nod, and Jo reaches behind her bean bag chair and holds out blue paint and a paint brush. I gesture up to the ceiling, and Liam's eyes follow where I'm pointing to; the phrase 'this treehouse belongs to Olivia, Steve, and Zy'aire and Jo' in blue paint. Liam takes the paintbrush and dips it in the paint, reaching up onto the tips of his toes and painting his name next to Jo's. It now reads 'this treehouse belongs to Olivia, Steve, and Zy'aire and Jo and Liam'. When Lee hands the paintbrush back to Jo, the most intoxicating, beautiful smile spreads on his face.

"Now, we need to teach him our motto. It's the sacred motto of the musketeers and we take it very seriously."

"This club is starting to sound like a cult." Lee whispers to himself.

"If we're a cult, we're a pretty pathetic one." I comment with a playful elbow to his side.

"All for one and one for all," Jo says with an annoyed tone, glaring at both of us. "United we stand, divided we fall."

"Weren't there only three musketeers?" Lee ponders.

Jo sighs, but not necessarily at him. "It's a misleading title. The main character D'Artagnan joins three other musketeers; Aramis, Athos, and Porthos. I gave us the name 'the musketeers' because when I was adopted into the family, I was kind of like D'Artagnan, I got to join a really awesome team."

"Is there ever a fifth musketeer?" Liam asks.

"There's Planchet, who was recruited by Porthos, and we decided Porthos is Stevie so that could make sense...but he's a servant to the musketeers, so I think we should just pretend there were five."

"Probably best." Livy says with a firm nod.

"Now for the oath." Jo says next, clearing her throat.

Zy's eyebrows knit together. "Oath? What oath?"

"The initiation oath, dumbass." She replies cooly. I see Lee's eyes widen out of the corner of my eye. It must be weird to see someone call the king of Wakanda a dumbass. Not for us obviously, Jo calls Zy some sort of name on a daily basis.

"You didn't have to give an initiation oath." I point out.

"None of us did." Livy adds.

"Well I made one up and I think we should all say it, it makes our club feel official."

"As if a name, meeting place, and motto wasn't official enough." Zy mutters, making Jo's eyes snap to his.

"You're such an ass." Jo glares.

Zy sticks his tongue out at her, to which she does the same, which then causes Livy to roll her eyes and elbow Zy in the stomach, making him yelp in pain, causing me to laugh.

"Tell us the oath and we'll repeat after you." I say, gesturing for Livy and Zy to stand up and join us. They do, and Jo stands up on top of the beam bag, directing us to place our hands over our hearts. We do.

"I solemnly promise to be a loyal member of the musketeers."

Jo waits while we repeat the statement, then continues.

"I solemnly promise to keep the secrets of my fellow musketeers."

We repeat it.

"I solemnly promise to listen to in depth analyses of classic literature."

"I promise no such thing," Zy says. "I can't handle another second of you talking about the Odyssey."

"It's more the Odyssey's fault than hers." Livy says to Jo's credit.

Jo is not amused. "Just say the Bast damned words."

We do, though Zy does so begrudgingly.

"And I solemnly promise to always love, respect, and cherish my fellow musketeers."

That's something no one will object to promising. Once we finish repeating the last sentence, Jo reaches down to the floor and picks up one of the Dora Milaje spears, pretending it's a sword in a knighting ceremony, touching each of our shoulders with it's tip.

"From this day on, we are the five musketeers!" Jo declares giddily, jumping down from the beanbag chair.

Jo immediately wraps her arms around Lee, catching him a bit off guard. He smiles after a second and hugs her back, though this smile turns into slight alarm as Livy and Zy's arms wrap around him too. I don't think he's used to this much hugging, but I can tell he's happy about it. I'm the last one to join in on the hug, securing my arms around his neck, placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

A grin spreads on my lips so wide my cheeks begin to hurt, but I don't really care. I only focus on Lee, on the humbled look in his eyes, the joyful smile on his face, as I whisper: "Welcome to the family."