ARES' P.O.V

"Hey kiddo, I see you're feeling much better" I said upon seeing Ceres coming downstairs. She had just a little bit more energy than she's had these past couple of days and I was glad to see that she was back on her feet.

"Yes" she said nodding with a small smile.

"Well, since you are, you can come with me to the store" I said and Ceres tilted her head.

"What are we getting?" She asked and I leaned in while gesturing for her to lean in as well so she did.

"It's Roman's birthday tomorrow so we gotta pick up some stuff" I whispered and Ceres made an 'o' shape with her lips before nodding.

"Hurry and get dressed, okay?" I said and Ceres nodded before going back up to her room.

"You call that whispering?" I jumped at the sudden voice, not expecting it. I turned to see Max who was covered in paint. He had his brushes in hand and seemed to be going to the sink.

"You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were Roman" I said while clutching my imaginary pearls for emphasis. Max rolled his eyes and headed into the kitchen.

"Can't you use the sink upstairs?" I asked following him and Max shook his head.

"Lance got mad at me cause the paint left a stain. Told me to use the kitchen one" he said and I nodded.

"So, whatcha painting this year?" I asked and Max gave me a slight smirk.

"It's a surprise for a reason. If I told you, then he'd know before the day is done" he said and I glared. Cheeky little bastard.

The sound of footsteps caught my attention and I turned to see Ceres dressed and ready to go with something that looked like a piggy bank in her arms.

"I'm ready" she said and I nodded.

"See ya" I said giving Max a short wave and he nodded while continuing to wash his brushes.

"So, what's with the piggy bank kiddo?" I asked as we walked down the somewhat empty streets. Ceres was holding it firmly as if she were afraid to drop it.

"I want to buy Roman a present" She said turning her head up a little towards me. I couldn't help but smile at her words.

Aw, she's using her saved up coins to get Roman a present. That was so nice of her.

"And how much do you have saved up?" I asked curiously and Ceres shrugged.

"Last time I counted, it was $250" she said and my eyes widened.

I was expecting her to say $20 at most, not $250!

"Where the hell did you get that from kiddo?" I asked and Ceres tilted her head at my question.

"Allowance from Papa" she said simply and I nodded. Dad cut all of us off from allowances at sixteen so Ceres was lucky. Hope she enjoys it while it lasts.

When we finally got into town, the streets started getting crowded so I told Ceres to hold my hand but as we got closer to the mall the streets got even more crowded which was a huge pain.

My license not being suspended would be so nice right about now.

When I felt Ceres letting go of my hand I turned only to see her far away from me on the ground and some man glaring at her.

"Watch where the fuck you're going" He shouted and I started pushing through people to get back to Ceres as she went to pick up her piggy bank.

Ceres muttered something and she tried to move away but the man gripped her wrist. What the hell is wrong with this guy? She's a kid!

"Hey, it was clearly an accident" I said when I managed to get back to them and put a hand on his shoulder. The guy turned to me with an irritated look in his eyes and started waving his hand that was holding a cigarette in it.

"Back the fuck off" The man said and I let my eyes narrow dangerously as I noticed the look of discomfort on Ceres' face. I could see that she was trying to pull her hand out of his grip.

"You're the one who needs to fuck off. Not only are you hurting a child, you're hurting my little sister. Now, let her go or else we're going to have even more of a problem than we do right now" I said.

The guy moved to put his lit cigarette on my face so I put my hand up and allowed the cigarette to burn my hand instead. Sure it hurt like a bitch but I'd rather it on my hand than my face. My face was my selling point after all.

I crushed the cigarette in my hand before raising my other hand and grabbing the man's wrist in a surely painful looking way. The man cried out in pain as I continued to put pressure on it. I had no intentions of letting go until he released Ceres.

Once he did, I pushed him away from us and immediately guided Ceres behind me just in case that bastard tried anything again.

"This is assault! I'll have you arrested!" The man yelled while struggling to get up from the ground. I gave the man a challenging glare.

"And what you were doing to my sister wasn't?" I asked and the man froze up before glaring at us once more and running away.

I sighed in relief once the man was gone and turned to Ceres.

"You alright, kiddo?" I asked and she frowned.

"You're worried about me yet you just took a lighted cigarette to your hand as if it were a high five. I should be the one asking you that" She said grabbing my hand and went to blow the ashes off of my hand where the cigarette landed.

"It's alright. This is nothing. Let me see that wrist" I said and she held it out gingerly. I frowned as I saw her red wrist, hopefully it wouldn't leave a bruise or else I would have to find that bastard and really kick his ass. I never forgot a face so it wouldn't be hard.

Once we got to the supermarket, I made sure to also pick up some bandages for my hand and had Ceres help me put it on. After we got the stuff, I took Ceres to different stores in search of a gift for Roman.

"What are you getting Roman?" She asked as we were window shopping. I made a face at the question. I wasn't really someone who gave gifts. A simple 'Happy Birthday' was good enough for me. But if people wanted to give me gifts on my birthday, well who am I to stop them?

"Uh...I don't know yet" I said and Ceres sighed.

"I don't know what to get him..." she muttered as she looked at all the different things in the store.

"Well, I'm sure he'll love whatever you get him" I said and Ceres frowned.

"That doesn't help" She said and I sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Let's just keep looking" I said and we continued to walk through the huge mall. To find one tiny present in this huge mall was going to take forever and I couldn't exactly say that I was looking forward to it either.

Every time I thought that Ceres had found a present, she would just shake her head and move on. Honestly, I felt like her shadow just following her around wherever she went.

While we were walking to another store, I nearly almost crashed into Ceres because she stopped so abruptly.

"What are you looking at?" I asked and it was as if my words went through one ear and out the other. She started walking into the shop and I just followed, waiting to see if this shop would be the last one.

The bell chimed as we walked into the shop and a young woman at the counter greeted us. Ceres walked up to the counter and the lady looked down at her with a kind smile.

"How can I help you, sweetie?" She said and Ceres pointed to one of the pots.

"How much is that?" She asked and the woman looked at it before answering.

"Depending on the size you want, it'll be around ten to twenty dollars" she said and Ceres nodded before picking up a nice small pot and bringing it to the counter.

I just waited patiently as the whole transaction went on and Ceres added a few more things before finally purchasing them and when we walked out, I grabbed her bags from her.

"You sure this is all you need?" I asked holding them up and Ceres nodded confidently.

Well, I couldn't complain. Now we could go home and get out of the cold. Once we got there, Ceres ran up to her room after grabbing the bags that had her stuff out of my hand.

"She's in a hurry" Lucas said and I nodded.

"Yeah, she picked out her gift for Roman and I guess she's going to go set it up" I said placing the grocery bags on the table.

"She got him a gift? Wow, Ares" Kade said with a snicker and I frowned.

"What, Kade? What is so funny?" I said.

"Ceres has known us for less than a year but is already dishing out birthday gifts. I've known you all your life and I still have yet to get one from you. Not a birthday gift and not even a Christmas gift" Kade said.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. All these people ever do is complain.

"Sorry that I can't be assed to buy five other people gifts with money I probably wouldn't even have" I grumbled and Lucas sighed.

"If you would-"

"Get a job yeah, yeah. You guys make me sick" I said, this time not even holding back my eye roll. Kade let out a chuckle and that just made me even more annoyed.

"Hey, what happened to your hand?" Lucas asked noticing the bandages and I shrugged.

"Some asshole" I said and Kade frowned.

"Please don't tell me you got into a fight with Ceres right next to you. " he said and now it was my turn to frown.

"A fight? Now why the hell would I go and get into a fight?" I asked and Kade shrugged.

"Just asking" he said and I huffed before explaining how I got my injury.

"Some guy bumped into Ceres and was hurting her. I guess he was off his meds or something because I was trying to calm him down but he just went and launched his cigarette at my face, thus me getting this injury" I said.

"Oh, you poor thing. Want me to give it a kiss to make it feel better?" Kade asked and I just made a disgusted face. The most disgusting part of it all was that he was completely serious. Ugh, I need to get out of here.

"Kiss my ass" I grumbled before leaving the kitchen. A nice shower sounded really nice right about now, so that's exactly what I went and did.

Roman's birthday had come before we knew it but the guy was still cooped up in his room. I wouldn't put it past him to forget his own damn birthday.

"Someone better go get this guy before I blow out his candles" Max said and Dad just shook his head before heading up to get Roman.

"You're so impatient. Do we ever threaten to blow out your candles?" Kade said and Max glared.

"That's neither here nor there. I can remember to come out of my room on my birthday" Max said and Kade scoffed.

"On your sixteenth birthday you slept through the entire day" Kade said.

"That doesn't count..." Max muttered and Kade laughed as he knew he was right.

Roman and Dad had come down just in time and we all told him happy birthday. Roman gave us a tired smile as a thank you.

"Thanks you guys. The cake looks amazing as always, Kade" he said and Kade beamed at the compliment.

"Of course it does. I put my heart and soul into it" he said and I grimaced. If Kade could really put his heart and soul into something, I don't doubt that he would.

"Alright well no one is eating cake because it's too damn early in the morning" Lance said and I frowned. Cake for breakfast sounded good to me but I didn't say anything as I didn't want to get scolded.

And now it was time for the gift giving.

Everyone had brought their gifts down and while I didn't have a wrapped gift, the best gift this guy was ever gonna get from me is right in my pocket. I had worked hard on it last night and I was pretty damn sure it would bring a smile to Roman's face.

And then I'm gonna rub it in Kade's stupid shit eating grinning face.

"I'm giving mine first if you don't mind" Lucas said and handed Roman a rectangular shaped box. Inside of it was a book and even though I found that totally boring, Roman's eyes lit up.

"Oh wow! I've been looking for this everywhere. Thank you so much" Roman said and Lucas nodded, giving a smile of his own.

"I'm next~" Kade sang as he handed Roman his gift. You would think Kade was about to shit himself from how much he was shifting in place from his excitement.

"Kade, this is just a picture of you..." Roman trailed off and Kade squealed.

"Isn't it beautiful? You can put it right on your desk so that anytime you look at it, you can feel at ease knowing that your big brother supports you every day" he rambled and we all looked at our narcissist of a brother in distaste.

Roman sighed but nonetheless put on a smile and thanked Kade for his gift.

At this rate my gift was going to top all of theirs.

Hold on. I forgot about Max and Ceres. Those two could be some real competition. I didn't necessarily consider Lance or Dad competition because they usually gave boring gifts like socks or something (which they should be ashamed of themselves for it).

My guess was spot on as Lance had gotten Roman a new lamp for his desk and Dad got him a mug. Yeah, just a mug. There was no funny catch phrases or '#1 son' on it.

It was just a mug.

Those two were horrible at gift giving.

"Okay, losers. It's my turn" Max said as he stood up and we all watched as he took the cloth off of his painting.

Okay, this painting was kind of tripping me out. It was like, a grand library of books and there was a tiny little Roman sitting on a chair. There were so many books that it was hurting my eyes to try and count them. Why was I even trying to count them?

It was definitely better than last years painting where Max had gotten lazy and just painted a bouquet of flowers that said happy birthday.

"Oh wow, Max. This- it's amazing. I'm speechless" Roman said as he admired the painting and Max grinned.

"That's alright. Your appreciation is thanks enough" he said and I rolled my eyes at his humble bullshit. He was soaking up that compliment like a sponge in desperate need of water.

Seeing that it was her turn, Ceres stood up and grabbed her bag before sitting in front of Roman, but leaving enough space so that she could put her gift in front of him.

She took out the pot but now it was filled with soil and she pulled out some little seed packets to go with them.

"Growing plants can be a stress reliever. You work really hard so I thought that sometimes you'd like something to do to take your mind off of things" Ceres said before picking up the packets and showing each of them.

"These are all flower seeds that can be used to make tea so when you grow them, let me know. I wanna try and make the tea with you" she said and even I couldn't help but melt at her words.

God damn it, who said it was okay for her to be this fucking cute?

"Oh my god, I need my birthday to come! Oh, Ceres you could even get me an early birthday gift" Kade cried.

"Kade, your birthday isn't for another seven months. If she were to get you a gift now it'd be out of pity" Dad said and Kade frowned.

"Why does it have to be pity...?" He said but no one answered his question.

"Thank you very much. We can grow them together" he said giving Ceres a pat on her head and she smiled before returning to her spot.

Now, it's my time to shine.

I dug in my pocket and held out my gift with a triumphant grin.

"What is this?" Roman asked taking it from me.

"Your gift" I said and everyone in the room gasped, except for Ceres since she wasn't aware of my no gift giving habit. She was just looking at all of us confused.

"I thought World War 3 would happen before Ares started giving gifts" Max said.

"Is it like, macaroni art or something?" Kade asked trying to see through the paper and I glared at him.

Roman unraveled the paper and his face went still, and I couldn't help but let my grin return to my face. He loved it so much that he was speechless.

"Oh dear..." Dad said as he peeked over Roman's shoulder and I raised an eyebrow at him. All of my brothers were now huddling around Roman to get a look at my masterpiece.

Kade and Max looked at each other before they burst into a fit of laughter as they hung on to one another. The one time these fuckers get along and it's to laugh at me, I shouldn't be surprised. I didn't care though. It was obvious that they can't appreciate a great gift when they see one.

Lucas and Lance were quiet the entire time and I looked to Ceres who was just looking at it with a blank expression and tilting her head every so often.

"This is uh...different. Though I do appreciate the thought, so thank you Ares" Roman said with his usual polite smile and I frowned.

"That's it?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Roman asked and I was about to say something but Kade and Max's laughter was starting to piss me off.

"Would you two shut the hell up?!" I exclaimed but my words fell on deaf ears as the two continued to cackle like hyenas.

I huffed in annoyance before turning back to Roman.

"I was expecting a more 'oh wow Ares this is the best gift I've ever gotten in my entire life' kind of reaction" I said with my arms crossed.

"It's just sticks..." Ceres said and I felt my pride sink just a little bit at her words.

Max seemed to be the first to recover from his laughing fit as he wiped a tear from his eye as he walked over to me.

"Drawing isn't for everyone buddy" he said patting my shoulder before walking off.

"Don't listen to them, Ares. It's a great gift and I'll treasure it for as long as I can" Roman said and I smiled brightly. I knew I could count on Roman to see the beauty behind it.

"Your welcome" I said.

And just like that, everyone had went off in their own ways while Lance helped Roman bring his gifts up to his room.

Kade was still on the ground chuckling every now and then and I glared at him before throwing a pillow at him and heading back up to my room.

Stupid asshole.