By the time Erik got home, he was chilled to the bone. The weather was unseasonably cold, making the walk home more miserable than it usually was. Entering the house as quiet as he usually did at this late hour, he was surprised to see Nikki in the kitchen.
"What are you doing up still?" He remarked as he started to pull the groceries from his bag.
"Am I not allowed to be up, oh one and only provider for this house?" Nikki snarked without provocation.
"What's with the attitude? I only asked a simple question."
The attitude of his sister puzzled Erik. She usually only got this snarly when she had a bad day at school. From what he had seen lately, her school life was doing as well as could be expected, considering her lack of interest in socializing, which was par for the course, considering their history with their peers.
"Mom doesn't like where I found a job and says I have to look for different work." Nikki sighed and handed him a mug of watered down hot cocoa.
"Does mom have a valid reason for not liking your place of employment? Mom never objects unless she thinks it's unsafe for us. You know that." Erik gratefully accepted the watery chocolate confection. The box of instant cocoa had been a gift from Lia to share with his family.
"Well, my boss is more of an asshole than yours is, if that's a valid reason." A dark look passed over Nikki's face, almost too quickly to perceive, but Erik was perceptive at reading his sisters. He had to be when he was the one who had looked after them their whole life.
"That I can believe, but just because the person is an asshole doesn't mean Mom gets a free pass to criticize… Unless…" Erik trailed off, waiting for Nikki to elaborate.
"Fine, he's a sexist asshole and has grabby hands! But the pay is too good! I can't just not work there because he likes to touch…" Nikki grimaced.
"Ah, there we go. That's the real reason Mom is objecting. You know her policy on safe work environments! She has every right to worry about a boss that can't keep their hands to themselves! Even I don't want you to work for someone like that! Quit immediately and don't look back! Touching is never okay, Nikki!"
Placing his empty cup in the sink to wash out, Erik turned to his sister to make sure she understood his and their mom's worry. Although it was rare, there were still some disgusting people that preyed upon those with a secondary gender, regardless if they were omega or alpha, like they were.
"Nikki, no amount of pay is too good if it puts you in danger. In fact, don't even show up tomorrow. Instead, immediately start looking for another job after school."
"You and Mom are right…" Nikki sighed, seeming to accept his advice. He knew she would see reason in this case. She just needed a little extra push that wasn't the voice of mom.
After his conversation with Nikki, both of them went to their separate rooms to sleep. Their little sisters were fast asleep, as they should be at this hour. In the morning, which always seemed to come too soon, Erik reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and quietly got ready for work in the pre-dawn light to not wake everyone up. By the time he was almost ready to leave, he heard the quiet creak of his mom's bedroom door opening, so he poked his head out of the bathroom with his toothbrush still in hand.
"Mom? Is everything alright? Is it Tyler?" Erik mumbled through a mouthful of toothpaste.
"Everything's fine. I just wanted to talk to you before you headed off for work this morning. Finish getting ready and I'll only take a moment of your time before you go."
When Erik finished his morning routine, he met his mother in their small kitchen as she fed his baby brother his morning bottle. Before he could inquire what his mother wanted to talk about, she gestured to the kitchen table where draped across it was a suit. But not just any suit, a pale green color that could be considered green enough to fit the theme of the school dance he was taking Liona to.
"Mom? How'd you know I needed a green suit?"
"Erik, despite how busy I seem at times, I am never too busy to keep up with my children's lives. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know why you've been working overtime so much lately. Given your new girlfriend, and the time of year, I figured out that you were likely wanting to take Liona to the school dance. Nikki told me the theme was fantasy garden, so I've done my best to help the financial burden of finding a suit."
"But Mom, suits are expensive! How did you come up with the money to afford one?!"
"Erik, scrimping and saving for the occasional splurge for my children is not going to be the death of us financially. Besides, between you and Nikki helping out, we aren't hurting nearly as bad as previous years, despite my displeasure at where your sister has been employed at. This is my way of thanking your girlfriend for being such a generous soul towards not only you, but all of us as well. Those electronics she arranged through that charity were completely legitimate devices and, seeing as they are paid through the year, it makes it extremely hard for me to turn away her good intentions."
Erik gaped at his mother's nearly one-eighty attitude change towards being treated as a charity case.
"Don't just stand there. Try this on before you leave so I can make any alterations in my spare time before the dance. If I'm correct, it's this weekend?"
Before Erik could gather his thoughts, his obviously sleepy and half awake sister Nikki came down the short hall with a large yawn.
"Erik, do as mom says. We didn't go to every second-hand shop and check every reseller for a suit just for you to look at it with bug eyes." Nikki rolled her eyes at him before breaking out into another yawn.
"But…"
"No buts! Shoo! Go on, or you'll be late for work!" His mother was starting to sound cross, so that gave Erik the kick in the pants he needed to get a move on.
Grabbing the suit, Erik took off towards the bathroom to change. Once he had the suit on, he noticed it was a bit baggy on him. But that was better than the sometimes too small clothing he had endured when money was tighter than usual after a growth spurt. At least with too big, his mother's mending skills with needle and thread came in handy to take-in the waists or hem too long pant-legs. All too often, his hand-me-downs for his sisters got this treatment over the years.
It was only recently that his sisters were starting to get more clothes that were theirs and theirs alone, without having to share them with each other. That was again thanks to Liona for her more than generous attitude toward giving them things they actually needed. She had learned to know what was too much and would be outright rejected and what was useful. But that didn't stop her from trying to push something on occasion that she thought they could really use, such as all the clothing his sisters had now.
Exiting the bathroom and heading back to the kitchen where his mother had started preparing breakfast while Tyler watched from her hip. She turned as he entered and handed Nikki their baby brother and the wooden spatula she had been using to push food around the frying pan. Without so much as a word, she got to work with her expert eye for measuring and the old beaten-up pin-cushion with mismatched pins of varying sizes stuck in it.
Knowing the routine, he stood absolutely still while she let out the leg seams and tucked each one so that it would be the right length. When she got to the waist, she pursed her lips with the pins in it still before moving on to the suit jacket. He obediently held out his arms in front of him or to the sides as she worked so that she could accurately gauge what areas needed a tuck and pin without restricting his movement or ending up uneven. All in all, it barely took five minutes of work before she shooed him off to go back and change into his regular clothes.