Work Text:
Scottsdale, AZ Scottsdale Bible Church
Funerals were always sad to attend whether they were a close relative or the relative of a close friend, in this case, it was of the late Leslie Cash and Leslie's parents, other family members, and even some family members of her husband had attended. Leslie had married a man named Ben Cash and the couple had six children, Bodevan Cash, fraternal twins Kielyr and Vespyr Cash, Rellian Cash, Zaja Cash, and the youngest Nai Cash who ranged in age from eighteen to six.
Ben had two sisters, Harper Hahn neé Cash and Ksenia Cash who were both present at the funeral with their husbands and children, one of these children was a teen named Jari Codwell-Cash, Ksenia's son.
The minister had just gotten the podium to make his open statement when the doors burst open to the funeral home and in walked Ben and his six children who were all dressed in elaborate clothing to make their big entrance known, he glanced back at them along with others at the funeral but before being forced to turn away by his mother.
His uncle and cousins lived off the grid in a cabin deep into the woods and were 'homeschooled' so he couldn't say that they were close, the teen hadn't had much to do with his relatives since Ben and his mother rarely talked anymore nor did the families visit with one another.
The funeral had ended shortly that afternoon after Ben had been thrown out by security for interrupting the minister and giving his own eulogy about his late wife's wishes, Jari went ahead of his parents in order to greet the cousins he barely knew. The six Cash siblings were standing underneath a tree outside the funeral home as he quickly approached and offered his deepest condolences to his cousins.
"Thank you, I think you're the only person to say that since we got here." said Bodevan, the eighteen year old was the oldest with light brown hair and blue eyes.
Jari nodded his head and looked down since most of his cousins were staring at him like he was an alien. "Aunt Leslie was always nice to me, I remember one time when you were all visiting and she told us that we could go to bed whenever we wanted. My parents would've flipped if they knew about that."
"She taught us to be self sufficient." Vespyr told him, she had green eyes and long reddish brown hair and was fifteen like her fraternal twin Kielyr.
"Dad taught us that as well, Grandpa threatened to have him arrested if we came but we did it anyways and stuck it to the man since we had to say goodbye to our mother." Kielyr said, she had green eyes and long brown hair unlike her fraternal twin.
Jari was thankful that Jack was from his aunt's side of the family, the man had never liked him our his parents and the fifteen year old couldn't say that he was too fond of him either. "Jack always had a stick up his ass, it wasn't right to ban you from the funeral."
Nai seemed oblivious to the conversation as the young boy stepped up to the teen, the six year old had blond hair with green eyes. "I'm Nai."
"I'm Jari, haven't seen you since you were a baby."
"I think we've gotta go, our Dad's calling us." Rellian said, the fourteen year old had blond hair and blue eyes.
Ben screamed to his children that it was time to go before walking to the family bus dubbed 'Steve'.
"I understand, hopefully the next time we see each other won't be in this setting." Jari said.
"Hopefully, come on guys." Bodevan said dismissively, the teen then lead his siblings to the family bus.
"I guess I'll see you around then." Jari waved goodbye to his cousins.
Much to his chagrin, Harper had invited him and his parents to dinner a few days later and he had always found his 'other' cousins annoying and tried to get his parents to let him stay home but they gave the teen no choice in the matter.
Harper and Harper's husband Dave had two sons, Justin and Jackson who both dressed in skater clothes and had shaved brown hair.
The adults had gone to the livingroom to talk after dinner that evening and he had no choice but to go upstairs with his cousins who started playing video games in their room and didn't bother to offer him a turn, not that it mattered since the teen had brought his cellphone to occupy himself.
Dave, Harper, and Jari's parents walked in sometime later with happy smiles on their faces since it appeared that the cousins were bonding, the idea of him getting along with his cousins was laughable but he would let them think that for now. As the teen and his parents made to leave in their car, he noticed Justin and Jackson flipping him the bird and sneered before doing the same to them.
The whereabouts of Uncle Ben and his cousins were on his mind as he walked home the next evening, the teen was just passing by the park upon spotting the cop car and hearing the nearby commotion.
Voices got louder and and the teen realized that one of them belonged to his friend's father, Mr. Tinkle, he noticed the man being questioned by the police for some reason but decided to mind his own business and continue on the way home.
It wasn't until a few weeks later that his good friend, Kori Tinkle told him that her father had been shot by the cops when he had come to her house for a visit, Kori sighed and explained that Mr. Tinkle was currently in a medically induced coma at the hospital when he asked about him.
Mr. Tinkle had reached into his pocket when the police went to handcuff him and that's when he was shot, they had thought he was armed but the man was actually reaching for his lawyer's card.
The only thing Jari could do was comfort his friend that afternoon as she insulted the police with a slew of profanities that would make a sailor blush, Kori's mother Mrs. Tinkle then came downstairs with her three younger siblings Kaleb Tinkle, Jayden Tinkle, and Sean Tinkle and said that they were going to the hospital. He had just made his way to the front door when Mrs. Tinkle offered to drive him home, the teen protested that he didn't want to impose but the woman wouldn't hear of it.
***
Streets
By pure coincidence, Ben ended up jogging down the neighborhood that the teen lived in a few days later which gave him the chance to catch up to the uncle that he hadn't seen or heard about since Aunt Leslie's funeral.
Not wanting to slow down his uncle's exercise, the teen jogged behind his sweat pants and black t-shirt wearing uncle who told him that the sweat pants that the man and his family now lived on a farm with his children attending a nearby school on the outskirts of the town and that he was welcome anytime. His parents had always looked down on his uncle and his family for their lifestyle so he had no doubt that they wouldn't believe this news if it came from him, it was one of those things that they would have to see to believe.
"I have this friend who's going to do something stupid and I don't want her to get into trouble but at the same time, can't particularly blame her for doing it." said Jari, he didn't know why he was opening up to the uncle he barely knew of all people but the teen needed to talk to someone.
Ben lectured his nephew on the many meanings of the word 'stupid' and explained that everyone has their own definition and what might be stupid to him isn't to someone else. "If you want my opinion Jari, it's best if you let your friend do what she wants especially if it's sticking it to the man."
"But Uncle Ben, you don't know what she's doing or why is she doing it?"
"Enlighten me then."
The amount of running had begun to make Jari sweat and want to rest but he kept going. "The cops shot her father and now he's in a coma, they thought he was reaching for a weapon but it was mistake."
"Another bullshit move from the pigs, put yourself in your friend's position and tell me that you wouldn't do the same." Ben said.
The newspaper headlines over the next few weeks were all about the police shooting Mr. Tinkle and the ones responsible were Mrs. Tinkle and Kori, Jari couldn't help but have a strong feeling that there was something worse on the horizon.
The first time that he had seen the farm was when Ben invited him for breakfast that morning, it took two buses and one amtrak ride before the teen knocked on the door which was answered by Rellian who just looked at him before yelling to his father and siblings that he was there.
Breakfast was held in the tiny kitchen and consisted of orange juice, eggs, and sausage, the teen was given hugs from the girls and polite greetings by his uncle and all of the siblings except Bodevan and Rellian.
Questions were fired at Jari about his life or likes and dislikes from the siblings as he finished his breakfast quietly, luckily the teen was saved by Ben who instructed Vespyr that it was her turn to wash the dishes after the man noticed the boy getting uncomfortable. Training had been pushed back to before breakfast and afterschool since his cousins started school, but it was a weekend which meant it was now held before and after breakfast.
Given the option to either join or decline training, his choice was the former and he went outside with the others where they jogged, mountain climbed, played musical instruments, performed situps, pushups, crunches, squats, hunted, fished, and etc. and read a combination of the core school subjects, foreign language books, and historical literature until that afternoon where they breaked for lunch.
***
The Cash Farm
Creamy linguine with prawns had been prepared for lunch and after everyone else had finished their food, the teen was sitting at the kitchen with Zaja and Nai and was trying to catch his breath until the former gave him a water bottle.
"You look like you could use that." said Zaja before going back to her seat and sitting down, the eight year old had blond hair that went to mid back and blue eyes.
Jari gratefully gulped some water down before turning to his younger cousin. "Thank you."
"What did you think of training?" Nai asked in a curious tone.
"It was different, we have PE at school but that couldn't compare to what I went through today."
Zaja grinned. "You're probably wishing that you said no when our dad asked you."
Jari disagreed with the blond girl and shook his head. "I wouldn't say that but I would say that this was a different experience."
"We do this everyday." Nai suggested. "Maybe you just need to get used to it, why were Bodevan and Rellian being mean to you?"
"Intense is the word and I don't know why, I think we'd better finish up before Uncle Ben comes looking." Jari said.
One phone call from Kori a few days later had concerned Jari, his friend told him that she was planning on covering the police department building with toilet paper and had asked him to join her which prompted him to try and talk her out of it but she just hang up the phone.
No matter how many times he tried to call Kori back that evening, there was no answer which prompted Jari to wait until both of his parents had fallen asleep and carefully sneak out of the house.
***
Outside Scottsdale Police Department
Several rolls of toilet paper had already been thrown by his friend at the building by the time he arrived outside the police department, it would only took a glance out the window or walking outside to see that. Jari remembered what Uncle Ben had told him and tried hard not to look too disappointed, hell his uncle would probably applaud Kori for her actions.
"We need to get out of here." said Jari as he tried to grab Kori's wrist and lead her away, the teen tried to protect his friend but deep down knew that the inevitable was coming. '
Kori jerked away from her friend and shook her head, she was tall and had long brunette hair and brown eyes. "I want them to know it was me."
"But Kori-"
"I don't want to hear it Jari! If you're so worried about someone getting in trouble, go the fuck home!"
Jari sighed and made one last attempt to reach the long haired brunette. "I'm trying to fucking help you, what they did to your dad was fucked up but this isn't going to change that."
"I don't care." Kori said.
Kori admitted to the police that she had been the one who TP'd the building and they arrested her on the spot, she was fined a few hundred dollars and then put on probation since this was her first offense.
Sure that his parents wouldn't approve and telling them that he was with a friend, Jari spent the next few weeks studying and training with Ben and his cousins and found that his tiredness had decreased the more he trained.
Attitudes were given to him from Bodevan and Rellian whenever he tried to make conversation or make attempts at getting to know them, the teen couldn't figure out what their problem was and decided to give up.
On the bright side, Jari had begun getting closer to his uncle, Kielyr, and Vespyr and there were many a time that he shared a laugh or had a conversation with one or all of them without getting uncomfortable. He had even told them about Kori and wasn't surprised at all when the girls got excited and asked him for the juicy details while his uncle sang Kori's praises for sticking it to the man.
The physical part of training had ended for that afternoon and he wound up sitting on the porch reading a mixture of fiction and academic books with Kielyr, Vespyr, and Zaja since Ben and the boys had opted to stay inside the house.
In between breaks which were few since everyone had picked books that they were really interested(which Ben had forbidden his cousins to say) in, he told the sisters about his and Kori's fight and the latter wouldn't talk to him even if allowed to and the girls gave him sympathy though Kielyr pointed out that 'friends' were not their expertise.
Bad news came from his parents a few days later who told him that Harper and Harper's sons were staying over that weekend, he kept any reaction out of his face as much as possible before telling his mother 'great' and then heading straight up to his room.
***
The Forest
The weekend that Jari was dreading soon arrived and he made an excuse to his mother before heading to Ben's, the teen knew that his parents were expecting him back later but he wasn't in a rush to spend time with his aunt or his pricks for cousins. Needing to put them out of his mind for the moment, Jari went with Kielyr and Vespyr to look for wood since the family was having a campout that night.
"Justin and Jackson are little assholes, that's why I'm glad our Dad only takes us to see them periodically." said a scowling Kielyr after her cousin told her about the upcoming visit.
Jari laughed at his cousin's insult towards Justin and Jackson, he had never gotten along with them either. "I envy that, my mother's really close with my aunt which means I have to see my cousins more often than I want to."
"That must be very unpleasant Jari, I'd love to use my arrows on them but Dad won't let me." Vespyr said.
"I'd pay money to see that."
Vespyr and Jari leaned on each other and started laughing as Kielyr located some firewood and led them over to it. "You should come camp out with us tonight, I bet Dad wouldn't mind." offered Kielyr.
Jari shook his head as he and the girls started chopping some firewood to bring back to the farm. "I don't think my parents would go for that."
"Who says that they have to know?"
"It would be better than spending time with Justin or Jackson, I guess I'm coming tonight then." Jari said.
The campout ended up being alot of fun with he, Bodevan, and Rellian ignoring each other though once Jari returned home the next morning, he was scolded by his parents for being all out night and missing his aunt's visit and then grounded for the week.
Apparently Kori was allowed to use the phone again since she started calling him over the next few days but the calls either went unanswered or answered by one of his parents who told her that he was either busy or wasn't home, the teen was still irritated from their fight and refused to speak to her.
Still grounded, he had nothing better to do and spent most of that afternoon in his room studying from books that Kielyr and Vespyr had let him borrow until getting tired and falling asleep with his head on the one of the book's open pages.
The day Jari was supposed to be ungrounded turned into the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day as his parents informed him that they had gotten a call from Ben and knew exactly what he had been up to for the past few months. After he was thoroughly reamed out by his mother and father for his lying and sneaking around, they banned him from going back to the farm and added a month to his punishment.
Weeks passed and he had been staring up at the ceiling in his room when the sound of a pebble hitting the window filled his ears, the teen had been just about to yell at the thrower when he looked down and saw Ben, Kielyr, Vespyr, Zaja, and Nai smiling and gesturing for him to come with them as they stood in front of the house.
Mission 'Break J Out' as dubbed by the twins had been a complete success that evening, he was about to follow the other kids out of Steve once they reached the farm but was stopped by Ben who declared that nobody but nobody could keep his nephew away from him and the only reason he hadn't seen them in weeks was because they were making a plan.
Freak is what Rellian would've referred to him as even if he hadn't hid Rellian's clothes while the younger boy was showering in the lake the next morning, the teen had only meant the action to be in jest but his cousin didn't take it that way.
Fury radiated from Rellian who had to walk back to the house in his birthday suit and once the younger boy had gotten dressed and found a laughing Jari, the subsequent screaming match between the two of them turned into a fight after a shove from Rellian and the latter hitting him in the nose in response. Their before WWF became the WWE fight was soon broken up by Ben who grabbed him while Bodevan grabbed the other, Jari broke off from his uncle's hold and ran off into the forest after calling Rellian the most insulting name he could think of.
***
The Lake
The sun was setting later that afternoon and he had found a tree stump by the lake to sit on and peer out into the distance while looking back to the fight with his cousin, the teen heard someone approaching and put his guard up before realizing that it was just Rellian.
"What do you want?" asked Jari with a scoff before sitting down and turning so that he didn't have to look at his cousin.
Rellian looked sheepishly at his cousin and mumbled at first before taking and breath and speaking clearly. "I wanted to apologize Jari."
"Apologize? That's bullshit Rellian."
"I've been a prick but I do feel bad about what happened, Justin and Jackson always look down on me and my siblings for being ourselves and I shouldn't have assumed that you were going to be like them."
It was a bad assumption since Jari remembered telling all of the cousins many times that he didn't get along with either of Harper's sons but he tried to see it from the blond boy's side. "We're cool and I want you know that the prank this morning was just a prank and not meant to piss you off."
Rellian held out a hand to his older cousin and helped him up. "I know that now."
"I figure that I'm not welcome back at the farm so I'm going to go home, tell your dad I understand."
"My dad would never ban you from the farm so what I would tell him that for? and he wanted me to tell you that running off didn't excuse you from today's training." Rellian said.
All good things had to come to an end as Jari proved when he returned home to his screaming parents, both admonished him for running away and kept saying how disappointed they were in him until the teen couldn't take it anymore and shouted at them for how they treated Ben and his cousins and how ashamed he was to be their son.
Things were rocky at home which led him to sneak out of the house as much as possible during the next few weeks, he spotted the Tinkle family while out on a walk and sighed before going over to say hello.
Mrs. Tinkle, Kori, and Kaleb gave a cold reception while Jayden and Sean were warmer towards him asked why he never came to their house anymore, the teen didn't know what to say and Mrs. Tinkle soon made an excuse for the family to leave.
Before Mrs. Tinkle could drag the younger boy off, Sean tried to extend an invite to his upcoming birthday party but was interrupted by his mother who glared Jari's way and said that the older boy couldn't make it.
The original intent that Jari had in approaching the family was making up with Kori, he didn't care about their fight anymore and wanted to express that to her but wasn't given the chance. He was certainly not in the business of forcing anyone to be his friend, if Kori didn't want to be friends anymore then that was on her not him.
Much to his unpleasant surprise, he had come downstairs from his room a few days later to find out that Harper was visiting with Jackson.
Forced to be polite and say 'hello' when his aunt and a reluctant Jackson greeted him, the teen's anger flared as Harper advised his mother not to let him spend too much time with Ben or his cousins otherwise he would end up as 'strange' as them.
The effort to hold his tongue increased as Harper and Jackson stayed over for dinner for evening with both of them making continued insults towards him(that was mainly Jackson) along with Ben's family, he loudly dropped his plate in the kitchen sink before yelling at his aunt and cousin to 'shut up' and that his uncle and uncle's children were better people than them.
Poker games with Ben, Bodevan, Kielyr, Vespyr, Rellian, Zaja, and even Nai had proved to be a welcome distraction for Jari, he had told them about Harper and Justin's remarks which pissed them off but Kielyr told him to expect 'horrible people' like their aunt and cousin to always be 'horrible people'. Nai was only a beginner at poker but with his help and the help of Nai's siblings, the six year old had ended up winning half the games they played.
His mother had gotten into a screaming match with Harper after the dinner fiasco and spent a few days blaming him for it before apologizing profusely, the woman then agreed not to let Harper badmouth Ben or Ben's children in their home anymore.
***
Epilogue.
Kori moved and they never patched things up after that, but he learned from a mutual friend of theirs that Mr. Tinkle woke up from his coma but had developed brain damage and his home was now in a local psychiatric facility.
Jari's parents had yet to fully accept Ben or Ben's children though there was less tension between the two families nowadays, they allowed their son to visit them and vice versa and even had rare dinner nights that they had invited everyone to.
Harper had a huge-falling out with Ben and her sister and isn't on speaking terms with them anymore, her sons Justin and Jackson kept their mean spirited ways and were glad that they didn't have to see their freaky cousins either frequently or periodically anymore.
Bodevan got admitted into a prestigious university and soon left to make his own place in the world, meeting new people and learning differently from the philosophy he grew up with had caused his contact with his family to become few and far between.
Jari developed closer relationships with his cousins even Bodevan once the older boy apologized to him, the teen's grades and physical fitness approved with continued training which his parents disapproved of but understood that it was something he wanted to do. At first the teen missed his friendship with Kori but soon came to realize that he was better off without someone like her in his life.