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mccarthawrites · 2 months

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Happy Birthday, Nate

Relationship: Nate Kulina & Jay Kulina, Nate Kulina & Lisa Prince

Rating: General audiences.

Warning: Use of "faggot" once

Summary: Nate celebrates his birthday with Jay, Lisa, and his younger brother, Shayne.

Author's Note: This is an AU where Lisa doesn't lose the baby and Nate doesn't die. Shayne is the Kulina/Prince baby - named after Shane Gray and Shayne Topp. Luke is a completely original character and is Nate's love interest in this AU I have created. Depending on the reception of this, I might post more from this AU.

Words: 1,626

March 15. Nate’s birthday. Jay and Shayne crept into his room. Jay tossed him on th bed, startling Nate awake.

“Wha-” Nate rolled over to see his little brother. “What are you doing in here?” He asked.

“Happy birthday!” Shayne threw his hands up in the air.

“You couldn’t wait til I was awake?” Nate asked, slightly annoyed.

“He wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday,” Jay explained.

“Thanks, bud.” Nate rustled Shayne’s hair, before playfully pushing his head, making him fall backward on the bed.

“Hey!” Shayne giggled. Nate rolled over, hoping to fall back asleep. “Mama’s making breakfast!”

“Yeah, so get your ass up.” Jay pulled the pillow under Nate’s head, making him groan.

“Can’t a guy sleep in on his birthday?” Nate asked, looking at Jay.

“No.” Shayne giggled.

“It’s almost eleven. We did let you sleep in. Come on.” Jay grabbed Shayne and pulled the cover off of Nate. “Happy birthday. If you’re not in the kitchen in ten, I’ll be the one jumping on top of you,” Jay warned, carrying Shayne under his arm into the kitchen where Lisa was making breakfast.

“I told you guys not to bother him.”

“You’d let him miss breakfast on his birthday?” Jay asked. “How cruel.”

“Yeah, how cruel,” Shayne repeated. Jay high-fived his baby brother.

“I need to stop letting you two spend so much time together. He’s becoming your mini-me.” Lisa teased. The decision to move to the East Coast was an easy one when Lisa got the job offer. There wasn’t much left for her in Venice after Alvey refused to meet her demands for being in Shayne’s life. Then when Jay and Nate had decided to come along for the cross-country move and help her with Shayne as they had since he was born, she found it impossible to turn them down. Shayne loved following his brothers around and they adored him. While their family dynamic was far from conventional, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You hear that, Shay? Your mom doesn’t want us to hang out anymore.”

“Why?” Shayne asked.

“It’s too early for this,” Lisa replied. Nate walked into the kitchen. “Happy birthday!”

“Thanks, Lisa.” He smiled.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop those two from waking you up. Trust me, I tried.” She told him.

“It’s okay.” Nate sat at the kitchen table, going through and responding to the birthday messages. Opening Alvey’s, he scoffed, turning his phone to show Jay.

Alvey: happy birthday

“Can’t believe he remembered this year.” Jay laughed dryly.

“What?” Lisa asked.

“Alvey actually wished him a happy birthday this year,” Jay reported.

“Wow.”

“He’s making an effort,” Nate replied, deleting the message. Nate still acknowledged that Alvey was his father who did his best when Christina walked out. But Nate’s relationship with his dad ended the night he came out and Alvey called him a faggot. No apology was ever given.

“So what are you doing? Did you make any plans with friends? Or Luke?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t have any plans. I was going to just sleep in and work on the pieces for the show next week,” Nate explained. He quit fighting and took up painting. Christina’s art skills turned out to rub off on him. Having been invited to show his work at various galleries and art shows. Selling his art didn’t pay as much as fighting did, but he enjoyed it more. He didn’t feel like he had anything to prove anymore. “And then dinner with you guys like we planned.”

“Did you invite Luke to dinner?” Lisa asked.

“No. Why would I? It’s a family dinner.”

“You’re allowed to invite your boyfriend to your birthday dinner.” She told him.

“Luke’s not my boyfriend.”

“I beg to differ,” Jay looked at Nate.

“And how would you know?” Nate asked. “We’re just- talking. It’s nothing serious. If it’s not serious he doesn’t need to come to a family dinner even if it’s my birthday. What about you? Did you invite Zach?” Lisa narrowed her eyes at him. “Exactly.”

“I don’t know about you, Shay, but I actually like Zach and Luke. Maybe we should invite them to dinner.” Jay teased. Shayne nodded in response.

“No!” Nate and Lisa both said at the same time. Shayne giggled.

“We seem to have hit a nerve.” Jay looked at Shayne who smiled.

“Luke always has Legos.” Shayne pointed out.

“Can you pick up the cake before dinner?” Lisa asked, Jay. “I’ll be in Connecticut for a few hours.”

“For what?” Nate asked. “It’s the weekend.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lisa told him. “Jay?”

“I know you think I’m irresponsible, but I do have my shit together seventy percent of the time, right, Shay?” Jay winked at his brother.

“Jay has his shit together,” Shayne assured his mom. Nate chuckled.

“You can’t say that. Remember? That’s a grown-up word.” Lisa looked at Shayne.

“Sorry!” He covered his mouth with his hand.

“Don’t worry. I will pick up the cake. You want to come with me to get the cake?” Jay asked Shayne who nodded.

Nate sat on the tarp in his studio. When they moved into the house, they converted the garage into his studio with some rogue workout equipment. His phone rang. It was Christina. Wiping his hands on his pants, he answered.

“Hello?”

“Happy birthday to you.” She began singing off-key, making him smile. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Nathaniel. Happy birthday to you.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“How are you?” She asked.

“I’m alright.” He replied. His relationship with her wasn’t the best, but it had gotten better in the last few years. “How are you?’

“I’m good. It’s good to hear your voice. I miss you. Are you planning on making a trip to visit? Maybe in the summer.” She suggested.

“Jay and I talked about it, but- there’s so much going on here.”

“Jay sent me some photos of your work last week. I’d love to see you in person.”

“You could always come to New York.” He told her. “I’ve got another art show next week.”

“That’s exciting! Maybe I will have to take a trip to go see you. How’s Lisa and the baby?”

“They’re good. Shay’s not a baby anymore. He’s getting huge. Sometimes he’ll come into the studio and paint with me,” Nate explained, looking up at the painting Shayne made that they had hung up.

“Aw. That’s adorable. He wants to be just like his big brother.”

“Yeah. He’s great.”

“I’m glad everyone is doing well. I miss you and your brother. Just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, but I’m sure you’ve got a packed day with celebrations and you’ve got things to do. So I’ll let you get back to it. I love you.”

“Love you too. Thanks for the call, mom. Bye.” Nate hung up and stood up. Checking the time, he figured he’d better clean up before dinner.

After dinner, Jay brought the cake to the table. It was decorated with Van Gogh’s Starry Night in frosting.

“Wow.” Nate couldn’t hide the smile on his face. “You went all out.”

“Wanted the best for our little Van Gogh,” Jay explained.

“I am nowhere close to Van Gogh, but I appreciate it. Thank you.”

“It was Shayne’s idea because of that Lego set you guys put together,” Lisa explained, putting candles on the cake.

“Oh, really?” Nate looked at Shane who nodded. “Thanks, bud.” Just as Jay was about to light the candles, the doorbell rang.

“Who’s that?” Lisa asked.

“Who knows?” Nate asked, opening the Ring camera on his phone. It was Luke. “Uh- I’ll be right back.” Getting up from the table, he walked outside to meet Luke who held something behind his back. “Hey.”

“Hi. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks. What are you doing here?” Nate asked.

“I didn’t come to crash dinner. Don’t worry. I just wanted to give you your gift.” Luke told him, pulling a box of a Lego set from behind his back. “Figured since you and Shayne had a good time with Starry Night, I’d get you your next project. It’s The Great Wave by Hokusai.”

“Thanks. He’s going to love this. We’re both going to have a good time doing it.” Nate smiled, looking at the box. “They actually got me a cake with Starry Night on it because of the last set you got us. You know we’re about to cut the cake. Do you want to come inside?” Nate asked.

“No. It’s okay.” Luke understood Nate’s hesitation to bring him around his family.

“Come on. You came all this way. They got a cake for like twenty people, but it’s just the four of us.”

“Are you sure?” Luke asked.

“Yeah.” Nate welcomed him into the house. “We have a guest.” He announced, leading him to the dining table.

“Hey, Luke. What are you going here?” Lisa asked, giving Nate a look.

“Wanted to drop off Nate’s gift, but he said I could join you for cake if that’s alright with everyone.” Luke sat down cautiously next to Nate.

“Yeah! We have more than enough,” Jay replied.

“Look, what I got.” Nate showed Shayne the box.

“More Legos?”

“More Legos.” Nate laughed.

“Alright. Ii hope everyone has been practicing and has warmed up their voices.” Jay lit the candles.

“I thought you weren’t going to sing.” Nate looked at his brother.

“We don’t turn our backs on tradition, Nathaniel. You’re just going to have to suck it up.” Jay told him. They began singing excruciatingly, but Nate appreciated it. Not that he’d let them know that. After everything had happened, he was finally happy. The happiest he’d ever been. Surrounded by the people he loved most.

#Kingdom (2014)#Nate Kulina #Nick Jonas #Jay Kulina #Jonathan Tucker #Lisa Prince #Kiele Sanchez

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