Episode 1 - The Arrival

Two Years later.

Nero stood at the kitchen counter, absentmindedly strumming his guitar while staring out at the Malibu waves. The house was unusually quiet for a Saturday afternoon—Charlie had been lounging on the couch, sipping a beer and half-watching some old sitcom rerun. Everything felt oddly calm, which, in Nero's experience, was never a good sign in this house.

"Charlie, it's too quiet," Nero remarked, setting his guitar down.

Charlie glanced over, lifting his beer. "Enjoy it, kid. In this house, quiet's like a solar eclipse. Rare, short-lived, and probably gonna blind you if you stare at it too long."

Just as Nero cracked a smile, the peace was interrupted by Charlie's flip phone rang loudly on the coffee table. He picked it up, groaning at the name on the screen. "Oh great. Alan."

Nero raised an eyebrow. "What does he want this time?"

Charlie, still reclined on the couch, answered the call. "Hey, Alan. What's up?"

On the other end of the line, Alan sounded frantic, as usual. "Charlie, listen—it's an emergency. Judith kicked me out. I need a place to stay for a few days. I swear, just until I find another place. Jake's with me, and we don't have anywhere else to go. Please, Charlie."

Charlie rolled his eyes dramatically, putting the call on speaker. "Alan, man, you've really got to stop making Judith mad. This is, what, the fourth time she's thrown you out?"

Alan's voice crackled through the speaker, full of desperation. "This time is serious, Charlie. She's talking about finalizing the divorce. Jake's upset. I'm barely holding it together here. Can we come over? Just for a couple of days?"

Charlie glanced at Nero, who was already shaking his head, trying to suppress a grin. "You hear that, kid? Looks like we're about to host 'The Alan and Jake Show' for a while."

Nero groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "Oh man, this is going to be a disaster."

Charlie sighed into the phone. "Alright, Alan. Come over. But only for a few days. And you're buying dinner—none of that health-food junk either. I want pizza, wings, and whatever else clogs arteries."

"Thank you, thank you! I'll be there in fifteen," Alan said hurriedly before hanging up.

Charlie tossed the phone onto the couch and took another long sip of his beer. "Well, this should be fun."

Nero snorted, leaning against the counter. "Fun for us. Alan's probably one emotional meltdown away from moving in permanently."

Just as Nero said that, there was a knock at the front door. Charlie frowned. "No way he got here that fast."

He pushed himself up off the couch and walked over to the door. When he swung it open, there stood Alan, looking just as frazzled as he had sounded on the phone, with Jake trailing behind, his eyes glued to his Game Boy.

Charlie blinked in surprise. "Wow. That was fast."

Alan gave a sheepish smile, his arms loaded with suitcases. "I was already on my way when I called."

Charlie sighed. "Of course you were."

Jake shuffled past them without a word, still engrossed in his game. Nero watched the kid wander into the living room, oblivious to the world around him. "Hey," Jake said absentmindedly to Nero, barely looking up.

"Hey," Nero replied, sizing him up. This was about to get a whole lot messier than he'd expected.

"Charlie, thank you so much," Alan said, already stumbling into the house with his bags. "I promise this is just temporary. A few days, tops."

Charlie gave Alan a deadpan look. "Alan, your 'few days' usually turn into 'indefinite freeloading,' so forgive me if I'm skeptical."

Alan gave a nervous chuckle, clearly too flustered to deny it. "I'll be out of your hair soon, I swear."

Jake, meanwhile, had already made himself comfortable on the couch, completely ignoring the tension in the room. Charlie glanced over at the kid and sighed. "You hungry, Jake?"

Jake finally looked up, eyes lighting up at the mention of food. "Yeah. What do you have?"

Charlie looked at Nero, raising an eyebrow. "Looks like you're on kitchen duty, kid. Show Jake where the snacks are. And keep him away from the good stuff—I'm not sharing my Twinkies."

Nero shook his head but smiled, motioning for Jake to follow him. "Come on. Let's see what we've got."

As they rummaged through the kitchen cabinets, Charlie turned to Alan, who was still awkwardly hovering by the door, clearly feeling guilty for imposing—again.

"You better start looking for a place right away," Charlie said, grabbing another beer from the fridge. "I don't need Judith showing up here, threatening to burn the house down."

Alan nodded, already rummaging through his phone, probably looking for rental listings. "I will, I will. Just a few days, Charlie. Promise."

Charlie gave him a skeptical look but shrugged. "Alright. But if you're still here next week, you're paying rent."

Alan's nervous laughter filled the room, but Charlie's expression didn't change.

As Jake and Nero raided the cabinets, Charlie sighed and flopped back onto the couch, glancing over at Alan, who had begun trying to calm himself down by methodically organizing his bags.

"Here we go again," Charlie muttered to himself, already dreading the chaos that was about to unfold in his usually chaotic but manageable house.

The house had finally settled down after the initial flurry of activity. Alan had managed to tuck Jake into bed after several attempts and endless negotiations involving Game Boy time. The house was quiet again, or as quiet as it could be with Alan, Jake, and now Berta in the mix.

Nero sat at the piano in the corner of the living room, his fingers gently gliding across the keys, playing a soft melody that contrasted with the earlier chaos of the day. It was his escape, the one thing that made sense in all the madness. Charlie was lounging on the couch, half-asleep with a beer resting precariously on his chest.

Just as Nero finished his song, the phone rang. Charlie groaned, reaching over to grab it off the coffee table.

"Judith again," Charlie muttered, rolling his eyes. "This woman never quits."

He answered the call, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "What's up, Judith?"

As Charlie fielded a barrage of questions about Jake's well-being, Alan quietly shuffled into the room, looking even more frazzled than before. He hovered awkwardly near the doorway to Charlie's bedroom, clearly feeling guilty about the whole situation.

After a few minutes of answering Judith's endless questions, Charlie finally hung up and sighed. "Judith sends her regards. Also, she thinks I'm corrupting Jake by letting him stay here."

Alan, standing just outside the door to Charlie's room, winced. "Sorry about all this, Charlie. I know it's a lot."

Charlie waved him off, already reaching for his beer again. "Yeah, well, what's family for, right? Just... make sure this doesn't become permanent."

Alan gave a weak smile, nodding. "I'm already looking for places."

As Alan disappeared down the hallway, Charlie glanced over at Nero, who was still sitting at the piano, watching the scene unfold.

"You know, kid," Charlie said with a smirk, "if this place gets any crazier, we're going to need more beer."

Nero chuckled, playing a light tune to match the mood. "Or maybe earplugs."

Charlie raised his beer in a mock toast. "To chaos. The one constant in the Harper household."

And with that, the night settled back into its familiar rhythm—music, sarcasm, and just a little bit of impending disaster.