honeycrisp.

9

"how was your first day of pre-school buddy?" sei asked, after giving their five year old brother, khale, a nuggie.

"it was okay. a lot of the kids didn't know all the stuff i knew. we learned this thing called... the alphabet. you remember when you taught me how to sing your version of the abc's? everyone else says it the boring way. come on sei. you should do it."

"i forgot how to." sei shrugged, a smile reaching their face.

they didn't really, sei just wanted to hear him say it.

a soft knock rasped at sei's door, causing them both to turn around, their father appearing behind the door.

"daddy!"

khale ran a short distance to get to their father, his big strong hands gripping the little boy from under his arms.

"hey son. how was your day today?"

"it was good. how about yourself?" he showed a toothy grin, even with almost all of his front teeth missing.

"tiring. but it's just fine. us men have to go through a lot in order to provide for our family."

"mom too?"

"yes. but the dads have to work a lot harder." he flicked the boy's nose playfully.

sei rolled their eyes.

"that's not what i heard. moms work like dads. me and sei were watching a movie about it last week."

sei had been watching the two interact, but after their brother said what he said, they turned around and looked at the blank white wall.

"that's nice. hey, you can go in your room and play with your trucks. i'll be in there in a minute, okay?"

"okay." 

their father put khale down, letting him run to his room.

"you need to stop putting those things in his head." he lectured.

he chucked their earphones that he took away in their direction, the cords and wires all tangled up.

sei only rolled their eyes, because the only thing they put in khale's head was truth. he shouldn't grow up to be a close-minded person like their father.

they chose not to say anything that might let their father think that they didn't deserve to have their things back.

"i'm being generous now, but the car keys will stay with me until you realize that not everything is a joke. "

"fine by me." 

sei shrugged, a hint of a smile on their face.

their father grumbled something under his breath, and pulled the door back open. he turned back around facing his oldest child.

"did you find someone to take to the party? you still have a few days left to get whomever RSVPed."

sei looked up at the bare white ceiling, thinking of doe brown eyes and light blond hair.

"yes, i think i did."