~Selena~
The following morning went about as well as I had expected.
As soon as I got dressed and stepped foot outside my room, there was my idiot older brother, sitting in his usual place in front of my door with his arms crossed.
He didn't speak as I walked past him towards the stairs, but his eyes watched me like a hawk nonetheless.
I sighed to myself. It's gonna be a long day.
Behind me, I heard the sound of another door opening followed by a startled cry.
"Holy Moses!" Sam exclaimed. "You scared the pee out of me, Stanton! Why are you sitting on the floor like a creep?"
I snorted and continued on to the kitchen, as once again my idiot older brothers started their daily morning bickering.
Sandy was sitting at the table in his spider-man pajamas, eating his cereal out of a coffee mug, looking at it with an adorably sad expression on his face.
"Some responsible older sibling they are." I commented to myself, grabbing the poor boy's breakfast in a cup as I walked by. I snagged a bowl from the cabinet that was too high for the barely 7 year old to reach, and poured the contents of the mug into the bowl. I grabbed a clean spoon and gave Sandy back his food.
"Sissy!" He beamed gratefully, looking on the verge of goddamn tears. He threw his hands triumphantly into the air and proclaimed, "I have a parental figure in my life!"
"Hey now!" Stanton chided, appearing in the kitchen doorway, still seething a little from his clash with his twin. "I'm the oldest! I'm supposed to be the one taking care of you!"
Sam snorted, stepping out from behind his brother and strolling into the kitchen with his hands folded behind his head. "This morning I caught you drop your toothbrush in the toilet like a spaz. You need to learn to take care of yourself first, Lesser Twin."
Stanton flushed. "Stop calling me that!"
"Hey, I thought Sam was born first." I added as I grabbed my own bowl and poured in the cereal.
"W-we're twins!" Stanton stuttered out, looking flustered. "We're the same age!"
"That's not what my birth certificate says." Sam said through a yawn. He exhaled and slumped into the seat next to me. "Lesser twin."
"So what are you guys up to today?" I changed the subject before Stanton could finish spluttering like a fish long enough to continue the argument.
Sam shrugged lazily. "Dunno. I only got out of my bed because I was hungry."
I rolled my eyes. "As usual, no trace of ambition what so ever. Maybe we could-"
"Don't even think about it!" Stanton jumped in suddenly, recrossing his arms and glaring at me. "You're still in big trouble for sneaking out last night, like a- like a-"
"Teenager?" Sam suggested.
"Yes! Wait, no! Shut up Sam, I lost my train of thought!" Stanton moved his glare to the brother beside me.
"Yeah, yeah." Sam waved a hand at him dismissively. "Sneaking out bad, big trouble, yada yada yada. Now that that's over, why don't we go out and have some quality family fun together?"
"Yay!" Sandy squeaked excitedly, wolfing down the remainder of his cereal before standing up and rushing out of the kitchen. "I'll go get dressed!"
Stanton's glare intensified. "Now wait just a-"
He was cut off as Sam stood from his chair and walked past his brother, flicking him in the forehead. "We leave in 10 minutes. Be ready or we're leaving without you, Lesser Twin." He turned back around to grin mischievously at me, no doubt with the same grin that had girls chasing after him like zombies.
"Oh, and wear white."
~
"Wow." Sam whistled at his brother with and amused look. "I didn't think it was possible for someone to suck as much as you do, Stanton."
"Shut up!" Stanton yelled back, before another large splotch of bright pink paint exploded onto the front of his shirt. "OW!"
I snickered from where I was watching a few feet away, ducked behind a wall to avoid being hit. Judging from his glare Stanton must have heard me, but right as he opened his mouth to yell at me he was hit in the chest by another shot, and all that came out was another, "OWWWWW!"
After much debate over where we were going to go, (I had to use my right to veto anything ridiculous and/or illegal more than I care to admit), we had all settled on paint-balling. Sam had figured that it'd be a good way to clear the air between us and bond, or some bullshit along those lines.
"There's nothing more therapeutic than shooting each other in the face." I said mockingly in an admittedly cheap imitation of Sam, purposefully loud enough for him to hear from where he was crouched behind another barrier. "As if. You're just a pervert who wanted an excuse to see pretty girls covered in paint."
He shrugged, unperturbed. "I won't apologize for having good taste." He ducked his head out from behind the barrier and fired his gun a few times. "Damn, they've all taken cover. At this rate, we'll be overtaken in minutes."
"Sam- OWWW!" Stanton winced, and another splotch of blue appeared on his shoulder. "How do they keep hitting me? I'm hiding right next to you!"
"You know, I'm not even sure." Sam actually looked thoroughly baffled as he observed his brother's body, nearly completely covered in a rainbow of paints. "How is it possible that you get hit so often, when I'm right next to you and I've only been shot twice?"
"Because he sucks." I answered conclusively. "Even the universe agrees."
"By the way, where's Sandy?" Sam asked, before his twin could defend his suckiness.
Just then, a loud battle cry erupted from behind us. I turned my head just in time to see that it was my younger brother, his safety goggles that were a little to big for him bouncing on his nose as he charged towards the enemy, and his gun firing out paintball after paintball like a machine gun.
Several cries of pain erupted from the enemy's side as they were hit by my baddass little brother. I peeked over in time to see a guy who had been attempting to escape fall flat on his face as he was nailed in the back of the head.
"Is it just me, or is Sandy scarily good at this?" I wondered aloud. I glanced meaningfully at my older brothers. "Anyways, I'm going in after Sandman. Any advice?"
"Don't die." Sam offered.
"Fabulous." I replied dryly. "Selena out!"
I hitched up my paintball gun and charged in yelling like a banshee, attempting to draw their attention away from where Sandy was crouching as he aimed. Hoping to avoid as much pain and paint as possible, I tried running in a zigzag as I approached the heat of the battle.
I finally made it to where Sandy had taken cover, and I crouched against the short wall, trying to catch my breath. "Sandman, have I ever told you that you're a beast?"
Sandy paused his shooting to look over at me. "No Sissy, I'm a person, not a beast." He explained seriously. I couldn't resist giggling at how cute he was.
"So what's the plan?" I finally asked him, before poking my head above the wall to shoot blindly at the enemy. Well, I'm sure it looked cool anyways.
Sandy frowned. "I don't know. There's so many of them and only two of us."
I rolled my eyes, before turning my head back in the direction we had come from. "Hey, Thing One and Thing Two! Are you coming to regain your pride as human beings, or are you just gonna sit back and let your little brother and sister do all the heavy lifting?" I called over.
"Your sarcasm is noted!" Sam called back as he emerged from his hiding place and bolted forward.
"Hey, wait up- OWWW!" Stanton had moved approximately two steps before he was shot. He ran after his brother, his arms blocking his face as he was hit every few steps. "This is so- OWW!- not fair! Wh- OWW!- y am I the- OWW!- the only one getting shot?! OUCH!"
I'll admit, by this point I had already burst into laughter.
When the twins finally reached a hiding place a few meters away from me and Sandy, Sam gave me a nod and did some weird hand signals that I think were supposed to be military style. Well, I ignored the bit where he just made animals and butterfly shapes with his hands.
I saluted him, feeling like a total badass in an action movie. I turned to the younger brother beside me, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sandy, I'll cause a distraction. While the enemy fire is focused on me, you start taking them out. Got it?"
"But Selena-!" He protested worriedly.
I cut him off with a shake of my head. "This is something I have to do."
After a moment, he clenched his jaw and nodded in affirmation, his blue eyes shining with determination. I gave him my best smirk, and said "See ya on the other side, kid."
And with that, I leaped out from behind the shelter and sprinted towards the enemy lines, letting out a furious battle cry.
I swerved and dodged bullet after bullet with my feet barely touching the ground, weaving back and forth as I stared into the unnerved eyes of the enemy teenagers. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of my brothers shooting the ones who had come out from their hiding spots to try and shoot at me.
I went in for a forward roll, only to come up short and flop onto my back on the ground.
I had been so caught up in my movie scene moment, that it took me a minute to realize that I had just made a fool out of myself, and I was now a sitting duck in the crossfire of paint balls.
I made the grievous mistake of sitting up, only to be shot twice, once in the chest and once in the back. I yelped and hit the deck, while glaring over my shoulder at my brothers.
"WHICH OF YOU IDIOTS JUST SHOT ME!?" I yelled, fuming. One of the shots had hit me from the enemy's side, but one had also hit me from the opposite direction.
"Sorry, that was my bad!" Sam called back, looking not at all sorry. I bared my teeth at him and growled.
I hissed at the stinging after pain of being hit by the paint balls, turning back to face the front with my gun clutched to my chest.
Using every ounce of muscle I possessed, I started to army crawl towards the nearest shelter. Luckily, most of the opposing side was bust countering my brothers' shooting, and ignored me as I humiliatingly crawled for cover.
Unluckily, only most of them ignored me.
"Yowch!" I yelped as a paint ball shot me right in the butt. I paused to scowl in the general direction it had come from. "I know that was on purpose, ass wipe!"
After a few more moments of crawling and just daring someone else to shoot me in the behind again, I finally was close enough to the barrier. I log rolled the remainder of the distance, and took a small breather now that I wasn't in danger of being shot.
Just as I had gotten up into a crouch, Sandy came barreling past me, Sam right on his tail as they shot their weapons. Stanton brought up the rear, but of course, he was still a magnet to the paint bullets.
"OW OW OWWWWWW!! I hate this game!"
I watched in awe as Sandy and Sam halted a few meters from where the enemy team was hiding, Sandy crouched on one knee and Sam standing over him. They fired shot after shot with deadly precision, steadily taking down our opponents.
I saw Sam grit his teeth as he was shot in the stomach, but then he just glared and fired his weapons faster. After a minute or so, the firing died down and the winning bell went off.
The voice on the intercom announced, "Team Sam-Is-The-Coolest is the winner!"
"Victory!!!" Sam cheered, dropping his paintball gun and lifting Sandy into the air as he giggled.
The other team groaned as they got to their feet, glaring at us as they hobbled away towards the exit. "Rainbow really suits you, suckers!!!" Sam called after them, cackling as he spun the youngest brother around some more.
I stood up from my hiding place and joined them, grinning. When the pair saw me coming, Sam swung Sandy over to cling to his back.
"Sellbells! There's my favorite baddass soldier sister!" Sam cheered jubilantly, throwing an arm over my shoulder.
"Selena, you were so cool!" Sandy exclaimed, peering over the elder brother's shoulder to look at me with wide, awe-filled blue eyes.
"Minus the part where you tried to do a roll and fell flat on your ass." Sam pointed out, and I felt my cheeks go red. "That was just embarrassing."
I huffed at him and crossed my arms, but was in too good of a mood to start arguing.
"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Stanton complained as he finally caught up to us, panting and covered in colorful paint literally from head to toe. "How did Sandy not get shot even once?"
Sandy beamed, clearly taking it as a compliment. Sam reached over to ruffle his hair, grinning proudly. "That's just because my baby brother is freaking awesome!"
Stanton scowled, clearly unsatisfied. "Well then, how many times did you guys get shot?"
"Four times, I think." Sam answered, looking over his clothes to count.
Stanton turned to me expectantly. "And you?"
I held up three fingers. Stanton's jaw dropped in disbelief. "No fair!" Looking over his paint covered form, I had to agree.
"I know you got shot once by me in the back, and once in the front, but where was the third shot?" Sam asked.
I blushed again, and Sam's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and spun me around.
Sam instantly burst into hysterics, brought to his knees with Sandy still hugging himself to his back. Even Stanton let out a snort.
I turned back around and glared at them all. "Shut up! It's not that funny!"
"Someone shot you in the ass?!" Sam could barely get the words out through his laughter, and he dropped to his hands and knees.
Rolling my eyes and trying to hide my embarrassment, I picked up Sandy from his back and balanced him on my hip, before using a foot to shove him over.
Sam just kept on laughing though, so I huffed indigently and stormed away with Sandy.
Family bonding my ass.
I turned my head as Sandy patted me gently on the cheek, smiling and looking nothing like the battle-crazy paintballer he had proved to be.
"I'm glad we came here! Today was fun!" He told me happily, and I couldn't resist smiling back and planting a smooch on his cheek. He giggled and shied away, before leaning his head on my shoulder and squeezing me tighter. I could head Sam and Stanton laughing and bickering good naturedly a little ways behind us.
But still, maybe this kind of thing isn't so bad, once in a while.
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Sorry for the wait!
Just tell me what you think! Sounds like fun, if you ask me!