"Nii-chan, wake up! I smell breakfast!"
You groaned as you were woken up from your probably pleasant dream, rubbing your eyes as you sat up.
Barely opening your eyes, you were able to see your younger brother sitting next to you excitedly.
You put your hand on his head, ruffling his hair,
"G'morning, Tooru,"
"Hey! My hair!"
While he readjusted his hair, you took this as an opportunity to stand up, lifting the little boy with your arms, causing him to giggle.
"Okay Tooru, you ready for breakfast?"
He nodded excitedly, and you made you made your way to the eating area, placing down Tooru next to you, who leaned on your side.
"I missed you yesterday, Nii-chan! I had to go to the stupid pha... Pharma..."
You held his hand,
"Pharmacist. Phar-ma-cis-t" (or however they'd say it in Japanese I'm not gonna search it up ☠️)
"Pharmacist... yeah, the pharmacist! And I didn't get to play with you at all!"
You smothered him in your embrace, hugging him close,
"Aww, I missed you a lot too, Tooru!"
He struggled to break free,
"Ack, Nii-chan! I can't breathe!"
You laughed at his exaggeration, letting him free.
After a few moments, you took note of how he began to rub at his eyes, and after the third sneeze, you decided to get the allergy medicine your mom had bought.
"Look, Tooru! Your allergy medicine, if you eat this, then they'll all go away!"
You held the tiny purple tab up to his mouth, but he just turned the other way crossing his arms.
"No! It tastes icky!"
You tried again,
"C'mon Tooru, don't you wanna feel better? You don't want your eyes to be itchy all day, do you?"
He deflated defeatedly,
"No... but I still don't like how it tastes!"
You paused for a moment before offering a solution.
"Did you know, if you plug your nose while eating something yucky, you won't taste it as much?"
He looked at you skeptically,
"You promise?"
'Oh this better work'
"I promise,"
After a few more moments of hesitation, he plugged his nose, then letting you feed him the medicine which he reluctantly swallowed.
"Nii-chan, you were right! I didn't taste it too much!"
"That's great, Tooru!"
Your mom soon entered the room with your other relatives, brining heaping plates of food to the table.
•
After a good and hearty breakfast, you and Tooru left the house to explore, and were immediately met by twins.
"Hey mister! Can we play with you and him?"
The other one added,
"Please?"
You looked down to your side to check your younger brother's response, seeing him not excitedly.
"Sure, I don't see why not!"
All three of the children gave you bright smiles before conversing amongst themselves.
"I'm Atsumu, and this is my baby brother, Osamu!"
He was given a quick hit to his arm by his brother,
"Hey! I'm only younger by a little bit!"
Tooru giggled at their interaction before introducing himself,
"I'm Tooru!"
He looked up at you proudly,
"And this is my big brother! He's super cool!"
The two twins looked at you with amazement.
Atsumu grabbed onto Tooru's and while Osamu grabbed yours,
"You should come to our super secret hideout!"
Tooru looked at you with anticipation,
"Can we, nii-chan? Please?"
There wasn't really any reason not to, so you agreed and let the twins lead the way.
•
You had to admit, the hideout was pretty decent. A tarp was used as a roof, being tied around the trunks of trees. A foldable table sat in the middle, with small stools surrounding it.
The twins looked at the two of you with pride,
"Well? What do ya think?"
You wish you had a camera to take a picture of the expression on your younger brothers face.
"Woah, this is super cool!"
He turned to you,
"Nii-chan! Can you make a super secret hideout when we go home?"
You pat his head,
"Yeah I'm not so sure about that. But you should go enjoy this super secret hideout first,"
"Okay!"
He ran off to play with the twins, and you followed to make sure they wouldn't get into too much trouble.
•
"Ow! That hurt!"
You quickly turned to the children, seeing one of the twins on the ground, clutching their knee. It seemed that he was on the brink of tears as his brother tried to apologize to him, apologies that went unheard.
"Nii-chan! Osamu got hurt, help him!"
You walked over to the little boy, pulling out a mini-first aid kit you had brought with you.
"Hey Osamu, how are you feeling?"
He sniffled trying to hold back his tears,
"My knee hurts... Stupid Tsumu pushed me..."
You pat his head consolingly,
"It'll be alright soon bud,"
You pulled out an alcohol wipe, and the fear on his face was apparent.
"Okay buddy, this is gonna hurt for just a little bit. Do you wanna hold my hand?"
He nodded slowly, grabbing onto your hand like it was the end of the world as you ran the wipe over his wound, making him wince.
"Good job! Now this part will feel a little weird, but won't hurt, I promise,"
You took out a tube of neosporin, and using a cotton swab, you applied it to his knee. After that, you took out a box of themed bandaids.
"You wanna choose a bandaid?"
Through the few tears that rolled out of his eyes he nodded, picking out a superhero themed bandaid which you put on his wound.
"There, all better now. Do you think you can stand up?"
You helped him onto his feet, but after seeing the pained expression on his face, you let him sit back down.
"That's alright, I can carry you. Do you want that?"
He nodded slowly, but spoke before you could do anything.
"C-can I have a hug first..."
You couldn't say no to him, giving him a tight hug which he used as an opportunity to wipe his tears on your shirt.
Soon you found Atsumu being pushed towards the two of you by your younger brother after he whispered something into the twin's ear.
It was surprising to see that Atsumu was almost as teary eyed as his brother, gripping the hem of his shirt.
"Samu... I'm sorry! I didn't mean for ya to get hurt!"
Osamu sniffled before replying,
"It's okay... mama said that it's okay to make mistakes..."
The brothers exchanged a quick hug before you scooped Osamu into your arms, picking him up off the ground.
"Let's take you back home now, it's about time for lunch,"
You walked out of the forest back onto the road, carrying Osamu in your arms while Atsumu and Tooru walked beside you, holding onto your shirt.
You dropped the twins off at their house, both of them giving you a hug before entering their home. When walking home with Tooru, you couldn't help but question him.
"Did you tell Atsumu to apologize?"
He shook his head,
"No, he was gonna already. But I helped him on how to do it! Just like the way you taught me!"
You immediately grabbed the boy into your arms, shaking him about in your embrace.
"Oh I couldn't have asked for a better younger brother! I'm so proud of you, Tooru!"
Your baby brother was a giggling mess, enjoying both your praise and the joy ride.
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I'm good at writing children because I used to be one