"HARVEYYYYYY!"
Great. There goes those extra few minutes of sleep. Those precious, beautiful, much needed minutes of—
"HARVEEEEYYYYYYYY!!!!" Harry calls out again, straining his little 5 year old vocal cords. Was it bad I sort of hope my (albeit adorable) little brother loses his voice? "I NEED YOU!"
I groan.
It's been like this since our parents boarded a jet and fled to the Amazon a week ago. Ninety percent of the time, whenever Harry says he 'needs me', what he really needs is company. Or someone to annoy. Or someone to make him food. And for some reason, that someone is always me. I blame my kind welcoming nature. It's a curse.
"HARV—"
"I'm awake! I'm coming!" I shout back in reply to stop Harry from calling me again. I let out a long groan, intentionally rolling out of bed and falling on the floor.
Fortunately, my answer seems to have satisfied Harry for now, since he doesn't reply. I stay on the floor for a few more seconds, trapped in between the covers which fell with me. I wonder what Harry's huge crisis must be this time. Considering the hour, it's probably food.
I let out a heavy sigh as I finally get up, pulling a face at my mirror as I walk past but not particularly bothering to fix my appearance. I swing my room door open to find an expectant looking Harry staring up at me.
"Morning, Harrybo," I greet the five year old.
I run my hand through my hair, partly to try and get the tangled mess out of my face, partly to stop myself from strangling my little brother from screaming despite being less than five meters away from where I slept.
"Morning, Harvey," he greets on cue. His pout however, remains fixed on his face.
"What do you need help with?"
"D'you, d'you think I can have pop tarts for breakfast?" he asks meekly; a slight stammer appears in his voice, the one he unconsciously gets when he's trying to get a point across.
"What?" I ask, frowning. "Why do you want pop tarts for breakfast? We never have pop tarts."
"B-but, Haydie is having some in the kitchen right now..." he whines.
A dark look draws on my face.
"Come on, Harry," I say, wrapping my fingers around Harry's hand, then I lead him back down the stairs. "HAYDEEEEENNNN!"
We did a lot of shouting in this house.
I pity the neighbors, I really do.
It's a good thing we don't have any at the moment. Living by the seaside tended to have its occasional perks.
By now, Harry and I have managed to march (slowly, with Harry begging me to swing him down the final two steps) to the kitchen, where my older twin is sat on the countertop, eating his way through an entire box of pop tarts.
"Hayden Bartholomew Mackler! Drop that pop tart this instant!"
Hayden turns to face my glare, raising his hands in surrender and in turn, dropping the quarter-eaten tart on the floor. Harry seizes the chance, dashing towards the pop tart. I roll my eyes, pulling him back by the shoulder before he could even get a foot away from me.
"You can't have it either, Harry," I state. He lets out a disappointed groan. I ignore him.
"I can't believe you, Hayde!" I scold angrily. "Not only did you make breakfast only for yourself, but you're having pop tarts of all things! You know Mom banned them ever since she saw how hyper Harry gets on them."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he protests. "Yeesh. If I knew you were going to act like that I wouldn't have bought them!"
I glare at him.
"Okay, fine. How about I make breakfast for everyone?"
I contemplate it for a second. I didn't really expect him to give in this easily. If he makes breakfast, that means I don't have to.
"Fine." I concede, dropping my glare, "You are forgiven."
"That is such a relief. You know, Harvey, you're death glare is actua—"
"For now," I complete. Can't let him think I'm easy.
"Seriously?"
I grin at him. Call me a tyrant, or slightly power crazy, but it is fun to mess around with the boys, knowing they'll never be able to fully retaliate. No matter how hard they try...
"What was all the shouting about?" Hunter groans as he strolls into the kitchen. "Don't you guys know it's rude to wake up early on Saturdays?"
"It's past ten, Hunter," I reply with a roll of my eyes, not sparing him a second glance.
Besides, I would probably somehow hurt my neck if I tried to look directly up at his freakish 6'4" stature. I don't know how, but Hunter managed to grow an extra couple inches since the last time he came back from college.
"Anyway," I continue, "Hayden here, is making breakfast for everyone."
"Did someone say breakfast? I'm starving," Hollis announces as he trails into the kitchen behind Hunter. He keeps his eyes glued to his laptop as he takes a seat by the kitchen island, making no effort to greet us.
Hunter and I exchange a look. Hunter smoothly snatches away the laptop from our twelve year old brother's hands, while I begin my chiding speech.
"It's way too early for you to be glued to that," I say. "When I was your a—"
"Aaaaand, nobody wants to hear Harvey's old lady rant," Hayden interrupts, jumping off the counter. "What does everybody want to eat?"
"Bacon Pancakes! Making Bacon Pancakes!" Harry sings loudly. My annoyance dissipates long enough for me to share questioning looks with my other siblings.
"What is he singing?" Hayden asks.
"Take some bacon and I'll put it in a pancake."
"I'm guessing he wants bacon pancakes...?" I reply unsurely.
"Bacon Pancakes That's what it's gonna make." Harry continues, unfazed by our confusion.
"What are bacon pancakes?" Hunter replies. "I kinda want one."
"Bacon Pancaaakes!" Harry ends, drawing out the last note.
"It's from Adventure Time," Hollis explains with an eye roll, snatching back his laptop. "He's kind of gotten really into it lately."
Hollis quickly presses a series of keys, searching for what I assume was the Bacon Pancake song. We gather around, watching the video clip from over his shoulder. The familiar yellow animated dog singing the same lyrics Harry had a moment ago.
"I feel so out of it with the kids," Hunter admits, tilting his head to the side as the video automatically replayed.
"You are out of it with the kids. Have you forgotten? You're old now," I tease.
"Says the person who was about to give a 'when I was your age' speech a few moments ago," Hayden snorts.
"Shut up."
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