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Power Play

My neck jerked hard as my tired head slipped from the paw that'd somehow managed to hold it up. I gasped gently; shocked by the sight of my study desk racing towards me. Somehow, I caught myself before making contact. Dear gods, how Mr. Marin hadn't succeeded in talking someone to death during on of his lectures was beyond me.

Glancing around, none of my classmates looked particularly gripped by his presentation, either. My friend Sasha, the brown fox with crimson dyed head fur to my right... Well, he seemed ready to cry tears of boredom. In fact, not one of the other eight students our size were faring all that well.

"It should never be underestimated how crucial trade proved to be in Polcian conflict's aftermath. Velika, our neighbours, and the nation states of Polcia themselves, they all benefitted immensely as diplomatic relations gradually reopened..."

Our tutor's scratchy, nasally voice cut right through me as he pressed on through his dull, monochrome slideshow presentation. How someone his size could have such a weak, irritating voice, even for a weasel, was staggering.

"...The economic hardships that blighted this country in the difficult years following the calamitous military regime were slowly, slowly overcome as the world gradually grew closer. Over the last four, five decades, the growing rate of trade, both economically and culturally, has helped nations on each side of the ocean to grow and prosper. To be more secure. As time goes on, one hopes that the increasingly entwined social economies of the world will ensure the events that preceded this are never repeated..."

Stars above us, I couldn't take any more. Last class on a Friday would have been difficult enough to stay focused in at the best of times, but the thrill-a-minute, white-knuckle ride through Mr. Marin's Velikan History class left no-one here a hope in hell.

To my left, our two-dozen or so classmates of Velikan heritage looked equally drained. Niko, one of just a few fellow red pandas I'd met back at high school, flashed me a glance from his desk roughly level with our raised section. A heavy roll of his eyes told me I'd called it right. No-one here could escape the soul-sucking tedium. Big or smaller.

"Now, class. Let's recap on--"

The ears of everyone in class pricked at the loud, nasally whine that cut the presentation short. It was a pretty good impression of our teacher in all honestly. Almost like a broken air horn, or an old rustbucket trying to start up on a winter's morning. Either way, it made half the class burst out laughing while the others glanced straight towards the likely culprit.

I followed them to Sasha, giving a snicker of my own at the smirk of admission slapped across his chocolate and white muzzle.

"Mr. Sidorov, do I amuse you?"

Sasha fired our lecture a challenging gaze, waiting for the perfect moment to simply answer, "Yes."

Another roar of laughter rang out, one that I fully contributed to this time. That just annoyed Mr. Marin further.

"Quiet!" he boomed, marching towards our raised area of the class. "May I remind you all that this is closing school. You're all here to study for a university place, or to prepare yourself for work." His final step left him towering over us all; incredibly imposing, but never threatening. "You do not have to be here, Mr. Sidorov, and if you'd prefer to leave, I won't stop you."

As hard as I tried, I couldn't force the grin from my muzzle, even with our tutor right in front of me. It didn't take him long to spot it.

"That goes for you, too, Mr. Grishin."

I had to turn away, reaching back to run a paw through the scruffed up fur of my head and neck. Sasha's eyes found mine, locking on as we waited for the source of the shadow covering us to finally move away.

"Shall we get back to studying?" Mr. Marin snapped, casting his eyes back towards Sasha. "The link between our economies and the economies of your ancestors should be something you find interesting."

We shared a collective groan, but not enough of one to stop the lecture restarting.

"Right, where were we--?" Oh, thank every single one of the gods above! It was the bell's turn to stop class in its tracks this time, blissfully sounding the end of the school week. "Okay, we will pick up where we left off next week. Make sure to read chapter six in your textbooks before then."

I jumped to my feet along with everyone else in the classroom, not able to pack my books into my bag to escape this place fast enough.

"I hate when he mentions that," Sasha grumbled as we made our way through the school's smaller set of double front doors, meeting the mild, autumn afternoon sunshine headfirst. "Especially in front of a classful of people."

"Tell me about it." We carried on along the smaller makeshift walkway running parallel to the main front path. Both were crowded with students, filling the air with bright laughter and eager chatter at the start of the weekend. "I don't have a clue why he loves goin' on about our 'ancestors' so much. No matter our size, we're Velikan born and raised, just like most everyone else here. Being made to feel different like that... It's..."

"It's a dick move," Sasha blurted, jumping in and summing up my feelings exactly. "Ain't no surprise I guess."

"Why d'ya say that?" I swerved past a pair of wolves loitering at the edge of our fenced off, gravel pathway, their necks craned up to the mink and polecat chatting with them from the pavement next to us.

"He's from Kremensk originally, yeah? People our size have only started moving there in the last few years."

"So?"

"So, he's new here. Working in a school, hell, a district full of us is probably pretty damn weird for him.Especially ones born here."

I pondered that as we stopped at the end of the queue to board our school bus. Sasha had a point. Outside of Zelengorod, I couldn't think of any other city in Velika that had whole neighbourhoods catering to Velikans of all sizes living there. Much less ones that had been that way for generations.

"Hey, Kaz." I turned to Sasha, following his pointing to where the path forked ahead of us. "Eva's callin' you."

She stepped out from the queue for her own bus, skipping away from her friends and towards us. The sweet smile on her short, vulpine muzzle set me offering one to match. "Kaz, I hoped I'd see you."

"Hey, hun," I cooed, placing a paw to her side and leaning in to kiss the sweet-scented fur of her cheek. "Same here. How're things?"

"Good." She brushed the bare black fur of my forearm, gazing up with her soft, blue eyes. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to do something tonight?" Her paw crossed the border to the red-brown fur of my bicep. "Since we couldn't last weekend."

I grimaced inside, stroking her slight, amber-furred arm in return. She'd hate my answer as much I'd hate giving it. "I can't... Sorry."

She snatched her paw back, huffing.

"See... I gotta babysit for my parents tonight," I clamoured, hopefully before she had a chance to get too upset. "But, y'know, Niko's havin' a party tomorrow night. Maybe we can go to that together?"

"Yeah, it'll be a good time, no question," Sasha said. "He's managed to get his paws on some booze, and you know he's always good when he's got smaller friends round in a crowd."

"I'm busy anyway," she stated bluntly.

"How about you come round mine tonight, then? We can still hang out, even with my brothers and sister around."

"I'm..." Eva backed off, retreating towards her fellow vixen friends ahead of us. "I don't think so."

I could sense my ears dipping. "W-Well... we can do something _next_weekend?"

She sighed loud enough to cut through the chorus of chatter around us, and harshly enough to put my hidden grimacing on show. "We'll see."

"Okay--" I stepped forward to offer a kiss goodbye, but she'd turned and left before I could even get close. Her fast flitting brush followed her down the pathway, soon disappearing along with her into the growing crowd of queuing bus riders.

"That was so cold," Sasha snickered, barely hiding his taunting smile behind a paw. "Y'know, you wanna start trying harder, Kaz. Else you're gonna lose her."

"'ey, I'm trying, but... What can I do!? I'm busy and she ain't comfortable being around my brothers and sister when my parents aren't around."

"Excuses, excuses." He shoved me by the arm as we neared the bus stop's access ramp. "You should be gettin' some while you can."

"Oh, whatever. You're just jealous you can't get none at all."

"Hey now, I get plenty."

"As if."

"I just don't tell you 'bout it."

"Yeah, right. Like you'd keep_that_ to yourself." We stepped forward again, watching the otter and tiger directly ahead of us pace up into our scaled-down section of the bus. "Unless you're counting that knee to the balls you got from Katya from Polcian class as getting 'plenty'."

"Hey now, she was just pissed that I got with her sister during New Year Festival before trying my luck with her."

"Gods," I snorted as our turn to start up the ramp came, pressing a paw to my temple to hide from the glances of those around us. "You're so full of crap."

A short ride carried us slowly through the winding roads of suburbia, across the main strip of our district and on towards the area we called home. Our section of the bus, a smaller version of that above us, quietened as it emptied out with each stop. By the time it came for me and Sasha to stand up and shuffle towards the doors, only a couple of seats remained occupied.

"Not such a bumpy today," Sasha said, following me out onto the access ramp once it finishing extending down to the kerbside. "Don't completely feel like I'm gonna puke."

"Can't wait for some of those new buses to be put on our route," I replied, stepping down to the top step. "Only a few months late now."

A couple of our larger schoolmates also disembarked, cautiously crossing our path to lumber off down the sidewalk. We stood waiting for them, ears flicking as the bus pulled away behind us, travelling on to the outskirts of our district and the tall buildings of the city centre.

"Y'know, Kaz, Eva's got a point."

Now clear, we strolled across the sidewalk to our walkway opposite. "Point about what?"

"Your brothers and sister."

I didn't quite know where Sasha was going with this, nor how to respond. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, though, stepping onto one of the newest sections of walkway in the area to let it carry us home.

"Well, hey, you know I think they're all great..."

"This sounds like the part where you say something I get upset about." I stopped to look back at Sasha, only half frowning. The walkway below rolled on meanwhile, moving us past the big houses, both in size and scale, lush gardens and neat landscaping of our street.

"No, no, I don't mean it to." He held up his paws, visibly cringing, "I guess I mean I don't got a clue how you do it."

"Do what?"

"Control 'em."

"S'not hard." We passed beneath the shade of the giant, browning trees standing on the verge between the sidewalk and street. My fur prickled as I adjusted the strap of my backpack, though I couldn't be sure if it came from the temperature drop, or the debate I saw coming. "They don't act up all that much."

"Yeah, but you know I ain't talking about that. I mean damn, Art's what... fourteen now? It's kinda scary how time's passin' so fast... and kinda scary how he's gettin' to be as big as your dad now."

The tension eased. My hackles started falling. "I guess being around when he's throwing one of his tantrums is a little more... eventful these days."

"I bet... So my question is, how the hell you even control him if he gets like that?"

"Come hang out this evening." I smirked at his raised brow. "Find out for yourself."

"Much as I'd love to come help you deal with that gang of rampaging raccoons ya call a family, I can't."

"C'mon. Not you, too?"

"Hey, you know I totally would, but I gotta help my parents out tonight." He hoisted up the slipping strap of his own backpack with a grunt. "They decided tonight was the perfect time to drag me into helping them finish redecorating the bathroom."

"Seriously? On a Friday night?"

"Yeah... got the guy coming to do the refit tomorrow, and you know_my parents have gotta make a good impression on him. Paint it all up, clean it, make it sparkle... before it all gets yanked out and smashed up in the morning, 'cos that makes _perfect fuckin' sense, don't it?"

I laughed and Sasha grumbled on about it all the way to the entrance to the complex he lived on. Atop the plot sat the remnants of the shallow hill that had otherwise been flattened for houses built either side. On the bankside, a village's worth of homes had been constructed for locals our size; a community within the extended community, just like the others dotted around our neighbourhood.

"Still coming to Niko's party tomorrow night?" he asked as we stepped off the walkway, stopping at the start of the short section of paving that'd lead him all the way home.

"Sounds good. Got nothing else going on tomorrow."

"Cool." We slapped paws, taking a half-step back between us. "Meet me here for the bus at eight?"

"Sure."

His sly smile told me he had one last taunt lined up. "Make sure you survive 'til then, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay, don't you go worrying about me now," I smirked as we turned to part ways. "Enjoy your cleaning and painting."

The loud grumble he gave as I stepped back onto the walkway put a huge grin on my muzzle; one that lasted the rest of my journey down to the other end of our street.

I stepped onto the wide front path of the wood-panelled, single storey house I called home, glancing around our sprawling front lawn. My parents always insisted on keeping things in top shape, particularly the gigantic birch tree that dominated the shrubs scattered around it.

Much like how its thick branches overshadowed the other plant life, the memory of Sasha's joking and Eva's resistance towards coming round this evening did much the same to my thoughts.

I found it just... so odd. So many Velikans our size, like me, had been adopted by larger families. On top of that, loads more lived with bigger friends in house shares and the like. I figured for those who grew up with their biological families, and had always lived in homes built to their size, it'd be hard to imagine living like we do. On the other paw, I suppose I did sometimes wonder what it'd be like to live in the same complex as Sasha. In fact, one thing I'd definitely appreciate, especially at the end of a week as long and as tiring as this, would be having a front path that wasn't a short walk in itself!

"Whatever." I padded up the gentle slope dad had built for me next to the chest-high step of our front porch. Pulling my key from my pocket, I unlocked the smaller front door beside our larger one and headed inside.

There was a time, back when I was my brother Artur's age, when being home alone in our huge house overwhelmed me. Scared me, even. Everything was so big. The furniture, the fixtures, the rooms themselves. Everything.

I guess practice made perfect over the last couple of years, though. Dropping my bag, slipping off my trainers and letting my paws sink into the warm carpeting of our bright, airy living room filled me only with a sense of relief. School was done for another week. Time to relax and enjoy the weekend.

I padded towards our couch across the room, eyeing up my beanbag chair on the floor beside it. The peacefulness was great, but I knew it'd not last long. My siblings were never far behind me on their way home from school, even if they had to travel back from the next district over. Still, I'd do what I could to make the most of it.

Flopping back to sink deep into my comfy seat, I reached over to the remote on the floor beside me. A stiff press of my paw upon the power button saw the television across the room flash into life, but not before something else caught my attention.

A shred of paper almost as long as I stood tall had been propped up against the side of the couch. I knew even before reading it that it'd been left for me by my parents.

'Kazimir. Dinners are in the oven. Just need to heat up - fifteen minutes will do. You can cook your own like you asked. Won't be late.'

The name and number of the restaurant they'd be meeting Dad's work colleagues at followed. Not that I'd ever needed to call them, but it made them feel happier to know we had the details.

I barely had a chance to channel hop through to the hockey highlights before the clicking of the front door pulled my focus away. The muffled voices outside suddenly became clear as it burst open, giving way to a noisy trio of raccoons bundling inside with an all too familiar chorus of arguing. Their eyes pierced one another from behind their black masks the entire time, voices growing even louder to drown out the television. Let it never be said that my brothers and sister didn't know how to go about killing the peace.

"No you won't," insisted Luka, my youngest and smallest sibling, snarling up through his glasses at his older brother.

"Stop arguing!" squeaked Nadia, our sister, balling her fists in desperation at them both.

"Wanna bet," Artur grunted loudest of all, towering over them both. He slammed the door closed behind him, hard enough to rattle the window above the television. "You little twerps givin' me the biggest damn headache! Tellin' you straight, I ain't gonna wait to pick you up from school next week."

"Oh, shuddup, Art," Luka cried back. "You jerk--"

"Hey!" I boomed as loud as I could, managing to at least pull their annoyed faces down in my direction. "It's Friday. You should be in a better mood than this."

"Art's bein' mean t'me," Luka complained, folding his arms with a pout.

"You started it," Art protested, standing there in the untucked shirt and loosely fitted tie of his high school uniform. "Givin' me shit and not expecting me to react--"

"Stop!" I hauled myself from my seat. "No more."

Art cut me a glare so harsh that his anger started spreading to me. "Whatever." He dragged a paw through his brown tinged grey head fur, scruffed up with so much product that it made mine look neat. Ma and Dad would never have approved of it for school. Not that they'd ever get him to listen.

"No 'whatever', you hear? You need to calm down. All of you."

"Art was being mean to Luka, Kaz," Nadia said, her voice barely a mutter.

"You can shut up, too!" Artur roared, loud enough that she almost jumped out of her fur.

"How 'bout you all shut up!?" I sighed heavily the moment I finished. Irritation got the better of me.

Sure, my shouting succeeded in creating a moment's silence at least, but I knew too well from past experience it'd never last if I tried fighting fire with fire.

I slowly rubbed the fur of my throat, fingers finding the smaller, upgraded Normaliser I'd been given for my birthday. The next words it had to work with I made sure would be calmer.

"Listen. Whatever was said, whoever started it, it don't matter. It all ends now, okay?" I'd made it to the middle of the living room by this point, neck craned up to my three younger siblings all peering down at me in quiet acceptance. "Now... are you gonna kill each other if I go to my room?"

Luka made the first move, taking careful steps around me to head over to the couch. "No." He jumped back onto it, sprawling out across two of the three cushions before reaching down for the remote.

"No shoes in the living room, Luka," I reminded him gently.

"Sorry." He bent his knees and kicked off his footwear, letting them thud down to the carpet in front of the couch. Good enough.

I turned back to the front door, watching Nadia quietly slip off her own sandal shoes. Art meanwhile just hurled his school bag to the floor. His kitbag followed, slamming to the ground even harder. Guess his after school hockey practice must've been cancelled or something. Might have explained his shitty mood. He rumbled past me, not bothering to take off his shoes before marching off defiantly towards the kitchen. Oh, whatever, seriously. No way was I gonna play his game.

"Kaz?" I turned back to my sister. "What time will Ma and Dad be home?"

"Later tonight sometime. Dad's collecting Ma from work, then they're going straight into town."

"Can I stay up until they're home?"

"I dunno... last time they went out, they weren't back until after eleven."

She scoffed out a sigh, tugging at the bottom of her school skirt and giving a small stamp of her foot. "I'm almost eleven now. I'm not a baby."

My muzzle twitched in anticipation of my caving to her demands, but the sound of the fridge opening pricked my ears first. "Art, no snacks before dinner." No response came from the far right hand corner of the room, where the open archway gave way to our kitchen. I reached for my Normaliser again, adjusting it around my neck before adding, "Did you hear!?"

"Did!" The fridge slammed closed out of sight. "Gods dammit, I'm gettin' a drink, Kaz!"

With a quiet groan and grinding teeth, I started off towards the opposite corner of the living room and the hallway leading to my room. "Did you lock the front door?"

"Why don't you go check!?"

I growled louder, picturing the smirk no doubt slapped across his muzzle.

"It is locked, Kaz," Nadia confirmed, trying the handle herself as I peered back up over my shoulder.

"Thanks."

"Wanna come up here?" Luka's masked face appeared from atop the couch as I passed by. His paw hovered there, waiting for me to wrap my arms around and be lifted up.

"I'm okay. Gonna head to my room before dinner." He nodded and pulled his arm back, refocusing on the television. "Be good."

I left my siblings to themselves, carrying on across the carpet until I reached the wood flooring of our hallway; the perfect surface for me to get some wheel-assisted travel onwards to my bedroom.

My skateboard still sat upright against the wall where I'd left it that morning, half-hidden away behind one of Ma's plant pots. I grabbed and let it drop, hopping on with a fierce kick that started me racing off down the long, wide hall.

As I rolled past my Dad's office, I thought a little more about the awful mood Art seemed to be deep within. Whatever had put him there, I really hoped he'd find his damn way out of it and soon. Him acting up was the last thing I needed that evening.

The bathroom door came last before the hallway bent ninety degrees, heading left to the other bedrooms of the house. I jumped off my board as I reached the room I shared with Art ahead, kicking it up to carry under my arm. Turning the handle of the smaller door, I started wondering whether Eva and Sasha's decision not to come round might have been a good call after all.

Thankfully, things started to settle down for the most part after that. Luka, Nadia and Artur all managed to keep themselves occupied for the next couple of hours, meaning that they'd kept themselves quiet, too.

That gave me the chance to chill out in my smaller 'room' sat in the corner of the bedroom proper that Artur occupied. I had a great time poking about at my computer, browsing and chatting online with a couple of friends about Niko's party while listening to music through my headphones. All without the fur-tingling, tail-twitching sound of arguing and fighting.

It'd never last, though. It never, ever did.

The trace of a raised voice slipped past the soothing, electric beats coming from my headset. I pulled one of the earpieces out of my Normaliser's adapter and slipped it from my ear, better able to hear the sound of my brothers playing a game together on Art's console across the room.

It's fine I thought to myself. I could deal with that. I could cope with that. I'd much prefer raised voices of enjoyment trying to drown out my music than ones of aggression.

I returned to my world of electronica, doing my best to ignore the sound of my brothers playing. It didn't take long for their voices to get louder, forcing me to turn up the volume. They got louder still, so my music did, too. I'd maxed the volume control in just a few minutes, leaving me nowhere to go when their raised voices became arguing ones.

I threw a paw to my scalp, grabbing a clump of fur hard enough to send a few strands of red floating down in front of my muzzle. A faint pulsing through the ground followed, telling me in no uncertain terms that my chillout session had ended.

The throbbing beneath my seat gave way to a grinding rumble overhead. Carefully, Luka lifted the removable ceiling from my room, forcing my gaze up to the frustrated frown on his grey-furred face.

"What's wrong, Luka?" I did my best not to sound annoyed.

"Art's bein' mean again."

"Am not!" Artur bellowed from out of sight. "Stop tryin'a get me in trouble!"

There'd be no chance of me leaving things as they were. Left to their own devices, they'd be at each other's throats in no time.

I whipped out my headphones and tossed them to the desk, trying not to sigh too loudly as I forced myself up from my seat. Luka slotted the ceiling of my room back into place, finishing just as I reached the door and exited.

"So, what's going on?" I stopped beside my youngest brother, standing halfway up to his knee.

"Told you, nothing's goin' on!" I glanced over to Art, sitting beneath the posters that surrounded his bed. They served as an ever-growing shrine to his favourite hockey players on our favourite team, Dynamo Zelengorod. His black and grey tail flitted atop the mattress quickly, arms crossed tight around him. "He's just making trouble again."

"You're lying!" Luka threw out an accusing finger. "You're bein' a jerk, just like before--"

"Alright! Just stop fighting. What exactly's going on?"

"Luka's cheating."

"Am not!"

"Are so."

"Stop!" They really were as bad as each other. I started towards Art's bed, earning from him a stare that lasted the entire way there. "How's Luka cheating?"

"He's button mashing." He waved a paw towards his television, pointing out the fighting game they'd been playing. Judging by the energy bars, Luka's martial artist wolf character had the upper hand over Art's wrestling bear this round. "I can't beat his guy if he don't play right."

I couldn't hide my grunting this time. "That ain't cheating, Art." For what it was worth, I smiled as I tried to talk him down from the tantrum no doubt lurking around the corner. "You've just gotta find a way to counter _his_way of playing--"

"Don't need this." Art tossed his controller away, bouncing it off his mattress and clattering into the wall above his bed's headboard. In turn, he leapt up onto his feet, setting me cowering as he crashed down heavily.

"Careful!"

Without a reply, he stomped forward, driving a paw down so close next to me that I could have reached out to touch the top of his ankle. By the time I'd managed to force my heart back down my throat, Artur had barged past Luka and stormed straight out of the bedroom.

"I wasn't cheating, Kaz," Luka whined, ears flat to his skull. "Honest."

"I know," I replied softly, walking back to his side. "He just... doesn't like to lose."

"Tell me 'bout it."

"Might be worth going to your room to play there for a little bit."

"Nuffin' to do there."

"Okay..." I searched fast for an alternative that might keep him occupied, and away from Art. "Maybe, if you wanna, I can help you with your reading homework after dinner? Save leaving it 'til Sunday night like usual."

"Guess we could." Luka's shoulders sagged. "Findin' it hard again."

"Don't worry." I poked his shin and grinned up at him. "You'll get it. Just gonna take some time--"

"Art!" Nadia's shrieking sent a shudder through me. "I was watching that!"

I scowled over at the open doorway, all too aware of what my brother had done without having to see it. "What the hell is with him tonight!?"

"Give it back!"

My paws clenched into fists, knowing I'd been left with little choice but to go and try to calm things down. Again. "Go play in your room," I muttered to Luka, marching towards to doorway to make my way back to the living room.

I arrived to find Artur standing halfway between the television and couch, grasping the remote while he watched the final minutes of the same hockey show I'd glanced at earlier.

Nadia hovered around him meanwhile, reaching and jumping in vain to try and recover control of the television from our much taller brother. "I was watching something, Art. Give it back!"

"What's going on?" I snapped, snatching their attention towards me. Art rolled his eyes and shook his head; something that rubbed me up the wrong way completely.

"I was watching cartoons," Nadia explained, sneering up at our brother. "He took the remote and won't give it back!"

"Give it her back, Art," I said, doing what I could to keep my voice level. He'd been a pain in my behind from the moment he'd got home, but I wasn't gonna let him get to me. "You know she watches her cartoons before dinner."

"Well what can I do!?" He raised his arm in response to Nadia's latest attempt to snatch back the remote.

"I never stopped you playin' your game."

That just fell on deaf ears. Art lifted up the faded red t-shirt he'd changed into, trapping the controller beneath it before jumping back onto the couch. "You can't stop me, Kaz."

I could feel just how hard my muzzle creased at that. To say it put a bad taste in my mouth would have been putting it mildly. Whether he meant it or not, I couldn't not take that as an insult over my size.

"Listen to me," I snarled, stomping over towards him without any care over the fact he stood ten times taller. Shit, it could've been a hundred times and I'd have not backed down to his crap. "I'm in charge!" He peered down at me from the couch, not looking all that moved by my words. That just pissed me off even more. "If you don't give her the remote back, I won't cook your dinner."

"What, really?" he snorted, paws behind his head. "I'm guessing it's all in the oven waiting to be warmed up, right? If you don't cook mine, then Nadia and Luka won't get any either."

Like hell was he gonna win that easy. "Maybe I'll just order some pizza, huh? Just enough for everyone but you."

That got a satisfying twitch of his muzzle. Two could play at this game.

"Pizza?" Nadia cried gleefully.

"Yeah, right," Art grumbled, throwing his arms hard across himself.

"Yeah. Right." I smirked up at him, ignoring the fact that I barely had a Krona to my name to spend.

"Fine!" He tugged the remote from under his shirt and tossed it at Nadia.

Our sister juggled with it as she took it into her grasp, still looking at me in hope. "We're having pizza, Kaz?"

"We're having what Ma and Dad left."

"Aww. That's boring."

I yanked the fur at the back of my neck so hard that I swear I nearly ripped it out. It'd been two hours, and I'd already had enough of the battle with my siblings. "Watch your show, okay? I'm gonna go start it."

"Fine... 'kay."

With a deep breath, I paced off past the couch and towards the kitchen. This wasn't gonna get on top of me. No way.

"Bossy little jerk."

Art's mumbling just about caught my ear, but I let them just pass on by and roll right off my back. I didn't need another argument.

If I couldn't rely on my bedroom or the living room as a place to get some peace, then the kitchen would have to do. A shallow space built half into the back wall, half undercover gave just enough room to fit a basic kitchen unit for someone my size. Here, away from the muffled voices across the house, I could decide upon what I prepare myself for dinner. Well, what I'd heat up in the microwave at least. Sure, I enjoyed the sense of freedom that cooking for myself gave me... Didn't mean I was any good at it.

I grabbed a serving of the chicken stew Ma had prepared during the week from the refrigerator, tossing it on the side before walking out of hiding and onto the cold tiling of the kitchen proper.

Use of the full-sized appliances here lied mostly out of reach, literally and figuratively. A few of them though, like the oven to my left that stood as tall as Sasha's two-storey house, offered handy remotes for us smaller people to at least operate.

Grabbing it from its holder, I set the timer for fifteen minutes, as suggested in my parents' note, and fired the oven up into life.

"Want some help, Kaz?"

I peered up to my right, watching Nadia pad through the archway dividing the kitchen and living room. She stopped beside the dining table, placing a paw on the back of the chair closest to her.

"You're not watching your shows?" After the battle I'd fought with Art to get her the remote back, I really hoped she hadn't just given up on it.

"They finished just now."

"Right." I forced the knowledge that I'd just fought her corner for five minutes' worth of television out of my mind. Pretty sure that if I hadn't, the frustration would have sent me screaming to my room. "I'm fine here. Thanks."

She rocked the chair gently, looking down at her feet. "I can help get dinner from the oven when it's ready."

"Yeah... Art can do that."

"I told you, I'm not a baby."

"I know you're not," I grumbled through gritted teeth. She was capable for a ten year old, sure, but I really didn't want her burning herself. Plus, I'd prefer it if my brother pulled his weight, especially after being such a pain in the tail so far. "How 'bout you help me up to the table when I've finished cooking my dinner after?"

She pulled out the chair in her grasp, settling down with a heavy, drawn out huff. "Okay."

After a short quarter hour, the oven's timer beeped me back into action. I left my dinner to finish off heating in the microwave, leaning out of my area of the kitchen to turn off the oven, open its door and extend the shelf with three simple presses of the remote. The scent of spiced meat and vegetables flooded my nostrils, completely overpowering that of my stew. For a moment, I regretted choosing to cook my own dinner that evening.

"Art," I yelled into the living room. "Dinner's ready. Come serve it."

Both me and Nadia, still sitting at the table, focused on the archway. I really hoped that the few minutes he'd got in control of the television had helped calm him down. The way that he stomped into the kitchen, shoulders sagging and muzzle creased, told me that'd been wishful thinking.

"What's the point in you even doin' it?" Art marched right on past me, stopping in front of the open oven door.

"Yeah, what is the point? I mean all I did was cook it for the right amount of time while making my own down here, getting it ready for you to pick up and just put on the table." I couldn't have poured more sarcasm over my words if I tried. Didn't mean I wouldn't give it a damn good shot. "So sorry for leaving you everything to do. How can I ever repay you?"

"Just shut up, Kaz," he rumbled, leaning down and reaching out for one of the three foil-covered plates.

"Wait!" My annoyance at my jerk of a brother vanished for just a second. "I'd use a mitt if you don't wanna burn your paws."

He looked back at me pretty sheepishly, pulling his arms back up into his body.

"I'd have remembered that," Nadia cooed mockingly from her seat, making her point to both of us.

Art simply sneered at her, turning to me to give a moody, "Fine!" He bent down to snatch the mitt up from the open oven door's handle, grumbling to himself the entire time.

"Want me to get Luka, Kaz?" Nadia offered.

"Please."

With a nod, she stood up to do so. It was nice to have one sibling willing to help at least. I left my brother to retrieve the plates, tuning out his constant bellyaching as I returned to tend to my own food.

Dinner passed on by as something of a non-event. We all ate quietly, with minimal conversation between us. While discussion hardly ever flowed freely at the dining table, especially when our parents were away, things were never usually this silent. Sitting at my table atop the placemat next to Luka, opposite Nadia and diagonal to Artur, I wondered if trying to get some conversation going might help improve things. Maybe it'd help everyone cheer up and prevent any more arguments developing during the rest of the evening.

"Don't want this."

I looked up from my bowl full of finely cut chicken and vegetables, watching Art push himself from the table and stand up hurriedly. The table rocked from the connection his knee made, setting Luka and Nadia shouting for him to, "Be careful!" I didn't have a chance to do that, grabbing my bowl and bracing myself until the trembling beneath my chair stopped.

"You've barely touched it," I stated, glancing at the plateful of food, then up at him.

"Not hungry."

"Don't believe that."

"Don't care what you believe."

"Art, c'mon," I said softly. As much as he'd been unreasonable all afternoon, I really did wanna try and end all this hostility. "Don't be like this."

"Be like what!?" He shifted around the table, not caring about his thick tail smacking Nadia in the back as he passed. "You've been on my case all evening. Leave me alone."

Art didn't look back, storming off out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"What's wrong with him today," I grumbled, half-directing that at my two siblings left at the table. "He's been in a mood since he got home. I don't understand--" The slam of our bedroom door stopped my trail of thought dead, making my ears flick hard enough that I could feel them.

Luka and Nadia barely mustered a shrug between them, continuing on with their own meals in silence. Easy to believe that things were starting to get to them, too.

I figured the best bet was to let Artur stew alone in our room. Clearly there was little I could do to help him out of whatever misery he'd decided to wallow in.

After dinner, I headed with Luka to his room to offer my help with his homework. He struggled with his school studies at the best of times, but this would be even tougher tonight; for both of us.

The constant, hammering bass of Art's stereo started not long after we'd begun working. To be honest, it didn't bother me too much at first... for about a minute or two anyway. After that, I could barely hear myself think, let alone help Luka study.

Occasionally, a break in the music or a quiet chorus offered a window for me to talk freely. "Okay. Question three," I announced, quickly glancing up from beside the homework sheet on my brother's desk. The look of dread on his muzzle might have come from him reading ahead, or perhaps in wait for Artur's godsawful music to start up again. "If five boys shared thirty-two Krona equally between them, how much would they each get?"

Luka cringed hard, again timed so I couldn't tell if it were from the question, or from the beat of the next song pounding into life. Things were getting ridiculous, but I let it go. Honestly, I'd become so fed up with it all, that I just couldn't take another confrontation with my brother. I'd had my fill of him for one day.

It took us half an hour get to the midpoint of a task that probably should have taken less than that to complete. Poor Luka struggled so hard with number work, and I always did my best to stay patient. The unending thumping, hard enough now that it started pulsing through the desk, made things nearly impossible for both of us.

"I don't know the answer, Kaz!" Luka complained, throwing his pen to the paper beside me. He slipped paw behind his glasses to rub his masked eyes. "It's hard."

"I know it's hard, but if you don't try you won't get...!" I managed to stop from lashing out at him. This wasn't his fault. None of it was.

"Why doncha tell Art to turn his music down?"

I should've just done that from the damn start. "Gonna now." Climbing to my feet, I paced over to Luka and patted his paw. "How 'bout we carry on with this tomorrow, huh? It's getting late."

"'kay."

Without having to ask, he offered out his palms to help me down to the ground. In the time I spent sat within them, my irritation over Artur's pounding, droning music only increased. The fact I'd been so indifferent to stopping it in the first place, well, that just pushed irritation up into full-blown annoyance.

I left Luka to pack his school books away, ducking out of his room through its smaller door. Grabbing my board quickly, I jumped on and pushed off from from the far end of the hallway.

Kick after kick, I sped up, groaning and wincing as I raced towards my bedroom. The noise pouring out was bordering on the ridiculous. There's no way he wasn't deliberately trying to get beneath my fur with this. No-one listened to music this damn loud.

"Art!" I screamed, so focused on getting inside our room that I nearly fell as I dismounted my board. "The hell's going on?" Rounding the wide open door, I found my brother lying casually on his bed. Too casually. Batting at his big, black and grey tail, his smirking told me he'd been waiting for this. "Turn it down!"

"...only just after seven," he retorted so offhandedly that I could only really make out the words that came mid-beat. "...not late."

"I don't care how late it is--"

"What?"

"I said I don't care--"

"What!?"

I growled so hard that it made my throat sore. "Turn the damn music down!"

Whether it was my demanding, or maybe the deafening volume finally getting through that thick skull of his, Artur finally made a move to tone it down. Not by much, but enough that I could hear myself think at least.

"Listen, Redfuzz," he gruffed. "Whatever Ma and Dad say, I'm too old to have you babysittin' me now."

Redfuzz... a supposed insult my brother always liked to throw whenever he wasn't getting his way around me. It didn't bother me, really. Honestly... it was a pretty accurate description. Still, not reacting to his attempts to upset me would only annoy him; knowledge that helped me just stand there, glaring up at him.

"Anyway, even if I did need one... you're far too small to be any damn help 'round here if something _did_happen."

"W-What?" Okay... that did upset me. "What you just say?"

My siblings hardly ever picked on my for my size... our parents never stood for it. Ever. To hear Artur just lie there... tell me I'm useless... Gods above us, I'd never been hurt. I'd never been so completely pissed.

"Don't talk to me like that!" I rushed across the carpet, totally uncaring of the fact I had to look up to snarl at my brother. "Turn your fucking music down. Now!"

Art's eyes widened. I didn't swear around the house often. Only when pushed. Like this. "I'm in charge, got it? You're gonna listen t'what I say, and do what I tell you, got that!?"

"Whatcha gonna do if I don't." He rolled away from me and onto his side.

I balled my fists, staring at the scruffy mess of fur at the back of his head. His thick tail, dangling down from the side of his bed became my next target. The thought of grabbing it, digging my claws in, scratching and yanking hard at his fur came on strong. I wanted to hurt him in some way, just like he had me.

That urge did pass before I did anything I'd regret, leaving me with just my words way down here on the carpet.

It's then that I randomly spotted Sergei Kudrin, the hard-skating tiger who'd captained Dynamo this season, watching me from one of Art's posters. Maybe I didn't have to try and get physical after all.

"How about I get you grounded until the end of the school year?" That got a flick from his ears. "Think about having to come straight home from school _every_night. That'd screw up your hockey practice pretty bad, right? You'd be outta the team so fast--"

The speed my brother threw himself upwards knocked me off balance. His legs swung round, paws slamming thunderously to the floor. Nowhere near me, but close enough for me to feel the air blast through my fur. I shirked back, watching him loom above me from his seat on the side of his bed.

"So what!?" he growled, face twisting. "Think I care?"

I didn't get the chance to answer back. Art leapt to his feet, reaching down to snatch me up in one huge, sweeping motion.

"Get... off!" My words came out muffled as I struggled against his hold. The paw pad clamped tight to my muzzle made it difficult to breathe, let alone speak. Deep down, I knew he'd not hurt me, but the feeling of being lifted from the carpet, trapped fast and blinded by a pair of paws as big as your entire body couldn't not be terrifying. "What... you doing?"

Of course, he didn't answer. Next thing I knew, his paws gave way. They showed me up to one of the high shelves fastened to the wall of our room.

"Stop!"

He didn't. Half pushing, half throwing, Artur placed me right between a pair of his long forgotten model racing cars. Last time I saw these, he'd tried to make me climb inside the driver's seat to push me around, ignoring the fact I'd have had to have been half my size at least to fit.

"See what you can do from up there." He laughed, moving back across the room to finally turn his music off. One small positive to come out of all this.

"Art, you better get me down from here. Right now!"

"Don't think so."

"I'm not joking!"

"I ain't either." He flashed a grin up at me, strolling casually towards the bedroom door.

"Art! Get me down, or else!" The door creaked slowly closed behind him, forcing me to crawl through the nasty coating of dust on the shelf towards it. "You're gonna be in so much shit when Ma and Dad get home, it's unreal!" My screaming fell on deaf ears. With a clunk of the door handle, Artur left me trapped here. Alone. He'd left the light on at least. Not sure that was deliberate, though.

"Nadia!? Luka!?" I called over and over for them. Even with my Normaliser working away, they couldn't hear me from wherever they were in the house. Not that they'd be able to reach me all the way up here.

I gazed down over the edge of shelf, confirming the obvious. The drop to the carpeting below from close to the ceiling was huge. Probably three times as high even than the roof of a house like Sasha's. No way in hell was I getting down from here without help.

Defeated, embarrassed, I slumped back down on the wooden shelf. Forgotten about, just like Artur's old toys. I threw a paw to my chin and rested an elbow on my crossed legs. All I could do was have a long, hard sulk. "Gonna get you for this... you just watch."

However long I wound up sitting there, it was long enough to be bored completely out of my skull. We didn't have a clock on the wall, and I realised pretty early on in my solitary confinement that I'd left my phone down next to my computer. That fact meant my idea to call the home phone to try and get either Luka's or Nadia's attention died pretty fast. Perfect. I'd be up here for however long Artur decided. Or until our parents got home and found me. They'd never let me be responsible around here again if that happened, would they? What kinda babysitter gets this done to 'em? Humiliating.

Muted wailing and distant thumping started from along the hall, stopping my mind from drifting too far into pity. I hoped Artur wasn't causing too much trouble. Pretty sure Luka or Nadia would've come looking for me if that were the case.

The quickening twitching of my tail kicked up a cloud of dust; enough to start me sneezing. I really didn't trust Artur not to be creating chaos out there again. Not with the mood he'd been in.

I got annoyed at myself all over again, cursing the fact I'd let my brother trap me all the way up here.

Crawling back to the edge of the shelf, getting a good grasp of it, I peered all the way back down to the ground. I'd make sure that Art got punished for this. No way was I gonna let this go without a comeback.

My thoughts first turned to his video game discs. He always left them out of their boxes, scattered across the carpet in front of the table his TV and console sat atop. It'd be a real shame if they picked up a scratch or loads. No more gaming for him.

I could feel the smirk that idea put on my muzzle grow. "Nah... I can do better than that."

A huge crash from across the house jolted me from my plotting. I gasped, grabbing the shelf with both paws in the split second I thought I might fall. "What was that!?"

Muffled screaming cut through the walls of the house, prickling my fur and forcing me up to my feet. "What's happened!?"

Oh my gods... "Art?" If something happened while I was stuck up here... "Luka? Nadia?" I started to go cold. "Someone answer me!"

Why the hell didn't I keep my phone with me!? Fat lot of good it did me stuck down on my desk. I scrambled to peer back down to the carpet. The drop hadn't got any less enormous.

The fast hammering of footsteps racing down the hallway froze me to the spot. The horror on Artur's face when he threw open our bedroom door must have resembled mine.

"Kaz, Kaz, I dunno wha' t'do," he rambled, rushing inside with ears flat to his skull. "Shit. It's bad."

"What's bad?" I felt my own ears splay. "What happened?"

"We were just messin'. Didn't mean to." My brother paced around our room, wringing his paws while looking for nothing in particular. He'd done something terrible.

"Tell me. What. You've done."

"Luka. He hurt himself."

"How!?" I spat, heart pounding and fur prickling. "You need to tell me!"

"Fell off his bed. W-We were playing."

I swear my heart stopped for a full minute when I heard that. All sorts of thoughts went through my head. "Get me down from here."

"Play fightin', that's all."

"Art, get me down--"

"He got excited. Jumped off bed but fell. Paw's hurt pretty bad."

That knocked me back. "How bad?"

"Dunno... Bad. Bleeding. Help me."

"Take me to him."

"Kaz, Kaz, please, I didn't mean--"

"Art!" I snapped through his sniveling. He looked ready to burst into tears. I couldn't have cared less. "Just shut up and take me to him!"

At last, he listened. His trembling paws wrapped around me and pulled me from the shelf. I barely got a chance to prepare for the ride before he sprinted off again. A few bumps and bruises really were the last of my concerns.

We were in our brother's room before I knew it. I could hear squeaking sobbing long before Art opened his paws, dropping me to the carpet as he crashed down to his knees.

I found Luka sitting there, crying his eyes out in the middle of his room. He held his left paw with the other, giving a louder sob each time he worked up the courage to look back at it. A few drops of red oozed out from between his clasped fingers, falling down to join the other spatters that had started drying into the blue carpet.

Nadia had also come to join us meanwhile, standing above Luka with a squeamish grimace from the blood.

"Luka? What happened?" I kept my voice calm, walking casually to stand at his side. As much as I dreaded the thought of how bad his injury was, the last thing I wanted to do was upset him any more.

"He fell," Art said from behind me.

"He's done more than this from falling," I replied, resisting the urge to unload at him.

"Landed on a glass." He pointed past me. "Was on the table."

It's then that I saw the broken shards of glass scattered across the carpet near Luka's bedside table, sitting in the purple puddle of whatever drink it'd been holding.

"You know you're not supposed to wrestle each other," I roared, glaring at Artur mostly.

"Didn't mean it," he whined, wrapping his arms and tail around himself. I don't think anything I could have said would've made him feel any worse. Good. He'd definitely been taken down a peg or two from earlier.

"Is he gonna have to go to hospital?" Nadia's bluntness got a loud, pained wail from our little brother.

For his sake... and mine, I really hoped not. "Luka, let me see."

His damp, red eyes peered down at me. He slowed his sobbing, cautiously offering out his injured paw towards me.

Even though he was my 'little' eight-year-old brother, I had to extend my arms pretty far in order to grasp each side of his bloodstained paw. In fact, the desk in my room wasn't much wider. This made the sight that greeted me all the more gruesome.

A big smattering of blood coated his palm pad, seeping out from a gash stretching halfway across it. To me, the wound extended the length of my forearm, a fact that made me feel as uneasy as our sister looked.

"It-It hurts," Luka stammered, whimpering a little less than when I first entered the room.

"Is it bad, Kaz?" Artur sounded almost as hurt as our brother did. "Didn't mean this... He should'na had a glass in here in the first place, but--"

"Art, can you just be quiet?" I rubbed over Luka's pad, trying to see if any glass had been left behind. The warm slickness beneath my fingers didn't help my stomach settle any, but I could at least start worrying a little less. "It's okay. Not that bad." I smiled up at him. "There's nothing stuck in there, and it doesn't look that deep. With all this blood, I think it just looks worse than it is."

"Y-You're sure?"

"Positive." My smile grew into a grin. "I can see things a lot more clearer all the way down here. For a big guy like you, we can clean and fix it up here. No need for any hospital trip."

That let Luka give a short-lived smile, though I'm sure it didn't help ease his pain any.

"You're definitely sure, Kaz?" Artur's muttering caught my ears again. "Just... so much blood."

"Didn't I say I was?"

"Maybe we should call Ma and Dad?"

Wow. He must've really been shaken to suggest that. Not that I had any sympathy. "Listen to me," I said, trying to keep Luka from hearing as I rushed back towards Artur. "It's fine. You need to calm down."

"But--"

"You're gonna upset Luka if you don't." I hadn't seen Art with his ears so flat and his head hanging so low since... ever. "It's a pretty big cut, but nothing some dressing won't fix."

"Am I gonna be in trouble?"

"Can you focus for one minute!?" That made him jerk back, almost catching me with the flick of a foot wide enough to stretch up to my stomach. Luka and Nadia meanwhile started looking at us, forcing me to calm myself, too. "I need you to get me a clean cloth from the kitchen, please."

"Huh?"

"Clean cloth. From the kitchen. Please." I shook my head and sighed. "To wrap around Luka's paw."

"Oh... right." He picked himself, no comeback, no argument, padding off to do as I'd asked. Not often I could say that happened with Art.

My attention turned back to Luka, still sat nursing his paw while our sister watched on. "You should go clean that."

"Huh?" He sniffed tearily, looking at me like I'd said that in another language. "What?"

"Go to the bathroom and clean your cut in the sink."

With a little nod, he slowly climbed to his feet and started towards the door. His skinny tail had tucked so tight, I could barely see it between his legs. Hard to be impatient with him in this state.

I followed after him, but soon heard Nadia calling from behind.

"I'll help. I'll take you."

My board was right outside... but I guessed this'd be faster. "Sure. Thanks."

She hurried over with the flick of smile, gathering me up quickly in her paws before following our brother out of the door.

"Ow!" Luka yanked his paw from the running tap. Again. "It really stings!"

"I know it does," I replied, trying to keep myself sounding sympathetic from within Nadia's paws. Getting impatient wasn't all that difficult after all. "Just leave it there for more than a couple of seconds and we're done, okay?"

"Listen to Kaz." Nadia shuffled closer to get a better look of the basin. "Stinging won't last forever."

Our combined efforts were enough to convince Luka to shove his paw back under the tap. He made sure to give a big, dramatic wince and high-pitched squeal, just incase we missed his suffering. To his credit, Luka did hold it there for more than a half-second; long enough for me to be able to tell him, "Okay, that'll do it. Go dry it off."

"Got a cloth," Artur barked, rushing into the bathroom. He'd not calmed down any, still looking all kinds of worried.

"Great." I pointed at Luka, waiting for him to finish his careful dabbing of a towel at his damp pads. "Go wrap it round his paw, and make sure you keep some pressure on his palm."

Artur crept over to join us around the sink. It started to become a tighter squeeze with all of us gathering in this small corner of the bathroom.

Nadia shifted aside, letting him get closer to Luka. She left me hovered over the basin, giving me a good view of our brother's work.

"S-So... how you mean?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"How you want me to wrap this?" He spoke like I'd asked him to perform brain surgery, not place a cloth around our little brother's damn paw. "Help me."

"I... want you to wrap it round his paw. What's not to get!?"

"I don't know!" he moaned, more anxious than angry. "I only asked."

"'s not hard, Art," Nadia grumbled.

"You do it, then."

"Alright." She started lowering me to the basin's shelf. "I will."

"Stop," I ordered, watching Luka stuck here in the middle of our arguing. Us getting worked up wasn't helpful. "Art, just... I'll walk you through it."

I did my best to keep him together, slowly explaining the raw basics of wrapping a cloth around Luka's injured paw. I couldn't believe how badly he'd taken this. How he'd react in a real emergency... that was a scary thought. It's not until I looked up at him, though, watching the concentration on his face as he finished off his task, that I realised it shouldn't have come as too much of a shock. Despite his height, and despite his loud, moody insistence over not needing me around to care for him, he was fourteen. Barely a teenager. Hell, if I'd never helped Eva with her first aid training at school, I doubt I'd be handling this as calmly as I was... or at least hoped I was. I figured... maybe I should lay off him.

"Done," Artur declared, leaving the wrapping a little looser than I'd have liked, but tight enough.

"Well done." I smiled up at him. "Now, don't forget to keep pressure on his cut."

"Ah!" Luka squeaked. "Too hard!"

"I just did what he asked!"

"Nuh." Our little brother wrenched his paw away. "You did it on purpose!"

"He didn't, Luka." I cocked my head and gave a little frown. "He barely touched you."

"Did!"

"Let him do it, okay? It'll help stop the bleeding."

With a resigned sigh, Luka reached out again. He couldn't help exaggerate a wince and the sucking of air through his teeth, but ultimately let Art finish following my instructions.

"Keep the pressure up for a few minutes, and try and keep his paw raised above his chest."

"Okay." Art's voice had lost that sharp edge. Finally.

"Take Luka back to his room and wait for us there. I'll find some dressing to put on it."

"I'll find it," Nadia insisted.

"Right." I smiled, letting her shift me into her left paw and reach up to the bathroom cabinet with the other. "You'll find it."

Now back in his room, Luka sat back against the headboard of his bed. Me and Nadia had succeeded in keeping him sat here for a good while, chatting about nothing in particular in the hope of taking his mind from his wounded paw. Still, we had to throw in a few reminders every now and again.

"Make sure you keep pressure on it," I called from atop the bedcovers, sitting beside his thigh.

"Am," he moaned gently.

"And keep it raised," Nadia chimed in from the end of the bed.

Luka grumbled louder, kicking his legs and shifting hard enough to make me bounce atop his mattress. He did listen to us, though, squeezing his paw with the other and lifting them above his head.

"I think I got the last of it," Art said, down on his paws and knees to sweep up the remaining shards of broken glass. "Gonna go throw it out."

"Okay," I answered, able to look straight into his eyes from atop the bed. "Thanks."

He gave a quick, almost timid smile, pushing himself up to stand before starting off towards the door across the room.

"How much longer I gotta hold my paw like this?" Luka said, pulling my attention back up to him.

We'd only been here a few minutes at most, but the impatient flicking of my brother's thin, black and grey tail told me that'd have to do. "Let's check your cut... I guess it's been a while now."

He brought his paw down to his lap, quickly undressing it to reveal his injured palm pad. The bleeding hadn't completely stopped, but it looked a damn sight better than the oozing gash he'd first shown me.

"There, you're gonna be fine." I allowed myself a small sigh of relief. "Just like I told you."

Luka dropped the bloodied bandaging and flexed his fingers, smiling at the improvement. Nadia meanwhile had stood up from the bed, moving to retrieve and unwrap the sticky dressing she'd left on the bedside table.

"Hold still," she told him, reaching over me to carefully apply the bandage to his upturned paw.

Luka wiggled his fingers quicker, smiling even wider. "Thank you."

At last, everything was falling back into order. Every single crisis that seemed to be unfolding had been ended. Thank the gods neither Eva nor Sasha took me up on my offer of coming round tonight. "Mind helping me down, Luka?"

He directed his toothy grin down at me, giving a nod. "Thank you, too, Kaz."

"Ah, don't mention it."

"And you, Art."

"Huh?" Our brother stopped just short of the doorway, looking back with a small frown and his head cocked. "Oh. Yeah..." His own smile came after. "No problem."

Luka's paws began to move down towards me. Both they, and me however, jolted at the sudden cry from our brother across the room.

"Ma, Dad!" All three of us around the bed whipped our heads towards Art, watching him step back inside the doorway. "You're early. We... didn't hear you come in."

Dad followed him first, dressed in his smartest grey work suit. He always wore it when he wanted to impress. Probably since it matched the colour of his fur... and fitted best around his waist. "My boss got an earlier booking at the restaurant than we expected."

"And we wanted to be quiet, just in case anyone was sleeping." Ma came in after, wearing a red, floral blouse that I'd never seen before. "How are you all?"

"Fine... We're all fine."

Sleeping? It's only when Ma said that that I realised. I'd not checked the time since Art had left me high and dry on that damn shelf.

Shifting down Luka's bed for a better angle, I glanced over to the clock sitting on his side table. My jaw nearly hit the bedcovers when I saw its hands closing in on 10pm. I'd been stuck there in my room for a couple of hours at least!

"Oh, what happened?" Ma asked, glaring down at the dustpan full of glass shards in Artur's paw.

None of us had an answer. Even if we did, we'd not have got it out before she noticed the blood-stained bandage beside Luka.

"Luka, you're hurt?" I could hear the fear entering Ma's voice, watching her and my dad breeze right on past Artur and zero in on the bed. They didn't even see the huge stain that Luka's drink had left behind. Understandable really, but I honestly thought that'd be what got us in trouble since...

"Everything's fine. S'all been taken care--"

"How did this happen!?" Dad repeated, cutting me off in a far harsher tone than Ma as he seemingly failed to put two and two together. Not that I felt like pointing that out to him while he overshadowed the bed.

"Accident," Luka squeaked. Judging by the twist of Dad's muzzle, he didn't buy that one bit.

"What have we told you about running around and fighting in here!?" Ma could see through that explanation just as easily. We weren't fooling anyone.

"Like I said, it's all been taken care of." My fur started to frizz as they both stared down at me.

See, while I always appreciated being treated exactly like my taller siblings, being yelled at like one of them wasn't an aspect I particularly enjoyed. It felt like I was shrinking, or like everyone around me was growing.

"Luka," Ma said delicately, reaching out for his paw. "Can I have a look?"

He in turn offered it back, allowing her to begin carefully peeling back the sticky dressing with just a small amount of dramatic wincing.

I saw Art across the room, pretty much cowering down by the door at this point while clutching at his scruffy, brown and grey head fur. He knew as well as I did that if our parents found out he'd been fooling around in here, play fighting and causing havoc again, he'd be in about fifty different kinds of trouble. Not even half an hour ago, that thought would've set me grinning. It'd have started my tongue wagging like no tomorrow, telling anyone who'd listen about how he'd been acting up this evening and what he'd done to me in our room.

Regardless of what had happened, seeing Art so regretful and frightened, both then and back when he'd first come to get my help with Luka, I didn't have the heart to throw him under the bus like that. Didn't take a genius to see that he'd learned his lesson, even without one of Dad's scoldings to end all scoldings and week after week of grounding.

"It really was an accident." I somehow managed to sound confident as my tail tip flitted across the bed behind me. "But it's all okay. His paw's not that bad. Looks worse than it is."

Our parents examined the cut in silence, leaving all of us sweating over their judgement. Even Luka appeared anxious as the waiting went on.

"Alright," Ma said, sounding her relief. "Just make sure you keep this bandaged up, okay?"

"'kay." Luka gave a quick flick of his tail, smiling. "Sorry, Ma."

"See, this is why we leave Kazimir in charge," Dad grunted, loud enough for Artur's benefit.

"Art helped, too," I replied quickly, glancing to my sister standing silently at the foot of the bed before adding, "And Nadia."

"Well then..." He and Ma looked between them both, their concern visibly starting to fade as they then turned back to one another. "...I guess we'll not have a problem leaving you all alone when we go out again in a couple of weeks. I just hope we don't come home to find another scene like this wait for us."

I felt a little hesitance at that, knowing how much trouble I'd had that evening. Facing it all over again really didn't appeal in the slightest. Not just yet anyway. Still, it didn't stop me nodding, giving as steady a smile as I could before simply replying, "Sure."

Dad's slow descent back into mellow got sidetracked for a moment; a loud growl telling us all what he thought of the big, purple stain he'd finally spotted on the carpet.

"I'll get it in the morning." Ma smiled, rubbing at his forearm. "Let's leave them all to it for now. It's late, and after today, I'm just about ready to hang these clothes back up and get into something more comfortable."

"Well, alright." Dad let her guide him across the room, loosening his tie with a paw as his thick, striped tail bobbed about easily.

"Don't be up too late," Ma called out to us, stopping at the doorway with Dad so they could both wish us, "Goodnight."

"Night," we replied in unison, turning to one another once they'd left us. The look we shared said everything. That definitely could have gone worse.

I took that as my cue to finally get help down from the bed. If my parents' day had been a long one, my evening certainly was, too. I was just about ready to head straight off to my own room and enjoy some peace and quiet in privacy.

With all of my family back home, lingering around the hallway, I decided against riding my board back to my room. As such, the walk beside the wall back to my bedroom came as an annoyingly long one given the circumstances. All I could think about was settling down back at my computer, plugging in my headphones and just losing myself in my music.

After the longest minute or so, I made it all the way down the hallway, turning into the bedroom to trot across to my own section in the corner. With just a few steps to go before I could reach out for the door handle, I heard someone come in behind me.

"Hey..." I tried not to growl with too much disappointment as I stopped to turn and glance up at Art. "Hey, Kaz." He'd brought that shell-shocked expression all the way back from Luka's room. Not at all like the last time we'd been alone in here together.

"What's up?"

"I just... I wanted to say that..." He started scratching at his arms, looking anywhere but down at me.

"You wanted to say, what?" I threw a paw to my hip. As much as I'd had sympathy for him when it looked like he'd get it both barrels from Ma and Dad, I guess I hadn't completely forgiven him for putting me up on the shelf here. That, and I really wanted to just disappear into my room, dammit!

"Wanted to thank you... for not telling Ma and Dad."

"Yeah, well... I didn't exactly know what happened in there to cause Luka's cut, and I'm sure he probably wasn't innocent in it all--"

"No, no... I mean..." I could see the struggle he was having in expressing himself. That helped take my annoyance down a notch. "About me being such a jerk towards you tonight... For grabbing you and leaving you stuck up there." He gestured up at the shelf above us. I didn't really feel like looking at it again just yet. "I feel terrible 'bout it."

This was as close to a sorry as I could ever expect to get from Art. My annoyance fell a whole 'nother notch. "It's okay."

He gave the first hint of a smile, slowly pacing away to my left to sit himself at the edge of his bed. "Why d'ya do it? I wouldn'ta blamed you for telling them as soon as they came in."

Now he'd put me on the spot. I gave a shrug, padding across the carpet to stand in front of his feet. "Guess... I feel kinda bad, too. I didn't handle things so great this evening." Art gazed down at me half-lidded, ears perked to listen. Tonight had taken as much out of him as it had me, clearly. "I mean yeah... you were pretty difficult to deal with tonight, that's no lie... but if I hadn't been shouting so much, maybe things would'a turned out different."

He gave me a short, sad nod, staring down at his slow wringing paws with glazed over eyes. There was more to this than he was letting on.

"Did something happen today to upset you?" His ears flicked. "Is that why you were in such a shitty mood from the get go?"

"Naw... was nothing."

I snorted softly and quickly rolled my eyes. "Clearly it's something."

His shoulders fell, head dipping hard and far enough start his mattress shifting beneath him. "You'll laugh."

"I won't. Try me."

He clasped his paws and gave an angry, guttural growl before answering me. "I got cut from the school hockey team today."

"Oh..." My eyes flashed to all the hockey posters hanging above his bed. My mind travelled back, recalling how upset I'd made him by suggesting I'd get him grounded to mess with his practice. It then went back further, remembering just how hard he'd thrown his kitbag to the living room floor. It's then that I realised. "Today was the day they finalised the team?"

"Yea..."

"I'm sorry... I must've forgot." I stepped closer, stopping between his fidgeting feet. "I just figured practice had been cancelled today or something."

"Was for me at least."

Judging by the glare Art shot at me, my snort of laughter at his quip didn't go down well. Best move swiftly on. "Did they tell you why?"

He threw up his arms, giving a short, sharp shake of the head as he replied, "Not really. Coach just took me to one side and told me that I'd not made the squad... Said that I did well in the tryouts and I should go again next year."

"Well, hey, that don't sound so bad! It's not like they tossed you out and told you you were useless."

"Might as well have." He lashed out at a heaped up section of his crumpled bed covers, batting it flat. "Coulda just said 'Hey, sorry, you just suck. Try coming back next year and seein' if you suck less'."

"C'mon. You've got another two years of high school to go after this." I gestured for him to lift me up to his bed. Partly because I wanted to sit down next to him as I tried to cheer him up, and also because looking up at him from down here was making my neck hurt. "If it's anything like when I was there, I bet the final team was made up of players all in their last year or two of high school, right?"

He gazed off into the distance, seeming to take a moment to think about that. "...Yeah... except for a couple of guys in my year... but they're like _crazy_good."

"Knew it." I grinned, shoving at his thigh. "Some things never change."

Even if he didn't say it, his perking ears and whiskers told me I'd at least helped to make him feel better. I was never anywhere good enough to make the school hockey team back when I was his age, and that was the team for students _my_size, where the player pool wasn't exactly deep. Even though I knew that all too well, the rejection still hurt. Art must have been feeling ten times worse at his.

"Why didn't you say anything about it before?"

He shrugged, glancing down at me like the answer was obvious. "You never asked."

No... I hadn't. I'd been so focused on trying to quieten him down, I didn't really bother to think more into just why he'd be acting out so badly tonight. I should have realised at dinner at least, when he slinked off without hardly touching his food. Geez... I _really_hadn't dealt with this evening well at all. Even so, as he looked off longingly to his hero, Sergei, I hoped it wasn't too late to start making up for it.

"Hey." I jumped and scrambled up onto his thigh. "It's their loss, y'know?" He looked back down at me as I gave his stomach a small punch. "Go back next year. You'll be a year older and a year better. If that don't work, then I'll have to have words with the coach myself. I'll make him see sense!"

Finally, I managed to get a nice, big smile from him... as well as a 'punch' from his fingertip in return. "Thanks... Redfuzz."

I stumbled back, letting myself fall easily down to his mattress. "Don't mention it."

He chuckled as I landed flat on my back, peering down at me with an increasingly toothy grin. "And thanks... for helping me out with Luka."

"It's fine... just try not to start play fighting with him again, yeah? You know he gets carried away." He gave me a nod before I continued, "Anyway, I should thank you too."

"Really? I... didn't do much." He lost a bit of that newfound brightness. "Was kinda useless, actually. You and Nadia pretty much did it all."

"Not really." I sat up from the heaped pile of bedcovers I'd landed on. "Who wrapped his paw?"

"Well... I did. But you had to walk me through--"

"Don't matter. I'm not big enough to get the cloth and start wrapping it like you did. I needed your help as much as you needed mine."

Art put his front teeth on show again, setting me grinning to do the same. "I'll try not to be such a dick to you in future."

"Thanks... And I'll try not to go on another power trip."

With the air cleared between us, slinking away to my section of the bedroom didn't feel like such a priority any more. In fact, I nearly jumped in response at his next question.

"Wanna game of somethin'?"

"Sure." Art offered me his paws before I had a chance to ask, "Can you take me to go grab my gamepad?"

He carried me over to my sleeping area, setting me down to slip inside, pick up my scaled-down controller and return to his cupped paws.

Back on the bed, sitting alongside my biggest little brother, I couldn't resist a little attempt at winding him up. "Not gonna moan if I start button mashin', are ya?"

Art hacked out a laugh, bouncing on his bed to make me fall onto my side. "Imma beat you anyhow."

"Yeah... we'll see."

He reached over to hook his arm-sized finger under my armpit, helping me to sit back upright. It really felt great to be here with my brother in more peaceful surroundings. I was under no illusions, though; we never went too long without a disagreement of some kind.

Still, after our heart to heart tonight, I knew I'd not have to face my next round of babysitting with quite the same dread.

That alone helped me settle back, resting easy against my not-so-little brother's big, bushy tail in preparation for our gaming session, and no doubt the next sibling squabble that'd come soon after.