"Do you have any 4's?"

"Go fish."

"Damnit."

"Mathias, what did I tell you about your language in front of Emil?"

"Oh crap, sorry," he replied sheepishly, shooting a glance at Lukas's 4-year-old brother.

"Mathias."

The three of them were perched in a circle atop a mound of blankets and stuffed animals, cleverly hidden away from the rest of the world by a fortress made of bedsheets and couch cushions. Each of them held a fist of cards - Lukas, Mathias, Emil, and even the stuffed Puffin plushie that Emil had insisted they bring along to play.

Emil eyed Lukas. "Got any 8's?"

Lukas handed him 2 cards, which Emil smugly grabbed from him before laying down yet another suit of cards. "I'm winning. Again." He informed the two of them.

Mathias tried to hide his disdain by flashing him a bright smile. "Your brother sure is something, Luke. Are you sure that those cards were shuffled fairly?" He may have lost 4 out of the 5 rounds of Go Fish that they'd played, but he didn't think that he was that bad of a player.

"Of course. You'd better shape up, Matt, cause you're getting your butt handed to you by a kid," Lukas answered, packing the cards back into their box.

"I'm not a kid!" Emil whined, crossing his arms.

Lukas stood up, looking between his brother and the Puffin plushie with its cards. "Alright, Pipsqueak, remind me of that next time you beg me to tuck you into bed with Mr. Puffin and read Goodnight, Moon to you again."

Emil clenched his tiny fists, glaring steadily at his brother. Lukas had too much sharp wit for his own good - a trait that was useful for dealing with shrewd adults, but often got him into trouble with children.

Sensing a monstrous tantrum coming, Mathias decided to intervene. "Don't worry, dude, Goodnight, Moon is one of the greatest books of all time. Plus, I'm a verified adult and I still would totally love having your brother... 'tuck me in'," He said, winking at Lukas.

Lukas nearly laughed. "In your dreams."

"In my dreams, indeed," Mathias murmured, elbowing Emil in the side conspiratorially. Emil, totally oblivious, nodded his head in agreement.

"Mathias, I ill-way ick-kay ou-yay in the alls-bay if you keep saying that it-shay," Lukas threatened, messing up Emil's hair with one hand and and cooly whacking Mathias on the back of the head with the other.

He began exiting the pillow fort. "And last time I checked, Mathias, you're 16. You've still got a while until you're a big, strong, 'verified adult'."

Mathias informed Emil that his brother was, in fact, a pooplord, before scrambling out of the fort, knocking down half of it's walls in the process. He jogged a little and finally caught him just inside the kitchen.

"Feeling a little salty today, are we?" Mathias teased, enveloping the other boy in a warm hug.

Lukas wrapped his arms around him. "Who wouldn't be, when their parents leave them home to take care of their little brother for an entire weekend?"

"You say that as if you don't love having me here to help you all day."

"Well..." Lukas said, a hint of a cheeky smile appearing on his lips. Mathias pouted towards the floor until Lukas delicately grabbed his chin and led his face down for a kiss.

"That's gross," a small voice piped up from behind them.

...They supposed that they could ignore him for a few seconds.

"Luke, Matty called you a pooplord."

Shit.

Mathias's eyes flashed open and he scampered over to Emil, childishly ducking behind his much smaller frame. Lukas thought for a moment before he began slowly inching along the counter tops, a mischievous look twinkling in his eyes. "Oh did he now?" He asked.

Emil was having fun with this. "Yup!" He responded, running over to grab his brother's pant leg. Mathias was left cowering in the wide open.

"'Pooplord' isn't a very nice name, Mathias. Do you know what we Bondeviks do to people who call us bad names?" Lukas paused in front of the sink.

"You accept their bribes and then forgive them for their moment of weakness?" Mathias panicked, slowly backing up against the wall.

"Nope. We do this."

With lightning-quick speed Lukas grabbed the faucet head from the sink, turn on the cold water, and aimed it at the now-screaming Mathias. He dashed out of the kitchen to escape Lukas's wrath, dripping patiently outside the door until he heard him turn off the water.

"You said something about a bribe?" Lukas called.

Mathias slowly opened the door, feigning repentance. He began walking towards the brothers. "I did. If my lords would be gracious enough to keep the magical water cannons off from now on, your subject could offer you a fantastic prize."

As he approached, Lukas walked backwards until he felt his back hit the corner of the room. "Mathias..." He replied in the spirit of the game, pushing Emil in front of him.

Mathias kept advancing. "Surely my lords desire one of my World-Famous bear hugs?"

And with that he leapt forward and captured both of the boys in a sopping-wet hug, effectively soaking the two squealing boys in seconds.