Cheese Sandwiches

"You are such a pain!" Gwendal growled when Conrart refused too tell him what happened.

"Why don't you sell me and buy a skunk instead?" Conrart countered, walking to his room.

"At least, a skunk will behave better than a brat like you!" Gwendal flared.

"Go ahead, 'cause it'll be smarter than me too!"

"AND QUIETER!"

"I don't like because it stinks like you!" Conrart countered, slamming his bedroom door.

"GO TO YOUR ROOOOOOM!" Gwendal bellowed.

"I'M ALREADY IN MY ROOM!" Conrart screamed, slamming his door again.

Fuming, Gwendal stomped from his spot to his study and gave orders not to disturb him. Conrart meanwhile, was screaming into his pillow with frustration and hurt.

Conrart was sitting on his bed, toying the teddy bear Gwendal had given him. His eyes were red from crying. Why couldn't Gwendal understand? Why couldn't anyone understand?

There was nothing special about him... The only person he was special to was his mother and she was away on a meeting… There came a knock on the door then. His stomach growled, he knew then he had missed supper. "Enter," he called.

"Hey," said an all too familiar voice, "I brought you some cheese sandwiches... case you're hungry."

"We're a broken family, aren't we?" Conrart mumbled.

Gwendal sighed, "That's too true in most cases." Conrart had been fraid of him ever since his burst of temper the morning following Dan Hiri's departure. He sighed again, "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"We're brothers, it's our job..."

"Well, from now on –"

"I prefer you as a brother than a father…" Conrart told him quietly.

"Really?" Gwendal felt a bit of weight lifted from his shoulders.

"And you prefer me as a brother than a skunk right?" Conrart asked, sobbing into his teddy.

"Hey," Gwendal soothed, picking his little brother up, "oh, bear... Yes, yes I do..." Conrart cried into his chest and whimpered. Gwendal sat on the bed and held him close. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

Conrart sniffed. "I hit Von Liefel today at school, because he threw mud at me..."

"You hit him?"

"In the nuts."

"In the nuts?" Gwendal parroted incredulously, "Bear, you shouldn't-"

"People treat me different," Conrart sniffled.

"They just don't know what to say," Gwendal murmured, remembering his own schooldays with other nobles, and how it got worse after his own father passed, "tell you what, if you promise not to fight anymore, I promise not to yell except on special occasions."

"Sparring and baking days would be good," Conrart told him playfully, knowing those two days were days when Gwendal expected perfection.

"Oh really?" Gwendal growled playfully as he grabbed his little brother around the waist on an onslaught of tickles.

"GWEN ! YOU PROMISED!" Conrart squealed.

Gwendal ignored his brother and blew a raspberry into his stomach.

When the mad tickle party was over, Gwendal reached for the forgotten plate of sandwiches. "Sandwich?"

"Thanks Gwen," Conrart said, biting gustily into one, "you make the best cheese sandwich."