Without fail, they played hide and seek in the park near their home for an hour after Marco got home from school every day.

Jean pouted as he roamed the park, unable to find his brother. His short legs were tired from roaming around the large area and he wasn't too happy with the difficulty level of this round. Had Marco run across the park or something? Jean was sure his brother wasn't anywhere near him. He was tempted to sit down and sulk, but instead decided to use his secret weapon.

"Marco!"

"Polo!" Came the immediate reply. Jean giggled and ran as fast as his little legs could take him.

"Found you!" He tackled his brother and they landed in the bush Marco had been hiding behind.

"Jean isn't that kinda cheating?" Marco affectionately hugged his brother and pushed him back to his feet.

"Nope!" Jean beamed at him and made a face as Marco picked the leaves out of his hair. "It's my turn to hide now, right?"

"Yeah! One… Two… Three…" Jean scurried away as fast as he could until he couldn't hear Marco's counting and slowed to a walk, looking for a suitable hiding place. He walked, counting in his head, and at 45, he found the perfect spot.

He clambered up the giant dumpster and when he reached the top, clumsily fell in with a crash.

"Owwwwww…" Luckily, there wasn't any trash so the stink was minimal. Now… to wait for Marco to find him…

Hours passed and there was nothing. The sun had set and all Jean could see from the bottom of the large box was a dark sky with only a few stars. He wasn't sure if he wanted to stay quiet and hide from Marco anymore. It was cold and dark… and scary. Jean stood up and tried to climb up the side of the dumpster, but failed. Even when he jumped and caught on the side of the metal container, he couldn't pull himself up. After constantly landing on his butt, he was sore and unhappy, but his egotistical pride stopped him from crying. At least until he started imagining a garbage truck lifting up the dumpster without checking the contents and driving him to a landfill where he'd be buried alive, never to be seen again.

Jean curled up into a little ball, and rocked side to side. He pouted and sulked and tears welled up in his eyes. His nose started dripping and he felt his face heat up and he wanted to scream and kick and cry but was scared out of his mind to make a sound. And soon, he couldn't take it anymore, his loud nature prevailed and he started sobbing loudly.

The something knocked on the metal from the outside. Jean didn't know what to do and only cried louder in terror, thinking that they were finally going to take him away and he'd never see Marco again.

"Jean? Jean! Are you in there!?" He wished Marco was there. He'd know what to do. It wasn't scary when Marco was around.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Marco's face popped up from above. "Jean! Here, grab my hand and I'll pull you out alright?"

Marco looked down and saw his brother, snot dripping and tears flowing out of his eyes and realized Jean probably wouldn't be stable on his feet anyways, and jumped inside instead.

"Come on Jean, I'm not mad or anything, so let's get out of here, alright?" Jean nodded and stood, wobbling a bit and Marco helped steady him. "Here, I'll lift you up first."

In a few minutes, there were both out of the dumpster and ready to go home, a shower would get the rotten smell off of Jean.

"I was really worried, y'know? Cos you didn't answer when I gave up… "

"Mm."

"It's been a while since I've carried you like this, huh. You used to really like getting piggy back rides."

"Mm."

"Were you scared?"

"Mm. I don't wanna be dumped in a hole in a ground with all the trash." Jean's grip on Marco tightened a bit and it made Marco smile, liking that his brother depended on him.

"Haha, don't worry Jean. I'll protect you so that won't happen okay?"

"Mm! Cos you're always really good at finding me so it'll be fine!"

"Yeah, just don't wander too far!"

However, in ten years, Marco realized that Jean took that statement a little too literally when Jean refused to live anywhere far from Marco.

End.