A drabble I wrote for school. It's pretty short, since there's no plot, but it was fun to write; I don't use first person too often.

"Emil," a voice said, "Emil, wake up."

I groaned and rolled over. "Lukas…five more minutes," I mumbled.

"GAAH!" I screamed, completely soaked. I glared at Leon.

"Good morning, sunshine." He smirked and lazily twirled a bucket in his hand.

"I hate you, Leon." I watched him walk away as I bundled up my sopping bed sheets.

I dropped off my wet blankets and t-shirt on Leon's bed as I passed his room. He'd probably do something worse to me, like mayonnaise in my toothpaste, but I was way too tired to deal with that right now.

I made sure to lock the bathroom door. Last time I didn't, Leon stole all the towels. I think he enjoys tormenting me. You'd think I would've learned by now after knowing him for seven years. I really don't know why I decided to get an apartment with that jerk.

"Hey, Emil! Breakfast's ready!"

Oh right, that's why. Leon's the best cook. He's such a stupid, talented jerk.

I walked out of the bathroom, towel around my neck. I sat down and reached for a fork. Then the plate slid away.

I glared up at Leon. "No wet hair at the table," he scolded.

I grumbled and dried my hair. Leon stuck his tongue out at me. I tossed the towel at his smug face.

After I finished eating, I put my dishes away; then I put Leon's away because he was nowhere in sight.

I shuffled back to my room, stepping on the ends of my pajama pants. I opened my closet. Of course, Leon took all of my clothes again. What did he leave me?

He left a blue t-shirt and some skinny jeans. The t-shirt was actually pretty funny. It said "I'm sorry; I just really don't want to be here."

As always, even though our outfits were almost identical, Leon managed to look better than me. He wore a different t-shirt, though. His was red and said "I only care about pizza and like two people."

I turned to him. "I thought you only cared about yourself. Who's this mythical second person?" I pointed to his shirt.

"You." To this day, I still don't know how he can say such embarrassing things without batting an eye.

We headed out.

The bus was crowded and loud. The people were obnoxious. At least Leon let me have the window seat, so I was partially shielded from…them. I stared out the window; Leon was on his phone.

Two stops and one homeless man later, we got off. There wasn't much going on, so the shopping district was almost barren. Mathias was sweeping outside. There were about four shops between us, but Mathias' large figure and wild blonde hair is hard to miss.

"Hey, Emil! Leon!" He waved. Remember, we were four shops away and we could hear him loud and clear…and loud. I guess Leon and I are kind of hard to miss in a crowd too. I'm so pale I'm almost transparent and my hair is so blonde it looks white. I'm from Iceland, so I've never really gotten any "sun" in my life, or exercise, but that's not the point.

Leon, on the other hand, is pretty normal. He's tanned with choppy brown hair and dark eyes. He's from Hong Kong, but lived in England on a foreign exchange program in elementary school. Thanks to that, his accent is nonexistent, while I still trip over words despite having lived in America for almost half of my life.

Mathias was eagerly talking, or yelling, when the door to the shop opened. Lukas, my equally pale and scrawny older brother, walked out and slapped Mathias over the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"Stop goofing off and get back in here, you Danish oaf," Lukas said. His voice, Like Leon's, is practically devoid of emotion. Unlike Leon, his eyes are a dark blue, and are almost always a blank slate. Except for when he's working with Mathias; then he's glaring.

Mathias laughed and handed Leon the broom.

"Aw, Lukas, is that your way of saying you need me?" Mathias cooed.

Lukas didn't say anything and dragged Mathias into the shop by his ear.

Leon held open the door. I stepped into the Rabbit's Lea, the used bookstore/café my brother and Mathias own. It's also the place Leon and I work.

Leon took his usual spot behind the café counter while I went to the back.

"No, you idiot. Fiction is over there. No-this is why I keep you in the kitchen." Lukas and Mathias were organizing boxes. Or really, Mathias was moving boxes while Lukas ordered him around. Mathias is literally one of the only people I know who can tolerate my brother enough to call him a friend. Though, it's not really tolerating when his skull is so thick all insults just bounce off.

I grabbed a box of forensic science books and walked over to the nonfiction section, rolling my eyes. I sort them by author, put paperbacks on the bottom, mark all damaged books. The Killer of Little Shepherds...I was almost one-hundred percent sure that was supposed to go with the biographies.

"Um, excuse me?" a shy voice interrupted my thoughts.

It was a small young woman with short blonde hair and big green eyes. She couldn't have been much older than me. She was pretty.

"Is there another copy of that book?" She looked at the volume of The Killer of Little Shepherds.

"You can have this one." I handed her the book. She flipped through the pages before putting it in her basket. I glanced at her other books. She had Dealing with Difficult People, Alice in Wonderland, an Edgar Allen Poe book, and a knitting manual.

"Thank you." She held out her hand, "I'm Lili Zwingli."

"Emil Steilsson." We shook hands. A book slipped from her basket. We both leant down to pick it up. I handed her the book and noticed a wedding ring on her finger. Darn.

I offered to carry her books, telling her I worked here. I scanned her items, which also included a muffin and a pocketknife.

Lili left the shop, eating her muffin and cracking open the Edgar Allen Poe book.

I sighed and blew some hair out of my face. It wasn't particularly crowded, but I still had to talk to people because my brother wanted me to "socialize". Maybe my shirt would ward them off.

I was helping a middle school kid find the art texts when Leon grabbed me from behind. I yelped and turned around to smack him. I was going to say something, but then he shoved a pastry in my mouth before I could.

Reluctantly, I chewed, glaring at Leon. It was good!

"New recipe," Leon explained, letting go of me. He displayed a platter of the pastries and I may have drooled a little.

Before he let me have another, Leon poked my nose and the little cakes disappeared from my sight.

I chased after him. "Li Xiao Wang! I swear, if you don't let me have another one of those I will throw your phone in the toilet!"

Leon snickered madly, "Okay, Mom."

I was terribly out of breath when we finally stopped. Curse Leon and his stupid athleticism. We were in the break room. I sat down scowling at him. Then I saw the snacks, and I couldn't stop stuffing my face. I almost didn't notice the little white box being slid under my nose. I swallowed and looked up, icing all over my face.

"Speaking of phones," Leon said, smiling.

It was a new phone. Leon got me a new smartphone.

"Late birthday gift," he shrugged.

I forgot. My twenty-third birthday party was last week and Leon wasn't there. Now it made sense. The new shirt, the pastries, letting me have the window seat for once, it was all Leon's birthday gift for me.

"So, that thing you said about your cousin breaking his leg was fake?" I guessed. That was the reason he gave for not showing up.

"No, he did," Leon picked at his nails, "but I was still working overtime, if that's what you were thinking."

"Thanks, Leon."

"No problem."

The rest of work went by pretty smoothly. I was still pretty blissful from those pastries. Lukas and Mathias seemed to be pleased. I wasn't driving away any customers.

Then Leon and I went to a club and partied all night. Actually, we ordered pizza and watched Netflix on the couch in out pajamas.

I put away the dishes, "Oh, and Leon?"

"Yeah?"

"The pastries were better than the phone."

"I'll make more if you do the laundry."

"For how long?"

"A week."

"Deal."

We walked off to out rooms.

"G'night, Emil."

"Good night, Leon."

The sad part is that this was a pretty average day for me. The good part is that I don't really mind…as long as Leon makes more of those pastries.