Just a quick diddy I wrote one night, completely AU, Don't plan on continuing but if anyone else wants to, go right ahead!
Things had changed since Mom and Dad died. Kyle, barely legal to be working at all, was now pushing two jobs to pay off debts that kept rolling in. Uncle Mike, their "Legal guardian" now, was, in rather (im)polite terms: a drunkard with little money to tend to himself, let alone two kids and a smarmy asshole.
By the end of the day, Kyle wanted nothing more than collapse where he stood due to sheer exhaustion.
That's why his little brother Ike tried to help him out any way he can sneak in.
"I call the floor!"
Kyle fixed him a look dirtier than his uncle's oldest socks. "Ike…" A warning; they have these arguments every week or so, and Kyle was so worn out that he was half tempted to take him up on that offer if it were not for two points. One, his little brother would fret even more if he gave up on the weekly ritual, and two, Kyle was a pretty stubborn sonuvabitch.
Ike turned on a puppy dog pout, "Nu-uh! I called it! Why do I always have to sleep on the bed?"
"Because I'm older and I say so!" Kyle shot back.
"But you sleep on the floor all the time!It's not fair!"
"Look, you're gonna sleep in that bed even if I have to tie you to it!"
Was that a little smirk he saw? What was his little brother thinki- "But what if I have'ta go to the bathroom?"
Smart little bastard. Kyle's half tempted to let the little snot wet the bed, but they don't have any spare sheets. Okay, different tactic. "Ike, you know that bed is too small for my legs anyway."
"'Still's gotta' be better then sleeping on Uncle Mike's moldy shag carpeting!"
"Okay, okay. Fine. How about we both sleep in the bed?"
Kyle was hit with a glare no eight-year-old should be able to perfect. "Last time you said that you just climbed back down as soon as I fell asleep!"
Remind him again who was the one who blessedwith the smartest damned kid in the world as a brother? He'd like to have a word.
Sigh. "Look. I'll Pinky Swear to it."
He was given a critical look. After a moment of consideration, his brother bartered, "Double Pinky Swear?"
The things he does for this kid. "Yeah, Yeah. Alright. Double Pinky Swear."
The rather one sided argument done, both boys provided their sacred vows and piled into the lumpy full sized bed their uncle provided for them, quickly drifting off to sleep.
Come two A.M., Kyle found that when he tried to sneak back down to the floor, he was not only blocked by a little brother with limbs that would put an octopus to shame, but also a discarded blanket chaining him to the bedpost. That cunning little brat.
Thank you for reading!