A/N: I've never tried this before, a purely sibling oneshot. Bear with me. I was feeling the need after a fun little fanfic convo last night. Thanks, Non, for convincing me to do this. Serena & Eric don't get nearly enough love. Please review. (Oh, and sidenote, I have no clue when this takes place. Lol. It's just fluff and I don't plan on referencing too many specific outside events, so…yeah. It is following one of the Van-der-Woodsen-Bass-Humphrey brunches though. XD)
*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
…
The apple sits there. It's the last one in the silvery fruit bowl, nestled amongst bananas and oranges. Rufus and Lily have just finished eating and are leaving the kitchen after having set their dishes in the sink. Chuck isn't there. Dan and Jenny are visiting their mother in Hudson after both having returned from studying abroad. Paris for Jenny – fashion. Various places in Italy for Dan – "It's inspiring".
They both eye it. Rufus almost grabbed it, but apparently decided on an orange at the last second. Lily picked at a few grapes at brunch, but didn't move much past that. Eric doesn't particularly even like apples. Serena is still deciding. Somehow the apple just looks incredibly enticing.
The red skin of the apple outshines the rest of the fruit. The light overhead gives it that effect. Serena wonders if she could somehow distract Eric and steal the apple for herself. It would be very tasty, she decides. And it's been awhile since she's messed with Eric's head.
"What are you up to today?" she asks casually, playing with a few of her golden locks, twisting them around her forefinger and carelessly unwinding them. When she looks up from the blank space she'd been staring into, she sees the same nonchalant expression on her brother's face and knows he knows. He wants the same thing she does.
Eric is leaning back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest. He looks a little suspicious, but is able to pass off the easygoing small talk his sister has begun. He suppresses the urge to look at the apple exactly halfway across the table in the fruit bowl.
"Nothing in particular," he says. "I might read."
She nods, smiles a little. "I might go shopping with Blair."
"Tell her I say hi."
"I will."
It is now obvious that there is tension. They both know what each other wants and neither of them are backing down. There is a little snap to their voices when they talk. Their fingers are wriggling impatiently, longing to just snatch up the apple when the other is not looking. Trouble is, the two Van der Woodsens have made it a point not to look away. It's been this way for at least 5 or 10 minutes.
"Think you might visit Chuck?" she asks innocently, trying to dissipate any tension. If either of them was going to get that apple, they had to do it sneakily when the other was not about to pounce.
Eric raises his eyebrows.
"He's lonely," she says sincerely. She notices that some of the visible tension in her brother's shoulders eases. She contemplates actually having a legitimate conversation over their ever amusing and complex step-brother.
"Having your best friend out of town and your girlfriend giving you the silent treatment no doubt does that to you."
Serena nods thoughtfully and smiles a little. "He's always liked you a lot, Eric," she tries to persuade. "He really took you under his wing when we became a family."
Eric pulls himself back to the table, resting his arms on the surface. "But you've always been so good at fixing his problems with Blair," he says mischievously.
She almost gapes. He's beat her at her own game. No more facades. She eyes the apple very obviously and sees him quick look away when she catches his eye again. He was looking at it too.
"Well," she rises very slowly from her seat, leaning a little over the table. Her arm is very noticeably inching toward the silver fruit bowl sitting in the middle of the table. "It does help understanding both sides."
Eric starts leaning forward too, feeling the need to pounce. He knows if he was watching this scene from the outside he'd be laughing ridiculously hard. He doesn't even want the apple. He was just bored and it intrigued him why Rufus hadn't taken it. It was pointless, but now he really wants that particular piece of red, juicy fruit, even if he never plans on eating it and will probably end up offering it to his mother or Rufus later. If he wins this battle now, which he fully intends to do, the apple will probably just find its way back to the fruit bowl in the middle of the table. It may even get thrown out because it sits there too long.
"It is always good to know where people are coming from. Compromises come easier then."
Serena smiles forcefully. "Yes," she says, and pounces.
Both of their eyes snap shut in the collision. They open wide now when the fact dawns on the siblings that all four of their hands are gripped tightly on the apple. Most of the other fruit has scattered to the floor or across the table.
Serena is about to fall off the pale wood surface.
"Serena," Eric warns.
"The apple is mine," she says through grinding teeth.
"I got it first," he says defensively.
She scoffs. "We're both holding it, and your hands are on top of mine." She tries to rip the apple from his grasp, but his hands are holding onto more than just her soft skin.
He's grateful then that he hasn't cut his nails in awhile.
"Ow!"
He snatches the apple successfully away from her hands when she snaps back from the pain.
Serena looks up and glares. She rubs her hand and hopes the little indent her brother purposely placed on her hand will soon disappear. She knows it will in a matter of seconds, but she's still annoyed. He took her apple.
Eric is standing there looking pleasantly cheerful. He tosses the apple lightly between his hands, off-handedly wondering if he should take up juggling. His face pales when Serena starts moving around the table towards him though, determination blazing in her eyes. She's about to chase him, he knows, and he's never been able to outrun her. Her legs are too long.
He backs up too late, and she's on top of him as they fall to the floor. In the back of his head he wonders if the apple is even worth it. Maybe he should just give it to her since she's tackled him to the hard floor and he knows he'll have bruises in the morning from protecting this stupid apple. Against this better judgment, he holds onto the apple even tighter and tries to wriggle away.
"Serena! Sere—"
She clawing at his hands now, trying to pry them apart. Her nails appear to have no effect on him and she hates that. It's probably because she's a girl and that makes it all the more infuriating. She gets the idea that maybe tickling him will get the apple free, but it only makes him move away furiously and clench his limbs close, the hand holding the apple included.
She crawls after him when he scoots back, but now he's gotten to his feet again and he's actually running around the room to evade her flailing arms and legs. One of the oranges has rolled into in the living room and one of them stepped on it in the midst of their running. Neither knows how, but they both freeze. Their mother is going to kill them.
Eric drops the apple, his thinking now frantic and in disarray. It's pretty straightforward what they should do, but somehow it just feels like the end of the world.
"I got it," Serena says before he can react. She's down in the hall and into the cleaning supplies before he can blink.
He wants to do something to help but he can't seem to think of anything. He'll just get in his sister's way if he decides helping her carry what would probably be all of two cleaning solutions and a towel would be pointless. She would get agitated.
So, he walks back into the kitchen and sets the apple on the table. He winces when he accidentally steps on two more oranges and a banana in the midst of picking up the other fruit that has fallen to the floor. There's a tension in him that will not disappear. He still feels he should do something to fix the smashed orange problem in the other room and so walks back to see how far his sister has gotten. She's on the floor, pressing a paper towel filled with cleaning solution onto the carpet. He wonders if it's serious. Something in the back of his head tells them they're both overreacting, but the voice isn't loud enough to make sense to him.
"Well?" he asks cautiously, taking a couple steps towards her.
She's about to respond until she sees that he's made track marks on the carpet, more oranges and what looks to be from a banana. She can't move.
Eric looks down guiltily and starts to retreat but Serena's arm suddenly shoots up into the air.
"Don't—"
"Later, siblings," Chuck says quite cockily and cheerfully, as he passes from the hall to the kitchen and out into the other side. He doesn't look at them, as far as they can tell, but somehow they just know he's seen them. His smirk means more than possibly just coming up with a solution to get Blair talking to him again.
The ding of the elevator makes itself known and Serena and Eric start to laugh. It's uncontrollable. Almost so much so that Serena falls backward and Eric makes more track marks on the carpet – they have maids after all.
Standing to her feet, Serena walks across the room and swings her arm around her brother's shoulders. They walk happily into the kitchen, shaking their heads at their ridiculous actions and insistence on claiming that insignificant piece of fruit.
Suddenly, they stop.
The apple. It's gone.
Rufus and Lily have been in their room since brunch finished. The two of them were attacking each other for that silly piece of fruit. The only other person that had been remotely near the kitchen or the living room for that matter had been Chuck.
Both of them gape and then turn back to each other. They laugh, harder than the first time, and it's so ridiculous that they're laughing and that Rufus or Lily actually haven't come out of their domain to see if they're alright.
So, the Bass stole their fruit.
It figures.
"I knew I hadn't imagined that chomping sound," Eric says after the laughter has finally calmed down.
Serena looks at him and giggles a little more. "You didn't hear a thing."
Eric smiles and laughs too. "He's a very quiet eater."
Her eyes twinkle as she pulls him into a half-hug and they walk out of the kitchen. "Doesn't tackle for meaningless apples either."
"I knew you didn't want it."
…
A/N: Well?
(Sidenote: I have no clue where there is carpeting or hardwood floors in the VanderWoodsenBassHumphrey penthouse. Creative license. ;) As is how Chuck happened to be in the suite to begin with…lol.)