"C'mon Big Brother Sleepyhead! Wakey wakey Nocky-Nocky." I groaned as around forty pounds of excited little sister landed on my stomach. At first all I could see was a blur, then my eyesight adjusted and Nyx's impish grin filled my vision.
"Off Squirt." I growled.
"Ok!" Nyx chirped, sliding off of my bed and onto her feet with a cheerful bounce. As I swung my feet over the edge of my bed, Nyx snatched a steaming mug off of my bedside table. With a proud grin, Nyx thrust the mug of coffee into my sleep dazed hand. Mechanically taking a sip of the caffeinated beverage, I took a look at my little sister; she'd dressed herself in a purple dress and neon green headband, she had even made coffee for me, I took another sip from my coffee and ruffled Nyx's jet black hair and the soft puppy furred black wolf ears on top of her head, eliciting a squeal from a little girl who was far too responsible for her age.
"Noctuuus! That's no fair, you're too tall for me to get you back!" My six year old sibling whined in protest, she hated when I messed with her ears.
"Nixieee! Tough beans shortstack." I mimicked, ever since our parents had been killed in a White Fang shooting Nyx had been getting more and more serious and taking on more responsibility. It's like she thought she needed to look after me, rather than the other way around, therefore I took it on myself to remind her that she was in fact just a six year old girl. She deserved as much of a childhood as she could get, and I was determined to provide it, along with some brotherly teasing, of course.
With an adorable grumpy pout on her face and her wolf ears laid forward against her scalp, Nyx finger combed her hair back into place. "Anyway, let's go Brother, I've made waffles!" Once her hair was back to normal and the puppy fluff on her wolf ears was set straight, Nyx snagged my wrist and dragged me off with her normal bouncy enthusiasm, her previous annoyance totally forgotten. I let her pull me along without complaint, grinning at the sparkles of joy that lit up her grass-green eyes.
Nyx had definitely inherited the cooking gene from our father, Mom and I would set boiled eggs on fire, Nixie and Dad could have whipped up a three course meal out of a pack of ramen noodles, two potatoes and and a can of green chilis. Needless to say Nyx's waffles were incredible.
The pair of us sat at the kitchen table once breakfast was over, Nyx was drawing smiley faces in the leftover syrup on her plate with her fork as she finished her glass of milk. Once she was finished she gathered up her plate and glass and began transporting them to the sink, I neatly snagged both, stacked her stuff on mine and deposited it all in the sink, where I washed them quickly and set them in the drying rack.
"Uh-uh, you cooked, I wash." I insisted.
Nyx's scowl was as intimidating as you would expect a six year old girl's to be: not at all.
"C'mon Shortstack, it's shopping day, let's see what we're gonna need to buy."
Nyx instantly brightened. "Ok! Let's go!" Nyx was probably the only girl I knew who was more excited to shop for groceries than for clothes, I gave it another eight years before that changed.
Once I was fully washed and dressed in something other than sleep clothes the pair of us blew through the fridge, pantry, and kitchen cabinets. By the time we were done we'd assembled a shopping list for the week's groceries.
"All right, Little Lady, go get your shoes and jacket on." I lifted both my black leather coat and Nyx's pink fleece off the coat rack and passed my sister's coat down to her. We took a taxi to the supermarket, and once past the store's electronic doors Nyx dashed off and snagged a cart, which I promptly hijacked off of my overeager sister, sticking my tongue out at her in the process. We spent an hour in the store, I pushed the cart while the Squirt skipped excitedly beside me, occasionally dashing off to grab something and then dashing back to drop the item into the cart. On the fourth such time, Nyx wasn't paying attention to where she was going and she smacked into a big man just coming out of the aisle. With the instinctive fear I'd developed over the years fueling my movements, I abandoned the cart and dashed over to stand between the Human and my sister, prepared to activate my Semblance if necessary. The man was enormous, nearly seven feet tall and broad shouldered, his biceps had to be the size of Nyx's head. His square, craggy face was framed by a short red beard and was currently looking at the two of us with a bemused expression, which slowly changed to a smile as those intelligent blue eyes took in our appearances, likely noticing the similarities.
"That was a quick reaction, boy, good for you, just make sure to always look out for your sister, ok?" I stood there, shocked as the confrontation I'd anticipated was diffused by the big Human, who patted me on the shoulder as he walked off. We finished our shopping quickly after that.
When we got home I spent the afternoon doing homework on weapon creation for Cobalt Combat School, Nyx spent it lying on my legs and reading a picture book.
At four Nyx started making dinner, I helped mostly by staying out of the way and fetching the stuff Nyx was too short to retrieve on her own, as I mentioned earlier, I can't cook, at all.
Once dinner was done and the dishes had been washed I put Nyx to bed.
Sleepy green eyes stared up at me from Nyx's lime green bedspread and pink pillows. "Hey Big Brother?" Nyx's voice was tiny and exhausted.
"Yeah Nixie?"
"Could you read me a story?" Mom had always read to Nyx and it had gotten so that she couldn't sleep without noise in the background.
"Of course Sis, what'll it be tonight?"
"The story of the seasons, please." As requested I found the book and settled onto the edge of Nyx's bed, then I began to read. She was asleep by the fourth page.
