For Dalma22, who requested: Kendall (16) tickles Katie (10) for scaring him by jumping out of the wardrobe. I put it into my Lost 'verse (aka I Tell You I'm Lost Here (Awaiting Reply)) because I felt that Katie should have been more aware of Kendall's pain and done something about it. This means there is a smidgen of Kames mentioned.
Title comes from The Pointer Sisters' "Jump (For My Love)" because I love wordplay.
"Kendall?"
Kendall rises from the couch where he's been studying the DMV booklet of driving rules for the past hour and walks to the top of staircase leading to the basement. "What's up, Mom?" he calls down.
"Your sister has too much laundry for me to carry up to her room in one trip. Can you please come get it and leave it on her bed?"
Kendall groans at the thought of entering Katie's room, even if it's to drop off clothes five feet into the room. "Isn't there something else I could grab?" he complains as he descends the stairs. "I'll take the bedding and the towels instead. You know how she feels about me being in her room."
He shivers as he remembers the wrath she unleashed on him the last time he dared to step foot into her inner sanctum, claiming she kept personal things she didn't want anyone else to see.
Things like plans for world dominance, he assumes.
Jennifer Knight ignores her son's whining, continuing to fold the never-ending amount of laundry she pulls from the dryer, her back to him. "Just take her stacks and go." When the clothing fails to disappear from her view, she turns to face Kendall. "You could have been done by now and back to learning what a safe driving distance is if you stopped stalling." Her voice is filled with so much exasperation that it feels tangible.
Still, Kendall doesn't move.
He watches his mother throw her now empty hands in the air. "She's not home, Kendall. She went over to Mrs. Majakowski's to bake cookies right before you came home."
Less than sixty seconds later, Kendall stands at the threshold of Katie's private lair with a giant mass of pre-teen clothing.
The door is open a little more than halfway and Kendall can see that her room is just as messy as his is, only in a different way. His belongings shift places depending on his mood, what he's trying to do, and what he's brought with him; Katie's room looks like it's the picture definition of "organized chaos"- mostly of the paper variety.
He can actually see the beige carpet covering her floor, unlike his own where clothes litter all available surfaces- despite his owning only two pairs of pants.
He has a lot of beanies, okay?
Kendall notes that Katie's rearranged her furniture, putting her bed in the far corner by the window, her desk on the opposite wall next to her closet and her wardrobe against the wall next to the door leading to the hall.
It's not the craziest set-up she's had, but it comes close.
Kendall shoulders the bedroom door open as he enters, knocking it into the wardrobe ever so slightly. He walks swiftly to the foot of her bed and carefully places the armload down, not wanting their mom to scold him for messing up Katie's clothes.
A lone figure outside catches Kendall's attention; it's Logan shoveling Mrs. Majakowski's sidewalk.
Seeing the genius reminds Kendall of what he's lost and he feels his heart cracking, thinking about the boy who went to L.A. with the has-been record producer. He frowns recalling how many days it's been since Kendall's heard from James.
He does an about-face and his heart climbs into his throat when the wardrobe's doors burst open as if of their own accord. When nothing else happens in the thirty seconds Kendall spends regulating his heartbeat, he strides forward to close the doors and mope in the peace of his own room.
Six steps from his target, a blur launches itself at Kendall's legs.
Kendall jumps back and shrieks for good measure before he recognizes the brunette hair of his sister as she cackles while fleeing.
"Come back here, Katie!" he yells as he chases after her.
"I warned you, big brother. I told you you would regret it if you didn't get over it!" she shouts over her shoulder, running for the stairs.
Kendall concentrates on shortening the distance between them by taking the stairs two at a time prior to threatening, "You'll be the one doing the regretting, Katie. I promise you."
Katie makes a tight turn into the living room with Kendall right behind her. He snatches her up as they pass the couch, falling onto it as his thumbs and index fingers poke her in the sides. She giggles a bit at his actions, but it's not the reaction Kendall's aiming for.
He leans forward, digging his chin into muscle between her neck and shoulder, moving his jaw up and down to increase Katie's agony.
Katie screeches and squirms for a full minute before she finally screams, "Uncle!"
Kendall releases her and she falls next to him on the sofa, chest heaving in sync with his. It's amazing- his heart no longer feels like it's ripping apart at the seams. "Thank you, Katie."
She appraises him from the corner of her eye. She must be satisfied with what she finds because she smiles up at him. "Anytime, big brother. Anytime."