Six year old Ryan Higa and his brother Sean had had a busy week. It began with a long game of parkourse with their friends Will and Derrick, and also Greg who, despite being six years old, had a mustache. By Tuesday the gang was already backlogged with "Dear Ryan"s and exhausting stunts. After two days of hard work and long nights the sugar supply in the house was running low, but with all the projects they had to finish no one found the time to go buy more. By Sunday they still had several videos to finish, and the two brothers had barely slept in three days. It felt like years.
Ryan was struggling to keep his eyes open. The keyboard in front of him had never looked so comfortable and pillowlike. "Dude," he said, turning to Sean, "we've got to go buy some candy."
Sean, who was fiddling with a broken camera, groaned at the thought. "Nooooo," he said as he flopped onto the couch. "I'm too tired to go anywhere!"
"We don't have a choice," said Ryan. He gestured to the other team members, who were sprawled in strange places around the room, fast asleep. " Come on , Sean... Sean!" he yelled. Sean, who was almost dozing off, snapped back to attention.
"Wh-what?! Oh, fine!" He said begrudgingly. He got up and trudged up the stairs to find their babysitter, Erika.
Soon he returned with the teenager in tow and Ryan pushed his friends behind the couch to hide the fact that they were asleep.
"Hey, what is going on?" Erika asked as she arrived in the basement.
"Oh, nothing," he said with a smile to conceal the exhaustion in his eyes. He didn't want her to know that they hadn't gone to bed on time in a week.
"We were just wondering if you'd take us to the store? " Sean finished Ryan's thought, also grinning up at Erika. Erika looked down at the two pleading boys.
"I guess..." she said. She grabbed her car keys off the table while Ryan fished a handful of money from his piggy bank. The three of them got in Erika's car and started towards the grocery store.
As they arrived at their destination Erika parked the car and pulled out her phone while Sean and Ryan went into the supermarket. At first they headed towards the candy, but Sean stopped Ryan and pointed to a shelf nearer to the door.
"Hey, look at this." Sean said, gesturing to a shelf of instant coffee.
"What is it?" asked Ryan.
"It says 'gives you extra energy'." Sean read from the can.
Ryan turned back around. "We came to buy candy." he said.
"But this is better." Sean replied.
Ryan relented. He was too tired to deal with this. "Alright," he said. "If you think so..."
Derrick entered the RHPC recording studio, confused. Equipment was knocked over, the desks were in disarray, and papers littered the floor. Suddenly a blurry shape sped out of nowhere and tackled Derrick. It took him a moment to realize the shape was Ryan.
"OH MY GOSH ITS DERRICK!" Ryan squealed. "LOOK SEAN IT'S DERRICK!"
A second shape, Sean, appeared and flew to Ryan's side.
"DERRICK!" screamed Sean, "COME PLAY PARKOURSE WITH US!" The two children jumped up and ran around the room. Ryan jumped onto the desk and attempted to do a backflip. Instead he landed face down on the carpet, but he sprang up uninjured. "HEY SEAN!" he yelled. "LETS GO DO A SEAN'S ROOM!" Ryan ran out of the studio towards his brother's bedroom, with Sean on his heels.
As they arrived in Sean's room Ryan turned on the camera. He shot off the introduction at breakneck speed. "SO SEAN!" he giggled. "WHAT DO YOU WANNA DO?"
Sean was bouncing up and down very quickly, his body almost shaking. "I DON'T KNOW!" he cried. "I'M HUNGRY! DO WE HAVE ANY CANDY?" Leaving the camera on, the two brothers sped off towards the kitchen.
There was no candy in the kitchen, but by then Ryan had forgotten why they were there. He felt like he was vibrating. His thoughts were racing. Suddenly he had an idea. "SEAN!" he screamed. "LET'S GO WRITE A SCRIPT!"
"YEAH!" Sean agreed boisterously. He ran around the kitchen, laughing, when he suddenly slammed into a cabinet and sank to the floor, unconscious. Ryan barely had time to register this before he too blacked out.
Ryan woke up on the studio floor. He felt like he had been hit by a train. His head seemed about to shatter into a thousand pieces. He heard Sean sit up beside him and groan loudly. Soon Derrick, Greg, and Will arrived.
"Are you guys okay?" Greg asked.
"Yeah," Sean replied. "But we'll never drink coffee again."
"Are you kidding? You got all our scripts done for the next two weeks in just one day! " Will gestured at a large pile of paper on the floor.
Hmm, Ryan thought to himself. Perhaps this stuff wasn't ALL bad. But for now the RHPC would have two whole weeks to rest, with NO CAFFEINE. At least, for now...