Disclaimer: Not mines, don't sue

One Friday evening, Eyeball and Billy were out in the junkyard playing cards. Sure, they could have played cards inside a building, but there was a nice breeze outside. Plus, the setting sun was bathing the town in a beautiful orange glow. It was during this card game that Billy asked the question that started it all.

"Hey Eyeball," Billy said, picking a card from the deck, "Remember that whole Ray Brower thing?"

"Tch, remember it? It was only two months ago you Cocknocker." Eyeball replied, not looking up from his cards.

"Yeah, about that, when Ace was coming at Chris with that knife, were you really going to stand there and let Ace…?" Billy then ran a finger across his throat, making a slicing noise.

Eyeball carefully examined his cards. "I don't know, Billy. Can't you see I'm trying to concentrate?"

"I want to know," Billy insisted. "Were you really going to let Ace kill your own brother?"

Eyeball peeked up from his deck, looked at Billy a few seconds, than sighed, before closing his eyes. "Come on, it's Ace man, if I tried to step in he would have knifed me on the spot and still gone after him." He explained. Then Eyeball opened his eyes and looked at Billy. "What? Are you saying that if that had been Vern Ace was coming towards, you would have jumped in to play Hero?"

Billy said nothing. When he buried his face in his cards not saying a word, Eyeball took that as all the confirmation he needed.

"We are some shitty brothers." Billy commented.

"That we are." Eyeball agreed, sighing while saying that.

"Well, I would say I'm at least less shitter than you." Billy said drawing a card.

Eyeball looked up, suddenly interested. "What makes you think that?"

"Hey, I treat my brother better than you do," Billy stated. "Sure Vern gets on my nerves, but I at least I act like were related, as hard that is to believe."

"You are so full of shit Tessio; you were going to whip your brother when you found out he had overheard you and Charlie talking about Brower."

"Hey, it's not that bad compared to the things you do to your brother." Billy retorted. "Face it, I'm the better brother."

"Why don't we find out, then?" Eyeball suggested, tauntingly.

"Find out what?"

"To see who treats their kid brother better."

Billy rubbed his chin. "How, like a contest?"

Eyeball smiled. "Exactly! There's a carnival in town tomorrow, so starting tomorrow, we'll both treat our brothers to a nice day out. Whoever does it better wins."

"What does the winner get?"

"The winner gets to see one of our girlfriend's tits."

Billy waved a hand dismissively. "Forget about it, everybody already seen Marilyn's jugs, they ain't something to write home about. Pass."

"Okay, fine. How about this – the prize is Ninety dollars; hawked it from my mom's emergency fund. Is it a deal?"

'Ninety dollars? I could buy a lot of beer with that.' Billy thought to himself. "Okay, it's a deal then."

The two Cobras shook hands, and then resumed their card game, both of them secretly anticipating their sure victory over the other.

"And… finish." After writing out the last equation, Chris then signed his name on his homework, put it in his math book, then put his math book away in his backpack. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Chris lets out an easy sigh of relief, than flashes a smile on his face. Oh, Chris wasn't smiling because he was just happy to be done with his homework, nor was he smiling because he was cocky. He was smiling because he knew that tonight he was going to have the house all to himself.

His dad would be out at the local bar getting drunk with the rest of the drunkards, his mom would be out playing Bridge with the rest of the mothers of Castle Rock, and he no doubt knew that Eyeball would be out all night getting drunk and fooling around with some cheap girls, which left Chris being home alone. He didn't always have chances like this, so when they did happen, he savored them.

Barely unable to contain his excitement, Chris hurriedly ran down the stairs from his room, turned on the TV, turned the dial a bit, and then plopped down on the couch to enjoy the show he was watching. Just as he was finally getting comfortable…

"What are you doing here?" Called out a voice. Chris then sighed and shook his head, before craning his neck to answer his caller.

"I don't know Eyeball, because I live here?" Chris answered sarcastically. Annoyance flashed across Eyeball's face, but his features soften as he ran his hand through his hair.

"What I meant was, aren't you usually at one of your friends' houses or something?"

"I just felt like saying in tonight. What, you got a problem with that?"

"Oh, no no." Eyeball quickly dismissed. Then, Eyeball walked over to Chris, sat down on the back of the couch, than looked down at him, crossing his arms. "So…. got any plans tomorrow?" Eyeball asked, a look of curiosity on his face.

Chris looked up at Eyeball in surprise. Since when did Eyeball ever give a damn about what he did? They never had the kind of relationship you would expect brothers to have: they never hung out together, they never had any real heart-to-heart talks, and they'd never goof around, or did anything of the like. In fact, if they didn't have the same last name, you would have never guess that the two were even related!

"Not… really…" Chris said unsurely. Eyeball then roughly patted him on the shoulder.

"Good, there's a carnival in town tomorrow, and we're going."

"Why?"

"Because I feel like being nice."

"Bullshit Eyeball, you never just do something because you 'feel like being nice', so what's the reason?" Chris demanded, a guarded look in his eyes.

"That is the reason. Now, we're going and that's final." Eyeball glared down at Chris. Then he relaxed. "Better get to bed early, 'cause we're leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Hey, my favorite show!" With that, Eyeball spin on the top of the couch and slid down on it, causing Chris to scoot to the side. Chris then rests his elbow on the arm of the couch, his chin in his hand, grumbling to himself. So much for having the house to himself.

On the day of the carnival, both Eyeball and Chris standing outside the entrance, Eyeball leaning against a tree smoking a cigarette while Chris just look at him with his hands on his hip.

"Why are we standing around here for? Aren't we ever going to go in?" Chris questioned, tapping his foot on the ground in impatience.

"Relax Christopher; we're just waiting on a few more people." Eyeball answered, taking a puff.

"Waiting on whom?" And as if by magic, Chris turned around and saw two very familiar people walking over to them. "Vern?"

"Hey Chris," Vern greeted him with a wave as he and Billy walked towards them. Eyeball took one last inhale of his cigarette as he threw it out and smiled at the two.

"What are you doing here?" Chris inquired.

"Strangest thing, this morning Billy came into my room, rudely woke me up," Vern then shot Billy a glare that Billy dismissed with his hands, "Then told me to hurry up because we were going to the carnival." Chris then stood next to Vern so the two could glare at their respective big brothers.

"All right, what are you two up to?" Chris demanded, as he glared at the two defensively.

"Seriously? Come on, I know we don't always get along, but we're still your brothers and we feel like doing something special for you two, and we won't always do this often so you two better appreciate it now." Billy told the two. Rolling his eyes, Chris lifted his hands in surrender as the four made their way to the entrance.

"I still don't trust them," Chris whispered to Vern as Billy and Eyeball paid for their tickets, "I swear, if this turns out to be a trap and they have the rest of their gang of assholes waiting to jump us-"

"Christopher, stop being so paranoid, just relax and have some fun." Eyeball called out, apparently overhearing him. Even though he was smiling at him, Eyeball's smile had a greasy look to it, which made Chris feel even more uneasy.

The first thing they did was play "Throw the darts, pop a balloon, and win a prize." Eyeball threw a dart and got Chris a stuff animal. Billy threw some darts, hitting more targets, and got Vern two stuff animals. Eyeball glared at this as Billy gave him a toothy smirk, and then threw some more darts, getting more prizes. This quickly turned into a heated contest between the two and they throw more and more darts and getting more and more prizes. By the end of it all, they had won more stuff animals than Chris and Vern could carry.

Next, the four went to ride the Tilt-A-Whirls. Eyeball and Billy had tip the operator to have the thing run at an even faster speed. That turned out to be a big mistake as after the ride was over, they were so disoriented, they could barely even stand! Eyeball even slipped and fell.

To settle their stomachs, the four had stop by the Snack Booth to get some corndogs and sodas. As they were eating, Eyeball spoke up to start some small talk.

"So, Chris, are there any girls out there that caught your eye?"

Chris shook his head. "Not really," Chris mumbled as he bit into his corndog.

"Why? Too pussy to try and talk to one?" Eyeball questioned, lifting an eyebrow.

"I could get a girl if I wanted too!" Chris quickly defended, a hint of whining evident in his voice. "I just don't want one is all." Eyeball snickered at this, totally not believing him.

"Can't say I'm surprised, I always thought that you and that Gordie kid were totally—oof!" Eyeball was interrupted as Billy sharply jabbed in the side with his elbow.

Eyeball shot Billy a dirty glare as Billy look down at Vern, watching eat that corndog as if it was going to be last one he would ever eat. Billy didn't want to admit it, but he was actually kinda having fun. Even though the two were brothers, they never really hung out like this before, without their folks making them do it though. Seeing Vern eat with ketchup and mustard all over his mouth made him look kinda cu- Whoa, whoa, whoa! What am I thinking? This is Vern I'm talking about! I better hurry up and win the bet before these weird thoughts appear again.

"Hey, do you think we could also get some cotton candy?" Vern asked them.

"Sure, whatever you want." Billy said with a fake smile.

So, the two older boys bought some cotton candy and the four ate it. When Vern was just about finished with his, Billy went back and bought some more for Vern.

"Wow…" Vern said as he stared at the cotton candy in front of him. "You didn't need to do that."

"It's my treat," he said, Vern taking it from him.

It'd be a lie to say Vern wasn't touched. Never had Billy done anything this kind for him before that wasn't because their mother had made him do. "Thank you, Billy."

"Y-yeah, whatever. Stop the mushy stuff and start eating, will ya?" he stuttered. Billy felt a little embarrassed. What was happening to him? He'd never felt like this before! Why did he get the urge to buy him another cotton candy? Get a grip, Billy. You bought him the cotton candy so there'd be more of a chance that to win the bet-there are no other reasons.

As the sun was in the middle of the sky, indicating that it was now noon, the boys were just about ready to leave the carnival when something caught Eyeball's… eye.

"Hey, isn't that Milo Pressmen?" Eyeball asked, pointing over at the scruffy looking man. Apparently, Milo was here helping out at the carnival. A smile spread across Eyeball's face. "Hey Chris, wanna do a prank?"

"I-I don't know." Chris said unsurely.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun. Come on!" With that, Eyeball grabbed Chris at the wrist and dragged him over to Milo's truck. "You two keep watch." Eyeball pointed at Billy and Vern.

"Hey Eyeball, I don't think—" But it was no good as Eyeball and Chris disappeared at sight. The Tessio boys stood "guard" as they heard various clinking and clanking going on behind them. When Milo did return, Billy and Vern didn't see him as he walk a different path to his truck and saw Eyeball and Chris messing around with his truck.

"Hey! You two! What are you doing?!" Milo demanded as Eyeball and Chris looked at each other and tried to run off only for Milo to be quicker and grab them both. "I know who you two are, and I can't wait to see what your father does to you two!" Milo flashed a greasy grin. Billy and Vern overheard this and ran off.

At the Chambers resident, Eyeball and Chris sat on the couch, dreading when their father would get home. Once he heard what had happen, they would be lucky if they could even walk!

"This is all your fault." Chris muttered to the older boy. "If you didn't try to mess with Old Man Milo's truck…"

Before Eyeball could even retort, the front door had slammed open and Mr. Chambers came walking in. Both boys froze in fear.

"H-Hey dad…" Eyeball croaked out meekly. Mr. Chambers just mumbled something.

"Heard any interesting news?" Chris asked him, shaking as if he was chilly. Mr. Chambers rubbed his chin, and then shrugged.

"Nah." Both boys nearly jumped off the couch in shock.

"Really?" Eyeball asked.

"Yeah," Mr. Chambers said, "What? Did you two do something?" Mr. Chambers eyed them menacingly.

"Oh, no no, me and Christopher were just hanging out." Eyeball smiled nervously as he wrapped his arm around Chris' shoulder.

"Good, 'bout time you two acted like you give a shit about each other." Was all Mr. Chambers said as he made his way upstairs to his and his wife's room. Eyeball and Chris looked at each other.

"What just happen?" Chris asked.

"So Milo Pressmen didn't call their dad?" Vern asked Billy as they sat in the front seats of Billy's car, overlooking an edge over Castle Rock.

"Yeah, I convinced him that they were trying to help fix up his truck… and I paid him forty dollars not to squeal." Billy answered.

"But why did you do it?"

"Well, if Eyeball hadn't provoked me into making the bet, we wouldn't have spent some much needed quality time together." Billy explained. "But, don't expect it to happen too often. I have a reputation I'm trying to make and I don't want anyone thinking I'm going soft. But, once and a while, we could do something."

"Fine." Vern said as he rolled his eyes, though it didn't really upset him.

"Good. Now, get out of here." Billy said playfulness in his voice.

"Alright, see you when you get home Billy." Vern said as he open the car door.

"See you then Vern.

The End

A/N: Eh, I feel like I rushed the ending, but I still like how this turned out.