A/N: Character development! And not much else… Enjoy and thanks for reading!

"Hello?" Arthur answered the phone. He was finishing up the last question of his homework and had been interrupted by a super annoying ring tone.

"Hi Arthur. It's Matthew. I have some groundbreaking new information."

Arthur sat up on the bed, his interest peaked. "Well what are you waiting for? What is it?"

"I was just talking to Alfred and-"

"Wait, we should talk to Kiku too. He should hear it at the same time I do," Arthur forced himself to say. He really couldn't wait for the news but knew that without Kiku all their plans would surely fail.

"I am also listening, Arthur. Matthew has three-way calling," said Kiku's soft voice.

"Oh, so continue. Please just tell me!" Arthur was having a difficult time keeping his anticipation under control.

"Alright. Alfred asked me to pick out his clothes for a special day at the park. He was really worried about his clothes, you know what that means."

"A… a date? He's going on a date… with Allistor?" Somehow Arthur never actually realized that the two would be dating. At a park? They were going on a date at the park? That didn't seem like Allistor at all.

"Arthur? Are you still there?"Kiku asked, worried about his silent friend.

"Uh yes. I didn't hang up."

"Would you like to hear my idea for how we can use this to our advantage? Or do you want us to tell you later?"

RIIIIIIIIIING!

"Now, please tell me now. If you wait I'll just explode from the suspense."

"Alright. Tomorrow we sh-"

RIIIIIIIIIING!

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Arthur shouted toward the door, "Hey, someone get the phone, I'm busy!" RIIIIIIIIIING! Of course everyone would ignore it. His brothers never did anything to help out around the house. "Hold on a second, guys, the phone is ringing and I have to go answer it. I'll be right back." He hated how it was always his responsibility to do everything. He put his cell phone down on the bed, leaving it open, and went downstairs to the kitchen where the house phone was located. He didn't bring his cell because one of his brothers might see him. They didn't know he had friends that he would actually talk to on the phone. They might take it and find out who he was talking to. Then his plans would be ruined.

He picked up the cordless phone and answered, a bit of annoyance showing in his voice. "Hello? Kirkland residence."

"Hello. This is Sherrill. Is Pat in?" a woman's sweet voice asked.

"No, my father's at work. He should be home in about an hour. May I ask why you are calling?"

"Oh, um, well…I have some…business with him. Could you tell your daddy to call me back?" Deciding he didn't like the way he was being talked to like a little kid, Arthur tried to end the conversation.

"Um…sure…bye," Arthur said quickly, hanging up. That was weird. Why would someone named Sherrill be calling my dad? Hm… Arthur pondered the question while he made his way back to his room.

Connor laid on his bed lazily, flipping through one of his magazines. It wasn't his favorite, but because of the exclusive material inside the actual favorite he only took it out when he was alone. He considered looking through it because he was bored out of his mind, but Dylan, who was doing some kind of project, was in the room so he couldn't do anything personal.

"Hey, bro?" Connor asked, looking over at his brother. He received no answer. "Hey, Dylan? Dylan!"

Looking up, the younger brother stared at Connor. "What?"

"I'm bored. What should I do?"

"Do your homework," Dylan replied, getting back to his work.

"Why the hell would I do my homework?"

"So you can graduate high school."

"Oh. I need to do homework to graduate?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well. Still not doing it. It's too late to start now, anyways." Connor gave up and rolled over so he could stare at the ceiling. Damn it, Dylan! I can't even jerk off when you're in the room! Allistor's at work so I can't bother him…Maybe… he thought, I can harass Arthur! Excited, Connor sat up, smirking.

"Seeya, bro. Gotta go do somethin'." He stood and exited his shared room.

Tiptoeing down the hall, Connor silently made his way to his younger brothers' bedroom. It was relatively quiet until the phone began to ring in the kitchen, but he didn't bother to get it. He came to a halt when he heard Arthur yell.

"Hey, someone get the phone, I'm busy!" Connor slowly backed up, slipping inside a closet, leaving it open a crack. What's he busy with? I should find out.

Seconds later, Connor watched Arthur storm out of his room and down the stairs, obviously to get the phone, considering no one else in the house would. Taking this as an opening to find out what Arthur was doing, Connor scrambled out of the closet and into the room next door. He closed the door sneakily and looked around. Spotting Arthur's cell phone on his bed, he swiftly snatched it up and inspected it. Talking on the phone to his little friends, huh? he thought to himself. Wait, he has friends? The only one I know about is Alfred. Oh yeah, what happened to him? Whatever. I should just see what his friend wants.

"Okay, I'm back," he said, imitating Arthur's voice almost perfectly. "Let's continue." Connor smirked, knowing this was going to be something interesting.

"Okay. Tomorrow we should meet at your house, Arthur. This subject is something that should be discussed in person," a soothing voice answered.

As if it was planned, another voice, quieter than the other, explained. "Yup! We'll talk about the date and the, well, the kiss."

"Oh this is gonna be good," Connor said to himself, listening intently.

"Yes, very good."

"Peter! Get off my leg! You're making me trip up the stairs!" "Oh, crap," Connor whispered. He's coming.

"What's wrong?"

He glanced at the door. "Um, the phone's ringing again and I left it in the kitchen. I'll be right back." Without waiting for an answer, he placed the phone where he found it and stomped around the room, mimicking footsteps.

"But I don't want to!" The voices were right outside the door. Connor surveyed the room quickly, then dove under Arthur's bed. He made a small thump, but that was disguised by the bickering of his younger brothers.

"No. Stop following me."

"You stop following me."

"I'm not following you! I'm going to my room."

"So am I! You're following me!"

"Ugh." The door was thrust open and the boys walked in. "Get out. I'm talking with friends." Connor didn't dare peek, but he assumed Arthur made a shooing motion.

"No you aren't! And this is my room too!" This time, Connor assumed Peter stood defiantly and crossed his arms. Almost laughing, he thought, Wow, who would've thought pretending this stuff was so much fun!

"Just shut up." There was a shuffle and the bed sunk down considerably lower. 'Arthur plopped down on the bed, exasperated. His stupid kid brother had once again foiled his plans of having a nice long gossipy chat with his girlish friends.' Hey, I'm pretty good at this! "Hello? Yes, I'm back." The story in Connor's head continued until he saw a pair of bright blue eyes peering at him. Peter was crouching down, looking straight at Connor and grinning. Connor quickly put a finger up to his lips and shook his head, indicating that the young boy should remain quiet.

"Hey, Arthur," Peter said, almost tauntingly. The mischievous grin on his face widened as Connor shook his head more violently than before.

"What is it, Peter? Go away." Peter giggled, eyes still locked with the green ones under the bed. "What are you laughing at?"

Peter looked away, presumably toward the boy on top of the bed, and said in his most adorable voice, "I farted." He giggled madly and Connor gave him a thumbs up.

Arthur sighed. "It's not that funny, you know. Just get out of here already, you're so annoying!"

"But I want to get my toys!"

"Well they're not under there, that's my bed."

"Oh yeah." Connor could see his tiny sock-clad feet as Peter scampered over to the other side of the room. He reached under the bed and pulled out an assortment of toys, from a miniature submarine to a rather large plastic banana. Hey, that's my banana! Peter threw Connor one last glance as he exited the room, dropping a few colorful blocks in the process.

Connor waited patiently for the right time to make his escape, but it didn't come anytime soon. He didn't mind it all that much, at least for the first half hour. Arthur was still chatting away on the phone, and some of it was interesting.

"-yeah, and that teacher was staring at him the whole time!" Arthur told his friends. The response must have been funny, because he laughed for a good thirty seconds. Then the conversation turned to a lame subject, namely homework.

"-and I have to write two essays by Friday! I know, but I already did the first one. How long are yours? Mine is three pages-" blah blah blah, homework homework homework. Why must his brother be so nerdy?

Connor's patience began to wear thin when his stomach growled for the first time. Luckily Arthur was laughing particularly loud at that time, so the grumble went unnoticed. If I don't get out of here soon, I'm gonna starve! Like, to death! He decided eavesdropping further would be pointless, especially if he was caught. He took out his cell phone slowly and opened it, making sure it was silenced. He dialed the home phone number and waited for it to ring downstairs. It did, but only once. Arthur didn't get up. "Hello?" said a childish voice. It was Peter. Connor face palmed.

"Peter," he whispered as quietly as he possibly could while still allowing the boy to hear him, "I need you to do something for me."

"Who is this? Dylan told me not to do favors for strangers. What's your name?"

"It's me, Connor! I need you to get Arthur to go downstairs. But don't tell him I told you to." He waited for his brother to say something in return.

"Okay," he replied, "what shou-"

"Peter, how many times do I have to tell you not to answer the phone?" another voice interrupted. It was Dylan.

"I'm sorry, Dylan."

"It's fine. Now go play. Hello? Who is this?" Dylan asked, obviously oblivious as to who was on the other end of the line.

"Hey, bro. It's me Connor. Could yo-" The line went dead. Damn it, Dylan! Why the hell did you hang up!

"Hey, Arthur!" a muffled voice called from downstairs. Yes! Good job, Peter! "I'm hungry, can you make me an omelette?"

Connor listened as Arthur sighed and was about to reply when he heard Dylan's voice.

"No way in he- cover your ears, Peter, hell are you going to make Peter an omelette after what happened last time!" Connor's stomach growled again but he was sure Arthur didn't hear it, for he was fuming as a result of Dylan's insulting response.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Arthur screamed right back. Connor decided to cover his ears to shield them from the shouts.

"It means your cooking is so terrible that you gave Peter food poisoning!" Arthur had had it. The mattress lifted slightly as he assumed Arthur violently threw himself off the bed and tore the door open. Waiting a moment to make sure Arthur was gone, Connor hurriedly crawled out from under the bed and dashed to the safety of his room. Sighing in relief, he let himself fall face first onto his bed.

His stomach growled once again. "Aw, crap."