First it was Sig.
Then Norman.
Then Edgar.
And finally Jake.
The four Hansen brothers, the stoic one, the strong one, the resilient one, and the quiet one.
They were brothers, but they were nothing alike.
Sig took after their dad, a figure of authority, with a tough extirior, with his heart of steel. He had a short fuse, and blew up at anything that pissed him off. He'd keep the household in working order when their parents weren't home. Help younger siblings with homework, or help clean up a mess one of two littlest brothers made when they were kids.
Norman was more like their mom, more understanding and patient. He usually wore a facade most didn't see through, but his brothers could look through it with ease. He liked to talk through situations, and he didn't like yelling, if at all avoided raising his voice at all. The peace-maker when their mom wasn't around. He'd keep Sig from blowing up when Edgar or Fox accidently broke a vase or a plate.
Edgar was the adrenaline junkie who always got himself hurt somehow, either by accidently cutting himself or setting himself on fire. He was rather bendy, in other words, he'd differ his emotions to whatever situaton was happening in the moment. He'd push Sig's buttons for fun, just to get his eldest brothers attention.
Then theres was Jake, or Fox. He was the quiet, peaceful brother who'd be hidden away in his bedroom drawing or reading books to avoid the drama in the rest of the house. He almost never spoke, because for whatever reason, his voice sounded like he drank acid, and was lanky, lankier than Edgar. He'd walk into the room and you wouldn't notice him.
They were a tight knit group, although it didn't seem like it if you didn't know them all.
Early 1984.
Late January. Their father was still out Crab fishing, leaving his four children in the care of their mother. His eldest son, Sigurd, would be turning 18 this year, fianlly a grown man.
And his other sons, 16 year old Norman, 13 year old Edgar, and 10 year old Jakob.
The start was a quiet, peaceful, spring day. Just past 7am. Sig Hansen, the eldest of Captain Sverre Hansen's sons, was preparing to wake up his youngest two brothers so they get to school on time. While their mother wandered around the kitchen to start making breakfast.
Norman was already up, having been woken up when Sig woke up.
In the meanwhile, Sig was mentally preparing to have to wrestle his second youngest broter, Edgar, out of bed, who never really liked getting up early. As much as the kid hated it, Edgar had to go to school, for the sake of himself.
Sig opened the door to Edgar's bedroom, the room was overall tidy, just how Ed liked it. Sig had prepared himself to pull Edgar out from underneath his blankets, as Edgar was not an early bird.
"Hey, Edgar. Wake up." Sig forcefully shook his brothers shoulder, having walked up to the kids bed.
All Edgar did was curl up further into his blankets, moaning in annoyance of the attempt to wake him up. "Wake. Up." Sig shook his shoulder again, this time green eyes glared at him from a light brown head, the kid swatting away the hand that shook him.
"You have school today, get up." Sig huffed, waving off his brothers look, and slapped Edgar's hand away, heading to Jake's room to wake the youngest kid up.
Fox was much easier to wake up, he didn't protest like Edgar would(most of the time). He'd just accept the fact he had school, and would say nothing about it. (pun intended[Fox doesn't like talking])
Opening the door to Fox's room, colourful images came into view of the pictures that Jake's had stuck to the wall with tape. Fox's room was likely the most decorated, with the hundreds of books lining his selves to the colour utensils on the desk, and the colourful drawings of water, animals, vehicles and anything else Fox was into.
Walking over to the soundly sleeping 10 year old, Sig gently shook the kid, watching as two bright blue-green eyes fluttered open and looked up at him, the eyes squinty with a smile as a silent hello.
"Got school today, remember?" Sig asked his littlest brother, who nodded in rememberance. Sig looked around the room for a bit, before leaving to go downstairs, letting his two youngest brothers get themselves ready for school.
Even though Fox was quiet, he was mischevious. And Edgar and him were the trouble-makers whenever they were left alone. And Sig was usually the one who stopped it, or was home when a Ding and Dong accident happened. (they refer to Edgar and Jake like that because the two are basically inseparable since Jake was born)
And so became the Dishing incident. Heh, it was funny. Because everything was soaked, but he never ran down stairs like that before the Dishing Incident.
The two youngest were tasked to do the dishes, Jake 7 at the time, and Edgar 10. What had started as a friendly splash of soapy water, became an full on water fight. Water on the floor, on the cabinets, the clean dishes, even the ceiling. And in his haste to get away from Edgar, who was coming at him with wet, dirty hands, Fox slipped in the puddle that had formed in the centre of the kitchen.
Their parents having gone to the store with 14 year old Norman, 15 year old Sig was the only one home. And when Jake slipped, he broke his right arm trying to stop himself from falling. And Sig swears to god he'd never jumped down a set of stairs so fast as when he heard a wail coming from the kitchen.
And boy, did Fox sound like he was getting murdered, literally. Yes, a broken bone dose hurt, especially for a 7 year old.
Sig had iced Jake's arm and the three waited for Norm and their parents to reture.
And that's how the longest grounding was brought, a few months without... Sig couldn't remember, but he chuckled to himself at the memory, jogging down the stairs.
When Sig entered the kitchen. Breakfast was being placed on the table by Norman, while their mom rumagded around it the cabinets for cups.
The smell of scrambled eggs and toast filled the crisp, morning air in the kitchen. An apple juicr carton was placed in the middle of the table, with everyones preffered cup.
Their mom had a floral patterned cup, well, it was more a mug, although she was drinking coffee, like Sig and Norman would be.
Sig, like their mother, was drinking coffee, put of one of their dad's blue Northwestern cups. Aspiring to one day become Captain of the family's boat.
Norman, yes, drinking coffee, had a plain white cup with a wrench logo on the front of it, as Norm liked tinkering with mechanical anything.
Edgar had green cup. Just plain green, an almost evergreen tree green cup. Edgar's favorite colour being green.
And Fox, well, he had a cup that was painted half orange and half white, with a band of chocolate bron around the bottom, coloured like a fox.
Edgar shauntered into the kitchen with his normal black hoodie on, jeans, and whatever random pair of socks he gad in his closet. His hair brushed into submission, and he was upholding that teen attitude.
Next behind Edgar was Jake, wearing jeans, a white shirt and a blue zip up hoodie, wesring black socks. He brought that youngster enthusiasm to his older brothers and mother at the table.
Breakfast went by quietly. Nobody saying a word, as there was nothing to say. Cleaning up after were Sig and Edgar, while Norman And Fox had gone upstairs to get their bags and books ready for school.
(I have no idea how schools in America work, I live in Europe. It works like this, primary, secondary schools etc. Small break, lunch. And we have uniforms, ik for a fact most schools in American if all don't have uniforms. But i will be working around my experience of school, incase anybody gets confused - author.)
Sig, as well as turning 18 that year, was also graduating from secondary school, where Norman and Edgar also went, Fox went to a priamary school.
Sig unbeknownst isn't planning on celebrating it, but his younger siblings on the other hand.
Normal was building something from parts he found at his part time job.
Edgar was planning the actaul party bit of it, although it would only be their family there.
And Fox was drawing a picture that they would frame up in the living room.
And the drive to school wasn't anymore interesting than breakfast, dropping Jake off first, with a whole mutter of 'goodbyes' and 'have a good day's, the rest of the Hasen Clan drove to the secondary school, just a hundred blocks or so away from Jake's school.
Their mother dropped them off, turning around then heading home.
As usual, the Hansen's were early to school, so they shed their bags off at whatever class they had first and went to buy food for lunch.
Even though the Hansen's were popular in the school, they would usually stay together, for a reason they don't know.
Sig was in sixth year, Norman in fifth, and Edgar in first. And in two years time, Jake would be joining their group.