--On a busy walkway leading from a schoolhouse
"So Jean, have you finally admitted to yourself that my dad is better than yours?"
"Puh-leez, Pierre. Your-."
"Dad can't-."
"Even compare to-."
"Our dad!"
"Why can't you speak for yourself Jean? Too stupid?"
"Shut up Pierre!"
"Yeah!"
"We can speak for ourselves!" "We can speak for ourselves!"
"Yeah right, you and Gus can't go two minutes without speaking for each other or at the same time!"
"You're just-."
"A jealous-."
"Idiot!"
"I rest my case."
All three boys rounded the corner and split ways as Pierre headed for his home and Gus and Jean headed for theirs'. It had been a year since Jean and Gus had lived happily with their parents in their quaint home, and it had been somewhat of a haven to them. Yet, as of lately…
"Waaaaaah"
"Mum!"
"Da!"
"We're home!" "We're home!"
Jean and Gus had been relatively excited when their parents announced that they'd soon have another sibling around. However, it had been three months of hell now that little Odette was a part of the family. It seemed as though the minute she became aware of her surroundings she could do nothing but scream. Every day, said twins came home to the wonderful sound of Odette crying at the top of her lungs and both their parents looking as though they wanted to remove their ears. Today, as Jean made his way upstairs in search of his mother, he passed the music room and had to stifle a laugh at the sight of his father bashing his head into the keys of a piano.
"Something wrong Da?"
Jean's smirk evaporated as Erik looked up and glared daggers at him. Before Jean could even blink Erik had grabbed the scruff of his jacket and tossed him back out into the hallway slamming the door behind him.
"You don't have ta be a jerk about it! A nice 'leave me alone!' would have sufficed!"
Resuming his search, Jean continued onward until he finally reached the nursery, his exhausted mother and his three-month-old sister.
"You look tired Ma."
"Not today Jean please…"
Jean had often seen his mother this way, tired, grumpy and on the verge of tears.
"Do you want me to hold her?"
"Can I trust you not scream 'boo' at her?"
"Hey! She's noisy! I was only trying to-."
"I don't care about the why, I only care if I can trust you."
"Alright, alright! I swear on…music I won't do anything."
"Good."
Gently handing the baby to Jean, Christine collapsed into a rocking chair and began rubbing her temples. Sighing and shaking his head, Jean set his little sister into her crib and pulled his flute from out of the pocket on the inside of his jacket. Not long after Odette was born and everyone discovered that she had a tendency to enjoy screaming, Jean had become the only one able to quiet her and he was considered somewhat of a miracle between his parents. Odette let her bright golden eyes droop as her elder brother played a quiet melody on his favorite wooden flute. Within a few moments, Odette was asleep and Jean was looking his usual smug self. He ruffled her raven locks and bowed towards his mother before speaking.
"There," he whispered, "She's asleep."
"Thank God," Christine whispered back "Now, go wash up for dinner."
Groaning under his breath, Jean made his way back downstairs and into the kitchen where Gus was already washing his hands.
"Sounds like Odette's finally asleep."
"Yep, ya know, I was thinking maybe I should charge Ma and Da for each time I put her to sleep."
"Dad would kill you."
"Nah!"
"Yeah!"
"Nah!"
"Yeah!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Noo"
"Yees"
"Nooo"
"Yeees!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
What began as a disagreement of words soon turned into fistfight. As Gus tackled Jean out of the kitchen, Christine caught them and roughly pulled them apart.
"Enough!"
"He started it!" "He started it!"
"I don't care! One of you sit down and the other get your father."
"Yes Ma."
"Okay Mum."
A quick round of Rock, Paper, Scissors resulted in Jean stamping his foot and walking angrily upstairs while Gus smiled smugly and took his seat. Jean gulped nervously as he stood before the music room's door. Raising his hand wearily, he barely tapped on the door and waited as Erik's face appeared in the crack of the opened door.
"What now Jean?"
"Uh, Ma says it's dinner."
Sighing, Erik exited the room and made his way downstairs, Jean not far on his tail.
-- Apartment #131
"And then Madame Breisboix said that his drawing was really good, and Jean was all jealous and stuff so I poured ink all over his paper!"
"Pierre!"
Pierre was joyfully regaling his small family with the finer points of school that day and had to stifle a smirk as he told of the incident that had happened earlier that day.
"Mom, he deserves it!"
"Nobody deserves to have their art ruined!"
"But two days ago he sneezed and spilled paint on my work."
"That's no excuse!"
"Aw Mom!"
"I want you to apologize to Jean tomorrow understand?"
"Yes Mom…"
Meg was heavily pregnant with her third child and was getting crankier and crankier in Pierre's opinion as the days went by. Gizelle, who was four and in every sense a Momma's girl, stood sternly beside her mother who was busy preparing dinner.
"Ya Pierre, you shouldn't be mean to Jean!"
"You only say that because you think he's handsome."
"I do not!"
Little Gizelle was blushing heavily despite her protests and though she denied often, everyone knew she had a rather large crush on Jean. The adults thought it was cute, Jean thought it was annoying and Pierre thought it was gross.
"He's like a brother to me how can you have a crush on him!"
"I don't!"
"Do to!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Ya-uh!"
"Stop it both of you!"
"Aw Mom!"
"No 'aw moms' today Pierre, now go set the table."
Grumbling, Pierre gathered the dishes and began assembling the table. After finishing, he appeared bored and sighed as he walked out of the dining room and towards his bedroom. As he opened the door he grumbled again at the sight of Nadir playing solitaire at his table. Ever since the strange man had appeared he had been sharing a room with Pierre and Gizelle, and even though he offered to move out, both Pierre's mother and grandmother had strongly objected and said that they were honored to have him around.
'What a load of bullox,' Pierre thought, 'Stupid fool should move in with Jean and Gus, they'd take him in.'
"Well hello there Pierre."
"Yeah hi."
"What is the problem?"
'You.' "Aw nothing, Mom wants me to apologize to Jean."
"What for?"
"I poured ink on one of his drawings."
"Hmm something tells me that he will be getting his own revenge."
"What dya' mean?"
"He is quite a lot like his father and Allah knows that he'll come up with something devious."
"Eh heh, right…" 'Great, now I gotta go ta school expecting a booby trap of some sort.'
--Destler Château
"And then Madame BreisBoix said my work was better than Jean's and he got all jealous, and then Madame BreisBoix turned away and, Pierre just reached over and dumped an entire bottle of ink all over Jean's stuff."
Gus collapsed into a fit of giggles as he finished his story, and Jean crossed his arms and pouted looking angrily at his twin. Erik looked like he was trying his best not to laugh himself, while Christine gently patted Jean's arm and looked generally upset.
"Oh sweetheart I'm sorry, Gus stop laughing, do you want me to talk to Pierre's mother?"
"Ah no, that's alright Ma, I think I can handle it."
Erik instantly recognized the devilish gleam that filled Jean's eyes and shook his head before speaking.
"If I get word from any of the Giry's-."
At this Jean had opened his mouth, but Erik quickly cut him off.
"Or Nadir that you did something devious to Pierre I guarantee that you won't be seeing dessert for a very, very long time."
Jean gulped nervously and nodded submissively before focusing once again on his meal. He slowly tuned out as Gus began speaking to their father and Christine excused herself as the noise of Odette crying filtered into the room. As he shoved some mashed potatoes into his mouth he wearily thought,
'It's gonna be a long day tomorrow if I have to come up with a way to get revenge without getting caught…'
End Chapter 27
A/N: I apologize for not submitting anything yesterday, I was at my Grandfather's and he doesn't own a computer. Anywho, I felt like the story needed some more domestic family moments and that the Destler family needed some really good fluff moments because they've been miserable for so long. Also, I am of course happy to introduce the third party of the Destler family…Odette! She's only three months so don't expect any lines, but do expect her to be a minor inconvenience for the family. After all, what're babies for? ;p Oh, and Cygnet is the correct term for a baby swan. Odette swan lake, swan, baby swan, cygnet. Make sense?
