A/N: I own nada.
"What's the matter with you, kid?" I asked.
He turned to look at me guiltily. I hated to see that kicked puppy face, but at least he'd stopped crashing about. "What? Did I do something bad?"
"No," I said, trying to wave his hurt away. As much of a pain as having an overenthusiastic little boy around could be, I had to admit that I preferred to see him smile. "It's just - can you keep quiet for awhile while I'm reading?"
"Sure, Blue," he said, backing away from the door. "I'll let you get back to it, then."
"Thanks," I grumbled, shutting the door connecting our bedrooms once more. Why did they have to be so damn thin? I flopped back down, flipping in search of my lost page, but it had been entirely too hard to remember the plot with all that ruckus coming from the next room.
I tried starting over from the beginning of the chapter, but I still couldn't concentrate. Pops was out, Toboe was as quiet as he ever was, and … I just couldn't bring myself to care right now. Usually, I loved mysteries and adventure stories, tales of wonders and spectacle from beyond the confines of our domed northern city, but there was just a bit too much drama here at home for me to give the book my full attention. The house may have been quiet, but there was still a sense of tension in the air, and it seemed to be coming entirely from the next room. I sighed, put the book back down, and knocked on the door. Toboe shyly peeked his head around, but I wasn't about to let him whimper on me yet. "So what's all the fuss about, runt?"
He paused another minute, trying to insure that it was safe to talk to me. "Well, her name's Leara, and she's really sweet and cute and she offered to share her lunch with me today at school…" I settled against the thin doorjamb, already captured by my brother's tale.