Who the FUCK was waking you up before 1 pm?

You groggily rolled over and pulled the pillow over your head in an effort to block out the noise but the knocking persisted. You scratched your ass and yanked yourself out of bed. You wandered through the hall and opened the door. "Whatever you're selling, we don't-"

"Hey kid."

You ground your teeth together. "What are you doing here?"

Bro gave you a big smile, " I just thought...we could hang out or something? Old times, lil bro!"

You scoffed. "What, are we gonna toss the ol' pigskin back and forth? Watch Toy Story? Go to the county fair?"

Bro's smile faltered slightly and you saw his hand clench around a couple slips of paper. "I just want to make it up to you...I told you I'm sorr-"

"Jesus Christ, Bro, can you stop that?"

"What can I do to make things okay between us again?" Bro almost sounded like he was pleading at this point. It kind of sent a thrill through your body. The idea that you held his emotions in the palm of your hand was exhilarating.

You were silent and took a deep breath. "What's in your hand?"

He was silent as well. "Movie tickets…"

You fought the need to roll your eyes. "Genre?"

"Comedy," he said, his lips slightly pulling back up.

"Is Adam Sandler in it?"

"Nope."

You sighed again as you reached beside you and plunked your jacket off the hook on the wall. " I want a large popcorn - I call how much butter there is - and a large drink. My choice again."

Bro smiled again as you pushed past him before you turned back to face him again. "Wait, is Jack Black in it?"

"Of course."

"Hell yeah," you locked the door behind you and took the lead. Standing beside him again was an odd feeling. You stayed on your guard in case he flash stepped like he used to and you wouldn't let him walk completely behind you. You looked around for his trusty truck but of course it wasn't there.

You shrugged and hopped into the air and looked down at him.

"Kid. I can't fly."

"I ain't a kid no more," you hissed as you floated a little lower. "Grab on."

Even though he very gently put his hands onto your shoulders, you flinched. As you started to float higher, he gripped tighter, dangling from your back. "Fuck, Bro, that hurts!" you complained and he shimmied further up your body til his arms were around your throat. He tried to keep from choking you and eventually he was just getting a piggy back ride through the sky.

You considered dropping him at one point when he remarked how surprised he was that someone as scrawny as you could even carry him. You reminded him his life was literally in your hands right now and he shut up. You were surprised, he had never acted like this before.

"So," you finally asked after flying in silence for a while, "what exactly do you want out of this?"

Bro looked confused, "Want? I don't know...I just want you to not hate me?"

"Fat chance."

It went silent again and he shuffled on your back.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Why are you actually goin' through with this?"

It was silent again.

"I guess...um...I don't want to hate you either."

You could feel his grip tighten on you, like he was trying to hug you but just wasn't very accustomed to it yet.

"That don't mean I'll like you or we'll be bros and hang out. I'm doing this for me. But..." You corrected and the silence befell you both again.

"But…?"

"Nothing. There's the theater."

You stuck the landing as you let go of your lil bro and dropped to the ground. It was pretty empty. You wondered how they stayed in business without like...currency. You shrugged and pulled the tickets from your pocket. You bought some snacks and Dave really didn't hold back. You were sure he knew as well as you did that there was no way you could both eat this much. The popcorn had so much butter you could barely stand it. Dave was slightly upset they didn't have apple juice in the tap and he had to just get a bunch of juice boxes. He seemed a bit less irritated when you poured them all into a cup and mixed in a little vodka from the flask in your pocket. Not too much, he had to fly you home after all. You didn't know if there were still laws and police but even then flying while drunk sounded like a very bad plan.

You found your seats and Dave broke open some of his candy before the first trailer was over. You knew you'd be sent on another snack run at the best part. At least pretty much everything is free when your little brother is a god. Also the concessions is run by a tiny lizard thing that just blows bubbles at you when you try to give it cash.

You watched Dave eat away as if it's been years since he's had junk food. You knew that wasn't true by the amount of pizza boxes you saw stacked on top of the trashcan in his new place. It was a nice little house, better than anything you could have afforded for them. If you had the chance to do things over, you knew it would've gone differently.

You can't focus on the past though, you've gotta make the best of the here and now, and if that means laughing at Jack Black purely because Dave loves the guy, then so be it.

The movie was hilarious, as you have come to expect from the big JB. Your bro had supplied maximum snackage and with the whole theater to yourself you could choose the best seats in the house. You had to admit it was pretty nice to do that even with Bro. It truly felt like old times again.

Once you exited the theater, you started the flight back to his apartment - your old apartment. You chatted nonchalantly about the movie along the way.

"So," Bro asked as he dropped onto his floor, "that's that then?"

You shrugged.

He sighed. "Well. Thanks Dave. See ya." he turned to his door and began to reach for the spare key. You realized you still had it in your pocket from the day before.

"Bro," you called. He turned to face you and you tossed him the key. He caught it and you locked eyes with him. That's when you noticed something. "Where's your shades?"

Bro shrugged. "Haven't seen em since I woke up."

You remembered that day. You had picked them up as a keepsake. But what had you done with them? There was a good chance you chucked them clean off the meteor into paradox space. You thought for a moment and Bro started to unlock his door and move inside.

"I have them," you shouted at him. He turned back and raised an eyebrow. "I mean...somewhere..I'll bring them by if I find them."

He shrugged. "Keep em if you want."

You shook your head, "They look better on you." Bro dropped his gaze and the two of you were silent. "You can...come over and help me look."

Bro smiled slightly as he let himself into his apartment. He waved at you and you waved back before flying home.