Chapter Title: Exploding Banthas

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Author: Obi the Kid

POV: Dashen (Tanner is 11. Dash is 17)

Chapter Summary: The boys battle over holovid night.

Series Summary: A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

Rating: PG

Characters: Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi), & Virgil Colton


"Would you stop it? We're not watching that! Give me the damn clicker!"

"No! We watched your holovid last week. You don't get two times in a row."

"Damn it, Tannner! I am not watching some gods-awful holovid that requires

me to pay attention and think. I need my brain cells for other things. Not for entertainment. I had a very long and crappy day today and this is my night to loaf and be a couch ornament."

"You can loaf all you like, but I am not watching a holovid where the main plot involves a series of exploding banthas!"

"It's not about exploding banthas."

"Yeah? Then why is the title of the holovid called Exploding Banthas?"

Yeah, okay, he had me there. But who didn't enjoy watching giant four-legged hairy beasts get randomly blown up? I mean, come on! And they weren't real banthas anyway, just holo-generated. No animals were harmed in the making of this vid and all that good stuff. Tanner wasn't going for it though. He was into those holovids that made you think and consider and wonder and work your brain cells for two straight hours until you crawled your way mercilessly to the end. They were the type of vids that tested your mind rather than your testosterone-driven need for action, chaos and explosions.

Tanner though, he was eleven. Eleven! How could an eleven year old boy be so completely sold on all that 'thinking' crap? Or even understand it! He was always thinking too much and now it had flooded into his entertainment.

I on the other hand was seventeen. I had needs. Tops among them were holovids with things that went boom. With a mind and body used to slumping on the couch and drooling out of the left side of my mouth as I starred at a monitor for a hundred and twenty minutes, this was my time to relax and be exactly what I was. And what I was most of the time, was an irritating teenager. And that required me to enjoy the years I was given. There was enough responsibility on me in my life; my down time needed to be of the non-brain frying variety.

So anyway, he'd gotten me on what the holovid was about, but still… "Come on, Mouse. You like animals, right? Well this vid has animals in almost every scene."

"Yes, and I'm sure they are bursting into a thousand tiny bloody pieces in each of those scenes."

"They're not real."

"It's stupid."

Hmm…he had me there too. But again. Me. Seventeen. Male. Needs. Okay?

"We all need a little stupid in our lives. Now. Give. Up. The. Clicker!"

I dived at my brother, flattening him against the couch. The hand holding the clicker had stretched away from me. And then…and then the little bugger used that trick he'd been practicing and did that creepy Force crap to lift the clicker out of his hand and just out of my reach. Fortunately for me, his control still left a lot to be desired and the device fell quickly to the floor. I leaped after it, but each time I did, he Force-pushed it a few inches further across the floor. Damn Jedi! He had trouble with control when things were airborne, but put something on the floor and I was screwed.

Eventually I gave up crawling around on the floor chasing a small metal clicker (in other words, looking like a complete and total moron) and went after the kid who was behind the magic. I jumped at Tanner again and tackled him. The force of us together was too much and we propelled backwards, flipping one half of Colton's giant couch on its backside. We tumbled over – the couch with us – and were left tangled together, legs sticking out at all odd angles on the overturned section. Colton of course, being the man who seems to know and see all, picked that exact moment to wander into the room. Whoops!

"What the hell are you two doing?"

I tried to untangle myself and succeeded only in making things worse. Tanner had the clicker again too. Damn it!

"Dashen Lesedi, you have five seconds to get off your brother, stand up, fix my couch and explain."

"Five sec…"

"Four…three…"

I untangled and stood, leaving my clicker-thief brother prone on the floor as he slid his body off the couch. I lifted the furniture and placed it back into position immediately before the swat came that I had fully expected, but couldn't do anything about, except…"OUCH!"

Virgil Colton stood over me, long blond hair pulled back tight and blue eyes blazing. "I said five seconds. That was decidedly longer. Help your brother up. And then explain. Now."

I pulled Tanner off the floor as we faced Colton and then began simultaneously spouting our side of the story. Naturally…it didn't last long. Our ears became leashes as we were dragged to the steps leading upstairs to our apartment before being released…and lectured.

"You know the rules. First of all, there is no holovid watching on my couch unless I am in the room. Why? Well, you saw what happened when I wasn't here. Second. Nothing in your house rule book states that you have to watch holovids together and at the same time. Correct? Good. Third. You break the clicker and I will hurt you. Fourth. No magic in my common room. And finally, stop acting like idiots, you idiots. You especially Dash. You are seventeen and a big brother, act like it."

I wanted to tell him that I was acting like it, but I thought that would be bad. Instead, I nodded and agreed.

"Now, if you really feel the need to watch holovids together then compromise will happen, or I will impair the both of you. It's not difficult to figure this out. Figure it out!" He paused for a minute and I thought him done, until, "Oh and Dash? It wouldn't kill you to watch something that didn't involve explosions, speeder chases, scantily clothed women, and blaster battles once in a while. And I've seen Exploding Banthas already. It's repetitive, foolish and has no plot to speak of."

Uh huh. I knew what that meant. "You loved it, didn't you?"

The big man smiled. "I did. And you will. But the kid won't. So leave him be for once. Save it for one of those times when you watch alone."

That wasn't compromise, but I guess he was right. Tanner wouldn't enjoy it and I shouldn't drag him into watching. But that didn't mean I had to watch his crap either. But…damn it. Kids his age shouldn't have to sit alone and watch holovids, right? Me, sure, why not? I could drown myself in my own personal tastes, but Tanner enjoyed company. And that is exactly where Colton's 'compromise' statement had been aimed. At me. I was the big brother. I was responsible for my little brother. Part of that responsibility involved the simple things like sitting with him to watch a holovid all the while stuffing our faces with sugary drinks and junk food. The actual holovid part of it wasn't all that important. The time spent as brothers…that's what really mattered.

Okay. I got it now. As usual, it took Colton to knock it into my head. And also as usual, he stood there glaring at me until my brain finished processing and my Ah-Ha! moment happened. And when I finally did get it, he pounded me on the back.

"Good boy, Dash."

"Yeah, ouch. Whatever. You can go now by the way."

Another smile and he walked off, content in having been witness to another instance of Dashen is a bone-head.

I turned to Tanner. "Okay, Mouse. How about this deal, you pick the holovid, I'll pick the junk food?"

His pale brown eyes peered up at me and he bounced on his socked feet for several seconds thinking it over.

"Deal!"

"Good. Go get us set up upstairs – I think we lost privileges with Colton's couch by using it as a wrestling area – and I'll raid a few cabinets in his kitchen for some teeth-rotting junk food."

Flying feet hurried up the steps. By the time I'd cleaned out half of Colton's sugar-laden goodies, Tanner was prepped and ready with the holovid geared up. I dumped an armful of snacks between us…onto our own couch. It was fourteen times smaller than the Colton's, but we could tackle it and no one would smack me in the back of the head as a result.

We sat. Goodies in hand. Drinks standing by. Tanner took the clicker and pressed the play button. I was fully prepared to suffer through some long, thought-provoking mystery of monotony and boredom when the opening credit scene of Exploding Banthas began. I saw the title screen and then looked over to smile at my brother. Ah, what a kid. I had to do it, just had to…and I reached over and ruffled his long hair.

Hair ruffles. What every boy hates.

I smirked at him and he used the Force to jam a small brown piece of gooey chocolate-filled candy up my nose. Damn Jedi. He was getting better as this Force stuff all the time, at least when it came to annoying me with it.

No annoyance this time though. I'd earned it with the hair ruffle, I thought, as I picked the chocolate from my left nostril and wrapped it in a tissue.

"Call it even?" I said to him.

His response was just a simple silly grin - exactly what I'd expected.

Then we leaned back, stuffed our faces with junk food and waited for the banthas to start exploding.


The End.