Jade watched as his equipment skittered across the table, his tongs dipping to hit the ground at the table's edge. Oh my, Jade thought, amused by the earthquake taking place in his dorm. Quickly he leaned over and grasped the tongs by the handle and beheld as the door to his and his twin's room burst open. I just replaced those hinges two weeks ago, too...

"Jaade!" The voice sounded angry, but Jade couldn't fathom why, and it left him heartbroken to think the reason behind the anger wasn't caused by one of his little pranks.

Jade was not surprised at seeing the other, honestly. Floyd hardly left Jade's side, and it was reciprocal on his end. Floyd's reasoning for it seems to be that everyone else is simply too boring for him, and his brother was the only outlier to the chart correlation. Sometimes, however, Jade wonders if it's simply a ploy to keep him company without saying so.

However, Floyd seemed irritated rather than delighted at the sight of his brother. His sharp teeth were clamped, and his stomping made Jade's equipment scatter like fish at the sight of a shark. It reminded Jade of a giant lizard the humans used to make movies of that lived at the bottom of the sea, and not of his brother who guffawed whenever he saw the monster on-screen.

It couldn't be because of Jade hiding mushrooms in Floyd's socks again; Floyd was always irritated whenever mushrooms were in his environment, but Jade hadn't snuck any mushrooms anywhere, as of late, and Floyd was angry before he came into the room and saw Jade with his mushroom terrarium.

So, what could it be?

"Stop being so consumed with Shrimpy!" Floyd shouted. He then pouted and lowered himself like an omega wolf before his alpha, a rare sign of submission only a few were allowed to see from an obstinate being such as Floyd. "I thought I was supposed to be the one bullying her!"

Ah, so that was it.

Floyd could be an overgrown child with the way he acts, sometimes. Floyd doesn't like his toys fiddled with, especially by his brother.

Not that Jade minds, of course. It was only fair the brothers' separate things were treated with respect by the other, but she was no separate thing: she was Floyd's toy and Jade's possible future spouse.

"Your jealousy is showing, Floyd." Jade teased. "Why are you jealous of Erin? Just because she'll be my mate doesn't make you any less of my brother," Jade patted the other on the shoulder, "my twin".

"I just don't share."

Jade raised a brow. "The shrimp or me?"

Floyd rolled his eyes. "Neither. Shrimpy is my Shrimpy, and my brother is my brother." His shoulders then slumped, and he held out his hands, in confusion. Jade would laugh at seeing his brother look like a beggar if Floyd wasn't so bemused. "What happens if my shrimp and brother are no longer mine, but each other's? Azul is already with Coddy; what will I do alone?!" He sniffed, but quickly wiped his nose with his sleeve. Floyd didn't want his brother to notice he was about to cry, but Jade's grip turned firm in an instant; he was not fooled at all.

"Have you lost Azul and Coddy," Jade asked quietly, his heart still in apprehension for Floyd's reply.

Floyd glowered. "No..."

"Neither have I. So, therefore we will never lose each other, not any of us five. Some of us will just become closer." Jade looked at his brother with hardened eyes and noticed how misty Floyd's own still looked. "In the end, we'll all become family," he added.

Floyd perked up. "A family? You don't mean-"

"Precisely." Jade knew he didn't let Floyd complete his question, but he refused to let the other embarrass him by saying the sentence out loud. Though, both knew Jade's intentions with Erin in the end, to admit it so blatantly is another matter entirely.

For a few heartbeats, no one spoke in preference to letting the words unsaid sink in. Floyd blinked then and laughed. His cackles sounded like the sweet tinkling of bells to Jade's ears. "Oh man, then Shrimpy better not break your heart, Jade!"

Jade shook his head sadly, a wan smile gracing his features. "Firstly, I need to have one."