A/N: I should explain in this story, Mark's dad died from a plane crash returning home from his business trip and Mark is living with his cousin's family permanently. Henry is also very good at hiding his evil nature from everyone else except Mark, so they kind of have a love-hate relationship continuously on-going.

The droning sound of their teacher's voice forced Mark to snap his head up as he went on and on about the first world war or something that didn't quite concern the young tween at that present time.

It was a hot and sticky Friday afternoon, and Mark had been stuck in History class for the past two hours – he was desperate to get outside and jump in the neighbourhood's local swimming hole, before the high schoolers moved in and made it their own for the rest of the day.

Mark's eyelids felt extremely heavy, and he couldn't find the energy to keep them open, letting them close ever so slightly as he rested his head on his chin and gazed outside longingly, taking in the fresh late spring air…

Flick!

Mark blinked.

Flick! Flick! Flick!

He shook his head and sat upright in his seat, glancing around the classroom to see who could possibly be throwing wads of paper at him at a time like this.

A frown formed on his face as Mark turned in his seat to find his cousin, Henry, smiling at him from the corner of the room – his arm aimed directly at Mark's head with a screwed-up piece of paper, ready to throw at a moment's notice…

"Ouch! God damnit, Henry!"

Mark couldn't help but swear out loud and he clamped his mouth shut as he felt a slightly harder object bounce off his forehead – Henry had put a particularly large pebble in a wadded-up piece of paper, obviously with the intentions to hurt his younger cousin along with the hopes of him getting punished for it.

"Mark! That's not very nice – Mr Smith is not a slimy old bastard!" Henry held up a different piece of paper, one that had a drawing of a rather horrid looking history teacher.

Mark gaped.

He couldn't believe Henry would get him in trouble like this.

Okay, he could. But why now? What had Henry got in mind for later on? What did Mark need to worry about this time around?

"Mr Evans, if you have enough time to be creative in history class, perhaps you can be just as creative in your detention this afternoon with me."

Mark gulped.

Unbelievable! Henry had gotten him in trouble on purpose!

"Yes, Mr Smith. I'm sorry, Mr Smith."

Henry, you're gonna pay for this tonight.

Just you wait…

Henry sat back in his chair, feeling rather pleased with himself.

Mark watched from the window as the other middle school kids got let out for the weekend, Mark had to stay for another hour and write a short essay on why it was wrong to talk back to an adult.

Mark stabbed his pencil in the little holes along the margins, he daringly let his eyes wander out towards the window, watching as the other kids got to let off the pre-summer itch that was no doubt hanging in the air.

His eyes grew wide as a familiar blonde-haired boy appeared in what seemed to be swim trunks, beach towel around his shoulders and holding onto their little sister Connie's hand, grinning broadly as he slowly turned to give a farewell wave and charming smile to his oh-so favourite younger cousin.

Mark glared hard at the back of Henry's head.

If that's how he wanted it, then so be it.

Dinner was a seemingly normal affair.

Since it was a Friday night, the parents let the kids choose their favourite pizzas and were allowed to watch a movie in the living room.

"Kids, what toppings do you want?"

Connie said she wanted pepperoni, Mark agreed with her.

Henry piped up, "I'm fine with anything as long as it doesn't have shrimp on it – I hate that shit."

"Henry! Language!"

"Pepperoni for Connie and Mark… Mark, you sure there's no specific toppings you want? You can say it you know; you don't have to go along with Connie all the time."

Mark smiled at his uncle. "No, it's okay – Connie and I love pepperoni, right Con?"

Connie, who was sandwiched between both boys in front of the TV looked up at Mark and grinned, nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah! That's right! We do!"

Their father smiled warmly at Mark, who hid his embarrassment and decided to ruffle Connie's hair.

Connie giggled and did the same to Mark, this time gently pushing him over to the side in a good-natured way…

"Hey, great idea Connie, dog pile on Mark!"

"What – Henry no!" Mark yelped as a sudden force jumped on him, much stronger than he expected and felt himself suffocating.

Mark's breathing became quicker, and his heart began to beat rapidly as him and Henry tumbled around the living room, Henry's cold hands grasped firmly around his cousin's neck.

Mark managed to push Henry off successfully and catch his breath in time for Susan to come back into the living room to let the kids know that they ordered the pizza.

"Great, thanks mum!" Henry replied as he looked over at his cousin, "Why the long face, Mark?"

Mark made a move towards him, but suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Pizza!" Connie yelped excitedly and sprinted towards the front door.

Mark suddenly jumped up, eager to get to the door first. "I'll get it!"

"Hey, I can answer the door if you give me the money – I'll even set the table for you guys as well!" Mark barged in front of their dad to stop him from opening the door first.

A strange look crossed over their father before he looked down at Mark and smiled, trusting his adopted nephew turned son with the wallet. "Sure – thanks, son."

Mark sighed with relief as he opened the door to find the teenage boy he spoke to on the phone earlier on that day. "Phew…"

"You uh… got the pizza?" Mark looked at him and gestured for the special… pre-arranged pizza he had organised earlier on that day.

The teenage boy handed the box to Mark. He opened it to examine the contents… "Wow, it doesn't even look like there's shrimp on here! How'd you do it?"

The boy shrugged and held out his hand in an annoyed way.

Mark grumbled at the lack of response, placing the pizza box down on the floor as he fished around in the wallet for some money.

He gave him two twenties and the teenage boy looked impressed. "Enjoy your pizza."

"Enjoy your tip."

"What's taking so long?!"

Mark smiled to himself as he closed the door behind him – their father had already beat Mark to setting the table as he carried the box over to the hungry family waiting for their evening meal to be served.

"Bon appetite," their father said as he reached for the first slice of pizza, the others following suit.

Mark took a small bite of his at the start, and felt his face break out into a grin as he tasted the camouflaged shrimp on the pizza.

Henry had eaten half of his already and seemed fine at the moment.

Then, the coughing started.

Mark squirmed in his seat excitedly as Henry's face started turning red and gestured towards his throat. Susan screamed, dropping her pizza on the plate and rushed over to Henry's side.

"What's wrong with him?! Henry? Henry are you alright?"

"I'll call an ambulance!"

It all happened in a matter of seconds – Henry's choking and allergic reaction all at once, the ambulance came and rushed him off to the hospital with Susan while their father stayed behind with Mark and Connie.

"Kids, come on," their father said, as he grabbed his coat and keys, getting ready to follow the ambulance to the hospital.

Mark was quiet for the car ride to the hospital; he had his arm around Connie who seemed to be very upset about what had happened to her older brother.

"Wait here," their father instructed them, as he rushed off to be with Susan while the doctors worked on Henry.

It took a few hours, but Henry stabilised over time. He reacted well to the medicine the doctors gave him and even had woken up after a few hours' sleep.

"You can go see him if you want, Mark," his uncle said, and Mark nodded and followed him into Henry's room.

Henry was awake, but still looked a little out of it from being sedated.

Wallace led Connie and Susan out of the room to give the boys some time alone.

Mark watched as Henry blinked a few times, sitting up slightly in the hospital bed as best he could with all the wires surrounding him.

"Glad you could make it," Henry said quietly as he saw Mark's concerned expression.

Mark eyed him carefully. He looked as though he were about to say something, but then stopped himself before standing up and moving closer towards Henry's bed.

Leaning over his older cousin, Mark's face broke out into a grin.

Henry looked confused.

"I told you you'd be sorry, didn't I?" Mark whispered to him as he leaned over the frame of the bed. "That'll be the last time you ever get me into trouble again."

Henry stilled.

"That was you? The camouflaged shrimp on the pizza?"

Mark nodded, feeling rather pleased with himself.

Henry sat up in his bed a little more.

He reached out and made to move slowly in the direction of his cousin, his hand reaching out in front of him – he quickly grabbed a fistful of Mark's shirt and Mark let out a small whimper as his face moved so it was barely an inch apart from Henry's face.

They stared at each other; Henry's other hand raised behind his head in a fist as if he were about to punch Mark in the face.

Mark braced himself and closed his eyes, ready for the impact…

… but nothing came.

The brown-haired boy opened his eyes and felt his hair being ruffled instead, to find Henry smiling at him, looking very pleased with himself indeed.

Mark gaped at his cousin.

"Not bad for a rookie," Henry quipped, as he leaned back on the hospital bed, hands behind his head.

Mark stared at him.

He could sense a kind of kinship between them – some kind of connection that hadn't been present in the past when Mark first permanently moved in with them, but Mark felt it now stronger than ever.

Respect.

That's what it was.

It had been a long, tough journey, but Mark realised a while ago that the only way to earn his dear older cousin Henry's respect was to be just as callous and unexpected as he could be.

It was the only way to be completely welcomed with open arms in their family, and Mark had finally earned Henry's respect.

This was something that he was most definitely not going to lose any time soon…