AUTHOR'S NOTE: Some swearing in this chapter.
Casey is in the shower, getting ready to go hang out with Ryder and Liam on the first Saturday of the school holidays.
Both Kyle and Casey had much planned for their two week break and were not going to waste a second of it.
Ryder is on his way over to walk with Casey to the movies and they are going to meet Liam there.
The three teens are planning on seeing the latest action-packed, sci-fi movie.
They offered for Kyle to come along but the older teen Braxton had no interest in such a non-productive film, nor did Dex when the idea was suggested to him and Romeo was busy helping his Mum at her local sports shoes store.
Whilst Casey is in the shower, Heath sneaks in and reaches for the young teen's clothes that are in a crumpled mess on top of the towel basket; carefully sifting his way through the clothes until he locates Casey's underwear.
Gently pulling them out of the pile so as to not alert his baby brother to his presence, Heath sprinkles a fair amount of itching powder into the underwear and shakes it around to disperse before replacing them with Casey's remaining clothes.
Heath snickers and quietly shuts the bathroom door.
"What are you doing?" Brax asks as he spots Heath standing outside his bathroom door.
"I just popped around for some eggs. I thought you might have some, I felt like making myself a cheese and bacon omelette," Heath replies.
Brax raises his brow skeptically.
"Alright, but my fridge is not near the bathroom," Brax comments.
"I'm not dumb big fella, I was just coming to use the bathroom but realised it was in use already," Heath answers.
Brax sighs, "Well don't steal all my eggs."
Heath snickers and heads into the kitchen where he pulls out the empty packet of itching powder he'd wrapped in plastic and hid in his pocket and places it into the bin.
Casey is lavishing the warmth of the nice steamy shower when he realises he must have been in there for longer than expected and he finishes up and looks at his watch he'd left on the sink.
He panics he is now running late and Ryder would be here in under ten minutes.
Casey finishes drying and hears a knock on the bathroom door.
"Case, you better hurry up in there, Ryder is here waiting for you!" Brax calls.
Casey opens the bathroom door a crack and peeks out.
"Tell him I'll be ready soon," Casey quickly replies.
Brax nods, noticing his little brother without a shirt on, and realising he still had not gotten dressed.
"You need to start getting more organised, kiddo," Brax informs as Casey shuts the door to hurry himself up.
"I know Brax, just please tell him I won't be long!" Casey yells through the door.
Brax huffs and heads back down the hall.
"Casey said he won't be long, Ryder. You are more than welcome to wait on the couch," Brax instructs and gestures towards the couch.
Ryder smiles and takes a seat.
"Can I get you anything to drink?" Brax offers.
"No thanks, we'll be going all out when we get to the movies," Ryder replies.
Brax nods and heads into the kitchen to where Heath is patiently waiting.
"I thought you wanted eggs?" Brax asks.
Heath shrugs, "Kind of changed my mind."
"Well what else are you doing here?"
"Can't I just hang out at my big brother's house?"
Brax shakes his head and grabs the milk to make another morning coffee.
Kyle pops out of the bedroom and sees Ryder.
"Hey," Kyle greets.
"Hey Ky; you sure you don't want to join us? The movie is going to be the bomb."
Kyle shakes his head.
"No. I want to do some reading, besides I'm coming to the arcade with you and the guys later this week," Kyle replies.
"You are crazy Ky, my man; we just finished school for two weeks and all you think about on the first day is reading?"
"I happen to like it; so sue me," Kyle answers but smiles as he jokes with his friend.
"You okay Kyle?" Brax asks.
"Yeah, I just came out to grab a granola bar and drink and say hi," Kyle answers and grabs his drink and mid-morning snack.
Meanwhile in the bathroom Casey grabs his clothes and rushes to shove them on and flings open the door, racing out to meet his friend.
"What took so long?" Ryder asks upon seeing Casey.
"This is Casey; he's never on time, are you little brother?" Kyle teases and smiles at Casey.
"At least I'm not a hermit who would rather stay at home reading instead of going to the movies," Casey teases back and twitches his face as he starts to feel a weird sensation in his groin.
"I like going to the movies when it's a decent movie, not some insane sci-fi action that doesn't even have a plot or practical climax," Kyle retorts.
"Whatever Ky, don't ruin it for us by being a drag," Casey jokes.
"As much as I enjoy you two talking about movies I would really like to go see ours," Ryder comments.
Kyle farewells his friend and heads back towards the bedroom.
"Have fun reading my nerdy big brother," Casey teases and winces, squeezing his thighs together.
Ryder gets up from the couch and walks towards the door.
"See ya: Kyle and Casey's big bros!" Ryder calls out.
Brax gives a wave and Heath yells out a farewell 'Yo!'
Casey takes a few steps out the door and his face contorts as the weird sensation in his groin spreads and starts to really burn.
It doesn't take long for Casey to gasp out and scrub at his groin and his legs then he roughly rubs his hand over his butt, only to make the burning itch worsen.
Ryder eyes Casey with disgust.
"Casey, that's gross, dude! You should do that in private not out in the open," Ryder exclaims; thinking he was doing something other than scratching.
"No: wait it's not like..." Casey cuts himself off as he continues to madly scratch, as he can't stop now; the more he scratches and rubs, the worse the burn and irritation around his groin, legs and bottom feels.
Casey moans and whines from the unpleasant irritation.
"Ah, maybe we should hang out some other time, it looks like you are too busy," Ryder hesitates, not taking his eyes off his friend's erratic behaviour.
"Ryder, it's not...I'm not doing... you know, okay! Something isn't right and it really hurts!" Casey yells.
"We can see a movie anytime Casey but you should sort yourself out. I don't want to miss this one so I guess I'll see you around."
"Ryder, just wait. I don't know what's going on," Casey moans.
"Sorry Casey," Ryder mumbles and turns to leave, leaving Casey angry and defeated that his day out is cancelled and he is going to miss this new epic movie all because of some embarrassing and unpleasant mishap.
Casey lets out a yell and storms back into the house, slamming the door loudly.
Brax emerges from the back of the kitchen.
"What's going on? Where's Ryder?" Brax asks and eyes Casey, noticing his vigorous scratching.
Heath emerges from the kitchen also; laughing as he had been waiting for the effects of the itching powder to take effect.
"Having fun there, baby bro?" Heath teases.
Brax scowls at his brothers.
"Casey what happened?" Brax asks again and approaches the teen; closely observing his awkward behavior.
Casey glares at Heath and points.
"He did this!" Casey yells in frustration and rubs hard again trying to alleviate the itch.
"Did you?" Brax demands towards Heath.
Before Heath gets a chance to stop his laughing at Casey's misfortunes, Casey yells out again.
"He doesn't need to admit it; I know he did it! Look at everything he's just done to me and Kyle! I couldn't even go to the movie with Ryder because he thought I was busy feeling myself! Heath's such a dick!" Casey exclaims with such animosity.
Brax immediately grabs Casey by the arm and slaps him hard on the back of the head.
"Ouch: that hurt!" Casey shrieks and immediately rubs his head.
Brax points firmly at his youngest brother.
"I hear vulgar words like that out of your mouth again, and I'll wash it out with soap!" Brax warns; resulting in immediate silence from Casey.
Casey scratches himself feeling overwhelmed now and close to tears.
"Heath, what did you do?" Brax demands.
Heath shrugs.
"I told you I would punish you for opening your gob to Bianca."
Casey scowls.
"Heath!" Brax barks.
"Fine. I might have just put a bit of harmless itching powder in the kid's underwear, and by the look of it, it's given him a chance to get some action going," Heath confesses with a taunt; knowing Casey is itching; physically and metaphorically to bite back.
Casey scowls and points angrily at Heath.
"You Di..."
"Casey!" Brax quickly barks and jerks Casey, stopping the unwanted word from spilling.
"What did I just say? Don't you push me; I am serious about washing your mouth out," Brax warns and raises his brow angrily.
Casey stares down and continues to scratch and tears start to fall from his eyes now.
"It burns and itches. I didn't mean to swear," Casey mutters and cries softly.
Brax sighs, and wraps his arm around Casey's shoulders.
"It's alright," Brax soothes and gives Casey a quick kiss on his head then glares at Heath.
After a brief moment Casey speaks up; looking towards his big brother.
"Please Brax. Aren't you going to do something?" he complains; half whines, his groin, butt and legs are driving him mad.
Brax frowns, "Yes I will."
Heath finally ceases laughing after seeing Brax's deathly glare.
"Casey, calm down and go and have another shower. There is some lotion in the cupboard; use that down there to stop the itching and after you bring me all your clothes and I'll wash them specially, then we are all going to have a family meeting," Brax informs and pulls Casey in for a hug to comfort the teen.
Casey nods and wipes his eyes on his arm then makes his way to the bathroom.
Brax points a finger towards the kitchen and glares at Heath.
"Out!" Brax orders firmly.
Heath sits down at the kitchen table and Brax paces, waiting to grill the three of his little brothers but has to deal with the elder one first.
Heath watches Brax waiting for the oldest to blow his top.
"How could you do something stupid like putting itching powder in Casey's underwear? You know how sensitive the groin area is and with the amount Casey was rubbing I wouldn't be surprised if he has an irritation for a day or two! I don't know how many times I have to tell you Heath: you are their older brother and an adult while they are kids and it's our job to protect them not hurt them," Brax scolds.
Heath sighs, realising he may have taken his revengeful tricks too far; Brax is right.
He loved his little brothers but couldn't help taking his 'punishments' too far sometimes and he needed to stop and get back into looking after his brothers, no matter how pesky they could be.
Casey finishes in the shower and sits down at the kitchen table, opposite Heath, giving a hard frown at the older brother.
He is still feeling a little irritated and itchy.
"No scuffles, you hear me?" Brax states sternly.
Brax storms down to Kyle and Casey's room and walks straight in.
Kyle is engrossed in his book and listening to music on his headphones.
Kyle glances up at seeing Brax in the room and removes his headphones.
"What's up?"
"Kyle I want you out in the kitchen now; we are having a family meeting," Brax gruffly orders.
Kyle furrows his brow in confusion but starts to put his headphones down and his music player and book.
Before Kyle gets a chance to get up, Brax gently grabs him by the upper arm and pulls Kyle out of the room.
Kyle begins to get nervous, thinking he's done something wrong but couldn't think of what.
Kyle's eyes widen when he sees Casey sitting at the dining table.
"Sit," Brax orders Kyle and the confused teen immediately does as told and sits next to Casey.
"Why are you still here?" Kyle whispers to Casey.
"Because of him," Casey grumbles.
Brax paces for a moment then stands against the table and eyes his three brothers.
"This eye for an eye prank business had better stop between the three of you," Brax warns.
"Heath you are old enough to know better and should be setting a good example for Kyle and Casey; not acting like a child and stooping to the level of these two," Brax scolds.
Kyle and Casey snicker, and Casey sticks his tongue out at Heath teasingly.
Brax quickly turns and points a finger at Kyle and Casey.
"Quiet: the both of you! As for you two, I will tell you again: playing pranks around people's relationships or in general is not funny and although Heath gave you both a rough time; when he shouldn't have, it did not give you the right to be disrespectful. You are never to be disrespectful to either Heath or myself and you both should know that rule by now because it has not changed since you were both little. Am I making myself clear?" Brax says firmly.
"Yes Brax," Kyle mumbles obediently.
"What about Heath disrespecting us? I was so embarrassed itching like that in front of Ryder!" Casey snaps.
"Alright; as I said Heath should not have done that, but I still do not want any animosity. Now I think it wise we all have a chance to say how the pranks made you each feel," Brax says.
"Heath, why don't you go first?"
"Why does he get to go first?" Casey argues.
"Casey, you will get your turn," Brax informs.
"It's because I'm older," Heath starts.
"Well little brothers, I'm sure you know your little dinner prank caused quite an upheaval and made things very unpleasant and humiliating for me and ruined what could have been a good night with Bianca..."
"Getting it on," Casey grumbles.
Brax flicks Casey on the back of his head.
"One more word Casey and you and I are going to have our own discussion on your disrespect and you know where that is going to land you. Is that what you want?" Brax warns and glares hard at the youngest.
Casey casts his eyes down at the table, avoiding Brax's gaze.
"No," he mumbles. "Well, be quiet. I told you, you will get your chance to talk; Heath continue," Brax says firmly.
"It was disrespectful to Bianca and only led to us having an argument," Heath continues as he gives his baby brother a scowl.
"I thought that was because of what you did to Kyle's hair and being mean to us," Casey answers quietly.
Heath, now becoming just as frustrated as Brax with Casey's comments, speaks up.
"Look: I'm trying to apologise and say my side and if you don't shut up and listen I'm going to shut your mouth for you," Heath warns and Brax shakes his head.
"What? It's true," Casey mumbles.
"Was there anything else Heath?" Brax asks, but Heath shakes his head.
"Alright: Kyle, Casey now it's your turn to speak," Brax initiates.
"Well what you did was so embarrassing and it hurt and was so irritating!" Casey is quick to blurt out.
"Okay. What about you Kyle? You've been quiet through this whole thing. How did you feel?" Brax says.
"He was miserable and never felt worse in his life going to school like that after Heath's dumb prank and the kids at school picked on him!" Casey yells.
"Casey, be quiet and let Kyle speak," Brax admonishes.
"Speak up kiddo and be honest," Brax urges.
Kyle avoids all eye contact, Heath already knew how he felt after their talk.
"Well most of the time I felt really hurt and embarrassed," Kyle mumbles.
"How about just recently not wanting to eat?" Brax prompts.
"Huh? When was this?" Heath questions.
"Just the other week when Kyle had been bullied over his hair, there was a day where he barely wanted to eat anything and given how sensitive and small he is, not eating would have been a bad combination," Brax explains.
"Bubs, why would you do something like that? You had better have stopped doing that," Heath says firmly, causing Kyle to look down and not be reminded of that.
"I made sure that he knew the options - either eat or go and see Sid for medication to help him eat and thankfully Kyle chose the better option and voluntarily continued to eat," Brax says.
"Good! Otherwise forget medication I'd make you eat," Heath states.
"It was just one day," Kyle mumbles under his breath but it goes unheard as Casey is quick to blurt out his comment.
"I don't see how when you are the one who steals our food!" Casey argues.
"Don't butt in Case!" Heath snaps.
All four brothers are silent for a moment before Brax finally clears his throat.
"Well I hope this makes you all realise your actions. I don't mind a bit of brotherly tricks and fun from time to time but when it becomes hurtful, disrespectful, or crosses a line, then it is not on. Do we have an understanding?" Brax says firmly.
"Yep; I get it; no more payback. We're even little brothers. I'm sorry for taking things too far with you boys but sometimes you two just can't help being pests and a bit of revenge is needed to keep you in line. However, I can't say I won't ever call you Spooky and Snoopy; those names have grown on both of you," Heath speaks; being the bigger man and smiling at his younger brothers.
"Kyle, Casey: do you both understand?" Brax urges.
Kyle and Casey nod in agreement, however both not nodding for the same reason; Kyle is happy to forgive and forget, but Casey still holds onto some hostility and just nods to forget about the family meeting.
Brax dismisses the meeting.
"I'm going for a surf now and I don't want to come back and deal with any more problems, am I clear?"
"Crystal," Heath replies and Kyle nods.
Casey leaves the table and Brax follows.
"Hey Case; would you like to join me for a surf?" Brax asks.
Not usually one to turn down a surf, Casey shakes his head.
He is too annoyed at Heath's 'apology', not believing a word to enjoy a surf with his big brother.
Casey attempts to storm off to his room when Brax grabs his arm.
"Casey, are you alright?" Brax asks with concern and furrows his brow.
"Yes, Brax; I'm fine. I just don't want to go surfing today," Casey grumbles.
"Well, alright, but if something is bothering you Casey, I want you to talk to me, okay?" Brax replies and releases Casey's arm.
"Yep," Casey grumbles and walks into his room and shuts the door; flopping down on his bed pondering on a mastermind plan to get back at his prankster big brother for good.