"My turn to babysit!" Kai exclaimed as he rushed aboard the Destiny's Bounty's deck.
Jay gave a laugh as Kai scooped Zane up.
"Oh!" Confused and startled, Zane froze, letting Kai pick him up and rearrange him. After a moment, Zane was seated at the back of Kai's neck and shoulders, Zane's arms wrapped around Kai's head at the forehead, Zane's legs dangling in front on either side.
"What do you think of that, little man?" Kai asked.
Still confused but not really startled anymore, Zane looked around from his new position. "I am… Tall?"
"Sure thing," Kai said approvingly.
"I'll get headed out, then," Jay said, but he stepped closer to Kai and Zane instead of stepping toward the edge of the deck. "Nya and Pixal should be waiting for me at Borg Tower for planning the next steps."
"Should be waiting for you," Kai agreed. "Which means they might not be waiting at all."
"Kai," Jay groaned. "Why'd you have to say it like that?"
"To make you get going quicker," Kai said.
Jay stuck his tongue out.
Kai laughed. "Go on, get going!"
Jay left, still sticking his tongue out as he glanced back.
"Why is his tongue out like that?" Zane asked.
"It's a way of teasing me for teasing him. But he's just jealous it's my turn to hang out with you," Kai said in a knowing tone. "So! What do you want to do, Zane?"
Zane patted his hands on Kai's head consideringly. "Mister Jay and I-"
"You know you don't have to call us all 'mister' and 'miss,' right?" Kai interrupted.
"But it is polite," Zane said.
"You don't always have to be polite, especially to family," Kai said. "I mean, you should be nice to family, but you don't have to always be polite to family. And we're family, you know?"
Zane thought about that. Carefully, he repeated, "We are family."
"Yeah!" Kai cheered, swaying a little.
Zane, still situated on Kai's shoulders, clung to him more tightly, clamping his legs around Kai's neck and pressing his cheek to the back of Kai's head.
Immediately, Kai stopped swaying. "Not a big fan of that, huh?"
"It makes me feel like I may fall," Zane admitted.
"And that's scary, isn't it?" Kai asked.
Zane nodded against the back of Kai's head.
Evidently Kai felt that. "It's not fun to be scared. Do you want to get down?"
"Yes please," Zane said.
Kai carefully knelt, putting Zane's feet on the deck flooring so that Zane could stand on his own before Kai withdrew. "Sorry about that. I thought you'd like it."
"I liked it at first," Zane said, turning to face Kai. "It was interesting to be tall, and I really liked being close together. I just didn't like the swaying part. It didn't feel safe."
Kai sat back on his heels, looking thoughtful. "You really liked being close together, but you wanted it to feel safer, right?"
Zane nodded, unsure where this was going.
With a grin, Kai stood and held out a hand. He said, "I have an idea. Come on!"
Zane grabbed Kai's hand and followed.
A few minutes later, they had piled a majority of the blankets and quite a few of the pillows from all of the Destiny's Bounty into the room with several couches around a TV.
Kai began pushing at the couches. "Here we go… And if we put that there… Nice!"
Zane watched with wide eyes as Kai turned the couches to face each other more.
"That'll do," Kai said with approval. "Okay. Zane, have you ever made a pillow fort before?"
Picturing that, Zane shook his head. "A fort made of pillows does not sound very stable or easily defendable."
"Well, it's a little bit off of a name. It's not for being defended, and it's not all made of pillows. Blankets and couches and stuff are a big part of it too," Kai said. He came back over toward Zane and patted the pile of blankets. "Which one do you want to start with? No pressure on what you pick, it's all good."
Zane considered the blanket options, trailing his hand along the pile. After a moment, he carefully pulled out a large light blue blanket that felt really soft. "Maybe this one?"
"That's a great pick," Kai said, taking the blanket and holding it up thoughtfully. "How about we use this as the floor? It'd really help if you helped me spread it out."
"Okay," Zane agreed, taking one end of the blanket he'd selected. "I like to help."
"I know you do," Kai said in a tone Zane could only describe as fond.
Slowly but surely, blankets took the places of a floor, walls, a ceiling, and even a door, while pillows kept the blankets situated where they'd been placed. Soon enough, Zane was sitting inside a definite "fort" shape, looking around with wonder.
"Knock knock," Kai called from outside the fort, where he'd been making sure the pillows keeping the ceiling up were perfectly set.
"Knock knock," Zane repeated. Oh, he knew this one! Zane bounced in place eagerly. "Who's there?"
"It's Kai," Kai replied.
"It's Kai who?" Zane repeated.
Unexpectedly, Kai laughed. "It's Kai, and I didn't know you knew knock-knock jokes."
That was a silly punchline. Zane laughed too. "Mister Jay and Mister Lloyd taught me!"
"Oh, good for them. Anyway, can I come in?" Kai asked.
"Yes, please do!" Zane said, scooting back to one side of the fort to make room.
Pulling aside the flap of blanket that counted as a door, Kai crawled in. His hair brushed at the ceiling as he made his way forward. He made a movement as if to sit up, looked around for a moment, and then sprawled out on his belly beside Zane, propping up his chin on one hand. "We made an excellent fort."
"Excellent," Zane agreed. "You are very good at this!"
"I've got plenty of practice," Kai said. "Nya and me, we made these all the time when we were young, usually when we wanted to feel all cozy. We still make them sometimes, just for fun, and we showed Lloyd how to do them too when he was little."
Zane tried to imagine it, Lloyd and Nya and even Kai being little or young. It wasn't an easy thing to imagine, especially about Nya and Kai, so he eventually gave up on trying.
Humming, Zane flopped down on his side next to Kai. "Mister Kai?"
"Yeah?" Kai asked, rolling onto his back and pulling Zane closer to him.
"You said we're family," Zane said slowly. "Right?"
"Right," Kai agreed. "You and me and all the rest of us."
"Family," Zane repeated himself. "I kind of liked being tall, and I really like being close together, and I do quite like the pillow fort, but I like family the most."
Kai laughed softly. "Me too, little man. Me too."