(Original publication date: 29th of February, 2024, on Archive of Our Own)

Lloyd spent the evening locked in his room. He was thinking of a plan to stop the dinner, to stay away from Morro.

Morro was adopted by Wu at a very young age, when Lloyd was in preschool. Morro was an orphan on the streets before that, so his behaviour wasn't expected to be very good, but it's been 10 years and he still hasn't learned any manners.

Or maybe he was just like that around Lloyd.

Every chance he got, he would torment Lloyd. Sometimes Morro would hang Lloyd on the bathroom peg before taping his mouth, and locking the door. Other times he would play pranks on him, but not the normal ones like putting a whoopie cushion on the chair or throwing fake bugs at him.

I'm fact, they weren't even pranks. They were just a punishment for Lloyd's existence.

Once, Lloyd was eating a burger and noticed it was slimy. "That's just the sauce," was Morro's response. After finishing the burger, Morro sounded surprised and said, "Wait, I just remembered! I sneezed on that burger!"

Another time, Lloyd opened a door and tools fell on his head, causing him to end up in the hospital for two nights. The reason? Morro wanted to demonstrate "Home Alone traps in real life".

And then there was- no, that's too disgusting, I can't tell you that.

Lloyd shivered in disgust upon remembering Morro and all his actions. Now he had to avoid him.

Suddenly, he had an idea. It was a stupid idea, but also his only idea and the last resort.

He snuck in his mother's room and took out her makeup. First, he took the blush and made his cheeks look redder. Then he made dark circles around his eyes using eyeshadow.

He took one look in the mirror and discovered that he looked like a five year old girl pretending to be older. He didn't look sick enough.

Then he had another idea. It hindsight, it would've seemed incredibly stupid and dangerous to Lloyd. But nothing was worse than an encounter with Morro.

Or so he thought.

Lloyd went to the storage room, and opened the box which contained all the medicines in the house. He spent some time looking at each medicine- its purpose, its dosage and its production and expiry date. Then he found the perfect bottle.

It read: Paracetamol for Adults: Expiry Date: 4-1-2015.

So it had expired at the very start of the year. This was August. It had been rotting for quite a while, now. That's perfect for actually making himself sick.

Lloyd didn't even take the dosage into consideration. He drank the whole bottle.

Weird. Nothing happened.

He went back to his room and decided to lie down on his bed. Soon after, Koko entered the room.

"Lloyd, Wu and Morro are here." She looked at her son. "What happened to you?"

It was then Lloyd realised that he hadn't taken off the makeup. But he had to play along.

"M-mom, I don't feel so good..."

Koko sighed in exhaustion. "Lloyd, I know that's makeup. Take it off and come to the living room please, I'm really stressed out right now."

Lloyd got out of bed in dismay. He went to the bathroom and washed his face. He went to the living room and saw his uncle and cousin. They were both smiling, one out of happiness and one out of evil intentions.

"Good evening, Uncle." Lloyd smiled. He turned to Morro and his expression became serious. "Good evening, Morro."

Wu looked as if he was going to give a reply, but was interrupted by Morro: "YO, WHAT'S UP LLOYD? WHERE'S THE FOOD? I'M HUNGRY?" He looked as if he was ready to eat Lloyd up. Wu and Koko just looked at each other and laughed.

They just think we're joking around, Lloyd thought.

Lloyd was not happy when it was time for dinner. His food looked okay, but he felt sick just looking at the way Morro was eating. Unnaturally sick. So sick, that he was ready to throw up all over the table.

And then he remembered the medicine he took.

Wu noticed his nephew's behaviour. "Are you okay, Lloyd? You look rather pale."

"I'm okay," Lloyd tried to say, but his voice was quieter than a whisper. He tried to speak again. "I need to throw up." He got off the chair and went to the bathroom as fast as he could, but he was too weak. He managed to make it just in time.

Lloyd had vomited many times before, just like anyone has, but this was worse than anything that had ever happened to him. He wouldn't stop throwing up. For a while, he couldn't remember anything. He couldn't remember who he was, and anything that had ever happened to him. He couldn't hear the calls for him from outside the bathroom or footsteps coming towards him.

All he knew is that he was very, very sick.