Whether it's a sibling, friend, or family member, everyone has someone they can feel overshadowed by. That rings especially true for Marcus Little, and doubly so when a certain someone visits the Tipton…

-000-

In the hotel, inside London Tipton's Penthouse Suite, in one of her many closets, Marcus Little hid, hoping beyond hope that they weren't found for the next few days, at least.

He'd already brought more than enough rations to suit that purpose.

Despite the spacious nature of the room, he'd kept relatively close to the sliding door on the off chance that its owner somehow dropped by (that, or he got caught by her army of maids and servants).

It wouldn't take long for him to make a mistake, however. He'd overestimated how busy the girl would be, especially given who was visiting the hotel soon…

Hence why he couldn't form an answer when he found the Asian girl glaring down at him, her arms crossed and somewhat irritated.

"What are you doing in here?!"

Shrinking under the older teen's gaze, the dark-skinned boy barely got out a response. "H-Hiding..."

A flicker of concern appeared to cross her features. "From what?"

"You…you know who's coming to the Tipton, right? J-Just don't tell anyone I'm here. Keep it a secret!"

"Whatever…"

With that, her concern (and knowledge of Marcus' presence) seemed to all but vanish as she ran off, mumbling about the visitor and having forgotten something.

As he slunk back into his corner, he began to feel guilty and wondered how long he could keep this up…and why he was hiding from the guest in the first place.

He was his brother, after all.

-000-

Down in the lobby, the doorman had just taken the bags of someone who was uncomfortably managing to squirm away from an ocean of paparazzi (and for once, it wasn't London), all the while shielding himself from the late afternoon sun. It was a somewhat tall young man of African-American descent with a low-cut fade hairstyle and a lighter complexion. Most notable about him was his gray outlined prescription basketball goggles he rarely took off, even off the court.

This was none other than Marcellus Little, considered by many to be a rising phenom in the basketball world, his name already being brought up in conversation with the likes of Jordan, Iverson, James, and Curry even though he was still finishing college.

You wouldn't be able to tell it by the haggard look on his face. While the constant practice sessions, play, and workouts made him look pretty good physically, the never-ending routines had taken quite a toll mentally.

That was only part of the reason why he needed to see his little brother, though…

Regardless, he wasn't going to get his wish immediately, as the moment he turned around, he found himself swarmed yet again after just barely getting settled and stepping out of his room. He'd only avoided the mass of people coming for him by taking a few alternate routes here and there to throw them off, and even then, who knew how long that quick fix would hold?

The rich Asian girl had been hounding him ever since he got near the door…something about sponsoring him? He forced on a smile.

"Yeah, you're that girl, right? The one who owns this place?"

She blinked, looking at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "Do you really not know who I am?"

"Not…really? Well, I know you're Tipton and all that, but…"

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say, as from there she went on a giant spiel about how she was the "fabulous London Tipton" or something like that while he pretended to listen as he quietly plotted a way to slip away from her.

Thankfully, a convenient excuse came running over to him…

It was a pretty-looking Hispanic girl dressed in a beautiful yet practical business suit. In her frantic, stressed state, she reminded him of one of his many agents…

"Lo siento, llego tarde…" She choked out through her panting.

When Marcellus gave the heiress a weird look, she casually supplied the translation. "She said she's sorry for being late."

"You understood her?"

London shrugged. "She taught me."

"One would think that the heiress to a multi-billion dollar empire would know at least a few other languages…" The apparent errand girl bemoaned after she caught her breath. "I'm Consuela Rodriguez, by the way, though most people call me Connie."

"Cool. I'm Marcellus Little."

"Oh, so you're Mercedes' brother…"

"…and Marcus', too," He pointed out, knowing that his youngest sibling was being left out. "Speaking of, you haven't seen him, have you?"

Connie shook her head regretfully. "Haven't heard a peep out of him all day."

"No…" London trailed off rather suspiciously, causing her assistant to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You know something, don't you?" It was asked in a tone more befitting a statement of fact than a question.

"Nope…" She popped the "p", making the Hispanic groan.

"Why don't you?"

"It's a secret," the rich girl whispered conspiratorially in her ear.

Marcellus rubbed his forehead, suddenly feeling an incoming migraine. "Do you at least have a guess as to where he is?"

"Maybe..."

"What's the catch-"

"You...you're Marcellus the Great!"

The basketball player turned away from the girls to catch sight of another fan with a ball in hand, a blonde tween boy that vaguely reminded him of a certain Canadian pop star…

Recalling his agent's PR advice, he put on a smile and gave him a stylized handshake that he'd learned to fire off by heart. "'Sup, Little Man. Got something for me to sign?"

He practically thrust it into his face, bursting with excitement like a kid on Christmas morning…much like the multitudes of other kids (and even a few parents) he did this with.

He only noticed the barely held in laughter going on behind them after he finished up.

The boy noticed, his smile vanishing away in favor of an unamused, flat expression.

"What's so funny?" Marcellus asked.

"Would you believe…" Connie had to pause to giggle a bit. "That that's Zack Martin?"

Zack glared daggers at both girls. "You will never speak of this."

The dark-toned male snapped his fingers. "Now I remember you! Marcus said something about you. Don't you have a twin brother or something like that?"

"Yeah. I'm sure he's around here somewhere. He's not much of a sports fan…"

"Okay, cool. Do you know anything about where I can find Marcus?"

He ran a hand through his hair and glanced off deeper into the hallway. "Could've sworn he went into London's suite. It's that massive penth—"

He was cut off by the girl in question's shushing. "It's supposed to be a SECRET, Zack. Geez, don't you know what that is?!"

Marcellus gave Connie and Zack a look. "Is this girl for real?!"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"You learn to get used to it."

After a moment, he turned in the direction that his fan indicated. "Then, by all means, lead the way…"

-000-

After a quick detour for Zack to put his ball away, the quartet made it to the rich girl's abode, which looked more like a fashion-themed fortress rather than a simple hotel room, only for a problem to instantly present itself.

"This place is MASSIVE! Finding Marcus in here is gonna be like finding a needle in a haystack!"

The older Little gave the Asian teen a dirty look. "I've been to five-star resorts that are smaller than this place. How does anyone find anything here?!"

"Find? Please. I have domes for that." She casually snapped her fingers, sending a platoon of flying machines flying up in an array in front of her, silently awaiting the girl's orders.

"You meant drones," he stated.

"That's what I said," She turned to the mechs with a commanding tone. "Now, find anyone that's not the four of us!"

After briefly scanning the group (much to Marcellus and Zack's discomfort), they departed in different directions to scour the scene…

After about ten minutes of tapping his feet, the basketball player found he couldn't wait any longer. "You know, I think I'm gonna go look myself…"

"I wouldn't recommend that," the blonde said with a concerning glint in his eye. "Believe me, you don't want to get lost in here."

"You're talking like you're speaking from experience."

"Yup. Got lost in a catering section once. Blew a whole Spring Break in there. Seen things that no man should see…"

Connie rolled her eyes. "You ate through half of it and used a random pile of clothes as a restroom!"

Marcellus looked absolutely disgusted as did the other girls while Zack defended his actions.

"One, I didn't know that there was a bathroom a 20-minute hike away, and two, London doesn't even wear 90 percent of this stuff anyway!"

"True," the fashionista admitted.

"I…choose to forget I heard this." He tried and failed to keep the anxiety and frustration out of his words as he got things back on track. "Did those tin cans manage to find my brother yet? I've got somewhere I need to be tonight!"

Firing up an app on her phone suited to the purpose, Connie checked the status of the machines.

She muttered some choice words quietly to herself about the unfavorable outcome, then looked up.

"He's not in here. At all."

"WHAT?!"

-000-

Night was just starting to fall on an abandoned basketball court not too far from the hotel, a certain boy in a hoodie tries (and fails) to get buckets as a person his senior watches on from near the benches, arms crossed and motionless outwardly but silently pitying the one before him.

"Come on, come on! Get in the hoop!"

After what must have been the 30th missed shot, the man, Rico, felt he had to intervene.

"Marcus!" The young man called for the ball and the moment he caught it tossed up a few shots from two and three-point range for fun. He was far more accurate than the darker-skinned boy had been, leaving him in awe as he got the ball tossed back to him.

"Where did you learn to play like that...?"

"I had an uncle that used to ball over in Brasil."

"Really?"

He smiled subtly, a gesture accentuated by his sunglasses. "The US might have a lot of the best players, but a ton of them come from all around the world. The Gasols, Jokic, Doncic, just to name a few…"

Marcus stared at him, baffled by the unfamiliar names. "I have no idea who any of those guys are, but…was your uncle any good?"

The teenager did a belly laugh, sounding much older than his years. "Are you kidding? He sucked! He said himself that he was semi-pro on his best days! He did wind up really getting into painting, though…"

Sobering up a bit, Rico called for the ball that Marcus had been aimlessly dribbling and put it aside.

"Much like him, I'm pretty sure that this isn't something you're truly interested in. You never did tell me why you had me take you all the way out here, by the way."

Indeed, he'd only called Rico to fish him out of his client's room initially. Him wanting to come out here was really sudden, especially when they both knew who was supposed to be visiting today.

The shorter of the two avoided answering, lowering his gaze as waves of guilt and shame consumed him—not just for neglecting the older brother he'd scarcely seen since graduating high school, but for being the outsider in the Little family.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, the movement being a small, subtle encouragement to speak.

"I just want to be good enough to impress him. There's…There's nothing special about me."

"What do you mean?" Rico prodded softly.

"Marcellus and my sister Mercedes are pro players, and I'm pretty sure you know who my dad is…"

It took Rico a moment to remember given he wasn't that into music, but… "Big Little, right?"

Marcus saw his lack of remembrance as meaning something entirely different. "If it takes you a second to remember that he exists, then what does that make me?"

The Hispanic teen frowned, not quite certain where he was going with this but pitying him all the same. It couldn't have been easy to be buried underneath a famous family.

His own family had its own issues hidden behind the scenes and London was an only child…as far as she was willing to talk about.

"You're…someone who hasn't found their calling yet," Rico settled on after some thought. "Don't worry about that too nuch just yet. You still have time. Heck we both do.*

Marcus seemed…kind of convinced by this, somewhat nodding along with the taller man's thought process.

"You drive London around and 'bodyguard' her, right? Why'd you start doing that?"

"Why does anyone do anything? Oftentimes our circumstances shape us into who we are. Other times, it's our own personal choices that guide us."

The African American boy blinked. "You're not gonna tell me, are you?"

"Now where would be the fun in that?"

"That sounds like something Zack would say…" He was aware of Rico's…interesting relationship with the older Martin twin.

That got a grin out of him. "Me and the gamberro might just have more than a few things in common. Case in point, our penchant for scheming." He called out to the surrounding park area. "You can come out now!"

The bushes in the park area beside the court began to rustle, with two people stumbling out from behind them.

"I hope those ants didn't see my suit as dinner…"

Zack tilted his head at Connie's gripe. "What an oddly specific thing to complain about…"

London practically flung herself out of another set of bushes, though anything she had to say came out a bit muffled due to the gym clothing being crammed in her mouth, complimenting the much more expensive-looking fabrics that looked like they were lifted straight from her own room…because they were.

The one crawling out after her nearly caused Marcus to flinch.

It was his brother. His jacket and undershirt was ripped up in several places and overall, he did not look happy…

Marcus's stomach did backflips, but he choked a greeting out, his voice squeaking embarrassingly as he did so.

"Hiya, Big Bro! How…was your flight…?"

Though he knew Marcellus wasn't exactly known for his temper, he'd fully expected him to be mad at him for giving him the slip. Marcus had promised him (albeit sort of reluctantly) that they'd spend the night together before he went off to deal with a press junket. Instead of those hard feelings being directed at him, however, they were more so aimed at the Asian in front of him.

Once he broke eye contact with her, he did give him a very dirty look. "You could've told me you were hanging around here! I'd have gladly shot some hoops with you! You realize that I had to move so many things around just to make time to find you? If he hadn't kept in touch with that Connie girl, we'd still be tearing through all of Boston looking for you."

The shorter Little looked down guiltily. In his mind, this was just another reason for the rest of the family to look down on him. He could only imagine what his parents would say when…

"I'm not telling Mom and Pop, of that's what you're worried about." Marcellus said in a measured, almost parental tone as if he'd been reading his thoughts. "I just want to know why."

Hearing the hurt behind his brother's last sentence made him want to shrink back, but with an encouraging pat on the shoulder from Rico, he told his side of the story.

What Marcus hadn't known at the time of his departure was that the group been secretly informed of his whereabouts right after giving up on finding him in the heiress's suite. Connie had been instructed to not directly intervene until he gave a very obvious signal.

Before he even finished his story, his brother's arms were around him.

"Why didn't you just talk to us, any of us, about how you felt?"

"W-Why would you want me ruining your careers?" The boy's sobs had come without warning, the inevitable result of holding down feelings he'd been bottling up for what was probably years.

He was allowed to vent emotionally for a few minutes until he was gently pulled away.

"Look. We love you. We don't think any less of you because you aren't doing the things that we are.

"Easy for you to say when tons of fans are already worshipping you like a god…"

"That doesn't mean anything to me. Those kinds of people come and go. I'm not thinking about them when I'm off the court and sometimes even I'm on it. I'm thinking about you, Cede, and our folks. My agent says it keeps me humble, and his advice is mostly right on the money."

"You… You do?"

"Yup. And as much as she tries to hide it behind her mouth, Mercedes misses you too. She even promised herself that she wouldn't so much as touch a plate of mac &.cheese anymore until she can have it again with you, and I know how much you both love the stuff…"

Somehow, Marcus could believe that. While she had her fair share of fun at his expense (especially when it came to the "reflex tests" she'd administered throughout his childhood to mess with him over of his lack of athletic ability), there was the time she stood up to a bunch of girls that kept spreading weird rumors about him and his dad when he'd long since resigned himself to his fate (threatening to knock the girls' teeth down their throats notwithstanding).

Marcellus chuckled good-naturedly. "Besides, if the money and fame ever starts getting to me, I can always remember that there's someone very close to you that I don't ever want to be…"

He shot a pointed glare at the one he was talking about, now untied. She scoffed and turned away.

"What did she do to you?"

"Be herself, I take it?" Rico threw into the conversation with a smirk.

"She was bad when we told her she had to walk..." Zack started.

"…and got even worse when we tried to get her to hide in the bushes." Connie finished. "Hence why we had to tie her up…again."

London leveled a sour look at the both of them. "Traitors."

"So, uh, what happens now?" the younger brother wondered after some chatter amongst the group.

The college player rested his hands behind his head as he yawned. Well. It is getting late…but I think we'll have time for a quick pick-up game before we have to go. How's that sound?"

Marcus wanted to smile, but there was something holding him back.

"…and I don't care how well you do. I just want to spend some quality time with my little brother. Is that so wrong?"

The boy finally let a small sheepish grin fall through. "I guess not."

-000-

They wound up playing three sets two-on-two matchups. Even though Marcellus was far and away the best player out of the five (yes, even London played) with Zack being a distant second, nobody was taking things too seriously. In fact, towards the end, the situation changed to the group just bonding. They talked all the way back to the hotel and into the night…

-000-

A few days later…

On the new day of the conference, Marcellus sat on a bench backstage trying to relax and hydrate before he had to step out.

Public speaking had never been his strong suit.

He was in the midst of quietly trying to hype himself up and review his notes when a nervous-sounding voice caught his attention.

"Um… Mr. Little, sir?"

A blond-haired tween dressed as one of the journalists poked his head in the door. He didn't recognize him at first.

"Yeah?"

"We'll be ready for you in about ten, sir."

"Alright." The boy was just awkwardly stepping out of frame when the truth finally clicked in the player's overtaxed mind. "Hold up. Can I talk to you for a minute, kid?"

He walked back in the room just as uncomfortably. "Yes?"

"You're Cody Martin, aren't you? Zack's brother? Friends with Marcus?"

The boy beamed, all but confirming his suspicions. "Guilty as charged."

He went up and shook the boy's hand and Marcellus found himself relaxing significantly. "Nice to meet you. So then, what brings you here? I would think you'd be at school right now."

"Well, technically, this is for school," Cody explained. I'm part of a work study program. At times, I intern at different places for college credit."

The dark-skinned young man looked at him again, not entirely believing what he was hearing. "Aren't you a little young for that?"

"The school system made an exception for me and a few other students. When my guidance counselor came to me with the opportunity, I just couldn't say no. After all, it's never too early to be exposed to many different possible career paths before you have to make the choice for real."

"Good deal," he smiled, shaking his head in amusement after thinking about it for a moment. "Gotta respect the hustle there."

The Caucasian boy blushed as he added one more thing. "Um, thanks. I-I'll be out there getting my stuff ready…"

"Don't worry. You'll do great. We both will."

"Right." With that single word, he left.

One of the last things he thought about before following suit was the mini- adventure he'd gone on a few days ago.

Those two couldn't have been more different, could they? And yet, much like his own, they were family all the same…

-END-

This episode's title is a reference to the 2000 film titled "Love & Basketball".

This is far from the only time we'll see Cody engaging in his work study program. It'll wind up taking him to some pretty cool places, too, so stay tuned for that.

On your way out the door, be sure to ask questions, comment, review and show your support in any way available if you liked what you've read here. Also, keep tabs on this story and profile for more. Goodbye until next time!