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"Two pancake stacks down, two ta go!"
Beat cheerfully poured more pancake batter into the large skillet before turning to the bacon sizzling on the next eye. Then he noticed his younger sibling Rhyme grab the metal tongs to turn the bacon over.
"Bwahhh! Rhyme, what ya doin? The bacon is gonna pop all over ya!"
"Beat, I can handle a few bacon pops. Stop treating me like a baby."
"I just don't want ya ta' get.... hurt again."
Beat's voice was soft and tears threatened to spill from his eyes. He determinedly blinked them away as he turned the next three pancakes over.
Rhyme put a gentle hand on their brother's arm.
"I don't want you to die again either, but you can't protect me forever. I'm growing every day you know."
Rhyme took the bacon out of the other skillet and put them on a plastic plate covered with napkins that already held the first batch of bacon. Usually, the siblings just cooked for themselves since their parents weren't home on Sundays.
Today, they had guests.
Beat sighed as he took the next set of pancakes out, set them on an empty plate, and poured in the last bit of batter.
"Aw shucks, Rhyme. You're always more soap-fish-cated than me."
Rhyme giggled as they put in the last bit of bacon.
"You mean sophisticated, right?"
Beat blushed as he flipped the pancakes.
"Whateva. What ya want on your pancakes?"
"The usual."
"Chocolate syrup and whipped cream, eh?"
Beat wrinkled his nose in disgust as he went to the fridge, but smiled at Rhyme as he opened it.
"Ya always had a sweet tooth."
"Like you don't always have a meat tooth. If you turn into a pig or a cow, Shiki can have a new stuffed animal."
"Hey, I ain't no stuffed toy. I'm just a growing boy!"
Beat then went to Rhyme to ruffle their hair before abruptly lifting them up high and spinning them around in a circle.
Rhyme yelped and then started laughing. The two of them spun and laughed until Shiki and Neku walked into the kitchen.