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Hunter came out of the bathroom, dressed in baggy crimson sweatpants and a very faded moto x t-shirt, and collapsed onto the unfolded hide-a-bed. "How you settling in, bro?"
"I'm okay," Blake said, sitting cross-legged on his own bed, wearing similar navy sleep wear. "I can't believe we're here. I can't believe that all this happened today."
He knew Hunter knew what he'd meant, with the three Winds and Cam showing up at the doorway of their shoddy "apartment" and demanding they move out. They probably should have protested more, but even he and Hunter could see that it was a bad place... and at least with the Winds and Cam moving them in here made it easier to justify to their foster father.
Hunter nodded, a grin tugging at his mouth. "Yeah, but it's bedtime and it's actually *quiet*. How cool is that?"
"Almost as cool as dinner," Blake grinned in return. Then he sobered. "What scares me is what happens when Sensei O. finds out."
"Cam and the Winds showed up at the door," Hunter reminded him. "We could've refused, but they just would've brought Sensei W. in. And he doesn't strike me as the type to let us stay there. What could we do?"
"Right," Blake said, trying to imagine what would have happened if they'd refused and Cam had come back with his father. "At least Cam didn't tell his dad where we were. I don't want to think what would have happened if he did...."
"Cam was dead serious about the 20 mile jogs," Hunter said quietly. "A month seems a little long, though."
Blake shrugged, shifting as he tried to get comfortable on the lone bed in the room. At least it had a good mattress. But that's all that could be said about it.
"Having trouble settling in all of a sudden, bro?" Hunter asked, getting up.
"This doesn't seem quite as comfortable as it did when I had a concussion," Blake replied, inspecting the bed as if he were seeing it for the very first time.
"Hey, at least you're not on *this* bed," Hunter told him, indicating where he was sitting. "This hide-a-bed has a really thin mattress."
"I heard Sensei and Cam talk about bunk beds," Blake offered his brother reassurance the uncomfortable bed was a temporary inconvenience. "I bet the hide-a-bed's not going to be here for much longer. We're getting ourselves moved in whether we want to or not."
Hunter smiled and obtrusively checked his watch. "It took you six hours bro?"
Blake chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Just not used to this, bro. We went from being hungry and just us to living with the head of the Wind Academy and his son. And invited to raid the fridge whenever we want."
"Gotta love that perk," Hunter said, leaning back and stretching. "Even if Cam is gonna be monitoring what we eat for awhile."
"Nutrition's a pain," Blake said adamantly. "It could be worse, though, bro."
"Cam could be more anal?" Hunter joked lightly. "I raided one of those small ice cream bars in the freezer. They're pretty good."
"You do realize they're tofu," Blake said, grimacing at the thought.
"Well, I wouldn't hold it against them," Hunter standing up. "Want to go to the kitchen and get a couple?"
"Dude, we just brushed our teeth! And Cam isn't anal, per se, just worried," Blake corrected, going back to Hunter's earlier comment.
"When Cam gets worried, he gets a glint in his eye," Hunter said, his tone warning. "And then he gets anal. You remember how much of a pain he was as a hostage?
"Dude, do you *blame* him?" Blake asked, sitting up again.
"No," Hunter said meekly. "We seem to be doing some really *stupid* stuff lately. I don't even wanna know how he tracked us."
"Our morphers, maybe?" Blake suggested, biting his lip.
"Probably," Hunter said, nodding in agreement. "I should have known he was up to something at Target."
"Just as well he was," Blake pointed out. "Otherwise we'd have gotten sick before anyone knew something was wrong."
"Yeah." Hunter nodded in agreement. "Cam practically sitting on us and explaining what was going wrong wasn't fun, but at least we now know what's going on."
Blake also nodded. "And why I was feeling crappy all the time."
Hunter sat up. "Why didn't you say something?"
"You had enough to worry about," Blake said, shrugging as if it didn't matter.
Hunter beckoned.
Blake eyed him skeptically, but got up and approached the hide-a-bed.
"Bro," Hunter said, motioning towards a spot on the unfolded bed, "Sit down. We need to have another talk."
"Cam went through this using lots of small words," Blake complained, still not sitting down. "Can we skip it? It wasn't one of my brighter moments."
Hunter grabbed Blake's shoulder, and pulled him down.
"Dude!" Blake exclaimed in protest, rolling instinctively to a more defensible position.
"Blake. I'm the older brother here. You should *tell* me when you're getting sick," Hunter said sternly, putting his hand back on Blake's shoulder.
Blake shook off Hunter's hand and stood up again, away from his brother. "What could you have done?"
Hunter shrugged, moved across the bed, and pulled Blake back down, this time into a hug. "I don't know. Something. Might have just made things easier for Cam, but..."
Blake tried to pull away, but Hunter wasn't letting go. "Hunter, I'm OK."
"I'm not."
"Great," Blake muttered as Hunter buried his face in Blake's shoulder. "So we get sick and we walk right into the Winds' hands."
"Is it that bad a place to be?" Hunter asked, pulling Blake backwards so they were lying on the bed.
"Overprotective much?" Blake asked in protest, squirming into a more comfortable position next to Hunter.
"Big brother's privilege," Hunter answered softly. "Same reason I get the hide-a-bed and you get the regular bed."
Blake shifted a little, clearly still getting comfortable. "You're gonna make me move?"
"Not right now," Hunter said sleepily. "'Sides, at least I know you're here and not missing...."
"Do I look like I'm missing to you?" Blake said, exasperated.
"Missing more meals than you should," Hunter pointed out.
"You were more hungry than you let on, weren't you bro?" Blake asked. He'd had to be careful how hungry he looked, because Hunter would often wheedle him into eating the last bit of food, even if he'd all ready had more than Hunter.
"Doesn't matter," Hunter said, still holding Blake.
"Yes, it does, but it's a moot point," Blake said, yawning sleepily.
"Yeah, Cam'll get after us if we don't eat," Hunter said, ruffling Blake's hair and reaching for a blanket to cover Blake with. "And the last thing we need is to eat all the time."
"Cam does mother hen very well," Blake said, yawning again.
"Yeah, well with you I need all the help I can get," Hunter said, spreading the blanket over them and wrapping his arms around Blake again.
"I'm not that bad," Blake yawned.
"Hey, I had to protect you from the moment I met you!" Hunter reminded him, his tone teasing.
"Bro, go mother hen Cam," Blake said, trying to push Hunter away. "We're eating. We're safe. Deal."
"'kay," Hunter said, not moving.
Blake yawned pointedly.
"Sweet dreams li'l bro," Hunter said, letting go long enough to turn off the lamp.
Blake snuggled under the blanket. "Good night, bro," Blake said. "School tomorrow."
"What else is new?" Hunter asked, snuggling back against Blake.
"Being here," Blake said sleepily. "But I'll cope."
"That was sarcasm, bro," Hunter said.
"Hunter, shut up," Blake said affectionately.
"I love you too, bro," Hunter teased, mussing his brother's hair again.
Blake didn't say anything, just cuddled against his brother and eventually fell asleep.
The End