There are a handful of days every child cherishes enough to go crazy in joy on; christmas is one, birthdays another for some quick examples. However, only one of the two children was running around in celebration that he finally reached the goal of ten years of age. His mother was relaxed in a chair as she fanned her fatigued self because of the heat wave and her energetic son running around the house in glee. It was early in the morning and she could only imagine it either staying this hot or getting hotter as the day ran on. 

“Claus, honey, aren’t you tired from the heat?”

“Heat can’t stop me, heat can’t stop me!” he panted while jogging in place. He had no idea exactly what this tumbling feeling in the pit of his stomach was and why it was causing him to sprint all over the family room. Whatever it was, it felt great and running made it feel even better.

She sighed, and fanned herself more. She knew she had to get up to not only make their favorite omelet dishes, she had to bake the cake too. She could swear it was hot enough for the cake to bake and the eggs to fry without the aid of the stove.

“I won’t, ma!” he sang and started to dance in place; no where close to burning off all his seemingly endless energy.

“Don’t get dehydrated, dear.” his mother warned. She grunted when she got up to make her way over to the kitchen to prepare.

The red-headed twin ran up the stairs in a fit of laughter, an ominous sign for things to come, for one of his favorite things to do was pounce on his unsuspecting-still-sleeping brother. Reaching their room, he saw messy blonde hair buried under their pillows. He smirked and crept his way to the bed; he did not remove the pillow from his face but grinned largely and shouted as loud as he could, “Hey, Lucas!”

The blonde one only turned over with a murmur and sighed; it looked like he slipped into an ever deeper sleep.

Claus snorted and decided to pounce after all. 

“Get up, I’m not letting you sleep in today!”

“U-uuwah!!” Lucas cried and pulled Claus off the bed with him landing with a heavy fall on the floor. Despite the rough fall, Claus howled in laughter. Lucas looked up at him unamused with pained and teary eyes.

Claus snickered and ruffled his brother’s already messy hair, “Don’t cry today! We finally made it!”

“Made what..?” Lucas asked. His voice was softer than usual because he was still tired and he was now confused.

“We’re ten, Lucas! We’re finally double digit!” he said and grinned as he shook his sleepy brother’s shoulders gently.

“…Huh? What does it mean, then? I’m-” Lucas yawned in-between sentences as he rubbed his eyes, “…not following the big deal…” 

“We’re another step to becoming closer to being adults! And to the big open door to uh…” he trailed off and then thought about it before continuing. “Um… stuff that we can’t do now!” he finished, not being able to come up with anything worth while because he didn’t know about the ‘adult life’ himself; he just looked forward to it.

“I think,” Lucas yawned once more, “being an adult is harder… more dangerous… and probably full of unpleasant and awkward situations.”

“And being a kid isn’t hard, unpleasant and awkward?” Claus asked and Lucas shrugged in response; his senses still not fully awakened. “What about not knowing the answer to a math question in front of everyone? Or the hardships of learning to ride a bike? Or even…” his stare darkened and awoke Lucas with slight fear of what he might say…“Bed wetting?”

Lucas face flushed, making him as red as the summer tomatoes out in the field of their house. 

“I-I thought we said we would never bring that up again, Claus!” Lucas whined as his eyes welled up with more tears; this time, in embarrassment.

Claus covered his smirk with his hand to hide his amusement, but the effort was vain because he was still lightly slapped on the head. 

“Oh come on! It’s not like I have never before either!”

“But you laugh because you did way less than I did!”

He continued to hold in his childish snickers for the sake of his sensitive brother, but even when he tried, they stilled slipped out when he spoke, “But, but..! We’re over that now!”

“And we’ll never bring that up again! Pinky swear!” Lucas demanded with his pinky finger out.

Claus gripped Lucas’s pinky with his own. After the contact, Claus got a suspicious grin on his face and said, “Remember the time when Boney pulled down your shorts in front of Ritchie—”

“Augh!” Lucas cried and ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Claus bust into a fit of laughter and rolled on the floor holding onto his pained ribs. “L-Lucas!” he heaved as he tried to get up, his eyes tearing up from laughing so hard. “I-It’s not so bad! Ahaha!” he felt pains in his stomach from the laughter and held his stomach tighter. He knew he was going to feel sorry for this later in the day. There was nothing worse for him than making his gentle and tender brother cry.

—

Claus was scolded by his mother once he reached the bottom of the stairs, but he didn’t mind because he saw it coming from a long shot. Lucas was still recovering from it as he ate his large omelet, it looked like it was doing a good job cheering him up.

“So, Lucas, when are you going to finish that there omelet of yours?” Claus asked impatiently. He wanted to run outside to burn and brag the day away so he could come back to some cake and bounce off the walls some more.

“I rather savor it…” Lucas muttered with his mouth covered to not show the food he chewed.

Claus released a bored sigh and began to scribble with the leftover ketchup in his plate.

“I guess I can eat faster,” Lucas said.

“No, don’t want you to choke or anything…”

Lucas nodded with a false sense of agreement but did eat faster for his brother, he knew how much he wanted to go out and play. Once finished, he hopped out of the tall dining chair and headed his way back up stairs.

“Don’t take too long, Lucas!” Claus reminded, knowing full well how Lucas was with his hair.

“I won’t!” he replied from upstairs. Entering the room again he gathered his favorite shorts, shirt, and sneakers that were neatly placed aside as always. After getting dressed, all that was left was his hair. As much as he wanted to fix it into a unique style, especially for his birthday, he knew Claus would complain. “Maybe next year…” he sighed and tried to settle for something simpler.

“Hey, Lucas! You’re taking forever!”

“I am not!” Lucas retorted and quickly placed the brush aside in case Claus came up. He rushed out the door and slammed his head into Claus's hard head. “Ow!”

“Ah, you klutz!” Claus playfully said and held onto Lucas to prevent him from falling down the stairs. He chuckled when Lucas regained his balance and sheepishly rubbed his head. 

“You’re always tripping and running into people…”

“I…I know. I got to work on that.”

“Ah well, let’s finally hit the road, Lucas!” he cheered and grabbed his younger twin’s hand. He marched down the stairs and looked around to see if his mother or his father were around. When they weren't, he gave the door a swift kick and said, “The best way to greet the world on a special day!” and ran outside.

“You’re not supposed to kick the door, mom said…” Lucas informed from inside the house. He saw the heat waves from outside and became hesitant.

“No, I’m not supposed to kick the door when they’re around.” Claus replied teasingly knowing Lucas was far more obedient than he was. He looked at Lucas frown at him in disappointment but it only made him snicker and wave. 

“Oh, come on outside already, Lucas!” 

Lucas hid behind the door frame, and lowly whined, “But it’s really hot…” Claus crossed his arms and sternly stared at his brother as Lucas meekly stared back. Eventually he gave in and sighed,“…Okay…” In defeat, and plain niceness and care for Claus, he walked out into the merciless sun.

Claus grabbed his hand and yanked him down the dirt road cheering, “Alright, let’s go tell everyone!”

Lucas then wished he brought a bottle or two of water with him knowing Claus would want to rush throughout Tazmilly in this heat.

—

Later in the evening and back at home, Lucas was slumped into his chair as he waited for dinner. He was exhausted.

“Honey, I know you’re tired, but please sit up at the dinner table.”

Lucas being the obedient child that he was sat up as much as he could and tried not to rest on the table. He knew it would displease his mother and just listened to keep peace. His brother, who always sat right besides him, was bouncing in his chair for dinner which would later lead to cake. Deep down Lucas wished that his mother would save the cake for tomorrow. He didn’t think Claus needed anything else that’d give him any more fuel to burn. He couldn’t take it anymore and he just wanted to curl up into his bed and sleep.

“Mom, we’ll get cake after this, right??” Claus felt otherwise.

“Yes, but only a small slice until tomorrow, Claus.”

Lucas sighed heavily at the fact that his mom was willing to give cake out tonight. When he received confused looks from his family, he sheepishly waved and said, “J-just really tired…drained…you know…”

“Ah.” Flint replied and reached for the dinner plate Hinawa handed to him. She then handed the twins their food and sat down herself.

“There, a special dinner for my special children’s special day”

“Gee, mom, that’s sure a lot of specials!” Claus said and laughed at his mother highly amused. He was also over-joyed by the dinner she had made.

Lucas ate silently and sleepily. He worried he was coming off as rude but he felt too tired to talk and felt that his senses were dying off.

“Hey, Lucas! You’re pretty quiet!” Claus observed as Lucas slowly continued to eat, somewhat ignore him. Lucas didn’t mean to come off as ignoring, he just didn’t notice due to his sleepiness. Claus felt like he was being ignored and gave Lucas a quick jab to the waist for attention, though he didn’t know what a mistake that was.

“Ghh!” Lucas choked as some of the food he was chewing got stuck in his throat. He didn’t know what to do as he watched his family around him panic and get up from their chairs.

“Try patting his back, Claus!” Hinawa cried out worryingly.

Claus did what his mother told him to do but it only seemed to make things worse. 

“I-I don’t think it helped, mom!” Claus shrieked, frightened to see Lucas keeling over a piece of bread roll.

Flint calmly moved Claus aside to get a hold of Lucas. In a matter of seconds the bread roll flew out of Lucas’s mouth and onto the center of the table. Lucas gasped for the air he now held even more precious than he had ever did before. Flint then patted Lucas on the head to reassure him that he was okay again and returned to his seat.

“I’m so sorry, Lucas!” Claus sincerely apologized, and this time, hugged the air out of Lucas. “Sorry…” he apologized again as he continued to hug his apologies into Lucas. Lucas could only weakly pet Claus’ hair with a nervous laugh, hoping that was a good enough hint for him to let go because he couldn’t talk much more at this point.

“You’re squeezing the air out of him, Claus. Just sit down and finish your dinner,” Flint advised.

“…Oh.” Claus said as he released Lucas. He laughed embarrassedly and sat back down into his chair.

“…I think we can hold out on the cake tonight…” Hinawa stated as she finished her meal.

“…Aaaaaw.” Claus whined, losing the will to finish his vegetables.

Lucas had then finished his food and asked, “MayI be excused? I want to go to bed now.” when his mother nodded, he went up stairs shedding his clothes instead of placing them aside where they belong and collapsed onto the bed.

Claus decided to bounce around more down stairs taking advantage of his parents promise that he could stay up a little later than usual on certain days such as a birthday.

Like with most privileges, Claus blew it and made them reconsider the next ‘special day’ rules.