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Another day of school over, time to go back home.
Today was one of the rare day where Lammy had to walk on her own, most of the time Law was by her side. But today, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥, her brother didn't go to school, him who normally loved studying. When she asked her parents why, they told her that she didn't need to know. Lammy knew better than argue for something so silly, but sometimes she wished her parents didn't hide everything from her. Things would be easier if they didn't, at least that's what she thought. But she wasn't angry or disappointed at them, far from it. Sometimes she would rather go deaf than hear the atrocities of the world. Her parents were just protecting her from those terrible things. So, she walked in the unclear burrow of ignorance & in the large street of her pretty town simultaneously.
Lammy was a clumsy girl and she knew it. Anticipation could be seen on her face when she looked more closely at her fingers. A bunch of paper cuts all over them, even her pinkies were victims of the books' pages pitiless sharpness.
At least it will give her an excuse to use those pretty colored bandaid that father got her from the hospital.
She greeted some neighbors right and left, everyone knew everyone in Flevance.
"Where is your brother?" asked the flower lady while adjusting a freshly picked white rose in Lammy's hair. Lammy didn't like lying, but she didn't like looking clueless either. What will people think of a sister that doesn't even know where her brother is? Only bad things probably.
"He's at the library for studying."
"What a studious boy," Replied softly the lady while handing a sunflower to the girl's scratched hand. "Could you please offer this flower to your brother for me? It'll mean a lot."
"Of course, ma'am!" exclaimed Lammy, holding the flower destined to her brother as carefully as she could.
She sped up a bit her pace when getting closer to her house. She was excited to see Law, and really hoped that he was at home. But what if he wasn't? What if something bad was happening to him? What if he was at the hospital? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧-
"𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧." thought Lammy, because now she was going to open the door. She was going to see if she was worrying for nothing or if her suspicions were right.
"I'm home!"
No answers. 𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰.
She got rid of her shoes, backpack and uniform jacket and started running everywhere around the house.
"Law? Law! Are you here? If this is a joke it's really not funny!"
When entering the living room she could distinct someone lying on the couch, well, she could only distinct the head that was sneaking out to be seen from the behind of the couch. But for Lammy that was enough to recognize who it was. Short hair that were way darker than Lammy's, that could only be Law. Her brother's hair had a very specific shape, messy, as he just woke up, but like he fell asleep head on a table instead of a bed. Not a lot of people knew about that, because most of the time he wore his hat, even inside, it brought him comfort. "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘵..." thought Lammy.
Law murmured something very quietly but loud enough to be heard by his sister. "Lammy...? Is it you...?" There was a sleepy tone to Law's whisper, did he really fall asleep on the couch? Did Lammy accidentally woke him up?
"Yeah it's me! Are you alri-" Lammy's question was immediately interrupted by the vision of her brother falling to the ground when trying to get up. She was used to see Law having bad balance when getting up, that was normal for someone with iron deficiency. But he would always hang on the closet furniture to prevent his fall, expect right now.
Lammy ran by her brother side. He was pale and had very visible eyes bags, at least more visible than normally, his eyes were closed and-
A medical mask was covering the other half of his face. It all makes sense now. Law must have catched a cold or something.
"You're sick?"
"..."
"Law. Answer me."
The boy opened his eyes to take a proper look at his sister before answering, "I'm not si-" he interrupted himself by violently coughing. "Okay... I may be sick..."
Lammy chuckled, "You deserved it! You should have kept your jacket instead of giving it to me yesterday. Now you can't bring me to the beach until you heal!" While mocking her brother, she placed the sunflower in his hair, the same way the flower lady did for her.
"It was you or me, Lammy" Law sighed. "Plus, you're the one who forgot your jacket in the first place."
They stayed without talking for a bit. Just enjoying the silence and the presence of the other. Until Lammy decided to put an end to the calm atmosphere.
"I'm hungry."
And before Law could answer, she was on her way for the kitchen. She grabbed a couple of oranges, placed them on the table and sat on a chair. "I'll share those with Law! Knowing him he probably didn't eat anything since mom and dad leaved for work..." she thought to herself. She started peeling the first, struggling a bit as she recently trimmed her nails. She had troubles getting rid of the skin at the first, but things got worse when the citrus' juice started to make it's way to the cuts on her fingers. She dropped the fruits back on the table and ran to the sink while making whines of pain. When the water started to wash away the acid away from her scars.
Law entered the kitchen and went next to Lammy with a glass in his hand. He took a look on the table and saw the half peeled orange and he sighed.
"Let me guess, your hands are injured and you can't peel oranges?" Law asked, but already knew the answer.
"How'd you know?"
The boy let a chuckle escape from his mouth. "Ah-ha! A big brother never tells his secrets."
Law sat down on the chair that Lammy was on only some minutes ago.
"Hey! I was sitting there!" She complained at the shameless thief.
"Just sit on the chair right next to it maybe?" Law suggested, not without an annoying smug smile, still visible even under his mask.
And when Lammy did so, she noticed that Law was finishing peeling the orange that made her hands suffer in the first place.
"Hey! This one is mine!"
"I know, you idiot."
Lammy disliked when Law called her mean names. She knew she wasn't idiot, but there was something in Law's tone that was very truthful and always made her question herself. She felt hurt, and what's the best reaction to that? Pouting of course! And like that, she ended up with her arms on the table and her head laying between them.
Law didn't like hurting Lammy. He never did it on purpose, but everytime he hated himself for it. He didn't think Lammy would take this silly remark at heart, but she did, and Law feels like he's the real idiot here. He could apologize, he wants to apologize, but something is holding him away from doing so. Maybe it's pride, maybe it's the feeling that Lammy is going to laugh at him, whatever it is, Law learned with time ways to apologize without really doing so.
Lammy felt her brother's hand on her shoulder.
"Leave me alone."
"C'mon Lammy, open your mouth."
Lammy got her head up, and before she could tell Law to shut up, her brother inserted something in her mouth-
A slice of orange.
"You pee'ed i' fow me?" She asked while chewing happily on the citrus.
"I did, but don't speak with your mouth full!" and while saying that, he was peeling another orange with no intention to eat it, he wasn't hungry anyway. All of that was for his sister.
Law peeled the oranges, Lammy ate them. And during this process, they talked about everything and nothing, they laughed at stupid stuff and slowly got more and more tired.
"Wanna walk to the beach?" Law asked, it's their before-sleep tradition after all. "We can finish the oranges when we come back."
"With you all sick and looking like a corpse? Nuh-Uh!" There was no way that Lammy would risk her brother's health, especially when it's already weakened. "Finish peeling all the oranges now, we'll bring them to your room and I'll eat them while you're reading a Sora The Warrior book for both of us! Deal?"
Law chuckled, his sister knew him so well, plus she always had the best ideas. "Deal."