"I'm home!" I shouted as I shut the front door, kicking off my shoes. It was only 7:09pm, I had hoped Sharon would keep me longer so I would have something to do if Rayul was still out doing his thing. So I was surprised when he answered from the kitchen sounding upbeat, unusually chipper for him. He came flying out the kitchen to great me with an over enthusiastic bear hug.

"Welcome home little bro!".

I bear hugged him back. I didn't mind the hugs, but I had learned early on he wouldn't release me unless I hugged back with the same level of enthusiasm.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting to find you here. Don't you have gang duty?".

"You'll never believe it, but the pigs in IceBox are squealing about taking a chunk of our turf over on the west side".

"You mean that area near the docks?".

"Yeah, they thought they could step out of bounds just because they gave a couple of our guys a roughing up the other day. Tch, they'll get whats coming to them and I for one look forward to handing down a heavy serving of punishment" tossing his arm around my shoulder he steered me toward the living room, tossing both of us on the couch, him crossing his legs and running a hand through his already tousled raven hair.

"Whoa wait! You're staying home and kicking back with such a big event going down? Don't the guys need you there?".

He flipped open his cell while simultaneously digging in his ear with his little finger "Nah, Eric wants to get a feel of their defenses before sending in the big shots like myself. I don't expect a call till later. Wanna order a pizza while we wait?".

"Sure, if you have the time" I still could not understand how he could sound so laid back about gang fights. They were dangerous at the least, lethal at the most. To willingly go in to them while grinning ecstatically spoke levels of a persons mental health. Yes, I questioned my brothers on occasion. He thrilled to the violence, which had me worried. What if something happened to him out there? It was inevitable he would one day run in to a fight to big for him to handle.

"What toppings are you hungry for?".

"Uhm...".

"Great mushroom sardine it is!" he exclaimed cheerfully, placing the order.

"Ew! No, I'm not eating that".

"Fine, we'll do half and half, yours can have bacon on it" he grumbled changing the order only slightly. Trust him to like the toppings no one else does. At least this time around he was going to let me have my own half with out his gross toppings on it. He placed the order then started channel surfing. Going on about the current standings in the gangs ranks and what he thought about some of the new members. Thankfully he did not ask me if I had made any progress with getting cozy with other students, by the time he remembered to ask me that, the pizza was hear, giving me the perfect opening to change the subject, launching in to discussion of what the Doctor had taught me today, nothing new but when she stepped out to retrieve something from the kitchen I had swiped some or her tools. This was not the first time I had borrowed from her and Rayul clearly disapproved of it, though he never tried very hard to stop me from doing it. Perhaps it was because he was gang member and stealing was a natural temptation among them.

We sat in front of the TV for a few hours switching from game shows to sci fi thrillers while munching away on pizza. It was times likes these I loved the most with my brother. Kicking back and relaxing, without a care in the world. I ended up nodding off first, my head against his shoulder, with the exaggerated screams from the TV actress lulling me to sleep.