‘Oh, brother, like I don’t know you from way back..’ (Galavan siblings one-shot)
“98... 99... 100! Brother, I’m coming to find you,” The six year old shouted, uncovering her eyes before running off down the corridor. Long, ebony hair bounced as she ran, and whipped around her face as she skidded to a halt in order to search behind the curtains by the window. It was fruitless-- her brother wasn’t there.
‘That’s too obvious, Tabitha,’
Her brother’s words from last time they’d played this game rung loudly and clearly in her head. If she wanted to find Theo, she’d have to find somewhere that neither child was allowed to go-- somewhere that her sneaky older brother would be able to break in to.
The kitchens. They had been banned from there last year, when Tabitha was five and when Theo was eight. Well, it wasn’t their fault if the food left out on the table was too delicious to resist. Nor was it their fault when the dogs had followed, and proceeded to consume just about everything else.
Tabitha took off running again, only pausing by the dog mat near the door to scratch one of the dogs-- Bess, the large, yet amiable collie-- before she continued to run around the corner, and to the old staircase. It led downstairs, to the basement that had been converted prior to them moving in, and was always busy with either their parents, or the kitchen staff. A look left, and a look right, and Tabitha deemed the coast to be perfectly clear. She crept on to the staircase, glancing over her shoulder before taking off down it.
Much to her surprise, the kitchen was , at first glance, empty. That was probably something to do with the big party that mother and father were throwing on the top floor, for their.. monk friends? Tabitha was curious, of course; it had been kept fairly hush hush, so she was naturally inclined to want to know more; but right now, her number one objective was to find her brother.
‘If it was empty in here, it would be silent..’ Tabitha mused, ceasing her movement and cocking her head as she listened. Small fingers curled around the banister of the staircase, as though to prevent herself from moving unintentionally.
There it was. That came from behind the counter-- a chair? Tabitha smirked, and jumped off the last stair before running across the room, skidding to a halt behind the kitchen counter. The sudden speed nearly had her toppling to the ground, but her potential fall was shut down, when two hands gripped on to her shoulders, before turning her around to face their owner.
“Tabby, Tabby, Tabby. You took your time,” Theo taunted, barely flinching when his little sister gave him a smack on the shoulder for it.
“Let me guess. You looked behind the curtains, in the shed, in the library, with the dog..” Theo continued, a smug tone in his voice as he spoke. Tabitha scoffed and shook her head, flouncing past him to the open larder door. Clearly, her brother had been helping himself to the best snacks while he was hiding down here.
“No-- well, I did check the curtains. And petted the dog,” Tabitha responded, her tone strained as she jumped up to attempt to pull the fruit bowl from the very top shelf. Another tap on her shoulder had her turning towards her taller brother, grinning smugly down at her as he waved the small bowl in front of her face. Yet despite her shorter height, and her younger age, Tabitha was a lot quicker, and she snatched one of the apples from it before walking past him.
“What made you look here?”
“Our parents are upstairs, and so are the cooks. So you wouldn’t be caught if you came down here,” Tabitha replied, giving him a smug grin as she wandered into the kitchen.
“Clever. You’re learning. So, you found me, I found you.. rematch? Or do you want to go an--”
He was cut off by the sound of Tabitha running back upstairs, and exhaled heavily before kicking the larder door shut. It was obvious to guess where she had gone; she hadn’t eaten any of the apple, and if he was hearing things correctly, that was the slam of the front door. The horses. Theo rolled his eyes, but grabbed several more pieces of fruit before following her. Oh, how he wanted to sneak away upstairs to find out more about what was going on with their parents.. with the monks..
But he was sure he’d find out soon enough.
For now, he’d leave it, and simply continue to spend the day with Tabitha.
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