Academy Shorts

May the 4th

May the 4th

North's eyes fluttered open, followed by a groan. There was an annoying sound going off right by his ear, disturbing him from his sleep. It sounded like Kermit the Frog with a horrible head cold, and he wouldn't shut up. Hadn't the Muppet heard of vocal arrest?

"Text message, you have," it said again.

"For fuck's sake," North grumbled as he turned over on his bed and grabbed his phone to check the time. Unplugging it from its charging cord, the iPhone screen automatically illuminated to show that it was only two minutes before his normal alarm to wake sounded.

"Text message, you have." The voice came from the phone. His notifications informed his eyes adjusting to the blinding backlit screen that he indeed had a new text message. North quickly slide his thumb across the screen to unlock it and tapped to his messages, forcing himself to wake fully just in case it was Sang with another one of her night terrors.

Victor: Brace yourself. It's May the 4th today.

North let out a loud breath he didn't realize he was holding as he slumped back down onto his mattress. It wasn't from Sang. She didn't suffer through the night. Hopefully, she had gotten some real rest for once, even if it wasn't in his arms that time.

He had started dozing off, thankful the voice with the frog in its throat wasn't bugging him anymore about texts. His shoulders had just started to relax and really get comfortable as his breathing evened out when his phone, lying face down on his chest, erupted in a cacophony of noise. It startled him so badly, he jolted with limbs flailing, hopelessly tangling himself up in his sheets until he fell to the floor of his trailer with a loud thump.

His phone, still screaming, was sandwiched between the floor and his scruffy cheek. He could make out from the corner of his eye that it was his morning alarm trying to wake him, but he had no idea why it was blaring the Imperial March/Darth Vader theme instead of his normal loud beep he set it up to do.

North had just managed to pull free an arm and turn off the deafeningly loud music on his phone when the door to his bedroom burst open and Luke came flying in like a ninja. The shorter blonde wore khakis tucked into knee high horse riding boots with a light blue and fluffy bath robe. In his hands was a pool cue, and he was waving it around like a weapon. If he wasn't trained to be fully aware of himself in his setting, Luke would have been knocking everything in North's trailer over with the wooden pole.

"What the hell?! Luke!" North roared as he pulled himself up to standing, not caring that his brother saw him in nothing but his black boxer briefs. He kicked his top sheet toward his bed before he realized what Victor's text was warning him about. The day was May 4th, the day Luke had dedicated to celebrating his love for the Star Wars franchise along with the other dorks of popular society. The twerp managed to pick pocket North's phone off him sometime during the previous day, change the settings for at least the text alert and his alarm clock. Who knew what other settings he had tampered with before planting it back in North's pocket?

"May the 4th be with you!" Luke cheered before jumping around like a hyperactive lemur, twirling the cue around like a bo staff and humming some light saber noises.

"Vmmmm... Hrmmmmmm... Ksss! Fwoooooom..."

"Get out of my trailer, Luke!" North bellowed. "Go put on your uniform! You can't wear a bath robe to school."

Luke crab walked out of the bedroom and toward the door. "Yes, Darth Taylor!" he said with a cheeky grin before leaping out of the trailer and back to the house he and Uncle lived in.

Later That Day

 

Lunchtime was always hell at Ashley Waters High, but North was glad to tolerate it. It was the rare time all his brothers, with the exception of Mr. Blackbourne and the Doc, could gather together and enjoy each other's company. Yeah, they usually spent the time catching up on homework or finding way to surreptitiously discuss family matters, but some time all together was better than none. The fact that Sang joined them every day was just the cherry on top.

North noticed Luke still had on the knee high riding boots on underneath the grey slacks of his faux uniform. A part of him wanted to chastise his brother for breaking dress code, but he knew he had been rather strict with him lately. Luke needed his ways to unwind, so North could let the little things go every now and then. Besides, North had a habit of pushing the limits when it came to the fake dress code he and his brothers had to adhere to anyways. It wouldn't be fair to hold Luke to a different standard.

A handful of his brothers and Sang sat on the concrete benches in their claimed little corner of the court yard, facing each other and trading off various Star Wars quotes with each other. Luke managed to get Gabriel and Sang to stand up and bob around as they all hummed the Cantina theme song together while pretending to play various piped wind instruments, making the rest of our group and some of the other surrounding students break into laughter.

Luke had just announced that his last name had officially changed to "Skywalker" for the day, making Sang giggle, before he plopped onto the ground right next to North and leaned in so their shoulders were pressing together. "Say it," Luke said with a nudge.

North's eyes narrowed into a half-hearted glare. "No."

"Aw, c'mon! Sang hasn't heard it before. You need to do it!"

North's eyes rolled as he huffed in reluctance. "Fine." He looked up to make sure his Sang Baby's big and glittering green eyes were focused on him, making sure she didn't miss this else he had to do it again. He would have done it again for her sake too, but North would never admit that out loud. Lifting his hands to cup around his mouth, be broke his gaze off the petite little girl that held his heart to look at his blonde brother to properly perform the antic. For Sang's sake. Breathing heavily into his cupped palms to muffle his already low voice, North said:

"Luke... I am your brother..."

The sound of Sang's giggles as she doubled over in laughter, paired with Luke's beaming smile, was well worth the humiliation.