fire on fire | void stiles [au] (DISCONTINUED)

TEN ━ OUT OF THE ASHES

chapter ten

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

The words were followed by the not-so-subtle racket of her bedroom door opening; along with the prominent footfalls of someone walking into the room. Avery groaned, twisting further into the sheets and hoping the person would just shut up and go away. All she knew was that it was too early to care about anything else except sleeping.

Her eyes shot open though when she felt a substantial weight suddenly collapse onto her curled-up frame, focusing on the lean but heavy boy with curly brown hair and green eyes that smiled cheekily at her. She blinked, trying to adjust to the early morning light that flooded through her room before she allowed her face to settle into a frown. He only continued to grin down at her, amused at the discomfort written all over her.

"Hi, sis."

"Get off of me! Did you gain a hundred pounds or something?!"

She shifted, annoyed, from underneath of him until he finally decided to ease off of her and stand up. He sure did take his time though. "Only in muscle."

She sat up on her bed, frizzy and tangled hair reminding her brother of a lion's mane. A slight pout had graced her lips while she rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the small amount of crust that had formed in the corners over night. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but it was obvious the energetic boy wasn't allowing that.

"What are you even doing here? Shouldn't, you know, be at college?"

"You think I would miss my little sister's birthday?" He plopped down at the end up her bed, one hand placed on the mattress for support while the other one went to his chest. "That hurts."

She grabbed a pillow from beside her and threw it at him, but he easily caught it, making her huff in discontent. Avery forgot how irritating he could be, but despite that fact, he was still a good brother and she missed him. If only he realized almost crushing your sister to death wasn't the way to say good morning — or happy birthday.

"Why didn't you fly back with Mom and Dad then?"

"Would you want to be on a plane stuck between Mom and Dad for five plus hours? I would have gone deaf. Besides, I can't miss that much school."

"So you're only here for the weekend?" She questioned, pressing the home button on her phone to find out it was just past 8am. She had planned to sleep in until noon, but obviously that didn't happen.

"Yup. And for Mom's cooking. She told me to wake you up because your birthday breakfast is done."

"Oh, did she make chocolate chip pancakes?!" Avery asked, excited. She was hungry.

"Duh," Chance confirmed, standing back up and slowly yet suspiciously walking towards the door. "Race you!"

He darted into the hallway, making Avery spring out of bed and follow after him. She sure was awake now. "No fair! You had a head start!"