The little boy ran around the corner, his sock covered feet gliding across the floor as he did. He gripped the wall as he tried to catch his breath. How long would this last? When would it be over? He wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

Before he could process it, the boy felt fingertips poking his back.

“BANG BANG! I got you, Vash!”

Vash groaned in defeat and turned to see his twin brother laughing triumphantly, using his fingers as make believe guns.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Can we stop playing now?”

“Don’t be like that! It’s fun!”

“We’ve been playing for ages! Let’s do something else!”

As the twins squabbled, they failed to notice a woman enter the room. She took the opportunity to put her hands on their heads and ruffle their hair.

“Are my boys fighting?”

Both kids made a startled noise as she did this.

Vash spoke first. “Nai keeps making us play cowboys. I hate playing cowboys!”

Nai rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a baby.”

The woman, Rem, crossed her arms and stroked her chin in thought.

“So one of you wants to play a game. But the other doesn’t. How can we make this fair so everyone can keep having fun?”

The boys considered her question carefully. Then Nai spoke with a matter-of-fact tone.

“We keep playing cowboys.”

Vash glared at his brother and growled accusingly. “Nai, come on!” This caused the other boy to stick his tongue out at him.

Rem chuckled. “I don’t think that’s what i was getting at. Nai, you need to think of your brother. Why don’t you ask Vash what he wants to do?”

Nai sighed. “Fineee.” He turned to his brother. “What do you wanna do?”

Vash looked up at Rem hopefully. “Crafts! I wanna do crafts! We haven’t made any in forever!”

The other boy grumbled. “Crafts are boring.”

“They are not! They’re fun! You just hate them ‘cause you suck at making them!”

Rem intervened before the boys could argue more. “Alright, alright. I have an idea!” This got the twins’ attention. “Why don’t we put on a movie and do crafts at the same time?”

Vash cheered and pumped his fist in the air excitedly. “WOO! Yeah!” It was as if he was never upset in the first place.

Nai raised an eyebrow at Rem. “What movie?”

The woman noticed his challenging look and returned it with a knowing grin. “A western, of course. You can choose which one.”

This made the boy’s face relax into a small, grateful smile. “Okay. Sounds good.”

Rem smiled in satisfaction. “Great. Off we go then!”

She turned to walk away, her boys following close behind like ducklings. All’s well that ends well