Purposefully Accidental

Chapter Seven

My younger brother, Cole, barges into the room, carrying a wriggling cat in his arms and then dumping on me before jumping onto my bed himself.

I groan, "Whaaat." The reading glasses slip down my nose as I sit up, closing the book I was reading. The cat, named Little Ant, stands on all four and stretches—forward, and then backward, wiggling his butt—and then slowly kneads his fat paws on my comforter. I reach out to brush his hair with my fingers and I feel him vibrate with loud purrs.

"Do you wanna watch The Avengers with me?"

"I think we watched that the last time I was home."

"Well, I wanna watch it again! Or maybe we can watch Iron Man?"

I can never say no to my baby brother, so I sigh with a smile. "Alright, alright, I'll go get my laptop and you can choose the movie." I slip out of bed to get my laptop from my desk, Ant barely stirring at the movement. "You should get the snacks and call Tony and Leann as well. We'll have a pajama party."

Cole shakes his head. "Leann is on a date and Tony's with Kate and Mom talking about cake weddings." He makes a face, but then the expression clears up and he jumps up from the bed. "But I'll go get the snacks!"

The kid comes back in a flash, right as I finish setting up the bed. I prop up the large pillows against the headboard behind us and we both slip into the comforter, my brother comfortably snuggled next to me while our cat sleeps at our feet. He's brought two bags of chips and two small boxes of juice and we're all set, and he chooses Iron Man 3 and we both sit back on the pillow.

Cole doesn't say it with explicit words, but I know he misses his siblings and that's why he's always so excited when one of us is home. It's not really a frequent occasion, with Tony living with Kate, Leann still making her way into stardom and me, just a couple towns over but periodically bombarded with college stuff that it's not possible to come home every week. The good thing is that he's very much enjoying the sole attention that he gets from our parents, now that he's the only child home.

He's ten now, almost eleven, but he can easily switch back into a six-year-old when I'm around, and he's not ashamed of being a little boy, unlike most kids his age who want to be treated as if they were older. He loves the affection and I love giving it to him.

I ask, in a low murmur to not disturb the vibe we're having, "How many times have you watched this movie, Cole?"

He shrugs. "I like Tony Stark," he comments instead, "because his name is Tony, like our brother. Anthony, sort of like our cat." Cole wiggles his toes which tickles the cat who meows in annoyance, akin to a human grunt. "And he builds awesome tech, and he's so smart and he's rich and he's Iron Man. I wanna be like him when I grow up."

I ruffle his hair. "Sure, buddy, just don't ever build a weaponized suit and/or fight aliens that fall out of the sky, I don't think Mom will like that."

He giggles. "She'll ground me for life."

"You bet she will."

Cole tilts his head to his side, contemplating. "Tony's beard is cool, I like it."

I make a face at the goatee on Robert Downey Jr.'s jaw. "Don't even think about it, buddy."

My phone beeps from my nightstand and I reach out with one hand, looking away just as billionaire Tony Stark's Malibu house gets bombarded with missiles.