Closed Opposite Ends

[Lucy Holland]

The weather was finally warming up, and Lucy was determined to make the absolute most of it. She had dragged Miro out to the lakeside in the hopes of spotting a mermaid coming up to bask in the sun, and had wandered in just enough to soak her toes in the nice cool water. She was careful not to splash anything on her pretty tiered skirt as she waded through the shallows, rocks digging in to her feet slightly as she went. Glancing back at Miro, Lucy couldn't help wondering about the big change in his life this year. For as big as her family was, Lucy knew she would never know what it was like to be a big sister. Sure, the twins were a little like having siblings, but at the end of the day she was still their auntie, and they wouldn't really grow up together.

But Miro had a baby brother now, and Lucy was bursting with curiosity. She had seen Tamati when she came over in the holidays and could confirm that he was very cute, but visiting once gave even less of an insight into the older sibling experience than being an auntie did. Stooping down to pick up a particularly smooth stone, Lucy glanced back at Miro. "So how is Tamati anyway?" She asked curiously. "What's it like being a big brother?"

 

[Miro Morales-Albertson]

Miro was happy to say the least that he was finally a big brother, a realization that had fully hit him when he returned home for the winter break and he met Tamati for the first time. He had always wanted another friend to play with at home and someone he could adventure with in the same way he played with his younger cousins, and though Tamati was very soft and too young to really play with yet this didn't change how happy Miro was for the possibility of playing with Tamati properly one day. He couldn't wait for the chance to teach Tamati how to play soccer and basketball and explore the garden around their house like they were adventurers, even though this was a couple of years away. In the meantime he had settled with trying to make Tamati laugh and smile with making funny faces, even if sometimes Tamati wasn't happy with the faces Miro made. The thought of leaving home to go back to Hogwarts was one that made Miro sad at first, but he was slowly and surely coming to terms with it and holding out until he could go back home to see how Tamati had grown.

The idea of seeing his baby brother again during the next holidays brought a smile to Miro's face as he stood by the lakefront with Lucy. Miro was still continually trying to learn to skip rocks and still continually failing, but it was one of the very few goals he actually bothered to work towards and the goal on his mind that day as he reached to pick up a stone, throwing it just as Lucy asked him about his new brother. Miro smiled and looked over to his friend as he answered. "He's good I guess, cries less than he used to." He began, pondering for a moment what it felt like to be a big brother, and struggling to put the feeling into words. He wasn't sure it was possible to answer Lucy's question but he tried anyway. "It's like having a small squishy friend who laughs when I make funny faces. I don't think I'll know what it's like properly until I can teach him to play sports with me." Miro answered, smiling to himself as he knelt down in search of another rock to throw.​