Brothers

"Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!" "Hiss!" "Woof!" A group of couples and animals cry out as icy water erupts from all the leaves, drenching them. I burst out laughing at them, as my brother, Ian flies down to me. "Wasn't that hilarious, Ian?! Did you see their faces?!" I said, in between fits of laughter. "Ryan, stop with the damn pranks and focus on blooming the park." Ian said. "My god, you're going to be the god of nature one day and you're still pulling pranks like some eight year old." He grumbles, flapping his insectoid wings against buds of flowers. "That scares the hell out of me." "Okay! Okay! I'll fix it." I groan. I wave my hand, summoning a powerful wind. The wind lifts the people into the air and drops them all in mud. "Ugh!!" Everyone exclaims, attempting to stand in the mud, but falling back down. I snort with laughter, ignoring the annoyed stares Ian gives me.

Thanks to a friend, I was never one to take things seriously. In my eyes, life was one big joke and people needed to lighten up and not take everything so serious all the time. My friend would encourage me to play jokes on humans when I was on my own. Humans were so much fun to play with in my opinion. I've been playing pranks on them since I was able to travel on my own. I've pranked the cavemen, making plants bite at them, the ancient greeks, making their inventory come to life, I even pranked the Victorians, making their fancy hairstyles morph into snakes. I continue to prank everyone to this day. However, not everyone found my pranks hilarious like me and my old friend did.

Ian is my complete opposite, he hates all my pranks. Honestly, I can't really blame him for that because he is my older brother. Not only that, he's also the soon to be god of responsibility. Ian thought everyone had a great responsibility to play their roles in society. Everyone needed to have responsibility to be a good person in his opinion. Ian and I are both sons of the goddess of light. As her sons, we inherited supernatural abilities from the light that revolved around forces of purity and good.

I have been blessed with abilities connected to nature, while Ian was blessed with abilities connected to responsibility. By birth, I was assigned to be next to rule over nature while my grandmother retired. Ian on the other hand, wanted to become the lord of responsibility. In his human form, he was a law school student, always leading projects and studying for assignments and tests. He often made people naturally motivated to take responsibility for situations. He and I would help out the fairies bloom the trees and shrubs for spring as a pass time to catch up every few centuries. Our true forms were silver circles of light with eyes on the sides, but on earth, we took forms of humans. Ian had taken form of a bee to help the flowers blossom. He floated through the leaves, in deep concentration of his work. Figuring out that I'd better do the same, I continue to work, thinking about Ian.

I want Ian to not think I couldn't be serious about everything, so I decided to show him a different side of me on April first. I planned this stunt to show him the true side of me, and how responsible I can really be. I will spend April fool's day helping people instead of pranking them.

That way, Ian will see how much I have matured over the centuries and maybe he will take me seriously for once and praise me, instead of thinking I'm annoying and immature.

April first arrives in a flash. I turn into my human form, taking form of a young man with purple hair and side swept bangs. My black cardigan sweater clung loosely to my skinny frame and glowing bluetooth headphones were around my neck. I was always fascinated with the latest technology humans formed through the centuries. Plus, I would troll people all over the internet and send them on wild goose chases. It was always hysterical to see people get so angry over such frivolous things online. But not today, I had a point to prove with Ian.

I meet up with Ian at a local Starbucks. He sits at a table in the form of a well dressed man in his early thirties, sipping his latte. He gives me a warning glare as I sit down. "Don't you dare try anything today." "Okay," I reply, giving him my usual mischievous smile. He looks at me disdainfully and looks around the cafe. It was now crowded with people, with only one teen girl running around trying to keep up with the orders. Poor girl, I thought. No one could handle a crowd like that by themselves. I begin to raise my hand and Ian leans forward to growl at me. "Don't you dare--" "Achoo!" I sneezed into my hand. I wipe my nose and sip my drink. "What? Is it illegal to sneeze now?" "What did you do now?" He says, looking around the table. I look at him with confusion. "I..sneezed?" He studies me, but I turn my attention back to my phone.

When he looks away, I wave my hand underneath the table. The plants around the machines begin to extend their vines, wrapping around plastic cups and operating machines with their branches. The vines make the customers orders, setting them up neatly at the end of the counter. Suddenly, the crowd goes silent as they notice the vines. The barista turns and stares in shock at what the plants are doing. "Is this for real?!" She gasps. "Look at those plants!" "Is this an April fool's joke?" "It might be."  The crowd holds up their smartphones as the vines add some of their leaves to the hot drinks and hand them out to the crowd.

Ian shoots up from his seat. "No, everyone don't drink those!" A man sips his coffee and his face lights up. "Mmm! This coffee is heavenly!" He says, taking another sip. A group of students drink their fraps and smile. "It's delicious!" "Tastes like my grandmother's recipe!"  Murmurs of praise ascend from the crowd as everyone takes a drink of their frappucinos. By the time the crowd empties out,  the tip jar is overflowing with bills and change and the machines are already sparkling clean. The barista begins to laugh as she looks around the immaculate cafe. "This is the best thing that's happened to me all week!" She says. I smile pridefully, looking at Ian, who slowly sits down.

As the day goes on, I bloom bushes of blueberries and strawberries for a nearby group of homeless people. I summon a vine plant to stop a child from running into the incoming traffic and do various other good deeds throughout the day. Sadly, Ian pays no attention to the good deeds I do. He doesn't even try to catch on to what I am doing. With every good deed I try, he always yells for me to stop or tries to stop me from doing the deed. Ian seems to be ignoring my deeds on purpose and it saddens me to see him ignoring my efforts. Deep in my heart, I look up to Ian. In my eyes, he was always the one who knew what to do when problems arise and he'd always take responsibility for anything he did wrong and fixed it. If I could just make him proud of me, I would be satisfied in myself. The day flies by and soon the golden rays of sunlight begin to sink beneath lavender and pink clouds. Maybe before the day was over, I could at least do one last thing that will make him proud of me before we say goodbye for the next few centuries.

We walk into a nearby forest buried away from the city. This was the place where we usually went our separate ways for the next few centuries. Deep down, it was always bittersweet to say goodbye to my brother since he was the only member of my family member who visited me often. Just as I'm about to mention the good deeds I have done, Ian turns to me and folds his arms. "What on earth were you thinking, going out of your way to cause so much trouble throughout the day?" Ian scolds me. My smile slowly fades. "Ian, did you not see the ending results of what I did?" "I saw them, but I was waiting for the moment where you come in and mess it up. You're always messing things up with your stupid pranks and making people feel sad afterwards!" "Ian, you--" Ian interrupts, glaring daggers at me. "Admit it, you didn't do anything today out of goodness of your heart. You only did it to prank me!" I give him my own nasty glare. "No I didn't! Did it not occur to you that I was trying to impress you?!" " By pranking me?!" "Well, maybe if you weren't so damn serious all the time, l wouldn't be pranking you! You take everything way too seriously. It's like you never cracked a smile in your entire life!" "In case you need a reminder, I am going to be the god of responsibility! And with that--" "Not this speech again!" I yelled. Ian and I soon begin to shout over each other, both of us trying to get the other person to listen to us.

Suddenly, icy water erupts from the trees, pouring down on both of us. We scream, jumping apart. "Both of you, enough!" A feminine voice yells out of nowhere. I turned to see a curvy lady dressed up as a jester standing before us. "Ursa?" I said, pulling back my soaked hair. She smiles. "Hey, Ryan. I'm back!" She says, kissing my cheek. "Who is this?" Ian asked. I wrap my arms around Ursa's waist. "My name is Ursa. I'm the actual goddess of tricks, pranks and joy. I asked your brother, Ryan, to take my position until I returned from my vacation." She explains. Ian is speechless as I summon her jester hat and place it on her rainbow hair. "You did a great job covering for me, Ryan. I imagine it hasn't been easy balancing my duties of joking and your nature duties for centuries." "Anything for a friend, Ursa." I said. Unbeknownst to Ian, I had been pulling pranks this whole time to cover Ursa's disappearance. It stressed me out like crazy, but now that it was finally over, I could just focus on ruling over nature.

Ursa tips her hat. "Thanks again. Call me if you need anything!" She says, disappearing in a burst of confetti. The two of us stand in silence before Ian steps forward, clearing his throat. "Why didn't you tell me that you were covering for Ursa?" He asks. "Because she didn't want anyone to know she was gone. I wanted to keep my promise." "And you succeeded in that, even if it did cost you your reputation." "Yeah, Ian I never told you this, but I look up to you." I said. Ian turns to me with wide eyes. "Wh-what?" He says. I continue. "I always have admired your sense of responsibility and I think you will make a fantastic god someday and I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you." I said. Underneath my shirt, I can feel a tickling sensation as tiny leaves blossomed from my pores.

I slowly remove my cardigan sweater as leaves bloom all over my body. "If I only had more time, I could show you how much responsibility I have--" "Ryan, listen." Ian gently says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I can see in his eyes how much he is struggling to speak, with what little time he has left. My skin tightens as it dries out, slowly beginning to form into tree bark. He sees my skin and his eyes glisten and redden with tears. "I...I am truly sorry. If I'd known how you were covering for your friend, I wouldn't have judged you so harshly." He says, quietly. I try to smile, but my facial muscles don't move an inch as my face turns into tree bark. "I love you, Ian. See you in the next few centuries, my brother." I murmur. Ian nods, as tears begin to stream down his face. "I love you too, Ryan. I'm proud of--" "Ugh!" I grunt as a white glow swallows my body, forcing my arms and my hair to grow upwards. I feel a long stretch, then the light fades, leaving me as a strong, towering tree that will stand for centuries. Ian wraps his arms around my trunk, softly sobbing. Not yet ready to say goodbye to me. I curl a thin branch around him, embracing him back. Goodbye, my brother and thank you.

The end