Braeden sat in their bench his thighs moving up and down, "Dude, you're as hyper as Peter Parker on caffeine."

"I actually got that reference, for once." He said, legs slowing down for a moment before starting to bounce again.

"Probably because it's from a movie and not a book." 

"Your point being?"

Calvin sighed, "Come on, bro, just one book. You'll love it. Then I promise you you'll want to read more yourself. Look, I saw Spiderman, because you said, right?" 

"Because Spiderman is good. I am not reading some stupid book." 

"You're on pretty thin ice young man. Don't ever say stupid and book in the same sentence."

"The person who says books are bad is stupid." Braeden quipped back.

Calvin smirked, "So, you're saying that you're stupid?"

-------------------------

Thankfully, Susan's secret tunnel didn't end up in a swarm of bees. 

He had to crouch for a while, before the ceiling sloped slowly higher until he could could walk properly and then eventually, it got as high as the room he had just left. 

The tunnel was about a meter thick. He could sit with his back to one of the wall and his feet would just barely touch the opposite wall if he stretched out a little bit. 

Susan was closely following him. They walked between bare walls, curving ever so slightly. He supposed they were in the walls of Susan's room. After walking what was probably a third of the room's circumference they were stopped by thick white curtains blocking the tunnel. 

Susan ran up in front of him and said, "Don't make me regret this." While looking right into his eyes.

Calvin gulped, wondering what was behind the curtains. From what little he knew of her, it couldn't be anything nice, like a secret library. He always wanted one of those. He nodded seriously and said, "I won't."

Susan nodded, apparently satisfied. She gave him a once over before saying, "Follow," and turning to open the curtains and entering, without waiting for an answer. 

Behind the curtain, was a clean narrow room, with a few shelves on one of the walls. It had a few origami books, scissors, glues, etc. and a bunch of mismatched stuffed. 

He went over to one of the projects, turning it around a few times before asking, "Is this supposed to be a lantern?"

Susan turned red, "What do you mean, supposed to?"

"Um...all I am saying is, it's not exactly the best. Looks more like a..." he was going to crumpled old paper but decided against it, based on the fiery look in Susan's eye. 

Susan uncrossed her arms, picked up a book from the shelf and shoved it in his face. It clattered to the floor, leaving his nose stinging behind. He picked it up and read a page, "Okay, to be fair, the instructions are pretty shitty. I am surprised you even made it this good."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yeah. Remind me, I'll ask my parents for my mobile tomorrow and we can make something from YouTube."

"From where?"

"Uh, you know what? It's better that I show you. But why exactly is this a secret den? I mean, no offense, it's nothing worth hiding. And I thought it would be some secret witch cabin." He said.

She looked at him uncertainly, her neck bent to the right in contemplation. She sighed and said,

"This is what my parents think is the secret den. Here's the real secret, and no one, I repeat no one knows of this except me." She said, opening the second curtain that marked the end of the room. It opened into another tunnel like the one they had come from. 

Except that this one had lots of pillows and drapes and sheets tied up with ropes, making a resemblance of a fort. Calvin turned to Susan with a teasing smile on his face, "You've made a pillow fort, smarty?" 

"Not a word, dummy. It's fun, but my mom thinks it's too childish."

"And your dad?" Calvin asked, but somehow, he already knew the answer. 

"God knows, he's more childish than us."

"Does he know about...this?" Calvin waved his arms in his general surroundings. 

Susan shook her head, "Dad would be cool about this. But Goodness knows, he can't lie to save his life. Mom would know in a day."

"So, why did you bring me here? What if I tell my parents? Will you skin me with a chainsaw?" Calvin knew he was pushing limits, but something about standing in a pillow-fort-secret-hideout made him think Susan would not pulverise him just yet.

"Because...uh, I don't know how to explain it, but showing you this, it...it makes our friendship permanent. Like, I trust you enough to show this." 

"That's cool. Hey, are those hooks in the wall for putting up a tent?" 

Susan smirked, and then smiled, the first genuine and open smile she had ever given him, "Calvin McKay, you've passed the test."

"The...test?"

"Test." she confirmed, "If you were anything like those snobbish nobles I have had to entertain, you would've turned up your nose at my fort."

"Well, to be honest, your fort does look like it's made by a baby."

"Shut up, dummy." She said, but she was smiling. And it lit up her entire face. She picked up a pillow fort and hit him in the head.

"Oww."

"Deserved it."

"Let's make a tent."

"Let's."

"We'll have to break the fort though. Oi, I didn't mean you had to kick it aside. I spent days making it."

"Come on, do we have any ropes?"

"We do. But you're too short to tie it, dummy."

"Hey, nothing on my height, smarty."

"I'll keep that in mind next time I want to annoy you. Pass me that pillow, the red one."

"Blue would look better."

"My fort, my rules."

"Excuse me, I have claimed 50% ownership of the fort."

"In your dreams!" 

"Hey, put up the sheet a little higher."

"No, it's stretching too much."

"It isn't, smarty. Do it."

"Fine. There. It came down. Happy now?"

"I am not saying sorry."

"You have to, dummy. Or you're getting kicked out."

And so they went. For three hours, they made the fort. It was a perfect little beauty. Of course, anyone with an adult, boring, mindset could've said it was childish and it would be a lot easier to just use a tent like a normal person, but what's the fun in that?

***************************

"Calvin, your mother is a queen." Mathew said, crashing into the peaceful dinner he was having with Susan and Heather. Oh no, who was he kidding? He and Susan were making faces at the disgusting dinner Heather had made. Susan was blaming him that crotas were made and Calvin was arguing that it was she who suggested it. 

Calvin turned back, putting an arm on the back of his chair and said, "I know."

"She is amazing, wonderful..."

"Hey Math, that's my wife you're talking about." His dad said, pulling out a chair from beside Calvin and wrinkling his face, "Come on Heather, Crotas?"

Heather already looked hurt from Susan's complaining, so Calvin diverted the topic, "What did my mother do, for you to spill compliments like that?" 

"She made Finney sign and early retirement 'for his services to the kingdom' and gave him pension as half of what his salary would've been, and then confiscated all the money he had earned in the past fifteen years. All the corruption stuff was confiscated anyways, and all the money he had earned by his salary was also taken, for 'irresponsibility towards the citizens'. And on top of that, he has to pay whatever is left of his personal army from his pocket."

Calvin and Susan gave him confused looks. 

"Uh...basically, what she did, is on-paper it would look like he got retired with a big, fat paycheck, but practically, he'll become broke."

His dad nodded, with a smile, "Yeah, your mom is the best when it comes to legal and finance stuff."

Calvin frowned, "So, basically he still gets his salary, but all that will be used up to pay his personal", (he made air quotes here), "army, and the money he had taken from the treasury for their maintenance was confiscated, because, of course, that's illegal."

His mom shrugged with mirth in her eyes, "If he wanted to save the money of royal treasury and protect the city with his own money, who are we to stop him?" She said in an off hand comment.

"So..." Susan commented, "either he keeps his army and get on the street, or he ends this army business and live a humble lifestyle. Wow, aunt Sally, one smooth move and Finney's done for, without even officially insulting him." 

"Mathew, the kids summed it up better than you." David said, turning to Mathew with a good-natured smirk. 

"But, isn't this a light punishment for him? I mean, you just took his money, there is no actual punishment for him." Calvin asked.

"See, Calvin, this is what you need to understand." His dad said, serious, for once, "Not everything is black and white. I know Finney, I've worked with him. He's an ambitious guy, always looking out for things that would benefit him."

His mom continued. "And he is weak in the ears, and I don't mean he's hard of hearing." 

"He's easy to influence?" Calvin asked. 

"Yes, and someone took advantage of this and his ambitious nature." Dad said.

"So, you're saying Finney's not at fault here?" Heather asked. 

"Heather, I'm not defending the guy. What he did is absolutely wrong and unacceptable. But he's not necessarily evil. Had the situation been different, it might've ended up differently."

"Guys, let's forget the old brat and collectively complain about Heather's crotas." Mathew announced, drumming his forks on the dinner table. 

"Yes, I have heard enough about him to last me a lifetime. And Heather, the crotas are brilliant. Ignore the boys and Susan." His mom said. 

David muttered, 'oh please' before asking, "How was your day, kids?" 

"Amazing. And this reminds me, mom can we go back home and get my phone? I can download so tutorials for origami." 

Mathew smiled, "Susan took you to her den?" 

Calvin and Susan exchanged a look and he declared, "I've never seen a worst origami artist. Except for that one toddler who got his hands on my homework essay..."  

Susan smacked him with her spoon from across the table, Finney long since forgotten. Little did they know, this was not the end of Lord Finney. Not even close.

Author's note:

The next chapter is the school, and let's just say, be excited.

*smirk*