Shang looks down at his younger brother's pet dubiously. “How the hell did mum and Joonmyun let you get a python, of all things?”

Matthew shrugs, patting the top of the snake's enclosure affectionately. “I paid for her. And most of her stuff. Besides, there wasn't anything else I wanted for my sixteenth birthday, and after I did well in my exams...I wore them down.” He smiles, an evil glint in his eye that Shang doesn't quite like.

Why are all of his siblings crazy?

“Still, Matty...” Shang pulls a face. “What if she kills you?”

Matthew narrows his eyes, never sure if the nickname is meant to ridicule him or not. “She won't. I handle her a lot, and I never feed her without someone else in the room. She's lovely,” he says defiantly, well-used to defending his unusual choice in pets. “She's not that dangerous.”

“That's what you said about the frogs,” Shang points out, “and then Joonmyun got poisoned by one of them.”

His youngest brother looks away guiltily. “I never meant them to hurt dad! It wasn't my fault one of them escaped, it really wasn't! I'm always careful...”

Shang just simply looks at him.

“Okay, okay,” he holds his hands up in submission. “I'm careful...ish. But seriously, Babyface is really lovely!”

Shang can't help it. He stares at Matthew incredulously. “Babyface? That's what you named your incredibly dangerous snake?”

“Yes,” he glares up at his older brother defensively. “I did. It suits her.”

“I really don't think that's true,” Shang snorts, as the snake slithers out of her hiding place. She's beautiful – in a snakey kind of a way – but he wouldn't call her cute. “She does not have a baby face.” He snickers, launching himself at his brother to squish his cheeks. “Unlike you!”

“Get off!” He pushes Shang away, wondering how someone who's nearing thirty can still be such a kid. He straightens up, all business. He has a plan to enact. “You know how you owe me for not telling mum, dad, Jongdae and Yixing about you ending up in jail?” He says slowly.

Shang backs away warily. “I was never charged with anything you little , don't you dare tell – ”

“I won't.” Matthew says sweetly. “And I won't tell Jongseok or Sunny, either.”

His brother visibly relaxes. “Okay. Thanks, kid, you really don't know what they'd do to me if they knew about that.”

He grins, ready to slam his brother with the price of his silence. Some might call it blackmail, but he prefers to think of it as...insurance. “I won't tell anyone,” he pauses, to let that sink in, and then unleashes the rest of the sentence, “...if you take care of Babyface for me when dad and me go visit my grandparents.” It comes out in a rush, and he can almost see Shang trying to figure out what he's said.

He knows he's got it when he starts waving his arms madly. “No, no, no, no. I am not taking care of your little monster.”

“I'll tell!” He says desperately. “Look, you have to. Mum won't do it, and Sunny's already looking after the frogs and the praying mantises for me after dad tried to get rid of them. Uncle Jongdae said they'd look after my geckos, and I can't ask Jongseok because he and Rachael have a baby on the way! Besides,” he wheedles, “it's not like you're on tour at the moment. You're staying with your dads! You have the time!”

Shang sighs resignedly. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because I don't want her to die.” He regrets the hint of sarcasm when Shang gives him a withering look. “Please?” He says quietly. “I'll never bring up the jail thing again if you do.”

“You have been spending far too much time with my dad,” Shang tells him darkly. “This is manipulation at its finest, you do realise?”

“I only manipulate people when I really need to.” He nods. “I use my powers for good.”

Shang snorts. “Liar,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Ugh,” he groans, raking a hand through his tangle of multicoloured hair. “Fine! I'll do it.”

He really isn't expecting the massive hug he gets in return, but he pats Matthew's head awkwardly. “Thank you, thank you!” He squeezes him for a second, before darting back to his desk, and shoving a neatly-typed piece of paper in his hand. “I already made you a list of everything you have to do, it'll be easy!”

He gulps. “I have to feed her rats?”

Matthew nibbles his lower lip, looking shifty. “Er, yes, but they're dead, so it's not like you have to watch her kill them.”

Shang squints at the paper. “What's this about shedding?”

“Oh, yeah,” he crouches down to take a look at her in her tank. “She might shed soon, so you need to change the moss in her hidey-hole. And don't handle her for a couple of days after she's eaten! She'll sick up on you.”

“Ew.” Shang blanches. “You're really not making me want to do this.”

He shrugs. “It's all pretty easy. Just do what it says on the list, and you should be fine.” He casts a glance at his brother out of the corner of his eye. “And I will know if you don't,” he says evenly. “So don't go half-measures.”

“Hmm,” Shang murmurs, scanning down to the end of the list. “Don't threaten me, little boy. Remember, you want me to keep her alive.”

Matthew's large eyes – a cross between both of his parents' – are all innocence. “And you know that if you kill her, I'll tell everybody what happened.”

The brothers stare each other down, unblinking. Shang is the first to break it. “Fine, I will follow your stupid list, but if that snake kills me, I will come back and haunt you, I swear.”

Matthew sighs in relief; using blackmail might have been a little mean, but he knows his mother. If she felt like it, she is very capable of getting rid of his beloved snake and telling him it's for the greater good. There's less of a chance of her doing it than his father, true – Kyungmi actually likes reptiles, as opposed to Joonmyun, who is more than a little afraid of his son's various pets – but still. He feels a lot better about having someone take care of her for him.

A sudden thought occurs to him, and he grabs Shang's arm. “You better promise me you won't take her onstage. She's not a stage prop!”

Shang's eyes widen. Crap. How'd he figure out his plan so quickly?

Here we go - Matthew's first appearance as an actual character. This is inspired by the fact that both my mum and dad refused to let me get a Burmese Python, and the fact I spent a day traipsing around reptile shops so my dad could find the right kind of food for his praying mantises...and then he ended up buying yet another one. I will never forgive him for getting rid of the Bearded Dragons. >.>

Also, my brother drew the cutest chibi of me in my Stitch onesie!