LEE FINN AND LER JAKE. Maybe finn is feeling down so jake cheers his best friend up?
The treehouse was quiet, too quiet.
At least Jake thought so.
The magical dog hummed to himself as he popped open the oven, pulling out a tray of fresh baked meatloaf. Finns favorite.
The two had just a few hours ago finished up fighting a weird bear monster that was harassing a village, and once they got home Finn had barely just allowed Jake to finish patching him up before he had muttered something about going to his room and disappeared up the ladder.
He’d been up there ever sense and Jake would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried, it wasn’t that uncommon for Finn to turn in right after a fight but today he had seemed a bit off.
In fact the teen had seemed a bit off for a couple of days now, Jake had been trying to give him some space, let the boy come to him, but it didn’t seem to be doing much to help. And when Jakes ‘older brother’ sense started going off for real, thats when he knew it was time to intervene.
He picked up the plate now filled with cuts of Finns favorite dish and stretched himself up the ladder into his and Finns shared bedroom, where he found the teen without his signature hat; laying on his back staring blankly up at the ceiling.
Jake frowned, the twisted feeling in his gut at the sight of his little brother looking so….sad worsened. Wishing deep down that his mother were still here to help he cleared his throat, putting on his signature grin.
“Heeeeey man, wakey wakey. I brought you something to eat.”
Finn didn’t give him much of an acknowledgment, simply grunting a bit in response and mumbling something that was too quiet for the dog to hear. Jake kept up his happy attitude, though internally he frowned.
“Come onnnnn bro, I made meatlooooooaf~ Your favorite!”
Finns nose twitched slightly as the sudden smell of fresh out of the oven meatloaf filled his nostrils. But instead of the usual rumble of hunger he felt in his belly, his stomach simply seemed to twist up uncomfortably.
The teen sighed, eyes still bleary starting up at the ceiling of the tree house. He let his shoulder fall up and down half heartedly in a shrug.
“Maybe later dude, I’m not really hungry right now.”
Jake visibly frowned at that, stretching his arm holding the plate of meatloaf back down the ladder and back onto the kitchen counter as he walked forward to the side of Finns bed.
“Not hungry for meatloaf huh? Something must really be wrong….aw dang your not getting sick are you?”
He stretched a paw out to place it on Finns forehead, brushing aside long blonde hair as he did so.
“Hm you don’t feel warm.” He moved his hand down to brush gently against the bandage on his younger brothers cheek, where he knew long scratches resided from the monster fight earlier. “Oh crap you don’t think that monster had like, some weird gross poison claws or something?”
Finn scrunched up his nose at the touch, raising a hand to gently bat away Jakes. “Ugh, no Jake. Im not sick or anything, I’m just….”
“Just…..?” Jake prompted, raising an eyebrow. Finn just sighed turning away from the magic dog and onto his side, now staring at the wall.
Jake threw his hands up in the air dramatically. “Dude! That was like a full five second pause, plus you didn’t want any meatloaf and you aren’t even wearing your hat, clearly this isn’t just ‘nothing’.”
He brought his arms back down to his side, resting with hands on his hips. “Is this some new sort of teen angst your trying out? Cause if it is I’m not gonna be handling any teen sass from you young man.”
“No dude thats not it.” Finn huffed, just a bit of amusement entering his voice before it faded away as he let out a long sigh.
“Im just….tired….I guess….I don’t know man…”
Jake frowned, stretching out his upper body to the other side of the bed so he could face finn. “Tired as in sleepy or….tired as in bummed out sad?”
Finn shrugged his shoulder as he turned over again, once more facing away from looking his adopted dog brother in the eye.
“Im not like, sad or whatever, or maybe I am? I don’t know its just…..I’ve been thinking about my Dad.”
Jake hummed,retracting his head to rejoin the rest of his body. “Joshua Dad or Human Dad?”
Finn sighed, rolling over onto his back. “Human Dad……”
“Ah” Jake muttered, realizing that it was gonna be one of those kinds of conversations. He lifted himself up to to sit at the edge of Finns bed.
Finn frowned. “Not really….but also I kinda do? Like….I don’t know man, words are hard.”
Jake reached out to pat the teens leg gently, choosing to stay silent and allow him a chance to collect his words.
“Like, I don’t really need him you know? I had you and mom and dad and Jermaine but like…..I don’t know i thought it would have been nice to at least…have some sort of relationship with him? Maybe learn more about where I came from and why he left me…..”
The teen trailed off, reaching a hand up to grip a handful of his shirt. “And I mean, clearly he doesn’t really want one with me, a relationship I mean, and like it got me thinking….what if its like….me? Like, maybe theres just something up with me and thats why he hates me so much and like, what if he isn’t the only one? What if Joshua and Mom felt the same way or something.”
“What!?” Jake sputtered, standing from the bed and giving Finn one of his few genuinely serious looks. “Dude Mom and Dad loved you, your human dad is just a big…sweat stain buttwad….uhh no offense.”
Finn let out a bit of a amused huff, swallowing past the lump that had formed in his throat. “Nah your right, he does kinda suck….I just wish Id known what I did wrong you know?”
“Finn” Jake staid sternly, brow furrowed. “You were a baby dude, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Maybe I was a really ugly baby.”
“Hey.” Jake huffed. “You were a super cute baby, I have the pictures to prove it. Sides, even if you did do something thats no excuse to leave lil baby you helpless and alone in the woods.”
Finn sighed softly. “Yeah, maybe your right..”
Jake raised an eyebrow, letting his voice slip into a more playful exaggeration. “What do you mean maybe? Im totally right, all the time without fail.”
Finn snorted a bit, turning onto his side to face away from the magical dog. “Yeah, sure you are buddy.”
Jake narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest.
“Whats that supposed to mean? I am right all the time, especially about this.”
“Wha-? Oh you better not even start with that, I can see you trying not to smile.”
Despite the heavy cloud of sadness that fell over the teen, there was a steady increasing of amusement starting to bubble up in his chest as he continued to face away from his brother.
“I don’t know what your talking about.”
Jake put his hands to his hips, putting on his stern “adult figure” voice he used only in emergency times like this.
“Finn, don’t you make me use drastic measures.”
Even more silence from the human teen, Jake let out a growl stretching out his arms.
“Alright then, you asked for this.”
Stretching out his arms, Jake wrapped them around Finns middle, yanking the teen back across the bed and towards his chest. The human yelped, arms flailing about.
The magical dog could barely hold back a smile as he stretched one of his arms out further to free his hand, wiggling his fingers playfully.
“Sorry dude but you asked for this!”
Fur covered finger’s skittering up gently across his neck made Finn squeak and scrunch up his shoulders, bursting into squeaky titters.
“Hm? What was that?” Jake grinned, moving his hand to scratching under the teens chin, the current lack of his hat giving him free access. “Couldn’t hear you over how much your laughing.”
Finn, much to his own embarrassment, let out a soft squeal. Shaking his head back and forth to try and get away from his older brothers tickly fingers, kicking out his legs and scuffing up the beds blankets.
“Nohohoho! Come on mahahan! Im to old for thihihihis!”
Jake scoffed, using his free hand wrapped around Finn to poke along Finns side. “Nah, you ain’t ever too old for this. Sides you used to love this as a little kid.”
Finn flinched away, curling into himself, but Jakes arms wrapped around him kept him from escaping. His laughter raising in pitch when Jakes hand started pinching gently at his ribs, he shoved at Jakes arms in an attempt to escape but it did little to help.
“Nahahahaha! Whihihihiy?”
“Why?” Jake grinned, scribbling fingers across the back of Finns neck to hear him squeal again. “Cause you’ve been nuthin but all mopey sad today! Sides, Im your older brother. Bullying you like this is kinda muh job.”
Finn squeaked, fighting with himself to keep his giggly laughter at bay. Though as much as he would never admit it to anyone, especially Jake, the giddy feeling of laughing so freely was helping in its own way to lighten to heavy feeling in his chest. Didn’t mean his older brother wasn’t any less of a jerk though.
“Wehehehll Ihihihi thihihink y-your being ahahaha b-butthead!”
Jake let out a loud offended gasp. “What did you just call me?? Thats it your really gonna get it now!”
Stretching out his arm further he snaked it down Finns body to wrap around his leg, keeping it still as he lifted it up. Finns eyes snapped open as he burst into nervous laughter, his squirming increasing ten-fold as he tried to pull his leg out of Jakes hold.
“NO! Nohohoho J-Jake-! Dohohohohont!”
“Hmm? Don’t? Don’t what? Don’t dooo….this!?”
He latched onto Finns knee, switching between squeezing sporadically and skittering his fingers underneath it at random.
Finn snorted loudly before bursting into loud body shaking laughter, throwing back his head against Jakes chest he frantically flailed his arms randomly about, babbling nonsense in between shrieks of bright laughter.
Jake chuckled. “Heh, you snorted~”
Finns normally pale face turned an even darker shade of red, causing Jakes smile to widen.
“Awww you look like a tomato.” He blew gently on one of Finns ears causing him to squeak amongst his loud laughter. “A giggly giggly tomato.”
“EhehehehAHAHAHAH! U-Uncle UHUHUHUNCLE!” Finn shrieked, voice cracking as he sputtered and snorted in between his cackles.
With a laugh of his own Jake immediately backed off, unstretching himself and releasing Finn from his hold. Where upon being free the teen curled up onto a ball on the bed, gasping for air as he groaned.
Jake giggled down at him, eyes crinkling as he looked down at him fondly. “Heh, I forget how fun you are to tickle. You always freak out it’s adorable.”
Finn let out a long whine, kicking out blindly in an attempt to land a hit on his brother. “Come on man shut up.”
Jake smiled as he pat the teen on the shoulder. “Aww dude don’t be like that, you haven’t laughed in like forever! I was just trying to help ya cheer up a bit.”
Finn slightly uncovered his face to look at his dog brother, though he avoided meeting his eyes. “Yeah….I guess I haven’t….”
Jake stretched his body down slightly so he could meet the humans eye, grinning widely.
“Sooo, does that mean it worked and your feeling better?”
Finns pinkend cheeks turned an even darker shade as he looked away. “…..Maybe…”
Jake cheered, throwing himself forward to lay across Finn in a hug. “Yeahhh! Ol’Jakeys still got it!”
Finn huffed out a laugh, smiling as he playfully shoved at Jakes face. “Your still a big butthead though.”
Jake grinned as he moved his head so he could press it against Finns head. “Yeahhhh but you still love me.”
Finn smiled as he scratched the top of Jakes head causing his small tail to start wagging. “Yeah, I do…..hey you think that meatloaf is still good?”
“Well yeah of course, wanna go eat some and play some video games?”
“Haha yeah! Bet I can beat your high score in bloombombs.”