The words were so heartwarming to Finn, but…they were also difficult to hear out loud. In front of Jermaine, an open, if illusory acknowledgement that Finn was so much more important than he was in Jake’s life. Finn was old enough to know that his older brothers’ relationship was…complicated. A lot more complicated than his was with either of them, but he still can’t help feeling a pang of guilt. If he hadn’t been a baby for such a long time, maybe all of them would be closer…who knows?

Finn was quiet, climbing up the wooden rungs to the next level. There was a loose one about halfway up, a small sign of the disrepair the treehouse had been in when they’d moved in. He points it out to Jermaine as they go, climbing out to see the familiar sight of their blanket tent pitched in the middle of the room. He pauses, hesitating near the top of the ladder.

“It looks the same…just like that first night.”