Grass Finn Bullshit

[doooooog]

"Finn!" Jake cupped a hand beside his mouth, the other six or seven busy putting away their haul from the Bargain Kingdom (a store, not a government, for once). A ninth hand sprouted to gently retrieve the vuvuzela from where BMO was absconding with it. "You hungry, buddy? They had a huge special on boar meat, I'm thinkin' sloppy joes!"

"THEY LEFT!" Neptr chimed in, sullenly, from his perch on the stair. "FATHER AND GRASS FATHER. NOT NEPTR."

"Oh yeah. Well, don't sweat it Neptr, that chicken coop is the kinda thing that changes a man. Better to skip it."

"NOT A CHICKEN COOP, A DUNGEON ADVENTURE."

Jake's coordinated dance of arms flagged for a moment, doubt curling in his gut. The prickle of concern was followed immediately by guilt. What the hell was he worried about? Two Finns were better than one. He could stand to cut Fern a break, even in his own thoughts.

"Welp, you can help me on a culinary adventure if you want." Jake's gaze dances from the meat to Neptr. "Whaddya think about Sloppy Joe Pies? Has a nice ring to it..."

---

The sun was slung low in the sky by the time Jake heard the familiar sound of Finn's return up the treehouse steps. Alongside the involuntary prick of his ears, the dog feels a smile start to spread. No matter how capable the kid (teenager) had become over the last decade, Jake was pretty sure he'd never lose the sense of relief that came over him when Finn came home safe.

Lately, lingering misgivings aside, those feelings were starting to blossom towards Fern as well.

"Hey boys!" Jake lets the smile grow to a grin, craning his neck over the arm of the couch. "Y'all have fun out there?"

Jake felt suddenly cold, as if some cosmic entity had reached its hand down and pinched out the contented flame and safety of home. His voice lost its usual buoyancy, standing up from the couch.

"Wait, what happened?"

Finn said nothing, standing there looking as if he'd been through a woodchipper. Blades of grass clung to his hair, his clothes, even stuck to the razor sharp line of blood at his exposed stomach.

"I know that look!" BMO chimed in, sounding pleased to be the one with the answer to Jake's question. Neither the boy or the dog seemed to hear him in that moment. "You just killed someone."

Comments

[heroooic]

Finn’s prescribed quest to find ice (and walk off some of his panicked energy) had been largely successful. Even just a couple short loops around their floor of the hotel helped Finn burn off some of the anxiety building in his gut. It didn’t take much considering how tired he already was; the day’s earlier encounter had left him sore and exhausted, his body practically begging him for sleep.

Clutching his bucket of ice (the good stuff), he decided to head back to their room. His knee really could use some icing, and his mind kept coming guiltily back to Jermaine. He felt badly for snapping at him when all he was trying to do was help. Sometimes Finn wasn’t quite sure how to act around Jermaine…they hadn’t spent the same kind of time together as Jake and him. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the easiness of that relationship just wasn’t there with Jermaine.

Coming up to their door, Finn could hear the fight before he could see it. A muffled commotion that was at once familiar, but also alarming. Pushing open the door, he rushes in, freezing in the entryway.

“Wha…” Finn had seen Jake and Jermaine get into fights before…it had grown less common as they’d gotten older, and yet more serious when it did happen. But this wasn’t just a brotherly scuffle, or even a small disagreement that had come to barks…they were really fighting. He couldn’t comprehend how it had escalated so fast.

Dropping the bucket of ice, he jumps to intervene, throwing himself in and wrapping his arms around the first dog he could get to, pulling him away.

“Guys, stop, what are you doing!?”

[doooooog]

To a certain extent, fights among littermates were just a natural part of growing up a dog. A sort of built in tension reliever, there were dozens of times where things had built to a boiling point between him and Jermaine... only to be undone by a quick tussle, leaving them in a better place on the other side. Hell, Joshua encouraged sparring between the two of them when they were kids. In many ways, it was just another way to play.

This time, Jermaine wasn't playing around. Neither was Jake, if he was being honest with himself.

He feels Finn's arms close around his middle, even as the rest of him still scrabbled and barked. Staring at Jermaine across the widening gap between them was almost like looking in a strange mirror, expressions he recognized as his own playing across his brother's face.

"Finn, stay outta this--!"

While Jake kicked, Jermaine seems to have a different reaction to their kid brother's sudden presence. The barking subsides, standing up straighter. A bite mark on his chest hadn't quite broken the skin, but it smarted something awful. Jake sported more than a few of those, too.

"Let him go, Finn." His eyes narrow, glaring at his brother. "He'll probably bite you if you're not careful."

The remark prompted another growl out of Jake, stretching haphazardly out of Finn's grip, resulting in an angry little puddle on the floor.

[heroooic]

“This isn’t cool, you guys!” Finn tries to grab Jake again, but he was frustratingly amorphous, and impossible to hold. Finn didn’t like them fighting like this, it stressed him out. “You guys are brothers, you love each other! Quit being dinguses!”

His protests sounded so lame in the face of their anger. He just wanted them to stop. Everything felt so broken and messy…everything literally was so broken and messy. He just didn’t know how to fix it.

[doooooog]

Jake didn't fight him this time, reverting to his base form. Finn's arms were tucked up under Jake's, chest pressed up against his back. He could feel his kid brother's breathing, heavy and scared. Between that and the fact that Jermaine didn't seem interest in coming for him again, Jake felt his internal boiling point lower to a simmer.

"It's fine." He says, voice terse and very final, extraditing himself from Finn's grip. "We're headed home, Finn. Get your stuff."

Jermaine said nothing, turning away as soon as Jake's words landed. His arms were crossed tight over his chest, determinedly not looking at either of his brothers. Instead, he focused his gaze on the mess they'd made. Broken shards of ceramic and splintered wood.

[heroooic]

“Huh?” Finn’s arms fall to his side, looking at each of them in turn, bewildered. This didn’t feel good. Jake and Jermaine had their ups and downs, their closeness waxing and waning over the years (mostly waning if he was being honest), but ending a fight like this? It left a sour taste in Finn’s mouth.

“Wait, c’mon, Jake,” Finn put a hand on his arm, leaning closer. “You don’t really wanna leave like this…do you?”

[doooooog]

"I'm not messin' around, bro." Jake was already stretched to the opposite side of the room, pocketing fistfuls of hotel snacks. Whether he raised his voice to be heard or cancel out Finn's line of questioning wasn't really clear. It was the kind of tone that brokered no argument and one Finn heard very rarely. Not since he was a young kid, still prone to tantrums. "I saw your clothes on the bathroom floor, so don't forget 'em."

He walks past Jermaine without even looking at him. Or, more accurately, without looking at the visible bite marks on his chest and neck.

"Grab some of those little hotel soaps too, while you're at it. I'm gonna wait outside. Five minutes tops, got it?"

[heroooic]

It was such a rarity that Finn doesn’t even know how to to respond, some instinctive part of him knowing better than to argue. He stands, watching Jake go for a moment, only moving to collect his things after the door was slammed closed behind him.

Sighing, feeling defeated and deflated, Finn trudges to the bathroom, stooping to shove his clothes in his backpack, along with his toothbrush the mini soaps. He casts a longing look at the hotel bed when he exits, stopping by the door, facing his brother.

“…I’m sorry about this, Jermaine. He’ll cool off soon.” He stands there awkwardly, hands on the straps of his backpack, feeling like he should say something else. “We’ll see you soon, right?”

[doooooog]

Jermaine honestly is surprised to see Finn falter. Part of him fully expected him to hop to, following after Jake the way they had always followed after Joshua. And, well, it's not that Finn doesn't, but...

He catches the glance at the bed, feeling angry at Jake all over again.

"Yeah, of course." He says, stepping forward to wrap Finn up in a brief and deeply awkward hug. Pat pat. "You can always... call me, you know that, right?"

[heroooic]

Finn hugs him back, just as brief.

“Yeah, of course, man.” He gives him a quick, reassuring smile. Calling Jermaine really never occurred to him. Maybe he should try and make more of an effort to do that. “Say hi to Bryce for me.”

Finn turns and leaves, feeling a real sense of loss for both the time that the three of them had together, and that soft, plush looking bed. Downstairs, Jake was waiting for him in the lobby, and Finn gives him a similarly reassuring smile.

“Alright, let’s go.”