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Finn Ames opened his eyes to a world of swirls and colors. They danced around his vision despite his sweaty grip on his blanket hinting he was still in reality. Was it a spell? Had Mash moved him somewhere in his sleep (again)? Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead, sliding down his pale face.
Finn Ames was sick.
···
Mash Burnedead peered at his roommate and best friend from the floor where he was doing his morning sit-ups. He heaved with every effort—despite the action itself being quite easy for the boy—creating a rhythmic sound that was louder than the chirping birds outside their window. The morning workouts often woke Finn in the mornings before his alarm clock.
Finn had once asked Mash whether he could hold off on the workouts.
“Hey, uh, Mash?”
“Yes, Finn?”
“Do you think you could do your workouts…a little later?”
“No,” the response was deadpan, “My muscles need to wake up. It won’t take long, Finn, don’t worry.”
Mash was right—his workout had ended within the next minute, but the damage was already done. As the clock ticked to 8 a.m., Mash Burnedead hopped back into bed, falling asleep before his head landed on the pillow. Finn, on the other hand, stared at the boy in a stupor until Mash woke up again to go to class. What a weirdo!
After many, many mornings of a similar interaction, the timid boy finally gave up and adapted to his new Mash-alarm clock. The sun would rise, the birds would chirp, and his straight-faced roommate would be doing up to three hundred reps (if Finn in his exhaustion was counting correctly) of any specific exercise within 60 seconds. Mash would look over, seeming surprised at Finn being awoken everytime, greeting him as if the exchange was normal. Even worse: it was becoming normal.
···
However, Mash was reaching the end of the minute, and his roommate was still asleep. Odd , Mash thought to himself and that was that. In the next minute, as he did every morning, he pulled out a cream puff from his nightstand and began chewing. If the workout somehow didn’t pull Finn from his slumber, Mash’s indulging in the decadent pastry usually did the trick.
The sweet cream did the trick in energizing Mash who went from being tired to being ready to start his day, though no one except maybe Finn could tell the difference.
“Yummy.” Mash licked his fingers after he polished off the treat, already feeling gloomy that it was gone. But he was a generous soul so he would always offer one to Finn, sometimes as his brand of an apology for waking up the boy. He stood up and walked over to Finn’s bedside where his clock sat, reading 7:58 a.m. Good . I’m still on schedule . The alarm on Finn’s clock was disabled as he did not need two things waking him up—one was bad enough.
“Finn,” Mash hovered over the sleeping mass of his roommate, “Psst, Finn.”
There was no response. Mash stood in place wondering what his next steps were. The creampuff he was planning to offer to Finn was looking very appetizing. He shook his head clear. If Finn didn’t want it, then he could have it, but only after Finn said no. But right now, Finn was saying nothing.
“Finn, are you alive?” Mash leaned in closer, holding the cream puff close enough for the scent to protrude his dreams. “I’ve got a cream puff for you…”
Still nothing. Maybe Finn was once again pretending to sleep to avoid an awkward interaction. Mash didn’t know what Finn would be trying to avoid, since there was only him and the cream puff and it couldn’t be the cream puff. 7:59 a.m. It was time for him to get changed once more from his workout clothes and sleep again.
“Alright. I will let you sleep in, Finn.” He walked back to bed, taking a bite of the cream puff. “Oops. That was for Finn. I’ll have to bake him another one.”
Mash opened his eyes not to Finn’s usual urging for him to wake up due to their need to get to class, but rather an echoing banging on their door. He stood up and glanced over to where Finn slept, not having changed positions from when Mash offered him the cream puff.
“You reckless fool, do you want to break the door off of its hinges?”
“Like Mash doesn’t do that every day. Finn would handle it…probably. Anyways, neither of them answered the door so we gotta put some muscle in!”
The muffled sounds of argument continued as Mash pulled on his robe. The clock now read 8:24 a.m. and their class started at 8:30. His eyes trailed from the time to Finn’s sleeping mass. The shouting ramped up a little with different types of knocks being used on the door.
“You must be dignified to be taken seriously.” A simple two raps on the door.
“You tried that already, you siscon. Those two must be asleep. You gotta put some weight behind it.” A bang as if someone just slammed their body against the door.
Mash ignored the sounds and stood over Finn as he had a half-hour ago. “Finn, you have to wake up this time. It’s time for class.” He looked down at his chest. “What’s that, Mike? No, I don’t think he would skip. His grades aren’t too good as it is. Huh, Kevin? Is he alive? What do you mean?”
Mash poked his roommate in the face, his last resort maneuver. Once again, nothing. Mash froze as the banging on the door continued, staring down at his presumably dead friend.
“O-oh dear. I-I think I need to call for help.” Mash trembled and Finn continued to lay still. He rushed over to the door, barely keeping from stomping holes in the stone floors, and yanked it open. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing came off of its hinges, sending splinters of wood flying in every direction.
Dot Barrett and Lance Crown stood in the doorway, torn between shock and being unsurprised at the mushroom-head’s action.
“Who knocked last? Did my knock make him get the door? Did I win?” Dot, unfazed by the massive slab of wood in Mash’s hand, elbowed Lance teasingly.
“Whatever, you imbecile. We are all going to be late if we don’t hurry up. What took you so long…?” Lance trailed off as he looked at Mash’s haunted expression.
“I-I think Finn is d-dead,” Mash stammered, gesticulating as if he wasn’t holding their bedroom door in his hands. In fact, his grip was becoming so tight that the door handle shrunk to the width of a wand.
“What?!” Both boys said in unison, the idea of getting to class on time left their minds as they rushed into the room.
Finn faded back into consciousness, the pounding in his head turning into pounding on the door of their room. He felt terrible. There were chills throughout his whole body, making him shiver despite the heat around his neck and forehead. His legs ached, even against his soft mattress. But the worst thing was the sounds of frantic yelling surrounding him.
“C-chest compressions, right? You have to press on their chest.” Mash’s nervous rambling didn’t bode well.
“No, you’d crush all of his ribs.” Thank goodness for Lance’s voice of reason. His voice became dark and heavy. “It’s too late. And he never got to see my beautiful little sister again. It’s worse than death.” Nevermind.
Dot wailed. “Do you think being the main character means I will always be the one to survive while everyone else dies? Finn! You were so young!”
The voice overlapped until it became louder than Finn’s pounding head which only grew louder in the excitement. If he had the strength to open his eyes, he would likely glare at all three of them.
“You all need…to be quiet.” Finn whispered, his voice barely louder than a breath. The only reason he knew it was heard was because the room fell into silence.
His friends were not, in fact, hallucinations. They were worse.
“Oh, Finn. My boy. You’re alive!” Dot sobbed against the edge of the bed, hand bruised like he was smacking it against the wall. That is, of course, because he had been screaming about “why couldn’t it have been him” who died while pounding his fist against the stone floor.
Did none of them think to check if he was still breathing? Finn felt sick enough to give up on trying to understand their madness. The cold sweat running down his face would have been nice for his fever if he wasn’t so uncomfortable otherwise.
“Ah, he was just sleeping.” Mash’s demeanor had returned to normal. “It’s like when you are baking a cream puff. You can’t open the oven while they are cooking or else they turn out wrong. Finn was in the oven.”
Okay, maybe they were hallucinations. Not that Finn would be able to tell the difference with the eccentricity of the group surrounding him.
“Listen—” he spoke again as the outcry shifted from loud and despairing to loud and celebrating, “I’m not feeling well. You all should go—”
“OH, MASH~” The loudest voice yet shattered through his exhaustion, instantly making him dizzy. Finn groaned and managed to flop an arm over his face. Lemon skipped into the room, seemingly unfazed by the fact that the lights were off, the door was off its hinges, and the trio was puffy-eyed around Finn’s bed. “You weren’t in class, so I ran out and came to find you! You didn’t say you weren’t feeling well so I brought some cream puffs!”
Mash blinked and walked over, taking the cream puffs as if Finn had been forgotten. “Thanks, Lemon.”
“Anything for my future husband!” She giggled as if his acceptance of the cream puffs was him accepting an engagement ring.
Finn wondered how it could get worse, immediately regretting his thought.
The four people crowded around in a huddle, whispering at a volume that was still clearly audible for the bed-ridden patient.
“Alright, gang. Finn is in desperate need of our help. We gotta help the poor kid.”
Lance nodded solemnly. “He reminds me of my little sister being sick. Obviously not as cute. And much more pathetic.”
Finn ignored the comment, wishing to be alone to sleep away whatever was going on.
“You think cream puffs would help? They always make me feel better.” Mash questioned, mouth full of Lemon’s cream puffs.
Lemon squealed. “You are so smart! That’s my Mashy-poo for you.”
Finn became more nauseous. At this point, the group had stopped trying to conspire and now spoke at their normal level. Which was loud.
“First step.” Dot took charge. “Light always makes people feel better and more awake.”
He flicked on the light switch, flooding the room with warm light. It would have been nice had Finn not had a headache and didn’t want to sleep. Dot stood over him with a surprisingly gentle yet determined expression.
“Don’t worry a bit, Finn. You always seem to be looking after us so it’s our turn to be your caretakers!” Finn was very much, in fact, worried.
“We are like your brothers taking care of you,” Mash said, deadpan. He glanced over. “And sister.”
Lemon latched around his shoulder, once again hitting a register that made Finn’s head ring. “Oh, you made sure not to leave me out! What did I do to deserve such a gentleman?!”
And what did Finn do to deserve this rowdy bunch when he just wanted to rest? Maybe he walked under a ladder, or a black cat passed in front of him.
“Alright team!” Dot turned around which did not at all lessen the intensity of his voice. “This is the mission: Get Finn to Feel Better so We Can Go Back to Class and Learn or Whatever!” What kind of a name was that?!
Finn could no longer fight the cough he was holding back. It was raspy and loud, hurting his throat. The four gasped. They all whirled around to stare at Finn, who desperately tried to stop but kept coughing.
“He doesn’t have much time left!”
“What do we do?” Mash put his hands up to the sides of his face, getting cream on his cheeks.
“We do all that we can do!” Dot held a fist up in front of himself. He then kneeled next to Finn’s bed, like a knight, and grabbed Finn by the hand. “Don’t worry, Finn. We will take care of you.”
“You’re gonna get sick…” Finn managed. His slick, shaky hand did not budge from Dot’s firm grip.
Tears immediately sprung to the corners of Dot’s eyes. “Oh, Finn. Caring for my health even when you’re on death’s door. I swear…” He squeezed his eyes shut, making a vow. “...we will do anything it takes to cure you. Even if it takes us to the ends of the world!”
With that, Finn gave up. Both due to the earnestness in his friends’ expressions and mainly because he did not have the strength to fight it anymore.
“Let’s get to it guys! On three!” He stuck his hand out and the others immediately followed suit. “One…two…three…!”
With a loud roar of resolve that made Finn’s ears ring, the group stormed out of the room. Only the sound of footsteps growing quieter remained until it was silent once again. Finn sighed, a sound that was rough due to his sore throat. Despite his friends being overbearing, Finn knew they had good intentions. His eyelids became heavy now that the room was at peace once again. Maybe they’ll come back in a few hours with some soup…and maybe a new door.
His peace lasted about three minutes.
“Finn, you may open your eyes again.” Finn blinked awake, lethargic and grumpy. His eyes glanced over at the clock. 8:47 a.m. He had only slept for three minutes. He turned his gaze back to the one who woke him, Lance. “This is my special stash, though not my only one so no need to refuse, of merchandise of my sister. I was saving it for when I was sick so I would feel better, but I suppose you can borrow it. No need to thank me.”
The sickly black-and-blond boy looked at his surprise. A blanket, a keychain, a water bottle (empty), and various stickers and postcards of the girl from Lance’s locket. Finn just looked at them with an inscrutable expression.
“Ah, it’s worse than I thought.” Lance’s eyebrows knit together. “It didn’t work how it normally does. Usually, one look and I’m able to get out of bed.”
That’s just because only you are obsessed with her . Finn didn’t say that out loud.
Regardless, Lance gingerly placed them on top of Finn’s blanket. He leaned in close with a glare. “Don’t get any of your illness on these or else I will never forgive you.”
Finn’s waning consciousness collapsed entirely, and he flopped backwards, unconsciously ensuring the merchandise didn’t fall to the floor lest he faces Lance’s wrath.
The next time he opened his eyes, he felt a nice, cool sensation on his forehead. Lemon was kneeling next to his bed, holding a towel in her hands. She placed it on his head, humming lightly. He rolled his head over to look at her and she stopped humming.
“You are probably wondering why I’m good at this, right Finn?” Lemon answered his question before he even fully asked it in his head. She smiled. “I need to be a good wife to take care of my husband, of course!”
Of course. Finn didn’t mind her delusions since she seemed to actually be caring for him. He closed his eyes when he felt a heavy, wet towel practically slam on his forehead. His eyes shot open only for them to be filled with water.
“This is what I would do for Mash! If water got rid of the fever, then more water should help him recover faster!” The leap in logic was absurd, but Finn wouldn’t be surprised if this treatment would heal Mash instantly. Mash was odd like that. They all were.
With a shaky hand, Finn rubbed the water from his eyes. It was getting to be too much. He glanced down, fearing that some of the water would land on Lance’s Anna merchandise but they were all folded at the end of his bed.
“OH LEMON~” Practically mirroring the girl’s entrance, Dot came into the room. Finn was surprised that the weight on his forehead actually helped the returning and intense pain in his head. He walked over, leaning over her and the towel bucket. “Wow. You’re pretty good at this, huh?”
Lemon looked up and smiled which threatened Dot’s heart. “Of course! I need to take care of my future husband’s roommate and best friend! Plus this is good training for if Mash is ever sick, not that that would happen, of course!”
Dot crumpled, sitting down on the side of the bed. It was so pathetic that Finn had the urge to pat him on the shoulder, even as Dot crushed his legs.
“Ahem, anyways,” Dot said, standing up again, turning enough that Finn could see what he was holding. To his surprise, it was a tray with a cup of warm tea, soup, and medication. Then again, Dot was always surprisingly cordial when it came to housewarming gifts and the like. “I brought you some things to help you feel better.”
Perhaps his friends actually were capable of taking care of him. Finn felt his chest ache. How could he not trust them? Sure, they were eccentric at times, but they were all good hearted. They had all fought to save the world together, after all. Perhaps this is what made Finn sick. His lack of faith for his friends. Maybe all of them were normal and he was the weird one. Finn made a note in his mind to apologize to all of them when he was feeling better again.
“Wow, that’s impressive, Dot!” Lemon said, smiling up at him.
He flushed, giggling like a toddler and also completely dropping the tray. He managed to snap out of his stupor, but Finn was already covered in, luckily lukewarm, liquids. Finn rescinded his planned apology.
“Oh gosh, Finn. I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me!” Dot yelled out, grabbing one of the sopping wet towels from his head and attempting to wipe up the broth and tea.
The sound of a door slamming sounded from across the hall and Lance stormed back in.
“Do you mind not screaming your head off?”
“Lance, you’re back! Where were you?!” Dot turned to look at his roommate while still wiping up the tea and soup.
Lance’s expression became gloomy. “Since I allowed Finn to borrow my feel-better kit of Anna merchandise, I feel like I’m all alone. I had to find my other Anna collection and spend time with it.”
Lunatics. Every last one of them. Finn groaned, feeling his improving health take a steep dive off of a cliff.
Mash finally came back to the room after around ten more minutes of chaos. Finn sighed in relief. Sure, Mash was also odd at times, but he was also the calmest out of all of them and could maybe kick them out of their room.
Mash looked over at Finn with his same passive expression as always. “Look who I found.”
Finn squinted his eyes open and almost screamed. There stood Rayne, his brother, staring down at him. What was he doing here? Dot and Lance had stopped arguing, looking over at the Sword Cane with wide eyes. He felt his health somehow get worse looking at the scene in front of him, holding back the urge to cough with every last cell in his body.
“Oh no, Finn! Your fever must be going up; you started sweating more!” Lemon said, slapping another soaked towel over his face, making even more water run down his cheeks. If he had the strength to cry, there may have been even more.
No, calm down Finn . He breathed deeply. Rayne is smart and he’s your brother. Surely, he would see how much you need rest and will shoo everyone away.
“You are sick.” Rayne said, words clipped.
“Yeah?” Finn’s voice was raspy and confused. Rayne’s expression only darkened as he heard his brother speak and he turned to the others. Here it was.
“I will take over caring for him.” Huh? “You may all return to your classes.” What?
Sure, Finn had gotten closer to his brother after the fight with Delisaster but this was incredibly strange. Since when was his brother so caring towards him—and open about it too?
“Listen here, divine visionary. You may be his brother, but we are his brothers in spirit.” Dot thumped a fist against his chest. “Finn always takes care of us, so we want to help him instead.”
Lance stood with his arms crossed. “I have granted him time to use my darling Anna merchandise to recover. There is nothing more you can do for him.”
“He’s still so sick! At least let us help you continue to make him feel better!” Lemon pleaded with her big eyes.
“Please.” Mash added simply.
Rayne looked over with an expression that Finn could not interpret. “My brother has such caring friends.”
Oh no. Oh no .
Rayne did not obliterate Finn’s friends instantly for daring to claim they had a bond stronger than the blood brothers. It was worse. He let them stay .
“I am learning to trust more in your judgment, Finn. This includes your choice of friends.” His expression softened which was practically a smile for Rayne Ames. “They all seem to care about you very much. You have chosen them well.”
It clearly took a lot of effort for Rayne to say, especially when his statements were usually one to two words. That made it all the more heart wrenching as Finn silently pleaded for them all to leave him alone and let him recover.
The group swiftly returned to work, just as effective as they were before just with one more “doctor.” Rayne and Lance glared at one another as they tried to show photos of rabbits and Anna respectively in an attempt to improve Finn’s health. Lemon and Dot remained the only marginally helpful people, staying by his side and ensuring he always had a cool (and soaking wet) towel to lower his fever. Mash stayed nearby, sitting on his bed, sometimes getting up to work out wordlessly.
At the end of the day, they all sat around Finn and Mash’s room eating sandwiches for dinner as Finn sipped on some broth, now able to handle it. Mash came in with a tall stack of cream puffs, unsurprisingly, making a comment about a “cream puff party.”
“Hey, thanks everyone.” Finn spoke up, his voice now slightly more audible than it was that morning. “You all missed class and spent time taking care of me.”
Mash walked over and looked at him. “What else would we do?”
Finn’s chest warmed, though not from the fever this time. He was grateful he had a group of people that cared for him this much.
Dot rested his head on his hands, looking at Finn. “Don’t worry, little buddy. If you aren’t feeling well tomorrow, we can come help you again!”
Finn’s smile faltered a bit, silently praying for his swift recovery, lest he had to go through it again.
···
Finn, now fully recovered, woke to the sound not of Mash doing his regular workout but to the multiple dings of his phone receiving notifications. He opened the group chat he had with his friends and blinked a few times.
Dot: Hey guys! So sorry I won’t be in class today. I think I caught whatever Finn had LOL. After he warned me too.
Lance: Yes, I hear you coughing up a storm on the other side of the room .
Dot: Don’t act like you aren’t hacking and coughing and crying out for your sister to come take care of you.
A flurry of texts began coming through the group chat as the roommates decided to fight over the phone despite sleeping ten feet apart. Finn glanced over to see Mash stir in his bed, lifting up his own phone and typing out a message.
Mash: I think that I am sick. Finn, can you get me a cream puff?
Lemon: i wish i could be at your side, mash!! i’m not feeling well too and i couldn’t bear to make my future husband any more sick~ T-T
Mash: Ok.
Mash: What do those letters mean?
Finn sighed and closed the group chat, staring at the prone body of his roommate, only moving to type out text messages with a few small groans. Another ding . Finn looked down at his phone again. This time, it was a text from his brother.
Rayne: Sick.
With a sigh, Finn rolled out of bed, dreading the day of caring for his weird friends. But they were still his friends, so he’d do it. Reluctantly.