Jake Addams May 2nd, 20xx

A sleepy-looking Finn opened the door to his house and squinted at my face as he tried to remember who I was and why I was at his house.

“Jake?”

I held up a bag filled with clothes by way of explanation and pushed my way past him into the apartment, trying my best not to look at the total dump he had managed to turn the place into since the last time I came over.

I wasn’t his mom so why did I have to clean up his place every time I went over?

If he wanted to live like this then he was technically an adult now, that was his prerogative.

“We’re supposed to go over to Sparrow’s later in the evening, so I brought the clothes over now.”

He looked more confused by the explanation than he had been at my unannounced arrival but I didn't let it phase me. I’d mentioned that I might swing by a little earlier if my day cleared up, but no solid plans had been made.

“We’re going to Sparrow’s house. Why?"

“For the showcase? This is your costume, try it on so you have something constructive to say later”

I shoved the bag into his arms and begrudgingly started to clean up the place, unwilling to bear with the mess. It wasn’t even like I was a germaphobe or anything, but from the week-old instant noodle cartons that littered the place to the water bottles that clumped together in piles, I was worried he was half a day from making another hospital trip.

How could he have two other personalities and not a single one of them could clean up every once in a while?

I somewhat maliciously thought.

He rubbed at his eyes and slapped himself in the face a few times, trying to wake himself up, before he took a deep breath and pulled out the costume from the bag. Even without looking at it he seemed to have a sense that he would dislike it.

Even I let out a low whistle at…. the extravagant costume that the girls had come up with.

A four-piece formal suit was poured out of the bag that Finn eventually just upended onto the couch. What looked like a cape came out as well but in comparison to its nearly luminescent counterparts, the long shimmering emerald piece went unnoticed.

While my costume had been nearly completely black, with a few brown and red pieces around the main body his costume was almost completely gold, with emerald and sapphire pieces littered around it in a way that should have been garish but somehow worked.

Finn, who at the moment was wearing dull grey sweatpants and a ragged black t-shirt positively paled at the sight, nearly going into a seizure.

“T-this is mine.”

It was a statement rather than a question, but his large eyes begged at me to correct him. I had no such intentions however and let out a slightly mean laugh, still feeling a bit resentful that he somehow managed to be so pathetic that I, an eighteen-year-old male had to spend my weekend taking care of another guy.

“Mine was almost completely black, guess they didn’t want to be too repetitive with the costumes.”

Never mind that they had made the whole thing leather and it was concerning how tight it was in some places, the focus now was the near malicious expression Finn was aiming at me.

I pretended not to see it and moved on to the fridge, moving all the empty containers of food I had left the last time into the dishwasher.

“It was bad last time but somehow it only managed to get worse.”

He stared resentfully at the costume pieces on the floor and his mouth opened and closed a few more times as he struggled with words to say but eventually closed them and carefully put the costume into the bag, not even bothering to try it on.

Like a lifeless corpse, he slinked back to the living room table, which was filled with stacks upon stacks of paper and attempted to lose himself in his work.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I made a small grocery list as I took in the depressing emptiness of his pantry and fridge and reflected on how we had never gone to sparrow’s house together even though we were both participants in the same group.

Well at the rate we were growing it was now more of a company. I wasn’t sure what type of promotional activities that the others were doing but every time I asked for a participant list it seemed to grow larger by at least 2 pages each time. I even spotted a few participants from the more traditional arts students that even Alice hadn’t been able to seduce over to her side.

I looked at the loser in the other room, who looked more and more depressed with each glance he shot towards the bag on the couch and could only shake my head.

He was still a pretty popular guy after all, between him and Sparrow, I shouldn’t have been surprised that so many people were willing to participate based on their names alone.

I eventually got the place to a decent state and put the shopping list onto the fridge before going to the living room and bringing out my work as well. Since we had some time to kill and the kids had a day camp that they attended semi-regularly so I didn't have to spend my weekend looking after them.

I usually tried to take them off my stepmom’s hands as much as I could so she could take a break. Having to take care of two kids and hold a full-time job was stressful enough so I tried to help as much as I could.

We sat in silence for a few very productive hours until Finn finally finished the last of the papers on his desk that didn’t seem to have anything to do with school and absentmindedly stared up at the ceiling.

“How much longer till we have to go?”

I put my work aside as well, having just about finished with all I had to do.

“We can head out now and just be a bit early. It's not like there’s a rule saying we can’t be.”

He nodded and went in to change, tossing me a pair of keys as he passed the jar that they were held in.

I lost myself in a small fantasy of having so many cars I needed a jar to keep all the keys in, but I pulled myself back when I thought about all Finn had to go through to get that many cars. Jumping from school to work and then the random trips that happened whenever and wherever.

And at least I still had my stepmom. Even if she wasn’t biologically mine, she still did her best.

So well, I guess I wasn’t all that jealous after all.

Finn stumbled out of his room in what I supposed was a step up from what he was wearing before, but I restrained myself from commenting.

I was determined to not fall into the ‘mom character’ trope.

He climbed into the passenger seat of the car, not even bothering to ask me if I minded driving and reclined the seatback to stare at the ceiling as I pulled out of the parking lot.

Finn lived in an odd part of town that wasn’t close to anything, as such the drive to Sparrows house was a good hour and a half or so.

“Hey Jake, weird question but what would you do if one day you found out that your best friend was an otherworldly creature that would live forever?”

His tone was odd and quite unsuited for a ‘weird’ question. But I assumed it was because he was in such a taxing position, I also blamed it on the fact that he had to hold the costume in his arms so they wouldn’t accidentally fall out of the bag onto the floor of the car.

I was going to answer rather flippantly but then realized that this could be a weird segue into telling me about his split personality or about the fact that he had inherited such a large company OR maybe about where he occasionally disappeared to for weeks on end.

“I don’t know Finn. It depends on how close I was to them and how I found out…. I consider myself a pretty open-minded guy though. Anything to tell me?”

He stayed silent for a bit and then continued on the same thread as before.

“Then what if that friend had magical powers and could grant any wish you had, what would you wish for?”

I thought about it, dismissing my original thoughts that he maybe wanted to tell me about his secrets and realized that he was just rambling and spitting out whatever brainchildren he hatched.

I really couldn’t come up with a good enough wish.

I was already successful enough in my career and I wouldn’t ever wish for luck in love or my relationships as it would always feel unreal or undeserved to me and my siblings were on a good enough path that as long as we all tried our best, they would be okay.

“I don’t wish for anything right now… maybe for Luca and Frona to live well once they graduate?”

Finn burst out in laughter, but it was far from being mean spirited. More nervous and on edge but it was also good-natured like he was laughing with me than at me. It was a nice contrast from how Alice would react whenever I brought up my siblings in these situations.

“You’re such a dad character dude. Don’t you have anything for yourself? No limits, just spit it out.,”

He had elevated his seat by now and was looking at me overenthusiastically… something was off.

I looked away from the road for half a second and took a half-peek at his eyes, but they were still the same bright blue as usual. No hints of green or whatever else in them.

That did little to nothing to alleviate my concerns though.

“What’s up, dude? Why are you so insistent? What, are you trying to tell me that you’re an immortal otherworldly being that can grant whatever wish I have?”

He stayed silent for a bit too long and the car was filled with an awkward silence before he broke it with an even more awkward laugh.

“No way bro, it was just a question I found while I was on the internet.”

I gave the question some more thought since I didn’t want this to become an issue between us and finally came up with.

“I don't have a wish but I guess I have a desire."

I took a deep breath and a pause to gather my thoughts and get my meaning across without being too obvious.

" I want to be the type of person that my friends don’t have to hide things from. It's not a wish that can be granted but... The only way anyone could hurt me would be to hold a huge secret from me. Not because they couldn’t tell anyone but because they didn’t think I would handle it well. That good enough for you?”

Finn was silent for the rest of the ride, locked deep in thought.