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Finana can count the number of times she’s known complete peace on one hand.
Her room has hardly been solely her space, part of it always taken up by her idiot of a younger brother. Claude was seven the first time he swung Finana’s door open, declaring that he was staying in there with his game console in hand.
“Huh?!” she yelled at him, nine years old. “What do you need to be in my room for? You have your own!”
“It’s too big in there. Plus, I just feel like it!” he replied with a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. Claude proceeded to march towards Finana’s bed before she got up to block his path with her arms.
“Well, too bad! I don’t feel like having you in my room. Get out!”
“Uh, don’t wanna.” Annoying.
“Uh, don’t care,” Finana mocked him. She caught a glance of Claude’s loose grip on his console, and a lightbulb went off in her head. She swiftly snatched it from his small hand and ran towards her shelf.
“What the heck?! Hey! Give that back!”
Finana cackled as she jumped to place it on top, where they both knew Claude was still too short to reach. “There,” she turned back to him, smug and crossing her arms. “You’re not getting that back until you swear you’ll leave me alone.”
Claude opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. His tiny, clenched fists were shaking at his sides, and Finana counted about two seconds before fat tears started welling from his eyes.
“Mooom!” he shouted as he dashed out of her room. “Finana’s being mean to me!”
“Wh- You snitch!” she squawked back at Claude pointlessly, as he was already well down the hallway.
🐠❔
Finana was thirteen when she realized it’d be useless to make a real effort in kicking Claude, then eleven, out. Her bed practically became his too over the years, whether she was using it or not. Sometimes he’d sit on her beanbag or her windowsill, but he was always there somehow. The boy quickly outgrew her, so she couldn’t even resort to her initial tactic either. Still got a good laugh out of her whenever she thought about it though.
Claude had grown snarkier. Well, not really. Finana could tell that he just no longer bothered to hide the fact that his number one mission in life was to make her angry, and he knew the easiest way to do it.
🐠❔
Finana was sixteen when Claude, fourteen, waltzed into her room with a piece of paper in his hand.
“Get out,” she grumbled at her desk immediately, even though she knew it was only because it felt like routine at this point.
“They made us draw a family member during art today,” Claude ignored her, as per usual. He placed the piece of paper face down beside her, then walked off to fling himself onto her bed and play some random game on his phone. “I think it’s super realistic.”
Finana turned back to squint at him for a few seconds before gingerly flipping the paper over. What she saw made her wish she had tried harder to get him out of her room.
“What the hell is this?!” she almost shrieked, indignant. Claude’s loud snort didn’t do any wonders for her mood either. The picture didn’t even look like her, the only distinctive feature being her teal hair.
“What?” Claude sounded amused beyond belief. “You don’t like my drawing?”
“No, I don’t! Did you draw me smoking?!”
“No,” and this time, Finana could hear Claude’s fake pout, “that’s a paintbrush. You said you started painting recently, so I drew you painting. Duh.”
Finana scoffed at him. “That’s a terrible paintbrush. Are you just here to piss me off?”
“You should know the answer to that question already. You should also totally hang that up. I drew it from the kindness of my heart.”
“Sure you did,” she frowned, eyes practically rolling to the back of her head. “If you really did draw this from the kindness of your heart, you would’ve drawn me better!”
“Mm…” Claude pretended to ponder. “Nah. One hundred percent genuine. Can you just indulge me? Stop being mean to me, damn.”
“Hell no, you don’t deserve my kindness or for this to be hung up! You’re so annoying.”
Claude just shrugged, rolling over on his side. “Yeah man, it’s hilarious. Your loss, by the way.”
Her younger brother fell asleep shortly after that. Finana refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing she’d have to see that atrocity up in her room every time she walked in, but it did remain in her desk.
🐠❔📖
Finana was seventeen when Claude, fifteen, met Leo. She remembers being really grossed out by the goofy expression on Claude’s face.
“You look weirdly happy,” she observed when they got home from school, not bothering to hide her side-eye. “What’s up with you?”
“What, a guy can’t be happy? Damn.”
“No, you specifically can’t be happy,” her retort came without missing a beat, taking off her shoes and placing them against the wall.
“Hop off, it’s nothing. Just…” There was a strange pause as Claude took off his shoes as well. “Made a new friend at school.”
Finana didn’t dwell on the short moment of silence for long. “Huh. Didn't know you still knew how to make those.”
“Shut up, shut up, you’re annoying.” Claude had to raise his voice to be heard over Finana’s snickering as he made his way to his room.
His room, for once. And twice, and thrice, and then enough times for Finana to understand the kind of pull this Leo kid had on her younger brother. The sound of his voice was no longer always distantly behind her while she sat at her desk, but through the wall in front of her as he carved out hours to be on call with Leo, playing almost countless rounds of Valorant whenever they could. Finana figured that was how they connected. She’d even join them, and even after she was done for the night, they would keep playing.
She didn’t miss it, per se. It wasn’t that Claude quit coming into her room entirely. It was just different. Less frequent. There were more hours in the day where she had her room to herself: definitely something she could get used to.
🐠❔📖
Finana was still seventeen when Claude, still fifteen, brought Leo over for the first time. It kind of embarrassed her to admit, but he gained her approval almost immediately. It was once in a blue moon Claude clicked so well with someone so quickly, so she couldn’t remember the last time he brought a friend home. Finana wasn’t too surprised when Leo had made Claude laugh the hardest she’s heard in a long time.
On top of that, he made a great first impression. Introducing himself and thanking her for allowing him to come into their home, all of it. She appreciated the politeness.
“You don’t gotta do all that, man,” Claude had said after Leo gave Finana his name, resting his elbow on the other boy’s shoulder with an unamused expression on his face. “She's just my dumbass older sister.”
“You could afford to be more like your friend here. God.” Sparks crackled in between their piercing glares at each other. Leo just laughed.
In hindsight, Finana definitely should’ve realized that Leo was more similar to Claude than she first thought. They wouldn’t have gotten along so well otherwise. Though, even as he’d snicker along when Claude went out of his way to instigate something, just to egg him on, Finana couldn’t hate him. Hell, she couldn’t even really dislike him. It just felt like she gained another brother, with how often Leo was over. It wasn’t to Claude’s degree, but he had become a part of her life nonetheless.
🐠❔📖
Finana was nineteen when Claude, seventeen, wordlessly barged into her room. Nothing in his hands, no Leo close beside him, just her younger brother.
“Get out,” she said without looking up, no force behind it, just out of force of habit. Claude didn’t respond, choosing to silently climb onto Finana’s bed instead. The silence stretched on for minutes, no sounds present other than their quiet breaths and Claude shifting every so often. Finana heard him eventually grab one of the plushes strewn across her bed.
Then, Finana heard Claude’s breath quiver, in the way she knows it does when he’s on the verge of tears.
It made her freeze, fingers hovering in the air above her keyboard. She didn’t make a sound, couldn’t, without feeling like she was taking a hammer and slamming it right into the glass walls she was imagining had built themselves around Claude. Finana continued typing, waiting for Claude to decide when he wanted to speak.
The next few seconds were tantalizingly long. Finana didn’t like that her mind was supplying her with the image of her little brother's eyes turning red and rimmed with tears.
“I think Leo likes me,” Claude suddenly spoke shakily, voice muffled by the plush he was clenching close to his chest. Before Finana has the time to even process his confession, let alone respond, he continued. “And… I think I fucked up.”
Finana finally turned to face behind her, where Claude was curled up on her sheets. He looked impossibly small, even though she knew that if he extended his legs out, his feet would hang over the foot of her bed.
“God,” she sighed as she stood up to sit on the bed too, back faced to Claude. “Sounds about right for you.”
“You’re being so fucking mean,” he grumbled. Good, Finana thought. He still had it in him to talk back to her.
“I know. Tell me what happened.”
“I…” Claude started slowly. “We had a really good win. He said he’d wanna duo with me for the rest of our lives. He sounded happy.”
“Uh huh…” Finana urged him to continue. “And then?”
“And then… I said something stupid. A dumb joke. Told him to not say that or else I might go and fall in love with him. He went quiet, and then let out this awkward laugh telling me he had to go.”
Her little brother was hopeless. Finana let a few moments of silence pass before she opened her mouth. “Yeah, you’re really a fucking idiot.”
“Shut up, I know. You’re not helping.”
“Well, yeah, ‘cause I don’t think you actually need my help. It’s pretty obvious what you’ve gotta do here, if you ask me.”
“Oh yeah?” Claude had the nerve to challenge her right now. “And what would that be? Since you wanna act all smart about it.”
Finana groaned as she finally turned to face Claude. “You love him for real, don’t you? Tell him you weren’t joking.”
Claude suddenly shot up at that, plush slammed into the mattress beside him and eyes as wide as saucers. “What?”
“What do you sound so surprised about? Did you think I wouldn’t notice? I’m not blind, Claude.”
Whatever anxiety clouded Claude’s expression was replaced by bewilderment and a flush across his face. Finana thought he looked stupid, and the way his voice cracked with how it rose in pitch made him sound even dumber. “N-No, I– What…? In love with Leo?”
“You can't be serious,” Finana giggled, making fun of him. “So you’re just a giga idiot. There’s no way you weren't aware this entire time.”
Claude sputtered, red reaching the tips of his ears. “B-But he’s like, my dawg. That’s my bro.”
“Yeah, your bro who you would elope with if you could,” Finana deadpanned. She’s heard enough; she stretched her hands out to grab Claude’s wrists, dragging him out of her bed as she stood up.
“Woah, woah, woah!” her little brother yelped as Finana pushed him towards the door. “Dude!”
“Nope, you're gonna process whatever this discovery was, go fix things, and you’re gonna tell him how you feel.” Finana paused, softening her force on Claude the slightest bit. “I know you. You’d be too anxious about ruining things. But I’m not letting you miss out on someone who has lit up something inside you over some stupid mistake you made, or because you were too scared.”
The pair were silent for a few seconds, Claude seeming lost in thought. Though, it didn't last, as Finana began to push him again. “Now, go!”
As soon as Claude was in the hallway, Finana reached for the knob on her door, closing it shut and pressing the lock. She walked back over to her bed, placing the plush Claude had practically squeezed to death back in its original place, and ignored the rapid knocking on her door as she made her way back to her desk. She let a small smile paint her face when the knocking stopped and heard the sound of Claude's footsteps going back to his room.
“This dumbass.”
🐠❔📖
The next day, Claude, still seventeen, welcomed himself into Finana’s room again, still nineteen. She remained lounging on her bed as she looked up from her phone to raise an eyebrow at Claude.
“If you’re not here to tell me that you and Leo got together, I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Yeah, actually, I’m here to tell you that I pulled Jungle Pocket a few minutes ago.”
Finana's eye twitched. “Out.”
“Okay man, take a joke.” Claude rolled his eyes and leisurely crawled into the empty space beside Finana on her bed.
“We… are together now,” he uttered without looking at her, traces of something close to embarrassment in his voice. “Wasn’t lying about that pull though.”
“You’re so annoying.”
“You’re so annoying,” Claude pitched his voice up to do a terrible impression of Finana’s voice in the way he knows makes her blow a fuse.
“Shut up! Don’t mock me!”
“Shut uuuup! Don’t mock meeee! OW, ow, ow!” Claude cackled as Finana smacked him with one arm as hard as she could, wheezing as his laughs died out. She couldn’t keep the smile from creeping onto her face either.
“I’m seriously gonna push you off,” Finana threatened, although it was a half empty threat.
“You’re being mean to me,” the whine typical of Claude came, as if he wasn’t the one who provoked Finana first.
“Yeah, ‘cause you deserve it. You’re lucky I have better things to do.”
Claude snorted as he turned on his side, the sheets shifting with him. “Highly doubt it.”
The banter ended there, Claude’s back pressed against Finana’s arm and crowding into her space. The room remained silent for a short while, but enough for Finana to think Claude wasn’t planning to speak. Until he did.
“Hey,” he called out, voice unusually soft.
“What?” she replied, tone still the slightest bit annoyed from earlier.
“... You happy for me?”
Finana paused, eyes widened a fraction. She didn’t think he was going to ask something like that, but she could feel him anticipating her response. Something strange tugged at her heartstrings, something that made her gaze soften even though Claude wasn’t looking. Finana was glad he wasn’t.
“More than that. Happy. Proud.”
🐠❔📖
Finana was twenty-five when she was certain Claude, twenty-three, would be happy for the rest of his life. The glint of the metal around his ring finger was proof.