Anybody Have A Map? (Treebros Parent AU Oneshots)

Nightmares

Hey humans! Time to put Jacob through some slightly evil things! Also yes, I know a nine-year-old wouldn't normally have a phone, but don't question it, it's for plot

Charlea: 21

Jacob and Parker: 9

The night for Charlea, Katie, and their friends was anything but quiet. After their recent college graduation, the friend group had agreed to hang out a few times a month, and tonight was one of their game nights.

The two girlfriends were hosting at their apartment, while high school friends Dawn and her girlfriend Hazel brought some board games, and newer people to the group Echo and their partner Karter brought the snacks.

The six were three games in and three bags of Cheetos had been finished when they heard the phone on the coffee table beginning to ring. Charlea, realizing it was hers, leaned over to see the caller ID. After seeing the name, she swore quickly under her breath and grabbed it.

"What?" Echo asked, tilting their head, "who is it?"

"It's Jacob, my brother. Fuck, this can't be good,"

"Why is he up so late? Isn't he nine? He should be in bed by now, it's almost midnight,"

Knowing Echo and Karter didn't know the whole story of why Jacob would call her some nights in the middle of the night, she decided to explain it before she answered his call. "My brother gets really bad nightmares, he always has, and before I moved out he'd come to me instead of my dads, and when I left for college I told him he could call me whenever he had one,"

She pressed her finger to the green button on her screen and held it to her ear as the call connected. She could hear crying and gasping coming from the end, leaving her heart to shatter. "Jake?" Her voice wavered. "Jake? Are you okay?"

"N-No, Charlea-"

"Hey, hey, you're alright. Breathe in and out with me, can you do that?" She waited a few seconds for an answer, but when she received nothing, Charlea moved ahead anyway.

She began breathing in and out, counting aloud as she did and praising the boy on the other end when the sound of his breathing came through the line. Charlea could feel the stares from her friends burning through the back of her head, so she turned around and came face to face with sympathetic expressions and smiles from them.

Moments later, she could hear his breathing was mostly regulated again, so her attention shifted. "You did great, Jake, I'm really proud of you. Do you want to tell me what your dream was about?"

"No! No, I-I can't! I-"

"Hey," Charlea interrupted her brother with a gentle tone of voice, "you don't have to, it's alright. I won't make you do anything,"

"Is your brother okay?" Dawn's girlfriend Hazel asked, lacing her hand with Dawn and offering Charlea a smile.

"Who... Who was that?"

"Oh, no one, Jake. Katie and I just have some friends over, that's all,"

"Oh god, Charlea, I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know you had people over, I wouldn't have bugged you. I...I'm so sorry, I'll let you go-"

"No!" Charlea stopped him, pushing a strand of her curly chestnut hair behind her hair and readjusting her purple beanie. "Don't hang up, you aren't bothering me. I promised you that you could call me whenever you needed, and I plan to keep my promise. Anytime you need me, I'll be there,"

Silence fell over the room and on the other line, the only sound being the subtle breathing coming from Jacob. No one dared to speak up for what seemed like an eternity until Echo stood up and walked to the other side of the small family room where Charlea was.

They put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump and turn to face them. Sympathy was laced within their expression as they asked if Charlea would hand over the phone and put it on speaker. After making sure to ask Jacob, she obeyed, handing her friend the phone and pressed the speaker button.

"Hello? Jacob? You're on speaker, your sister gave me the phone." They started as they returned to their seat, setting her phone back on the coffee table in front of them. "My name is Echo, I'm one of Charlea's friends. My partner Karter is here too,"

"Hi bud, I'm Karter, it's nice to sort of meet you. I think you know Dawn and her girlfriend Hazel, don't you?"

It was quiet for a second before a small voice spoke up finally. "Hi... yeah, I-I know them,"

"Hi, Jacob! It's Dawn, Hazel and I miss seeing your face when you, Parker, and your dads come to visit. How's your summer so far? Do anything fun?"

Charlea looked at her friends with joy glossing over her eyes. She recognized what they were all doing; they were distracting Jacob and talking about events and asking him questions to try and take his mind off his nightmare, something she had done too many times to count. Listening to the five others make him laugh and speak up made her heart swell.

"I'm serious Jake!" Katie laughed, getting closer to the phone's microphone, "you're sister is ridiculous! She's lucky Echo and Dawn were there to catch her before she fell down the rest of the stairs!"

"Hey! I thought we agreed we wouldn't discuss the incident again," Charlea chuckled, smacking her girlfriend's shoulder playfully.

"It's not our fault you're too gay to function, dork," Echo teased, sticking their tongue out.

"Last time I checked, Charlea wasn't Damian from Mean Girls,"

"Nice catch of the reference, Jacob! You have great taste in movies,"

"Yeah, he only knows that movie because I made him watch it, so I think I'm the one who deserves the credit," Charlea grinned, recalling the memory of when she first showed him the movie a few months ago.

The friends kept talking to the small boy for a few minutes more before realizing it was nearing half-past twelve. Charlea knew if he was up much longer, he wouldn't fall back to sleep. "Hey, Jake? It's getting kinda late, dad and papa might kill me if you stay up any more. Are you alright?"

There was a slight hesitation on the other end, but soon enough, an answer came through. "I...I think so. Thank you for not hanging up on me, sorry I was being a big baby over a stupid dream."

"That's not true. You can't control the fact that you have nightmares and you were upset, that's nothing to be embarrassed about! And I would never hang up on you, not in a million years. Now try and fall back to sleep, I love you,"

"I love you too, Charlea,"

With those last words, the line went dead and his name disappeared from the screen, leaving only the Lock Screen of Charlea's phone lit up. "You guys didn't have to do that you know, but... thank you. He needed something like that,"

"Of course, Char," Karter placed their hand on her back in a comforting manner, "trust me, I was like your brother when I was younger and that really helped for me and I thought it'd do the same for him,"

While Charlea didn't need her friends to do the things they did for her and her family, they were glad to do it, and she couldn't ask for better friends, and Jacob couldn't ask for better people to help him out.

PHEW! I wrote this in like an hour and a half and I am genuinely impressed with myself! I hope you enjoyed this oneshot and I love you all!! ❤️