After Hours: Finn and Charlie, mirrored crusade

Finn drops to his hands and knees on the thick bedroom carpet, letting out a dramatic, exaggerated groan.

Charlie giggles, a sharp, excited sound, as he immediately scrambles onto Finn’s back. He settles his knees right against Finn’s ribs, balancing easily on his bare skin. At some point over the last hour, the game had lost its clothes—Charlie’s idea, obviously, whining and bugging him with that stubborn, naughty grin until Finn finally gave in. Growing up as neighbors, sharing basically everything since they were little kids, stuff like that didn't even matter. To Charlie, Finn was just the big, unshakeable center of his world, the older brother he could always trick into his crazy ideas.

"You know you’re getting way too heavy for this, right?" Finn grumbled, though a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "My back is gonna be sore for a week."

"Shut up, you're a horse!" Charlie yelled, waving a plastic toy sword in the air. "A real knight doesn't care if his horse complains. We gotta save the kingdom, come on!"

Finn chuckled, shifting his weight slightly on the soft floor. "Pretty sure the knight is supposed to wear armor, Charlie. Not... whatever this is."

"Armor is super loud. It ruins the stealth mode," Charlie explained, leaning way forward. "Now go, go! Go to the mirror!"

Finn moved slowly across the carpet, his large frame giving Charlie a steady, rocking ride. Charlie leaned into the motion, gripping Finn’s shoulders tight with one hand while waving the sword around, his eyes bright with pure mischief.

As they got closer to the big full-length mirror leaning against the bedroom wall, Charlie caught their reflection. He stopped waving the sword, leaning all the way down until his chest was pressed flat against Finn’s warm back, staring intently at the glass.

From this angle, the mirror captured everything. It reflected the sharp contrast between Finn’s broad, sturdy frame and Charlie’s much smaller, leaner build. It caught the view from behind—the smooth lines of their backs, the way Charlie's legs draped perfectly over Finn's hips, and the easy, comfortable closeness of two people who had spent their entire lives in each other's houses.

"Whoa, look," Charlie whispered, tilting his head as he stared at the reflection. "We actually look like a real knight and a horse from behind. This looks so cool."

Finn glanced up at the glass, his shoulders shaking with a soft huff. "Yeah? Looks more like a giant guy letting his annoying neighbor break his spine."

"Hey! Don't be mean," Charlie laughed, playfully poking Finn's neck with the plastic blade. "Less talking, more walking. We still have to conquer the whole rug!"

Finn let out a soft breath, his posture relaxing as the warmth of the afternoon settled over the room. He adjusted his grip on the floor, carrying Charlie back out toward the center of the room, the plastic sword tapping gently against his shoulder with every slow, deliberate step.

It was loud, it was a little ridiculous, and it was completely chaotic.

But as Finn caught Charlie’s grinning face in the reflection one last time, he decided his back could handle a few more minutes of being a horse. Some traditions were just worth keeping.