Big Bro's in Charge Now

[Jakerz]

As Matt left the room Jake felt weird...it wasn't the way he normally was with his older brother. Usually Matt wasn't like that...he seemed different. Jake didn't know why, but he had liked this Matt better. He hadn't yelled at him really - and he had said he forgave him. Jake didn't know what to think. Was Matt just planning some big trick or something? Was he going to make fun of him worse than ever before? Or was he being nicer? Jake didn't know but he was suspicious. He decided to leave his room and look for something to do. He was kind of bored, as it was spring break - and well...he had some friends at school but he wasn't the most popular kid in the first grade. He had also gotten a reputation of smelling bad even when he didn't - one too many accidents in school. So there wouldn't be any fun playmates for Jake today. His BEST friend Steven was on vacation anyways.

Jake made his way back down the stairs, going back onto the couch and finding that Pokemon was long long over, and nothing else that seemed interesting was on. What then was Jake to do? He sighed...he had toys but he didn't feel like playing with them. He didn't know why. He felt like going outside. Maybe to the playground. Or somewhere fun. Maybe matt could take him someplace. Matt had a car - though Jake had never been allowed to ride in it before. Maybe now he was big enough too. Maybe Matt would let him if he asked nicely. Maybe Matt could take him someplace fun.

He found his brother again and walked up to him "I'm bored..." he said whining a little. "Can we go to th' playground? Or somewhere fun? There's nothin' t'do...."

[shadow1525]

Matt was still in the music room, and had since gotten off the drum set, and was currently playing a large bass guitar, the third and final instrument he could really play well.. He was playing along to a Metallica song, and ignored his brother until the song was finished. "What do you want?" He sighed while hanging the instrument back up. He considered the boy's request once it was made once more.

The idea wasn't too terrible.. He would rather go and play his guitar to be sure, but this way the boy might tire himself out and be out of his hair for at least an hour... "You could just watch a movie..But if you really want to.." Matt sighed..Maybe he could bring his acoustic guitar along, there was typically money to be that way.. "Fine..If you promise to be good for the rest of the day.. Just let me grab my keys and guitar case.." The older brother said as he led Jake out of the music room, the place he stopped keeping his guitars after the boy got a hold of one of them. "You want to go to the park then?" He asked while heading back to his room.

[Jakerz]

Jake stood with his hands over his ears. He admired his brother's ability but Metallica was way beyond his tastes. The seven year old boy would much rather listen to songs from Spongebob Squarepants, or any of his many Pokemon albums than the loud heavy metal music that his brother tended to like. Jake had even once asked Matt if he could play the Pokemon song on guitar, but Matt hadn't taken too kindly to that.

"I already seen all th' movies inna whole house like a gazillion times" Jake said, as for the movie suggestion. This was a true statement, he had watched most of them to death. That had never stopped the first grader before though. He just didn't feel like it right now. He was filled with energy and just wanted to have some fun.

"Yea, I wanna go to th' playground! They gotta new slide an' everything! An' plus also I haven't been in like a week." Jake added. "We really can? Ya mean I can go in your car? Im 'lowed to sit innit?" Jake added a little darkly. He was excited though to go to the playground, and so was in a good mood. He stepped a bit closer to the drum set. He really wanted to give banging those drums a try. It seemed like so much fun....he stared at it for a bit. It was so tempting but he was worried about getting in trouble.....

[shadow1525]

"Sure, yes, yes..But for the love of god please don't spill anything in it..I just cleaned it a couple days ago.. And there were..Stains that were hard to get out.." Matt said as he dodged around the origin of such things. "We'll have to see if your car seat will even work in my car." He sighed while following his brothers eyes back to the drum set, when he turned abruptly and made his way to sit down at it. Nearly everyone in their family was a musician, Matt had started learning to play when he was younger than Jake, as he was always captivated and interested in music.

There wasn't much risk in letting Jake play the drums..It was kind of hard to mess them up. Matt wasn't very good at playing larger sets, he typically preferred the classic style used in older rock music. "Or...I could teach you something about music..I started playing when I was younger than you.." He said nervously..It was a rare moment when Matt was able to connect with his little brother, but music was a passion of his, if Jake would take an interest it might even improve his opinion of the little boy. "Drums are pretty hard to screw up..Just don't stab them with the sticks, or hit them too hard." He explained while gently tapping the snare, and pushing the pedals for the base and high hat. "It's all about coordination, while one part of you body does one thing, the others are doing others at different rates." He said while picking up the speed slightly, and using his other hand to tap a different drum.

"Is there something you'd like me to play? I could play it on guitar as well.." He asked, actually willing to play the original Pokemon opening song, as it was actually a nostalgic and real song.

[Jakerz]

Jake nearly jumped out of his skin when Matt turned back around and started talking. He had thought his brother had already left the room. Not that Jake had even TOUCHED the drums but just the fact that he was even caught thinking about it made him nervous..."I wasn't...um...I didn't---" he began to chatter on nervously but then he was surprised to find that his brother's tone wasn't angry. It almost sounded...nice. Jake just kind of stared at his teenaged brother as he said that he would even let Jake maybe learn a little. How to play an instrument! He couldn't believe it since he had never been allowed to touch one of Matt's instruments before (Though to be fair, he had never asked - any time he had tried to touch one of them had been secretly though he had been caught before.)

"I can touch 'em?" Jake said a little eagerly. He approached all the way watching his brother hit the drums. Two rules? That's it? That sounded easy to remember. Jake couldn't wait for his turn. "Lemme try!" He said excitedly and eagerly, not even waiting for Matt to get off of the stool. Instead he just hopped up onto his older brother's lap. Jake and Matt didn't have the best relationship so it had probably been three years at least since the little boy had EVER sat on Matt's lap (and of course there was always the little fact that Jake wouldn't want to try for fear Matt would make a comment about getting peed on or something.) Luckily Jake was extremely light.

"Heeeey....waittaminute" Jake said suspiciously. "You don't even LIKE me, why would you wanna teach me stuff....?" he asked, not able to keep a bit of sadness out of his voice despite his usual attempts to act like he doesn't care what his brother thinks

---------- Post added at 02:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:11 AM ----------

"And can ya play the pokemon song?" Jake added a little nervously. "Please..? Or spongebob..."

[shadow1525]

"The drums aren't mine, and they don't really scratch easily. Guitars are like..Babies..Too me..They're delicate..A fine guitar is not to be abused, it's like beating a child." Matt explained as he tapped away at the drums at a steady pace. "You don't realize it, but you're a little rough with things, that's way you are never to touch my custom or acoustic guitar." He went on. "Guitars are beautiful, refined instruments in the right hands. Drums are more..Rustic..Although don't tell Dad I said that, and never touch his set.." He said while gesturing towards the other, much larger set of drums with two base drums, and multiple other pieces of various sizes.

"Yes you can touch these..Just listen..You don't need to smack them if you're playing by your self, and make sure you hit with the side of the end, not the tip of the stick." He reminded the boy. "H-Hey..Calm down.." Matt mumbled...Blushing slightly over the fact that the boy was sitting on his lap..."Fine you can stay here.." He sighed..Maybe having Jake sit in his lap wasn't so bad..He wouldn't really pee on him..Would he? Matt hoped not..

"Well..It's..Well..I typically don't like you..That's true..We don't have much in common.." Matt began as he thought back to the advice he was given by his friend a few short moments ago. "But..If you take an interest in music..That's my passion..It always has been...I think you're actually kind of cool when you concentrate, and don't act like a..Well..Idiot.." The older brother said under his breath. "As for what to play..Spongebob is out of the question..I didn't like it when I was supposed to, and I never will, especially now that it's sold out.." Matt said flatly. "But Pokemon..I grew up with that..You see though, the newer versions are awful..I suppose I really can't blame you for not realizing..But haven't you ever wondered why Pikachu is pretty much the only Pokemon kept outside of a ball?"

The older brother pointed out. "But I'll tell you what I can do, if you really want to hear the Pokemon song..I'll play the original, it actually has merit. "Now, can you get up so I can grab my guitar?" Matt asked as he handed the sticks off to the boy. "Follow me.." He sighed, making way for his room.

[Jakerz]

The six year old boy sat on his brother's lap listening to him talk. Or well...trying to do his best to listen. It was a bit hard in his excitement when all he wanted to do was bang the drums. But Matt so seldomly acted this nicely that Jake was doing anything in his power to keep on his good side. So Jake continued to nod. And actually, he began to find himself interested when his brother spoke. It probably helped that Matt was talking about something he was passionate about. Jake didn't hear his brother talk with such a lack of boredom very often.

"You really think I'm cool sometimes...?" Jake asked in surprise and what sounded a bit like hope and pride. Though that compliment had been layered in with a bunch of insults, it was the compliment that stood out the most to the little boy. Something he had never heard his brother say before. In fact, he was under the impression that his brother thought he was the OPPOSITE of cool. "Butcha never lemme play with you an' your friends an' stuff....this mornin' you called me a baby...." he added softly. "And ya say lotsa other stuff too...."

"Yea okay!" Jake said excitedly at the Pokemon offer. After all Matt had had some old Pokemon tapes from when he was Jake's age, and Jake had been given them when he became Pokemon-obsessed. He definitely was more familiar with the later episodes, but he had seen enough of those video tapes to know the song - even if he couldn't sing it by heart like he could with the later one. In fact, as excited as Matt was about sharing his love of music with Jake Jake was just as excited about getting to share that love of Pokemon with Matt. In a weird way the idea of Matt playing the Pokemon song was a kind of bonding experience for both the little boy and the teenager. A mutual sharing of interests for two very very different people.

[shadow1525]

"I don't think you realize..Well..Me and my friends typically aren't what you would call very nice people when we're together..Our sarcasm and sense of humor is a bit beyond you..There's a lot of difference between six and seventeen..You're still..Well..Innocent..And hanging around a bunch of teenagers is the best way to ruin that..Believe me..It typically leads to trouble..." Matt attempted to explain as he went down to his room, and grabbed his pride and joy out of it's velvet resting place, and along with his laptop he made his way back to the music room.

"And to be honest, you make me mad..A lot of the time..Once again..There's a big difference in six and seventeen..Eleven isn't a very big number, but in years it is.." Matt went on. "I'm a bit of an arrogant ass most of the time..And you're well..A silly little boy.." He sighed while setting things up. "But, I'm also a bit of a nostalgic nerd.." He chuckled at the truth of that...He even knew how to sing some songs in Japanese that went with shows like Gundam he watched.

"Do you think you can remember the rules and play the drums while I get things set up here?" Matt asked as he set his guitar on a stand, and began plugging his laptop into the room's sound system, to play the background music. "The background music is going to come on, but I'll be the one to play the guitar, and sing the vocals. Because..that's just how I prefer to play.." He explained while plugging his guitar in, and adjusting amps, and settings to get the proper tone.

[Jakerz]

"I'm six anna HALF" Jake corrected his older brother with pride. "But then...what makes me COOL tho?" he asks, not understanding. First his brother said he's cool sometimes, then he said he makes him mad a lot of the time and that he's a silly little boy. It was confusing, and didn't make sense to him. "An' you're ooonly seventeen, you're notta grown-up yet. Notta all-the-way-grown-up...you can be silly too....." the boy added. He didn't understand why his brother could never just have fun like he could.

Any bit of insult he felt at his brother's words though went away when he heard he could play the drums until things were set up. "Yea I 'member the rules!" Jake said without really thinking too hard about them, as he hopped back up onto the seat. He was holding the drum sticks, and then very lightly hit the snare drum. He grinned so widely when he heard the resulting sound. Soon he began to hit it harder, gaining more confidence, and then just practiced banging away. Not TOO hard, not enough to break anything at least...he did obey the rules there. The little boy giggled at the fun though he wasn't doing much in time and he was too small to reach any of the pedals. He was just having fun playing with the different drums and cymbals.

[shadow1525]

"Just..Drop it..I'll explain some other time.." Matt sighed as he went to set things up, leaving the boy to his play, until he began to get into a bit too much. "Ease up now..There's a technique to hitting them that way, be gentle..Tapping someone on the shoulder is different from tackling and punching them right?" Matt said, raising his voice above the drums. There was little danger..But still it never hurt to be careful in case Jake hit one of the drums wrong.

After a few minutes Matt was sitting on a stool with his fingers on his laptop, and a microphone close to his mouth. "Alright, knock that off now..It's all ready to go.." He called above the noise once more, and played a quick scale to warm up and get his brothers attention. "You ready?" He asked after finishing.