Countryhumans Oneshots

A Little Brother's Guidance

Michigan was excited to meet his little brother. He was waiting for his Uncle James to walk the new territory over to him and Indiana from wherever the new territory appeared. His head was leaning against Indiana's shoulder, and she was rubbing her thumb over his knuckles.

He was excited to be an older brother. Michigan had been the baby for so long that he was excited to have someone younger than him around, both because Michigan could baby them and his older siblings would baby him less.

He knew they would never stop, though. Not when Michigan was blind.

Well, blind wasn't entirely accurate. Michigan could see sometimes, like when he was in charge of the body or looking out of his Dad's eyes.

But never anything that wasn't real. Anything in the little world they had in his father's head was not visible to him. They weren't sure why. Uncle James thought it was because Michigan couldn't imagine visual things, even if he was trying to remember something that he had been able to see. Indiana thought it was because Michigan was going to be blind when he got his body and could only see now because Dad could.

Michigan didn't really care what was causing it. It didn't change the fact that he couldn't see.

Michigan smiled as he heard footsteps approaching, knowing that it was his uncle and little brother making his way over to them. Indiana released his hand, and Michigan pulled his head off of her shoulder.

"Illinois, these are two of your older siblings," Uncle James said as Michigan turned his head to face the sound of his uncle's voice.

"Hi! I'm Illinois!" his little brother chirped. His high-pitched voice hinted to Michigan that his brother was probably very young physically.

"Hello, Illinois. I'm Indiana, and this here is Michigan," Indiana said. Michigan smiled, waving in what he hoped was the direction of his little brother.

"Hello, Illinois."

"And for your benefit, Michigan, Illinois is about physically five, with brown hair and blue eyes. He has eagle wings like you, and they are so adorable. He had freckles and—" Uncle James began before Illinois cut him off.

"Why are you describing me to Mishhh—Mitchigan?" Illinois asked. His voice was so innocent and sweet, and Michigan could now tell that Illinois had a lisp as the new territory stumbled over the s sounds in his speech, even pronouncing Michigan's name wrong.

He didn't care. Hearing his little brother stumble over his speech was adorable, and Michigan could feel warmth blooming in his chest. Was this what his siblings felt when he was born?

No wonder they babied him.

"I can't see Illinois, so Uncle James describes things to me so I can..." he couldn't imagine them; the visual images inside his head were as nonexistent as the ones outside of his head, "get an understanding of my surroundings and people within them."

There was a brief moment of silence before Michigan suddenly stumbled forward, a tiny hand having grabbed his own and was pulling him forward.

"Illinois?" Michigan asked, taking a guess as to who that was—none of his siblings had hands that small, after all. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to help you see things!" The small territory chirped, and Michigan couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

"Thank you, Noi. What are you going to see for me first?" Michigan asked, deciding not to mention to Illinois that the little world had been explained to him a dozen times over and that he could navigate it with little difficulty. Well, aside from the forest. It was too complex, and the ground was so covered in roots and rock that he always tripped on things.

"Over here is Uncle James' house!" Illinois said cheerily through his lisp, seemingly forgetting that Michigan could not see whatever he was pointing at. Michigan decided not to mention it so that the young boy could have his fun.

"Really? What does it look like?" Michigan asked.

"It's made of...mud, I think? It has a straw roof and is yellow! Wait, do you know what yellow is?" Illinois asked. Michigan nodded.

"I can see through Dad's eyes, so I got to have colors explained to me," Michigan explained, "And I know yellow is the color of happiness, according to James."

There was a brief moment of silence before Illinois gasped.

"I'm sorry, Mitchigan! I nodded and forgot you couldn't see me. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" he said, sounding so panicked. Michigan laughed.

"It's okay, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to," Michigan said before carefully lowering himself to the ground and holding out his arms. "Can I have a hug? I'd do it myself, but I'm not sure how tall you are and don't want to knock you over."

Michigan was then knocked over by a small body barreling into him as tiny arms and wings wrapped around him. Michigan squeezed his little brother tighter, wrapping his wings around the small boy.

He knew his body would become young again when he was born, but right now, Michigan had the body of a teenager, and his large, fully developed (although useless) wings felt like they covered the small territory.

Eventually, Illinois pulled away, but Michigan could still feel the familiar pinpricks in his neck, which meant that someone was looking at him.

"Before we continue to the tour," Michigan asked, "Can I feel your face? It helps me understand more about what you look like."

"Yes!" Illinois said before grabbing Michigan's hand and putting it in his face. Michigan slowly traced his hand over Illinois' facial features. His nose was small and narrow, and his eyelashes felt long. Michigan moved his hand over to Illinois' ears, wondering how wide his face was. Illinois let out a little giggle.

"That tickles!" he said. Michigan smiled.

"I've been told that it can," Michigan said before putting a hand over Ilinois' mouth as the territory giggled, feeling the smile that was present there. Satisfied, Michigan pulled his hand away.

"Thank you, Illinois."

"You're welcome! I'm glad I can help you see!"

"Yeah, me too."