#waiting until my roommate comes back but then we're gonna go visit at least. i dont think he'll come back w us tonight

[skrunksthatwunk]

RASCAL IS BACK IN THE BUILDING. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LET ME SEE HIM LET ME SEE MY BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[bakubub]

In which Racer!Kuroo is your roommate and you finally learn more about him...

Warnings: Mentions of loss of loved one, disregard for own life, swearing, innuendos and implied nsfw (but sfw overall), fem!reader with she/her pronouns.

A/N: Idek what this is. Its literally a 4.6 k mixture of fluff, angst and comfort... I rewrote this like 4 times :,) being a perfectionist is so,,, tiring.

This takes part shortly after this, you can definitely read this without reading the 'part 1' if you will, since they don't depend on one another.

Art belongs to @aikk00 ,, and yes I am still in love with it :D

I stumble out of the lecture hall, my eyes so heavy I bump into about 3 other students and mumble my apologies until I fully wake up and snap out of my daze.

Walking down the stairs and making my way to the bus stop, I watch in horror as the bus I was supposed to be in drives off, going fast for once in its damn life as if mocking me.

Inhaling sharply through my nose, I manage to keep my composure and sit down at the bus stop, telling myself the next bus will be here in a bit.

It's fine. It's fine. I slept through the lecture, and I still have to catch up on 4 subjects and make dinner, but at least the house is clean and I'm caught up in that one subject I picked up for this exact reason.

It's fine. It's going to be just fi-

The rumble of a loud engine breaks my shitty but somewhat effective self-reassurance motto and I open my eyes to see a black and red sports car going 60 km/h in a 30 zone, effectively getting mine and everyone else's attention.

I watched in horror for the second time today as this time it stopped right in front of the bus stop. No, no, no, no.

No.

Please no.

He rolls down the passenger window with that ridiculous hair and a shit-eating grin, as he nods towards the seat, revving his engine.

I look away, pretending he's not looking directly at me and that I don't live with the guy, which I immediately regretted when he beeped the fucking horn.

What did I do to deserve this humiliation?

I hastily put my head down as he beeped it again, giving up and rushing towards his insufferable car, getting into the passenger seat and slumping in my seat to keep my head down low.

"What is wrong with you? What are you even doing here?" I hiss, my glaring up at him from my awkward, folded position.

He laughs, and when I hear the sound of a photo being taken in the split second I looked away to readjust my bag, I sit up straight, watching him continue speeding as he stuffs his phone into his pocket.

"Are. You. Trying. To. Kill. Me?!" I ask, my voice little less than a screech as I slap his arm with each word.

"Ow, ow, I just came to pick my roomie up! I sensed you needed a ride, and this is the thanks I get?" he asks, that smirk I have come to hate returning to grace his features.

I glare at him, but a small, sleep-deprived part of my brain is distracted by his appearance. A tight black tee adorning his built figure, his biceps are on display as he drives with one hand, the other resting on the gear shift. The air from his rolled down window is ruffling his hair this way and that, and I find myself wanting to run my hands through the raven strands, just as I had when I washed his hair that one time...

"Wait- how the fuck did you know I didn't have a ride?" I ask incredulously, my reaction time clearly delayed but here nonetheless.

I narrow my eyes as he hesitates before he answers, "I just knew, ok? It's not like it’s astrodynamics, not that I can't figure that out too."

"Kuroo, what the hell is astrodynamics? Are you like, spying on me or something?" I ask, pretending to look out the window so as to not get distracted by his appearance once more.

"What do you common folk call it? Rocket science?" He says, once again exceeding the speed limit.

"If I'm a commoner, does that make you a peasant? Also, stop going so fast, I feel sick and I do not feel like dying today."

He rolls his eyes in response as he slows down by a smidgen, the speed meter barely even moving. "Seriously, you may have no consideration for yourself, but I still have a lot of things to achieve with my damn life so slow the fuck down." My words finally reach the rational part in him and he slows down considerably, now going within the speed limit.

Taking a deep breath, I rest my elbow on my door and look out the window, my mind flooding with thoughts about Kuroo's reckless driving and how it can all go sour with one delayed reaction.

Before I know it, we're rolling up to our apartment building, driving into his private garage only the penthouse owners get to use.

"I'm sorry," he mutters, filling the silence in the car.

"It's ok. I just... I want you to be safe. I know its hard, but... just try," I say quietly, unable to look at him.

"That's what he said," he says hastily before rushing out of the car before I can hit him.

Getting out of the vehicle myself, I send a murderous look his way and run after his retreating form.

A small part of me is grateful that he's acting like his usual unbearable self again, but the rest of me is just mad at his relentless sex jokes.

He hits the elevator button before I can get there and I watch the doors close, his smirk practically shining through the crack of the closing doors. I jam my foot in the middle at the last possible second, and smile victoriously as I get into the metal box and slap his arm once again.

"Ooh, do it harder," he practically moans, and my eyes just about pop out of their sockets in embarrassment as my face flushes a deep red.

"Oh shut up," I mutter, turning around and waiting patiently for the doors to open on the top floor. I hear him snicker and then the sound of a photo being taken, turning around sharply. I yell in defiance and throw my bag on the floor as I jump onto him in an attempt to grab his phone out of his hand and delete the probably unflattering photo.

I straddle his back and reach for the phone he easily holds out of my reach. Leaning across his shoulder in a feeble attempt to reach it, my feet are hooked around his chest and my other hand is using his shoulder as a brace. He's laughing hard at this point, and I'm screaming at him to give me the damn phone. Neither of us notice the elevator doors opening nor the small woman standing at the threshold staring at us in shock and amusement.

"Kuroo Tetsuro! You let that poor girl down this instant, young man!"

We both froze at the authoritative voice, slowly turning to look at a small dark haired woman with a straight shoulder length cut and narrow gold eyes that were glaring at the man under me.

"MUM!" He exclaims, setting me down and running to hug and kiss the woman, his mum apparently. "What are you doing here?" I hear him ask as I straighten myself out, fixing my jumper and tucking my hair behind my ears, picking up my bag off the floor and quickly following them out of the elevator.

"What, a mother needs an excuse to come visit her boys? Where's Kenma?" She asks, looking in the elevator again as if to check if she missed him.

"Oh, he's at his own place. Apparently he has a booked in session with this famous gamer today. Did he say he'd be here?" Kuroo asks, letting go of the woman and leaning on the wall.

"No, I didn't tell anyone I was coming to visit. Never mind that, who's this pretty young lady here, hmm?" She asks, raising a perfectly shaped brow as she walks towards me, the click of her heels echoing in the lobby of the penthouse.

I smiled down at her, since she was considerably shorter than even me, and introduced myself. "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Kuroo." I say, bowing.

"Oh no, no, none of that. You can call me mum too, hmm?" She says, gesturing me up from my bow and pulling me down for a tight hug.

"Oh, um, actually, me and Kuroo aren't-"

"We’ll talk more comfortably inside, no? Tetsuro, is your plan to let me stand here all day?” She asks, letting me go and turning around to look at Kuroo.

Kuroo leaps into action, taking his mum's bag and unlocking the door, helping her out of her heels and leading her into the spotless penthouse.

It was all I could do to nod in response, closing the door behind us and walking down into the kitchen to prepare a meal.

It’s crazy how much I don’t know about this guy. He’d never mentioned his mother before, and briefly mentioned that he has a sister, whether older or younger I have no idea. Kenma, however, I know well. The guy was here all the time when I first started living here, but recently I've seen him less and less. Which is a shame, considering we actually got along quite well, with sharing eye rolls and bonding over our mutual love of Minecraft.

I don't notice silent footsteps following me until Kuroo's Mother says "now, why's a beautiful girl like yourself slaving away in the kitchen? Does that boy make u do all the cooking and cleaning like some mid-century housewife?"

I poke my head out of the fridge, smiling at her fair assumptions, "no, no, it's not like that at all. I actually-"

"Uh, mum! You know I'm incompetent with this stuff. This place would be a mess if she wasn't here to run things! Plus, she loves to cook and finds cleaning therapeutic. Hey, her words not mine," Kuroo quickly jumps in, putting his hands up defensively when she looks at him with a raised brow.

Looks like he doesn't want his mother to know of our little arrangement.

"Right. He's just so hopeless, I can't trust him to do anything," I add on, sending her a smile as I prepare the fish he likes.

"You're making grilled mackerel for dinner?! Oh that's gonna hit the fu- the fun spot," he says, saving himself at the last second.

I hold back a snort as I take out a pan, "open the window, fish boy. It's about to stink here and I can't be bothered with Mrs. Suzuki coming all the way upstairs just to complain about the fish smell, and then complaining that she had to come up here in the first place. God, I hope she isn't sitting on the balcony today," I ramble, trying to see her balcony from outside the window, but fail because of the private location.

Damn these amazing architects.

I hear his mum chuckle at my rambling as she begins to take out ingredients for a salad. "Oh, you don't have to help, please sit and make yourself comfortable," I say, moving towards her to take the lettuce out of her hands.

"No, no, I'd like to pitch in. Now what kind of mother-in-law would I be to let you do everything yourself?" She asks, holding the lettuce away from me and walking over to the sink.

I stare at the back of her head, a flush creeping up my neck, "m-mother-in-law?!" I ask incredulously, glancing over at Kuroo who looked suspiciously... Smug. I look away quickly when he meets my eyes, and I hastily hyper-focus on the fish in front of me, placing it on the heated pan, causing sizzling and popping to fill the awkward silence.

"I'm sorry darling, I don't mean to be overbearing. Tetsuro introduced you as his girlfriend, so I thought things were getting serious since he actually allowed us to meet one another. You see, he’s never introduced me to a girl before, so you can imagine my excitement. I can stop if you're uncomfortable-"

I cut her off, feeling even more embarrassed as I realise the role I am to play in Kuroo's life when his mother is around. I mean, it makes sense, he can't exactly just admit he took a random girl into his house.

"I, um, no really it's fine, I understand" I say, my voice small as I flip the fish.

She lets out a delighted laugh and pulls me down into a hug once more. The smile on my face is genuine as my embarrassment melts away, the bright smile of this woman comforting me.

"So, how did you guys meet?" She asks, chopping up the ingredients for her salad on the bench while I'm at the stove, Kuroo leaning on his elbows on the bench.

"At uni," I answer at the same time as Kuroo states, "at a party."

We both look at each other with wide eyes, and I clear my throat to clarify, "at a uni party. A classmate of ours hosted one and we met each other there."

"I see, so the old boozed up one night stand turned into quite a domestic relationship hmm?" she suggests, wiggling her eyebrows at Kuroo.

"What? No, no, I would never! A one night stand? Booze? Please, what kind of man do you take me for?" Kuroo complains, looking offended.

I turn around towards the stove and roll my eyes. I've heard the rumours around campus, practically every girl in my lecture hall can testify to at least making out with the man. He really puts up a façade for his mum.

I hear the doorbell ring, and quickly take the fish off the stove to go answer it as Kuroo bickers with his mother about how innocent he really is.

"Hello? Who is it?" I ask, pressing the buzzer.

"Uh, hello? Is this Tetsu's place?" A deep voice answers. I look at the camera, seeing Kenma and a bunch of men about Kuroo's age looking confused. The one who answered is a guy with a blond mohawk and piercings adorning both ears.

"Yes, just give me a second," I reply. "Kuroo, I think Kenma and the rest of your friends are here? Should I let 'em up?" I shout out.

"Yeah let 'em in," he calls back. I press another button, letting them into the lobby.

I need to make more food.

Quickly taking out my frozen dumplings I stocked up for emergency dinners for days I couldn't be bothered to make anything better, I whip up a quick sauce, thinking I could split the fish and put it in the middle of the table so everyone can take their share.

"I do apologise darling, I let my Kenma know that I came to visit and he must have told the boys. I think they've all come to see me," Kuroo's mum confesses.

"You must be a very loved woman if they came all this way to see you. And it's no worries really, I'm always prepared for guests," I say, putting her at ease.

She beams at me as the door is banged loudly.

Kuroo mutters something about “rude assholes'' as he goes to open the door, a group of tall men making their way through the threshold.

"Hiya cap'ain," the mohawk guy says, patting Kuroo on the back. A tall, light brown haired man was next to greet him, then proceeded to exclaim "MUMMA KOZUME!!" and practically jumped onto the poor woman.

Wait, did he just say Kozume? Isn't Kenma's surname Kozume?

"Hey mum," Kenma greets, kneeling down to hug Kuroo's mum.

Who's mum is this lady?! I swear to god I'm going to go crazy.

"Hello hello everyone," A massive grey haired guy says, kissing Kuroo's mum on the cheek and hugging Kuroo.

The last guy to greet them is a tan guy with a buzz cut, and he does the same as his friend before.

"So Kuroo, when di'ja get yourself a girl, huh?" The grey haired guy asks, looking offended that he didn't know before now.

I raise my eyebrows as Kuroo just smiles guiltily. He introduces me to his friends and I wave hello, as they all begin to introduce themselves.

The grey haired guy says his name is Lev and that he's half Russian. A weird detail to include but interesting I guess.

The light brown haired man introduces himself as Yaku, and says that he was Kuroo's senpai back in high school.

"Yeah a demon senpai," Kuroo mutters in reply. My smile quickly turns into a grimace as Yaku jumps on him and they both start brawling on the floor, making a loud ruckus. A loud thumping can be heard from downstairs as Mrs. Suzuki starts to lose her mind and continues to bang the handle of her broom to her ceiling.

"Ugh, you morons upset Mrs. Suzuki! She's going to talk my ear off next time I see her..." I complain, grabbing a cushion and throwing it at the boys.

They flinch at my anger and quickly get up, muttering a quick apology. My glare softens as mohawk introduces himself as Yamamoto, and the tan guy says his name is Kai whilst vigorously shaking my hand.

"It's very nice meeting all of you. Dinner will be ready in a bit so please just make yourselves comfortable," I announce, making my way back into the kitchen.

The boys, all sporting grins, make their way to the living room and sit on the couches, man-spreading and slouching all over the place, one person taking up the usual spot for two.

I sigh, focusing on the dumplings in front of me.

I stiffen as I feel large hands on my waist, and a presence behind me. Visibly relaxing once I realise it's Kuroo, I turn around, his hands still resting on my hips, and his face nestled in the crook of my neck.

"Please just go along with it. We have to act like a couple if they're going to believe us," he mutters, his hot breath causing shivers to run up my spine.

I simply nod, instinctively placing my arms around his neck and running my fingers through his hair, something I've wanted to do since that day.

He groans into my neck, and I find myself holding my breath as I continue my hand movements.

"OI LOVEBIRDS! MUM SAYS THE DUMPLINGS ARE GONNA FUCKIN' STICK! Ow! Oh, sorry," I snatched my hands back from Kuroo, pushing his chest, my cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

What the fuck am I doing?!

I turn around back to the stove, mixing the dumplings in the boiling water as my thoughts race.

That felt too real, too much like a real relationship.

And way too addicting, apparently, since I already miss his close proximity.

The warmth on my waist disappears as I hear Kuroo running back into the living room.

"SHUT UP YOU MORON, THE DUMPLINGS ARE FINE!" I hear him scream, and then a loud thud as he presumably tackles whoever yelled at us to the ground.

I sigh as I hear Mrs. Suzuki's muffled thuds from downstairs in record time.

"You know I'm going to have to make Mrs. Suzuki some kind of apology cake because you boys can't sit down and act like adults," I complained, my arms crossed and an unimpressed expression on my face.

Lev and Yamamoto are on the floor playing some kind of Connect 4 game I've never seen before, while Kai looks to be having a deep conversation with Kuroo's mum, who is perched on the single arm chair like the queen she is.

Kenma is hogging the tv playing some kind of video game on Kuroo's ps5 (which I've hogged on more than one occasion), and Kuroo on the other hand has Yaku in a headlock.

He immediately lets go and apologises, and so does Yaku, who even bows in his regret.

I roll my eyes and shake my head at his mum, who just laughs, and I make my way back into the kitchen, setting food on the table and calling them in to eat.

After dinner, I find myself showered in compliments and not a bite of dinner leftover for tomorrow's lunch. Damn I'm good.

I served up cake I had already prepared from earlier along with fruits I washed and set on plates, and watched as that was eaten and finished before I even sat down. Kuroo's mum scolded the boys for poor manners, and they all apologised. Well, all except Kuroo, who just wiggled his pierced brows and winked at me.

I sit down on the floor next to the couch, since it was all occupied, and hear a dissatisfied sound coming from Kuroo's mum.

"Now, now, sweetheart. You don't have to be shy around me, just go on and take your usual seat next to Tetsuro," she says, nudging her head in Kuroo's direction, where the only vacant spot was literally his lap.

I look at her with wide eyes, even Kuroo seems taken aback by her suggestion, and all the boys are immaturely ‘oohing’ loudly as they laugh and make fun of us.

Kuroo makes a gesture for me to come next to him, so I hold back my heavy sigh, try my best to hide the flush on my face, and walk towards him, awkwardly perching on his knee.

He chuckles as he grabs my waist and pulls me flush towards his chest, my butt in the corner of the couch and my legs resting diagonally over his, so that my head is directly in the crook of his neck.

I hate to say it, but this is actually really damn comfortable.

Conversation has started up again, but it becomes secondary to the beat of his heart right under my ear, and my eyes start to get heavy as his scent and warmth lull me to a comfort that is beyond being awake and alert.

---

Kuroo's POV

"What a cute girl she is, Tetsu. I'm so glad you've found her. And now that you've got her, you better. Not. Let. Go." She says, slapping me on the arm with each word of her last sentence.

What is it with women and slapping me?

"Ok, ok, I know mum, I won't stuff this up. I promise," I respond, smiling at her.

"Ok, well, I'm staying over at Kenma's house. Ah, no objections. You've already got your hands full, and I don't want to be in the way of young love. Plus, I'd rather listen to Kenma's midnight streams than you two in the middle of the night," she says, not accepting my objections and giving me a knowing look. My face warms to what she's insinuating, and I mutter a quick, "it's not like that," as I duck my head into Y/n's shoulder.

By this time the boys have all left, Kenma's downstairs waiting in his car for his mum to come, but she insisted on staying back for a few minutes to talk to me.

Y/n fell asleep a while ago now, still nestled on my lap, her head on my shoulder and her figure keeping me warm.

"I know exactly how it is, my darling. I've seen how you two act, pretending to be in a relationship just so we don't ask any uncomfortable questions. I won't meddle in your life, I never did, Tetsuro. But I will give you advice I expect you to consider. Don't let her go. Neither of you were pretending about your feelings towards each other, let me tell you that much." She says, knowingly looking at me.

I look up in alarm, which quickly morphs into a nervous laugh. She's good, I'll give her that much.

But, can Y/n really mirror my feelings?

"Ok darling, better not leave Kenma waiting any longer. I'll visit again tomorrow, or you can come over to Kenma's, whichever you prefer as long as she comes along too. I want to get to know my future daughter-in-law better!!"

With that, the woman who took me in and treated me like her own left my home.

I look down at my roommate, taking in the way her lashes are long enough to brush against her face, the way her brows are just a tad bit asymmetrical, the stroke of her nose and the bend of her cupid's bow.

I can't help but bring my hand up to caress the side of her face, content to stay here forever.

Mum would've loved her.

This thought broke the dam that held back my tears since middle school, and as they fell down my face I couldn't help but think of my own mother, coming in and hugging her, making her famous pie that I can't remember the taste of anymore. A sob racks my figure and I all of a sudden find a pair of e/c eyes staring up at me, my tears having dampened some parts of her face.

Wordlessly, she straightens herself and wraps her arms around my neck, running her fingers through the back of my head, stroking down towards my nape and up again. I cry into her shoulder, tears that I've bottled up, emotions I've ignored because I've had my dad, my grandparents and the Kozume's. Later, I even had the team, and they all followed me to the racing gig, a place where I can express my emotions through the reckless driving that could claim my life any second. I should have been grateful. Instead, the pain of her absence never ceased.

I clutch the back of her sweatshirt as I cry and cry and cry, eventually tiring myself out and running out of tears.

With dry sobs still racking my body every few minutes, she finally leans back, cupping my face in her gentle hands.

"What's the matter, Kuroo?" She whispers, looking up at me with tears shining in her own eyes. "You can tell me anything, or you can say nothing at all. Either way, I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you," she says, touching her forehead to mine and closing her eyes. She stays here for a moment before moving to get up and drag me up too.

"Come on, let's get you into your pjs and into bed. It's getting late."

---

Your POV

Now in his usual shorts and singlet, I drag him to his massive bed, opening the neatly made bed and gently sit him down.

His hazel eyes follow me as I go to close the curtains, his lashes still wet from the countless tears he shed, his body still hiccupping with dry sobs.

Once I've put his blankets around him, I go to leave, muttering a goodnight as I leave.

"Y/n," I hear before I close the door. I peek my head in, "please stay."

Without a pause to think about his request, and already in my own pyjamas, I go next to him and crawl into his open arm as if I've been doing it every night, snuggling into his shoulder once more and wrapping my arm around his chest.

After a few moments of silence, he begins to speak in a raspy tone, "she's not my real mum. She's Kenma's mum, and I've... I've called her mum since I was around 7," he takes a deep breath before continuing. "I moved in with my dad and grandparents next door to the Kozumes when I was 6. I was nervous and shy back then. You wouldn't even recognise me because of the 180 turn my personality's taken. Kenma was even more social than I was. He was my first friend, and when I got him into volleyball and we met Coach Nekomata. That man inspired me to be the man I am today, and was the main reason why I joined the volleyball team in high school, and made friends with the guys. He did what my mum should've, supported me and gave me the confidence to live my life," he says, his voice cracking with the last word. I hug him tighter, knowing not to say anything as of yet.

"I just wish... I wish she didn't go. I wish she could've met you, Y/n. She would've loved you even more than Kenma's mum does," he confesses with a chuckle, sniffling and turning towards me to look me in the eyes.

"She would've seen the way I was around you. The different man I become. You make me a better person, Y/n. I find myself wanting to be better for you. I could never thank you enough for that. Please, never leave. Just stay with me, and I'll always be here for you," he says, repeating the same words I said to him earlier.

I can't help the smile from taking over my features and I lean in to kiss his nose, his eyes, his cheeks and finally I press my lips against his, something I have been wanting to do for a very long time.

"I will, Kuroo Tetsuro. I'll always stay with you."

A/n: So, I don't actually know if his mum passed away or if she left them, so I kind of just,, did both ?

Taglist: @3daa & @itsgiorgiaz

Notes, interactions and reblogs are highly appreciated <3

[supraveng]

Cocktail Hour

Summary: you work for Stark in his lab and get to know the Avengers, you also moonlight as a bartender

Characters: Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanof, Reader

Warnings: SMUT and story and a bit of fluff, alcohol consumption, 

Word Count: 4312

“What do you want, Wilson?” you asked without looking up from the project you were working on.   “Is that anyway to treat your favorite Avenger?” he responds with a smirk.  “Oh, I didn’t realize you brought Bucky with you” you smirk as you look up a bit shocked to see Bucky standing behind Sam and with a shit eating grin. 

“Wow, really Y/N?  I thought we were friends'' he responds in a huff.  “Wilson, you only come visit when you want something from me, it’s never friendly chatting.  I’m busy, what do you want?” you deadpan knowing the more you agitate him the longer this is going to take, but you don’t care.  Getting Sam all riled up is one of your favorite past times, and one that you and Bucky have been bonding over.  

“Fine, I’ll make it short and sweet.  I need you to put in a good word for me with your girl, Savannah'' he states as he wiggles his eyebrows.  You freeze and slowly look at Sam, with a slight squint.  

“WHAT?” you respond exasperated that he’s interrupting your project that seems to be never ending.  "Please?  She's cute and we really hit it off, but I'll be coming back to the bar this week to get her number and you can make sure she knows I'm more than worth her time" he tells you with a smug look on his face.  

"First of all, since when does the, and I quote, great Sam Wilson need help getting numbers? Second, her name is Sienna not Savannah. And last but not least, you aren't her type" you respond with a smirk, knowing just how much your points are getting under my skin.  

"Alright now, I don't need your help getting numbers, women love me. I just wanted you to be a supportive friend" he grumbles at you.  You just raise an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. 

"Second, she said Savanna like the city in Georgia." "Its Siena, like the city IN ITALY!" you interrupted.  

"And third, how could this not be her type?" he said as he gestured from his head to his toes, flashing that ridiculous smile and beginning to flex his biceps.  You let out a heavy sigh and you can tell he thinks he's got you stumped.  

"While all that" you waive your hand towards him "might interest some women, you just don't have what she wants" you state while slightly shaking your head sadly. He's about to start up with another dispute and any other time you would love to spend hours tormenting him like this, but you were still working and had a few hours left to finish the reconfiguration of your latest project, so you step closer. 

Putting your hands on his shoulders and looking up at him with an apologetic smile "Sam, you don't have a vagina. I'm sorry, but she's not interested unless you do."  

Bucky couldn't hold it in any longer and was doubled over in laughter. "Now, if you boys didn't bring me coffee, get out of my lab" you say as sweetly as possible.  "But she was so flirty, are you sure?  Maybe she's bi?" he asks trying to understand what he missed. 

 "She's a waitress Sam, flirting gets you bigger tips.  I mean did you give your usual amount or did she earn a bit extra?" you ask only trying to get him to see the reality of their interactions.  

"Damn it!" he huffs as he turns around to leave.  Bucky straightens up trying to calm himself down when he looks up at you "I'll be right back with your coffee" 

A few minutes later, Tony walks in with a quizzical look on his face "what did you do to birdman and gramps?"  He moves past you toward the back of the lab.  

"Why would you think I did anything to those two?" you ask as innocently as possible.  He arches an eyebrow and you concede "ugh, why does that always work? Ok, it's no big deal, Sam was asking about my coworker Siena, and I told him he had no chance since she's into women. But apparently when a waitress flirts its interest and not just trying to get a bigger tip, he learned a lot today" you sigh as you continue working.  

"What do you mean "coworker Siena''? He asks using air quotes.  "I've never seen her in my lab, who is she?"  " She's a waitress at the bar" you mumble realizing Tony didn't know about your other job. You have been an intern for him, working on your doctorate in Biomedical engineering, for the last year and he didn't know you had another job. This isn't going to end well you thought to yourself.  

"How is it possible you have another job? You are here all the time, how do you have time to work at a bar, write your dissertation, find time to sleep and have a social life?" he asks, seeming like he's been swindled or something.  

"And why do you have another job?  This internship pays above average for engineers, I'm not even sure what's going on around here anymore."  

"Ok, Tony, first of all, I thought you knew, I cleared it with legal before I accepted the internship.  I've been working at The Rum House since my freshman year and they are flexible with my hours. Two, the work I'm doing here is my dissertation,  three who are you to question my sleep habits?  And four, I like staying busy, I don't have a social life per say and I'm ok with that" you state with a shrug just as Bucky comes walking in with a huge cup of coffee.

"One venti flat white with hazelnut, sorry am I interrupting?" he questions as he hands you the coffee.  You immediately bring it to your face and take a deep breath closing your eyes to enjoy your favorite beverage and miss the small smirk on Bucky's face, feeling a bit of joy that he could make you happy with something as simple as a cup of coffee.  

Taking a sip you moan and open your eyes to see Tony and Bucky starring at you. With a smile you look at Bucky "thank you, this is exactly what I needed and no you didn't interrupt a thing, we're done,"  

"We are so far from done, did you know she had another job? Hmm? Am i the last to find out everything around here?” Tony mumbles to himself as he goes back to his work station.  Bucky smiles and waves as he leaves and you watch him longer than you should but damn the way he wears jeans just does something  to you.  

"And what was that?  You have a crush on the centurion now too?" he asks.  "What? You are ridiculous!  I'm just appreciating the coffee and wondering why you never bring me coffee.  I mean, I thought you took your title of "World's greatest boss" seriously but I guess that's not the case" you respond as seriously as possible as you sit back down and get back to your project.   

You've been working non stop most of the day and don't realize how late it is until your phone chimes and you notice it’s after midnight. .

You are probably already in bed but I wanted to say goodnight 

I'm actually still working. I guess I lost track of time.  I should head home and get some sleep

It's late, you could stay with me  ;) 

That's so tempting but your roommates are very nosey, not sure how to sneak out in the morning without getting caught 

You're right, as always.  Can I walk you home?

I would love that, meet me at the corner  in 15?

I'll be there in 10 

"Even tired you still look beautiful, how is that possible? " he states as you wrap your arms around his torso for a long overdue hug.  "And you are always the charmer, how did I get so lucky?" you mumble into his chest as you inhale deeply.  

His scent always felt calming and safe. "I'm the lucky one" he says as he kisses the top of your head.  Beginning to walk arm in arm down the street,  "now let's get you to bed, you work too much"  

"In my defense it will all be over once I complete my dissertation, then when I find a real job, I'll be a normal person working 60-80 hours a week" you smile at him and peck his cheek.  

"That's more than normal people, and the part time job at the bar? Are you going to give that up?" he questioned with a smirk.  

"I like the bar and I thought you liked the tiny uniform" you wink as you turn the corner towards your apartment.  

"You can wear that for me any time and I would love it, not just at work, or better yet, nothing at all" he responds in a low growl. You chuckle and swat his chest, "then we would never leave the apartment" "and I don't see that as a problem at all!" he spins you towards him and kisses you passionately, then releases your arm. 

"Aren't  you coming up?" you ask a bit disappointed. "I definitely want to, but you need sleep and if I go up to your place, I will not let you get any." he states slowly backing away.  

"I have tomorrow off, do you think you can break away from your roommates and we can have lunch?" you ask. "If you have the whole day off, you call me when you wake up and I'll take you to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I will make sure we work up an appetite in between'' he responds with the wiggle of his eyebrows.  

"That sounds perfect! I'll call you in the morning" you smile as you make your way into the building.  Flopping on your bed exhausted, you have a smile on your face for the plans you have for tomorrow. 

Waking up you look at your clock and gasping, 10:33, you hadn't slept that late in ages. 

Hey handsome, you probably don't believe me, but i just woke up!  I'm gonna hope in the shower or should I wait for you to join me ;)

Oooo, I am on my way, do not start without me! 

😘

The knock at your door was barely 10 minutes later, and you opened it laughing at the look on his face. "Did you run the whole way here? Your place is a 20 minute walk away."  

"I needed to work up a sweat for the shower, been thinking about you naked since last night, which makes it very HARD to sleep" he responds while following you into the apartment.  

"Well, you are overdressed so maybe I can help you out of those clothes" you respond in almost a whisper. You bat your lashes as you start to unbuckle his belt, looking up at him biting your lip "it's been such a long week, I feel like I hardly get to see you."  

"I know, but today will make up for it, I promise" he mumbles into your neck.  You are walking backwards into the bathroom when he is finally in just his boxers, you turn on the shower before dropping your robe to the floor.  

He drinks you in from head to toe with a low moan "Damn beautiful, I've missed you" he practically purrs as he grabs your hips to pull you closer.   The long shower was a much needed tension relief for both of you and lasted until the water ran cold.  

“So what would you like for breakfast, beautiful?” he asks as he’s kissing your neck and wrapping his arms around you.  “Actually, I was thinking maybe we order in, that way we don’t need to bother getting dressed at all.” you respond biting your lip and enjoying his lips traveling down your neck to your collarbone.  He practically growls in response before picking you up and carrying you out of the bathroom, “you are brilliant, you know that?” before throwing you on the couch and poncing on top of you.  

Several slices of pizza and orgasms later, the two of you are cuddling on the couch when his phone dings, “they can’t leave you alone for a day can they?” you quip knowing it’s his roommates checking to make sure he’s still alive.  

He kisses your forehead before grabbing his phone “they are a bunch of smothering assholes, that’s what they are!” he responds before reading the message with a large sigh.  Looking at him you know exactly what that means “what time do you have to leave?” you ask as casually as possible.  

“I’m sorry, it’s a last minute “important” meeting, I can shower here and leave at 8ish to be on time” he responds apologetically.  

“Which means you are supposed to be there before 8, but I will take every minute I can get!” you state as you straddle his lap and kiss his jaw. 

 “Trust me, I would much rather be here with you, kissing every inch of your body.  Maybe I can fake that I’m sick” he mumbles against your neck.  

You are about to respond when your phone starts ringing, you snarl as you look up ‘who the hell is calling me on a Saturday afternoon?” you whine as you reach for your phone.  You toss it on the coffee table almost as quickly as you picked it up.  

“You can answer that, I don’t mind, I can be a very good boy when I want to” he says as he winks at you.  “That is the bar, and it’s my day off…...and you are never a good boy, one of the many traits I love about you” you hum as he begins to assault your chest with his sinful mouth and tongue.  

Before he can continue, your phone starts ringing again and you whine as he stops “noooo, don’t stop!”   He hands you your phone as he gets up and heads into the kitchen.  

“This better be important” you practically yell as you answer the call.  “Uh, hey Y/N! It’s Gary, and I know it’s your day off but we got a last minute backroom booking and I need the best bartender in NYC.  Can you be here by 9?”  You don’t respond, only sighing into the phone  “I’ll pay you double!  And you can have tomorrow night off”  he throws in trying to change your mind.  

“It’s not about the money Gary, I haven’t had an entire day off in 4 months.   My body and brain need to do nothing but eat take out and catch up on bad reality tv” you argue, knowing it will do nothing to deter him from getting you into the bar tonight.   

You look up to see a beer being handed to you and smirk on his face “I can go down there and scare him if you want” he whispers, only making you giggle in response.  

“Ok, I’ll pay you for not working tomorrow night, please I really need you!”  “Fine, quit begging, but I’m only agreeing because I lost my evenings entertainment. See you at 9!” you say before hanging up without letting him respond.   

“Looks like my evening just got filled and I’ll be slinging booze rather than recuperating from today’s activities” you pout as you sip your beer.  “Well it’s almost 6, so let's order some Chinese food and go for round 5 before we have to return to the real world” he responds sitting next to you with his arm around your shoulders.  

“Yes, but food first, I just hope I’ll be able to walk tonight.  You have one hell of a libido!” you yell as he attacks your neck again.  “Only for you, beautiful”

The time passes by faster than you like and you both shower before dressing.  You are dressed and starting on your makeup when he walks into your room for a final kiss goodbye.  “Damn, it is hard to leave when you look that good with clothes on” he eyes you up and down causing you to blush.   

“Hey, why don’t you come by the bar after your meeting and we can continue what you started, handsome!” leaning back into his strong chest.  “That sounds perfect, I’ll text you on my way!” and before you can respond he is running out the door, you just shake your head and laugh knowing he’s gonna be late and doesn’t even care.  

Heading out of your apartment  you decide to stop for coffee before hopping on the subway.  It’s been a long and tiring day, in the best way possible, but you are expecting it to be a long night too since it’s a private event and there are always stragglers that have no intention of leaving when someone else is footing the bill.  

Walking into the bar, you begin to wonder who books a last minute party on the weekend but decide it doesn’t really matter.   You had an amazing day with your amazing man and were getting paid double, so it was definitely a win/win, even if your thighs were more sore than you realized before you left your apartment. 

Note to self, uber the next time you have an all day sexcapade.  You start to giggle at the thought when you make your way to the back room and start rearranging the bar to your preference.  .

”Finally!  I was beginning to worry you were going to stand me up!” Gary yells as he makes his way over to you.   “Are you kidding? You offered me a lot of money to be here, and I have student loans out the wazoo!  This is the second best thing that's happened to me today.” you state, not bothering to look up as you are wiping down the bottles.   

“And by the look of that stupid grin on your face, I’m going to assume a certain someone is the first?” he questions, but you just shake your head and smirk.  

“When is the party supposed to arrive?  Any special requests I need to know about?” you ask in an attempt to change the topic as quickly as possible. 

“They will be here any minute now and you are the only one back here tonight, but it’s only 10-12 guests so you should be fine.  But let me know if you need a cocktail server or bar back, I can’t spare both but I’ll pop in and help when I can” he smiles and turns back to the bar area of the bar.   

You are digging for the better rocks glasses when you hear people enter the room and turn to smile at the arriving guests, only for your  face to immediately fall.  

“Are you kidding me Stark?!” you grit out.  “I can’t get away from you for a damn day?” you ask.  

“Oh, is this the bar you work at, behind my back? I had no idea” he states dripping in sarcasm.  “HA!” you fake a laugh “so this is my payback for not telling you?”  “No, actually, Birdman told me about the uniform and I had to see  for myself” he says, eyeing you up and down. 

“I have to say, you look different than I anticipated and a little hurt that we don’t get to see this side of you in the lab.”  You shake your head and laugh at yourself, this wasn’t how you expected your night to go, but at least you knew your clients weren’t just a bunch of assholes.   

These people were your friends, practically family since you started working for Stark.  “So Tones, what can I get you?  I don’t think we’ve ever drank together, so I honestly don’t know if you are a Scotch neat or martini kind of man”  

“Well, a little birdie told me that this bar has cocktails named after me and my friends, so that’s why I’m here, I wanted to check them out!” he smiles and you realize he’s either testing your bar-tending skills to prove to you that you don’t need this other job or his curiosity is going to be boosting his ego, either way, tonight will be fun.   

“We do have a few, here is the Avenger cocktail list.” you say handing him the list with a smirk, knowing you will be making all of these drinks by the end of the night.  

“Well, since you’ve worked here so long, what do you recommend?” he replies while looking over the various drinks “and why am I not listed at the top?  If it’s not in alphabetical order, it should at least be listed by best Avenger at the top”  

“Well, it’s listed by most popular drink, so if you want something sweet, I would go for The Cap America, if you need something more of a punch try the Black Widow, if you want to get revved up but not remember much of your night you should go for the Hulk.  The Iron Man is an acquired taste, but it’s definitely worth a try, but most people don’t order a second one” just describing the drinks to him, you wonder if he thinks you are commenting on the drinks or the people behind them.  

“Thor is pretty good if you want something simple, Hawkeye is both strong and sweet, Scarlet Witch is one of my personal favorites, along with the Bucky.” you stare at him with your hands resting on the bar top.  

“Wait a damn minute!  I am in this bar all the time and there’s no Falcon cocktail?  What the hell Y/N?” Sam yells from behind Tony.  

“I’m sorry, I don’t get to  decide what goes on the menu, but I am working on creating your drink” you respond as sweetly as possible.  “I’m just stuck on how to make a drink that people will enjoy, but is also a pain in the ass" you smirk as Sam realizes what you just said. 

"I didn't know it was pick on Sam day, but I've had enough! Can I have a beer and tequila shots? I came here to have a good time and I feel attacked right now."  

"Of course, whatever you want Sam" you say as you grab a mug and start to pour his favorite beer.  Handing it to him with a smile, he leans in and pecks you on the cheek, “you’re lucky I love you enough to put up with your shit” he grumbles as he walks towards the tables.  

After fixing all of the specialty drinks for everyone to try the signature cocktail you are certain that the night has just begun.  You are wiping down the bar top when you look up to see Bucky grinning at you, turning you realize Natasha is at the bar for another round.  

“Same drink or would you like something else, Nat?”  “Do you have any decent vodka or am I just wasting your time?” she asks with a laugh.  “We actually carry Jewel of Russia, but that’s about as good as it gets, I’m sorry Tony dragged you out tonight just to torment me.” you mention while grabbing the bottle from the fridge and a handful of shot glasses.  

“I was wondering what this last minute outing was all about, I figured it was Barnes trying to let you see him in a more relaxed state” she quips while trying to gauge your reaction.  

“Bucky?  Him and Sam are in here all the time, and I’m not sure why you think he would want me to see him relaxed…..” you reply while setting up a tray for the shots.  Natasha grabs two before you can even fill more.  “Well, I’ve never seen him gawk at a bartender, like he is tonight”

“I think you are reading into something that isn’t there, but why don’t I take this tray over and test your theory?” you say while grabbing the tray of shots and placing the bottle of vodka in an ice bucket.  

Noticing that Bucky was watching most of your conversation you make sure to sway your hips a bit extra and set the tray down in front of the team. 

“Alright gang, let me get some of these empties out of here and grab a couple more rounds for you.  Any special requests?” you smile around the group seated in the overstuffed chairs and couches.  

“Hey Buck, anything you want to ask Y/N for?” Natasha says with a sweet tone.  “Like a date maybe?” she adds just as Bucky was about to ask for a drink.  You chuckle slightly look over at Bucky who seems to be a bit in shock.  

“Uh, nah, I don’t think I’m Y/N’s type” Bucky says attempting to brush off Nat’s comment and not draw more attention to the conversation.  With the glasses gathered in your hands, you start to head back to the bar before responding ‘yea, tall, dark and handsome isn’t my type” you smirk as you walk away.  

Immediately the entire crew is carrying on like a bunch of teenagers and egging Bucky on to follow you to the bar.  You are starting to pour a few pints when Bucky clears his throat to gain your attention.  

“So you think I’m tall, dark and handsome, huh?” he almost whispers.  “Well, that’s the PG version of what I think about you, didn’t want to get you into any trouble with your roommates.  Are you coming back over when this little party is over?” you ask with a smirk.  

“Oh, you know I am, I owe you a couple more orgasms today.   As long as I get to help you out of that sexy uniform.”

[theokotrain]

We didn't sleep too late

There was a fire in the yard

All of the trees were in light

They had no faces to show

I heard a voice in my mind

'I will try'

---

March 11th, 2017

I looked into the bathroom mirror, frowning. My brown and white fur looked a combination of messy and matted from sleeping last night. I tend to be a pretty restless sleeper, so I ultimately end up looking like a disaster when I wake up in the morning. I hop in one of the dorm showers, taking a moment to comb out all of the curls and tufts. The warm water feels nice, comforting me after the bad dream I had last night. The trip we were planning was stressing the shit out of me, and now that we're actually following through on it, my stress levels are at an all-time high. 

I could hear the group chat I had made with Shae and Liam was blowing up, but I didn't want to get my phone wet from grabbing it. They were probably trying to figure out when I would be coming to pick them up so we could leave. I try to hurry up, but it still manages to take a while longer. After I shut off the shower, I dry off and grab my phone to check my messages.

Shae: you guys almost ready to go? at this rate we're gonna be like an hour behind schedule

Liam: I'm ready! Sounds like Jake slept in because he isn't answering any of my texts or calls.

Shit, yeah, missed call from Liam and a few more texts on top of that. Fuck. I started typing in a response.

Jake: does it rly matter what time we leave? the cabin we booked just says to show up after 5

Shae: i want to get there at a reasonable time so we can at least meet the guys tonight! alex works at like six in the morning tomorrow so i will kill you if we have to wait until tomorrow to see him

I could tell Liam was waiting for me to respond to Shae, in some attempt to avoid her barrage of aggressive texts.

Jake: i just finished showering! i packed last night so ill be like 10 mins tops

I set my phone down as it continued buzzing, more texts from Shae. I set the towel on the drying rack and put on the outfit I brought from my dorm room, opting for some blue jeans with a white shirt and a black plaid button-up over it, leaving it unbuttoned.

When I get back to my room, I grab my white scarf and a light-brown jacket, putting them in my bag since they wouldn't be needed until we got to Vestige. I probably could have spent more time trying to make myself at least somewhat presentable, but if I took any longer I fear I would find the brakes on my car cut by Shae, so I just grabbed my suitcase and bag as fast as I could, heading out the door.

Liam was just a few doors down from my room. The hallways were pretty empty at this point because most of the students have left to visit family and such for the break. I approached his door and knocked on it sporadically, tapping my foot against the floor while I waited for him to answer.

"Finally! I thought you only woke up five minutes ago, I was mildly freaking out," he said, walking out into the hall and locking the door behind him.

"Well, more like fifteen minutes ago, but you're basically right on the nose there," I said. Liam gasped dramatically. I responded, only rolling my eyes. "Is Tristan gone for the break already?" I inquired as we started speed-walking to the car to go get Shae. 

Tristan has been Liam's dorm-mate since they were freshman. They didn't know each other beforehand, but the University picked them to be roommates since neither of them had suggested any names. It was the same situation for me with my roommate, Eric. I didn't know anybody at the school other than Shaela at the time, but leaving it to fate seemed to work out well enough.

"Oh yeah, he left yesterday. Had the joy of not being woken up from him getting ready at five o'clock!" he exclaimed.

"That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, hope you didn't waste it," I joked. "I think Eric left before I even woke up this morning."

"Well, you did wake up at like nine, to be fair," Liam remarked.

"That dude sleeps in later than I do! He must've just been really eager to leave, or something," I wondered.

"Aren't we all!"

---

"Are you heading here now?" The speakers in the car made the phone call sound as awful as ever.

"Yeah, we're probably like an hour or so away at this point!"

"Is Liam there with you?"

I hesitate, "...Yeah, Shae too." I can see her look up towards the front of the car through the rear-view mirror when I say her name.

"Well, let us know what days work for you so you can visit us while you're here! Your father and I have been missing you so much since you last showed up!" I can see Liam glancing awkwardly at me, but I try to keep my eye on the road.

"Will do! I should probably focus on driving, but I'll call you when we get to the cabin!"

"Sounds good! Love you, sweetie!"

"Love you too," I say, reaching for the hang-up button on the dashboard, mildly embarrassed from everyone overhearing me talking with my mom.

"Does your mom... know about me?" Liam asks, doing his best to not make the question awkward. I see Shae's ears perk up a bit from the question, but she seems to choose not to chime in.

"Yeah... Even if they weren't like... accepting," I cough, "about it back in high school, they still seem somewhat interested in my life from time to time, so that's good I guess."

Liam nods his head affirmatively, so I continue, "I told them a few weeks ago. They said they could 'tell that I'm acting different' so I didn't really have a choice,"

Shae looked up from her phone, and leaned forward towards the front of the car, looking towards Liam, "After how Jake ended up after graduation, they'd always be asking about that shit, sorta turned into a couple of pricks after that." I could tell Liam looked a little shocked from her aggressive word choice, or maybe that's just how he reacted to our descriptions of my parents.

"Shae calls them a 'a couple of pricks' and you want to drive out to your old hometown to visit them?" He asks, somewhat baffled.

"Believe me, if I had the option to never talk to them again except for the occasional visit every  year, I would." I raise my voice a few octaves, "Butttt they areeee paying for my tuition and there's not a chance in hell that I could afford it myself without going into thousands of dollars of debt, so I can deal with their casual-just-about-every-ism for the time being." God, this was not the conversation I was hoping to have while stuck in a car with Shae and Liam.

"...I feel like this is something you shoulda told me, like, when you first proposed the trip," he responded, smirking.

"Oh we'll be fine," I chuckle. "Besides, that's only gonna take up like one evening out of the days, I only really wanted to visit so we could see the guys."

"You're so lucky I don't know anyone there, or I'd be a lot more anxious than I already am," Liam said.

"Shouldn't it be the other way around? Like, they have no clue who you are, so you would want to set a good impression or something?" I asked.

"Maybe if it mattered what they thought about me. It doesn't sound like you hold them to high regard, so I'm not too worried," he laughed.

"Only one you should be worried about is Ty," Shae said from the back of the car, laughing. 

Liam's eyes widened slightly. Of course, I was going to wait until we reached the cabin to tell him, but I guess she felt like cutting that short. Lucky me.

"Who's Ty?" Liam asked. I could tell he was expecting the worst. Thankfully, it was only just slightly less than 'the worst'.

"Dated him for a few years in high school. Graduated, I wanted to go to university, he didn't feel the need to get an education. Didn't work out, as you can tell. Wolf." I said, more bluntly then I probably would have wanted. "And, he's part of the group so you'll definitely be seeing him," I said, slightly less confidently.

"Oookay, well once again, I feel like this is something you shoulda told me before I agreed to this," Liam said anxiously. Shae laughed again from the back seat, I could tell she was enjoying this.

"I was gonna tell you once we got to the cabin!" I responded.

"That's even worse!" he said, mildly annoyed. "Aren't we meeting them tonight? I- I'm gonna be so awkward around them-"

"Hey! If I thought it was gonna be a problem, I wouldn't have asked you to come. He's totally moved on by now, we were hardly in a serious relationship," I said, trying to calm him down. He didn't say anything. "Have you spoken to him recently Shae?"

"Yeah, he texted me a few days ago saying that he wanted to talk to you, and was asking if I could help him with that when we get there," Shae responded, clearly enjoying this.

"Okay, well, I regret asking. So, thank you, Shaela," I muttered.

This was steadily turning bad. I reached to press play on my phone, AUX plugged in. I made a road-trip playlist last night since I was expecting this trip to be the usual level of boring, but I guess this situation works too. The first song to play is some random pop song that Shae sent to me a few months ago. The song was only sort of my type, but I put it on this playlist to appease her. I could tell Liam was still pretty anxious, so I leaned over.

"Hey, we can talk when we get to the cabin. I don't want to ruin the trip for you, so we can figure something out," I say quietly, in an attempt to be comforting. He nodded in response.

We've been dating for about six or seven months at this point, and I was still kind of nervous about how it was gonna turn out. I mean, I really like him, but I feel like I'm gonna fuck something up. Like I did with Ty... like I did with friendships I've had. Yeah. Liam's pretty great, all things considered. More well-mannered than I am, studying the same major as me, but doing ten times better. I only opted for psychology because I thought that's what I'd be good at, to which my parents told me 'Everybody who doesn't know what they're doing majors in psychology!' although I kinda stopped listening to a word they said after I came out. Maybe he's smarter than me cause he's a bobcat? His grey-ish black hair is one of the few things he actually prides himself on, but even if he won't admit it, he is way smarter than I could ever be. I don't know the difference in intelligence between a fox and a bobcat. Plus, that's mostly just stereotypes anyway.

I notice that Shae put her earbuds in, probably watching one of the movies she downloaded to her laptop. I feel relieved, hoping that she won't stir any more drama between Liam and me for the rest of the drive. She grew up in a pretty well off family, not crazy rich or anything, but her dad is high up at some financial company so they've never really had anything to worry about money-wise. Although, I'm surprised at how well she turned out. That snow leopard named Shae was the first friend I had when my parents moved to Vestige back in 2001. Seeing her grow up with parents who didn't really care about her seemed kinda shitty from my perspective. But she seemed to do well enough on her own. Not without the group we all formed in middle school, of course. Vestige only had a population of about three-thousand at the time, so it's not like there was a wide variety of choices in friends anyway. Even sixteen years later, the population is still only a few thousand. Guess not many have an interest in moving to a small town in Oregon where a bunch of genocide happened hundreds of years ago.

---

I could tell we were nearing the town. The highway always starts getting a bit of an incline once you get near. Both Liam and Shaela had fallen asleep, it was just me driving, music playing. Even though it's technically spring, I'd hardly call it warm outside. It's still cold enough that you probably have to wear at least a sweater, but warm enough for it to not start snowing until autumn comes around. I can see a sign further down the highway as it comes into my field of view.

Vestige - 5 miles

Around the highway bend the sign was placed before, I could finally see the lake a ways away. Half of it was surrounded by mountains, and the other half was slightly hilly and somewhat-forested. I kinda forgot how much I loved the scenery around here, it gives off the same energy you'd find at a folk concert in the seventies, in a way. The water in the lake is almost entirely clear and reflects the bright sun directly into my eyes. Great, especially considering the road eventually makes its way to the lake with 'guard rails' that were placed decades ago, and definitely on the brink of collapse. I lean over and nudge Liam with my elbow, he opens his eyes slowly, stretching his arms because of the clearly uncomfortable sleeping position.

"We almost there?" he asks, mid-yawn.

"Few miles out, but yeah basically. The cabin is only a few minutes worth of walking away from the lake so we'll see it when we get close." I respond.

"Oh, nice!"

"Yeah! I think it has a fire-pit out behind it too, but we'll have to get firewood. Only electricity is a gas generator, and there's running water and a gas stove so we can cook for a few nights if we go to the store to get things."

"I haven't had to cook a meal in months, so that might end up a disaster," Liam responds, jokingly.

"Wait, gas generator? Are we even gonna have internet?" Shaela asks out of nowhere, somewhat startling me in the process.

"Uh, other than your cell phone plan? No? I thought I mentioned that like a few weeks back" I replied.

"WHAT? Ugh, I knew we shoulda booked something in town!" she sighs

"Chill! It's just for two weeks, don't you have an unlimited data plan?" I ask. I can tell Liam is desperate to get out of the car.

"That isn't fast enough for streaming shows out here," Shaela murmurs.

"Dude! This is the first time in years that we're going somewhere 'outdoors' that isn't the parks on campus, you can probably find something better to do."

"You sound like my mom," Liam says, snickering. I sit disappointedly for a moment as they both laugh.

"I have concluded that you two are the worst combination of anybody to have in a car. Remind me to make you take your car next time," I say, looking in the rear-view mirror at Shae.

"Oh, come on! I didn't even make that joke!" she responds, still laughing

"Liam's allowed to make fun of me! I can still get mad at you for enabling him, though."

"This is rigged." she mumbles. I can see the cabin through the trees up the road.

"Thank God, we're here," I say, both Liam and Shae sit up and look out the left windows, trying to spot the place we'll be staying in for two weeks.

I turn into the driveway, as it goes for fifty or so metres. We can see the log cabin come into view, no lights on or anything. Thankfully it looks just about the same as it did in the pictures. The exterior is made of dark brown-ish wood, with an a-frame style roof with large window panes to let light in. I can see the shed where the gas generator is around the back.

"This is the place? I remember driving by here a few times when we were kids." Shae says, mildly interested.

"Yeah! The small number of tourists that make the poor decision of visiting here don't usually show up until May, so I got it pretty cheap." I put the car in park in the driveway and took the keys out of the ignition, we all got out of the car and grabbed our things.

"This place is actually nice!" Liam says.

"'Actually'? What were you expecting?" I asked, chuckling.

"You described Vestige to me like it was gonna be run down and miserable, this isn't anywhere near that!" He responds, sounding surprisingly excited.

"You're only saying that because you haven't seen the town yet, it got near it on the road a bit back." I take our suitcases out of the trunk and hand each one to Shaela and Liam, before grabbing my own. I pull the handle up on the suitcase and start walking over to the patio where the front door is.

"I guarantee that town is fine at the very least, I know you like to exaggerate everything," Liam said.

"Okay, you might be correct about that second part, but I am not lying about this trash heap town." I grabbed my phone out of my pocket to check the text the owner sent me earlier, "Says she left the key under the welcome mat."

"Wow, security at its finest," Shae says, sarcastically.

"I doubt anybody's gonna be trying to break into this random place far away from actual civilization," Liam responds. I bend over and lift the floor mat, revealing a silver-coloured key sitting on the wooden floor beneath it. I grab it, put it in the keyhole, and turn. A satisfying click sound is returned. I twist the doorknob and swing it open. When I bring my suitcase inside, I am surprised to see that it looks as good as the pictures.

"Oh shit! It's actually like, nice in here!" Shae says surprisingly.

The walls are the same look as the outside, but the floor is a finished wooden pattern that's a bit brighter than the walls. To the right of the entrance is the living room, with a white couch covered in a few blankets, as well as a glass coffee table. There's also a... tv, hung up on the wall?

"Didn't you say there wasn't any internet? Is there satellite or something?" Liam asks.

"Uh, definitely not, unless the owner lied to me," I say, confused.

"Maybe it's just for DVDs? Did we bring any with us?" Shae inquires. I look on the shelf just below where the TV is hung up and see the familiar logo.

"I did not, because I had no clue there was a TV here," I thought.

"I brought a few movies just to play on my laptop, but not enough to last us two weeks," Liam says.

"We could probably borrow some from Elliot? I know he has a huge collection of that shit," Shae chimes in.

"Oh, right! Yeah, that'd be smart." I go to check out the kitchen, the fridge is empty and not running. Right. "Oh yeah, I'll be right back, I need to go turn the generator on," I say.

"Do you know how to do that?" Liam asks, obviously concerned.

"The owner gave me instructions on how to. I haven't read them, but it should be simple enough." I responded

"Oh... I'd rather not have you blow this place up, let me help you." He set his bag on the couch and started heading out the door with me. Shae already went to put her stuff in one of the bedrooms. I am once again met with the crisp coolness of the outdoors as we walk towards the shed.

"Aren't these things designed to be fool-proof? I don't see what I can mess up here" I say,

"Yeah, I don't trust you," Liam said, laughing. I stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets.

"Good to know," I say mildly unamused.

When he opens the door to the shed, we're greeted by darkness, the only light coming in from the opened door. The moment I take a breath, I start coughing immediately.

"Holy shit, the amount of dust in here could give me black lung," I complained.

"Wait outside if you're gonna be a baby," he responded, smirking.

"Someone's feeling a little sarcastic today, huh?" I say as I lean against the door frame. 

"Yeah..." Liam flips a few switch things on the generator and pulls the pull cord. It takes a few pulls, but eventually, the generator starts running. The scent of fuel is apparent. He brushes his hands together, getting the dust off of them, and puts his hands on his hips, "So... Ty?" he says, a cunning grin on his face.

Fuck. Right. 

I stop leaning on the door. "I- I know, he probably still has feelings, but don't worry! I'm gonna talk to him as soon as I can to set it straight, I don't want some stupid drama to affect the trip." Despite my words, Liam stood still, continuing to stare at me, "I didn't plan this trip just to see old friends. I did want to spend time with you too! This is our first time doing something off-campus for more than just a night, so I want to make the most of it!"

"Uh-huh," he responds, mocking me, barely moving. I can tell he's enjoying this.

"Ok, like, I was gonna make it a little surprise tomorrow, but I was thinking we could pick up breakfast and go to the lake? I know Shaela said that she won't be at the cabin most of the day so we wouldn't have anything to worry about on that front."

Liam didn't say anything. He put his hands in his pants pockets and brushed past me, back to the cabin.

"I- I can tell you're just trying to fuck with me!" I shouted as Liam went up the steps onto the patio.

"Yep!" he shouted joyfully in return, shutting the door behind him. I shook my head, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

...Well then.

---

"Wait, so where are we going?" Liam asks from the backseat.

"Shae told everyone to meet at some restaurant in town, apparently it's new?" I responded.

"New to us! Was built a few months after we left for university." She said

"I've only really visited here for a weekend or two since then, so I wouldn't know it," I say as I hear Shae's phone ping.

"Ugh, Ty said he won't be able to make it to the restaurant," She said, frustrated.

"Oh, thank fuck," I responded, relieved.

"You're still gonna have to talk to him Jake," she looked over at me, "This doesn't mean anything." I could hear Liam sigh behind me.

"Well yeah, I'd just rather not have to do it in a restaurant and cause unnecessary drama on our first night," I said.

"Whatever, he says he might be able to show up to something after eight-ish? I don't think we'll still be at the restaurant by then though," Shae said.

"We could bring everyone over to the cabin? We got that fire pit, might as well use it, and we could get alcohol!" Liam said.

"Alcohol? Dude, you're twenty, your mom would bury me in a ditch," I replied, somewhat baffled.

"What? Not for me! Have you ever seen me drink before?"

"No, but your birthday's in like six months so... I don't know," I said, not finishing my thought.

"Bringing everybody to the cabin could be cool, you can ask them when we get there," her phone makes a ping sound. She points over at a building that looks straight out of the eighties, "That's the place."

"What is it with small towns and lagging both culturally and aesthetically from the rest of the world by multiple decades," I said.

"Ha, yeah right, we might as well be in the fifties but with cell phones," Shae said, laughing. I pull into a parking lot right in front of the door and spot them at one of the window seats. Shae immediately gets out of the car and heads toward the door.

"...There's no way in hell I'm mentally prepared for this," I say, sighing

"Hey," Liam leans into the front seat, I tilt my head back and meet my eyes with his, half-expecting a kiss, or just words of encouragement. Instead, he pats my shoulder, "I'm holding you to that lake date you were talking about," he laughs, opens the door and gets out of the car.

Who is this guy?

I get out of the car and grab his shoulder, trying to stop him before he goes inside.

"...Are you okay?" I ask. Liam makes a confused face.

"What do you mean?" he asks in return.

"I just mean, like, are you still mad about...Ty?" I ask, my pitch getting higher as I finish the question.

"Huh? I was never mad about Ty," he said. I simply tilt my head in confusion, still looking at him. "I know you're gonna clear things up with him, we're fine! It's just funny to see you stammer when I act like that," he said, laughing.

"Wow, good to know that you delight in my inability to not be awkward," I said jokingly.

"Yeah! It's cute!" he replied. I stuttered trying to come up with a response to that one, to which he just laughed. "Come on, it's gonna be weird if we take too long to show up." I didn't care about that, the people inside have known me for at least eight years. Though, I could understand him wanting to make a good first impression.

Liam opens the door and holds it for me. The inside of the restaurant gives off the feel of some mid-tier chain that microwaves their food. There's a bar in the back, with barstools and a single flat-screen behind the counter, playing some sports game that I didn't care enough to recognize. I could tell this place was a favourite for anyone over the age of thirty looking to accomplish whatever their definition of a 'good time' is. The windows are fairly large, at least. But the sun went down behind the mountains a while ago so the only lighting comes from the hanging 'moody' lights scattered throughout the building.

I grab Liam's hand, pulling him in the direction of the table I saw from the window outside. It seems they decided to pick a corner booth to fit all six of us - wait, five, right - five of us at one table. Ty's not here. Sitting at the table is Alex, a coyote who, honestly, has been Shae's favourite in the group for as long as I can remember. To the point where I'm surprised they haven't dated yet, but who am I to judge? He would always get us into trouble in high school and got really into partying after grade ten, which I didn't understand at the time because I could personally never build up the strength to listen to half of a word my classmates said at any given moment. Sitting next to him is Elliot, a raccoon who I met when I was eight, a bit before we had any kind of group or whatever. I had always considered him my best friend since then, we would have sleepovers in elementary and middle school all the time, but I kinda got paranoid about that stuff after I realised I was... yeah.

When we approach the table, Alex and Elliot both look in our direction. Shae had already sat at the table in the time it took Liam and me to talk. At the moment, I'm just glad that I don't have to talk to Ty, cause I am not emotionally prepared for that shit yet.

"Jake?!? You finally decided to show up, eh?" Alex said, getting out of his seat and firmly planting a heavy hug that I was not prepared for, almost knocking me over.

"Alex! Still working at the visitor centre?" I ask, painfully trying to come up with a conversation that doesn't make me sound like a grandma.

"Yeah, actually got a promotion there too! Manager!" he says excitedly.

"Oh shit! That might be the first time I've ever seen you take on any actual responsibility!" I reply jokingly, he waves me off in response, then realising that someone else is standing next to me.

"Oh, no fucking way! Is this the Liam that Shae's been telling me about? I heard you're actually like smart and shit!" Alex exclaims. At this point, it is becoming readily apparent that he has had more than a little bit to drink before we got here.

"I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's nice to meet you!" Liam goes in for a handshake but is instead returned with another bone-shattering slightly-drunk hug that takes him by surprise.

"Well hey, what're you guys waiting for! Come sit!" he returns to his seat in the corner booth. I sit down first on the left side of the booth across from Alex and Elliot, and Liam sits next to me. "So, what say we get some drinks!" he continues.

"Oh uh, can't. I'm twenty," Liam replies. "You guys go ahead though!"

"Yeah I'm good too, someone's gonna have to drive everybody home and I'd rather it not be the guy without a driver's license" I add, pointing my thumb at Liam.

Alex makes a disappointed face, "What?!? Lameee..."

"We could go back to the cabin we're staying in after this? Then Jake really has no excuse!" Liam suggested.

"Oooh! We could go get supplies..." I entirely expect what Elliot's about to say next, "...And that'd mean that Ty could come too!"

Alex gets a concerningly mischievous smile from that, "Heyyyyy! I am getting more and more interested in this plan by the second!"

"Great," I reply.

"Hi there! And what can I get for you all tonight?" An effervescent twenty-something Cheetah says, notepad in hand.

"Can I get an iced tea?" Liam asks. She nods her head, then looks towards me.

"Hmm, could I just get whatever brand of cola you have?" I say.

"Mhmm... and for you?" she looks at Shae.

"Yeah, can I get a vodka cran?" Shae replies.

"You betcha! I'll be right back with those," she flips her notepad closed and walks behind the bar.

I look out the window, the sky is starting to dim as it gets later into the night. It feels really good to see everybody again, and it kinda seems... weird saying that? I don't know. I left for university six-ish months after we graduated, for the January semester in Vancouver. I liked the idea of going to another country, even if just for a few years, but I still find myself missing the small-town energy. I mean, I don't think I'd ever move back here, maybe if someone paid me. But I still really missed the guys, I thought I was pretty lucky just to have Shae get accepted to the same university as me, but it wasn't the same without everyone else.

"What're you looking at?" Elliot asks. I then realise that I've been staring at some random parked car in the street for at least a few minutes at this point.

"Oh, nothing! Just staring off into space," I reply, he laughs.

"So, how's university treating ya?" he says, probably just trying to make conversation. Honestly, that's a question I haven't thought about recently.

"Eh, can't complain. Just started the third year of my major so they're kinda just dumping assignments on me and giving me unreasonable deadlines," I complain. We both laugh, "What about you? I heard you're going to Oregon State?" Alex, Shae, and Liam are talking to each other as well but I don't pay attention.

"Yeah, computer science! Doing an internship in the summer at a tech company in Portland!"

"Really? That's awesome, dude!" I sigh, "I can't believe it's been over two years since we've all seen each other! I miss going to your place and playing games at least weekly." I chuckle, feeling a tad melancholic.

"Well, we can at least do that while we're both in town. I'm staying at my parents' place for the break, so we could catch up! You could even bring Liam along!" he exclaims.

Liam looks over at the sound of his name, "Hm?"

I turned to him, "Oh, Elliot was just asking for us to go to his place one of these days, you interested?"

"Oh, yeah, that'd be awesome!" he responds, excitedly.

"You know, the only things I've heard about you is what Shae told us. You go to the same school as them, in Vancouver, yeah?" Elliot questioned.

"Yep! Grew up there too, taking psychology." Liam replied.

"Ohhhhhh! You have the same major!" he said as if he had made a massive revelation, "Is that how you guys met?"

"We did have a bunch of classes together, but we actually met at a party that Shae made me go to back in August," I said, putting my arm around Liam's shoulder.

"A party? The last time I remember you going to a party was like early senior year, and that was only because Alex guilted you into it!" He laughed.

"Well, I don't think he's gone to another one since then, so the tradition of Jake only going to parties when forced is still in place!" Liam said.

Before I got the chance to say something, the waitress came by and set our drinks down in front of us. Shaela immediately starts sipping on hers. Alex turns in his seat, throwing his arm on Elliot's shoulder.

"Has he told you guys yet about his new girlfriend?" Alex says, adding some length to his last syllable. Elliot rolls his eyes in response.

"What?!? When did this happen?!?" Elliot had never seriously dated anyone before I left, so this was awesome news for me to hear.

"Earlier last year? She lives in Corvallis," Elliot said with a face of mild embarrassment. Still, I could tell he was happy to talk about her.

"Will we get to meet this mystery girl?" Liam asked. I was surprised to see his sudden investment into the group, I was honestly expecting this to be a lot more awkward than it ended up being. His ears would always perk up when he got excited, and noticing that just now was a nice sight to see. I take a drink, just realising that I haven't had water since the drive to the cabin.

"I asked her about coming out here with me, but it'd probably only be for a few days tops since she practically works full-time," Elliot said.

"We should take my dad's boat out onto the lake when she visits!" Alex exclaimed. I had completely forgotten about that boat, it was a surprisingly fancy jet boat that Alex's dad bought when we were sixteen. I only ever went on it once, but that was definitely a day to remember.

"Oh, did he finally teach you how to drive that thing?" Shae asked, somewhat jokingly.

"Ugh, I wish! He didn't want me using it when he first got it, but I took it out without him knowing a few times and got the hang of it back in high school. He started letting me use it like a year ago, but I was mostly self-taught," Alex said, oddly proud.

"What? He didn't notice the gas gauge inconspicuously going down sometimes?" Liam asked in disbelief.

"Uhh, maybe? If he did, he never mentioned it." Alex replied.

"Wow, chill dad," Liam commented.

"Yeah, well, that's one way to put it," Alex said, mildly serious.

"Do you think you're ready to order, or do you need more time?" the waitress asked us, catching me by surprise.

We all ordered whatever food looked appealing. I wasn't particularly familiar with the menu, so I went with the fish tacos. I didn't pay attention to what everyone ordered, spacing out for a moment. If we were gonna bring everyone over to the cabin, I would hope we'd leave soon. I didn't want to stay up until two in the morning on my first night here.

Is that what it means to become an adult? Going to bed early, not wanting to party anymore? Granted, I was never too big on the whole partying thing anyway. Remembering that I turned twenty-one eight days ago is like a kick in the gut every time. That probably sounds insane to anyone considering I'm not even out of school yet, and I bet most people would think I'm crazy but most days I feel like a sixteen-year-old that can drink. That's the kind of problem I wouldn't share with anyone cause it's so stupid, maybe with Liam. He already has to put up with most of my bullshit, so what's another? I once again realise I'm staring off into space. Luckily, I don't think anyone noticed this time.

---

The rest of dinner was nice enough, we spent most of the time there talking rather than eating. Shae had like four refills of her drink, so I could tell she was gonna be fun to deal with for the rest of the night. 

Liam, Elliot, and I were waiting in the car while Shae and Alex went into the store to get supplies for the fire we were gonna have. I was just spending the time dreading what I knew was about to happen. Ty.

I never got his new phone number after I left to study in Canada, and I honestly didn't want it anyway. Shae asked him about coming to the cabin, and he agreed. It's not like I hate him, I still really enjoyed whatever friendship we had before I left for university, but... I don't know, things kinda fizzled out. Now, he's gonna want to talk to me about who knows what, that he still loves me? I don't wanna hear that. I open my phone so I can aimlessly scroll through social media, choosing to ignore whatever spiral thought pattern I'm getting myself into.

Elliot and Liam were talking about some hacker show. I recognized the title, Liam had been trying to get me to watch it with him for the past few weeks, but I haven't had the time to. I downloaded all of the episodes to my laptop yesterday since I knew we'd have a lot of free time during the trip and it'd make him happy. Since the surprise I had planned for tomorrow got kinda ruined earlier, this sort of works as a plan B, in some sense of the word.

"I'm just saying, the second season is so boring! Like, they have so much suspense built up for something crazy to happen. But then the first half of the season is the main character just having an identity crisis!" Elliot exclaimed.

"Huh?!? The literal last thing that happens in the first season is him destroying the world economy and realising that was a dumb idea. All the stuff he goes through in the second season is him figuring out if evil really exists while dealing with mental illness!" Liam replies exasperatedly.

"Speaking of the first season, why did they write it like the most cliché hacker film from the eighties? Every time they said some shit like 'Fuck society,' I wanted to die from second-hand embarrassment," Elliot said.

"That was intentional! The whole point of the first season is that he's clouded in some fake reality he's given himself as a distraction for his real issues," Liam said.

"Hey, while this conversation is really hitting close to home and I appreciate that, isn't this spoiling the show for me?" I questioned.

Liam gasped, "Oh, shit! I didn't know you were paying attention!" Hearing him swear was a rarity. He tried to keep it to a minimum, so it made it all the more impactful when it did happen even if just for some dumb show.

Shae opens the back door, hopping in the seat next to Elliot.

"Can you open the trunk? Alex needs to put the firewood back there," Shae asks.

"Yup," I say, reaching down beside the driver's seat and pulling the lever. I hear the sound of a few heavy bags being placed with less care than I was hoping for, and then the sound of the trunk slamming shut. Alex opens the other back door, sitting on the other side of Elliot.

"Ok, we good to go?" I ask, shifting the gear into reverse and pull out of the parking lot.

Vestige doesn't have much of a nightlife, if at all, so the roads are always empty except for the occasional teens going wherever without their parent's permission. I should know, I used to be that kid! The street lights cast a familiar amber colour on the streets. Reminding me of the late-night walks I used to take with Ty. No particular location in mind, just wanting to get away from our parents.

As we approach the edge of the town next to the lake's shore, I turn left onto the highway, heading for the cabin. The moonlight is reflecting off of the water in a picturesque kind of way. Kind of made me wish I'd brought my camera, but I left it in my suitcase.

"All I'm saying is that if we play Monopoly, I may never want to speak to any of you ever again," Shae jokes.

"That's all part of the fun! You don't play Monopoly unless you're expecting to come out of the game having ruined friendships," Liam responded.

"Jake, remember when you flipped the board when we were like twelve?" Alex reminisced, laughing.

"God, thinking about that night still pisses me off to this day. You bought more than half the board and we weren't even like ten minutes into it!" I replied.

"You're like that with every game," Liam chuckled. "Remember when I convinced you to play FIFA? You rage quitted like halfway through the match!"

"What do you want from me? I'm competitive! Besides, I couldn't figure out the controls," I said.

"That's what they all say!" Alex laughed.

"Says the guy who never played that zombie game with me after you kept dying," I retort.

"...Okay, that's fair," Alex accepts. "Wow, that game made me so mad," he says, chuckling.

The conversation continued for the rest of the drive. I didn't turn on any music, It felt pretty nice to just be driving down the highway with everybody, definitely brought back memories. This is the same car that I bought after I saved up for a year at my job when I was seventeen. It has served me well since then, even if it was already a few years old when I bought it. It was nice to see Liam getting along with everybody, too. Like both of my world's were kinda merging into each other.

When we got back to the cabin, I opened the trunk and we carried the stuff inside. We barely did any unpacking when we first got here so my suitcase was still in the living room, waiting to be sorted.

"Wooow, pretty nice place you got here!" Elliot exclaimed.

"Yeah, we got lucky. I had to book it like a month ago." I set some of the bags I was carrying on the kitchen counter. "You can put the drinks and stuff in the fridge," I said.

"Yo, where's the fire pit? Should probably start it before it gets even darker out," Alex asked.

"Oh yeah, lemme show you," I waved my hand for him to follow me, heading to the back door. Liam had gone into our room, probably to change or something. Shae was sitting on the couch, and Elliot was unloading drinks into the refrigerator.

I open the door. "Ladies first," I said, jokingly. I step out after Alex and close the back door behind me. I start walking over to the fire pit, Alex following closely behind.

"You know, I could have made the perfect gay joke there but I refrained because we're friends," Alex said, laughing.

"Hey, don't hold off on my account!" I reply, "And I know exactly what the joke would've been, that is far from perfect." I playfully punch his shoulder.

"Whatever, I am a comedic genius that just has yet to be recognized by Hollywood!" Alex said, sarcastically.

"Yeah, I bet they're gonna come knocking on your door as soon as one of your posts goes viral," I couldn't help but start laughing halfway through that sentence.

"You know it!" Alex replied. We approached the fire pit, it was a circular open-pit design with sand to prevent the fire from spreading. Surrounding the fire pit are a few wooden benches with some weird smooth coating over them, probably to make them less flammable. He sets the bag of firewood on the ground and tears it open. I stood there with my hands in my jacket pockets, not knowing how to help.

Alex takes a few pieces of wood and sets them in the pit, leaning them against each other. He reaches into his pocket and grabs a package of fire starter, holding it over to me. "You wanna do the honours?" he asks.

"I would be delighted!" I say poshly, doing a slight bow as I grab the fire starter from his hand.

I find a good spot for it under the firewood and tuck it in as far as I can to make sure it'll start the fire. Alex again reaches into his pocket and hands me a lighter.

"Wow, thanks babe," I say, trying my best to sound flirty.

Alex lets out a sigh, stifling a laugh. "You really could have said anything and you chose that, truly baffling," he says, smiling.

"Hey, you're the one who started the gay jokes! I'm just rolling with it," I exclaimed.

"Touché, I created my own destruction, it seems," he laughs.

"Exactly." I flick the lighter, it takes a couple of tries but eventually lights. I hold it close to the fire starter, trying not to burn my fingers off. After a few seconds, it ignites, with the wood following soon after. The dark forest behind is lightly illuminated by the growing flame.

"You know, for spring, it sure is fucking freezing," I say, shivering a bit.

"Well, spring isn't for like two weeks, but yeah," Alex said, nodding.

"I'll be right back, imma go change into warmer clothes."

"Sure thing!" he sits down on one of the benches and pulls out his phone.

I start walking back to the cabin. The grass is still somewhat frozen, crunching underneath my shoes. There's still a bit of ice spotted around from the winter. It's dark out, but still easy enough to see my way to the door. As I walk up the steps, the wooden planks underneath me creak from the pressure. I take my shoes off outside so I don't track snow and dirt in the cabin, and step inside.

Elliot is putting on his coat and boots, Shae is in her room, and I assume that Liam is still in the bedroom.

"We got the fire started, I just need to grab a warmer coat. Alex is sitting outside," I say to Elliot.

"Oh! Cool! I was just about to head out there," Elliot replies. I nod and walk over to my room. I can see the light shining under the door. When I walk in, I see Liam laying on the wooden-frame bed, scrolling through his phone.

"Aren't you coming outside?" I ask, taking off my button-up shirt and hanging it in the closet.

"Yeah, I was waiting for you!"

"What, why?" I grab my coat out of my bag and slide each arm through it. The inside of the coat is soft, so I wear it basically whenever I can.

"Cause, I wanted to give you this!" he gets up and reaches into his pocket. Inside is a tiny polaroid photo. I grab it from his hand, it's a photo of me and him on New Years. Shae dragged us to a couple of party things but huge crowds always made me nervous, so Liam took me off campus to the beach nearby. It was fucking freezing that night, being Vancouver and also the literal winter season. But we just sat together in the sand for an hour or so. I remember him grabbing his stupid polaroid camera out if his bag, reminding me of like every girl at university who I follow on social media who would post their walls of polaroid photos. He wanted to take a picture to 'Remember our first new years together,' and I didn't care cause I was happy to just be with him at the moment. "I put it in my bag when we first took it, and I guess I completely forgot about it until like ten minutes ago, so here's the first viewing!" He said.

"That's... pretty sweet. Thank you," I say, setting the photo on the desk. I pull Liam into an embrace, realising that I haven't gotten more than thirty minutes with just him and I since we left this morning. At least tomorrow would change that.

"You're welcome!" the hug lingered on. "I'll probably head out to the fire now, you gonna come with?" he asked.

"Go ahead, I'll just be a minute," I replied. We let go, and he exits the room, closing the door behind him.

I grab the polaroid again and take a seat on the side of the bed. It's not like the picture was some huge romantic gesture or anything, but it felt good to... be cared about? I wasn't gonna make a big deal out of it, that's the last thing I wanted to subject him to. But still, the past few months with Liam have been good for me, to say the least. I didn't want to linger too long inside, everyone probably out there already waiting. I put the photo in my wallet and put it in my pocket. When I step out into the living room, all of the lights are out, except for the porch light shining into the window. I assume Shae left while I was in the bedroom, and turn on the living room light and pull out my phone to text Liam.

Jake: Does anyone need anything before I come out?

It takes a moment, but eventually, he starts typing.

Liam: Alex would like one of the beers in the fridge if you can, that's probably it!

I head over to the kitchen to grab one of the beers from the fridge, and- fuck it, one for myself too. The only thing in the fridge is the drinks and I guess some chip dip or something? I didn't recognize it.

Suddenly, I hear a knock at the front door and am instantly brought into the moment. If that's who I think it is, then I am in for a treat.

I walk over to the front door, hesitating for a moment as I hold my breath. I grip the handle and open the door, revealing a familiar Grey Wolf. Well, not grey, more like a light brown-grey wolf, but that's just the name.

"Hey... Tyler," I say.

"Hi, I'm assuming Shae told you I was coming over?" he asked, barely averting his gaze. He's wearing a white graphic t-shirt with black jeans. The shirt was from that zombie game Alex would always get mad at. Ty was the first one to get us all playing that game originally, and he was definitely addicted to it for a good amount of time in high school. He always seemed like the edgy skater kid stereotype, and he has kind of held up that look since then, at least at face value. I was sort of terrified of talking to him back when we met in grade ten, although that stopped after not even a few weeks with him as his rough exterior vanished.

"Yeah, come in!" I replied, trying to sound upbeat, but probably just coming across as emotionless. I open the door wider and motion him inside before closing it behind him. I knew what was about to happen and did not want to do that right now. Hopefully, it can at least wait until after, "There's some drinks in the fridge if you'd like, everyone's already outside around back."

"Oh, I didn't hear anyone, weird." I could tell he was a little nervous to be here. He held his hand on the back of his neck, not knowing what to say next. I open the fridge door and motion for him to grab something. He grabs one of Alex's cheap beers but doesn't open it.

"Too bad you couldn't make it to the restaurant earlier, Alex made us go to that new one on Main Street, guess it's pretty new? New to me, at least." I say, lightly chuckling.

"Y- yeah, sorry, my boss needed me to work a bit late," he said, setting the drink on the counter.

"Oh right, you still working at that print shop?" I asked. He started working there shortly after we graduated when we were still together. I was honestly surprised that they were willing to hire him, considering the job description wanted a degree in some form of graphic design. But, I think the owner was friends with his dad, and anyone who knew Ty for more than five minutes knew how much he loved drawing and design. It was the perfect job for him, to say the least.

"Yeah, they got a contract with some business in Kennewick about a month ago, so we've been pretty busy lately."

"I can imagine!" I laugh awkwardly. A long pause begins to take form, neither of us saying anything. Just staring at the floor. This feels like an eternity, neither of us knowing what to say next. Fuck it, might as well get the annoying shit out of the way sooner rather than later. "Listen-" I say, keeping my eyes on the floor when Ty cuts me off.

"I'm not gonna ask for us to get back together, if- if that's what you're thinking." His ears noticeably twitch, the same way they always used to when he got nervous.

"What?" I ask, not knowing where this is going.

"You don't have to act surprised, I know Shaela told you that I wanted to talk to you,"

"So what did you want to talk about, then?"

"I don't know... I just didn't like how we ended things back then. We never talk anymore, I miss that," Ty mumbled.

"We can still talk! I thought you'd want space after we broke up... I wasn't really in a good place mentally at the end there, anyway."

"I mean, I thought I did at the time. But I didn't know what I wanted. Being a teenager is... weird."

"Well hey, we're here for two weeks, might as well make the most of it before I'm shipped back to university. But you should know, I brought my..." I paused for a moment, figuring out how to word the next part. "My boyfriend. He's out there with everyone else," I turn my head in the direction of the back door.

"Oh, I knew that already, Shae told me. Name's Liam or something, right?" He said.

"Wow, she sure does spare no expense when it comes to sharing every detail of my life," I say jokingly. We both laugh.

"She definitely has ulterior motives, I don't think I've ever understood the reasoning behind like half of anything she does," Ty replies. I don't understand what that means, but decide not to question it.

"Well, should we head out? I said I'd be out there like ten minutes ago, they probably think I fell asleep," I say, lightly laughing. He lightly nods and we both head to the back door.

"I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if that happened. That's how a concerning amount of our plans ended up not happening back in high school," he says. I open the back door and let him walk out first, following behind. I can see everybody sitting at the fire, casually chatting.

"You have to be persistent with plans at night or else I'll fall asleep while waiting for a response! You should know that better than anyone at this point," I joked.

"I did know that, got pretty good at managing it by the end. I'd send a check-in text like every ten minutes to make sure you were still gonna show up."

"Oh yeah, I remember that! I thought it was hilarious how much effort you put in just so we could hang out after my parents fell asleep." I lightly chuckle at the memory, scratching my ear.

As we approach the fire pit, Alex looks over at us, noticing our presence.

He gets up from the bench and walks over, "Ty! It's so good to see you!" He pulls Ty into a hug, patting his back. Elliot gets up as well. I sit down on the bench next to Liam and lean my head on his shoulder, and he puts his arm around my back.

Shaela stays lounging on the bench across from us, "Hey Ty! Glad you could make it!" She always hated doing anything that remotely involved emotions, so this was an expected reaction to meeting a friend she hasn't seen in more than two years.

"I'm guessing that you worked it out?" Liam whispered.

"I don't know if I'd go that far, but I think we're on a good path," I reply, matching his volume. Everyone sits back down, Alex and Shae on one bench, Ty and Elliot on the other. "Did you add more wood or something? That fire is massive," It had probably grown to more than half my size since I first lit it.

"Oh yeah, might as well use all of the firewood tonight since we're here!" he replied. The warmth of the fire was extremely comforting, shielding me from the sheer cold of the forest - not without the help of being next to Liam, either.

The crackle of the firewood is sporadically repetitive, offering a calm ambience to lay behind the loud conversations we were having. I didn't move from my spot for the rest of the night. Alex was telling a story about how he almost got arrested a few months ago when he got into a fight with some random guy clearly from out of town at his work, very obviously on at least two different types of drugs. If there was one thing this town was good for, it was the stupid bullshit that happened on a day-to-day basis. I mean, I don't know if I'd call it good, but it makes for good stories.

Yeah, I was definitely happy to be back. At least for a little while.