Orion sits on his couch, the commercials on the TV whirring in a silent flash of light. Flash. Flash. Flash. Colors and objects and brightness blur together into one meaningless haze.

His eyes are focused on his phone; waiting for texts from his friends telling him they've arrived at his house. Maybe he should move to his room, after all, he does have a TV in there and there might be less distractions. But his dad and step-mom did promise to retire to their room to do their own thing—and there's much more space out here on the couch.

Here was the first text: Pelo. It said he was here. A beat later, there was a knock on the door, Orion rising to meet it. He swings the door open, and there he is. Pelo, in his sweater-wearing, paint-splattered self, hair messily awry, looking at the ground, weight shifting from foot to foot.

When he looks up to see Orion, his face breaks into a shy smile. Orion's face breaks into a wide grin.

"Hey, Pelo, come on in," Orion says, letting him settle himself on the couch in front of the screen. Commercials still playing and all. Orion himself stays at the door; he saw Lilith getting out of her silver Honda.

Friend after friend arrive, mostly his closer ones: JJ, Linny, Henry, Jamal. Damien, too, of course, but he arrives late as always. But only slightly late, this time.

They crowd around the screen, on the couch, on the floor, on some bean bags Orion set up.

Orion already has the movie pulled up. He hits play.

—————————✌︎—————————

Fitz lay on his bed, staring at his ceiling. It isn't late, only 8 o'clock, and it's Friday, anyway. So it's not like they need to go to bed, anyway.

He checks his phone. Again. It's void of any messages, even from the prank group chat.

Fitz's phone is often like that: empty. They like it that way, though. No one to bother him, no one to interrupt his thinking.

They never liked people, not even when they were young. He often sat alone in the lunchroom, or played by himself during recess. And they were happy like that.

He likes books, mostly historical novels. They think that most people must see them as weird, for knowing so much about wars throughout history. He doesn't mind. People avoid those they deem strange.

Recently, Fitz finds that being around people maybe... isn't so bad. Well, they get exhausted being around people for too long, as per usual, but with the prank group... they find themselves having fun. Sure, he's quiet as always, but he can actually enjoy the conversations the others have.

During high school, they had hung out with the goths a lot, but they were nothing like this strange, mismatched group of people.

Maybe he feels like he finally belongs somewhere. But there's always that inching, creeping doubt, telling them that they'll just abandon them as soon as the prank's over.

He tries to tell himself he likes it that way.

—————————✌︎—————————

"Pelo, wake upp." Pelo grunts, forcing his eyes slowly open. JJ sits beside him, smiling, their face barely visible in the dark.

"What?" was all Pelo could manage to say as he rubs his eyes.

JJ laughs. "You feel asleep, silly," they say. They straighten their light purple hoodie, shifting to their feet. "You should probably go home, Orion's out, too. Although I can wake him up if you want."

"No, no, I don't want to bother him," Pelo says, struggling to his feet. Sure enough, Orion's asleep on the bean bag near Pelo. He must've been tired, as well.

JJ nods. "See you later, Pelo!" They turn, then say, "Do you need a ride? Home? I have a car."

"Um, no, no, I can walk home."

"Are you sure? It's kinda late."

Pelo nods, then changes his mind. "You know what? Yeah. I'd like a ride home."

The two got into JJ's car. Pelo didn't even know they could drive. He sure can't—he's failed his driver's test. Twice. And he never wants to try again, although his parents might make him.

"Do have any cool new paintings? Or drawings?" JJ asks, glancing at Pelo for a split second before looking back at the road.

"Uh, yeah, I do." He scratches the back of his neck. "A still life and a portrait. Although I still haven't finished the portrait."

JJ grins. "I'll have to see those sometime." They reach to the stereo to turn on some music. A popular song comes on immediately, and JJ sings along quietly.

They have a good voice, Pelo thinks. Although he doesn't know if they're in choir or anything. They probably are. If not, they should be.

They arrive at Pelo's house by the end of the song. He waves goodbye, and JJ waves back as they drive off.

Pelo practically collapses in his bed, not even bothering to change into pjs.

—raven speaks !

0.8k words

y'all imma be honest, this chapter kinda sucks. but it is what i what i wanted to do: further fitz's character a bit, let pelo and jj connect a bit, show some other side of orion. i didn't do much with the prank this chapter—i didn't really do anything with the prank at all. but there are some characters that i wanted to check up on (fitz and jj) and some that i wanted to continue their story from last chapter (orion and pelo). so sorry it sucks ! next chapter will probably be better and longer ! we'll possibly see some roshan/damien conflict (or...), and some more about lilith and meg ! and asryn is gonna be touched on ! like i'm going through the charaters, furthering them along, because really each of them have their own separate story and they all tangle together to make this weird piece of fiction.

 so. sorry for ranting, you totally didn't have to read all of that. but bye ily <3