Quick fucking PSA
So uh
I'm literally so fuckin sorry this shit has gone dead for like 5 weeks
It's not dead
And won't die
It just gets high fuckin fevers

Basically what happened was
I wrote the whole chapter
Thought it was shit
Edited it
Still thought it was shit
Rewrite half way
Shit
And then rewrite and re-edit and here we fuckin are

I'm sorry
I really am

She'd tell him later, she figured.

If she told him now, she'd find him in jail later.

She went back to her notes.

Why didnt she see it?.
Once you analyze it, it makes so much sense now.

It was like being surprised when you see cops at an accident

Why wouldn't you expect that?

It always happens, so why didnt she notice it before?

She was lucky enough to go to the same school as one, so,

Why was she so ignorant and oblivious?

She groaned. Tossing herself back into bed.

Wrapping herself in blankets like a protective shell, she decided to think about her options. She could tell and annoy him or let him have some peace.

She preffered the ladder.

But the information was important. And he needed to know soon.

Laddi, after several minutes of sulking in the inconvenience of the situation, got up out of bed and decided to get ready.

She hated doing things that made her fidgety, in a bad way. It made her feel sick and tired, and so so incredibly anxious.

It was late in the afternoon. Almost dark.

Did she really want to go and tell him?

No.

She went outside anyways.
Walking out the door and sitting on the cold steps made of cement., setting down on the cold hard truth that he had to know.

She looked at the sky, not exactly a sunset, but not exactly a starrynight either.

It was the in between of day and night

Madness and calmness.

They seemed to go well together.

She took out her phone, searching through her contacts, selecting the one named "🖕🔪"

As humorous as it was, she kept her contacts to simple emojis, making it a bit harder for anyone to learn whos who.

People seemed to be easier to understand when they are just a symbol.

A rude action and a weapon

A bird species

A mirror

A smile

It was much easier to understand people when they were just an image.

And, they were just an image.

But

Pictures arent always accurate.
Images dont tell the truth.

So what does?
As cliche as it sounds,

Is it the personality?

Or is it

Something more

Laddi held the phone to her ear, waiting for Tord to pick up her call.

Tord sat in his room, not having much to do.

Laying against the side of his bed, he found interest in tightening the screws on his little inventions.

Nothing much, but it did something.

Little actions have big effects.

Something as simple as tightening a screw could save something from falling apart.

In this case, spending time with Tom and the kids saved him from falling apart.

When he heard the familiar ring of his phone, he picked it up

"Laddi 🐝"

"Hey," He said into the device, gently moving the crank lamp he was working on to a safer location, that safer location being next to him on his bed.

"Whats up little sis?" He added.

Little sis.

A short term for "little sister."

Little sister.

Family

Family is to be protected

Protect family.

She was hesitant.

Protect family.

Dont tell him

Protect
Family.

"Nothing much." She said, hiding her nervousness pretty well. She moved a strand of her hair behind her ear. Looking down at her feet.

Even if she wasnt physically in front of anyone, she still had the tendency to look down with guilt.

"Just wanted to check on you. " she added, trying to sound happier.

"Ah okay."

Laddi cursed herself in her head, Tord humming as he wanted to say something.

"Y'know it feels a bit odd to have gotten Nikki and Avery out the way."

Laddi hummed, looking at a nearby crow fly by.

"Guess im not used to having peace eh?" Tord chuckled, feeling a bit sorry for himself.

"Guess so."

It was silent, Laddi still contemplating whether she wanted to tell him. Wasnt sure if it was worth it. Wasnt sure what the outcome would be.

"Alright, im gonna make something to eat. Bye Laddi."

"Tord wait-" she stumbled.

"Yeah?"

TellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimtellhimTellHim

"How is it with Tom?"

"How is it with Tom?"

Good question, to which, Tord didnt know the answer himself.

The toaster clicked, two pieces of subtly cooked bread popped out.

Picking up a nearby plate, he decided to attempt a response.

"Things have been, fine, I guess."

"I went to his house like you said." He added

Laddi pulled her knees closer, starting to sit up straight, ready to take in information. "Oh! Really?"

"Yeah." He said, now putting a simple ham and cheese sandwich together.

"He drugged me." He added.

"With what?" Laddi asked, confused.

"Valerian. A sleep aid." Tord sighed, the irony made him smile though.

Laddi giggled on the other line "Karma."

"Uh-huh."

Laddi looked at the flowers on the small.lawn of her house. Her mother insisted on planting them, but ever since the family has gotten busy with their own seperate hobbies and responsibilities, no one really takes care of them.

They were just, left there. A beautiful start with a unknown ending. Left to fend for themselves and grow their own uncontrolled path.

Whether they'd be overthrown by weeds or grow into magnificent flowers was up to fate.

But, On rare occasions, her Mom would water them, and her Dad would weed them.

Other than that, her parents stayed focused on their job.

"So, " she started, "how have you been taking,"

"Um, you know."

"I dont care." Tord shrugged, now pulling out a knife to cut his food.

Laddi made a stressed sound. Unsure of his calmness.

"You're aware that guilt builds up, right?"

"I have an escape plan for that."

"Tom does have that comforting personality, doesnt he?" Laddi sighed.

"He does."

"Is that all?" Tord asked, moving back to his room with a small plate.

Laddi paused, and with a slightly disappointed sigh, she said "Yeah. Bye Tord."

"Bye Bee."

"BuzzBuzz."

Her phone beeped, signaling that she ended the call.

She sighed, taking a step back in her house.

Yes, she'd tell him tomorrow.

During friends friday, she'd tell him tomorrow.

Right?

School went as smooth as school should go.

On a usual day.

However, in this world, usual, was, unusual.

So today was an unusual day.

Because everything was fine.

1st Mod? The paper stars made a return. And now Tord had a bag full of them. Why? Because his teacher fueled him with shredded strips of paper.

2nd Mod? They, (him and Tom) caught up on any work they missed from all of the shit they had to deal with.

3rd Mod?

Actually they didnt do much then.

in Lunch, They all agreed to go to an arcade for Friends Friday.

5th Mod,
Art with Edd. To which the two friends enjoyed talking about nostalgic things.

Yes, this, was an unusual day.

"Wait-" Tom interrupted.

Everyone, including the main 3 and Connor with Laddi, turned their back, paused in their steps to look at Tom.

They had all been walking home from school, each going to pick up what they needed for the day's trip.

Connor was interested in the behavior of this group, he never really hung around or talked to them so he wanted to understand their nature.

Laddi simply wanted to hang out

"Whats wrong?" Connor asked.

"Whos gonna babysit Asha and Soke?" Tom asked, pointing a finger at Laddi, as she was the appointed babysitter.

Everyone erupted in their own mumbles

"Shit."

"Uhm."

"How old are they again?"

"What about Namki?" Tord asked.

"Can she hold them at her job?"

Tom gave an unsure look. "I dont know..."

Usually, Tom would know this. But Friday's were always busy at the shop, and with the weather getting gradually colder, the greenhouse needed to be maintained more, the front shop needed to switch most items to plant seeds that could survive cold weather, and the cafe needed more attention as more people would want hot teas or warm breads.

But at the same time, Namki was Namki, that 32 year old could handle just about anything.

"Lets find out then." Edd said. putting his hands in his pockets.

"Text her, and while you drop off the kids, we can get the destination of the arcade. Im sure its not that far." He said, smiling.

"If she cant, then we can take the kids with us."

Tom nodded, taking out his phone.

Everyone waited in a awkard silence.

Edd looked up at connor.

"So hows the girlfriend?" He said.

"She said yes." Tom said, slightly relieved.

"Her job is kind of far. So, me and Tord will try to hurry." He added, sighing to himself.

Tord perked up at his name, he was focusing on some crows.

Two had flown away from a piece of bread, because another one had flew onto it, attacking them.

When he looked away, another crow flew in to fight for the bread.

"Im sorry what." Tord mumbled, not doing a good job at hiding the fact that he was not focused at all at what Tom had just said.

"Why are you always doing stuff with Tom?" Edd groaned. Always hearing of the red and blue duo.

"Because its two kids, a long distance, and one bike you dumb bean." Tom pouted, trying to shut down any other asusmption Edd had.

Seriously, all they did was make jokes about him and tord being together all the time.

It was funny at first, now Tom just finds it a little unoriginal and overused.

"I am still confused." Tord bumped in, trying to gain an explanation.

Tom grabbed his wrist and started walking away. "We're going home."

"Oh okay." Tord answered,unamused. Though he was still, very much confused.

Edd watched them leave. Rolling his eyes.

"Tom is so uptight-" he complained.

Laddi nodded. "Hes calm at times too though. "

Edd sighed, then looked at Connor and Laddi.

He smirked.

"You two dont happen to have any non zipper, solid color hoodies? Do you?"

Tord biked back to Tom's house, Hoodie on, shoes untied which was a hazard but the least of his concerns,

He made the usual (or unusual.) Left turn into Tom's neighborhood, going into the driveway, he could see Asha and Soke walk out, Tom right behind them.

Asha was suited with a dark redish pink helmet, with matching elbow and knee pads. Soke wearing the same thing in a baby blue color.

"Tom their just going on a bike ride not a war field." Tord said,smug yet very concerned for Tom and his overprotective habits.

But at the same time, Tom has just witnessed a lot of people get physically injured.

Tord and the sharpener blade, the girls and their vomiting, Tord again, with his eyes.

Damn.

Okay so maybe Tom wasnt overreacting.

"Im keeping them safe." Tom had replied, gently tapping his knuckle against Soke's helmet, to which the kid ironically,emotionlessly mumbled "ow"

"Uh huh," Tord said. Rolling his eyes." ill be sure to avoid the pit full of electric aligators alright. "

After getting situated, Asha on Tord's bike, and Soke on Tom's, they started to make their way over to the Tea Shack.

"Ready for a rematch Tom?" Tord called, already speeding up.

They kept the kids at the front of them, the handles of the bike infront of the child. Snuggly between a "trusted" teen and bike part.

Asha kept her hands over the part of the handle bars that Tord left for her, she found joy in making motor noises like a motorcycle.

"Please be careful with my baby." Tom whined, keeping Soke close to him and at a safe speed.

"I will Tom." Tord reassured.

"But come on!" Tord pushed, looking back every few seconds at Tom. " Your making Soke bored."

"he always looks bored." Tom answered, almost as if he was slightly offended.

"We cant race on the sidewalk. And theres a car on the road every 5 minutes." Tom mentioned. And he didnt want to go to the road at all, especially with the kids.

"Tordy you gotta teach me how to ride a bike." Asha pleaded, looking up at the teen.

"I will," Tord smiled. "if Tom decides to stop being a butt and race me."

Asha's head turned to look at Tom, who was a little behind to the left. She frowned.

"Race!" She called.

"Tord your a bad influence on her." Tom groaned.

Tord laughed.

Tom was honestly having a good time. The sun was out, the sky was clear. It was beautiful outside. Asha seemed to be enjoying herself, Soke took interest in the environment, and Tord was laughing.

He always valued these moments.

He wished he could put them in a flashdrive and experience them over and over in a simulation.

It was just, so perfect.

So unusual.

And then Tord ruined it.

"Bad Influence? Please Tommy." He had turned at him.and smirked.

"She gets it from you."

Tord sped up, obviously wanting to escape the consequences Tom smiled, tilted his head to whisper to Soke

"Soke honey grab on, Tordy wants to be a little trash bird."

Tord was at a decent distance away from Tom, just humming as Asha asked a few questions about the way a bike works, and Tord, being an inventor interested in the function of electric and non electric machines, answered as best as he could, and in a moment, Tom went pass him.

Tord smiled.

"Repeating history arent we?"

Namki stood just outside the door of the shack, she could see the two bikes strolling in.

She wondered who would be able to slow down the bike enough not to crash, but just enough to win.

Tom could always predict right when something needed to occur before something went wrong, but Tord seemed to be able to always pull a surprise and find the exact moment to do it, right after already doing it.

It was complicated, but she knew one of them would win, just wasn't sure who.

She prepared to find out.

"Red won." Namki said.

And while Asha and Tord cheered for themselves Obviously proud of their accomplishment , Tom gave a blank face and commented:

"your really biased arent you?"

Namki shrugged. Acting as if she didn't know herself, when she very much knew, she had a kick for Mr.Devil horns and Fire Ashes

Of course, she loved soke and Tom too.

"Nams!" Asha cheered, running to the Adult's legs and hugging them.

Namki smiled, ruffling Asha's brown hair.

Tom walked over, holding Soke, who was sticking out his arms, reaching for Namki to carry him.

She gingerly took him, and chatted with the two teens for a moment before waving goodbye as they raced back to a stopsign.

"Alright my little garden helpers." Namki sighed.

"Lets go inside and plant some new seeds."

Asha smiled, skipping inside, while Soke simply asked to pick them.

"Im lucky I had this brown one at home." Connor said.

Laddi hummed, "it looks more dark honeyish to me."

"I can see that." Connor said, finding Laddi's option closer.

Edd sat on the  Soft couch lazily, he had gotten his hoodie and biked over.

They were all waiting for Matt to find his purple hoodie, which he had in his room, which, was piled with a bunch of nick nacks, which, he claimed wasnt his fault

"I just love a lot of things!" He had said.

"Except organization." Edd had groaned.

Now, Connor had walked to his house, got his hoodie and bike, made it back to Matt's house, and Matt still hadn't found his hoodie.

Edd pushed himself off the couch into a standing position, sighing. "Im gonna help him find his hoodie."

"Good luck." Laddi called.

Edd chuckled in response, laddi heard the door open and close shut down the hall.

She went back to what she was doing, Connor had decided to take a nap on the couch, so she was safe.

She went through her information again

'Are you sure?' She kept asking herself.

Yes. She wasnt speculating anything, there was evidence of it, she could see it.

But, really?

She couldnt believe it, and she didnt want to either.

But according to the last time this ever happened, this is normal.

This, is unusual.

She sighed, closing her labtop.

'Its real.'

'But its not complete.'

'Where are the others.'

"Where are the others?" Edd asked, stepping out of the hallway, Matt walking behind him Happily with his hoodie.

Laddi shrugged. She stood up, and walked over to her room to put her things away, about halfway down her route, someone knocked on the door, so she went to.open it.

"Oh! Tord! I need to-"

"Im telling you I made it here first." The red eyed boy interrupted, aiming a look at Tom.

"No you didnt. I got here first." Tom pushed.

The two invited themselves into the house, arguing as they walked up the stairs and into the living room.

Laddi shut the door, mumbling some type of insult and then moodily heading to her room.

"You cant bike for shit." Tord said, with an unamused look.

"I can too." The shorter one responded

"Why are you two arguing?" Matt asked, tilting his head.

"We arent arguing." The two said in unison.

"Well, not bad arguing." Tord said, looking to the side with a questioning look.

Tom nodded. "Yeah. Its not arguing if im stating a fact."

Tord turned his head in annoyance "For fucks sake-"

"Alright shut up-" Edd said, standing up, and dusting off his pants.

"We've got everyone, lets get our bikes and go." He sighed, just wanting to go play DDR at a foul smelling arcade center.

Laddi walked outside her room, seeing Edd walk down the stairs to the front door, Matt try and wake up Connor, and Tom and Tord apparently ignore what they were just getting in a childish argument about, because now they seemed to be having a civil conversation.

Laddi sighed.

She didnt know how she was gonna tell Tord.

She didnt wanna ruin the day for him and tell him now, so, maybe later.

"Ill get on Connor's bike, Matt can take mine."  Laddi suggested,

There weren't enough bikes for everyone, so she volunteered to ride with Connor.

"Matt yours is still at repair?"

"I ran into that fire hydrant pretty hard..."

Edd shook his head, honestly not surprised.

"Alright, lets just go."

"Where, exactly? On the road?" Tom said, looking unsure.

Tord leaned on his bike, just wanting to arrive at the arcade. "We get it Tommy, you dont like the road."

"It's just that 5 bikes don't fit too snuggly on a sidewalk." Tom shrugged, genuinely confused for the way they would approach the situation.
After several, long, dragged conversations about the path to take, everyone agreed on something.

1. take the sidewalk, the road is just too much of a hazard.
2. Edd brings one chain and lock so no one steals the parked bikes.
And 3. Edd has the directions so Edds gonna lead the way.

"And no racing." Tom said, pedaling parallel to Tord who was actually staying at the average pace, but only because Matt and Connor's bikes were infront of him.

"Your just mad that i won both times." Tord smiled.

Tom shook his head, smiling and giving in. "Sure you did."

While Matt, Laddi and Connor decided to talk about bees and flowers, Tom decided to Ask a favor of Tord.

"So, " he started, gaining the other's attention.

"Asha's birthday is Sunday, Namki is gonna close shop to celebrate, some workers and some of Asha's school friends are coming,"

Tom felt a small sense of pride when he saw Tord's face lighten up, almost as if he made a brutally honest 19 year old excited .

"Plus, you guys are coming," Tom added, stretching his hands out on the bike handle.

"So, obviously, theres gonna be a lot of people."

"So, obviously," Tord mimicked innocently. "

He lightly chuckled in a soft smile. "What does this have to do with me?" He asked, not in a careless voice, but more of, a, content, happier voice.

Happier, because well.

Things were unusual.

He wasnt mad at anyone right now.
Didnt have a problem at all.

He was with his friends and it was just so,

Unusual.

Tom hummed, knowing what to say but wanting to word it correctly.

Eventually, he didnt have a creative response, so he just told it as it is.

"I basically just wanna ask you for help setting up on Saturday."

"Its, a lot of people and i could use some help."

It was such, a casual, simple favor.

But Tord was happy to get it.

He beamed. "Yeah. I dont see why you even have to ask."

"I'd honestly do anything for that little girl." He added

"Except keep her safe." Tom sighed, looking over at Tord who seemed to take slight offense to his comment.

Tord decided to then pester him about his eligibility in being a proper guardian.

He didn't need to.

Tom believed Tord was a very protective guardian.

And then
Just then

Something entered Toms mind that made him cancel out his own thoughts.

"Finally, after all that stalling." Edd chimed with relief.

"We're here!" He said, throwing out his arms.

Being the first off his bike, Connor decided to take the chain from Edd, when he found a soda can pierced in it, he put on a confused and judging expression.

"Im sorry but what is this." He asked pointing to the can.

Edd shrugged, awkardly laughing to hinself. "Its kind of my lucky can?"

"It's not very lucky." Tord added.

"Edd its not smart to invest in that many tokens." Connor winced. Looking at the amount of arcade tokens were spilling out of the machine.

"I feel like a fucking 5 year old. " Tord mumbled.

Some cheesy energetic music played in the background, the carpet was black with designed stripes of red,yellow, purple,blue,green, and orange stripes to look like confetti.

There were mysterious stains on the ceiling and on that very carpet that Edd was sitting on when getting his pile of loot.

"You think 300 isnt enough?" Edd asked, looking behind him and letting a few couple coins spill out onto the poorly maintained carpet.

A crowd of children gathered, gazing at the shiny slivers of aluminium. Or metal. Whatever the material was.

Connor picked up one of them and began tossing it around out of boredom. Laddi watched in a small interest.

Tom held one of the cups. He flicked and pushed coins from the edge. A questioning and unsure look settling on his face. "Can we give these to the kids here if we have any extras? I doubt we'll use them."

"Just give them to Asha for her birthday." Matt suggested.

Tom hummed in agreement.  But that didnt help the fact that there were 300 coins now in their possession.

What would they even do with it?

After a few unfair matches of DDR, unfair being that Tom simply could not dance and Matt obviously had some type of practice before hand.

Or it could be that Matt was simply quick to react to bright,shiny surfaces.

Either would be correct.

Tord sat next to the ticket dispenser at the skeeball game. Where Laddi accidentally threw the ball instead of rolling it.

It made a harsh sound, almost as if she wanted to notify the whole world that she not once in her life even walked within a 5 foot radius of a skeeball game to learn how to play it.

Anyways, it made a loud painful sound And she  lowered her shoulders and stance in slight embarrassment

About 70 of the coins had been used. Most of them went to random kids who were low on coins though. From Tom and Laddi's constant "but look at their faces."

Tom was talking to Connor about the angle and speed in which the ball had to be thrown at to get 200 points, Laddi was trying to keep Matt from making the same mistake, and Edd just seemed to be racing through to see how long it could take for him to unload all of those heavy plastic orbs onto the ramp.

And now, Tord was keeping a lazy eye on the steady flow of tickets.

He'd hear
A roll
A knock
A ping
Then small beeps
And then a ticket or two would come out.
And the cycle repeated.
A roll
A knock
A ping
Then small beeps

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̵̛̤̃͆̌̓̆̀̒̀̎̇̀̚Ȁ̵̳̺̖̠͚̳̣̞̫̖̪n̶͈͌̒͛͗̏͑̽̽̿̚d̷̛̟͎̥̰͙̫̼͖̂̍̂́͗̊ ̴̗̺̞̣͍̭̼̻̐ţ̷̢̢̦̳̫̗̹̥͇̞͓̘͋͜͜͠h̷̡̧̝̹̱̬͚̤͈̯͖́̈́̔̔̈́͆̋̈́̈́̆̎̒̿̕ę̴̜̬͇̦̫̓̈́̒̈͑̾ņ̶̢̟̼͖͙̹͇̱͚̥̗͉̇͑͜ ̶̡̛̣͖̰͕̣̗͔̫̩͓͋ą̸̛͉̞̗̝̟̻̫̹͇͌̍͛̓̍ ̴̨̨̛̣̞͖͇̟͕͎̼̗͚̦͔́̈́̆͑̽̿̂̇̀̐̀̆̾̕s̶̥̪͖̓̋̓m̵̢͍̩̱̯͕̩͙͙̩͖̱̯͚̱̀͗̔̓̌̍͆̈́͋͐̔ḁ̸̡̀͗͑̔͌͒͊̀̀̔͜͝l̸̼͙͛̾̀́̿̍͐̈̏͒l̴͚͓͙̭̘̲̤̞̂͊́́̏͜͝ ̶͉̮͓̦̣̪̼̭͋́̄̍̀̈̍̐͋̍̌̀͊́͜ͅb̸̢̫͇̫͚̱̝̦̖̲̪̬̀̔̌̎́̍́͐̅̔̅̚r̵͓̤̰͇͈̻̖̓e̸̢͇̓̄͌̇͂͌̚ȁ̶̳͕̩̟̖̘̀̀͋̐̏̂̀͘͠k̸̛̖̻̻͍̆͂̌́̏̚d̶̢̲͙̯̞͓͕̥̰̥̍̀̽̑ỡ̸̢̨͉̮̣̩̟̱̫̔̒̄̿̔̄̍̀̈́ͅͅw̶̛̥͖̤̞̦̙͕̍͊̅̑̋̃̕͝͠n̶̢̧͈͕̹̮̖̗̗̜͇̳̘̰̂̔̑̈̑̒͝ͅ

Tord thought the cycle was predictable at first.
But then it wasnt.
Then the pings were at different tunes
Depending on the roll
And then a different amount of tickets would come out.

It was predictable
But at the same time,
It was not.

Finally, a hand swooped by and grabbed the line of tickets.

"21." Edd counted.

"How many are you trying to get?" Tord asked, stepping up off the ground.

"As many as possible. " he responded.

"So," Edd added, with a growing look of pride.

He waited for a moment, and in that moment the smell of bad pizza and the sound of games and loud teens or children became much, more obvious.

Somehow there was happiness in this mess.

"I plan on going to the one game that gives the most tickets."

"Im getting an awful lot of deja-vu from this." Tord mumbled.

He couldve sworn hes been in this situation before.

"What game gives the most tickets?" Laddi asked, feeling a bit bored already.

Edd beamed. "Glad you asked." And with a speedy arm, pointed directly at a large spinning wheel.

Tord showed a look of disappointment, Tom looked doubtful,  Laddi was looking off to the side to find a different game to play with Connor,while Matt was,

Looking at the shiny lights on the wheel.

"That game is based completely off of chance." Tom notified.

"I know!" Edd cheered.

"But its the easiest, and, more likely to win than you think!"

"Only when you have like,  200  coins  to waste on it." Tord chuckled.

"Exactly." Edd chimed. "Besides," the brunette added,  reaching into his pocket to pull out a familiar chain.

"Lucky can!"

"This is a shit plan." Tord groaned, though he was doing a bad job looking annoyed, of anything, during most of their time here, he seemed more amused than anything.

"This plan is fool proof." Edd said proudly.

"Fool proof? As in a plan used by fools" Tom said, chuckling to himself.

"Where's the proof part?" Tord asked as Edd began his 200 coin journey to ticket land.

"He's the proof." Tom added, smiling slightly. Tom wasn't very fond of the arcade but he didn't mind it. He enjoyed it there until he lost that match with Matt.

Fresh in his mind it was, him trying to keep up with the arrows and Matt having literally no problem with it.

In hindsight, Matt was focused on the game

Tom had other things in his mind.
One being the supportive cheers from laddi and Connor, the laughs and giggles from Edd and Tord, but, mostly, something else.

And it flustered him.

He wasnt thinking about anything, or anyone else.

That's why he lost.

And now it would slip in and out of his mind, causing small panic spikes.

They didn't make him physically ache or anything, he was as healthy as ever.

Just, flustered. That's all.

That's all. Is what Tord told himself
It's just an arcade
There's nothing else
Nope

He couldn't help but always feel slightly off
But that's just how life is
You never feel
Fully okay

Endless, you're with someone like Tom.
Then yeah, maybe.

Anyways, Tom followed behind Tord, who followed behind Laddi, who followed behind Connor, who was looking at a crane game.

All four of them stood around the bright box
"I bet it's rigged." Tord said, putting a finger on the joy stick.

He moved it slightly, where it made a slow and then fast click into a forward direction. It was jammed.

Tord hated it when his control over things froze or got stuck.

Things should just run smoothly

But in order for them to run smoothly, they needed to be maintained

Screws, needed to be tightened.

He removed his hand and rubbed it against the side of his pants. As if he just touched pure mud.

Connor turned his head at the machine. "Yanno I heard that if you touch certain points of a crane machine, it thinks it's being cleaned out. So it gives out prizes."

"I heard that too." Tom added, taking a step closer and looking around for some type of marking

"So you two want to scam a arcade machine." Tord chuckled. Crossing his arms as the blue and honey themed teens walked around the machine, tapping random spots.

"Usually it's the other way around." Laddi added.

"You guys go get more tickets for edd." Connor suggested, smiling in satisfaction when he found a small button on the lower side of the machine. "Me and Tom can stick around and try to get a prize."

Tord hummed. Putting his hands inside of the pockets of his "trademark" sweater, as Edd liked to call it.

Laddi shook the little cup of coins in her hand.

Now would be a good time to get Tord away to tell him.

She still felt bad, worried, knowing he wouldn't like what he'd hear.

She sucked in a breath. 'C'mon Laddi, your a big girl now.' She told herself.

"I saw my brother going to the wheel where Edd is." She started, gaining the others attention

"You wanna try to get lucky with a few arcade games?"

Tord shrugged, and trudged after Laddi, who hopped around in search of a good game

Dispite it being an arcade, most of the games didn't interest them. Basketball? Nah. Racing? Maybe. Shooting? Shady.

A lot of the games were either straight up harsh Violent based ones or some bland electronic version of a five dollar board game

Tord and Laddi settled for a oldie like Pac-Man just for the sake of nostalgia,

Also, Laddi wanted to be able to tell Tord what she figured out, and she didn't want either of them to be too distracted to communicate.

After she got about 10 tickets from 2 rounds, Tord was at the controls,lazily but successfully navigating throughout the simple maze.

Laddi watched for a moment.

She saw the reflection of the game in his red eyes. It was strange. Almost as in the game itself had a red hue.

What used to be such a simple, little game, with a simple little task. Now seemed like it was in a danger zone.

Tinted red, telling you it's about to be over in a few seconds.

Eventually, the eyes shifted to her for a second. Where Tord gave a small nervous laugh.

"Gee. Your eyeing me down like a hawk." He said. Focusing back on the dark screen.

Laddi snapped out of her thoughts, mumbling a sorry in her shy giggles.

She put her fingers together, and opened her mouth to speak after thinking of how to word everything, and after summoning enough courage, she spoke.

"Tord," she started, looking to the side. "There's something you should know."

The eyes darted at her for a second, before turning back to the game. "Lay it on me." He said.

"Well, you see." She started, sheepishly.

"I just wanna let you know, first of all, to not freak out when I tell you." She continued, cursing herself mentally for deciding to tell him where there's a shitload of breakables stuff and a bunch of children.

He would probably punch out the glass in one or two screens and cause a bunch of children's innocence in the sense of swears to completely disappear to never recover

Tord gave a puzzled look. "I won't." He assured. "Or at least, I'll try not to."

"Good." Laddi answered, in a lighter yet hopeful tone. She felt better seeing that she had some type of agreement from him to not go full blown Tord on the arcade center.

"So it's kind of confusing." She started.

"You might not believe me..."

"But I can confirm, it's real." She huffed out

"Luckily I caught it in time."

"And I have most of them." She continued, feeling skeptical of this one though,

"But... uh." She stumbled. Getting this far, she just wanted to spit the rest out.

"What's this about Laddi?" Tord asked.

"It's about Tom." She whispered out in a semi raspy semi pained voice.

Just then, she heard the game go:

G̷̱̮̼̦̦̣̻̈̍̂͆̆͝͠Ắ̶̻̹̦̹͙̝̮̖̘̗̠̳͎̽̏͜M̵̧̛̯̤͔͕̘̫͚̻̣̌̎̋̇̀̆̕̕͠Ë̴͚͉̺̥̱͓̹͕͎ͅ ̶̧̢̖̬̪̲̱͚̪͕̮̭̪̖̈́͐̿͋̐̇̆̿͒͜O̷̡̠̠̗͔̺̮̤̘̟͔͕͓̳̍̈́͌̄̋̎̉̀͗̈́̆̎̕͠ͅV̵͖̣̤̔̇̊̋͊E̸̡̻̱͙͕͎̞̞̬̜̩͙͖͍͌̀̋͝͝R̶̢̛̛̠̖̫͓̗͈̻̤̟̩̫̼̭̠̔́̽͊͑̆̈́̊̾̊͗͗

She looked up, hesitantly to his face.

He looked concerned, but stable.

"What about Tom?" The voice asked

She felt the chill starting in her legs, where it traveled up her spine and spiked in her neck. Made it feel like she couldn't speak.

She closed her eyes and took a breath. When she opened them again, she decided

Say it
Say it
Say it.

"Theres-"

then, a loud bell seemed to go off.
Tord perked up, looking around. Before he started to walk in the direction of the loud noise.

There was a crowd, a large one.

Laddi trailed behind the tall teen. Trying to see what was going on.

Tord, carelessly pushed himself to the front. Laddi made the small apologies and walked behind his self made trail.

There, right in the center was a bright, beaming series of lights on a large wheel.

Where a machine seemed to be emptying itself of tickets.

A robotic voice screaming "your a winner!"

Edd, smiling and looking at the red and yellow duo

"Who says this can isn't lucky?"

Namki smiled at the kids coloring their little posters.

After they finished, she lifted Asha up to tape them around the walls of the shack.

"Tea! 50% off any size cup on Tuesdays and Thursdays!" Said the signs in the cafe

"Refunds! Damaged products taken within 5 days of purchase!" Said the signs in the shop

"Watch your step!" Said the signs in the little greenhouse section.

The employees would walk about, doing whatever task they had, Brianna, making pastries. Bryan, restocking shelves. Marilyn and Joshua switching cash registers at the cafe or greenhouse. While Namki stayed in the front shop.

The employees would glance at the papers and smile, complimenting the children on their work.

Asha was bubbly about her 9th birthday two days from now, today she had given her classmates little invitations with small cookies and party hat shaped cards.

She was excited. Tom told her Edd,Matt and Tord would be there, along with Laddi, of course. she personally liked all of them.

Matt was silly, and very nice from what she could tell. He was very playful. She liked playing imaginary scenarios with him.

Edd was very caring, also funny. She liked how he could make Tord laugh and Tom roll his eyes.

She liked them all, and they all were going to be at her birthday, along with some of her school friends, and their parents or siblings.

She couldn't stop smiling throughout the day. She was just, so happy.

The last time she was really this excited for her birthday was

...

Her smile faded. She started crying.

Namki had rushed to her, picking her up and cooing to her in a gentle tune.

Soke followed after, confused.

With Asha 's repeated words, namki couldn't help but feel useless.

For once, she couldn't fix the problem.

She could only distract Asha from it.

"Let's think of your party theme." She started, gaining the small child's attention.

"Pick anything. Anything you want." She emphasized

"I'll make sure it's just right."

The teens strolled on their bikes, which thankfully hadn't been stolen.

It was quite a sight, the large brown bear strapped to the back of edd's bike.

Or, more closely, Edd.

Tord could see it from the back of the group. The large backpack bear Edd went straight for after he won those 10,000 tickets from that damned wheel.

In total, from all the games they played. They had about 10,137

In Edd's backpack, were about 170 arcade coins and 9,450 tickets

Well, it was one slip of paper that said they had 9,450 tickets.

Edd was extremely lucky. As the employees who had to deal with the machine said that the machine is programmed to give a winner once every 900 spins.

For some reason, the machine didn't give out just one ticket that said 10,000

No. It gave out, a shitload of tickets.

So much, that it ran out and they simply had to get the manager to confirm Edd as a winner and give him a official slip of paper with his ticket balance.

Laddi clung to her boyfriend. He rode his bike quite happily with his newfound pikachu beanie he got from the machine him and Tom exploited.

Shortly after they figured out the points to press, the hat was the first to come out

Then, a little sock monkey colored grey, except for white paws a a red mouth came out, Tom picked this one out for Asha.

Just when the machine was going to put out another toy, they heard the ringing, and agreed to leave the machine to empty itself out and leave it for a child to find.

Matt had a bag full of glow sticks and random knick knacks. Edd obviously didn't mind spoiling him in the prize center by fueling his constantly growing collection of novelty toys.

He was also, holding Laddi's bee plush and glass puddy in his bag.

Tord just took a few glow in the dark pens for his own amusement

They reached a familiar intersection, where they all separated, Edd going to his house, Connor following Matt to drop off Laddi, then head to his apartment complex, Tom and Tord going down the similar road.

They reached the T shaped path. Toms road going left, where Tord needed to simply continue.

Tom turned around. Looking behind him at the boy parked on the red bike.

"Come over tomorrow." Tom Said with a smile.

"We've got lots to do for Asha."

Tord smiled

A warm, childish grin.

"Can't wait." He chimed, before riding off home.

There it was again
Something entered Toms consciousness as he stood there with his bike, still looking

He shoved it away

"No"

He sighed and walked inside his house. Namki would come home with the kids at closing time, which was in 4 hours.

4 hours to be alone with his thoughts.

Him and himself.

What a dangerous thing.
To be alone with no one but yourself

Where you can tell yourself something and believe it because it's from you

And there's no one else to debunk it.

Tom walked to his room. Not paying much notice to the drawings and stickers on the wall to his room.

Yes, he did like them, he was just, distracted.

He sat on his bed. Looking down.

He looked behind him, at his bed.

He saw the familiar bear plush.

He picked it up, rubbing his thumb along the threads,

He realized what he was doing, and placed the bear on top of his dresser instead.

He felt better.

He wanted to play Susan, but his eyes felt heavy and his body wanted to slump somewhere

He hugged himself before deciding to just go to bed and take a nap

Hopefully Namki would wake him up for dinner

After he climbed into bed, feeling ready to fall into a deep but fufilling slumber, he really started to feel the impact of moving the bear

Nothing to grab on to.

He felt lonely.

But sure of himself.

Eventually, he fell asleep.

Tord decided to take a nap as well.

On the floor.

He groaned on the cold kitchen tile. It was hard and uncomfortable, he even started to feel sick.

But he was bored

So he eventually got up and moved to his room.

Where he looked at his cork board
Really, he didn't need it that much
It was just one or two people that he even cared that much about to keep tabs on them
And he didn't even need the tabs that much

But anyways, they were up on his cork board
He could put pictures of his friends on the rest or something

He reached into his pockets and left the invisible ink pens in a little cup on his vanity

Such a silly thing

Something used for writing messages to other people
But they can't read the message endless they have the thing used to write it.

Tord thought on that for a while.

You can't understand something endless you have the origin of it.

What if that's how people function?

"No more deep thoughts." Tord told himself. Sighing and turning off the light

He flung himself to where he believed his bed was, if he hit the floor, he didn't care. That's fine.

Though he didn't. He landed right where he wanted to be.

It was fine.

Tom didn't wake up to dinner.

He woke up at 1PM

He jumped out of bed, rushing to his feet, and then, he fell.

His body decided to collapse from not standing for the past few hours

Never a good idea to rush to your feet after sitting or laying down for too long

He was fine, just surprised.

He sat on the floor for a while.

After getting confidence in his legs, he stood back up and made his way to the door.

There was a quiet but obvious sound of children in the playroom down the hall,  Must be the kids.

Upon making it to the kitchen to eat leftover breakfast, he noticed Namkis keys were gone. Which meant she was out for work.

He found a note on the airtight container of pancakes. Marked with a purple pen in Namki's handwriting

Good morning Tom
Breakfast is served, I'm sorry I didn't wake you for dinner. You just looked so tired and too comfy. I didn't think you'd want to eat.

Remember to get Asha's party decor. Below I listed the basic needs and the theme we plan on doing.

Thanks, xoxo
-Nams

Tom smiled and stuck the note on the front door for him to see if he ever went to leave the house.

He checked on the kids, who were sitting on a playmat playing with legos, he could notice little thrown in toys from board games intermixed with the blocks

He sighed, moving from his spot leaning on the doorway, to go sit down next to soke.

He put a tired arm around him and squeezed him close. "Good morning little one." He purred.

Soke mumbled something back, Tom couldn't quite catch it because of Asha's excited rambling on her theme.

Tom took the time to listen to every word. Wanting to make his little girl's day absolutely perfect.

After giving them each a gentle hair ruffle, Tom walked back to his room to put on a navy blue and white stripped long sleeve shirt. Along with a casual pair of black jeans. It was chilly outside. Plus he planned to bike with Tord to get the party supplies.

His ears got cold easily, and it always caused him to feel sick. So he decided to pick up a similar blue beanie from the small table at the door.

Usually, the 10th birthday is one of the key birthdays, where a child reaches double digits.

But, once you turn 9 years old, your usually in the 3rd grade.

3rd grade is located on the 2nd floor of Asha's elementary school, and while she was in 3rd grade, she felt that being 9 would seal her arrival to the 2nd floor

So,just for her, they decided they would spoil her on her 9th birthday.

Only would a little girl like Asha rebel against the common tropes and find importance in the one most overlooked day.

Tom had about $100 of his own savings to use today.

Namki had given him money to use a while ago, but he slipped it back in her purse when she wasn't looking .

He had already told Laddi to stay home with the kids, ironically you would bring the birthday girl to buy the decorations, but Asha insisted her trust in her two guardians to pick out the right things,
Plus, she wanted to spend time with Laddi baking more cookies.

Tom slipped the beanie over his hair. Which was already messy from bed head anyways, so, he didn't mind covering it up.

He reached for the doorknob, opening the door and closing it behind him. He would take out his bike and wait for Laddi and Tord to arrive.

Upon going to a small corner of the garden to grab his bike, he heard laughing from behind.

He turned around, his hands still on the handles of his bike

The red and yellow bikes strolled around. Tord laughing as Laddi rambled about Matt's doings as a young child.

Tom smiled, though he felt out of place, he pulled his bike out and greeted his two friends.

And there it was again

That warm smile

Tom kicked his own ankle with the heel of his foot.

Neither of the other two noticed.

"Love what you did to your hair." Tord commented.

"I didn't do anything." Tom shrugged, pushing his bike out the front gate. He held open the door enough for Laddi to push her own bike in the yard.

"Steve has been tamed." Laddi giggled.

"Steve?" Tord questioned, tilting his head.

Tom muttered a swear under his breath in a slightly embarrassed way. Laddi took the opportunity to inform Tord of Steve.

It ended with Laddi waving goodbye and walking inside the house, Tord shaking his head with a small smile.

He looked back at Tom, as if he wanted to get confirmation of what he just heard.

Tom gave a sheepish grin, he couldn't hold back from laughing at himself. "It's true." He chuckled.

Tord shook his head. "Susan, Steve." He sighed,looking at the road ahead "you always name everything!" He said, looking back at Tom.

"What are you gonna name me?" He asked, feeling a little nervous.

Tom hummed, mounting his bike and starting a steady but slow stride down the road, which was empty, surprisingly.

"Tordy." He snickered.

The teen on the red bike gave a lazy sigh.

"Lame."

Laddi felt pained with every time she snapped a lego into the baseplate

She was helping to build and maintain something but she didn't have the guts to tell Asha there weren't enough pink one by twos to finish the wall.

Also, during that moment that she was telling Tord about Matt, she did not tell him what she's been needing to say for the past few hours.

She sighed, but none the less, Went to the kitchen and grabbed the sugar from the pantry and the eggs from the fridge.

they parked their bikes at the party city lot.
Walking inside, it was pretty dark. A lot of the things there were colored black, with random pieces of confetti or Banting hung around.

Walking straight towards the obvious pinks and purples section, Tom decided to bestow the theme of the party onto his red dressed friend.

"Faries."

Tord raised his eyebrows, though he wasn't surprised at all. More as, he thought it was very slightly humorous that one minute he was poisoning someone and the next he was designing a fairy themed birthday party for a 9 year old.

Instead of saying that, he asked

"Do I have to wear a fucking fairy's wings?"

Tom shoved a pair of red wings onto Tord's unexpecting self.

"Yep." Tom Said, quite gleefully.

Tord rolled his eyes and took the wire and fabric outfit piece from his chest. 

Waiting for Tom to turn around, he flung it Over his shoulder into the cart behind him

As much as he didn't want to, he decided to.
Anything for Asha.

They picked out almost all off the wings the store had, the kids attending would get a pair each. Along with willing adults and older siblings that would attend.

They also raided the glitter section. Along with the glow stick wands, along with both of them arguing over whether the piñata should be an ogre or a castle.

"Why the heck would they destroy a castle?" Tord scoffed

"Dude that ogre looks like shit. Their gonna be terrified of it." Tom replied, with his arms crossed and a confused expression

"But a castle doesn't make any sense to destroy." Tord  whined. Lightly shoving at the empty shell of a castle

"It doesn't have to make any sense." Tom sighed. Grabbing the piñata and putting it in the cart. "It's a bunch of 9 year olds. It just has to look like it belongs in a fairy themed birthday party."

Tom pushed the cart away into the ribbon and candy section. Tord followed soon after.

"Can we at least make the stick look like a sword?"

"Absolutely not."

"Asha, pass me the water pale." Tord asked.

The little girl wobbled over, carrying the slightly heavy bucket over to the high schooler, who was covered in dirt from tending the garden.

Tord gingerly took the bucket in his hands, he gave Asha a kiss on the cheek to which she giggled.

"Thank you sweetie."

"You're welcome."

Tom shook his head in the hot sun.  It was hard work. Taking out dried plants, pulling out weeds, fixing the rose bushes and trying to pull out the obvious thorns so children wouldn't get hurt when they were out there playing around.

After they got home, Laddi had just took out the last batch of sugar cookies. Tom winced at the sweet smell of pastries, knowing that parents would really hate him for giving already hyperactive children, a mass Additional amount of sugar.

Laddi stayed inside with soke, filling the piñata, sticking rinestones on little pairs of wings, organizing goodie bags, where, thanks to edd, there were about 15 arcade tokens in each.

So, while those two stayed within the comfort of cool air conditioning and a well kept, clean, kitchen.

Tom was outside with dirt on his face and sores on his hands

Just for Asha

But he smiled. Because god he loved that little girl.

She was kind, sweet, funny and pretty smart for her age.

She was a great sister to Soke, always watching over him, playing with him, making sure he was okay, and keeping him involved.

Soke was usually to himself, but still, a sweet and polite child.

Tom couldn't wait till the day he got to spoil soke as well.

Two perfect little children.

Tom wiped the sweat off his forehead. His beanie was gone, (of course) and his hair was a matted mess.

And then, just then.

A large pool of water just came from his left and splashed all over him.

He didn't move, the small Spider-Man shovel in his hand slipped and fell into the dirt.

Tord held the empty pail in his hands.

"You looked ho-"

"Don't- finish that sentence Larison."

Tord shut his mouth, Tom lowered his pointed finger .

Tord chuckled to himself as Tom carefully got up to perhaps get a change of clothes.

Tord hoped he didn't mind. Tom needed to change anyways. Both of them had dirt all over their clothes and in the hair,face, skin.

They were almost finished in the garden anyways, it was getting colder, which felt nice, but with the coldness came the darkness, and Tord had just helped Asha plant a sunflower.

There were a bunch of sunflowers they planted, Namki had bought them because Asha was curious as to if they really faced the sun.

So her and Tord spend time planting them the opposite side of where the sun rises from.

They would be able to spot a difference immediately

Tord had just finished the last one when he felt a stab of water hit him in the neck

He was caught incredibly off guard. The water was ice cold.

The shock sent him flinching into the rose bush infront of him

Tom winced In concern, dropping the hose, which was now running at a slower speed.

He ran over and slid onto his knees next to Tord, the teen now being on his left.

"Tord?" Tom asked, trying to hold back a laugh, it was funny, seeing Tord react . But at the same time, he was sure as hell facepalming into a rose bush hurt like hell.

The teen didn't move. Tom could see that part of his black shirt and hair were soaking wet. And a few streams of water trickled down his neck.

Tom took a steady hand to the back of Tord's head, steadily pulling Tord's face out by gently gripping his hair.

He was met with a startled and 'out of it' facial expression, along with petals and a whole broken rose resting in Tord's now messy hair.

Tom felt bad for the amount of small scratches and cuts that littered Tord's face.

"You two are idiots." Laddi commented.

The two,now soaking, teens nodded in agreement. Sitting on the front steps of the house where there managed to be some sunlight.

Laddi had seen Tom hose down Tord. And she was prepared with towels at the back door. Immediately, she gave Tord a tiny bottle of medicine for the cuts on his face.

And while Tord was tending to his own little wounds, Laddi mopped the wet floor clean.

Now, the two sat on the front steps to dry up. With towels wrapped around their shoulders, and Asha's large sun hat on Tord's head.

"Sorry about that." Tom chuckled, stretching his legs out infront of him.

Tord held his knees close to his chest, his arms rested over his knees and close to his neck. He shrugged. "I deserved it."

Tom gave a small hum, looking away.

There was a cherry blossom tree across the road. A red and blue bird soon flew into sight. Flying around each other before resting on the same branch.

Such little creatures that could both balance on such a slim possibility of a stable future.

But they did it.

The sun was setting, the blue shadow over the brightly light yellow was covering the land.

Tord stood up, moving the towel from around his shoulders. "Well." He said, in a voice almost as if he got up from a good nap. "I should get going."

He took the towel and tossed it over tom's left side of his body. Before ruffling the Sunhat on tom's head.

"Im just gonna head home. Could use a shower." He patted his sides and walked to his bike, which laid carefully on the side of the step railings.

He lifted his bike up from its leaning position. "I swear there's probably dirt in my ears or something."

Tom didn't say anything, instead, he was pushing away thoughts yet again.

Tord smiled,  he scratched the back of his head, not sure what to say. His expression changed into a pleasant surprised look when he took a rose petal out of his hair.

He gave a light chuckle. Putting the petal down on the step infront of him.

"I'll just leave this here."

Still, no comment.

Tord took his bike outside the gate, before mounting it and looking at Tom once more before leaving.

"See you tomorrow." He called.

And then he was gone.

Just then

Just then.

A cool breeze came by, and pushed the little rose petal off the steps.

It flew away. Flowing like it was never once still.

==================================
Notes
Fun fact, that red and blue bird thing happened to me
I was sitting by my window doing work and I looked st the window for like 10 minutes before I saw the thing

It was cute lol
I got up out my seat and screeched

Anyways Fanart cause we got a lot of it
I always appreciate the little drawings y'all do. They make me squeal and giggle to know that you like this shitstorm so much you put time into actually drawing it lol

AnYwAYs

Laddi in the back is a whole ass m o o d

Both are from WritingTheBreeze, the first one is a very accurate telling of Tord poisoning a bunch of highschool girls :)))

Smartphonecat drew this one UwU
And, im not sure if i ever put in this next one

By pastellattetea
Thank u

Laddi seems to be a big favorite within everyone lol

Speak of the devil and she shall come

Wait no that's
Wait no

Tord = devil
Laddi = ????

Help me out lol

This is from hi_gay_im_dad

Hello dad I'm gay

Anyways I posted the banner for this a while ago and this talented bitch redrew it with an added cool bro bonus

Thank u your doing great sweetie

Also I just wanna mention:
Please avoid spoilery comments, if i see any, ill be deleting them

I just wanna make sure this shit doesn't happen

Also, this chapter is like 10,000 words

And so will the next future chapters be
So
Yes has

Also, if you've ever wanted to hug,slap, give, or ask a character anything

I present to you:

Gay

Anyways, its basically a Non-canon (but accurate to canon) Asks center, where you can ask,give, or act upon any character that is available.

After today, a few chapters would have already been up, please ask on the latest chapter for my convenience (and yours, so i dont lose the question or mix it up.

There is absolutely no comment limit, ask/dare/give as many as you want

Also, thank you to everyone who asked so far!

Also, i reccomend checking my wall or shitposts everyonce in a while, because i make announcements and such, for example, For You exsists because a decent amount of people said they would ask questions

I expected to get this chapter out sooner, but man a lot of shit came up.

Also i write better last minute, are you aware of how many chapters are written the day of posting?

A l o t

Sorrysorrysorry

Also, just because i feel like i should
Everyone's Canon Eye colors:

Edd/bright green
Matt/purple
Tord/red
Tom/fully black
Laddi/Yellow
Connor/dark honey
Mallory/orange
Allay/cyan
Asha/redish pink (i forgot about it in the banner)
Soke/baby blue
Athena/blue-ish grey
Nikki/lighter redish pink

If i forgot anyone,.comment and ill add them uwu

Anyways

Thank you for reading (and being so fucking patient I'm fucking SOrRY) while following the development of For Him!
Cya next chapter!
==================================