It was a normal Saturday morning at the coffee shop. The birds were flying away outside, the shop was cozy and warm, the bell was chiming, and almost everyone was very hungover-

Wait.

Oh.

Ok nevermind! Not a normal Saturday morning, but a shitty, slow, and painful one, with half dead employees and almost more dead students who just finished a probably difficult week of work, only to have homework over the weekend! Wooo! The coffee shop wasn't even open yet for students to get caffeine, but at least it gave Bdubs a second to process- well- anything.

"Keralis, do we have to be at work today." Bdubs groaned, dropping his forehead to the table, which only hurt his head more than it already throbbed, but he kept it there anyway.

"Yes Bubbles. It wasn't Cleo's fault we all went to that party, and we can't miss the Saturday morning rush."

"I want to agree with Keralis and the consequences of our actions and shit, but god my head is disagreeing." Grian said as he came out of the backroom, pressing his hand to his forehead and holding a glass of water with his other hand. "Water and Advil only does so much."

"Any of that to spare?" Bdubs asked. "I'm dying over here."

Grian didn't answer, but slid over a glass and the medicine silently instead. Keralis seemed to be doing the best out of them, clearly not 100%, but at least he remembered most of the night.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late! The ol' wheelchair was just not having it today!" Scar entered through the front as normal, swiveling around chairs with practiced ease. He looked at Bdubs, who was heavily leaning against the counter.

"If you stand like that you could almost look shorter than you are!" Scar joked, but Bdubs didn't have it in him to respond. Scar paused, taking a better look at the three of them. "I guess I'm shorter in the wheelchair though." Scar half-took back the joke.

"What's up with you three?" He asked plainly.

Grian turned to him slowly, squinting. "Were you there or not? At the party last night- Ren's place."

"Oh that! Yeah sorry I missed it. Cub had some very urgent business to talk to me about at my house and then it was too late to get over there in time. How was it?"

"I don't remember." Grian groaned.

"Oh, so it was one of those types of parties." Scar realized slowly. "Maybe I'm glad I missed it then."

"Yeah I kinda wish I did too." Bdubs said. "I don't remember anything after drinking the punch, and all I'm left with is a headache."

"Least we have some time to recover before we open." Grian mumbled, heavily leaning his weight on the counter to balance.

"15 minutes exactly." Keralis hummed, a little more cheerily than Bdubs and Grian felt.

"At least one of us can tell the time." Grian chuckled.

"Hey! I'm not hungover either!" Scar defended, raising his hands into the air.

"Oh I'm hungover too, just not as badly." Keralis corrected.

"My statement still stands." Grian said, shooting Scar a slightly smug look even if his head was spinning because of it.

Scar rolled his eyes, and wheeled over to the desk. "You guys are lucky to have me here anyways. None of you drunks have to talk to customers."

"Not drunk anymore!" Grian protested. "... just hungover."

Scar raised an eyebrow at Grian, but wasn't sure he could even see it. They kept going with their pointless argument for a while, both having a little fun in it. Bdubs would normally try to make a connection out of it, but his head stung too much to even consider it, and stopped paying attention to them.

"Hey Ker?"

"Hmm?" Keralis hummed, turning towards Bdubs.

"How much do you remember from the party?"

"Eh, most of it- I think." Keralis shrugged. "Why?"

"I dunno, I just have this nagging feeling that I did something." Bdubs mumbled.

There was a pause of silence, not really uncomfortable because they were both tired, and Bdubs looked at his watch. His throbbing headache wasn't helping of course, but he could still read it. 5 minutes left.

"Why-" Keralis paused like he was rephrasing something, and Bdubs looked up at him. "Why do you still fight with Eefo?"

"Huh?"

"You bicker every day." Keralis looked at him. "Isn't it a bit pointless?"

"Where are you getting this from?" Bdubs asked. "Is it bothering you? I can stop if-"

"No no." Keralis interrupted him. Bdubs frowned in confusion. "It's just..."

Keralis trailed off, and Bdubs was too out of it to verbally encourage him. Instead, he just waited patiently for Keralis to resume.

3 minutes left.

"Etho was at the party."

That caught Bdubs attention more, and he went still, waiting for Keralis to continue.

"He-" Keralis sighed. "I might not be as bad as you, but this headache is not helping." He mumbled.

"I lost you in the crowd for a while." He started again. "One moment you were there, clinging to my arm, and then I turned to talk to- I'm not sure,- someone and then you were gone."

Bdubs was listening intently.

"When I found you again, you were with Eefo, who didn't have a drink, and you were sitting on the couch."

Keralis shifted his weight onto the other foot. "I'll admit I just stood there for a bit and he didn't notice, but he wrapped a blanket on you, and you both said a few things, and then you gave him a hug. And then I said hi, and you passed out when you sat back down, and he asked me if you hated him."

"Oh."

1 minute left.

"What did you say?"

"I said no." Keralis looked at him. "You don't hate him, right?"

"No- I-I don't!" Bdubs stuttered. "I don't hate him."

"You might want to tell him that." Keralis said with a small smile, and he turned away, looking at the clock.

It was silent as everyone waited, staring the clock down all for different reasons. Right as it ticked down to zero, the door slammed open, bell swinging wildly.

"GUYS-"

"Woah right on time, Ren." Scar chuckled for a moment. He stopped quickly when he saw Ren's worried face partially hidden with his sunglasses.

"Guys, have any of you seen Doc?" Ren's voice slightly cracked, but no one mentioned it. "Uhm- since last night I mean. Or Etho I guess because he uh, might- uh could help."

A chorus of "no's" and "sorry's" echoed throughout the room.

"Uh ok, thanks." Ren swallowed, voice wavering. "If uh- if he comes here, could you please tell me?"

"Is this about the party?" Grian asked.

"Yeah." Ren's voice sounded so small and helpless, everyone felt bad for staring. "I didn't even mean for there to be alcohol. I didn't have any at the start I swear, but- I don't even know. If you see Doc...."

"We'll tell you." Keralis said with a pitiful look. The others nodded, albeit a bit hesitant.

"Thanks." Ren whispered, turning towards the door. Everyone was trying not to watch him leave, with his tail tucked between his legs quite literally, to spare him some dignity.

"Lets uh- let's not talk about that. For his sake." Scar said, forcefully looking away from the door Ren just walked out of.

"Yeah." Grian said. He turned towards the caffeine machine, trying to focus on that more than what just happened.

Keralis hummed as well, but Bdubs wasn't even thinking about it anymore.

"Etho helped me? Etho could've just ditched me, I wouldn't have remembered the difference, but... he didn't." Bdubs thought, and it almost gave him a whole new headache. "He thought I hated him."

Bdubs paused, and looked at Keralis, who was talking with Scar, while Grian was swiping on his phone. Him and Grian were the most wasted yesterday, and were suffering the worst because of it; It made sense why Grian wasn't in the mood to hold up a conversation for more than a few seconds.

He shook his head and sigh silently. Keralis was right.

"Why am I still arguing with Etho? The guy made one mistake and apologized for it." Bdubs looked up as a customer opened the door and he was officially-officially working now. And in that moment, he decided something.

"I need to talk with Etho."

----

Xisuma regretted everything.

Well, he didn't regret checking on his friends during the party, or hiding the last of the alcohol before he left, or driving Stress home safely, but he did severely regret one thing.

Xisuma: Hey Ex

Xisuma: you can come home

Xisuma: what you did was wrong, but I over reacted, and I'm sorry

--

Xisuma: Please come home

--

Xisuma was waiting for hours. He was pacing, running his soles into the floor and his hand through his hair for the thousandth time.

"God I'm so stupid." He whispered to himself. "What was I thinking?" He said louder. It wasn't like anyone else was here to hear him or anything.

He didn't even have the energy to cry, nor the emotional capacity to think it through enough and process more than he had. It felt horrible, and that was all there was to it.

Xisuma: Can you just tell me you're ok?

If Ex wasn't ok, he wasn't sure what he'd do with himself. It was reasonable that Ex stayed the night at Ren's, but then what? Ex wasn't answering, so the only thing Xisuma could do was wait. Maybe he could check up on other people to see if they were ok. It might help. If they weren't, he could at least do something and help, and if they were, he'd have comfort in knowing they were ok.

Xisuma: Hey Stress, how are you feeling today?

StressM: Heya X! I'm doing much better than yesterday.

StressM: Thanks for the ride too! it was much better than sleeping on the couch at rens

Xisuma: it was no problem

Xisuma: I'm just glad you're ok. Do you remember anything from last night?

StressMr: not much luv. The only reason i know you drove was because iskall told me today. If you're asking about something specific, sorry luv

Xisuma: no no it's okay.

Xisuma: i just messd up

StressM: wanna talk about it?

Xisuma paused and made a decision. He knew it would make him look like a horrible person, but he needed to get it off his chest, and maybe Stress could give some advice.

Xisuma: I kicked Ex out. Just for the night but...

StressM: oh X

Xisuma: they're not responding to my messages

StressM: i'm sure 'ey're ok

StressM: you know Ren isn't one to kick someone out, and if was only for the night they'll be okay

Xisuma: thank you

StressM: take care of you self ight? I'll text 'em and tell you if they text back

Xisuma sighed. Stress was a really good friend, and she would text Ex, and maybe they'd respond to her at least.

Sitting down made his nerves stand on end, the need to move making him switch positions every few seconds. It was unbearable, so he stood up, and decided to do something with the day.

He finished his homework, and stress-cleaned the entire apartment, and went over the bills, and made a shopping list, and wiped down the mirrors, and only checked his phone every few minutes like a normal person! At least by exhausting himself physically, it matched how he felt inside, and he could comfortably sit still again. Plus the apartment was clean, so that was a plus.

Finally, his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he all but scrambled to get it out without dropping it. It could be a false alarm. It could be Stress again, but then maybe she found something? It could be another friend, texting for any reason.

Xisuma opened it up and swiped immediately to messages.

Ex: give me a few days

Xisuma was breathing a little faster, just trying to get out a reply before Ex left.

Xisuma: im so sory. wgere are you?

Nothing.

Xisuma sighed, almost feeling worse than before. At least Ex was in a place he could text back. That was something- right? Right as he was giving up hope, it buzzed again.

Ex: Hels's place. I'm fine. I'll be back in a day or two.

----

"How's the headache?"

"I told you, 2 shots have nothing on me." Doc rolled his eyes. Etho didn't ask about the second, it made sense he might've grabbed an extra before he found Ren. He handed Doc a glass of water anyways.

"You're in a bad mood, so you clearly have a headache." Etho retorted back.

Doc grumbled again, but took the water anyway.

His phone, mostly ignored on the counter, was beeping a lot and every few minutes the screen lit up with more.

"Hey uh Doc-"

"Ignore it."

Etho hummed and turned away, not really wanting to be involved with whatever it was about.

It was beeping again, and when it finally went silent, Doc sighed, and stood up. He stumbled a little, another thing Etho didn't mention, and grabbed his phone off the counter.

"It's Ren." Doc said.

"Ah."

It looked like Doc was debating something in his head, before he typed he typed on short response and sent it without looking back. He put it down, and it buzzed once more before going silent.

Doc: tomorrow. 9 am. Coffee shop.

He didn't read the reply.

"I've done nothing today and it already feels like too much." Doc went right back over to the couch, leaning his head back dramatically to complain to the ceiling.

"Well it's a saturday, so you can sit back and do nothing today." Etho said, "I'm gonna head to the store. Want some Advil or something?"

Doc sighed, "2 shots have nothing on me, but I think those 2 extra after that might've been my limit. Yeah. Get the Advil."

Etho didn't react to the new information, simply nodding over his shoulder as he grabbed the door handle.

It was cold outside. Etho could describe the leaves changing colors, or the crisp autumn smell, or the relief of knowing today was the weekend, but no. It was just cold.

He had his reusable bag stuffed in his pocket with his hand, and his mask shielding him from the bite of the wind, and he pushed his headband up with the other hand slightly when he noticed it was slipping.

"Just have to get to the store and back." He thought, comforted in the idea that this was his only chore today.

His boots found a familiar rhythm on the sidewalk, and he felt his thoughts clouding over when there was nothing interesting to see.

Now alone with his thoughts outside, Etho didn't really know what he was doing. Well- that's a lie. He was walking to the store to get food and medicine and maybe some chips because he felt like he deserved them-

But he didn't know where he stood with Bdubs now.

"Bdubs called me a friend." He distantly thought. Bdubs called him pretty too, but he was ignoring that. "-and was trying to impress me with french? Does he want to be friends then? Keralis said he doesn't hate me, which is nice I guess, but..."

Etho shook his head, clearing his thoughts like an etch n' sketch..... Again. It felt like he had to do that a lot.

"Maybe I should talk to him about it. If he wants to at all." Etho sighed.

Bdubs had been drunk. He was drunk and wouldn't remember a thing, and so it was probably all pointless anyways.

At least Bdubs didn't hate him. That was something. 

---------

(2573 words above the line)

yo these fools finally making some progress!

miss me?