All I can say is I'm extremely sorry about the delay to this chapter. I hate it, honestly. It just wouldn't write. It refused point-blank. I hate, hate, hate it.
It sucks.
Well, I hope it doesn't but tell me if it does anyway, heh. I like to know when I fail or not. Ehhr, yeah, all I can do is apologise. And I hope you find this chapter somewhat enjoyable. Nothing worth warning about in this chapter, unfortunately, but I'll let it slip that the 'action's due real soon as you'll find out if you read ...
"Ichigo, I swear t' God, ya better stop followin' me," said Shiro, warningly.
"Fuck up, Shiro, I'm not fuckin' followin' ya, I need t' go this way."
" ... don't tell me ya've got Science."
A huffing noise reached Shiro's ears before Ichigo's voice pierced them. "Fucksake. Uryuu or someone better fuckin' have this class or I'm gettin' fuckin' moved."
"Awh, Ichi the li'l loner," said Shiro, casting a mocking glance over his shoulder towards his thoroughly unamused brother, a sadistic smirk slowly stretching his lips as his eyes narrowed mischievously. "Don't worry. Maybe that sexy Shuuhei'll be there t' sweep ya off yer feet."
"Oh, fuckin' shut it, Shiro!" growled Ichigo, baring his teeth at his brother before he charged ahead as the door to their destination swept into sight, utterly sick of the sight of him. A light blush crept up his cheeks at Shiro's words none-the-less. Complete opposites or not, they never missed a beat about each other. It really was fucking frustrating at the best of times. Shiro especially loved to flaunt the fact he could read Ichigo like an open book.
Barging into their newly appointed Science classroom for the year, Ichigo inwardly groaned as the teacher faced him. Fuck.
"Sorry I'm late, Mr Urahara," said Ichigo, with all the politeness he could muster despite his heated face still conveying all his pent up fury and embarrassment. "I was at the Rector's office."
"Ah, that is quite alright, Kurosaki," said Mr Urahara in a sickeningly sweet voice and good-natured smile. Bottling all his current emotions less he tried to strangle everyone in sight (that wouldn't be a fun thing to explain to the Rector), Ichigo winced as a particularly large throb shot through his forehead dully. That fuckin' Shiro ... "Please take a seat."
He let his eyes slide over the teacher once more before sighing. With all the school regulations against hats in class, it was hypocritical that they let the teachers wear whatever they pleased. Mr Urahara had on the strangest attire he had seen, ever. Promptly scanning the classroom as he heard the door swinging shut behind him, his frown deepened as he noticed Uryuu and Renji sitting together. Fuck, now where was he going to sit? He spotted two tables shoved together right in front of the teacher's desk that were free and he cursed profusely under his breath as he stomped over, dropping into the seat furthest away from the door angrily. Shiro followed suit after attempting an apology of his own but took the seat nearest the door and deliberately the furthest from Ichigo, putting two seats between them.
"As I was saying, this year will be one of your most demanding years at Toward Castle ... "
Ichigo promptly blocked out the teacher's monotonous jargon and tried to focus on anything bar the fact his brother was currently sitting a mere three feet or so away from him. If only their teacher wasn't Mr Urahara ... Roused from his proceedingly darkening thoughts as the classroom door opened with a small squeak, Ichigo looked up in surprise to see the two new students from earlier. That was a short introduction, or so Ichigo thought as he glanced at his watch to conclude he'd been brooding for a good twenty minutes or so. God, Mr Urahara was still ranting.
"Ah, you must be the newbies," said Mr Urahara brightly, as overenthusiastic as always. Ichigo glanced over at his twin to see he'd dozed off again, looking rather uncharacteristically peaceful with his head leaning on the palm of his hand, propped up on his elbow. Ichigo rolled his eyes. What a fucking surprise. He reached over and roughly clipped Shiro on the ear with his fist whilst Mr Urahara had the new boys introduce themselves. Shiro jumped in his chair, almost tipping over backwards, and grunted in shock, head swivelling around hurriedly as he took in his surroundings, no doubt disorientated at the abrupt awakening. Once his eyes settled on a smirking Ichigo, they narrowed in the way only Ichigo knew how to bring out of him; with the utmost contempt.
"Fuckin' prick, why d'ya always hafta do that?!" whispered Shiro coarsely, hand rubbing feverishly upon the place he was hit.
"'Cause yer not s'posed t' sleep in class, ya dumb fuck," snarled Ichigo, arms crossing defensively over his chest as he promptly faced the other way in defiance. Shiro looked as though steam was ready to pour out of his ears thickly.
"It would be wise to listen to your brother, Hichigo, don't sleep during class," said Mr Urahara, adopting a light, condescending tone which had Shiro grinding his teeth before his voice turned suddenly firm and commanding, hat obscuring his eyes from view. Ichigo hated it when the teacher did that as it was, admittedly, fucking scary. "And please, Kurosaki's, no profanity in my presence or you will see yourselves with detention on the first day back and I'm sure that will not go down nicely with your records." Now Ichigo was grinding his teeth, silently seething. Mr Urahara had turned his attention back on the newcomers. "There are two free seats between Ichigo and Hichigo - " Shiro's face tinted red with anger; the guy refused point-blank to call him by anything but his given name, along with a select few others. "See if you pair can subdue them a little."
The latter was said quietly, intended for Shuuhei and Grimmjow's ears only. They both smiled in acknowledgement at Mr Urahara, Grimmjow somewhat lazily, and sauntered over to their given seats, smiles forming into small smirks as they took in the seething twins.
"We meet again," said Shiro suggestively, in hushed tones. Grimmjow, who had chosen to sit next to him, grinned wolfishly, revealing pointier canines than Shiro had ever seen, and leaned back in his chair. This, of course, left Shuuhei to sit in-between Ichigo and Grimmjow, much to the former's suppressed delight. Shuuhei flashed him a quick smile before tuning into Mr Urahara's incessant monologue of what the science course would have in store for them this year. Ichigo pouted, openly disappointed. He raised his eyebrows at Shuuhei's unwavering gaze fixed on the teacher, having expected an attitude akin to his brother's, and by the looks of it, Grimmjow's. Shrugging, he focused himself on the conversation the other two were currently engaged in and thought he shouldn't judge a book by its cover anyway.
"What dorm ya in?" asked Shiro, in a low voice as to not attract Mr Urahara's attention. Not that he would anyway, he was currently too engrossed with his rant than to notice the actual class he was relaying it to - probably a bad thing - with his back to them as he scribbled a summary of the course on the board.
Grimmjow shrugged, face impassive. "Forget the exact number but I'm sure it's in the one hundreds.
"Cool," said Shiro, pushing his chair back until it rested on the two back legs, allowing him to swing leisurely back and forth. "Same floor as us then. What dorm's Shuuhei in?"
"Same one," said Grimmjow with a bored sigh, arms reaching up to rest behind his head as he, too, rocked backwards on his chair. "Yer Rector seems t' think 'cause we're both new, we can help each other out and shit." Grimmjow frowned as if he just remembered something. "He was mutterin' somethin' 'bout it bein' unavoidable, who he put us in a dorm with, 'cause there weren't any other vacancies left or some shit like that. T'was weird."
"Sounds as if ya got stuck wit' me 'n' Ichi over there," snorted Shiro, glancing quickly to his left at Grimmjow. "Come t' think 'bout it, we cleared out of the room before we met the other two ... " Shiro grinned. "I bet he has put ya's wi' me 'n' my soddin' twin, and I bet he was well gutted about it."
"D'ya really hate each other tha' much?" asked Grimmjow in a sudden change of subject, thin and pointy eyebrows raised high, crinkling his forehead as he surveyed Shiro, who shrugged, grin as wide and disturbing as ever. A look of faux thoughtfulness crossed his features before he answered.
"It's that – uh, whatcha call it again?" He paused, the question seemingly aimed at himself. "Yeah ... it's a love-hate relationship kinda thing. Ya know ... we love t' hate each other." Another 'thoughtful' pause. "Not hate t' love, though. Now that I think about it, I don't even think we love to hate each other. It's just all-round hate."
Grimmjow smirked as Shiro frowned, actually thinking it through this time. Ichigo sighed at this; Shiro had the awful habit of talking about him like he wasn't there and he chose to let this one slide, feeling weary already, even though it was only about three-quarters of the way through their first lesson. Frown deepening, he glanced down at his time table lying carelessly ontop of the desk in front of him, doing a double take a second later. Double science? Oh God, this definitely was going to be the worst year in his entire schooling life.
"You okay, Ichigo?"
He glanced to his side, somewhat startled, and almost blushed to see Shuuhei giving him an intense stare.
"Errr, yeah, fine," said Ichigo, nearly stumbling over his words, as he added on lamely, "You?"
Shuuhei let a slow smile spread across his face. "A bit bored."
Ichigo tittered. "Same here, actually. I thought ya were engrossed with whatever Mr Urahara was saying."
"Hmm," Shuuhei mumble a bit. "He's just talking to that woman who walked in the door a few moments ago now."
Ichigo looked up and sure enough, Mr Urahara was now blatantly ignoring his class in favour of a tanned, purple-haired woman, and was currently eagerly conversing with her.
"That's Miss Yoruichi," drawled Ichigo, with a roll of his eyes. "There's rumours 'bout them two."
"Oh really?" said Shuuhei, glancing back at the two teachers with mild interest. He leaned back in his chair, searching for a more relaxing position. "Like what?"
"Just the usual rumour type shit. Like them secretly dating," said Ichigo, nonchalantly. "Apparently they got caught once, though."
"Oh?" said Shuuhei, urging Ichigo to elaborate with a gleam in his eye. Ichigo grinned at his eagerness, basking in the attention he was paying him.
"Yeah," he continued, tipping his head back with a smirk. "By the Rector of all people, too." He rolled his eyes in Shuuhei's direction. "I bet that's all jus' a pile o' shit, though."
"The rumour mill usually is full of it." With a nod, Shuuhei yawned as he faced the front again, watching the two teachers still intently talking to one another. "But you never know, eh?"
He flashed Ichigo a wink and grinned inwardly as colour filled his companion's cheeks. With Shuuhei's eyes diverted, Ichigo took the chance to have a closer inspection of his face. The three long scars were all he could see, along with the end of that strip of whatever that was across Shuuhei's nose, from his side-on view.
"Shuuhei," said Ichigo, attentively. Shuuhei's eyes focused on him. "How'd ya get those scars?"
Absent-mindedly, Shuuhei's fingers reached up to trace down his cheek slowly, face passive. Ichigo's mouth went dry. "Long story."
The short answer gave Ichigo the hint that he shouldn't pursue this.
"Mmm, well wha' about yer tattoo?"
Shuuhei laughed quietly, eyes flashing as he gave Ichigo a look that sent a shiver down his spine. "What do you think it means?"
"Uhh," said Ichigo, stalling as his face ignited, Shuuhei's smirk increasing at the rather endearing reaction.
Not giving him any more time to answer, he leaned forward to whisper in Ichigo's ear. "Didn't take you for an innocent one, Ichigo."
If possible, Ichigo's face heated up even more to the point where someone would have thought he was choking if they spared him a glance.
Recovering as quickly as possible from this and the close proximity between him and Shuuhei, Ichigo pulled on his trademark frown. "Innocent? Whatcha mean, 'innocent'?! I'm not innocent!"
He glared at Shuuhei, who was still highly amused by all of this, and crossed his arms moodily, pursing his lips as he averted his glare to the space infront of him, blindly. He knew all of this was very childish but couldn't bring himself to do anything otherwise.
"Hey, I didn't mean to offend," said Shuuhei, albeit teasingly. Ichigo let out a huff of air he unconsciously was holding but still didn't relent in his defensive position. With all the sudden frowning, his head began to ache slowly, frustrating him even more.
"Hey, Shuuhei," said Shiro, loudly. "What's got Ichi's panties in a twist?"
"Fuck up, Shiro!" growled Ichigo, refusing to look at any of them, sure they were all smirking in a superior manner at him. Well, at least he was sure Shiro was.
Grimmjow grinned, a knowing look in his eyes as if he'd over-heard the whole conversation.
"So, Shuuhei," continued Shiro indifferently, acting as if his brother's outburst had never happened. It was all he could do to keep his temper in check. "I've been dying to ask about your tattoo."
He gestured toward Shuuhei's face with a manic smirk, which Shuuhei reciprocated, but in a provocative manner.
"Sixty-nine is a number with many meanings ... " he trailed off mysteriously. Ichigo chanced a glance at them to see them all wearing the same, knowing smirk which annoyed him to no ends. Did it mean that or were they all just trying to mess with his head? He let out a frustrated gush of air.
"Right, class!" boomed Mr Urahara, closely followed by the sound of the classroom door clicking shut. "I hope you all enjoyed your short chat. Uryuu, hand out these textbooks, if you please. Turn to Chapter 1 when you receive your books and we shall begin."
Ichigo and Shiro groaned audibly in protest, slumping down in their seats and Grimmjow and Shuuhei couldn't help but let a smile tug at their lips at this.
The end of the lesson couldn't come fast enough for the twins and they almost charged the door down as the bell rang, signalling break. Break was a short interlude between lessons which lasted fifteen minutes, giving the students barely any time to grab a snack or freshen up. Shiro, being the first out the class, hauled Grimmjow down towards his usual haunt at this time, Renji following in tow, whereas Ichigo motioned for Shuuhei to follow him in the opposite direction towards 'The Joint' (this was the term students dubbed the canteen). The Joint was a separate building from the main castle which was built around 30 years ago, the outer stone-chipped walls appearing dull and grey with slight age. Ichigo could never understand the need for it seeing as the Castle was big enough without it, and the added fact it stood out like an ugly wart against it.
"Ya hungry?" asked Ichigo as he licked his lips, charging his way through the hoards of students in front of the vending machines.
"Not particularly," sighed Shuuhei as he surveyed the general chaotic scene of students piling into the Joint, a constant level of chatter deafening in the air.
"Too bad," said Ichigo, popping in a few coins and pressing the numbers on the front which indicated to the machine what he wanted. Once a brown packet of crisps was pulled out of the tray at the bottom, Ichigo straightened up, pulling Shuuhei out into the school grounds. "These are the best crisps in the world."
Shuuhei raised his eyebrows at Ichigo's enthusiasm for the packet of crisps in his hands which he had greedily began to consume the contents of. "Is that so."
Ichigo looked up and cocked a smile. "Try one."
"I'll pass," said Shuuhei, distastefully as he pushed back the packet offered to him. They smelled weird, in fact, they stunk. He looked up at the magnificent sight of the castle in awe. He'd never been to one before this one and it amazed him every time. The huge structure of it; the old, Gothic architecture; everything about it was entrancing. His eyes traced the darkened sandstone until his thought train was derailed.
"So whatcha got next?" said Ichigo, voice muffled through a mouthful of crisps. Shuuhei grimaced slightly but made no comment on it.
"Uhm, English, I think," said Shuuhei, inwardly hoping Ichigo had the same class or he'd be, well, fucked basically since Grimmjow had disappeared to God knows where. "You?"
"Same!" said Ichigo, happily as he continued to walk around the vast expanse of the castle grounds. "Oh, fuck!" He pointed at the piece of paper with crumb covered fingers. "We've got Mr Kuchiki! This day just keeps gettin' worse and worse."
"I take it that's bad," said Shuuhei, with interest and the slightest bit of dread.
"Fuck yeah," groaned Ichigo, before ploughing into a rant. "He's like, the strictest teacher in the whole fuckin' school. Worse than even the Rector. I swear t' God he has it in fer me. All I hafta do is walk in tha fuckin' door and I'm sent out!"
"Sounds nice," laughed Shuuhei. He glanced over at Ichigo with a certain gleam in his eye. Ichigo tensed and averted his eyes but kept his steady pace and they walked in silence for a few more minutes before the bell rang, signalling the end of break.
"Oh God, now we go to hell's dungeon," said Ichigo, dramatically as they entered the school by a large side-door. Shuuhei laughed behind him.
The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully until the twins were pulled out of their last lesson and sent to the Rectors office.
"You both remember our meeting this morning, I hope," said the Rector, probably in some fucked up way of a greeting, thought Shiro in disgust. "Your Disciplinary Classes will be arranged for next week and shall continue until I see fit. Understood?" He received two curt nods before continuing. "I suspect you have been behaving for the rest of the day since there have been no further complaints on your attitudes. Keep it that way for the rest of the week and these special classes might be cut short. Otherwise, they could be doubled."
"Are you – mmph!"
Ichigo smiled at the Rector as his hand smothered the idiocy he knew was just about to fly unsightly out of his brother's mouth. "Understood."
"Good, you will be notified of the finer details during the week," said the Rector with a tone of finality, signifying their dismissal.
Once they were both seen out of the door and heading to their dorm, Ichigo rounded on his twin with anger. "I know ya don't want these 'special lessons' as much as I do so yer gonna hafta behave yerself for th' rest o' th' week, got it?"
"Are you threatenin' me, Ichi?" sneered Shiro, hand fisting in the front of Ichigo's creased collar. "'Cause ya can bring it on."
"Oh fuck off, Shiro, I can't be fucked with yer shit righ' now, I'm bein' serious!"
"An' so am I!"
Ichigo let out a growl of pure frustration before spinning on his heel, muttering to himself something about his brother never taking anything seriously and always getting them into deeper shit than ever needed.
"Hey, it's not all just one-sided, ya know!" Shiro yelled after his twin, rage curling his fingers. "Yer not all that perfect ya fuckin' bitch!"
"What?!" Ichigo nearly screamed as he spun around with a look of complete disbelief across his face. He threw his hands up in the air in defeat and continued to stomp away, at a loss for words. Well, it was either that or get put in jail for acting upon the thoughts congregating in his mind.
And, as tempting as they may be, he'd rather not be stuck in a cell for the rest of his teenage years.
A glance behind him notified Ichigo that Shiro was not intending to return to the dorm any time soon and he breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't stand even looking at his infuriating face right now. Clenching and unclenching his fists, he opened the door to his dorm and his jaw dropped.
"Hey," said Shuuhei, digging out some t-shirts from his suitcase. Topless. "Grimmjow said we'd be sharing with you."
Ichigo tried to come up with any coherent response imaginable. "Yeah ... "
"Cool," said Shuuhei, now placing the t-shirts into a drawer on Ichigo's side of the dorm before he turned to face Ichigo and winked. "Maybe you and your brother can give us that proper welcoming he mentioned earlier."
Ichigo flushed and it took him a few moments to register what Shuuhei had actually said. "Oh ... oh, yeah. God knows what he was on about, though."
He proceeded into the dorm and yanked his suitcase off his bed and collapsed on it. He watched in a daze as Shuuhei padded over, hands gripping the metal bars casually while he leaned down, letting a smile slowly form on his face.
"I was hoping it was in some form of a party," he said, eyebrows raising at the suggestion. Ichigo used everything he had to stop him gulping and letting his eyes wander over what was being so shamelessly displayed to him. Yeah, when he said he tried, he really failed. They raked down the other boy's torso, greedily drinking up the sight and halted at the waistband of Shuuhei's trousers which hung low and revealed a sneaky glance at the top of the v-shape leading down underneath his clothes.
If Ichigo had left his mouth open, he would've drooled.
Shuuhei was lapping up the attention Ichigo was paying his body and he leaned on his right foot, consequentially shifting his hips in the process. He made a quick decision, since finding out Ichigo's naivety, that he'd play 'dumb'. He knew from the minute Ichigo's eyes connected with his as he introduced himself, that Ichigo was somewhat liked what he saw. And Shuuhei, being what he was, liked to flaunt little things such as this.
"What's up, Ichigo?" He cocked his head to the side with a slight frown. "Something wrong?"
"N-no," said Ichigo, looking away to the blandly coloured wall to his right in a vain attempt at distracting himself. He managed to recover himself enough to continue their conversation. "If it's a party yer lookin' for, yer definitely in the right dorm. Shiro or me usually throw one at the start of every term."
"Cool," said Shuuhei happily, letting his hands drop from their loose hold of the bars and stretching. "You throwing one tonight or do you's wait 'til the weekend?"
Ichigo threw Shuuhei a half-hearted smirk. "Depends on how rebellious we're feelin'. An' I'll guarantee Shiro'll be throwin' one tonight."
Shuuhei returned Ichigo's smirk. "Sounds good. I sneaked in some alcohol." He grinned at Ichigo's shocked look. "Don't worry, I've got enough to share with you, if you want."
"We're under-age, though!" Ichigo half-shouted back as Shuuhei bent down over his suitcase to retrieve his toiletries, eyes widening at the sight. Shuuhei straightened up and glanced over his shoulder at Ichigo, eyes twinkling with mischief.
"Live a little, Ichigo," he said teasingly, inwardly fathoming at how innocent this boy was. "But hey, your loss. I won't force it down your neck."
Ichigo pulled a face. "It's not that I've never had any before. It's just I really have the constitution for alcohol."
"Heh, like I said, I won't force you," said Shuuhei, lips tweaking a little at the sides before he disappeared into the bathroom. "I'm sure Grimmjow's brought some stuff too."
"Yeah, my brother no doubt has some of his own," said Ichigo. Shuuhei couldn't help but detect the slight huffiness of his tone and he smirked slightly. "Dunno who's dorm the party'll be in, though. And I'm not asking either."
"What's it with you two?" said Shuuhei curiously as he returned from depositing his toiletries in the bathroom. "You's seem so alike that you's should get on but all you's end up doing is pissing the other right off."
"We're not fucking alike!" growled Ichigo, narrowing his eyes at Shuuhei. "At all."
"Alright." Shuuhei held his hands up in defeat. "Just saying."
Ichigo let out a 'mmph' noise. "Well, don't. He pisses me off to no end. I can't stand him. End of."
"You's don't get on even a little?" said Shuuhei, still wanting to pursue the matter further. Ichigo's frown deepened.
"No!" He replied huffily, his thoughts infuriatingly thinking over all the times he and his brother have actually gotten on with each other. There were too many of these said memories, in Ichigo's opinion, and whenever he thought of them he just couldn't understand it.
He hated his twin. Terminally.
Grimmjow burst in the dormitory, closely followed by Renji and Shiro, who seemed to be having a disagreement of some kind.
"We gotta have the party here, Shiro, it's like tradition that it's in either yours or Ichigo's dorm," argued Renji, his voice determined. "And now that you's are both in the same dorm, it's sorted. Party's here. Tonight."
Renji grinned at Shuuhei and Ichigo in some sort of greeting before being distracted by Shiro's retaliation.
"But I jus' fuckin' wanna get outta this dorm," said Shiro, the vehemence in his voice hard to go amiss. He pointed at Ichigo with a nasty look on his face. "I can't fuckin' stand him at the moment."
"D'ya think I can stand you either?" Ichigo shot Shiro a hostile glare to which Shiro returned all too eagerly.
"Well, tough shit," said Renji, used to this sort of behaviour from the twins. He gave Shiro a thoroughly bored look. "You don't have t' hold his hand during the entire party."
Shiro snorted in disgust at the mere thought and stalked over to his suitcase, angrily kicking it under the bed. "Fine! The fuckin' party's here. You happy?!"
"'Course," said Renji, smugly. He slapped Shuuhei's bare back and grinned as he winced at the sting. "Ready to party our style, Shuuhei?" He turned to Shiro and Grimmjow without waiting for an answer from the boy now rubbing his back and an amused scowl. "How much booze we got?"
Ichigo tuned out, deciding to watch the two new students and possible friend material – although he thought of a lot more as he glanced over Shuuhei's still topless form – and let his mind carry him wherever it saw fit. It allowed his eyes to scan Grimmjow's odd hair style and colour and found itself liking it. They roamed over Shuuhei's side-on profile approvingly as he bent over his suitcase again, this time to retrieve the alcoholic substances he had hidden in it. He had to suppress the oncoming torrent of thoughts in very much need of censorship.
"Bet Ichigo'll be stayin' off th' drink tonigh' like th' pussy he is," taunted Shiro, eyes flashing dangerously as he saw his twin sit up in a flash.
"Fuck you, Shiro," said Ichigo, getting up and storming into the bathroom. "I bet you'll be tryin' t' fuck anythin' with a pulse before the end of the night."
"Too right!" Shiro called before the bathroom door slammed shut and he grinned to himself as if he lived to infuriate his twin and Renji rolled his eyes at this display.
"Right, let's get ready," he called, waving himself out. "I'll set up the invites."
"See ya, Renji," said Shiro, followed by two nods from Grimmjow and Shuuhei. Shiro stormed over to the bathroom and banged loudly on the door. "Fuckin' move it, freak!"
"You're calling me the freak?!" Ichigo yelled in reply, almost throwing the door off its hinges as it banged off the wall. He shoved past his twin to grab his MP3 player and brood on his bed. Fucking twins.
Ichigo really wished he was an only child.
Yeah, nothing much in this chapter, just an in-between chapter really. Filler, you might want to call it. I hate fillers . So, the big party comes next, you excited? I'm sure this chapter will be more fun to write and therefore be up a lot sooner. Plus, I've got time off so ... yeah, a lot sooner.