Author's Note: I had a really, really hard time deciding how to write fluff. Oh, God. This is not my strong suit. I felt pretty silly, putting fluff in a story that is already so slow moving to start with, but I did promise it, so… But actually, I think this is just uh… Me introducing a new character in a low-key way. Is that still fluff? There's also an extra scene at the end, and I don't think it's fluff, either. I tried, guys, I really did.

TK makes a lengthy appearance in this chapter. Now, when I started this story, my character notes for TK say "cheeky, mysterious, contrary, distractable, enthusiastic, unflappable, hard to read." I've always had trouble with him, since 01 TK is pretty much 'stock sweet little boy,' and 02 TK was bland and mostly without clearly defined character traits (just my opinion, of course). However, he always did seem a closed-off, but still friendly, sort of fellow, and I kind of ran with that and added to it to make a full character, writing him as a charming, but genuinely sweet, rogue. Since then, he has been heavily influenced by Aveza's TK in Plus One, although I think we had something kind of vaguely similar forming? Seriously, go read Plus One though, it's pretty much my favorite fanfic. The characterizations are delicious, and it comes with my highest recommendation, for whatever that's worth XD

And hopefully that (still completely honest!) recommendation helps repay her for drawing painfully obvious inspiration from her Takeru XD (Don't make friends with me, my doves. I am terrible.).

Eccentrics

Matt pretended not to hear the knock on the door, choosing to bend over his bass even further than he already was, allowing his hair to cover up his face. He had an idea of who it was, and he wanted the pleasure of seeing Tai's expression when he opened the door.

The athlete was currently engaged in writing an essay, or, rather, staring at the screen for long stretches of time, and he immediately stood and went for the door, no doubt glad for the distraction. As soon as Tai's back was turned to him, Matt lifted his head for a better view. The door opened, and Matt's glance was immediately drawn to a pair of incredibly bright blue eyes.

Tai froze, then stepped away from the door and slammed it shut. "The hell is your brother doing here?" he demanded, ignoring the peals of boyish laughter coming from the hallway. His eyes narrowed, and his lip drew up into a grimace. "And God, why does he have a suitcase with him?"

"He's staying the weekend," Matt said easily, lifting his instrument over his shoulder. He stood and sat it on its stand, then approached the door, but Tai squared off his body, blocking access.

"This is the first I've heard of it. Don't you think I should know about this sort of thing? And where is he gonna sleep, anyway?" Tai's voice went surly and sour, and he cringed openly when TK's crisp, pure tones made their way into the room.

"You gents go ahead and sort this out amongst yourselves," he said airily. Matt could clearly visualize the superfluous hand motions that his brother was doubtlessly making. "I'll be with Amy. Let me know when you're done."

Tai groaned and buried his face in his palm, and Matt grinned. He loved the way TK got under his best friend's skin these days. There was a time when TK and Tai got along well, but all of that changed when Tai first set eyes on TK kissing his sister. The poor guy fell into the classic stages of mourning as soon as the initial shock wore off, and, judging by his reaction to seeing TK again, Tai still hadn't hit acceptance yet.

Ah, hell, this is fun, Matt thought, watching as a muscle twitched in Tai's cheek. "Relax," he said, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Amy agreed to take my bed for the weekend. I'll be sharing Sora's, and TK will take hers."

"Shit," Tai muttered, scratching his forehead. "I should have known something was up when Amy washed our sheets and did my laundry. What the hell did you bribe her with, anyway?"

Matt shrugged. "All I had to do was say 'TK's coming.' The rest happened on its own."

Tai's eyes narrowed. "Little shit," he muttered, making his way to his desk.

"Look on the bright side, Tai," Matt said, trying desperately not to laugh. His jab would be better delivered calmly. "If my brother is here, then he won't be on a typical high school date with Kari. Playing mini-golf, eating dinner in a mall cafeteria, seeing a movie…" Tai turned a heavy, unimpressed glance towards him, but there were signs of interest there. Perfect. Trap set.

"…In a drive-in, of course. There's still one near our neighborhood, as you're well aware." He lifted a brow and grinned as Tai went white beneath his tan. That drive-in was where Tai lost his virginity in his sophomore year of high school, an impossible fact to forget, given the way he had bragged about it at the time.

"Fine," Tai snapped, slamming his palms onto the desk. "Whatever. He can stay. Just shut up, you ass."

Elsewhere

TK already knew Amy's floor and room number, since he was going to be sleeping in her bed, so he made his way there, trusting his brother to smooth things over with Tai. Truth be told, he loved watching Tai squirm, if only because he was normally so self-assured. But he did miss being at ease with his brother's best friend, and, as interesting as Tai's aversion to seeing his sister with someone was, TK hoped this phase would soon pass.

But I'll worry about that some other time, he thought, picking up his pace as he approached Amy's room. He suspected that his fellow high school students would feel nervous or self-conscious about being in a college dorm, but, despite receiving a few odd looks, TK was unruffled. In fact, he came to a complete stop in the middle of the hallway, oblivious to the fact that he was blocking traffic. He pulled out the moleskin notebook and pen tucked into the pocket of his corduroys and made careful notes on the difference in ambient scents between the all girl's floor and the half-male level his brother lived on. When that task was complete, he shoved both back into storage, forgetting to cap the pen, adding more black stains to the growing collection at his hips.

Soon, he was knocking on Amy's door. He wasn't surprised when there was no immediate answer; knowing Amy, if she was in the room, she was likely waffling over whether she should bother answering. The sound of heavy footfalls announced her approach. TK grinned when a loud, delighted gasp made its way through the barrier between them.

She was crying his name before the door had fully cleared the entryway. The next thing TK knew, he was surrounded by a warm, soft, decidedly female body that was apparently intent on squeezing the life out of him.

"I missed you so much!" she said at length, releasing him with a sigh. Her hands immediately went to his face, tilting it up towards hers. TK rolled his eyes as she kissed his forehead, completing the greeting ritual between them.

"You know," he said, leaning against the doorway, "you've only got half an inch on me. By this time next year, you'll be pulling my face down to kiss it."

Amy sighed and moved into the room, giving him space to enter. "But you'll still be that sweet little boy to me, TK, no matter how old or tall you grow."

"Yes, mom." Amy tsked and swished her hips as she walked, an extra sashay to her steps that came with happiness and energy. Shaking his head, TK grabbed his suitcase and placed it against the wall, then closed the door. It was during this movement that he first noticed the boy lying on Amy's bed, typing on a laptop even as he watched him. Their eyes met, and they regarded each other for a moment. TK smiled automatically, but the stranger's expression remained politely neutral as he nodded in acknowledgment. TK recognized him as Izzy, Amy's new boyfriend, from a cell phone picture that she had sent him a few days ago. Although the image was blurry, there was no mistaking that violently red hair.

"Oh!" Amy cried, suddenly realizing that introductions were in order. "Izzy, this is TK, Matt's younger brother. I've known him for pretty much his whole life. TK, this is Izzy." She paused and shifted her weight, her mood shifting from excitement to shyness. "My boyfriend," she finished, averting her eyes charmingly.

Ah, the sweet throes of a maiden. TK knew he was grinning indulgently, but he couldn't seem to help it. Amy was one of a dying breed, a true 'girl next door,' sweet, unassuming, earnest, and much too biddable for her own good. Her behavior was as refreshing and unusual as ever.

Izzy sat the laptop on the bed, rose, and offered TK his hand. "Nice to meet you," TK said, shaking it. "I've heard a lot about you." A thick, heavy eyebrow rose, but Izzy didn't say anything. Instead, he released TK's hand and sat back down on the bed, moving his computer aside as Amy came closer, clearly intending to sit next to him.

Sensing her boyfriend's awkward behavior, Amy began to speak, filling in for his deficiency. "I guess I talk about you more than I realized," she said sheepishly, smoothing out her hair. Izzy tilted his head, apparently unsure of what to make of this.

A man of few words, it would seem. TK grinned and sat in the nearest desk chair. "That's an understatement," he said, leaning closer to Izzy. "Kari and I had a running bet on when the two of you would start dating. She won." TK had to admit that his loss disappointed him, not because of the penalty of having to go to her restaurant of choice on their next date, but because he took it as a personal failure to understand human nature. He had been counting on Amy's lack of proactive inclinations, but Kari had insisted that Amy would be difficult for an intelligent nerd to resist.

Izzy's dark, deep-set eyes widened slightly, and Amy made a sputtering sound. "Betting on- TK-" He laughed openly, shrugging in a way that suggested that he knew exactly how incorrigible he was. Izzy watched him for a long moment, then stood and brushed his hands together, as if to wash his hands of TK and his nonsense.

"It would seem the two of you have some catching up to do," he said, moving towards the door. "I'll leave you to it, then." TK turned and followed Izzy out of the room with his eyes, then caught Amy's eyes and shrugged.

"Hmm. I see you like your men Byronic, Amy. Found your very own Mr. Rochester, then?" He masked his snickering by rolling closer to the desk and rummaging through its drawers, unabashedly knocking the contents around. Amy laughed, long and loud, snorting right in the middle.

"Ohhhh, no no no. Mr. Rochester is far too animated in good spirits to be compared to Izzy. Besides, if we're talking Bryonic men, Matt's a better fit, don't you think? Moody and arrogant, yet charming and handsome. Izzy's more like Mr. Darcy, really."

TK smiled hugely, raising his eyebrows at Amy. "Just without the fiendish good looks and incredible fortune. Unless, of course, you've got a thing for really flat butts and narrow hips."

Amy made a choking sound, apparently too shocked to laugh properly. TK mentally made note of her expression, eyes wide with delight, mouth open to its fullest extent, cheekbones rising and pulling her skin taut beneath her eyes. She collapsed onto her bed and finally began to laugh, and she was soon clutching her sides for support. "Oh, stars, ooooh, stars! I'm laughing at a joke about my boyfriend's tush!" She wiped the moisture away from her eyes and sighed. "I'm horrible."

"Aren't you, though?" TK grinned and pushed aside neat stacks of looseleaf and printer paper in a desk drawer. As always, talking to Amy was a pleasure. He could reference literature, use his more advanced vocabulary, and, in general, be entirely himself with her. She always understood him, and always delighted in his oddness, just as he delighted in hers.

She rolled onto her side and smiled at him, her face flushed with amusement and good humor. "You must have checked him out as he left, then." Her smile grew slightly wicked as an arched brow waggled teasingly.

TK shrugged easily, refusing to rise to her bait. "I always watch. You know that. I see everything. I hear everything." He paused in his search long enough to produce an overblown, dramatic sigh. "I don't always remember everything, of course, but that's what notebooks are for, my dear."

There was a snickering sound from Amy, but TK was too busy searching her desk to glance over at her. "TK, you are sixteen years old. That's far too young to go around calling people 'my dear,' my dove." TK snorted in kind, amused by her tongue-in-cheek.

"You realize, of course, that you never challenged my claim that your boyfriend is posterior-deficient and pelvicaly challenged." Unfortunately, he could think of no retort for what she had just said, so he was forced to backtrack in the conversation to maintain their repartee. Amy wasn't the type to keep track of something like that, but TK saw it as a lost point on his part.

A warm, pleased sigh had TK looking up from the bottom desk draw. "Isn't he adorable?" she breathed. TK began to laugh, thinking that she was joking, but the starry, unfocused look in her eyes indicated that she was serious. Sweet Lord. She truly finds him physically appealing. TK didn't have any strong opinions on Izzy's appearance either way, and, truth be told, he was somewhat scrawny himself. But Izzy didn't seem the type to garner this level of admiration, at least, not at a glance. Amy was producing the type of look that his brother usually received from women (and more than one man, but TK spared Matt from that knowledge). Hmm. I suppose Amy would be the type to fall hard.

"I'll let you sort that out, then," TK said, shaking his head. He was teasing, as per norm, but he was glad to see Amy looking so happy with her choice of partner. That Izzy seemed a bit strange and awkward didn't bother him, as he didn't expect Amy to date someone normal, anyway.

"What are you looking for?" Amy asked, pulling herself into a sitting position on the bed.

"The book I gave you when you graduated." He closed the last drawer and raised a brow at her. "Where is it, then?"

Amy shook her head, her expression blank. "How do you know I didn't leave it at home?"

"Please," he said, fixing her with an unimpressed look. "I gave it to you. It's here somewhere. There's no point pretending that it's not." It might have sounded like arrogance, but Amy's whole world was built on the few people who mattered to her. It was an unusual trait that TK had been interested in for as long as he could remember.

Amy frowned and trailed a finger down her chin. "I want to scold you for being presumptuous, but you're right. Where does that leave me, my darling boy?"

"Shocked and awed by my insight?" TK suggested, tipping his head. Amy grinned, stood, and fluffed his hair, ruffling it from the roots, but TK grinned and left it, not caring about something as trifling as his hairdo. Amy dropped to her knees beside her bed, then extracted a heavy-duty, locked box. Curious, TK rolled closer as she worked the combination on the lock. What could Amy possibly have to be secretive about?

She pulled the lid back and began to extract the contents on her bed, and TK realized that it was a fireproof box, meant for safekeeping, not privacy. Various nick knacks began to pile up on her bedspread, treasures hoarded up over the short span of her life. Fascinated, TK stood and sat beside the growing collection.

He recognized some of the things. There was the necklace he and Kari had joined forced to give her on her sixteenth birthday, a glass dolphin on a silver chain. A battered, much-played harmonica sat nearby. It once belonged to Matt, and he had carelessly let her have it when he received a nicer one as a child. There was also a ridiculously gaudy hairpin from Tai, and TK grinned as he remembered Amy stumbling through pretending that she liked it. Other items included a tattered stuffed dolphin, a thick stack of photos, an expensive copy of Jane Eyre, a nice pen, and the leather-bound, thick journal that he was seeking.

"You're not using it as a journal, are you?" TK asked, picking it up. He was trying to ignore the touched emotions building up in him. His way was to be flippant and unflappable, but he was beginning to encounter challenges to that persona. The largest of which was his relationship with Kari, which was beginning to strip him down to his core at an alarming pace.

But now was not the time or place for such thoughts, so he shook his head roughly and focused on Amy. She was sighing and rubbing the back of her neck. "No. I use it for what you think I use it for."

"Ah, excellent!" TK leafed through the pages, and his brow rose when he saw how many had already been filled. "You've been busy!" Anticipation rushed through him, and he buried his nose into the pages, already forgetting about the girl next to him. His brain immediately focused on her words, written, as always, in blood red ink. Sumptuous, soft covers, the smells of leather and ink, the feel of heavy-weight pages in his fingers… A thousand delights just in the book itself, a treasure even before her words whispered through his mind, threading into a new world sentence by sentence, strand by strand.

By the time he looked up, Amy had already put everything away and placed the box back under the bed. "I wish you wouldn't dive into it like that," she said, shifting uncomfortably.

TK snorted, never tearing his eyes away from the wonderful words in front of him. "Keep wishing." His eyes roved over a particularly delicious sentence, poignant, beautiful, precise. He sighed appreciatively, then tore his attention away from the writing with something akin to physical effort.

"We share the terminal sickness of writing, Amy. You can sing like a thrush and bury yourself in science all you want, but, in the end, you'll come back to my world." He placed the book on his lap, laced his fingers, and rested his chin on the cradle he had made. He fixed his eyes, bright and achingly blue, on hers, dipping into her world of gentle brown. It was one of those strange moments where their wavelengths overlapped, then made that small adjustment that resulted in resonance.

She felt it, he knew she did, but she shook her head and grinned uncomfortably, removing herself from their synchronization. "What are you, Darth Vader?" she joked. "Join the Dark Side, Luke? You're crazy, sweetling. I don't know how Kari handles you."

"She's more adept than you give her credit for," TK said, trying to mask his disappointment. Amy had spent a lot of time at the house belonging to TK's father and Matt, trying to keep his brother company, since their father was absent so often because of his job. Matt never mentioned being lonely, and Tai had never noticed it, but Amy was sensitive to such things, and to the fact that Matt needed help cleaning, cooking, and caring for TK when he visited. And so, she had entertained him as a child, reading him every book in the house until the day he memorized the last one.

TK still remembered the first time she narrated a story to him on the fly, making up characters and worlds and details for him, even going so far as to make different voices and accents. He could still hear her voice, high and fairy-like, and Matt playing the harmonica in the background, watching them from the corner of his eyes, sticking to the sidelines. Those memories were dear to him, and he was waiting eagerly for the day when she finally came out of the closet and outed herself as a natural storyteller, but the truth was that she lacked the self-confidence to share the words that had sprung up from herself. Courage was a required trait for any writer, and she was deficient.

For now, all he had was this book, and he was not surrendering it without reading every word. "I'm borrowing this," he said, trying and failing to fit it into his pocket. He frowned and wished that it was acceptable for men to carry bags. Perhaps a messenger bag wouldn't be so unusual? He was on the point of not caring, except that he didn't want to embarrass Kari.

Amy exhaled slowly, then ran her fingers through her hair. "Fine. You should probably go track down Sora and Izzy, anyway. That's why you're really here, right? To case them out?"

TK blinked, then laughed so hard that he dropped the book. "You see right through me, don't you?"

"Oh, like you're some deep, tortured artist, TK," she joked, rolling her eyes. "You want to stick your nose in our business and cram as many notes as possible into your book, then turn it into fodder for your writing. Everyone knows that you do that."

"If it helps, Kari did also make me promise to check up on everyone." TK smiled brightly, knowing that Amy had a soft spot for his boyish charm. Sure enough, her glance warmed, and she ran her fingers through his hair again.

"Go on," she said, patting his back. "Get some good material. Don't tell Izzy that I gave you the green light for this, though."

"Deal!" TK stood, offered her one last grin, and made his way out of the room, already wondering what kind of new characters he would soon be learning about.

A Few Days Later

It was a few days after learning about Jerry. It had been strange, at first, like wandering around in a world where everything was the same, except for one subtle, but intensely important, difference. Izzy was finally starting to wander out of that haze, helped along by Joe's generous offers of company and Amy's boundless cheerfulness around him. He was finally able to sit down at his computer and actually get some work done, so that's what he was doing when someone began drumming against his dorm room door.

Izzy scowled at the slab of fake wood. He only knew one person who knocked that intensely, and he wasn't exactly eager to let him in. Tai hadn't said anything to him at all since appearing in his bedroom Halloween night, and Izzy wasn't eager to reopen this relationship. He had some idea of what Tai would want to discuss, and he wasn't in the mood for the athlete's faux-brother protective drama.

He considered ignoring the knock entirely, but the volume increased to the point where he could hear other doors opening along his hallway to answer it. Groaning, Izzy hauled himself out of his desk chair, sensing that Tai wasn't about to give up, and that an RA would be along eventually if he kept this up. Reluctantly, he went to the door and opened it.

"Tai," he said coldly, frowning up at the taller boy. Brown eyes, glittering with specks of gold, locked onto his, then narrowed in challenge. Tai edged him out of the way and entered his room without saying a word. "By all means, do come in," Izzy drawled, speaking into the hallway. Then he closed the door and sat on his bed, since Tai had parked himself in his chair.

Tai was sitting backwards, and he crossed his arms over the backrest, rested his chin on them, and scowled. "So," he said, his voice gravelly and low. "You and Amy, huh?"

Izzy sighed and clenched his hands together, trying to gather his patience. He knew that pushing Tai was a bad idea, but he also refused to be given ultimatums or talked down to. Besides, he had some ammunition against Tai now, although it seemed that the brunette wasn't aware of it. "What of it?" he asked, forcing a light, polite tone.

Tai's hands clung to his elbows, and his brow crinkled. "Look. If she wants to be with you… Then that's her choice. I know it's not mine." He grimaced and looked aside, clearly indicating his opinion of the matter. Izzy fought to keep his expression clear. Although Tai was still being a bit heavy-handed here, he was showing more maturity so far than he expected.

Then, those eyes captured his, and, for a moment, Izzy felt like a small prey animal caught in a predator's lethal stare. Everything tightened and hardened in Tai's face, and every ridge and line was so pronounced that they might have been permanently sculpted there. "Sometimes relationships don't work out, and both sides decide to call it quits. Okay. That happens. But I swear to God, Izzy, if you hurt her, I will be there, and I will tear you apart."

Izzy swallowed hard, but he forced himself not to become overwhelmed with the aura of strength and purpose rolling off of Tai. His brain slowly stumbled back into activity, and it reminded him to stay calm and support himself. If I don't stop this nonsense now, then it will follow me as long as I'm with Amy. And that is unhealthy for everyone involved.

And, with that decision made, there was no more fear or hesitation. "No, Tai, you won't."

Tai blinked, then leaned closer, as if he wasn't sure that he had heard correctly. Then, flushed color began to build up beneath his tan, and he stood over the chair, clinging to the backrest with massive, trembling hands. "Don't fuck with me, Izzy," he breathed. "You have no clue what you're getting into, here." He steadied himself with a deep breath, and Izzy took the opportunity to cut him off.

"I know what happened with Amy and her ex," he said, somehow sensing that saying Jerry's name was a bad idea. He knew that he was playing a dangerous game here, and that small things like that might make the difference in the long run. "I know what happened when she came to you for help at the after party. And I know what you did to him afterward. I have a very firm grip on the whole situation, thank you."

Tai's eyes widened, and he stared at him for a moment, slack-jawed, before he collapsed back onto the chair. "What- but- Did you talk to Matt? That bastard!" He threw himself out of the chair again, then cursed as his foot got caught beneath the rollers, causing him to stumble. As soon as he was disentangled, he began a blind prowl around Izzy's room, moving with a jerkiness that Izzy recognized as a warning signal of rising temper and fraying nerves.

"Most of my information came from Amy, but I did learn a bit from Matt. You shouldn't blame him. Due to Amy's past, I need a certain amount of knowledge to avoid causing her pain. It was difficult for him to tell me what he did, and I'm certain that he did it for her sake." The only acknowledgment Izzy received was a surly growl, so he was forced to continue unprompted.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Tai. It's unrealistic of me to promise that I will be a perfect boyfriend, and that I will never cause Amy some sort of pain. I fully intend to care for her as best as I can, but I'm only human, and I have very little experience with relationships." Tai paused in his pacing and advanced on him, his upper lip drawn back, and Izzy raised a brow and shook his head in response. "As far as I'm concerned, Tai, both you and Matt made mistakes with Amy. This may seem presumptuous of me, since I didn't know any of you at the time, but… I'm willing to forgive the both of you your mistakes, both past and future, if you're willing to forgive mine. We share a desire to see Amy happy and emotionally balanced. There's no need for us to be threatening one another." He took a deep breath, forcing himself to ignore the way Tai's left eye was twitching.

"You're important to Amy. And, whether you like it or not, so am I. And that means that you can't tear me apart if Amy and I ever have problems. I'm not Jerry, Tai. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, she seems to be very fond of me. She'd be incredibly upset with you if you caused me harm, and then she'd lose some of the support she would have had otherwise, because you'll lose access to her. That won't help anyone. It won't teach me how to correct my mistakes. It won't comfort Amy. And it will put a wedge between the two of you, perhaps permanently."

The color drained from Tai's face so rapidly that he might have plunged through the frozen surface of a lake. He staggered to the nearest surface, which happened to be Izzy's bed, and sat down there. He sneered at the floor for a moment, then dropped his face into his palms.

"I fucking hate you right now," he managed at last, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips.

Izzy almost reached for him, intending to touch his shoulder, but he thought better of it. "I know," he said heavily, staring at the closet doors. "I know. And, you may find this hard to believe, but I'm not feeling particularly fond of you at the moment, either." A certain dry, sarcastic tone snuck into his voice, and he could almost sense Tai's eyes rolling. Izzy began to fidget and sigh, and he almost argued himself out of continuing. But he really did intend to be good to Amy, and this was just a step along that path. "However, I do admire certain aspects of your character, and I can't deny that you're important to my girlfriend. I would like to have a positive relationship with you, mostly for her sake, but also… In some ways, also for mine."

The words came out forced and uncomfortable, and Izzy wondered if Tai had any way of knowing what they had cost him to say. Matt might have sensed it, but Tai was, well… Neither as smart nor as intuitive as his best friend, to put it mildly. There was a long, tense pause, and then Tai sighed, pushed off from his knees, and stood, making his way towards the door.

"Fine," he snapped as he tore it open. "But, for today, I fucking hate your guts."

It was insane, he knew, but Izzy realized that he was smiling. "Ah, so we're on a level playing field, I see."

Tai's snort was vaguely audible over the slamming of the door, sounding almost suspiciously like surprised laughter.

Author's Note: I really love when guys bond over being dicks to each other. It's a thing that women don't seem to have an equivalent for, or at least I never have, but you do see it with men. I actually think that Izzy impressed Tai a lot, but it will take Tai some time to get over being mad about it and accept it. But I'm pretty sure that he will, and that we'll finally be developing my BrOTP of choice (haha, look at me, pretending to know all of the acronyms and stuff, oh man, how lame am I!).

Izzy was originally pretty upset about how Matt and Tai turned Amy away at the after party, but he's a novice at dealing with emotions. Once he worked through them and thought about it rationally, I think he had to acknowledge that most people would have done the same thing in their position, and he's gotten over it (of course, he also used it to his best advantage by holding it over Tai's head, which may or may not be uncharitable of him, I don't really know). I just didn't feel like explaining every step of that process, so you got the short version in this scene.

Ugh, I can't wait until the day when Amy mans up and says "GOD GUYS, I love you to death, but BACK THE HELL OFF KTHNX, I got this." She's so dependent, it's painful.

It's official. I didn't think it could happen, but I'm tired of Amy and Izzy for now. Next chapter will be about Mimi and Joe. I am winding down on the first semester, but I still need to address what happens with Joe and Mimi, Izzy's schedule, Amy seeing Shauna's play, and what happens to everyone right at the end of the semester, before they go home for break.

Thoughts on TK? Don't think I've fully nailed down how I'm choosing to portray him (I'm not aiming to be fully true to the anime in his case, since, as I explained, I found his character one dimensional), but so far, I like him. He's a strange one, that's for sure. On an unrelated note, I think TK and Amy might be her most healthy relationship at this point, since TK doesn't get drawn into the drama of "taking care of her," but he still tries to get her to see her strengths every now and then, and he certainly values her as an individual. Like her, he isn't impressed with most people, but he's good to the ones he does care for… Although I don't think he's above tricking and manipulating them for his amusement, although certainly never with malicious intent.

He's probably her best friend, even if he isn't her favorite person.