It's happening. At long last, it's happening.

The apartment is ready.

"Finally!" Emu grins wildly. "You excited?"

"I- Yeah." Nodding, Parad smiles. "Yeah, I am. Not sure if I'm gonna be any good at this 'normal life' thing, though…"

Shrugging, Emu's smile shrinks a little as he replies. "Well, nobody is at first. But it's not like you're going it alone, either."

Kiriya reaches up to clap the both of them on the shoulder. "Seriously! We're here to help you make sure ya don't screw up again, and find your own place in the world." He pauses. "Er. Metaphorically find your own place, since the two of you staying together is probably the best option for the foreseeable future."

Parad rolls his eyes. "You don't really get to say anything on that front, since you're in the same place."

"You've got me there! Are you both ready for this?" When neither respond, Kiriya looks over at the brothers. "Okay, I can't tell if you guys are feedback looping on each other, or what, but you're both vibrating off the walls, and I dunno if it's actually from being excited or if it's from being nervous."

""Yes.""

He squints at them.

Emu smiles a bit guiltily. "Well, okay, on my end, at least, it's good nerves from the 'we're finally getting into an actual apartment' thing, and. Er." He winces. "There is absolutely no good way to say this, but I have never had roommates before, so there's also a lot of 'I might not be able to handle this' nerves."

"I'm just afraid I'm gonna screw this up somehow. Don't get me wrong, I'm super hyped to be doing this, to be living like a normal person, instead of…" Parad trails off. "Anyway. Kinda weird that I've got more time sharing a space than you."

Emu and Kiriya both look up at Parad. "Okay, two questions, then." Emu hesitates. "First off, living with who?!"

"Graphite. I mean, it wasn't like this, we were kinda… hidden away? There was that one office for a long time, and we wandered around some, and there was that server room during early Chronicle-"

"You mean the one you kidnapped me to?"

"…Yes, that one. And then there was the warehouse, that you already got mad at me for, by the way, so please don't get on me about that one again."

"Second question, then." Emu gets quiet. "Like a normal person, instead of 'what'?"

"…Instead of as a secret, or a monster." Parad winces. "Sorry… I didn't want to kill the mood…"

The trio is silent for a few minutes as they make their way up to the third floor, where their apartment waits.

Walking in, Parad barely gets past the doorway before he stops and looks around the apartment in awe. "It's really big…"

Emu nods, equally stunned, but a little further in. "I can't believe that this is what the ministry picked out. I'd assumed it would be, you know, smaller. I guess the 'three person' requirement bumped the size up a little, but. Wow."

Peeking behind a door, Kiriya whistles. "The bedrooms are all pretty decently sized, too. Wow. I know you'n me got raises because of the whole superhero thing, and we still have to cover part of the rent ourselves, but this… damn." He chuckles at Emu's glare. "Come on, Ace, let up on the language thing a little, would ya?"

Emu rolls his eyes. "I'll consider it." He walks over to one of the already assembled shelves. "Did someone come to set this all up? I… I know I'm the only one with much to move over here, so we're going to have to stock up on household supplies, but these shelves are new, and some of my furniture's already here."

Kiriya nods. "Me and Poppy did a lot of the heavy lifting while you guys were in late lockdown, after you boxed up most of your stuff a little before that whole Second Coming of Gamedeus. It's mostly the furniture the three of us were already looking into, but scaled more to this place."

They spend most of the afternoon exploring the apartment, planning out where things can go, choosing who gets which room, and the like.

In the early evening, there's a knock at the door. All three men look at each other, confused, before Emu shrugs and goes to open it.

The rest of the team is waiting there, with varying amounts of enthusiasm on display. Nico and Poppy are the most obviously excited, while Hiiro and Taiga are basically their usual stoic selves, though Taiga is slightly less so.

Poppy's all but vibrating as she bounces up and down on her toes. "So? What do you guys think of your new place?"

Emu grins. "It's pretty great. What about you two? I remember you saying that you'd already moved into your new place."

Snickering, Nico elbows her way in, carrying a large plastic bag. "We're right next door to you, doofus. Our apartments are mirrors of each other, the third room's gonna be for my streaming set up once I get a few things sorted out."

Parad makes a small impressed sound. "Nice. If they match these, any of 'em are good for that, no matter which you pick."

"I know, right? Anyway…" She hefts the bag onto the kitchen counter. "We all thought you guys needed a thing."

All three look at each other, and then back to the group as they all file in. ""What sort of 'thing'?""

Hiiro makes a gesture that could loosely be defined as a shrug. "A housewarming party seemed… appropriate." He is notably the only person being completely formal about removing his shoes and his suit jacket – the others had either simply digitized into house slippers (Poppy), left their shoes to fall wherever (Taiga, as well as Kiriya and Emu earlier), or forgotten completely and had to be dragged back to the door to be reminded (Nico, as well as Parad earlier).

Fidgeting slightly, Emu rubs the back of his neck. "We… uh, I don't think we have enough supplies for anything like that-"

Taiga scoffs. "No shit. Nobody does dishes on their first day in a new home, anyway. We brought disposable stuff, and snacks, and apparently someone ordered pizza before asking what anyone else would actually want on theirs." He glares at Nico.

"I regret nothing."

He shakes his head. "Also," He holds up the cooler that he's carrying. "I brought drinks. Both of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties, because certain people are underage." He gives Nico another sidelong glance.

"Uggghhhh! Spoilsport!"

"What did you expect? As if any of us were going to let the 19 year old get drunk." He ignores her protesting noises, and the faces she's pulling at him, and sets the aforementioned drinks on the counter.

"Hold on." Hiiro frowns. "Can bugsters even drink alcoholic beverages? Certain compounds are used as sterilizing agents, and three people here are technically part virus, after all-"

""We can."" Kiriya and Parad both answer in unison. Kiriya's grinning, and Parad looks… haunted, almost. Kiriya continues speaking. "Trust me, we can. Honestly, I caved a few nights into being stuck with Genm and asked. He said something about 'what sort of god wouldn't allow his creations the chance to become inebriated' and that he had 'suspected he might wind up at least similar to a bugster, and wanted to ensure he could still drink'." Kiriya shrugs. "I mean, it works out. If I'd had to give up drinking, I'd probably have gone right back into that gashat as soon as Chronicle was over, and not come out 'till that got patched."

Parad snorts. "Even I know that means you might have a problem." He dodges Emu's questioning glance. "Okay, so it turns out that Braves girlfriend was a couple months older than us, and when Graphite found out it was our 21st, we. Kinda snuck out. And went to a bar." Chancing a look back at Emu, he turns away seeing how his brow is now twitching. "I mean, I regretted it the next day, I haven't touched the stuff since, but it's his fault for challenging me to a drinking game, he knew what I'm like when challenged-"

"Ohhhh… this actually might explain something." Emu groans. "How bad was the hangover?"

Parad winces. "Apparently they aren't supposed to last till the next evening, but…"

Dropping into one of the kitchen chairs, Emu buries his face in his hands. "No wonder I couldn't figure it out. No wonder the textbooks all said it wasn't right…" He lifts his gaze just enough so that the others can see how exasperated he is. "I got dragged out by some classmates who were trying to get me to socialize. They didn't know what we're like when we're challenged. Sounds like we locked ourselves in a feedback loop of misery without even knowing it." He turns and glares at Kiriya, who is unsuccessfully hiding his laughter. "Cut that out."

"I'm sorry, Ace, but you have to admit, that's kinda funny."

""It really wasn't.""

Taiga sighs. "Well, that's three people who will be staying sober, anyway."

The homecoming party winds up being mostly spent just talking and eating. Nico had suggested some sort of gaming tournament, but Emu had to shoot that down.

"Most of my consoles and games are still boxed up, and I'm not sure which box is where." He grins apologetically. "Believe me, I want to get down to it as much as you do, but we're going to need to wait."

"Darnit."

"So." Hiiro looks at the trio. "Have you three decided on any ground rules for yourselves?" When they look at him in confusion, he sighs. "If you're all going to live together, you are going to need to agree on how things will be run. Chore balance, which responsibilities are individual and which are shared, and the like."

They wind up not having any serious discussions until morning. All of them were given a day off in order to adjust to the new apartment – which they are all grateful for, because it gives them the time to get things set up, along with working out things will, well, work.

"So, that's a chore schedule set… what else should we have…?" Kiriya taps his pen against his chin. "There's gotta be something else…"

Emu starts to say something, stops, and starts again. "I think… I want to set one non-standard rule, at least…" He trails off.

Parad gestures for him to continue.

Emu hesitates for a moment, before taking a sharp breath. "No lying. No lying, no secrets, not unless there's no other choice." He twists his hands in his lap. "I know that there's no other option sometimes, I get it, but I- I'm really sick of everyone keeping things hidden. I'm not just calling you out, Kiriya. I mean, I am calling you out, but I'm also talking about everyone else, too."

Kiriya stays quiet.

Parad, on the other hand, nods. "I like that. I think it's a good idea. I'm sick of being hidden, so it makes sense to me."

At that, Kiriya sighs. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'm down for adding it, too. I know full well I've got a habit that I need to break. Becoming a secretive menace to cope didn't exactly work in my favor." He scratches down the idea on the list. "Anything else?"

Emu and Parad both shake their heads.

"Okay… so, we haven't done much by way of furniture choices yet, since we we didn't have all the details on what type of space we were going to have available. You guys have any ideas for things?"

Emu nods. "Yeah! I have one!" He pulls out his phone and navigates to an image. "I've kind of always wanted a bunk bed, just because they're neat." He turns the screen towards them, showing off a desk-bed combo. "I never had the vertical space before, but now-"

"Emu, no."

"Parad, you know full well this is an opportunity I have waited for my entire life."

"Yeah, and I also know full well why you never took said opportunity. Kiriya, help me out here."

Kiriya scoffs at that. "Sure, like we never saw you watching us fight while sitting in trees and stuff. Show-off."

"Teleporting is the only way I do that. There's no way I would go up in those otherwise, it's a safety net without a net."

"I reiterate my 'show-off' comment, but with a second point of frustration added on."

Emu reluctantly comes back to the conversation. "Yeah, I've wondered about that. Kiriya, how come you always have trouble… uh, what phrase should I use… re-materializing?"

"Heck if I know." Kiriya shrugs. "But it sucks, and I'm working on it."

A few nights after they settle into their new home, it's late at night when Kiriya raps on Parad's door. "Hey, mind if I come in? I got somethin' to ask ya."

Confused, Parad blinks. "…Like I can stop you? Remember, you can teleport."

"C'mon, I'm being polite here, kid. It's your space, I'm not gonna just barge in." Kiriya laughs, his shoulders shaking. "'Sides, I'm terrible at pulling myself back together, more likely than not, I'd run into you."

That causes Parad to break out laughing. "That… that is simultaneously the best and worst description of teleporting I have ever heard. Would you like some help with that?"

"Yes, please. Later, though, seeing as that's not what I'm here about. May I?" Kiriya nods toward the bed.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Scooting to one side, Parad makes room for him to sit down.

"Thanks. This is gonna be weird, but you're literally the only one I can ask about this. You've said that you basically grew up being Emu, and you guys used to more-or-less be the same person, right?"

"Uh-huh." Nodding, Parad makes a motion for Kiriya to continue.

"So… you obviously take pride in being a bugster, but all of that also kinda implies that, if we're being technical here, you didn't start out as one. Basically, what I'm wondering is…" Kiriya trails off, his hands gripping the blanket haphazardly tossed over the bed. "How long… how long does it take to get used to not being human anymore?"

"…Oh."Leaning back, Parad closes his eyes. "That's a really hard question to answer… I don't really remember anymore. At this point, I'm a bugster, and I know that. The first few months were really rough, though." He smirks. "Didn't help that there wasn't actually a name for what I was at first. Took a while for Genm to decide on one."

"Of course that egomaniac is where the word is from."

"Ha, yeah. I picked my own name, though. I was able to do that much." They sit in silence for a few minutes as Parad thinks. "I know that having Graphite around helped me balance it out. He was never anything else, so… well, looking back, he wasn't exactly the best influence around, either, but that was still better than it just being me."

"Hrm." Grumbling, Kiriya frowns. "That's… what was that, at least a year? That's a hell of an adjustment period."

"If it helps…" Cautiously, Parad looks at him. "At least you've got more of a frame of reference for what is and isn't normal than I did – than I do. I really do appreciate all of you helping me adjust to, y'know, being comparatively normal, so… if you want… I could help you with the whole 'brand new species' thing."

Grinning, Kiriya ruffles Parad's hair, ignoring the small hiss of protest. "'Preciate it, kid. We'll make a functional member of society out of you yet."

"Gragh!" Growling, Parad bats Kiriya's hand away. "We settled this already, I'm 25, same as Emu, so quit calling me a kid!"

"Come up with a better nickname, and I will!"