Animeobsession: YO EVERYBODY/ducks as things are thrown/ Aiiiiiiiiiieeeee/ducks behind desk/
PandaPjays: /swaggers out from hiding place- then relizes that might come to bodily harm/... /hides with animeo/
Animeobsession: We're sorry for the horendously long wait! Especially when we said you wouldn't have to wait ever again!
PandaPjays: Can we blame life? I blame life. Senior school suck monkeys genitallia. Assignments are the evil
Animeobsession: Oh yes. Those 'assignments'. They are ont made to be marked. they are made to bring us pain. Crap I have 4 major artworks due in 3 weeks! Double crap!
PandaPjays: /puts up hand/ Biology. NINE pages of discussion. NO diagrams. NINE pages of PURE CRAP
Animeobsession: dude that's like, 70 times worse then what i have! But you ARE a grade above me. I have a web page, a listehing assesment, geography report, science test, yearlys soon, PE assesment, PD assesment AHHHHHHHH
PandaPjays: oh! And Exam weeks next week!
Animeobsession: And then the School Certificate/cries/
PandaPjays: Ok. Now that that's over and done with. Forgive us? Still Love us?
Animeobsession: Look at what we've have to/have had to deal with/ pulls puppy eyes/
PandaPjays: Plus, there's the fact that we've come BACK. We haven't abandoned you guys. I think that counts for some brownie points, no?
Animeobsession: Okies, so, bringing the A/N of chapter 10 to a close, I say enjoy! And may the wait have been worth it!
"PHALLIC IMAGERY!"
"WHAT THE HELL!"
"TALA, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHUT UP!"
Rei opened his eyes with a start, looking about the room in confusion before noticing the redhead curled up next to him.
"Rei-Rei! Kai tried to kill me!"
Rei blinked sleepily. "Eh?" He asked intelligently, looking around the room to figure out why he was there and how Tala came to be attached to his arm. Rei looked over at Kai who was holding a pillow menacingly, glaring at Tala. "Eh?" Rei asked again, looking between the Russians.
"Tala saw the candle stick over there," Kai spat, pointing at a lone candle stick on one of the shelves, "And decided to give us an early wake up call." Kai's glare intensified.
Tala whimpered and clung to Rei. "Don't let him kill me, please. Please?"
Rei, still half asleep, looked down at the frightened redhead. "Where's Bryan? Shouldn't- /yawn/- you be hiding behind him?"
Tala extended one trembling figure to point at a lump in the bed that he'd abandoned. "Bry doesn't wake up that easily." He told Rei. "He'll roll out of bed in like half an hour."
Rei blinked. "Ok." He said slowly as he looked at the murderous intent in Kai's eyes. "Can we work this out without someone being thrown out a window?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady and not to yawn. "Because we're pretty high up and I don't think Bryan would appreciate picking up Tala pieces, do you Kai?" He asked, pointedly looking at the bluenette.
"Do you think I care what Bryan would appreciate?" He asked venomously.
Rei cocked his head to the side in thought.
"No, not really." He smiled sweetly at Kai, and then lay back down, curling up around the bundle of warmth that was Tala and dozing off.
The two awakened Russians blinked in confusion.
"Eh?" Kai asked, looking at Tala.
The redhead shrugged and snuggled back into Rei. Who was he to refuse the neko-jin after all?
Kai rolled his eyes.
"Jealous?" Tala asked, smirking.
Kai huffed angrily. "No. Just annoyed because you're practically using Rei as a human shield."
Tala grinned. "And I wasn't before?"
Kai growled and sat down next to Bryan.
Bryan, for his part, rolled over and continued to sleep. According to Tala's calculations he had 25 or so minutes to go before he could even think about waking up.
Kai looked down at Bryan and raised an eyebrow. "You really weren't kidding." He told Tala.
"Why would I?" Tala asked, confused. "It's Bry's sleeping patterns we're talking about here. Not Top secret government information."
"Isn't it one in the same?"
"In some cases yes. In this case no."
"But shouldn't the government be counting down till he wakes up? I mean he's like a lethal bomb sometimes."
Tala grinned wickedly. "Oh he IS a bomb. A very nice bomb."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"
"Probably not."
Kai sighed. "How do you think Ollie's going?" He asked the redhead, changing tack.
"How would you be going if you didn't have eyes anymore, Kai?" Tala asked, raising an eyebrow. "My guess is not that good."
"I vote that we leave. It's not that much of a house warming party anymore, is it?"
"Hm… Maybe." Tala said musingly.
"Maybe?"
"Yeah, maybe. Rei needs to stay here for the week, remember? Maybe this was just a one-off thing. Perhaps if we don't go anywhere alone, the rest of the stay will be fine? And..."
"And...?" Kai asked, somewhat dreading the answer.
"And, me and Bry haven't desecrated every room in this house yet! We still have 90 of them to go!" Tala grinned happily and sighed, thinking of the future.
Kai rolled his eyes. "You're one sick little man." He told Tala, rolling Bryan over and lying next to the lavender haired teen. "I just have a really bad feeling. First there was Tyson and now Ollie."
"Tyson had a minor psychotic episode when he thought socks were trying to kill him, remember?" Tala reminded him. "I doubt they were connected in any way. Don't worry, we'll see if we can get Ollie to a hospital today and it'll be ok."
"If you're sure."
Tala smiled over at Kai from his position as Rei's hot water bottle. "You're worried for everyone aren't you Kai?"
Kai snorted. "Me? Worried? For everyone? No I just want to know that Rei is safe. And this is no doubt going to raise a scandal, I don't want to make it worse."
"Sure you do Kai. The fact that you want Rei to be safe is making me feel mushy inside, but seriously," Tala's smile faded as he became serious. "You are worried."
Kai sighed and brushed a bang of hair from his face. "Maybe just a little bit" He conceded, looking over at Tala and, by consequence, Rei. "Can you blame me?" He asked.
Tala gave his friend a tight smile. "Why would I?" He asked. "I'm a bit worried too. Not about my team, they all probably could have survived Chernobyl, but what about everyone else?"
"Do we sound just a little paranoid?"
"Try a lot."
"Ok then."
Tala felt his arm starting to go numb, so he poked at Rei's side in an attempt to get him up.
"C'mon kitty. You're hurting my arm. Time to get up and hunt mice and-" Tala was stopped in his little rant as Rei's hand came up and bobbed him on the head.
"Let's get one thing straight. I. Don't. Hunt. Mice. Got it?"
"Could you run that by me again, Mouser?" Tala asked, grinning up at Rei.
Rei glared down at the redhead and bapped him again, harder. "Want to try that again?" He asked, cheerfully.
"Me and my headache are going over to that side of the room." Tala said, pointing to the corner furthest from Rei.
"Good idea."
Tala rolled off the bed and hit the floor with a loud THUMP and a quiet "Oww" before crawling away from Rei and over to the corner.
Unfortunately, the candles were in plain view.
"PHALLIC IMAGERY!"
Kai blinked before rolling his eyes and moving over to the door, opening it and looking at Rei. "After you?"
Rei smiled and walked over to where Kai was. "You're so kind." He said in as posh a voice as he could manage, the effect was spoiled by the childish grin that spilt his face a second afterwards. "Do you think someone's made pancakes?" He asked Kai, gesturing towards the kitchen and walking out into the hallway.
"Hope so." Kai said agreeably, walking into the hallway behind Rei and shutting the door on Tala and his phallic images.
It was quiet in the house, which was unusual. Even Robert and Johnny were silent. It was almost eerie. Outside, sunlight was creeping across Russia. Rei stopped at a window and looked out, captivated by the beauty of nature.
Kai, after realising his boyfriend wasn't walking stopped and turned to look at the static neko-jin.
After a moment, Rei spoke. "It's strange isn't it? That even after something so horrible has happened, it can still be so beautiful and pristine outside. Inside there is turmoil, but outside nothing has changed."
Kai shrugged nonchalantly. "That's how it normally is." He told the neko-jin quietly, moving to stand beside him. "It's like the world is laughing at us and saying that we don't really matter anyway."
Rei made a face. "That's rather cynical." He told Kai, continuing to look out on to the landscape.
Kai gave a mirthless chuckle. "That's reality."
"I suppose."
They stood there for a time, seconds, minutes, they didn't know which, then slowly, hesitantly, Rei tore his eyes from the beauty of outside, to Kai, his beauty on the inside.
"Shall we go get breakfast then?" He gave Kai a small smile. "If I keep on this train of thought I'll end up depressed and a depressed kitty isn't a nice kitty."
"I thought you were telling Tala you weren't a kitty." Kai said mildly, turning toward the stairs that led down to the kitchen. "Or something along those lines."
"You take when I tell to a crazed redhead high on phallic imagery as law?" Rei asked in amusement, walking past Kai and down on to the first step, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling he got, knowing that Tyson had fallen down these stairs only yesterday.
"So you are a kitty?"
"NO!"
"So you're not a kitty…"
"Well, I am. Sort of. Maybe half. Or less-"
"Rei-Rei?"
Rei pulled his finger away from where it had been resting on his chin. "Yes?"
"Stop now before you fry your brain." Kai said, raising an eyebrow at his raven-haired love.
"Um…" Rei said, as they descended down, still trying to work out his 'kitty' status. He blinked as he was engulfed in smoke. "Eh?" He asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Emily's trying to cook." Michael told the newcomers, waving the smoke away from them and covering his own mouth.
"What are you doing then?" Rei asked, his eyes narrowing to stop the smoke from hurting them.
"What does it look like?" Michael asked irritably. "Supervising."
"You're not doing a very good job, obviously." Kai said, waving away some of the smoke.
"Shaddup."
Rei giggled and walked over to where Emily was poking at what could have once been either pancakes or a rodent. "Need help?"
"No." Emily said firmly, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She poked the blackened thing with a spatula. "I think it's dead now."
She pushed it out of the way and poured some more slop into a pan, jumping away from the oven as it began to sizzle and spit. "Is it meant to be doing that?" She asked Michael.
"Um… yes?"
"You have no clue do you."
"Um... if I said 'no', how would you take it?"
Emily crossed her arms. "You're the SUPERVISOR and you don't KNOW!"
"Hey! It's not my fault I swear!"
"Really? Whose fault is it then?"
"Um... TALA! It's Tala's fault." Michael nodded sagely. "When in doubt blame Tala."
"What am I being blamed for?"
"Everything." Kai told Tala, turning around and squinting at the vaguely Tala-shaped silhouette in the smoke.
"Oh. Well that's alright then." Tala said flippantly, waving the smoke out of his face.
"I thought you were going to wait for Bryan?" Kai asked.
"Every now and again I need 'Tala-time'"
"…So you spend your time with people anyway?"
"Um…"
Rei shook his head at the two and wandered over to the stove, fiddling with the knobs and taking the batter mixture off of Emily at the same time.
"Can you guys try and air this place out a bit? I'm gonna finish off these pancakes."
Emily moved off to open a window, Michael going after her. Kai went off to another window while Tala opened the one nearest the stove and draped himself over Rei.
Tala rested his head comfortably on Rei's shoulder, watching, fascinated as Rei tried to scrape the thing Emily had created off the bottom of the pan. "Did you put butter in there?" He asked, scratching at it fruitless with his spatula.
"Butter?" Emily asked in complete cluelessness. "Why on earth would I put butter in there? It'd burn and then the kitchen will stink."
"And this is the kitchen smelling summer fresh." Rei muttered darkly to himself with Tala the only one who could hear him. The redhead suppressed a giggle by burying his face in Rei's shoulder.
Kai opened another window and then turned back to the others.
"Butter is important because...TALA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
Tala's head snapped up and he turned to look over his shoulder at Kai.
"I'm trying to stay warm, idiot." He said in a matter-of-fact voice. "We just finished up opening all of the windows on a winter morning in Russia" He sighed and rolled his eyes at Kai before burying his head in Rei's shoulder again.
Kai bit his lip, trying to suppress the immediate kill Tala chant that began to scream through his head. That, along with the weaker 'Must not be possessive' thoughts.
"Well do you have to use Rei?"
"Hmmm." Tala tapped his chin in thought. "I guess not." He let go of Rei and walked over to Michael.
Michael put his hands up. "NO! Nononononononononono! You're NOT using me as your heater!"
Tala pouted and walked back over to Rei, once again draping himself over the raven-haired neko-jin.
"Sorry Kai. Rei is gonna have to be my heater until Bry-Bry gets up."
Kai's eyebrow twitched comically before he cursed under his breath and walked out of the room into the dining hall.
Tala smirked into Rei's shoulder before propping his chin on it. "I think I made him cranky."
"Think?" Rei asked mildly, taking another pancake out of the pan and putting it on to a plate. He poured more batter into the pan and sighed. "Do you think he's going to break something?"
"Perhaps. You never can tell with Kai. But I doubt he would. After all," Tala licked at Rei's ear, "it's YOUR house. And Kai would never do anything that could hurt the feelings of his precious."
Rei tried to ignore the flaming redhead that was now nibbling his ear and raised an eyebrow. "You make him sound like Gollum. And I'm not the ring."
"You do have one though."
Rei blushed hotly. "How did you know about that?" He asked, turning his head so he could see Tala who had ceased his attack on the neko-jin's ear.
Tala frowned, confused, pointing to Rei's hand where a small gold band was firmly around his pinkie. "Right the- OH!" He smirked and rubbed his cheek against Rei's "Does that mean you have another one?"
"Of course I do. Everyone does. Even you, although yours may be slightly broken from what I hear at night."
"HEY! Me and Bry-Bry didn't do anything last night!" Tala started licking at Rei neck.
"That's because me and Kai were in there. And if we weren't you would have-Tala! Do you mind?"
"Not at all." Tala said, smirking before letting out a high-pitched squeak.
Rei's eyes widened as he felt Tala's weight lifted off his back "Eh?"
"BRYannnnnnnnn!" Tala said petulantly from his position in the lavender haired Russian's arms. "What are you doing?"
"Saving Rei from being raped." He said calmly, slinging the redhead over his shoulder and beginning to walk away.
"…You know… Your arse looks cute from this vantage point."
"I can't believe you just used cute in a sentence describing me."
"I do mean cute in the manliest fashion."
Bryan snorted and swatted at the red heads rump, causing him to give out a light shriek.
Rei giggled a little, before going back to his oh-so-nice-smelling pancakes.
------
Enrique stirred, moaning softly as he was brought out of his sleep by the light streaming through the window.
"Enri?"
Enrique sat up quickly, remembering what had happened the night before. He looked at Oliver, reacquainting himself with the horror of what had happened.
"Enri?" Oliver asked again, a note of panic in his voice. He could feel someone moving on the bed.
"It's ok Ollie. It's ok, I'm right here."
Enrique crawled over the surprisingly large bed, taking one of Oliver's hands into his own and running his thumb over the back of it affectionately. "I'm here."
"Enri... I thought it was a nightmare... I thought it would be gone when I woke up. It..It's not gone!"
"I know." Enrique said sadly, squeezing Oliver's hand gently. "Did you get much sleep?"
Oliver shook his head. "I woke up a while ago. It hurt too much to sleep." He raised the hand Enrique wasn't holding to touch the bandage covering his eyes- or what was left of them. "Enri?" He asked again.
"Mm?"
"Stay here?"
Enrique smiled gently, even though Oliver couldn't see it, and nodded. "Of course. Why would I leave you?"
"Because you're hungry?"
"I'm not hungry." Enrique's stomach growled loudly.
Oliver smiled despite everything. "Nice."
"I'm not hungry!" Enrique said again, glaring down at his traitor stomach. "What you heard was only because of your newly-enhanced senses!"
"That's crap and you know it." Oliver said flatly. "I can hear the same as I could yesterday."
"…No Sonar?"
"I'm not Ben Affleck."
"No raydar?"
"Nope."
"No gaydar?"
"No- I had one of them BEFORE this mon ami."
"You did?"
Oliver nodded, smiling. This wasn't too bad. He could almost pretend that he just had his eyes closed. "Who do you think told Johnny to get over himself and take Robert out on a date?"
"That was you? It's you that we have to blame for not getting a proper nights sleep every time they're within the same neighbourhood?"
"Er…yeah…"
Enrique frowned a little, and then burst out laughing.
"Damn you Ollie! Damn you! Because of you I have had no beauty sleep!"
Oliver smiled, and then it faded. "I can't tell. Can't really see much of a difference. Can't see anything."
Enrique suddenly felt bad. "I'm sor-"
"It's not your fault. It WASN'T your fault. Now," Oliver smiled gently, "How about we go get some breakfast, eh?"
Enrique smiled gratefully, glad for a change of subject. "How about I go and scavenge and we have breakfast in bed?"
"But-" Oliver started to protest but was stopped by one of Enrique's fingers on his lips.
"I'm not going far." He promised. "And I refuse to let you move."
"So I don't have any choice?" Oliver asked, pouting.
"How often do you get breakfast in bed?"
Oliver shook his head.
"Enri, you're rich. I'm rich. We both get breakfast in bed quite often."
"Do we?"
"We do."
"We do?"
"We've covered this."
"…Oh…" Enrique searched around for another reason. "Ok then… how often do I serve you breakfast in bed?"
Oliver sighed. "Alright. I give. Just don't be too long, ok? I don't want to be alone."
Enrique smiled softly at the French lad. "I'll be as quick as I can. Heck, maybe there'll be someone outside that can stay with you!"
Oliver shook his head. "No. It's ok. I don't think anyone but wants to spend any time with me at the moment." He attempted a smile. "But that's ok. I wouldn't want to spend time with me either."
Enrique reached out to grab Oliver's hand. "I don't know why no one would want to spend time with you." He said sincerely. On impulse, he leant forward and brushed his lips gently against Oliver's for a brief second.
He pulled back; glad that Oliver couldn't see how bright his face had gone. "I'll… go and get breakfast." He said before racing out of the room.
------
"PHALLIC IMAGERY!"
And so, Kevin was startled into consciousness. Beside him, Lee snorted and clung tighter to the smaller boy.
Kevin smiled and brushed his hands through Lee's hair before moving out of his embrace and over to the door to see what was happening, even if he probably really didn't want to know. He opened the door gently and, yawning slightly, looked out into the hall…
To see Bryan.
Carrying Tala over his shoulder.
Who was pointing at a candlestick with wide eyes and a wider grin covering his face.
Kevin stared at the unlikely scene with his mouth hanging open. He didn't think that Tala could get any stranger. He was very very wrong. "Phallic…?"
Tala looked up at the sound Kevin made and cackled before a goal-oriented Bryan carried him into Kai and Rei's room.
Kevin shook his head. "Strange strange people."
His nose twitched as he picked up a smell coming from down the hall and he grinned, before spinning around and slinking back into the room, closing the door behind him.
He stalked over to the bed, bending his knees, looking like a tiger cub about to pounce. Then he pounced. On Lee.
"Ah! What the f-!"
Kevin grinned devilishly. "It's breakfast time! Up!"
Lee blinked before groaning and rolling over to bury his head in his pillow. "Not. Happening." He decided, verbalizing his thoughts so Kevin would take the hint.
Sadly, Kevin couldn't see a hint if it was doing a samba with a Triceratops in front of him.
So, he resorted to poking Lee, hard, in the side.
Lee just grunted and swatted at him.
So, he poked again.
Lee growled this time and shuffled away a bit, but returned to dozing.
Kevin scowled. "Oh, that's it!"
The green-haired boy reached for Lee's ear and pinched it hard on the slightly point tip. He pulled it gently and leant down so his mouth was right next to it.
"BLARGH! MONKEY NOISE MONKEY NOISE PSHTE SHWA PHALLIC IMAGERY MONKEY NOISE!"
Lee started and let out a harsh yell, flailing wildly and knocking Kevin, who was laughing uncontrollably, off the bed.
"OWW!"
"What did ya do that for, ya brain dead monkey!" Lee growled at Kevin, clutching his ear and whimpering at the damage his eardrums had been forced to go through.
"You wouldn't get up!"
Lee shook his head, trying to get some sort of hearing back. Anything apart from the annoying ringing that was currently plaguing him. "There's a word for people like you."
"And that is?"
"ASS. You're an ASS"
Kevin blinked innocently. "I'm not a donkey. And I have a nice ass, thank you very much."
Lee groaned and pinched at the bridge of his nose. He pulled himself off the bed and grabbed some clothes before walking off into a joining bathroom.
Kevin shook his head, grinning. Lee wasn't a morning person.
He ventured out once again, forgetting one very important fact.
"ERGH! KEVIN PUT ON SOME CLOTHES"
------
Meanwhile, In Kai and Rei's room...
"BRYA-"
Uh, I mean. Meanwhile, in the evil pink one's room...
SNOOOOOOOOORE
Uh, crap, I mean. Meanwhile, in the kitchen.
Rei looked up as Enrique walked into the room. "Pancakes?" He asked, gesturing towards the growing stack next to the fry pan he was using. "You get first pick."
Enrique smiled gratefully at Rei. "Thanks." He said, searching through the numerous cupboards in the kitchen until he found two plates. "Your uncle definitely had everything organized- did he like to entertain?"
Rei shrugged. "I don't know. He seemed very solitary though…"
Enrique raised an eyebrow as he shift some pancakes onto one plate, then the other.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, the 4 inches of dust on most surfaces, where people usually would be. The kitchen was clean, and 1 or 2 bedrooms, but apart from that it's filthy. The spiders, although I'm sure you know all abut that." Rei said, chuckling lightly.
Enrique blushed. "It was a big one, ok?"
"Sure it was." Rei said lightly. "There's maple syrup in the pantry. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet so it could be a little manky."
Enrique opened the cupboard gingerly and coughed as a cloud of dust floomed out at him. He picked out the maple syrup. It was basically dust free because Rei had touched it when he was searching the kitchen for supplies.
"So… How's Ollie?" Rei asked, half-afraid to know the answer.
Enrique froze for a minute, and then continued to open the maple syrup bottle. "He's upset, as anyone would be. He said... before I left... that he didn't think anyone would want to hang around him. He said that he wouldn't want to hang around him."
He lifted the bottle to his nose and sniffed gingerly. Satisfied that it was ok, he poured some on his pancakes and poured some into a small cup because he didn't know how much the French teen would want.
Rei nodded slowly, flipping another pancake. "I wish there was something we could do." He looked out the window at the deep snow surrounding the house. "As soon as the roads get cleared we'll get real medical help, ok?"
"I don't know…" Enrique said uncertainly. "Ollie doesn't like hospitals. I think he'd be more comfortable here."
Rei sighed. "I can understand that, but he needs medical attention. Hmmmm."
"Could we, perhaps, get a doctor out here? Call for one to come? That way, Ollie could get medical attention without going to a hospital."
Rei hummed thoughtfully. "When the roads are cleared, we'll call one." He smiled softly at the Italian lad.
Enrique smiled and nodded. "I think that'd be a great idea." He finished gathering everything he needed and looked away from Rei up towards the room he and Ollie were now sharing. "I should probably get back…" He said, hinting at Rei.
Rei nodded and put another hot pancake on his pile. "Tell Ollie we're thinking of him."
Enrique grinned. "Will do."
Meanwhile, in the dining room.
Kai scowled as he put another plate on the long table in the dining room. "Why do I have to lay the table? Cant they make someone else do it?"
Michael, who was setting out the cutlery, chuckled at Kai's grumbles. "I feel for you man."
"You have no idea."
"Eh?"
"This morning has not been my morning."
"Tala?"
"Tala."
The American sighed. "Once again, I feel for you man."
Kai smirked and continued his job. Rei's head popped into the room.
"Guys? Oliver and Enrique aren't eating with us, so don't set the table for them."
"Aren't eating with us, ay? What are those two getting up to?" Michael wagged his eyebrows suggestively.
"Not what you're thinking, pervert." Rei said dryly, going back into the kitchen.
"Ass." Kai said flatly, finishing setting out his cutlery. "Have you completely forgotten last night?"
The American looked down, abashed. "Sorry."
"I'm not you should be saying that to, ass."
"Since when do you care about what I say to other people? Since when do you care about what I say?"
"Since you say them to Rei, Ass"
"STOP CALLING ME AN ASS!"
"Who's ass are we talking about?"
The boys turned their heads towards the door as Kevin wandered in, Lee trailing behind him, yawning are running a hand through his mane of hair.
Michael scoffed. "Kai's obsessed with my ass."
"Not your ass. Someone else's ass."
"Yes and we all wonder who THAT could be." Kevin said, rolling his eyes.
Lee swaggered over to the table, pulled out a chair and flopped down onto it, resting his face on the tabletop.
Kai looked blankly at Lee before mentally shrugging, this was one of the things he didn't want to know.
Miguel and Mathilda soon followed, the latter basically fast asleep on Miguel's shoulder. Yet, she was walking. It was a feat of physics.
"Hey." Miguel said cheerfully, finding seats at the table for himself and Mathilda. He carefully slid her off his shoulder and settled her into the comfortable seat.
"Morning!" Kevin said cheerfully. He had taken a seat next to Lee and was happily poking at the snoozing lion.
Aaron and Eddie entered next, talking about basketball versus Beyblading by the sounds of things.
"Dude! The spin's where it's at"
"Like I don't already know that, but it's spinning a ball that's sweet"
"Duuude!"
It was a very intelligent conversation. Kai was pretty sure he could tune out safely. "I'm going into the kitchen." He told the room at large before disappearing into the adjacent room.
Unfazed by Kai's departure, Michael joined in on Eddie and Aaron's conversation with a communal 'Duuuude'
Matilda and Lee continued to snooze on the table, while Miguel and Kevin started chatting easily about nothing.
At some point, Claude had appeared, followed by Gary, and eventually Kenny, who took a seat before placing Dizzy on the table and opening her up.
"Hey Chief, that movie's finished downloading! Should be a good one, since we got it off one of the top 10 sites!"
The room fell into silence...
"DUDE LET ME SEE!"
Michael practically leaped off the table to get behind Kenny. He watched what was on-screen with nothing short of awe. "Duuuuuuuuuuuuude."
"What is it?" The male population bar Lee asked as one. Within seconds they were all behind Kenny, each trying to get a glimpse of the screen.
"What is that?"
"I don't kn-Ooh!"
"Is that even humanly possible?"
"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude"
Suddenly, the doors flew open (read: one door opened slightly) and an evil presence entered the room (read: strong perfume wafted into the room). Into the room strode the pink menace (read: Mariah). The boys fell back, screaming in terror and fear (read: they cringed gently, barring Lee, who snorted in his sleep).
One person in the crowd offered a weak 'Dude?' before being elbowed by his neighbour.
Mariah's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you guys looking at?" She asked.
Kenny bit his lip, though it was impossible to say if he looked away.
Mathilda yawned and stretched in her seat, resurfacing to the land of the living. She looked at the crowd of guys behind the computer and raised an eyebrow. "Porn." She said, uninterested.
Mariah's eyes widened. "WHAT!"
The shout was so loud it woke up Lee and sent him tumbling from his chair to the floor. He went unnoticed.
"HOE CAN YOU DO SUCH A DISGUSTING THING! YOU BOYS ARE ALL GROSS! Not like my Rei-Rei.." Mariah clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily.
"Uh, sorry to burst your bubble but, Rei kinda...bats for the other-"
"NO!"
"Are you suggesting I like looking at porn?" Kai asked mildly as he walked back into the dining room with two plates of pancakes. He placed them on the table and pointed to Kevin. "You, go round everyone except Ollie and Enri up."
"What? Why me?"
"Because I think you're annoying. Leave" Kai turned back to Mariah and raised an eyebrow. "Well?"
Mariah glared at him. "I hate you. So much."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Love you too, darlin. Why don't you go with the monkey and help get everyone together. You're precious Rei can get food out faster that way. In fact," Kai smirked, "you can go get Tala and Bryan."
"Ass"
"I always knew you secretly admired it."
Mariah made a face and left the room huffily.
One person in the crowd began clapping and was quickly joined by others and a chorus of 'Dudes'.
Kai rolled his eyes and gestured to the plates of pancakes. "They're getting cold."
It didn't take long after that for the assembled group so start attacking the plate that lay before them, nearly finishing them off, leaving a few left, but not enough for those remaining in the house.
Kai sighed and walked back to the kitchen. "Rei, we need more pancakes out here. They're goin pretty fast."
Rei smiled and handed the Russian another stacked plate. "Take this out."
Kai took the plate without complaint and turned toward the dining room again. He looked over his shoulder at Rei. "Make sure you eat something, ok? Don't just make it."
Rei smiled genuinely. "You too."
------
Enrique hummed softly to himself as he approached Ollie's and his shared room, balancing the pancakes precariously.
A door opened on his way up and Bryan tumbled out, followed by a cheerful Tala. He grinned at the two; they'd obviously been busy.
"Morning guys!" Tala turned to look at Enrique, a wide grin crossing his face as he noticed the plates of food.
"Mornin! Those delicious looking plates of food, wouldn't happen to be for us, the two beautiful, gorgeous, flamboyant ("Just you" Bryan murmured) gay Russian buddies that lent you their room, would it?"
"No, these are mine and Ollie's. Go find your own, ya scavenger."
Tala pouted the shrugged. "Whatever." He turned to Bryan and beckoned him forward. "Let us go and mingle with the commoners!" He said, strutting off to get his rightful offering of pancakes."
Enrique shook his head, smiling. "Strange, strange people."
He reached the door of their room and turned, pushing it open with his back. "Hey, Ollie! Rei made us pancakes!"
Silence.
"Ollie?" Enrique walked further into the room, towards the window, turning his head from side to side as he went.
"Ollie?" He noticed something in his peripheral vision and turned. "There you are Ollie's I was sayi-"
CRASH!
Enrique dropped the plates in shock, staring at the bed with a look of pure horror on his face.
"OLLIE!"
Enrique ran to the bed where what had once been Oliver lay. He scanned what was left, his mouth moving in a silent scream.
Oliver lay, as he had died, his entire body stiff as a board. It looked as if all of the flesh had melted off his bones. His face had taken on the appearance of a skeleton; the only thing untouched on it was the bandage that had been used to cover his eyes.
Enrique put a hand over his mouth at the stench he hadn't noticed until then reached his nostrils. He dry-retched as he noticed movement from underneath Oliver's bandage crawled a large black beetle that had presumably made it's home in one of the Frenchman's eye sockets.
Enrique's eyes travelled across the emancipated corpse that had once been his crush. A small whimper escaped his throat as he noticed that where Oliver's pyjama top had ridden up was no longer a plane of smooth stomach, instead a moving mass of insects.
He retched again, stumbling back from the corpse and falling to his knees, throwing up on the floor. He heard a noise and looked up to the wall above the bed. It had darkened, shadows leaking together to form a dark mass, which trembled, before two golden eyes opened.
Enrique's mouth opened in a silent scream. He stood quickly and started moving backwards. He turned around to run. Only to meet air. When did the window open?
Enrique didn't have time to scream as he fell, hitting the ground with bone-shattering force, the snow like ice. He lay on the ground staring up at the sky, his mouth moving in disbelief as the life seeped from his body, staining the snow red.
Snow began to fall again from the sky, covering the land once again with purifying white.
------
Enrique and Oliver looked out the window of their shared room dispassionately as the snow began to fall on Enrique's broken body.
They turned to look at the corpse on the bed, viewing it with nothing more than a passing interest.
Enrique searched for a bandage to place over the standing Oliver's eyes. They had been careless with Oliver.
Enrique's eyes flashed with an inner fire. That wouldn't happen again.
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