v. Solemnity

"Honestly Tommy, I don't think this is a good idea."

With a muffled grunt, the former looked down at the tire tracks with a serious expression before turning to look at his girlfriend. "We'll be down there for an hour, tops. I promise."

Folding her arms, Kimi insecurely hugged herself before letting her eyes linger at the tracks. The back of her head told her that she shouldn't traverse down there at all- it almost seemed like a death wish waiting to happen. A fragile breath escaped her lips before she nodded slowly.

"Okay, an hour."

Reaching out for her hand, Tommy began to manuever his way down the steep hill. Not too far behind was the violet haired girl who reluctantly followed his footsteps, being careful not to trip over the many roots. The walk to the bottom of the hill was an adventure where neither spoke and each athletically managed their way. It wasn't until they were about ten or so feet from the true bottom did a problem finally arrive.

"Tommy?"

Glancing back, the said teen grunted in response as he pushed a brush out of the way for her.

"Tommy.."

Shifting his uttermost attention, Tommy quirked an eyebrow before speaking loudly. "What?"

"First... the tracks are gone." Lifting a finger, she pointed ahead of them. "And secondly, there's a drop over there, and then a river that looks pretty deep."

"Are you saying that they could have gone into the river?" He asked after a moment, carefully eyeing the rather deep flow of water. Suddenly a queasy feeling came to his stomach as he looked over the river.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Kimi gave him a solemn look before shaking her head. "Tommy, let's just turn around now. I appreciate the effort, really, but there's nothing else we can do."

"I can't leave without him."

Kimi's expression softened for a brief moment before she stepped forward and removed the branch from Tommy. "Listen to me Tommy, as much as I'd like there to be something there's nothing we can do."

"I have to find him Kimi."

"Thomas Malcom Pickles you need to listen to me." Tearing him away from his branch, Kimi cupped his face and stared deep into his brown eyes. "As much as I hate it too, he's gone. We can't get him back by exploring in the wilderness like our childhood dreams! This is the real life Tommy!" Taking a deep breath, she held back tears. "We can't live off those fantasies now, we have to face life-like it is."

Face falling, his face scrunched up briefly before he faltered on words and the unthinkable happend.

Tears streamed down Tommy's cheeks.

Three PM came around eventually. After Kimi had managed to calm down Tommy and get their way out of the forest, the two parted ways where Tommy claimed he'd "rather be alone and think this over". To an extent, Kimi didn't exactly mind. Perhaps it'd be easier for her to be away from him for a bit as she tried to make her life as normal as she possibly could make it.

And so, there she was standing at the doorsteps of the Deville house trying to find either comfort or something to do with her friends. Of course, in any other situation she'd just bug Chuckie until he finally agreed to go shopping or play video games with her, but...

Yeah.

Kimi cautiously stepped forward before taking ahold of the doorknob and pushing the door open. Since she was so close to Lil (and Phil at times too), she was welcomed into the house at any time; meaning that she was allowed to enter whenever she needed or wanted to. It was nice, considering in those dire situations (Tommy asking her out, talking about one of Lil's boyfriends she had, or other girl emergencies) were easier to handle without having to worry about having their parents permission. And of course, the same rule held affect to Lil for when she visited the Finster household.

The house was oddly quiet like her own; not a single peep was heard. She could only assume that the Deville's were also busy mourning over Chuckie or were spending family time together. However, that wouldn't make sense as their front door was unlocked. Someone had to be home for that.

Now the game of who was home was the next part. If it was Betty, she would have already been greeted by her boisterous voice and a large hug that probably would have crushed her. Then she would have been comforted about her lost. Howard, on the other hand would be more quiet about his hello, but still would remark his apologies. Lil would pull into a hug where no words would be spoken. And well, Phil.. she didn't know; it depended on the day for him.

Pursing her lips, the violet haired teenager approached the stairs casually, calling out a warning for whoever happened to be home. She went up two at a time despite not being in a hurry at all. Perhaps she was simply seeking comfort, or maybe it was just that she needed someone to be with.

The thought of being alone at a time like so was painful; so being with a friend was her best option.

Her footsteps were light per usual as she traversed down the hallway leading to the twin's separate rooms. Just as she was starting to pass the male's door, it creaked open gradually and Kimi came to a pause. Slowly the door opened and gradually her eyes drifted down the brown hair teen's body before she came to a realization that Phil Deville was indeed naked.

With a capital N.

"Oh, hey Kimi." He stated as he lifted a hand from the door, a loose, wacky smile on his face. Squinting, the female gasped quietly before jumping back and attempted to cover her eyes. "What's up?"

The smell of an unwanted substance made its way to her nostrils, practically overcoming her senses. "God Phil, is that what I think it is?"

"Mary-J? Yeah.." with a short laugh, he scratched the back of his head. Despite standing in front of her completely naked for longer than two minutes, he didn't seem to notice (or he didn't even care). "It helps get my mind off things. You want some?"

Lowering her hands, she narrowed her dark orbs at the near careless teen. "I'm good. Thanks." Kimi uttered before taking a look down at Phil's dick, which seemed to be the slightest bit erect upon seeing her. With a long sigh, she looked back up at his face and folded her arms. "Where's Lil- or your parents?"

"Uh.." Shrugging his shoulders, he nearly laughed again as he opened the door more. "I don't remember. Maybe Lil's with Angelica?" Giving Kimi a wink, Phil took a step closer to her. "Rumor has it you're a screamer."

"Don't hit on me." Kimi groaned in frustration. Of all the things that was going on in her life right now, having a high Phil hitting on her was definitely not a good point of it. especially since everyone was well aware of her and Tommy's relationship. "And you don't know anything about that."

Phil moved fast, but he wasn't intending anything that Kimi's mind first went to. A careless arm went around her shoulder and he gave her a smug look. "Besides the fact that Tommy's mentioned it before, someone said they heard you Saturday night."

"Wonderful." Kimi uttered as she shook her head. It was another thing to add to her pile of problems which in fact, was growing at the second it seemed. "Listen Phil, yeah we're pals, but this is pushing our friendship and you seemed to forget-" Shoving the teen off herself, she aggressively poked him in the shoulder. "-that Chuckie's gone! Grow up a little and realize that one of your best friends is probably not going to come back!"

Something flipped in Phil, because the next moment he shoved the girl back and clenched up one of his fists. "Don't you dare think that I'm not aware of what's happening!" With a raised hand he grabbed onto her arm tightly, not aware of how hard his grip was. "I don't want to think about it! So give me a fucking break, Kimi! I've known him longer than you, so don't go playing this "I'm his fucking sister" card on me, alright?!"

"Let go of me," she uttered first as she attempted to tug her arm away before failing. Her eyes were cold and empty; something that he'd never seen in them yet that wasn't going to let him let go just yet. He wanted her to learn that everyone was basically going through the same pain: not just her.

Perhaps, he just wanted her to realize that she wasn't alone in the whole mess.

Nor did she have to ask for the attention, because he (and definitely Tommy at least) would be more than willing to give it to her after helping themselves out with the whole deal. It was an obvious fact to the rugrats gang that Kimi was quite emotional and often needed support they grew to accept that just like everyone else accepted something about each other. especially when they all gradually came to standing the fact that Phil occasionally smoked weed to just let go.

Just like what he was doing at that exact moment before Kimi decided to walk in and rain on his parade. Though he felt like he should just ease up on her a little bit, after all it did make him realize that whenever the day was over and the family's were with each other, Kimi and Chuckie were the last ones up of the Finster household doing some strange events that no other rugrat knew about. There would be things that they'll never know too, and they came to accept that because that was simply part of being a Finster.

Maybe he could compare it to losing Lil. They were two peas in a pod; inseparable (for a really long time at least, they were starting to separate a bit). And that seemed to work with most siblings: Tommy and Dil were pretty close as well.

Phil's grip tightened momentarily before he let go and shook his head to himself. His eyes were low and his head hung for a long while; it wasn't the smartest idea of him to yell at her. He should've known better to tick off an already emotionally upset teenage girl- and Kimi at that.

However, he wasn't expecting to hear the "I'm sorry" that came from Kimi after ten or so minutes of them just standing there. His head lifted to get a good look into her eyes and for him to gradually realize that she was actually apologizing for her actions. His blazed eyes lingered over her for a moment before he stepped into his room and pulled on a pair of boxers.

His arms wrapped around her carefully, engulfing her and letting his scent suffocate her. She was reluctant at first, but the violet haired teenager accepted the hug after a few long moments. He could feel her unsteady breath against his bare shoulder, breath hot and body shaking. A part of him began to wonder where her so called boyfriend was- the one who was supposed to support everyone because he was just that guy.

As much as he liked Kimi and all, he was absolutely horrible with female emotions. He was currently walking into uncharted territory that he felt it was best to turn around now before things became catastrophic. Though, his body had other ideas.

Rough hands smoothly eased their way to her back, where his thumbs drew circles into her shoulder blades in an attempt to soothe the teenager. After long moments of soothing her- or maybe he just wanted to hold her in his arms just like his silly teenage dreams were like, he finally let go and gave her a sheepish smile. He'd do anything at that point to see a true smile ease its way onto the female's lips.

"Let's do something later this week." He announced with a gentle push as she wiped away the last of her tears. "We can go out to get dinner or something -with the gang too if you want."

The slightest smile grew on her lips before she nodded dully. "That'd be nice. I'll get back to you on that."

Chas Finster was not fond of death.

Neither was Kira. Or Kimi.

The Finster household was a sobbing house, where the only current sound was the weeps of the parental units while the teenager cried quietly to herself- when she was home that was. Ever since she had learned the news of Chuckie's disappearance (-death) she hardly spent more than a few hours home; unable to handle the aroma that the house currently held. It was too much negativity that was crushing down on the family.

However, little did she know that her parents truly needed her at the moment. They needed something to hold onto that they knew was safe and sound: something that they wouldn't lose after the disappearance of their son. Safe and sound was all they wanted: or all that they needed.

The times when they were away or Kimi was simply with one of her friends, Chas and Kira were finding themselves near Chuckie's room or crying softly in the living room, awaiting Kimi's return. Though as often as they spoke with Steve, they could not find any more information about Chuckie: their only guess was that the car assumably either crashed into a tree or went straight into the river. Though it was better than nothing, they wanted more.

And so, when the doorbell rang at 7 PM Tuesday night, Chas practically jumped from his seet and dashed towards the door. However, his hopes and dreams were quickly ruined as he was met by Angelica who held a solemn expression on her own face.

"Uh, hey Mr. Finster." She started as she placed her hands on her hips. "Is Kimi home?"

His face fell further as Angelica's question was directed at him. With a sigh, he replied quietly. "No, she's with Tommy."

Kira looked over from the couch, a box of tissues in one hand and a partly used one in another. Though Angelica wouldn't dare to say it out loud at the moment, the elder lady wasn't looking too hot- not that she blamed her or anything. She'd be pretty upset too if someone in her immediate family died.

"Tommy huh?" Her voice was filled with curiosity. The thought of whether or not Chas and Kira were fully aware of the relationship between the two came up- sure, they knew fairly well that the two purple haired teenagers were dating, but they might not know anything about their sexual activities. "Do you know what she's doing?"

Her mind screamed at her to stop, but something else wanted her to just drop another bomb on Kimi's life. Though, that was even a low blow for her- and that's saying something.

"I believe she went to his house for dinner and to watch a movie with him." His voice was oddly cold, completely unlike him.

Swallowing, Angelica forced herself to smile and nod slowly. She couldn't be the one to drop the bomb, but she was more than aware that if neither Kimi or Tommy mentioned it to Chas and Kira soon, someone else was going to. And if they did, things were going to get more ugly than they already were.

"Alright, thanks Mr. Finster." And with a final wave, she turned promptly and traversed away from the Finster residence while Chas held a perplexed look on his face.

Yeah, shit is going to down.

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