Hey guys, how have you been? Lovely, I hope. Back again with another chapter. I'm rather glad with how chapter 5 turned out. I had lots of fun writing IV and Mihael's little banter. Considering that I'm not that good with familial relationships, I think it went rather well. What did you guys think? Any suggestions or prompts, you wanna see in later chapters. If so feel free to PM me or write it down in a review and I'll get to it. Anyways, onto the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal nor anything else other than my own characters and plot otherwise, there would be ships for days.

Yuki's POV

Most people would believe it was a pretty nice day out this Sunday morning, with blue January skies marked with fluffy white clouds and the sun out and shining, but I begged to differ, It was a tad too bright for my tastes. I suppose it just wasn't my cup of tea. Or rather coffee, I might say. Which I hadn't even had, before I was forced to crawl out of my warm bed so early in the morning.

IV, being the idiot that he was, decided to be my morning wake up call. Texting and calling me like there was no tomorrow, soon ending my peaceful slumber. Next time, I thought to myself, I would make him pay for waking me up at eight in the morning.

I yawned as I walked downstairs to make some breakfast. I blinked in surprise as I noticed that the lights were on in the kitchen. I was pretty sure they were off the last time I checked.

"What are you doing so early?" Ah, so that's why they were on.

Cloud was standing over the stove casually flipping some pancakes. He looked like he was still half asleep with his stormy onyx eyes half lidded as he flipped another pancake, cursing as it almost hit the floor.

I yawned and gave him a half committed shrug. I don't think I could ever get used to having Cloud here with me and Hana. He usually leaves after a few days, but it looks like he would be here for a while. I was torn with being happy that my brother was here with us and mortified that something was going to happen. I mean, good things never seemed to last with my family and I.

I shook my head. I really needed to stop being so negative and cynical. Happy thoughts I told myself.

"Wanna help? Or are ya just gonna stand there like an idiot?" Cloud's voice filled the silence.

I hadn't even noticed what I was doing until he had pointed it out. I quickly grabbed the apron off the hooks by the wall and tossed the extra one to Cloud who caught it easily.

"You have pancake batter on your clothes. Late night?" I gestured to his stained black t-shirt. He still had his lab coat on and he had a stethoscope around his neck.

He blinked and looked down, giving a sheepish smile as he tied it around himself. "Yeah, sorta." He shook his head as he saw me struggling with tying my own apron.

He crossed the small kitchen quickly and bent down to tie it. I bent my head to cover my embarrassment as I grabbed another pan from one of the lower cabinets and started on the eggs. Guess we're gonna go for another western breakfast again.

"What kind of eggs do you want for today?" He asked as he glanced over to me.

I gave him a lazy stare before I turned back to my work and proceeded to crack the eggs in a small bowl and added some cream to make them extra light and fluffy. Stirring the eggs with a fork, I mused at how normal this seemed, just me and him cooking together. Normal was good.

Cloud made a soft 'oh' when he realized what eggs I was making before going back to making the pancakes.

Figuring I needed to make some effort in conversation, I cleared my throat. My brother gave a sideways glance as he grabbed some plates from the cabinets with one hand and set them on the table along with the mountain of pancakes in the center.

He turned to me nonchalantly, body leaning on the table and hands propped against the table. He raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, what's up?"

I stopped stirring the eggs and turned to face him, "Idiot wants me to come over to his place. To swim or something I think." I sign.

Cloud blinks and runs a hand through his messy blond hair. "By idiot, do you mean that Arclight kid?"

I nod. What other idiot could there possibly be? IV was the only one I hung out with at school, well, other than his younger brother. Not like I could tolerate anyone else at school anyways.

"Is there anyone else going? Is Byron-san going to be there? Chris?" He asks.

"Yes, yes, and yes. He wants me to come today, by the way." I answer. I'm pretty sure someone else is going, that someone being Rio, at least the last time I checked my phone she said she was going. Byron-san and Chris would never let IV be alone in the house with us anyways.

"Lemme give a call to Chris just to make sure. If everything's good, I'll drop you off after breakfast. I'm going take Hana to the mall too. She needs more clothes. Do you need anything while I'm there?" Cloud inquires sleepily with a yawn.

I tap a figure on my chin, pondering his question. I don't think I needed anything, but then I remembered my ratty closet. Most of my clothes were really worn and I had begun to outgrow most of them since they were all from a couple years back. We didn't have enough money for us to go shopping so Cloud buying the clothes was as good as it was going to get.

"Pretty much everything. A couple t-shirts, some jeans, and I guess some undergarments please." I signed. I shrugged and went back to my cooking. I was never ashamed of saying embarrassing things to my brother, he was after all, a doctor. Clothes were the least of his worries.

He gave me look, but sighed nonetheless.

Breakfast went smoothly after that. Cloud prepared the bacon and I finished up the eggs, and when Hana came down, she finished setting the table and put the food on the plates for us. We ate in moderate silence before clearing the table when we were finished. Hana washed the dishes as I ran up to go get changed and pack my bag while Cloud phoned Chris.

I took out most of my school stuff out of my bag and placed a towel and hairbrush instead. I grabbed some blue swim shorts and an undershirt with some undergarments too. I would get the plastic bag for my wet clothes after I went back downstairs.

I changed out of my brother's oversized black t-shirt (I had a habit of stealing my brother's clothes whenever he annoyed me) and sleep shorts and into an All Time Low, Future Hearts t-shirt paired with some dark blue distressed denim jeans and black old pair of black and teal Vans.

I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed that the scars on my wrists were practically gone. Meaning I wouldn't be getting weird stares from my brother if I went without a long sleeved shirt for the day.

I grabbed the pair of Ray Ban sunglasses that I borrowed from Rio a while back and my bag as I went downstairs to find Cloud and Hana waiting for me.

"I checked with Chris. I'll drive you over to their place right now." Cloud stated before walking out with Hana.

I nodded and walked a bit behind them. I wondered why IV wanted me and Rio to go swimming at his place even though it really wasn't hot. The weather itself I noted when I walked outside was still chilly even though the sun was out. There was no way in hell I was getting into a damn pool when it's friggin' cold out.

Before we left I made sure I texted IV that I'd be there in a bit. I gave another yawn as I seated myself into the passenger seat of Cloud's car and hoped that IV wasn't wasting my time. Probably not though. He usually gave me some form of entertainment. Maybe it would be worth my time after all.

The drive to the Arclight home (mansion) wasn't too long. About ten minutes later we were pulling up into the expansive driveway. I rolled down my window when I saw IV walk bare footed over to our car.

The two toned haired idiot was dressed casually today. He had on tight fitting gray skinny jeans with one hand shoved deep into the pocket and a plain black V-neck t-shirt that accented his broad shoulders. He was giving me that smug smirk that he always wore and gave me a wave with his free hand, eyes gleaming with mischief.

"What?" I mouthed to the blond haired boy.

IV gave me an excited grin as he bent down to meet my eyes, resting his arm on the roof of the car. "Ready for the sleepover?"

I blinked. What in the fuck was he talking about? I did not sign up for a sleepover. Oh hell no… I whipped around to glare at my brother who just gave me an innocent look.

"Something wrong sister dear?" Cloud smiled innocently. I was so ready to punch that smug look off his face. Damn him.

Cloud suddenly leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Douchebag's not coming home for a while due to some, ah how should I put it? Due to his drinking issues, he's being very well acquainted with a holding cell on the other side of town. In which I have no qualms leaving him there for, say until I get some answers from you."

I swallowed my fear and looked him in the eyes. It was in that moment that I realized what a bastard my brother truly was. He was probably savoring my fear like the sadist he was.

"But…" he began, as he reached over and unfastened my seatbelt with a click. "I can get what I want whenever, for now just enjoy yourself." Cloud finished with a smirk and patted head like a child.

Before I knew it, I was being pushed out of the car, waving to my brother in stunned silence as he drove away.

What the hell just happened? He couldn't possibly know what was going on. I flinched at the thought of Cloud finding out what was happening to Hana and me. Nothing was worse than when he actually pissed. Shit. What was I going to do?

"So that went well I hoped?" IV spoke up, breaking me out of my reverie.

I shook my head, glancing at IV. No point in worrying. I have more than enough time to figure out what to tell brother. Hopefully.

"C'mon, let's go inside the house. Rio's waiting for us." IV said before walking behind me and grabbing me by the shoulders and steering me towards the mansion.

I glared at him over my shoulder as I entered the home, giving a slight wave to the occupants before removing my boots. Byron-san and Chris give me both warm smiles before returning to quiet conversation by the kitchen table. I was a bit curious as to what they were talking about. Maybe it was work related? Probably. I'll ask IV about it later.

My blond haired companion tugged on the hem of my shirt and motioned for me to go upstairs. IV grabbed a huge armful of snacks from the pantry and followed me, taking two steps at a time. The room he brought me to was a couple doors down and more to the left from the game room where we played Mario Kart those few months ago.

When we hit the top step of the stairs Chris tells us, or IV more precisely, to leave his bedroom door open. The younger sibling cranes his head to stare at the elder and they lock eyes for a long moment before clicking his tongue and turning away.

IV rolled his eyes, but props the door open anyways. The room was rather…surprising to say the least. The interior was dark and gloomy, but I wouldn't put it past him to have a room like this. The walls were what looked like a dark purple blended with maroon, black shelves lined the colored wall with beady eyed dolls with mismatched body parts and puppets that seemed to follow movement sending me an eerie chill down my back. Without the creepy dolls, everything seemed fine. Most of the other furniture and decorations were black in color or at least in a dark palette however. Black four poster bed with black sheets, black bookshelf, and black carpet and… Oh my god, look at that! A dark blue pillow on the black friggin' loveseat. How wonderful.

I gave IV the most withering gaze I could muster that silently said, I-question-all-your-life-choices-and-I- think-you-need-to-just-stop. He shrugged.

Great job, Arclight.

"I don't see why I need to keep the door open." IV grumbled, walking over to a small square table and dumping all the snacks onto it.

"Probably cuz you're a hormonal teenage boy with two girls in his room, all alone." Rio stated.

I blinked. I hadn't noticed Rio there, but she sure did stand out. She wore a blue abstract print dress that cut off at her mid-thigh and accented her brightly colored hair, contrasting the dark room. She padded over to me bare foot and gave me a hug which I gladly returned.

"Also, your room looks like it's either going emo or from a horror movie gone wrong." Rio added, tugging on the back of her ponytail. I snickered at the comment and nodded.

"It's not that bad. You just think it's all dark and gloomy because there's no light." IV countered, walking over to the window near his bed and pulled the curtains back letting sunlight flood the room.

I scanned the room again trying to see if what he said was true, which it was. The room brightened considerably, but the dolls still emitted a dark atmosphere.

"The dolls and puppets are a bit freaky." I commented, sketching one of the dolls for emphasis and showing my sketchpad

Rio gave an understanding shrug. "It's his hobby. The first time I came here and saw them I screamed bloody murder. Christopher thought Thomas was trying to rape me or something."

I stared at IV and wondered how he had such a strange hobby, but as I looked at the marionettes and dolls again, really looked at them, they had a morbid beauty to the eeriness. I could sort of see why he liked them. They actually looked kinda fun to use.

"They seem interesting." I replied, taking a seat on the floor and crossing my legs. Rio and IV followed my example and we all ended sitting in a weird triangle facing each other.

"Right? Rio doesn't understand real art!" IV grinned.

"Thomas, art can be defined differently by all sorts of people." Rio rolled her eyes. "Especially since my definition of art is way better than yours!"

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch upward as I watched them both. They bickered back and forth like a pair of siblings, much like how I often saw Rio and Shark argued before I changed schools. They reminded me of my own older siblings, of my own twin.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, unconsciously balling my fists against my shirt. The room's spinning and suddenly, I'm six years old again. The sky is crying and I can't find a way to make things better because Mama's crying. Everyone's crying. The other's point at me and mock, 'She's the one! She the reason why. The poor boy…'

My fault. My fault, my fault, my fault, always my-

"-ki! Yuki!"

I was brought back to reality as IV snapped his fingers in front of my face. Rio was looking at me concernedly with her hand on my shoulder.

"You okay?" She asked gently giving my shoulder a squeeze. "When we finished arguing we saw that you got all spacey and you were as pale as a sheet."

"Yeah, we were really worried." IV said frowning slightly. "Sorry. Too close?" He scooted away from me a bit when he noticed I was uncomfortable with how close he was to me.

I shook my head. "Sorry…" I signed bowing my head in shame not being able to look them directly in the eyes.

Look, that terrible voice in my head whispers to me again. You've done it again. You've caused trouble to those you call your 'friends'. What a horrible person…

I swallowed my fear and ignored my oppressive thoughts. I summoned my 'courage' and gave a smirk.

"Hey. So what are we doing today? I didn't come all the way here for nothing." I signed trying desperately to meet there eyes.

I bit my lip, my voice couldn't possibly reach them, it couldn't fill the empty silence that the room held at the moment but if I could at least make them happy then that would be fine. I would be fine. At least that's what I thought.

IV and Rio brightened at my gesture and I suddenly felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders.

Rio coughed. "Well since we were having a sleepover, I'd figure we could watch some movies or something…" she trailed off.

"Buuuut? I feel like there's a but in there." IV chimed in, now slightly excited that our sleepover was finally going somewhere.

"But." Rio glared at IV. "I couldn't really find any movies that all three of us would like so I brought the 1st season of Arrow instead."

"Oooh nice. If you want movie, we can watch the ones that I have." The blond boy offered, grabbing some chips on the table and gave some to the three of us.

Rio glanced at me, "No thanks. Yuki completely hates horror and gore."

"What? Seriously?" IV exclaims looking at me as though I've grown a third head or something.

I roll my eyes. "Yep. Just never understood the point of scaring yourself shitless."

IV pouts but doesn't press the subject any further even giving me an understanding shrugs before returning to munching on his chips.

"But what else do we do after we get bored of watching Arrow?" I signed to Rio. I was genuinely curious about what people do at sleepovers.

"Don't normal people watch movies and gossip at sleepovers?" She answered unsurely.

"That's sounds boring." I mouthed. If that was what sleepovers were about, it sure didn't seem like I was missing out on anything.

"We could ditch him." Rio deadpanned, side eyeing IV with an evil glint in her eyes. "We could ditch him and we could go to the mall."

I stared at the blue and purple haired girl for a moment before catching on. "The mall is only a mile or two away from here after all." I mouthed linking my arm with her's.

"I've got the money."

"But what about when we have to leave?"

"Don't worry. I'll call Ryouga and you can sleepover at our place."

"Well, it does beat doing absolutely nothing on a perfectly good Sunday morning."

"W-wait a minute guys! You guys…You can't just leave me here!" IV cried looking very much like a kicked puppy. I kinda felt bad. Rio and I exchanged glances before snickering at the blond.

"Don't worry Thomas. Yuki and I were just kidding." Rio giggled, patting the taller boy on the head. "I just wanted to see what you'd do."

"You guys both suck." IV said glaring daggers at the both of us. He didn't seem very amused at our antic so I decided to indulge him a bit.

"C'mon guys. Let's go watch Arrow so we all don't die of boredom." I mouthed tugging on their wrists. Seriously. I've been here for half an hour and we've yet to do something entertaining. I didn't wake out of my cozy bed not to do anything.

With that in mind, I dragged my two friends- wait, when did I consider IV one of my friends? I mentally sighed. That was fine. IV...IV was different. Good different and now, I'd probably consider him one of my closest friends. A few months ago I would've probably laughed if someone told me that I'd become not only friends, but actually really close friends with IV Arclight but I now welcomed the new change in my shithole of a life. He keeps things interesting.

And of course while IV was the person I could trust with my dark secrets and amuse me, Rio was my rock. She would always be there for me. She grounded me and kept me sane. I couldn't unload most of my troubles onto Rio but she listened whenever I needed. She couldn't emphasize with me like IV did but she had been there when it all started and that was enough. I wouldn't know what I would've done if I didn't have Rio with me.

"IV!" Byron-san called from the front door, interrupting my inner monologue. "Chris and I will be heading out now. We will be home later tonight. If you have any problems, call me."

The aforementioned blond shouted a quick 'okay!' as the two older men nodded in both Rio and my direction before shutting the door.

Rio whistled, "Wow, I can't believe they just left us alone like that. If we were at my place Ryouga wouldn't leave Yuki and I for a second with you."

"Eh, Father trusts that I won't do anything stupid." IV replies with a shrug. "Besides, I'm sure you two would beat me to a pulp if I tried anything."

Rio and I glance at each other. "Yup." We reply in unison as I hold up my sketchpad.

The blond sweatdrops before giving a wary laugh. "So, uhh…Arrow?"

I roll my eyes as I seat myself on the leather couch in front of the huge flat screen TV. IV grabs some more snacks from the pantry in before seating himself in the middle next to me. I snatched the strawberry pocky on the coffee table away from IV before he could get it and gave him a mock glare. I teared the small bag quickly and snapped the strawberry coated stick in half with my teeth, mocking him. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, waiting for Rio to put on the disc into the DVD player.

"So," I started. "What were they talking about earlier when I came?" I was still curious about what happened when I arrived. It was a trivial matter, probably and I was prying into someone's business that didn't involve me. Cloud called it my besetting sin. Which was funny because I definitely got it from him.

"Oh work stuff. I don't know. Something they're working with your brother for I think." He replies nonchalantly popping some chips into his mouth. IV props his bare feet against the table, leaning back on the furniture. "Rio, is it done yet?"

She glares at him before plopping herself onto the couch herself and presses play. "What do you think?" Rio says sarcastically as the opening inner monologue of Oliver Queen comes on.

"Hey IV?" I wrote on a ripped edge of my sketchpad and slid it over to him. "Where's Mihael?"

He glanced at the note lazily before passing it back. "Who?"

"Y'know who I'm talking about."

"Fairy Princess is at his friend's house or something. Yuma, I think his name was."

"Cool." I vaguely remembered the spiky haired teen from my earlier classes with Mihael. Always went on about kattobingo or something along those lines. Pretty funny to see him fall his face too.

"For a project or something. Won't be back until tomorrow after school." He continues passing the bag of chips to me, eyes not leaving the screen.

"I didn't even say anything…" I wrote, drawing a tiny angry chibi version of myself next to the words. I made the chibi version of myself with puffed out cheeks and crossed arms enhancing the 'cute' effect. I nodded in approval and grabbed a handful of chips before dropping the bag in his lap along with the note.

He snickered at the drawing before speaking, "You always have this look when you wanna ask someone a question or something."

I felt my cheeks tinge pink at his words. Did I really? I never noticed that before. Crap, that's embarrassing. Ugh, I blame Cloud for this. He was always telling me strange things when we were younger.

"No I don't!" I wrote angrily, still flustered. IV smirked and gave me a knowing look. I kicked him in his shin out of spite, feeling slightly better at his small yelp of pain before going back to watch Oliver evade his newly appointed bodyguard, John Diggle. Stupid IV…

Rio giggled at our antics and soon we were all laughing and partaking in the note passing in a fit of giggles, drawing all sorts of weird faces on my sketchpad and making chibi versions of ourselves. All of us hardly payed any attention to the show anymore unless we were watching Oliver kick ass and shove arrows into the bad guys. Or when Rio and I were totally shipping Oliver and Felicity together and staring at said vigilante's awesome six pack, which IV had said wasn't even that hot, but we both knew that IV had a man crush on the Canadian actor.

"I don't have a bloody man crush on Stephen Amell, dammit!" IV cursed in English slamming his fist onto the coffee table.

I smirked at the blond. "You do, you really do. But then how could you not? It's Stephen Amell for Christ's sake!" I teased the blond mercilessly causing him to flush crimson curse in a string of English. Huh, well someone's mind was in the gutter. Flipping to another page in my sketchpad I wrote, "Nice, English accent by the way."

"Uh, thanks? I think..." He replied unsurely, taken aback by my abrupt compliment.

"So what now?" Rio chimes in. "I love Stephen Amell and all, but we've watched like half of the season and I think we should watch something else." Hmm true. While The Arrow was entertaining it was getting repetitive since we've all seen it before and we are all caught up with all three seasons so far. What to do, what to do? Oh, I know!

"We could watch The Blacklist or something for a while or something on Netflix and play video games later?" I supplied. We weren't getting anywhere if no one was going to put out any ideas.

"Oooh yeah, and we have some board games in the basement too. I can run down there and get them after we watch whatever we're gonna put on." That seemed fun and it would take up a lot of our time as well, since it was barely twelve in the afternoon. I haven't played any board games for several years now so it'd be fun to see if I was still good at them.

"I'm fine with that. So are you guys fine with watching The Blacklist?" Rio asked chin resting on the palm of her hand. We nodded at the purple and blue haired girl. "'Kay." She spoke softly turning her attention to the remote.

"So what's the show about anyways?" IV wondered nudging me in the ribs while he nibbled a stick of pocky he stole from me. The bastard…It was my favorite too. I mean there were other strawberry pocky on the table, but it just wasn't the same.

I stared at the offending appendage before he slowly retracted it away from my side. Better. "A blacklist, duh." I tossed my head back and stared at the wall for a moment before I tossed what was remaining of my beloved pocky to IV. The sugary sweet just didn't feel right anymore. And now, I was a complete hypocrite. I had been keeping it away from the blond idiot for the past few hours and now I just gave it to him. What a waste.

IV opened his mouth to probably give a snarky quip to my comment but closed it after staring at the pink box of pocky. "You wanna share it? Or can I actually have it?" For an idiot he sure took my mood swings like a pro.

I shrugged. Eh, it didn't matter either way. Maybe the pocky just didn't feel right because I was full. Probably. I never had the biggest of appetites anyway.

He held the small rectangular box out to me expectantly. I took a stick and pressed it between my mouth breaking a small bit from it. He glanced at me before leaning his head on my shoulder.

What was he doing?

I tensed at the bodily contact. IV made semi decent company, but good Lord, did he have to be so touchy feely with me?

Apparently he did as he pressed a finger lightly against my cheek. "Hey."

I craned my head to look at him and immediately regretted my decision. His face, as it would seem, was just a tad bit too close to mine as I would've liked it to be. I cleared my throat before mouthing a quick 'yes?' God, why was Rio taking forever.

How awkward.

"How's your lovely day going?" IV all but spoke into my ear, lighter tone than usual. God, frick- seriously? Right in my ear too? I bit my lip so I wouldn't do anything unnecessary. It sure as hell wouldn't be lovely.

"All sunshine and rainbows." I wrote sarcastically, while I was internally screaming. If I could speak, I would've definitely stuttered. Stuttered and sounded stupid. Yup. That sounded about right. But instead, I had on one of the best of poker faces that made me look slightly bored at our exchange. "Yours?"

"Same. Even better cuz I have my adorable little sarcastic chatter box with me." He teased, breath tickling my ear.

Holy Fuck.

Oh dear lord if he didn't stop, god so help me… Oh my god, I don't even know how we got this way. All I wanted to do was be moody and give away my pocky. My goddamn pocky! And then this happened. Jesus Christ.

"Little sarcastic chatter box?" I mouthed, poker face slipping and my face definitely an embarrassing shade of pink.

What an ironic nickname.

"Mmhmm…" The blond muttered. His finally moved his stupid face away from my ear and was content with just resting his head on my shoulder. "I bet you used to talk a lot when you could speak."

Well, at least he was blunt. I frowned. "Not really. I sang a lot though."

Odd how I suddenly opened up about myself in this strange situation.

IV didn't look at me this time, but instead hummed a small tune under his breath. The song brought a small smile to my face as I hummed along with him. I couldn't get my head around what I was exactly humming along to.

"Finally found the stupid show!" Rio exclaimed proudly, sitting herself down and pressing play. She shot us a weird look. "What are you guys even doing?"

I gave a halfhearted shrug. I didn't even know anymore. I stared at IV's head on my shoulder. I didn't even care enough to shove his stupid head off.

This was so friggin' annoying.

I glared. I glared at the stupid plastic game board and hoped it would fucking burst in flames and die

Out of all IV's board games, he had to have Monopoly. And out of all of them he had to kick my ass at it. I had landed on a piece that he'd bought for like the 4th time in a fucking row.

I flipped him off and threw the money at him where it lamely fluttered in the air before falling down, not even reaching the smug bastard. I turned away and glared knives at the posh wooden floors. If only I could wipe that smug expression off his face then his ego wouldn't be so overinflated.

It turns out, I wasn't too good at board games anymore. In fact, I sucked. Horribly. We'd only played with like four or five of the ones that IV brought up and I had only won at poker, which really wasn't even a board game so it didn't really count. Rio pretty much won at all the strategy and skill games like chess and IV made up with what he lacked in pure chance and luck.

Rio coughed. "So I guess we're done with the board games."

I nodded slowly. We'd been playing for a while now. We'd finished watching most of the first season for The Blacklist a couple of hours ago, where IV promised he'd finish watching all two seasons later this week. I'm pretty sure he'd binge watch it for an entire weekend without any sleep; hell, without any breaks in general.

We all had dinner around the coffee table while we were still watching the show. I'd figured that I would cook everyone something but Rio and IV insisted that we just order pizza. I didn't really enjoy the idea of eating a huge, greasy pizza after all the junk that we've been eating all day, but I was sadly outvoted.

So after nibbling on one and a half slices of pepperoni and sausage pizza, and a shouting match between IV and Rio about who got the last slice of pizza later we finally got around to playing the board games that IV grabbed from the basement. Then chaos ensued. There was so much yelling that the both of them left my ears ringing.

"So what should we do now?" I signed over to Rio while picking up the scattered pieces off the floor. We'd moved everything up to the game room after dinner. Stifling a yawn I propped the old beaten boxes onto each other one of the tables for IV to bring down later. Man, it was getting late and by late I meant it was like eight and IV's family hadn't come home yet leaving the house deadly quiet if not for our rowdy laughter to fill the empty home.

"I was thinking we'd play this game I have in mind. I heard about it from some other girls at my school. Seemed pretty fun." If Rio said something seemed fun, it had to be pretty interesting. Not much could entertain the Ice Queen.

I turned to face IV who had, for the time being, taken to leaning against my shoulder again after I cleaned up the games. I have him a questioning sort of look which he just shrugged in response. Guess we'll just take that as a yes. Now I know why he gets annoyed when I just shrug and nod at him. I'd work on that.

"What's it called and how do we play?" IV asked, his head still laying on my shoulder. I didn't understand why he found it comfortable. I was pretty bony no matter what people fed me. Well, if he didn't wanna move and if he didn't bug me much I wouldn't mind.

"You'll like this Thomas. It's called Paranoia." Rio explained to the both of us, not caring about the position IV and I were in. "You whisper a question into your partner's ear and your partner has to say his or her answer out loud.

"Kay. So who goes first?"

"How about this," Rio proposes. "You ask Yuki, then she asks me, and then I ask you."

"Sure." IV replies, sitting up and stretching for a moment before leaning close to my ear.

"This one's easy. Favorite colors?" He whispers. Huh, and here I thought he was gonna ask me something super personal right of the bat, but guess not.

"Teal and black." I reply.

Rio narrows her pink eyes at my answer. "Part of me feels like Thomas asked a really perverted question but I know he asked something stupid."

I smirk as I think about what other kinds of questions IV could've possibly have asked and giggle at the thought. Rio certainly had her head in the gutter.

"What was the stupidest thing your brother done in this whole week?" I signed to Rio. I didn't have to have to worry about IV understanding my question because he didn't understand JSL in the slightest.

Rio looks thoughtful for a moment before deadpanning. "Well, there's…No that's not it. Oh! It's not stupid but it's pretty embarrassing. He got caught by a bunch of his fangirls and they pretty much mauled him. So basically he ran around the whole campus in only his boxers for like a whole hour until I forced them to give them back to him. I don't think he'll ever lived it down." Wow poor Shark Attack. At least he survived the Fangirl Attack from Hell.

"Wait, wait! Rio you said you'd never tell anyone about that!" IV cried.

I raised an eyebrow. "No, I asked about Shark Attack. But I guess I'll keep that as blackmail now." I guess this game was pretty fun. I got something new to use against the blond now too.

IV's tanned skin flushed pink at my words. Yeah, nice going idiot. He fidgeted with his fingers before muttering something about stupid games and stupid girls that made Rio laugh.

Rio said something to IV under her breath and I turned away so I couldn't read her lips. He looked pretty smug and smirked in my direction. Wait, what? Why in the hell are you looking at me for?

"Yes."

"Really? You're actually serious?"

"Mmhmm. Why wouldn't I be?"

I stared at them in silence, trying to figure out what the hell Rio asked IV about. Did it involve me doing something stupid? Why did he look so smug? The jerk. I really wanted to know what they were talking about now.

Ugh.

I take it back. I hate this game. Maybe they would-

"We're not gonna tell you." They spoke in unison with mischievous grins painting their faces.

Fuck. Stupid curiosity always gets the best of me. Whatever, I didn't want to know anyways.

We continued like this for a long while. IV kept asking me the weirdest of questions that seriously made me question his sanity or at least mine with how I indulged him so patiently. Rio kept making him blush when she asked him questions so I guess that was payback. Then the idiot thought it was a good idea to tackle me to the friggin' floor which started a mini wrestling match between the two of us. Rio simply gave up on us muttering something along the lines of 'too far gone' and 'deal with it themselves' before leaving us to go shower.

Which left us here.

Awkwardly staring at each other without a clue as to what we should do.

"She's gonna be there for a while, huh?"

"Yep."

"What now?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Would you be okay if asked you a personal question?" IV suddenly asked breaking our momentary silence.

"…"

"If it makes you uncomfortable never min-"

"Shoot." Fuck it. IV couldn't possibly do any worse than Cloud will when I get home. He probably grilled Hana on the details already.

"How come your parents divorced?" He asked me. I blinked I expecting something worse but I guess I could tell him.

"My dad- not my step dad, my actual biological dad, divorced my mom cuz he was always on tour in some country. They didn't have time for each other or my siblings and I, so they separated." I explain. I mentally reminded myself to get a new sketchpad or at least something new to write on. I was running out on pages.

"He's military?" IV questioned.

I nod. "A sniper."

IV's reaction is priceless. The blond goes pale once he connects the dots. "Am I in trouble?"

I shake my head, laughing at his nervousness. "You're good."

He lets out a wary laugh and scratches the back of his neck. "Your turn. Since I asked you something, you can ask back."

I shrug at him. I don't have any particular to ask him. "How about your's?" I write on my sketchpad. I remember that his parents were divorced too.

"About the same reason as yours." IV says nonchalantly. "Do you have any other siblings?"

I give him another nod. "Five older siblings." I swallow a lump in my throat as I realize my mistake. I don't change my answer though. I do have five older siblings and nothing could change that.

"That sucks." He says automatically. I give a shaky smile and nod. Being the almost youngest did indeed suck.

"How did you get your scar?"

IV blinks at me, his hand grazing the cross shape scar over his right eye. "Oh, this thing? I got from that house fire that me and Rio were in. Not my best moment." He chuckles and gives me a wink. "But if anyone asks, tell 'em I got mauled by a bear or something awesome 'kay?"

I stare unblinkingly at him. He would do that. He really would do that. "I'm pretty sure that would've killed you then."

He rolls his violet eyes at me and waves away my claims. "There are plenty of people who survive bear attacks. Can you teach me sign language?"

"Why do you want to learn so suddenly?" I was slightly curious as to why he would ask me this. JSL wasn't something I thought IV would be interested in, not to mention invest his time in. Even I thought learning it was boring when I was younger.

"Sometimes," He begins, "When you write on your sketchpad, people don't really notice what you write and ignore you altogether. But when you sign, you're a lot more comfortable. If it makes you more comfortable, then I'll take the time to learn."

Wow. I couldn't really say no to that reasoning. Signing actually did make me a lot comfortable. If I kept writing on my sketchpad, by the time I would have had my answer people were on a totally different subject entirely. Or if they were really rude, they would just ignore me like IV said. I tended to fade away if no one really payed me any mind.

I nod, turning my face away so he wouldn't see my reddening cheeks. The last thing I need is the idiot making fun of me.

"How did you get into puppetry?" I ask, turning the subject onto something different.

IV flashes an excited grin. "This was back when they still hadn't divorced but, Father and Mother took me to this carnival and there were all sorts of games and stuffs, so I got all excited and I wandered off. I had no clue where I was and there were so many people." He explains, suddenly sitting up. "But then there was this dingy ass puppet show in the corner. No one was even there. The guy didn't even have a audience. But… But he was smiling and everything. He waved me over and put on a really cool show. I sat there for hours just listening to the guy spinning all sorts of stories till they came and found me."

I smile tenderly. "It sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"I'll show you one day!" He exclaims suddenly, fist pumping the air. Really, he looked like a little kid on Christmas morning with that silly grin of his.

"So you'll actually put on a puppet show for me?"

"No, no, no." IV says shaking his head. "I'll put on the puppet show for you."

"I'll hold you to it then." I laugh.

"Maybe you can perform something for me too." The blond winks.

I smirk. "Yeah, definitely."

Rio comes back from her shower minutes later and the night finishes off perfectly. We have a miniature pillow fight before pulling out the futons and calling it a day. It was an incredibly anti-climatic way to end our chaotic day. Or that was what I thought until someone started snoring away.

Great job, Arclight

"What? An update? That just can't be possible. XxStarryHeavenxX never updates!" cries my viewers indignantly as they raise their pitchforks. Guys, I know. I suck at updating and after like 5 months of not updating, I give you this! There's even fluff! Awkward, nervous Yuki and IV fluff! And I even made the plot move a bit! Please don't hurt me. I'm a horrible, horrible person for sporadic updates, but it's finally here! I have to admit, I'm actually really proud of this chapter. I had lots of fun writing it out. Oh, and also, I've realized I'm in need of someone to beta my work since I suck at editing (sorry for all my crappy grammar/random forgotten words in the middle of the sentence), so if you're interested PM me.

Oh and headcannons? If you can't tell, I've been having waaaay too much time with tumblr. So if anyone has any headcannons/prompts they want to see in the later chapters, just PM me or drop a review.

Adieu~