Author's Note: LOOK WHO'S BACK. Did you miss me? It's me, Bell. Here I am, writing this fic again. It's been a while, huh? Sorry about that.

In the last chapter, I failed to explain something—Run reads things like Lolita for coping reasons, in the same way I read/write rape, abuse, and pedophilia to help me cope with trauma. I like being able to connect to the characters in little ways like that. (aka part of the reason Lubbock deals with abuse in this fic.)

Also, some of my gender and vague mental headcanons come up in this chapter! If any of you have gender/orientation/mental headcanons that deviate from "cis/straight/neurotypical," please message me about it. :3

Oh and! Lubbock is autistic, btw. It's kind of hinted at in this chapter. If you can spot all the symptoms, you win. If you guess the other autistic character in the chapter, you win twice.

It was hotter than what was expected and Lubbock wasn't used to carrying heavy things. He wanted to throw all the luggage that he carried on his back to the ground, but he didn't. It was only one bag, filled with snacks and drinks for when they reached the top of the mountain. His stamina seemed pretty high when he was playing football—ahem, soccer, but he wasn't sure why Americans called it that—but this was a different sort of physical activity, and he didn't like it. Maybe he was just spoiled and didn't get out and do things like this often enough. Or maybe Leone and her friends were more active than most other people were.

Leone slowed down a bit so she could match Lubbock's pace. She put a hand on his head and grinned. "Too much for you?"

"I'm fine," he insisted, though he sounded a little breathless.

"Give me the bag."

He shook his head. He couldn't just dump all the weight onto her, especially when she was already carrying a bag herself. "No."

"Maybe we should just slow down," Tatsumi suggested. "Maybe going at his own pace would make it easier on him. Besides, we're not in any sort of rush, right?"

Leone snorted. "What? 'Let's slow down,' said Tatsumi never!"

Tatsumi waved his hand noncommittally in the air for a moment. He walked backwards a few paces to fall back with the other two. "Suck a dick." He flashed a playful grin.

"Lubbock's?"

"Sheele's," Bulat suggested, looking over his shoulder at the three of them.

"You suck Sheele's!" she shot back, trying not to laugh.

"Gross." He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "She's a girl."

Leone tossed a glance over at Lubbock. "What's with that look?"

What look? He straightened himself up and shook his head. He'd probably looked a little confused, like he hadn't been following completely. He couldn't really help it, though. He wasn't used to things like this.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"What?"

"You're pulling that face because you learned Sheele is trans, aren't you?" Tatsumi asked. It seemed that none of the three were upset about it, even if he wanted to kick himself in the shin as hard as he could. "Is the concept new to you?"

Lubbock could feel his cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Yeah... I'm just not used to it." He threw his hands up in front of him. "No judgment!"

"It's fine. From a trans person to you, it's all okay. Everyone's got a little bit of internalized transphobia."

Bulat seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Hey, does Run still have that essay it wrote on unlearning internalized prejudice?"

The blond shrugged. "Who knows? I'll ask him later."

What Bulat said took a moment to process what was said, but when it did, Lubbock's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Wait...what?"

No one seemed to understand.

After a moment, Bulat tried to help clear things up. "Run had to write a research paper for one of its classes about a year ago. It chose to write about internalized bullshit that people need to learn to get rid of. It's a really good writer—the essay was really professional."

"No, it's not that..." What was a polite way to state that he'd never heard it pronouns used for another human being before? It was probably problematic of him, but it just seemed so strange.

After a moment, it looked like the problem seemed to click. "Am I misgendering him? I've used those pronouns for him since I first met him, and if he changed them, I didn't get the memo."

Leone shook her head. "No, no, he still uses it, no worries." Her hand came down on Lubbock's head once again, ruffling his hair a little. He couldn't help pushing his head up a little into her touch. "I think our friend here has just never heard those pronouns."

"Sorry," Lubbock mumbled. Hanging out with Leone and her friends was proving to be embarrassing for him—but it was okay, because he was realizing that there were things that he needed to change. These people weren't rude and had been patient with him so far.

"It's cool." Tatsumi grinned at him. "No harm done, right?"

He still couldn't help feeling bad, but Tatsumi didn't seem to like that. He put a hand on Lubbock's shoulder, only to have the green-haired boy flinch away. He hated how he did that, but he could never keep himself from doing it. There was just something about being touched by someone he didn't know very well, especially when he didn't give them permission for physical contact—though he probably wouldn't have minded if it had been his head getting touched.

"Did that hurt?" Tatsumi asked, looking a bit concerned. Lubbock wished he knew how to read expressions properly, because it looked as if there was something more than just concern there.

He shook his head. "No. I'm just like that. My parents say I'm weird. I have strange habits, I do strange things..."

"That's not very nice of her," Bulat put in. "Even if the things you do seem out of place, I still think you're pretty cool. I don't think your parents know what they're talking about."

"Exactly!" Leone agreed.

Tatsumi looked at Lubbock with what was probably curiosity, and Lubbock fidgeted with his fingers the way he usually did when he got nervous.

"Are you...?" The brunet shook his head, closing his eyes for a second or two. What was he going to say? The other boy wasn't sure, because the rest of the question never came. "Never mind."

Leone leaned over and whispered something in Tatsumi's ear, and he nodded. Lubbock wondered what she had said.

"What were you going to say?" he asked.

Tatsumi shook his head. "Nothing."

Seeming to agree, the blond gave a smile. "Nothing to worry about."

He didn't push it any further.

When they reached the top of the mountain, Lubbock was ready to collapse. Leone and Bulat didn't seem to be tired at all, but Tatsumi was a panting a little bit. Lubbock sat down on the ground and slipped off the straps of the backpack. He unzipped it and pulled out a bottle of water, downing over half of it easily.

Tatsumi sat Indian-style on the ground across from the green-haired boy, and he pulled out his phone. Apparently there was still reception, because he seemed to be using it just fine. "Hey, I'm going to call Sayo and Ieyasu to show them where we are."

Leone sat down beside Lubbock, while Bulat sat beside Tatsumi.

"Sounds like a plan," Bulat said, watching the brunet tap away on his phone screen.

There was a ringing sound that lasted only a few seconds before a cheerful feminine voice came through the phone's speakers. "Moshi moshi, Tatsu-chan!"

He smiled and spoke in what sounded like Japanese for a few minutes before switching to English again. "I'm at the top of a small mountain with a few of my friends right now. I wanted to show you. Where's Ieyasu-kun?"

"He'll be over in a minute. It's only six in the morning here!"

Bulat put his arm around Tatsumi's shoulders and leaned in, holding up two fingers for the peace sign. "It's like a double date."

"D-double date?!" Tatsumi stuttered, his face going red. Lubbock couldn't blame him—he probably blushed a little, too. "I wouldn't say that..."

"You and Tatsu-chan." The girl on the call—Tatsumi had called her Sayo, right?—sounded interested, and she giggled at the end of the sentence. "Who are the other two?"

Bulat seemed pleased with himself, which only made Sayo giggle again. "Leone and her friend, Lubbock."

"Leone-san is so pretty, she could probably get a date with anyone!"

Leone grinned. "Thanks."

"Daijoubu. But who's Lubbock-san?"

Tatsumi hit a button and gave a thumbs-up. "I switched it to the back camera. She can see you."

Lubbock's hands flapped once before he could keep from doing it, and his cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment. He decided on just giving a small wave. "I'm Lubbock."

"Sayo desu!" She sounded very cheerful and happy. "I'm Sayo. I've been friends with Tatsumi ever since we were little kids. He's very kind and sweet."

"Let me see her." Lubbock crawled over to look at the screen of Tatsumi's smartphone, for once not caring if he got his pants dirty. The girl displayed was beautiful. She had long black hair and dark eyes, and in her hair was a pink flower hair-pin. "You're cute."

She looked away from the screen with a look of embarrassment, then pulled her hair over her shoulders so she could hide the lower half of her face. "You're cute, too. Kawaii desu."

"Stop that," Leone laughed. She came up behind Lubbock, and Tatsumi switched it back to the front camera. She put an arm over his shoulders and pressed a kiss into his hair. "Lubba's mine."

"Oh?" Sayo brightened even more, giving them all a happy grin. "I'm happy for you!"

"Well, we're not, like—Um..."

"Nothing's official yet," Bulat stated simply.

"Bulat-san is friends with them, too?" Sayo asked. "You know their relationship?"

He shrugged. "Friends of Leone are my friends, too."

"How cute!"

There was the sound of a door opening, accompanied by a whisper-yell. "Tatsumi-kun?" A boy with messy brown hair and brown eyes showed up on camera, giving a toothy grin and holding up a peace sign with each hand. "Oh, you've got a crew! Who's the new kid?" His accent was a lot heavier than Sayo's, and it was a little difficult to understand him.

It took Lubbock a minute to process that the boy on-screen was referring to him. He would have introduced himself if he would have realized, but Tatsumi got to it first. "This is our friend, Lubbock. He and Leone met at a cafe here, and now they're—Well, it's personal, so I shouldn't say anything."

"Got it." He flashed a thumbs-up. "It's nice to see Bulat-kun and Leone-chan again, though! How have you guys been?"

"Hanging out with my guy," Bulat said, stealing a kiss on Tatsumi's cheek.

The brunet jerked so hard that he dropped his phone and fell into Lubbock. Lubbock was caught off-guard and fell as well. "Don't just do things like that!"

Laughter came from the phone's speakers, and Bulat looked amused.

"Careful, gays," Leone warned, but it was a little late for that.

"You mean guys," Tatsumi mumbled, getting up.

"No, I means gays."

"Lubbock is straight."

Bulat ran his fingers through his hair and made finger guns as Lubbock. "I could fix that."

Lubbock shook his head and dusted off his shirt. "No thank you."

"I was kidding."

"Bulat can make me gay anyday."

"Leave it up to a yarichin to do that," Sayo giggled. "Bulat-san is definitely a yarichin."

Lubbock didn't know what that meant, but Bulat seemed to find it amusing, at least. "I can't even deny that one."

The next few hours were spent laughing and playing around, chatting with Sayo and Ieyasu. It was a perfect opportunity for Lubbock to get to know everyone a bit better, even if socializing with more than three people was a little much for him.

As Bulat was driving them home, Leone's phone beeped to signal that she had gotten a text. She flipped her phone open and read it, and immediately looked panicked.

"Turn around," she said. Her words came out sternly. "You can't take me and Lubba home."

"Why not?" Bulat asked.

"The police are at our apartment. Run says they're trying to track Lubba down and take him home."

"Shit," Lubbock muttered. There was a sick feeling in his stomach and he felt like he was about to puke. "I can't go back there."

"That's why we're taking you to my place," Tatsumi put in. "Don't worry. We won't let them take you."

Author's Note: Okay. So when you run away, you get the cops called. And if you refuse to go home, you get admitted into a mental hospital. CPS gets called, they come out, check out your home. They decide if you get to go home or not. If not, they try to find family who will take you, but if they can't, you go into the foster care system. (He'll have company! There are a couple other characters in foster care who will be good to Lubbock.)

Also you get bonus points if you know (without looking it up) what a "yarichin" is.