It was a few weeks after he'd spoken to his mom about the bullying situation that Yarne heard anything about it again, in the form of a message sent to him in the middle of the night that he read upon waking up the next morning. The message, coming from his dad, was letting him know that everything had ended up okay, that the bullying had stopped and that there shouldn't be any more of it, but if he heard about it again he needed to let them know right away. At first, Yarne thought getting the message was a nice way of bringing closure to the situation, even if he'd liked to have gotten it in person the next time he dropped his sister off on a Friday, but then the time at which it was sent hit him like a brick. What in the world was his dad doing up at such a late hour? He was half his age (more or less) and couldn't imagine needing to be awake at two in the morning, so the fact that the novel of a message had been sent then was sending red flags up everywhere.
Of course, with his anxious personality, that meant that Yarne spent the morning stressing out about something going wrong with his parents. A million different possibilities ran through his mind, each more gruesome than the last—had they gotten hurt, had something happened to his mom and now he was the oldest living representative of the taguel culture, had there been a huge fight that erupted before bed and his dad couldn't sleep because of his mom's anger—and he wasn't sure what to do about it. It was too early to call and ask if everything was okay, and if he left it alone there was always the chance that he was going to stress himself sick during work.
So he did what any well-meaning child would do and frantically replied to the message asking if everything was okay, making it clear in all capital letters with extra punctuation that he needed to know as soon as possible. When he got a response almost immediately that everything was fine and that he needed to calm down, it didn't do anything but make the overall sense of panic worse. "Kjelle, wake up, I'm having a problem," he called into the bedroom, despite being just about ready to leave for work, and she dazedly sat up in the bed, rubbing at her eyes and asking him what was wrong. "My dad sent me a text, it's a real long one, but it came in the middle of the night and I think something's wrong but he says nothing's wrong but what if there is something really wrong and he doesn't want me to know about it?"
Her hands stopped rubbing and she laid right back down. "You're overreacting, if he says nothing's wrong, then nothing's wrong, there's no need to worry. You can stop by to see him when you get off work, if it'll put your mind at ease about things."
"But what if that's too late?" There was a whine to Yarne's voice as his worries began to get the better of him. "What if I show up and he's not there, or he's too far gone or something like that? I can't just let him suffer in silence!"
"Then skip out on work, I'm sure they'll be beyond happy to know you didn't come in because you overreacted to your dad texting you in the middle of the night." By rolling over so that she was laying on her stomach, it was clear that Kjelle was more interested in tuning Yarne out and going back to sleep than being helpful to him. That didn't help matters at all, because she'd presented him with the reality that he wouldn't be understood if he didn't show up to work, but he wasn't going to get anything done while he was there if he didn't get the answers he was looking for.
Ultimately he decided that going to work and doing the bare minimum was better than getting in trouble for not going at all, and so he collected himself as best as he could and got out to his car, starting it up and letting it idle to warm itself while he checked his phone one last time before driving. There was still no further message beyond the one saying everything was okay, even though it most certainly wasn't okay at all, but the fact that there hadn't been more added told him that he could at least drive without feeling the need to keep checking every so often. That didn't mean that he wasn't checking the moment he pulled up outside the office building he was thankful to be employed at, but it meant that he was smart and safe while driving.
The people that Yarne worked with were almost entirely older ladies who wanted jobs that were easy to do and not strenuous in any way, which meant that there were several people in the building who could sense that something was distressing their tall, young coworker. It wasn't like him to really socialize with any of them, and every time someone would walk by his little cubicle and ask him if he was okay, he'd lie and say he was, then check his phone for the time and any possible response once they were gone. Finally, once it was close to noon, he decided to take his lunch early and just go call his dad to see what was going on—he'd spent more time stressing and checking his phone than he had putting orders together in the computer system, and enough was enough.
The phone rang more times than he'd have liked before the line picked up, and just hearing his dad's voice on the other side was more of a relief than it had any reason to be, causing him to start pacing around the break room to calm his nerves while starting the conversation. "Dad! Hey! What was with being up so late last night?" he asked, realizing once he'd said the words that he was sounding like an overprotective parent in the situation. "I just think that isn't really like you, and I wanted to make sure it's all good over there."
"Oh, uh, everything's just fine, like I already told you," Ricken replied, his voice giving away that he had been anticipating the very conversation they were having. "I woke up around the time I sent the message and realized that when I'd written it earlier in the night, I didn't actually send it. It got sent, I went right back to sleep, everything's fine. You really shouldn't be so worried about these sorts of things, it's not good for your mental health."
Yarne chuckled, knowing very well that his mental health was always in question when he got worked up about one of his many worries. "I know that, Dad, but it's hard for me to not worry when there's so many things that could be wrong. You'd tell me if there was anything really wrong, wouldn't you?"
"Of course I would, but there's nothing to tell you right now. Everything truly is fine, I'm fine, your mother's fine, your sister's doing great now that everything's sorted out, you have no reason to panic about us." There was a slight pause, where Yarne was able to breathe a sigh of relief at what he'd just heard, but then Ricken continued talking. "With that being said, I think it would be a good idea if you and Kjelle came over for dinner sometime soon. Your mother, difficult as she may be, misses having you around and she'd love to get to see you both again."
"Do we…have to?" Yarne's hesitance felt almost rude, because this was family he was talking about, and the guilt for sounding like he didn't want to be in contact with his mother immediately started to eat him alive. "I mean, we'll do it! But is it required? Does it have to be anytime soon? I saw her not that long ago, isn't that enough for now?"
The call went silent, to the point that Yarne worried that he'd gotten disconnected from his father, but then Ricken was speaking again anyway. "I'll let you know when we're ready to have you over for a proper meal, and yes it's required that you come. I know that Panne has been working on getting something together for you two, but she hasn't told me a word of what it is and I'm sure she's just about ready to give it to you."
Blinking a few times at the mention of something that sounded like a gift, Yarne wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in return. "I'll let Kjelle know that we're going to be having these plans someday, then," he ended up saying, before ending the call with goodbyes and last questions about if everything really was okay. Hearing his father laugh as he hung up wasn't as reassuring as it should have been, but he knew that he'd gotten the best answer he was going to right then.
He slunk back against one of the walls in the break room, sighing as he slid to the point that he was basically sitting with the wall as his backrest. "I don't want to go over there for dinner, and I especially don't want Kjelle going with me," he grumbled, looking at his phone and wishing that he hadn't called at all. The answers, or lack thereof, were there, but Yarne felt like he'd only made things worse for himself in getting them. There was always the temptation to call back and try to reschedule something that hadn't been planned at all, but he didn't want to look like he was trying to avoid his family.
Because, at the end of the day, it wasn't the whole family he was trying to avoid, it was his mother. Even if she had a "gift" to give them, it was probably wrapped in traditions he didn't understand and expectations he knew he wouldn't meet. Her idea of gift-giving was to throw her children into the life of the taguel culture, whether they'd been prepared for it or not, and there was only so much of that burden he knew he could shoulder. But, being at work and without a set date on when to go over, there was absolutely nothing he could do without putting his foot further in his mouth, and so Yarne had to put on a brave face about everything and go do what he was paid to do, after he'd finished his lunch break.
His cubicle wasn't his favorite place to be, but he had it arranged so that no one could sneak up on him from behind and send him through a panic attack at their presence. He'd decorated the walls with all sorts of pictures, ones of himself and Kjelle, some with him and Ribbon together, even several of characters from his island game that made him feel most comfortable. After the call and what it had revealed, he was thankful to get to look at those familiar, friendly faces and be reminded that no matter what, those were the people and creatures that were there for him, even when he felt like a failure.
But, when he opened his computer to actually get to work, he was met with a different picture that didn't quite match the rest of the ones he had around, the only picture of himself in a large group that he could stomach looking at. He was easily the tallest in the picture, and therefore dead center in the back of the group, and seeing his head towering over everyone else's usually made him feel awkward, but there were people in the group that made it up to his shoulders in that picture, which made it better. It was a picture of his group of closest friends, a bunch of people who'd grown up together for the most part, and while he wasn't in the closest contact with most of them, they still showed up in his life every once in a while.
As he was going to open the directory to see what orders needing worked on, his cursor lingered over the icon, as he found himself getting lost in the picture. That had been at a friend's twentieth birthday party, several years prior, and so much had changed since then that he wondered if they'd even be able to pull off the same picture a second time. "I wonder…" he started, before shaking off the thought entirely to get to work instead. He'd already spent enough time that day not doing his job, the last thing he needed was for some supervisor to check his numbers and see that he wasn't pulling his expected weight.
That didn't mean that, when he got to take his next break, he wasn't allowed to minimize the directory window and think about the group in the picture again. He glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen, his mouth scrunching when he saw the time—if he messaged Kjelle right then to see what she'd think of his idea, she wouldn't see it until she was heading home for the day. "I guess I'll have to save this one for once we're at home," he decided, before grabbing his phone anyway. "But that doesn't mean I can't see what someone else has to say about us all maybe getting together again."
The number in his phone was far down on his messages list, Yarne having been rather bad about keeping in touch with the particular person he was thinking of. It hadn't been that long since he'd seen him, but it certainly had been over a year since he'd last reached out for conversation. When he got the message chain up, Yarne couldn't help but notice that the previous messages were about meeting for a quick meal before something that wasn't described in any of the messages happened, but he remembered that it was a flight that needed to be caught out of town for a while. Hey, sorry to bother you, but what would you think about us hanging out like old times? he typed, reading the words over several times before sending it on its way.
There was no response for a while, understandable given that it was the middle of the work day, but the fear still existed that the reason he wasn't getting a reply was because the other person didn't want to talk to him. Yarne finished up his work for the afternoon, clocked out, and headed home with the feeling of failure at being a friend hanging over his head, and when he got back to the house and saw that Kjelle (and only Kjelle) was already there, he decided that he'd only bring what he'd done up with her if he ever got a response.
"Are we going to talk about what happened this morning?" she asked him when he came inside, getting the words out before he'd even had the time to do his door-locking ritual at the front door. "Not that I'm upset about it, I get that you were worried or whatever, but…what was that all about?"
"I can't say I really know." While it was untrue, there wasn't much beyond saying that he'd overreacted and assumed the worst that could be said right then, so when Yarne finished up with his re-locking of the door, he went straight for the bedroom to change out of his work clothes and into something more comfortable. He didn't expect Kjelle to follow him in, but when he turned around and she was right behind him, he nearly leapt a full six inches off the ground in shock. "Warn a guy next time you come up like that!"
"You're not being honest with me, what do you know about what happened?" Her tone was serious, almost demanding, and to react Yarne shut his eyes and stepped backward, not realizing he was too close to the bed for his long legs to go anywhere until he was falling over onto it. She froze, watching as he kicked both legs up and the springs in their old mattress creaked at the sudden pressure, but once he started laughing, she was right there with him. "Okay, sorry about that one, but now I get to do the grilling while you do the laying. Is it anything important?"
"No, nothing important, my dad just forgot to send me something before he fell asleep and he forgot to consider the consequences of doing it in the middle of the night." Yarne intended on getting himself off of the bed right away to get back to what he'd entered the bedroom to do, but he was met with a force he hadn't anticipated: Kjelle taking advantage of his position and climbing up on top of him, keeping him pinned to the bed. Flustered, he said, "H-hello there, Kjelle. What are you doing?"
She kept moving until she was hovering over him, her eyes locked right into his, with her hands bracing her right above his shoulders. "Getting the higher ground for a change, got a problem with that?"
He was transfixed on her face, seeing how comforting the shape of her eyes and nose were to his already-anxious mind. She was pleasant to look at, even with her blonde hair falling all around her face more than it already did, and he found himself moving his lips silently in an attempt to find something to say to her. "I don't have any problems right here, right now, no way," he rambled after some time, realizing that he was getting more flustered every second she stayed over him like that. "This is just…we don't always do this, you know? Kind of unfamiliar ground for us to be covering…"
Bringing her body down like she was completing a push-up, Kjelle ended up quitting holding herself up and laid directly on top of him, exhaling as she made herself comfortable there. "I think it'd be a real incentive to get more workouts done if I could be over you like that the whole time, it'd make finishing extended planks a cinch at the very least."
Yarne blinked multiple times, reaching up to run a hand through Kjelle's hair as she stayed on top of him. "But what if you fell or lost your balance or something? I'd be a goner if I was under you."
"You'd be fine, I wouldn't ever intentionally hurt you." She sounded content, like she was actually fond of where she'd ended up, and he didn't have any reason to move her, even if it was stopping him from changing into comfier clothes. "We'll have to play around with doing workouts like that someday, just saying."
"I'll keep it in mind."
They laid there, her on top of him, for what felt like ages, their breathing syncing up to the point that they were both inhaling for the same amount of time. What brought their impromptu cuddles to an end was Yarne's phone, which was still in his pocket, beginning to vibrate directly underneath one of Kjelle's legs, which caused her to kick out in surprise, which led to him yelping that something was attacking them. Once they knew it was the phone and not a bug or some unidentified critter, they were able to laugh it off, but the sound of Yarne shrieking at the feeling of one of Kjelle's legs shooting across his body felt like it was echoing through the room for a while after the fact.
"Who's trying to talk to you?" she asked, watching Yarne closely as he retrieved his phone from his pocket, before getting rid of the pants entirely to replace them with his pajama bottoms. "It's not your dad again, is it?"
"Please, that whole thing is over and done, I don't think he'll be reaching out to me again today. I had an idea earlier and I might've acted on it without thinking too much about it and—" he tugged his pants on before grabbing his phone and opening the message, reading it out loud, "—'it seems it would be a good idea to hang out and catch up some time.' Good old Brady, always coming through for me like that."
"Why would you reach out to Brady, of all people?" Kjelle's expression turned sour for a second, before she slowly let it relax back to neutral as she hopped off of the bed and came to stand beside Yarne. "Sorry, but spending time with him usually ends up with someone crying, and that someone's usually him."
Yarne tilted his head to one side, then to the other, going back and forth a few times as he thought about that problem. He was very aware of his friend's tendency to get sensitive when things happened, but he felt that Brady was one of the few people they knew that actually got him and all of his oddities. "My computer background made me think about how it's been a long time since I've seen him, and even longer since I talked to him. Plus, his birthday's coming up pretty soon, and it'd be cool if we could pull the whole group together to celebrate him."
"Just like the last time we all got together…" Kjelle said, her voice lowering until she was muttering things just for her own sake, not to be actually heard. When she stopped, she looked at Yarne, narrowed her eyes, and told him, "Just make sure that if it happens, we're not stuck having everyone come over here. I don't think we've got the space for all those people, especially if boyfriends and girlfriends start showing up out of nowhere."
"We'll figure somewhere else to do it, don't worry." He smiled at his girlfriend, watching as she stepped away and went back out to the main room of the house, leaving him alone with his phone and a message to respond to. Now that he knew that one person was interested, he could only start to hope that the rest of their group would be willing to make time to meet with everyone for the first time in…. He paused, thinking about how long it had been since that picture had been taken; he knew for a fact it had been when Brady had turned twenty, but he couldn't remember if that was three or four years prior. It wasn't necessary to bring that up in his request to make it happen, though, and so he didn't make it obvious that he couldn't exactly remember how old his friend was when talking to him.
By the end of the night, there was a tentative plan for getting the whole group together the weekend after the birthday in question, with Brady saying he'd do most of the heavy lifting when it came to the plans. There wasn't much more that Yarne could ask for from that, although he would have preferred it if he hadn't gotten a text from his father in all of the planning saying that they were supposed to go over for dinner at the family house just days before that—funnily enough, on the day that Brady's birthday actually was. That was something that he interrupted what they were doing, playing a game together, to tell Kjelle about, and the way that she nearly threw her controller at his head for saying it was proof enough that she wasn't looking forward to that gathering.
It was going to be a stacked week when they got to it, but between the two points were several weeks of normal, everyday life that wouldn't have anything as interesting as that one week would hold for them.
The day of the family dinner came a lot faster than Yarne would have liked for it to, and in the days leading up to it he'd been given several directions on how they were expected to dress, how they were expected to act, what they were supposed to bring with them. "I don't think my mother even knows I don't know how to make these things," he told Kjelle after receiving a list of recipes they were asked to prepare and bring to the dinner. They were all desserts and appetizers, but they were complicated and required far more ingredients and care than the usual meals they made. "They're not even taguel cuisine, they're just…things she likes."
"They look like the things on the menu last week at dinner," Kjelle said after looking at the list for herself, turning up her nose at some of the fancier names she saw. "Who does she think we are, some fancy chefs trained to make even fancier foods?"
"Wouldn't surprise me if she's using this as a test to see what we do, how we handle this situation and all that." Yarne shuddered, thinking about how nasty things could potentially get for them if the food wasn't prepared and delivered as requested. "I mean, instead of going through the trouble of making all of this ourselves, we really could just order it from places we know that sell it. I think you're right about this being what was on the menu we didn't order from last week, none of this is stuff I'd choose to eat myself."
Looking at the list again, then to Yarne with a firm shake of her head, Kjelle pointed out, "If we go and buy this stuff anywhere, we're looking at paying way more than we could imagine paying for food, and there's the chance she'll know we didn't make it. Is that really what you want to risk?"
Neither of them wanted to admit that they were in an impossible-to-win situation, but they were both certain that it was either stumble and fail at cooking the requested food options, or go buy them and hope that Panne had never dined at one of the nicest restaurants in the whole city. "I think we've got to just try our hand at making these things," Yarne decided after they both stood hovering over the list in silence for a while. "If it doesn't go well, then we tell Mom that we tried our best and brought pizza and cake instead."
"Maybe we can workshop what we bring as the alternative." Turning her nose up at the idea of bringing pizza to such an event, Kjelle let the idea linger in her mind for a moment before she went through with throwing out any better suggestions. "Your mom loves stews, we can try our hand at making one if all else fails. Sound like a plan?"
"As good of a plan as I think we can have here." The dinner invitation was already a problem, and with the need to bring so many different foods with them it was only becoming more of a headache by the moment. One grocery trip later that cost them more than their usual runs did and they were back in the kitchen, staring down a bunch of recipes that were speaking to them with terms they didn't quite know, asking them to make things in such ways that went far beyond following the steps on the back of a box.
Many curses and tears were shared between the two of them as they coated that kitchen in every ingredient imaginable, flour and powders flying overhead and liquid ingredients spilling onto countertops and the floor alike. Some of the recipes came out edible and somewhat presentable when they were finished, almost all of them falling into the dessert category, but there were several that looked nothing like their picture and smelled terrible after they were done. Then there was the one, a bread and dip dish, that hadn't set up at all and was just a puddle of mystery liquid swimming inside of a poorly-baked bread loaf that they hadn't been able to salvage.
None of it was pretty, none of it was going to earn them any praise, but the fact that they'd been able to at least somewhat tackle the impossible task in their kitchen had them both feeling better about the dinner. It was only after cleaning up the messes left behind that a realization hit Yarne, and he dropped to the floor in tears when it sank in. "Kjelle, we've really screwed this up, how are we getting any of this over there? I don't think we can do it without ruining what's actually good."
Her whole body froze in place, before her head whipped around to see the dishes they'd made lining the kitchen table, some of which were stored in containers that would be easy to transport while others were in much flimsier storage. "We're going to have to find a way to do it, I'm sure as hell not leaving this here when we worked so hard on it."
"Do you have any ideas for how?" he asked, raising his head to look at her with tear-rimmed eyes. "I just can't imagine how it's going to work, with things being unsecured and falling all over in the car on the way there."
She raised a finger, then a second one, followed by her sprinting out of the kitchen. Yarne soon heard the front door open and not close, and while he was getting to his feet to go close that he heard her come back inside, panting as she slammed the door shut and only locked it one time. "I knew there was a reason I kept these boxes in the trunk, we can use these to help us with transporting things. It's not perfect, but the food isn't either."
"Why did you—where did—are these the boxes the boxcutter was for?" As she came back into his sight, his eyes were pulled down to her legs, one of which was sporting a gnarly scar that rested just beneath the hem of her athletic leggings. "Why would you keep what you got injured over?"
"Not the same boxes, Yarne, those were boxes containing workout equipment that were getting opened, but these are from the store last time we did a potluck at work. Someone bought enough rolls to need two big boxes for them." To punctuate her statement, she dropped the boxes at the exact end of the sentence, their hollow echo dull in the room as it was immediately covered by her continuing to speak. "Like I said, it's not perfect and might not solve the whole problem, but I think it'll be so much better than what we'd have to do otherwise. Plus, it uses the boxes."
"It's definitely better than just having the things loose in the car," he said after some thought, looking between the boxes and the dishes that they needed to carry. "I wasn't looking forward to the possibility of having to clean the car after this because we spilled everything everywhere and had to deal with that on top of Mom losing her mind that we didn't bring her what she wanted."
Kjelle nodded, before bending down to pick one of the boxes up, not to use for herself but to hand over to Yarne so that she could get the other one in both hands. "Here, let's start getting things put away so that we have an idea of what's left for us to deal with, I'd rather get this done now and know how much will still be loose than wait until we're just about to leave to find out."
"Smart as always, I would've just waited." That wasn't actually true, because the idea of coming into what they'd need to hold or transport in its loose state at the last minute was giving Yarne a bit of a panic just to consider it. But he was so in awe at how Kjelle had thought fast on her feet and come up with a solution before he'd even gotten to the solution-oriented part of coping that he was more than happy to praise her for what she'd done so far. They were able to get almost everything split between the two boxes, some things obviously getting a bit squished in their containment but not going anywhere, and the things that were left unpacked were things that she was willing to hold on her lap or at her feet, provided that Yarne was the one driving.
If it meant not risking spilling anything on himself and having the stronger of the two holding what was most likely to get destroyed, he was content with driving them over. "It also means that we can leave whenever you want to," she reminded him with a smile, "because you know if I had the keys, I would leave the second I got tired of dealing with your family's nonsense."
"We're going to stay as long as we have to, to get the gift Mom wants to give us." Shuddering to think about how long that could end up being, Yarne tried to get his mind off of how badly things could end up going for them by looking around their slightly-still messy kitchen. "H-hey, before we go, I think I'm going to spend time cleaning everything up as perfectly as I can. You want to help me with that?"
She glanced at him, then away from the scene of the mess. "I think I'll pass on that, thanks. You have fun cleaning, I'll find something else to do until you're ready to go."
By finding something else to do, Kjelle chose to just sit next to the boxes of food and what was left unpacked, watching as Yarne went through and cleaned up everything exactly as he wanted it to be. That meant rearranging some things on the counter to make sure that there was no sign of mess behind them, despite them having stayed stationary during the cooking endeavor, as well as getting up on his toes to clean up to the top of the upper cabinets, even though there was no chance anything had traveled up so high even when the powders were flying. He ended up getting pretty dirty himself, something she commented on once he'd finished up, which meant that they had to spend extra time for him to clean himself off and change into clothes more appropriate for his mother's tastes.
Finally, with the house back in good order and them both as freshened up as they needed to be, they were able to pack the food into his car and drive off into the evening air, crossing town to get to the place neither of them wanted to go. That did mean that Yarne, always the slow driver, was going especially slow to drag his feet on getting them there, but it was inevitable that he would get them there. Sure enough, when they pulled up outside, it was clear that their arrival was expected as everyone was waiting in front of the house, Ribbon closest to the street where they ended up parking.
"Hello-o-o-o Yarne!" she called, cupping her mouth with one hand as she waved eagerly at her brother with the other as he first got out of the car, then went around to go help Kjelle out by taking what she was carrying on her lap from her. When she didn't get a response, Ribbon visibly pouted, then ran closer to see what was going on, nearly colliding with her brother and the food he now held in his hands. "Oh! You brought snacks for us?"
"No, I brought what Dad said that Mom wanted from us," he replied, his eyes shifting past his sister to his parents standing in front of their door. "She wanted a lot, so we had to bring a lot. You mind helping us with some of this?"
Leaning in closer, Ribbon seemed to consider the request before she shook her head defiantly. "I'm not helping my big, strong brother when it comes to easy work like that," she said in a childish sing-song voice, swaying her whole body side to side as she spoke. "It's one little plate of food, I think you can do it on your own."
"There's a lot more where it came from, though," he tried explaining, offering the food to her again and watching as she recoiled at the act. "Seriously, Ribbon, there's two whole boxes of stuff we had to bring, the least you can do is carry this one plate!"
"Mom always says you like exaggerating to make people feel bad for you." Ribbon turned her head, still acting completely defiant to her brother's simple request. "I'll believe that there's all this food when I see—whoa." She was stopped in her tracks when Kjelle opened the back door to the car and pulled out one of the two boxes with one hand, the other hand already holding the other container she'd had to have in the front seat with her. "That's all food? Really? Mom! They brought all sorts of stuff for us!"
"Will you take something to her for us, then?" Kjelle asked, her voice slightly strained as she'd taken on the absolute maximum she could carry in her current setup, and she could feel the box starting to slip from her fingers. "Anything will help, just take something."
Still wavering on if she should or not, Ribbon looked back at her parents up by the door, both of them watching what she was doing but at too far of a distance to see the exact expressions they had on their faces. "Okay, fine, I'll do it but just this once. But I'm helping you, Kjelle, not Yarne."
"What did I do to deserve that?" he sputtered, while he watched his sister take the container from his girlfriend and start running it up to the waiting people by the door. He looked at Kjelle, who shrugged because she didn't have the slightest clue as to why that had just happened, before he realized that he was going to have to carry a box and a plate on his own now. He whined for a second, watching Kjelle adjust how she was holding her box before she rolled her eyes and offered a hand to take the plate from him, which he was more than happy to hand over. She wasn't struggling as hard with a new grip on the box she'd grabbed, and so she was able to get all of the food up to the door without struggle; meanwhile, Yarne only had the single box to manage and his arms were trembling like leaves by the time he'd gotten up to the door behind her.
They weren't trembling out of an inability to carry the box, though, but rather out of the fear of what was to come when they stepped inside the house. He ended up having to set the box down just inside the doorway, hoping that someone else would grab it and finish its journey for him while he ran back out and locked the car several times, making sure every door was closed and listening to the little beep over and over again. Once he felt like he'd made absolute sure that no one would be breaking in, he was back up to the door, seeing Kjelle standing there beside the box looking at him with a confused expression. "You couldn't take it all the way inside for me?" she asked him, before picking it up herself and carrying it through the house to wherever it was the food was meant to be placed, giving him no time to explain himself and his thought process.
One front door-locking experience later (he wasn't even sure his parents wanted it locked right then, but his anxieties weren't going to allow him to go any further inside with it remaining unlocked) and he was left in an empty living room area, facing the mantle with the slightly melted rabbit candles on it. The last time he'd been in there was the night they'd been burning, a month before, and he honestly couldn't wrap his head around the fact that it had been a whole month since then. One month of this so-called year of blessings and he felt like nothing had changed at all for him or anyone around him.
"Yarne, you slowpoke! Aren't you going to come join us?" Ribbon called from elsewhere in the house, which he assumed was the kitchen, and he yelled that he'd be there soon. Spending time in the house always made him feel a bit uneasy, given how this was the same place he'd grown up and had all sorts of not-so-great experiences, but he wasn't going to let all of that impact that night. He was still trying to make amends with his mother, even if he'd been able to apologize to her beforehand, and disappointing her at the dinner she'd requested would do him zero favors in that regard.
They were, in fact, not in the kitchen when he got there, but he could see that the light was on underneath the door to the garage, somewhere that they almost never had a reason to go unless they were leaving somewhere and needed his parents' cars for the task. As he came upon the door, it opened and Ribbon was standing there, holding a phone out in front of her and smiling. "What are you doing with that?" he asked her, stepping back in case she was trying to come inside. "Are you watching something?"
"We took a video out there with your cool new toy!" she exclaimed, pointing the phone up toward Yarne's face and giggling. "Don't you want to come out and see it?"
His brows furrowed, but he accepted the request and followed his backwards-walking sister out into the garage, where their parents and Kjelle were standing as well. In the back of the garage, leaning against the wall, was a bike that the mere sight of had Yarne clutching at his chest in shock. "W-where did you find this? I thought it was gone forever after…"
"It's not the same bike that had gotten destroyed," Panne said, her voice completely flat as she didn't even bother looking toward her son despite speaking to him. "But we had always made it a point to find a duplicate one, someday, to make up for that loss."
"They were telling me about the incident with the original bike," Kjelle added, coming over to Yarne's side before giving him a side hug with one arm. "I had no idea that something like that happened to you. You don't really share much about things from your childhood."
He was still staring at the bike, the bright blue and yellow markings a vivid reminder of what he'd had when he was younger. The bike looked identical to the one that he'd watched get run over by a fire truck when he'd been at a friend's house in high school, the fire truck showing up to put out a fire that the friend's neighbor started out of neglect. It had been traumatic enough with the flames and the smell of smoke, but then when he'd lost his bike in it and needed to call his parents to arrange a ride home, even though he had the bike for that very purpose…. It had been a day he wished he could forget forever, and while he was now remembering it in a completely different setting, he was still visibly upset by the whole turn of events.
"Is this the gift you were telling me about, Dad?" he choked out, looking away from the bike to his father, who shook his head and stunned Yarne in doing so. "What do you mean, it's not? This had to be a lot of work and money to find in this condition."
"It was a lot of work, but not as much money as you'd think. We planned on giving this to you for your birthday, and we still are doing that." Ricken motioned toward the front wheel of the bike, which was noticeably misshapen. "We're still in the process of restoring it, the previous owner might have wrecked it at some point and it definitely wasn't usable when we got it."
"Your gift that I put together is less for you and more for both of you." Stepping closer to the bike, but turning around to look at her son and his girlfriend, Panne pushed her hands together in front of her, letting her fingers interlace as she gave them the warmest smile she could manage over her hands. "Consider it a way to get more familiar with the traditions of the taguel during this special year, whether you've experienced it before or not."
"Do I get a gift too?" Ribbon asked, marching up to her mother and sliding the phone into one of her pockets on her pants, not even waiting until she'd freed up her hands to take it from her. "I'm getting to experience this year too, aren't I? I think I should get a gift if Yarne's getting one."
Pursing her lips together, Panne seemed to consider the idea, but replied in a way that was clearly rehearsed. "No, Ribbon, you're able to experience the year under my wing this year, meaning that I have everything you'll need for the year to bless you in every necessary way. Your brother, on the other hand, lives his own life that doesn't require me being there every step of the way, and he may need those tools to help him. Plus, Kjelle has never had the taguel traditions shown to her before and she could use the help."
Her eyes widening at hearing her name get thrown in, Kjelle glanced from side to side before stepping away from Yarne, shaking her hands in front of her rapidly. "Oh no, you don't have to worry about including me in all these traditions. I've never been one for getting super into these things, call it a holdover from how I was raised."
"That's unfortunate, given that you're in a relationship with one of the…" That was when Panne's hands came apart, as she pointed at herself, Yarne, and Ribbon. "Three members of the taguel culture left in the world. You have to immerse yourself in these traditions if you want to be with my son."
What Yarne wanted to say was that he understood where Kjelle was coming from and wasn't going to force her into any sort of tradition-following that she wasn't up for, but he knew that wasn't the right choice to make in front of his mother. The last thing he needed in that moment was to restart the whole problem with her and get back on her bad side, so he swallowed the words he wanted to use and said, "It's not that bad, and it's only once every twelve years that we have to do this. I'm only on my second time getting to celebrate."
"Whatever, I guess," Kjelle conceded, dropping her hands to her sides and slumping her shoulders a bit. "I'm still not one for these things, especially if it's more than just lighting some candles and calling it a day."
Ribbon gasped loudly, jumping up and down as she said, "The candles! Are we going to light the candles again tonight since we're all here together? I think that would be really, super cool if we could do it!"
Without even giving it a second of thought, Panne replied, "Certainly not, those are for one night and one night only, burning them tonight would make that completely pointless. Surely you understand that traditions are meant to be kept."
"We do have other candles we can light, though, even if it won't be quite the same." Without saying anything else, Ricken headed for the door back inside and opened it, expecting for someone to follow him. When there was no movement whatsoever, he nodded like he understood everything and went in, letting the door gently close behind him to leave the other four in the garage together.
"I think when we go back in there, Dad's going to have the place all covered in candles for you," Yarne said under his breath, aiming the statement at his sister but knowing that he probably wasn't being listened to. As much as he didn't want to be in such close quarters with his mother at the moment, he was too interested in looking more at the bike before he went anywhere else, and so that was exactly what he did. With Kjelle right beside him, they walked to get as close to the bike as they could, him getting down on his knees to be on a better level with it to see all of its colors and markings.
"Gods help him if he tries moving my candles for this idea of his," Panne grumbled, before she headed inside as well, with Ribbon following fairly closely behind her, jabbering about how she wanted there to be at least a few candles, because it made things feel important.
The moment the garage door was closed again, Kjelle put her hands on Yarne's shoulders, an easy task with him so much lower to the ground, and gave him a shake. "Why didn't anyone warn me that she was going to put me on the spot like that?" she asked, referring to what happened just prior to the conversation being derailed by fire. "I didn't know that there was more to this whole year celebrating than the one night."
"To be fair, I didn't really know it either, seeing as I turned twelve the last time this all happened. Not exactly something I was super paying attention to, given how…rough everything was that year." There were plenty of things Yarne didn't like to talk about, and most things that required diving deep into his childhood were on that list. "All I remember is the candles on the first night because of how beautiful they were, and then the burning of the other candles on the last night, to pass the blessings on to the next culture that was going to be celebrating. But there were bigger things that happened that year, so sorry for forgetting details I didn't know I'd need to remember."
"Bigger things?"
He gulped, realizing that he'd said a bit too much to sneak out of the conversation safely. "I mean, yeah? You know that Ribbon turns twelve this year, don't you? Pretty sure that my sister being born would be a bigger deal to little me than all of this tradition stuff."
"I didn't think of that until you pointed it out right now, actually. I did know she's that much younger than you, I remember all those conversations growing up, but I didn't realize that you were both born in your mom's important year." Kjelle let go of Yarne's shoulders, beginning to pace around the space that was available there in the garage. "That's pretty interesting, actually. You don't think that was planned, do you?"
While Yarne had his suspicions about the likelihood that it was planned, at the end of the day he couldn't confirm it on suspicion alone. "Not sure, not going to ask. I bet if we wanted the answer, we'd have to ask Mom herself, because it's possible Dad doesn't know either."
"On that note, I don't think I'm interested in asking your mom something like that, no matter how much I want to know the answer." Kjelle paused, looking around the garage before heading back to standing behind Yarne as he continued sitting in front of the bike. "I guess we'll just have to hope she shares that information without us asking. Kind of like what my parents do when they want to get a rise out of me."
His nose scrunched as he thought about several instances where he'd been present for Kjelle's parents doing that exact sort of thing, making it uncomfortable for everyone involved. "As much as my parents have their problems, they don't do that sort of thing. Private matters stay private, which I can't say about much else with them. They're far from the kind of people who want to grill others on secret stuff, and they don't do well when being grilled either."
"Then I'm going to hope that this dinner goes well, and that we can get through it without needing to play twenty questions with them." Taking a step toward the door, Kjelle looked at Yarne before grabbing hold of his hair and gently tugging on it, him reacting by tilting his head back to see what she wanted from him. "We should go inside and get this over with, the only way we're going to get it done is to actually deal with it."
"Somehow I knew you'd be the one to get me back in there with them," he said, shaking his head to get her to let go, then standing up while being careful not to fall into the bike in front of him. "I'm hoping Mom lets us leave sooner rather than later, I don't know how much of her being her I can handle tonight."
To his surprise, Panne did her best to be cordial with them both for the entire dinner, often choosing to not speak to them instead of saying anything that could have caused any issues. There were comments about the quality of the appetizer food they'd brought, which was to be expected, but when Yarne started to get beat down by the sheer number of comments made, Kjelle stepped in and said they'd done their best on the cooking and she needed to understand that. "At least you did the cooking yourselves instead of leaving it up to someone else," Panne replied, a thoughtful look on her face as she spoke. "Even if it all could be better, I can't fault you for trying your best."
"I think it's all great," Ribbon added, trying to be helpful in the situation, but it came off like she was just trying to be contradictory to her mother's words and she quickly silenced herself to keep picking at her food.
Between appetizers and the actual dinner being served, Panne went into the kitchen and came back with several glasses of a dark wine, which she proceeded to set down on the table in front of the adults in the room. "This is a traditional wine that was made twelve years ago, sold this year to commemorate the year of the rabbit. Laguz Gardens, that's the brand, it's meant as a yearly specialty for the different cultures who take pride in their year. The taguel may be few in number, but plenty of others buy this wine when it's released, but I wasn't going to let a meal in this year of blessings go without a glass shared between us all." As she was speaking, she'd sat down and raised her glass in a toast. "To all of us and the growth and blessings we'll experience this year."
The others raised their glasses as well, Ribbon raising a glass of water to be a part of things, and after clinking them together all around everyone took at least a sip of what they'd been offered. It seemed that the only person who actually enjoyed what they were drinking was Panne herself, as Ricken's whole face soured at the taste, while Kjelle had to pull her glass away from her lips after that sip to grimace, and Yarne was so concerned about the fact that he'd be driving later that he couldn't bring himself to take any more than the single sip. "Does she expect us to drink all of this?" Kjelle whispered to him, holding her glass out like it was filled with poison. "It tastes like—"
"Might I recommend tasting it with juice mixed in, if the earthy flavor is too much for you? We have several juices in the fridge if you'd like to try it that way." Already having half-downed her glass, Panne gave Kjelle a smile before getting out of her chair again anyway. "I'll make the decision for you and go get something, I understand that it can be too much for people not used to its flavor."
"—er, sure, but I don't know how that's going to fix it tasting like medicine. Adding juice is just going to make it taste like medicine in juice." Still, with no intention on causing drama, Kjelle took what was offered to her and she was pleasantly surprised to find that mixing the wine with a dark red juice of some sort made it taste decent. In fact, she thought it tasted good enough that she was able to drink Yarne's glass on his behalf in the same manner, mixed in a different glass with the same juice.
He was beyond thankful that he didn't have to suffer through drinking the ceremonial wine and face the anxieties about being okay to drive home later, but he knew that Kjelle wasn't really one for drinking a single glass, let alone two. That meant that for the duration of the meal, he was constantly checking on her to make sure she was still feeling okay, questions that she answered as earnestly as she could, telling him that she was beyond fine. Sure enough, aside from some added color in her cheeks there was no real sign that she'd had anything alcoholic at all, which was good given who their dinner company was.
All in all, the meal ended up being a success, with no one starting any fights and no feelings getting too severely hurt. Yarne might not have had to talk to his mom a whole lot during the meal, but when they did speak it was clear that their tensions were subsiding for the moment, as she was being as kind to him as she ever had in his life. "We should do this more often," she declared later in the night, after they had broken into the selection of desserts provided by the younger adults in the group. "I could go for more meals where I only do part of the work."
"It would be nice to have guaranteed family time like this," Ricken agreed, looking at Yarne as if trying to subliminally tell him to agree to the plan currently being crafted. "Make it something we do every month or so, sometimes here and sometimes at your place, just to let us spend time together."
"I…guess it couldn't be that bad," Yarne said after a few moments of silence post-statement from his father. "As long as it goes like this every time, anyway. Tonight's been pretty nice, after all of that cooking we had to deal with. Maybe next time we could go a bit easier on the recipes you send us, Mom?"
Panne opened her mouth to respond, closed it, then looked at Ricken to speak to him instead. "I don't recall sending him any recipes. Did you do that on my behalf?"
"They were ones that you'd mentioned wanting, I knew that if I didn't send them then you'd be upset that they weren't made for you tonight." Awkwardly chuckling at being caught in that position, Ricken ended up having to apologize to Yarne and Kjelle for putting them through all that extra work, even if it had ended up for the best in the end. At that point, Yarne had forgiven the stress of making the food and it didn't seem like Kjelle was really paying attention to what was being said, her attention on a conversation she was concurrently having with Ribbon.
"Anyway, if we do this again in the future, I would be happy with one or two of the things you made for tonight, but making it all over would be quite ridiculous." Panne shook her head, almost like she couldn't believe what she'd just had to clarify. "It would do us a lot of good as a family to meet like this in the future, though. I agree with the idea of guaranteed family time going forward."
"Then it's settled, we'll have to work our schedules out to make sure we can do something like this again regularly, but it'll happen again." Giving everyone a smile as he looked around at them, Ricken seemed to have something else to say but chose not to bring it up, or at least didn't mention it out loud.
However, it did seem like Panne gathered what it was he wanted to say without him saying it, as she rose from the table yet again. "I'm sure that you two are itching to get home," she said in Yarne's direction, while motioning to both him and Kjelle, "so I'll go get the gift that I've put together for you and you can be on your way. All of the dishes can wait until Friday for you to worry about them, there's no need in adding that stress to your plate right now."
It was honestly one of the more thoughtful things his mother had done for him in recent memory, and Yarne was sure to profusely thank her as she was leaving the table, only to shut up and stare in surprise when she came back holding a basket wrapped in cellophane and tied with a rabbit-adorned ribbon. "Mom, that's quite the gift you've got there," he sputtered, realizing that there was always a catch with his mother's kindness. "What are you expecting from us in return?"
"Just a son that I can rely on to be here for me," Panne told him, setting the basket down on the table in front of him and catching Kjelle's attention with it when she did so. "You're welcome to open this now, or when you get home, I know what's inside and how you're going to react to all of it anyway."
"Let's save it for at home then," Kjelle loudly whispered, like she was trying to keep her thoughts secret but wanting them to know at the same time. "I think that it'd be tricky trying to transport this if it's already open."
"Sound logic, I agree with it." Bowing her head, Panne stepped away from the two and waited for them to get up from the table, but when almost a minute passed and they hadn't moved, she went back to her spot and resumed sitting there.
The two didn't leave for nearly another hour, just getting comfortable with talking to everyone else and having a good time that they hadn't expected. When it was time to leave, though, there were hugs shared that were complete surprises, as well as reminders that they would be doing this again in the future shared over and over again. By the time Yarne was behind the wheel of the car, Kjelle in the seat next to him and the basket buckled into the backseat, he felt like they'd been trying to leave forever. "Remind me again why we don't like your parents," Kjelle said upon them driving off, her eyes glued out the window watching as the house faded into the night. "I think I had the best time with them tonight."
"You spent most of the time talking to my sister about gym routines," he reminded her, not wanting to sound like it was a problem that she was talking to Ribbon instead of bailing him out of other situations. "She seemed to really enjoy your perspective on things. I didn't have any idea that she was interested in that sort of thing."
"I don't actually think she is, she didn't seem to care when I'd tell her specifics about repetitions and weights and proper form. You know, the things that I get paid to tell people about at my job." Kjelle huffed, sinking down into her seat a little. "I probably should have charged her for all of that information."
"Charge my sister? She's eleven, Kjelle, she's not going to be doing anything with what you told her for a long time, I don't think." Yarne, despite not being super close with his little sister, couldn't imagine her being the kind of person who would willingly spend time trying to maximize her gains in the gym. "She probably was listening to humor you, that's a trait from our mom, definitely."
"She was pretty into it, just saying." The hmph of indignance that Kjelle gave at that comment was enough to let Yarne know that there was no reason to be picking the fight he was currently getting involved in. If Kjelle wanted to believe that a little girl who cared more about being cool and popular was interested in going to the gym to better herself, then that was what she was going to be allowed to believe.
When they got home, Yarne was ready to go in and go to bed, saving the gift opening for the next day or something. Seeing as Kjelle didn't seem fully with him as they were talking on the ride over, he was sure that she would be fine with whatever he decided to do, and so he carried the basket inside and set it on their table, telling her that he was changing into his pajamas and going to bed, since he had work in the morning and all. What he expected was her to somewhat acknowledge what he'd said, give him space until he was curled up for sleep, then join him in the bed.
What he got was her following him into the bedroom, watching as he took his pants off in exchange for his pajama pants, then pushed him backward onto the bed without so much as a warning the moment he didn't have any pants on at all, him yelping when he thought he'd fallen out of slipping on his pants leg or something. "You and I both know you're not going to actually sleep with anything on down there," she told him, climbing up on top of him before he could fully recognize what was going on. "Let's just cut to the chase and get you exactly how you like sleeping, shall we?"
His mouth opening but no sounds coming out, Yarne watched as she crawled over him, until she was laying on his abdomen with her hands clawing at the buttons of the shirt he'd chosen to wear. "W-where did this come from?" he asked, his voice small compared to usual. "This isn't like you, Kjelle, it really isn't."
"I think we both know where it came from, those glasses of wine your mom gave me were really good once we started mixing them. You didn't think that I was just drinking the juice straight after the first two, did you?" Her hands clumsily got one of the buttons undone, then another and another, until she had all of Yarne's chest exposed and she laid her face down on it, the heat of her flushed cheeks radiating straight onto his skin. "I'm not big on drinking, but this? This is the best I've ever felt while doing it."
"You're not going to try anything, are you?" he meekly squeaked out, eyes widened as she flipped her head so that the other cheek was nuzzling right over his heart. "I'm not going to let you try anything, if that's what you're planning."
She was silent for a moment, before lifting her head and sliding her body up further against his, making sure to press it into all of the parts she possibly could, until her face was staring right into his. "I didn't want to do much else beyond rip your shirt off of you, which I kind of already did, so…"
They stared at each other, him not sure what he wanted to say to that and her so focused on looking into his eyes that she didn't seem to be thinking about what she wanted to say either. It was almost as if she was looking deeper into him than he'd ever felt her look, and when she leaned down with her lips slightly parted he barely had time to react but met her in a similar way, so that when they connected it was immediate sparks between them. They'd kissed before, naturally, and passionate kisses weren't ever out of the question, but there was something unreal about the kiss they shared right then, something that went beyond the usual kisses they had.
He could taste the wine and juice on her breath as they pushed and pulled each other further into the kiss, her grinding herself against him as hard as she could to try and make things more intense, while he was left processing it all and wondering where else this was meant to go. When the lip-biting started, as a moment for a breath but also as a way to make him feel even more flustered and aroused by what she was doing, there was a split second where Yarne was faced with the possibility that this wasn't where she intended on stopping and that he was going to have to face that without fear, without trepidation, without the anxieties that usually came with that sort of thing.
But right as he was starting to grow comfortable—and confident—in his ability to do everything he could right then, the fireworks seemed to fizzle out as Kjelle pulled herself back, a clarity in her eyes that hadn't been there before. "That was fun," she murmured, allowing herself to slide back down so that she was laying her head on Yarne's chest again, "but I don't know if I can go any further right now. I'm…really tired, actually." As if on cue, she yawned once she'd finished speaking, her eyelids starting to flutter closed. "You won't mind if I sleep here, will you?"
If all she'd done was crawl on him and lay down, he would've been inclined to let her try, but Yarne knew that he wasn't going to be able to stay there for very long after what had just happened. "Can I finish getting ready for bed first?" he blurted out, realizing far too late how rude what he was saying sounded, but she didn't seem to mind as she rolled off of him, the last sign of their amorous exchange being the way her hand brushed against his jaw and felt light and dainty in how her fingertips touched him. That did not help matters in any way, and he sat up, looking at her and how she was in the process of curling up under her half of the blanket, still wearing her clothes from going out.
"If this happens again, I hope you didn't have half a bottle of wine beforehand," he said to her as he got out of the bed, her barely responding with a noise that let him know she'd heard him, if only just. "I don't think it would have been as nice if you'd kept going while you're like this. You just aren't really you right now."
With that being said, and possibly disregarded depending on how much she was actually listening to him, he headed off to the bathroom to finish getting himself prepared for bed, including a long moment of him staring into his reflection wondering if he really had just experienced all of that. The getting pushed down into the bed was one thing, the being climbed over another, but it was a rare moment when that much sexual energy was being thrown his way out of the blue, and while he wasn't a fan of what he assumed had brought it around, he wasn't going to pretend like he hadn't been incredibly turned on by it all. There was only the problem now that she likely wouldn't remember a thing about it come morning, with how much wine she'd admitted to drinking, which meant that their infrequent night of almost-passion would have to live on exclusively in his mind.
Just to make sure, when he left the bathroom he did call out and ask her what she was thinking about what had happened, but there was no response at all as she'd already fallen asleep. He checked that the door was closed tight, opening and closing it several times until he was satisfied, turned off the bedroom light, and tucked himself properly into his side of the bed.
"Even when you've had far too much to drink, I still love you," he whispered into the darkened room, knowing that his ears were the only ones to hear the words. "Next time, though, there better not be a reason for us to hesitate about things."
All he got as an answer was the sound of her breathing, which was better than nothing at all, but left much to be desired, exactly like what had unfolded did.