Moments

Standing in his kitchen, Christian Hearst did not expect his niece to come through the door on such a lovely Saturday moring with her expression somewhere between fearful, tearful and angry.

"My Dad is going to kill Kieth!" she exclaimed. The door hadn't even closed behind her.

Chris looked up from the pancake batter at the young woman. "Don't be silly; Izzy banned guns from the house."

"Well, he's going to kill him with something," she said, flopping down onto the stool at the kitchen island. Head fell on her folded arms and she groaned loudly. It was rare she ever got worked up, but whenever she did, only her Uncle Christian was allowed to see it. "Keith told him that he wanted to take me to Ireland."

Christian sucked thoughtfully on his spoon. "I hear Ireland is nice this time of year..."

"You're not helping," she growled, looking up at her uncle from under her hair. "You know how Dad gets about men."

Christian smiled thoughtfully. "I know how your Dad used to be about men..." After another glare from his niece, he smiled sheepishly and placed his mixing bowl down and sat on the stool opposite her. "Look, your Dad loves you more than life itself. You're his little girl. He knows your brothers can handle themselves, because boys don't break as easily. He doesn't want to see you hurt. When you were little and just learning to walk, whenever you tripped or stumbled he would come rushing over and check to make sure you hadn't hurt yourself." With a small smile, Chris reached over and brushed the soft hair atop Lina's head. She still had her face buried in her arms, but he could tell she was listening. Her anxiety was getting the better of her, and Chris knew how her emotions could affect her speech. "Roo has never wanted to see you cry, and he knows how some men can be. He thinks that if he scares the guys enough, they'll never want to make you cry either."

"But Keith's not like that..." she mumbled.

"And Roo will forever remind him of that. You two can run away to Ireland and get married. You can stay in New York and raise a family here. Whichever you guys go and do, Roo will forever remind Keith that he's never to make you cry. If Keith can remain faithful and strong to you throughout all your Dad can throw at him, then - he might not show it, but - Roo will accept him."

"I hope you're right..."

Christian smiled brightly. "I watched my Dad do it with Izzy. I watched Jon do it with Ainsley. He does it in a completely different way, but you can see David doing it with Daphne even to this day."

With a little smile on her face, Lina lifted her head to look at her uncle. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why are you making pancakes in your underwear?"

Christian smiled knowingly, and motioned his head towards his bedroom. "You do pick your moments to come and visit me, Lina."

Chilly

Did winter have to be so damn cold?

He was standing with his hands buried in the warmth of a pair of gloves, fingers wrapped around the thick paper cup of hot, steaming coffee. Shoulders haunched in the thick winter coat as if it would help provide him with some kind of warmth. Feet stamped in the snowy ground, trying to keep his toes warm.

And Lake was dancing.

Freaking Fairy.

Raleigh didn't handle the cold very well. He should have at least built up some tolerance to it - schooling in New York should have reminded him that winter's were freezing and the summer's so hot one could strip down to barely nothing. But, no, that little detail had been tossed out the window in favour of just being back in New York, instead of the dreary little town in the middle of nowhere that he had once called home. He frowned at his young friend who was blissfully enjoying the snowfall while they waited for the queue to actually reach the interior of the building they were standing in line outside of.

"I told you that you should have just let me order the damn thing online," Raleigh mumbled around the rim of his cup. "If I freeze to death here, I'm coming back to haunt you."

Lake stopped his spinning on the spot and turned around to face his tall companion. "If you freeze, I'll freeze too!"

"Well, I'll haunt that big lug of a Russian you call a boyfriend," Raleigh replied with a smug grin. "And don't say you'll haunt Eli, because you will anyway - and Zak, and Martha. Hell, you'll haunt every person you've ever come in contact with."

Both being geeks, the pair were waiting in line for the release of a game they were both waiting on. Normally, Raleigh would just order what he wanted online, but Lake had insisted that they buy it the moment the store opened. Apparently, there were quite a few other people with the same intentions.

"I think I'll just haunt this store," Lake said thoughtfully. "As punishment for making us wait."

"Big corporations enjoy watching the little man suffer."

They'd been in the queue for well over two hours by the time they got inside the big double doors and into the warmth. At least they managed to buy the game before the store sold out. It was now later than Raleigh wanted it to be. The pair had told Elliot they'd meet him much earlier than the time they did arrive.

The first thing Raleigh did when they got into the warm little cafe was scoot right up close to Elliot and wrap his arms around him, chuckling as he heard the younger male complain - and then squeak as cold fingers found his warm skin. "You're colder than ice!" Elliot exclaimed, batting Raleigh's fingers away from him, but pulled the long arms around his shoulders, not wanting him to not be touching him.

Raleigh grinned, and leaned in to press cold lips against Elliot's warm pair. "But you're all warm," he purred against those lips. Raleigh often held back when it came to a public display of affection, but the two of them had been getting closer over the past few weeks that he was starting to show it a little more beyond the closed doors of his aprtment.

"Awh, you two are in the cute couple stage," Lake announced from across the table, watching his friends kissing like it was the cutest thing in the world. Even cuter than kittens nuzzling babies.

Nobodies

Elliot was sitting in the park, watching the birds fighting over the scraps of food people had thrown for them. It was late-afternoon on a school day, but Elliot just didn't feel able to face anyone, despite having dressed in his school uniform. His phone had been buzzing with the constant arrival of text messages he wasn't going to read, and the phone calls he wasn't going to answer - so he just turned it off.

As he was staring into space, he could hear someone walking along with the familiar crunch of teeth biting into an apple. There was the almost inaudible jingle of music playing through headphones as the person came closer. He looked at the ground when the shadow came over him, not wanting to look up at someone living their life in whatever way they pleased. The shadow stayed over his body for a while, the person not moving. Gritting his teeth and preparing to tell whomever it was to leave him alone, what he saw as he looked up was sunlight through lightly curly red hair and brown eyes focused on him. He was chewing thoughtfully on an apple and carefully inspecting Elliot with his eyes.

"Hey..."

"What fell off the edge of your world?" he asked. He didn't sound patronizing, or mean. He actually sounded much more concerned. "You don't look very good."

Elliot hadn't seen Raleigh since their kiss outside the school a few weeks ago. They'd exchanged numbers, but Elliot was too afraid to actually ring him. Raleigh had sent a few messages his way, but there seemed like nothing was actually happening. Maybe Lake was right - Raleigh wasn't his type. Even though he didn't know what his 'type' was. When he didn't give the older male an answer, he just went and plopped himself down on the bench right next to him and took another large bite of his apple.

Turning the fruit in his hand, Raleigh began talking. One leg was placed atop the other, and his free arm stretched out along the top of the bench, right behind Elliot's head. "I've got this story in my head, but I just can't seem to get it down on paper. Now, I have the characters planned, and the way the relationship is going to turn out, but I just don't have the right way to explain what goes on between them until that critical moment where they crash together and make themselves whole." He took another bite, and glanced at Elliot to see what he was doing. "See, there's this age gap, and neither is sure just what to do about it. Should they get together and see what happens, or should they wait a few years for when age doesn't seem like such a big gap? There's also the fact that the younger one isn't completely sure of himself in the first place, while the older guy has his whole life already planned out, he just isn't seeing anyone at the moment."

"Your story sounds a lot like us."

"Hmm...I did wonder where I got the idea." He shifted on the seat and dropped his leg to the floor, resting his elbows on his knees. "Anyway, the older one decides that maybe whatever connection they had at the start just wasn't meant to be. Yeah, the kid is cute and a really good kisser, but is it really worth it? The kid has something missing inside. Like his heart's not all there. A piece of him walked away, and he's not sure he can follow it."

"And your point?"

Raleigh smiled that oh-so-beautiful smile and flicked hair out of his eyes. "If he stands still long enough, someone's going to come from the other direction."

"But you weren't looking for me."

Raleigh pulled his phone out of his pocket and flashed the message at Elliot. It read: "OMGOMGOMGOMG!!! HAVE YOU SEEN ELLIOT!?"

"Lake?"

"Yep." He pushed the sleek black iPhone back into his pocket. "But I'm not looking for you - I'm looking for muse. I've just happened to come in the other direction." He took the final bite of his apple, and expertly tossed the core into the nearby trash can. "I thought I could just let you walk on, but I guess I'm just not that capable of letting you go easily, even if I thought it would be for the better."

"So what are you asking me?" Elliot asked, looking over at the older man, trying not to let that smile melt him the way it was doing.

Raleigh leaned over, and just close enough to brush his lips over Elliot's. "Go out with me. You don't have to tell me how you lost your heart. I just want to at least try to find it for you again." His fingers curled under Elliot's chin, tilting his head upwards a little, and he smiled, watching as it infected Elliot and those frowning lips twitched in the semblance of a smile. "I'll also stop with the Kingdom Hearts references."

The Axel to my Roxas

A.N. Raleigh. "RAW-lee". This character has been in creation for eons now, I've just never gotten into his head properly. I do now (: Which means he is totally able to come into existence. Hopefully, I'll try to get TG back running with him too. It'll give us all a reason to start posting there again x) Basically, he's an ex-student of Constance. He was in his last year when little Lake was in his first. I don't care if the PB looks older xP The long hair just did it for me. I hope you like him, Cali, because he's made aaaaallll for your little Elliot.





Lake sat on the school fountain grinning like an idiot. He was excited. He was more than just excited, but he couldn't think of a word to describe just how excited he was, so he just settled for plain old excited. He held his phone in both hands against his lap, and kept looking to it, waiting for a text message that would announce his friend was coming.

Instead Elliot just showed up.

"I passed Dimitri on the way here. He said to be careful," the younger male said as he came up to where Lake was sitting. Lake merely beamed up at him and hopped down from the edge of the fountain.

"I have someone you need to meet."

Elliot frowned. Ever since Lake had dragged out the information about Trace, he'd almost been relentless in trying to find someone to replace the hole in his chest. Lake had always claimed that he knew Elliot was gay, but he was never so sure. Trace had been...special. Really, he didn't think any other male would compare to him. He was alright just living his life without any romantic complications. Lake, however, wasn't going to give up easily. He'd even set Dimitri on to find some local gay (and the odd few bi ones) males for him to meet.

No one measured up.

Lake tilted his head to look up at Elliot's face where he was frowning at the ground. "I don't think he's your type. I just really, really want you to meet him." He grinned happily and grabbed Elliot's hand, dragging him towards the main entrance of the school.

When the reached the big gates, Lake finally released his friend's hand. Leaning against the wall was a tall, lithe man with long red hair. One leg was crossed over the other and a pair of glasses were perched on his nose. He was reading a book. No ordinary book though.

Manga.

Lake stood there with a huge grin on his face, waiting for the man to notice him. Brown eyes flickered from the pages to the teenager and then back again. Elliot saw a grin curl on his lips. "You're grinning like an idiot again," he said.

"Awh, Rawrie, don't be mean." Lake pouted at him. "I brought my friend to meet you."

"Well, I didn't think you'd just drag some random person here," he replied, lowering the book and taking a look at Elliot who stood next to Lake sheepishly. "Although, knowing you, you might have done." He glanced down the long driveway. "Where's that big Russian thing?"

"Dimitri said he didn't want to come because he was worried he'd get jealous and try and beat you up," Lake replied. "I don't think I should have told him about us."

At that, Elliot nearly choked. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

The older man smiled, chuckling softly. It sounded almost musical. "I'm Raleigh. I used to be a student here. I was a fifth year when Lake first came to this school. He smiled like an idiot back then too." At that comment Lake pouted again. "He was failing English Lit and I was asked to give him a hand. In retrospect I really should have declined."

"Can we explain this over the soda you're going to buy us, Rawrie?" Lake asked.

Another musical chuckle, And Raleigh stuffed the manga book into his satchel. "Come on then," he said with a flick of his head. He had to flick it again to get his long hair to go back to its original position - or close enough to it.

The walked to a nearby coffee shop, and Raleigh bought Lake his soda, an apple juice for Elliot and a cappuccino for himself. They sat at a table in the upstairs section where they were alone. Raleigh flicked the sugar packet while he resumed his explanation of how he knew the energetic Lake.

"Basically, I don't think he concentrated at all on anything I tried to teach him."

Lake beamed at that. "Rawrie was my first ever real, proper crush. I'd never really thought on it before, but I really, really, really liked Rawrie. But I hadn't told anyone I was gay. I was thirteen, I didn't really know much about my sexuality, let alone other people's. He was eighteen, and really cute."

"I was a bit of a...flirt in school. To anyone. His brother found out that I was tutoring Lake and told me not to try 'anything funny' with him. I guess River was just worried I'd give Lake the wrong impression, or turn him gay. Not that it mattered much anyway. No amount of me non-flirting was going to stop River's little brother from finding me amazingly attractive." He grinned and flicked a few strands of flaming red out of his eyes.

"So what happened?" Elliot asked, getting quite into the story.

"He told me he liked me," Raleigh said simply, stirring the sugar into his drink. "Lake was hard to dislike, and I couldn't help but like him back. I guess you could say I was Lake's gay-guru."

"And that's why Dimitri might get jealous? Because you two used to be..."

"We never dated," Lake shot in before Elliot could finish what he was about to say. "Rawrie and I barely actually did anything."

At that, Raleigh shrugged. "He was thirteen, and I didn't think either of us were ready for a relationship. I just helped Lake figure out who he was."

"So that's why Dimitri is jealous? You being his first crush and the one to help him out?" Elliot asked, sipping at his juice. "But are you gay?"

Raleigh smiled. He had an intoxicating smile. He glanced at Lake, and then back to Elliot, but he didn't say a word. Instead, he picked up the satchel and rummaged through it. He pulled out a little illustrated book and pushed it over to Elliot. One the cover was two beautiful drawn men surrounded by roses and thornes.

Elliot picked it up and flicked through it. Lake leaned over and looked in. "Its shounen-ai...You give people gay love boks just to say you're gay?" Elliot asked, passing the book to Lake once he was done glancing through it.

Again, Raleigh chuckled. "Another reason why Lake liked me; I'm a huge manga and anime fan. I was at a convention once and he tackled me when he spotted me there. I was talking to an artist and suddenly knocked over by a flying Lake. I guess we're just talking you in circles, huh, Eli?" He took the book from Lake just as he neared the end, and Lake whinned about 'getting to the good bit'. "I announced to the whole school on the day I graduated that I was gay. I've since then been drawing and writing, and I sell my books at conventions. Its not the most exciting life, but, meh, I enjoy it."

"And Rawrie writes the best!" Lake announced cheerfully. "See, Elliot, didn't I tell you that you needed to meet him?"

The three of them sat in the coffee shop for what felt like hours. Raleigh bought most of the drinks and snacks for them, although Elliot offered a few times, thinking it was wrong that they abuse Raleigh's generosity. Lake finally announced that it was best they leave when his phone buzzed away. He left the two of them to race off and find Dimitri. He hugged them both tightly when he said goodbye, and the two stood outside the coffee shop watching the fourth year charge down the street.

"He hasn't changed as much as he sounds in his emails..." Raleigh said once Lake had vanished out of sight. "He's matured in text, but not in person." He looked down at Elliot with that intoxicating smile on his face. He'd put his glasses away, and his hair never seemed to want to do what Raleigh wanted it to, no matter how much he flicked it out of his face. "You're a good friend for him, Eli. Down-to-Earth and all. Not to mention you're cute." He started walking, motioning for Elliot to follow him. "He tells me you recently broke up with your...boyfriend? He didn't know what sort of relationship you guys had, and you know how Lake is when he tries to explain something he hasn't got a clue about."

Elliot frowned. "Something...Just wasn't working with us. I loved him, but I'm not sure he loved me the same way, so I thought it best that we should just stay friends. Lake always had it in his head I was gay, but there's only ever been Trace."

"Have you kissed Lake?"

That caught him off guard. Elliot's eyes flew wide open and he stared open mouthed at Raleigh. "Wh-what?"

He grinned. "He sweeps his tongue under yours, doesn't he? Little moans, and if you get him going, he practically shivers."

"Are you sure you guys never did anything?"

Raleigh smiled brightly. "You and Lake aren't compatible. You're both on a similar level. He describes you as the Roxas to his Demyx, and in a way, he's right. While those two characters are cute together, they're not a match that's the most suitable to who they are. In keeping with the Kingdom Hearts metaphors, your Trace sounds more like - perhaps a Saix or Xaldin. You could test the waters with Xemnas, but whichever character he is, Trace isn't Axel."

"You sound like a bigger Kingdom Hearts fanboy than Lake."

"One of my best sellers," he said with a chuckle. "But, do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Elliot frowned. "Sort of."

They'd reached the school gates where Elliot had first met Raleigh all those hours ago. Elliot was about to say his goodbyes when Raleigh leaned in and kissed him. It wasn't hard, nor too soft. His lips were like velvet in the way they moved over Elliot's. His fingers curled loosely around Elliot's wrist, like he wanted to hold onto him, but was allowing him to break free if he wanted. Elliot's blue eyes fell closed as Raleigh deepened the kiss. With no resistance, his other arm slipped around Elliot's waist and pulled him close against his own body.

After what seemed an eternity of amazing kisses, Raleigh let Elliot go, leaving the younger male breathless and unsteady on his feet. "Wha..." was all Elliot could say.

"I've wanted to do that since Lake brought you up here," Raleigh admitted.

Elliot could feel his brain slowly returning to him, and he looked up at Raleigh's face. "He calls you the Axel to his Demyx, doesn't he?"

pee-a-boo

"Peek-a-boo!"

The toddler burst into a fit of giggles as the hands flew away from the young woman's face, revealing her smiling face to her.

"Daffy, it's been scientifically proven that peek-a-boo can harm a child's mental development. You could be mentally scaring Lina for the rest of her life by doing that," said the toddler's father from where he sat on the leather sofa.

Daphne merely pouted, and then turned her attention back to the little girl, repeating the process of hiding her face and revealing it again like it was some kind of magic. After watching it a few times, the little girl began copying her aunt, hiding her face behind her little hands, although she was unable to pronouce the words peek-a-boo. She hadn't said much at all yet, and her parents were getting a little worried.

There was a chuckle from the doorway of the living room. "Don't be silly, Ben. You loved it when you were a kid." His father slipped into the room, watched intently by the little girl sat on his carpet. She seemed extremely interested on the cane he used to support himself to walk, making little motions with her hands to reach out and touch it. Once he'd settled on the sofa next to his son, Lina moved to crawl over to him, her little fingers touching the wood of the cane.

Daphne snickered. "So that's why he's mentally challeneged then."

Reuben frowned at his sister, then turned his attention to his daughter as she silently inspected his father's walking stick. He'd badly broke his left leg about a year ago, and his weak bones hadn't been able to heal the fracture well enough for him to put much of his weight on it. It annoyed Alistar to no end, because it made him look even more like a grandfather than he already was. Two grandkids from his own son, a cane; next he'd be shipped off to an old people's home.

(They were already joking about sending David to one. Bailee had already done an excellent job of providing him with grandchildren.)

Reaching down, Reuben picked up his little girl and settled her on his lap, arms encrircling her protectively. She was his little princess, and no prince charming or evil witch was going to steal her away. It was already apparent that anyone with the intention to date Lina was going to have quite the battle when it came to dealing with her father. While she looked up at her father with big, bright eyes as he picked her up, once she was settled she looked to her grandfather again.

"I wonder what she's thinking about?" Alistar asked, waggling her fingers before her, making her giggle and reach out for them.

"Her Grandpa Morgan doesn't have a walking cane, Starry. You're probably the first person she's seen with one and is working out why," Daphne suggested from her spot on the carpet. She'd been visitin her father's when Rueben had shown up with his little girl. Isobel had taken Dawson and while she felt like she could handle two kids, Roo had offered to take the little girl off her hands so she could focus all her attention on her firstborn who was probably feeling a bit left out since the arrival of Lina. Alistar and David hadn't seen their new granddaughter since her birth. It wasn't their fault, more that they'd been busy, in the hospital with a damaged leg and other such things making it difficult for them to see Lina. This was the first time Lina had seen her other grandfather. It wasn't fair that Morgan was getting all her attention.

Star grinned, holding his cane out to her to curl her fingers around. "Well, I'm glad she's distinguishing me from her other Grandfather."

"Yeah, considering you're both in a relationship with a man. I'll be surprised if she and Dawson don't grow up a little confused about things."

"I happen to like having two Dads," Daphne chimed in.

Reuben smirked. "So do I, but I wasn't born into this crazy family, I married into it."

"You were born my son first, Ben," Alistar added. "Then came David, followed by you marrying my co-worker's daughter."

"I can't believe Mads even let me. I mean, she knew me growing up and she still let me marry her daughter."

"We had bets on whether it'd be Isobel or Christian in the beginning," Al said, a smug smile playing on his lips. "The amount of mother's I had complaining about you with their sons or daughters made me wonder if you'd ever settle down." He smiled at Lina who had decided it would be better to investigate her grandfather's cane by chewing on it. "I'm glad you did. She's really adorable."

Two out of three ain't bad

Tigger drabble!? Oh my...

It used to be the three of them. Sure, they were from different places and had initially grown up seperatly from one another; but now it was different. They were always together somehow. Be it class, band practice, or just generally hanging out. It didn't matter that Pip got that job at the 24-7 store just outside of town which took up all his time - they were still there for him. They'd come and hang out there (much to the manager's displeasure) whenever they could, or they'd find a way to keep in touch with him. They were inseperable, and - or so Tiger had thought - nothing would come between the three of them.

But somehow, when he wasn't looking, other people snuck in a broke up the trio.

Being unable to sleep for immensly long periods of time - and hyperactivity to go with it - Tiger often found himself venture off and finding new and interesting people or things to keep himself amused. It was better than laying on a bed and staring at the ceiling until other people woke up. Sometimes though, staring at the ceiling didn't matter, because Pip was breathing heavily into his ear way he lay next to him, and Tiger was comfortable to just stay there while the sleepover progressed into the main portion of the concept of a sleepover: Sleeping.

Whether or not Cleo was uncomfortable about the whole thing he never said. It wasn't like they had planned it behind his back, and neither did they flaunt it in his face. There was only ever one incident when Cleo was in the same room, and they'd both checked to make certain he hadn't awoken once during the entire thing. Tigger had made all the effort to be extra quiet, which made it seem even sexier. But, worrying over their friend made it so they wouldn't be doing that again while he slept blissfully unaware of what the other two occupants of the room were doing. Pip was always quiet. Some part of Tigger was hoping that sex would bring out his vocal side. Thankfully for sleeping Cleo, it didn't.

The sleepovers were getting very, very infrequent now. Pip's job was making it difficult for him to make it to practices in Tiger's Mom's garage. Oh yeah, and Cleo had someone to keep him occupied too. Lend was nice, and they'd made it clear to him that if he ever dared to hurt Cleo, Pip and Tiger would harvest his organs and do various other nefarious deeds to him. Pip's eyebrows said much worse things that Tiger wouldn't even translate into English.

It was a Saturday, and what used to happen would usually be Tigger would wake Cleo (several times because eight am was too early to get up on a Saturday, as was nine, ten and even eleven am), and they'd either go off and keep themselves entertained, head up to visit Pip at his job, or whatever else teenage boys got up to. However, Cleo was with Lend, leaving Tigger to go off and entertain himself.

Now, at night Tigger was well accustomed to doing such a thing. During daylight hours, however, he was a little more new to the whole concept of sociable hours and suchlike. After a quick stroll through a park and feeding some ducks, he decided that even if it was jsut him, he'd keep one tradition and go and see (read: annoy) Pip.

Being unable to drive due to the fact he could randomly fall asleep at any time without warning, Tigger was forced to take the bus. By forced means going alone, since Cleo usually tagged along and kept him from scaring the other passengers by doing anything remotely Tiger-ish.

Why someone would build an important building such as the Twenty Four Seven Store outside the town was beyond Tiger's comprehension. It was out of the way, and hungry students at four in the morning couldn't exactly walk to it to gather an early morning snack.

Tiger had tried.

The journey, while eventful, didn't last as long on the bus as Tiger had initially thought. He hopped off at the familiar stop, and sauntered over to the store, only to pause just before reaching the automatic doors that would slid open at his presence.

What if Pip didn't want him around?

Sure, there was the usual "Go away" look he gave his dear friend, but Tiger knew that Pip wouldn't survive one week without him. Things now though, were somewhat different. There was a girl - or so he'd managed to work out. They weren't exactly exclusive, but then again, neither were they. There'd never been any form of declaration between the two of them that announced what they were beyond the confines of friends and bandmates. Cleo didn't question it, and Pip certainly wouldn't go about shouting about how he was in a relationship. They didn't even hold hands in public. Beyond what they had done together those few times, there was nothing for Tiger to pin down and call it something more than just sex.

Was that how Pip saw it? Maybe as nothing more than two friends fooling around?

It was a shock to come to such a conclusion, especially with the amount of time Tiger had available to contemplate it. Obviously his nature to never stay focused for more than a few minutes left him unable to really deal with the process of relationships beyond friendships. It sent an eeriee chill up Tiger's spine, and he stood just out of reach of the doors sensor, hands slipping together infront of himself before sliding up his bare arms to hug around himself as he stood there in an old band t-shirt and pair of baggy jeans.

"Those doors open if you walk up to them, not pray to them from a distance."

The voice was familiar. Deep, and inherently grumpy. Pip could be pleased as punch and still sound like he was fed up with it all. spinning on his heel, Tiger's eyes spotted the familiarly tall figure leaning against the wall of the store, smoking drifting up from the cigarette in his hand and from between his lips as he breathed out in one long, slow breath.

There was no stopping the grin that spread across Tiger's face at the sight of his friend, despite how he had been feeling barely moments ago. Bouncing happily over to him, he stood before the other male's taller frame and looked up at him with bright eyes and an even brighter smile.

Pip loomed over him even as he leaned against the wall, eyes glaring gloomily down at him. Eyebrows twitched in a manner that only Pip could do. It was his form of non-verbal communication that few people fully understood. Tiger found it endearing about him. Pip and his eyebrows could probably solve world hunger and bring about world peace - if he could be bothered.

"I was just thinking, that's all," he replied

"Bet that hurt."

"I think all the time, about loads of different things."

"I wouldn't have guessed."

Tiger pouted back up at him, and the eyebrows replied with smugness, even though Pip's main expression was practically unreadable by any other human being. By Delacroix's standards, Pip was a normal human male. People didn't seem to buy Tiger's theory that his eyebrows were his 'gift'.

"I was thinking about you, actually." At this, Pip arched an eyebrow. "And Cleo, and how we don't hang out like we used to. Cleo has LendyWendy, and you've got the store, but I'm still me. I'm not doing much and I don't like feeling like I'm standing still." To emphasize this point, he began hopping from one foot to the other, much to the displeasure of Pip evidently by the way his eyebrows moved in displeasure of the annoying movement. "And while I don't want us to go back to being the way we were, which is totally unfair on both of you, I just kind of miss...well...us."

He'd been staring at Pip's chest while he spoke rapidly, and now took the time to look up to judge whatever - if anything at all - Pip was thinking.

After a few moments of long spanning silence that wasn't broken by the taller male, Tiger opened his mouth again. "Not us us, like with the sex and stuff, which I do kind of miss because its been a while since we've been that close, but us as in you, Cleo and I. Now I don't want you to go dropping everything on that, because its totally not right, and Cleo is really happy with Lend - least I think he is - so you guys shouldn't come rushing to me just because I'm feeling a little bit lonely and left out, but maybe we should sort something out. You know, like re-organise what we're doing to fit some 'us' time back into things." Another pause to take a breath and assess his silent friend. "I miss you."