I skipped Saturday to deal with some personal matters, but here's the next chapter my dudes, enjoy.

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"Annnnnnnnnnd there."

Tato stepped back, smiling proudly as he successfully stacked the finally card on his house of cards. Mono hit the timer.

"One minute and fifty six seconds. That's should be a record dude."

"Can I destroy it yet?"

Taylor had been wanting to make the house tumble the entire time but he didn't, which was surprising.

"No."

Tato glared at Taylor, then Taylor smiled, and blew at the card house, knocking it over. Tato stared, then immediately jumped over the table to tackle Taylor who was cracking up.

"Guys- you're gonna get us kicked out."

It was almost two days later after Monos meeting with Six, and they seemed to get along decently. She was still quiet but more comfortable with them. So, Mono had the bright idea of asking her to hand out after school. They set the meeting place in a cafe inside the mall a few blocks from school.

Mono as he waited for her, had to duck under a flying hand from Tato as he tried to back hand Taylor.

"Guys chill-!"

"No!"

----

Six was nervous. She never really hung out with people so this would be the first for her. As she found the cafe she was extremely confused to see an all out world star brawl going on between Tato and Taylor, and Mono just looked like a tired father with his crackhead kids.

When Mono noticed her standing there he turned red and pulled Tato off of Taylor, making them notice her as well.

"Oh shi- Hiii."

Tato smiled and waved, and Six raised a brow which they couldn't see because of her hair. But she waved back, taking a seat right beside Mono who turned even redder, clearing his throat.

"About what you just seen. Pretend nothing happened." Mono said rubbing the back of his neck.

She snorted a little bit and Tato picked up the cards. Mono didn't really have much of a plan as to what to do for the rest of the day, so they just ordered some food and talked for a while, Six listening to everyone and occasionally smiling when she found something funny.

-----

Things were going well enough, then suddenly someone slid into the booth next to Tato, making him squeak in surprise.

"How's it goin sweet potato?"

"Geez! Next time warn me before you spawn into existence Sam!"

Sam laughed, fixing her gaze on Six.

"Who's this?"

"Sam this is Six, she's new to the group." Mono introduced.

Sam was an old friend of theirs who had switched schools at the beginning of the year because she left entire rolls of soaked toilet paper in the bathroom stalls and clogged the pipes, flooding the entire downstairs floor. School was delayed for a week to fix the problem, and Sam went down in history for the worst student ever.

But she was pretty cool when you got to know her. Sarcastic and whitty, sometimes way too honest. She spent most of her time skipping her classes at her new school and hanging around the mall.

"Nice to meet ya, but I'm surprised you're hanging out with these trouble makers." Sam joked, making Mono roll his eyes.

"Pretty sure the only trouble we got into was mainly because of you."

"That's right, and you're about to get into more."

All four of them looked at Sam confused.

"Theres a building near the edge of the city and I think you'll wanna see it."

"Why would that get us in trouble?" Mono asked skeptical.

"Because technically it's illegal to step foot on the property, but I found a way."

"Of course you did.."

Much to his surprise Tato was the first to agree.

"I'm fine with it."

"Yeah me too, I miss getting into trouble." Taylor said, looking at Mono who then looked at Six.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea guys."

But Six looked at him, then smiles mischievously.

".....Oh boy.."

And that's how Mono found himself on the other side of the city jumping over a fence.

"Did you need some hel-."

Mono turned to help Six over the fence but was surprised when she dropped down nearly silently beside him.

"... Nevermind, seems like you've done this before."

She just smiled and gave his head another pat which gratefully went unnoticed by the others who were already ahead of them. Jogging to catch up, Mono and Six crouched down beside Sam as she picked the lock on a big metal door. It didn't take even a minute before the lock clicked and fell off, and Sam pushed the door open and lf them inside the building.

It was cold inside, not much sunlight reached where it was because of the leaves blocking the windows, and there was dust covering the dirty floor. Sam led the way up a metal staircase and once they reached the op, about four stories up, it became clear why Sam brought them here.

"Woah...."

Mono looked around the room. Half of the rooftop was broken away, leaving an open balcony type space, while the other half was covered and had old furniture and tables and chairs strewn about.

"Ok sick freaking hang out spot?!" Tato ran to one of the couches, pulling off the dusty plastic cover before collapsing onto it.

"This really cool, I can bring my old tv, if we have power we could set it up." Tay offered, sitting at one of the tables.

"Theres probably a generator somewhere in the basement."

"Wait a second what about getting caught?"

Sam just laughed, ignoring Monos question.

"This isn't even the best part though."

Sam walked to the balcony and pointed down, the others gathering around and looking, finding a little path.

"That leads to a little lake if you follow it. It's too cold lately for it but once it snows it'll freeze over."

All in all the place was awesome, and so the five of them set to work fixing it up a little bit. Mono was in the middle of moving one of the tables when Six tapped his shoulder. She made a shushing gesture and grabbed his hand, pulling him with her out of the room.

----

Leading Mono down the stairs a flight, Six showed him what she'd found in one of the rooms. It was a small music box, about as big as her hands, and when she opened it the box played a light tune.

The tune was different then anything Six had heard before, soft, melodic yet....sad.

She don't know why but it calmed her somehow. As the two of them listened to it play, Six didn't notice just how close Mono was until the last note rung out, hanging in the air. Six looked up at Mono, and Mono looked back.

No words needed to be said because their gazes held an individual sadness that neither could place. Maybe there was more to this boy than she thought...

"Am I .. interrupting something?"

Sam's voice snapped them out of whatever trance they were in, and they turned to see her leaning against the doorframe with a smirk.

"U-uhm no. No. Nothing." Mono stuttered out. Six felt her cheeks warming up, and she didn't like that.

"Well come on then lovebirds, Tato wants to hang some lights he found."

Sam was still smirking as she walked away, and Mono awkwardly glanced at Six before following. Walking after Mono Six had a slight frown on her face.

-----

Well that was awkward. Even worse because Mono knew eventually Sam would tell Tato or Taylor and he'd never hear the end of it. Still that moment of awkwardness passed as they enjoyed their time hanging the lights up around the room. Taylor did in fact find a generator in the basement of the building and ran the power cord up to you top floor, plugging it in. The room lot up with soft yellow light and everyone settled around on the couches.

They talked for some time before one by one falling asleep. Tato fell asleep first, somehow being awake one second then snoring lightly the next. Sam was laying on the floor curled up in a ball for some reason and Taylor was face planted into one of the couches, which made Mono slightly worried he suffocate. Six fell asleep as well, head on Monos shoulder which he didn't mind one bit. Mono fell asleep last, and a few hours passed that way...

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It was dark when Six woke up, blinking for a while trying to get her bearings before remembering what happened. She jumped to her feet, panicked slightly. She wasn't supposed to be gone this late.

Mono woke up from her sudden movement, looking around confused.

"Six...? You alright?"

She shook her head and ran from the room, determined to get home fast as possible. She felt so stupid, she should have just went home. What if ...what if something happened?  What if her mother was angry? She usually got pretty pissed off when Six stayed out late. Especially when her mood changed..

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"Six wait!"

Mono called after her, but she was out the room faster than he'd ever seen her. The others woke up, just as confused as Mono was.

"What happened?" A groggy Tato asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know she just...ran off? She looked panicked."

"Well go after her Mono what are you doing-?!" Sam pointed to the door, and Mono mentally face palmed.

"Right-!."

He ran after her, not sure why he didn't do that originally. She was already over the fence when Mono ran out the door.

"Six wait up!"

She didn't even look back. Mono climbed the fence and followed her, but she was so much faster than him. She reached the bus stop they'd gotten out at, and Mono finally cought up, breathing hard.

"Holy..christ. why do you run so fast."

She looked around for the bus, checking the time on her phone. She still looked panicked so Mono put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

"Hey hey, calm down..what's wrong? Did something happen?"

She shook her head and hugged herself. Mono felt worried, wondering if maybe he did something wrong? But what..?

"Six..."

"My mom.."

Her voice was a little shaky as she spoke, not looking at Mono. He stayed silent, waiting for her to keep talking.

----

Six seriously debated telling him what was going on but then again he and his friends had been so nice and welcoming for her, something she wasn't used too.

"...."

"She was in an accident...a year ago..damaged her up pretty bad. I was supposed to be home hours ago but..."

She wiped away the stray tear that escaped her eye, hugging herself tighter. She didn't hear Mono say anything, but stiffened when she suddenly felt his arms around her. Once again, no words were said. He just hugged her and for Six, that as good enough. They hugged until the bus showed up, Mono finally pulling away.

"Did you want me to come with you or.."

She shook her head.

"Go back..I'll be ok.."

He nodded, waiting for her to get on the bus before doing exactly that and going back.

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"Wait she did what-" Sam couldn't finish her sentence, too busy trying to breath after laughing.

"She patted him like a dog dude!" 

"Bruh what the fu-"

Tato and Taylor had spilled the beans to Sam about the little hallway incident, and they all agreed to call him puppy from now on, just to make him mad.

"You think he's gonna be a furry one day?" Sam asked, and Taylor snorted.

"Definitely."

"Don't tell him that though." Tato said after he finished laughing.

"No we'll just make him a fur suit for his birthday-" Sam joked, making them all laugh again.

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The furry joke is an ongoing thing, if you know you know. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, 1980 words dude. I'm typing more and more 😭.

Anyway look for the next chapter tomorrow hopefully, I'll keep trying to do daily. If I gotta miss it'll only be a day at most so yeah.

Stay safe, drink water, and get some rest. Mono out.