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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 zippers and rustling fabric woke you, the sun already climbing the morning sky. The heat burning away the nights chill, but not the lingering tension from it.

Squinting your eyes open to the reality you'd been dreading, your met with the two boys packing their stuff into their bags. Karasu neatly folded his clothes with practiced precision, putting everything away nicely. Where as otoya could be seen just throwing his clothes in the duffle, smushing down what couldn't fit.

"Morning." Karasu spoke first, though otoya didn't miss a beat and quickly repeated after him.

"Morning." Nobody was in the mood to talk, the weight of unspoken thoughts settled between the three of you like the last traces of the night before. You sit up━pushing the blanket off that had strangely been straightened around you on the side karasu slept on.

"You need help or what stupid?" Your raven haired friend looked over his shoulder to the stuggling otoya.

"No?" He practically punches the loose ends of his clothes into the bag in attempt to make it fit. "See?"

"Yeah..I definitely am seein something..stupid." Karasu mumbles under his breath, drawing an annoyed scoff from eita--who immediately slings his bag over his shoulder and slips through the zipper to leave. The ravenette only huffed, zipping his duffle with a clenched fist.

The two of you listen to his footsteps fade outside the tent, the voices of the parents greeting him. The next few minutes passed in a blur, the tent getting taken down and the guys soon climbing into the rv to leave. Eita drove with you on the way there and with karasu on the way back, but even if that weren't always the case you felt that he would've done that this time regardless.

Stashing your stuff into the backseat, you caught a familiar gaze from the white haired boy in the window. His eyes lingering on you for a moment to long until you noticed him--his eyes then roaming around outside to play it off. But they locked back onto you as you hopped in the car. None of you enjoyed fighting, it never felt right. But nobody wanted to be the first to do anything about it.

Each of you were a bit immature. That came with the territory of being a stupid teenager who surrounded themselves with two people who were even less mature than the first. The true definition of a band of losers.

But now it was over, sitting in you car alone--for the first time in days, truly alone.

And that was how you remained for a week. Yes, a week in itself isn't necessarily looong. But for you three, who've been together since second grade, sleepovers at least once a week and rarely seen apart in public━━it was long.

And unsurprisingly, someone took notice. Karasus mom had always loved you, so much so she 'joked' that she hoped you'd one day marry her son.

𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐎𝐌

Hi sweetie
Come out to the car.

As much as you loved her, it was 7 pm and that was much to ominous for your liking. What's with old people and their way of texting.. But nonetheless you obliged, not bothering to question why she was in your driveway. Once out the front door--you weren't overly thrilled to see the two heads in the backseat.

Her sweet smile from the drivers seat did the opposite of calming your nerves as she motioned her head to the back. Meaning you'd sit in between them, the usual, yes. If you weren't driving then the three of you always sat in the back, that was just the way it was.

And it was only you that could drive anyway, as not only otoya couldn't get his license but karasu was boycotting it until eita passed. Karasu climbed out letting you squeeze into the middle seat without a word. The second you clicked your seatbelt, Karasu's mom pulled out of the driveway like she hadn't just assembled a ticking time bomb of tension in her backseat.

The ride was quiet-Karasu staring out the window, Otoya fidgeting with his sleeve. The awkwardness settles over all three of you like an old, unwanted blanket. She looked in the rear view mirror and sighed, drumming her fingers on the wheel. "Listen, I don't know what's going on with you three, and frankly, I don't care."

"You're all mopey and miserable, and I refuse to let my favorite trio of idiots waste away after all this time." Her frown grew serious. She was over the moon when she heard her son made a new friend, it was hard for him to step out of his comfort zone----and hearing her boy talk about someone besides otoya made her heart beat with a newfound intensity. She was proud.

And she knew his habit of hiding his feelings to protect himself as well. If she had to step in to fight for you, she would fight tooth and nail to keep you.

She had also come to learn about otoya the same way, as he lived with his grandparents. The two having been friends since kindergarten, just two years before they met you, karasu had spent that time unintentionally rubbing his bad habit onto him.

Nobody spoke up, unable to deny her words. She hummed in response to the silence, pulling up to a stoplight her eyes flicked back to you three once more. "You guys can either go in there and have fun━or you can continue to sulk." Making a sharp left, pulling into a parking lot, flashing neon lights reflecting off the windshield--you three finally look to see where you were.

Karasu immediately sat up straighter. "No way."

"Yes way." She countered, "Look I get it. But do me a favor, go in there, have fun, talk--don't talk I don't care. At the very least just make sure otoya doesn't 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗞."