ONE MONTH HAD passed and unfortunately for the teenagers, the owners of number twenty-three had returned from their vacation. to say pissed off was an understatement. leonora, paloma, isabelle, athena, AJ, and adelaide were lounging around in adelaide's bedroom, brainstorming other ways to get back at number twenty-three. 

elliot and armani however, were downstairs snacking on whatever they could scavenge from adelaide cato's fridge. for some reason today, armani was feeling extra curious, so, as a curious person does, he butts into elliot mayz's life. 

"so!" armani begins, a sly smile plastered on his face. "you and leo, huh?"

elliot nearly choked on the marshmallow he had stuffed into his mouth, he glanced up at armani with furrowed eyebrows. "what do you mean, mani?"

armani dansworth rolled his eyes at elliot's obliviousness and threw a pretzel at the brunet boy. mayz gasped as the salted, snack hit his nose, elliot bent down to pick it up and eat it. grinning over at armani's disgusted face, showing all the chewed food in his mouth. 

"okay, first of all, gross. second of all, you know exactly what i mean."

"i don't think i follow. elaborate?" elliot smirked subtly, loving how frustrated armani got. 

elliot knew armani wouldn't want to dig too deep into his love life because he found it disrespectful. a small amount was acceptable when the other person knew what you were hinting at but since elliot was dragging it on, armani began to grow grumpy. 

"i normally wouldn't say this but, you like leo!" he giggled loudly, silently apologizing to one of the cato wives who sent him a questionable smile. 

"i so do not!"

"you do too! don't try lie, elliot i-don't-know-your-middle-name mayz!"

elliot chuckled softly at armani's stubbornness and wits. armani sighed at the boy's nonchalant attitude and decided to give up. elliot followed the dansworth boy as he trudged up the stairs, muttering curses under his breath.

"hello, ladies!" armani smiled brightly as he entered the room mid-conversation. 

the six girls beamed up at the sweet boy. "hi, mani," they all greeted him kindly. 

"i'm here too!"

isabelle chuckled at elliot's obvious statement. "we didn't ask, mayz!"

elliot's mouth falls open at the comment from leonora valentine. no way she just said that. a soft smile fell onto his face but he grew speechless as he realized he didn't have a comeback. for once in his lifetime of knowing valentine, he didn't have a snarky comeback! was armani right?

•° ✿ °•.

"there is no way i'm falling for val! i mean,
come on. so what if she's got the prettiest
eyes, the softest hair, the most comforting hugs,
and the silliest ideas— oh, shit."
— elliot 

°•. ✿ .•°

"he's speechless!" athena gasps with a shrieking laugh. thankfully for leonora, she and the other five girls had bonded over the past month and now none held any grudges against each other. they were like sisters now.

"no! i'm just. . . thinking!" elliot frowns, searching his brain for a worthy comeback. "fine, maybe i'm speechless." 

leonora let out a large 'HAH!' and stumbled over to stand in front of elliot, poking her fingers into his chest as a gesture of celebration. 

"shut up, val," he muttered while shoving the girl backwards onto the empty beanbag beside paloma. elliot felt a smile tug at his lips so he immediately looked away and looked around the room for a seat. 

"move, it's my seat now," elliot joked, elbowing AJ over. the brunette girl scoffed but shuffled over on adelaide's bed so the boy could sit down.

armani checked the time on his phone, it read: eleven fifty-nine pm. "five, four, three two, and. . . one!"

the eight teenagers groaned loudly as the familiar, trashy music began to flood through the once quiet street. azaria jettars shot up from beside elliot and began to pace around the room, a hand on her chin.

"we need to do something about them!" she whined, tugging at the roots of her hair. 

adelaide nodded in agreement, shooting a look at leonora, who was the only one that wasn't up for arson. all seven teenagers were constantly trying to convince her to burn the house down but leonora wouldn't budge. 

"no!" leonora gasped as she realized all eyes were on her. 

the pleading stares turning into dissatisfied glares. 

"come on, nora!" athena dragged out, pouting up at the girl. "just a little gasoline and a match, and KABLOWEY!"

leonora furrowed her eyebrows at athena's weird choice of words but still shook her head. "that's fucking arson, thena," she argued back.

"well, leo, you're just going to have to accept the fact that arson is the better choice! we've already tried everything."

the valentine girl rolled her eyes at paloma's excuse. she wouldn't have taken the quiet girl to even be considering the options of lighting something on fire.

"fine," leonora began, halting as soon as the group cheered loudly. "i wasn't finished?"

elliot sighed as he noticed the girl begin to grow tired and grouchy. not that she wasn't always like that, he had just recently noticed her going to bed earlier and then if she had to go to bed past midnight, she would begin to get irritable. 

"what if. . ." the seven leaned forward in anticipation. "we hover a lighter under their smoke-detector so their fire alarm goes off? that'll surely shut 'em up for a while!"

the group sighed at her mediocre idea. "whatever, we can try," isabelle spoke up and earned a grateful smile from leonora. 

all eight teenagers excitedly engage in multiple conversations as they buzz with adrenaline. they were finally edging closer to the idea of arson. boy, were they glad.

"mani, addy, got the lighter?" azaria questioned the pair that had volunteered to sneak inside.

both teenagers nodded with wide smiles spread across their faces. "alright, eli and leo: lost, angry couple act, go, go, go!"

leonora nodded firmly, slipping her hand into elliots, completely ignoring the jittery feeling inside of her. the couple made their way to the door and loudly banged on it. 

"can i help you?" a grouchy lady opened the door. 

"yes, ma'am. you see, my silly girlfriend here thinks we're lost—"

leonora was caught off guard by elliot's fake southern accent but hid her laugh with a gasp. "—i don't think we're lost. i know we're lost! my word, jonathan, use your god-damn hollow brain for once!"

"shut your mouth before i—" elliot began to tower over leonora, a stern look on his features that were only lit up by the streetlights. no matter how 'angry' elliot seemed, leonora knew he wouldn't hurt her, however close he was to her, angry or not, she felt safe in a way.

"—before you what, john?!"

elliot braced himself, he wasn't going to literally hit leonora. he was faking it. elliot brought his right-hand up to the side of leonora's left cheek, feeling the coolness of it for the second his hand was there. he then immediately bought his other hand up and high-fived his own hand as leonora over-dramatically threw her head toward the door and stumbled backwards. 

the lady at the door gasped loudly, shooting a glare at elliot who was still in character but deep down shocked that he was that close to actually hurting leonora. 

"what in the hell is wrong with you, boy?!"

elliot laughed lowly, sticking to his angry boyfriend role. "nothing, lady. whatever, we can find our way. let's go, cassie." 

leonora felt elliot's firm grip on her wrist, it didn't hurt her but just for the act, she faked a flinch. the woman standing at the door was unable to form any words and felt like she had some sort of a responsibility that the young girl got hurt. 

by now, armani and adelaide were inside the house and were communicating with the other four through a walkie-talkie. 

isabelle was the first to notice elliot and leonora as she squealed in excitement. "that was such a great show, i would definitely watch that movie!"

"thanks, i got the idea after val forced me to watch brooklynn nine-nine," elliot rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face. 

isabelle widow felt a slight smile make it's way onto her face. the two definitely liked each other but were just completely oblivious to their own feelings. 

"GUYS! GUYS, DO YOU COPY?!"

the three distracted teens walked over to where paloma and azaria were hurriedly answering the nervous yells. "we copy, what's happening?"

"THE GOOSE!" adelaide yelped. "IT FOUND US—" the sound of a goose squeaking had cut off the redhead's panic. 

"oh, no."

seconds later the fire alarm began to blare and adelaide cato and armani dansworth were sprinting from the backyard, panicked faces and all. the eight sprinted into the middle of the street and acted as if they had just woken up from the commotion. 

AJ rested her head on adelaide's shoulder, forcing out a yawn, isabelle, athena and armani all stood together with crossed arms, paloma sat silently on the curb, sipping on her apple juice-box, and elliot, smoothly, wrapped an arm around leonora's shoulders, paying no attention when she glanced up at him.

families piled out of their homes, the air was buzzing with confusion and excitement for restless children who didn't want to sleep. the teens had done something. not anything cool like arson, but at least they made a move.

NOTES:

→ HELLO! IT'S ME AGAIN!! i cannot
believe it's nearly been a year since
i published this fic, woah! (08/28/2021)

→ i am planning on ending season
one very soon (probably one or
two more chapters to go) and then
i'll begin on chapter two :)))

→ i know you all missed ellionora
(well, at least amelie and jo did!) so,
i thought why not give my loves a 
happy, little chapter. before all the 
shit goes down ;)

→ i hope you're all having a good day,
and i hope this chapter was good! it
was 1.5k words and i wrote it instead of 
doing my homework 🤭🤭

→ i appreciate you all, have a great rest
of your day/night. i love u all!!