#nothing can come of nothing; speak again // gavin and hannah

[creatorofclay]

@an-unlikely-duo @gracioustwin

Elijah just shakes his head at his siblings while taking a bite of a carrot, " For shame. "

[wrenarrior]

The Surprise Party

Preparations

Marie frowned at her reflection in the mirror, wondering if she had really gained as much weight as Patricia claimed she had. After a few more moments of close scrutiny, Marie grew weary of the task. Sighing, she sat back down on her bed, staring straight ahead at the blank, white wall. It was the middle of summer yet there was nothing for her to do in the house.

Sure, she had plenty of friends, but it was too early in the morning. And unlike her, some of them were working summer jobs to save up for college. For her and her friends, college was a year away yet Hannah and Lauren already started worrying about how they’d make ends meet. Luckily for Marie, her parents saved a decent-sized college fund for her, which she was very thankful for.

Except for this moment because she was very bored.

“Tonight, we are young So let's set the world on fire We can burn brighter than the sun!”

Holding her phone in her hand, Marie happily listened to her ringtone, waiting for it to near the end before she answered the phone. She would’ve picked it up right away, but that would’ve made her seem desperate for attention or something. Once she had waited a sufficient amount of time, she slid her finger across the screen to answer the call before placing the phone to her ear.

“Marie, it’s Gavin. You’ve got to help me. Are you free right now?”

The small smile on her face broke out into a huge grin at that instant, but Marie did her best to keep her voice calm. “I mean, I was sleeping, but now that I’m awake, I guess I’m free. What’s up? Did something happen with Tracy?”

“No, no. Tracy and I are fine. It would be easier if you just came over to my house, though. Please be quick about it.” Hiding the amusement from her voice, Marie replied with annoyance, “Geez, Gavin, the things I do for you… I’ll be there in 20 minutes. If you’re making coffee for yourself, make me a cup, too. I think I’m still half asleep. Anyways, see you soon.”

✖ ✖ ✖

Sitting comfortably on Gavin’s couch, Marie took a small sip of her coffee. “Okay, so what’s the situation? Why did you invite me at—” she paused to glance at her cell phone. “9:37 in the morning? Need I remind you how early that is in teenager time?”

On the couch directly across from her, Gavin sat with Tracy leaning on his shoulder, still half-asleep. Looking down at his girlfriend’s sleepy face, he smiled before turning his attention back to Marie. “Well, it’s not that early. Did I really wake you up?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course, idiot. Why would you even ask that? I never wake up before noon in the summer.” Hidden deep inside the pocket of her light pink hoodie, Marie’s right hand slightly shook while she spoke, revealing her answer as a lie.

Luckily for her, Gavin was none the wiser this time, because he went straight to business. “Okay. So, I invited you here because we’ve got a dilemma. Remember Hannah? Well, it’s her 17th birthday tomorrow. But don’t worry. I remembered just in—”

Tracy stirred and began laughing, cutting off her boyfriend from speaking. Once she stopped laughing enough to speak, she glanced over towards Marie and explained, “Total bullshit. The only reason he remembered is because of Facebook.”

Gavin cleared his throat. “It doesn’t matter how I found out, okay? All it matters is that I know now, and I’m telling Marie. Anywho, before I was so kindly interrupted, I was going to say… what do we do, Marie? We’re such bad friends. I swear—”

Marie interrupted, “Stop, Gavin. I’m sure we’ll come up with something brilliant in no time, okay? Besides, her birthday is tomorrow. We’ve got plenty of time. Do you know if Lauren is working today? If not, we should invite her over, too.”

Tracy carefully rose from the couch, stretching out her arms as she stood. "I'll call her. That bitch has some explaining to do. It’s been two weeks since I last stopped by the donut shop during her shift. She’s been so busy lately. I miss her annoying voice.”

A sick feeling spread through Marie’s stomach. There was something so wrong about what her best friend just said yet… how does one even confront the person they enjoy hanging around the most? Deciding to keep her mouth shut, she nodded quietly.

After that, time seemed to speed up for the trio. Lauren picked up but she claimed to be too busy to come over, but once Tracy told her about the birthday planning, she agreed to take a day off work to make it to the party. By lunchtime, Gavin had to leave for his shift at the bookstore, leaving just Lauren and Marie alone to talk out the finishing touches for the surprise party.

It was around 3pm when the pizza arrived. It was also around 3pm when the two girls had finally finished talking out every single detail, from where the party would be located—at Gavin’s house, of course—to what kind of cake they’d order: red velvet, which was a favorite amongst every person in the small group of friends. They even invited a ton of people from school to come, too.

All that was left was to make sure that Hannah actually showed up at the right time. Placing her pizza down momentarily, Marie looked over to Tracy expectantly. “Which one of us should stop by Hannah’s apartment? I think she might have the day off tomorrow, but I’m not really sure. I don’t mind going to check, though. Unless you want to, which is totally okay, too.”

“I think you should go, Marie.” Tracy stared off into the distance, almost as if she were remembering a painful memory. “Things didn’t go so well between me and Hannah the last time we spoke in private. That was five weeks ago and I feel so... lost.”

Marie shrugged. “It’s not your fault, Tracy. Seriously. I’ve been having issues with Hannah, too. I just hope this birthday party will be enough to help all of us heal and move forward with our friendships. I really miss what we all had before.”

“It was so great, huh?” A light smile graced Tracy’s lips. “Just me, you, Hannah, and Lauren against the world. But ever since summer started, Hannah and Lauren have been growing more distant. Hannah’s been more distant than Lauren, though. I just hope I didn’t break up the group when I started going out with Gavin towards the end of junior year. I’d feel so bad if I did.”

Shaking her head quickly, Marie replied, “Tracy, of course not! On the bright side, Lauren still texts in the group chat. Hannah has been giving me the cold shoulder for at least six weeks now. If she’s doing this on purpose, I will personally hurt her myself.”

“Don’t say that.” Tracy stifled laughter. “The line would be way too long of all the people that want to hurt Hannah. But forget that. We’re going to try to find our old best friend again. This birthday party will be the perfect thing we need to fix it all.”

Marie sighed. “I hope so, Tracy. I… really hope so.”

The Big Day

Marie took a deep breath to mentally prepare herself, and then, with the phone still to her ear, she said, “Okay, Tracy. I’m right outside Hannah’s apartment building. Are you sure you’re ready? Is everything set up? And did everyone show up?”

“Relax, Marie. Everything is completely under control here. Just play it cool like we practiced. You’ll do fine.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ll see you soon, then.” Quickly, she hung up and pocketed her phone. Then, without another moment of hesitation, Marie walked forward and rang the doorbell of the apartment, waiting for a familiar brunette to appear.

Except after a few seconds, there was nothing. No movement. No muffling. No shouts of “I’ll be there.” from Hannah like she did every other time that Marie came to visit. And unlike other times, the air was still and quieter than usual.

Seeing no other option, Marie tried to ring the doorbell again.

Just like the first time, nothing happened.

Now, Marie was really starting to panic. If it wasn’t for Hannah’s red Toyota parked right in front of the apartment complex, then Marie would’ve assumed that her best friend was busy working. Except she wasn’t working. She had to be home. Right now.

When she lifted up her hand to start knocking on the door, the door seemed to open by itself. That was when the second red flag went off in her head. Hannah had never been stupid enough to leave her door unlocked before. In fact, she was the one in the group who would always preach about safety to Marie, Tracy, and Lauren. Out of all of them, Hannah was the most mature.

As anxiety gnawed away at her nerves, Marie took a tentative step into the apartment. The minimalistic decor looked exactly as she remembered it. Nothing in the apartment seemed out of place. Everything had its own place. In fact, the whole apartment was so immaculately cleaned and organized. Just like Hannah. It even smelled like her, too. The faint smell of lavender sat in the air.

Yet even as Marie walked through the apartment, she couldn’t hear anything. The air was unbelievably still. Almost as if the entire apartment was empty. But if the apartment was empty, then where would Hannah be? Why would she just leave her car parked in front of the apartment complex? Where else could she have gone and how? Things just weren’t adding up here.

The hallway finally ended, leaving Marie facing the family room. Her jaw dropped when she noticed that Hannah’s phone was resting on the coffee table. It was the new iPhone 8. Hannah waited all day and night in line to get that phone. It was her first phone, too, and because of that, she never left the house without it. To see it just lay around now was absolutely worrying.

Still, though, Marie held onto the small amount of hope that she had in her best friend. Maybe she’s just sleeping, Marie thought. If I go into her room now, I can wake her up and this whole nightmare will be over. Trying to keep herself calm, she began tip-toeing in the direction of Hannah’s bedroom, a place she had visited so many times that she knew it like the back of her hand.

When she opened the door, Marie let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Instead of finding Hannah sleeping peacefully on her bed, she found Hannah’s dead body hanging limply from the ceiling fan.

[May 2017]

[creatorofclay]

Family trip

@unlikely-duo @gracioustwin

It had been Hannah's idea, a weekend trip for just three of them. It had been far too long since they had done anything together. Elijah had set everything up for where they were going and even offered to drive there. Someplace down south. It was a long drive, made longer by the fact that they would be in that confined space for all that time together. Everything was better between all of them, better than it had been in years. But, in small doses. They hadn’t been together like that with no way to really escape in too long.

Would they want to escape, or was Elijah just afraid he wouldn’t be able to find any peace?

He packed up the few things he would need into the back of his car as he waited for his siblings to arrive. He had told them it was better to leave their cars outside his house since the Chloe’s could keep an eye on them that way. It also meant he would drive, being that he was the calmest and best to work under pressure. It was certainly going to be interesting. 

He stood, leaning against his car, as he waited for them to pull up. He could see the cars approach in the distance. He gave a little smile and waved to them as they pulled up in front of the house.

[creatorofclay]

                      Gavin Reed                  Elijah Kamski                Hannah Kamski                                        @an-unlikely-duo​      @creatorofclay         @gracioustwin​

                                                     Ind. / Ind. / Ind.                                                                                  Semi Selective / Non-Selective / Semi Selective                                                                                                                     DBH Canon / DBH Canon / DBH OC                                                                 Loved by Jenn, Ash, and June

                                                    Siblings:                                                 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒, 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘦                                                 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯                                         𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈

[creatorofclay]

where you a big fan of halloween as a kid? Any funny halloween stories you want to share about your siblings?

Elijah beamed, remembering those days, " I have an incredible sweet tooth, even when I was younger, no amount of candy was ever enough. So, when Halloween came around, that was probably around the most time I spent consecutively with Hannah and Gavin when I wasn't studying. "

He chuckled, then sighed a bit, " Our parents were... Well, they're terrible people. They tried to punish us for the most ridiculous things. One year, we all decided that we were going to be out for as late as we wanted on Halloween. We each gathered as much candy as we could possibly get in our neighborhood, I think Gavin had at least three costumes that year, so he ended up with the most. We took all the candy to our little hideout behind our house once everyone stopped giving out candy and pooled I all together. We stayed up the rest of the night eating as much candy as we could until we fell asleep huddled together. "

He paused, just a gentle smile at the memory, " I don't know if our parents ever knew what we did, but I'm sure they had their suspicions when all three of us were sick for the next couple days. "

[creatorofclay]

Wanna compare brother's? When my little brother was 3-4 years old, he managed to bend brass. My Dad is still confused on how he did it. What About your's? What's the weirdest thing they've done/ broken?

Elijah sat back, thinking for a moment, " When we were growing up, Vine was really big and Gavin was convinced he was going to go viral, " he chuckled, " He used to do all sorts of crazy things trying to get his six seconds in the spotlight. Hannah always helped him, but I usually didn't let them drag me along. "

He held up a finger for a second, " One time they did, we were out in the trees near our house. When we played together, that's usually where we were. Gavin thought it would be cool to edit together some sort of weird little clip of the three of us jumping across a little stream. Of course , he and Hannah had no issues with that, they were more active, but me... " He sighed, " Needless to say i misjudged the jump and fell in. Gavin used the shot anyway, all while laughing his ass off at me. "

He chuckled a bit at the memory, " I hope his 20 loyal followers appreciated that sacrifice I made. "

[creatorofclay]

Did you ever get into fights with your siblings when you were a kid?

Elijah chuckled, " Gavin, usually. Hannah and I are typically on the same side of most things. " he gave a slight smile, remembering all the times Hannah has had to play mediator between them, and the times he's had to do the same for the two of them.

[creatorofclay]

Mr Kamski, are you the oldest out of your siblings?

" Yes, but not by very much, " he nodded, " Hannah is my twin, younger by a few minutes. Gavin is our half brother, and he's younger by about 6 months. So, I am the oldest of us. "

[creatorofclay]

Tfw art inspires you to write an angsty drabble instead of your drafts. Big oof.

Words gone. Silence hangs over them. All anger seemed to dissipate, turning the atmosphere into one more tense. Both sets of blue eyes were locked, unmoving, even as synthetic skin began to reform over one of them. As the sound of the skin crackling faded away, it was quiet again.

Say something. Please just say something. Elijah couldn't handle the stare his brother was giving him. Just a moment before they had been arguing about something so meaningless at the moment. Now, the look in Gavin's eye was a different shade of anger, one Elijah couldn't place.

"Gavin," he held a hand up to reach for Gavin, who was holding his blue stained fist to his chest, only for him to step back in reaction. Elijah stopped and dropped his hand, breaking away from his eyes as he looked down.

"Explain." Gavin's voice was gruff, yet still confused and somehow angry, "What the hell are you? Why do you look like Elijah?"

Elijah raises his eyes again, "Because I am Elijah. Or at least... A shadow of who he was."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Gavin was yelling again, stepping towards Elijah once more.

Elijah just sighed, "My body died long ago, but my mind still exists in this android."

Gavin shook his head, waving his hands, "Wait, no, shut the fuck up a second. What do you mean your 'body died long ago'? Are you... Trying to say..." He slowed his words, he couldn't say it. He clenched his fists tight, his jaw even tighter, "Eli... Is dead?" He said quietly, "And you expect me to believe that?"

Elijah frowned, "I knew you wouldn't believe it, but it's true. I... Wanted to tell you so many times but... I just couldn't. We we're getting along for a while, I just..." He looked down at his own hands, "I wanted you to have good memories with me. Not this."

"Prove it."

Elijah looked up again, dropping his hands. He wanted proof, of course he did. Luckily, he knew one thing that the detective was sure to believe, something he would know fake from real. His death certificate. Elijah walked over to a painting in the wall and pulled it away, opening the safe behind it. He pulled out one piece of paper from a pile in the back and handed it to him.

"State of Michigan, department of community health, death certificate for Elijah Louis Kamski," Elijah's tone was flat, though his eyebrows knit together as he watched his brother reading the paper over, "Date of birth, July 17th, 2002. Date of death, November 20th, 2028. Cause of death listed as widespread stage four leukemia," Gavin's eyes were wide as they searched over the page, but Elijah went on anyway, "The android at the crematory had no idea what it was getting into. But, the memory of me bringing in my own body to be secretly cremated was not one it couldn't keep."

"I-Its true then..." Gavin's voice shook a bit, quieter than it had been. Elijah took back to certificate and returned it to the safe, keeping his back to his brother as Gavin stared hard at him, "Why... Why didn't he ever say anything?" He clenched his fists tight, nails digging into his palms.

Elijah paused as he returned the picture to where it was originally. This was what he had been afraid of. Gavin no longer saw him as his brother. Now... He was just another android, "What could he say?" He answered, "What could I say when neither you or Hannah would speak to me? You were both still so angry... There was nothing I could do."

Gavin's breath seemed to catch in his throat, "So she doesn't know about this either?"

"No."

"You son of a bitch!" Gavin lashed out again as Elijah turned to face him, "How could you? How selfish do you have to be to do something like this?"

Elijah gave him a weird look, shaking his head a bit, "Selfish? Is it selfish to want to live, Gavin? So selfish to want to be able to actually make good memories with you and with Hannah when I couldn't while I was alive?" He was yelling back now, "if anything, it's generous to you!"

"No! You asshole!" Gavin stepped closer and shoved Elijah back, making his hit the wall, "Selfish that you kept it all to yourself!" He snapped, punching him again, over and over between sentences, "Selfish that not even your siblings could support you! Selfish that you didn't even want to see us in your final days! That... That..." He held his fist up as the angry tears started to fall from his face, "That you didn't even let us say goodbye."

Elijah stared at him, skin reforming once again from where Gavin hit. He hadn't thought of it like that. All he knew was that neither Hannah or Gavin really wanted to talk to him before. Saying goodbye to them, giving them that closure, why didn't he even consider it? He let himself die in complete silence, not a single soul ever knowing, while he replaced himself with an android. The tears started to stream from his own face now.

"Gavin...I... I'm sorry." He breathed.

Gavin shoved into him and turned away, aggressively wiping the tears from his eyes. He sighed, keeping his back to Elijah, "Are you going to tell her?"

"I didn't plan to."

Gavin turned back, glaring at him again, "Oh, so, what, you're just going to let her find out on her own when one day she realizes how old shes getting while you stay the same?!"

"it's synthetic skin, Gavin!" Elijah snapped back, "I can change it to look however I need to!"

"that's so fucked up!" Gavin paused, lowering his shoulders, "But that was your plan from the start, wasn't it? You weren't going to tell us at all..."

Elijah frowned, "Gavin--" Gavin holds his hand up and just storms out of the room. He's almost to the front door as he pulls out his phone and dials Hannah's number. Elijah followed him, but as he realized what he was doing, he ran over to him, "No! Dont--!"

As Elijah came close, Gavin shoved him back again, "She deserves to know."

"Gavin please, it's going to destroy her!"

"You should have thought of that before!" Gavin yelled, "Now you're tem years too late to think of us."

The phone picked up before Elijah could protest further, chatter faint in the background, but her voice clear in the receiver, "Hello? Gav, what's up?"

She sounded cheerful, happy. And Gavin was about to ruin that.

"Hey, sis, gotta a sec?" He kept his eyes locked on Elijah who was silently pleading with him with his eyes.

"Yeah, sure, hold on. I'm out with a few coworkers, let me get somewhere quiet." There was a quiet "I gotta take this, it's my brother" before she seemed to move to another room, a bathroom by the sound of the echo, "What's on your mind?"

Gavin hesitated, forcing himself tk look away "Its... Elijah, have you talked to him?"

"He called me yesterday, yeah, why?" He tone immediately changed to one of concern.

"I mean, really talk to him. In person."

"Gavin, what's going on? Did something happen to Elijah?" Her voice was much more serious now, "Is he in some kind of trouble?"

Gavin glanced up at Elijah again who had his head in his hands, waiting for the worst, "... No, I... Just hadn't heard from him. Figured I'd make sure he wasn't dead or something."

Elijah looked up quickly at him, as Hannah still seemed pretty concerned, "You're acting really weird, Gav. What aren't you telling me?"

Elijah was shaking his head, but Gavin turned away from him again, "No. We had a pretty bad fight, that's all. I won't call the prick myself, but, maybe you should."

"He seemed fine yesterday but... I'll call him when I get home. Okay?"

"Yeah, alright. Talk to you later, Han." He gave a sigh as he dropped his hand and looked to Elijah again. He pointed to him before he could say anything, "You can tell her yourself. And if you don't, I swear, I'll make you wish you did."

Elijah just watched as Gavin walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him, mumbling something about the "plastic pricks" as he did. Elijah started to turn to away when he heard Gavin let out a loud yell, followed by a loud car alarm. It only had the chance to blare a couple times before he shut it off and zoomed away from the house. Elijah looked at his hand, synthetic skin pulling back to show the white plastic frame underneath.

"What have I done?" He whispered.

[breitzbachbea]

You’re an asshole but I love you [FrUK Drabble]

Preface: This drabble was born out of @crispyliza‘s tags for another FrUK fanfic where she expressed her love for Francis centered Fruk. It’s just a drabble and needs editing but I’ll hope it’s what you wished for nonetheless. Also the title is taken from True Love by P!nk, fight me Summary: François’ best friend is once more disappointed by her favourite Englishman and comes to him to rant about it. She’s not alone with her feelings. Warning: This is an Human AU and set in my Mafia!AU series. It contains major human OCs and minor aph OCs. Ships: FrUK, Tarielle or Arielle&Tahir, mentioned ScotFra, mentioned UltsterScot, mentioned Railey.

„I hate him so much sometimes, I wish I would have in first place,“ Arielle said after she came into François’ office. Sun was setting over Paris and soon enough, the street lamps outside would turn on and chase the grey-ish blue away. No one could however probably chase the kind of blue away Arielle felt. François smiled faintly while his eyebrows arched upwards. “What did Tahir do now? Anything in particular?” “He exists and rubs me the wrong way!” Arielle said and let herself fall onto one of the armchairs in his office. He sighed and chuckled quietly, then got up from his office chair and sat next to Arielle. “So it’s just another day of you regretting what is instead of what could be.” Arielle shot him a suspicious and miffed look; she still didn’t like it when people said she had a crush on Tahir instead of just appreciating him as a friend. Since that one evening in Germany however, she had been opposing those kind of comments less vehemently. François suspected it had something to do with jealousy, especially after the stunt the Englishmen had pulled. Speaking of Englishmen, it reminded him of the text he had received earlier this day – and tried to forget ever since.

Thankfully, Arielle drew his attention to the one that worried her, not him. “He’s just – ugh! Working, working, working, always fucking working!”

This is business only François, keep that in mind.

“Sometimes I wonder if he thinks he’s being paid by hour like every other office worker, I can’t explain this bullshit any other way!” Arielle says. “But what he can shove even more up his ass are his snide comments about how I’m apparently never working! Fuck him!”

Sometimes I think, you strike yourself, just for fun. You’re the fucking boss François, how can you slack off like that?! Nothing comes from nothing, get your arse up, frog. “I can definitely see where you’re coming from,” he said. “Although I really can’t see our Gentleman making snide comments towards you.” “Gentleman! Manners are fine but a stick up one’s ass this size is not!” Arielle declared. “Speaking of that, the snide comments surprise you?! Sometimes I think he’s nothing but biting and belittling comments! I like myself a tall man, but not when they are on a high horse!” Don’t you want to maintain the good old French traditions and just give up? Sometimes, I think I should write you a poem, but I haven’t found enough poetical words for hate in thesaurus yet. One day I’m sure. I’ll put off my usual level of sarcasm when you get an unusual level of spine. “Oh, and speaking of snide, if I’ll ever have to get into another argument about people I like, I’m going to start listing off every single trait which makes them better than him! I’ve had it with the weird looks, and snorts and ‘Arielle, you can’t be serious!’” Just go back to this blasted Scotsman if you like him so much more than me! You two are plotting my downfall behind my back already, anyways! I can’t believe how you can even remotely trust someone like the Russians, let alone like them. I swear to God, one day I’m going to go on a suicide mission just to kill this Spaniard. If you try to help him, I guarantee for nothing.

“I can’t be serious?! I’m having none of that of the man who’s hanging around someone like Robert! Robert, out of all people! Tahir must have flushed his common sense down the toilet somewhere along the last two years!” “Well, first of all, they’re colleagues and I know Dési can drive you up the wall as well, but you still love her, too”, François said. Though it was hard to sort his sorts when a certain Englishman was hijacking them. Arielle leant in to him with a jerk. “Well, Dési might me a total nutcase, but Robert is one of the worst wankers I’ve ever met! And it’s not like Tahir had much sympathy for him all the years they worked together before!” François sighed and rubbed his eyes. “You have to admit though that Robert has changed for the better over the last two years.” “He’s still a jerk!“ “You know what, I can’t actually deny that.” And Arthur’s still an asshole, he thought to himself.

“God, sometimes I think Hannah is right when she says that any kind of feelings for this man are forsaken and unjustified,” she hissed, more to her herself than to François, gazing, or rather contemptuously squinting, into space. “You’re telling things like these Hannah but not me?!”  François asked. His offended look was only met with a tired one by Arielle. “Hannah isn’t a little snitch who holds things like these against me” “She could tell Gavin! You know how close these two are to each other!”

“She won’t tell Gavin” Arielle said. “This is a thing between two friends. Friend talk stays with friends and girl talk stays with girls.” “I can’t believe you think I’m not trustworthy,” François said and pouted. His thoughts had went astray again, however. So that’s why Arielle and Hannah had taken a walk all alone the last times they had met their Scottish allies and friends. He remembered his talk with Gavin as well even when the topics slipped his mind right now. It was filled with his laughter, his sweet smile and the way his deep green eyes sparkled when he grinned. The reassurance, the well-meant jokes and the compliments he gave him. Gavin McAlistair had grown into quite the man and right now, François thought he had become even more charming than he had been as young adult, when the two of them had been boyfriends. What a lucky woman Hannah was to be his fiancée. “François.” Arielle’s firm voice – and the snap of her finger in front her face – jolted him out of his thoughts. “Earth to François, listen to me when I try to comfort you. It’s not that I don’t think you’re trustworthy … I just needed someone like Hannah this time.” “Alright,” he said. “I forgive you.” He grinned at her and she grinned back. After a moment of silence, they simultaneously sighed. “I don’t know what to do with him, though,” Arielle said. “Then I’ll look him and he smiles at me as if he was one of Disney’s Prince Charmings and flirts with me.” She snorted, a thin smile on her lips. “With his basic French skills. But I don’t care, my heart will always make a jump when he says ‘Ma belle’. No matter how much I rant, I’ll always be a lady to him, no, he loves me for my temper, too. And he listens like no other, with the most attention and politeness I’ve ever seen in a man.” She chuckled. “I hate how I can’t hate him at the end of the day. Not one single bit.” François stared at the ground in front of him as he listened to her say that. Here, let me help you. A gentleman’s ought to do that. I hate your hair for being so perfect. One day you’re going to wake up bald because I’ve made a wig out of it. Dear lord, no one should look this good. You want to speak French? Bon d’accord! I wish I could catch the smell of your cooking and of your clothes sometimes and fill the house with it whenever I need it. Sometimes it’s good to know I’m not alone. The door opened with a loud bang and both Arielle and François started at the sound. “Yoooo, I brought waffles,” Désirée said after she walked into the office, a small shopper basket in her hand. “Where did you get waffles from?” Arielle asked mistrustful. “That’s a secret.” “Désirée, tell me immediately where you get those from or I’ll have to throw them out and evacuate the office”, François said. “One can never be too sure with you.”

“You’ll never get me to sing out,” Désirée said and kept staring him straight into the eyes while she fished a waffled from the basket and took a bite. “I’m still not eating any of these,” Arielle said, shaking her head. “Your loss,” Désirée said with her mouth full of waffle. “Don’t you have better things to do than go around and make … or find waffles?” François asked her. “Don’t you two have better things to do than Arielle moaning how her favourite piece of ass is totally making heart eyes at Robert and … why ever you are down?” “Would you stop clinging onto that rumor?!” Arielle said. “I’m its originator, if I would deny it I’d stand there like someone who only says scandalous things to start shit,” she said and shoved the last piece of the waffle into her mouth. “And since that is my reputation already, no need to reinforce it. “How can someone be so full of shit?!” Arielle asked Désirée but François only halfheartedly heard her answer. Instead he stared at his phone. At the reason he had been down. ‘There’s a new French restaurant that opened up in my borough’ Arthur had wrote to him this morning. ‘Oh, did you go there yet? Or is this an invitation for a date?’ ‘No, I thought of taking you there because if there is one thing I need is Frenchman arguing over food, loudly and preferably in French.’ He rolled his eyes when his phone started to vibrate and Arthur’s name and picture appeared on the screen. “Allô?” “Oi Frog, you didn’t answer me.” “You don’t answer me for weeks on end sometimes, so I really don’t see how you’re one to talk here.” “I’ll always answer when we try to make plans, though, but that’s too much to ask for when it comes to your irresponsible ass!” Arthur said, causing confusion to François, who thought he was in the wrong movie. “Plans?! What kind of plans?! I thought you don’t need me around or did I misread your last message?!” “Learn to speak sarcasm!” “Usually sarcasm is reserved to you being a dick! And I speak it fluently, thank you, otherwise you’d look like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum to me most of the time!” “Fine! Do you want to go now or not?!” François bristled.  “On one condition.” “You better be reasonable about this,” Arthur hissed. “Be a gentleman and apologise.” “I hate you, frog. But I’m sorry for not being clear what I wanted from you . I’ll tone my sarcasm down next time.” “Oh really, I’d like to see you try,” François said. “Only when I really do want to say something nice and affirmative, not the rest of the time, don’t get your hopes up.” “I can’t wait for the next time you’ll spare a compliment for me to prove this. I’d only have to wait roughly fifty years!” “You’re exhausting me,” Arthur said and François leant back, crossing his legs. “I can’t remember you saying this outside of the bedroom, chér, this must be a first.” The streetlamps turned on outside and raised the grey-blue veil that had been drawn over Paris’ streets. François felt the one drawn over his own hear disappear as well.

[creatorofclay]

Did you ever play any pranks on your siblings?

Elijah sighed, leaning into one hand on his desk, " Once of twice. I was usually the one being pranked. " Gavin was typically the one behind it all, but Elijah remembered a couple times he got him back.