(here we go)
"Hey, there you are!"
Naver'Is greeted him, as Redd entered. He gives Naver'Is and Drass a friend hug. "Is Aerath here?" Redd asked.
"Not yet," Drass said. "He said he'd pick up our food and drinks."
"And I hope he remembered my Angus burger," Naver'Is said. "He always forgets that I want it. He's got the whole afternoon to remember it."
Redd chuckles. "I'm sure he will."
They were gonna have just a little get-together. They were going to Arakedia in two days, so why not hang out, right? Yeah. Have a little hangout session at Drass's place, maybe watch a movie or two...that stuff.
It was already dark outside. What time was it, six in the evening? Seven? Eh. Aerath entered the house. It was always unlocked, at least for him. He looked at the shoes by the stairs. Yup. All three were there already. He kicks his shoes off, sets them by the stairs, and climbs up, holding some plastic bags.
When he opened the door, he saw what he'd expect. There was Redd, painting his nails on the bed. Black, as usual. His maroon hoodie was spread out on the bed, as some kind of...placemat, for the nail polish. His guitar leaned against the wall. Naver'Is was using Drass's video game console. Drass was coaching him, telling him what to do in the game, while using his tablet computer. A mix of music and TV noises flowed throughout the room. It was pleasant to Aerath, knowing he was with his friends, and they were enjoying their usual things.
And oh, how they've changed.
Redd's hair, like I've said before, had grown longer. It was kinda wavy, but more straight. Like, uh, how do I put the image in your mind...it's like, medium-length, and it reached his chest. And it often covered one of his eyes. Still as blonde and bright, as before. His skin was also still as pale as before. Like, pale white. The four of them had also started like, working out in their teens, so they were pretty fit. Redd had a slender, lithe build. Also, does he ever grow body hair? It's like all the hair that grows on his body is the hair on his head. It grows quite fast, too. He doesn't have chest hair, arm hair, armpit hair, leg hair, or...uh, the, uh, the carpet hair down there. Not that Aerath would know that, ew. He just assumed. He wore glasses, too. They were black (obviously), and thick-rimmed. His bright, blue-green, aquamarine-ish eyes seemed to glow in the dark. Not literally, but in a way, if you looked into them deep enough. He was way taller, too.
Naver'Is still looked the way he did when he was a kid, but that applies for everyone, right? Like an older version of himself. Which he is. His hair had grown slightly longer, too, but not as long as Redd's. It was long enough to cover one eye, but not long enough to reach his chin. You know what I mean. Was it...was it slightly graying? Eh, that was natural, he had said. His blue eyes still did stand out from his dark, dark grey hair. He seemed worked out. Not very muscular, no, but like, as slender as Redd. You could tell he was a fast runner, just by looking at him. His legs didn't give that away, though. You could just tell, in a way. His fingers were quickly moving on the controller, one button to another. He was quite shorter than Redd.
Drass. It was quite weird seeing him without his glasses, or his braces, but Aerath had gotten used to it, over the years. His hair didn't seem as long as Naver'Is's, but it was quite as long, when it was down. He often slicked it back in a messy way. The green streaks stayed there, of course. They were always obvious. He'd sometimes randomly find leaves in them. His bright, brownish-green eyes stood out more, without his glasses, and he lost that slight lisp he used to have. He liked to relax, like Aerath, but would be pumped up too, if he found something exciting to do. Sometimes he'd have a stiff neck, and whenever he'd turn his head to make it go away, it sounded like a branch twisting. He calmed down on all the human conspiracy theories, although he still loved doing research and watching documentaries about them. He was still quite a science guy, like before. Mostly on botany, of course. He knew how to rap a little, too, and how to play the guitar. He was almost as tall as Naver'Is. Almost. And Aerath was taller than Naver'Is. So they called him 'sapling', sometimes. Drass doesn't hate it, but he'd roll his eyes back whenever they'd call him that.
Aerath, he was like Naver'Is. An older version of himself. Because that's what he is. His hair still continued to flow like smoke, and would be almost as long as Redd's if it was down. It was easy to get water out of it whenever he'd take a shower. Like rain clouds. Some of it hung down like normal hair, but most of it floated like smoke. Sometimes, whenever he'd sigh, or inhale and exhale, smoke would come out of his mouth, or nose. He knew how to jump pretty high, too, which was...sometimes a helpful skill. He was pretty good with the bass, like Redd. He has this weird sense of humor that his friends don't get sometimes, but they loved him all the same. As friends, of course. He always called it 'breaking the fourth wall'.
"Ahem?" he mockingly cleared his throat.
"What? Hello, hi," Drass joked. Aerath rolled his eyes.
"You're lucky we're friends, sapling," Aerath said, closing the door behind him. "I wouldn't have picked up the food twice in a row."
"What? C'mon, I offered to help, but you wanted to do it yourself," Drass said.
"Yeah. Because I know you'll come running back after five minutes and say you can't do it."
"And how would you know I'd do that, exactly?"
"I know you."
"First off, no, I wouldn't do that...well, not anymore. You know me, right? You should know that. Second, I bet you just wanted to pick up the food again, just so you'll get...what, credit? Bragging rights?"
Drass felt a slap on his cheek. "Ow! Hey!" Not hard, but not soft either. Aerath had thrown him the burrito he wanted. "Wait, pork? I wanted beef," Drass said, inspecting the burrito.
Aerath smirked. "Yeah. They ran out. You better be thankful I even bothered to buy you that."
While talking, Drass turns to look at Aerath. "Do you at least have some ketch-"
Bullseye, another slap on Drass's face. Directly on the front, too. Aerath had thrown him another burrito. He laughs as Drass gets up, groaning and glaring.
"Of course they had beef, idiot," he says. "It's literally one of their main things. I just bought the pork one for your face."
"Really nice way to spend your money," Drass says. He opens up the wrapper and was about to take a bite, when he sensed two small packets heading his way. He caught them in his hand before they reached his face. He opens his hand. Two ketchup packets. Aerath was gonna get him with two little ketchup packets.
"You forgot those," Aerath said, with a mischievous smile.
Forgot. Yeah, right. "Thank you," Drass replied, glaring as he took a bite out of his burrito.
"Naver'Is, hey, here's that Angus burger you wanted," Aerath says, reaching in the bag.
Naver'Is pauses the game, and looks at the Windtype. "Wow. You actually got one for once," he says.
"Well, yeah. I was helping you lose some fat, but since you want it so badly, here you go." Aerath tosses him the burger. He catches it.
"Really? You were helping him lose weight?" asked Drass.
"I do NOT need to lose weight," Naver'Is protested. It was true, he didn't. He was quite toned, and slim, actually. Pretty fit. But you knew that already.
"Right. And how will you lose the weight gained from eating that kind of food?" asked Aerath.
"I'll work out, obviously. Run, especially."
"Oh, c'mon. You'd have to run around the whole world to get rid of the fat just by running."
"Uh, then he'll do what we all do best," Redd said, not looking up from his nails, which he was still painting. "Running away from our problems."
Redd's humor was like that, often. Self-deprecating. But he liked it, and his friends liked it.
"Yeah," Naver'Is chuckled. "I'd burn a ton of fat by running away from that."
"Redd! Catch!"
Redd looked at Aerath, who had just thrown a bag of fries towards him. Redd carefully caught it between his palms with his fingers spread out, preventing his nails from touching anything. Redd had just finished painting them, and he didn't want them to be ruined already.
"Do you ever run out of nail polish?" asked Aerath.
"I...I uh, well, I make sure not to," Redd said. "Wait, wasn't there supposed to be ketchup with-"
Two packets of ketchup came flying at Redd. Ugh, Aerath. Can't he just hand things over properly? Redd caught them between his palms, too. "Thanks," he said.
"Okay, I think I've lost too many times," Naver'Is said, putting down the controller and turning off the console. "So what're we watching?"
"Hey, c'mon, no, don't go there, no, no, no, OH! C'mon, seriously?"
They were watching a horror movie, sat up on the bed. They weren't that scared. It's just fun to point out the logic and stereotypes. One of the characters, that were clearly a minority and were one of the first ones to get killed, went in a dark room, because he thought it was a good idea. Yeah. Because going in dark rooms with ominous music, dark backgrounds and eerie atmospheres is a good way to keep yourself safe when there's a serial killer around. Also not turning on the lights is a good tactic. Of course, like any other film, the character gets killed.
"Can't these guys figure it out themselves for once?" said Drass, who was still munching on his burrito.
"Wouldn't that be, like, sorta breaking the fourth wall?" Naver'Is said.
"I guess," Aerath said. "But I don't know if that'll help them. I guess it'll just add up to the...amusement aspect. I dunno."
"W-When's the next jumpscare?" Redd said, covering his ears. He had both of his hands on his ears, and whenever he would reach for one of his fries, he'd dip it in the ketchup and shove it in his mouth as quickly as possible, and put his hand back on his ear. He still used his hoodie as a placemat, this time for his food. He had his hair tied back in a ponytail, although his bangs still hung in a way that it covered one of his eyes.
Aerath looked at him, and joked. "Ma'am? Where's Redd? What have you done with the real Redd?"
Redd looked at him with a frown, crossing his arms. "What? I'm sorry I don't want ketchup in my hair!"
Aerath chuckles. "I know, I know-"
That's when a cliche jumpscare appeared on screen. Redd yelped and jumped a bit, but the three others just flinched. Naver'Is laughed.
"Dude, we've seen like, plenty of horror movies. You're still scared of stuff like that?"
"H-Hey!" Redd was furiously blushing. "Aerath had me in the middle of a talk! I couldn't have been ready!"
"Man," Aerath said. "Imagine your ancestors were a line of ancient heroes or something. They're probably looking down at you right now. Probably like, face-palming while they're like, 'Oh my god, is that really our descendant? The world is doomed.'"
Redd just sits back with his arms crossed, pouting. He grabs another fry and eats it. "As if," he says.
"What? Well, what if you are?" laughed Aerath.
"We don't know that."
"Plenty of these readers probably do," Aerath said with a smirk.
"What readers?" asked Redd.
"Nothing. Just breaking the fourth wall. Like what the author made me for."
Redd rolled his eyes. "Right. The fourth wall. Because we're all in some weird, crappy book written by some guy who sits on his ass doing absolutely nothing but shame himself over different things everyone experiences."
Aerath chuckled. "See? Yeah, you got the hang of it."
Redd rolls his eyes again. Aerath had that weird habit. He kept saying it was breaking the fourth wall, but that's his humor. And you already knew that.
"Redd, seriously," Naver'Is said, wolfing down his burger. "You gotta try this burger. It's amazing. A-maze-ing."
Naver'Is was about to take another bite, when Redd leaned in and took a bite out of the burger. A rather big one. Naver'Is looked at him with a perpetually confused look. A look that said, 'why would you...?'
Redd chews it and swallows it down, wiping his dark lips with a napkin. "Oh, yeah," he says with an innocent smile. He clearly enjoyed it. "I gotta get me one of those next time."
Did I mention the hangout was a sleepover? Yeah, I didn't. After a few video games and a few more movies, they decided to go to bed.
"Does anyone need extra PJ's?" Drass asked, rummaging through his closet. "They're not exactly the comfiest, but they're still good."
"I'm good," Aerath said, already wearing his sleepwear. Hm. Sweatpants with a shirt. Of course.
"No thanks," Naver'Is said, also in his sleepwear. A long sleeved shirt, and some pajama bottoms. With socks, of course.
"What about you, Redd?" Drass asked, noticing Redd hadn't changed. He still wore that black button-down tank top, and black arm sleeves. Was that, wait, was he wearing a black mesh tank top underneath that black button-down tank top? Yeah. Yeah, he is. Hm. His style these days. Of course, his jeans were black, tight and torn. Of course they were. His socks were actually longer than they looked. And, like almost every article of clothing in his closet, they were black. And, you guessed it, torn at the leg part.
"No thanks," Redd said. "I'm comfy."
Oh boy. In Drass's mind, joke activated.
"Okay then. You sure you don't wanna wear a nightgown?"
Naver'Is and Aerath chuckled. Redd sighed and rolled his eyes. "J-Just, hurry it up, or I'll take all the bed space," Redd said, lying down.
A voice echoed from downstairs. An old, female voice.
"Drass! Are you and your friends going to bed already?"
"In a minute, grandma!" he yelled back. Right, Drass's grandmother lived in the house, too. Downstairs. His parents were out for the week, and would be returning tomorrow, late at night. His grandma would be the one who was there most of the time. He had to yell because she couldn't hear very well.
"What about the girl, Drass?"
"Girl?"
"Yeah! The blonde one!"
The three laughed as Redd hid his red face in his hands. "She's going to bed already, grandma! It's all good!"
After the group calmed down, Redd spoke up. "I hate you guys. And myself."
"Aw, c'mon," Naver'Is said. "We were just having fun! Friend hug?"
Redd rolled his eyes and spread his arms, wide. His three friends went over to him and they all hugged each other, patting each other's backs.
"Ugh, y-yeah, whatever," Redd said, lying down. "I'm going to sleep."
"Don't girls always take a selfie before going to-"
Aerath didn't get to finish his joke when Redd shot him with a toy dart gun he always brought with him, for the occasion. "Okay, okay," Aerath said, chuckling, as he threw the dart back.
After several minutes, or possibly an hour, Redd breaks the silence.
"Y-You...ugh," he says quietly, rubbing his eyes. "You guys can't sleep too, huh?"
"Yeah," they all said, simultaneously. Redd chuckled.
Of course it wasn't a great idea to drink soda before sleeping.