Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“YOU MOTHERFUCKERS DON’T KNOW THE HALF OF IT!” Raptor yelled as he threw the bottle he was holding at the entrance of the party.

“Okay, buddy, I’ll keep you with me. Just stay leaning on my shoulder.” Drift stays intact while he looks back. He hears quick steps and darts his head to the right. It’s Brite Bomber jogging over to him.

“Brite? What are you doing here?”

“I heard the glass shatter and- My instinct was to come over because I knew who would be the first to break anything at a party.” She lightly chuckles, as she throws Raptor’s right arm over her shoulder and helps Drift. Raptor babbles as his walking weakens.

Drift chuckles back. “You know it. I’m gonna take him home because he’s drunk enough and has had wayyy too much fun.”

“THOSE ASSHOLES DON’T KNOW WHAT THEYRE DEALING WITH! They know I’M the one who should have run their hustle…”

“This guy…” Drift murmurs as he approaches his car. “Brite, can you open the door? I’ll unlock it.”

“For sure.” She answers as the key beeps. She pulls the door handle open wide enough for Raptor to trip into the car. Drift slowly takes his arm off his shoulder and handles his body with care. Raptor lays down as he continues to yap and mumble.

Drift goes around to open the door for Brite, then gets in for himself.

“I know where he lives, this shouldn’t take long. You need anything?”

“Me? Pfft, I’m fine.” Brite fastens her seatbelt, then looks up, smiling. “I had fun back there. Did you? I saw people I haven’t seen in a while.”

“I did! I liked playing ping pong, and playing Mortal Kombat with Rex and Abstrakt. Until things got heated downstairs,” He sighs and lays his head on the driving wheel. “That’s when I found Raptor almost punching Circuit Breaker. It was a disaster. But luckily me and Raven stopped it before it could get any worse.”

“Well that’s good. I’m glad you did that.” Brite continues looking at him with a soft smile, then looks back at Raptor to see if he’s fine.

Drift picks his head up from the steering wheel and looks to the right. He hasn’t started the car yet, they’ve only been talking about how the party went tonight for both of them. It isn’t a full moon either but the moonlight is shining at a perfect angle that shows Brite in a dreamlike way. She’s beautiful. She’s perfect. She-

“Did Raptor pass out?” She pointed with her thumb.

“As long as he hasn't stop breathing, he’s fine.” He responded, but soon realized he had to actually drive his friend home, not talk to his other friend in the car all night. As much as he wish he could.

He finally starts the car, and drives to Raptor’s home.

Chapter Text

Brite Bomber flings the door open to Drift’s room, fluttering her eyes around before making eye contact with him and demanding,

“Drift! Why have you been acting so off today? I call you, you don’t answer. I knock and ring the doorbell, you don’t open the front door. I come into your room and it’s messier than it usually is, and you look like you’re going to break down at any mome-“

“THATS BECAUSE I WILL!” Drift yelled at Brite Bomber, flicking his head up as tears jumped out his somber eyes. Silence and tension fills the room along with their unresolved emotions.

He sighs heavily. It’s raining outside, and his tears synchronize with the raindrops. He looks away and out the window.

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry… I’m… I’m not in the best spot right now… I’ve been… dealing with how much my emotions change, which is all the time. It’s so hard. I’m so sorry, again-“

He looks back at her just to see her terrified. She craves comforting him but her gut tells her to leave. She doesn’t feel safe. He’s never yelled like this at her. So she runs out his house.

“BRITE! No. No, no, no, no, no…” Drift immediately bolts up as she booked it through the door. “Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck. You’re kidding me.” He starts to gasp for air as he chases her down the stairs and out the house.

She was already in the rain.

“Brite, come back in! Please, you’re going to get sick!”

“It doesn’t matter.” She muttered.

“What?”

“I said it doesn’t matter!” She yelled back, slowly turning her head then her body around as she tensed her fists and walked closer to Drift. Her tense expression and tough walking made him anxious. It was clearly visible. So she relaxed her face and let go of her clenched hands. She looked at him with hurt, and so did he. They were shocked. She was still far from the porch.

“I’m sorry, I-“

“Please don’t say sorry-“

“Let me finish.” Brite strictly stated as Drift immediately shut up. He continued to stare. She looked away. His gaze felt haunting to her.

“There’s not a lot of people who can act nice most of the time.” She continued, looking down. “It’s different when they’re being an asshole, I can yell at them about their behavior. But seeing one of my friends be at their lowest, and just… snap? You know you can tell me anything, right? I was scared you yelled at me. I would’ve comforted you, I really wanted to, but my instinct told me to leave, and… I’ve never seen you like this. I don’t know if you’ve experienced anything similar to this before in the past, but-“ She looked at him several times, having trouble maintaining eye contact.

“I can‘t-“ Drift’s voice cracked. She looked up to him. He softened and looked down as he walked towards her, out in the rain. The soft light from the door and windows glowed as the pitter patter were beginning to mark his clothes with wet spots. They were a couple inches apart from each other now. She’ll continue to soak, but Drift’s hoping she could stay at his place after they settle this. He won’t let her go when she’s this distressed. He’s hoping to take care of her the same way she did for him.

“I can’t get you out of my head.” He looked up and saw her eyes. They still had sparkles in them. Even after what happened.

“These feelings make me sick. They feel good to have, but I’m terrified about having them for you. You’re my friend. Why do I feel this way for you? Is it because you’re so nice? Did we grow close enough for me to catch feelings like this? Brite, you are the most welcoming person I’ve ever met. I’ve never felt this way for someone who feels like…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t call her his home. In fact, he was far away from his universe. But he could call it that because she made it feel like home.

She took his hands in. She rubs them. She scoffs lightheartedly. She looks down to them as he wanders into her eyes. She has a soft smile. So pretty.

“I’ll be honest. I, um… haven’t exactly felt a particular way with any other person here. Specifically this way. I like having friends and spending time with them. But… you?” She looks up, her eyes displayed with care, and just enough to convince Drift that this is his home.

“You’re so nice too. You underestimate yourself. You’re adventurous, but careful with people around you and take care of them. You make sure to enjoy the moment but take pictures in case you forget. You talk about your interests and how they influence your choices, and future ones. The facts about anything that you like are so cool. I adore that. I adore you.”

They stare into each other’s eyes for a good minute before Brite started to shiver.

“We should head back in. I warned you not to go out, and since I care about you, I’ll take care of you for the night.”

“I should be doing that actually, but we both can.” She chuckled as she smiled snugly and Drift chuckled before interlocking his hand with her’s and running into the house. She giggled as she chased after him, and as he turned around and stopped suddenly behind the door, she bumped into him. His arms were around her now and her hands were on him. She looked up as he looked down. He kissed her forehead, then she kissed his cheek. They both smiled warmly before the door was shut.

Chapter Text

It’s been a day since they’ve ended it. Only their friends know about it, but the party they’re heading to might end up knowing too.

Brite sighs as it’s a couple of minutes before she needs to get to the party. She lets down her hair and agilely puts on her slick, shiny dark purple dress, and rushes to slip her colorful solid bracelets on. They jangle as she pulls her high heels on, and heads out the front door. She closes it and rushes to the car, immediately blasting off as she turns it on.

Neon lights flash through the windows, and when she stops the engine, she’s stuck viewing the house anxiously. Not entering it now, but soon. Tapping her finger, she looks around to see if anyone is outside the house. Not from the looks of it. The sun’s setting. It’s getting dark outside. Maybe behind the house though. She pulls down the passenger mirror and fixes her hair. Part of it is moved to the front, and she smiles. She’s excited to see her friends and party with them. She needed this too.

She closes the car door as she walks confidently to the front door. She opens the door, surprised she can just walk in, but hey, it’s a party. Her eyes dart around, looking for her friends. She observes the DJ grooving with a crowd and they’re all jumping and singing along slurrily. People lean on walls and sit while talking to other people, or seeming deep in thought. The party’s started minutes ago but it’s already a full house. She taps her finger on her thigh as she spots jars and pints of flavored drinks at a counter, some maybe spiked.

She walks over to them, looking again at the DJ and the crowd. She notices a couple friends and waves to them. Her face lights up. Raven, Rex, Abstrakt, and Cuddle Team Leader wave back. It’s nice to see their faces. She sighs and aims for soda. She spots chairs at the same counter she’s at. The party’s dim; it’s getting late, and it won’t get any brighter. Pouring it into a cup, she gulps some before glancing over at the crowd again.

I-I-I thought I found the answer to it
Eternal happiness tonight (hey)
But it was just another blip in my heart

She looks happy, finding her friends in the crowd and seeing them jump and stumble over the lyrics. Her eyes smile along with her lips. She lowers the cup from her mouth, her mind slowly sinking.

Sometimes I think of calling you up
To make myself look bad again
But now, I'm bringing flowers to your front door

Why did we break up again?

Her gaze ends up at the floor, the crowd’s feet. Where the flashing lights point towards once they’ve motioned up. The bottom.

Last night, I had a dream we started dating
Now you're pissing me off
And no, it's not lo-lo-love (yeah)
It's not something I want (not something I want)

No, haha, no, no, no. I told him I wasn’t ready to go that far yet. We just started dating and it didn’t feel right for him to just… say it. I was right. I had every reason to be right.

I'm not attracted to you
Like I was back at the start (back at the start)
Back at the start (back at the start)

She flinches up. She realizes her eyebrows are furrowed and her teeth are clenched. She breathes in, then out. She should join her friends soon. It’d be nice to let herself relax and release the stress of her break up. It’d take her mind off of it. Actually, she hasn’t seen him at all at the party. Maybe he wasn’t invited? But that would be impossible since Raptor and him are close and Raptor’s hosting the party so…

You're in my head so I cannot forget you
You're in my head so I can't, so I cannot
You're in my head so I cannot forget you
You're in my head so I cannot...

Her mind wanders. She keeps getting distracted, thinking about him more rather than doing what she came here to do. Damn, this is really affecting her. She sips again before she hears someone sit down next to her.

She turns in her seat. She hadn’t finished drinking, but it was him. Him and his stupid eyes. His stupid mask. His stupid hair. He wore dumb, different pants. Black biker pants and a white shirt. Pink splattered over it, and he wore his same, stupid shoes.

“Hi.” He finally says. He uttered his first word right to her, a day after they broke up. She couldn’t believe he did that. She swallowed the fizzling soda, and her widened eyes transitioned into a gaze that despised him. Furrowed eyebrows appeared again. Her posture was straightened as she kept eye contact with him. From a frightened face to a person that was silently screaming at him to go away, she was annoyed.

“Listen-“ He lays his left arm upside on the counter as his body turns toward her.

“We’re only friends. Nothing more than that. I need to move on and so do you.” She asserts, leaving him surprised. His mouth gaping under his mask, and his eyes wide open in return. He couldn’t believe it; he ended up staring into her eyes. She did the same back.

“…I understand.” He looks down and seems… sad. He… seems sad? After what he said… to her? After what he did… to her? He couldn’t have been more confusing.

Brite gets up and leaves as he’s stuck to his seat. She was just there a minute ago, and like before, she’s gone, and he screwed up again.

“I can’t believe it.” He clenched his fist, muttering. His body turns to face the counter and notices she left her drink there. He grabs a napkin to cover it, then looks at the drinking choices in front of him. “I couldn’t say another word without her reminding me about…” He sees a bottle of tequila, and a jar of possibly spiked fruit punch. Tequila, or spiked fruit punch. Tequila, fruit punch.

He grabs the bottle of tequila and watches it fill his cup quickly. He sets it down, then realizes how much he poured. Shit. His head turns left before he drinks. He remembers the door to the garage, and recalls a big tv with two consoles. Fuck it, he thought. Tonight’s gonna be rough either way. I’ll play video games instead. It’s probably for the best anyway.

Brite hastily runs up the stairs and tries to catch her breath. If she had just went on the dance floor, if she had just danced with her friends…

She opens the first door she sees, and hardly notices that there’s silhouettes. She quickly realizes they’re making out, but they both stop and look back at her.

“I’m sorry to disturb whatever you two were doing!” She yells, backing out and slowly closing the door. “Continue on..”

“Brite, come in!”

That voice seemed familiar.

Brite pushes the door wide open and switches the light on. It’s Teknique and Zoey. Zoey seems worried while Tek wipes her smudged lipstick. Zoey waves to Brite, and she waves back.

“I’m sorry I walked in on you two-“ She closes the door behind her and leans back on it. Her hands cover her face.

“Don’t apologize. I should’ve put a sock on the knob, or lock the door, or something.”

“Did you mean to find someone else? Or did you need to hide for a while?” Zoey questions, looking at Brite now.

“I ran into him.” BB lets out, pinching her temple. “I thought I wouldn’t see him- I kept thinking about him after we broke up and… it’s a lot.”

Tek’s hand falls off Zoey’s face as she looks at Brite Bomber with an empathetic expression. Zoey brings her leg off the bed.

“Brite, it’s okay to think about him. Don’t stress yourself over it. You’re at a party. You should be getting drunk and letting yourself go wild. Just don’t beat yourself up over thinking about the situation.”

“If I keep thinking about him, does that mean I should go back to him?” Brite’s hand clings on her right arm’s elbow, and switches glances with both of them.

Teknique’s eyebrows raise, as Zoey’s expression flips. Tek knows Zoey might say some shit so she’s ready to calm her down if it escalates.

“Fuck him, and fuck men. He’s a piece of shit who’s desperate because he fumbled the bad bitch that you are.” Zoey confidently states, as Brite and Tek look at her in surprise. Zoey was able to stay calm. Tek didn’t have to do anything.

“I don’t wanna agree with her… but she’s right.”

“You think I’m wrong?” Zoe’s voice tone softens.

“Always.” Tek kisses Zoey’s cheek which results in giggling from her, and a blushing smile. She fidgets with her hair as Teknique stares in awe.

“Brite, you’ll find someone else.” Tek turns her head, then her eyes to meet Brite’s.

“He will find someone else, too. If you think he’s a good guy though, and he’s capable of changing and worthy of redemption, give him a chance. After that, there are no more.”

Brite breaks the eye contact to think hard about what she just said. “Thanks, Teknique.” She agrees as she heads out. “Bye now!”

“No problem, I’m here for you!!” She yells as Brite closes the door.

“Now that she’s gone…” Zoey mentions, but Teknique rushes to kiss her and hold her.

Brite takes her time down the stairs. Teknique’s words echo in her mind. As she sharply turns, she bumps into him. Her words suddenly evaporate. She can’t think. She looks up hesitantly and their eyes find each other. She backs up immediately, as Drift is ready to talk and defend himself again.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to listen to me. You’re right. It- it was too soon. It won’t happen again. We can go slow next time. Brite, you mean so much to me. I hope you know that. Even as a friend.”

Brite stares at him, but can’t keep her gaze firm. She believes him but wants to stand her ground. She’s weak to him. He makes her weak. Her sigh and softened gaze shows him she listened.

She leans into his ear. “Meet me in the closet behind the stairs in 10.”

Then she walks away and blends into the party quickly. Drift tried but has lost track of where she is. She might be in the crowd, or have gone behind the house. Maybe even the basement.

Well, I can’t regret this now. I’ve come too far. I’ve asked and here it is.

Drift reassures himself as he catches Raptor leaning against the wall with one cup in his hand, his leg propped out and up. He looks like one of those lonesome people you might see at a party in a movie.

Drift approaches him with, “I need your help.”

“Of course you fucking do.” Raptor looks away before exhaling in the most exaggerating way. “If this is about Brite Bomber, I swear to fucking God-“

“This is different. She wants me back.”

“On God?” He looks back at him. He’s in disbelief because it sounds like some bullshit excuse Drift would come up with just for him to support a stupid decision he’s about to do.

“She told me a minute ago to meet her in the closet behind the stairs in 10, man.” His eyes light up. “She fucking told me that! ME!!” He starts to giggle but immediately stops when Raptor lays his pointer on Drift’s mask.

“What if she’s lying to you?” Raptor begs the question.

“She wouldn’t lie to me if she finally gave in to me constantly asking her for another chance. This isn’t… selfish of me to do. I think…”

“But if you go to that closet and wait in there and wait too long, realize she won’t ever go there and find out she left you there on purpose because she doesn’t want you anymore? Then what? Your begging makes it worse for her. You guys only broke up yesterday. And you’re here at my party, trying to get back together with her, and when she does ‘finally’ give in to what you want, you’re the happy one? What about her, man? You can’t just pressure someone back into what you wanted because you missed how it felt for you. She probably came here, thinking you wouldn’t be here, and could actually party with her friends. But naaahhhh, you’re reminding her you need her every goddamn second but it’s actually the other way around.”

When Raptor finished, Drift’s expression completely flipped. Excited to devastated. He realized he just did the worst thing any ex could do. And that was devastating for him.

He wouldn’t want to hurt Brite at all. Even if it was an accident, he’d apologize til she told him to shut up about it. And if her forgiveness meant fighting til the end of time, he’d do it.

“Maybe- Maybe her and I meeting up is a chance for me to tell her that I screwed up tonight, and I should tell her that I’ll do anything she says if it makes her happy, because I owe her that.”

“Yeah. You paid attention. Listen, dude-“

“I’m sorry. I feel so bad for what I’ve done. The past few days hasn’t felt like me at all. God. Fucking-“ Drift looks down, grasping his head and biting his lip to prevent himself from screaming. But the party’s too rambunctious. No one would hear him scream anyways.

“Tell that to her. Not me, buddy.” Raptor pats his shoulder and looks at him solemnly.

Drift rushes to hug him and Raptor instantly hugs him back.

“I’ve got you. I’m sorry for calling you stupid yesterday.”

“It’s fine.” Drift chuckles. “You were right. Thank you.”

“Of course, buddy.” Raptor replies, while Drift releases the hug. He felt relieved.

“See ya! I’ll fill you in on later.”

“Yeah man!” Raptor waves back, as he leans on the wall again.

“Man, he’ll do anything for her.” He sighs and sips his drink. He hears a mhm next to him, and turns his head to find Raven right next to him.

15 minutes pass.

Drift is in the closet Brite Bomber told him to meet her at.

At night, I think of you (dipset, dipset)
I want to be ya lady baby
If ya game is on, give me a call boo (call me up)
If ya love is strong gotta give my all to you (holla at me)

He checks his phone. At this time, him and brite would be talking to each other in person, or sleeping on a call together. It was nice spending time with her. Talking to her. Looking at her.

He throws his head back against the wall, and lets his body fall against it. He looks up into the darkness, wondering how big this closet is. As he continues to sink to the ground, his repetitive thinking of Brite only circles him back to where he is now. This continuous begging… This yearning…

I need you (need me?)
I want you (want me?)
Have you,
hold you,
squeeze you

The door opens. It was hard to tell that it had. There wasn’t a big difference of light coming in. It’s bright, but not bright enough to panic Drift.

But she’s here. She didn’t lie. Or set him up, like Raptor said.

She closes the door. She sighs as she turns around. She didn’t notice a light switch in the closet, so she resorts to reaching her hands out in the dark.

Drift has been in here longer than she has, so his eyes have adjusted in the darkness and can barely see the outline of her. He quickly realizes she’s trying to find a light switch in here, but there isn’t one.

Shit.

He doesn’t know what to do. If he talks, he might scare her and she might punch him for getting scared. If he turns on his flash, she’ll just get pissed, and that’s something you don’t want to see.

He lets her roam and extend her arms in close range. She’s gone to her right, but as she realizes there’s no switch, she shuffles over to the middle.

He’s nervous. He doesn’t know what to do.

God, this was stupid. I should have waited. I could have been patient, instead of pissing her off further with my pleading. I need to-

His thoughts stop when he hears her feet shuffle directly in his direction. She’s getting closer to him. He’s against the wall, and she’s tapping her hands on the walls.

Her eyes must have not adjusted to the darkness. She would’ve seen Drift by now. Or is she pretending to not see him as an excuse to get closer to him?

She gets closer to the left corner. Drift hears her heels clacking on the floor, her bracelets dangling, her breath a bit more audible.

He backs down. He sinks more to the ground, wary of where she is and is careful as to not touch her. He spreads his legs further apart.

She walks almost all the way into the corner. The realizes there might not be a button at all. “Damn it.” She sighs, relaxing her body, and leaning more in toward the edge. Her head is let down, but she couldn’t tell she just exhaled on Drift.

Drift is silently panicking now. He’s very thankful he’s wearing his mask. He thought about not wearing it to the party. He would’ve had his shaky breath noticed a couple seconds ago. Brite would turn on her phone light and yell at him.

She stays in this position for 15 seconds. Those seconds felt like 3 minutes. It was too long.

She takes her hands off the walls, and encloses her face with them.

“Oh my god.” She softly says. “What am I doing…”

She squats down to Drift’s level. She lets herself fall on her behind, and sighs. She keeps her face buried in her hands, to hide her overwhelmed expression. Her knees are folded against her chest.

Drift doesn’t know what to do. Brite doesn’t know he’s right in front of her. He could hug her, right now. He would. He should.

She stays there for a minute. Drift shifts his arms down from the walls; that’s when Brite looks up in surprise.

“Who’s there?”

Drift was caught. There’s no use hiding from her now.

“Who else would it be?”

Brite wraps her arms around her legs. She is still looking into the corner of where he is,
remaining still and didn't move an inch. He looked into Brite's eyes, into where he thought they were.

"Drift. I don't-"

"I'm sorry-"

"Let me finish."

Drift's expression significantly blanks. He tries to show her that he'll be attentive, even if she can't see him. She switches from squatting to sitting onto her knees.

Their faces are centimeters away from each other. Brite certainly doesn't know this, but Drift does. It’s a gut feeling.

"People make mistakes. It was mostly selfish of me to break up with you because you said something I wasn't ready to hear. I should've just communicated that with you instead of stopping it overall. That wasn't something I would do at all. But I did it."

Drift patiently listened to her, and repeated it in his head to make sure he understood her.

"But I didn't like your nagging all night. Drift, I needed space from you. Of course, I should've told you that after we broke up, but that break up alone meant that we both needed space. That should've been clear to you. But even then.. Ugh, this is a mess. I-"

Drift brings up his hand to her face. His thumb twiddles on her skin. Her soft skin. He missed her so much.

Brite lets him do this. She can't push him away. Not again. He means so much to her.

"Will you forgive me?" Her voice cracks. Her eyes fog up but she's trying her hardest not to let tears fall down. Her guard is let down, and she lets this moment consume her.

"Of course I will, darling." Drift reassures her. He wishes she could see how genuine he’s being. Being in the dark isn’t enough.

She puts his hand on his chest. Moves it to his shoulder. Puts her other hand on his shoulder.

And she hugs him.

He’s a bit surprised. But he welcomes her by hugging her back. Twiddling his thumb on her back. Shifting to rubbing his hand so she feels loved.

“I’m sorry.” Drift mutters as her face buries into his neck. Her soft crying and tears melt into his skin.

”Don’t be.” She laughs, and she hugs him a bit tighter.

2 minutes pass by.

”Can I say it?” Drift asks. He’s worried he might have pissed her off.

”Of course.” Brite pulls away, their faces as close as they were before.

”I love you.” Drift admits with a comforting and realiving tone. He feels fuzzy and warm inside. Completely relaxed.

”I love you too.” Brite’s forehead bumps against Drift’s. She tilts her head for a kiss, and Drift accepts it.