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A lot had changed in the time since Father had decided to up and leave Fontaine for whatever reason she had deemed necessary, and Freminet was starting to believe that he was getting used to the goings-on of Chenyu Vale High, especially now since he’d found himself integrated into the little friend group consisting of Gaming, Glace, and Bleu. He knew of their actual names by that point, but he still struggled a bit to pronounce them correctly but Gaming had never faulted him for it. He hadn’t really been clued into how Xingqiu or Chongyun would react if he just so happened pronounce their names incorrectly to their faces, and he would prefer not to for fear of the other two reacting badly. He didn’t want them to hate him, especially when they were close to Gaming.
Though, the two of them were still mystery to him, even all these weeks later. They were dating, and Xingqiu was an author, he knew that as much, though the author thing had been via Gaming ‘running off his head’ or whatever phrase he used to describe when his passion got the best of him.
Or well, ‘passion’ wasn’t the correct term in this case. Could you be passionate about about friends? Either way, passion wasn’t the right way to describe how Gaming talked about his friends. Joy, possibly? That Gaming would be so joyful he’d go off on long tangents about how insufferable it was to get the two together, and how freaking satisfied he was when they finally did? That certainly seemed like an appropriate description for those rants he would do regarding those two. And besides, Gaming’s passion was different.
Gaming’s passion was S. That race he went to whenever it would be put on, in that old abandoned mine. The first time Freminet had been there had been scary, if he was perfectly honestly with himself, and that hadn’t been made better by that aunt of Chongyun’s. Gaming had mentioned her, but actually seeing her in the flesh had made Freminet feel more unnerved than he would have been usually at such an event.
Gaming hadn’t been wrong, there had been a lot of people. So many that Freminet had felt his stomach drop into the black abyss of nothingness, but with Pers and Gaming there… it felt less scary. And for him, that was enough, to stay there and witness Gaming experience his passion, and just witness him excited, and bounding around with energy. An energy that Freminet was quite sure he’d never match, though he wasn’t all that hurt by this revelation. Some people are simply more energetic than others, and Freminet certainly came alive when indulging in his own passion.
Freminet had found himself a home in the whole skateboarding thing by taking up the challenge of making boards himself and even touching up some of the premade ones, such as Jackpot’s clearly loved yet mechanically unsound board. Freminet hadn’t exactly interacted with the champion all that much, it’s just that he’d gone through more than one S event watching the damaged board to the point it had even hurt him to see. Even Gaming had noticed it and suggested his handiwork to him, after practically fanboying at the poor skateboarder for several minutes.
And for the first time since he’d started consistently coming to S, Freminet felt annoyed.
This had been despite the fact that Jackpot was already in some sort of relationship with the tall, uninviting, hulk of a man who followed Jackpot around like a worried nurse. Freminet had written these emotions off at first, but it was becoming increasingly obvious as to what these emotions had been indicating. Anyways, Freminet had managed to get a hold of the board and Jackpot had seemingly been oddly possessive of it. From what Freminet had observed at all the races he’d gone to, Jackpot had given off the aura of been fairly full of himself and egoistic, nothing like the weirdly possessive and scared version of him while the board was in Freminet’s care. But, it wasn’t in him to judge, so he’d just continued on the board before the eventually returning it to its owner. Gaming had seemingly returned to normal after the whole fanboying episode after the board and Freminet had felt his annoyance ease for the time being.
This had only been a single event, but it had been the beginning of many, and Freminet had long resigned himself to his fate. There were probably less dramatic ways to put it, but then again, maybe it was simply his brother rubbing off on him. It would make sense, it would always make sense.
Gaming’s passion was infectious, it had infected Freminet from the very first moment he’d joined him at S, on that day he met everyone, on that day where they’d huddled together to watch Jackpot race. On that day at S.
Gaming’s passion is S, and being at S, and Freminet can’t help but be enamored by it.
Gaming was already full of energy, but S awakens something in him, it becomes more childlike, in a way. Gaming has always had some sort of fire burning in him or whatever, but S seemingly throws gasoline into that mix. It becomes a blaze that, if Freminet wasn’t used to it by this point, would well and truly melt him. It’s… sweet to see him so passionate about something. It’s the kind of passion that results in random hugs, hands flying through the air, Freminet being jostled if something exciting happens on the track. At first it had been sudden, Freminet being caught off guard, but now that he’s used to it, it’s almost endearing. Especially since he offered him Pers every so often, and Gaming always treated the penguin plushie with the utmost care, even while he was in this particular state. It was adorable. It was almost to the point where Freminet could almost see an imaginary tail wagging back and forth vigorously as Gaming would rock back and forth.
And if S is what brought out this side of him, then Freminet didn’t mind going to this secretive race for the entire length of time that Gaming liked it.
Gaming had his quiet moments too. Times when he’d remember who exactly he was talking to, almost embarrassed, but honestly, at this point Freminet didn’t exactly mind. He’s never really minded anyways.
Thought that brought another thought to Freminet’s mind.
Gaming had been acting.. odd recently. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it was still noticeable. He’d been acting oddly jumpy as of late and he was blushing a lot more often. Freminet had noticed odd behaviour from him before, namely that time that their fingers brushed. His regular energy was different too, it was still there, but it was more nervous. He’d just honestly seemed more nervous in general, and Freminet would usually think nothing of it, but the fact Xingqiu had been wearing his ‘plotting expression,’ Gaming’s words, not his, on far more often than was usual was causing Freminet to worry a bit, as he was unsure what Xingqiu would be plotting. Unless it was to do with the school nurse, Bai… was it Zhu? Bai…zhu? He’d have to ask Gaming that. Anyways, there’d been rumours that he’d be seen outside military base, or whatever Gaming had called it. That did seem like something that Xingqiu would be interested in at least-
“You okay there, kid?” Said a voice, and Freminet was snapped out of his thoughts. He looked down at the board in front of him and blinked again as he noticed the ocelot staring up at him from the underside of the board. “I don’t want to keep you from your fantasies, Kid, but Rap and I are meeting with with the girls, and I kinda need my board back,” the voice said again, this time sounding amused. “Oh hey,” she added with a hint of realization, “I know you. You come with the Lion kid, dontcha?” Freminet eventually tore his gaze from the board and his eyes found the tanned woman wearing a crop top overlayed with a jacket, a coke tin in her hand, her other under the arm holding the coke, leaning on the doorframe, her tail flicking in a leisurely manner.
“Um… I’m sorry ma’am um..” Freminet trailed off, backing away into a corner, and the woman raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.
“Not very talkative, are ya?” She asked, making no effort to remove herself from the door. Freminet blinked again and then further backed away. The woman’s piercing green eyes were not helping, though her demeanor was overall calm and lazy, like she could laze there all day. “The girls and I wanted to try out a new set today. Though I’m pretty sure, Serv and Dou just want to try out new love songs or whatever is going on over there. Skateboarding ain’t really relevant for that I guess, but it’s always nice to get a few upgrades every now and then,” the woman continued as if trying to dissipate the tension in the room. “Oh hey! Kid, do you want to hear a snippet of one? You’d get it right from the ocelot’s mouth, eh? Eh?”
“Uh. Sorry ma’am, we uh- I um… only really need your name?” It came out as a question, and Freminet cursed himself for it. The woman, however, only twitched her ear and then smiled.
“Xilonen. I’m here to pick up my board,” she said with a smile. Freminet blinked at her and then glanced at the board on the table. Ocelot was both in a band and a skateboarder? She must have a busy week, despite her seeming laidback nature.
“Well um, here you go…” Freminet murmured handing her the board, and Xilonen thanked him, but before she could really leave, he spoke up again. “I’m um… curious. How do you… uh, handle the band and um skateboarding? It just seem like… it’s a lot.” Xilonen’s ear twitched slightly and she turned back around, and then, she smiled.
“Interesting question, Kid,” she hummed out, though it sounded more like a purr coming out of her mouth. “I do have somewhere to be, however, I’ll give you the short version since you asked. You see, the thing is, skateboarding isn’t the highest thing on my priority list, like it might be for that friend of yours-“ Freminet stared at Xilonen as she continued talking, brain seemingly stuttering at the thought of Xilonen knowing about Gaming’s passion as much as he did. Though, he was the new element in Gaming’s life, and S had been part of Gaming’s life far longer than Freminet had even known about it. He had enough sense to know that Gaming didn’t like the race over his friends, that was honestly so ridiculous of a thought that Freminet didn’t even dwell on it for even a fraction of a second. Father had taught him better than that. Gaming and the rest also seemed to like him as a person as well so clearly he wouldn’t like S over him either. “-or your thing with the boards,” Xilonen’s voice swam back into his ears again and he blinked out of his state. “So yeah, I’m more a rollerblader, or DJ than a skateboarder. Though fun fact: I find that the balance needed for rollerblading versus skateboarding isn’t actually all that different, I suppose you just have to situate it different.” Xilonen then blinked. “Hey, are you okay? You’ve gone silent again.” Freminet blinked again as he found himself drifting off into some daydream and found more thoughts consuming him.
He’d suddenly become consumed by the sudden presence of Gaming at the entrance of the workshop, practically being pushed forward, by unknown force, and seemingly unwillingly. That was until Kinich showed up from behind a bush, Ajaw yapping incessantly, but Freminet couldn’t see the Chihuahua, probably being hidden by a bush. Kinich knew Gaming? Small world clearly, as Freminet only really remembered telling Gaming about the whole Kinich issue with his brother, and yet they were both here now. Xilonen had also gone quiet, but she was now smiling. Seemingly producing rollerblades out of nowhere, she rolled over and grabbed Kinich by his hand, bringing him into the workshop and speaking with him in a foreign language that Freminet recognized as a type of Natlanese, and via his brother, he found he could understand it somewhat. Not entirely, he couldn’t make out most words, but he could make out ‘Ajaw isn’t with Mavuika is he’, ‘Lyney’, ‘Oh you poor, poor thing, Kin’, all from Xilonen, meanwhile Kinich’s answers were curt and somewhat embarrassed. Freminet decided to ignore them for the time being.
“I’m so sorry to disturb you at work,” Gaming began when Freminet left the workshop. “Well… this isn’t really work is it? Anyways! Um, I’m not sure why I’m here exactly, I guess Kinich saw me in the area and then decided to bring me here. Did you know he had a scheming side? Well um, at- at least judging from you’ve told me, he just seemed kinda chill? And all of sudden he pulls this move? Anyways um. I guess, since I’m here now I-I can take you to S with me? It’s around that time now and I know it’s kinda sudden all things considered and I’m not sure if I even have to ask at this point. You’ve been there multiple times! Anyways, do you want to stroll past your house and collect Pers? We can go an collect him now if you want him there and everything. It’s cool.”
“Gaming, have you ever been in my house before?” Freminet asked without thinking, and Gaming let out an almost strangled noise in response and surprise, and Freminet started backtracking as quickly as he’d said it. “Uh, I mean, if you want to. That is. I uh… don’t want to force you if you don’t want-“
“Shit, I gotta bounce,” said Xilonen behind them, though she seemed almost amused. “Maybe I’ll see you two lovebirds later,” she added with a smile and Gaming let out an awkward chuckle, reddening slightly. Xilonen then left and it was just the two boys and Kinich, though Kinich chose that opportunity to quickly scurry away and out of sight.
Now that the two were alone, an awkward tension fell between them, and Freminet tried again. “Uh, what I was trying to say um, was uh-“
“No, I heard you,” Gaming blurted out. “You want me to come over. Which I suppose I could do, as I have nothing on. So um. That’s cool.” He started fidgeting with the tassels on his jacket, and Freminet felt his hands begin to sweat. “What’s your house like inside? Obviously I know what it looks like from the outside, I’ve taken you multiple times but what’s it like inside? Is it like my house?”
“Gaming, the only time I’ve been to your house was when your board hit me on the head and passed out and you took me there. Your dad freaked out remember? He thought I was your boyfriend and that I was there to have you know with you.”
The tension was immediately sliced with a sharp sting that surprised Freminet.
“Frem, you had left before my dad even arrived home. And you were passed out of most of the time,” Gaming stated simply.
“Didn’t he react like that when you explained that you had brought a boy home to explain the messed up sheets?
“Well…” Gaming trailed off. “Anyways! Not the point!”
“I wasn’t in your house long enough to see the interior anyways,” Freminet said, and Gaming blinked. “Well I uh, asked the question, so…”
It was then that Gaming grinned and everything was suddenly back to normal.
“Of course I want to come over! I’ve been wishing to see your house!” Freminet blinked.
“You have?” Gaming let out an awkward chuckle and looked away.
“Kinda yeah.” Freminet smiled.
“Then let’s go.” He grinned at him, letting the warmth he’d been suppressing come to the surface. “I’m sure you know the way.”
“That I do, Frem.”
That was how the two found themselves standing outside of Freminet’s house and Gaming looked at him. “Is anyone home? I don’t want to surprise anyone by just showing up without them expecting it.” Freminet thought about it. Would there be anyone in the house now? Lyney was at his day job and Lynette was meeting with a fellow tea enthusiast, that only left…
Arlecchino.
Mon Dieu…
Foçalors’s right toe.
This just got a lot worse
Freminet had told Father about Gaming, but actually seeing his friend in the flesh might rouse more of a reaction than just a curious hm. He hadn’t even worked up the courage to tell her that he viewed Gaming as something more just yet, his Father could be that scary. Father always held herself like some sort of raven or hawk, patient, waiting for her prey to make that one fatal mistake before she struck. One wrong move and Gaming could be plucked and cast out, depending what sort of mood she was in. This was a bad idea, particularly because of his scary guardian.
But before Freminet could even react to veer them away from the hawk waiting behind the door, Arlecchino opened it with a sort of quiet regality, wearing a grey dress suit under what could be considered a regal coat. Black eyes found Gaming immediately, whose bright smile was somehow forced. Arlecchino was emotionless, regarding both Freminet and Gaming somewhat coldly. Gaming seemed to be folding under her harsh gaze, and her gaze turned almost accusatory as they found Freminet again, wordless, yet saying many things. “Father,” Freminet forced his voice to be steady, “This is Gaming.” By some miracle, Arlecchino’s harsh gaze softened and she turned her gaze on Gaming.
“So… this is the one that I’ve heard so much about?” Her tone was neutral, likely being told ‘so much about him’ from Lyney and Lynette because Foçalors knows Freminet would be too scared to tell her anything. He’d hardly had the courage to tell about this friendship in the first place. “Hm,” long finger nails stroked through Gaming’s hair, “brunette… eyes of dark amber…” She grabbed Gaming’s chin and the latter froze in fear. Then, amusement entered her gaze, but on Arlecchino, the thought was horrifying. “You have a type,” she said, her voice dripping in neutrality. Freminet blinked in confusion, as he hadn’t been aware that she’d even know about his plight. Arlecchino then straightened before them and once again looked over at Freminet. “Might I ask why he just so happens to be here?” Her voice was once again irritatingly neutral.
“Um,” hesitation leaked into his voice, “I asked if he wanted to come over, and he does so… he’s here now. It was uh, all very last minute though, so um, sorry I didn’t tell you anything.”
“I see,” Father responded, sounding surprised. “You’re… asserting yourself… hm.” She stepped back. “The house is yours. I have… work to do with Cle-with, someone… I’ll leave you to it.” Without so much as a flourish, Arlecchino turned and left, retreating back into the basement. Freminet never really knew what went on in the basement, and he’d prefer not to know.
“So um, that was Father,” Freminet said to the applause of broken trumpets. At least, that’s what it felt like. “Though, she’s never usually that… kind? That doesn’t feel like the correct term. Considerate? No, those are synonyms.”
“She’s scary.”
“That too.”
After that, the two of them shuffled into the house, Gaming marveling at how minimalist most of the house was, being barely decorated in most areas, just leaving an ocean of the lightest blue of wall throughout the home, with black embellishments every so often. They then made their way towards the bedrooms. The first bedroom they passed was clearly the master bedroom, as it had its own toilet and was fairly large. The duvet of the bed was a stark yet intriguing light steel grey, and the walls were the offest of white, edged with black and the decorative pillows were blood red and arranged neatly in the room itself, and Freminet noticed Gaming pausing outside of the room and seemingly being intrigued by it. “Is your Father a freaking vampire?” He asked incredulously and Freminet only chuckled at the comment as that was what the room gave off. Either way they continued onward.
The next bedroom in the hallway was bathed in orange, ranging from pinkish orange to regular orange and then even red orange. The decorative pillows were strewn on the floor and were a dark peach, and the walls were just simply white with no fancy embellishments, a cat plushie was lying rear up on the messy bed, and a magician’s hat was lazily put onto the plushie, making it half fall off, the duvet itself also had cats on it, specifically ginger ones, and the curtains were ripped up as if Lyney had clawed at them with claws. Lyney was related to Lynette, but where Lynette had her ears and tail, Lyney seemingly showed no cat like traits whatsoever, and the only sign that he might even have any were the damaged curtains. “Wow, your brother’s room is almost as bad as mine,” Gaming commented from behind him. “Does he keep anything clean?” Freminet looked at him.
“His magic card collection. And his… other card collections.” Gaming blinked and then jogged over.
“You haven’t told me this before, what card games does he like?”
“He’s been into Genius Invocation recently,” Freminet responded. “Have you heard of it?” Gaming nodded.
“I’ve never played it myself, but Uncle Moze is into it. I hear he even has a card in it now.” It was Freminet’s turn to blink.
“You can get cards of yourself in it?”
“Apparently so,” he said with a grin.
The card game was quickly forgotten as the two passed the final bedroom before Freminet’s and by process of elimination, this bedroom was clearly Lynette’s. It was bathed in teal, and there was cat memorabilia neatly placed in very nook and cranny of the room, there was even a cat bed in addition to the regular bed. Besides that, Lynette’s bedroom was pretty boring and Freminet didn’t linger too long on it. That then brought the two to Freminet’s room at the end of the hall.
The room was definitely the smallest out of all the rooms in the building, and had a singular window that didn’t look out at much except a road. The walls were a pale blue, and much of the room was the same, being varying shades of pale blue. There was a sketch book lying open on the desk full of mechanical drawings, and that was the first thing that caught Gaming’s attention. Freminet watched as he beelined for the book, as he himself just reached for where Pers was leaning against his own decorative pillows, and brought him into his lap, before returning his gaze to Gaming.
“You’ve told me all about the mechanics stuff and everything, but I wasn’t aware that you actually drew stuff related to it!” Gaming commented, picking up the sketchbook, and joining Freminet on the bed, close enough so that he could place his head on Freminet’s shoulder. The position was nothing new to them, they usually did it to watch the various the races at S on Gaming’s phone to prevent Freminet from being around too many strange people that he didn’t exactly know. He didn’t do well in crowds, and Gaming was considerate of that. Freminet liked that, that he was considerate of that fact. It made him feel warm inside that the consideration.
Maybe that’s one of the first things that had led him to developing these feelings he had for him. He wasn’t all that sure, for the only thing he knew for sure was that he’d definitely fallen for Gaming’s passion. Who wouldn’t fall for that particular kind of fire that if Freminet were a poet, he’d say made him melt?
It was one of the reasons he’d continued coming to S at all, seeing how passionate Gaming was about it. How happy he was whenever he would come. Being at S made Gaming’s eyes light up in a way that Freminet was sure only he could make happen.
Freminet glanced over at Gaming. His ears had gone deaf due to being lost in his thoughts, but he could still see the excited look in Gaming’s eyes, and see his mouth moving in what could only be praise. Freminet looked away as he felt himself blush at the unheard praise. It was the same kind of energy that Gaming usually had at S. It was adorable. Then, suddenly, Gaming’s voice cut through his thoughts.
“Have you ever tried drawing something that’s not mechanical?” He asked. “Like, a not mechanical drawing? Like, of Pers, for example? I can’t really draw all that well, but you have such good mechanical drawings, I’m wondering if that translates over to regular drawing.” Freminet blinked at him before taking the sketchbook from him.
“I’ve uh… never tried. But I can…” Freminet picked up the well-worn pencil, Gaming removing his head so he didn’t hinder him and then he started bouncing up and down on the bed. Freminet then got to work.
His mind went blank with ideas, but he persevered and simply started sketching out a circle, a circle could become anything, and it was then that an image entered his mind, and so he continued.
The bottom of the circle soon became a chin, then ears, and then a rather intricate hairstyle drawing wise. The fringe was split into three parts, two of which rejoining the rest of the hair, leaving just a spike of fringe in the middle. Then, a headband came to him and he started drawing that, Gaming being quiet. Next he drew the hair that flopped over the headband and the undercut, before drawing the small ponytail that completed Gaming’s hair, and Freminet stared at the image in disbelief, before a wave of anxiety washed over him and he scooted away just slightly out of embarrassment.
The drawing of Gaming was unnecessarily detailed, in the way that it only would be if Freminet had spent a considerable amount of time staring at Gaming’s face.
Gaming blurted out something in Liyuean, a language Freminet didn’t know any of, and so he just blinked at him. “Quoi? Pardon, Brunet. Common, s’il vous plaît?” Freminet then realized that he’d done the exact same and quickly corrected himself. “Uh, sorry. I meant to say, can you speak in Common please? I can’t understand you.” Gaming blinked at him and then laughed awkwardly.
“Oh sorry. I was just surprised it was me. But, hey. That kinda looks like this.” He took out his board and then showed him the underside.
There on the board was the decal that Freminet had secretly put on in a moment of desperation.
“I… um… guess I’m kinda wondering why this decal exactly. Not that I’m upset with it, don’t get me wrong! I mean… if it’s meant to be us. We’re kinda… cuddling…” he trailed off, suddenly sounding awkward and Freminet suddenly found himself awkward as well. And caught. And embarrassed. All of the above, in fact.
“Oh uh.” Think of a lie. Think of a lie. Think of a lie. It would be way too embarrassing to admit what exactly it meant, especially when there’s a very high possibility that Gaming didn’t like him the same way. “The old one had my blood on it anyways-“
“Frem, I cleaned it-“
“A-and I thought why not replace it with something that represents… us…” That’s a neutral statement, please take it as a neutral statement.
Gaming, however, started blushing and he simply lowered his board onto the floor. He then looked away, and laughed awkwardly. “Well, I wanted to thank you Freminet, so um. Merci…” he let out a little giggle, and Freminet blinked. That was the first time Gaming had attempted speaking any Fontainian. It caused a rush of familiarity to pass through Freminet, and all he could hope was that Gaming didn’t understand his next words, or maybe some part of him wanted him to, Freminet couldn’t be sure.
“Je t’adore, Brunet.” Though the possibility that Gaming didn’t reciprocate was still well and possible. And it hurt somewhat. But Freminet wasn’t going to worry about it