Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was a knock at Crispin's door.

Reluctantly, they dragged themself from their pity party curled up in bed and went to answer it. On the other side was Kieran wearing that half-lidded, empty expression that seemed to be his default state of being.

“What's up?” Crispin asked.

“You weren't at club today,” Kieran said plainly. Crispin cringed. Gah. They were in for a lecture.

“Sorry,” Crispin attempted damage control. “I'll try harder to make it next time, promise.”

Neutral expression breaking into something just a little bit confused, Kieran's furrowed brow shot up as his eyes widened in realization, face flushing bright red.

“I'm not- n-nobody is angry or anything!” Kieran rushed to assure Crispin. As he kept talking, Kieran's voice got smaller and smaller. “Attendance isn't, um, isn't mandatory anymore, so it's- it's fine if you just- didn't want to come, right- I just-”

Kieran sucked in a breath, voice so tiny Crispin could barely make it out. “Wantedtomakesureyouwerealright . ”

“...Thanks, Kieran,” Crispin said, “that's really cool of you. I'm all good, just sorta down, y'know?”

“Yeah, I get it. Is there- anything I can do?”

“Naw. Just want to be alone for a bit.”

“Right! Well… I hope, um, you have a good night.”

“You, too.”

Crispin shut the door.

It took exactly one day for the entire school to find out.

A clinical condolence from Amarys (alright, it wasn't like anybody had died, jeez), a wordless pat on the back from Drayton (sometimes, the greatest possible gift from Drayton was his silence)- even Carmine tossed Crispin a bag of chips from the vending machine (the good one in the juniors-and-seniors math hall) before storming off.

As much as Crispin appreciated it, class was a welcome refuge from the glances and well-wishes they received in the corridors.

A wide sheet of paper was spread over each lab table, all with a bin of the nineteen types of tera shards to the side. Their assignment was to partner up and correctly identify each shard by type, spread them on the paper, label them, and then have Briar check their work. As people split into pairs, it was Kieran who approached Crispin first.

“Hey, um, Crispin, I'm- sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to… I didn't know,” Kieran finished lamely.

“It's okay,” Crispin sighed, “I'll get over it.”

“I mean, still…”

“Seriously, what are you even apologizing for? You were just checking up on me,” Crispin waved him off, “come on, let's partner up!” 

“Is that- alright?” Kieran twisted his hands nervously.

“Yeah, of course! I wouldn't say it if it wasn't, Man.”

“Thanks,” Kieran carefully slid into the seat next to Crispin's. 

“Let's light this assignment up!” Crispin drummed their hands against the table. Kieran managed to crack a smile.

As they were getting settled, a third person leaned into their space.

“Room for one more?” Drayton asked.

“Oh, me and Kieran are already partners.”

“Got an uneven count in class today, somebody has to take me.”

“Really?” Crispin looked around. Sure enough, everybody else was already partnered up. 

“Cool! That would be awesome!” Crispin grinned. Kieran pursed his lips, but said nothing.

“Yay!” Drayton gave a little cheer before sitting down and immediately pulling out his phone. Kieran's frown deepened.

“... Let's do the easy ones first,” he murmured, turning his attention to their assignment.

“Makes sense,” Crispin made to grab the stellar shard.

While Drayton zeroed in on his phone, Crispin and Kieran narrowed down their collection. Steel, electric, fighting, grass, normal, and stellar all found their places on the paper easily. 

“Is this ice or water…?” Kieran inspected a blue shard.

“It might be flying?” 

“Uhg, you're right,” Kieran groaned. After a moment of hesitation, he turned to Drayton.

“Drayton, do you have any ideas…?”

“Dunno. Looks like you two have it covered,” Drayton shrugged without even looking. Kieran scowled.

“Drayton,” Kieran gave a huff, flicking Drayton's forehead. “Pay attention.”

“Ow!” Drayton yelped with way more vigor than the little flick entailed. “Why would you do that? This is abuse. This is Drayton abuse.”

“Die,” Kieran said.

“You're so mean,” Drayton shoved his phone into his pocket. “Look, phone's away, alright? Here, this one is dragon. I'm helping.”

“That's ghost.”

“What?” Drayton frowned, “No, it isn't. Crispin, back me up.”

“...I'm pretty sure that's ghost.”

“It is not,” Drayton insisted. Kieran set down the blue shard to move the one Drayton had pointed out onto the spot labeled ghost.

Muttering something under his breath, Drayton picked up a pencil and started doodling on the edge of the paper. Deciding he would be no help, Kieran didn't bother him again. Instead, Kieran picked up another shard, turning to Crispin as he did.

“Are you- coming to club today?” Kieran asked tentatively. Drayton glanced up from the paper. Crispin paused, swallowing.

“Sorry, I'm still not really feeling up to it,” Crispin admitted. They really didn't want to run into- it made Crispin's stomach go topsy-turvy just to think about it.

“That's cool! Totally fine!” Kieran squeaked, “I mean, I'm not technically a club member anymore, so- none of my business right? Um, do you think this one is fairy or psychic?”

“Psychic, I think?” Crispin was relieved Kieran didn't press the matter. 

While the two were distracted, Drayton swapped the dragon and ghost shards before going back to doodling. 

They worked in relative silence, only speaking up to check their work with each other. It felt- pretty awkward, Crispin was used to filling quiet spaces with their own voice. At least it meant they got done pretty quickly. Soon, Kieran was raising his hand to get Briar's attention. She walked over, inspecting their work before writing down a grade on her clipboard 

“Very good! You only mixed up the dragon and ghost shards.”

“Aw, shoot,” Drayton muttered.

“What? But we put that one on-” Kieran suddenly whirled on Drayton.

“You stupid bitch!” Kieran hissed, “When did you switch them?!”

“Kieran! Do not use that kind of language towards your classmates!” Briar snapped.

“S- sorry,” Kieran wilted immediately. 

The attention of the entire class was on Kieran. He made a valiant attempt to try and hide behind his hands. Drayton gave Kieran a pat on the back, just like he'd done for Crispin earlier, except without an ounce of real sympathy.

“I'm going to have to dock points for that kind of conduct,” Briar sighed, crossing something out on her clipboard and replacing it with a no-doubt lower number. 

“B- but-” Kieran stuttered, “but I-”

“I really expect better from you, Kieran,” Briar shook her head, “maybe try using your sister as an example.”

Something about that comment must have struck Drayton as very, very funny, because he almost choked on his laugh, barely managing to disguise it as a cough. Meanwhile, Kieran stared at the ground, face red, as the rest of the class became distracted by their own tasks again. He didn't even bother to swat away Drayton's hand when Briar turned around.

“That's the thanks I get for almost dying for her stupid turtle,” Kieran grumbled as he scuffed the heel of his shoe against the floor.

“Huh?”  Drayton blinked.

“Nothin’. Um, I'm really sorry,” Kieran murmured. He did actually look it.

“...Apology accepted, ex-champ,” Drayton replied after a moment.

Crispin couldn't tell if Kieran was about to leap across the table and try to strangle Drayton or burst into tears. They put an actual, nice hand on his back. 

“It's alright! We still got a B. No biggie.”

After rearranging the tera shards to the correct order, Crispin snapped a picture to reference later. Kieran, meanwhile, studied the shards religiously while he had them in front of him, furiously scribbling down notes.

Drayton took his phone back out and started playing Poffin Run.

The instant the bell rang, Kieran made himself scarce. It took Crispin a bit more time to gather their things, giving Drayton one last comment before they left.

“I seriously don't get you two."

Drayton snorted, ruffling Crispin's hair.

“Ack!”

“Never change, Little Buddy.”

It was only a bit of consolation, but Crispin's next class was in the Terarium. They were feeling pretty low-energy, but getting to do some more hands-on learning, letting out some pent-up jitters under that artificial sky and running around with their pokemon- Terarium classes were some of Crispin's favorites at Blueberry Academy, right up there next to home ec.

Man, they really just wanted to make a sandwich and wallow in delicious despair. Maybe Crispin would get lucky and class would be about sandwich powers. That would be nice.

That night, while Crispin was munching away, trying to work up the will to do their homework, their dad called them. Class hadn't been about sandwich powers, but that just meant Crispin got to make their own once they got back to their dorm. They set down their emotional support sandwich to answer the phone.

“Hey, Dad. What's up? You don't usually call around this time.”

“Well- Clay might have clued me in that I should check in on you,” Dad admitted. Crispin was hit with whiplash so bad they almost fell out of their chair.

“She told her dad?” At this rate, soon all of Unova would know Lacey had rejected Crispin. 

“She didn't say anything bad! Seriously, if Lacey had problems with you, I'd never hear the end of it from Clay. He might march right over to Blueberry Academy and have some words with you himself!”

That did not make Crispin feel better. They buried their face in their hands.

“Who else did he tell?” Crispin asked.

“Just me, promise,” Dad paused, “and I told your mom and uncles but that's it-”

“Dad!”

“Sorry! If it helps, they're already prepping a feel-better-soon package for you. Lots of sweets heading your way soon.”

That did actually make Crispin feel better. Still, they sighed, leaning back in their chair.

“It's not that big of a deal.”

“You know your uncles are always looking for an excuse to spoil you- and we all know heartbreak sucks. You deserve a pick-me-up to get all fired up again, alright?” Dad annunciated his words by pumping his fist in the air. Crispin mimicked the motion less enthusiastically.

“Thanks, Dad,” they said.

“Of course, Kiddo. We all care about you, okay? So if you want to talk to me or your mom or Cress or Cilan about it, we're all here for you.”

“I dunno, it just… sucks, I guess,” Crispin sagged down a bit further in their chair, sliding nearly halfway out of it. “I really liked her.”

Dad nodded along. 

“I hate feeling this way! Being around her used to make me feel so nice, but now even thinking about her is awful, and everybody in the whole world knows about it, apparently.”

“I'm… really sorry, I should have asked before going around.”

“It's okay. Uncle Cress's caramels are the best, so, you know, equal payoff, I guess,” Crispin joked half-heartedly. 

“Hey, you don't have to try and act cheerful. It's going to feel bad for a while. You just have to let yourself feel it.”

“Yeah, I know, it just…”

“Doesn't help much, does it?” Dad finished. Crispin nodded.

“It'll get better- and I'll make sure Cress knows to make you extra caramels. That's sure to speed the process along.”

“Thanks,” Crispin said again, “I should… probably get started on my homework now.”

“The grind never stops, huh?” Dad bemoaned, “just shoot me a message whenever you need me, capiche?”

“Capiche.”

“I love you, Crispin. Stay safe.”

“I will. Love you, too.”

Hanging up, Crispin hauled themself up until they were sitting completely upright again. They pulled their plate close and took a bite of their emotional support sandwich. It tasted like bacon, lettuce, tomato, and sadness.

Chapter Text

Crispin did eventually get the promised sweets- and a lot of them. Way too many to finish by themself. They brought some to the clubroom.

“Why are they shaped like hearts?” Kieran asked, bewildered, holding up one of Cilan's cookies.

“These are awesome. You should get rejected more often,” Drayton said through a full mouth. Kieran and Carmine moved to smack him at the same time.

“Why do you two only speak through violence?” Drayton whined as he rubbed the back of his head.

“All three of your conduct is unacceptable. Please have some tact,” Amarys scolded them.

“He started it!” Carmine insisted as Kieran ducked his head in embarrassment.

“Thank you for sharing,” Florian amended for Drayton quickly. Crispin offered him a smile.

If anybody knew how Crispin was feeling right now, it was definitely him. The entire school had been caught up in the aftermath of Florian and Kieran's weird… breakup, or whatever. At least Crispin's confession hadn't blown up that badly.

“They sent way too much, anyways. There was no way I was going to eat all this before it got stale.”

It was around then, of course, that Lacey showed up.

Crispin knew it was a risk when they showed up to the clubroom, but… well, they thought they were more ready for it. It had been a bit since the last time they'd seen her. Which was when they'd confessed to her. And been rejected. 

“Oh!” Lacey looked suprised, “Hello, Crispin, it's- good to see you!”

Her tone was stiff, brow creasing in clear discomfort as much as she tried to hide it. Crispin felt themself wilt, gut twisting. In the next instant- Kieran had jumped up, grabbing Crispin's wrist.

“Crispin! Let's battle!” Kieran's voice was a few pitches too high to come off as casual. Amarys turned to him sharply.

“As you are no longer a member of the League Club, you are not permitted to battle a member of the Elite Four.”

Carmine and Florian cringed as Kieran's actual intent on evacuating Crispin flew completely over Amarys's head.

“Hey, Amarys! How about we battle?” Carmine tried to pull her friend away from the conversation. Amarys stared at her blankly.

“You are also not a high enough rank to challenge a member of the Elite Four.”

“Wh- I've been busy!” Carmine immediately veered off course, fists shaking in anger. “I could be if I wanted to.”

“Yet, at the present moment, you are not,” Amarys said, “I do not understand the purpose of this line of thinking.”

Finally, Drayton joined the conversation, sighing as he leaned back in his chair as he looked to Kieran and Crispin. “Hey, weren't you two going to watch your TV show together today or something?”

“... No? There isn't a new episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Squirtles until Friday,” Kieran frowned. Drayton's expression became slightly pinched.

“You sure? You should probably, you know, get outta here and check on that. Just to be safe.”

It took a few more moments for Drayton's real meaning to click with Kieran. 

“Oh! Oh, um, yeah- Crispin, let's go!” Not waiting another moment, Kieran dragged Crispin out of the clubroom. Lacey watched them go in silence.

“That was awful,” Kieran groaned as soon as they were clear of the clubroom. Privately, Crispin couldn't help but agree.

Like, it was just better to get it out there, right? But it had still taken ages for Crispin to work up the courage to ask Lacey out, and then- ugh. Crispin tried to shake their head clear, changing the subject.

“Hey, did you really want to hang out?”

“Huh-? Oh! Um- yeah! Yeah. I mean… we could battle! Or, just, go to my dorm, or something,” Kieran offered. Crispin perked up.

“Hey, I don't think I've ever been to your dorm! What's up with that?”

“That's because-” Kieran looked like their brain had stalled for a moment before panic flashed across his face. 

“Actually it's super messy we shouldn't go there,” he said in a rush, a bit desperate.

Crispin laughed. “C'mon, it can't be that bad!”

It was that bad.

The room looked no small amount like a tornado had recently run through it. Papers were haphazardly tacked all over the walls wherever they would fit, and what wouldn't were simply scattered across the floor, leaving no space safe to walk. Kieran's bedframe was empty- Crispin could just barely spot the missing mattress from under a gigantic pile in the middle of the room, some sort of monstrosity stacked high with clothes, blankets, school supplies, battle items, dirty dishes…

“Sorry,” Kieran hurried to shove some of the mess aside, “my dragonite keeps trying to build a hoard in here.”

“No problem,” Crispin tried to ignore how awful it smelled. 

“You can use the chair if you want to sit down,” Kieran pointed to his desk chair, the seat covered in papers. “Just… put that stuff wherever. I'll try and dig out the mattress.”

“I don't want to sit around and make you do all the work. Let me help!”

“No! No. If you mess up any of Ace's stuff, he'll be on a warpath,” Kieran jumped in Crispin's way as they tried to approach. 

Crispin couldn't actually argue with that. Nobody wanted to stand in the way of an angry pseudo-legendary. They backed off, following Kieran's instructions and heading for the desk. It was a bit of a struggle to pick up all the papers with just how many there were, and in such a state of disarray, but eventually Crispin managed to wrangle them into a manageable pile and sat down. Instead of finding somewhere to set the stack, though, Crispin began to flip through it in absentminded curiosity.

Oh, woah, there were notes on Crispin's team in there. They couldn't help themself from picking them out from the pile and shuffling through them, trying to make sense of Kieran's chicken-scratch. It started off a lot more legible, just basic stuff like species, moves, and abilities. At a rapid pace it started slipping into downright deranged territory, like scarily close attempts at trying to calculate EVs, weirdly detailed observations on their behavior in battle (Crispin and their pokemon both)- legitimate stalker stuff. Right near the end was when Kieran started putting his team next to Crispin's, planning counter-strategies for their battle style. That's where Kieran's handwriting may as well have transformed into another language for all the sense it made. There were several holes in the pages where a pen had ripped through from writing too hard. No wonder Crispin had wiped to Koeran so hard. This kind of prep work was bordering on actually concerning. 

“Okay, I've got it,” Kieran's voice was a bit breathy from the effort. He'd managed to drag the mattress out from under the pile without disturbing it too much. 

“Are you sure your dragonite isn't going to be angry you moved this?” Crispin set down the papers as Kieran went back to the hoard to find some pillows.

“He's gonna be furious.  But I really need to stop-” Kieran grunted with the effort of pulling a tangled blanket free, “-letting Ace get away with this. May as well start with getting my bed back.”

“Where have you been sleeping?”

Kieran gestured wordlessly to the pile before flapping out the blanket. Trinkets, trash, and crumbs fell out of it as it straightened out. Turning it over a few times to try and find the cleanest side, Kieran laid it on the mattress.

“He's cool with you sleeping in his hoard?” Crispin asked.

“I'm part of Ace's hoard, as far as he's concerned,” deciding it was good enough, Kieran flopped onto the mattress. 

“...We're not putting it on the bedframe?” Crispin walked to the side of the mattress, looking down at Kieran. He groaned, pulling a pillow over his head.

“M'be later.”

“Hm. Nope!” Crispin grabbed the blanket and ripped it out from under Kieran, making him yelp in surprise. He rolled just not quite off the mattress, dropping his pillow in the process.

“C'mon, you're not seriously going to flicker out halfway, are you? Where's the Kieran that stamped out the whole league?!

“Dead,” Kieran pulled the pillow back over his head. Crispin hauled the mattress up from the side, tipping Kieran right off the edge.

“Crispin!”

“Kieran!” Crispin sing-songed back.

“Okay, fine,” Kieran muttered, dragging himself up off the ground.

“That's the spirit!” Crispin cheered, “C'mon, let's get fired up!”

Together, they managed to haul the mattress back onto the bedframe. Again, Kieran flopped onto the mattress, now only several sheets short of a proper bed.

“That's all the fire I've got,” he admitted. Crispin snorted. 

“Okay, okay,” they relented. Crispin threw the blanket on top of Kieran and hopped down next to him.

“So, what do you usually do for fun?”

“Uh…” Kieran rolled so the blankets slipped off of him, sitting up next to Crispin. “I sort of…”

Not near discreetly enough, Kieran glanced at his desk stacked high with deranged scribbles of battle strategies. Flushing red, he quickly turned away.

“Just whatever, I guess.”

“Got any, like…video games?”

“My DS is somewhere in here,” Kieran thought for a moment. “Probably. I don't think I've seen it since getting back from Kitakami. Might have left it at home.” 

“That's cool. Here, I got something,” Crispin dug out their phone. Kieran crane his neck to try and see the app Crispin was opening.

“It's called Poffin Run!” Crispin displayed their phone screen to Kieran. “It's a gacha game where all the characters are based on poffin flavors.”

“I think Carmine plays this,” Kieran realized as a loading screen filled with colorful characters appeared.  

“Wait, seriously? She never told me! Man, I should see if she wants to join my guild-” Crispin navigated to show Kieran what they were talking about. “A buncha our classmates are in it. Drayton, too, but he never really does anything. Look, lemme show you guild battle.”

Kieran watched intently as Crispin activated a battle. All their poffins lined up in a row, running to meet the Supreme Honor Dragon. Before long, though, all of them had been knocked out.

“That thing is way too strong,” Kieran muttered.

“It's designed to be that way. All the guild members are supposed to chip away at it together,” Crispin backed out of guild battle and went to world exploration.

“There's a story, too. I'm on the Beast Space levels. Basically, the ancient poffins traveled to an alternate dimension where they have to fight evil versions of themselves.”

“Okay…” Kieran squinted at the screen as he tried his best to absorb that information, or understand it at all.

“I'm a little behind on the story ‘cause I was busy with club stuff,” Crispin admitted.

“Oh,” Kieran deflated a little.

“I'm pretty used to playing catch-up on story stuff. My parents only let me get a smartphone when I started going to school here, so I began playing pretty late. Right now, I'm still on the Moomoo Cheese Poffin and Spicy Poffin chapter.”

“Moomoo Cheese Poffin?” Kieran questioned, bewildered.

“Well, there's only so many normal poffin flavors, so they had to start making up weird ones. Spicy Poffin wants to fight everything, but especially Moomoo Cheese Poffin, since, you know, alternate version of him. He was upset at how easily he beat her at first, though, so he ripped off her wings and let her go.”

“That's awful.”

“I like him! I wish he and Moomoo Cheese Poffin could get along, but I dig his passion. Plus, he has fire powers.”

Kieran snorted. “You would like that.”

“I missed his banner when it was up, but I'll pull him eventually. Let me show you the poffins I have right now,” again, Crispin switched screens to one showing a list of all the characters they had collected.

Kieran leaned in closer to see, just shy of their shoulders touching. He looked completely bewildered at the sheer scale of it. Crispin exited the screen to get to a story level, clearing their current team and happily handed off their phone to Kieran. A bit surprised, he took it carefully.

“Give it a shot! It's fun. Pick out some poffins to fight for you.”

“Right. Which ones should I…?”

“Just choose the ones you like.”

Kieran frowned. “But which ones are good?”

“The ones at the top here are the highest rarity, so they're usually better. If you want to know more about them, you can click- here- and it'll show you their abilities. Haban Berry Poffin is a defense type, and she can absorb damage for her teammates.”

Crispin did not yet realize the can of orthworms they had opened. Kieran took that as his cue to go through every single character Crispin had and examine each of their stats meticulously, extended periods of silent reading pausing only to occasionally ask what an unfamiliar term meant. 

Around the time Kieran busted the notebook out, Crispin stopped looking at the phone screen altogether, laying down on the bed and letting Kieran do his thing. Though the only thing of interest on Kieran's ceiling was a small indent, like something had hit it pretty hard. Crispin wondered if that had been Kieran's doing or that of somebody who had used this dorm before him.

They got restless sitting there waiting pretty quick. After patting their hands against their legs a few times, Crispin sat up. 

“Can I look around?”

Kieran gave a distant nod. Crispin hopped up, considering looking through Kieran's notes again, but instead veered towards the kitchenette. It wasn't as much of a trainwreck as the rest of the room, but it wasn't exactly pretty either. Definitely not clean enough for any actual food preparation. 

Mostly, there were wrappers scattered everywhere, with dishes stacked high in the sink. Some uneaten food laid sadly abandoned, but nothing that looked like it had once actually been substantial enough to sustain a human body.

The fridge was filled to the brim with sugary energy drinks and a few apples, complimented by a single half-stick of butter, but the cabinets had a little bit of potential. Shoved behind packs upon packs of instant noodles and snacks were dry ingredients, a few non-perishables, sauces, even some spices and bread.

Pulling out bread, apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar, Crispin worked on clearing a decent workspace and finding cookware. They were pleasantly surprised at the selection. All of it was more than Crispin had to work with when they visited the dorms of the other elite four. At the moment, though, all they needed was a pan, cutting board, spatula, and knife.

Chopping a few apples into slices and pieces of bread into squares, Crispin set the portable stove to medium heat, heating up some of the butter on the pan. When it had melted, the apple slices went on top before Crispin sprinkled it all with the cinnamon and sugar. After cooking them for a bit, Crispin turned down the heat and tossed in the bread. Pretty soon, it was ready to plate. They put the last of the butter on top, washing dishes as it melted. Once Crispin was done, they carried two servings back to Kieran's bed, who hardly acknowledged their presence.

“This is pretty fun,” Kieran said. 

“Cool!” Crispin could not fathom how Kieran had derived any enjoyment from that. They nudged Kieran's legs, criss-cross apple-sauce with papers laid in his lap, with the plate. “Here.”

That snapped Kieran out of his trance. He jumped, staring at the plate like it had burned him. “Did you- make food?” 

His grip on the phone went slack, and it floated from his grip and back towards Crispin. 

“Uh-huh.”

“You didn't have to make food.”

“I wanted to.”

“But you're my guest.”

“If you had made food for me without letting me help, I would have hit you with my frying pan.”

“Guests don't make food,” Kieran muttered as he took the plate in a daze. 

With a hand free, Crispin stuffed their phone back into their pocket before picking up their fork. They started eating- they had gone a bit light on the cinnamon, not sure how much Kieran would want, but in hindsight Crispin wished they been more heavy-handed with it. Kieran didn't follow suit, simply looking at Crispin in a state of shock.

“Dude, I can't unmake it now. You have to eat it,” when that still didn't elicit a response, Crispin tacked on: “or else you're being rude.”

That got Kieran to move. He haphazardly shoveled a forkful into his mouth. As soon as Kieran gave the food a chance to actually touch his tastebuds, his eyes widened.

“Thi’th r'ly good.”

“It's just spiced apples and toast, Man.”

With an embarrassed shrug, Kieran kept eating. It was silent again, but it was a nice silence. There was very little Crispin loved more than sharing a meal with people they cared about.

When they both eventually finished, Crispin held out their hand to take Kieran's plate back. He blinked at Crispin.

“I can do the dishes,” Crispin explained. They were the reason the plates were dirty again, after all, and Crispin really didn't want to be the reason more mess accumulated in Kieran's room.

“I'll do it,” Kieran snapped harshly.

Taken aback by the sudden shift in tone, Crispin didn't have time to react before Kieran snatched the plate from their hands. He dashed for the sink, stumbling over the hoard as he went. Much more carefully, Crispin picked their way around the disaster zone to follow Kieran, peering over his shoulder as he scrubbed the dishes with the most intense look Crispin had ever seen somebody wear performing the task.

“I've beena awful host,” Kieran looked thoroughly ashamed as he dried his hands.

“You've seriously got to relax. Next time we'll just do it together! C'mon, I saw your rice cooker. Do you like fried rice? Stir-fry? Rice pudding?”

“Guests don't-” Kieran paused, “you know how to make rice pudding?”

Crispin grabbed Kieran's hands, startling him. They pulled his hands close to their chest, looking into his eyes with a grave expression.

“Kieran. We will make the greatest rice pudding in the world.”

“O- okay,” Kieran was bright red. 

“Awesome!” Crispin grinned, letting go once they had gotten their point across. “I'll swing by tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow?” Kieran squeaked.

“I mean, unless it's a bad time?”

“No! That's fine, I'll  just… I've gotta clean up a bit.”

Part of Crispin wanted to insist that Kieran didn't have to go through all the trouble just for them.

But it was really, really bad in here.

So they tastefully made no remark on that comment at all, and, soon, was able to make their escape back to their dorm- and immediately took one of the longest showers of their life.

“Cilan shaped his cookies like hearts?” Dad sounded just as confused as Kieran had.

“Yeah.”

“I-” Dad huffed, “I'll talk to him. How was the rest of your day?”

“I got to hang out with a friend today, so that was cool.”

“That's good,” Dad nodded, “which one?”

“You remember Kieran?”

“That Kieran?” 

“I only know one Kieran, Dad. He's cool now, I promise,” Crispin rolled their eyes.

“I know, I know, but come on, he's pretty notorious! He's all we heard about for months. Clay was seriously considering going to Cyrano about it, but we knew you didn't want us getting involved- even Iris heard about him, and we just about never get anything about how you guys are doing over there from Drayton.”

“Is all you do gossip about us?” 

“I plead the fifth,” Dad held up a hand in vow. “Look, as long as he's playing nice, I'm happy. But let somebody know if he starts making trouble again, okay?”

“I will!” Crispin promised. And, honestly, even though the League Club had wanted to handle that whole situation themselves the first time around, Crispin didn't think they had the emotional capacity to deal with it all again, especially not right then.

Of course, Kieran was Crispin's friend. They watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Squirtles together every week. Kieran checked on Crispin when they missed club. In fact, ever since Kieran had found out about Crispin's botched confession to Lacey, he'd been talking to Crispin in class a lot more. They didn't know if Kieran just felt sorry for Crispin or really wanted to help cheer them up, but they appreciated it nonetheless. Crispin liked to think that if Kieran got in his own head again, he'd feel like he could talk to them about it.

“A lot has been going on for you at school, huh?” Dad 

“Bleh,” Crispin agreed, slumping in their chair. 

“Hey, you've got a break soon, remember? You can come home, rest up, and force Cilan to make you cookies that aren't completely tone-deaf.”

It was true- spring break was coming up. School was fun and all (recent events notwithstanding), but home was where Crispin's heart truly was. There, Crispin got to show off everything they'd learned away at the academy to Grandpa and Beni and poke through the tall grass of the Virbank Complex and run around Route 20 with Magmortar like they had since they were little. They loved helping out at the restaurant, too- no matter how much Mom and Dad insisted Crispin shouldn't feel pressured to take over the place for them someday, Crispin couldn't imagine doing anything else. It made Crispin homesick just thinking about it.

“There's that smile,” Dad lightly teased. Crispin laughed, not having realized their expression had changed. “Alright, I'll let you go for now. I love you, Kiddo. Hang in there, okay?”

“I will. Love you, too.”

Crispin hung up and hauled themself up from their desk. They should make themself some dinner before heading to bed.