oh boy

a blank incase i need it

another one

bites the dust

Characters:

Vira Myers; she/they; 5'6; 27 years old - Master's degree in Software Engineering, working on their doctorate and currently employeed (often works from home)

Kai Hasagawa; he/him; 6'1; 26 years old - Bachelors degree in Mortuary Science, doesn't have a job

Kai was about to lose his mind.

Despite being known as an even tempered person - or, more accurately, a person who rarely shows emotion -Kai had a very small tolerance for absolute bullshit: a tolerance that was constantly put to the test by his "friend" Milo.

Friends, Kai felt, was sort of pushing it. Yes, they had known each other since kindergarten, and yes, Kai had gotten arrested (just overnight) for the doofus at one point, and yes, Kai would be absolutely devastated if Milo died (although he would never tell Milo that)... but in a "I tolerate you because our mutual friend terrifies me" sort of way.

The mutual "friend" was also pushing it, so perhaps the two were just Kai's closest acquaintances. Yes, perfect. Closest acquaintances was the most accurate term, and a term that Milo would soon be demoted from, and replaced as his his least favorite acquaintance.

"Wallahi, if you eat my Sour Patch Kids I am going to end you. I don't want your nasty popcorn so give me back-" Kai punctuated his words by darting forward and around the kitchen island, which the two were having a stand off around, "-my candy!"

Before this, Kai's apartment had been peaceful for once in their lives, and Kai intimately mourned the quietness of his apartment. Then, Vira had left to grab something from the convenience store a block away, and Milo had given Kai a look that just screamed "I am going to give you a headache." Twenty minutes later, here they were, playing a version of tag that would soon result in Milo being tackled to the floor and aggressively tickled and possibly suffocated by a pillow.

Kai was looking forward to it.

Milo's day was going just swell.

It had started with a call saying that the trio, the trio, would be getting together today. He could hardly decline such an offer, after all, they hardly got to see each other these days with the whole growing up and being old thing they had going on. So the a whole day with his best pals would never be declined.

When Vira left, Milo had looked expectantly at Kai, figuring that he would be able to talk to him about his life and how things had been going recently. He had taken the candy but it was only because he figured that Kai would be willing to share. Apparently, he was not.

"I only want a couple, you don't have to be so mean about it," Milo whined, giving Kai his own version of sad puppy eyes. "I swear I'll only eat a few." Even his voice cracked, as though he really was on the verge of tears.

Realistically, Milo really did want the candy, but he would never actually cry over it. He hated to admit it but Kai's easy-to-anger attitude never failed to make him laugh so he occasionally provoked him just for the fun of it.

Was that evil? Maybe, but that wasn't stopping Milo.

The most dreadful thing, in Kai's opinion, is that Milo's horrible puppy eyes actually worked on him 98% of the time. It was awful. It was probably some Pavlovian conditioning shit. Milo gives his puppy eyes, then Vera gives in and wheedles Kai into going along with it as well. Now, after over a decade, Milo doesn't even need Vera to convince him to do stuff anymore - the puppy eyes just work.

It's horrible and Kai hates it and can never let Milo know about this power over him.

Instead, Kai paused, and let out a giant sigh, "But why? I always give you the orange ones out of the bag anyway! You didn't have to steal my bag."

Waving his hand in dismissal and turning back toward the kitchen - catching a glance at the microwave clock as he did so - Kai gave in in what he thought was a very graceful and not at all suspicious manner, "Go ahead and take them now I guess. Just don't eat the greens!"

(They are Kai's favorite.)

"Also..." Kai double checked the clock again, the time having caught his attention, "Do you think V's been gone for too long? The store is only a 7 minute walk, but they've been gone for nearly half an hour. Can you check your phone and see if they got held up?"

Kai was by Milo's side instantly, brow furrowing in concern at the other's words. "What hap-" Kai interrupted himself at the sound of the call picking up. Over the speaker, there was the sound of labored breathing, and it took a few horrible seconds before Vera said anything.

"Holy fuck."

Kai exchanged a glance with Milo, already heading towards the bowl where he put his keys. Vera hardly ever swore, and rarely that severely. The only time she would ever really curse was when she was panicking. For that to be her greeting - for her to be running along the streets this late at night - was downright terrifying.

"Holy fuck," Vera repeated again, the curse emphasized by the sound of crashing metal, "I think I just - shit, shit, shit - I think I just killed someone, oh my god, I need help, there's these people-"

Kai had heard enough, and grabbed Milo by the arm (not that the other needed his encouragement) to drag him downstairs from the second floor apartment. As he hustled them both towards his car, Kai interrupted Vera's panicked rambling - (oh my god did Vera kill someone???) - with a firm, "Where are you?"

"By - um - back alleys, near, uh, Joe's Pizza? Heading in that direction."

"Be in front of Joe's in four minutes, I'll be there."

Joe's was a five minute drive.

"Okay, okay, okay, oh my god I'm going to die-" The words were caught on a sob and there was another crashing sound, "I'm going to be there in three minutes, fuck, Kai, these guys are maniacs- they've, they've already hurt other people but they won't stop chasing-"

"It's okay. We'll be there."

"Okay, okay, ok-" There was a sharp intake of breath over the speaker - the start of a scream - before the call went dead.

Kai didn't dare glance over at Milo, who had piled himself into the passenger seat of Kai's car. If he did, Kai was afraid of what he'd see. It was all he could do to keep driving, the gas pedal pressed down hard, with the sound of Vera's genuine panic replaying in his head.

It was a five minute drive.

Vera would be there in three.

Kai made it in two, wheeling around the - thankfully empty - streets at high speeds.