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Adobe Slabs: Segment 7

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segment7pt1STORY by Star-Flavored

Five times. Ema’s cell phone rang five times in the span of a single diaper change. The name on the screen bounced at her as if it was happy to annoy her once more with its incessant noise-making. She set the clean happy toddler down on the floor and tucked the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she disposed of the evidence.

She couldn’t even get a word in before her brother spouted out a string of words in a panic, followed by “Ema, you need to come over here. I’ve tried everything.”

"I already told you, I can't. I'm baby-sitting right now too." She had never heard him sound so distressed in her life. Then again, the last time she heard him any sort of upset he was about three feet tall and his voice was about ten octaves higher. “Is that her I hear?”

"No, it's the latest screamo band. Yes, it's her. It's been her for the past two hours. She just ate, her diaper's clean, she had her nap, what else could she possibly NEED?"

Ema tried her hardest to restrain a sigh. She felt sorry for him, but he had to understand this was a learning process. "Jacob, listen," even though she didn't use it often, Ema always felt like their mom whenever she used M's first name to get his attention. "It's not always about what she needs. Sometimes it could be as simple as what she wants."

"What does that even mean..." M said, obviously frustrated. Like, rake-hand-through-hair/pull-hair-out, kind of frustrated.

"You have got to be tough. Don't be afraid to let her cry it out. Alone. Eventually she'll tire herself out, but she won't if you're always there to baby her."

"What else do you do with a baby then, "adult" her? What if she needs something? Wait. What if, as soon as I leave her, she throws herself out of her crib in a manic fit of rage? Then what would I tell her father?”

Oh no. M was too far gone. The way he spoke, it sounded like he had already contemplated throwing himself out of a crib in a manic fit of rage. Ema would be more concerned for her brother's mentality if it weren't for the fact that the toddler she'd been watching had crayons in his hand and a devilish grin on his face. That corner wall was dangerously close to becoming a coloring sheet. Ema called into the phone, "look, I gotta go. Good luck on your end," before she hung up on her sprint to stop the future vandalizer.

“Whoa whoa, lil’ trooper!” A crane of an arm scooped the toddler up and away from the wall before it was too late. “Lemme guess: M having baby problems again?” Shawnjo asked as he set the toddler down. He tickled him into submission to get him to drop the crayons without realizing what was happening.

Disaster successfully averted, Ema slowed to a halt. She couldn't be any more proud of herself for thinking ahead enough to call for backup assistance today. She relaxed, and watched the pair of wrestling boys with a smile. The more Shawnjo got into it the wider his boyish smile became. It was quite charming. Er, amusing, yeah.

Then amidst the commotion his pink glasses slipped off and clattered to the hardwood floor. The toddler laid there, tuckered out, but giggled at every fake-out Shawnjo threatened him with.

And then Shawnjo looked up at her with a pair of unshielded (and absolutely gorgeous!) eyes the color of fern leaves. He continued to stare at her and she frantically searched for the reason why. What did he ask again? Crap. She couldn’t remember but she couldn’t stand those eyes on her any longer.

“Y-yeah…” Seemed like a safe answer.

He laughed and shook his head with a ‘figured’ and some sort of comment about how he was going to surpass M soon enough with his own baby expertise.

Ema wasn’t quite listening for once as she excused herself to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Segment7pt2 by Star-Flavored

---------

Now that he actually thought back on it, M couldn’t figure out exactly where he had found the time to visit Zephyr at his humble little apartment. It was a good forty-five minute drive from his current residence, but nonetheless, he made it out there anyway. He wasn’t used to this part of the city; it was all different-y and the atmosphere was weird. Spaces seemed kinda tight, and not in the cozy way. More like in an almost suffocating way.

Basically not the kind of place you'd let your Zephyrs walk around alone at night.

The ride gave M plenty of time to gather his thoughts and prepare his questions for Zephyr when he got there. Well, it gave him plenty of time. That doesn't mean he actually took it. Instead, he'd spent the entire drive in fist-pump mode to his favorite band as he shouted the lyrics at the top of his lungs.

M coughed to clear his throat.

He now found himself in Zephyr and Gale's kitchen, with absolutely no idea where to start. So he rummaged around the kitchen for something to eat at least.

Hey, what were friends for, but free food?

Last night Billy had come back from what M assumed (correctly) was a date gone wrong. And his curiosity had just about got the best of him. He was here to find out why poor little Mags was in such a precarious position.

Right. Yes, that was it. Okay.

After his kitchen-scavenge-turned-reaffirmation-of-his-current-goal, M sat on the floor of their severely under-furnished tiny living room. If living room was the right term for it. He could see their pallet of a rolled-up bed in plain sight.

M fanned himself in a desperate attempt to keep from near heat exhaustion. His stray thoughts carried him to the many recent times he declined his classmates' invitations to play football in the open stadium field. But air-conditioning was just so nice…

segment7pt3STORY by Star-Flavored

Zephyr's voice always hardened--sharp as cheddar--whenever he so willed it. It startled M out of his thoughts. Then Zephyr held his hands out as if the gesture would somehow show there was wind moving through the apartment. He drew in a deep breath, then coughed. “Though not the cleanest of air, there’s plenty of a cross-breeze. You can’t possibly be hot.”

“It’s practically still summer. Of course I’m hot. Why’re the windows open anyway? Doesn’t that let the cold air out?”

Zephyr curled back into himself in a huff. "You act like we had air-conditioning to begin with." He looked like if he was standing he would have stomped one foot, much like an angry bunny would.

He did have a point.

They cut back on spending in pretty much all aspects of their lives in order to set aside the necessary funds for school. No matter how often M, or Zephyr's mom, or Gale's friends (or anyone for that matter) tried to offer some help, the couple would always politely decline as they were determined to make ends meet on their own. And determined that they'd someday be well off anyway and that this was just another phase in their lives, and, well. It was pretty respectable M had to admit.

After his fruitless search for food though M couldn't help but be a little concerned for the kinds of cuts they were making. "You quit grocery shopping?"

“You’re one to talk.”

Ooh, a personal attack. Although, M had gotten better about keeping his pantry stocked ever since Billy and Mags first moved in. Then there was the fact that the couple had been picking up more shifts, working more to build up their money quickly. They were probably too tired/stressed from work to want to leave the house and shop for groceries. M remembered Zephyr mentioned something along those lines not that long ago. He'd said Gale especially was really putting in the extra hours. Gale really could focus when he set his mind to something. Wait, Gale. Gale-Gale, as in Gale-who-worked-for-the-local-newspaper, Gale.

“Doesn’t Gale get some like, food voucher things, uh... free meal tickets--or whatever--whenever he writes those reviews?”

Zephyr looked at M for a second as if his mind shut down, and then rebooted. “Oh, those. We sell those. Five off their listed value. We get a better deal at the Fifth’s.”

The Fifth's--as they affectionately referred to Circle of Fifth's (conveniently located on the corner of 5th St. and Circle Dr.)--was a restaurant/bar/cafe that the lot of them frequented back in high school. It had seen many renovations and owners over the years but it always retained that same relaxed feel to it. Especially since the employees that worked there had practically been there since it opened and seemed to come with the building as a set. One of them was a good friend of Gale's. Or maybe he and Gale became friends after they became regulars? Regardless, Zephyr and Gale always hit up said worker for free food, and news had it that said worker was also moving on up the corporate ladder. Which meant happy times for Gale's friend and happy times for the couple's bellies and wallets.

It was understandably hard to deny free food to Zephyr and Gale (it was like denying cute begging puppies) but if it was M's decision, he would've kept those meal vouchers. Fifth's is nice, but he probably would've burned out by now. “Why, though? Don’t you crave variety in your life?”

"Says the man on a strict pizza and beer diet." Zephyr interlaced his fingers together, and all of his body-language suggested a challenge of some sort. “I’m easy to please and have simple tastes. Besides, I’ll have you know I get plenty of variety in my life.”

Suddenly M wasn't so sure they needed to continue down this line of conversation.

The slight pause allowed the two of them a minute to think. So M offered up a lame break from the silence. "I'm surprised Fifth's hasn't put the two of you to work to pay off that tab."

“Mmm.” Zephyr’s eyes shifted. M could tell he had drifted elsewhere. They had trailed off-subject anyway, and M would have to cut his visit short before his stomach ate itself. And before he needed to return home to watch Mags.

Mags.

MAGS.

Midget. Midget. Mags. Billy. Mags. Gale? Midget. NAMES. Ugh. Right. M’s mind scattered again. He never did figure out where to start, so he voiced his most recent thought in the hopes that Zephyr would be able to help him. “Billy came back from a date last night and I was watching Mags. All-in-all, she is a well-behaved baby."

"Oh good. That's good." Genuine interest pulled Zephyr's attention back to M.

"Yeah. Oh, and Billy is, um. Well, his mom stopped by recently and they talked about Midget. So she’s the one that... She's Mags’ mother?"

Zephyr nodded.

M tried not to blurt out his potentially tactless thoughts. "What kind of woman in their right mind would turn down such a seemingly good guy? I mean, he is a good guy from what I can tell and he doesn't seem like the type that'd just be in it for the, well, you know. Um. Maybe he was back then?" Tried was a good word for it.

Zephyr avidly shooed away M’s stray observation. “No no, he was never like that!”

“So then what happened?” M ushered Zephyr to tell him what he knew.

“I mean, Gale might be the better one to ask on this subject, considering he's closer friends with the both of them…”

“But I know you’d love to tell me." M was so not resorting to dirty tactics. It was simply true: Zephyr loved telling people things. He was not the type to pass up on a juicy bit of gossip. Which was a little known fact. "And besides, we both know it’d be a bit strange for me to randomly ask Gale about all this. He doesn't talk to me that much as it is.”

Zephyr considered this. Oh, how badly he wanted to tell M everything about someone else's love life. He smiled a mischievous little grin. "You are that determined to know, aren't you."

M steeled his stance on the matter with a knowing nod. It had eaten away at him ever since Billy’s mom visited. This Midget. What happened between her and Billy? Did she forfeit her custody, or just disappear in a poof of smoke? M had a right to know, he reassured himself. After all, they have been living together, M and Billy and Mags. And Midget too at this point, by extension, ever since she infiltrated the walls of his mind and set up camp there.

“In that case,” Zephyr began, "I thought you should know that something that has been bugging me for quite some time. About Billy."

"Okay. What about Billy?"

"You see, he just hasn't quite been himself lately. If you knew Billy back then, back in highschool, then you'd know that he was the most hopelessly hopeless romantic. Utterly. Hopeless. Allow me to elaborate: he was always chasing someone, like, he felt on top of the world when he was in love. He'd come off as some over-confident, smooth, uh," Zephyr waved his hand around searching for the right word, "haughty? Bastard?"

M shrugged.

"Erm, well anyway he came off as such, like, he had his share of enemies to say the least. Hence he picked his fights with all the wrong people. But he really is a good guy, don't get me wrong. He's just... Dumb. In the love department. Don't tell him I said that." Zephyr shot M his signature 'mom glare.'

"Was? Or is?"

"Good question. I haven't seen him with anyone after Midget found out, well, you know."

Still doesn't explain why his mom felt so obligated to push him back out into the dating scene so soon, M thought loudly.

"Yeah I'm not entirely sure what's going on with all that, though, sorry."

Oh, did M accidently say that out loud? Oops.

"Though I can assume. I mean, I do know Ms. Reyna practically despised Midget. I know, weird to think about, huh? She's usually such a sweet mom. Protective, though. Billy is her only baby after all. She's gonna have the mama claws out, especially around someone who broke her baby's heart. Over, and over, and over again. I guess she's hoping to help Billy forget about Midget, well, the sooner the better?"

Multiple times? They must've broken up a lot. "Does he still think, um." M's stomach churned. Wow, he reached new levels of hunger today. "Do you think Billy is still hoping he and Midget will...?"

Zephyr supported his head in his hand. His voice wilted. Whether it was out of heat exhaustion or emotional exhaustion, M couldn't be sure. "No telling with that boy."

Speaking of potential heat exhaustion, M felt like he was about to pass out. His head was swimming in one too many thoughts about Billy and Midget's relationship. And a little tiny Mags baby. This was currently the most energy M had put into anything outside of hacking into advanced-level alien security in MD4. And anyone who had played MD4 would know those puzzles were no joke, okay.

"You said they broke up a lot?" M finally mustered, as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Well, I didn't technically say it like that, but yeah. They fought. All. The. Time. But Billy was such the romantic. He'd still try to bring her flowers, chocolates, gifts, and other cute things like that all the time. She wasn't the kind of girl that was into the whole, uh, romance thing though." Zephyr lingered on that thought for a hot second.

Then the hot second turned into a very awkward hot minute before Zephyr finally continued.

"She was totally into many of his so-called 'friends' though. Did I say he was dumb in the friend department too? Cause he totally was, aside from Gale and like two others. Rumor has it she slept with--"

M coughed loudly (awkwardly) into his fist to interrupt Zephyr. "Whoa, Zeph."

Zephyr took a second to snap out of his story, then shook his head. "Yes?"

"I think we're getting a little too personal and/or off-topic now." M pinched the bridge of his nose. He just wanted to go back to his own apartment and have some pizza and beer or something. "I just kinda wanted to know a little bit more about how they were back then and all that, and if maybe I was missing something, or... something."

"Look, the only way you’ll really understand is if you get the whole story. I don’t need you to misconstrue things like you are so prone to doing.”

M groaned. Why must Zephyr always be all knowledgeable like that? And how did he always know him better than he knew himself? It didn’t make any sense.

Zephyr just sat there with that small smile and slight shrug of his shoulders, and M could swear that Zephyr knew too damn much. Or he really was psychic? Before his crazed thoughts could get any stranger, his stomach growled and a bead of sweat streamed down his face from his hairline. “Well. I guess I’ll figure out the rest on my own. But I’m gonna head back. I'm starving, and I have to watch Mags in a couple hours anyway.” M helped himself up and dusted off his pants.

“Hm. Suit yourself then. If you change your mind and want to know more however, you are always welcome back. I still insist you listen to the rest." Zephyr’s expression remained unchanged as he reached up for another goodbye-M-hug as M passed by on his way to the door.

"Thanks for the offer, but I have all I needed to know."

"Of course you do. But still, I'll see you soon."

M released Zephyr from his hug and headed out. He couldn't help but think about how Zephyr's parting words were rather ominous.

-------------------------

Zephyr sat there a moment after M had left before he leaned back until his back was flush against the floor. His eyes locked on the bookshelf directly behind him where several of Gale’s journals resided, and he used his legs to scoot himself back until he was able to snatch one off of the lowest shelf.

A pen was still entangled in the binding of the journal, just as Gale had always left one when he filled one up--said it was good luck to leave the pen you used last with the journal--Zephyr never questioned it. Now what he did question was what sort of content the spiral would contain; Gale never ceased to surprise him.

The papers crinkled open as Zephyr returned to a sitting position, untangled the pen from its imprisonment and readied himself to proofread Gale’s works. It was something he had always done for Gale since he had started writing on a more serious level. Zephyr would go through Gale’s notebookss and offer suggestions, make little notes, or ask questions. Just little things here and there to help challenge his boyfriend and help him grow as a writer.

But as he opened the journal, the pages old and yellowed with age, his eyes took in what seemed to be poems that varied in length, dated back to just before the two had gotten together. With every stanza, every line, Zephyr’s face grew more and more pink.

Love poems! One couldn't peg Gale as such a romantic from arms-length, that was for sure.

Zephyr read each work over and over. There were poems of pining, and short little one-liners about little details that described Zephyr's physical features. There were literally entire pages that described in detail Gale's very conflicted (and very new!) emotions and how he didn't know how to handle them, and well. It was all so much. The pen in Zephyr's hand had long since been abandoned. There was no way he could critique such raw and beautiful entries.

Zephyr was so lost in the journal that he didn't even hear the doorknob rattle.

He didn't notice anything until Gale clicked the front door shut behind himself.

Then Zephyr jumped and scrambled around the floor, but his poor prior planning caused him to look up at Gale helplessly, the journal wide open next to him. It’s not like he was a kid scared of getting caught doing something bad or anything. In fact, Gale made it known his journals were free-reign to Zephyr, it was just--

Gale held his glasses from slipping with his vacant hand as he looked down at Zephyr with one cocked eyebrow. He took a few steps and set down his briefcase.

Zephyr took that moment to try and quietly shut the journal and return it to its place on the shelf, carefully. Stealthily.

“Which one is that?”

But not stealthily enough.

Zephyr gasped as Gale’s words warmed the back of his ear. When did he..? Zephyr turned around and shoved the journal against Gale’s chest, and as if Gale knew the journal by the feel of it, his face flushed.

“Ah. Right. That one. Er.”

With a smile, Zephyr leaned into him and pressed two fingers against Gale’s lips to shush him.

They stood there a while, both enamored of the other's warmth. Neither dared to break the sanctity of the moment with a spoken word.

Eyes closed, head against Gale’s chest, Zephyr’s breath hitched as a hand snuck in-between his scalp and the beginning of his loose, lazy braid. Electric chills consumed him and he curled deeper into Gale’s welcoming embrace. The hair-band that held the strands together fell off and Gale continued to deftly unwind every twist through his fingers.   

Their noses touched, Gale’s heated exhale made Zephyr’s parted lips quiver.

And then there was a knock on the door.

With a sigh, Zephyr cast Gale an unspoken apology and patiently waited for him to untangle his hand from Zephyr’s hair. He looked past Gale at the door.

segment7pt4STORYpng by Star-Flavored

There was that slight knock again. M couldn't possibly have forgotten something, right?

Gale turned his head and glanced over his shoulder towards the lock. “Guess I forgot.”

Zephyr shivered at the sudden lack of heat and called a quick “come in!” to their guest. The pair was quite used to having guests over frequently, especially due to Zephyr’s penchant for counseling.

Zephyr awaited the reveal of their guest with bated breath as the door slowly opened. He debated going over to it and opening it himself, but by the time the thought crossed his mind, he realized who it was.

And that someone was supposed to be at work, according to another someone who left not too long ago.

The longer the guest stood there, the harder it was to maintain eye-contact with him.

“Why hello Billy. Come in, have a seat.” Zephyr offered. The poor guy looked troubled beyond belief. Both boys were giving Zephyr this hardcore deja vu vibe, and then he was slapped with the realization that this current moment strongly paralleled a prior one between the three of them not that long ago; the time Billy had first come to them to ask for help. Zephyr noticed he was still in his work uniform. "Oh, did you get out of work already?"

"I... Didn't go."

To say the couple was confused (yet oh so intrigued) would be an understatement.

Billy couldn't make eye contact with the two; another point of interest. He looked practically everywhere but them. His gaze finally settled at his feet for a moment before lifting to meet the couple halfway.

“Eh, look guys... don’t tell M I came here, alright? I told him I had work today.”

Zephyr and Gale exchanged looks.

coffee divider :3 -EDIT- by BakaPup

MPhlox says:


Ahh how exciting! Segment seven! Longer than usual, but none of this could be separated! Lots of important information in this one. We finally learn about Mags' mom some, among other developments! Ahh, so what do you guys think so far? I'm open to constructive criticism and chats! Is it going as you thought it would? Feel free to let me know anything! I hope you all like it!

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:bulletpink:Segment Illustrations: AS - Segment 7 by LAZdancewithme

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Adobe Slabs is an illustrated novel that follows M, a previous football jock and current first-person shooter enthusiast, as he adapts from his mundane college life to something much more interesting after receiving a strange phone-call from a friend of a friend.

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AmySaraii's avatar
._. Billy is ALWAYS full of surprises 



I missed commenting here omg :')