Azure: 22

Penne+Ravioli: 20

Navy: 21

Iliad (Ily): 9

Tweed: 21

Snap: 2

"What time are we meeting them downstairs?" Navy called out from their room, rustling around in the closet for something halfway presentable to wear, since he hated almost every article of clothing that Azure possessed.

Looking at the small clock in the kitchen, Azure kicked back his feet on the wooden table, eating coco puffs with no milk while swiping through his texts to find the exact time. "Uhhhhhhhh 12:30," he said, stopping on the text and grinning. Navy came bounding out of the other room, his pants unzipped and falling off, his arms caught in the tank top he was desperately yanking on.

"AZURE, IT IS 12:30!!" he shouted, struggling to get the shirt on over his head. Sighing and standing up, Azure calmly walked over to him, rearranging his arms so they slid properly through the holes and kissing him on the cheek.

"I know," he said happily, booping Navy on the nose before returning to his cereal.

"I would've gotten up sooner if you hadn't been clinging onto me and saying we weren't meeting them until like five."

"Details, details," Azure said, waving it off and plunging his face into the bowl to lick out the remaining crumbs. "Besides, do you honestly think that they're going to be on time!? Likely not. I would be surprised if they were. Completely and utterly shocked, actually. Penne's probably doing the same thing I'm doing right now, and Tweed's probably stressing about it like you, and you know what? We're both going to arrive at the same exact time because we live right next to each other." Azure motioned at the door, which led out to the small hallway between the four apartments that were snugly fit on top of the boba shop. Tweed's parents had long been considering the idea of building an apartment on top of their shop, mostly just because they wanted to live close by and because they didn't exactly need that much space to live in, but learning of Navy and Azure's predicament and knowing how their son had a lot of financial problems, they gave in and built the four small rooms. One room was for Navy and Azure, one for Penne and Tweed, one was for them, and the other was for Ravioli. The twins' parents had wanted anything but an apartment, settling comfortably into a small house about an hour away from the city. But it wouldn't be an apartment if they didn't pay rent, but that was fine by everyone because the Kleins were the best landlords you could find in the city.

Grabbing Navy's waist as he tried to head for the door, Azure threw him back into the kitchen, saying, "Grab that brown jacket in my closet, it'll look cute. Or at least tie something around your waist, it'll tie everything together, I promise." Sighing and obliging because he knew they wouldn't be able to leave unless he did what Azure told him to, Navy called out from the bedroom, "Save s'mthin' for me, eh? I don't want to have a boba for lunch."

"You sure you want cereal though?" Azure asked, ruffling through the cabinets and opening the fridge. "'Cuz we ain't got no more."

"You hog," Navy spit, coming out of their room with a black jacket tied around his waist. "I'll hafta go shopping. Just toss me that apple, would'ja?"

Azure chucked the apple across the room before grabbing his hat and slapping it on, grabbing the keys to the apartment (even though there was really no point), and locking the door behind them. And wouldn't you know, they heard the clomping of footsteps on the stairs as Penne and Tweed made their way downstairs as well. Stabbing him with his elbow, Azure just gave Navy the 'I told you so' look, which was met with an eyeroll and a punch to the shoulder as he chomped down on his apple.

Ravioli had, of course, been waiting there for at least thirty minutes, quietly drinking the mango boba he drank almost as insistently as Penne drank her milkshakes. Thank God he had saved them a booth though, because there were people all over. Penne and Tweed were already in line, about to order their usuals, and Navy pushed Azure towards the booth Rav was sitting in, saying, "I'll get 'em."

Sitting down across from Rav, Azure immediately asked, "How's Snap been doing lately?"

Snap was Rav's kitten. She was a fluffy gray Norwegian forest cat, and all of them had gotten her for Rav on his nineteenth birthday. Ily, it seemed, had taken a liking to her, and they often found Snap randomly appearing in their apartment, unable to fathom just how she had gotten inside. And there were times, like this morning, when Ily was nowhere to be seen, and they could only assume he had slipped out somehow and was mingling with Snap and Rav in the apartment across from them.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Rav gave two thumbs up, pulling out his phone and swiping through the photos he had recently taken, the fondness and love emanating from him a clear sign that they should have gotten him a cat much sooner. Before Azure could ask about anything else, Penne slammed her milkshake down on the table next to her brother, sliding in with Tweed right beside her. Eventually, Navy made his way over too, handing Azure his chocolate milkshake while sipping on his own tapioca-free, boba-full matcha.

Slurping in silence for a bit, Azure caught Penne and Tweed looking at each other and nodding before Penne grabbed both Azure and Navy's hand, looking back and forth between them and asking, "I know it's been a while, but you never exactly told us. How did you do it?" She twiddled her fingers as neither of them responded, and Tweed took her hands in his, looking at both of them respectively.

"I would like to know," he said quietly, smiling calmly to help soothe Penne's inner panic.

Looking at each other, Navy sighed, nodding his head at Azure and gripping his hand under the table. It was not a day either of them remembered fondly, even though it was the day they 'saved' humanity.

Speaking softly and rubbing Navy's hand under the table, Azure spoke. "Do you know what happened in Dusk Co. that day?" On the other end of the table, all three of them nodded and Azure sighed with relief. It had probably been all over the news, but they hadn't wanted any part of it. All they had wanted was peace and quiet, but they never would have gotten it. "Ok," Azure said, squeezing Navy's hand and continuing. "We both ran out the side entrance after that, because neither of us really wanted to be in the public eye, which I feel is understandable, given the circumstances. We knew that neither of us wanted to become our fathers in that way, but that we were slowly morphing into them. And so the only way to keep that from happening entirely...and to keep the overwhelming anger and pain from taking over us...was to somehow had to get rid of the magic.

"It's kind of sad, considering how all our lives, the one thing we had wanted was magic. But now," he said, placing his hand on his chest and Navy's along with it, "don't you think we're so much better off? Just leading a normal life like we'd always wanted...?" Tears were streaming down Navy's cheeks, and Azure put an arm around him, continuing with the story as their friends looked at them with only empathy carved out on their features.

"It's what everyone remembers as 'The Pulse.' The wave of magic that eradicated disease from anyone who had it, restoring the health of the sick and dying, though not destroying the diseases in their entirety. After all, we're only two people. Disease slowly started integrating itself back into society, but that's the natural way of the world, and we had no place to disrupt it. Father Nature will do what Father Nature will do, and who were we to stop him? And so after 'The Pulse,' with all of our magic dispelled into healing the world, we were finally free. Free from the ever-shadowing prescense of our fathers, free from the responsibilities the world cast upon us, free from our own expectations. This was how the world was always meant to be; Sun and Moon were mearly an impediment in the natural way of life. And after that, we just stayed there in that alley, not fully able to heal ourselves, the scars all still so apparent, the blazing reminders of who we were."

Looking down at their intertwined hands, Azure gently brushed Navy's chin and the boy looked towards him. "But we're all together now, that's what matters, mm?" Pecking him on the lips, Azure looked back towards the rest of them.

"We let the companies fall apart after that. We sort of disappeared for a while, didn't we? We just wanted to see the city for how it truly was, and so for about a week, we kind of just scattered about, didn't we? No one knew where we were or what had happened to us, all they knew was that they were healed, and so they stopped looking for us. And that was when we came back to you guys. The only place I could think to look was here, and sure enough, there you all were! It's a small world, innit."

"Awwww, you guys are cute," Penne said, taking one of Navy's hands and one of Azure's, smiling at them while Ravioli clapped and smiled and Tweed just looked thankful.

"And now we're great, right!? Lotsa therapy, fake identities, the whole shebag! It's great," Navy said, slurping up his boba and chewing on the chocolate balls.

And after that, they just told stories. Embarrassing stories about each other, embarrassing stories about themselves, random things they had picked up from the internet. It just felt good to laugh with friends, drink with friends, be normal with friends.

All their lives there had been something missing. Something they had been looking for. Something they had been desperately trying to find, something that their fathers had been searching for before them. Something warm and happy and bright that both had found, but only one would keep.

They had finally found their family.