( ; — art by minear on tumblr )
❝ I'VE BEEN LOOKING AT OUR PICTURES—MAKES ME WONDER WHAT TO DO. 'CAUSE WHEN I'M LOOKING AT OUR PICTURES, I WANNA SEE YOU. ❞
( disclaimer :: this book takes place near the ending of their junior year, which without the hiatus pause, would put them in mid-2017 according to funneh's canonical timeline of the y.h.s. series + this is my old writing, so it's bad lol. )
( another disclaimer :: most of this book was written without any plan or complete memory of all of yhs, so some things may not always line up or contradict some canon facts from the actual series. that's my fault, sorry, haha. )
⋆ ₊ ꒰ 🌆 ꒱ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ˎˊ˗
˗ˏˋ FUNNEH ˎˊ˗
( first pov )
Life as we would eventually come to know it began one afternoon—a Saturday spent running around town and talking about little things that we wouldn't remember in a few years. For the most part, it should have been just another weekend; but despite that the sun had started to set and the day had nearly come to its close, it was only the beginning of something much bigger. An ordinary day with extraordinary consequences, only in retrospect.
And to think, it would all begin with one simple box.
I strolled down the sidewalk with the others at my side, kicking at the ground with each step. Gold chastised me for allowing the soles of my tennis shoes to drag and therefore scraping them, but I continued on doing so anyway.
Each of us carried our own cups of boba tea in our hands, a different flavor for each of us. It had been Kyran's idea to check out a new boba tea shop in the mall that had just opened up. According to him, it was just as good as anime foods looked (which also, according to him, was a very good compliment to receive).
"So, um, do you guys like it or . . . ?" Kyran let out a small, nervous bout of laughter, unsure of how the others would respond.
"Seriously? 'Like'? That's an understatement. I love this!" Gold giggled, "I'd marry it if I could."
I laughed and elbowed Kyran with my right arm. "Psst, Kyran! I found the key for you to win Gold over: become boba tea!" I had whispered my words to him, and Gold, who was still walking on my left side, remained none the wiser to what I had told him.
Kyran, however, because he clearly lacked good sense of humor, did not find my joke appealing. Instead, he wrinkled his nose and shot me a pout, shaking his head and sighing. I couldn't help but laugh.
Alec, who had deigned to walk on the farthest right end of our group, held his boba tea with one hand while the other remained in the pocket of his hoodie. "Yeah . . . I have to admit, this is pretty good, Kyran."
"Well, of course. I've got great taste, excuse you," Kyran defended, his pout from my earlier joke disappearing and replaced by a smug smile.
I patted Kyran on the shoulder with a grin. "Mm, nah, you really don't, bud." I heard Evan stifle a laugh next to Gold.
Our playful banter continued as we made our way down the sidewalk, the dormitories coming into view. The topic of conversation switched to what we should watch once we reached my and Gold's dorm—deciding that a movie night would be the best way to spend the end of today.
I quickly stole my spot on the couch and very casually motioned for Alec and Evan to take up the other spots (okay, fine; it wasn't casual at all. I had flailed my arms around while Kyran and Gold looked away, but it worked out anyway! Give me some credit!). It left the remaining two of our friends no choice but to sit side by side.
Kyran obviously felt awkward for the moment, but I leaned back and caught his attention. I cheekily smiled towards him and mouthed, you're welcome! Of course, he deadpanned and shook his head. Though, I caught sight of a very vague blush spread on his face.
I stifled a victorious laugh and high-fived both Alec and Evan when Gold was too involved on her phone to notice our successful set up.
"Alright, fellow movie-goers, what should we watch? A few mysteries, a few adventures, or even dare to try a horror?" Evan inquired to us, splaying out his hands like some ringmaster of a circus about to unveil his show.
"Hmmm, I don't know," Gold admitted, finally glancing up from her phone (I never understood how she could type so fast with such long nails, but anytime I had asked, she merely said it was a talent).
"Me neither . . ." Evan sighed.
"Well, then we could just search through the movies that Funneh and I have," Gold suggested.
"We can't just watch Netflix or something—?" Kyran added.
I sighed. "Nope. This TV isn't made to stream stuff."
"Shame."
"But anyway, I think I have a box of DVDs upstairs in my room. I gotta set the right settings so we can watch them on this TV, though, so can you guys do me a favor and get it for me? It should be in my closet, in a box on the second shelf," I guided, rising to my feet.
"Sure," the guys said in unison. They got up and started to head upstairs. I started to fix the settings on the TV from the cable box while they went to fetch the DVDs.
˗ˏˋ KYRAN ˎˊ˗
( first pov )
I was the first one to go upstairs, followed shortly by Evan and the Thing In the Hoodie™ (otherwise known as Alec). It had struck me as surprising that Funneh sent us to go get the DVDs, but I guessed it made sense. At least she trusted us enough to just let her enter her room, right?
We shuffled into her room one by one. It was fairly clean, which I suspected was more so because of Gold's cleaning rather than Funneh being neat. The only real exception to the cleanliness was a soda can left on the desk and a few empty chip bags strewn about the floor underneath it.
I opened her closet and surveyed the shelves. Mostly, it was just filled with pieces of clothes hung up and tucked away, a couple pairs of shoes lined up on the ground against the wall. Above the bars that hung the hangers, there were two shelves with boxes and containers.
A few of them were labeled, some consisting of video games and comics, others filled with things like the merch we had bought at the convention or projects we took home from school.
"I think I see it." Evan pointed upwards towards a box on the right side, a title scribbled quickly onto a sticky note stuck to its outside.
Alec reached up and grasped the box by its flimsy handles and pulled it down. While doing so, he accidentally pushed off the other box sitting beside the one he had grabbed. The box came barreling down to the floor, creating a loud noise that I couldn't help but cringe at. Out from the box spilled polaroid photos, small souvenirs, post cards, and a few letters.
"Sorry." Alec frowned.
Before Alec or I could pick anything up, Evan reached down and held up one of the photos. He turned it around in his hands and inspected it curiously. "Hey, look! It's Funneh and Gold but younger."
"They're with other people too. But they don't look that young. Look, there's a date written on the back of the photo." Alec took the photo and turned it around. On the back of the photo was writing. The date was on the corner.
6/24/13
2013? I did the math in my head quickly. That would've made it two years before we (or at least, I) met them, having become friends in our sophomore year of high school, which was in 2015.
I analyzed the photo more closely.
"What's with the get up in these photos? They're in the same clothes in each photo but with all different dates," Evan inquired as though it wasn't common for themselves to repeatedly wear the same outfits, shuffling through more of the photos scattered across the floor.
Their outfits were admittedly, on their own, already weird as they were. Strange garments that really looked akin to people cosplaying more than anything else.
"Second off, what's with the weapons? Look, both Funneh and this guy have some sort of weapon in this photo." Evan pointed to another photo of just the two of them standing side by side.
"Is—is that a swor—"
"Huh, that is weird . . . hold up. Guys, look at this letter." Alec held up an aged piece of notebook paper—a letter it seemed. While the writing remained neat, the fonts changed interjectionally, as though three different people had taken turns writing their own piece. The signatures scribbled at the bottom of the note only further proved our assumptions.
⋆ ₊ ꒰ 💿 ꒱ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ˎˊ˗
dear funneh and gold,
We hope you guys have enjoyed the time you've stayed in America so far!! Bring us back stuff!! (draco, that's not the point!) Okay, okay, fine! You guys better make lots of friends while you're there. And have fun :P when summer rolls around, we'll be waiting for you at the airport. Can't wait to see you both again! we miss you. Yes, we do!! We miss you lots!!! <3
lunareclispe,
DraconiteDragon,
PaintingRainbows
⋆ ₊ ꒰ 📼 ꒱ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ˎˊ˗
"Lunar 'Eclispe'? Or 'Eclipse'?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the what I assumed was a misspelled name, a quite peculiar one at that. All of the names were strange, actually. Were they really named that?
Then again, Funneh and Gold had odd names too, so I supposed it wasn't that strange.
"I dunno, maybe a typo." Evan shrugged.
"Guys, we can investigate this later. Right now, we gotta get the movie for them," Alec reminded, picking up the items and tossing them back into the box.
"Right . . ."
"Hey, why don't we take this to Evelyn then?" Evan suggested, helping scoop up all of the content and picking up the box, tucking it underneath his arm.
"Uh, doesn't that seem a little odd?" I questioned reluctantly, "I mean . . . we can't just take it, right?"
"Relax, we'll return it! But for now, just hide it and get the movie," Evan assured, "it's not like we're stealing it! I'm just curious!"
"Or we could just ask Funneh," I suggested, "y'know, like normal people."
"I think Funneh would be upset if we asked her, don't you think? Because then it'd mean that we snooped through her stuff." Alec did make a point . . .
"Yeah! And if she finds out, she'll totally prank us! Do you wanna be one of the victims of her next revenge prank?" Evan added.
I shuddered with the memory of the last time she had gotten back at me with a prank for supposedly cheating at a game (which I did not!!!). I couldn't get the confetti out of my ears for weeks. "No."
"Then it's agreed."
I sighed in reluctance as Alec picked up both of the boxes, tucking them safely underneath his arms. The three of us quickly made our ways out of her room and to the top of the stairs.
"Where do we put it for now? She's gonna definitely notice that you're carrying her stuff," I pointed out.
"Oh, I know! I know! Can you distract her for a second? I'll just yeet it out the door when she's not looking," Evan offered easily.
"Did you just say, 'yeet'?" Alec raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Is there a problem?" Evan jokingly asked, comedically raising his eyebrows.
Alec sighed with a small huff of air that could be considered an airy laugh of some sorts. "I guess not."
"Okay, okay, you clowns. How am I supposed to distract her?" I questioned, crossing my arms.
"I don't know; try waving your arms around frantically like you're insane. That always works." Evan shrugged casually.
". . . Or is that what you're supposed to do with certain breeds of bears?"
"If we get caught, we'll be more dead than if a bear crossed paths with us. So, make up your mind!" I exclaimed.
"Ask if you can borrow a charger or something. Just say your phone is dying," Alec suggested.
I poked my head down the stairwell to survey the area. Gold was busy on her phone again, sitting on the side of the couch. Funneh had her back to us, crouched down and messing with the DVD player.
"W-what if we get caught?" I questioned, "oh, God. What if we get caught and they kill us for this? Then Gold really will hate me for forever!"
Alec and Evan both raised an eyebrow at me.
". . . And I guess Funneh will hate us. That too."
"Oh, for the love of—" Alec shook his head in disapproval before guiding me by my shoulders down the stairs together, "stay up here until we give the signal, Evan."
Evan nodded.
"Don't blow this, four eyes," Alec whispered to me.
I mumbled a chain of insults under my breath. If he noticed my words, he didn't react as we reached downstairs. I gulped as we walked closer to the two of them, both too distracted with their own tasks to notice us approach them.
"Hey, guys?" Alec questioned, catching the attention of both girls.
Oh, thank goodness. Alec's handling i—
"Evan's getting the box right now, but Kyran wanted to ask you something," Alec continued, glancing towards me with a brief expression that radiated the same energy of smiling at someone after you just hit them with a plus four in UNO.
Ajdjshdkshs—!!!!
"What'cha need?" Funneh inquired, peering over her shoulder to look at us.
"Well—uh, we—I mean, I—" I sputtered out nervously as I heard Alec quietly sigh in disappointment at my poor performance.
"He needs a charger. His phone is gonna die," Alec flatly explained for me, which silently, I was grateful for (but didn't care to admit).
"Oh, sure. Gold, go get your charger while I do this," Funneh instructed to Gold, who nodded and stood up. She gestured for me to give her my phone, to which I reluctantly did.
I followed behind the brunette slowly as she wandered over to the other side of the room. Plugged into an outlet on the wall, there was a charger lying on the counter. While she was retrieving it, Alec signaled for Evan to hurry.
Upon seeing the signal, Evan rushed down the stairs and sprinted as fast as he could without making a sound and bolted out of the doors quietly. I watched through one of the windows as he shoved the first box into a bush nearby. He gave a thumbs-up and casually walked back in with the second box before Gold could turn around.
"There you g—where did you come from?" Gold realized, spotting Evan suddenly standing in the center of the room.
"I'm magic," Evan joked, wiggling his fingers around.
Gold clicked an eyebrow up in disbelief, but shook her head and placed a hand on her hip. "Whatever," Gold brushed aside, "anyway, what took you so long?"
"Oh, yeah, I heard a noise from up there too. Did something happen?" Funneh questioned from across the room.
"Oh, um, at first we couldn't find the box. But don't worry! When Kyran and Alec came down here to ask you guys something, I ended up finding it." Evan grinned proudly.
"Okay, but that doesn't really explain the noise—?"
"Oh, that? Kyran ran into the door," Alec was quick to add.
"I did not—!"
Both Alec and Evan lightly elbowed me in an effort to keep me from saying anything more.
"Aaaaalright, there!" Funneh exclaimed from the other side of the room, standing up as she held out her hand for them to give her the box.
Evan handed it to her and she motioned for all of us to join her. Together, we all rummaged through the DVDs and debated on what to watch first. I fidgeted nervously, worrying that somehow, we would be figured out and caught.
"Hey, Kyran, you alright?" Funneh asked.
"Huh? Oh, u-um, yeah." I tried to keep my voice steady.
She nodded and smiled easily before returning her attention to one of the movies that Gold was suggesting. Meanwhile, I couldn't help but keep my thoughts from wandering to the box laying somewhere in the bushes outside . . .
The others weren't worrying about it at all, and it only added to my feeling of paranoia. I shouldn't be so worried, right? There was nothing to worry about.
And yet, there was.
Life as we would eventually come to know it began one afternoon—a Saturday spent running around town and ending on something as simple as a movie night. For the most part, it should have been just another weekend; but despite that the sun had already set and the day was coming to its close finally, it was only the beginning of something much bigger. An ordinary day with extraordinary consequences, only in retrospect.
And to think, it all began with one simple box.
⋆ ₊ ꒰ 📦 ꒱ ┈┈┈┈┈┈ ˎˊ˗
❝ SO I'M KEEPING ALL OUR PICTURES, 'CAUSE I'M SCARED I WILL FORGET ALL THE THINGS WE DID TOGETHER—ALL THE FUN WE HAD. ❞
( ; — thank you for 5k views! )
( ; — edited last on july 19th, 2020 )
( ; — word count: 2,933 words )
KAMI is typing . . .