Chapter Text
The entire neighborhood was gathered at aphmau’s house, crowding together for the first time in a while. She and Aaron had offered to host a “fancy” dinner for the whole gang. “Fancy” really amounted to putting the extenders on the dining table and drinking from glass rather than various fandom-oriented plastic cups.
Aaron leaned over the oven checking on a chicken while Aphmau washed dishes; that seemed to be the only thing Aaron trusted her to do in the cooking process.
Kawaii~Chan and Cadenza had roped Vylad into their gossip about a new TV show and the vexing love triangle that had formed in the last few episodes.
Garroth, Laurence, Dante, Travis, Katelyn, Lucinda, and Y/N were around the coffee table playing Uno; Laurence and Lucinda were winning, and Garroth practically had enough cards to start his own game of Uno.
“There's no way you’re not stashing cards somewhere” Travis whined.
“Probably in all that hair” Dante quipped as Laurence swatted at him for the comment.
“Play nice, boys,” Lucinda glanced up from her cards, a perfect poker face adorning her features, “besides it’s not like we're playing for anything.”
“Speak for yourself, Garroth bet me 20 bucks that he’d win” Laurence laughed as Garroth groaned in despair.
Y/N looked at Garroth quizzically, “Garroth have you ever won a game of Uno?”
“I would always win playing with my parents as a child” Garroth spoke confidently, “I guess I just lost my touch as an adult”
Y/N and Katelyn exchanged sympathetic looks, well aware of his gullibility. Katelyn began to speak, “Garroth-”
A sudden knock resounded at the door and Katelyn thanked the gods for saving her from that conversation. Everyone looked around, mostly sure that all the neighbors were there; however, when Aphmau opened the door a certain mask-clad emo stood there awkwardly.
“Zane!” Aphmau exclaimed guiding him inside and closing the door behind him. “I’m so glad you decided to come I thought you wouldn’t make it”
Zane looked around awkwardly, his eyes landing on Y/N’s. He quickly averted eye contact and began stuttering out an explanation to Aphmau but was cut off.
“Brother!” Garroth got up to run to Zane, throwing his cards across the table destroying the deck, and ruining the game. All the other players groaned in disgust before placing their own cards down and standing up.
Zane scrunched up his shoulders as Garroth squeezed him tightly, “Yes, Garroth, Hello” he gently pushed the eldest Ro’Meave away, wiping his hands on his hoodie after. If Garroth noticed the small gesture he didn’t care.
The rest of the group greeted him much quieter, attempting not to make him uncomfortable; Although, it seemed that stage had already passed. Vylad gave him an acknowledging nod which Zane returned, while most of the others gave warm Heys and smiles.
Kawaii~Chan joined Garroth and Zane near the front door to greet him, “Kawaii~Chan is so happy you could come Zane~Kun!” she exclaimed, and while his mouth may have been covered by a mask you could see a small smile through it.
Eventually, the excitement of a new person showing up died down and the previous Uno players found other tasks to attend to while Aaron wrapped up the cooking.
Y/N; However, had yet to find something to do or someone to talk to. The love triangle conversation had evolved into a battle of ships and Y/N had no desire to get involved in that. It seemed the only other person not doing something was Zane, so Y/N poured a glass of coke and delivered it to him as an offering.
Y/N and Zane had talked before, they weren’t best friends but he spent more time with them than almost anyone else in the neighborhood. They often enjoyed each other's conversation or just being able to sit in comfortable silence.
They stuck out the coke to Zane and gestured to the seat next to him, silently asking if they could sit. Zane took the glass and moved over, creating more room for Y/N to sit.
Zane pulled his mask down to rest around his neck, he spent a long time getting comfortable with showing his face, even to those he considered friends and Y/N was grateful to be included in the list of people he could do that with.
“Thank you for coming,” Y/N leaned in and whispered with a small smile.
“I didn’t do it for you,” he grumbled, “I just thought I should… get out more” He was lying through his teeth but Y/N didn’t mind, they were used to his defenses when he did anything that could be considered affection. Y/N leaned into the plush back of the couch with a small smile.
“Well either way I’m glad you’re here”
***
The dining table was littered with delicious foods; perfectly baked chicken, soft mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and dinner rolls laid in Pyrex dishes on the tablecloth. There was also a plethora of desserts waiting in the kitchen. The hosts sat at opposite ends of the table and all the others crammed in between.
The people resembled a family getting together for Sunday dinner. Some catching up on life events, others fighting over food and other matters.
Aaron was engrossed in a conversation with Vylad; Garroth, Laurence, and Dante bickered about something trivial, the content of the talk was lost in the chatter between Aphmau, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan. Y/N had joined a conversation about a book series with Lucinda and Cadenza.
Zane, on the other hand, was the perfect picture of the loner teenager who was forced to be there. He picked at his food, eating a few bites now and then.
He felt like he wasn’t supposed to be here- in fact, he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here. Technically, yes, he had been invited but he’d also been invited to several past events that he couldn’t be bothered to attend, choosing instead to stay home and eat alone.
The difference between this and all those other times was Y/N asked him to come. His excuse for never coming in the past was always that he felt no one truly wanted to see him. He assumed the invitations were merely courtesy to avoid an awkward conversation had he not been asked. But this time he truly felt wanted- he felt like someone there had wanted his company at an event.
He’d always had a hard time saying no to them, as much as he’d like to deny it. And he thanked his lucky stars that they never asked for more than a simple dinner.
“Zane?” Y/N asked poking his arm lightly. He turned his head away from his plate to face Y/N.
“You still with us?” Y/N joked but their eyes held a great deal of concern, they were afraid they’d pushed Zane to do something he was uncomfortable with and now he was regretting coming.
Zane offered a small nod in an attempt to ease the worries he could see on their face. “I’m fine I was just lost in thought- was there something you needed?”
“Oh I was just wondering if you’d read that book I gave you a few weeks ago”
“I did, actually, I really liked it, I, uh, I’m surprised you guessed that I’d like it, my taste in books is pretty particular” Y/N had a large grin on their face at that.
“I have my ways…” they admitted, glancing at Vylad at the other end of the table.
Zane made a fake shocked expression, “really Vylad? Selling my secrets just like that? Do you have no sense of loyalty?”
Vylad looked offended at the question and raised a finger, “Actually I have a lot of loyalty” he paused for a few seconds before turning his raised finger in Y/N’s direction “mainly to their homemade cookies.”
“Oh I see, baked goods are worth more to you than your own brother, remind me never to call you for ransom if the kidnapper can bake” Y/N laughed at that, as did many of the people at the table. Real, genuine laughs, Zane couldn’t remember the last time he made a joke, let alone the last time someone laughed at them.
Y/N felt a sense of accomplishment at Zane’s joke. Sure, they asked him there for selfish reasons, because they enjoy his company and wanted to hang out for a few meaningless hours. But more importantly, they wanted him to feel comfortable coming to events like these and spending time with actual people, and not just the ones on the TV screen.
The dinner maintained this level of polite composure for about 20 more minutes before Travis made a mashed potato cannon out of his fork and smacked Laurence in the face with some. After that, the table became a war zone with Garroth, Laurence, Travis, and Katelyn in an all-out battle. Everyone else evacuated the dining room in an attempt not to get caught in the crossfire.
The party gathered on the couch and floor pillows to play a board game while waiting for the food fight to end. When it did, the 4 people came stumbling out of the dining room covered in all sorts of greasy homemade dishes.
Katelyn was the first to admit she needed to go home and shower, saying her goodbyes quickly and rushing out the door. The boys didn’t last much longer, as soon as Laurence could feel potato start to dry in his hair he made a run for it, attempting to get in the shower before one of his other roommates.
The rest of the group left until it was only Aaron, Aphmau, Lucinda, Y/N, and Zane. Y/N wanted to leave about 15 minutes ago, but seeing Zane so relaxed and actually interacting with their friends was too good an opportunity to miss.
Lucinda groaned and downed the rest of her drink before grabbing her purse and heading to the door, “this has all been lovely, Aphmau, but I need my beauty sleep” she yawned as she waved from the door frame.
Y/N really decided they needed to go home when they outlasted Lucinda.
Placing their own drink down they stood up and stretched their arms behind their back.
“I need to get going too,” you said while hugging Aphmau and Aaron. Zane stood up as well, ready to follow you out the door.
“Thanks for coming, guys” Aaron smiles.
“Yeah we loved having you over,” Aphmau grinned, “especially you, Zane, you should come to stuff more often we all loved having you here,” she said in her most mom-like voice.
“I’ll think about it,” Zane mumbled shoving his hands in his pockets.
Y/N and Zane walked outside heading for their respective houses, which happened to be in the same direction. They walked in comfortable silence, both shivering slightly in the fall air. When they got to Y/N’s house they turned to look at Zane, giving him a small, private smile.
“I’m really happy you came tonight” Y/N broke the silence.
Zane took a deep breath, “I am too” he admitted.
“Good,” they jokingly fake punched him in the arm, “maybe that means you’ll come to more”
Zane offered her a very, very small smile before mustering a “maybe”
Y/N will take that as a win.