Our Moms are U-hauling it, Does that Make Us Step-Siblings Kind of?

*June 8, 2020*

The sun beats down on the Halcyon City streets and the air is filled with warm humidity. Boon strolls down an unusually quiet street, noting that people must be staying home after the events of the weekend. Halcyon is a weird city, but particularly busy days such as ones involving rampaging spectral beasts tend to take their toll on the residents’ relative stress levels. Boon counted herself lucky among their numbers. Compared to her friends she ended the weekend relatively unharmed mentally and physically. She thinks back to the events of last winter, confronting Yamato, having her memories re-written, growing an admittedly cute pair of horns. This time it was just a few bruises, an anxious girlfriend, and some obnoxious flecks of red crystal that she just can’t seem to get out of her hair. Ernest on the other hand would need some comforting.

*Oh gods the poor guy. I know how bad having unwanted head guests can be. Must’ve been terrifying, at least he’s free of it now.* She passes by a local cafe, drawing a few unwanted stares from the patrons. *Ugh, why is everyone always looking at me these days.* Boon shoots her observers a sinister glare, causing people to turn their heads and nervously pretend they weren’t just looking at the conspicuous girl as she passed by. *People need to mind their own business. Speaking of…* As Boon approaches Ernest’s apartment she notices a small group of teenagers loitering outside.

“Holy shit is that Frith!?” “Oh my god Fritter are you dating The Weatherman!?” “Last Rite! Can I get your autograph?”

Boon effortlessly shoves the teens out of her way as she makes her way towards the apartment building’s front door. She turns around and stares at the teens, leaning patiently on the door. “I’m not hitting the button until you turn around.” She states, her voice lacking the patience shown by her posture. “Just in case any of you losers were hoping to find out what floor he lives on.” The teens disappointedly sigh and turn the other way as Boon reaches behind her to hit the buzzer for floor 3. “Hey butterfly, it’s Boon. Mind getting the door?”

Ernest is frantically attempting to stuff a pile of shirts and jeans into a box when the buzzer rings sapphire blue across his vision. Had his mom warned him several times about packing for the upcoming move? Yes. Had he put it off to the last minute anyway? Also yes. Cloudy displays a bell emoji and flies around his head, mimicking the sound of the buzzer. “Okay, okay, I’m getting it.” He makes one last attempt at shoving a hoodie into the box before rushing to the door to buzz Boon in. “Come on up!”

He waits by the door until there’s a knock, double checking through the eyehole that it’s Boon before opening it. “Thanks for coming by to help out.” Cloudy immediately hovers directly in front of her face, showing ram and spear emojis interspersed with grins and hearts. “Yes, that’s Boon and she’s great. Give her a little space, Cloudy.”

Boon laughs and pats the top of Cloudy “It’s true, I am pretty great.” Boon steps inside the apartment and looks at the boxes that have been packed up so far. “I’m sure you’re looking forward to having less... houseguests, at the new place? I hope so at least, I’m starting to realize I don’t like attention nearly as much as I used to, I got a lot of side eye on the way here for some reason. Oh! That reminds me.” Boon reaches behind her back where a large ornate spear had been fastened by leather straps and draws it forward. “So, as far as your fan club is aware, Ernest Welles is never leaving this apartment.”

Ernest scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, I’ve stopped taking the bus as much these days, it gets super awkward when someone is trying really hard to make eye contact with you and you can’t leave.” He closes the door behind Boon, pushing a few boxes aside with his foot to make more space. “Mom hasn’t let me anywhere near the new house in case someone spotted me and figured out where we were moving. She almost wouldn’t give me the address, but I promised her I wanted to keep it secret as much as she did.” He raises his hands out from his sides. “Alright, what have you got for me? Hopefully something better than when Mithril tried to disguise me, no offense to her.”

Boon grins confidently “Don’t worry, this should be pretty convincing, I’ve just gotta pick the right guise…” She puts her hand to her chin pensively. “Hmm let’s see… who would be a good person to be seen leaving The Weatherman’s apartment…” A lightbulb appears above her head as she gets an idea. “Okay hold still.” She taps her spear on the ground, as it makes contact it emits a flash of light. Standing before her where Ernest had previously been stands Atlanta. Boon awkwardly grimaces for a moment before reconsidering, “Um, hold on, no that’s gonna be weird. Let me-” She taps the spear again and Ernest’s visage changes to that of Katayoun. “No no, that’ll get the shippers talking it’s best if we don’t-” Another tap and he’s disguised as Kurt “Okay what was I thinking with that one, that’s gonna be a hard no umm… ooh I got it” Boon taps her spear on the kitchen floor one last time. From her backpack Boon fishes out a mirror, and tosses it to Ernest. “So, how do you like the new look, Sam Ribaldi?” Boon grins as she says the name of Ernest’s new likeness.

Ernest watches as his appearance changes with each flash of light. It’s somewhat disorienting, as he doesn’t feel any physical changes to his body, but the illusion is fairly convincing. He nearly fumbles the mirror when his hand isn’t quite where he expects it to be. Samantha Ribaldi stares back at him in the reflection, and then breaks into an uncharacteristically wide grin. “Looks great!” His voice comes out much more orange than usual - nearly the same color as Samantha’s, although when he listens carefully he can see hints of his own purple underneath and a shimmering magical impossible color trailing behind. “Oh, that’s very weird. Well, at least we’ll only need it for a couple trips back and forth. What about you? People know we hang out a bunch, and you did say you were drawing a lot of attention on your way over.” Ernest looks to Boon expectantly.

"Hmm, that's true. My ethereally good looks might get in the way of our operation. Alright I think I've got it, who hangs out with Sam more than… drumroll please" she taps the spear on the ground yet again, the incessant tapping having made a semi-noticeable scratch on the hardwood flooring at this point. After another flash of light clears, Joy stands where Boon had been. "What do you think? Accurate?" Boon/Joy can still be seen clenching a fist around where the spear was before, however the weapon is now invisible, completing the disguise.

Ernest gives her appearance light applause. “That’s great, we can just pretend we’re on Thama– Tama– Whatever name the magic club has now, people will probably think we’re doing stuff for that!” He starts glancing over the boxes piled near the door. “My mom’s been loading up the moving van, if you want to grab some of these.”

As if on cue, Helen walks out from her room carrying a stack of boxes. When she catches sight of Samantha and Joy, she quickly unloads them onto a nearby couch and begins shooing at the two of them. “Inside the house now? I might not be as naive as Ernest, but I assumed you all still had some amount of common decency. This is an apartment, not a fan club lobby!”

*Ah fuck, I need to get the spear off its holster to drop the disguise. Ah, I’ve got it, if we just pretend we’re Ernest’s friends she’ll leave us alone.* “Oh! You must be Mrs. Welles! I’m Joy and this is Sam. We’re Ernest’s friends from school, he invited us over to help pack. Is he around?” Boon can’t help but smirk a little bit at the, in her mind, clever lie.

Helen’s eyes narrow. “I asked Ernest if he’d told anyone else about us moving this morning, and he’s a terrible liar. As are you, it seems.” She grabs the nearest loose object, which happens to be a broom, and brandishes it at them.

“Boon, what are you—“ Ernest starts, before he has to turn his attention to dodging pokes from the broom. “Mom, it’s just me and Boon. I told you about the disguises, remember? Look.” He summons a small thunderhead in his hands. The illusion flickers briefly, attempting to cover it, but once he releases it, the cloud hangs low in the air.

Helen stares in confusion for a few moments, but eventually she sighs and lowers the broom. “When you said disguises, I assumed you meant clothes and a pair of glasses like last time. This is much more effective, though, if your own mother can’t recognize you,” she admits.

Boon crosses her arms and puts on a faux grumpy expression "Damn, I thought for sure I had you. You're right though, I'm a terrible liar. Which is kind of an issue since I'm dating Atlanta." Boon looks horrified for a moment. "Wait shit, Ernest does she…"

Ernest is already making cutting motions across his throat before Boon turns his way. “No, she doesn’t,” he attempts to say under his breath, although with how close Helen is, it’s unlikely she wouldn’t hear.

Helen opens her mouth as if to question the comment, but seems to reconsider as she shakes her head. “Never mind. Ernest, I know you’ve been wanting to see the house, why don’t the two of you run ahead now that you’re all disguised? Maggie’s already there moving things from her apartment, say hi to her for me. There will still be plenty of boxes for you to carry after a quick visit.”

"Yeah sure! I'm excited to see the new place. Wish we could just fly over but that's for sure going to draw too much attention. I think the 48 bus gets us pretty close though, you've got a Metro card right Ernest?"

It takes Ernest half a minute to fish his wallet out of his physical pockets, which are not quite aligned with the pockets of his illusory outfit. When he finally manages it, he flashes his Metro card. “Yeah. It’ll be nice to take the bus without getting flagged down for autographs for once.”

"I can imagine. Unless Sam has some kind of following we don't know about. Let's just hope we don't run into the real Sam or Joy, or their friends." Boon reaches for the doorknob to leave the apartment, having used her illusory disguises many times before she's capable of judging where she is in space without relying on sight and finds it without issue. "Alright let's head over then! Also just a tip, don't rely too much on sight when using your hands."

Ernest manages to descend the stairs without tripping over his own feet and exits the building. The gaggle of Weatherman fans, easily identifiable by their Weatherman-themed clothing and posters, look over excitedly when the door opens, but immediately become disinterested upon seeing Samantha and Joy. Ernest grins. “Perfect,” he whispers to Boon.

The bus ride is similarly uneventful, although Ernest has to consciously keep his powers from clearing the few clouds in the sky from his delight in his newfound anonymity.

As they near their stop, Ernest cranes his neck to look out the window, trying to figure out why this part of the city feels familiar. “Wait, aren’t we near Atlanta’s house?”

Boon grins smugly “Huh, you know what Ernest. I think we are near Atlanta’s house. What a- what a funny coincidence.” Boon says knowing full well she showed her mom a bunch of listings in this exact neighborhood on purpose.

As the bus reaches their stop a pair of familiar faces board. The real Sam and Joy.

“Ernest, don’t make eye contact and leave the bus quickly. Run.” Boon says in a hushed but panicked voice as their cover is threatened.

Ernest can’t help but look over to see who could have scared Boon, unintentionally locking eyes with Samantha as he does. Immediately, he turns away and follows Boon off the side door, putting the side door of the bus between them and their doppelgängers.

As the two quickly escape the bus Boon takes a second to catch her breath. “Damn, that was a close one. Do you think they saw us?”

One second, Boon is next to Ernest exiting the bus, and the next she is completely gone. Ernest spots her when she pauses about a block away from their stop and runs to catch up.

“I don’t know that it’s worse than two Joy’s being in the same place at the same time, but Joy suddenly developing super speed might be a little suspicious,” he says when he makes it back in earshot of Boon. “Also I might have looked at Samantha right after you told me not to. But you’re both in that magic club, right? You can tell her what’s up before she figures out how to hex me or something.”

Boon's face drops "I uh, I'm not gonna lie Ernest I completely forgot that I'm fast again. Oh gods that's gonna be an awkward conversation with Sam though, but that’s a problem for later."

“Well, at least you got your super strength back in time to move all our boxes in, huh?” Ernest elbows Boon good-naturedly as he walks up next to her.

Boon giggles as she finishes collecting herself and the two begin making their way towards the house. “You know, I’m really excited about the move.” She scratches the back of her head. “You were the first friend I made when I moved to Halcyon, and I never thought we’d end up living together. I’m gonna miss the Shady Glen people a lot, but, a house in the suburbs with one of my best friends and our gay moms… it’s a nice change of pace.”

“Yeah, I never would have guessed it either. I assumed it would be me, Timothy, and our mom, at least for a couple years. But then Timothy moved back to New York. And Carm stayed with us for a little while, before she and Ellen left.” Ernest feels that sense of loneliness yawning in front of him again, the one that’s been haunting him since he returned from the HELIX facility. As excited as he is about living with Boon, he’s not sure he can go through someone leaving again. “How, uh… how long are you planning on living in the new house? I mean, I know you’ll be starting college in the fall, are you going to move into the dorms or…?”

The temptation to begin humming Gestalt’s song starts to rise, but they’d left Cloudy back at the apartment, so he doesn’t have anything with him to play the countersong. With all his concentration focused on stopping himself from humming, his control of his powers wanders. Lightning starts crawling up and down his arms, causing the illusory Samantha to shimmer and spark.

"Sorry Ernest, you can't get rid of me that easily! But yeah, I'm gonna be commuting to class. It's just on the other side of town, and well, this makes the commute way easier." She points to her back as her translucent cloak begins to manifest behind her for a brief moment. As she does so, she turns to look at Ernest, and notices him losing his composure. She stops walking "Hey, dude. Are you doing alright? You've got a- a spark going there."

Ernest nearly walks into Boon’s back when she stops, but manages to narrowly avoid what would have been a shocking collision. The lightning flickers in and out as he takes slow breaths to dissipate it. *You’re fine. Boon just said she isn’t leaving. Even if she was, she’d still be in Halcyon. Carm came back. And you still talk to Timothy even though he’s in New York. What does it matter that it’ll never be the same again? It’s fine!* He clamps his hands over his ears, as if that would do anything to block out the melody running through his mind, and sits down on the curb. “Could you sing something? Just– anything?”

Boon scratches the back of her neck nervously. “Oh gosh, uh. Any song? Well hmm, there’s- uhh, hmm.” Boon takes a decently long time to actually pick a song but her face lights up when she reaches a decision. She begins softly.

“Let me mend the past
Let me see behind your mask
You finally go around
She stares at the ground
And acts if you're not there

Lock's on the door
Surveillance when you enter in the hall
Such a pointless cause
Her cups on my wall
It's hard to be ignored

Let me mend the past
And make ends meet at last
Before they bleed
Don't wanna come across too weak

Let me mend the past....”

She trails off upon reaching the final line and looks to Ernest expectantly.

Ernest gradually removes his hands from his ears, focusing on her song. The periwinkle of Joy’s voice dominates his vision, but he can still discern the metallic bronze from Boon in the corners. The pull of Gestalt’s song fades back, and he’s able to quell his lightning.

“Thanks.” He stands, not quite looking in Boon’s direction. “Sorry about that. I’m really glad we’ll be living together too, I just started thinking about how lonely the apartment’s been without Timothy or Carm and…” He shakes his head. “I’m fine now.”

“Um. Do you… want to talk about that? Was it the hivemind thing? Is it still in there!? Are you gonna be okay!?” Boon says panickedly. She hugs Ernest tightly. “I’m so sorry, I know how much it hurts having unwanted head-mates like that, I wish I could’ve been there to stop it. Especially since you were there to help me with… my thing.”

Ernest freezes for a second, not expecting the hug, but quickly wraps his arms around Boon. “It’s alright. Aman and Anaya got me out of it, and I’m glad you were there to help Kurt when I wasn’t. I don’t know what I would have done if he got stuck in the future again.” He leans into the hug for a few more moments before pulling back. “No, they aren’t in my head anymore. It’s more like… sometimes I find myself wishing they were?”

He winces, knowing how that probably comes across to Boon, and rushes to clarify. “Gestalt’s not evil, not like… well, you know. They just wanted to help stop me from feeling lonely. And it worked, while I was caught up in it? But it’s been tough, going from feeling like a part of something bigger to knowing that I’m… not.”

Boon blinks in confusion. "You… want it back? I guess- I mean, as horrible as… she… was, it took some getting used to when she was gone. And there were a few days where it almost did feel lonely. Of course the feeling of freedom that I felt completely overpowered it, but it sounds like she was different from Gestalt."

She stops to consider for a moment. "You're wrong about one thing though. And I hope you can bear with me for a minute since there's a good chance this is just existential waffling…" she holds him by the shoulders "You *are* part of a greater whole, Gestalt or not. We all are. Every single person who's life you've touched, everyone who you've inspired, who you've saved… or will save. There are threads that bind you to them. You're never alone and you'll always be a part of something bigger. You're a nexus in the web of fate. Judging by how many people look up to you and how many people are happy you're here, you're more connected to the world than you might think. Even if that doesn't involve losing your agency to a hivemind." Boon looks at Ernest hopeful that her words may have been a comfort to him.

Right. Ernest had thought about trying to get people to understand that he’d be happier, the way he knew that Timothy was happier living in New York and Carm was happier traveling with Ellen, even though it meant them leaving. Maybe he could convince his friends and family. But he had so many eyes on him now, if he disappeared he’d just end up causing more pain. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be so selfish,” he mumbles. “Let’s get to the house, I don’t want to keep our moms waiting.”

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't-" Boon sighs. "Nevermind… you're right we should get going. I still haven't seen the place in person, I'm really excited!" Boon's excitement is undercut by a sense of worry.

Ernest nods, giving the best approximation of a smile he can manage at the moment. “Me too.”

The rest of the walk to the house is quiet. As they get close Boon starts checking the numbers on the mailboxes. Soon enough they reach the address Maggie had told them and are greeted by their new abode. The house is a fairly standard suburban home with a one car garage and brick-work surrounding the front door. "Well, welcome home!"

As Ernest’s eyes sweep from the garden in front of the house, across the windows, and up to the roof, his initially forced smile widens. “This is amazing! I mean, it’s no Shady Glen, so I guess it’s a bit of a downgrade for you. But I’ve never lived in anything bigger than an apartment before.”

He approaches the door, but hesitates before knocking. “Does your mom know about the illusions, or is she going to get confused too?” he asks Boon.

"The what?" Boon says with a blank expression "oh yeah! The illusions. Hold on lemme-" she fumbles with her invisible spear and channels it, causing the disguises to melt away.

Before Ernest is able to knock, the door is opened from the inside by an extremely tall blonde woman who is nearly too tall for the doorway. "Blessin! Butterfly! You made it! Come on in, I've got the AC runnin' so it's nice and cool in here." She beckons the two of them in. "Helen ain't here with the U-Haul yet so I can give y'all the tour."

"Thanks mom! Yeah we'd love a tour." Boon replies eagerly.

Ernest jumps when the door suddenly opens. After he has a moment to recover, he smiles up at Maggie. “Thanks, a tour would be great.” Peering past her into the house, a living room and kitchen area are visible past the foyer. “This place is enormous,” he mouths to Boon.

Boon gives a shrug that conveys the precise message of “This is a lot smaller than the mansion I lived in for half a year, but it’s cozy and a nice change of pace.”

Maggie ushers the two in and threateningly motions to a rack for them to leave their shoes on, which they begrudgingly do. After walking through the foyer they arrive in the kitchen, it has modern furnishings, an island with hanging lights and barstools, a large gas range with a ventilation hood, and a massive fridge. Connected to the kitchen open-plan style is a living room that is acting as a staging area and full of cardboard boxes. The room already has a large TV set up in it with a Playstation 4 connected, it’s clear that *someone* has been playing Dark Souls instead of helping unpack. Well, it’s clear for a moment, at least before a sheepish Maggie turns off the TV in a poor attempt to hide her crimes. “Excuse the mess. I’ve been- I’ve been very busy unpacking but we have so much to unload and- um. Moving on...”

Boon facepalms.

A loft is visible above the living room and a staircase on the side leads upwards. Maggie ushers the two up the stairs and into a common space loft with a few doors connected to it. “I hope you two didn’t bring any sharp objects with you, because this is the part where you two have to fight over rooms.” She motions at the doors connected to this room.

Ernest turns to Boon. “Well, with Timothy I’d say tallest has dibs. But since we’re the same height now, oldest gets dibs.” Before she can reply, he rushes to start opening doors as fast as his socks sliding against the wooden floor will allow.

The rightmost door opens into what’s clearly a master bedroom, a queen-sized bed with an attached bathroom. Figuring he’d probably need to fight Maggie for that one, Ernest turns his attention to the two rooms at the back of the house. They are mirrors of each other, not exactly worth bickering over the difference between. The leftmost room is slightly smaller than the middle two, with a sloped ceiling, but the view out causes Ernest to pause his mad scramble through the second floor.

He pulls open the window and leans to get a better view, calling Boon over to confirm. “Hey, a few doors down – isn’t that Atlanta’s balcony?”

Boon's eyes widen "What? No way." She runs up to the window and looks out. After a moment of straining her eyes she spots it, having landed on it many times it is very clearly Atlanta's balcony. "That totally is!! We're closer than I realized!" Boon says excitedly. She scratches the back of her neck "so… does that mean I can have this room?”

“Aw c’mon, it’s no fun if we don’t argue over it,” Ernest says, but his tone is teasing. “But I *suppose* you can have this one for purposes of secret girlfriend communication.” His eyes light up suddenly. “Wait a second, I have an idea.” He heads downstairs and returns with a blank piece of paper. “Okay, write a note for Atlanta on this.”

Boon takes the paper and thinks for a moment before smiling warmly. She writes down "Love you, cupcake" and blushes. "So uh. Now what?"

Ernest takes the paper back and deftly folds it into an airplane. Closing one eye to aim, he draws back an arm, and then launches it through the window. At first, it seems like the plane won’t have enough height to clear the railing, but at the last second a gust of wind sweeps underneath it and tosses it onto Atlanta’s balcony. “There, now she’ll know to bring us housewarming cupcakes.”

Boon grins from ear to ear. "This is amazing!" Her face turns a light red "now I can send her cute notes and drawings whenever I want." She scratches the back of her neck, "provided you're around to pilot of course."

“Hey, anytime!” Ernest sends wind spiraling around Boon’s head, fluffing up her hair.

At that moment Maggie pokes her head in the door. "You two done fighting or did Blessin' figure out which room let her pass messages to her girlfriend? Don't answer that, I've got somethin' to show y'all, follow me."

The two follow Maggie downstairs and into the kitchen. Boon watches curiously as she stops near the island. "I had an old contact of mine do some contract work in the days leading up to the move. Check this out." She winks.

She grabs the hanging light above the island and begins to turn it with a rhythmic clicking. 1 clockwise, 9 counter, 7 clockwise, 6 counter. There's a low rumble as the island begins to rearrange itself, the granite countertop sliding off a few feet and the side wall descending into the ground to reveal a staircase.

Boon and Ernest's eyes widen as they watch the staircase reveal itself in front of them. Boon stands there slack jawed for a moment before snapping back to reality. "Mom, what the fuck!?"

Maggie laughs heartily. "Surprise!! It's a secret passage!"

"And you made the code your birth year!?"

"You know as well as I do that I'm not the most creative dear, now follow me I wanna show you what's down here." She begins walking down the staircase, disappearing beneath the island. Boon and Ernest follow. "I remember you were talking about wanting to learn about artificing. I met up with a friend from Svartàlfaheimr and called in a favor. Now, passage between Earth and the nine realms is limited these days and should really only be used in emergencies, but the passages to Svartàlfheimr aren't watched nearly as closely as Ásgarð proper. Takin’ residence in Halcyon as a Valkyrie draws some… scrutiny from the knights, as the younger Lancelot has no doubt already explained to you."

As she finishes explaining the three reach the bottom of the stairs and arrive at a heavy stone door. "Foreign affairs aside, I'd like to introduce you to your new workshop." She taps the door and it illuminates, sliding into the wall and revealing an impressively equipped workshop. Complete with a library of tomes, a modest forge, a few heavy stone benches equipped with hammers and tongs, and a circular table inlaid with precious stones and ornate symbols carved into it. In the back of the room sits a raised platform with similarly intricate carvings on the floor.

Boon looks around with wonder and runs up to give her mom a hug. "Thank you thank you thank you! It's amazing!"

“Don’t think we forgot about you, butterfly,” Maggie winks at Ernest and gestures to a heavy curtain in the corner of the room.

He walks up to it curiously and pushes the curtain aside, revealing a Dance Dance Revolution arcade machine, complete with a double dance pad. It’s Ernest’s turn for his mouth to drop open, unable to do much more than stammer thanks.

“Helen thought you might like that, said somethin’ about havin’ the idea for a while but never havin’ the space until now.” She motions towards a corner of the room with a couch and a TV, with a Bitendo Verse set up. “And I thought it would be good to set aside some space down here in case y'all need some time away from me an' Helen," Maggie explains.

Ernest turns to Boon, eyes shining. “This is going to be so great.”

Maggie claps her hands together. “Well, that brings the tour to a close. I think it’s about time to put the two of you to work.”

Boon groans. “Ughh, fine. I guess we can do what we came here to do.” She turns to Ernest. “Afterwards though we’re gonna have a serious DDR session and I’m gonna kick your ass.” Boon grins.

As the two walk up the stairs to go start unloading boxes Boon jabs Ernest on the arm. “So butterfly, I suppose we’re sorta like family now? Right?” She scratches the back of her head. “I mean obviously our moms aren't married or whatever, but like, I can’t help but feel like this makes us… I don’t know… siblings?”

Ernest rubs his arm where Boon punched him thoughtfully. “This probably sounds weird but… I think I’d feel the same way even if our moms weren’t dating? I don’t know, just after all the things we’ve been through together, it feels right to call you a sister?”

He pushes past the embarrassment with a shake of his head. “Don’t think this means I’ll go easy on you in DDR. It’s been years since Timothy’s scored higher than me.”

Boon notes Ernest's embarrassment and adopts a teasing grin. "Aww you don't have to be embarrassed dude, I feel the same way. Besides, you should save your embarrassment for when I wipe the confident look off your face later." The smug grin relaxes into a more genuine smile. "I'm glad you're a part of my life Ernest. And I'm happy to call you family." She extends her arms for a hug.

Ernest steps forward, and for the second time that day, wraps his arms around Boon. This time, there are no illusions in the way, and Gestalt’s song is far from his mind. Still, he lingers for a few moments, committing the exact pattern of sunlight falling through the curtainless windows to memory. The next time that haunting melody starts up, he’ll have another voice there to help drive it back.