Conflicting Lives- Chapter 9: Unlikely Friendship (NOT FINISHED)

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 9: Unlikely Friendship (NOT FINISHED)

Word Count: 1250

Scythe fumbled with his keys as he stood in front of the door to his dorm, Joel standing impatiently beside him.

“Does it really take you this long just to open your front door? I could’ve called Pearl and Cleo by now and they'd get here before you open that thing!” He said jokingly, though still definitely annoyed. Scythe just rolled his eyes as he put the dorm key in the door, twisting it and opening the door.

“Ladies first,” he said with a smirk, stepping aside to hold the door open for Joel. The blaze hybrid’s only response was a glare as he flipped imaginary hair, walking through the door with confidence.

Scythe chuckled as he followed into the apartment-dorm, closing the door behind him and pulling his phone back out. “Welcome back from patrol,” Ella said from the couch as Joel plopped down beside her. 

She looked expectantly at Scythe for an answer as to why Joel was here, even if it was a regular occurrence that the two would hang out. He sighed and responded, “I agreed to make dinner for him and invite Pearl and Cleo over for it as well since he took me home. Plus it wouldn't be bad to talk to them anyways after the patrol.”

Ella just nodded in understanding, curious about what happened, but not quite sure if she should ask. “Why? What happened during the patrol?” She asked a little hesitant after a moment. Scythe and Joel simply looked at eachother and simply sighed. “What happened?” Ella asked again, further confused by the reaction of the two men. “Was it really that bad?” 

Joel shook his head, “It's not that it was bad necessarily,” he paused, and Scythe finished the thought. “It's just something that we should probably talk about afterwards.” His gaze had drifted off to the side, and he looked hack at an evermore puzzled Ella, this time worry noticeable in her eyes. “It's nothing bad, I promise.” He measured her, walking over to where she sat on the couch and planting a small kiss on her forehead.

She visibly relaxed as soon as he did so, trusting Scythe that he knew what he was doing, or at the very least Joel and Scythe. “Alright I trust you, but don’t go too crazy. You still have classes in the morning and I don't want to have to clean up after you four.” Ella replied, a stern look in her eyes to both men infront of her. Scythe put his hands up defensively, and Joel replied “Yes ma’am. No messes are to be made.”

The phoenix hybrid nods approvingly before turning back to Scythe. “What are you planning to make?” she asked. Scythe thought for a moment before responding, “Spaghetti?” It was far more a question than it was a legitimate answer, but the pair on the couch nodded anyway. “Spaghetti is it then!” he said as he turned towards the kitchenette. As he rummaged through the cabinets to take out a pot and some noodles, Joel took his phone back out to call Pearl. He wasn’t on the phone for long before he updated the other two. “Pearl says she just has to finish cleaning a few small scrapes off Cleo and Ren then her and Cleo will head over. She was curious if you’d mind him coming over too since the three of them are at Pearl's place anyways.”

Scythe thought for a moment as the water was heating up, looking over at Ella to gauge her thoughts on an extra person coming to the apartment dorm. “I don’t think I would mind, but you guys would know Ren more than I would, so you could better judge.” she said, looking between Joel and Scythe. “I know Ren more than Scythe does, but even that's not super well either.” Joel replied, looking to the enderman in the kitchen for his opinion. After what felt like long hours, but really only a few seconds, Scythe responded, “I don’t really know Ren at all to be completely honest. The way I see it is this: I trust Pearl and Cleo. They seem to trust Ren. I think that if both of them trust him, then I can trust him for a night.”

He looked between Joel and Ella after he finished. They had yet to come to a conclusion, and Pearl was waiting for a response about Ren. “That makes sense” the two said in near-unison, and Scythe chuckled a little at it. As he turned back to pour the pasta in the now-boiling water, he said something to Joel. “Go ahead and tell Pearl that Ren can come along too. It won't be hard to feed everyone.”

“Will do,” Joel replied, and turned his phone back on, messaging Pearl the go-ahead. Ella leaned to the coffee table to get the TV remote, turning it on and browsing through shows before settling on a forging competition show.

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There was a knock on the door just as Scythe finished mixing the sauce into the spaghetti. Walking the short distance from the stove to the door, he opened it and was greeted by a familiar, but clearly tired, face. “Pearl!” Joel said from behind him on the couch, getting up and walking to the door.

“Elo mate!” the moth hybrid responded, walking in as the two guys stepped aside. Cleo followed right in after, greeting Ella as she found a nearby chair to sit in. Ren was a little more hesitant to follow, but seemed to relax once Scythe welcomed him in.

While everyone got situated and started chatting, Scythe went back to the kitchen, grabbing bowls and silverware for everyone. “Foods ready!” he called behind him. Almost immediately he heard the shuffling of everyone standing up and walking to the small kitchenette. He grabbed a bowl of his own to eat before quickly stepping aside to let others get their share.

As he went to sit down at the table, Scythe looked up and saw Ren hesitating to grab some food. The wolf hybrid's ears were down to the side in worry, but uneven in confusion as well. “Is there something wrong with the noodles Ren?” he asked after a moment longer. Thinking he might have done something wrong as he saw Ren's ears perked up in panic, the taller responder, “Oh- no! No, not at all!” He brought his hand up to the back of his head nervously. “it’s just.. uh what’s in the pasta? being a wolf hybrid and all i have to be a bit more careful and all…” he tried to explain.

It took a minute for Scythe to process what he did, but as soon as he did he started laughing. “Are… are you alright,dude?” Rem\n asked him. “Yeah.. Yeah I’m good,” Scythe said in between laughs. When he was finally done, he answered his concerns, “Ella and I make all our food allergen and animal safe. Her being part phoenix and me being part endermen there's quite a lot of food specifications we have to meet, and so we just make it safe for everyone.”

After he finished explaining, Ren looked as though he had just noticed Ela having wings and Scythe having a tail, key traits to their hybrid species, face flushing red in embarrassment. “Oh, uh, right. That makes sense. Like, a lot of sense. T-thank you.” he said awkwardly, trying not to show just how embarrassed he really was.