[PRP] Party Crashed (Aerona + Mahmud)

[Sypon]

Aerona blinked, looking around - a bit surprised but curious at the not unwelcome presence on her lips. She accepted it, pleasant as it was, and smiled when he pulled back. It took someone special to kiss someone with bile for breath. Aerona flushed and hiccupped.

Suddenly, Mahmud opened the gap between them again with a reaction that shocked him far more than the kiss. She knitted her brow together, and slid her hands from his face to wipe away his tears. “Hey, stop that! It’s okay, ‘Mud, c’mon.” Another smile.

“This doesn’t have to mean anything. Touch just feels good. It helps when you’re stressed. That’s all. We're cool.” She moved some of his curly hair away from his face. “You wanna kiss me? We can kiss. You wanna kiss again?”  

[penemueIntuition]

Now it was Mahmud's turn to hiccup. "Y-you don't... you wanna..." But did he pity Aerona like that?! Why did he want to kiss her so badly then? As she wiped his tears, he gave a few more fluttery hiccups before finally breaking down into nervous laughter.

"Y-yeah..." he admitted, "I-I kinda do.. but..." He looked towards his dresser and nodded. "You want a mint first? I uh... I kinda forgot you... you know..."

 

[Sypon]

Aerona wrinkled her nose. “You’re right. My mouth tastes like s**t.” She rocked backwards and carefully got to her feet. “How about this. You hit the ablution chamber, I clean this stuff up, I hit the ablution chamber, and then we chill. We can talk, or smooch, snuggle, whatever. No strings attached. Let’s just ditch this stupid PROM and salvage tonight, okay? Friends looking out for each other.”  

[penemueIntuition]

"Deal" Ditching PROM was probably the only... well... that'd be a lie. Spending time with Static and Poe, as little and brief and unhappy as it all turned out, was pretty good too. Just... you know, before it all went to s**t. With a sigh Mahmud stood up and held his head. "My head freaking hurts... I think I cried too much." With a muttered "brb" he staggered off to take a hot shower, and rinse off the grime and makeup and other myriad of grossness surrounding him.

On his way back, Mahmud snatched up blankets and pillows from every which place he could sneak them, and threw them in the middle of his room. Then, he crafted it into a neat pile for which they were to sit on. Pumpbiscuit beating out of control, he then proceeded to wrap himself up in one of those blankets and sit down on the pillows. Smooching, snuggling, whatever... Mahmud was game. Completely game.

Hopefully once Aerona came out of the ablution chamber, she'd be game too.

 

[Sypon]

A nice shower would help Aerona sober up. She rubbed her eyes, and groped around in Mahmud’s living space for a towel to clean up her mess. Yuck. Fortunately she hadn’t gotten any in the recuperacoon. She soon swapped places with her friend, hopping into the chamber and immediately sighing with relief as the blessedly hot water poured over her. Her sopor-caked hair slipped down her shoulders, tension washing away. Aerona spent probably much more time than was necessary in the ablution block before she emerged, fresh and with her loose, curly hair springing in waves. All clean, feeling a fresh start coming on.

She looked at the classic Alternian pile crafted in the room as she entered and clapped her hands. “Yes. This is perfect.” The redblood wormed her way under a blanket and settled next to Mahmud, peppering his cheek with light pecks.  

[penemueIntuition]

Wow, was Aerona attractive. Just the way she looked all relieved after taking a shower was really... woah. Trying to hurry the thoughts out of his head, Mahmud at first made some room on the pile for her to sit. That was a silly idea though, considering that now she was kissing him all over his face. "Ro...! Ahaha, come on!" Determined to not be outdone, Mahmud scooched hip-to-hip with her and wrapped an arm around her torso, pulling her in close to him. "You can't just do something like that and not give me a chance to retaliate!" Emphasizing this point was how he gave her some kisses on her face in turn. On cheeks, on forehead, on lips. Each one felt effortless, and comfortable. Natural, like this was supposed to happen.

Once his kisses died down though, and his head was on Aerona's shoulder... Mahmud quietly murmured to her "Its really weird..." He closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. "You're... my friend. Like genuinely, my friend. Not more than that but... I like doing this stuff with you too Aerona." In reality he wish he could be a little bit closer, less blankets separating the two of them, but he wasn't sure if they should cross that barrier just yet. "Just for fun..." His voice trailed off, a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"I... think I really ******** up tonight." He managed to say. "I just... I can't believe I ran away."  

[Sypon]

Aerona laughed and hummed, feeling the buzz of Mahmud’s lips on her. He was as sweet as honey. She reciprocated, and put her arms around him. As he faded into thoughtfulness, she clutched him tight through the blankets. “Yeah, man. Friendship rocks.”

He became quiet. Aerona listened.

“Sounds like you had a lot dumped on you at once. I don’t think anyone can blame you for that. Emotions are hard.” She stroked at where she thought his back might be. “But it’s not like it’s the last time you’ll ever see them, right?”  

[penemueIntuition]

Mahmud was quiet for a moment before murmuring "I don't know. I think Poe, yeah but... Static..." Static probably hated him now. And not in that way. Just pure unadulterated hatred. And he wouldn't say he blamed him. But now this all had him thinking about how he and Poe were, too...

"I never... had someone pity me before, you know? And I kinda threw it in their face. And given my history... I should know that sucks. I wouldn't blame them if either of them didn't want to see me again."

"But this... this right now, this is nice. Just... not having to worry about feelings and stuff. Just being friends..." He tilted his head up a bit to look Aerona in the eye. "Thank you. For uh... for everything you did earlier. With the you know..." Mahmud lifted up his arms to show them to her again. The marks were fading now, though there were still a few thread-thin lines where he had managed to puncture flesh.  

[Sypon]

‘Oh thank gog, I don’t know these people,’ thought Aerona quietly. As lame as the idea was, adding more drama to her small circle of friends was the last thing she needed right now.

“So… I’m confused. Both of them pitied you but you bailed on one of them?” She frowned. “If you have feelings, go for it. I mean, you have… A lot of feelings. The more you talk it out the less pressure builds up. So you don’t explode. I’d, you know… Think about it. And go let them know where you stand, in your… Non-explodey state.”

She looked at his arms and nodded. Aerona put her hands on his again. “No prob. Always happy to help. ‘Specially after you didn’t kick me out after I barfed in your ‘coon.”  

[penemueIntuition]

"I bailed on one after the other bailed on me" Okay yeah, this was getting kind of confusing even for him. Keeping everyone straight... He was quiet for a little while while listening to Aerona talk, trying to absorb what wisdom she had to impart.

Once they held hands again, Mahmud finally began to speak. "I... I care about them. A lot. And I like kissing them, and holding their hands, and being close... but..." How did he word this without seeming like he was coming onto her? "If I like doing those things with you and we're just friends... do I actually... You know..." After all they had been through, the three of them, Mahmud dreaded the thought.

Yet there was one truth that stood out above all the rest. "This, what I just did, its not healthy at all is it..." Sighing and grumbling, Mahmud tried to snuggle closer into Aerona and close his eyes. "I pitied a guy, he leaves me for dead. I pitied Polair, she never knew I existed and I have a wigout at a Cerpin party. Now I pity two guys... and have a wigout at another Cerpin party." Gog he needed to unwind. So instead of speaking more, for the time being he went back to kissing Aerona's cheek. Once he had managed to get a bit of stress out though, he said

"The only connection between all these crushes is me, right? And well, Cerpin parties... so..."  

[Sypon]

“Hmm. Well, sounds like before you had wigouts you didn’t really have a chance to tell ‘em about all of this gunk before the Big Drama Party. Cerpin’s like a drama amplifier - some kinda party necromancer with all these bad vibes. You gotta flush those before you party or he’s gonna drum ‘em up. And by flush, I mean tell your flushes where you’re at. You gotta know your hand. Like…”

She sat apart from him, making a diagram with her body and hand gestures. “You’ve got me. Here’s my info box. I’ll help you fill it out. Ahem. Name: Aerona Scrall. Status: Friend, occasional smooch buddy. Quadrant Potential? Aerona’s not interested in filling the flushed quadrant with you right now, but you deserve matespritship so let’s move on. She’s currently trying to carve out some pale bullshit with Cerpin which is kind of happening, but not super a thing yet, but he needs some serious help - ahem. So that’s that status. Auspiceship? Maybe, we’ll see. And no kismesitude for me, thanks. You’re too cute and squishy.” She pinched his cheek and winked.

“Now, next guy. Poe? Or… Who was it, Static? How much have you talked to them about quadrants? What’s their status, homie?”  

[penemueIntuition]

Okay, that was admittedly funny. Snorting a bit, Mahmud sat up a little more and actually opened his eyes to look at Aerona's hands as they waved through the air. As she explained all the quadrant angles to him, he couldn't help but laugh a little more at what she was doing. "I take offense to cute and squishy... I'm hardcore, don'tcha know?"

Mahmud then took a deep breath and sighed.

"First, Poe. Don't think I even know his last name. Best friend, rebel, and... I guess we're still dating." After wigging out and running away? He'd be shocked. "Flushed boyfriend... his mom is really nice, and he likes to make a lot of puns and is kind of protective. I... don't... not really Pale, and I don't think I could have an ounce of hate for him in my body." Talking aloud like this really hammered home to him just how little he knew about his best friends...

"Then there's Static Charge. Best friend, uh... well, Military, and I guess we're no longer dating." Woof. Now there was an understatement. "He is very sweet, a hopeless romantic, and fun to ride dirt bikes with. I don't really see him as pale either. And while I do not have any hate for him, he probably sure does have some platonic hate for me right about now." Was this enough information for Aerona to go off of?

He was quiet for a moment while thinking over things. "I guess the most we ever talked about quadrants was "Hey, I pity you, lets date". And both of them had been the ones to start it, not me. I just... something's not right." The more Mahmud talked about it, the more and more that realization dawned on him. "I really really liked them, and I wanted to be close to them but..."

Weakly laughing, Mahmud covered his face with both hands. <********> he meekly said, silent for only a moment as he let his hands limply drop down beside him. "I think... I've made a mistake dating them. Not because they aren't good people, but like... my closest gauge to Red feelings in the past were both really bad." Giving Aerona a one armed hug around her waist, he finally came to the conclusion of "I think I... rushed into things." Not knowing much about his boyfriends, going with the flow instead of thinking of it... he rushed into it hadn't he?  

[Sypon]

“Oh, no. The rebel versus military problem, huh?” This made things a lot more complicated. She wasn’t -- really sure -- where Mahmud was on anything, but he was SURROUNDED by rebels. Come to think of it, Poe sounded familiar now. Poeias? He was a rebel who Aerona hadn’t spoken to, but… As far as a vote of confidence, the Phoenix Initiative was a decent organization for a test of character.

“Hmm. So, I think the first thing you need to consider is how you feel about all of this. Rebellion is treason. Have you talked to Poe about how your relationship might go with that in mind… Plus, Static’s on the other side. Gosh, that’s rough.”

Aerona used to rush into literally everything, and gog was she happy that she was at least becoming more aware of her impulses now. Having quadrants past enemy lines was vexing at the very least.

“Yeah, I mean - not letting either of them in while dating both of them really put your eggs in a single basket, buddy.” She thought for a moment, still somewhat hazy. “You could step away and try to start over, if they’ll let you. Get to know ‘em, figure out if quadrants are right for you guys. I’unno. You big bleedin’ heart.”  

[penemueIntuition]

"... No..." Mahmud scrunched down a little bit, looking a bit... humbled wasn't the right term. Like a child whose lusus caught them sticking fingers in the grubloaf was more like it. Why would he talk to either of them about their affiliation. That was their business, right? ... Right?

But when she said he wasn't letting either boy in kind of struck Mahmud as odd. "But I'm really open about my feelings! They know how I'm feeling like, all the time... everyone... kinda does... oh." It wasn't really opening up if neither party had more info than his normal friends do. To be honest, the person he had opened up to the most was... "Cerpin." Groaning aloud, Mahmud flopped back onto the pillows and flailed his legs a little bit in a mock fit. "Gog, I think Cerpin knows more about me than those two do!" And no offense towards him, Mahmud was NOT going to be smooching him any time soon.

So where did that leave them?

Fair to Static, fair to Poe. Fair to Poe, fair to Static. And in the end, he hadn't been fair to either one.

"... what if I hurt them even more doing that though?" Now he had calmed down again, just laying around on the blankets and pillows sprawled out, one of his arms flopped on top of Aerona. "I don't want to hurt them more..."  

[Sypon]

“Mmm. No.” Aerona said simply. She curled up on her side and used one of her fingers to poke and prod at Mahmud’s side with idle attention. “If you leave them hanging like this they’ll never get closure. If you make an effort to do something it’ll show that you care enough to try. Sounds to me like Static needs to know you still want to be with him, in some way, anyway.” She popped her lips, making a funny sound.

“Stop giving Cerpin all your deets. He keeps accidentally using it to make you miserable.” She poked him again, tickling at his side. “Also, I’ll rein him in some. Promise.”