all my life is changing every day, in every possible way

[consocius]

Who: Flashstep dudes
What: Pillow fort party, planned by Sora for his still tense bandmates.
When: Nearly a week after the Pride event, but prior to Luci's invite
Where: The Flashnest (aka Flashstep penthouse, Pride HQ)
Warnings: idk teen boys, will edit if needed


It had taken several days after everyone returned from the hazing night for Sora to come up with the idea. Once in mind though, he really did plan on going all out. Even if it was going to take a lot of work. He'd made sure to wait until a point where everyone was out (or had holed themselves up in their rooms) so he could spend literal hours building up the blanket and pillow fort around the living room. He also may have enlisted Patil's help in moving the couch in order to maximize space.

But the result is magnificent, a sight to behold: a fort made of blankets and pillow that spans at least a third of the huge living room, all lit up from the inside by some lamps. The TV is inside too thanks to some strategic hanging blanket placement, as well as all their game consoles. He'd sneaked in snacks and soda, threw some DVD options and game options in there too, not just video games but a few board games and packs of cards as well, just in case. He'd also added more pillows and blankets on the inside so that everything was extra comfy.

Comfy, safe, and fun. Definitely things his friends could use right now.

[Separate threads for different shenanigans below, you can add a comment to any of those for others to tag into, or hit up Sora in the reactions thread (or other threads). Also feel free to add your own? I don't know what I'm doing, but pretend like I do.]

Comments

[punchesyu]

He'd done his best to drown away his anger with other activities. Going out whenever he could, trying not to think about the events of that night. Even the creepy lullaby bothered him, because who even does that? It bothered him more than he let on. Everything. Around the penthouse, he tried to keep a cheerful demeanor, but it was hard knowing that four out of five of them had to suffer through that together.

He's trying to keep everyone's spirits up, but it's hard when you're not sure if you believe the words coming out of your own mouth.

His text message alert goes off- and he wearily checks it. It's from Sora, and he complains a little to himself about what the surprise could possibly be. But either way, he wanders out into the living room, and it taken aback by the transformation.

"Woah! Dude, what the hell happened in here?!"

[consocius]

When Yosuke wanders in, Sora's standing with his back turned and hands on his hips, admiring his own masterpiece. Definitely the best pillow fort he's ever made in his life, by far. He turns when he hears Yosuke's voice though, and offers a hopeful grin.

"Surprise! It's a pillow fort! I just had this idea, and... Well, it's for all of us. You know, a cool place to hang in? It's really comfy too, we could even sleep in there. Oh, and the TV and games and stuff are in there! Come see!"

With this said, Sora opens a blanket flap to head inside, and it's so large he doesn't even have to crawl, just walk in. And he's expecting Yosuke to follow.

[punchesyu]

He can't help but inspect the place. A part of him is truly amazed by how much work and effort Sora had put into it, and by all means it looked great. He'd gotten everything to look perfect- but another part of him is completely irritated by it as well. He pokes his head into the fort itself, eyes widening.

"Isn't this for little kids or something though..." he complains regardless, but that's just how Yosuke reacts to things. "Dude, we're not five anymore. Woah!" He exclaims when he sees the food and drinks all set up in there. Is that a portable fridge too?

"But I gotta say, you really outdid yourself on this one, man."

[consocius]

"Nah, I made it big enough for all of us, too!" Of course, that's not at all what Yosuke meant, but it doesn't occur to Sora that Yosuke actually thinks the whole concept of pillow forts are only for those of five years of age and younger. Pillow forts were fun no matter what age you were, in Sora's opinion. They were like pizza that way.

Sora beams at the positive words though, and opens the fridge to offer him a soda. "Thanks! It took a while, but it turned out really great. Here, want one? We've got chips and stuff too."

[punchesyu]

He takes the soda, opening it and taking a a few sips or so. It really had turned out great, he can't deny that. He feels as if he shouldn't be surprised that Sora's taken the time to go the lengths to do this, as they've all been feeling really bummed and angry most of the week. It does help to lighten his own mood a little, even if he was trying to hide it past the night that they'd been kidnapped.

"Why'd you take all this time to set it up? Just to make us feel a little better about...you know?"

It's been long enough that he's okay with discussing it now, despite any anger that bubbles back to the surface of his mind to think about it.

[consocius]

Honestly, Sora was hoping to be a little less transparent about this being an attempt to get everyone to feel better. Mostly he'd just wanted it to completely take everyone's minds off of everything. That had probably just been wishful thinking on his part.

He gives Yosuke a sort of sheepish smile, his intentions having been outed. "Yeah, I mean, I know I wasn't there, and I feel really bad that there hasn't really been a way for me to help so far. And everyone's kinda been going their own ways lately..." He'd missed hanging out together, admittedly, missed seeing them around as everyone tended to go off by themselves.

"I just wanted a way for all of us to have fun together again. I mean, I know it doesn't fix things, but if it helps get everyone's minds off the crud they had to go through, even for a little while... Well, that's what I was going for."

[punchesyu]

He'd been on the bus with Sora for a couple of long months; they'd gotten to know one another, and he only grins back at the other teen. Thankfully, Yosuke isn't totally dense, and he's not surprised that Sora tried to put something together like this for them. It was actually really nice of him, even if he feels like a kindergardener again just being inside of a pillow fort.

He's nothing but cheery, taking another swig of soda.

"Well, you were the one who got off lucky and didn't have to come suffer with us so...guess you owed us one!" He teases, still smiling. "I think we can make due with this." He says as he places a hand on his hip, giving another look around.

"Wanna make a bet that Jamie flips his lid when he sees it?"

[consocius]

At least it's a really extravagant pillow fort.

Sora expression turns determined, his fingers curling into a fist at Yosuke's teasing words. "That's not gonna happen again, though. From now on, I'm gonna be around to face things with you guys. Whatever this crazy music business throws at us!" He gives a resolute nod, before his serious face shifts into a smiling one, and he brings his arms up behind his head.

He just laughs at the question. "Maybe, but you should have seen your face when you came in!"

[punchesyu]

"C'mon, I didn't look funny when I walked in, did I?" His hand finds his hip, pulling a face. It's all for show though, and it breaks as he picks up a pillow off the ground, setting his soda on the table in front of the nice area Sora's made for their entertainment center inside of the fort.

And in exchange, he hits Sora with the pillow- not hard, not to start a pillow fight or anything, but just hits him with it because he can.

[consocius]

He can only answer that question truthfully. "Well your eyes were all wide and your mouth was hanging open. It was pretty funny!"

Sora's still laughing by the time he gets hit with the pillow, and he sets his own soda can down so he can bring both hands up in a mock attempt to defend himself. "Well it's true! I should have gotten a picture."

[punchesyu]

"Don't even say stuff like that! I probably looked totally stupid. Hell no, you're not getting a picture, ever."

He whaps Sora with the pillow again, before tossing it back onto the ground, and picking the soda back up.

[consocius]

Grabbing that pillow to lay on, Sora settles down onto his stomach, chin in his hands and feet in the air. "Okay, no pictures. I promise. I won't even tell the other guys that you made a really funny face." He sits up enough to make a little 'x' gesture over his chest. "Cross my heart." Then grabs his own soda back up, hiding his grin somewhat as he drinks from it again.

[punchesyu]

He finds himself flopping right down next to Sora, shifting a bit to get comfortable in this pillow bed that's been built on the floor. He throws a few more pillows on the ground first however, to soften it up.

"I'll never hear the end of it...and then it'll be all over Twitter..." He whines a little, before finally giving in and reaching for the remote control to the TV. It's just out of reach, so after a little bit of stretching, he gives up.

"I think it's time for some payback. Ready to get your ass kicked in a little game of Mario Kart?" He says with a devilish grin, to counter Sora's own.

[consocius]

Sora just watches Yosuke's attempts to get the remote until the other boy gives up, before, still amused, he finally grabs it for him and tosses it over.

"Yeah! You kidding? I'm always ready!" He scrambles up in order to turn the console on and grab controllers and all that, leaving Yosuke to use the TV remote to get that part of it set up. "Uh, to race. Not to get my-- You know what I mean."

[punchesyu]

"Yeah, suuuuuuuuuure. I think I'm picking up what you're laying down! So don't worry, you can add another loss to your long list. Cuz I'm not gunna go easy on you."

He takes the remote from where it had landed, sits up and turns it on. He fumbles to find the button to turn it to HDMI, but as soon as he does, the screen lights up with the familiar intro screen. He picks up a controller, presses start and goes through the game to set up a two player race- and chooses Yoshi as his driver. He will fight Sora for it if Sora goes for it.

[consocius]

"Good, 'cause I never asked you to," Sora responds. And feeling in a silly mood, which is nice because it had been gone for a bit thanks to hazing aftermath, he sticks his tongue out at Yosuke when his back is turned before he returns to grinning.

He's perfectly fine with Yosuke's choice, and after picking up his controller, he selects Luigi for himself. "That was big talk for a little egg-laying dinosaur." There is sass here but it is affectionate teasing sass.

[punchesyu]

"Uh, dude, haven't you ever played these games before? He can seriously knock someone out with one of those things!" He says to defend his choice of a racer, picking 100cc for a warm up and one of the jungle tracks just because he thinks it's going to mess Sora up.

"And I don't wanna hear you cry when you crash because of a banana peel."

Yosuke looks annoyed, but he's just being himself, keeping the banter going between the two of them. It helps to do this than think about what had happened not but last week.

[consocius]

It would be hard to mess Sora up when he's probably not taking the game as seriously as Yosuke is. He seems pretty cool with whatever Yosuke wants to choose.

"Nah, the banana peels aren't as evil as the shells. Or the lightning! That sucks pretty hard especially if you're in mid-jump."

Shifting some pillows, Sora settles on them on his stomach with controller in hand, and appears to be concentrating pretty hard when the race begins. "Don't get smushed by Bowser," he reminds his friend.

[punchesyu]

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he fires back, trying to concentrate on rounding corners the best he can while sliding. The fated lightning strikes, early on in the game, since one of the computers had lagged behind so badly from unfortunate circumstances. And lo and behold, who gets squashed by Bowser right as he rounds a corner.

Spoilers: It's Yosuke.

"Aw, come on! How's that fair?!" He yells, as he loses several spots.

[consocius]

Since everybody gets hit by the lightning at the same time, Sora groans as Yosuke yells, Luigi getting hit on screen too. Fortunately for Sora, he only loses one place. But also manages to drive right past a poor squashed Yoshi.

He winces in sympathy. "Sorry, Yosh'." He's calling him his character's name. Correction: a shortened version of his character's name. "At least it's only the first lap though, you've still got plenty of time to catch up and win!"