chin music for the unsuspecting hero — finn&kit blitz

[fox]

K I T

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Mom and dad are busy at the college, some overnight conference on new biotech from the Capitol and the first thing Hazel said was, bursting into my room with the news, "We're having a party, bitch."

We know the drill already. She buys alcohol with a fake ID, I hide all of the valuables in the attic – it's a team effort.

"So who's invited?" Ramona asked after school, leaning up against the lockers as I grabbed my textbooks, tucking notes between the pages and trying not to fold the butterfly edges in my bag.

"Oh you know, my sister's friends, and then there's Pascal, Armand, Honey..." and I listed off the people absently, still checking the order of my statistics notes until –

"Who's Finn??"

Oh,

"Um, my lab partner," except now we've had detention together, skipped detention together, wrote a three-arc narrative on the bike ride home about how he suddenly woke up, screaming, crying, throwing up, and I had to rush him out to get an inhaler, and that's why we were totally absent when Mr. B got back with the nurse. "Finn's cool."

And I guess I find myself waiting for Finn now. The food's here, the people are here – someone screams "Fuck it's broken" in the near distance and I hope it's a bone and not a plate because our parents would kill us if we messed up the house.

I sip my drink.

It's all here, but Finn's not –

The doorbell rings for the fiftieth time; I'm already out of my seat, sliding down the hallway past the classmates looking at family portraits on the wall, and I made sure to hide all the ones with me as a kid because that's embarrassing shit.

Opening the door, and there's my lab partner –

"Finn!"

[calla]

F I N N

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Okay, so, funny story.

Real funny. Side-splitting. Downright comedic.

I think my life might be ruined.

That's what love does right? Not that it's love, that's- that's like some big thing. This isn't a big thing. It's a little thing. It's hardly even a thing. It's nothing - ignore it! Ignore me. Nevermind. Nothing happened. We're cool! Cooler than cool.

Anyways!

Used Kit as a getaway vehicle and now we're here. Probably almost killed him with a dangerous chemical compound and now we're here. Got detention and then skipped detention and kinda became a rebel halfway through, and now we are here. At a party.

Yay.

No, but it's fine. It really is. It's really really fine. I only had to change outfits like twice and Ana only told me I was stupid once, so it's really fine. I barely even hesitated coming up the driveway - I only turned back once and then played it off like I was going to tie my shoe. The asphalt will kept my secret though, it'll never tell.

I might just pass away on his front porch.

"Finn!"

Smile weakly, oh wow it's happening already - "That's me."

What's proper party etiquette? Should I shake his hand? I sort of go to do it but then the bag gets in the way because before I left my sister shoved a thing of Electric Mega Spice Twists at me because apparently bringing snacks to a gig is more important than bringing yourself.

I put that in his hand instead of putting my hand in his hand.

Haha.

"Brought you this."

[fox]

K I T

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He says "that's me," and I step forward but then he steps forward and I step back again when he holds up the bag in his hands. "Brought you this."

Electric Mega Spice Twists.

"Oh those are good! Thanks."

And then we're just standing in the doorway. His hands are empty now, folded together.

Finn looks different from usual – like his hair falls differently or like his freckles have shifted slightly in the porch light. Or maybe it’s because it’s the first time I’ve seen him outside of the uniform. "I'll put that on the table–"

"We're playing beer pong!" It's a kind of scream that comes like a bullet. Pascal hurls out the door frame, mowing me over, throwing an arm around my shoulders, and then he's pulling me back into the house. I think I felt a rib crack. "You haaave to play the first game, you’re the host!"

I look over his head, back at Finn, and he's standing there on the doormat, I'm still holding the twists, the neon orange proclaiming that it's flaming hot, his hands are in his pockets and I think I just want to talk to him first.

But Cal's leading me to the table, and Finn's disappearing into the crowd. Ramona's racking up the cups and popping open tabs, and I finally shrug him off, turn to the direction of the crowd and call out, "Okay. Finn's my partner! Finn, get over here!"

[calla]

F I N N

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Blink twice and he's whisked away. Oh well! It was a good effort. Fun while it lasted. Finn's giving up and turning in early, none of us are surprised.

But then the crowd in front of the door parts, the people all move to reveal the actual foyer and I look behind me on instinct like the President's about to walk up from behind me or something. I look back and they're all looking at me. There's lots of looking going on. I can kinda tell by their faces that they have no clue who I am, but that's okay because I don't really know either.

Kit's yelling from further in the house - pong partner, lab partner, howdy partner.

It's like walking through one of those funhouse rooms with the mirrors. I think I spot Ken from math class but when he turns to talk to someone else, he looks like a completely different person. Did Ken even wear classes? I can't remember.

The pong table looms, and it probably wouldn't loom so much if I actually knew what pong was, so that's first on the agenda. I sidle up to Kit and try not to really make eye contact with anyone else, that way they'll hopefully just forget I'm not supposed to be here.

"I've never done this before." I whisper to him, but then I forget to specify between the pong and the party.

[fox]

K I T

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He leans and it’s weird because I feel a little startled, like there’s a film of static between us. He’s staring at the table as Cal pours beer into each red cup, murmuring under his breath, and he really does look different in his own clothes.

I smile, "Oh, don't worry. You'll be great." Maybe. "I mean, you're really good at physics. This is kind of like that, like kinematics." Maybe.

I should've said it a little quieter because Cal swivels around so fast that a bit of his drink sloshes out from the rim of the cup. He's got this look on his face, this smile that spreads ear to ear, as he stares at Finn and says "You've never played?" Haha. This can't be good.

"Okay guys! Since Quinn's never played –"

"It's Finn." It kind of just comes out of my mouth. He looks at me for a second and then goes back to talking to the crowd that's swarmed the table in last few minutes.

"Yah, since Finn's never played before, let's make it fun! Loser has to drink the whole table and then do a dare."

There's a chorus of oohhs from the people that have suddenly gathered because Cal's got this way of projecting his voice and being louder than it seems like it's possible to be.

"What do you say?" He's looking at Finn. Shit, he's mean sometimes. His smile's gonna rip off his face if he grins any harder. But the room is staring at us, and suddenly I'm thinking about biology class and how we learned about ambush predators that term.

I step forward, in front of Finn. "You're on."