Chaos & Kuryo (Novel 3) Chapter One, Part One

“Chaos?” I asked, peering into the bedroom. Oh, they were there alright. Chaos was spread-eagle on the bed, flat on their back and snoring away like a demon. I rolled my eyes and walked in. “Chaos!” I had to shake their shoulder. So much for ‘warrior reflexes’. This lump couldn’t be woken up by a bomb!

“Hnh?” Chaos opened their eyes, blinking sleepily. They wiped some drool from the corner of their mouth. “Whut?”

I forced a smile on. “It’s your turn to make supper and -”

“Why don’t we order out?” was the oh-so-predictable offer. “My treat-”

“Chaos!” I snapped, suddenly on edge. “I have an exam tomorrow! Charr is busy too! You have to do your part! Cook! Supper!”

“Jesus on a stick!” Chaos was sitting up and rubbing their eyes, hair a mess. “Okay okay!”

“And it better not be those pre made rice cans, those are for emergencies only!”

“Okay, okay,” Chaos grumbled. “Just let me wake up.”

“Don’t spend all night doing that,” I snapped before turning and walking away.

Out in the living room, Charr mouthed me a ‘thank you’. We high-fived silently. I sat back down on the floor, pouring over the books and notes I’d spread over the coffee table. Charr was studying too, but was in less of a crunch than I was. At least supper was happening.

Life with Chaos in it was, surprisingly, not too chaotic. Chaos had taken a few weeks to get adjusted, but now they had a fake ID, worked a job in a coffee shop, and didn’t bust out the ‘warrior moves’ except in a martial arts class they’d fallen in love with. They were aspiring to become a teacher one day, once they worked their way through the belt system. Which, honestly, was fine with the rest of us. Chaos did their thing, and was now a happy and functioning member of society. Did we mention the happy part? Yeah, life was good.

Really, the only hiccup in this whole scheme was getting Chaos properly introduced to the whole poly lifestyle.

Now, polyamory wasn’t exactly the most common lifestyle in the world we were living in. It was quite trendy in student villages, but people tended to say they ‘outgrew’ it. Well our ‘cule was hopefully a little different.

Aaliyah and Jade lived in their own apartment, strictly friends. Me and Charr had been happily nesting together as lovers before Chaos butted in. Now Chaos lived with us (their pile of clothes in the bedroom showed that, really, we didn’t quite all fit in here), but no, it wasn’t an endless storm of threesomes. How would Charr and I get any studying done like that? No, Charr and I were ‘going out’ and Chaos and I were ‘going out’ but so far neither Chaos nor Charr had the slightest interest in each other. Actually, Chaos had very little interest in anyone else in the ‘cule besides friendship. Which, by the way, was plenty. Chaos had a thing or two to learn about keeping friends on the good side of themselves.

“Are they coming over tonight?” Chaos asked as they shuffled out of the bedroom and into the tiny living room. They were dressed in black jeans and a metal t-shirt, somehow making the outfit look as rumpled as possible. Oh, and can we take a minute to applaud all of us in this ‘cule? We’d gotten Chaos to get a decent haircut. Now they had a mess of spikes that actually suited them and wasn’t any outlandish color. The doofus had wanted orange. Orange! But anyways.

“Who’s ‘they’?” I asked, pretty sure I knew the answer.

“AJ,” they said, using that awful self-invented acronym for Aaliyah and Jade. Who, by the way, Chaos shipped as a couple. Chaos was just sure they needed to break the ice and they’d start making out instantly. I told Chaos they were missing the point of friendship and, hey, here we go again. Chaos being bad at understanding friendships. The poor idiot was raised too lonely.

“No,” I said just as Charr said “Yes.” Charr and I looked at each other. We both snatched up our phones and checked our messages.

“Aaliyah said ‘no’,” I said.

“But Jade said ‘yes’?” Charr said, sounding alarmed. “That’s weird.”

Chaos banged a pot, then their head on the cupboard. A bunch of ‘jesus on a stick’s later, Chaos appeared in the living room. “Why’s that weird?”

I typed away at my phone, not answering right away. Charr was doing the same. Both of us were asking how Aaliyah was doing. Being a home-body, Aaliyah rarely went to parties. But she hated staying home alone, was still slightly jealous of missing out on any ‘cule fun, and so she tended to stick around whenever Jade came over. Alright, the two were inseparable in their own way. Jade was all peppy and Aaliyah all sober but they worked, you know?

The apartment door tried to swing open, snagging on the chain. It drew back shut and there was a banging on the door. “Open up!” called in Jade.

Chaos swore as me and Charr yelled at them to stop putting the chain on the door. How was Jade and Aaliyah supposed to get in here with the chain on?

“Demons!” said Chaos. “I’m telling you, someday someone is going to try and break into here -”

“And a chain is not going to stop them!” said Jade as she bustled in. There was snowflakes on her knitted hat and cowl, and she had her backpack on and a bag on her side. “Hey everyone!”

“Hey,” said Charr in her usual monotone as I rose to get my kiss from Jade.

“Hey, we were just messaging you,” I said as Jade nuzzled into my neck happily. I gingerly hugged her but damn, the outside of her coat was cold and snow was about to fall in my face. “Is Aaliyah okay?”

“Uh, well,” Jade drew back and began unwinding her cowl. “You know.” She pulled off her hat, making a fuss of dusting off the snow.

“She’s on her period?” asked Chaos bluntly.

We all shot Chaos looks. Thanks, buddy, for being that ice-breaker. Not. “How’s supper coming?” I asked sharply.

Chaos gave me a murderous look. “In hell we had cooks,” and they slammed a cupboard shut and began fussing in another cupboard.

Jade was now wrestling out of her coat with her backpack dangling on an arm. She writhed and wrestled and I went to help her.

“So uh?” I asked quietly as I helped Jade. “What happened?” Was she hesitant to talk because of Chaos? Maybe I could send them out on a grocery run or something if it was serious.

Jade made a face. Then she shrugged. Then she made another face. “I’m not sure,” was what she finally said.

“Oh come on!” Chaos yelled from the kitchen. Everyone jumped. Then, much quieter, there was a “Sorry. Pinched myself. Nevermind.”

Jade frowned. “You doing okay in there?”

“No,” the oh so great warrior wailed, coming to terms with their mortality when faced with a can opener. I, however, caught Jade by the arm before she could run away into the kitchen.

“What happened?” I asked softly. “Should I be worried?”

Jade made a face.

“She’s coming over!” Charr called out from the living room. “I got to her.”

More like, you harassed her until she gave in, but “Good!” I exclaimed, relieved. If Aaliyah was leaving her bedroom, it wasn’t depression (which she had had before) nor was it a serious period cramp. Maybe it was not that big of a deal?