"Marcus, I Promise I'm Not Here To Steal Anything That You Might've Baked, But As Your Friend It Is My

"Marcus, I promise I'm not here to steal anything that you might've baked, but as your friend it is my sworn duty to make sure that all of these items are 100% edible. So I must commit this sacrifice with a great sense of honor," Kit said dramatically as his nostrils flared at the scent of baked goods. "Also, I really can't help but be around you whenever I need a pick me up, it's like you're the snack that comes with snacks. Who would've thought you'd be the human crumbl cookie, hot guy who bakes now on Netflix." Kit said as his mouth as going a mile a minute, and those who knew him could see that this was one of his ways of distracting himself. When the darkness and memories of those walls would encroach he'd put on a smile and joke. @expirednostalgia

˙ ˖ ✶ Devi

Somehow withing the grand scheme of the chaotic hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps, Kit Santos found himself in a singles mixer. In a fantasy this would be the place he'd find the man or men of his dreams and the rest is confetti. So far he's been begrudgingly forced to listen to finance anecdotes, crypto scams, and how a guy truly believes Cristina Ricci is an alien. His eyes scanned the room, and he locked with another pair of eyes that seemed to be in the same need of escape as his.

"Hi best friend, and yup, we definitely told Brat and Summer that we'd end up playing Jenga with them, total high stakes in this game." he mused as he whisked her away before drawing a heavy sigh. "This night suck as much for you as it does for me? Why are the men that have talked to me here such duds?"

STATUS: open @bhqextras

LOCATION: Singles Mixer @ Puzzles, Manhattan

When a friend suggested a night out, Devi pictured something along the lines of going out dancing at Club 51, not a game night at a singles mixer. She supposed it was better than getting dragged along to something that felt a little more desperate like speed dating, but she still couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment with how she was spending her night off. To make make matters worse, she had just been stuck in what felt like the world's longest game of darts with someone who made watching paint dry seem more exciting than holding a conversation with them. At the suggestion of a rematch, she immediately panicked and locked eyes with someone else who was nearby. "Oh, I would, but I already agreed to a game of Jenga with them." She tried her best to communicate with the other using her eyes, "Isn't that right?"

[Andre Lamoglia, Cis Man, He-They ] — whoa! Kit Santos just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for 8 YEARS, working as a WRITER. that can’t be easy, especially at only 29 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit SNARKY and YAPPY , but I know them to be ENERGETIC and CHARMING. whatever. I guess I’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to BROOKLYN! — (Juicy, 21+, est, any, n/a)

tw: cancer, death

Life can be pretty fucking shitty, and that all rings especially true when you’re young and think of nothing but the future, of growing up, never truly appreciating the time of your youth. Kit had learned this lesson early on, a child of the system, the byproduct of high school sweetheart love, two so enamored yet unprepared for the harsh reality of the world, so that baby that came out of spurious love would never know his parents, or at the very least those he shared DNA with. Not that it mattered as he never really lived in the system for long as some hopeful couple had wanted a baby for so long, but they just didn’t have any luck, so in some ways Kit was their miracle child. Besides the somewhat cautionary tale that was his birth, life was pretty normal for him, he was good in school, was an honor roll student all the way up until senior year when he was ready to venture out into the world and become a professional. At least, that was the plan, that’s what most young adults did once their high school career was over, go into higher education, get a degree, and make a career out of it. But on a night out with friends, one of the many that he’d come to know a night that was supposed to be like any other, his world turned upside down. Kit had passed out during one of the school’s football games, walking into the parking lot with his friends as they all celebrated the victory, he collapsed as he fell to catch up to them, and that was all he could recall as the darkness that was trying to invade from his peripheral took over.

The diagnosis was adenocarcinoma, and the fainting spell was brought on due to dehydration probably from the upchucking that he had done at home prior, thinking it must’ve been the corn dog he had ate that just didn’t sit with right him. They told him and his family about the available procedures and all that they could offer, and Kit couldn’t think, he couldn’t say a single word, all he could do was sit there and listen as the fear hit him like a truck. It dashed all his hopes and dreams of the future, as it looked grim, but he was up for the fight, as they call it. As if this thing was just another type of battlefield that he was wholly unprepared for, but he wanted to live, so what other choices were there? After a year in treatment, things started to take a turn for the worse, the doctors were giving up hope, and the look on his parents face as they tried to assuage the news didn’t help. Kit was left in that hospital bed looking at all the stories from his friends, moving on with their lives, going off into college, and he was just stagnant, deteriorating, as if his own body was waging a war with itself. After being told he only had maybe less than a year, he decided to spend his few remaining days in a place he had found online. A place that housed kids like him, kids who were terminal and wanted a better way to spend the rest of their remaining days. So as his bags were packed, he ventured off to what might be       the best time in his life.

It felt like Hospice, except all the inhabitants were young, about his age, just young adults that for better or worse, lived their life as best as they could within this abode. He settled in quickly, made friends with the other kids and found in them a second family. They would all do everything together, they’d all tell the wildest stories that they could come up with, say what they would do if they ever got out that place. They’d steal alcohol, drink together, find themselves in the woods making a little bonfire, and Kit figured that it might not be so bad to go if you were surrounded by people who truly loved and cherished you, and knew exactly what you were going through. Kit met a boy, and their feelings for each other sparked quickly, it was beautiful and wild and real, and all the things’ people wish for, so he thought of himself as lucky in that aspect. That he got to experience what felt like love, real love, at least if only even for a little while. They promised they’d marry if they ever got out, but as the story goes, the good times can’t last. It should’ve been obvious given all their circumstances, but it still hurt, hurt like hell to know that seat at the table would never be filled by that person ever again. Here, he began to write, began to immortalize the people he loved in his stories, gave them all the grandeur and fantasy that they deserved. In his stories they got to live, carry out their lives, he gave them adventures, romance, every other amazing thing he could think of that he knew they’d enjoy. Little by little all these stories became a book, the first of many that he would never publish, at least, he didn’t think about it at first, didn’t think he’d ever get to see his work out there in the world. These were just stories he made for his friends, of his friends, and ones that he would keep for life…or at least until his time. Kit experience heartache many other times, as a lot of the faces he knew and loved had vanished, and their big group had dwindled, but even so they never truly left, not while there were pages and lips that said their names.

Then another miracle happened, the miracle baby of his parents got one for himself, new results that said he wasn’t terminal, and that while not fully recovered it meant he could put his life back on track. He was happy, sad, guilty, angry, confused, so many things all at once because…why him? Survivor’s guilt is common, and he knew that, be he didn’t know how visceral it would truly be until he was one himself, a survivor. After he left, he promised to himself to keep them all alive, and he did, his book got published and a bestselling author he became. That one book spawned an entire series, and he had made his friends ever living in those pages that millions of others now read, they fell in love with the same people he did, but they would never truly know how amazing each of them were, not like he did. Now he lives comfortably, playing the same video games one of his friends would’ve raved about, as if he had had kept something each of them loved and carried it with him forever, or as long as that could be. Still, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever find love, or a love as beautiful as his first, survivor’s guilt is a bitch, but it’s the bitch that he carries deep within his heart, and he doesn’t know if there’s anybody who could mend it, those battle scars.

˙ ˖ ✶ Ana

"I'm saving you from melanoma or have you gone bananas Ana," Kit said as he sassed his friend, rolling his eyes at her. "Also, you're at a beach in New York, it's gross. You have radioactive swimming spiders that give Michael Phelps a run for his money." he muttered as he looked around. "Remind me again why we're not in a beach in Puerto Rico, Brazil, or somewhere nice, I'll even take Mykonos."

for: @bhqextras ( open! ) location: rockaway beach

"You going to stand there blocking my sun all day or are you actually going to sit down?" The question came as Ana pulled her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to observe the person standing right in front of her. There was a playful, cheeky smile on her features, head tilting to the side and brows lifting a moment. Giving herself the day off had been top of her agenda today, which meant she'd been heading straight for the beach, intent on spending every free second she had enjoying the sun, the atmosphere, and the people around her.

As the sun rose and it's light flickered in through the blinds of his Brooklyn apartment, there was a stillness to the room, as the rise and fall of Grayson's chest kept Kit serene as he surfaced from his slumber. Memories of the night before peppered his vision, talk of marvel, laughs, drinks, and not long after that he found himself in one of the warmest embrace he'd ever had. Muscle and sinew of man, the strength and tenderness which he was gripped during the night, and now he was a bit dazed, but a little smile kept finding its way onto his lips.

Gingerly getting out of bed as to not wake his acquaintance, he prepped breakfast and brought it over. "Hey so...this is pretty unusual and I've never brought breakfast in bed to someone, but I figured this would be good for me to brush up on my cooking, and...maybe keep you here a little bit longer," Kit winked playfully as he set the tray on the bedside table. "So what was your name again? I'd guess, but so far I think I mostly said oh god and yes last night." @grayson-danvers

x 6 avatars d'André Lamoglia