STRAY KIDS.

XXI. YIN-YANG

( STRAY KIDS! )
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.
❛ yin-yang ❜

ELI IS THROWING LEGOS at them.

"boooring."

ned makes a face. "no one asked you to come."

"i asked her," peter interjects.

"and aren't you beginning to regret that?" ned mutters.

they're finally building the millennium falcon, which peter didn't get to finish during the holidays. unfortunately, eli has planted herself on his desk and is making sure to encumber their efforts.

"let's do something fuuuun," she whines, and it sounds both childish and morose. like an old woman skipping rope.

"reading out loud from helter skelter is not fun," ned grumbles, sliding another lego into place. he still feels woozy from a particularly graphic passage which eli enacted with much gusto.

"excuse you, the manson murders are fascinating."

"still not fun," ned insists.

she shrugs. "you have to widen your horizons, leeds."

"and you have to find jesus, eli," ned retorts. the quip manages to makes all three of them laugh.

still, there are occasional fricassees.

for instance, when the millennium falcon is finally done, eli ❝accidentally❞ happens to sit on it.

this instigates a major pillow fight between them: peter and ned vs. eli, the wrecker.

but eli has a secret weapon in her arsenal. tickling. it has proved fatal when used in high dosage.

she puts her dexterous fingers to work and soon, both peter and ned are rolling on the floor wheezing, trying to kick the ❝tickle–monster❞ ( as she aptly calls herself ) away.

"you guys are such babies," she calls out, sticking her fingers under their armpits.

they exhaust themselves so much, they fall asleep before dinner.

they're spread haphazardly across peter's room. this time it's ned who's sprawled on the top bunk while peter and eli are twisted in a strange yin–yang position in the lower bed. she's got her head on his legs and half his torso is weighing down her arms.

"you smell. . . like. . . socks. . ." she mutters mid-dream.

"you. . . are. . . socks. . ." he replies with sleepy satisfaction, like it's the best comeback in the world.

eli pushes him off until he falls out of bed.

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