The Redamancy of Shade and Art (BOOK 2)

Chapter 1

SHAY HAS BEEN ACTING WEIRD.

Give Art a minute to announce that to the whole world and the poor souls who would listen to them. To, you know—clarify things. To, like, establish the route in which this story was headed. There was no way for them to move forward with their side of the story, with their narration, anddd with the laborious task of elaboration without putting that fact down plain and simple.

Shay. Has. Been. Acting. Weird.

Well. Shay has always been weird. But—

"Good morning, Art." Shay was outside the dance room, with his little smile and sun-kissed, very brown cheeks. He waved at them.

Art raised their eyebrows.

Art pulled back the Dance Room blinds. They also shimmied open the window. "What are you doing here?"

Their team started giggling. Ate Maria mumbled, "Sana all."

"I came to say hi." He smiled. Art wanted to wipe it off his face. (Gently. With their palm. Or... something.)

"Training isn't over for me," Art grouched. "I still have—" glance to their watch "—two more hours to go."

"That's fine," Shade answered. "I'm done, though. I've been training since five in the morning."

"Over-achiever."

"Anyway." Shay dug around for something in his pocket. And when he retrieved his stupid fucking iPhone X, he showed them its screen. "I got us tickets for Avengers: Endgame. G ka ba?" (("Would you like to watch it with me?"))

Art looked up at his stupid smiling face. It was just nine in the morning, and the light of the sun was framed by Shade's head. It looked like he had a halo. (Or maybe Art needed glasses.) (Or perhaps Art was delusional.)

Art complained, "I haven't seen one Marvel movie."

A hearty pout. "But I already bought the tickets."

"Go watch with Chase."

"Angelo is busy on that day."

"Why?"

"NBA playoffs season."

Despite Art trying not to smile, they did laugh. "Gago."

"It's the Warriors versus Raptors," Shade explained. "He cleared his whole schedule for it."

"It must be tough for him."

Solemnly, "Most important time of his life."

Art scrunched their nose. They angled their head to the right slightly, so they could look up at him despite the glare of the sun.

"Sige naaaa," (("Come onnn,")) Shay hummed. He braced his forearms on the windowsill, slightly leaning closer. "I already bought tickets for opening night!"

"Ibenta mo na lang, tapos mag-samgyup tayo." (("Sell the tickets, and let's eat samgyupsal instead."))

"We can have samgyup before the movie," Shade offered. "And then we can watch together."

"Did you buy two tickets?"

"Duh."

"Go alone, then watch the movie twice."

"Aaaart."

Art pouted up at Shay. "Pa'no kung ayoko?" (("What if I don't want to?"))

Shay pouted right back. (And he was good at pouting.) (That's all he did on some days.) (Art hoped he busted his lip.)

"Ayaw mo ba," he asked, "or are you just waiting for me to convince you?"