ONE WAY STREET ─ unORDINARY one-shots.

viii - [🌼] the zoo.

premise: rei takes freshmen children to the zoo.

characters: rei, remi, isen, blyke.

~

Remi knew the last thing Rei wanted to do was take her friends to the zoo.

But she had friends! Actual, real, breathing friends. And they liked her! They didn't think she was too much. In elementary school, too much didn't matter. Remi was even popular in elementary school. But in middle school, Remi had people she was friendly with. She knew everyone, but she didn't have a single person who was really a friend. They all found their own crowds, but Remi didn't. She was powerful, so she was never messed with, but being feared was different than having friends. But now she did! She had friends! And she wanted Rei to meet them. It was going to be so cool!

Rei had called her the week before, asking if she wanted to go to the Wellston zoo with him. Wellston University was on the same schedule as the high school, so their breaks would entwine. Rei's idea was that they go to the zoo, and head to the airport at the end of the day to spend time with their mom for the rest of the break. While he was trying to explain, Remi randomly asked if she could invite friends. Obviously, Rei said yes.

At first, Remi felt like asking Blyke and Isen if they wanted to go to the zoo was a bit too... childish. They were highschoolers! She felt like the last thing they wanted to do over break was hang out with her and her older brother at the zoo. And she didn't even know if they had plans.

But after she witnessed Blyke and Isen argue over anime characters... she didn't hesitate.

Conveniently, Blyke lived close to Wellston, and so he wasn't leaving til the weekend. Isen wasn't planning on going home. Remi didn't push for any explanations from him. She didn't want to ruin the vibe.

It was going to be perfect!

She had planned her outfit out the night before– her favorite jeans and a purple shirt, with a matching purple bow. She had set her alarm to an hour and a half before they were supposed to leave. She knew what she was going to eat for breakfast, she knew which animals they were going to see first, she had everything ready.

"Rei! Rei Rei Rei Rei Reiiiiiiiii," Remi whined, placing her hands on the kitchen countertop. "We need to leave now."

"Calm down, dude," The green-haired boy was making himself coffee, he looked visibly exhausted. "It's eight in the morning, tone yourself down."

"But it's eight."

"Yes?"

"We have to leave now."

Rei glanced at the clock. "We aren't going to the zoo until nine. It doesn't take that long to drive to Wellston," he pointed out. The two were staying in Rei's apartment, which was exactly thirty-six minutes from Wellston's dorms.

"But– we– we need to get there by eight-thirty," Remi explained. "I want to be on time."

"Your friends won't mind if we're a few minutes late. If we're over ten minutes late, just text them," he replied.

Remi sighed aggressively before sitting down on a chair at Rei's makeshift dining table.

"Hey," Rei started. "They're your friends, right?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to make every detail perfect."

Remi was quiet for a few seconds. "I know."

Rei grabbed his car keys and shook them, making a jingling noise. "Let's go see some animals or some shit."

***

"Can we see the flamingos? I really wanna see the flamingos," Blyke said, nudging Remi.

"Oh hell no," Isen replied, his eyes wide.

"What do you have against flamingos?" Remi asked, flipping her hair. "I think I resemble a flamingo."

"Resembling a flamingo isn't the best thing in the world," Isen pointed out. "They're freaky."

Blyke raised an eyebrow. "Are you scared of flamingos?"

"No!" Isen sputtered. "No, I'm not– here, we can go see them." He snatched the map of the zoo out of Blyke's hands, and began to walk in the direction of the flamingo exhibit.

Remi laughed, and exchanged a look with Blyke. She looked behind to check if Rei was bored, but if he was, he wasn't showing it. In fact, he looked hyped to see flamingos.

***

"Oh my god, they're terrifying," Remi deadpanned. "Absolutely horrifying."

"I'm about to cry right now," Blyke added, nowhere close to crying.

Isen, however, was very close to crying. He was trying to hide behind Blyke, but the orange haired boy was decently tall. "Flamingos are scary. That's a fact."

"Whatever you say, dude." Blyke lightly punched him in the arm.

***

"We should all pitch in money and buy an overpriced zoo stuffed animal," Isen decided.

"We're getting the panda," Remi blurted.

Blyke picked up the panda stuffed animal and checked the price tag. "Twenty-seven bucks? What the hell?"

"Nine bucks each," Isen said. He walked over and grabbed the panda. "Unless Rei wants to pay some. Then it's... six bucks and twenty-five cents."

Blyke rolled his eyes. "It's seventy-five, Isen."

"I'm not paying," Rei called out from a few feet away. He was looking at the keychains.

Remi walked over to Blyke and Isen. "Can we name our panda Snugglepuff?" She asked with a straight face.

"Oh, hell yeah," Isen replied. Blyke just snorted.

***

"Your friends are... fun," Rei said on the car ride to the airport.

"Mhm," Remi responded, clutching Snugglepuff in her arms.

"Don't do the hanky-panky with either of them, though. Or both of them. It'll screw with things. I learned the hard way."

"God, Rei! I'm not– no. And never say hanky-panky again."

~

word count: 923

i might post this on ao3 people go feral for rei 

do you guys see the parallels to mixed messages