Elliot Heron Bennett has no grand expectations of high school, especially now, having entered his junior year. It is already hard enough to make it in time for class, navigate the shoddy ramps as a wheelchair user, and advocate for himself loud and clear at each metaphorical step. So he is content with the simple things - getting good grades, crocheting cute patterns in his free time, and making memories with his small but close-knit group of friends. Sure, he'd love to date a boy, have his first kiss, and get to go on a date, be unabashedly himself - however, he knows that's a mere fantasy, especially for someone in his position. But the arrival of a large new family in town will turn his and many others' worlds upside down. For Elliot, all it takes is one ditzy birdnest-haired boy with a cute smile and penchant for fancy rats to enter his life - and oh boy, he can't believe how hard he is falling. Ruka Lysander Exume-Ozeki is many, many, and plenty of things. He is 5'10 when wearing Forces, he is Haitian-Japanese, he is a quintuplet (that's right, even Good Morning America wrote about them), a brother to 10 siblings, fuzzy-brained with flimsy executive functioning, and a proud single father to his 6 precious rat boys (Lonnie, Remy, BigMac, Crouton, Hashbrown and Mr Trooper). But now his father's new job has moved their whole family from comfortable and familiarly sunny L.A., Cali to... where the fuck is Elm Grove, Illinois??? Sure, he has his siblings to rely on, perhaps too much. Ruka finds himself notoriously bad in social situations, turning into a nervous puddle every time, with the confidence level of a wet noodle. But when the livelihood of a small critter is put at stake, Ruka must do everything to save their life, and by the twists and twirls of the universe, Elliot is wrapped in his web of plans, schemes, and enough troublemaking he certainly didn't sign up for. But damn Elliot's heart for fancying this silly rat boy of all! © furusato_ 2024
4 parts