#aro!kit

Now with bonus angst!

I've been considering making this a thing for a few days, and @shinrijeu said it was okay to tag them so yay

***

Kit and Shane would have likely been "a thing" for a good little while, officially or not, before Kit realised what aromanticism was.

And it's not until they're all back in England and post graduation that Kit makes the realisation of "Oh. Oh shit. Oh no. Oh no."

The coalition is still a thing. Despite the fact that they're all still in England right now and deciding what they want to do with thier lives now that they've graduated. The four of them keep in regular contact. It's a bit harder to meet up but they're all regularly calling and chatting. It's good to still keep people within reach.

Kit and Shane have been spending most of that time either together. Or in the same basic proximity of each other. They've been... close for a long time. Its nice to just be able to spend time together.

But Kit knows, once they've made this realisation, that it's not fair to try and keep it from Shane.

They try and talk it over with him...

It does not go well. At all. In the slightest.

Shane gets quick to anger, feels betrayed. He doesn't understand and his feelings and mouth act before his brain

Kit just about holds it together enough to pack thier stuff together and leave. In the cab out of there, they have a freaking breakdown.

Because they do love Shane at this point. He's important to them, and theyve hurt him, and he's hurt them, and everything is horrible.

They call either Mads or Nate and ask to visit. Possibly long term. Because things just went south with Shane and they quite possibly need to be away from him now.

I mean. What else is there even tying them to England anymore?

But whoever it was they contacted wasn't thick. They knew that as much as Kit wanted to run, there were things to confront. They contact Ayu and fill him in on what they know. They get a spare room ready in case Kit does make it, but they secretly pray they won't.

Ayu leaps into action

Something up with Shane? An argument? Arguments used to be commonplace between the two, but now? This sounded. Serious.

Really freakin serious.

He grabs Caddy, says there's trouble amongst the coalition and the two of them are together and driving off to Shane- the only one of the two they can actually locate right now- because someone needs to explain what the fuck is happening.

It's also Ayu who's finally able to get some sense out of him.

And it's Ayu who makes sense of it and puts him in his place.

Shane had somehow gotten the term confused with "liar", "heartless", "emotionless" and most confusingly of all... some kind of yandere?? As though his brain had jumped to the conclusion that he'd simply found another 'main character'. That one he'd quickly worked out on his own was some kind of vast overreaction as well.

But Ayu made it clear to him that Kit was, in fact, none of those things.

They had never once lied when they said "I love you" - they'd been sincere, but just meant it slightly differently.

Of course they weren't heartless; would a heartless person be as warm or loving of the people close to them?

And Shane filled in the blanks on emotionless himself.

He'd watched Kit experience every emotion of the rainbow.

Happiness when a coalition stunt had gone well, laughter whilst watching Rustle Bowhard, heartbreak when confronting thier family, sadness at being misgendered...

Blind rage at the intruder that had threatened to abduct him, after meeting with his ex. Grabbing the first objects they could and just hitting them in an attempt to make them leave.

And the quiet reassurance that had followed once the intruder left. The concern, the care in thier eyes-

Almost as ridiculous as the yandere accusations. He also didn't need Ayu to tell him that.

It'd be up to conversation between the two as for if there was any kind of relationship that they wanted to salvage or not, but Caddy would not let him ruin the coalition like this.

According to messages from the friend that Kit had contacted, they'd been hinting that. They didn't want to come back to England again. How bad had the arguments been??

And they were due to get a flight from Heathrow the following morning.

Well. That would kick the coalition into action.

Caddy bundled everyone else into his car and drove the three of them. Overnight. Ayu riding shotgun, Shane in the back.

The three of them separated at the airport to look for Kit. Shane was naturally quite tense over the thought of having to be the one to convince them to stay.

So maybe it was just as well that it was Ayu who found them at the terminals. It did throw them off some with the whole "you were going to leave without saying goodbye?"

But it was Caddy who was able to hold them back by being blunt.

"you're going to run away from the problem again? start over until you find something else that hurts?"

It does throw them significantly off-kilter, especially when they spot Shane standing back a few feet away.

It looked like it was going to lead to another argument.

But Shane started saying that he was wrong and shouldn't have said what he did.

So Kit started repeating some of the things he'd said to them. And Shane confirmed each of them was wrong, flinching at a couple of statements.

And Kit clearly looked to be. At the end of thier tether. They excused themself to the ladies for five minutes.

They could hear the coughing from outside.

Kit reemerged a few minutes later, not looking a whole lot different asides from perhaps slightly less blotchy eyes. They said that they had until the time of the same flight tomorrow to change thier mind.

But Shane hadn't been paying attention to that.

He rubbed this thumb over the edge of thier lip to remove a few flecks of blood. He knew what it meant, in context.

And pulled them into a hug, mumbling an apology only they could hear.

Kit didn't... quite know how to respond? As they were still naturally kinda upset but also PDA wasn't normally his thing? At all? For a while Shane had been the only one Kit wouldn't hug because they learned he wasn't a fan.

But they did relax a little when both Caddy, and then Ayu joined the group hug.

Shane was again bundled into the back seats, this time with Kit and a couple of thier bags that hadn't fitted in the boot.

It was on the drive back to his place that Caddy made the comment to Ayu,

"you know what we need" "what" "a shopping trolley"

The excuse was made that they'd need to get something for dinner. He pulled into the Desco supermarket and got one of the largest trolleys they had.

Shane was put in the trolley basket first. Amidst a string of protests and "what are you doing pUT ME DOWN CADDY PUT ME DOWN"

They were placed in Shane's lap in the basket.

And Ayu was instructed to hang on to the end.

The journey into the supermarket naturally wasn't immediate. Racing around the car park and down a couple of hills first.

Not to mention some of Caddy's general tomfoolery with said shopping trolley.

And even once they were inside, they still had to contend with his general "destroy all minneons" antics, as well as him almost losing it in the magazine aisle when he found one dedicated to Pippa Pig.

The plan appeared to be making a full English breakfast for dinner.

Both Kit and Shane individually volunteered to cook. Caddy said that was fine, they could work together, as he and Ayu had something more important to do.

The "important" thing was naturally destroying the Pippa Pig magazine.

The two of them were able to work largely as a team, as they used to, as per Caddy's plan.

It likely wasn't Caddy's plan to find minneon gummies in his pile of bacon.

Shane rustled the packet in his pocket, Kit caught a glance of him doing that, and actually looked like they were trying not to laugh.

It was Kit who made replacement food though, when Caddy immediately set the plate on fire in retaliation.

The evening was spent watching old English VHS cartoons. Nobody made it to an actual bed that night, the coalition simply passed out wrapped up in blankets in different spots of Caddy's living room.

The following morning though, Shane had somehow ended up wrapped around Kit. Which indeed felt strange, because Kit normally found themself being jet pack.

Conversations took place over the next few days about what reconciliation would mean for the two of them.

Because ultimately? Shane found himself not wanting to let go? Happy with whatever they could offer, even if it wasn't the stereotypical relationship.

Because with Kit, the relationship wasn't stereotypical. They didn't use a typical term - 'datemate' - because it felt more comfortable. And they weren't your average typical person.

They had half a shaved head with green hair and coughed up feathers when they were stressed. Neither of these were generally considered "typical" things.

But he was happy with them.

He felt happier around them.

And if they couldn't love him back in the same way he loved them? Well. It'd be enough.

Because there was something oddly reassuring knowing that the face pressed into the back of your shoulder was willing to scream and wake everyone up to notify of an intruder or the arms wrapped around you would be content to use thier prized copy of Dungeons & Dragons 5E: The Player's Handbook as an improvised weapon to bash them over the head.

And sure. It would mean more learning, more understanding, more adapting and changing.

Because after all.