#cubby.

Tiara shook her head stubbornly. She knew that some people were going to be mad at her, she knew some were going to be disappointed in her future actions, but she had really hoped that no one would try and keep her where she should not be. She should have known in hindsight that Cubby letting her leave once was a stroke of luck. The sweetest of the lost boys, her sweet Cubby. “I can’t...” she said, her voice cracking. “I would love...I would love to stay and for everything to be okay...but it’s not okay and it won’t be the more I fester in it....I have to...I have to go, Cubby. And I need you to let me go...” She sighed, wiping her face of the tears that were falling. “You...You are gonna be okay....You have the boys and Wendy even....and the fairies....You’re gonna be just fine and it’s gonna be so okay and before you know it.....you won’t even notice I haven’t been around.” She forced a smile. She didn’t want Cubby to be sad about her decision because it wasn’t his fault she was making it. She needed to heal and she needed to figure out who she was and Cubby did nothing wrong. “Please let me go, Colin....” @colincubby

Alice didn’t always feel such a comforting warmth from people, but with Cubby, well, he was bursting with it. She knew the two didn’t know each other to the point where their deepest and darkest secrets were revealed but she liked the space she shared with him. She hoped he had the most wonderful dreams and hopes and if she was every dozing near him, she would chase the nightmares off even if it hurt her a little bit to do as such. So in a lot of ways, it was very nice to have a friend in him. She could only hope she never messed this one up by being too much of...herself. “That’s very sweet of you to say, Colin,” she said with a grin. “I’m always here for you when you need it. I like to be a good friend to you.” @colincubby

She had waited for Colin to come home, sitting outside the apartment complex the lost boys all lived at with a gift in her hands. She knew this was going to be one of the hardest things she ever did and she wanted to make sure she did it quickly and gently. None of this has been easy and Tiara knew there wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to numb her enough to do it. She has been talked to like there was another solution but the thing with Tiara was that when she got an idea in her head, there was no going back. She needed to separate herself from Peter and sadly that meant the boys as well. She was never going to be able to find herself in this labyrinth of hurt and jealousy and bitterness until she did it and she was convinced that was that. 

When she spotted Colin and his good natured grin, she felt her chest tighten. She had to do this. She stood up and went over to him, pulling him into a tight hug before quickly pulling away. “Hey, um, Colin, I got you this...” She held out the gift bag she had been carrying with her since this afternoon. “It’s umm...It’s a new notebook for the...the poetry. And some pens..real fancy ones...I just...I couldn’t bear not doing something nice before I do something awful...but I have to do it so....before gg tries to twist everything around I wanted to...I wanted to take control of my narrative.”

TIara knew exactly what he was talking about. She read the gossip, she knew the feelings he had been hiding from her for god knows how long. She didn’t like it. She didn’t understand it. She just...was at a loss. Cubby was her sweetest boy. He was one of the ones he really didn’t want to get hurt ever and now he was also a part of this triangle that didn’t seem to be a triangle at all. She didn’t know how to make him feel better, because he was playing a losing game as far as she knew. She knew he wasn’t the only lost boy pinning after the wrong girl too. “Cubby, why is that?” she was genuinley curious. She wasn’t trying tos et him up to fail, he just wanted to understand why he felt what he did and for her of all people. She was more willing to hear it from him than anyone else. “I just....I don’t want you to get hurt....and I’m a little bit concerned that she will hurt you....” @colincubby

“Simple doesn’t always mean easy though, does it?” Alice asked, eyeing the thing in front of them. It looked like a map, but not a simple one. Honestly, she wouldn’t be too shocked if the map itself was a fake one. “A map is supposed to be standard, right. But they also always have those little hidden passages and things that were never marked right. Like here....” she said, pointing to a trail on the map. “I feel like Animania has secret twists and turns we haven’t seen because I don’t think all of it has been seen yet, you know? Like those new places....what if they were meant to be a part of us all along? What if we just unlocked them? And there are more places to unlock still and that is why this map is both simple and not simple at all.” @colincubby