Poly Fics

Pomu Rainpuff and Elira Pendora were Finana's best friends, she had known them for almost a decade, and from the moment they met, they became inseparable. They were her rocks, the ones she could always count on, and also, the girls she currently had the biggest crushes on.

Sometimes, falling for a friend became inevitable, and while Finana understood this and had accepted her feelings changing overtime, developing feelings for both her best friends put her in a rather complicated situation since Elira and Pomu were her best friends who happened to be in a relationship with each other.

That is right, from all the people Finana could have developed feelings for the universe had dictated it would be those two, which was equal parts a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because if she had to be in love with someone she was glad it was them, they were both attentive, good listeners, good advisors, kind, and a bunch of other things Finana could spend hours naming. 

They always managed to bring a smile to her face and every time she got to spend time with them, she could feel her heart becoming full.

She truly adored them and while she wasn't mad with her feelings she also felt they were a curse because she was forced to see them loving each other, while constantly longing to receive that kind of love too.

She never felt unloved by them, far from it but she knew the love they gave her was just of good friends, they didn't look at Finana the same way they looked at each other, they didn't kiss her like they kissed each other and they certainly didn't love her like they loved each other.

Don't get her wrong, Finana was happy that they were together but a selfish part of her wished that she could be with them too.

"Are you going to stay here and stare at them the whole night?" 

Finana hadn't realized she wasn't alone anymore till she heard someone speaking.

Looking to the side she found Selen who was staring at her with a questioning look on her face.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Come on Finana, you know that doesn't work with me." 

They as well as a bunch of their friends were reunited at Pomu's and Elira's apartment since they were celebrating Pomu getting a promotion in her job. 

Everyone had been having a good time, chatting and drinking, including Finana but that changed once she decided to momentarily retire to the kitchen so she could prepare herself a drink.

But once she was done, instead of returning with everyone she had remained in the kitchen, sipping her drink, and as she did, her eyes had inevitably drifted towards the people reunited in the living room –more precisely to the homeowners– and without her wanting to, the thoughts started invading her mind and that is how Selen has found her, pensive with her gaze trained on Pomu and Elira.

"I'm not in the mood for this Selen," Finana sighed putting her now empty glass away before attempting to leave the kitchen but she couldn't advance much since Selen grabbed her arm.

Not having liked being grabbed, Finana glared at Selen making her quickly let go of her.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have grabbed you." She apologized "I'm just tired of seeing you moping, I want to help you but you seem to be set on suffering in silence."

Finana protectively wrapped her arms around herself "I'm not suffering."

"The longing looks you give Pomu and Elira beg to differ," Selen scoffed, "I see the sadness in your eyes Finana, so don't try to pretend everything it's fine."

Finana didn't know what to say, she knew Selen wasn't trying to reproach her anything as she could tell that behind her bluntness there was some worry for her but despite her intentions, a part of Finana wanted to argue, to pretend Selen was being delusional but another smaller part of her was tired of pretending and perhaps, she would feel better if she talked with someone, that someone being Selen.

"We are not doing this here," Finana said, subtly gazing towards the living room, "Come with me."

Grabbing Selen's hand, she started making her way towards the guest room and once they were inside she closed the door to give them more privacy.

"What exactly do you want from me?" 

"I want nothing from you Finana, I just want to help you."

"Help me," she shook her head, "If only it were that easy Selen".

She moved past her to sit on the bed and not long after she did Selen copied her as she sat by her side.

"When did it start?" the “it” in question clearly referred to Finana's feelings for Elira and Pomu.

"I don't know, I can't pinpoint an exact moment where everything changed, I guess it was more of a progressive thing."

"We have always been close but before I knew it their touches started feeling different, their smiles and endearing looks made my heart race, and my usual thoughts about them changed, as I started thinking about them in ways one wouldn't usually think about people they only see as friends."

Selen lowly whistled "You have it bad."

"A bit," Finana laughed, "What about you, when did you notice my change in feelings."

Selen thought for a second before giving an answer, "I think that like you I can't speak of a specific time, I'm very observant so I couldn't help but notice some odd looks and longing sights here and there when you thought no one was watching."

"Am I being obvious?" Finana asked, sounding slightly alarmed at the prospect of her not being as subtle with her feelings as she thought.

"I don't think so, as I say, I'm very observant, that is the only reason I was able to notice but I don't think someone else knows, especially the…" Selen took a pause trying to find a term that would best describe Elira and Pomu "Objects of your desires"

Finana shuddered "Please never call them that again."

"Okay I won't but leaving whatever you want to call them aside, what are you planning on doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to tell them?" Selen's question wasn't Ill intended, and yet, it caused a negative reaction from Finana.

"Are you crazy, I can't tell them, I would only destruct our friendship if I do."

"You suffering in silence won't help much either," It was a long blow but one that was true as there was a big chance that if things continued like this their friendship would end up being affected regardless.

"I have been doing just fine till now," Finana said, sounding more unsure than she wishes she did and the look she received from Selen was enough for her to know she thought her words were a bluff.

"Okay, I might be slightly struggling but I'm not going to tell them and my decision it's final."

"You don't want to tell them because you are afraid they will reject you, isn't it?" Selen asked as she couldn't think of any other reason as to why Finana would be unsure of expressing her feelings if it weren't out of fear of Pomu and Elira not reciprocating them.

"Not really, what I fear is that we won't be able to move past that, them not reciprocating my feelings would suck but losing them as friends would destroy me and that is not something I'm willing to gamble with" Finana honestly admitted as just entertaining the idea of no having them in her life anymore made her feel dreadful.

"You say you don't want to gamble but you are already thinking of the worst, what if you tell them and they happen to feel the same?"

Finana scoffed, "I doubt they do but in the hypothetical case they did, the stakes are still too high and I would rather live with that uncertainty than open my mouth and lose them forever."

Fairly, the situation sucked, especially because Finana was so set on keeping on pretending and while Selen didn't agree with what she was doing, at the end of the day, Finana was the one that had the last word on what she wanted to do.

"I don't know what to tell you, even though I understand where are you coming from, I don't think you should remain silent but I won't force you to do anything you aren't comfortable with." 

Finana could work with that.

"Thank you, I know you are far from agreeing with me but just knowing you respect my decision it's enough for me."

"Of course," Selen smiled at her, "so, what do we do now?"

"Now we return with the others before someone comes looking for us."

Luckily for both, it seemed no one had noticed their momentary disappearance, so once they reunited with everyone they were able to continue enjoying the celebration without having to worry about answering any kind of inquiry.

Once the reunion was done and after Finana returned to her home, she couldn't help but think about the talk she had with Selen.

She had no doubts about the decision she had taken but even if she was sure of what she was doing, there was still some truth in what Selen had told her about suffering in silence.

She wanted to prevent ruining her friendship with Pomu and Elira but in the long run, there was a possibility that could end up happening if she kept on hurting.

It seemed that regardless of what she did her friendship was endangered, which didn't help to alleviate any of Finana's fears.

She could only recall one other time when she had felt so uncertain of the destiny of her friendship with them and that had been quite a few years ago, right after her friends started dating. Back then, Finana didn't hold the same feelings for them as the present time but she still feared for their friendship.

Despite being happy for them, there was a nagging thought in the back of her head that constantly told her that now that they were dating, the girls would eventually forget about her.

They were always doing things as three but with this new change to their dynamic, it was expected for Pomu and Elira to spend more alone time with each other, which meant they would hang out with Finana less often and because of this, she truly believed that eventually they would completely forget about her.

Of course, Finana soon found out that her fears were foolish as nothing changed between them. They would certainly go on dates and hang out just the two of them but they never took away from the time they spent together as three to do that and even though Finana had thought that they still hanging out with her without changes was a good thing back then, right now that seemed like a problem.

Despite their busy lives they would always manage to meet at least twice a week, in one of those days they would meet after work to go eat somewhere, and on the other, which was usually around the weekend, they would hang out in each other places and have movie nights.

Besides the meetings, they also communicated every day whether it was over text or calls to the point they were the first people they talked to on the phone every morning and the last ones they would speak to when the day ended.

There was no doubt they were a constant in each other's lives and perhaps it was because of this that Finana had ended up developing feelings for them and if that was the case, maybe, just maybe, there could be a small chance that she would be able to get over her feelings if she stopped spending so much time with them.

That had to be it, speaking wouldn't do it and neither would keep on pretending everything was fine and since her feelings were the thing that endangered her friendship, if she managed to get over them, then everything should be resolved.

Clearly, Finana was putting all her hope in a hypothetical situation as there was no guarantee that she would outgrow her feelings by spending less time with Pomu and Elira but knowing how things were, she had no other choice but be hopeful as this idea of hers seemed to be the only thing that could save their friendship.

Did she truly want to do that? Not really as there was no doubt that she would suffer having to cut contact with her friends, not entirely but enough to feel like she had the time and space to sort out her feelings and looking at the big picture, she would rather deal with a momentary pain than with the next worst thing.

Making up her mind, Finana decided to start with her plan but she had to be mindful of her actions and not act too harshly so as to not raise suspicions that something was wrong, so after carefully thinking of what excuse she could use, she found the perfect alibi.

xxxx~~~~~xxxx

A few days after the party in Pomu's and Elira's apartment, the three friends were reunited again after work. Conversation easily flowed between them as they talked about a variety of topics before Finana found the perfect chance to effectuate her plan.

To put it simply, she had decided to use an increase in her workload as a cover that would justify not seeing or talking to them as often, and even though the reason she had given had been false, Pomu and Elira had no reasons to believe she wasn't being truthful.

But even if she was glad that the initial part of her plan seemed to be working, the actual test of its execution would come on the days that followed their talk.

Cutting contact with them wasn't as easy as Finana thought it would be, as she had to constantly fight against the need to message them and answer their texts but she could still manage. What she could not handle so well was their lack of meetings, that despite being able to avoid them for at least a week, she had started missing Pomu and Elira so much that she had to resort to getting some company in the form of Selen.

When she told her what plan she had crafted she was instantly met with disappointment but she hadn't reached out to her to receive a sermon and even though Selen wasn't happy, she abstained from making any comments in favor of being there for her.

With Selen's presence, it became easier to deal with the lack of contact since the girl had become a lifeline in the days when the need to see or talk to Pomu and Elira became too strong. Every time that happened she would text Selen since talking to the girl helped her enough to hold herself back and when she felt the texting wasn't enough, she would ask her if she could come over and spend time with her.

Despite sounding like Finana was using Selen –which in some ways she was– she didn't only seek her when she needed to overcome her own needy feelings as she truly enjoyed talking and spending time with the girl regardless.

"How much longer do you think you can avoid them before they start questioning you?"

"I don't know but I'm running out of excuses and the most recent one wasn't even good as I could tell they weren't convinced by what I said."

Currently, Finana and Selen were reunited at the former's apartment as they had gotten together for yet another movie night. Usually, Finana would be having those movie nights with Pomu and Elira but thanks to her current situation, they had now become movie nights with Selen.

They had just finished watching a movie and while it was playing, they avoided talking about any serious matters so they could focus on what they were watching but not that the movie was over, they could finally talk about serious stuff, namely, Finana's tricky situation.

Three weeks had gone by since she started executing her plan and even though things hadn't been easier for her, she had the consolation that at least she had a substantial excuse to avoid her friends but that was not the case anymore, as Finana could shield behind a busy work life for too long before it became evident something else was going on.

As of now, it was becoming harder and harder to think of something that could justify not seeing them, so much so that her most recent lie had been so bad she was sure her friends would not take long before they questioned her.

Since it was their movie night, Pomu and Elira had texted her to ask if she would be coming over, to which Finana had politely declined by saying she was sick and that she would stay at home.

Her reason would have been acceptable if she hadn't said something similar the last two times they had asked her to hang out but even if the lie was quite blatant, Pomu and Elira hadn't said anything besides wishing her a speedy recovery.

"Well, you knew this was going to eventually happen," Selen held back the need of saying I told you so as everything was happening exactly like she had foreseen it but since Finana didn't want to listen to her, then she would not waste her time on repeating herself.

"Yeah I know I know, you always give me such positive reinforcement," Finana jokingly said, before throwing some popcorn at Selen.

"I'm just a really positive person," Selen responded in the same manner, grabbing the popcorn that was thrown at her.

Finana was going to say something else but before she could open her mouth her doorbell suddenly rang.

"Were you expecting someone?"

"Not really, it must be some confused delivery person, they sometimes get the apartment numbers wrong. I will be right back," Finana got up from the couch to make her way over to the entrance and once she made it to the door, she quickly opened it.

In a perfect world, Finana would have encountered someone who had rung the wrong apartment, she would tell them of their mistake and then would close the door but that scenario was just wishful thinking because there was no stranger outside, instead, she was now looking at Pomu and Elira, the same Pomu and Elira she hadn't seen in weeks.

Certainly, her brain was playing tricks on her as there was no way those two were standing outside her apartment but the more she kept on staring at them, the more she realized that she wasn't hallucinating.

They were really there and she didn't know what to do or say and judging by the looks on Pomu's and Elira's faces, neither did they. 

"Finana who was…it"

Selen had come in search of Finana since the girl was taking her time to come back but she hadn't expected to encounter such a scenario.

"Wow won't you look at the time," Selen hurriedly said briefly staring at her watchless wrist "I need to go walk my dog, we will talk later Finana" and without giving any of the girls present the chance to say anything she walked out of the apartment leaving them alone.

It was clear they were all confused by what had just happened but once Finana's brain seemed to start working again, she mentally cursed Selen who had basically just thrown her to the wolves.

"Pomu, Elira, what a surprise to see you," Finana attempted to act normal but it was evident she was nervous.

"Can we come in?" Elira asked.

Finana had the power to say no and yet, she knew she had no other choice but to let them in as doing otherwise would make things worse.

"Of course," She said, moving aside to let them come in.

Now that they were in her apartment they all made their way to her living room and while Pomu and Elira sat together on of her couches, Finana chose to sit in front of them despite there being enough room for all to sit together.

"So, what brings you here?"

"Well, we…"Elira trailed off, briefly glancing at Pomu, "We were worried about you, so Pomu and I decided to come over to check on you."

Elira's words seemed truthful but Finana got the feeling there was something she wasn't saying.

"Oh, sorry if I worried you it wasn't my intention."

Pomu who had remained silent till then couldn't help but scoff "And lying was it?" 

Finana felt her heart sinking when she heard that, not only because of what Pomu had asked but also because of the accusatory tone she had used.

"Pomu," Elira softly said, before putting her hand atop Pomu's leg.

Feeling her girlfriend's touch, Pomu was able to take a deep breath to ease the anger that had started boiling within her and once she seemed to have calmed down, Elira moved her hand away to focus her attention on Finana.

"Are you okay Finana?"

How Finana wished Elira hadn't asked that. She had been able to pretend for so long but at that moment she felt her resolve faltering to the point she almost wanted to scream, to let everything out and say that no, that she was not okay but she couldn't be honest.

"I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" She tried not to show doubt but even if she knew she had sound convincing, the frown now present on Elira's face let her know she was not believed.

"Why do you keep on lying?" Pomu spoke again, sounding almost offended.

Finana didn't know what she could say to that, so she chose to not say anything at all.

"So now you don't want to speak."

"Po…" Elira was trying to calm her down once again but this time Pomu wasn't having any of it.

"No Elira, I won't let her do this to us."

"We are not stupid Finana, we know something it's not right, you have been lying to us, and not just now, you also lied when you said you were sick and I don't know if you also lied with other stuff"

Pomu was right on the spot on everything she was saying but even if she had called her out on her lies, Finana was still remaining quiet, so Pomu had no other choice but to keep on talking.

"You have been acting weird and not just because of the lies, you seem distant, we didn't think anything of your behavior at first but the more time passed the more it became evident there is something going on with you."

When Finana had told them she wouldn't be as available for them as usual because of her work, they had totally understood her and even though they would still text her they tried to not do so as often to not bother her but as of late, Finana wasn't talking to them nor seeing them because of something unrelated to her work and they knew that was the case because she had started making excuses to not see them. They didn't want to doubt her at first but they now knew she wasn't being truthful but why?

"Have we done something to you? Did we offend you, anger you, anything?" It was clear Pomu was getting overworked so Elira decided to intervene.

"Finana, we aren't trying to accuse you of anything we just want to understand what is happening, you are avoiding us and we just want to know if it's because of something we did."

Pomu was thankful for Elira's calmness as she was able to convey what she wanted to say without sounding demanding. 

They had previously discussed how they were going to approach this topic and they had agreed to try not to come off accusatory but once Pomu had faced Finana all caution had been thrown out the window, as she couldn't help but allow her feelings of confusion and hurt to come out. She just wanted to understand Finana and no matter how much they tried to think of what could have they done to make her act that way, they couldn't find an explanation.

Even now she was trying to think of something but the result was the same, nothing came to mind, nothing aside…

Selen, that could be it, she had almost forgotten that they had found the girl there when they had come over, so perhaps, Finana's strange behavior was related to Selen.

"And if we didn't do anything, could it be because of Selen? I mean she was just here with you and as far as we know you don't tend to hang out with her often, so maybe there is something going on with you two that…"

"Please stop talking."

Up until that point Finana had allowed them to say what they needed to, mostly because she didn't know what to say herself, and even though their assumptions about her avoiding them had been right, now that Selen has been brought up, Finana knew she had to clarify her reasons for acting the way she did before she created more unnecessary misunderstandings.

Standing up from her seat, Finana started pacing left and right before she came to a stop and faced her companions.

"You are right, I have been avoiding you but it has nothing to do with something you have done or with Selen for that matter."

"What is it then?" Pomu asked.

"Me, I'm the one at fault here, so please don't bring others into this, Selen it's just my friend and yes, we didn't use to hang out as much but nothing it's happening between us, she is just helping me, that is all."

Finana could see Elira wanted to ask something but she stopped her before she did.

"Please, no more questions just let me finish speaking now that I found the courage to speak, otherwise I won't end up saying what I need to, so for the time being, I just need you to listen to me."

Pomu and Elira briefly looked at each before both nodded.

"I'm sorry if I made you believe you did something to make me avoid you, that was never my intention. All I needed was to spend less time with you for my own reasons, so I made up excuses and lies that would justify my lack of contact, including lying about my work"

Finana chose to ignore the matching hurt looks on her friends’ faces in favor of continuing speaking.

"I was never busy, I have been lying since the beginning, and as bad as I feel for deceiving you, its something I needed to do.”

"If what you needed was some alone time or to be away from us for whatever reason it was, why didn't you tell us?" Elira said, sounding genuinely curious. 

"Because you were going to ask why and I would have to tell you why and I couldn't tell you, so I tried to avoid that situation but as we all see that didn't work out, so now I need to do the thing I have been avoiding doing." 

Finana was clearly distressed to the point she could feel a knot forming in her throat which meant that at any second, she could burst out in tears, which was the last thing she needed now.

"If whatever you need to tell us is making you feel so troubled then don't tell us, we don't need to know," Pomu said.

Finana sighed, "But I need to because nothing will get resolved if I don't."

Alright, here it was, the moment Finana had dreaded had finally come, her friendship of ten years would be coming to an end that same night and there was no backing down. She had worked so hard to avoid this same scenario only for everything to have the same outcome of her losing her friends but now that she was here, at last, she owed them full honesty to have a proper closure.

"You two mean the world to me and I'm extremely lucky to be able to call you my best friends… but I don't see you as just that."

"I have feelings for you, feelings I shouldn't have for my friends that are in a relationship, I didn't know how and when it happened but it happened and I can't ignore it, I tried, believe me, I tried so hard to pretend those feelings weren't there but they won't go away," The tears she had been arduously trying to hold back were now freely running down her face.

"I didn't want to tell you what I was feeling because I was afraid we wouldn't be able to move past that and our friendship would end, so as a last desperate attempt I made the decision to stop being around you hoping I could get rid of my feelings."

"I expected that the less I saw you and talked to you, the quicker my feelings would disappear but nothing has changed and now, what was afraid of happening it's happening and I just want to tell you I'm sorry."

Between sobs, Finana managed to convey what she needed to say and now that she was done, she couldn't help but look down, afraid to see the expression on her friend's faces.

She knew she looked pitiful, here she was sobbing like a little kid in front of her best friends whom she had just confessed to, who were probably thinking she was pathetic and she was just waiting for them to tell her how disappointed they were with her.

But that moment never came as instead, Finana was unexpectedly surrounded by a warmth provided by someone embracing her.

She didn't understand what was happening, all she knew was that she found herself burying her head in what she believed was Elira's chest before a new wave of tears overcame her. 

Her tears quickly started to stain her friend's shirt but she didn't seem to mind as all she did was to tighten her hold on her and before Finana knew it, Pomu also embraced her from behind, trapping her between their bodies.

With their arms wrapped around her, Finana allowed herself the chance to cry over everything she had been holding onto for such a long time. She didn't realize how much she needed that catharsis till then but now that she had cried her heart out, she had to admit it felt truly liberating.

Once her sobbing died down Finana found the strength to lift up her face from Elira's chest and as she and Pomu felt her moving, they loosened their hold on her.

She didn't know what she was going to encounter once she looked up but the expression on Elira's face wasn't one of disgust or anything close to it as she was just smiling at her, which only confused Finana and that confusion increased once Elira started wiping her tear-stained face with her fingers.

"Pomu, can you go grab some water?" 

Elira speaking remained Finana of the other occupant of the room who she could hear walking away as Elira continued with her task, and once she was satisfied, she stopped whipping her face before she grabbed her hand to start leading her towards the nearest couch.

Once they were setting Finana had expected Elira to let go of her hand but that didn't happen as she kept a firm hold on her even after Pomu returned with the water.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Pomu said before sitting at Finana's other side.

After Finana finished the water, Pomu and Elira looked at each other over her shoulders and even though no words were being exchanged, it was evident both were sharing the same thought.

"Finana, there is something you should know," Elira said, catching Finana's attention.

"Back when Pomu and I started dating, you were a topic we usually talked about and that was because…" Elira trailed off unsure how to proceed so Pomu chimed in.

"We realize that we didn't just have feelings for each other" Pomu took a pause as she reached for Finana's free hand "We liked you too Finana and the reason why we never said anything was because we were convinced you were not interested in us that way, so we chose to remain silent to not create a rift between us."

"Just like you, we were also afraid of losing one another because of our feelings, so we more than anyone understand what you are going through."

How likely could it be that Finana might have passed out and was now dreaming? Because there was no way she had just been told that both Elira and Pomu had feelings for her at one point.

In her wildest fantasies, she had conjured scenarios where her friends actually reciprocated her feelings but that was all it was, a fantasy as she wasn't foolish enough to truly believe they would feel the same way she did, and yet, here they were, proving once more how wrong she was.

It was a lot to assimilate, so Finana had to take a few minutes to process everything that was happening before she was able to say something.

“So, you used to like me?” Even if she was speaking to them she still refused to look them in the eyes, as she instead stared at their clasped hands.

“We really never stopped,” Pomu said without missing a beat.

“You aren't easy to forget,” Elira added.

How they were able to say those things with such ease was something Finana couldn't understand. They had admitted they still had feelings for her with such a casualty one could think they were speaking about the weather, meanwhile, Finana felt like her whole world was rocked with such few words.

"Oh." 

"Is that a good oh or a bad oh?" Pomu asked but as much as Finana would have loved to answer that, the truth was that not even she knew what that oh meant.

"Perhaps Pomu and I should go, this night has been quite eventful for all of us but especially for you Finana, so I’m sure you need time to think about everything we have spoken, there is no rush, once you feel ready we can resume this talk." 

Elira knew she was putting a rather abrupt end to what was happening but at the moment it seemed to be the right thing to do for Finana's sake, as the last thing she wanted was for her to get overwhelmed, so it was best to leave now than force her to do anything she wasn't in the right headspace for.

Despite what Elira said, Pomu didn't seem to share the sentiment but the look she received from her girlfriend let her know now was not the time to argue, so even if she was more reluctant to leave, she would do so if that is what Finana wanted.

The offer of leaving, while tempting, as it meant they could postpone their current talk, wasn't what Finana truly wanted.

"Please don't leave," She squeezed their hands.

"We won't leave then," Elira answered for both.

"Good," she briefly smiled at them before making a rather selfish request, "Can I ask you to hug me?"

She wasn't exactly expecting them to do as asked but Finana was pleasantly surprised o see them scooting closer to her before putting both their arms around her shoulders and once she felt them hugging her, she leaned her head against Elira's shoulder and as she did that, Pomu leaned her head on hers.

Closing her eyes, Finana took the chance to savor the moment, "I missed this."

"We did too," Pomu said, tightening her hold on her.

"I can't tell you how many times Pomu and I unconsciously left a free space between us when we sat down on our couch for movie nights, we had gotten so used to having you around that our brains just acted on their own and every time that would happen our moods would get soured, as we just wished you could be there with us."

Knowing how much her absence seemed to affect them only helped to increase Finana's guilt but she knew Elira wasn't saying that stuff to hurt her, as she just wanted to show her how much they thought about her.

"I understand what you mean, in my case, I had to fight against the desire to see you or just talk to you more often, so every time I felt myself losing my resolve I would contact Selen to distract me."

"Was that the help you were referring to before?" Pomu asked.

"Yes, I actually feel kind of bad for roping her into all this but despite her own thoughts and feelings on my bad decisions, she was still there for me which I'm incredibly grateful for."

"Well she sure seems to have a lot of patience, otherwise I can't fathom how she could have been able to deal with a sulking Finana for weeks," Elira's comment would have earned her a smack if Finana hadn't had both her hands occupied holding theirs.

"Hey, I'm not that hard to deal with."

"Aren't you? Elira, do you remember that time two years ago when–" 

"Alright alright, I get it," Finana interrupted Pomu, "We don't need to mention mistakes of the past."

Elira laughed, "Oh but they were such fun mistakes, there was also that other time at that party where you…

For the rest of the night, Pomu, Finana, and Elira reminisced about their past and even though it was clear that things were about to change between them, it felt as if everything remained the same.

xxxx~~~~~xxxx

Had Selen been a bad friend by pretty much abandoning Finana the moment Pomu and Elira showed up at her apartment? Maybe.

A part of her did feel bad for sort of forcing Finana to deal with whatever was going to happen with those two but another part told her she did the right thing because if she hadn't left the way she did, Finana would have kept on running away from her problems, problems that had evidently caught up to her and as such, it was time for her to deal with them.

From the moment she left, she had no way of anticipating what was going to happen but since Finana didn't reach out to her at any point in the night, she took that as a good sign that things must not have gone that bad after all. 

Still, she couldn't deny she was curious to know what had happened, so once morning came Selen was the one that reached out to Finana, texting her to ask her how everything had gone.

She didn't know whether Finana would text or call her –or if she would simply ignore her– but of anything she could think about, she had not been prepared for the response she ended up receiving.

Finana did contact her but all she got was a picture and once Selen opened it, to say she was surprised would be an understatement. 

The picture was a selfie but it had not been taken by Finana but rather by Pomu who looked like she had just woken up, and behind her, on what was clearly Finana’s couch, she saw her and Elira soundly asleep on each other's arms and if Selen put two and two together she could easily assume Pomu had previously been lying with them too.

That picture provided her with all the explanations she needed and even though she wanted to know how exactly had they ended up falling asleep on Finana’s couch, that could certainly wait.

Putting her phone away she couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh and even though she would give Finana an overdue lecture once they saw each other, she was just happy to know the three…friends? seemed to have worked things out.