Chapter Fifteen

Entrapta's room was organized chaos. The desk had homework and personal projects all mixed up, notebooks and loose papers and pens. Emily left chew toys on the floor when she came in. Several stuffed animals were floating around- she'd been self conscious about those the first time she'd let him into her room. Hector thought it was cute. the wall had plans and posters of her favorite bands.

Everything about this room screamed Entrapta. Hector moved a sweater so he could sit on the edge of the bed, and Emily hopped up there with him.

"Hey," Entrapta playfully pushed Emily to the side. "You're taking my spot. He's my boyfriend!"

The dog laid across Hector's lap dramatically. Entrapta stuck out her bottom lip.

"Are you jealous?" Hector teased. Emily tried to lick his face and he dodged. "Ew, no!"

Entrapta picked up a squeaky toy and squeaked it. Emily jumped down, tail wagging like crazy. "Go get it," Entrapta tossed it into the hallway. When Emily chased after it, she sat down in Hector's lap.

Emily brought the toy back. "My spot," Entrapta said. The dog all but tackled both of them, and Hector ended up on his back, barely able to breathe through laughter and their weight on his chest.

"There's enough of me for both of you, but if I suffocate-"

"Sorry," Entrapta scooted over to the side. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. Emily laid across both of them, stretching out to take up an obnoxious amount of space, and drooling on the sheets. Entrapta reached out to scratch behind her ears.

"So..." Entrapta turned her head to look at him. "How're you doing with the new arrangement?"

"It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Imp is spending next Saturday with me." He also got to walk him home from preschool every day like normal. It was a longer walk for Hector, going from the preschool to Bow's house and then to Razz's, but he didn't mind. "They're finally going to test him for ADHD. Micah says he's suspected something along those lines for a while."

"I'm glad it's working out."

"I miss him more than I should."

"Nonsense. Of course you miss him, he's your brother. But you're taking it well."

"Bow's not as annoying as I thought he was."

Entrapta smirked. "Maybe... he's your friend?"

"Don't get carried away," Hector murmured, leaning over to kiss her. One of Emily's back legs twitched, kicking him in the face and causing him to pull away. "What was that for? She's my girlfriend, you've gotta share her now."

Emily licked her nose and seemed to grin.


"I can't believe I never thought of that before," Hector face palmed. "I'm such an idiot." All this time, he and Imp could've been communicating with sign language but for five years he'd been too stupid to think of it. They'd thought of the three squeezes 'I love you', but he couldn't have thought of sign language?

"Don't feel bad," Bow said, looking a little worried. "Here, there's this app I found. I'm not very far along, but it's super fun."

Entrapta glanced over, and started to download it onto her phone.

"You know, if all three of us are learning it, we should get together a practice!" Bow glanced over at Hector. "If... if you wanted to, I mean, we don't have to-"

"I think that would be nice," Hector said, trying to keep his expression even. He made a resolution to stop beating himself up about it, and just learn as fast as he possibly could.


Hector's phone pinged. It was a short, blurry video from Bow. They were in a pillow fort, 'they' being Bow himself, Sea Hawk, Imp, Kyle, and a kid Hector didn't really know, whose hair was dyed all sorts of bright colors.

"I WANT THE HORSE PIECE!" the kid with the hair yelled, right at the beginning of the video.

"Aw, you always get the horse piece-" Kyle almost finished his sentence, but got hit in the face with a pillow.

"I'm the banker!" Sea Hawk sang. Imp grinned, eyes wide, as he grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Did someone say- SWIFTWIND?" So that was the crazy kid's name.

"Swiftwind?!" Imp echoed back, mouth full of popcorn.

The video ended there. Hector smiled, texted back I'm glad he's having fun. Then he pocketed his phone and turned back to the pie crust.

"Do I add more water?" he asked.

"Test it. See if it sticks together," Razz said, demonstrating with her bowl.

"It's... crumbly?"

"Add another half teaspoon. Patience is key."

Hector complied. Eventually, the dough started sticking together, and he was able to split it into half and roll it into balls. It felt satisfying.

"It's nice to see you smile," Razz said. Hector looked up, fidgeting self consciously. Luckily, she quickly changed the subject. "Ready for the next step?"

"Yeah. Definitely."