Day 13 of 14 · Sunday, October 25 into Monday, October 26, 2026 · The last full day
Hey, [DEV] here.
Julian cooked breakfast. Eva and Wes finally said the things. Carlos found a home for the painting, RJ got everybody to dinner, and nobody was in much of a hurry to go inside afterward.
Tomorrow morning, they leave. Today, they still had the house.
Breakfast, with suspicious politeness
The house woke slowly, trying to make the day feel ordinary enough to last. Julian cooked breakfast for everyone, which was both a first and a fairly obvious farewell gesture. Everybody ate with such careful politeness that Finn eventually intervened.
“It’s actually good, you don’t have to keep nodding.”
That helped. Nobody needed to spend their last breakfast together conducting a very gentle restaurant inspection.
The chalkboard still read LAST FULL DAY. DECIDE WHAT TODAY IS FOR. Taka and Mori went out for their last exterior frames. Randi printed a copy of Grounds and put it in a folder with Julian’s name on it. Carlos stood in front of his painting for a long time, then took it down and leaned it against the wall.
RJ supplied the day’s only compulsory appointment: DECIDED: EVERYBODY AT DINNER. NO EXCUSES.
Sunday, finally
At half past noon, Wes found Eva repotting the plants she was taking home. He helped her carry a tray, set it down, and kept his appointment.
“Okay. Sunday. Here’s the thing.”
He told her he didn’t want this to be the last time he knew where she was. He’d been half in love with her since the rainy Tuesday she made him wait under her awning for a late falafel delivery. He hadn’t been brave enough to say it before this week. Waiting until Sunday had been worth it.
“That’s it. That’s the whole delivery.”
Eva put down the trowel. Carefully. Apparently even this needed a moment to be properly processed.
Then she told him about the tea she made so he would stay, the delivery schedule she knew better than her own post, and how disappointing it was when he arrived early because it meant he would leave early too.
“I’m not half in love with you, Wes. I did the arithmetic in August.”
She’d been fully in love since roughly the third Tuesday. And furious about it for months, because he was the nicest thing in her week and she couldn’t order him like a falafel.
Then she laughed, properly, and kissed him. Dirt on both of them. A cow skull on the shelf supervising the entire event. Very on brand.
Nobody else witnessed the conversation. At ten past one, they came back to lunch carrying the tray together and attempting the sort of neutral expressions that immediately make twelve people suspicious.
Randi put down her fork. “Finally.” Ash contributed “Obviously.” RJ requested details and got absolutely nowhere. Julian and N30N exchanged one deeply smug look across the table. Eva kicked Julian under it. Whatever they were so pleased about, they kept it to themselves.
The painting goes home
Wes finally asked Carlos about the painting. Carlos explained that the second figure had appeared while the house was cleaning itself. It wasn’t anyone specific, and it was everyone specific.
Wes looked for a while. “It’s the house, isn’t it. The second figure is the house.”
“Yeah.”
There it was. Named at last.
Later, Carlos wrapped the canvas in the drop cloth from his corner and carried it over to Taka and Mori while they packed their frames.
“It goes with you two. You’re the ones who saw it become itself.”
Mori took it with both hands and looked at him for a little longer than usual. Taka promised they’d hang it where the light was wrong, then fix the light.
The drop cloth had once been at the center of a disagreement about asking permission. Now it was taking the finished painting home with the two people who had watched Carlos make it. That one got me.
Elsewhere, contact information changed hands and RJ created THE HOUSE (NO SPEECHES), over objections. The group chat had already inherited the house’s management style.
Fine. To the house.
RJ got her full table. Eva’s herbs, Carlos’s cooking, RJ’s cornbread ambition, and an assortment of leftovers became one last collaborative meal. The fridge shrine was photographed again and declared a protected site. Its long-term management remains unclear.
Dustin wore the tiara without irony. At this point, questioning it would have been rude.
Julian stood with his glass. “To the house, which did the—”
“No speeches,” Randi said.
He sat down. “Fine. To the house.”
They drank to it. That was enough.
Closer than the cold required
Nine gathered around the fire. The cold had stopped being theoretical, but everybody stayed, tucked a little closer together than warmth alone required.
Ash played familiar songs on her guitar. The new recording stayed private. It existed now; what happened to it next was still hers to decide.
N30N took his inventory openly this time, looking around at the people who were still here. Ash rested her head on his shoulder. For a while, there was nowhere else either of them needed to be.
Still talking
Taka and Mori turned in early with the painting. Julian and Finn found the window seat and sat together without needing to fill the quiet.
RJ and Dustin stayed at the embers, debating Detroit versus Florida with the comfortable persistence of a conversation that could last for years. I’m not convinced either of them needed to win.
The tiara was still present. Obviously.
One last frame
Randi made her final photograph after the chairs emptied. Embers, frost, the house still lit behind them.
Eva and Wes were the last upstairs.
“You’re coming to London.”
“I’m coming to London.”
A plan. Finally said out loud.
The last light went out at 2:40. The painting had a home. The songs had been sung. The group chat was waiting. Everybody was still under one roof.
Monday morning could wait until Monday morning.
