MACARONS

It was a usual day for a match at the manor. All of the survivors are gathered inside the dining hall waiting for the screen to unravel which survivors are playing today. Some were quite anxious and some were excited, most of the survivors shared those emotions but today one survivor was feeling nonchalantly irritated, It was none other than Naib Subedar, the mercenary

“You okay, Naib?” The young blonde with mismatched eyes smiled brightly at Naib

The mercenary heave a sigh before replying,“Kinda”

“Kinda? Doesn’t seem kinda to me.” A brawny guy interrupted,“What's up? You can tell us! Besides it’ll be better if you get it out of your system before the match started”

“Fine” Naib slumped his back on his chair,“It’s about my desert”

“Your desert?” The young acrobat stare at him confusedly

“Someone ate my desert! It was the host who gave us those macaroons to celebrate the new year and someone freaking ate my share!” Naib exclaimed angrily. Mike and William stared at each other, like they are thinking the same thing and started snickering
Naib glared at the two boys, he was agitated but here are two survivors laughing at him

“Pfft, that's it!? I thought it would be something important and here you are complaining about a macaroon! Come on man!” William continued laughing

“I’m sorry to hear that Naib!” Mike was holding back his laughter by covering his mouth

“Unbelievable! You guys are--”

Naib’s sentence was interrupted by the sound of the screen showing the chosen players

TING

Mechanic - Tracy Reznik

“I have a hunch I would be chosen this time!” Tracy stretched out her hand, taking her controller and hid it inside her pocket

“Goodluck” The enchantress cheered

“Make sure to use your doll wisely or better yet use it to open the gates it’ll decode faster that way” the prospector remarked

“Sure will! Thanks for the advice guys!” Tracy gave them a thumbs as she happily gallop to the matching chairs

Gardener - Emma Woods

“Time to bust out my moves!”

“What new moves? You always get terror shock” Kreacher teased

“I don’t!” Emma torted having her brows knitted together and arms crossed at the thief's sarcasm

“Just focus on decoding, Emma and no dismantling the chairs, the hunters have the ability to fix it anyways since the last season.” The doctor smiled at her, patting her head

“Okay!”

Embalmer - Aesop Carl

“....”

“Goodluck Aesop” the seer smiled softly

“Yeah, thank you...I guess?” the embalmer averted his eyes shyly away from the seer. 

Mercenary - Naib Subedar

“Finally! I need to let go, some of my steam!” Naib quickly stood up his seat, flexing his arms and sprinting in place

“May the macaroons bless you with the powe--OW!”

SMACK

Naib smacked William’s arm before proceeding grumpily at the matching chair. The three survivors noticed Naib’s irritated aura but decided not to ask about it anyways. It might tick Naib off and might be a bad end for the survivors, so they remained silent while being transported. 

After the countdown ended, everyone was teleported to a rather small map this time, 

“Ah, The Red Church.” Naib mumbled as he ran to the nearest Cipher Machine,“I wonder who’s the hunter?” Naib was situated at the side of the church so the nearest possible cipher machine would be inside that small abandoned building. He ran inside the venue and saw the cipher machine, he rushed inside to decode when all of a sudden he came across the mechanic. She looked like she’s running frantically too. 

BUZZ

Naib’s detector buzzed, he took a glimpse of it and saw tracy sending out a message

The hunter is near me!

Naib immediately whipped his head towards her direction, Jack the ripper was chasing Tracy. In an instant Naib dash outside the building, He was perfectly sure he was safe from that hunter since he saw the mechanic first and it would be time consuming to pursue him too, especially he was a survivor with a strong kiting skills, It would be wise for any hunters to pursue those who assist and decode, that being said the hunter should probably be chasing the mechanic right now.

That’s where he was wrong

To his surprise, Jack was chasing him and not tracy. What the actual heck right!? Naib keep looking back while being chased by the ripper, he can’t afford to be knocked down by the start of the game, It’s too risky for the team, there are three assist and with him being the only kiter, he vowed to protect his team mates

Jack raised his hand and whipped his fog blades towards Naib which was an easy dodge for him, sliding off the fog blades range, he immediately run to the nearest kiting area by the tombstone and slam a palette in Jack’s face as soon as he get closer to him

“What’s with the long face, My dear Mercenary?” Jack asked forming a grin on his lips

“What long face?” Naib replied while shifting from one place to another

“Something bothering you? You can tell me, I would be glad to listen” Jack break the palate between them, marching towards Naib

“N-nothing…” Naib was getting flustered not because Jack was concerned about him but because Jack was staring at him in a peculiar yet loving way. 

Why is that? 

Naib thought that maybe this hunter had hots for him but Jack never really told him anything about his feelings for Naib but he noticed how gentle ripper was to the mercenary compared to the other survivors. Cradling him in his arms using that special rose cane accessory he has to carry survivors whenever Naib will get chaired, Jack always tries to distance himself when attacking him so his hits wont hurt or he would rather hit his teammates and leave the mercenary be. Naib liked how Jack is treating him special in this way, he secretly admire this handsome hunter anyways but it really made Naib curious what Jack really feel about him

It's just assumptions at this point for Naib, nothing confirmed in stone yet. Just the things he noticed but who knows maybe Jack was doing these things to other survivors too so he shouldn’t expect much. 

While Naib was being lost in his thoughts while pacing back and forth inside the red church for 180 seconds, Jack took this opportunity to charge a powerful attack that knocked Naib off

“Ouch!” Naib screamed in pain,“Sh*t gotta heal--” 

Too late. 

Jack already carried him, Naib tried to struggle free from Jack’s grasp

“Don’t try to struggle, My dear, I won't hurt you”

“F*ck off! You always chair me first whenever you see me or leave me to bleed when I’m left behind, You sadist!” Naib scoffed, Jack only chuckled. 

“You’re adorable, my little mercenary” Jack teased, it sent the mercenary face on fire. 

ADORABLE!? 

“W-wha-aahh--whatttt!?” Naib couldn’t get the right words out of his mouth

“You’re like a puppy” Jack snickered

“A WHAT!?” Naib Retorted, still trying to pry himself free

“A puppy, you bark like one and you’re cute like one”

“What the hell is wrong with you! F*cking put me down!”

“Here we are”

“Huh?”

Naib stared at what was in front of him and stopped struggling when he saw Jack brought him in front of the Church’s altar. What are we doing here? Naib thought to himself, he peek over Jack’s shoulder and to his surprised all of the survivors were there tailing Jack from behind and he saw the two female survivors giggling

What the hell! Why is no one decoding!?

“So, Do you guys plan to flirt here inside the church?” The embalmer chuckled, he was standing across the altar, parallel to the Ripper and Mercenary,“In any case, I’ll be your priest for today.”

“What the hell is going on!?” Naib keep on struggling, when he was about to break free, Jack leaned in and whispered

“Naib Subedar, be mine”

The mercenary’s chestnut eyes widened, his mouth agape by the ripper’s proposal, Naib turned to Jack with a perplexed and surprised look on his face, Jack only gave him a teasing smirk.

“Wh...uh…” Sure, Naib was attracted to Jack but to be asked something like that on the spot have his heart thumping wildly inside his chest

“I’m waiting” Jack hummed
Time slowed down for Naib. He was so puzzled what’s going on, everything was happening so fast and he didn't know how to react. Did Jack really like him or was just teasing him? 

While being preoccupied, Jack signaled the other survivors too. Focus on decoding while he take Naib for a stroll around the map, Naib was still confused and didn’t notice Jack was carrying him around the area

“Naib!” 
“Hm!?”

Naib snapped out of his senses when Emma called out to him. Jack released Naib from his grasp and sat on the church benches, letting the gardener heal Naib, after being healed, Emma grabbed Naib’s wrist and decode in the middle of the church

“Lets decode together! I’m happy the hunter is friendly today, We’ll get neat points!” Emma exclaimed as she tapped the machine

“Er….y-yeah….” Naib replied awkwardly, Naib mimic what Emma was doing 

“You likey-like jack don't you~” Emma teased

“What NO!” Naib retaliated. Out of all times, Emma decides to tease the mercenary about liking the hunter

“Admit it, Naibieeee~ whenever when were on a match together and he was the hunter, I always notice you looking at him~”

“I-I do NOT! Focus on decoding please!”

“Especially his butt”

“EMMA!”

SHRK

MISSED CALIBRATION 

“Oopsy~ someone getting squirmies” Emma continued to tease Naib while decoding

“Ugh, seriously,” Naib turned around to see Jack standing behind him, walking in circles, “Could you please move back a little, my calibrations are being disrupted!” 

“You really do seem irritated today, tell me what’s wrong then I’ll step back…” Jack smirked and continued, “...a little” 

“Seriously?!”

“I will keep bothering you if you don’t tell my dear mercenary”

“FINE! It’s th...the…” Naib remembered how Mike and William laughed at his reason, Naib stopped midway, he didn't want emma or jack to laugh at him because he was pissed his macarons were eaten by someone. For him it was kind of special? Jack noticed the mercenary’s hesitation and pat his head to comfort him

“I won't laugh if that's what you’re worried about and you shouldn’t laugh too my little gardener”

“Ah...Okay!” Emma nodded happily

Naib looked at Jack and was relieved, he trusted his words easily, he left out a breath and continued“...It's because someone ate my share, the macaroon that the host gave us and It pissed me off since everyone got to taste it and I haven't yet not in my entire life so I felt very upset” Naib scanned Jack’s expression, the ripper was not laughing like he said he would but his expression is blank, which was so damn weird for the mercenary and he chose to just ignored it and focus on decoding

When all the cipher machine popped, Jack hit Naib again 

“What gives?!” 

“Come now, You three leave this place”

“Thanks.” Aesop left immediately

“Bye Mr. Ripper! Thanks for being friendly” Emma waved joyfully

“See you around!” Tracy bowed and left 

“SERIOUSLY GUYS!” Naib scoffed, watching the three survivor leave him in the hands of this hunter, Naib lost all of his energy to struggle and just let Jack carry him all throughout the map, he looked up to Jack and got the courage to ask him

“Do you mean that?”

“Hm?”

“When...uh...inside the church...mine thing…” Naib flushed

“Who knows” Jack didn’t look at Naib as he chuckled, still cradling him in his arms

“Wha?”

“I know, you liked me for a long time now my dear mercenary and…”

“And?”

“I share the same feelings about you”

“HUH!?”

“You’re just so dense, It’s quite annoying to be honest”

“I'M SORRY FOR BEING ANNOYING THEN! I don’t get it! What feelings exactly!? Do you like me too?”

“I don't have to explain anything, I just want to tell you I feel the same way about you that's all”

“You’re so damn confusing!”

The two went silent and It took 10 minutes of Jack walking around the small map but he couldn't find a single dungeon, he was getting a little bit irritated so he just placed Naib by the gate and bid him farewell, without ever explaining why or what just happened

Next Day

Naib was still confused about Jack’s feelings, Jack didn't confirm anything anyways and was giving mix signals and vague answers. He doesn't know. He was walking down the hallway completely engulfed by his own thoughts, when he meet the perfumer

“Oh, Naib.”

“Morning Vera”

“The host wants you to have this, I was looking for you everywhere and I’m glad I found you. Here you go”

Vera handed Naib a triangular box coated in a nice rosy design wrapper, Naib took it from Vera, the perfumer bid farewell and left immediately for an errand. Out of curiosity, Naib hastily head to his room and ripped the wrapper open, to his surprise it was dozen of macarons, it even also have various colors and designs, Naib’s eyes glittered to the sight of the delicious desert laid out to him

“Who…” Naib was about to continue his sentence when his eyes landed on the piece of paper sticking out of the box, he took it and starts reading it

Greetings My Dear Mercenary

I hope you love this little gift I made for you. 
I would love to give you more but I’d rather give you my love and my heart
I truly do love you, Naib Subedar
I hope you will give me your response soon

Sincerely Yours,
Jack

The mercenary smiled with a hint of blush in cheeks, he was very glad that what Jack mean’t he felt the same way is that he loved him too. He took out one of the macaroons and popped in his mouth, “I never knew macarons would be my favorite dessert” He chuckled to himself

Guess this macarons is our personal red string of fate. Naib thought to himself as he wrote Jack his response.

END OF CHAPTER