[Y/N] - Your Name
[M/N] - Middle Name
[L/N] - Last Name
I
["Talking"]
["SCREAMING"]
["Whispering"]
["Thinking"]

[==========================]

-> [ARTISTS / SERIES USED]
- lilredbeany.

<<<<<< I >[---]< I >>>>>>

Aiden: ["HOLY SHIT HE'S SMILING!"]

Y/N's lips died down instantly. His eyes returned to being cold as he crossed his bloodied arms and leaned against the jeep behind him. Helping the girl remain still, Taylor's eyes wandered down to the keys in her hand, gently pitching them between her gloved hands. She muttered something inaudible while Aiden kept on literally poking fun at Y/N, and Tyler finally stopped puking from all the adrenaline he felt.

Taylor: ["... We did it..."]

In the back, Y/N just waved Aiden away while he put another cigarette in his lips, strangely unbothered by the fact that his torso, back, and face were bleeding while lighting himself another smoke. Wiping his face clean, Tyler approached the group, and just like Ben, Ashlyn, and Logan, watched as Taylor's face slowly brightened from a somber tone while her lips parted more, and her eyes appeared to even shine.

Tyler: ["Yeah... We're pretty great, huh?"]

Aiden: ["Great?? We were awesome out there!"]

Y/N: ["Let go of my arm you cunt"]

Tyler: ["What do you mean "we"?"] He turned to face Aiden — Who did not let go off of Y/N's arm — with a raised eyebrow ["You sprained your ankle and were useless from the get-go"]

Aiden: ["I was not! Did you see me dual-wielding those flashlights?!"] He crossed his arms, finally letting go off of Y/N, who still remained unmoving, and quiet ["Without me and Ash, you guys wouldn't have stood a chance against those damn ceiling Phantoms!"] He stopped when Y/N hit him with his elbow, nodding towards a very awkward Logan who was glancing down ["And Logan was pretty cool, too! That Phantom on top of the jeep had a hole right in the middle of the head!"] He suddenly sprung towards Logan, holding his shoulder and two fingers against the side of his own head ["Perfect shot!"]

Tyler: ["He also took out the Phantom that cornered me and Ben"] He nodded, still keeping up the "tough guy" face ["I don't think we would all be here without him"]

Y/N: ["And he did also help me with keeping the Phantoms outside"]

Logan: ["Uh-.. I, stop, you guys did most of the work, and-"]

Tyler: ["Stop. You've barely had any experience with a gun outside from Ben's airsoft and a few tips from Y/N, which I doubt comes close to the real thing"] He kept his arms arms crossed much like Y/N did, still leaning against the jeep with a lit cigar ["You should be proud, you're really talented — Maybe even a natural with a gun, I would even dare to say"]

Ashlyn: ["He was probably also scared of hitting Y/N, but was still able to follow through with the shot"] The girl thought, not making any efforts to hide the exhausted sigh that escaped her lips ["Same with the Phantom on top of the cat. Without him-... ... ... No"]

She thought back to Y/N diving in and saving her from the Phantom and slamming his head to protect her, same with Aiden holding the flashlights and aiming them around the room, Taylor and Tyler helping her when she went inside and in the room, as well as Ben holding Aiden in his shoulders. The thought of everyone walking close, the dead Phantoms, the house infested with them, but everyone still moving regardless.

Ashlyn: ["... Without all of them, I'd be dead"]

Aiden: ["We should do something to celebrate this!"]

Y/N's eyes twitched while he felt his head throbbing. A slight stinging sensation from within his skull. He felt lightheaded and dizzy, and breathing in and out took quite a lot of effort. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself closer to the group, and everyone turned to face him with excited eyes that turned into worry when they saw the expression on his face, as well as how he involuntarily dropped his cigarette.

Aiden: ["Yo man, you good? You want to sit down or something?"]

Y/N: ["I'm good. I just lost a bit of...... Blood ... ..."]

It was now Ashlyn's turn to dive in and wrap her arms around Y/N, catching him midfall. The girl just silently cursed as she noted how deep his injuries were, and with the help of Ben, took him back to the bus while everyone followed — It was like the situation with Logan, just a lot more serious, and now with the papers inverted. Though Ashlyn didn't worry, and just kept a calm face while she took a deep inhale.

Time passed by in a blink, and before she knew it, she sat right in front of him in the other bench. Just like before when they had killed their Phantom — Difference being that Y/N wasn't passed out then. Ashlyn could not help herself, and gently reached ahead to run her freckled hand through his hair, noticing how peaceful he looked when sleeping like this, a glaring contrast to how cold he usually appeared to be.

Aiden: ["He's pretty cool, isn't he?"] Ashlyn let out a yelp as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere with a soft smile ["Don't worry, I won't tell him a single word about this"]

Ashlyn: ["... ... Yeah, he's a very cool guy. To lose so much blood and barely bat an eye to something like that"] She said with a soft tone, gently crossing her arms on top of the bench's back ["Did he tell you, by the way? That he can't feel pain, and all that?"]

Aiden: ["Not that I recall. Explains a whole lot, though as to why he was still standing strong after it all"] He kept the smile he always had, gently taking a seat in Y/N's bench after gently pushing legs back a bit ["But I can't see that being a sea of roses, though..."]

Ashlyn: ["Taking a hit like that, and not noticing the aftereffects..."] She just hummed quietly, silently watching Y/N softly turn and stir around a little bit ["But at the end of the day, we are all here, and we're all safe — So that is all that matters, isn't it?"]

Aiden: ["I guess... I just feel kinda bad that he had to take this because of me"] He reached ahead as well, softly touching the bandages on Y/N's head ["If I hadn't jump, then..."]

The two fell quiet, and Ashlyn couldn't do much other than glance away and keep silent. Aiden and her just sat there, and the only sound that they could hear was Y/N's soft breathing and silent stirs. The girl's emerald eyes, and Aiden's red eyes were glued to him, and the three just kept in quietness while the black-haired boy rested his exhaustion away — Still, being himself, Aiden could not help but chuckle lightly.

Aiden: ["I'm sorry. I didn't think getting hurt would compromise our chances..."] The girl glanced at her side while Aiden rested a hand on her shoulder ["Ah, sorry-! Am I too close? To be honest I'm still confused about the boundary thing. I've never tried to get close to someone like you, or Y/N"]

Ashlyn: ["Someone like me"?... What's that supposed to mean?"]

Aiden: ["Not in a bad way! What I meant was-... With my parents traveling all the time, I just passed my life talking to random people while waiting for us to move again"] He still kept the same smirk he flaunted around, but Ashlyn could see his shoulders dropping slightly ["I didn't really care about them, and they didn't care about me. But now that I'm stationary, I wanted to try something different — You seemed like the type of person who wouldn't become close to anyone unless they were special to you, and Y/N, frankly, seems like he would never be close to someone at all..."] Ashlyn kept quiet, just listening on, but she swore she could hear Y/N mutter an insult under his still-asleep breath ["And... I'm not exactly sure on how I should go about it"]

Ashlyn: ["Well, how am I supposed to know? I don't usually get along with people, period"] The trio just fell into silence again, though, obviously, one of them couldn't really speak anyways ["With hearing like mine, you usually end up hearing a lot of truths not meant for you. It's annoying to trust people, and I would've rather avoided it if possible, but..."] She thought back to a few moments ago, her eyes going rather soft ["Since I don't have much of a choice, to trust these guys now, things have changed and— Wait a minute"] Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at Aiden ["Is this guy really just as clueless as I am?"]

Correct — The three of them are socially inept.

Ashlyn: ["Listen... I'm not good with phrasing my words, so I'll just be blunt-"]

Ashlyn: ["-But I was wrong to blame you for Savannah. You may have pushed me, but it was still my decision to go"] She closed her eyes, and inhaled sharply, exhaling calmly and nodding to herself ["I don't blame you for what happened at the porch, but that's Y/N you gotta talk to. I would just appreciate it if you listened to me more, maybe take things more seriously..."] Ashlyn glanced down at the ground, then at Aiden, and lastly, at Y/N ["And... I'll also work on becoming more open with you all. I'm not under the illusion I'm the greatest to deal with since I never planned to be around anyone, but..."] She reached ahead, offering her hand to Aiden ["... Let's just both try our best, I guess?"]

Aiden smiled, his eyes turning a bit brighter and his smile becoming a tad wider while he reached ahead. His hand met hers, and the two shared a comforting grin with one another — That is, until the third member of the place sat up while rubbing his unbandaged eye, and stretching his arms up after standing. Aiden and Ashlyn just kept quiet while he stretched his legs, and cracked his knuckles and his neck.

Y/N: ["You two are so fucking noisy..."]

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

???: ["What the FUCK?!"]

His leg swung down rather harshly, kicking away a couple of boxes that were on his way. Gritting his teeth with annoyance, anger so clear that a vein bulged on his forehead and hands from how harshly he clenched his jaw and fists. He just recalled back, all the events — Hidden behind the buses, underneath them, at their side. All while everyone was busy with training, and a single person kept almost spotting him.

???: ["That was the ELEVENTH time she almost caught me! What kind of super-hearing does that girl have?!"] His eyes twitched in annoyance and rage, making no efforts at all to hide it ["Yesterday was another close call! And the recording devices are bugging out, this is so frustrating!"] He turned to face the group of people who, just like him, all wore pitch-black hoodies ["Why do we always have to sneak around anyways? Can't we just go ahead and nab 'em if the boss is so interested on them?!"]

???: ["Be patient, Ryan. He said we need to lie down after the stunt we pulled on Savannah — He also wants to keep the Cadaverini away from him, their kid was just an incident"] A hooded figure, leaning against the wall and with a book on their hands, spoke up ["Both sides are still trying to track us down as well"]

Ryan: ["It doesn't make any sense. If things went how they usually go, we wouldn't even hav popped up on their radar!"] The man with the shaved head continued his rambling, groaning in some very loud displays of anger ["All of those kids should be at least comatose, especially that ginger girl! Right, Jasmine?!"]

Jasmine: ["You're getting annoying..."]

Jasmine: ["How many times do I have to repeat myself? I led her to the rift, she interact with it, I saw it open large enough to drag in the other kids, too"] The girl shrugged her arms, still eating from the box while recalling the events back at the Sorrel Weed House ["Then, they just walked out like nothing ever happened, and the rift was shut off. I'm not sure what went down, but the boss found out something "interesting", or whatever, is going on with them"] She shrugged off again, keeping her eyes closed while munching on the food, and wiping her face with the back of her hand ["And THAT is why he's having you gather more information on the side while we continue the mission. So, if the listening devices aren't working, you'll just have to keep up with the OG way. If the boss think they are important..."]

She went quiet while Ryan glared away, arms crossed and still very much pissed. The rest of the hooded figures just kept to themselves while Jasmine ate. Her eyes wandering up, they met that same old thing from always — A banner with a black-colored paper crane stamp. Swallowing the food she had on her mouth, the girl wiped her lips clean again, now turning to face back at the shaved man from before.

Jasmine: ["Then they are important to the cause as well"]

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

Ashlyn: ["I'm leaving! Love you!"]

Emma / Mike: ["Love you too!"]

The girl closed the door behind her, very much casual while wearing her baggy pants, hoodie, and slippers with socks — She clearly looked ready to bed than school. But regardless, she held the bag behind her back as she stepped out on her porch, looking up right at where the Phantom had snatched her from. Someone clearing their throat caught her attention, looking ahead to see Y/N and Elio.

The former no longer had his bandages, but as she approached, she could clearly see his brow twitching on the same place that it was cut. A gentle nod from him assured her that he was fine, and Elio opened the door of the back seat for the girl to get in, which she did with a thankful whisper, same from Y/N after the butler opened the door for him. Inside, Ben and Aiden greeted her with a calming, gentle wave.

Back inside the house, Emma watched herself in the mirror, tying up her hair in a bum while fixing herself to work — She could lightly hear the footsteps of her husband on the upstairs. As she fixed her shirt, her pants, and her shoes, the woman left the bathroom and heard Mike raising his voice from above, to which she just smirked with the irony that she was already on it, nodding as the man spoke up once more.

Mike: ["Hey, Em, can you make another coffee pot for us to take to work?"]

Emma: ["Yeah! Dibs on the blue mug, by the way!"]

Speaking of said mug, the woman reached up into the shelf to pick it as the coffee was being prepared. After it was done, she just went on and poured herself a bit, drinking it, and then going to fill up her cup — The feeling was long familiar to her mouth, and frankly she gained no energy from it anymore, but it still felt nice. As she poured the drink, she just took a glance at the glass of the mug, narrowing her eyes.

Emma: ["What the-"]

She immediately dropped the coffee pot, and the sound of glass shattering overshadowed the yelp of surprise from her lips. Right after, a quickening thud, after thud, after thud, approached and became each time clearer and louder the more they descended the steps of the house. Mike came in, eyes wide in worry and confusion as he spotted his wife with her mug in hand, and the shattered glass on the ground.

Mike: ["Emma! Are you alright?!"]

Emma: ["I'm fine... Be careful, there's glass everywhere"] She sighed, rubbing her nose tiredly with an awkward, exhausted exhale and groan ["Could you grab the broom?"]

He just gave her a silent, and comforting nod while the woman put down her coffee mug, resting against the counter with another sleepy groan. A few moments later, her husband returned with the tiny broom she had asked for, and they got to work with cleaning everything up — First the glass shards, and then the coffee. As Mike collected all the tiny shards in the hand shovel carefully, he decided to speak up.

Mike: ["It happened again?"]

Emma: ["... Yeah..."]

Mike: ["At this point, maybe we should call an exorcist?"]

The woman kept quiet, as did the man, while the two recalled all the events — The creature appearing as Mike walked up the stairs, the same thing on their bedroom window at night. Even when Emma went to take a shower just the previous days, being met with the skinny, smiling creature hanging on the ceiling was not a sight she expected to see. The worst part is how she could do nothing about whatever it was.

Mike: ["... I know you aren't going to like this, but remember when Ashlyn was born-"]

Emma: ["HUSH!"]

Mike: ["Emma. We both know this is similar — This might even be the same thing"]

Instead of replying, the woman just glanced down at the ground with saddened, narrowed eyes. Her fingers wrapped calmly around her husband's hand, squeezing it a bit tightly while still staring at the floor. Gently being brought in for a hug, she sighed while resting her nose against Mike's shoulder, and holding him closely to her — With closed eyes, he couldn't see her, but he did feel her gently nodding her head.

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

Aiden: ["Hey, man. You cool if we talk?"]

Y/N turned around to be met with Aiden's red eyes. He replied with a single quick, silent nod, turning around and speaking to Elio in what Aiden assumed to be Italian before the butler took off. As Ashlyn tapped Ben on the shoulder, she just nodded her head towards the school entrance before the two took off, leaving Y/N and Aiden behind. They shared a glance, and remained quiet for just a couple more seconds.

Aiden: ["I just... Wanted to say sorry"] Y/N didn't say anything, and just raised an eyebrow ["You know, when you were resting and I was talking to Ashlyn 'n all, I mentioned how things would've gone smoother if I hadn't injured my ankle and let her be taken"] Y/N's face calmly dropped in realization as he nodded along, and Aiden's eyes glanced at the ground ["And maybe you also wouldn't have fucked up your head like that..."]

Y/N: ["The fuck got into him? ... Well, I guess he always seemed a bit too mental to feel guilt, but glad I was wrong"] Y/N just calmly nodded once more, bringing a cigarette to his lips as he leaned back against a wall, and shrugged his shoulders ["All good"]

Aiden: ["... ... ...?"]

Y/N: ["Don't act surprised, you know I hate talking to people, I don't want this to extend"] He took a drag out of the cigar, puffing the smoke over his shoulder, and away from Aiden ["I'm glad you recognize you were wrong for that, but I don't blame you. Things worked out in the end, and it was just a minor concussion, and as Ashlyn told you, I don't feel pain"] The boy shrugged with a leg crossed in front of the other, still leaning back ["So, no harm done. All worked out, and I'm fine, so that's all that matters anyways"]

Aiden: ["I know man, I know. It's just... Stuff could've gone differently, and if you had suffered something more serious, then it would've been my fault"] Y/N just remained and allowed him to go on, removing the cigarette from his lips and blowing another puff away ["And I don't want to endanger anyone again, so I'll try and listen to Ashlyn more..."]

Y/N: ["Yeah, you do that"]

They just fell in silence again, with Y/N's eyes still glancing at Aiden's — Or they would, if the latter's was not glancing away — while he kept quiet. The lack of any words between them was rather awkward, but Y/N didn't seem to mind much, just as he never really seemed to mind anything ever. As much as he hated it, and scowled himself for doing so, Y/N felt the need to break the ice, and so, he spoke up again.

Y/N: ["What? Now you're going to confess to me something?"]

Aiden: ["What? No, no, no no, I'm just trying to figure out what to say, this whole "interacting with people" is hard, man..."] Aiden softly laughed while Y/N let out a small smirk before taking another drag from his smoke ["Do you even swing that way?"]

Y/N: ["... Let's just say I'm not the type to let anyone pass"]

Y/N calmly lifted his cigarette to his lips once more before blowing out the smoke and walking past Aiden, putting the thing away against his own palm and tossing the butt inside a nearby trash can. Giving a few pats on the blonde boy's shoulder, he just nodded his head towards the school, where Ashlyn, Ben, Taylor, Tyler and Logan waited for them at the gates while seemingly talking to one another and waiting.

Y/N: ["Let's go — We got a midterm to ace"]

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

Y/N: ["I'm pretty sure I failed that midterm"]

Y/N just laid with both hands behind the back of his head while keeping a leg crossed over the other, and his eyes closed. On the sofa opposite him sat the twins, Logan, and Ben, while the smaller one, Aiden and Ashlyn sat side by side, the latter keeping both legs on top of the sofa, and her face slumped weakly against her knees. While Aiden ate, Y/N just kept quiet and listened to everyone agree with what he said.

Ashlyn: ["Yeah, me too..."] She groaned while remembering the eyes glaring right at her ["It was pretty hard to focus with Mr. Thomas staring at me the entire time..."]

Aiden: ["Oh yeah! My parents are coming back tomorrow!"] He spoke up out of nowhere, prompting Y/N to open a single eye and glance at him ["Along with Ben's family, too. It'll be his little sister's birthday in a week, I think"] Ben nodded to what his cousin had said.

Mike: ["Oh, they're coming back?"] He walked in, carrying a basket of dirty clothes ["They never told me"]

Ashlyn: ["You talk to them?"]

Mike: ["Yeah, a bit, to give them updates on how Ben and Aiden are doing"] The man walked around and put the basket on the table with a hum ["Should we have a BBQ?"]

Ashlyn: ["... What"]

Mike: ["Think about it, it'll be a rare chance for most of us parents to get together, you know?"] He turned around, shrugging his shoulders and tapping his shoulders — At that point, Y/N had closed his eyes again ["We could have a big BBQ in the graveyard and also celebrate Ben's little sister's birthday, if they don't already have plans, that is"]

Aiden: ["Sure, we can ask!"]

Mike: ["What about you, Taylor, Tyler? Logan? Y/N?"]

Logan: ["I'm sure my parents would be excited to come!"] He spoke with a large smile present on his face ["They are big BBQ fans themselves!"]

Tyler: ["We can ask"] 

Y/N: ["I'll bring Elio"]

BEEP BEEP

Mike: ["Ah, you kids should leave soon. It's already almost five"] He glanced down at his watch with a smile ["You sure that you don't want me to take you all?"]

Ashlyn: ["It's not much of a walk, so we'll just take it. God knows we need to clear our head from that damn midterm"] She hopped off of the sofa, as did everyone else, Y/N stretching his arms while rolling his neck and shoulder ["Plus we're all needing a bit of a walk anyways, so that could be good"]

The two left after waving everyone goodbye, and, in Ashlyn's case, sharing a hug and a quick cheek kiss with her parents. Y/N walked a bit behind everyone, both hands in his pockets, nodding his head along the music that blasted through his earphones, unbothered as he always appeared to be — He didn't really care to ask much what others were talking about, and sometimes shared his buds with them, and his music.

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

Y/N: ["I'm just sayin', Miguel is a lot cooler than Yuta"]

Tyler: ["You're just saying that because that's the Author's name!"]

Y/N: ["Mind the fourth wall"]

Y/N shrugged his shoulders while Ashlyn kept her noise-canceling earphones — God knows she needed it after Y/N and Tyler have been arguing for the last 30 minutes — and head down. Speaking of which, Y/N calmly tossed away another cigarette inside the trash outside the place, and reached for a swing of the water bottle he carried with himself. He stopped and took off his earbuds when Taylor turned to face Ashlyn.

Taylor: ["The arcade's fun and all... But are you sure you're going to be alright, Ashlyn?"] Kind-hearted as always, she turned to face the ginger girl ["We're supposed to be celebrating and relieving some stress, I don't want you to be uncomfortable the whole time"]

Ashlyn: ["Yeah, these noise-canceling earphones are pretty good at keeping sound away..."] Ashlyn tapped them gently while they were still on her head, nodding her head ["Plus, I've never been to an arcade before, so I am curious on how it is"]

Logan: ["Me too!"]

Everyone went inside, and just like usual, Y/N walked in last and took a glance around with an interested hum. The whole place had purple mood lights, and various machines and classic games were scattered around — There was no one else inside safe for them, and another young couple. A young man with long, red-colored hair, and a girl with shoulder-length black hair like that of Y/N's, just a lot more spiky with a single strand of red running through it, both competing on the whack-a-mole.

Ashlyn: ["Not as bad as I thought it'd be. Mondays must be slow..."]

Y/N heard the couple bickering with each other, and just hummed and left on his own to inspect the machines — Whack-a-Mole was fun. At the side of the strange couple, he took the hammer in his hand and began to play after depositing two coins into the machine. He was surprisingly focused, and after being done, scoring a perfect 100, he turned to face the red-haired man, and his sluggish, wasteful movements.

???: ["A perfect 80% hit rate at the highest difficulty. Phew~♪"]

Y/N["Your movements were too harsh. Relax a bit, and then try one more time. This time, without clenching your fists too harshly"] The cold, emotionless, and straight-up semi-inhuman voice of the black-haired boy at their side got their attention [""The best way to get a high score is to gaze in a relaxed way at the center of the playing field with the side moles in your peripheral vision- Aiden stop fucking with the ticket machine"] Y/N turned to shed a quick look at Aiden and Ashlyn ["At the start, hold your hammer over the center mole with it grazing the top of the mole's head- Ashlyn, tell Ben to hold him for me, ok?"] He again turned to face the group, now staring at the girl, still not showing an ounce of emotion ["When the first mole pops up and you see where it is out of the corner of your eye, just swat at it — follow it with your eyes but don't move your head at all"]

???: ["... Rrrrrriiiiiggggghhhhhttttt...."]

Y/N gave him a quick nod before retreating back to his group of stooges and antisocial weirdos. Once he got there, he only saw Aiden and Ashlyn staring at the DDR machine, something that brought a quick memory to both himself and the blonde, as the two of them recalled having seen a DDR match on Ashlyn's room when they were there to study at some point — It prompted Aiden to step closer to her.

Aiden: ["I bet that I can beat you"]

Ashlyn: ["..."]

Y/N gave Aiden a friendly smack on the back as he froze in place with a surprised look on his face, nodding his head towards the machines. He just hung back and watched as Ashlyn played — Destroyed — Aiden, and Taylor had a really close match against Logan. As Tyler and Ben went in, he just hung back and kept quiet, but his eyes silently and quickly wandered towards the electronic basketball machine.

Cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders, Y/N went ahead of everyone else, a single thing on his mind — "I'm goated". And goated he really was, because not only did no one come close to matching his points, he never missed a single ball. One could almost think he was a pretty boy from a basketball anime! After completely demolishing the former highscore, he just walked back with his head held high.

Taylor: ["I dind't take you for the basketball type! ... No offense"]

Y/N: ["I used to play as shooting guard on our school back in Europe"] He crossed his arms with a shrug ["They said I was a pretty good 3-Point guy, but I haven't played in a while — And never professionally either"] He watched everyone play, humming silently to himself while narrowing both eyes ["Perhaps I'll follow a career on it one day"]

Aiden: ["All the smoking probably doesn't help with the stamina either"] Y/N shot him a quick eye glance, prompting Aiden to raise his hands defensively ["Just saying!"]

Y/N: ["... No, you're right. I should really try and quit..."]

Aiden extended his hand towards him, and glancing down at his palm, Y/N dug into his pockets. He looked at the machine, staring at it for a couple of seconds in complete silence — The wind blowing through his hair, the adrenaline, the feeling of moving around so freely. He looked at the ground while taking the cigarette pack from within his pocket, and putting it on Aiden's hand, who gave him a warm smile.

After everyone was done playing, and not coming close to matching Y/N's score, they moved on to air hockey. What Aiden had said reinforced even more now as Y/N found himself more tired than the rest of the group — He also called back to the night before, and how the only thing that kept him going so long was the adrenaline of life and death. It almost earned him a disc to the face when it ricocheted off of the table.

In a random virtual shooting game about aliens and things, Y/N and Ashlyn proved themselves pretty good, but Logan still was the dominant one. Even with Taylor rooting for him, poor Ben was sweating when going up against the four-eyed twink. In a match between Y/N and Ashlyn, the two found themselves neck-to-neck, and even finished tied to one another, promising to settle the score some other day.

Though Ben couldn't do much on the last machine, now that he could put his strength and training to use, he clearly showed himself tied to Y/N. The awkward angle they needed to punch — That being way below their hips — made generating and putting out force a bit difficult, which is why Y/N just stepped back. Aiden let out a "oooooh~" as the dark-haired boy removed his jacket, and handed it to Logan.

He gave a few steps back while inhaling, and then exhaling. Clutching his fists, he gave a single step forward and raised his leg without problems, delivering an ax kick to the machine with everything he had. He pulled back with a pivot of his foot on the ground, spinning around and staring at the numbers going up — It stopped just a bit over Ben's recent score. Likely thanks to kicks being more powerful than punches.

They shared a quick handshake...

... Unaware that all that strength would be put to use soon.

<<<<<< I >[---]< I >>>>>>

[Published in - 05/06/24]
[Word Count - 5.551]

A bit of a late update, but at least I seem to be getting my fire back.

Unrelated, but originally I was not planning on writing out the scene between Aiden and Y/N, but I decided that, you know what — Why not, right? I won't go into detail of what led me to it because I honestly need a damn nap right now, but I'll try and write more often since we are approaching the end of Season 1. After that I'll figure out if I'll write Season 2 right away, but I'll likely just go back and finish my other stuff.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!