Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The camera opens to five smiling androids posing in their lavishly decorated living room. Posed in the most attractive yet odd ways possible that only 1010 could do.

"Attention!" Rin calls, sending a wink to the camera as he lifts himself up from where he had propped himself over the floor.

"Today as of this recording on September 9th, 2020 marks the release of another episode of '10Time'!" he smiles, spreading his arms wide as he gestures towards everyone else in the room.

"10Time!" the rest of 1010 follows up in unison before turning back to Rin, also perfectly coordinated.

Perks of being an android boyband and having military discipline practically downloaded into them by Neon J.

"Like all of the other episodes that we aired, we'll be doing something different today. A game to be specific and that game is-"

"Mafia!" they exclaim, smiling hopping onto the couch.

"Have you guys played this before?" Rin asks as he glances over at them. Such questions are practically perfect for the early segments of the video.

In truth though, mafia was a great stress reliever and a better way to solve disagreements.

Some could argue that androids aren't supposed to have emotions, but Rin could fire back that their dad cared enough to input actual human traits into them. Like wanting to see if Haym's hairstyle could kill a man. It was spikey. Looks more like a spear than anything. Banana spear.

So needless to say, stabbing a man was possible.

Rin quickly dismisses the memory before he starts questioning Neon J's choices in programming them.

Purl-hew takes off his shades for a moment, pretending to think, "I don't know. I mean.. considering we've lived together our whole lives, I absolutely do not think I've played Mafia before."

"Man, I think Rin's really taking his role as 'oldest' pretty literal," Zimelu snorts. "Got something wrong with your memory chip?"

Haym whistles, "You're practically asking to get flamed later at dinner, huh? Tryna compare Rinnie to dad?"

"Rin's always pretty petty," the words churn like rusted gears in Rin's stomach.

"Speaking of petty - remember the Uno Incident?" Zimelu piques up, a new kind of fire joining the siren red of his eyes.

'Okay this is so not Gucci. More like a knockoff Versace,' Rin internally argues as he sits back against the couch, crossing his arms. Try as he might, the slowly growing look of betrayal on his face is drowned out by the excited ones on the others.

"I see where this is going. Yeah we all remember it crystal clear. Too bizarre to forget anyways," Purl-hew glances over at the camera before back at everyone else. "It was posted on our official Instagrab and Bluebird accounts… before Neon J made us delete it."

Haym stifles his laugh - which Rin could be kind of grateful for at least.

"I'm surprised Tatiana didn't sue J or Rin for destruction of property!" he exclaims, "It's so sad our fans couldn't see how OOC Rinnie could be! Imagine all the fan edits."

"J would have a breakdown if that'd happen again. Highkey."

Zimelu casually turns to the camera with a devilish smirk on his face as Eloni starts wheezing in the background.

Rin's close to throttling all of them.

"None of you know - thankfully for Rin - but one time all the megastars gathered for a game night. Bunkbed Junction came up with the idea."

Oh ho ho Zimelu is definitely not slandering him right now. Because if he was, he won't live long enough to endure what could and will happen.

Haym is probably having an aneurysm to justify his shaking, perfectly reasonable for an android. Roaches squirm when they're teetering on the very edge of what is considered 'still alive' status.

Eloni's just naturally giggly so no need to question why he looks close to cackling. The boy was caught laughing at a slice of ham the other day.

"Having a +4 is always an advantage in Uno," Zimelu's grinning face only started to look more smug by the second.

Rin calms down, or at least tries not to show any other emotion except passive. His members should be a lot more thankful that his programming doesn't include genocidal tendencies.

"Rin's brilliant, we know. Smart, strategic, utterly conniving. But still, he also had shit luck so everyone else had a +4 too and Rinnie here could only watch in horror as his +4 explode right in front of his face as a +64."

Everyone else just starts laughing at the absolute injustice happening to Rin at the moment.

"Says the guy that mixed up Japanese and Korean in front of a Chinese fan at a fansign," Rin fires back.

The face on the third oldest was hilarious. Rin hopes Purl-hew managed to snap a picture and post it. Serves him right.

The rest of 1010 were almost falling off the couch at the rate they were going. They were like strange melodies, like angels frothing at the mouth.

"Always make sure to finish your enemies unless you want a vengeful man on your hands!" imaginary Neon J says, next to Rin, crossing his arms with the sternest look he could give with his screen face.

'Yes sir!'

Whilst everyone continues to go absolutely feral like hyenas with their high-pitched laughs, Rin starts digging through various chips and scraps of memories. Dirt on his brothers usually resided in the fourth farthest memory chip. One that Neon J would never be able to find. Possibly.

After some extremely thorough digging, he finally remembers something that wouldn't kill their careers in an instant.

"I've just remembered that special video we filmed during our 1st anniversary," Rin cuts in, a pleasant smile on his face. "We played Monopoly! Isn't that right, guys?"

Rin could almost consider his bandmates sadists by how quickly the colored LEDs in their eyes lit up.

"So right!"

They're brothers with a bond as thick as steel. Maybe that just makes it seem all the more normal to betray each other at every given moment.

Zimelu's face morphs into one of horror and Rin does his best to mask his almost malicious - and still undeniably hot as said by fans - smirk.

"And who ate all the cash in a fit of rage and accused Tatiana of capitalism when he lost?"

"Melu!" they grin.

"Hey!" Zimelu glares, "Aight I get that I'm not the best but that was like, what? A year ago?"

Rin looks over at Zimelu, smug and innocent at the same time. "Got nothing to say about the fansign incident, huh?"

He smiles a smile that curls in a way that spelt out 'Look at this. Hilarious. Pathetic. Just about the saddest thing I've seen'.

Rin watches Zimelu effectively mask his urge to throw Rin across the room, and then decides to juxtapose it himself with a calm and narrowed stare. Reminiscent of two soldiers on the opposite platoon. Playing Rambo during battle morphs into a big ol 'shoot me' sign.

Seeing as where the chances of survival are at the highest, it makes sense when Rin feels a small swell of satisfaction. However Future Rin would maim the rest of 1010 who watched with amusement that Present Rin noticed too late.

As if Neon J hadn't stressed it enough, even the smallest mistake in combat is fatal.

Zimelu mutters something under his breath and seemingly gives up. Rin takes that as a sign of defeat and lets out a small huff, putting his guard down before deciding to go back on the agenda. But then he catches Zimelu's stretched-out face zoom towards him out of the corner of his eye and they both crash to the ground.

The camera cuts off without missing a beat.

■|□|1010|□|■

A brief clip shows Rin instead taking a toy mallet and hitting everyone upside the head with it. A small squeak from the toy shows each connective bonk to the head had the definitely startled looks of the other 1010 members show it.

"It'll take more than being thrown to damage my handsomeness," he tuts, specifically at Zimelu - who rolls his eyes - before sitting back down on the couch, calmer. More satisfied.

Not to fuel stereotypes but Rin had a feeling he could overthrow the current regime if he wanted to. Maybe. If Neon J allowed him. He thought of it a couple of times, admittedly.

"I can't believe that actually hurt a bit," Eloni pouts as he reaches up to the donut hole in his hair and pulls out the mallet. His eyebrows knit together in thought with his next statement. ".. Did this get stuck in my hair?"

Ah, the poor boy. Rin and everyone else is pretty sure Eloni got the hairstyle he had because Neon J ran out of ideas. Cons of being the youngest.

Rin takes the mallet out of Eloni's hand, clapping a hand onto his shoulder as the other puts the toy back down on the coffee table.

"Maybe we should get your hair styled differently before our next concert," Rin supplies, and even without saying it explicitly, everyone else knows that'll never happen. It hurts everyone's soul to see each other go bald for a couple of days to change hairstyles. Then again, trying to persuade Neon J to find a better solution can't be too hard.

They're spoiled. Yes, they are aware.

"It's fine," Haym coos as he drapes an arm over Eloni's shoulder. "Who cares about your hair? Everyone likes donuts!"

"We should do a collab with Sayu and have Eli's hair decorated like a donut."

"I could make a song based on that premise," Purl-hew says, a holographic screen projecting from his glasses as he starts composing.

"But that'll be revealed at a later date," Rin smiles, effectively stirring the conversation back on track. "Let's-"

"Hey when did your sunglasses start projecting stuff?" Haym asks as he turns to the second eldest of the group. "J said those things aren't finished yet!"

Eloni lets out a scandalized gasp, " You stole that, didn't you?"

"Not so slick and stoic are you now!" Zimelu calls from where he dangles from the chandelier.

"Wait did… did you actually steal those?" Rin cuts in.

It's fiendish. Akin to snatching more cookies out of a cookie jar even when your dad tells you not to. Just because you can't actually eat the stuff doesn't mean that your supposed parental figure can just go and crush your dreams. Yinu's mom doesn't do that. Neon J shouldn't either.

Yes, Rin is calling out his cyborg dad in his head - Who cares if you can only feel the simulation of eating? Chocolate chip cookies are godsent dammit and-

And then he realizes he's getting way off topic. The whole 'can you even eat?' dilemma should really be discussed soon. At dinner preferably.

"... I was.. testing it?" Purl-hew says, raising a brow behind his sunglasses. "Manager Dad asked me to… yesterday. Maybe you all were too hungover on oil to remember."

Haym blinks at that, clearly confused with how his eyes widen slightly, "We're practically the same consciousne-"

Rin blinks, "Can it teleport stuff?" because that would be the coolest way to pop up on concerts.

Purl-hew shrugs and disappears with some sort of Matrix-style magic, reappearing just a few seconds after with snacks that he places onto the coffee table.

They proceed to scream at the sight together like the collective hive-mind that they are.

"Damn, and who said God isn't real?" Eloni says in awe.

"Would our fans like me to do this for them too, I wonder?" Purl-hew idly wonders, distantly looking towards the camera with a hand under his chin. "I wouldn't mind. If it'd make them smile.."

The rest of the boys instinctively pose too, winking. Something none of them would ever get tired at.

"Smile!"

"But woah, guess the teleport thingy does work," Eloni says, curiously picking up a bag of Shellfish. "Gucci."

"Yeah this is pretty legit," Rin whistles, picking up the cookie jar before turning to the camera. "Let's just remove this part out of the episode."

"Dad-J would definitely tear us a new one if he saw what we just did," Haym grins.

Everyone else laughs in agreement as they take snacks. Such a threat can be taken lightly.

"And if our editors don't edit this out," Rin says, suddenly striking a pose with everyone following along as a flirtatious look passes over them. "Don't tell Neon J, yeah?"

And then the editors proceed to leave that part of the episode unedited.

■|□|1010|□|■

1010 were sat down on the couch, glancing over at each other in silence. The snacks are nowhere to be seen. Nothing that can incriminate them of their crimes. Besides the footage.

Good.

Rin pulls on a fond smile before continuing where he had left off.

"So today we're playing Mafia! Simple stuff. Just need one mafia, one doctor, one cop, and sanity."

"The mafia is supposed to eliminate everyone without being caught. The citizens win when the mafia gets exposed like how Yinu called out Bunk Bed Junction last year!"

"But about the game, it shouldn't be too hard," Rin winks before turning back to the others who seemed to have loosened up the past couple of minutes.

He has a feeling that the recording is going to span for longer than the usual 20 minutes but everything considered, that should be the least of his worries right now.

"Our director will be choosing the roles so everyone close your eyes!" Rin calls, doing so himself with the rest promptly following along. "Let the game of mafia.."

Their voices blend in seamlessly together as they announce.

"Commence!"

■|□|1010|□|■

The day has broken and immediately everyone is up and accusing each other.

"Hi guys it's me Eloni. I promise I'm not the mafia."

"Hey guys I think Eli's the mafia," Haym says, narrowing his eyes at the green onion ring-haired boy.

Eloni jumps up and points an accusing finger at Haym, "No? I'm not? What is this clownery - I just said I wasn't? I breathed and apparently that's just too much of a sin for you guys."

Being the supportive brother that he is, Rin quickly adds, "Because you can still get all of our fans to swoon for you with a single breath!"

"With a single breath..!" they sing.

That day was the day Eloni got the most headpats from everyone. Rin can't really say anything wrong about that.

"Okay back to the game."

"Eli was being too defensive," Purl-hew observes, "What more evidence do we need?" he tilts his sunglasses down.

"You're one to talk!" Zimelu barks as he jumps down from the chandelier. Even though Rin was pretty sure that he wasn't there exactly 5.2 seconds ago.

"Not saying that Purl-hew isn't a suspect anymore but isn't Melu the most likely to be the mafia?" Haym supplies, throwing a pillow at the third oldest. "I mean c'mon!"

Ignoring the swaying of the chandelier and the probability of Zimelu falling - this is probably the most peaceful game they had so far.

Rin stews in the slowly growing chaos, biting into a cookie as he examines everyone. As the leader, he knew just about every quirk the other members of 1010 have. Including when they lie. And they all lie a lot.

His stare flicks over to Zimelu and Purl-hew, the two arguing with the former mostly leading it through increasingly violent gesturing and his literal motor-mouth.

'Melu accidentally spoiling our not-yet-released album while trying to accuse Purl… Haym looks ready to go half-bull and impale the nearest person, which.. wack but okay I guess.'

He narrows his eyes, quietly itching to get a bag of chips before quickly steering his attention back to the game.

'Eli's just vibing with the 10 green, sentient worms-on-a-string dad made him. Right, wholesome,' Rin makes sure to make some use out of the cameras in his eyes to snap a picture of the youngest. 'Get him some more fans like he deserves at least.'

Right so apparently, from what Rin can figure out, all these bitches be lying.

■|□|1010|□|■

"Do you really want to do this right now? Really just - fine fine fine I'm getting the bleach. Your hair boutta start looking like an uncooked onion ring just you wait."

"I didn't do anything wrong oh my NSR please I'm too young - why not Hew? He called your hair 'wack', didn't he?" Eloni sobs, praying to every existing god out there including Tatiana. "Please Melu have mercy for I am just a child."

Purl-hew scoffs, "It's a known fact that Zimelu looks like he has a crab's claw superglued onto his head, don't you dare put the blame on me-"

"Oh wow," Zimelu says, slow clapping as his eyes do a 360 degree eye roll. "So what does Haym's hair look like then, huh?"

"It's a banana," a worm-on-a-string continues to loop around Eloni's hair. "Choke on the hair! Choke on the hair!"

Haym grins as he starts joining the chant, approaching Zimelu with more than a threat.

Rin is still admittedly stewing in the middle of it all, only deciding to cut in every now and then when necessary. Which, was all the time.

"Look at these boys that I'm related to," he says to the camera, blatantly ignoring everyone else. "The same guys that managed to seduce almost all the women in Vinyl City. Now here they are. They're about to unknowingly commit homicide."

"HOMIECIDE," Eloni exclaims as he pops up on the camera. His almost proud smile was admittedly endearing.

"Melu killed Rin I'm sorry that is a Fact. He'd sell our souls to Justin Bieber for a corn chip which - no," Purl-hew deadpans.

"I can't believe you're all slandering me like this," Zimelu mutters, shooting everyone a glare before falling back with a groan of frustration. "Don't blame me if I make the choreography and raps harder."

■|□|1010|□|■

"You're just scared of Melu adding some weird gymnastic moves to the choreography!" Haym stands up from the couch and starts gesturing towards Purl-hew. Shaking him hard enough to practically hear the circuitry rattling inside him.

"This guy's been quiet the whole time! I ge that he's usually our stoic, aloof, genius composer bastard but damn his whole vibe doesn't vibe right.

Everyone else almost immediately bursts out laughing after. None of them even tried to make it sound refined which ended up filling the room with a cacophony of dying chickens.

"Okay okay," Haym coughs, lying back down with a satisfied sigh. "We're done."

"Our leader becomes the maknae when he's mad… the fans are definitely gonna make fun of you in the comments. They have ammo."

Purl-hew narrows his eyes as Eloni turns towards the camera with his wide boyish smile. "What nickname should we give Hewwie this time?! Personally, I think it should be-"

Purl-hew practically hurls himself at Eloni - who wheezes and thinks it was high time to skedaddle - right before Rin holds the second oldest back.

"Y'know, your determined - not to mention futile - attempts of holding up a reputation is admirable. But also funny."

"Sure, Plain Joe."

■|□|1010|□|■

Rin smiles triumphantly as he closes the lid of the large, modernized trashcan that he had wheeled into the room. Haym sits inside, looking out from where one of the sides had been cut out and fitted with glass.

"It's clean in there, right?" Eloni jokingly asks as he turns to face Haym. All he gets in response is golden LEDs glowing brighter in annoyance.

Rin laments with a snort on the scolding everyone is getting later by their dad.

"Calm down, Haym," Zimelu scoffs from where he was furiously break-dancing in the corner of the room marked as 'Dead People Jail'.

"It's just reality," everyone had sly grins on their faces as they casually mocked Haym.

"But hey," Zimelu winks at the camera, "If we had to be stuck in a room with any of you ladies, we wouldn't mind."

"Attention!"

"What were we doing again?" Eloni asks as he flops back down on the couch.

The room goes silent. It was almost quiet enough to hear the whirring and small sparks inside their head that it could almost seem certain that their heads were about to shut off from overdrive.

All took place in a matter of five seconds. It seems short, sure but it was honestly too long for any android to think.

"We were playing mafia!" Rin yells and throws everything into chaos.

"If it wasn't Melu then who could it be?" Eloni jumps up and almost immediately falls over the back of the couch. "Gasp.. no way… the mafia is the director! GUYS THE MAFIA IS OUR DIRECTOR AAA-"

"You genocidal M&Ms offed me too soon so good luck operating without a police!"

Purl-hew rolls his eyes as he takes a black M&M from where they were now scattered on the coffee table. "We don't really need a police."

"Try saying that to Tatiana and watch her get rid of the police force around here!" Zimelu barks back, "Everything's going to become free real estate!"

"It's free real estate," Eloni mouths in the background, smiling after.

■|□|1010|□|■

'Could this be classified as normal boyband behavior?' Rin ponders as decks Haym from across the room.

Amidst all the screams and borderline malicious laughter, he guesses that maybe it is. They're the only boyband in Vinyl City at the moment and so there isn't really a set standard.

"YOU'RE THE MAFIA YOU'RE THE MAFIA - THE NORMAL HAYM DOESN'T PICK UP CHAIRS LIKE THAT-"

Zimelu bursts back into the living room, brandishing a water gun and 'grenades' filled with gasoline. Being the type of android with no sense of self-preservation, Eloni runs at him brandishing a lamp with a shrill, autotuned battle cry.

Rin laments once more about the now 1010% probability that Neon J would dismantle them himself once the video is posted.

That shouldn't be his main focus as of now though. What is his main focus is the fact that Haym was charging at him bull-style with his sunshine golden hair looking more like a sword ready to impale him, put him over a fire, and roast him like a barbecue.

"You're our leader but that doesn't mean you should always stand alone - let me fill the hole in your heart!"

Rin immediately sidesteps him as everything almost seemed to go in slow motion. Haym slowly turns to look at him in disappointment as his legs still didn't seem to get the memo to stop.

"1010 members are my brothers," Rin smiles, discreetly putting his foot out in front of Bull Haym. "There is no hole to fill because of you all."

"Aww-!"

"But…" Rin mutters, looking at Haym with a comically fake glare of disdain, "No brother of mine could be a mafia."

Haym proceeds to crash into Eloni right into the futuristic trashbin still in the living room. Seeing his chance, Zimelu doesn't waste time as he picks up and throws a grenade, eyes and grin wide as it as water rains down.

Shrieks from the two youngest members add to the lovely melody that is of the mess of their mafia game session.

Rin was just about to go and throw Zimelu out on the balcony but a soft yet stern voice passes over the room.

"I'm… moved to actual tears that you guys don't use even a single braincell dad gave you. So here, I'll just say it - I'm the mafia, you idiots," Purl-hew states.

In an instant, everyone zeroes in on Purl-hew, and Rin feels like some sort of instinct poking at the lump of metal and circuits in his head. That, and just blatant offense because how dare he.

Guess Neon J didn't exactly remove all traces of their past programming.

Purl-hew doesn't show any sign of fear, not in his stance or eyes and literally any part of him that could indicate being worried of murder. He levels an aloof gaze with all of them from where he was casually perched on one of their sofa chairs, amidst all the chaos around him. Really shows how ready he is to disown all of them if he could.

Rin blinks as everyone's LEDs glow brighter.

"THE ENEMY IS IN A VULNERABLE POSITION. ABANDON MORALS. ATTACK."

They all lunge at Purl-hew without a second thought. The guy had it coming. Sooner or later.

■|□|1010|□|■

stan1010tentimes
Istg they all got a loose screw in their heads.. I luv them I hope they never change ♡

👍1K likes 👎3 dislikes 🗨47 comments

1010>2020
nobody:
not even NSR:
Rin:*tosses Haym into a trashcan*
Everyone else: this is normal~

edit1: I didn't expect this to get 1k likes wtf ok anyways sTAN THESE HARDWORKING BOIS

stream their new song CIRCUTE ♡♡♡
👍1.9K likes 👎5 dislikes 🗨20 comments

MintSTICK
Eli was an absolute cinnamon roll this whole episode I'm absolutely THRIVING from his cute ass smile??? My pores are clear and my crops have grown. Stan 1010 but also stan Eloni pls he deserves love

👍200K likes 👎2 dislikes 🗨1K comments

✨🍯sweethoneybubbles🍯✨
Sayu and 1010 should collab!!!! Like if you agree! Honestly besides the obvious reasons

Imagine the funky and cutecore music they'd make!

👍1.2 likes 👎1 dislikes 🗨19 comments

RedAndroidHood👀
I too breakdance in the corner of the room but the difference here is that I breakdown ✨✨✨

👍2K likes 👎1 dislikes 🗨100 comments

🍑peachB🍑
Most of the episode has been everyone constantly trying to expose each other than the actual mafia-playing I 👀👀👀

👍1.4K likes 👎6 dislikes 🗨25 comments

youmakemyballssoblue
Rest in peace, Purl-hew. You will be missed by us stans dearly

👍928 likes 👎2 dislikes 🗨17 comments

Chapter Text

Stakeouts at 10 AM [The Mysterious Case of Purl-hew Blue (aka Fashion Bastard Man)]

Something seems off about Purl-hew this particular day. At this particular hour. 1 in the morning.

Eloni lays in his bed, staring up at the speckled ceiling above him littered with stars and actual constellations, blinking in and out of existence. Mr. Supernova had implemented them into all of 1010's room, actually. Something to simulate the night sky even amongst their neon surroundings.

The green android closes his eyes, humming a small tune as he thought. Too many thoughts have always prevented his systems from shutting down long enough for a restful charge.

The eldest of 1010 has sparked some collective nerve these days. Nerves of curiosity that have been rekindled simply out of the sheer force of 1010's natural nosiness. And exceptional memory (about certain things).

Eloni chalked it up during the day as things like his sunglasses being more opaque than usual, or the metal on his joints getting more scuffed and scratched because of the ever-increasing frequency of his brothers' urges to convince Dad J to give them the ability to shapeshift.

As if Neon J was some warlock and not an electrical engineer.

'Maybe… maybe he grew a bit if stubble?' Eloni's motherboard helpfully supplies. Of course, it isn't actually very helpful at all. The only thing it managed to do was decrease Eloni's IQ exponentially, again.

'But it's okay. Being a dummy sometimes is okay because I can do algebra faster than everyone else,' Eloni smiles to himself at that.

A frown soon returns however, as the increasingly frustrating pursuit of an answer disrupts his peace of mind.

"I probably need a snack.." Eloni mumbles, gingerly slinking out of his bed. The blanket slides right off too and comes right back around to wrap around his shoulders, Major Stuffy Buns the rabbit coming into the android's sleepy hold.

Heavy, metal footsteps echo out into Baracca Mansion. The quiet - or the 10% decrease in quiet considering the house is located in the busiest area of Vinyl City - it just gives Eloni more time to think.

His vision goes Dark Mode, and every photograph, every award, and every record he's broken with his brothers is highlighted.

Eloni squints at one of the photographs.

"Did.. Dad J scribble on a six pack with a marker?" he whispers in slight shock.

And lo-and-behold is the infamous Instant Six-Pack of Neon J as he stands in the middle of the boys.

The ocean behind them clearly depicts the image of a beach. A summer vacation that did not go well by any conventional means. By the end of it all, everyone was covered in marker scribbles with the fans mercilessly making edits of every selfie they've done that week. Every. Single. Selfie.

If Major Stuffy Buns was alive, they'd never survive as their torso is completely shattered in the android's cringe-induced hold.

Eloni continues to walk further down the hall, switching hallways and corridors as he makes his way towards the kitchen. He greets the ghost stuck in the flower pot, and goes about his mission to feast on the pack of Snickers he hid in the back of the 30th cupboard.

Look, he doesn't know why they have a big ass kitchen either. None of them were masters chefs. They'd all burn Baracca Mansion down in a heartbeat themselves if even a little bit of oil decided to be a little bitch and jump out at them like they were playing some deranged game of peek-a-boo.

Eloni now fully understands why Neon J constantly tells them how he regrets giving them flamethrowers in their mouths. Personally, Eloni just uses it to make Instant Smores. Sometimes he uses it to set one of the fireplaces aflame during winter whenever it gets too cold and everyone's asleep and his internal heaters don't work too well.

10 mundane reflections later and soon Eloni pops right on over to the entrance of Baracca Mansion's newest kitchen.

So in short, another large fireplace.

Eloni hums a small tune to himself as he goes to the cupboard, opening it up as he starts rummaging through the contents.

'That one fan at the fansign was pretty nice!' says one of his brain cells. And admittedly, it's a nice thought, so he lets that one snowball into an entire train of thinking.

'She gave a couple of plushies - that she said she even made herself! That's like - the cutest and neatest thing!'

A box of Snickers in hand, Eloni happily munches on a bar of it. His cheeks softly glow, making them reminiscent of the neon lights the Metro Division District is known for. Those were the days 1010 used to share a room as they stared out on their balcony, admiring the city life. Ah, the days when Baracca Mansion was not a Pac Man maze of horrors.

All really was good and fine.

Except when Eloni felt a button being pressed to the side of his head and instantly a sense of terror overwhelms him when he realizes he couldn't scream. His systems were screaming - 'AAAAA SOMEONE'S GONNA KIDNAP YOU AND STEAL THE RING ON YOUR HEAD. RED ALERT RED ALERT-'

"NO!" he mutely screams. The box of Snickers is long abandoned as Eloni whips around, this is followed up by him quickly finding the perpetrator and freaking out even more.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I'M STILL SO YOUNG," he sobs, pulling every Chuck Norris move on the air as he tries to stave off the looming figure over him.

"... H-"

"I'M CALLING DAD."

In a moment of confusion - or utter disappointment? - Mystery Man pauses. Bad move. Eloni takes this as the moment to step on the bastard's feet as if it'd do something. And it does.

The top of Mystery Man's head flips right open and in shock - Eloni left hooks him and runs out of the kitchen fearing for his life. It's a slightly less bad of a move compared to earlier. He did his best and got out with his life, but not his voice. It's fine, Ariel had always been his role-model.

Purl-hew watches in unamusement, of course, picking up the Snickers box and taking a bar out.

"He should've been an actor," he says, stopping the recording on his phone before unwrapping a Snicker's bar. Ripe with the flavor of Eloni's terror.

□|■|1010|■|□

"Aight where the fuck are my airpods," Zimelu yells as he runs into the living room, throwing everything out of his way in his search for the little white speaker beans.

Haym snorts, looking up from his phone. "Dude, we don't know."

"Why do you need airpods anyways?" Rin adds, raising a brow. Though he clearly doesn't look up at Zimelu, instead focusing his attention on the bowl pasta floating amongst some Sprite.

That insults Zimelu, who snatches the bowl - to Haym's utter amusement - and chugs that motherfucker like he was a fangirl witnessing 1010 dance live.

His consciousness passes through the 5th dimension - therefore completely obliterating the Dream Fever District and uppercutting Eve on accident - but that doesn't matter because where the fuck are his damn airpods-

"Hey Aristotle," Haym grins, shifting his position so that he takes up all the space of the couch. "Stop thinking so hard about like, those reverse earplugs, you're gonna give yourself brain damage."

"And we all know what happens when Melu gets brain damage," Rin snorts, doing extremely unenthusiastic jazz-hands that'd make even the happiest man frown.

Zimelu rolls his right shoulder in preparation to punch the next person that speaks.

"He.. he gets dummy…?" Eloni supplies, eyebrows downturned in an expression that clearly depicts every good and innocent thing in the world.

Zimelu dislocates his right shoulder in order to avoid the person that spoke.

"... Dude what the fuck."

"Whatever," Zimelu scoffs, raising both his middle fingers at Rin and Haym, whilst sparing a thumbs-up for Eloni. "I'm finding Purl, bet that dollar store Johnny Bravo has them."

And so he walks away with a grudge growing with every step. This was a mistake though, as he stews in his frustration that no amount of his brain cells can quell, Purl-hew passes by no problem.

With a paintbrush in his hand as he paints the airpods Shrek green.

'He's an idiot if he thought I wouldn't get back at him,' Purl-hew belatedly thinks, side-glancing the red android that continues to walk farther away.

'But I suppose I should expect nothing less.'

□|■|1010|■|□

Fuck.

That word continues to echo out more or less as Haym paces back and forth.

Right next to him is the limo. The same limo 1010 takes to their concerts and tours. The exact limo that they'll be using later that evening. Was there a problem? Of course there was. Haym was there, and his brothers could justify that he is the problem.

His feral rat instincts say to go full-on Prey Mode and bite (and or stab) the first person he sees and make the limo his new den. Right, yes. Neon J can't lecture him if he isn't exactly himself to begin with.

His slightly more reasonable android side however, says the exact same thing.

"Oh shit I forgot I'm the literal textbook definition of a rat," Haym curses, plopping right down next to the limo with his legs jittering to get him away from the scene of the crime.

"Wait… I'm Haym of 1010. I'm a smooth-talker. I can bullshit my way out of this. Just gotta butter them up with compliments and let the news out smoothly."

Haym does a few poses while turning on his Seductively Sexy Voice.

"Heeey~ Dad J - ew fuck gross no no no - that was not the vibe I was going for."

He clears his throat, prepping up a new attempt.

Haym seductively frames his face - a mistake he doesn't notice until later - and whispers in his huskiest voice, "Can I do anything in exchange for you to not yell at me?-"

"WHAT THE FUCK," Zimelu screeches.

"I JUST SAID DON'T FUCKING YELL AT MEeEeEe WHY DOESN'T ANYONE LISTEN-"

"DISGUSTING - DON'T YOU EVER SLANDER DAD J LIKE THAT AGAIN," Zimelu screams as he lifts up a trash can.

Haym's fight or… well, fight instincts kick in and soon he finds himself hurtling towards Zimelu. Fuck life, he's a rat. Cats think they're above it all but they weren't the ones that spread the ✨~bubonic plague~✨.

In lieu of the new found chaos, a blue android gets up from where he was hidden on the other side of the limo, sledgehammer in hand as he walks away.

His sunglasses glint in the sunlight as he reminisces in letting off some steam. On the limo.

They're rich. It's fine. Besides, if anyone had the possibility of getting massacred by Neon J, it'll be on Haym. Perks of being the only one with an independent brain cell.

□|■|1010|■|□

Sometimes, Rin genuinely gets upset.

It could be that someone has taken the last KitKat without telling him - as if he wouldn't be able to find out anyways because it's definitely not like there's security cameras everywhere.

(It's what Eloni usually does. Rin can never bring himself to get mad at his younger brother so he just lets it slide, even if he was extremely burnt out too.)

It gets on his nerves when he constantly finds everything in disarray and how everyone just dumps all the cleaning up onto him. He's an idol for Tatiana's sake! Not some glorified Roomba with legs. If he was, Neon J probably wouldn't have put that much effort into making his hair.

In short, if Rin was just some cleaning bot, he'd be slightly more attractive than any of the security robots outside, but he'd be less attractive than his brothers. He would've been bald.

(This is to say that he doesn't only ever decks Haym out of fun. Or out of making a bit more views and making their fans laugh. It's out of how much his consciousness wants to hurl everyone, including himself, into the sun sometimes.)

It's almost exhausting. Zimelu is… Zimelu. A force of nature. If 1010 was ranked by who the strongest was or who had the shortest temper - it'd be Zimelu.

Rin knows for a fact that if he wasn't as cunning as Neon J had made him, he never would've managed to quell the red android's fiery… everything. He's almost just as chaotic as Haym in a sense.

It's entertaining most of the time, and also undoubtedly has the ability to carry out a whole segment if Rin didn't feel like interfering.

But unnecessary fights are only ever unnecessary. It only ends in more comical scratches, bent metal, and another lecture from Neon J. Rin doesn't care that much about those things though. What really bothers him is how quickly hostilities could be built up in literally just a 20 minute fight.

Rin stares up at the sunset, a whorl of reds and yellows that blend in seamlessly like one of Eve's paintings. Their schedule has finally been cleared out an hour ago, and his systems had immediately piloted over to their first swimming pool. As of now, he lays on a dolphin floatie. The swimming pool carries him on.

He feels weightless despite being made of metal. And also despite the looming paranoia of accidentally falling off of the floatie and into the water if he doesn't balance himself right.

Being a leader is exhausting but at least he isn't Neon J - I.e. having to be the father of children that never knew peace the day disorder was allowed. Tatiana, bless his soul.

He hears something off to the side - more specifically a clanging noise. Rin feels the urge to dive right into the pool himself instead of confronting whatever eldritch being had decided to confront him today.

Except it wasn't an eldritch being. Nor was it a normal being.

Most - including Rin himself - thought it'd be the devil himself but it was them.

1010.

'Please tell me they aren't here to shove me off this dolphin,' he chants in his head, watching from the corner of his eye as his brothers approach him.

Okay there's a hand he's done. Rin boutta join Sayu in the Akusuka District the second he plunges into the pool-

Zimelu grabs a-hold of the dolphin's tail, reeling it in,"... Yo bro, you aight or?" he asks, eyebrows furrowed and a frown set deep onto his features.

Rin mirrors his expression, except more confused than concerned. ".. Wut?"

"You… were…" Eloni starts, twiddling with his fingers which resound as little clinks. "I mean you just felt… off. I mean you…! Your whole vibe's just weird."

Haym follows up right after him, arms crossed as he looks to be in a slight daze. Definitely from the rumble between him and Melu earlier. Maintenance can do things to them.

"Which - like, really? Our cool badass leader feeling not-so badass but cool stuff? Not on my watch."

Rin raises a brow.

"... Really?"

"Yeah! You seemed like.. super sad. And that's just - no, so we should have fun!"

Zimelu looks down, groaning. The next few seconds go by in silence, but not for long.

"You're one big dumbass if you think we didn't notice all your sulking. Eloni and Haym were practically muttering 'Rin's a legit mood' the whole day."

"... He was though," Haym points out, sitting down on one of the fold-out chairs, before turning to him. "Just-"

"Shut up you're high and anything you say next would end up being an insult," Zimelu glares, eliciting a long, annoyed groan from Haym.

"Suck ass."

Rin frowns, and immediately Zimelu sighs.

"I seriously respect you, man. I mean… you're stupid sometimes but sometimes being stupid got us out of that problem with the airport security during our summer vacation."

It's impossible to forget, that was the obvious thing. Rin's face just scrunches up as he remembers how he had to lie through his teeth - just so Eloni didn't get arrested by the officers after punting a grown man across the airport.

God, Eloni should be glad that Rin shares the same hairstyle with every other man in existence.

"You seem to be having a nice moment there, Rin-Rin," Haym snorts, "Thinking about that time a fan spotted us at the airport and tried to seductively suck a banana in front of me? Followed by choking on it?"

"I felt really bad for her…" Eloni pouts.

Rin pats the youngest's shoulder, "She did some real violent gestures that involved pulling your ring out. Maybe you shouldn't. You should've wished the banana was longer."

"If there even was a banana to begin with," Zimelu says as his eyebrows do that cool worm dance move.

As the four continue on with the increasingly erotic innuendos involving bananas, it finally clicks within Rin's mind.

There's only four of them.

"Idiots," Purl-hew says, tilting his sunglasses down as he shifts his position slightly on the pizza floatie. "We don't have d-"

□|■|1010|■|□

"... I can't believe none of you noticed that I had been here the whole time."

"My usual notification system said nothing about you being nearby!" Rin exclaims, wielding the almighty Pool Cleaning Staff.

Rin's continuous attempt to catch the blue android only makes the water jostle the floatie he's on, but Purl-hew continues to remain unfazed. "You forgot to unmute the notifications after our concert."

"But - but you were with us a few seconds ago!" Eloni points out, scrambling around before picking up and throwing a stick at the water. The swimming pool doesn't appreciate that, so it splashes back at Eloni, who screams and falls back into the jacuzzi.

"Your alertness can be greatly affected by how much sleep you get last night," Purl-hew flips through a fashion magazine, examining the contents. "Which you've got exactly three hours of, or less."

"We asked Dad J where you were and he ain't got a clue either," Zimelu barks out, pointing an accusatory finger at Purl-hew. "And we know nothing gets past him!"

This was almost too easy. So pathetically easy. Elementary questions.

And he never even went to elementary school.

"Maybe," he says, shutting the magazine with a sigh, "If… you had asked him while he was less occupied. Dad J was juggling helping you find your airpods while… talking to DJSS on the phone."

"Drats!" the red android screams into the sky, seagulls flying overhead. Yes, seagulls. In the Metro Division District.

But then everything pauses, and this is where things get slightly downhill for Purl-hew. It was coming eventually. Always has been. He'll take his defeat stubbornly however, just like how Neon J had always taught them.

"But… why?" Rin starts, looking over at him with the most confused - not to mention frazzled - expression the white android had ever looked. Purl-hew feels his resolve cracking, only slightly.

"Why put in this much effort to.. I don't know, fuck us over? I mean we had it coming but this… no offense though, it's really mundane. Like damn. I would've wanted to go out with a bang."

"Hell yeah!" Zimelu yells, doing a roundhouse kick on one of the foldable chairs. It explodes but no one cares. "You shoulda made us fight to the death! Pussy, couldn't stage our demise in a cool way. Boo!"

Dear Tatiana. What is happening. Or should he even be asking anymore?

Purl-hew sighs, shaking his head with a smile. An albeit annoyed one, but annoyance and adoration come hand-in-hand with 1010.

Eloni lays on the ground, eyes closed. Apparently he was summing his worms on a string. They pick Haym off the ground easily and start swinging him around like he was a worm on a string.

Horrifying, but he's used it.

Purl-hew quickly sends out a message to Neon J, informing him that he and his brothers were by the first swimming pool. They're gonna be here for a while.

"ELONI STOP IT," Haym screams, holding onto his hair for dear life.

Zimelu continues to scream at Purl-hew for answers. Unwise, as he's wasting all his energy and straining his voice box. So he flips him off to get him to stop. Zimelu doesn't - and like a cat, he only gets louder with an even bigger looming threat that he'd burn his room to the ground.

The blue android opens up a compartment in the pizza floatie, getting a pizza box out.

"Dude stop hiding pizza in there!" Rin yells from the other side of the pool, and gets The Bird for his efforts.

"FASHION BASTARD MAN I WILL REPLACE YOUR CIRCUITRY WITH TEETH."

Damn no one can take a joke nowadays, huh?

Haym continues to scream. Purl-hew takes a pizza out as he starts taking a video of the yellow android.

"I RAISED YOUUUUUU," damn, the worms are really going at him.

"I'M BASICALLY YOUR SECOND SET OF PARENT-"

Eloni's dramatic sobs got better, Purl-hew notes as he makes sure to zoom in on him. He'll be posting everything later. Social media truly is just public blackmail.

"NO WONDER I'M SO UGLY," Eloni screeches, sliding down a wall as his cries automatically autotune.

"DON'T SLANDER ME LIKE THIS ELONI."

"Oh shit fuck shit - oh my Tatiana - fuck - Rin."

"Rin, I think I tossed the cooler off the roof," Zimelu wheezes, crouching down with his hands interlocked in a way that truly represents what fear and hysteria is like.

Purl-hew knows, but he snorts anyways. Looking back at the magazine in his hand though, one might start to notice that he's on the cover. The rest of 1010 is too but that ain't about them.

It's all a joke though, of course.

'I've… tried to organize a scenario in which we'd all be in the same place.'

"What the fuck, Melu."

'Doing so made me try to execute all three different plans in the same day and at exactly different times. All was done so in an effort to not be caught.'

"Oh.. oh my Tatiana - Haym are you okay I'm so sorry-"

"Yep no that's fine, Eloni. This is fine. Totally not like my face now has a huge dent in it, oh no."

'Yet for what reason?'

"Rin! I - I kinda messed up Haym's face - I didn't mean to though!"

"Cain didn't mean to kill Abel either!"

"What the fuck. Who and who did what."

'Because they're my brothers?'

"Okay okay um… nobody tell Dad J! Call Mr. Supernova. He does machine stuff. He can fix a slightly battered face-"

"Mr. Supernova? Perfect! Because right now my face is starting to look like a crater thanks to an asteroid named Eloni-"

"Hahahaha - yeah you look kinda ugly there."

"MELU."

'... Yeah. I suppose so.'

Purl-hew takes his sunglasses off, smiling at the sight of all of 1010 together, adding more to the noise filtering out into the evening.

'They all deserve to be happy too. The past few months were stressful enough.'

"You're all practically running on an abacus for a brain but… Happy advanced birthday, guys. Here's to hoping you all develop a better sense of fashion."

The water violently tosses him off of his pizza floatie, but arms quickly reach to pull him up. 1010 laughs, bobbing in and out of the water like rainbow apples.

"Couldn't even say it to our faces, huh?" Zimelu taunts with a grin on his face.

Purl-hew rolls his eyes, scoffing, "You all knew anyways. What was the point exactly?"

"Still though! Woulda been more heartwarming," Eloni cheers, water splashing around him as he throws his hands up.

Haym just shrugs, grin just as cheeky as a conman's. "True. Mike Wazowski here has a point."

"Exactly," Rin clears his throat as everyone links their hands together. "In a week, everyone's gonna start screaming-"

□|■|1010|■|□

BLUEBIRD TRENDING TAGS:

#HAPPYADVANCEDBIRTHDAY1010
#THE1010PROJECT
#OCTOBER10TH,VINYLCITY
#STREAMCIRCUTE♡♡♡

□|■|1010|■|□

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!~"

Chapter Text

"STREAM THEIR NEW ALBUM AAAAAA OUR BOYS DID SO GREAT! I'M SOBBING - THEY GROW UP SO FAST."

"IT WAS JUST LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY WHEN THEY'VE MOONWALKED INTO OUR LIVES DROPPING A BOP FROM THE HEAVENS."

"Dude. Late? To a 1010 party? That's gonna go on until 12 in the afternoon tomorrow. I'd say we can hit up a burger stand first."

Vinyl City is up in flames. Neon flames, that is. Totally hypothetical and nonexistent flames. Because honestly it might as well be, considering all the buzz and chatter winding around the whole city - not to mention the Metro Division District itself.

The streets bustle with more life than usual once the residents of other districts started crowding around too.

Streamers are strung expertly around Baracca Mansion. The night reigns on and plunges the Metro Division District into all its neon splendor and flashing lights.

The very first floor is taken over by the speakers blaring out every 1010 song in existence. Dedicated fans absolutely shredding their vocal cords as they follow along with the lyrics and fanchants. Truly showcasing a fanbase ever so loyal.

It's important, after all. October 10th marks an extremely wondrous day.

But see… where could the boys of the hour possibly be? Well, they were at first scattered around Baracca Mansion after being swept up and separated the moment the gates were opened to let the rampaging fans inside. That was the only logical answer.

Luckily enough, the trackers Neon J had implemented into them had been proven useful - despite 1010's slight protest that it seemed super overprotective - and had finally managed to gather the boys into the living room. No unnecessary hijinks. At least in the last fifteen seconds.

Neon J taps the mic more times than necessary, effectively breaking up the music.

"Attention everyone!" Neon J starts.

1010 are essentially vibrating with excitement in the background as Neon J goes about explaining what he's explaining.

They whisper and wheeze amongst themselves in a certain type of way like their whole birthday celebration is all a setup for them to pull the biggest prank.

Haym takes to scooping up some confetti and throwing it at the rest of his brothers.

"Okay so just fuck our big day huh?" Zimelu grits his teeth - or well.. metal plates - throwing his hands up as he adjusts the red, dotted party hat on his head. Which more so is laying flat sideways on his mohawk.

Somewhere in the crowd, Mama covers Yinu's ears.

Eloni says nothing, opting for innocently looking around before picking a chicken nugget off of a tray from a waiter passing by.

"Wait so why are we on stage again?"

"I dunno," Rin shrugs, watching as Zimelu's party hat slowly slides down his mohawk. "Maybe we're supposed to jump into the loving arms of all our dearest fans?"

"YES THAT'S EXACTLY THE PLAN," a fangirl screeches, everyone else soon erupting in screams testifying to how they can use their collective strength to carry tons of metal.

Purl-hew glances off to the side.

"Well… Melu has rolled up his nonexistent sleeve for the fifth time and Haym is.. preoccupied with scuttling around the stage to provoke him."

"Dad J's busy and we'll maybe sorta not get another chance at this again..."

The rest of the boys look over at each other as wide grins spread across their face. The fans join in on the countdown like the catalysts of disasters that they are.

"One!" Rin yells, a sly grin on his face as he watches the fans echo his chant.

The other NSR Megastars start making their way towards the back to be as disconnected as possible from the brewing disaster.

"Two!"

"Mayday you can't actually be serious," Zuke deadpans as he struggles to reign the guitarist in.

Mayday screeches, frantically doing some convoluted dance to release the hold on her wrist. "Everyone's gonna help too, Zuke! This isn't dangerous!"

"Three-!"

"FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN-" Haym yells, immediately dashing off the stage- "COWABUNGA!"

"Dear God, soldier - are you trying to incapacitate yourself and your fans?!" Neon J barks out. "Get back up here-!"

The inconspicuous warning sign that Neon J had planted into his sentence was proven to be, well, too inconspicuous. Purely because the rest of the boys don't let him get another word in before they're doing Olympic dives into the loving arms of their fans.

"YOU GUYS DIDN'T INCLUDE ME INTO THAT!"

"NOT MY FAULT THAT YOU'RE AN IMPATIENT RAT AND DECIDED TO JUMP IN FIRST."

"Woah.. how is everyone carrying us…?"

"Damn.. yeah! Do you guys lift weights or anything?" Rin calls down to the cast of people miraculously holding them up through sheer willpower and fan-ly motivation.

It was as if every ounce of Redbull and chips had manifested into a legit powersource.

"Oh, well, nothing really is heavier than the weight of my grades!" one girl supplies, smiling so cheerily that Rin had a look of incredulity pass over his face.

"Hey!" a guy yells behind her, "What's heavier is the feeling you get when all the Purl-hew merch runs out! NOTHING CAN IMITATE THE FEELING OF DESPAIR. NOTHING."

1010 glance over at each other, now sending messages via their internal chatrooms.

WATERMELU: ok what the fuck.

Shrek Onion Ring: DAD J COME PICK ME UP I'M SCARED

yayayayayam: absolute MOOD

The First Plain Hoe: I'm like…

The First Plain Hoe: extremely concerned

WATERMELU: man at least our fans got balls lmao

yayayayayam: Damn does our merch really sell out that easily like fr tho

Bastard Man: I found the candy wrapper you threw out the other day

yayayayayam: ???

Bastard Man: I found it on Etsy selling for billions

yayayayayam: yoooo

yayayayayam: hELL YEAH

Neon J: SOLDIERS

WATERMELU: F A C K

Shrek Onion Ring: DAD J HI

WATERMELU: CAPTAIN DAD J

The First Plain Hoe: DAD J

Bastard Man: sir dad j hey

yayayayayam: aYE AYE CAPTAIN

Neon J: WE HAVE A SCHEDULE

Neon J: GET BACK ON STAGE SO WE CAN BEGIN THE Q&A SEGMENT

The First Plain Hoe: damn deadass

Shrek Onion Ring: WE ALMOST FORGOT

Neon J: I AM WELL AWARE OF THAT FACT

Neon J: NOW BOYS, WE GOT A LONG NIGHT AHEAD OF US

Shrek Onion Ring: HrmmemrndmmEm

Bastard Man: aight let's get this bread

■|□|1010|□|■

The middle of the living room has elevated to form some sort of stage, all smooth black with small but bright LEDs decorating it to match just about every other modern surface in the mansion. It has bared witness to… a lot of questionable things. A Q&A segment would be nothing in comparison.

"Oooookay everybody!" Rin calls, voice loud enough to reach farther beyond the crowd. His grin against his metal face is so unmistakably his, just without the hint of underlying seduction.

"Tonight is the night you guys get to see us live, completely free and honest to answer questions! We'd make a video but… it's our birthday. Our wonderful fans deserve so much love that a couple of videos can't ever convey."

The aforementioned fans are washed over by a tsunami of emotions. They sniffle while some are already bursting dams. Smile all quietly even as the others take to shortly exclaiming their love and reassurance.

1010 smile, hands clasped behind their backs while their heating systems mimic the warmth of every sincere comment rippling into the atmosphere.

Rin places a hand to his chest, grinning still, "And plus, since it's only exclusive to today, whatever embarrassing thing we might say or do that you guys would accuse us of won't have a spot of evidence."

"We love you guys, like a lot but the memories of our INFI:NIGHT era comeback is…" Haym cringes, making the scene of sending actual electricity spark out.

"... My old hairstyle? It's dead, please. Let it rest. The rat-tail is dead."

"WE'LL NEVER LET RAT-TAIL ERA HAYM DIE."

"Sometimes I can't believe the most defining part of that era was that… really questionable design choice," Purl-hew mutters.

Zimelu snorts meanwhile, "Honestly, that was the day Haym realized his true calling and embraced it-"

"SEE PEOPLE?!" Rin cries, a bot rolling a couch onto the stage before leaving. "THE STUPID THINGS WE DO TEARS US APART DAY BY DAY."

"Yeah!" a fan calls out, "They do."

"I mean that's the kinda content we've been into for years."

"I'd… honestly be more shocked if you guys started not acting like a bunch of… rabid shitposters. Or something."

The following resounding sounds of agreement stuns the boys into silence.

But then-

"Nooo - you guys weren't supposed to agree!" Eloni sobs, voice cracking as he flings himself onto the couch.

"Our very own fans are slandering us!"

"I can't believe you guys. I am pained and damn isn't this more worrying than when someone told us that we look the same."

"WE ONLY SPEAK THE TRUTH."

"What truth can that possibly be?!" Zimelu barks out, the playfulness in his words hiding behind an over-exaggerated personality. "We're not so far gone yet!"

"THE TRUTH IS THAT THE CRACKHEAD ENERGY HAS FULLY BEEN TAPPED INTO!"

"WE AREN'T TOO PUSSY TO BE HONEST, MY DUDES."

Purl-hew can only look down, resting his elbows on top of the backrest belonging to their couch. His forehead rests against his clasped hands as if praying for the fans to always be themselves, all the while his shoulders are practically vibrating with silent cackles.

Rin wipes away nonexistent tears taking a few deep breaths that echo out into the room and somehow eliciting more wheezes and laughs from their audience.

"Okay okay - we get it. We're idiots-"

"LOVEABLE IDIOTS!" someone screams, making the boys smile despite their smile not being able to stretch more than they can.

"Not as loveable as our beloved fans!~" they sing, doing just about series of poses ranging from '💓😍🔥👀👀💓🔥🔥🔥' to '🌻✨❤💛💚♡💙'

To something like - '🐁🤖👽👺🙊'.

Wack.

Rin sighs, finally gathering himself back up into a calm state. He smiles and once again, speaks.

"Buuut! Point is, Q&A so ask us anything - and okay since it's our birthday and we wanna give back to the most loyal and best fanbase in the world, videos are unrestricted…"

A pause stills the air.

"But don't share them on literally any social media app because we will end up seeing them," Zimelu adds, crossing his arms as he sends a glare with no real threat behind it.

"Cuz then we're gonna start speaking a different language and not add subtitles to our videos!" Eloni jokingly says, smiling as he keeps his laughs in.

The whole crowd gasps.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes we would!"

The bilingual fans don't comment.

■|□|1010|□|■

A fan then raises their hand after everyone has settled down for a bit, despite the air vibrating with just the same amount of energy a class that drank 10 cups of black coffee would have.

"Hey 1010! Happy birthday you guys! So is Oct 10 really your birthday and were you guys even created on the same day? Also I love all of you guys, I absolutely cannot choose a favorite cuz you guys attract a very specific part of my heart."

A bit of "Ooo"s erupt from the crowd as the boys form a circle and whisper amongst each other, even jokingly peeking to look back at the audience. Their impromptu and most definitely nonexistent meeting (in which they've really just made random murmuring sounds like gargling sock puppets) finally comes to an end and they face everyone else with a smile.

"First-! We love you too! And the rest of you too. Without you guys - and we mean by that including all of you - there would be no 1010. Charters of a single district. There wouldn't be… this. You know-"

The members take turns speaking, not fumbling for an answer as they come out naturally and from the depths beyond just circuitry and complex programming.

"Honesty."

"Brotherhood."

"Inside jokes."

"The Metro Division District itself… like credits to Dad J though, he works super hard - like I saw him working in the middle of the night making some cool wings for our next MV-"

"There also wouldn't be any idiots casually spoiling our plans but," Zimelu snorts, bopping Haym upside his head. "Can't have everything."

"Grand darnitting Quasa do I always need to be smacked around?" Haym hisses, swinging his leg just to smack the behind of the red android's knee joints.

Metal crashes into metal and Zimelu unceremoniously buckles and comes crashing down onto the floor.

"Actually," Rin starts, plopping right down next to Rin on the couch. "We were all built on October 10th. Just on different… years of October 10th."

Haym smiles and nods, gesturing over to Neon J in the crowd. "Takes a lotta complex programming, a lotta time, and stuff to modify androids as exquisite as us! Dad J is gonna need at most a year."

"If only we can say the same thing about Melu cleaning his room," Eloni jabs right in, which has the two eldest snickering.

Zimelu scoffs as he punches the green android's arm - not enough to actually make the metal cave in though.

"But I mean also regarding the question," Eloni laughs, crossing his legs as he looks up in thought. "Purl is actually the oldest! A lotta people think it's Rin because… he's… uh.."

"Don't be afraid to say it, Eli," Zimelu snorts as he pats his shoulder. "Just say plain."

Eloni doesn't actually take those words and instead says, "That's.. why he looks.. like… himself! Fluffy white hair suits him."

Rin sighs, hugging the youngest, "Eli you are seriously my favorite bro."

Haym gasps, all eyes widening and a hand reaching up to cover his mouth, "I thought I was your favorite bro!"

"Yeah bro. You are. You're all my favorite bro."

"Bro."

"Okay anyways so moving on, that's why Purl's super funky. Not as funky cool as me but yeah," Zimelu says, tone bored as he rests against his folded arms behind his back.

Seeing his cue, Rin immediately adds, "Our official list of oldest to youngest is-! Drumroll please!"

"Purl-hew, Rin, Zimelu, Haym, and then me!"

"We hope that satisfies your curiosity," Purl-hew says, taking off his sunglasses for a brief moment to polish them. "If it doesn't then... feel free to scream into the void. That's what I recommend doing."

"Next question?!" Haym exclaims with just the same energy as an overhyped barista, falling back into the soft comfort of the couch with a grin.

"Do they always pose like they're melting onto something?" Zuke whispers to Mayday, but before the guitarist can even utter a single syllable vocalizing her extreme offense, someone does it for her.

"Hi, yes we heard that!" Haym calls, Cheshire grins spreading across the faces of 1010 as they watch the drummer jump from shock. Like a bunch of sadists.

Except they aren't, don't worry.

"Everyone must be thinking about our poor spines," Rin emphasizes his point by trying to get into a yoga position.

The metal starts crying for mercy. Neon J also starts crying for mercy. But more so commanding it, actually. Maybe not for mercy but just for a brain cell to make an appearance.

"Yes," a fan starts, holding their phone up to their face which clearly records the pretzel making on-screen. "I'm pretty sure we're all genuinely thinking you're turning yourself into a pretzel."

"BASIC. TIE YOURSELF INTO A SLIPKNOT. I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU," a person deep within the crowd screams.

"You think I can't?" Rin's stare is empty as his joints start bending in ways that makes even his brothers wonder why anyone counts them as funny.

"Dammit," Purl-hew sighs, shaking his head, "You've unleashed some… weird crusty Pandora's Box. He'll be at that for hours."

"NO HE WILL NOT BE," Neon J barks out while DJ Subway Microwava calmly holds him back by grasping onto his jacket. "SOLDIER I DEMAND YOU TO UNTURN YOURSELF INTO A PRETZEL."

Rin jumps before immediately untangling himself, muttering how he could have definitely done it. Rin's mumbles can all actually be summarized by the point that he's lying to himself.

Anyways, then something miraculous happens.

"... Wait. Wait I think one of my joints locked up hold on-"

A benevolent spirit has casted a spell on Rin to prevent him from doing anything idiotic ever again.

"Holy shit dude," Haym wheezes, poking at the aforementioned locked joint which was located on Rin's left leg, bending it at an angle that makes it look like he was about to kick something.

Right then and there, he wanted to kick Haym. His face was getting really annoyingly close to his leg. It was perfect.

It should be clear that Neon J had not asked for any sort of spirit to curse his son. This is evidenced by the fact that he's sighing and searching through his pockets before pulling something out, which he proceeds to aim at the white android.

"SOLDIER, CATCH."

Rin turns to the call, which forces a scream out of his voice box as he watches something hurtling towards him at the speed of Mach fuck. Though just before it could crash into his face and give him and his bros some flashbacks, Rin snatches the thing out of the air.

Motor oil. Nice.

"Okay so technical difficulties!" Rin announces as he squints at the bottle of motor oil as he figures out-

'Just what the fuck am I supposed to do with this? Drink it? Splash it onto someone's face?'

He turns to Purl-hew, who calmly shakes his head 'no' like a wizened sage. Which he isn't people.

"Sooo!" a girl says, juggling multiple lightsticks in her arms and stars in her eyes to match, "I've… actually sorta wondered this for a while since I'm actually just a new fan!"

"Uhuuuuh?" the boys urge her on, looking like their on the edge of their seats. Rin of course is just.. splashing some of the oil onto his leg joint.

It doesn't work.

"Do you guys have roles and stuff? Like..
who the choreographer is…?"

"Wait why didn't you just ask at the fancafés or on the official fanpage?!" another girl exclaims, in her early 20s it seems. "We would've answered any of your questions!"

"Yeah!"

"Hahaha that's.. pretty much why they're there. We're pretty welcome to new fans!"

"To induct them into the 1010 cult-"

Every fan in the audience immediately tenses up, glaring just a bit at that one particular guy before scrambling for ways to deny the claim. The poor girl that had asked the question is swept up into the chaos despite her confusion. As all new fans usually are.

"THERE'S NO CULT."

"That guy's crazy haha why would we - The chillest fanbase in Vinyl City just have a cult? Wack, hahahaha-"

A girl with mini lightsticks hanging from her ears laughs, albeit nervously as her mouth just starts blurting random pieces of dialogue in a haphazard way to cover up their mistakes.

"YEAH - cuz - cuz if we did make a cult it'd… be… about - I mean why would we make a cult? We'd have to sacrifice our parents - cuz they wouldn't approve of it - to the golden shrines of you guys and live in a state of eternally running out of cash for merch-"

A slightly older girl with hair dyed different shades of red shrieks, effectively cutting the other's blabber as she vigorously shakes her back and forth, "That's worse?!"

"We… WE JUST DON'T HAVE A CULT WE SWEAR," a guy with at least a dozen hats on yells, "And uh if you still don't believe us, we don't actually… sacrifice our parents," he ends up muttering, awkwardness rippling his frame.

1010 blinks before wheezing, slowly nodding.

"Okay okay we... believe you guys."

Haym pouts, muttering to Purl-hew, "Damn we had a cult this whole time and no one told me?"

"... I see why. For good reasons."

"Attention!" Rin shouts despite the absolutely goofy smile on his face - which usually isn't the typical reaction one has after finding out about a cult.

The other boys immediately salute, stopping their whispering in a second.

Rin clasps his hands, smiling as he limps back on over to the couch.

"Bypassing the cult thing… which you guys absolutely have to tell us about later-"

The fans yell out their affirmations, frantically nodding to move on to another topic at least.

"We do in fact have roles. Zimelu is our main rapper because his rudeness unsurprisingly translates well into spitting sick bars."

"Fuck yeah don't come for my spot," the mentioned red android barks, smirking as he casually lays on the couch.

The fans promptly start going wild in an instant. screaming one of the most iconic raps of the millenia.

"That guy that spoke shit about you? Kissed my fist and hit the lights. Not gonna lie - sort of thought he could take it. Thought I'd see your frown but just saw you laughing. Genuinely can't believe you cackle at that shit."

Their voices aren't autotuned, that's one difference - but currently 1010's eyes widen, definitely taking that chance to watch in comfort. The fans belt out Zimelu's raps so easily though that the boys are convinced that they've practiced the lines a thousand times before.

Zimelu tries to look as indifferent as possible but even he knows the fondness melting out from him like cottage cheese is too… just, too powerful for anyone not to notice. And he thinks that-

'hey. feelings aren't that bad. aight. nice. i'm a real boi now.'

"The thoughts that keep you up at night always try to keep you away from me - your tired eyes in the morning are stories of your evening. But I'm not much of a reader so could you tell me those stories yourself before I fuck up a line? Maybe make you cry because I don't know what any of this is meaning-"

"The evening fades away and yet your smile stays, and I wish mine did the same."

"Everyday I'll scream out my love for you until you notice it from a mile away! Please don't ever leave me yelling into the Earth hoping my voice can follow you into another day-!"

"OKAY OKAY I GET IT," Zimelu shouts, turning away from the audience as he buries his face into his knees. "I'm a softie that makes fire raps! Don't make me start crying or I swear-"

The other boys laugh and start cooing with just the most teasing undertone in the history of making fun of each other. Purl-hew takes to blandly patting the red android's back while Haym and Eloni poke both of his cheeks.

"I swear to fucking NSR, Haym."

"Dude you can't fuck NSR. That'd be like fucking Ms. Tatiana."

"... Hot," a fan in the crowd says.

"THAT'S NOT LEGAL," Mayday screams. "HOW DID YOU SAY THAT SO CASUALLY - I?????"

Zuke is proven to be the chillest music man in the universe as he holds Mayday back. "May please don't."

Tatiana's face morphs into one of utter disturbance, "What am I even hearing?"

Eve stands there in silence next to Tatiana, utterly offended in the NSR CEO's steed.

Neon J checks his vitals, feeling ready to sink right into the void. DJ Subscription Superhighway pats his head which provides just a bit of comfort to the cyborg.

Haym snickers a bit and Zimelu turns to him.

"I will slip maggots into your systems and watch you squirm as they fester inside your pathetic metal vessel you call a body," he snaps, looking just about ready to do just that.

"How about… nah."

"You little bitch I'll snap your neck like uncooked spaghetti-"

Zimelu leaps up wrings Haym like a wet washcloth yet before he could actually do something, Neon J screams a battle cry and jumps onto the stage.

"GODAMMIT SOLDIERS."

"WE WERE KIDDING WE WERE KIDDING DAD J NO-"

■|□|1010|□|■

Once the yellow android was a good distance away from Zimelu, he grins and flashes a nice casual pose.

"Bet you're all dying to know what I do," he starts, kicking his legs up on one of the sofa's armrests and leaning against Purl-hew. This effectively bothers the blue android a particular amount.

Haym smiles and announces, "I'm the main choreographer! de doo - bet you guys never knew."

"Melu helps most of the time so it's sorta like there's two main choreographers - except I do it better than him so I'm still undoubtedly the main one."

The fans almost immediately break out into comments. Joking distaste mixing in with actual legit praise that made Haym's eyes widen in slight shock because 'are the extremely difficult yet hilariously simple choreos I've made a meme now?'

He cries internally, knowing his efforts had finally borne fruit. Fuck yeah. He knew throwing in the woah was perfect.

Just then, a boy with tousled hair and baby blue skin exclaims, being carried on the shoulders of a tall woman as if he was everyone's voice, "WHICH ONE OF YOU ADDED THE INTENSE WHIRLWIND PART CUZ I WANNA KNOW WE ALL WANNA KNOWWW!"

"Wait yeah," Dodo piques up after being silent the past few segments, "A lot of fans want Sayu dancing to that one dance and I almost sprained my ankle trying to do it. I mean… I'm not made of metal so..."

Tila gasps, whispering, "You didn't tell me that we were gonna do that sort of collab?!"

"... Remi didn't tell you?"

"No?!"

Sayu's illustrator immediately disappears into the crowd to try and avoid Tila's unavoidable wrath.

"To answer your lovely question - I did!" Haym grins all cheeky, using his hands to frame his face in the most mockingly innocent way.

"Yeah so I got this amazing premonition of all of this happening. Like being praised for my brilliance so I followed the path of fate."

"I'm sorry I love you guys but I like seeing you suffer sometimes. It's just the rat life."

"FUCK THE RAT LIFE. WE'RE DYING. OUR BONES ARE AS STRONG AS CREAM CHEESE AT THIS POINT."

Haym jokingly gasps, offended, making a melodramatic show of crying out and setting himself down on the couch as delicately as a newly widowed woman would after her husband's funeral..

"I'm offended that you even thought of blaming me for your noodle legs," he whispers.

The jokingly somber atmosphere fades as 1010 starts wheezing in the background. Haym stifles his own, having to hide his smile as Purl-hew gets out of his seat, letting Haym fully drape onto it.

"Cheese is cheese. Do not curse its name! What has given birth to you shall not be slandered in mediocrity."

Purl-hew decides this subpar shenaniganery has gone on long enough and takes the wheel. He doesn't need every fan present to start arguing with Haym on why he insists on building up his rat agenda.

The rest of 1010 and even Neon J had already tried. It obviously did nothing so there really was no hope.

"Rats are rats, you all know that. There's no use in trying to prove Haym wrong. Considering he's illiterate on both paper and in general."

"F-"

"Anyways to progress this quicker, I compose almost all of our tracks and beats. Dad J helps most of the time too," Purl-hew starts. It is mediocre, Eloni blinks at him though as if extremely interested - and knowing Eloni even at all, he probably is.

"He actually helped compose our most iconic album," the blue android states, giving up some almost hilariously subpar jazz-hands. "Stan 1010 but also stan Neon J, everyone.

Everyone claps and screams cheers for the best manager and dad of the century.

"BEST DAD."

"I WANT NEON J TO BE MY DAD THANKS BYE-"

"FACK. SAME."

"I get inspiration from the dumbassery my brothers do," Purl-hew further elaborates, trying to incorporate a nice bored tone to it to solidify his concept. "And then I try to figure out how and why the hell you all would still find them remotely attractive and put the exact vibe into music notes."

"Because we are," Eloni points out, blinking in confusion as he stretches out the stiffness from existing. "And our fans say we're funny!"

"That in of itself is already a miracle."

Then, the music pauses just before starting up again. It wouldn't seem like much but the melodies blasting through the speakers spoke a more unpolished but nonetheless passionate tune.

Purl-hew looks back to his brothers and sees a phone in Rin's hand. The white android himself just smiles as if he did nothing wrong, which for once is true.

"I can't believe it," Purl-hew breathes, "Well, I mean I'm not surprised that one of you has taken to breaking into my studio. What shocks me most is that you've bypassed my security system."

"Chastise us for being snoopy little shits but our point is that even your-" Zimelu pauses to cough out a lung- "so-called 'shitty' music still gets our fans sobbing."

"You're welcome!" Eloni exclaims, rolling right on over with his roller skates and a smile.

"My dudes I think this is what being forgiven feels like," a dudebro within the audience cries out, all his other dudebros nodding in agreement.

A girl sighs, hand on her heart "The only reason I sleep early is to listen to 1010 music as I fall asleep, honestly. This is… super soulful. The funky bops have great variation."

"True true…" another agrees. She pulls out a polaroid picture of an aesthetic line-up of various 1010 albums. "I got some pretty legit stuff. The plushies can sing…!"

"Ohh - so does that mean that you also write the lyrics?!" the fangirl from way earlier asks.

"Well.. no. I do just make the beats and melodies after all. I don't think I can truly put into words my annoyance."

"Who writes the lyrics then?"

"I write the lyrics!" Eloni exclaims with just the sweetest, boyish smile and his hands clasped in an almost fidgety way. "I.. um, actually Purl-hew and Rin help too. My bros say I write really neat lyrics and all but-"

"THERE IS NO 'BUT', SWEET GREEN CHILD," an Eloni stan sobs with almost every other Eloni stan immediately voicing their sentiments.

"YEEEES HE'S A SWEET BOY."

"My heart sobs his lyrics are so soft."

Eloni's eyes widen before his cheeks glow a brighter green and he's already ducking behind the couch in his fluster.

Rin smiles, ruffling his hair, "Seriously, you guys should watch Eloni write lyrics. Wholesome content."

"And if it isn't wholesome then it's utterly hilarious," Haym snickers.

"He tried doing some writing while he was asleep and in the morning one of the lyrics he came up with was 'You turn my heart into spaghetti. Wiggly and noodly but please don't eat my tomato heart please' - and honestly that is art," he wheezes.

"My spaghetti noodle heart will be an actual lyric just to spite you," Eloni sniffles. He reaches over just to plop a worm-on-a-string crown on top of his head before getting up and proceeding to do the same to the others. "Isn't Rin next by the way? He's our main vocalist!"

"Yep. Saved the best for last~" the white android winks.

Apparently, even with his leg still bent at the same weird angle it was at a couple minutes ago - a wink, a seductive voice, and the most cliché line of the century will always be enough to send the fans into a frenzy.

"Stop trying to seduce everyone we aren't doing that now," Zimelu scoffs, elbowing him. Rin shrieks, indignant. Zimelu doesn't care but despite it, Rin sure as hell does.

He huffs, turning away from the red android to smile at the audience, "Anyways, being slandered aside - as Eli had kindly said, 'm 1010's main vocalist."

"My voice? Smooth as butter. My vocalization? Absolutely melodic. The ocean cries at hearing the sound of my beautiful singing because I cannot join the fishes-!"

Rin sniffles with a pause too great as everyone waits with bated breath.

"For I will… literally fucking die if I even try to dive in."

The crowd goes wild.

"YES KING BLESS US WITH YOUR VOCALS."

"FUNKY PARTY BOY I STAN."

"He could insult me into the next universe and I'd agree…"

"Bro… same????"

Once the excitement dies down, Haym piques up with a smirk.

"If you wanted to be dramatic, at least put more effort into it," he tsks, "Your super narcissistic monologue was like uncooked bread. At least Mr. Supernova has a cool deep voice to back up his egoism!" Haym finishes up, standing up and spreading his arms open with a flourish.

"Your morals amaze me," Purl-hew says, a breath of mockery floating by, "And by that I mean the complete lack of any to speak of."

The ever insulting hand of Haym comes in to pat Rin's back, in which he recoils in disgust.

"Guys get the Aerosol, an ugly rat snuck in," Rin groans. And simply because he's dramatic and a bit of a little shit, he snaps his leg back into place before anyone could do something, effectively knocking the yellow android off the couch.

Haym hisses as he skids across the platform, procuring claws from his hands and feet that dig into the metal, which stop him from like… flying across and into the audience below.

The crowd gasps - mostly the new fans doing so. The veterans just start filming.

"Fool. I have not snuck in but instead had blended amongst you all - and like the idiot you are, you never even noticed! Also I am NOT ugly."

"Excuse me but the only thing I've noticed thus far is your bullshit," Rin laughs, maniacal as he opens up a practically invisible compartment in his leg to pull out a comically large butter knife.

"As much as I'd love to drag you across the dirt, I'm afraid you've already done that yourself so I hope you won't mind if I cut our lovely conversation short."

"A white snake hides well within the freezing cold but you're in the sewers now, bitch," Haym grins. "And I am the rat king."

A chandelier drops onto the stage and the yellow android immediately snaps a piece off. The end is sharp and if he could articulate words at the moment, he'd say his wit is just as pointy and golden.

Albeit an extremely weird analogy but who cares they're about to do a cool anime battle that'll be cut off for flow's sake.

Neon J makes a move to stop them but fans block his way, looking at him dead in… the.. um, screen.

"No," one says, stretching their arms out like how a fence would. It's almost comical, considering they're a third of Neon J's height.

"We gotta film this. Preserve art. Like a documentary."

"... He means it's their birthday so… please let them have this…?"

Neon J blinks. Once. Twice. And then just slumps against DJ Subterranean Superbowl with a sigh.

"Fine. Fine fine."

'Who influenced who? Who the hell started this mess?'

Mama drags over a roller chair, "Maybe you should take a seat for a moment, Neon J."

Yinu blinks, looking from the cyborg to the androids on the stage. "... They're kinda dumb."

"That's part of the appeal!" Tila chastises, quickly rushing over with her phone and a big smile plastered on her face. "Their old scripted videos were also good of course but just…"

She gestures to the Haym vs Rin battle happening on-stage.

"This pure and unadulterated insanity gives me life. Life that I can also put into Sayu!"

Remi trudges over to the voice actress, sighing.

"Tila we can't have Sayu yelling curses and just suddenly spouting weird stuff like… 'it's authentically cheesy to hear my soul cry!' or something."

Mayday screams as she jumps right into the fray of the conversation- "DON'T MAKE SAYU SAY THAT PLEASE."

Eve's half-lidded thousand yard stare closes.

"You… utter fools," she mutters, and - despite the speakers blasting a remix of-

-Purl-hew's battery dying as he pushes on to compose like a champ-

-1010 constantly discombobulating each other-

-And the fans letting out truly demonic eldritch screeches-

-DJ Subcontinent Supermassive gasps in offense.

"I'm sorry - are you the one with a PhD? I'll have you know that my wit is unmatched! My intelligence is-"

"Oh shut up," Eve scoffs, "The only thing bigger than your ego is your shoulder width."

"Why - YES THEY ARE AND THAT IS NOT AN INSULT-"

"S… Supernova… Supernova, grand Quasa. SIT DOWN."

□|■|1010|■|□

Neon J stands at that stage, externally looking professional and ready to receive an Oscar purely because internally, he's extremely concerned to the point that he thinks if any of his boys decide to throw each other in the fireplace, he'll die right then and there.

It'd be an honorable death. Parenting is a respectable duty after all.

"ATTENTION!"

1010 salute, grinning slyly, as if proud and considering that they're… well, 1010, they most likely are.

"Keep in mind that besides hosting this party and starting the Q&A, we also have other plans up ahead so listen up!"

"We'll be doing a lightning round of questions so just step up and ask! Your questions will be answered immediately."

"Immediately!~" 1010 sing.

"Is. That. Clear?!"

The crowd screams with a salute of their own, "YES SIR."

Neon J leaves the stage and goes back to being one of the spectators. A lightning round solves a lot of problems. He sighs, mumbling a quiet 'thanks' to the DJ now next to him.

□|■|1010|□|■

"Who'd get scared the most in a haunted house?!"

"Man it's gotta be Purl-hew. Bastard Man is definitely scared of something."

"You've failed and all you've done is speak. You're wrong beyond comprehension. I think it should be obvious - Zimelu…"

Purl-hew glances at the red android through his sunglasses, a truly gone look in his eyes.

"You are the chicken."

"Motherfucker - have you actually met a chicken before?!" Zimelu yells, crossing his arms. "Watch me place a single chicken in your room. You won't survive a second."

Before the threat can genuinely get any percentage of vulgar, Rin nudges him, "The question."

Zimelu snaps out of his intricate description of his plan, glaring at the white android for a bit before turning to the fans, a bit more calm.

"Anyways truthfully and as non-offensively as I could, it'd be Eloni."

"What? I don't get scared easily!" the green android frowns, "I'm pretty sure Rin would run out of a room pronto if the wind manages to close a door."

"... Yeah," Purl-hew shrugs, "Get dunked… I guess."

"Lies lies lies-" Rin dismisses all of them, scoffing as he levels an almost casually stern look with the crowd.

"If we're talking about who'd run out of a haunted house in a second, it'd be the same guy that would quit Minecraft the moment a zombie spawns nearby."

"Ladies, gents, fellows, the guy I'm talking about is Haym Yellow."

"You said we'd never talk about that again," Haym whines, "but like here's your powdered sugar ass - talking about it again! Why are we related?"

"Hey hey hey look there's no law saying I have to associate you with myself."

Zimelu meanwhile cackles.

"Pft, high-ass expectations - THIS LIFE IS ABOUT BETRAYAL, JACKASS."

"SHUT UP ZIMELU AT LEAST I DIDN'T SWALLOW THE LIVING ROOM RUG LAST WEEK," Haym shrieks.

"Okay hey hey hey Haym," Eloni whispers, gently pushing down the yellow android's shoulders in an effort to get him to place the sofa down. "Please don't left-hook me but also please put the couch down."

"I'll drop the couch on you," Haym snorts.

Eloni furrows his brows, staring right into his soul, "No. You wouldn't."

The two stare at each other for a bit, squinting, before their eyes snap open as they start cackling.

"Yeah yeah, I wouldn't."

"Let go of my head you EASY BAKE OVEN."

Purl-hew is thrown to the ground, Zimelu's head in his hands which he drops right into the crowd like it was a piece of meat to a bunch of starving lions.

"I've let go of your head. Satisfied yet?"

■|□|1010|□|■

"WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE AMONG THE OTHER NSR MEGASTARS?"

"Hmm.." Eloni mumbles as he watches his worm-on-a-string go into a frenzy. "I mean… Sayu's pretty neat! And her creators - Dodo, Remi, Sofa, and Tila are really cool people to hang around too," he smiles, proudly leaning back into the couch.

Tila sniffles at the mention, taking her phone out before snapping a selfie. This is captioned as 'ELONI SAID OUR MUSIC IS DOPE. I'M SOBBING. THIS VALIDATION???????? 😭💖'.

"Eve," Purl-hew calmly states. "Her music is of course different from 1010's but I've found that I quite like her company. Her sense of fashion is rather remarkable as well in a… eccentric yet fascinating way."

"He picks his tea and scarves right," Eve notes, nodding.

"They aren't megastars but hey - they're still artists," Rin smiles, and as if on cue, a spotlight moves and shines down on Bunk Bed Junction.

Mayday screeches, shaking Zuke back and forth as she tries to keep a steady breath.

"Zuke Zuke Zuke we're - we - we have a spotlight…!"

"Yep. I can see that May. Maybe I see it a little too clearly, my eyes are kinda starting to hurt."

Rin laughs, placing his hands on his hips, "That's right folks, I've chosen Bunk Bed Junction. Not only is their music pretty rocking and fresh - the guys themselves are really cool to be with!"

Tila runs up to Mayday, practically engulfing her into a hug before they both start basking in the glory of being noticed.

"We should take a wefie..!"

"Hell yeah! Let me just - I just need to get my phone."

Haym looks through the crowd before spotting the neat, secluded group the other megastars had formed. Looking between all of them, he finally comes to a decision.

"Yinu's cool," he shrugs, "I mean I don't vibe that much with her music genre but she's probably the only one that supports my ideas unlike some people," the yellow android trails off, flashing a joking glare towards his bros.

"So you mean you force her to help you with your pranks?" Purl-hew sighs, crossing his arms.

"... So was that how a video of me singing some.. some dreaded My Little Pony song went viral on various social media platforms?" DJ Subpar Supergansta mutters.

Yinu doesn't say anything, instead fixing Mama an innocent look. "Haym's a big fat liar. Liar liar hair on fire..!"

Haym gasps before pouting, "Fine. Guess I'm gonna go prank Kliff with Eli instead."

"NO."

"I can't believe you're relegating me to being your second option," Eloni frowns.

"You're my bro - you're my infinite option!"

"Isn't that.. like, worse?"

"You're putting shit in my mouth here, Eli."

"I know. Good."

"Cool so while you guys do that, I'm just gonna answer," Zimelu starts.

"So, plain and simply, every megastar is cool and have their own vibe but I only truly vibe the best with my bros. 1010 is my favorite NSR megastar."

Externally, the boys coo, starting to make fun of the red android once more.

Internally, it's-

Bastard Man: None of you chose Mr. Supernova?

yayayayam: you wOuldn't so why should wE

WATERMELU: eh it's fine Dad J is his number 1 fan anyway

Shrek Onion Ring: It'll be alright, right??

Shrek Onion Ring: Mr. Supernova is cool and all but..

The First Plain Hoe: Try imagining a day in which we completely trust Mr. Supernova with Dad J

WATERMELU: ew

WATERMELU: NSR would have to be taken over first before I can even think of believing that shit my dudez

The sound of someone clearing their throat breaks 1010 out of their conversation, immediately pausing their pre-scripted teasing of Zimelu.

A loud beep from outside of Baracca Mansion jolts just about everyone in the audience into attention as well.

"ALRIGHT EVERYBODY!" Neon J announces, "THE Q&A SEGMENT HAS FINALLY COME TO A CLOSE. WE'LL BE SWITCHING STRATEGY AND START ADVANCING OUT INTO THE AMUSEMENT PARK."

"START PREPARATION AS WE'LL START MOVING OUT IN-"

He makes a show of getting a large TV to descend from the ceiling, displaying the time.

11:57 PM.

"NOW MINUTES - GO! GO! GO!"

The crowd shrieks in excitement as the mansion almost rumbles from all the footsteps thumping against the floor as everyone starts running out of the door.

Of course, not before every fan drags 1010 from the stage and along with them, laughing and yelling as they try holding a conversation despite all the noise.

The boys turn around, spotting the megastars following right behind them.

Yinu tugs Mama as she whines about how they should hurry up. Mrs. Natura simply sighs fondly, smiling as she coaxes her daughter to calm down. Yinu doesn't.

Eve calmly chats with Zuke, even managing a smile and a few laughs despite the past. Mayday and Tatiana join in too with their jabs of wit and hastily constructed jokes that manage to entertain nonetheless.

The Sayu Team are as animated as ever. With Sofa being dragged along by the other three, Dodo carrying Tila on his shoulders and Remi snickering at something the voice actress had said.

And then-

"Dad J get over here!" Haym calls, laughing after. "Don't tell me your old man joints are failing you now!"

"Since it's our birthday we gotta have that one right to command that!" Zimelu barks out, making furious motions for Neon J to walk at least 1% faster.

Neon J just huffs, shaking his head before boosting his speed up to catch up.

"Don't push your luck, troops!" he scolds, "Now, why are you so all adamant on me having to be at the front of the line with you boys?"

"... Because you're our dad?" Purl-hew plainly supplies, crossing his arms.

"W-"

"COTTON CANDY STAND COTTON CANDY STAND!" Eloni exclaims, and in that moment, a bunch of stans start screaming too as they flock to buy the boys some cotton candy.

The crowd dissolves as they start riding rides knowing that they'd all be free of charge. People flock to food stands, combining different snacks to make the truly weirdest… slightly inedible things.

Any sort of complaint Neon J quickly dissolves once he was in a go-kart and racing against his sons as they start screaming and purposefully crashing into each other.

Vinyl City's up in flames. The flames being spoken of can be pertained to three things exactly.

The fans themselves as they're literally sparks of joy and crackhead energy. They clamber into rides and race against 1010 in 1010 themed go-karts. They throw literal banana peels. We're not going to talk about bombs though.

The literal multicolored fire of a campfire on top of NSR's tower acting as some sort of absurdly large candle. If anyone squints hard enough, an actual fire can be seen burning up behind one of the windows.

And lastly, the life so warm and bright permanating the whole city.

The streets bustle with more life than usual once the residents of other districts started crowding around too. Shenanigans range from bobbing for apples except using thighs instead of heads to crowds of people having an extremely intense dance battle.

It's October 11 by then and 1010 is a year older. Best to celebrate that in the most ludicrous ways before routine pulls them back in once they're fully-charged and sober.

If anyone wants to know, every 1010 related tag on Bluebird was filled with at least millions of videos and edits and photos giving glimpses of how wild that one particular 1010 party had gotten.

Chapter Text

Tricks and candy plus more tricks as far as the eye can see. Or, well, as most as a person can experience per se. Such a lovely holiday would surely have its fair share of victims.

As with how Christmas adores tormenting the poor souls (coughcough Zed coughcough) with an endless barrage of jingling bells and decked halls, Halloween takes it up a notch and gives everyone a free pass to remake the Purge-

In real life.

The neighbors that just can't ever seem to stop complaining about how ugly your yard is? Toilet paper theirs! Who the fuck gave them the right to care about your yard?

A teacher gave you a bad grade? Now they're a mummy in-cased in one of the lockers.

But sadly, Halloween only sets up the mood for the Purge. It doesn't actually make any crime you do legal. Tatiana would personally uppercut anyone that would say that she permits that sort of shit around Vinyl City. Zimelu would be - and actuallyis disappointed.

But what Halloween does allow you to do under the legal guise of it not killing anyone is - drumroll please -

Scaring the absolute shit out of everyone.

And candy. Don't forget that. Also, don't forget to check your candy for razor blades, guns, and clowns.

But back to the matter at hand.

"Are you sure I can't bring any of my grenades with me?" Eloni whines, clutching an armful of small green bombs in his arms. "I'm not gonna hurt anyone! I swear!"

Purl-hew shrugs, gently prying a couple of the explosives out of his hold, "We know you won't. It's just that there's a great possibility of Melu or Haym snatching one and throwing it."

"Dad J would say otherwise but honestly, he probably wouldn't want any lawsuits on his hands either," Rin supplies, patting Eloni's back with a small smile. "Y'know, for.. destruction of property and obstruction of… keeping the peace of mind of other citizens?"

The camera flits from one member to another, finally settling on Rin once all but one little grenade has been safely tucked away.

"We'll let you bring one but you should only use it for emergencies!" he calls to the green android. Eloni looks back just a bit with a grin and a thumbs-up before leaving the dressing room.

Rin fondly scoffs before turning to the camera with a smile. "Hey, guys!"

"Sorry, we had to blur Eloni the whole time. Wouldn't want to spoil what our costumes are before we get to the shooting location!"

"I have to wonder," Purl-hew says. "What image had the staff decided to layer over him this time?"

Rin glances over to the staff, stifling a laugh at how they freeze up and whisper their disagreements. But he focuses back on the camera whilst he walks to the racks among racks of clothes and costumes.

"I'm sure you all have your expectations for what we're gonna dress up as for Halloween," he smirks. He pulls out a crisp pinstriped suit with a bowtie that has a little skeleton on it. Jack Skellington's suit most probably.

Purl-hew snorts in the background despite Rin leaving him alone to pick out a pair of pants from his collection of black slacks. Rin simply decides to ignore it in favor of laughing in tandem.

"They're probably expecting us to dress up as some sexy variation of the Telletubbies."

"In which we had. Don't act like we never did," Rin points out, not looking back as he continues looking through closets.

Purl-hew lowers his sunglasses, and despite not looking at him, Rin could feel the glare that could send danger signals throughout his system

"No, we never did," the blue android hisses.

Rin flinches, "Aight okay Purl I get it I get it."

The blue android simply turns back to picking out his costume while Rin pouts at the camera.

"Seriously that guy goes too far with his threats sometimes," he mutters, following it with a small laugh, tinged with the smallest hint of worry. "As if he'd actually do them."

The room goes silent for a bit, an almost uncomfortable silence.

That is until Zimelu, Haym, and Eloni bust into the room screeching.

In a flash, a staff is brought down to their heads by the mighty justice of Purl-hew Blue. The three scream as they're smacked around by the swift yet elegant movement of the blue android, like a leaf amidst a tornado.

Rin whistles, slow-clapping.

"Man, if Dad J was here, he'd maul you three apart about how horrible that ambush was."

"Don't give me shit about that right now or I'll shove pillow stuffing into your eye sockets," Zimelu groans, "I won't hesitate, bitch."

Haym snickers, which evolves into full-blown cackling as he leans against a just-as delirious Eloni.

"Shitty work from me is unexpected so..." the yellow android grins, "Technically it was still a pretty good ambush!" he laughs, raising his hand up which Eloni meets with a sick high-five.

Purl-hew snorts, and not for the first time does Rin share the sentiment.

"Success will eventually arise after countless failures," the blue android sighs, twirling his staff as he claps Haym on the shoulder. "There, you have my support," he jokes in just about the most monotone voice he has, walking away soon after.

Eloni whistles, form still blurred on the camera as with the others. "I.. uh, didn't suggest any of this."

"Don't be a snitch," Haym whines, snickering anyways as he gets up with a huff, pulling the green android up too.

Zimelu scoffs, getting back on his feet with one swift motion, "Fucking hypocrite."

The camera pans back to Rin, who finally manages to pick out a costume before turning to the camera with a sigh and a smile.

"Anyways, we'll be finished getting ready now. Don't wanna prolong the inevitable."

1010 all hop into the frame, flashing their signature smile.

"1010 out!~"

■|□|1010|□|■

When they all arrive at the shooting area, 1010 collectively acknowledge the fact that they're fucked.

All the megastars stand outside a large haunted house. It towers over all of them in all its menacing and macabre fashion.

Like, the unimaginably disturbing severed finger they got in the mail last month.

The front yard of the mansion displays graves and skeletons and plain ol corpses. The house howls like a hungry, feral wolf, ready to shut its jaws once everyone's inside.

The only thing keeping from showing said horror on their faces is their natural acting skills preventing any stress that could disrupt the camera-ready smiles.

■|□|1010|□|■

Yams: Why Are We Doing This: The Thrilling Sequel to What The Fuck, How Did This Happen

RingaDingDing: The poll was a bad idea

RingaDingDing: So instead of doing a concerning rendition of a Telletubbies episode

RingaDingDing: We're doing this thing

Zim: which is BULLSHIT

eloonytoons: bro u can't just SAY that :""""(

eloonytoons: our fans wanted this!

eloonytoons: and like I Genuinely don't want to deface the Telletubbies it's one of my favorite shows

eloonytoons: besides Hell's Kitchen :"(

Yams: Which is wack???

Yams: anyways I also didn't consent to have the concept as an option

Pearl-Phew: You suggested the idea, actually

Zim: yea like we tried to stop ur dUmb ass but I kinda punched you in the face after

Yams: whAT THE F UCK

RingaDingDing: shbduxbshx yEAH maybe that's why u don't remember

Pearl-Phew: Before we uploaded the poll, Haym was still extremely

Pearl-Phew: High

Pearl-Phew: From his maintenance earlier

Yams: in which I blame melu bec his crab hair lookin ass can't stop fuckin er uh bULLYING ME

Zim: F in the chat Ig

RingaRingRing: F

Pearl-Phew: F

eloonytoons: ok but u were super excited when we were back at the mansion!

Yams: Loni my dude that was before I even saw this place

Yams: Look at the fucking wINDOWS of this place

Yams: Windows???? Don't KNOW HER I only know Shattered Glass Aesthetic™

Zim: It's a haunted mansion u dickfuck it's not supposed to look like a 5 star hotel

RingaDingDing: Also wdym there's like only 3 shattered windows dhxbdhbd

Pearl-Phew: @Haym Ik you're jumpier than Eli but like

Pearl-Phew: yea this sorta level be wack even for your spider rat agenda

eloonytoons: sjcnhsbxhsb I'm both offended but in fAvor of that opinion

Zim: It's too late to do something else anyways smh

Zim: I was looking forward to trying to scale the NSR tower but nO our fans gotta be super caring and whatever

Yams: I want some fucking cheese help

■|□|1010|■|□

A panoramic shot of the haunted mansion displays all the megastars casually chatting about in their respective costumes.

1010 can only watch in utter confusion as to why they're the only ones that seemed even remotely scared.

Haym walks up to the camera, desperately trying to keep his growing delirium in check. "Is Yinu seriously not scared by any of this?" he whispers, snickering. "I would've thought she'd be the scaredy-cat here."

Eloni leans against a tree, whining to Zimelu. The red android can be seen frowning, trying to explain something to the younger.

Eloni's eyes widen and in a flash, he's vigorously shaking the red android back and forth while screeching something the mic can't pick up.

Rin immediately walks over, gently prying the green android away from Zimelu.

Eloni hiccups and slides down the tree. That is, before he decides he shuts his feelings off completely and falls asleep.

The yellow android observes in amusement for a bit before turning back to the camera, snickering. "He'll be fine. It helps him compose himself."

"LonLon is the ideal mood sometimes," he adds right after.

In the distance, Neon J can be seen flipping some switches and fiddling with the back of Eloni's head.

"Like… I mean if you guys still remember - LonLon composed a nice song called 'E Is A Comb'."

Haym grins, clasping his hands together behind his back.

"It's a bop, obviously, but all those times you guys said he was probably high when he wrote those lyrics?"

Eloni powers back on with a gasp, looking around before smiling. Zimelu pats his back, helping him up with a huff as they resume their chat from earlier.

"I should film all those times Eli gets off of maintenance!" Haym laughs, slapping the back of Purl-hew's head who was simply passing by.

Haym catches a glimpse of the blue android's urge to choke-slam him, which dissipates almost immediately after noticing the camera.

"TROOPS - ATTENTION!"

Neon J's voice booms throughout the filming sight, calling everyone's attention - mostly 1010's - to himself.

"Attention!~" they sing, their salutes and smiles coming easily to them.

"A brief interview will commence right before we throw you all right into the haunted mansion!" Neon J barks out, arms folded behind his back. "Get yourselves in order right this instant!"

They all tense up, smiles straining as they send pleading pings to their leader.

Haym isn't the type to plead but wanting to procrastinate on a shooting can do things to him. All of them.

"Sir yes sir!"

■|□|1010|□|■

"Hey, ladies and gentlemen~" Rin winks, posing casually in his crisp suit and tie. "I hope you're all having a sexy Halloween - and if you aren't then this episode will surely help with that~"

There's some wheezing in the distance that Rin wastes no time in blocking.

"Ah.. it would've been just as great to go meet with you guys for this event instead," he sighs, crossing a leg over the other. "But the poll begs to differ."

'It differs a lot, actually,' he thinks, resisting a snort, 'A concerning lot.'

The white android continues, smiling a bit. "Still, I hope you all enjoy today's episode. We'll work hard for this one! Even if we aren't there with you, we want you to smile a lot, okay?"

["What's your costume?"]

Rin blinks, genuinely confused for a second.

"What?"

["What are you for Halloween?"]

"Oh," he blinks again, stewing in silence before laughing. "I guess it isn't that obvious, huh? It's sorta based on Men in Black."

["Wh-"]

"Buuut… I would be willing to explain why I chose this as my costume," Rin starts, an almost alluring gaze amplifying the amount of sex appeal a suit could give him.

"So how about we trade? You cancel this episode and… I can show you why I chose a simple suit," he smirks, "You must be curious, right?"

The murmuring from the staff almost gives the white android hope, that is… before the sudden burst of responsibility they all just got smashes that hope into nothingness.

["No but this is an interview-"]

"So anyway, I again hope you all have a lovely Halloween, my baes~" Rin winks at the camera, chuckling as he gets up from his seat and walks out of frame.

He figures that if it isn't going his way then there's no more reason for him to stick around. He lets his disappointed expression surface and he resists the urge to uproot a tree and yeet it to the moon. It's frankly impossible but he'd rather spend the whole evening trying.

But Rin's the leader so whether he likes it or not, he still needs to find a way.

As he walks back to where the rest is, Purl-hew gives Rin a Look™. The white android resists flopping onto the grass and screaming into the dirt, hoping it'd create a hole for himself to fall in.

He flops down next to Zimelu with a groan. The regret of even managing to successfully raid a chocolate factory seeps into his circuits.

Pearl-Phew: You really just threw a suit on without thinking, did you?

RingDingDing: I mean I look pretty good in a suit

RingaDingDing: If anything it looks like you just picked something from your closet and gave up!

Pearl-Phew: Oh trust me

Pearl-Phew: It's a lot more thought-out than yours

RingaDingDing: I mean wow yeah I can definitely see how some slacks, a vest, and a long-sleeved shirt is pretty thought out as a costume

RingaDingDing: You know what would go well with all that? Being quiet

RingaDingDing: Anyways because I still care for all of you as a bro, here's your wack ass plan

■|□|1010|□|■

Purl-hew sits down on the seat, blinking behind his sunglasses.

"Hello," he calmly says, "I'm Purl-hew."

"As Rin had said, I hope you're all having a safe yet fun Halloween. Avoiding getting poisoned and kidnapped and such."

"My brothers would be the types to constantly be around you all 24/7 but I believe you're capable ones," he says, taking off his sunglasses for a second to properly see the camera.

"Though I'd still like it a lot to be with you all as much as possible too. Your love and support are not only my wings but the wings of the other members as well. Don't forget that."

Purl-hew patiently waits for the question, having already formed one the moment Rin commented on his carefully crafted and fashionable costume.

["Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?"]

He simply takes to nodding.

There's silence for a bit before a question comes through.

["Which is…?"]

"No words can truly describe what I feel for my fans," he says, making sure to make his voice extra silky and smooth. Hypnotizing, almost. There's a soft ticking in the distance and he doesn't even have to think before knowing it's coming from 1010. It's slow. It creeps through the air in all its uncomfortable silence, reaching up to throats void of answers yet crying for one but-

The answer comes with a snap.

"A solution is in my voice," he says calmly, "Listen. And listen carefully. You're curious - you're wondering - you're listening so make sure to do so carefully do you understand?"

There are some murmurs.

"Good. Now I-"

"MAMA IT'S HALLOWEEN!" a little girl screeches in the distance. That girl just so happens to be a pianist. A pianist named Yinu. "Why are you dressed so pretty?!"

The staff immediately catches into that, resuming the Q&A at the drop of a hat.

["What or who did you go for as your costume this Halloween?"]

Purl-hew stays silent, foot-tapping against the grass. He blinks. His fists clench and unclench at random intervals. But mostly, his fans whir at such a speed that they sound like they're about to come off.

'God if you're real, do bless me with the immense power needed to shoot this planet into the nearest black hole like it's a basketball.'

He takes in a few deep breaths, reveling in the calming midnight air before relaxing into the seat, answering.

"Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada," he replies, "She's an icon, and I am too. I believe it's only fitting that I go as her for this event."

Before anything else can be asked, Purl-hew silently gets up, smoothing out his pinstripe vest and a long-sleeved shirt underneath it.

"And yes. I do believe I look good with pinstripes."

■|□|1010|□|■

Snickering is heard off-camera before Haym's signature laughs reach the boom mic. The yellow android crawls into the frame. Literally.

"You guys know who I am - Haym! Hammie - HamHam - some variation of the word ham."

Haym has to admit. He hates the concept but honestly, he thinks his costume is the most badass one.

["... What…? What are you?"]

"I'm a spider," Haym grins, waving one of his mechanical spider limbs to wave at the camera.

"MORE LIKE HE THREW ON SOME FANCY CLOTHES WITH LEGS AT THE BACK," Zimelu announces in the background, followed by laughing from the other boys.

In the blurry background, Purl-hew smacks the red android across the face.

"He's just salty that I still look hot despite dressing as something most people hate," Haym grins, winking at the camera with a small shrug.

But then he ducks his head slightly, whispering.

"... No one knows but I can turn into a legit robo-spider. It's a surprise, actually. Gonna scare the shit out of everyone in the mansion later if I can. At the very least, Eloni."

["Why would you try-"]

"Don't ask questions about things you don't want answers to~" he simply snickers, getting up from his seat and running off to Tatiana knows where to cause some mischief.

By the time he enters the mansion, he'll hold no reign to chaos.

■|□|1010|□|■

Zimelu strides over to the seat, casually sitting down.

"You all know my name," he says dismissively, looking off to the side as if there was something much more interesting going on besides the mini-interview.

["Right. So, who are you dressed up as for Halloween?"]

"A person much cooler than literally everyone else here."

["Don't sass us."]

Zimelu just smirks, arms crossed. "It's not sassing if it's the truth."

["Well we aren't sassing either if the truth is that you're being a little bitch right now so just answer the question."]

"Bleh," he scoffs, rolling his eyes before answering anyways. "Edward Scissorhands. I thought it was pretty obvious."

["Good for you! You may now skedaddle, Edward with hands for scissors."]

Zimelu gets up with a scoff, rolling his eyes as he gets up. He does some sort of gesture of bowing whilst putting unnecessary emphasis on his Scissorhands.

"My utmost pleasure."

■|□|1010|□|■

Eloni hops into the frame, still laughing from whatever he was doing earlier with his brothers.

"Eloni here!" he smiles, taking a seat. "Guess who I'm dressed up as. I've been told explicitly 23 times that whatever my costume is, it doesn't make sense. But please don't even try convincing me to change my costume."

["CAMOFROG IT'S CAMOFROG FROM ANIMAL CROSSING?!"]

Eloni gasps, smile growing wider as he exclaims.

"Yeah! They're my favorite Animal Crossing character - I don't know why but… they just vibe at the same frequency as me and just - Camofrog has taken over my life."

He fiddles with his jacket, slipping his cold hands into the pockets.

["Did you switch out the tank top for a jacket?"]

His eyes widen slightly, green irises glowing in slight alarm as his hands immediately slip out.

"Oh..! Yeah, actually," he laughs, albeit nervously. "Just…"

"I did have the original tank top but a fan… sorta also made me this jacket and I mean it could help regulate my temperature and.. and…"

"I think it's pretty cute and comfy.." he smiles shyly, cheeks glowing green.

There's audible squealing behind the camera, whispers passing around the staff and Eloni keeps his downright adorably boyish smile.

■|□|1010|□|■

In the distance, the rest of 1010 watch with bated breath.

Yams: HELL YEAH ELONI YOU'RE MY FAVORITE BRO LEGIT

RingaRingRing: Maintain that smile

RingaRingRing: … Clasp your hands on your lap.

eloonytoons: I'm doing it!

Zim: FUCK YEAH WE DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS FUCKING EPISODE

Pearl-Phew: For once, one of your plans seem to work, Rin

Zim: Sorry for ever doubting you Ig

Yams: All of them are cooing at Eloni bros

RingaRingRing: Yes, it's time.

RingaRingRing: ELI

eloonytoons: HI

RingaRingRing: THE ENEMY IS IN A VULNERABLE POSITION. COMPROMISE THEM FURTHER.

RingaRingRing: INVADE AND CONQUER! INITIATE ALL-KILL PROTOCOL.

The green glow in Eloni's eyes sharpens despite the pure, moral smile on his face.

eloonytoons: UNDERSTOOD! Moving in!

■|□|1010|□|■

He cuts off the staff's cooing, using the softest yet melodic voice he can muster.

"It's… just that, won't I look so out-of-place in the haunted mansion..?" he asks, smile shifting nervously both from his act and actual nerves.

"I don't have - it's just - all my brothers dressed appropriately sorta, right? And I'm here as… Camofrog. I mean I guess it's sorta fitting... right?"

The thought stirs in his processors as he watches the staff's expressions slowly start to look concerned and sullen. He hears his brothers cheer him on in the chatroom.

But then he starts hiccuping, smile wavering as he tries wiping away the nonexistent tears from his slowly shutting eyes.

"I'm always different and - and I mean just it's just that I've been told to dress scarily or - or something," he sniffles, choking up. "B-but I kinda like Camofrog so I just.. I just wanted to enjoy myself and now I just look super stupid," he finally bursts into a sob. On instinct, he curls up on the chair.

Eloni watches the staff scramble around in silence, trying to communicate to him reassurances without being seen nor heard by the camera and mic.

He sees Neon J jolt in recognition of the apparent emotional distress he's in, and almost bolts over to him.

His brothers send concerned chats in their chatrooms, unsure if his mental breakdown is part of the plan.

Eloni forces another bout of sobs to wrack through his frame, trying to sound legit.

The camera cuts.

■|□|1010|□|■

So, apparently trying to lie to Neon J has its consequences. That's something 1010 had proven right once again.

"ALRIGHT TROOPS," Neon J announces, hands firmly clasped behind his back. If it hadn't been for his Nutcracker costume, 1010 would've felt a little more guilty for trying to scam their way out of filming.

"As per the most popular rules your fans had debated and decided on, you all must make sure to follow them strictly."

They all know it's impossible.

They nod anyways.

"Keys will be hidden around the mansion," he explains, "They'll be easy to find of course but life itself is no cakewalk! The other NSR megastars have decided to participate in the challenge to provide more interesting qualities!"

"How will they participate? Well you have to find out yourselves, soldiers!" he barks out, jutting a finger out as he scans over them. "I can't just hand everything to you boys on a silver platter."

"There won't be a time limit so keep that in mind with searching!"

Somehow, that makes things seem a lot worse.

"Hopefully that'll prevent you all from trying to damage your ways out of the mansion," the cyborg mutters under his breath.

The boys' smiles twinge with an underlying disappointment, as if offended by being called out. Neon J wants to sigh.

He just straightens his posture even more, which proves to be a feat no one was expecting.

"The mansion will be littered with hidden cameras and mics," he explains once more, "Mostly because I don't trust you boys with breakable equipment - and speaking of equipment!" his sonar blips faster, "Communicating to each other is strongly forbidden as per the commands of your fans!"

Neon J can almost hear their internal disapproval, but then again they look close to breaking down at the mention of the loss of communication. For a few seconds, he wonders what his boys must've done to have such sadistic fans.

And then, it clicks while he can practically hear the voices of every single fan.

1010 are extremely melodramatic on their own. Why not see how they'd react when they're scared shitless?

Neon J sighs, quietly, before raising his voice back into a yell louder than the collective whines of the android idols.

"NO COMPLAINTS, SOLDIERS! THIS IS WHAT WAS DECIDED, NOW HEAD IN THAT MANSION AND MAKE ME PROUD."

For one extra push, he quickly adds-

"I'LL BUY ALL OF YOU SOME ICE CREAM AFTER THE SHOOTING - NOW GO! GO! GO!"

It both disappoints and relieves Neon J with how quickly 1010 scramble to yeet themselves inside the mansion.

■|□|1010|□|■

"What is death to mortals?" Purl-hew mutters under his breath.

Truth be told, 1010 did bring all their weapons with them for some sort of comfort as they trekked through the haunted mansion in all its eerie silence and just as eerie ambiance.

The thing is that the weapons they brought with them are simply props. Purl-hew's staff is made of cardboard, Zimelu's saw blades are flimsy paper cut-outs, and basically, they aren't meant to bash someone over the head or explode them into the next dimension.

They consented to that.

Goddammit, they shouldn't have consented to that.

But he figures that somehow, it's fitting. Making bad decisions was so hilariously common in horror movies. He used to be annoyed. He used to think of them as idiots for running into a bathroom or splitting up or letting themselves get distracted - but he gets it now.

Purl-hew wanders through this haunted mansion alone with nothing but the whispers of dead souls and a cardboard stick to keep him company.

Don't get him wrong though. Whatever questionable choices 1010 make once they entered the haunted mansion is still definitely questionable. It's just that at least they're a tiny bit excused.

Purl-hew sighs, swinging his painted cardboard stick in boredom.

"Who hid the keys?" he mutters to himself, "If it was Dad J he'd probably hide them in… a lot of weird places."

"... Yeah. I mean.. he hid a USB in a pillar once."

"Eve would hide it into a sculpture as part of the design.."

"Mrs. Natura would've stuffed it on top of a chandelier.

He sighs once more, stuffing his staff back into the compartment behind his leg. "It'll be fine. I believe there is no time limit for this…"

A thought suggesting that 1010 would end up having to wander around the mansion for eternity is promptly deleted by the blue android, instead focusing solely on the door in front of him.

It's large. And double-doored, which has Purl-hew lowkey staring just a bit longer because - 'those designs look rather intricate…'.

Marveling at such a wonder aside, Purl-hew pulls at the handles, quickly finding out that the doors were not in fact opening. He frowns, trying again. Jammed.

He sorts through his pockets for something, pulling out of a couple of bobby pins before glancing back at the almost minuscule lock.

Though just as he leans on the door for a better angle, it slowly creaks open and - delicately, gently, softly with the utmost care - drops the blue android to the ground. He lays there for a bit along with his quickly growing shame and determination to get out of the mansion with as much as his dignity intact as possible.

"Sed Omnia Vano significatione quaerere."

The faint and delicate taps of glass shattered any semblance of peace Purl-hew had left. The voice is loud, yet warped. Like a million people were talking instead of one.

"Reliquum hujus verum tuae pone super -"

A figure enters the living room that Purl-hew is in, and he couldn't believe his eyes.

He refuses to let his hands shake or even let an ounce of fear mar his metal features.

"... Hello Mrs. Natura."

The figure lets out a hiss and at the same time, Purl-hew violently flinches back, knocking his sunglasses slightly askew.

"Lovely snake impression. I'm in complete and utter awe."

No, it wasn't just a vengeful spirit. Her midnight black hair flowed through the windless air like chains that shot out through the night, fading into a pink so deep that it could be mistaken for red.

Adorned upon her head is a crown made of roses and thorns. She almost seemed to be a vessel for the elegance of ruin. Her body ran red like a meadow of blood.

But her eyes, the radiance of the most golden sun and of the most golden scales that almost always tip in favor of punishment.

From what Purl-hew remembers reading from a Greek mythology book, the underworld never fears Hades. But if they do, it isn't so much considering an even more dangerous ever-looming threat besides him. No, the one to be feared is not Hades.

"Mors erit accipere primam rerum pulcherrima."

But Persephone.

■|□|1010|□|■

Zimelu always had an appreciation for the arts. Definitely not the same kind of appreciation that has practically overtaken Purl-hew's wiring, but it's simple.

He does not have an appreciation for the extremely creepy paintings hung around the walls, or the mysterious holes in the walls, or the cobwebs on the walls.

It'd be safe to say anything about the haunted mansion's walls in general.

The last thing Zimelu needs is to accidentally step on some haunted tile and have a ghost… gut him.

It isn't very creative but dammit if he wasn't ready to fucking obliterate the first monster he sees. Whether it was Eve or Yinu or Neon J.

"DAD DON'T YOU POP OUT OF FUCKIN NOWHERE," Zimelu shouts, fists raised like he was about to one-two punch the entirety of Vinyl City.

"I AM NOT GETTING GROUNDED IF I LAND A HIT ON YOU. I JUST WANNA BE CLEAR."

It's almost laughable because Zimelu can't ever aim his high-fives in a way they wouldn't miss.

Neon J had always told them that when in danger, if the danger didn't know that they were there yet, don't be an idiot and give away their position. Yet here's Zimelu.

Giving away his fucking position.

It wasn't like he had any tables to duck under or secret rooms to dive into. No. As he walks through hallways upon hallways, slowly getting aggravated by the number of said hallways, he passes by multiple portraits, chairs, and lamps.

If anyone started - per se - a game of hide and seek with him, he'll be within line-of-sight immediately.

Great thing there's no actual competitive version of hide-and-seek being played.

Zimelu huffs, so he may have fucked up more than one of the many rules set up for him. But he hasn't broken the most important one.

The danger is danger. If everything goes to shit, get the nearest object and go fucking - 'hey batter batter hey batter batter SWING' - and be done with it.

'Rin may have more strategy but what can he do in a haunted house? Carve tunnels into the ground? Prehistoric motherfucker,' he angrily thinks.

So the point is, Rin is a sucker for holes and pushing people in, just to help them out like he has some sort of savior complex and Zimelu is so done with it by this point.

He curses under his breath, roundhouse-kicking a nearby painting off its hook.

"Stupid asshole can't just stop taking the chocolate factory incident to his little metal heart!"

Clouded by the mist of his frustration, Zimelu ignores the telltale signs of danger. The creaking floorboards. The weird, wet, gloopy sounding noises behind him. The pungent alcoholic smell of fresh, vintage paint.

He crosses his arms, scissorhands clicking together with such a vain, intimidating aura like he's convinced his glare could punch holes into walls.

The smell creeps closer. Writhing. Sliding across the floorboards that can't creak under liquid.

Zimelu tenses, smell finally reaching his nose in which he jerks his head back to see the cold, empty hallway.

"... The fuck?" he mutters, turning back to the direction he's in as he resumes his steps a bit more stiffly. He's considering it. He's going insane and he isn't even a minute in. Even Haym doesn't freak out that intensely.

A glob of pink floods his vision.

"FUCK!"

Zimelu stumbles back from the shock as his hands quickly search around for something to smack his stalker with. With his eyes squeezed shut, he barely notices the toxic green glare coming from the morphed figure of Picasso's The Weeping Woman.

■|□|1010|□|■

"Circling around.. the kitchen," Eloni sings in hushed whispers reminiscent of how he always had during the mundane and sleepy days.

"Why has nothing changed..?"

"Feed a cucumber sandwich to a pigeon…"

He keeps his eyes trained on his hands as if it'd stop them from shaking. The light rattling of the circuits and modules and chips inside remind him of his futile efforts yet genuinely, he'd rather focus on trying to keep them still than look up and risk either exploding something or shutting down immediately.

"Chipping nail varnish on guitar strings."

He's scared. Undoubtedly so.

"Got a pillowcase made out of money," he mumbles, clasping his hands together and feeling a bit of reassurance from the clink. "Feeling pretty fake when I wake up.."

"Tissue paper castle paper caddy."

Eloni closes his eyes for a bit, willing his internal fans to not work as hard as they are right then.

"Scaly little friend's got my backup-"

He continues looking down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them at random intervals as he continues singing.

"Didn't give me time to say goodbye the way that I wanted to…"

"So honey close your eyes-"

The windows burst open with the haunting cries of the wind, overtaking the room with a booming scream that'd surely echo throughout the rest of the mansion.

Eloni jolts out of his singing with a scream.

He gasps for breaths that he doesn't even need, a hand clutching the hem of his jacket whilst the other has already reached for the compartment in which one of his grenades is stored.

"Calm down calm down calm down-" he mutters to himself through choked sobs, clutching his sleeves for some sort of reassurance. He forces his legs to continue onwards, closing his eyes once more.

"Just the wind it's just the wind it was nothing but the wind," he reminds himself with every hitch of his breath.

A minute passes by and the urge to sing only grows louder, especially with the extra vocals being provided by the wind.

Eloni mumbles out some lyrics to himself for a bit.

"So honey close your - oh- right…"

He smiles small, brows still furrowed in slight tension whilst tucking his hands into the pockets of his camo jacket, quickly finding his voice once more.

"... And stay like you're supposed to do."

"Don't you wanna give me time to write.." he sings as he gently traces the intricacies of one of the candelabras on a nearby table. "Another song for you..?"

His metal footsteps grow louder as he spun around the hallway, voice no longer a shy whisper but reminiscent of an opera singer. The curtains are swept up by the breeze and bring in leaves and cold that swirl around the green android like a cape.

It was almost as if the music itself being played as he hums.

"Fuzzy feeling and... I miss you."

"Why can nothing stay the same…?"

He sighs, catching a leaf mid-flight. He traces the veins, despite feeling little on his metal fingertips.

"... Frickin' stupid and I'm gonna kill you.."

'At least Dad J isn't here hahaha…'

"Melt all your art and drink the paint."

"I am not a beast, I'm not a monster," Eloni lets the leaf gently flutter to the ground, looking back up to see a tall and slender figure run across the hallway with the smallest flash of blue.

He gasps.

'Purl-hew.'

Eloni forces his legs to speed up, hearing the heavy metal thump way too loud on the creaky hardwood floors.

"I don't care what you say."

"You can't have the bad guys without a hero-"

He nears the end of the hallway, whipping around to the right turn, finding it empty besides for the quickly fading figure of his older brother.

"And I'm the only one that's got a cape…" he whispers.

Just as he prepares to dash over, the blue android's name ready to leave his throat - a taller and much more horrifying figure zips past him. Clearly having the same idea of tailing after Purl-hew.

Eloni bites back a scream, stumbling back and immediately pressing up against the wall.

He hears two shrieks in the distance, easily managing to distinguish the owners from the pitches of their voices. But even with multiple pings coming from his brothers flooding his vision, he finds it hard to focus on anything.

Eloni's widened eyes squeeze shut, sliding down the wall and curling up into a ball. He peaks through the open spaces between his knees and watches his shadow cast on the ground.

"Didn't give me time to say goodbye the way that I wanted to…"

"So honey close your eyes and stay like you're supposed to do."

He knows how the moon moves, so he isn't surprised by how it warps. Elongating. Widening. Moving as the seconds pass -

Moving.

Widening.

Eloni's eyes widen slightly, a pulsing warning hammering at his systems to shut his voice down.

"Don't know how I'm gonna live without.."

"But I'll stay strong.. for you."

The last note rings out, and that's when the dread of realizing how Eloni's own shadow towers over him so unlike of shadows. All broad shoulders and the evidence of all the leg days skipped.

■|□|1010|□|■

"Man… kudos to the ones that decorated this whole place. I mean it'd take longer to spruce up Baracca Mansion for any holiday even with all the bots we have."

So, Rin quickly finds out that the kid's room he found somewhere in the mansion isn't more morbid than the rest of the mansion.

Which is ironic, considering most people like to capitalize on the adult fear of a child.

"But like.." Rin trails off as he scans around the room with a small frown, "I gotta admit. It's… kinda plain."

He vaguely recognizes the soft feeling under his feet as carpet, taking the time to glance down and confirm it so. Deciding not to mull over the floral patterns tracing it, he moves on to the walls.

Shelves lined every inch of the walls. Rin could do a 360-degree spin and have rows and rows of flowers be forever embedded into his memory chip.

What he sees next makes him double-take and reconsider the word 'plain' being used to describe the room.

"Damn… look at all these flowers," he mumbles, plucking one out of the many cases. He twirls it around in his hand for a bit, eyebrows furrowed as he examines the brown, crisp petals dissolving by the lightest touch.

Rin's frown deepens.

"What a waste," he huffs, placing the stem on the shelf, "All these flowers could be given to all the fans if the flowers weren't… dead."

"They would've looked beautiful with one," he laughs lightly.

Remembering the task at hand, Rin snaps out of the nicest train of thought he has had so far to continue snooping around.

What lays in the middle of the room most importantly, is a bed. There seemed to be more frills and lace than the actual bed, which even Rin could admit is a little extra have he not been a little too immersed in the experience.

"Keys keys keys, Rin.." he mutters, taking a step towards the bed, ready to search and-

He hears rattling.

Rin quickly turns to the door, slowly reaching out and testing the doorknob. Locked, exactly in the same condition he left it.

Call him paranoid but he isn't the only one.

"... What the fuck?"

He ruffles his hair, sighing before turning back to the bed.

"Damn okay this Halloween horror treasure hunt be wack."

The white android huffs, deciding to take another step towards the bed.

He shrieks when he hears the rattling again, only this time he flips a switchblade out of his wrist and proceeds to hold it out as he starts surveying around the room.

"My baes… my millions and trillions of baes.." Rin whispers, eyes constantly darting around despite his hand remaining steady. "If you guys are watching this… I love you. I'm sorry that I never had the chance to date all of you."

His breath hitches, inching forward a nanometer.

"But I seriously wanna get out of here and I'm sure my bros do too."

Rin sprints forward in a burst of energy, screaming as the rattling gets louder and louder but the bed is right there he just - he just-

Something thumps onto the bed.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK-" he shrieks, going absolutely ballistic as he dashes to the other side of the room.

"ARE YOU ALIVE."

"HI I'M SORRY BUT CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE A LITTLE TO THE LEFT."

Whatever the thing is, it decides to be a little shit and inches to the right instead.

Rin frowns, "Literally just kill me."

Rin comes to regret that statement in an instant following after the thing snapping its head up, displaying an interesting set of features including-

Extremely perfect yet yellowed teeth.

Hair fixed into a neat braid bun.

And eyes entirely flooded by red. No iris. No sclera. Just… an ocean of red, save for the veins glazing over the eyeballs for an extra nice touch.

The classic red cheek blush almost overtaking its face, comically large against the seemingly old porcelain look of its skin.

Rin gulps, keeping his switchblade pointed at the.. doll… thing that's almost definitely Yinu.

The doll slumps down, sliding down and landing against the carpeted floor with a muffled thud and-

A rattle.

"Yinu," Rin starts, slowly backing away. "Don't."

He can't even believe he's even intimidated at all by her. She clearly has no weapon on her, the only thing working for her is the frightening look that frankly looks demonic.

'What's the most she can do anyway?' he thinks with a huff, standing just a bit taller. 'Disassemble me piece by piece? Went through worse than that.'

Rin almost gets himself to believe that fact, but Yinu obviously could not give two shits about his suffering

She lets out an unholy screech, starting to scramble towards Rin at high speeds whilst her limbs looked to be shattered as she spider-ran towards him.

"EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -
EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES - EES I TAHW EES -"

"WHAT THE FUCK-"

"OKAY YINU-" Rin yelps as he quickly scrambles back and jumps up on top of the shelves- "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GO FULL DEMON ON ME BUT HERE YOU ARE - BEING AN OVERACHIEVER."

Rin continues scrambling back once he sees Yinu actually manage to crawl on the fucking walls, eventually managing to pick a vase up.

'How horrifically maimed will I be by Mrs. Natura if I throw this at Yinu?' he thinks in a panic, feeling a sense of dread wash over him when he feels his back hit the wall.

"KARMA KARMA KARMA KARMA," Yinu cackles, high and shrill as she hops up to the walls to continue her chase.

"I hate this concept so much," Rin whispers to himself as he gets his gasoline reserve to start working.

■|□|1010|□|■

Haym hears a faint hiss in the distance followed by a crash, and then a shrill childish shriek of terror.

He stares down, gently swinging to-and-fro from the chandelier he had managed to perch himself on top of.

Time had passed. Legit just - so much time. Haym thinks that he's going insane if not ready to behead a man. He didn't know Neon J had given 1010 the function to hallucinate, which is the only current topic that's keeping him from swinging off the chandelier and launching himself out of one of the large windows.

Seven seconds in.

"I AM GOING FUCKIN. UH. CRAZY BIIIIITCH," Haym screeches, getting up from the chandelier that has already started dangerously swinging back and forth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"I HAVE A THICK BOOTY. HAUNT ME FOR IT DAMMIT."

"DAD J WHY THE FUCK CAN WE HALLUCINATE," he doesn't want to admit it but - he's genuinely desperate for a voice to echo back to him. Be it another scream from one of his bros or a salty ghost ready to shove him to his death.

Genuinely, he has no idea how he got up to the chandelier. He also has no idea why he was so pumped for the haunted mansion concept the fans had voted for.

Haym decides to sit back down and wallow in his loud paranoia, continuing to scream and shriek his lungs out.

"ACCORDING TO ALL KNOWN LAWS OF AVIATION," he starts, bitterly pausing to wait for a rebuttal that he knows won't come.

"THERE IS NO WAY A BEE SHOULD BE ABLE TO FLY."

"ITS WINGS ARE TOO SMALL TO GET ITS FAT LITTLE BODY OFF THE GROUND."

He readies another deep breath.

"THE BEE, OF COURSE, FLIES ANYWAYS. BECAUSE BEES DON'T CARE WHAT HUMANS THINK IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"THAT'S RIGHT YOU SALTY FUCKING GHOSTS," Haym cackles, pulling at his hair and suppressing a scream. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU FLY UP HERE TO PUSH ME LIKE I WAS ON A SWING. BEES FLY. I FLY. YOU'RE NOT SPECIAL."

Despite his delirious shrieks, Haym immediately notices when the doors to the living room slowly creak open. It prompts him to silence, eyes growing wide as he shifts into a more comfortable position.

The thumps that he identifies as footsteps stop just beneath him.

There was beeping. There were a few more thumps. And then whoever the unlucky soul is that entered the living room, looks up.

Haym drops from the chandelier in a fit of maniacal cackles.

"SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, FUCKER."

There was an audible crunch, and then there was nothing.

■|□|1010|□|■

Purl-hew runs through the hallways with a huff. He knew he just passed by Eloni, which is good. It gives him just a flicker of hope that he and his brothers aren't too far apart to pass their respective pursuers around.

He lets out a quiet, breathless laugh at the thought.

As if.

With Mrs. Natura hot on his tail, Purl-hew doesn't exactly have the time to be looking for keys to escape. Tatiana knows how long he can keep her occupied, but more so how long he can keep up. The woman is a giant dammit.

Mrs. Natura continues to screech some Latin to him every now and then. It's pleasantly morbid considering the autotranslation feature he has.

Purl-hew is just as unsurprised as he always is when his inevitable end gets recited to him for the 6th time.

"Mrs. Natura, I know how living, conscious, and most importantly - organic beings such as yourself are known to be pursuit predators," he starts, brain automatically trying to sort through the library in his head for information.

"I'll admit, it isn't very effective as I've yet to crash and burn."

The woman doesn't need to know whether or not he's lying through his teeth, but then again, Purl-hew's starting to convince himself that he genuinely doesn't give a shit.

Fuck it.

He's dead.

He had a good run.

Purl-hew takes one last glance back, sighing, noticing that despite how far Mrs. Natura actually is, she's picking up her pace even quicker now that he has slowed his own.

"To my dearest fans, I will leave to you all the love that I'm too pissed to give my brothers."

He takes a breath, finally coming to a halt as he turns his head to monitor Mrs. Natura's movements again.

Yep, still screaming and running after him.

"It would've been lovely to see you guys before my demise but…"

He leans against the wall, truly resigned, albeit indignantly resigned, "At least I'm dying better dressed than the rest of 1010."

Mrs. Natura nears close enough, branches sprawling out to snag him up and hands large and ready to snap him in half

But then he feels his center of gravity shift, and soon he finds himself tilting backward. It felt like it had happened little by little yet at the same, it turned into one whole blur of movement before Purl-hew finally realized.

'Ah,' he thinks belatedly as his sensors immediately pick up the direness of the situation and start sending out a ping to Neon J.

'I've walked into a trap.'

An unintentional trap it seems if Mrs. Natura's actual gasp of surprise is anything to go by.

■|□|1010|□|■

"Wh - WOW. GRAND FUCKING QUASA," Zimelu complains, cursing under his breath.

The doors to the kitchen slowly creak shut behind him, which frankly doesn't matter as he watches the whole room warp and melt in the flames.

He doesn't know how it happened but he definitely knows that one of his brothers had a hand in it and when he finds out which, they'll be finding themselves wrapped tight with wrapping paper and being sent straight to a fan's door on Christmas.

He isn't even given enough time to do that because it's quickly being apparent how much time he has left before the embodiment of all his nightmares bursts into the room.

"I'm always the one being put into shitty positions," he mutters, forcing his processors to pick up the pace. "First they threw me into a manhole now they pull this shit-"

The doors slam open, revealing the limping and quickly shapeshifting form of Eve just behind Zimelu.

Everything is horrible. He wants to quit his job. Having a mansion and a hot bod isn't worth going through hell and back. Yet even as he's going through every stage of grief, he can't quite throw himself into the 'acceptance' box.

Zimelu clenches and unclenches his fist, gritting his teeth as he hears both the slowly approaching form of Eve and the hisses of fire.

'My sawblades.'

He has the conscience to know that his plan won't work. But frankly, between the paper cutouts and his ability to think before acting, the latter is a billion times flimsier than a piece of newspaper.

He channels all his anger as he promptly fits the paper sawblades to the pegs where his usual ones would be placed, securing them with some Flex Glue.

Eyes widened and flashing red, he recites a magical spell.

"TO SHOW YOU THE POWER OF FLEX GLUE," Zimelu shouts, firing up his boosters, "I SAWED THIS FUCKING FLOOR IN HALF-"

Without consideration of the well-being of the other megastar in the room with him, the red android fucking dives into the fire. His sawblades whir to life with such a force that manages to blow the flames out of his way.

Cackles rip from his throat as the floor splits cleanly down the middle. In no time flat, it gives way to gravity and sends him and Eve falling.

"ZIMELU YOU IMBECILE," Eve shrieks, form morphing from 2D to 3D with every blink. The red android stares in angry confusion, that is until he registers the wind whipping everything in disarray, and only then does he finally decides to think.

"Don't yell at me!" Zimelu barks out, quickly changing his position so that he can minimize the damage the fall could cause him.

He has to admit that it wasn't the best idea but at least Eve isn't gonna kill him anymore.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME, ZIMELU? I'LL DROWN YOU IN PAINT AND CEMENT IF WE SURVIVE THIS."

Ok. Wrong.

"NO WAY," he shouts back, glaring at her past his hair that's violently flicking back and forth like a rabid whip. "DAD J WOULD WHOOP YOUR ASS BEFORE THAT."

"ARE YOU SOME SORT OF CHILD?!" the psydub artist says, incredulity framing her expression with the drawn-up eyebrows and a gritted teeth. "NEON J WILL MORE LIKELY YELL AT YOU FIRST FOR SETTING A FIRE OFF!"

If it wouldn't end in a lawsuit, Zimelu would zoom right over to Eve and throttle her in an instant. But he's a polite and respectful android.

Anyways he has a feeling that doing so wouldn't end well for him. Eve has sculptor hands. She'd rip a cavity into his chest in an instant, and he acknowledges that.

Zimelu proceeds to do the next best thing when faced with an insult.

"FUCKING LIAR I DIDN'T SET OFF NO BITCH ASS FIRE."

"YOU-"

"NONONONONO ACCEPT THE TRUTH~ I SET NOTHING ON FIRE CUZ I DIDN'T DROP MY MIXTAPE YET~"

Zimelu's vocalizing was absolute shit - if it can be called that - at that moment but considering he's dropping from quite the jarring height, he defends himself with the right that being annoyed makes people do stupid things.

He lets out a yell that echoes down to the deepest parts of hell, punching the devil in the gut. It comes as such a finality. An ending. Putting everything into consideration, Zimelu knows he wouldn't survive the drop without breaking something. He just hopes it won't be his face.

"HAYM IF YOU CAN HEAR ME I WILL FIND YOU AND DRAG YOU INTO HELL WITH ME."

■|□|1010|□|■

The basement is completely empty.

But by all means, there's a major possibility that it actually isn't. Eloni's just more or less banking on the hope that the DJ didn't leave him with some feral monster.

He takes the time to scroll through his phone for a bit, taking some selfies and posting them with multiple crying-faces captioned.

"I wonder how the candy is doing..." Eloni mumbles, feeling the natural urge to whine. He just flops down on the ground instead.

Maybe, they all did something wrong. They could've bargained for their freedom politely - but like the complete fools they are, they've decided the only way to do things is by force. Or seduction. Or sass.

Basically anything that doesn't involve being civil.

Eloni just pouts even more. The thought prompts him to sit back up, trying to spy some sort of camera that could catch the pitiful look on his face.

Bargaining. Not manipulation. Such a skill was never intended to be programmed into him anyways.

"We coulda done some karting around," he mumbles loud enough for any nearby mic to pick up.

"Some… some trick-or-treating with our lovely fans even! I've.. um, actually made some homemade candy back at the mansion," his laugh is nervous at best, "I mean I guess I could still give that stuff away tomorrow, huh?"

"I mean it's just that - I think the sweetest treat of all would be the fans…!"

Despite his attempt at trying to get any of the staff possibly monitoring him to pity him, he feels… weird. Like he caught a virus except less bad.

To put into actual words, Eloni wishes things somehow went better in some alternate universe. Frankly, he's sleepy. Yet all he can think of at the moment was-

'This would make a good song.'

So it didn't really stop him from capitalizing on his emotions though. It takes him a while to subsequently realize that the other punch-in-the-gut feeling must've been guilt.

"Does that mean I won't get anything for Christmas?" he mumbles, slumping against the wall and staring at the ceiling.

The ceiling that also just so happened to spontaneously combust into flames.

Eloni starts losing his fucking mind. Shrieking as he scrambles out of the way of falling debris.

"WHY'S THERE A FIRE," he sobs, eyes wide with delirium as the insanity of the situation finally sinks into his mind.

Screaming from above echoes into the basement the green android is currently in, and for a second, he hopes Neon J came to save him.

But if there was anything that Eloni had learnt from living with the android idols - and being one himself - hoping for anything good is a severe mistake.

He can only watch with wide eyes as the ceiling cuts straight in half, the two large boards beginning their descent.

Despite the ex-ceiling being tall enough that it'd take a while before it could actually reach him, he forces his voice box to screech at a louder and higher pitch. His heart sinks when he finds out that it echoes.

"No way…"

"I'm gonna die alone."

"... Dammit!" he wails.

The ceiling breaks off somehow into two smaller vaguely person-shaped pieces and-

"OH MY QUASA - MELU?!"

The two figures look down at him, and immediately one of them moves farther to the side. They're falling faster. Eloni's panicking.

"GUYS WHAT DO I DO - DAD J NEVER BRIEFED US ON THIS!"

More yells bounce back to him and he does the first thing that comes to mind.

Eloni holds his arms out, firmly plants his feet against the ground,

And prays to Tatiana to stop the uncontrollable shakes and sobs wracking through him.

"I GOT YOU GUYS..!"

■|□|1010|□|■

So sue him for accidentally flinging Yinu out the window.

Rin just swears that the pianist had practically signed the consent form for being yeeted when she had - somehow - deduced that trying to claw his face off was a good idea.

He shivers when he hears the vicious screams outside.

'Thank Tatiana for the staff catching Yinu,' he cries in his head as he runs through corridor after corridor, staircase after staircase.

The fire he started has a 99% chance of devouring the whole mansion. The other 1% chance is when some other just as catastrophic event happens to cancel out the disaster he made.

"Is this a leader thing to do…?!" he whispers to himself in a tone that can only be boiled down to pure panic. It's some sort of denial tactic.

He could always try to fight his instincts. But for all he knows he's the last one inside the literal hellhole that became of the haunted mansion.

His systems are telling him to get the fuck out. Screaming that there should be no second thought. Just run run run and run - and if his legs somehow start malfunctioning somewhere in the middle then shit. A tactical retreat should never be considered shameful in the slightest.

Except when he's literally abandoning his brothers as he thinks.

"They'll be fine - right? They're a force stronger than some flimsy fire…" he hisses, narrowly avoiding planks of still-burning wood.

He shuts his mouth, trying to drill the word 'leave' into his mind to keep it quiet.

It only works for about five seconds but by the time he hears the screaming and running towards it.

Rin curses under his breath, berating himself for even thinking of leaving his incredibly self-sacrificial brothers anywhere involving danger. He knows them better than that. They'd either go 'survival of the fittest, bitch' to 'no one left behind, motherfucker'.

He hears screaming beneath his feet, and on instinct, he smashes the floor in and drops through.

■|□|1010|□|■

"GODDAMMIT NOVA WHY DID YOU LOCK ELONI IN THE BASEMENT?!" is the first thing Haym hears once he powers back on.

He blinks, vision all bleary as his optics take time to adjust. Yet once they do, he feels… weirdly elevated.

"Someone please tell me I'm dead," he groans as he lets his whole form loll back out of pure exhaustion. At least, he would be if he wasn't violently launched forward into something metal.

"FACK."

"THAT'S QUITTER TALK, SOLDIER!" Neon J practically yells before gently placing Haym down on the grass.

'Does being a quitter let me go back home to finish A Hat In Time?' Haym belatedly thinks, snickering to himself with heavy breaths.

Everything feels so wrong. If he could, he'd puke.

Out of the corner of his eye, the yellow android can make out the faces of the other megastars. All except for two.

Eve and Mrs. Natura.

"HAYM YELLOW!"

He clutches his head, groaning and flopping back down onto the grass, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Fuck this is like… the worst hangover I've ever gotten. Super not cool."

Haym considers shutting back down but something feels weirdly different. An empty type of odd. He curls up, blankly staring forward as his systems do scan after scan.

'No.'

He flops back onto his back, sighing. He does it again. Soon it just evolves into one, long, drawn-out annoyed groan.

"Blegh."

"Close your damn mouth for NSR's sake, soldier!" Neon J commands, looking practically exhausted to the point Haym wonders if he was in the haunted mansion with them.

"Yeah..!" Yinu shouts, running over. "Your stupid liar mouth has a spider inside it!"

Haym blinks before deadpanning, closing his mouth, encasing the spider. There's an audible crunch and the pianist screeches as she runs away. Saying he's super gross but whatever he thinks she's super gross too.

"Daaad!" Haym whines, rolling over to face the cyborg with an extremely tired grin. "Where's Rinnie?"

He doesn't bother saying why. Honestly, Haym just wants to die at the moment because the last thing he remembers is jumping from the chandelier in his spiel of delirium.

But besides that, he just wants someone calling him a fucking idiot for suggesting the haunted mansion, purely so that he can bitch back that no one tried stopping him anyways.

When Haym hears no answer, he squints his eyes, focusing on the wide man himself - DJ Subtraction Superzooma.

For some reason, he wiggles and somehow it's terrifying Haym to literally no end. So he does the first thing that comes to mind.

He screams.

"MR. SUPERGENOVA YOU'RE MELTING."

Haym's vision starts flickering black in short bursts that time perfectly with his panic. "HOLY SHIT."

He starts hyperventilating as his fans kick right back into action. He scrambles back onto his feet and starts running to the DJ, shouting and yelling like a madman that had too much Chubby Bunnies.

'Haha.'

'Hahahahaha.'

'The nightmare is STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN.'

With how frantically he's thinking, Haym can barely be surprised how his circuits haven't fried yet. He's just thinking. And screaming. And so fucking ready to go home.

The DJ keeps standing still despite how violently he's spazzing around. Haym almost wants to laugh. Kicking the DJ into the stratosphere sounds brilliant. It's the fervor. It's the stress. He wants to blow off some steam real bad in a way that wouldn't make him combust on the spot.

His rat brain supplies no other thoughts. He's fucked anyways so why not give himself another year of grounding?

"HEADS UP MR. SUPERNOVA," the yellow android cackles, "I'M BOUTTA TURN YOUR HEAD INTO A FOOTBALL."

He swings his leg back.

He can't stop laughing.

His internal fans cycle warm air over and over and over.

His jaws creak with how far they're stretching, just to fit his frenzied grin.

Optics trained on the DJ's head.

He sees a football.

He feels the adrenaline despite not knowing what there was to be scared of.

He sees Neon J behind the ball.

His foot connects with it and in the next second, it's lights-out once more.

■|□|1010|□|■

"Ms. Tatiana, ma'am - I take all responsibility for 1010's actions!"

The emotionless stare, the sigh, and finally the pitying nod from the head honcho of NSR is not a reassuring look. If anything, it just makes Neon J want to do the same.

When Neon J had first heard Haym suggest a haunted mansion as a viable concept for Halloween, he had a gut feeling that it was the worst idea the android could have even thought of.

Mostly for the sake of his boys. They all have some sort of tendency to react a lot more extremely than they normally should.

It was a tactic Neon J had come up with long ago to help stave off the remnants of their military coding. Violence can be kept at bay if 1010 naturally got scared shitless at the wind.

Looking back on his decision now, maybe he was the one that had made the worst decision possible. Maybe he should've trusted his boys a little more.

"It's alright, Neon J," Tatiana sighs, glancing around and monitoring all the other megastars that haven't been unfortunately caught in the shitshow. The cyborg wants to scream. Or shutdown.

'NO. CALM YOURSELF, SOLDIER,' he practically yells inside his sonar-head. 'THE SITUATION CALLS FOR NONE OF THOSE OPTIONS.'

Neon J watches and feels his organic, still-beating heart race miles. He slumps against DJ Submarine SuperTV, and sighs. Somehow, his exasperation and utter fear had mixed and made an awful cocktail of emotions he'd personally like to call - HhxbxhsbzhbxAAAAA™.

"You do know that none of this is your fault, correct?" the DJ supplies, to which Neon J just sighs and shakes his head.

"I programmed them. This… is technically all my fault. If I had just tweaked them a little more all those years ago - if I hadn't let my paranoia get to me -"

He sighs in frustration. It's garbled with disappointment and an ever-increasing pain in his chest.

"Dear God, Nova! Look at that burning haunted mansion and try telling me that this is the only way it could've happened!"

"1010 are their own persons," Supernova says, calmly yet in a way that gives the cyborg a sort of feeling, trying to coax him into calming down. "You said that, didn't you? There's always tweaking them after this… admittedly horrible mess."

"Yes and you cannot say that I didn't have an ounce of influence or responsibility for them!"

Neon J's sonar blips. And then again. All alerts from the boys that each throw rocks into his gut like they were skipping stones.

He tries breathing despite it actually not doing anything for his peace of mind.

"Neon, I advise you that you do not sprint into a burning building out of sheer impulse."

Neon J sighs but nods, quickly switching strategy and starting to instead force comforts into his mind.

'The boys are fine. They sure as hell aren't fireproof but for all I know they're on their way out the very moment they detected smoke.'

That's what the reasonable part of his brain says.

'WHAT HAPPENED TO LITERALLY EVERYTHING I'VE BRIEFED YOU ALL ON THIS MORNING?! TROOPS YOU'RE ALL IN FOR THE GROUNDING OF YOUR LIFETIMES.'

That's what the dad part of his brain says.

Yet, because he is both a reasonable man and a dad but also a war vet with crippling PTSD and a nice healthy dose of anxiety - he decides that the best course of action is to shake those two ingredients up and comes up with the plan to just-

Jump right into the building. No questions asked. Gotta save his stupid but precious sons from their own dumbassery before they melt in the fireplace that is the haunted mansion. Exactly like Hansel and Gretel except the witch that threw them in is their poor decision making.

Yet before he could execute his fatal plan, Mrs. Natura bursts out of the building, gasping air "Your son-! Purl-hew - all of them - they're still in the mansion!"

Neon J nods as understandingly he can.

"I have been, in fact, briefed on such information, Mrs. Natura."

"Eve isn't here either," Tatiana calls as she quickly rushes forward with a sigh. "The one time I decide to participate in Halloween and it ends with a possible lawsuit."

Oh ho ho.

Oh no.

1010 being trapped inside a flaming maze of horrors is one thing.

Another NSR megastar possibly dying with no way to bring them back is a whole other fucking mess in of itself.

'ALRIGHT GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, SOLDIER. INITIATE PLAN: UNTITLED. NO TIME TO TITLE IT.'

"No need to worry, Ms. Tatiana ma'am!" Neon J shouts on pure instinct and feels his legs practically jumpstart back into running towards his just-as-possible death. "I can handle this!"

The cyborg disappears into the fire, not looking back once. His heart is heavy, hanging by a thread ready to be cut, plunging the organ to the nonexistent pit of his stomach. The thought of losing his boys with no way to fix them helps block out the sounds of many other footsteps following him right into danger.

■|□|1010|□|■

Despite literally everything else happening around him, Purl-hew has to admit - the weird doll/flower room has great aesthetic value when they're burning to ash.

"All things considered…" he mumbles to himself. As gently and as delicately as he could, he punches a hole into the ashen wall, wallpaper and wood bursting into literal nothingness. It gives him a good view on the trees outside.

"Why can't I just… jump out the window? It's not like I can get out of scrape-free now anyway."

He glances down, and immediately finds his answer.

It's because gravity would take his falling form and not just dislocate or shatter any of his body parts.

Gravity will take his beautifully-formed body - his metal body - and fucking crush him like he was an empty can of soda.

"... Alright, Plan B then."

Purl-hew gingerly sets down the bag he has been carrying around, making sure to make his search quick before the floor just - gives out beneath him.

He calmly pulls out a crisp suit, making sure not to wrinkle it as well as keeping it away from the slowly inching flames.

"If I'm not dying in perfection then I might as well not be dying," he sighs. Yet despite how lighthearted the sigh had been, the toll of being threatened with this has taken full effect and frankly - it has also lost full effect.

One quick clothes change later, Purl-hew walks over to the bed in the middle of the room. The sheets were a mess.

"Ew."

He smooths the fabric out, meticulously making sure the comforter and pillows are in proper position to carry him to the afterlife. He deserves it. He's been carrying 1010 on his bare back ever since he woke up every time on October 10th, greeted by one more new face.

After contemplating his final opinion on his brothers and arranging the bed to his liking, Purl-hew lays down. Valentino white bag pressed to his chest, posture straight as a corpse's, he sighs one final sigh and keeps his eyes open for this one.

Smoke curls around the room. Bit by bit, he hears the fire crackle and break off pieces of wall. It turns the carpeted floor into a meadow lit aflame, inching forward, circling Purl-hew. It gives him one last chance to reconsider his choice.

"I've made a lot of bad choices," he mutters to no one, words smothered by the smoke lifted from an impulsive decision.

"I think the Croc phase I had was one of the worst."

In a moment of trying to find beauty in his nearing end, Purl-hew lifts his bag to meet his eyes. The white leather and gold chain dangles just over his face, reflecting the oranges and reds swirling around the room. The 'V' almost blends into the front, distinguished by the rounded rectangle framing it.

It's a bit scuffed by how much he used it. The ivory glow isn't as pristine as it used to be.

"Maybe I can have something to hold onto," he says to himself. That's when he starts rifling through the inside looking for something to die with him personally.

A letter falls out.

Oh no.

In a moment of forgetful curiosity, Purl-hew takes the letter and opens it. By that point, the fire has taken to licking up at the comforter slightly spilling out over the bed, slowly climbing up the fabric. He makes sure to keep the paper out of reach.

"Sincerely (haym you dumbass you put that at the END OF THE LETTER) (lMAO says the guy that wrote the date as our address) (gUYS PLS JUST WRITE THE LETTER OR I'LL DIP YOU INTO ACID LIKE FRIES TO KETCHUP TT) (woh daz long) (ELONI DEADASS LMAO)

Dear, Purl-hew,

It's ur birthday today [melu]

I mean it's technically ours too but Dad J kinda took a wrench to your circuitry first so you're gonna get your ~expensive~ gift first u Miranda Priestly Smurf wannabe [Hammie:)))))]

So we sorta went shopping at exactly 4 in the morning! (It's 7 AM right now, yes we're writing this in the middle of lyric recording bec Haym dumb and said we could multitask) [Rin]

We hope you really like our gift!! We'd give you separate gifts but someone said it'd be neater if we all just pitched in to give u one gift instead :((( [eli!!!]

Pfgjththf it's fine tho Dad J probs got u something better than this ol thing we definitely didn't hack ur phone for [HAMHAMAMMAMIA]

In which we didn't [R.I.N]

I did the hacking lol your Pinterest boards got leaked by ~moi~ bec fuck u [ZimZim]

But!! Ok we really did work hard to get this for u :'( the line was super long and we were worried abt fans noticing us [loni☆]

K that's honestly really all [zimelu]

Also because of Dad J pushing back the schedule a bit because he's also supremely busy - dance practice is gonna be 20 minutes later [Rinnie]

Don't b a snoopy hoe pls [HamHam]

Pls enjoy it I bet our mailbox and social media feed is gonna be flooded with excited fans T^T [Lonssss]

… We don't have anything else to say so -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PURL-HEW BLUE!!! WE LOVE U. BLUEBERRY HAIR AND ALL [1010♡]"

Purl-hew shuts his eyes, only to open them ten seconds later with a deadpan so dead to rival the crisp flowers fallen to the ground. The expression soon softens though as he stuffs the letter back into his Valentino white bag, swinging his legs over the bed and into the fire.

Damn morals.

"I do have morals and a conscience," he says to himself, bearing through the stinging pain of the fire as he gets up. He adjusts his sunglasses with a sigh.

That's when he breaks through the door, falls through a hole he was sure wasn't there before, and lands on top of someone.

■|□|1010|□|■

Rin doesn't remember wood being that heavy.

He soon finds out though that what had fallen on top of him wasn't in fact a dead tree in hell.

"Oh.. Purl-hew."

'... WAIT-'

"HOLY SHIT PURL-HEWWWWW," Rin cries, pulling his brother into the tightest bro hug in existence. Everything burns. Everything freezes. But all the white android wants to do is shove his older brother out of the mansion and into safety.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."

"... I appreciate the sentiment but we have to be looking for the others," Purl-hew supplies.

Rin's eyes widen and he goes back to running down the hall, this time his arm linked around the blue android's.

"The fire wasn't my fault I swear," he blurts out somewhere in the middle of the search.

"... I mean it kinda was-"

A piercing gaze stabs right through the side of his head, one which Rin ignores in favor for hearing any sort of tiny scream in the distance.

"You have absolutely no right to judge when a literal demon hasn't been chasing you."

The android next to him just snorts, "Bet."

Before Rin can offer up any sort of snarky remark about demons or a long ass lecture on why he shouldn't be sassed right now, a firm yet slightly worried voice slices through the atmosphere.

"TROOPS! WHERE ARE THE OTHERS?!"

Rin almost shuts down in relief when he whips around and spots Neon J along with the other megastars.

"I don't-"

"NEVER MIND!" the cyborg yells, four colored dots suddenly appearing on his screen as his sonar blips.

"OKAY TROOPS RALLY AROUND! HERE'S THE PLAN - NO QUESTIONS - LISTEN CAREFULLY."

"RIN, PURL-HEW, I HIGHLY ADVISE THAT YOU TWO FOLLOW MRS. NATURA OUT OF THIS PLACE."

Rin's adrenaline rush somehow stops immediately.

'DAD YOU CAN'T BE LEGIT,' he screeches into the safe confines of his mind.

Yet thoughts are rarely heard, so as 1010's leader, he'll act for at least Purl-hew's voice, "What about my brothers?! I mean someone-"

"NO COMPLAINTS!" Neon J shouts, ushering the white android - and by arm linkage, Purl-hew - towards Mrs. Natura.

"WE'LL HANDLE YOUR BROTHERS AND MS. EVE. GET TO SAFETY PRONTO, SOLDIER! THAT'S AN ORDER."

Rin groans, though not before trying to kick his way to freedom. It's all in vain though as Purl-hew calmly drags him over to the tall woman.

"Purl by all means this is insubordination to the leader-"

"Right yeah, the leader that set the mansion on fire?" the blue android snorts, raising a brow at him with an unimpressed grimace. "You're more lucky that I suggested we don't do the filming at our own place weeks ago."

"... Honestly, with a blow that low, you should've fallen through to the center of the Earth."

He huffs, finally relenting enough to let Mrs. Natura gently yet quickly lead them out of the mansion and over to a lowkey pissed off Yinu.

"Look, at the rate of things, we'd probably melt and die off first before even getting to see any of the dumb ones again."

Rin doesn't cheer up but takes liberty to pluck a lollipop out of a carved pumpkin with a frown.

"Who would've guessed?"

■|□|1010|□|■

"Guys calm down please," Eloni sobs, pulling Zimelu away from a concerningly disgruntled Eve.

"PABLO PICASSO IS OVERRATED - STAN DA VINKY HE THE MAN!"

"YOU HEATHEN?! YOU CAN'T EVEN SAY DA VINCI'S NAME RIGHT!"

Eloni prays for a ladder to descend from the heavens to pull all three of them out. Maybe the ladder's made of gold because if it is, he knows Haym would run over just to snatch it from God himself. Pry it from his large hands if he had to.

'Haym if you can hear me, I hope you're safe cuz I want some chicken nuggets when we get back,' he thinks with a sigh, decidedly taking to laying lifelessly on the ground as the two others with him decide to strike up another conversation. A very loud and piercing conversation.

"I donn wanna die.." he mumbles, staring up at the looming inferno gazing down into the caved-in basement.

Eloni was considering shutting down until he senses help coming by but then - speak of the devil and he will come -

The actual devil has came to reap his soul.

Cloven hooves thump against the floorboards. Screams of demons echo and ring inside his head. He feels like puking but it's mostly probably from the many dents he got after catching both Zimelu and Eve. If catching meant collapsing to the ground with him.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"I WAS BORN LIKE THIS."

"YOU WERE CREATED YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Zimelu laughs and that in of itself jolts Eloni back up to lunge at the red android.

"Melu. Melu no. Please. This - this is insane."

He sobs, practically clinging to the other like a koala as if the fact he's metal would be enough to stop the trainwreck that's about to happen.

"Be legit with me Loni, Eve right here just practically called dad a dumbass!"

Green optics widen considerably with a gasp, "Wait - wait wait no way… For real..?"

Eve gasps an even more scandalized gasp, eyebrows drawn together in frustration. Mere offense clearly seems too lax of a word.

"How dare you?! I respect Neon J considerably! What in your programming told you that?"

Eloni frowns, loosening his hold on the red android. Technically, slandering their dad is a death sentence in of itself. It's the rules. That's the name of the game. Eloni got nothing on it.

He's low on battery anyways. A nap would be great.

He sits back on the ground, cross-legged and maybe just the tiniest bit disappointed his brothers weren't-

HIS BROTHERS. NEON J. DAMMIT.

A scream bubbles up out of his throat, shrill, tired, cracking in the middle but it's high and loud enough for anyone to hear.

Eve flinches, glancing over at the green android with surprisingly only a slight glare, "Was that part necessary?"

"Shhh, don't pressure him!" Zimelu barks out, running over to Eloni and patting his back.

"Yo, bro what's up?"

Eloni frantically starts gesturing to the nearing of heavy footsteps, followed by yells and calls of others.

Eve's eyes widen, "They've come to get us..!"

"Holy shit.." Zimelu mutters, eyes wide before snapping out of his shock. "HOLY SHIT! Everyone start fuckin - uh - JUST SCREAM."

And so they all do. The effort isn't at all melodic. It's horrible. Grating. But Eloni doesn't care. He practically couldn't find it in himself to care. Sirens sound absolutely horrid too so honestly there really isn't any room for complaints.

Car sirens. Not the carnivorous mermaids.

The footsteps finally near enough until they're just there. Near enough to know there's people but far enough to make him second-guess himself.

"DAD?!" Zimelu shouts.

"READY YOURSELVES FOR SOME CLIMBING, SOLDIERS!"

'Thank literally everything,' Eloni wails, a threatening sort of relief overtaking his emotional state. He'd climb only if it'd mean he can finally go home.

A yellow ladder is thrown down - which is a small coinky dink that makes the green android smile - and he hears the sighs of relief from the other two with him.

"You know… I was kinda a prick earlier about… everything," Zimelu says, turning to Eve as he gestures towards the ladder. "... So, like - I don't know, ladies first?"

'Woah.. gentleman-ly stuff,' Eloni thinks, smiling nicely as he suppresses a laugh threatening to spill from his lips. 'Valid, valid. Hammie wouldn't let this go. Gotta tell him later.'

Eve just huffs, giving a curt nod. "Acceptable. I suppose I… can say the same about my own behavior. I apologize for what I - ahem, 'implied' - about Neon J. Good luck trying to explain how all of this happened in the first place."

She climbs up, leaving Eloni and Zimelu behind.

"And… bro," the red android starts, patting him on the back. "You've outdone yourself today, seriously. Catching me and Eve earlier was super wack but the coolest thing ever. I'm glad it got caught on tape."

"Recognition…"

Eloni almost tears up, "For real..?"

"Yeah - I'm gonna rub it in Purl's and Rin's and Haym's face later."

He chokes up, forcing a small 'bro' before just smiling.

"Now get up there!" Zimelu snorts, jokingly rolling his eyes as he nudges Eloni over to the ladder

■|□|1010|□|■

Once they've all made it up, Neon J shouts again.

"Where's Haym?!"

Looking around, an audible curse is elicited from the cyborg.

"BOYS!" he whips around to the two androids, "FOLLOW EVERYONE OUT AT ONCE! RIN AND PURL-HEW HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THEY ARE SAFE."

He takes a deep breath, steeling his nerves.

"I'LL LOOK FOR HAYM."

Without waiting for a response, Neon J bolts away from the scene in a great burst of renewed energy.

'Four sons down, one more to go! This mission is about to be dubbed a success!'

Keeping the possible lawsuits that his sons might not be able to charm them out of, Neon J strains his hearing for any sign of artificial life amidst the loud crackles of the fire.

He fears the worst when almost all the doors he had encountered were burnt to a crisp, showcasing the rooms that have dissolved into ash. Panic rises to his gut. Fuck. God, the mansion's architecture was shitty. The factory's broken. Can 1010 really be 1010 if they're missing a member?

Abso-fuckin-lutely not.

Which is exactly why Neon J just takes to making small frustrated noises as he forces himself to run faster. To outrun the flames threatening to take two lives tonight.

When he finally manages to stumble upon a door that has yet to be lit aflame, nestled deep within the manor, Neon J busts it down until it's all just wooden shards and immediately spots a figure sprawled on the ground.

"Oh no no no no," he hisses under his breath.

He was right. The concept was a mistake. But he knows that the yellow android in front of him isn't a goner. Neon J forces himself to believe that as he sprints towards him.

"Haym Yellow you better not quit on me now or I'm banning you from the Xbox!" he heaves as he immediately hauls Haym onto his back.

It's not a pleasant experience by any means, considering it feels like he's carrying the NSR Tower on his admittedly aging yet robotic back. The stress from the action isn't at all what bothers him though. Nothing does.

As he takes a few steps back, Neon J shifts Haym slightly so that his head won't take the brunt of his next action.

An alternate route is always an important part of any plan.

Neon J - though sort if unrelated to the previous topic - has yet to realize the slight motion against his back.

"D-dad..?"

Which is exactly why when he decides to burst through a wall leading out of the mansion at last, he almost drops Haym from the sheer force of his scream.

■|□|1010|□|■

"I WASN'T PREPARED FOR THIS MATRIX SHIT!"

Haym doesn't know what he's feeling at the moment but it's definitely starting to feel akin to throwing himself into the Pacific Ocean face-first.

"WHICH DIMENSION AM I GOING THROUGH?! - THIS SHIT AIN'T GUCCI CHIEF."

That feeling is especially mirrored by the dialogue above.

Whatever's happening though, Haym makes sure to cling to the figure carrying him. He doesn't know where, actually, because as far as he knows, Satan doesn't seem like the type to give piggyback rides.

"HAYM YELLOW SAVE YOUR DIALOGUE FOR AFTER WE FINISH THE FILMING!"

"THE DEVIL SOUNDS LIKE MY FATHER?!"

'Understandable but fuck no am I being taken to hell by myself - the fuck kinda favoritism is that?!' Haym furiously reels his arm back, blinded by the sheer audacity of this demon to leave the others be. Fuck him and his red pitchfork ass.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO YOURSELF, SOLDIER?!" Neon J snaps his head back for just a second and Haym feels his heart sink.

"Woah okay damn sorry Dad J!" the yellow android grins, deciding to forego raising his hands up in mock surrender.

'Oh shit fuck shit hahAAaAa - this ain't Gucci.'

He just snickers, head lolling back foreward as he finally lets himself breathe a sigh of relief, "Didn't know it was you."

The night creeps up over Vinyl City, fire behind him crackling and hissing at the high heavens like Satan's serpents. His joints creak, his head is bashed in, body dented all over - he has a feeling his brothers are in some varying degrees of fucked-up too, which relieves him. He won't be the only one enjoying a few weeks out of commission.

Yet in his peaceful utopia, he can't bring himself to let his guard down just yet.

Eyes narrowing to slits, Haym readies himself to launch off of Neon J's back at any moment.

"So," he starts, "...Are you real or am I hallucinating again?"

He hears an audible drawn-out sigh from the war vet, feeling the plastic underneath him and a backrest when he slouches in his posture.

"What do you think, soldier?"

In a flash, 1010's on him in a nanosecond.

"You fucking bastard! Where even were you the whole time? I swear to everything that's holy if you had just snuck out in the beginning you little shit-"

Haym sticks his tongue out, flashing his bent middle finger. "Fuck you too, Melu. Bet your ass ate all the cheesesticks when you got out."

'The sheer audacity of this sunburnt clown,' he thinks in digust, 'At least I don't got that Jojo Siwa hairline. Didn't even ask my ass if I was alright smh.'

"Wow… so besides that one time the day before our birthday, that's probably the second time your face got bashed in."

Haym pulls at his hair, throwing himself back into the chair and shrieking to the sky.

"DAMMIT NOT AGAIN! I can't keep the rep as the visual of this group if my face keeps looking like a weird bowl," he groans. Too drained to laugh about it. No amount of skincare is gonna fix that one.

"Thank everything you're still alive, I - wait, your spider legs are bent. Dude, the fact that you broke the props I personally made for you this one event… bro. Bro."

"Crit appreciated but I want some legit appreciation too you bags of dick!" Haym frowns. Realizing how serious that sounded, he immediately turns the frown into a pout and hopes it works all the same. Just without the commitment.

A hand comes to pat his back, to which Haym narrows his eyes to blink suspiciously at the person.

Eloni smiles, tired like the rest of them.

"Don't worry. They all cried an entire ocean before they heard you were safe. We were.. I mean, like, yeah. Super worried… thought we'd lose our brother there for a second."

Haym huffs, grinning and pulling the green android into a bro hug.

"Acceptable," he snorts

"WH - GIVE US A HUG TOO!"

"Wow so this is what I would've missed if I had just… readily accepted death."

"Don't pull an Edger Allan Poe right now or I'll throw you into a grave myself. Just join the group-hug goddammit!"

"TROOPS! ATTENTION!"

"SIR!"

"WE'LL BE HAVING A LONG TALK BY THE TIME WE GET HOME. NOW GET OVER HERE BEFORE YOU HAVE TO FILM THE GOODBYE!"

"AFFIRMATIVE, DAD J!"

■|□|1010|□|■

The camera shows a whole different area of the venue, haunted mansion nowhere in-sight even behind the five android idols.

"Thank you so much for watching the video!" Rin smiles as he brings his brothers next to him in a shoulder hug. "It's probably super long but weirdly all the cameras in the haunted mansion didn't melt."

"It was crazy. Absolutely hellish. But we wouldn't want any other fanbase except for yoy guys to drive us to the literal brink of insanity."

"But also because of everything that had happened today, we'll be taking a super short break to get better. Can't dance and film if our limbs are shattered!"

The speech is interrupted by a beat of silence. In the distance, firetrucks can be heard as well as the murmuring of the haunted mansion's staff. They're all sort of faint though, so they aren't exactly picked up by the mic.

Rin's smile slips into a more pleading one that matches the ones of the other members.

"Please, never suggest a haunted mansion ever again."

The atmosphere picks right back up in a snap as 1010 laugh. The is unheard by everyone else. Unsettling most of the staff.

"Cool!"

"So," Rin heaves, leaning back into his seat with a smile."That was our Halloween Special! Hope it was entertaining enough for you guys."

"We'll be posting a pre-recorded video soon somewhere later this week so look forward to that."

1010's voices sync up one last time, sending a wink and a smile to the camera.

"1010 out!~"

■|□|1010|□|■

Y IS A DECAPITATED STICKMAN UPSIDE DOWN
I'm sorry what the fuck just happened.

EDIT: sorry guys I'm a new fan hshxbsbc I don't… i cant.

👍56k Likes 👎18 Dislikes 🗨100 Comments

BlueSattire💎
Purl was a mood this whole episode no cap 😭 hngdhd mY BOY I CAN R EL A TE

CASKET-HEW GUYS?????

👍29k Likes 👎30 Dislikes 🗨87 Comments

molotovd1ck
Made dinner for 30 minutes and when I came back the episode was still playing what 👀👀👀

Guys.

Guys what do I do.

EDIT: I asked for adviCe not for y'all to judge me on why I took 30 minutes to COOK 🐜

EDIT: GUYS PLS IGNORE MY USERNAME JUST TELL ME IF I'M CURSED OR THE VIDEO'S CURSED

👍100.6k Likes 👎90 Dislikes 🗨506 Comments

eBOYBABIE
I'm sorry did my sweet precious cinnamon roll try to murder us Eloni stans with that cuteness????? Fuckin.. uh… sorry guys pls bury me in a green casket thx 💚✨

👍80k Likes 👎35 Dislikes 🗨77 Comments

Juicy Chocolate Malts
1010 on concerts: sexy, seductive, dangerous, could take over the world if they wanted to

1010 when they're filming videos:

HAMMIE STARTS QUOTING THE BEE MOVIE

PURL MAKES CASUAL CONVERSATION DESPITE F E AR

ZIMZIM FUCKING - JUST SLICES A FLOOR IN HALF????

RIN THREW YINU OUT THE WINDOW R.I.P

LONI JUST. SINGS. OUT OF FEAR. AND POOR BB GETS SCARED BY THE WIND

😭🤘✨
STAN 1010 BITCHES

👍96k Likes 👎29 Dislikes 🗨86 Comments

Chapter Text

February 6, 2020

“There’s a great possibility we're overreacting.”

Zimelu huffs out a laugh that winds his lips into his smile, rolling his eyes as he raises his red Gatorade bottle, “I’ll fucking toast to that.”

Haym laughs before rolling over a whiteboard and starts writing on it. “Is it really overreacting when Melu was the first one to lose his shit over the fact they’re dating?” he scoffs, slapping the felt tip against the smooth surface in emphasis.

“It can’t be that bad,” Rin dismisses smartly, like how the leader archetype is meant to be like. It would’ve been more entertaining if Rin didn’t take a bite of the bait dangling on Haym’s hook, like the fool Zimelu firmly believes him to be.

“Oh no it’s bad,” Eloni - to the rest of 1010’s amusement - cuts in as he slaps down a pile of what he supposes is evidence onto the table.

Zimelu picks up a file, eyebrows raising in slight - very slight - respect to their dedication. “Bad… like, rumor bad?” he glances up and has to stifle a laugh at Haym’s glare before going back to the folder. “Guys this is the fucking pinnacle of our careers. People say shit all the-”

Just when he thought it wasn’t possible, Zimelu’s cut off, dumbfounded at the pictures that had fallen out of the file.

He snaps his head back up to take a look back at Haym’s smug and increasingly chokable face.

“What. The. Fuck,” he says, dumbfounded. “You stalked them?”

In an instant, the other members clamber over to the photos like starved animals.

“Damn they do be kissing though…” Rin mutters, sorting through each memento of a relationship that still has Zimelu reeling.

“Haym I’d tell you that’s creepy as fuck but you probably don’t even care,” the corner of his lip curls, disturbed. “Like - how did you even find the time to do that?”

Haym’s eyebrows shoot up as his mouth takes on the form of an offended donut. “I take the time out of my day to contribute to this family and all I get is - [‘what the fuck, Haym’] - [‘where did you find the time to do this?’] - [‘did you eat all the vegemite’] like what do you want me to say?! YES I ATE THE VEGEMITE, RIN.”

“... I took the pictures, actually,” Purl-hew says. “I mean I only did it because I thought the two were going to make some sort of… weird scrapbook about Dad J’s blooming relationship. Which is perfectly on-brand for either Loni or Haym.”

“Y’know, it’d be a lot less freaky if there weren’t any pictures of them [making out]. Ugh they were even doing it in living room number 13.”

“Yes well living room thirteen is infamously unlucky ever since the flooding incident.”

“Isn’t this technically breaching their privacy?” Rin looks up with a raised brow, gesturing to one particular photograph that features two figures cuddling by a tree in the middle of what everyone presumes to be nowhere. “Like, maybe we [do] have the right to question Dad’s taste but like… in a confront-y way.”

Rin lets the photo drift to the ground as he claps his hands together, concerned, “And as far as I know, this [isn’t] a confront-y way.”

“True that,” Zimelu cringes away from the pile of photographs, moving over to a different area of the couch and instead focuses his attention back on his phone. “How hard can it be? We complain about shit all the time!”

“Confrontations suck though!” Eloni whines, shoulders visibly slumping as he gestures to the various scribbles on the whiteboard.

“See - see - just look at this-” he points to one particularly detailed stickmen drawing, one with a monitor and one with a sparkly circle- “This is Dad J and Mr. Supernova,” Eloni says before scribbling five more figures with different colored markers. “And this
is us! Look at us. Lil handsome stick boys that don’t tackle responsibilities head on!”

Zimelu knits his brows together, trying to make sense of the narrative the usually decent-spoken Eloni had improvised. One glance to Purl-hew and Rin suggests he’s not the only one trying to dissect what the hell is going on.

“I’d say you’re projecting,” Purl-hew settles on saying for maybe after five seconds. He rests his elbows against his knees as he clasps his hands together, propping his chin on top of them in a very open attempt at trying to not bury his face into them.

Rin - trying to be supportive - just slowly nods. “Loni you’re making like, zero sense. No offense.”

“Shh, don’t rush him,” Haym chastises with a grin, pulling a chair over before taking a seat. “Genius takes hours.”

Zimelu raises a brow, configuring his face into something a little more on the disbelieving and mocking.

“No wonder you’re so impulsive.”

Purl-hew mutters next to Rin, “Are we actually going to listen to their plan?”

Rin shrugs, jotting down notes into his notebook, “I mean when worse comes to worse, I wouldn't have to think of a backup plan yet.”

Frankly, it’s almost rude that no one comments on Zimelu’s line but he just keeps thinking to himself - they’ll know in their conscience that I’m extremely funny. Fuck them.

“Melu, stop giving us your murder-eyes. This isn’t the time, my dude.”

“What does that even mean?” he hisses, “Next thing we know, Dad’s gonna get engaged to a fucking poptart and fly over to another country without telling us.”

“Not liking who Dad’s dating is whole other league from thinking he’s a shitty dad, Melu,” Purl-hew says with the delicacy of glass and the contrasting sharp stabby bit of truth.

Despite how much Zimelu wanted to argue back, a big part of him started cursing at the aspect he even thought Neon J would drop so low. So he just huffs in surrender. “Okay yeah true. My bad.”

Eloni - who at the moment has zero disregard for the atmosphere - cuts in with a fresh set of stickmen doodles.

“The whole problem with confrontation is the issue that we as icons of boyfriend material shouldn’t have - feelings,” he explains in a surprisingly eloquent manner.

“What would Dad think? I mean! Like, we’re his sons, right?” he pouts, “Wouldn’t it hurt him at least a little that we don’t… trust his boyfriend or something?”

Zimelu shrugs, “Yeah, but like if you think about it… Mr. Supernova’s insensitive. Even in the photos he doesn’t look like he’d be the type to initiate all the… cuddly stuff. Dad’s a romantic. Isn’t there supposed to be an even give-and-take ratio in relationships? It can’t just be Dad constantly giving because like... what’s the fucking point in that?”

Rin jolts up from the couch with wide eyes and determination radiating off of him like a heater.

It’s great - but Zimelu genuinely would've stayed quiet if he didn't feel the need to comment how ridiculous seeing someone jolt actually is. “Great to have you alive again, dude,” he pats Rin’s back, “Thought you decided to visit good ol Hades to try and bring Dad J’s standards back to life.”

“Y’know, going by that logic then that'd mean they’d just fall back down when Dad sees Mr. Supernova again,” Eloni says, as he pulls over a swivel chair to sit on.

Zimelu wheezes, “Man… true love.”

“True love,” Haym mimics before falling forward and face-planting onto a pillow, bursting out into laughter.

Through the noise, Zimelu faintly hears Rin ask for Eloni’s marker.

“Guys! I just had a thought.”

At least for a moment, Haym quiets down his laughs, wheezing and wiping stray tears from his eyes. “Aaaand?”

That was enough incentive for Zimelu to get his act together. Not wanting to be outdone by Haym, he coughs out the remaining traces of joy and adopts a chiller stance. “Does it involve arson?”

“I've already apologized for that twenty times and I swear to Tatiana, Melu, that if you mention the haunted mansion incident again - I'll fry your socks in oil.”

Zimelu snickers, but says no more.

“Considering that the brainpower between all four of you combined is as powerful as a lithium ion battery, I should’ve expected that none of you would be able to see the bigger picture and thus-” Rin wipes a good section of the whiteboard clean with a flourish- “You guys decidedly join forces in the narrow-minded path that is…”

“Getting mad about it,” he tsks, uncapping the marker before starting to scrawl something onto the whiteboard. “Making fun of their relationship - which I should've mentioned is pretty sad earlier. That part was kinda on me since as the leader I should be keeping all of you out of trouble, but I’m also glad I didn't because seeing all of you scramble around makes for good content.”

“Says the guy that found out about it last,” Zimelu says with enough snark that'd probably draw Rin out of his big, balloon head. “If you’re just gonna inflate your ego, we're probably just gonna go to a used teabag for orders.”

“Damn!” Haym gasps in mock-shock.

Rin scoffs. “Because all of you would absolutely be able to function properly without me for even a day,” he then adds with a snicker. “And that's being generous.”

“Oh wow-”

“Guys - just... shut [up],” Purl-hew sighs. “I can’t just always be the one trying to stop the stupid,“ he mutters. “Rin, what's the plan?”

“Let me explain first,” Rin says.

“You guys are weirdly quick to judge the same guy whose ego cracks after like… thinking someone insulted him by saying snow globes are lame,” he cleans up a good chunk of the whiteboard again before scrawling two sticks with a circle and a square for heads respectively.

“He’s like the ice prince trope in anime and visual novels except Mr. Supernova’s less of an ice prince and more of a…”

“A refrigerated glass of water?” Eloni supplies, hiding his amused smile with his hand.

“Exactly!”

Everyone stifles their laughs.

Continuing on with his brilliant analogy, Rin draws a tiny crack on the circle. “His ego…! Fragile - His heart of ice is literally that - ice. It's a good reassurance cuz it's just as likely for Dad to crush Mr. Supernova’s heart just as it is vice versa.”

“And honestly I’m pretty sure he isn’t a sociopath. I mean if he was then damn but like - he isn’t, at least from what I can tell. Maybe he does like Dad. Judt think of all that kissing seshes I've accidentally walked in on,” Rin coughs. “I mean seriously. They could’ve taken it to the bedroom and not in the middle of one of the studios.”

They’re irrefutable facts, sure, but Zimelu honestly thinks it’s kind of sad that Rin still thinks everyone would easily succumb to something as commonly brushed-off as facts.

Besides, he has a bigger concern at the moment and how weirdly adamant Rin sounds on trying to justify the DJ. Usually the punchline would’ve kicked in a few seconds ago. A joke. An actual plan to somehow convince Neon J to save his feelings for someone who wouldn’t push them aside for something like work.

“Wait - you’re actually defending him,” Zimelu furrows both his brows as his lips make a tight line to accommodate the bits of nonsense he refuses to understand. “You? Dude, you were literally the one here that wanted to storm the planetarium when you found out.”

“It’s… a bit weird, yeah,” Eloni mumbles.

It’s more than an opinion-based argument. Zimelu knows how it’s unlike Rin to defend somebody he doesn't exactly like, even if it isn’t hate. But he thinks it’s rather odd if even someone like Eloni can't understand the supposed leader’s supposed motive either.

“I’m just trying to be reasonable,” Rin frowns, eyes narrowing as he crosses his arms. “Don’t you guys get it? We may be Dad’s sons but it’s not like we can dictate who he dates - even if it's Mr. Supernova. Why are you so prejudiced against him anyways?”

“Uh, because it's Mr. Supernova?” Haym says, snickering as he points to the photographs on the table. “I mean the first word I think of when I see the guy isn’t exactly commitment to love.”

“Here, here - let me just do a quick imitation of him.”

Hay snatches up the headphones on the desk and puts it on, grumpily crossing his arms as he deepens his voice. “I! Am! DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA! Love is as inconsequential and unimportant as a tiny space dust bunny. I build big space phone. I turn into void when I anger. I eat Pluto it small.”

Once everyone began laughing, it took them at least a few minutes to calm down.

“Yeah…” Eloni wheezes, taking deep breaths as he fiddes with an empty chip bag. “I mean, we don't want to see Dad getting hurt.”

“Dad is literally older than any of us combined,” Rin says, “We should just leave him alone - I mean, we should leave them alone. I’m the leader here, it’s Dad’s word or mine. It’s for the best, y’know?”

By that point, Zimelu’s pretty sure that if Rin continued any further with his explanation, it’ll all just boil down to letting Neon J get strung along - which isn’t on Zimelu’s itinerary.

“Dude, that literally makes no sense,” Haym says, stretching across the couch with a grin before turning on his Switch. “I mean I’ve heard Rin say a lot of stupid stuff before but I think that just took the cake - nay, it practically took the entire baking industry!”

Zimelu tries finding a hint of a joke on Rin’s face, and when he finds none, his face morphs into a mix of disturbed and concern.

“Holy shit - who are you and what have you done to Rin?” he says, “The Rin I know would’ve made a reasonable plan that won’t fail in the first five seconds of it starting. The Rin I’m hearing right now is spouting some bullshit.”

“I am Rin and I’m trying to be reasonable right now. Yes, you’ve heard it here folks - let that sink in because if it doesn’t then none of you will understand the actual plan.”

“Dear fuck - you would’ve failed me as a brother by that point.”

“You’ve done the same,” Purl-hew snorts, waltzing up to the whiteboard probably just to draw on it. “Don’t pretend you didn't.”

Zimelu ignores Purl-hew and instead zeroes in on Rin, who starts looking more defensive by the second.

“Is Mr. Supernova blackmailing you or some shit?” he narrows his eyes. “Or are you hiding something from us? I mean you keep your secrets but what you were saying earlier sounds scripted and fake,” he crosses his arms and scans over Rin’s blank expression, trying to discern what to say next.

“You know we have your back no matter what, right?” Zimelu eventually settles on that, before glaring, “Then you have to know how insulting it is that you’re not telling us when something’s wrong. You’d hate for any of us to do that.”

“I’m not hiding anything. I have absolutely zero reason to lie right now,” Rin replies, but the underlying bite in his statement doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Bullshit,” Zimelu snaps back, “What’s going on? Why aren’t you telling us anything?”

“Because it’s none of your business.”

“So we’re strangers now? Wow, thank fuck we aren’t related anymore.”

“That isn’t what I meant, dumbass.”

“What did you mean then?”

“I have my own life and I don’t have to tell you every detail.”

“Obviously! I don’t want to know who you have wet dreams about, you bitch waffle - I want to know if I gotta haul your ass to Dad in case you suddenly lost all common sense!”

“Ohhh, so just because I’m trying to not be judgemental, I’m being unreasonable?” Rin rolls his eyes, “Brilliant, Melu. Your grasp on common sense has improved considerably ever since you mentioned breaking into our own house.”

“Says the asshat that lost his arm in Natura!”

“Bringing up past incidents is petty,” Rin scoffs, dropping the marker to the floor before a small, smug grin rises. “You’re grasping at straws.”

Zimelu sneers and lunges at Rin with the very intention of wiping said grin off his face. Maybe with a punch, or snapping his neck. He could also just shove the marker into his eye. Gross, but an option.

“Aw fuck, shit’s really going down,” Haym whistles.

Purl-hew audibly sighs, getting up. “Haym, Eloni, try to separate Rin from Melu. I’ll hold him back.”

Zimelu zones right in on the icy face in front of him, hands latched around his shoulders despite others trying to pry him off. “Fuck you! If you want a good argument then what about this-”

He violently rattles him back and forth, pressing against the metal. “You don’t give a shit if someone takes advantage of Dad’s affinity for romance,” he says through gritted teeth. “You don’t trust us anymore because we’re suddenly don’t agree with your stupid plans!”

“If you were just a leader and we were just troops then it’s all fine and dandy but we’re not fucking war machines anymore! Insubordination? What about trust?! We’re brothers you fucking asshole! I don’t get why it’s something you can’t tell us when we haven’t even given you a reason not to-”

Zimelu chokes as his back slams against the floor before he glares up, meeting Rin’s offended look.

“Get off your high horse, Zimelu,” Rin scoffs. “Don’t pretend we all don’t constantly spill each other’s secrets on videos. Our private lives are always on the air! My secret needs to actually be secret because if it isn’t then - then...” his voice dies off into silence but his stern glare remains the same.

Zimelu picks up the pace by getting back up.

“It’s not that hard for us to keep our mouths shut!”

“Or so you say.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

Voices distantly talk. Should we call Dad? - Yeah, maybe.

But then footsteps jump up the staircase and rapidly thump closer to the studio. His first instinct is to get his shit together and it seems the others thought the same thing considering how they’re all suddenly standing stiff as a board. As the seconds hesitantly tic forward, he considers framing Rin for the studio’s mess before dismissing the thought entirely - just in time for the door to slam open.

“What happened?” Neon J demands. “Who’s fighting and what’s being fought over?! Full explanation!”

“Fighting?” Eloni cluelessly tilts his head, “Uh, no one’s fighting.”

“Not anymore,” Haym snickers under his breath, prompting Zimelu to slam a kick to his legs.

“Ow shit fuck fuck-!”

“Melu and Rin were arguing over something,” Purl-hew shifts the attention to himself as he begins explaining. “It isn’t really important though, it was just about the lyrics.”

“Yeah, Melu thought I was singing the wrong part during recording,” Rin adds, side-glancing Zimelu, who glares right back.

“Sorry for not trusting your judgement, oh-so-flawless leader.”

“Shut up.”

“How about n-”

“Boys!” Neon J frowns, monitor blipping as he observes them. “You all worked hard enough today. Dinner’s ready and I expect a full and truthful report once we’re down!”

The silence sticks for a second too long before everyone exclaims a “Yessir!”.

Once they were all seated at the dining table, they launched into explanations and half-truths, lying just to save his and Rin’s life. They lie about what they were arguing about. They lie about their progress on recording because the simple truth is that they were conspiring against their own Dad.

Instead of contributing though, Zimelu just sticks to glaring at Rin from across the table, who rolls his eyes.

■|□|1010|□|■

February 7, 2020

Rin gives it his best effort to try and contribute to the household despite his innate urges to somersault into one of the pools. It’s proving to be rather difficult though. All he ever felt like doing the moment he came out of sleep mode was to go back to sleep and rot (he understood Purl-hew a little better after that).

But because he’s one of the members of a famous idol group, he decided that if he didn't get off his ass before 6 then what was even the point of his existence.

1010 have a recording to do later on in the day after lunch to make up for yesterday’s lost time. Rin has felt dread many times but after sending the reminders to his brothers, he’s pretty sure the feeling he’s going through at the moment is capital fuck.

Instead of spending time being productive as usual though, he had decided to give up on every form of recreation and instead snatch a feather duster from one of the cleaners, insisting on helping for a bit.

So now he’s just sort of standing there in the middle of a hallway, holding a feather duster as he gently bops a display case filled with numerous awards. His frown doesn’t feel real, but then again his wish to become nonexistent seems to have manifested into reality considering his entire existence feels funky (bad).

To cope, he had decided to text Eloni.

BagelBiteuwu: man we were supposed to finish up recording yesterday :((((((((

Warshwallom0w0: Sorry abt the fight Lons

Warshwallom0w0: I’m not mad at u guys, Melu was the dick

BagelBiteuwu: i’d say both of u were being dicks to each other like… man, how did last night spiral so fast. i’m not trying to guilt-trip u but damn this drama spicetea

Warshwallom0w0: Pls spend less time with Haym m brain cells cannot take this

BagelBiteuwu: ok rinnie u gotta stop telling ppl what to do

Warshwallom0w0: I don’t tho :((

BagelBiteuwu: tru u don’t all the time but like sometimes u do n idk if it’s a leader thing or a bug but it’s not ok u know

BagelBiteuwu: like sometimes u get all distant n cold which is like :( rinnie why

BagelBiteuwu: we can't hate u for it but melu probs just couldn’t handle it especially since the topic we were talking abt was kinda sensitive. not just for him but all of us, cuz dad n stuff

BagelBiteuwu: i know wot ur intentions were but i didn’t speak up cuz a lot of us were in d wrong

BagelBiteuwu: but like i also didn't say anything cuz i was scared sry lol

Warshwallom0w0: It’s aight Loni

Warshwallom0w0: But like Idk Melu’s always going off even when any of us don’t say anything

Warshwallom0w0: I got what he was trying to say n all but like he didn’t have to b a dick abt it and call me a bad leader

Warshwallom0w0: I would've talked to him about it this morning but he didn’t come to breakfast

Warshwallom0w0: U know. Like a coward

BagelBiteuwu: hammie, purl, dad, n i were d only ones in the dining room this morning rinnie, both of u were cowards :////

Warshwallom0w0: Aw fuck

BagelBiteuwu: dw i still covered for u n melu, i told dad u were going over lyrics and that zim was practicing d choreo again

Warshwallom0w0: I owe u so many favors now it lowkey pains me but I honor our bro code

BagelBiteuwu: ure a good bro, n ure a good leader. melu was jus mad, i bet he didn't mean all d stuff he said. but u should probably still apologize to him tho, preferbs before lunch bec it’s gonna b super awkward at recording if u guys don't

BagelBiteuwu: ok? :((( promise me, hoe

Warshwallom0w0: I promise

Warshwallom0w0: But pls never call me a hoe again

BagelBiteuwu: hdhdnchdn ok ok i gotta go now anyways haha hammie just passed m kart

Warshwallom0w0: Thx for talking to me Lons

BagelBiteuwu: u wc :))

Rin logs out of the chatting function and refocuses his attention to the real world. A particular photograph remains framed inside the display case right in front of him, and as much as feeling any other emotion will deal 10000 points of psychic damage - his heart (heart?) decides to murder him in cold blood.

He pokes at the glass with the feather duster, lips curling into a disturbed frown as he remembers.

It’s horrific and all it really does is continuously take a stab at him like he wasn't already drowning in guilt just last night. Sadness makes him feel like his chips and modules suddenly coagulated into one, big, gloopy mush that’s forever stuck trying to leak out of his eyes.

The thought’s pretty disgusting and that’s what prompts Rin to hurriedly try and soothe the pain by humoring himself at least until he can stop leaning against the display case.

Celestial beings are punishing me because my beauty is beyond ethereal.

Somewhere in Vinyl City, someone’s envy is so strong that it’s actually sorta an effective tactic. If I ever meet that person, I gotta thank them for the ego boost - even if they weren’t the first.

Someone switched out my charging ports while I was asleep so I ended up getting energy from a blender.

The demon I tried to summon last week got lost around Baracca so as punishment I gotta hold the weight of my sins.

Actually wait no - is this - were kids always able to feel their parents’ disappointment or is it just the high class technology doing this to me.

Someone’s trying to steal the leftover lasagna.

SOMEONE’S TRYING TO STEAL THE LEFTOVER LASAGNA.

Rin wants to bash his head into the glass, hoping his suffering would end. His thoughts don't leave, and they’re all so weirdly insistent on the lasagna thing that it’s almost kind of convincing him to visit one of the kitchens to check. Except that’s time consuming and it’s almost lunch so-

What if Melu’s there. You could apologize to him and then smack him for the things he said yesterday - but like apologize for that before smacking him again for the lasagna. Two birds with one stone babey.

Rin’s a logical man. He knows when to take the high road.

■|□|1010|□|■

It’s impossible to tell if the situation he’s in is purely serendipitous or simply nightmarish in nature. All Zimelu wanted was some of the lasagna ever since he had decided he didn’t want to see Rin’s face. One of the cleaners that had walked by told Zimelu that the leader was a floor below him, apparently busy poking at one of the many awards.

The kitchen was supposed to be clear and it was at least until the universe screwed him over just to see him caught off-guard and his and stuck into some lasagna.

“Have you gone savage or insane?” Rin wheezes as he rummages through some drawers, digging out a fork a few seconds later. “You don’t eat breakfast once and suddenly you’re a caveman.”

Zimelu just blinks, and the fork is handed to him. He does take it but not before staring at Rin. “... What the fuck?”

“Okay, well, rude.”

“Didn’t we fight yesterday?”

“Yeaaah… I was hoping you wouldn't remember. I don't really feel this bone-crushing urge to apologize to you, y’know?”

All Zimelu does is frown before opening the container, awkwardly digging the fork into the cold lasagna using his own, cold, sauced-over hand.

“I’m not apologizing either when it’s not even my fucking fault.”

“... Kinda is.”

“No, it isn’t!”

“It is! I didn’t do anything ei - wait,” Rin sighs, “We’re arguing again.”

Zimelu doesn’t decide to say anything to that, and instead scoops out a block of pasta, tomato, and cheese, shoveling it into his mouth. It’s sweet (is it supposed to be sweet?) but frankly the atmosphere is steadily turning it sour just to be poured into gut-wrenching anticipation. But Zimelu’s stubborn, and he’d willingly uphold that reputation.

He side-glances and catches Rin awkwardly fiddling with his hair, staring into the void with a particular look on his face that communicates something like existential dread. Like he’s just waiting for some god to smite him for being too vain or causing too many artificial calamities. It’d be funny, at least for a few seconds.

It’s so sad. He feels a compulsion to apologize along with wanting to put the lasagna back into the fridge.

Zimelu stares back into the lasagna and speculates if the extremely reluctant guilt must be from something he ate.

It’s not like he still wants to be on bad terms with Rin - it’s going to be impossible anyways considering they live in the same house and don’t actually have the right motivation to murder the other in cold blood. It’d cramp their style.

He takes another bite of lasagna, internally screaming at Rin to just be the bigger man.

Rin doesn’t.

“Man you are really making this weird,” Zimelu grumbles, nose scrunched up as he feels the cold cheese along with the awkward humility clog his systems. “I mean yeah you were being kinda dramatic and I guess you were being a bit of an ass.”

He stirs the lasagna around, hoping the natural force of kinetic energy would warm it up enough to not taste like a flavored ice cube later.

“...And?” Rin prompts.

“And you are.”

Rin just narrows his eyes, unimpressed, and Zimelu eventually caves in but not without a bit of melodrama.

“Don’t look so hurt, Rinnie,” he snorts, taking a bite of the cold (actually, lukewarm) lasagna.

“I’m not!” Rin yells.

Zimelu shrugs as he leisurely spins his fork around his fingers, and all he follows with after that is a scoff.

He could just argue with Rin (on the pre-tense they aren’t actually arguing this time) for a couple of more minutes before lunchtime rolls around, but frankly there are some matters that need to be discussed without Neon J present.

“Anyways I know you didn't just come over to the kitchen to apologize to me. You’re too much of a snake for that unfortunately and cuz of that you rather shed your skin than your pride.”

Silence ensues as Zimelu takes one last bite of the lasagna, chewing it around and tasting the cold cheese and tomato sauce swirling around before unceremoniously dropping down his throat. Just a little something to jam up his nonexistent stomach later.

He can feel Rin’s sarcastic anticipation in the atmosphere itself, as if urging him to continue on. So he does.

“Cuz you’re a snake,” The fork clacks against the plastic of the container as Zimelu scrapes at it for the cold sauce. It’s a fruitless endeavor but he continues to try anyway.

“But I did,” when he looks up, Rin has an eyebrow raised and a stare directed at the nonexistent lasagna.

“You did what?”

“See - shedding my skin is essentially shedding my pride too.”

“And not just some kinda gross cleaning regimen?”

“Ew, that's not the analogy I was going for,” Rin frowns.

Zimelu snorts, “I know. Continue.”

“It’s… okay yeah I technically did come here to apologize, but my ulterior motive isn't as ulterior as you might think. It’s… a secret? Between Dad J and I, I mean.”

Rin sits on the barstool across from Zimelu, crossing his arms on top of the kitchen island followed by a loud, dragged out sigh that kinda grates his ears.

“I was gonna save it for a later date but y’know, I got totally cornered yesterday and the weird, weighty feeling of filial guilt aches more than the whirlwind drama of my secret. I honestly just stood outside the door for an hour trying to figure out which I was more willing to bear for the rest of my life.”

“You could’ve just said that you knew it wouldn’t matter either way because all of us would still hold it over your head.”

“I wasn’t thinking that but I’m glad you outed yourself anyway.”

“Fuck.”

“Don’t worry though,” Rin snorts, “You’ll get your blackmail either way cuz… I mean it can’t be that bad, right?” he sighs, closing his eyes in that weird, resigned manner he only does when he’s trying to be genuine.

The filial guilt baton is handed over to Zimelu and he just reluctantly grasps it.

“I know you guys. 1010 is more than just an idol group or a boy band. You’re my family. I mean I know we don’t have to tell each other everything so… yeah I made a mental note to not push you guys too hard when it comes to that but like to also not hide too many secrets.”

“You shouldn’t get this sappy,” Zimelu says, furrowing his brows. He can’t tell if it’s melodrama or actual sincerity. “It’s not like you forced us to commit arson. That was a [you] thing.”

Rin’s eyes snap open into a glare, “I was having a moment and you just had to ruin it.”

“Your moment was appreciated, but unnecessary,” Zimelu gets up from the barstool, empty tupperware in hand as he plops it into the sink. The crushing realization he actually has to wash it dawns on him and he groans, putting on some gloves. “Dammit, I didn’t think this through.”

Rin, in his neglectful fashion, ignores his distress and continues on.

“I’m giving you and the others full permission to make fun of me as long as none of you reveal it publicly. By that I mean the other megastars that still don’t know and just about the entire world population.”

Zimelu turns on the faucet and squeezes some dishwashing soap onto a sponge, beginning his mini quest on cleaning up any evidence. “Man, I hope you aren’t going to tell me you’re a serial killer now because if you go to jail, I’m going to have to legally bail your ass out.”

“But I won’t tell anyone if you aren’t ready,” he adds right after. “There’s a fine line between joking around and genuine assholery.”

“Thanks,” Rin snorts before taking a couple of breaths. “The sentiment is appreciated.”

Zimelu has to strain his ears to hear Rin’s tense, broken sentence.

“I’m no longer so...lit-tary.”

Zimellu puts the container down and turns to Rin with one of the most confused expressions he could muster.

“The fuck - are you trying to tell me you’ve got addicted to card games or that a mental hospital’s coming for your ass?”

The ghosts of Baracca Mansion eagerly agree with him, as evidenced by the ghoulish screaming following soon after.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!”

The cupboard violently rattles before bursting open, Haym tumbling out with a scream followed by Eloni dropping out and accidentally bonking his head against the floor.

Purl-hew elegantly jumps off the chandelier, landing on his feet before helping the other two up. “Yes, we’ve heard everything.”

Haym stumbles up with a wheeze, leaning against the counter. “But like despite that, I understood nothing.”

“I’m glad Rinnie took my advice, honestly,” Eloni beelines for the other cupboards, taking out a bottle of honey. “No one could pass me the waffle stack this morning during breakfast, so that was sad - and also eating without the two of you felt weird.”

Zimelu wants to grab the nearest utensil and bludgeon everyone with it but decides against it, but he doesn’t stop himself from voicing his threat.

“Guys I literally fucking hate all of you for making me do the dishes.”

“It was your fault for eating my leftover lasagna, dumbass!” Haym yells, taking up residence on the counter.

Rin raises a brow, “Your lasagna? I’m pretty sure Dad stuck a sticky note on top saying it was mine.”

“You never honored the sticky notes before anyways - it’s free reign. And I woulda gotten my hands on it if it wasn’t for mohawk over there!”

“Fuck you!”

“TROOPS I CAN HEAR YOU THREE FLOORS DOWN,” Zimelu cringes and almost drops the clean container as Neon J’s voice booms into their heads.

“DAD YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT!” Haym screeches as he doubles over, adding to the grating ringing.

Zimelu glares at him, aggressively shaking off the gloves. “Haym you little fuck. Stop screaming!”

Purl-hew coughs, “Hypocrite.”

“YOU ALL BETTER GET DOWN TO DINING ROOM NUMBER FOUR STAT IF YOU DON’T WANT ME GATHERING ALL THE FRITTATAS.”

“Fuck!” they all shout before flocking out the door in profanities and excited screeches.

“Dad should give us the right to actually eat because I swear to Tatiana he’s only mocking us with his cooking-”

“Hammie please don’t remind me cuz remembering it only makes it worse - Why must the world be so cruel?!”

“You’re all overreacting.”

“You say that Purl but I see you when you pile the frittatas on your plate like a LIAR.”

“Guys shut the fuck up!”

■|□|1010|□|■

Once they’ve finished lunch, Neon J said he had to do a few more double-checks on their stage venue and make sure no stage lights were loose or anything for their performance next week. 1010 just laughed and urged him to go on his business, telling him they’ll make sure to practice while he was gone.

Little did Neon J know, they weren’t going to practice at all (well, not solely at least).

The moment they confirmed that he had left completely, they made a break for the stairs, snickering to themselves as they conspired. The staff were a little disoriented when they ran by with loud greetings, but it’s all a part of the plan.

The door to the choreography room slams shut, Rin making sure to lock it with both the keypad, eye-scanner, and lock.

“Okay real plan. Our main goal now is to gather as much data on Mr. Supernova as we can before our concert on Valentine’s Day.”

“Dad encircled February 14 on the calendar a little while back but wrote nothing on it - so it must be a date. I’m assuming in the evening since he’s always with us for the whole day when we have concerts,” Purl-hew supplies.

“Well, we obviously can’t do anything about the date like trying to sabotage it or somehow prevent Dad from going,” Rin bites the inside of his cheek. “I feel like that’d be crossing a very particular line. We can’t do it the day before the concert because we’d have to do a livestream for 10Time too.”

“So we can’t do anything near Valentine’s in general?” Eloni asks.

“Exactly. Kinda. It depends on our execution.”

“Digging up information about Mr. Supernova can’t be that hard,” Zimelu says, “The guy’s spouting things about himself all the time anyways.”

“It’d be dumb to try interrogate him,” Purl-hew points out, “Who says he won’t tell Dad J right after?”

“Damn.”

Rin blinks as an idea pops into his head, “We could always use our videos as an excuse. And we don’t exactly have to talk to Mr. Supernova himself when we could easily figure out what he’s like with Dad through actions. We just have to observe. The perfect opportunity would be when…”

Eloni gasps, “During the livestream! It’d be Valentine’s Day so we could try and invite all the megastars like during our birthday. It wouldn’t be very suspicious because it’s a special occasion and stuff!”

“Imagine if we spot Dad and Mr. Supernova sneaking kisses though,” Haym snickers.

“It wouldn’t be very smart of them to be affectionate in public if no one knows about it yet.”

“Who says they can’t hide it?”

“How?”

“Chaos!” Haym exclaims, “If we cause enough trouble to entertain our fans, they wouldn’t even bother looking at mature-rated kissing scenes!”

Rin’s eyes widen, “Dad and Mr. Supernova would then think they’d be in the clear to do just about anything if they suspect no one’s watching.”

“How are we actually going to know though? We have a lot of fans,” Purl-hew says.

“Height advantage,” Zimelu shrugs, “We’re super tall. We literally tower over most people.”

“They could always hide out of sight though…” Eloni awkwardly adds, “Like behind a wall or in a building.”

Rin hums, “Lons, toss me a marker that can be erased later.”

“Alrighty, yep, let’s just vandalize the mirror now, I guess.”

Rin snorts and catches the marker thrown at him, immediately illustrating the hypothetical situation on the glass.

Two stick figures on one side of a line representing a supposed wall. Five other stick figures on the other side.

“Damn, we aren’t taller than most of the buildings.”

“You’d be surprised, Haym.”

“I was being sarcastic, don’t you go hurting my feelings like that! If we were human or even built with different heights then you’d have to stack boxes to reach my level!”

“Wait…” Rin mumbles before he’s slapped with an epiphany. “STACKING!”

“What?”

“We could hold a stacking competition or something in at the Grand Quasa,” Rin explains, jittering around as he quickly scribbles on a poorly-drawn circle (that’s supposed to be the Quasa) and multiple squares stacked on top of each other. “Like a height game. We can just put it under the pretense of… something romantic-themed.”

“You’re making us think up a pun?” Zimelu raises a brow.

“It won’t be the first time.”

“Fair.”

Rin caps the marker before resting his hands against his hips, thinking. “The exact details can be explained later, but the point is… if we have our fans and the other megastars join in, Dad J and Mr. Supernova can’t hide. If we add something like… like if we make it a game that requires pairs, we can buddy them up and see what happens!”

“It’s going to be a long livestream,” Purl-hew says. “We can’t just keep stacking until we reach the universe.”

“I know,” Rin sighs, turning to them before plopping down on the ground. A grin easily appears on his face once he pulls out a notebook, a pen, and his phone. Everyone promptly gathers around as their interest piques at the items laid out. “But we got at least two more allies in this endeavor.”

“You’re definitely abusing your boyfriend privileges.”

“Hey last time I checked, he said he and May are always willing to help. Now let’s get this show on the road!”