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ROMANCE BLOSSOMS WITHIN JESTER by Unreliable Author

Has our favorite dream couple finally gotten together?

Mike Morton and Margaretha Zelle are members of the four-member music group JESTER, headed by Morton himself. It’s easy to say that, as of late, the group has been all over the face of the global music industry!

The big mystery was how these eligible young artists went this long without any romantic fuss. After all, they’ve been mingling with some of the biggest, hottest celebrities in the world! But now, it seems we’re finally getting our big break on the love department.

Morton and Zelle—the charismatic frontmen of the band—have enjoyed interviews and fan speculation about their relationship. Many of the fans who cheered for the two were hyped by the latest music video, “Animal Tamer,” which featured Morton and Zelle acting out a romance while singing intimately to each other.

Finally, last Friday, Zelle posted this to her Instagram.

[Attached: an Instagram post with a picture of Mike hugging Margaretha and nestling his chin on her shoulder, his face caught in the middle of a laugh. Margaretha’s lips are curved in a close-mouthed smile. They’re lying in bed together, and several heart stickers decorate the image. The caption reads: “boy’s smooches are so sweet” followed by a few heart emojis.]

That caption would certainly get the fans thinking all sorts of stuff!

Zelle has also replied to a few of the comments. When asked by @mrs.zelle if they were together, Zelle coyly replied with a “u didn’t kno?” along with a winking emoji.

@mikebottom also commented, “Were the two of u making out????” to which Zelle only responded with a giggling face.

To add fuel to the fire, the youngest JESTER member Martha Behamfil also posted to her story that same night.

[Attached: a screenshot of an Instagram story. Looks like math notes. Text in the corner reads: “i really don’t mind pda but please, im trying to do homework???” She punctuates it with a pensive emoji.]

As of yet, she hasn’t provided clarification on whether she’s talking about Zelle and Morton or not.

Naib Subedar was the last one to contribute material to the discourse, with two posts to his story that seem related.

[Attached: two screenshots of an Instagram story. First screenshot: Martha is in a coffeeshop and peering at her homework intently. “took martha outside for coffee since she was complaining she couldn’t focus.” Second screenshot: Naib’s face looking pissed off. “for the record i am NOT her dad im not anyone’s dad or big brother or whatever stop commenting that if i see one more comment abt it i’m gonna snap someone’s kneecap”]

Behamfil and Subedar’s stories seem to ‘confirm’ that Morton and Zelle have been acting very affectionate with one another! Zelle is taking this all with a very playful attitude, as expected. Is this the confirmation we’ve all been waiting for? With all the evidence provided, lots of fans seem to think that it is!

@JESTERgirl: it’s about damn time wow??? SO HAPPY FOR MY FAV VANILLA COUPLE

@naibsitonme: we stan a bottom queen and king

@swiftbeast: ik margie is alrdy more affectionate with mike compared 2 the rest of JESTER, but CMONn??? kissing??? bro they IN IT FR aaaAAAA

On the other hand, some fans remain skeptical especially with the lack of a solid press affirmation from either Zelle or Morton.

@marthasgun: ok they look cute but cmon cant friends jus kiss each other??? platonically?? as friends??? i mean i wouldnt kno i dont have friends

@lilacwhor3: broooo even if this were real,, aint this what leads to most bands splitting lmao? i want JESTER to stay together so i really really hope this is fake or whatever

@morton.lovebot: watch us turn out to be the true clowns in this drama

What’s interesting is that this has somehow gotten Magnet, JESTER’s tightest competitor, involved in the discussion. Magnet has knowingly been around longer than JESTER, but somehow the less experienced band has overtaken a giant like Magnet in the span of a few months! It’s easy to imagine how that could make anyone bitter.

Although the rivalry is professional, the two groups have been known to passive-aggressively make comments on each other online and on interviews, more often caused by JESTER’s Morton and Magnet’s Norton Campbell. There have also been quite a few songs made to target each other in the heat of a feud.

Instead of dividing the fans of JESTER and Magnet, the two fandoms actually appear to be getting along well with each other! In fact, the rivalry’s focus on Morton and Campbell has led to many fans imagining a relationship between them. The pairing has gained so much traction that it could easily overshadow that of Morton and Zelle.

Skeptics and believers alike have come together to express the future of the Morton-and-Campbell pairing in light of Zelle’s post.

@swiftmole: Stay strong guys!! I’m PRETTY sure this is fake ;)))))

@wanderer_darling9: although i love tonton with all my heart, i still wanna wish margamike the best and i hope the two of them are happy!!

@BabyMargie: i hope every1 can stop being so upset about margie ‘stealing’ mike from norton, he was never owned by any1 so lets just chill out. we shuld remember that these r real ppl, its kinda weird 2 get upset just bec ur ‘irl ship’ didnt happen smh.

What do you think? Is it real or is it fake? Comment down below and let us know!

***

The house is a geometric beauty. Four floors of wood décor, obsidian stone, and entire walls made of glass. It exposes the interior at the most strategic points, revealing so much yet so little.

That little detail must be frustrating to the fans who clamor at the house’s steps. They can see the filming crew through the glass, and they can take all the pictures they want, but the main stars they’re really here for are just glimpses who walk past the windows like flitting images.

The idols tease their fans like this. One moment you could see Aesop Carl’s familiar silver suit behind some glass, but blink once and you’ve missed him—instead you see, at another window, Eli Clark waving at his fans, an amicable smile on his face. Then he’s gone too, with pictures and videos only showing blurry afterimages, and it drives the fans crazy. Magnet is right there yet they keep slipping out of reach.

Inside the house, it’s a lot less ‘frustrating’ and more ‘boring anticipation.’ The crew instructed the boys not to do anything dumb while they wait. William Ellis can’t stay still; he’s always been the first to want to greet the fans. The crew tries to distract him with hair and makeup. All that accomplishes is making him not only a jittery celebrity, but a fashionably jittery celebrity, with his hair tied up in a bun and a fitted suit showing off his biceps and chest. It would be nice to show this off to the fans, except he can’t because he’s stuck in this glamorous house in glamorous boredom.

Now he’s made it a mission to sort of sneak away from the producers and go outside to meet everyone. Eli has made it his job to hold him in line, and since Eli’s doing that that means Aesop’s helping him out (but mostly he’s just passively following behind as Eli fusses over Will). It’s sort of progressed to a game of Eli trying to drag Will away from the windows while not wheezing over how heavy Will is. Sometimes Aesop might assist but that’s only sometimes.

The only one not giving a shit about it is the black-suited guy standing by a glass wall, just barely out of the crowd’s view. Norton Campbell seems to be deep in thought. He is also pretending that he isn’t keeping an eye out for a certain someone.

Eventually excitement bubbles up outside and Norton rouses somewhat.

There’s a limo in the driveway. The chaperone opens the door, and Naib Subedar steps out. Immediately the fans go ballistic, but Naib himself doesn’t seem to care, which Norton can see with the fact that this guy has a hood on his goddamn suit. To give Naib credit, the hood has been sown tactfully to his jacket and adorned with green velvet lining, so maybe his fashion designer wasn’t trying to make Naib look like a disaster after all.

He looks bored, but he raises his eyes up to the glass through which Norton watches. Norton knows he’s out of sight but it’s like Naib knows exactly where he is. Naib just rolls his eyes and keeps walking.

Martha Behamfil comes out next in a beautiful red-and-white gown, though for some reason she’s carrying a binder like she forgot she’s done doing her module, and she’s trying to pocket a pair of thick-framed glasses. Despite being tall and generously muscled enough that her dress would show it, she flushes easily under the crowd’s attention. She can only spare a few shy grins and a wave of a hand as she hurries to catch up with Naib.

Finally, a dashing young man jumps out of the limo and bows to everyone. Norton grimaces while the fans start screaming their tonsils out. The pinks and whites of his suit are tacky, Norton thinks. It’s also way too tight around that slender waist.

Mike Morton blows a few kisses. His hair’s dyed back to a gorgeous golden color, fluffy and bright like his smile, and there’s even a tiny bunny-shaped hairclip on his hair that somehow makes him look even more adorable. He turns on his heel and offers his hand.

Norton’s mood sours as he sees the delicate, white-gloved hand accepts Mike’s. Margaretha Zelle steps out, hair bouncing and the sun glinting off her pink shades. Mike kisses her cheek and Margaretha giggles.

Norton decides that he’s done looking.

***

They’re given some time to get used to each other. Which means—

“Naib!!” Will lumbers towards Naib and picks him up in a bone-crushing hug. “I missed you so much, dude!”

If this were literally anyone else but William, Naib would have stabbed them. Instead, Naib manages the slightest of smiles, even if it’s accompanied by an eye-roll. “We saw each other three weeks ago, Will.”

“Isn’t that long enough?” Will exclaims, setting Naib down.

“It is,” Martha pipes in. She’s grinning at them fondly from the side, putting her module aside. “Naib wouldn’t have remembered what ‘three weeks ago’ meant if he didn’t give a rat’s ass.”

Naib grumbles, “Martha, no one fucking asked. Go do your homework or something.”

“Naib, just because you’re older than me that doesn’t mean you can—ah!”

Will interrupts her by swooping her up in his arms, laughing. “C’mon Martha, you’re the only one here who’s still in college!” he says. “How’ve your classes been? I heard you were crushing it!”

“I—well, I guess I’ve been doing okay.” Martha blushes.

Margaretha tuts from where she’s lounging on the couch. She lies on her stomach with her platform heels in the air. “’Okay’? My babydoll right there just topped her latest exam,” she says offhandedly.

“Margie—waugh!”

“I’m so proud of you, Martha!” Will beams, destroying Martha’s ribs.

While Will’s busy gushing over Martha, Eli walks over to Naib. Eli’s smiling, which isn’t a good thing, and he’s got a little paper bag in his hands, which also isn’t a good thing. Naib tries to slip away.

He fails. Eli catches him in a warm hug, arms winding around his waist. “Hello, Naib. It’s so good to see you,” Eli croons.

He smells like ladies’ perfume, Naib thinks with a wrinkle of his nose. “Uh, yeah.”

Eli pulls away and offers him the paper bag. “I made you cookies, since you said you liked my recipe from last time.”

“I just ate.”

“Oh.” Eli’s hand falters. “Well, I guess I’ll keep these….”

A hand clamps on Naib’s shoulder. Aesop looms over him. “Maybe I’ll have the cookies myself, since Naib doesn’t want them,” he says, his tone quietly indignant.

Naib glares at Aesop. He grabs the paper bag from Eli’s hands and walks off.

“Aw, so he does like them,” Eli says happily, watching Naib go.

“I like them too,” Aesop mutters.

“You’ve had them everyday for the past week, Aesop. It’s concerning.”

“They taste good.”

Norton walks downstairs. He doesn’t look the least bit impressed about how well his bandmates are getting along with JESTER. His eyes scan the room for Mike but he doesn’t see him.

Margaretha gasps happily at Norton’s entrance. “Norton, darling!” She climbs out of the couch and hops up to him. “Sooo good to see you again.”

He doesn’t return the sentiment, but he lets Margaretha press a kiss on each of his cheeks. She squishes his face with her hands.

“I’ve missed this brooding face of yours! Hey, have you followed me back on Instagram yet?”

“I don’t use Instagram,” Norton says.

“Aw, really?” Margaretha just gives a little grin like she’s amused by his lie. “But we all follow each other on Instagram.”

“What do you mean?” Norton looks to his bandmates.

At the couch, Eli smiles a bit guiltily in his direction. Aesop is resting with his head on Eli’s lap. He doesn’t seem to mind how his suit crinkles. William is too busy eating some of the cookies that Naib’s sharing with him.

Naib calls out: “You’re the only one who doesn’t follow JESTER, Campbell.”

“Norton’s just bitter,” Aesop murmurs while Eli strokes his silver hair.

“I’m sure he just doesn’t like using Instagram that much!” Will proposes. Martha glances doubtfully.

Margaretha titters. “No matter. Mr. Smiles told me you’ll have lots of time to get used to us JESTER.” She winks. “And Mikey-boo, for that matter.”

‘Mikey-boo’? Norton can’t fight the grimace on his face as he steps out of Margaretha’s reach. “I don’t care about getting close to your boyfriend,” he barely seethes.

“Oh, he used the ‘B’ word,” Martha murmurs as she and Naib share a look—Martha wide-eyed and eyebrows raised, Naib looking like he wants to burst into mocking laughter. Norton sort of hates how the two of them act like they know better about Mike and Zelle’s relationship than he does. Which they do, being his bandmates.

At that point a door opens and Mike waltzes in. Norton has no idea why the simple act of him entering the room can turn so many heads. Must be because every move Mike makes is entrancing, like a dance. Or maybe he’s just so bitchy that his hair stinks and everyone smells it.

Mike immediately looks right at Norton with the sunniest smile ever. Norton clicks his tongue, looking away.

“Good to see everyone’s here!” a peppy voice speaks up. Emma Woods, Luchino’s assistant, walks in after Mike. She’s holding a clipboard in her hands.

“Emma! Where’s Luchino?” Will asks.

“He’s still busy going over some stuff with Mr. Smiles in the back,” Emma responds.

“You mean they’re fighting,” Naib says.

“Fistfight?” Martha offers.

“Maybe,” Emma says. “But that’s not what we’re here for today! We’re here because the studio has decided: JESTER and Magnet should work on a collaborative album!”

Aesop sits up properly, his eyes wide.

Eli smiles and clasps his hands together with an, “Oh, that sounds amazing!”

Naib nearly chokes on his cookie. Then Will grabs him and Martha in his arms, which makes Naib choke even more. “I’m so happy! I’ve always wanted to work with you guys!” Will gushes.

“Excuse me.” Norton’s hard-edged voice resounds through the room, attracting everyone’s attention. He looks like he’s just had the floor ripped out from beneath him. “We’re going to collaborate with JESTER? With these guys?”

Norton gestures around to JESTER. Martha pouts. Naib is too busy trying to get his oxygen back. Margaretha’s eyes are squinted in laughter.

“Isn’t it great, Norton?” Mike exclaims. The stars in his eyes sparkle so lustrously that it just makes Norton more incensed.

“No, it isn’t.” Norton crosses his arms. “Besides the fact that they made this decision without even caring about our opinions on it, it just doesn’t work. We’re supposed to be rivals! Both of our fanbases will be turned off by it and nothing will sell. Besides, we have completely different vibes. It just won’t mesh together. Did the studio think about these things before deciding for us?”

“Pretty sure they did!” Mike jumps up on a tabletop so he can sit on it and swing his legs. “Norton, didn’t you see the crowd outside? They cheered for you when you went in, and they cheered for us too! We’ve got a lot of fans who love both JESTER and Magnet. And besides, don’t you listen to our music?”

“No,” Norton lies.

“It’s true that we have different styles, but we’re totally heading in the same direction! We play off each other REAL well. There’s an amazing sorta harmony where we can meet—I think the audience will really love it when we reach that point!” Mike crosses his legs and intertwines his fingers over his knee. “Ask your bandmates!”

Norton scowls. He looks to the rest of Magnet. “Well?” he spits out.

“I’m totally down for working with my bros here!” Will says unhelpfully.

“Magnet is very versatile,” Eli hums, as Margaretha wanders over to sit on the armrest of his couch. “This can be a good opportunity.”

Norton’s probing gaze lands on Aesop, his last hope.

Aesop looks a little hesitant. Then he finally says, “I agree with Eli.”

“You don’t,” Norton blurts out.

“Don’t act like a kid, Campbell,” Naib mutters.

“I really do agree,” Aesop insists. “JESTER can be loud and annoying but they’re a lot more like us than we think.”

“See?” Mike grins at Norton.

Norton sighs so heavily his shoulders slump. He massages his temples with his thumb and forefinger. “I can’t believe this.”

Emma pipes in, “I’m sure you guys can get used to each other! In fact, we’re going to have you live together for two and a half months!”

Naib chokes on another cookie.

“We’re gonna what?” Norton demands.

“It’s like a reality show!” Mike squeals.

“Exactly!” Emma says. “We’re going to be filming your interactions as you work on your album together. It’ll be fun! And besides that, you’ll be participating in team-building challenges and getting to know each other, that kind of stuff!”

“You’re basically locking us up so we’d be forced to cooperate,” Norton says.

“Yep, they are.” Margaretha picks at her nails. At the back of his mind, Norton wonders why she and her so-called boyfriend are staying at opposite sides of the room. Haven’t they been acting lovey-dovey just a while ago?

“Luchino did say you’d be the most difficult to convince, Norton, so he promised you’d have a box of Krispy Kreme ordered to this house every week if you chose to behave,” Emma says.

Martha raises her eyebrows. “It’s that easy to win Norton over?”

“It is!” Will responds cheerfully.

Everyone sees Norton hesitating. The donuts seem to be enticing him but it’s still not enough.

Finally, Mike proposes, “I promise not to talk to Norton out of turn.”

“Deal,” Norton answers.

“You dick,” Naib hisses.

“It’s okay, Naib,” Mike says. He pretends to clench his heart in hurt. “It’s painful but there are sacrifices to make.”

“But Mike can’t talk to Norton?” Martha frowns.

Norton fixes Mike in a narrow-eyed stare. “He can,” he says, “only if I talk to him first. Otherwise, he keeps his mouth shut to me.”

“Jesus, you don’t like him that much?” Naib snips.

“It’s decided then!” Emma says with a grin. “You guys are gonna work amazingly together. I can feel it!”

William and Mike hoot in approval, Eli claps, Margaretha quirks her lips up in a grin, and even Naib and Martha look a bit excited. Norton, meanwhile, anticipates the beginning of two and a half months of torture.

***

Norton walks into the bedroom. It’s a nice place, he supposes, with clean white sheets and a lovely floor-to-ceiling window. What isn’t nice is the fact that adjacent to Norton’s bed is Mike Morton’s.

Mike looks up at him to grin.

Norton groans and dumps his suitcase. “Explain.”

“We’re roommates!” Mike says in a celebratory tone.

“No we’re not,” Norton insists. “Why aren’t you roomed with Margaretha?”

Mike snickers. He’s lying down sleepover-style, hugging a chick-shaped pillow to his chest while his Rilakkuma socks swing through the air. Rilakkuma socks. The absolute nerve of this asshole. “She’s rooming with Martha.”

“Okay, why the hell does she get to room with her bandmate, but then I’m stuck with you?”

“Because, in the first place, Naib and Will are sharing a room already. And Aesop totally can’t function when he’s roomed with anyone else besides Eli, so imagine forcing him to room with a girl! Sooo, they had to group Aesop and Eli together, while the girls of JESTER shared.” Mike tilts his head. “I thought you’d know your bandmates well enough to understand stuff like that.”

“Yes, I do know them, thanks.” Norton’s already getting tired of complaining, so he just has to suck this shit up. He starts unpacking. “I’m just saying,” he continues, “any other arrangement could have worked. Any at all. I don’t like your bandmates but none of them are as obnoxious as you.”

“That hurts, Norton!” Mike chuckles. “But don’t worry, because I won’t be causing any trouble for you.”

“I’ll be making sure of that. The moment you step out of line, I’m going to force a room change.”

“Ooh, you’re fun.”

Mike drawls out that last word a bit suggestively, which makes the tips of Norton’s ears go pink for some fucking reason. Norton faces away from him. Goddamn, he really is roomed with the last person he wanted to sleep with.

‘Sleep with’? Ah, Jesus, he must be going insane.

By God’s grace, Mike doesn’t say anything else while Norton unpacks. He occupies himself by eating rainbow chocolate chip cookies from a package he snuck in his bag. So, Norton got lumped with the kind of roommate that not only wears Rilakkuma socks but also eats in bed.

This is going to be fantastic.

***

“Soo, at the start of every week, we’ll be having you in here for a Confessional,” Emma tells Norton as she leads him into a small room. There’s a fancy backdrop there, an armchair, and a bunch of lighting equipment. “That’s how reality shows do it.”

“We’re not a reality show,” Norton says.

“Nope, just two of the world’s most famous bands trapped in a house and forced to make an album together. Nothing anyone would want to see, surely. Sit there please.”

Norton parks his ass on the armchair. Emma sets up the camera then holds up her clipboard. The light on the camera blinks red.

“Alright, Norton. It’s the start of your first week in the house. Are you excited?”

“Oh yes, I am. I’m roomed with Mike Morton. The next several weeks are going to be absolute pleasure.” Sarcasm drips from Norton’s words.

Emma giggles. “You must like him so much, Norton.”

Norton rolls his eyes. “I’m absolutely in love. Emma, why’d you let them put us up to this?”

“We thought it’d be good to punt your ego down a few notches.”

“Do you think my ego’s that bad?”

“Maaaybe.”

“What, so when I come out of this, I’ll be Mother Teresa or something?” Norton laughs ruefully. “They can keep dreaming. I really don’t know what the hell they were thinking when they decided to put us with JESTER. It’s insane. Nothing good will come out of it, I assure you. Watch them end those two-and-a-half-months of stay early because they grew a brain and realized that they can’t make us work together, and not because our styles are too different. Because, you know, some things….they just don’t need to happen.”

***

Groupings for each track have been prepared. The crew seems to know what they’re doing—pairing Mike and Naib for a street dance type of song, Margaretha and Martha with Will for a wild party beat, and Aesop, Eli, and Martha working on chill chamber pop. Among several other mix-and-match variations, of course.

Predictably they lumped Mike with Norton. They do complement each other well, but Norton still needs to find things to complain about (“Stop being such a kid, Norty.” “Didn’t I tell you not to speak to me unless spoken to?”), so he posits that he maintain directing power over Magnet for the album. At the very least Mike agrees with him, wanting the freedom to continue leading JESTER.

This is a problem because although they are allowed to lead their respective groups, this is still a collab album, and they need to direct both groups together. They can’t do that if, as Naib delicately said, they keep “FUCKING KICKING EACH OTHER OUT OF THE GODDAMN BEDROOM FUCKING SHIT CAMPBELL I DON’T NEED YOU TWO HAVING A FIGHT IN THE HALLWAY AT 3AM GODDAMN IT GET BACK TO YOUR FUCKING BEDS I SWEAR TO GOD!”

Since filming’s already begun, they’ve decided that a team-building exercise was in order. That’s how the two groups end up seated in a circle like they’re in a lame-ass highschool game.

“Alright, so let’s act like we’re starting from scratch,” Emma says. “When it’s your turn, you have to say your name, why you joined your group, and something about yourself that no one knows yet!”

Everyone gapes.

“What the fuck,” Naib utters.

“Eli, you go first!”

“Okay.” Eli smiles. “Hello everyone! I’m Eli and I joined Magnet because I love singing! My first girlfriend was a popular member of the Glee club, and I always felt too shy to sing when I’m with her. Aesop helped me through that nervousness and he also cheered me up after the breakup with some jamming sessions. Before either of us knew it, we made it to the stage! So, yeah. Something about me that no one knows yet is that I love putting on civilian disguises and giving impromptu performances in public places!” He winks at a nearby camera, toward a future audience. “So next time, you can come looking for me if you like!”

“Whoaa, you go in disguise?” Mike’s eyes light up. “Like with a wig and everything?”

“Yeah, it’s actually really fun!”

“I should totally try that.”

“Don’t,” Naib mutters exasperatedly.

Eli turns to Aesop. “Aesop, it’s your turn.”

Aesop, with the driest voice ever, begins, “I’m Aesop. I joined Magnet because Eli’s in it. I’m afraid of heights.”

“Ohh, yeah. We once rode a Ferris wheel and he insisted on staying on the ground,” William says. “We watched him get hounded by fans. Teeny, tiny specks of fangirls, and we were too far away to help!”

“That was a while back…..in the Blonde Aesop era,” Eli giggles.

“Wait, aren’t we still in that era?” Martha’s confused.

“No, as in, he used to have it dirty blonde,” Eli clarifies. “He dyed it silver.”

“Silver is like, white-blonde, right?” Mike wonders aloud. “Or platinum blonde?”

“Silver is silver,” Aesop grounds out.

Everyone just kind of nods and shrugs.

The game continues tediously, sharing stories and random trivia like High School William’s Disney-Channel-esque dilemma between ‘sports or music?’ and Naib’s origins in street rap battles. Eventually it’s Mike’s turn.

“Hi! I’m Mike!” Norton rolls his eyes at how needlessly sprightly Mike’s intro is. “I started JESTER ‘cuz—well, actually, no one really started it, right? It was just one event leading up to the other, then we all met each other. Had to be some weird force of nature or something. We had to take advantage of fate so of course we ended up making a band!”

“And Mike’s the leader because he’s the one who made us who we are today,” Margaretha chimes in. She gives Mike a sweet smile that makes Norton’s stomach turn. “We wouldn’t be where we are without him.”

“Hear, hear,” Martha agrees, while Naib raises a can of soda in toast.

Mike looks graciously bashful. “I totally didn’t expect us to blow up. But all I want for me and my group is for us to express ourselves to the best of our ability, y’know? Our music celebrates lots of diverse themes, like beauty, friendship—”

“Love?” Norton blurts out.

Everyone turns to him. The cameras seem pretty interested in getting this, too, which would have bothered Norton any other day.

But he just can’t help it. There’s this sour feeling in his heart that he just has to get out there.

Mike’s the one who recollects himself the quickest. “Of course!” He clasps his hands together. “Love will bring us together, after all.” He says this as he looks right into Norton’s eyes, but Norton refuses to see anything.

“Even if it’s what will split your group?”

Will gasps. Aesop looks a little more awake.

“What are you saying?” Martha asks fearfully.

“Come on. You already have a romance happening among you guys and, well, congratulations on that! You’re not gonna last long. This is just a recipe for a group split, you know. Do you all really expect to stay together when Mike and Margaretha inevitably break up?”

Naib seethes. “Campbell, I swear if you don’t shut—”

“What romance is there?” Margaretha cuts in.

The cameras focus on Margaretha now. As usual, she’s inspecting her nails, but when she speaks there’s a quiet fury in her voice.

“We’re not dating,” Margaretha says.

It feels like a ton of bricks had just been dropped on Norton’s head. “What?”

“People just took things way too far with the rumors, that’s all.”

Norton scrambles for words. “But—that trend on Twitter—and your post—”

“We haven’t confirmed anything, Norton. You must have been misled,” Margaretha explains patiently.

“Y-yeah, but….” Will frowns. “Why don’t you say anything about it? We thought you and Mike were together too.”

“We aren’t allowed to have phones in this house,” Naib mutters. “The goddamn thing didn’t blow up ‘til the tabloids got ahold of it, so by the time they took our phones from us, we couldn’t do anything.”

“P-plus, Mr. Smiles said it was better to let it be for a while before we dispelled rumors,” Martha says.

Norton swallows heavily as he processes this, watching all the members of JESTER. Mike, in particular, is staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face. “Still,” Norton grouses. “You should have said something much sooner.”

“Didn’t think you were going to be this much of an ass to Mike about it,” Margaretha bites out. The venom is delicate when it comes from her teeth. “JESTER’s staying together whether you like it or not. Suck it up and stop being a little bitch, love, then maybe this album won’t be the train wreck you want it to be.”

Norton has nothing to say.

Margaretha gets up from the floor in a fluid motion. “I’m going to get a drink.”

“I’ll come!” Will says.

“Me too,” Eli pitches in.

Slowly the circle dissolves. Norton doesn’t feel like getting up since he’s still reevaluating himself right there on the floor. Naib sends a pointed look in Norton’s direction before he grabs Mike’s arm, urging him to join them. The moroseness on Mike’s face easily melts away to bouncy eagerness as he gets up to go with Naib.

Emma notices how Norton’s doing and saunters over to him. “Hey.”

Norton sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “Was I too much, Emma?”

Emma smiles. “Hey, there’s a reason why you’re collaborating with them in the first place, right?”

Another sigh. “Maybe.”

“C’mon. Let’s have a drink.”

***

In the bedroom, Norton busies himself with blocking out Mike’s presence across from him. Thus he gets so into the dumb task of folding and unfolding his clothes that he jolts when he sees the sign.

Do you hate me? is scrawled out on a notebook, which Mike has been holding out in front of him. He’s sitting cross-legged on the foot of his bed.

Norton stares into those big, blue-green eyes. Tears his gaze away with some effort. “No, I don’t.”

“Really?” Mike sounds genuinely surprised.

“I don’t take these sorts of rivalries seriously, Morton.”

“Doesn’t sound like it at all.”

Norton recalls his comments from earlier. He’s never made it a secret that he ‘hated’ JESTER. It also bothers him that everyone’s downstairs right now, having late-night snacks or just hanging out, while he’s holed up here in his room. “I just don’t like your face,” he decides, “and the fact that I have to live with you for a while.”

Another thought occurs to him. He mulls over whether he should care about it or not. The question comes out of Norton’s mouth anyway: “Do….you hate me?”

“Of course not!” Mike’s taken aback, like the very thought of hating Norton repulses him.

Norton doesn’t understand why he’s relieved. He shoves the feeling down. “Even with the things I’ve said?”

“I really don’t hate you, Norton!”

“Seriously? Some of my comments were out of line, though,” Norton says. He has to stare at his bed as he utters, “….Sorry about that.”

“No worries.” Mike’s just so cheerful all the time. It’s beginning to bother Norton—he’s sure that Mike’s hiding something under that ever-present grin of his.

He opens his mouth to say something about it but Mike cuts in.

“I really do wonder, though…..what did you feel about me and Margie ‘getting together’?” Mike asks.

Norton blinks. “What do you mean?”

“Did you feel happy?” Mike traps Norton with his wide, probing gaze. “Because it seemed like you were happy about JESTER splitting.”

Norton makes a face. “What the hell—no, I….” He musses his hair with his hand. The things he said earlier were not only insulting, but also dumb as shit. Of course romantic relationships aren’t a surefire way to tear a band apart. Norton should have known better, but he just doesn’t think very well when he’s being petty. And lately, he’s been acting petty a lot. Frankly, it’s not a good idea to be like that when he’s being filmed all the time.

“I don’t want JESTER to split,” Norton says, “and I don’t care about you and Margaretha being a thing. You guys can do whatever you want and we’ll just mind our own business.” Norton huffs out a breath. “So, I won’t give a shit about you guys except when I want to laugh when you show up below us in the charts again.”

Mike guffaws, and his smile seems more genuine this time, which soothes some of Norton’s unease. “Aw, but did you forget? Metallurgy dropped below Animal Tamer on its first week!”

“It went back up on the second week.”

“Only ‘cuz of that one viral video.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” A bit of a smirk touches Norton’s lips.

Mike spreads his hands in a you got me gesture. “Well, we can deal with competing on the charts once this is all over. Right now we’ve got an album to make!”

Norton gives an exaggerated sigh. “Right, we have that. I’ll try not to pass out by the time it’s done.”

“Hah, no way you’re passing out on me!”

“Oh yeah?”

Mike grins and thumps his palm on his bicep. He’s got the most determined glint in his eyes. “I’ll keep you up allll night if I have to, Campbell!”

Heat rises up Norton’s neck before he realizes what he’s even embarrassed about. Maybe it’s because he’s trying not to think of how cute Mike looks right now, or maybe he’s busy not imagining Mike’s words out of context. He turns back to his cabinet and pretends to sort his clothes. “You do that,” he mumbles.

Mike giggles and jumps off his bed. “I’ll go downstairs. You wanna join me?”

Norton glances at him through the corner of his eye. “I’m fine.”

“Oh-kay!”

Before Mike can run out the door, Norton calls out: “Hey.”

Mike pauses and turns to him questioningly.

“Forget about that, uh, not-being-allowed-to-speak-out-of-turn rule,” Norton murmurs, cheeks hot. “You can talk anytime you want.” Personally, it’s a relief to override that thoughtless rule. It’s always settled like coal on Norton’s tongue ever since they established it.

“Ooh! Does that mean I don’t have to speak to you through a notebook to start conversations?”

“Yeah.”

“And does that mean I get to call you ‘Norty’?”

“No.”

“Why not?!”

“Because it’s dumb.”

“It’s not dumb! It’s cute!”

“I’m going to bed,” Norton declares.

Mike laughs and runs off, calling out: “Goodnight, Norton!”

He forgot to shut the door, as he always does, but the annoyance Norton feels is tinged with something like affection this time. He doesn’t realize that, but he does like the feeling of a heavy weight lifting off his chest.

***

Norton, a light sleeper, knows how much of a bother it is to sleep with his bandmates, since they often have no delicacy with swinging doors open and bumping into things in the middle of the night. He discovers that, as loud as Mike’s entrances tend to be, the guy’s quiet enough to let Norton experience his beauty rest uninterrupted for the whole night.

The same can’t be said for the morning, since Mike—who’s an early riser—thinks it’s a good idea to pounce on his bed very noisily and tell him it’s time for breakfast.

“Jesus, what time is it?” Norton groans as he shields his eyes. Sunlight’s pouring through the windows oppressively.

“7 AM!” Mike chirps.

Norton hides his head under his pillow. “Five more minutes.”

“Nope!”

Norton yelps as he’s yanked by the arm to a sitting position, blankets and pillows falling around him. He’s about to get mad when he sees Mike bathed in the golden sun, a smile on his lips while stars dance in his irises, and Norton forgets about what he’s angry about.

Mike giggles and messes up the rat’s nest of Norton’s hair. “You drool when you sleep,” he notes. Then he dances back, revealing that he’s dressed up and ready to go. “C’mon! Eli made pancakes!”

He leaves the room in a flurry. Norton stares after him, stunned, not knowing if he should regret not kicking Mike out of the bedroom last night or thankful that he didn’t.

***

The songwriting process is usually a no-nonsense thing for Norton to oversee. He takes care of it with Eli, whose penchant for overly sentimental lyrics needs to be grounded from time to time. So, Norton imagines JESTER as a nightmarish group to try and cobble songs together, akin to a chaotic high school project.

He should have expected more from a Billboard Music Award winner. Mike is still full of smiles, voice sanguine, but he somehow manages to be straightforward about what he wants while hitting Norton with the constant salesman talk—telling him how he envisions a song to go, speaking with very clear and specific and attractive words. He never lets up. Every idea that comes out of his mouth is so persuasively proposed that Norton, if he were a weaker-willed man, would have not cared for how crazy these ideas sounded.

Christ, no wonder this guy’s the leader. He can just talk anyone into giving him his way, Norton thinks.

He’s never thought of Mike as a threat before. JESTER as a whole has been giving Magnet a run for their money, but Norton now knows to single out Mike for sure.

There’s extra effort for Norton to anchor himself down and interject to some of Mike’s ideas. Sure, Mike has some really fucking good input, but Norton still wants to mold it to suit Magnet’s style and not just JESTER’s. At the very least, Mike understands that.

The flow of conversation between them is the most civil in a long while. No biting remarks or snarky comments or anything.

The only thing that ‘bothers’ Norton is how they’ve both agreed to write their feelings to each other and dress it up like a love song.

It’s been a long time since Norton last wrote songs from his heart. He usually leaves this kind of stuff to Eli or even Aesop, since what Norton’s good at is making songs sound commercial, so the lyrics stick in your head in a club or so the crowd can easily sing along in a concert.

He can tell Mike is already balanced in that regard—learning how to write from the heart and getting the audience to love it. He gently comments on some of Norton’s lines, suggests how to change up the wording to make it sound more, well, earnest, in a way. He probably senses how closed off Norton wants to be and is trying to nudge him to open up.

He never says anything about how progressively vulnerable Norton’s lyrics begin to look. Norton looks at Mike’s verses, the heart he wears on his sleeve, and doesn’t say anything about it either.

Maybe he won’t talk of it. Doesn’t mean he won’t stop thinking.

The headache that throbs in his skull lures him to his bed every night. He thinks of Mike’s patient smile, the constellations in his eyes that mellow softly when Norton sees them up close, the way their hands brush together accidentally on the table.

Mike’s lines repeat all over again in his head. They attach to some sort of phantom melody that sings in Mike’s voice. Even if Norton presses his pillow over his head, he can’t stop hearing it.

He’s going to be so far gone when they get to actually recording that fucking song.

***

“Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming tonight!”

Emma’s voice booms out of the speakers as the audience cheers. The garden of the mansion is massive enough to accommodate a lot of people, so the audience has been set aside on bleachers, several of them wearing merch of their favorite bands. Crowd control is having a tough ass time with holding them back.

The idols are all gathered in the middle of the garden, JESTER off at one side and Magnet at another. It’s easy to tell the difference because, besides the recognizable faces, Magnet is dressed in sleek monochromes while JESTER is in pastels and bright colors. Behind each of the bands are instruments.

Margaretha’s blowing kisses to the crowd. Eli forms a heart shape with his fingers. Everyone faints.

“Alright!” Emma bounces up in between the two bands with a mic. “So, who’s ready for a Sing-Off? I know I am!”

The crowd cheers and William hoots.

“Okay, let’s lay down the rules!” Emma holds up a hand. “You all know how our Sing-Offs go. Stay on track and keep the beat going! But first, a very important modification.” She shoots a finger gun towards the two bands. “You’re only allowed to sing songs from the opposite group.”

Naib gapes. “What?”

“That means JESTER can only sing Magnet songs, and Magnet can only sing JESTER songs. How’s that?”

The crowd is buzzing with excitement.

Emma turns to Norton with a knowing grin. “Think you can handle it?”

Norton flexes out his shoulders. Gives his best camera-worthy smirk that makes every heart skip a beat. “I know we can.”

Mike laughs out loud. “I’d like to see you try, dream boy!” he calls out.

A bell chimes. “Start!” Emma calls out.

Mike grabs the microphone, Martha’s already raised her drumsticks, and it seems like they know exactly what to play.

But right before a single sound can come out, a guitar riff grinds out through the garden. Aesop cocks his guitar back with a flourish. He strums out the opening chords to JESTER’s hit ‘Half-Hearted.’

The crowd’s squeals are drowned out by the thundering beat of Will’s drums and Norton’s bass.

Magnet’s microphone stand twirls before it settles into Eli’s hands like a ballroom dancer. “Let’s begin!” he chirps, and then he’s singing out, “Oh, sweetheart, I’ve got / A rocky sense of feeling that I’m / Two point seven seconds / Away from falling in love with you….”

JESTER looks miffed but they quickly reconvene. While they do, Aesop’s guitar seems to sing with Eli.

“But your glass, it’s half-full / And your….” Eli’s filling in for Mike’s vocals so well. “Heart is half-dull, but I—”

“—I watched you storm off to the side—” Mike’s snatched the microphone and is advancing on Eli. “And maybe you’ll know what it’s like to die! / It’s not everyday I’ll see a blonde like you…”

Naib kicks off with the riff to Magnet’s ‘Reverse’ that sends the crowd roaring.

Mike looks gorgeous, bathed in the spotlight, smiling and confident in everything. It’s surreal to hear Norton’s own lyrics coming out of his mouth. Mike’s voice layers harmonic in the sweet spot between effeminate and masculine.

Surreal and heart-stopping. Norton forgets to function for a moment.

Which isn’t much of a problem for Magnet since they’re used to their leader being a headass, so Eli’s tossing the microphone over to Will.

“Torn up, twisted / It’s about time,” Mike sings, “that I stop thinking of your—”

“Your face in my dreams, my lovely / I should know better….” a new voice intercepts Mike so suddenly yet so laxly that the audience draws in a gasp. Norton snaps out of his trance.

William, contrary to his intense energy at the drums, takes it deep and slow at the mic, just like a jazz legend. His amazing baritone leaves the fans gripping each other’s arms while trying not to swoon (they fail miserably). Norton remembers he’s on the bass and starts to play a morose cover of JESTER’s ‘The End of March 19.’

They don’t have the saxophone that Mike used in the original song, but Aesop knows just how to emulate the anguished notes with his guitar. Mike’s impressed enough to let out a low whistle.

“You think you’re cool and dark and sleek / But I would know better, oh, I should know better / That scar dripping down your cheek, gets me feeling like I—”

Will’s interrupted by someone else’s singing. “—I stabbed their darling, killed his name! / Just a pretty little asshole with his dolled-up fame! / ‘Cause he and I, we just don’t see the same….”

The spotlight falls on Naib at the mic. His voice cuts through with all the subtlety of a knife—his melody is brusque to drink in, accentuated by Martha’s restrained drumming and Margaretha and Mike’s heavenly backing vocals. ‘The Most Popular Guy’ by Magnet washes over the crowd in their awe.

“So when I kissed his body, set it aflame / I saw the hordes saying I’m to blame! / Maybe they’re right but his ashes are mine to claim,” Naib sings. He sounds sublime, sharply, unforgivingly so, but his eyes only gleam with challenge.

And Norton’s just about ready to take up that challenge.

Fans cry out in distress and delight when, suddenly, Norton steps forth to grab a fistful of Naib’s jacket.

JESTER falls silent. Everyone’s watching. In the pause, Norton finally raises his mic, and his words flow out rich and dark: “You can be my darling.”

Someone screams then covers her mouth. Others are gasping in disbelief. Norton’s fingers uncurl around Naib’s jacket and he gives him the lightest push back, smirking all the while, because he knows that the shocked expression on Naib’s face is just in the shallow waters of what he really wants.

“If only you could hear me sing….”

Will starts a steady drum beat and Aesop matches in tune. Norton nods at Eli who grabs a spare mic.

“You can be my darling…..”

“’Cuz I love you more than you love gold,” Eli sings to the crowd.

“I’ll be here just dancing…..”

“Lose myself but it’s your control—!”

The beat reaches a crescendo and Eli rides on a high note that gets the crowd riled up so amazingly that everyone, everyone is screaming for him, for Magnet, for Mike Morton’s most personal, most obscure ballad ‘darling.’

A single that Norton “I’ve Never Listened To A Single JESTER Song In My Life” Campbell should never have known.

“Baby fill my heart with Nitre and I’ll cry myself to sleep

“Oh, don’t think of me

“Lost everything but this knife with your name is in me

“I won’t stop thinking—”

“—Can’t help thinking—”

“Why I need you, baby

“But you’ve got everything, and all I’ve got

“Are the scars of a fool

“My darling....”

They’ve stunned JESTER to silence. Margaretha is clutching Mike’s arm, but Mike is too busy staring at Norton with his mouth parted, mic useless in his hand. His eyes are wide and shiny like tears are about to well up.

Norton smiles beatifically. He keeps their gazes locked as the crest of the music swells and then finishes with Norton, quiet like the waft of a gentle smoke.

“But you’ve got everything, and all I’ve got

“Are the scars of a fool

“Darling.”

The crowd stands to give an ovation. The lights fill up the garden again and both bands remember where they are.

JESTER couldn’t think of anything to respond to Magnet with.

They’ve lost.

Emma bounces up onstage with a huge grin, with a plump king cat perched on her head. “Okay everyone, we have our winner!” She splays her hand out to Norton’s band. “Iiiit’s Magnet!!”

The audience and the boys both go wild as hell. Eli grabs Aesop for a hug, then Will swoops in and picks both of them up while they holler in their victory. Norton accepts the king cat as a reward. Emma stands on her tippy toes so she can (with a lot of stretching) plop the cat on his head.

“You did great guys!” Martha graciously calls out amid her applause.

“Yeah, great song choice,” Margaretha says with a grin. “Ripped it off YouTube or something?”

Mike, blushing heavily, shoves at her shoulder. “C’mon, Margie, let them have their win!”

“It’s not like any of us knew they were gonna go for an unreleased JESTER song,” Naib huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Much less Campbell.”

“Yeah, I thought that was weird. Why did he know it?” Martha wonders aloud. “That shouldn’t have counted, right? Since it’s just a leaked song?”

“Nope, I’m sure it counts, love,” Margaretha sniggers. “Even though it’s only got Mike’s vocals with Mike’s songwriting and only the most hardcore fans of Mike Morton should know it—”

“Shshshhshshsh!” Mike slaps his hands over Margaretha’s mouth. “Stop it Margie!”

Martha looks confused by their bickering, as if she can’t comprehend the implications that Margaretha’s making. She turns to Naib for answers, but he just sighs in exasperation.

“You guys did great, by the way!” Emma says as she approaches JESTER.

“Even though you’re Luchino’s assistant and thus are biased towards Magnet?” Naib mutters.

“Aw, don’t say that! I’m a big fan of both of you guys! That’s why I’m so down about telling you that you’re going to be in charge of preparing tonight’s dinner!”

Margaretha pouts. “But I was looking forward to Eli’s cooking…..”

“We can take this opportunity to give them diarrhea for three days straight,” Naib proposes.

Mike claps his hands sharply to grab his group’s attention. He’s still blushing but he tries to ignore that little fact. “Well! Magnet sure surprised us tonight, but it’s our turn to turn ‘em on their heads! We’ll cook up a dinner so good that they’ll cry about it!”

“We want to make them cry?” Martha says.

“Yeah! They’ll season their own food with their tears!”

“Ooh, gourmet,” Margaretha says.

Naib raises his hand. “I have an idea.”

“No, we won’t chop their body parts up and serve it to them, Naib,” Mike responds.

Naib puts his hand down.

“Though Magnet is delicious just to look at,” Margaretha murmurs, gazing at Norton and his crew as they celebrate. Then she grins widely at Mike. “You like yours half-burnt?”

“Ha-ha! Shut up.”

***

The midnight sky is, disappointingly, lacking in stars. Though the ones that do show up put effort into twinkling more brightly than usual, so Mike can appreciate that. He still would have liked a better backdrop for his ‘pretty-boy-playing-ukulele-in-the-ghost-hours-alone’ mood right now.

He’s primed himself not to get surprised when he hears a sudden knock on the rooftop door. Being around Naib a lot has helped that. Though he turns around and is still surprised to see that it is not his light-footed, insomniac bandmate.

“Norton?”

Norton’s hair is cutely messy. Maybe he rolled out of his sheets? “You weren’t in your bed. Martha told me you were here.”

“Can’t sleep.” Mike gestures for the bench across from him. Norton takes the cue to plop himself there. “I’ve got too many ideas in my head soooo I didn’t wanna lie down just yet!”

“Were you playing the song that we’ve been writing together?”

Mike smiles. “Yup! I’m trying to get a feel for it, since we’re recording tomorrow.”

“…It’s a good song, I guess.”

“It is! I love how it turned out.”

“It’s not half-bad.”

Mike’s legs are crossed over the table. He nudges Norton’s knee with his toe. “Heeey, is that you admitting that this album might not be a mistake?”

“It still is,” Norton replies, though he has a grin. “It’s one hell of a mess.”

“Can it be a gorgeous mess, at least?”

Norton stares at Mike in his bunny slippers and freckled grin. “Probably.”

“Well, look at you. The world’s gonna have a field day when they see you winning a Sing-Off using only JESTER songs!”

“Please. I just hear those songs because Will streams them a lot.”

“I don’t think anyone can legally stream ‘darling’ anymore.”

Norton shrugs. “Yeah? Magnet rips off music from the Internet. We’re human too.”

A giggle. Then Mike lounges back in his chair a bit more, plucking mindlessly at his ukulele. He stares at the coin-sized moon. “I was lovesick as hell when I wrote that,” he murmurs.

“’darling’?”

“Yeah. Honestly, I’m kind of embarrassed about that song, but I did love the tune I made up for it, so…..I guess it was a good way to vent about my long-time crush for a bit.”

“Was it about Margaretha?” Norton asks tensely.

Mike barks out laughter. “I’ve never had a crush on any of my bandmates, swear! Except for Naib, maybe, but Naib’s hot so I feel like everyone had a crush on him for a while. Not Martha, though. Dudes aren’t really her thing. Anyway, my Naib crush lasted for like a solid week! It’s gone now but I still watch him work out from time to time. He has nice abs.”

Norton’s brow furrows. “Then….who was the song about?”

“I don’t knoooooow,” Mike lilts. “Tune in next episode to find out!”

Norton slumps, probably accepting that he can’t push any further.

“Oh, but your cover of ‘darling’ was wonderful, Norton.” Mike’s voice sounds a touch tenderer than usual. He’s gazing into Norton’s eyes softly. “I really liked it.”

Embarrassed, Norton looks away. “Yeah, well….I thought that was the way to win.”

“You’ve definitely won more than that Sing-Off tonight,” Mike chirps as he swings his legs off the table and gets up.

Norton’s adorably confused. “Wait, what does that mean?”

“It means I’m going to bed, hot stuff! Now are you gonna join me or what?”

“Join—” A flush appears on Norton’s skin. Mike relishes the sight. “Y-you keep wording shit weirdly—”

“I do! Or maybe I meant it? Ha-ha! See ya in the morning Norton!” Mike blows a kiss and skips off, leaving Norton behind on the rooftop.

***

Norton’s used to roughening his own voice when recording, especially when it comes to the romantic songs where he can’t help but growl a bit. It sounds sexy and has a sort of ‘scratchy bad boy’ vibe, but few know that it’s just a natural effect of Norton being flustered by Eli’s chocolatey songwriting. The growl gives the right edge that prevents a ‘buttery overload’ from the smoothness of Eli and Will’s vocals.

“I can’t say I don’t like it when you do that,” says Mike, adjusting his red-frame glasses (he wears glasses when he’s in pure business mode, that’s so cute), “but I’ve heard you use a sleeker voice. Just yesterday you did it! So, I want to hear you sing like that. The edge of it is still there, but it’s glossy, you see? Suave. An expensive, rich flavor.”

“Are you describing a voice or are you just craving sweets?” Norton asks.

Mike smiles but doesn’t take the joke further than it needs to. “Can you do that?”

Norton gives a nod, and he does. It pleases Mike.

“Perfect! See, it’s still sexy, but now you don’t sound like you have a sore throat,” Mike says.

“I don’t have a sore throat.”

Emma pipes in from where she’s sitting with Norton’s new box of donuts: “Sounds good to me! Definitely sexy!”

“Yes,” Mike agrees professionally, though there’s a little blush on his cheeks. “Now we move on.”

Mike has a much more impressive range than Norton, which is handy with JESTER’s versatile nature. The thing is, he’s used to projecting his voice and varying the pitch way too often, which wouldn’t be useful here.

“For some of the more intimate parts, you can make do with a softer voice,” Norton explains, “just by a bit. We still need you to hit those high notes at certain parts.”

“Okay, but tell me what you mean by ‘softer.’”

“Like….you’re not singing at a party.”

“Yeah, that’s normal volume, not soft.”

Norton thinks about it for a while. “….Like you’re confessing a secret to me.”

Mike raises his eyebrows. “Ooh?”

“What kinda secret?” Emma butts in with a grin.

“A very secret….secret,” Norton says.

“Could it be a declaration of something intimate? Something that will shake Norton’s entire world?” Emma gasps very dramatically.

“Can you leave?”

“Nuh-uh. Luchino said I’m supposed to oversee this—”

“I’ll let you have all of those donuts if you leave us alone for thirty minutes.”

“Oh, sure!”

Emma totters off with the donuts.

“You know we’re never really alone right? We’re still being filmed,” Mike tells Norton.

Norton likes Emma but he’d rather do this without any distractions. And that box of Krispy Kreme was definitely a distraction. “Let’s try out the song.”

Norton sucks at wording what he wants in someone’s voice, but with a few demonstrations, Mike’s able to sing in a way that satisfies them both.

Once they’re content with rehearsing the song, they get on to the actual recording.

It’s not like Norton’s nervous as hell because this is his first time really singing with Mike Morton.

But it goes perfectly. Their voices wind together in a way that Norton never imagined, a far cry from any duet he’d performed with Eli or Will. Mike finishing off the bridge with that insane note sends chills down Norton’s spine, rocketing him into his own lines with an invigoration that he’s afraid he’ll get addicted to, and he belatedly realizes how much fun he’s having. He can’t see Mike on the other side of the recording room but he can imagine the smile in the way he’s singing.

The song isn’t done completely, since they still need final touches in editing, but Mike’s shoulders sag and he exhales like he’s finally got a huge weight lifted off him.

“That was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Mike asks Norton.

“It’s not bad,” Norton says. Is that the only thing he can say about the damn song?

“Damn right it’s not!” Mike holds up his hand with a grin. “We did a great job! Way to go, Magnet!”

Norton slaps his hand against his in a high-five.

That night, Norton dreams of the song that he can finally call their own.

***

“No, Norton, you put your hand on my waist and put your foot there like—”

Norton’s heel lands squarely on top of Mike’s. Did bones crunch or was that just Norton’s imagination?

Norton removes his foot. Mike is still balanced perfectly on one leg, though his smile now looks tight, like he’d just sucked on a lemon.

Mike slowly lowers his other leg. Norton lets him hold on to his arms to stay upright.

“I’m not good at dancing by the way,” Norton feels the need to say.

“I knew that even before you tried maiming me,” Mike replies, shaking off his hurt foot.

The two of them take the time to watch Margaretha and Eli on the other side of the dance studio. Eli’s just doing the bare minimum for a ballroom dance while Margaretha uses him to twirl and stretch and bend her body in all sorts of fancy moves.

At least Eli looks passable from all the dancing he does with Aesop. Luchino has always demanded that Norton be given the least complicated moves in choreography, otherwise he’ll embarrass himself.

“What can you do?” Mike asks Norton.

“Street dance. Salsa. Jazz. Folk. Uh, we’ve had to do a little bit of everything for concerts—”

“Yes, but do you know them?”

Norton scratches the back of his neck. “Give me a week to memorize the choreo and I guess I’ll live.”

“Well, you’re with JESTER. We don’t need to memorize choreos that often! Sometimes we just love a little spontaneity.”

“Count me out if you’re talking about freestyling.”

Mike laughs. “I’ll be carrying you then.”

Norton checks out how Mike’s sleeves hug his toned arms so nicely. “Literally or figuratively?”

“We’ll see.” Mike waggles his eyebrows.

Eli and Margaretha stop for a break. Eli’s drenched in sweat so he crawls off to have some water, while Margaretha wanders over to see what Norton and Mike are doing. “Morning,” she greets.

“Hey,” Mike returns. “So what’s your choreo like?”

“Totally a fairytale sorta vibe. Aesop’s amazing at ballet so Eli just has to catch up.”

“Ballet? Looked more like you were doing ballroom.”

“Hey, we just throw in anything if it works.” Margaretha slinks over to Norton, way up in his personal space, walking fingers up his chest. “Wish I had candy like this to dance around with. You’re so lucky, Mike.”

“I'm not candy,” Norton says with a frown.

Mike clears his throat and tugs Norton away from Margaretha. He plasters a smile on his face. “Margie, we’re still in the middle of smoothing out our choreo so. If you don’t mind.”

He makes a shooing motion.

Margaretha makes a face and Mike returns with an equally petty look. They look like children sticking tongues out to each other.

When Margaretha sashays away, Norton turns to Mike in bewilderment. “But we already have the choreo finished.”

“Shush shush shush.” Mike wiggles his fingers over Norton’s mouth. “Listen, Norton. We can’t let them know what exactly we’re working on until we’re done! We have one of the most anticipated tracks on the entire album because we’re the band leaders! We gotta live up to the hype of the audience and of our own band members, so that they’ll only expect the best out of us and be motivated to do better!”

“That’s….a way of putting it.”

“Now come on,” Mike says with a grin. “You’re with me, right?”

“Of course.” There’s hardly any hesitation.

Mike beams. “We’re going to nail this, Norton!”

***

They’re put inside a very suspicious limo and allowed to be out of the house for the first time. Emma insists on being mysterious about what’s about to happen, which makes her smile even more untrustworthy.

They arrive at a club in a high-end street. Inside, there are fans seated at their own tables while pretending to be regular clubgoers, though they’re unable to hide their excitement when they see their two favorite bands walk into the club.

“Okay everyone, to the dance floor please! We’re about to start our Dance-Off!” Emma announces.

“Dance-Off?” Eli repeats in alarm.

JESTER, unfairly comprised of some of the best dancers in the charts, starts sniggering. “Finally we get to beat their asses,” Naib says with a grin.

“But we all know how some of you boys are struggling with your choreo, and that just can’t do!” Emma tuts. “Martha and Margaretha are doing just fine by the way.” There’s some laughter from the clubgoers. “Sooo this won’t be a JESTER vs. Magnet thing. We’re pairing you guys off!”

Naib’s shocked. “What?”

“You gotta learn to work together after all!”

“What?!”

The spotlight shines on Margaretha and a very startled Eli.

“Start!” Emma yells.

Trap-salsa plays on the speakers and Eli panics, but then Margaretha grabs him. “Just be calm honey.” She joins their left hands and places Eli’s hand on her waist. “I’ve got you.”

They take to the dance floor like it’s just a normal dance. Margaretha smiles at Eli while sweat visibly starts beading on his forehead.

She stretches her leg out while Eli dips her in a practiced move.

Then suddenly she’s winding around Eli as easily as a snake. Eli gasps when she turns up on his other side to strike them both in a pose. Somehow, his hand is holding her knee up.

“How did I do that?” Eli says with wide eyes right before he’s the one sent twirling with a squeal.

Margaretha laughs as she catches him. “You’re doing great, baby!” She drops down and slides through his legs then twists her body up so she can grab his wrists from behind.

She leans in to speak delicately in Eli’s ear. “Lift me?”

Eli doesn’t look like he knew how he obeyed, but Margaretha spins him and contorts around him. He squeaks when she pushes herself up to sit on his shoulders. His face is so red, but no one can tell if it’s because of exertion, or the fact that he has Margaretha’s thighs around his head. How the hell is her long-slit skirt surviving this?

Margaretha hefts herself up a bit more so she’s sitting on one shoulder, long legs crossed haughtily like Eli is just a chair for her to lounge on. She smirks, stretches out her hand to give a ‘give me more’ taunt directed towards—

The spotlight traps Aesop and Naib.

Aesop looks like he’d rather die but Naib, who’s returning Margaretha his own cocky smirk, has already pulled his hood over his head.

The song switches to nu-goth EDM. The low, synthetic bass thumps across the walls.

“Think you can keep up, ballerino?” Naib asks Aesop as he saunters backwards into the dance floor.

Aesop walks toward him with narrowed eyes. “I don’t just do ballet.”

“Enough talking then.”

Naib kicks his heels and sends himself falling backward toward the floor. He somehow manages to make falling look graceful.

Aesop’s already there to catch him in a feigned ballroom dip, his lunge elegant and long, before he pulls them back upright and immediately lashes Naib into a spin and then back to him.

Chest to chest, they glare at each other.

Then Aesop hoists Naib up, whirling him around. Naib’s legs slice a rotation through the air then wind around Aesop’s body. When his feet touch the ground, his hand on the back of Aesop’s neck, they’re so close their noses are touching. “Not bad,” he says.

“Not done,” Aesop growls, then he grabs Naib and spins him yet again, maneuvering their bodies so that they’re back-to-back, hands still joined.

Naib has time to blow a lock of hair off his face. Then he jumps and folds himself backward over Aesop’s shoulder, holding tight onto Aesop’s hands for support.

He lands on a perfect split at Aesop’s feet. Mike whistles.

Aesop pretends to wipe sweat off from his masked jawline, then he and Naib point three-fingered guns right at the next dancers.

The spotlight finds Mike and Martha.

“Us?” Martha gulps. “B-but we’re in the same group—”

A hand takes hers and Martha finds herself being gallantly escorted to the dance floor. She looks up to find Norton smiling at her. “Shall we?” he proposes.

Red, like the color of her dress, fills Martha’s face.

Mike jolts when Will’s heavy arm slings over his shoulders. “Mikey! Wanna show ‘em up together?” Will asks.

A grin breaks out across Mike’s face. “Gladly!”

The song changes to the intro of a hard-hitting beat that sounds like clockwork. The music slowly starts to swell.

Martha grips Norton’s sleeve. “I-I’m not sure on what to dance?”

JESTER may be used to freestyling, but Norton senses that the pressure must be making Martha’s mind go blank. “Your Puppetmaster music video. The choreo you had with Margaretha. It has the same tempo as this song,” Norton tells her, considerate but also urgent. “You’ve got this, Martha.”

Then he makes a big show of sweeping imaginary strings around Martha’s wrists. Martha’s hands droop and flop on instinct—she’s surprised that her own body remembers the Puppetmaster choreo.

Norton himself is not good at dancing. But he is good at memorizing choreos, especially since he loved practicing Puppetmaster’s dance with William back when the song was newly released. It was an embarrassing secret that Norton didn’t even want Luchino knowing.

He spreads his fingers before him, pops his knuckles with his shoulders jerkily, and Martha mimics his movements like a marionette. His confidence starts to bleed past her nervousness.

Then Norton swipes his arms in a wide arc in front of him, twisting Martha around on her heels so her back faces him.

“Am I doing fine?” Martha asks Norton as the strings dictate the strain of her muscles. She moves fluidly when Norton wants her to, transitions to stiff and cold ceramic limbs otherwise.

“Hey, you’re a natural,” Norton encourages her.

Martha manages a cute smile. “Thanks.”

On the other side of the dance floor, Mike and Will must’ve recognized Norton and Martha’s choreo because they’re doing the same thing—except, they’re doing the JESTER boys’ choreo instead of the girls.’

In the music video, Margaretha and Martha’s choreography was meant to be the song’s sinister, icy opening, but Mike and Naib’s was energetic and crazy. Right now Will’s wrapped Mike in strings and then sent him twirling as if he’s a spinning top. Mike’s waistcoat flares around him. Both he and Will are laughing.

Norton’s about to get Martha to a faux dip when she nearly trips over her own feet.

“Ah—!”

Norton moves to grab her but she clutches his shoulder and rebalances herself, back heaving. The ankle clasp of her sandal has broken.

“Sorry,” she says to Norton.

“No, it’s oka—”

Mike tumbles into Norton’s arms. They stare at each other in surprise.

“Sorry Mike! I got distracted!” Will yelps.

But it’s very timely, since the spotlight chooses that moment to close in around Mike and Norton.

The dance floor soon is just the two of them. Everyone waits to see what they’ll do.

Norton pushes Mike back, just to put some space in between them—a pathetic distance of twelve inches. The gesture looks spiteful from afar but Norton’s lips are curled very, very subtly, in a way that only Mike can see it. And only Mike can understand it.

Then a new song starts—a heavy, guttural beat, with a slow cool synth coming in from the background.

Norton is about to turn and walk off (or pretend to do so), but then Mike grabs his tie and drags him back until they’re pressed against each other again.

“Did I say you could leave?” Mike says.

The light dancing in Mike’s eyes is captivating. “You’re not the boss of me,” Norton answers.

Norton bats Mike’s hands away and pushes him back. Mike intercepts every move of his hand so it’s like a parry-riposte flurry of movement, hitting every beat.

It ends with Mike’s hands smoothing up Norton’s chest to rest on his shoulders.

And Mike’s hoisting himself up into the air so that Norton catches him, his hands holding Mike’s thighs up around his hips. They’re pressed flush against each other.

“So strong,” Mike coos. He locks his ankles around Norton’s lower back. “You’ve got quite the grip.”

“Shut up.”

Norton grasps a handful of Mike’s hair and tugs his head back, exposing the lovely line of his throat. A breath seeps out past Mike’s lips and it’s damn attractive.

Mike’s unrestrained leg sweeps out to fold over Norton’s shoulder. His body bends backward in an impossible, beautiful arc, so his hair nearly touches the floor.

From the audience, Margaretha whistles. Will shouts encouragement. Naib calls out that they look like they’re in a porno.

Norton grabs Mike by the waist and Mike twists his body around Norton. A grandiose spin takes hold of them both, until Mike ends up latched to Norton’s back. His arms wrap around Norton’s neck, his breath brushing over Norton’s ear tantalizingly, right as his nails drag over the lapels of Norton’s jacket.

When he slides back free from Norton, he’s ripped the jacket off his shoulders—except the sleeve remains attached to Norton’s hand.

Norton whirls around to see Mike quickly wrap the sleeve around Norton’s wrist, like he’s whirling a sword around, and ends up with a makeshift leash attached to Norton’s arm. He punctuates the move by swinging his leg up to slam the back of his shoe on Norton’s shoulder.

He tugs on the jacket-leash so Norton lurches forward, at eye-level with Mike. Their lips inches from each other.

“Down, boy,” Mike orders.

He forces Norton down on his knees using both the jacket and his shoe. The cameras are eagerly eating up the image of Norton Campbell kneeling in front of Mike Morton.

And just for good measure, Mike pushes Norton back so he’s lying down on the dance floor. He straddles Norton’s hips. Norton watches with blown eyes as Mike licks his lips and tears off his own green jacket.

But before anything can happen, Mike flourishingly drapes the jacket over Norton’s face, covering him up like he’s a dead body. Mike kisses his fingers and then uses those fingers to tap Norton’s covered mouth. “There you go, Campbell. Your taste of magic.” He spreads his arms wide and waves at the cameras. “I win! I win!”

The clubgoers, who were all so entranced they looked like they were watching the second coming of Christ, break out in cheers and applause.

“Uh, Mike, you were supposed to win with your partner—” Martha begins, but then Emma smacks her mouth with her palm.

“That was a great Dance-Off, guys! Wasn’t that great? We all had such fun!”

“Damn right it was!” Margaretha laughs.

“Yeah, but I kinda wish we could’ve danced more,” Will says. “The time was too short.”

“Don’t worry! You’ll all be here a while longer, so you can dance to your heart’s content!” Emma happily says. “Go ahead—the night’s still young!”

Naib grins at Will. “Hey, how ‘bout a real dance-off? I’ll bet you can’t last with me.”

Will gasps happily. “Oh, you are so on!”

Margaretha takes Martha’s hand. “Wanna get some drinks with me, love?”

“That would be great, actually. I still gotta shake off these nerves….”

As they walk off, no one seems to care much about the fact that Martha is now wearing a fashionable pair of combat boots. Naib, his feet bare, yammers away with Will at the dance floor.

Aesop turns to Eli. “A dance?”

“Oh, sorry….” Eli laughs awkwardly. He rubs the shoulder that Margaretha sat on. “I’m a bit jittery after a while ago.”

Aesop bobs his head in understanding. “I see.”

“Perhaps I’ll rest my feet, get some water…..will you join me?”

“Of course.”

Eli smiles and wraps his hands around Aesop’s arm. “Thanks, Aesop.”

While the cameras are distracted with non-Mike-and-Norton things—mainly with Naib and Will’s impending dance battle, and the very interesting very newsworthy shots of Margaretha, Martha, Eli, and Aesop sitting at the counter and just talking like normal people—Mike’s already regathered with Norton in the corner of the club.

“Hey,” Mike says. He takes Norton’s hand. “Wanna go outside with me?”

“Outside the club?”

“I mean, outside.” Mike’s grin tells that he’s up to no good.

Norton matches it with his own smirk. “Sure.”

They sneak off together. Emma pretends not to notice.

***

The night air is cold and thin, a good contrast to the stuffiness of the club.

“We’ve got, say, a minute before they drag us back,” Mike says. He’s skipping over to the nearest streetlamp to swing around it. “Got any ideas where we should go?”

The Norton Campbell from weeks ago would have been appalled at the idea of going behind Emma’s (thus Luchino’s) back. But he knows he can trust Mike to liven up the night.

“I’ll let you pick,” Norton replies.

“Oh really? What if I bring you to a dump? An extra-stinky dump?”

“Well, we’d better make the most of that dump.”

“Dumpster diving?”

“Mike, even I have standards, please.”

A new voice speaks up: “E-excuse me.”

The two see that there’s a shy-looking girl next to them. She’s gripping her phone to her chest, and keeps staring at the two of them like she can’t believe what she’s seeing.

“A-are you….Norton and Mike?”

“We are!” Mike leaves the streetlamp to approach the girl.

“C-c-can I—if you don’t mind—um…..” She trembles while holding her phone up. “A p-picture…..?”

“Oh, of course!”

The three of them bundle together for a picture.

“Norton, dummy, you don’t need to stoop like that,” Mike chides. “Your knees will stick out.”

“May I hold the phone?” Norton asks the girl.

“S-s-sure! Since, you’re, er, th-the tallest….I guess….” The girl’s face is so red. That must have something to do with the fact that two idols are hustled so closely on either side of her.

Norton takes the picture. It comes out pretty nicely. He hands the phone back to the girl.

“This is our first photo together,” Norton realizes, looking at Mike.

“We’ve had tons of press photos together though.”

“The most we did was stand three meters apart.” Norton mulls over the photo. “Things between us were….different back then.”

“Hmmm. I guess you could say that.”

“D-different, you say?” the girl says. She’s looking back and forth between Norton and Mike, the flush pervading her neck and ears. “I-if it’s okay to ask, a-are you two finally friends….?”

Mike looks to Norton. “Are we friends?”

“No.”

Mike turns to the girl with a huge grin. “He’s right. We’re not friends, we’re besties.”

“We’re not.”

“Bestieees.”

“Stop it.”

The girl’s eyes well up. “I-I never thought I’d—I’d get to see you guys like…..like…..”

“Hey, isn’t that Mike Morton?” someone calls out.

Norton and Mike look up to see that passersby are beginning to point at them.

“Wait, the one with him—that’s Norton Campbell right?”

“I’d recognize that scar anywhere!”

“Oh my God!”

“Can we get a pic too?!”

Norton grabs Mike’s hand. “We’ve gotta go.”

“What is this? A good idea from Norton?” Mike sighs dreamily.

Now it would be sensible for the two of them to just run back in the club. But that’d be boring to do. Like thieves, Norton and Mike steal away into the night.

***

The massive Ferris wheel loomed from, like, a mile away. That’s how Norton knew where Mike was going to take him.

The fair is packed with a generous amount of people, which means that Norton and Mike needed to do an equally generous amount of running and hiding to escape some fans.

And it was so fun, even if Norton was so stressed the whole time.

They’d managed to snag disguises—a funky monocle and a leprechaun beanie for Mike; a vampire mask and a hat full of flowers for Norton. But sometimes those aren’t enough so they still have to escape the sharper-eyed fans.

Sometimes they’d get separated, which gets Norton freaking out. One time he found Mike giving a free concert on a stage, juggling like eight balls while balancing on a unicycle and singing JESTER’s solo I’m In Love With Jack the Ripper at the top of his lungs. Norton dashes in, picks up Mike mid-performance, and then leaves with carnival goers snapping pics and screaming and running after them.

Soon Norton begs Mike for a break. Mike’s quick to goad him into a final ride on the Ferris wheel.

They abuse their VIP status by briefly taking off their disguises to convince the employee at the booth to let them through. Of course, in exchange for a few photos. Norton feels dirty but Mike is suspiciously a natural at pulling shit like this.

Finally they’re seated in the car and things get a little quieter. Norton collapses into the bench he shares with Mike. Their disguises are thrown off to the seat across from them.

Mike’s sighing loudly in relief. He starts undoing the top few buttons of his shirt, just to loosen up. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Mmrmgh.” Norton leans on Mike’s shoulder. “Maybe.”

Mike laughs gently as he nestles Norton’s head in the crook of his neck. “Don’t worry. They’ll know to pick us up here, so we shouldn’t have to walk all the way back to the club.”

“How do they know…..”

“My bandmates would know. Our manager too. So, Emma won’t have to worry her pretty little head for too long, I’m sure. For now, let’s just take things at our own pace.”

Norton hums.

“By the way, why don’t you loosen your tie a little bit? I’m not gonna lie but it looks like it’s choking—” Mike pauses when he realizes Norton is nuzzling him. He giggles and holds him. “Aw golly, the famed sexy Norton Campbell cuddles like a cute li’l kitten when he’s tired! Can’t wait to let all the tabloids know about that!”

Norton lifts his head to give Mike a dry look. “Do you ever shut up?”

“Don’t think so,” Mike replies, leaning their foreheads together. His breath brushes over Norton’s cheek. “Unless you make me.”

“Maybe I will.”

Mike’s eyes sparkle. “Then the both of us should stop talking.”

The distance between them closes and Norton’s eyes slip shut.

They kiss slowly, steadily. Norton relishes in the warmth of Mike’s lips, the hot breath, the fingers that stroke the line of his jaw. Then Norton draws himself up a bit more so he can draw Mike closer to him with an arm around his waist.

Norton nibbles on Mike’s lower lip and then coaxes his mouth open. Mike makes a soft noise as he feels Norton taste him with his tongue. He grips Norton’s shirt, the kiss deepening.

They keep going for several long, heavenly seconds, where at one point Norton eases Mike into lying back on the bench, hardly breaking the kiss as he does so. They could totally go on for so much more, but eventually, Mike’s the one who has to push Norton back very lightly.

Mike stares up at him in elation. His cheeks are flushed while a smile plays at the corner of cherry red lips. “Don’t tell me you actually want to do it here.”

“I mean….we could.”

Mike props himself up on his elbow to kiss him again. “Horny dumbass.”

“I’m not horny.” Norton presses another kiss on Mike’s lips. Then another. Another.

Mike titters against his mouth, having to extract him again. “Yeah right. Save it for when the album’s done.”

“That’s too long.”

“Just a few more weeks.”

Norton slumps on top of Mike, grumbling under his breath. “The public still thinks you’re dating Margaretha.”

“Who cares about that? Even if the world didn’t want us to be together, Norton—” Mike pecks Norton’s temple, “—would that have mattered?”

Norton could think of Luchino saying that it definitely would. Their manager throw a wild shit over this kind of news. “….No.”

“See?”

“What about our bandmates—”

Mike muffles Norton’s words in another kiss. “Your brain is so tiny yet you think too much. Let’s just enjoy the Ferris wheel, eh?”

Norton sighs. He leans back a bit so he could undo his necktie in a few swift motions, keeping his eyes on Mike the whole time.

“Yeah. It’d be a shame to waste the ride,” Norton murmurs.

He leans over Mike again. Arms drape over his shoulders appreciatively as they resume.

***

The camera focuses on Mike in the Confessional room. Instead of sitting properly, he’s propped his legs up over the armrest in what would be an uncomfortable position for most.

“So, Mike. You’ve only got a few more weeks to spend with Magnet. How have you been holding up?” Emma asks.

“It’s great, of course!” Mike chirps. “We’ll just need to go over the last few bits of choreo, film, and then we wrap up the album. Ah, it’s been such a treat to work with Magnet so far, by the way. Even if not all of them are the greatest dancers!” He snickers.

“How have your relationships been going with them?”

“Pretty good. I only found out recently that Will is great for dance freestyling! We drag Aesop into those so we can give him an excuse to practice his ‘experimental DJ-ing.’ His mixes are amazing by the way.”

“How about you and Norton? You’ve had plenty of time to get used to each other since you’re directing the album together.”

Mike smiles giddily. “Ah, there. Things are going wonderfully between us, yes.”

Emma chuckles. “Care to elaborate?”

“Nope!” Mike stretches his arms luxuriously over his head. “All that info is for me to savor alone.”

“Aw, you don’t wanna share?”

“Not now. I’m a bit possessive of him, so I’ll think about it.” Mike winks at the camera.

“So, I take that Norton isn’t giving you a hard time anymore?”

“Not at all! I love spending time with Norton. I’ve always thought of him as a hottie but damn, he’s actually a dork.” He waves at the camera, as if addressing the viewer. “Don’t worry! I’ll make sure he’s intact by the end of the album. After all, I don’t break the things I own. He’ll come out of this house safe, sound, and ready to rock it out!”

***

Months have passed after the bombastic success of the album, but immediately JESTER and Magnet have to prepare for their first live performance together in Dyer Central.

While the throes of the concert start up in the stadium above them, the entire place seems to vibrate with the crowd’s anticipation. Down below, the members of Magnet are preparing their pre-performance toast. They’ve poured Mountain Dew into shot glasses. It’s a tribute to the band, as well as their way of including Aesop in the toast, since Aesop likes his sugar rush more than any type of alcohol.

“There’s something I’ve been sitting on for a long time now and I think I should finally tell you guys,” Norton says. “The truth is, I—”

“You’re dating Mike Morton,” Eli says, but at the same time Aesop murmurs, “You’ve been having sex with Mike Morton” and William interjects: “You’re actually into guys.”

Norton blinks. “How’d you all know?”

Will stares around the room. “Oh, and you’re dating Mike. Yeah.”

Norton blinks a few more times.

“Well you really stopped trying to kill Mike while we were back in the house,” Will recounts, “and the two of you smell alike. You even cuddled in the couch when you thought no one was looking! Then you started having sleepovers in your room without inviting us!”

“I’ve seen the way you stare at Mike when he sings,” Eli says with a wistful grin. “I know what sweethearts look like when they’re falling off the deep end.”

Aesop sounds depressed when he says his piece. “I ran into Mike after he spent the night in your penthouse. You left a hickey on him.”

“Also Naib told us,” Will chimes.

“Oh,” Norton murmurs. “Have we been that obvious?”

“…It’s enough to give the tabloids some material, but surprisingly, not enough,” Aesop hums, while Eli is absentmindedly braiding his hair. “It’s an improvement after your last ‘relationship.’”

“Demi’s a nice lady,” Will says. “Norton was the messy one!”

Will probably didn’t mean to make Norton cringe. His mind flashes to memories of reporters stringing extravagant stories out of a single one-night stand that Norton had. He wishes he can down his shot already.

“Mike probably knows how to handle a relationship like this, so you should be all good,” Eli tells Norton comfortingly. “Have you talked to him about coming out to the public?”

Norton’s face heats up. “Yeah.”

“Are you going to do anything dumb onstage?” Aesop asks.

“Uh….”

Eli chuckles. “We’ll be there for you in case anything happens, Norton.”

“Yeah!” Will claps Norton’s back so hard that the Mountain Dew nearly sloshes out of his glass. “We’ve got your back bro!”

Aesop raises his shot. “We should get ready.”

“Alright!”

“On your count, Norton?”

Norton nods. “Okay. Three…two…one!”

The Mountain Dew burns down their throat. Above, the crowd’s roaring thunders through the ceiling.

“You guys ready?” Eli grins.

“Let’s go!” William whoops.

***

Norton Campbell Confirms Romance with Mike Morton – Magnet and JESTER’s ultimate union!

Norton Campbell has finally confirmed his relationship with his rival, Mike Morton!

On Friday’s The Nightingale Show, the Magnet lead talked about the infamous kiss he and Morton shared in the recent Magnet x JESTER: Stitching Scars performance, held in Dyer Central last Friday. According to him, it’s true that the kiss wasn’t part of the choreography at all, but he ‘wasn’t sure who leaned in first.’

“It was in the heat of the moment,” Campbell recounted. “That ending pose…..our faces were so close, so I thought, y’know, ‘f— it,’ and I guess he thought the same thing.”

Campbell explained that the romance had already been going on for ‘some time’ before the performance happened. This revelation came after several long months of fans speculating about Morton and Campbell’s increasingly friendly relationship.

It started with an Instagram post where Morton and Campbell posed with a female fan along Golden Street, where Morton and Campbell were tagged in the picture. Morton commented, “besties!” with a series of laughing emojis and hearts, to which Campbell replied with a single unamused emoji.

There were several other photos taken from that same night, with supposed sightings of a disguised Morton and Campbell in Moonlit River Park, but the aforementioned picture with the fan was the only one that the two acknowledged.

Campbell also addressed the change in his behavior towards Morton and JESTER. Previous interviews have already seen him clarify that his ‘hate’ towards JESTER isn’t personal at all, but he has more to say now that he’s dating its leader.

“Things really change when you’re forced to live with someone for a while,” Campbell said. “JESTER seriously knows how to deliver. Sure, it’s annoying when they brag about how they’re all good at dancing and choreos or whatever, but it’s not….boring to work with them, I guess. And Mike’s the epitome of that. Writing songs with him, I really remembered that I was creating art, you know. It was incredibly inspiring.” He grinned widely. “He’s still kind of an annoying little s— though.”

So far, reception of this has been overwhelmingly positive worldwide, even after the suspected relationship between Morton and his bandmate Margaretha Zelle has been proven false. There was vocal support given by both JESTER and Magnet towards their band leaders.

William Ellis posted several photos of himself with Campbell and Morton, taken after Friday’s performance. “congrats guys!!!!” his caption reads, followed by several happy emojis.

Meanwhile Eli Clark has tweeted about a possible ‘double date’ that Campbell and Morton can have with him and fellow Magnet member Aesop Carl, stating plans for visiting the popular Lakeside Owl Café together. Carl retweeted the post in support.

On the JESTER side, Martha Behamfil congratulated them on her Instagram story, which displayed a video of Morton and Campbell kissing onstage during the concert.

Naib Subedar similarly posted his congratulations on his story. It depicted a photo of Morton and Campbell falling asleep in a limo. Morton was sprawled all over Campbell, who in turn was sprawled all over the car seat. Subedar captioned it with “congrats to these hopeless freaks. please less pda next time, ive had enough.”

Finally, Margaretha Zelle posted several never-before-seen photos of Morton and Campbell in various locations, including a bakery, JESTER’s dance studio, backstage, and a hotel room. Most of these photos were candid and some were out-of-focus. “i was gonna greet these two normally, but mike stole my shampoo AGAIN so i guess he has to suffer” followed by kissy emojis.

Mike Morton is the lead of the idol group JESTER while Norton Campbell leads the band Magnet. Magnet x JESTER: Stitching Scars is the newest collaborative album, available for streaming. The web series of the same name aired on Five Live.

The Nightingale Show airs weeknights at 4:20 am on Oletus Channel.