Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Sir!"

He sat up at the sound of his title. He had been leaning back on his throne with his cheek against his knuckles. The day seemed to have dragged on for an eternity. He was just hoping for it to end, now he had to listen to this. 

'Brilliant.'

Slowly, he dragged his eyes to the bottom of the staircase. "What." He said, disgust dripping from his tongue. Another snivelling peasant had come back to bother him. Probably with nonsense. The young man jumped back in surprise at his hostile tone and hesitated for a moment. "We- we've lost track of them sir." He admitted sheepishly.

His eyes shot open and he practically jumped from his seat. The man flinched in terror as he approached him. He whimpered and cowered as his footsteps approached him. His superior's brows knitted together over his eyes and he stomped down the stairs of his sacred throne as if he were prepared to commence a brawl.

He stood over the young man, who trembled in fear and wrenched his eyes shut. The Kangshin wasn't known to be merciful. Hopefully, he'd at least make his death hasty. 

"Order 007 troops to their last location. They can't hide forever." He said. The man gulped in surprise. Somehow, he had managed to keep his head on his shoulders. "Ye-yes sir." He replied. With that, he scurried off to carry out his duties.

When the doors silently closed, the man in power turned his attention to the window. He stared at the vast landscape of sandy hills in the distance. His favorite part of the kingdom. No matter the cost, he was going to have his way. Whether it meant sacrificing his bloodline or not.

He had backups anyway, and he could always make more.

~~~

Mayor Luskey had just wanted a normal day where he could lounge about in his office. He had planned to marathon Cupcake Wars, prop his feet up and sip on some bourbon (on the rocks of course). Instead he had been thrust into the middle of an all too thrilling dilemma.

"Ma'am I cannot allow you to stay on Griffin Rock. We're a very closed off town and we value our peace. We have to be very cautious right now." He explained vaguely. Despite that, she continued to harass him.

The woman threw herself against his desk as tears cascaded from her eyes. Her eyes were filled with distress and her face was twisted with agony. Her voice was so thick from her tears that he had trouble understanding what she had to say.

"Mr. Mayor, please! I beg you to let us stay! It's the safest place I can think of living, otherwise I'll have to start my search all over again!" She wailed. Mayor Luskey inhaled sharply and tried to keep his composure.

"Ma'am, we cannot accept new citizens at the moment. My hands are tied." He stated. She dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together and shook them desperately. "I have children and I have to provide for them. Their father is still missing in action and they're all I have left!" She cried. "Please sir, if not for me, for them!" She begged.

H.B. Luskey was no sucker, but seeing someone cry and beg like this was just gut wrenching. It was pathetic and it made him feel uneasy, but how could he say no to someone trying to keep their children safe?

Mentally, he weighed the pros and cons in his head.

Pro: More people on the island, they could help the economy.

Con: More people to look after and try to please.

Pro 2: When the children grow up, they could better the economy by becoming employees here.

Con 2: Children take a while to age.

Pro 3: More children in the schools, the island could use a change.

Con 3: He wasn't sure if they had enough space for all of them.

Pro 4: He wasn't sure there was another obvious pro, but at least he might have more votes if he moved these people in. 

And Con 4: The main issue: If he did this, Chief Burns and those rescue bots would have his head on a platter.

What was he supposed to do? On one hand, this could help their economy. He always wanted their little town to thrive! Especially in spite of his brother. On the other hand, the Burnses would be ready to break his door down the second that they caught wind of this decision.

Economy or the Burnses? The Burnses or the Economy?

The woman looked up at him with a glint of hope in her watery green eyes. She watched him closely for any signs that he was going to make his choice.

"What's your name?" He asked. Her eyes jumped in surprise. She sniffed loudly. "Namseon Min, sir." She replied. He sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Why couldn't he just have a normal day for once?

"I will allow you to stay on the island within two months, during that time get the documents for you and your children together. I hope to see you then." He said. Namseon made a sound between a laugh and a sigh of relief. "Thank you Mr. Mayor, you won't regret this! I swear!" She cheered as she grabbed her purse and sprinted out of the door on her toes.

Mayor Luskey froze until he heard the doors to city hall slam close. As soon as they did, he slumped over his desk and rested his hand on his toupe. His entire body felt like it was burning up and his heart raced like never before. He sighed deeply. "I sure hope not." He muttered to himself.

~~~~

Namseon looked out across the ocean as the island began to disappear. Though from the distance, she could still see a robotic hand pushing a seagull off of the sign at the docs, which read "Griffin Rock, 1649". Was that its only purpose? That's strange. Maybe they were just very proud of their founding year.

She hated to make a scene, but if it was for her family she did what she had to do. She sighed and softly smiled with relief as her heart rate finally began to slow to its normal pace. The dried tears in her face cracked along her smile lines. Looking out to that little beacon of hope seemed almost unreal.

Soon enough, she would call this little island of Griffin Rock, home. It took so long to find it, but it was truly worth it. It was quiet, small in population, and was also not very well known. It would be hard for any opposing forces to hunt them here. 

Now all that was left was to wait two months. Just two months and her family would be safe.

Hopefully..

Chapter Text

"We're getting closer, aren't you guys excited?" Samiyah's attempts to cheer them up fell on deaf ears. Seojun stared blankly out of the window, watching the lines on the pavement fly by. Jiwoo looked down at her phone and smacked on a piece of gum, uninterested in whatever she had to say. Kyree however, stared straight ahead, glaring at her through the rearview mirror.

"Don't be like that. This is a good thing. You'll get to see your mom again. And your siblings. You've even got a niece! That's gotta mean something. Right?" She tried. "And where was mam for the past eight years?" Kyree challenged bitterly. Samiyah paused and bit her lower lip anxiously. "I've told you this already. She sent you away to protect you." She said.

"Well, why doesn't she just keep it that way? I don't wanna see her. I wanna stay in Charlotte with you and my friends." Kyree replied. Samiyah sighed deeply. "I know you do, but this is a good change. You're all older now and most of you can fend for yourselves. And if you have trouble, you've got a lot of other people watching your back." Samiyah said. "What, because we have targets on them?" Kyree challenged knowingly.

Samiyah exhaled sharply and looked at the boy in the rearview mirror. "Please, just try to get along with your family. This is good for you." Kyree just stared back at her, his eyes narrowed in fury. 

"Things have changed kiddo. Jangmi and Kyunwha are getting on in age. Nobody's heard from your father and them in almost a year now." Samiyah continued dispiritedly.

Seojun wrinkled his nose at the mention of his great grandmother. He had been trying his hardest to keep her out of his mind. He didn't want to acknowledge how much he already missed her. It hurt to think of being on the other side of the world, away from her. She was there for him when he needed her, she helped him start to manage his emotions, she was his best friend.

And now he was being ripped from her arms, just like last time.

He looked at the time on his phone. It was 5:30, they would probably be preparing dinner together right now. Tears pricked his eyes as he tried to push away the thought of it.

"Just, see how it goes okay?" Samiyah requested. Kyree did not reply, but she could tell that he was at least pondering her words. That was enough for now. While they continued to drive across the island silence filled the car, as all four of them wrestled with their thoughts.

They drove through the woods and down the steep driveway up to the house. The structure was a bit dull looking, maybe even miserable. It was tall, wide and made of vinyl. The roof was large and pointed towards the sky, a little window sat under its point, just above the front door. It was closed off and hidden in the middle of thick woods. There seemed to be no one else around. 

"Oh perfect, we get to live in the middle of nowhere." Jiwoo complained. Kyree stepped forward with his hands in his pockets, looking unimpressed. "This place is already a nowhere town anyway." He stopped to kick a rock down the path. "Can't even find it on a map." He added.

Seojun looked up and down at the house again, trying to make sense of it. From now on, he was living on Griffin Rock. A new town with a new language, new people, a new house, and a family he hardly knew. His heart was in Ulsan, he just wanted to go home.

"Seojun, you haven't said a word all day. You okay, buddy?" Samiyah asked gently. Seojun glanced at her and nodded shortly. He wasn't quite sure if his own answer was truthful. Samiyah shot his siblings a look of doubt and chose to leave it at that.

"Come on now." She ushered the group forward and knocked on the door. "Namseon! It's me!" She called through it. There was a long pause, and then a series of clicking, unlocking, shifting and turning noises followed it, until finally the door cracked open.

Two green eyes peeked through the opening in the doorway, looking disembodied in the darkness. Seojun froze, staring back at the eyes in bewilderment. 

"My boys!" She cried out. Before any of them could react, the three teenagers were swept into a tight hug. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Seojun's chest. Then suddenly, she jumped back. "An-and Jiwoo, was it? I'm sorry I haven't been up to date until recently." She said sheepishly. 

Jiwoo gave her a strained smile and spoke through gritted teeth."Um, yeah. Not exactly a boy these days." She joked sarcastically, trying her best not to sound irritated, but it only came out as bitter and strained.

Namseon's eyes popped back open at that statement. "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry." She said. She looked at her daughter apologetically. "I'll do my best to get used to it. Sorry, it's been so long since I've seen you all. You're all grown up." She gushed. She reached up and gently swept her hand across Kyree's cheek.

Kyree frowned in an attempt to keep himself from rolling his eyes. He quickly brushed her hand away and curled his lip in disgust. "Okay." He said shortly. At that, Namseon broke their hug. "Your sister, Vileah already brought all your things over, so you don't have to worry about that." She said. The three of them stood in front of her, unmoving. Her lips trembled as she tried to keep the smile on her face. "Come on now, why don't you get acquainted with the place while I talk to Samiyah?" She said.

Kyree looked at Jiwoo, then Jiwoo looked at Seojun. He shrugged and took his first long-legged stride into the house, his younger siblings followed suit. Namseon gave them one last smile and then stepped out to talk to Samiyah, leaving the door just slightly open.

Immediately Jiwoo folded her arms over her chest and looked down at the floor as she walked with her brothers. "Auntie Kyunwha never woulda called me a boy." She muttered bitterly. Seojun only acknowledged her with a nod. The exchange had been so awkward that he didn't know what to say. Not that he wanted to talk much anyway. "I can't believe she brought me here." Kyree complained. He looked down at the floor and shoved his hands in his pockets. Clearly, he felt betrayed.

As his siblings continued to bemoan their new situation, Seojun examined the house. From what he saw, the inside matched the misery of its exterior. There was a layer of dust that covered the hardwood floor, hardly anything was unpacked, there were boxes on boxes stacked against the walls, and it was so eerily quiet. 

Sure, Jangmi's house had been quiet too, but it was only the two of them and their little grey cat Nari. And it was a peaceful calmness, unlike this still, stuffy silence. It made him feel uneasy and empty.

"Hey!" Seojun turned in surprise, he wasn't sure how long he had been lost in his thoughts, but it had been long enough that both of his siblings looked irritated.

"We were asking if you wanna get outta here and go to town instead." Kyree said. Seojun shrugged, he hadn't gotten to see much of the house yet. "Aw come on, maybe they've got a good boba shop or something." Jiwoo tried. Kyree wrinkled his nose in disgust."This is a hick town. Do they even know what boba is?" He asked irritably. 

Seojun still wasn't convinced. "Please? I'll be your best friend!" Jiwoo begged, putting her hands together in front of her face. Seojun rolled his eyes, but he couldn't stop a smile from sliding into his face.

Jiwoo always knew how to get him.

~~~

Unfortunately, there was no boba to be found and the town was unbearably hot. Jiwoo pulled up her hair into a ponytail, hung her jacket off of her shoulders around her back, and was currently hunched over with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. 

"God, just end my life already." She wheezed. Then, her eyes popped open. "Actually, I was joking, please don't do that. I'm not ready to die." She added rapidly. Seojun snorted, trying to hold back laughter. "Why are you like this?" Kyree asked. Jiwoo spread her arms out defensively. "What? I gotta make sure that if anybody's listening, they don't think that I actually wanna die. I've got shit to do!" She exclaimed. Kyree just laughed harder and started speaking high pitched gibberish to mock her. "Your face looks super ugly right now." Jiwoo said. Kyree immediately stopped to defend himself. "It does not!" He screeched. "Uh huh, suuuure." She grinned and murmured just loud enough for him to hear. "Ugly ass." Seojun shifted his eyes off to the side, trying not to laugh.

"You are so lucky I can't fight you." Kyree said. Jiwoo smirked. "What? Because you know you're gonna lose?" She teased. Kyree grinned. "You know what, fuck it!" Jiwoo broke into a run and started screaming as her brother chased her down the street. "I'm gonna get you!" He yelled after her.

Seojun watched them as they ran farther into town, they didn't seem to notice that they had left him behind. He blinked and decided to use his hand to shield his forehead from the hot sun. 

'Figures.' He thought.

Oh well, they'd be fine, they had each other after all. As long as Kyree didn't pull her hair, they'd both survive, so he wasn't too worried. They obviously weren't too worried about him anyway. 

But, he didn't want to be alone here either.

Following a deep sigh, he shoved his hands in his pockets and started after them. As he walked, he got a little idea. He smirked to himself. If he was quiet enough, maybe he could pop up and scare them. Oh! Imagine their faces when they realized he had snuck up on them. They'd be so sorry they'd left him alone!

With that goal in mind, he picked up his pace to catch up with them sooner. Hopefully when he found them, they'd be engaged in something else. Maybe they'd still be playing their game of chase. 

He bounced giddily with every step, looking forward to scaring the pants off of the twins, when he heard the ear shattering screech of tires. He was immediately shocked out of his mischief and looked up at the road ahead.

With the tires skidding on the road, a minivan came screeching down the street. Seojun's eyes popped wide open in shock as the car came barrelling down. As he started to process what was happening, a tire popped off of the front right wheel.

Destabilized, the van ran off the road and started rolling onto the sidewalk. Right on course to collide with him. The bare metal scraped against the ground, sending yellow sparks flying into the air. Instantly, he was hit by the ungodly squeal of metal against the concrete. The sound was unbearable, it was as if it was grinding against his ear drums. He couldn't think straight when he felt like his head was being pierced by the noise.

He hunched close to the ground and covered his ears tightly, his nails dug into the skin behind them. He wrenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as the screams came closer. If he was lucky, maybe it would miss him. But at this point, there was no way that could happen. He was going to die in the middle of nowhere, alone. 

Jangmi was going to be heartbroken and poor Nari too.

~~~~

"Chase! Can you get there fast enough!" Charlie shouted over the steering wheel in panic. "I'm too far away! Mrs. Rubio's car is going too fast!" He replied with strain in his voice. Chase was trying his hardest, but no matter how hard he and Chief Burns both pushed on his accelerator, there was no way he would reach her in time.

"Blurr?" He called out over the comms. "I'm still trying to get to this other car!" He replied. His servos clutched the rear wheels of Huxley's van as it dragged him down the hill. "Shit!" He cried out. "Salvage?" Charlie tried again. "Um, my wheels are still bent from the last time." He said sheepishly.

It took everything in him not to punch the steering wheel. It was part of living being after all. "Damn it!" He cursed. "Chase?" He asked. "I can't drive any faster!" He cried. Charlie glanced at the surveillance camera. Mrs. Rubio's car was screeching closer to someone on the sidewalk. If no one could reach them in time, this could turn into a casualty.

Charlie gritted his teeth and gripped the steering wheel as he approached the next road. "Oh God." He whispered. 

~~~

Cody broke through the air on his hoverboard as fast as he could, ignoring the speed limit. As soon as Mrs. Rubio's car didn't stop he jumped out of his chair to help. Now, he was the closest to the scene.

He gritted his teeth and squinted as much as he could to keep the wind out of his eyes. He had to get there before it was too late. His nails dug into his skin as his fists clenched tighter.

"Come on! Come on!" He urged through gritted teeth. He pushed himself and his hoverboard to the limit, speeding right in front of the minivan. 

He held his arms out and without a second to spare, he swooped in and pushed the boy out of the way of the van. After they crashed into the grass he watched it screech right past them, without stopping. If he hadn't gotten there in time, it would've rammed right into that boy.

His helmet clung to his sweaty hair. He heaved so hard his back threw itself up and down as he tried to catch his breath. He flung his head back up, looking the other boy in his eyes as he laid under him on his back. "Are you okay?" He exclaimed breathlessly.

His green eyes were wide with shock and his mouth hung open. He nodded silently, his mind had gone blank from all the 'excitement'. 

Cody sighed deeply and swallowed loudly. "Good." He said, smiling with relief. Seojun blinked rapidly, still in shock. As he started to regain his senses he looked around. Another car sped by to stop the van as the other boy sat up.

Cody threw his helmet off and flung his head back. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, but he was starting to feel like he could breathe again.

Seojun looked up at him curiously. Somehow, this boy had just saved him. His long-ish blonde hair stuck to his face and starting to drip with sweat, his face was flushed, he had tiny freckles across his face, and big brown eyes.

He felt his heart rate skip a beat from the shock. His entire body shook uncontrollably from the disturbance. He felt weak and unstable.

'Oh no'

It was only his first day here and he had almost managed to get into a fatal accident! He whipped his head around, looking to see if anyone had gathered around. Luckily, he found that it was just him and this boy. For now. He heard the chatter of townspeople and saw a few distant figures climbing over the hill. He had to get out of here, He couldn't be seen like this!

He jumped up and instantly broke into a sprint. With the adrenaline still fresh in his blood, he panted with each stride he took, pushing against the breeze. "Wait!" The boy called after him. He clenched his jaw and pushed forward despite his call. 

'Sorry.' He thought regretfully. Maybe, he'd see him again another time, but right now, he had to find his brother and sister and take them home. He'd had enough of this place for one day.

Cody watched him flee in shock, still panting. His energy had gone, and now he was just kneeling in the grass. Suddenly, he was pulled to his feet and turned around by his shoulders. Charlie faced him with an expression of sheer terror. "Are you alright?" He asked. Cody exhaled sharply. "Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "What about that boy?" Charlie asked. "He ran away." Cody answered. Charlie paused and bit his lower lip.

"I'll worry about that in a second. I want you to go home and rest. I'm not gonna be upset that you helped out, but that was very dangerous and you could've been hurt." He said. Cody nodded, feeling a bit down. "I know." He replied. "But thank you. I'll see you at home. I've gotta sort this mess out." Charlie said.

He gave him one last pat on the back and turned to leave. Cody watched him walk away for a moment, before deciding to leave himself. He tucked his hoverboard under his arm and started the trek home. He was too shaky to ride it.

As he walked to the firehouse, his thoughts became occupied by that boy. He hadn't gotten a good look at him, except for his eyes. Big, bright and green. They seemed to look right through him. 

He shook the thought of those distinct globes out of his head. Maybe he'd catch up with him at some point, he had left rather quickly. But at that thought, he realized that he didn't know him at all. He stopped in his tracks and frowned in confusion. Griffin Rock was a small island town, he had known almost everyone that lived there since he was small.

So who was he?

Chapter Text

Currently, it was another beautiful day on Griffin Rock. Mr. Harrison was flying overhead, the sky was nice and blue, the weather was warm, and the kids were playing in the park. Charlie smiled brightly at the calm day. It was almost like the car accident yesterday hadn’t even happened! 

Almost..

Though it was normal for it to start off as a good day around here, things could go south pretty quickly. Unfortunately, it was just the lay of the land. So, despite the calm, as Charlie drove he swiveled his head around, surveying the area for any possible danger.

“You seein’ anything off, Chase?” He asked. His partner looked around on his screen. “It seems that all is well, sir.” He said. Charlie still wasn’t quite convinced. “Chief, I understand being cautious, but it’s a lovely day, maybe we could take a break for a moment.” He suggested hopefully. Charlie tightened his jaw anxiously. “I’m not so sure about that Chase. We’re the only ones here right now. If any emergencies happen, then they fall on us.” He replied. Chase was silent in return. He knew that it would be better to be on alert in case anything happened.

It had only been about a month since Optimus had split the team up to complete various assignments. Graham and Boulder were out in the pacific north-west working with Professor Baranova, Kade and Heatwave were working at the academy, and Dani and Blades were busy in China. 

They came home and helped out whenever they could, but the family was still getting used to this change. Charlie had planned on retiring earlier that year, but ever since the Velgrox came, it seemed that that wouldn’t be happening any time soon. At this point, maybe the day would never come.

Griffin Rock never sleeps after all.

“Hm.” Chase hummed curiously. Charlie was barred from his thoughts. “What is it, partner?” He asked. “Have you ever seen those children over there before?” He asked. Charlie followed his eyes to the sandbox, in it and around it was a group of five unfamiliar children playing. “No, I don’t think I have.” He said. What would a group of children be doing out here alone, and why?

“We should check on them. Maybe they got lost or they were visiting family in the area.” Chase suggested. “I’ll check on them Chase." The Chief corrected him sternly. "We don’t know how they’ll react to you, that could cause a larger issue.” He replied. Charlie stepped out of the car and shut the door behind him. “Wait here.” He said. “Alright.” Chase agreed.

With concern and caution, Charlie walked over to the little group. He only wanted to ask a few questions, not scare them off. Five pairs of eyes turned towards him as he walked closer. Each child’s face was pulled into a different stage of panic. Charlie noticed immediately and softened his gait. He only wanted to check on them, not scare them. He kneeled by the sandbox in front of the group.

There were four girls. Three of them were completely identical, with thick, curly blonde hair, brown skin and big, hazel eyes. The other girl was a little older, with mid-back length and brownish-red hair, dark brown skin and a splattering of dark freckles across her nose and cheeks. The boy looked around the same age as the oldest girl, he had curly black hair, big golden brown eyes, a brightly colored bandage across his nose (along with the various others all over his limbs), and a backwards cap on, sending his hair in all directions. 

“Hi, I’m Chief Charlie Burns.” He said calmly. The kids glanced at each other and then back at him. “Are your parents around?” He asked. “Mam’s at home.” The boy said, his voice had a rasp to it and he didn’t show his teeth when he spoke.

“Are you five alone? Kids are supposed to be supervised in the park.” Charlie told them. The boy looked off to the side. “Our bro-" He quickly corrected his mistake. "-sibling was supposed to watch us, but we aren’t sure where they went.” He said. 

Charlie frowned. No one should leave a bunch of kids by themselves. “I could help you find them, or take you guys home instead.” Charlie suggested. “Nah, that’s fine. The house is a mess. Mam’s busy moving us in.” One of the younger girls revealed.

The older girl snapped her head towards her and glared. “Elodie!” She exclaimed. Elodie’s eyes went wide and she clapped her hands over her mouth. The boy face-palmed in annoyance. Charlie frowned in confusion. “Moving in?” He said in surprise. The older girl looked off into the distance and started pushing her siblings in another direction. “Oh. I think I see our sibling. Thanks for the offer, mister! We gotta get going!” She spouted rapidly. 

The kids quickly fled the scene, leaving Charlie alone by the empty sandbox.

Charlie quickly put two and two together and his heart started to race from agitation. The Mayor was supposed to oversee things like this. He had to have done this behind his back. That- UGH! Of course he would do something like this!

Charlie rose to his feet and walked back over to Chase. “Chief! Are the children alright?” He asked. Charlie crashed into the driver’s seat and shut the door. “Yeah, I think they’re fine, but I need to have a talk with Mayor Luskey.” He said bitterly. Chase raised an optic ridge. “About what?” He asked.

Charlie stepped on the gas and stared forward silently. His glare was directed towards city hall. "Just the promise he made." He said vaguely. 

Chase didn't like the sound of that.

~~~

In no time, they were speeding through the streets to city hall. Honestly, Charlie was doing most of the driving. Chase tried desperately to calm his partner down, but he didn't listen to anything he said. He had completely shut him out.

Chase wasn't sure he had ever seen him this angry. Charlie stamped out from the driver's side and started to slam the door, only to stop himself when he remembered that he was driving a living being. No less angrily in his expression, he shut the door like usual. Chase shifted into bot mode and jogged after him.

"Chief Burns, please! We should think critically about this before doing anything rash!" He pleaded. Charlie kept his eyes on the doors to city hall as he climbed the steps. "You and the others trusted this town with your secret. He's supposed to be helping us protect you all." He said. "Yes, but- maybe he has a good reason." Chase suggested. Chase didn't think very highly of the Mayor, at all, but he was scared of what could happen next if he let Charlie continue with his rampage.

Charlie pushed the front doors open and charged into the lobby. The employees around him all turned around with shocked faces. He ignored them.

"I doubt it, Chase." He said bitterly. Chase watched as his partner approached the Mayor's office. Knowing that he couldn't stop him, he sighed deeply, and reluctantly followed him. "Wait!" He called out.

 As soon Chief Burns burst through the door, Mr. Alper squawked in surprise, throwing his stack of papers everywhere. "Oh no.." He whined as he bent down to pick them up. The usually careful Chief Burns paid him no attention and stamped towards the Mayor's desk.

Mayor Luskey looked up and gulped, his eyes widened with fear. "Chief Burns! Wa-what-" Nervously, he cleared his throat. "Eh, what brings you here?" He asked. 

He bent down and placed his hands on the Mayor's desk with a low thud. He looked deep into his eyes as he shirked back with fear. "What did you do?" Charlie said it like a question, but Mayor Luskey knew that it was really a demand. Still, he had to attempt to save his hide.

"Nothing! I've just been in my office all day." He said. Charlie frowned. "I seriously doubt that allowing a new family to move to the island would take only a day." He replied. Luskey swallowed hard, the jig was up. The Chief knew.

"I was thinking about our economy! Sure we're doing okay, but it could always be better.." He paused, knowing what he was going to say would probably anger him. "And a few new people couldn't hurt." He added.

Charlie inhaled sharply and curled his left hand into a tight fist. If he didn't hold himself back, he wasn't sure what he would do next. The Mayor had made him angry before, but now he wasn't just angry, he was enraged.

He could feel his ears and cheeks burning as his face had begun to turn a deep red. "And you didn't think to ask anyone first?" He said through tight teeth. Mayor Luskey swallowed thickly. 

"They seemed like quiet people! And I doubt that they mean any harm!" He said. "An-and that woman begged me to take her children! I couldn't say no to a crying woman in my office! It'd be-" He stuttered clumsily as he tried to find his words. "-Unethical!" He exclaimed.

Charlie stood up straight and kept his eyes on the Mayor's, staring into his soul. He looked down on him with disgust. "We both know you're no stranger to unethical decisions." He replied.

Mayor Luskey was silent, and for Charlie that was enough of a response. He sighed shortly. "I'll be back tomorrow morning when I'm calmer. Get your reasoning together by then" He said. He turned to leave and his heavy footsteps echoed through the hall. Chase watched him leave and looked back at the Mayor in shock. Mayor Luskey sat at his desk, wearing the exact same expression that he did.

Chase gave him an apologetic nod and carefully shut the door on his way out, leaving Mayor Luskey alone again, save for Mr. Alper who was still in a panic trying to get all his papers together.

The Mayor watched the door in a trance, bewildered by what had just happened. "Well that went better than I thought it would." He admitted aloud. At that, Mr. Alper shot him an irritated glare as he continued to pick up his papers.

~~~

Charlie stepped into Chase's cab and shut the door. As he prepared to drive off, Chase looked up at him with concern from his screen. "I must say, I don't think that was the most appropriate way to go about this situation." He said. Charlie sighed and rubbed his face from his forehead to his chin in a harsh motion. "I know. I'll apologize to him tomorrow, but first, we have to tell the others about this." He said.

"What if we waited until tomorrow? We don't exactly know anything about these new residents. It could help to have some information first before worrying everyone else. Plus, you will have had enough time to calm yourself by then." Chase advised. Charlie sighed deeply, knowing that his partner was right. "Okay, we'll wait until tomorrow." He agreed. Chase nodded proudly. Charlie moved towards the gear shift, but Chase moved it first. "I think I'll drive this time. You are certainly in no state of mind for the task." He asserted. Charlie sat back in his seat and huffed. "Alright, go ahead." He replied.

Chase pulled out of the parking spot and started the course to the firehouse. Charlie looked out of the window, his frown was as deep as his thoughts. He hadn't planned on something like this happening, but knowing Mayor Luskey, he really couldn't be surprised. Hearing that they were a family made it so much worse. How was he going to work this out without someone getting the short end of the stick?

~~~~

Once he got to the firehouse, he stomped into the bunker. Salvage and Blurr looked to Chase with confusion, but he offered them nothing in return. He continued his march through the house once he reached the basement Cody watched him from the stairs, just as confused as Blurr and Salvage had been.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. Charlie paused, inhaled, and took a moment to collect himself as best he could. "There could be, I'll talk to you about it later." He said. Before Cody could ask anything else, he was already on his way to his bedroom. He decided that it would be best to sleep this off.

Once the basement door slammed behind him, Cody ran down the stairs and to the elevator. Chase would probably know what happened.

Chase was reading a book on the couch while soft rock played in the background. Cody didn't bother to take the atmosphere into account when he ran up to him.

"Is something wrong with Dad?" He asked. Chase jumped in surprise, almost launching his book from his servos. "Oh! Cody! What are you talking about?" He asked, looking around nervously. Cody looked up at him. It was easy to tell that he knew something. "He just looked really upset. Did something happen while he was at work?" He asked. Chase sighed. "Something like that." He replied.

Cody frowned with worry. "What do you mean?" He asked. Chase closed his book, knowing that more questions would follow. His moment of peace would have to wait. 

"The Mayor decided to do something… unfavorable." He said solemnly, trying to hide how uneasy he felt. "So, he's rather frustrated at the moment." Cody sighed deeply. He knew very well that the Mayor was never any good at making wise decisions. "What did he do this time?" He asked, deflating tiredly. 

"I'm not sure if Chief Burns would want me to tell you this, but.." Chase quickly scanned the room to see if anyone was nearby. Then, he leaned down and put his servo up to his intake. "..he decided to move a new family onto the island recently." He whispered cautiously.

Cody was taken aback. "What? Why?" He asked. Chase shrugged and reopened his book. "I believe that he said something about the economy. His usual excuse." He said. "So what do we do now?" Cody asked. "We haven't figured that out yet." Chase replied.

With Chase's reply, the conversation died out. Cody nodded, acknowledging Chase's answer. "Okay." He said in disbelief. He turned to leave and as he did, his thoughts began to wonder.

What's gonna happen to the bots?

Chapter Text

The next morning, Charlie walked into the Mayor's office once again. This time around, he made sure to appear to be as calm as possible, despite how annoyed he was. He'd taken some time to think and relax the night before, so now he was ready to continue things properly. With a little green stress ball in his left fist of course.

The Mayor sighed in exasperation the second that he saw the chief's face. "What is it now?" He asked tiredly. Silently, Charlie brought a chair forward and sat in front of him. "I apologize for being so brash yesterday. I shouldn't have flown off the rails like I did." He said, before Mayor Luskey could blurt anything that would frustrate him more. 

Surprised, Mayor Luskey sat up straight in his chair and adjusted his suit jacket and tie. "Oh! Well, thank you. You were rather out of line." He said proudly. Charlie strained against the blazing heat of anger under his collar and forced himself to keep a straight face. "Mm-hm." He hummed as a strained response. He couldn't have a repeat of yesterday.

"So, Is everything settled on your end now?" The Mayor asked hopefully. Charlie shook his head. "Not even close." He replied. Mayor Luskey huffed in annoyance. "Fine. What do you want then?" He asked gruffly. "Tell me about that family you moved in." Charlie replied.

~~~

"So, what did he say?" Chase asked cautiously. Charlie stepped into his cab and shut the door behind him. He stared out the windshield like he was looking at something far off into the distance. He was completely stunned by what he had just heard.

"Fifteen people! He moved in fifteen people, Chase!" He exclaimed. Chase's optics stretched open wide in shock, his optic ridges almost flew over his helm. "Are you sure that you heard him right? That's quite a few people at one time." He asked. Charlie put his head down and pressed his hands on the back of his neck. "Oh, I'm sure. He said there are two adults, and thirteen children." He replied. "It's technically two families with the second adult only having one kid and many other details that I can't stomach right now." He rubbed his temples harshly as he tried to process everything that he had just heard.

"Oh." Chase murmured, dumbfounded. Charlie went on. "I can't believe this! We trust him with one thing and then he goes and does this? I should've known better." He said. "Well, we can't control the Mayor's choices, but we can control how we go about resolving this issue." Chase said. Charlie sighed deeply and rubbed his face tiredly. “You’re right. What do you think we should do?” He asked. Chase thought for a moment. “I propose we call a family meeting to discuss this.” He said. Charlie nodded and stepped on the gas pedal. “That’s a good place to start.” He replied.

~~

Cody was alone in his room, laying on the floor on his stomach, kicking his feet in the air. Frankie was on the other side of the screen, hiding from CeCe, who could be heard banging on the bathroom door as hard as she could. “I told you already you can’t play with my nanodroids!” Frankie shouted. CeCe protested with angry gibberish through the door. “Well, that sounds like a personal problem!” Frankie shouted back. CeCe ceased her banging and toddled off to go do something else. Hopefully, she wasn't planning any vengeance.

Exhausted by her little sister, Frankie sighed heavily and rolled her eyes back into her head. “Finally!” She exclaimed. Cody grinned deviously. “She’s probably gonna come back though.” He said. Frankie shook her head. “No, don’t say that. I can’t do this again today.” She groaned. “I can’t wait for dad to get home so I can get outta here.” She said.

Cody acknowledged her with a nod, sure he knew what she was talking about, but his mind was elsewhere. Yesterday, he almost watched someone get run over by a minivan, and now he couldn’t stop thinking about him. Hopefully, he was okay, that encounter had been pretty chilling.

“Are you listening to me?” Frankie asked, and then Cody was snapped out of his trance. “Huh?” He asked. Frankie narrowed her eyes and stared at him for a moment. “I was telling you that yesterday, your dad told my dad that Mayor Luskey moved some people into town.” She said. Cody frowned in surprise. "Yeah, Chase told me. It really sucks. He wasn’t supposed to do anything like that.” He replied. Frankie shrugged. “You know the Mayor.” She said shortly. 

Unfortunately he did, and this news wouldn't be too far-fetched anyway. He had always been a greedy person, at least as long as Cody had been alive. “Did dad say anything else about it?” He asked. “I’m not sure, I didn’t hear everything that they said.” She replied. Frankie glanced at something outside of the screen’s range. “He was probably just looking for cash or something.” She said. Cody rolled his eyes. “Is there ever a day that he isn’t?” He asked sarcastically. Frankie raised her eyebrow with a smirk. “Now you know that’d be impossible.” She said.

The two teenagers burst out laughing. Making fun of Mayor Luskey was one of their favorite pastimes after all. There was always something new to add onto his long list of issues. But, once the laughter died down, Cody remembered that this was more serious than Mayor Luskey just being greedy.

“Wait, what about the bots?” Frankie asked. Cody had been thinking the exact same thing and his heart dropped with worry. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to ask dad about it.” He said. “Do you think they’ll have to hide again?” She asked. Cody frowned. “I hope not, other than the city where Dani works, this is pretty much the only place that knows about aliens. Things were really hard when they had to disguise themselves all the time.” He paused. “It wouldn’t be fair to them.” He said.

Frankie nodded in agreement. “We’ll probably find a solution soon, you guys have gotten out of a lot of scrapes like this.” She said. “Like the Earlyween movie?” Cody reminded her. Frankie giggled. “It was so bad! But I think that actually made it more believable.” She said through laughter. Cody nodded. “Yeah.” He agreed. But this was different, they couldn’t just get rid of these people like they had with Evan and Miles or Madeline and Doctor Morocco. Right? They didn't even have any idea who the bots were! Surely.

"Cody!" Charlie called from downstairs. Cody muted the video call to shout back at him. "What is it?" He asked. "Can you come down here please?" Charlie requested. "Yeah, okay." Cody replied. He turned back to the screen and unmuted his mic. "That was my dad, I gotta go." He said, pointing his thumb towards the door. "Okay, see ya later." She said. "And tell me if he says anything about the new neighbors." She added. Cody nodded. "Will do!"

He hung up the call and picked up his com tab. Quickly, he jogged down the stairs to see what his dad wanted. Once he turned the corner, he saw Charlie standing in front of the staircase to the bunker. Cody tilted his head a bit with curiosity. "What's goin' on?" He asked. "Come on, we're meeting the others at the academy. We've got something important to talk about." Charlie said.

Cody could already guess what this was about. Though he hadn't planned on saying anything until they met up, his endless curiosity got the best of him before he could even think. "Is this about the people Mayor Luskey moved in?" He asked.

Charlie frowned. "How did you know about that?" He asked. "Chase told me." He replied. As soon as he said that, he made a connection in his mind. He raised his eyebrows at this realization. No wonder he hadn't seen that boy before! He was probably new here!

"Plus, the guy who almost got hit the other day was new too." He said. Charlie's eyebrows were now raised as well. He hadn't seen much of him from the surveillance footage, but once he thought about it, he realized that he didn't look familiar at all. "Oh." He said. So he'd already seen six members of the Min family himself, but there were still nine more.

The thought of that was a little unsettling, even if most of them were kids, maybe that actually made it worse.

"Okay, let's go." He said. "Wait, hold on!" Cody rushed back upstairs to get his clothes together, he was still in his pj's. (It was summer break after all). Unfortunately, his favorite green shirt was dirty- he had pinched it out of the laundry basket and gave it a sniff, and was instantly repulsed- it didn't smell good enough to wear at all.

So he pulled on an orange t-shirt, blue jeans, his bomber jacket, and some white high tops. He quickly brushed his hair with his hands and ran back downstairs. He glanced around the room to see if his dad was still there, but he found that he had already gone downstairs. So, he jogged towards the pole, braced himself and slid down it.

His feet hit the floor with a low thud and pulled himself off of the pole. Charlie and Chase were waiting for him in front of the groundbridge. “You sure took your sweet time, huh?” Charlie teased. Cody smiled and rolled his eyes. “It really wasn’t that long.” He replied as he stepped up to meet them. Charlie waved his hand towards himself as he took a step towards the bridge. “Come on.” He said.

Chase and Cody followed him through the bright green portal. Walking through the groundbridge was still very new to Cody. It reminded him of when surfers rode through waves. The portal swirled over his head, but it didn’t touch him. As he walked, he looked up at it with fascination. It was even crazier when he remembered that there was such a thing as a space bridge. What was it like to travel through space in mere seconds?

But his wonders were quickly cut off when Kade’s teasing reached his ears. “Hello? Earth to Cody?” He giggled as he waved his hand in front of his face. Cody scoffed and rolled his eyes as he brushed his older brother’s hand away. “Can’t let me live for more than a second, can you?” He joked back. Kade smirked. “You know it!” He replied. Dani ran up to him and swept him into a hug. “You’ve been doing well without us?” She asked. Cody smirked. “Never been better.” He replied. Graham popped up behind him and flicked his shoulder. “I’ll bet.” He said sarcastically.

As Cody rubbed his shoulder and complained about how hard Graham thumped him, the bots also got reacquainted. Blades jumped on his teammates and swept them all into a tight hug. “You wouldn’t believe how boring it gets in town, it’s nowhere near as wild as Griffin Rock!” He complained. “Isn’t that a good thing?” Heatwave asked as he tried to wriggle out of Blades’ grasp. Unfortunately, Blades only held him tighter. “No! It means I have nothing to do!” He replied. 

Chase sighed solemnly. “The woes of boredom. It is one of my worst fears.” He said. “What’s the other one? Traffic violations?” Blurr teased. Heatwave had to hold back a snort at that one. Chase dropped his jaw with shock at Blurr's ignorance.

“That is a perfectly valid fear! Thousands of accidents occur every year from recklessness!” He scolded. Blurr held up his hands in defense. “Woah woah, hold on, I was just messing around. You know? Cus you’re a police cruiser.” He said. Chase squinted at him and scooted closer to Blades for protection from the Mad-mech.

“I don’t think he thought that was very funny.” Salvage stated. Blurr folded his arms over his chest. “Gee, ya think?” He said sarcastically. Suddenly, Charlie cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Blades finally released his teammates from his arms, Boulder took a moment to stretch.

“Sorry to interrupt the fun, but there is a reason I called you all here today.” Charlie said. “Ooh! Are we getting an award?” Blades guessed excitedly. Charlie chuckled and shook his head. “No Blades, it’s nothing like that. Unfortunately, it’s much more serious.” He replied. Dani and Kade frowned with concern and Graham started to fidget anxiously. Heatwave put on his brave face. He was prepared to fight whatever threat Charlie was going to tell them about. “Mayor Luskey broke our agreement behind my back and moved new residents onto the island.” He said.

“What?” “Why would he do that?” “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him.” “Go figure.” “Didn’t he just try to do something stupid like this a couple months ago?” “I am disappointed, but not surprised.” "Yeah, I thought this woulda happened way sooner."

Patiently, Charlie waited for them to finish their chattering. “Who did he move in?” Boulder asked above all the noise. “A new family of fifteen, he said he couldn’t say no.” Charlie replied. At this appalling news, exclamations of shock immediately echoed around the room.

“FIFTEEN?” "Oh shit…" “Isn’t that a lot for a human family?” “Why didn’t he just tell ‘em to leave?” “Are you kidding me?”

“So, what are we gonna do?” Dani asked, breaking through the clamor. Charlie inhaled. “I’m not sure yet. This isn’t something that I was expecting to happen.” He said. “Are we gonna have to hide again?” Boulder asked, looking rather downcast. “I don’t know.” Charlie said. “I think we should call Optimus for his advice. Maybe he’ll know what to do.” Heatwave suggested. Dani nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” She said. “And what will we do until he answers?” Graham asked.

Cody thought for a moment. “I think the bots should lay low until we know what to do. Then they’ll be less likely to be found out.” He suggested. “So, should we stay off of Griffin Rock?” Blades asked. “I don’t think you have to, but you have to be very careful if you visit or have to work there. You never know who’s watching.” Charlie said. 

The room froze and the air became thick with tension. Even Blurr was silent. No one knew what to say next. After a moment, Dani broke the silence. “I think Blades and I should get back to our post, we have some things to work on there. We'll tell High Tide and Quickshadow about it.” She said stiffly. Blades nodded and followed her towards the groundbridge. “We’ll tell Professor Baranova what’s going on. It’d probably help to have allies.” Graham added. He and Boulder started to depart as well. “We’ll call Optimus as soon as we can.” Heatwave said. He retreated to another part of the academy, deciding to avoid any further conversation.

Kade folded his arms and looked down at the floor. “This really sucks.” He said. “I know.” Charlie agreed. “Hopefully, it doesn’t cause too much trouble. Then-” He looked back towards the hallway that Heatwave walked down. “Well, I don’t really wanna think about that.” He said. He gave Charlie a swift nod and tousled Cody’s hair, less playfully than usual. “I’ll see you on Sunday.” He said.

Then, only Charlie, Chase and Cody were left in the room. “Should we head back?” Cody asked. Charlie looked off into the distance at nothing in particular. Despite his trance-like state, he nodded. “Yeah.” He replied softly.

~~~~

Almost instantly, Heatwave was pummeling his training dummy. The bangs of his knuckles against the polished wood sounded through the academy as he fought out his frustrations. He kicked the dummy, spinning it around on its base and punched it once more with a guttural roar.

Under his fist, the wood blew apart into a cloud of splinters and dust, raining down on the platform, leaving Heatwave to watch it helplessly.

He paused as he tried to process what he had just done and shook his helm in frustration. With a furious shout that shook the room, he pushed the remains of the dummy over the platform and onto the floor. Then he jumped down after it and stomped off towards his berth.

He was so upset he could hardly think. He had told the town their secret as team leader, to benefit his friends, his family and just like that, it blew up in his face due to the Mayor's selfishness. 

He grumbled and grunted as he slammed the door open. They had all worked so hard to get to where they are today, and this is what came of it? No matter what, it seemed that their lives were always in danger. Not even because of all the chaos that reigned on Griffin Rock, but because horrible people just couldn't keep their gold digging mouths shut.

And now..

He was angry for his team, they deserved safety like anyone else. The Burns family, they'd looked out for them for all this time. He'd seen it in the movies, if someone called it in, they'd be arrested for harboring aliens!

Now, he didn't know what to do. But he knew what he wanted. Those people would have to leave Griffin Rock, one way or another.

~~~~

Cody laid in bed wide awake that night. He couldn’t stop thinking about how much trouble the bots could be in. He wanted to be optimistic and hope for the best, but these people hadn’t grown to appreciate them like the residents of Griffin Rock had over the years. They knew nothing about them at all. And when it comes to the unknown, humans can become irrational.

He sighed heavily and rolled over on his side. It didn’t help that summer break was ending in a few days either. Soon, he’d be a Freshman in highschool.

Chapter Text

Early in the morning a few days later, Cody woke up to sirens blaring throughout the firehouse. This was a pretty regular occurrence, but that didn't mean he was excited about it, especially since it meant that there was an emergency. 

Groaning with irritation, he rolled over to the other side of his bed. Of course he wasn't any more comfortable with the sirens still going off, so he knew that unfortunately, he would have to get up. Groggily and slowly, he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. 

'Why couldn't emergencies be scheduled or something?' He thought tiredly.

As he sauntered out of his room, nodding off whenever he stepped, he caught sight of his father hurriedly pulling his belt through the loops. As he frowned curiously, he was instantly more awake. If an emergency was as urgent as this, a lot of the time, Charlie wouldn't even bother with his complete uniform.

"Dad, what's going on?" He asked. Charlie didn't look at him as he stuffed his feet into his black shoes. "Get dressed, quickly. Optimus just answered Heatwave's call." He replied.

Oh, that made a little more sense.

~~~~

Charlie, Chase, and Cody raced through the groundbridge and into the academy. In its command center (that was still in development), they met the rest of their team.

Dani was guzzling down a cup of coffee with her eyes half open, Graham was tiredly leaning on Boulder's leg, and Kade looked like he had just rolled out of bed, with his hair extending in all different directions. Cody wasn't much better himself, he'd only pulled his bomber jacket over his pajamas and was still in slippers.

Overall, they looked pretty rough.

"I see you've all gotten used to getting to sleep in?" Chief Burns quipped. All that he received were tired groans from his older three children. Despite feeling tense, Heatwave couldn't help but smile a little.

"So-" Chief started, but when he turned around, he found that Optimus was not waiting for them on the other side of the screen. He quickly shifted towards Heatwave in confusion. "-what's going on?" He asked.

Blades leaned to the side to get the Chief's attention. "Oh! Optimus only sent us a message! He's not actually here!' He replied, energetic as ever.

"Oh, thank God." Kade sighed with relief. 

"I was so not ready for this." Dani said.

Graham only continued napping.

A pink tint faded into Chief Burns' cheeks as he looked at the screen. "Oh. Now I only wish I hadn't thrown on all my clothes." He said, feeling a bit awkward as he scratched his upper lip.

"Yeah, I guess it's too late for that. Huh, dad?" Cody teased lightly. Charlie sighed tiredly. "Just turn the message on, Heatwave. He said, changing the subject.

With a nod, Heatwave did just that, and momentarily, Optimus' masked face appeared on the screen as he began to recite his message. 

"Heatwave, I have received your call. I'm sorry that your team's safety has been compromised like this." He said. 

Graham instantly popped up to see what was going on, still swaying with slumber.

"This will not be the same as getting to know the humans of Griffin Rock. You have had the chance to bond with those people. If you were to tell these newcomers that you hail from Cybertron, it would more than likely end in catastrophe."

"Well, that's totally not a dooming statement." Blurr complained sarcastically. Instantly, Heatwave swiped his helm to shut him up. "Ow!" He hissed, grabbing his helm. It did the trick though.

"As far as we know, they are innocent people and no harm should come to them as Rescue Bots are here to serve, save and protect."

Heatwave clenched his jaw, folded his arms and looked away from the screen. He felt shame well up in his chest plate. He almost couldn't believe that he had ever thought of those people with such anger. 

Those people hadn't done anything yet. He wasn't even sure if they would try anything. Unlike people who had tried to tell the world about their status as Cybertronians. As far as they knew, they were just a regular, although large, family.

"As of now, the best course of action would be to earn their trust and after some time, tell them the truth. If that plan sours, then… what you do next is your choice. Until then, all of your projects away from Griffin Rock will be put on hiatus so that you can focus. This will be your new mission until you can come to a consensus. I wish you the best of luck, Rescue Bots."

With that, the screen went black, leaving the team with minimal guidance as usual. 

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Blurr asked. "I guess we're coming back home." Graham said.

~~~~

The next day, Cody helped Kade load his belongings back into his room. It wasn't the best of circumstances, but he had to admit, he was excited for everyone to come back. The firehouse felt so empty without them.

But of course, right now the family was focused on their new mission. "How are we supposed to earn their trust?" Dani asked. "Should we call a city council meeting about this?" Graham wondered. Charlie shook his head. "I don't think it's the best idea to get the town worked up over all of this. It could make things worse." He said. Dani nodded in agreement. 

Once he caught onto the conversation, Cody got an idea. "But, we could introduce them to the town!" He suggested. All of a sudden, he had the attention of the whole room. Kade grunted as he set down a few heavy boxes. "What do you mean?" He asked. 

Cody smiled as the gears in his mind started turning. "You know, we have little events and stuff all the time and we haven't had new people in forever. What if we have a party or something in town square! Then the town could get used to them and they could get used to the townspeople." He suggested. "That way, it'll make it easier for them to trust us. It'll be hard to do that if we're all cold with them."

His siblings and his father all took a moment to look at each other, seeing if they also agreed. He started to get his answers. "Yeah, I think that could work." Dani said. "Why didn't I think of that?" Kade half-complained. "Good idea, Cody!" Graham agreed cheerfully.

Charlie nodded with a small smile. "That sounds like a step in the right direction. Hopefully, we can get something like that set up soon. I'll ask a few people about helping us out." He replied.

Cody smiled brightly. "Noble! Thanks, dad!" If this worked, then there'd be some hope for the bots! Though, they'd still have to be acquaintances at the least, people as quiet as them probably wouldn't go anywhere with people they didn't know.

But, since they still had work to do, Cody's thoughts were quickly interrupted. "Let's get moving, we don't have all day." Charlie said. Kade and Dani groaned in annoyance as they continued to pick up their boxes. Graham's mind seemed to be elsewhere as he carried his own belongings. 

Cody lifted a few things with newfound glee. Maybe he could make some friends with the new kids too!

Chapter Text

Seojun was not ready at all. A new house, a new school, a new town, and a new language!? The list seemed to go on and on. At this point his entire family was practically new to him as well. How was he supposed to deal with any of this?

Nonetheless, he dragged himself out of his bed. He had to start the day at some point, hopefully without the presence of any runaway cars. He wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant memory.

'Never again.' He thought with a shudder.

As he stumbled through the house in his pajamas, he was met with absolute chaos throughout the structure. Elodie, Eloho, and Estelle were fighting over the sink as they all tried to brush their teeth at once. The feud ended up pushing Eloho right out of the bathroom door and onto her back in the hallway. Before Seojun could react in any way, she immediately got back up and started pummeling her sisters with fury.

He decided that he would just pretend that he hadn't seen that. No way was he getting in the middle of whatever that was. It was too early in the morning for that shit. He ignored the tangle of limbs in the bathroom as he ventured downstairs for breakfast.

His oldest brother had a piece of toast between his teeth and was trying to balance two full bags and his daughter as he ran out the door in a hurry. Vitanya was sleeping on the couch as the tv played loudly. Lee had spilled cereal all over the floor and hadn't bothered to clean it up. He instead opted to eat the rest of it at the table.

His mother was trying her hardest to get Alena to come down from on top of the fridge, she refused adamantly. Vidalia was carefully laying her edges in front of the dish cabinet in the middle of the mess. Vileah was sprinting through the kitchen as Vashti dragged herself through it at a speed walking pace. He wasn’t even sure where Jiwoo and Kyree were.

He wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe when he woke up this would all just be some awful nightmare and he'd be back with Jangmi and Nari in Ulsan.

But instead, he sighed heavily. Despite the hopes that swelled in his chest, he knew that this was unfortunately, his new reality.

Reluctantly, he shuffled towards the table and started to fix himself a bowl of cereal as well. 

~~~~

Since there were far less people currently living in the firehouse, Cody’s morning was a lot less chaotic. He had some room to breathe.

He woke up to the sun shining and the sounds of an automatic hedge trimmer in the neighbor's yard. Once he opened his eyes and took in a breath, he caught the smell of breakfast cooking. Bacon, eggs, and light pancakes. He even heard the sound of morning chatter downstairs, a sound that he had become accustomed to missing every now and then. He sighed dreamily. His father's cooking was heavenly. And now, he'd have his siblings at home to talk to again!

He stepped out of bed and started to get ready, thankfully he made sure to lay out his clothes the night before. He decided to change his look.

He'd be wearing a blue shirt instead of a green one. That shirt was a little old anyway.

~~~~

Seojun sat in the front seat of the van with Kyree, Jiwoo, and the triplets. Kerchek was driving the quadruplets to school and his daughter to daycare.

He stared out the window, sulking at first but after a moment he was wide-eyed and bewildered. This place was weird.

He saw a little dog being walked by a robot on wheels, a man flying with blades on his back, and a seriously strange looking red machine with silver blades in its mouth. He prayed that that thing never got loose. Then it would really be the end of him.

"Seojun?"

His mother's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, but he didn't turn to look at her. However, from the way that he jumped, she knew that he could hear her.

"I know it's not the most ideal situation, but it's quiet and closed off." She stopped for a moment. "We could really be a family here- all of us." She said hopefully. Seojun continued to lean against the door. His surprised expression had fallen into a frown. "And what about the others?" He asked. 

He could feel how tense mentioning them made her, but if it got her off of his back, then he didn't care. "I don't know Ju-Ju." She replied. Her voice shook with pain.

Personally, he could do without the nicknames. They weren't close enough for that. But something about hearing her say that made his eyes sting. He had vague memories of hearing it in his childhood. The last time that they were together.

He moved his focus towards the outside world as they approached the school. He could already see a few people walking around from there. He sighed silently with dread. All he had to do was get through the day. That was it.

~~~

“Do you need me and Chase to drive you today?” Charlie asked. Cody hurriedly stuffed an extra pancake in his mouth as he pulled on his shoes. “No, I’m gonna ride my hoverboard, but thanks anyway!” He said. Charlie nodded and smiled endearingly as he wiped his hands with a rag. 

“Okay, I’ll see you later, Cody. Have a good first day.” He said. Cody nodded back at him. “Okay, bye dad!” He replied. He started to open the door and leave the house, when Charlie remembered something all of a sudden. “Wait, hold on! I forgot to take a picture of you.” He said. 

Cody looked back at him with a pout and slumped his shoulders. “But dad..” He said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.” Charlie assured him as he set up the camera. "Yeah come on, let him have this. You're the last one!" Kade chimed in cheerfully. Cody sighed with slight annoyance. “Okay fine.”

And with only a minor setback, in no time at all he flew out of the house on his hoverboard. He was nowhere near close to being late, but it was the first day of school and he was excited! So he had to get there quickly. As he whipped and dashed through the streets, someone got his attention. “What took you so long?”

Frankie was riding alongside him on her motorbike. Cody wondered why she had it at first, but then he came to the conclusion that she probably snuck out with it. He slowed down to match her pace. 

“Dad had to get pictures.” He replied. “Ugh!” Frankie rolled her eyes. “Same. Daddy was in shambles, like-” She made sure to add an exaggerated rasp in her voice. “- “My Little Mendeleev’s a freshman! Where did all the time go?” He’s so dramatic.” She shook her head. “But I was able to convince him to let me take this to school, so it’s not all bad.” She said. “Wow, he really let you?” Cody asked. Frankie nodded in response. “Noble!” He cheered. It turns out she didn't have to sneak it (This time around).

Frankie smiled brightly and giggled. “Well, after I begged him for two weeks straight, but we don’t need to get into that.” She replied.

In no time, they reached the school. Cody jumped off of his hoverboard and turned it back into ComTab mode. Frankie parked her bike and took off her helmet. He hadn’t been paying much attention to her appearance while they were racing through the streets, but now that they had stopped, he noticed that she had changed her look a bit.

Her curly hair reached right to her shoulders and was in a low, thick ponytail. At the front, it was gelled down and held in place with a couple of light purple clips. She wore mascara and lipgloss, along with a little highlighter. She had also put on a cropped, light blue hoodie with a light pink camisole underneath it, ripped blue jeans, and white tennis shoes with thick soles. To add onto that, she wore slightly long press-on nails that matched her hoodie. She looked totally ready for her first day!

“Wow, you look great, Frankie!” Cody said. Frankie smiled brightly. “Thanks. These nails took forever! I kept gluing my fingers together. Plus, Daddy almost didn’t let me wear this shirt until Anna suggested I should wear this under it.” She shook her head in annoyance. “It’s not even that short!” She protested. 

Cody shrugged, he didn't have anything to say about that. His wardrobe was mostly t-shirts and loose jeans after all and he had no interest in crop tops. “It could be worse.” He said. Frankie shrugged back at him. “Yeah, I guess.” She replied.

And then, they started walking towards the school. Since Griffin Rock is a small town, the school is K-12, so everyone goes there. The campus has three buildings separated by a bit of space to keep the children apart, so they didn't see much of the younger kids. 

Cody looked around curiously at all of his classmates. Not many of them looked very different, but a few of them got taller, or wider, some just had more or less acne, or started wearing makeup. What he really noticed was that a lot of people dressed up for the first day. Most of the students had. At that observation, he frowned and looked down at his blue shirt. 

'Should I have dressed up more?' He thought with a hint of regret.

As he was consumed in his own thoughts and looking down at the floor, he didn't notice that someone was approaching him in the crowded hallway.

Well, not until he ran right into him. 

Before he could even think, he rammed forehead first into someone else. Someone who stood in such a rigid manner that he knocked Cody backwards. 

He popped his eyes wide open as he started to fall over, but then that same someone swiftly caught the collar of his jacket. Tightening his shirt uncomfortably around his neck, but at least he hadn't busted his head open on the tile floors.

He sighed in relief and took a moment to come back to earth. "Sorry, didn't see you." Someone said. He looked up to see an unfamiliar face.

His hair was brown with natural blonde highlights and very curly. Because he was wearing a hood, his hair at the front hung close to his eyes, which partially hid them, but also framed them. He wore a silver chain with a green gem on it that was sort of a rounded and lopsided triangle. 

He had brown skin with a shiny golden tinge to it, he wore silver studded earrings in both ears, his lips were full and he didn't open his mouth wide when he spoke. He was at least a head taller than him, maybe more. He looked like he could've been a senior, though Cody was unsure of it.

But what he noticed the most were his eyes. They were big and a bright green color. They focused on him intently, as if they could easily dissect him. And then it clicked in his head, that was the guy who almost got hit by a car the other day.

Gently, he let go of Cody's collar and clutched his elbows nervously. "You okay? You're kinda staring." He said, watching him with concern.

His voice was deep with a calm smoothness to it, and carried an accent that he didn't recognize. It surprised him.

Cody snapped to his senses. "Oh yeah I'm fine. I was just kinda stunned." He replied quickly. The boy nodded curtly. "Okay." And with his hands shoved into his pockets, he walked off without another word.

He walked as smoothly as he talked, almost as if he were gliding across the floor. If it weren't for his head being so high above everyone else's he would have probably disappeared into the crowd. Cody watched him leave in a stunned silence, at least until Frankie plucked him from the middle of the hallway.

She frowned in confusion. "What was that about?" She asked. "Nothing, we just bumped into each other." He replied. She glanced towards the direction he went. "I'm pretty sure he's part of that new family your dad was talking about. I've never seen him before" She said. Cody blinked rapidly in surprise. He wasn't even thinking about that until she said something. He looked down the hallway just like she had a moment earlier. "Yeah, I think so." He said. Frankie nodded. "Huh." She muttered thoughtfully.

Before they could continue on as usual, the warning bell rang. Immediately Frankie sprung into action and pulled Cody by his wrist along with her. "Come on, we can't be late for class on the first day!" She exclaimed. 

~~~

Unfortunately since their last names weren't very close, Cody and Frankie weren't in the same homeroom. While he went to class and got acquainted with his teachers and classmates (most of which he already knew on a basic level), his thoughts kept fluttering back and forth from the subjects of his classes to that boy he met. 

There were rarely new people on Griffin Rock, Wes had moved here three years ago and he was still considered the "New kid". So he couldn't help but be curious. Maybe they'd have a class together or something.

"-dy. Cody?" 

And with a start, Cody was back in the cafeteria. "Look over there." Frankie said, pointing towards the other side of the room.

At the other end of the lunch room, the boy from earlier was casually leaning against the wall, nodding along with someone who was talking to him. He couldn't see her face, but he had seen her enough to immediately recognize her. 

Priscilla Pynch.

Wes smacked on his Mac n cheese as he spectated with them. "She's already sinking her claws into the new guy, huh." He commented. "Probably." Frankie replied. Cody didn't say anything. 

After Madeline had gone to jail, Priscilla was left alone. Cody wasn't sure what had happened, but it seemed that someone was still taking care of her, or she probably would have been put in the foster system. 

Sometimes Cody felt bad for her. Even though Madeline was a dastardly woman, she was still her mother.

But the subject was sore and he didn't like to dwell on it for too long. He tore his eyes away from her and reluctantly picked at the pineapples on his lunch tray.

~~~

Finally, the end of the day came. It had been nice, and pretty uneventful, (no emergencies today, thankfully) but he was still ready to go home. He had snacks in the pantry calling his name!

But unfortunately, he still had to sit through English class.

With his chin in his hands he mindlessly watched the front of the classroom as Mrs. Dewey introduced herself. She didn't really need to since everyone already knew her, but it was for the purpose first day formalities.

As she excitedly chattered about her cats, the door cracked open. The entire class swiveled their heads towards the sound, trying to see what was going on.

A pair of big green eyes darted around the room, before turning to Mrs. Dewey. "I'm late?" He asked. Mrs. Dewey shook her head. "No, not yet, you're just barely on time. Go ahead and have a seat." She said.

The boy glanced around the classroom and started sauntering towards the desks. As Cody realized that he was getting closer to him as he looked around the room, his eyes shot open and his heart jumped. 

'Please don't sit beside me Please don't sit beside me Please don't sit beside me Please don't sit beside me'

And then he swung his backpack off of his shoulder and plopped down into the seat next to him.

'Shit!' Cody screeched inwardly.

"Oh! What's your name sweetheart?" Mrs. Dewey, suddenly realizing that she had a new student. He blinked slowly before answering. "Seojun." Mrs. Dewey blinked rapidly back as she tried to process what he said. "Oh. That's nice." She said nervously. "Anyway, where was I?"

Cody glanced at him through the corner of his eye. The boy, or Seojun, looked down at the syllabus on his desk, silently mouthing the words as he read along. 

His fingernails were painted black, Cody wasn't sure why, but something seemed off about his hands. His nose was blunt and a bit wide, his eyelashes were long enough to leave voluminous shadows on his cheeks. He bounced his leg anxiously as he read the syllabus, and his white, high top dunks rapidly tapped away on the tiles.

Then he glanced up at Cody.

As soon as he saw the other boy's eyes look back into his, he jumped and turned to face the whiteboard. He froze silently as he started to process what had just happened, he could already feel his face starting to turn red.

'Oh God, why?...'

'Maybe he didn't notice?' He hoped

He looked back out of the corner of his eye at Seojun who immediately glanced back up at him again.

'SHIIIIIT!'

Now the new kid was gonna think he was a total creep! Dammit! 

For the rest of the class he faced the front and tried his best to follow what Mrs. Dewey was saying. But he still couldn't shake the embarrassment welling up to his red face.

~~~

"L!" Frankie laughed. Cody clapped his hands over his mouth, totally mortified. "Shut up! It was like he had a sixth sense or something!" He cried. Frankie grinned. "All I'm hearing is that you got caught staring." She replied. "Oh my god, just let me live! I can't trust you with anything!" He exaggerated. Much to his despair, Frankie only continued to laugh all the way back to the firehouse.

Once they walked in, they were instantly bombarded by the unfortunately familiar smell of recently burnt food. Frankie immediately pulled back, covered her nose and writhed in agony like she had been punched in the face. “Nevermind! I’m going home! See you tomorrow Cody!” As soon as she said goodbye, she ran down the street like her life depended on it, not even waiting for a reply.

Despite the "wondrous" scent erupting from the firehouse, Cody found humor in her reaction, he laughed as he waved goodbye to her, but it came out more like a *honk!* from how tightly he had pinched his nose. He sure wished he could run away like she just did, but unfortunately, he resided in the firehouse.

“Dad, I’m home!” He called from the doorway. He started to shut it, but then he stopped once he realized that the smell would stay trapped in the house if he did, so he decided to leave it cracked open. He kicked off his shoes and left them jumbled in the corner. Once he reached the kitchen, he heard the sound of running water and Dani murmuring to herself.

When she heard his footsteps, she looked up and shot him a tight smile. “Oh, hey Cody. How was school today?” She asked. He shrugged. “Fine. What happened here though?” He asked. As Dani frantically scrubbed a glass pan, she started to explain her story. “Oh, I was trying to make some lasagna for tonight. Not sure what went wrong.” She said.

Cody looked down at the garbage can, and saw a goopy, black mess distorting the plastic bin from its heat. It didn’t look even remotely edible. He really hoped that it had looked better before Dani’s curse jinxed it.

'Probably not'  He admitted to himself with a cringe.

“Okay, I’m gonna go down to the bunker, then.” He said. Dani sighed deeply. “Dad’s gonna kill me.” She groaned. “And I get to be around to see it!” Kade cheered from the couch. Dani flung dish water at the back of his head in spite. “Hey!” He shouted, he shot up from the couch, ready to fight as he tried to rub it out of his hair. Dani smirked with pride. “What? Are you gonna tell on me?” She teased, folding her arms and leaning back on the sink. Kade paused and thought for a moment.

“Yep!” 

Before she could react, he made a break for the stairs. He skipped up them frantically as Dani skidded across the floor to chase him. “Kade, that is so immature!” She shouted after him. “And spraying water on me wasn’t?” He retorted. “Dad!” Dani shouted at the top of her lungs. “So now you wanna call him. Hypocrite!” Kade teased.

As his siblings chased each other like children, Cody snuck away to go down to the bunker. 

For only about a month, it had just been him, Charlie, and Chase. But now that the bots were compromised, their missions were on hold and they were all back at home.

While he had missed them and didn't much like coming home to an empty house, there were a few things that he could do without. Luckily, the bots weren't quite as rowdy as his siblings, so he could easily find comfort with them.

Though today, there was an odd stillness in the air. Cody frowned in confusion. It was almost completely silent, save for some murmuring coming from the living area. Curiously, he decided to investigate.

Blades sat on the couch while Chase stood by the bookshelf, Heatwave stood in front of the TV and Boulder sat on a crate nearby. Heatwave optical ridges were knitted together in deep thought. He stood with a lean, his digits were against his chin and his dermas were twisted into a scowl.

Chase stood at attention with his optics on Heatwave. He looked worried.

Cody couldn't see Blades' face, but as he talked, his servos gestured wildly as everyone took his words in.

And Boulder leaned forward while he sat on a crate, his helm tilted forward and his servos clasped. All in all, it was a tense scene.

"I mean, it's been about two weeks and we still haven't made any solid decisions or plans! Other than to go to school or work, hardly any of them leave the house!" Blades said.

"It took us two years to tell the townspeople who we are, we have to have patience." Heatwave replied.

"Well, I don't wanna wait another two years! I liked living on an island where I was allowed to be myself and because of this, that might not happen again!" Blades exclaimed.

Heatwave sighed deeply and rubbed his servo roughly down his face plate with exhaustion. "I know. But we can't just rush into things, we have to take the time to figure out how we're gonna do this. You know what could happen if things don't work out." He warned.

Blades went silent and the faces of Chase and Boulder fell as they thought about the possibilities. "So what do we do until then?" Boulder asked quietly, his tone laced with uncertainty.

"We let the Burns family handle it." He replied.

And that was the end of the conversation. Blades was the first to leave, he took the elevator up to the helipad, probably to be alone. Cody sprinted behind a stack of boxes so that he wouldn't be spotted while he watched the rest.

Chase took a book from the shelf and retreated to his berth. Boulder decided to tend to leafy to calm his nerves and put his problems out of his mind.

And so, Heatwave was left standing alone in the living area, looking down at his pedes in thought. Cody peeked his head out from behind the boxes. He could just leave now and no one would notice him.

But he couldn't just leave his friend alone.

"Hey. Tough break, huh?" He said, breaking the silence in the room. Heatwave looked down and saw the boy in front of him, looking up at his face plate with a soft, sympathetic smile. 

Heatwave chuckled. "Nothing my team can't handle." He replied. As soon as those words left his intake, the humor in his spark disappeared. He looked out towards the berths, where Chase had gone.

"Maybe a little bit." He admitted. His chassis slumped pitifully with his shoulder pads as his thoughts wandered to his team.

"I'm actually kinda worried about it. As far as humans go, Griffin Rock has a lot of good ones, but I'm not sure how this is all gonna work." He said. "I know you and Chief wanted to throw a party in the town square, but I don't see how that's gonna happen if no one wants to open up." 

Once Heatwave said that, it was like a lightbulb had begun to glow over Cody's head. He had an idea!

"You know, one of the kids is in my class. Maybe I could talk to him." He suggested. Heatwave thought for a moment. "That could work, but I don't know if I wanna put this part of the mission on you-"

"I can totally handle it!" Cody interrupted. "I managed to make friends with a few aliens, how hard could someone my age be?" He challenged. Heatwave chuckled as he thought again. "You sure you wanna try that?" He asked. 

Cody nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I wanna help you guys!" He replied. Heatwave sighed shortly and pinched the bridge of his olfactory sensor, a habit he had picked up from Kade.

"Okay, I'll talk to Chief about it." He said. "Noble!" Cody cheered. "But! Don't do anything risky. Alright?" Heatwave added. Cody grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it!" He replied.

 Heatwave raised his left optical ridge and nodded doubtfully as he leaned back with his arms folded and clicked his glossa. "Right…" He agreed sarcastically.

Cody chuckled at his doubtful reaction and Heatwave scoffed, throwing his servo into the air dismissively. "Go on now, you probably got some of that homework or whatever." He said. Cody thought about telling him that he had nothing to do since it was only the first day, but he decided to spare him.

For now.

"Okay!" And with a newfound bounce in his step, he made his way upstairs.

'Now I just gotta find a way to get on that guy's good side.'

And after such an awkward moment like that, he figured that it would probably be a challenge. But Cody was more than prepared to brave through it if it meant protecting his family. Even if it was probably going to inhibit his sleep from all of the embarrassment.

Chapter Text

Cody dug through his closet furiously, throwing nearly every item of clothing he owned onto the floor…

… before settling on his usual outfit. There wasn't anything better in there right now anyway. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly so interested in clothing, it was ridiculous. As long as it wasn't overly tattered and fit right, it really shouldn't matter!

But unfortunately, he still found himself in a bit of a sour mood. 

He staggered down the stairs with a drag in his gait and grabbed a sandwich from the table. He decided to walk today so that he could eat it on the way to school.

The day was cloudy and dreary. Heavy humidity hung in the air like a suffocating blanket with the sun resting in the clouds. Good old Griffin Rock, land of cutting edge technology and startling unpredictability.

"Gee, what's wrong with you?" Frankie had managed to sneak up on him. And she was already looking at him with bewilderment, searching for anything physically off other than his dragging. 

Cody shrugged. "I dunno, it's probably just the humidity." He said. Frankie thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we can bring out the weather machine again?" She joked, elbowing him in the side of his arm with a goofy grin. Cody scoffed and smiled tiredly. "Don't make me think about that." He said. Frankie held up her hands in fake defense. "Hey, I'm just saying." She said.

They were silent for a moment, until another grin spread across Frankie's face. "Or are you still embarrassed about yesterday?" She teased. Cody immediately threw his hands up to his face. "Oh my god!" He hadn't even thought about that yet. "Why'd you have to remind me?" He asked. 

Frankie simply shrugged. Cody rolled his eyes. "You just like to pick on me." He said, half jokingly. Frankie smirked. "To be fair, it was pretty funny." She replied. Cody scoffed. "This is why CeCe steals your lab equipment." He retorted. Frankie chuckled at his comeback and gave him a fake punch in the shoulder. "Keep talking and I'll get her to come for your ComTab." She replied. With an exaggerated gasp and a stare of fear, Cody quickly hugged his precious tablet close to his chest.

"No way! She'd jam it up with her spitty toddler fingers!" He cried. Frankie grinned evilly. "That's the point." She said. In response, Cody picked up his pace and sped ahead of Frankie. "Hey! Come back here, I'm not done with you yet!" She called after him. Cody looked back and stuck his tongue out at her with a devious smile. Frankie stuffed her bottom lip under her teeth and flipped him off as she chased him. By then, Cody had totally forgotten about how his day had started earlier.

~~~~

Feeling rejuvenated after escaping the wrath of Frankie, Cody walked into first period with his head high and a bounce in his step. Today was a b day since it was the second day of the school year, so for the next hour and a half, he got to sit in biology class.

He didn't really have any expectations for it. When his older siblings were in school, Mr. Baker taught that class. They used to go on and on about how boring, and dull he was, and how he managed to drain the entire class's life force with his endless droning. 

But luckily, he retired about three years ago. 

Now, Mrs. Kalen was teaching him. He'd heard that she was pretty nice and very generous with test grades. (You can't get much better than that!) So for once, he was actually looking forward to first period. 

Until he walked into the classroom that is.

The first thing that he saw were the classic, long black tables that every science related classroom had with wooden stools under them. With these tables, two people would sit close together until the teacher decided to change the seating chart.

Or for the entire school year.

He saw a few people he knew, including Wes on the far left side of the room and Billy close to the middle. They didn't have any seating table mates yet. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd get to sit with one of them!

As he scanned the room, looking at the posters with corny biology puns, Mrs. Kalen looked up from her desk at the front of the class and smiled at him as she adjusted her glasses. He wondered how she got her teeth so white. Maybe they were- nevermind.

"Cody! Good to see you. You'll be sitting with- um… See-oh-juhn? over there." She pointed at a desk in the back of the classroom on the far right. The boy from yesterday was sitting there, leaning on his arm, half asleep.

'Oh great…' He thought as he cringed inwardly. (And a little outwardly.)

Reluctantly and silently he tiptoed over to the desk and set down his back pack. He hopped into the stool and rested his chin on his palms. With sleepy eyes, Seojun turned towards him and then back to the front of the room. He seemed to be in no mood for studying. Not that Cody could blame him, it was 8:30 in the morning.

Once the bell rang, Mrs. Kalen started taking attendance. She had no problem calling out names (and some nicknames) since she already knew everyone, but once she got a little further down the list. She paused, pulled her glasses down, squinted and turned down the corners of her lips.

"Um, last name Min? Is that right?" She asked, with uncertainty. She looked directly at Seojun, which in turn, caused the rest of the class to turn in their seats to look at him too.

He sat up straight in confusion, wrinkled his nose and curled his upper lip along with it. "Em, how do you pronounce your name, sweetie?" She asked. His lip twitched and he frowned, he looked a little uncomfortable. 

"It's Seojun." He said clearly. Mrs. Kalen took another look at the attendance sheet with her glasses down on her nose. She nodded and stuck her tongue in her cheek. "Huh! Really?" She asked, her voice high with fascination. "Yes?" Seojun replied, sounding confused. "Oh okay, anyway-"

Cody stopped listening after that, he wasn't really concerned because his name had already been called. Seojun went back to leaning on his hand and staring off into space. From how he acted, it seemed like he didn't really want to be here.

Multiple thoughts raced through Cody's mind, springing from that one.

'Is he upset about something?'

'Maybe I could cheer him up!'

'I should introduce myself.'

'I'm kinda supposed to be gaining his family's trust right now. It couldn't hurt to start somewhere!'

'Ugh! Just talk to him!'

"So…, how do ya like Griffin Rock so far?" He asked awkwardly. He tried his hardest not to cringe at his own question, but his friendly smile secretly warped into one, right in front of his new classmate's eyes.

He noticed Seojun's eyebrows raise and his nose wrinkle slightly in discomfort. Inwardly, Cody slammed his fist on the black desk in nearly physical pain.

"It's.. okay, I guess. Very messy, but quiet. Not a fan though." He replied shortly. From the way his sentences were formed, you'd think that he was in a rush, but he actually spoke a bit slowly and he would look up at the ceiling in between the fragments.

'Maybe English isn't his first language?'

It didn't seem unlikely and it made sense with the accent that he had. Despite how cold he seemed, Cody (desperately) continued to try to make light conversation with him. "So, where are you from?" He asked. Seojun didn't bother to make eye contact with him, instead he opted to poke at the table with his shiny black fingernails. "Ulsan." He replied. 

"Oh. Where's that?" He asked. "South Korea." Seojun replied, still poking. Cody watched him silently as he tried to figure out what to say next.

'He's really into that table.'

"You know, it's not gonna do anything, right?" He joked dryly. Seojun paused and briefly looked at him from the corner of his eye. "You never know. This place is weird." He replied. 

Cody smiled. "It's not that bad, is it?" He asked. Finally, Seojun stopped poking at the table and turned his head with a thousand yard stare. "You tell me, I almost got flattened the first day I was here." He replied. "Oh yeah, that's kinda like, semi common? I guess. It sucks that it happened so fast for you though." He paused and then snapped his fingers. Maybe if he bonded with him over the mess from the other day, then they could get a real conversation going!

"You know, I was actually there when that happened. I knocked you out of the way, like right before it hit!" He exclaimed. Seojun frowned and then his eyes opened wider as it clicked in his head. "Oh! I remember that! You ran into me yesterday, too." He replied.

Cody gave him an awkward, lopsided grin. "Yep! That's me!" He said. 

Seojun smiled. "I didn't realize it at first, I was just walking and then *smack!* head in my chest." When he said smack, he made sure to clap his hands together for a sound effect. "And I was just like, 'what's this?' " 

By now, Seojun had a big, but closed smile on his face as he recounted the tale from yesterday in his point of view. He hardly showed his teeth, despite how bright he seemed, maybe it was a quirk of his. Along with that, he had deep dimples in his cheeks that appeared with the slightest facial movement. He talked with his hands, making expressive gestures with almost every word.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for him to open up a little. Cody was surprised, he was so cold at first and all of a sudden, he was chatting the whole class period away. Maybe he was just a little shy.

But the more he watched him, the more he noticed that something seemed off. He just couldn't put his finger on it. He watched his hands move as he talked about how his little brother had managed to tear down the curtains, trying to slide down them and that's when it clicked.

As he made a grabbing gesture, he noticed that his hand seemed a little wider than it should. Not that he was gonna harp on somebody's hands but-

Actually, he totally was.

As he looked closer, he realized that he had five fingers and a thumb. Six fingers on each hand! And perfectly even? He'd heard about people having polydactyly, but he had never seen it be so.. natural looking!

'Should I ask about that?' He wondered.

But as curious as he was, it probably wouldn't be very appropriate to ask him about his fingers. His dad would say so at least, and it might make him uncomfortable too. So he decided to leave it alone for the most part.

Other than staring at them whenever they moved? Like seriously, how?

"Boys?"

Seojun and Cody paused, suddenly pulled out of their conversation (and hand-watching) by Mrs. Kalen's voice. 

"I'm trying to teach a class here, can you please calm down. It's very disrespectful for you to talk while I'm talking." She said. All eyes were on them, and Cody could feel his cheeks burning. He had totally forgotten where he was!

"Sorry Mrs. Kalen." He said. 

And with that, Mrs Kalen went back to her lesson and the boys went back to talking. Whispering this time so that they wouldn't get in trouble.

"Do you have a phone or anything?" Cody asked. "Yeah, but my mam really only wants me to use it for emergencies or whatever." Seojun said. Cody was a little surprised by that. "Oh, does she have a block on it?" He asked. Seojun shook his head and smirked. "Nah, she doesn't know how those work." He replied mischievously. 

Cody smiled back at him. "Cool! Could I have your number?" He asked. Seojun's brows knitted together as he tried to think. "My.. number?" He asked, clearly confused. 

Cody chuckled. "I mean your phone number!" He replied. Seojun gasped and rolled his eyes as it clicked in his mind. "Oh, that makes a lot more sense!" He said. Cody raised his eyebrow. "Yeah, what'd you think I meant?" He asked. Seojun shrugged. "I have no idea, honestly." He replied.

There was a pause between them, until Cody raised his eyebrows up to his hairline, making Seojun catch on to what they were supposed to be doing.

"Oh right, sure. I'll give you my number." He said. Cody handed him his phone and Seojun quickly typed in his digits. Cody kept an eye on his strange fingers. He had to be dreaming this, right?

Seojun handed him his phone back. "Text me when you get the chance." He said. Before Cody could think of a fun response, the bell rang and interrupted his train of thought.

"Ooh. I'll see ya later, Seojun." He flung his backpack over his shoulder and started towards the door. Seojun smiled and his deep dimples reappeared, adorning his face with charm. "Bye." He replied with a little wave.

'Yep, there's definitely six fingers.' He admitted to himself.

He looked at the digits that had been typed into his phone (while glancing at the digits that had typed them) and beamed with pride. Step one of his mission was completed! But what would come next?

~~~~

After first period, Seojun was beyond excited to continue on with his day. It really happened! He had made his first friend on Griffin Rock! He was a lot less weird than he had initially thought, though he probably had that view because the first three times that they had ever seen each other were all less-than-ideal situations.

Either way, he had someone to talk to now! And he had his number- no wait! No he didn’t! His mood hit a steep drop as he came to the realization that he had only given Cody his number and he hadn’t given him his. Now he would have to wait on Cody to text him first! But what if he didn’t? Then, what would that mean? Would he just be taking pity on him? Did he forget about him? Did he make a bad fourth impression?

Now Seojun was starting to feel a bit panicked as more people trickled into his second period math class. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now. Why’d he have to be so stupid?

But in the end, all he could really do now was wait.

“Hey.” He looked up to see someone standing over the desk beside him. She had thick and bone-straight, jet black hair, dark brown eyes, round pink lips, along with being tall and slender. She wore a light pink barret on top of her head, a pink, off the shoulder long sleeve shirt, a pleated white skirt that reached just above her knee, white knee high socks, and pink sneakers with thick white soles.

'Maybe Jiwoo would like those..' He thought.

At that thought, he shook his eyes off of her shoes and looked up at her face. She smiled warmly at him. “Hi.” he replied shortly. She gracefully took her seat next to him and flipped her hair back out of her face. “What’s your name?” She asked. “Seojun.” He replied. “Your’s?” Her smile grew ten times brighter. “I’m Priscilla! Nice to see you again.” She said cheerfully. "I don't know if you remember, but you asked me for directions to the library yesterday." Seojun thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah." He replied shortly. Then he turned to the front of the classroom.

Right now, the teacher was taking attendance. After going through five class periods of the exact same thing, he knew just what was coming. He patiently waited for the usual expression of confusion to cross Mr. Bostwick’s face. “Syo-john?” He said with uncertainty. The entire class went silent, multiple heads swiveled around the room, trying to figure out who had such a strange name.

Priscilla sat up a bit straighter. “Mr. Bostwick, it's actually Seojun.” She said, tilting her head towards the boy next to her. Seojun’s eyes popped open in surprise. She was the second person to get his name right on the first try! Mr Bostwick’s cheeks turned slightly red. 

“Oh! I’m sorry about that Seojun, I’ll be sure to remember that.” He quickly marked him present on the attendance sheet. “Thank you Priscilla.” He added. Priscilla beamed with pride. “You’re welcome!” She said. Once Mr. Bostwick moved on, she gave Seojun a quick wink and started pulling out her math binder. It was just as pink as her clothing.

'Must be her favorite.' He noted.

It’s not like he couldn’t correct someone about his name by himself, but it was kind of nice that someone else did it for him. 

"The teachers here tend to do that, when I first started school here, everybody assumed I pronounced my name differently because-" She made an obvious, wide gesture towards herself. "But nope, it's just Priscilla." She said. 

Seojun chuckled. "You're one of the first to get it right." He said. Priscilla smiled. "I'm glad, it really sucks when people don't even bother to try." She replied. Seojun nodded.

He hadn't experienced that before he came here, so it was a bit shocking. He thought his name was pretty simple.

"So, where are you from?" She asked. He thought about it for a moment, the last time he said he was from Ulsan, they didn't know where it was, so he decided to play it safe. "South Korea." He replied. Priscilla nodded attentively. "I thought so! What city?" She asked. "Ulsan." He replied. "Oh, that's cool. My grandma came over here from Vietnam in the 70's." She said. "She changed her last name to fit in, but I kinda wish she hadn't." 

Seojun nodded while he listened to her. "What made you come here? If you don't mind me asking, I mean this place is kind of isolated." She said.

Seojun had already formulated his answer weeks prior, thanks to his mam. "That's kind of the point Since we lived in the city, she wanted to relocate us somewhere quiet." He replied. “Oh, that makes sense. How’s it been so far?” Priscilla asked. “Other than almost being hit by a car on the first day, pretty boring.” Seojun said. Priscilla blinked rapidly. “I really shouldn’t be surprised, but damn.” She said. 

Seojun popped up and made a face of astonishment. “How often do things like that happen around here?” He asked. “Damn near everyday.” She replied almost immediately. Seojun was astounded, hearing more than one person say something like that brought an ache to the center of his head. He put his hands up over his skull and clutched his curls in agony.

“Aya! I gotta get off this rock!” He cried. Priscilla giggled. “You’ll be fine, the rescue team is pretty good at their work.” She paused for a moment, as if she were remembering something. “And other than all the emergencies, this place does have its own special charm.” She said. Seojun stretched his arms high into the air. “Like, what?” He asked.

“We have a few weird holidays here and there that nobody else celebrates." Priscilla started. "Like Earlyween because by the time Halloween comes around, it's too cold to wear any good costumes. And there’s also Midwinter Morning, it kinda like Christmas, but with a different origin story. Any old person in the town will give you the whole spiel.” She continued.

Seojun nodded attentively. Those holidays sounded interesting, but he wasn’t sure if they could make him want to stay here any longer. But unfortunately, he had no choice in that matter anyway. “Is there anything else?” He asked. Priscilla shrugged. “I don’t really know, until recently I only came here when my mother had work to do.” She said. Seojun nodded. Maybe he could ask Cody later if he actually texted him.

As he started to wrack his brain for something else to talk about, Mr. Bostwick’s voice cut through the class all of a sudden. “Luckily, we won’t be going over anything new today, but you will be taking a diagnostic to see where you are right now.” He said. A chorus of groans followed his announcement. Mr. Bostwick chuckled as he turned to write the code on the board. “I know, I know, but we gotta do this guys.” He said. “Pull out your devices and let’s get started.

As Seojun started to dig into his book bag for his laptop, he saw lights pop up around the room. Next to him, Priscilla set down a tablet, but when she turned it on, a glowing, transparent, and of course, pink touch screen popped out of it. It sort of looked like how a projector worked.

Across the room, A girl’s watch transformed into a silvery blue laptop, a box on another boy’s desk unfolded into a tablet, and another girl logged into the test on her glasses!

“Wow.” Seojun whispered in astonishment. He had never seen anything like that. He suddenly felt a little embarrassed pulling out his plain old laptop. It didn’t transform or project like the technology that his classmates had. 

Priscilla smiled brightly at his amazement. “Yeah, this is another part of the charm.” She said. As Seojun logged into his computer, he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Hey, can I have your number?” Priscilla asked politely, batting her long black eyelashes. Luckily, this time, he knew what she meant. “Yeah, sure.” He said. “Could I get yours too?” Priscilla pulled out her phone. “Sure!”

After they exchanged numbers, they started the diagnostic and worked on it for the rest of the class. Once the bell rang, they went their separate ways. As she walked down the hall, Priscilla gave him a soft wave and a smile. Seojun waved shyly back at her.

Now he was elated! He had to keep from grinning on his way to his next class period.It made his ears rise and that was kind of uncomfortable. Instead he opted to bite his lips between his teeth as he excitedly went over both of his conversations from that morning.

Maybe living on Griffin Rock wouldn’t be so bad if so many people wanted to be his friend!

~~~

Once she sat at her desk, Priscilla saved Seojun’s number into her phone with a prideful grin.

'Mother would be so proud'. She thought to herself.

Chapter Text

While Frankie enjoyed learning new things, she didn't enjoy how school was set up. The same things were thrown at her every year in most of her classes, except AP classes. And when a topic was new, it was often boring.

Hopefully physical science would be more promising this year.

As soon as she walked into her third period class, Mr. Ambrose pointed to a table at the front and far left of the classroom. "Frankie, you're sitting with Priscilla." He said, not even looking up from the roster.

Slowly, Frankie's eyes scanned the room and made their way to her seat. At the left side of the table, Priscilla sat up straight and proper in her seat, organizing a pink binder.

Frankie immediately felt her heart drop with dread. She balled up her hands into fists, closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

'It's just for this class. It's not like you have to make friends with her.' She thought, trying to reassure herself.

Hesitantly, she stepped forward and finally started towards the desk. As she walked, she felt wandering eyes watching her with wonder. It was no secret that she and Priscilla did not get along. They'd shared glares of resentment since they were seven and competed against each other since they were eight.

While Frankie would do things on her own and use her talents to further herself. Priscilla played dirty and would do anything to win. To Frankie, it was like a classic battle of good and evil.

And now, they'd have to sit next to each other.

Well, as long as there was no bloodshed, this arrangement would surely be civil. Surely.

Frankie sat down and plopped her backpack on the floor next to her. "Hey Priscilla." She said stiffly, without looking at her table mate. "Good afternoon, Francine." Priscilla replied in a snippy tone. She closed the rings on her binder loudly and slapped it onto the table. At that, Frankie immediately rolled her eyes in annoyance.

'She really thought she did something.' She thought, aggravated.

Mr Ambrose casually walked to the front of the classroom and stood in front of the class. "I've probably met you all before, but it's nice to finally have you in my class!" He smiled brightly and bounced on his toes. "George is coming around with the syllabus, make sure you give it a good read." He said.

Frankie stared forward as she waited for a paper, resting her chin on her palms. It had only been a few minutes and she was already bored.

"Have you ever noticed that his mustache looks like a croissant?"

Taken aback, Frankie whipped her head around to look at Priscilla. "Huh?" She asked. Priscilla pressed her lips into a straight line and raised her eyebrows. She didn't even bother to answer.

Frankie scoffed and rolled her eyes. If she wasn't going to say anything, then she was just going to have to investigate by herself.

Curiously, she turned to the front of the classroom and focused on her teacher's face. His mustache was a golden brown with darker brown stripes along the structure. It fell over his lip and curved close to the corners of his mouth. It also seemed to bounce when he spoke, accentuating its curved shape.

Frankie blinked rapidly, she had to be imagining this, then she squinted and examined it again. It seemed that Priscilla wasn't just messing around.

'No way..

With wide eyes, she turned back to Priscilla. "You're right, it does." She agreed in shock. Priscilla chuckled mischievously. Frankie frowned, things usually didn't go well if Priscilla was laughing. "What?" She asked.

Priscilla grinned. "Nothing." She replied with a chirp. Frankie frowned suspiciously, but she wasn't about to ask her anything else. She was probably just trying to mess with her.

"Fine, whatever." She muttered. She dug into her backpack and grabbed an empty blue notebook and Sharpie. She'd use it for this class.

"I thought that most people agreed that science was a 'green' subject." Priscilla started. Frankie sighed from her nose and rolled her eyes. "Yeah I guess, but your binder is pink so you can't really say anything." She said. Priscilla chuffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "That's because pink is the best color." She said smugly.

Frankie paused and frowned in confusion, gripping the cover of her notebook in frustration.

'What is she doing?' 

Then she shrugged, trying not to show her irritation. "If you say so." She muttered. The girls turned back to Mr. Ambrose, who was telling them to sign up for the class 'remind'. That way, they'd be able to contact each other for things that had to do with the class.

Before long, the fourth period bell rang. Students eagerly escaped the classroom, leaving it nearly empty. As Frankie finished packing up her school supplies, Priscilla walked behind her. She gave her a smirk and a small wave on the way out.

Annoyed, Frankie clutched the straps of her backpack and gritted her teeth. It was the beginning of the school year. Why did she need to start antagonizing her so early? It was already getting old!

"Frankie?" At the sound of her name, she turned to Mr. Ambrose, who was sitting at his desk. He was fidgeting and he looked rather nervous. "I hope you don't mind that I paired you up with Priscilla. You two had the best grades out of this class last semester. So I figured that it would be nice to work with someone on your level." He said apologetically. 

Frankie huffed silently and swung her backpack over her shoulders. "It's fine." She said shortly. She quickly started to leave the room, the sooner that she could get out and forget whatever that was, the better. “Are you sure?” Mr. Ambrose called after her. Frankie put her hand up to wave goodbye and didn’t look back. “Yeah, it’s whatever.” She said with a rasp. Mr. Ambrose said something else, but she couldn’t hear him over the excited chatter of the moving students. Casually, she squished herself into the crowd and pushed the last class period out of her mind.

~~~

By the end of the school day, the muggy, cloudy weather turned into a harsh summer storm. The heavy, wet winds struck down against the trees, blowing them sideways. Water crashed through the streets like a miniature river, the raindrops shattered against the pavement, leaving sizzling noises in their wake. A thick fog covered the island, and Cody could hardly see five feet in front of him.

He opened his phone to a text from his father about the torrential rain.

Dad: I don’t want you riding on your hoverboard in this storm. Kade and Heatwave are coming to pick you up.

~

Though Cody usually liked riding his hoverboard, there was no way he wanted to use it now. He was relieved that his dad had already thought about it.

~

C: Okay dad, see you at home.

So, as the storm raged on, Cody stood beside Frankie as the carpool line passed, holding his jacket over his head. Frankie, being Frankie, had thought to bring a clear poncho with her. “This is why you should at least subscribe to the meteorology reports. Then you’d be more prepared.” She said. “Plus, it was super cloudy out anyway.” Cody looked out into the storm, feeling just a little regretful. “Yeah, probably.” He said.

"You talked to that guy yet?" Frankie asked. Cody was immediately reminded of his mission. "Oh yeah, I did. He seems pretty nice." He said. Frankie nodded and looked past him curiously. "What?" Cody asked. "Well, he's standing right over there, we should walk over to him." She said. 

Cody turned around to see what she was talking about and looked further down the sidewalk. Seojun stood casually with about seven (?) other kids huddled close to him. 

"I'm not sure about that." Cody hesitated. Frankie smirked. "But it'll help with your mission.." She pointed out. Cody sighed deeply with exasperation. "Fine.." He murmured.

Braving the harsh winds, the two teenagers trudged down the sidewalk towards Seojun. After they took a few steps he looked their way and tilted his head curiously. Cody waved at him in return. Seojun looked confused, but ultimately gave him a small wave back.

"Hey, nobody's picked you guys up either?" Cody started. Seojun looked around. "Well, we're still here aren't we?" He replied humorously. Cody rolled his eyes with a smile. "Okay, okay." He looked up at him and then around at the other kids, they were probably siblings.

Three elementary school girls huddled close to him. One was behind him, holding a fistful of his hoodie, another clung tightly to his waist from his right side, and the third had latched onto his left arm. It was a little unnerving to be honest.

"Um, are they okay?" Frankie managed to get it out before Cody could say anything. When she spoke, the three little girls clung to their brother tighter. 

Seojun looked at her blankly. "They're fine, they've just never seen rain before." He replied nonchalantly.

Frankie frowned curiously. "Never seen rain? How?" She asked. "They lived in a pretty dry area, it's mostly desert." Seojun replied.

Cody wasn't sure if Ulsan was a dry area, but there was no way it was a desert. Right? Should he look into that? Or was that too nosy? Maybe he and his siblings lived in different places.

But as curious as Cody was, he figured that it wouldn't be appropriate to ask that when they hardly knew each other, so he decided to leave it alone. He looked at the girls again, wondering if there was anything that he could do to comfort them. He looked out into the storm again as he thought, when a bright strike of lightning lit up the sky and a booming clap of thunder followed, shaking everyone up.

Cody jumped in surprise and the little girls screamed and clutched their brother even more tightly than before. "Is that supposed to happen?" Another, older girl asked, panic ran through her voice.

"We get storms here a lot, I don't think it's too bad." Frankie replied. The boy in between her and Seojun looked out to the sky, frowning with worry. "Then what's that?" He asked, pointing to something far away.

Cody followed his finger back to the storm. Just below the clouds, highlighted by the rapid flashes of lightning a bump under the clouds had formed. Cody watched with wide eyes as the grey clouds spun, picking up more momentum and becoming larger by the second.

Thunder shook the ground as small balls of ice started to assault the earth below. Another vein of lightning cut through the sky and with it, the clouds grew towards the ground, swirling in the wind and twisting around itself.

Cody stepped back in shock as the little girls cried out saying something that he didn't understand. Frankie watched on in horror with him. "Oh shit." She murmured.

Just as they came to the realization, an administrator's voice broke through all of the chaos. "Everybody back inside! Hurry!" She shouted.

Before Cody realized what was happening, kids were sprinting towards the door, pushing their way through to the building, stepping on other people's feet, pushing them away from the entrance and even knocking a few others onto the ground.

Cody took Frankie's hand and he started to pull her along with him, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked back to see Seojun struggling to get through. His three younger sisters refused to move so that they could get to safety, another sister clung tightly to one of the supports of the roof while the oldest girl tried to calm her down. Seojun's oldest younger brother was yelling at them to come on and the youngest brother was staring at the storm with a big grin and sparkles in his eyes. His hat flew away from the force of the wind and his curly, black hair blew backwards as he watched with awe.

'That's kind of unsettling.'

But that kid's strange fascination with the storm wasn't his main concern right now. Cody whipped his head around towards Frankie with worry. “We have to help them.” He said. Frankie nodded silently, and started running ahead of him towards the group of kids. Against the heavy winds, Cody ran a few steps behind her. 

With his teeth gritted tightly, Seojun threw one of the clingy girls over his shoulder, he reached down and in one motion, wrapped his arm around one of his other sister’s waists and hoisted her up next to him. He paused for a moment and glanced between one of his arms and the third girl as if he were debating something.

“There’s no way he can carry all three of them!” Frankie exclaimed. She looked back at Cody as she ran. “You get the girl on the beam, I’ll get the last one next to him.” She said. Cody nodded and ran towards the beams with haste.

As they ran to help, Seojun's oldest brother snatched up the younger one who seemed entranced by the storm and dragged him into the school building. "But I wanna see the storm!" He cried as he tried to snatch himself from his brother's grasp. "Yeah? Well how would you like to stay out here and get dragged by it?" He yelled back. The younger brother pouted, but he let his older sibling take him away despite that. If this were a less severe situation, Cody probably would've laughed, but right now, he was focused on helping the girls.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He called out. A girl with long, curly black hair and big eyes that appeared to be violet with the flashes of lighting whipped around in panic. “I can’t get her to come down!” She shouted back. Cody stopped beside her and looked up at the other girl.

Clinging like her life depended on it, was a girl with very long red hair and dark skin. Tears streamed down her face and mixed with the rain that hit her body as she cried out into the storm.

Cody turned to her older sister quickly. "What's her name?" He asked. Her sister gulped, her eyes were wide with worry. "Alena." She said. Cody nodded. "Okay." Calmly and quietly, he stepped forward, walking closer to the support beam. Alena continued to cry and whimper with her eyes wrenched tightly shut. He exhaled deeply, as he readied himself to speak to her.

"

Hey Alena, it's a pretty lively storm, huh?" He started, trying not to let his voice shake with his body. The older sister eyed him suspiciously.

Alena gasped, trying to breathe against her tears. "Leave me alone!" She screamed. Cody inhaled sharply, trying not to shrink back from her. "I know it's scary, but you have to get down from there so we can get to shelter." Cody continued.

Alena shook her head rapidly. "No! If I get down, the wind's gonna carry me away!" She cried. She gripped the beam more tightly than before. "No it won't, I won't let that happen." He said. "I'm not leaving!" Alena cried.

Her sister looked up at her with fear etched across her face. Cody knew he had to get through to her. "The storm can't get to you inside the school. Once we get there, you'll be safe with everyone else. It'll pass." He said. Alena was silent, but she turned her head towards him. 

"Your sister's really worried about you, and I promise we just want to get you to safety. Nothing's gonna happen to you." He said.

Alena sniffed loudly and finally opened her eyes. "You promise?" She whimpered. "I promise." Cody replied confidently.

Alena looked at him and then to her sister who nodded at her, confirming his words. Once again, Alena wrenched her eyes shut, but this time she loosened her hands and let herself fall.

Cody ran forward and not a second later she crashed into his arms. Jiwoo ran up to him and helped her sister to her feet. "Alena!" She said, wrapping her in a tight hug. Cody took off his coat and threw it over them, offering some protection from the rough rain. "Come on, let's go!" He urged them.

Quickly, they made their way to the still open door, Seojun watched out for them, holding it open. The older sister took Alena's hand and sprinted towards him. Quickly, he took the two girls under his arms and held them tightly.

"Cody! Come on! Fast!" He urged him, circling his hand quickly. Under his coat, Cody picked up the pace and rushed through the door into the school, it was quickly slammed shut behind him.

As Cody started to walk into the building, he couldn't help but feel the urge to look outside again. He knew that he should get away from the windows, but there was some nagging feeling gnawing at his chest. To quiet his nerves, he decided to take a quick glance through the window.

He turned around to view the outside world again. The rain beat down in sheets and he heard loud pops sounding off against the roof. Hail. As the two forms of precipitation pummeled the school building, he looked down the carpool lane, towards the beam that Alena had held onto so tightly.

His heartbeat raced and the nagging feeling came back to bite him in the chest again, much more viscous than before. He gritted his teeth and looked on, just as another strike of lightning spread across the sky above.

It highlighted the space he was watching and in the brief flash of light, he saw defined prints in the metal of the support beam. Hand shaped.

Instantly he jumped up and pulled himself back from the window. He shook his head rapidly. There was no way that could've been real. It had to have just been the stress of the situation getting to his head.

It had to be.

"Cody!" Frankie snatched him away and sprinted down the hallway with him in tow. "Come on, we gotta go! It's not safe here." She said. Cody forced himself back into reality and ran with her, putting the imaginary hand prints out of his mind.

"You're right, sorry. I got distracted." He apologized. Frankie scoffed. "That sounds like you." She replied playfully.

As they ran down the hallway to safety Cody looked back out of the window, trying to find an answer to what he had just seen, but the sky was an ominous grey and the lightning had stopped. He couldn't see anything past the double doors.

~~~

"Dad, where are you guys?" Cody asked. 

"Other side of town at City Hall, the tornado's actually a natural one!" Charlie replied over the comms. 

Cody wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not. On one hand, hardly anything that happened on this island was natural , but on the other hand it really wasn't surprising that a tornado would hit the town out of nowhere. 

"Are you all okay at the school?" Charlie asked. 

Momentarily, Cody glanced up at the scene ahead of him. Due to the tornado being closer to the north side of town, they were nearly out of harm's way, but they still had to be cautious. Many students gathered in a windowless hallway filled with lockers. Every one of them were crouched down with their hands over their heads for protection.

Frankie sat beside him, looking extremely bored. Across from him, sat the large group of kids, the Min family, or rather, most of them.

Seojun's younger siblings leaned close to him. He spoke gently to them in a language that Cody couldn't understand. He assumed it was Korean, since Seojun said that he was from Ulsan. They still seemed pretty shaken, but at least they were no longer screaming and crying.

"This is gonna be a long night." Frankie murmured. Cody turned to her with exasperation. "Aw come on, it's not even 6 o'clock yet. You're gonna jinx us." He groaned. Frankie sucked her teeth and waved him away, but she was too tired to reply with a witty remark.

"How long is it gonna be until we can leave?"

Cody turned to look across the room, where the voice had come from. The girl who had been trying to wrangle Alena was sitting across the room, crouched with her hands on her knees and looking directly into his eyes with a wide, unblinking stare.

He found it to be a little unsettling.

"I'm not really sure, but my dad will probably tell me later." He said. One of the identical girls popped her thumb out of her mouth and craned her neck curiously. "Your dad's a weatherman?" She asked.

Cody smiled and shook his head. "Nah, he's the chief of police." He replied. At that, he saw the triplets glance at each other and then Alena and one of their brothers, they each squinted suspiciously.

Feeling a little bewildered, Cody decided to just continue on. "...So, he'll probably be the first to know when the storm clears up." He said. Alena squinted and curled her lip slightly. "That doesn't make sense." She said. "We're severely understaffed around here." Frankie replied, half joking.

All of the Min kids looked at each other,each one was absolutely flabbergasted. "On an island where stuff like this.. happens every day?" Seojun asked. Cody nodded, affirming their fears. "Yep!" He said cheerfully.

All of the siblings looked at him and Frankie with their eyes and mouths wide open. Silence fell throughout the hallway, as they processed the lives that lay ahead of them.

"I wanna go home." One of the triplets replied, still wide eyed. Her sisters looked at her silently, with the same downhearted expressions on their little faces.

Seojun bit his lips into his mouth in thought and held them closer. "Hey, Priscilla says they have a good rescue team. I'm sure we'll be fine." He reassured them. The brother who had been enjoying the storm sat up straighter and looked down the hallway tiredly. "Well if we're not, at least we'll get a good show out of it before this place blows." He said, a grin slowly spread across his face. 

Alena quickly whipped around towards him and eyed him with disdain. "Shut up Lee." She spat harshly. Lee shrugged and pouted his lips. "Hey, I'm just saying." He said nonchalantly.

"Is it really gonna blow up?" A small, trembling voice asked. Seojun clicked his tongue. "Um, I don't think so. It's be pretty crazy for entire island to explode." He replied.

Frankie and Cody instantly shared a look of doubt. From living on Griffin Rock all of their lives, they knew that anything "pretty crazy" tended to thrive here. But now wasn't the time to tell that to a bunch of scared kids. 

After that, silence scattered through the hallway again. Cody leaned his head back against the locker, trying to relieve some of his boredom while he waited for the storm to pass. While he relaxed, all of the events of the day caught up to him. He tuned out everything around him, his head became heavy and he started to fall asleep. Well, until he heard something that related to his mission.

"So, what side of town are you guys on?" She asked. Upon hearing that, Cody snapped out of his sleepy state and sat up to pay attention. Maybe a little too fast, as soon as he met eyes with Seojun, his head started to swim. He immediately felt lightheaded and leaned on Frankie's shoulder to settle the sickening feeling. She didn’t seem to mind though.

As usual, all of the eyes of his siblings turned to Seojun for an answer. He sighed deeply with exasperation and turned to look at Frankie. “I’m not really sure since we don’t know the town yet. We just live in the woods a little far from here.” He said. "There's a lot of bugs." Alena added. 

The middle brother started to laugh but the oldest sister shot him a threatening look and he quickly shut his mouth. Speaking of them, it was getting a little tiring not knowing their names and if Cody wanted them to trust him, they should at least be on a first name basis. Right?

"So what are you guys' names?" He asked curiously, sitting back up (slowly this time). Again, all of the siblings turned to Seojun and he immediately widened his eyes and stared back at them. But when they continued to look up at him, he knew that the decision had been made for him. He sighed dramatically and turned to face across the hallway again. 

Cody couldn't help but chuckle at that display. "You always have to talk for them, don't you?" He joked. Seojun rolled his eyes. "You have no idea." He grumbled. He turned to them one last time. "After this, start talking on your own, I mean it." He said sternly. All of them nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm, though Cody saw fingers crossed behind a couple of backs. He bit his lips into his mouth as he tried not to laugh again.

"That's Jiwoo." He pointed to the oldest sister present. She had very long, curly black hair, light brown skin, and big black eyes. She waved lightly at them with a closed smile on her face. "That's Kyree." Kyree was the 'middle brother'. He had medium brown skin with a yellowish tint, curly hair that stood up a few inches on his head. It was dyed a golden blonde and was brown at the roots where it had grown out. He nodded shortly.

"That one's Lee. He's the troublemaker I was telling you about." Seojun continued. Lee was the youngest brother. He had light brown skin, curly black hair like Jiwoo and big golden brown eyes. He grinned mischievously after hearing what Seojun said about him.

"You already met Alena." Alena nodded and gave them a little smile. Now that she was still, he noticed that she had a lot of dark freckles that collected over her nose. "And these guys are triplets. Elodie, Eloho, and Estelle." Said triplets continued to stay glued to their older brother. Each of them had a full head of curly blond hair, brown skin similar to Kyree's, big hazel eyes, and chubby cheeks.

Though each of them had their own unique differences, they all looked like siblings. Cody wondered if this was how other people viewed his own family.

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Cody Burns." He said. "Francine Greene, but you can call me Frankie." Frankie added. "You know if you have any questions about Griffin Rock, you can ask me and Cody. We've been here forever!" She continued.

"Do you guys have boba?" Jiwoo asked. "Yeah, Downtown!" Frankie replied. Jiwoo turned to Kyree and Seojun instantly. She looked like she had just experienced a horrid betrayal.

"Ju-Ju! We were headed downtown when you made us come home! We coulda got boba!" She yelped. "Eh, boba's trash anyway." Kyree said. "That's just because your taste buds are broken!" Jiwoo yelled dramatically. Kyree shrugged. "I'm not the one who eats ketchup on toast." He retorted.

Their younger siblings pulled themselves back in disgust and a dramatic "EWWWWW!" Sounded through the hallway. Jiwoo's cheeks turned bright red. "I told you that in confidence." She stage-whispered. Kyree smirked. "You shouldn't have, you know I'll say anything to get my way." He replied.

"I don't think that's a good thing.." Alena said. Kyree rolled his eyes, scoffed and waved her off casually. "If it works, it works." He replied. Lee nodded in agreement, he looked like he was close to breaking his neck from all of his enthusiasm. 

Alena folded her arms and stuck her tongue out at him spitefully. Kyree mimicked her and laughed. Seojun turned back to Cody and Frankie and rolled his eyes. "See what I have to deal with?" He asked. Frankie grinned. "At least you get free entertainment!" She joked. Seojun lidded his eyes and sat back against the wall. "You call it entertainment, I call it torment." He replied dryly. 

One of the triplets jumped up excitedly. "Oh! Are we good tormentors?" She asked innocently. Clearly, she hadn't learned what the word 'torment' meant yet. Seojun paused for a moment, but then he laughed, a hearty and genuine laugh. His dimples deepened with his smile. He patted his little sister's head gently. "The best." He replied brightly. He was amused enough to grin and forget hiding his teeth. Under his braces, Cody was sure he saw fangs, but only for a second.

He had to be imagining it.

Despite how quickly he closed his smile again, Cody couldn't help but smile with him. He saw Frankie glance at him from the corner of his eye, but she didn't say anything to him.

Seojun started to say something to Jiwoo when his eyes popped open and he turned back to Cody. "Oh, I never got your number." He said suddenly. Cody blinked quickly. "Really? I thought I gave it to you." He said. Seojun shrugged and smiled a bit. "I guess not." He replied. Cody rolled his eyes but still smiled back at him. "Just give me your phone." He said. 

Seojun pulled it out of his pocket, then he stared at it for a second. He thought about getting up to give it to him, but he decided that didn’t feel like leaving his spot on the floor. He pursed his lips as he dismissed that thought and with a quick swipe of his arm and a flick of his wrist, he slid the little thing across the floor, right at Cody’s feet. Cody stared down at it for a second and looked back up at him. “Really?” He asked with judging eyes. Seojun chuckled and shrugged. “If it means I don’t have to get up, is it really a problem?” He asked. Cody rolled his eyes again. “If you say so.” He replied. 

Cody picked up his phone and quickly got to typing in his number. A few digits in, he glanced up at Seojun and saw that Seojun was already looking at him. They met eyes and Seojun quickly turned his head away. Cody snickered and shook his head. “I thought I was the only one that did that.” He joked. Seojun smiled tight-lipped and sheepishly. “And I thought you were just weird.” He retorted. Cody dropped his jaw dramatically. “You know what?” He held Seojun’s phone out as far as he could. “Take your phone back!” He joked.

Seojun started to laugh and hid his smile behind his hands. Frankie smiled with them. “Come on now, stop playing around.” She said. Cody sat back. “I wasn’t playing.” He replied. Frankie raised her eyebrow mischievously and eyes him suspiciously at the same time. Cody raised his eyebrow in return. “What?” He asked. With a subtle smirk, she turned away from him. “Nothing.” She replied. Cody frowned in confusion. “Okay?” He replied.

He finished typing in his number and slid the phone back to Seojun, who quickly caught and snatched it off the floor in one motion. “Thanks.” He said. Jiwoo and Kyree looked at each other while he stared at his phone. Cody wasn’t quite sure what that was all about. "Yeah, sure." He replied cheerfully.

"Alright guys, the storm has settled, your parents will be picking you up soon. Go ahead and gather your things." An administrator said, walking down the halls as if she was patrolling them. Cody flipped his head around towards Frankie, who shrugged in response.

Over all of their talking (mostly Cody and Seojun's), the kids hadn't even noticed that the storm had come to an end. 

Soon the hallways were bustling with life again like they usually did, as the kids hastily grabbed their bags and made their way towards the door. Cody and Frankie picked up their stuff in the midst of the crowd and all of its chatter. 

"Did your dad call you on the comms to tell you?" Frankie asked as she heaved her book bag over her shoulder. “I don’t think so.” Cody replied. While he grabbed his things, he checked his com to make sure it was still on. Its green light was still on, so it had to be.

"Hm." He hummed curiously. "Maybe you just weren't paying attention." Frankie teased. "I think I would've known if it was on though." Cody replied. He turned his back to her to (finally) get his backpack. "Uh huh." She said doubtfully as she started to walk away. "But seriously-" And by then, Frankie was already halfway down the hall.

He pulled back and started to chase her. "Hey! Come back here!" He shouted. Frankie looked back and laughed, seeing that she had been caught, she started to run away. "Frankie!"

~~~

Cody and Frankie went out to the carpool lane soon after. Kade was waiting and looking bored while leaning on Heatwave casually as he scrolled through his phone. He couldn’t help but notice a few smudges and rips on his uniform, along with the dirt on his face and messy hair. He was definitely gonna ask about that. 

While he excitedly anticipated the stories he would hear about the tornado, Frankie quickly tapped him to get his attention. "My daddy’s here. See ya later Cody!" She waved quickly as she ran off to her dad's overly upgraded car. "See you later Frankie." Cody replied, waving back.

Kade looked up and saw him from across the street. As soon as he did, he sauntered over to him and shook his head.

"What happened to you, Dad called you like three times!" He pulled Cody into a side hug, only to ambush him with a noogie. Cody laughed and tried to wriggle out of his brother's gasp. "Hey!" He giggled. “You’re gonna get dirt on me!” After a minute of struggling, he finally freed himself. It was probably just Kade being 'nice' though.

"I just didn't hear it!" He defended. Kade frowned curiously. "Was your phone or com off?" He asked. "I don't think so." Cody replied. "Huh.." Kade thought for a moment, and then he shrugged. "The storm probably knocked out the tower or something." He decided. "Yeah probably." Cody agreed.

Despite that, Kade still rolled his eyes. He patted Cody on his back and started towards Heatwave's cab. "Come on, let's get you home." He said. 

As they prepared to cross the street, Cody saw something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped to see what was happening, and Kade stopped too. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Under the sidewalk canopy, Seojun and his siblings stood idly by. But as soon as they heard something coming down the road, kicking up rain puddles, the little ones started jumping for joy.

Further down the parking lot, a long van pulled in and a woman in her mid thirties jumped out as soon as it stopped. With tears in her eyes and her long, curly brown hair flying in the wind behind her back, she ran out into the parking lot.

She cried out to them in another language, and spread her arms out like wings to receive her children. The triplets, Alena, and Lee ran towards her as fast as their legs could carry them. In just a few moments, they were reunited. Their mother spoke to them between sobs and ran her hands through their hair.

"I guess someone who isn't from here wouldn't expect a tornado on the second day of school. She must've been really worried." Kade said. Cody nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah." He agreed quietly.

By now, his eyes were focused on the other side of the scene. Seojun, Jiwoo, and Kyree, the three oldest kids, had stayed behind. Cody couldn't see their faces, but from how still they were, he could tell that they were watching their family intently. 

Namseon broke her gaze from the youngest few to look up at them. She quietly asked them something in their native tongue. The only response that she got was a nod from Seojun.

Cody frowned curiously. What was that about? Were they upset about something?

But his train of thought was instantly derailed, when a flash of yellow headlights assaulted his eyes. He pulled his head back and covered his face with his arm. "Ow! Hey!" He cried out.

Impatiently, Heatwave flashed his headlights at Kade and Cody, clearly signaling that he wanted to go home. Kade rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Okay okay, we're coming." He groaned irritably. Under his breath he muttered a short 'damn' as he sauntered towards the firetruck.

Cody started towards Heatwave, but decided to take one last look at the Min family. Now, they were piling into the van to go home. As Seojun stepped into the vehicle, he looked out of the corner of his eye. Startled, Cody stopped in place.

Seojun smiled and shook his head as if to say 'Are you serious right now?' Sheepishly, Cody waved at him. Now that he'd been caught, he could feel the heat of embarrassment creeping up to his ears. Seojun waved back and finally (after Kyree impatiently shoved him) stepped into the van.

"Come on Cody!" Kade shouted from across the parking lot. "Coming!" He shouted back to him. He hopped off of the sidewalk and ran towards Heatwave. As the idea of going home came to him, the thought of Seojun and his family was put out of his mind.

~~~~

“So how’d you get to looking beat up like that?” Cody asked. Kade opened his mouth to start his explanation, but he was interrupted by Heatwave bursting into laughter. “Oh! You wouldn’t believe it!” He shouted breathlessly between laughs. “Come on, it’s not that big a deal.” Kade deflected. “Riiight.” Heatwave said, rolling his eyes. “Come on, just tell me!” Cody exclaimed. 

Heatwave grinned mischievously. “Okay okay, so we were in the middle of trying to fix this mess and getting people inside, right?” He started. “Yeah?” Cody urged him. “It’s really windy out, I swear to Primus that storm coulda knocked me over. So Graham suggests to Kade to take his coat off since it’s heavy and it could drag him. And he’s doing all this whining and carrying on like he usually does like “But I’m gonna freeze without it!” “I’m not gonaaaa!” Heatwave made sure to pitch up his voice and drag his words dramatically while sporting a shit eating grin. “I wasn’t whining!” Kade protested (lied) through his teeth. 

At that, Heatwave and Cody shared a look of mischievous doubt. “Go on.” Dani said over the comms. “Dani!” Kade exclaimed. Graham burst into laughter from the other end. “I’m sorry, we were trying so hard to be quiet.” He said. “You guys already saw it, get off the line!” Kade said. As soon as he said that, Blades’ face appeared on the screen. “But we wanna hear Heatwave tell the story.” He said. “Uughh!” Kade grunted and fell back onto the chair with his arms folded. 

“Is he pouting?” Dani asked. Cody quickly glanced over to his brother, who had scrunched his face up at him with attitude. “You guessed it.” He replied through a proud grin. “I figured.” Graham replied. Then, Heatwave cleared his throat to stop anymore oncoming chatter. “Anyways… So we were trying to rescue this guy that got stuck in a tree-" 

"-Mr. Harrison." Chase suddenly interjected. 

Heatwave paused and sported a deadpan expression. "Yeah, that. So he was stuck in a tree and Kade's trying to get him out, but while he's up on my ladder, the wind catches onto his coat. Before I knew what was going on, he was at the top of the tree, flying like a flag!" Heatwave exclaimed. 

Cody instantly clenched his jaw shut and held his breath. He looked at Kade cautiously, wondering if he should laugh or not. At first Dani sputtered, which made Graham start laughing and sent Dani sprawling after him and then Cody. Their uproarious laughter made the comm units go in and out from the sound overload. From the wheezing in between, Cody was sure that they were both sprawled over by then. 

Of course, Kade was still pouting. "It's not funny, I literally could've died!" Kade exclaimed. "And yet you didn't." Heatwave said dryly. "Heatwave!" Chase gasped. But his shock was quickly drowned out by Graham and Dani howling with laughter. 

Kade squinted irritably. "Damn brats." He muttered under his breath. Cody snickered, but quickly covered his mouth with his hand so that his brother wouldn't notice. 

"You should've seen it Cody! He looked like a windsock!" Graham exclaimed. "Or one of those inflatable men they have at car dealerships!" Dani added. "Oh my God!" Graham and Dani were instantly thrown back into a fit of laughter. "On the bright side, Blades and Dani got him down." Boulder said. Kafe scoffed and crossed his arms tighter. "Thank you Boulder. It's nice that someone appreciates me." He said sharply. 

Cody giggled and quickly turned to look out of the window, when he received a seething glare from Kade. While the craziness of Griffin Rock emergencies weren't his favorite, sometimes it helped to laugh at the things that happened. 

It took their minds off of the fact that something much worse could have happened to them.

~~~

Silently, Seojun collapsed onto his bed. At this point, he didn't even care that he still had on his school clothes, he was completely worn out. This place was nowhere near normal.

Speaking of "normal" something he had seen a few minutes ago crossed his mind. When he had looked across the parking lot to glance at Cody, he noticed something strange.

Out of nowhere, the headlights on the firetruck flashed, but he didn't see either of them with keys in their hands. And then, the man next to Cody looked at it and said something like 'Okay, we're going!'

He frowned curiously. Maybe it was automatic? But still, who talks to their cars? Or maybe he was just a car guy. Still, it sounded oddly familiar, like he was talking to a friend.

Seojun rolled over on his back and sighed deeply. It was the end of the day, why was he thinking about this? It was probably the people being just as weird as the island was. Yeah.

Suddenly, he heard a buzzing noise and felt vibrations in his bed. He turned his head to the side and saw that his phone was going off. He raised his eyebrow curiously. He wasn't expecting any texts today, what was this about?

Lazily, he opened his phone and saw a new message.

?: Hey, it's Priscilla from math class. Did you get home okay?

Seojun immediately felt his heart rate increase and a small smile stretched his lips. He hadn't imagined that someone would be thinking about him, especially not someone he had just met.

S: yeah, im fine. wat about you?

S: *what

?: Yeah, I was already home before the tornado hit. So it was kind of boring for me.

S: i wish. my sister climbed a pole

?: 😦

?: Excuse me?

S: yea, she dies that

S: shit, *dies

S: *does

?: 💀

S: sorry, not really used to an english keyboard

?: It's fine, I totally get it! I was texting in Viet once and it was a total shit show.

S: too bad I missed it

?: 🤨 So you want to watch me make a fool of myself.

S: we'd be even

?: Lol. That's never gonna happen. I'm literally perfect! 💁🏻♀️

S: bet

?: Oh, really? Fine. What do you want? (That you'll never get)

'Oh, I was just saying I didn't believe her. I guess I gotta do this now.' Seojun thought.

S: 🤔

S: how's $20?

?: Please! That's nothing!

?: Come on, I know you can do better than that!

'She must be really confident.' Seojun thought. 'But hey, if it gets me more money!'

S: ok. $50. 

?: Now we're talking!

S: im gonna make sure I sin

S: *win

?: Oh? How? 😶

S: that's for me to know and you to find out :3

?: We'll see about that.

?: May the best man win.

?: Me of course.

S: can't wait to be $50 richer

?: Now you're just being cocky

S: that's any different from you?

?: 😂

?: You're sharp, I might have to keep you around Seojun. 😉

?: See you tomorrow, I have homework to do. 🙄

'Wait, we already have homework?' Seojun thought. He wanted to ask about it, but Priscilla had already said goodbye. It wouldn't be polite to keep her on the phone any longer.

S: bye

While he blocked out the arguing from downstairs, he ran through the conversation in his head at least a thousand times. What did she mean by "keeping him around"? Usually people stick by other people they like, right? In that case, did that make them friends?

At that thought, he found himself grinning with glee, his heart soared with excitement. He'd made his first friend on Griffin Rock, and it wasn't even hard! Maybe this was a good sign!

Finding a sense of pride in his social skills, he decided to save her number as "Priscilla 💫" with the little emoji, just for fun. 

Maybe he could make something out of living here.

~~~

Priscilla turned off her phone and tossed it onto her bed with a deep sigh. Talking to Seojun was like talking to a brick wall. He was really nice, but his texts were pretty dry. How was she supposed to get in with him, if she can barely hold a conversation with him?

But, in person he was a little less stiff. A little odd, but less stiff. She thought for a moment. Maybe she'd ask him to hang out next week. He could probably use it anyway. And, that would further their relationship. 

She smiled to herself while she saved his number as "S.J." Soon, she'd have him eating out of the palm of her hand. 

But despite how excited she was to go through with her plan, she felt a strange, tugging feeling in her chest. But, she dismissed it, deciding that it wasn't important. What was important was impressing her mother, and this was a sure fire way to do that.

~~~~

After what felt like forever, the storm had finally settled and Chief Burns was on his way home.

"Should we perform an investigation on the townspeople? I'm sure that the storm was a stressful situation." Chase said. He paused and glanced at the corner of the screen. "And I think it would be worse for someone who's only been here for a short time." He added.

Charlie sighed in thought and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. "Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea. It was pretty rough out there for a while." He agreed.

Not only would it give them the chance to make sure that the citizens were doing alright, but it could also give them the chance to connect with the Min family. At this point, there was no way that he could give up the opportunity.

"We'll start while Graham and Boulder check on the tech around the island. Kade, Dani, Blades, and Heatwave can help." Charlie said. "I'll worry about the Mins myself."

As he started to think of the houses that he would speak to, a sudden crackle of feedbag cut into his thoughts. "Hey Dad, can I come with you?" Cody asked eagerly. Silently, he looked at Chase, who promptly shrugged.

Charlie thought about it by himself for a moment. Cody was pretty good with people, so it couldn't hurt to have him tag along. Especially since he wanted to be a certified member of the team one day.

"Sure, that's fine. I'll pick you up at the firehouse." He replied. Then, he promptly turned off his comm. "Is there a problem, Chief? You seem contemplative." Chase commented.

Charlie chortled in surprise and shook his head. Of course after all these years, Chase could read his expressions from a mile away. He couldn't get anything past him now.

"You've got a good eye, partner." He said. Feeling his heart grow heavy, he released a deep sigh. "I suppose I'm just stressed. I feel like nothing's happening right now that could help us improve our situation." He replied.

The few days that they had known about this predicament had seemed to drag on for months. Right now they still had no strategy other than biding their time and hiding in plain sight. He could feel the eyes of the townspeople on him, wondering what was wrong. 

After a short time of the pressure of keeping an extraterrestrial secret being relieved, it was like the weight had suddenly plummeted right back onto his shoulders. Now it was only a matter of time before he was squashed under it.

Chase paused looking into his eyes as if he were trying to find another answer. After a moment, he gave in and tried to aid his friend. "Maybe talking to them could change things." He proposed. 

Charlie nodded thoughtfully and shifted his eyes towards the approaching firehouse. "I hope so Chase." He said. "I hope so."

~~~

Luckily, most of the Griffin Rock community was doing fine, even snappy Mrs. Neederlander and her equally snappy feline. Cody had to resist laughing when he heard Kade running from his claws over the comms. 

It was a relief to hear that the townspeople were still in one piece. He'd been pretty worried about it, but while he cared for their little island, his eyes shifted elsewhere as they made their way onto the rough, woodland road.

"No wonder we had no idea they were here. Mayor Luskey had them hidden in the middle of nowhere." Charlie said irritably. Cody looked up at him and cocked his eyebrow, "You mean like the rest of the town?" He joked. Charlie chuckled and shook his head. "You know what I mean." He replied.

Cody smirked and looked down at his phone. Since they both had each other's numbers now, they could've texted by now, but they had just seen each other. What was he supposed to start with? 

"I'm not certain that this structure existed before." Chase pointed out. Before Cody had noticed, they had already reached their destination, it wasn't at all what he had expected.

A tall dreary house stood close to the northwest edge of the island, its brown vinyl siding mimicked wood. The tall windows on the bottom floor were tightly shuttered, the tan stone walkway curved towards the house, as if it were delaying entry. The structure stretched towards the sky with a tall pointed roof and a tiny, circular window just below it. 

Despite being made of modern materials, it looked old and had a strange aura around it. Being near it sent a shiver down Cody's spine. He (mostly) jokingly wondered if it was haunted.

The team of three froze in their seats, wondering what their next step should be. "Well that looks.. welcoming." Chief Burns said nervously. "It is only a house, the humans inside could be even less hospitable." Chase blurted out. 

The Chief and Cody shared a cringe of uncertainty. "It's a possibility, Chase." Charlie said hesitantly, probably holding back a sarcastic retort. 

After a moment, Charlie pushed open the door and stepped out of Chase's cab, onto the walkway. He paused and looked up at the house curiously. Then, he turned around. "You coming Cody?" He asked. Following that question, Cody glanced up at the house one more time, stuck his hands in the pockets of his bomber jacket and nodded.

Sternly, Charlie nodded back and they started towards the house. When they arrived, Charlie stepped into the porch almost silently, and knocked on the door.

He was met with silence.

They waited for a moment, but a response never came. Charlie looked at Cody with confusion. "There should be someone home, there are cars here, plus no one really wants to drive so shortly after a tornado." He said. Cody looked up at the door. "You could try them again." He suggested. "Yeah, I guess." Charlie murmured hesitantly.

This time he used the knocker to alert the household. And again, there was no response. Charlie sighed. "Maybe there really isn't anyone home." He thought aloud.

Feeling bored by the situation, Cody decided to look around the yard. Near the top of a tall and sturdy tree at the front of the yard, was a quaint and square treehouse with a flat roof, wooden planks up the tree truck, a balcony and a window behind it.

A swing set sat near the backyard, a patio swing rocked lightly in the wind over the porch, multiple toys had been thrown across the yard and grass was precisely cut. This scene surrounding the house made it look like it didn't belong there.

The lingering grey clouds didn't help the appearance of the house. It had an eerie look about it, and Cody wondered if he should turn around. But as he started to wonder more about it, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

"Hm?" He murmured. Curiously, he frowned and scooped it up, along with turning it on in one motion. As soon as he looked at the screen, he saw an unknown number pop up in his notifications.

Instantly, his eyes drooped with annoyance. 

'Another scammer?..' He thought.

Still, he opened his phone and looked through his texts. As soon as he clicked on the number, he was texted again.

?: you made it home okay?

?: also do you know if we have work in ms. kalen's class yet?

As soon as he read the second text, it clicked that it was Seojun talking to him. Somehow, he'd forgotten to save his number. Maybe he was just thinking about other things.

C: Yeah, I'm fine thanks for asking. Also, we don't.

?: ok

?: theres a police car outside my house

?: not sure why

?: maybe lee vandalized

Without thinking twice, Cody texted him back curiously. 

C: You can see us from here?

?: us?

C: Yeah. Like I said earlier, my dad's chief of police, so he was going around checking on everybody. Nothing serious.

?: great, maybe mam will leave the windows, not spy out of them.

After reading that text, Cody frowned with concern.

C: What?

?: window to the left

Curiously, Cody turned his head to look at the window. As soon as he did, he caught sight of a big, bright green eye, leering at him through a small slit in the curtains.

Surprised, Cody jumped and his eyes popped open, immediately seeing his reaction, the curtains swiftly closed.

With his eyes still in shock, he turned back to his dad. "Yeah, they're definitely home." He said. Charlie frowned. "You saw someone?" He asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure." He glanced back at the window. It was still tightly shut. Hoping to resolve this odd situation, he began typing on his phone.

C: Could you tell her that we're only here to check on you guys since the storm was so bad?

?: hold on

For a moment, everything was silent again. Charlie bit his lips into his mouth bitterly. "I think it's about time we head home." He said. Cody looked up at the house again, making sure he'd have a clear picture in his mind. "Yeah." He agreed disheartendly. 

But as they started to turn around, a low 'click' sounded from the other side of the door. Startled by the sudden sound, Cody and Chief Burns stopped in their tracks to look back.

Another click followed the first one, and then another. Cody wasn't sure how many he heard, but he could hear them traveling up the door. They were all separate locks.

Charlie frowned and looked to his son to confirm that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Cody looked back at him with wide, uneasy eyes. The two stepped back from the door anxiously as one last and loud click sounded through the door.

For a moment, there was silence. Neither of them were sure what was happening on the other side. They stared at it intently, without shifting their eyes an inch, waiting for a response.

Finally, the door creaked with stuff hinges, four fingers hooked themselves onto it. One bright green eye peeked at them through the darkness.

"What do you want?" A cautious, alto voice asked. Charlie instantly took charge. "I'm Chief Charlie Burns," he patted his son's shoulder. "and this is my son Cody." He said, bringing out his chipper, people pleasing tone.

The eye shifted to look at both of them and then focused on the chief, but the person attached to it said nothing. Charlie knew he had to add to it.

"We're here to check on your family after the big storm today. It must've been very troubling, especially since you're still so new to the area." He said. Cody nodded earnestly, hoping to help somehow.

The hooked fingers relaxed and her eye became less intense. "That is.. kind of you." She said hesitantly. "We are fine, thank you. My children are only a bit shaken." She said. 

Charlie smiled softly. "That's a relief. I'm glad you all are okay." He said. "You know, if there's anything you ever need or if you want help navigating the town-" He gently outstretched his hand, with a small piece of paper that had his phone number written on it. "-don't hesitate to call." He calmly asserted.

Silently, she took the slip of paper and glanced at it, from the way her eye 'bobbed' in the crack of the door, it was clear that she nodded back at him.

"I hope that we didn't startle you too much." He added apologetically. "What's your name, ma'am?" He asked.

She paused briefly before answering. "Namseon."

Charlie nodded and extended his hand one more time with a smile on his face. "It's nice to meet you Namseon." He said. She stared at his hand for a moment, before briefly taking it and pulling her arm back. "Well met." She replied sternly.

Cody was a bit irked by this. He wasn't completely sure why. Maybe it was the hiding, the mistrust in her eye, the unwavering coolness of her voice, or how formal her manner of speech was. Either way, he wasn't quite sure what to make of this.

Charlie nodded, holding his smile, while looking a bit confused himself. "Well, now that that's done. We'll be on our way. I hope you'll be able to see everything this island's got to offer." He said.

She paused and blinked once. "Certainly." She replied coolly. Charlie tipped his head shortly and started to turn away. "Until next time, Ms. Min."

As soon as their eyes left her, she shut the door after them. The bang echoed through the yard shortly after. Charlie and Cody looked at each other wearily, knowing that they'd have an interesting conversation during the car ride home.

~~~

Seojun watched as the police cruiser drove away. As he heard the sounds of his mother's cardigan swishing as she walked towards him. He dove off of the couch and onto the floor, pretending that he had been on his phone idly during the entire conversation. Though, he knew that she would hear him. 

Namseon walked in with displeasure in her gait, her eyes shifted directly to him. "You're awfully trusting of them." She said. Seojun resisted the urge to frown and avoided her eyes. "Cody said that they were just here to check on us, and they were." He said 

She sighed tiredly. "We can't just let anyone into our home Ju-Ju. It's not safe for us. We have to stay to ourselves." 

Seojun clenched his jaw irritably, narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils. "Do you understand me?" She added. With an annoyed huff, he replied shortly. "Kei."

Namseon still looked agitated, but she decided to leave it at that. The day had been long enough. "Fine then." She replied, equally as short as he had. She walked upstairs silently, leaving Seojun to seethe by himself.

She'd do anything that she could to protect her family, but now that they had been staying here for a while, she was beginning to feel conflicted.

The kids were making friends and some wanted to go out into the town or stay after school for clubs they'd heard of. She thought that things would be easier, but there was no way that she could keep them all in arm's reach.

She looked back at her son regretfully and then at the slip of paper the police chief had handed her. He and that boy seemed nice, but looks can be deceiving. Was it worth potentially risking the safety of her family to try to be 'normal'?

The more that she thought about it, the less sure that she became?

She sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling, truly thinking of something much farther off.

'What would you do, Hina?' She wondered to herself.

~~~~

"And she just stared at you through a crack in the door?" Dani asked, completely bewildered by the story that she was being told. Cody nodded. "Yeah, it was really weird. I felt like I was being.. studied or something." He confirmed. 

"I didn't have clear view of what was happening, but the conversation that I heard was very stilted." Chase added. Charlie took a sip of tea. "She kept looking around, like she thought she was being watched." He said. 

The Bots and Burnses alike were stunned by what they were hearing. Sure they had their share of people who weren't the friendliest, like Milo or Mrs. Neederlander, but this was clearly different. Something was wrong.

Heatwave gritted his teeth in thought. "Most people don't act like that unless they've got something to hide." He said. "I'm with him, that's suspicious in my book." Kade agreed.

Graham pressed his lips together tightly. "That's a pretty bold assumption, I'm not sure if we wanna get into anything like that yet. We're already in a tight spot as is." He said.

"But what else could behavior like that mean?" Dani challenged. "Maybe she has social anxiety." Boulder suggested lightheartedly, hoping to quell some of the tension.

"I think it might go beyond that." Heatwave disputed. "They go out of their way to be hidden in the woods, they're barely in town and they won't talk to Chief Burns? It's not the best look."

"I find it to be rather unsettling!" Chase added.

Of course, due to the circumstances, Blades' imagination had begun to run wild. His opticss went wide as different theories swirled through his processor. "But what could they be hiding? Are they spies? Maybe more 'Morocco-esque villains?" Then, he gasped dramatically with his servos pressed against the sides of his face-plate. "DECEPTICONS!?" He exclaimed.

The entire bunker froze for a moment, as each human and cybertronian took Blades' words in. Sure, the war was over, but there were still some decepticons who were still riled up from the conflict. Could it be possible? Maybe they could be minicons?

Suddenly, Chief Burn's voice cut through their thoughts. "No, no! That's ridiculous. We're getting in over our heads!" He said. "We need to stay calm and keep our eyes peeled for now. Until we get a real lead, Cody'll keep talking to that boy, and I'll work on Namseon. For now, worry about keeping yourselves-" He turned to the bots sternly. "-robots in disguise." He said.

The four Burns kids nodded somberly, the bots were silent. So far, everything seemed to be stagnant, other than the terrifying places that their imaginations could take them.

~~~~

Later that night, Cody flipped into his bed, fresh out of the shower in his pajamas with his damp hair stuck to his head. As he began to settle down to go to bed, he opened his phone to find relaxing sounds to listen to. Once he opened his screen however, he was distracted by a new text.

?: sorry about mam. she doesn't like people much

As soon as he saw the number, he realized that it was Seojun texting him again. He made a mental note to save his number later.

C: It's ok, I wasn't expecting all those locks tho😅

?: oh yea, those too

With a curious frown, Cody debated asking him a question about her. They'd only been talking to each other for two days. Maybe it was too early to get into that. For now, he'd start with something more simple. Bantar.

C: Nobody else climbed a pole right?

?: -_-

?: i wish.

C: Wait seriously?

?: i havent known peace since I got here. these kids are bad

Cody smiled humorously behind the screen.

C: Come on, they can't be that bad.

?: wrong. let me tell you about this one time last month

C: 😶

?: hold on i'm tryna type

And about a minute later, an entire essay pops up on Cody's screen. At first, he was annoyed that it was so long, but the more he read, the more absurd it began to get.

C: What do you mean your brother fell from the attic window???

?: exactly that. like i said, he decided he wanted to see the chimney and he overshot a step.

C: Is he okay?

?: no

C: oh.

?: he is clinically insane

Instantly, Cody sighed in relief. For a second, he thought that the kid got seriously injured. This guy's really gotta word his sentences better.

C: Dude, say that first. You had me thinking the worst! 😅

C: What even goes on over there?

?: nothing you wanna know

C: How do you know that?

For a moment, Seojun stopped typing, but then he saw three dots pop up on the screen and disappear again.

'Shoot! Was that too bold?'

And as he started to panic, Seojun finally replied.

?: you're funny

?: it's late, i'll tell you more tomorrow

?: goodnight

Cody read his text clearly, but something seemed off about it. Maybe it was just because he was tired. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was 11:15 at night. He promptly raised his eyebrows in surprise. There was no way they'd been talking that long!

C: I'll hold you to that. See you later Seojun!

After that, he closed their chat and simply saved his contact as 'Seojun'. He didn't think he needed to add anything to it. They'd just met anyway. But if his mission went well, maybe that would change.

~~~

As soon as he read Cody's text, Seojun turned his phone off and turned over to look up at the ceiling. Maybe he was overthinking things or he was just overwhelmed, but something about someone wanting to hear his stories about his crazy family made him so excited! Even if he had to tone it down a bit for certain audiences. 

He had to find a good story to tell now. Lee was usually a good source, that kid was a menace to society! Maybe he could tell him about the time Jiwoo caught him getting ready to stick his hand in a blender? Or when Kyree saw him sleep-licking the bathroom floor? No actually, that one's really gross. It would be really embarrassing to tell that one.

Maybe he should ask his other siblings if they've seen Lee doing anything crazy. Yeah, that'd work! Or he could find a story about one of the other kids. They're tamer, but they're in no way peaceful. At all.

As he thought of all the stories he could tell, rather than sleeping, he found himself smiling at nothing. 

Chapter Text

"Graham?"

At the sound of Boulder's voice, Graham was suddenly pulled out of his own head. "Huh? What?" He asked. "Well, now that there's new people around, you've gotta pretend to drive again." Boulder replied. Graham sighed heavily as soon as he processed those words. "Ugh, I forgot about that." He groaned. Begrudgingly he put his hands on the wheel and sat forward again.

"Sorry, it's just that I don't think we should risk anything." Boulder said sheepishly. Graham frowned. "No no, it's fine. It's just kinda weird because I haven't done this in a while." He replied urgently. He paused and glanced down at the screen. "You still know how to do your robot voice?" He asked, smiling playfully. 

Effortlessly, Boulder slid down his optic shields and froze his expression. "Does This Answer Your Question?" He replied in a blank, stilted manner. Graham chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're as ready as ever." He replied. While he'd been humored by the switch, he also felt relieved that his partner had retained that skill. They hadn't been pretending for a while now.

But unfortunately, that had to change again.

After that their conversation ended, they soon approached the construction site. Graham was supposed to oversee a project, building new apartments downtown.

(Hopefully, these ones wouldn't go up in flames like last time.)

Graham hopped out of Boulder's cab and shut the door behind him. Quickly, he scanned the area, luckily there was no one unfamiliar in sight. But just to be safe, he and Boulder would still have to be cautious.

He turned back to him subtly. "Are you coming with me or do you wanna stay here?" He whispered. Though Graham couldn't see it because he was still in vehicle mode, Boulder also surveyed the scene ahead of him. "Yeah, sure." He replied.

Quickly he shifted into bot mode, with his optic shields down. He stood perfectly still and at attention, like a robot. Graham clenched his jaw anxiously. It was strange having to do this again. He felt worry seep into his heart. What if someone they knew asked questions or tried to speak to Boulder?

But he exhaled sharply, rubbed his temples and massaged his fears to the back of his mind, he could deal with them later. With an elusive nod towards the construction site, he began to continue on. "Let's go." He said quietly. After he took a few steps, Boulder followed stiffly behind him.

And as soon as he stepped into the work site, he was in engineer mode. With Boulder silently in tow, he checked on the safety of the site, double checked the supports, went over the design with the builders, and watched from a short distance as they made progress.

Of course, he couldn't help but notice the odd looks that he and Boulder got. But again, he could worry about those later. He had to.

He put his hand against his forehead and looked up at the scaffolding curiously. "How long do you think this is gonna take?" He asked. In return, he was answered with silence. He immediately frowned and whipped his head around to look at Boulder. It wasn't like him to ignore people.

As soon as he turned around, he saw a blank, lifeless robot behind him, staring at him with wide, dead eyes. Then he smacked his palm against his forehead. "Oh right, you can't talk to me right now." He muttered.

Hopefully his dad came up with a plan soon, it had only been a day and this robot stuff was already getting old again. Plus, he was starting to miss his friend.

Maybe he was overreacting..

He sighed deeply, stepped forward and adjusted his hard hat reluctantly. "I should get back to work." He murmured to no one in particular. He started to scan the area. It seemed like everything was going fine, but he didn't want to stand around with Boulder right now. He had to do something. Something that would distract him from this weird situation.

He took another look around, scanning every little object, trying to find an occupation. As he scanned the site his heart dropped in a slow, sickening way that made his chest hurt and sped up as he felt something looming over his shoulder. 

Was someone behind him? 

He jumped in surprise and flipped himself around, only to meet face first with a stack of wooden beams.

He pulled his head back and frowned in confusion- "uhm.." -until he noticed someone carrying them.

'Oh yeah, that makes more sense..'

Why wouldn't there be someone carrying them? (I mean, there are machines that do that, but that isn't the point right now). As he tried to ignore the nervous flush in his face, he leaned to the side to peek around the beams.

And as soon as he did, he made eye contact with a man on the other side, who abruptly raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there." He said quickly.

Graham immediately stopped in his tracks and in the moment, he couldn't help but give him a once over.

He had long black locs to his shoulder blades, his eyebrows were thick with strong arches and a diagonal scar at the end of the left one. His eyes were big and brown, something felt off about them, but he wasn't sure what. He had dark brown skin and full lips and-

"Uhm, are you okay?" He asked, tilting his head and squinting with concern. Graham jumped in surprise, he must've lost track of time during his once over. Was he staring?

'Oh God..'

He blinked rapidly, trying to regain his composure.

'Say something, dumbass!'

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, I spaced out." He replied breathily. He glanced off to the side. "But um, should you really be carrying those on your own?" He asked.

The man glanced at the beams, almost as if he had forgotten they were there. "Oh, these? Yeah it's fine, I got this." He replied confidently. He started to smile, but quickly closed his mouth over it.

"Are you sure? I could help. It's kinda dangerous to do that alone since they're heavy." He paused and fiddled with his tie nervously. "And we do have safety regulations.." He added less enthusiastically.

Reluctantly, he paused and thought about it for a moment, his brows furrowed as he processed what Graham said.

"Okay, sure." He replied shortly. "Great!" Graham replied. From his sudden anxiety, it came out as a shout, a little louder than he had expected. Embarrassed, he folded his lips into his mouth and silently made his way to the other end of the beams. Cursing himself as he attached himself to them.

'Why me!?' He cried (internally).

"You got them?" The man called from the other end. "yEp!" Graham replied. This time, he clenched his jaw and looked down with wide eyes. His voice just had to choose the WORST moment to crack. Why? He hasn't been a teenager in about four years! This can not be happening!

Though, the man in front seemed to take no notice of his panicked state. "Okay. Let's go." He replied shortly.

As they carried the beams, Graham's inner monologue continued to haunt him. 

'This is so embarrassing!'

'Why did I do that?'

'He probably thinks I'm a creep or something!'

'The way he said 'okay' sounded like he was so confused! He definitely thinks I'm weird!'

'Get me out of here!'

As he cursed himself internally, he didn't notice when the other man stopped. From the sudden shift of moment he slid forward under the beams. "Hup!" He yelped in surprise and he clutched them in panic. His heart raced in his ears and his face felt like it was on fire.

The man turned around with curious, quirked brows. "You good?" He asked. Still clutching the beams with all his might, Graham nodded stiffly. "Yep." He managed to squeak. "Okay." The other man said dismissively.

'WHY?!' Graham cried internally.

How did he not notice that they stopped? Was he off his game? But once the thought entered his mind, he realized that he had been screaming in his head the whole time. Maybe he'd been on autopilot. That's probably it.

"On three?" The man asked. Graham snapped back out of his thoughts, shaking his head to bring himself back to reality. The other man frowned in confusion. "Then when should we put these down?" He asked. Graham's eyes popped open wide with surprise. "No! I mean, yes! On three!" He replied, a little too excitedly.

The man made a strange face and looked away from him. "Okay…" He murmured.

'AAAAAH! THIS IS HORRIBLE!'

"On three. 1.. 2.. 3."

And with a loud clattering noise, they dropped the beams onto their temporary resting place. "Hooh!" The other man exclaimed and swept his face across his forehead. As he did, Graham caught sight of his arms. His muscles rippled and flexed with effort. 

His shoulders were broad and shiny with sweat. His body was big and brawny with muscle and he was about six feet tall, maybe slightly taller. He wore a yellow hard hat, a black tank top, loose orange pants, and scuffed black boots with thick soles.

"So, that thing follows you everywhere?" He asked. Graham looked behind him to see Boulder standing over them. It was kind of creepy. How did he not hear him coming?

"Yeah, sort of. It's a rescue bot. Top of the line. It kinda has to." Graham replied. Luckily years of practice had given him automatic answers to pretty much every question a person could throw at him when it came to the bots.

The man looked up curiously, with his hand shielding his eyes. "Huh.. cool." He replied. Then, he brought his gaze back down to Graham. "So, what's your name?" He asked.

When he looked into his eyes, his mind went completely blank. He stood in front of him with his jaw clenched shut and his eyes bulging. He felt as if he was standing naked unde a spot light. 

"U-uhm. Graham!" He shook his head at his own voice.

'Get it together!'

As he resisted the urge to clap his hands on his cheeks, he tried again. "Sorry, lemme start over." He stuck out his hand to greet the nameless fellow. "I'm Graham. Graham Burns." He said.

He looked down at Graham's hand for a moment, before taking it in a short, but firm shake. "Kerchek Willis." He replied shortly. Graham smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you Kerchek." He replied.

He began to think that his name was strange, but he quickly dismissed that thought from his mind. That would be rude. It was probably just uncommon or foreign. He took his hand back and pulled it tightly by his side. "So.. what brings you to Griffin Rock?" He asked. 

Without missing a beat, Kerchek widened his arms in a big gesture to the work site. Graham chuckled awkwardly. "Oh yeah, totally." He replied.

'Since when did I start saying totally?'

Kerchek shot him a quick and closed smile. "I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?" He asked. Graham scoffed. "Nah, I just spent a couple months away. Summer vacation and all that." He half-lied. Kerchek nodded thoughtfully. "Cool, I've only been here for a couple months, so I don't really know anybody." He said. 

Graham smiled. "Well, you know me now. Maybe I could introduce you to a few people." He replied. Kerchek chortled awkwardly. "Yeah, maybe." He said.

An awkward silence followed Kerchek's reply. The two of them (and Boulder) stood next to each other as they tried to figure out what to do next.

Suddenly, Kerchek clapped his hands together. "Well, I got work to do. So… I guess I'll see you around." He said hesitantly. Graham nodded. "Yeah, see ya." He replied. Kerchek nodded back and turned away. With his hands shoved deep into his pockets, he moved on, leaving Graham standing alone by the beams.

"Well, that went.. well." Boulder murmured awkwardly. "Don't even." Graham replied. Tiredly, he slipped his glasses off of his sweaty face to clean them off. "Come on," And pushed them back onto his nose. "Let's go." He said.

Silently, he and Boulder walked away. Graham tried to forget how awkward he had been, but it was already starting to replay in his head like a horror movie.

'I guess I'm not sleeping tonight.' He thought dreadfully.

~~~~

The gravel crackled and crunched under the tires of his red car as he made his way back to the house. He wasn't sure if he could call it 'home' in his mind yet. Right now, it sure didn't feel like it.

The kids were loud, one of them was very argumentative, and Namseon was terrified of everything. He sighed deeply, feeling tears of frustration prick his eyes.

Maybe he never should have left home. But then again, that house was just as painful to be in as any other he had spent time in, maybe more so. He'd rather take on a horde of messy little siblings than the memories he had there. He clutched the wheel tightly and exhaled deeply, trying to keep himself from falling apart. He had company after all. 

"Ba!" The toddler in the backseat exclaimed, slamming her hands down on her lap. 

Kerchek looked at her through the rearview mirror and smiled weakly. "You got somethin' to tell me?" He asked, pitching his voice playfully. The little girl didn't respond, instead she opted to chew on her teething toy.

He chuckled lightly. "Come on kid, that's not how a conversation works." He said. Of course, he was only met with the squeaking of her gums on the toy. He smiled at her and shook his head. "Alright, suit yourself." He said.

That little booger was one of the main reasons he was here. He wanted to be somewhere that she could grow up, safe and happy, but he couldn't help but wonder if he had made the right choice. Especially since it meant leaving her family down south to come to the middle of nowhere, where they knew no one.

He clenched his jaw tensely as he thought. Maybe he should talk to 'Yanna, she always knew what to say. She'd understand. 

He looked at the backseat in the rearview mirror again and then he shifted his gaze to the driveway up ahead. He braced himself for whatever would come at him this time. He wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.

He put the car in park and leaned back in his seat. He closed his eyes and as he started to relax, he let his mind wander.

Most of his day had been pretty boring. He hadn't really talked to anybody, he stayed to himself and watched the clock, waiting for the day to end. But at some point, his routine had been interrupted by someone. Someone who almost crashed forehead-first into the beams he was carrying.

He tried not to smile at that. It was kind of funny, but he could've been hurt. And why was he wearing long sleeves and a tie in the summer. Weird.

He had wavy, dirty blonde hair, and grey eyes that were squinting most of the time and thick rimmed, square glasses. He was pretty sure he had never seen a nerdier looking guy. 

He was super clumsy, especially with words. He was starting to worry that this guy had gotten too much sun. He giggled to himself. At least, he had something other than a dreadful mood to remember at the end of the day. 

He was super awkward, but also pretty nice. Maybe they could be friends. 

His suddenly positive thoughts were interrupted by Kamina whining in her car seat. He turned around to look at her. "You probably wanna get out of here, huh?" He said with a bright smile. Kamina sputtered in response, spitting in the air. 

At this point, Kerchek was too used to her to be disgusted. Little kids are super slobbery anyway. He chuckled and started to unbuckle her seatbelt. "I'll take that as a yes." He decided

No matter if things went south in Griffin Rock, as long as he had her, he could take on anything

Chapter Text

Priscilla had planned out her outfit the night before. If her plan was gonna work, she'd have to look her best.

She had only known him for a few days, but she knew a good guy when she saw one. He was tall, well kept, athletic, and so far, he had been pretty knowledgeable in class. He was exactly the kind of guy her mom would expect her to be with. Somebody that was going places in life.

It didn't hurt that he was good looking either.

She undid her flexi rods and lightly brushed out the thick, bouncing waves that fell past her shoulders. She did her makeup, a full face with clear pink lipgloss, fake lashes, winged eyeliner, highlighter in the corners of each eye, and light purple eyeshadow. Her nails were covered by pink acrylics which had a curved dividing line where the nails were purple near her cuticles. Each nail had clear and pink gemstones to adorn them.

Carefully, she pulled on her outfit for the day. A flowy pink sundress with short, slightly puffy sleeves, strawberries on the skirt, and lace on its chest. It was cut just in the middle of her shoulder blades and laced up in the back by a strawberry red ribbon. With her dress, she wore white sandals with yellow flowers on them and had her toenails painted to match her fingers.

It was relatively simple but pretty, and it was just what she needed to turn a certain head.

As she turned around in the mirror, double checking her look, she heard her phone buzz on her nightstand. She jumped in surprise, but then quickly grabbed it and typed in her passcode. Who was texting her at 8 o’clock in the morning? She smiled thoughtfully. Maybe it was Seojun. But as soon as she opened her messages, she was quickly overcome with disappointment.

Brielle: Hi, good morning. How’ve you been?

Unfortunately, it was just her older 'sister', Brielle, who dropped in after she found out that Madeline had been incarcerated. She was boring, a huge stick in the mud, and extremely antisocial. To Priscilla, they were complete opposites. But it was because of her, that Priscilla could still live on Griffin Rock, so she couldn't be too mad.

To her face.

P: Fine, I’m about to go to school.

Brielle: Okay, have a good day Priscilla.

P: Yeah, sure.

This was pretty much the most that they talked over the phone. Brielle checked in on her sister every morning and Priscilla gave her short answers so that she could move on with her life. It's not like they were really sisters, she hadn't even known that this woman existed until recently. It was just how things were.

Finally, she closed her phone and put it in her purse. Careful as to not mess with her appearance, she put on her helmet and boarded her hover-ped and slowly started towards the school. Quickly forgetting about Brielle, she smiled deviously as she dreamed of scenarios for the upcoming day. 

~~~~

Frankie quickly pulled on her backpack and smashed her feet into her shoes. Unfortunately, she'd managed to sleep through all of her alarms and her parents leaving the house. Now, she was only minutes away from being late to class. 

She sprinted down the stairs into the garage and lunged for her motorcycle. Without a second thought, she pushed in the key and turned it, but soon a loud "CRACK!" rang in her ears.

Her eyes popped open and when she looked down, she found that the key to her ride had been split in half. "Oh shit!" She whispered harshly. Immediately, she pushed the key-nub further in and pinched it, trying to get the bike started.

"No! No! No!"

But it was useless, its only response was a sputtering engine. 

She threw her hands up in defeat and clutched her head tightly. "You gotta be kidding me!" She cried. "UGH!"

She dug through the garage looking for something that could transport her to school on time, ANYTHING! But the various spaces and bins were in varying degrees of disarray! Machines covered in toddler gunk, totally taken apart, or just straight up missing!

At this point, Frankie was about to explode. But then, she remembered one (big) little thing.

"Trex!"

~~~

Priscilla wasn't particularly worried about being late, if she missed anything important (which was unlikely in her opinion), she could just catch up online or ask a classmate about it.

Indifferently, she cruised through the streets on her hover-ped, making her way to school on her own time, when suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps coming from behind her.

"Huh?" Confused, she looked at her mirrors and to her horror, found an extinct animal stumbling behind her. 

"Woah, Trex! Slow down!" Frankie shouted. Immediately, Priscilla rolled her eyes. Of course Francine Greene was causing trouble this early in the morning. What else did the Greenes and the Burnses have to do with their lives?

In response, she pulled her handlebars and started to speed up. No way was she getting caught up in this, she had better things to do. She figured that she would just outrun the freaks, but the second that she started to get away, the stomps got louder again.

She glanced at her mirrors and found Trex catching up to her, stumbling and wobbling through the streets like a drunk with his tongue out of his mouth and his head thrown back.

"Trex! Trex! Stop!!" Frankie screamed at the dino-borg. Unfortunately, he seemed to be hard of hearing. "Shit!" Priscilla whisper-yelled as the out of control contraption stumbled closer to her.

She pushed on the gas again to speed up. This was the last thing she needed to happen right now! This was supposed to be the perfect day! Come on! She glanced down at her speedometer and back at the road, maybe she could lose them at the apartments! The roads were more narrow there!

She looked back at her mirrors and saw that Trex (and Frankie) were still hot on her trail. She didn't even have a proper license yet, but she knew that she was gonna have to blow the speed limit.

'Yeah, whatever.' She thought dismissively.

She pushed the gas again and braced herself for the change of velocity. "Come on! Come on!" She muttered under her breath. If she could just lose them at the apartments, she could go about her day as normal. Unfortunately, she'd probably have to redo her hair in the bathroom to add onto it.

'Great.' She thought irritably. 'I'll have to get mother to-' 

And in that moment, she froze, suddenly remembering that she couldn't get her mother to defend her anymore, not from her prison cell. It was as if her brain had been shut off with a switch. She tightened her grip on the handlebars as she tried to shut her thoughts of her mother out of her mind. She couldn't think about this. It would only slow her down. Quite literally!

"Priscilla! Watch out!"

Before she could fully descend into her past, Frankie's shout snapped her out of her trance. She whipped her head around to see Trex, sprinting towards her at full speed. "Oh come on!" She shouted. She gripped her handlebars again and started to turn, but before she could get away, Trex overtook her and with a clumsy kick from his foot, he sent her spinning out to the other side of the road. 

Unconsciously, Priscilla screamed as loudly as her vocal chords would allow her to and she gripped the brakes on her handlebars like her life depended on it. (Which it probably did) Once she realized that she wasn't stopping, she wrenched her eyes shut and braced herself for impact. 

Her eyes stayed shut as she anticipated blistering pain, but after a moment, she found that she had stopped. 

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes to examine her surroundings, and found herself and her bike resting in a giant purple hand. She was immediately disheartened.

'Oh...Great.' She thought with dread.

"That was too close!" He said with relief. "Are you okay? You're not hurt or anything, are you?" He asked.

Priscilla scoffed with disgust and pushed herself back onto her feet. "I'm fine, thank you." She said harshly, spitting venom from her mouth.

As she came to her senses she saw Frankie across the street being held by a blue robot that resembled a police car, and Trex being restrained by another green robot. She wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes at the scene. 

The purple robot cringed and pulled back. "Okay then.." He said. "Well, we should still take you to get checked up. Heatwave said humans can get internal bleeding sometimes." 

Priscilla rolled her eyes. "I do not have internal bleeding and there's no way that I'm going anywhere with you." She nearly shouted. 

The robot shifted his optics uncomfortably. "Yeesh!" He exclaimed. "Maybe I can get Chase to take you? Or maybe Boulder? He's really good with humans." He suggested, looking at his teammates worriedly.

Priscilla shook her head and rolled her bike from his servo. "No thanks, my hover-ped has a self driving mode anyway, so I can take myself." She dismissed snootily. The purple robot looked uncertain. "Okay… but I'm gonna drive with you. Just in case!" He announced.

Priscilla rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. "Fine, whatever. Just don't talk to me anymore." She grunted. As quickly as she could, she switched gears and started to flee the scene. 

"Fine by me." Blurr muttered just before he transformed into bot mode to follow her.

~~~

As Blurr and Priscilla made their way to the hospital, Doc Greene hastily arrived on the scene in his car, jumping out right after it stopped. "Frankie!" He looked up at Trex, who was still being held down. "What happened?" He asked. 

Chase gently set Frankie back in the ground so she could meet her father face to face. Sheepishly, she scratched her head. "I woke up late and I was in a rush, so I took Trex." She said. Doc Greene's eyebrows pushed against his hairline. Frankie shrunk back at his reaction. "I guess he had a malfunction on the way there." She continued.

Doc Greene sighed heavily and rested his hand against his forehead. "I would have preferred that you called me or Anna in a situation like this instead of taking matters into your own hands. You could've caused an accident." He said. 

Frankie tightly pressed her lips together, knowing that she was definitely grounded. "Well.." She started. Ezra winced sharply. "What happened?" He asked. "Trex kinda made Priscilla spin out. Blurr caught her before she could crash, but it was pretty close." She said. 

Again, Ezra released a heavy sigh. "We'll have to make it up to her then." He looked off towards the road with guilt gleaming in his eyes. "For now, let's get you to school." He said. Frankie nodded with her eyes on the pavement and she started towards the car.

"I'll ask Anna to check Trex's systems." He said to Boulder as they left. Boulder nodded and loosened his grip on Trex, who had finally calmed down. 

Charlie watched the father and daughter duo depart from inside of Chase's cab. "How many accidents does this thing get into every year?" He thought aloud. "Too many." Graham replied. "We should get him home now." Boulder said. "I concur, especially since we do not know if he is still dysfunctional." Chase added. "Probably." Kade replied sarcastically over the comms. "Let's hope not." Charlie said.

Finally, the bots departed with the dino-borg over their shoulders. Hopefully, he wouldn't squirm much. But now, they had a new and unknown problem. They forgot to look around before speaking freely.

Namseon hid in a nearby alleyway, watching the entire interaction with a curious and worried frown. Tensely, she released her grip on the corner of the brick wall, leaving a six fingered indent of her hand behind.

~~~

Seojun watched the time and the desk next to him anxiously. Ten minutes had passed since the second period bell rang and Priscilla still wasn't there. He couldn't help but begin to worry.

She could have just stayed home. Maybe she was tired or sick…

He tried to look on the brighter side of things. There were plenty of reasons why she could have been absent from class today. Maybe she had a doctor’s appointment or she went on a vacation.

But what if she was hurt or in some kind of trouble?

Now he was really worried. How had he not thought of that yet? It was so plausible that it nearly punched him in the gut. Griffin Rock was absolutely nuts. She and Cody made sure that he knew of that as soon as they met him. Maybe another run away car came screeching down the road, or that weird red hedge trimmer thing mistook her for an overgrown bush! And those were just a couple of choices. What other crazy things resided on this island?

As he spiraled in the chaos of his in mind (completely forgetting that he was supposed to be listening to Mr. Bostwick) He heard his phone vibrate in his backpack. He blinked curiously, plucked from his little spell. First he turned to the front of the classroom, looking at Mr. Bostwick. Luckily he was very busy teaching the rest of the class, so he probably wouldn’t notice if Seojun decided to look at his phone.

Swiftly, he took his phone from his backpack and set it in front of his computer screen, where it would be hidden from his teacher’s “watchful” eyes. As subtly as he could, he unlocked his phone and saw that he had gotten a text.

A text from Priscilla!

He raised his eyebrows and clicked on it.

P: Hey, guess what?

Seojun tilted his head curiously. He was expecting something like “Hey, I caught a cold, so I couldn’t make it to class today.” or “This is Priscilla’s mom, she died in an accident with a hedge trimmer.” But then again, the second one was a little far-fetched, and lucky for both of them, she was clearly alive (I think). 

Seojun quickly typed his response.

S.J.: what

And when she responded, Seojun’s eyes nearly rolled right out of his skull. His jaw dropped so low that it almost hit his desk. In the picture she sent him, she was smiling brightly, her perfectly straight, white teeth shining and her lip gloss perfectly applied. Her hair was curled and her middle part was clean, but when he looked past her face, he was appalled.

She lay in a bed with a pink hospital gown on and her foot propped up in a hot pink cast. 

S.J.: what happened

S.J.: are you okay

S.J: was it the hedge trimmer

P: Lol. No silly. I was attacked by a dinosaur.

To Seojun, that made even less sense than his other theory. But then again, he was living on Griffin rock now..

Where nothing made any sense.

S.J.: you guys have dinosoars here

P: No not here. Those are on Wayward Island. But Doc Greene has a cyborg made from a museum exhibit of a dinosaur.

S.J.: because that makes sense

P: I know, right? It’s ridiculous. That stupid thing and that stupid girl broke my ankle!

S.J.: yeah that sucks

S.J.: wait what stupid girl

P: Francine Greene

S.J.: she did that

S.J.: was it on purpose

P: I don’t know. Who cares. 

Seojun had met Francine before, but he didn’t know much about her. She didn’t seem like the type to do something reckless like that. He wasn’t sure why anyone would do that. But if someone was willing to take a dinosaur to school, they had to be nuts. 

S.J.: wow

S.J: is it bad

P: It's a few hairline fractures. The doctors said it should heal in a couple months or so.

S.J.: that's good

P: Yeah, but it still sucks.

P: Maybe you should come see me after school! It'd make me feel better. 🤗

Seojun blinked rapidly, bewildered by the sudden invitation. What would she want to see him for? Well, they were friends, at least, that's what he thought. There was no way he'd turn down a (simple) request from a friend!

Though, he'd have to lead his mom off of his trail.

S.J.: okay i'll go

S.J.: i'll tell my mam i'm staying after school

P: Why do you have to do that?

S.J.: mam's not a fan of fun

P: Sounds like my mom

S.J.: at least we have that in common

P: Yeah.

P: I'll see you later Seojun

Seojun was a little confused by the abrupt goodbye, but he didn't think too much of it.

S.J.: okay bye

He put his phone back on his desk and turned his computer back on. When he finally looked up, he saw the whole class looking at him along with Mr. Bostwick.

"Are you finally done with your conversation? " He joked. Seojun looked from left to right nervously. "Um.. Yes." He replied hesitantly. Mr. Bostwick nodded. "Don't forget to do the homework for today's lesson. It'll help you practice what we just learned today.

Seojun instantly knew that he was screwed. While he was distracted on his phone, he hadn't heard a thing that his teacher had said! His chest tightened as he watched Mr. Bostwick teach the rest of the class. 

~~~~~

Seojun left the class as soon as the bell rang, eager to get through the last period so he could see Priscilla. On the way to his fourth period class, he texted his mam, coming up with something to tell her on the spot. 

(Of course, these texts would be in their native language, but for the sake of actually understanding the story, let's translate it to English.)

S: Mam, I have to stay after school for english tutoring today.

Mam: Must you stay today? Are you sure that you cannot reschedule?

S: I figured it’d be good to get it in as soon as possible. You know?

He hoped that would work, because he sure didn’t have a back up excuse.

Mam: Alright, when will your session adjourn? 

Seojun grinned, inwardly cheering to himself before closing his lips to shrink his smile. He couldn't have people looking at his teeth. His fingers already drew enough attention from people.

S: I'll be done at 5:00. 

Mam: That's rather late.

Mam: But no matter, I will send Kerchek to bring you home.

Seojun wasn't very excited about the last part. He rarely saw or even spoke to Kerchek, but it was better than not being able to see Priscilla.

S: Okay, thanks mam!

Mam: Just be home no later than 6.

S: Okay.

Mam: I wish you well, study hard Seoya.

Seojun turned off his phone and entered the classroom, leaving their short conversation at that. He could tell that her well wishes were genuine, and it made him feel a bit uneasy. He wasn't completely sure why. Maybe it was. . . guilt?

But why would he feel guilty about telling her such a small lie? The only obligation he had was to respect her and get home on time. She said nothing against visiting injured friends.

But it was implied that he was supposed to go to school and come home, and he knew that. 

But before he could continue diving into his thoughts, he heard the sounds of a book bag being thrown onto the floor and someone sitting down next to him. 

With a big smile and a swing of his neck to get his hair out of his face, Cody looked him in his eyes. "Hey Seojun!" He said brightly. 

Seojun wondered how anyone could have so much energy, especially at the end of the day. "Hi Cody." He replied dryly. Cody's smile didn't waver, in fact, he seemed even more excited to talk to him.

"Did you get to do anything fun today?" He asked. Without a second thought, Seojun responded. "No. It was boring." Then he paused, looking up at the ceiling through his curly veil. "Except for that dinosaur breaking Priscilla's ankle." He added.

He saw Cody's smile warp itself into a deep cringe, before completely withering away. "Oh, yeah. Frankie told me about it." He replied. Seojun narrowed his eyes. "It was an accident, right?" He asked. Cody looked surprised, his thick eyebrows nearly became one. "What? Of course it was! Frankie would never sic a dinosaur on someone on purpose." He defended.

Seojun nodded. "I can't be sure that Priscilla feels this way." He replied. Cody's jaw tensed and he clutched the fingers on his right hand in the spaces between his left hand's fingers. "That's kinda how she is. I can't blame her right now, but most of the time she has a bad temper and'll get upset over the littlest things."

Seojun frowned with annoyance. Priscilla had just broken her foot (or ankle, he wasn't sure) and Cody found the quickest opportunity to talk shit about her. 

"I hope you wouldn't, bone fractures aren't little things." He said coldly. Cody's eyebrows jumped to his hairline. "I wasn't saying that! I meant that she jumps to conclusions quickly." He replied quickly. 

Seojun narrowed his eyes, looking almost sleepy. "Okay." He replied shortly. Cody scratched his head awkwardly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said all that. Frankie and I have just never been on good terms with her." He added. 

Now Seojun wondered if it really was an accident. "What do you mean by that?" He asked. Cody cringed, trying to find a good explanation. 

"Well, when we were kids she was pretty mean to us. We were always competing with each other and stuff. Her mom also spoiled her a lot and they misused our first responding team, so that kinda soured things." He said.

Seojun was sure that he was being genuine, but it still didn't make sense to him. Priscilla had been nice to him from the start, she didn't seem anything like what Cody had described. She was kind and funny. Something wasn't adding up.

"But she's always been nice to me." Seojun said, confused. Cody looked forward to the promethean board. "Well, we aren't twelve anymore and after this summer, maybe things could have changed.." He said doubtfully. Though under his breath, Seojun could hear that he said "but" right after and stopped.

Clearly he wanted to say something else, but was holding his tongue for whatever reason. "But what?" Seojun asked. Cody frowned curiously. He was sure Seojun shouldn't have heard that. But even so, he decided to elaborate. "But when it comes to her history, she's only nice when she wants something." He replied.

Seojun huffed irritably. Was he serious? But he could still see that genuine look in his deep brown eyes and in the slight bend in his eyebrows. His expression almost looked pained.

Now Seojun wasn't sure who or what to believe. 

~~~

As soon as the bell rang, Seojun vacated the building. He maneuvered as quickly as he could through the crowd of children. Though that wasn't hard since people tend to move out of the way when someone towers over them, but that's not the point.

As he embarked on his journey down the sidewalk, a realization suddenly stopped him in his tracks. 

He had no idea where the hospital was.

"Sechat!" He cursed.

Quickly, he spun on his ankles, ready to sprint back to the school in the hopes of getting some directions, but as he started to run his stomach collided with someone's head, sending him staggering back in surprise.

He looked ahead to see what happened and made eye contact with the girl who had apparently been behind him.

She had curly black hair in a big afro-puff above her head, held together with some gel and an aquamarine scrunchie and short tendrils hanging by the sides of her head. She wore a pink T-Shirt with a cut off jacket that matched her scrunchie, white shorts and white high tops with pink laces. A coat of clear lip gloss and white nail polish added to her look.

With a pure expression of wide eyed shock she stood before him. Seojun was pretty sure that he knew who she was. 

"Frankie?" He asked. Frankie patted her head, making sure that her hair was still in place. "Yep." She looked relieved to discover that her hairstyle was unharmed. Seojun scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry, wasn't expecting to bump into you." He said awkwardly. 

Frankie dusted herself off, though a little smile formed from her lips. "Yeah, I figured." She said. "Where were you going in such a hurry?" She asked. At that moment, it was like a lightbulb lit up above his curly head. 

"Oh! I was trying to go to the hospital, but I don't know where it is." He replied, hoping to get an answer. Instead, Frankie paused and wrung her wrists. "The hospital?" She asked. Seojun nodded.

"Priscilla told me to see her." He said. That seemed to make Frankie more anxious. "Actually, I was going to see her too." She said. Seojun cocked his head curiously. “Oh? Really? Can you show me the way?” He asked. Silently, Frankie nodded and started off down the sidewalk, leading the way. 

~~~~

Seojun didn’t mind silences, in fact, he wished he had more of them, but awkward silences were far from favorable. He looked around curiously looking at the man with a floating stroller in front of him, a dog being walked by a hologram, he wished that he had time to pet it, but he didn’t wanna lose Frankie. Maybe he’d get another chance. The thin breeze rustled the grass, making light “Shhk! Shhk!” noises as it rocked in the wind. To Seojun, the noise scratched his brain just right, like it was his favorite song.

He had almost forgotten about following Frankie, until she suddenly stopped. Seojun stopped just in time, so that he didn’t bump into her again. (He’d been doing that a lot lately, he really should pay more attention to his surroundings. People are really short.) He was about to ask her why she stopped so abruptly, before looking up to the building beside him. 

“Griffin Rock General Hospital.” He murmured aloud, taking in the sight. The building was a white 3 story tall building that stood on the farther end of town, not far from the firehouse, opposite of Seojun’s. The window’s gleamed, reflecting the bright sunlight, 

"This is it." Frankie said dreadfully. Seojun looked down at her curiously from above. "Something wrong?" He asked her. Frankie was still, he could tell from her head that she was looking down on the pavement. Seojun paused, keeping his eyes on her. "Frankie?" She asked.

Frankie swiftly turned around, red in the face with tears welling up in her brown eyes. Seojun blinked worriedly, he hadn't been expecting her to start crying. 

"I don't know if I can go in there." She admitted. "Why not?" Seojun asked, unsure of what else to say. Frankie sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "She's probably really angry and she's not gonna like seeing me." She said. 

'That's a given at this point.' Seojun thought bluntly, but he wasn't going to say it out loud. 

"Doesn't hurt to try an apology. It was an accident, right?" He said. "Yeah?" Frankie replied. Seojun felt relief wash over him, while he wasn't completely sure of her character, at least he was sure that she hadn't had any malicious intent. 

"I heard you guys haven't ever been on the best terms. Maybe if you explain it to her, it could give her something to process, it could make things better." He suggested. "And if it doesn't?" Frankie asked.

"At least you know that you tried, and she knows the truth." He replied. Frankie still looked unsure, but her tears had stopped, maybe he'd been able to get through to her.

Seojun stretched his arms far above his head, hearing his shoulders pop loudly in his ears and yawned heavily. Maybe the long day was getting to him. "I'll talk to her first, get her in a good mood before you do." He said. His wording sounded firm, but his tone sounded more like a suggestion, maybe even a question.

Frankie frowned with confusion at first, before realizing what he was trying to offer. "Yeah, that works." She smiled sheepishly, "Probably better than two people ambushing her at once." Seojun nodded in agreement. With another (thankfully), less awkward silence, the two headed into the lobby.

~~~~

Like they had planned, Seojun was the first to enter her room. The clock had just struck 4:00, maybe he could stay for a couple of hours. Hopefully Frankie didn't have a strict curfew.

Carefully he opened the door and silently stepped into the room, from her bed in a pink gown and her broken foot elevated, Priscilla smiled up at him brightly.

"Hey!" She said cheerfully. "Hey." Seojun replied. Despite the accident earlier that day, Priscilla looked prim and proper, her hair was neatly curled, her eyelashes were accentuated and she sat up with her hands crossed over her blanket.

"You look nice." Seojun paused instantly, he wasn't sure where that compliment came from, but it seemed to brighten Priscilla's smile. "Thanks. You too," She said. Seojun could feel his face heating up, hopefully she couldn't see him blushing.

Those hopes were dashed as soon as she started giggling. Seojun was quick to cover his face with his hood, shielding his reading face. This only served to make Priscilla giggle more. 

"Not funny!" Seojun whined. Priscilla grinned "Yes it is!" She replied. "I didn't know you blushed so easily!" Seojun squinted. "Me either." He said with a hint of fake bitterness. Priscilla waved him off. "It's cute though, I tend to have that effect on people anyway."

Seojun paused, only retaining part of her words. "You- you think I'm cute?" He asked. Priscilla rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think it was true!" She replied. Seojun was surprised by her boldness, no one had ever called him cute before, not like her. 

"You're blushing again!" She sang teasingly. "Noo! Leave me!" He cried, pulling his hood over his head and tightening the strings so that only his eyes showed. Priscilla smiled and for a second, he thought he saw her cheeks flushing as well.

Seojun shook himself out of his daze and decided to move on, he wasn't here to be shy after all. "So, how's it going?" He asked, opening a new discussion. Priscilla's smile lessened. "About as well as it can, considering I got attacked by a dinosaur." She said with a dash of sarcasm. 

Seojun shook off his hood and ventured closer to her bedside. "I still don't get that." He said. Priscilla shrugged. "When you're here long enough, anything goes." She replied simply. Seojun waited for her to elaborate, but an explanation never came. 

"Are you okay?" He asked. Priscilla paused. "Yeah I guess, the doctor says I'll be out of here by tomorrow morning." She replied. Seojun wasn't very familiar with hospitals, but as far as he knew, they didn't keep patients overnight for an injury like that unless it was really bad, or if there was another reason to.

As much as he yearned to know why, he decided not to ask, he didn't want to make her upset. "At least there's free food?" He joked. Priscilla chuckled airily. "Except you can tell why it's free." She remarked. "a nice bed with your foot up?" He tried. "Except that they have the scratchiest sheets ever." Priscilla shot back.

"Or maybe your skin's just dry." Seojun teased with a sneaky grin. Priscilla's jaw dropped and she clapped her hand over her chest, as if his little joke had broken her heart. "Never! My skin is always smooth and hydrated! Who do you think I am?" She cried dramatically.

Seojun snickered and in retaliation, Priscilla scoffed and lightly pushed him away. "And I thought you would never stoop so low." She said. Seojun shrugged. "Just wanted to see what would happen." He said. Priscilla raised her left eyebrow with a smirk. "You know you're still blushing, right?" She said, distracting him.

"What?" His hands rushed to his face, but he felt no extra warmth. He looked at her with narrowed eyes as she laughed with glee. "Got you!" She cheered. Seojun rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "You like embarrassing me." He half-joked. Priscilla smiled. "Maybe just a little." She replied.

"I'll get you back." Seojun claimed. Priscilla tilted her head. "Will you? Maybe I'll give you a chance." She said. Seojun frowned curiously. "What do you mean?" He asked. "What if you took me out this weekend? Then, you'd have a couple days to think of comebacks when we see each other." She suggested, scooting closer to him.

"Take you out?" Seojun asked. He was sure he had the context wrong. Most of the time when he heard that, it was in action movies, when the bad guys were planning something. They usually had good comebacks though.

Priscilla smiled again, after so many white toothed grins, Seojun felt something strange. An odd stir in his chest. "Yeah, like a date." She said. Seojun's eyes popped open as the realization came to him. A girl was asking him on a date!

"yEs!" He quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, sure! I'll make sure you never hear the end of it!" He replied with enthusiasm. Priscilla's smile relaxed and she looked upon him with half lidded eyes. "I look forward to it." She said.

Now Seojun was definitely blushing. 

~~~~

It only felt like a few minutes, but soon, it was 5:30. Seojun looked at his phone with dread. Why did time have to move so quickly here? 

"Is something wrong?" Priscilla asked. Seojun turned to look at her with his right hand in his pocket. "My mam said I have to be home by six." He said. Priscilla's face fell and she rubbed her left hand with her right thumb. "Oh… well, we still have a few minutes left, right?" She asked with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

Seojun looked at his phone hesitantly. Why was he so worried? Was it the act of disobeying? Was he making a bad impression on his own mother? He'd already made her talk to people. 

But in the moment, he decided to dismiss those anxious thoughts. He could worry later. 

He smiled down at her. "Yeah, it's probably fine." He said, setting his phone back into his pocket. But just as the case toughed the fabric of his jeans, he felt and heard it vibrate in his hand. Curiously, he pulled it back out and turned it on. His mood sank when he saw the message on the screen.

Kerchek: I’m here, get ready to go.

Seojun squinted and huffed irritably. Why did he have to come now. "I gotta go, my brother's here." He said. Priscilla nodded. "Okay. Just so you know, I'm not gonna be at school for the rest of the week. I'm gonna go to class online." She said.

Now Seojun was even more disappointed. Now that she'd asked him out, he was so excited to see her again! But now, he wouldn't be able to see her until their date. 

"You'll still text me?" He asked. Priscilla scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Duh, I'm not that busy." She replied. Seojun smiled softly. "Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?" She asked with a convincing pout.

Seojun smiled nervously. "Well…" He thought, his resolve breaking. But as he was about to say yes, right on cue, he got another text.

Kerchek: Come on we gotta go!

Seojun stared at his phone with disdain. He sighed and put his phone back in his pocket, ready to deliver the bad news. "I can't, my brother said no." He said.

He saw a shift in Priscilla's expression, but he wasn't sure what it meant. Soon after, she went back to making heart eyes at him. "Okay. Text me later, okay?" She said. Seojun nodded. "Yeah, I will." He promised.

Reluctantly, he left her bedside and started towards the door. As he began to leave the room, he turned around and waved at her. Priscilla waved back from her bed, with that same smile on her face. 

Finally, Seojun left, passing Frankie on the way out. Her eyes widened with fear, but he didn’t let her know that he had caught onto it. "Good luck." He whispered as he walked by. As he started towards the doors, a prick of fear was added to the emotions he was already feeling.

‘How did he even know I was here?’ He thought, his eyes wide and his fists curled at his sides. He knew that his brother and mother had extremely good hearing (maybe it had something to do with being parents), but they shouldn’t have been able to hear him from the house. He knew he lied now, but he hadn’t done anything to cause her to mistrust him before. She must have had a precaution of some sort before this. But what?

He jogged down the stairs to Kerchek's red car and climbed into the passenger seat beside his brother. Kerchek looked at him through the corner of his eye. "How was it?" He asked. "How did you know I was here?" Seojun asked immediately after. Kerchek paused, his expression was unreadable. “Your mom had me put trackers on y’all’s phones, we already knew." He replied.

Seojun wrinkled his nose and rolled his eyes. He huffed through his nose and leaned against the window, squinting at the sidewalk in annoyance. 

'Stupid! How did I not know that?' He thought.

Kerchek put the car in drive, still carrying a dull expression.. "So yeah, you're in for a real tongue lashing." He added. He pushed the gas pedal and sped off. "Now let's get outta here, I ain't a big fan of hospitals." He said.

Seojun looked out of the window as they passed through the town, many thoughts swam through his mind. He knew he was doomed now that his mom knew he had lied, but he was also really excited! He was going on a date! A real date! What was he gonna wear? How was he gonna do his hair? Were they gonna kiss? Would they start dating?

'Okay I'm getting ahead of myself. It's not till this weekend.' He thought anxiously. 

'But what day this weekend?' His brain shot back and he felt more questions coming. 

Despite the fog of excitement, fear, and irritation, there was also something else mixed in. He hoped Frankie and Priscilla could make up. He hoped that they could at least come to an understanding. Frankie seemed truly sorry. 

But it was all a lot to take in and he still had to prepare for how his mother would throttle him when he came home. So, he decided to lose himself in the town's layout, watching the landscape change as Kerchek drove closer to their house. 

~~~~~

Frankie stood by the door breathing deeply with her eyes closed and her fists at her sides, trying to work up the courage to speak to her biggest rival. If Priscilla hadn’t hated her before, surely she hated her now. Frankie figured she’d be upset too if a dinosaur broke her leg. There’s no way she could-

She forced herself to take a deep breath, slowing her racing thoughts.

She couldn’t get lost in her own mind, she had to do this, it was only right. Shaking all over, she willed her arm to reach up to the door and flipping her wrist, lightly knocked. 

“What is it?” Priscilla asked. Frankie’s breath hitched, she froze in place like a deer in headlights. Hearing her voice made her predicament even more real. “Um, hey Priscilla.” She choked out. There was a pause from behind the door. “What are you doing here?” She asked, her words laced with bitterness. “I wanted to talk to you and apologize… is that okay?” Frankie asked.

Then, there was another pause as Priscilla took a moment to think.

“Make it quick.” She said.

Until that moment, Frankie hadn’t realized that her heart had been sitting in her stomach, until it was lifted back into her chest by the weightlessness of relief. Maybe she could do this, talk to Priscilla and make things right. 

As confidently as she could, she pushed open the door, letting herself into the room. Priscilla lay on her bed, her hair perfectly curled, her eyelashes extended, pink gloss adorning her lips and her hands crossed over her lap, showing off her smooth pink acrylics. 

Despite how put together she looked, her eyebrows were at a slight downward angle, her dark brown eyes narrowed, and her lips tightened. She looked how she always did when she saw Frankie. A rich bitch. 

Frankie took another deep breath. Their past would have to be pushed aside for the moment, right now she needed to apologize to someone that she had hurt.

"What do you want, Francine?" Priscilla said, venom punctuating her sentence. Frankie breathed out and forced herself forward, clasping her hands behind her back.

"I wanted to apologize for what I did today." At that, Priscilla sat up a bit straighter, her eyes shifting curiously. "Go on." She replied. Frankie tried her best to keep her face neutral and not display her annoyance. Who did she think she was, telling her when to speak like she was some kind of royalty?

But to be fair, she was also hearing her out. 

Frankie sighed and steeled her nerves. "I didn't think properly and I made the wrong choice taking Trex. He's a good guard and Burns-ball player, but he really shouldn't be on the road." She chortled airly at that, but quickly regained her composure. "I lost control of him and I'm sorry that we hit you. I never meant to hurt you and if there's anything I can do to make it right, I'll do it." She said.

Silence filled the air around them. The girls looked directly into each other's eyes, trying to read the other's face. Priscilla's brows had softened, but the tension in her face was still very visible. Frankie stood up dangerously straight, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated, trying not to show how nervous she was.

Then, Priscilla relaxed against her pillow. "I didn't expect anything from you, Francine. Not bad. I accept your apology-" She said, seemingly satisfied. 

Frankie felt more relief flow over her like a calm breeze. She hadn't expected anything like that from Priscilla either, maybe she was on the right track.

"-But, you have to carry my stuff when I go to classes. I'm definitely gonna be in crutches. Maybe when my ankle heals, I'll think of forgiving you." A slight, sly smirk etched itself into her lips, as she looked upon Frankie with a mischievous gleam in her eye. 

At that moment, Frankie knew that she was doomed.

"Yeah, that's fair, I guess." She replied, the calm breeze becoming still. Priscilla nodded confidently. "Now get out of here, I've got to get my beauty sleep." She said suddenly. 

Reluctantly, Frankie turned around to leave, quietly cracking the door back open and putting her first foot forward. "Oh, and Francine?" 

She turned around towards the sound of her name, her eyes falling back onto Priscilla, who's smirk had spread into a closed, sinister smile. "See you on Monday." She said, grinning horribly. Without a word, Frankie nodded and closed the door behind her, leaving Priscilla alone again. 

Chapter Text

As the days went by, Graham kept working on the construction site, which led him to seeing Kerchek rather often. Despite his initially cool exterior, it wasn't long before they became, maybe just short of friends.

Graham felt as if he were melting under the hot sun. Irritably, he swept the back of his hand over his forehead, briefly removing the sweat from his skin. Good old Griffin Rock, where the summers felt like lava on your skin and the winters felt like the polar ice caps.

He opened his lunchbox and pulled out a triangular half of his sandwich. Lucky for him, he had inherited some of his father's cooking prowess. The problem was snagging supplies before Kade got to them. That was one thing that he didn't miss about living at home.

"You're on break already?"

Graham nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked up to see Kerchek sitting in front of him, casually resting his head on his hand. 

He sighed sharply. "You really scared me for a second." He said breathlessly. Kerchek sat up straighter. "Oh, my bad." He replied. Graham shook his head. "Uh no, It's fine, don't worry about it." He said, waving him off.

For a split second, Kerchek made a strange face, but he soon defaulted to his resting expression before Graham could analyze what it might have meant.

"So, what have you been up to?" Graham asked. Kerchek rolled his eyes. "Ugh, other than burning up in the sun, mostly listening to this one guy nitpick and complain about the littlest stuff." He said. Graham frowned, confuzzled. "Which 'one guy'?" He asked. Kerchek clicked his tongue as he tried to remember who he was talking about.

"You know, the guy that's bald except the edges of his head, kinda short, barely ever wears his earplugs.." Kerchek listed.

After his last statement a face immediately popped in to Graham's mind and he snapped his fingers like it was a "Eureka!" Moment. 

"Oh! You mean Jacob!" He exclaimed. Kerchek shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's his name." He said nonchalantly. "Definitely! I would say I'm surprised that he hasn't been fired yet-," A bit sheepishly, he brought his hand up to the spot where the base of his skull met his neck. "But being a small town, we're actually pretty short staffed, so yeah.." He said.

Kerchek chortled. "Back where I'm from, it's almost like there's too much staff." He said. Graham blinked curiously. "Really? Where are you from?" He asked. "Atlanta." Kerchek replied. Graham nodded. "Cool. So you're from down south." He acknowledged. Kerchek rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately." He dryly.

Graham chuckled. "I'm sure the summers are hot, but what else goes on down there?" He asked. He noticed Kerchek's eyes shift to the left and the corners of his mouth jump as if he were stifling a smile, but he wasn't sure what that was about.

He shrugged. "I can't think of much other than the traffic right now. It's mostly just.." Kerchek paused, as if he had to stop himself from saying his next set of thoughts out loud. "-actually, nevermind." He said.

"Oh okay." Graham said. He wasn't sure why he had stopped there, but he didn't feel like it was his place to question. Instead, the conversation died and the pair sat silently across from each other. 

Now that he wasn't talking, Graham noticed that Kerchek had been poking at a cup of jello this whole time. He didn't seem to have anything else with him. Graham frowned with concern.

'Maybe he forgot his lunch?' He thought.

He hesitated, folding his lips into his mouth nervously, but with a deep breath, he gained the bravery to get Kerchek's attention.

"Hey-" 

Kerchek looked up from his empty jello cup, his eyes locked into him. 

"-do you want the other half of my sandwich?" He asked. Kerchek blinked and frowned with confusion. "Um, I don't think I should. It's your lunch, I already had mine." He said. Graham considered leaving it at that, but the thought of it only made him anxious.

"But are you sure it's enough to continue on with the rest of the day? Construction is pretty hard work after all." He insisted.

Kerchek frowned, taking a second to think. Graham wasn't sure what his answer would be, hopefully he hadn't upset him.

"Yeah, that's probably a better idea." He agreed. Graham shot him a small smile and slid the box closer to him. Hesitantly, Kerchek took the sandwich half from its container and held it up to his face for a closer look.

"It's not much, just grilled ham and cheese with some mayo." Graham said, hoping to reassure him. At that, Kerchek took a small bite from the corner. 

He raised his left eyebrow curiously and then proceeded to shove the rest of the sandwich in his mouth, barely even bothering to chew it. Graham did his best not to gawk at him.

'He must've been.. really hungry'

Realizing that it might've been a strange sight, Kerchek gave it one more chew and swallowed. Graham could see a slight red tint rise in his skin. "Not bad." He said with a sheepish and closed smile.

And almost immediately, Graham burst out laughing. 

Kerchek's eyes popped wide open and the red tint in his face heightened. He folded his arms over his chest. "It's not that funny.." He said.

Graham tried to wave away his laughter as he struggled to hold it in. "I'm sorry, I didn't even know it was coming! It's just like… damn, you couldn't give it a minute?" He replied.

Kerchek scoffed. "And what about you pecking at your sandwich like a bird?" He retorted. Graham leaned back in surprise, but despite that he couldn't help but smile anyway.

"To be fair.. well actually, I don't think I have an excuse." He said. Kerchek smirked. "Exactly." He said.

Before Graham could think of a reply, the alarm he had set on his phone went off. Signaling that his lunch break was over. He frowned slightly. "That didn't feel like thirty minutes." He said. 

Kerchek shrugged. "Time flies when you're having fun?" He suggested. Graham tilted his head in thought. "I guess you could say that." He agreed. He closed his lunchbox and rose from the bench. "I guess I gotta clock back in. Enjoy working with Jacob" He teased.

Kerchek rolled his eyes, but Graham didn't miss the slight smile on his face. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up. We'll see who you end up with tomorrow." He said. Graham raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that a threat?" He asked jokingly. Kerchek smirked. "Maybe." He said, playing along with him.

Graham chuckled and watched as Kerchek made his way back to the worksite. While he gathered his things, his spirits were much higher than they were earlier in the day, despite the heat. Maybe if he was lucky, he'd get to talk to Kerchek again tomorrow.

~~~~

"You're telling me that you all have put this mission into the hands of a human CHILD!?"

Quickshadow, was angry- no, absolutely livid.

How had no one thought to run this by her or at least tell her about it? She was the spy. She could easily find information on the newcomers!

"I know that it may seem.. odd." Chase started awkwardly. "But Cody is a very capable young man and he has excellent people skills! This should be easy for him."

Quickshadow clenched her servos with frustration. "I know that Cody is capable, but this is a delicate task! We are trying to figure out if our Human & Cybertronian safe haven is compromised!" She exclaimed.

Chase was about to reply, but Heatwave stepped forward. "Right now, Cody's our best bet. He goes to school with multiple of the kids and if it all goes well, we should have no problem being able to befriend the Mins." He replied.

Quickshadow scoffed with astonishment, her chest plate rose with anger. "Your team was the one who taught me that working alone doesn't always benefit. Why is he working alone now?" She asked.

Heatwave's optic ridges softened. "Believe me, I don't like it either. But right now, there isn't much else to do but wait for Mrs. Min to call Chief Burns back. " He said.

Quickshadow folded her arms. "And if that fails?" She asked. Heatwave sighed. "We'll have to regroup, or even leave the island." He replied somberly. "If we had a better plan we'd use it, but right now we have to wait."

She scoffed again, this time with irritation and turned to leave. "Then call me when you decide to stay in hiding forever. " She said. "Quickshadow-" Chase started, but he couldn't find any words that would convince her. The two mechs watched worriedly as their comrade stormed off.

Quickshadow was in complete disbelief as she walked into the academy through the ground bridge. All these years and one stupid action makes everything fall apart? 

How could they have let this happen? Why didn't they say something? Why were they holding out?

She stopped in front of Optimus's statue, looking up at his replicated face. She knew that she might have been being harsh on them. They were trying their best and working with what they had.

But there was no way that was enough. There has to be a better plan than… whatever the frag this was.

She knew that they wanted to wait things out and hope for the best, but what if the best didn't happen? What if all of the Rescue Bots work was destroyed.

She knew that it could be risky, and that it would definitely be against their wishes, but she would have to return to her roots.

From now on she would be watching the Mins' every move. 

Chapter Text

Priscilla was not thrilled.

At all.

Not only had a giant cyborg-reptile kicked her on the streets, but he had also caused her to break her ankle!

If she could have things her way, that thing (and Francine) would be prehistoric again! 

But luckily for that twerp, she had apologized and agreed to help her while her leg healed. It was strange, but who was she to decline willing assistance? 

Unluckily, Brielle wanted to meet with Francine's parents. Now she would have to sit through an awkward dinner with a random family and a random woman that she had no real connections to other than their biological father.

"How's your ankle, Priscilla?" Brielle asked. "Fine." Priscilla muttered shortly and coldly. Despite the obvious disdain in her tone, Brielle seemed to pay it no mind.

"Good," She said simply, as she fixed the cuffs on her dress shirt.

Priscilla eyed her sister with annoyance. She wasn't sure what made her so angry when it came to her, but once she became upset, the bad mood seemed to be endless.

Brielle was a tall woman, around 5'8. She was slim and had long and skinny legs. Her hair was jet black and cut just under her chin in a bob. Her eyes were big and brown, but her expressions made them look sharp, cold and calculating. Her skin was lightly tanned and she had hardly any blemishes on her body.

Right now, she was wearing a Prussian blue suit with matching pants, a black vest, white shirt and a pair of black, close toed heels. Her silver glasses framed her face with her bob and made her look more professional, along with the French tip styling of her nails.

When Priscilla looked in the mirror, she didn't see anything quite as appealing. Sure, her mother had told her that she was beautiful nearly every day until recently, but Brielle was gorgeous. It was starting to feel like she got the short end of the stick.

Brielle performed one last adjustment on her jacket- "Now, we should probably be on our way." before she started towards the door. 

Silently, Priscilla rose from her seat on the couch and grabbed her crutches. Brielle offered a gentle hand to guide her, but Priscilla pushed it away, preferring to strike out herself. She caught a brief expression of surprise, maybe sadness of some kind on her face, but she ignored it. Without another word, Brielle opened the door, and Priscilla numbly made her way to the car. 

~~~~

As they rolled down the streets in her father's van, Frankie spent her time staring out of the window while contemplating her impending doom.

'I shouldn't have taken Trex' she thought regretfully.

How did she even think that was a good idea? She must have had a brain lapse or something that day! 

Suddenly, breaking her away from her thoughts, the car stopped. Surprised, she pulled herself back into reality, seeing the restaurant ahead of her.

"Oh no." She muttered. 

"Now, don't start this off with negativity Frankie! It won't be that bad." He said. The look on Frankie's face clearly disagreed. "I know that you two have had some… issues in the past, but right now, we need to focus on the present." 

"And hope that she doesn't sue us." Anna added dryly. 

Ezra chuckled nervously. "That too." He agreed. 

 Frankie sighed heavily. “I know.” She said, looking down at her knees. 

She knew that they needed to be careful and make sure that their bases were covered, but the idea of spending any more time with Priscilla Pynch made her want to shudder. 

As she got out of the car, she caught sight of a very expensive looking, evening blue car and a stern young woman with a very stylish suit stepping out of it. 

Immediately, her already low mood sank to her feet. There was no way that she was gonna survive this.

 ~~~~

The atmosphere was suffocating. The two families sat across from each other in complete silence. The mystery woman occasionally looked up from her menu to look at Frankie, but her expressionion was unreadable.

Nervously, Ezra stuttered, trying to break up the awkwardness. "W-we are so sorry for what happened the other day! I had no idea that she would take Trex like that!" He said clumsily.

Frankie's face went deadpan at that. 'Great, now he's throwing me under the bus too.' She thought.

Then, he softly kicked her foot under the table, while giving her wide, expectant eyes. Frankie sat up with surprise, quickly realizing that her father wanted to apologize as well. It was she who had done the deed after all.

"Oh! I'm really sorry, I never meant to hurt her" She added. Priscilla was sitting back with her arms across her chest. She looked Frankie in the eye with an unreadable expression. Even though she wasn’t sure what it meant coming from her, it still made her want to squirm.

The mystery woman folded her menu and set it down on the table. "That's kind of you." She said. "I believe I haven't properly introduced myself." She extended her hand towards Ezra. "Brielle Nguyen. I'm her sister." She said.

She saw her father sigh with relief. Before she had said that, they'd thought that she might've been an attorney! Frankie didn't even know that Priscilla had an older sister.

From across the table, Frankie saw Priscilla's face curl into a nasty expression when she heard the word 'Sister'. Perhaps they didn't get along.

'She’s probably just being a brat like she always is.' She added, it's not like it was the first time she'd seen an expression like that on her face before. But typically that expression was followed by a rude, snippy comment. Instead of saying what was on her mind, Priscilla was utterly silent. Now Frankie was even more confused.

Brielle shook Ezra's hand first, then she came around to Anna and then Frankie, who she looked at with cold eyes. As she was about to draw her hand back, CeCe reached out to her with a big smile.

Brielle blinked a few times and chuckled airily. "Um, okay. You too, I guess." She shook the toddler's hand just like she had everyone else's, though Frankie heard the cap of a hand sanitizer bottle pop from under the table.

It's not like she could blame her, CeCe was very messy.

Once she settled back into her chair, Priscilla rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself. Frankie watched her from across the table, studying this strange new behavior. Hopefully it was nothing serious, because it looked like she'd have to deal with this for the rest of the night.

And for however long it took for her ankle to heal, unfortunately.

~~~~

The rest of the dinner wasn't any less awkward than the beginning. After an hour and a half of stilted small talk, Brielle decided that she had had enough and asked for her and Priscilla’s bill. Seeing this as an opportunity, Priscilla decided to make her escape. “I’ll wait for you in the car.” She said softly. Brielle didn’t look up as she pulled her card from her wallet. “Alright, I will see you there.” She said.This was one of the few times that she was glad to not be paid much attention to. She grabbed her crutches and hobbled towards the door, though she could feel eyes on her back as she left.

Instead of sitting in the car, she sat beside the fountain just outside of the restaurant, watching the water flow from various spouts, creating ripples in the bowl below. The trickling sounds brought a quiet comfort to her mind, as if it were hitting her eardrums in just the right spot.

“Hey.”

Unfortunately, a voice had interrupted her relaxing time by the fountain. Annoyed, she turned to face the new sound to find Frankie standing at a distance behind her, clasping her hands nervously. “What?” Priscilla asked with a slight rasp.

She could see Frankie starting to lose her nerve, but she swallowed, shut her eyes harshly and wrung her hands. Priscilla sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. She had already been cursed by this girl's presence multiple times before and now she wanted to waste her time talking to her.

“I thought you’d be more snappy than that.” Frankie replied. Priscilla cocked her eyebrow, curious as to where Frankie would get the audacity to say such a thing. “What do you mean?” She asked, not even attempting to hide her accusatory tone.

Despite that, Frankie inched closer. “I could tell you wanted to say a lot of things at dinner, but you were actually quiet for once. What’s up with that?” She asked.

Priscilla half lidded her eyes irritably. “You want me to be mean to you?” She asked. Frankie wrinkled her nose in disgust. “No, I was just kind of surprised.” She replied. “Oh.” Priscilla turned to look at the fountain again. “Well, you already apologized to me and agreed to my terms, I really have no reason to lash out at you right now.” She said.

“What? Priscilla Pynch being civil ?” Frankie teased with a slight smile. “Don’t push it Greene .” Priscilla spat as quickly as she whipped her head around. Frankie chuckled. “There’s the snap I thought I was gonna get earlier!” She cheered. Priscilla could feel her face turning red, flustered she turned away from her. “You forced me to, was I supposed to just let you pick on me?” She retorted.

Without looking at her, she could feel Francine’s smile gazing upon her. Then, she heard footsteps and suddenly, Francine was sitting down next to her. “Sorry, I just had to do it for old time’s sake.” She said teasingly, her smile still bright. Priscilla rolled her eyes, “Whatever.”She muttered.

Then, Francine’s smile faded slightly, she stared forward, directly at the fountain spouts. “But other than that, I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed like you were in a really bad mood tonight, especially if Brielle was talking.” She added. Priscilla felt her heart pop and accelerate at her words. How could Frankie have caught on to that?

“She just has a very.. irritating disposition.” Priscilla said, trying to knock Francine off of her trail. Unfortunately, Frankie was too smart for that. “Maybe, but it seemed like you were annoyed by the general idea of her. I saw your face when she told us that she was your sister.”

Priscilla wrinkled her nose in disgust and Frankie immediately took notice of it. “See, you’re doing it again.” She pointed out.

“And what is it to you?” Priscilla spat. Francine looked unsurprised, simply looking upon her with pity, which Priscilla hated. No one was supposed to pity her, they were supposed to look up to her as if she was a star in the sky. They were supposed to think of her as the daughter of Madeline Pynch, as an heiress of industry!

“I just wanted to see if you were okay. Since I heard a lot of stuff’s been going on with you since…” She paused, and decided to choose her next words carefully. “...the beginning of the summer, especially since I caused part of it.” She replied.

Priscilla knew exactly what she meant by “the beginning of the summer” when her mother, her only family that she knew of at the time, was thrown into jail and she was left alone. If she was left as she were, she could be traveling the world, seeing new sights, tinkering with invention and living in the lap of luxury. But instead of doing any of that, she was stuck on Griffin Rock, being taken care of by a random and walking Robo-dog through the hideous island scenery. 

But remembering that the Greene’s were close to the Burnses, the family that just had to stick their noses in her mother’s business and ruin their lives, she kept those thoughts to herself. 

“I’m fine, thank you for asking. Other than my broken ankle, everything is perfect!” She said, putting an emphasis on the “one” bad thing in her life. Frankie’s face fell with guilt and she stood up. “Okay, I get it.” She said. Priscilla was relieved, now she could finally get this pest off of her back. “But if anything changes, I wouldn’t mind hearing you out, since we’ll be around each other more anyway.” Frankie added.

Then, without waiting for a reply, Francine left the scene, leaving her alone by the fountain again. Francine surprised her, she hadn’t expected to hear anything like that from her, especially after everything that had happened between them.

Her eyes stung and she felt pressure rising in her skull, but she wrenched her eyes shut and exhaled, pushing it down. She was not going to cry over something like that. She didn’t have a need to.

Not long after, Brielle came out of the restaurant with the Greene’s. As they left, Francine gave her a solemn look, which Priscilla quickly avoided. Brielle picked up her crutches for her and started towards the car. “Come on, let’s get you home.” She said simply. Priscilla agreed and shuffled towards the car, feeling as if the shadows of the night were washing over her, pulling her down

Not long after, the girls pulled into the driveway of the house, though Priscilla didn't really like to call it home.

She hated that house. Everytime she looked at it, she was reminded of everything that she couldn’t have and every chaotic thing that happened on her visits to the island. 

Including her mother's arrest. 

Everything just felt so empty without her. It had only been two months since then and Priscilla felt like she was ripping at the seams. After every horrible, ungodly thing that family did, they just had to take her mother away from her.

"Priscilla come on. We can't sit in the car forever." Brielle urged her. With that dull, deadpan voice, she was brought back to her current reality. One that she absolutely hated.

"Fine." She murmured. Brielle offered to pull her crutches to the other side of the car for her, but Priscilla declined the help. The last thing she needed was that woman tending to her. No one could replace her mother. No one.

She hobbled into the house, hit with what she perceived as anger. Immediately, she started for her room. The sooner she could get to bed, the better, when a droning voice interrupted her again.

"You know, I was thinking. Maybe we could go to the zoo this weekend. Father told me you liked giraffes." She said.

Priscilla whipped her head around so fast she had to grip her crutches to keep from falling. " 'Father' hasn't heard a thing about me in years. I don't think that he's the best source of information." She spat.

Brielle blinked. "Okay, I understand. What do you like then?" She asked. Priscilla squinted. "None of your business." She replied sharply. Brielle blinked again. "Priscilla, I'm only trying to get to know you. I know things have been tough recently, so I figured you could use a pick-me-up." Brielle explained, as if Priscilla hadn't caught onto that ages ago.

"Well here's the thing, I don't want to do any of that. I just want to move on with my life, so I can graduate and get the hell out of here!" Her statement started off as a low rumble and quickly became a shout that shook up the house.

For a moment, just a moment, Brielle looked genuinely hurt, but she quickly fixed her face back to her usual, deadpan expression. "Alright. But if you change your mind, I'll be on Griffin Rock until your ankle heals." She said.

Priscilla rolled her eyes harshly. "Great…" She sarcastically cheered. Before Brielle could think of a response, she made her way up the stairs, leaving her sister alone to replay the conversation in her head, trying to figure out what went wrong.

~~~~

Following her cold statements, Priscilla crashed into her bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, the tears began to flow from her eyes, before she could think to stop them. Clenched her jaw and muffled her sobs in her favorite stuffed giraffe, she "let" herself cry. Though, she refused to think about why she was upset. If she thought about it, she would only cry longer and if she cried longer, she had no idea when she would stop.

As she tried to bite her emotions back, she heard the sound of her phone going off. With a curious frown, she picked it up to investigate the source of the sound.

S.J.: ni

S.J.: hi

It was Seojun. What was he texting her for at this time of the night? At first, she thought about putting her phone down and ignoring him, but then she realized that a little conversation could distract her from her woes. 

P: Hey, what's up?

S.J.: not much

P: Same

S.J.: Did you know that Griffin Rock celebrates halloween early

P: Unfortunately.

P: They're the purest form of dork.

S.J.: 🤷🏾

S.J.: candy sounds good to me.

P: You know, I've never actually gone trick or treating

S.J.: …

S.J.: me either

P: I thought you were excited about Earlyween though?

S.J.: okay this might be silly

S.J.: but i really wanna go this year

S.J.: i wasn't allowed to

P: It doesn't sound silly! I couldn't either! Mother was sure that the people handing out candy were on their way to poison me. 🙄

S.J.: haha

S.J.: she seems fun

Behind the screen, Priscilla smiled a bit.

P: She is. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of weird things she did.

S.J.: ooh

S.J.: i wanna now

S.J.: *know

P: If you say so. Get ready to be bored!

Before she knew it, she had spent over an hour talking to Seojun about funny things that her mom did. Somehow, it successfully distracted her from everything she was upset about earlier.

If only those were all the memories she had of her, happy ones. She wished that it could stay this way.

~~~~

Namseon looked down at the sheet of paper in her right hand with the Chief’s name and number on it. In her left hand, was her phone. She looked between the two objects, trembling with anxiety as she tried to decide whether she should call him or not. What would she even say? How would he respond?

“ Amma?” 

She nearly jumped out of her skin, when her eldest daughter’s voice cut through her thoughts. Nervously, she turned around to face her. “Oh.. hello.” She said slowly. Her daughter, Vashti was leaning against the side of the doorway with her arms folded and her ankles crossed. She eyed her mother suspiciously.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Oh, nothing much.” Namseon took a seat on the edge of her bed, still holding the phone and the paper. “Chief Burns wanted me to give him a call. He says that he wanted to help us become acquainted with the town.” She explained, as if it was truly nothing to her.

Unfortunately, Vashti was more perceptive than she thought.

“I think it’d be good to give it a try. It can’t hurt to have an officer on our side incase of any…” She paused as she tried to find the right word. “ -mishaps. ” She said. 

“I know, Vana, but that’s not the main thing I’m thinking about. I’m always thinking of you and your siblings, I don't know if I should risk it in case any… mishaps were to put us in harm's way. I think it's best to stay hidden." She replied sternly. But then, her expression softened.

"But, Seojun and Jiwoo are making friends, Alena's been more social than ever, and I've never seen Kerchek smile until we moved here." She paused. "Maybe being out in the open is good for them, but I'm still not sure of it." She 

said.

"But there's another reason, isn't there?" Vashti asked, as if she could see right through her. Namseon sighed shallowly. "I'm curious about something that I saw regarding those… machines. I need to know if they're harmful." She replied.

Vashti frowned worriedly. "Machines?" She asked. "Yes." Namseon said. "The metal men that follow them." She paused. "They spoke as if they were alive. I heard it myself." 

Now Vashti's eyes were the size of oil drums as she processed what her mother told her. "You mean that they might be-"

"Sentient? Yes." Namseon cut in.

Vashti shifted nervously. "What will we do if they are?" She asked. Namseon looked into her big, black eyes, her face twisted with agony. "I'm not sure yet. I must learn what the stakes are." She said. "You will be the first one to know." 

Vashti nodded. "That's a lot to think about." She said simply. "I don't know if I was this nervous when I left…" Namseon trailed off, the implications hung heavily in the air. Vashti squeezed her right arm uncomfortably. "Yeah." She murmured.

The two stood in silence for a moment, before Vashti started towards the door. Hesitantly, she stopped and looked back at her mother with pleading, hopeful eyes.

"Even with everything hanging over our heads, it will still take a while for anyone to find us here." She said, her voice rasping. "Maybe the kids should have some fun before they do."

"You're still a child as well." Namseon reminded her. Vashti paused, letting her words seep into her mind. "I wish." She murmured.

Then she exited the room, leaving Namseon alone with her thoughts. She looked down at the sheet of paper again, closed her eyes and silently prayed that the ancestors were watching over her.

"I suppose it's worth a try. For them."

Chapter Text

For some reason it was colder today than it had been in weeks. It wasn't by much, but at least Graham hadn't broken out into a sweat as soon as he stepped outside. Feeling some relief, he took a moment to let out a jaw creaking yawn before opening his lunchbox.

He had been up for most of the night sorting through some of Doc Greene's blueprints and ideas. He helped him decide which ones were more viable, which was always very important, especially with the strange amount of misfortune on Griffin Rock. 

Now, he was barely awake, sitting at one of the wooden tables in the yard, trying to focus his eyesight on today's sandwich. He'd barely found anything to make it with since Kade had done a late night raid on the kitchen. The scene was like a battleground..

He sighed tiredly and took one half from the box, chewing it lazily, when he heard something " clunk ! " against the wood of the table.

"Hey Graham." Kerchek said casually as he sat down across from him. "Hi." Graham said, mustering up barely enough energy to speak. Kerchek opened his jello cup and started to break it up with his spoon.

"I thought it was supposed to be colder up north." He said, trying to make small talk. Graham chortled. "Yeah in most places, just not here." He replied. Kerchek squinted and curled his lip. "And I thought it was bad in Georgia." He muttered.

The duo sat together at lunch almost every day making small talk or complaining about work. Graham wasn't much of a "people person" like the rest of his family, but he liked having someone to talk to.

"You know, a couple years ago, my little brother took a weather machine off the Best Left Forgotten shelf to make it snow when he thought it was too hot." He said.

Kerchek frowned in disbelief. "A weather machine?" He asked, a bit dryly. 

Graham nodded. "It was great at first, but it quickly turned into a total disaster! After a while, it broke and caused a blizzard." He continued.

Kerchek nodded, still frowning, but with intrigue this time. "Where is it now?" He asked. Graham frowned. "Actually, I don't remember what we did with it. I'll have to ask my brother." He replied. 

Kerchek chuckled. "As long as he doesn't try to turn it back on again." He joked. "Oh believe me! He wouldn't dare." Graham said. Kerchek smiled a little, finishing off his jello. 

"Maybe if you find it, you can show it to me." He said. Graham shrugged. "Maybe, but it's probably a little dangerous." He replied. Kerchek smirked and leaned forward against the table. "I don't mind a little danger." He shot back.

Something about the way he said it while getting a little closer to him made Graham's heart beat rush through his ears. He could feel his face burning a bright red. 

Kerchek acted as if he didn't notice, instead opting to hold his hand out. "Pass me your phone. I'll give you my number so you can tell me if you find out where it is." He paused and relaxed his eyes. "Or if you just wanna… talk. " He said.

By now, Graham was sure that his face and neck looked like a ripe tomato. By the way he looked at him with his half lidded eyes and his fluttering lashes, with the soft tone in his voice, he was wondering if 'talk' had more than one meaning.

He gulped nervously. "Yeh, sUre!" He said, his voice cracking like a teenager's as he handed his phone to Kerchek. 

Without hesitation, Kerchek took the phone and typed in his digits. As he did, Graham opted to look anywhere but his face, focusing on his phone instead. That was when he noticed something slightly strange. As he typed with his thumbs, he noticed that his hands, even though they were already pretty sizable, looked a little wider than he thought before.

While trying to keep his composure, he looked at each finger curiously, but instead of stopping at four other than the thumb, he stopped at five. Noticing an extra finger somewhere in the mix. He blinked in confusion and shifted his gaze to his other hand, which looked exactly the same as his right. Six fingers on each hand.

Before Graham could build his train of thought, Kerchek looked up at him, noticing his gaze. "It's polydactyly. Not really that big a deal, though it does mean I can wear more rings than most people." He joked lightly.

Graham felt his face heat up again, embarrassed for a different reason this time. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I just thought it looked cool." He said, telling half of the truth. The missing part was that it was also a bit strange. Most people with that condition didn't have extra fingers that looked so even, not only that but at first he didn't even notice because they were so proportionate. Maybe he was an anomaly of some sort.

Kerchek smiled and Graham could see a slight red tint on his face. "Thanks, most people just look at me like I just told them I have a contagious disease or something." He replied. Graham nodded sheepishly, unsure of what else to say. "I mean, I wouldn't mind having six fingers if it meant I would get to hang out with you more." He blurted out, without a second thought going through his mind.

For a split second, he saw Kerchek's eyes pop wide open before he blinked and switched his expression. Graham could see him suppressing something, whether it was a smile, a smirk or something else worried him. But it was gone in a split second, now his face had a cool, sly and otherwise unreadable expression.

He chortled, though Graham couldn't tell what that meant from him. But before he could find out, an alarm went off on Kerchek's phone. "Oh! Looks like I actually have to do my job.. at my job." He joked. He gave Graham back his phone, but he didn't look at him as he did. His gaze lingered on the object from under his long eyelashes.

After a short pause, he looked back up and grabbed his own phone from the table. "See you later!" He started to walk away, before turning around as he left. "And tell me about that weather machine if you get the chance." He added.

As he distanced himself from the table, Graham watched him walk away, completely frozen, before their previous conversation washed over him like a tidal wave. As well as a blushing inferno as he realized what he had just said to him.

Oh my God. I'm doomed. That's it- I gotta skip town! Live in New York. Maybe get a job as a paperboy.

Actually, I'm probably too old to be a paperboy. Maybe I can work at NASA. 

But he did give me his number, so he couldn't have been that uncomfortable.

Maybe it's a fake number.

Or I'm just totally overthinking it and we're cool. 

He paused his thoughts, biting the dry skin off of his bottom lip as he tried to set himself straight.

I'll just text him after work and see what happens.

And shortly after, his own alarm went off, signaling that it was time to go back to work.

~~~

Kerchek giggled to himself as he made his way to his car, rolling through a mental recap of his lunch break with Graham. It was so easy to make him stir and blush, it was honestly hilarious!

But it was also kind of cute. 

He shook that thought out of his head and he ducked into the driver's seat of his car. He hadn't been at work that late today, so he could still pick up Kamina from the daycare. 

That was the way he preferred it. Getting some time with his daughter at the end of the day before he had to go home and face the music. Which could be a lot of things, but mainly his younger siblings that lived with them. It wasn't like he hated them or anything like that, sometimes they were just very… frustrating .

But enough of that. He pulled into the parking lot of the 'Sunny Side' daycare center. So far, it seemed like it was good for Kamina. The caretakers were nice, she was clean when she came home, and she had started to talk more too.

He approached the desk and a young man looked up from his paperwork. "Welcome to Sunny Side! How may I help you?" He asked cheerfully, putting on a "sunny" smile.

"Hey-" He quickly glanced at his name tag. "-River. I'm here to pick up my daughter, Kamina Liu." He said. "And what is your name?" River asked. "Kerchek Willis." He replied. River set down his paperwork and nodded. "May I see some I.D. please?" He requested.

Kerchek sighed inwardly as he dug his driver's license out of his wallet. This was the part that he always dreaded. River gently took the card from his hand and read over it. Kerchek could see him pause and quickly switch his expression to a neutral face. He knew exactly what he had read.

Getting his government I.D. changed had been a strenuous ordeal and though he had his legal name secured, he still had that tiny "F" on that little piece of plastic.

River handed him back the card, looking him up and down to try and get a clue as to why the person he saw didn't match the I.D. card. 

"Alright Mr. Willis, we'll have someone bring her out." River said. Kerchek felt relieved, while it was strange and humiliating to be studied like that, at least he wasn't called "Ms. Willis." That would have deflated him more than the long day already had.

As he waited, an older couple walked into the daycare- maybe their grandchild was there for the day- and went through the same process, but a lot smoother. They sat in the little lobby, across from where Kerchek sat.

After a few minutes, a woman brought out two little girls around the same age, one of which he immediately recognized as his daughter.

"Hey kiddo!" He said, kneeling and opening his arms as she toddled as fast as she could. As he scooped her up, she hugged him around his neck and nuzzled the side of his face with hers.

"You ready to go home?" He asked. Kamina nodded quickly, looking up at him with her big golden brown eyes. Kerchek smiled and adjusted her in his arms, ready to head out of the door.

"Oh, you're Kamina's dad!" Someone said. Across the room, the older couple had reunited with the other little girl, who waved politely, and Kamina waved back.

Kerchek shifted her in his arms nervously. "Yeah, what's up?" He asked stiffly, but trying not to be rude. He looked them over. There was an older man with grey streaks twisted into his long coiled hair, he had goggles on his head, dark brown skin, and was tall and kind of skinny. 

The woman had completely grey hair with some lighter spots in a messy ponytail that had a few loose strands sticking out, her glasses and her lab coat gave her a serious appearance.

But she smiled at him. "I don't think we've met, but our daughters are friends. They usually don't want to stop playing when we come to pick her up." She said.

That gave Kerchek a bit of a clue, but he still felt a bit on edge. The serious woman quickly noticed this. "Oh! Forgive me for not introducing myself properly. I'm not much of a people person. I'm Anna Baranova." She said, offering him her hand.

Apprehensively, he took it. "Kerchek Willis." He replied. Anna nodded, like she was analyzing something. "And this is my husband Ezra and our daughter CeCe." She added.

"It's so wonderful to meet you. Our little Einstein is always babbling on about Kamina. I'm surprised it took us this long to finally meet!" Ezra said.

Kerchek was a bit surprised by how raspy his voice was, but he wasn't too bothered. "Oh yeah, I usually work a little later than this." He replied. Ezra nodded. "Ah, that must be fun." He said sarcastically, but still with a bright grin. Kerchek scoffed. "You better believe it!" He replied.

Anna smiled again. "We should set up a little playdate for the girls. I think they'd like that." She said. Kamina nodded vigorously, with CeCe being close behind her in enthusiasm.

Kerchek smiled lightly. A friend would do some good for her.

 "Yeah, I'm down." He replied. Anna quickly took a pen and a little pad of paper from her purse and scribbled her and Ezra's numbers on top of it. "Great!" She passed him the pen and paper, and Kerchek did the same.

"I hope to see you again soon." She said, then, she smiled and gave Kamina a little wave. "See you soon sweetheart." She said sweetly. Kamina giggled and waved back. 

As her parents left the lobby, CeCe looked over their shoulders and waved as well. "Bye-bye Mina!" She cheered. "Bye!" Kamina called back to her.

Kerchek smiled warmly at the girls. At least the move had been good for something.

He turned his daughter towards him with a big grin and made her shimmy in the air. "When were you gonna tell me you made a friend?" He asked, slipping right into his silly 'dad voice'.

Immediately, Kamina started laughing hysterically, looking up at him with glee. "Huh?" He gently shook her again, getting more raspy giggles out of the little girl. 

He laughed with her and pulled her close, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "Looks like we both found someone to talk to." He mumbled. Kamina didn't seem to notice. She pulled her arms around his neck and went limp in his arms, signaling that it was the end of the day. 

Kerchek smiled and stepped forward. "Don't start sleeping yet, you don't need to be up all night." He said, lightly jostling her awake.

The toddler whined and turned in his arms, trying to nap anyway. Kerchek rolled his eyes and walked out of the daycare towards the car. Gently, he set her into her car seat. It's not like she'd listen anyway, he could wake her up when they got home. 

And besides, she was just so cute when she slept.

Not to mention quiet.

~~~~

Kerchek stepped out of the shower leaving steam in his wake. He wore a white towel over his shoulders and grey sweatpants, his locs were tied into a ponytail and as he brushed his teeth he scrolled through twitter on his phone, watching the chaos unfold.

He nearly spat the toothpaste foam out of his mouth when he suddenly got a text.

?: Hey, it’s Graham. I found the weather machine! You should come see it!

He hadn’t expected Graham to take what he said seriously, but looking back at any interaction that he had had with him, he was clearly the type to do that. No offense to him. 

But how should he respond? On one hand, it was getting late and he was kind of tired, plus he kind of had a kid to take care of.

On the other hand, he hadn't been out in a while, and it couldn't hurt to spend a little time with someone as cute as Graham.

Well, he meant as nice as Graham.

And on the other other hand, he really hadn't gone out in a while.

He figured that he didn't need to go to another hand.

K: Where are we supposed to meet up?

?: img.locblf

K: A bunker under a museum?

K: You lookin to take me out?

?: Maybe, just not in the way you're talking about.

?: I mean, if you want me to, that is.

Kerchek couldn't keep his wide smirk contained. Watching Graham say something smooth only to rip it apart in seconds was hilarious! Even over text, watching him get flustered was entertaining.

K: Just know that if you ever did try to take me out "in that way", you'd be going down first.

?: I don't think I'd mind that much.

This time around, Kerchek felt heat rise in his face, and his breath hitched. It seemed like Graham had a little hidden confidence in him.

?: I feel like we're not talking about the weather machine anymore.

'And there it is,' Kerchek thought with amusement.

K: 😉

K: Give me about 20 minutes.

As soon as Kerchek sent that text, he turned off his phone and quickly cleaned out his mouth and toothbrush, running his tongue across every point just to make sure they were smooth.

He pulled on a fresh, clean outfit. A long sleeved, black mesh shirt that cut off just above his hips, showing off his figure -of course his binder showed through it, but like this it just looked like a simple tank top, which was nice- ripped black jeans, black, calf high, platform boots which had red laces that stretched all the way to peak of the shoe, a necklace with a moonstone shaped like a pyramid hanging from the chain, and a red leather jacket with a ton of pockets.

He redid his ponytail, setting it high on the back of his head. He then pulled two locs out from the front to frame his face, and added silver cuffs to the middle of both strands. Lastly, he applied a coat of cherry flavored lip balm.

He checked his teeth again, making sure they were in place with a smile. He turned in the mirror, picking up on every detail. Once he was facing himself again, he came to a conclusion.

'Damn, I look fine as hell!'

With triumph, he grabbed his house keys, mint gum and a few other small items, before suddenly stopping in his tracks. Somehow, he managed to forget one of the reasons that he was worried about going out.

(With all affection.) The fucking crotch goblin. 

"Shit!" He whispered. Normally, he took care of her through the night, dinner, bath time, stories, and bedtime, but he had also just told Graham that he wanted to go out, and there was no way that he was about to prioritize some random man over his baby. 

But just as quickly as he started to panic and cancel the outing, he remembered something that was also very important. 

He wasn't the only one in the house.

If he could get Namseon to watch the baby, he could still go out! It felt really wrong though.. But one night couldn't be that bad, right? 

Momentarily taking off his boots (Namseon surely wouldn't wanna babysit if he decided to tramp through her house with shoes on), he started for the stairs.

Quietly making his way down the hall, he found himself at Namseon's door, which she kept cracked open so that she could hear all of her kids better. (Not sure why she would need it that way, she had pretty sensitive hearing, but nonetheless-) He started to open it, but froze when he heard light snoring reach his ears. 

'Double shit!' He thought.

He wasn't sure when he started saying things like that, maybe Graham's "unseasoned" way of speaking was rubbing off on him. But that doesn't matter right now.

He had to figure out what he was going to do next! There was no way that he was waking up Namseon and asking her to watch Kamina. Sure, she was very generous, considering that he wasn't even her son, but she probably wouldn't take too kindly to that.

Parents need their sleep, you know.

He sighed and feeling defeated, he started back down the hallway towards the stairs, the wind had been taken out of his sails. He would have to tell Graham that he couldn't go out tonight, and after all that flirting too!

"What's goin' on?" A voice asked from behind him. Kerchek turned around, surprised to see Namseon's oldest daughter standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Her hair was covered by a big, silk, emerald green bonnet, her black eyes looked like shiny marbles in the light from her room, and she was dressed in matching green silk pajamas. She stood with her arms crossed and her chin slightly elevated.

"Oh hey-" He took a second to get her name straight, he knew she was a quadruplet, but did Namseon really have to give them all 'V' names?

"-Vashti." He said, his voice coming out higher than he expected it to. Vashti's expression remained level and blank, the pearls in her head studied him closely.

"I was just headed downstairs." He said. 

Vashti blinked. "Dressed like you're about to peruse the streets of Los Angeles?" She asked.

Well, she made a good point. "Yeah, but Namseon's not awake, so I kinda have to cancel that trip." He said dryly. Then, it hit him. Vashti was the oldest in the house after him and Namseon, so maybe she could watch Kamina.

"Do you mind kids?" He asked. Vashti smirked. "I knew it." She said. Kerchek frowned. "You knew what ?" He asked her. Her smirk grew. "Just a couple weeks and you already found a sneaky link? Game on point." She said slyly.

Kerchek felt his face become hot again, but not because he was feeling, well squirrelly , but he was genuinely flustered.

"The fuck you mean by that?" He demanded, feeling a bit defensive. 

Vashti leaned against the wall. "Do I have to make it more obvious? You have a " hot date " a " rendezvous " a " hookup" a " dick appoi- "

"Okay, okay, okay!" He interrupted, waving his hands in front of her at lightning speed. Vashti had started rattling off synonyms so fast that Kerchek could barely cut her off in time for the most explicit one. 

She went silent, but was still smirking triumphantly. Kerchek sighed with exasperation. "O don’t think so, but I don't really know that yet." He replied. Vashti perked up. "From all that fast typing I heard, it sounds like you're on the right track." She said.

"All that-" Kerchek had to stop and breathe before he got himself twisted into a knot. "Whatever, I just wanna know, can you watch Mina or not?" He asked.

Vashti put her pointer finger to her lip thoughtfully. "Yeah sure, but on one condition." She said.

'Oh great.' Kerchek thought with heavy dread.

"You tell me what happens tomorrow." She added.

Kerchek was taken aback. Confidence is one thing, sheer audacity is another. "Huh? Why would I tell you that? We barely even know each other, plus you're still like, a kid." He said.

"I won't be in two weeks!" She argued.

"Yeah, there's no way." Kerchek said as he turned away. 

"Well, I could just not watch Kamina and you'd have to stay home." Vashti added. Kerchek stopped. "What?" He asked. Vashti shrugged. "You could think of it as my payment." She said.

Kerchek wanted to strangle this girl. But in the time he had spent getting ready and talking to her, 15 minutes had already passed. Kerchek sighed. "Fine, but I'm not going into detail." He said.

"Works for me, I just need to hear something entertaining." Vashti replied dryly. "Are you just looking for drama?" Kerchek asked. Vashti smiled teasingly. "Only a little bit." She said. 

She raised her left hand in front of her. "Do you swear on the first one?" She asked. 

Kerchek looked at her anxiously. From what he heard, swearing on 'The first one' was no joke. It was like a bond that could not be broken. It was even used at the end of treaties between territories and rulers. 

"Why're you bringing that up?" He asked. "Just so we both hold up our ends of the deal." Vashti replied, her dark eyes piercing through his body. "What do you say, Kei?" 

Kerchek swallowed deeply, why she would do this for a relatively simple task was confusing, but he had roped himself into it. Next time, he'd probably ask one of her younger twins to help.

He looked at her again. He wasn't really keen on it, but he wasn’t about to pass up a free babysitter, so he raised his hand to shake hers.

"I swear on the first one." He said. 

Vashti clasped his hand and smiled proudly. As soon as he let go, it was as if sunshine filled Vashti's dark eyes. She jumped and clapped her hands together with excitement. "Cool! Now, where's the baby?" She asked. 

Kerchek was confused by the sudden change, but he decided to keep that to himself. "She's in the room across from mine, downstairs towards the front of the hallway." He said.

Vashti smiled brightly. "Okay." And she started down the stairs. "I'll see you later Kei. Have fun!" She cheered in a singsong voice as she hurried to the toddler's room.

Kerchek watched her fade into the darkness downstairs from the banister, wondering what had just happened between them.

'She mad weird.' He thought.

Well, at least he could still go out. Though 25 minutes had already passed, hopefully Graham wasn't a stickler for time. 

As he made his way down the stairs, he replayed that odd scene in his head. Vashti had managed to corner him and get what she wanted so quickly. Clever little shit.

But she had also given him a nickname, using a suffix that siblings in her culture used for each other. She probably wouldn't do that if she wasn't being genuine.

Maybe all of that was just her strange, slightly twisted way of trying to get to know him better. If that was the case, maybe he could play along. It was hard feeling alone in a house full of people.

~~~~

Graham paced back and forth in front of his car, biting his thumbnail and letting his anxious thoughts fly. 

'What if he doesn't show up?'

'Am I being ditched?'

'This is so embarrassing!'

'I'm pretty sure he was flirting with me. Did I read things the wrong way?'

But as he started another round of pacing, he heard the sounds of tires rolling over pavement and stopped in his tracks. A dark red car pulled into the parking lot, nearly blinding him with his headlights as it parked. 

Just after it stopped, Kerchek jumped out, wearing clothes that showed off every part of him. Graham could feel himself blushing all over again. 

"Hey!" Kerchek said with a bright smile and a wave. He walked with long strides and his hands in his pockets. "Hi!" Graham said, his voice trembling nervously. 

Before he could think, Kerchek hooked his arm around his shoulder, giving him a short side-hug. Graham's heart raced with surprise. He felt that if he got any more flustered, he would explode.

"Hi!" He said again, trying to force himself through his nerves. "I thought you weren't coming." He said, smiling a little too wide. Kerchek parted from him, smiling lightly. "Yeah, I got caught up in something, but I'm here now." He said. 

Graham bounced on his toes and clasped his hands together tightly. "Okay." He said, more high pitched than usual. 

There was a short pause, before Kerchek shifted to look at the building and then back at Graham with a sly smirk. "So, you gonna show me this weather machine or what?" He asked playfully. Almost instantly, Graham snapped out of his trance. "Oh yeah, right! Come on." He said, gesturing for Kerchek to follow him. 

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Kerchek walked behind him lazily. 

Graham unlocked the door with trembling hands and turned on the lights, he quickly looked around and listened to see if anyone was there. So far, there was nothing.

"Okay, let's go." Graham said. Curiously, Kerchek walked beside him, looking around at the various gadgets and gizmos decorating the shelves. "What's the point of even having all this stuff here?" He asked. 

"Griffin Rock likes to categorize its mistakes thoroughly. We keep the more stable failures around to figure out how to make things better." Graham explained. 

"Hmm." Kerchek hummed, taking another look around. 

"Where do the other ones go?" Kerchek asked. "The island of misfit tech." Graham replied swiftly. Kerchek raised his eyebrow with puzzlement. 

“Or, they’re destroyed in a freak accident” Graham added. 

For a moment, Kerchek looked even more confused than he had before, but soon something else caught his eye.

"What's that?" He asked. Graham turned around to see him pointing at something. On the shelf parallel to him sat a pair of puffy red boots that had what looked like rocket boosters on the soles. They were a little too bulky for the shoes and the shoes themselves looked like they had seen better days.

"Oh those? Those are the moon boots." He replied. Kerchek frowned curiously. "What were they supposed to do?" He asked. "They were supposed to allow the average person to jump long distances to get places faster and with less exertion than running." Graham replied. 

"Cool." Kerchek muttered, Graham could tell that he was starting to lose interest. "But, instead of moving up and forward, they only put the effort upwards instead. They almost sent a test driver straight into the stratosphere!" He shook his head and smiled fondly. "It was a wild day for the team, especially Dani a-" He stopped himself before he could utter Blades' name. 

He felt his heart accelerate. He'd almost mentioned an alien to Kerchek, someone who they were trying to keep this secret from. The last thing he needed was for him to start asking questions! “-and me!”

He wasn't sure if Kerchek had heard his blunder, but if he had, he didn't seem to care. He looked around the aisle again. "Is all the stuff here like that?" He asked, eyeing the moon boots warily.

Graham chuckled, quietly admiring the nervous face he made looking at the little things. They either were deactivated or benevolently malfunctioning, so they wouldn't be able to hurt him.

"Some of it, but a lot of the other ones have way more light hearted stories." Graham replied, hoping to calm him. Kerchek squinted at the boots and turned back to him. "Can you tell me about some of them?" He asked. His smile was slight, but he could see a gleam in his eyes, full of wonder. 

A bright grin and blush spread across Graham's face. He thought he'd never ask.

~~~~

As they walked through the hall of inspiration and into the BLF shelves, Graham told Kerchek about the animal translator that caused the person wearing it to exhibit dog-like behavior. 

(Though it was less funny when he started barking and chasing the mail truck through the streets.)

A cloaking device that only turned the wearer's skin see-through. (Not at all horrifying). All of the trouble that the miniaturizer put them through -Kerchek was very surprised that a giant baby would even choose to take a bath- along with a few more.

Until they finally reached the weather machine.

Graham held his arms out as he stood in front of it, proudly presenting it to his friend. "Here it is!" He cheered with a goofy grin.

Kerchek gave it a once over.

It was a big machine with a silver body that nearly took up the space of the aisle sideways. It had a top compartment that was like a dome and a bottom half that was shaped like a box. The bottom looked like it had two helium tanks on each side. 

The tanks and the box were connected by thick green tubes with some sort of mystery liquid flowing through them. After that, the pieces were connected to the upper dome by two poles. What was inside of it looked like a big yellow model of a molecule, twirling and spinning about. It also had weather symbols on it.

On the front it had a large switch with a green-to-red zoning system on the left side and a dial on the right side with symbols representing weather patterns around it. A clear dome shape sat in the middle of the box. 

"Wow!" Kerchek whispered. He'd never seen anything like it. 

"I know! Even with the trouble it brought us, it's still pretty cool." Graham replied. Kerchek continued to stare at it, mesmerized by the rings of the molecule.

But, he was pulled out of the trance by confusion. "Wait, but if it's on the "Forget this" shelf, why is it still on?" He asked. Graham shrugged. "Doc Greene fixed it so we could stop the blizzard, and while it's not making any weather, it's totally harmless." He replied. 

Kerchek didn't get it, but as long as it didn't blow up, he couldn't care less. "So how does it work?" He asked. Graham frowned. "You want to use it?" He asked in disbelief. 

Kerchek raised his eyebrow with a mischievous smile. "What? You only wanted to look at this for a few minutes and dip?" Then, he leaned in a little closer to him, dropping his eyebrow and looking at him through his lashes. "Unless you have something else in mind?" He asked in a low voice.

Graham's eyes opened wide, Kerchek could imagine the thoughts racing through his mind. Maybe it was a little mean, but he couldn't help it. Graham had a face like glass, and seeing his flustered expression was just too good!

"Oh-um, sure! Lemme just check the calibrations first." He uttered, quickly making his escape. Kerchek smirked behind him as he checked on the contraption.

Quickly, Graham got to work, opening the panel and fiddling with the wires, along with checking on the switch. Graham was pretty awkward, but when it came to machines he was quick and careful with his hands. Kerchek became curious about what else he could do with them.

'Um, let's not.' He thought, quickly shaking that idea out of his head. Though a rush in his heart still remained. Flirting with him was fun, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to take it that far. Feeling a bit guilty, he held onto the locket around his neck, remembering the images inside.

"Broken machines, eh?" Kerchek said, trying to distract himself. Graham didn't look at him. "Yeah, though technically it was-" He cut himself off, falling scarily still. Kerchek looked from side to side, wondering if he should do something.

"But anyway, it wasn't always broken. Once it got fixed, we just decided controlling the weather was a little more than the island could handle." He said. 

Graham closed the panel and stood up, sweeping his bangs away from his face. "It's all good." He said. "Cool." Kerchek replied. He stepped forward, deciding to take a closer look. 

"Just push the lever up a little bit and switch the settings to whatever you want." Graham instructed. The idea was foreign to him, but there was no way that he was about to miss out on the opportunity. 

"Okay." He said. Carefully, he turned the dial to the snowflake and hesitantly pulled the switch. An instant later, a blue beam shot up into the air and a swirling, white cloud materialized above it.

Kerchek craned his neck to look up at the spectacle, his lips parted in wonder. After a moment, the cloud calmed and became thick, heavy and grey. Then, tiny flakes of ice began to fall from it.

Without a second thought, he stretched out his hand and reached under the cloud. He nearly jumped when he felt cold water on his skin. 

"This can't be real." He breathed, barely coherent.

Graham folded his arms and smiled knowingly. "On Griffin Rock, just about anything can be real." He said. Kerchek looked back at him with awe. Graham smirked in reply. "What? You weren't expecting it to work?" He teased, copying the tone of Kerchek's previous cocky question.

This time, the stunned man found himself blushing. He bit his lower lip and rolled his eyes, trying his hardest to suppress a shy smile. "You got me this time." He admitted.

Graham's smirk became a grin. "I had to get you back." He replied. Kerchek shook his head and turned his attention back to the snow. The flakes collected and made piles on the machine, but the floor was too warm and melted them immediately. 

"Have you seen enough snow?" Graham asked. "I don't know if I ever will." Kerchek replied as he collected droplets in his hands. 

To his surprise, Graham joined him. "Fascinating, isn't it?" He asked. Kerchek narrowed his eyes playfully as he turned towards him. "Yeah, duh." He answered, tilting his head forward. 

Graham chuckled airily. His kind of thin, bright pink lips hadn't stopped straying away from each other since Kerchek pulled the lever. He was actually kind of pretty. 

But he pulled away, feeling his heart rush again. It was probably just nerves. "We should probably turn it off, I don't think y'all need another blizzard." He uttered shakily. Graham looked confused at first, but he agreed. "Yeah, sure I guess." He said.

Quickly, Kerchek stood up trying to escape his own heart, when a loud screech came from under him. In just a second, he found himself facing the ceiling and his feet off of the ground.

'Shit!'

But as he slipped, a pair of arms encircled him, catching him just before he fell. Then there he was, face to face with Graham. His dirty-blonde hair fell, framing his face, His bright, grey eyes were wide, his glasses tilted down and his face was flushed. 

"Are you okay?" He asked rapidly. 

Kerchek blinked, and thought to shield himself again. "Smooth move, Graham." He said with a wide smirk.

Graham's face went from flushed to red hot in an instant. He quickly pulled Kerchek up and separated from him. "Clean up on aisle seven!" He wailed, his voice as high pitched as a thirteen year old boy. 

Kerchek stifled laughter as a little robot came around the corner to suck up the water. It looked like he had his edge back. Whatever that was was just a weird fluke.

Graham swung his hands back and clapped quietly, clasping them together tightly. "So… Do you have any other plans?" He asked awkwardly. Kerchek smiled lightly. "Hopefully a good night's sleep." He replied. 

"Yeah, me too." Graham said. Silence filled the air for a moment, as the two tried to figure out what to say next. 

"Wanna walk me to my car?" Kerchek blurted out. Of course, that question brought redness back to Graham's face. "Su-su- Sure!" He stuttered. "Thanks." Kerchek replied with a soft smile. After that he turned towards the door. 

~~~~

The warm, summer night winds were like gentle waves against them. Bringing a nice comforting breeze to the pair.

Graham walked beside Kerchek. It was like his mind, body and soul were all on fire. Every time a little remark left Kerchek's lips it was like a spotlight was being shone on him. He'd never felt that way before and each time, he could barely calm down. Usually when any attention was on him, he had to try not to panic.

Somehow, this kind of 'spotlight' felt different.

"And there's my ride." Kerchek said suddenly. While Graham had been walking on air, they had approached Kerchek's car, leading them to the end of the night.

Kerchek smiled slightly. "See you later, okay?" He said. Graham wanted to fall to his knees and beg him to stay, he didn't want this to end, but instead he froze. The fun of being on the spot.

"Yeah, see you later." He replied in a dreamlike cadence. 

Before he knew it, Kerchek's car was rolling over the gravel, making rocky popping noises as if left, leaving Graham standing alone in the parking lot again. 

Chapter Text

With enthusiasm for the day ahead, Cody hurried off to his first period class. It was Thursday, which meant Friday was tomorrow and then the weekend! That was exciting on its own, but he was also looking forward to being in class.

He liked science well enough, but he mainly liked sitting with Seojun. He was friendly, funny, and kind of clever too. He looked forward to whatever conversation they'd be having today.

Maybe it would be about Griffin Rock catastrophes, chaotic siblings, making jokes, or something totally different.

He didn't notice the wide grin on his face as he thought of the hour and a half that lay ahead of him. 

Once he got to class, he found Seojun in his usual spot, doodling in his notebook. Cody threw down his backpack and climbed into the stool next to him. 

"Hey!" He said cheerfully.

Seojun closed his book and turned towards him. Today he hadn't put his hood over his head, so his curly hair stretched far around his head, and only partially covered his eyes. "Hi." He replied.

"So, what's up?" Cody asked, trying to get a conversation started. Seojun shrugged and his hair shrugged with him. "Not much." He started. Then, his lips parted in slight shock as he remembered something, if Cody could see his eyes, they would have been wide open to match. 

"Oh! Mam said she'd call." He said. 

Cody had to think about that for a second. Until he remembered his family’s plan to make sure that they weren’t a threat to the bots’ safety.

 "You mean, she's gonna call my dad?" He asked. 

Seojun nodded with a smile. "Yeah." He replied.

It came as a shock to Cody, from how shut off she seemed, he had expected that she would've thrown away his number as soon as she got it. He wondered what made her change her mind.

"Noble!" He cheered. Seojun tilted his head curiously, his green eyes wide. "Noble?" He asked. Suddenly, Cody felt warm in the face. "Oh. It just means I think something's cool." He replied quickly. 

Seojun nodded, taking in the new information. 

"Noble." He replied, smiling at his quick answer. Cody rolled his eyes with a smile of his own. 

"It's not that funny." He said. 

Seojun shrugged. "You say so." He retorted playfully.

As a rebuttal, Cody stuck his tongue out at him in disapproval. Seojun casually waved him off in response. Unbothered. 

Before Cody could think of anything else to say or do, Ms. Kalen started the class. Unfortunately, she had no regard for her student's social lives. But at least, Cody knew that things were starting to fall into place. They were one step closer to guaranteeing the bot's safety.

~~~~

Seojun was also excited, he felt as if he were walking on air. (Though, he still had to hold himself back and make sure that he wasn’t running into any more short people.)

On Saturday, he was going on a date with Priscilla! His first date ever too! He’d finally worked up the nerve yesterday to ask when they were actually going out and he had the date rolling around in his mind all day. Saturday at 5pm, Blossom Vale. He had no idea where Blossom Vale was, but he’d figure it out.

As he bounced his way to class, he ran into his sister in the hallway, who looked at him curiously. “What’s got you splitting your face?” She asked teasingly. “Nothin’.” Seojun said, trying to suppress his grin. Jiwoo tilted her head and poked out her lips mischievously. “Right...” She started. “So, is it a boy?” She asked. Seojun felt instant heat in his face, he shook his head rapidly, blowing his hair around like trees in a storm. “No!” He rebuked. Jiwoo smirked. “A girl then?” She asked. “Jia, Nothing’s happening!” He exclaimed.

Jiwoo still seemed unconvinced. Seojun rolled his eyes as they approached his math class. “What? Not allowed to be happy with no reason?” He asked. 

Jiwoo shrugged, her face suddenly becoming serious. “Are we really?” She replied as she walked away, not quite disappearing into the crowd. 

Seojun was left stunned as he let that thought stew in his mind. Jiwoo made a fair reference. Unfortunately, when it came to their family, happiness rarely lasted.

But he shook the thought out of his mind again as he walked into class.

~~~~~ 

Chief Burns sat calmly in the command center. Today had been a slow day, a rare experience on Griffin Rock. So far, the only thing that the team was called for was rescuing Mr. Pettypaws from his favorite tree, and tracking down a kid that was skipping school at the park. Skateboarding was a nice skill, but unless he was the next Tony Hawk, it wouldn’t help him out much.

Other than that, it was like the city had suddenly gone silent. He would be worried if he didn’t have the camera footage of the town continuing on as lively as usual without the trouble. He leaned back in his chair with a big sigh, it was weird and unusual, but he was gonna enjoy it. Typically, these moments don’t last long.

“BRINNNNNGHHHH! BRRRRINNNGHHHH!”

Just as he had started to doze off, he was woken up by the ringing of his phone. Typically, he kept it on max volume, just in case someone called his direct line instead of the emergency line. It was a small enough town that people barely noticed the difference. He sighed again with dismay, and picked up his phone.

‘I can hear it already. Jerry’s truck’s hanging over a cliff or maybe Mr. Pettypaws got stuck again. If I’m lucky, the ground will be splitting open under city hall.’ He thought, somewhat pessimistically.

But once the screen reached his face, he only saw digits running across it. An unknown caller. That was odd, he had saved everyone’s phone numbers. Maybe it was a scam call. But, it couldn’t hurt to answer anyway.

“Hello, Charlie Burns speaking. If this is an emergency, consider calling the functioning emergency line.” He said.

There was silence on the other end, but he could tell that someone was there. “Hello?” He asked, wondering what the hold up was.

“Oh! Hello Mr. Burns. I must have gotten distracted as I waited for the call to come through.” A woman’s voice replied.

Charlie frowned. He was sure that he had heard this voice before, though it wasn’t quite familiar. Though, his first guess would line up with the unknown caller ID.

“Mrs. Min?” He asked curiously.

“Your memory serves you well.” She replied.

 A wave of relief that there was no emergency or scam caller washed over Chief Burns, but it was quickly reeled in by surprise. She was actually calling him? Now he had to make a good impression!

"It doesn't hurt to be polite, right?" He asked. 

"I suppose not." She replied 

Their already stiff conversation paused, leaving silence between them. Charlie quickly tried to come up with something to talk about.

' "I'm surprised you called." No, don't say that, it could offend her. '

' "How have you been?" Yeah, that could work.' He thought.

He opened his mouth to start a new conversation, but he was interrupted before a single syllable could leave his lips.

"Tell me about Griffin Rock." She requested. 

"What do you wanna know?" He asked.

"...um perhaps, the pheesha place I've heard about. I can't remember the name, but it seems to be on my son's mind rather often.?" She suggested.

Ignoring her odd pronunciation of what he was sure was 'Pizza' Chief Burns summoned a close interpretation.

"Mario's Pizzaria?" He asked.

"Ah! That's the one!" She exclaimed. He was sure that he heard her snapping her fingers as it clicked in her head.

"It's this little place downtown, it's kind of a family restaurant, but teenagers like to go there on their own." He explained.

There was a pause on the other side.

"Down…town?" She asked with uncertainty.

Charlie made a twisted face of confusion. He wasn't sure why she sounded so puzzled, but explaining the town's layout over the phone would probably take a long time.

"There's plenty of things downtown, we've got a jewelry store, nice restaurants, some new apartments, a robotics center, the zoo-" He could have gone on longer, but Namseon interjected.

"Wow, for such a small town there is… a lot going on." She said. She sounded nervous, and still pretty confused.

He could hear her grip on the phone tighten, which was pretty strange, but he chose to dismiss it. 

"I'm not sure I can take in the island over the phone, it's simply words to me. Is it possible that you could take me on a tour through the town?" She asked. "If you have the time of course, I'm sure that you are very busy."

Now Chief Burns was really surprised. From how cautious she had been, he had never expected her to suggest something like that. He had thought of bringing it up, but he was sure she would shoot it down. She had proved him wrong.

Charlie chortled. "I do have some free time now, I'm not sure when I'll have it next, but I'll let you know as soon as possible." He said.

"The students' lessons don't end until four, correct? If you have the time now, I wouldn't mind using it." She replied.

At this point, Charlie had to stop being surprised. Maybe she had a change of heart and decided to get to know the place.

"If that's fine with you. Should I come to pick you up around 1:30?" He asked.

"No, I will come to you." She said adamantly. The quick, harshness of her tongue reminded him of how she behaved when they first met. Clearly, she was still cautious.

"Alright. I'll send you the location of the firehouse in a minute, though once you come over this way, you can't miss it." He said.

"Good to know." She said. "I will see you then." And she abruptly hung up, leaving Charlie in his own silence once more. 

He pulled his phone away from his ear and stared at it in shock. "Well, that was interesting." He murmured to himself. As quickly as it had arrived, his little day off vanished. At least it wasn't due to a freak emergency somewhere on the island. He couldn't complain about that.

~~~~

Finally at lunch, Frankie was able to escape from the most boring day in physical science ever. For the past week and a half, she and Priscilla would crack jokes and pick at each other, unlike when they were kids and had to be kept apart. It was a strange change, but it wasn't like she didn't enjoy it.

Now she had gone and fucked it up by attacking her with Trex. Now they'd probably never be that cool again. 

It had been on her mind all week. She'd already felt bad before, but realizing that she had screwed over a potential friendship she didn't know she cared about, really stabbed her through the chest. 

"Hello? Earth to Frankie!"

Startled, Frankie jumped in surprise as Cody’s voice caught her attention. He blinked at her, confused. “Did you hear anything I said?” He asked. Immediately, Frankie shook her head ‘no’. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.” She replied. Cody brushed it off with a shrug. “Oh, okay. Well, I was trying to tell you that Seojun said that his mom would call my dad.” He said. “Oh, really?” Frankie asked, her head still floating just below the clouds. “Why?” 

Cody deflated, looking a bit annoyed. “Did you forget about our mission?” He asked. Frankie frowned, racking her brain for an answer, but between her thoughts of Priscilla and the awkward silence, she couldn’t seem to find one. “Making friends so the bots’ll be safe!” Cody whisper-exclaimed.

Because of that, the answer became very obvious, Frankie felt a sense of shame crawling up her neck for forgetting about it. “Oh, right. Sorry, I don't know how that just slipped my mind.” She murmured. Cody frowned with concern. “You okay, Frankie? You don’t usually just… forget stuff like that. Is it because of what happened the other day?” He asked. 

Frankie opened her lips and started to say something, but before she could even get a word in, she was interrupted. 

“Do you guys mind if I sit here?” On the other side of the table, Seojun stood near Cody, holding his lunch tray anxiously. As soon as he realized who he was, Cody’s face instantly lit up, splitting into a bright smile. He quickly moved aside some of the things from his lunchbox. “Yeah, sure! Go ahead!” He nearly squeaked. Frankie was immediately stunned. She had never heard his voice reach such a weirdly high pitch (unless a falling object was coming after him). That smile was so strange as well, why did it look like his lips were about to tear open with glee?

Seojun took the invitation and sat down next to Cody. He frowned with thought. “You call them "Lunch ladies”, right?” He asked. 

Cody nodded, he was smiling less, but his eyes still gleamed brightly. “Yeah. What about them?” He asked. 

Seojun sighed heavily as he picked up his pizza from the tray. “I can’t believe they’re so slow, for nothing!” He stared at his pizza with disgust. “Doesn’t even look good.” He muttered.

Frankie shrugged. “That’s just school lunch.” She said. 

Seojun looked disappointed, but begrudgingly bit into the overly oily slice of cheese pizza. His face folded as he chewed, but after a few seconds, he looked less disturbed by it. “Not bad, actually.” He said. 

Cody chortled. “It’s kind of a gamble with the cafeteria food.” He said, his smile stretching again. 

Seojun side eyed him. “I thought an island with crazy technology would have better food.” He said. 

“We do! Just not here. For some reason, that’s one of the few things that the state cares to regulate.” Cody replied. 

Seojun flared his nostrils and huffed. “Very pointless.” He said. 

Cody giggled. “That’s why some of the older kids order food to the back of the school.” He replied.

Seojun’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “No one told me that!” He exclaimed. “Well, it’s kinda supposed to be a secret.” Cody said. Seojun nodded. “I’ll have to remember this.” He said, his eyes focusing on the idea.

Frankie shook her head. “Or you could just bring lunch from home.” She suggested. 

Seojun looked at her like she was crazy for a second, but then he frowned curiously. “Wait, we can do that?” He asked. 

“Yes?” Frankie replied, confused as to why he didn’t know. “What do you think we have lunch boxes for?” She asked. 

Seojun shrugged. “I just thought it was something nice the school did.” 

He said. Frankie looked at Cody, though she tried not to judge, she couldn’t help it just a little bit. Cody only shrugged, equally confused.

“I could’ve avoided lines all this time!” Seojun realized with shock. 

Cody nodded. “Well, it’s only the second week of school, so it’s not that bad.” He replied. 

Seojun tossed the pizza crust into his mouth. As he did, he made sure to cup his hand over his face. Frankie took it as him trying to be polite.

“Maybe, I still ate shitty school pizza for the week.” He complained. 

Cody shrugged. “Just blame Michelle Obama.” He joked. Frankie chuckled lightly, but Seojun only looked more confused.

“Who?” He asked.

Frankie wasn't really surprised that he didn’t know her. He was from South Korea after all, that’s on the other side of the world. They probably don’t care about American politics over there. But also, how did he not know that kids were allowed to bring lunch from home? And if his family did live in Ulsan, how had they never seen rain before? It’s not like that place was a desert.

But before she could dive deeper into those thoughts (and before Seojun could find out who Michelle Obama was), the bell rang, signaling that their lunch period was over. Cody hopped up from his seat and started gathering his things. “Just google her later, you’ll see,” he said. “See you in fourth period!” He cheered with a big grin. Seojun nodded. “Bye.” He replied simply with a short wave.

Seojun walked away and Cody watched him leave, his smile softened but he couldn't seem to get rid of it. Frankie could see a light blush on his face and he stood tall and stiffly as Seojun disappeared down the hallway.

Frankie looked between the two of them and instantly her suspicious thoughts of Seojun vaporized into thin air.

Cody finally continued picking up his things, he struggled to keep his grin at bay, his tightly closed smile shook as he grabbed his lunchbox.

Frankie immediately knew what was up and a devious smile of her own spread across her face. She wasn't sure if he had noticed yet, it didn't seem like it, but she knew that she'd get the chance to tease him about it soon.

She'd never seen him like this, but she'd seen it enough times on other people to know for sure. Her best friend had a crush on the new guy. Who knew Cody thought about anything other than history and aliens?

She was gonna tease him so bad.

~~~~

"So you mean to tell me y'all didn't fuck?" Vashti exclaimed. Kerchek quickly shushed her. "Shut up, the whole house doesn't need to know!" He hissed. Then, he turned his glare towards the others in the room.

After school and work, Kerchek kept his promise to Vashti that he would tell her what happened when he went out with Graham.

Unbeknownst to him, Vashti had invited her triplet siblings to listen to the story as well. Her excuse was that he "never said she couldn't." He was annoyed, but not annoyed enough to truly care. He had told the story anyway, leaving out a couple things that might be a little embarrassing on his part, mainly putting the focus on how Graham acted around him.

That was enough to entertain most of the teenagers.

"Do you like him?" Vidalia asked curiously. 

Kerchek felt a little warmth in his cheeks as he hesitated. "Nah, I don't think so. I just met him like two weeks ago." He replied.

One of the quads (Vileah?) smiled mischievously. "Either way, it sounds like he got it baaaad for you boy!" Her sentence devolved into uproarious laughter and the other three joined in.

He wasn't sure what was so funny, but whatever.

Vashti pushed her sisters aside, pulling herself into the forefront. "Who cares about that? Is he cute?" she asked, loud as ever.

Kerchek rolled his eyes at her. “I guess.” He replied.

“Do you have pictures, lemme see!” Vileah demanded.

Kerchek had never thought of taking a picture with him, he barely even thought about him being cute. He was sure of the first part at least. He clamped his hand on the back of his neck and smiled lightly. “Sorry guys, I don’t have one.” He said. 

A chorus of “Aww’s” filled the room, save for Vitanya who was on his phone and chewing bubble gum. “Do you just like disappointing us, Kei? Why aren’t you more exciting?” Vashti cried. 

Kerchek huffed and rolled his eyes, but for some reason he wasn’t truly upset. “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to hear the story.” He said.

“Come on, tell us what he looks like!” Vidalia added. Good to know that despite how quiet she was, she was just as impatient as her sisters. Even Vitanya looked up from their phone.

Kerchek leaned with his jaw in the palm of his hand as he thought. "Um, lemme see. He's like 5'10-"

"He's tiny!" Vileah shouted with glee. 

"Most people are." Vashti replied dryly. Vileah thinned her lips and curled them up, looking at her sister with lidded eyes of annoyance. 

"-His hair's like a dirty blonde, almost brown but not quite. It's kinda messy too, but in a boyish way, not a "I don't take care of myself" kinda way."

"I don't know why they call it that 'dirty'. It just doesn't sound right." Vileah whispered.

"Shut up!" Vidalia hissed. 

"He's got grey eyes and he wears square glasses, and pretty nice teeth I guess. He also always wears a tie, which I don't get." Kerchek continued.

"And a really cute smile."

He added that last part before he could catch himself. He had only meant to recount what Graham looked like. Did saying his smile was cute even count?

Vashti glanced at her sisters and Vitanya, and they glanced back at her.

"Okay, okay. He's got some potential. But I'm not convinced." She smirked. "You should ask him to take a picture with you." She said.

Kerchek rolled his eyes. "I don't know, maybe. But asking people to take pictures with me doesn't really feel natural." He replied.

"Do it anyway! I wanna see if this guy's ugly or not!" Vileah exclaimed. 

Kerchek lidded his eyes. "You are too excited to be all up in my business." He said.

Vileah shrugged. "I can't help it. The only things that've happened so far are wild ass disasters. I need something more down to earth, you know?" She replied.

"Maybe you just need to get a life." Kerchek teased with a wide smirk.

Vileah's jaw dropped, but he could see a smile merging into her look of shock. "Oh you did not." She said. 

Kerchek folded his arms and nodded. "I did. Find someone else's love life to 'ooh' and 'aah' over." He said.

Vitanya tapped at his phone as a large bubble of gum popped. "I heard Sae's got a date with some girl. " He said. 

Interrupting the conversation, someone shorted "WHAT!?" From the hallway, probably Kyree.

"Oh now you wanna be involved. One story can't satisfy you?" Kerchek half joked. 

Vitanya shrugged without looking up from their phone. 

"Had me fair share a foop. A little pick-pick ain't nutting. I'm looking for the romance." They replied casually.

….

….

…

"We don't need to know that." Vashti said, wrinkling her nose.

"Foop?" Kerchek asked. 

Vitanya snickered in the corner at his cluelessness.

"They're basically saying he's fucked enough people and he's hoping for a love story." Vidalia translated. Vitanya was raised in Barbados, so he often used Bajan creole.

Vileah put her hand straight to the side of her mouth and leaned forward while looking Kerchek in the eyes. "He's a whore!" She stage whispered loudly with a mischievous grin.

Suddenly, Kerchek wanted to wipe his memory. Maybe jump into the ocean and never come back. That was the last thing he ever needed to hear, even if Vitanya was only about two years younger than him.

Vitanya instantly replied by throwing his slipper, which smacked right against her temple, loud as a drum.

"Ow!" Vileah squealed.

"Nah, they're just way too into romance novels. They've got their head in the clouds." Vashti argued smugly.

"Uh???" Offended, they quickly reached for their foot, snatching off their other shoe. "Yuh want the slipper too?"

Vashti held up her hands in the air and rolled her eyes. "Oh nooo. I'm so scared." She said dryly.

In response, Vitanya loudly sucked his teeth.

Kerchek chuckled, but after hearing what the teenagers were saying, he decided to tone it down a bit. "Ain't none of that mess gon' happen, he's just my friend." 

The quadruplets looked at each other, as if they were holding a council with no words.

"Yeah, call us back in a month." Vashti said. 

Kerchek rolled his eyes. "Y'all are too much." He was about to say something else, but just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Curiously, he decided to see what it was. Maybe it could get him out of this meeting or whatever this was.

G: Hey, I had fun last night. Do you wanna go out again, maybe on Friday?

Kerchek had to have made a face, because immediately after Vileah was looking at him. "What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing, Graham just said he wants to meet up on Friday." Kerchek replied.

And just like that, Vileah's eyes lit up, Vashti scooted forward and Vitanya looked up as he collected his slipper.

"Ooh! You gotta get a picture!" Vashti said.

Kerchek thought about it for a moment. These kids were annoying as hell, but they were also kinda funny and he kinda wanted to see Graham again.

"Fine. But just to be clear, this isn't a date or nothing." Kerchek reminded the peanut gallery.

"We know!" All four of them answered in unison.

Something told him that they didn’t give a shit about a word he said.

K: Yeah sure, where are we going?

Chapter Text

Now that Seojun knew more about school lunches, he was the first to the table that he, Cody, Frankie (and rarely, Wes) shared that day. He wished that he could bring foods that were closer to home, but sometimes the resources were too obscure to obtain and he worried what people would say about them. When he was a kid, other children were sometimes perturbed by the food that he ate. Luckily, this time, he had food that wouldn’t bother anybody. 

He'd never been worried about fitting in before. Back in Korea, he was homeschooled by his great grandmother and a couple of trusted tutors. Jang mi was well versed in history and calligraphy, but sitting in the reading nook with their cat, Nari, was his favorite subject.

Of course he'd go outside to play or to grab things from the convenience store, but he never really interacted with the other children nearby. He was quiet and shy. Not only that, but he was different from the other kids. He was tall, much taller than them, he had a different accent that they barely understood, his ears stuck out in a strange way, and no one could seem to get past the fact that he had twelve fingers and toes.

Even when he tried to act like them, shrink or force himself inwards, they saw right through him. He watched them play games, laugh and run through the day from his porch, wanting to rush through the summer days with them, but he knew that he couldn't.

And no one pushed him too, not because they wanted to see him sad, but because they were worried about what could happen to both parties if he did.

He released a deep breath, sighing those memories away. Things are different now. He had everything under control, and he wouldn't hurt a fly. Really.

"Hey Seojun!" 

He looked up to see Frankie taking a seat across from him at the table. Her lunch box had a very detailed drawing of what looked to be a planet with rings around it. 

He might have to look into that one.

"Hi. How's your day?" He asked. 

She shrugged. "Eh, not much is happening." 

"Something isn't happening on Griffin Rock? Something's wrong." Seojun (half) joked. 

Frankie chuckled. "Well sometimes, we get a break every now and then. I'm not about to complain." She said.

Seojun stared at her blankly. "You'd be out your mind." He replied. 

Frankie paused for a second before shaking her head with a slight smile. "Probably." She started to open her lunchbox. "Oh! I forgot to ask you. How did your talk with Priscilla go the other night?" She asked.

Seojun tilted his head in thought. "Went well, I think. We're going out tomorrow." He said.

A look of pure shock crossed Frankie's face. "Oh, that's cool. What are you guys doing?" She asked.

"We're going to Blossom Vale. Don't know where it is." He said.

Almost immediately, Frankie pulled out her phone "I can just send you the location, it's not that far." She paused. "Well then again, it's a small island, nothing's that far." She added.

"What's your number?" Frankie asked, looking up at him.

This time Seojun knew what that meant, thanks to Cody. He couldn't help but smile as the thought crossed his mind.

Once he gave it to her, Cody finally arrived at the table, looking rather drained. With a lazy plop, he sat down in between the two of them.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to go over something again with Mrs. Hasan." He made a sour expression. "That and the hallways were crowded." He added.

Seojun nodded as he carefully bit into his sandwich.

"Dad got to show your mom through Griffin Rock. He said she really liked it." Cody said, energy rushing back into his face.

"Oh, she didn't tell me much about that." He replied. In fact, she hadn't told him anything, he only knew because she smelled like the city.

"Really? I'm surprised. Dad said her eyes just lit up when she saw the park and Blossom Vale, plus the zoo! Like she was a whole different person." Cody recalled.

Seojun lidded his eyes in thought. He tried to picture that experience himself, but his mind remained blank. He hadn't seen his mom excited since he was reunited with her on the island, and even then he couldn’t help but notice the terror in her eyes.

"Cool. Glad she liked it." He replied. He hadn't meant to sound a certain way, but from the way that Cody and Frankie glanced at each other, it seemed that maybe it had come out colder than he had thought.

"You know, I could show you around too if you want. I think I might've already said that, but the offer's still open." Cody rushed. His eyes darted over Seojun's face, as if they were trying to pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

Seojun smiled lightly, trying to still his thoughts. "You mean it?" He asked.

"Yeah sure!" Cody replied enthusiastically.

Seojun couldn't help but grin back. "Thanks! Maybe we could go after school tomorrow?" He suggested.

Cody tilted his head with surprise. "That's kinda soon, but yeah, I can make it work!" He agreed, a smile spreading across his face.

Despite the storm clouds filling his mind, Seojun couldn't help but smile back, but he made sure to keep his lips closed. 

"Oh, I never noticed you had dimples before." Cody observed. Seojun jumped out of his thought process, letting his lips slip as parted them in surprise.

"Oh yeah, but I forget anyway too." He replied, feeling his face heat up.

Frankie looked between the two of them with half lidded eyes as she took a sip of juice. "Maybe because he doesn't smile that hard most of the time." She teased.

Seojun's face felt red hot. "I wasn't smiling hard, just enough!" He protested, his voice reaching a squealing pitch.

Frankie giggled with her hand in front of her lips. "Sure Seojun." She challenged him.

"What's that supposed to mean!" He nearly shouted. 

Frankie continued on with her lemonade. "Nothing." She said vaguely.

"You like picking on me!" Seojun complained with a dramatic, whiny tone. 

Frankie shrugged. "I wouldn't if you didn't make it so easy." She replied smugly. Seojun narrowed his eyes at her as she giggled again.

~~~~

Quickshadow knew that she had to be patient. Spy work, while it has its epic ups and downs, could just as easily be very tedious and boring. Even after cycles of training and practicing in the field, it never got any less agitating.

Quickshadow's fans quietly sighed, responding to her apparent frustration. Perched low on a rooftop above, she watched quietly as a group of four went out to lunch. The oldest of the Min kids, she had managed to decipher their names by listening to their conversations. 

There was Vashti, a tall and slender girl with long and thick black locs past her bottom, medium brown skin and shiny black eyes. She seemed to be their wise ringleader of sorts, taking charge and bossing around the other three. Quickshadow assumed that she was the eldest of the bunch.

Vidalia, who was the quietest and also shortest of them all had short and curly red hair, along with honey brown eyes and light brown skin. She was on the curvy side and from what Quickshadow could see, she was also a bit clumsy.

Vileah was excitable and seemed to always be eating something sweet. She was nearly identical to Vashti, other than the fact that she was slightly taller and a bit heavier. Her hair was also loose at her shoulder blades, and her curls tended to bounce around with her. 

And then there was Vitanya, she had thought Blurr was an excitable trouble maker before, but this one seemed to be on another level. He was loud, kind of obnoxious, and a serial prankster. He and Vidalia often tripped over each other. At this point, she was just glad that he wasn’t a speedster like a certain someone. They were the tallest with brown skin on the lighter side, curly hair to their shoulders, and dark brown eyes. They often wore a hat or a scarf over their head.

It seemed that all of them were of similar age (around 16 to 19 years old she estimated) and that they at least took college level courses, granting the quartet an hour-long lunch period, giving them more free time during the day.

And that free time meant that there were more chances for them to slip up.

The main problem was that she could barely understand what they were saying. Cybertronians were programmed to learn languages quickly, but this one was odd. She had never heard a semblance of it before, for the first time in eons she felt stunted. Whatever they spoke wasn't in her database of Earth languages, and being distant from them at times, it was hard to make sense of it.

Maybe they had a secret quadruplet language of their own, but it was so well formulated. As she watched them, more possibilities came to her processor. At first, she had assumed that they were from another part of earth, but their language didn’t match anything in her database. She figured that maybe the entire family could be from a completely different civilization, maybe even another planet entirely! But where exactly were they from and why were they here?

She ducked behind a satellite, concealing her form as the teenagers continued their walk through the downtown area.

Understanding them was hard enough, but it was even harder when they switched languages mid sentence. They made it hard for her to keep up. The other words she knew were English and Creole, but when it was being mixed with this frankly, alien vernacular (a strange descriptor considering that she was an alien herself), it left her processor spinning.

She looked down upon them curiously, hanging on to every word she could translate in her mind. She hadn't thought that spying on a random family would be this hard, really she hadn't thought that it would be hard at all, but clearly they knew more than they were letting on.

"CLANK!"

Quickshadow whipped her head around, trying to find the source of the sudden sound. Her optics immediately caught sight of a stone the size of a soap bar right below the solar panels next to her.

"Huh…" she murmured, not very concerned with it. It's just a rock after all. She turned back to focus on her mission and found the chairs under the restaurant's patio empty.

Her optical ridges nearly flew over her head at the scene. Each chair was put back into place, there was no food left over, no dishes and no belongings. It was like the group had disappeared into thin air. 

Her fans hitched as she regulated her optic cameras from zoom mode. Somehow, in just a few Earth seconds, her targets had vanished.

This was definitely suspicious, and now she was certain that they definitely knew more than they let on. As she smiled to herself, she had one other thought. This mission was finally about to get interesting. 

~~~~

As quickly as their legs would allow them to, the teenagers broke through town. Vashti was the farthest ahead, leading her siblings into the nearby brush to hide. 

“Come on, this way!” She shouted. 

Vileah was at the very back, running just under the speed of the others, her eyes watered and her breaths were rapid, but she had a wide grin on her face as she laughed with excitement. Looking out for any other spies, Vashti stood cautiously as her siblings ran into the woods. She squinted skeptically, but nothing caught her eyes, so she soon followed them.

Somewhere deeper in the brush, the group finally stopped to breathe. Vitanya squatted with his hands on his knees, panting as he steadied himself. Vidalia sat on a tree trunk, leaning her head back with her mouth wide open. Vileah had given up and laid down on the grass on her back, thoroughly worn out. 

Though she made sure to keep her hair out of the dirt.

With barely a huff, Vashti walked up to them, carefully picking up Vileah and her leaning against the tree trunk that her other sister had sat on top of.

“Whoo! That was fun!” Vileah screeched breathlessly. 

“Hush yuh mout!” Vitanya exclaimed, trying to get her to rest.

“Did you see its face? They were all like “huh, what was that?” Vidalia bragged, swiveling her head around with a goofy expression.

"Aw I can't believe I missed that!" Vileah complained.

While the other two reeled from the experience, Vitanya straightened up, looking his oldest sister in the eyes. "That was one of the sentients you tell us about?" They asked, suddenly serious.

Vashti was taken aback, but she wasn't going to lie. "Yes." She replied.

Vileah and Vidalia paused their conversation, now all eyes were on her. "What?" Vileah breathed.

Vashti nodded. "But do not tell Amma about this, she has been worried enough lately." She commanded.

"But why not? If someone's watching us, shouldn't she know?" Vileah replied anxiously. Vashti had already thought this through. 

"If we were to tell her, she would likely move us again, and she would be in constant fear. I just want things to be calm for now. Do not tell her." She reiterated.

Vileah still looked uncomfortable, but Vidalia stood from her spot on the tree trunk. "You think we're snitches? What kinda siblings do you think we are?" She said with a bright smile.

Vashti smiled back. "Well, I haven't seen you in years, how would I know?" She joked.

But her tone lowered and the other three sensed sadness in her voice. They couldn’t help but shrink back.

Vidalia carefully scratched her scalp. "Yeah, that's fair." She agreed.

"So what do we do now?" Vileah asked in a low tone, surprisingly quiet.

Despite her sister's discomfort, Vashti's smile only grew. "We're gonna make them wish they never messed with us."

Vitanya tilted their head curiously. "How you mean?" He asked.

Then, Vashti's cheerful smile morphed itself into a mischievous, almost evil smirk. Her black eyes gleamed with delight.

"We prank them." She replied.

~~~~

With a little rock playing on the radio in the background, Blurr sat at a newly built control center for the ground bridge, drumming and humming along.

At the academy, most of the days were long and quiet, filled with building, contracting and readjusting, ect. Today, Salvage, with a little help from Blurr, had fixed up the base and controls for the ground bridge, giving it a finished look.

Even though the rest of the academy was still pretty messy, Blurr, even though he was mostly just passing Salvage tools, felt pretty accomplished. They'd have this place built up in no time!

As he continued his mini celebration, he just barely heard the warbling and whining of the ground bridge. Curiously, he turned around to look at what was coming. Maybe Heatwave had some new orders, maybe those rods that he had ordered to build the elevator were here, or maybe…

Optimus?

Psyching himself up with a big grin, he practically sat on the bridge, scooting his chair right beside it and holding onto the railing.

Moments later, a tall, slender figure appeared. A Cybertronian. He squeaked with delight and his engine hummed. 

The figure stepped forward, revealing a silver pede with a… banana peel on top of it?

Blur was already confused, but this state of mind became more severe as Quickshadow bridged into the academy.

Her right shoulder has a huge dent in it and she was holding it in her left servo. Her visor was cracked, her tires popped and she was covered head to toe in various fruit peels, the finishing touch was the compost bin on her other pede. 

"You roll through a landfill or something?" Blur asked teasingly.

Quickshadow rolled her optics and scoffed. "Very funny." She droned sarcastically. She opened her mouth to say something else but quickly paused. 

"I'm going to the med bay." She said.

She gave him no time to respond before she limped away, leaving apple skins and corn husks in her wake. 

"Okay." He said calmly, unsure of what to think of this. Until he gripped the railing and spluttered, the sudden sight finally hitting him. Howls tore out his voice box, echoing through the empty academy. 

"Man, I gotta tell Salvage about this!"

Chapter Text

Cody woke up to the orangey-pink sunrise, and despite being sleepy, a burst of excitement rushed through him. He just couldn’t wait to tell Seojun about all the exciting things that Griffin Rock had to offer. Like Mount Griffin, the Hall of Inspiration and, honestly he was starting to lose track of what was important. He still had to get to school on time. 

Quickly, he pulled his bomber jacket over his green shirt and blue jeans and ran his fingers through his hair. Then he looked in the mirror and paused.

‘I should probably just comb it’ He thought.

He looked at his alarm clock.

‘8:03. Yeah, I’ve got time.’

~~~~~~

“Cody! Come on!” Kade shouted. Cody had used up way too much time getting ready, now it was 8:30. He and Kade were supposed to leave the firehouse five minutes before this. Now, Kade was frustrated and impatiently tapping his foot. He had been hoping to meet up with Hayley for breakfast before anything crazy happened, but it looked like that was going to be more wishful thinking. 

He sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose as he groaned. “This kid.”

Dani quickly swallowed a spoonful of cereal. “You can’t talk. Except if it’s an emergency, you’re late to everything.” She pointed out.

Kade folded his arms and raised his eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Like what?” He challenged. 

Dani pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose as she started to count off incidents on her fingers.

“Prom, your driver’s test, Doc’s bachelor party, that date with Hayley last week-”

“Hey!” He interrupted. “It’s fashionable to be late for prom! Who wants to be there when things are just starting up?” 

He was quick to retort, but he also remembered that their soon-to-be-cancelled breakfast date was also supposed to make up for him sleeping through the first thirty minutes of their most recent date. How he did that, he still had no idea. He decided to rest his eyes at 11 and the next thing he knew, it was 4:45!

Dani rolled her eyes and shoveled another spoonful of lucky charms into her mouth. “If you say so.” She retorted.

As she ate, she made a face of disgust. “Ugh, I don’t know how Cody still eats these.” She complained.

Kade scoffed. “Still beats your cooking.” He murmured.

“Hm? What was that?” Dani asked, taking her eyes off of her overly sweet cereal.

Kade clamped his mouth shut and threw his head to the side. “Nothing.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Thought so.”

Finally, after what felt like ages, Kade began to hear footsteps from the floor above. 

He sighed. “Took him long enough. Why does he have to move slow on the one day that I have to take him to school?” He complained, sticking his fingers into his chest dramatically.

“He’s just matching your energy.” Dani teased.

“Oh, shut up.” Kade hissed back.

While they traded insults, Cody rounded the banister, practically bouncing on his toes. 

“Were you getting your beauty sleep or somethin’?” Kade started as he turned to face him. Once he laid eyes on him, he nearly did a double take. 

Instead of just combing his hair like he thought he would, Cody had gone and changed his entire outfit for no reason. Now he had on a bright orange t-shirt, knee length khaki shorts with his bomber jacket tied around his waist, calf length white socks and orange converse that Kade had never seen before. Since when did he wear anything other than those ratty white shoes?

“Oh, I guess you were.” He said. 

Other than that, he had actually taken the time to comb his hair properly and had even put on Chapstick for once. Kade and Dani shared a look of surprise.

“Are you okay?” Dani asked.

Cody frowned. “What do you mean?” He asked. 

“For one, your face doesn’t look like the Sahara desert.” Kade pointed out.

“I haven’t seen your hair without its classic rat’s nest look in a minute.” Dani added.

Cody recoiled in annoyance. “What does that have to do with anything?” He asked. “And my hair is not a rat’s nest!” But for good measure, he patted it down just to make sure. 

“For once.” Dani rebutted quietly.

A bright shade of red crossed Cody’s face as he glared at his older siblings.

Kade chortled and wrapped his arm around his little brother, pulling him through the kitchen. “Eh, don’t worry about it. You look nice. Let’s get you to school so that dad doesn’t chew us out again.” He rattled off.

“Bye guys.” Dani said half heartedly as she reached for her coffee, waving at them without looking.

Cody huffed, but he went along anyway. It wasn’t like they could tease him at school. So what if he decided to comb his hair or wear a different pair of pants? It’s not like it meant anything.

~~~~~~~

“Thanks for carrying all these by the way.” Priscilla cheered with a big grin.

“Uh huh.” Was the only response that Frankie could muster through her gritted teeth. Today was Priscilla’s first day back and just like she thought, she decided to make it hell for her.

Frankie shambled through the hall alongside an unusually peppy Priscilla, who’s crutches made loud banging noises as she excitedly hopped off to class. Frankie carried her own backpack on her back with Priscilla’s on her chest, Priscilla’s purse on her shoulder, her laptop bag in one hand, both of their phones in the other and Priscilla’s lunchbox around her neck.

‘I’m never riding Trex again.’ She grumbled internally.

At long last, they reached Priscilla’s first period class. With an unnatural amount of grace and a hair flip that whipped right across Frankie’s face she sat down in her chair. Frankie huffed angrily, trying to keep her temper at bay.

One by one, she dropped all of Priscilla’s various items. She struggled to raise her purse from her shoulder and nearly slammed it onto the table.

“What’s in this thing? Cinder Blocks?” She remarked.

Priscilla shook her hair with a coy smile. “No, just bricks.” She replied.

Without thinking, Frankie flared her nostrils and frowned, scrunching up her face. Priscilla’s smile only grew wider, she even started to giggle. 

“Charging bricks, silly! I need them for all my devices. Duh.” She said with a shrug. 

Frankie’s expression remained unchanged. 

Priscilla waved her off and rolled her eyes. “Relax, I’m just trying to get a rise out of you.” She said.

“Well, I guess it worked.” Frankie replied coldly. With that, she spun on her heels and stamped straight for the door.

“See you later Frankie! Hope your arms aren’t too tired!” Priscilla called out to her.

“Jerk.” Frankie grunted under her breath. She closed the door behind her and stomped off to her first period class.

~~~~~~~~

“What movie did you say we’re watching again?” Kerchek asked.

“Into the Spiderverse. They’re doing reruns tonight.” Graham replied.

“Oh, that’s cool. I’ve never seen it before.” Kerchek said thoughtfully as he ate another spoonful of Jello.

Graham was appalled, by now he was sure it was on its way to being a classic. “Really? How!?” He asked, nearly jumping across the table. Because he moved so suddenly, his glasses slipped down his nose and he had to quickly push them back up. Once he sat back down, he caught a small twitch in Kerchek’s lips as he tried not to smile.

Kerchek shrugged. “I guess I was just too busy when it came out.” He said. From his tone of voice, it sounded like a normal sentence, but Graham could see his forehead wrinkling as he started to frown. He wasn’t sure what he was upset about, but he didn’t wanna see that look on his face.

“Well, don’t worry about it. We’re gonna fix that.” Graham said cheerfully.

Kerchek rolled his eyes, but a smile returned to his face. “If you say so. I bet it’s not even that good.”

Graham inhaled sharply. “You’re gonna eat your words.” He said.

Kerchek looked unimpressed as he finished off the last of his Jello. “We’ll see.” He replied smugly.

“..nerd.” He murmured playfully.

Graham tilted his head. “Sorry, what?”

Kerchek turned away and folded his arms. “Nothing. Just saying you’re a nerd.” He replied.

Graham dramatically dropped his jaw. “Oh, so that’s how it is.”

Kerchek grinned smugly. “Yeah, it is.” He said.

Graham laughed. “Okay, it’s on now.”

Kerchek raised his eyebrow and leaned closer to him. “How? What are you gonna do about it?” He dared him.

“We should bet on it.” Graham suggested.

Kerchek huffed. “Chile please, I’m broke as fuck !”

Graham snickered from shock, and quickly covered his mouth. 

“Not you laughing at me!” Kerchek exclaimed, still smiling.

“I swear, I’m not! It was just the way you said it!” Graham defended.

Kerchek tilted his head and pursed his lips. “What, you like my voice?” He teased.

Graham rolled his eyes. “Calm down.” He replied raspily, waving him off.

Kerchek snickered in response.

Graham shook his head. “ Anyway. What I was going to say was, that if you like the movie, you plan the next time we go out. If you don't, I'll buy us dinner at whatever spot you pick.” He suggested.

Kerchek nodded. “You’re on.” He said.

The conversation broke up and their minds started to wander to other things. Silently, but still smiling, Kerchek set his Jello cup aside and looked at the time on his phone. Graham frowned and tilted his head. “You don’t have anything else to eat?” He asked.

Kerchek looked up from his phone. “Nah, I was in a rush this morning.”  He replied, unbothered.

“A cup of Jello is not enough to go around doing heavy lifting on.” Graham said, trying not to scold him. He opened up his lunchbox and pulled out an uneaten sandwich half. “Here.” He said.

He could see Kerchek’s temples visibly tighten as he clenched his jaw. “I don’t know, I don’t wanna just take your food like that.” He said softly. 

“You’re not taking it if I’m giving it to you.” Graham said.

Kerchek was silent.

“Come on, you gotta be hungry.” He added.

Nervously, as if someone was going to jump out and scare him, he shifted his eyes between Graham’s waiting face and the sandwich.

It did look kinda good.

“Are you sure?” He asked hesitantly.

Graham physically shooed away his worries. “Yeah, go ahead.” 

Skeptically, Kerchek grabbed the sandwich bag and opened it up. It looked like a simple BLT, but his stomach practically roared with anticipation, betraying his cool exterior. Thankfully, his tablemate politely ignored it, opting to make small talk instead.

“I kinda ran out of supplies this morning ‘cus Kade got midnight cravings, but it should be enough.” Graham said, nervously smiling. 

Kerchek briefly nodded, before bringing the sandwich up to his mouth. He wasn’t sure what got into him. Maybe it was because he was super hungry, or it was the added cheese and mayo, but he tore through that thing in seconds. Sure, it wasn’t hard since it was only half a sandwich, but it was still obscenely quick.

When he swallowed he noticed Graham looking at him with wide eyes, but his expression quickly changed into a bright smile. He chuckled with amusement. “Well now I know what to bring next time.” He joked.

If Kerchek had paler skin, his face would be the shade of a Roma tomato. He was so embarrassed he could feel steam coming out of his ears. He bashfully averted Graham’s gaze, pressing his lips together.

“Thanks…” He murmured.

“Anytime.” Graham said.

Now Kerchek wanted to sink into the ground. 

~~~~~~~

While Quickshadow was still finding garbage in her axles from the prank of the century, Cody was at the firehouse getting ready to go back out. 

He and Seojun had agreed to meet at 5:30 and it was already 5:15. Cody knew that he should be leaving by now, but something was wrong.

Only, he couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong.

He studied himself closely in the mirror, picking over every little detail. He had a couple fading scabs from an overzealous pimple popping session last week, but they weren't bad. His eyes didn't have any crusts. His clothes were clean. His hair had also just been brushed for the second time today.

So why did he feel so.. off ?

"Cody, don't you have somewhere to be?" His father called from downstairs.

He jumped, suddenly snapped out of his trance. He took one last look at his skin, giving it a quick rub down for any underlying zits.

"Yeah, I'm leaving in a minute!" He shouted back.

Deciding that the mirror had wasted too much of his time, he ripped his face away from it and snatched up his hoverboard. The sooner he got away, the better.

He stamped his way downstairs and practically jumped off of the railing to run towards the door. He briefly caught a glimpse of anxiety in Chief Burns' face as he left. He was probably just worried Cody would be late.

He decided to pay it no mind. 

"See ya later dad, love you!" He called as he broke free from the firehouse. 

"Love you too, son!" Chief Burns replied.

With that, Cody jumped into the air on top of his board. With barely even a thought, he was racing through the air just above the streets, on his way to the docks to meet Seojun.

Graham, however, was getting ready early. They had only been out once before this, but Kerchek had put a lot of effort into his last outfit. 

He was still caught up on how his jeans hugged his hips. 

But anyway, Graham figured that it was a sign that he cared about spending time with him. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions, but he still wanted to show that he cared too. He wasn’t really sure what to do, since most of his clothes were pretty cozy and plain, but he did his best.

He fluffed his hair, put on some Chapstick and put on his usual button up and sweater combo. Only today, instead of dark jeans and loafers, he “borrowed” a pair of light blue ripped jeans from Kade (He was a bit bigger, but there’s nothing a belt can’t fix, right?) and white sneakers.

It wasn’t much of a change, but he hoped that Kerchek would catch on to the variety. Then, he wouldn’t think that Graham wore the same clothes everyday, like a cartoon. Maybe, he’d even give him a compliment. Smile with his bright white teeth and tell him how good he looked as his brown eyes shined. 

He shook himself out of his daydreaming and pulled on his sweater, he still had somewhere to be.

He grabbed his keys and pushed open his door, absentmindedly leaving it ajar. Giddily, he jogged down the stairs, ready to go see his… friend? Well, they weren’t dating yet, so yeah, friend. Maybe in quotation marks though?

As he rounded the corner, he saw Kade and Dani getting ready to play Mario Kart on the couch, while his dad sat in the chair nearby, looking at coupons. Hearing her brother come downstairs, Dani turned around to see what was going on. 

“Hey, Graham.” She said. 

“Hey. What’s up?” He replied, walking over to the doorway.

 Dani grinned. “I just beat Kade three times in a row. Wanna play?” She asked, holding out her controller. “Maybe Kade can beat you.” She suggested.

Graham shook his head. “Nah, not right now. I’m going out.” He said. “Plus, you know he can't,” He added. 

“Oh? Where?” She asked curiously, pursing her lips. 

“Just the movie theater. I’m meeting up with a friend.” Graham replied.

He immediately regretted it when Kade turned around with a mouth full of deli meat and said. 

“You have one of those?”

Dani promptly elbowed him in the shoulder. 

“Ow!” He exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

“Do you always have to be smart?” Dani asked. 

“If I was dumb, I wouldn’t be a firefighter.” Kade responded.

“I’m not so sure about that.” Graham retorted.

Kade quickly looked to make sure that his dad wasn’t watching, and very quickly flipped his brother off.

“Have fun, Graham.” Dani said, smiling brightly.

“Thanks.” Graham replied. He quickly looked at Charlie and then flipped Kade off too, making an ugly face as he started to walk away.

“I saw that.” Charlie said without looking.

“He did it first!” Graham called from the front door.

Charlie put down his coupon magazine and looked at Kade. “Really, you two?” He said.

Kade shrugged and Dani snickered. Charlie rolled his eyes and went back to his coupons. His kids may be too old for him to punish them, but he still liked to get the occasional rise out of them. He thought of Cody starting to grow up as he hid a smile behind the magazine.

As soon as the front door shut, Dani turned to Kade.

“That’s the second time in two weeks!” She said.

Kade frowned. “Okay?” He paused. “What are we talking about?”

“Graham! He almost never goes out. He’s like two steps away from being the resident basement dweller.” She remarked.

“I mean, we still live here too, so we’re also kind of there.” Kade retorted.

Dani rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Yeah, but we tend to actually do things outside of the house and work. Graham usually keeps to himself.” She said.

“So, what?” Kade replied dismissively.

“Sooo, I’m saying that maybe this “friend” is a little more than that.” She suggested.

Now, Kade was interested. He turned towards Dani with a curious frown. “You mean, you think he has a girlfriend?” He asked.

Dani shrugged. “Maybe. I noticed him acting a little different lately. He actually looks excited to get up and go to the construction site and I smelled cologne on him when he came down here.” She said.

“That could mean anything- wait, he doesn’t own any cologne.” He said. 

Dani snickered. “Guess he found some in your room.”

Kade flared his nostrils. “This guy, I’m gonna wring his neck.” He grumbled. 

“Not in this house you won’t.” Charlie interjected.

“I was just kidding!” Kade exclaimed, looking back at his dad.

He turned back to Dani. “Now that I think about it, he also took my car last Friday!” He recalled.

“Stealing cologne and cars? I think he’s got someone he wants to impress.” Dani suggested with a grin.

“And did you see the way he was smiling when he said he was going out? He is in deep!” She added.

Kade scratched his chin. “Yeah, but with who?” He asked.

Dani shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe Amy?” She suggested.

“Nah, she started dating this dude from the mainland last summer.” Kade said.

“Why do you of all people know that?” Dani asked suspiciously.

Kade shrugged. “She talks a lot.”

Dani thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s someone we haven’t met before?” She wondered. 

Kade shrugged. “Who knows. If it’s Graham, he’ll probably screw it up within the month.” He said.

“Like you do with Hayley every two weeks?” Dani retorted.

“Hey! She always comes back!” Kade replied defensively.

Dani sunk back into the couch and folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t know how or why she still puts up with your crap. I’ve known you my whole life and I wanna tear clear across the country when I see your face.” She said.

Kade grinned mischievously. “I guess I’m just that irresistible.” He replied cockily. 

“And apparently, so are your jeans.” Dani shot back.

Kade scoffed. “Of course they are.” Then he frowned. “Wait… He stole my jeans too?”

~~~

Graham wasn't nervous. In fact, he wasn't nervous at all . Totally calm!

It was just that he had finally managed to get the courage to ask to hang out with Kerchek again outside of work and he was speeding through all of the possible conversations that they could have. 

And all of the things that could potentially go wrong.

What if he had forgotten to turn off his phone and during the movie his ringtone came on, all the way up! Then Kerchek would glare at him like he was an idiot and he would never want to go out with him again!

Or he could spill buttery popcorn all over Kerchek's lap, grossing him out and totally ruining his outfit.

He might have forgotten the tickets on his dresser and-

He quickly patted down his pockets, and found them resting comfortably in his jeans.

-okay, at least that one wasn't gonna happen.

But what if Don ran a red light and t-boned him? Or Kerchek thought the movie was boring and left? Or, or-

"Graham!"

Boulder's voice brought him back to reality. A reality where he was sitting in the parking lot, on his way to hyperventilating.

"Are you okay?" The bulldozer asked, raising his optical ridge worriedly. 

Graham gritted his teeth and gripped the left flap of his jacket.

"Uh-yeah. I'm- I'm okay. Just kinda.."

"Nervous?" Boulder suggested.

Graham sighed deeply, Boulder always seemed to know what was going on with him. "Yeah. I'm just really hoping that this goes well." He replied, leaning against the window.

Boulder titled his head on the screen. "It went well last time. From what you said, he really seems to like you." He said.

"Yeah but, if I mess up, he probably won't like me anymore." Graham replied.

"If he gets mad at you over a nervous slip up, he's definitely not worth it." Boulder said.

Graham bit his lip. "Yeah, probably not." He said. “Thanks, Boulder.”

Finally, he found it in him to leave his partner’s cab and start to cross the street to the theater. He took a nice deep breath and looked back at Boulder for courage.

Of course, Boulder was as supportive as usual. He could tell that if he was in bot mode, he’d be grinning right now.

"You go girl!" Boulder cheered, his headlights flashing.

Graham swore he heard a record scratch from somewhere.

"What?" 

Boulder paused. "I don't know, Blades says it to Dani and it usually works." He paused. "Or she rolls her eyes at him."

Graham chuckled lightly. "Well, I'm not a girl, but thanks for the encouragement buddy."

Boulder grinned brightly. "You're welcome!"

And that encouragement was well timed, as he saw Kerchek walk onto the sidewalk in front of the theater, looking around for him.

~~~~

After dodging trees and Mr. Harrison, Cody managed to make his way to the docks unscathed.

Almost instantly, he was greeted by the image of a tall boy, leaning against the railing and staring out into the distance. His brown curls floated gently on the breeze. 

"Hey, Seojun!" Cody called as he jumped off of his hoverboard, turning it back into the ComTab.

Cody saw Seojun's shoulders jump when he greeted him. He whipped his head around with his eyes wide open, eyebrows raised and his lips parted. But as soon as he saw Cody, his face relaxed and his eyebrows sank down to their normal spots.

Though that serene expression didn't stop a harsh red glare from heating up Cody's neck and face. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He spluttered nervously.

Seojun rapidly shook his head back and forth, his afro shook like a tree in a storm. "No, I'm okay, just surprised." He explained.

"Oh okay." Cody replied.

The two boys stood in silence for a moment, not knowing what to say after such an awkward interaction. Unsurprisingly, Cody was the first to break the tension.

"Sooo.. What do you wanna do first?" He asked.

Seojun pressed his lips together, looked up towards the left and clapped his hands together as he thought.

"Maybe, show me your favorite places?" He suggested.

Cody smiled brightly. "Yeah, I can do that!" He cheered.

Without a second thought, he took Seojun by the hand and began pulling him away from the docs. "Come on, let's go!" 

Seojun's eyes popped open in surprise, but he didn't pull away. Instead, he found himself staring down at Cody's head. He could see his smile from behind and he could hear him chattering about something, but he didn't understand a word that he was saying. Warmth crept up his collar as he nervously followed Cody, still holding his firm, warm hand. 

~~~~

"Oh hey, I thought you'd chickened out." Kerchek teased with a smirk.

Graham chuckled. "Just getting you back for making me wait last time." He joked.

Kerchek quirked his eyebrow and folded his arms, but he was still smiling.

"Oh, so that's how it is. You petty." He replied, lowering his tone.

Graham shrugged. "If that's how you see it." He said smugly.

Today, Kerchek was wearing a black tank top with the sides cut out from his shoulders to his last ribs, a silver chain with a red crystal on it, black skinny jeans with red patches and black high tops. He had done long wings with his eyeliner and he had added mascara to his look, along with red lips with a black outline blended into them. His hair was down this time and reached past his shoulder blades.

Graham was starting to wonder if he was under dressed. 

Kerchek nodded his head towards the doors and smiled a little more brightly. "Come on, let's get in there before the previews start. I wanna get some snacks."

Graham rolled his eyes with a smile. "You know the prices on that stuff are ridiculous." He quipped.

Kerchek rubbed his belly longingly. "Yeah, but you can't beat movie theater nachos." He said. 

Graham shook his head and walked ahead of him, having the tickets in hand. "Okay, but don't cry when you see your bank account after this."

"Those nachos will be so good, that I won't even care if I have two pennies in there when I'm done." Kerchek replied.

"Bold, I'll hold you to that." Graham joked.

"You better." Kerchek responded, catching up to him and bumping him with his side.

Graham bumped him back as they walked up to the ticket booth. 

~~~

"And this is Doc Greene's lab. Some of the craziest stuff on the island comes from here!" Cody cheered excitedly.

Seojun side-eyed him curiously. "Like that Dinosaur?" He asked. A slight smirk made its way into his lips.

Cody cringed. "Yeah… but we also had flobsters!"

Seojun squinted and raised his eyebrow. "Flop…stars?"

"No, flobsters ! One time, Doc Greene whipped up this floatium stuff that was supposed to be way better than helium, but somehow, it got into the lobster tank at the technology and lobster parade and made them float!" He explained.

Seojun blinked slowly. "What?"

"It's a long story, I'll fill you in later. They even tried to eat Frankie because she was wearing a starfish jacket!" Cody added.

"Everything's a long story." Seojun grumbled tiredly.

"That's just Griffin Rock for ya!" Cody replied cheerfully.

"I gotta get off this rock." Seojun whined.

"You said that like, two weeks ago and I still haven't seen you make any moves." Cody teased.

"Watch me." Seojun dared him. "The second another crazy thing happens, I'm jumping in the ocean."

"That's what Hea- I mean, my brothers friend thought when he moved here, but you learn to roll with the punches." Cody said. 

"What if I don't like rolling?" Seojun asked.

"Then you're probably outta luck, man."

Seojun sighed heavily. "What's the next thing on this floating hell?"

"Ooh, you're gonna love this. We have an observatory!"

~~~~~

As Cody and Seojun rushed to the next location, Kerchek and Graham ended the movie. Kerchek was at the edge of his seat, jaw slack and eyes wide. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen. 

“I gotta see that shit again.” 

Graham laughed. “Told you so.” He replied.

Kerchek sucked his teeth and waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. But when’s the next one coming out?” He asked impatiently.

Graham leaned back in his chair. “Well, that’s the best part. It’s already in theaters.” He said smugly.

Kerchek slowly turned his head towards him, eyes still as wide as dinner plates. “You’re fucking with me.” He said in astonishment.

Graham had to stop himself from saying “I wish.” That would have been pretty awkward. Honestly, he didn’t even know where that came from.

“No, I’m serious.” He said. He shifted in his seat to face Kerchek. “When do you wanna go see it?” He asked, feeling bold from the adrenaline coursing through his system from the action scenes.

Kerchek’s eyes softened, Graham could see his breath hitch. “What about next Saturday?” He suggested.

Graham tilted his head and shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” He said.

Then another idea popped into his head. “What do you say about going to the drive-in theater this time?” He asked. 

Kerchek thought for a moment. “I’d say I’ll pick you up at eight.” He replied smoothly.

Graham’s heartbeat rushed in his ears and he could feel his face growing warm with bright red blush. “Works for me.” He said breathlessly.

They looked into each other's eyes silently, savoring the moment, until sweeping sounds cut into their time together. They jumped, realizing that the projector was completely off and an unhappy looking attendant was sweeping up popcorn in front of them.

“You think we should get going?” Kerchek asked, cringing.

Graham looked at him with a half smile - half cringe of his own. “Yeah, I think so.” He replied.

They stepped out of the dark theater, into the warm summer night. Kerchek took a deep breath and sighed, then he turned to look at Graham. 

“You know, I thought the deal was that I’d plan for next time.” He reminded him.

Graham shrugged. “You can plan the one after this.” He replied.

Kerchek chuckled. “Bold move assuming that there’s a next time.” He joked.

Graham took a second to process that, hoping that he was just being funny. “Maybe I’m just that good.” He suggested.

Kerchek smiled softly, a serene expression that Graham hadn’t seen on his face before. Just looking at him made his heart race.

“Maybe.” Kerchek said. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, before Kerchek broke away. “I’ll see you on Monday.” He said.

Graham nodded. “Yeah, see ya.”

And with that, Kerchek unlocked his red car and walked over it, fading into the night.

Graham sighed deeply, watching him leave. His heart settled a bit, but he still felt warm inside. He felt as if he were floating midair. 

“I think I really like him.” He thought aloud.

He looked around, flustered after he realized he was talking to himself. Luckily, there was no one else around. With relief, he started back to Boulder so that he could make his way home.

~~~~~~~

“Come on, we’re almost there!” Cody called out as he raced up the spiral staircase. Night had fallen and now was the best time to be where they were right now. The observatory. Seojun trailed behind him, managing to keep pace with a relaxed stride. Cody found himself to be a little jealous of his long-legged friend, but that wasn’t his main focus.

Finally, they reached the top. Seojun stopped in awe as his eyes filled with the stars above.

“Wow.” He breathed.

All around them, rested a glass dome, sort of shaped like a jewel. The night sky was a dark, swirling blue-black color, dotted with bright, twinkling stars shining down on them. Seojun could hardly believe his eyes.

“It’s amazing.” He said, blindly walking towards the stars.

Cody grinned. “Yeah, it really is.”

Seojun kept walking and found the door to the balcony, where a telescope waited outside. Though, he wasn’t interested in it right now. He walked up to the railing and leaned against it, Cody soon followed.

As they watched the stars, Cody’s gaze wandered from them to the boy standing next to him. The dim light of the moon seemed to bathe him in a dark glow, the gentle summer breeze graced his curls, his bright green eyes caught the light to a point where they seemed to shine in the darkness. Cody’s heart raced and he blinked quickly with his hand over his chest, trying to calm it. But he found that it didn’t stop.

While he watched Seojun watch the stars, he noticed that his shining eyes looked far away into the night sky. His face was soft and solemn, as if he were longing for something from beyond. He almost looked lost.

Cody’s heart jumped and he shook himself out of his trance, finding his voice again. “Hey, are you okay?” He asked with concern.

Seojun clenched his jaw as his eyes came back to earth. “Yeah, I was just… thinking.” He replied breathily.

“About what?” Cody asked curiously, leaning on the railing with his side to face him.

Seojun looked out again. “Just-” He paused. “I’ve never seen the stars like this.” He choked out. From his soft tone, Cody could tell that he had wanted to say something else, but he didn’t pry. 

“That’s one of the great things about Griffin Rock. You get to see the coolest things here.” Cody said, looking out into the distance again.

At that, Seojun smiled once more, showing off his deep dimples. “Yeah.” He said.

Cody wasn’t sure what this warm feeling was, but he had a hunch that this was gonna be the start of something awesome. He couldn’t help but grin as he watched Seojun’s astonished face.

Then he heard a murmur. 

“I wonder if he’s out there.”

Cody blinked, confused. “What?”

Seojun pressed his lips together, he looked as if he had said too much.

“Nothing… just talking to myself.” He replied, still staring at the sky.

Cody decided not to press anymore. “Okay. Did you wanna see anything else?” He asked.

Seojun smiled softly. “Nah, you were right. I love the observatory. I could stay here forever.” He said wistfully, his voice trailing off into the atmosphere.