Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was during the first sleepover out of many, that followed when the topic came up. Seraphina didn’t even know why she decided to bring it up. It was just a feeling. A stupid feeling, if you asked her, because no logical argument could be made in support of it. It was what it was, just a feeling. She already knew, that John couldn’t be her soulmate, or twin flame, if you wanted to be scientifically accurate. You could have more than one soulmate, but only one twin flame after all. You could be only marked by your twin flame, while you could find your other soulmate, or soulmates through connection, if you had any, that is. Nevertheless, the old term was already deeply rooted in society so just as the soulmark didn’t get renamed after the improvement of the soulmate theory, people kept referring to their twin flame as their soulmate, while calling their soulmate or soulmates, soul connections. It was semantics really. Everyone knew what someone was talking about when they simply mentioned their soulmate without any specifications.

Maybe John was like that to her? One of her soul connections? Other soulmates? She thought about it but somehow it didn’t feel right. Like a missing piece in an incomplete puzzle forced into the wrong hole. It didn’t fit and like a nagging feeling, it echoed through her own soul, begging to be noticed, demanding to be rightfully placed.

Seraphina knew she was lucky. At least she was lucky enough to already have her soulmate in this world when born. Right after birth when you first reached outside from your mother’s aura, connecting into the world’s energetic network was when you could first connect to your soulmate through it as well. If they were yet to be born, you didn’t get a soulmark, the very evidence of the living and dynamic connection between two halves of one whole. Then you had to wait and hope they would soon follow suit and the bond could finally form. For this reason, a young child without a soulmark was nothing to worry about, but the older someone got the more people started to whisper. It was pitying at best, mocking at worst. No wonder keeping this on the down low and not telling anyone was for the best in most cases. The hierarchy already made people’s lives hard enough, lacking a soulmate could even make the strongest the subject of ridicule and a downgrade in position.

Because not having a soulmark could mean two things. One, your soulmate was yet to be born. Two, your soulmate died before you were born. If you lost your soulmate later in life, then the soulmark slowly faded as a lingering ghost putting up a fight to the bitter end. Aura scientists said it was the residual energy from your soulmate persistent in the energy network connecting the world. This somewhat explained why high tiers’ soulmarks tended to remain longer on their partners after they passed.

Your soulmark could be your ticket to happiness, especially for lower tiers. A chance to meet their other half was not a small consolation to them in this cruel world of constant beatdowns and power struggles. Unfortunately, the world had to be cruel to them even in this regard. Only about 60% of people found their soulmates as their eye color and current level were the only information the colorful numbers provided. The higher your soulmate’s level was the rarer your soulmark got meaning you had a better chance of finding them during your life. If you were unlucky you had to wait and die to try in your next life.

Having a soulmark, however, was only enough for the lower tiers on its own. The higher you stood the more pressure you had on your shoulders and this went for your soulmark as well. A high tier, let alone a god-tier could not have just any soulmate. No, not if society had a say in it. Naturally, the mystical connection of soulmates didn’t care about the social order and sometimes there was a big gap in levels between soulmates. Most would think that it was the perfect meal ticket for a low or mid-tier to rise to the top with little to no effort. The truth as always was way darker. If soulmates of this kind were to find each other in life for the lower rank, it either ended in rejection or being a secret side piece hidden away used for the happiness of the higher rank while they entered an arranged marriage with another high rank in a similar predicament. Making sure the bloodline survived was above everything else resulting in children of convenience, not love. Rarely anyone went against this “natural order”.

Seraphina lived her life with this terrifying fate hanging over her head, like the sword of Damocles, for a long time. Yes, she was born with a soulmark, but the number remained 1.0 for the longest time to her and her parents’ utter dismay. Even an elite tier would have been a straight no from her parents, who would hardly consider even a normal high tier as a good match for her. A low tier, let alone a cripple was never to be let close to her in any way, shape, or form. She wouldn’t even be allowed to look for them, taking them as a secret lover was out of the question.

While she tried to convince herself, that she didn’t need such a low rank for her happiness anyway, echoing the words of her mother, deep down the bitterness of never connecting with her soulmate was eating away at her. Imagine her relief when suddenly, around 13 years old her soulmark started to glow, indicating the change in number. After that first time, it became a frequent occurrence. Every few weeks her soulmate would get stronger and stronger reaching a ridiculous level at a pace that would give most people whiplash. Then just as suddenly it started it stopped.

Now her soulmark almost right above her heart showed the golden number of 7.0 every morning and night when she undressed. It went like this for the last year or so since her other half suddenly stopped their rapid growth. Her soulmate, a god-tier just like her. She thought she finally had a good chance at happiness. A number of this caliber could only belong to someone at the very pinnacle of society. The upper 1%, or even less than that. With this finding her soulmate who had a matching high number should be easy. She thought her parents would be happy.

They weren’t.

While they were content with her not having a weakling as her soulmate to embarrass her family, the level rise was too little too late for them. A late bloomer, a menace to society, an abomination in the hierarchy, someone who was destined to fail. Those were her mother’s words.

She didn’t care.

Not at this point at least.

Because of John. Since she had met him, everything changed.

The boy, who saved her from the mind prison her upbringing put her into. Her very own savior and best friend in one person. Being with him she felt excitement, fun, closeness, and bliss all mixed together and blended perfectly. She never knew she could get along with someone so well. He liked her for who she was not for her powers. He was a good sport, not being a sour loser whenever she beat him in a game. He even withstood all their mall visits and liked the same type of music, food, drinks… almost everything apart from movie genres. He couldn’t stand horror, which gave her delightful opportunities to torment him.

If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was her one and only soulmate, her other half, her twin flame.

But he wasn’t. He couldn’t be.

After all, John was a cripple. Something, if it wasn’t for the fact that they couldn’t be soulmates, wouldn’t bother her at all. Why couldn’t he be her soulmate? It would make everything so much easier. Almost perfect.

These thoughts were plaguing her constantly, giving birth to this illogical feeling and the words that left her mouth because of it.

“John?” She asked while lying on the couch with a fluffy blanket covering her from the neck down, her gaze fixated on the ceiling.

“Hm?” The boy in question answered tiredly from his sleeping bag next to the couch, his eyes already closed.

“What does your soulmark look like?”

It was a stupid question really. One that would cause her pain no matter the answer. Her soulmark was clear, they couldn’t be soulmates. So why did she even ask? What did she hope for?

There was a long pause.

Unbeknownst to her this very question caused a great deal of anxiety to her best friend. It put him at a crossroads he was absolutely not prepared to face. He silently gripped his shirt above his heart where his soulmark, a sky blue 7.2 was hidden well, for no one ever to see.

While him having a high-level soulmate didn’t tell anything about his own level directly, if found out it could very well cause his downfall.

For one, with a high-level soulmate, it should be easier to find each other. He could still stick to his cripple façade and tell others that he just wasn’t about to have a life where he was a play toy of some god-tier, forced to act as they will, but given the power and influence of god-tiers, his secret would be out sooner or later. People just couldn’t stay out of others’ business after all.

For two, what if he were to meet his actual soulmate? He wasn’t ready for that. As a god-tier, they would force him to live and act his level. They wouldn’t care what he wanted, or what he would do if he had to assume his role in society again. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He was a monster.

For three, what if this mysterious soulmate happened to be Sera? He didn’t know her exact level and didn’t know what her soulmark looked like, but he had a sinking feeling that she could be the one. His one and only soulmate. Surprisingly, this was the most terrifying outcome for him. Yes, being with her was the happiest time in his entire life. After all the bullying and beating, then being constantly badmouthed, betrayed, and ambushed only to follow his reign of terror with being tortured by every single memory of it, all day every day for three excruciatingly long months, his life was finally happy. He was happy. Even the daily beatings he took couldn’t hinder his bliss when he was with Sera.

It would all come crashing down if she ever found out what he had done. What a monster he was.

This couldn’t happen, he simply couldn’t take it.

He couldn’t let it happen.

So, he did the thing he was best at. He lied.

Telling her some random number to throw her off was an option, but it would open the floodgates for curious questions like “Did your number change?” or “Have you found your soulmate yet?” or even possible match-making if some poor soul had the power level and eye color of his imaginary soulmark. This left only one option.

“I don’t have one.”

Sera didn’t know what to say. It was worse than asking about a missing parent only to find out they were dead. Not having a soulmark at this age could mean only one thing. Her heart clenched feeling utterly terrible for bringing up a topic that remained a taboo in society. Suddenly she felt a bottomless sadness. Not only was John a cripple making his life hard enough, but it also turned out he didn’t even have the chance to meet with his soulmate in this life. Somewhere, under all this sorrow for John, she felt a special kind of misery after her illogical hope of having him as a soulmate shattered forever.

“I’m sorry," she whispered after a few minutes of silence.

“It’s okay," he said with feigned nonchalance trying to hide his guilt while giving the impression of trying and failing to suppress his pain unintentionally. “I have come to terms with it. Not to mention now I don’t have to spend my entire life looking for a low-level soulmate I have less than a 50% chance of finding. A life of freedom," he said out loud. A life of lies, he said in his head.

The girl was impressed by his optimistic behavior, even if he was only pretending. John’s outlook on the world always inspired her ever since they became friends. Nevertheless, she decided never to bring up this topic again.

~~~oOo~~~

Elaine was always loyal to Arlo as he was king and the subject of her hopeless crush. She knew her place so she would never question an order from a royal. That’s exactly what got her into this mess.

Soulmarks were something people were fond of but not always proud of. Having a low-level soulmate was not something to brag about, especially for the higher ranks. Even lower ranks liked to keep up the mystery, sometimes telling people they had a higher level soulmate than in reality. For high tiers and above even a partner somewhat of equal standing could mean trouble when soulmark fraud became more and more advanced with aura technology.

For those reasons, people didn’t just go around showing their soulmarks to anyone. Many went as far as keeping it hidden from family and friends as well. Seraphina was no different. A perfect high-profile target for scammers. They didn’t know how her family was even rejecting a late bloomer although god-tier partner. Having a cripple soulmate for so long Seraphina was an expert at hiding her mark. Even after the number shot up she still stuck to her old paranoid habits until John got her somewhat relaxed. With her guard up nobody knew what her soulmark looked like at this point.

Because the school didn’t disclose information about the students’ levels people could only guess a person’s power status based on who the person was stronger and weaker than. With this method, they put them in order even without the exact levels. However, this uncertainty made Arlo put Elaine up to the job of finding out about Seraphina’s soulmark. He would have been thrilled to have her as his soulmate, but he had no way of knowing more without some help. They never fought with Seraphina. She was the strongest female and he was the strongest male making them king and queen of the school but this also made it unnecessary for them to rank fight, keeping their level ambiguous.

Fortunately, the king title had some definitive perks. He could pull strings few others could even attempt. Like getting Wellston’s strongest female to room with an elite tier, far from her own level. Seraphina didn’t care much and it gave Arlo the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on her and find out more through Elaine. She did her job diligently reporting her findings to the king right away.

One day a perfect opportunity presented itself. Or it would have been an opportunity, but in reality, it was more of an accident. Elaine was so preoccupied with her thoughts while making orange juice that she missed it when the queen entered the bathroom. 15 minutes later she ran to enter in a hurry after she realized she would be late to class if she didn’t start her morning routine right away. The door flew open revealing her roommate in nothing more than a towel. She immediately got frozen by Seraphina upon the intrusion but strong as she was, she couldn’t rewind Elaine’s memories. The sight of Seraphina burned into her mind along with her soulmark almost right above her heart.

The door was slammed into her frozen-in-time face, fervent apologies rushing out of her mouth when she was finally freed, but her roommate didn’t care. Seraphina got dressed and quickly exited the bathroom to retreat into her own room leaving Elaine standing in the hallway. It was minutes later that the information she got finally registered in her brain. She saw the queen’s soulmark. She should be elated to be finally able to provide Arlo with useful intel, even if it was directly undermining her feelings for the king. The only problem was the soulmark itself. She bit down on her lip. The number in question was of a golden color. Not a sulfur yellow like Blyke’s or sunrise yellow common in the overall population. No, it was of an unmistakable golden color rarely seen. Above all, it was a 7.0. Elaine didn’t know Arlo’s exact level but as the royal healer she knew that while he was definitely strong, he was nowhere near 7.0. The color obviously didn’t match his either.

She still decided to report it only earning a ‘tsk’ from the king as a reply. He still thanked her, although begrudgingly. She pondered about Seraphina’s soulmate sometimes. Who could be this incredibly powerful person with eyes of gold? She thought she would never meet with such a person so out of her social circle. Wellston was the top high school in the region, even well-known across the country, but even this school only had two god-tiers. She never even met any other god-tiers during turf wars. In conclusion, she would only possibly meet them during a class reunion, if Seraphina bothered to come with her partner. Yeah, not much chance for that.

Thus, Elaine was certain she would never get to meet this mysterious person.

You can imagine her surprise when she found herself face to face with said person, glaring at her with faintly glowing golden eyes, while his hand firmly grabbed the lower half of her face.

“Elaine. Shut up.” His words burned her like a curse driving her to the edge of crying.

She was supposed to heal his injuries at Seraphina’s request. As she could never refuse an order from a superior she started working right away, even if she had to waste precious energy on a cripple. Unfortunately for her, she could be quite perceptive and after healing Arlo and the two others, she quickly connected the dots. Her only luck was that the moment the boy realized she put things together, he no longer required her services and wanted her out of his house as soon as possible.

It was days later when she finally got to talk to Arlo. It was not something she wanted to do but her obvious avoidance of him just made her even more suspicious, prompting him to force out of her what she knew. So, she confessed everything. How she was called to heal John, how she saw the injuries and pieced things together, even admitting how terrified she was of the raven-haired god-tier. Eventually, the topic came up.

“So… John is Seraphina’s soulmate. What a horrid other half to have,” Elaine said with a slight tremor in her voice.

“Did you see his soulmark?” He questioned.

She shook her head. “No, but not many have a level like that, not to mention the golden color was the same, eerily so.”

Arlo was silent for a moment then sighed. “It would explain why they seem to gravitate towards each other so much. It was a mistake coming between them.”

Elaine quietly nodded. “Do you think she will be all right? I mean Seraphina.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why would she be in danger?”

“You saw John," she said while looking at the ground.

“He may be an unmanageable abnormality, but I doubt he would ever hurt his own soulmate.”

“But she doesn’t seem to know about being his soulmate. He obviously didn’t tell her,” Elaine voiced her exasperation. Why would someone hide from their soulmate? It didn’t make any sense. Most people would jump at the opportunity to be with their other half. Of course, there were cases when two individuals were nurtured in so different environments, learning so different values that by the point they met, they just didn’t like each other and refused to be together despite being soulmates. The same went for people who had such bad blood between them before realizing they were soulmates that their negative feelings for each other couldn’t be overcome. Seraphina and John however were joined at the hip, enjoying each other’s company so much that they didn’t give a shit about the demeaning whispers and rumors, even beatings in the case of John. Then why? She couldn’t understand.

“He didn’t tell anyone about his ability either. Hiding and taking daily beatings instead of showing his true power and taking his rightful place in the hierarchy… The guy is insane, this is probably just part of his idiotic façade,” Arlo concluded letting out another tired sigh.

She was silent for a moment then decided to ask. “Should we tell her?”

He shook his head. “No. Unless you want his ire directed toward you. It’s best to leave them alone from now on.”

“Yeah. That will be for the best,” Elaine agreed, at last, glancing out the window. ‘Sorry, Seraphina.’

~~~oOo~~~

Seraphina just woke up slowly blinking her eyes open. She realized with growing horror that she was still tied up in the same position, trapped in that damn abandoned house where the group of mid-tiers took her. Looking up she saw the leader of her captors who had a confident smile plastered on her face. Enjoying her torture much, huh? These people were truly garbage.

“I’m… still here?” Her voice came out weakly, still hoping it was all a nightmare.

Her answer came in the form of a hard slap dissolving the little hope she had left.

“Of course, stupid,” the brown-haired girl, Illena said mockingly. “Did you expect us to let you go? Especially after your subpar performance yesterday?”

She didn’t answer.

“Or were you hoping that someone would come to your rescue…?” She continued before grabbing onto her magenta hair. “Don’t kid yourself. Didn’t you learn anything from last night?”

Illena forced her to look up.

“You’re powerless now! So by default, you drop to the very bottom of the ladder! Nobody cares about you anymore!” She smirked while yanking on Seraphina’s hair, ripping out a few strands.

“Ugh!” The action elicited pain on her scalp but what Illena said caused far greater agony.

“Look! Your classmates have turned on you! Your friends are nowhere to be seen! And your family… “ Seraphina could hear the elated satisfaction she took in her every word. “Do they know about your ability loss yet? I bet they’d be so ashamed of you!”

Seraphina didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She knew her captor was right. Her family didn’t care when Leilah had run away. They never mentioned her again, deeming her as a failure. Even though she was a god-tier. If or when her family was to find out about her ability loss she would be done for. No question asked they would just abandon her. What about her soulmate?

As if the girl could read her mind she added. “Oh, you think your soulmate would be different? You think they would care how powerful you once were when you are a lowly cripple now?”

Illena grabbed onto her collar, pulling her forward like a ragdoll. “Maybe you are lucky enough to have a cripple as your soulmate! They hopefully wouldn’t care!” She laughed. “Or your equally pathetic cripple friend can take you in like a lost puppy! What a pair!”

John… would he even want her? She desperately needed him now, but she feared if he saw her like this even he would be disappointed and leave her for good. Who would want a pathetic cripple like her? John was brave and smart and knew how to put up a fight. Compared to him she was absolutely pitiful.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed it as the other girl suddenly let her go.

“Where even is your soulmark? I want to see for myself what kind of other half a lowly loser like you have.”

The next moment her hands were back on her, trying to get her clothes off without much success with her arms tied up and all. Realizing her predicament Seraphina tried to pull away from her, but she had almost no energy left at this point. Illena not wanting to go through the trouble of releasing her decided to go for the easiest target and started unbuttoning her blouse but quickly stopped as her eyes went wide.

“Why… why is it glowing?!” The girl exclaimed retracting her assaulting hands as if they were burned.

Looking down the fallen goddess could only partially see the cause of the turmoil. There, on her chest, still half-hidden by her clothes, almost right above her heart the familiar golden number was once again glowing, indicating the increase in level. After almost two years her soulmate got stronger. She could usually feel it, but given all the things happening to her she probably missed when it started. The soulmark now showed a golden 7.5 instead of the old 7.0. A pretty big leap out of nowhere.

Her soulmate only got stronger, while she lost all her powers. She was truly miserable.

“Ha…hahaha!” Illena laughed hysterically. “I can’t believe this! You not only have a god-tier soulmate, but they are still getting stronger. Pretty ironic, isn’t it?”

To her disdain Seraphina found herself agreeing with her.

Suddenly Illena’s laughter stopped as she gritted her teeth grinding them together. “Do you think you deserve it?” She asked quietly at first but then shouted, her voice filled with envy and rage. “Do you think a low life like you deserves a soulmate like that?! Do you think anyone that strong would ever want you?! You?! You fucking disgrace to society?!!”

She grabbed into the fallen goddess’ hair again pulling on it violently. “You would be lucky if they gave you a chance to be their damn broodmare! Maybe they would take the chance that your genetics didn’t get fucked! But certainly, they would never touch a cripple like you! Try to keep your pretty face, so someone may want to try one day though!” She almost screamed while slapping her again, emphasizing her last statement.

Seraphina felt numb at this point. She remembered living in fear that she would have to get married to some random high tier with no regard for her feelings or opinion to create the next generation of high tiers for her and his family. It was a terrifying thought being no better than a glorified broodmare. The thought of letting someone she didn’t even like touch her was repulsive and made her insides clench into a knot. Now she realized, in that case at least she would have some say in it. She could have been in a position of power, on shitty yet equal standing with her life partner. Now she had no power over her future. If her soulmate was ever to find her, she would be completely at their mercy. They would make all the decisions, degrading her to a slave to be used and discarded any time they saw fit. These thoughts swirling in her head made her feel sick. Maybe if she had eaten anything before, she would have thrown up.

She could never let her soulmate find her like this.

Not long after Arlo and Elaine showed up saving her from further assault. Elaine discretely closed and buttoned up her blouse again before helping her to the infirmary. She was in so much pain physically, yet it was nothing compared to the soul-crushing mental anguish she was suffering from. Not only did she lose her ability now she had to do anything in her power to hide from her own soulmate.

After getting treated by Doc the three of them talked. Elaine was angry, questioning the mid tiers’ foolishness for kidnapping the school’s former Ace, but Seraphina quickly shut her down with the cold hard truth. She was now powerless, worthless to society. She also questioned Arlo, why he still cared enough to come to her rescue, not getting any definitive answer. Elaine stated how they all were worried about her and gathered a whole search party.

“Why would I even matter?” Seraphina suddenly asked.

“Huh?” The question caught the other girl off guard.

“You still care but how long exactly? And what about after graduation? My life is over. Nobody would need a cripple like me. I can’t even hope for a happy ending with my soulmate. No one on that level would ever want me. But if they do it’s even worse. What would they do to me? What would they force me to do? Maybe they would just get rid of me.” Seraphina was talking more to herself than the other two. Her eyes were frighteningly hollow.

Arlo and Elaine looked at each other seemingly exchanging thoughts without actually saying anything. After that, the latter decided to talk.

“Seraphina, I wouldn’t be worried about that.”

At that moment John came rushing into the infirmary. “Sera!”

She turned away as she couldn’t bear to look at him. She couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his pale gold eyes. She couldn’t lose him, too.

She bit down on her bottom lip trying to reign in her emotions.

“Sorry, John. I let you down. I tried everything. I did everything you taught me back there. But nothing worked.” She closed her eyes to keep back tears. “I don’t know how… I’ll ever be as strong as you.”

She was waiting for judgment. For the inevitable disappointment that was bound to come. But it never did. Instead, she found herself in a tight embrace. John held her close, stroking her hair carefully to not aggravate any hidden injuries. She felt safe. She felt warm. Her tears finally started to spill from her eyes as his gentle voice tried to comfort her.

“Don’t think about that right now. Everything takes time. I’ll be here.”

His words soothed her anguish. Even if her family abandoned her, even if she had to hide from her soulmate forever, John would still be there. In his arms, she felt like everything could be okay again.

Arlo and Elaine looked at each other again. They knew that at least they didn’t have to worry about Seraphina being left alone in this world.

At that point, they didn’t know that the ears of a really perceptive individual were unintentionally listening in.

~~~oOo~~~

Remi already had a hunch about John and Seraphina being soulmates. Rumors had been circulating ever since they became friends. Arlo confidently claimed them to be nonsense, but it would explain why the two got along so well despite their vastly different social standing according to the masses. She never cared about levels and tiers, so to her, it wasn’t so apparent. I mean, of course, if she knew someone was her soulmate she would try to get along with them low tier or not, but it could also be a completely normal friendship or even a soul connection. Out of curiosity, however, she once gathered her courage to ask the girl in question. The Ace was stoic as always but for a moment sadness flickered in her eyes. Sadness and maybe longing?

“No, John is not my soulmate,” came the definitive answer not leaving room for uncertainty.

Remi concluded that they must be soul connections then, but why was this such a sad thing for Seraphina? She might be blind to a lot of problems, but she wasn’t blind to feelings. Seraphina was obviously negatively affected by this topic, so she decided not to bring it up again and forgot about it altogether.

Until this very moment.

As John lifted his shirt to show her all the bruises and wounds still adorning his torso under it, she caught a glimpse of a blue number. She could only see part of the lower half but it was enough to guess the number. It was his soulmark, a sky-blue 8.0. Seraphina’s exact level before she lost her ability. Remi only knew her exact level because she accidentally overheard it through the door when the school had its yearly ability gauging in the infirmary. Nobody was supposed to hear she just chose the worst time to go up and try to knock on the door, not knowing someone was already inside.

Of course, it could be someone else’s level and eye color but what were the chances for that? She decided it was best not to jump to any conclusions. She had better things to worry about anyway and she wasn’t about to further anger him by mentioning his soulmark.

After the fruitless discussion with John, the trio tried to come up with a battle strategy against him to at least unmask him if nothing else. During this conversation, the topic popped into her mind again. If she wanted an answer, there was no better informant than Isen.

“Isen?”

“Huh?” He turned to her.

“What do you know about John and Seraphina being soulmates?” She asked getting the interest of both of her friends piqued.

“Well… apart from the rumors and that one implication from Elaine not much to be honest,” he answered while scratching the back of his head.

“What implication?” She gazed at him curiosity evident in her amber eyes.

“So, when Seraphina was kidnapped and John beat me up we were both in the infirmary and I heard her telling Arlo and Elaine about how her soulmate wouldn’t want her anymore or worse, use her as some kind of slave and get rid of her when she had no more use,” Isen started ranting.

“What?!” Remi was completely horrified. How could she even think about such things? But now that she thought about it, were her fears really baseless? After talking to John, she started to see a side of society she was absolutely unaware of.

Isen continued. “Yeah, it was pretty depressing. But then there was a brief silence and Elaine said, I quote “Seraphina, I wouldn’t be worried about that.”

Blyke raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t understand!” Isen gestured wildly with his arms. “She didn’t say it as some baseless comfort statement. There was a calm certainty in her voice. Something only a person with information about the subject would have.”

Blyke was still not convinced. “So, you think she knows who Seraphina’s soulmate is without Seraphina herself knowing the person?”

“I don’t know, okay?” He backtracked. “I’m only telling you what I have heard.”

This was the moment Remi decided to share her piece of information. “Today I saw John’s soulmark.”

This got both of the boys’ attention. “What?! How??”

“Well, he was showing me his bruised torso and I accidentally saw part of the mark. It was only like a quarter of it but given the number, it was easy to know the exact level. It was Seraphina’s eye color and level before her ability loss.”

“Wow, that pretty much cements the whole thing. All the pieces fall into place.” Isen stroked his chin deep in thought.

“Not all of them.” Blyke glanced at the two. They signaled him to continue. “How come Seraphina doesn’t know they are soulmates then?”

“Why would she know? Dude has been hiding being a god-tier for almost two years even from her!” Isen exclaimed raising his arms into the air in exasperation.

Remi fixed her gaze on the floor, her confusion only growing. “No, no, there is something strange about the whole thing. I once asked Seraphina if John was her soulmate and she said he wasn’t with such a certainty that left no room for debate. It’s one thing not knowing and another being certain they weren’t.”

There was a heavy silence for a minute or so between the trio before as always Isen supplied a probable explanation. “What if he lied to her?”

“Why would he do that? If your soulmate finds out, you lied to them about something like this it would definitely put a strain on your relationship!” Blyke stated.

“But what if he never planned for it to ever come out?” Isen asked.

“What do you mean?” The other two sounded in unison.

“John hid his ability while getting his bones broken, internal bleeding, and all the other stuff on a daily basis. Dude was pretty committed to the act I don’t think he planned on ever using his ability again. So what if just like with his ability he never planned on getting together with his soulmate either?”

“Who would do something like that? Especially if they knew their soulmate was right in front of them? That’s basically self-torture!” Blyke didn’t understand any of this. “Why would John go to this extent?”

Isen put up his hands in surrender. “I don’t know, man. John was never an easily understood person. He seems to have some heavy unresolved shit from his past.”

“I think, no, I’m almost certain they are soulmates,” Remi concluded in the end with a heavy sigh.

“But this just makes our situation even more dire,” Blyke growled out in frustration. To his friends' prompting gazes he explained. “If the whole school was suddenly out to get your vulnerable soulmate and nobody seemed to be able to stop it, wouldn’t you go all out and burn the whole thing to the ground?”

“If you put it like that…” Isen placed his hands in his hair pulling on his roots in frustration.

“But why can’t he just use his ability to protect her directly?” Remi addressed the elephant in the room.

“Seraphina is now a cripple and everyone, even Arlo is scared shitless of John. I wouldn’t want my soulmate to see me like that either.” Surprisingly Blyke’s explanation was pretty sound.

“But then what if Seraphina finds out?” Remi tied to picture the scenario.

“It can go two very different ways,” Isen extended two fingers. “One, he would go all out to make sure Seraphina doesn’t see him as a violent monster, or two, he would lose any reason to hold back.”

The queen and the Jack gulped. “That second option sounds pretty horrible for us, but at this point do we have any other option? That maniac will come for Remi in two days and our only chance is to unmask him during the fight.”

Isen sighed in defeat. “I was afraid you would say that.”

~~~oOo~~~

“John, I already know about everything… New Bostin, your expulsion, how you’re secretly a high-tier…”

John froze at Seraphina’s words. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real.

No. No. No. No. NO!

How did she find out? She wasn’t supposed to know!

She was never supposed to know!

She was never supposed to know that her soulmate was a monster!

His carefully crafted persona shattered completely leaving only painful shards cutting into his very being. Why did this happen? Why did he have to lose her too? Why did she do this to him? He could bear the daily beatings, he was withstanding the pain of never being able to be with her as her other half. Then why? Why did this have to happen?

Those thoughts kept swirling in his head even after their brutal fight that broke up their friendship. There was no going back. There was no future for them. Not as soulmates, not as friends, not as anything. A monster like him could never have anyone near him. They would only betray him anyway. No one could be trusted. Not even himself.

As he cried his eyes out in his ruins stuck in the middle of that empty classroom unceremoniously he didn’t know what to do, how to go on. He was completely lost. His soulmate now knew everything. Every horrible thing he has done and every horrible thing he is.

A tyrant.

A hypocrite.

A monster.

He lost everything and now he had to live with it or die with it.

Only time would tell.

~~~oOo~~~

Claire was unsure of why anyone would want to know more about John, especially to help him. The John she knew didn’t deserve help. Not even one bit. That violent and brutal tyrant had no good qualities, no saving grace. At first, she thought that this girl, Seraphina was maybe his lovesick girlfriend attempting the impossible, but the girl in question swiftly corrected her. It was not until she saw her face, more precisely her eyes that she had a pretty good hunch about this person’s identity. She had seen John’s soulmark plenty of times back in New Bostin. For most of middle school, he was hiding it. Both because people wanted to beat him up even more when they saw his soulmate’s level and also because he developed a kind of resentment towards the mysterious person. After discovering his ability, however, this changed. Many times, he was happily boasting about his god-tier soulmate and how he would catch up to them in no time. His soulmate didn’t make it easy though. Almost every time he showed her his mark it was a different, higher number.

But one thing remained the same. The sky blue color that perfectly matched the magenta-haired girl’s eyes in front of her. She wanted to ask but decided against it at the last second. Reminding the girl of this destined connection probably wouldn’t help their conversation at all. She couldn’t be sure about it anyway. At least that’s what she thought but by the end of the call, she was almost certain. Seraphina told her she was Wellston’s number one and insisted on helping John even after all his horrible actions in the past and present Claire just told her about.

At this point, it wouldn’t be strange for even a soulmate to just give up and bank on their next life. John was just too unhinged.

Weeks later however she found the very same boy standing in front of her door for the second time in just a few days. She was terrified at first but after he began with his rant even she couldn’t deny that John changed. He finally listened. He finally owned up to his shit. He finally saw the light.

And this was all thanks to Seraphina.

“I’m glad this is what you decided, and I hope you’ll keep your word. There’s someone out there who cares about you way more than I think you deserve… And I hope you never push her as far as you pushed me.”

“Who-?”

“Seraphina. She contacted me so that she could figure out what was going on with you.”

“She wha--?”

“And even after everything I told her… she still defended you. You owe her, John. You have no idea how lucky you are. You don’t deserve a soulmate like her.”

John fell silent. She could see how much it meant to him. How much she meant to him.

‘Good,’ she thought. ‘He means so much to her, it’s only fair he shows some damn gratitude. I may call Adrion and tell him the news.’

She deciphered the boy’s reaction correctly to an extent, but what she couldn’t know was that John did agree with her every word.

He didn’t deserve her. He never will.

~~~oOo~~~

It was a few days after he returned from his suspension. Sera seemed way busier since he came back so he was committed to cherishing every second spent in her company. They were halfway through discussing a new pig game she got him into recently when she fell silent all of a sudden. He looked at her questioningly.

“You know John, maybe we are not always destined to be with our soulmate.”

He immediately felt his heart sinking. She didn’t want to be with him. It was apparent why. It still hurt, nevertheless. For a long time, he never planned to ever tell her and deceived himself into believing he was content with as things were between them. It had been painful enough back then but now it was a completely different level of misery. Because there was a difference between not being with your soulmate while they were in the dark and not being with your soulmate because you messed up so much, they just couldn’t imagine a future with you. He knew there was a chance this could be the case. He expected the topic to come up sooner or later. He just hoped it would be later. A lot later. He wasn’t ready.

He knew he didn’t deserve her. He knew that she should have long given up on him. She didn’t owe him anything yet she still decided to save him from his demons. He could never repay her, never ask her for more. He needed to take what she was willing to give. Anything she was willing to give. If it was friendship, he was willing to stand by and do everything in his power to make her happy. Even handing her over personally to whomever she would choose to spend her life with. Because he couldn’t be that person. He vowed to be her greatest supporter, her biggest fan, her best friend. If she was still willing to keep him in her life, that is.

When she didn’t get an answer she sneaked a glance at him taking in his serious demeanor with just a tad bit of despair hidden in his eyes. John was always good at masking his emotions. She immediately regretted bringing up the topic. She knew it must be a painful subject for someone without a soulmark.

The fact that he lacked a soulmark never left her mind. During his rampage and mental breakdown, and later during his suspension, she was so worried about him. She knew the statistics. People without a soulmark were 5 times more likely to commit suicide. Deep within despair, they thought that nothing waited for them in this life and wanted to just reset and start a new one with a new hope without all the painful memories. The thought of John resorting to such action utterly terrified her.

Because of this, she had not dared to bring up the topic before this moment, not even when they discussed many other things that happened between them or in his past. She was trying to avoid triggering him in any way, but she had thought the time had come to finally talk about this.

For one, she didn’t want him to keep things from her and let his suppressed pain fester into an infected wound.

For two, she wanted to be closer to John. Maybe even closer than they were now and for that bringing up the idea of not sticking with your soulmate was essential. She wished to give him a sign that she might be an option. If he was interested. She didn’t intend to impose on him if he wasn’t.

Now it seemed that it was the case, at least for now, so she immediately backtracked.

“I mean, having a soulmate can be nice and all, but if you have someone with whom you get along very well, even more than your soulmate, then maybe you can just be close with your soulmate but not be with them? You get what I mean, right?”

She was a little nervous after saying all that. Baring her feelings in front of her best friend and being so vulnerable was nerve-wracking.

John knew what she meant. He just didn’t know what to say. Even so, he knew he needed to say something quickly.

“Maybe.” He took a deep breath, forcing down all the unpleasant emotions that threatened to slip out. He made a decision, and he would stick with it no matter what. “Whoever you decide on as your life partner I will be there to cheer you on and support you as your best friend.”

He thought about how much he loved her and how much he owed her, successfully mustering a genuine smile on his face.

Seraphina did not expect this. She wasn’t full of herself by any means to think he would definitely be interested. She knew that John might not even be open to the idea of being with anyone at the moment like most people their age. She expected a vague answer, even some type of resistance. What she didn’t expect however was an outright rejection. And not just for now but as it sounded it applied to the future as well. It wasn’t an unsure answer, there wasn’t any uncertainty in it.

Her heart clenched in her chest. She wasn’t going to push, but she won’t give up so easily. And in the end, if John only wanted her as his best friend she would have to come to terms with that. She might find her soulmate and build a closeness with them like she had with John, right?

Deep down she knew it was the denial speaking.

No matter what they will always be there for each other.

~~~oOo~~~

“Wait, these two are soulmates?” Leilah asked as she watched Darren attend to the two seriously injured teens. Because of how the ice shards impaled them they had to undress them revealing their matching soulmarks.

“Yep,” Doc answered obviously irritated by the topic.

She raised a well-trimmed eyebrow at his reaction. “You already knew. Since when?”

The man only spared her a glance while he continued to work on the boy’s wounds. “Since forever. As a faculty member, I had access to their information, I also was present at their yearly ability gauging and had plenty of opportunities to have a premier view of their marks when dressing their injuries. Even just using their levels and eye colors would have been more than enough to put two and two together. Not to mention these two are joined at the hip. You have no idea how much trouble these two caused me.”

He grumbled under his breath while tightening a bandage around John’s chest.

Leilah hummed. “Then they must know about it.”

“Nope,” came the immediate answer.

This surprised her. “Wait, how do they not know? Shouldn’t it be obvious at this point?!”

“This one…” Darren pointed at John. “…kept up a cripple persona for almost 2 years while being a god-tier. As part of that genius plan of his I highly doubt he told the truth to her. Instead, he must have told some outrageous lie, like he didn’t have a soulmark.”

Leilah couldn’t hide her displeasure upon hearing this. “But Sera knows about his powers now, wouldn’t that mean that she knows about being soulmates as well?”

“No.”

“But why?”

“Because nothing can be simple with these two hopeless dumbasses. They are two halves of one whole idiot,” Doc concluded.

I guess he just knew them too well.

Chapter Text

The warm rays of the mid-morning sun broke through the curtains mercilessly assaulting the eyes of a certain magenta-haired girl. She definitely wasn’t a morning person. She was about to just turn on her other side and hide her face underneath the pillow when the rich smell of freshly cooked bacon and eggs reached her nose. Her nostrils involuntarily flared at the saliva-inducing aroma and her stomach grumbled signaling her that her undisturbed sleeping time was over.

She didn’t know if she should thank John for tricking her like this every morning to get up using the demanding nature of her starving guts or just strangle him with her socks. Beauty sleep was essential after all, and he wasn’t letting her have it. How should she seduce him like this?

Before she could decide with her mind her hungry inner goblin already dragged her to the door. To the sound of the opening door the raven-haired boy, her handsome roommate turned to look at her with a too-charming and energetic smile for her to not groan internally.

It was too early for this.

“Good morning, sleepy head!” He grinned while serving a perfect-looking omelet and some bacon, swiftly cutting some vegetables up to put on the side completing the plate. He slid it with practiced ease on the table to her usual spot and went back to make his own serving. “Eat it while it’s still warm. I still need to finish the bacon for mine.”

Seraphina plopped down on her chair eyeing the Pinstagram-worthy breakfast. It was impeccable as always. John always put more effort into making her food than his. She never had to ask him to make something for her, he was always eager to please her both with classics and his newest creations.

Living with him was the dream. Well, almost.

Despite the very decorative and mouth-watering plate in front of her, her eyes were fixated on a very different decorative and mouth-watering creation of god. Namely, John, who was still jumping around the kitchen in the apron he received from his father as a random gift on his last visit. The phrase ‘Kiss the cook’ adorned it mocking her every single time.

If she could, she would.

Her eyes were following him around as he skillfully flopped the omelet onto his plate while checking on the bacon, deciding it can still use a little more time to reach the ideal crispiness. He realized he couldn’t hear any noises from the silverware prompting him to look at the girl. Their eyes met and he raised an eyebrow.

“Why aren’t you eating? It’s not as good when it’s cold.”

“It’s not as good when I eat alone.” Without batting an eye, she swiftly countered.

He sighed shaking his head. It was always the same routine. He got up, went for a run, came back, showered, decided on the perfect breakfast, and started making it, it woke up Sera, he served her plate first and told her to eat it while it was warm, she stubbornly refused to eat alone, he had to hurry up and finish his so they could eat together.

It was kind of comical at this point. Something should have changed when it was the same reoccurring problem, but both of them were stubborn as a mule and refused to back down. It was just the way they were.

He finished up the bacon and made his plate sitting down on the opposite chair from hers. She smiled triumphantly and started digging in, humming in satisfaction as the first bite reached her tastebuds.

John chuckled at her. “I always make it the same way for you, you shouldn’t enjoy it so much by now.”

“Don’t tell me how to enjoy my breakfast, thank you very much.” She turned up her nose while taking another bite. “It’s always delicious no matter if I eat it for the first or the hundredth time.”

He smiled taking his first bite as well.

After a few minutes of them eating in content silence the food was gone and before John could get up to take the dishes to the sink Sera beat him to it. He raised an eyebrow.

“You made the food, I do the dishes.” She put a finger on his forehead gently pushing him back onto his seat.

He wanted to argue but uncharacteristically decided against it. When she looked back at him from the sink, she saw him intently looking at his phone.

“Did something happen?”

He opened his phone to check his notifications and then sighed in frustration. “I wanted to check if the others texted anything in the group chat about today yet, but I only got something from an unknown number.

“Again?!” She was slightly annoyed by this.

“Yeah…“ He ran a hand through his messy hair. “It’s some random girl I don’t even know again. Either one of my gym mates gave away my number again when I told them several times to stop or Adrion got bullied into sharing it.”

“Probably the former. You really should set your gym buddies straight.” She said in clear annoyance.

“Don’t even start me on it!”

Then his phone dinged.

“No, it was the latter. Adrion just texted me to apologize.”

“Oh, come on, this is the third time this month!” She scrubbed the pan in her hands a little too hard.

“Actually, the fourth. I think you missed the one when I was out training with Jarred.”

Seraphina had to put down the poor cooking ware before she accidentally broke it.

“What do they even want from you?”

“They say aura training, but those people usually do anything but train.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “They make me uncomfortable. That’s why I only take on jobs through the agency now. There are still some I have to drop but way less than when I was doing the advertising and interviewing myself.”

She mentally patted herself on the back for the great idea she put forth after the fifth “client” tried to climb on her very confused and socially awkward roommate. Those people weren’t there to learn from him anyway. Even if they were more than willing to pay for his “services”. It all started when after a workout session with Adrion, the blond posted a selfie with him and John on it, the latter wearing a tank top that slightly revealed his toned stomach as he was pulling it up to get rid of some body heat.

It was a mistake.

The poor low-tier immediately got bombarded with messages left and right and even after he took down the post they still found him through social media. Claire found it hilarious. Adrion was very apologetic. John was mainly confused. Seraphina was neither of those. She was absolutely furious. Especially when the incident repeated itself the time he started advertising his aura management and ability mastery classes. While his training gained a lot of attention from the target audience, he still managed to gather a very unwelcome and persistent fanbase with a different sort of desire.

Comments like “You could feel up my aura channels <3” or “Can I book you for an all-night workout session?” were typical at this point even with constant removal and occasional bans. Those people lacked any decency and respect for boundaries, but they weren’t the worst ones out there. No, the worst ones were those who pretended to be serious about his training all the way through just so they could make a move on him here and there slowly trying to wear him down. His obliviousness, which Seraphina never thought he possessed until all of this started, turned out to be his biggest weakness and greatest weapon. He was completely immune to the flirting not seeing the hidden meaning behind the words and disarmed any attempt to get closer to him. Sometimes the girl wondered if he was really like this or if his poker face was just that good. He pretended to be a cripple for almost 2 years and was running around as Joker for weeks without getting caught so she couldn’t be sure.

Either way this increasing attention from both men and women was a pain in the butt for her. John wasn’t interested for now, but it could be a matter of time before somebody beautiful and alluring, perfect for his taste came along and swept him off his feet. She needed to figure something out and quickly.

Then John’s phone dinged again and she could hear hers do the same back in her room indicating that somebody texted in the group chat. The boy opened his messages while she finished drying the last plate putting it back in its designated place.

Brolo: My flight just landed. I’ll be able to make it to the party on time.

PinkPikachu: always w/ the proper grammar

PinkPikachu: punctuation and everything

UmartGoku: u never get tired of being proper?

Brolo: I’m not an uncultured animal like some of you.

Brolo: You could use some proper grammar as ambassadors as well you know.

UmartGoku: almost hurt but rather an animal than a grammar Nazi

DemocRAT: guys I couldn’t find any triple teriyaki sauce!!! HELP TT-TT

MADicine: what’s tht thing even

CrystalBall: sounds weird af

DemocRAT: don’t judge until u try

DemocRAT: the single most amazing invention of mankind

DemocRAT: can’t mrs the chance 2 try it w/ john’s culinary creations

DemocRAT: HELP!!!! PLS

PinkPikachu: …

UmartGoku: …

TerrorPrincess: morning guys

TerrorPrincess: wat did i mrs

Brolo: English class, obviously.

PinkPikachu: Arlo!!!

TheFriend^TM: …

TheFriend^TM: too early for this

CrystalBall: morning Evie

CrystalBall: morning Adrion

DemocRAT: so nobody is finna help dis pal in crisis?

UmartGoku: Isen u and ur stomach

DemocRAT: pls?

UmartGoku: …

UmartGoku: fine

UmartGoku: we will try 2 get sum on our wey

John chuckled to himself. ‘These guys never change.’

“Arlo texted that his flight just landed so he will be able to make it to the grill party on time. The others confirmed as well. Isen complained that he couldn’t find the specific sauce he craves but Remi and Blyke will take care of it.”

Seraphina deadpanned. “That guy can only think with his stomach. We haven’t seen each other over two years aside from a few accidental run-ins on different events and a meeting or two here and there and he is still focused on food.”

John shrugged. “Some things never change I guess.”

She grinned. “Even a whole ass rebellion can’t change people’s nature it seems.”

“I did change, thank you very much.” He feigned offense.

“No, you did not.” She walked over to him ruffling his soft black hair with her hand. “You were always brave and caring deep down just needed some help to dig it out.”

She looked into his eyes with the most genuine smile and he had to avert his gaze and turn away to hide his blush. “It was all thanks to you that I had any good left in me under all the shit.”

He grumbled out but she could tell he was touched. He still couldn’t deal with compliments though, something she was trying to change for the longest time. Before she could say anything else however John quickly changed the topic back to the original.

“So, everything is set. We need to buy a few more things before heading over to the park, though. I wanted to buy most of the vegetables right before the party to have them fresh.”

“But wouldn’t that risk not being able to buy some of them if the grocery store is out?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe, but I doubt that would be a problem. There is an U-mart on the way there and this time of the year they usually have almost everything available.”

Seraphina shrugged. “I trust your judgment. You’re usually the one who buys our groceries anyway.”

“Should we start to get ready? If we want to have time to shop, we should leave two hours from now.”

“Are you implying that I need two whole hours to get ready for a simple garden party?” She narrowed her eyes.

“You said it, not me. Hey!” He laughed after getting punched in the arm.

Two hours later John was waiting by the door wearing a casual attire fit for the nice weather outside. He was tapping on the floor with his foot impatiently. He so knew this was going to happen.

“Sera, we are running late!”

“One moment.” Came the reply from the bathroom.

“That’s what you said 5 minutes ago. And 10 minutes ago. And 15 minutes ago…”

“Okay, okay. I’m ready now.” The door opened revealing the girl being pretty like always. She put a little more effort than usual to look nice but still kept to the casual nature of the occasion.

John looked at her up and down then raised an eyebrow in question. “What took you so long?”

Her smile immediately turned into a frown. “Can’t you tell the difference?”

The boy gulped. This was a trap. He may not have any dating or love experience so far, but he knew one thing very well. Do not make light of a woman’s efforts to look good. Now he had to carefully choose his words to escape Seraphina’s wrath.

‘Think John, think!’ Finally, an idea came to him.

“Um, of course, I can see it, you look pretty like always! It’s just that your ability is time manipulation, so I didn’t think getting ready now would take so much more time.”

The girl pondered over his words. They weren’t very convincing but at the same time, she couldn’t pick out a flaw in his thought process. ‘Well played, John.’ She thought to herself, the smile returning to her face.

“Nice save, bud. Now let’s get going, we are running late.” She grabbed her bag and walked past him leaving him behind in their cozy little apartment.

He sighed in relief then followed suit, locking the door behind him.

Half an hour later with two bags full of food, the duo exited the U-mart near the park the gang agreed to meet inside for the grill party.

“Did we get everything?” John kept rummaging through the newly bought groceries.

Seraphina lightly bumped shoulders with him while chuckling. “Shouldn’t you have checked before we went to the checkout?”

“Never hurts to check again just to be sure. We can still go back if something is missing.” He was satisfied to find everything necessary to be inside the bags.

The girl gazed at him without him noticing, too preoccupied with some cucumbers. She thought it was time for her to up her game a little. She bumped into him again but instead of steadying herself, she leaned onto him. The sudden additional weight made him finally look at her, worry evident in his eyes.

“Is something wrong, Sera?”

“I think I’m just a little tired.” She emphasized her statement with a yawn. “In fact, too tired to walk.” Her lips curled up into a smirk and her eyes had a mischievous glint to them.

John sighed good-naturedly, a smile creeping onto his face. “You shouldn’t have stayed up into the early hours playing pac pig when you knew we had plans for today.”

“It was necessary to keep my undefeated score against yours. You’re trying too hard to catch up these days.” She poked his cheek with her index finger, laughing when he pouted.

“I just want to win at least in one single game.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“If that’s the case then I guess I’ll indeed keep dreaming so I can have a well-rested body and you can walk on your own feet to the park.” He smirked at her while picking up his pace to get ahead of her.

“Not fair.” It was her time to pout.

“On the contrary, staying up all night to beat me and then using my energized body to get around?” He stopped and turned back to look at her, putting a hand on his forehead and closing his eyes to imitate a dramatic sigh. “How could you use me like this?”

She rolled her eyes and then stuck out her tongue. John let her catch up and opened one eye to sneak a glance at her, patiently waiting for her response. Seraphina knew she couldn’t get out of asking him properly this time, but she wasn’t about to let him win so easily.

“John…” She stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around his right one from the side while looking up from under her eyelashes, her eyes pleading. “Would you please carry me? My legs are too tired.”

John gulped, fighting down a furious blush that was threatening to light up his entire face. He knew she got him.

“Okay, okay. No need to resort to tactics like this.”

A triumphant smile adorned her face and as he watched her, he couldn’t help but smile himself. She was truly beautiful when she smiled like this. Like she was glowing. He felt like basking in the light of the bright early-summer sun. It filled him with warmth and happiness.

Her phone dinged with a new message, making her miss the loving gaze he directed toward her.

“Evie is asking when we will get there. Seems like everyone else has already arrived.”

“Let’s make it quick then.” He handed her the grocery bags.

She looked at them with confusion. “You want me to carry the bags?”

“I need my arms free to support your weight.”

“Did you just call me fat?” She narrowed her eyes.

“I mean, you get to feast on my cooking three times a day.”

This earned him a punch in the arm which he laughed off and slightly crouched down to position himself for easier access. She huffed but left it at that and climbed onto his back, leaning her arms over his shoulders with the bags in her hands. He grabbed her legs and started jogging toward the park.

Seraphina moved her head, so her chin was resting on his right shoulder close to his neck. She loved when he carried her. It was mostly for fun that could be viewed in a platonic way, but there was something intimate about being so close to each other. She could feel his body move against hers, could feel his warmth even through their clothes, could smell the scent of his shampoo… It was mesmerizing in a way. At the same time, it was bittersweet to be so close but still have a wall between them. She could do many things with John, but she could never cross a certain boundary, leaving this wall between them.

She inhaled his scent one more time to try and chase away these plaguing thoughts when they needed to be in a social setting just in a few minutes. She didn’t have time for this, she had to reign in her longing that kept growing every day. Until when she could suppress them exactly? She didn’t know.

Unbeknownst to her the boy carrying her on his back had similar thoughts. The poignant desire to be with someone he could never be with. If it was for her, he could do it, though. He would be happy for her no matter what. He kept telling himself that more and more those days. Maybe this way he would eventually believe it.

As they anticipated, the duo arrived at the park within 5 minutes and after a few more minutes of searching, they found the others already preparing the ingredients. The park had tables, benches, and even two giant sinks available for communal use. They were installed recently with many other things to help low-tier families whose apartments usually lacked a garden to enjoy outside activities like sports or grilling. While they weren’t exactly the target demographic as 20-something youngsters most of them were either students living in dorms or rented apartments. Apart from Arlo most of them couldn’t afford the luxury of owning a house yet and with his frequent travels, he opted out of it for now.

It was Remi’s idea to have a picnic or something similar instead of just going to a bar or a restaurant. She thought working together to achieve something would be the best way for the group to bond. Isen’s undying need for good food perfected her idea. Since he had gotten to taste John’s cooking once while pestering him for an interview, he was dying to have another opportunity to devour one of his creations. After him going on tangents about the savory taste, the divine aroma, and the perfect presentation everyone was inclined to try it out and after Adrion confirmed his words to be nowhere near exaggerations it was decided that John should cook for them. First, he protested, but Seraphina told him to just do it, so here he was. Because their apartment was too small to hold so many people and because he told them that under no uncertain terms, they would all do their part they decided to hold the get-together in the local park.

Evie was the first to notice them.

“Seraphina, John! I’m so glad you two finally arrived.” She waved at them getting the attention of the whole group.

“John! You’re finally here!” Dylan buzzing with energy ran up to them, or rather to John excitedly. “I wanted to show you how much I improved since our last training session!”

He was grinning up at John with sparkling eyes, already getting into position to demonstrate his growth.

John smiled. For the last month or so they couldn’t train together because the younger boy had to concentrate on his exams, after that, they had conflicting schedules. Now that the semester was finally over and he was back from visiting his family, Dylan was ready to show his trainer the result of his hard work. Even alone he kept practicing not to bring shame to John’s name.

“Hello to you too, Dylan.” Seraphina greeted him from John’s back with an amused expression.

Dylan catching onto his rudeness froze and then sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

“Hello, Seraphina. Good to see you, too.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, very believable.”

Another blond walked up to them eyeing the girl hanging onto her loyal stead’s neck. “I see you two are as glued together as ever.”

Seraphina only nuzzled closer to John, rubbing her face to the side of his head. “Don’t be jealous, Arlo.”

Arlo tried to say something when Remi tackled him from the side. “Shhh, Arlo. Don’t start an argument the moment they get here.”

“Hi, Remi.” Seraphina smiled.

“Seraphina! John! So glad to see you two again!” Remi detached herself from Arlo only to launch herself at the unsuspecting duo. The hug was unexpected but not unwelcomed even if it was a little awkward with Seraphina still firmly positioned on John’s back. He let go of one of her legs to give Remi a shoulder pat before he snuck the same hand up to her head to mess up her hair. She shrieked in surprise then pouted like a sulking kid. The two had gotten a lot closer while going around as runaway vigilantes during the revolution. He had promised Blyke, Isen, and Arlo that he would keep her safe while they couldn’t and he had kept to that promise developing an annoying big brother little sister type of relationship with her.

“God, you’re like Arlo. He did the exact same thing after arriving!” She grumbled but her mouth quickly curved into a smirk when she added. “You could be twins at this point, no offense.”

“All the offense was taken,” John said dramatically while Arlo only rolled his eyes.

He readjusted his grip on his best friend who gave no indication of getting down anytime soon and they walked to the rest of the group after Remi took the bags from Seraphina to make her ride more comfortable.

“Hey everyone!” The two newcomers greeted in unison.

“Sup, bro!” Blyke offered a fist bump John immediately reciprocated. “Hey, Seraphina.”

Isen showed Blyke out of the way with twinkling eyes. “John, finally! My stomach is all ready for your culinary miracles!” Then he noticed Seraphina with her expression as well and awkwardly waved. “Uhm, hey Seraphina!”

The girl in question made an unimpressed face. “I can see who is the more popular here.” The idiotic duo awkwardly laughed taking a step back. Seraphina could still be terrifying. She once again used the opportunity to nestle her head closer to John’s quietly whispering into his ear. “Funny how I was your only friend a few years back and now people are throwing themselves at you left and right.”

Her hot breath tingled on his skin sending shivers down his spine. It was hard to concentrate with her being so close. However, he was no stranger to her antics at this point and could keep his composure. He chuckled, slightly tilting his head toward hers.

“Maybe because now I’m not the one glaring daggers at them. All my threatening bad boy aura is gone, how will I deal with all the social interactions?” He fake-whined at the end.

She rolled her eyes. “They say good guys finish last, but you are the evidence of the opposite.”

He chuckled then his demeanor turned serious, almost sad.

“Wish I didn’t mess up so much while being the bad boy.”

Seraphina too mirrored his change in mood.

“Hey, you managed to right all your wrongdoings. Now you can enjoy the good guy life.”

“I wish it was true.”

His last words were so quiet Seraphina almost didn’t hear him, but she did and she wanted to question him about them, however, her chance was quickly gone when the third blond of the group stepped closer and lightly punched John’s left arm.

“Hey man, you made us wait!”

John’s grim mood disappeared in an instant being replaced by a pleasant smile. “Adrion, I missed you, man!”

“Not as much as I missed you!” Adrion grinned up at him.

He again let go of her leg to pull his friend into a side hug. “Pfff, you were only gone for two weeks to visit New Bostin and we video-chatted almost every day.”

“Don’t judge! You’re my male best friend and it was boring running alone!”

Seraphina took this as her cue to finally climb down from John’s back. She already missed his warmth.

“Nice, now I’m not just being ignored in favor of John, but my best friend position is threatened as well.” She crossed her arms over her chest shooting daggers at Adrion.

“Don’t worry, Seraphina. I’ll always like you more than John.” An arm landed on her shoulders. She turned to look at her unexpected supporter only to come face to face with a grinning Claire. After working so closely with each other during the rebellion and revolution Claire and Adrion moved to the Capital to help them with the aftermath. They formed a close group with Evie and Dylan as low tiers, helping the negotiation process between tiers after the world as they knew fell apart. Now they attended university while still helping out in the rebuilding of the system. That was why he and John could hang out so much now.

“Hi, Claire.” Seraphina smiled satisfied with the backup.

“Hi, Claire. I see you still like taking jabs at me.” John deadpanned at her.

“No shots were shot, I only stated facts. Not my fault that Seraphina is just more likable than you.” She grinned, pulling the other girl even closer to herself, before looking at her best friend slash boyfriend. “I’m also not too impressed that Adrion is trying to replace me.”

The boy raised his arms in surrender. “I said male best friend.”

“Right, right…”

“I will also like Seraphina more than John any day any time until my last breath.” Another arm landed on Seraphina’s shoulders, now from the other side. Elaine flashed a smile at her before turning back to face the boys.

“Hey, don’t leave me out!” Dylan ran to the two other boys tackling them in a hug. “I need a best friend, too!”

“Hey!” Evie arrived at that moment stopping beside Claire.

Dylan smiled at her sheepishly. “I meant male best friend.”

“Well, Isen and Blyke are deep in their non-homoerotic bromance-“

“No, we are not!” Blyke blushed in embarrassment making the others laugh.

“How could you?!” Isen feigned being hurt making the others laugh even harder.

“-and Seraphina is not about to put up with even more competition-“

“Damn right.” The girl agreed.

“-which only leaves Arlo.”

“I already have Holden, thank you very much!” Arlo shouted from the table he was sitting at.

“Sorry, Dylan.” John shrugged then he got an idea. “Hm, maybe if you are lucky enough and we can get his phone number we can ask Zeke if he has a spot for you.”

The group fell silent before they all burst out laughing again.

“Come here, man!” Adrion pulled the other blond closer while still in tears from laughing so much. “I’ll be your best friend. John is too preoccupied with simping for Seraphina most of the time anyway.”

This made Seraphina and John blush and the latter shouted at the group, but it only made them laugh harder if it was even possible at this point.

“I’m totally not simping for Sera! Stop with the bullshit!”

After regaining some of his ability to talk Adrion patted his grumbling friend on the back. “Of course.”

“I’m not joking!”

“If you say so.”

The group dispersed, breaking up into smaller groups of 2 or 3 people, everyone taking up a task at hand. They chatted among themselves about various things. School, work, training, friends, and family. Whatever came up, until someone brought up the old times during the rebellion turning revolution.

“When I could finally team up with Blyke and Isen again we were unstoppable!” Remi remembered back cheerfully. “While fighting alongside John I learned so much about my ability and could face off with way stronger opponents because he had my back.”

“Of course, Pinky. I had to pay back for all the shit I have done anyway.”

“Wish it was as easy to convince high tiers to help our cause as it was to fight EMBER.” Remi sighed. “I mean, it’s nice that we are not being hunted and have to hide from the authorities, but god, are these high ranks resistant to change.”

The trio was diligently going to events to meet up with high tiers and change their mind about how the world should work. Now that Unordinary wasn’t banned anymore they could also distribute copies and talk about the meaning behind the book’s ideals with susceptible audiences. Isen also kept interviewing people from different tiers and publishing articles on the topic. They however still received a great deal of pushback from most high tiers, especially the older generation.

“The system benefitted them, of course, it’s hard to convince them to give up all that for people they saw as vermin up until now,” Arlo stated the obvious fact for everyone.

“How is your work going in the neighboring countries, Arlo? Any change since we last spoke?” Remi asked with a flicker of hope that was put out by him when he shook his head.

“No, nothing really. Here it’s a little different because many high tiers read Unordinary or had loved ones who died in the vigilante movement making them personally invested. We don’t have that with other countries yet and with intact governments, the resistance is also notably higher.”

“In a weird way, the whole rebellion never would have started if not for John,” Isen said while stroking his chin with the wise expression of an old man.

This got everyone’s attention.

“What do you mean, Isen?” Blyke asked.

“Just think about it. His mother went with the authorities to protect him and his father. The amp drug as well as the conversion technology were developed thanks to that. Then because of his New Bostin rampage and the readjustment classes his father wrote Unordinary to help him cope with what he had done kickstarting the whole vigilante movement. After that he transferred to Wellston; he took Seraphina to that ability-gauging booth leading to her losing her ability and all the shit that followed, consequently becoming Joker who made us all change our views on the system and see its flaws.”

A heavy silence fell on the group. Nobody knew what to say.

“Well…” John himself finally decided to break the silence. “Seems like if I was never born none of that shit would have gone down.”

Isen realized his mistake and tried to salvage the situation, but Isen being Isen he only made it worse. “Maybe those were all horrible events with many people dying but without those, we wouldn’t be here today to make the world a better place!” He laughed awkwardly but no one joined in.

Remi and Arlo were thinking about Rei, feeling the wound open up making the grief feel all too fresh again even after many years. Most others thought about all the hardships they went through during those events. John just wanted to disappear from the world and Seraphina… well, Seraphina was seconds away from strangling Isen to death.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Her words were quiet yet very much audible in the silence. She tried to hug John, but he pulled away from her touch.

“It kind of was.” He turned away from her, from them, trying to hide his shame.

“We went over this many times.” She didn’t let him hide away and put her hand on his cheek to make him face her once again.

“And we never agreed.” He made a futile attempt to get away from her, but her hand didn’t budge.

“Your mom made her choices and Unordinary wasn’t intended to start a movement.”

“My mom made those choices to protect me, and everyone suffered the consequences. If I wasn’t born maybe, they could have escaped from the authorities with Dad. Also, my father would have never written Unordinary if not for my shitty behavior. All those vigilantes died because a stupid kid couldn’t deal with his anger issues.” The guilt was burning in his eyes.

“You can’t know that and it was the system that broke you. The bullying when you were a cripple and the ‘readjustment classes’ when you needed actual help.”

“What about the other things, huh?” He started to get frustrated. Not with her, but with his own guilty emotions. “I was the one who dragged you to that booth. You lost your ability and got bullied because of me!”

Her own emotions were threatening to spill out, but she knew she had to stay calm and composed. Getting heated would only escalate into an argument instead of the reassurance she wished to provide. “I agreed to go to that booth and neither the authorities nor Spectre would have gotten to me if not for me leaving the book out in the open, Elaine snitching on me and Arlo getting me suspended. And all the bullying I went through was because of the broken system, not you.”

The two individuals mentioned flinched remembering their actions.

“What about all the other things? Hospitalizing people left and right!” He averted his gaze from her. “Almost hurting you…”

“John.” Seraphina gently stroked his face with her fingertips wishing him to look at her. “John, look at me.” He really didn’t want to, but he knew from experience she wouldn’t let go until he did, so he finally met her gaze with his own. “You were suffering from the system and all the trauma it put you through and you never hurt me.”

Before he could say how he betrayed her, Remi decided it was the perfect time to jump into the conversation. “It’s not like we are not to share the blame.” She tried to smile but it came out as a grimace. “Arlo was in love with the hierarchy, and nobody else cared to make changes either, not even me. I didn’t know there was even a problem, but that just shows how ignorant I was.”

“If not Unordinary another book or whatever would have started the vigilante movement sooner or later because the problems were still there. People just needed something to bring light to it. And then my aunt would have murdered them for disrupting the hierarchy. It’s stupid to think that without Unordinary those things would have never happened.” Arlo said while looking away from everyone. He too felt all the shame and guilt of his past actions.

“Isen and I made our fair share of mistakes without going through constant bullying and mental torture. We can’t really fault you for your actions in Wellston.” Blyke joined in as well.

“Yeah, Adrion, Dylan, and Evie are the only innocent people here. Even I have my own share of the blame to take after thinking it was such a good idea to ambush you with a bunch of people who hated you, giving you trust issues for life.” Claire pointed out feeling the shame of her stupid idea once again.

“I for one can thank you for the Joker incident. If not for that our situation as low tiers would have never gotten better in Wellston. The Safe House was solely founded because you pointed out the flaws in the hierarchy.” Dylan supplied with a smile. “We got bullied a lot less afterwards and now that we’re reforming the system all the low-tiers hopefully can finally catch a break. Without you, the world would be a worse place for sure!”

“I agree with Dylan wholeheartedly!” Evie added cheerfully as always.

“Everything is behind us now, bud.” Adrion patted John’s back reassuringly.

He still wasn’t convinced but chose not to engage in the discussion any further when nobody seemed to share his views, at least not openly. Seraphina, feeling his resistance slipping finally managed to pull him into a tight hug.

He didn’t think he deserved it but was too weak against his soulmate to pull away again. Thus, he let himself be enveloped in the seemingly undeserved warmth.

Remi, happy that they were able to prevent the Isen-induced catastrophic ending of their grill party before it could have even started, felt like this was her chance to change the topic, and certainly sail away from these dangerous waters.

“So guys, how is living together? You have been sharing a flat for 7 months now.”

While they all kept in touch as much as they could with the trio constantly traveling within the country and Arlo internationally to get more high tiers to join the reconstruction efforts on top of attending university, there was little time left to discuss casual topics. Elaine was in med school, so she had no time for socializing and shit like that with ongoing semesters either.

John and Seraphina looked at each other after reluctantly breaking the hug then back at the others.

“Not much changed honestly. It’s really good to have Sera around all the time even when she is just sitting next to me studying, but she was practically spending most of her time at mine when not traveling with you guys even before that.” John answered nonchalantly.

“Seraphina?” Remi asked her now after getting nothing worthwhile out of the boy.

“I’m living the dream, Remi!” Seraphina’s smile stretched into a grin. “He prepares me three meals a day, even packs them if I can’t eat them at home. Movie marathons, game nights and he can’t get out of going shopping with me with bullshit excuses so easily.”

“You are saying that like we didn’t have movie marathons and game nights before all the time, and you didn’t drag me to the mall on a daily basis.” He rolled his eyes.

Seraphina just shrugged. “Yeah, but now I can actually sleep comfortably in my own bed and change into my own clothes the next day.”

“You’re still constantly stealing my hoodies.”

“That’s my privilege.” She grinned at him.

“That really sounds quite the dream life. When Blyke and I first moved in together we almost killed each other, constantly arguing over every little annoying thing the other did.” Remi chuckled while stealing a glance at her other half. It wasn’t long after they had to escape the authorities that the two discovered they were in fact soulmates. It had given them a lot of joy and a lot of heartache when the other was in danger. They obviously had pulled through in the end and had come out stronger. Now they were almost at their third anniversary.

“No, John is pretty easy to share a living space with. He is kind of a neat freak, so nothing is ever messy, and we already had a lot of practice with living together, but I didn’t even share the best part.”

To this, Remi gave her undivided attention to Seraphina.

“Daily foot massages.”

All the girls gasped in unison.

“For real?!” Elaine asked glancing at John if he were to deny it. He made no such attempt.

“Blyke, where is my daily foot massage?” Remi shot a questioning glare at her soulmate.

He gulped. “Dude, you make the rest of us look bad!”

“I told you he is simping for Seraphina, hard.” Adrion chuckled at John’s distress.

“I’m not simping for Sera!” He exclaimed.

“Come on, dude. Daily foot massages?” Isen joined in, fighting to keep down a laugh.

John grumbled, a small blush dancing on his cheeks. “I don’t care what you all think. She loves them so she gets them.”

“Seraphina is living the dream!” Evie yelled happily earning almost everyone’s laughter.

“Welp, John sure changed a lot.” Claire was suddenly kind of envious.

Arlo watched the scene unfold with an amused smile. “Who would have thought John would be every girl’s ideal boyfriend.”

Suddenly Seraphina and John froze. But only Claire and Adrion noticed. They looked at each other sharing the same exact thought. ‘Oh boy, here we go again.”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. We’re just roommates.”

The laughter immediately died down and the previously lively chatter came to a sudden halt.

Blyke was the first to react.

“Wait, what?”

“What do you mean you are just roommates? You guys aren’t dating? Since when?” Remi asked in disbelief.

“Since when? We never dated.” John answered simply, keeping his emotions in check. He wasn’t about to get Sera into an uncomfortable situation by insinuating they were dating when she didn’t want any type of romantic relationship with him.

Unbeknownst to him, his words had the opposite effect, stabbing his soulmate in the heart like daggers.

“You can’t be serious.” Arlo couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I’m serious. We are not together.” This time John’s voice had a dangerous edge to it.

“You brought her here carrying her on your back!” Blyke almost shouted.

“Her legs were tired.”

“You prepare three meals for her every day!” Isen exclaimed.

“I cook for myself anyway so it’s not much hassle to make doubles.” It wasn’t a complete lie but wasn’t the complete truth either. He always made food she was in the mood for.

“You are giving her daily foot massages!” Elaine cried out.

“That’s what best friends do.”

“I’m definitely not giving Holden foot massages.” Arlo pointed out.

“That says more about your friendship than ours. Sera deserves it.”

“Then how come you live together?” Remi asked, still not understanding any of this.

“My lease was up, and I had the money to move into a nice neighborhood. There weren’t any flats available with a single bedroom so renting one with another person was my best option. Sera wanted to move out of the dorms and she spent most of her time at my place anyway, so it was the perfect opportunity. The flat is close to the city center and her university is just a short commute away.” Again, it wasn’t exactly a lie but it wasn’t the truth either. His lease had been up for sure, but he could easily find a new one-bedroom apartment. However, he had known that Sera was going to come over often anyway and he had the money for a bigger flat so having her move in was the easiest solution. Not to mention, he desperately wanted to be around her as much as he could, soaking in every moment they had together. Who knows when she would find someone who would sweep her off her feet and take her away from him for good? He needed to appreciate every moment he could.

Remi was flabbergasted. What was happening here? It was on the tip of her tongue, almost out of her mouth to ask them about being soulmates, but before the question could materialize itself into the world Seraphina finally spoke up.

“Can you drop it? It’s getting too much.” Her voice was stern, not tolerating any further comment or question. She was desperately trying to hide the hurt that seemed to consume her entire being once again, clenching her insides into a knot. Why was he so opposed to them being together? What made the idea so repulsive to him? She wanted to know and try to change it, but she never got answers. She didn’t know how to ask the questions to get them.

Everyone silently nodded. Evie and Dylan showed very sympathetic expressions towards the duo while the rest of the Wellston gang was mainly confused. Like really really heavens above earth confused. What caught Arlo’s attention was however the guilty looks the two former new Bostin students shot at each other. He knew that something was up, and he wanted to find out.

Before he could do anything Remi next to him had already taken action. While Seraphina and John were preoccupied with not looking at each other or anyone else, she furiously kept typing into her phone, and suddenly two phones in her proximity dinged.

Blyke and Isen not enjoying the awkward silence thus open for a well-timed distraction looked at their devices without hesitation.

‘Blyke, Isen, distraction!’ They read at the same time and their immediate scheming skills from their fighting days kicked in.

“Why did you have to make it awkward?!” Blyke exclaimed pushing Isen with his arms while he stood up.

“What do you mean?! It was Arlo this time!” The other shouted back getting to his feet as well.

“Keep telling yourself that!” Blyke showed him a little more.

“Guys cut it out!” Remi stepped in. The boys questioned her audacity for a moment, but they knew she just wanted to make it more believable. She also sent a glare in Arlo’s way to stop him from interfering. Luckily the blond in question immediately caught on and stepped aside.

“Tell that to this hothead here!” Isen shoved the other boy to the ground balling his fist up for a punch.

The low tiers anxiously watched the exchange that was boiling over fast.

“That’s it!” Blyke readied his energy beam and shot before anyone could stop him.

His aim was a little off after neglecting to practice for so long, but Isen saved the objective by lightly kicking his shooting hand to correct the direction. He was successful in hitting the table behind Isen, more precisely the drinks they have brought for the party. Most of the bottles blew up, raining beverages in the area. The plan worked. A little too well to be honest.

Remi used the moment of the explosion to hide the dinging sound from everyone’s phones, apart from John and Seraphina’s of course.

Remi created a new group chat: I NEED ANSWERS!!!!!

Remi added: Isen, Blyke, Arlo, Elaine, Dylan, Evie, Adrion, Claire

Remi: distraction!!!!

Remi: operation: divide and conquer!!!!

Then she did her best to get back into the act.

“Oh no, the drinks!”

Arlo raised an eyebrow at her less-than-believable performance. Luckily for her Claire as always was quick on her feet and soon Adrion followed suit as well.

“Guys, really?! Can’t you act like adults for a change?” She shouted at the two troublemakers.

“Now we have no drinks left, nice.” Adrion deadpanned.

While this brought Seraphina and John out of their sinking mood somewhat, they still didn’t feel like commenting on the situation. Contrary to them everyone else joined in the chewing out of the two ‘idiots’ either because they saw the group chat text or because they genuinely thought the two fought for real resulting in the literal blowup.

Blyke and Isen were less than impressed with being thrown under the bus but they both fell victim to their instinct of taking orders from Remi and now they couldn’t back out.

“Sorry? We didn’t mean to.” Blyke tried weakly to lessen the ire of the group.

“Well, technically you blew up the drink-“ Isen started to say only to get punched in the arm. Hard.

“Dude, for real?” His partner in crime whisper yelled at him.

“The both of us don’t need to drown with the sinking ship,” Isen whispered back with a shrug.

“Nice…” Blyke grumbled under his breath.

Arlo sighed. He needed to step in before this turned into a real fight. “Congratulations to both of you. Now, we don’t have time to dwell on this any longer. What happened, happened. Girls, could you go and buy more drinks from the store?”

“Why the girls? Why don’t we send the two idiots?” Evie, the sweet innocent summer child who didn’t check her texts and missed the memo asked.

“Because I need to chew out those two a bit and it’s better to have them here to clean up the mess they created.”

“What about the cost of the drinks?” The girl still didn’t let it go.

“I’ll pay and collect the money from them later.” Remi supplied the solution. She didn’t actually plan on making them pay, they acted on her orders after all.

Evie was about to say something else when Dylan who finally read the new group chat texts caught onto the plan and threw an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Now Evie, let them settle this between themselves. Remi and Arlo know these two the best so they also know how to deal with them best.”

Arlo was grateful for Dylan’s intervention. He was starting to get annoyed.

Dylan’s eyes met with the girl’s then he pointedly looked at her phone. She at first was confused but quickly checked it, her eyes widening in realization.

“You’re right. Let’s just go and buy some drinks, girls.” She turned toward the other girls.

Remi looked at Elaine who nodded in understanding and hooked an arm around Seraphina’s. “Let’s go. I think we can use some fresh air.”

Seraphina didn’t really want to go but didn’t really want to stay either after that last heavy conversation. Being in John’s presence right now was a painful reminder of her unrequited feelings.

As the girls dragged and pushed her away, Remi turned back to wave at the boys.

“Good luck with your boys’ talk!” Then she locked eyes with Arlo. “Make it productive!”

She turned back after that and the girl squad headed out of the park leaving the boys in an awkward silence yet again.

Arlo understood the meaning behind the other’s words even without the very telling name of their newly formed group chat. She wanted answers. And to be honest, he wanted those answers, too.

Chapter Text

Under Arlo’s command, the two scapegoats started to clean up the mess they created, picking up the blown-up bottles and wiping the tables and benches in the area. The action was accompanied by disdainful groans of betrayal. Remi did them dirty. They weren’t thrilled about being used like this but kept telling themselves it was for the greater good. What this greater good entailed was different for the two boys, however, meaning their friends’ happiness for Blyke and a juicy story for Isen. Not to mention a happy cook is a better cook. Nobody wanted to taste the bitterness on the menu.

Adrion offered a sympathetic smile for the boys who fell victim to their own plan’s success. Dylan was slightly confused about where things were going, so he was waiting for Arlo to make his move.

He sighed as the designated leader of the mission, readying himself for all the bullshit that was bound to come. Because no way in hell, this situation wasn’t born as the secret love child of mindboggling stupidity and an unhealthy amount of willful ignorance. It surely was leading to something that will make him pull his hair until baldness, stab Isen with a fork, and lose his faith in humanity. He looked at John who busied himself with preparing the vegetables with his back turned to them, his mood still grim as a funeral march. Arlo almost felt sympathy for his misfortune. Almost, because he knew very well the boy in a way certainly brought it upon himself along with his partner in crime and idiocy. An idiocy that would certainly cause him migraine-class headaches for weeks to come. No, they deserved none of his sympathy, Arlo decided.

He internally cussed for one last time, cursing any deity that put him in this position yet again, and braced himself for the inevitable clusterfuck of this mess.

“So John…” His voice was calm, devoid of the frustration he felt, his even tone gaining the attention of all the people around. “What’s this all about?”

~~~

Somewhere on the other side of the park, the girls were about to launch their own investigation. Seraphina was walking ahead of the rest by a few steps in an attempt to conceal her expression, not wanting to get any questions about the matter. Unfortunately for her, her companion had the exact opposite idea. They exchanged looks before Remi nodded, accepting her fate as the spokesperson for now. She couldn’t wait any longer to find out what was going on anyway. Her curiosity and anxiety wouldn’t let her.

“Seraphina.” She called out to the other girl, making her halt her steps indicating she was listening. “Why aren’t you and John together?”

~~~

John didn’t turn around to answer Arlo. If not for the slight flinch of his shoulders, there would have been no indication he even heard the question. Sadly, he was self-aware enough to know that one, he gave himself away just now and two, there was no way he could avoid the interrogation forever. Better to get done with it while the girls were out of earshot.

He still didn’t want to make it easy for them, though.

“What do you mean exactly, Arlo?”

Arlo internally growled and resisted the urge to smack this smartass.

“Oh, don’t play stupid with me now. You know exactly what I mean.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. Even when John couldn’t see him, his tone told everyone he was not in the mood to be bullshitted. He never was really.

Of course, John being John he still didn’t answer, prompting Arlo to growl in frustration for real this time.

“Why aren’t you and Seraphina together? You’re soulmates, right?”

~~~

“He is not my soulmate.” Came the quiet, almost inaudible answer to Remi’s inquiry.

Elaine’s and Remi’s eyes went wide after hearing the answer, looking at each other with clear shock. When they turned to the other two girls, they weren’t wearing matching expressions. Claire silently facepalmed, drowning a groan under her hand. Elaine and Remi looked at her in puzzlement then at each other with wide eyes then back at her with narrowed eyes showing increasing suspicion.

‘What does Claire know??’

However, Evie’s voice brought them out of their thoughts. “Ah, I always forget you two aren’t soulmates. It’s barely believable when you’re always so intimate with each other.”

Claire momentarily glanced up at the statement only to bury her face back into her hands, clawing at her temples. The two others kept gesturing between Seraphina, Evie, and Claire only to fix the last one with a death glare.

They knew she knew something.

The girl in question fixed them with a tired expression, gesturing to Seraphina and then spreading her arms in utter helplessness.

Evie’s sympathetic eyes never left Seraphina, missing the muted convo between the three girls.

“I don’t care.” Her words interrupted the inaudible argument, making them turn their attention back to her as well. She took a deep breath, fighting down heavy emotions to dig her voice out. “I don’t care. I know he is not my soulmate, but I want to be with him.”

~~~

"She knows we are soulmates, but she doesn't want to be with me," John murmured while busying his hands with peeling some cucumbers. His tone was even but filled with bitterness easily betraying his true emotions.

Dylan’s expression was pained, sympathizing with his misery.

The others’ expressions… not so much.

Blyke’s and Isen’s faces scrunched up in deep confusion while Arlo’s mouth uncharacteristically hung open.

“Wait, are we talking about Seraphina? The girl who was clinging to you like you were her lifeline not 30 minutes ago?” Isen asked in bewilderment.

“Seraphina, who looks at you like you are the sun, the moon, and the stars in one package?” Blyke questioned his hearing ability… or his sanity. One of the two.

“That girl who chooses to spend almost every waking moment of hers with you?” Isen added, still perplexed.

“The one who would snap anyone’s neck for badmouthing you?” Blyke gestured at his own neck.

“Seraphina who-“

“Yes, that one.” John fixed the two with a death glare that told them whose neck would be snapped if they uttered another word. After they fell silent, clearly getting the message, he turned back and continued with his prep work on the food.

The three former royals exchanged baffled glances between each other only for their eyes to finally land on the outlier.

Adrion timidly scratched his nape under the scrutinizing gazes of the three. Arlo’s brows furrowed, his pointed stare burning a hole into the nervous boy’s face, but his question was addressed to John.

“Would you please elaborate?”

~~~

“What do you mean? I don’t understand anything! John is not your soulmate? What?” Remi was searching for her words. What was even happening? She was pretty sure she heard it wrong. John wasn’t Seraphina’s soulmate? What? Since when? She shot a panicked look at Elaine who was just as shocked as she was.

“John, who does anything and everything to please you is not your soulmate?” Elaine was absolutely flabbergasted.

“The same John, who looks at you like the embodiment of all that’s good in this world?” Remi gestured to Seraphina wildly.

“The boy who worships the ground you walk on?” Elaine couldn’t wrap her head around this.

“The one that literally sacrificed his life to save you?” Remi asked but regretted her question the moment it left her mouth.

Seraphina flinched, her hands clenched into fists so tightly her knuckles were turning white. It was still a really sensitive topic for her. Before Remi could apologize, she spoke up.

“Yeah, that one.” Her words were dripping with venom, a clear warning for them to stop. The two girls settled for remaining quiet and waiting for their magenta-haired friend to tell them more.

Elaine shared a long hard stare with Remi before they turned their attention to the very suspicious outlier again. Claire painfully grimaced under the pressure while gesturing to the two not to say anything. The two narrowed their eyes yet again getting more and more suspicious.

Seraphina still didn’t elaborate further. She was pretty preoccupied with keeping her painful emotions in check and was very grateful that the others couldn’t see her face.

Evie decided to take pity on the girl. She was the closest female friend Seraphina had nowadays, whom she could share her anguish with, so she was familiar with the problem at hand.

When she looked back at the other three girls, they quickly schooled their expressions into one of complete obliviousness to not alert the other.

“She has known they aren’t soulmates from almost the start of their friendship.” This was almost the same thing they already heard from Seraphina herself thus it didn’t clarify anything, except one thing. For whatever reason Seraphina believed they weren’t soulmates from the start.

‘Interesting.’ Remi thought.

Luckily for them, Evie continued. “Their soulmarks don’t match.”

Okay, there must be a mistake somewhere. Remi and Elaine were pretty sure that all the evidence indicated the complete opposite of what Evie just stated. What the hell was going on?

They once again locked eyes with Claire, who seemed to know the most.

She mouthed to them ‘You will see’ while rubbing her scalp aiming to lessen the growing headache.

“I don’t care if he is my soulmate or not.” Seraphina reiterated her previous words now with much more determination in her voice. “He is the best, most caring person I have ever met. He is kind, strong, lovely, sweet, gentle, and every good thing in this world and I can’t help but be in awe every day I look at him and wonder how a person like him can even exist.”

She looked at them now, unshed tears in her eyes.

Putting aside the soulmate aspect this just made things even more confusing for Elaine and Remi. Yes, sometimes even soulmates didn’t want to be together because of uncompromisable differences, however, John and Seraphina were like the perfect match made in heaven for each other and no one else. Both seemed more than willing to share their life with each other. So why?

“I keep trying to reach out to him. To seduce him somehow. To make him love me as more than a friend.”

Except for Evie, everyone else deadpanned, Claire, formulating their thoughts into words. “Girl, I don’t think you need any effort with that…”

“You say that but look at us!” Now her tears were slowly starting to escape her eyes streaming down on her cheeks as she gritted her teeth together in a futile attempt to keep her overflowing emotions inside. “I have been trying and trying for years and he is not even remotely interested!”

Eyes wide, the others exchanged looks. “Seraphina, that’s obviously not-“Elaine started but was cut off by the girl’s nearly enraged shouting.

“Obviously not the case?! Yeah, right! That’s why he keeps rejecting me at every attempt I make.” Now she was furiously wiping away her tears turning away from the others once again.

The confusion of the two former royals only grew further while Claire grumbled out a ‘Shit, here we go again’ under her breath.

“Seraphina…” Remi tied to make sense of it. “What exactly do these attempts look like?”

Even Evie was curious because she never actually witnessed or heard in detail how Seraphina directly pursued the subject of her desire.

Seraphina was silent for a moment before answering.

“I tell him all the time how we shouldn’t necessarily stick with our soulmates when there can be someone better out there.”

~~~

“She tells me all the time how we shouldn’t necessarily stick with our soulmates when there can be someone better out there.” John sighed, pushing down the surging pain. “She pretty much doesn’t let me forget that she is looking for someone else.”

The boys were silent.

Dylan rubbed his eyes that started to tear up as his heart went out to his heartbroken lovesick friend.

Blyke and Isen’s eyes went wide, their mouths pressed into thin lines.

Arlo was absolutely befuddled, not finding a logical outline in this chaos for a solid minute before realization hit him like a bucket of cold bricks, but he still had trouble believing it, because they couldn’t be this stupid, right? Right??

‘No… No they couldn’t… That couldn’t be the case…’

His eyes flashed to John’s oldest friend again who started to shrink away from his intense gaze.

‘Don’t tell me…!!!’

Blyke and Isen looked left and right, searching for some kind of explanation on the others’ faces but their confusion only grew. As their last resort, they were silently pleading with their eyes to Arlo to help them make sense of it all, but as his gaze was fixated on something or rather someone else, they followed its direction and found Adrion covering his head with his arms in a futile attempt to hide from them.

Slowly mouthing ‘Please don’t look at me, it’s not my fault’ didn’t help the two much but more so the former king of Wellston.

‘These two idiots!!!!!’

~~~

The girls were too stunned to speak.

‘Oh gods…’ Evie had this moment of epiphany.

‘My goodness gracious…’ Elaine slammed her hand on her mouth before she said something.

‘Seraphina, why…?’ Remi cried inside.

‘This bet is not worth all the pain…’ Claire held her hands together in front of her face, slowly breathing in and out. She was currently regretting her life choices.

Seraphina didn’t even notice the sudden silence enveloping the group, too lost in her own thoughts and emotions. Or if she did, she thought it was a stillness of sympathy.

Remi still had a hard time believing it. This couldn’t be true. Someone as smart as Seraphina couldn’t possibly be this… this… dumb.

“Seraphina…” She tentatively found her voice. “Do you understand that by the off chance you two are in fact soulmates, you’re effectively telling him you want… well…not him?”

Seraphina looked puzzled at her question at first but provided her simple answer right after. “But we aren’t soulmates, so it should tell him I’m interested. He can read between the lines pretty well.”

~~~

“I can read between the lines. She doesn’t have to tell me more directly that while she is enjoying our time together, for her future she is looking for someone else.” John sighed, chopping down some carrots more forcefully than necessary. “I get it, I messed up and now she can’t trust me to take care of her.” He suddenly stopped to run a slightly shaky hand through his midnight locks. “I just wish I could turn back time and stop myself from fucking up so much my own soulmate can’t stand the thought of a future with me.”

Arlo was seconds away from screaming.

He knew he couldn’t give himself away to this brain-melting mental attack on his sanity. Looking at the others, Dylan was still immersed in this tragic story to tears, the two crackheads snapping their heads left and right in confusion, Adrion who seemed moments away from a nervous breakdown, and lastly John who was one of the sources of this quickly forming shitstorm, made him realize all the more that if he didn’t step up and be the voice of reason this conversation was doomed.

To Arlo’s surprise, nothing short of a miracle the gears in Dylan’s brain started to turn in their rusty and slow manner but turn nevertheless as an idea occurred to him.

“John, does Seraphina know for certain you two are soulmates?”

~~~

“Are you sure and I mean certainly sure that John can’t be your soulmate?” Evie asked what everybody in the group wanted to know.

Seraphina breathed out in frustration. “Yes, I’m certainly sure.”

“How can you be so sure about it? Did you ever see his soulmark?” Remi had a sinking feeling where this was all going.

Seraphina averted her gaze, sorrow evident in her sky-blue eyes. She didn’t know if this was something she could even share with the others. It was such a private topic, usually completely taboo even amongst family and friends, but they were no ordinary friends. They had been through a lot together. Literal life and death situations. Also, if they knew they would hopefully finally drop the topic and stop tormenting the both of them. In the end, she decided to tell them.

“He… he doesn’t have a soulmark.” She again turned away from them to try to hide her pain.

‘Yeah, that’s what I thought.’ Remi sighed deeply burying her face in one of her hands. Now, if Seraphina told them that their marks didn’t match the girl could believe her… maybe, but him not having a soulmark was just not true. Remi had seen that soulmark, or at least part of it with her own two eyes. Based on what Evie told them Seraphina ‘had known’ they weren’t soulmates with John almost from the start, and with this information, there was a strong implication that it was because of the missing soulmark.

The thing was however that John obviously had a soulmark well into their friendship with Seraphina during his reign as Joker. The logical conclusion was that John did what John did best and lied about it and for some reason Seraphina took this to face value.

Elaine sneaked a glance at Remi in uncertainty who shook her head and pointed at her chest, or more like above her heart. Elaine’s eyes widened with understanding then she pointed at Seraphina then back at her own chest drawing a random number with her index finger.

Remi nodded in understanding.

‘So they both have their soulmarks above their hearts. Makes sense for soulmates.’

Then she groaned.

‘Based on this they haven’t seen each other naked yet. What about my ship guys?’

While Remi had a pretty good idea of what happened she asked just to make sure.

“Did John tell you he doesn’t have one?”

“Yeah.” Came the simple answer.

“Did you ever consider that he may have lied about this?” Elaine joined the conversation.

Seraphina shook her head, still avoiding looking back at them. “Why would he even lie about something like this?”

~~~

“I mean, I once told her that I don’t have a soulmark, because it could have revealed all my other secrets, but after everything I fully expect her to know the truth.”

The boys’ mouths fell agape, eyes wide, breaths lost.

‘Oh, my fucking gods’ was the collective thought among them.

Arlo facepalmed then rubbed his temple in exasperation.

“John, did you ever tell her the truth after?” Blyke voiced everybody’s question.

“I mean, I didn’t need to.”

“What do you mean?”

“First of all, Arlo told Sera I’m Joker and after him going on and on about how I should act my rank and protect my soulmate myself he surely told her.” John unwillingly remembered their first big fight regarding his lies. It was well in the past but still caused him a great deal of pain. If only he was more approachable and told her the truth, there and then… “Knowing that she is my soulmate gave her the push to talk to me after all.”

~~~

“And besides…” Seraphina continued. “Arlo would have told me when he revealed John is Joker. Telling me we’re soulmates would have given me the leverage over John, don’t you think?”

The girls couldn’t exactly argue with that which made things even worse in a way.

Remi wanted to faceplant into the concrete.

‘Arlo…’

~~~

All the boys except John looked straight at Arlo whose eyes were the size of saucers, his mouth open with disbelief.

The others got the memo, Arlo in fact did not tell Seraphina shit.

But John wasn’t done yet.

“Even if Arlo wouldn’t have said anything Sera also went to ask Isen to look into me, and I have no doubt he knew we’re soulmates and shared everything with her.”

~~~

“And then there is also Isen, who surely would have said something about me and John being soulmates when he handed me all the information about him. He even got me Claire’s contact info, so why wouldn’t he tell me something so important?” Seraphina continued emphasizing her words with wild hand gestures uncharacteristic of her.

‘My gods Isen, you too?!’ Elaine screamed in her head.

~~~

All eyes fell on Isen now who was flailing around with his arms, forming an ‘x’ in front of him and whisper-cried ‘Please don’t bring me into this mess!’

‘So this is what happened…’ Adrion thought to himself as he finally got some answers after years of suffering.

Blyke and Arlo were grilling Isen with their burning stares, as he was shrinking under the accusatory glares, but John wasn’t done yet.

“Also, Sera went to Claire to get the full story of my past. Claire was my closest friend at the time and knew my soulmark pretty well. There is no doubt she noticed the similarity between the mark and Sera’s eye color and put two and two together.”

~~~

“I went to Claire for more information about John as well, and knowing how they were childhood friends she for sure would have known about his soulmark and mentioned something to me by now, right Claire?”

Seraphina took her silence as a yes and turned away from the group in an attempt to continue their walk to the store and get out of this conversation. Grinding salt into her open wounds wasn’t her favorite activity after all.

This made her miss the death stares immediately directed toward the girl who grimaced.

‘I’ll explain later.’ She mouthed to the others to try and dissuade them from a public execution.

‘You better!’ Remi mouthed back while sparks started to form around her.

~~~

“When she came to me to talk, she told me she knows everything. She really emphasized this, so I have no doubt she knows.” John concluded.

With his back turned, he didn’t see as Blyke was silently chocking and shaking Isen like a ragdoll while Arlo and Dylan glared daggers at Adrion who obviously knew about all this bullshit going on. Then as John started to shift to look at them everyone snapped back to their original positions as if nothing ever happened.

‘It’s best to act along for now, we still don’t know how deep this Mariana trench of mess reaches.’ They concluded and waited for John to continue.

“By that point, it was too late to salvage things. I messed up everything forever.” He cast his eyes down, his expression dark and sorrow dripping through every word. “I wish things could be different, but this is how they are. I deserve every bit of it though, so I shouldn’t complain. She should find somebody who makes her happy and feel safe.”

The boys exchanged looks. It was apparent that John still didn’t fully heal from all the guilt he felt over his actions, but the situation was downright comical. Almost hilarious in a sad way with a huge dose of existential crisis caused by the ongoing stupidity they just learned about.

“Did either of you ever bring it up after you two made up?” Dylan asked.

~~~

“I never brought it up after we made up because it was such a terrible topic for someone without a soulmark. He was also the one who initiated most of the discussions about his past, the lies he told me, and the actions he took, and he never even broached this subject. Don’t you think that he would have told me at some point?”

The girls collectively sighed.

~~~

“Eventually yes. I was avoiding the topic as much as I could because I had no idea how to deal with it. I wanted to or rather knew I had to bring it up at some point, but I chose to wait until we cleared up everything else between us. It’s one thing to apologize and talk about your past mistakes and lies, and another to bring up how you are soulmates thus ‘destined to be together’ according to society. I didn’t know how to deal with all the emotions and the implications.” John rubbed the side of his head while resisting to look anyone in the eye and see their pity. He didn’t need it. He didn’t deserve it. “Turns out it was the right decision because when she was ready to talk about it, the first thing she told me was that she wanted to be with someone else or more like didn’t want to be with me. She reiterated this to me many times since.”

Arlo needed to lie down. Sadly, he had to keep up like he wasn’t just smashed by the chugging train of idiocy.

Isen pinched the bridge of his nose while Blyke aggressively rubbed his scalp. Dylan side-eyed Adrion who at this point slumped to the ground giving up all his remaining sanity. He had been suffering for far too long. He wanted to rest now.

~~~

“And I know he isn’t interested.” Seraphina continued.

The girls didn’t know if they wanted to hear more but they still didn’t stop her as they needed to get through every last bit of this madness to finally get the whole picture and be able to do something about it.

~~~

“But it’s sometimes so weird you know!” John couldn’t help but ramble out of frustration. “We accidentally do something that’s crossing the boundaries-“

‘Accidentally…” Isen was completely unimpressed by his obliviousness.

~~~

“Whenever we’re about to do something after I ‘accidentally’ get us into a situation that’s on the verge of crossing a boundary-“

‘At least she is proactive I guess?’ Remi tried to find a silver lining.

~~~

“-and she kind of seems to be into it-“

‘Kind of?’ Blyke raised an eyebrow.

~~~

“-and I’m obviously into it-“

‘No doubt about that one.’ Elaine commented in her mind.

~~~

“-but I know we shouldn’t do anything because she’d regret it and I don’t want things to be awkward between us.”

‘If not your brain at least your self-restrain is commendable.’ Adrion didn’t know if he should be proud or ashamed of his friend. Probably both.

~~~

“-he suddenly backtracks and is all apologetic.” Seraphina hugged her sides. “I try flirting with him or being a little bit closer to him than normal-“

‘Girl are you blind?! You two act like fucking married couple goals, what’s above normal to you?!’ Claire hollered inside.

~~~

“Sometimes it’s like she’s flirting with me-“

‘Note to self, never get dating advice from John.’ Dylan was concerned about John’s social skills now.

~~~

“-and he’s all happy and into it then freezes up like he did something wrong.”

‘I wonder why.’ Elaine rolled her eyes.

~~~

“-and I forget the unspoken rule between us, so I sink into this comfortable happiness until I realize this is just her being comfortable with me.”

‘Yeah, and Remi’s just extra comfortable with me… I can’t with this dude.’ Blyke could take no more and had to sit down.

~~~

“Then I try to tell him it’s okay and we can be closer despite not being soulmates,” Seraphina added. “I mean, I definitely want to be closer. I wouldn’t want anything more, but I can’t just rush him when he seems so uncomfortable.”

‘Is this for real…’ Evie didn’t want to believe this.

~~~

“I really, really want it to be real, but it’s just not.” John finished chopping the last vegetables and turned toward the other boys.

“Are you certain about that?” Arlo tried one last time, but he knew his gentle guidance in the direction of the correct answer was a soft summer breeze flying into a raging hurricane.

“Yes, absolutely certain. After I realize what’s going on and stop, there is this moment of silence between us before she tells me every single time without missing a beat how we shouldn’t necessarily stick to our soulmates. It’s a slap in the face every damn time.”

~~~

Remi was absolutely done at this point, massaging one side of her face with her palm. “And you do this by telling him how you shouldn’t stick with your soulmates if there is a better option?”

“Of course, what else would I tell him?”

“I don’t know, maybe that you are in fact interested in him?!” Claire finally yelled when she couldn’t deal with the stupidity anymore.

“You don’t see his face those times,” Seraphina said quietly. “His whole demeanor changes and he seems to close off entirely. I can’t be more forward with him when he steps back even at the slightest mention of being more than friends.”

‘What is even the meaning of life anymore?’ Evie at one point detached herself from this conversation in an effort to preserve her soundness of mind, but her idealized image of her friend suffered a huge blow. Seraphina was smart. How can someone’s brightness just glitch in and out of existence like this?

~~~

“I never know what to tell her, so I try to cut our time together short and act as if nothing happened when I properly collected myself.”

‘Deities of all the skies who bestowed the abilities upon us, please give me the strength to deal with this.’ Arlo lifted his head towards the sky, silently murmuring a prayer in his head.

Isen and Blyke sat down as well, feeling numb from helplessness.

Despite their raging minds, there was not much shown outside as the group stayed silent with only one thought they no doubt collectively shared.

‘Now what?’

~~~

The girls weren’t in a better position either. After learning about what was going on they just felt even more lost. Seraphina seemed to be completely in denial about the possibility that John is in fact her soulmate. Her outright refusal was a bit concerning.

In the end, they didn’t press the topic further and continued walking to the shop. First, they needed to regroup with the boys and share all the information they gathered to come up with a plan. They also had to interrogate Claire who obviously knew more than she let on.

Remi changed her name to PinkPikachu.

PinkPikachu changed Arlo’s name to Brolo.

PinkPikachu changed Blyke’s name to UmartGoku.

PinkPikachu changed Isen’s name to DemocRAT.

PinkPikachu changed Elaine’s name to MADicine.

PinkPikachu changed Dylan’s name to Bold&Blond.

PinkPikachu changed Evie’s name to TerrorPrincess.

PinkPikachu changed Claire’s name to CrystalBall.

PinkPikachu changed Adrion’s name to TheFriend^TM.

Brolo: Were the name changes really necessary?

Brolo changed the group chat’s name from I WANT ANSWERS!!! to YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING

PinkPikachu: ur 1 2 talk

PinkPikachu: a/w regroup in about 15 mins

PinkPikachu: weve sum interesting information 2 shr

UmartGoku: same here

UmartGoku: I cant believe dis shit

MADicine: claire u have sum explaining 2 do

DemocRAT: Adrion as well

DemocRAT: theyre shady af

CrystalBall: calm down

CrystalBall: it's not our fault doz 2 r idiots

Brolo: Seems like you fed into the confusion instead of clearing it up.

CrystalBall: says the 1 whomst r also responsible fo' dis mess

Brolo: I did nothing.

CrystalBall: exactly

PinkPikachu: h8 2 say dis but isen isnt off the hook either

DemocRAT: why me

Brolo: You know why.

UmartGoku: arlo cant u just drop the grammar

UmartGoku: dis is serious

Brolo: …

TheFriend^TM: pls dont judge until u hear the full stroy

Brolo: We will need to talk without them being there.

Brolo: Preferably sooner than later because my sanity can’t deal with this much longer.

PinkPikachu: let's do it after we get back

PinkPikachu: Isen, can u distract dem?

DemocRAT: …

DemocRAT: will i suffer the consequences agin?

PinkPikachu: I ALREADY SAID SORRY ID NU OTHER CHOICE!!

UmartGoku: lol

Brolo: You’ll probably be part of the plan as well, Blyke.

UmartGoku: shit

DemocRAT: lol

DemocRAT: I can make up something btw

~~~

After the conversation in the group chat both of the two separate groups tried to change the subject and divert the discussion in another direction, thus lowering the targets’ guard. Isen’s plan relied on the two being comfortable enough around each other to be dragged away and left alone for some time without a hitch.

By the time the girls got back with the drinks the mood was back to cheerful and everyone sounded high-spirited. The unsuspecting non-couple was lulled into a safe sense of security while everyone else was itching to get rid of them and finally get to talk. Fortunately, Isen was skillful enough to make up an excuse and pull them away from the rest with some real-sounding reason about an interview. They were reluctant to leave, but the others assured them they had everything under control so 20 minutes away from the gang wouldn’t hurt them.

“But why can’t we do this God-tier experience interview with the rest of the group?” John arched an eyebrow.

“Because I don’t want their presence to influence your answers,” Isen replied, ready and prepared.

“Then why do both Sera and I have to come at the same time?” He still wasn’t convinced.

“You two practically spend almost every waking moment together, asking you two separately would be a waste of time. Also, John no offense but your lack of self-awareness and terrible memory doesn’t give me the best outlook, so having Seraphina around is crucial to get the whole unbiased picture.” Isen countered seamlessly.

“What about Remi and Arlo? Don’t you want to interview them as well?” Seraphina folded her arms, a little skeptical about the whole thing.

“Already done with them. I talk to them more.” Again, she wasn’t completely satisfied with the answer but couldn’t really find a fault with his reasoning, forcing her to lower her suspicion.

Isen, pleased with himself led the two away from the rest to a somewhat secluded area deeper into the park.

“Ah, I just remembered I left my favorite pen with Blyke!” He shouted then ran off back to the group leaving a confused duo behind. Luckily for him and the others once the two were left alone it took them some time to notice anything outside of their little bubble. The place Isen left them was a less known but perfect spot for a secret rendezvous, hidden away from most prying eyes with the beautiful scenery of the park’s lake under huge oak trees. The reporter had only known about this location because he was searching up places for an article about romantic getaway spots inside the city and kept this one to himself in the hopes that he’d be able to bring someone special here in the near future.

If only his love life was as much on the rise as his career.

At least he still wasn’t like John or Seraphina.

Using his ability he reached their base camp, aka the grill party in a minute or so meaning even with the time it took him to drag the non-couple off he was only away for less than 10 minutes.

He didn’t expect the find the place in utter chaos and mayhem.

“What are you guys-“

“BITCH, YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS FOR YEARS?!!” Elaine screamed while pinning Claire to the ground, her thighs on either side of the other girl’s hip, her right hand balled into a fist raised ready to strike.

“Elaine, calm down!!” Remi tried to halt her from hurting the other.

“No Remi, let it play out.” Evie put a hand on Remi's shoulder while fixing the girl lying on the ground with a cold glare uncharacteristic of her. “She deserves it.”

“No, Pinky is right. As much as it would be well-deserved, we can’t beat up each other now.” Arlo said while keeping a visibly angry Blyke trapped in a barrier.

“Let me out, Arlo! I just want to talk with Adrion!”

The boy mentioned was cowering behind one of the sinks.

Dylan just sat in the corner not knowing what to do.

“No, you stay right there. We don’t have much time to exchange information and come up with a plan before those two come back.” Arlo shot a glare to Blyke who growled under his breath.

Using the momentary distraction of Arlo, Elaine punched Claire right in the face.

“Elaine, stop! You’re a healer!” Remi cried out trying to pull her off the other girl.

“Yeah, and I’ll heal her injuries after I land a few more hits!” Elaine smirked down menacingly at Claire.

“Do it if it would make you satisfied.” Claire spat back which earned her another punch in the face.

“Elaine!” Remi used her strength this time to peel off her very angry friend from her now bleeding victim.

“Okay, this has to stop now!” Arlo shouted putting everyone in separate barriers for a timeout.

Silence fell on the group leaving only the heavy breathing of some group members audible. When the panting subsided and Isen felt it was safe to ask he came forward with his question.

“What the hell happened?”

Elaine let out a low growl pointing at the girl who was just getting up from the ground now with a bleeding cheek and nose. “This girl and her little minion-“She gestured to Adrion now. “-knew for years that Seraphina and John were effectively dancing around each other, thinking the other doesn’t want to be with them.”

As much as this ongoing disaster supplied his immortal need for drama now Isen wanted to punch the duo too. They were supposed to be close friends, right?

“Why?” Arlo’s question was simple yet powerful backed by a tone that told everyone he was on the verge of losing his patience.

Adrion climbed out from behind the sink guilt evident on his face.

“It all started around two years ago when we first came to study here. We were talking to John and Seraphina a lot around that time, but just like you we were under the impression that the two have long started dating. Claire told me John had finally found his extremely powerful soulmate around the time he spent his suspension in New Bostin and after that, we were working together during the revolution, so I knew Seraphina pretty well.”

“So where is the part when you find out?” Blyke asked irritated by the stalling.

“As Adrion already said we initially thought they were a thing thus we never questioned them about it. Then we moved to the capital. We got here two days earlier than planned because of some problem with the administration office and ran into John and Seraphina while we were out to grab a drink. We were planning to hang out when we arrived but because they expected us for later, they already made plans.”

“Get to the point already!” Elaine snarled.

“So, we ran into them, but they weren’t alone. That’s when we met Doctor Darren and Seraphina’s sister, Leilah. We knew about them and worked with them but have never met them in person before that. When they saw us, John insisted on us joining them, but we told them we didn’t want to impose on their double date.” Adrion grimaced at the memory.

“Needless to say, our two friends got absolutely flustered and told us that wasn’t the case which made us confused. We wanted to ask them about their reaction when Leilah and Darren gave us death glares.” Claire explained while trying to wipe the blood from her nose. Elaine groaned but decided to heal her as she promised.

“First, we didn’t get what was going on but then John and Seraphina went to retrieve their orders, and while they were away the terrifying couple told us to keep our mouths shut.” Adrion still shuddered just thinking about the doc.

“Turns out the two idiots still couldn’t figure out they were soulmates and Darren and Leilah made a bet when they will eventually find out. They threatened us to keep quiet or face their wrath.” Claire finished with her now healed face.

“Wait, are you telling me that Leilah, Seraphina’s sister willingly put her through this just for her own entertainment?” Remi asked in bewilderment.

“And also Doc? I thought he was actually fond of John.” Blyke had a hard time believing it.

Adrion shook his head in resignation.“Darren stated he suffered because of John so much that this was his payback. In his words, if John wasn’t such a dumbass, he wouldn’t be in this impossible situation anyway in the first place.”

“As for Leilah, not gonna lie, she always seemed kind of a psychopath to me.” Claire shrugged.

“Can’t exactly argue with that.” Arlo sighed and released all of them from their confinements.

“So, you just agreed and kept quiet?” Isen crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“You can say that, but we also entered the bet on their insistence to make us accomplices.” This last part made Claire feel somewhat guilty.

“Some friends you are.” Blyke spat out. “Leaving them to suffer for a stupid bet.”

“John beat the living shit out of us and terrorized our whole school for a long time. Some payback is well overdue” She tried to defend herself.

Blyke got even angrier after he heard her answer. “Now that’s something everyone here has in common, but you don’t see us taking revenge on our friend after years. Also, what about Seraphina? She did absolutely nothing to you.”

“Claire, stop aggravating them!” Adrion stepped to his girlfriend’s side. “It’s not even true! We tried at first to talk sense into them, but they were and still are so deep into this false assumption that the other doesn’t want them that they would deny and dodge our every attempt to bring them to the light.”

“Why did you lie?” Remi shot her a questioning glare.

Claire paused for a moment before answering. “Who knows? Maybe I’m frustrated by my incompetence to get two people together who want to be together and are meant to be together.”

“What have you tried so far?” Dylan finally joined the conversation after the tension eased a little.

Claire rubbed her temples fighting off an incoming headache. “Mainly talking, but they’re perfectly immune to logic and sound arguments when it comes to their love life. It’s like talking to a brick wall.”

“A brick wall the size of the great wall of Chine.” Adrion sighed.

“So simply talking to them is useless” Evie concluded.

“I mean, we gave up after a few months.” Adrion’s shoulders slumped. “Their stupidity can wear you down.”

Everybody sagely nodded at that.

“Now what? Should we leave them to their own devices to figure this out?” Arlo asked no one in particular.

“Are you kidding?! We can’t let them live in this delusion any longer!” Blyke shouted.

Isen stroked his chin deep in thought. “I must agree with Blyke. Just imagine how long this can go on.”

“In a few years when they can’t keep their hands off of each other anymore, we’ll hear how they’re friends with benefits but with no feelings involved only to listen to how they cry themselves to sleep because the other only wants them for their body.” Elaine painted a horrifying mental picture to the others.

“I can already see Seraphina sobbing while rambling about how she wished he loved her for real, but she still can’t give up this opportunity to be close to him” Evie sighed.

“And John being all depressed because he isn’t good enough for her to be with him and it’s killing him, but he can’t help but please her in any way even if it hurts him.” Dylan joined her.

“Wouldn’t they have to see each other naked thus seeing each other’s soulmark for that?” Adrion raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, John would find a way to hide it or lie his way out of it if it meant he can avoid the threat of losing Seraphina.” Claire groaned into her hand.

“Yeah, probably.” Adrion agreed scratching his nape.

“Then they’ll get married because of tax reasons or something and we’ll have to listen to how this is only a marriage of convenience.” Blyke grimaced at the possibility.

“John would say how he’s just a placeholder until she finds someone better.” Adrion could already hear the endless wailing.

“Seraphina would be all bittersweet while trying to romance her fake husband only to be rejected when she unknowingly rejects him.” Claire deadpanned.

“They would probably have kids, because they want kids, and it would be logical to have them with their very platonic marriage partner.” Remi buried her face into her hands.

“They would have a faraway look in their eyes while they tell us about how their children are the best part of their lives because they can see their most loved person in them,” Evie added.

“In the end on their deathbed, they would be regretful of never telling the other how they really felt leaving their entire family in confusion,” Elaine concluded.

“And we would have to suffer through it all if we do nothing.” Isen completed the image of the probable future nobody wanted to experience.

“That’s only if they don’t convince themselves to move on and find other partners only to continue their eternal longing for the other.” Arlo put forward an even worse possibility for the group.

Everyone shuddered. They couldn’t let this happen.

“So, what about this bet of yours?” Isen asked Claire.

“What do you mean?”

“What are the conditions?”

“Hm, well, we can’t tell them straight away that they’re soulmates for starters which we technically didn’t break, but they wouldn’t have believed us anyway. We didn’t even know how this delusion set foot in their minds in the first place and they were absolutely unwilling to talk about it until today when they probably broke under the collective pressure.”

“Anything else?” Arlo’s stare didn’t lose any of its intensity while looking at her.

She wasn’t fazed, however, as she experienced far more intimidating stares from past John and stared right back at him.

“There is some money involved.” At Claire’s words, everyone perked up.

“How much?” Isen asked with no hesitation.

The two former New Bostin students exchanged looks before answering. “Quite a lot to be honest. We don’t have much income, but Leilah and Darren kept feeding into the pool a lot after they also realized how things weren’t moving forward at all to motivate us. They’re not around much and at this point got tired of waiting for the two to get it together on their own. We thought it wouldn’t take long for them after the aftermath of the rebellion and revolution settled, so we betted on from a few weeks to a few months. At this point, it has been years and the only thing left is suffering.” Adrion groaned.

“You two kind of deserve it for even entertaining a bet like this.” Blyke huffed.

“They at least tried to do something.” Remi tried to prevent another fight.

Claire wasn’t done talking yet. “It reached a point where a bunch of random people got involved in this bet for the money or to see them get together, but they all lost interest or couldn’t stand the suffering after having to watch their years-long mating dance around each other with no end on the horizon.”

“So how much money?” Isen didn’t let the question go unanswered.

Claire gave him an unimpressed look before taking out her phone and sharing something in the group chat. It was an Excel file everybody immediately opened only to cry out in surprise.

“What?! How?!” Blyke yelled while gesturing toward the numbers on his screen.

“That’s… that’s a lot…” Remi’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

“Wow…” Evie kept looking back and forth between her device and Claire.

Isen let out a whistle. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

Even Arlo was shocked by the amount. “How did it get so high?”

“We told you, Doc and Leilah keep putting money into it, not like a bet anymore more life a fund for everyone’s ship to sail.” Claire shrugged.

“They both have pretty well-paying jobs and the money accumulated over the years. Many others joined as well, as we already mentioned further raising the sum.” Adrion elaborated further.

“How can one join?” Isen’s eyes sparkled.

“What?! Isen, don’t tell me you want to join this madness!” Blyke was taken aback by his best friend’s action.

“Yeah, Isen. Betting on our friends’ happiness is not right.” Remi agreed with her boyfriend.

“Come on guys! We have to do something about the situation anyway. Can’t we at least cash in for our efforts? Or do you want the money to go to these lesser friends?” Isen pointed at the two former New Bostin duo who immediately took offense.

“What do you mean lesser friends?! We at least knew about the situation and tried to do something about it unlike you who were living in blissful obliviousness while claiming you were such good friends.” Claire glared at the other.

Adrion stepped in before they got into another heated argument. “Joining is easy. At this point, you can pay the weekly amount for joining and bet on when they will get together. But if we’ll actively work to get them together now it might be easier to send out a message to the others and bet on who will succeed in bringing them together instead.”

“Makes sense.” Arlo nodded in agreement.

“Arlo, you too?!” Remi asked in disbelief.

“Isen is right Pinky. If we sign up for suffering at least get some compensation from the universe.”

“Shouldn’t our friends’ happiness be enough?” Remi’s shoulders sagged.

“If we succeed that’s already a given but a whole year’s worth of rent money would be more than a nice bonus.” Evie rubbed her arm a little embarrassed.

Remi exchanged a look with her boyfriend before they both shook their heads in resignation.

“Fine.”

Isen grinned at his best friends, satisfied that they managed to convince them. “So how should we do this?”

“We’ll be all staying in the capital for the next few weeks at least with the start of the summer season so this should give us plenty of opportunities to try our luck in getting them together.” Elaine supplied earning nods from everyone.

“The summer season has many fundraisings, tournaments, festivals, and other events for us to work with.” The prospect of spending so much time with her friends while working to achieve a great goal was very much appealing to Remi.

“Shouldn’t we just talk to them?” Arlo asked which got everyone to stare blankly at him.

“Are you kidding? We have been trying that for years.” Claire gesticulated in frustration.

“You said you gave up after a few months, and you might not have gone about it in the right way.” He glared at her upon hearing her answer.

“Feel free to waste your opportunity on talking then.” She huffed rolling her eyes at him.

Arlo narrowed his eyes at her in response. “Will do.”

“So, everyone will just try a different tactic until one of us achieves our objective?” Dylan asked.

Evie nodded. “We should help each other though. It’s easier to work with them if there are more of us.”

The others all agreed.

“Now we just have to talk to the other stakeholders and arrange a way to make it fair for every participant.” Elaine was already brainstorming ideas for her own plan.

“One more thing guys.” Isen gained everyone’s attention. “What if none of us succeeds by the end of all this?”

Everyone’s eyes widened. They didn’t even think about this possibility when they certainly should have with whom they are dealing with.

Surprisingly it was Dylan who came up with the easiest solution. “If none of us can get them to realize they actually want each other more than anything by the last attempt we should just tell them straightforwardly.”

The group contemplated this for a moment then everybody nodded in agreement.

“We’re all set then!” Isen exclaimed happily joined in by the others’ similarly enthusiastic shouts.

They were excited and high-spirited with a solid plan in motion and everybody thinking up different ideas to bring happiness to their friends. It was time for them to continue with their previous engagement and finally start the grill party.

Isen stopped for a moment feeling like something escaped his mind.

“I feel like I’m forgetting something…”

~~~

Somewhere deeper in the park John was lying his head in his very platonic friend’s lap as she was stroking his midnight locks, both perfectly content with the moment.

“When do you think Isen will get back?” Seraphina asked.

“Dunno, don’t care.” He answered burying his face further into her warmth.

Chapter Text

“Welcome everyone! I hereby commence the first-“

“And hopefully the last…” Arlo grumbled.

“-Together for Jera meeting! All suggestions and comments are welcomed!” Remi declared tapping her palm with a baton; a pink headband with the bright red word ‘Jera’ adorning her head. The group gathered in Arlo’s fancy apartment for a meeting. Most sat on a light blue couch, or the two armchairs of the same color situated around a coffee table while others were standing, all eyeing Remi with various degrees of confusion and amusement.

“Where did you get that baton?” Claire pointed at the object. It was one of those weapons gangsters would use in a street fight.

“From the black market.” Remi held it up with a triumphant smile.

“Why were you even in the black market?!” Arlo asked incredulously.

“…to buy a baton?” She tilted her head clearly oblivious to the problem.

“Why did you need a baton?” Elaine was perplexed.

“…to hit people? Is it so hard to imagine?” Remi demonstrated by swinging the thing around.

“Do you use it with Blyke someti-“Evie started to ask only to be interrupted by Arlo.

“Nope, we’re not having this conversation.”

“Yes, actually,” Remi answered simply.

“Remi don’t tell them that! They will get the wrong idea!” Blyke exclaimed his face almost as red as his hair.

“What do you mean? You’re usually the one asking me to bring the baton.” She dangled the baton around like a… let’s not go there.

“Nope, we’re not having this conversation.” He slapped his hand on her mouth to stop her from uttering any more accidentally incriminating words.

Isen coughed into his hand stifling his laughter. “Anyway…”

“Does it work like a taser?” Adrion was peering at it curiously.

“She is a living taser. Why would she need that?” Isen pointed out.

“Maybe she likes it because it’s like her. Sometimes similarity attracts” Evie shrugged.

“I mean… sometimes I catch her caressing it like it was her baby.” Blyke put his hand on his chin in thought.

“Caressing the baton you say…”

“Isen, stop!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not interested in stealing your favorite toy.” Isen grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Remi slapped his bottom with said item which elicited a shocked yelp from him.

“It stings!”

“Thought you were into that,” Blyke smirked.

“Dude, stop!”

“Wish you could mute people in real life.” Arlo rubbed his temples fighting off his newborn headache joining as the 8^th child of his headache family since all of this started.

“That’s really a missing function in this group.” Claire agreed.

The next moment Blyke snatched the baton from Remi’s hand now running around the room chasing Isen, occasionally slapping his butt while laughing.

“Stop it! Dude! Dudeee!!!” He cried out after a particularly vicious hit.

“Oh, you only like the pain when you are tied up?” Blyke grinned from ear to ear as he dodged an incoming Remi while smacking Isen’s buttocks even harder.

Elaine narrowed her eyes. “And how exactly do you know this, Blyke?”

“Can’t you see their obviously very well-practiced mating ritual?” Arlo sighed in frustration.

“Give me Sebastian back!” Remi cried out.

“Sebast-“Dylan started only to be cut off by Arlo’s hand on his shoulder.

“No, do not ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.” He then turned to the disruptive trio with a much harsher tone. “You three! Stop running around in my apartment!”

Before Arlo could put them into a barrier Remi used her ability to speed herself up tackling the two boys on the ground while electrocuting them both. She hastily grabbed for the baton, tearing it out of the stunned Blyke’s momentarily paralyzed grip.

“Sebastian!” She rubbed her cheek with the object evoking disturbed stares from the group members. “I got you back. Can’t let those irresponsible guys have you.”

“I have to say Blyke, if out of you and the baton she rubs the latter like that you seriously need to up your game.” Adrion with pity in his blue eyes patted the guy’s back who was just regaining his muscle control.

“It’s not like that!” Blyke tried to argue but to no avail as everyone just collectively sighed. “It’s really not-!”

“You should ask John for advice man.” Isen patted his other shoulder as he was getting on his feet himself. “He’s an oblivious idiot, but Seraphina seems ready to tear off his shirt at any given opportunity.”

“That may have something to do with the unbearable sexual tension between them.” Claire shook her head in disdain.

“Or his rock-hard abs.” Dylan supplied.

“Or his dashing looks,” Adrion added.

“Or him having this ‘dangerous bad boy with a heart of gold’ vibe.” Evie joined in.

“Or him being the strongest god-tier we know of with excellent fighting skills.” Blyke nodded sagely.

“Or his phenomenal cooking skills.” Isen pointed out.

“Or those daily foot massages.” Elaine voiced.

“…do you guys all have a crush on him or something?” Claire eyed the others with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean can you blame them?” Arlo said without thinking only realizing a second too late that those words in fact didn’t remain on his mind’s inner planes. He coughed awkwardly with everyone’s amused gazes on him. “Anyway… where were we?”

“Oh right!” Remi realized she should be leading the meeting at hand. “So, we’re here to discuss our next steps with the GTFIT plan.”

“GTFIT? What that stands for?” Arlo questioned.

“Get those fucking idiots together. Was Isen’s idea.”

“…why am I not surprised?”

“By the way what’s with the headband?” Claire gestured at Remi’s forehead.

“Right, right! I brought one for everyone!” Remi signaled to Blyke who brought a box over. She did not hesitate to dive into it and pull out several headbands immediately putting one on her boyfriend who grimaced but said nothing. He had some simping to do to appease his lady. He couldn’t lose to a damn baton.

Arlo and Isen cracked smirks at their friend’s drowned distress until matching headbands were forced on their heads as well.

“Remi, I don’t think-“

“Pinky, I’m absolutely not going to-“

“Silence.” She spoke in a dangerously low voice. “Don’t forget you two and those two-“She motioned at Claire and Adrion. “-are all partially responsible for this ongoing disaster. I don’t want to hear a single complaint from any of you.”

The two gulped and left the headbands in place. Evie and Dylan took theirs with matching grins not caring about the tackiness or cringe-worthy colors while Adrion and Claire got their own with wry faces yet said nothing in fear of retaliation. Elaine held her hand out accepting her honorable place in the camp of collective suffering organized by Remi.

Arlo looked over all these fools in the squad including himself questioning what he did to end up like this before something popped into his mind. “What’s Jera?”

Everyone gave him incredulous looks at his apparent lack of knowledge.

“You can’t be serious.” Claire simply stared at him in disbelief.

“Dude, did you never watch any celebrity news?” Isen whined.

“Was never in any type of fandom?” Dylan couldn’t comprehend.

“Never read any fanfictions?” Elaine’s eyes went wide.

“No, no, and absolutely not. I had no time for any of those useless things.” Arlo was completely unamused by their over-the-top reactions.

“Yeah, he had no time for those ‘useless things’ because of his ongoing lust-filled affair with the hierarchy, his one true love.” Remi rolled her eyes. “Their ship name would have been Hierarlo or Arloarchy but luckily their toxic relationship ended with that nasty yet mutual break up.”

The others had a hard time containing their laughter.

Arlo’s right eye twitched but he still decided not to entertain this argument (or them) any longer. “Based on this, I guess it’s a ship name then? John plus Seraphina equals Jera? Why not Jeraphina?”

“Because John calls Seraphina Sera and it’s super cute. Also, it’s shorter so it cost less to make the headbands.” She grinned up at him.

He just sighed. ‘Someone please just kill me already.’

“Back to the topic. First, we should determine who will do the first heroic attempt to get those two together. Then we can give pointers and come up with a detailed plan based on that person’s idea. Any comments or concerns?” Remi continued. When nobody said anything, she pointed at her boyfriend with the baton. “Blyke, bring the other box.”

He obediently brought out the other cardboard box, but this one had a black cloth wrapped on the top with several holes cut into it.

“…and what’s this Remi?” Isen was a little afraid to ask.

“This is our lot drawing box. It currently has exactly 9 balls in it you can’t see right now. One red and eight white. Whoever gets the red one is the next in line to try his or her luck. We thought going in at the same time would be the fairest solution. It also got okayed by the other stakeholders, right Claire?” She explained as she gave a shake to the box making the balls move and make a sound.

“Yeah, I confirmed with all the people in the betting pool. They were happy that finally, something was happening but asked for detailed profiles about us so they could make their decisions. Something which with the help of Adrion and Isen I provided to them. Now the bets are placed anonymously. I assumed that everyone will bet on themselves so I didn’t bother asking you guys.”

“Isen provided you info on us? We definitely should be anxious about that one.” Blyke shot a glare at his best friend who raised his hands defensively.

“I told them nothing but the truth and only the truth.”

“Your own truth you mean.” He raised an eyebrow.

“The objective truth.” Isen stood his ground.

“Everyone had to bet before we started to even out the odds.” Claire continued ignoring the guys.

“Is it even fair this way?” Evie brought up her concern. “I mean, if someone succeeds then the others won’t even get a chance to prove themselves.”

“We thought about this.” Adrion countered. “Normally the odds favor the first participants in this kind of bet, but knowing John and Seraphina there is a high chance they won’t get anywhere with them and the first attempts will fail. This gives an idea to the others what tactics won’t work for them and revise their plans accordingly. With this the odds pretty much even out.”

The other members of the group mulled over this explanation then all nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, it seems pretty fair,” Dylan concluded.

“As of now, Remi is leading the pool.” Claire showed them her phone screen with the numbers. “People find her empathy and successful relationship to be in her favor as well as her ability to deal with idiots on a daily.”

“Wow.” Remi was pleasantly surprised and to be honest, a little taken aback. She didn’t think strangers would put so much faith in her. It was kind of nice. Isen must have written a lot of good things about her.

“Idiots? Whom do you mean?” Blyke asked, confused.

Isen smacked his best friend’s head from behind. “They mean us, idiot.”

“Who is at the bottom?” Elaine looked through the charts but found the Excel sheet way too chaotic to understand.

“Arlo.” Claire’s statement got everyone to look up. “People think with his zero dating experience, stuck-up personality and… eventful past with both John and Seraphina he is not likely to understand the intricate inner workings of romance. Like at all.”

Isen and Blyke stifled snickers with their hands, or at least attempted, while Remi and Elaine giggled not even trying to hide it. Dylan, Evie, and Adrion were more sympathetic and sent him pitying smiles. Claire had a content smirk on her face.

‘This is to end the suffering as soon as possible. This is to end the suffering as soon as possible.’ Arlo kept repeating in his head along with ‘Do not murder your friends. Finding new friends would be a pain in the ass’ but when he looked up to glare at them and was met with their unnecessarily amused expressions he contemplated if friendship was really worth it.

‘If I only kill one…’

Evie was struck by an idea and suddenly asked. “Wait, isn’t this still biased?”

At her words, everyone cocked their heads in her direction. Arlo was grateful for the shift in their attention.

“What do you mean?” Blyke voiced everyone’s question.

“Well, the money is divided between the people who put their bet on the winner, but this way if Arlo wins, he will get much more than Remi would if she were to win. With normal bets, it’s not a problem because betting with worse odds at winning has better pay out but in our case, it’s somewhat unfair given that we put actual work into succeeding not just into the guessing work.”

Her explanation made the others think for a moment but Claire had an explanation for this as well.

“Don’t worry about it. Leilah and Doc probably thinking along the line came up with the idea to compensate the winner with a bonus worth 15% of the total pool on top of the money you get after the divide.”

Isen’s eyes widened. “Wow, pretty generous of them. That’s a lot of money.”

“It’s probably more beneficial for them this way.” Arlo thought out loud. The others prompted him to continue, curiosity evident in their eyes. “Just think about it. They have been paying into this betting pool for years now and the two idiots just sink deeper into their delusions. If this goes on, they will lose even more money not to mention have to endure this endless tragic romance live show because neither of the two would just tell them the truth outright. They saw an easy way out and took it.”

“But wouldn’t the money currently in the betting pool be enough to motivate us?” Dylan understood their eagerness, but not quite the additional money offered.

Isen placed his chin in his hand taking in all the details then the realization came. “No, because then we could just throw in the towel and bet on someone else, we think this has a better chance. The more participants they have the better for them.”

Claire contemplated for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Makes sense. Would also fit their very self-serving nature.”

“So everyone is okay with this setup?” Remi asked the group as a whole. They all exchanged looks before giving the affirmative. “Then let’s draw from the box!” She said cheerfully beckoning to Blyke to bring closer the box again.

The container of doom was promptly placed on the coffee table for better access for everyone. The members stepped closer, nervousness clear on most of their faces. Evie sneaked a glance at Dylan who gulped but still answered her with a nervous smile. Isen and Blyke’s smirks seemed more like grimaces and Arlo eyed the item with an ominous feeling. Adrion, Claire, and Elaine only shrugged, happy to get done with all this in a few weeks. Only Remi grinned excitedly. To her, this upcoming summer and events mostly held the promise of joy and fun instead of a tedious task or saccharine suffering.

Arlo arched an eyebrow while watching her intently. ‘Yeah, she was always the naïve type.’

“Ready?” Remi asked.

Everyone timidly nodded.

“Go!!!”

All of them dug into the box through the holes with their hands grabbing into the nearest ball. Isen and Blyke of course wanted the same one and started wrestling with their fingers inside earning a visit from Sebastian to their butts. After pained yelps, they finally settled on a different ball each.

Everybody pulled out their hands in sync looking at the color immediately.

Some sighed in disappointment some exhaled in relief apart from one particular blonde whose eyes were glued on the object of calamity, a very bright, very red ball.

“Wow Dylan, you got the red one!” Isen exclaimed in awe patting the boy on the back to congratulate him.

“…yeah, seems like it.” Dylan was still unsure of how to feel. Going first wasn’t really his style. But for John, he would pull through.

“So?” Blyke poked at the ball in Dylan’s hand gaining his attention. “Do you have a plan in mind?”

“Actually, I do.” He smiled nervously at the others. “But I’ll need some help.”

“Of course, Dylan! Anything for success!” Remi grinned reassuringly. “What do you need?”

Dylan thought for a moment. “Info mainly.”

“Say no more! Blyke, bring the board!” Remi instructed her house elf, aka her boyfriend who rolled in a huge board covered with a sheet.

“Where the hell did that thing come from?!” Arlo shouted eyes wide with disbelief because there was no way he would have missed them dragging a huge fucking board into his apartment. He was here the whole time.

The others seemed completely unphased.

‘Just Remi things.’

The couple was ignoring Arlo completely and instead revealed the board by pulling down the cover. On it was a huge map with several red strings, pins, pictures, and notes.

Isen narrowed his eyes. “Wait, isn’t this the Ember map? Why did you bring that here?”

Remi’s eyes shot at the map realizing that Isen was right. “Oh, sorry! Wrong side!” She quickly turned the board to show the other side. “Was kind of in a time crunch and had to improvise.” She laughed nervously scratching her neck.

“Anyway, I collected all the things we know about those two and their predicament on this sacred surface!” She proudly pointed at her creation showing off the accumulated and organized data complemented with pictures and even drawings sometimes.

“Remi, how do you have a half-naked picture of John?” Adrion squinted his eyes in suspicion at one of the pictures. The photo was of bad quality, but he could never not recognize those formidable abs. “He like… never takes off his shirt in front of others.”

“Now that’s something I want to know too.” Blyke narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend.

“I have my sources.” She replied tapping her other hand with the baton.

“You mean Isen?” Arlo raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t take this picture!” Isen defended himself.

“But you did get it, didn’t you?” Arlo knew his nosy friend too well.

He averted his gaze. “Now I did not say I didn’t…”

“Who took this shot of Seraphina though? She isn’t the type to show her cleavage this much given she is hiding her soulmark all the time.” Elaine eyed another picture.

“Oh, it was me.” Evie innocently raised her hand. “We had a sleepover while John was out of town visiting family a couple of months ago.”

“Holy shit!”

To Isen’s shriek, everyone turned their heads to look at him with mild disinterest. If it was anyone else, they would be alarmed, but this was Isen.

“Isen, are you looking at Seraphina’s boobs?” Claire deadpanned at him.

“No! I mean yes, but not for that this time!”

“This time? Does John need to have a talk with you?” Blyke teased.

“Oh, just shut up! This is a pretty shitty photo… no offense Evie!”

“None taken.”

“But can’t you still see the number on her?!” He pointed at the golden number, hardly noticeable with the lighting on the picture.

Everyone narrowed their eyes in concentration until realization hit them and their eyes went wide.

“Holy shit!” Blyke howled.

“I told you!” Isen shouted back.

“John is a freaking 9.6?!” Arlo mirrored their reaction.

“When you think he couldn’t be any stronger.” Claire spat out.

“I mean, who else would be this strong if not him?” Adrion shrugged.

“You guys didn’t know?” Evie tilted her head. “But you fought alongside each other during the rebellion so many times.”

“Exact levels are not something people usually discuss with each other.” Remi sighed, she herself was surprised by the crazy high number. She never even heard of anyone with this level. Even John’s mother was only a 9.1.

“We knew he was over 9 but didn’t think he was actually closer to 10.” Blyke was scratching his scalp trying to wrap his head around the power their friend held.

“Seraphina doesn’t have a reason to complain herself.” Elaine pointed at John’s chest on the picture showing a similarly high number in sky blue just above his heart.

“A freaking 9?! We live among literal gods, kids!” Isen threw his arms into the air dramatically.

“Yeah… I didn’t know the exact number, but knew she went up almost a whole level in one go on that day.” Remi’s voice held a sort of melancholy to it that could be only associated with two things. Her late brother or the day she had to watch her friend die in front of her eyes.

Everyone knew exactly what she was talking about and remained silent. All is well now, they thought, but it’s hard to get something like that out of your head. The mental image was haunting to everyone unfortunate enough to witness the incident.

Blyke was somber remembering back to that event. Yeah, he didn’t want to go back, not even in memory. “I certainly don’t envy her for how she reached that level. I would rather grind and suffer through years of merciless training than something like… that.”

“Let’s not dwell on that now guys!” Remi had enough of this sorrowful moment and decided to change the subject. “So, what type of information do you need, Dylan?”

“Hm, let’s see…” He rubbed his nape in thought. “I already have a plan, but to perfectly execute it I’ll need to know where John and Seraphina draw the line between platonic and romantic interactions. Normally one could assume but those two are practically dating without realizing it so gods know where their limits are.”

Isen and Blyke exchanged looks before the former spoke up. “Seems reasonable. Any idea how we can get that?”

“Just ask them,” Evie suggested. “With a good enough story to fool them, they will tell us without raising any suspicion.”

“Could work.” Adrion agreed.

“How should we ask them though?” Claire went straight to the point. “They are oblivious, but not entirely braindead. If we ask them directly and then use the info on them wouldn’t they be skeptical about the genuineness of the situation?”

“If we frame it like asking for advice then drag them into a completely unrelated situation lulling them into a fake sense of safety, they will be so caught up by the mere presence of the other that they wouldn’t question anything.” Evie explained while gesturing at phrases on the board like ‘oblivious af’, ‘caught up in their own bubble’, and ‘blinded by love even to love itself’ with her index finger. “We’ll be safe, believe me.”

“So, who will ask them for love advice?” Remi looked around the group.

“No one ever should.” Arlo’s statement earned a few snickers from the others.

“I can handle Seraphina, but one of the boys should work on John.” Evie plopped down on the couch already brainstorming ideas for interrogating her friend.

“Now that’s a harder nut to crack. He’s still so damn suspicious of others’ intentions sometimes.” Isen exhaled wearily.

“Given your history with John and your chaotic yet eventful dating life, the task should surely not fall on you.” Blyke as well fell back on the couch taking a seat beside Evie. “I can’t do it either because I’m already in a relationship. For a beginner’s love advice, we would need someone with almost if not zero dating experience.”

Everyone turned to look at Arlo.

“No.”

“Come on, Arlo! No one else can do it!” Remi encouraged her oldest friend.

“Yeah, every other guy has a happy and fulfilling social life which only leaves you,” Claire added eliciting muffled laughter from the guys.

“Absolutely not.”

“But you’re our only hope!” Remi whined and gave him the puppy eyes.

“I’m not sinking so low as to ask love advice from John of all people.” Arlo narrowed his eyes sternly at his friend.

“But all the other guys have been or are in a relationship so it wouldn’t be authentic from them.” The puppy eyes intensified.

“No.”

“Please.”

“Realistically Pinky, do you think John would take me seriously or trust me when doing something so outrageously out of the norm for me?”

“We just need a believable story to accompany it!”

“What story would make this believable?!”

“Pleaseeee.”

“No.”

“Pleeeeeaaaasssseeeee.”

“No.”

“PLLLLEEEAAAAAASSSSSEEEEEE.”

“Okay, fine!”

Arlo threw his arms in the air in surrender while growling under his breath. “Why the fuck do you need to be so damn persistent?!”

“Because it’s working, obviously.” Remi flashed him a triumphant smile.

“Arlo asking love advice from John! Now this will be a sight to behold!” Isen cackled barely holding himself together while leaning on his equally breathless best friend on the couch with tears in their eyes.

“Not a single one of you can be anywhere near that conversation.” Arlo’s tone was dangerously low, but the two idiots paid no mind to it entertained too much by the mere thought.

“Oh come on Arlo! Let us have some fun!” Blyke wiped a stray tear from his eye.

“One more word from any of you and you will regret it.” The warning was clear but the two still didn’t care.

“What? Will the almighty god tier crush us in his barrier for making fun of him?” The two laughed even harder at Isen’s remark while the others sensing the shift in the air took a step back.

With a speed almost unknown to normal humans, Arlo reached into his suit’s inner pocket swiftly drawing out a fork throwing it with incredible precision, and hitting Isen right on his forehead.

“AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” The victim cried out and Blyke fell off the couch completely frightened.

“Oh, you kept Forkinator!” Remi smiled. Indeed, the well-polished utensil had the word ‘Forkinator’ engraved on it.

“Of course, it was a gift from you.” Arlo eyed the still-yelling idiot. “A pretty useful one.”

“Stop shouting Isen!” Elaine had enough of the commotion and sat beside the frightened man. “Just stop moving for two damn seconds.”

She grabbed onto the fork stopping Isen’s head and yanked on it removing it from his forehead.

“There it is.” She handed the item back to Arlo and then healed the puncture holes.

“How could you make me relive this trauma again? This fork was even sharper than the last time.” Isen sobbed.

“Serves you right.” Arlo carefully wiped off the blood from the fork with a cloth before placing it in his inner pocket again. “Remi got this one handcrafted specially for me and requested the points to be especially sharp.”

“Remi why?” Blyke finally found his voice.

“If you behaved you wouldn’t have to ask this now, would you?” Remi playfully glared at her boyfriend.

He huffed out in defeat.

“What was your idea again, Dylan?” Arlo tried to lead the conversation back on topic.

“My plan centers around…” Dylan couldn’t contain his excitement by now, energetically jumping on one of the armchairs for emphasis; his arms drawing something like a rainbow in the air. “The Crippled Carnival!”

Joy filled Evie painting her cheeks light pink, her eyes sparkling after she heard this. “Don’t tell me The Crippled Carnival will be in town!”

“But I’m telling you exactly that!” He beamed back at his best friend.

“Crippled Carnival?” Confusion was visible on every high rank’s face.

“Oh yeah, you guys probably never went to anything like that but it was the best thing every summer as a low tier.” Evie had very fond memories of going there with family and friends.

“Why is it called Crippled Carnival though? Only cripples can go there or all of the staff are cripples?” Blyke never heard of such a thing before.

Isen immediately saw the flaws in his friend’s idea. “No, no, both ways would be a really bad idea. Not to mention cripples are only a small percentage of the population, it wouldn’t be a very lucrative business.”

“It’s a carnival where you can’t use your powers, only your natural physical strength and brain to win,” Dylan spoke up, dissolving the confusion.

“How do they even enforce this?” Arlo raised an eyebrow.

To his surprise, Remi answered his question. “The carnival master takes care of that. He has some kind of areal ability that lets him detect any ability activation within the carnival’s territory. He can also suppress abilities for a short time based on their power level.”

“Remi, how do you know about this thing?”

“I actually just connected the dots. When John and I were on the run and hiding from the authorities a wandering carnival took us in. I didn’t know it was called the Crippled Carnival but it makes sense. Dylan and Evie or occasionally Adrion and Claire were connecting us to the others while we were there. They already knew the place pretty well. The carnival master, Mesto is a god tier and many of his staff are elite or high tiers. The authorities despised them, but as they were close-knit and not challenging their control directly like vigilantes they mostly left them alone.”

“Out of sight out of mind, I guess?” Isen pondered.

“Pretty much.” The low tiers shrugged in unison.

“They only ever visited low or mid-tier neighborhoods before. For an elite or high tier, there is nothing appealing in being on equal footing with others anyways.” Adrion was kind of happy this was the case. Even some stronger mid-tiers tried their luck sometimes only to be shut down by the employees. He didn’t want to imagine the altercation between a powerful high-tier and those lovely people.

“But for the first time this summer exactly two days from now on they will open their gates to the public in this very city.” Dylan’s grin was radiating pure happiness.

Evie sighed contently. “I haven’t been to it for years. It’ll be so much fun!”

“Why did they decide to come here now?” Blyke asked.

“That’s all thanks to John’s lobbying relentlessly to the city council.” Dylan liked his trainer and friend even more if it was possible for accomplishing such a feat. “Imagine it like the Safe House but on a much grander scale with much more games and food options.”

“Apart from its wallet-draining trait,” Evie added.

“Yeah, the place is positively lovely.” Remi smiled. “While hiding there the crew members were like a family to us. We had to be out of sight most of the time, but they made sure we were entertained and helped in our training. The carnival master was particularly enamored by John’s sassiness and stubborn nature and based on how much he worked to get them here according to Dylan I suppose the feeling was mutual.”

This was all new information to Arlo but looking at Blyke and Isen he wasn’t alone with this new discovery. It shouldn’t be a surprise. After the trio had separated to throw off the authorities and John had taken away Remi with him at his request there hadn’t been much information exchanged between the different parts of the group and even the little bits, they had known about each other had been focused on crucial data about their enemies and their next strategy. Even following their reunion, they had been too preoccupied with well… surviving and defeating both the corrupt government and an entire terrorist organization to share at that moment unimportant stories.

He chose to ask his close friend about all her journeys later and instead focused on the task at hand. “I still don’t quite understand how this carnival will help you get John and Seraphina finally see their foolishness. I take that you are on good terms with these people, but how would they aid you in this?”

“I don’t think that getting them to see their foolishness is the best way to go about this. They’re obviously very adamant about their beliefs so trying to convince them otherwise would only make them close off and deny it more.” Dylan explained while pointing at the information on the board.

Arlo was a little surprised by the other’s sound argument. While he still was of the opinion that talking to them was the best course of action, he couldn’t deny that what the boy mentioned was a very likely scenario.

Dylan continued. “So, my idea is to make them actually forget about their hang-ups and be so lost in the moment that they naturally cross their boundaries. Once they go there, there is no coming back and they have to admit their feelings to each other.”

“Basically you’re trying to circumvent the whole soulmate, not soulmate thing?” Isen could see the brilliance in his line of thinking.

“Pretty much. Love conquers it all, does it not?” Dylan sheepishly placed his hand on the back of his neck giving the others a shy smile. “Maybe I’m too much of a sap, but John himself is a pretty romantic guy so it could work.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Arlo nodded.

“Awww, Dylan!” Remi pinched the boy’s cheeks with her hands. “You’re such a cute guy. I can see why Seraphina and John call you a cinnamon roll.”

“What about me?” Blyke pouted. “Am I not cute?”

Remi glanced at her boyfriend on the side, a smirk stretching on her lips. “Well, you can be on rare occasions.”

He let out an indignant sound making his jealousy very obvious. She giggled, stepping closer to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Like now.”

Blyke blushed in surprise placing a hand on his face a little dazed.

“Jealousy isn't a good look on anyone, but it adds to your boyish cuteness.” She laughed as her significant other pouted even more.

Watching his friends Isen chuckled to himself. His best friends would never change, not even in a million years. But now was not the time for amusement, or more like it was a time for a different kind of amusement he was starving for. “So, Dylan…”

The boy question turned to look at him. “Hm?”

“I assume you need this dating data so you can put the two in situations that will certainly be romantic in their eyes.”

“Yep, that’s the plan. Mesto will probably lend a hand to us if I tell him what’s going on.”

“Then we only need our two carthorses to carry this ship to the harbor now.”

Hearing Isen’s words everyone directed their attention to Evie and Arlo.

Evie smiled brightly.

Arlo cursed his life.

~~~oOo~~~

Arlo knew for a fact that the gods above them did not like him at all. His life started out with wealth and fortune. Being born into an established high-tier family with a whole life plan ahead certainly seemed pleasant and something that would put him on the blessed side of the world. It was all a trap however as he later had to find out. No, the gods in fact did not like him. Not at all.

Contrary to how his days on this earth had begun his later years couldn’t be called anything near lucky or blessed. Not even out of high school destiny put him in an awkward, almost doomed situation. His mentor was murdered, and his friends were on the run threatened by the same fate, both by his very aunt and the prominent organization, the country’s authorities she was a part of. Arlo’s dreams, ambitions, and life plan… all up in flames. He even had to collaborate with the terrorist organization that he very much despised to save his friends consequently giving up on his whole future.

Or so he thought.

In the end, things turned around for him once again and now he could do something important to him with a clear conscience. He had his friends, he made amends with past enemies and the world around them was improving thanks to their efforts. Life wasn’t perfect, but it still felt great.

But his luck was turning around once again.

Because once again, the deities above seemed to give him their celestial middle finger. This exact moment at least certainly felt like one.

He cleared his throat.

“So John…”

John glanced up at him from the bench he was sitting on. For some unknown reason to him, Arlo called him out to this secluded location to talk at night. Not suspicious at all. He wasn’t sure what he wanted but they were on good terms now thus he had no reason to distrust him. With a nod John let him know that he was listening.

“I called you here… to talk.”

Even after brainstorming for a whole day, Arlo had no idea how he should go about this conversation.

John raised an eyebrow; a half-amused smile playing on his lips. “You don’t say.”

He internally groaned.

The next lines physically pained him but just like ripping off a band-aid, it was better to be done with it than prolong the suffering.

“I wanted to ask you for advice.”

This did surprise the other boy. “You? Asking for advice from me? How desperate are you exactly?”

“Oh, really desperate, you can believe me.”

‘Desperate to get this over with.’ Arlo thought.

John narrowed his eyes, a little suspicion creeping into his mind but he fought it off.

“So? What do you need my advice on?”

Arlo felt akin to someone skinning his throat from the inside with every word he had to utter during this conversation.

“I need your advice on…” He trailed off before he could finish the sentence.

“On what?”

“On love…” He finally mumbled out but his voice was so quiet John couldn’t make out the words.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you. Could you repeat that?”

Arlo needed every ounce of his willpower not to just jump over the bench, do a somersault and disappear into the night.

Through gritted teeth, he finally managed to say it.

“On love.”

For a good 10 seconds, John was completely silent.

“Is this a prank?”

Arlo narrowed his eyes at the other in fury. Why did he have to make this harder for him?

“I’m serious.”

John again raised an eyebrow before speaking in a much louder tone.

“Okay Isen, Blyke! You can come out now!”

“I’m serious dammit!” Arlo shouted anger filling his whole demeanor.

John was too stunned to speak.

“Wait, for real?”

“Yes.” Arlo hissed out like a snake spitting venom.

An uncomfortable silence fell on the duo yet again that stretched for a good minute or so as a wide-eyed John was trying and failing to digest the information half waiting for Arlo to take it all back. But the moment never came.

“I never thought this day would ever come.” He said as he turned away from the other in favor to stare into the distance, his eyes still wide and unblinking. The other mimicked his action.

“Believe me, me neither,” Arlo grumbled.

They didn’t speak for another minute, neither knowing how to go from here, but then a sudden snort broke the quiet stillness of the evening followed by roaring laughter.

Arlo snapped his head to glare at John who couldn’t look at him as he was doubling over, tears streaming down his face.

“The great… the great Arlo… asking… asking love advice… from me??”

He couldn’t breathe. This was unbelievably hilarious.

Arlo growled at him.

“Could you not?”

“Sorry… “John coughed trying to suppress his mirth and regain some of his bearings. “Sorry…”

“You don’t seem sorry at all.”

“I am. I am.” He waved with one hand while wiping away his tears with the other. “This was just too sudden and too much.”

“I would say I’m happy to entertain you with my misery, but I’m not.” Arlo crossed his arms in front of his chest, his pride absolutely shattered.

“Sorry again.” John’s breathing was finally steady enough to talk normally. “I didn’t mean to laugh the entire thing just seems-“

“Ridiculous? I know.” He could empathize with the feeling.

Now he was watching Arlo with calculating eyes.

“Why me though?”

The other expected this question. John didn’t have to tell him what he meant; it was obvious. Why would he turn to him for advice out of all their friends?

“I couldn’t ask Blyke or Isen for obvious reasons and I don’t know Adrion and Dylan well enough to share this type of thing with them.”

“Yeah, Blyke and Isen are the opposite of helpful when it comes to something they can laugh about.”

“Not like I didn’t get the same reaction from you.”

“Touché. But let’s be honest, if this were them they would still be rolling on the ground. You could probably come back a day later and still find them here.”

“Not if I have the fork…”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

They sat in peace for a little longer before John spoke up again.

“You could have asked Remi though. She’s good with this kind of stuff.”

“That might be true, but one, I didn’t want her in my business when it comes to love-“

“I can somewhat understand that.” He nodded.

“-and two, I needed a guy’s advice with a similar level of social awkwardness.”

“Now that’s just mean.” John stuck his chin up in indignance.

Arlo deadpanned at him.

“Should I remind you that you spent a good 5 minutes laughing at my predicament just moments ago? One would think you would be more empathetic given your own plight.”

John pursed his lips. The other was right, but he didn’t want to acknowledge that.

“As you know my only experience is in unrequited love. How can that even help you?”

“Learning from your failures?” He managed to contain his smirk but his gleeful eyes betrayed him.

“Ha…ha… very funny really.” It was John’s time to glare at him. “It’s not like you can fuck up as badly as I did.”

Now Arlo let the smirk spread across his face. “Don’t underestimate my capabilities.”

This earned a snort from him.

“Yeah, you’re indeed very capable.”

The moon was shining brightly above, giving them an excuse to stay there in silence while staring at the mesmerizing celestial object.

“So… what is your problem?” John watched him from the corner of his eye.

Arlo weighed his options.

They were non-existent.

“So there is this girl…”

“Wait! Wait! Time out!” He yelled while hastily forming a T with his hands.

“What now?” Arlo was highly annoyed by his interruption.

The other looked at him like he was just told the biggest revelation. “Sorry, I… I was just so sure you are gay.”

“…” Arlo had to search for words but settled on the simple truth. “No, I’m not.”

“Ah, sorry-!” John immediately tried to apologize for assuming his sexuality, but he cut him off.

“I’m bi.”

“…Oh.” He looked at him eyes wide then his face relaxed and he let out a sigh. “Okay, then I wasn’t imagining things.”

“What do you mean by-“

“I saw you checking out my butt a few times. The same goes for Isen.”

“I did not-“Arlo tried to protest, but John didn’t let him.

“Yes, you did. No shame in that.” He waved a dismissive hand at him.

Arlo was flabbergasted. How did this oblivious idiot notice this, his subtle glances and not Seraphina blatantly ogling him all the damn time? Some kind of mental barrier must be involved.

“So, there is this girl?”

Apparently, John was no longer interested in his sexual coming out and wanted to continue their original conversation. Arlo didn’t know if he should be grateful or curse his ancestors. He yet again found himself between a rock and a hard place.

“Yes, a girl.”

“What about her?” John angled his torso so he could face the other with his whole body; his eyes sparkling with curiosity. Dylan told them John was a sap but for real?

“We have been around each other more lately and I’ve started to take an interest in her.”

“Do I know her?” He leaned closer to Arlo.

“Absolutely not.”

“That sounds like a yes to me,” John told him in a sing-song voice. Arlo just groaned.

“You don’t know her, okay? But that’s not even the point. I just need your advice on how to go about it.”

“Okay, okay!” He put his hands in the air in surrender, a grin still adorning his face. “How can I help you, lover boy?”

Arlo shot him a glare. “First, I’m hardly a lover boy yet, and two, the pot calling the kettle black much?”

“Still didn’t hear your problem lover boy.” John put his head into his hands the satisfaction never leaving his face.

“You’re still as irritating as ever.” Arlo pushed him away with his index finger on the other’s forehead. John just laughed thoroughly enjoying the exchange.

“What can I say? Can’t give up on my personal charm.” He batted his eyelashes at him.

“Anyway…!” Arlo shoved him away even further. “I want to express to this girl that I may want to go beyond our current platonic relationship.”

“Why not just tell her?” John tilted his head.

“Because I can’t rush into the house together with the door! Romance is much more sensitive and intricate, and you must feel out your chances with the other first.” He was too embarrassed by his own words to look the other in the eye, so he defiantly turned away crossing his arms in front of his chest yet again. “I have to give her the option to back out before it turns awkward between us.”

“Okay, that actually sounds reasonable.” He nodded in understanding.

“Happy you agree.” A relieved breath left his mouth. They were finally getting somewhere.

“But I don’t know what to tell you.”

…or not.

“Why not?”

“Isn’t it kind of obvious, Arlo?” John pressed his lips into a thin line. “I have only ever been in love with one girl aside from my brief boyish crush on Claire and I’m trying to do the exact opposite with her. I always have to be conscious not to make her uncomfortable by accidentally showing off my feelings.”

Arlo had to bite down on his lip to keep himself from shouting. It was definitely not the time.

“Then let’s go by reverse psychology.”

“What?”

“What things do you consciously avoid doing that would be too romantic for your relationship?”

Realization dawned on John as his mouth fell open.

“Ohhhh, I get it now!”

“Now you truly astonished me.” He feigned surprise.

“Yeah, yeah, really funny.” He glared at the now smirking Arlo.

“Can you tell me about those things then?”

He contemplated for a moment averting his eyes from the other. “I guess? Still not sure if this will be of any use to you but it’s not like I have anything to hide.”

“Let’s hear about them and decide after.”

‘Finally.’ Arlo exclaimed triumphantly in his head.

“Okay so…”

~~~oOo~~~

Somewhere in a cozy apartment.

“Hey, Seraphina.” Evie poked the other girl in the side to get her attention. They were both sitting on Seraphina’s bed currently painting their nails while John was away talking to Arlo.

“What is it, Evie?” Seraphina peered at her curiously.

“Can you tell me what gestures you consider as romantic? Things that clearly cross the line of a platonic relationship.” The smile never left her face.

Seraphina tilted her head. “Why are you asking?”

“I’m kinda having boy troubles and I want to know if I’m seeing things.” Evie waved dismissively while nervously giggling.

“Sure, why not.”

Chapter Text

PinkPikachu changed the group chat’s name from YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING to GTFIT: act 1.

PinkPikachu: how r u guys doing?

Brolo sent a file Ihateyoualldonteveraskanythingfrommeagain.docx

Brolo: Look at this cursed file knowing I had to sell my very soul to obtain those answers.

PinkPikachu: was it tht bad?

Brolo: Yes.

UmartGoku: w8 u rly did it?!

UmartGoku: thought youll chicken out

DemocRAT: me 2

Brolo:

Brolo: I’m not Isen.

DemocRAT: hey, id do a lot for a gud story

Brolo: Apart from using correct grammar.

DemocRAT: I use it when it's needed

DemocRAT: tht time isnt now

TheFriend^TM: u rly went into specifics w/ doz questions

TheFriend^TM: like... “what would you do if she gazed into your eyes lovingly while you two were casually sipping on your drinks during the sunset?”

TheFriend^TM: or “if she suddenly wanted you to win a plush for her from one of the games would your answer be different depending on the type of the plush (bunny, tiger, pig, etc)?”

TheFriend^TM: but maybe the weirdest one: “if you had to kiss her what location and amount of saliva applied would be still in the platonic range?”

TheFriend^TM: wer did u even get doz questions?

Brolo: From Dylan, obviously.

Brolo: It was very torturous.

Brolo: Do you know how hard it was to put all those impossibly specific questions into a semi-normal conversation between John and me?

Brolo: JOHN and ME???

Brolo: You don’t because you don’t care about my mental health.

Brolo: No one cares about my mental health here.

Brolo: Why am I even friends with you all?

Brolo: Haven’t I atoned for my sins enough already?

Brolo: Why? Why me?

TheFriend^TM:

UmartGoku:

DemocRAT:

PinkPikachu:

TheFriend^TM: I think we broke arlo

DemocRAT: wasnt he broken for a long time?

UmartGoku: I mean hes friends w/ us

UmartGoku: tht shud tell u enuff

DemocRAT: true

PinkPikachu: oh come on arlo, dont b dramatic

Brolo: You weren’t there Remi.

Brolo: You weren’t there 30 minutes ago.

Brolo: You weren’t there to experience all that pain and suffering.

Brolo: You didn’t have to ask love advice from JOHN.

Brolo: I repeat, from JOHN of all people.

Brolo: How could you all do this to me?

DemocRAT: did he laugh at u?

DemocRAT: pls tell me he laughed at u

Brolo:

Brolo: Fuck you, Isen.

UmartGoku: even when swearing he uses perfect grammar

UmartGoku: kinda unsettling ngl

DemocRAT: even when mentally broken he haz standards

Bold&Blond: hi everyone!

Bold&Blond: arlo, did u get the answers?

Brolo:

DemocRAT: lol

UmartGoku: lol

PinkPikachu: lol

TerrorPrincess: hi guys!

TerrorPrincess sent a file lovelylovequizanswers.docx

Bold&Blond: hi Evie!

Bold&Blond: I see u were successful

Bold&Blond: u r the best!

TerrorPrincess: it was easy ;)

Brolo:

Brolo: Please kill me.

TerrorPrincess: arlo r u k???

Brolo: Absolutely not.

TerrorPrincess: want 2 talk about it? :(

CrystalBall: dont b 2 nice 2 him, evie

CrystalBall: he deserves the shit

Brolo: Ah, the ray of sunshine graced us with her pleasant presence during this splendid nightly rendezvous.

Brolo: My life couldn’t sink any lower.

DemocRAT: …is tht a bet?

UmartGoku: don’t jinx it bro

CrystalBall: stop bitching arlo, u know u deserve it

PinkPikachu: okay kids, play nice

PinkPikachu: weve absolutely nu time for dis

TerrorPrincess: where is Elaine btw?

PinkPikachu: good question

PinkPikachu: @MADicine

MADicine:

MADicine: next time u tag me at 2am remi youll need a healer

MADicine: and not me

PinkPikachu: …Elaine?

MADicine: ffs let me sleep

PinkPikachu: sorry!

MADicine: you better b

MADicine: Do not wake me ever again.

MADicine went offline

UmartGoku: oof proper grammar

DemocRAT: u better watch ur orange juice frum now on remi

Brolo: I’m not wasting any more sleeping hours on this conversation either.

Brolo: You all have the night you deserve.

Brolo went offline

PinkPikachu: always so dramatic

TerrorPrincess: it’s kind of cute

UmartGoku: now thats a word i wouldve never associated arlo w/

DemocRAT: hed killed u for doing so a/w

UmartGoku: Im 2 young and hot 2 die yet

PinkPikachu: 1 of those is at least true

DemocRAT: AHAHAHAHAHAHA

DemocRAT: BUUUUURRRNNN

UmartGoku: Remi!!!!

UmartGoku: how could u???

PinkPikachu: sorry sleep deprivation makes me honest

UmartGoku: dis isnt helping!!!

UmartGoku: when did u turn frum sweet 2 mean

PinkPikachu: I spent months w/ john

DemocRAT: now hes usually mor sweet than u

PinkPikachu: want a visit frum sebastian isen?

DemocRAT: my point stands

UmartGoku: pls tell me u 2 didnt switch personalities

UmartGoku: I dont want 2 room w/ john again!

DemocRAT: …and they were roommates

UmartGoku: oh shut up!!

PinkPikachu: chill guys

PinkPikachu: youll always know it's me

PinkPikachu: I mean I love Seraphina

PinkPikachu: but my simp index could never go anywher near john's

DemocRAT: true

UmartGoku: true

Bold&Blond: deez answers r fantastic

Bold&Blond: ty guys so much!!!

PinkPikachu: happy 2 help

UmartGoku: u did absolutely nothing Remi

PinkPikachu: got tired of living blyke?

DemocRAT: dark Remi appears again

DemocRAT: will sebastian pay him a visit?

UmartGoku: pls dont bring the baton into dis

PinkPikachu: he haz a name!

PinkPikachu: and no Isen

PinkPikachu: Sebastian is for special occasions

DemocRAT: wow

DemocRAT: she even capitalized his name

DemocRAT: it's obv whos the favorite

UmartGoku: cud u just shut up

PinkPikachu: k goodnight guys

UmartGoku: Remi we live together!

PinkPikachu went offline

DemocRAT: cold

DemocRAT: off to the couch u go

DemocRAT went offline

UmartGoku: fuck you Isen

UmartGoku went offline

TheFriend^TM: u still here claire?

CrystalBall: yea

CrystalBall: was enjoying the show

CrystalBall went offline

~~~oOo~~~

Arlo was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground, looking at his watch for the 100^th time.

They were late. All of them.

Why did he even bother with them? This was an ever-present question in his mind he couldn’t really answer. Was he just too lonely on his own to leave them? Did he secretly enjoy all the pain they caused? Was he a masochist? Did he have a fetish? No, certainly not. He was just in great need of better friends but lacked time and opportunity to cultivate new friendships. Yeah, that sounded about right.

“Where are they?” He grumbled out while sneaking another glance at his watch.

He even had to take time off from work to go home and change into more suitable attire. But somehow as he looked over at the buzzing mob he felt really out of place. People passing by gave him the side eye, whispering to each other in hushed tones. Some kids were even pointing at him like some attraction only to be chided by their guardians followed by an awkward apologetic grimace directed toward him.

At first, he was confused but at this point, he was highly suspicious.

And when something suspicious was going on it usually meant one person.

Isen.

He had a growing itch in his hand to reach for the fork in his pocket.

His eyes wandered to the device on his wrist again only to put further strain on his waning patience. Just as he was about to text into the group chat again, he spotted some familiar faces in the distance. Even in the huge crowd with his height, it was easy for him to notice them. He contemplated raising his arm to beacon them there but found it unnecessary in the end as he was standing right at the main entrance anyway. It didn’t take long for the other blonde and the green-haired girl to spot him when they got closer.

“Arlo!” Adrion started waving cheerfully only to freeze up a second later.

Claire as well eyed him with an arched eyebrow. “What are you wearing?”

The man in question was dumbfounded. Now that he had a better look at them, they were dressed in nice but casual clothes while he was fully dressed to the nines.

At his silence, Claire pressed more. “Why do you look like you are about to enter a royal gala or something?”

His suspicion was proven right. He disguised a growl with a sigh while trying to massage away his returning headache. “I’ve never been to anything like this festival before, so I asked Dylan for the appropriate dress code.”

“And he told you to look like Agent 700?” To a smirking Claire’s question, Adrion let out a snort. He quickly muffled it though when threatening eyes burning with irritation were snapped to him.

“He told me to dress ‘festive’. Now this wasn’t much of a help on his part so I tried to get a more detailed description from him but when I tried to prompt him for answers he just disappeared.”

“He was probably working on his plan.” Adrion concluded.

“I guess you didn’t do the sensible thing and went on Goggle to get a simple answer for your simple question.” Claire couldn’t hide her delight watching Arlo awkwardly shuffle around.

He just narrowed his eyes at her because he indeed could have just done that.

Before he could answer however another member of the group joined them.

“Hey guys!” Elaine greeted them holding some unknown drink while having a nice summer dress and shades on. Her eyes stopped on Arlo. “Arlo?” Slowly she inspected him from head to toe, then slightly slid her sunglasses down to reveal her confused eyes with a somewhat raised eyebrow. “Why are you dressed like this?”

He groaned in frustration.

“I was just in the middle of explaining to these two.” He motioned at the two low tiers. “I had no idea what people wear to these kinds of things, so I asked Dylan who said ‘festive’ but provided no further explanation.”

“Then you didn’t just go to Goggle to look it up.” She sucked on the straw of her drink before continuing. “Instead, you assumed you had to wear the best thing you have?”

“No, I didn’t assume anything.” Arlo was now rubbing both of his temples.

“Then wha-“

“I asked Isen.”

The question was caught in Elaine's throat as all of their mouths fell agape before they collectively groaned.

“Arlo why?” Adrion whined.

“I knew you were no smarter than John, but wow you managed to surprise me.” Claire deadpanned hardly able to believe his stupidity.

“Arlo, why would you do this?” Elaine facepalmed. “Out of all the people you could have asked you asked the one you know is an absolute little shit with no brain to think about repercussions.”

“To be fair that can be said about at least half of our friend group,” Adrion said in his defense.

“Touché, but he could have asked one of the decent ones at least.” She shook her head already feeling the draining day dawning on them.

“Do we really have normal people among us?” Arlo questioned still clearly irritated by the fact he got played by Isen of all people. No, he was played by himself, his own momentary idiocy he had to realize.

“Normal? No. Decent? Yes. Remi, Adrion, or Evie would have given you the correct answer.” Elaine explained between sips.

He arched an eyebrow. “Not you?”

She shrugged. “Don’t blame me. This girl needs her harmless fun from time to time.”

Before he could react to those words another person showed up fighting his way out of the massive horde of people.

“Hey, guys!” An out-of-breath Dylan addressed the group between pants. He wore something flashier than usual, but nothing that would make him stick out of the crowd. His eyes finally roamed through the people present coming to a halt on Arlo as well. “Did you not have time to change after work, Arlo?”

This elicited snickers from the girls and a suppressed chuckle from Adrion.

“Who would wear something like this to work Dylan?” He grunted out.

“I mean you could,” Claire said earning a scowl from him.

Dylan was scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. “So, this is your festive wear? Sorry Arlo! I saw your messages this morning but thought you already Goggled the answer.”

The other three had a hard time containing their sniggers, not wanting to earn the fork treatment.

Suddenly a speeding ball of nervous energy crashed into Arlo from behind. The person who was unfortunate enough to run headfirst into the human equivalent of a brick wall groaned out in pain. “I think a broke my nose.”

“Evie?” Dylan peered behind Arlo’s back.

“Hi, guys!” Evie who weakly waved, was donning a cute yellow dress, her hair now way longer than it used to be in high school was let down with only two small braids running to the back of her head from the sides. She was cradling her currently bleeding nose with her other hand. “Sorry that I’m late. I was running behind while doing some errands and lost track of time.”

Elaine as the gang’s appointed healer stepped closer to inspect her face. “Let me see this.”

After a few moments she nodded. “Yeah, it’s broken but nothing I can’t fix.”

She shoved her drink into Arlo’s hand while she corrected Evie’s nose with one hand and healed it with the other.

“Good as new.”

“Thanks, Elaine!” Evie showed her a grateful smile not losing her beaming nature even for a second before her attention moved to Arlo.

“Sorry for crashing into you like that Arlo.” She avoided looking at him as she apologized feeling embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

Arlo sighed. At least someone in this group was still a decent person. “It’s okay, I didn’t feel a thing.”

At his lighter tone, she finally decided to look up at him only to unceremoniously stare at his attire a moment later.

“Are you expected somewhere else after this?” She awkwardly asked.

The others held their tongues feeling as Arlo’s patience was running dangerously thin.

“No, I just didn’t know what I was supposed to wear.”

“Couldn’t you like… Goggle it?” Evie tilted her head.

“…I asked Isen.” Arlo didn’t know if this admission made him look less of an idiot or more.

“Oh, Arlo…” Based on the girl’s pitying tone it was definitely the latter.

The group members sucked in their lips and needed every muscle in their bodies to keep in their laughter.

It wasn’t made any easier when three other people joined them.

“Hey everyone!” Remi greeted the others only for her eyes to stop on Arlo.

“Arlo, why are you dressed for a ball at a festival?”

“Yeah dude, you stick out like a sore thumb.” Blyke nodded in agreement.

“Isen tricked him,” Elaine answered in his place.

Isen burst out in laughter while pointing a finger at him. “Can’t believe you fell for it! This is gold!”

Claire mouthed a ‘Nice one’ to him accompanied by a finger gun Isen immediately reciprocated after finishing his high five with Blyke.

Remi sighed. “Arlo, couldn’t you have just Goggle it or something? Why did you even ask Isen of all people?”

He glared at them as everyone apart from Dylan and Evie roared out in laughter. The empathy the two had only allowed them a few giggles.

“Momentary brain function loss due to all the questions Dylan made me ask.”

Dylan felt abashed now tapping his index fingers together in a nervous manner. “I’m very sorry about that Arlo.”

Arlo just rubbed his temples to calm himself somewhat. It wasn’t like it was Dylan’s fault Isen played him like this.

That was when some of his anger cleared out and he registered the… clothes the trio was wearing.

“You guys are one to talk, what are you even supposed to be?”

Remi tilted her head in confusion. “Isn’t it obvious?”

It clearly should have been from her point of view as she was donning a pretty pink Pikachu onesie with a perfect resemblance to the original. Next to her stood Blyke dressed as some kind of warrior? And Isen for some reason was in all black.

Now that Arlo pointed it out Claire, to her greatest disdain had to agree it was weird. “Why are you all in costumes?”

“Well, we haven’t been to The Crippled Carnival before so just like Arlo we wanted to know what to wear.”  Remi started her explanation.

“But unlike Arlo we actually used this great invention, the internet, more precisely Goggle to see our options.” Blyke continued after her.

“Still not seeing how you ended up in those.” Elaine eyed them while sucking on the straw of her drink.

“We checked out photos and saw that many people were wearing costumes so we found a rental and here we are.”

All the low tiers had their heads in their hands.

Claire pulled on her hair in frustration. “Guys, those are the performers, not the visitors.”

The trio looked at each other then Isen muttered. “That would explain a lot.”

Elaine shook her head. “How is it that I’m the only one who hasn’t been to this carnival but has enough common sense to wear something normal?”

“What are you even dressed up as?” Arlo arched an eyebrow.

“I’m a pink Pikachu,” Remi shouted producing pink sparks. A trick she learned while running around the country with John.

“I’m Zon Goku.” Blyke flexed his muscles and formed an energy ball in his palms.

“And I’m a ninja!” Isen took out throwing daggers moving around like he was on an undercover mission but looked more like he was a tropical bird performing an intricate mating dance. The weird noises he made further enforced this theory.

“Why are all high tiers weird? Does your IQ drop with your power level?” Claire muttered.

“Oh come on, not all of them are like this!” Adrion patted her shoulder reassuringly.

“Hey, guys!” John called out to them as he finally arrived with Seraphina.

Claire turned back to the other with a raised eyebrow.

“I stand corrected.”

“And why are you not wearing normal clothes?” Claire gestured at John and Seraphina whom both wore Gapanese yukata with matching hairstyles and added cat ears on top of their heads. “I understand the other clueless idiots, who couldn’t use Goggle,” Arlo clicked his tongue “or could but lacked any sort of common sense.” The trio let out an offended grunt. “But you John have been to this carnival numerous times. Then why are you dressed like this?”

He just shrugged. “Sera has never been to a festival before and always wanted to try on these things she saw in anime. Now she thought it was the perfect chance.”

Seraphina just nodded along while sipping on her mango boba.

Claire buried her face in her hands. “I won’t even ask why you went along with this ridiculous idea, you damn simp.”

John wasn’t even defensive anymore. “Sera asketh, Sera shalt receiveth.”

The others cackled when he put the cherry on top with playfully bowing down to Seraphina. He missed as a blush accompanied her melodic laughter.

“I see John you embraced your simphood completely.” Dylan patted his shoulder while whipping away a stray tear.

“No point in fighting if you’ll call me one anyway when I do completely normal best friend things with Sera.”

This caused the good-natured sounds of mirth to be replaced by painful groans and deep sighs.

“Here we go again…” Evie murmured under her breath.

Seraphina’s good mood sunk somewhat with John’s last words as well, but she couldn’t let herself be dragged down by his true feelings. She couldn’t show how affected she was by what he said, he hadn’t said it out of malice after all. She decided to distract herself with the others finally taking in their outfits.

“I see you guys decided to go with some costumes as well.” She smiled at the trio.

“Yeah, we thought it would be fun.” Remi grinned back at her. “Kind of brings me back to the time when we were dressing up with my brother as kids to every family event. We stopped after a time when the neighbors started saying we looked weird and nothing like a high rank should.” The cheerfulness left her face giving its place to a sad, mournful smile. “I wish we just kept going not caring about any of it. Life is too precious to live like you have all the time in the world. You never get those moments back.”

Those words cut deep into Seraphina’s heart as she looked at her best friend from the corner of her eyes, the same resolve filling her as it did, again and again, each day.

‘No, I’m not losing him ever again.’

Remi snapped back from her nostalgic feelings a little ashamed that she was souring the mood. “Sorry guys, I shouldn’t have brought everyone down like this.”

To her apology, Blyke only hugged her tightly from behind. “Don’t apologize Rem. Missing Rei is completely normal. Wish he could be here.”

Remi smiled at her boyfriend giving him a quick peck on the cheek making him blush. “He’s with us in spirit, I’m sure.”

John patted her on the head under her hoodie. “Yeah, he’s surely proud of you, you pink Pikachu.”

He then ruffled her hair completely messing up her pink locks and earning an indignant whine.

“Hey!” Remi squealed before shocking with her lightning both John and poor Blyke caught in the crossfire.

John immediately pulled away his hand, raising his arms in surrender. “Now easy there, Miss Lightning Goddess.”

Despite the assaulting electricity coming out of her body Blyke hugged his girlfriend even closer. “Back off, she is mine.”

“Don’t worry my friend, I was and always will be a Blemi shipper.” John winked at him making his cheek flush a pretty pink again.

Seraphina knew there was absolutely nothing going on between John and Remi but she still found herself leaning into his best friend’s personal space who unconsciously reciprocated the notion, brushing up against her. He stood so close now that she could feel his body heat radiating from him even through all the clothes.

Ever since the grill party she was somehow more self-conscious about his presence. How that was even possible when she wanted nothing more than to glue herself to him to never be separated again was a mystery even to her. The only thing she could do was to try and have an iron grip on her behavior. She couldn’t accidentally mess up what they had now, so she had to regain her slipping self-control sooner rather than later.

To do this she had a few things in mind starting with their favorite sport.

“So… I understand Blyke, Isen, and Remi dressing up and all, but what about Arlo?” She tilted her head, a smirk forming on her lips. “He would never wear a costume of his own volition.”

Annoying Arlo was something that brought them delight even on the darkest days.

Arlo glared at her. “This is not a costume.”

“I couldn’t tell.”

Seraphina wasn’t about to stop when a golden opportunity presented itself to make fun of Arlo, but suddenly the impossible seemed to happen when John placed an arm around her shoulders effectively shutting her up.

“Come on Sera! Arlo’s looking fine! He’s very handsome in that suit!”

For good measure, John even gave Arlo a thumbs up.

This made everyone, and I mean everyone pause and look at him like he grew a second head or something. Did John… did John just compliment Arlo? Defended him? Arlo of all people? Instead of mocking him? What? What was going on?

Everyone was lost for words, Arlo himself more than anyone. He knew he should feel grateful but his danger senses going haywire overrode any sense of gratitude he could have felt.

‘What the hell John?’ was his predominant thought.

Seraphina herself was eyeing her best friend like he went crazy. He looked into her eyes telling her without words that he would explain it later. Trusting him more than anyone she didn’t press the matter further… for now.

The awkward silence was broken by similarly awkward words when Evie gave Arlo her shy double thumbs up. “Yeah, you look great Arlo! Your look is very… classy! The material was also very soft on my face when I ran into you. I would be concerned about getting it dirty though. The carnival isn’t the cleanest place after all.”

She scratched her neck, a blush covering her cheeks from embarrassment.

It was one of those moments Arlo had no idea what the socially more appropriate response was. Laugh or cry? Probably neither.

“I… appreciate your kind words, Evie.”

“Why do only the low tiers look normal?” Claire yet again let out an exasperated sigh while putting a hand on her cheek, her tone all dramatic.

“Hey, don’t put me in the same group as them.” Elaine objected.

“Don’t worry, Elaine. You can be an honorably low tier for today!” Dylan said reassuringly.

She mulled over this while her eyes roamed over their friends, especially the weirdly dressed high tiers. “Yeah, I’ll take that.”

The group laughed again noting how much everyone, even Elaine changed since they first started high school.

The world really started to change around them.

“Now what do we have here?” A voice suddenly sounded from above catching the group’s attention. It wasn’t especially loud, but they could still all hear it. When they looked up, they spotted a tall man with a long, dark-blue cape and cylinder in the same color sitting at the top of the giant pole next to the huge gate leading to the carnival. He wore dark red pants with golden stripes while his chest was completely exposed, and a single enormous gold key was dangling from his neck.

The lanky figure dropped down from his post into the middle of the crowd scaring several unsuspecting visitors. From closer inspection, one could see his deep-blue imperial beard accentuating his wide toothy grin. His eyes glowed in an ocean blue color sparkling with joy as his gaze landed on a certain young man.

“If it’s not my dear boy, the Jolly Joker of fate, little Johnny!” The man, even taller than Arlo enveloped John in a hug easily lifting him up in the process.

“Mesto put me down!” John grumbled while half-heartedly struggling to get out of the man’s grip.

“Seems like you put on some more muscle weight. What are you planning to do with all these muscles? Start another revolution, huh?” He laughed glee clearly in his voice, looking at the boy in his arms left and right, then he whispered close to his ear. “Or is it to finally seduce that elusive soulmate of yours?”

This of course evoked a furious blush from him and he strategically turned his face to completely hide it from Seraphina’s view. She was curious about what their discussion entailed but decided to ask later.

“Certainly not!” He whisper-shouted back only making Mesto cackle harder.

“Certainly yes based on your expression.”

“Could you not?!” John growled out in a low tone warning the other he was crossing a line.

The fellow raised an amused eyebrow at the threat but stopped nevertheless turning his attention now to his other little adoptive child.

“My, my! Even my precious pink pocket mouse has come to see me!”

“Mesto!” Remi ran up to him embracing his side tightly. “It’s been too long.”

The carnival master let go of John with his right to scoop up Remi into his arm as well now holding two full-grown adults with ease. Most of the people around shot them weird looks and confused grimaces. Even most of the other group members didn’t know what to make of the scene and were relieved only by the fact that the two obviously were comfortable with all of this.

“It’s certainly been! You got all busy with making the world a better place that you forgot all about your adoptive father!” Mesto cried out dramatically feigning pain from the heartbreak. “So cruel!”

Remi giggled while John groaned.

“Could you put me down at least?”

He ignored his question focusing his attention on Remi. “So how have you been? Still not together with this buffoon?”

Now this caused both Seraphina and Blyke to snap their heads to them so fast it almost caused whiplash. They narrowed their eyes nearly boring holes into their lovers’ scalps.

Remi laughed good-naturedly, shaking her head. “Nope, Jemi isn’t canon and it’ll never be. I found my soulmate anyway.”

“Yes, Jemi is dead, was dead, and will remain dead forever so don’t ever bring it up again!” John gave him a pointed stare.

Mesto immediately understood his panic. His soulmate was here. This news filled the man’s eyes with curiosity, scanning the people around them to find the girl he had heard so much about. It really wasn’t hard to find her, he just had to look for the lady with the nastiest glare shooting daggers at him after his last remark. His boy, John had a feisty one for sure. He could feel the threat physically manifesting from those sky-blue eyes.

He leaned closer to John locking his gaze with him to see into his soul. His boy was good at lying but even the best liars had their limits. When the man was sure he got John’s undivided attention he asked in a quiet voice. “I assume you’re finally together with your soulmate, right?”

John wanted to avert his eyes from his intense gaze when the more than uncomfortable question came up, but he wanted Mesto to take his answer seriously and stop bothering him. “No, we aren’t and won’t be. She isn’t interested.”

The man’s eyebrows arched in surprise and not a small amount of confusion. He could see he wasn’t lying however his statement didn’t make sense. He glanced at the magenta-haired girl apparently planning his murder based on the energy radiating from her whole being then turned back to Remi who groaned burying her face in her hands.

Something was amiss, alas it was time for him to take action. And the best way to do it? Give a good stir to the boiling drama pot.

He dropped down the two youngsters concentrating now on other familiar faces.

“If not my two favorite little low tiers! Dylan! Evie! Welcome to The Crippled Carnival again!” He bowed in front of them with practiced elegance then he looked up at the girl giving her a playful wink. “Albeit I have to say my vendors won’t share my happiness when they learn The Devil graced us with her presence again.”

“Happy to see you too.” Evie beamed at him cheerfully like always but then her smile turned just a tad bit too wide. “But please don’t tell them I’m here. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Mesto, we finally meet again!” Dylan was practically jumping in front of him with restless energy. His amber eyes were sparkling while he was bouncing from one foot to the other. The carnival master perceptive eyes spotted the thick folder peeking out of his bag and immediately knew something was up.

“Dylan, my boy I believe we have something to discuss, but first let me get acquainted with your friends. Would you be so kind…?” He gestured to the others around them, and the boy eagerly nodded.

“This is Arlo, usually the voice of reason in our friend group.” He wildly gesticulated around Arlo who showed them the most neutral face possible.

Mesto raised an eyebrow while looking at him. “Why is he dressed for the royal gala?”

Before he could open his mouth to answer the question himself Dylan cut the conversation short.

“For reasons.”

Arlo let out a tsk earning amused chuckles from the others.

The man stroked his beard contemplating something before he draped an arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Hm, this way of introduction seems a little boring to me. What do you think about playing a little game with me Dylan?”

“Game?” He blinked up at him, suddenly nervous.

“Yes, a game!” Mesto straightened up only to grab Dylan’s shoulders now with both hands easily twirling him around. “Just giving me some simple dry info about your friends lacks depth and character! So, tell me two truths and one lie!”

“What?” Dylan exclaimed immediately intimidated by the unexpected challenge.

“Let’s make it fun! First tell me about yourself and the people I already know, so you can get a hang of it. What do you say?”

“I don’t know…” He shrunk away from Mesto but there was no escape from the man’s request. After all, he had his own favor to ask later.

“Let’s just try, shall we?” Mesto said positioning him right in front of John. “One, two, three… now!”

The abrupt countdown activated his panic response and he immediately started to ramble.

“Well… you see… John… He spends hours thinking up ways to please Seraphina, the simpest simp of them all, and isn’t even ashamed of it.”

John groaned while the others sniggered.

“Two, he has a fan club with girls fawning over him left and right wearing his face on shirts…”

Seraphina clenched her fists remembering those damn leeches. Something that did not escape the carnival master’s attention.

“Uhm… and three, he went to be a personal ability trainer because that was his dream not because he wasn’t smart enough to get into university and simp over Seraphina even there.”

“What the hell Dylan!”

The group laughed out loud.

“This is gold.” Isen whipped away a stray tear trying to find his bearings.

“I’m not that stupid!” John protested.

“Please John, you have the smarts for tactician things but you’re completely lost when it comes to the book smart stuff.” Claire pointed out to his dismay.

To John’s outburst, Dylan took a step back in panic. “Sorry, I hate being put on the spot!”

“No, no, this is fun. Please continue.” Isen chimed in grabbing a bag of popcorn from someone walking by not caring about the obvious protest.

“It was quite informative, please continue!” Mesto nodded as well pushing the youngster in front of Remi now.

“About Remi… She has a baton named Sebastian which she uses with her soulmate, Blyke quite often.“

“Dude!” Blyke shrieked, his cheeks turning as red as his hair.

“Ohohohooo!” The man flashed the poor redhead an amused toothy grin.

“She really likes to roleplay from time to time with Isen and Blyke.”

“Wha-“Everyone else’s eyes went wide.

“We’re cosplaying for cons stop putting it like that!”

“And she definitely doesn’t fantasize about beating up Ember agents while singing in the shower.”

“How do you know about that?!” Remi only flushed in embarrassment at this last statement. Her eyes snapped at her soulmate in realization. “Blyke?!”

Blyke was looking anywhere but at her.

“I don’t know anything about this.”

“This game sounds more like three truths and no lie…” Isen mumbled to himself but wasn’t about to ruin his fun with pesky things like the truth.

“Next up is Evie!” Mesto guided Dylan to the girl.

“Evie… well…” He was a little hesitant with his best friend for certain reasons.

“Come on Dylan! You can’t say anything bad.” Evie gave him her signature smile.

“Okay… so… Evie… once drank an officer from the authorities under the table to get his keycard and break unconscious John and Remi out of an NXgen facility with a car she also stole from the same officer and drove us all to safety.”

Everyone’s mouth fell agape.

“This must be the lie…” Isen thought out loud and the others nodded.

Dylan continued. “Then there was that incident when she lived in a brothel for two weeks and learned a few tricks from the sex workers there which she used to seduce an Ember agent and inject him with the disabler to hinder their operation.”

“Wha-“Remi couldn’t find the words.

“Oh and for the third, that one time she won a bet against some drug dealers by kidnapping a god tier just so they would tell us the info about their distribution system.”

“The hell!” Blyke yelled.

“Which one is the lie?!” Isen was eating the popcorn at lightning speed to calm his nerves.

Evie just laughed.

“Wish it was all true, but I really drove that car into a ditch.”

“Not a ditch, a freaking river!” Dylan shivered as the memories flooded back into his mind. “It was so cold, and we had to drag John and Remi out then flag down a truck only to abduct the driver then he even had to help in stuffing the two into the back because neither of us could lift John up he was just so heavy!”

“Wait, I have no memory of any of this!” No matter how hard John racked his brain for any type of recollection of these events he came up empty-handed.

“Me neither!” Remi was in the same boat, no memory of any of this at all.

“Of course not, you two were completely out.” Evie shrugged.

“To be honest I’m surprised neither of you sustained any brain damage with all the instances we bumped your heads into various objects while struggling to move you.” Dylan scratched his nape nervously.

“I don’t think any brain damage would be noticeable anyway,” Arlo said earning two glares and a few snickers from the others.

“I think we did a pretty good job considering the circumstances.” Evie grinned offering her hand for a high five which Dylan reciprocated with no less enthusiasm.

“Wait! Hold on! When did this even take place?” Blyke voiced everyone’s question.

She tilted her head in confusion. “During the rebellion and revolution of course.”

“How did you even kidnap a god tier? Without the dampener or amplifier only a god tier can defeat a god tier.” Arlo frowned at the confusing information.

The girl’s lips pressed together forming a thin line. “Sorry to burst your bubble Arlo, but god tiers aren’t that undefeatable. Yes, a direct confrontation with a god tier when you aren’t one is suicide but a little sleep medication and most of you are out cold.”

“What?” Arlo’s expression was one of shock.

“Okay, maybe not a little but a lot of sleep medication but my statement still stands. Getting you drunk, seducing you, electrocuting the water while you’re swimming, luring your kid away with candy, and asking for ransom…” Evie was listing off things on her fingers.

“Okay, okay, we get it!” Blyke stopped the girl, getting more and more terrified of her with every second.

“So, our little low tiers were living a secret life we had no idea of,” Isen concluded finishing up his popcorn.

“Did you think we were just simply passing along messages while you guys were out there fighting?” Dylan asked their high-tier friends who obviously had not the slightest idea what they were up to.

“How come we never heard about any of this before?” John asked.

“It was too chaotic to waste our time on storytelling during the rebellion and revolution and after everything went down it just never came up, I guess.” Evie shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

Remi peered at Dylan with curiosity. “Now I want to hear Dylan’s ‘two truths and one lie’.”

“Why not I guess?” He nodded easily accepting the request. “One, I worked on a farm to gain the trust of low and mid tiers and get them to join the revolution.”

The others nodded. This was interesting but nothing as crazy as the stuff Evie did.

“Two, at one point we broke into a private event hosted by the authorities and put laxatives in the cake making almost two hundred high ranks shit themselves just so we could steal back a pocket watch for one of the dead vigilante’s family and gain their support in the revolution.”

“Oh god, do you have pictures?!” Isen grabbed his shoulders not being able to contain his excitement.

Dylan gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, we were too busy surviving.”

“There must be camera footage somewhere!” Isen cried out in agony.

“Let it go bro.” Blyke patted his back dragging away his wailing best friend so Dylan could continue.

“So… uhm… three, once we had to get help from this one guy who was leading this secret cult. The only way to get in was either to join their secret orgies to spread the high-tier genes or to marry into the cult as a keeper who was tasked with raising the kids. I wasn’t a fan of either idea, but we really, really needed this guy so…”

Remi was gripping at her Pikachu ears. “Wait, are you telling us that you either participated in wild high-tier orgies or got married?!”

“Obviously I wasn’t qualified for the first one…” He nervously laughed.

Arlo was massaging the bridge of his nose. “So, you were married? You seriously married into a cult?”

“Not anymore. I finally got an annulment two months ago.”

“You were married for years?!” Elaine felt like she didn’t even know their low-tier friends anymore.

“Not legally as per the court ruled. I was still a minor and didn’t have parental consent that’s why I got the annulment and not a divorce. My sham wife cursed me and every single one of my descendants for the next 5 generations though, so there is that.” He heaved out a sigh. “Still trying to get uncursed.”

“Was this really necessary?” Seraphina asked while sucking on the straw of her boba.

“Yeah, we really needed this guy on our side and the alternative was John joining the orgies.”

She promptly spit out her drink.

“What?!”

“He was okay with playing along and faking it but those women were already tearing off his clothes so I don’t think-“

John jumped in, slapping a hand over his friend’s mouth. “Now, now, didn’t we hear about your adventures enough? Let’s get to the others, shall we?”

They all heard a loud bang and their eyes snapped to Seraphina who was standing right beside the gate, her hand now balled into a fist inside a huge dent in the massive iron structure.

“Oh, I just had this pesky little fly getting on my nerves. I just had to… smash it.” She growled through gritted teeth.

John wasn’t sure why his soulmate was so angry but wanted to appease her, while the others knew exactly why she was so angry and wanted to stay out of the way.

‘Not interested my ass. My boy is a moron.’ Mesto thought to himself.

“You guys are suspiciously quiet.” Arlo regarded the two other low tiers with narrowed eyes.

This got Blyke’s attention as well. “Yeah, while we were losing our minds over the amazing adventures of Evie and Dylan you two didn’t seem surprised at all.”

Remi’s eyes widened. “Wait, did you guys too-“

“No.” Claire immediately cut her off. “At least nothing as crazy as Dylan and especially not Evie.”

“Yeah, sometimes Evie freaks me out more than John.” Adrion grimaced as the girl in question shot him a playful glare.

“Oh don’t act like you didn’t do anything crazy.” She rolled her eyes still smiling. “Dylan can back me up on this, right Dylan?”

He nodded earning a glare from Claire while Adrion just became even more anxious.

“Will we now get the dirty details of your life?” Arlo smirked at Claire who only responded with a deadpan expression.

“I wouldn’t be so happy about it if I were you. We started out with well-known innocent facts and now Dylan is spilling everyone’s deepest darkest secrets.”

“How does that have anything to do with me?” Arlo lifted an eyebrow.

“We’re yet to get to your turn.”

…Okay maybe this made him a tad nervous.

“Wait!” Isen stopped them putting his hands together to form a T. “Which one was the lie from your three facts?”

“Oh, that… I didn’t work on a farm; it was a factory.”

‘This guy has no idea how to play this game.’ Isen shook his head in resignation but said nothing. He couldn’t stop the flow of entertainment after all.

“So, Claire…” Dylan started drawing everyone’s attention to him again. “One, she took the amplifier drug frequently to get visions then discovered that it worked even better combined with alcohol, but she eventually had to stop because Adrion threatened to lock her up in detox.”

“Wow… just… wow.” John knew about many things, but he did not know about this.

“Don’t look at me like that! I had to keep everyone alive!” Claire shouted as everyone was staring at her.

“I can’t even find words anymore…” Blyke tried and failed to digest all of this new information.

“You aren’t-“Remi attempted to ask her but she answered before the other could finish the question.

“Of course not. I’ve been clean even before the revolution ended.” Claire massaged her temples cooking up a few plans to get back at Dylan for this. The guy had absolutely no filter.

“I’m sorry to ask, but what are the other two facts?” Isen was absolutely not sorry to ask.

“Hm…” Dylan was contemplating for a moment then continued. “Two, she started her own cult while under the influence and she’s still in hiding from many former members who want their donations back.”

“To be fair my visions were pretty accurate so it’s not like I was lying.” The girl shrugged unapologetically.

“Yeah, but you told them you were an eternal goddess from the future who knows what will happen.” Adrion pointed out.

Claire rolled her eyes. “Details.”

“I’m starting to think that low tiers are pretty terrifying creatures,” Blyke whispered to Remi who nodded in agreement.

“Only the ones associated with John,” Isen added in a low tone. “I don’t know if he attracts the crazy ones, or he changes them.”

“Three, she once abducted an ice cream truck with Adrion because she saw in a vision that it was the only way to save the day, but they couldn’t shake off the police because the turn-off button for the music was nowhere to be found making them dash through the city chased by the cops while the ‘Happy fruity panda’ song was playing non-stop.”

“Oh my god, I can perfectly imagine it!” Isen wheezed as he was holding his stomach.

The others were highly amused by the mental picture as well.

“Did they manage to save the day?” Elaine asked between laughs.

“Yeah,” Dylan answered immediately. “But how it all worked out is worth its own story time.”

“Dylan, how do you know all this?” Arlo was more than suspicious of his seemingly vast and in-depth knowledge about everyone.

The boy nervously scratched the back of his neck yet again.

“Now that’s something I can’t tell.”

“I believe Adrion is the last of our low-tier victims,” Isen smirked with glee.

John eyed his male best friend. “I’m really curious about what you have been hiding from me.”

“Yeah, we learn a lot about our own best friends from Dylan,” Seraphina said in a dangerously low tone while her eyes were fixated on only one person.

That person who had raven hair gulped.

“Please go on Dylan. I want to know more.” She patted his shoulder with feigned nonchalance.

Nobody wanted to be in John’s place right now.

“Well… Adrion actually wasn’t that wild.”

The young man in question sighed in relief.

“He once dressed up as a woman with John to fool the authorities and got several offers from high-ranking officials to visit their rooms with them in private.”

Elaine looked Adrion up and down. “I mean he can definitely pull it off.”

Blyke nodded in agreement. “He has that feminine sexiness when he wants it.”

“Definitely.” Remi and Isen said in unison.

“Come on guys, it was nothing! You should have seen how many offers John got from both men and women!” Adrion was too flustered to think before talking. Something he realized when John next to him broke out in sweat going into full-blown panic.

Why did the topic always circle back to his escapades?!

“John, it seems you were pretty popular while I was away hiding from the authorities and Spectre.”

“Moving on…!” John ushered Dylan to continue who sensing the danger did just that.

“Two, Adrion confessed his love for Claire while they were both drowning in ice cream because he thought they were about to die and didn’t want to keep it to himself if those were their last moments.”

“Goddammit Dylan!” Claire wanted to punch him. Hard.

Adrion just buried himself under his arms out of embarrassment.

“Was it at least romantic? I mean apart from the entire drowning situation.” Remi asked with sparkling eyes.

Claire thought about it for a moment before answering. “Actually, it was. His words were sincere and sweet the timing just wasn’t the greatest.”

“Awwwww.” Remi coed.

“Three, Adrion was deathly afraid of Seraphina for a long time after their first meeting because she blew up a car and he couldn’t even see how she did it.”

“I can relate, she can be absolutely terrifying,” John mumbled under his breath.

“What?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Nothing.”

“This one is the lie.” Adrion peeked out from under his fingers. “She didn’t blow up a car, she blew up an entire shop!”

“That’s her time magic for you.” Blyke sagely nodded.

“Nothing new under the sun.” Arlo agreed.

“Who is next?” Isen asked a little too eagerly.

“Doesn’t really matter. I think nothing can surprise me after kidnapping, orgies, marriage, and cult leadership.” Arlo wasn’t sure if he even wanted to know more.

“Are you sure Arlo?” Elaine sucked the last drops out of her drink. “So far Dylan could drag out pretty private information about everyone.”

“He knows them better than he knows me.” He was confident he was safe.

“If you say so.” On the other hand, Elaine wasn’t so sure about it.

“Let’s go with Elaine next.” Remi pointed at her excitedly.

“Okay…” Dylan nodded accepting the request. “First fact, Elaine used to drug people with her ‘orange juice’…”

“That’s like… common knowledge at this point.” Isen wasn’t impressed.

“Let me finish! At first, it was accidental because she was experimenting with flavor enhancers she got from questionable sources. But after she discovered it had a funny effect on people, she enjoyed it too much to stop. Encouraged by her success she started drugging people outside of school as well. Strangers, schoolmates, teachers… sometimes out of fun, mostly out of spite. The scariest thing is she now has an undetectable technique because she uses a modified version of her power to do it and even if they could actually distinguish it from the victim’s aura nobody would suspect a piece of healing aura to be a drug.”

“I stand corrected, I didn’t know about this.” Isen gulped.

“But how…?” Remi wondered.

“Isn’t it a better question why?!” Blyke was stunned at how okay his friends seemed to be with Elaine drugging people.

“I understand. People are annoying.” Arlo answered the question for him.

Elaine nodded. “That too, but it’s also fun to fuck with people. It only makes them act a little funny but nothing serious. After I had to abide by the hierarchy for so long it feels good to disregard all of it and just do whatever I want.”

“Like abandoning morals and human decency?” Claire wasn’t even really surprised. Everyone was just beyond messed up in this friend group.

 Elaine shrugged. “Maybe? Sometimes you just gotta listen to the voices in your head.”

“You’re making me worried Elaine.” Remi scratched the side of her face.

“Girl, I wouldn’t worry about others when you carry around a named toy that you use to spank your boyfriend and his boyfriend. If this is what you do in public, I’d be sweating bullets if I were you just thinking about what Dylan might bring up about your bedroom life once it’s the boys’ turn.”

Remi swallowed. Isen’s and Blyke’s turns were still up, but luckily for them, Dylan was still not done with Elaine.

“Second fact, Elaine learned how to do this while frequently visiting John to heal his injuries when Doc was stuck on the Spectre side with Leilah and Seraphina. It was his payback for healing him between battles and they had a lot of alone time anyway.”

“And again, all the weird shit leads back to John.” Isen wasn’t even surprised at this point.

Elaine didn’t think there were any dark secrets she should be worried about, her shenanigans were well known after all, but as it turned out her survival was put in jeopardy thanks to something completely innocent. She didn’t have to turn around to feel the murderous presence behind her.

“Seems like you busied yourself in my absence just fine John.”

“Sera, I swear everything was for the greater good!” He raised both of his hands in defense. “It was just me paying back for her service!”

“Greater good? Payback? When I’m gonna get this type of ‘payback’?” Seraphina pushed his chest with her index finger until his back hit the side of the gate.

“What?” John didn’t have the slightest idea what she was talking about, but he wished he knew so he could avoid his best friend’s wrath. Did she want him to teach her new uses for her ability? But didn’t they already train a lot together? What did she want?!

Seraphina locked eyes with him, her gaze somewhere between pleading and demanding him to understand what she meant but as always, her love was absolutely and utterly clueless.

She sighed stepping back in frustration. There was no point in questioning him when it just got him all the more confused.

“Moving on…” Dylan coughed awkwardly. “Third fact, at one point Elaine had a shrine for Arlo, but when all the shit went down, and she snapped she ceremoniously dumped all the pictures and other stuff into a river from a bridge.”

“I burned those actually.” Elaine tilted her head remembering the bonfire.

“Wait, she really had all those photos of Arlo?” Evie was kind of surprised by the extent of Elaine’s high school crush.

“Oh, I did and more, but once I decided everything was bullshit and boys were stupid it was so freeing. I piled it all up and burned every last bit.” She smiled reminiscing about the flames.

“So, you don’t want to date anyone?”

She lowered her shades to meet the other girl’s eyes. “You don’t have time to date when you’re in med school darling.”

“Okay, who is next?” Dylan asked enjoying his role a little too much.

Isen who shared or even exceeded his enthusiasm pushed Blyke in front of him. “I would like to volunteer my good friend!”

“The hell bro?!” Blyke growled as he aggressively swatted away his best friend’s hands.

“Better you than me.” Isen raised his arms in surrender almost getting smacked by said best friend but dodged in time.

“Calm down Blyke, it would have been your turn sooner or later anyway.” Remi stroked her boyfriend’s head affectionately.

He pouted, somewhat annoyed at how she stopped him from beating up Isen. “I don’t want everyone to learn about my private life. Especially details about my private life I don’t even know of.”

“On the contrary, I very much want to hear what you were hiding from me for so long.” Isen dramatically sighed tilting his head backward with the back of his hand against his forehead. “My best friend keeping secrets from me? The betrayal!”

“I must agree. It doesn’t even have to be John’s turn and I get to know so many new things he just forgot to tell me about.” Seraphina glared at her own best friend hardly suppressing the urge to drag him off to a secluded location and make him tell her everything, and she meant everything about what he was up to in her absence.

John really appreciated the group’s protection right about now.

“Okay, Blyke…” Dylan started this round with practiced ease. “One, he practiced how to ask Remi out with Isen for months only to chicken out every single time and be mocked by Isen. When he finally mustered up the courage he went to Remi’s room where she was sleeping under a blanket. He sat on the edge of the bed, stroking her through the covers and even placing a kiss on her hand while pouring his heart out. It was really heartfelt and moving, one would tear up hearing such a personal and sincere profession of love.”

“Awww, this sounds so sweet.” Evie coed.

“Yeah… if it wasn’t actually Isen under that blanket...”

“Oh my god!” Claire clutched her stomach laughing and the others weren’t faring much better.

“I thought it was Rem! I even asked if she could hear me, and this idiot gave me a reassuring nod!” Blyke angrily gestured toward his best friend.

“To be fair I was really sleep deprived and couldn’t process you were actually trying to confess to her and not just practice with me for the hundredth time.” Isen shrugged innocently but his devilish smirk betrayed his true feelings. “The hand kiss was really nice though.”

“Holy shit, you couldn’t distinguish Isen’s hand from Remi’s?” Seraphina cackled.

“You don’t get it! Isen uses this special cream on his hands making them soft like an angel’s kiss!” Blyke tried to defend himself only to dig himself deeper.

“And how do you know this Blyke?” John arched an amused eyebrow.

Blyke buried his burning face into his hands.

“So, what was your reaction?” Adrion turned to Isen with a grin.

“I said yes of course.” He replied to him flipping his hair.

“This is hilarious!” Elaine struggled to breathe.

“How should I put my feelings about this? Disappointed but not surprised would be pretty accurate.” Arlo said shaking his head.

“Did he confess to her afterward?” John asked still trying to regain his bearings.

“No.” Isen snorted at the memory. “He was so emotionally exhausted and done by that point that he just curled up on the floor and started sobbing. When Remi got back, she was so worried about him that she carried him bridal style to the bed and took care of him while he cried.”

This elicited another round of laughter at Blyke’s expense.

He just wanted to curl up and cry, even the memory was too much.

“Come on Blyke.” Remi rubbed reassuring circles on her boyfriend’s back. “It could have been worse.”

“How?!”

“I mean, you could have confessed to Arlo instead.”

“Gods no!” Arlo and Blyke shouted in unison both shuddering at the prospect.

“How did Blyke even confess after such trauma?” Claire loved being part of this friend group sometimes.

“He didn’t. Remi actually got tired of waiting for his move and just confessed herself during a candlelit dinner date she organized and all.” Dylan answered in Isen’s stead.

“Again, how do you know about all of this?” Arlo eyed the guy with unsatisfiable curiosity.

“Again, I can’t tell you, sorry.” Dylan gave him an apologetic shrug.

“What’s next?” Isen urged him to continue.

“Let’s see… for the second fact, Blyke honestly wasn’t sure if Remi was his soulmate because he thought it was too good to be true. He wanted to make sure but refused Isen’s help to just break into her medical records and check her level and soulmark development data. Instead, he started to rigorously train with John and anytime he leveled up he subtly asked Remi if her soulmark changed. He had to level up three times before he was confident enough in the results.”

“Wait, so instead of just asking her directly or accepting Isen’s help he actually drove himself to his very limits just to make sure, I mean extra sure that Remi was his soulmate?” Adrion tilted his head.

“It’s kind of dumb but sweet. Just like Blyke, I guess.” Evie giggled.

“I did my best okay?!” Blyke really wanted this round to end.

“Awww, it’s okay Blyke!” Remi hugged her soulmate placing a kiss on his cheeks. “We all know you’re a little shy sometimes.”

He glared at her, puffing out his cheeks in a pout.

“Fact three, after realizing John’s incredibly sexual magnetism-“

“Why is it back to me again?!”

“-Blyke and Isen went to him to learn a trick or two, but John refused claiming he had no such a thing. Knowing this was bullshit the guys decided to take a different route. To get him to cooperate they invited him on all kinds of outings where they knew there will be girls close by and studied his mannerism, body language, word use, and everything they could think of. In the end, they stopped because they realized it was wrong doing this.”

“I thought you were trying to bond with me!” John yelled, hurt by the obvious betrayal.

But his outburst wasn’t the main concern of the two right now.

No, they knew the moment those words left Dylan’s mouth that their minutes were numbered.

“Isen.” A hand fell on the guy’s left shoulder.

“Blyke.” Another hand landed on the other boy’s right shoulder.

“Guys run!!!” Remi shouted making the two bolt like a lightning ball.

Even when both knew it was futile.

Before they could even make it five feet from the group a raging locomotive in the form of Seraphina smashed into them. It all happened in the blink of an eye. In one moment, they were running for their lives in the next they were hanging from the twenty feet tall pole by their underwear.

Remi wanted to feel sorry for them but the fact that they thought John and Seraphina were already in a relationship when they dragged John out to pick up girls didn’t help their case at all.

“We’re sorry!!!” They cried trying to appease Seraphina glaring at them from the ground.

“Dylan, let’s hear about Isen’s deeds, shall we?” The girl commanded, not planning on getting the two crackheads down anytime soon.

Dylan gulped and obliged.

“Isen needed money between jobs when he decided to change career paths. All the things I’ll tell you about are connected to this predicament. First fact, the first thing he did was what he does best, he stalked people for money. This got him banned from three different restaurants and four sports complexes just in this city. They called him The Marriage Murderer, Devine Divorce Detective, or Affair Assassin. People paid him good money just to stay out of their business, but after a few attempts at his life he had to stop and hire John to smooth things over with the bigger dogs.”

“Why is it that everyone goes to John when things go south and not me?” Arlo asked crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“He has a way with words.” Adrion supplied.

“You mean death threats after he beats the living shit out of people?” Claire arched an eyebrow.

“Still words.” Her boyfriend shrugged.

“Second fact… So, when he couldn’t get more money from this source, he had to find something just as lucrative but way less dangerous. John told him to lay low or die basically. He lacked skills in any other field but had other… talents to make use of. That’s how he became a foot model.”

“No, I would never sell off my feet! Never!” Isen shouted from his post on the pole. “My feet will forever remain hidden under my socks!”

“This is the lie then?” Evie asked.

Dylan nodded. “Yes, he was actually a hand and butt model.”

‘He still doesn’t know how to play this game.’ Arlo rubbed his temples in agony, and it wasn’t even his turn yet. He was well aware of his impending doom.

“To think there must be several pictures of Isen’s ass circulating on the internet…” Elaine shuddered.

“I mean, he has pretty cute butt cheeks. I’m more uncomfortable about what people use those pictures for.” Remi grimaced.

“Remi don’t go there.” Arlo felt a shiver run down his spine.

“Third fact, when the demand dropped for his butt pics because he was a way overrepresented model on the market-“

“I certainly didn’t want to know about this.” Arlo groaned.

“-he yet again had to change tactics and look for another profitable business. After their ‘study sessions’ with John he saw the golden opportunity and-“

“Dylan, stop right fucking now before you get me killed for real!!!” Isen screamed in utter panic.

“No Dylan, continue.” Seraphina placed a hand on his shoulder, her eyes not leaving the hanging boys.

He looked between the three of them before coming to a decision. “Sorry Isen, she’s way scarier than you.”

“Goddammit Dylan! Why did you even have to bring this up in the first place!” Isen felt his end nearing.

“So, he saw the golden opportunity to sell pictures and other stuff of him. He even stole a few of John’s sweaty gym shirts and sold them on auctions. You would be surprised how much people paid for those. Some people even sent him private messages to ask him for John’s sweaty boxers, but he thought that was crossing a line.”

“…I don’t even know what to say.” John was stunned.

“Me neither.” Remi, Evie, and Elaine agreed in unison.

“I’m disgusted,” Claire said with Adrion nodding along.

“Isen is so dead.” Arlo murmured.

“You’re so dead.” Blyke turned to his companion.

“I’m so dead,” Isen said accepting his fate.

Seraphina was completely silent. So silent it made the others anxious. Then in the blink of an eye, she disappeared and reappeared with the two previously hanging boys in her hands. She let them both unceremoniously drop to the ground then leveled Isen with an unreadable expression.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

‘…Is it too late to change my name, move to another country and start a new life?’ He wondered.

“I think we have only Arlo and Seraphina left.” Evie looked at the two.

“Let’s go with Arlo.” Adrion offered and everybody nodded in agreement not wanting to piss off Seraphina even more.

Arlo sighed. “Let’s get it over with. I have no secrets anyway.”

“Okay, first… hm… once Arlo was participating in this charity event with a bunch of kids that kept running up and down. The problem was that he is like a human brick wall and when some crashed into him, they actually broke bones. It got so bad that some adults started to complain but because he was a god tier and the main person to draw attention to the event, they couldn’t just remove him or put him in a more secluded location. Luckily for them, one of the volunteers came up with an idea. They had many games for the kids and their guardians, one of them was this inflatable sumo suit fighting one.”

“Oh no.” Remi muffled her snort with her hand.

“So, they put him in one. He wanted to protest but it was an event paying homage to the superheroes who fell against Ember in the pursuit of justice. He sucked it up and wore that thing for hours, but no major news outlets were allowed to publish pictures of him.”

“What a shame, I would have loved to see a picture of inflatable sumo warrior Arlo.” John shot him a toothy grin.

“Oh, there are pictures. The kids had the opportunity to take photos with him so at least a couple dozen of them should be out there circulating on the internet.”

“This sounds pretty sweet.” Evie patted Arlo’s arm. “Wish I could see one.”

He frowned. “I look ridiculous on them.”

“No, you look like someone who cares.” She smiled up at him.

He said nothing.

“Okay, second fact, once he got an assignment from the authorities and it was at a faraway unknown location. He was new to driving and never really left Wellston before, so he was using GPS. However, the device was telling him nonsense and led him to the middle of nowhere. His phone was dead and the tank was empty. He had to actually walk back on foot to a bigger road where he was picked up by a farmer and his wife, but because the two front seats were both occupied by them, he had to travel with the pigs in the back.”

Isen rubbed his chin. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“I’m not finished yet. So, the farmer and his wife took him to a gas station where he called a tow truck and informed his supervisors about the situation. Big mistake. Spectre was in the area, and they ambushed him while he was doing his business.”

“What the hell Dylan!” Arlo flushed in embarrassment. “How the hell do you know about any of this?”

“Wait so this is all true?” Blyke blinked owlishly at the nth unbelievable story Dylan came out with that turned out to be true.

Arlo was aggressively rubbing his temples. “Not entirely. I was traveling with sheep instead of pigs and the shepherd dog was licking my face and hair the whole time.”

‘Dylan still doesn’t know how to play this game.’ Everyone thought at the same time.

“So, you were doing your business when they attacked you,” Isen concluded secretly taking notes.

If you looked closely enough, you could see a vein bursting on Arlo’s forehead.

“They used the dampener on him.”

“They dampened him while he took a dump.” John snickered and the others joined in.

Arlo wanted to die.

“He was stranded without a car with no working phone or partner, his ability halved and his pants down inside the restroom of a gas station.”

The mental image painted by Dylan put everyone on the edge, waiting in utter silence for the story to continue.

“Surrounded by enemies on all sides, but… he had one secret weapon!”

“Oh no!” Isen cried out.

“As the enemy mid-tiers launched their attack he reached into his inner pocket, blocked the first blow with his shield then stabbed his opponent with the mighty Forkinator!” Dylan swung his arms around mimicking the motion for emphasis.

“Wow, it really was a useful gift!” Remi clapped her hands together.

“That day Spectre received a grim reminder of the power of the most terrifying utensil.”

Claire raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t that be the knife?”

“No, if it’s Arlo who uses it.” Isen shuddered in fear.

“What about the last fact?” Evie was eager to hear more stories like this.

“Okay, last fact for Arlo… After he graduated Wellston and joined the Bureau his aunt wanted him to join the dating market as well.”

“No, talk about anything but that!” Arlo sunk his fingers into his hair pulling on his blond locks in agitation. This was a topic he wanted to avoid more than any other.

“Because he didn’t want to raise suspicion by putting up a fight and because he had his own secrets to keep, he gave in, but he soon regretted it.”

“This is gold!” Isen exclaimed for the umpteenth time that day. Who knew a simple introduction game would turn into a goldmine for sensitive information?

“I can’t believe we’re hearing about Arlo’s secret dating life from Dylan of all people.” Seraphina was surprised but certainly not disappointed.

“We never should get on the bad side of Dylan,” John whispered.

“Or Evie,” Seraphina added.

“Agreed.” Remi shared their opinion.

“Turns out high-tier girls are going wild when they see a tall, good-looking, well-established young god tier with connections and wealth. So much so that they became quite… pushy with him.”

“You spelled predatory wrong,” Arlo mumbled under his breath.

“They would insist on taking him home for ‘coffee’ or would try to kiss him on the lips. Some even tried to drug him or use their ability on him to get what they wanted.”

“Wait, I thought this will be a funny story about Arlo’s dating fails not him getting molested and almost sexually assaulted.” Evie felt uncomfortable with the topic.

“Couldn’t you just… punch them unconscious or something?” Claire asked.

“Did you just victim-blame Claire?” Evie narrowed her eyes at her and she raised her arms defensively.

“Wasn’t my intention.”

“I couldn’t just knock unconscious the daughters, sisters, or nieces of high-ranking officials. Not to mention I didn’t expect any of it and was freaking out.”

“I can relate.” John with many similar experiences felt for him.

“In the end, he managed to turn his barrier into a full body armor-like thing just above his skin to repel their unexpected advances.”

“Now I really feel sorry for Arlo.” Seraphina didn’t have ‘feeling sorry for Arlo’ on today’s bingo card, but this day was full of surprises.

“Can we change the topic? It’s not like I could just forget about any of it because people like that are everywhere.” Arlo had enough of this subject entirely.

The others nodded not wanting to make him uncomfortable any further.

“I guess it’s Seraphina’s turn now,” Isen said out loud gaining everyone’s attention.

“Dylan.” She turned to her companion.

“Yes?” He asked nervously.

“Say things I don’t appreciate, and you won’t appreciate what will come your way.”

“Hahaha… yes, of course!” He tried to laugh it off, but his anxiety was palpable.

Seraphina leveled him with a stare.

He swallowed the knot in his throat.

“One, Seraphina likes to play pig-themed games. Two, she can binge-watch 3 seasons of an anime in a row. Three, she would murder anyone who just remotely looks at John in the wrong way and anyone else who threatens the peace of their relationship sopleasedon’tmakemetellyoustuffabaouther…” Dylan rambled out the last part so fast that the words blended into each other, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes then her expression relaxed as she patted the boy on the back.

“Good.”

He sighed in relief.

“Are you satisfied Mesto?”

Everyone turned to look at the man they almost completely forgot about.

He was twirling his mustache, a wide grin stretching over his face.

“More than satisfied. I think we can get this show on the road now.”

Oh boy, they weren’t ready…

Chapter Text

Seraphina was looking down on the two coupons in her hand allowing them to have free boba drinks for the entire duration of the carnival. They were stuffed in her hand not five minutes ago by Mesto when he ushered them away from the group to have some “fun” just the two of them with a wink. She didn’t really get his deal. Wasn’t he the one who wanted John and Remi together? Was this some kind of ploy? But he seemed to want them to be alone. Why? Maybe he did catch onto her feelings? But if she was so obvious John must have noticed as well, right?

Right?

The young man in question was currently deep in thought for some reason if his furrowed brows and the furious scowl on his face were any indications. He was staring right ahead, his gaze fixated on nothing in particular.

She sighed, a frown creeping onto her lips. He couldn’t be this blind. She regretted showing her jealousy in front of everyone, especially him, but at the same time, she couldn’t help herself and was waiting for some kind of reaction from John. He had certainly looked like he really didn’t want her to find out about any of that stuff. But why? Why if not from fear of making her jealous?

But if that was true that also meant that he at least should be aware of her feelings for him. That was the only logical explanation she could think of.

As she was having those thoughts John glanced at her from the corner of his eyes noting that she still looked unhappy. He cursed Dylan for throwing him under the bus like this but knew it was his fault in the first place for being dishonest, so he decided to do the only thing that was left to do.

He suddenly halted in his track prompting her to stop as well and turn her attention to him. She would have fallen over from the abrupt stop, but her advanced time perception granted by her passive saved her some grace. Now she was staring at his face, anxiously awaiting his next words.

This was it? Was he finally at least acknowledging her feelings? Would he tell her to dial down on her jealousy or would he take a more favorable approach? She didn’t even dare to breathe as he was trying and failing to formulate his thoughts into words.

Her eyes shone with hope. Maybe this was finally the time he-

“I’m sorry, Sera.”

How naïve she was.

The words left his mouth after what seemed like an eternity, but they were like cold salt water on her gaping wound. All of a sudden, she felt physically sick as her heart sank like the Titanec after hitting the iceberg. Before she could regain her bearings and react however John continued.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about all the things that happened to me while you were away.”

His burnt golden eyes stared into her sky-blue ones with so much guilt pouring out of them she was caught off guard.

…What?

He reached for her hands taking them into his own bigger ones to convey his feelings the best way they knew. Through touch, they understood each other the easiest. Feeling each other’s closeness and warmth, expressing the depth of their emotions, or just showing that they were there for each other. John felt like he was cheating, appealing to their bond to get her forgiveness easier, but at the same time she deserved a proper apology with no walls between them and this was their way of doing that.

While he averted his eyes, combating the additional guilt that was eating away on him he missed the absolutely flabbergasted confusion taking over his best friend’s entire expression. What was he even talking about? She was relieved it wasn’t an outright rejection that just left his lips, but she had a hard time understanding what he meant.

Luckily for her, she didn’t have to ask him to elaborate.

“I didn’t plan to hide things from you, it kind of just happened this time. When we finally met again during the revolution, I was overjoyed to see you and forgot about everything else. Then we became so busy with all the stuff going on and then other things happened and after everything was over, I mainly wanted to move on with life and concentrate on the present. I didn’t plan on hiding things from you, it just never came up and most of those weren’t exactly good memories to me either. I didn’t feel like bragging about being kidnapped, cross-dressing as a woman to trick men, or being targeted by those devious cult ladies.”

She tried to concentrate on his words, she really did, but as his pleading gaze pierced into her soul, melting her inner parts, and igniting her suppressed desire for him again her brain functions took a nosedive. She wished back the times when she was less affected by those sincere golden eyes, but was there really such a time, or had she just been freer from the ever-piling-up years of yearning?

When his words finally sank in, she realized with a groan he thought she was angry with him for keeping secrets. She wanted to facepalm, scream into a pillow, beat a punching bag into submission, or all of it in this order. More than anything she wanted her stupid best friend to be less blind than an eyeless senile earthworm. Was he doing this on purpose?

She covered her mouth with her hand, eyes wide as a terrible idea struck her.

Was he doing this to spare her feelings? All the other times when she gave him hints that she was available he shut it down, obviously not interested, but that could be chalked up to not being interested in having a romantic relationship in general and not her in particular. What if the problem was with her? What if he actually realized the depth of her feelings for him and didn’t date to spare her from heartbreak? Was she standing in the way of his happiness?

While those ideas plagued her mind the young man in front of her was anxiously holding out for her answer, still delicately clinging to the hand she didn’t rip out from his grasp to slap it on her lips without explanation a moment ago. What she was so shocked about he had no idea and as the seconds of silence stretched longer the weight in his chest became heavier. After a minute he couldn’t bear it anymore and lightly squeezed her fingers.

“Sera…?”

The gesture snapped her out of her tumultuous thoughts her gaze once again locking into his. His burnt golden eyes still begging her, beseeching her to offer him some type of reaction. Anger, annoyance, disappointment, sadness… he didn’t even need forgiveness at this point, he just wanted her to show any type of response apart from the silent treatment.

Seraphina sighed. She realized she was yet to accept his apology unintentionally tormenting her poor best friend who was always insecure about upsetting her with secrets and lies.

“It’s okay, John. I know you didn’t keep things from me on purpose. I believe you to be honest and open with me.” She finally said giving him a soft smile even though her mind was still full of uncertainty about her role in his life. Was she a friend or a foe to John’s happiness? She was unsure at this point.

John himself was completely oblivious to those thoughts as a grin stretched onto his lips.

“So, you forgive me?” He asked with hopefulness just to be sure.

“There is nothing to forgive you for.” She bopped his nose playfully, already turning to continue their walk to the Boba stand. “Let’s go get some of those free mango boba!”

Before she could even take a step however arms wrapped around her from the side, sneaking around her figure behind her back and front of her stomach, pulling her tightly into his best friend’s chest while her head was tucked close to his face with him burying his nose into her hair. She could feel his warmth through the soft fabric of their clothes and the hot air tingled her scalp with every breath he released.

“Thank you, Sera. You’re really the best. I could never ask for a better best friend.”

They were often physically close to each other, but being in his arms like this was a bittersweet heaven she didn’t know if she should love or curse. She felt like everything would be alright and nothing in the world mattered when she was held like this… so firmly, yet so gently at the same time. She couldn’t imagine a better place to be than the embrace of her favorite person in the whole world but at the same time, it made it even harder to voice her true feelings to him. She couldn’t lose this. She couldn’t lose him. If silently suffering and burying her emotions allowed her to have moments like this with him, she would keep her desires under lock and key forever.

Unbeknownst to her John had different yet very similar thoughts to hers.

‘I wish I hadn’t screwed up. Maybe then I wouldn’t have to count the days while I can still hold her like this. Count the days until I’ll have to hand her over to someone else and feel her this close to me for the last time. I wish that day would never come, but I can’t be selfish. I’ll have to let her go when she eventually falls in love.’

That last image of an unknown person taking her away from him made his throat close up and his heart drop. In the refusal of the mental image, he subconsciously drew Seraphina even closer to him, pressing her form up to his body completely. Some people around them scoffed at their public indecency but both were too caught up in their own thoughts for any of it to register to them.

The two relished in the hug. John was absentmindedly caressing her lower back with her now completely turned toward him, body pressed into his, while Seraphina had her senses overwhelmed with the affectionate touch and the smell of his cologne. Her arms snuck up on his chest and gripped the soft fabric of his outfit. They both closed their eyes to commit this moment to memory in case they wouldn’t get to enjoy such a gift again.

“What are they doing?”

“Cooking up the next level of delusion if that fast-changing expression of Seraphina is any indication.”

What they didn’t know was that a whole squad was watching them with expressions ranging from disbelief through annoyance to outright rage.

“How the fuck do they do this and miss how the other enthusiastically reciprocates it?!” Blyke was clutching on his hair roots.

“Seraphina is all snuggled up into his chest with a smile that could melt a glacier and this dufus puts it down to them being besties?” Claire held her head in her hands feeling physical pain from their unbelievable stupidity.

“If they’re like this in the middle of a crowd, what do they even do behind closed doors?” Arlo groaned into his palm.

“Being in denial on the next level most likely.” Elaine shook her head.

“If you saw them, guys.” Evie sighed. “They act like they’re always 2 seconds away from making out.”

“Sometimes when I get there to meet up with John, they’re all cuddled up on the couch, John fondly stroking her stomach or lower back while Seraphina caressing his hair or hand depending on their position.” Dylan nodded along. “Now that I think about it, I can’t believe I actually even considered John’s claim about Seraphina not being interested in him to be true.”

“Yeah, she looks at him like he’s the Gods’ gift to Earth and humanity himself,” Adrion added.

Isen scratched his chin trying to wrap his head around this madness. “Even with all the confusion and misunderstandings leading up to this delusion it’s still unbelievable they even entertain the possibility the other doesn’t love them, let alone strongly believe they would never even do so.”

“How… just how can they be so blind?” Remi couldn’t understand it. They achieved many impossible feats during the revolution, but this seemed to outdo all of them.

“I, myself have a hard time taking in my boy, as the strategic genius he is, being the dumbest, blindest, most oblivious idiot I have ever seen,” Mesto concluded glancing at the papers Dylan handed him then back at the non-couple. “So, this is why you need my help, Dylan?”

Dylan gave him an affirmative nod. “As you can see their brains have some sort of mental barrier to block out sensible thoughts when it comes to the other romantically. We need to pierce this barrier somehow or we’re all destined to suffer in the pinning and whining Jera hell.”

“You even gave them a ship name?” Mesto raised an eyebrow.

Evie giggled.

“We didn’t have to; a lot of low tiers already shipped them hard thinking John was the cripple Julio to Seraphina’s goddess Romiette. It diminished during John’s reign as king but came back at full force later when he came to his senses thanks to Seraphina. They were even separated by the authorities making them the most romantic forbidden couple.”

 “Wait, this is for real?” Blyke was dumbfounded. What other things had he been unaware of during high school?

The girl flicked her finger with a grin. “For real. Most of the school thought they were already together. They had fanfictions, even some comics drawn to display their secret love affair.”

He internally cringed upon learning about all of this.  “That sounds a little creepy.”

“They had some about you and Remi as well.” Dylan smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “I actually read from both the Jera and the Blemi fandoms.”

Blyke’s and Remi’s eyes went wide with the former suddenly grabbing Dylan’s wrists.

“Do you still have some of those??”

“Blyke, you can’t seriously want to read fanfiction about us!” Remi exclaimed, her face burning with embarrassment.

“I’m just curious!”

“I’m curious as well.” Isen put a hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “You must still have a way to retrieve those files, right?”

Claire grimaced. “You want to read definitely romantic, possibly sexual fanfictions about your best friends?”

Blyke shuddered. “Dude, stop being a fucking creep!”

“What?” Isen raised his arms with a calm expression. “I just want to see how people saw you back in high school.”

Remi scoffed. “I highly doubt fanfictions are the most accurate representation of that, Isen.”

“Blyke wants to read them too.”

“Yeah bro, but I’m actually in the story.”

“I honestly don’t know if that makes it better or worse.” Elaine didn’t know what she was doing here at this point.

Arlo was shaking his head. “Worse, definitely worse.”

Evie thought about it and then spoke up. “I don’t know, Arlo. Reading porn stories about yourself and your actual partner seems wrong and kinky at the same time while reading the same type of stuff about your close friends just shows your tendency for voyeurism but with some creepy vibes.”

“I didn’t understand that last part and doubt I ever want to.”

She was a little surprised. “The voyeurism?”

Isen patted his back with sympathy. “As an unlaid virgin Arlo is yet to go through his sexual awakening. Give him some leeway.”

“You want to die, Isen?” Arlo shot him a death glare forcing the other to remove his hand from him and take a step back.

Blyke arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know about that one, man. You seemed to be deep into your sexual awakening even before you so much as even held a girl’s hand.”

“I don’t even want to know how you reached that point without even talking to a girl.” Elaine raised her hands and turned away signaling she didn’t want to hear more.

“Hey, I talked to Remi at least!” Isen yelled, clearly offended.

“I had absolutely no part in your sexual awakening!” Remi was seconds away from giving him the baton treatment.

“I had in Blyke’s.” Isen winked at his best friend.

“Dude, what the fuck!” Blyke’s face was as red as his hair.

“That’s it!” Remi said before swinging out Sebastian and smacking Isen’s butt cheeks.

Isen yelped loudly.

“Wait, was that a smile on his face?” Claire whispered to Adrion, who in return whispered back.

“For your inner peace, you saw nothing.”

She nodded in understanding.

Mesto eyed the youngsters clearly amused. “Sorry to tell you darling, but you definitely had a part in this boy discovering at least some of his kinks.”

“Mesto!” Remi hid her burning face in her hands.

“The truth is the truth. The sooner you accept it, the better you can combat it.”

When she only gave him an indignant groan as a response he continued. “Just a tip but spanking a guy who is clearly into that stuff will not send the message you think it should.”

Remi only groaned harder.

“So, are any of these stories still available my friend?” Isen draped an arm around Dylan’s shoulders from the side drawing him closer.

“Actually, yes. I can send you the link to the site. Most of them are still up. Just be careful with this one writer, ML7098. They’re really good but the stuff they write about ranges from ‘not for everyone’ to ‘your soul is now forever scarred, your mind tainted and life will never be the same after this’. So… just be careful.”

Isen gulped. “Thanks, I guess?”

Arlo cleared his throat. “Anyway, now that we’ve more than necessarily discussed some of your aptitudes for consuming more than questionable reading material, I think it’s time to move forward with the plan we’re actually here to execute.”

“Arlo is right, we should be proactive if we want this plan to succeed.” Adrion agreed.

Mesto scratched his beard. “To be honest, for now, I only need Dylan for a consultant as it’s his plan. I have both the manpower and the equipment to arrange everything else, you only need to help us set the trap when the time comes.”

Everyone was glancing at the others surprised, not knowing what to do with all the free time suddenly falling into their laps.

“What should we do until then?” Remi asked.

“What do you mean, kid? You’re in The Crippled Carnival! Go and enjoy yourself a little dammit!” The carnival master exclaimed dramatically opening his arms to gesture to the entire ongoing festival around them. However, as suddenly as his exasperation came it was gone by the next moment replaced by a sly smirk as he righted the hat on his head. “Enjoy yourself to your hearts’ content, younglings, but don’t forget the main rule of The Crippled Carnival! Everybody is equal here, so abilities are a no-go. Go, and try out as many things as you can, but remember, my eyes are always watching you.”

He winked at them with his glowing left eye before grabbing Dylan and taking off into the festival. No later than when they heard the boy’s yelp the two disappeared from their sight.

After exchanging confused looks everybody just shrugged off the abrupt exit and concentrated on the opportunity presented to them. Soon enough Isen spoke up.

“Remi, Blyke, do you want to take some pictures in that photo booth over there? I want to add some new ones to our ‘Fun Times’ collection.”

The couple looked at each other, playfully bumping shoulders with matching grins.

“Why not? Sounds like fun.” Blyke answered already starting to walk toward the booth.

“Can we try the fish-catching game after?” Remi asked excitedly.

“Just please, don’t electrocute the poor creatures.” The boys sighed in unison earning an offended humph from her.

“It was only one time!”

“You should have taken that fish to the nearest pet store,” Blyke said plainly.

“I got that pet fish from Kuyo as a housewarming gift!”

“Clearly a setup for failure to prove you weren’t ready for adulting yet.” Isen shook his head.

Remi frowned. “I was trying to be a responsible pet owner! I was really careful not to use my ability around it!”

“Until we were watching some horror movie and you fried it along with me and our second TV.” Blyke shivered at the memory.

She sighed. “Poor Gordon deserved better.”

Blyke raised an eyebrow. “What about me and the TV?”

Remi shrugged. “You have self-healing as a passive and the TV was insured.”

“How you could get all your electronic devices insured while being a lightning user is beyond me.” Isen scoffed with envy. He couldn’t even get a relaxed pay plan for his phone after Remi destroyed the third one within a month.

“Being a god tier has its perks I guess.” Remi’s words gave no consolation.

He deadpanned. “Aren’t you the one always preaching about how we shouldn’t use our status to get ahead in life?”

She was slightly offended. “I’m not using my status! I never tell them my rank or who I am, but my face and ability are pretty recognizable at this point, so I get the advantage no matter if I want it or not.”

As they continued to argue the trio walked away, disappearing into the buzzing mob of people themselves. Claire and Adrion soon followed.

“I think I’ll go on a couple of rides with Adrion. Text in the group chat if anything comes up!” Claire said as she dragged away her boyfriend toward something that looked like a twisting and turning death machine. The sight drained the color from the boy’s face.

Elaine threw the empty cup in her hand into a garbage can. “I’m off to get another drink and find a nice place to relax. Have fun you two!”

With that last word she blended into the crowd leaving the last two members of the group still standing there alone. Arlo was a little flustered to be left to his own devices in an unfamiliar environment sticking out like a sore thumb thanks to the trickery of his ‘friend’. What should he even do? Follow the two idiots around like a stalker? No, he wasn’t Isen. Randomly try out games? Would be way too awkward alone. Get some coffee and find a quiet spot to rest until he was needed? Sounded like a plan to him.

He scanned their surroundings with his eyes searching for any kind of signs but before he could act upon his idea, a voice sounded from beside him.

“Arlo, would you mind accompanying me for a little while?”

When he looked down, he saw Evie strategically eyeing him through suspiciously narrowed eyes. They had a dangerous glint of determination in them. He didn’t like the feeling he got from her gaze. Not one bit.

Still, he couldn’t actually refuse without being rude, right?

“What do you need me for?” He asked, at least wanting to know what she was getting him into.

The girl’s until now serious expression quickly morphed into one of an innocent smile. It was terrifying in a way.

“Nothing much, really. I just need you to try out a few games for me.”

“Only a few?” Arlo arched an eyebrow with a frown. He still found it suspicious. He could trust no one, not even or especially not the low tiers after what he just learned about them in this damn group.

“Yes. It’d be pointless after that as they’ll definitely catch on.” Evie’s smile brightened understanding that he won’t refuse her request.

He sighed in defeated acceptance. “Okay, let’s just make it quick. Playing stupid games at a festival packed with people isn’t exactly my definition of fun.”

She nodded grabbing his hand to immediately take off with a stride that held certainty and confidence.

“Thank you, Arlo for agreeing to be my bait!” She said, her tone having an excited lilt to it.

“Your what?!” He almost stopped dead on his track if not for the delicate but firm hand currently dragging him along.

Evie completely disregarded his shock in favor of a booth selling various carnival accessories she just spotted. “One moment, please! I need to buy a mask to conceal my identity a little better.”

The dumbfounded man couldn’t help but be hauled through the crowd as the miniature force of nature left him no choice. Before he could think twice, they were standing beside a stand offering some kind of game with a huge wooden bucket he was of course unfamiliar with. She had a mask on that covered her entire head resembling the Joker’s back from those days far in the past with the striking difference of a smiling wooden cat face on the front. If he had to describe it, Arlo would say she looked like a Gapanese assassin with the body of an anime girl.

‘She definitely spends too much time around John and Seraphina.’ He concluded with a sigh, mourning the ever-dwindling sanity and common-sense level of the group.

The staff member operating the stand looked at the duo strangely but eventually shrugged it off. He had seen weirder things around here.

“What can I help you with, young man?” He turned towards Arlo.

He in turn glanced at Evie with uncertainty who said nothing but gave him thumbs ups with both hands.

The day barely started but he felt already tired.

“I’d like to try the game. How much is it for one round?”

The man smirked seeing the other’s fancy, high-tier clothes and obviously oblivious attitude to the nature of the carnival.

‘Easy prey.’

“10 bucks for three balls.” He said placing the balls on the counter between them.

Arlo already started to reach into his wallet when suddenly Evie slammed 5 bucks down without a word scaring both him and the vendor. When the latter opened his mouth to question her she pointed at the sign clearly stating ‘5 bucks for 3 balls’. The man grunted not even apologizing when Arlo glared at him. He obviously wanted to scam him.

The vendor was waiting for him to try but he wasn’t sure how to proceed and just stared at the first ball in his hand. The man quickly lost his patience.

“Come on, kid! Don’t tell me you never played this game before!”

Arlo didn’t like his tone.

“In fact, I never played any carnival games before. Would you be so kind as to show me how it’s done?” He asked with forced politeness.

“Can’t your girlfriend help you out? She seems to know her way around here.” He grumbled rudely pointing at Evie.

She just shook her masked head vigorously taking a step back in protest.

“She’s not my girlfriend, and she doesn't want to play right now.”

The man huffed but finally obliged. “Alright, kid. I’ll show you how easy it really is. Just this once.”

He walked out of the booth next to Arlo and took the balls from him. He stood in front of a line that was reinforced by a wooden plank as a guard to keep people from cheating and while leaning forward threw the first ball into the bucket.

“It’s this simple. If you manage to throw all the balls into the bucket you get a prize. If you fail to do so you don’t get a prize.” He said and threw another ball into the bucket. “It’s a simple game for simple people. Don’t overthink it.”

With that, he threw the last ball into the bucket as well finishing the demonstration then took them out and handed them back to Arlo.

After watching the man do it with ease, he was confident he could easily win this game. Standing at the line he threw the first ball into the bucket but while the ball went into its target it just as quickly bounced out landing on the ground.

The vendor chuckled. “Oh come on, what kind of throw was that?”

Arlo swallowed the words he was about to say and threw the next ball, but just like the previous one this one ended up on the ground as well. The man smirked at his furrowed brows. He obviously had no idea how the ball didn’t stay in the bucket.

‘Poor fool.’

“Okay, I’ll be generous because you’re a newbie here. If you can successfully throw that last ball into the bucket, I’ll give you whatever prize you want.” The vendor spoke condescendingly to him.

Arlo was quite annoyed at this point but said nothing. He took a deep breath, focusing on the last ball. He tried to recall target practice from training and concentrated on his aim. When he threw the last ball, it was slow and precise so as to not bounce out of the bucket. Still, just like the other two this ball rolled out falling onto the ground a few seconds later.

Cackling the man decided to taunt him. “It’s a simple game for simple people like me so maybe you fancy pants are just not meant to win.”

He was about to turn away and go to another customer on the other side of the booth, but Arlo slammed down 5 bucks on the counter evidently angry over both the mockery and the stupid game.

“Another round!” He said through gritted teeth.

The vendor smirked and handed him back the three balls before stepping away to help another person fall victim to the scam. Evie used this time to speak up.

“Don’t even try, Arlo. You can’t win.” Her words were calm and had no uncertainty in them.

Arlo, of course, still tried.

…And failed.

When even the third ball once again bounced out of the bucket, he finally broke character and growled.

“I can’t believe this! Another round!”

The vendor cackled at his futile attempt and handed him back the balls once again before walking off to help another customer.

“Arlo, stop. You can’t win.” And Evie once again tried to reason with him only to be ignored once more. She was so annoyed with his bullheadedness at this point she let him play himself and waste money on a few more rounds.

At his fifth attempt, he yet again raised his arm, at this point shaking with anger to try and land the ball swiftly in the target but before he could waste more money and Evie’s time her hand grabbed his wrist stopping him in the motion.

“Arlo, stop being a buffoon and listen to me as I spell it out. You. Can’t. Win.”

Despite her sweet nature, she was rapidly reaching her boiling point with the stubborn blonde.

“Why? Because I’m just a fancy high tier not even able to win a stupid game with a bucket and some balls?!”

Evie was a little taken aback by his outburst. It sounded a lot like he was… insecure about being a high tier, as ridiculous as it sounded. Was that even a thing? She lifted her mask to look him in the eye.

“Don’t tell me the vendor’s words actually got to you.”

He only scoffed and looked away as a response.

“Arlo, look at me.” She completely removed her mask and patiently waited for him to meet her eyes before continuing. “You’re not failing in this game, because you’re a high tier and thus have zero experience with any of the carnival games. To be fair, you’d fail most other games for that reason though.”

“Very comforting, thank you.” He grumbled out crossing his arms in front of his chest, his pride obviously hurt.

Evie couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Nevertheless, she continued. “You can’t win, because the game is rigged from the start.”

This caught Arlo off guard who finally looked at her properly. “What are you talking about? We both saw as the man did it with ease.”

“You didn’t look properly. He actually bent the plank with his leg a little so he could throw the ball from the perfect distance. Otherwise, it’s impossible to land the ball in the bucket without it bouncing out. This game was designed like this to trick unsuspecting people like you into playing again and again because it seems simple and easy, but it’s not.”

Her explanation only made him angrier.

“Then why did you bring me here in the first place if you knew that we can’t win?!”

She raised an eyebrow. “I only said you can’t win. I never said I can’t.”

“What? You just told me the game is rigged. How are you supposed to win then?”

“Oh silly.” Evie flashed him a brilliant smile. “By cheating just like him of course.”

Arlo’s eyes widened; his words caught in his throat as the girl took the balls from his hands.

“I brought you here specifically because you look like the perfect ignorant high-tier to scam, no offense.”

Offense was indeed taken.

“I needed the vendor to show us ‘his method’, you’ll see why.”

Evie then perfectly replicated the technique the man used, slightly bending the plank with her leg to shorten the distance, and threw the first ball with practiced precision. It landed and stayed in the bucket to both Arlo’s and the vendor’s shock who just happened to return to them in that moment. They watched in complete silence as she threw the other two balls into the bucket as well, winning the game within seconds.

“I’d like the giant axolotl plushie.” She smiled sweetly at the man who was completely at a loss for words.

“You… you cheated! You stepped into the line!” He yelled when he finally found his voice gaining the attention of the people in their surroundings. Whispers could be heard from all around them.

She tilted her head, her big, brilliant eyes innocently peering up at him. “What are you talking about? I did exactly what you did while showing us the technique. But maybe I’m mistaken. Would you mind showing us again? Just to be sure.”

The retort was swallowed back immediately. He knew he was caught. He knew the girl knew this as well. With all the people staring at them right now it was impossible to prove she was cheating while not revealing he did the same. He growled in ire.

The scammer got scammed.

While cursing under his breath non-stop he grabbed the requested plush animal and handed it to her. “Here is your prize. Now get out of my sight!”

“What do you mean?” Evie’s smile never left her face.

“What?”

“I’d like to try another round.” She said, placing 5 bucks on the counter.

“No, I already told you to get out of here!” He slammed his hands down in a clear act of intimidation.

Evie had none of it. “No, I don’t think I will.”

“What?! You little-!”

“According to the rules of The Crippled Carnival, you’re not allowed to refuse serving a customer just because they’ll most likely win. To be precise, to quote rule 23, any vendor must provide service to a paying customer no matter of personal opinion or winning odds unless the customer previously broke a rule or is in the act of breaking one. I did neither of those as I was only following your instructions and demonstration to a T.” She cited the rule with the official rule book of The Crippled Carnival she just pulled out of her bag in hand.

The man sucked in his breath while Arlo’s jaw hit the floor.

Her smile stretched into a smirk. “So, hand over your balls, old man.”

“Th-Th-The… the Devil… the Devil is here…!” Came the sudden sound from the side making everyone turn their heads to look at the source. Another vendor came to check what was causing the commotion only the freeze on the spot.

Evie took the balls from the man’s hand who seemed to be too stunned to move himself.

“The Devil?” Arlo looked at her flabbergasted. Mesto did mention something about that, but he thought the carnival master was just joking around.

“Oh, it’s a funny story really.” She answered, her eyes fixated on the bucket to aim for the first throw. “I was 4 when my parents first took me to The Crippled Carnival. It was like this dreamy place to me, a place of wonders. Nobody was allowed to use their abilities, so everybody seemed equal in a way. I was already 8 when I could actually try out games for the first time though. Of course, I lost most of them, but probably by the kindness of a vendor I managed to score a win.”

She threw the ball, perfectly landing it in the bucket.

“As a low tier kid with low-tier parents, I heard all my life that I was destined to be at the bottom and never win in anything so having a place where abilities didn’t matter was a game changer for me. And above all, that first win, the win I was never destined to have, was sweet and incredibly addictive.”

She threw the next ball. Another perfect score.

“From that day on I decided to use this place to the fullest and win every single game or die trying. I saved up my allowance all year just to spend it all within the two weeks The Crippled Carnival came to town every summer.”

She threw the third ball, winning the game effortlessly.

“I want the platypus plushie now and another round.”

The man tried to argue but the other vendor arriving at the scene placed a hand on his shoulder with a defeated sight.

“Leave it, man. It’s futile. The sooner you accept it the sooner it’ll be over.”

He complied and handed the three balls back to her.

“I was 10 when I could win at least in half of the games.”

She landed the first ball into the bucket again.

“By 11 I could score a win in all of them.”

She threw another one, of course, perfectly landing it in the bucket again.

“By 12 losses became rare.”

She threw the last ball, winning the game yet again.

“By 13 I never lost a single game.”

She wordlessly pointed at the swordfish plush and dropped another 5 bucks on the counter almost making the man cry. Without a choice, he gave her back the balls.

“I actually started making quite some money. At first, it was just a sport, but when I realized I could sell my prizes to other kids and their parents I started to break the bank every summer. Of course, the vendors weren’t happy about me ransacking them every time and tried to get me banned from the carnival, but because of Mesto’s rules they had no luck with that one.” She chuckled while aiming for her next shot.

She won another round, but she still wasn’t done yet.

“They started to pay me directly to at least loot them at the end of their stay so they could still make money in our town and restock before arriving at the next one. Paying me and keeping the business going was still a better option than letting me run free I guess.” She shrugged nonchalantly as everyone, including both the visitors and the neighboring vendors were watching them. The former group in amazement, the latter in tears.

“During and after the revolution I couldn’t go home to enjoy The Crippled Carnival and it never came to the Capital before, thus the vendors’ memories about those two weeks every summer faded. It’s high time I put the sense of fear back into their hearts.”

At Evie’s still overly sweet smile Arlo gulped.

‘I thought our low tiers were all crazy but she’s like a completely different breed even compared to them. Truly terrifying.’

She turned to the vendor now, looking him up and down with a hint of disdain. “This one must be new here. Being so rude to customers and all.”

The man to his credit looked down in shame. For the first time since they came to the booth. Too little too late.

“I apologize. If I had known it was the infamous Devil visiting my stand-“ He tied to show remorse but was cut off by Evie who placed another 5 bucks on the counter, showing no sign of mercy.

“If you weren’t so rude to my friend, I wouldn’t have to do this. Now balls, please. We don’t have all day. I have other stands to visit, you know.”

Arlo was silently watching as she cleared out the whole booth of any worthy prize before she slid a small paper in front of the devastated vendor.

“I would like to have my prizes delivered as offered under rule number 32. Here is my name card with all the necessary information. Have a nice day.”

With that they finally left the first booth, Evie putting away the mask in her bag.

“Didn’t you want to use that to scam other vendors as well?” Arlo questioned.

“I wanted to but didn’t think the first one would make such a commotion. At this point the news of my arrival is probably spreading like wildfire making any type of disguise pointless.”

He eyed her for a moment as they were walking to their next target before he finally asked.

“So, you can win any game here?”

Evie let out a good-natured laugh. “Not just can, will.”

“And you won’t lose even a single round while doing so?”

“Pretty much.” She answered, her eyes trailing to the booths to decide on her next prey.

“You’re telling me that you can win every round of every game here while I wouldn’t be able to win a single round in a single game even once?”

She sneaked a glance at him, sensing his newfound and unreasonable inferiority complex flare up again. She still opted to answer truthfully. “I didn’t say it like that but given both of our track records I’d say yes, pretty much.”

Arlo found her nonchalant confidence a tad irritating but he knew she had more than enough to back it up. He also knew him feeling this way was more than likely due to him feeling incompetent next to her than anything else. It was stupid really.

Seeing as his mood was souring more than the usual Arlo amount Evie felt compelled to reassure him. “Look, you’re really great in a lot of things. You’re a god tier after all. Not many can call themselves that, especially not a kind one who helps others.”

He scoffed at her kind words. “It’s hardly an accomplishment when I was basically predestined to be a god tier by genetics, and I was an ignorant asshole for most of my life who disregarded the path my mentor took in an attempt to make a world a better place.”

“Potential is one thing, but you still had to work a lot to reach the level you’re today. I also think Rei would be proud of all the things you’ve achieved in such a short time. Don’t sell your hard work short, Arlo.” She lightly patted his back finding it hard to reach his shoulder with their massive height difference.

He didn’t know what to say for a moment, not used to taking compliments from anyone who wasn’t out to manipulate him. She was their sweetest group member along with Dylan so receiving praise from her shouldn’t mean anything. It still felt strangely good.

Nevertheless, his ire upon feeling so incompetent did not lessen.

“How can you be so sure I wouldn’t be able to win a single game? If every game was unwinnable for newbies, then who would even try to play?”

“Me?”

He rolled his eyes. “I mean aside from fanatics like you.”

“Wow, that was unnecessarily rude.” She deadpanned at him.

He stopped in his track and sighed. “Sorry. I’m… just really frustrated with how things are going in my life right now.”

She peered up at him, still frowning but with some sympathy. “I figured you wouldn’t get so worked up on a simple game without something deeper going on.”

Arlo sank his nails into the back of his neck, clawing at it to calm his restless nerves. “I’m trying to work something out that will both benefit the high tiers and lower tiers, but no matter if it’s here or in other countries it feels like no one wants to move forward. I keep trying to come up with ideas, but the hard, conservative core members of the hierarchy block them again and again.”

He averted his gaze from her, his eyes having a faraway look in them. “It’s just so frustrating. I want to do better, honor the memory of Rei and all the others we lost to be here today, but it feels like I take one step forward two steps back. Despite being a god tier I feel inadequate and powerless.”

A sudden, unexpected sensation snapped him out of his thoughts when delicate fingers touched his hair, rummaging through his locks with soft, caressing motions. As he looked down, he saw Evie balancing on her tiptoes to reach the top of his head with a warm smile adorning her lips.

“Everything takes time. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Remember we’re here for you and share the same goal. If you ever feel overwhelmed by all the responsibilities, you can always come to me to talk or scam some rude vendors out of their living.”

Once again, he had no idea how to respond to this clear display of affection apart from the words which rushed out of his mouth before he could filter them.

“You really are the sweetest cinnamon roll.”

He immediately regretted uttering those words barely resisting the urge to slap a hand on his lips in embarrassment. The others called her such all the time, but it felt weird to do so himself.

Evie burst out laughing seeing his apparent surprise at his own words. This made him even more embarrassed which in turn made her laugh even harder.

She finally regained some of her bearings and spoke up as she wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “Goodness, with all this boyish cuteness you could be called a cute banana pie yourself.”

He turned up his nose in disdain.

She smirked. “I may propose the idea to the group.”

His eyes widened before their narrowed into slits glaring at her. “Don’t you dare?”

“It’d be fitting.”

“No, It wouldn’t.”

“Oh, come on! It’d be nice!”

“Stop with this delusional talking.”

Suddenly an idea came to Evie. “Say, what if we made a bet? If I win every single game, we play and you none I get to call you cute banana pie in front of everyone.”

Arlo huffed. “Why would I even agree to a bet like this?”

“If you manage to win even in one single game here, I’ll give you all the profit from my prize selling.” She offered.

He raised an eyebrow. “You know I’m pretty well off, right?”

She shrugged. “Okay, fine. Then whatever you want, I guess. I have not much to offer.”

He contemplated for a moment. He had absolutely no reason to enter this bet. It was unreasonable, unnecessary, and stacked against him. It seemed he just wanted to be unreasonable for one day.

“Okay, let’s make a bet, but I want a deal with a more even outcome.”

She grinned, happy that he wanted to play.

“Let’s make it into a bet with four possible outcomes. That would be the most interesting.”

He couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. “I’m listening.”

“If I play every game, we have time for before the mission and win every single one, I get to call you cute banana pie.”

“You don’t have to repeat that abomination of a name.”

“If you manage to win even once in any carnival games then you get to ask a favor from me.”

“How is this a four-outcome bet?”

“Well, you win or I win or we both win or both lose.”

“This whole thing is still pretty much stacked against me.”

“You have no confidence in your skills, Arlo?” She playfully taunted him poking his arm.

“I don’t trust that there are no secret traps in a bet designed by you.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“You just scammed a scammer using that innocent and unassuming look of yours. Based on your track record I should probably expect missing a kidney by the end of this.”

“Now that’s just utter nonsense coming out of your mouth. I’d never hurt my friends.”

“Thank the Heavens I’m in the inner circle then. I wouldn’t want to wake up kidnapped in a bathtub full of ice.”

Evie snorted at Arlo’s unexpected theatrics. “And you keep telling us John is the dramatic one.”

“Because it’s true.”

Not far from them Seraphina was not so patiently waiting for her best friend to return with some skewers to eat with their boba drinks next to a booth where you could win knives. She wanted to go with him, not seeing any reason to be separated from him even for a moment but he told her he wanted to go to the bathroom first so she should just play and wait. However, it was no fun playing without him, so she just stood there leaning slightly on the counter while scanning the crowd for John’s return. The vendor was slightly annoyed by her taking up space without being a paying customer but had more tact than to interrupt a clearly annoyed lady.

She let out a sigh, wishing she just went with him. He was persistent about going alone for some reason and she didn’t want to be too pushy. Five minutes apart shouldn’t be that long. It was just she could plainly see how much danger this place held. Every corner could hide a threat and John was all alone to face them.

When her eyes finally found her precious, she bit her lip in irritation. Her worry was justified.

“Come on, hot stuff! Just for a few minutes! It wouldn’t take long, I promise!” A female voice coed as the owner of it sneaked her hand around John’s arm.

“I already told you I have to get back to my best friend.” He tried to pull away, but the woman held onto him like an eagle to its prey.

“I’m sure he can do without you for half an hour while you show us how to play these games!” Another woman hugged his other arm from the side giggling.

“My best friend is a she and no, even if she can enjoy herself without me I’d rather spend my time with her than anyone else.” He tried to shake them off once again, but they were stubborn.

The women looked at each other and then laughed out loud.

“If you’re still just friends she must be blind!”

“Leaving a handsome man like you alone should be a criminal offense!”

Seraphina’s eye twitched as their blabbering hit her ears.

‘Damn harpies!’ She thought gritting her teeth, ready to take action.

“How much is it to play?” She growled out catching the vendor off guard.

The man jumped a little from the ferociousness of her question, but it was replaced by delight when he registered, she finally wanted to spend money at his booth.

“10 bucks for 3 rings. You throw the rings at a knife you would like and if it lands you get the knife.”

“Good.” She slammed down the right amount on the counter and he handed her the rings. She immediately threw all three of them without hesitation, managing to win three different knives.

The vendor’s jaw hit the floor as he owlishly blinked at her. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to keep his precious customer, who seemed ready to explode, waiting any longer and rushed over to bring her the prizes.

“Hey, beautiful!” An oblivious man who had been eyeing her for a while decided to finally take his shot. “You know I’ve been watching you for a while and just from that throw I can tell you’re a high tier as well. So, what do you say about us taking a stroll around and enjoying a couple of rides?”

His question fell on deaf ears however as Seraphina was hastily opening up the carton boxes of the knives.

He was patiently waiting for her answer before finally noticing what she was up to. “Hm, what do you need those knives fo-“

Before he could finish a knife flew through the air, striking the booth on the other side, right between the heads of John and one of the women.

The guy gulped and slowly backed away blending back into the safety of the crowd.

The shocked women finally loosened their grip on John who followed back where the knife came from, his eyes brightening up like the starry sky the moment he laid eyes on his savior.

“Sera!” He happily marched up to her while the ladies remained frozen on the spot. When they started to regain their bearing, another knife hit the wooden pillar between their heads. They both jumped back this time, their eyes moving to the culprit who pointed two fingers at her own eyes and then at them before making a slicing motion at her throat and pointing at them again.

They stumbled away frightened, going over their life decisions.

“You’re finally back.” Seraphina narrowed her eyes at him. “Took you long enough.”

John sighed. “As you can see, I got held up.”

“You should have just punched them.” She huffed out.

He looked at her flabbergasted. “Sera! I’m not punching people like that anymore!”

“Sometimes violence is the answer, John.”

He just shook his head. He thought about how she got so much more aggressive in the past few years. He wondered about the reason sometimes.

“This reminds me, I need to show you something!” He said pushing the freshly obtained skewers into his left hand already holding his boba drink thus freeing up his right to grab Seraphina’s hand with it.

Before she could question it, she was dragged away into the swirling mob of people and then forced to duck down with John behind a stand.

“Why are we hiding?” She whispered having no idea what he was up to.

“Look at them!” He whispered back motioning with his head in a certain direction.

She followed his gaze and it led to two very familiar faces.

She arched an eyebrow. “What are Arlo and Evie doing alone?”

“You won’t believe me if I told you.” He said, taking a bite from his skewer.

She waited for him to continue but quickly lost her limited patience when he was just silently chewing on the roasted meat.

“For fuck’s sake, John! Stop stuffing your face and tell me!”

He swallowed, his eyes returning to their two friends. “I think it’s a date.”

She deadpanned at him. “You got to be kidding.”

“I told you, you won't believe me, but you don’t know what I know.” He took a sip from his boba before elaborating. “You know that the other night I was out with Arlo because he called me urgently to talk? It’s still hard to take in but he was actually asking me for love advice.”

“Arlo? Asking you? For love advice?” She had a hard time believing this.

“I know. I had a hard time believing it myself. I even laughed at him thinking it was a joke, but he was serious.” It wasn’t exactly the truth. He laughed at him after finding out he was serious. He still felt bad about it. Laughing at his ‘brother in romantic trouble’ and all.

“Wow.” Her eyes widened. “He must have been really desperate to ask you.”

John nodded.

“That’s what I told him.”

Now her eyes were also trailed on the two, following their every movement. She had to admit, they looked like they were enjoying themselves. Still, Evie and Arlo? That was ridiculous.

“Why do you think he is after her? Did he mention her name by any chance? To be honest, I thought Arlo was gay or ace. He seemed completely uninterested in girls and dating in general.”

“I thought the same, but he confirmed it’s a she, not a he. He didn’t tell me any names and claimed I don’t know her anyway, but his reaction told me otherwise. Then when I was on my way back, I saw Evie pat his back and ruffle his hair while standing on her tiptoes. He even got flustered then at one point smiled! Like a real, genuine smile!” John recounted the memory, his tone expressing the disbelief he felt.

“No way…” Seraphina was a little taken aback by his story. She and Evie were close friends. They shared a lot of personal things with each other, but she never even heard a word about her interest in Arlo. She didn’t express interest in anyone, to be honest. At least not until the night before…

Her eyes grew to the size of saucers.

“No. Way.” She repeated herself, her shock catching John off guard.

“What?” He turned to look at her.

“Did Arlo perchance ask you ridiculously specific questions about hypothetical scenarios?” She looked at him, eyes serious.

He was taken aback. “How do you know that?”

“I can’t believe this.” She snapped her head back so as not to lose sight of them. “Evie came to me to ask about how you know when someone is interested in you on the exact same night Arlo went to you. What if those weren’t hypothetical scenarios but them feeling out their boundaries?”

“Would make sense. But when did all of this even happen between them? Arlo was away for months now.”

She thought about it for a moment before answering. “Evie has been working on a lot of projects recently. While she wasn’t away as much as Arlo, they may have had projects together. They could also keep in touch via chat and video calls.”

He hummed taking in the information. “Now that you mention it, I saw them frequently checking their phones before, but now their focus is solely on each other.”

Seraphina frowned slightly. “I still can’t believe Evie would hide this from me.”

John furrowed his brows, searching for an explanation. “From the weird questions they asked I assume they’re both still uncertain about the whole thing. I’m more surprised about this matchup. Arlo and Evie? How? Why?”

Suddenly her eyes went wide yet again, disbelief but also understanding filling her. She didn’t know if she should share this or not, but they had no secrets between each other.

“Evie’s soulmate is a god tier. At least that’s what she told me when we were still in high school.” She left out the part about how they bonded over having god-tier soulmates while being low tiers and all the anguish that came with it on purpose. John didn’t need a reminder of his unfortunate fate and neither did she about them not being soulmates.

“What?!” He almost shouted from the bombshell his best friend just dropped on him. “Her soulmate is Arlo?!”

“Keep quiet or we’ll be discovered!” She chided him, yanking him down by their joined hands.

This was the moment they both realized they were still holding hands as they looked down at their intertwined fingers. Both missed as the other slightly blushed at their own obliviousness. John removed his hand first making Seraphina mourn the lost connection and warmth. He buried his freed hand in his yukata’s collar, pulling out something small.

“So… I actually didn’t want you to come with me to buy skewers because I wanted to get you this!” He confessed with a sheepish grin. The object he was holding out to her was small and pink and as she examined it from closer, she recognized it immediately.

 “You got me a slappy pig bracelet?” Her eyes shined as she took in all the little details.

“Yes, I saw it at a jewelry stand and wanted to surprise you. I hope you like it.”

“I love it!” She grinned back at him, placing her drink on the ground so she could put it on.

“Wait, let me help you!” He thrusted the skewers into her hand and put his own drink on the ground before delicately taking the bracelet from her hand. He gingerly moved it around, pulling at the clasp lightly to secure it around her wrist. He positioned it, lightly caressing her hand while doing so.

“It fits perfectly.” He gazed up at her smiling.

She smiled back, leaning ever so slightly closer to him.

“Thank you for the gift.” She breathed out, her gaze never leaving his for even a fraction of a second.

“Anytime.” He answered, moving ever so slightly closer to her as well.

They were only inches apart, their eyelids feeling way too heavy, when yelling sounded near them.

“The Devil! Oh no, the Devil! Please have mercy on my booth!”

They snapped their heads in the direction, the moment gone. They witnessed a crying vendor clutching the last plush animal she had while Evie was cleaning out her booth.

“Think about this lesson before you call another one of your customers ‘fancy boy toy’. Here is my card. You know the drill. Have a nice day.” Evie smiled at the woman before she grabbed Arlo’s arm to tug him to another game.

“Something is going on between them.” Seraphina followed them with her eyes.

“You just told me they’re soulmates, so it’s not that strange.” John shrugged.

“I only told you Evie had a god-tier soulmate, but don’t you think they would have figured it out sooner if it was Arlo?”

“Probably. We all have been working together closely during and after the revolution so you would expect things like this wouldn’t stay secret for too long. Arlo reached 7.1 after training with me and the aura enhancer, so it should have been obvious to them.” He said while scratching his nape.

She glanced at him before looking back at the two. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence then. They should have known by now, right?”

“Right.” He agreed. There was no way things like that wouldn’t come out while being friends, right? “But maybe they had known but weren’t sure about how to proceed with the information. Getting together with your soulmate after knowing them for such a long time can be hard.”

Seraphina was watching him from the corner of her eyes, feeling like his words had a hidden meaning, but couldn’t put her finger on what it was. In the end, she chalked it up to the weirdness of the entire soulmate thing.

“Yeah, maybe they’re soulmates and just figuring things out. I thought that Arlo had a god-tier soulmate, though. At least that’s what Elaine told me a long time ago.”

“Maybe their newfound feelings for each other are completely separate from the whole soulmate thing then and they just enjoy each other’s company.”

“Maybe.”

“We should follow them just to make sure.” He said while grabbing his drink and skewer before standing up.

“Make sure about what?” She did the same while questioning him.

“That they’re interested in each other, of course. Don’t tell me you aren’t curious.” He nudged her with his elbow.

“Of course, I am, but we could just… ask them, you know?” She wasn’t buying into John’s idea.

“Oh, come on, it will be fun!” He exclaimed, grabbing her hand again with his own to swiftly follow their friends, melting away all of Seraphina’s resistance.

“Okay, fine.” She said, biting into her own skewer.

The two set out to follow their friends around, both secretly enjoying having an excuse to hold hands and sneaking around like this. It held a special kind of childlike excitement. All in all, John’s scheme wasn’t such a bad idea, she concluded.

First, they were in their rears, tailing them like hawks, but they soon realized that when they got to a booth depending on how they were treated, they stayed anywhere near five minutes up to half an hour. They just had to watch the first interaction to guess the time correctly. If the vendor was rude or condescending, especially if it was directed to Arlo, then Evie would spend enough time there to clear the whole stock of the booth, leaving a crying vendor behind. From this and the length of the first try, Seraphina could adequately calculate how much time they would need to do so. Arlo also tried to play, losing each time no matter how hard he tried, but they only ever stayed at a booth until Evie was satisfied. If the two had enough time they would hop on nearby rides or play some other games themselves just to blend in and not get bored while watching their targets.

After a few hours on this secret mission, she spotted the enemies she knew all too well.

Her eyes narrowed, glaring at them as she whispered to John. “Harpies at 5 o’clock.”

“What?” He asked with his mouth full of cotton candy.

She didn’t say anything just pointed at the women walking right towards the other two. While most people were decent enough at carnival she knew when she saw a ‘harpy’. She and Evie had come up with the name while she had been venting about another person crossing boundaries and blatantly climbing on John during training. A harpy was an obnoxious person full of themselves who disregarded any human decency and harassed people obviously not interested in them.

John had a whole flock of those constantly.

“Ugh, not again.” He shuddered a little, an uncomfortable feeling pooling in his stomach. While he wasn’t the target of them this time, he felt bad for Arlo. Especially after learning about his previous encounters with those type of people and how he was unequipped to deal with them or rather held back from just punching them because of societal rules.

The four women were closing in on an unsuspecting Arlo who was leisurely drinking his coffee, watching from a comfortable distance as Evie was yet again dominating a game after he himself gave up on winning in this one. Seraphina had a bad feeling about this. She doubted he could deal with a single harpy alone given his history, and now they were coming onto him in hordes. Her sweet low-tier friend was too preoccupied with the game to notice before they surrounded her companion.

“Well, hello there!” One called out to him, already setting off warning signals in him.

“Why is a handsome, well-dressed man like you in a place like this?” Another joined, stepping too close for Arlo’s comfort.

“Let alone all by yourself, without anyone to keep you company.” The third one coed attempting to lay a hand on his lower arm, but he quickly moved it out of her reach. His back hit a wall, however, making him realize he was trapped.

“I’m not alone-“Arlo tried to say but was cut off by the fourth woman, a redhead.

“But we can’t see anyone with you, can we?” She grinned, moving her fingers to place them on his chest.

He shuddered, uncomfortably squirming away from her touch. He didn’t know what to do. Normally he would at least use his body shield to keep them away from himself, but they weren’t alone and because of the rules he couldn’t activate his ability.

He felt driven into a corner.

“Could you just leave me alone, please? I’m with someone-“

“Wait, aren’t you Arlo? That god tier who has been on the news a lot lately for working some kind of charity or something?”

He growled inwardly. Of course, the likes of them wouldn’t know the type of work he was doing. He could almost smell the ignorance coming from them and guessed them to be elite to lower high tiers. That demography cared the least about what they were up to, comfortable in their own little bubble. Neither interested nor threatened by their ideals and goals, so they just dismissed them like white noise. He hated this kind of people the most nowadays. Even more than the hostile high tiers to be honest.

The obvious disdain on his face did nothing to deter them, however, as they were mostly focused on superficial matters.

“Come on, Evie! Notice them!” Seraphina whispered, watching the scene tensely.

“Do something lil cinnamon roll!” John joined in, stuffing his mouth with popcorn to calm his nerves.

His best friend glared at him for a moment, annoyed by him speaking while eating and punishing him by pressing cold mango boba to his neck. He jumped a little before glaring back at her, but she ignored his ire and yanked the popcorn out of his hand. Their attention went back to the group when they heard one of the women speak.

“Oh, aren’t you powerful and wealthy then?” One of them smiled brightly at him.

“You don’t look half bad either.” Another roamed her eyes up and down on him with lustful hunger in her gaze.

“You’re also very nicely dressed. Are you going somewhere after this? Can we come?” The redhead asked while giggling.

He quickly became unnerved. His back was already pressed as far into the wooden wall as humanly possible, and he was completely surrounded on each side with no escape route in sight. They slowly closed in on him starting to be even bolder with their hands. The red-haired woman went even as far as lying her palms on his chest and steadily moving them down on his abdomen. He wanted to bolt and run away, but what about his reputation? They knew who he was, and he had to be careful about his public image.

He gritted his teeth, trying to find a way out of this when suddenly the woman’s assaulting hands were wrenched off him accompanied by a loud yelp from her. As he opened his eyes to look, he saw a girl smaller than any of them holding the woman’s wrist in a death grip with an overly sweet and very threatening smile on her face.

“Keep your hands to yourself lady, if you know what’s good for you.”

Arlo breathed a sigh of relief seeing his savior. “Evie…”

Nevertheless, he was worried for her. The four women still surrounding them in a half circle glared daggers at the girl, not the slightest bit deterred by her threat.

“And who are you to decide that?”

“You’re about to find out,” Evie answered calmly releasing the woman from her grip before taking up a fighting stance.

“Bitch must be his girlfriend.” One woman spat out.

“Stupid little girl thinks she can take on the four of us.” Her companion laughed at Evie’s unwavering stare.

“Her entire cheap outfit screams low tier. Who does she even think she is to talk to us like that?” The redhead asked shaking her head with a confident smirk. “Even without abilities, she doesn’t stand a chance.”

Evie however ignored all the remarks and taunts and focused her attention on the red-haired woman whose hands she had just removed from Arlo. Said woman became more and more agitated by her challenging stare and came to the decision that Evie needed to be put in her place.

“I’ll show you your place little bitch!” She lunged forward with her fist only for her to be parried immediately, her legs kicked out from under her, and with a well-placed pull and throw she found herself midair right before being slammed into the wall next to Arlo.

All the air rushed out of her lungs, and she fell on the ground headfirst with an unceremonious thud. For a good five seconds,s no one moved, timidly digesting what just happened.

Then Evie raised her hands once again, moving her eyes to her next target. “Next.”

Because people, like usual didn’t learn from each other’s mistakes and mindlessly acted on impulse another woman jumped up, trying to gain momentum to strike her from above. Evie internally scoffed at the useless flashy move John always warned them against. She ducked a little to avoid the woman’s punch and with the same motion hit her square in the stomach. She literally fell into her fist before being pushed to the ground, clutching her midsection in pain.

The other two exchanged looks but still went in for a beating. Evie would have been surprised by their boldness if she didn’t see from the corner of her eyes the redhead getting up and trying to jump her from behind.

“Evie!” Arlo shouted to warn her, but she already went into action.

She grabbed the wrist of one attacking from the front and using her momentum threw her over her shoulder and on the redhead coming at her from behind. She then dodged the incoming fist of the third one, grabbing her wrist with one hand and striking her elbow with the other.

The woman cried out in pain; her arm probably broken.

Evie turned to look down on the pile she just created kicking the relatively uninjured woman in the side before she could get up and stepping on the arm of the redhead.

She reached into her clothes swiftly pulling out a dagger she effortlessly twirled in her hand.

“Did you have enough, or should we raise the stakes?”

“Fucking bitch! If I could use my ability, I would kill you!” The redhead growled at her.

“Let’s try.”

Evie’s answer caught the woman off guard. She gazed up at the girl confused.

“I said, let’s try. Give me a time and place and you can come at me with or without your lackeys.”

She smiled down at her a glint of joy flickering in her eyes, frightening the shit out of the woman.

Evie then leaned down to whisper to her. “Just remember, there won’t be any audience to protect you by then. You should keep that in mind.”

The red-haired woman didn’t want to admit it, but she was terrified by her. There was a sense of danger in her voice as she gleefully offered her a rematch. She wasn’t kidding.

Finally coming to her senses, she gathered her companions and wordlessly left the scene leaving a small crowd of onlookers and a blonde god tier completely and utterly flabbergasted.

“They grow up so fast.” John was moved to tears. “If Arlo hasn’t fallen for her yet he surely did now.”

“But where did she get that dagger from?” Seraphina glanced at the weapon.

“Does it matter?”

“Nah.” She shrugged.

Evie put away her dagger and flexed her fingers to get rid of the pain she felt from the gut punch.

“They finally left.” She sighed, annoyed by the whole thing, then she stepped closer to Arlo, offering him her arm. “Shall we return to our prior engagement?”

Arlo couldn’t help but stare in awe at his savior and took the offered arm without hesitation, wholeheartedly welcoming his newfound personal harassment repellent.

“But how…?” He couldn’t help but ask as they were walking towards the next booth.

“I’ve been training with John and Seraphina ever since high school and let me tell you, neither of them likes to hold back. Especially if you’re their friend. The closer you’re to them, the harder they hit.” She huffed in indignance. “They say ‘you shouldn’t hold back with your friends’ acting like that phrase was meant for punches and not emotional support! Training with them hurts so much sometimes!”

“John’s scary attitude certainly rubbed off on you.”

She chuckled. “Don’t say it like that’s a bad thing.”

He watched her carefully, not being able to shake off his worries about the four women they just encountered. “Aren’t you afraid those women will come after you later?”

“Nah, according to the current law, it would be self-defense. Smoothening things over would be a hassle though.” She shrugged.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Anyway…” She watched him from the corner of her eyes waiting for him to look at her before continuing. “Why didn’t you try to protect yourself? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to blame you and you don’t have to tell me if you’re uncomfortable with the topic. I would just like to know if it’s due to trauma or because of fear it will negatively affect your public image.”

He stopped in his track, thinking about it long and hard before answering. “I guess it’s a combination of the two. Up until high school, I could just beat people into submission if they did something I didn’t like. Excluding John and Seraphina of course. But after entering the Bureau expectations changed and while power was still everything, I didn’t just have to consider the power the individual themselves held but also the power they held through connections. I quickly realized that I was trapped by the system. Stronger people forced things on me I didn’t want, and they didn’t even have to do it themselves, they could do it through others. While after the revolution many things took a better turn this one thing didn’t change at all. High tiers might take a more sophisticated approach than those… women did, but I’m still constantly forced into interactions like this.”

He sighed, already despising the feeling that filled him upon recalling those memories.

“At some point, you just give up and accept it. Even if you scare off one there will be a horde in their place.”

Evie was silently taking in his words her heart going out for him. “I’m so sorry, Arlo. I had no idea you were constantly harassed like that.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it by now.”

“You shouldn’t get used to something like that.”

“It’s not like I have a choice.”

She hated it but couldn’t exactly argue with that.

“But hey, while you have a reputation to uphold, I have one to uphold too. As long as you’re with me no one can touch you.” She grinned up at him, trying to cheer him up.

It kind of worked because a smile stretched on Arlo’s lips.

“Thanks.”

“They’re totally dating,” John muttered from a distance.

“Yep, certainly dating.” Seraphina agreed with a nod.

The irony of the whole situation was completely lost on them.

Not far from them a noisy trio, hands full of all kinds of stuff was deep into a discussion.

“So, obviously raspberry flavored funnel cake is superior to all others,” Isen concluded his rant.

“Any funnel cake is divine as long as you put ice cream on them.” Blyke shrugged.

“You have no taste for perfection, Blyke.” Isen shook his head in disappointment at his best friend’s simple-mindedness.

Blyke rolled his eyes. “You always make an unnecessarily big deal out of food.”

“Let him be, Blyke. You know Isen’s heart is in his stomach.” Remi chided her boyfriend.

“Or in his groin.” He snorted. “Next thing you know he’ll combine the two and start rating flavored sex toys and condoms.”

An all-out argument was about to break out when the trio spotted the main targets of their mission.

“What are John and Seraphina doing?” Isen questioned with an arched eyebrow looking at the duo hiding behind a booth.

Blyke followed his gaze catching sight of the two as well. “Yeah, why are they hiding? Are they hiding from someone? But who?”

Remi watched them with careful eyes as they snuck around the booth and blended into the crowd. “They’re acting very suspiciously. Do you think they caught onto our plan somehow?”

“Which part of it exactly?” Isen asked.

She shrugged not having any idea. “I don’t know, but we shouldn’t just ignore it.”

“Then what should we do?” Blyke asked, taking a bite from his hotdog.

“Let’s follow them and see what they’re up to!” She exclaimed and the other two nodded in agreement.

They ducked behind a booth, carefully keeping an eye on them as the two slid behind a wall frequently pointing at something the three couldn’t quite make out.

Isen groaned. “Wish I had my ability. I can’t see what they are looking at.”

“Maybe it’s Dylan and the crew? How far off are they from here?” Blyke asked while taking a bite from his funnel cake filled with vanilla ice cream now.

Remi checked her phone for information. “His last message was from 3 hours ago. Based on it they’re currently working in a closed-off area to set up the whole thing. It’s also on the other side of the carnival, but he asked us to try and keep Seraphina and John away from there, just to be sure.”

This made Blyke all the more confused. “But who are they following or hiding from if it’s not related to Dylan’s plan?”

Isen grinned, his inner investigator hungry for another scoop. “We should continue following them and find out ourselves.”

“Of course, the stalker would want that.” Blyke shook his head but didn’t show any sign of protest.

“Let’s just go with that for now,” Remi said crawling on the ground to reach another booth.

Not far from them Arlo and Evie were just walking away from a food stand with ice creams in hand still tailed by John and Seraphina.

“This strawberry spiral is really good. Can’t believe you chose the coffee-flavored option even from this.” She remarked as she licked the delicious dairy product.

“I don’t like overly sweet things much. Even this one is a little too sweet for me.” He answered while sampling his own ice cream.

“I guess it’s good for your health. At least your blood sugar.” She commented, savoring the sweet taste of strawberry.

“How John and Seraphina don’t get diabetes from all the boba tea they consume is beyond me.” He made a mental note to suggest them a checkup just in case.

“Too much caffeine can harm your digestive system as well, you know?” She pointed out. “You already had three coffees since we got here.”

“I only drink in moderation.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “If you say so.”

Before he could defend himself, she tugged at his helm making both of them stop.

“What?” He arched an eyebrow.

“Aren’t those Remi, Isen, and Blyke over there?” She whispered with a finger raised in the air.

“I don’t think you can mistake those three for anyone given their ridiculous attires.” He said, his eyes moving in the direction she was pointing at.

Just as she claimed, their three friends were hunched under a counter, occasionally sticking their heads out and then immediately ducking back into hiding. Tact and secrecy were nowhere to be found.

“What are they doing?” Arlo narrowed his eyes, feeling the stupidity radiating from them even from that distance.

“If it’s them then nothing normal.” Evie sighed.

“Says Miss low tier lethal liquidation lady disguised as a cinnamon roll.” He gave her a pointed stare, a small smirk playing on his lips.

“Don’t group me together with them. I have common sense.” She said returning his playful smirk.

“Anyway, we should probably get to the bottom of this. Leaving those three unchecked can lead to the failure of the entire operation or other type of disasters.” He turned serious, watching the three idiots roll on the ground trying and failing to imitate ninjas but gaining everyone’s attention in their surroundings.

She shook her head watching this ridiculous scene. “Yeah, we should definitely do something about this.”

He took out his phone to ask them in the group chat, but after minutes passed and they still didn’t answer, completely engrossed in whatever the thing was they were doing, he tried calling them. To no avail, because neither of them answered. He could feel veins bulge out on his forehead, his forgotten headache returning with vengeance.

He tried calling for the fifth time when his patience ran dry. He growled as he put away his phone.

“Unbelievable!”

Evie herself has given up on reaching them after several attempts and sighed in frustration. “Let’s just follow them and see if we can stop them.”

“Simply stopping them wouldn’t be enough.” He spoke in a low voice, slowly drawing out his favorite weapon. “They need punishment.”

Isen sensing the disturbance in the force turned his head just in time to lock eyes with a very angry Arlo glaring at them. He squealed, his flight or fight response immediately kicking in and choosing flight, ushering his companions to escape from the wrath of the god tier.

“Oh no, you won’t get away so easily!” Arlo took off after them, grabbing Evie’s hand.

“Oh my god! He took her hand! They’re holding hands!” John whisper-shouted in disbelief.

“They’re running away! They must have noticed us!” Seraphina caught his hand with her own and started to run so as to not lose them.

“Go, go, go! He’s coming! He’s coming!!!” Isen cried out as he pushed his two best friends forward.

“Why are we running, Isen?” Remi attempted to ask but Blyke shoved her to run.

“Oh, gods! He has the fork out!” He yelled the panic settling in.

“Why did you gift him that thing, Remi?!” Isen whined as they ducked under a counter to crawl away on the floor.

“It seemed like a good idea! I never thought he’d use it against me!” She answered between pants.

“We need to catch up!” Arlo said increasing their running speed.

“Arlo, I can’t… my legs are too short for this,” Evie mumbled as she was gasping for air. She was regretting focusing on hand-to-hand combat and neglecting endurance training in the previous months. Her stamina was shit.

“Tsk!” He clicked his tongue biting off the last of his ice cream before discarding the stick into a garbage can and scooping her up with his newly freed arm his other still holding the fork.

“They’re not getting away this time!”

He started running again with a very confused and very flustered Evie in his arm.

“Gods, he’s carrying her! How romantic is that!” Seraphina said as they were rushing after them.

“Who would have thought her missing out on so many running exercises would come in handy and prompt Arlo to hold her like that.” John frowned still annoyed with her for forsaking endurance over strength.

Unbeknownst to him his best friend was suddenly contemplating following the example.

“Isen, John, and Seraphina started running as well!” Remi told him while they tried to avoid being caught by Arlo.

“Remi, we’re currently running for our lives!” Isen said between breaths.

“I don’t think following them around any longer is an option right now!” Blyke agreed with him.

“But our entire mission depends on keeping them in the dark!” She whined.

“Shit, I don’t wanna die!” Isen cried out, deciding to follow the two as long as they can.

“Dammit Remi, why don’t you care about our lives!” Her boyfriend accepted his fate as well.

“It’s for the greater good!” She wanted to laugh but she was out of breath.

“Reminds me of our vigilante missions… where you tried… to get us killed… almost… every… single… time!” Isen managed to say between pants.

“Oh, come on! It wasn’t that bad!” She grumbled slightly offended.

“It was!” The boys shouted in unison.

“Why are John and Seraphina running anyway?” Blyke asked.

“How would I know?!” Isen huffed, trying to keep an eye on them.

“I thought you were smart!” He countered.

“I’m friends with you.” He deadpanned at him.

“Ouch and touché.” He nodded, accepting his answer.

“Guys, Arlo’s getting too close!” Remi quickened her pace even more.

“You just convinced us to follow John and Seraphina!” Blyke couldn’t believe his girlfriend.

“Yeah, but I suddenly had a surge of survival instinct!” She said glancing behind them only seeing Arlo’s angry face above the crowd, but it was enough to frighten her.

“Uncharacteristic for you, but I won’t argue!” Isen took the chance to get out of the unfavorable situation and pointed at the pavilion with several smaller tents around it.

After sliding under a tent, the trio had successfully shaken off the scary god tier pursuing them. Their loud panting filled the silence of the storage space before Isen slammed his hands on the other two’s mouths. They looked at his frightened eyes while sweating profusely, trying to even out their breathing. They could hear footsteps approaching and then slowly entering the tent.

Their pursuer was close. In a mirror, Isen could see the reflection of his hand holding the fork. Its shiny surface glinting in the light filtering in from the entrance. They were hiding behind wooden crates not daring to move even an inch.

Finally, after a long, agonizing minute Arlo left the tent. They still waited for three more minutes before sighing in relief.

“That was close.” Blyke released the tension from his shoulders.

“Yeah.” Isen sighed in relief. “Luckily we’re safe now.”

“I guess we should get going. Wouldn’t want to be here if a staff member happens to come in.” Remi got up, starting to walk towards the exit and the other two followed.

What they were unaware of was a furious Arlo outside currently pinning Evie to the side of the tent with his hand on her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she peered up at him. He held a finger in front of his lips.

“Keep quiet and don’t move.” He whispered in her left ear.

She silently nodded.

“Seems like taking her in the tent wasn’t good enough,” Seraphina muttered, her eyes wide. She was shocked by Arlo’s forwardness.

“You think they’ll start making out now?” John was starting to feel like a stalker.

“We… should give them privacy.” She said turning away from the scene. She then glanced at her best friend who as well stopped looking at the two. Thinking about their intimate position a small spark of jealousy flickered in her. What would it be like to do this with John? Pushed up against a wall, her arms pinned above her head, his lips caressing her jawline…

She shut her eyes to push down the idea. She had to stop herself before she was driven mad by the mere thoughts.

“Sera, are you ok?”

When she heard the question her eyes fluttered open revealing a concerned John watching her from too close to her comfort after her previous daydreaming. Her breath hitched, but years of practice helped her regain her composure within seconds. She raised a finger to his nose, lightly pressing on it to put some distance between them. It would be great if she could just crash her lips onto his, but that wasn’t in the cards, alas keeping her sanity had to take priority.

“I’m fine. Was just surprised how well their date went.”

He snorted. “Yeah, seems like Arlo can be actually pretty good at the art of seduction when he wants to. Never would have pegged him like the kind of guy.”

She stood, dusting off her yukata from all the running. She quickly checked on her new bracelet to make sure it was still safely wrapped around her wrist.

“We should get going. We confirmed what we wanted to.”

“Right.” John followed suit, smoothening out the creases on his clothes. “Another mango boba?”

“You shouldn’t even ask.” She grinned at him and started walking in the boba stand’s direction.

As they were leaving, they missed as a very angry Arlo grabbed an unsuspecting Isen by the collar, pinning him to the wall.

“Arlo!” Blyke cried out before Arlo’s other hand found its way to his collar as well.

“I love your dominant energy, but I’m not into BDSM,” Isen muttered trying to lower Arlo’s anger. Assuming from his tightening grip it wasn’t a success.

“Lies! You love being tied up!” The other clueless idiot didn’t help. They both winced in pain as he lifted them.

“Arlo, please, let us go! Why are you even angry at us?” Remi pleaded with him only getting a glare holding the fury of a thousand suns as a response.

“Check your phone.” Evie looked at them with a tired expression.

“Evie, you are here?” She looked at her owlishly, shocked by her presence.

“Thanks for noticing.” The other facepalmed. “Just check your phone. I don’t have the energy to explain.”

“Me neither,” Arlo added, still not releasing the two idiots.

Remi finally pulled out her phone immediately taken aback by the sheer amount of texts and missed calls. When she opened the chat, she saw private messages from both Evie and Arlo as well as several dozen messages in the group chat. After opening the latter, she found all three of them tagged numerous times with questions about their escapades. There were even videos of them crawling and rolling on the ground while several onlookers blatantly stared at them in confusion.

She had the decency to look ashamed at least.

“What the hell were you three up to now?” Arlo growled finally letting go of the two effectively dropping them on their butts. “You were parading around like dimwits gaining everyone’s attention.”

“Hehe… you see… we were actually following John and Seraphina.” Remi scratched the back of her neck under her hoodie.

“And why was that necessary?” He stared at her demanding an answer.

“They were acting really suspiciously,” Isen said while caressing his freshly injured bottom.

“Yeah, they were sneaking around for some reason, and we wanted to know why.” Blyke joined in trying to explain their reasoning.

“Couldn’t you just text into the group chat and ask for help instead of doing… well… what you did?” Evie massaged her left temple.

The three exchanged looks. Realizing their foolishness, they nervously laughed.

“Well… yeah, that could have been an option,” Blyke spoke up for them, nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

“An option?” Arlo repeated in a dangerously low tone.

“I mean, we should have done that. We’ll definitely do that next time!” Isen slapped a hand on his best friend’s mouth before he could say anything else, answering in his stead.

Arlo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just… go and don’t cause any more trouble please.”

“Yessir!” The three replied in unison and scrambled out of his sight as fast as they could.

Arlo sighed feeling the tension returning to his body. Evie could see this and grabbed his arm, tugging him out of the secluded area. “Come on, let’s get back to playing!”

“What’s the point? You’ll win anyway.” He huffed, not in the mood to play around anymore.

“What? Lost confidence in your skills? Ready to be called cute banana pie?” Her smile and enthusiasm never faltered. When he didn’t respond she pulled out her phone. “Then if you’ve given up, I’ll just change your name in the group chat.”

He quickly put a hand on her screen stopping her from typing. “No, that won’t be necessary. I’ve not given up just yet.”

She smirked.

“Then let’s not waste any more time and go to the goldfish booth. Who knows how much time we have left to play around.” She pulled on his arm again, leading him to their next stop.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about it?” He muttered.

Evie laughed. “You have a bad feeling about everything. A born pessimist.”

Arlo almost looked like he was pouting.

After they arrived at the booth the vendor greeted them with the utmost kindness and attentiveness earning Evie’s mercy who only played a few rounds before sitting back to contently watch Arlo try his best. Unfortunately for him, this was one of the harder games where you got three little balls you had to land in one of the countless glass bottles. Depending on the bottle you could win different prizes, though his only objective was winning at least once. But no matter how hard he tried, the ball always bounced off the bottles.

“Is this game rigged as well?” He growled, trying his luck again.

“No, this one is legit just really hard. It was one of the last games I managed to win. You have to train your body to throw the ball at a certain angle and with a certain force for it to not bounce out.” Evie answered while eating popcorn.

The ball flew, hitting the bottle but it didn’t manage to stay in it.

“This is hopeless!” He exclaimed slamming the remaining two balls on the counter.

“Don’t give up young man! Luck might be on your side!” The vendor encouraged him, but he only huffed.

“Luck was never something that liked siding with me.”

Their phones pinged prompting Evie to check it. She frowned. “Looks like it’s almost showtime. We should get going after this.”

Arlo was dissatisfied. “So, these two balls are my last chance to win a game and the bet against you?”

She showed him a sad smile. “It seems so.”

“Wait, you made a bet with The Devil? Are you insane, young man?” The vendor asked, eyes full of disbelief.

“Yes, I was stupid enough to make a bet with her. If I could just win one single game, I’d win the bet but after trying out every game I still couldn’t win in a single one at least once.” He plopped down on the counter with his elbow.

“So, you only need to win once?” The man tilted his head, a plan formulating in his mind.

“Yes, but it won’t happen, because I only have these last two balls to win.” He grumbled with a mix of defeat and irritation.

The vendor made a sudden move, accidentally knocking off the two remaining balls. “Oh, how clumsy I am!”

He immediately went to retrieve them from the ground and placed them back on the counter after dusting them off.

“Then I wish you good luck, young man.” The man grinned at Arlo and stood off to the side to give him room.

He found this a little suspicious but decided it didn’t matter at this point anyway. He grabbed one ball and threw it with little force. It bounced off the glass bottles yet again. He sighed.

“Gently, young man! Gently! Caress that ball like it was your lover!”

He found the advice ridiculous but followed it, nevertheless. He threw the last ball upwards, as gently as he could, making it softly fall towards the glass bottles. To his greatest surprise, it landed and stayed in one of them.

The vendor rang a bell. “We have a winner!”

Both Arlo’s and Evie’s eyes widened in shock before slowly but surely a triumphant smile found its way to his face.

“I won! I won something!”

Evie was highly skeptical about the fairness of the win and stared at the vendor who sent her a wink confirming her suspicion. She then looked back at her friend who was almost jumping from joy.

No, she wouldn’t take this away from him, even if it technically wasn’t fair and the vendor knew it. The man smirked; happy he bested the infamous Devil in his own way.

“Evie, I won!” Arlo shouted once more, pointing at her with his index finger. “You can’t call me that abomination of a name!”

She tilted her head innocently and his glee was replaced with dread.

“What do you mean, Arlo?”

“What do I mean? I won, so you can’t call me cute banana pie or whatever.” He clarified.

“I hate to tell you this, but I think you have something mixed up.”

“What?”

“The bet was the following: I win if I never lose, not even in a single game, while you win if you manage to win in at least one game.”

He didn’t get it. “So, what are you talking about? I won.”

“Let me finish, will you?” Her smile morphed into a smirk. “Those were the conditions, but the following were the prizes: if you win you get to ask anything from me as a favor and if I win, I get to call you cute banana pie.”

Arlo went pale as realization dawned on him.

“We both won, so I owe you a favor, but I still get to call you cute banana pie.”

“You… you tricked me!” He glared at her, anger filling his expression.

“The conditions were pretty clear, it’s not my fault you didn’t think it through.” Her smirk never wavered.

“You kept encouraging me as me winning would mean I avoid being called that thing!”

“I never said such a thing.”

“But you implied!”

“Told you making a deal with The Devil was a bad idea.” The vendor commented shaking his head at the youngster’s foolishness.

“That’s it! I’m using the favor to ask you to not call me that name ever!” He crossed his arms in front of his chest happy with himself that he found a loophole.

Evie frowned. “Don’t be such a downer. That would be no fun.”

“I can’t let you go around and call me that name.” It was his time to smirk.

“Okay, fair. What if I promise to only call you that when it’s just the two of us?”

He arched an eyebrow. “Why would you want me to keep the favor and potentially ask something harder from you?”

“One, I like keeping things fun, and two, I kind of already grew fond of the name.”

Arlo found this absolutely ridiculous. Did he even need a favor from Evie? What was the point? Maybe it could be useful when it was his turn in the Jera game. She was also an excellent harassment repellent and could probably make someone disappear for good.

This last thought sent a shiver down his spine. All in all, her owing him one didn’t sound such a bad thing after all.

“Only when it’s just the two of us? Meaning not in front of others, not in the group chat or any way that would lead others to find out about it?” He asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Yes, I’d solely use it when it’s just the two of us or when only the two of us can hear it.” She promised him.

He didn’t find it reassuring at all knowing how crafty she was by now, but he knew he could still use the favor later to stop it if she yet again tricked him.

“Fine. I’ll use my favor on something else.” He finally agreed.

She jumped to her feet, a content smile returning to her face. “Okay, let’s go!”

Before he could move, however, she stood on her tiptoes, grabbing his shoulder to pull him down and whisper in his ear. “Cute banana pie.”

His expression was priceless. Her laughter filled the air as she was enjoying the result of her newfound power.

Arlo was already regretting this.

Chapter Text

“Finally, everyone is here!” Dylan exclaimed excitedly as the others arrived at the scene, before hastily adding. “Except John and Seraphina, of course.”

The trio were still warily eyeing Arlo, who paid no attention to them his mind still preoccupied with completely different matters. They knew they were always in the fork’s attack range, so letting their guard down was out of the question. In the end, however, he wasn’t the one who called them out.

“Great job, guys.” Claire shot the three costume-wearing idiots a glare. “You managed to garner the attention of the whole freaking carnival with your parkour stunt or whatever.”

“We were just trying to keep an eye on John and Seraphina! They were acting suspiciously…” Remi trailed off, knowing well that there was not much to say in their defense.

“Yeah, right. You did wonderful in that regard.” The other rolled her eyes. “Can’t believe I’m talking to actual adults and not a bunch of kids.”

“We’re a year younger than you!” Blyke spoke up regretting the words as they left his mouth.

“Look at Evie and Dylan dammit!” Claire wildly gestured at the two who sheepishly scratched their heads. “They’re even younger and they don’t parade around like morons!”

“Yeah, stealth and grace aren’t really the forte of any of you. Sorry guys.” Adrion agreed awkwardly as scolding others wasn’t really his thing.

“I don’t know, I was very much entertained by all the videos and pictures others sent to the group chat.” Elaine took a sip from her little spiced-up orange juice. “I was starting to get bored chilling on a lawn chair alone, so it was nice to get something to laugh on.”

Claire massaged the bridge of her nose trying to get rid of the frustration. “I just can’t with you guys…”

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing with the junkie girl, but again, what were you all thinking?” Arlo finally rejoined the conversation after arranging his thoughts.

“We are sorry?” Isen grimaced feeling his icy gaze filled with fury once again pointed at them.

“Guys, let’s just move on to the task at hand!” Evie stepped in the middle to divert everyone’s attention and dissolve the tension quickly rising within the group. “We need all our efforts focused on John and Seraphina otherwise we don’t stand a chance at getting them together.”

“I have to agree with Evie.” Dylan joined the peace efforts as well. “Their denial level reaches uncanny heights. We need to work together.”

“Together we stand, divided we fall.” The two said in unison sharing a high five then turning towards the others.

Dylan extended his arm in the middle while locking eyes with all of them. “You are in or what?”

Evie slammed her hand on his, and the others slowly but surely followed.

“Together we stand…” He started firmly.

“Divided we fall!” The group shouted together.

Isen looked around trying to figure out the next step. “So… what’s this big plan of yours?”

Dylan coughed for emphasis before swinging around, his arms spreading wide dramatically. “I’d like to present to you… The Roommate Race!!!”

The covers hiding away the area behind them came down courtesy of Mesto’s men revealing a surprisingly big field with several different stages. There was at least one obstacle course, numerous colorful games, two elevated platforms, and tents with unknown purposes.

“Wow, you really did plan this all out.” Elaine lowered her sunglasses in amazement.

The sight presented really surpassed the expectations of most of them, especially with how quickly everything had been put together. In just a few hours an entire new area emerged within the carnival.

“I have to say, Dylan, I’m impressed.” Arlo nodded in approval. He was glad to have a competent (and less scary) person on their team.

“It’s all thanks to Mesto’s crew. They’re professionals capable of wonders. Can’t even find the words to express my gratitude towards them.” He beamed at the men in question who were standing on the side, with their master admiring their work while stroking his beard.

“Indeed, they did a good job. I’ll have to honor their labor accordingly.”

The men beamed, happy about the promised bonus before hurrying away to finish up the set.

“Could we get some details about this… what was it? Roommate Race?” Claire asked slightly put off by the naming.

“Of course!” Dylan nodded franticly and started to head inside, motioning to them to follow. “Last night I thoroughly analyzed the data I received from Arlo and Evie and drew up some outlines and certain features I wanted to include. Mesto helped to work out all the details after keeping in mind the resources they had at their disposal.”

The group led by him and Mesto explored the area with their eyes.

“So, everything starts out with the obstacle race where you have to-“

“Hold on, hold on!” Blyke halted the boy’s vigorous tirade of an explanation. “Why is it called Roommate Race?”

“Oh, come on, Blyke! Isn’t it obvious?” Isen gave him an unimpressed look.

“No?”

“Okay, what would you call it?”

“I don’t know… Couples’ Clash or something?” Blyke shrugged.

“Think, Blyke! Think!” Isen pointed at his head with both index fingers.

“While I like your name idea the point is that we don’t want them to know they’re participating in something aimed at romantic couples. We want to lure them in and not deter them from entering.” Dylan spoke up, taking pity on his clueless friend. “You need them to be comfortable first and slowly raise the stakes.”

“Slowly boiling the frog, I see.” Isen scratched his chin. “Very clever.”

“Thank you.”

“Still, why Roommate Race and not Besties’ Blast or something?” Adrion asked.

“Because one, I didn’t think about that name, good idea by the way-“

“Thanks.”

“-and two, best friends are often couples while you wouldn’t call your romantic partner your roommate.”

“Except if you’re John and Seraphina.” Blyke slammed his fist into the open palm of his other hand, realization finally hitting him.

“Big brain, Blyke! Big brain!” Isen patted his best friend on the back.

“Precisely.” Dylan nodded with a triumphant grin.

“But not many people have their roommates with them here. How do you want to solve that?” Remi suddenly became doubtful.

“We thought about this as well and already arranged for some decoy participants just in case, to lower any suspicion they might have.” He pointed at the small crowd currently reviewing some kind of sheet handed out to them.

“You really thought this one through.” Again, Arlo was impressed by Dylan’s capabilities.

“Are you sure they will fall for it, though? While neither Seraphina nor John is known for turning down a challenge, they may not be in the mood for running around and taking on random games.” Claire was still skeptical about the whole thing.

“Worry not, my friend! We accounted for all and every variable!” He answered confidently, trusting his and Mesto’s work.

“Should we call the targets then?” Evie asked, already hyped by the race that was just around the corner.

“Not so fast, Miss Devil!” Mesto clapped his big hands on her shoulders from behind. “First we need to set the stage!”

He raised his right arm, a controller in hand, and pressed a red button on it causing the loudspeakers to come to life.

“Attention dear visitors of The Crippled Carnival! Your favorite carnival master and his crew prepared a special event for you all! Great prizes and even greater fun await you on the southmost side of the carnival! Join in or be a spectator! The Infamous Roommate Race calls for you all! We start in 15 minutes, hurry up and come!”

“Now you can call my boy and his lady friend here without garnering suspicion.” The man patted Evie’s head with a smile and took his leave to make more arrangements.

She grinned after him as she pulled out her phone to type in their shared group chat.

TerrorPrincess: hey guys have u heard the announcement?

The others jumped in as well to make it more authentic.

DemocRAT: what’s up?

UmartGoku: r u deaf, isen?

PinkPikachu: yea, were standing rite next 2 u and cud hear it loud and clear

Brolo: I thought you gained enhanced senses as a passive after becoming a high tier.

CrystalBall: can you even not use a passive?

DemocRAT: guys stop bullying me TT_TT

MADicine: never

Bold&Blond: I wanna watch this race

TerrorPrincess: same

TerrorPrincess: meeting @ der in 5?

TheFriend^TM: fine by me

CrystalBall: ok

MADinice: coming

PinkPikachu: well be there

TerrorPrincess: @TimeLord ?

TerrorPrincess: @AbsANdNoRegrets ?

TimeLord: we'll b der after i grab john

DemocRAT: whats he doing

TimeLord: trying 2 win the last prize of sum bucket game

Brolo: …

TerrorPrincess: …

TerrorPrincess: Ill b der in a min

Brolo: He deserves it.

In the promised time Evie reemerged in front of her first victim shocking the vendor into a silent stupor. Arlo, who accompanied her just grabbed the prize from the counter and pushed it into a confused John’s arms. He and Seraphina were not one bit surprised seeing the two of them together, the latter already planning the interrogation of her seemingly shy and definitely small friend.

After this the four of them made their way to the meetup point, the others already waiting for them. Little did the non-couple know it was all part of a detailed, devious, and overarching plan.

“Everyone is here finally.” Dylan sighed in relief when everyone was where they were supposed to be in time.

John arched an eyebrow at him. “What were you worrying about? It’s not like any of us wants to participate.”

This put some anxiety into the others’ hearts, but the main conspirator’s smile remained unwavering.

“You never know until you hear what they have to offer.”

John exchanged glances with Seraphina and they both shrugged.

“I doubt we’d be tempted to join, but okay.”

At that exact moment, the loudspeakers came to life yet again.

“Welcome, welcome everyone!” Mesto stood on a stage greeting the quickly growing crowd. “I’d like to announce the rarely held but very well-liked, special, fantastic, wonderous, and dramatic event of the one and only Roommate Race!”

The people cheered, most with varying degrees of alcohol and junk food already in their systems to booths their mood.

Mesto continued.

“A few might be already familiar with this competition but for those of you who are new to it, let me explain the basics! Two persons, bonded by trust and love and the shared experience of living together! Familiar with each other’s likes and dislikes, wishes and wants ups and downs, traits and needs! We want to invite current and past roommates or any of you who are sharing an almost familial connection to join this competition that probes one’s knowledge and bond to the other!”

Arlo smiled at the clever wording. It didn’t specify what kind of love it was about, leaving it vague enough for the audience to draw their conclusions themselves.

“Isn’t this perfect for you guys?” Isen turned to John and Seraphina who were only mildly interested in the race for now. “You know each other in and out.”

“Maybe, but it also sounds like unnecessarily revealing a lot of personal stuff to a bunch of strangers,” Seraphina said, not liking the idea of giving up her privacy like this.

“Yeah, I’m not too keen on parading around for the entertainment of the masses to get some cheap prizes I can buy with my own money.” John felt the same way as his best friend.

Remi frowned, not liking their obvious refusal one bit.

“The great race surely sounds taxing for the cowardly, who aren’t ready to show around just how much they know about their live-in partner.” Mesto shook his head, the corners of his mouth curving downwards in an overexaggerated, gloomy frown.

John narrowed his eyes, realizing he was not-so-subtly mocking him personally.

‘No Mesto. You won’t fool me this time. I’m onto you and your plan.’

He was in fact not onto him and his plan.

“Your dedicated roommate, maybe even best friend, would want you to show them how much your bond is worth, but are you up to the challenge? Is your knowledge about the other real or just a fleeting illusion?”

This caught Seraphina’s attention, reminding her of just a few hours ago when she realized she may not know her best friend as well as she would like to. What was in his mind? Was he interested in girls? Or guys? She never asked, not thinking it was necessary, or not daring to know the answer. But was sticking her head into the sand fair to John? Didn’t she owe him to find out if she was holding him back or not?

Maybe this race had some merit to it after all.

“Why not try it out for yourself if you are confident in your connection? With some luck, you could very well emerge on the top and prove to everyone that you sharing a life together isn’t for nothing!”

“John, this doesn’t sound that bad.” She voiced her thoughts to him only getting a confused side-eye in return.

“What do you mean, Sera? This whole thing sounds ridiculous.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged nonchalantly, trying to mask her hidden motives. “I just think Isen is right, and we’d kill this competition.”

He still wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, but at what cost?”

“Some of you are already here, while others may need some… persuading. For that, let’s talk about the prizes, shall we? I know what most of you think. It sounds like a hella lot of work for some sucky carnival plushies and coupons, right? Wrong! We’re offering no less than two 1-year long Woba Boba memberships that entitle you to a 20% discount and one free boba per day for one whole year!”

John’s interest was definitely piqued. “Okay, I’m listening.”

“They’ll die of sugar overdose before getting together, I’m telling you.” Arlo quietly muttered making Evie giggle.

“A limited edition ten pieces collection of Flappy Pig or FieldCraft merchandise with rarities normally only available through professional competitions!”

A loud squeal could be heard within the group, and everyone turned to find the source being Seraphina whose eyes shined like the starry sky uncharacteristically to her.

John sighed. They were in.

“And last but not least a weekend getaway to the most famous hot spring and 5-star hotel in the country for two persons!”

Isen whistled and whispered to Blyke. “Dylan and Mesto didn’t take this mission lightly.”

“Wish we could win something like that, but we can’t even join this competition.”

“Yeah, sucks that we’re missing out on such an opportunity.”

Remi hushed them and the guys quieted down.

“So, are you ready to try yourself out and test your bond? Wonderful prizes are waiting for you on the other side!”

Mesto finished with his promotional speech getting the loudest, most excited cheering from the audience.

“We have to try this, Roger!”

“You bet we’ll win big, Miron!”

“They don’t stand a chance against us, right Perion?”

Excited buzzing filled the entire area. Many people couldn’t wait to sign up, rushing to the stand to put their names down, frantically exchanging joyous words and shooting each other confident grins. Several of them dimmed not long after when they found out about the high entrance fee.

“You gotta be kidding, 100 bucks per pair? That’s just insane!”

“Well, they provide everyone with the appropriate clothes for the race they can keep afterward and some participation gifts, but yeah, it’s still way too high.”

“Why did they make the fee so high?” Adrion whispered to Claire who contemplated for a moment before answering.

“If I had to guess they wanted to weed out some of the competitors. It’s a good way to keep the participants’ number at a manageable level and with this being a cover plan to get John and Seraphina together I think they wanted to make it so they will surely not get eliminated early on. Motivate them with awesome gifts while deterring others with the fee, you know.”

While others anxiously counted the money they had left and were arguing about taking the risk or not John wasn’t worried about the money. He had more than enough to easily enter with Seraphina, but he had his own worries.

As of late, he had found it harder and harder to keep his true feelings under control enough to hide them when he was around her. One would think with the constant proximity of each other the longing would grow weaker, however, as he found out the longing in his heart was rather greedy and vicious. The closeness they had now, both physically and emotionally left his inner desire more prevalent than ever. Her presence felt mesmerizing, her touch intoxicating, her laughter like the sweetest treat for his aching heart. He couldn’t get enough of her, enjoying every second of the time spent together.

And yet, he still wanted more.

Not like what they had now wasn’t enough for him, on the contrary. He was the happiest with her and wouldn’t change a thing. If only the future looming over his head wasn’t an ever-present torturer of his mind. If only he couldn’t feel this strict, uncrossable line between them. What was waiting for him on the other side? The truth. Not feverish kisses or hot nights were what he was craving so much. Those were things he definitely wouldn’t mind, but what he really wished for more than anything was her. Having her in his life now and forever. Laughing together, comforting each other, sharing perfectly mundane and the most important moments of life.

He yearned for all of it. For them to be this close forever. For him to be able to remain a constant presence in her life, for her to never leave him. That was all he cared for. He knew how selfish it was and he knew it would never come true.

Because that was the truth on the other side of that uncrossable line.

That he couldn’t have any of it.

So, he was worried, even anxious about entering this race and inadvertently crossing the line of no return and seeing the truth for what it was. The painful fact he was trying to avoid for the longest time yet coming back to it on a daily basis.

And yet he couldn’t possibly say no to her when she was looking at him like that. He both cursed himself for being so weak against her brilliant eyes filled with excitement and joy, and happiness that he got to see them again.

The sweetest torture of one’s existence.

“Are you sure you want to enter, Sera?”

He couldn’t help but attempt a futile escape one last time.

Seraphina raised an eyebrow at him, her elation still not dampened at all. “Are you kidding? Limited edition Flappy Pig merch! I’m not going to miss out on that one!”

She was determined to get the prize. While Flappy Pig was a game of the ‘old times’ nowadays, diminished in popularity by a lot for years, it recently made its comeback. Since then, the company started releasing new merchandise and some limited-edition ones from their old collections. She still was a fan and played the game sometimes, but the most appealing thing was what it meant to her.

It was one of the first games she and John started playing after she discovered the wonders of pig-themed games. While he kept losing against her John remained supportive and happy for her even if they bickered a lot over her using her ability to win. Some of those days spent together were core memories for her from a simpler time before all the shit went down. Just she and her best friend chilling on the rooftop of the school playing and laughing.

She was happy, don’t get her wrong. However, there had been some things that were easier back then. They still had secrets between them, ticking away like a time bomb, but she didn’t have to feel this constant yearning. While she was thoroughly enjoying their closeness, there was still this unsaid thing between them waiting to rear its ugly head.

A double-edged sword really. The closer they grew and the happier she got, the more she ached to have this wall removed from between them. What was on the other side? The truth. And today for the first time she became completely uncertain about what it was.

Anyway, collecting anything that tied them together and reminded her of good times was a life mission she wasn’t about to give up on.

John shook his head, a bemused smile adorning his handsome face. “You’re hopeless.”

“Say that one more time and I’m revealing to everyone how you cry every time we watch The Lion Queen.” She grinned devilishly.

“Not fair, that movie is so emotional!” He dramatically clutched his chest.

She laughed good-naturedly and pushed him towards the registration stand before abruptly stopping.

He looked at her confused for a moment but then, like their mind connection caught up to him, a lightbulb turned on in his head and they both spun around.

“Aren’t you guys joining?” She shot the question to the other group members who froze in place.

“What? Why would we?” Isen immediately panicked. None of them expected this question.

“Even If you don’t want all of those prizes, I bet you could sell them for quite a few bucks. Besides, the race seems like fun.”

John nodded along, agreeing with her of course. “Yeah, why not try it out yourself? We could do something together now that we finally gathered after spending most of the day separately.”

“I’m fine with just cheering for you guys. I never really roomed with any of you anyway.” Evie deflected expertly.

“What about Dylan, though? While not your roommate you two are pretty close and know a lot about each other.” John still didn’t give up.

The girl’s face darkened. “Let’s… not bring Dylan’s loose mouth into a game with a wider audience.”

Everyone silently gulped recognizing the threat.

“Yeah, let’s not do that.”

“What about the others? Arlo?”

Seraphina snorted earning a glare from said man. “Arlo never ever had a roommate or a close confidant really.”

“I’m not as alone and lonely as you think, thank you.”

While most thought it was a simple retort two shared a knowing smirk deciding to prod him a little.

“And who are you close with?” Seraphina asked gleefully.

“What?” Arlo wasn’t expecting follow-up questions.

“Yeah Arlo, who are you close with? Please, tell us!” John joined in with a shit-eating grin.

“That’s none of your business.” He was frustrated with what he perceived as mocking and wanted to smack them on the head.

“Do we know her perhaps?”

“Her?” Maybe they were thinking about Kassandra? But they knew she long got promoted to a higher position in another district. Despite this, they still kept in touch, but that shouldn’t be news to them. Did they think something was going on between them? That would be absurd.

“How close did the two of you grow? Does she like it when you dress up nicely?”

After thinking about it, John and Seraphina realized why Arlo was wearing his nicest clothes to a festival despite the weather being really hot and sticking out like a sore thumb. Obviously, he wanted to look his best for the date with Evie, who herself was wearing something really cute. There was no other possible explanation, because how ridiculous would it be if he just didn’t know better and didn’t check on Goggle in this time and age?

“Enough with this nonsense! My personal life has nothing to do with you!” Arlo was getting increasingly annoyed with their antics while the others thought the two were taking the playful banter into insult territory.

“Let’s drop it, guys. You’re taking it too far.” Remi had to step in because the two best friends were way too invested in Arlo’s presumed love life at this point.

“Sorry. We just wanted to learn more about our dear friend, Arlo.” John chose to tone it down, realizing that their pushiness may deter the two love birds from revealing themselves to the group.

“Yeah, we were really just curious about your mysterious friend. You’re not one to make friends easily after all. You’d have ditched us long ago otherwise.” Seraphina said with an apologetic smile that oddly resembled a smirk.

Evie didn’t understand what had gotten into her best female friend and didn’t quite like how she and John went about all of it. It seemed weird, out of character, and strangely intrusive. While the friend group liked to poke fun at each other they rarely crossed certain boundaries and even now they seemed smug about it. Like they knew something the others didn’t.

She decided to just cut this discussion short preventing the reignition of any drama.

“If you want to know Arlo is my new carnival game bestie. He helps me win like a lucky charm.” She said while lightly patting his arm.

“Lucky charm… you mean glorified bait.” He muttered under his breath.

For some reason, while this did shut up John and Seraphina the two had the biggest, most satisfied Cheshire grins plastered on their faces. They hummed in unison, only growing the confusion within the group.

After having their personal fun Seraphina remembered the original topic. “Anyway… I can see why Dylan, Arlo, and Evie can’t join the race. I can also cross out Elaine for the same reason, but what about the others?”

The others in the group didn’t like their persistence about the subject. They needed to come up with some good excuses and fast before getting roped in.

John turned to his friends with an eyebrow drawn up questioningly. “Adrion? Claire?”

“Really? John, you’ve known me since we were kids.” Claire rolled her eyes. “Can you really imagine me and the word race in the same sentence?”

“Yeah, she would rather laze around than exercise with me.” Adrion agreed to strengthen her point only to receive an elbow to his ribcage.

“Ouch!”

“You call me lazy now, next thing I know you will call me fat.” His girlfriend glared at him.

“I certainly have more self-preservation than that.”

“True, you’re not John.”

“Hey!”

“I mean it’s true, edgy boy.” Arlo flashed him a smirk while the others quietly snickered.

“Okay, so Claire and Adrion are off the list as well, but the trio? They’re close-knit and pretty fit, even Isen.” Seraphina didn’t let it go. The others inwardly groaned.

“Exactly. You guys were made for this race. Don’t let us go alone!” John draped his arms on the boys’ shoulders who wanted to escape this unwanted attention as fast as possible.

Blyke’s lips started to tremble which signaled to Remi to jump in.

“You know… while we definitely room together with Blyke it’s not exactly a roommate relationship.” She laughed awkwardly.

“And while I love Remi to bits as my best friend, we were never roommates.” Isen nodded frantically.

“Being roommates isn’t a requirement, it’s just the name of the race.” Seraphina looked at them with her eyes narrowing. They were obviously hiding something.

“Yes, but while she knows me well, I doubt she knows things about me that someone who I shared a living space with would know.” He could sense her growing suspicion and started to panic.

John caught onto their anxious avoidance as well exchanging glances with his best friend, confirming that they weren’t imagining things. They became cautious.

‘Dammit’ was the shared thought of the squad.

“Is there a reason why none of you want to join this race?” He asked, his face adopting his unreadable joker blankness.

“No, there is no reason at all.” Isen raised his arms defensively.

“Yeah, we would be thrilled to join but we just can’t.” Remi smiled, the corner of it not quite reaching her eyes.

In the past Arlo was glad that the trio had an absolute lack of lying skills when it came to interrogating them about their dangerous activities. Now he wished they just shut up.

“And why is that exactly?” Seraphina tilted her head, her resting poker face coming into play as well.

“Because… because we injured ourselves earlier!” Isen tried to come up with something. Anything.

John looked them up and down, his passive scanning their auras. “Weird. I can’t feel any injuries on you.”

“It’s emotional trauma!” Remi slammed a hand on Isen’s mouth to keep him from speaking more.

“Emotional trauma?” The two were still doubtful.

“Yeah, fork related.” Isen winced at the memory.

“There aren’t any forks in the race, though.” Seraphina thought out loud.

“You never know!” Remi couldn’t stop with her obviously fake laughter.

The two interrogators hummed, mulling over the information.

When they thought they were finally escaping the scrutinizing eyes of the two, the worst thing happened.

“Blyke, why are you so quiet?” John focused all his attention now on the unlucky guy. “Do you want to tell us something?”

Blyke visibly palled, sweat drops running down his face as his lips quivered.

‘Oh no.’ Arlo gritted his teeth.

‘Oh no.’ Claire and Adrion buried their faces in their hands.

‘Oh no.’ Evie drew her palm down her face.

‘Oh no.’ Dylan bit into his clipboard.

‘Oh no.’ Elaine shook her head.

‘Oh no!!!’ Both Remi and Isen lunged forward to silence their best friend, but it was too late.

“Ha... ha… you see… Isen and I may roomed together for some time and I may know a lot of things about his private life and he is the same with my quirks… and we might be good at physical stuff and races and you know we would do great in this… but! But you know…! We just can’t join because… because… because Remi would feel lonely…!”

Blyke finished off his rambling with the most insincere, uncontrolled, high-pitched laughter the others had doubts it was even humanly possible before.

Stunned silence filled the group.

John and Seraphina hummed again, coming to a decision.

“Maybe we shouldn’t join this race after all, John.”

“I must agree, Sera. Something just doesn’t feel right about it.”

A wave of panic was quickly surging through the group as everyone started shouting over each other to convince the two to change their minds. Everyone but one. That one person knew what needed to be done. So, she steeled her resolve and brought the frantic frenzy to a halt.

“Stop!” Remi placed her hands on her boys’ backs, pushing them forward as sacrifice lambs. “Isen and Blyke will join.”

“What?” Isen yelped.

“But Remi-“ Blyke tried to protest.

“Don’t ‘but Remi’ me. I’ll be completely fine with the two of you playing together as a team, don’t worry.” She said while leaning closer to place a kiss on his cheek from the side.

When she was close enough that she could hide her face with his she whispered. “Sacrifices had to be made. Be a good boy and receive your reward later.”

Blyke blushed crimson.

Isen shot her a glare, hearing his best friend at least would get some kind of compensation.

“Wonderful!” John clapped his hands together triumphantly. “Happy to compete with you guys!”

“It will be fun.” Seraphina agreed, happy they managed to drag someone into this race with them.

“What do we have here?”

A repulsive yet very familiar voice hit the ears of the group members. Everyone knew who it belonged to. They all shared some kind of history with the owner. Some brief, some miserably long. Only one thing was common, however, all memories of this person were unpleasant.

They reluctantly turned around only to confirm their unwelcome conclusion.

“Zeke, what the hell are you doing here?” John glared at the obnoxious man, already feeling disgust boiling up inside of him.

His question was followed by words of disbelief.

“I thought you died when you sank with that ship!”

“What? I thought he died in that building fire while chasing us!”

“Eh? I thought he died in the sinking ship that caught on fire and exploded!”

“Didn’t he die when he was dragged away by those rapid stray dogs?”

“Don’t you mean when he was swapped with John to throw off Ember?”

“Wasn’t that Spectre?”

“No, that was two different occasions.”

“I was sure he died when the truck and train crashed!”

“No, no, and no. No to all of that!” Zeke grinned satisfied with the surprise he caused. “As you can see, I’m alive and well, thank you very much.”

“He’s like a cockroach. You can’t even kill him.” John said and the others snorted.

“Last I heard he was living in a landfill and crowned himself king there,” Isen remembered the weird reports coming in about a strange man taking over the city’s junkyard and leading an army of freshly fired, outcasted, and homeless officials.

“Seems fitting if you ask me,” Seraphina added, not even trying to hide her smirk.

Zeke was unphased. “While hard times certainly have befallen upon me in the years prior as you can see, I yet again rose from my ashes like a phoenix to take the place in this society I was meant to be in.”

“Which is?” Arlo raised an eyebrow.

“A leadership position, of course.” He answered with an unshakable grin.

The audacity was almost palpable.

“And who are you leading exactly?” John was conflicted about wanting to know.

“My loyal followers!” Zeke stepped aside and motioned to the small group behind him looking visibly embarrassed. “They go wherever I go.”

A momentary silence fell on the squad, the members sneaking glances at each other, some shrugging.

“Are you blackmailing them or something?” Blyke finally asked looking at a person from Zeke’s ‘royal court’.

Zeke huffed. “Why would you think that?”

Ignoring his answer Remi locked eyes with a pink-haired guy. “Blink twice if you need help.”

The boy tried to blink but his leader leaped in front of him to shield his view.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I was always popular with everyone!”

“Except high tiers,” Arlo said in a flat tone.

“Or low tiers,” Evie said with a frown.

“Or most mid-tiers,” Elaine added.

“Or other elite tiers.” Isen snorted.

“Or teachers. I’m still surprised they let him remain in Wellston.” Remi shook her head.

“I think they kept him as a reminder that the world is full of assholes like him.” Blyke offered.

“Nah, 95% of Wellston students were assholes enough to get that message across.” John was still annoyed remembering all the shit they had pulled.

“But every shit pile needs its crown jewel.” Seraphina spared a disgusted glare at Zeke. “The shiniest piece of assholery you can find in an almost human-shaped form.”

Everyone snickered making their common enemy annoyed, but he still wanted to save face. “It seems like your memories got all messed up after the revolution. I was even king back in high school and the people loved me!”

Dylan’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Yeah, I remember those days well. Even the first King John era was better than you running around unsupervised with your flock of followers terrorizing everyone after all the high tiers were forced to leave school.”

“Let’s not forget his downfall when we, nicknaming ourselves John’s army, ganged up on him and beat his ass into submission.”

“You did what?!” John’s eyes widened.

Dylan and Evie looked at each other with shit-eating grins and shrugged.

“Well, you taught us well and we had to do something about him. So, we kind of… well…” The former tried to find his words.

The latter lightly patted his shoulder and took over. “To put it simply, we took down his supporters one by one then ambushed him with a solid plan using the techniques we learned from you. Unfortunately for us, while he promised to behave after we beat him the first time, he oh so uncharacteristically to him went back on his word and kept attacking us. Unfortunately for him, we expected this and kept ambushing him all day, every day, at all kinds of places until we broke his will.”

“You little shits attacked me while I was on the toilet!” Zeke shouted, clearly aggravated by the retelling of the very embarrassing and humiliating story of his defeat, on which his last statement did not help.

“We warned you that you won’t have time to rest if you break your vow to us. We just made good on our promise.” Evie smiled sweetly.

“So, this is what you meant when you guys said Zeke was taken care of?” John raised an eyebrow only half surprised to learn how his students had handled things.

“Pretty much.” The two answered in unison.

While lower ranks ambushing a high rank brought back bad memories to him, he couldn’t help but be proud of them.

“I’m still impressed you managed to beat an elite tier.” Isen started scratching his chin as usual. “Even John couldn’t do that without his ability.”

“Wish I was there to see it.” Blyke wistfully said.

“Oh, it was absolutely glorious. I had a constant source of amusement for weeks.” Elaine recalled it as one of her favorite times back in high school.

“We had the numbers and the determination.” Evie laughed.

“Whose plan was this again?” Arlo asked, already guessing the answer.

“Evie’s,” Dylan said proudly.

“Why am I not surprised?”

“I’m kind of surprised after all of this he still went and kept chasing us like a maniac throughout the entire revolution.” Claire was questioning the man’s sanity.

“We may hit his head a little too hard too many times.” Dylan rubbed his nape sheepishly.

“You…!” Zeke gritted his teeth absolutely mortified by how this conversation was going. “I was on a noble quest to take down the harmful rebels like you!”

“And where did this noble quest lead you?”  John arched an eyebrow, clearly amused.

“Into a sinking ship.”

“A building on fire.”

“A sinking ship on fire that exploded.”

“A colony of quite aggressive stray dogs.”

“The junkyard where he belongs.”

“Enough!” Zeke growled. “I’ll show you all what I’m capable of!”

“And how would you do that exactly?” Seraphina couldn’t wait to witness this clownery. Nostalgy was filling her heart.

“I’ll beat you all during The Roommate Race!”

The whole group paused for a moment only to burst out laughing the next.

“Oh my god!” Claire shouted.

“I can’t believe this!” Adrion was fighting for breath.

“This absolute moron!” Isen chuckled.

“And when I thought he couldn’t sink lower...” Remi spoke between snorts.

“He presents to us a new level of stupid.” Blyke finished the sentence.

“How does he even survive while acting so thoughtless all the time?” Elaine shook her head in disbelief.

“A human cockroach,” Arlo stated with a sigh.

“That would be an insult to cockroaches,” Evie said wiping away a stray tear.

“He’s more of a leech anyway. Sucking up to higher lifeforms and clinging to our asses like a parasite during the revolution.”

He and Seraphina smirked at each other, a plan already formulating in their heads. They had no idea what to expect from the competition, but they were sure as heck they would use every opportunity to get back at the bastard.

“And who are you joining the race with?” Isen asked absolutely loving where this was going.

“With one of my roommates, Tobas. We’ve known each other for years now, so winning should be a piece of cake.” Zeke turned up his nose at their question, still having full confidence in his victory.

Adrion frowned. This guy had to be joking. “I can’t believe you think you have a chance against John and Seraphina. The two are synced together to the point it’s scary sometimes.”

Zeke huffed. “They beat each other up in high school numerous times. Their silly romance is overrated.”

“Our silly what?” John and Seraphina exclaimed at the same time, both shocked and slightly blushing.

“Oh, do you call it some weird stuff, like bondmates or twin flames? Whatever, it’s still lame compared to what I have with Tobas here.” He clapped a hand on a pink-haired boy’s shoulder who visibly looked uncomfortable and was blinking at Remi rapidly.

Blyke was chuckling to himself still having a hard time processing their old schoolmate’s delusional idea. “You really wish to enter a competition clearly geared towards coup-“

Before he could finish three sets of hands were slammed on his mouth.

“Shut it, Blyke, and let the man sign up in peace,” Isen said while retaining eye contact.

Suddenly Blyke felt something hard against his butt and immediately recognized the familiar sensation.

“If you mess this up Blyke I’ll arrange a meeting with Sebastian for you. Just don’t say anything before or during the race, got it?” Remi asked with a stern look.

He gulped and silently nodded.

“Good boy.” She smiled and stroked his hair.

Isen eyed the two with contemplating eyes. “Can I get that meeting with-“

“No.”

“Not fair.”

Zeke went to the registration table with his gang shortly followed by John and Seraphina who kept a good distance to avoid any further interaction with the high school bully, leaving the rest of the group behind.

“Say, what is that thing in your hand, Arlo?” Dylan asked pointing at the bag in his hand.

“Oh, this?” Arlo lifted the thing showing a bright-colored goldfish inside. “It’s some kind of fish I won at the last booth we were playing at. I don’t know what I'm supposed to do with it.”

“I told you we can add one of my wins and exchange it for a different prize, you know.” Evie looked at him pointedly. “If you don’t want to keep it, we can still go back and-“

“No.” Arlo turned away from her slightly, clutching the bag protectively to his chest. “It’s mine now.”

“Awww, can I see it?” Remi squealed stepping closer to him.

Isen and Blyke were instantly by his side pushing him away from her.

“What the?” Arlo looked at them like they were crazy.

“Take it away! You have to save it!”

“Run and don’t look back!”

“Guys, calm down! I won’t kill it!”

“Don’t believe her!”

“She said the same thing with the last one!”

“Gordon was an accident!”

“Yeah, and my three phones were accidents as well!”

“You’re prone to accidents!”

Arlo had enough of their antics and sidestepped while they were distracted letting them fall on the ground.

“Arlo, let me see it, please!” Remi was reaching towards the bag prompting him to raise it out of reach as he gave her a stern glare.

“Stay away, goldfish zapper!”

“I can’t even use my ability here!”

“Not taking any risks.” He said walking away from her while angling his body so she couldn’t even see a glimpse of the fish like even her gaze would be dangerous.

“Oh, come on!”

“I think you have more important things to worry about than my new pet fish, anyway.” He rolled his eyes, then looked at his two friends still standing between him and Remi like a human meat shield.  “You guys go and sign up. You’ll have to get ready for the race.”

“Please promise me you’ll keep it away from Remi. Put it in some kind of insulation or something. I can’t live with a good conscience if I let this little guy suffer the same fate as Gordon did.” Blyke looked at him with pleading eyes.

“Fine! Just leave me alone and do your job for once without acting like morons.”

“By the way, Dylan…” Isen glanced at him, notably nervous. “Exactly how romantic and intimate did you make this whole thing?”

Dylan stared at him blankly for a good three seconds before many emotions flashed on his face in the following order: realization, shock, anxiety, dread then pity. At last, he pressed his lips together, searching for the right words to reassure them, but not finding any.

“Uhm… well…” He played with his fingers, avoiding eye contact at any cost, and visibly sweating.

Isen sighed, resigning to his fate. “That’s what I thought.”

He grabbed his best friend’s collar and started dragging him to the stand where John and Seraphina were currently filling out the paperwork.

“Come on, Blyke. Time to bond over shared trauma.”

“Good luck, guys!” Remi was waving cheerfully.

“Oh boy, they will need it.” Evie grimaced as the two left.

“Don’t feel bad for them, they got themselves into this situation.” Arlo watched them with the smallest hint of satisfaction.

“Where is your sympathy?”

“Left with my sanity when Isen tricked me into wearing this suit in a crowded festival during a heatwave.”

Evie felt a sudden surge of pity and started fanning him with Dylan’s clipboard.

“Adrion, get the camera. We can’t let this go unrecorded.” Claire was clearly sensing the great blackmail material.

“Let’s find some seats with a good view first,” Elaine said already making her way through the growing mass of people.

15 minutes later all of the bleachers were full. They snagged themselves a good spot from where they could see the entire area. Adrion was testing out the camera while the others were eating and drinking various things with Arlo wearing a new, insulated baby carrier with an also new fish tank inside.

“I’m glad there was a place selling electricity-proofed baby carriers as well as animal accessories," Evie observed the new items with a smile. "Who would have thought you could buy things like that at the same booth in the middle of a carnival? A little weird mix of products. I never even thought there were insulated baby carriers out on the market.”

Arlo side-eyed Remi who stuck out her tongue.

“There is an obvious demand.”

Instruments resembling battle horns sounded from near the stage catching the audience off guard and causing the people to quiet down. A moment later Mesto waltzed up to the stage with his usual confident stride and started the opening ceremony.

“Welcome, welcome! I’m happy to see that so many of you joined us on this wonderful day. More than 50 couples signed up for The Roommate Race and their honorable struggles are about to begin. I ask you to greet our contestants with the biggest applause. I present to you: Margot and Silla! Dales and Shen! Patty and Rika!”

The carnival master announced the pairs one by one as they came out of the tents serving as changing rooms. They were wearing what seemed like high-quality training gear but with leaving as much skin out in the open as possible. Both arms, the legs from down the knees, and the entire stomach were exposed along with the better part of the back.

“Zeke and Tobas!”

“Gods, I never wanted to see so much of Zeke.” Remi covered her eyes. The others gave sounds of disgust in protest of the sight as well.

“Why did you make the clothes so revealing, Dylan? It seems a little excessive.” Evie asked.

Dylan grimaced. “My apologies. I never would have thought we’d have to see Zeke of all people in those. But believe me, you’ll soon see otherwise.”

“Seraphina and John!”

Their two friends walked out immediately eliciting excited shouts and whistles from the whole audience.

“Heavens, that guy is so hot!”

“He could melt steel with those steamy abs!”

“I want to be his roommate too!”

“Don’t even think about it! The girl with him is equally hot and seems dangerous.”

“If they’re just roommates they’re either gay or related.”

“Mommy, bring me home!”

“I’m open to rooming with both!”

“Why are good-looking people always congregated? We need a more even distribution system!”

“Spank me Daddy with those big hands!”

“Do you see what else is big? His feet! You know what that means!”

“I wish she would sit on my face!”

Seraphina’s anger went from zero to one hundred really fast hearing all the nonsense spewed by the crowd and she took a protective stance in front of John, shielding his defined stomach away from prying eyes. She was shooting at them the nastiest glare when to her surprise firm arms sneaked around her waist pulling her back flush against a firm chest.

“I don’t like people devouring you with their eyes like rabid wolves. You shouldn’t be disrespected like this.” John’s deep voice whispered into her ear from behind, his hot breath and proximity making the hairs stand on her neck as a shiver too pleasant for the circumstances ran down her spine.

This man was about to be the death of her, she knew then and there.

“Aren’t they just roommates?” Someone from the crowd asked.

“Friends with benefits? Sweet home Alabuma?” Another shared her confusion.

“See what I meant?” Dylan asked the girl beside him.

“Clever, indeed very clever my friend.” Evie nodded approvingly.

The announcements didn’t stop of course, and they quickly reached their other two friends.

“Blyke and Isen!”

Two clearly uncomfortable young men stepped out of the tent with dread all over their faces.

“I’m gonna kill Dylan,” Blyke mumbled to himself.

“Evie will kill you in retaliation. Probably slowly and painfully.”

“Not before this race does the same.”

Elaine was scanning the guys up and down before speaking. “I have to admit, I didn’t think they’d look so good with their stomachs and backs exposed. Who would have thought Isen had it in him to grow some muscles.”

Remi was satisfied with her boyfriend’s fit form, a pleased smile stretching onto her lips. “Blyke got some pointers from John, and he was always into exercise anyway. Now that they don’t live together with Isen they use their almost daily runs and gym visits as bonding time.”

“Don’t you go with them sometimes?” Claire asked.

“I usually do, but they refuse to spare with me if it’s anything involving holding each other down. They kicked me out of those after I kept zapping people out of instinct. Since then, I can only practice those with John.” Remi pouted.

“Because he can just turn off your ability?”

“Yep.”

Evie watched them as well, taking their appearances in. “They aren’t on John’s level, but they look good. Must be nice to have an athletic boyfriend.”

Arlo furrowed his eyebrows. “Are you into this stuff?”

“I mean, it’s aesthetically pleasing but definitely not a requirement.”

“Hm.”

“Aren’t you afraid that others will try to seduce Blyke?” Elaine glanced at Remi.

“Not really. For starters, everyone knows at this point that we’re both soulmates and a couple.”

“Usually doesn’t stop the worse kind.”

“Then there is the fact that even if they did try to go for him, I trust him with all my heart.”

“Okay, but still…”

“And he luckily doesn’t have the personal charm to draw in the masses like John does.”

“Animal magnetism, I’m telling you.” Adrion provided with a straight face.

“Last but not least, he’s usually with Isen and the way they act most people assume he’s his secret gay lover.”

“Ah, there it is.” Elaine nodded accepting the last one as the real reason why people ultimately decide against shooting their shot with their redhead friend.

“You have no idea how many people flagged me down to warm me about their ‘inappropriate behavior’ and ‘poorly kept secret affair’.” Remi deadpanned. “Honestly, I should just announce that they’re dating as well and get rid of all these concerned comments and confessions.”

“Isn't Isen dating around? Wouldn’t they accuse him of cheating then?” Claire was unsure of her plan.

Remi shrugged. “Not a me problem anymore.”

“I’m sure this competition won’t help your collective reputation,” Elaine said, sipping on her drink.

“Heavens save me.”

“Now that all of our contestants were introduced to you, we can move on to the first stage of the great Roommate Race!” Mesto’s voice blasted through the loudspeakers. “Our first game is called Overcoming Obstacles! What does this entail? Well, every trusted partnership is built upon the shared experience of overcoming hardships presented by life! Moments like these can make or break a partnership! Can bring you closer or rip you apart! Show us the worth of your bond by going through an obstacle course featuring many types of difficulties while maintaining contact with your partner at all times!”

“What does this mean?” Adrion asked in confusion.

“Shush, he’ll explain in a minute.” Claire hushed him.

“There will be several different signs displayed throughout the race telling you how much and what type of skin-to-skin contact you’ll have to maintain! You get five seconds each time to change positions while you can let go of each other. Outside of this, even if you break position, you always have to maintain skin contact with your partner! If you break position, you cannot go further until you regain the correct one! If you exceed the given time limit, proceed without correcting your position, or lose contact with your partner outside of the given 5 seconds to change position, you’ll be automatically disqualified! Only 24 couples can advance into the next round, so be fast and be precise!”

“How much skin-to-skin contact does this mean exactly?” Elaine’s thirst for drama was clear in her voice.

Dylan sensing her piqued interest smiled confidently. “You’ll see.”

“Every pair, please go to the starting line. You’ll see the first sign right there! By the starting signal, you’ll have to have the correct position! We will start the countdown as soon as everybody reaches the line!”

The pairs all took their place one by one, crowding the line but still leaving enough space between each other. The first sign was just above their heads hanging on a rope. On it, two black stick figures stood with ‘A’ and ‘B’ on them holding hands.

“I assume we should hold hands then?” Someone from the contestants asked out loud and everyone just accepted it as an answer.

“So… on which side do you want to be?” John rubbed his nape, already intimidated by all the possible proximity.

“Right.” Seraphina grinned at him and then bopped his nose. “Because I’m always right.”

“Pfff, you wish.” He grinned back at her walking over to her left side.

“The countdown begins now!”

“I guess it’s time.” Isen sighed, extending out his right hand for Blyke to take.

“10!”

Blyke groaned. “I hope I trip and just die.”

“9!”

“Give me your hand, Tobas!” Zeke demanded and the shy boy next to him complied.

“8!”

“Please don’t hurt me if we don’t win this.”

“7!”

“Stop talking nonsense! As long as you’re with the great King Zeke, you have nothing to fear!”

“6!”

“Will you be so kind as to give me your hand, madam?” John bowed in front of Seraphina dramatically.

“5!”

“Oh my! Please keep it safe for me, good sir!”

“4!”

“You can definitely trust me with that.” He answered, barely resisting planting a kiss on her knuckles.

“3!”

“Ready?” She whispered.

“2!”

“With you? Always.” He smiled at her with so much warmth she almost missed the end of the countdown.

“1!”

“See? They’re already warming up!” Dylan exclaimed excitedly.

“Go!!!!”

The whole mass of people started moving as one. After a long sprint, they were swiftly nearing the first obstacle, which was The Low Wall. Immediately some people in the front felt intimidated by it quickly slowing their pace down, then coming to a stop.

“Now what? I could scale this if I didn’t have to hold your hand, but…”

“How am I supposed to grab the edge and hold myself up with just one hand?”

“Let alone swing both of us over?”

“It’s nearly impossible-“

A pair moving with inhuman speed rushed past them almost giving them whiplash.

“I thought you couldn’t use abilities here…”

“Maybe it’s a passive?”

“A passive both of them have?”

“They could be siblings.”

“If those are the kids, I want to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dilf and Milf.”

“Maybe stepsiblings?”

“My statement still stands.”

While the others were watching them with curiosity and slight disbelief the two expertly jumped up and scaled the wall, effortlessly swinging over it and landing on the other side while still holding hands.

The onlookers were shocked into silence.

“What the…”

“Seems like those abs and back aren’t for nothing.”

Another pair ran past them. The redhead did not hesitate and the second they reached the wall he used their momentum and hand-holding to launch his partner over the obstacle who in return pulled him up just as fast.

“Wait, aren’t those the Revolutionist high rankers?”

“Now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure you’re right. They often appear on TV.”

“Seems like we can get a glimpse of how they defeated Ember.”

“Was being hot a requirement?”

“Being fit certainly was.”

“Out of the way, losers!” A blue-haired man shouted angrily as he was dragging behind another pink-haired guy.

“Rude much?”

“Tobas, we’ll do what those two idiots did!” Zeke yelled and making good on his word swung the helpless Tobas up at the wall, who luckily instinctively grabbed onto the edge. Unfortunately, their valiant advance stopped there.

“What are you doing?! Pull me up, you idiot!”

“I’m trying, but you’re too heavy for me!” He cried out as he attempted to lift his partner up.

“Why are you so weak, dammit?!” Zeke gritted his teeth and jumped up to push Tobas to the other side who using gravity was finally able to pull his partner over the obstacle. They landed on the other side with Zeke on top of him in an awkward position.

“Gods, this is traumatizing.” Evie covered her eyes barely resisting the urge to puke.

Dylan had a weary expression as well. “Yeah, Zeke on top of anyone is nightmare material.”

“Disgusting.” Elaine almost lost her appetite.

“I wish we didn’t have to suffer through his performance in a race geared to bring out romance and intimacy.” Arlo agreed.

“Please don’t make me throw up.” Remi wasn’t ready to witness even more scenes like this.

“I feel sorry for the guy.” Adrion watched poor Tobas get up with pity.

“Me too.” Claire nodded, not envying him at all.

“I don’t want to remember this type of memory. Tell me when it’s over.” Evie said still refusing to look.

“Did Zeke pin you down like that while in high school?” Arlo asked suddenly concerned.

She peeked out from behind her hand to look at him. “Well, he was always a bully, and I wasn’t off the hook either as a low tier, but when he found out I was the one behind his ambush he wasn’t too happy about it.”

He narrowed his eyes. “What did that bastard do?”

“He didn’t get to do much really, because we made sure to never be too far off from the others in case he pulled something, but he sent me to the hospital twice before we finally drove him out of school. It was still worth it though.”

“Look, they’re almost at the next obstacle!” Remi exclaimed pointing towards their friends, like the others oblivious to the conversation the two were having.

Evie finally lowered her hands, her attention back on the race and her smile returning like nothing happened.

He decided not to pry further for now, instead, he turned his eyes to their blue-haired ex-school bully. His brows were knit together as a plan was taking shape in his mind.

The next obstacle was The Stepping Stones, but before the pairs could take on the challenge a new sign showed them, that they needed to change positions. Stick figure ‘A’ was holding stick figure ‘B’ bridal style.

“What? They want one of us to carry the other?”

“It’s manageable for most pairs to just carry but jump as well?”

“Hell nah!”

Unlike with the previous obstacle John and Seraphina did halt in their advance somewhat. Up until now both of them successfully ignored just how well the other’s hand fit into their own and how the warmth seemingly spread from their fingers to their whole body.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye noting that she seemed a little bothered by the required position. He had to focus and not make her uncomfortable.

“Uhm… can I… do you? I mean carry you! It’d be easier for me to jump with my longer legs!” He asked, suddenly stumbling over his words like an idiot cursing his nerves.

She watched him then slowly and wordlessly nodded. He brought his arms under her knees and behind her back, trying not to rejoice in the rare opportunity of holding her like this. He carried her pretty often, but it was mainly on his back. He only got to hold her in his arms when she was unconscious from either an injury or falling asleep on the couch. Her being awake was making him surprisingly self-conscious about the whole thing. Something about her knowing how he held her made it feel even more intimate than normal.

Little did he know she was in fact awake most of the times she so happened to ‘accidentally fall asleep’ on the couch, secretly setting him up to carry her to bed. You would think John had to notice at some point, but Seraphina perfected her deep asleep act to never break character and lose her carried to bed by her hot best friend privileges. He was always so gentle, picking her up and placing her down with utmost care. When he stroked her hair before leaving, she always had the urge to just reach out and pull him under the blanket with her, but she rarely did. One could only get away with so many ‘I had a nightmare just now, please stay’ guilt trips.

This was a new opportunity for her as well. As he scooped her up bridal style, she sneaked her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face into his chest with a smile. When her eyes met his slightly widened ones she smirked, hiding her own nervousness.

“I’m just securing our position.”

“Yeah… yeah, of course,”

John averted his gaze, his grip momentarily tightening on her.

She frowned. ‘Am I making him uncomfortable?’

He silently shook his head to get rid of the unnecessary thoughts and started jumping. Each time her arms held onto him tighter and in return, he held her closer as well.

‘Gods, her skin is so hot.’ He gritted his teeth to refocus his attention.

He almost missed a step.

“John, are you okay?” She was suddenly worried. It wasn’t like him to make a mistake like this. Was she too heavy? No, he easily lifted trice her weight normally.

A nagging thought invaded her mind. ‘Am I really making him uncomfortable?’

She tried to swallow the sadness suddenly surging up, but the bitter aftertaste still remained.

She loosened her grip on his neck.

He again almost missed a step and let her go but pulled themselves back just in time.

“Sera, are you alright?” He asked, concern lacing his voice.

“Sorry, I didn’t pay attention.” She hid her face in his neck.

‘What’s happening to me dammit?! I almost made us fall!’ She chided herself.

“Please, just hold on tight. I don’t want to drop you.” He said with a sad edge to his tone.

She complied and they had no more trouble during the obstacle.

“What do you think they are doing?” Claire asked the others.

“I don’t know, but they are acting weird. John almost dropped her. He would never do that normally.” Adrion answered.

“I don’t get it. They should love this position.” Dylan was going through his clipboard. “Based on their answers John loves to carry Seraphina and Seraphina yearns to be carried by John.

“Maybe it’s making them self-conscious.” Elaine shrugged.

“But they both had a pained expression.” Evie grimaced feeling sympathy even though she had no idea what was going on with them.

“Maybe they are just nervous?” Remi offered.

“Dammit!” Arlo abruptly yelled.

“What?” The others were dumbfounded.

“Just look at their expressions! The two idiots are making shit up again and misinterpreting each other!”

“Heavens, why are they like this?!” Elaine bellowed with exasperation.

“We need to stop their train of thought before it derails and gets into a trainwreck.” Claire clawed her scalp with frustration.

“Think brain, think!” Dylan frantically went through his sheets.

“Look, Isen and Blyke are at the second obstacle as well!” Adrion pointed at their other friends.

“Maybe they could do something?” Evie asked.

“Dylan, get a loudspeaker! Elaine, fetch a banner! I have a plan!” Remi jumped to her feet, already searching for something in her bag.

The others nodded springing into action.

While they were entering emergency protocol B the two guys seeing the sign stopped and looked at each other.

“So… who will carry who?” Blyke shot the question but pretty much knew the answer.

“Please babe, carry me!” Isen leaned backward, draping his arm over his forehead dramatically.

“Shut up and get over here!” He jolted up his partner with a quick move and took off after their targets.

Suddenly a loud noise hit their ears making them turn their heads and almost lose their footing.

“Isen, Blyke!” Remi’s voice boomed through the arena.

They both tensed.

On the banner with big blood red letters stood ‘SMILE AND ENJOY!!!’ which on its own shouldn’t be that threatening, but…

One, it was held up by none other than her and Arlo.

Two, both were smiling like maniacs.

Three, in both of their hands objects, suspiciously silvery were sparkling in the sunlight.

Four, thanks to knowing them so well Blyke could guess what those things were.

Five, thanks to his passive, Isen knew exactly what those things were.

“Dammit, they have the Forkinator and Sebastian out!” He yelped.

“Why do they want us dead?!” Blyke yelled but didn’t dare to disobey and held Isen closer to his chest with a forced smile.

“I don’t wanna die!” Isen cried, tightening his own grip on his partner, and adopting an overjoyed, blissful expression.

They quickly closed the distance between themselves and their friends who were seemingly out of it since they reached the second obstacle. As they were passing them, they laid into the acting.

Hard.

“Hahaha, it’s so great to be so close to your best friend! Carrying you like this platonically is the best!”

“Yes, hahaha, this very platonic, not at all romantic position is the best way to bond with your close friend!”

“There is nothing awkward about holding you so close!”

“Not at all! I enjoy your body heat! Hearing your heavy breathing and frantic heartbeat is so fantastic!”

“Wow… the closet is made of glass.” Someone from the audience muttered.

“It’s sad they’re lying to themselves like this.” Another felt compassion for the two.

“I think one of them is with his soulmate. Probably doesn’t wanna hurt her feelings. So sad.”

“Love is love even when you have a soulmate.”

“I pity the girl. It’s not her fault her soulmate is just not attracted to her.”

“Maybe he is, but he is also into the guy.”

“Truly horrible situation.”

Remi groaned. “Not again…”

“Do you think Isen has a hard time dating because everyone thinks he’s with Blyke?”  Dylan asked.

“Absolutely.”

John and Seraphina watched their friends’ performance before exchanging looks.

“They’re really enjoying their… friendly time together.” He said not knowing what else to do.

“Yeah… maybe… maybe we should too? I mean, we’re besties, right?” She asked, unsure herself.

“Yeah… I think we should…” His voice trailed off, but he tightened his hold on her nevertheless and picked up the pace.

While it was still somewhat awkward a relieved smile appeared on her lips and his face relaxed as well.

“Good job, guys! The mission is back on track!”

They were almost at the third obstacle now, The Rubble and another sign popped up. Stick figure ‘A’ was on the back of stick figure ‘B’.

“I guess I should carry you on my back now?” John asked as he started shifting position.

“No.” Seraphina halted him in the motion. “I think I should be the one carrying you now.”

“What? Why?” He was immediately confused by this.

“Look at the signs closely. They don’t just show us two figures but they each have letters on them. In the first one, it didn’t matter who was ‘A’ and who was ‘B’ because we had to do the same thing, but the second sign showed ‘A’ carrying ‘B’ and because you carried me then you became ‘A’. Now this sign tells us that ‘B’ should be carrying ‘A’. Do you see it now?”

“Sorry, I lost track by the second set of As and Bs.” He grinned sheepishly.

She shot him an unimpressed look. “I always forget how academics were never your strong suit.”

“Hey! I’m good at strategy at least!”

“Okay, okay!” She laughed as she got down from his arms and somewhat crouched down for him to jump on her back. “Hurry, or we’ll get disqualified!”

John was a little hesitant but still complied, climbing onto her back quickly but gingerly. While he knew she was in great shape thanks to their regular exercises, and she should easily be able to lift his weight she was still smaller than him, so he was cautious about distributing his weight evenly.

She rolled her eyes at his protective behavior and hoisted him in place with an abrupt, rough move.

“Stop treating me as a fragile porcelain vase you dufus.” She smirked at his surprised expression then hauled themselves over the first wall then quickly ducked under the pole and repeated this over and over throughout the obstacle, not leaving much time for John to regain his bearings.

He clung onto her for dear life to stay on her back, accidentally squeezing her neck while doing so.

“John, I can’t breathe!” Her voice came out strained, however she did not lose any speed.

“Sorry!” He scrambled to move his hands lower when she jumped up and down yet again making him accidentally grab onto her… softer parts.

As the realization hit him, he tried to remove both of his hands at the same time almost falling off while doing so.

“Stop moving around!” She yelled, clearly annoyed and he submitted to her demand immediately which also meant his hold on her remained in place.

‘This race will be the death of me!’ John internally screamed.

Seraphina was fighting down a blush and a blissful smile at the same time.

‘This guy will be the death of me!’

“Okay, that’s some weird shit if they’re siblings!” One audience member yelled.

“What are you doing, stepbro?” A man mimicking a female voice shouted making several people laugh.

“That’s the type of roommate relationship I want.”

“Dude, you’re living with your cousin! Gross!”

“I meant it with a pretty girl, asshole!”

“I mean… your cousin is pretty…”

“Bro, what the fuck?!”

Dylan watched their two friends with careful eyes.

“Well… they’re definitely getting… closer.”

“Public indecency is nothing to them when they’re in each other’s proximity.” Arlo deadpanned.

“Let them be. It’s not like this wasn’t exactly our plan.” Remi rolled her eyes.

Claire side-eyed her for a moment before speaking. “It’s easy for you to say that. You’re fine with your soulmate boyfriend parading around with your best friend as a gay couple.”

“You’re right, I don’t mind. I mean, it’s just Isen.” She waved it off.

“Look at them! Blyke is clinging to Isen like a spider monkey!” Evie laughed at their still forcefully happy expressions.

“I can’t believe they’re so compliant even when the threat is not immediate.” Adrion couldn’t help but take notice.

“Oh, the threat is immediate.” Remi chuckled.

“Is it?”

“Very much so. You wouldn’t think but Arlo can probably hit Isen square on the forehead even from here.”

“Why Isen though?”

“There are two of them and Isen is the default target.”

“Is he still holding the fork?” Blyke asked from Isen’s back, who glanced to the side only to shiver at the sight.

“Still in hand,” Isen answered through his forced smile.

“Dammit.” Blyke was afraid his face would be permanently stuck like this if this went on any longer.

“Here comes the fourth obstacle!” Evie pointed at The Tunnel.

As per usual, another sign informed the contestants that it was time to switch positions. Stick figure ‘A’ was holding up stick figure ‘B’ as stick figure 'B’ was hugging stick figure 'A’ while facing each other.

John stifled a sigh of relief when Seraphina finally loosened her grip on his legs, allowing him to let go of her… finer areas. She, however, didn’t give him too much time to rearrange his raging thoughts and jumped on him eagerly, barely offering him a chance to catch her properly making him grab onto her butt.

“Seraaaa…” He whimpered as her boobs pressed against his chest and his blood boiled to the point of evaporation.

“Stop whining, we had five seconds to change positions!” She herself was embarrassed and burrowed her face into the crock of his neck to conceal her burning-up cheeks, whilst making John’s heartbeat even more erratic.

“They’re cracking,” Elaine said with a smile as she sucked on the straw of her iced coffee.

The others shared her devilish smile.

“How did you know they will end up like this, Dylan?” Evie asked.

“Pretty simple. By obstacle 2 they had to choose who carries who and looking at their data I was sure John will take up the role of ‘A’ and planned the rest of the race accordingly.” He explained by showing diagrams and flowcharts in his files.

“Very cunning of you.” She shared with him a knowing smile.

“I know.” He grinned back.

The duo’s suffering, as should be expected at this point, didn’t end there. Because the obstacle, namely The Tunnel was a narrow passage close to the ground.

John gulped, lowering themselves to the ground. As gravity started to pull on her body, Seraphina had no choice but to tighten her hold around him, her thighs and arms entwining around his torso, gluing herself flush to him completely.

He really, really tried to concentrate on anything else but her soft, sweet, beautiful, and really hot…

‘Stop it!!’ He screamed in his mind. ‘Happy thoughts… calm forest… cold winter snow… penguins…’

He didn’t need his best friend to discover a different, lower reaction. He pushed down everything in his mind and started to crawl.

Seraphina herself was in trouble, her brain involuntarily presenting her with ideas as her limbs were all locked around John, and her body movement mechanically followed his in a rhythm. Their hearts beating together, their body heat blending, and their breaths labored with him on top of her like they were…

‘Gods, kill me now!’ She was about to lose her sanity.

“I have to say you’re a devilish young man, Dylan.” Claire gave him a thumbs up.

He rubbed his head shyly as always. “I’m trying.”

“Now I can see how you and Evie are best friends.” Arlo made a mental note to be wary of him as well.

Their two other friends reached The Tunnel as well. They looked at each other and then shrugged.

“I don’t even care at this point. Let’s just switch up and be done with it.” Blyke said getting off from Isen’s back who immediately climbed on him again to stay within the time limit.

On the other hand, poor Tobas finally reaching the obstacle with Zeke on his back was thoroughly exhausted and just wanted to get out, but his partner’s persistence would never allow it. Zeke got off his back and dragged him in front of him. After a stern glare from him, Tobas wordlessly climbed on him cursing his life decisions. The other pair near them shot a pitiful look at the boy who obviously didn’t want to be anywhere near this race.

“Don’t you dare let go! I’ll win this race and show those bastards who are the real high rank here!”

“But aren’t you only elite tier?” Tobas tentatively asked.

Zeke shut him up with another glare and got down on all four. As he was crawling forward Tobas’ hands weary from exhaustion slipped and desperately tried to grab onto anything to stay in place making him clutch into the straps of Zeke’s top. With his weight pulling down on them, the straps stretched revealing the worse half of Zeke’s chest decorated with a huge mop of blue chest hair.

The crowd collectively gasped with some letting out an ‘ewww’ while others outright booed.

“My eyes!” Claire cried out.

“Dylan, you’re paying for my therapy bills.” Evie covered her eyes once again.

“I’ll have nothing left after my own therapy bills,” Dylan answered, he himself hiding behind his hands.

“I’ll never forgive you for burning this mental image into my mind,” Elaine said glaring at him.

“We’ll certainly need alcohol no matter how this attempt ends.” Adrion sighed, trying to get rid of the visual trauma.

“Second that.” Remi and Arlo stated in unison.

Only their friends down in the arena were spared.

John and Seraphina, pretty preoccupied with not self-combusting from all the fantasy-inducing body smashing, were almost at the fifth obstacle now representing the leading bunch. This obstacle, the Dodging Panels didn’t seem like the hardest to take on, giving the two a momentary sense of relief.

Only if that pesky sign wasn’t there.

“You… you gotta be kidding…” John muttered, eyes wide, as he was staring at the circular board.

Seraphina couldn’t even find words, her eyes bulging out so far there was a risk of them falling out.

On the sign stick figure ‘A’ was standing while stick figure ‘B’ was upside down, its legs locked behind stick figure ‘A’s neck while its arms were around stick figure ‘A’s waist with its head right in front of… you know.

Their current position was already too much, but with this new one, it couldn’t even compete.

“John, do you think…”

“Should we just…”

When their resolve seemed to falter, however, Mesto’s voice sounded through the loudspeakers once more.

“We’re almost halfway through the first game! Many contestants already gave up which deeply saddens me! To make sure that the remaining pairs stay motivated I’d like to remind you all of the prizes at stake! Two 1-year long Woba Boba memberships! A 10 pieces rarity collection from either Flappy Pig or FieldCraft! And at last, but not least, an all-inclusive weekend stay at the most popular hot spring and hotel for two persons! Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity!”

Seraphina gulped.

“We can do this.”

John couldn’t help but stare when she loosened her grip to hop on the ground only to turn around, launch herself on her hands and cross her legs behind his neck while grabbing onto his waist for support.

He looked down at her for a moment, eyes wide, only to realize he now had a premier view of her butt. He was happy she couldn’t see as his face turned crimson.

Seraphina herself did everything in her power not to think about what was right in front of her face. This became even harder when John started to run.

“Is this… is this race really for roommates?” Someone from the audience questioned.

“I don’t know anymore.” Another answered.

“I don’t really care anymore! Just watching the two hot stuffs make all those funny expressions is worth every second of this!” A third person roared.

Claire was dying of laughter, and she wasn’t alone. “Okay, you’re back on the genius pedestal, Dylan, because this is freaking hilarious!”

Adrion had a hard time breathing. “I wonder what goes through their minds now.”

“Probably something like ‘don’t think about it, don’t think about it, just don’t think about it’.” Elaine brought out a tissue to wipe away her tears of mirth.

“I love you, Dylan! This just cleansed my soul and added 10 years to my life!” Evie gave him a side hug while still laughing uncontrollably.

Arlo only smirked as he watched the two suffer.

Only one group member remained silent.

“What’s the matter, Remi?” Elaine asked. “You’re uncharacteristically quiet.”

The girl in question without a word buried her face in her hands and groaned.

Blyke and Isen finally reached the fifth obstacle as well and they just like John and Seraphina didn’t want to believe what was on the sign.

 “You know what? I don’t care anymore!” Isen raised his hands and fell down from Blyke then extended a leg for his mate to grab and help him take position. Blyke himself did long succumb to the passive numbness of apathy apart from still wearing that forcefully overjoyed smile on his face.

“I hate having your stinky feet next to my face!” Blyke groaned through the smile.

“And I hate having your sweaty junk showed in my face,” Isen answered likewise.

“Awww, they’re so cute together!”

“They can’t stop smiling at each other. Isn’t it sweet?”

“I bet they already banged.”

“Obviously! Just look at how comfortable they’re with the other!”

“We should tell the third-wheeling soulmate to just let them be happy!”

“What was her name again? Reni? Reli?”

“I think Remi. Let’s just tell her when we see her. She must see reason and let love find its way!”

“Just let me be!” Remi muffled a frustrated cry in her hands.

Seraphina and John were finally done with the Dodge Panels in record speed. Behind their hurry was the known pattern that each new obstacle came with a new sign showing a new position. They were very much done with the current one, running out all of their self-control faster than Remi’s lightning. Even if the next sign didn’t give salvation, they still would be one pose closer to getting out of this race.

Just as they expected by the sixth obstacle, The Low Rope another sign waited for them. It was quite similar to the fourth one when she had to cling onto him like a baby bonobo but with the roles reversed and leaving the arms free for the rope climbing.

“How the hell am I supposed to climb the rope with you clinging to me? I don’t have the upper body strength for that!” Seraphina didn’t think this could work out in any way, but when she glanced at John, he was deep in thought. At least that was what it looked like from her less-than-favorable position still maintaining the pose.

“I think we could make it work. We could put the rope between us and use both of our arms and your legs to climb.”

“Okay, let’s just… let’s just get out of this position.” At this point, she didn’t care just complied to free herself.

Following John’s idea, they changed positions right next to the rope placing it between their bodies, then he linked his legs around her torso, and they started climbing. Thanks to his great upper body strength and her overall fitness they were swiftly nearing the bell they needed to ring at the top.

When they were past half of the rope, they heard voices calling out to them.

“Hey, guys!” Blyke greeted them as he and Isen used the same technique to close the distance between them.

“We finally caught up to you!” Isen shot them a playful wink.

Other pairs like Zeke and Tobas reached the obstacle too and seeing how they can solve the problem copied John’s and Seraphina’s climbing technique as well.

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you!” Mesto’s voice once again came through the loudspeakers. “To spice things up just a little bit starting from the second half the obstacles will have a little… surprise to them. Starting with obstacle six, the Low Rope contestants will have to watch out for some extra hardships.”

As soon as the words left the carnival master’s mouth water filled balloons started to fall from the top, the first one hitting Blyke square in the face and making him momentarily let go of the rope. In a sheer panic as his arms were flailing around, he grabbed onto the first thing he could in his water-induced blindness.

An ear-shattering scream filled the arena.

A collective gasp left the audience.

Mesto coughed into the microphone. “Looks like we will need some medical attention after the race.”

“That… that certainly added to the length.”

“Definitely not the hand job he was expecting.”

“Was this the ‘make or break a relationship’ part?”

“There is something undoubtedly broken there.”

“I really hope you get a pass to use your ability just for this Elaine.” Remi winced from the sight along with the girls while the boys’ faces contorted feeling the phantom pain.

Despite the suffered injury the rain of the balloons never stopped, hitting all contestants mercilessly.

John continued his climb even blinded by water and he could feel with his body that Seraphina was doing the same. When he could make out the blurry outline of the pole, he reached up to ring the bell. They started their descent slowly, holding tightly onto the rope. They were almost halfway down when he decided to slightly open his eyes to look at their position.

It was a mistake.

What entered his vision was Seraphina’s completely soaked body, her wet hair dripping as she gazed up at him from under her bangs. Her non-glowing sky-blue eyes never looked so vibrant before.

His breath caught in his throat and his mouth fell agape.

…Making him a perfect target for the next balloon.

His grip loosened with his relaxing muscles so when the next waterbomb hit, his hands slipped, and he fell backward. Seraphina momentarily panicked, but thanks to her passive time flew slower and she managed to lock John’s falling body between her legs.

“What the hell John?!” She hissed through gritted teeth as she was fighting to hold up his weight until he could regain his hold on the rope. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and gripped onto their current lifeline again.

“Thanks, Sera-“ He started saying but yet again made the mistake of looking up at her, now with the additional view of her dripping tits.

He started falling again.

“John!”

“Boy is hopeless.” An audience member shook their head.

“Can’t really blame him. I mean… come on! Look at home girl over there!” Another added.

“Now I’m starting to feel there are some unsaid things between them.”

“There must be something serious keeping them apart, ‘cause it’s obvious they’re into each other.”

“Yeah, the tension could be cut with a knife even from here.”

“I don’t care at this point if they’re siblings, stepsiblings, already engaged with their soulmates or whatever… I ship it!”

“Yasss, go nameless hot guy!”

“I think his name is John?”

“Wait, wasn’t John the name of that super strong god tier who delivered the final strike to Ember and its supporters?”

“Hold on! Hold on, isn’t that the time lady with him?”

“Oh my gods, they must be them!”

“Revolutionist Romance?”

“Revolutionist Romance!”

The audience started to chant as one making only two people in the entire arena confused.

“What’s with this new mantra?” John asked as they finally reached the ground, however, when he didn’t get an answer, he looked up only to find a very irritated Seraphina.

“What?” He asked like the idiot he was.

Her eyes narrowed into a slit. “John, you almost made us both fall and fail the competition. What’s gotten into you?”

‘You were so mesmerizing I dazed out and lost strength in my limbs’ was the truth almost flying out of his mouth before he bit down on his tongue and summoned his last stock of reason.

“I saw Zeke’s wet figure and lost my will to live.”

“Would be understandable, but you were suspiciously looking in my direction.”

“You’re imagining things.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Just… let’s get this over with.”

They started moving toward the next obstacle, The Ditch. As always, the new obstacle welcomed them with a new position displayed on the sign.

“What does this one mean?” John squinted his eyes at it, trying to figure out their next bodily arrangement.

“Stick figure ‘A’, so you, is holding up stick figure ‘B’, so me, while facing each other completely, with A’s hands under B’s butt and B’s hands on either side of A’s face.” Seraphina expertly deciphered.

“Okay, I think I understand.” He slipped out of her hold but made no movement to help her climb onto him which made Seraphina irate.

So, as any highly irritated best girlfriend would do, she seized his shoulders with her hands like a bird of prey and with a fierce leap enclosed his midsection between her legs, forcing him to automatically move his hands under her butt. She then grabbed his face, giving him an intense glare.

“Next time don’t make me do all the work.”

John, eyes wide, gulped.

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry ma’am.”

“Don’t you guys think this position is kind of… suggestive?” Someone from the audience questioned.

“Dude, where have you been? This whole race is like it’s designed to be as evocative as possible!” The person next to him exclaimed.

“But isn’t this supposed to be a thing for roommates?” Another asked.

“Roommates… roommates! They were just roommates!”

Realization spread like wildfire in the crowd.

“It was always meant to bring closeted people together!” Someone cooed.

“Wait, but what about that pair over there? Closeted straights? What?” Their partner furrowed their brows.

“Don’t assume their sexuality!”

“They’re certainly more in the dark about their feelings than the other revolutionist couple over there!” They pointed at Blyke who was still apologizing and trying to console Isen while holding him in the required position. He wanted to give up the race, but Isen was adamant about continuing given the imminent threat in the form of a fork.

“Awww, look at them! He’s comforting him so sweetly!”

“No consolation would be enough after what he pulled.”

“Literally…”

John and Seraphina were already on top of the obstacle, ready to leap when somebody shouted at them.

“Joooohnnnyyy booooy!”

For some incomprehensible reason, Zeke was charging at them at full speed with Tobas in his arms. They stared at the rushing duo with confusion before taking a step to the side and letting them fall into the ditch full of some dark liquid.

“John…!!!” Zeke resurfaced coughing up the gooey substance. “I’ll kill you for this, you bastard!”

“Didn’t he… didn’t he attack them in the first place?” Someone asked.

“That guy seems deranged.”

“Agreed.”

John and Seraphina watched them fighting to find a way out for a moment before they looked back at each other and shrugged, deciding it was time to move on. He took a few steps back to gain momentum and ran forward, jumping right at the edge.

The jump was great, and it seemed like they’ll land perfectly on the other side.

Only if the other side wasn’t covered with colorless oil…

With a sudden jolt, he slid forward before losing his footing and landing on his back. They rolled over thanks to the extra momentum ending up with him on top of Seraphina with her hands still framing his face. Her legs fell to the side as he was hovering over her, their faces inches apart.

“Man, I feel like I’m intruding on their bedroom activities.”

“I would be pregnant from just him topping me like that.”

“Yeah, that gaze is… intense to say the least.”

Like nothing existed around them Seraphina and John gazed at each other. A mix of shock, anxiety, longing, and desire swirled in their eyes. Neither moved or even blinked. Time stood still to them as their bodies, flush against each other resonated and their breathing synced.

Seraphina was the first to move, gently caressing the side of John’s face who leaned into her touch.

“It’s happening, Arlo! It’s happening!!!” Remi was violently shaking him barely believing her eyes.

“Careful, you goldfish zapper!” Arlo yelled leaning away from her.

“Fucking finally!” Elaine raised her arms in the air triumphantly.

“You’re a genius, Dylan!” Evie embraced her best friend in a bear hug.

Dylan himself couldn’t help the joyous grin stretching onto his face. “All the work is paying off!”

“Gods, our suffering is about to end…” Adrion sighed in relief.

“Guys, I think you’re too optimistic.” Claire’s expression was dark.

Everyone turned towards her.

“What do you mean?” Remi asked.

“It’s never that easy when it comes to these two…” She answered ominously.

John was slightly leaning down, never breaking eye contact with Seraphina, whose lips parted as the sound of their erratic heartbeats mingled.

At that moment a hand grabbed his ankle pulling him down.

“What the fuck?!” His attention snapped away from his best friend to see his attacker only to find a mess of dark goo tugging him from behind.

“Johnny booooy!!!” Zeke called out to him as he, like some liquifying zombie writhed out of the gooey mass, his darkened skinny fingers clawing at his legs.

Struck by a momentary panic and resurfacing anger John started kicking at him wildly, hitting him as much as he could.

“Get away from us, you fucking creep!!!”

“Come back and play with me!” Zeke slowly slithered out of the goo still covered by it.

“I said get away!” John yelled again, trying to free his leg from his hold.

Other pairs like Blyke and Isen finally reached the obstacle, silently watching from the other edge as the scene unfolded.

As John was fighting away goo zombie Zeke, Seraphina silently shook, her lips trembling.

“You… you fucking… bastard!”

She lunged forward catapulting herself into the ditch barely giving John time to react.

“Sera, the race! We need to stay in contact!” He reached after her, grabbing her left wrist just in time, but the force of her rage plummeted them both into the dark substance making all of them disappear in a huge splash. Moments later they resurfaced, with Seraphina strangling Zeke while John tried to hold her back.

“You fucking bastard!” She yelled as she pushed his head into the goo. “What have I ever done to you?!”

She dragged his head out only to push it back once again. Zeke’s arms were flailing everywhere as he tried to breathe and free himself from the hands on his throat.

“Sera, calm down!” John made a futile attempt to pull her backward.

“Dieee!!!”

Adrion watched the commotion with wide eyes. “Wow… never thought Seraphina could act like this. She’s usually so calm and laidback.”

“Even the most easy-going person can snap.” Claire was nonchalantly eating her popcorn.

Evie nodded before letting out a tired sigh. “Poor Seraphina. She has been yearning for that kiss for years.”

“Fucking die, you piece of trash!” She smashed his head under the surface yet again.

The other pairs were looking at the scene with growing horror.

Apart from Blyke and Isen, of course.

“I wish I had some popcorn with me right now. Hope the others are recording this.” Isen said, almost forgetting about his injured member. Almost.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll have this scene in 4k.”

Some helped poor Tobas climb out of the ditch while others still couldn’t turn their eyes away from the sight.

“Shouldn’t we go on with the competition?”

“Do you really want to jump in the middle of that?”

“Won’t you do something?” An audience member shouted towards the stage where Mesto stood.

Mesto twirled his mustache and hummed.

“Violence against other contestants is not against the rules, so I’m afraid there is nothing I can do.”

“Fucking dieee!”

Seraphina still didn’t give up on revenge and continued with her drowning attempt but as Zeke’s survival instincts activated, he ducked under the goo wriggling himself free of her hold, and launched himself out of the liquid beside them.

“You won’t get away this time, bastard!” She screamed as she jumped after him only to be tackled to the ground by John.

“Sera, we’ll get disqualified if we continue without getting into position!”

She growled.

“Oof… home girl is out for blood!”

“Are you surprised? I would kill too if I were interrupted like that!”

“I don’t think he is getting away! Look!”

As an audience member pointed out John and Seraphina were already back in position, rapidly closing in on Zeke who at this point wiggled out of most of his goo-soaked clothes down to his underwear.

“Get back here, you piece of shit!” She yelled after him, urging John to run faster.

They reached the eighth obstacle, The Balancing Bridge where another sign greeted them with stick figure ‘B’ sitting in stick figure ‘A’s neck. Without losing sight of her prey, Seraphina climbed through John’s head and shoulders and assumed her position in record time.

Zeke was frequently glancing back only for his terror to grow as the two god tiers, like terrifying shadows dominated his vision. He tried running down the plank that served as the bridge, but his leg got stuck on a sticky patch.

“Goddammit!” He cried as he strained his muscles to get free.

In a desperate attempt, he got rid of his shoes as well and ran to escape.

Only to slip on an oily patch and for his legs to slide to the sides.

The plank was hard and merciless. Zeke shrieked like a banshee with pain. With his body rotating to the side, he fell to the ground below the obstacle.

John gazed down at him, his legs closing on instinct, and he vowed never to experience the same fate. So, even when Seraphina was yelling at him to run, he very carefully made his next steps to avoid any funny patches. Still, they were quickly approaching Zeke who was still wriggling on the ground like a drowning worm. Even so, when he saw from the corner of his eyes the angry face of Seraphina, he started writhing on the ground and crawling away.

“I have to give it to the guy; he has an unparalleled will to survive.”

“If that girl was chasing me, I wouldn’t stop even when dead.”

“Just look at her face! She’s ready to tear his balls off with her bare teeth!”

“Whatever is left of those after that epic slip up…”

Zeke managed to get up before the other two got through the obstacle and ran towards the ninth one, The Windows, hastily scrambling through the opening.

“He’s getting away!” Seraphina yelled.

Another obstacle, another pose. Now she had to carry John bridal style, but the novelty was lost on both due to the searing anger.

“I didn’t envision this part like this.” Dylan pouted.

“Don’t worry, Dylan.” Evie comforted him. “I’m sure they’ll be all flustered and embarrassed when they see the footage.”

Zeke was scaling the last obstacle, The Apex Ladder at record speed while John and Seraphina were preoccupied yet again with a position change. This time John was upside down on Seraphina’s back with his legs on her shoulders and him looking through between her legs. While his head slowly started to redden from all the blood rushing to it, she was completely unphased, laser-focused on her target.

“They don’t even react anymore!” Dylan bawled as Evie and Adrion patted his back.

When Zeke reached the top and realized they were too far behind to reach him in time a triumphant smirk found its way onto his face. He turned back and with an audacity shocking the entire audience waved with his arms mockingly.

“Suck it, losers! You’ll never catch me!” He yelled at them smugly before turning on his heels and hopping down from the obstacle.

Seraphina couldn’t let this happen, so she called upon the only help she could.

Raising her right arm towards the sky she shouted. “Arlo!!!”

The silvery slaughterer flew through the air, with Seraphina catching it skilfully before aiming at her victim.

“I got you, you fucker!”

The next moment the fork struck Zeke in his ass accompanied by a painful scream. The shock made him fall onto the ground and before he knew a foot stepped on the fork, pushing it further into his bottom to keep him in place.

“So… where were we again?” Seraphina grinned down menacingly at him. Next to her, a few steps behind was standing John who got freed from the position after they crossed the finish line.

As Zeke trembled like a leaf for his life an idea came to him.

He looked up eyes wide and pointed at something behind her. “Oh my, John’s pants slipped down, and everyone can see his muscular ass!”

“What?!” Her eyes snapped to look behind, only realizing her mistake a moment later.

Protectiveness won over reason. Using the brief distraction Zeke wiggled out from under her loosened hold and with a jump threw himself into the crowd, still almost naked.

“My revenge!” Cried out Seraphina.

“My eyes!” Cried out many.

“My fork!” Cried out Arlo.

Chapter Text

Sometimes in your life, you wonder how predictable and mundane your days can get. Everyday just the usual things. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. The familiarity of the well-known routine slowly strangles you in its death grip. Luckily, our group knew nothing of this feeling at the moment, because they were all appalled by the words that just left the boy’s mouth sitting in front of them.

“These are the terms set by king Zeke.” The moss green-haired guy finished awkwardly as his voice slightly cracked. He was fidgeting with his fingers and tried to condense himself into a ball under the hostile glares of the group members. If he was almost inaudibly cursing the name of his boss under his breath the others in the tent didn’t register.

Arlo growled. “The audacity of that slimy scum!”

“It’s hard to believe this level of entitlement is even humanly possible.” Claire shook her head.

“You only think that because you haven’t known Zeke long enough.” Elaine said while sucking on the straw of her drink, remembering all the crap the aforementioned man pulled during their high school days.

“Disappointed but not surprised.” Evie sighed as they reviewed the papers containing Zeke’s demands with Dylan once more. There were no details spared to ensure his safety and explain his ‘requests’.

“So, he basically wants to get back into the game after being disqualified per the rules. He also wants immunity from John and Seraphina or anyone else who would take revenge on him.” Dylan flipped back and forth between pages, his fingers itching to claw his scalp until it bled.

“After attacking and aggravating them and all…” Looking at John’s eyes burning with pure rage brought back memories for Adrion of their early high school days.

He gulped.

“The first one might be doable with Mesto’s help… but the second one…” Blyke trailed off as he also glanced at the royally pissed duo beside him.

“Absolutely not.” Seraphina hissed through gritted teeth. “If I see that bastard again, I’m choking him until his face is the same color as his hair.”

John threw his arms into the air feigning nonchalance, but his tense muscles definitely screamed suppressed ire. “I might be able to control my anger around him but I’m definitely not stopping Sera.”

“You better not even try! As soon as I see him, he’s dead and anyone else who stands in my way will be dealt with.”

Isen swallowed the knot in his throat and took a step back from Seraphina’s form vibrating with wrath. It was like witnessing a ticking time bomb already activated and ready to burst at any moment. He didn’t want to be anywhere near when that happened.

Remi eyed the seething bunch as well, internally groaning about being stuck as the reasonable one. Why did this idiot have to anger even Arlo? It was his well-deserved, mind-melting role to take, dammit! “While I understand your anger, believe me I feel every ounce of it myself, we still need to come to an agreement with him.”

“Why though? He only has the fork as a bargaining chip. Can’t you just get another one?” Claire asked Arlo, who in turn glared at her.

“You’ve no idea about the sentimental value.”

Claire rolled her eyes and was about to strike back but Evie jumped in before this peace negotiation succumbed to an internal conflict.

“It’s not just about the Forkinator, though. Yes, we need to get it back, but the other problem is this.” She pointed at the still tense John and fuming Seraphina. “If we don’t find a way to lower their anger level there is no way they can continue the race.”

The others looked at the two and immediately understood what Evie meant. They might be able to continue and even win this race with their skills and knowledge of each other, but with anger and thirst for vengeance clouding their minds, just like by the end of the obstacle course, their focus wouldn’t be on the right thing, namely each other and the unspoken thing between them. The whole point of this entire race was to get them together. With them more preoccupied with beating Zeke than anything else their mission was doomed from the start.

Claire groaned as she had to accept that Evie was right. “Fair enough, but how would we do that? One of his two demands is to not get hammered by John or Seraphina during or after the race for what he did.”

Adrion breaking his silent thinking spoke up. “What if it’s someone else?”

Mesto ushered the messenger sent for negotiation out of the tent to get him out of earshot while the group turned to Adrion with curious gazes.

“What do you mean exactly?” Arlo narrowed his eyes.

“I mean, if not John or Seraphina someone else could take revenge in their stead, right?”

Dylan showed them the sheets handed to him by the guy who was sent by Zeke, pointing at a certain part. “You heard his demands. He doesn’t just want immunity from them, but anyone else’s violent attempts.”

“Can’t we disguise them as accidents?” Adrion asked and the others perked up with hope.

Dylan shook his head. “It wouldn’t be doable. The games from now on don’t have direct confrontations between the participants.”

“Wait, how do you know this?” Seraphina looked at him, visibly surprised.

Luckily before the group could descend into a panicked frenzy and the trio could open their mouths Evie draped an arm across her best friend’s shoulder and answered in his place.

“Remember, we’ve been going to this carnival since we were little kids. We know how things work.”

“That’s strange. I’ve been to this carnival many times, but never even heard of The Roommate Race.” John was clearly getting suspicious.

However, Evie wasn’t fazed. “The carnival holds different events in different regions depending on what the locals like. I’m pretty sure there are events I’ve encountered that you haven’t experienced yet and vice versa because we came from different districts.”

John stared at her for a long 10 seconds before averting his gaze. “Makes sense I guess.”

Everyone internally sighed in relief.

“Okay, then what? There must be a way to get back at that bastard!” Claire huffed, still irritated by the situation. While she didn’t have the displeasure of attending the same school as him during the revolution the two crossed paths enough for her to have an uncomfortable shiver run down her spine whenever his name was even mentioned.

After another quiet minute of contemplating their options Isen had an idea. “What if we challenge him to a duel before he can rejoin the race?”

Blyke looked at his best friend like he was crazy. “Why would he even agree to that? We would crush him with our eyes closed.”

Isen smacked his head from behind. “I meant a duel without abilities involved, you idiot!”

The others perked up yet again. All hope wasn’t lost after all?

“Maybe that could work?” Remi smiled hopefully.

“But who would go against him?” Dylan asked.

“I will. I’ll punch him in his gut, tear out his intestines and choke him with-“

“Woah, woah, woah girl! A little too much sadistic vibe!” Claire cut Seraphina off while forming an ‘X’ with her arms in front of her chest.

John attempted to calm his best friend down a little by placing his hands close to her neck and beginning to massage. “I wish you could, Sera, I truly do, but I doubt it’s an option.”

“Fine! But then who?” She grumbled.

“I could do it,” Arlo spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention to him now.

“You? For real?” Blyke and Isen asked in unison.

He looked at them with slight irritation as they were seemingly too surprised, meaning they didn’t see the obvious. What did he even expect from them? “I mean, the fork he stole is mine, so it’s only fitting I take revenge for that.”

Remi shook her head and then scratched behind her ear as she explained. “While that would be cool, and all let’s be realistic; Zeke might be a lunatic, but he would never accept a fight with you or anyone whom he doesn’t have a clear advantage against.”

Adrion groaned. “So, we’re at square one again?”

“I’ll do it.” Evie sighed accepting her fate. “I’m weak enough for him to not see me as a threat and we have enough bad blood between us for him to accept.”

“Are you sure about it, Evie?” Suddenly Seraphina became concerned. “While I know you’ve been doing hand-to-hand combat training with John for years now with Zeke being twice your size and not new to combat this fight could be a real tussle.”

Dylan was also looking at her worriedly. “Not to mention your main thing is weapon proficiency and using your surroundings and foreplaning to your advantage.”

“Come on, guys! It might be a little risky but have faith in my skills.” She waved their concerns off to calm their nerves.

“No. You’re not doing this. Not after what he did to you in high school.” Arlo looked at her with a frown and folded his arms. “I’ll get him to accept my challenge even if I have to be tied up and blindfolded.”

Evie gave him an unimpressed look. “I appreciate your concern, but you shouldn’t doubt my skills. I’ll find a way to handle him."

Abruptly a lightbulb blinked to life inside of John’s head. “What if we let him use his ability?”

Blyke rolled his eyes. “Didn’t we already agree that he wouldn’t get into a fight he’s not sure he’ll win?”

“Yes, but what if he can use his ability but we can’t?”

“What?” The others collectively gasped.

Isen scoffed. “I would like to remind you that even you can’t go up against a powered-up elite with no ability at hand.”

“But I’m not the one who will go up against him.” John had a shit-eating grin. “Arlo will.”

Evie glared at him. “I know he just volunteered to do it but throwing him at Zeke with no ability is a little too much.”

John’s grin still didn’t falter. “But he won’t be without an ability.”

“But you just-“ Blyke started but was cut off.

“He just can’t use it actively.”

Arlo, who was to this point skeptical about the soundness of John’s plan adorned a matching devious smirk now.

A similar smirk stretched onto Remi’s lips as she caught onto their train of thought, while the others remained in the dark.

“What?” Blyke stared at them, his confusion apparent.

John clapped his hands together, his face glowing with satisfaction. “You’ll see.”

Before the others could inquire about this plan any further Mesto reentered the tent where the strategic meeting took place. “Did you manage to come up with a way to resolve this?”

“We did actually.” Remi smiled at him brightly.

John nodded along. “Yes, but first we need you to get Zeke back into the game.”

Mesto arched an eyebrow. “It’s hard to believe you guys actually want him back.”

“Oh, don’t worry. His return will be glorious.” Arlo’s voice rumbled in a low tone as he cracked his fingers.

Mesto stroked his beard, eyeing the three god tiers, but in the end he didn’t ask and was content with finding out about their grand scheme as it unfolded.

“Fair enough. I can’t guarantee he can rejoin the race, as I can’t just break the rules while the audience is watching. However, I can definitely come up with a way that has a high probability of success.”

John and Seraphina looked at each other before shrugging.

“We can’t really ask more of you since this race is an official event, not something that was organized for our sake,” John replied.

“Uhm, actually-“ Blyke opened his mouth to speak only to be smacked to the ground by the collective force of Remi, Isen, and Arlo.

Isen scrambled for an explanation. “Sorry, uhm, there was this big spider on you.”

Remi laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, a big spider with an even bigger, nasty mouth.”

Arlo glared down at him. “A gigantic mouth it couldn’t possibly keep closed.”

“Do spiders even have mouths?” John whispered to Seraphina.

“I mean, they have to eat somehow. It’s under the chelicerae if I remember correctly. It’s quite small though.” She whispered back.

He was slightly bewildered. “Why do you know random stuff like this?”

She smirked. “Someone has to be the smart one out of the two of us.”

“Touché.”

Ten minutes later the whole gang was standing outside in the mixed mass of the participants and the audience waiting for Mesto to make his announcement.

John, Seraphina, Isen and Blyke were still in the attire they received for the race while others had some change in clothes. For starters, Arlo was now out of his suit donning some high-quality workout outfit he obtained from a booth.

“I can’t believe the things they’re selling in this carnival.” He said while doing some arm stretches.

“I would like to remind you we bought a fish tank and an insulated baby carrier in the same carnival,” Evie mentioned, now wearing the items herself.

Arlo glanced at her, his focus zeroing on his new goldfish. “Are you sure it’s not too heavy? The insulation and the water in the fish tank weigh quite a lot.”

She rolled her eyes. “Arlo, I can carry your fish just fine. It’s kind of cute, how you treat it like your baby or something, but this is getting too much.” She then added. “Besides, someone has to watch it anyway, because Remi keeps trying to get close to it.”

They both looked at the aforementioned girl who was currently inching towards them while feigning as if her attention was on something completely different.

Arlo cleared his throat and shot her a glare indicating that she had been caught.

Remi huffed in annoyance. “How did you notice?”

“Remi, you’re not subtle. At all.” Evie told her with a deep sigh.

Arlo growled. “Stop trying to kill my goldfish!”

“I just want to pet it!”

“That’s exactly how you claim your victims!”

“Stuck up Asslo!”

“Fish murderer!”

Evie groaned into her hand, already getting tired of this constant back and forth.

“Just leave the fish alone, Remi. The mask and sunglasses won’t help you anyway in sneaking up on us. We can see your pink Pikachu onesie from a mile away.”

“Oh, this?” Remi pointed at her face currently covered by said mask with a smile on it and big sunglasses while her hair was neatly tucked away underneath her hood. “This is not for you guys. It’s for my own protection.”

“Your what?” Arlo furrowed his brows.

She leaned a bit closer secretively making him step between her and Evie. Remi grumbled again seeing his behavior but said nothing about it. Bending forward she finally whispered. “You know… because of the… Blysen thing…”

“The what?” Arlo was still utterly confused.

Evie playfully hit his arm while rolling her eyes yet again. “You’re still clueless about the shipping thing.”

It was time for him to roll his eyes. “You say it like it’s such a bad thing. Outside of this scheming madness, I have no use of any of this knowledge.”

She shot him an unimpressed look before a smirk stretched onto her lips. “Are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Awww Arlo! Where is your confidence?”

“I’m not falling into the same trap again.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Stop it.”

“Awww, they’re already acting like a married couple.” Seraphina cooed to John who sagely nodded in agreement.

“Never thought they would be such a good match. I guess they really must be soulmates.”

This last bit made Seraphina think. Was John only interested in a relationship if it was between soulmates? Yes, he had no problem with Adrion’s and Claire’s relationship, and they weren’t soulmates, but this didn’t necessarily mean, that it was something he would be okay with for himself. Did he just want to stay alone and try in his next life? Seraphina shuddered from the mere thought of John dying. Reincarnation or not even soulmates weren’t guaranteed to meet in the next life, then where did that leave the two? She knew she may only have this opportunity to be with him. But if it was against his own belief, could she even get him to consider her as an option? Maybe this was the source of all their problems.

After some inner turmoil she watched him from the corner of her eyes and decided to ask. “Do you think they must be soulmates for them to get along so well?”

John was caught off guard by her question especially with how serious she seemed about the topic. “I don’t know.”

Seraphina was not satisfied with his answer. “You don’t know? I’m sure you must have an opinion on the matter. You usually have an opinion on everything. Even on the right way to grind cheese.”

“Hey! Making sure the grind is smooth and even is important to achieve the best result!”

“My point stands, and don’t change the subject.”

John fell quiet, not knowing what to say. This was a sensitive topic to him as well and knowing how she was against them being together he had to trade his words carefully so as to not to upset her. Maybe she wanted to know if he judged her for not just sticking with him, her soulmate, and being out there wanting someone else. He had to reassure her, that whoever she ended up picking he would support her relationship with them.

“I don’t think you can only be happy with your soulmate. I just think them getting along so well out of nowhere has to do something with them being soulmates.”

Seraphina perked up, a sliver of hope flickering in her heart. John wasn’t inherently against the idea. However, he did not finish there. He took her hands in his own and gazed deep into her eyes. Her breath hitched, and she felt momentarily paralyzed by the intensity which he was looking at her with. His stare was only this soul penetrating when he wanted to truly convey the depth of his resolve. She wanted to be lost in his golden eyes forever. His thumbs slowly caressed the back of her hands, instantly melting her already nonexistent resistance against him. She hastily exhaled to calm herself, waiting for him to continue, which he eventually did.

“Whoever you’ll choose as your partner in the future I’ll 100 percent support you and your relationship. You and I are best friends, and we will always be. I’ll even walk you down the aisle if I need to.” He finished with a playful wink pushing down the image of her marrying someone else in his head that will surely taunt and haunt him later that night. Seraphina with someone else; being happy and… leaving.

You could almost hear as her heart broke; the cracking sound was that audible to her at least. She inhaled sharply, trying to suck back the tears that threatened to appear in her eyes at any second.

“I… I get it.” She breathed, turning away from him completely. She understood. Not with the exact words but he directly told her she should go for someone else and leave him alone.

“Sera…?” He could see that she was upset but didn’t quite understand the cause of it. Did he say something wrong?

She could make out the desperation in his voice. She must be strong, she told herself. She couldn’t let John feel bad just because he didn’t want to be with her like that.

“It’s okay, John. It’s just… the prospect of getting together with someone yet unknown is a little… overwhelming to me at the moment.” She said while still refusing to turn around and face him.

“I’m sorry if I upset you, Sera.” John gently slid a hand on her shoulder making her flinch at the sudden contact. Seeing this he instantly removed his hand and took a step back. “Sorry!”

She gritted her teeth. This wasn’t going well. She needed some kind of distraction. Her eyes, glistering in the sunlight with unshed tears, were looking somewhere, anywhere for a good enough excuse to drop the subject. Her gaze was searching through the crowd, almost in a panic until her attention was drawn to one pair. Arlo and Evie were standing with their backs to the duo while a sulking Remi walked off to the others leaving the two alone. They exchanged a look then laughed.

‘Bingo!’ Seraphina exclaimed in her mind.

“Look at them, John! Aren’t they cute together?”

John wasn’t expecting her to go back to their original topic and momentarily froze but then welcomed the escape from this uncomfortable situation with an open heart.

“Yes, they are. I wonder what they are talking about.”

She finally spun around grinning up at him. If there was any sign of her almost crying moments ago, he didn’t mention anything about it. “One way to find out!”

He nodded with a grin not quite reaching his eye and they started to creep closer to their targets until they could make out their words more or less.

“Are you sure you will be okay?” Arlo asked, concern evident in his eyes.

“For the last time Arlo, I’m completely fine with carrying your baby!” Evie stated with clear frustration.

John’s and Seraphina’s eyes went wide instantly. No, this couldn’t be… could it?

“It’s just that you’re so small, and it’s pretty big. As time goes it’ll become even heavier.” Arlo still wasn’t letting go. After all, the longer you had to hold something the harder it got.

“For heaven’s sake, it’s not that big and my body is well-prepared for this! I wouldn’t have offered to do this if I wasn’t ready to take on the load!” Evie angrily motioned toward her midsection.

Their mouths fell agape as they silently turned to look at each other, still wide-eyed.

“You don’t think…”

“It… it would be a little too early…”

“They definitely are talking about something else…”

“Fine! I’ll stop bugging you about it.” Arlo huffed and averted his gaze.

“Thank you.” Evie breathed out, already tired of repeating the argument with him over and over. “My back will be fine, and I’ll protect your little one.”

She smiled and stroked her front the two couldn’t see from their direction.

John was pretty sure he just choked on his own saliva. He looked back and forth between the pair and Seraphina who was just as shell shocked from the whole conversation as he was.

Little one?

What?

What???

Arlo looked down at her belly area as well and his face relaxed. “I know I can trust you. It’s just that I can’t trust anyone else here to not make it harder for you.”

Seraphina was motioning at them in a muted panic, John perfectly matching her energy with wide hand gestures.

Evie looked up at him, her smile softening as she saw his caring gaze directed toward his new pet fish. “By the way, do you have a name in mind?”

“Not yet. First, we should know the gender.”

“What the hell is happening?” Seraphina whisper-shouted to John who was just as stunned upon learning about this new information as she was.

“I don’t know!” He mouthed back.

“We could look up methods to determine it later.” Evie offered.

Arlo blew the hair out of his face. “I think I’ll trust an expert’s opinion instead.”

She giggled at his stubbornness. “What if it’s a boy?”

“Then I’ll probably name him Rei.”

“And what if it’s a girl? Will you name it Remi?”

“No, I think I would name her Evie then.”

“Aw, I feel honored. Very sweet of you.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Yes, we were both part of bringing this little baby into our lives.”

John and Seraphina locked gazes as they finally had to accept the shocking, staggering and appalling truth.

Evie was pregnant with Arlo’s child.

“When did this even happen???” Seraphina asked while shaking John by his top.

“I don’t know!!!” He whisper-shouted back, his mind going a mile a minute.

“I’m still surprised how I managed to do it with that one shot.” Arlo wondered.

“Oh, it’s not that unexpected to me. With your bigger size you have greater reach. Your movements were also precise and gentle. Like you have been doing this for a long time.” Evie answered.

“Oh my gods, I don’t want to hear about Arlo’s size.” John covered his ears with his hands, forever traumatized.

“I definitely haven’t done it before. Without your experience I would have been lost.”

Evie laughed heartily. “Seems like those two balls could make miracles happen.”

“And I didn’t want to hear how my best female friend’s red light districts undercover days helped them with their sex life,” Seraphina whined, burying her face into her palms. The mental image of Evie teaching Arlo different positions burned into her memory. “I didn’t expect to learn about their one-night stand this way.”

“Do you want to have more after having this one?” Evie asked.

“I’ll have to see how it goes first. She or he will probably need companions. I’ll already need to get all the setup and supplies for this one, so why not?”

“I can maybe help with that.” She laughed. “Still, more of them require more space. Are you sure you’ll be up to the task?”

“And they are already down to family planning!” Seraphina peeked out between her fingers to see her friend’s happy expression. Damn, they were really moving fast.

“I mean, if I need more space, I’ll just move into a bigger apartment to accommodate all of the new members of the household.”

“Fair enough. But with how much you’re traveling you’ll need some help to take care of them.”

“I’ll hire someone to help. I have the funds for that.”

“I can always help you, you know.”

“I should just move you in.” Arlo joked. “Would save me a lot of trouble.”

“They… they’re really doing this…” John and Seraphina decided that they heard enough and crawled behind a tent, sinking to the ground.

“I can’t believe this. I knew nothing about it and they’re already on the way to having children together!” Seraphina exclaimed. She had a hard time digesting all of this new information. Her best female friend pregnant? From their very stoic and standoffish other friend? Without anyone even knowing they were dating?

It sounded completely and utterly impossible and unbelievable. And yet this seemed to be the case.

“I never thought Arlo with all his indifferent uptightness could be happy about an unplanned pregnancy.” She breathed out, still dazzled.

“Do you think they found out they were soulmates, had a drunken one-night-stand after which Evie fell pregnant and Arlo decided to take responsibility?” John drew up the most probable scenario.

“As unbelievable as it sounds, it seems to be the case.” Seraphina agreed. “He looks surprisingly content, I dare to say even happy about the whole thing.”

“I mean, he gets to have a family with his soulmate. Even if the circumstances aren’t ideal, I’d be happy in his place too.” He let out the words wistfully without realizing the meaning behind them before they left his mouth. Then panic set in and he hurriedly explained himself. “I didn’t mean anything by this! I just think it’s normal for soulmates, I mean, most soulmates to feel like this!”

He laughed awkwardly before sighing and turning into himself. She became silent too, hugging herself so tightly her nails were clawing painfully at her sides. Envy snuck its way into her soul, but she knew she should fight it. She should be happy for them, she told herself.

In the end she whispered. “We should be happy for them and support their new family.”

John looked at her from the corner of his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, but I also want to know more about their situation.”

She perked up a little, a still somewhat sad smile tugging at her lips. “Agreed. While Arlo certainly has the money, bringing a baby into the world is not easy. I don’t want Evie to be alone with all of this because she is too afraid to open up about it to us. It also sounded like they’re not together yet and still trying to figure out how they should proceed before the baby arrives.”

“Let’s make sure they don’t keep it to themselves for too long, and help them develop their relationship.”

“Yeah. Best to get them to confess so they can receive the support of the whole group.”

They settled, finally being able to smile at each other again.

At that moment Mesto strode up to the stage with his usual flamboyant manner and took the microphone from one of his attendants.

“Welcome back dear visitors of The Crippled Carnival, more precisely The Roommate Race! I’d like to apologize for the delay, but certain unexpected events took place we had to resolve before continuing! First things first, I’m happy to proclaim the names of those contestants who managed to advance to the next round! Sheya and Ayla! Bon and Goru!...”

The announcement went on, each pair receiving some claps and cheering from the audience.

“Seraphina and John!”

The crowd erupted in such an ovation Mesto had to stop because despite the microphone his voice was drowned out. The people like they were one body and one soul cheered for the two.

“Yassss, thought they got disqualified somehow after that chase!”

“The hottest pair is still here to supply us with some eye candy!”

“Not to mention quality entertainment with the constant stunts they pull!”

“Don’t forget the expressions they make! The duality of pure bliss and utter terror is something else!”

“When hot stuff became hot mess and fell down the rope I couldn’t stop laughing!”

“Ah, the way he gazes at her gives me life!”

“They can still be siblings, you know?”

“I mean, if I had genes like that, I would want to keep them in the family as well!”

“What the actual fuck?!”

“John, you’re the reason for my gay awakening!”

“Seraphina, marry me!!!”

Mesto coughed to gain back the people’s attention. “The audience definitely has a favorite.”

John and Seraphina wanted to die on the spot, hiding behind their hands and not even daring to look at each other, they climbed further behind the tent.

“Anyway, let’s continue! Blyke and Isen!”

He was rendered silent once again as the mass hailed as one.

“Give it up to the No Homo Homies!”

“Because he’s your bestie even when he puts it in!”

“I believe in you guys! You can fight the system that keeps you apart!”

“I can’t decide which OTP to pick!”

“They already picked each other!”

“Why is this so wholesome yet so sad?”

“We need to get rid of the soulmate standing in their way!”

“Down with Remi!”

“Yes! Down with Remi!”