Chapter Text
Most families in the city of Pandora can be lumped into the category of middle class. This consists of a family of five – with a pet – that owns a three bedroom house. However, every dataset is bound to have some outliers.
For example, the Aculon Family. Elanulo Aculon, the head of the Aculon household, is a wealthy business man that owns an absurd amount of different companies spanning across Pandora, some of which are even situated in the neighboring city, Yggdrasil. As a result, he has an obscene amount of money, which he has spent a fair amount on building a comfortable house for him and his three children to live in.
…
Comfortable in this context is used very loosely, seeing as though their house is borderline colossal. With ten bedrooms, six bathrooms, three kitchens, three lounges, two offices, and for some God forsaken reason, four pools, it's safe to say that an exorbitant amount of money was put into this house. Not to mention that it also takes decades to even walk from one room to another, because Elanulo decided that they need to have comically long hallways that separate everything into their own sections. Let’s also not ignore the fact that most of the necessary commodities, such as the kitchen(s), are quite far away from the bedrooms or the lounges, making it a living nightmare to even think about getting something to eat during the day, much less a midnight sna-
The point is that the house is big.
Despite the evident downsides, having a big house does have some benefits. One of which is hosting a sleepover.
————
“Dude, can you remind me why your house is so big again…” Gotoga mumbles, slightly out of breath. He and Flux, the youngest of the Aculon siblings, were tasked to retrieve snacks and drinks from the snack bar in kitchen #2. Gotoga really didn’t want to go, but he lost a game of rock, paper, scissors with Rotation, so he had to keep his end of the deal.
“Because my father is a wealthy maniac that has nothing better to do.” Flux quips back. He’s long used to the marathon of going to the kitchen for food. However, it doesn’t mean that he’s any more pleased to go. If he could have opted out, he would have, but since he actually lives in this labyrinth and knows it like the back of his hand, he has to be the guide for his friends so that they don’t get lost.
They turn probably the 7th corner and end up face to face with Flux’s room. It’s easy to tell which door is his, because not only does it have purple accents adorning the doorframe, but it’s also the only room with the lights on since all the others are uninhabited.
As if he’s done this a million times before, Flux props up the food that was in his right hand onto his knee and turns the doorknob in one swift movement.
What Gotoga and Flux are met with can only be described as pure, unbridled chaos. An enraged Thomas is gripping onto the collar of Snowbird’s shirt, who looks eerily calm — almost smug — at the situation. Rotation and NewKids are sitting on beanbags around Flux’s TV while playing a heated game of Mario Kart, which Rotation is losing at catastrophic level. Throughout all of this, Seraphim is in a corner, drinking out of her water bottle, simply watching the chaos unfold with an entertained but exasperated expression.
Flux sighs at the sight. Some people would expect him to be angry at how they've taken his room as their own right now. However, the Conspiracy — that's the name they've chosen for their group chat since like middle school — is over at his house so often that Flux’s room isn't even fully his anymore. Hell, Thomas even has his own drawer of spare clothes with how often he comes over.
So to put it flatly, no, Flux is not shocked at the entropy that has taken over his room right now.
Gotoga scans the room and starts grinning at Rotation's look of despair every time he drops a placement — he’s now at a whopping 19th. ‘That’s what you get for making me go get the snacks,’ he thinks as he makes his way over to Flux's desk and places their snack hall down for easy access by everyone else.
Flux breaks out of his thoughts and goes to follow Gotoga to arrange the food. He glances at the clock on his desk, 11:38 PM. ‘This should be enough snacks to last us until around… maybe 3?’ Flux wonders to himself. However, before he can continue his calculations, he starts overhearing Thomas and Snowbird’s debate.
“Bro, I totally have more rizz than you.” Snowbird said slyly, as Thomas looks like steam is about to come out of his ears. Thomas has never been the type to be easily angered, he’s actually quite a chill guy. Though, when someone gets put into a debate with Snow, it’s highly unlikely that they will leave levelheaded. In the words of Snowbird himself, ‘I’ve mastered the art of ragebaiting; a masterbaiter, if you will.’
This is besides the point, because the conversation they’re currently having sounds beyond idiotic.
Flux turns around while throwing them a flummoxed expression. “Excuse me, what the actual fuck is going on? Rizz..? What are we, 12?” Thomas and Snowbird pause their dispute to give Flux an explanation for the current predicament. Well, correction, Thomas stopped to explain to Flux what was going on, Snow just stood there and made mocking faces at Thomas whenever he stopped looking.
Thomas tosses Snowbird one last nasty glare and coldly explains the situation, “Snowbird thinks that he’s better than me when it comes to romance, but I know that’s obviously bullshit.”
In the background Rotation deflates in his chair as the screen shows that he came 23rd, while NewKids celebrates his 3rd place. Their thoughts are cut short as they too start to listen into the conversation that’s currently being held.
“Just admit that you’re never gonna get a love life, man. Chicks are all over me, yet I’ve never seen you with anyone a day in my life.” Snowbird taunts with a bored voice.
Thomas’ rebuttal is cut short as NewKids remarks, “Not gonna lie, Thomas, Snow has a point. I mean, when have you ever expressed romantic interest in anyone except for that one time you thought you had a crush on Flux in 3rd grade?” That memory sent shivers down both Flux and Thomas’ spines.
The room, now less chaotic than it was before, is filled with hums of agreement regarding NewKids’ comment.
“I can wholeheartedly bet that you've never had a real crush before.” Seraphim absentmindedly comments, as she tries to use her phone and open a bag of chips at the same time. During the short period of time that Flux and Gotoga had returned, she had moved across the room to retrieve a snack and returned to her previous position without being noticed by anyone. It's a known fact in the Conspiracy that it is nearly impossible to hear Seraphim whenever she moves. As a matter of fact, they even gave her the title of ‘The Dagger’ because her movements reflect that of an assassin.
Thomas’ face goes red from both embarrassment and irritation at everyone’s lack of faith in his love life. Desperate to salvage his crumbling ego, he absentmindedly states, “I’ve totally had a crush on someone before! Matter of fact, I have a crush on someone right now-“
…
For the first time in history, Fluixon’s room goes silent. Thomas lets go of Snowbird’s shirt in the blink of an eye and slaps a hand over his mouth, resulting in Snowbird falling on his back with a grunt of discomfort. That is the least of his worries, however, seeing as though he still sports a shocked expression. Even Seraphim discarded her previous location, crawling closer —with her bag of chips secured in her mouth— to listen in on this ground breaking discovery.
The stunned atmosphere is suddenly broken as Snowbird tears through the silence with a manic cackle. He takes a fetal position on the floor to keep himself from dying from laughter. Soon, NewKids joined him as if he got the same dose of laughing gas that Snow got. One by one, the room was engulfed by the sound of everyone making fun of Thomas. Seraphim gave a little chuckle, too. ‘Wow, that traitor,’ Thomas thinks bitterly.
By now, Thomas is blushing harder than a school girl from a nineties anime, ears red with humiliation from how easily he let his tongue slip.
“ Who could you, of all people, possibly have a crush on?” Snowbird chokes out through a coughing fit from laughing too hard.
“ Our baby, Thomas, has finally grown up..!” sniffles Gotoga while wiping the faux tears from his eyes.
Seraphim jokingly adds, “ What if it’s Flux again?” This results in Snowbird and NewKids’ hollering to only get louder.
Thomas wants to evaporate from this situation right now.
Flux shushes them with a raise of his hands because it’s the middle of the night, lest they wake someone — which is highly unlikely since the rooms are so far apart— and also because he wants to ask more questions. “ Genuinely though, who is it? And how have you not told us about this until now?” Flux’s tone is laced with genuine curiosity, and if there was anything else underneath, Thomas chose to ignore it.
Thomas slowly removes his hands from his face, revealing his reddened cheeks and irritated expression. “ Well for starters, I never told you guys for this exact reason..!” Which is completely fair. Most of them nodded their heads thoughtfully at how they just laughed at their friend for having a crush.
“Yeah, ok, I should’ve expected that one, but we still don’t know the lucky person that has caught our dear Thomas5200’s eye.” Flux says, wiggling his eyebrows.
‘Gosh, Thomas must hate us.’ Everyone else thinks with a hint of pity. Mostly everyone else, because Snowbird thought of it with mirth.
“Ok… I’ll tell you guys. But please promise me that you won’t laugh…” Thomas naively wishes.
Rotation looks at him with pity. “Oh, my dear Thomas, you know that we most definitely are going to laugh no matter what.”
“ Ok, Yeah, that’s true. At least I tried though..” Thomas exhales as he prepares for the worst.
NewKids and Snow try to ease their giggles as they wait for Thomas to do the big reveal. Rotation is fidgeting with his controller in anticipation. Flux’s face shows deep interest in the reveal of who Thomas had been admiring, as Gotoga peers over his shoulder with the same amount of interest. Seraphim stares at him as she chews slowly. She seems deep in thought, as she most likely tries to look back on past interactions to guess who it could possibly be.
“It’s Micro.”
Everyone goes silent for the second time tonight — this might just be a world record.
Rotation wears a dumbfounded expression. “...who?”
Thomas turns to him with an eyebrow slightly raised. “Y'know… Micro Ghost? Nickname Microspr..? He was in our APUSH class during Sophomore year…?”
“Oh, as in the drug dealer Micro?” Gotoga questions while trying to recall if there are any other Micros at their school.
“ Yup...” Thomas shyly says, now looking at the ground, face still red.
Snowbird, now laying on his stomach with his head propped up in his hands, recalls, “ Isn’t that the Canadian guy that sells the weed brownies behind our block?”
“ Mhm…”
“ Wait- The pale guy with the eerily deadpan face??” Seraphim chips in, suddenly way more intrigued.
“Yes.”
“You mean Saps’ brother?”
“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, YE- oh wait what?” Thomas turns to Flux in confusion. “Saparata has a brother?”
“Yeah, they’re fraternal twins.” Flux states in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Of course you would know that, lover boy.” NewKids half-whispers the last part, hoping that Flux doesn’t pick up on it. The sly remark doesn’t seem to miss him, though, as Flux snaps his head at him while glaring. If you look hard enough, you can see his cheeks becoming faintly dusted pink.
Ignoring the prior remark, Flux returns his attention to Thomas and asks another question. “ Since when?”
“Huh?” Thomas looks at him quizzically.
“ Since when have you liked Micro?” He elaborates
“ Oh. I think it was around sophomore year… We got paired in a group project, and he was like, I don’t know, super cool.. and pretty… He was really funny, too. And good at telling stories. And really prett-”
Seraphim clears her throat while raising her eyebrow at him with an unimpressed face.
“Uhm, nevermind. I’ve barely spoken to him since, though.” Thomas looks a bit melancholy after realizing that Snowbird might be right. ‘Wait, no. I can't be insinuating that Snowbird is right,’ he mentally scolds himself.
“Man, that sounds worse than Saps and Flux.” Snowbird says while deep in thought. Gotoga gets a bit concerned from where he’s standing, because when Snowbird is deep in thought, nothing good comes out of it.
“Pfft. No. Saparata and Flux are on a whole other plane of existence from Thomas’ – albeit hopeless – crush.” Seraphim quips from her new seat behind Thomas.
‘Jeez, when did she even move seats..?’ Thomas thinks to himself. She startled him so much that he almost forgot that she called his crush hopeless. Almost.
The room is blanketed with silence for a few moments as everyone digests all the new information.
All of a sudden, Snowbird sits up straight with a face of pure zeal. “I HAVE SUCH A GOOD IDEA. Oh my Gosh, you guys are NOT ready for this one.” His face morphs into one of pure mischief and hunger for drama.
‘Yup. I called it.’ Gotoga sighs with exasperation and asks with a joking tone, “What have you congered up now, oh great Snowbird334?”
“Why, I'm so glad you asked, my dear Gotoga!” Snow jumps to his feet and rushes over to Flux's TV. He then produces to put it into whiteboard mode and writes out his marvelous plan with the best penmanship achievable, seeing as though he's writing with his finger. As he adds his final punctuation marks, he turns around proudly to reveal the results of his eureka moment:
‘Between Thomas and Flux, who do you bet on to secure HUZZ the fastest over a two week period?!?!’
Thomas and Flux’s faces contort into sheer dread at the atrocity Snowbird just committed, while everyone else wears a look of approval. “You know, I thought you were gonna write something way worse, but this actually seems quite entertaining. “ Seraphim hums.
“Way worse?? How could there possibly be anything worse than this?” Flux looks between the screen and Seraphim while gesturing wildly with his hands. “There's no way you guys are actually gonna entertain this, right?”
NewKids shrugs,” I don't see a problem with the arrangement,” causing Flux’s jaw to fall slightly open in disbelief. “Anyways, I think I'll bet like ten bucks on Thomas. At least he has the balls to admit his crush to us.”
‘Wow, ok, that shade was unnecessary.’ Flux thinks while unimpressed.
Gotoga puts his hand on his chin and thinks. “Flux has this in the bag. He's liked Saps for way longer, so it's easier for him to confess.” He crosses his arms as he makes his final decision.
“This can't be happening right now-”
Seraphim rolls her eyes at Gotoga's shallow way of thinking. “Since he's known Saparata for so long, it's only gonna make him more nervous to ruin their friendship. Also, if Flux had the balls to confess, he would've done it from the moment he saw Saps for the first time in freshman year.” She cut off Flux’s comment of disbelief to explain her reasoning.
Rotation, still trying to figure out who the hell Micro is, verbalizes his opinion on the situation as well. “I still have a bit of faith in Flux, though. I think he can do it if he grows the balls to. No shade to you Thomas, but not talking to your crush for a year simply out of fear is kind of a wuss move…” However, Thomas doesn't seem to hear him, since he’s been staring into space for the past five minutes.
Blinking himself back to reality, Thomas looks at Flux and back at the room, gobsmacked at the debate being held right now. He rakes a hand through his hair as he comes to terms with the fact that his friends are sadistic assholes that want to see him suffer.
Seeing no other option, he decides to play into their game. “I… I think I could confess before Flux.”
Snowbird grins at Thomas' compliance with his master plan, while Flux turns to Thomas in utter confusion. “First of all, we're supposed to be on the same side in this situation. Secondly, according to your prior story, you haven't spoken to this guy in a year. And now you expect to win him over in a fortnight?? Let's think practically here.”
“Ooo, drama,” snickers Snowbird.
“Hey, I can turn things around, alright? Let's not ignore the fact that you've been hopelessly pining for Saps throughout our whole time in high-school. I can't even count the amount of times you've texted our gc about how it's ‘outrageous for him to be this perfect’.” Thomas folded his arms over his chest while staring inquisitively at Flux, awaiting his reply.
Flux scratches his neck in guilt. “Don't use someone's lowest point against them… But just because I'm quote, unquote hopeless, doesn't mean I can’t lock in.”
“The girls are fightiiing,” Seraphim draws, clearly entertained by their debate.
Snowbird claps his hands to silence them before anything too serious gets thrown out. They don't seem too heated right now, but it's better to be safe than sorry! “Then it's settled! You guys can start on Monday. Everyone, come and write your bets on the board and I’ll take a picture of it for documentation.”
They all walk up one by one to seal their bets. This is the moment when Thomas and Flux finally realize what they've gotten themselves into.
Snowbird steps back after everyone else is done, about to take a picture, when NewKids inquires, “ Wait, Snow, who are you voting for..?” Snowbird stops in his tracks, body going rigid for a moment.
Thomas points at him accusatorily, “That’s true! You’re the one that came up with this mess, surely you have one of us in mind.”
Snow slowly turns around with a wobbly grin. “W-well, since I came up with it, surely it would be conflict of interest for me to bet, no?” He fiddles with his thumbs nervously.
Seraphim squints her eyes while analysing him and deduces his actual intentions. “He’s scared of losing money on betting because he has no faith in either of you.”
Snowbird sighs in defeat as he wipes his palms on his shirt to dry the sweat. “Ok, so what if I don’t have any faith in either of you guys whatsoever? That shouldn’t stop you from going out there and winning over the love of your life!” Snow gives them a double thumbs up to seem more reassuring.
Flux and Thomas look at him, they’re very unimpressed.
Snow coughs into his hand and whips around to take the picture. “Well the bet’s already done, so no time to ponder on it! Who’s up for some Mario party?!?”
NewKids, Gotoga and Rotation jump up at that and eagerly search for more controllers. Seraphim can’t play, since it’s a four player game, but she still pulls up a cushion to sit and watch. Flux and Thomas stare into space, coming to terms with what the hell just happened.
———
It’s currently 3:42 AM, and Flux is laying awake on his bed in between a snoring HvyRotation and a sprawled out NewKids. Flux turns to his side to see the air mattress beside the bed that is currently housing Seraphim. Since she’s the only girl, she gets the privilege of getting her own sleeping area. On the floor are where Snowbird, Gotoga, and Thomas are sleeping in their own sleeping bags. However, Flux can only make out two figures.
One of them is Snowbird, because he usually sleeps with his sleeping bag unzipped to give space for his hands to move during sleep. The other one is Gotoga, because he is the only one that wears a sleeping mask at night. This only leaves one person missing, Thomas.
Flux’s eyes flicker to the door. Despite the darkness, he can tell that the door is slightly cracked open, leading to the hallway.
While making sure he doesn’t shake the bed too much, Flux crawls out of bed and tiptoes to the door. He jumps over small obstacles, like trash, so that he doesn’t make excessive noise, lest he wake someone up. He arrives at the door and looks behind him to ensure that everyone is still sound asleep. Once he’s certain, he pushes the door open and softly shuts it behind himself.
Out of everyone in the Conspiracy, Thomas has been over Flux’s house the most. This means that Thomas knows this house almost as well as Flux himself.
Flux looks around in the vacant hallway for any signs of Thomas. ‘Where would he be…’ He tries to think of places Thomas could have gone. He’s obviously not in the bathroom, because Flux’s room has its own bathroom and the lights were not on.
Suddenly, Flux remembers a place that he knows Thomas will be.
~ • ~ • ~
‘Gosh, aren’t I a fucking idiot.’
Thomas sits at the edge of the pool and exhales. Why the hell did he let his tongue slip like that. Why’d he let Snowbird rage bait him so hard? And why in the world did he agree to that stupid bet? Now he has to confess to Micro within two weeks, when he hasn’t even had a full conversation with him since last year!
He lets out another sigh as he kicks up some water, breaking the still surface of the water.
‘How do I even approach him again? It’s been so long.’ Thomas wracks his brain trying to figure out a plan of action to stop his inevitable demise.
Thomas breaks out of his thoughts when he hears someone walking up behind him. It would have startled him if he hadn’t already memorized this walk pattern five years ago. The figure crouches down to settle beside Thomas, taking off their shoes before they swing their legs over the ledge to mirror Thomas’ seating.
They sit in silence for a few minutes. Thomas’ mind is still trying to piece together a way to even talk to Micro much less confess his love.
Flux cuts the silence first. “So, how’s the bet going for you?”
This pool has always been Flux and Thomas’ spot. The funny part is that the first time they came here together was purely unintentional.
Flux and Thomas were having their usual sleepover over, when they got bored of playing in Flux's room and decided that 11:30 PM was the perfect time for two children to be exploring a mansion while unsupervised.
Well, it’s safe to say that it wasn’t, because not even five minutes into their adventure, they got lost. But since they were dumb 10 year olds that refused to back down from a challenge, they put on a bravado and pushed forward as if they knew what they were doing. They only admitted that they were lost when it hit 12 AM.
Flux tried to keep Thomas from freaking out while they frantically turned corners, hoping that one of them would place them right back at Flux’s room and that they’d forget all about this. However, they instead found the back door exit that led to one of their pools. Neither of them knew what to do at this point, so they just accepted their fate and went to go sit cris crossed around the pool.
They sat and talked about any dumb topic they could think of; Games, YouTube, books, just anything to keep their minds off of their current predicament. And eventually, they got found by one of the cleaners in charge of that section of the house.
However, since then, they would always find themselves beside that pool if Flux’s room ever got too boring. They never quite understood why that specific area felt so comforting, but that didn’t matter.
Thomas shakes himself out of his reminiscing and reminds himself to answer Flux. “We haven’t even officially begun and I’m already cooked.”
Flux nods with understanding while turning his attention to the ripples in the water. “Yeah, I don’t even know why I agreed. But, hey, at least we’re in it together..!” He laughs unenthusiastically.
“If we’re gonna get through this, we have to come up with a game plan.” A feeling of determination blooms into Thomas’ gut.
However, Flux only hums in acknowledgment as well as nodding tiredly.
Thomas takes in his friend's current state — droopy eyes, lazy shoulders, slackened jaw. He could tell that Flux was insanely tired. “Ok, maybe we can do that later. Right now, let’s just focus on getting some rest.”
Thomas gets up and dusts his pants off while putting on his shoes. He helps up Flux and puts his arm around him to guide him back up to his room. They can focus on their problems later. Right now, all they need is some good sleep.