Chapter Text
“We could just forget this bit. This “bit” is going no where.”
Anthony’s voice came out gruff- probably because he’d been silent the whole trip. Instead of getting on with the pre-discussed plans of splitting off into partners, Coy and Hannah had smooth- talked their way into stopping at PopMart.
“Please Anthony, just hold on a sec- Hi! Card please.”
Hannah, or Hanbon to her closest friends, blurted out, trying to seem as friendly as possible given the circumstances of her coercing Anthony to wait by for her.
Of course he was going to, he’d just never let it show. That’d ruin the whole “tough guy” act he so proudly leaned into.
”This was my plan to nerf their team, Bon loves blind boxes.” Coy informs Will, who’s as happy as always, running down the semi-crowded mall walkway.
“My pants are falling!-“ Will calls out, hoping his exclamation had reached Coy’s ears.
”Are you happy?”
”I’m-“
”We have made no progress, we’re wasting both of our time- mainly wasting my time, ‘cause we just went and bought you stupid PopMart. You’re not even gonna get the thing you wanted- open the thing. Cut to us opening the thing.”
“Anthony please, it’s fine! I can see Will over there. He’s not even moving, just holding his.. shorts up?”
He stops walking backwards to turn around and see what Bon’s talking about. She was right. Coy and Will, stood in the window of a rundown dead stock store, presumably looking for something, anything, to hold Will’s jorts up.
”Okay, fine. Open your thing and we’ll go after. You have to be fast though, like actually.”
Hanbon wasted no time. She ripped the box, almost losing the plastic bag containing the actual figure. The excitement was practically radiating off of her, buzzing around and creating almost a glow around her. Anthony liked that about her. How she could stay positive, even though he had been basically pushing her around. Once the box was disposed of properly, (because she would NEVER litter, ever, even if the time crunch was serious) she unclipped the vinyl character and hooked it onto her purse, not even bothering to look at it. Bon grabbed his hand and spun him around, urging him to take action and move along at the same pace as her.
NEW YORK CITY ➡️ - ➡️ - ➡️ WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK
- posterboard ✅
- sharpies ✅
- PopMart ✅
- coolest stranger ever ❓
Bon and Anthony were now on the train, staying within the made-up timeframe Anthony had thought of in order for them to win.
With wired headphones plugged into Bon’s phone, she gave one side to Anthony and kept the other headphone for herself, unpausing the music. He didn’t want to bring her mood down, (even though it seemed impossible to do so anyway) so he left the music to sing while he played Geometry Dash, trying to kill time. A few minutes had gone by, and Hanbon wanted to capture the moment, just to contribute something. She pointed her camera to Anthony, and then his screen.
”Watch this.” He told the camera as he tapped through the next level in whatever sequence he was doing and tried to beat it.
Hanbon handed him the phone as she got out of her seat and stood in front of where he was pointing the camera at.
”Geometry dash be like: pentagon, octagon, decagon…. bakugan!” She let out sing-songingly to Anthony and the camera while trying to run on the spot. Behind her, another passenger had gotten up and left the train, nudging her in her tracks.
“Nobody wants to fucking hear that annoying ass shit.”
A beat passed. The smile that had once taken up Hanbon’s face had dropped, now replaced by a slight frown and no light behind her eyes.
”She called me annoying..” Bon let out with a quiver in her voice, trying her hardest not to let it bother her, as she took her place next to Anthony.
”She did?” He questioned, focusing fully on her now instead of his screen.
”Yeah.”
”Here,” Handing the phone back to her, “I’ll go talk shit.” His tone growing more and more aggressive as he watched the woman near the open doors of the carriage.
”No, Anthony, stop. Sit back down, it’s fine.” She pleaded, not wanting a confrontation to commence and ruin the supposed ‘magical’ competition they had arranged.
”No, I actually will. Like, I really want to. She shouldn’t do that shit, especially in public.”
She shouldn’t do that shit to you.
He thought. Not sure why, but he did.
Hanbon called out after him, reached for his arm, anything to make him stop, but she couldn’t reach him.
”What was that? Why’d you do that? She wasn’t in your way and she wasn’t doing anything to harm you.”
”Sorry? Go sit back down, I wasn’t talking to you.”
He grew angrier, not understanding why this woman was so hostile.
”Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but my friend wasn’t in your business or all up on you, so you had no right to do that. At all.”
The door lights flickered, indicating that they’ll close soon.
“I’m not apologising for shit. I’m getting off, so you and that girl can do whatever you want. Tell her it’s not cute to act like a kid, especially looking like that.”
Anthony had decided not to make a scene, considering the amount of people there. After all, he had a reputation to upkeep. He had felt uneasy about the way she spoke about his friend, and even worse that he had done nothing about it. But what was there to do? He couldn’t get off and leave his teammate alone. They had something to complete together, and complete it they shall.
”Was she mad?” Bon’s meagre voice called out as he returned to her. “I just wanted to be myself, what the heck..”
”It was nothing, it’s okay. People try to put their misery onto you. That’s life. Don’t let it get you down, seriously. She was just being awful.”
“Okay I’m over it!” She spoke as she sprung out of her seat once more, her whole demeanour shifting back to how it was before.
coy and will
NEW YORK CITY ➡️ - ➡️ - ➡️ TIMES SQUARE
🟩 “Do we suck? I feel like Bon and Anthony are so much more charming than us, and that’s going to show in this video. Like, Anthony will ask, “Hey, wanna be in our video?” And they’ll be skeptical but then they see Bon and they soften up… We aren’t winning.”
After a few uncertain, back-and-forth looks, they decided it’s best not to focus on that, and to carry out their mission.
🟪 “Okay. I made a list of, like, requirements:
- no ugly people (That’s kind of a given, though.)
- some type of scar
- no social media OR have a lot of followers
- has a lighter
- loves their grandma
- doesn't GAF about us
- calls weed "pot" OR "dope"
- pointy shoes (?)
I put a question mark, I just wanted to know how you feel about it.”
🟩 “I feel like it could go either way for me. Wait, can I read my list now? ("Yeah, go ahead,") Okay,
- lesbian
Thank you.” The pair climb up the grimy stairs, leading them out of the station and into the bustling streets of Times Square. “Wait, you know who would be really cool? The people who cross the street first. We should look out for that.” And that they did. “The lady in blue, it was her!” Coy spoke, stage whispering to Will and the camera he had been holding.
🟪 “Okay go go go!” Will encouraged, pacing behind Coy to get the best shots of their situation.
🟩 “ Excuse me? Hey, sorry, excuse me?” He repeated, even though it was clear he was blatantly being ignored. That didn’t matter to him, anyway. Together, they found a new possible contender. “Hey Sir, what’re you listening to?”
”Nothing, sorry man.”
”Thanks, have a great day, man.” Coy called out, clearly a little bit embarrassed after that interaction. He continued to stride forward and acted like it was behind him, except he was already dreading having to see that getting clipped on social media. "Okay, anyway.." He muttered with his head in his hands.
🟪 "Wait, wait, Coy take the camera, I'll ask those guys. They look pretty cool, no?" And with that, Will approached a group of guys, all gripping recording equipment. The only difference between the two groups was that the bigger group had professional equipment, fit for a movie or a broadcast. "Hey guys! We're both recording. Isn't that neat?"
"What are your thoughts on the World Cup being held in the USA this year?"
"No, no, I- I don't do that kind of stuff- I don't-" Will managed to blurt out, panicking about being questioned further about things he wouldn't be able to answer, considering their professional microphones all pointing towards him. The "high pressure" situation had gotten to him, beads of sweat appearing across his forehead, catching the light of the billboards projection advertisements above.
An hour had passed. Coy and Will had yet to find an epic stranger who would fit their criteria, keeping in mind how attractive Anthony and Hanbon were to complete strangers
🟩 "Will. Will! Come here. What if we cheat?" Coy half whispered towards the camera, waiting for Will's reaction to his suggestion. Baring the amount of progress they had made within the time span they had been in the same area, Will agreed, unable to take another minute in the highly populated tourist area that is Times Square. "Okay, I was thinking we just hire someone on Craigslist and just lie. We could plant a lighter on them and fake a scar, right?"
anthony and hanbon
After the earlier precedent, Hanbon and Anthony had finally ended up in their designated location, Washington State Park. The both of them perfectly content, prancing through the shaded areas of the park. Hanbon, happy as ever, trailed behind Anthony, who was carrying their sign.
How did he look careless? Why did he look so careless? Did he really not want to bother himself with this?
Those were thoughts for later. Obviously he had to care to some degree, considering it was him that brought them all together!
That idea often lingered in her mind, though. Most of the time, Bon wondered if he really, truly cared about what they were doing. It irked her. But most of the time she was fine with it. She had to be. That was his demeanour and it's part of who he is. One day, he'll change, she hoped.
Negatives aside, they were spending the day together, and they had to enjoy it. They were here to win.
"Is that a fucking wizard?"
Yes. That was a wizard if they've ever seen one. A tarot-reading wizard.
"Hello!" Anthony approached, his charming personality beaming through.
"Hello. How are you?"
"I'm great, how are you?"
They conversed for a few minutes, his friendly nature drawing their stranger in. Eventually, he sat down for his tarot reading, pointing to the "no filming" sign as a cue for Hanbon to leave, or in their case, record from afar. She perched herself behind a big shrub, zooming in to make sure it focused on him and the wizard.
"Seriously, how is that the first person we met!" Hanbon voiced, impatiently waiting for Anthony to finish with him so they could continue their search for the COOLEST STRANGER EVER!!!😮
He and Kyler exchanged numbers, knowing that their pair had struck gold. If they didn't win with a tarot reading wizard who wears a cool hat who also has a lighter on him, they'd probably delete the channel as a whole.
Coy and Will? Fakes. A craigslist actor with a lighter planted on her.
A day later, both Kyler and Craigslist Woman were sat before the two teams in the goffice, waiting to be judged by the opposite side. Will and Coy were practically banished outside with Kyler, who was, ironically, teaching them about the importance of honesty. It wasn't hard for Hanbon or Anthony to realise that they had cheated. Very obviously.
All of the questioning had ended and they had all come to the conclusion that team Hanpo had won. Bon had turned to Anthony, just to celebrate. A high five, a hug, anything, really. She just wanted to express her excitement in a friendly manner, as always. Anthony grabbed her hand, yelling back at her with joy radiating off of him. Dear God, his eyes were blue.
Hanbon felt bad, actually. That meant either Coy or Will had to spend money for this, when her and Anthony had done nothing in return. She pushed this thought away, once more, ready to question everything she had thought about later. She sat in silence, waiting for the recording to finish.