#Phillip Yu x reader

[organic-bloodbath]

Taser or Dare?

7th floor x Reader

Summary: Your group does dares to entertain the show's audience, and you get close with the guy staying on the 7th floor.

A/N: I don't know if anyone even reads the 8 Show fics here (i couldn't find anything and i'm so upset) but i got the biggest urge to write something about him 😭 reader replaces the 2nd floor here (i'll take requests please)

☆☆☆

You chose one of the eight balls in the box. One of you would become the King, which was the role to decide the next round's dare. Sadly, you didn't get to be the King this time either.

"I'm the King again!" 8th floor giggled.

What a surprise. She looked around all of you with a look that wouldn't mean anything good.

"Hmm, what could it be?" She tapped her lower lip with her finger a few times, thinking as if she had several options in her mind. Then, she smiled widely. "Balls 3 and 7 have to kiss. Deep kiss."

You turned your ball in your hand, the number 7 drawn on it with a black marker. You swallowed, nervous who the person with the ball 3 was, really, really hoping it wasn't 6th floor – anyone else than him.

"Oh! Like a French kiss?" 4th floor exclaimed, smiling and excited.

"I'm 3," 7th floor said.

"Who's 7?" the 4th floor asked, looking around her.

You hesitantly raised your hand, the white ball in your fist.

When your eyes met with 7th floor, your heart started instantly beating faster. His eyes widened behind those glasses which made him even more attractive than he already was. Neither of you moved at first, until he started walking towards you.

He stood now right in front of you, looking into your eyes.

"Are you okay with this?" he whispered, quiet and subtle enough that only you could hear him.

You would be able to refuse to do the dare assigned to you, but there would be a punishment for doing so – you would get stunned by a taser. 3rd floor had been the first to be stunned, and it had looked worse than what you had been prepared for.

"Yeah, it's okay," you whispered.

"Remember," 8th floor shouted. "A deep kiss, not just a peck." A wide and excited grin was spread on her face. She was having the time of her life handing her dares around to the rest of you like she owned the place.

7th floor took your face in his hands, for a few seconds looking into your eyes and shortly glancing at your lips, trying to see if you'd flinch away. After a moment, he pulled you into a kiss.

It was slow and soft at first, until he pushed his tongue between your teeth deeper into your mouth, exploring every corner. His face felt like it was shaped exactly to fit into yours, noses nestled against each other.

For a moment everyone around you faded, and you forgot you weren't alone, having six people stare at you and god knows how many more through the dozens of cameras spread around the place.

7th floor moved his hands now on your waist, keeping you close and steady against him, your hands resting on his shoulders.

You hadn't kissed many guys before, and it had been a long time since anyone touched you in any way so him kissing you was bringing butterflies in your stomach more than you had been prepared to.

8th floor squeeled excitedly and started clapping.

"How exciting!" she giggled. "We got 26 hours, good job you two."

Your cheeks turned red when you saw everyone looking at you. 7th floor let go of you, not saying anything. Both of you glanced at the red numbers, the time now higher than before, and returned to your previous spots.

"Well, that was quite intense," 5th floor whispered when you had returned to her side.

"Shut up," you mumbled.

You glanced towards 7th floor who was looking at your way but turned away instantly when you made eye contact with him.

Had he liked the kiss? It had felt like he was into it but did he make the kiss that passionate just to be able to get as many hours as possible? Was he only acting or was the kiss genuine? It was just a dare among others, nothing else.

After couple of rounds, it was again 8th floor's turn to be the King. It couldn't be just pure luck that she was chosen over and over again, the game had to be rigged somehow. You hadn't had a turn to be the King even once, though you didn't know what kind of dare you'd even assign to people.

"Alright, now... i want ball 2 to touch ball 1 under the shirt," 8th floor smirked and bit her lip.

Your face was burning up, the number 1 drawn on the white plastic. God, how much you wanted to disappear right now and wished that 8th floor would get kicked off her throne at least once.

"So, who's got 1 and 2?" 8th floor grinned.

7th floor slowly lifted his hand in the air, not looking excited at all.

"And where do we have ball one, hm?" 8th floor repeated, scanning the group with her narrowed eyes.

You awkwardly lifted your hand as well. "Um, it's me."

7th floor turned his head towards you, his eyes wide and cheeks pink too.

"Ah, how interesting to pair you up again," 8th floor gasped, then biting her lip. "Now, don't be shy."

You sat on the swing, straightening your back and taking a deep breath. 7th floor arrived next to you, standing with his gaze on his feet and debating in his mind what to do. He had never been a groper and wouldn't be now either.

You were dying of the waiting. 7th floor was staying still next to you, not making any attempt of reaching his hand towards you. What was he thinking?

"I'll take the taser," he announced after a long silence.

Your eyes widened as you turned your face towards him. He was avoiding eye contact with you.

"It's no problem, really, just get it over with," you insisted, not wanting to hurt him with a damn taser. "You have my permission."

But 7th floor could see how nervous you were at the moment, leg bouncing and nail scratching a piece of skin off on your thumb.

"I'm not that kind of guy," he stated, now having a direct eye contact with you, a kind look in them which made your heart skip a beat.

You appreciated him for being a gentleman but still you couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had seemed to be into kissing you just a moment before, was he now regretting it and not be into you after all? No, it had been only a dare, he wasn't actually into you.

Stop overthinking, you thought.

He took his place above the slide, staying on his knees in front of you. You were holding the taser in your shaking hand.

"I don't want to hurt you," you said quietly.

"It won't do any permanent damage," he promised. "It's alright."

You took a deep breath, never having done this before to anyone. This was the first time you even held a taser in your hand.

Okay, just get it over with, it'll be fast.

"Come on, what's taking so long?" 6th floor groaned, getting frustrated of the waiting.

You quickly pressed the taser on 7th floor's neck before you'd hesitate any longer, sending a shock through his body and completely paralyzing him.

"Oh my god," you gasped in panic and hurried to his side, but of course he was unconscious.

You carried him back into his room with the help of 3rd floor to let him recover in peace, while 5th floor started mopping the slide and floor clean.

Tasing 7th floor had earned 34 hours for you. The audience loved violence.

☆☆☆

You returned to your room when it had gotten late and sat on the floor against the wall, pulling your legs against your chest.

You brought your finger up on your lips, imagining the kiss you had shared with 7th floor. It had made your heart flutter and want to kiss him longer, but having everyone stare at you made you a little anxious.

For him, surely it had been just a dare to earn more time, and that stung your heart. When it had been time for your second dare together, the expression on his face had looked disgusted – at least that was what you had figured out it to be. Uncomfortable, anxious, some negative emotion anyway.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door which scared the crap out of you. Everyone had already gone back to their rooms so you weren't prepared for any company. It would be midnight in about half an hour.

You got up and opened the door, finding 7th floor standing in front of you. His hands were clasped behind his back and gaze on the floor for a moment, until he lifted his face to look at you in the eyes.

"Um, hi?" you mumbled. He was alone, nobody else around him.

"May i come in?" he asked nervously.

"Why?"

"I'd like to talk to you about one thing privately," he explained.

"You should go back to your room, it's midnight soon," you said, wanting to get him out of your sight right now. You were too embarrassed of the things that happened and didn't happen between the two of you during the dares earlier that you wouldn't know what to say to him.

"It won't take long," he assured you.

You let out a sigh and opened the door a little wider, letting him come inside and closing the door after him.

Neither of you spoke for what felt like forever but what was probably not more than a minute.

"I just wanted to talk about what happened earlier," he said.

"It was just a dare, what's there to talk about?" you asked but felt your voice trembling a little. You really didn't want to go back to the moment of him rejecting you.

He looked a little awkward and nervous, not sure how to form his words correctly. He took a step closer to you, and you had an automatic urge to take a step back in sync but stayed on your spot.

"I hope i didn't make you too uncomfortable. During the dare." There was a sincere worry in his voice.

"It's alright. You didn't even do the second dare anyway." You shrugged, trying to act all nonchalant, but he seemed to be able to see right through you.

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I didn't do it because it felt disrespectful, being in front of everyone," he explained.

So, if we had been alone, you would have done it, you thought but didn't dare to say it outloud.

"I see," you mumbled, getting this warm and giddy feeling inside your stomach. "Well, i felt bad that you had to get tased."

"I'd rather take a little shock than put you on the spot like that," he admitted.

"Well, i do appreciate that," you said, a little smile rising on your lips. He'd rather get hurt than get too touchy with you in front of everyone, purely respecting your boundaries.

"And, uh," he continued. "I apologize if the first dare made you uncomfortable at all."

"It didn't," you said, though a little too fast. "I mean, it got us 26 hours, right?"

That was larger amount than what you had expected for one kiss, the audience must have enjoyed it as much as you did.

"Yeah, right," he mumbled. "But, um. Was it good?"

"What?"

"Was the kiss good?" he repeated.

"Oh, uh, yeah of course," you stuttered. "It was good."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, letting himself smile a little too.

"Was that all you came to ask me?" you asked. "Wanted me to give you a review of the kiss, hm?"

"Not entirely," he replied, seeming a little nervous the way he was avoiding eye contact with you at first. "I was thinking if i could, perhaps, do it again? Now without everyone else staring at us."

"You want to... kiss me again?"

"We don't have to," he hurried to say. "Don't feel pressured. I just, i liked it and... i'd like to do it now that it's just the two of us."

"Technically, we're not alone now either, since we're being filmed," you reminded him, pointing at the several cameras in the room.

"Cameras are easier to ignore," he said, stepping now right in front of you and looking into your eyes. "If you want me to back off, just tell me and i'll leave. We can pretend that this never happened."

You wanted to kiss him so badly. You wanted him to touch you, to do things to you which you would want nobody else to witness but you didn't dare to make the first move. You glanced at his lips, nervous if he was actually serious. 7th floor didn't seem like the type of man who would joke about something like this.

He carefully lifted his hand to cup your cheek, the contact of his skin on yours sending sparks through your face.

"May i?" he whispered.

You swallowed and nodded, giving him a permission to lean in and press his lips on yours, taking you into a sweet and gentle kiss. You moved your hands to the back of his neck, his hands finding their way on your waist to pull you closer to him.

The first kiss you shared during the dare had been amazing, you had loved every second of it, but it had felt like both of you were holding back a little because of everyone else's stare at you. Now that you were alone, you felt so much more free to do whatever you wanted.

The kiss was gentle and careful, like he was unsure how much pressure was okay to put on your body.

He pulled away sooner than you would have wanted, though not letting go off your waist.

"How was that?" he asked, brushing a strand of your hair behind your ear.

"A little too short," you said quietly, not sure what words would make him kiss you again.

He glanced at your lips again, pressing his lips back on yours harder than previously. The kiss was now deeper, his tongue finding its way to explore your mouth.

He slightly lifted the hem of your shirt and put his hand on your bare skin, slowly sliding it up among your back. The contact on your skin made you gasp and sent goosebumps all over your back.

He pulled his head away again, afraid what would be the point of crossing the line.

"I'm-"

"You want to do the second dare now?" you asked, lifting your eyebrow and feeling now braver than before. His cheeks turned slightly pink. You found it adorable how careful and hesitant he was being with you.

"I wouldn't want to cross the line and make you uncomfortable," he replied nervously and swallowed.

You grabbed his hand and pressed it back on your waist.

"It's okay, i... i don't mind," you let him know and pulled a comforting smile on your lips.

You turned around so that your back was against his chest. His hand was resting against your stomach until he slowly grabbed the hem of your shirt and put his hand under your shirt, resting it on your bare stomach. You flinched of his cold touch, and he was about to pull his hand away, but you gently grabbed his wrist.

"Your hand is just a little cold," you mumbled, stretching your neck to look into his eyes which were starting to be filled with lust.

He pressed his lips on the side of your neck, making you tilt your head towars your right shoulder to give him a better access to pepper kisses on your skin as he continued bringing his hand up your stomach until he reached your bra, stopping right under your breasts. A sigh escaped your lips when he started sucking on your skin a little harder, gripping your left hip with his other hand.

He hesitantly rested his hand on your left breast, brushing his thumb against the fabric of your bra.

7th floor eventually pulled his face away but kept his hand on your breast. You turned your head to look at him over your shoulder.

"Was that alright?" he asked, moving his hand to rest against your heart, arm still under your shirt.

"More than alright," you admitted.

"Your heart is beating really fast," he commented, furrowing his eyebrows and sounding worried. "Do i make you nervous? Did i go too far?"

"No, no," you hurried to say. "I mean, a little nervous, but in a good way. I, i liked it." You swallowed the lump in your throat.

He took his hand out of your shirt, letting go off you.

"I think we should sleep, it's late," he said.

He noticed how your face fell and disappointment covering your face.

"We can continue this tomorrow if... if you want to," he hurried to say.

"Yeah?" A smile rose on your lips. "Good night, 7th floor."

"Good night, 2nd floor."

Before he could leave, you pressed one more kiss on his cheek, making him smile a little too.

With that, he returned to his room, four floors separating you.

☆☆☆

"Guys, how did we gain 40 hours more overnight?" 4th floor asked next morning, the others around you confused too.

You glanced at 7th floor who was already looking at you. A small smile crept on his face as he looked at his feet.

[obamas-eyebrow]

05/The Pawn.

7th floor x female reader (the 8 show)

Masterlist

WC:7.5K. specific chapter warnings: Violence starvation etc, etc (it's that evil episode)

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

His eyes slowly opened to some lazy strumming and a pounding headache. Judging be the things hanging from the ceiling, he was not in his room. The source of the irritating sound was a tall, blurry man sat in front of him on a chair. With all the energy he could muster up, he pushed himself to sit as he tried to recall how he got here. A moving figure in the far corner of the room, 8th floor he’d assume, sat in that obnoxious bathtub, grooming herself. 

“What happened?” He groaned.

“Isn’t it obvious? You got caught.” 6th replied. 

Oh yes, the king’s game. 

What a mess. He shut his eyes and sighed, breathing it all in. 

He tried to think of a thousand different reasons they’d keep him here, why they had held him…hostage? He wasn’t actually sure of anything at the moment. A hand from his right pressed something into his temple, and he winced as the burn set in. He glanced over to the final team member, 4th floor.

“I know you helped them to be on equal footing with us, but that’s boring. No one would watch,” He continued plucking at the strings.  “It needs to pack a punch.”

“You know how the system here is. It’s designed to keep the higher floors in charge of the lower floors, so why would you go and side with them and mess that up,” He stated plainly “What are you? Some kind of limousine liberal?” 

The only thing he could do was stare at the bruised man’s face, an attempt to read where he was going with this. 

“We’re gonna make them a lot of money, they’ll thank us in the end.”

8th floor had put together a compilation of games, regular games, but with higher stakes and harsh penalties. 6th floor was in charge of said stakes and penalties; most games involving him directly hurting the participants. He was also the one to come up with the winner’s ‘reward’, hurting others. A layer of psychological torment to go hand in hand with the physicals of it all. They also had a plan of stripping the others of all purchasing power, breaking the phone in all the rooms and locking the main one in the square. When both of them were done explaining their twisted desires, they looked at him, as if waiting for him to speak. To find a flaw in their plan perhaps. To be fair, had there been one, he would’ve probably let it slip, giving the other floors the chance of an out. But there wasn’t, he knew 8th floor was not an easy mind to look past, plus she spent a full 3 days thinking this up. There was nothing he could do. From this position, the bad side, he could at least try to figure out a way to ruin the plan from the inside. If he chooses to play the hero now, he’d be worthless. That was the main reason he was getting on board with this, anyway. Maybe the smaller, more selfish part of him, saw this as a them or me, and he really wasn’t someone who could take that kind of pain. He thought of you, eyes fixed on the fuzzy carpet, he thought of how you’d take this. You two were just starting to get comfortable, partly his fault, and now you’ll likely never want to speak to him again. 

He should’ve kissed you when he still had that chance. 

He gave them a short nod, eyes unable to meet theirs. 

“You need to contribute, too.” 8th hummed.

“What?” he breathed out.

“You need to come up with something we could add to make it worse, call it a guarantee. That way; your hands are just as bloody as ours.” She clarified. 

The realisation of what she was asking dawned on him.

 Bloody. What a vile word. 

He spent the better part of the afternoon trying to come up with a weak addition, something that could be used as an out and at the same time seem cruel enough. But of course, 8th floor always saw right through him, pointing out the stupidity of his suggestions over and over again. He’d never felt so helpless, so defeated. Bested at his own battle of wits. He should’ve been harsher, lied at the vote count, turned the other eye with 4th, but he knows deep down it would’ve only delayed the inevitable. 

6th floor left to execute phase one of the plan, the chute phone situation, leaving him and the other 2 women alone in the room. 8th eyed him, almost seductively. 

“I like you 7th,” she leaned down infront of him, dropping her head to meet him eye to eye. She batted her eyes a few times at him, unsatisfied with his lack of reply. 

“You and 5th…” She gave him a sympathetic look, had he not known better, he’d think she meant it. “What would she think, seeing you on our side.” 

It was at that he realised, this was a punishment for him, too. 

. . .

Worry had taken up the better part of your day, as you sat on the swingset facing the doors, hoping for any sign of him. A few hours earlier; 6th floor had made his way to the main chute when no one was paying attention and locked the phone there in a cage. He also bought himself a baseball bat and used it to batter your personal phones. So that’s where you knew him from. You were now entirely helpless, unable to buy anything to defend yourselves from whatever was to come. But your mind only stayed on 7th. Why the hell were they keeping him there, what were they doing to him? You recalled the way a little of his blood dripped down his face and hoped he didn’t see that for himself. That’s all you had, just hope. Time kept going up but you were none the wiser as to why. The mystery of it all was eating away at you. No food was delivered to quench your hunger. So you sat, and waited. 

The other floors filtered back down, joining you around the swingset. You discussed theories as to what could be happening, arriving at absolutely nothing. 

“I just feel bad for 7th, he was making sure we all do well. What the hell could they want with an unconscious man” you sighed.

“Maybe to get him on their side, with the chute and all, it would be difficult with him in the middle.” 1st suggested, and that actually made alot of sense. 

“If that’s the case, that’s awful. He was the smartest of us” 3rd groveled, you gave him a look.

“Hey! I’m pretty smart.” 2nd replied and you shot her a smile. 

It was almost 8pm now, around six hours since you last saw him. You were beginning to lose patience and considered calling it in for the night, when the door to 8th floor opened and they all came out. 

Something was wrong though, 6th had his arm around 7th, a little too friendly for two people who really weren’t that close. It filled you with unease. 

“7th floor, are you feeling ok?” 3rd stuttered.

“I’m going to announce how things will be from now on.” He kept his eyes straight, avoiding everyone’s questioning gazes. “We currently have 160 hours left. From now until the agreed upon end date, you will have to earn time, just as before, your goal will be 24 hours each day.”

“What do you mean your goal” you had your eyes fixed on him, looking for anything in his face to indicate- well…anything. He kept his expression rigidly neutral, no remorse, no shame, nothing. His lip was swollen from the excitement from earlier and you wanted nothing more than to kiss it better, but the current circumstances clearly would not allow something like that. “Aren’t we supposed to be doing this together?” Your voice shook a little. 8th giggled at that, hair put up in a nice ponytail to match her new outfit. 

“Are you making us earn time while you guys weasel out?” 2nd challenge. 

3rd tried to defend 7th in face of 2nd’s accusations but 7th was not denying anything, in fact, he went on to say;

“You can refuse if you want to, but meals won’t be provided”

“We’ll die, the show will end!” 3rd pleaded.

“No, we will not let you starve.”

That simple, to him, it was all that simple. It bothered you, how he could play both sides with no repercussions, marching around like he owns the place. 

They moved through your little group to get to the chute and begin the fun. It hadn’t all set in yet, this whole predicament, you kept your eyes on him hoping that maybe, he’ll slip up. 

7th called 3rd up to have the pick of the first game, hide and seek. But we had to pick a body part for some reason and you stupidly picked legs, though most of you were at a disadvantage here; 1st needing his hands for balance, 2nd being unable to see and you unable to walk. It was already clear who the winner will be. You tried to give it your best as they counted down to when they’ll seek, hopping as far as you can. You though maybe if you could just get to the stairwell. But alas, all too late. 6th had already begun seeking and determination was replace with dread, fear. He was not using his bat, but an object that clearly went with the rest of the kit they divided. It had sharp metal on the end and you shuddered, frozen in your spot as you witnessed him catch 1st floor. He found you next, but you’d given up on hiding a while ago, choosing to save whatevers left of your dignity. He approached you with a huge smile on his face, 8th trailing closely behind but her eyes were looking for other victims. 

“Go on, run.” He laughed. You said nothing. His favorite target was still roaming around and he’d clearly prefer to have his fun with 2nd rather than you. So with a roll of his eyes he swung the thing across your face, leaving blood in it’s wake, then twice more for good measure, knocking you down. He turned towards 2nd and embarked on what will probably be his favorite part of the night, leaving you where you were, some blood on your cheek. With her though, he was relentless, abandoning the tool in favor of his own fists with no intention of stopping. Had it not been for 7th pulling him off of her, you would guess he would’ve went all the way. What a knight in shining armour. 

Your head was wrapped tightly with some tape, compressing bruises and cuts on various areas of your face and only allowing very little area to breathe. 3rd mumbled apologies through the gag, you wished he’d just get it over with. This was the ultimate reward; less pain. And so he spun, 10 spins, and then swung. You braced for impact that never came, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who it was, considering 1st was on your right. 

“Breathe! Breathe! He can’t breathe!” You panicked a little at 3rd’s voice next to you, hands struggling with the tape on your face after 4th undid your hands. You rushed over to 1st’s aid, getting the remaining tape off him and checking his pupils using a ray of light from the ceiling. He was fine, a little shaken up from the blow but only surface injuries. You were still at 1st’s sides when 7th spoke up again. 

“26 hours from the first game is very impressive. You get one coin for every 3 hours, but as a token of gratitude, we will reward you with 9 coins. Now, please write the number of coins you want to receive on paper, if the total exceeds 9, then we will take all the coins back.”

You turned your head slowly to him. Realisation slowly dawning on you. 

“So if the number is more than nine, we leave empty handed?” 1st stuttered, clutching his head.

“Yes, and you are forbidden from discussing this.”

The others turned to look at eachother, perhaps in an attempt to signal a plan. 

“He’s pretty smart isn’t he?” 6th plopped down next to a smiley 8th.

That’s what hit the nail on its head.

Up until this very moment, you held your breath and gave him the benefit of the doubt. You believed that they must’ve had him under some sort of awful threat, leaving him no choice but to do this. But the money thing? Group punishment and individual reward is something none of those airheads could put together. What kind of captors allow their hostages a hand in the fun? 

He came up with this. 

“This is you…” you kept your eyes trained on him as you rose slowly, several pairs of eyes watching you with curiosity, and one of them in heavy amusement. 

“You traitor, this is you!” His gaze only found yours for a split second, but he intentionally kept it empty and unassuming, fixing his eyes back onto the distance. You made your way to him in pure unfiltered anger. 

“None of those morons could come up with this you motherf-” you were at the bottom of the stairs, only a step or two away from him when 6th put the bat at your throat, forcing you to stop. 

“That’s no way to speak to your superior.” he gave a very hardened expression. 

“My superior? Oh get your head outta your a-” 

“Watch it.” He pushed you back to place himself between you and 7th floor, was he actually protecting him?

“I’m not afraid of you.” You scoffed at 6th, eyes boring into his. 

He didn’t take you seriously, instead, he laughed. And without turning back he said;

“I can see why you like her 7th, such an entertaining thing she is.” He moved his hand to cup your cheek and you immediately swatted it away, angering him, landing you a rough kick back into the pool. You hit your head in whiplash pretty hard as you watched him sauter away back to 8th. 

And dear old 7th floor? Still had his body unmoved from his position, not even sparing you a look of sympathy.

You sat in your room later that night, feeling so empty and played as you waited for the delivery of 1 meal and 1 water. Not enough calories for the effort you’re giving, that’s for sure. Tears that had collected at the corner of your eye were now flowing freely down your face. 

How could you be so, so stupid. So blind. Was this the man that 2nd floor saw? No, even she had began liking him. Had he been living a lie with you that whole time? Keeping himself busy until he moved on to the next interesting thing? Were any of the moments you two shared sincere? Was it all just games within games? 

The croak of the chute cut your train of thought off, opening to show 3 meals and 4 water bottles. You had wondered how they’d deliver each individual meal, seeing as taking them room to room was impossible. This sucked though. You’re going to have to consciously make the decision of taking a meal and a water knowing that 3rd, who used his brain a tad bit more than needed, will have to actively make the decision of just grabbing a water. You hesitated, he did just have the best interest of the group in mind, hurting only himself in the process. Leaving him your meal would be kind. But on the other hand, your stomach was growling, head pounding from the beatings you took earlier. 3rd had won, making the tally of times he got hit today a whopping zero. But its not like you mean to sound like you’re punishing him for winning…Maybe you’re overthinking this. 

“Hurry up!” 4th floor pounded on your door, leading you to just take the decision of taking your share and moving on. You gave a quick look-over the meals, two chicken, one shrimp. Was that for you? You grabbed it anyway, deciding to mull it over when 4th was gone. 

Logically, it would more likely be just a coincidence. But what if he purposefully. 

What the hell are you smoking. This is not him, the beef probably just looked better today. Plus, even it it were him, what difference does it make? He’s still a lying piece of crap and a meal won’t fix that. 

Plus you’re done thinking so highly of him. 7th floor. You should have guessed. 

. . .

He couldn’t get any sleep, clothes folded neatly at the bedside as he lied uder the cover. The higher rooms are warmer than the lower ones, that’s why he is able to sleep like this so comfortably, the blanket helps too. His mind wouldn’t quieten as guilt and shame weighed heavy on his heart. He knew, in no way was he a victim here. In fact, he could’ve joined you, stood at your side while you tried to figure a way out, together.

But he didn’t. 

Because he’s a coward.

 He had taken very little risks up until this moment and, old habits die hard. The one real risk he’s ever taken was backed by his parents’ exorbitant amount of money, protecting him from any actual harm. There’s a reason why everything in his room was straightened out. A reason why his uniform seemed more pristine than everyone else’s, even if he was the only one to notice. He reveled in routine, continuity. He wasn’t the type of man to venture out to try new things. As pathetic as it sounds, you were the break from his ordinary. Bursting in with spontaneity and unpredictableness. Even if he was just referring to your constant boredom with his favourite games. You’d even unknowingly got him to start drawing again, even if it was primitive sketches. But he had no right. No right at all to be missing you in this moment, when he put a wall between you with his own two hands. And he doubts you’re missing him right now. Actually you’ve probably cussed out his entire bloodline, 3rd too. He had tried to apologise, in his own way, by hiding that meal so that he could send it to you. Now that he says it back to himself, he just feels stupid, pathetic actually. He tries to remind himself that, at the end of the day, you’re all here for money, and you’re not leaving empty handed so maybe you could look past this?

How selfish. How selfish of him to anticipate your forgiveness when he couldn’t even spare you a glance of sympathy, the mouthing of I’m sorry. Truth is, he felt if he’d met your eyes for too long his composure might break. And…And nothing, it would’ve definitely been entertaining for the upper floors, the audience too. But he didn’t want to appear like that, that’s the best reasoning he could rationalise to himself. He tried to even his breathing, willing himself into dreams where you still sat by him at the chess set, making up moves as you go. 

The following day’s draw had you playing 20 questions. He sat on the playset by 6th floor, encouraging 8th to start. His eyes naturally went to you, as he’d been accustomed to for the past month or so. You had your head held down in defeat, tilted slightly to the side of your hurt cheek. It was swollen, so was the area around your eyes. You’d been crying, he felt dizzy. Today, you had chosen not to look for his eyes it seems, and he wasn’t sure if he should be happy or upset. On one hand, he wouldn’t have to run away from your looks anymore, granting him relief from last night. But on the other, knowing you, it meant that you’d given up on him, accepted him for what he is; a traitor, in every sense of the word. 

2nd guessed the answer to the supid game, crowning her as executioner. It hit 3rd, and again, you rushed to his aid as soon as your restraints were undone. 4th had learned to untie you first, seeing as you were the most useful, at least that’s what he would assume anyway. 3rd had passed out, maybe because 2nd was the one swinging, and he watched from his spot as you all carried the unconscious man up to his room. 

. . .

You were stuck in this cycle for almost a week, stupid games with sick twists and then spinning. So much spinning. 

You screamed a little when the bat collided with the side of your head, a string of apologies spilling from 1st floor’s mouth as you tried to avoid inhaling your own blood. It was scary, terrifying even, the feeling of suffocation with no ability to save yourself. He rushed to take the constraints off your face, allowing you reprieve. You wheezed and coughed up some of the blood that managed to slip into your larynx, drops of it contrasting the white of your pants. You grabbed your chest in desperation, hoping your body will regulate things soon. 

You put down the same number of coins you always do, but someone had other plans, you were now one above the limit, meaning…

“You get no coins today, if you have any coins left, you could use them. But if you don’t. I guess you’ll have a slightly tougher day.” He stated as if it were so manageable. 

“A slightly tougher day?” You challenged. 

Easy for him to say, he’s been stuffing his mouth and keeping his thirst quenched, sleeping soundly in no fear of what’s to come the next morning. You’d grown to become repulsed by him. Every word, every look, every move he made had you gagging. A slightly tougher day, this was not salt in an open wound, this was hot sauce. He was enjoying this, or else he would’ve kept his revolting mouth shut and took orders like a good boy. 

“You can all return to your rooms now.” He half ordered. 

But no one moved.

“Cmon, off you go,” 6th swung his bat around, making a point to try and intimidate you. 

But still, no one moved. 

“They can’t do anything if we hold here, no one go anywhere,” There was a little bit of venom in 1st’s words.

“Come to think of it, you’ve all been working hard this last week with no break, you’re bound to get angry. So, as a token of gratitude, the first person to return to their room will get one coin.” 7th floor offered.

“I’ll do you one better,” you mocked him. “Shove it up your ass.” At that he sighed, turning his head away from the group. 

“All ten coins, one minute to decide.” 6th ran up to 7th floor’s side with a better bargain. 

You were not weak, not stupid, not hungry enough to fall for a ploy like this. You were also smart enough to know that this will be the most united you’ve ever been without prior planning. Just pure, unadulterated hatred. But you chose to have some foresight this time around. If you hold here, keep the challenge, it would only end with that bloodied bat to each of your faces. Then what would’ve you gained? Making a statement? 

You all possessed no power nor capacity to fight back. So you thought of something else and hoped the other floors will forgive you for the coming next few hours. Walking up to 6th’s hand was worse than any punishment you had that week. Admitting debility, feigning submission as someone who would’ve been the first to revolt was torture, so you hoped it would work out the way you wanted it to at the end.

Knock, Knock, Knock. You knew she’d be the hardest to convince, so you left her for last. No answer. You shouldn’t’ve indicated that it was you. 

Knock, Knock, Knock. 

“2nd, please open up” you whispered at her door. “I know you’re pissed, just please come out.”

You were actualy surprised to hear some shuffling. And then the door creaked open just a little bit, enough for her to bosk you way in.

“What do you want?” She looked at you with disinterest ad some anger. “Did you not already stuff your mouth and-”

“Do you trust me?”

She hesitated. Good, that means theres still a little bit in there. 

“Come with me, I’ll show you what I did with the coins.” Ok that sounded like you bought a weapon or something, which is obviously impossibe since 4th is in charge of purchases. 

You opened up the door to your room to reveal 1st and 3rd sat comfortably on the floor, infront of them; five plates of food and 4 water bottles. They had already began nibbling at the feast. 2nd wasted no time in finding an empty spot to cozy up in. You sat opposite to her, observing her ear to ear smile. 

The food was gobbled up in all of 5 minutes, the shared extra meal really going its work of making everyone just a tad bit less starving. After it was done, you all leaned back a little, soaking up this one happy moment in the middle of darkness. They’d have to be gone soon, the longer they stay here the higher the risk is of getting caught. You thought of just sending the meals to everyone to consume on their own, but 4th being in the way made that impossible. 

“You know where I think I know 6th from?” you broke the silence. “My dad used to watch baseball all the time, I think he used to be like a star player. But they kicked him off, don’t remember why.”

“Explains the bat.” 3rd smiled to himself, though he knew this was no funny matter.

“I think I know 8th floor from somewhere too,” 2nd added. “An art gallery, I think she was the artist. It was very controversial at the time, her pieces, so the gallery was free. But I may be getting her mixed up with someone else, it was a while ago anyway.”

“So they all get a second chance at this money thing while we suffer to get a single shot?” 1st scoffed. 

“Who do you think 7th is then?” 3rd questioned. 

Apparently that was the line crossed, cause it led to everyone's lips seeling shut. Not in thought but something else. Betrayal, anger, hurt, 7th was, at the end of the day, an ally. Or so you thought anyway. 

“We need a revolution.” 1st stated plainly. That got you to sit back up. 

“Did you have something in mind?” The look on his face told you he in fact did.

“On my signal, you guys ride down in the chute to my room the following morning. I’ll cause a commotion to get them to my room. Then we ambush them.” 

“All together against 6th, yeah that could work” 2nd excitedly whispered. 

“What would the signal be?” 3rd added.

“Hmm how about, I ask for something for stomach pain after a game. Then we carry the plan out the next day. But we have to wait till they bore of us, so that they won’t expect it.”

They all nodded to eachother enthusiastically. 

“But…I can’t ride down to you.” you realised. “Never mind, I could attack him from the back or something.”

It was a plan, and what a burst of excitement that night was. You went to sleep with a semi full belly and hope for change. 

. . .

He descended the stairs at the usual meet up time the next morning, finding 3rd and 1st also making their way down. 8th and 6th had been doing things that were best kept private but thankfully stopped, so that the day could go on. 4th joined a few minutes later. So here they were, him and 4th by the main chute, 8th on the merry go round and 6th swinging his bat lazily. 3rd and 1st sat at the pool, waiting for their female counterparts. There was a slight skip to their step that morning, he wondered if anyone else noticed. A few more minutes passed and 2nd sautered towards the group, seems like everyone was in a good mood today. There was a noticeable lack of you though, seeing as you usually stroll in with 2nd. 

“Where’s 5th” he asked.

“She will not be playing today.” 2nd smiled a little and moved to join the others, but 6th stopped her from where he was.

“How come?” 6th question as he moved closer to 2nd slowly. She turned her body to him slightly and shrugged. 

“4th.” 6th stared 2nd down. “What did 5th buy with her coins yesterday?”

“Meals and water.” She answered obediently.

“How many?”

“5 meals and-”

He didn’t let her finish her sentence before he was already storming towards the stairs, grip on the bat turning his knuckles white. 7th understood what you’d done as well, that’s why the others seem to be a little more cheerful. He was frozen in fear, hoping that maybe you bought them for yourself and still have the leftovers in your room. But he knew how unlikely that was. 6th banged on your door harshly, snapping him out of his thoughts. He ought to do something, what the hell can he do? He looked to your partners in crime, perhaps to help 2nd find an out for you, but all of them had horrified expressions fixed onto the sight about to unfold. He couldn't see from here, only listen.

A door opening, a small yelp, some conversation, something hitting a hard surface and a scream. A moment of silence, before 6 yelled again.

He watched as you ran out onto the steps, rushing down for your life. 6th emerged shortly behind you, face red and bat swinging with as much force as he could, but missing time and time again. You made it all the way to where they were, eyes frantically searching for shelter, there were none. He had his hands clasped behind his back, otherwise they’d shake and tremble uncontrollably. His jaw was clenched, teeth grinding onto each other harshly. 6th was hot on your tail, he swung, it missed, and you took the opportunity to run towards the merry-go-round. He chased you around it, over the seesaw and as you ran for the stands. Hopeless, you threw whatever objects you came across at him. There was no use in yelling for help, in begging or asking for forgiveness, and you all knew that. You made it back towards the circle of people again, this time when he swung and missed, it kicked him off his balance and he toppled on top of you, knocking you into the pool. You grunted as your back collided with the harsh floor, the air knocked out of your lungs. He watched as 6th got up from his spot to get the bat back, you tried to desperately crawl away but the fear had gotten the best of you, weakening your legs. 6th panted as he stood over you, swinging the bat down hitting you square in the abdomen, earning a sharp scream from you. He then reached down and grabbed you by the hair, tilting your face to look at the helpless audience. He then laughed, hard, and tossed the bat next to you as he got on top of you. 

You clawed at his hand desperately, which had grabbed your jaw to hold your head still. 

“Go ahead,” 6 chuckled, a crazed look in his eyes. “Beg,”

“Kiss my ass,” you spat at him without a second thought.

6th swung a heavy fist onto your face, colliding with your cheek.

You sputtered out a wave of fresh blood, your eyes had become unfocused.

No good deed goes unpunished.

“Wanna try again?” 6th said through gritted teeth, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you right here, huh? Since you wanna play hero so bad,” he lifted your head momentarily to slam it back down.

You couldn’t even cry out loud anymore, choking occasionally on the bubbling blood.

“THE GAME,” He then punched again, hitting your eye. You groaned loudly and continued, “The game would end,”

7th felt a pang of fear, what if your reason wasn’t enough? What if he truly intended on taking your life in the most brutal way imaginable. 8th was on the edge of her seat, 4th holding a shaking with anger 2nd back.

“Don’t kill her,” 8th said with a smile, prancing forward as if this was entertaining- as if it was all some kind of game for her. She put a delicate hand on 6th, rubbing his shoulder in a motherly fashion. She leaned into his ear to whisper, “Just make an example out of her,”

He clenched his jaw tightly, looking around to the horrified group. She was right, by keeping you within an inch of your life, he’d be keeping their fear at just that- fear. 

6th nodded, eyes flickering at your constricted eyes, that struggled to focus on anything. With a firm hand, he pushed 8th back gently. Then, his fist contacted your skull, then your jaw, and you were completely silent- at his mercy. He became addicted, hitting again, and again and again. Your face was almost unrecognisable, blood flowing for your nose down your busted lip. There was a gash on your jaw that looked like it needed stitches. 

7th could only watch helplessly. This scene would haunt his nightmares for years to come, and part of him wished it was him instead beneath 6th’s arm. Though in this scenario, he knew deep down you would’ve rushed to try to help.

His feet kept him planted right where he was. 6th slowly got up off you, a victorious laugh echoing through the room. Your yelps of pain had stopped a few punches ago and as he finally got a good view of you, the world stood still. He fixed his eyes onto your torso, counting laboured breaths. Whether you were knocked out or defeated he couldn’t tell. But 6th wasn’t done, he reached for the bat, and swung at your stomach, causing you to curl in on yourself, a hand coming up to block his next hit, which landed on your upper arm. He then moved onto a kick, a process he repeated a few more times before one last satisfactory blow to your head with the bat. He didn’t have to be a doctor to know 6th had just knocked you completely out of consciousness, likely for a while too.

“5th?” 2nd hesitantly stepped towards you but was stopped by 6th’s bat. 

“Did you fill your bellies last night? Huh? Had fun?” his voice got progressively louder, pushing the girl back. “Ate like kings…” he spewed out, clicking his jaw. “HUH?” His loud voice echoed through the walls.

“If any of you EVER, think of pulling a stunt like that again.” He pointed from group member to group member, “You’ll meet a worse fate. Consider this a warning.” He pulled his weapon back, stepping back and casting one final smirk at your pathetic body, then marching over to a very turned on 8th floor. She giggled when he settled next to her. 

Even 4th floor had her eyes on you, scared and unmoving, mouth covered with her shaking hands.

The lower floors rushed towards you, even 1st moved faster than he ever has. 2nd was by your head, trying to clear your airways while 3rd listened to her instructions.

He couldn’t hear anything, he couldn’t hear the insults 2nd hurled at him, the panicking comments of 3, or even the celebrations from 6 and 8. There was a loud ringing in his ear, it was deafening, the only thing louder than the buzz were your soft moans of ache, desperate for any form of relief, even in your slumber. How painful is it that you can’t help but weep even when you can’t feel it? 

You were carried up by 2nd and 3rd, 1st following closely behind. They all stayed inside the room 

He sat down on the edge of the pool, gagging slightly at the sight of the blood, dropping his head into his hands. 4th floor sat next to him, hands on her knees, eyes fixated on the mess.

“Your idea was amazing 7th,” 8th said in a chirpy voice, “The coin system was a perfect plan, I mean look at the time! 100 hours from just that!”

“It wasn’t the coin system, it was 6th floor,” he tried to convince mainly himself.

“But if it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have pulled this stunt anyways. You’re a genius 7th!” 

He stared blankly at the floor, only flinching when 6th patted his shoulder. 8th and 6th disappeared upstairs to her room, likely to celebrate the events that just transpired privately.

This was far worse than when it happened to 2nd, because you were outmatched from the beginning. Sure, you were more agile, more skilled and definitely smarter, but you should’ve thought of this. You shouldn’t have opened the door. Perhaps he could’ve disarmed th6, stolen his taser and beat the man bloody and bruised. But he couldn’t, because he was a coward. He was not a soldier, not a fighter, not even a survivor, he couldn't have heldhis own. But then again, neither could you, yet you still fought, in your own way at least. 

Bloody. Your face was so bloody. He wasn’t sure if he was remembering it worse because of his aversion to blood or because it was you. Either way, you must be in a lot of pain right now. Maybe it was the fact that you were specifically targeted, helpless and pleading, that had bile stuck at the back of his throat till now. He’d seen you get beat up in the games before but this…was different. Every time he’d walk past your room, he’d pause to listen. There were times where you were quiet and he feared you’d died, other times where your quiet sobs pierced the chill air. He couldn’t decide which was worse to hear. He felt awful, what could he do for you now? Nothing, he knew that much. He considered trying to send something down to you to ease the pain but 6th was in 8th’s room at the moment, not that he could explain that to him anyway. So here he was. Mere hours later. Standing at your door pathetically empty handed. Tears in his eyes, as if they meant anything. These were tears of guilt. Shame. He knew, logically, the chance of you opening your door was slim to none, especially if you knew it was him. You’re probably passed out from pain right now and he’d be intruding on your moment of relief. He was being selfish, again. But he couldn’t help himself when it came to you. So he did the only thing he knew would get you to open up. 

Knock, knock, knock. Three short knocks. And sure enough, you stumbled to the door and unlocked it, not bothering to check who it was before collapsing onto the floor again, leaving your back to him. You used your hands to support yourself against the ground. He shivered at the dried up blood around your room. How sad is it that the one person that could’ve helped you recover was yourself, and you were in no state to do so. His eyes lingered at the bandages, unused, but stained with blood. He saw the evidence of your crime in the corner, stacked neatly on top of each other. If he didn’t say anything soon, it would be weird. 

“I’m fine, 2nd, just a little tired. And thirsty.” You croaked, voice weak. There was a short sniffle at the end of your sentence. He felt his heart shatter. He hadn’t even considered that they didn’t send you food that day. If he could just get you up to his room…

“I mean it, I’m-” You turned slowly, clearly expecting someone else, caught off guard by who your eyes saw instead. Your breaths got louder, anger threatening to spill over. 

“Get out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Get. Out.”

“I’m sorry.” He repeated a bit louder.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you here?” Your voice shook, tears glimmering slightly under the low lighting. 

“I…don’t know.”

“You come to finish me off?” 

“You know I would never-”

“I don’t know anything actually. Get lost.”

He took a step forward, only stopped by your tossing of an empty box at him. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen 5th I-”

“What did they offer you?”

“Nothing I-”

“Went willingly?”

“No!”

His eyes met yours for the first time since forever, and not for a split second either, you two held each other's gaze. Teary eyes to teary eyes. Yours were pleading with him a little, to say the right thing, change my opinion of you, let me trust you again. He had nothing to offer, No sound explanation, no noble reason nor anticipatory foresight. He thought back to himself, why did he just show up. 

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Your expression turned blankly exhausted, coupled with a slight scoff.

“Well I’m swell, thank you for your concern.”

The silence that followed made him nervous. He opened his mouth and closed it multiple times, trying to wrack his brain to find a way to properly articulate his words.

“I want to sleep.” At his hesitation, you turned around to face the wall on the bed, giving him your back. He had nothing to say then, nothing to make it better. 

“I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

He didn’t respond, only dropped his head and walked out of the room. There was a heaviness in the air that threatened to suffocate him with every step away from your room. He didn’t deserve to be forgiven, or heard, or even acknowledged, he’d once again opted for safety not humanity. While you suffered with little meals and still had the ability to share, he ate comfortably with first pick in 8th’s room. 

. . .

The days went by in a blur as you limped daily to every new game. You didn’t have the facilities to check if something was broken, but if you had to guess. There was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm in the group, the only hope now being 1st’s plan. But after what happened, there was always the what if? What if it all went wrong and someone else met your fate once more? You lost the ability to speak, though there was nothing to say, you shuffled your feet from one game to the next, finding little to no energy to compete, put an effort in. You hadn’t been sleeping either, your mind too afraid to doze off lest you wake up back under 6th grip again. There was no talk of the revolution again, the excitement you starred in making the higher floors a little more on edge. 7th had attempted to speak to you again but it was futile, you wouldn’t even speak to 2nd. He now always watched you with sad eyes, remorse that you were not willing to accept from him. The days just seemed to drag on, but that was good, relatively, it meant that they were getting bored. 

“It’s that prick 7th floor that kept this game so brutal.” 2nd whispered

7th floor had signaled something to 3rd on the stairs that day, clearly showing him that he knows of the plan. How he got the information is truly beyond you, considering you’ve only ever discussed it once. 

“What do you think, 5th?” she looked down to your position on the steps.

“I think…we’ve got nothing more to lose”

The next day, 1st gave the signal, and you could feel your heart almost thumping out of your chest. Your injuries had gotten better, leaving only scars and bruises as a reminder, your side still hurt though, might be a fractured rib. 

You descended the steps a few paces before the higher floors, granted 6 overtook you relatively quick due to your slowed movements. 7 slowed to your pace, you paid him no mind though, desperately hoping the plan would work. Finally at 1st floor’s room,

Time stood still as a, once again victorious 6th marched over to his little girlfriend to grab the taser. You were by 7th’s side, your injury rendering you useless and a liability in a fight like that. Defeated once more, and now, you didn’t even want to think of the consequences about to be conjured up. 

“Hit him” 7th said from next to you, you turned to him in confusion. 

“Hit him!” he repeated, louder this time, meant for 2nd floor. The taser in 6th’s hand clicked but nothing came out, giving 2nd way to knock the man out. 

“My hand’s a lot better now, asshole.”

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 September 2017

Just one favourite this week: Ninjak #0 by Matt Kindt and Francis Portela (with MJ Kim, Khari Evans, Roberto de la Torre, Sija Hong, and Juan José Ryp). Published by Valiant.

Ninjak #0 provides a capstone to Matt Kindt’s run with the character, giving both an encapsulation of Ninjak’s history to date and one final mission to propel the series further into a more in-depth exploration into the Ninja Programme and legacy, before handing the character off to Christos Gage and Tomás Giorello for their new Ninja-K series.

I very much like how Kindt plays with time in this story. After firing an arrow on the first page in the present, the book’s pages are bisected by that arrow’s path, with the top telling of the events immediately leading up to that first page--illustrated by Francis Portela--and the bottom offering snippet’s of Ninjak’s history--illustrated by MJ Kim, Khari Evans, Roberto de la Torre, Sija Hong, and Juan José Ryp. (You can see an example above). It’s an interesting and effective way of delivering a lot of simultaneous information and narrative at once and I was particularly impressed by everyone involved.

As time on the top converges with the arrow, the structure reverts to a standard one timeframe narrative as it leads into a teaser for the new Ninja-K series from Gage and Giorello.

Like with the previous recent zero issue offerings for Bloodshot Reborn and Divinity, this serves as an excellent primer for people interested in the character and in jumping into the Valiant Universe.

Quick Bits:

All New Wolverine #24 wraps up the “Hive” arc guest-starring the Guardians of the Galaxy and Leonard Kirk’s tenure as artist on the series. This arc was fun, with Tom Taylor delivering some very nice and heartfelt interactions between Laura and Gabby, as well as continuing to present some strong characterization with Rocket and Groot.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #32 is a single issue story of Norman Osborn trying to reclaim his Green Goblin persona. It’s an interesting look into Osborn’s drive and potential, with some absolutely beautiful artwork form Greg Smallwood & Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Marvel

Birthright #26 provides a jumping on point as it begins a new story-arc. It’s fairly exposition heavy, but Joshua Williamson still makes it feel interesting, even to old readers since there’s a bit of a shift since the last issue. As always Andrei Bressan’s art is beautiful.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Deadpool #36 is a transitional issue from Deadpool working for “Stevil” Hydra Cap and the forthcoming Despicable Deadpool, closing out some old plot threads and sending off the remaining supporting characters, while setting up Wade’s new status quo of reluctantly working for Stryfe. As usual Gerry Duggan mixes in humour while ultimately making Deadpool a tragic figure. 

| Published by Marvel 

Doctor Strange & The Sorcerers Supreme #12 is a fitting send-off to a series that still feels gone to soon. From Javier Rodriguez to this issue’s Nathan Stockman, the series has been great artistically, and this issue’s sideways widescreen format is well appreciated. Robbie Thompson also brings it back full circle to how this excursion started in last year’s Doctor Strange Annual by closing on the “Not So” Ancient One’s journey.

| Published by Marvel

Grass Kings #7 is still an inscrutable beauty. Part crime drama, part mystery, part family drama, part treatise on loyalty and community in an extremely independent society, Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins have something special here. This issue adds another layer to the problems that they’ve been having with Cargill, while more explicitly breaking open the mystery of a potential serial killer and giving us some more details on what happened in Bruce’s past that led him to coming home to the Grass Kingdom.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Gwenpool, The Unbelievable #20 is going to mess with your head. In a good way.

| Published by Marvel

Hulk #10 brings Mariko Tamaki’s second story-arc to a conclusion. I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as I did the first, but there have still been some entertaining moments. The character interaction between Jen and Patsy being particularly strong. 

Also, like the previous issue, the art shift part way through detracts. Both artists, Julian Lopez and Francesco Gaston, are good, but their styles kind of clash. Lopez uses a thick line and somewhat realistic style similar to Jesus Saiz, whereas Gaston has a thinner line and a bit more angular, stylized character composition--much like Georges Duarte, who started this arc. 

| Published by Marvel

Kill or Be Killed #12 pushes Dylan further into darkness, even without his little demon friends whispering not-so-sweet nothings into his ears. As always, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are creating a compelling, nuanced story month in and month out. There’s also some good development in Dylan and Kira’s relationship, but, as per the original dissolution, I’m expecting the other shoe to drop sometime soon. 

| Published by Image

Mech Cadet Yu #2 brings Yu and his adopted Robo back to the Sky Academy, where he’s officially accepted as one of the cadets. The story beats are pretty standard coming of age, living through adversity by being a fish out of water, ruffling the feathers of the establishment-type thing, but Greg Pak never allows it to feel old. Yu and his Robo are just too likeable characters to not enjoy seeing their advancement and acceptance. It also helps that Takeshi Miyazawa’s artwork is wonderful. 

Despite not being published under one of their more all-ages imprints like Boom! Box or kaboom!, this series remains something that I think that kids would get a lot of enjoyment out of as well.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Old Man Logan #28 is a work of art. I don’t know who made a pact with the devil in order to consistently get this level of artwork out of Mike Deodato Jr., but whatever they did since at least the Jeff Lemire Thanos series, Deodato has been producing some of the most beautiful, thoughtful, and compelling work of his career. He’s been a great artist for more than twenty-five years in the industry, but his work lately has been absolutely next level. His shading, page layouts, character designs & staging, and panel transitions are practically a masterclass on the art form.

| Published by Marvel

Pestilence #4 unveils some secrets as we head towards the conclusion. This has been a fairly bloody and brutal tale of knights vs. zombies from Frank Tieri and Oleg Okenev and it’s not letting up. It delivers a nice satisfying crunch.

| Published by Aftershock

Redlands #2 jumps the series ahead to modern day, fleshing out the sisters’ characters and the world that they live in, having pretty much taken over Redlands, Florida following the bloodbath back in ‘77. We’re still left a lot of details out, but we’re given a better look at some of the things going on, as a game of murderous cat and mouse between the sisters and an unknown potential blackmailer unfolds. Jordie Bellaire and Vanessa Del Rey are creating something interesting here and I’m definitely hooked to see what happens next.

| Published by Image

Retcon #1 is...something, I��m not really sure what. Interesting, though, certainly, and something I’ll continue to read for a bit. Ostensibly this is about a team of supernatural beings working for the government, but the interview in the back and the title suggest something else. If anything, the artwork from Toby Cypress is worth the price of admission alone. Still not sure what to think of the story.

| Published by Image

Sacred Creatures #3 again challenges me to decide whether or not I like Pablo Raimondi’s mix of traditional comics art with photography. I’m leaning towards yes.

| Published by Image

Secret Warriors #6 kicks off a two-part arc with the members of the Warriors back on their own. The bulk of the issue is devoted to Daisy tracking down who murdered Coulson and it leads to some humorous exchanges. Who would have known that life model decoys are anatomically correct?

| Published by Marvel

Spy Seal #2 feels even more like a European funny animal book than the first issue. To me it feels like Rich Tommaso is doing a take on something like Tin Tin, but with an anthropomorphic seal, and it’s just wonderful.

| Published by Image

Transformers: Lost Light #9 gives a kind of closure, or at least a transition, to the Natuica/Velocity/Skids character and story arcs. It’s kind of bittersweet when you consider the implications and I expect that James Roberts will undoubtedly revisit this somewhere in the future. Also, the reveal of who the “Grand Architect” is at the end of this issue is pretty epic.

| Published by IDW

Uncanny Avengers #27 is a pretty straight-forward conclusion to the team’s confrontation with Graviton. It’s mostly action, but there are some character moments cementing that this team can still work together fairly effectively. The artwork from Sean Izaakse again is very nice.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Babyteeth #4, Black Science #31, Clue #4, Curse Words #8, The Damned: Ill-Gotten #4, Defenders #5, Dread Gods #2, First Strike #3, Genius: Cartel #2, Ghost Station Zero #2, Harrow County #25, Hellboy & BPRD - 1955: Occult Intelligence #1, InSEXts #13, Jane, Lumberjanes #42, Mage: The Hero Denied #2, The Realm #1, Riverdale #6, Rocket #5, Rose #6, Runaways #1, The Shadow #2, Shadows on the Grave #8, Slam!: Next Jam #1, The Sovereigns #5, The Spirit: The Corpse Makers #4, Star Wars #36, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #12, TMNT Universe #14, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #24, Venomverse #2, War for the Planet of the Apes #3, Weapon X #8, Winnebago Graveyard #4, X-Men Blue #11

Recommended Collections: Britannia - Vol. 2: We Who Are About to Die, Elektra: Always Bet on Red, Kingpin: Born Against, Saucer Country, TMNT - Vol. 17: Desperate Measures

d. emerson eddy believes that uptown funk is going to give it to you. Don’t believe him? Just watch.

[gokinjeespot]

Monday, September 18, 2017

 I have recurring back pain that's a pain in the back and it hit so hard yesterday I could barely walk. It's better today but I sure am glad that I don't have to work so that I can recover some more. I want to make sure that I'm well enough to attend the book launch of "The Wind In His Heart" by Charles de Lint tomorrow. Here's a link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1663452530396893/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2222%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&pnref=story

 Fishing season is winding down even though the weather has been sunny and warm recently here in Ottawa. David and I only caught 3 fish yesterday in the 3 hours we were out. My fishing buddies are like me and just appreciate being out on the water for some time away from the city. We don't need to catch fish to enjoy our time out there.

 Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #28 - Robert Venditti (writer) Rafa Sandoval (pencils) Jordi Tarragona (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). A great art team can elevate an average book to an outstanding one. The artists they get make a huge difference to my enjoyment of this book.

 Ms. Marvel #22 - G. Willow Wilson (writer) Marco Failla (art) Ian Herring (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I love this story about tolerance and equality. It affected Kamala deeply. It made her think about her city and her neighbours and that will colour her actions from now on.

 All-New Wolverine #24 - Tom Taylor (writer) Leonard Kirk (art) Michael Garland & Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Another infestation of Brood is wiped out and the galaxy is saved yet again. I liked the guest appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy, especially Rocket Racoon. Looking forward to a new story starting next issue.

 Weapon X #8 - Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers) Marc Borstel & Ibraim Roberson (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The team continues to pursue Weapon H, AKA Hulkverine (I like that) and more is revealed about the big gray galoot's alter ego. I cheered when I saw the reinforcement that the good guys call in.

 Runaways #1 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The gang isn't all here as this team makes it back to the racks but that's okay because this first issue did a very good job of introducing Nico Minoru, the spell caster, and Chase Stein, the screw up gadget guy to readers old and new. Kris's art has gotten better since I first noticed his name in the credits of an X-Men book. This debut was good enough to make me stick around until my favourite Runaway shows up.

 Wonder Woman #30 - Shea Fontana (writer) David Messina (art) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Both the writing and art for this issue was very stiff. I feel like I've been beaten over the head with the not too subtle "women are strong" message. I'm hanging around until artist Emanuela Lupacchino starts to draw this book and I hope the writing improves then too.

 American Gods #7 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art) Rick Parker (letters). I would still enjoy this, being a fan of Neil Gaiman and Scott Hampton, even without the benefit of having already read the novel but I wonder if other comic book fans would think this is way too weird. Shadow's story about his adventures with gods old and new isn't for everybody but if you stick with it I think you'll find the payoff to be worth your time.

 Generations: Captain Marvel & Captain Mar-Vell #1 - Margaret Stohl (writer) Brent Schoonover (art) Jordan Boyd (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I felt like this was written by a tweener for tweeners. If this is an indication of what to expect in Carol's solo book (Mighty Captain Marvel) then it's much too unsophisticated for this old coot.

 Detective Comics #964 - James Tynion IV & Christopher Sebela (writers) Carmen Carnero (art) Ulises Arreola (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). This is it. You all saw it coming. The cover even gives it away. Clayface has reformed, or so it seemed. This issue was so well done I wasn't even disappointed in the outcome. If that's not enough, the Anarky and Spoiler story continues with a solid mystery to keep me engrossed.

 Mech Cadet Yu #2 - Greg Pak (writer) Takeshi Miyazawa (art) Triona Farrell (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). The new cadets start basic training with their Mechs. I like how the robos and cadets are paired up like in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series of fantasy novels. I also like the conflict between the lower class janitor's son Yu and the upper class general's daughter Park. I am drawn to good stories about underdogs.

 Star Wars #36 - Jason Aaron (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Hooray, it's R2-D2 to the rescue. Poetic ain't I?

 Dark Nights Metal #2 - Scott Snyder (writer) Greg Capullo (pencils) Jonathan Glapion (inks) FCO Plascencia (colours). Whoever did the lettering did a great job. The gateway opens and evil arrives. Meet the Jaundiced League. Darkseid is a baby now? I have so many questions. This is one of those instances where I have enough of an interest in the big picture that I will accept stuff I don't know about the DC multiverse and keep on reading.

 Kill or be Killed #12 - Ed Brubaker (writer) Sean Phillips (art) Elizabeth Breitweiser (colours). I like how the character of Dylan has grown over the course of this series. He started out full of fear and uncertainty and now can control his fear and plan ahead to what he needs to do to stay alive. It makes him more relatable.

 Hulk #10 - Mariko Tamaki (writer) Julian Lopez & Francesco Gaston (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's a fricking big monster fight issue. Jen subdues Oliver but she comes close to losing control of herself as the Hulk. I wonder if she shops at Target to save money on clothes. You'll notice a change in art styles about halfway through. I would be a very happy fan if Julian Lopez was the regular artist for this book even though I like Francesco Gaston's art just fine.

 Action Comics #987 - Dan Jurgens (writer) Viktor Bogdanovic (pencils) Jonathan Glapion, Jay Leisten & Viktor Bogdanovic (inks) Mike Spicer (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). "The Oz Effect" starts here. I'm glad that the villain's identity isn't being teased for a bunch of issues just to keep us reading. Who Oz is will shock fans and it will make it harder for Superman to fight him. I still think it's all a ruse so I'm going to keep reading to see if I'm right in the end.

 The Defenders #5 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Marquez (art) Justin Ponsor (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). They're going to get hate mail for this issue. When you get to the end you'll know why.

 Amazing Spider-Man #32 - Dan Slott (writer) Greg Smallwood (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Greg fixed Norman's face for this new Green Goblin origin story. I forgot that Norman can't change into the Green Goblin now. Something is going to trigger the transformation and I am waiting to see what that is.

[obamas-eyebrow]

06/Are we still friends?

7th floor x female reader (the 8 show)

Masterlist

WC:6.1K. specific chapter warnings: violence, arguing, some fluff, anger, blood, missing toes & teeth.

A/N: So sorry for the delay, it can and will likely happen again cause uni has been beating the hell out of me xx

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

It was over. It was finally over, the pain, the suffering, the hunger. The culprits were all tied up, you were safe. 1st floor was the first to break, weakly beating 6th floor up with whatever energy he had left in him. He then limped over to 8, getting on top of her and smashing his fist onto her face, then moving to strangle her throat. No one stopped him, he was barely doing any damage anyway. This little crashout was concluded with tears, 1st floor broke down crying, rightfully so, next to the people who had used you for entertainment. This caused a chain reaction with the rest of you, tears flowing freely. Whether they were in happiness, relief or sorrow for what happened, you weren’t sure. All you knew is that emotion had completely taken over your body, bringing you to your knees with sobs. You struggled to catch your breath between weeps as you watched 3rd rush over to 7th, begging him to admit this was all a part of his master plan, or maybe that he was just a coward. 

“I’m sorry.” Was all he got in return. 

“All I can tell you…is that I’m sorry.”

He spoke so sincerely, eyes fixed on the floor rather than meeting his friend’s face, it left a sour taste in your mouth.

They debated whether or not they should let him go. You were strongly against it, the wound of betrayal still fresh and bleeding. But ultimately, it was three to one. He stood off to the side with his back to you and wiped quiet tears quietly from under his glasses. You wanted to think they were crocodile tears, but the redness in his face looked a little too genuine for that. 

Your body was so tired, observing the time increase that only meant the higher floors would be getting more money. It wasn’t fair, none of this was. 

You made several trips up and down the stairs, transporting floor by floor to their respective rooms. You bought a wooden door stopper from the central chute, allowing infinite access to all the quarters. You made a point to avoid 7th floor throughout all this, no matter how often he leaned in closer to whisper something to you. You were not interested in what he had to say, at all. 

8th’s room was quite the slap in the face. You entered after 3rd floor, 2nd had already carried 8th in and 7th found a seat at the far table, already familiar with the place. You found yourself welling up with tears once more, knowing that, no matter the situation, she was the winner. You were in no way a disadvantaged floor, but still, not to this level. This was weeks worth of your torture, manifested in material things. Useless things at that, like a dart board and a mini golf set. You pictured her sitting up here, in her little slice of luxury with everything she could ever wish for whilst you fought between pain and hunger to sleep, and you pictured 7th sitting right next to her. Stuffing his face till he couldn't eat anymore, having access to a working chute and yet never attempting to help. Speak of the devil, his eyes were fixed on your tearful face with intensity, but you know he won’t approach you in such a public setting.

It doesn’t matter anyway, whatever was between the two of you was long gone now. There was but a little part of you that was willing to give him a second chance. The stupid bathtub in the corner was filled with clean water, likely water that you could’ve otherwise drank. She owned a sex toy that 2nd shoved into your side and a bidet, which 3rd put into his mouth way too innocently, as well as a couch set, wallpaper, a fancy set of plates and so many more insane knicks and knacks. Everywhere your eye landed, you found some ridiculous purchase that you couldn’t ever afford. It made you feel empty, used. This was money she made off your backs. Your muscles ached. 

Amidst the bewilderment of it all, her chute groaned open to reveal the meals; 12 food trays and 12 waters. You rushed to set it all out on the ornate dining plates, giving everyone share sizes that they’d never had before. You sat by 3rd floor, using him as a divider between you and 7th, on the other side sat 2nd and first. You were all smiles as you consumed to absolute fullness, a feeling so unfamiliar by now. 

After the meal, 1st mentioned how he’d love to have a drink and everyone agreed. 

“Oh I um- I don’t know about beer and wine, but I could try to make soju? We have plenty of water over there! I took a class a while ago, though I don’t really remember the details of it all.” You encouraged. 

“We could buy the recipe!” 1st encouraged. “Can’t we do anything with money here?”

You all shuffled over to the chute, the price of said recipe a ridiculous amount that you’d never consider going through with. 8th floor though…

Ever the noble woman, 2nd marched over to 8th to seek permission, which she allowed you to do. So you bought the formula and all the add-ons to go with it; an array of beakers and test tubes. After a good ten minutes of titrating and filtering, you finally reached what you could count as a final product. You wordlessly handed 1st the beaker, allowing him the first taste. 

“No-no, you should go first.”

“Oh I-don’t drink.”

That caused everyone’s eyes to meet your face at the head of the table. 7th especially had an amused look, they were all thinking the same thing, confusion evident on all of their features. 

“You took alcohol making classes but don’t drink?” 2nd raised a teasing brow.

“The classes were like 75% off, so I thought why the hell not.”

“And you don’t drink because…?”

“I’d rather keep my liver intact.”

That caused everyone to chuckle a little, dismissing your ‘warnings’ in favour of the bitter drink at hand. The drink was described as ‘exhilarating’, making rounds across the table for everyone to sip on. 2nd handed 7th the beaker last and he looked a little caught off-guard by her little gesture, almost like he isn’t quite convinced that you still want him around after all this. That they want him around after all this, you’ve made your position quite clear. He sipped on it like it was some fine aged wine and not a 10th grade bathwater science experiment. 

Was it even safe to use that water? What if she- ok you won’t say anything, it's too late now anyway. It’s probably fine, you boiled it so it's clean. Nasty, but clean.

With full bellies and a slight buzz in their system, everyone took to their rooms for some rest and solitude, planning to meet back up later for another meal. You used this time to take a nice power nap, suspecting everyone did the same, due to the stillness of the place. You were woken up from yet another dreamless state by a knock. Well, three short knocks. You were sceptical, unsure if this was actually 2nd floor or 7th pretending again, having a feeling it was the latter. You weren’t sure how you wanted to go about this, knowing that you weren’t exactly ready to face nor hear him out, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t miss him and the nights you spent together. You opened the door, hair a mess and nose a bit runny since you’d just woken up, finding your prediction to be true, 7th floor. He had an almost desperate look on his face, like he’d been toying with the idea of coming to talk to you for a bit. His shoulders were slumped slightly in defeat, a solemn look in his eyes. He had his hands clasped politely behind his back, breath uneven and shaky from nervousness. You decided not to speak first, allowing him to lead himself around the wall he put between you. He took a deep breath, looking off to the side to let it out. 

“Would you like to join me-upstairs?” he turned to look at you only at the end of that question.

You honestly weren’t sure what he had planned, a part of you was curious as to how he intends to make things better now. You bit your lip anxiously, looking deep into his soul as you contemplated his request. You wanted to hear him out, wanted him to convince you that he wasn’t as bad as you’d made him out to be these past weeks. 

“Sure.”

He led you away silently, up the short flights and to his door, opening it to let you into the space. 

On the table laid the chess set you’d become so familiar with, along with some…‘decor’ he’d attempted to put together, candles and such. Like a date. 

You sighed inwardly, this was obviously not what you had in mind, but you wanted to see where he was going with this. You sat by the black pieces, allowing him the first move. 

The only sounds in the room were the gentle knockings of the figures against the board. You waited for him to say anything, everytime you looked up from your play, finding his eyes strained and focused on you. An inner turmoil. You weren’t really giving it your all, a little tired from your interrupted nap, so he won. You sighed and shut your eyes in defeat, what the hell were you doing here. 

“I’m sorry.” He finally spoke up. 

“It’s fine, I wasn’t really trying anyway.”

He paused. 

“No- I’m…sorry,” he repeated. 

You knew what he meant, but weeks worth of pain and suffering can not be undone with such a simple apology. 

“That all?” You raised an eyebrow, an unamused look on your face. “I’d like to go back to bed.”

It was just barely after mid-day and you were regrouping for dinner soon. 

“I’m not really good at this.”

“I can tell.” You wanted to hold off on adding too much to the conversation, but alas, your tongue was way too curious. “Why? What did they offer you?”

His shoulders slumped, already anticipating your disappointment with his answer, “Immunity.”

You looked away from him, leaning back on the chair to try to keep your anger at bay, only humming in acknowledgement of his answer. 

“And? What changed?”

“Nothing I-”

“Got bored of watching us bleed?” “You know that’s not what it was.”

“I don’t know anything, actually.”

You lifted your head back up to find a cigarette hung loosely between his parted lips.   

“I had no other option there 5th floor, what good would I have been stuck getting beat up beside you? At least on the other side I could be of help.” he reasoned, lighting the smoke and tossing the lighter back onto the table. 

“You and I both know your help was a spontaneous decision 7th, not a planned one. But okay then, why the coin system?”

“They said I’d have to come up with something, get my hand as bloody as theirs.”

“But you made it brutal.”

“It was the only thing they agreed to.”

You huffed in frustration, his rationalisation, while sound, did not ease the ache that followed the memories of those days. Ultimately, he gave you no noble reason to forgive him, not even a small gesture to make you feel better. 

“Okay.” You let out a short sigh, getting up from the chair to head for the door. 

“That’s…all you’ll say?” He got up as well, taking only one or two steps so that he’d give you the space you clearly wanted. 

“What do you want me to say?”

Silence befell the room once more, pulling on the tenseness between you two. You decided to speak once more, 

“Look,” You brought your hands up to wipe over your face, “It doesn’t matter now, anyway. What you did or did not do. It’s all ‘just a show’, no? Plus, I doubt we’ll ever see each other after we leave this place. So no harm, no foul.”

He hung his head down, staring at his shoes, contemplating your words. They stung, but you were still angry, and he deserved it. He knew that was always the plan, to leave and never interact with each other again, put everything behind. But the fleeting moments you two had…there was something there, something more, and he cursed at himself for messing that up. 

“I’m sorry 5th floor, I really do feel guilty for everything.”

“Again, 7th, it’s fine.” Didn’t sound like it though, but you left anyway, shutting the door softly behind you. 

When dinner rolled around, you stuffed your faces full once more with leftovers from earlier and the others continued to sip on more of the make-do soju. 7th took the spot next to you on the floor, whether it was subconscious or intentional you weren’t sure. He was quiet for most of the meal; only speaking when spoken to. The others seemed to have forgiven him so easily, owing to his aid in the ‘revolution’, and you didn’t know why you weren’t able to do the same. 

You watched in amusement as 1st floor humoured 3rd’s request of rameon with some play-pretend, in virtue of his work with kids, you guess. It came as a second nature to him, you were basically tasting the warm dish on your tongue. Or maybe you were just sleepy. You slurped and slorped at the invisible noodles in your hand with hunger, smiling at everyone's actions. You brought your plates together in cheers, falling back onto the nearest piece of furniture available. 

“When do you guys wanna leave?” 2nd sighed.

“If you’re sleepy, you can go down, 2nd” you replied.

“No, I mean, when do you want to end this show?”

That got everyone back up.

“I thought we had all agreed that we’d stay until I made one billion won,” 1st hesitated.

She finally sat up, elbows resting on her thighs, “1st, about that billion, I’ll just cover what’s short when we leave,” she swallowed, “We all witnessed what lengths they went to, just to earn time.”

“But there are other ways to earn time, I thought of-”

“They won’t be enough, all lines have been crossed, nothing is out of limits anymore,”

“Don’t you think it’s unfair?” 3 spoke with a frown, “We should use them to earn time-”

“Could you do it?”

“What?”

“Use them. Whilst they’re helpless?”

“Yes,”

“Go on then, she’s tied up. She can’t resist, "she challenged. 

3rd got up from his spot with determination, moving towards a defenseless 8th on the floor. You moved to stop him, but 7th grasped your wrist with a gentle hold, a quiet ‘wait’ in his eyes and you ignored the feeling his touch gave you. 3rd brought his fist to her figure, psyching himself up to hurt her the same way she hurt him, but ultimately, he did nothing. Breaking down into tears at his own unwillingness to be cruel. You teared up as well, knowing it was also not in your nature to hurt people, you were a healer after all. How pathetic must you all look to 7th, broken and weak against your own abusers, he probably feels real guilty for what he’d done. Haha. Serves him right.  

“Let’s leave, while we still have our humanity left.”

Agreed.   

And so it was decided, you were just going to go about your daily activities for the remaining time. Everything from washing clothes to group meals, nothing content-y, just mundane. Though there would be some odd little time increases here and there, after a joke or a fall. All in all, the days dragged on pretty uneventfully. 7th had kept to himself, rarely seeking you out directly, likely due to lack of things to say. 

On one odd night, you’d learnt that he used to be a scout, as he made quick work of the ropes you had binding 8th floor’s hands. It had intrigued you, so he attempted to teach you slowly how it’s done. Bringing one side over the other gently, but you were too lost in thought picturing a tiny 7th in uniform out in the woods, camping and such. 

“I used to be a group leader,” he chuckled, hands faltering from where they were at 8th’s back.

“Oh I bet you used to run those groups like the military. Up at 8;00 am sharp and all that.” You laughed, causing him to join you with a small “I did.”

“You'd be like that one obnoxious kid with like a thousand badges, no?”

“I was! It wasn’t my fault I was the best at what I do.”

There were tears in your eyes now, your hands clutching your sides with laughter. “Oh, I can just picture you with your little glasses!” 

He blushed, struggling to compose himself at your teasing.

“Which badges did you have?” You said after finally catching your breath, laughter still in your tone.

“Like all of them.” He said sheepishly. “I had like no friends and a lot of free time, so.”

The smile on your face was so wide, you’d feel your muscles straining, but you couldn’t help it. The anger you felt towards him had been diluted with the mundane moments you spent together. Plus, it will only be one or two more days before you never see eachother again and you’d started to feel a bit bittersweet. Outside, you’d probably never go for a guy like him, so maybe it was the context in which you two met that gave you this illusion. Still, you’ll miss him.  

“How do you know so much about scouts?” It was a relatively stupid question, but you could tell he was just trying to keep the conversation flowing, so you enabled him. 

“I think it’s common knowledge.” you wiped the tears from the corners of your eyes. “But I really wanted to join as a kid. Couldn’t afford it though, so I’d buy all the guides they used second-hand and try to learn. It…didn’t work.”

He chuckled, and the room became silent once more. His eyes were fixed on yours, almost like he wanted to say something but knew he shouldn’t. Just two more nights of knowing you, and then nothing. Your staring contest was cut off by a knock on the door, 3rd floor peaking his head from the slightly ajar opening. 

“2nd floor says hurry up. And stop talking, you keep adding time.” With that, he left, leaving you two alone once more. His experienced hands made work of the rope once more as you got up to leave him to it. 

On the final night, with just a little over 9 hours left, you bid your goodbyes and retreated to your rooms for the final time. You had your back to the cold wall, eyes quite literally on the prize. It was such a comforting thought, knowing that by tomorrow morning, you’d return to your old life with more than enough to turn it around, the excitement of it all making you unable to get some shut-eye. It was still too early to be actually confined to your room, so you’d decided to venture out like you did the first night, taking one final sweep of the playground. You descended the steps entirely lost in thought, recalling the usual sequence of events that had led you here. It really did turn your life around, or would anyway, bring you back from the dead essentially. It was nice, sitting by the pool and watching the minutes tick by. This time around, he wasn’t able to scare you, having heard his door shut and his steps pad towards where you were posted. 

“Don’t tell me you’re already missing this place.” He grunted a little as he took a seat on the opposite side. 

“Hardly, it’s just been such an odd two months.” The smell of smoke hit your nose as you turned to look at him, a small smile on his lips. He looked so gentle in this lighting, the blues complimenting him well, it made your heart speed up. Just a little. His posture was very relaxed, cigarette lazily held in his hand that rested between his spread legs.  

“What will you do when we get out?” He picked up the conversation once more after a beat of silence. 

“Sleep for a week”

“Then?”

“Probably fix my life up, move, get a new pair of those fancy scrubs, you know, simple pleasures. Oooh! Maybe I’ll go get a massage!”

He chuckled a little.

“How about you 7th? What will you do with your new freedom?”

“Write, probably.”

“You’ve already been doing that here though.”

“Yes but I’d like to pull my manuscript together, get it out there and all.”

“You an author?”

“Screenwriter.”

“I thought you said you were an engineer?”

“I said I used to be.”

“What happened there?”

“Quit my job for my passion.”

“Ah, is that why you’re here? Didn’t work out?” He nodded, “And what is your play about?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” He shrugged his shoulders playfully and you let out a small breath in acknowledgement. He then did the thing he’d been doing for the past few days, opening and shutting his mouth like he wanted to say something, then instead bringing his hand up to rub his eyes whilst remaining quiet. It irked you, because you had a feeling you knew what was on his mind, wanting to hear him say it.

“Something on your tong-”

“I’m gonna miss you, 5th floor.”

Yeah, you knew, it was sweet to hear him voice it though. You won't pretend you won’t miss his dorky little glasses too, but you'd come to terms with the fact that it's probably for the best anyway. 

“I’ll miss you too, 7th.”

“One more game?”

“Hell yeah.”

You beat him this time, a sly check-mate that he’d let his guard fall way too far down to see coming.

“I let you win this time by the way.”

“How romantic and thoughtful of you, 7th. I’m sure it wasn’t that bishop you forgot about.”

“I knew exactly where he was at all times, just thought I’d leave you with a nice memory of me.”

“Oh yeah, this totally makes up for the two weeks you spent supervising my torture.”

He hung his head in defeat, hands going up in a mock surrender. It was getting late and you needed to go back now. You both got up slowly, making your way to the door as he trailed behind you, following you out of his own room. You raised a questioning brow at his actions. 

“May I walk you to your room?”

You giggled,  “There are no monsters on these two flights of stairs, prince charming.”

“You never know!”

You opened your door softly, turning to bid him an extra one final goodbye. 

“Goodnight,  7th.”

“Goodnight, 5th.”

He bowed his head to you slightly, turning to ascend once more. You don’t know what took over you in that moment, but maybe it was that you were now one with the fact you’ll never see him again. 

“7th wait-”

He turned around sharply to have you clutch his shirt and pull him in for a closing kiss. His glasses were knocked a bit to the side from your force, catching him completely off guard. His lips moved against yours for only a beat or two before you pulled away, not actually allowing him any time to react. His eyes met yours, the closeness feeling so intimate. 

“Why did you do that?” He breathed out, the smoke in his breath hitting your face with his brows furrowed a little, glasses moist with condensation. 

“I don’t know.”

Only then did you register what you’d just done, looking quickly over to the time to find it still the same. Perhaps there was something more entertaining going on.

You rushed back out of his embrace, composing yourself as you stepped back into your space. 

“I’ll think of you.” You gave the final word before shutting your door, not wanting to hear him say it again. 

Your hands came up to rub your face as you sat back down on your bed, hormones high from your ultimate farewell. It was a little later in the night when your chute opened, casting a gentle glow onto the room. Inside was a piece of paper, lone but neat. There was some writing on its face, crisp lettering laid out with intent. You picked it up gently to read what it says. 

Dear 5th floor, 

Here’s that drawing you asked for earlier, apologies for taking so long, it must’ve slipped my mind. If you’ll have me, I’ll seek you out when we escape this little prison. 

I hope to see you again.

Till then, I’ll miss you dearly, and you will haunt all my good dreams. 

I’ll think of you, too.

Yours truly;

7th floor, P.Y.

You giggled at the formality in the way he wrote, excitement filling you as you thought of this promise he speaks of. Perhaps you two could try again under different circumstances, perhaps you will give him that chance. You turned the paper over to feast your eyes on his display of affection. It was yet another sketch of you, this time having happened only hours prior. It was a still life of your winning move, a few floating sparkles around you. He titled it ‘first win’. What a dork. 

The next day, you were woken up by some blood-curdling screams, getting up quickly to see what happened. Your eyes fell on the time before anyone had to point it to you. 

40. Freaking. Hours.

You ran down the steps to meet up with the others, 2nd floor being the most distressed out of everyone. It was dark out, a storm raging from the little window, whether it was real or fake. You barely earned this much time when you were tasing each other or even getting tormented. So what was going on here? You stood by 3rd floor, opposite to 7th as you all contemplated the absurdity of the situation.  

“Did any of you do something last night?” 2nd turned around to face the group. 7th shot you a look, tensing a little then avoiding your eyes. 

The kiss!

Oh no…

Should you say something? But time wasn’t added as you were kissing last night so what gives? Maybe you could let things die down first before admitting anything. 

“Follow me.” She ran a hand through her slightly grown-out hair. 

You went through the prisoners room to room, checking for anything that seems out of the ordinary, finding them exactly how you’d left them. 

“We need to strip her,” 2nd sighed, gesturing to 4th floor. “Everyone but 5th floor get out, do the same for 6th.”

Despite the girl’s non-stop pleas for you not to do this, it was a very logical next step. She was upset with the cameras mostly, but you tried not to let her cries get to you. You repeated this for 8th floor, who was much more willing. Both times you found nothing, the men with 6th as well, leaving you right where you started, back at the main chute. 

Tensions were high, considering 2nd was right in predicting that the culprit is among you, whoever it is, clearly having the time of their life right now. With 12 hours left and no leads, you decided to call it in for the day, hoping that it was just a one-off occurrence. 

Another morning, another scream. This time, you all scoured over to the source, 4th floor. You entered the room last, finding 7th red in the face with an arm on 4th’s back. 

“There’s blood,” he gagged. 

You knelt down in front of the weeping woman, gently removing the tape to find more blood underneath, all over her mouth and down her chin. Her left canine had been removed. 

“4th, I’m just going to check on the wound site, okay? Hold still.”

She was trying to control her sobs as you inspected the extraction site, seeing a few pieces of broken tooth still inside. What are the chances whoever did this used antibiotics and sterile equipment? She’s gonna have a nasty swelling if you don’t come up with something to do.

“So cruel,” You muttered.

“I told you to untie me! What am I going to do now?” she whimpered. 

“It’s ok, I’ll do what I can. Don’t worry.” You got up to make your purchases from her chute. 

“No! No! Not my money!” She pleaded.

So you made your way up to 8th’s room with 7th instead, as the others went to check on 6th. You used 8th’s money to buy dental anaesthetics, dental pliers, a scalpel, antibiotics, some strong anti-inflammatory drugs,  gauze, tissue and a bunch of cotton pads. A hefty sum was drained from 8th that day, but she didn’t really seem to mind. You made your way with the stuff back to 4th’s room, stopping at the door. 

“I can take it from here, 7th.”

“You sure?”

You looked at him, trying to hold back the small smile you had formed. This was a serious matter, but he looked like he was seconds away from passing out, putting on a brave face for you. It wasn’t funny, really, but the subtle disgusted look he was sporting was so entertaining. He was as red as a tomato, too. 

“Yeah I got it-”

“Ok.” He shoved the equipment into your hands and bolted back up to his room, to throw up maybe or something. You chuckled quietly, he did not need to be told twice. 

To spare the details of the procedure, you were able to sterilize the wound and get the fragments out, knocking her out on painkillers and anti inflammatories. By the time you got done, you opened the door to find 3rd rushing up the stairs.

“It’s his feet!”

You all shuffled into 6th’s room as 3rd took off his shoes and socks. Sure enough, they were bloody, too. The psycho removed his freaking toenails. This time, 7th was near the door, bringing a hand up to his now freshly red face once more. Somehow, to 6th, this was very entertaining. For the second time today, you found yourself cleaning blood and applying some antibiotics. Due to the fact that 6th had, for some odd reason, kept his injuries a secret, they wounds were already swollen and discolored. This time around, 7th floor chose to stay in the room as you worked, standing in the far corner by the door, trying his best to keep himself upright and conscious. 

“It’s ok 7th, I can handle it.” You reassured him when he stayed behind despite the others leaving. 

“No…I don’t trust him.” His words said bravery, his face said an upset stomach was brewing. 

“I really don’t think you’re in the right physical state to protect me.” You chuckled, he didn’t reply, only keeping his eyes fixed on 6th’s missing toenails as you wiped them free of the red. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, 6th’s eyes moving back and forth between the two of you, then staying on 7th as he realised that; he gets worse every time he moans in pain. He started whining more from behind the tape, whether you were actually hurting him or not, a subtle way to agonise 7th whilst remaining tied up. You noticed his actions and the effect they had on poor 7th floor, so you decided that perhaps a conversation could take his mind off of it, considering he was still adamant on staying. 

“Do you have a reason for this phobia, 7th?”

The call of his number snapped him out of his thoughts, eyes jumping up from your bloodied hands to your concentrated face. 

“No. I’ve just always hated hospitals, associating them with pain.”

“I think every child does.”

“Yeah but I was in and out alot.”

“For what?”

“Asthma. It’s pretty mild though.”

“Shouldn’t you have an inhaler on you?”

“I do. It’s upstairs.”

“And you still smoke?”

“It has gotten milder with age, and I don’t smoke alot.”

“Every single time I’ve spoken to you, you had a cigarette in hand.”

“I’m just stressed. Outside I’m a lot better.”

“So, hospitals and pain, then what?”

“By extension; needles and blood, I guess. I don’t know”

“You and I aren’t a very good pair then, don’t you think?”

He let out a strained breathy chuckle, “Quite the opposite.”

You finished up 6th’s feet and accompanied 7th back down to where everyone was at the foot of the stairs. 

“Which one of you did all this?” 2nd scoffed.

“2nd, please don’t get too angry, we’ll talk once you’ve cooled down.”

“It was you wasn’t it.”

“No it wasn’t-”

“We shouldn't have set you free, you were working with them. Living in luxury, and now?-”

“I was with him last night, 2nd.”

“Ah, so you were accomplices?”

“Cmon now 2nd, what are you accusing me of here?”

“Then you? You?” she gestured to 1st and 3rd, who denied the finger point. “Did he remove his own toes or what?”

“What about you, 2nd floor?” 7th attacked, “Is it really that important knowing who the culprit is? Don’t you get it? At least one person here doesn’t want to leave, maybe even more.”

“Have you gone crazy? Have you forgotten what we all went through here? Huh?”

“Alright that’s enough.” You got in between the brewing argument. “Whoever did this is the only one benefiting from this blame game. It's only giving us more time, let it rest.”

They all retreated to their rooms quietly whilst you lingered with 2nd floor, attempting to quench her anger. You sat with her by the see-saw in silence, unsure of how to calm her down. 

“5th floor?”

“Yeah?”

“I have an idea, don’t get in the way.”

She walked up to the phone and ordered some things, knocking a few hours off of the increased time. Chains, locks and other construction equipment that she carried over to the stairs. You followed her with morbid curiosity, watching as she bolted the door to 1st’s room shut. Then 3rd, who pleaded, but hadn’t realised what was being done until it was too late. At 7th’s room, he took one last look at you before shutting his door dramatically, but out of his own free will. You were to be spared, spending the last hours here taking care of the inmates instead of being one yourself. The first night was difficult, knowing that everyone was confined to their spaces with actually no way out was suffocating, despite you yourself having free movement ability. You tried to come up with a way to turn things around, coming up with nothing, and only realizing that 2nd’s methods, whilst a bit unconventional, were very much effective. You dragged your feet up the following morning to 8th’s room, grabbing a meal for her then sending the chute on it’s way. You fed and groomed her to her liking then bid her farewell, keeping civility even with someone like her. You shuffled over to 6th floor’s room, finding the food already up for grabs, meaning 7th had sent it down. You dreaded this man’s presence. Even all tied up he remained threatening and intimidating, sizing any and everyone up. Now that you think about it, 7th’s presence in the room last time did provide some comfort. You fulfilled your duties as you did with 8th floor, food first then any other personal matter. 

“My hands hurt.”

“I won’t undo your ties, if that’s what-” You scooted closer to his back to observe the problem, finding an even bigger predicament. 

The rope was completely undone. 

At the second it dawned on you, realization washing over your face, 6th jumped up from his spot and pushed you to the ground. You yelped, stumbling back up to try to reach the door to call for 2nd. You were successful, reaching the railing as you yelled her number, before a dull object hit the back of your head and your vision went black.

[organic-bloodbath]

For the cameras

7th floor x Reader

Summary: It's your turn to figure out an act for the talent show. You have your eyes on a certain man with glasses.

Warnings: Sexual themes, no smut though.

A/N: This fandom is so dry and non-existent and i don't understand why. Please, for the love of god, send me requests about this man, i'm unable to come up with scenarios by myself rn. I was drunk when i wrote this.

☆☆☆

Talent show, huh? You tried to think what your talent could be but you didn't think there were a lot of them. You were kind of good at many things but wouldn't count them as talents to show off at a show to impress other people.

Could you sing? No. Could you play an instrument? No. Could you dance? Also, no.

You looked over at 7th floor who had done his talent first, which was playing flute with his nose. It was quite impressive, really.

Then, one idea did come into your mind but you weren't sure if you should do it. It would involve another person, and you had a specific man in mind who you'd commit it on. But you were afraid it would make him uncomfortable, first of all being in front of everyone and second getting really close and physical.

"I can go next," you announced before you'd start coming to second thoughts. There were two other people left to perform, and you didn't want to be the last one.

"Yeah? And what's your talent?" 4th floor asked, eager smile on her face.

"I'll have to go and change my clothes first," you said, the act being better if you showed a little more of your skin.

You came back after a while, now wearing a basic white tank top and shorts. It was nothing too revealing, something you'd wear in summer outside during warm weathers, but it showed your cleavage a lot more than with the buttoned up shirt you all had been given.

You felt eight pair of eyes being glued on your body, wondering what you had in mind.

"A lap dance," you replied and cocked your left eyebrow.

3rd and 5th floor's eyes widened, half of the people in this room having not expected that from you.

"A lap dance, huh?" 8th floor asked, an excited smile on her face as she sat up a little straighter now, this show finally getting all her attention. "Now that should be interesting. Who are you going to perform it on?"

6th floor eyed you from head to toe with a smirk.

"I can volunteer," he said, rubbing his thigh.

You tried to hide the disgust on your face but it was most likely prominent at some degree.

"No thanks," you refused and turned to the other three men in the room.

You tapped your lower lip with your finger, pretending to think who to pick, as if you didn't already have a specific person in mind.

"Hmm, who could it be?" you wondered out loud, standing in front of 1st floor who looked absolutely horrified. "Nah, not you."

You moved to stand in front of 3rd floor who visibly swallowed the lump in his throat. Even if you wanted to pick him, he'd probably have a stroke in the middle of the act, seeing how nervous he was even of the thought of you straddling his lap. "Hmm, not you either."

And the last option was, of course, 7th floor. You stood in front of him, making eye contact. He tried to hide the nervousness hammering his chest but felt his cheeks turn pink.

"You," you said, biting your lip and leaning closer towards him. "Have anyone performed a lap dance to you?"

"No," he managed to say with a serious expression on his face.

"First time to everything," you stated. "Is it okay i'll do it on you, hm?"

"Well, uh-" he stuttered and couldn't help but eye your body for a bit.

"It's just for the show. For the cameras," you insisted and laid your hand on his shoulder, slightly rubbing it through the thin fabric.

You were attractive, everyone in the room knew that. Even him, having now eyes only on you. But you also made him a little overwhelmed, suggesting to get that close to him. He wasn't exactly against the thought but he was afraid how his body might react to the performance.

"Well? Do i get your permission?" you asked, taking a small step even closer to him, only inches apart now. You lowered your voice to a mere whisper, not wanting anyone else hear the next words. "I really don't want to grind on 6th floor's lap."

He took a quick inhale of air through his nostrils.

"Alright," he agreed, breath shuddering. He was battling with several different emotions inside him - one part of him was terrified and nervous while another part was curious to experience it. But mostly, he was a nervous wreck.

You pointed at a chair where he was going to sit, and he did as he was told. You would have preferred to do this in private, out of everyone else's sight – except, of course, the cameras – but you already knew that they weren't going to have it. They wanted to see it happen too, otherwise you'd only hear them whining and complaining.

A song started playing which you'd dance along and also how long the act would last. A few minutes and it'll be over, alright here we go.

You first circled around him, softly caressing your hand along his chest and shoulders as you walked, sending shivers and vibrations through his body.

When you were in front of him again, you lowered yourself on your knees, rubbing his thighs and knees.

"Spread your legs," you whispered, managing to get his legs a little more open.

You turned around and sat on his lap, holding his thighs to support yourself, your back facing him. You started to grind against his crotch, making him become stiff under you, stiffer than he already was. He was biting his teeth harder together, his hands holding the edge of the chair with more force. You looked over your shoulder to make eye contact with him, biting your lip to keep your face from breaking apart from smiling and trying to act seductive.

You leaned back, having your back fully against his chest, and whispered, "You can relax, you know." You brushed his cheek with your finger, your breath hot on his face. "No need to be so stiff."

You got up and sat on his lap again, without giving him even a second of a break, but now having your chest facing him. You held on his shoulders, straddling his lap and doing a few dry hump motions on his crotch, brushing your fingers through his hair on the back of his head while caressing his chest with your other hand.

You had to bite back a smile when you heard a louder grunt slip between his lips, but only you could hear it, thanks to the music playing.

The other world around you seemed to fade away, you were so concentrated on him and the music that you forgot for a second that you weren't alone. He had seemed to forget too, momenturaly.

You stood up above him a little, slightly pressing his face against your chest as you slid down to sit on him again, his nose brushing your chest between your breasts.

You eventually stood up again, which he was both thankful and also disappointed. Thankful for stopping before he'd become visibly hard and disappointed because he had actually enjoyed it, as much as he struggled to admit it.

You circled around his chair again, stopping behind his chair. You bent to rest your right hand on his inner thigh while caressing his chest with the other hand. He sucked in air through his teeth which made you smile.

You moved your hand from his chest to his face, stretching his neck towards you so you could make eye contact with him. Your faces were so close that the tip of your noses were touching, only a small gap between your lips. You wouldn't have to lean into more than an inch to take him into a kiss – but you didn't. Your lips only hovered over his, painfully close but still so far away.

Then, the music stopped and so did you.

You couldn't hear it, but 7th floor's heart was hammering against his chest so hard he felt like he could have a heart attack any moment now. He let out a deep breath when you let go of him, wanting you to stay there just a moment longer.

"Look, guys! 48 hours more!" 4th floor squealed and clapped her hands in excitement.

"Now that was hot," 8th floor giggled and gently bit his forefinger.

7th floor avoided eye contact with you for a while, face turned red.

☆☆☆

The following days, you acted like nothing had happened. Like you hadn't made 7th floor feel the urge to grab you by the waist and pull you into a kiss, make him suddenly want you more than anything, need you more than air. It was just for the show, of course it was, and now you'd both just move on like it had been only a dream inside 7th floor's mind.

One evening when it was time to go back to your rooms and you were left alone with 7th floor, he needed to have a word with you.

"Wait," he blurted out, making you turn around before you'd manage to close the door. What was he exactly going to say? He had no idea, he hadn't planned any of this very far.

You looked at him with raised eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

"Can i come in for a minute?" he asked.

"Why?" you asked.

"I would like to talk with you, alone," he said, swallowing.

You let him inside. At first, you were standing your back towards him, but when you turned around, he was standing right behind you, just inches away, which made you startled and jumped back a little.

He didn't say anything at first, only stared at you with barely any expression on his face. Your heart was beating faster now that he was standing so close to you.

Now that he was the one in charge.

You wanted to erase that, be the one in charge but now that it was just the two of you, it felt suddenly harder.

"You want a private show now, hm?" you smirked, totally just joking – you didn't mean it as a serious request.

"Alright," he replied without even blinking.

Your face fell and eyes widened. He didn't look like he was in a joking mood. "Wait, what?"

"If you're up for it, sure," he agreed, shrugging as if he didn't care at all but wouldn't resist it either. He tried to act all nonchalant but in reality, his insides were a twisting mess right now.

"Are you serious? You want another lap dance?" you asked with raised eyebrows. "You didn't seem to be very into it last time."

Oh, trust me – i was definitely into it more than you think, he thought.

"Well, maybe we'll have to just try again and see if i change my mind," he said, not thinking much what he let out of his mouth right now. He was for a second shocked that he had actually said it out loud but tried to act like that was exactly why he was here, seeming like he knew what he wanted. He didn't know, you made him so nervous it was hard to think before he already said the words to you.

Eventually you ordered a sturdy chair for him to sit on and placed it in the middle of the room. Now, there wasn't any music on, so both of you had to control your breathing harder than previously, afraid of the other sensing just from the pace of your breath what you were feeling. How the situation was affecting both you and him.

You straddled his lap, legs on both sides of his thighs, grinding against his crotch in slow motions, making a groan escape his throat which he instantly looked embarrassed about.

You were about to get up from his lap to another position but he placed his hands firmly on your hips to keep you down. You were surprised by this action, not expecting him to put his hands on you.

You stopped moving, hands resting on his shoulders. You maintained deep eye contact with him and noticed him quickly glancing at your lips – intentionally or not. You swallowed, afraid of what was to come. Not exactly afraid in a bad way, you couldn't describe the feeling that was dwelling inside you at the moment by his touch and the look in his eyes.

"Can i kiss you?" he whispered.

Your swallowed and felt your heart trying to smack its way out of your chest, butterflies starting to swarm inside your stomach. You put your hand slowly on his cheek, afraid he was just joking and would push you away - but he didn't.

You weren't sure which one of you leaned in first, but before you even realized, his lips were on yours. It was slow and tender, like he wasn't sure how much pressure he could put on you.

His hands started roaming further up your back, pressing your chest closer to him. A moan left out of his mouth, diving straight into yours, from the press of your breasts against his chest. You pushed your tongue as deep inside his mouth as you could, moving your lips in sync with his. Your fingers were making his hair a mess, but right at that moment he didn't care.

He had never done this before – make out with a girl who he didn't know at all, not even her name. But here he was, taking as much of you as he possibly could, enjoying every inch of you. Your noses nestled together like two lovers themselves, making his glasses turn into an uncomfortable position.

You hadn't been on this situation either – savoring a man whose name you didn't know, first grinding yourself against him. But his touch felt so good that you would have wanted to be right on that spot forever.

Then, you started to feel a bulge between your legs as you sat on his lap. A grin spread on your lips as you pulled away, but he only looked embarrassed, cheeks turning pink.

"I think, i think we should stop now," he stuttered, letting go of your waist.

"Come on, it's just getting good," you smirked, swinging your arms around his neck. “Now, I can tell that at least this time you enjoyed your time. Am I wrong?”

You were satisfied of being able to get a man flustered like this.

“I…” he started, clearing his throat. “I did enjoy it, sure.”

“Mhm,” you hummed and got up from his lap, your gaze landing on his crotch with he casually tried to hide with his hands. “I can help you with that, you know? You just have to ask.”

His eyes grew wider. “Oh, no, it’s fine. I’ll just… I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

With that, he turned away, hurrying out of your room. You covered your hand to muffle the giggles trying to find their way out of your mouth, not wanting to laugh when he was still present.

[obamas-eyebrow]

04/King of the Hill.

7th floor x female reader (the 8 show) Masterlist WC:7.9K. specific chapter warnings: uhh violence, kissing (it’s the king’s game ep)

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

If there was a way to test the limits of the human mind, it would be hunger. Three days she’s done this, stripped you of the most basic essentials for survival. You wondered where she was going with this, knowing her message had already been read loud and clear. three days of your insides gnawing at you, begging for any relief. You tried to cheat the system by buying glucose replacement drips, but it didn’t work. 

Upon the nauseating revelation of the current situation, you’d fully expected for all hell to break loose, surprised to see nothing of that sort. The morning after everyone received the empty boxes, the topic had become the elephant in the room with no-one able to utter acknowledgement, lest it become true. She was starving us because she didn’t get her way. At this moment in time, you were all equal. Those who voted for her and those who didn’t. No one was spared. 7th floor on the same level as 1st floor. Everyone had retreated to their rooms, some looking for previous scraps to pick at, others to disconnect from everyone. You waited about an hour in your room, having spent it staring at the ‘window’ and fantasising about everything you’d do when you get your hands on that witch, then got up and headed down stairs to 2nd floor. You hoped to fix things between the two of you, to get her to see why you took your stance. 

Knock, 

Knock,

Knock.

Three quick knocks, your special code. For a minute, you thought she’d just ignore you, as next to no sounds came from the room. Then, right as you were about to turn your heel and head back in shame, the tall blonde woman opened the door. Her face housed her usual expression; slightly exasperated, kinda challenging you with eyebrows raised only a little bit. She didn’t say anything and waited for you to lead the conversation. 

“Can I come in?” you cleared your throat. She shot you a quick up and down before turning around and stepping into her room leaving her door open, allowing you to walk in. 

“I thought by voting we’d already be giving her what she wants, 2nd.” you started, she still had her back to you. “I thought by leaving it blank there’d be no harm done on my part. Also, it wouldn’t’ve even mattered, right? This whole thing is crazy but you can’t go blaming me-”

“I’m not mad,”

“What?”

“I’m not mad. I wasn’t mad.”

“But you-”

“I was pissed at everyone that day. I thought the whole thing was stupid.” “Me too!” “Were you the blank vote?” “Yes.” “So who was the third vote for 3rd?”

She turned to look at you now, waiting for the answer, but you had a feeling she already knew. 

“7th…” To that, she huffed, but it sounded like ‘I told you so’. You stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say next. 

“6th offered to sneak me some food in exchange for my vote,” she chuckled lightly, “I wonder how he feels now.”

You both smiled at the thought of 6th floor, who’d been nothing but loyal to his master, even going out to campaign on her behalf, also being punished with everyone else. 

“What do you think we should do? How do we fix this?” she sighed. 

“Maybe we buy a speaker and blast some trashy music till she loses her mind,” You joked. 

“Won’t that affect 7th floor too?”

“Hmm, collateral damage.”

She looked at you with a small grin, happy that you’d apparently come to your senses. You found comfort in knowing that, at the very least, you could count on 2nd. But both of you knew the only thing that could be really done, was wait. 

So you waited. For two long nights and three wrenching days you tried to come up with an out. A way to fix this without playing by her stupid rules. But seven different people could not collectively could not come up with one solution. Well, almost seven, as 6th floor was not keen on joining forces with those below him. You witnessed the subtle yet prominent deterioration of the group throughout these days. It was likely less the hunger and more the uncertainty of when the relief would come. 

On the third day, it seemed that the end of the show would be rather near. There was nothing from 8th. Not a list of demands, not a second chance, no wiggle room, what she could possibly want from this standoff was behind you. Actually, calling it a standoff is wrong; after all, only one of you has a gun. That was until 3rd floor was struck with a revelation. 

“The poop! I will go up to apologise to her and take. the. Poop.”

Even 4th had offered to share the load, both going hand in hand to beg for forgiveness.

The only one who saw a flaw in this plan was, of course, 7th. He then suggested for him to lead the ‘negotiation’ for a better outcome. He made his way up the steps slowly, weakness wearing him down. At her door, he got close and worked his magic. You didn’t hear him from down here, but you were sure his words were well thought out and put together, even if they didn’t represent everyone’s opinions. To everyone’s delight, she opened the door to let him in, allowing for a more private discussion and only a tiny tiny tiny part of you counted the seconds he was in there for, incase they weren’t just discussing. Not that you cared, obviously.

…at least not anymore.

That night, food delivery came earlier than it ever did, and you wondered wether she’d previously keep it for a little out of pure fun. Despite having no desire to give in, to give her what she wants, to admit 7th was right; the hunger stripped away any form of resistance in mind and you all but inhaled the unfulfilling meal. You stared at the empty platter on your bedroom floor, one question plaguing your mind;

What could he have possible told her to get such a quick resolve? Was 4th floor begging incessantly at her door not enough? Was the cyclic knocking of other floors not satisfactory? Even 1st climbed up all those stairs to plead. Or did she want to hear it from him. 

Logically, if it was the latter of all those theories, it would be because it gave her the ultimate power trip. 7th floor, not a small number. It is most definetly not because she wants anything to do with him personaly…obviously…she wouldn’t gain anything cause he isn’t even interested. Or maybe its to piss you off? That is so far fetched, you hadn’t even began giving her any indication that you dislike her…right? Or that you like him for that matter. 

Your nails were begging for relief, so you did the only possible thig to quiten your mind. 

Face to face with the 7F sign on his door, your hand went up and back down a few times as you debated your next move. 

What would you even say? I’m sorry? For what? No, you weren’t. 

How did you convince her? Yeah, that  sounded more reasonable. 

But the door opened before your fist was able to collide with the wood, he didn’t look suprised to see you stood there, as if he knew. Instead, he greated you with an unreadable expression, only sleepiness present in his eyes.

“How did you-”

“I saw your shadow.” He pointed under the door,

“Oh. Were you about to-”

“No, not at all….Come in.”

 Maybe one day he’ll let you finish your sentenes. 

His room was still the same, with no new noticable additions to his decor other than two more pages of drawings on the wall. You wondered selfishly if you were on the other side of those, too. 

Whilst he’d usually be the one to break the quiet, this time he had nothing to say. There was a tense silence between you two, he’d retreated to sit at his desk while you stood awkwardly by the door. Surely he’d been expecting you, right? Or else why’d he be so unfazed by your appearance. Maybe he already knew what you’re going to say. 

7 years of medschool and countless nerve wracking osces and this is where you freeze up?

You don’t know why it’s so different with him, its not like he’s the first crush you ever had. You prided yourself in being a well-rounded intellectual yet, somehow, your brain would turn into mush around him. He was observing you from his spot, sat relaxed on the chair with head tilted slightly in curiosity. Why does he looked bored? You’d come to find out that no, you weren’t getting the hang of actually reading him, he only allows it to happen. And when he doesn’t feel like it he’ll put on his stone cold face and leave you guessing. You must’ve been just stood there for a bit now as he pulled out a cigarette from a pack that  rested on the table and lit it, taking a deep inhale and dropping his head back on the exhale, resting it on the back of the chair, eyes watching the smoke dancing above. 

“At the rate you’re going at I’d think you had a spare set of lungs.” Really, that was the best you could come up with? It was supposed to be a bit of a joke to ease the pull, but it only added to it. Mostly because he paid it no mind, taking another drag and blowing it out and above from his lips, as if you hadn’t said anything. You took this as your cue to maybe leave, or jump out the window, whichever is easier. This was not the man you were used to, not the one that did useless moves in chess on purpose so that you could have a fighting chance, thinking you wouldn’t notice. Not the one that spent time mapiing out every curve and dip of your features and then hid the evidence, keeping it only for his own pleasure. You wondered if maybe he’d always been this, if this is the man that 2nd saw. You grabbed your own hand to your chest for comfort, unsure of where to go from here. He relieved you of that reposibility soon enough. 

“Why are you here, 5th floor?” He said with an exhale, eyes unmoving from their spot on the ceiling. This wasn’t any better. “You said your part, I said mine, what do you want.”“I’m not here to apologise 7, nor admit defeat.” You pulled yourself together. At that, he chuckled. 

“Didn’t think so.”

“How did you convince her?”

“A whole bunch of kissing up.”

“That’s all you’ll give me?”

He re-adjusted suddenly to sit up straight and drop his head, hands gesturing a few times as if he wanted to say something then didn’t. Again and again. He turned his head up to you from his slumped position. 

“Why do you want to know? What difference does it make?” he put out the cig after one final breath. 

“For future reference.” 

He laughed. A full, well heard laugh. Tossing his head back and clutching his chest a bit. It did nothing to ease your nerves unfortunalty, actualy only adding to them. When he was done, he got up and straighted himself out, pushing his glasses back to their place. There was a slight skip to his step as he walked over to you, head turned down the whole way, he stopped with a  longer-that-usual distance between the two of you. One hand found a resting place of his hip while the other grasped his bottom lip and pushed it together. 

“Why are you being difficult?” he looked up at you from behind the frame. 

“Excuse me?”

“Just say what’s on your mind 5, go ahead. Why did you actualy come up here? Hm? Because I doubt it’s to get insight on how to handle conflict with 8th from here on out. No, I’ll be the one to do that, again. ‘Thank you for what you did 7th oh I was starving!’” He mocked in a woman’s voice, persumably ment to be you. “But no, you stroll in here, high and mighty as if what we just went through was easy. You know what 5, I’ll start for you. You’re right. What she did in the talent show was nothing special, nothing any of us couldn’t do, nothing you and I couldn’t have done better. And you’re right, doing what she wants will not get us anywhere but an endless cycle of being under her will. And you’re RIGHT, I’d really rather not betray my friends so that I can have food at the end of the day. But this is what the situation is here 5th, we are all entirely powerless.” 

Despite his pretty level tone of voice, his face had turned a slight red, giving his anger away. There was no lie spoken in his words, you’d completely disregarded the relief he’d brought for everyone, even if it was just a minute or two of smooth talking. Maybe accusing him of being a traitor had been overkill, even if it was only implied in your words. You’d been so caught up in justice that you forgot that, in here, there is nothing you could do if something like this were to happen again. Because, she would not kill you, only keep you barely alive. You’d been so ready to stand your ground, you forgot others who were unable to stand at all. In the end, 7th put the needs of everyone before his own pride, and you, who were too prideful to let things move smoothly, couldn’t spare him a word of praise. You both knew that this wasn’t about your vote, but your words that had been shot to kill. Standing here, anger long gone and consequences clear as day, you couldn’t help but feel guilty. 

“I’m sorry, 7th floor. I didn’t…I hadn’t thought out how things could play out. What you did this morning saved us a lot of torment. I can’t thank you enough.” 

Maybe this whole thing would’ve worked out better in the real world, justice, accountability and all. But here? This is just a game show after all, and there was nothing you could actually do to alter the circumstances, only accept them, tough it out for the remaining time and hope it goes smoothly. Still, you didn’t regret your vote. 

He looked at you, unmoving from his position, jaw clenched and face as neutral as he could keep it. Though there was now a hint of softness to his eyes. He sighed and shut his eyes slowly. 

“It’s fine.”

There was nothing more to say. You weren't sure how things will go between you two from now on. You would always rather chose the risky way, even if you’ll end up hurting others, and he’d rather always play it safe, even if it costs him his ego. Both of you were comfortable in your routines, making the differences between you as clear as day. Your thoughts were cut off by the sound of the money going up, eyes hovering over the accumulated amount for a beat. 7th floor, alright. You bit the inside of your cheek.

“Goodnight 5th floor.” You took that as your cue to leave.

“Goodnight 7th floor.”

You left his room shortly after, feeling worse than when you’d gone up.

. . .

The sun beamed down from the clock window onto your spot by the ‘pool’. You sat quietly, biting mindlessly on the inside of your cheek as 8th floor reveled in the attention she had forced everyone to give her. Your eyes were fixed onto the projection of dancing water- almost life-like, entirely uninterested in the bootlicking contest going on at the moment. 

“Right 5th?” 3rd’s nudge pulled you out of your thoughts, you looked up to notice all but 2nd’s and 7th’s eyes on you, each for their own unique reason. She held your gaze with that sickeningly sweet smile of hers, waiting for your response. Truth be told, you hadn’t been paying attention to this whole thing, so what the question entailed was beyond you. But since everyone else seemed on board, and since it was 8th floor asking, you had no other option but to;

“Yeah, sure.”

King’s game. An openly sexual game you played at parties that reeked of alcohol and people that won’t remember your name. It was a glorified way of getting friends to finally make a move on their crush, often ending when everyone got their fair share of kisses and some STDs. You’d go to get a change of scenery, often only observing the game with a smile from afar. To make it ‘fair’ though, you were each to pick out a numbered ball at random, making the king unable to target anyone specifically. 

Much to your surprise, the first round of lottery landed you the winning ball. You picked two numbers at random and then thought for a minute. Usually the people you would watch playing would already have a clear goal in mind. You however, did not, so you went with the first thing in mind, having the two numbers hold hands till the next round. 

“Ugh that’s so boring!” 4th exclaimed, reminding you exactly why you never attempted to engage with this activity.

You were very entertained though, watching 7th and 6th hold hands was way more amusing than you’d like to admit. You tried to hold back a smile as 7th looked at you with narrowed eyes.

“Awh man don’t lace your fingers!” 6th frowned. Ok now you were fully smiling. Just as 7th was going to let go of 6th to try and save face, you decided to be a little annoying. 

“Aht Aht Aht, one whole round.”

The following pick got you the number 7, maybe it was destiny. You felt a little disappointed, having just started to enjoy the role of king. 4th floor was crowned that round and she tapped her lip in thought. 

“Hmm 5th and 7th!” She looked around for the chosen numbers. No one said anything though, so you remained quiet.

“You two have to kiss!”

Lovely. Oh no…What if it’s 6th floor. Ew ew ew ew.

“Who’s number 5?” 4th batted her eyes around the group.

Everyone’s attention turned to look for the source of a loud sigh, 7th floor, he had his hand raised awkwardly as his eyes darted wearily around the circle. 

Oh! This is somehow worse! 

You almost burst out laughing. Maybe this was actually a prank show and everyone here is a paid actor, maybe this is all just one big joke. You bit your lip, unsure of how to proceed from here. There was no possible way for 4th to know that she picked the worst possible time to have you do this. 

“...Aaaaaand 7?” 

You stared at the ball concealed in your palm, is it too late to pretend you don’t know how to read?

Before you could even reveal yourself, 7th’s eyes landed on yours, causing you to bite your lip to conceal a smile. He had his arms crossed at his chest.  Maybe it was destiny, 5 and 7, how do we keep finding ourselves here? You could swear that some tension released from his shoulder upon knowing you’re the lucky gal, probablyprobably just relieved it isn’t 6th again. Without breaking eye contact, you also sighed loudly, mimicking his previous action. 

“Right here.”

All eyes on you. 

Taking initiative, you swayed over to him, eyes still locked with his. You took his side by the carousel and he turned to face you upon your arrival, small smirk planted on his lips. It was here you noticed that he’d gradually stopped styling his hair daily, opting for a more relaxed/messy look. Good, he looked better this way. He was trying to keep it together, but you could tell his resolve was slowly wearing away, his breath fast and shallow. Anticipation, nervousness, I’ve got you figured out, tough guy. You gave what you were about to do a geniune moment of thought, planning your moves cautiously. Before you could chicken out, you grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. 

Ok maybe it was more like a quick peck, his lips only momentarily meeting yours, but you both lingered face to face for a beat too long afterwards. This whole thing caught him off guard, how quickly you took initiative, causing him to awkwardly fix his already well positioned glasses. You both sighed at the same time, looking straight at everyone else but each other, unable to fully process what just happened. At least the audience was entertained, and by audience you mean 2nd and 8th, the only two who have caught on to your situation. 

Wait hold on why was 2nd smiling? You shot her a look, only causing her to press her lips into a thin line to conceal her amusement. 

“Noooo cmon that wasn’t a real kiss.” 8th giggled, tilting her head slightly. 

“Yeah! I was gonna say that…” 4th added.

What? Sorry that wasn’t enough of a show for you?

You looked at either of them with an unamused look.

“That’s all I-” You started but were cut off by a warm had pulling you in. 

You found yourself in the same position again, only this time he was leading. He’d hadn’t given you a moment to collect yourself before his hands moved up to cup your cheeks, his glasses nudging at your face a little. None of that that mattered though, as his determined lips pulled any coherent thought from your mind. You shut your eyes instinctively, your own hands shot up to his hair, letting the feeling wash over you as his hands kept your face close to his. Had you not known any better, you’d think this a man starving, the way he was practically swallowing your breaths. It got to a point were you were struggling to keep up, needing to sorrowfuly pull away from this man. And for a split second as you , in all the breathless mess that you were, you could swear he grunted a little.  

The two of you split, panting and struggling to pull yourself together. A glance over to him showed the same predicament, hair a huge mess and glasses practically fogged up. Your eyes danced across the grinning audience then found their way awkwardly to the ground. 

“30 hours..” 2nd scoffed

You snickered slightly, hoping that they will move on.

The following round, you found yourself with the ball number 1. 8th was the king, how fitting. You were still shaking with fluster from the previous round, both you and the lucky guy unable to look at eachother, opting to stand on the same side. 

“Numbers 3 and 7, you guys have to french kiss!” 8th giggles a bit. 

From this perspective, you realise how lucky you were to have 7th be your partner, had it been anyone else it certainly wouldn’t have played out so well. You watched in anticipation as 3rd floor and 2nd floor were revealed, wincing slightly at the unlikely pair. Something in you told you this won’t end well.

“And if I refuse? Let’s keep it fun, I’ll do anything but that.” 2nd challenged. 

“Hmm ok, you two wouldn’t have made an entertaining pair anyway.” 8th smiled. You knew that was just a subtle dig at 3rd but you’d hoped he hadn’t caught it. 

“The person with the number 2 ball and second floor have to….fight! For one round.” There it was, the moment 7th had been doing his best to avoid, all for what? A cold sweat ran down your back, mouth opening to protest but finding nothing. The air suddenly grew thick with dread, your eyes finding 7 who had his head dropped down in defeat. All you could do now is hope it doesn’t deal too much damage. 

A ball bounced from the person standing next to you. How cruel. It was 6th floor, you didn’t have to turn to see the excitement on his face, you could already practically smell it. How unfortunate is it that the two people who can’t stand eachother the most here were going head to head with no restraints, no judges, no referees. Only ‘surrender’ and what a heavy implication that word had. 

They got into position, trash talking a little, and you found a hand subconsciously clutched around 7’s arm as you observed the fight. 2nd wasn’t an amatuer, in fact she was kicking 6th’s ass. But regardless of your distaste for him, you knew it would be better to end it now. Neither of them seemed ready for that though, and in a split second, it all went to hell. 2nd’s hand had been hurt, maybe it was from the talent show, allowing 6th to get the upper hand. He immobilised her only weapon by practically breaking her fingers, causing her to get knocked down. He then took this chance to get on top of her, throwing punch after punch at his helpless opponent. Blood splattered onto the pool floor. Someone said something but the ringing in your ear had blocked it off. The men made their way to pull a victorious 6th floor off of 2nd. You rushed to her aid, hands doing what they do best. Her face was almost unrecognisable from the blood and swelling.

Up in her room, you used the best things you could get with the 50 hours 6th’s fists had earned you to nurse her back to health. Her eyes were fixed on the wall, unable to meet yours even for a moment. She wouldn’t speak either, so you didn’t push it, she trusted you for a reason and so you gave her grace in her moment of weakness. 

Re-emerging from her room 20 minutes later, you walked back to the group with your head hung down.

“She’s fine for now,” Your voice came out a bit shaky. “She’s in alot of pain though. We can’t-...You took it too far 6th.”

You stood your ground, looking him straight in the eye. 

“She didn’t surrender.” He stated simply. 

“You and I both know you had it out for her.”

He got up suddenly, sizing you up. “All she had to do was say the words.” “When? Between one bloody punch and the next? You didn’t give her any chance to-”

You hadn’t noticed your voice getting louder, angrier, as 6th floor got more pissed off. 7th’s hand had caught your wrist, his eyes urging you to tone it down, step back. You took a deep breath.

“We…I don’t have the facilities to treat serious injuries,” You pleaded to no one in particular, but your eyes subconsciously landed on 8th. “We need to set rules to prevent this from hapening again. A way to back out of the dares.” “A penalty!” 4th floor said with cheerfulness that didn’t match the room. 

A taser.  How great. You went from avoiding violence to introducing a weapon on the same day. She pushed the button causing you to jump back slightly, that thing was loud.

That concluded the first round of the game, capping off at 80 and a bit hours, minus what you used for 2nd floor. 

You sat in your room quietly, allowing the day’s events to catch up to you. It had taken so much effort to try to control the situation only for it all to fall apart in a few moments. Violence was now clearly on the table. And not just that, it was a better time-earner than any alternative. Wondering what other sick games 8th might’ve brainstormed in her solitude was only making you feel worse. You decided to head down to check up 2nd floor, catching a hint of your reflection in the metal of the chute. Come to think of it, it had been a while since you saw yourself, not that the blurry image of you in the metal was any help. You hadn’t noticed the blood staining your shirt, likely from when you helped 2nd up to her room. It made you sick, usually you’d change out of your bloody scrubs immediately at the doorstep, but you haven’t got that option here. 

Knock Knock Knock. 

You made your way into 2nd’s room, her eyes unable to meet yours. The chute groaned open, allowing you to retrieve the icepack you bought for her, the one from the morning too warm to re-use. You sighed, then began to do some checks on her.

“Can you move your fingers?” 

“Have you coughed up blood?”

“How’s the pain?”

“Do you need me to do anything?”

Of course, you were practically talking to yourself, her only giving short nods or huffs as answers. You took a good look at her face, now tinged slightly with a blue undertone, one eye swollen shut. You gave her a nod and turned to exit the room. 

What if it had been you? What if it had been anyone else? At least she was able to hold her own for a minute. Would 6th floor go all out on someone who can’t even fathom the strength needed to fight back? Is this how things will be from now on? Moving in fear of upsetting 8th or her guard dog? You made your way back up to your room with your head down, hoping the food delivery will be soon. 

“How is she?” You looked up to find 7th leaning against your door, a cigarette in his hand. 

“She’ll be fine.” You let out a shaky breath. “7th…this is so messed up. What are we going to do? I mean- A taser? Really?”

He took a drag and rubbed his eyes from behind the glasses, fixing them and then looking at you again. 

“Just avoid conflict as much as we can, I guess.” He said it as if it was the easiest most simple thing to do. You held eachother’s eyes, an uncomfortable silence accompanying your exchange. If he was here to talk about the fight then there’s nothing more to be said, but the way he was awkwardly just standing  there hinted at something else being on his mind. 

The kiss!

The events following it must’ve overtook your mind because you somehow completely forgotten that whole thing. The memories came rushing back and now you too, held some awkwardness in your stance. 

Where do you go from here? What does he want to say? This is completely uncharted territory. Last night you had practically willed the earth to swallow you whole after your conversation, feeling both guilty and a little stupid and then you made out with him like a few hours later! You recalled the sudden boost of confidence that took over you when you’d gone to kiss him first, 

Maybe if I stay still enough he wont see me. Do people with glasses have blind spots? 

He noticed your nervousness and straightened himself up, clearing his throat. 

“Oh- sorry was I blocking your way in?”

You tilted your head and bit your lip, what a dork.

“Were you blocking my way into my room by leaning on the only entrance to it? Yeah 7, you were. But I wasn’t that keen on going back in anyway.”

He let out a low chuckle, his ears turning red in embarrassment.

“Is there something else you wanted, 7th?” You said maybe a bit too sweetly. 

“I just- wanted to say I’m sorry. For earlier. I got a little carried away I think.” but his eyes told a different story, one that held no regret for what he did. You knew deep down that this was just him being polite, or maybe trying to push this unnecessary romantic sublot to the side while you deal with way bigger issues, so you really didn’t take this ‘apology’ to heart. 

Plus you were in the mood to get him flustered. 

“Oh its ok. Besides, you’re a pretty good kisser.” You shrugged.

This caused him to go into a fit of coughs, choking on his own breath. You tried your best to keep the smile inside as you walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to stand up straight immediately. The redness on his face would have now been one of two things, but if you had to guess…

 “Uh…Thank you,” he cleared his throat. “You’re not so bad yourself.” You raised your brow slightly. “Hard to judge my performance fairly if you were doing all the work, no?”

You really need to stop this now, you’re teetering on bullying this poor guy.

His jaw clenched as he turned his attention to the very interesting flight of stairs on the side. Truth is, he had nothing to say. He had come here to make sure there wasn’t any uncomfortableness between the two of you. This was not what he expected back. 

You sensed his predicament and decided to help him out here. 

“I think you were just excited you weren’t paired with 6th again.”

That prompted him to laugh, a little harder than the joke was worth, but it was the undoing of the tension that caused that. 

“Yeah,” he breathed out. 

“You know, all in all, I’m just glad you and I are ok. I thought- you know- because of our talk last night you’d be mad at me.”

That caused him to turn to you, laughter long gone from his blood. 

“I was.” he started, voice only a slightly above a whisper owing to your closeness. “For a little, but you’re a very difficult person to stay mad at.”

Now it was your turn to be speechless. His eyes darted down to your lips momentarily. And so here you two were again, in the same position you keep finding yourselves in. You gave it some thought and decided to mess with him a little, leaning in to plant a small peck on his cheek, lingering there as you could feel his breath grow quicker, his heart practically beating out of his chest where you’d subconsciously positioned your hand. You kept holding this position, and he turned to be face to face with you, only a breath or one boost of confidence apart. Instead, you pulled away suddenly, sighing at the loss of his warmth. You then grabbed your card and opened your door, leaning on it innocently as you looked at him. 

“Goodnight, 7th.”

He stared at you with his head tilted back slightly. He let out a long sigh and shut his eyes for a moment, was this desperation you’re seeing? 

“Goodnight, 5th” he bowed his head to you and walked lazily up the steps. 

2nd floor almost didn’t let you in the following morning until you threatened to sneak into the chute to get to her room. She looked worse than the day before, but that was expected. You spent your morning re-wrapping her hands and getting some of last night’s food in her. 

“How is she?” 3rd asked as you finally joined the group.

“She’ll be in more pain today than yesterday, so I doubt she’ll join us.”

“Nice makeover.” For a split second you thought 6th was referring to you, maybe commenting on the blood on your shirt. But you turned around, surprised to see an exhausted 2nd floor standing a few paces behind you. You let out an exasperated sigh, but you knew arguing with her here would get you no-where.

The second round of the game began around noon, you had the ball #5. 8th was king, again. Statistically, this doesn’t really work, but you know probability plays out differently in the real world. 

“4! Touch 5’s breasts, from under the shirt!” She smiled with excitement and your face scrunched up. This whole thing was made worse with 6th enthusiastic eyes looking for the victims. Gag, what if he was 4? Was that why he was giggling like a horny teenager? Oh you’re definitely picking penalty. 

“Who’s 5?”

You rolled your eyes and turned the ball around, catching 8th’s attention causing her to jump up and down in anticipation. Your eyes met 7’s, who had a slightly disgusted look on his face. 

“And number 4?” 

3rd floor raised his hand awkwardly, you’ll take it. The guy’s too shy to ever make something like this sexual and you really weren’t in the mood to get tased today. 

You sat in front of an audience on the swingset, 3rd standing above you to allow…better access, eyes planted on the floor in shame. You’d hoped he’d just go ahead and get things over with as you stared distantly at the time. 

“Okayyy, 3, 2, 1-” 4th counted him down.

“Tase me! I mean-” He cleared his throat. “I’ll take the penalty.”

You got up to protest with him, knowing that what he was asking was no small trade-off, and you really don’t mind anything at this point. But he insisted, and knelt down at the metal slide, what a stupid position. 

The taser felt heavy in your hand, you really didn’t want to hurt him, but rules are rules. You turned it on and put it on his lower neck, just at the end of the shirt, attempting to avoid going on direct skin. His body tensed up then fell forward, sphincters making a show of betraying him. 

Your hands shook a little, taser still clasped tightly as you watched 7th and 6th carry 3rd up to his room, allowing him some dignity. 

“He didn’t do it cause he’s a real man,” 2nd praised. But a freshly conscious and very distraught 3rd wouldn’t hear it. You left the room shortly after, heart breaking at the loud whines coming from his room the moment you shut the door. That was enough for that day, seeing as 3rd’s chivalry earned the group 60 hours. 

The following day got you yet another losing number, at least you weren't picked for the dare. 4th was king and you were beginning to notice a pattern, must be luck. She picked 1 and 2. At that, 3rd dropped to his knees in relief. Poor guy, it must’ve really done some damage. The numbers were 2nd and 6th floor. Had 4th floor planned this, she wouldn't have been able to continuously pick such awful pairs time and time again. A coin flip, loser gets penalty. 

“I thought you only get penalty if you disobey the king,” 1st floor spoke your mind. 

“We said the king can do what they want, as long as everyone agrees.” That response felt a little…rehearsed, but anyway. The way 4th moved during the coin flip had you a little confused, aren’t you supposed to catch the coin with the back of your hand?

2nd lost, her resolve fading as she came to terms with being on the receiving end of the penalty. Administered by 6th, no less. She met a similar fate to 3rd and 6th couldn’t resist taking a dig at her unconscious body. 

You weren’t king the following day either, 8th was. What a surprise. But at least you weren’t picked for the dare. 2nd and 3rd were. A slapping competition, loser takes penalty. Very high stakes. The only two people here that know what it feels like to lose were going head to head. If you had to bet though, the money’s on 2nd. Too bad you wouldn’t be able to cash out a win like that.

You’d spend the nights after each round up in 7th’s room. Things were…different between you two now. He was more comfortable, open and relaxed than he used to be. Flirting had become you two’s favorite game, along with the various obscure board games he’d piled up, it never went anywhere though and you’d lovingly started keeping a score of who could fluster the other more often. Its a tie, mostly because you never anticipate his cheesy lines and he shuts up with any compliment. He’d also become more open with the idea of getting to know each other.

“Are you…an engineer?” That made him laugh. 

“No, I am not.”“What!”

You were both laid on his mattress, a respectful distance between you two as you stared at the ceiling. He, as usual, was smoking and you took pleasure in watching the wafts of gray rising and disappearing. 

“Close though, I- used to be. Kind of”

“And then?”“I’ve already given too much.”“Ughh fine. Your turn.”

“How did you get here?”

“That sketchy white limousine-”

“Don’t be a smartmouth”

“I lost my scholarships cause of a decision I made. I wasn’t ever going to be able to afford uni without them so when I got kicked off I had two options; finish the remaining years on your own debt or drop out. I chose the former. I don’t regret it though”

“Of course you don’t,” he chuckled, 

This went on for a while. Vague answers and fits of giggles. You hadn’t noticed how sleepy you were, eyes betraying you in a moment of a silence going on for too long. He watched your sleeping form with a sheepish smile on his lips, feeling awful for what he was about to do. 

“5th…” he shook you gently. “5th it’s almost midnight you have to leave.”

You groaned in response. 

“C’mon I’ll walk you down.”

You reveled in this routine. It was…sincere. There was no hidden agenda or heavy conversation. Everything just flowed smoothly. That day was no different. You were in his room when food delivery was taking place, it seemed she would now only send it whenever she felt like it. A part of you wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she received the food at different times each day. But knowing her? She probably kept it in her room until she decided which meal suits her best and then keeps it depending on how pleased she was that day. 7th grabbed two meals and set one infront of you. There was something so familiar about this, just eating in silence with some great company. The food wasn’t so bad that night. Bland, as usual, but being so high ment that you got second pick of the meal instead of 4th., allowing you more options. The poultry here wasn’t the best, you’d expressed your dilemma of never getting any of the shrimp meals to 7th. They used to be quite the delicacy back when you had group lunches, all things considered. So this time, he picked up the shrimp meal for you and another meal for himself. Your shoulders dropped in a sigh when the food hit your tongue, moaning a little, causing him to chuckle. 

“Had I known you like it so much I woul’ve left it, 8th usually takes the other one for herself.”

“That witch eats?” You said between mouthfuls. “Plus, 6th floor would’ve taken it.”

Your little bubble was popped by a knock at the door, the frown on 7th face indicating he wasn’t expecting anyone. 

“Is everything ok?” He kept the stranger outside, blocking your view of whoever it was. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked like it wasn’t good. 7th looked over to you before letting the guest in. 

Guests, actually. 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors. It seemed important, so you put the food down and got up. They were surprised to see you in there, obviously, but the matter at hand swayed the conversation away from your presence.

Someone was rigging the game. That one wasn’t hard to figure out, but 1st floor made a show of the coin toss, revealing that 4th floor is probably a prime suspect. Less than a minute of thought will tell you that she likely wasn’t doing this for her own benefit, you all came to the conclusion she was working for the higher floors. 7th and 3rd smoked as you all talked, clearly a bit on edge from this whole thing. 

“We can’t confront them, they’ll just deny.” 7th sighed. “We have to wait for them to slip up.”

And how convenient was it that as you were leaving, you spotted a sneaky 4th floor tiptoeing towards the box. 7th volunteered to handle it whilst you waited upstairs, watching. 

“Care to explain?” 2nd had taken the spot next to you on the stairs, observing 7th walk quietly towards a distracted 4th. 

“You aren’t my mom, so not really no.” You said half seriously and she chuckled.

“You know, maybe he isn’t so bad” She said.

You both watch as he put a hand around 4th’s mouth to stop her from screaming, similar to what he did to you the first night you talked. You wondered how many women he does this to.

“You looked very entertained when him and I kissed,” You teased. “What was that about?”

“I just knew you were probably a mess.” She laughed. 

You let out an awkward laugh, catching 7’s eyes as he made his way back to you, giving you a thumbs up on the way causing 2nd to chuckle.

“Is he smiling? I didn't think he could do that!” she nudged your side. 

. . .

The air was thick with anticipation as you watched 7th stand over 8th floor, taser in hand. He seemed unsure, dragging the action on a little too long, as if he didn’t want to do this. Maybe he was afraid of what repercussions may follow, but this was a fair fight, no? Equal contribution and all.  

“I’ll count down. 3..2..1-” He didn’t get to have the taser touch her skin before 6th floor gave him a harsh kick to his side, causing him to get knocked down, glasses flung somewhere in the process. None of you had even noticed 6th go up to him, too focused on the excitement of the idea of punishing 8th. You let out a yelp, he had blood on his face and was clutching his side. 6th floor picked up the taser. 

“Hey what the hell are you doing!” It was not really a question, but 2nd’s cries fell on deaf ears. 

You were all frozen in place, unsure of what to do in this situation. 

“W-why?” 7 shook. 

“We needed a twist, don’t you agree?” 6th said grimly as he looked over to the cameras, before turning back to 7th and shoving the taser into his neck, prompting him to pass out. 

Shocked gasps erupted from your side and your brain went into action mode, running around the slide to reach the man on the floor, trying to see if there’s anything you could do. But you didn’t make it all the way before 6th made a show of turning the taser on in your direction. A clear threat. 

You watched in helpless horror as 6th and 4th carried 7th up eight flights of stairs to the highest room, smiles wide on each of their faces and you couldn’t try to think of what things they may have in store for him. 

05/ The pawn.

[obamas-eyebrow]

02/Up & Down.

7th floor x female reader (the 8 show) Masterlist WC:7.0K, oops. specific chapter warnings:idk :-).

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

8th floor could not contain her smile, to her this was entertaining. The sight of her grin made you want to gag, reminds you of those pretentious chicks you’d avoid at university. The ones that would gasp when you tell them that no, you didn't have a holiday house in Italy unfortunately. You preferred to think of yourself as a girls’ girl, but sometimes social classes and stuck up ‘daddy’s money’ girls would make you lose your composure. It's not difficult to see she comes from money, if you were 8th floor you still would not spend much your first night. She, however, had decided to turn the space into her personal hotel and still have more than you’ll likely ever make here. It made your blood boil. You barely knew her but you'd already decided you really dislike her, this made you feel guilty. She didn’t do anything wrong per se but, her personality, her privilege. You needed some air. Out on the stairs, you dropped your head down in defeat.

I’m still making good money, basically work-free here. 2 nights ago I was ready to end it all, now there's actually a ray of hope. The grass is always greener on the other side. It’s ok. I’m ok. Deep breaths…

The time board, which you were sure read 30-ish hours a little bit ago now read a little under 50. If you had doubts before, you were certainly sure now. Was it fun to watch the sheer shock on our faces? Was it fun to watch 1st floor rethink his unlucky draw? Is that what you want, pain? You looked up at the ridiculous amount of cameras in every corner. Now more than ever, you wanted to hide in a little cocoon and not be perceived. But alas, the red lights remain blinking. 

For some reasons beyond your comprehension, they had decided to tour everyone's rooms.

7th’s was slightly less annoying than 8th’s, having noticeably less junk. It housed a…desk? Some notebooks and pens too. On the other side of the room was a mattress with a navy bed-set on the floor. This guy is definitely an engineering or finance bro.

6th floor had bought one of those beach fold-out beds, at least that’s what you think it is. That’s actually pretty smart. He also had some blankets and a pillow; the height of luxury, obviously.

You sheepishly let them into your room, 5th floor. It was the bare booty minimum. In fact, it only housed the bucket and bags you’d gotten a few hours ago. 

“How did you…sleep last night?” 2 teased. 

This, to you, meant that even the lowest floors had spent at least some of their money.

“I’m used to it,” you shot her a playful glance. 

4th and 3rd floors’ rooms just got progressively smaller in size, they each got themselves some form of bed and cover to spend the night. You had also noticed that as the floors went down, the view on the screen window changed, to a lower area. Both figuratively and literally. 

Then 2nd floor who had bought dumbbells!

“You didn't know how long you’d be here for and this is your first instinct?” you laughed

“You didn’t even buy a pillow!”

That broke the tension a bit between the group, as snickers and giggles erupted all throughout. 2nd couldn’t help but join in on the fun.

The mood was however immediately killed when 1st floor’s room was opened. You caught yourself practically holding back tears. It was even smaller than your actual apartment and the number on the board was pathetic, at least in comparison to everything else you’d seen. Worst of all- the ceiling was so low, 1st himself could not stand upright. You're pretty claustrophobic, this would make you lose your mind you think. No one was able to meet 1’s eyes, as if all your problems had been stupid in comparison to this. 

“It’s ok” he tried to break the awkward silence. “I wouldn’t have been able to climb all these stairs everyday anyway” 

No one believed him.

. . .  

Food delivery was successful, everyone settled on having lunch in1st’s room.  It was kind of cute actually. Conversation flowed so smoothly, the main topic was obviously the situation at hand here. Theories flew around about how they think time is earned, obviously some ridiculous things were said, but it was comforting to know that no one else had any freaking idea. 4 had then brought up the topic of who we think is behind this whole thing, that got everyone thinking. Obviously they had an unfathomable amount of money. Not only were they able to plan out and execute the physicals of a place like this, they also were able to program the money, the chute, the time, the different rooms. It’s clear that this place is meant to house you for a while. 3rd got up for a smoke and ended up joining 7 right outside the room. You could barely make out what they were discussing, it seemed important. They were both looking out towards the outside area. Your mind started to think about everyone here, and how they ended up in this situation. Had they been as desperate as you are? The higher floors seemed to be coming from money, had they been desperately clawing their way up the ladder too? Or are they here for another reason? Entertainment? You were almost sure you recognised 6th somewhere, on TV you think. And 8 clearly had no trouble holding her hand back from spending. 7 you couldn’t figure out, probably a corporate dude who works in one of those high office buildings you see in the skyline. 1, 2, 3 and 4 were likely more like you, right? What kind of circumstances have pulled 8 unrelated individuals from all walks of life here with one goal. You were so lost in your mind and the countless speculations that you didn’t notice your eyes being focused on 7’s face. He was still deep in conversation with 3 but he’d turned around to match your stare, only breaking eye contact momentarily to look at 3. He then mumbled something, you thought you could make out him saying your number then both looked back at you. 

My fantasy threesome. No! Stop…

You realised that to him it likely looked like you were ogling at his face. You turned away from their eyes and looked down at your plate of food, shoving a bite-too-big into your mouth out of nervousness. Your cheeks hurt from distension with the amount of food inside, you didn’t look up to check, but you hoped they turned away now. Alas, you could still feel their eyes on you. 

The awkward exchange was brought to an end by a yell from outside. 2- you hadn't even noticed that she’d gotten up- was yelling at someone in the square. You got up to join 3, 4, 6 and 7 in their observation of the commotion, but not before helping 1 up from his position.

“Thank you,” he said, to which you gave him a short nod, clearly more occupied by the issue outside. 

 “Hey, what are you doing!,” 2 yelled at 8, you now saw what was going on.

8 had used up most of the time to buy…clothes. You were all left with just under 20 minutes till the show's end. Everyone ran down quickly to meet an annoyingly ‘confused’ 8 at the centre. She feigned cluelessness as she questioned the ruckus. 

“You spent all our time on clothes!” 2 all but freaked out. “Why didn't you do it in your own room!”

8 gave an innocent look and then said; “I wanted to wear them out here. And we could always just increase the time..?”

“And how would we do that?” 7 questioned calmly (with his addictive ass voice).

8th floor looked between everyone’s distressed faces and laughed, “Really? None of you know how to get more time?”

“Stop messing around and just spit it out!” 2 inched closer to 8.

“I’ll tell you…” she trailed off for a moment. “If you apologise to me.”

“Enough games! I’m not apo-” 2 began but was cut off by 6 grabbing her arm.

 “Use your words, talk it out.” he said firmly. 

4th pushed between them and began to apologise on behalf of 2nd. Surprisingly this worked.

“It’s the stairs!” 8th motioned to the area behind her. “Going up and down increases the time.”

That…doesn’t even make the least bit of sense. Why would it be the stairs? Wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive to place so many cameras for a show about stairs. Surely someone saw the flaw in this theory…7! 

In the spur of the action that everyone seemed to jump into, you whipped your head over to seven who was already looking at you, a look of understanding was exchanged, but the others had already started running to the steps and you two were due to join them soon. It seemed that everyone else was convinced. Or in the least bit willing to try. So, with a deep breath in, you split from 7 jogging to the stairway on the right, him on the left. Up & down. That's how you guys spent the next 15 minutes. Testing out the theory of this hellish exercise being your source of time. After a quarter hour of hardwork and heavy sweat, you all stood back, a little defeated as the clock counted down from 10 seconds. But when it reached 1, it flashed and went up again to 30 hours! A collective sigh/laugh of relief washed over you all. You’re getting another chance at this money game. A whole other day just from climbing the stairs. 8th floor giggled loudly,

“See! I told youuuu. I noticed the time go up when we were seeing the rooms and I figured it out, haha! I’m pretty smart!”

Except you weren’t convinced. Yes, ok, maybe the facts point to the obvious, but it still didn’t make any sense. Whatever.  

. . .  

Night fell quicker than you’d anticipated, likely because being in this space was very disorienting. You have no way of telling the actual time other than the huge clock they provide. hmm. It was the young hour of 8pm when everyone retreated to their personal spaces to sleep. 8pm for you however, signaled the end of your shift and start of you free time, so sleep was not greeting you any time soon. Your room was pretty boring, even after all the ‘decorating’ you’ve done. A fold-out bed, like 6’s, a pillow and a blanket. Plus the ‘toilet’ that you’d blocked off with a few cardboard boxes for your own peace of mind. Despite not being much, it had cost you a fortune. Tossing and turning in the prison like bed did nothing to quiet your mind nor entertain it. It killed time though. Still, the ceiling here was much more boring than the one back home and- back home! Who the hell was going to be covering your rent? It was due in a few days. Oh no…You would really rather not come home to an eviction notice. Anxiety began to bubble in your chest. Your feet quickly took you to the phone, but since you were not requesting something in-game, you were not even given a price. You looked at the nearest camera and pleaded to whomever was on the other side but still you could not rest. It was around this hour you’d take a nightly stroll anyway. 

The outside was a bit cooler than the room, making you hug yourself for warmth. Forearms resting on the stairs edge, there was a faint smell of cigarettes in the air, gag. The room, vast as it was, was very unassuming from up here. You thought maybe exploring the downstairs would be fun. 

Fake ice cream in the parlor, fake dogs at the stand, fake clothes in the shop, an ominous figure moving out of the corner of your eye, fake pizza at the-wait. You quickly whipped around only to be met with glasses inches away from your face. A yelp almost escaped had he not covered your mouth and pushed you into the wall. 7. Finally eye to eye after a day’s worth of side eyes. 

This gave you an opportunity to take a good look at him. A bit taller than you, very intense eyes hidden behind a neat pair of round-rim glasses. The events of the day had left their print on him, hair a slight mess and cheeks tinted red from exhaustion. He looked down at you with a stong poker face and you considered biting his hand. Right now, you have no idea what his intentions are here nor what he wants with you. You stood there panting for a beat or two before he took his hand off of your lips, but not before shushing you first. You stood together in a momentary awkward silence as he let out a deep sigh and fixed his glasses back up his face. You raised an eyebrow at him, motioning him to break the ice you stood on. 

“Sorry,” he started. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

“Wow. What would you do if did mean to startle me,” you joked, earning no reaction from him. Not a single muscle movement, not even a slight smile or anything. 

Tough crowd.

His face slowly turned away from you and you followed his gaze towards the time screen. 

“You didn’t seem convinced earlier with the time situation, did you have another theory?” he whispered

Of course you did, it really wasn’t that difficult to put together

“Why wouldn’t I be convinced? We saw the time go up, no?” You tried to play dumb, to which he only slightly turned his head to give you a sarcastic look. You almost squirmed under his glare. He then turned himself to be fully facing you and you mirrored his position. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth, then proceeded to tilt the pack as an offer to you, which you politely declined. He shot you a questioning look.

“They’re worse for you than I could possibly explain,” you chuckled. 

He nodded as he flicked his lighter and took in a deep inhale which he exhaled from his nose in your general direction. He knew what he was doing. You let out a few fake coughs to try to get the flow of conversation to start again, he only kept eyeing you observantly.

“You’d make a terrible actress,” he said between puffs. You chose to remain silent. Another breath in, then out, “The cameras, the time, the hours added after touring the rooms, do you think I think you're that naive?”

You cursed your inability to mask your facial expressions. He must’ve seen the enlightenment on your face earlier this morning, then again on the stairs. You let out a defeated sigh. 

“I think…they want a show…Content,” you hesitated.

He gave you a satisfied nod, “that’s what I fear.” And after a brief moment of contemplation; “You’re pretty observant 5,” he said, tongue in cheek. 

He threw his burnt out cigarette at his feet then looked down as he stomped on it. His eyes shifted back up to your face then the clock. Almost midnight. You waited patiently for him to add to his previous statement, but you only observed him sniff lightly and fix his glasses again. His eyes met yours one last time, then he turned away and headed for the stairs. You watched as he paused after only a short distance was put between you. His hand went up to rest on his hip and the other to rub his eyes. It seemed like he wanted to say something but was unsure if he should. Before you could speak up he said;

“It’s good to know I can depend on someone here.”, Shooting you a quick look at the end then he sauntered away to his room. 

Heat crept up your cheeks, and you tried to convince yourself it was due to flattery and nothing else. 

. . .  

The smell of something burning overwhelmed your senses. You couldn’t find the source of the smoke that was blocking your vision completely. A faint yet somehow prominent ticking was shaking your entire being with every click. Voices started circling your form, they were asking you something you couldn’t quite make out. Chanting your name in a calm, level voice, unfitting for the situation at hand. 

Over

And over 

And over 

And-

You turned around, now finding yourself in your old apartment’s kitchen. It felt like home. The source of the voice hunched over the sink was a man, wearing an apron over a pristine white uniform, his eyes locked on your figure, a concerned knot of his brows etched onto his forehead. 

“Seven…” you sighed with relief. He gave you a confused, then sincere look, opening his welcoming arms to you. You crossed confidently into his warm embrace, this felt so natural. You’d done this more than a hundred times over. Over on the stove, he was making-burning-some scrambled eggs. There’s the source of the smoke. You said something to him and he gave a hearty laugh, not that you heard either side of this conversation. It was all blurry. You whipped around, still in his cradle to find the source of a new, loud thumping sound. The apartment front door- your train of thought was derailed when the sound became banging.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Hurried bangs met your door, causing the fantasy around you to crumble.

5…5..

“5! Are you ok?” an unfamiliar voice called from outside, startling you awake. You rolled off the bed onto the floor, determined to stop the disturbance before gathering your thoughts. Stumbling up towards the door handle, you ripped it open to reveal a quite agitated 7, both hands on hips, glasses perched atop his head. The events of your dream started coming back to you, making your eyes widen in embarrassment. He took a deep breath in, eyebrows furrowing at your expression.

“Are you ok? We-” he was cut off by the room door slamming shut. He remained in his position for a second, confusion now settling onto his face, and fixed his glasses back were they’re of use to him. 

Inside, you were having a mini spiral, heat still strong on your cheeks and down your neck.

You’ve known the man for all of 24 hours and you’re already fantasising about him?! Ok maybe not fantasising, you obviously can’t control your dreams. Dear lord, he’s barely even spoken 5 full sentences in your general direction! Girl get it together. 

You ran your hands down your face, wishing you could have some ice cold water to splash yourself in right now. Heart still beating a million beats, you spent the better part of 5 minutes trying to make yourself more presentable and less like a girl who’d been dreaming of her teammate. So much for not making things weird. It hit you that, due to the absence of your alarm, you’d probably overslept and the others were likely waiting on you to begin the plight of stair climbing. You felt so awkward, you hoped they didn’t let you sleep that long. With one final stretch, you opened the door again, ready to face the crowd. You took one singular step outside before a voice startled you from the side. 

“5 are you-” he started, only to be cut off by your slight jump and not so slight scream. 

“You need to stop doing that.” You panted. 

“I didn’t mean to-”

“I’m fine.” That came out a bit harsher than you intended, you just need to put some air between the two of you right now, let the hormones settle or whatever. You kept your head forward as you walked to the stairs, catching a glimpse of the others who were looking up at you. This descent was encased in an awkward silence, broken only by the sound of your footsteps, 7’s a few paces beyond you. 

Finally re-joining the group, you said a quick good morning and stood quietly as 7 explained the plan for today. You had your arms crossed, eyes fixed on the floor as he spoke next to you. You’re sure they heard your scream. Also why was he the one to come check up on you? You found yourself recalling last night’s interaction, reflexively biting the inside of your cheek. You looked up to find 8 smirking knowingly at you, not that there was anything to know. Her eyes bounced between you and 7 a few times as her lips spread out into her million dollar smile, clearly unable to contain excitement, and you doubt it had anything to do with the disgusting exercise you’re about to embark on. You avoided her looks timidly only to find 2 also giving you a side-eye-smirk combo. 

“Okay ready? Off we go.”

For the next 4 days you went laps through the stairs to earn more time and also started to genuinely regret not just killing yourself, although the stairs have been giving you a very similar effect.

Lunch was always a treat, more figuratively than literally. Sitting in 1st floor’s room and sharing vague stories had become your favourite part of the day. 

You’ve grown especially fond of 2. Her quick wit and loud laugh broke through the hardened exterior she’d put up pretty quickly. Her company was always welcome. 4th floor seemed sweet, though her continuous complaining and subtle pessimism drove you crazy sometimes. 

3, a man deserving of an award for how awkward he is, had become closer to 7. Often conversing as they smoked. Watching them was a bit of a guilty pleasure of yours now. Especially the latter of the two. Maybe you should’ve taken him up on that cigarette. 

The more time you spent here, the more you got closer to putting your finger on where you’ve seen 6th before. When you brought this up to him in a private conversation he stiffened up. 

“Just one of those faces,” he clenched his jaw in anger, though you never found out what could have prompted that. 

8 has never joined your lunches, despite 7; someone who was only the floor below her, being always present. Not that you would ever complain about either of those things. 

You and him found a small…routine growing. 

It had started with you lagging behind everyone going to bed, usually ending up alone. You chose to spend this time in the open air rather than the small room, it gave you a sense of tranquility. Away from the banter and bickering, embraced by the oh so familiar silence. He joined you the first night after 20ish minutes of solitude. You hadn’t expected conversation to take place between you two, owing to your brief encounter the night before, but you were pleasantly surprised. 

You two were seated on the swingset side by side, him completely still as you swayed back and forth a little. There was a short lived comfortable quiet between you two, unexpectedly broken by; 

“Do you want to play chess?”

And that’s how you ended up in his room, sat on the floor hunched over a freshly-bought chess set. It's not like you hadn’t played this before, but you were in no way good at it. Hell, you still take a moment to remember which piece moves which way every turn. It seemed however, that this was 7’s domain. Can this man get any more cliche. He explained the rules slowly to you, nothing stuck though, your mind was obviously elsewhere. The first match-set ended in a 3-0, his win obviously, but you held your ground pretty well, rounds lasting upwards of 40 minutes.

“Not bad,” he said after one particular move caught him off guard, prompting a fluster spell to take over you, followed by a quick loss. Maybe he planned it. 

On the second night, he offered to teach you some techniques that you could use. You thought this counterintuitive because he’d know how to get you anyway. But you really couldn’t turn down getting to listen to him talk for 20 continuous minutes. Your bottom lip hurt from how often you bit it to suppress a giggle. You still lost, obviously. 2-0

The following day you used some of your money to buy a chess guide. It was less out of a crush and more so your burning competitiveness. He opened his door that night to find you; out of the uniform jacket with sleeves rolled up to your elbows and a determined look on your face. You took a little longer to meet up with him that night, spending an extra hour alone memorising new moves. You were going to wipe that cocky smirk off of his face no matter what. You’d managed to counter some of his moves and kept the games going for longer. 1 whole hour, your new personal best. It was during the final few moves from each of you that you’d taken him by surprise. 

“Check-mate,” you said with a premature victory smile. 

His eyes widened, hand rushing up to fix the glasses back into their preferred spot. He made an exaggerated movement of rubbing his eyes under the frame, only to look at the board again. He brought his face closer to the board and turned his eyes up to look at you as he grabbed a piece to nullify your previous move. 

“You lost,” he whispered. 

“Heyyy you didn’t even say checkmate!” You whined 

“We don’t have to,”

“You’re playing dirty!” 

You erupted into a fit of giggles, mirrored by him with a stifled laugh. You found yourself leaning back on your elbows as he also adjusted his position to be closer to you. You shut your eyes and tilted your head back, really breathing in this moment. He took this chance to properly scan you over, stopping curiously at a large scar on your left forearm. 

“What’s this?” he queried.

“What?” your eyes snapped down to where he was looking. “This…is  a scar?”

He rolled his eyes. “How did you get it,” he subconsciously ran his index down the discoloured tissue, sending shivers down your back. 

“Oh uhm,” you stuttered nervously. “I- hey wait what happened to keeping our lives to ourselves here?”

“For one, I wasn’t the one to suggest that” he kept inspecting your arm with his finger, almost like a child fascinated by a toy. “And I beat you, three nights in a row so,”

“What? Cmon!” you scoffed. “We never agreed on this! Why don’t you tell me something about you first? Like whether or not you’re some chess champion and I’m an idiot for battling a professional.”

“You’re not in a negotiating position right now,” he laughed, that’s a first. “Just…keep it vague.”

“Protesting,” you finally answered. His face changed into an unreadable expression, followed by what you could swear was him being a bit impressed. 

“Didn’t take you as the type,” he hesitated. 

“Wow, I’m a little offended.”

“No I just- you look a lot more like a pacifist.”

“No I hate sitting around doing nothing in the face of corruption, gotta fight for what you love you know.”

Sensing the sudden heaviness that fell onto your conversation you got up to leave. He remained in his position on the ground, cogs clearly turning inside. You reached for the door handle.

“Don’t hurt your brain thinking too hard, pretty.” you didn’t mean for that last part to be said out loud. He snickered. 

“I’m not.”

“Good,”

“No, I mean I’m not a grandmaster. I just play for fun,”“Gotya, I’ve been losing to just some guy. Great.”

“Goodnight 5,”

“Good night 7,” 

. . .  

It had been a long 4 days. Food was never enough anymore, having each of you fight chopstick to chopstick for the last bite of anything was beginning to weigh down on everyone. A collective sigh erupted around 1st’s room.

“We must be burning like 30000 calories a day, shouldn’t we be getting more food?” 4th questioned.

“Hmm I could really go for a hot dog right now,” 3rd all but moaned, head resting on the wall behind him.

“We need to divide the work in two,” 6th dropped his utensils onto the empty boxes. Now that sounded like a plan. Go team! 

So, everyone decided that, starting the next morning, you’ll split into 2 equal teams to divide the work. The odds and the evens, a genius solution to-

“I want to switch, we don’t get along,” 2 sighed. She had a point though, her and all the other members of her team had been picking petty fights and arguments all week. You’ve all had to practically pull them apart, especially with 6 and 8. It would be best if she switches,yes. You gave it a moment of thought , yeah no. Not jumping into that piranha pit. Who in their right mind would-

“I don’t mind which team I’m on,” 1st floor the man that you are. 

And so it was decided, team 1 (odds) will be running tomorrow while team 2 (evens, obvi) rests. Whichever team does the work that day gets 2 meals per person, whilst the resting team gets only 1, allowing us to both rest and digest on alternating days. A satisfying tandem. 

. . .  

“What do you think of the new system?” Chess set long abandoned in favour of a cigarette to ease his mind. Always the worrier, he was. 

“I think it will work. Or I hope it does anyway,”

“Still think it isn’t the stairs?”

You’d actually completely forgotten that. “...I don’t know.”

. . .  

The system worked well, for 5 days you switched back and forth between leisure and hardwork. 

You would often observe 1st floor on your days off. Witnessing him falling very far behind due to his leg. You wanted to ask him about it but never found the right time. It led to him meeting his lap quota way later than anyone else, but you knew if you called out the unfairness you’d only be met with criticism. Plus tension was already high in that group. On the upside, you got to watch 7 find ways to entertain himself on your down-time (and all hot and sweaty on odd days). The most entertaining thing to do though, was utilising this time with 2nd floor. She tried to teach you some of her calisthenics, but those moves were really easier watched than done. Even 3rd joined you on multiple occasions giving you the purest form of entertainment. And your most favourite; men falling flat on their ass.

The bubble was abruptly burst by a scream echoing from the stairwell, and you all rushed to the victim’s aid. You arrived to see 6th floor tightly clutching 1st’s hand. You didn’t catch what he told him, too focused on determining if there was an injury to tend to or not. Old habits die hard. 2nd pushed past 6th, making a point of bumping into him on her way up. 1st protested, and you gathered what happened here. She was covering for him.

“I get stiff when I don’t workout.”

When your day rolled around the following morning, she was clearly exhausted from the added load and collapsed halfway through the top. 

“You ok?” you crouched next to her.

“Yeah yeah fine, just need a minute.”

. . .  

“I don’t need it,” 2nd protested.

“Yeah you do actually,” you refuted. “Plus I’m full.” Liar.

She wanted to continue arguing but her stomach clearly had the upper hand. 7 gave you a small smile from the other side of the stuffy room. You’d become better at figuring him out, every twitch and blink of his like its own secret code. You held his eyes for a few more seconds, but with the state of him at the moment- cheeks red, eyes tired and the day’s hard work evident on his face- you thought it best to look away. 

This incident happened again, a day later with 3rd floor as well. Noble as it was, it came with the looming threat of 6th floor’s bubbling impatience. 4th floor, whom you’d previously thought to be on the kinder side, was upset at 1st floor eating his regular meal schedule. It's not like he wasn’t working at all, just less than usual. You couldn't understand what the big deal was, it really wasn’t like he was holding everyone back. 

. . .  

A well deserved mid-work break in your personal quarters was now a luxury you didn’t previously predict. With unease weighing heavy on everyone, group meals were switched out for solitude, for the best anyway. 2nd floor would sometimes join you to sit in silence together. Well, usually sit in silence.

“You almost got it,” her gruff voice commented, still eating her food.

“Really? It feels like the wall is doing all the work right now,” you flopped back down, an ‘oof’ sound escaping as your back hit the floor.

She dusted her hands, getting up to show you.

“It’s all in your mindset,”

“What kind of health pseudoscience is that?” you giggled, watching her perfectly do a handstand in the middle of the room.

She gave you an unimpressed look, “You’re close minded. Your putting too much focus on just your body, but if you're scared of falling, you won’t be able to get up there,”

“Deep,”

“No. I’m talking about handstands, don’t make it profound,” she chuckled as she dropped back down, pausing for a moment before talking again.

“What’s with you and glasses?”

“What?”

“Saw you sneaking up to his room the other night” she gave you a cheeky look.

“I was not *sneaking*, it was late and I didn’t want to wake anyone up. We just play chess together, that’s all. And we’re just friends,”

“Why at night?”

“Neither of us can sleep that early. Plus we’re sort of busy during the day?” you made a pendulous up and down movement with your finger.

“And our days off?”“What were you doing up that late anyway?”

“Irrelevant, answer the question.”

“I-” You paused to think. Why *did* you two only meet in such late hours. This had completely gone past you somehow. Outside, you would never entertain a guy that only seeks you out after sundown, why had you let it happen here? Yeah sure, it's nicer at night with no one else around but…but what? You two weren’t a thing, this was just a silly crush! He doesn’t owe you anything. And you don’t have to prove anything now.

“It’s just how it is 2nd, don’t read too much into it.”

Her face had morphed into that of subtle anger.

“You and I are friends, you don’t see me hiding that.” she huffed, her tone changing to that of quiet scolding. “You can’t trust him! Especially not those floors. I don’t know what he wants with you, but I’d keep my guard up.”

  . . .   

The chute groaned open unexpectedly, filling the room with a pungent smell. Inside, dozens of black bags were stacked up next to bottles of…pee? You couldn’t even try to theorise as to what might be going on here. Standing up to find an answer, you walked over to the door, abandoning your food, appetite long gone. You opened the door to find the welcoming blond haired woman leaning against the frame. Before you could ask, she said;

“1st feels guilty about not being able to keep to keep up, so he offered to keep everyone's waste in his room,”

“And the others agreed to pile up their crap in the smallest room?” 

She shrugged and walked away. 

You thought of the kind man 4 floors below you, and how his conscience put him in this position. It didn’t make sense though. He’s already at the most disadvantage here, both by  earning the least and having a tiny tiny living space. You thought of how the bags would hinder movement even further, and how, since everyone would eat in his room, he’d already had to stockpile the empty boxes. And oh god the stench. You only had the chute open for a minute or two but you’re sure the smell was going to haunt you tonight. The number of bags in the metal box -obviously belonging to the top three floors- had you guessing if some of them had an explosive week and a half. Probably 6th. Your eyes looked over to your own stock of goods. No, your room was big enough. You hit the button to close the chute and send it down without contributing to this mess of a situation. It was time to get back to running so you did some of the stretches that 2nd taught you to ease the aching muscles.

  . . .   

“You look like you need an exorcism”

“Sorry we don’t all have loose ligaments”

“What does that even mean”

  . . .   

You opened the already unlocked door to regroup with your team, only to find a disgruntled 2 leaning against the railing.

“Did you do it?” she questioned with a poker face.

“No,” “3rd and 4th did. 6th and 8th too,”

“7th?” 

“No idea,” she looked off to the side. 

Before you could say anything else, 3rd floor zoomed up past you, tripping over nothing for no reason.  Followed by 7th, who shot a ‘get to work look’ at both of you. This pissed her off.

“Why does he act like he’s the only person here with a brain?” It was more a statement than a question. You dropped your head down in a defeated sigh. He really does act like that. 

“We should-”

“After you.”

  . . .   

1st floor’s idea brought life back to the show, with 6th floor’s glares long gone, everyone felt at ease. Group lunches became a daily thing again and you think that you saw 6 smiling at 1 the other day, though you might’ve just been hungry. Your visits to 7th’s room had become less

frequent, owing mostly to the talk you had with 2nd, though he did not seem to overthink the change. 1st floor would still help, at his own pace, which baffled you. Was he now not doing twice the work? No-one else seemed to mind, but you thought of a way to give back to your unlucky teammate. You had noticed earlier that he had next to no belongings in his room, nothing to sleep with specifically.  Before the next waste delivery came around, you bought a warm blanket and a soft pillow -nicer than the ones you got yourself, since you’re likely spending a while here anyway- and wrapped them in an unassuming black bag with ‘open me’ written on with some marker. You made a point of blending it in with the other bags just because you really don’t know 4th floor’s situation and you feared someone else would take it. It wasn’t much, but it was the least you could do. The following morning, you awoke to see a well rested, smiley 1st floor, it filled you with warmth. 

“Oh 1st floor, how did you get that” 3rd floor noticed the new living situation during lunch. 

“Someone sent it to me as a gift I think,” he smiled from ear to ear. “They did not mention who they were…thank you.” he bowed his head to everyone in the room.

Looks were exchanged all around but you’d managed to keep a poker face and act as surprised as the others, you didn’t do this for praise afterall. More for the community. 

The issue at hand now was the time, which had not been meeting the quota you predicted it would. It all came to a head on an even day. 

They had been running all day, with not a minute gained on the time. 

“Screw this, I’m going back to my room.” 8th pushed past 4th. 

“What?” she panted back to her.

“It’s not working, I’m not doing this anymore.”

“You can’t just-” but she’d already turned away. 

You looked back at the clock desperately, still nothing. Your team ended up joining them, in a miserable attempt to prolong your stay. Up and down till nightfall. 8 hours remained ticking down by the end of the day. But then, as all was seemingly hours away from being lost. The time shot up 20 minutes, then another. A laugh of relief escaped everyone's mouth.

“Stupid thing was lagging” 6th wheezed. With that, you called it in for the night, hopeful that tomorrow, things will go back to how they were. 

Oh how you couldn’t be more wrong. 

  . . .   

Another morning waking up to panic and banging on your door. You rushed up and out of the room to cast your eyes to the time. 20 minutes. What happened! This can’t end like this. Everyone began doing their part frantically. Up & down. You finished just the one cycle before a different kind of panic erupted from the stairs a few floors below you. Rushing down to a small gathering of your teammates, hunched over someone flat on the ground, you pushed yourself in between to assess the situation. 4th floor, seizure. 

“She’s seizing!” you panted as you put her into the recovery position. 

“Do you have medical training?” Really 7th? Is this really the time to ask this? What does it look like?

“EMT.” 

“What does she need?” 

“Phenytoin! She needs Phenytoin!” At that, 2nd and 3rd rushed down to reach the square for the medicine. In hindsight, it would've probably been quicker if they used one of the rooms, too late now. 

7th helped you carry her all the way down, but by the time you met with everyone, a fist fight had erupted. 6th had tackled 2nd to the ground. 7th left your side to try to control the situation only to be roped into the fight. 3rd’s nose was now bleeding.

“She could get permanent brain damage!” Your reasoning fell onto deaf ears

It all happened so fast- the fight, the call and…giggles. You looked behind you to find 8th floor, hunched over herself and clutching her stomach in laughter. 

“Can’t you see what I see?” she wiped actual tears from her eyes. 

True to her words, a marvelous site casted its glow upon all onlookers.

Time was added.  

03/ Chess not checkers.

[obamas-eyebrow]

01/Flat-line.

7th floor x female reader (the 8 show) Masterlist

WC:4.0K, specific chapter warnings: suicide mention.

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

Sitting back and watching others work their magic was really not your strong suit , and it was most definitely your least favorite part of the job. They were in there for at least 20 minutes and still, no contact or even a report back. Nervousness spread quickly through the smoke-thick air, as they themselves had not returned. You leaned back on the ambulance in silence next to your coworkers, collectively observing the fire lapping up the side of the short apartment building. This was the worst call to be on, you always thought. You didn’t know if it would be worse to live through it or die in it. The extent of burns always make your skin itch and the smell of burning flesh seems to stick to your bones for days. The second team of firefighters headed into the building due to no response from the first team after a few attempts at contact. Other, unharmed, residents huddled around the blocked-off area in their pajamas as bystanders filmed the glowing sight. There was just one apartment affected by this whole thing, but the door to the place seemed to have melted shut and there was no other way in.  

“2 kids 2 adults,” your colleague filled you in, eyes unmoving from the residence’s window showcasing bright dancing flames. A shadowy figure finally appeared in the entrance way, 2 men, one standing upright and the other slumped over his shoulder, both firefighters.  You immediately went into action with your partner receiving and supporting the injured man. Your curiosity about the situation faded as you began first aid. Smoke inhalation and a few minor burns, nothing major. Shockingly, however, the man was showing signs of acute hysteria. The world began to fade away as you got to resuscitation, everything else becoming just background noise. Airway, breathing, circulation ok. Pain control done. Your hands went on autopilot. 

He mumbled something about a collapse and being stuck inside the entire time.

. . . 

The reporter on the tv was still talking about the fire, apparently there’s a conspiracy or something. You lie down on your worn-out couch, your face lit up by the glow of your phone, bank account open to show the ever-increasing debt you’ve managed to rack up, which, according to your calculations, you’d be able to pay off in a few hundred years… If you starve and also live in the street. Your eyes shifted from the screen to the degree hung on the wall. So many people had warned you about being a first responder. 

“You’ll burn out quickly,”

“It's worse than you could predict,”

You know what, they were right. To hear of death is one thing. To see it in school is another. To live in it every. Single. Day. is suffocating. Hell, even the pay you’d hear of was simply not true. So here you are, elbows deep in one of the most stressful professions with no money to show for it. It was also very isolating. Not only do you get off of work very late (and super tired), so you couldn’t really socialise, but you also can’t confide in your coworkers because they have their own problems to deal with. You were surviving up until pretty recently just fine. Picking up extra shifts and odd jobs to keep up with never–ending payments but you made it work. 3 weeks ago however, a gas leak in your building took the life of your smiley neighbour, along with your cat. It had hit you then, you had very little to live for before this. But now? All gone. You used to look forward to coming home to a very chatty boy and his aftermath of a messy apartment. In fact, the cleaning portion of your day took your mind off of the horrors you’d witness. Your neighbour and her daughter would stop by a few times a week to share food ever since they’d moved in just over a year ago. Although only now you realised you’d never learned her name. Or maybe you’ve forgotten it in grief. This, albeit a bit pathetic, kept a glimmer of sunshine in your otherwise desolate routine. You caught your reflection in the black phone screen, sunken eyes and a gray face. You wondered if this was grief or malnutrition. It has all crumbled so suddenly, although, looking back at things now, the paint has been chipping away for some time. So here you are, in a top tier career but a debt so crushing you’re living just slightly paycheck to paycheck. Neither a failure nor succeeding. Stuck in the in-between. You couldn’t even find it in you to cry. What for…Who to? Your mind will not quiet down to let you sleep and the place was starting to feel stuffy, so you bundled up over your scrubs and went out for a stroll in the brisk autumn night air. Maybe you could fake your death? Move to Thailand under a new name or something… Where would you even get the money for that? How much does faking your death cost? Oh, it's a whole industry! Hmph.

. . . 

“Oh my god you again?!” the front-desk nurse laughed. “Any more donations and you’ll be running on empty.”

“Maybe you should stop tempting me with free juice and a cookie,”

“It’s not free, you pay for it by passing out.You can’t give anymore blood.”

“Ok plasma then.”

“Same concept.” She deadpanned. 

This little hack had gotten you countless ‘fancy’ dinners, and tonight's no exception. A warm plate of grocery store noodles that would’ve otherwise been out of budget. The rest of the money would be put towards cat food. Would’ve been, anyway. You sat at a bridge slurping your food, eyes observing the bustling city’s skyline in silence. Matter of fact, practically your whole life now is encased in silence. Sigh. It was almost 10pm. Best be heading home. 

. . . 

You hoped the short walk and treat would rid you of this feeling and when it didn't, you gave a cold shower a chance to do the same. Not that you have the luxury of hot water, but anyway. That didn’t work either. So that’s how you ended up here, pills in hand. They were prescribed to you to help with your insomnia. You stopped taking them because the misery you found yourself in had caused you to sleep more than the normal hours. You strolled over to your tiny balcony, hoping that this would allow your body to be found sooner. Pills in one hand, bottle in the other, you bought your hand up to your mouth but then…hesitated. You shouldn’t…

Why not though? You were not alive, not dead either, just something in the middle. What's a life with no living? There’s no point in delaying the inevitable. Death was something you had become used to, it was almost familiar. Plus, maybe this way you’ll get the relief you've been longing for. Putting some tablets into your mouth, you paused to think, heart racing. How many do I need to take, is this enough? What if they’re expired? Would it be enough or would you just end up a vegetable or something. Your 7 years of medical knowledge had left your body. You don’t have the insurance to cover this. Screw it. Big breath in and

Ping!

The device in your pocket vibrated. A text? From whom? At this hour? Never-mind. Probably just marketing or something.

1…2-

Ping!

Another came

Ping! Ping!

Then another, and another.

You held the pills in your mouth for a minute and fished your phone out of your pocket. It was money transferred into your account. But those numbers caught you very off-guard. Definitely not marketing. You spit the medicine out onto the ground and rinsed your mouth with some water. Each amount was coupled with a text. Something about buying the time you had given up. A suspicious white limousine stopped in front of your building, with windows so deeply tinted that you couldn’t make out if there was someone in the driver’s seat or not. On one hand, you’ve got nothing to lose and clearly this person has plenty to share. But something felt off. Your gut was filled with unease, almost making you throw up the mushy food you had earlier. 

It can’t get much worse than this. Actually it can…you clutched your valuable organs. But whatever. 

So, swallowing your fears, you ran downstairs, hopped in and took off. 

. . . 

Two blood red numbered cards in a circle of blank ones stared at you. 2 & 5. You pondered for a minute, but you couldn’t even come up with what they might be for. This was supposed to be a show after all. The paper in the envelope was not any help. Food and water, no one dies, leave now if you want. The second one had caught you off-guard, what a random and odd thing to include, why would anyone die? How odd. You eyed the money, which was, by any means, not a small sum. Added to the money they’d already transferred, you’d be going home with a substantial stack of cash to keep you a little more comfortable for a while. But then again - your eyes went back to the cards- this money doesn’t even put a dent in your debt, and they’re clearly willing to dish more out. An hour-ish ago you were ready to end it all, what more could possibly be there to lose? Your hand reached for 2 but hesitated, your best guess is that this would be a game show. 2 could be a disadvantage of having a turn so early. 5 however, not in the beginning, not at the end, just in the middle. You’ve started to find comfort in the half-way you seem to keep finding yourself in. 5 it is. 

The door locked shut behind you and you flinched, only to continue looking around the kids’ playground you strolled into. Cameras decorated the edge of the ceiling, how orwellian. 5 flights of stairs later, you were face to face with your room. It reminded you heavily of your own apartment, so you can't really complain. Show begins at midnight, got it, don't take items out of the room, okay,  leave all belongings…including clothes? You have to change infront of all these cameras? That would be quite the show. You didn’t want to think of what kind of sicko was watching right now. You panned over to the cameras to check. Yup, blinking red, so, recording, as far as you can tell anyway. An exasperated sigh escaped your dry lips. What the hell, sure. 

A countdown lit up the room as you sat in a corner with your eyes closed. No turning back now. 

About a  minute of silence and then -tchk- the scoreboard went from 0 to 80,000. Is that…money?

No-way…right? Another minute, another 80,000. What. The. Hell. Your gaze shot to the phone next to the board. Inching towards it carefully, you pondered what you could ask for. A quick look around the room gave you an idea. 

“Could I have a pillow please?”

A number flashed on the screen causing your eyes to widen. ‘A special price’ oh okay. Except it was like a thousand times more than usual. Is the show about inflation?  

“Uhm, never-mind” you shoved the phone back into its place. 

You padded back into the corner you’d found comfort in, sat down and hugged yourself. A deep sigh was let out as you weighed your options. The chill of the room made its way down your poorly covered spine causing a short shiver to shoot through your muscles, making it hard to focus on the task at hand. 

500,000 won for a pillow and another 2 million for a blanket. 

Right now you're sitting at only 480,000. It would take about half an hour to collect the amount. That’s do-able. But then you’d be shot back down to zero, and who knows how long they're letting you stay in here. 

Hmmmm

It’s been a long day. Your eyelids-despite the room temperature- were drooping. You’ve been here before. Sleeping upright with only your own embrace for warmth. Tomorrow you’ll be able to feel the pulse of how the show’s system goes. In the meantime, you focused on slowing your breathing, hoping your dreams would be kinder and warmer than here. 

. . .  

 “Everyone, wake up! Come down here so we can meet each other!” a female voice called from the distance

Another dreamless night, at least it's not a nightmare. Always only half-way. The scoreboard read a whopping 38.4 million! You counted the zeros once, twice, maybe this was the dream. Another voice joined the commotion outside and you thought it best to catch up now, lest you miss something. A quick couple of pats to your bedhead and a few face slaps later, hurried towards your room door and grabbed the knob, but something stopped you there. Since this is a game show, it would be best to be likeable. It won’t be difficult, since, once upon a time, you were way more social and charismatic, you’ll just have to slip back into your old ways. Or rather, new beginnings. The thought filled you with giddy, you could feel your old, confident self crawling out of her cave. Also, it would be an advantage to capture the hearts of the audience, no? Maybe build an alliance. A stupid smile stretched across your face. Okay, you can do this. 

After a quick turn of the knob, you made your way down the stairs and to your teammates, or contestants, who knows. A quick headcount told you there were 6 outside, 7 including you, making you second to last to show up. Stupid details, nevermind.

“Good morning!” the cheerful voice from earlier said to you, it belonged to the girl in floor 4. 

“Good morning,” you replied with a soft smile.  “I’m-”

“Why bother?” A rougher female voice cut you off. “We won’t see each other after this anyway”

Floor 2, noted. 

“That's a bit bleak but sure haha,” you replied playfully. 

You looked around to take note of everyone else here. Floor 3 was an awkward, dorky looking dude, nothing really special. His gaze was fixed on his nails anyway. Floor 8 was a very pretty girl, her outfit, however caught your eye but you made sure not to stare. Your eyes then met hers and she winked, to which you let out a quiet giggle. Floor 6 was a tall, intimidating man. He had a few bruises peppered across his face, it filled you with heavy unease. He was layed back on a lounge chair with his eyes closed. Finally, 7th floor, who still had his back to you, but you could tell he was very confident in himself from how he was stood. He was looking up at the giant clock on the opposite wall. Or maybe he was focused on the timer below it. His head turned slightly to glance at you. He shot you a quick up and down before turning his attention back to the clock. 

Okay four eyes, I see how it is. You thought. I don’t get along with sassy men.

That concludes the headcount, leaving only-

“Sorry I’m a bit slow,” an older man limped slowly towards the group. 1st floor, he seemed kind.

That makes 8. 

After some more brief greetings, you turned your attention back to 7, whose eyes were still fixed on the timer. It hit you then. Last night that timer said 24 hours. Now it said a bit over 30. Time was added? But why? We haven’t even played any games or done anything. Then, it hit you like a shockwave. The cameras, the money, the time…they want a show. It must have been entertaining to watch everyone settle in last night with the surprise of money and all. Oh my, you felt bile rise up your stomach. For some reason your mind drifted to the stanford prison experiment and how that turned out. It's clear that there are no rules here, it's a lawless wasteland. 8 people locked in one place where seemingly anything goes…you looked down to 7, who had in turn, turned around and now had his eyes fixed on you, finally giving you a good look at him. Hello gorgeous or however you spell it. 

No. Stop.

You exchanged a glance, it almost felt like he figured it out too. You quickly turned your attention back to the group, he was a very difficult person to read and if you held more eye contact you’d probably fold. Who knows if you’re supposed to be working with or against each-other. Besides, you’re probably reading too much into this. There’s likely another dozen theories as to why they added time. No need to fret over something you can neither control nor figure-out. You didn’t see it then, but 7 smiled a very tiny smile at the sight of your fluster. 

“Was time added?” 3 spoke up. “I could swear last night it only said 24hrs”

“Woah, does that mean we’ll be here forever?” 8 teased with bright eyes, to which 6th chuckled.

“Uhm, does anyone know where the bathroom is?” 4 asked.

“There is none.” replied 2 with a sigh as she walked towards the hot dog shop. Everyone's eyes were fixed on her as she picked up one of the sandwiches.

“Wha-” 3 was cut off by 2 tossing -more throwing at- him the hotdog.

“It’s all fake.” She gave a demonstration of all the other shops which were also filled with plastic food figures.

Huh

“It seems that they went out of their way to remove basic infrastructure, sewage pipes and all.” 7th finally spoke up, his voice eerily monotone. It sent chills up your arm.

Girl stand up.

“What are we supposed to do then!” 4 exclaimed desperately.

“Last night, I thought we’d only be here for one day so I bought one of those things for camping and long distance driving-waste bags- I think.” 1st suggested “But does that mean we have to keep buying them at 100 times the price?”

“Not necessarily, no” 7 added. “We could always use the square for a ‘special price’”

“But what if it's more expensive?” You joined 

“Guess there’s one way to find out,” 6 sighed as he stalked towards the phone. “One Marlboro and a lighter.”

“What the hell are you doing?” 2nd yelled, to which 6 only threw a cocky smirk. 

Your eyes shot up to the time, 2 minutes were deducted. After some calculations, 7 came to the conclusion of it being around 2,500 won/minute, and 4 confirmed excitedly that in fact, no money had been deducted. That prompted a discussion on what should be bought using the shared money/time considering it looks like you will be here a while. And after a handful of insane suggestions -like lotion, pens, etc- they came to the conclusion of buying supplies for a makeshift toilet; a bucket and some bags, tissue, sanitary pads for the women and cigarettes for the smokers. Upon receiving the stuff, they each scurried back to their rooms to do their business. You however, weren’t really in any rush, so you waited till everyone had taken their things, leaving only you and 7. 

He wordlessly handed you your share of the grand prize, while holding your gaze. In other circumstances, you’d swoon. Almost like he’s trying to figure some secret out just by how you’re moving. You took the items and went back up to your room.

. . .  

Hunger had been making itself known, hypoglycemia had begun seeping through with a nasty headache that you couldn’t ignore. You wondered if you could ask for meds from the shared time. No, best not to piss anyone off with a personal problem. It turned out that the food was delivered to 8th floor only and she’d been conveniently keeping that to herself. All the other floors, hangry and all, were almost ready to beat 8 up. When asked about sharing, 8 just let out a suspicious hum. They accused her of eating it all alone, the only logical explanation as to why she was acting like this. She then got up, almost seductively, and took off her jacket leaving her only in a nude bra. She rubbed her stomach tenderly and for a second you thought she was gonna announce a pregnancy from the absurdity of her movements.

“I only eat one meal a day, I was just thinking of how I would share the food if I can’t get it out of the room. Hmm”

Do you want a prize? You want a cookie cause you eat just one meal a day? Want me to invite Bella hadid? My god are you insufferable, and who are you trying to impress here? You all but rolled your eyes. 2nd floor looked like she was one breath away from gouging 8th’s eyes out, so you stepped in.

“It was our first night, she didn't know any better,” You spoke up. “I would've done the same thing, it's not a big deal just a little miscommunication,”

The argument seemed to die down a bit after that. 7 looked at you and nodded as if telling you good job or something. What is this guy’s problem? 

“The chute,” he suggested. “It runs down the building to each floor, that’s how we’re supposed to share.”

“Okay!” 8 said with an earily cheerful smile but as she turned to leave, 7 interrupted her.

You were a little taken aback when he asked to come up to the room with her, was he accusing her of being a liar? Hell, 4 caught that too.

“How could we be sure there were actually 12 meals?” she accused.

With tongue in cheek, 8 agreed to have all come see the food in her room, and the group eagerly made their way to the stairs in silence. You were pretty far behind, and by the time you got to the top everyone had become frozen solid in their places. The sight of 8th floor’s room had you choking on a gasp. You could not believe what you were seeing. A room three times more spacious than yours, decorated with furniture you would not even dream of buying in real life. In the far corner sat a hot pink bathtub of which you would unlikely be able to guess the price of. Dread began creeping down your chest. What the hell is this? Opposite to the door was a fancy dining set -you didn't even buy a pillow- what in the world could she possibly need this for. Who in their right mind would spend so much money making themselves comfortable in a place they don't know how long they are staying for. You panned over to her prize board fully expecting it to be a rudimentary number, since clearly she has trouble saving her money. Instead, you saw…hell you couldn’t even comprehend what you saw. The number must have been in the billions. Just then, it went up, causing your eyes to widen.

“How much did that just go up by?” 4 stuttered.

“It was like 340 thousand,” You mumbled, but the silence in the room allowed it to be heard. 

“I’m-...only making 80 thousand.”

“80?? I’m making 30!” 3rd panted. “And I thought it was a lot!”

“30? I’m only making 10…” 1st floor said in an exasperated tone slightly above a whisper.

Your heart dropped as you -and everyone else- turned to meet his very defeated face.

Ch.02/Up & Down

A/N: I forgot to say that this is a slowwwwwww burn whew.

[obamas-eyebrow]

Do not resuscitate

An 8th show fic.

𓊔𓊔𓊔𓊔𓊔𓊔𓊔

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

A/N: No need for introductions 😀 This show has like taken over my life, I couldn't rest until I got this out. I'm fr fr going insane. I hope y’all enjoy this 🫶🏻.

Warning: Any that apply to the actual show. No use of Y/N or descriptions of race (pls let me know if any slip by me). Reader is an EMT. Suicide mention. Female reader.

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

01/ Flatline

02/ Up & Down

03/ Chess not checkers

04/ King of the hill

05/ The pawn

06/ Are We Still Friends?

07/ You've lost a lot of blood

08/ Icarus

[obamas-eyebrow]

03/Chess Not Checkers.

7th floor x female reader (the 8 show) Masterlist WC:6.2K. specific chapter warnings: Not proofread :P

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅::]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

You were right, so why did you not feel victorious? Sat on the swingset with an arm around fourth, you looked around to everyone’s empty faces. 7th had taken the spot next to 3rd as he explained the current situation. You bet it was entertaining alright. Arguments, conflict, fights, pain. This was peak television. 3rd’s nose bled a little from 6th’s heavy fist, that filled you with worry. This guy was not money hungry, he was money whatever-it-takes-to-get-my-hands-on-it. 

Who could he possibly be to be that desperate for funds? The bruises on his face, similar to the ones he had when you first arrived, served as a reminder of the kind of person he was. True to the hierarchy here, 8th sat close to him but up on a chair, whilst he resided comfortably on the floor. She was not trying to contain her amusement at all. Everyone could feel it. The shift in the air. 7th suggested everyone takes the day to themselves to reassess the situation and take a break from the week and a bit worth of useless work you did.

4th relaxed comfortably in her sleeping bag, slightly embarrassed by her wall of affirmations and nightlight. You told her that if she’d needed anything, anything at all, she could count on you. 

She embraced you in a tight hug, sobbing into your shoulder, likely just from shock of the morning’s events. After comforting her as best you could, you left her sleeping frame and headed out. There was an odd stillness to the place, everyone choosing to keep to themselves for the time being. You thought about seeking 7th out. No. If there was something to be said he should come say it. 

Back in your room, a thousand thoughts circled your head. So it wasn’t the stairs. And your theory was correct. So now what? Everyone has already figured out that violence is a real kicker with the people watching, so that’s likely going to be their first instinct, no? You glanced over to the money, maybe you should buy a weapon? What good would it do confined to the room though. Simmering in your head wasn’t going to get you anywhere, so you got up to check on 3rd’s nose. You were met with his frazzled face after a short knock. He was fine though, blood loss was minimal. You wanted to find ways to delay your inevitable return to the room but the outside was’t very welcoming. Now hyper aware of all the cameras and the watchful eyes. You don’t know why it had bothered you so much, you already knew this. But having it be confirmed was a whole other thing. 

You lazily made your way up the steps to see someone standing infront of your door, the big number on his back giving him away, 7. He had been knocking with no response so you cleared your thoat. He let out a deep sigh, eyes holding the same dreary expression that you had, hiding behind his glasses. Wordlessly, you moved past him to unlock your door and motioned for him to come in. You shut the door behind him and rested your head on it, back to him. 

“I thought you’d be celebrating,” he deadpanned, back against the cool metal of the chute and face fixated on the opposite wall. 

“This does not feel like a win,” you whispered. 

“I wanted to believe it was the stairs you know. Fruit of our labour and all that.”

“Entertainment,” the word felt heavy on your tongue. “We’re bound to run out of sound ideas fast,” “We just need to try to delay violence as best we can”

“6th floor….”

“I know.”

“I mean what if- what if he decides to-” words kept getting stuck in your throat. 

“Don’t worry,” You didn’t notice that he’d moved to stand next to you until he rested his hand on your shoulder. “I’ll…We’ll do everything we could to prevent this from happening again.”

Though doubt still dominated your feelings, a sense of ease crept in knowing that 7th was on your side. Sure, fist to fist you doubt 7th would win, but, when you turned to look at him, his face held so much confidence and composure, that you couldn’t help but be filled with some comfort. It was just now that you’d gotten a good look at him since the event, he had a bruise on his jaw that your hand reflexively went up to asses, but he winced at the feeling. 

“Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere else?” you scanned his face for any other defects then took a step back to check the rest of him, not that you could see anything. 

“I’m fine just some bruises. An EMT, huh?”

Your expression read confusion for a second before you registered the question, completely forgetting what had happened before the fight.

“Oh…yeah,” you chuckled slightly. 

“How does a doctor end up here, in this situation?”

“It’s a long story. You sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah yeah I’m fine. Uh…How’s um…How’s third’s…nose?” he twitched and rolled his shoulders several times, the thing you do when trying to get rid of an uncomfortable feeling. This caught you off guard, what about third’s nose made him so uneasy? 

“He’s ok…Is it the blood?” you tried to hold back your smile. He took a deep breath and moved the glasses off his face to rub his eyes underneath, only to fix them back into their place. 

“Yeah,” he said sheepishly looking off to the side, your smile was now evident. “It just gives me a weird feeling. I’d rather not dwell on it,”

Hemophobia. 

“Sure.”

And so you two stood there, in the stillness of your room, both unsure of what to say next. It was in this silence that you’d noticed how close you two were to each other, you could practically feel his breath on your face. Did you stand this close before or had you drawn in closer subconsciously?

“It was you, wasn’t it?” he broke the silence. 

“That is a very ominous and vague question, I can’t possibly know what you’re referring to.”

“The blanket, first floor. That was you?”

“...No.” At that he exhaled a bit. “Liar.”

“I’d rather not dwell on it,” you mocked his previous tone. 

And there it was again, the silence. He was so impossibly close now, it made your brain a bit foggy. 

“Tomorrow, we’ll start talking about ideas,” He sighed. “On what to do for time. There will be suggestions of rough things but we have to keep the conversation level, ok?”

“Mmhm”

He looked down to your lips for a split second then back up to you eyes. You inhaled shakily, how would that be for entertainment. You thought of just going for it, fearing that you’d chicken out later, but then,

Knock,

Knock,

Knock.

Three quick knocks, this was 2nd floor, your eyes widened in fear and he furrowed his brows. Sigh, no use in delaying the inevitable. First you turned to him, 

“You need to go,”

“I-”

“Just…later, ok? We can talk later.” your franticness was evident. 

You swallowed your fear and opened the door, he moved past you immediately, obstructing your view of 2nd floor’s original expression. They exchanged a tight-lipped smile and she turned to stare you down with a her signature angry face. You tried to say something but she put her finger up to her lips, shushing you. She waited till he was practically at his own door to shove you harshly into your room before slamming the door. 

“Ouch, at least take me out to dinner f-”

“What were you doing”

“We were talking about the current situation 2nd. He was just asking me to back him up in a discussion if needed.” “Why were his cheeks red?”

“I don’t know…We didn’t do anything you’re implying,”

She let out a drawn out sigh. 

“Here’s the current situation 5; the stakes have just been upped, I need to know that I can trust you,” “Of course you can!” “Not when you’re sleeping with the enemy!” “I’M NOT SLEEPING WITH HIM! AND HE IS NOT AN ENEMY.”

“He’s one of the higher floors!”

“So am I! Technically anyway…”

“If anything were to happen…” “Hey! Nothing will happen, don’t worry too much. Besides, I’m always on your side 2nd, always.”

  . . .   

You observed from afar as 7th descended followed by 3rd hot on his trail. Your best guess is that they were having their morning smoke together. You sat at the pool with the others to try to brainstorm some content ideas. True to his prediction, 8th immediately suggested pro-wrestling, seeming more obnoxious than usual. Does she plan on being the ring girl? 3rd shot that idea down with minimal stutters, you figured that that was what him and 7th were talking about then. 4th suggested a dating show, which, come to think of it, probably not a bad idea. It would’ve certainly been interesting but there aren’t really many matches made in heaven here. She also suggested a talent show, which wasn’t actually a bad idea. 7th certainly seemed to like it, despite criticism from 6th. 7th offered to start the show off for you in that very moment with no hesitation and you truly admired this man’s sureness of himself. 

You gathered around him near the shared chute, waiting patiently for the unveiling of his talent. You were a little skeptical when he asked for a recorder, unsure if a primary school taught instrument was going to be impressive let alone entertaining. What you hadn’t expected though was for him to stick the thing up his nostril and play. You were in awe. The breath control, the focus, the speed, the experience he would need to execute something like this. It almost brought tears to your eyes. He played a familiar tune; flight of the bumblebee, and you couldn’t take your eyes off of him to try to see everyone else’s reactions. A perfectly executed melody, one that not even you could play regularly. The moment he finished was followed by a second of shocked silence then heavy applause. 8th floor was laughing between claps and 6th floor seemed really touched, blowing him a few whistles. You yourself applauded rather slowly as you came to a very important conclusion, 

This is the silliest man alive. 

After the cheers died down, everyone was please to find out you had earned a whopping 20 hours to your time. Everyone was eager to decide on what they will present, but 7th stopped everyone to have a serious discussion. 

“How long do you want to stay for?” That is an excellent question. You’d really rather not overstay your ability to tolerate the conditions here. 4th protested the prematurity of this question but 2nd shut her down, saying we’re making money here to spend it out there. And you could guess that at least one person here was on a debt deadline, probably anyway. Obviously, the logical option was to ask 1st floor when the money would be enough for him. 

“I want to make…1 billion won.” Quite a number. 7th calculated it would take him around 2 and a half months, including the 2 weeks you’d already spent here. Not bad, you hoped. 

7th pulled out a piece of paper to jot down what equipment everyone  bought. You didn’t need to buy anything, what you would use was already available, taking a seat next to 8th in the pool. Everyone practically skipped away towards their rooms to get set up in privacy. You used this time to stretch a bit for the task to come.

  . . .   

The show commenced with 6th floor demolishing 10 roof tiles. 9, actually, as 2nd clearly showed everyone. She then proceeded to not only beat 6th’s record, but also top it with an extra 4 wooden boards. Their friendly competition earned 17 and 18 hours, respectively. 4th floor gave her all, showcasing a tap dancing-yodeling combo. You found it endearing, you’re sure it takes a lot more skill than it looks, but  the viewers did not. Awarding her with only 1 hour 15 minutes. At this revelation, she ran up to the big poolside slide and gave a slightly…provocative show to the cameras, earning her a humiliating extra 5 minutes. Then 3rd got up and you truly didn’t know what you’d expected from this absolute dork of a human being. Maybe you thought he had some super hidden, mysterious talent that was going to shock you all. Oh he shocked you alright. Without even bothering to put some music on, he got into the middle of the pool and began doing what you could only assume was an interpretive dance. Actually maybe it was hip-hop? Actually you really can’t tell. You don’t think you’d felt this much second hand embarrassment for anyone. Likely one of the more uncomfortable 30 seconds of your life, but you’ll live. His 18 minute reward was just salt in an open wound. 1st went up next, wowing everyone with an addictive mime balloon show that ended in confetti. 30 hours!

Witch! How did he do that?!? Anyway, your turn, big breaths. 

1st’s act was a big one to follow, but you found comfort in knowing there’s no way you could flop as bad as 3rd did. You grabbed the speaker and marched over to the built-in trampoline, kicking off your shoes. You turned your song on and waited for the cue. It was your thing back in college, trampolining. It was a small group and you had this huge crush on the instructor but you ended up falling  in love with it, the feeling of weightlessness. You bounced up and down with grace, reaching an adequate height for your tricks, everything from back flips to mid-air splits. The trampoline itself was quite small, making these acts risky, but only you knew that. Jump after jump, move after move, you felt like you were flying. It took your mind off things for a moment but you may have gotten carried away, realising that the finisher was coming up and you still had too much height. It was easy to bring things back down though, best not to fly too close to the sun. You ended your set with a bow to applause. 7th was smiling but 2nd was smiling even harder, cheesing from ear to ear. 24hours! Ha! You finally beat him at something. You walked your sweaty self back to your seat with the others. Just 8th left now. 7th gestured for her to come up. 

“I don't have to do my talent out here, do I?” she asked sweetly. 

“Not necessarily, but still...” 7th answered the seemingly innocent question. 

“Ok, well if I don't have to do it out here, I’d like to do it in my room. 7th would you like to sleep with me?”

A wave of shocked gasps washed over everyone at her boldness, 3rd floor clutching his pearls. Words got stuck in your throat, not that there was any possible thing you could come up with to say right now. 

“I don’t follow?” 

Yeah ok, he was definitely playing dumb. There it was again, the knot of jealousy tightening around your chest. For someone who could swear up and down that there was nothing going on between you and him, you sure do take alot to heart. The interaction in your room earlier had confirmed one thing; this was not just a silly crush. 

“I think you do, sex,” she grinned.

“8th floor, this is a talent show.” ‘8th floor’ wow, full government name and all.

“Isn’t a talent supposed to be something you’re good at? Well I’m really good at it.” She made a lewd movement with her hand. 

“I decline.” He looked uncomfortable, saying his part then immediately looking down to the paper in his hand, avoiding everyone’s gaze. The self-control he must have to turn down someone like that, a bit odd, not that you were complaining. 8th’s smile didn’t drop though, she casted her eyes to the group to pick her next victim, men and women alike. She made a point of stopping by 3rd floor, almost as if she’d pick him, but you weren’t stupid. You knew she was just being a bully. She ended her search by 6th floor’s side, who egged her on by giving a show of adjusting his pants. Maybe bleach would be a good purchase to help you wash your eyes of this image. She chuckled, taking his hand as they both strolled up to her room. 7th looked up from his notebook, likely being met with a variety of ‘What the hell just happened’ faces. His eyes stopped on you and for some reason you found yourself biting back a grin. Recalling the earlier intercatio, oh this man was flustered. He bit the inside oof his cheek and turned away. 

It was hours later and they were still going at it, but you were hungry and the food was locked in 8th’s room. The awkwardness from earlier had diluted a bit, nut 7th was still basically avoidinding everyones eyes, especially yours.

“Trampolining, huh?” 2nd nudged your side. “How come you don’t know how to stretch then?” “I’m just out of practise.” You chuckled. “1st floor, I gotta ask, how the hell?” “To that he just shrugged mischievously and mimed a ‘my lips are sealed’ motion. 

 Finally, after a whole day of waiting, you all observed the time change. 

“69 hours? Why 69? Why not 70-ohhh,” the words came out before you could stop them. It was all in good fun though, as laughter took over the moment for you.

. . .   

Another day, another group brainstorming session. Somehow, it felt like you’ve already ran out of ideas. 6th and 8th were cuddled up together as she admired her nails. 7th sat in his usual spot, which is just any spot higher than everyone else, 3rd and 4th on either of his sides, leaving 2nd, 1st and you on the other side. 7th was just congratulating you on the time gained and opened the discussion for new ‘events’, 1st raised his hand to suggest something. 

“Since we don’t have to climb the stairs anymore,” he hesitated. “Can we go back to the normal way of handling the waste?” Oh god, the waste. It had completely slipped your mind. 

“Yeah of course 1st, we just forgot-” 2nd assured him.

“No! No, its ok, it’s just the smell and…”

“Everyone can go back to handling their own bags.”

“Hmm I don’t like the sound of that,” 8th chimed in, her tone carrying a subtle melody to it. 

“What do you suggest we do then?” 2nd was getting irritated. 

“We could vote!” 4th suggested eagerly.

“Won’t a vote just be picking someone to single out?” you questioned. 

But ultimately, everyone decided on voting anyway. 

. . .   

It was later in the night when you’d taken your spot on the swingset, lost in thought. Voting, pssht, how stupid. Several people had approached you today, campaigning for their preferred candidate. You told them all the same thing though, 

“I’ll think about it.”

Someone came and sat on the swing next to you, you didn’t even have to turn around to guess who it was.  You two hadn’t really talked one-on-one since before the talent show. You cherished these little moments. 

“Crafty nose you got there 7.” You joked.

“It is a humble hobby of mine.” he sighed, someone isn’t in the mood for jokes.

“You here to sway my vote?”

“They got you too?”

“Yeah, 6th and 4th. Then 2nd too. I don’t think any of them liked my answer. I told them I’ll think about it.”

“So who are you actually going to cast your vote for?”

You looked over to him and licked your lips. 

“No-one.”

“What?” “I’m not voting for anyone, I’ll leave it blank.”

“...Why?” “Because…Because this whole thing is stupid 7th! I mean come on; if 3rd gets picked, like 6th and 8th want then that would be cruel. He’s been nothing but supportive and selfless this whole time, I don’t think he has a bad bone in his body. And yeah, maybe this is me letting my feelings get in the way. But also, he’s one of the smaller rooms. You’ve seen how quickly the waste took over 1st floor, this is just a repeat!”

He remained silent, observing your rant from behind his glasses as you paced back and forth.  

“ ‘Ok, well, lets just vote for 8th’ Ok, well, thats just as stupid! I’m not climbing 8 floors to use the bathroom, I think for sure 1 won’t either, meaning we’ll end up just keeping our own waste anyway! Besides, despite my distaste for her, this would obliterate both her and our privacy. Who’d willingly give out their card to others to use their room with no other way to get in?! Who knows what even the kindest person would do in there with all that money.”

He allowed you to continue, popping a cigarette and letting it hang between his lips. 

“The obvious answer here would be for everyone to just. deal. with. their. own. crap. But nooooo ‘I don’t like the sound of that’.” You mocked 8th previous statement. “ If she thinks she’s entitled to have someone else handle it for her, maybe she should be taught a lesson.”

Heavy pants escaped your lips as you planted back down onto the swing, shaking it harshly. You waited for him to say anything, to critique the absurdity of the situation, to calm you down, to tell you his piece of mind, anything. Instead he dropped his eyes to the ground as he continued to breathe in the cigarette. It irked you, this behaviour, made you feel insecure. Like you’d made a big deal out of a tiny issue. Worry got the best of you, so you spoke first. 

“Do you have anything to say?”

“You’re right.” 

“So how do we fix this?”

“We can’t.” 

“I think if we get everyone on board with a re-decision-“ you got up in desperation once more. 

“5…”

“We could maybe have everyone see-“

“5.”

“Hell we could even use supplies to make a public toil-“

“5!” He stood up to meet your franticness. 

“Wouldn’t that just make more sens-“

“I’m voting for third.”

“ I mean c'mon-…..what did you say?”

Surely not. Surely 7th did not just say he was voting for the man that would consider him a trustworthy friend and confidant. Surely you heard wrong. 

He fixed his glasses and ran a hand through his hair, the other hand still housing a half burnt cigarette. You stared in an absolute loss for words at him, though he seemed to be avoiding your eyes, clearly interested by the playset on the opposite side. 

“I have to…it’s for the better.”

“Can you stop speaking in riddles?” You all but yelled. That prompted him to look back at you, a very angry expression on his face. He got up suddenly to match your position, and though it all caught you off guard- the sudden change in demeanor- you held ground. He was, once again, inches away from your face. Breath hot and heavy on your cheek. 

“Don’t you see what this is?” He motioned to the rooms, “This is not a hierarchy, this is a food chain. And she’s the only one on top! She controls the food, therefore she controls us. We have to play by her rules. If we piss her off, get on her bad side and she realises she can use this to get what she wants, then there’s nothing any of us could do to stop it! Not you, not 1st, not me.” 

His voice was still low but anger had very clearly seeped more into his words as he spoke, slowly losing his usual cool composure. His face was red with annoyance at you for not seeing the full picture, not having foresight. He tried to take heavy, controlled breaths but you doubt years of smoking would give him way to do that. You stared blankly. 

“If this is how you think, 7th, then she’s already got you wrapped around her little finger. Playing by her rules only gives her more power. More confidence to do whatever she pleases. If we never stand up to her, nothing ever changes. We’ll be stuck in an endless cycle of guessing then second guessing to make sure she gets her way. What for? Cause you’re scared of her? Sorry 7 but I’m not a coward and I’ve got the scars to prove it. In fact, the time to strike would be now, to show her that no, she doesn’t just get what she wants just because she’s on top. And if you’re so worried about her feelings, why not volunteer to take her place?” You’d managed to keep a pretty level voice all throughout, hoping that the calmness he usually offered you would talk some sense into him. 

“I can’t do that, the higher floors made up their mind and they think 3rd.”

“The higher floors huh?” You pushed your tongue to your cheek. “Why 3rd anyway, was it the talent show?”

He sighed, “He gave an awful performance, landing him in last place so yeah.”

“So if I had been last, you would've voted for me?” Betrayal painted your features. 

He hesitated, picking out his next words carefully. “You gave a lovely performance so you wouldn’t’ve-”

“Answer the question.” Actually you didn’t need an answer, you already knew. 

“I’m sorry.” Genuine remorse flooded his eyes. 

“And what? 8 gets immunity cause she pimped herself out? Cause she gave a show? You and I both know it had nothing to do with talent. I bet you I could’ve earned us weeks had you an I slept together. In fact, I bet they would’ve loved it even more than that nasty pair. At least 3rd tried to do something decent, like a real man.”

This caught him entirely off guard, the insinuation of you and him sent blush down his neck, but both of you were far too angry for him to think about the implications of your words. 

He stared at you with sealed lips, offering himself no defence or retaliation, and offering you no wiggle room to sway his thoughts. This bothered you, more than you could put into words. Anger that had started to rise ever since you started this exchange now threatening to spill over. Especially because the only reason that you had been able to develop a hobby like that was because of privilege, the little that you used to hold anyway. 

“I don’t know who you are 7th,” Every word now shot with heavy venom, “but I can tell you come from money. I didn’t, I had to earn my spot in society, fight tooth and nail to get where I wished to be. I once held a gram of your riches and thats when I was able to take time to work on myself. I know others who work paycheck to paycheck, their only goal is survival. No time for trivial things like hobbies and interests. I won’t punish 3rd floor for surviving.”

He only stared at you in slight defeat, unsure of what to say to that. He could only find another “I’m sorry” to give to you. Even he knew this was pathetic.

You were right, of course you were. But he was scared. He wanted to be as sure as you, as ready to risk it all, but he just couldn’t find that fury inside him. You tried to bite your lip to calm down, to ground yourself, but it wasn’t helping, you needed to get away from him, now. But not before you got one last word in. 

You grabbed the jacket you left hung on the swing and pushed past him to get to your room. 

He made no move to stop you.

. . .   

His woeful expression was still etched onto your brain as you slumped down on the wall opposite to the chute, the metal surface reflecting your face. Maybe you went a bit overboard, tore into him a little too much. You had a habit of losing your cool when it came to things like this, plus, this was just a show after all. No actual harm done, right? To be honest, you felt a little guilty. Sure, in retrospect, everything you said was right. But still. Maybe this was your heart talking, fearing his absence after you’d just started to get used to him. Whatever, I should get to bed. Perhaps tomorrow is a better day. 

You were up in his room, again. Only this time, he offered you a more fair fight; scrabble. Or, you thought it would be a more fair fight, until he started putting things Kakorrhaphiophobia. 

“Fear of failure,” he clarified.

“Gotya,” you giggled as you spelled out ‘photosynthesising’ on the board, usually this would be your winner. 

It wasn’t long before you two abandoned that too, cause you got to the point where you couldn't tell if he was using real words or just making stuff up.  

“It’s a drug!” He laughed.

“Yeah I know what Oxyphenbutazone is, 7, I’m a doctor!”

“Why are you so-”

“I’m done with this game.”He got up to try to come up with another way to keep you entertained, phone in hand as he searched the depths of his brain for another chill board game. You got up to stretch your legs a bit, eyes catching the papers hung up on the wall. They were filled with very mathematical drawings of the place, the floors, the chute etc. He didn’t really pay you any mind, likely forgetting the treasure you’re about to stumble upon. One of the papers hadn’t been stuck on the bottom, making it sway slightly as you approached it. You noticed something on the back, so you brainlessly grabbed the edge and it came off into your hand, having been stuck with a very flimsy piece of tape at the top. Nothing could’ve prepared you for what was on the other side. 

You, a sketch of…you! It was done with a level of such skill and attention to detail that it knocked breath out of your lungs. You were laughing, looking off to the side in your boring white uniform with a subtle glow in your eyes. Curiosity got the best of you as you carefully picked the rest of the pages off of their spot, careful not to damage them. True to your prediction, your face was featured in almost all the papers, in progressively increasing detail, the more he got to know you. They were all different perspectives too. There was one of you having lunch, another what you could guess was you looking up at the time. The one that caught your eye the most though was a particular one of you playing chess. Despite being done in just pencil, you looked ethereal. 

You were so caught up in marveling, you hadn’t noticed him catching you in the act. You weren’t doing anything wrong but…His cheeks flushed a bit, words dying in his throat as he was unsure of what to say to save face in this situation. He probably looked like a total dork right now.

You looked up at him with a flustered expression, flattery washing over you. 

“You…drew these?” He only nodded. 

“7, this is insane! You’re so talented!” 

His eyes were fixed on your excited face. He waited for you to mock the fact that he’d taken you as his muse, but it never came. 

“Will you send one down please?”

“Sure” he chuckled.

“Promise?”

He paused for a moment, gaze piercing yours with intensity. “Promise.”

  . . .   

The blank paper stared at you as you contemplated your next move, unsure of what to put down, thanks to your fight with 7th last night. You’d both been avoiding each other today, not that you were previously cuddled up or anything, but its obvious he’s avoiding your eyes. Truth be told, you don’t know what you could even say to him had he given you the chance, perhaps its better this way. They were waiting on you now to start the voting process. You looked at the paper again and went with your original decision. 

Maybe you weren’t mature enough for things like this, but the fact that no one else thought it ridiculous to slide down to cast the vote made you go crazy. Seeing 7th’s super serious face as one by one you guys slid down to put the paper into the box had you second guessing yourself. Surely someone else found this whole situation hilarious, no? You went in order of rooms, starting from 1st floor and moving up. When your turn rolled around, you couldn’t stop giggling as you went down, being met with a helping hand at the bottom. Weird, he was also smiling kinda? Whats the reason for this? You got up, fixed your clothes and casted your vote. Since his turn was coming up soon, you took over his spot with the box. He slid on down with a straight face and you really couldn’t  hold back a small laugh, grown ass man sliding to vote. When all was done, you headed over to a blank wall to count the votes. 

3rd floor.

3rd floor. 

8th floor. 

8th floor. 

8th floor. 

3rd floor.

“Its blank.” 7th sighed. He didn’t have to look your way for you to be able to pick up on the slight disappointment in his voice. It wasn’t difficult for anyone to figure out who this vote belonged to. He picked the final paper up with a heavy hand. 

“8th floor.” He pursed his lips slightly, shutting his eyes in defeat as the words left his mouth. 6th floor got up in anger, not believing the result. She’s got him so whipped it’s concerning. 8th floor let out an uncomfortable laugh as she clutched her hands awkwardly to her chest. She even had everyone clap for her ‘win’, likely trying to make the best out of the unexpected situation.  

You won’t hide that you took pleasure in her awkward response, shocked that someone like her could be affected by something like this. 

It seemed your blank decision had upset all parties. 7th was likely already anticipating it, so he wasn’t surprised when he opened that paper. 2nd, however, shot you a look after everyone got up to take the rest of the day off. This whole voting/campaigning event had served as content, earning you a substantial amount of time. You wondered how much your argument with 7th was worth. 

Later in the day, you’d been finding unconventional ways to entertain yourself  due to the laack of someone else that  would keep you company. You hoped things will die down and go back to normal in a day or two. Some arguing caught your attention and you left the space to investigate, only catching 8th floor storm off to her room. You bumped into 7th and by then you’d gotten a gist of what happened. 

“Just give her time to cool off,” you tried to keep the situation cool. 

“If only that were the case,” 7th shot you a half-lidded, tired look and kept up after 8th floor. 

  . . .   

You stood out in front of your door in the late hours, observing the time count down, unable to shake the uneasy feeling in your bones. It seemed that not a single person here was pleased with your decision. It made sense to you, though, so why does it matter? 7th’s made sense to himself. Plus you were against the whole system, and if you did vote, it would’ve been for 8th, so the outcome wouldn’t’ve changed. You were picking at the skin of your nails when you heard someone leave their room above, pondering if you should retreat to yours or just not say anything. Too late though, as the person had already made their way past you, you didn’t bother to check who it was, the smell giving him away. He was halfway down the stairs by your room when his steps seized. 

“You’re a hypocrite, you know?” He said dryly. “You said you ‘weren’t a pacifist’ yet chose to stay neutral. You’re not as high and mighty as you think.” 

“I never said I’d vote for 8, I did what I thought right.” He chuckled sourly as he began to descend once again. 

“Going to get another pack?” you said. 

“The worst is yet to come.”

How ominous. 

  . . .   

It was past midnight when the chute finally groaned open with the meals, it worried you that 8th had taken this long to send them down for a reason. Usually, you’d be asleep, but hunger ate away at your insides keeping you up. You crouched in front of the metal box only for your brain to lag at the sight in front of you. 

The meal boxes, empty. 

This psycho took the effort and time to rid every single container of its contents, wiping them down to remove any chance for leftover nutrition. This was not retaliation, nor anger. This was a statement, a well spelled out punishment. This is exactly what 7th feared, though there was not a gram of regret for your decision. You can't say you didn’t see this coming. 

Okay you little brat, we’ll see how it goes.    

04/ King of the hill

[organic-bloodbath]

Never have I ever

7th floor x Reader

Summary: All 8 of you play a drinking game together: never have i ever. Things get a little heated up with you and 7th floor.

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, porn with plot. We're on top now 💅🏻 Also alcohol, drinking.

A/N: Typed this with my vagina. I've needed to get freaky with him ever since i watched the show.

☆☆☆

All 8 of you were sitting in the room of 8th floor, it being the largest one and able to pay for the most amount of drinks which you were consuming right now, since 8th floor's hourly rate of money was clearly the largest.

Your group formed a circle on the floor, you sitting next to 7th floor, who offered you a cigarette which you placed between your teeth. He brought the lighter closer to your face, letting the small flame lick the tip of the cigarette. You took a deep inhale from the cigarette, feeling your throat and lungs burning, but god it felt good. You had told your friends and family that you'd stop smoking but it was easier to say it than actually quit.

The liquor was relaxing both your mind and the muscles in your body, making you feel all light and fuzzy. Whenever you started laughing, you couldn't stop, the giggles slipping between your lips kept going and going. As 7th floor looked at you, he couldn't help but smile and even laugh a little too, unintentionally. You weren't sure if you had ever seen him smile, not to say him laugh, so the sight made your heart warm up. He had such a nice smile which you would have wanted to watch much longer than necessary.

"So, what should we do now?" 3rd floor asked, him and the rest of you starting to get bored.

"Oh, i know! Let's play 'never have i ever'," 4th floor suggested.

"What's that?" 5th floor asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Oh, it's simple. One of us asks if we've done something and if you have done it, you have to drink. If there's only one person who's done it, they have to explain the situation," 4th floor explained.

"I see, well, i'm up for it," 5th floor said, though a little nervous what kind of questions might come up. She had never played a game called like that, so she didn't know what to expect.

"This is gonna be fun," 8th floor exclaimed.

The questions started quite simple at first.

Never have i ever faked sick from work. - Everyone except 5th floor.

Never have i ever committed a crime. - Which resulted in just 6th floor admitting of shop lifting and stealing a bike.

Never have i ever stood up someone on a date. - 8th floor had clearly had problems of caring about people's feelings in the past, though present too.

Never have i ever made up a story to impress someone.

Never have i ever gone on a blind date. - You along with 4th and 8th floor. Luckily you didn't have to start explaining how the date went, you weren't very fond of starting to relive the horrendous memory of that.

Never have i ever started a rumor.

Never have i ever liked two people at the same time.

As the game went on, a few juicy and interesting stories came up but most of them more than one claimed to have done. Everyone was getting more and more drunk, and the questions started to take a turn to a little spicier direction, which you had expected to happen at some point.

Never have i ever kissed someone and not known their name.

Never have i ever had a friend with benefits.

Never have i ever kissed someone to make someone jealous.

Then one question which stirred the pot a little more.

"Never have i ever had a sex dream about someone in this room," 8th floor suggested with a wide grin on her face.

This time, the ones who drank were 8th floor (she didn't care to follow the rule of the one who asked wasn't allowed to have done the thing in question) and 6th floor, which didn't surprise you, but also 7th floor ended up drinking, no matter how red his cheeks turned. At least he was honest.

"7th floor! I wouldn't have thought you to be one to have sex dreams here," 8th floor giggled. You were as surprised as her, if not even more. "Do tell. Who was it?"

"I don't control the dreams i get," 7th floor pointed out. "And I wasn't the only one to drink, so i don't have to say." He was refusing to make eye contact with anyone for a moment.

8th floor just huffed, visibly disappointed of not getting at least part of the juicy details.

You didn't drink, no, you couldn't make yourself to do that. You did have a sex dream about one person in this room a few nights ago and the memory of it hadn't left your mind for a single moment. Usually your dreams didn't stick into your mind very well, but this one? You remembered the majority of it perfectly.

But you couldn't admit having one in front of everyone, even though you weren't force to explain what happened. Coward.

Couple of more rounds passed, until it was 6th floor's turn.

"Never have i ever fantasized of kissing someone we're playing this game with," he asked with a smirk. It was obvious he just wanted to make himself to drink too.

This time, the ones to drink were 8th, 6th, 3rd and 7th floor, as well as you. You were highly reluctant at first, but since others than just 6th and 8th floor drank, this time you managed to be brave and take a large sip.

8th and 6th floor were obvious to have their hands on each other ever since the talent show, everyone here knew that. But 3rd and 7th floor? About them you were curious who they could be fantasizing about.

7th floor glanced at you shortly, surprised you were one to drink as well, his mind instantly starting to wonder who the person in your fantasies might be.

"Come onnn, i want to know who you're fantasizing about, this is boring!" 8th floor whined. "I'm changing the rules."

"Changing the rules? No, we can't change the rules in the middle of the game," 3rd floor refused in panic, eyes wide. He had gotten enough courage to drink just because he was sure he wouldn't need to tell who it was he had fantasized about.

"But this is no fun! The people watching us are getting bored too!" 8th floor pouted, crossing her arms against her chest like a child about to throw a tantrum. Soon her face softened as she turned to look at 3rd floor, biting her lip and trying to act all flirty, batting her long eyelashes. "3rd floor... is it me, hm?"

"What?" 3rd floor choked. "No, um. I mean, yeah it's you, of course."

You could tell that he was lying, not wanting to reveal the actual truth.

"That's so cute, i'm touched," 8th floor smiled, hand against her chest. "But we're nowhere near the same level, so don't get your hopes up."

3rd floor looked embarrassed but 8th floor had already turned her attention to 7th floor.

"7th floor, now who have you been fantasizing about?" 8th floor asked, taking two steps closer to him.

"I... i'd rather keep it to myself," 7th floor said, keeping his head down to avoid eye contact with her, but she wasn't having it, kneeling down in front of him.

"You're no fun," 8th floor huffed. "Is it the same person from the sex dream?"

7th floor was silent for a moment. "Yes," he eventually admitted.

"And it's not me? Or is it?" 8th floor asked, a hopeful glimmer in her eyes. "I wouldn't mind."

"It's not you," he answered, not wanting to grow her ego any bigger to let her think that every breathing man was automatically attracted to her, even though she was absolutely gorgeous.

"Hm, who could it be then..." 8th floor thought out loud, starting to walk around inside the circle your group had formed.

Your heart was racing. Would it be possible for the person to be you? Surely not. There was 4th and 5th floor left – if it was a woman he had been thinking about –, and since 5th floor seemed to be a little older you doubted it to be her. So, maybe it was 4th floor. She was young and pretty, right?

You couldn't help but have a slight sting of jealousy in your heart for the thought of the person being someone else than you. How egoistic did that sound if you happened to blurt it out loud.

You flinched when 8th floor looked at you, smiled and said, "Oh, but of course. It definitely has to be you!"

Your eyes widened and throat felt tighter. No, no, no - don't give me attention right now, blame it on 4th floor, you thought, trying to act calm but the expression on your face surely betrayed you.

"Aw, 7th floor, it's fine," 8th floor assured him. "It's only natural for men to fantasize about pretty girls. I'm sure 2nd floor is only flattered, aren't you?"

Way to go to put you on the spot like this, having everyone's eyes on you right now. Well, everyone except 7th floor's.

"Uh, sure," you mumbled, becoming embarrassed as well. Just say 'yes' and she'll leave you alone.

7th floor's face was burning red, and he wanted nothing else than just disappear from his spot - vanish in the air and teleport somewhere else, anywhere. And so did you.

The rest of the game and the time drinking together, 7th floor didn't dare to take a single glance at your way.

☆☆☆

When everyone separated to go to your own rooms for the night, hoping not to wake up with an awful hangover, you sat on the mattress on your floor for god knows how long, falling into your own thoughts.

You enjoyed 7th floor's company and had to admit that you were attracted to him. He was extremely good looking, and the sex dream you had had? It was about him. The person you had fantasized about? It was him. The thought of him having the same thoughts as you hadn't even occurred to you before that it'd be even possible.

But would he actually want to act on the thoughts or keep it all just inside him until you'd separate ways when the time would run out and the show would be over? After all, you had fantasies which you would never want to actually act on and make them an actual reality.

You took a deep, shaky breath and left your room, walking up the staircase until you reached the 7th floor, instantly knocking on the door before you'd back out.

7th floor opened the door almost immediately, as if he had waited for your arrival, but he looked surprised of your sudden visit.

"May i come in?" you asked, pulling the sleeves of your shirt.

He was hesitant at first, still feeling awkward of the moment during the game. Eventually he opened the door wider and let you in, to your surprise. Part of you had expected him to just go back to your room, not wanting to talk to you at all.

"What is it?" he asked, noticing you twiddle your fingers awkwardly.

"Um, i just," you mumbled, struggling to even look him into his eyes at first. "I... wanted to talk about the thing earlier. During the game."

7th floor knew that you would want to talk it out with him, definitely making you uncomfortable hearing what kind of thoughts he had developed in his mind about you. He considered you a friend here, the only one who he could actually call a friend, even though you weren't extremely close either. After all, you didn't even know each other's names. In his eyes, you were extremely attractive and beautiful, but he cared about you in more ways than just physically.

"Was it me?" you asked.

7th floor clenched his jaw and swallowed. Well, you knew already so there was no reason to deny it anymore.

"Yes," he replied and started to stutter. "But, uh, we can't control our dreams. I, i didn't imagine things like that about you on purpose. I hope you know that. I don't want to seem like a creep to you."

His awkward rambling and nervousness made you smile a little but you tried to bite the smile away.

"Well, was it a good dream at least?" you dared to ask.

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows, confused where this conversation was going.

"Did you enjoy it?" you asked, taking a step closer to him and maintaining eye contact, no matter how big urge you had to just turn your head away from him.

"Oh, um," he mumbled, remembering the erection and a tiny leak of cum in his boxers after he had woken up from the dream. Why were you asking these questions and couldn't just go to sleep like everyone else? You were making him insane without even trying. Whenever you weren't even in the same room with him. How could he ever admit that he had jacked off at the thought of you? A picture of you in his head? "Well, sure. Yeah, it was good."

"I'm not usually like this, uh, this forward but i've had a lot to drink so," you rambled, gathering all your courage left in your body, which wasn't a lot. "I lied during the game."

"You lied?" 7th floor repeated, confused. "At what?"

"On not drinking during the... sex dream part," you admitted, breaking eye contact with him for a moment.

"Oh, uh, i see," 7th floor mumbled. This wasn't a direction he had anticipated of the conversation starting to lead to. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I would never admit this sober but because... it was about you," you admitted, his eyes widening. You should have kept it just to yourself, that was the plan, not to let anyone know you experienced filthy dreams about other people but here you were – letting a man know you had been thirsting over him in your sleep and wanted to do something about it.

"Oh," he mumbled, barely letting out any noise, not knowing what to reply to that. One part of him was relieved and even glad to hear that it wasn't only him who had fantasized about you, but also you had fantasized about him. Now, you couldn't blame him for being a creep, imagining you in a situation like that. Other part of him was nervous how to answer to this situation. What was he supposed to do now?

"And i, i've fantasized about kissing you too. Well obviously in my dream, but, well, awake as well," you admitted, instantly wanting to take the words back but it was too late now. Maybe he was drunk enough not to remember any of this next morning. You should have certainly drank couple of drinks less. Usually you thought about things before saying them, but now the words were leaving your mouth before your brain had properly processed them.

"You... you have?" 7th floor stuttered.

"Yes," you replied, feeling your cheeks warming up. Surely you had no reason to get embarrassed anymore. "Can i ask, um, what happened in your dream?"

You were nervous, swallowing the lump rising in your throat. Were you going too far? Oh god, he'd never look into your eyes starting tomorrow, you were definitely digging a mental grave for yourself. He looked at you for a moment, million of different thoughts running through his head.

"You want me to explain or show you?" he asked, and you were startled how he was suddenly feeling brave. At least acting like it. It was definitely the liquor talking right now – with both of you.

"Well, maybe you should just show me," you answered with a trembling voice. Both of you glanced at each other's lips.

You weren't sure which one of you leaned in first, your lips probably meeting half way, but then you were kissing each other with such passion that you hadn't believed to exist inside 7th floor and his usual calm and serious demeanor. He cupped your face with one hand, the other hand resting on your lower back to pull you closer against him.

"What then?" you mumbled against his lips. He pulled back slightly, but being still close enough for the tip of your noses touching each other. You caressed his cheek gently with your thumb when he had frozen still, hands still holding you but unsure which direction to proceed with you. "You can show me, don't be shy. Do whatever you dreamed about."

He was hesitant, not being prepared of actually making it happen with you. He wasn't prepared to sleeping with you for real, especially since you had drank alcohol tonight. Would you regret it in the morning and start avoiding him altogether from then on? He didn't want to lose you just because of one night together.

"Are you sure?" he tried to confirm. "I don't want to do anything you'd regret. We've had a lot to drink, so –"

"I'm not wasted enough not to know what i'm doing," you insisted. "I'm willing to do anything, unless it included some BDSM shit, like ropes, leather belts and whatever – that i haven't learned to become into."

"Nothing like that, i swear," he hurried to say, embarrassed that you'd even think his mind would dive into that category.

"Well? Were we on the floor? Or on the bed? Did you have me against the wall?" you started listing different options for him to choose if he had trouble to form the words by himself.

"Bed," he replied quietly, pupils dilated as he looked at you.

You backed him towards the mattress, pushing him down by pressing your hand on his shoulder. He sat down, heart hammering against his chest so hard he felt like he was going to choke.

"Was i on the top or the bottom?" you asked, lifting your left eyebrow.

"Top," he muttered, breath hitching.

"Oh?" you smirked. You straddled his lap, earning a deep groan out of his throat when your needy cunt rubbed against the already growing bulge between his legs. You made sure to press yourself a little harder against his crotch. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting you to have an amused smile on your lips for a moment. "Like this?"

"Mhm," he hummed, biting his tongue.

You felt yourself already becoming wet as you felt his cock pressing against you, making your panties sticky.

"Then?"

He put his hands gently on your hips, steadying you on his lap and bringing you closer against him, making you press your knees harder against the mattress. He was getting now a little bolder, seeing how willing you were to commit to this, but he was still shy and careful what to say and do. It was your first time together, an unplanned one too, of course it was going to be awkward.

"You... took your shirt off," he explained quietly, taking hold on the hem of your shirt. "May i?"

You nodded, allowing him to pull your shirt over your head and toss it on the floor. You were left there to sit on top of him wearing only your bra and pants. For a few seconds he couldn't get his eyes off your breasts and white bra, having to grit his teeth together.

"Have you never been with a woman before? Or at least seen a woman without clothes on?" you asked, lifting his chin up with your finger.

"It's been quite a long time," he admitted, voice breaking a little.

"I can tell," you smiled, touching the hem of his shirt too. "May i?"

He let you take off his shirt as well, throwing it next to yours on the floor.

He put his hand on the back of your head, pulling your face closer to him to take you into another kiss, this time much deeper than the first one. Your hand roamed around his chest, stopping at his heart which was beating hard against your palm. At least the beat of his heart matched yours, both of your hearts beating in sync. He pushed his tongue inside your mouth as deep as he could.

After a while of making out, he lowered his face to press kisses all over your neck and collarbones, until selecting a few spots to start sucking marks on, making you gasp. Only the sounds of your moans and gasps made his cock twitch inside his pants.

"7th floor," you panted. "I need you now."

He didn't need you to repeat yourself. You got up shortly for the both of you to be able to remove your pants. Your mouth watered when you looked down at the tent in his boxers, precum already leaking and sticking against the fabric.

He stepped forward to stand right in front of you, the tip of his cock pressing against your stomach through his boxers.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" he whispered and pushed a strand of your hair behind your ear.

Less talking and more action, you thought inside your head, going crazy of the waiting, getting more and more desperate for getting him inside of you. But you couldn't help but blush of his words, now being the shy one out of the two.

He pulled you down on the mattress to lay on top of him. Before you took off your underwear, he pulled a blanket over the both of you.

"You remember there's cameras, right?" he reminded you, not wanting to share the entire bare sight of you with god knows how many people behind those recording cameras which luckily didn't catch sound – at least so you had assumed.

"You don't want to make a proper porn tape, huh? Wanna censor it a little bit?" you smirked. To be fair, you weren't entirely a fan of having several people watching you fuck someone, seeing all of you, but right now you needed this man under you too much you'd probably do anything. By far you had found no spot here which couldn't be seen from cameras.

His erection was now pressing against your stomach, skin on skin. You wrapped your fingers around his hard cock, guiding to slide the tip over your wet folds, covering a part of him with your arousal and teasing your clit which made you let out a gasp. You were already so sensitive. He sucked a quick breath through his teeth, flinching from the contact of your soft hand around his cock.

You brought the tip of his cock against your entrance, slowly pressing your hips down to bury his length inside you. A deep moan left your mouth as he was stretching your walls, a grunt leaving his throat as your tight cunt was squeezing him. It had been so long since the last time you had slept with a man and you needed a release so, so badly.

You stayed still for a while, trying to get used to his size. He put his hands on your thighs, digging his fingers into your skin and helping you move so you wouldn't have to do all the work.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, seeing the short grimace on your face.

"Yeah, it's just, a tight fit," you whispered and couple of seconds later started to move, making him moan. God, how much you loved the sound of a man moaning under your touch.

You pressed your hands on his chest for support as you started bringing your hips up and down his length. You had been so, so aroused by the dream you had of this man, but taking him for real was a thousand times better.

You kept the same motion going on for a while until leaning down and taking him into another kiss.

You had no idea how much time had passed until you were getting tired, your moves starting to get sloppy. He could sense that, so he wrapped his arms around your waist, pressing you harder against his chest as he started slamming his hips on yours as fast as he was able to. Both of you were panting and breathing hard, sweat making your skins stick together.

"Oh god, i'm so close," you mumbled against his neck.

"Me too," he gasped.

Then, the wave of pleasure washed and vibrated through your body, making your toes curl and moans getting louder. Right now you didn't care if the others heard you, you only cared about going through your orgasm.

He came right after you, keeping his cock buried deep inside you, spilling his warm seed inside and painting your walls white. You knew you should have ordered condoms but it was too late to think about it now.

"Was it as good as your dream?" you whispered when you were able to breathe in regular pace again.

"Trust me, it was way better," he answered, feeling the mix of his and your cum drip down your pussy on his inner thigh.

"So, want to act out my dream tomorrow?" you asked, biting your lip.

"Should i be scared what it included?"

"I won't spoil it," you grinned.

☆☆☆

A/N: Part 2, perhaps...?

(The next chapters of my Chishiya series are coming out at some point i swear i'm just horny rn and the smut scenes with Chishiya are too far away.)

[obamas-eyebrow]

I love love loveeee do not resuscitate so far and am patiently waiting for the next update 🤲

Thank you so much anon 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 I’m so sorry for the delay :,( I promise I haven’t abandoned this series I just genuinely have ZERO inspiration I’m gonna crash out.

If y’all have any head canons you’d like to share pls do not hesitate I’m desperate for any inspo