#dunno about gamma or sigma though

[bisexualbaker]

[Image: Text reads, "Six Male Personalities of Modern Men Explained: (What Each Type Brings to the Table) Open Thread". The six types are Alpha (suit and fancy goatee), Beta (short brown hair, jock), Delta (short brown hair, plain white t-shirt), Gamma (long blond hair and red-and-black horizontal striped shirt), Omega (ear-length black hair, round-frame glasses, bow tie, button-down shirt, suspenders), and Sigma (short brown hair, "bad boy" aesthetic with sunglasses and black leather jacket). All of them have the exact same aggressive facial expression; all of them are also white/light skinned. End ID.]

They keep expanding the gender binary options for men (?)

[staytheb]

Hide ‘n Seek

Pairing: SKZ’s Chan x OC [Sieun] Genre: slice of life, slight fluff Word Count: 3,412 Summary: Sieun thought she wasn’t playing hide and seek, but finds out later that Chan found her.

Warning: curse words. semi-proofread, not my best work tbh

oh, look another SKZ story with Bang Chan... lol oh well. anyways, this was inspired by Jerrilyn’s Hide ‘n Seek, but then it came out differently than i had wanted and i just wrote on thinking i could bring it back to how i may have wanted it, but nope. so this is the product of it and it’s there. lol so it’s whatever as i did have fun, but it isn’t what i really wanted for it. but yeah, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

"Quick, hide me!"

Sieun heard a male voice announced in a panicked-like tone before looking up with a questioning expression. She spotted a familiar face and her lips quirked upwards as she wondered what her friend did this time around.

"What did you do, Jisung?"

"Nothing." Jisung answered as he tried to hide within Sieun's belongings.

"You have to have done something because you hardly hang out in the library and people rarely come to this side of it."

"Which is exactly a great hiding spot for me right now."

He grinned at her while shuffling around her things as he pushed her out from her desk and settled himself underneath it while bringing her back to cover him. Sieun had her own private-like table at a secluded area within the library. After hanging out here since her freshman year and doing a work study, she had gotten along super well with the librarians that they made this her spot. Of course, it wouldn't be when she graduated this year, but for the time being this area was hers and hers alone. It was a perfect place whenever she had to study or needed a sanctuary from everything else.

"Stay like this and act like I'm not here." Jisung instructed her. "And if someone asks for me, act like you don't know me."

Sieun didn't respond and continued her studying before she was interrupted. Jisung frowned believing that his friend didn't hear him and patted her thigh impatiently as he repeated what he had said before. Still, Sieun didn't react and Jisung pushed her out to pop out his head to glare at her.

"Did you not hear me?"

Sieun paused and looked down at him.

"You told me to act like you're not here and that I don't know you."

"Oh, at least acknowledged that fact so I would know that I'm not talking to air."

"Do you wanna get caught for whatever you did or do you want me to help you?"

"Alright, alright."

Jisung backed off as he returned back to his position while pulling Sieun's chair back into its place again. She smirked as she went back to her books before hearing another voice loudly muttering stuff. Jisung started to slightly freak upon hearing a familiar voice as he began tapping at Sieun's legs. She slightly kicked him to calm down and he stopped while letting out a quiet ow. Sieun didn't have time to laugh at her friend's misery as the other male's voice got louder. She frowned while trying to make out who was making their way back to her secret spot through the limited open spaces of the book shelves.

Sieun's eyes followed the stranger to be alert of his presence for when he rounded the last shelf and came to full view of her sight. Her whole demeanor became super confused when she spotted Sigma Kappa Zeta's Chan standing before her. Although she was a part of a sorority, but she was more low-key about her appearance and got all of her updates from her friends who were all from different houses if not her own. Sieun just didn't understand why someone like Chan was here and looking for her friend. Then it finally clicked a moment later. Jisung had joined Sigma Kappa Zeta just last year when her friend raved on and on about it after being accepted. Sieun had totally forgotten that fact.

"Oh, hi." Chan greeted her with an awkward smile. "Thought I would find someone else back here."

"Hi." Sieun greeted back out of politeness. "What kind of person were you thinking of finding?"

"Uh, a male that's part of Sigma Kappa Zeta."

"Sorry, just me a female who's not part of any sororities." She lied about being a part of a sorority.

"Wait. Aren't you a part of Nu Chi Zeta?"

"No. That's my friend."

"Chi Rho Theta?"

"No. That's another friend."

"Mu Beta Beta?"

"Nope. Another friend."

"Alpha Gamma Sigma?"

"Once again, no. That's my other friend."

"I feel like I've seen you before." Chan stated with a pensive look as Sieun shrugged like she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yeah, I dunno."

Sieun knew. She had classes with him over the years, but didn't want to state that.

"How many friends do you have in a sorority that you're not in any of the ones that I've mentioned and which one are you a part of?" Chan asked with a puzzled look.

Sieun cast the male a similar look before responding not really telling him the whole truth again.

"Just those four, but why are you asking me about that? Aren't you looking for someone right now?"

"Oh, right. I am."

Chan let out a cough as he sheepishly looked off to the side of him before casting his eyes onto Sieun again who went back to her materials.

"Say," He began, "You wouldn't happen to know someone name Jisung, right?"

"Define which Jisung." Sieun remarked with her focus still on her things. "There's quite a few of them on campus."

"Oh, right. Um, his name is Han Jisung. He's a second year and he's a part of Sigma Kappa Zeta."

"Nope, never heard him. Sorry."

She cast Chan a wide smile in hopes that he would soon go away so that she could get rid of Jisung and return back to her own thing.

"Oh, okay. Well, if you happen to chance upon him in some way, tell him that Chan is looking for him."

"Which Chan? There's quite a few with that name, too."

"Bang Chan."

"Okay. Got it."

Sieun flashed him another smile as Chan partially got the hint.

"Okay, thank you."

Chan backed up, turned around, and was about to round the corner when he did a one-eighty and came back to face her.

"Why do you have your own desk at the back of the library?"

Sieun tried to not make a face at Chan's continuous questions of making conversations with her.

"Um, is that really important right now? I thought you needed to find someone?"

"He can wait. He actually has until the end of tonight before the game's over."

"What game?"

"Hide 'n Seek."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. The fra-"

"Wait," Sieun held up a hand for Chan to stop talking, "Houses are not supposed to reveal their secrets unless the person is a part of it."

Chan shut up immediately with widened eyes. He then pointed behind him.

"I'm just gonna go."

Sieun nodded in agreement not wanting to say anything. Chan cast her one last smile before turning around and finally leaving. Sieun was about to go back to her studies when she was sudden pushed backwards having forgotten about Jisung's hiding underneath her desk.

"Were you hitting on one of my frat bros?" Jisung questioned her while sitting on his knees now as he blocked her from resuming her studying.

"I wasn't hitting on anyone and your friend was talking to me. Not me to him." Sieun clarified.

"So why did you lie that you weren't a part of sorority?"

"Was there a need for him to know that I was a part of one? I'm graduating this year and won't see him or you ever again."

She chuckled after saying that causing the male to pout.

"Hey, that's not nice. I thought we were friends."

"We were never friends."

Jisung gasped before a playful look cross his face that Sieun caught. She spoke before he could act upon it.

"Mess with me and I'll make sure to tell Chan where you're hiding."

Jisung stopped and groaned.

"Ah, always ruining my fun."

"Right. You're the one that came to bother me."

"Oh, I did, didn't I?"

Sieun narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"Why did you come all the way here when there were other places to hiding places?"

"Because you're here."

Jisung immediately shut up, but Sieun didn't probed further on that topic not wanting to involved with it.

"Whatever. Why don't you just run along and leave me alone?"

"I can't. I have to hide out until midnight tonight."

"Why?"

"Because it's part of the game. And the game states that I-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Sieun interrupted him by placing a hand over his mouth, "You can't reveal your house's secrets."

Jisung removed her hand from his mouth as a mischievous smile graced his face.

"I don't like your face." Sieun said with an unsure expression and shied away from Jisung.

The male frowned before brushing off his friend's words.

"Anyways, are you busy tonight?"

Sieun met up with her four friends, Sumin, Seorin, Chaewon, and Nayoung at CLOVER for dinner. While eating and talking about what they were gonna do tonight, Sieun found out that they were also given a small-like white placard like hers from members of Sigma Kappa Zeta.

"Wait, you guys have one, too?" Sieun asked in disbelief while bringing hers out. "Mine's from Jisung."

"Mine's from Seungmin." Nayoung stated as she brought out hers. "He gave it to me like last week."

"Oh, I got one last week, too." Seorin said as she showed hers. "It's from a kid I tutor named Jeongin."

"Hyunjin." Chaewon inputted while placing hers on the table. "He gave it to be like weeks ago in case he forgot."

"Oh, then that leaves me." Sumin piped up with a laugh as she flashed hers. "Felix gave it to be this morning."

"Did they say what it was for though?" Sieun questioned them with a frown. "I don't want to be associated with any of this."

"Sieun, you're a part of the Greek Life, you're always gonna be associated with it." Chaewon remarked with a laugh.

"I only joined because you guys did and didn't think y'all were gonna join different ones then I pledged to."

"That's just how things work." Nayoung deadpanned before casting them all a look. "This thing starts at ten. Are we all going?"

"Of course." Sumin answered. "Felix said that if I don't show up with this thing, then he doesn't get any points or whatever it is."

"He told you everything?" Seorin asked Sumin.

"No. He almost did, but I stopped him before he let out his fraternity's secret."

"So, you're saying if we don't show up, then the boys' won't get their points or something like that?" Nayoung inquired as Sumin nodded. "Yeah, something like that."

"Hmm, then Jisung's gonna get jacked shit. Serves that kid right when he almost got caught this afternoon when I was in the library." Sieun replied with a smirked.

"Why? What happened?" Seorin asked interested. "Is this that kid that bothers you all the time?"

"Yes, but his member, Chan, came looking for him and he confused me with all of y'all."

Sieun scoffed as she looked at all of her friends.

"Do I even resemble any of you?"

The other four looked at one another with a knowing look before all staring at Sieun.

"What?" She asked cautiously. "I don't like how y'all's faces look."

Sieun found herself outside of Sigma Kappa Zeta along with her friends. She didn't want to show up, but they dragged her over. Her friends still didn't respond to her questions and told her that she'll find out on her own if she came to the event at Sigma Kappa Zeta. She disliked all of this a lot, but she knew that somewhere down within her that she liked it even just a little. She won't admit it to them openly of course.

"C'mon, let's get inside."

Seorin hooked her arms with Sieun and began pulling her towards the house.

"Ohh, yeah, let's!"

Sumin joined in and hooked arms with Sieun's other side. Sieun groaned as she try to move backwards, but Chaewon came from behind her and pushed her forward. Sieun sighed knowing that she wasn't going to be able to escape any time soon. The quintet walked up to the door with Nayoung knocking on the door. Soon enough the door opened revealing another member, Minho, on the other side.

"Hel-Nayoung?"

His brows furrowed upon seeing Nayoung standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"This." Nayoung answered as she held out the placard.

Minho took the card and frowned after reading it.

"How do you know Seungmin?"

"That doesn't matter. The others have one, too."

Nayoung ignored the male's question and instead motioned for the other four to present their cards. Minho reluctantly took them while seeming impressed by them. He glanced at all five of them with a charming smile.

"Ladies," He motioned for them to enter the house, "Welcome to Sigma Kappa Zeta."

"I thought you weren't part of a sorority."

Sieun heard from behind her as she looked over to see who it was and realized it was Chan. She was on Sigma Kappa Zeta's rooftop having chosen this spot away from her friends and not wanting to be surrounded by other people. She hated crowds and being stuck at someone else's place that she wasn't comfortable with. Also she thought that no one would want to come outside due to the cold weather. After entering the frat house, Minho informed them that they were allowed to roam the area, but cannot leave the premises until the event was over at midnight.

"I'm not." Sieun lied wondering what made him still think she was.

"Well, the only way you're here tonight is that one of the members had to have given you a placard, right?"

Chan walked closer to her, but kept his distance.

"Yes." Sieun confirmed. "What of it?"

"The condition of the invitation was that it was to be given to a sorority member."

"Aren't you exposing your house's secrets though?"

Chan ignored her statement and continued speaking.

"You're part of Sigma Theta Iota."

Sieun continued to stay silent.

"You're Park Sieun."

Sieun laughed it off not sure where he was getting at.

"Okay, and? What are you trying to get at?"

"Han Jisung invited you."

"Okay, and?" Sieun repeated not really getting it.

Sieun glanced up at Chan still staying put while Chan came over and squatted beside her. Sieun shied away not sure why he was so close.

"Is there something you want from me?"

Chan cast her a charming smile.

"I found you."

"Excuse me?"

Sieun seemed composed on the outside, but she was totally freaking out on the inside. She really hoped that whatever Chan was gonna say next wasn't what she was thinking it to be. No one knew. Not even her friends. Not even Jisung.

"Where. After. Love. Now."

Or so she thought.

"How the fuck do you know that?"

She wanted her tone to be more firm and fierce, but it came out more like a harsh unbelievable whisper. She couldn't believe that Chan had somehow found out about her hashtag project on Instagram inspired by a Thai music video. Let's just say that the project was related to Chan in a way without his absolute knowledge.

"I happened to noticed it during the class we shared a few months back when I saw it when I sat behind you."

"You were spying over my shoulder?"

"What? No. I more or less just saw you scrolling the hashtag and images and got curious."

Sieun turned away from Chan freaking out silently at the prospect that Chan now discovered the images she took of him and the overall set up for it. She could not believe he of all people found out. Then her mind went wild and wondered if everything that happened today was because of his doing. Like Jisung coming to see her at the library to lead Chan there and then later giving her the card. Her friends giving her funny looks when she mentioned Chan confusing her for her friends of different sororities. She groaned quietly at having being the last person to be oblivious about it.

"I gotta go." Sieun abruptly stated while standing up with Chan quickly following after with a puzzled look. "Wait. Why?"

"I'm not feeling well. I feel exposed. I just, this is weird and I don't know how to go about this. So goodbye."

Before Sieun could run off, Chan reached out and took a hold of her hand. He pulled her towards him and Sieun looked everywhere else, but at him. Chan found it cute, but he was more confused as he thought that now it was out in the open she would react differently.

"Sieun."

Sieun grew alert, but she just couldn't face him.

"Please look at me."

She contemplated on doing that. She didn't have to as Chan moved so he would be in her line of sight. She finally focused her attention on him.

"Alright, Chan. What?"

It came out more hostile than she had meant it to.

"Sorry." She apologized while correcting her tone. "Alright, so you know it's me, but don't get all cliche and whatever."

Chan chuckled at her words.

"Okay, but you're the one that was like playing hide and seek this hold time."

"I wasn't playing anything. You were never meant to find it."

"But they were such great photos of me although you did take them when I didn't know about them."

"You have a lot of photos of yourself circulating around campus okay. Don't think I'm some weird stalker or whatever."

"I never did."

"Oh."

Sieun then remembered that Chan was holding her hand and tried to shake his grip on her hand, but he held onto it firmly.

"Aww, I thought this was what you wanted."

"There's a difference between what I created with that hashtag and real life."

"So why not make the hashtag real?"

"You know I would die by like all your little fangirls or whatever."

"Which ones?"

"You really gonna play dumb when you have a whole entourage of girls that wanna get with you, right?"

"I'm not. I just never really noticed them until you mentioned it."

Sieun rolled her eyes while eyeing their held hands.

"Okay, Chan. You know now and I know now, but why are you still holding onto my hand."

"Didn't I say to make Where After Love Now real?"

"Bullshit. Please don't tell me that you like me, too?"

"And if I do?"

"That's some cliche shit right there."

"You do know that we've had classes over the years together, right?"

"Yes, but why asked me about what sorority I was in then?"

"I was just testing you."

"For what?"

"If you would tell me who you were or not."

"And why would I go and do that?"

"It would've made it easier to talk with you instead of having Jisung set this up."

"So Jisung did know and this is now cliche."

"I mean, one way or another, it was bound to be cliche."

Sieun sighed as she looked at Chan expectantly.

"Alright, Bang Chan, what now?"

Chan smiled at her knowingly before pulling out his phone and waving at her.

"How about a picture to commemorate our official status?"

"Official status? The fuck. We're not a couple or even dating."

"Not yet, but this can be the start of it."

"Wow."

She wavered for a bit.

"Could we like, not, do it?"

"No. We're definitely doing it."

Before Sieun could reject the idea again, Chan took a photo of their held hands. He let go only to type away on his phone. A moment later, Sieun's phone dinged. She knew that Chan had just tagged her with whatever he did on Instagram.

"Look at your phone."

"I'll do it later."

"Okay. Let's make more."

"I would rather hide."

"And then I'll seek you out."

"There's really no escaping from you is there?"

"Nope. Seems like you're stuck with me."

"Okay, well it's not bad. We just have several months with one another before graduation and then off we go to other things away from one another."

Chan rolled his eyes before laughing a second later.

"It's okay. We can talk about all of that when the time comes for it."

"I guess, but alright. So what do you wanna do?"

"Is it midnight yet?"

Sieun checked her phone and saw that there was still half an hour left before then.

"No."

"Alright. Let's grab something to eat and let Jisung suffer."

"Ohh, I like that. Let him stay and hidden."

The pair laughed as they got off the rooftop.

[the-uptake]

An Unknown Sustenance

The Uptake, The Sarpashana Solution. Book IV, Chapter 1(?)

I’m all over the place. Grunt.

Several figures, clad in white suiting with tailored clean silhouettes, collected near the observation window of their research facility. Some looked on in anticipation, some in boredom. One could not help but pace.

"Sit still, Tis'a."

"I can't. This doesn't matter."

"They already know there's more of them than themselves," the first continued. "It is an inevitable development."

"Let them eat together," a third commented, near the back of them, only vaguely attentive. "We've already seen they form social bonds within their sectors. It's plausible that even at a sector level they will play nice with one another."

"They might even encourage one another to branch out where they've been averse to it prior." A fourth weighed in, agitated. "Where's all the contention coming from, Tis'a?"

"It's taken us so long just to get this far. I'm having reservations about the risks here."

"We've determined a reliable pattern of repeatability." The fifth of them snorted at Tis'a. "If there's a problem, we will simply replace the subjects."

"There's no replacing one of them." The second grunted, seeming to understand Tis'a's agitation. "The zero patient still exhibits mutations and adaptability the others have not. We established the sectors for a reason."

"And ideally, bringing them all together socially will help coax them in the right direction." The fourth pointed out into what had once been a courtyard, now an organized mess of drums, metals, plastics, and indeterminate debris. "Even if they haven't exhibited adaptive traits yet, I'm still confident they have simply thus far been shy to push their limits."

"Hamsa is right. Perhaps if Sigma and Theta see one another... remediating different substances than one another, they might be more inclined to sampling the other sector's comfort zone."

"I still rather hate that you call it 'eating,' Arba'a," Tis'a mumbled. "It's just... unnatural. I don't understand how any of you can stand to watch."

"You know what you signed up for when you took this position." The fifth radiated the authority of a senior figure, and shepherded them nearer the observation window. "Come on now, the staff will be releasing them in waves any minute now. The Betas first, then the Gammas, and so on. Not at all unlike cafeteria shifts in a high school, except the shifts today overlap."

Tis'a's face curled in displeasure but they said nothing.

____________________

The Beta sector subjects shuffled in through the pocket door to the north end of the rectangular courtyard, oblivious to any change in their daily habits at the complex. The ten of them, arthritic and despondent, sat around a sizable pile of small metal bits and set to rummage through it. Nuts and washers, screws and bolts, tailings, all manner of shapes and functions and alloys. They would put a given piece to their mouths, then decide to pass it to someone else, or swallow it themselves without chewing. It rarely went that a given piece passed hands more than two or three times, and it was common for a recipient to be fed the piece by the one who gifted it. The wefts of a deranged social intimacy shuttled the group together through action and few words.

The Gamma sector entered from the East end, and they descended upon one of the stacks of plastics. They rifled through it for the rubberiest parts, and gorged themselves. Occasionally, one might pick out a piece another of them would enjoy more than they would, and they'd toss it unceremoniously in their direction. Over time, the pile flattened from their scattering methods, though it did not draw attention to themselves, the Betas too absorbed in their saturnine ritual. The twelve Gammas, too, remained oblivious to sharing a space with anyone else.

The Deltas and Epsilons filed in from East and West, and served the catalyst for the encounter. They saw one another upon entry into the yard and stood staring, not going to their delicacy without prompting.

"What gives?" an Epsilon called out. He noticed the other groups already present, along with the one that had arrived along with his own, and pointed at them with incredulity. "They told us there was other groups but they never let us see each other!"

"Yeah, this is weird," a Delta agreed. She walked up to him and looked around with a vague consternation. "It's almost like they had some kind of scheduling flub..."

"What are you starin' at!" another Epsilon hollered, glaring at the Betas. But they hadn't stopped eating just to stare listlessly at the Deltas and Epsilons, but rather had their faces set upon the newest arrivals: the Thetas from the South. The third and fourth groups looked behind them to discover a group of distinctly asymmetrical individuals, who had frozen in place the instant they realized they were not alone.

"--Ignore them," one insisted, struggling with a limp gait to drag the rest to a mound of bottles. "We need to..." They insinuated toward the bottles, which upon closer inspection could be determined to be discarded prescriptions and medical waste. "If we don't now, it'll be hours before the next chance to be still."

Those who heard the Theta nodded silently and all went about their business. Many still eyed one another as they fed. Over the next thirty minutes, six more groups entered, and with each subsequent arrival, each withdrew from one another's line of sight, the shame of their condition outweighing the exigence of absolving their many months of loneliness. What brought them all together only served to further isolate. Somewhere about ninety subjects crowded in the courtyard. For twenty minutes or so, the twelve groups continued on in communal isolation as they bioremediated their respective commodity of waste.

For the most part, everyone tried their best to ignore the mere concept of what the others around then consumed.

The door to the north end produced a single subject the next time it opened, and the figure descended immediately upon the haystack of crusted drums no one else has dared touch. His wiry, naked frame bent at odd angles to facilitate identifying their contents by smell alone. Once he came upon a satisfactory stuff, he put his mouth to the cap and sucked and lapped at it until the fluids within flowed readily down his throat. The sheer quantity of liquid wastes he knocked back got everyone's attention, and soon everyone watched in a mixture of horror and fascination.

The Alpha subject got his fill of drum contents after the third, and moved toward the pile of metal junk, only to realize he wasn't alone. He looked to the plastics pile, the pharmaceuticals, the solar glass... His one-eyed features gnarled up in self-revulsion as he could tell these other figures were also consuming in kind, and he shrank from their sight.

"--You ARE here." The cracked voice of a Theta disinterred himself from the pharmaceuticals. Seemingly unable to stand, he still insisted to close the distance between them. "It took me... way too long to understand... what I'd gotten myself into... They wanted... Wolfrin victims... for the trial... But I couldn't have dreamed you were... still alive..."

The Theta's long, dark, stringy hair obscured his face as he lay at the Alpha's feet, and he parted it to stare longingly up at him with cataracted, oleous eyes.

"Dunno if you remember me, but I could never forget you." The dreg smiled in a warm delirium, complacent to how dragging his body along the ground had contorted his tank top to expose a nipple through its neckline. "...Supposing I did get my wish, after all, to become like you, Galen."

The remark shot through Galen to the marrow, and he couldn’t still his shaking rage and confusion and hurt. Before he knew it, he’d smashed his bare heel down on the Theta’s shoulder and dislocated the arm and collarbone all. The Theta lurched in a stifled wheeze, and rolled in a flinch to shield his face.

“–I, I’m sorry. Y’didn’t deserve th–”

“–You really don’t remember me, if you don’t think I didn’t deserve that.” The dreg curled up tighter and coddled his shoulder when he realized Galen had not continued into a full assault, and he sniffed and fell to flat affect. “Did the ghouls even give you the books?”

“...Ghouls?” Galen sat, his brain swimming too hot to remain steady, and he shook his head in dismissal. He looked around a moment to see the others had mostly resumed eating rather than continue staring. “What are y'even on about?”

“Painted ghouls. The stalkers with their faces covered in spray paint. They steal from all the low-level places they can to smuggle stuff back inside the walls? I… never mind. I never learn my lesson.”

“…Runners. They’re runners. The city calls ‘em ghouls? The fuck.” The wiry naked idiot lay back and stared up at the mesh mezzanine acting as a lid to the container which was the courtyard.

“City thinks of ‘em like bogeymen. Like they couldn’t possibly be real stalkers. Just punks dressed up to scare folks or somethin’.”

“They all might as well be dead either way.”

“...You don’t have to tell me, but I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”

“They got that paint all over their faces from huffin’ it. If a stalker leaves the Quarter anymore, they can’t breathe without paint, or maybe canned air. Dunno why I’m an exception to that. Maybe ‘cause I died way before all this shit started.” He squinted, face struggling not to screw up over it. “I don’t get it. The air in there’s all wrong now. It’s a wonder spray paint’s got enough… whatever in it to sustain runners long enough t’get outside the walls, then do a grab an’ run. I… I don’t wanna talk about how bad it is inside the walls. Not right of me to.”

“That’s fine. …You… you really don’t recognize me, though?” The Theta turned onto his back to give him a crestfallen, soulful pout, and slowly his dearth inflection broke into sentimentality. “It has been since before the walls. I guess I’ve changed just as much as you have. I mean, just��� look at you. At the same time you don’t look like you’ve aged hardly at all, your body has just… continued… adapting… And I’ve just… continued falling apart… Going on forty now...” He reset his shoulder and didn’t even hiss. A quiet laugh came from him as he looked away, rubbing the joint. “Melancholy.”

“Are y’gonna just keep mopin’ an’ givin’ me coded hints or are y’gonna tell me your goddamn name? Maybe ring a bell? Y’drivin’ me loon.” Galen wiped the sorry from his face, and made vague circular gesticulations as he spoke. “Tch, it’s not much use anyway. Head cheese’s comin’ up all Swiss lately.”

Rather than form a rational response, Melancholy choked on laughter, then held his mouth and the tears just ran out of nowhere.

“…Finally seeing me again for the first time in over a decade, and you don’t even remember the asshole you took out all your sexual frustrations on while you were working for the EPA…” Melancholy sniffed and looked to him with a limpid sense of humor. He parted his greying undercut to slick down some approximation to bangtails, and pinched his thumbs and forefingers to hold circles to his eyes, intimating glasses with a stupid smile. “Maybe now?”

“Stop bendin’ like that. Don’t like that.” Galen rolled over so he didn’t have to keep looking at the sallow, horrid Theta. He hated being pushed for recollection he clearly didn’t have, being reminded just how little he remembered before the walls. How much of his brain had he lost after being beaten a dozen inches past his life, years ago? “I don’t even clearly know how I ended up in here. Just know they feed me. Today’s first I ever knew there was anybody but me here... You said you was just like me now. Tell me just exactly what you think about you’s just like me, yeah.”

“Well, that’s an exaggeration, I guess. I haven’t exactly gotten as far along as you, though I doubt I could ever catch up. I can knock back... a lot though. Most plastics don’t give me too much trouble now, either. They mostly give the Thetas medical and pharmaceutical discards. Olen over there, she can even handle the sharps bins no trouble. To be perfectly fair, this is the first I think any of us has known there was anyone else here... like this... Dunno how anyone else got here. I only know the folks who were in the same trial as me--and this is a million times better than anything they tried to sell me to hook me.”

To punctuate the statement, ‘Choly turned over and tried to spoon Galen, who allowed it from the stranger in the hopes proximity would help him feel better, even if it didn’t help jog his memories of him. ‘Choly’s face ended up in the crook of Galen’s shoulder.

“I just... Why are they collectin’ people who can eat like me? The fuck purpose is that? --An’ you mentioned you’re in here ‘cause they lied to you an’ told you this was some trial? You tryin’ t’tell me y'wasn’t always like this?”

'Choly turned his head so he didn’t bark another laugh right into Galen’s ear, but settled down again quickly with a nostalgic body beside him. He’d lost track of how long he’d been in the facility, how long it had been since he’d lain beside Cecil, or any of the Potluck. He nudged Galen onto his back and knelt atop him with an apathetic whimsy, his shoulders rolled and head a bit lolled.

“My chasing a way to become more like you has forever gotten us tangled up in each other’s chaos. Even now. I think I’m the only Theta happy to be here. Even happier, knowing I’m here with you... Say, I might not be able to stomach everything you can yet, but I can still...”

And ‘Choly hooked the corners of his mouth to force a smile across the entire span of his face. He recalled Galen disliking just the double-jointed display before and he quickly dropped the distortion with an embarrassed brow. When Galen only reacted in dumbstruck revulsion, ‘Choly ran a hand down Galen’s chest and left it atop the defined, warped abdominal muscles which formed a shape which was neither quite a paunch nor quite a potbelly. Galen shuddered a breath, shoulders in rigor as he frantically looked around to see if they still had any onlookers.

“The idiot from the library,” the Theta whispered desperately. “The idiot stalker stalking you for months on end before you caught me, and flung me into your apartment, and...” He trailed off and put his fingertips to Galen’s mouth, heart stitching knots like a sewing machine with a jammed bobbin. “We can... always make new memories...”

“Are you sure you actually handle all those bottles of other people’s drugs? You are fucking high as shit.”

“I’ve always been like this. I like to think it’s the one thing you liked about me. Gave you an excuse to feel justified roughing me up. Fuck, the shiner you gave me the first time I--” A halted moan came out of ‘Choly as he coaxed his fingers against Galen’s tongue. “I, you. You wouldn’t want to see if we have... that in common, would you? I was always so happy to oblige you, that I never really asked you to reciprocate...”

When ‘Choly moved to run his fingers even deeper into Galen’s mouth, Galen wrenched the hand from his lips by the wrist and glared up at him, haunted. That face. Something clicked in Galen’s head and flashed pieces of connected thoughts together. Fuck me, you’re perfect, he could hear in ‘Choly’s broken, unmodulated voice. This dreg had had his entire arm down Galen’s throat once--at least once--knew everything about him if he knew the lack of features on the outside belied the presence of internal genitalia. The dislocated shoulder, that hadn’t been the first time Galen had popped it out of joint. His face ran metallic, and his mouth in lieu of tears suffused with drool and panic.

“--Nn, not here. I don’t want this. Not like this. Hff-- fuck. Fuck fuck ffh--”

If this ass knew what Galen’s stomach lining felt like, surely he knew how loud Galen could get without something down his throat choking out the sound of it. In front of a hundred people, maybe more watching from observation windows. He flushed deep blue in the face just thinking about it, and did his best to swallow his upset.

“Where else, then? I don’t think they’re going to let us see each other in private. You make it sound like you would want it on different terms, at least. Perhaps just... keeping the stimulation external for now?” ‘Choly traced the chain of nodes where Galen’s navel had once been. Then, when Galen struggled not to cry out, he took Galen’s free hand and guided it up under the hem of the tank top, to touch him in kind. A ragged breath came out of ‘Choly as Galen tried to appease him by focusing such attention on him rather than himself, and ‘Choly fell to choking whispers as Galen traced his navel with a thumb. “Slaggit, if this even feels a fraction as good to me as it does to you-- Ugh, how I’ve missed the smell of your sweat.”

“Have you always... greeted me with sex... or am I just this unlucky?”

“Hhh, hha. I get the, impression, we’re all hardwired this way now. Look. I always thought it was, just the Thetas, blowing off steam after eating... but look.”

The two of them stopped to observe similar interactions, in various stages of disrobing. The Epsilons lounged in pairs across the piles of broken solar glass, grinding against each other, against a shared panel between each of them as they suckled on the edges. The Betas had progressed from feeding each other bits and pieces, to languorously effusing metal directly from their palms into one another’s wanting mouths. The Gammas took to opposite ends of lengths of rubber pipes and let their mouths linger in one another’s when they met in the middle. All manner of lawless orgy bloomed up around them, a topography of derangement fueled by a gamut of appetites.

“They’re... They’re... Why...” In particular, Galen watched the Betas in abject fascination. He barely contained voicing the nascent desire that someone feed him in any such way.

“I’ve lost track of the number of times they’ve told my sector to knock it off. Something about the vagus nerves gets scrambled with the primary mutation... Seems understandable now why the white coats are so jealous. Positive feedback reinforcement, though, I suppose--if they could breed it out of us, we’d have no reward for performance.”

“--Ju --jus --sst, ssssh shut up. Y'sound like one a those freaks in white, but broken.” Galen squinted and shuddered, then felt very small. “Can... can you ss, sweat... like that? The metal? Probably a stupid question, ss, sssince you said they feed you drugs. Don’t got a lotta metal in drugs...”

‘Choly became animated at the thinly-veiled request, pressing his free palm to Galen’s lips and smearing lithium all over them. He could tell exactly what had captivated the Alpha’s attention.

“Pharmacology uses a lot of metals, actually.” He grinned, absolutely drunken on obliging Galen’s appetites in such a precise but multifaceted way. “They do have a grand idea. Do you want me to--”

Dropping all reservations, Galen forced ‘Choly’s hand down his throat and let ‘Choly guide himself all the way down inside. Whereupon, the cowed Theta unloaded every metal he could muster directly into his idol’s gut, all the while stroking the distended stomach lining. However new it was, it was still the most familiar thing either had felt in ages, and Galen blissfully reciprocated the attention by petting ‘Choly���s abdomen. And they remained passionately tangled up in such a way, until the orderlies filed in to pry everyone apart with a firm gentleness, to escort them back to well-rehearsed isolation.