#the way where he needs his hand held for vaccines y'know

[coldercreation]

Damn Isac needs an angels don't do crime tramp stamp or something what a great line ur such a good writer

Hahaha I can see Nat asking Kit to design a t-shirt like that and Izzy would wear it to absolute death :')

Thank you lovely, I'm glad you liked the new story and the writing xx

[swagless-talks-alot]

Memories

Middle school. 

Rusty benches, rotting lockers, and prepubescent children. 

8th period is when I learned that he would be moving away. He would get to move out of this hell hole and move to a brand new country. 

"Are you ever going to come back?" I had asked as I unpacked my History notebook from my bag. But before he could answer, his loud ass friends entered the room.  Mark was the type of guy who wasn't immensely popular himself, but people knew him and he knew people. Most were either jealous of him, or loved him, no in between. 

I would say I was more on the jealous side. Not only was he on the dance team, my friends wouldn't shut about how "nice he is" or "how adorable he is" or "how good he is at math". 

"Have you read his poems? Apparently he has a poem book."

It's not just my friends either, it's my parents too. Unfortunately for me, Mark's parents and my parents are part of the same friend circle. Which means constant comparison. Ever since elementary school. 

But it's not like they were wrong. And it didn't help that I liked him either. It may have been my 13 year old hormones, or the fact that his smile seemed to light up the world around him, but despite how sickly jealous I was, I was so entranced. I remember crying after hearing a rumour that he liked someone one day. A weird occurrence as I never cried over anything. The rumour turned out to be false because I asked him about it the next day and he said "No, who is that?". 

We were what I would call acquaintances. One of my friends dated one of his friends in 6th grade for a week before breaking up in the most dramatic way possible. 

"You know, I heard they kissed once," I remember telling Mark. 

He replied with a grimace and said, "Eww that's gross, why would you kiss someone?" 

I remember laughing and telling him that it wasn't a big deal. 

After that, we talked once in a while. If we were in the same class, we would ask each other about homework or make basic small talk if none of his friends were around. 

And so, as History class ended, the 13-year-old boy came up to me. "Sorry for ignoring your question earlier, uhh I don't know if I'm coming back or not actually. I think I'm going to be living in Korea for a while," he smiled. "Don't tell anyone about it okay?" He said playfully. "Shhh". 

He giggled, put on his backpack, and ran up to catch up with his friends. 

And that was the last time I ever saw him. 

Honestly, I was glad. I thought that the source of my insecurities was gone and that my crush on him would disappear. I was a progressive child, so I got over him quickly, but unfortunately I still had my insecurities. I thought I would never cross paths with him again and as bittersweet as it sounds, I preferred it over the constant conflict in my heart whenever I saw him. I got over my insecurities slowly, throughout high school. My life without Mark Lee, was great, wonderful even. So then why, at the thought of seeing him again, run at the chance to intern at his company? My desperate ass didn't even search him up on google because I didn't want to know what he looked like now. My view of him is still of a 5'4 teenager boy, with a high pitched voice and braces. So when I was met with a guy who looked too handsome to be real, you could expect that I was taken aback. 

Mark, who I wasn't sure was Mark, was wearing a plain black shirt and some khakis. He also had light blue hair that looked really soft but also looked slightly fried, perhaps from the dye. 

"This is Mark Lee right, I heard you were the one who was supposed to show me to the intern manager or something."

"Uhh yeah! I'm Mark, nice to meet you. What's your name?" He said enthusiastically. 

He didn't remember me. Or he just wasn't sure. I didn't want to seem insane by saying I went to his old school so I kept quiet. 

"I'm Hannah Wang, I'm from Vancouver", I shifted my weight onto my other leg nervously. 

"Wait, Hannah Wang? Did you ever go to Westwood Middle?" Mark asked, his eyes lighting up. 

He remembered. Holy shit, Mark Lee remembered me. "Yeah, I was waiting for you to say something." I said as we walked into the recording room. "You uh, glew up a lot, I could barely recognize you." 

"Ah really? You glew up a lot too- not that you weren't pretty back then- I mean not like that-" Mark panicked.

"So you didn't think I was pretty?" I chuckled. 

We began walking inside the building, and the recording rooms became visible.

"No I mean you were, and still are- ahh" Mark's face was now 3x redder than it was before. 

“You’re bold, calling me pretty and all” I laughed as I scanned the posters on the wall. “Who are they?” I pointed to a poster of 10 men who looked around my age. I noticed that Mark was on it. He was wearing a race car? jacket and had black hair with blonde highlights. 

Mark, who was noticeably all flustered, took a moment to respond. “Ahh that’s the group I’m in… one of them at least.” 

I looked at him. “You’re in another group?” 

He nervously laughed, “Yeah it’s no big deal. I’m in this one, NCT 127, SuperM and NCT Dream.” 

“Well wow…” After all of these years, he was still out here doing the most. “I expected nothing less haha” I joked. “It must be hard.” 

“Yeah.. well I like being busy so it’s honestly very fun.” He said with a smile. “Wait, you’re interning at SM but you don’t know the groups?”

“Dude, I’ve been so busy I haven’t kept up with anything. My friend told me to apply for an internship here and I accepted it as a joke because I didn’t think I’d get in. I didn’t know you became a k-pop idol until like a month ago.” 

“Oooh” Mark nodded understandingly. He started walking to some of the other rooms. “Uhh I think I’m supposed to show you to Mr. Kim? He told me to tell you that he was sorry he couldn’t meet with you in person. There’s a slight chance he might be infected..” Mark frowned. “I’ll escort you to a room where you can meet with him. You came kind of early so I need to get the other two interns as well.” He turned to look at me.  “Does that sound good?” 

I honestly didn’t hear half of what he said because I was staring at his face. “Yeah yeah sounds good!” I centered myself again. 

We went to an auditorium which was quite huge but empty. I assumed press conferences were held here. There was also a huge projector screen at the front of it which had Zoom open. 

“You can just sit at any of the tables,” Mark said. “Oh yeah Mr.Kim asked me if you were vaccinated yet?” 

I nodded. “Yep all good and immune to the virus.” I smiled. 

And then he left and I was all alone in an empty black room. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I exhaled. (Yes and the floor is made up of floor.) I also didn’t realize how fast my heart was beating. Honestly, he hadn’t changed at all. Looking at him unlocked so much nostalgia of my younger days and I blushed to myself at the thought of the journal entries I wrote about him as a child. I wanted to talk to him about so much and I wondered why I didn’t reach out to him sooner. It had been an insanely long time since I last thought about my old “rival”, and I only started pondering it when I realized I would be interning at his company. Him becoming an idol wasn’t actually too surprising, my journal entries told me that he was into dancing a lot and I do recall him performing a Shinee song at one of our “family meetups”. I don’t have a lot of memories from middle school but that’s one that I can recall pretty vividly. He was doing it with 2 of his other friends and the performance was really funny because one of the kids fell and hit his nose on the edge of the sofa. I wonder if he remembered all of this. 

I was taken out of my thoughts when two other people, accompanied by Mark, walked into the room. They were a guy and a girl who both looked a little older than me and they didn’t look like they knew each other. They both took seats at separate tables. Mark on the other hand walked up to me. 

“I think the meeting will start in a bit.” He smiled. “I have to go but good luck with everything! It’s insane how we met again after like… 7 years? Dude, I miss Vancouver so much I really hope we can talk later and catch up on everything y'know?” 

I laughed a little, glad that he felt the same way as me. “Yeah definitely! So many things changed after you left, I swear to god it’s like a completely different place.”

“Yeah I visited once on tour-” his phone started ringing. “Shoot, they’re gonna kill me. I have to go, Hannah. Uhhh I’ll see you around?” 

I smiled. “Yeah I’ll see you around.”

[belladonnaandulriched]

the artist | chapter eleven

It was that morning I realized I was a month from turning eighteen: seventeen years on this earth and I could actually say I survived a horrific pandemic. I had washed and kept my mask stashed away in the bottom drawer of my desk since news of the virus garnered in our favor. Such a high body count and yet we all survived it.

And now after hearing about it returning with the strength it had had before the release of the vaccine, I had to bring it back out of its hiding place.

Keep it on. Wash your hands. Stay far enough away from anyone and everyone so that if we all had our arms spanned out like birds, our fingertips would not even brush each other. Which meant I knew I would have to think about how to deal with Lars, Joey, Will, Chris, Dave, and Stone later on.

But I needed to be with them: I needed to help them out.

I had the story of having made art for some friends. It was sort of the truth and yet I never mentioned any names, so I found it to be a big fat lie as well. But I had to tell my parents where I was headed to nonetheless. I had art to tend to. I had the delicate lives of six men in my hands.

My mask had a filter inside of it to keep my face cool in the face of the intense heat looming over the Northwest in the summer time, and yet I recalled sweating like crazy around my chin and my mouth on the particularly hot days. It didn't help matters it was jet black and with the outlines of little white sugar skulls embroidered on the outside, either.

I hitched my hand bag over my shoulder with the new graphites Joey had given me, my laptop, and my digital drawing tablet inside; I tucked my phone into my pocket.

My mom put her arms around me.

“Stay safe, baby,” she whispered into my ear.

“Wash my hands and don't take off my mask,” I reiterated to her as I adjusted the bottom of my mask.

“I'll call if there are reports of new cases here,” she vowed. “You know what it was like before the vaccine came to fruition.”

“Absolutely!” And without another word, I stepped out the morning mist. Mount Rainier loomed in the background with the soft gray clouds and the incoming rain.

I had called Stone and Dave before I got dressed, and the former told me they were coming to pick me up and drive me to the speakeasy. Lucky for me, they had posted up down the block before the corner and right next to a large evergreen shrub that could hide all seven of us. I walked at a brisk pace towards their car; Stone had on a bright red kerchief over his nose and mouth while Dave had on a black ski mask.

“You guys heard, too?” I asked them through the slightly open passenger window once I came within earshot.

“The hell we did!” Dave declared in a muffled voice.

“Get on in—the boys are waitin' for ya,” Stone told me with a gesture to the back seat. I climbed in and we drove up to the speakeasy. Once we reached the neighborhood, I realized Chris had forgotten to text me good morning earlier. Or maybe he did, I just didn't feel it or hear it for whatever reason.

But I took out my phone from my pocket. The screen was blank. He forgot to text me.

But we reached the outside of the speakeasy before I could do anything more. I climbed out and thanked Stone and Dave for driving me there.

“I should tell you,” Dave started in a muffled voice, “I just sent some roses to Tom—Tom Araya, you know about him?”

“Yes,” I said.

“—I sent him roses this morning and he told me the pathogen has come back in full swing back East. He might come up here from L.A. to see what's going on with the speakeasy here, but that's about it. Rock n' roll and metal is like a family, so—we're looking out for all of you guys as well as any of our friends, too.”

“So give us a ring if things go sideways,” Stone advised me.

“Gladly!” I said; there was a part of me that wanted to give them both kisses but I knew I couldn't. Not now. Not with the virus raging again.

I headed into the building with my bag still slung over my shoulder: I opened the door with the sole of my shoe as I didn't want to risk it.

Lars and Will were congregated on the side of the room with what looked like my drawings of them. Lars looked as though he had just taken a shower while Will's eyes drooped a bit with exhaustion. The latter held a big old paint brush, one with a thick handle and a head of bristles the size of a quarter.

“Hey, there she is!” Will declared with a tired smile, and then his smile faded when he realized I was wearing a mask.

“Do you guys have masks or anything to cover your faces with?” I asked them as I came within earshot.

“No,” Lars replied with a knitting of his eyebrows. And then he gaped at me. “Oh, fucking hell. Don't tell me.”

“It is,” I said with a nod of my head. “Unfortunately. I saw it on the news earlier—it's not up here, but I'm wearing this no matter what happens.”

“Don't blame ya,” said Will with a shake of his head.

“Where's Joey?” I asked them.

“He's still sleeping,” Lars replied.

“He had kind of a rough night last night,” Will added. “He was awake a lot. He kept kicking me in the face, too—he and I were sleeping head to toe—so I hardly slept last night myself.”

“Tour life seems a bit redundant now, doesn't it?” Lars joked.

“For real. Even when I was with Comes With the Fall, I slept better on a single stint of a tour than I did last night.”

“Also, I just got off the phone with Chris,” Lars told me. “He's on his way here right now.”

“I was just going to ask, have either of you guys talked to Chris?”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and checked the screen, and I swallowed down the upwell of a fluttery feeling in my stomach at the sight in my hand.

“Shit, I might have to spend the night here,” I confessed to them.

“Probably,” Will replied with a shrug of the shoulders. “You probably can't leave anyway.”

The sound of yawning caught my ear. I raised my gaze to Joey shuffling into the room from the far end. Some of his black curls spread over his face while others had been pushed back from the side of his neck and his shoulder; his brown eyes just looked tired.

“Hey, he's awake!” Lars declared.

“I'm awake,” he echoed in a broken voice. “—and I feel like the cat just dragged me inta th' place, too.” His face lit up at the sight of me. “Hey, Hahlly. I was hopin' you'd show up, I wanna ask you—” And then his face washed out to the color of old wallpaper. “—oh, fuck, you gotta be kiddin' me.”

“It's spreading like crazy back East,” I told him. “I'm not risking it here.” He breathed hard and heavy.

“Oh, shit—” He sank down in the chair at the counter and ran a hand through his black curls. I stayed away from them even though I knew we were far away from it.

I looked at Joey's little body and I grimaced at the thought of him contracting the virus. I also grimaced at the thought of Chris contracting it, too.

To envision both men having the absolute worst time breathing and blanketed in a thick wave of cold sweat. Eating only things that are incredibly spicy to otherwise taste it. To hear their hacking coughs and to see their beautiful bodies wither and waste away to nothing, especially with Joey given he was thinner than Chris.

The door behind me swung open; I turned to find Chris himself striding inside, complete with a black mask upon his face, too. He had little crescent moons embroidered on the front of his mask.

“Hey,” I greeted him in a soft voice.

“Hey,” he echoed; the corners of his eyes crinkled with a beckoning smile. “Sorry I didn't text you earlier.”

“Oh, it's okay. I figured you would at some point anyway.”

I returned to Joey behind me.

“What'd you want to ask me?” I recalled. He pointed at the big paint brush in Will's hand.

“I wanna watch ya paint,” Joey told me.

“You want to watch me paint,” I reiterated with a snicker.

“Yeah. I watched ya draw—I wanna see what'cha do with bristles. I know Chris does, too.”

“But Joey being Mr. Sassy drew the straw first,” Chris filled in.

“Okay. Where do you wanna do it?”

“There's a room in the back here that's the quintessential place to paint. Lars found ya paints an' everythin'.”

“I really did,” said Lars as he ran his fingers through his wet hair. “I even set up a little easel for you.”

“Aw, that's so sweet,” I remarked.

“Just—y'know—don't breathe on me,” he said. “Well, of course,” I chuckled at him. Joey gave his curls and ringlets a light toss back with a flick of his head and then he stood to his feet. He gestured for me to follow him. I didn't even walk three steps when someone behind me cleared their throat.

“Holly,” Chris called after me. I turned around to find he had stripped off his mask and tucked it underneath his chin.

“Yeah?”

He swallowed. He nibbled on his bottom lip.

“You forgot this.”

He held out the paint brush that Will had found. I gasped and strode on over to him. Even though he kept his mask underneath his chin, I walked on closer to him with my eyes locked onto his.

“Thank you,” I said to him in a soft voice, to which he winked at me with his left eye so Will and Lars wouldn't notice.

[bri-goodwin-blog]

Who: Bri & Boone What: Boone gives Bri a tour of Babylon, they talk. Where: Babylon, during the day.

--

'Keep an eye on her for me, figure her out - make sure they seem like they're going to fit in here. I'm trusting you with this.' Being told that by Archer was no light request, and Boone wasn't going to be taking it that way in the slightest. It was about time that he got asked to do something; he was tired of being looked at like he was just a moocher nowadays. His leg was healed entirely on the outside, but his pain was still someone psychosomatic, forcing him to limp behind the new girl as she crossed the courtyard outside. "Hey! Hey, Bri, right?" he tried catching her attention, rubbing at the knot in his thigh as he finally caught up right behind her.

--

It had been easy, just like Roscoe had told them it would be. 'Bleeding hearts', that's what he'd called them - laughing with a cigar held tightly between his teeth. And, like most things, the man was prooved to be right. Hearing her name, the blonde stopped moving, a hand saddling lin her pocket as she peered over her shoulder, doe eyed and offering an uncertain smile at the other. "Yeah? Sorry, I forgot your name - there's a lot of you and it's hard to really remember them all." Boone. She'd heard him called multiple times, especially by the overly friendly man with the eye patch.

--

"Oh, sorry! I'm Boone," he politely stuck out his hand for her to take, smile on his face. She seemed pretty nice so far, pretty honest. "That's alright, hopefully if you stick around long enough you'll get to know each of us. How is your brother doing? I heard Archer got his knee back in socket. Probably going to be sore for a little while, but he's lucky it wasn't worse. Not that Archer wouldn't have, um, been able to take care of him. He's a surgeon. Or was. Before. In the military. Navy seals or something like that." He really needed to stop rambling when he was nervous.

--

Taking his hand with a slight nervous hesitance - a rabbit taking food offered to it - Bri let her smile widen a little before she lowered his hand. "Boone. I'll try and commit it to memory." Tucking her hand away she nodded slowly, looking at the ground for a long moment. "He's doing well. I was terrified for a while there, but you guys...you saved oir lives. I couldn't have kept carrying him and I'm not much of a fighter myself." The guy was a talker, it seemed a fair few of them were - which was only going to make their job easier. "Wow, that's pretty lucky. We used to have a nurse in our old group, but we all got seperated shortly after it all started. Medicine and military though, and he seems really nice too. Hard to believe there are still good folks out there, anyone else would have slammed the door on us I swear."

--

"There's not enough good people left in the world," Boone agreed with her with a sad sigh and a short nod. Especially not some of the people that him and Abby had run into before they had met the rest of The Company. Boone wouldn't even know where they would be if they hadn't found them. "I'm glad that we were here for you guys." She seemed genuine, which was good. There wasn't any sort of flicker in her words or anything of that sort. Boone figured he was doing a great job at being undercover surveillance. "Would you like me to give you a tour of the place?" he offered.

--

"I'd like that, a lot." Her shoulders slackened to mimic a gentle relief, one hand gesturing ahead of herself. "You all seem so close here, I really want my brother and I to fit in - it seems so nice to just stop and breathe for a moment y'know? I spend so long worrying about me and him, he's all I got left but sometimes I feel like we just need a chance to stop and catch ourselves. I probably sound silly." Bri laughed lightly, nudging at the ground as she walked, eye flicking intentionally to the leg Boone seemed to favor. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

--

"You don't sound silly at all. I was in the same situation with my sister and I. It was just me and her for a really long time. She's my baby sister, and she's all I really had left at the time, and when we found this group it took us a long time to acclimate and accept that we were in a safe place. I hope you guys don't have the same problem, but you already seem like you're getting to know us well enough." He continued walking, limping ever so slightly as they moved toward where the pantry was. At her statement, he shrugged and gave her a warm, reassuring smile. "It's alright. I got hurt awhile back, still sort of in the recovery process I guess you could say." He didn't need to go into how he was pretty much all healed and his pain was mostly in his head, so he figured his response was good enough.

--

"It's nice you two still have each other, I'd be so alone without Dax." Another doft smile and she followed, nodding at his words. "It takes longer these days, to heal. But its good you even had the chance to get better - you guys mist really all care about one another; a real community."

--

Boone chuckled sheepishly and nodded, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I agree. I wouldn't have lived if not for Archer. I... um. I owe the man my life." It was true, there wasn't much that Boone wouldn't do for Archer. He could probably tell him to jump off of a building and he would have even without a good enough reason. But that was just because he trusted the man. He knew he wouldn't put any of them in danger without good reason. He would be the one to guide them to safety, whatever the situation may be. "We do care about each other though. We didn't, in the beginning. There was a lot of fighting. But we've all been through enough that we're kind of like a little family now. And you guys can be part of that family."

--

"Dax may never admit it, boyish pride and all that but...we owe him ours. We were sitting ducks out there." Like everything else, it was a lie. Roscoe had an eye on them, she trusted him and they prooved their worth to him time and time again. They were useful, and he wasn't a man to let his resources die. "I hope so, I'd like that. A family, a little bit of normality - hell, I might even get a chance to hsve a baby like that other girl here. The blonde one with the lovely face."

--

"I'm just glad we could help you guys, is all." Boone beamed at her. This was good. They were making great progress. She really did seem like a nice girl - someone genuinely interested in making sure they were happy - and he was excited to report back to Archer on his findings. "Oh, Ivy? Or Sadie. 'Cause Sadie's pregnant right now. Ivy's the one with the baby. But hey, I mean, if you want something - anything is possible. You shouldn't let the way the world is now discourage you from being happy, y'know?"

--

Women with maternal instincts were trust worthy - it was natures law. A woman with the desire to nuture and care was portrayed as a strong, loyal person with a gentle soul towards those she held dear. Nothing was further from the truth when it came to Bri; a girl who would sooner throw herself down a flight of stairs than carry a child in this world. She only cared for one other person than herself.

"Ivy, she looks so happy - like something out of the past. I'd like a chance to be that happy. What about you? Like...kids or love, or are you waiting to find the right one?" A light playful giggle caught her words. She assumed the one eyed man was involved with him somehow but she was seeking clarity.

--

"They're a happy little family, for sure. Her, Flip and Phillip. That little boy may have been born into a world without social security cards and vaccinations, but he was definitely born into the arms of people that love and want him. And that's what really matters, right?" He chuckled shyly at her question and shrugged. "I don't want kids, I kind of have some pseudo-kids on my own. Dan, um, the guy with the eyepatch--he's my partner. And Howie and Ash are his sons - not biologically, but he's taken care of them since the beginning of this whole mess and they call him dad."

--

"Of course! You don't nees the finicky things in this world if you've got love. That's up there with oxygen and food for me." Another giggle and a broad smile settled on her face. "That's so sweet. He's a handsome guy too, end of the world and you still managed to land a good looking guy - I might have to ask you for pointers."

--

Boone blushed and shook his head, scratching the back of his head in embarassment. "I don't know how I got so lucky, really. He's an amazing guy and amazing father." He stepped forward when they reached the pantry and held the door open for her. "This is the pantry. It's where all of our food and supplies stay. Everything is watched or locked up 24/7. Not so much because we're afraid of each other, but you never know about other people."

--

Inspecting the pantry, she nodded slowly - mentally noting what she could as she feigned awe. "Wow, you guys really are prepared. I totally get locking it, I  used to sleep with my rations when this all started just in case people ate them."

--

"Yeah," he sighed with a nod of understanding. "I know how that can be. I had that happen once back when it was me, Abby and mom. Someone came and stole all of our food right from underneath us. We had to trade some of our other supplies to get it back, it was a mess. Can't seem to trust anyone these days." Except her, right? He could trust her. She seemed like a nice enough girl, and Dax seemed like a cool enough guy. They should be perfect additions to their little family. Especially with how much she was sharing with him already.

--

"Sometimes i like to hope I can trust people again. I always feel like I'm too trusting or positive but Dax and I...we just wanna see the good in people like we see in each other. I see it in you, and I saw it in Archer when he let us in." Pushing a lock of gold behind her ear, the blonde sighed softly. "I just hope you guys can see it in us too."

--

"Trust me, I can see it already," he said with a beaming smile as he stepped out of the pantry and back into the courtyard, moving toward their next destination. "Archer is pretty good at reading people. He wouldn't have let you guys in if he didn't feel safe with you, so all of us are naturally going to feel good about you guys. I just hope you learn to like us just as much."

--

"I think we will, I already feel myself relaxing in this place. It's weird but it feels right." She'd used that line before, she used it every time. Following him, the blonde stowed her hands away again and peered around them. "How old are your partner's kids? Kids are rare these days, but then again so are babies and you guys almost have two here. "

--

"Good, I'm glad," he stated with a smile. "Ash is 16, and Howie is 21. They were a lot younger when this whole thing started, though. Maverick, our resident farmer, has two kids, though. His daughter is 2 or 3 and his son is 11 or 12." She was easy to talk to, which is one of the reasons he was confident she was going to fit well with the group.

--

"Aww that's so sweet. All these little families..." Bri beamed at his words, her expression not once faltering. "You guys...you give me hope, really."

--

Boone beamed right back at her with his own hopeful smile. He stopped where he was walking and tapped her on the back softly in a friendly greeting. "Well, hopefully you can become part of that family. Now, ready for the rest of the tour?"