( aiden, age 6, falls to the ground when he scrapes his knee and blood oozes out of the wound. despite his valiant efforts not to, he begins to sob, and he only stops once julia is holding him, soothing words and a bandaid in hand. )

 ( aiden, age 19, falls to the ground when he gets a much larger wound than just a knee scrape, and there's no one to hold him because his sister is most likely dead. )

if one isn't aiden nam, then loud mornings filled with raucous, off-tune singing and complaints of hunger should not be a problem at seven in the morning.

sadly enough, aiden nam is aiden nam, and he was currently stewing in the passenger seat of the family's eight-seated van, blond hair as mussed up as his foul attitude.

julia, noticing his mood swing for the worse, tries her best to console him as she steers around steep curves and rocky mountainsides. "now, come on, aiden. today's gonna be a great day! you should be smiling, you know?"

" off," he bites, his trademark eyebags even more defined with irritation, and he slumps into the leather seat, glaring out past the window at the scenery whizzing by.

rem is the first to speak up at the cruel words he tosses back at his sister, her steely voice cutting through the conversations carrying out in the van. "hey man, the  did you say to julia?"

aiden glances up at the young woman's sneering face in the rearview mirror, clicks his tongue at the annoyance. damn his sister for having to head to that cafe near the university the year prior by some twisted string of fate to meet this guard dog of hers, because honestly, he could do without rem's existence.

miyeon ryu, rem, he thinks with a scoff, is petite, short hair and fiery temper bundled in timberland boots and a thick sweater, and a little on the infatuated side if anyone bothered to ask him. of course, no one bothered to ask him, because aiden nam never needed any reckoning, right? it was all about what his sister thought, after all, not to piss on her parade or anything.

"what?" he tosses back, eyes widening mockingly. "can't stand the fact that your widdle idol is getting hate?"

rem's eyes flash haphazardously, body moving forward as if to launch herself at the blond and claw at him, but damian holds her back.

"hey, now," he begins, gently pushing her back into her seat across the aisle. "let's all get along, right? you guys must be pretty tired to be acting up this early."

damian jeon, all six feet of pure blond-haired, blue-eyed glory stuffed in a puffer and denim jeans, is an idiot that aiden ( and the rest of the group, he supposes ) had the displeasure of meeting through an accidental bump-in at their university, and has been a permanent addition to their quirky friend group ever since. damian jeon, however, is also an idiot, in the best sense of the word, made known especially when he spent one drunken night sloppily tp-ing some random neighbor's house and had inevitably called them over to assist him in cleaning it up.

rem narrows her eyes at aiden, but settles with a harrumph and turns towards the window. "yeah, whatever," she says, not committed to fighting damian. "i'm not the one who acted up, after all."

"not so sure about that, rem," aiden sighs, settling into his seat. "as they say, once a , always a ."

"you ing-!" rem's voice escalates in volume once more, but she's interrupted by julia.

"that's enough, the both of you!" she sharply commands, her eyes sternly darting at the both of them in the rearview when she could afford to look away from the road. "listen here. we're on this trip now, and we're gonna get along. ya hear?"

rem nods, eager to please as always, aiden notes with a disgusted grumble, but when julia's eyes fixate on him, he sighs and relents.

"didn't do anything, but okay," he says, crossing his arms, and the van is silent once more.

sam is the first to shatter the uncomfortableness hanging over the van. "wonder what the other car's like right now," he muses, adjusting his beanie against the blast of the heat in the van, and to his right, parker raises a judgemental brow.

the older doesn't get to put in his two bits, however; dominic suddenly hunches over in his seat, slim fingers clasped around his mouth, and mutters a very quiet "i think i'm feeling sick" under his breath.

sam's head swivels towards him in alarm, turns to parker to match his wide eyes, and then faces the front to announce at the top of his lungs in a panic: "julia! we need a barf bag back here right away!"

damian has to wrench aiden's knapsack away from rem as she struggles to toss the offending object into dominic's lap, aiden's enraged shouts background filler.

-

"... and so, that's how i ended up with ten drama cds to listen to," nathan concludes as he speeds down the road to his audience of one, an air of frivolity about him despite the dampening aura of boredom growing by the second.

"ugh, i don't want to listen to drama cds, though," kimberly groans, her head thumping against the back of her chair and feet petulantly kicking at the passenger seat in front of her. jennifer has half a mind to rip the other's gloves off and shove it into , because ever since the older arrived from whatever college she was attending from america she had done nothing but complain. in regular circumstances that didn't detail eight-hour car rides, she wouldn't mind kimberly's forward nature as much, but here they all are, and it's been hour three and jennifer's patience could only last so long.

the young woman chances an irritated glance over her shoulder. kimberly's orange sweater is hurting her eyes. "how about you listen to nothing, then?" she sardonically responds.

"nonsense!" the smaller female sounds impatient. "just, come on, turn on the radio or something, won't ya!"

"radio! radio!" timothy enthusiastically chants along, and nathan, sending an apologetic look in jennifer's direction, turns the dial to switch on the radio. the slight twitch of his brows belie annoyance, however, and jennifer is glad she's not the only one stewing in thinned patience.

the radio crackles a little as it powers on before switches to the nearest radio station, coincidentally playing a heavily autotuned mainstream pop song that jennifer had most definitely not taken a liking to. timothy and kimberly have, however, and amid their broken harmonization that makes nathan sigh wearily and jennifer cringe, the thai-american young woman opens the passenger compartment and rummages through.

"what're you looking for?" nathan asks curiously ( well, he yells over the sound of warbles from the backseat and the just-as-earsplitting song coming from his speakers ). his question is nonverbally answered when jennifer pulls out a blank sheet of paper and a thick sharpie marker, angrily scrawls something on it, and slams it against her window, unamused by her current situation.

​-

"see, look!" julia exclaims in approval as they're driving down the highway, side-by-side with nathan's smaller car. "they're having fun, huh?"

after the great panic of 2019 instigated by dominic ( he shrinks back from the stares of concern and of exasperation ), the van fell into an uncomfortable lull of silence, only broken by julia pointing out nathan.

the rest of the passengers strain to see the mayhem, involving timothy's flailing limbs in the backseat promptly leading to kimberly having him in a headlock for accidentally whipping her in the side. nathan can't be seen from his position driving, but jennifer and her note sure could be.

"uh, julia..." sam begins carefully. "what did jennifer put against the window? is that a note?"

parker squints. "send help. i've been kidnapped," he slowly enunciates, and aiden snorts from his seat at the front.

"sure having a ing swell time, huh, sis," he sighs out, and julia takes her eyes off the road long enough to sneer at him, mouth thinned into a line.

“can you stop giving everyone an attitude? you’re always like this!” julia scolds, impatience evident from her younger sibling’s scowls and comments throughout the trip. aiden isn’t affected by her words, too used to her nagging, and continues to stare out the window in silence.

“of course he doesn’t say anything. what an ,” rem replies and a roll of paper is hurled at her face, but instead of pummeling aiden’s face in like she oh-so-desperately wants to, the young woman makes a fist threateningly at the blond and slumps back into her seat.

aiden, however, isn’t done with goading his mortal enemy, and he tosses his words casually. “i don’t know, rim. if you wanna use to describe me. maybe look at the mirror first.”

dominic shrinks back into the corner as far as the leather will allow him to disappear from the conflict, and sam’s found more interest in his nailbeds than watching the argument and possibly antagonizing either individual further. the others quietly observe as rem opens , ready to shout some barbed expletive, only to close her jaw with a confused look on her visage.

“rim?” she repeats, lips downturned. “i knew you were stupid, but not stupid enough to forget my name, aiden.”

aiden makes the signature jim halpert face. “oh, no, rim, i know what i said.” he turns out of his seat to lock eyes with her, the tiny upturn of his lips signifying the drop of a punchline to come. “like, you know, rim of an , because you’re ing wrinkled and ugly.”

despite her anger, the manner in which aiden delivered the line causes julia to snort at her twin’s shenanigans, and damian disguises his laughter behind a series of well-timed coughs. parker doesn’t bother to hide his amused smile. sam looks like he’s seconds away from transforming into the stock image of the laughing salad lady.

rem crosses her arms, an eyebrow arching as if to silently convey that two people can play this game. “at least i can get , aiden. how’s damian these days?”

right away, damian shoots upright in his seat, wide-eyed and serious, and shakes his head in frantic, tiny sweeps.

aiden squints at her, obviously confused. “what?” he questions, brows furrowed. “what does damian have anything to do with this?”

rem, having said all she needed to say, makes herself seated and comfortable and turns to face the window, satisfied. aiden turns to damian for answers, just as the taller slowly turns to face him nervously.

“ah, she might’ve… uh? talked about… how we met?” damian offers, weak and frail, and it would be laughable just how flimsy the sentence he offered was if his entire life wasn’t depending on that very sentence.

parker realizes this quickly. “how did you and damian meet? that might offer us some insight into rem’s bizarre statements,” he smoothly interjects just as aiden’s about to quiz him even further. the younger nam rolls his eyes while damian mouths a thank you, lips barely ghosting over the words.

“well, my lord and prince charming,” the blond begins with all the sincerity he could painfully muster - very little, one can imagine - “the both of us were peacefully take a scroll down the walkway- ” of course, he left out the part where julia was dragging him by the earlobe. “-until we encountered one another, but it wasn’t a kind encounter either. it was distress! distress, i tell you! oh, how unfortunate it was for the taller to crash into my being.”

“boy, you’re adding a lot of expression there,” rem comments, but the boy snaps out a “shut up” and continues his melodramatic recount.

“i gracefully tripped on my own foot, twirled around like a prima ballerina, and landed on my bum, but i still managed to look up with beauty.” he flashes a smile, awkward and forced. “and that’s how we met, simple and fateful, if i say so myself.”

julia heaves a sigh at her brother’s dramatics. “they bumped into one another and fell when i was dragging aiden off by his ears on-campus,” the brunette explains in human terms, and their friends murmur a resounding “oh” in understanding.

sam looks between the two, humored. “maybe you should go to the gym more often, then, damian, and work on your coordination if you’re bumping into people everywhere,” he teases, and the aforementioned scoffs playfully, flexing his biceps.

“you see this? this is pure muscle, sam,” damian brags. “plus, you don’t work on your coordination in the gym. that’s something you get in, like, p.e. in high school.”

“p.e.,” julia sighs from the front. “pace tests. flag football. scaling ropes.”

“scaling ropes was the absolute worst,” aiden mutters, and dominic seems to agree, from his barely-perceptible nod in the back.

rem continues to stare at the blur of trees and sparse shrubbery outside. “maybe you and damian should take p.e. together again, you know? climb some ropes together.”

“who the would take a class solely to climb ropes?” aiden grumbles, turning back in his seat to face the front again as rem ignores the agitated look damian shoots her.

​-

“day 43,” jennifer begins monotonously. “still no sign of rescue.”

“hey, don’t be a party pooper. everyone is having a fun time, right?” nathan asks, the latter part of his question directed to the backseat that he checks through the mirror, but receives no replies what with kimberly and timothy aimlessly staring out the window. “wow, you guys are a lot of help.”

“jeez, nathan. you’re such a great host,” jennifer scoffs at the driver, who hisses in response. the silence continues, the other van ( the party van ) in an uproar over some miniscule issue, until kimberly dreamily sighs out the window.

“oh, what are you sighing about?” nathan asks, almost missing a little turn that could have killed them all. jennifer yells at him to watch the road and he apologizes quickly, but goes back to questioning the dazed female.

“nothing… i just wish parker was in this car,” kimberly finally answers while resting her chin on her palm, still staring out the window to look at parker’s disgusted face over something.

jennifer dares not emit a small groan of disappointment, but nathan knows what jennifer is thinking and laughs it off before talking again. “oh, parker? you like parker? you got some high class wishes for perfect men.”

“no, no, no, no,” kimberly quickly denies the fact and immediately hesitates.

“oooh, somebody likes someone!” timothy teases, making weird gestures at her to edge it further. kimberly glares at him and give his side a powerful punch to shut him down.

nathan sighs. “okay, okay. enough of that, you two. we all know kimberly is a good person, so don’t about that. everyone has who they like and who they don’t like, okay? i’m pretty sure you d- ”

jennifer interrupts the male by clearing . “anyway, shut up and drive.”

nathan glances at her for only a moment before looking ahead to follow her instructions, and five minutes pass before he notices the lift station from afar. “hey, we’re almost here.”

“good, god! i am getting tired!” kimberly removes herself from her previous scrunched position to stretch her arms. “this ride is so long, i think i should take a nap once we get there.”

“heck yeah, i want to see all the stars. you barely get to see anything in the city! gosh, i hate city lights.” timothy nods at his joking statement and presses a finger against the mirror to point at the sky above. “see, nothing.”

“well, maybe it’s because it’s daylight outside?” jennifer says dully, peering out and risking the sunshine to prove her statement.

“okay... i see your point...” timothy hesitantly laughs, and he rotates his body to sit properly again.

nathan clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “jennifer, he's trying his best at conversation. not everyone is getting along here. like kimberly, we haven’t talked to her in a while, you can’t just stop the chat- ”

“okay, i get it.”

“i wasn’t done.”

“you are now.”

the car of four slowly drives up to the lift station and parks in a random patch of dirt in front of the building. timothy quickly swings open the car door, jumps out of the vehicle, and immediately heads for the back to open the trunk to grab his suitcase.

jennifer, in a painstakingly slow manner, exits the car, stretching her legs as she does so, and loudly exhales. “wow, you’re excited.”

timothy grins at her, catlike and energetic. “c’mon, jennifer! like what nathan said, ‘don’t be a party pooper.’”

“okay, you can be quiet now.”

the taller shrugs in response, smile still toying at the corners of his lips as he sets his luggage on the ground, and starts wandering around the general vicinity of trees to explore and observe the surroundings. kimberly gets out of the vehicle to take a big whiff of fresh air while stretching her tiny limbs. “finally, oh gosh- it’s so cold.”

there’s an irritated shout that has kimberly quizzically turning her head, eyes trailing after aiden exiting the van, damian hot on his heels, and the blond menacingly looking up at the former. the height difference completely diminishes the threat behind the younger nam’s glares.

“whaddya want, you lug?” aiden grits out, aggravated.

damian’s eyes twinkle as he turns on his smartphone. “look, look, remember this photo we took together?” he asks, pointing at the lit-up screen. “i made it my wallpaper. this was such a great photo, right?” the owner his head to glance at the lockscreen, as if to affirm his statement.

aiden squints at the young man. “the ? we never took a ing photo together ever.”

“that’s the powers of photoshop, guys!” a voice peps up, and the duo turn to see timothy lightly jogging towards them, hands shoved in the pockets of one of his many outer layers of coats, potentially five of them, maybe more. he stops by damian’s side, widely grinning.

damian shoves at timothy’s shoulder playfully. aiden’s eyes narrow at the two giants, the 185cm similarity most definitely pissing him off. “i’m telling you, it’s a real photo!” he argues, and to prove his point he struggles once more to press the home screen and turn on his phone, leather gloves hindering his movement. “look! right there.”

“what are we looking at?” timothy questions, viewing the dubious photo of aiden glumfully sitting in his room and a hastily rendered crop of damian behind him on his bed, complete with a wide smile and a thumbs up. “i think i see some corners- ”

“timore, my man, you see nothing,” damian chides, tucking his phone away into his jeans’ pocket. “wait, no, i take that back.” he pretends to contemplate, then snaps his fingers when he ‘stumbles’ upon the word he wants to use. his gloves make muffled rubbing noises instead of snapping. “you see powerful, long-lasting friendship.”

aiden’s eyebags look like they’ve grown in size. “i see dumb and dumber,” he blankly states.

damian breaks out in laughter. “oh- oh, aiden,” he sighs out, clapping a hand on the shorter’s shoulder. “you crack me up, you know that? this is why i like you.”

“get your ing hand off if you still want it attached.”

the half-english young man pats aiden’s shoulder twice before retracting his hand. “good talk.”

"good talk!" timothy echoes, giving aiden a confident thumbs up.

aiden glares, but he shoves aside his annoyance for the more pressing question on his mind. “hey, damian, what did rem mean when she brought up p.e. for us or whatever? that was ing random.”

timothy tilts his head, looking between the two. “p.e.? what happened?”

damian’s smile shrinks, more hesitant, but he shrugs. “dunno, to be honest. probably rem just being herself as always, you know? getting under your skin.”

timothy starts moving his body from side-to-side, hands up slightly as if to physically gauge the intensity of the conversation, weight shifting from leg to leg. “what’s happening? what are we talking about?”

aiden stares into blue eyes, sensing a cover-up and evasion, but he snorts regardless. “yeah, she’s a ,” the blond agrees, and drops the topic. damian’s shoulders sag by a minute amount in relief, almost unseen.

( “guys!” timothy all but hollers in their ears. “what is going oooooooooooo- ” )

kimberly’s attention veers away from the oddball trio when footsteps approach her.

“sorry if i was grumpy during the ride, kim,” jennifer offers, a light smile on her features. “i really did miss you all this time, you know.”

kimberly waves her off with a hand, and jennifer catches the sight of a cat silhouette against pale blue. “nah, don’t worry, jen. i totally understand if i was a little, uh, pushy. it was a long ride, after all.”

jennifer huffs, amused, but steps in to firmly hug the shorter young woman, kimberly warmly reciprocating. “glad you’re with us today, kim.”

“mind if i join the hug, ladies?”

the two release the hug to determine the new addition to their small group, and the thai-american feels kimberly stiffen beside her when parker saunters across the snow, all dark fashionable trenchcoat and obnoxious smirk.

“this is worse than your crush on carson,” jennifer mutters, and kimberly snaps her head towards her, nostrils flaring.

“we don’t talk about carson lee,” she gravely responds. “now shut up before he gets here!” the last sentence is gritted out through a bright smile, kimberly amiably waving to parker, jennifer unimpressed with his existence.

honestly, what was so great with a guy who spoke as though he was still in his early millenium scene phase and looked down on literally anyone who crossed his path?

“the snow’s getting into my shoes,” parker sighs woefully.

“and a hello to you, too,” jennifer mutters under her breath, just as kimberly voices, “why the flip did you wear oxfords in winterland canada, then?”

parker uses a hand to brush his bangs from his forehead, the act appearing more dramatic than intended. “fashion does not stop in winter, ladies.”

“you know who else didn’t stop in winter? a certain someone who was dared to jump into a freezing lake and swim for a bit by a certain someone else…” jennifer trails off. parker stares at her, confused, while metaphorical puffs of steam come out of kimberly’s ears. “i’ll give you a hint: begins with a c, rhymes with parson- ”

“aaAAA AA BUP!” kimberly screeches. “hey, how about we talk something else! like how nice the weather is!”

parker frowns. “i hate the snow.”

“thanks for saying so, parker, you’re a real special snowflake,” jennifer sarcastically replies.

kimberly is saved from frantically tearing at her hair by julia. “kimmy!” the older nam calls from atop the steps. “you have the key to the station door! can you try unlocking it for us so we can get through once we’re done here?”

“you got it, julia! i’ll be right there!” the chinese young woman responds, looking at jennifer with furious eyes, silently promising hellfire. jennifer sneers in a manner that close friends do when giving each other grief.

“go help her, kimberly,” parker says, trademark smirk stuck on his face. “you wouldn't want to be subjected to the infamous nam screech.” he pauses, head angled slightly. “nice gloves, by the way. i like them. they fit your personality: just as childish.”

kimberly’s face turns the shade of her jacket, even in spite of the remark being an offhanded compliment, and she stammers something incomprehensible before scuttling off.

“did i say something wrong?” jennifer hears parker murmur to himself, and she heavily sighs.

“god, you’re so blind.”

parker shoots her a bewildered look. “excuse me?”

“how do you feel about kim, huh?” the shorter bluntly questions, and parker briefly mulls over the inquiry.

“as a friend? well, i suppose that despite her bouts of authoritarian regime she does have her merits,” he answers truthfully. “why?”

jennifer palms her face. “oh boy. even carson was better than this mess.”

“who’s carson?” parker voices.

while jennifer tries to keep her eyes from rolling into the back of her skull, julia is standing on the porch of the station with dominic, a yard away from kimberly fishing out the silver key in her little knapsack.

“hey, domi, how are you feeling?” julia asks, voice smooth and comforting. “all good?”

dominic doesn’t look at her, staring at their shoes as he forces out his reply. “s… sorry… for, for feeling c-carsick… julia…”

the brunette gently rubs his arm, an action that causes the taller to tense until he becomes accustomed to the sensations on his limb. “hey, it’s no trouble, domi! look, aiden used to get carsick when we were kids; it’s natural to feel vertigo, and i’m glad you warned us in time to help you out back there in the van.”

under julia’s soothing ministrations, the young man relaxes, though he jerkily shakes his head to refute her statement. “n… no… i-i don’t mean to get, get nausea… i d-don’t… w-want to be a bother…”

“trust me, you aren’t a bother,” julia affirms, patting the other. “you’re a friend, my friend, and the friend of everyone else here. we care for you, domi.”

sam strides behind julia with a “she’s right, but then again, julia’s everyone’s friend!” julia turns to grin at the young man while dominic’s posture hunches, more wary. “what are we talking about right now?”

“oh, just things,” julia begins. “asking domi how he’s been doing and stuff.”

there’s something unfamiliar that rises in sam’s eyes, a glint that shines in the clear light before disappearing as soon as it came. “really?” sam questions, though it comes out as a statement tinged in a strange tone. “so how are you doing, then, dominic?”

the taller individual trembles at the slightest note of impatience, and his left hand subtly wraps around his right, tapping out a four-beat rhythm. “f-fine…” dominic softly answers, not daring to make eye contact.

sam raises an eyebrow, ducking his head down into dominic’s vision, the latter immediately wincing and averting his eyes elsewhere. sam straightens, making a face. “he won’t even look at me,” he comments to julia in an almost petulant manner, and the nam sister huffs out a laugh.

“sam, he’s not comfortable with that yet, you know that,” julia gently defends.

“still… after knowing each other for so long, it’d be nice to have domi initiate eye contact, you know?” the young man chirps.

dominic hesitates, his tapping increasing in speed. “do… do i have- have to?”

sam purses his lips. “well, you don’t have to, but it’d be nice to be looked at when spoken to, you know? don’t push yourself if you can’t; there’s a lot of things that people can’t do.”

sam’s sentence is barbed, and as he continues to jovially make small talk with julia, dominic’s reassured nature disappears, the young man shrinking into himself more and more.

by the cars, nathan finds it comfortable, monotonous work to be lugging suitcases and bags out of the nam family trunk, working in junction with rem on setting the bags down on the walkway away from the snow.

he’s shutting the van trunk when rem sets the last suitcase down, hollers a “all right get your bags here!” to those in the general vicinity, and grins in satisfaction at nathan when a few of their friends break away from their mini groups to grab their belongings. aiden is the first to grab his black duffle bag, eyeing rem with intense animosity before he turns to trek back up the slope of the pathway to the steps of the lift station.

“bags here!” nathan calls, catching dominic loitering meters away, the others now gathering to select and carry what they’ve packed for the trip. “get ‘em before you forget to bring it with you!”

rem cracks a smile. “we sound like street food vendors, huh?” she jokes, playfully jabbing him in the side.

the young man, however, shies away uncomfortably at the human contact, forces a smile on his face when he turns to look at rem. “yeah, we might,” he concedes, subtly shifting a step away from the older. if rem noticed his strange behavior, she didn’t comment on it.

“um, hey guys?”

they all turn to look at kimberly at the station's door, the shorter blankly staring at the key she had inserted into the socket. with how she was tugging on the key in vain, it appears stuck, the lock itself rusted.

“...take it out?” sam suggests, and kimberly glares.

“if i could…” she grunts out, pulling at it with both hands. “i would!” leaning all her weight into wrenching the key out, she yelps when she loses footing, damian quickly diving forward to catch her. after a breathless “thanks,” they both eye what kimberly has clenched in her palm.

“it’s snapped,” damian says, jaw slackened.

the eleven hesitantly look to each other.

“uh…” timothy intelligently begins. “how are we getting in now?”