yay! we are updating while living in a new state like 1500 miles away, I'm really glad we still have time for this! UNF! Anyway... like at some point we just... died after writing something and were like "oh my god what have we done" but here you go XD

“Mary Sue?” asked a vague, muffled voice floating somewhere above your head.

You couldn’t bring yourself to respond to it just yet. Maybe it would go away.

“Mary Sue?” it persisted. It seemed to be closer this time, and much less audially blurry.

“Mmmrm?” you mumbled a response into the darkness, maybe.

“Hey,” said the increasingly louder voice. “Wake up.”

You opened your eyes. Nichkhun was standing over you, illuminated mostly by the snow. He smiled when he saw your eyes.

“Welcome to the world, Sleeping Beauty,” he remarked, holding out a hand to you.

You took his hand and sat up, head spinning and throbbing. “What happened?” you groaned, holding a hand to your head to make the world stop moving around so much. It was cold and dark and you were lying on the hard ground in the wet snow.

Nichkhun furrowed his eyebrows, watching you with a concerned expression. “You don’t remember?” he asked cautiously.

You tried to think back to what might have gotten you here, but you couldn’t get anything to come to your mind other than throbbing pain. After debating whether it would hurt more to shake your head or just say no, you went with the former and instantly regretted it. Your head wobbled and made you even dizzier than you already were.

“What happened after you stormed off?” the boy asked. “Did you get hit by a branch or something?”

You stormed off? Wait, you remember that. Wandering off on your own. And then being apprehended by gang members and being taken to their hideout…

You had just tried to break up yet another fist fight between Zico and G-Dragon over their staunch mutual hatred of each other when you and the rest of the gang was startled into a frozen alert silence by a loud angry voice.

“What the hell is going on??” Everyone’s heads immediately whipped toward the door, where Ren stood stiffly, expression livid and an intimidating atmosphere surrounding him. He strode swiftly to the two who had been fighting, dragging them up to standing by their collars, and then started picking up various things that had been knocked from their places by the tussle. 

“So, Slave,” he addressed you without looking at you. “You think you can just make yourself at home here and tear us apart from the inside? Think again.” Then he looked you in the eye, straightening up to face you with one of the lamps that had fallen hanging from his grip. “When we need you here again, you’ll know. Until then,” he said, raising the lamp high, and your eyes widened but you didn’t have time to react. “Good night, Princess.”

You rubbed your eyes, trying to remember anything after that, but all that filled the space between that moment and this one was darkness and that sharp thud of pain. But it wasn’t difficult to infer what had happened.

You glanced back up at Nichkhun, who was still regarding you with concern. “Do you remember?” he asked again.

You thought a moment. You couldn’t tell Nichkhun anything about the gang. It was much safer just going with the other answer. “Yeah,” you said. “I got hit by a branch, I think.”

There wasn’t a branch anywhere near you, but hey, anyone could have dragged it away somewhere after it fell on you. Like a deer or something.

He didn’t question you at all however and just nodded and pulled you upright. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

“What about everyone else?” you asked as you stood upright and started walking beside him, leaning into him because of your weak wobbly legs.

“They went home,” he said simply.

“They…what?” Didn’t they care about you at all?

“Yeah, they all got tired and left.”

“But… weren’t they worried at all about me?”

Nichkhun looked at you with an open and honest expression. “Nobody even mentioned you after you left,” he said. “They just decided to go home.”

You stared ahead and pouted. So they never even cared about you. Ever. Nichkhun was the only person who came looking for you.

You guessed you knew who your real friends were now.

You walked through the cafeteria with your tray of food the next day at lunch. You were about to go to your table, the route second nature to you, when you saw your friends. Or rather, who you thought were your real friends. You stopped short, standing in the middle of the room at somewhat of a loss for where to go.

Then you saw Nichkhun sitting at the former popular table where you used to sit. He met your eyes and gave you a warm smile. You pivoted yourself in that direction, oblivious to the expressions of concern, confusion, and vague hurt on your usual table occupants’ faces.

“I-is it okay if I sit here?” you asked in a meek voice from beside Himchan.

He whipped around to face you, eyes somewhat wide. “Y-you want to sit here?” He seemed a bit flustered, and his cheeks were getting red, and you thought maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. These people didn’t seem to want you here either.

“Of course you can sit with us,” assured Nichkhun’s smooth voice. He indicated you sit right next to him, which you gladly did, relieved to have friendly, welcoming company.

“Wow,” Fei uttered, raising an eyebrow. “Do my eyes deceive me? Or has the Mary Sue graced us with her presence?”

Gee, you hadn’t realized how much Fei looked up to you.

“What brings you back here?” AJ asked, his soulful eyes boring into yours. “Was your other table not good enough?”

You glanced back at your other table to see your friends all talking to each other, glancing at you. Probably all talking about how much they hated you. You turned back to AJ and answered him with a simple shake of the head.

“A testament to your loyalty,” Fei hissed under her breath, and AJ chuckled quietly. You didn’t bother to try and figure out what she meant by that, instead focusing on the string cheese you were shoving in your mouth.

“It’s official,” Chanyeol sighed, burying his face into his hands. “Mary Sue doesn’t love me anymore.”

“It’s okay Chanyeol,” Krystal consoled, rubbing his shoulder. “I mean, Nichkhun’s like a total Casanova, it’s nearly impossible for anybody to compete with him. So don’t feel bad.”

Chanyeol’s head sunk into his arms until his face made contact with the table. “Thanks Krystal,” he muttered.

“Does this mean we’re not the popular table anymore?” Sunny asked in a quivering voice, as Sungmin wrapped his arm around her.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Amber said. “I’m sure there’s something going on with Mary Sue that we don’t know about.”

“Yeah,” Krystal nodded. “She could be dating Himchan instead of Nichkhun.”

 Chanyeol lifted his head slightly. “Himchan?”

Krystal nodded. “He and Mary Sue totally had a thing before you came along,” she explained. “They used to be the hottest couple at Mordney High. I could totally see them getting back together.” She gasped suddenly. “Do you think she’s dating both of them?”

Chanyeol’s expression became even more pitiful. “Both?”

“She has a history of two-timing people, and she could totally get any guy she wants. I wonder if either of them knows she’s cheating on them!”

Jonghyun sighed from the other side of the table. “I’m just really worried about her,” he said. “It’s not like her to act like this. All secretive. She used to tell me everything.” He stared off toward her at the other table, where everyone was laughing after something she said. She was always the life of the conversation. “I just hope she’s alright,” Jonghyun said.

“NGAAAAAAAAHH!!!” Key suddenly pounded his fists on the table, making everyone jump. “Why does everything have to revolve around Mary Sue?! Even when she’s not here,” he ran his hands up through his hair and pulled on the sides, “she’s still here!! I can’t take it anymore!!” With that, he stood up suddenly, knocking his chair over, then kicked it even further as he stormed out of the cafeteria.

You glanced over just as Key stormed through the cafeteria doors. You wondered what was wrong with him. You hoped he was okay… Wait, what did you care? He probably hated you anyway. You tore your eyes away from that direction and looked around at the people sitting around you, all wrapped up in their own conversations that you weren’t part of. Yes, this was where you belonged. You were with your real friends now.

That night, you showed up at the gang’s hideout and strolled on into the room where you found the gang playing pool. They all were pretty surprised to see you, which you noticed, and you held up the note you had received that day in explanation.

(“Redwood Park, 9 o’clock this

Evening, make sure

No one follows”)

“What are you doing here?” Eli asked incredulously.

“You guys wanted me to show up, right?” you replied.

“Yeah,” Seyong cut in. “At that location. At nine o’clock. It’s five and you’re here.”

You shrugged. “I had nothing better to do. Besides, what kind of woman slave would I be if I didn’t show up early?”

“How did you find this place?” Zelo asked.

You looked up in thought. “Hm… I don’t remember,” you mused. “It just made sense to me that a gang hideout might be in a warehouse on the dingy outskirts of town. Anyway, it doesn’t matter much. I’m here now.” You smiled around at everyone. “I brought soda!”

Everyone seemed to relax and gathered around you. “Alright, soda!” You grinned as you handed out the bottles and got everyone sitting around on the couches.

“So I noticed something the last time I was here,” you said as you looked around at them. “And that’s that as fellow gang members, there seems to be a major lack of respect around here.”

You waited for a response, but they were all silent, some nodding and some staring down at the floor as they listened, tapping their fingers on their bottles of soda.

You cleared your throat and continued. “So today that’s what we’re gonna work on. Respect. Okay?”

There seemed to be no objections.

“Great! So to start this, how about we each name something about at least one other person that we just can’t stand. For example, I really hate it when people that I thought were my friends completely betray me and apparently never cared about me all along.”

The gang all seemed pretty bewildered at your statement, which you barely noticed.

“But,” you continued, “I respect their choice and decided to leave them alone because I can tell when I’m not wanted.” You smiled around at them. You felt better already! “Now it’s your turn. How about you, Eli?”

The sun was going down as Jonghyun entered his house. It seemed empty. His parents weren’t anywhere downstairs, and as he passed Mary Sue’s room on the way to his own he saw that she wasn’t home either. He was seriously beginning to worry about her. Where would she be at this time of night, if not somewhere with her friends or Chanyeol, and he knew she wasn’t with any of them.

He wished she would just talk to him and be honest with him. That was what always kept their relationship strong. Being honest with each other, telling each other everything. Why couldn’t she see that now?

When he opened his bedroom door, his parents were waiting for him. His mother was sitting on the edge of his bed, and his father stopped pacing and looked at him as Jonghyun entered the room. “What’s going on?” he asked warily.

His mother stood up and his dad took a small step toward him. Jonghyun set his bag down on the floor, eyes never leaving his parents.

“Jonghyun,” his mother began, fidgeting with her hands. “Sweetie.”

“Son, your mother and I just want you to know,” his father cut in. “That… we care about you.”

“We love you, no matter what.”

“And that… even though we may not totally understand why,” his dad went on. “That we respect your decision to become a transvestite.”

“We just want you to be happy,” his mother continued. “And if being a transvestite makes you happy, then we will support you. Look,” she said, pulling a box from behind her on the bed. “We even bought you this.” She handed it to Jonghyun. “To show you our support.”

Jonghyun lifted the lid to reveal a frilly floral dress. “I…” he stared at it in confusion. “I don’t…”

“It’s alright,” his mom said. “You don’t have to say anything right now. We just want you to know that you don’t have to hide this from us.”

“Son.” His father clapped a strong hand on his shoulder. “We’re happy that you’re being true to yourself. And by god, we want you to be the best transvestite you can be.” He gave Jonghyun a proud and tearful nod, accompanied by a supportive squeeze of his shoulder, before they both left the room, and Jonghyun standing there speechless.

Zelo chewed on his lip in thought after you asked him the same question you had just asked Eli and Seyong. “I really hate it when guys try to pull gay stuff around me.”

You frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Like they try to kiss me and stuff,” he explained. “They do it to be funny, but I don’t like it.”

“Why don’t you like it, Zelo?” you asked in a soothing therapist voice.

“Because I’m not gay,” he mumbled.

You had no idea what he meant by that. So he didn’t like it when guys pretended to love each other to be funny? But guys can’t love each other anyway. Did Zelo not like them making fun of such an absurd and unheard of notion? Perhaps he just had a different brand of humor.

“Well,” you began, trying to see how you could adapt this to your point. “Maybe instead of judging them, you should respect them for being who they really are and being true to themselves, even if that’s not exactly what you want or really understand. Does that make sense?” you asked after a short pause.

He momentarily scrunched up his face in thought and then nodded. You grinned as you turned to the next person in the circle.

“What about you, Zico? What’s something you really hate?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you what I hate,” he exclaimed, rocking forward to lean on the balls of his feet. “I really hate it when that idiot—“ he jabbed a finger toward G-Dragon, whose hair was dark today and teased to a point where it looked severely damaged.

“It’s me, GD,” the latter corrected.

“It hate it when you talk,” Zico spat with disdain.

GD grinned antagonistically. “I know you love me,” he remarked.

“Shut up, I hate you. I hate that you can’t talk without it being some cheesy rap or lyric of yours. It gets on my nerves like you just don’t understand!”

“Okay,” you interrupted before the situation could escalate. “So, G-Dragon,” you said, turning to him, “Zico says that all you say… are lyrics?”

“I won’t deny it nor fight it,” he responded.

“Alright…” You paused for a moment as you thought over this odd habit. “Why do you do that?”

“Just wild and young.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m just wild and young,” he repeated. “Do it just for fun.”

“Oh…” you muttered. “Okay…” G-Dragon was always a bit perplexing to you.

“Then today she didn’t even sit with us at lunch, she just went to sit by that Nichkhun guy again, who’s a total Casanova and nobody can compete with him. You remember him, right?” Chanyeol moped as he vented to his best friend, who hummed in acknowledgment as he poured over some newspaper clippings that were about fifteen years old. “Yeah, well apparently they’re dating now. And I guess she’s also dating someone else at the same time? I don’t even know who this Himchan guy is.”

“Mary Sue is two-timing people?” Baekhyun shook his head. “Wow that’s low.”

“Yeah…” Chanyeol buried his head in his hands. “And neither of them are me.”

The other sighed and pushed over the collection of newspaper articles for another book. “Sometimes you just have to move on.”

“How can I move on when she didn’t even tell me we were broken up?” Chanyeol whined. “I didn’t even get any closure, so how can I know for sure that’s what she wants?”

“Chanyeol?”

“Yeah?” He looked up hopefully.

Baekhyun regarded him for a moment. “What do you want?”

“I want Mary Sue,” he said without hesitation.

Baekhyun just sighed and shook his head, looking back at the tome he was flipping through. “You got yourself tangled with someone you barely understand, you know? You should’ve just done what like half of the other guys did and went gay for another Hunter. At least we all totally get each other,” he said with a smirk.

Chanyeol gazed at his best friend with the saddest puppy eyes he had ever seen and he snorted.

“Not with me, you oversized dork. I’m not gay.”

He went back to scrutinizing the book and Chanyeol scoffed and punched him gently in the head. “What are you looking at anyway?” he demanded, deciding a subject change might be beneficial.

“Hm? Oh nothing,” the other answered a bit distractedly.

Chanyeol peered over his shoulder. “Birth records? What is this about?”

“I’m just trying to learn some of the history of the people who live here,” Baekhyun muttered.

“Baek,” murmured Chanyeol. “History? These are from the nineties.”

“Okay fine, the history of our peers,” Baekhyun corrected shortly.

“You expect to find history with birth records?” Chanyeol laughed. “What is this about?”

“This is about me being cut off from humanity for so long that I feel alienated, alright?” the other snapped. “All my life, I’ve dealt entirely with the undead. Is it so bad that I want to know more about the humans that live around me? Is it terrible for me to want to learn about the community that I’m striving to fit into?”

Chanyeol pouted a little and shook his head soberly. “No,” he said lowly. “I guess not.”

“Good.” Baekhyun nodded and sighed a little, diffusing the tension that built up during his rant.

Chanyeol nodded too. “Good,” he repeated.

“Okay, well how about this,” you suggested, trying to keep tension levels low. “Zico, you should try to respect that G-Dragon is just expressing himself through his… way of speaking.”

The gang member you were addressing frowned a little and stared at the ground, but he nodded slightly.

“And G-Dragon, you should try to respect that not everyone really understands you when you talk the way you do, or understands why you do it, so we can make a compromise here if you just don’t talk in lyrics all the time, and Zico doesn’t try to kill you when you do talk in lyrics.” You looked around, hoping your words got through to them. “Okay?”

GD nodded, frowning in thought, and then looked you in the eye. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he assured, and then stared at Zico. “I’m sorry,” he said, holding out a hand in an offering of peace.

Zico hesitated a moment before hoisting himself up from his spot. “Yeah, okay,” he muttered as he took the hand offered to him.

You beamed at the display. “Well,” you said happily, clasping your hands together, “I think we’ve made so much progress today—“

You were interrupted by the door slamming open as someone barged in, and you looked over to see Ren in the doorway.

“Come on,” he ordered. “We have to go see if our woman slave showed up where she was told.”

“She’s already here, actually,” Eli replied with a bit of an amused smirk.

Ren pivoted back to stare at the gathering in the room and finally his eyes settled on you.

“What?!”