pairing: BaekChenLay
length: 8266 words
A/N: I know, Among Us hasn't been relevant for at least a year now. But I've wanted to write this last part for the longest time and I've been watching old streams lately to get some inspiration. Once again, this is a disclaimer stating that these are NOT "big brain" strats. I have an actual cave brain that's the size of a peanut, especially with everything I'm juggling lately. OTL Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Part One: Among Us
Part Two: Among Us Mods

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“Alright, boys, we’re back with a new mod pack and a new map!” Jongdae cheered after everyone had entered the voice channel in their group’s Discord gaming server.

“This is going to be incredibly chaotic,” Baekhyun gleefully added while Yixing typed in the code for their private lobby into the general text channel. “It’ll be a mixture of Town of Salem, One Night Werewolf, and Mafia all in one Among Us game.”

“Don’t you think it’ll already be chaotic with all of us trying to learn the new map?” Minseok mildly pointed out as his green avatar named Donut appeared in the already crowded room.

Junmyeon’s tone was also thoughtful as he mindlessly made his purple character named Muffin walk in circles around the room. “Maybe we should play a few rounds without the mods first so that we can familiarize ourselves with the Airship.”

“Based on the trailer, it’s huge,” Yixing piped up while his red avatar called Potato danced from side to side. “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get lost as soon as we start.”

“But that’s the fun of it!” Chanyeol, or the orange character known as Cereal, immediately cut in. “The Crewmates won’t know what they’re doing, but the Impostors won’t know where to look either! And it’ll even out the playing field for everyone, since we’ll all be lost little lambs trying to figure out where we are.”

“Or it’ll very heavily skew the game to one side once we figure out how to maximize these new roles,” Kyungsoo, or the white avatar known as Egg, wryly countered.

Jongin’s brown character named Sausage wiggled up and down in agreement. “Yeah, I was reading the descriptions of some of these new roles and they’re crazy.”

“Again, that’s the fun of it!” Jongdae, or the blue avatar known as Bread, reiterated. “We’re here for maximum chaos! We’ve already played dozens of games on the old maps and we’re pretty good at reading each other’s patterns at this point. We need to shake things up or else it’ll get stale.”

“But how are we going to use all of the roles when there’re only nine of us?” Sehun questioned as his yellow character called Cheese ran laps around the shaking room. “I’m pretty sure I saw more than ten special roles in the mod pack and our group never plays with a full lobby at nine.”

“No need to worry about that!” Baekhyun’s black avatar, which was also known as Bacon, stood in the center of the room as he toggled the settings of the new mod pack. “I’ve set it so that the roles have a random chance of appearing in each game, which should also spice things up even more since we won’t be able to predict which roles to look out for. We’re going to have to rely on our detective skills to figure out who’s who and sus out the Impostors.”

“Or decide which Crewmates to target,” Chanyeol added, letting out a wicked laugh.

Jongdae could perfectly imagine Kyungsoo’s deadpan expression as the controller of the white avatar replied, “Or we can just kill you off first every game, no matter which side you’re on, since you’re an absolute menace.”

“No fair!” Chanyeol whined while everyone else laughed and cheered in agreement. “That’s it. You’re at the top of my hit list now, Kyungsoo.”

“Have fun trying to find me,” Kyungsoo easily quipped back.

“Wait, Baekhyun, can you give us a quick rundown of the new roles?” Minseok then sheepishly added, “I forgot to read the descriptions while I was downloading the mod pack since I was doing laundry at the same time.”

“Sure, let’s start at the top.” Baekhyun briefly cleared his throat before launching into an in-depth explanation of the roles included in the Town of Us mod pack. “First, we have the Mayor. The Mayor is on the Crewmates’ side and he can vote multiple times. If he abstains from voting rather than skipping, he can save up votes in his Vote Bank and then use as many as he wants later on. The only caveat is that he has to use these extra votes before everyone else finishes voting.

“Next, we have the Engineer. The Engineer is on the Crewmates’ side and he can fix one sabotage from anywhere on the map. He can also use the vents, just like the Impostors.

“We also have the Time Lord, which I think is pretty sick. The Time Lord is on the Crewmates’ side and he can reverse time by four seconds, which rewinds everyone’s positions around the map. And any kills that happen during those four seconds also get reversed and the killed Crewmates are revived. However, the Time Lord can’t check Vitals, since it’d be too easy to decide when to rewind time by just camping Vitals the entire game and reversing each kill as soon as it happens.

“And similar to One Night Werewolf, we have the Seer. The Seer is on the Crewmates’ side and he can either check a player’s specific role or whether a player is Good, Neutral, or Evil depending on which settings we use. But not gonna lie, I think the Seer is way too overpowered if he’s able to see specific roles, so are we okay with him just being able to check the type of role instead?” Baekhyun asked.

The rest of the group chorused their affirmatives.

“Alright, cool. So, moving on, we’ve also got the Spy. The Spy is on the Crewmates’ side, and he gets extra information from both Admin Table and Vitals. On Admin Table, he can see everyone’s color on the map which makes it easier to track each person’s movement and verify their information during Emergency Meetings. And on Vitals, he can see how long a person has been dead for.”

“And similar to the previous mods we installed, we have the Sheriff, the Snitch, and the Morphling. I won’t explain those, since you guys already know what they do.

“Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we have two Lovers in the mod pack.” All of the boys snickered in response. “These two players are linked and their goal is to be part of the final three with both Lovers alive. And if one of the Lovers gets killed, the other one also dies. Ideally, they want to stick with each other and protect each other. But if an Impostor notices that the players are always hanging around each other, he’ll probably target them for a free two-for-one kill.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Minseok at that. “Yikes, that’ll screw over the Crewmates by a lot, especially later on in the game.”

“I’m guessing we’re not playing with Jester this time then?” Sehun asked.

“We can, but the Executioner covers that role as well so we technically don’t need to,” Baekhyun explained. “Basically, the Executioner is a neutral role and at the beginning of the game, he gets assigned a person who he has to convince everyone to vote out. But if that player gets killed by an Impostor in between Emergency Meetings, the Executioner turns into the Jester and he then tries to get himself voted out instead.

“Another new neutral role is the Arsonist. The Arsonist is a neutral role and he’s able to douse the other players with gasoline. After he’s doused every person who’s still alive at that point, he can Ignite them all and win the game on his own.

“And a cool neutral role that only gets revealed during the game is the Phantom. The Phantom is a neutral role that has a random chance of appearing after people start dying. He becomes half-visible upon death and has to speed-run his tasks to win. But if someone catches the Phantom in action and clicks on him, the Phantom loses any chance of winning.

“As for the Impostors, I’ve already mentioned the Morphling, but we also have the Janitor. The Janitor is a type of Impostor, and he can clean up dead bodies which prevents the Crewmates from finding and reporting them. He can also kill, like a regular Impostor. But the Clean button and the Kill button have the same cooldown, so he has to choose which one to use each time. It would be too easy for the Impostors if the Janitor could use both abilities at the same time.

“Something similar to the Colorblind Communications Sabotage that we’ve played with before is included in the Camouflager’s powers. The Camouflager is a type of Impostor that can turn everyone into nameless, gray-colored characters for a short period of time.

“The Impostors’ version of the Engineer is the Miner, who can create new vents on the map. But these new vents can’t connect to the vents that are already on the map. They can only connect to each other.

“And my personal favorite type of Impostor is the Swooper,” Baekhyun gleefully concluded. “The Swooper can temporarily turn invisible and secretly swoop in for the kill before running away undetected. But to keep him from being too overpowered, the Swooper can’t vent around the map. Okay, any questions?”

“I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to remember ninety percent of this once we start playing, but it’s fine. I’ll just suffer,” Sehun dramatically joked after they all answered with negatives.

“Don’t worry. We can still ask each other questions during the Emergency Meetings,” Junmyeon reassured him as Yixing started their first game.

A countdown began on Jongdae’s screen and Kyungsoo hastily added, “Mute your mics now!”

“See ya on the other side!” Chanyeol whooped before everything went silent.

The top of Jongdae’s screen now read Arsonist in orange and right underneath was the phrase, “Douse players and ignite the light.” He cheered to himself before his eyes suddenly widened in confusion when three location options suddenly appeared on screen: the Brig, the Main Hall, and Records. Unsure of where any of these locations actually were in the Airship, Jongdae picked the Brig before the timer at the top ran out and he suddenly spawned in a long red hallway.

A second later, Sausage spawned next to him but no one else appeared afterwards. While his Douse Cooldown ran down, Bread began walking around familiarizing himself with the area while staying close to Sausage. As the Arsonist, he had no reason to do his tasks; he just had to continuously find people until he doused every last one of them without getting killed by the Impostors. And on this new large map that he’d never played before, that was going to be a gigantic task in itself.

They gradually moved south into the Engine Room and the moment the Douse button’s timer reached zero, Bread pressed it. Sausage’s name suddenly turned black and his visor turned red, and Jongdae had never been more thankful that his microphone was muted as he burst out into laughter. The image looked so goofy and poor Sausage had no idea what had just happened to him.

As his giggles subsided, Bread finally split off from Sausage and headed east into the Main Hall. There were several small rooms attached to the hallway and since he still had a little less than a minute before he could douse someone again, Bread carefully ambled into each room to take a peek and see if he could find another person to target. On any other map, he would’ve crossed paths with at least two or three other people by this point. But the Main Hall was completely empty aside from him.

It wasn’t until he reached the end of the hallway and headed north that he bumped into Bacon in the Showers. However, as he was circling the red character while waiting for his Douse Cooldown to end, Bread’s name suddenly turned beige and the title Seer appeared in parentheses behind it.

Jongdae let out an audible, “Huh?” as he stared at the amended name. Why was he able to see Bacon’s role? That hadn’t happened when he was with Sausage earlier. It couldn’t have been a side effect of the dousing, especially since he still had a few seconds left on his Douse Cooldown. Was it because Bacon had used his Seer powers on him? If so, there was definitely going to be a target on Bacon’s back once he checked the Impostors and they realized their cover had been blown.

In any case, Bread knew that he had nothing to fear. He wasn’t an Impostor and the more information he had on others, the better. At the very least, he now knew that Bacon couldn’t kill him and could back him up if anyone tried to target him in an Emergency Meeting. And with another swift click, Bacon was successfully doused so Bread continued upward into the Records room.

He was in the middle of inspecting the circular library when the screen suddenly took on a light blue tinge and his character was pulled backwards around the Records room. And just as he was getting readjusted after the crazy time lapse, red splashed across his screen with an image of the fallen brown character and the words, “Dead body reported,” directly underneath.

Everyone was transported to the Meeting Room to begin the Emergency Meeting. The Megaphone, indicating who had reported the body, was next to Cheese’s name and icon. And there was a startlingly large amount of people dead already, considering Bread had barely seen anyone else during this first round. On the screen, Cereal and Egg were grayed out alongside Sausage.

“How are three people already dead?” Yixing asked, echoing Jongdae’s thoughts. “Has it already been long enough for Impostors to get two sets of kills?”

“Did the Time Lord get to save someone?” Baekhyun excitedly asked, referring to the strange reversal that had occurred while Bread was in the Records room.

“No, I don’t think so,” Sehun admitted with a loud sigh. “With this many kills and no one thanking me for saving their life, I think it was a bust this time.”

“Where did you find Sausage’s body?” Junmyeon asked.

Before Sehun could respond, Minseok cut in and pointedly asked, “And why are you so curious, Mr. Venting-Venter?”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t try to hide what you’ve been doing! I saw you vent multiple times around the map!” Minseok accused.

“That’s because I’m the Engineer!” Junmyeon fired back. “I’m allowed to vent around the map, doofus.” He then boldly continued, “Watch, I’ll even fix the next sabotage if you don’t believe me.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Minseok retorted. “Impostors can fix sabotages just like Crewmates can.”

“But only the Engineer can fix a sabotage without being near the mechanism,” Junmyeon reminded him. “Isn’t that right, Bacon?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then you’re both Impostors trying to cover for each other!” Minseok boldly claimed, unwilling to back down.

“I can confirm that Bacon is innocent though,” Jongdae quickly interjected. “I saw him doing tasks and we hung around each other for a bit without him trying to kill me.” While he didn’t particularly care if Muffin ended up getting voted off this round, since that meant he’d have one less person to worry about tracking down later on, he needed Bacon alive at all costs as an innocent—and more importantly, doused—Crewmate.

“Unless you’re also an Impostor who’s trying to cover up for your partner,” Minseok instantly pivoted.

“That would clear me then,” Junmyeon gleefully said, causing the eldest male to groan out loud. “Face it, Donut. Your logic is flawed in every single way.”

“Shut up, Muffin! I know you’re sus and I’m going to prove it!” Minseok declared.

“You’d better prove it quickly then. We don’t have much time left,” Sehun noted as the last thirty seconds began ticking down.

All of a sudden, Baekhyun piped up. “Well, if no one has any better ideas, then I say we vote out Potato.”

“Huh? Me? Why?” Yixing squawked, noticeably panicking as the first vote was cast before he could make his defense.

“Because you’re an Impostor, duh,” Baekhyun replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I checked you earlier when we crossed paths in the Kitchen. Your name is literally red on my screen.”

“No, no, no, no, you’re wrong! You’re lying!”

“Sorry, Potato! I would’ve let you live another round, but we’re on six and we have to get rid of someone on the Impostor team now. So say your good-byes while you can!” Baekhyun sang while Yixing cried out in protest. “Bread, you trust me, right?”

“As long as you don’t use those powers against me,” Jongdae replied as he also cast his vote. “You also better hide this next round, now that you’ve revealed yourself as the Seer.”

“I dare the other Impostor to try and find me on this giant map,” Baekhyun shamelessly bragged as everyone else finished casting their votes.

“You all are sheep!” Yixing yelled as the voting phase ended. A second later, the results showed that everyone, except for one person, had voted for Potato.

Even though anonymous voting was on, Jongdae was quite sure of himself that Potato had voted for Bacon out of pure retaliation. One moment later, the phrase, “Potato was ejected,” appeared on the screen with the red avatar falling through the sky.

“Sheep, I tell you!” Yixing shrieked again. “He didn’t even give you proof!”

“Bread clearing me is more than enough proof,” Baekhyun smugly said before everyone muted themselves again.

Another three location options—Kitchen, Engine Room, and Cargo Bay—appeared on Bread’s screen this time. He chose the Cargo Bay and was instantly transported to a room filled with various boxes that were being held down by nets made of rope. Cheese spawned near him and Bread internally cheered as he locked onto his next target. They gradually meandered around the large room before heading north and briefly poked around the bathroom stalls.

Just as they left the leftmost bathroom stall, Bread was able to douse Cheese before splitting off from the yellow character. While Cheese headed left into the Lounge, Bread returned to the Cargo Bay and walked around the room to wait out his next timer. About halfway through, he decided to walk down south and see what other rooms were part of the Airship.

Upon entering Medical, he bumped into Muffun, who was standing near Vitals. Bread also took a quick peek at the machine before exiting after confirming that everyone was still alive, which was surprising. If the Impostors weren’t going to help him complete his job by killing off as many people as possible, he’d just have to speed through this gigantic task himself.

With a quick tap, Muffin was doused and Bread headed into the maze that was Electrical. He groaned as he kept finding himself in dead ends, nervously looking around for anyone who could suddenly sneak up on him. Bread decided that he was going to avoid this area at all costs from now on since it was too dangerous, with or without anyone else with him. The likelihood of him getting sliced in half and left to rot in an isolated corner was too great.

He let out an audible sigh of relief when he finally emerged out of Electrical and into Security, which had a much more straightforward layout. After briefly looking through the cameras and seeing no one, Bread headed south to the Outside balcony and began admiring the light blue sky.

Seconds later, red splashed across his screen with an image of the fallen yellow character and the words, “Dead body reported,” directly underneath. The Megaphone was next to Bacon’s name and icon, and Cheese was the only one grayed out on the screen this time.

But before Baekhyun could reveal where the dead body had been found, Minseok immediately snapped, “I know you’re the Impostor, Muffin! You keep venting around the map!”

“I already told you that I’m the Engineer,” Junmyeon replied, just as exasperated at the eldest male. “It’s not my fault the Impostors didn’t Sabotage anything! I would’ve fixed it if they had!”

“Then who else could be the Impostor?! You’re the only one venting all over the place!” Minseok cried, desperation creeping into his voice.

“Who says you haven’t been venting around either?” Junmyeon easily challenged. “I haven’t seen you around the map at all, so maybe you’re the guilty one who’s hiding in the vents. Bread and Bacon, have you guys seen him at all?”

“Nope,” Jongdae and Baekhyun chorused.

“I can’t vent, you dummy! I’m innocent!” Minseok immediately shouted. Jongdae could hear the eldest male slam his fists against his table and he had to mute himself before erupting into non-stop giggles due to how aggravated Minseok was getting because of this never-ending back-and-forth.

“Not unless you’re the Swooping Swooper and you can’t vent,” Junmyeon suddenly realized with a sharp gasp. “Oh my god, no wonder no one’s seen you the past two rounds. Everyone else got Swooped by you!”

Minseok screeched into his microphone at an almost ear-splitting decibel.

“Okay, okay, how about we just skip since we’re on four?” Jongdae managed to suggest once his laughter subsided. “Bacon and I know we’re innocent, so it’s a fifty-fifty on either of you. And since I’d rather not lose our first game of the night,” especially since he was so close to completing his own objective, “I think we should keep playing and see if we get more information.”

“That sounds solid,” Baekhyun cheerfully agreed as he also cast his vote. “I guess one of us is dying next round for the fifty-fifty, Bread.”

“Screw that! I know what I saw and I’m not letting myself get tricked into believing otherwise!” Minseok staunchly declared.

And true to his word, there was one vote for Muffin while everyone else opted to skip.

Bread decided to spawn in the Engine Room this time around. Having already looked around this room, he quickly headed west and made a short detour into Communications. It was a tiny room in comparison to the other locations on the Airship, so Bread didn’t linger for long and headed into the Cockpit.

And there was his last victim. Donut was at the Admin table and Bread suddenly realized why the green character had been so gung-ho over accusing Muffin. Donut was the Spy and had been watching the Admin table the entire game. A risky strategy, especially on a smaller map, but he had managed to survive this long. Although it was most likely due to Muffin purposefully keeping him alive as a viable voting option.

But alas, it was all for naught. At least for the Crewmates.

With a sly grin, Bread doused his final target. The Ignite button lit up right after and he pressed it with a loud cackle. Everyone who was still alive instantly died and the screen changed to show the Arsonist with Victory overhead in blue.

“Let’s go!” Jongdae cheered as everyone unmuted themselves.

“Wait, what happened?” Jongin asked, confused by the atypical win.

“Jongdae lit everyone on fire and won,” Yixing explained with a resigned sigh.

“Heck yeah, I did!” Jongdae whooped again. “These new roles are sick!”

“Darn, I should’ve killed you instead of Sehun,” Junmyeon mused as they all rejoined the lobby. “I thought you were a regular Crewmate, so I figured it’d be better to get rid of the Time Lord as soon as I could.”

“And I was right this entire time!” Minseok yelled at the top of his lungs. “I can’t believe you almost let him get away with it!”

“How come you didn’t check either of them with your Seer powers?” Sehun asked Baekhyun. “You could’ve easily figured out who the other Impostor was and saved Minseok from his aneurysm,” he joked, while the eldest male let out another angry huff.

“Oh, not gonna lie, I got distracted because I found Chanyeol as the Phantom,” Baekhyun answered with a snicker. “I ended up chasing him around until I caught up with him in Records and got him out. And right after that, I found Sehun’s dead body.”

“I was so close to finishing all of my tasks too!” Chanyeol cried. “I thought I’d actually have a chance at winning after Kyungsoo stupidly shot me at the beginning for no reason!”

“That’s what you get for killing me when you were Sheriff last time,” Kyungsoo deadpanned. “Now we’re even.”

Before Chanyeol could metaphorically reach through the screen and throttle his friend’s neck, Yixing started the next game. This time, the top of Jongdae’s screen read Time Lord in blue and right underneath was the phrase, “Rewind time to help Crewmates.”

He was going to have to play with as much caution as possible. The moment the Impostors found out who he was, he’d be next on the chopping block. With that in mind, Bread spawned in the Kitchen and let out a loud sigh of relief when no one appeared in the room with him. However, this did mean that he was going to have to use his intuition when deciding when to use his Rewind power.

Since it was too dangerous to stay in one place for long, especially in a room with a vent, Bread walked out of the Kitchen and through the Hall of Portraits to Security. He flipped through the cameras, but didn’t notice anything out of the blue and was too terrified to stay on them any longer in case an Impostor suddenly showed up. So he reluctantly navigated through Electrical, despite his earlier promise to himself that he’d avoid this area, only because it was the closest way to Medical from his starting point this time.

Whether it was due to luck or due to the massive size of the Airship, Bread was able to get through the danger zone without seeing anyone else and safely reach Medical. However, he cursed under his breath when he realized that he couldn’t access Vitals, which had been the whole point of suffering through the confusing Electrical maze. He had forgotten that his role as Time Lord prevented him from seeing this chart, so he’d truly have to go on gut feeling alone.

Since there was no point in staying in Medical any longer, Bread headed north into the Cargo Bay and lapped the area in search of dead bodies. However, there were none. And at this point, his Rewind ability had been available for a solid ten seconds, so Bread boldly pressed the button and watched his blue character zip backwards in a circle around the Cargo Bay.

Sighing loudly, Bread walked up towards the bathroom stalls and then jumped in surprise when he found a severed brown body in front of the rightmost stall. He quickly clicked the Report button and everyone teleported to the Meeting Room for their next Emergency Meeting.

“I found Sausage by the bathroom stalls, but I have no idea how long he’s been there and I didn’t see anyone else near him,” Jongdae supplied.

“Well, I think it’s Muffin,” Baekhyun suddenly said. “He’s been acting sus all round.”

“Okay, I know I was an Impostor last time, but I swear I’m the Engineer this time,” Junmyeon insisted. “I’m not using it as an excuse.”

“But how can we trust you after you lied so much to us last time?” Baekhyun easily countered. “You could be playing us again.”

“I appreciate you thinking my IQ is that high, but I promise that I’m on the Crewmates’ side this time,” Junmyeon reiterated in exasperation. “And if you keep trying to throwing sus on me, Baekhyun, I won’t hesitate to vote you out,” he added warningly.

“I mean, at this point, we can take a free shot since it’s eight,” Sehun reminded them.

“Why don’t we all just silently vote for whoever we think it is then?” Chanyeol suggested excitedly. “No discussion, other than what we’ve already done.”

“Done,” Kyungsoo immediately said. With that, everyone else quickly followed suit and the voting phase prematurely ended once the eighth vote was cast.

Moments later, the results were shown. There were two votes for Bacon, two votes for Muffin, one vote for Egg, one vote for Cereal, and one skipped vote.

“Dang, maybe we actually should’ve coordinated our votes better. A tie is kinda anticlimactic,” Jongdae commented as an empty spread of sky appeared on screen.

“Easy to say when you’re not on the chopping block,” Junmyeon said, slightly miffed by how close he’d been to getting voted out.

As they all muted themselves again, Bread decided to spawn in Records this time. He hadn’t been able to properly look around the room yet, although it did seem like a rather risky place to stay, given how many people had died there already. Luckily, the Impostors’ Kill Cooldown wouldn’t be up yet, so he had a few seconds to explore the area before needing to make himself scarce.

After looking at the bookcases and files for a bit, Bread headed south and made a short pit stop at the Showers to fix the shower head. He hadn’t been doing any tasks so far, almost forgetting that they existed due to everyone’s new powers. Then, as he walked through the Main Hall, Bread suddenly turned gray and his name disappeared from the screen. Without thinking, he hit the Rewind button and watched his character zip backwards to the Showers. It took several more seconds for his character to regain its blue color and for his name to reappear above him.

Letting out a sigh of relief that nothing else had happened to him during this time, Bread then resumed his trek through the Main Hall and continued through the Engine Room. However, the moment he reached the Armory, an alarm rang and an image of the white character pressing the red Emergency Button appeared with the words, “Emergency Meeting,” directly underneath. On the screen, Bacon was newly grayed out.

“Oh my god, wait, am I alive?” Sehun gasped as soon as the remaining players were all unmuted.

“Yes, we are. And I know who one of the Impostors are,” Kyungsoo declared. “Thank you, Time Lord, for saving us and allowing me the greatest pleasure to announce that our very own Park Chanyeol is a heartless murderer.”

“How could you know that when we were all gray beans?!” Chanyeol yelped in protest. “It could’ve been anyone!”

“The Kill animation shows who the killer is and the Impostor who murdered me was clearly orange,” Kyungsoo smartly explained. “I don’t think anyone else here is orange, unless I’m blind—which I’m not, so don’t even try to use that as a counter-argument.”

Chanyeol spluttered for several seconds before letting out an unseemly squawk when both Kyungsoo and Sehun cast their votes at the same time. “Wait a second, you believe him, Sehun?!”

“Of course I do! You killed me when you killed him!” Sehun revealed.

“Shut up!” Kyungoos then hissed. “Now everyone knows that we’re Lovers and the other Impostor is going to target us again next round!”

Sehun let out a thin, nervous chuckle at his partner’s reprimand. “Oops.”

“This seems pretty open and shut then,” Junmyeon observed as he also cast his vote. “I usually don’t like voting on seven, but Egg and Cheese seem believable enough. And Bacon is dead too, so that’s one less person targeting me as well,” he added with a laugh.

“You’re not making yourself sound any better with that statement,” Minseok muttered under his breath, his voice laced with a touch of bitterness.

After Jongdae finished casting the last vote for Cereal, the orange character was thrown out of the Airship and a new set of spawn locations appeared on screen. Bread landed in the Brig this time before heading into the Vault to polish the ruby. As he completed his task, the vent at the leftmost side of the room suddenly flipped open and out popped Muffin.

The purple character brazenly walked past Bread and disappeared into the Brig. Bread wasn’t sure what kind of strategy the supposed Engineer was playing, but no matter what it was, it didn’t include killing the Time Lord, which Bread was thankful for. And just as he was about to leave the Vault, the lights suddenly out.

But before he could even move, the lights returned a second later. And right after that, another alarm rang and an image of the purple character pressing the red Emergency Button appeared with the words, “Emergency Meeting,” directly underneath. On the screen, Egg and Cheese were newly grayed out.

“Okay, now do you guys believe that I’m the Engineer?” Junmyeon asked. “I fixed that sabotage in milliseconds!”

“Uh, maybe?” Yixing hesitantly answered. “I mean, I don’t know what any of you are, so it honestly could’ve been anyone to me.”

“It wasn’t me,” Jongdae confirmed. “I’m a different role that’s also on the Crewmates’ side,” he made sure to add.

“Well, the main reason I called this meeting is because someone here pretended to be me,” Junmyeon stoutly explained. “I saw the Morphling morphed as me run away in the Cargo Bay just before the sabotage went off. I know it isn’t Bread, since he was in the Vault when I left him and there’s no way he could’ve gotten to the Cargo Bay that quick.”

“Hear, hear,” Jongdae readily agreed, relieved to be cleared once more.

“So that just leaves Donut and Potato,” Junmyeon concluded suspiciously. “Go on, you two. State your cases.”

“I refuse to be accused by you, of all people, after you almost turned everyone against me last game when my hunches were right,” Minseok firmly said. “How do we know you aren’t lying again?”

“I can verify that Muffin saw me in the Vault and didn’t kill me, even though he had the perfect chance to,” Jongdae explained.

Minseok groaned before instantly pivoting to Yixing. “Then it has to be Potato, because I know that I’m a Crewmate and I was nowhere near the Cargo Bay.”

“Can you prove it?” Junmyeon challenged.

Minseok’s voice significantly dropped as he muttered, “No…I wasn’t near anyone else.”

“I, on the other hand, do have proof that I’m innocent,” Yixing said, sounding quite pleased with himself. “Just watch me.”

And as soon as the voting phase ended, the results showed six votes for Muffin and only one for Potato.

“Are you freaking kidding me?!” Minseok cried. “You’re the Mayor?!”

“See? I told you I’m innocent!” Yixing triumphantly declared while everyone else, sans Minseok, burst into laughter. “Besides, you were going to die anyway. Jongdae and Junmyeon still voted for you over me.”

“This is so unfair. Why am I getting bullied so much today?” the eldest male wailed as the game ended in a Victory for the Crewmates. “You could’ve at least let me lose with my dignity.”

“I mean, I figured I might as well use all of my votes since it was most likely the last meeting of the game,” Yixing explained. “Otherwise, I would’ve been a boring old Crewmate the entire time and that’s no fun.”

“Whoever’s an Impostor next game, please kill me first,” Minseok dramatically begged. “Just put me out of my misery.”

“Okay, Impostors, make sure you keep Minseok alive until the very end,” Jongdae joked.

“Sheriff and Executioner, keep him alive as well!” Sehun cheekily added.

“I swear to god, if you guys purposely avoid killing me just to torture me, I’m going to grief you all like crazy the next time we play TFT,” Minseok warned as the five-second countdown to the third game of the night began.

“If you don’t want to stay alive, Minseok, then let me take your place instead!” Jongin pleaded. “I’ve barely gotten to play tonight! You jerks keep killing me first each time!”

“Sorry, Jongin! Wrong place at the wrong time, y’know?” Yixing apologized, having killed him in their first game.

“Alright, time to mute,” Kyungsoo reminded them as their roles were revealed.

This time, the top of Jongdae’s screen read Loving Impostor in pink and right underneath was the phrase, “You are in love with Potato.” Both of their avatars were shown on screen and Jongdae whistled as he realized the implications of his role, which became much more complicated when he and Bacon both spawned in the Cargo Bay and Bacon’s name was highlighted in red.

He needed to find Potato as soon as possible to prevent his Lover from getting killed by his fellow Impostor while also carrying out murderous acts himself and hoping that his Lover wouldn’t betray him for a Crewmate win instead.

This was the most exciting game yet.

Bread watched Bacon head south in Medical, silently praying that Potato was anywhere but the south side of the Airship, before heading up to the Lounge. He hadn’t been able to properly explore the left side of the Lounge yet, with its billiards table and dartboards. And he was pleasantly surprised to see Muffin walking around the room by himself.

After quickly sweeping the area to make sure no one else was nearby, Bread quickly lopped off the purple character’s head before running through Records and into the Showers to distance himself as much as possible. As he hid in the Showers, the chat box at the top suddenly blipped so he clicked on it and found a message from his missing Lover.

Potato
Where are you?

Bread
I’m in the Showers. What about you?

Potato
I’m hiding in the Vault. Should I go to you or vice versa?

Bread
I’ll try to come to you. But if you see Baekhyun, run away as fast as you can. He’s one of the Impostors.

Potato
Wait, how do you know that already? Did you see him kill someone?

Bread
I’ll explain later. Just run if you see him and I’ll try to find you.

Potato
Okay. Should we also coordinate where we spawn?

Bread
Yeah, try to spawn in the Main Hall next round.

Potato
Alright, see ya in a bit.

However, before Bread could leave the Showers, red splashed across his screen with an image of the fallen yellow character and the words, “Dead body reported,” directly underneath. The Megaphone was next to Egg’s name and icon, and Muffin was grayed out alongside Cheese on the screen.

“Thank you for letting me live at least one round, Impostors,” Jongin immediately gushed while Minseok groaned in the background. “Just for this, I’ll refrain from trying to figure out who any of you are.”

“Well, I don’t have that same obligation. I was with Cheese in Communications and he got Swooped by the Swooping Swooper,” Kyungsoo revealed. His voice then hardened as he continued, “That was a bold move to kill him right in front of me, knowing I wouldn’t be able to see who did it.”

“Alright, everyone, time to cough up some info,” Chanyeol said, clapping his hands together. “Where were you all at the time of the crime?”

“I was in the Vault with Potato,” Jongdae smoothly lied, knowing both his Lover and his Impostor partner would back him up if anyone else tried to counter him. “We were both doing tasks and he didn’t try to kill me, so I’m inclined to believe that he’s innocent.”

“Okay, what about the rest of you?” Chanyeol questioned.

“I was making a burger in the Kitchen!” Baekhyun happily chirped. “It had two patties and a tomato. Not what I’d usually get if I were ordering at In-N-Out or Shake Shack, but decent enough for a long flight.”

“I was wandering around in Electrical,” Jongin recalled. “It’s a lot harder to get around now that I’m not a Ghost.”

“And you, Donut?” Chanyeol asked.

Minseok only groaned again. “Please just kill me. No one’s going to believe me, no matter what I say.”

“Too bad!” Baekhyun cheerily replied. “We’re all keeping you alive until the very end.”

“But what if I’m the Impostor again?” Minseok challenged. “Do you really wanna keep me alive and risk losing the game?”

“We’ll just deal with that later,” Baekhyun nonchalantly answered. “No biggie.”

“And where were you, Cereal?” Kyungsoo asked, noting that the tallest male hadn’t specified his own location yet, despite leading most of the conversation.

“I was in the Cockpit,” Chanyeol reported. “Man, it’s pretty hard to keep track of everyone, especially since the map is so big.”

“And we’re on seven, so I think it’s safer to skip,” Yixing pointed out. “We don’t lose anything yet by not voting anyone off this round.”

“Alright…” Kyungsoo slowly relented as they unanimously skipped the voting phase. “But we all need to start keeping track of each other from now on. The more our numbers get thinned off, the easier it is for the Impostors to tip the game in their favor.”

With that, Bread spawned in the Main Hall, as promised, and he let out a deep sigh of relief when Potato spawned right next to him. The two Lovers carefully traveled through the Engine Room, past Communications, and into the Cockpit. Egg was standing at the Admin table and suddenly moved away, probably due to seeing new bodies enter the room with him. However, Bread was too fast and easily decapitated him while Potato just silently watched.

Bread quickly wiggled in place, motioning for Potato to follow him out of the Cockpit. In any other scenario, he would have immediately vented away from the crime scene. But he couldn’t do that without losing contact with his Lover, especially since Bacon could appear at any time to instantly murder Potato.

However, without warning, Cereal popped out of the vent and instantly reported the dead body. Once they were all transported to the Meeting Room, he exclaimed, “I saw Bread kill Egg! He’s an Impostor!”

“Uh, no… It was the other way around,” Jongdae lied. “Potato and I saw Cereal vent into the Cockpit, kill Egg, and self-report.”

“Yeah, that was kinda messed up, Cereal,” Yixing quickly added. “How could you kill someone so openly with other people in the same room?”

“I—I didn’t do it!” Chanyeol spluttered. “I’m the Engineer! That’s why I can vent.”

“Junmyeon already tried that strategy earlier,” Baekhyun cheekily pointed out. “No shot it’s working on us a second time.”

“Wait, Bacon, are you third Impostoring?! There’s no way you believe Bread and Potato! They’re both Impostors!” Chanyeol yelped as the trio cast their votes.

“I never third Impostor,” Baekhyun staunchly declared. “It’s two against one. I have no reason to believe you over them.”

“Oh my god, you’re throwing!” Chanyeol yelled while he cast his own vote. “Sausage, Donut, you guys believe me, right?” he then hastily pleaded. “I’m not stupid enough to kill in front of two other people! You all know that!”

“Yeah, that would be pretty dumb of you…” Jongin slowly agreed.

Meanwhile, Minseok just lifelessly repeated, “Get me outta here.”

“Don’t you dare vote for yourself, Kim Minseok!” Chanyeol screeched before the eldest male could cast his vote. “I will throttle you if you grief us now!”

“Hold on! Who did you vote for?” Jongin hastily asked.

“Bread! I voted for Bread!” Chanyeol shouted.

But it was no use. With three votes cast for Cereal against the three votes cast for Bread, the round ended in a tie.

After Bread chose to land in the Kitchen, he suddenly panicked when Potato didn’t show up in the same room. He slapped his forehead and groaned, having forgotten to set up a rendezvous point with his Lover for this next round.

Bread
Where did you spawn?!

Potato
I didn’t get the Main Hall as an option this time, so I chose the closest spot which is the Engine Room.

Bread
Okay, stay there and don’t move, unless you see Baekhyun. Is he nearby?

Potato
I don’t think so. Jongin spawned in the Engine Room with me, but he went up to the Brig so I’m all alone now.

Bread
Perfect, I’ll be there in a flash.

With that, Bread made a beeline for the Engine Room and heaved a deep sigh of relief when he found his Lover, who was standing by the left entrance. He motioned for Potato to follow him up to the Brig and they just barely managed to catch a glimpse of Sausage heading into the Vault.

Bread quickly followed the brown character and spammed the Kill button, successfully chopping the innocent Crewmate in half. He then wiggled, motioning for Potato, to follow him out of the Vault and through the Brig back down to the Engine Room. They then ran through the Main Hall together, eyes peeled for any of the remaining players.

When they reached Ventilation, which was below the Showers, red splashed across his screen with an image of the fallen orange character and the words, “Dead body reported,” directly underneath. The Megaphone was next to Donut’s name and icon, and Sausage was grayed out alongside Cereal.

“Oh my god, why couldn’t you guys kill me first?! I hate this game,” Minseok groaned as the Emergency Meeting began. “My brain hurts. First, I saw Cereal get Swooped in Cargo Bay. Then I saw Bread murder Sausage in Vault while Potato was there. But we should’ve lost on four with two Impostors remaining. But we’re all still alive, so does that mean one of you killed both of them? But the Kill Cooldown should’ve prevented that since it’s been less than a minute, right?” he rambled without abandon. “Oh god, this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Ah, I see what’s happening,” Baekhyun slowly said. “I’m so sorry, Jongdae, but it seems I misplaced my trust in you earlier.”

“But Bread is innocent!” Yixing protested. “I’ve been with him the entire time. You must’ve seen something different on the cameras, Minseok. He didn’t kill Sausage.”

“I honestly don’t know what I saw anymore,” Minseok admitted with a whimper.

“No, Minseok, hold strong!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “Bread is the Impostor! You saw it with your own eyes! Don’t let them convince you otherwise!”

“Then who Swooped Cereal?” Jongdae fought back. “If Donut saw both deaths happen back-to-back, then I can’t be the Impostor!”

“You could’ve killed Cereal first and then killed Sausage,” Baekhyun argued.

“The Swooper can’t vent, dummy! There’s no way I could’ve gotten there in time to kill both of them!” Jongdae retorted.

“So are there two Impostors or one Impostor?” Minseok questioned, his voice laced with distress.

“One!” Baekhyun and Jongdae simultaneously shouted.

“…I think I’m just gonna vote myself out, even though I know I’m not going to get a Jester win at this point,” Minseok pitifully said.

“C’mon, Donut, we’re so close to winning! All we have to do is vote out Bread!” Baekhyun insisted as the last five seconds began running down the clock.

“Okay, fine, fine! I’ll vote for Bread,” Minseok relented.

“No, don’t listen to him! Skip! Skip on four!” Jongdae yelled before the timer reached zero. Moments later, the results showed two votes on Bread and two skipped votes. “Oh, thank god! Yixing, make sure you run! Just get as far away from Baekhyun as possible!”

“I’m running, I’m running!” Yixing yelped as he spawned in the Main Hall and immediately booked it into Electrical.

“Minseok, you run away from Jongdae! Don’t you dare sacrifice yourself at this point!” Baekhyun shrieked back.

“What is going on?!” the eldest male cried as he spawned in Records, where Bread had spawned just a moment before.

“Just run until I kill Yixing!” Baekhyun barked. “Don’t let him kill you first!”

“How are you both able to kill when there’s only one Impostor left?!” Minseok wailed as he ran into the Gap Room and stepped onto the platform before Bread could catch him. “Oh my god, someone end this game, please! Put me out of my misery!”

“Alright then, wish granted, Minseok!” Jongdae triumphantly shouted as he vented to the other side of the platform and cleanly chopped Donut in two once the green character reached the left side of the Gap Room. The screen then changed to show the two Lovers with Victory overhead in blue.

“No! You out-clicked me!” Baekhyun cried as they all returned to the lobby. “I just found Yixing, right before you killed Minseok.”

“Wait, so were you both Impostors?” Sehun asked. “Why didn’t the game end at four then?”

“Because I was Lovers with Yixing and Impostors with Baehhyun,” Jongdae explained, still feeling giddy as he rode out the high of such an exciting win. “Lovers only win with top three, so I had to kill Minseok to win while Baekhyun had to kill Yixing to win.”

“Man, I feel bad for Minseok,” Junmyeon commented sympathetically, while the eldest male whimpered loudly again. “Should we take a short break from Among Us and play some Draw Battle instead?”

“But I haven’t gotten a cool role yet,” Jongin pouted.

“We can always come back to Among Us afterwards,” Kyungsoo reminded him. “It isn’t going anywhere.”

“No, it’s fine. We can keep playing,” Minseok answered with a loud exhale. “I guess this is what I get for complaining that I never get to be part of the big brain plays.”

“Don’t worry, Minseok! There’s plenty more where that came from,” Jongdae smugly stated. “C’mon, let’s start the next game!”

With that, the boys were thrown into another raucous game filled with chaos and madness.

And Jongdae wouldn’t have it any other way.

♈♈♈

A/N: Hello everyone! I was supposed to upload this a few days ago, but my physical health deteriorated like CRAZY this past week due to overwork and burn-out. OTL So this is your friendly PSA to TAKE BREAKS, because HEALTH IS WEALTH and you can't do anything if your body decides to break down. OTL

Anyway, welcome back to civilian life, Jongdae! I can't believe it's been eighteen months. 546 days. It felt like your military enlistment lasted a lifetime, but also went by in the blink of an eye. Time works in strange ways. But you're finally back and we are officially in the second half of EXO's enlistment era now with just four remaining to complete service. And I couldn't be happier that you're already scheduled to be at SMTown Live 2022 later this summer. ㅠㅠ To see you on stage again... It's a dream come true and while I wish I could be there in person, I'll still be content cheering for you from home and pretending I'm there with everyone else in the crowd.

Our lives have changed so much in two years. There's been a lot of hurt and struggle that we've suffered over the past two years. But there have also been many reasons to celebrate over the past two years. Personal successes. Happy memories with family. And the bonds of friendship that keep us afloat when life seems too overwhelming. The light at the end of the tunnel seems a bit closer with every step forward we take and I know we'll bravely continue carrying our torches as we march on.

I'll always love and support you, Jongdae! Spring has sprung now that you've finally returned and I hope your days are always full of smiles!

언제나 웃을 수있는 일 가득하길 바라요 ´-ω-`