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snkpolls · 3 years

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SnK Episode 61 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 359 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

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RATE THE EPISODE 347 Responses

While this episode wasn’t as big of a hit as episode 60, overall most viewers still enjoyed the content and are looking forward to more next week!

amazing amazing! I'm so delighted with this season so far!

Im so beyond pumped i love everything

Dissapointing but acceptable.

I’m like angry I loved it so much.

I just wish we didn't have to wait a week

It was amazing. We all gotta apologize to MAPPA for ever doubting them.

It's a huge stepdown from episode 1. At times the animation was straight up painful to watch. My expectations were low and yet I'm still disappointed :/

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE SCENE/MOMENT? 349 Responses

Reiner-centric scenes were the highest on people’s radar, with 24.9% of respondents enjoying his reunion with the warrior cadets, and not far behind, 22.9% enjoyed Reiner bringing up the 104th at the dinner table. In third, with only 13.5%, was Pieck and Porco’s formal introduction to the audience.

Hearing Zeke greet his grandparents with such happiness warmed my heart. I do believe that he loves them.

They just had to add one last image of Ymir's broken face before she died, huh? :(

WE FORGOT TO ASK LAST WEEK D: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES/MOMENTS FROM EPISODE 60 WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 348 Responses

Last week we forgot to include what your favorite scenes were. The scene from episode 60 that got the most favor was Reiner’s, “I’m sick and tired… of walls” with 33.6% of the vote. 16.7% most enjoyed Zeke’s titan transforming scream. 14.9% were hyped about Reiner and Porco wrecking Fort Slava.

MAPPA WENT ALL OUT WITH THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE CINEMATIC PANS AND ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION? 349 Responses

Overall, a total of 74.5% respondents have positive feelings about MAPPA’s use of rotoscope animation and camera panning. Some felt like it was akin to watching a movie, while others are just happy to have the dynamic movement. A smaller amount of respondents didn’t have feelings one way or another, and a minority (about 10.3%) really are not a fan of this type of animation style for the series.

It felt odd sometimes as they used it for long scenes (like Udo talking or Gabi telling the story to her family) but overall it was pretty great and I prefer it to WIT's stale animation during season 3

I liked the more dynamic movement during dialogue, but my roommate found it super awkward and off-model. So a fifty-fifty split in a sample size of two lol

It could have been animated better, but I like the extra dimension it gives to scenes

Enjoyed it a lot! However, there were a few scenes that felt a bit off, like some frames were missing. Specifically, when Udo was doing all those gestures while talking with the rest of the Warrior Candidates.

It felt dynamic to the point of looking unnatural - some gestures and expressions just moved wrong

i'm split, in some scenes it was great (like reiner waking up), but in the dialogue scenes the constant movement seemed kinda unnatural and distracting

It was amazing but at the same time I'd didn't look fluid enough, especially at Udo's mouvements which made the character look kind of...video game-ish in constant moving.

I thought it looked great the rotoscoping,the movements all looked amazing

The animation during Urdu’s scene is so cool! I was caught of guard at first though lol. It’s so realistic!

NOW THAT WE’VE GOTTEN TO HEAR A LITTLE MORE OF THE NEW OST TRACKS, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK SO FAR THIS SEASON? 344 Responses

So far, reception to the newer music is overall positive. 31.1% are really enjoying the music and think the songs are being used immaculately, and 40.4% really feel that the song choice compliments the scenes they’ve been used in. 13.1% think the songs are good, but miss having that sole Sawano feel to them. 10.8% just feel the music is “ok” and 2.6% aren’t a fan of the new OST tracks so far.

I mean it sounds good, but we haven't gotten to important moments that require a memorable track, so we'll see!

First episode slapped because it really complemented the scene but it's more... generic. I didn't like how it was used in this episode, there wasn't enough of it and again, generic. I miss Sawano's unreal scores.

the animation absolutely blew me away, and i love the intense music that played during Reiners monologue

The music is fine.

I've heard both new and old songs from the previous seasons. Still too soon to make an opinion as we need to hear more.

I am deaf, I can't hear no damn soundtracks

That music guys when they came back to Liberio and reuniting with they parents, made me tear up but also because the scouts never had the chance to go back home with victory in the arms of their family, I wish I could have seen EMA like this.. It kinda felt unfair X) but I was happy for them nevertheless.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CLOSEUP OF ZEKE’S MOUTH? 346 Responses

Our first of probably too many crack questions in this poll, 32.7% thought the closeup of Zeke lighting his cigarette was cool looking. 21.4% are concerned about Zeke’s lung health. 19.1% are probably annoyed with us and simply don’t care (lol). 13.3% wouldn’t mind smooching Zeke, and 11% were just plain grossed out.

Does smoke even affect a titan shifter? Surely his lungs just heal themselves

ASMR for the eyes, right there. Aww yiss

It was awesome! Zeke is shown as relaxed person with a big drop of mystery.

Smoking Bad but he is gonna die in a year anyway

Suuuuuuucc

It might've just been an artistic choice to include it in there, but i gotta say I'm oddly fascinated and idk why

I don’t remember it lol

I didn't even notice.

Zeke looks hotter than he has ever looked

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ABOUT ELDIAN ASSES? 341 Responses

Most of the responses seemed to feel rather positively about Eldian asses, with almost 40% seeking out Zeke’s ass wiping technique. About 17% simply stated their appreciation for them, while almost 13% are just thirsty. In contrast, a little over 17% seemed confused to the question’s inclusion and about 10% were confused outright.

MAPPA WHERE IS PIECK'S ASS

More into Eldian thighs, really

I bet Levi’s is nice

If only Eren had one

zeke has the energy of a straight man who doesn't wash his ass

Only Shadis' ass

GIVE IT TO ME 😏😏

They are like normal, human asses. Do not turn them into some magical, special snowflakes, just because they belong to Eldians.

Seek help

Enough

DO YOU WANT REINER TO GIVE YOU A HEAD PAT? 343 Responses

A definitive majority, almost 59 percent, openly expressed enthusiasm for the prospect of a head pat from Reiner. However, a near 30% fraction of responders didn’t seem too happy about this recent chain of less than serious questions. We’re sorry about that. 😅. The rest either didn’t seem interested in said prospect or noted they wouldn’t care either way.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE DECISION FROM MAPPA TO CONDENSE REINER’S FLASHBACK INTO (PRESUMABLY) A SINGLE EPISODE? 346 Responses

It would appear that the majority of those who took our poll express cautious optimism at the prospect of seeing all (or the vast majority) of Reiner’s backstory being adapted into a single episode, with a near 47% supporting the move, thinking it could make the narrative “more coherent”. Almost 20% argue it would work better pacing wise. On the flipside, just over 17% state that they would rather have a more accurate adaptation to the manga. 11.6% simply say they have no opinion. There were also more than a few write-ins.

I do wish everything could be animated to full detail, but pacing and structure will benefit here

They've done a good job so far, so I'll reserve judgement until I actually watch it.

It will be difficult as they're chapters with loads of dialogue, but they can pull it off if unnecessary stuff gets cut out or changed in some type of way (like watching Marcel's death for the sixth time, them breaking through the wall or even Jean and Eren fighting)

If they get the pacing right, then the rearrangement will be for the better.

Reiner flashbacks + Reiner suicide attempt + Falco meeting "Kruger" (more than 2,5 chapters) in a single episode? HELL NO! WTF MAPPA!

Worried and cautiously optimistic.

At least it looks like they're going to stick to just one episode for the RBA flashback. It was mostly just filler anyway, so there was never any need to stretch it out and waste precious time getting back to the Paradis side of the story

I doubt that that's exactly how it is, but if so, then I don't think that that's a wise idea

It’s gonna be rushed as hell

Reiner flashback is very long and there is tons of dialogue, so I dont know how its going fit in only one episode, but if they can make it work then its fine for me

WHICH CHARACTER DESIGN DID YOU LIKE BEST IN COMPARISON TO THE MANGA? 346 Responses

This question gave us a somewhat evenly split pie chart, but Porco nonetheless managed to gain the bigger piece with just over 55%. Surely due to that bomber jacket and haircut. Nearly 45% picked Pieck (gottem) instead. Must have been the somewhat inconsistent nose.

WHO’S SEIYUU DID YOU LIKE BEST? 335 Responses

On the flip side, 68.4% seemed to prefer Pieck’s soft voice. Porco with his (how the hell does Porco sound like… how can you describe his voice) managed to win the hearts of 31.6% of responses.

Pieck voice wtf? I imagined Pieck with a more Hanji-ish voice, not this sweet and high pitched.

DID MAPPA DO PIECK’S NOSE JUSTICE? 345 Responses

The debacle over Pieck’s POWERFUL nose gave us quite a colorful pie chart. Almost 39% of responses noted that Mappa was on point with Pieck’s nose for most of the episode. Afterwards, 26.7% stated that they thought that Mappa got it right only in some points of the episode. On the flip side, another 26.7% thought that Mappa was generally quite on point throughout the entire episode. A small minority (7.8%) thought that Mappa simply did a poor job.

The animation is good, and while I don't want to complain, I have a small problem with the drawings themselves. I feel like they lack precision (like Pieck's nose, idk if that's clear).

I'm grateful for Pieck's nose. I always respected Isayama for drawing imperfect characters, because this way he has made them to look more realistic. Even though Pieck has so-called imperfect nose, she is still absolutely gorgeous. Her imperfections are part of what makes her beautiful and unique.

PORCO’S HAIR - WERE YOU TEAM RED HAIR OR BLOND HAIR? AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH HIS ANIME COLOR SCHEME? 345 Responses

A far less controversial debacle concerned Porco’s hair scheme. The folks supporting a Blond color scheme were universally content with his hair color (all 57.4% of team Blond). On the flip side, an almost universal approval was also present from team Redhead (13.6% of those supported his blond hair color). 27.5% of the responses seemed to care not about this issue at all, however.

NOW THAT WE KNOW PORCO BETTER IN THE MANGA, DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE *ACTUALLY* DONE A BETTER JOB THAN REINER IF HE HAD INHERITED THE ARMOR AND WENT TO PARADIS? 348 Responses

Porco inheriting the Armored Titan is a rather interesting what-if scenario. Perhaps of the most interesting as a whole, so it’s no surprise to see a rather divided opinion of those who took our poll. A little over 36% believe that Porco doing a better job than Reiner on Paradis is a definite possibility. Just over 24% believe it’s not likely Porco would have done better than Reiner. On the flip side, 21.6% think that is is likely Porco *would* have a more successful conduct on the island. 9.2% believe that Porco’s success is a given and in opposition to that, 8.9% think that Porco’s success would have been basically impossible.

HOW ABOUT IF PIECK HAD GONE TO PARADIS WITH THE WARRIORS? 346 Responses

Much less division here, however. 70.5% of responders believe that Pieck’s possible trip to Paradis (in the initial attack) would have not have resulted in a given “mission success” for the Warriors, although she would have been a rather useful ally. Nearly a quarter, on the other hand, think that Pieck’s inclusion would have ended the story right then and there. The rather small minority of the other responders think that Pieck would not have been useful had she participated in the mission.

GABI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER. HAS MAPPA BRINGING HER TO LIFE CHANGED YOUR FEELINGS TOWARD HER? 342 Responses

64.6% of respondents overall have positive feelings toward Gabi as of right now, with 39.5% having already been enjoying her character throughout the manga. 25.1% now view her more positively with her being brought to life. 20.2% don’t really care about Gabi either way, and 11.7% feel very negatively toward Gabi, without the anime swaying their opinions.

Gabi still sucks

Sakura ayane as gabi is probably the best thing to happen to me all year

WITH SUCH A DIALOGUE-HEAVY ARC, CUTS WERE INEVITABLE. WHICH CUTS WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED IN, AND WHICH CUTS CAN YOU LIVE WITH?

Overwhelmingly, the scenes that were most missed by manga readers were “Pieck walking on all fours/scaring Porco”, “Zeke mentioning the Ackerman Clan”, “Reiner’s smirk when his family talks about ‘Island Devils’”, and “The imagery of Eren and Armin wrecking ships”. Smaller character details, such as Reiner mentioning how he acted like Marcel on Paradis, Gabi wishing to understand Reiner’s feelings, Falco pointing out how Reiner almost had the Armor taken from him, were also very missed by manga readers, although just less so.

General Calvi talking about Zeke’s loyalty, Gabi getting praise from her parents when they reunite, and Magath trashing the Marleyan navy, were moments that many respondents didn’t feel strongly about one way or another, or felt that these were details that weren’t really needed anyway.

Cutting the scene where Falcon talks about why Reiner kept the AT was really bad. Also the table scene could have been better. Some imagery when Reiner was describing the 104th and his smirk.

The cuts the anime has done made the spectators less informed about some story background stuff. This is in order to direct attention to the marley's eldians planning how to overcome the world's disparagement towards the power of the titans.

I'm sad they cut the gate guards. They humanize the marleyans a bit. Hope they add their scenes next episode and do them justice.

I hope we will get the Gabi/Reiner talk about understanding each other through PATHS when she eats him next episode

Gimme crawling best giiiirl

MAPPA cut Pieck's ass so this episode wouldn't be so ass centered with Zeke's ass wiping technique. This is my theory lol

Great episode but U was so looking forward to the Reiner scene talking about Paradis “devils”. In the mange it was a powerful scene really adding to the duality of Reiner and the pain he has, and the animation did not do it justice. Plus some parts of his speech were probably hard to understand for a non mange reader without the flashback. (Like which one is referring to Jean for example). I really wish it had been better delivered

IS THERE ANY CHANCE WE’LL SEE SOME OF THESE CUTS ANIMATED IN A LATER EPISODE? 342 Responses

them into different scenes. Overall, the majority answered a big, fat, “maybe.” 15.8% are confident that what’s done has been done, and 12.6% are more optimistic that MAPPA will find a way.

Overall I was a bit disappointed. I feel like the amount of material cut from every conversation included really added up overall and gave it a very rushed feel to me. I really hope they add it all in later.

ON THE FLIP-SIDE, WHICH ADDITIONS/CHANGES DID YOU LIKE/DISLIKE?

The changes and additions that MAPPA made were overall viewed very favorably, with the scene of Porco and Pieck interacting with the warrior cadets being the most liked addition. This is followed closely by the overall character movement during dialogue scenes, the small detail about Pieck’s father being unwell, and Gabi shouting “Watashi!” on the train.

I loved the additional details made it very emotional

IT WAS A GREAT TIME TO BE GALLIPIECK TRASH

Sneakier Eren's a nice addition too

Porco my boiii I'm so happy he's here 💖💖💖💖 if mappa is adding some extra scenes then gimme more of gallirei 👀

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 338 Responses

Unsurprisingly, 42% of respondents are hyped about Kenny’s brief return and Annie’s unlikely encounter with him in the Underground. 22.2% are eager to get that sweet Reiner angst as he is rejected by his Marleyan father. 17.8% are looking forward to Reiner’s training days.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

great! it was inevitable they would cut stuff but it hasn't changed any major plot point or thing i would want to see desperately

It was just really great to see the scenes animated, it adds another level of depth and understanding to the story I believe.

Loved anime-onlies missing Eren completely. Some even thought it was him but then noticed the leg and thought against it

I think it was very well done. Just need a little getting used to with MAPPA on the reins now. I think MAPPA added some scenes to show how those Eldians over there are still just human after all and they have their own problems to deal with. 8/10 episode.

I feel like they took a lot of emotion way from reiner. made him seemed stoic and determined to go to the island even though in the make he looked scared about having to return.

I thought the rotoscoping was really well done! I’m happy with the pacing, the fact that the episode felt like it went by fast is good considering it was dialogue based.

Incredible. The direction, the cinematic quality, we are feasting. MAPPA is elevating the story beyond anything I could have imagined! I'm beyond hyped for the rest!! But where is asshole Marley guards/Hobo!Eren's appearance as a favorite moment?!

Incredible, it adapts the source material very well while adding some touches that make it unique in it's own way. As a manga reader, I'm really glad that they're doing this because it feels like a completly different experience from reading it and makes me excited on what changes or directing choices they're going to make during the course of the season, great job so far MAPPA!

Such an amazing episode. Made 20mins feel like 5. MAPPA is doing fantastic. The characters have never felt more alive and the animation style is something I never knew I wanted until now.

I can't believe they didn't cast Mads Mikkelsen to voice Mads Mikkelsen

The episode was good but the dinner scene didn't do justice to the manga. It didn't have the same feeling to it. I saw a lot of anime onlys thinking Reiner was just trying to talk shit about the 104th. I feel like the flashbacks during that part in the manga gave it a nostalgic feeling that helped convey what he truly felt about his time on the island. His facial expressions were not quite there either. Specially sad because it was the moment I was expecting the most this episode and because it's a big part of Reiner's character, maybe next episode can kind of fix this.

I haven't seen the anime only poll results, but given personal conversations with them I imagine quite a few could care less about the Warriors and are looking forward to the 104th showing up to stir shit up. Boy are those folks in for a treat :)

I knew I'd feel more attached to all of them once they got animated. I didn't expect getting real thirsty for Lainah.

I was so happy with how much detail MAPPA put into the background scenery. Also, I think that an underrated moment during this episode was the Marlian douchebag triggering the Eldian soldier’s PTSD. You could really feel their terror, and THEY KEPT THE HOBO EREN PART IM SO HAPPY!

Its consistently very pretty and well animated which is great of course, but I worry the team won’t be able to maintain this quality for some of the meatier scenes in the later episodes. The fast pace of the episode (compared to the manga) as well as the many cuts make it a bit harder for scenes to stick, I wish there was a bit more breathing room at times. This also makes the fancy animation and frequent rotoscoping cuts feel less impactful for me—with every scene being cut down to its core ingredients, and every scene having at least one cut with more motion and energy than we’re used to, I can’t help but feel it all kind of mashes together without sticking out as much, leaving less of an impact. (I feel really really weird actually complaining about good camerawork/animation, what the hell lol) Also hobo <3

Plenty of questions about ass but no questions about the full ED? Or how we thought the episode did at hiding Eren in plain sight?

rip Reiner's chocolate abs :'(

The episode wasn't as interesting as the first one. I was yawning from time to time. Yet, I think that Mappa did a great job, because it's hard to animate full of dialogues chapters. I was disappointed of the fact that flashbacks from Paradis have been cut. I hoped to see Sasha, Connie, Ymir and Marco while Reiner was speaking about them. Without the flashbacks we just got the dry speech and this way hard to say what Reiner is really thinking about people he met on Paradis. We - as manga readers - already are aware of his feelings, but anime onlies may not know and see Reiner as cold hearted person. I'm not complaining over animations or the OST tracks because no studio is perfect and some small mistakes here and there won't destroy my fun. I just sit and enjoy the episode.

Very good, with the exception of the dinner scene, in which the director missed the mark completely with the tone.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 328 Responses

Thank you again for participating! We’ll see you again next week!

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk s4 #snk spoilers

22 notes · View notes

wwounu · 5 years

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mafia!jeonghan “YOON” #11

↻ masterlist — intro￤s.coups￤yoon￤hong￤wen￤hoshi￤jeon￤woozi￤dk￤kim￤xu￤boo￤chwe￤lee

traitor

member of Venor Unit

his role is more of a spy, however jeonghan likes the term ‘traitor’ more than anything

there are many rumours about him

only a handful have been picked to be debunked as true or false

for years he’s still been rumoured whether or not hes a member of seventeen

surprise surprise, he is

and the story of how he was recruited was one he’d never forget

because who would forget his missing nineteen-year old childhood friend climbing up to the top of his penthouse, at 1:27 in the morning, and suddenly break and walk into your bedroom like it’s no big deal?

in other words, he wasn’t pleased to see his dearest seungcheol

his friend was talking about all sorts of nonsense the moment he startled awake: japan, gangs, tattoos,, bad haircuts,,, poisoned ice cream??

this wasnt the seungcheol he remembered

so with mixed feelings, jeonghan told seungcheol to crash on his bed while jeonghan would take the couch and asking seungcheol to take a shower because he looked like he came back from a fight with a shark

when morning came seungcheol was trying to explain jeonghan about the wonderful complicated world of mafia business

but jeonghan had none of it — it sounded unreal

on top of that he was more fussed over seungcheol leaving for two years and not telling his own friend about it

with all this anger building inside him, mainly due to the stress of trying to get his head around this whole... thing, he told seungcheol to leave and go back home

seungcheol gave a look at him, a hard look, before he sighed and stormed out of the place

jeonghan didnt miss the small ‘no one ever stops to listen to someone like me’ under seungcheol’s breath

and never in their friendship they brought light upon their many differences, so it kinda tugged on jeonghan’s heartstrings

it saddened him knowing he didn’t give the welcome his friend wanted but at the time he thought he was in the right

then for the next two weeks, seungcheol was desperately trying to get jeonghan to join his ‘mafia’

(mafia in asteriks, because jeonghan wasn’t having any of his bullshit)

through messages, messy letters, he even received a collection post-it notes stuck around his penthouse without traces of who did this even though he fully knew well who it was

and that night jeonghan was paranoid that seungcheol would randomly break in again

then the desperation for help stopped for the next month

although jeonghan did enjoy the attention from his best friend and wanted to continue this ‘fun’ game, he began to grow concerned

his best friend disappeared without a trace. again.

the cope was harder to deal with this time, because the insignificant thought about seungcheol truly being a mafia boss was becoming the host of his nightmares

you best believed the utter shock on his face when he saw seungcheol sat beside his door around midnight

hood up, dirty head to toe and one nasty cut on his lip and cheek

jeonghan was supposed to go to a party, but that priority was ignored straight away

he takes seungcheol in, aiding the cuts before doing anything else

as jeonghan would expect from the man, seven year old seungcheol would be screaming ugly noises with snot running down along his tears

but this other seungcheol didn’t flinch at the pressure of the alcohol touching his skin, and looked in every direction to avoid jeonghan

that — thankfully — hadn’t changed

seungcheol always payed attention to his surroundings when he doesnt want to be in a situation. it happened a lot with his father

so jeonghan asks why he looks like shit

and all the anxieties rush to his brain as the thought of his lash of anger to seungcheol caused the latter to end up like this

questions like when did he last eat?, where did he stay?, did i do this?

but seungcheol started explaining himself

something about these high schoolers ganging up on a sixteen year old in their school because of his looks, seungcheol stood up for this said ‘sixteen year old’ and found the four-against-one fight fair play until they brought out knives and seungcheol was like youve got to be kidding me

and suddenly, one thing led to another and the sixteen year old lit a tree on fire???? and he lifted a stray branch, took out a lighter, then lit it before storming to the high schoolers with a maniac-like look on his face

and the kid was then gone as he chased the high schoolers away

seungcheol had never been more confused

but he had to get out as there was still the,,, burning tree there,,,,,,

and when he finished his story, he paused, falling silent again and sort of bitterly saying ‘sorry, half of the things i say sound unbelievable now’

and jeonghan is a bit offended but he wasn’t going to push seungcheol away yet again

so jeonghan tells him that he believes him and at first seungcheol kept arguing that he’s bluffing for his sake

surprised, jeonghan reassures him again and again to get it through seungcheol’s head that he’s going to join him because he’s going through a hard time, anyone can see that

remaining silent, seungcheol nods before he manages out a thanks

they apologise and forgive each other, and later that night seungcheol tells everything — and i mean everything — about his family and the mafia

it was a heavy night for seungcheol

which brings us to today

since jeonghan was born into a rich family, it made seungcheol’s job way more easier than it was as jeonghan had higher class connections with others while his friend kept lowkey

he can have news alerted to him quickly like updates on parties, social events, scandals, some juicy affairs here and there, all that corrupt high-society crap

and he gets the odd word about some mafias in korea, making it his duty to report all of it back to seungcheol

with seungcheol’s command, he does whatever he instructs him to do, which is to spy on any updates of the situation

hence why he’s always out at fancy social-events

its truly a bore though. he’d rather sleep in

you may think he’s just acting naive most of the time — but he’s listening to every word and every moment he can sink in all around him

the highlight of the night is when everyone gets drunk, which is the perfect time to hear their dark secrets and use his sweet-talk

effortlessly finds a way to manipulate his way to invite himself and seventeen, who’d he’d call associates, to any banquet whenever he senses dirty work will commence

his pretty-boy looks usually do the trick ‘seventeen’s pretty boy’, the group calls him

makes the time to take care of the member’s schedules and invitations to these places, even going to the extent to make replica invitations

creates a plan of how the members enter so that they wouldn’t be seen together and raise eyebrows

particularly during these events, other suspicious men try to keep a close eye on jeonghan due to the rumours of his relation to the seventeen mafia

yet they’re wasting their time because he’s never in one place and socialises with many people

often when he strays on his own, he explores the area and wanders from room after room to find anything else valuable

normally reports to wonwoo what he finds through an earpiece

‘i found a diary’

‘youre going to open it arent you’

‘risqué, she keeps a taser and a ton of money in her lingerie set’

‘dont take the money’

‘wasnt going to’

‘jeonghan drop the roll of money right now’

‘... fine’

‘okay’

‘i took the taser instead!’

did i mention that he needs to ‘borrow’ a belonging as his souvenir for the places he visits

and because of junhui, he has semi-mastered the skill to hide all evidence

also pretty much hates it when he’s rushed, needs to take his tiem with everything (excluding when they’re in grave danger then that’s different)

mouth runs a lot so when he really needs information to be spilt, he exposes other lowkey scandals to get the information he needs

this is where he gets his traitor title from

if he’s framed as a traitor, he turns the tables around and either puts the blame on someone else or on the person calling him a traitor

he’s grown up in this corrupt class and knows all the dirty ins and outs of it

when he feels like he’s being interrogated to spill information, he takes control of the conversation and does subtle things like asking for things usually pouting when doing so or complimenting on one thing before discussing something completely off topic

he can never expose seventeen and will never expose them even if he’s dying

another off-topic fact, he calls people babe a lot

mainly because it makes people feel a certain way, but its jeonghan’s self-acclaimed magic word

that word does things

is also a part of A Team, but due to the fact jeonghan is always busy, they dont work together as often as they used to

looking at soonyoung, wonwoo and jeonghan, you wouldn’t think of them to be that close but they’ve had history

out of all of seventeen, he’s the weakest in terms of weaponry since he’s basically just a informant to seventeen

therefore his choice of weapon are usually used by the closest thing to him

prefers glass as his choice of weapon if he had to choose, so because of this minghao frequently gives him smashed wine bottles for jeonghan’s use

a bit of a brat

but seventeen never mentions it

loves seeing people beg in front of him, especially when theyre desperate

this might be because he likes attention on him

teasing and poking fun at them gives him the greatest joy, it leaves him so satisfied but also wanting more

normally after difficult jobs done by the whole group, when Perficio Unit are clearing up the last of the evidence and killing the last of their suffering enemies, jeonghan skips in to take a wonder around too

Perficio Unit let him because its jeonghan

blood is soaked everywhere, many men are on the floor, some dead, possibly not, and their fancy suits all ruined while the four males finishing the job play jazz music on blast as they take care of the remains

just another job for seventeen

and jeonghan inspects each face, making sure the fear is their eyes while theyre slowly dying from blood loss. if they arent, then jeonghan pulls a gun out of his pocket and points it at them, getting the reaction he wants

(the gun was full of blanks anyway, what’s there to be scared about??)

decides to steal a wristwatch from one of the men and gets told off by the unit because they now have to get rid of jeonghan’s dirty fingerprints for stealing the accessory

loves it even more when Perficio Unit are in the middle of an interrogation (on most occasions they lead the questioning) back in their hideout and pops down to see how their ever-so suffering victim is hanging in there

generally summoned down if 1. wonwoo is busy or 2. they need the victim to speak a bit more

jeonghan doesn’t play once he comes down — but its inevitable that he’ll make sure that he gets the satisfaction that he wants from the person held captive

will stay until theyre sweating and crying in a mix of blood and tears and they are begging in front of his feet while tied up. he wont stop the torture unless the person confesses truthfully to what Perficio Unit ask and feel numb around their whole body that it hurts

uses the taser he stole in addition to let the pain sink in even more, also decorated the taser to have stickers of a halo and wings to look like an angel

when they get the answer they want, it’s a job well done for jeonghan

and when the victim thinks its all over, jeonghan sweetly grins one last time to them, turning foot because, really, he cannot do anything to the poor soul

he shrugs and walks, searching in his back pocket for a gun a filled one this time, twirling it around his fingers before handing it to one of the unit members

without skipping a beat, he smiles, whispering ‘enjoy’ and leaving them to do their job

needs the members as much as the members needs him

a perfect balance

“Somebody said it means imperfection and danger”

#hopefully this hasnt dragged on for too long #2.1k words?! yikes!#also im posting the aus by recruitment order #jeonghan #yoon jeonghan #jeonghan au #jeonghan imagines #jeonghan scenarios #seventeen jeonghan #seventeen #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #seventeen mafia au #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #mafia!jeonghan #lucet iaspis au

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justaclassytrashpanda · 7 years

Text

Until Dawn JoshxChris Fic: Tainted Love

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself. It’s not right. After all we’ve been through-”

“Exactly Sam. We’ve been half the shit he’s been through-”

“HE put us through some of it!”

“That wasn’t his fault! I mean-...yeah, but...” He was off his meds. He lost his mind to grief. He never intended any of it. Did any of it really make his actions forgivable? Maybe not. But one thing did. “....none of us are blameless.” The last part was a murmured confession that stirred like a waking snake monster in a pit of oil. Under all the trauma, all of...that. None of them dared think about the twins. That fatal prank and the guilt...fuck, all of them had unconsciously started calling them “Them” after that night. That or “The Girls” or “The Twins” like saying their name would invoke...something. Maybe it had....

Chris shook his head and took off his glasses, pressing the back of his hand to his eyes. Pressing his knuckles against his eyeballs helped fight the migraine that was trying to push them out. If the migraines were a side effect of the medication for the PTSD or the actual PTSD itself he didn’t fucking know. Sam was talking again, soft and concerned. She was always understanding...even Josh had confided in her after losing his sisters. The gentle thudding in his head crowded out all noise and thought however. The pressure he was putting on his eyes matched the pain in his head and it felt kinda nice.....relieving.

“...Chris? Chris you haven’t said anything for awhile now.......”

“Sorry, yeah...” His voice was tired and resigned and he didn’t try and hide it. He slipped his glasses back on and opened his eyes to bright harsh world. “...I’ll call you back yeah?”

“You better.” Sam scolded playfully, but she meant it.

Chris wasn’t coping. Hell, maybe none of them were really but how do you deal with knowing things like the Wendigo were out there? What else was? Most had gone their separate ways but Chris....Chris kept visiting Josh. It wasn’t healthy, she had argued. But she had given up getting angry over it, as there was no changing his mind. He was clinging to him, out of guilt or need, some coping mechanism? Some dark part of her whispered that she should be visiting too...or at least once. Hadn’t she failed him enough? No. She had done what she could.....it was time to walk away. They chatted about meeting up for lunch or something. It was spoken about less like a friendship and more like a group therapy session. Pleasantries and no real enthusiasm.

He had moved to be close to the Institute. With no family anymore, Chris had put forward his contact details should any major decisions need to be made and Josh was in no state to. When they had found him….Christ. His hands flexed on the steering wheel and he adjusted his grip.

Blood. Fire. Skittering pale things. Josh.

Chris never had used to drive, but had since learned a lot of new things. He had started to take shooting lessons, learned to drive, and taken to basic survival training. Nothing serious, mostly just summer camp stuff….and never in the woods. Never too far. But he had managed that. And he managed to go for a walk in the woods. He was healing. He was stronger, he told himself as the Institute came into view. They were both getting better…..

Josh grinned him when he saw him. Head resting in hand, covering part of his mouth and face, he seemed almost like the old Josh. He was a little pale and his eyes weren’t quite as dark as they used to be, but he seemed more focused. His eyes weren’t darting about and he seemed relaxed….he was wearing one of his signature beanies. If it weren’t for the white patient outfit and sterile surroundings it could have been any old catch up.

“Hey man…” Chris started really warmly and then faltered like always. What do you say? How have you been? What’s happening? But Josh felt the warmth of the other’s voice and let him be awkward, watching the other move and sit at the chair at the desk. He looked down between his knees at the laminated flooring, perching on the side of his bed and then to the door as it was shut with one of the guards stood inside, face a solemn mask and his hand resting on his nightstick. Anger welled within him, unnecessary and wild. Then Chris started to speak.

“Reminds me of our old Uni rooms…”

They talked a lot about those days. Past adventures and mistakes….okay, so mostly they were all misadventures but none malicious and it was what had bonded them. Two slightly weird nerds who had no idea what to do with girls. Josh huffed a laugh and dropped the hand from his face and Chris tried not to stare but it was still hard…they had filed the-…fuck, there was no other way to call them but fangs. The…teeth, down. Tried to sow up the joker-esque half smile that mocked Josh’s usually oh so perfect and sincere grin Chris use to love seeing. Even after Josh became less feral and he didn’t purposefully or accidentally rip it open again, it just didn’t seem to want to heal that much. His hair had stopped falling out so much though….Josh had opted for what Chris assured him was the very fashionable fuckboy haircut, shaving the sides and gelling what was left back to hide any thinner spots. Josh laughed, like always, and cracked some joke. Chris was usually always smiling round Josh. Always had and that just…hadn’t changed. Sure it was fucking weird staring at that...that half-formed maw. Thinking what Josh could have become and what he did….but they had all done terrible things on that mountain. And they had survived. Josh was still Josh. He still made him laugh and….and he knew on some level that Sam was right and that this was unhealthy perhaps. The happiness he felt round Josh…was he denying anything had happened? Regressing to a previous state when they were younger and none of that shit had happened? Was he dependant on Josh’s wellbeing as it tied to his own sense of moral and physical wellbeing? Was it purely guilt? Or if he could save Josh then it’d just fix everything?

He had had all of these thoughts of course. He wasn’t a stupid man, and he had been in therapy ever since with three (now two) different specialists. He had had such thoughts even without therapy….he had a lot of time to think. Too much. But laying awake thinking about it was slightly less worse than reliving it in vivid night terrors. Josh talked about being allowed out in the garden and how he really liked it. How therapy was going and asking about Chris’s new IT job and stuff. Chris said how glad he was to hear all of it, how glad he was Josh seemed so chilled now….

It wasn’t long after Josh was released. Asides from check-ins and the usual, Josh was a free man!

“Please!!! I’m on bail at best…” Josh shrugged as he carried his (only) large pot-plant into the apartment complex, shooting a sideways shrug at Chris who was struggling with a beanbag. It had been talked about but Chris had eventually agreed with a “Yeah, no, of course…” like it was no big deal to have a lunatic monster sharing a flat with you. Josh had smiled, shitty vending machine coffee in one hand, other hiding his face in his new signature manner as he leaned on the table, rubber-soled sneaker squeaking as he twisted it this way and that nervously on the tiled cafeteria floor. “…just like old times.” And they had sipped that shitty coffee and awkwardly looked everywhere but at each other giving, in Josh’s case, very real, half-smiles every so often.

That had been a few weeks ago. Where Josh had stayed since his release Chris didn’t know, nor had he asked. He presumed a motel or something, but was kind of surprised and concerned when Josh hadn’t asked him straightup or mentioned his plans on the big celebration day of his release. Now though, he was helping him move in. “I got rid of some furniture cus I figured you’d have stuff but uh…..there’s a couch in the moving truck and if it’s better than yours….?”

It was…strange. Not how he expected this to go. But then that is kinda how things went with him…especially around Josh. Never quite as expected, perhaps a little unsettling or worrying, but it was always worth it. He studied the couch, it was a faded beige 70s thing with flowers on. Worn, limp, and with one arm rest held on by the taught fabric, it was terrible even without the two stains. The main one being on one of the cushions and covering almost the whole thing…..

“You got it?” Josh appeared wearing the same blue tracksuit he had worn that day he had met him in the Mall. Same beanie too….and the surgical mask, of course. There was no easy way to hide his disfigurement.

“Dude….” Chris turned to him and even with his mouth covered Chris could tell Josh was starting to smile by the curve of his cheeks and his eyes. They both knew that tone. “….the fuck?!” He pointed at the stain. Chris had perhaps also become a little more forthright due to therapy…it was a good thing, he was assured, as he had always been nervous to act on instinct and had fled deeper into silence and noncommittal initially when recovering from that night. Josh shrugged, purely to egg him on. He could have retaliated then and there with this playfight but it was too soon he felt…

“You know what that even is?!” Chris demanded in mock horror.

“I think we both know it’s piss.” Josh deadpanned as if Chris was an idiot to push him even further. Chris fully accepted this by pushing up his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose, other hand on hip, very dramatically showing his feelings and Josh felt his cheek snag he smiled so hard. To be having a snarky bitch fight with his best friend on a sunny afternoon in the real, normal world, with normal things like cars going past and unloading furniture….?

“Ignoring the fact you even chose to have this-“ Chris stated, shooting the ‘you are a weird moron’ thing right back at him. “-why would you leave it piss-stain side up?!”

“Cus even if you turn it over it’s still there.” Josh was completely sincere in his answer seemingly, though it was hard to tell when Josh was fucking with him or not. Instead of responding about resigning yourself to sit in someone’s dried urine puddle, Chris turned to stare judgingly at said defiled cushion, and the couch in whole. The gentle fraying in parts and the other, smaller mystery stain on the backboard….

“Where did you get this?”

“Sidewalk.” Now Chris knew Josh was telling the truth. “….Craig’s List. People literally give stuff away for free all the time ya know? And only a twenty percent chance of it being some rapey serial killer…” Josh joked but Chris had flashes of that mask and the overalls and his jaw tightened. Josh didn’t seem to notice the lack of a response. “…so not all bad really. So? We keeping it?”

“No. Mine’s better…”

“So what do we do with it?”

Chris walked past him and jumped out of the truck, suddenly solemn. He murmured something about the moving truck guys taking it to the dump and left Josh confused and alone.

“So how are things?”

“Good. I mean…weird, but good. No…..it’s not like, good-good, but it’s not….ya know.” Chris always fell back into stumbling with words. Despite everything, becoming slightly emotionally flustered and he was his usual idiot self.

“Chris-”

“Well it was never going to be easy.” He cut Sam off. He had expected the screaming and crying in the night. It’s not like he didn’t do the same if he didn’t take his sleeping pills that knocked him the fuck out into a blissfully dreamless void. Amazingly, he got a glimpse at some of Josh’s various meds and saw he took the same and yet still the other managed to flail about and mumble and wail. He didn’t dare ask if Josh remembered the nightmares he was so clearly still having once he woke. “He’s eating well. Mostly stays in and watches Netflix……I don’t know what to tell you Sam.” He admitted.

“Where is he now?”

“Grocery shopping. He sometimes does that now...only short trips.”

“Hey, well, that’s improvement right?”

Chris nodded because it was, yeah. But he didn’t say how Josh had become more jerky sometimes, especially in the evenings. It was mostly just his eyes though, and considering that his vision still strongly drew attention to movement he was not surprised by this. But waking up to pee at 4am and seeing Josh tearing into a ham and mustard sandwich and then suddenly turn and freeze like an animal caught mid kill was…..he licked his lips, mouth suddenly dry.

“Small steps yeah? That’s all any of us can take.”

Sam made some noise of agreement and moved on to talk about work and other things before hanging up. Josh arrived back and noticed the phone on the side but didn’t say anything. There was a lot they did not mention. He placed the cheap plastic bags down….more than what would be expected for the four things on the list.

“Got Chinese.” He announced and moved to his usual spot on the couch, drawing his knees up to his chest in the usual, slightly unnerving fashion. Chris wordlessly set it out on the coffee table…life went on.

Josh first mocked (with the underlying tone of praise) Chris’s sudden new health craze. It was just morning jogs and some basic workout stuff, but it was a regime that helped physically and mentally. It was the yoga Josh really layed into him for and he couldn’t blame him….it’s not like he did the crazy stuff, but breathing, meditation, and holding difficult positions for minutes at a time without moving? Yeah, he had started that for a reason. Plus, it was soothing, Sam had been right about it on that account. But now he had the motivation to actually do it. Josh started to come on some of the jogs and seemed to really enjoy being outdoors, besides all the people and stuff.

They settled in…sort of. Josh ate a lot but that wasn’t really a surprise. Chris didn’t like it, nor looked at him when he ate, but Josh had started to take the mask off at home more and Chris was, via , being less and less freaked out by the pointy protrusions from his friend’s gums. The Doctors said they were only mildly concerned by Josh’s change of behaviour, but he was still turning up to therapy and as long as he was still on his pills then there was nothing too extreme to be concerned about. Josh stopped sitting in the dark watching Netflix and started to occasionally actually cook and move round more without Chris there, which was encouraging. The eye movement and slight….quirks, he had always had, remained, but the Doctor’s, with an unreadable expression simply said to “monitor him” and little else. Chris introduced him to the few work collegues he had, explaining the mask away as him being a germ-a-phobe. This led to a fun game where they, either together or apart, would create more and more fantastical reasons for the mask….the truth was more fantastic and terrible anyway. They would have dinner and talk about it, Josh saying how he told one cashier he was sure that some people weren’t human, and another that there was a Government conspiracy that released ‘something’ into the air to make sure the population stayed low and that he had seen them whispering together and glancing at him today and Chris talked about how people were dumbasses and didn’t know what a power button was on their own damn computers.

It wasn’t harmonious off course. They were both still far from stable people, so days of depression and laying in bed and nothing else were the norm. Nevermind the night-screaming, the crying, the rare triggering via anything from a sudden flame to a door slam. Scuttling things were bad too…

No, neither of them were stable. But they were better together, like always.

So that is why Chris overlooked how fast Josh was when he jogged. Somedays he felt like he was taking his pet to the dog park and letting it off the leash…Josh would sometimes run and just run and run. Sometimes crying out in joy, hands to the sky, drunk on the freedom, and sometime she just…would run. Blank expression and just….run and run. First of all he was scared one day he would just be gone or run into a road or something but he always seemed to be in when Chris called to him. He just was…distant. That and the slight bipolar mania he had always had was a constant worry. Josh would swing from distant and vacant to almost childlike sometimes. Once, in order to cheer himself up, he insisted they play hide and seek. Chris new he was really manic that day and so wasn’t shocked by the request and didn’t put up too much of an argument. The first time he barely bothered hiding and Josh insisted he hide properly. Chris sighed, feeling like a dipshit being one of only two fully grown men playing hide and seek in their small, sparsely furnished apartment, but fuck it, what else did he have planned?

Hiding beside a bookcase like a cartoon character trying to hide themselves behind a tree, sucking in his gut and pressing himself flat to the wall hoping Josh would look past him, simply led to him being tackled. Laughing, Josh told him he sucked and he was instructed to count as the other skittered off giggling like a schoolboy. Counting slowly, Chris picked himself up and walked to the main kitchen/living room area and covered his eyes. He eventually found Josh hiding in his closet, even though his bedroom light was turned off. They stared at each other awhile till Chris was forced to speak. “…..your turn again then or-?”

Josh surged past him, marching purposefully out and soon after the counting began. Resigned to this game being a thing now, Chris mentally congratulated himself on his hiding spot as he hid between the wall and the ajar door of the bathroom. With the light off and only the light spilling in from the hall he waited with baited breath, eyes on the uninterrupted square of light. It was…strangely silent actually. He couldn’t hear Josh moving about or any doors opening or shutting…it made him nervous. No, it had been that silent when he was searching for Josh, right? Or maybe he just hadn’t bothered to try and be quiet when he looked for Josh?

Hide and seek makes you aware of your breathing and heartbeat in a way that any situation does when you are alone in a tight space. Only something felt…worse. He tried to shrug this off…this wasn’t like then. He could move if he liked. He wasn’t HIDING-hiding. But before he could mentally challenge these oppressive negative feelings that threatened to overwhelm him a shadow appeared from the hallway. Josh but….he was strange. An arm half raised and his head turned but then he raised his head and paused….what was he doing? It was like…like he was sniffing or-?

Suddenly he was in doorway, a pause and the light clicked on as if in victory. Another pause…haha, yeah, see, not going to just give myself away. You don’t know I’m in here, Chris thought, yet his throat was tight a thin sheen of sweat clung to him. Just a game just a game just a game….

Then he noticed the mirror over the sink. Josh hadn’t moved for a reason. He was staring straight at him via the reflection and he was smiling this God-awful manic smile with those teeth and-

“Found you~” He murmured, soft and sing-song. He stared awhile longer and then simply walked away. Chris stayed behind the door staring at the mirror for some time. Scared to move, scared to go out there and….and confront him. To even see or talk to him. He eventually did leave, and he ventured into the main area, and then straight to his room. He pushed stuff against the door for safety that night.

It wasn’t easy, as he had said. Josh’s mood improved and spiralled at random, though he certainly had some semblance of a life. Imagining him living alone though…..it would be fine. After all these months living with him, he had gained confidence. Besides Chris could visit him whenever and make sure he’s okay and stuff. Yeah. Bad days happen with or without others there…just gotta deal with it, he thought. Just deal with it…..

He voiced the idea to Josh who blinked as if in surprise.

“I m-mean I’m not kicking you out-!!!”

“No, no I-“

“This was always the plan right-?”

“Yeah, no, you put me up for awhile and you didn’t have to-“

“It’s the least I can do Josh, we’re friends and-“

“And you know I was willing to pay more towards stuff but you said-“

“It’s fine it’s fine! And you can stay till you find a job at least-“

“A job.” There was perhaps a question mark.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Josh was persuaded to look for jobs he could do online or at home. There was no way he’d mix with people, or even a cubicle job. Not even for the face reasons just….

Could he even cope? Looking over at Chris who was scrolling through stuff on his tablet he felt a pang of…something. Warmth, was one thing. Chris thought he could do this. Believed in him. And that, at this stage, meant more than he could possibly bear to think about…besides swinging wildly between being dependant on Chris’s friendship and then paranoia and resentment expecting eventual betrayal by him when he first started visiting, Josh feared being without him. Like, actually feared. What would he do without Chris’s moral guidance? Even before….everything (the everything was like a growl, a noise of fire from a fissure, a wail of desperate hunger and pain and it flared in the back of his head painfully) he wasn’t good with social norms and Chris had helped. Now…? Now he needed him more than ever. And it didn’t help that he was clearly infatuated with him.

He had long accepted this. Even back in the day when Chris was pining over Ashley Josh had been his wing-man, wishing only his happiness and swallowing his jealousy. Because he was a mess. At least Chris knew what he wanted…always had. He liked girls, wanted to do tech stuff….Chris always said he was the one who knew what to do, but Josh always secretly thought the exact opposite. Sure he was decisive in the moment, but that isn’t proper…you know? He had never been comfortable with himself. Hannah always had had Beth and he always felt like he needed another to balance him up. He never really knew what he wanted to do, and he liked both girls and boys and experimented plenty finding the conclusions to be leaning more towards boys. But fuck, he didn’t know. Half the time he didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. But when around others stuff kinda made sense. He understood why he was doing things. He’d always liked Chris, and would never had minded fooling around with him, but it only got serious later….when exactly he didn’t know, but he knew he couldn’t have him out of his life in any way, even if they didn’t get closer or whatever. They just…got each other. And yeah they argued and shit but…..fuck, it was just one of those things.

But since all that shit and seeing him again and taking him in….there was a little guilt there. Chris didn’t know Josh’s feelings. Never had probably, knowing how fucking clueless he was (and if he wasn’t clueless, then flustered and confused) and how nothing had happened really beyond some spin the bottle kisses and casual best friend ‘we’re comfortable with who we are’ cuddles. But watching him do topless push ups and noticing him being more toned? Yeah, good thing he sat how he did because he almost immediately got a half-chub. Of course he mocked him relentlessly but da-yum….nerd-boy had stepped it up. Of course this wouldn’t last and he had known that but he didn’t feel ready to go it alone….no, screw that, he didn’t WANT to. He didn’t want to leave Chris. Fuck had it reached that stage? He didn’t even want to be away from him? That was fucked up he’d fucked up this was fucked up…..yet here he fucking was.

He became depressed and sulked for a good two weeks. Gentle encouragement from Chris to look at jobs led to snark and moody responses which led to heartfelt talks. This led to full blown crying emotional outbursts from them both which led to drinking. Which led to the kiss.

A kiss.

A kiss Josh gave him…no, he…fuck Chris couldn’t even word it right in his head. Because he hadn’t said no. He had even leaned into it. Wanted it? Desperate maybe. Maybe….just underlying curiosity? This led to a weird two days.

And then a talk about Ashley.

And then Josh planning to move out…sort of. A very rough time, though really it was just as up and down as any other; just with something new and awful to gild the impressive shit that was their mental/emotional state with.

Sam came up for emotional support. Her presence didn’t help…she hadn’t had the time to adjust to Josh’s altered visage, or to get over the knee-jerk responses she had to him. She shunned him, out of fear, disgust, and maybe even anger. So of course Josh ended up mirroring these feelings….he moved out. He and Chris patched things up. Things went back to normal. They even met up in the park to do jogs and things.

It was terrible, the night the cops were called.

Sam was up and all three went drinking to celebrate a pay rise and promotion for Chris. They were happy and laughing and all was good. He should have seen it coming, Chris later said. The past week Josh had been more alert and restless. Small things that make sense now….but at the time it was nothing compared to his usual mood swings or other signpost problems so he overlooked it. Maybe if he had…no, it was inevitable. He was almost glad it went the way it did.

Drunk, Chris can’t really remember how the argument started but light teasing about being single turned nasty somehow. He doesn’t even remember how, but all he knows was he and Sam and Josh entered a cab with him and Josh shouting at each other. Back at the apartment complex Sam was still trying to calm them down. Josh, hurt and angry, went for the low blow and mentioned Ashley. Enraged, guilty, and many other feelings made Chris lunge. Sam had stepped between them to calm the situation. It was then decided that Josh needed to go home and calm down…..Sam and Chris went back to his and drank and talked. They went outside because Sam was going to have a rare cigarette. What exactly happened is sort of a blur. There was yelling in a distant room but that was usual for this place. Then there was a yell down the street and they turned to go back inside hurriedly. Sam reached out and clasped his arm suddenly and then she was on the floor. Josh was on her. He yelled Josh’s name and tackled him off her and pinned him down. The other struggled and then stared. “I wasn’t gonna hurt her….I swear I wasn’t going to-…..Chris I-“

Cops arrived soon after. Whatever Josh had done before inside the building had raised enough concern for them to be called long before he had pounced on Sam in the main yard area.

He was taken back to the Institute, but it was difficult to deal with the BS paperwork and so on when Chris refused to press charges and tried to find out what was going on with Josh despite not being a relative. It didn’t help that when they eventually did get in touch with where Josh was meant to be being held Chris was informed he had been transferred. Now out of the loop and him being the emergency contact for Josh meaning nothing he had to scramble to try and sort everything and find out exactly what was even going on. Eventually he learned Josh was being taken to a facility as the Court had decided, even though Chris was not aware of Josh having been taken to Court…though if he had and Chris hadn’t been told whilst trying to convince the police or anyone to let him interfere……still. He got contact details, and was allowed to visit.

It eventually became clear this was some creepy highly guarded hospital, and it gave Chris bad vibes. But then, most mental asylum-type hospitals do…...but especially this one, despite how formal or polite or cheery everyone was. They weren’t too cheery, it was..normal. Just…something felt weird. Eventually, Josh was allowed to breach confidentiality, in a manner of speaking, saying that Government conspiracists would nut if they knew of the place, making sure Chris understood what had gone down. Josh was still Wendigo. Still…infected? Or had a wendigo spirit in him? Chris didn’t know, and neither did anyone else, which is why Josh was here. To be poked and prodded and cared for. For the Government to learn what the fuck he even was.

“Back in-“ Josh bit back a remark and clearly changed his word choice, “-this kinda place again, huh?”

There was a futility to his voice, a depressed tone that tried to pass itself off as humour. It wasn’t even fully about being trapped here, but the fact that he couldn’t change what he was or how he felt? The reinforcement of his worst depressed fears….

“…least the food is better. They don’t let me mix with as many other inmates but there are special workers who I can talk to. You have to register to be able to visit but I asked-“ Demanded. “-that you be a weekly visitor…if you want.” He shrugged as if it didn’t bother him one way or the other. That it’d be fine if Chris vanished and finally left him forever. That-

“No, yeah, of course! What day?” Chris asked instantly and it made Josh start a little and stare.

“I, uhm-“

“Is it just once a week?”

“I-I….think so. I mean, you’d have to ask them. So…..?”

The question was many questions. Or perhaps a larger, overarching one.

Chris looked around at the guards and the camera and shifted uncomfortably. With the same shakiness he had once held a pistol with, he reached over the person opposite. But this time he covered the other’s hand with his own. He barely dared meet the other’s eyes and he swallowed. It didn’t have to mean I love you, but it did mean something more important: I won’t leave you. I care.

Josh teared up and Chris did the same before sitting back.

“So…uhm, what they got you doing? That you can talk about….”

“Well I get to chase things now-“

A clang made them both jump and they turned to see a guard staring, clearly having made some noise to interrupt. He narrowed his eyes then shook his head at Josh. Josh glowered and then nodded resentfully.

“….I get to work out my pent up aggression and energy.” He worded slowly and carefully whilst staring directly at the guard and then back to Chris. “It’s helping me stay a lot more focused in downtime and stuff….” The two struggled for words. Somehow their hands found each other’s again. The bell for the visit to end came suddenly and too soon. They did not kiss then, but they did not need to. They both knew, despite everything, even if everything was not exactly okay, they had each other.

#until dawn climbing class #until dawn josh washington #josh washington #chris hartley #until dawn josh x chris #until dawn chris x josh #climbing class fic #until dawn fic #who posts at 6am with a fever and a throwback ship?!#a classyraccoon does #the raccoon writes again #no proofreading #because everything hurts and i hate everything #i'm ill #leave me alone #and leave my precious monster baby josh alone too k?

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