Casey knew that this was most likely a bad idea, but now that the momentum of Fight Night had died down, Casey was feeling starved for excitement. For risk. So, into the woods for an anonymous Grindr hookup it was. Headless torsos were never really much of a turn-on, but something about the blasé nature of the way this guy texted gave Casey a bit of a rush. Not to mention, his torso was quite nice to look at.
“Please don’t be a catfish, please don’t be a catfish,” Casey chanted in a whisper as he neared the designated meetup spot. He had pepper spray in his back pocket in case things got dicey, but Casey hoped that he wouldn’t have to leave blue-balled and afraid. As he arrived at the nook in the woods just outside of town, Casey saw him standing there. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god, you’re actually hot.”
DATE: Tuesday, October 16, 2020
CHARACTERS: Casey and Jesse
ABOUT: Casey and Jesse discuss their game plan for Bermuda.
Although the first day of his quest had been wasted queasy below deck, by the time the sun rose over the Atlantic the next morning, Jesse was feeling closer to normal. The weathered wood of the ship still creaked with each step, politely reminding him that there was nothing but dark water for thousands of miles beneath his feet, but nothing had happened overnight and if they wanted to have a plan before arriving in Bermuda they needed to speak before the ship came into port. Casey wasn’t immediately in sight as Jesse found his way onto the deck so he took a moment to gather himself. None of this felt real, from boarding the ship as the market packed away in New Athens to now, partway across the ocean, staring up at the massive sails. Not wanting to be in the way of the actual sailors, Jesse started towards the other end of the ship. Ah, there was Casey. Without looking over the edge, Jesse joined Casey at the side of the ship. He cleared his throat. “Uh, hey. Sleep okay?”
"No," Casey grumbled. "The dude bunking beside me snored like a lawn mower." Casey didn't bother adding that the dread of his apparent death also kept him from resting at ease. "How long are we going to be stuck on this ship anyway?"
Jesse turned his back to the water, leaning back against the side of the ship as he looked up at the billowing sails. “With the speed we’re going, from Long Island to Bermuda? I’d say one more day, maybe two if we slow down at night.”
"Great," Casey muttered back in response. The prospect of going to Bermuda would have been much more exciting if he didn't have the lingering fear of death hanging over his head. "What are we even supposed to do there?"
"Find Demeter," Jesse responded immediately. Chiron's instructions had been playing on repeat in his head all night. "And ask if she knows anything about Persephone's disappearance. But, um." He hesitated as his thoughts caught up with his mouth. "I guess there's a problem there? Since no one can contact Demeter. She could be in trouble. So, uh, I think we– we might have some trouble locating her? Apparently she first dropped out of contact when she went on a, uh, vacation. There's a big hotel there, called the Empress– I was thinking that would be a good first spot to check. If that's... okay? With you."
"What the actual fuck," Casey snapped. "Chiron is sending us to an island resort in Bermuda and we have to work? Like, hello! These are my last dying days!" Casey pointed out, waving to some hypothetical Chiron in the distance. "It's like he's showing me all the cool shit I'll never get to actually experience. That's just cruel."
Jesse sighed and looked down at the ledge he was resting his arm on, still avoiding any focus on the water beyond it. He couldn't imagine the weight of the prophecy Casey had to carry for this, but part of him couldn't help starting to grow frustrated. "If it's going to happen no matter what you might as well drink some pina coladas while you work." Maybe it would lighten him up a bit.
Casey pointed a finger at Jesse. "Fucking correct." He let out an exasperated sigh. "How hard can a goddess be to find anyway? Can't we just, like, blaspheme her and she'll show up to smite us?"
"You're welcome to try." Jesse looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, so... yeah. I'm thinking..." He had to stop to take a breath and gather his thoughts so he didn't stammer his way through the next sentence. "I'm thinking we start at the hotel, ask around. I doubt gods are great at being, uh, subtle? And from there I know a few other spots we can check. There's an old dockyard that supposed to be haunted. If we're lucky she's just taking a really long nap."
"Sure, yeah." Casey suddenly felt a little guilt prick at his conscience. He was so wrapped up in his own doom, he hadn't even thought of researching the area. "I mean, she's the goddess of plants, right? Wouldn't she probably be chilling with a plant or something?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good point." Jesse focused on a spot on the deck as he tried to recall what the vegetation looked like. "There's... palm trees? Oh! Oh." He exclaimed, quickly becoming more subdued afterwards. "There's botanical gardens. We could go there."
"Great," Casey agreed. "Maybe she can grow us some weed. We'll die drunk and high."
Pointing out that, according to the prophecy, only one of them was going to die seemed a little crude, so Jesse just smiled and nodded. "Seems like the least she can do."
Casey sat down, sliding a bottle of Jarritos across the table to Blue. “There’s someone you need to meet.” In one fluid motion, Casey sat in the booth across Blue, uncapped his own soda against the edge of the table, and took a big swig. “I got you lime because it matches your outfit.”
DATE: Friday, April 24, 2020
CHARACTERS: Casey and Alec
ABOUT: A friendly (?) five-round competition. Cheating encouraged. Curses, not so much.
Casey didn't bother changing out of his joggers and company tee after work. Teaching children how to walk on a balance beam, Casey barely ever broke a sweat, so the clothes were about as clean as they were when he put them on. Besides, Casey wouldn't be surprised if he and Alec somehow found their way into doing some sort of physical activity. Casey felt the tall weeds smacking against his shins as he neared the lake. "Hey!" he called out to an Alec-shaped person 20 yards away.
Alec spun around, flat rock ready to skip in hand, and threw their hands into the air. "Casey!" they called back. They started to jog over to him, tripped over a stick, pedalled their arms through the air for a few seconds to regain their balance, then continued until they were close enough that they didn't have to yell. "What's up?" they asked, holding their hand out to start their handshake. "Come here often?"
"Not in the daytime!" Casey chirped back. He slapped his hand into Alec's, pulled them in for a bro hug, then tenderly laid a palm on Alec's butt cheek. He rested his head against Alec's, completely still and silent for a few seconds before pulling away. "Glad you could make it!"
Alec copied Casey right down to the seconds of silence, then laughed as they pulled away, handshake completed. "Me too! Here." They pressed the rock into Casey's hand without any other explanation. "No twister and oil, but still gonna be a fun time!"
Casey just blinked down at the rock in his palm. "Are we... Stoning each other?"
Alec ran their fingers through their hair to mess it up. "Kinda one-sided if we were, eh? Let he without sin." They grinned at him. "We can get stoned!"
Casey smiled and clasped a hand over his chest. "A person after my own heart. Please don't tell anybody, but—" Casey pulled his pen out of his pocket. "I took like, three hits before teaching my class today."
Alec mirrored him and pressed a hand to their own chest. "You say like you're only learning that now!" They leaned forward and lowered their voice to a whisper. "I'm going to tell everyone and get you fired."
Casey gasped and smacked the side of Alec's arm. "Don't you dare! Those children are grubs but their parents tip me so well." Casey held up his pen. "They're even sponsoring this afternoon, don't you know?"
"You guys are getting tipped?" Alec grinned at him and plucked the pen out of his fingers. "Thank you, parents! Think if I email them they'll sponsor my bad habits?"
"If you offer to take away their children for two hours, I think they'll sponsor anything," Casey half-joked.
Alec laughed. "I thought you meant like, threaten kidnapping for a second! Blackmail them!"
Casey clutched Alec's arm and guffawed. "That's so evil, oh my gods! How much money do you think they'd offer? Don't answer that, you'll go straight to hell." Casey shook his head and stepped toward the water. "Brilliant mind, Alec Masters, brilliant mind."
Alec shook their head vigorously. "No! I'm not condoning that at all." They winked at him. "Not at all."
Casey closed his eyes, smiled, and shook his head. "You smooth talker." He turned to gesture out toward the lake. "So what's the vibe then? A stoned swim? A baked boat race? Some fazed fishing?" Casey looked back at Alec, grimacing. "Please don't say fishing."
Alec looked out over the lake when Casey gestured to it. "Fishing? Gross, I left that behind when I was fifteen." They started heading back towards the water. "Can we combine them? Make our own game?"
"Yeah!" Casey agreed. "I love a good game. Or—that's not true. I love a good win. The game is secondary." He looked at Alec. "Are you thinking some sort of athletic competition?"
"I love a good win," Alec agreed. "No matter what." They picked up another rock and hucked it into the lake. "We should find a way to balance this shit out, you got crazy time powers and I'm lucky as all fuck." Laughing, they picked up another rock and tried to skip it, getting a solid few bounces before it sunk into the lake. "Some sorta middle ground, eh?"
"Interesting," Casey muttered. "We could play Russian roulette. I doubt you'll get the bullet and then I can just try dodging it."
"Huh. That's is an idea, but if you readily have a gun on you, I gotta go." Alec squinted at him.
Casey grinned. "Do you think I seem like the gun-totin' type?"
"Gimme a second to think on that," Alec joked, bumping their shoulder into Casey's. "I'm gonna go with no?"
"Damn, guess I bought those chaps for nothing then." Casey shook his head. "What about a tourney? Five game spread, half skill, half luck, winner takes all?"
“I’ll still admire you in them.” Alec continued speaking immediately after saying that. “Amazing. Ideas for games or are we making them up?
Casey smiled and nodded at the first part of Alec's sentence before continuing onto the next. "We don't have to make them all up, but maybe the tiebreaker—assuming we'll need one—should be a custom challenge. So we make sure the odds are dead even."
Alec messed their hair up again. “I like it. What’s the winner get?”
"Hm..." Casey looked out onto the water. "The chaps?" he joked.
Alec grinned at him. “I’ve never wanted anything more.” They tossed a rock into the water. “I’m kidding, please don’t actually give me them if I win.”
Casey laughed. "I'd have to actually get them if you did, so I can stand behind that." He shrugged. "Is there something that you want? Maybe the loser can grant some sort of wish or service to the winner."
Alec took a seat on the bank of the lake. “Yeah, sounds good. Winner gets a wish?”
Casey nodded and joined Alec on the ground. "Winner gets a wish," he repeated. "Better if it's not something of monetary value, I think. Might make it more special. Not to say that it can't have a cost associated, but more than just getting you something off Amazon."
Alec made a face. "Yeah, I can't afford anything of– what is it? Monetary value?" They laughed. "I was thinking more of the favour kind."
“Perfect.” Casey leaned back onto his elbows. For a moment he tried to think of something he could get Alec to do if he won, but realized the possibilities were too endless and shelved the thought. “Got any ideas for games?”
"That I could win? So many, you bring any cards?" Alec laughed at the idea someone could leave their room without a pack of cards in their pocket. "I mean, for you it could be dodging shit the other throws."
Casey tipped his head back and forth. "Could be..." Suddenly he clapped and looked at Alec, eyes widened. "Paintball gun. Sixty seconds each, fish in a barrel style. Nail the other player with as many balls as you can."
Alec's eyes widened. "Do you have a paintball gun? I'm so down."
Casey pumped a fist in excitement. "I don't, but I bet you fifty bucks my friend Cameron knows where to get one. Rhetorical bet."
"Awesome!" Alec scooped up another rock. "What do we do for right now?"
Casey shrugged. "We could race? Opposite shore and back? Or lap the lake on foot."
Alec looked down at the condition of their sneakers and judged they’d probably last a lap around the lake. “On foot, ready set go!” they blurted out, already launching themself forward to start running.
"Oh, fuck you!" Casey shouted after Alec, scrambling to get up. With his eyes locked on Alec's back, he took off in a sprint. Suddenly, Casey was very glad he decided not to change.
Alec laughed, losing a couple steps of speed as it took some breath from them. They continued on, jumping over sticks and large rocks as best they could without careening headfirst into anything. “I need the head start!”
As Casey veered off the path and the ground turned into stones and sticks, Casey closed his eyes and flipped a switch in his mind. When his eyes opened again, the earth was gliding below him in slow motion and each of Casey's bounding strides felt like flight. He watched carefully each time his foot hit the floor, aiming for the flattest parts of the earth too give himself the best leverage to spring forward. He could hear Alec droning ahead of him, but was too focused on his footholds to parse what the actual real-time words were. Casey just shouted back, "Cheater!" hoping it would come through even in hyper-time.
Alec glanced over their shoulder when they heard Casey say something and promptly tripped over a root. After windmilling their arms for balance they succeeded in not wiping out, but definitely lost their early lead. “Fuck!” they exclaimed with a laugh. “S’why I needed it!”
Seeing Alec's form crumple, Casey thought for a moment that he was about to witness his friend eat dirt. He snapped out of hyper-time and watched as Alec flailed, caught their balance, and then whiz by as Casey gained the lead. He laughed and yelled out, "I thought lucky kids don't trip!"
“Lucky kids don’t fall,” Alec exclaimed although they still had no idea how their powers worked. Determined not to lose any more ground, they fell silent and tried to grab for Casey in front of them to pull him back.
Once Casey had the lead, he stayed in real time to try to gain ground the "fair" way. That is until he felt Alec clutch onto the back of his shirt, pulling him back. Casey stumbled and found himself running alongside them. "Fucking cheater!" he yelled in a glee-tinged rage. "Unreal!"
Alec grinned over at him, hopping easily over the next root that came up. “Don’t be a sore loser!” they yelled back as they cut to the side, ducking under a tree in a shortcut they had spotted a few seconds earlier. Once they skidded to a halt on the beach a few minutes later, in the lead, they sat down, trying to catch their breath. “Fun!”
One moment, Casey was trailing Alec, fully engaged in hyper-time. Then, suddenly, Alec veered sharply off-course and even in hyper-time, Casey couldn't shift his momentum quickly enough to give chase. Cursing himself under his breath, knowing he had lost the race, he kept running anyway. Sure enough, when he arrived at the beach, Alec had already beaten him there. Casey used what little breath he had left in him to sprint forward and leap onto Alec, knocking them flat down onto the sand. Hovering over them, Casey pointed an accusatory finger. "You dirty, little bastard! I see your game!" His voice thundered, but Casey was smiling cheek to cheek. "You wanna play dirty? I can get dirty!"
Alec grinned up at them from the position they now found themself in and took a second to wonder how long it would be before they stopped finding sand around their cabin. They shoved Casey’s chest and laughed. “Threat or promise?”
"I fucking swear," Casey replied, panting. He pushed off the sand and collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving as he breathed. "You are so in for it," he laughed almost maniacally.
Alec rolled onto their side to face him, still grinning widely. They rested their cheek on their hand. “I’ll believe it when I see it. What’s next?”
Casey turned his head to look at Alec. "Just give me a minute to stop dying," he laughed. Slowly his breath returned to him and Casey propped himself up on the sand to look at Alec. "Alright, fine. Maybe this is a mistake, but since I picked something, you should pick the next thing."
Alec sat up as Casey propped himself up. They clasped their hands together. “I was hoping you’d say that. How biased am I allowed to get?”
"Fuck," Casey hissed, falling back onto the sand. "I already hate the sound of this. What is it?" He asked, afraid to know.
Alec laughed at his reaction. “Not that bad! Since I cheated and all.” They put the word ‘cheated’ in air quotes. “How about diving in the lake and seeing who finds the coolest stuff?”
Casey narrowed his eyes. "Okay, but are you secretly a merperson? Are you gonna try and drown me this time?"
“Yep! I brought you here to drown you!” Alec replied cheerfully. “Wanna check me for gills?”
Casey grinned. "Okay, well you know nothing turns me on like a good threat." He stood up on the sand and shook his legs out. "Is there a time limit?"
“Five minutes? Keep it short and sweet?” Alec started shaking sand out of their hair.
"Five minutes," Casey repeated. "Let's do it!" He kicked his shoes off and started pulling off his socks, making a small pile of them on the sand.
Alec followed suit and pulled their shirt over their head before running into the lake. “Starting now!” They dove down and opened their eyes underwater to search for anything out of place along the bottom of the lake.
"What the fuck!" Casey was still getting undressed when Alec ran off into the water. Quickly whipping his shirt behind him, he started toward the water, hopping out of his joggers as he went. Once he was in, he held his breath and dived deep, paddling toward the floor of the lake. He tried opening his eyes underwater to search for anything, his hands patting at the mud and sand.
Alec noticed a faint glimmer at the bottom of the lake after their third time coming up for air, and swam down to clear enough silt away to figure out what it was. A minute later, they emerged at the shore, holding a tiny chest, maybe half a foot long, over their head in victory. “Got something! Wanna open it?”
Casey was catching his breath on the sand after dropping off his third empty alcohol vessel. He looked over to see Alec emerging from the water, holding something of actual interest. "What the fuck," he sighed in exasperation. "How did you even find that? Yes, obviously. Crack that bad boy open, baby."
“Luck?” Alec chirped, sitting down on a log instead of the ground so all the sand didn’t stick to them while they were soaking wet. It took them a few tries but after slamming the clasp into the log, it sprung open and a collection of coloured glass marbles poured out into the sand. “Aw, fucking sweet. I love marbles.”
"Oh my gods," Casey gasped as the marbles spilled out onto the sand. "You're..." Casey held up a hand to block Alec from his field of vision. "You're a fucking cheater and you know it, with your lucky bullshit, but I can't even hate you because I think you're so cool, and that disgusts me."
Alec laughed and tried to push Casey's hand to the side so they could still see him. "What? How is it cheating if I can't control it?"
"Don't make me explain my logic, Masters." Casey dropped his hand and pointed accusatorially at Alec. "This is a purely emotional argument and I stand by it 100%."
Alec started gathering up the marbles to return them to the chest. "Should we put this back? I don't wanna get cursed." They slid off the log to kneel down. "But okay, okay! Your turn to choose, you can cheat now!"
Casey waved a dismissive hand at the chest. "It's marbles, how bad could the curse be?" Casey sat down in the sand, then quickly clambered up to his knees when he felt granules of sand find his way into his boxers. "Fuck. Okay. Uh..." He closed his eyes, tipping his head side to side. "I don't know. I need to catch my breath for a minute."
"If each marble is cursed it could be really bad," Alec offered as they closed the lid to the chest. They had one green marble still in their hand, and they held it out towards Casey. "A souvenir! Sure, let's take a break. You can brainstorm ways to beat me at a game. Mind map, maybe?"
Casey laughed and leaned away from Alec's hand. "Why would you say that every marble is cursed and then give me one? I'm not taking one unless you take one!"
"I said if they're all cursed!" Alec laughed and tossed the marble at Casey anyway. "I'm not risking bringing pirate treasure into the place I sleep! What if there's ghosts?" They considered the chest anyway. "But they are nice. Maybe I'll leave it here and see if it's disappeared by tomorrow. It could belong to one of the naiads, I don't want to steal it– but what if it doesn't belong to anyone, and we were meant to find it, and I'm spitting in the face of destiny by not keeping it? It's a treasure chest! That's some find, eh?"
"Okay," Casey laughed, standing up on the sand. "Just get this thing away from me because now it's just cursed in my brain. Like hashtag cursed." He walked over and placed the marble beside the chest. "And listen—I wouldn't have to brainstorm ways to beat you if you weren't such a cheater. I'm not over here, confounded by your skill, let's just make that clear."
"Sounds good!" Alec picked up the mini chest, walked to the edge of the water and hucked it back into the lake. They dusted off their hands and headed back over to Casey. "Whoa, okay, there was no cheating going on in that last game. No skill, either, but no cheating!"
"Uh-huh. How am I supposed to know you didn't run over here this morning and chuck that same box of marbles into the lake?" He shrugged. "Seems kinda convenient, don't you think?"
"Sounds like way too much work for me." Alec grinned at him. "Out of character."
Casey smiled. "Fine. I'll concede, it does seem like more effort than I can imagine you putting in." Casey walked over to his joggers and started dusting the sand off his thighs and calves.
Alec picked up the marble that they had left behind originally and threw it into the lake as well. "No loose ends!" They scooped their shirt up to pull it back on, only realizing after it stuck to them that they were still dripping water and now also covered in sand. "Aw, fuck."
Casey laughed seeing Alec's mistake. "Shit. I didn't think this through." He looked at his own clothes that he had strewn about the sand. "I mean... Guess I have no choice. Just gonna be sandy."
"We'll be smooth like rocks after it exfoliates us!" Alec sat down to put their shoes back on, giving up entirely on not turning into a sand dune. "Probably shoulda taken my pants off before jumping in the lake, eh? Too late now. I'm right tempted to just roll around and get as sandy as possible so I can stop avoiding it."
Casey laughed. "Okay, you can do that. I'm gonna wait." Casey spread his legs and held his arms out to the side, facing the sun in the hopes that it would dry him off faster.
Alec considered going through with it, but the sand was less appealing by the second. They stood up and joined Casey facing the sun instead, closing their eyes and focusing on the warmth against their skin as though concentration would aid in the drying process. "How many rounds is this competition out of?"
Casey shrugged, his eyes closed. "I don't know, five? Wait—" he looked over at Alec. "Did those two just count as rounds? Did we already start?"
Alec cocked their head to the side. "Did they not?"
"Well, if I knew they were gonna count I would have tried a little harder!" Casey argued. "Cheated a little more," he added with a smirk.
Alec grinned and shoved his shoulder. “You still got three more chances.”
Casey laughed and shoved Alec's shoulder back with a bit more force. "That's not how majority works, asshole. I only have three more chances if I win the next two rounds. If you win one more time, you already win by default."
Alec leaned when they were shoved but didn’t move their feet. “Easy solution! You just gotta win the next two rounds.”
"Alright, fine. Then I know what game we're gonna play." Casey dropped his arms and instead turned to stand completely straight facing Alec. "Ninja. One on one."
Alec huffed at the game choice, still smiling, and turned to face Casey too. “Times like this I wish I knew how to control my powers!” They shook out their arms. “Remind me the rules?”
Casey stepped away, just in case Alec tried to pull any funny business and start before Casey was ready. "We take turns. Single, one-strike movements, try to hit your opponents limbs. When a limb is hit, it's out. First person to lose all four limbs is the loser. Got it?"
Alec nodded, well aware of how this round was going to turn out but willing to give it a shot anyway. “Got it. You start?”
Casey smiled and in the blink of an eye, time skidded to a near halt. His eyes focused on Alec's leg—the closest limb to where he stood—as Casey aimed a sweeping kick at the back of their heel.
Alec tried to lift their leg up out of the way but started too late, and only succeeded in unbalancing themself as the kick landed. They winced as they hit the ground. “Can I get up or am I disqualified?”
Casey laughed. "You can take a turn to get up or you can try to strike me from the ground."
Alec grinned. “I dunno if I agree with these rules.” They kicked one leg forward anyway to try and hit his shin.
Almost too easy. Casey watched as Alec's leg swung toward them at a glacial pace. As they reached his shin, Casey just picked his foot up and set it back down after they had passed. Then, without waiting more than a second after Alec had reached stasis, Casey brought an arm down to try to take out one of Alec's.
Alec expected the next hit to come immediately, but without knowing where Casey was aiming, they still pulled their arm back too slowly and got caught on the wrist. They tucked their arm behind their back and grinned up at him. “Cheater,” they sing-songed as they lunged forward for one of his legs again.
Casey realized too late that he was overzealous in his previous attempt to take Alec out because it left him prone to a straight shot in the leg. But somehow, Casey managed to spring up as Alec lunged and hop away from their strike, landing in a more upright position this time. "Oh shit! Close call!" With a spin, Casey swiftly turned and went for Alec's remaining leg.
Alec gasped when Casey managed to dodge them and, with their momentum from the lunge forward, there was no chance of dodging Casey’s attack on their other leg. “What! That was such a good dodge!” they exclaimed, momentarily pulled out of game mode by how impressed they were. “That was awesome!” Realizing they still had one arm left, they tried to swing towards Casey’s leg without using any of their other limbs.
Casey watched as Alec came for his leg. He tried to lift his leg up over Alec's arm but underestimated how much force he'd have to apply. Casey felt Alec's hand clip his foot and cried out. "No!" He fell to one knee and assess his opponent. "Thanks. Guess your luck is rubbing off on me," he smiled. Then, after calculating his best move, Casey lunged forward to attack Alec's remaining arm.
Alec tipped backwards in a last ditch attempt to avoid Casey, but they were too slow and ended up both losing and sprawled out on the ground. “I got you once!” they exclaimed as they sat back up, rubbing their heel where Casey had kicked them originally. “That’s more than I expected! Good game.”
"Good game," Casey agreed. He held out his hand to Alec to help them up off the sand. "Your heel's okay?"
“Just bruised,” Alec replied cheerfully, taking Casey’s hand and pulling themself to their feet. “That was a sweet kick. And that dodge! Fucking awesome.”
"Dodges are my game, babyyyy!" Casey tapped Alec's shoulder as they came to a stand. "Can't get beat if you don't take heat."
"That's a fantastic motto! Rhymes and everything, full poet." Alec widened their eyes as a thought came to mind. "Did you kill at dodgeball when you were a kid? Not actual murder. Like, make your opponents cry. Emotional murder."
"Oh yeah, dodgeball was child's play. Way too fucking easy, it was almost sad," Casey mourned. "But also actual murder."
Alec laughed. "Dodgeball is child's play, that's kinda the point, eh? I can't think of it without getting flashbacks to grade 7 gym. A fuckin' time."
"Maybe we should make it adult's play," Casey suggested. "Could be our next round?"
"Adult's play," Alec repeated with a laugh. "Sounds like a sex shop. For sure, let's do it!"
Casey chuckled at the observation. "Great. Then we should change venues. And clothes, I guess, unless you wanna play wet."
“Guess we need a sorta ball, eh? Or more than one.” Alec sighed and tipped forward so they were leaning against Casey, chest to chest. “Where do you even get those?”
Casey smirked. "You trying to see my balls? Is that what this is all about?"
Alec laughed and wrapped their arms around Casey, resting their chin on his shoulder. “My Masters plan.”
Casey snorted, returning Alec's embrace. "You know, for a vegan, you're so fucking cheesy."
“I’m gonna choose to take that as a compliment!” Alec swayed side to side. “Are we gonna find a ball or just chuck rocks at each other?”
Casey lowered his arms to Alec's waist so they could slow dance more properly. "We could chuck rocks, but it'll suck a lot more for you when I peg you in the face with one."
Alec put their hands on Casey's shoulders and leaned back enough to grin at him as they followed his lead. "I can try and find the cursed marbles again, dive back into the lake."
Casey laughed as they swayed gently. "Why would they be cursed? If somebody was going to bury a treasure chest and lay a curse on whoever found it, do you really think they'd just fill it with marbles?"
"One hundred percent! Why wouldn't you fill it with marbles? What else is there to put?"
"I don't know, bones? Gold? Something more exciting?" Casey started turning them in circles as he spoke. "If I got cursed with a chest full of marbles, I literally would not tell anybody. That would be the lamest curse. I would rather let it kill me."
Alec snickered. "Maybe that's why. The true curse is the embarrassment that comes with."
Casey sighed longingly, looking into their eyes. "You just get me."
Pretending to swoon, Alec leant against Casey again. "Is the third challenge seducing me?"
Casey smirked. "Depends. Is it working?"
"Like a charm." Alec pressed their cheek into his shoulder. "But that doesn't mean you win."
"Are you sure?" Casey tipped his head to rest on Alec's. "'Cause I'm already holding a prize, baby."
"Oh my god," Alec whined under their breath. "You're so smooth, what the fuck."
"You've been hit by—" Casey thrust his hips to one side. "You've been struck by—" Then to the other side. "A smooth criminal."
Now, Alec was holding onto Casey for balance as they laughed, moving with him. "And he's talented too! Triple threat!"
Casey laughed. "Gotta have those smooth karaoke skills." He gasped. "Oh shit, we should have a karaoke party."
Alec gasped in unison. "We should– fuck! Yeah! I love karaoke." They laughed. "That can be our tiebreaker if you win the next round!"
Casey exhaled a sigh of bliss. "I am so down for that. How do we determine who wins? Won't we need an unbiased third party?"
“Aw, man, yeah. It’d be better with like, music too.” Alec took one of Casey’s hands and tried to spin him. “And karaoke’s meant to be bad! Trying to be good at karaoke goes against the laws of the universe.”
Casey lifted his arm up and spun through it. "Mm, those are some straight truths." Once he spun around, he lifted their hands to get Alec to do the same. "Okay, whether or not it's part of the game, let's make this happen for us because now I have the idea and my soul will never be at rest until we do."
Alec spun too and let go of Casey’s hands to flop back onto the ground now that they deemed themself dry enough. “We gotta! Can’t have you sticking around to haunt me ‘cause we failed to make karaoke happen.” Alec grinned up at him. “I bet we can set it up in the rec room, make it a whole thing.”
Casey clapped in excitement. "Yes! Oh my gods, are you friends with Blue? She would eat. This. Up." Casey clapped again on each word for emphasis. He joined Alec, siting on the ground beside his sweats. "Wow, look at us. Party planning committee. Who woulda thought? Not me."
Alec leaned against Casey as soon as he was seated next to them. “We got a lotta friends in common!” They laughed and twisted to flop over Casey’s lap, looking up at him. “I’m more the ideas guy than the planner. Are you good at actually getting stuff like this to happen? ‘Cause we can always rope Ime in, they’re right organized.”
Casey wove his fingers through Alec's hair and scratched their chin with his other hand. "Yeah! I organize Asian Dinner Club and I'm also doing a thing with Akira. A party's a straight shot, no problem. But definitely ask Ime anyway because they're just a legend and I would like them to be there."
Alec closed their eyes, their expression drifting from excited to content. "Aw, sweet, double the planning, half the work. Ime'll be down for karaoke night, they love watching people get embarrassing. Whatcha planning with Akira? They're so intense. Like, in a hot way."
Casey groaned. "Oh my gods, don't even get me started. Like... Oof." Casey shook his head. "We're planning a fight night. I think right now it's gonna be an elimination-style bracket, but we haven't really worked out the safety details of how to make sure people don't die." Casey squeezed Alec's cheeks together to push their lips into a pucker. "Aw. You're so cute."
“I’m guessing you agree,” Alec laughed. “But that sounds cool! I like the rhyme. Fight night.” They moved their mouth like a fish a couple times as Casey pinched their face, then snickered and lifted a hand to push his face away. “I’m cuter when my face is normal!”
Casey laughed and dropped his hand by his side. "Everybody is cuter as a fish," he disagreed. Casey scooped up a bit of dry sand and began sprinkling on Alec's chest. "Do you think we should have a theme? Or do you think 'karaoke night' is the theme?"
“There’s gotta be a theme. Pyjamas? Oh man, what about like, borrowed clothes, you can only wear shit you take from your friends. Vibe swap.” Alec traced a fingertip along Casey’s collarbone.
"Oh, cute!" Casey exclaimed. He scooped up some more sand and continued sprinkling it over Alec's chest. "Wow, that's a great idea. Huh... Except if we invite Akira, I have no idea what they look like with a shirt on," he snorted.
“They can borrow one of my cropped shirts,” Alec laughed, starting to trace spirals into the sand on their chest. “Maybe that’s close enough?”
Casey laughed. "Hot. I might ask you for one of those too." Casey scooped up another handful of sand and sprinkled it on their stomach this time to avoid ruining their pattern. Then suddenly, he gasped. "Oh my gods, you can wear my sporty spice outfit. Loved that text, by the way."
“We can swap outfits from that party! But you can wear real shorts.” Alec beamed. “I forgot about that text until I saw it again the next morning, I was some wasted. But I remember the outfit! It’s stuck in my brain. In a good way.”
"It better be," Casey grinned. "That was easily, like, top five hottest things I've worn." Casey started to scoop up more sand, then added, "Oh, but you have the wear the little white shorts. The outfit is a set. The cleats are optional," Casey joked with a wink.
“I’d never leave them out! The shorts were the best part!” Alec continued the spiraling pattern down to their stomach. “I dunno if your cleats would fit, which is a national tragedy. An international tragedy.” With a dramatic sigh, they finished their pattern and started tracing spirals along Casey’s chest. “I have the perfect pair of shorts I can lend you.”
Casey laughed and shook his head at Alec's sensationalism. Tracing their pattern, Casey spiraled his finger up Alec's torso. "Ooh, describe them to me. Paint me a picture."
Alec tapped their fingers above Casey’s heart in a moment of thought. “Nope!” they decided, grinning at him and dragging their fingers across his chest again. “It’ll be a surprise.”
Casey's jaw dropped in offense for a moment before closing back into a smirk. "Should I..." He narrowed his eyes in contemplation before shaking his head and laughing. "Fine."
“Should you what?” Alec chirped, lifting their hand from his chest to card their fingers through his hair. “You’ll like them, they’ll be funny with the shirt I wore to the party. Maybe I should offer to lend everyone my clothes for the party and start an army of short shirts.” They sighed. “But I only have three. I should buy more. But money.”
Casey shook his head. "Nothing. I thought I would surprise you back but the idea I came up with feels like an uneven tradeoff. Too inappropes." Casey put his finger on Alec's chest and resumed tracing it along the patterns on their chest. "But we could make some of my old t-shirts into crop tops. If you don't mind me stealing your look."
“Too innapropes?” Alec threw a look of clearly exaggerated offense at him. “That sounds even more fun.” They closed their eyes again. “That can be a different themed party, where everyone gets sloshed. ‘Short shirts and shoot shots’.”
Casey laughed. "It would probably be too intense for this kind of party, so maybe we'll just save that in our little back pocket for later. But yes—" Casey tapped on Alec's solar plexus. "Fucking love the sound of that. Short shirts and shoot shots. I want both of those things."
“Aw, I hate mysteries.” Alec drummed their fingers on one of Casey’s shoulders. “Imagine we call the party that and people show up ready to get wasted, but it’s really an amateur basketball league?”
Casey's eyes widened and he let out a laugh. "Wow! Oddly enough, that's exactly the kind of party the surprise would be perfect for." Casey shook his head and looked off into the distance. "Has anybody ever told you that you have a beautiful mind, Alec Masters? Beautiful, mystical, and chaotic."
“You’re killing me,” Alec whined, pressing the back of their hand to their forehead. Before they could continue complaining, their momentary frustration was erased by compliments. “Other than you, right now? Sure gotten the chaotic part a lot!” They started brushing the sand off of their chest. “My mind thanks you.”
Casey grinned. "Your mind is so welcome." Casey leaned back onto his hand so Alec could dust themself off.
Alec sat up as Casey leaned back and brushed the remaining sand off. They climbed into his lap, kneeling on either side of his legs, and rested their arms on his shoulder with a smirk. “Keep the compliments coming, it’s distracting me from how much I want to know the mystery.”
Casey hummed as Alec climbed up into his lap. He slid his hands up to Alec's waist and smiled up at them. "Wow, if it gets you on my lap, then I'll compliment you all day long, baby."
Alec laughed and started running their fingers through his hair again. “Aw c’mon, it wouldn’t even take that much. Not that I’m turning them down.” They traced the fingers of their other hand along where his neck met his shoulder.
Casey laughed and shook his head. "Okay, you say that, but I feel like we've said this to each other before and nothing has happened, so clearly it takes a little more than compliments."
Alec scanned his face for a moment then gave a lopsided grin and ducked their head to press a kiss to the side of his neck, an inch below his jaw. “And what do you want to happen?”
Casey's smirk grew into a full-on smile upon feeling Alec's lips against his neck. He wrapped his arms around Alec's waist and replied, "This." Then, Casey leaned back onto the sand, pulling Alec down with him so they straddled his hips.
Alec moved with him easily and leaned over Casey, one hand on his shoulder pressing him into the sand. “Smooth,” they commented, voice lower though they were still smiling, and leaned down to kiss him.
Casey just hummed back happily and slid one hand up to thread through Alec's hair as they kissed.
Alec broke the kiss for a second to move to lean on their elbows, half to get closer and half so their hand was free to tug Casey's head back enough that they could kiss along the underside of his jaw. They grinned against his skin. "Does this count as the fourth game?"
Casey tipped his head back to relinquish his jaw to Alec. He traced his fingers down their neck and along their spine. "Mm, depends," Casey teased. "How do I win?"
Alec hummed in thought as they continued their trail of kisses along Casey's jaw and down his neck. They released his hair and brushed their thumb along the other side of his jaw. "Not a clue."
When his fingers couldn't crawl any lower, Casey began sliding them across the rivers of Alec's ribs. "We'll call it a win-win."
Alec considered this as they dragged their teeth over his pulse. They pressed a final kiss to his skin, then sat up abruptly and grinned down at him. "I thought you were competitive.”
Casey shrugged, his hands falling to Alec's legs as they sat up. "There's no winners in love and war, right?"
Alec glanced idly around the lake. "Fair point. Wanna go back to my cabin?"
Casey smirked. "Would it make me sound too eager if I said I'd race you?"
With a laugh, Alec rolled off Casey and climbed to their feet. "Game four, race to my cabin?"
Casey reached over to grab his joggers and started pulling them back on. "If that's game four, I can't wait to see what game five is."
Alec waited for him instead of launching into a head-start this time around. "Assuming you're gonna win this race?"
Casey pulled his shoes back on, but just balled up his socks in his pockets and tucked his shirt into his waistband. "I don't know, are you gonna push me?"
Alec grinned at him. “Only if you’re in the lead.”
Casey shook his head, grinning. "Fucking ridiculous." He rose to his feet. "Alright," he announced, starting a slow jog. "Let's do this."
Alec immediately took off towards their cabin at full speed.
Casey waited until Alec was ahead of him to start picking up speed. With any luck, Alec would cramp up or run out of breath by the time they got to the cabin. Then again, Casey wasn't the lucky one. Casey slowly built up to a run, keeping at least two meters to the right of where Alec was running in case they decided to get tricky again.
Alec managed to keep up their pace until the cabin was only a minute or so away, at which point they slowed to check behind them as to where Casey was in comparison.
Casey had kept pace with Alec the entire way there. Right when Alec turned their head, Casey bounded forward to run right at their side. "Feel like cheating?" Casey taunted.
Alec huffed a laugh and tried to pick up speed again. “More with every second!”
Casey matched Alec's pace, running ahead along with them. "Sorry I have to do this! Casey prefaced before shoving Alec to the side and sprinting even faster.
Alec yelped and somehow managed to grapevine their way into keeping their footing. They found an extra burst of energy from the adrenaline, running faster to try and catch up. “Fuck off!” If they weren’t so focused, they’d be grinning, but it was still clear they were amused by the tone in their voice.
In one last mad dash, Casey burst into a sprint toward the cabin. Casey extended his hand out toward the door. As soon as they connected, he yelled, "Safe!"
Alec skidded to a stop before the door and slumped against it. “Close,” they answered, catching their breath. “Really close.”
Casey turned around to lean against the door frame. "GG." He smiled and extended a hand toward Alec. "Ready for round five?"
Alec slapped him a high five, then realized what he probably meant and grabbed his hand, tugging him inside after them. “Tiebreaker.”
Casey followed them inside, kicking the door shut behind them. "First to bust is the loser."
“Wasn’t a given?” Alec paused to lock the door behind them then reached forward to pull Casey closer.
Casey stepped on the heels of his shoes to swiftly pull his feet out as he moved toward Alec. "No cheating."
Alec turned once Casey was close enough to press him against the door. “No promises.”
Casey hummed as his back hit the wood. His eyes flickered over to the various game tables. "You ever get fucked on one of those?"
“More times I can count.” Alec slid their hands over his chest to his hips. “You interested?”
Casey feigned a sigh. "Well, I don't wanna be contrived." Casey's hands mirrored Alec's, grabbing their hips and pulling them in. "But I can't say I'm not interested."
Alec lifted one hand to touch his jaw as they leaned into him when pulled. They moved to speak into his ear. “You wanna get fucked on one?”
"Interesting," Casey replied, in a tone of voice that sounded genuinely interested. "Porque no los dos?"
Alec laughed and kissed him briefly. “Take turns?”
"Fuck yeah," Casey replied with vigor before kissing them again.
Alec pulled the tucked up shirt out of Casey's waistband and tossed it to the side, pulling his lower lip between their teeth as they pressed against him. "Yeah?"
Not wanting to break their kiss, Casey just responding by gripping Alec's thighs and hoisting them up into a carry. He moved across the cabin to set Alec down on a card table. "Hope this thing is strong," he mumbled against Alec's lips.
Alec exhaled a short laugh against Casey's lips but closed the distance again as soon as possible. "S'not a machine," they teased as they were lowered to the table. "Breaking promises."
"We can make the rounds," Casey chuckled as he moved to trace kisses along Alec's jaw.
Alec tilted their head back and grinned up at their ceiling. "Then we better get started."
DATE: Saturday, April 4, 2020
CHARACTERS: Casey and Akira
ABOUT: Casey has a wild proposition for Akira.
What are you doing, Casey? Are you insane? Do you want to die?
Three swift knocks on the bloodshot door. A minute later, it creaked open.
“What’s a fine darling like yourself doing at a wretched place like this?”
“I was in the neighborhood.”
A wicked smile. “Come in.”
The sobriety of the daytime exposed a smell in the Rat Cage that Casey hadn’t noticed the last time. An unknown musk blanketed the air, neither revolting or appealing, but couldn’t mask the hint of rancidness emanating from some unknown place. Descending into the basement, Casey noticed the smell would vanish and reappear—as if something that had died in the walls was moving within them, shadowing Casey’s every step.
“You’ll have to remind me of your name.” Akira’s voice echoed from somewhere above Casey’s head.
“I’m Casey. Casey Um.”
“Korean?”
“You guessed it.”
“I’m Japanese.”
“Japanese from Japan, or American?”
“I was born here.”
“Me too.”
“Shame.”
Casey finally reached solid ground. Just like it was during the party, the basement was only illuminated by the anemic, blue light of a Blockbuster sign leaning against the back wall. Casey turned to see Akira, bathed in that cerulean glow, floating down the stairs. Their eyes were locked together.
“What brings such a beautiful man to the Rat Cage?”
“Ha.” Casey smirked. “You lay it on so thick.”
“Just the stroke of my brush.” Akira waved a hand as he stepped down into the basement. “Who has time for subtlety?”
Casey had assumed Akira had put away his belongings for the party, but the room was still as barren as it was that night. “Where are your things?”
“No things. Easier to stay mobile that way.”
“Where are you going?”
Akira just smiled. “Did you come here to assess my internal decorating?” He stepped in toward Casey. “Or was there something else on your mind?” In the faint lighting, Akira looked more like a shadow than a human being. The light threw a blue halo around the outline of Akira’s body, barely spilling onto his face. As his dark silhouette came closer, Casey could make out the faint blue glint of Akira’s too-wide smile and the whites of his eyes.
“I wanted to ask you about something you said.”
“I say a lot of things.”
“About the fight club.”
Casey thought it couldn’t get any quieter in that underground cage, but then he heard Akira’s breath stop. After a too-long second, Akira turned away and started floating toward the light. “What about it?”
“I want to make it happen. Let’s do it for real.” Casey stepped toward Akira. “If you were being serious.”
“Deadly serious.”
“Then so am I.”
Akira turned back around to face Casey. There it is again. That smile.
“I misjudged you, Casey Um.”
“Misjudged me?”
“You have an effervescence about you. It’s easy to mistake for innocence. But here—” Akira lifted his hands. “I’m seeing an entirely new color in you.”
