━━━━༻ ♥ ༺━━━━ automated 01100110 ━━━━༻ ♥ ༺━━━━

Holy cheese doodle dust bunnies!

That was the only thing (Y/n) could think as she collapsed onto her bed. She was relocated (for the third time) to a room that was attached to Kieran's. She'd been afraid he would've made her stay with him and—Ugh, she shuddered—sleep in the same bed as him. But surprisingly enough, the white-haired male had a gentlemanly side to him and let her stay in the attached room instead. Which was great, since she got her privacy.

Damn, she thought as she planted her face into the pillow, suffocating herself for a few moments. I'm a better actress than I thought. Credits go to Reese and his random skits.

She'd been sweating the whole time downstairs. She had been worried that they would see through her facade and call her out. That wouldn't work if she was to carry out her plan.

To be honest, (Y/n) hadn't been expecting Kieran to drug her. The thing, whatever it was, had to be in the drink with her breakfast since the food had been fine. And she had assumed the breakfast was from Tristan, the king of coercion, blackmail, and poison. It still didn't excuse how she hadn't seen it coming. She supposed she might've believed the guys were so tricky they would choose a more obvious path to be not obvious.

Whatever he had slipped in her drink, it led to a momentary lapse in judgment. It tried to force her into loving him, which she quickly deduced was his goal. At first, she considered laughing in his face and saying, "Boo-yah! You bloody thought, you dumb donkey!" But she decided it was better for her if she played along and used the situation to her advantage.

Never drug a person who's used to being drugged.

True, being locked up in a pitch-black room earlier by Tristan had been terrifying. It might've made her crumble in any other situation, but not in this one. It only strengthened her resolve to screw the four off, bust herself and Reese out of this place, and kiss Fortuna Institute's arse goodbye.

Her new and improved plan did make her feel guilty at first since it involved manipulating Kieran to her advantage. He and Leon were the more humane of the four and she didn't feel like cracking his head open every time she was in his company.

Okay, maybe a few times.

Again, if she had to choose between the white-haired male and Reese, she'd choose the latter in a heartbeat.

Make that two heartbeats. Reese's obsession with theater and his ungodly screeching that he calls singing gets on her nerves sometimes. A lot of times, actually.

Okay, I'm going to have to keep this act up for a while. She pushed her head out of the pillow before she actually suffocated and propped herself up by her elbows. Convince him to let me wander around. Then I'll sneak back onto Tristan's floor, grab the key and laptop, create a distraction with snowman somehow, grab Reese, and run out. If anything goes wrong, I guess the laptop is expendable.

Now she had to think of how exactly she was going to win his trust completely and create that distraction. On a second note, from what she observed from the white-haired male, especially from when he was drunk, the boy's got some serious issues with his parents. They didn't get along. That seemed to be a reoccurring theme among the P4.

During his fight with Jay when I got locked up, Jay called him a lonely bean, she mused, peeking at the door occasionally. She half-expected the white-haired male to waltz in at any moment and catch her off guard. He's trying to find that with me, maybe? Then that'll be easy to win his trust.

That sent an arrow with the name of Guilt into her chest. If she manipulated his feelings like this...didn't that make her no better than the rest of them? To escape the hunter, enter the mind of the hunter.

She didn't brood on it for too long. She never thought of herself as an exceptionally moral or saintly person anyway. If she had to choose between her skin to save or a random stranger, well, sorry stranger but (Y/n)'s gotta do what she's gotta do. Though if it was her friends, however, she'd kill off any number of people if it meant they'd be safe. That reminded her of the trolley problem.

Then she shrugged. Whatever. I'm better at bull crapping and coming up with stuff on the fly anyway. I'll get there when the time comes.

She dropped the calculating look just as the door opened and closed, and Kieran returned to the room. He had two large bowls of popcorn and her favorite kind of chips in his arms. He placed them on the table and moved towards the mini-fridge in the room.

"Any preferences?" He asked over his shoulder as he pulled out a few bottles and cans of drinks. His frame covered the fridge but when he stepped back to close it, (Y/n) caught a glimpse of a familiar glint of green. She erased any suspicious emotions from her face as quickly as she could when he came back over and set the drinks in front of them.

"No, you pick." On the bright side, she didn't have to fake too much affection that made her gag. So no cringy endearments for him.

"How about this?" He tossed some DVDs over to her. She struggled to keep her grimace from showing; they were all romance films. But since she was pretending, she supposed she had to say yes.

"Sure! How about this one?" She snagged a random one from the mix and held it up, praying inside her head it wasn't too cringy or mushy. The title read To All the Boys I've Loved Before. She looked at it and shrugged. At least it didn't look R18 or anything.

He took it from her with long fingers. "If that's what makes you happy. Not sure if you're a Netflix kinda girl, but the network's pretty sh*tty these days so we have to resort to DVDs." He threw her an apologetic look. "My stash is pretty limited."

Cool story, bro, but I don't really care. Her smile didn't change even as her cheeks began to hurt. "I'm fine with anything."

The movie started and Kieran pulled the shades shut, descending the room into darkness. It might've been okay had (Y/n) not only had to put up with his affectionate gestures but also return them. At least it was dark; he wouldn't be able to see how her "loving smile" looked more like a kill-me-now kind of smile.

(Y/n) wrenched the arrow named Guilt out of her heart and chucked it over her shoulder. She made her body relax into his embrace even though all she wanted to do was flip the couch and jump out the window. Or sleep. Sleep fixes everything.

But too bad Kieran didn't seem keen on letting her fall asleep. "Hey, don't fall asleep now," he chuckled, brushing the hair from her eyes and poking her awake. "We can save that for later."

That didn't sound very appealing.

(Y/n) merely hummed and pretended to be engrossed in the film, even though she's already missed out on the whole beginning part and had no idea what was happening right now. Bored, she pulled the bowl of chips to her lap and distracted herself with popping a few into her mouth.

Kieran idly played with the ends of her hair while keeping one arm wound securely around her waist. His morality was hammering at the mental door he had closed on it, yelling at him that this was wrong, that this love was fake. It told him that a drug could only do so much; he could continue feeding it to her but ultimately, their affection was fake. Not to mention with time, the drug would be less effective on her.

Then she'd leave him, just like everyone else.

He didn't care. He locked up that voice for good this time. Even if their love was fake, it was real to him. At least for now, the present. The future? He didn't care about that. A bitter smile danced on his lips. It wasn't like he'd live very long anyway. His condition wouldn't permit him to do so.

He wiped away all his regrets and slight feelings of guilt. As long as she was with him in the end, he didn't care how he got her.

(Y/n) stared at the credits that crawled down the T.V. screen like ants so she wouldn't have to talk to him. If she said too much, that could potentially expose her. Not to mention the fact that whatever he had slipped her wasn't completely nullified in her body; it still made her feel a little woozy. She took the chance to glance up at his face. He looked completely at ease with his arm around her and his head resting on hers.

He caught her eye and she looked away quickly, not before an amused smile spread across his lips. "Like what you see?"

My eyes are bleeding, she was tempted to say. But instead, she made some unintelligible noises she hoped passed off as embarrassment. There was no way she was going to be made to say some sappy crap you'd only find in a romance flick, even if she was felt at gunpoint. Her pride was sobbing at this point.

He seemed to buy it and dropped a feathery kiss to her temple. "And now you're suddenly shy. It's cute."

Me throwing up won't be cute. But she kept still like one of those Jizō statues in Japan.

"I want to show you something." He pulled her by the hand off the couch, leaving the empty snack bowls on the coffee table. "Don't worry about those. Someone will clean it later. Come with me."

"Okay." Please no, she groaned internally. So much work.

He brought her through a hidden opening behind a long tapestry that adorned the hallway. He pressed a finger to his lips and winked at her. "Don't tell Trish-chan about this, okay? This may or may not lead to his study." He knocked his fingers against the tapestry and it trembled at the force, a mischievous grin dancing on his lips. "And I may or may not have put it to good use if you get what I'm saying."

(Y/n) did get what he was saying and to be honest, she kinda liked where this was going.

"I still can't get over the fact that the prick never discovered this even though it's hidden in the most obvious place ever," the male chuckled as he pushed aside the heavy tapestry and held a hand out towards her. "Your hand, princess?"

She took it despite her urges to pick up the vase sitting conveniently next to her and give that to him instead. "Thanks," she murmured as he helped her into the opening. "But isn't your room two flights below?"

"It leads to the space between the fourth and fifth floors," he explained as he rearranged the tapestry back in place, extinguishing the light from the tunnel. She jumped at the darkness and her heartbeat sped up, but soon even that was gone. His hand found hers in the dark and he squeezed it comfortingly.

"I've left a bunch of sh*t we could use under his floorboards," he added. If she could see him, which she couldn't in the dark, she was willing to bet he had an evil smirk on his face. "Last time I left a speaker that kept playing the iPhone notification bell on loop. He kept checking his phone for the source of the sound but never could."

A chuckle escaped his throat. "It was hilarious watching him trying to work his phone to stop it when it wasn't even making the sound. Well, that's one of my tamer pranks. I particularly like putting super glue on his table and chair so when he puts his glasses down, he can't put them back on."

You're evil. "You should be nicer to him," (Y/n) said with a giggle that made her want to rip her stomach out. "Especially if he's the one running the things in this place."

"Don't worry, love. I reorganize his files for him. See? I can be helpful."

She doubted Tristan would appreciate that kind of help.

"And, uh, I might've added pepper to his tea leaves but hey, more flavor! And I heard pepper's pretty good for your health."

(Y/n) was starting to feel pretty sympathetic for the blue-haired male if only she didn't dislike him so much. Not hate—that was a strong word. She doubted she'd ever dislike someone more than she did towards the man in white. Only then would she use the h-word.

There was in fact a space under the floorboards of Tristan's study that they could crouch in. Surrounding them were an assortment of humanity's worst nightmares: fake bugs, toilet paper, powders she hoped weren't drugs, cartons of eggs, and glitter.

Yes. She kid you not. Glitter.

She watched with a gaping mouth as Kieran nonchalantly fixed moved aside a board after checking to see if the room was empty, and pushed himself up into the room. He grinned at her when he caught her staring. "You probably have some pent-up anger, princess. Want to blow it off?"

Did she? (Y/n) readily accepted his hand. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm just gonna fix this thing I set up over his chair," he nodded towards a little box hidden in the ceiling. "For some reason, it hasn't been working lately. You could, I dunno, put an air horn under his chair or something."

She had a better idea. She tapped the keyboard to wake up the sleeping computer and while Kieran's back was turned, she searched up an image of him. Sure enough, Kieran was as much a celebrity online as he was on campus. She had no problem finding a picture of his face, blowing it up, and printing hundreds of copies.

The said male heard the printer and turned around from where he was connecting a string to the chair. "What are you doing?"

"Just plastering your beautiful face where Tristan can see it," (Y/n) said with a bright smile. "We can't deny him that, can we?"

"Wait, princess—that isn't what I was thinking of—"

She began super gluing the pictures to the walls.

"Okay. You do that. Sure."

When the notification on Kieran's phone sounded, signaling from the device he had planted in the hallways that Tristan was approaching, (Y/n) had already covered all the walls and flat surfaces with images of Kieran's face. She smirked inwardly. Tristan was going to have one hell of a time doing his work here.

"Come on, we gotta go." Kieran picked up all his tools and grabbed her hand. He ushered her into the hole and dropped down behind her. He moved the boards back to their original positions. Then he opened a laptop and pushed it towards her. "Too bad I don't have popcorn with me. Enjoy anyway~"

No words were needed to describe what she saw. Tristan walked into the room and nearly tripped after seeing all the pictures on the walls. Then he looked around angrily in search of the culprit, only to trigger Kieran's trap. Unfortunately, he managed to dodge the glitter. While he had that self-satisfied smirk on his face, he bumped against the chair and the air horn blared, startling him backward into the plastic wrap trap they'd set up.

And then he tumbled into the ground, freshly coated with our trusty friend super glue.

The two shared a quiet high-five after Kieran gleefully saved the file. "Blackmail material acquired~" He grinned triumphantly. "Knew you'd be my perfect partner in crime. I tried asking Leo-chan before he got into the habit of throwing vases at me, but he only stared at me blankly. And Jay—that boy kept dropping everything and making a loud sound. Almost got us busted before I could even show him the entrance."

"That's what you have me for." To make people's lives harder, she added silently with an evil grin. "We should leave now before he catches us."

"Okay~"

They exited the tunnel with (Y/n)'s mood a little better now. He stopped her as she was about to walk back to the room. She turned around and gave him a questioning look. "What is it?"

There was a hesitant look on his face as he reached out with his hand. It faltered in the air before he brushed something off her hair. "You had some glitter there," he recovered quickly. "Glitter's a b*tch to get out of hair. Or did you want to dress up as a unicorn for an early Halloween?"

My face is scary enough, thanks. "Oh, thanks for helping me." Honestly (Y/n) had no idea how he wasn't onto her yet. If she hadn't been drugged and been able to fall back on the effects when she needed to, she doubted she'd ever been able to pull all this off. Not to mention the fact the white-haired male was unusually good at reading people. Tristan could see into people's minds and Kieran could read into people's hearts.

That made her blood chill and her heart skip a beat. Tristan couldn't have found out that she was the one behind the missing key already...right? There was no way he didn't notice it missing; it was around his neck, though he didn't say a word about it or question her.

(Y/n) hated suspense. If they were going to do something, she preferred it if they did it upfront. She hated plotting. She preferred direct action. Improvision.

Screw this. I'll just go get therapy or something after this mess.

They quickly retreated to their rooms to act innocent before Tristan could accuse them of his misfortunes. The two shared a victorious moment that (Y/n) quickly broke off when the atmosphere was starting to feel more intimate than she liked. His eyes were like pools of liquid gold that turned a shade darker as she looked down and bit her lip.

"Don't do that," he murmured, freeing her bottom lip from her teeth with a gentle touch and resting his hand on the side of her face. "I told you to stop being so cute, didn't I?"

I'm about as cute a drowned rat, she thought dryly. She didn't want to look up but she did, her breath hitching at the intensity in his gaze. It was like there were embers residing in those honeyed orbs that ignited with sparks every time she looked at him. And a single brush of his fingers on her skin felt like someone was dragging a smoking hot knife over her skin. Soft enough not to pierce the skin but hard enough to leave burning red trails.

She always thought his eyes were made of pure gold. Cold, freezing gold. Almost like diamonds, or perhaps that was Tristan. But looking into them now, they were more amber with golden flecks in them that threatened to swallow the black of his pupils. It was like they were cut out of the sun and rimmed with thick lashes

"L-let's do something else," she said quickly, subtly moving her face away from his hand, painfully aware of their close proximity. "What do you suggest? I'm fine with anything."

"Anything...you say?" He tipped his head to the side, pale locks falling like ribbons across his cat-like eyes. "You shouldn't say things like that, princess. There are people who'd take those words the wrong way. In fact"—his voice dropped to a whisper and his hands fell to her waist, pulling her close enough to feel her body through her clothes—"I might."

(Y/n) was getting really tired of thinking "well, f*ck" all the time. She needed a new catchphrase. Or maybe she needed to stop getting herself in those "welp, I'm screwed" situations all the time. Though given her new character, she technically was supposed to welcome this development, right?

Not. No way in the seven gates of hell to the number of hairs in God's beard am I going to go through with that kinda icky stuff!

"W-what's this? You're acting weird," she said with a weak smile that looked genuine enough. She swatted his hands away and tried to play it off naturally. "Tristan could come in at any time and—"

"It pains me to hear you talking about another guy in my presence." He dropped his head to the nook of her shoulder and let out a tired sigh. "Even though I knew this was what I was getting into when I started loving you...it still hurts, you know?"

(Y/n) froze. Well, f—uh, flipping ugly crappy Kit-Kats.

His expression remained temperate with an inkling of wistfulness. She could see a soft glimmer of pain in his lucid eyes. He brushed the pale wisps of hair that were getting in his eyes to the side and shook his head, hiding the deep-seated emotions once again.

And then his signature smirk was back. "Why are you staring at me like that? I know you love me and everything, but too much of my handsomeness can make you see stars for a while." His expression, once drowning in love and pain, was now careless as hell.

She nearly snorted out loud but was grateful for the change in the subject. I can think of another way to make you see stars. By hitting your head with a bat. (Y/n) who? Call me Sangwoo.

"Don't call me out like that." Ew, what am I saying? "And it's getting late now." She tugged at his sleeve for emphasis. "I want to go to sleep." No dirty jokes please, no dirty jokes please, no—

"Whatever you want." He pulled her into a one-armed hug and nuzzled her hair affectionately, making her scowl. "I still have things to do, but you need your beauty sleep." He jerked his chin towards the closet. "Your clothes are in there. They should all fit. If not, feel free to raid my closet."

Then his smile turned suggestive. "Don't get too wild with the raiding though. I don't have enough underwear for you to steal—"

"Thanks, but no thanks!" She refrained from throwing a pillow at him and settled with pushing him out the door. "Stop teasing me!"

His laugh rang out even through the closed door. "Sleep tight, princess. Call me if you get lonely sleeping alone~"

Her shrieks of frustration have transcended the human language.

The last bit of sunlight drained from the sky, orange and golden blossoms melting away into oceans of pinpointed black and blue tapestries. Stars were scattered across the night canvas like a tailor's leftovers. A needle attached to a silver-white thread stitched moon-kissed clouds into the sky that were soon splashed by buckets of twilight-colored water.

Even as the stars winked down at all the mortals living their lives on Earth in amusement, witnesses to all the crimes and wrongdoings of humanity, the moon refused to come out. Perhaps it too is being tormented by its starry adversaries. It is hiding, frightened and shivering, behind an unseen wisp of a cloud. Just like (Y/n).

Her eyes trailed lazily to the lines of light peeking in through the closed door. Kieran's light was still on, but she couldn't hear him anywhere. Did he leave?

Whatever he was up to, she'd worry about that later. Tomorrow she would carry out her plan, or at least try to. Tomorrow she would have to push the white-haired male's trust in her to the limits.

And if it broke?

That wasn't tonight's problem. That was tomorrow's.

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A/N: It took me two days to write this x.x I was out of ideas. And, uh, I kinda spent all my time listening to Miyashita Yuu and Team O.B.N.N :>