In The Middle (IDENTITY V FF)

5

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Chapter 5:
Panic

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Aesop wasn't bothered by the fact that he also lost during his time of the match. When he saw how devastated Eli was for failing to escape, he thought it would be nice to cheer him up by losing his game, too. That way, it would be fair for the two of them cause that's what friends are for, after all.

"Aesop, you didn't escape. Are you okay?" Eli worriedly asked the silver head who only looked at him.

"Yeah, I'm good. At least we're even now." Though the Seer couldn't see how his lips looked behind his mask, he still cracked a carefree smile that he would rarely portray.

Eli was taken aback by Carl, and he asked;

"E-Even? What do you mean?"

"You lost your game, and I lost my game. Fair and square amyryt?" Aesop shrugged and looked through Eli's blindfold, giving the latter a shiver run up his spine.

'But you didn't even show any effort during the game. In fact, you actually ran up to the hunter and got yourself caught IN PURPOSE, Carl.' Eli suspiciously looked at the man who was walking ahead of him towards the common area, where the hunters and survivors lived in perfect harmony.

Or so what it says.

Fan was arm-wrestling with William, the Forward, and it seemed like the former's arm was about to break anytime sooner. Xie was having a debate with Joker about what must you put first, either the milk or the cereal, while Jack was saying either can go first depending on your choice of order. Yhidra's followers were playing with Robbie, and it seemed like their heads were gonna be a victim of Robbie's ax soon. On the other hand, Emily, Emma and Geisha were experimenting on each other's hair.

Eli saw this as fifty-fifty - half chaotic half peaceful - kind of a scenario, and he was in no right mood to jump in with the other survivors and hunters who were playing spin the bottle on the other side of the area. But Aesop insisted he had to loosen up, so he decided to agree, not wanting to refuse the boy.

"Seer! Embalmer! Great to see you guys!" Mike waved gleefully, and beside him sat Norton who just gestured a nod. Eli flashed a tight smile while the two squeezed themselves into the group.

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Joseph squinted his eyes as he spectated the pair wander around the open lot, looking at Fan's group then to Robbie's. He couldn't avoid turning away from Aesop's direction when he was there, standing literally like a gleaming masterpiece. The gold accents complimented his black hair and black suit, and he seemed to just glow even brighter when the sunlight would hit him.

Soon enough, he had to avert his eyes, because Aesop looked their way. Joseph was sitting with a bunch of other hunters, such as Bane and Luchino, and another bunch of survivors such as Kreacher and Mike. They were neatly formed into a circle and were just planning to play truth or dare.

"Seer! Embalmer! Great to see you guys!" Joseph turned to where he saw Mike Morton was waving and his eyes landed on Aesop who was grabbing Eli by the hand, causing his body to react weirdly at the sight.

And by weird, he meant that reaction where he just flinches and then freezes right afterwards, unable to do anything.

He had the urge to greet the masked man, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Someone's presence was bothering him, that's why. Though the man was blindfolded, he still felt an undying glare come from him, which sort of felt like he was being murdered through the eyes.

"Joseph? Joseph!" Margaretha waved her hand in front of the hunter nervously, being the one told to snap him out of his trance since the others were quite afraid to do so. "Truth or dare, Mr. Desaulniers."

"H-Huh? Oh, um, dare...?" Joseph's lips etched into an uncertain smile, and Margaretha chuckled. "Are you asking me?"

"Ahah, dare, it is." He repeated, this time more sure of what he said. He could feel his back heat up because of how his mind was too blank for the past minutes since Aesop came into view.

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Aesop only stared at Joseph while he awaited for Margaretha's dare to come unto the surface, and his eyes just couldn't avert from the French man across him.

Those cerulean blue eyes that glimmered under the sunlight, that cute nose he so have wished to boop, and those kissable lips-

'What the hell am I even thinking? Get your head fixed, Aesop Carl!' Aesop shook his head and slapped his cheeks repeatedly as he kept telling himself to erase those thoughts. Because of the act, Eli looked at the former worriedly and weirdly, not knowing why the Embalmer was suddenly acting that way.

"Hey, Carl, you okay? Stop hitting yourself, will you?" He held onto the silver haired man's wrists, drawing his face closer to the point that Aesop could already feel Eli's exhales come in contact with his mask. This made him jump in surprise, and a yelp resounded from him.

All the people in the circle looked at him, and Martha spoke up. "Carl, honey, is there something wrong with the dare Margaretha gave to Joseph? You seem surprised."

After Aesop collected himself, he asked with shaky breaths, "What was his dare...?"

It was Joseph's turn to speak, after all, he was part of their conversation's topic anyways. "Spend thirty minutes in a room... With a survivor of my choice..."

"..."

"...?"

After a few moments of eerie silence, with only Fan's screams of terror resounding from a distance, Aesop chuckled nervously.

"Oh... Uh, no! I have no retort to that, uh, dare. Don't worry about me, I just remembered something. I, uh, forgot... To write in my... Uh, diary!! That's right." He slowly stood up, patting his bottom from the dust that might have stuck onto his pants. "I'll be back...! Bye- and no, Eli, you don't have to accompany me. Okay, uh, see you guys around!"

With that, he turned on his heel, ran, tripped, got back up, and continued to run off.

Joseph had a hard time trying to hold in his laugh, while Eli was just there, his face confused as ever. "Why the heck..."

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Recently been unable to write such long chapters because of my busy schedule; I wasn't even able to update during the weekends.

I know this chapter isn't much, and heck, its pretty short, too, but I'll be making the next one longer and more interesting than this one. I just had to update because it feels like its been decades since I've written an actual story or scene, and I'm pretty lazy to write it on paper since it hurts my wrists to write so many details using pen.

And I'm currently on a writer's block, so I'm still going to rummage through my mind for some ideas I could insert in this book during my classes.

I hope you guys enjoyed this update though. Now that all are said, I'll be taking my leave now. Good day :))

-wu