* 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 / 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖘

read about 𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄.

read about 𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑.

read about 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐍.

read about 𝐆𝐄𝐎.

“I’ll have to stop by sometime then,” Ian said though it was highly unlikely. Ian was probably the biggest homebody he’d been in his life and ever since his attack Bo had taken on the lifestyle and wasn’t dragging Ian out of the house nearly as much as he used to. “I’ve always liked it more than like Angel’s I don’t know if I could handle that much show theater,” he admitted. Even though he was dating Bo who loved that kind of stuff he really only liked it when his partner was involved. It didn’t have much appeal to Ian when he was trying to have a bite to eat or catch a quick drink. Still, the more Ian thought about it the more he realized he and Bo really didn’t get out and date as much as they’d been known to the first time they dated. “Thanks for saying that. But no we haven’t ever really thought of opening a business of our own. Bo’s a manager at Showtime now and stuff so I think he’s pretty content with where he’s at,” Ian explained. Despite how long Ian had worked at High Scores he had no desire to move further up the chain even if it did mean more pay. He was content where he was at and whenever he picks up another second job they’d be back to good finances in the couple again. “I feel you,” Ian laughed at Arne’s explanation. Bo and him had certainly had a few nights that consisted of just eating sweet treats out of their freezer because it was so hot. “I wish I would’ve known you were stopping by. We would’ve definitely grabbed you a burger or something,” Ian explained knowing Bo would be back any minute now with their dinner. It was the least they could do for Arne who was taking their laundry for them. 

maxxie acknowledged finn’s rejection of his not-quite-serious offer for his job with an exaggerated sigh. “so i get to keep my job,” he stated dryly. “great.” he then allowed for a chuckle of his own. it was no secret that maxxie’s presence at key of reason was mainly tolerated for his vast technical know-how covering the instruments they had in stock, as well as the fact he was actually capable of tuning everything and testing out the instruments on the customers’ behalf when they didn’t fancy banging down on the notes mindlessly. 

“i don’t think you need to be gifted,” maxxie said slowly. “being gifted is like having a head start. i just don’t really understand wanting to pick up an instrument and then not knowing the most basic thing about it. such as there being no ‘easy version’ of the instrument. though, i guess you can get mini-keyboards at toy stores now.” though finn’s more optimistic take was not one that maxxie shared, he made no move to disrespect his friend’s opinion. still, he couldn’t find it in him to agree that everyone trying music would aid the music scene in shrike. only a handful would ever be talented enough to attempt at making an impact. “i guess you’re right though.” he reached out to pass the gum to finn. “if nobody tried music stores like this wouldn’t exist and we’d have to drive out of town to even get instruments. you’ve convinced me.”

“the show must go on, as they say,” finn chuckled, the show he spoke of being maxxie’s work, of course. “i wouldn’t let just anyone hear your attitude on that, though,” he suggested, chuckling again so that maxxie would hopefully know that finn wasn’t really meaning to tell him what to do, not entirely seriously. “this store’s hot, you know? i know loads of people who would love to work here, rather than wherever they’re stuck. it’s still a job, sure, but it’s a lot cooler than some other places- at least, that’s what a lot of people think, and it’s true in the way that i could see someone working here picking up somebody way easier being able to show off their skills, rather than smelling like butter over at the theater, or something,” finn rambled ever so slightly. 

                “you’re so silly,” donnie laughs, though he can’t deny or ignore the feelings of nervousness and excitement that hearing finn test out his future name gives him. the smile on his face grows and grows as he thinks about their names together, and as he thinks about all of the different scenarios in which he’ll need to use the new name. “donald and finnegan dunne,” he says under his breath. he imagines letters addressed to the two of them, invitations in particular, randomly, and his smile is a grin by now. “you’re so cute,” he says, as if deciding on the fact now, changing his mind from silly to cute. “i love you,” he tells him fondly, “it feels like i’ve waited longer than my whole life for this, even. like the entire universe has been waiting for this day,” he knows he sounds completely dramatic, but he trusts finn with his drama. he trusts finn with his everything. 

                “thanks, pretty boy. i’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckles, and then he finally gets into the shower to begin washing up after his run. he nods along with finn as he listens to his encouraging words, up until he begins shampooing his hair - not wanting to risk getting any in his eyes. it’s still hard, as donnie doesn’t know how things will play out, but having finn to talk things out with him always makes him feel better about whatever he’s going through. “yeah, i’d really like that babe,” he nods, rinsing out his hair. “thanks,” he adds. “i just want them to be okay, i want us all to be okay.” he sighs, not because he’s upset over their conclusion, but because it’s a lot to carry emotionally, even when he knows they’re doing everything they can to try to help. “you could only perform jazz music?” he repeats, laughing. he knew he’d end up laughing over finn’s dreams, that’s exactly why he thought to ask. “is that your version of a nightmare, or something? my dreams are never like that.” 

finn was already smiling, but hearing donnie say their names together like that, under his breath, almost timidly, it made finn’s smile double in size. he loved that man so much, he always had, and in the moments they shared together he was only made to feel it even more. “i love you too, don,” he returned the affection, his gaze in donnie’s direction filled with even more love than what his words contained. “i feel it too,” he nodded, understanding what donnie was saying, no matter how dramatic he might have thought it sounded - the dramatics being completely adored by finn. “i’ve never been so sure that something is meant to be, i’ve never felt it as strongly as i do with us,” he told his fiancé. “i think the last, like, five songs that i’ve written are all about the same thing, all about that, you,” he shared, chuckling. 

“i’m  so  sorry  to  have  even  subjected  you  to  such  a  dumb  thought,  finn,”  she  laughed,  able  to  tell  the  joke  from  a  mile  away. xena  couldn’t  say  she  blamed  him,  though;  their  relationship  was  clearly  strong  enough  to  go  the  distance,  all  the  way  into  marriage,  so  clearly  finn  was  on  to  something  when  he  decided  to  join  the  team  for  his  boyfriend  -  even  if  he  could  provide  nothing  of  use  to  the  team  in  terms  of  actually  playing  the  game. “put  in  a  good  word?”  xena’s  grin  was  large,  but  full  of  disbelief  over  this  act  of  finn’s. “you’re  ridiculous,  hedwig  is  one  of  my  best  friends,  you  don’t  need  to  be  putting  any  words  in  anywhere. he  knows  me  well  enough  by  now,  and  actually,  just-  mind  your  own  business,  boy,  honestly.”  she  rolled  her  eyes,  though  she  laughed  at  the  same  time  because  she  could  still  see  the  amusement  in  it. “nice  try,  though. trying  to  sniff  out  some  scandalous  new  love,  or  something. you’re  just  looking  in  the  wrong  place  right  now. i’ve  got  nothing  going  on,  but  that’s  definitely  not  what  we’re  here  to  talk  about  right  now. “god,  i  don’t  know  what’s  worse,  the  fact  that  he  told  everyone  about  it,  or  the  fact  that  i  didn’t  know  that  he  told  anyone  about  it  until  just  now. god,  finn  i-”  she  shook  her  head,  but  she  was  still  smiling. “i  hate  to  ask,  but  i  have  to  know. what  did  he  tell  you?  rip  it  off,  like  a  bandaid,  i  don’t  trust  a  boy’s  judgement  of  what’s  gross  or  not.”  she  neglected  to  mention  that  she  wasn’t  afraid  to  confront  bo  about  it,  even  though  years  had  gone  by,  and  even  though  they  were  good  friends  despite  their  history;  she  didn’t  want  to  mention  that  much  to  finn  in  case  he  chose  to  leave  out  details  to  protect  bo.

“you know what? you should be sorry, and i really appreciate you recognizing that and giving me the apology that i deserve,” he spoke in another faux serious tone, continuing on with the joke that xena will be able to once again spot from a mile away. “hey! you can’t blame me for wanting to see one of my best friends in a happy, stable relationship. after this interaction, i don’t think that you’d be the right person for them, but it was worth a shot, trying to see if you were the one for them,” he joked more. there was nothing wrong with xena, she was a kind and witty person; she scared finn the tiniest amount, but she was a good person, really. any negative connotations in finn’s words about her were definitely jokes. “it wasn’t like that,” he objected, laughing and shaking his head. “i’m not looking for a scandal, i’m looking for happiness for my friend, alright? and some killer new chokehold songs, that’s it,” he laughed again. 

“Thanks for not being weird,” Ian said. He still felt a little awkward being caught. The couple really wasn’t that big on PDA but after a few beers… all bets were off. At least it’d been a while since he’d embarrassed himself in front of Finn. “Yeah, Donnie doesn’t seem that secretive of a guy,” Ian said. After all he knew him very well as well and Bo knew him even better. Donnie always seemed to be pretty open when around people he knew at least. 

It was hard for Ian to look at Finn and soak in the words he said. Ian knew deep down that Bo loved him and he was only taking such good care of him because of that love but Ian saw the darker sides too. He saw Bo’s eyes full of tears, the sleepless nights spent up worrying about him, the frustration that came when Ian’s own emotions got too elevated. Ian experienced it all and the distance between them now got Ian thinking about just how hard it all was and how downright unfair it was that Bo was being put through so much pain because of him. “It was different when… when he got attacked,” Ian insisted. He’d been a mess when it happened but Ian had been stronger than Bo was now and they both knew it. “I’ve just been so terrible to him, Finn. I yelled at him the other night,” he admitted and the guilt was starting to make Ian properly tear up. Ian was easily frustrated and pushed to the max just from existing right now that it made sense why he’d snapped but that didn’t make it right. Ian felt like nothing he did anymore was right and it was tough being so powerless right now. He couldn’t even be left alone without a babysitter and he felt terrible for putting Finn through it now too. “He just deserves so much better.”

“you don’t have to thank me, i’m like, so happy and content with not being weird,” he chuckled, though he believed he understood the sentiment of ian’s words, thinking that his friend was only thanking him because he appreciated some more privacy, rather than thanking him for turning out to not be someone who wanted to spy on his friends’ intimate endeavors. “yeah,” the full truth was that donnie had a lot of secrets that he kept from his friends - not including finn, for obvious reasons - but at the same time as having boundaries, donnie had always been an open person. he told what mattered to who mattered, everyone in his life knew what they needed to about him, and he wasn’t the type of person to hide anything from finn. so finn definitely thought that it was likely that donnie would tell him the process for writing vows, once the wedding had come and gone. despite donnie having his secrets - like everyone does - finn didn’t feel the need to disclose that to ian. ian, after all, still knew a lot about the man regardless of what personal and intimate details he kept to himself. “he’d for sure tell me how his process went at least afterwards,” he concluded.

just as it was hard for ian to soak in finn’s words of reassurance, it was hard for finn to see ian in that much pain. he could understand why ian’s thoughts had gotten dangerously and unfortunately upsetting, but understanding it did nothing to make finn feel better about witnessing it all first hand. “yeah, it is different,” he agreed with ian, not trying to entertain him or persuade him with lies, “but the love you guys feel for each other isn’t different. you took care of him because you love him, he’s doing the same for the same reason,” he tried to remind him. “hey,” he spoke softly. “there’s no better than you, ian, not for bo. we know this, we’ve seen this,” he wasn’t going to kick ian while he was down by bringing up creepie, but it was clear to see in bo - in every single inch and mannerism of bo’s - that he was the happiest he could ever get when he had ian’s love. “i’m not trying to tell you that it doesn’t feel shitty right now, of course it does, but those feelings aren’t permanent, and you shouldn’t let them make permanent choices for you,” what he was trying to say was that ian shouldn’t believe all of that negativity, not when it was coming at a time when his mind was so clouded by his traumatic experience. 

‘not anymore’. geo’s words sting, for reasons that blue immediately feels guilty about taking personally, considering that it’s not their grief that’s hurting them, but instead geo’s. they feel dumb, regretting their question almost immediately, realizing why someone like geo struggles with love stories right now. he’s had so much love taken away from him, not even in the past two years that the attacks have been going on for, but before that too; blue doesn’t know the extent of his story, but they know enough to the point where they should have known better. now they’ve cornered themself; they don’t want to appear to be too sorry for geo, but they can’t pretend that they don’t realize why he can’t do such happy stories anymore. blue clears their throat. “yeah, of course.” they nod. “i’m sorry,” they decide that the straight up and honest route is the only one to take. “i understand why, i mean, as much as someone else can understand another person’s experience. i should have thought before i asked, i’m just interested in what you do there.” they offer him their apologies; whether or not geo wishes to take them is another matter, but they don’t feel right about not at least being honest.

“don’t worry, i didn’t think that either of you would be overly demanding, asking them to do the impossible in anyway - even despite how much of a diva you are.” juliet begins by reassuring finn, having previously worried about him taking on too much guilt over ian’s state, but in typical big sister fashion, she can’t help but add a little teasing. banter has always been how finn and juliet have worked through their tension, and the amount of tension between them has always been quite a lot - mostly due to external factors such as their parents. “i’m really glad that they’re improving, though. you know, some of your friends over the years have been real shitheads, but bo and ian - as annoying as they can be, just like any teenage boy - they’re good guys, and i’m glad that they’re in your life. i don’t know if i’ve said it in so many words, but i’m really sorry that they ever got attacked, that you ever had to deal with that.” it’s a rare moment of sheer honesty, but one that juliet believes her brother deserves to hear. it’s been a hard time for them all, but maybe this is marking the beginning of the end of all of the mess. 

“Well I appreciate you keeping this place a secret,” Ian joked. His friend’s fame was still just a pipedream but he liked hearing that not much would change if Finn did make it big. He was one of Ian’s best friends after all and he didn’t want to lose him just because the rest of the world found out his music was as good as Ian knew it to be. Ian had lots of acquaintances and friends through Bo but there were few people he was as close to as he was Finn.  

Ian laughed as Finn accused yoga of being for girls. “Would you prefer I call it stretching? I watch Bo stretch all the time and it’s pretty much the same thing and he’s usually a happy go lucky, stress free kind of guy,” he said. Ian knew that Bo would have no problem calling what he did yoga, in fact Ian wouldn’t be surprised if Bo wound up in a yoga class at some point. He cared about his flexibility just about as much as he did the rest of his physical fitness which he was always looking to improve on. Ian couldn’t be further from his partner in that regard but he still saw the benefits. Ian had met Finn’s parents plenty of times over the years and considered them fine people. They’d taken Donnie in and that was pretty remarkable in his book as far as parents go. Still he would believe Finn when he said he wasn’t very much like them. “Well if it’s not parents then who does have a say? I mean you learn how to be a person from somebody,” Ian said not realizing he was really getting into a nature vs. nurture debate on the matter. “Since when?” Ian questioned. He’d never seen Juliet go for a loser before not that he really kept track of the woman’s partners. “I could definitely see her dating a jock. You’re not the only person to ever get with a jock. The entire football team’s practically married with kids now,” Ian pointed out. Most of those jocks were assholes in Ian’s opinion but they did wind up marrying young and having a family like the stereotypical American dream after graduating high school. “You better, you’re one of the few people I know who’s probably going to be an uncle. You’ve got to represent the rest of us,” Ian insisted. It wasn’t like Bo or him would ever become one. Neither of them had any siblings. 

“well don’t get me wrong, i totally want to be a star, and i want an audience who cares to listen to what i’ve got to say and who love how i say it, but i read too many magazine articles nowadays that have something to do with how, uh,” he stumbled looking for the word for a second, “how invasive it can be to be famous,” he wrinkled his nose at the word ‘famous’, never having liked talking about wanting to be famous because his goal had always been different than just that. “so i’ve been thinking for a while - especially since before the mall was here and this place was even smaller - that i’d keep where i come from a secret the best i can. especially for don, you know? he’s a much more private guy, he likes his space and his peace and quiet more than i do, and it wouldn’t be fair on him to make him deal with a bunch of shit.” while finn was locally known and celebrated as a musician, he was still far from famous, but that didn’t stop him from thinking through all of the details and going through all of the possibilities of what his life would look like if he did succeed in the business. 

“There’s no way you could’ve known,” Ian insisted. Creepie wasn’t a subject most people wanted to talk about and Ian wasn’t surprised that Arne had no idea why so few people actually frequented the classic Shrike Heights bar. “Julio’s is nice, I haven’t been in since it moved though but I’m sure it’s probably even better than it used to be,” he figured. It was in a shiny new location and just by being new it probably improved from anything Ian could’ve complained about in the past. Ian shook his head at the thought of opening up a bar. “I don’t think I could ever own a bar. That’d be too many late nights and I don’t even like drinking that much,” he explained. Ian wouldn’t mind owning a business one day but it would more likely be a restaurant or a hobby shop over something like a bar. “I wouldn’t mind owning a business with Bo though. He’d definitely make the place fun for folks,” he agreed. Bo was always the more gregarious out of the two of them and could make any environment one that people wanted to gather and be a good face for a business. Ian would be the man behind the scenes if the two ever went in on something together and would run the actual business end of things. “If you say so,” Ian commented not caring whether or not Arne actually took another otterpop or not. “Bo and I got like three boxes of these things in the house. We pretty much run on popsicles in the summer.”

“Right, that’s definitely not a job that I’m envious of either.” Again, it went without saying why both of them would want to steer clear of that particular job. Roaming the mall alone at night sounded like a good way to end up in the local newspaper the next day as yet another of one of the countless victims taken by the attackers here. “Not that I’m even really looking for another job.” Not one inside the mall at least. Seeking employment outside of the mall was ideal, but a little more challenging to obtain due to most people wanting to work anywhere that couldn’t be deemed as hazardous as the mall could be. “This isn’t a dream job or anything,” he wasn’t even sure if he had one of those anymore, “but it’s not all bad. At least I can get some reading done in the slower moments without having to spend the cash.” It wasn’t a silver lining that would keep him there if an employment opportunity opened up elsewhere, but it was a small positive he could find in an otherwise dreadful situation.

Martin figure most, if not all, of the employees at the mall would agree to the idea of closing earlier. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter what they all thought. “I’m starting to think the people who make the bigger decisions around here don’t use that much logic.” There was a hint of frustration in their jab at those who held more power and control over their predicament. “It makes me wonder if putting the effort into finding out a way to research and monitor how much profit they make the later it gets would even be worth it.” He felt far too tired too often to put that energy into a presentation that would more likely than not get ignored. 

 Martin nodded with a small chuckle of his own, “Oh yeah, the outdoors in smaller doses like that is totally fine with me, but I’m not one for day long hikes, camping trips, or anything of that nature.” He too preferred the quiet and comfortable solitude that could be found holed up inside somewhere with video games or one of his other hobbies. They smiled at Scott’s comment about backing them up in the idea. “I have a friend who’s been working at the arcade for a long time now so he could probably also help back us up or at the very least come up with some newer game suggestions.”

there were a lot of jobs that scott wasn’t envious of; admittedly, anything that required too much work - particularly of the physical kind - wasn’t something that scott found himself interested in, and while a lot of those jobs happened to be ruled out with the addition of the killers, and the risks scott didn’t want to take in reference to them, a lot of other jobs were ruled out for that reason, too; needless to say, anything that required him to be in a place or at the time that he’d be more likely to be attacked was an absolute no go. unfortunately, there was still a great risk working at the comic book store - scott knew that too well now - but there was minimal physical labor, and the opportunity to work his way out of as many late shifts as he could. it wasn’t a dream job, just as martin had said, but also just as martin said, it wasn’t all bad. “there are a lot of worse places to be working in this mall, that’s for sure.” scott agreed. “i might have even been totally content with the job if it weren’t for, you know, the factors that no one could have guessed would be a problem that we’d be made to deal with.” it was a long winded way of saying ‘the killers’. 

“i’m starting to learn that despite it making the most sense for those in charge to be those with the most knowledge, experience and logic, it’s usually the other way around.” it was unjust, and disappointing to feel so devastatingly let down by the way the world worked, but it was also in no way the first time that scott had been disappointed by the way the world ran, and by who was in charge. “yeah, i get you,” the tone of the conversation - or rather, the truth of the matter - was lowering scott’s spirits - not that his spirits had ever been very high, not once in his life - but it was hard to focus on anything happier or more positive. “it’s hard to see a way out of this whole thing at all, or to think of a way that could really help. i could only imagine the amount of people who’ve tried and been ignored, when you think about it, there’s probably been a lot of unheard voices.” though there was a high chance that his thoughts were fuelled by anxiety, in the current state of shrike heights, scott knew that it was also likely that it wasn’t only paranoia speaking. 

“I don’t think I could ever get sick of the view,” Ian stated casting his gaze off towards the mountains that were in the distance. Finn was right about Shrike moving slowly though. It took essentially Ian’s entire lifetime up until this point for something actually modern to hit the town. Even with the mall the push to completely gentrify the area hadn’t started yet. There was still a majority of Shrike that was left unchanged and would hopefully remain that way for some time. “Well, if you get that big you’d just need to find a place with a nice big fence in that case,” Ian joked. He wished for Finn to be successful in his musical endeavors even if that called for a few fans to find their way to the sleepy town.

“I heard yoga’s good to relax,” Ian joked. He didn’t see Finn being the yoga doing type even if it supposedly calms your nerves. “I don’t know. I never knew my parents so I don’t know what kind of influence they’d have had on me,” he stated plainly. He really wasn’t an expert on anything parenting nor did he try to be one. He just figured that kids didn’t fall far from the tree if they were raised by them. “Your sister would not marry a nerd, come on dude,” Ian stated with a smile. If she was into nerds that would’ve meant Ian would’ve had a chance and that certainly wasn’t the case. He’d never tried anything when he did have a crush on Juliet but that was completely because she was out of his league… and Finn’s sister. “But yes it’s your job as a fun uncle to reverse any bad parenting assuming you’ll be in their life enough,” Ian stated. That only seemed logical to him. 

it was encouraging to hear that ian still valued the view, even after living in shrike heights for his entire life. finn had never really been a technology guy, not outside of music technology, but he read enough magazines and watched enough television to know that a lot of people were becoming worried about how much time children spent with technology nowadays, either at arcades or on the home gaming systems that were becoming more easily available with how the different brands were beginning to compete with each other. ian wasn’t a child anymore, and it wasn’t that finn thought he spent too much time gaming either at the arcade or at home, but with the rising - and in finn’s opinion ridiculous - concern that people would one day care more about what was on their screen than outside of their window, the thought was already on his mind. as much as he had gotten used to and familiar with the scenes of shrike heights, finn didn’t think he could get sick of it either. “nah, i wouldn’t wanna lose too much of the view,” he chuckled, responding to the idea of the tall fence. “i’d totally just try and keep this place under wraps.”