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Chapter Text

The party is raging on outside, but the four of them are cramped into a single stall in the men's bathroom and honestly, Jorge is okay with that. There's good weed and good friends, and the music is seeping through the doorway just enough for Lucas to manage an occasional ridiculous, wiggling dance move that makes them laugh all the more for being stoned. The door opens and they hastily slam the stall door shut, but its just Cris and so they laugh and jibe at each other. Any other girl in the men's room might be weird but Cris is Cris and it isn't like she's going to rat them out for the weed either. Hugo extracts himself from the tangle of limbs.

"Aren't you going to congratulate me?" he asks her.

"I haven't congratulated you?" she replies, and offers to buy him a shot while pulling him in to a hug.

Jorge joins in the gentle ribbing, then takes his turn with the joint. As Hugo and Dilan ask Lucas about being gay, Jorge lets his mind wander a bit. All of his cluster seems to be out partying tonight, which is nice. They wave at each other as he passes through. The music is loud everywhere, and Tyler has evidently met a cute guy so that's awesome for him. He comes back to himself as Cris is leaving the bathroom stall, mock-angry about her missing drink but its Hugo's party so she can't really be too upset. Besides, Cris is never really too upset about anything. Her easygoing manner is one of his favorite things about her.

After the door swings shut behind her, Jorge finishes up his mental circuit with a stop in Italy. Marti's party is evidently for girl Fede's birthday, and he's mostly been spending it down in the basement with the guys. Jorge thinks that that's ridiculous-he and his friends are 2 doors away from the party, not 2 floors- but whatever makes Marti happy is good enough for him.

When they do get back upstairs, there's a fight breaking out about missing drugs and money, and Jorge is too busy trying to make sure Hugo's birthday isn't ruined and Eva andCris don't get hurt and on and on about that to worry about what anyone else is up to.

Marti tries very hard to put Eva kissing him, or, attempting to, out of his head as he returns to the basement with his loot. He brushes off whoever is on the phone on the way down. The scene when he returns is pretty much what he expected. The air around them is hazy, and his friends are sitting in the frankly gigantic bathtub with the detritus of their partying so far scattered around the rim. They toast to Big Fede, and then comes the part of the night that he always dreads: the part where they start talking about girls.

("You could just tell them you know," Magnus points out, his own mind hazy and drifting from a joint on somebody's rooftop.)

Marti ignores him and just says that he would hook up with the Argentinian girl, and sinks into the blur of his mind when they start talking about Fede again. Thankfully they move on soon enough, and Elia accepts the 5 euros and lack of responsibility instead of the full 20 that he owes. Just then however, the door swings open and Covitti, who they were just talking about, comes in.

And then, and he doesn't quite know how it happens especially after he called her a frog ("rude," says Mia) and then he's making out with her, leaning out of the bathtub as she leans in. She climbs in, taking over the space where Gio's legs were, and she's going in for the blowjob when a knock sounds at the door.

"How long are you going to take in there," says the voice that might just be the voice of God.

Emma pees, quickly, and they head out past Daphne and Eva together. He loses her somewhere at the top of the stairs, which is fine with him, and when he finds the boys they rumple his hair in congratulations. They've just started asking for details when he is saved again, though this time in a far less fortunate way. He has just enough time to stash the weed before they are fleeing the roof, fleeing the cop that stops them, stumbling on to the bus giddy with exhaustion and high on so many things.

After the chaos of the party, the rest of the weekend passes in a hungover sort of blur. If there's a major disadvantage to this whole sensate thing, its that when one of them has a headache, everyone has a headache. And when six of them have headaches...

("This is so unfair. I don't even drink!" Mia exclaims, Imann nodding along with her. "Maybe if you stopped complaining so loudly, they would go away," Tyler groans in response. Jorge and Britt shove at him, but no one disagrees.)

Anyways. Saturday is painful and Sunday is sleepy but Monday is back to school so Emma tugs on her comfiest shirt and fuzziest jacket and meets the Alex and Manon in the school's front hallway. Before they can do or say much though, the sight of Lucas making out rather violently with Sarah literally cuts them off as they spin lip-locked across the hallway.

She updates them (and Marti, who is if nothing else apparently slightly more self aware than Lucas since he at least tried to get out of the BJ at his party, even if his success was due to outside factors) on the situation. Daphne comes hurtling down the hallway just then, with Imane striding far more calmly behind her. Daphne has party planning news, surprise surprise, and though Emma admits Manon is probably right and everyone is probably partied-out, she has to admit it would be fun to host. Before they can talk much more, the bell rings and the five of them scatter off to class.

Emma didn't even get to ask Manon who that text she ignored was from, though she has a strong suspicion that she knows already.

Okay, so on the list of ways that Mia wanted to spend her evening, accidentally seeing her roommate get a blowjob ranks even lower than cleaning up his piss from the toilet seat does, and she is very much regretting not taking the hint when Linn told her than he had a visitor.

(Jorge, Tyler, Magnus, and Marti all seem vaguely impressed by just how terrible Hans' aim is, while Imann, Britt, and Emma are joining her in total and utter disgust.)

Nevertheless, Hans to hear what she has to say about cleaning up after himself, and Mia is annoyed enough about his callousness regarding the state of the world to let herself get angrier than she usually might. The "You all" comment might have gone too far though, and she's thankful that she has Marti to jump in and clarify "you guys" not "you gays."

Then her parents call about Christmas, and she is insanely glad that she has Hanna to talk to about all of this.

To her dismay, Hanna does not approve of her "sit alone at home and read books for Christmas," plan, instead inviting Mia to celebrate with herself and her father. Hanna's version of Christmas sounds very cozy though, and Mia likes Mr. Jung a lot. Besides, she can hear the vulnerability in her friend's voice when she says that they could use more people, so Mia gives in without much further complaint. They run into Jonas and Matteo then, but apparently there hasn't been much movement on that front either so they walk the rest of the way to class in silence.

Magnus, Mahdi, Jonas, and Isak are sitting a table away from the girls while they talk about their bus meeting, so its fairly easy to overhear even without intentionally eavesdropping. Which he definitely isn't. when Vilde talks about how they are all strong, independent women, he definitely doesn't feel a soft smile slip onto his face. When Eva mentions going to the Elvebakken party with them on Friday, he definitely doesn't make eye contact with Jonas. And when they start talking about William's Tragic Backstory, he definitely doesn't find himself sharing headspace with Mia, who is apparently talking to Kiki about veganism.

("I'm worried about her." Mia says, as she cycles to school and Kiki jogs in the other direction. "I thought we had gotten past this when we talked to the nurse."

Magnus very carefully ignores her own avoidance of the William/Alexander thing, and instead offers a place for her to sit under his arm while the cafeteria hums around him. She takes a few deep breaths, and she isn't eavesdropping on the other table's conversation either. Isn't mentally comparing William's apology speech to Alexander's, or hearing her phone chime along Noora's. Doesn't shake her head to cut Eva off along with the other blonde. Doesn't nod decisively when Noora cuts off the possibility of a her-and William. She does, however, give him a comforting squeeze when Vilde continues to sigh over William. Both are grateful when Sana cuts off all talk of Christmas.)

Magnus is also grateful that Mia needs to disappear to go to her biology class before William invites everyone to the bus party. He sighs deeply. Noora appears to be losing this battle, but it doesn't seem like anyone is winning.

("I know what that feels like," grumbles Marti, as Luca goes on about some girl's clitoris just as a text arrives from his father asking about dinner later in the week. And Silvia comes up to talk to them about a radio station. Jesus. He can't catch a break. The guy that they were talking to before approaching his group was pretty cute though. Maybe if he joins the radio station...no. They are busy on Thursday. But something about Sana's face tells him that she knows something he doesn't.

"I always know something you don't" Imann chimes in cheerfully and not a little bit sarcastically.)

Magnus kicks them all out of his head then so he can finish his lunch before the next class.

Look, Tyler knows there's a whole lot going on right now, but if he's being honest, his main focus is on the band. They've been putting together some good songs lately, and booking this gig at SX sessions seems like it will be a really great opportunity for them. So while Marlon flirts with some girl, and Meg and her friends giggle and gossip, he sticks with Shay on stage. He's pointing something out in their song book until she tears out a page entirely which, OK, not cool. what she comes up with in place of it is actually pretty awesome though, so he lets it go.

His chill enjoyment of the afternoon, however, is interrupted by Mia, who has appeared to watch Grace try and talk Kelsey out of the beach house trip. Thankfully, Meg seems to be helping her.

("Picking up tips?" Magnus asks Mia after showing up next to her.

Mia sighs in what might be considered resigned acceptance of the fact that she's dealing with this too. Britt show up next, looking over it all with a somewhat detached air but not saying anything.)

Megan breaks away from the group, heading towards the stage, and Tyler hopes that she's coming up to them. She and Shay have been in a weird place lately, and Megan asking about their songs like she used to would probably go a long way towards smoothing things over. Instead, she stops next to Marlon and the girl he's talking to. Nic comes up to talk to Shay then anyways, and one of the kids from the AV kid grabs Tyler to talk about a sound check. He absorbs himself in that conversation as everyone fades out around him.

Liv invites everyone over to her apartment for Jayden's housewarming-roomwarming?- party, and though Imann was hesitant about going, she's definitely glad that she did. One of Liv's other roommates, Esra, is a fellow Hijabi and the two of them spend a while comparing favorite wrapping styles. She also has a great time dancing with Engel and Janna. With her grandmother sick, she's been out of town a lot. Keeping up through texts and weird mental parallels isn't the same as being with her real friends at all, so she's happy to have the chance to spend some time with them.

At one point, everyone besides Janna gathers in the kitchen, where Engel is mixing vodka with sparking water and calling it a drink. Imann might not consume alcohol, but the look on Isa's face when she sips it are enough to confirm her suspicions that its gross. She and Liv giggle over the look on Isa's face before she wanders off with Kes. Engel has also vanished, and Imann goes with Liv to get rid of the trash. Lucas is making out with some girl between them and the door, which is definitely something that Imann will be talking about with Marti later. For now though, she and Live take a minute to pause on the balcony.

"It would be a good shot," Imann says, and Liv lines an imaginary one up of the city skyline.

"It would,"

They take another few breaths outside before going back in. She and Liv giggle over the drunken dancing in the middle of the living room, before throwing themselves into the fray.

"Yes." Imann thinks to herself as Janna's arms wrap around her. "This is exactly the kind of break we all needed.

The beat boys party ends up being a decently good time. There's good food and good alcohol of course, and Britt makes out with Luka a bit just for the hell of it. Sarah, of course, still can't dance on a beat to save her life. It seems like even with the new year some things stay the same. Britt is a good bit smarter than most people give her credit for though, and she can't help but notice that Senne isn't him susual self tonight. He won't stop looking at the door for one thing, or his phone for another. He looks very nearly upset.

("Do not say what i think you're going to say" Mia orders, and Britt shrugs.

Emma pops in then, leaning her head on Britt's shoulder. She can't tell if its a gesture of affection or of drunkenness, but the French girl is definitely lucid enough to say "just because you don't like it doesn't mean it isn't true")

Britt decides that this is an excellent opportunity to go get another drink. She's pouring herself a vodka sprite when someone else arrives in the kitchen. Senne, looking at his phone. He seems a bit upset at whatever he's reading, and doesn't seem to even realize that she's there. He dials, but whoever is on the other end doesn't seem to pick up because he goes right back to texting.

She squeezes some lime into her drink as his phone rings. The half-conversation that she catches seems to be mostly him playing dumb, but the look on his face is genuinely hurt, until whoever is on the other end-Britt would put good money on Zoe-says something that turns his face into a familiar smirk.

"What do I get in return?" he asks.

Whatever her reply, it makes his face fall, and he says that he'll see them later before probably-zoe changes her mind and makes him smile. The conversation ends, Senne smiling slightly. He makes one more call, says something about the party being cancelled, and hangs up the phone. It is then that he notices her.

"I was..."

Careful not to spill her drink, Britt throws her hands in the air in the universal gesture of "not my business," and goes to rejoin the party.

Chapter Text

Apparently, Sana had his weed, which is how she knew he was going to show up to the radio meeting. Blackmail. On the plus side: Insanely Attractive Man is also working on the radio station. His name is Niccolo, Nico for short. He rolls excellent joints. Score one for Marti. On the third hand -he'll borrow one of his clustermates'- (Jorge snorts and raises a hand), Emma has evidently decided that their almost-hookup at the party means that they are going to be a Thing now. He brushes off a text from her, and instead cracks a beer by himself on the outskirts of the area surrounding the coliseum. Two boys, perhaps a few years older than him, are kissing. He can barely watch and he can't look away. Nico isn't on social media.

Marti is pulled from his thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Hey beautiful," says Eleanora's brother. Filippo, he's pretty sure.

But Marti doesn't want to talk to him. Talking to someone, having someone recognize him, means that him being here will become reality, and not just something he can lie to himself about having done. Marti hopes that pretending to ignore the bleach-blonde will make him go away. It doesn't. And so he keeps lying, acts like he doesn't know he's in the gay district. Like if it is, he got here by accident. Like maybe... whatever. Filo obviously isn't buying it.

"I just don't understand why all you gay people think that everyone is gay."

("Marti!" Mia exclaims, but he wants her to go away to so he ignores her. Unfortunately, she doesn't vanish, just stays standing next to Filippo with a remarkably similar expression on her face. A brief look in her head tells him she's nervous about something, but it doesn't seem like she wants to share. Just butt in on his problems. Hypocrite.

"Rude" Imann chimes in. She's visiting her grandmother right now and her mind is thick with worry, so Marti lets her, at least, stay with a minimum of grumbling. She, of all of them, probably needs the fresh air most.)

"Fine, so let's use grindr," Filo counters, pulling up the app on his phone.

A part of Marti is jealous of the ease with which he does it. Filo seems so confident in who he is. Another part of him thinks of his mother and knows he could never do it.

"Here we go, caught immediately," Filo declares, pulling up the profile of the guy Marti had declared straight.

He has nice abs. (Mia and Imann agree)

"Top only, yeah you wish. Tested two weeks ago, nice job. And if you wanna know, 24 is not his real age," Filo reads off of the profile.

Marti...can't listen to this. And he wasn't totally lying to Emma about the amount of craft beer he had consumed, so he finds himself emptying the contents of his stomach over the railing behind him.

(Mia's nerves aren't helping, but her hands and Imann's are soothing him, stroking his back, making sure his curls stay out of his face so he guesses its ok.)

"I feel like shit," He says to them and to Filo.

Fillipo offers to drive him home, but having to deal with his mother when he's like this isn't going to go well for anyone. He offers up Elleanora's room first, and after a token protest, Imann accepts for him. He collapses into the bed and doesn't dream.

Emma is late. She knows she's late. However, she's also walking fast, which means while she's the last to arrive to class she definitely gets there before the bell rings. Even better, she has time to talk to Manon before they have to pay attention.

"Hola chica!" she greets.

(Jorge praises her pronunciation which is nice)

"Wow, so energetic this morning!"

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Things will change once she hands back our tests"

("No thanks to you guys," she says to Jorge and Tyler, half teasing.

"We offered to help you study!" Jorge protests.

"But we're not gonna help you cheat" Tyler finishes. "Neither one of us wants more schoolwork."

She harumphs.)

"Did you end up talking to Yann?" Manon asks.

"Friday, yeah, his battery died"

"So he ended up going to that party?"

"Nah, he went to a party hosted by some girl in L. Apparently it was LIT; we should have inspired ourselves to go. Why do you ask?"

She tacks on the last part despite being fully updated from Britt about the latest rumors about Jens. She assumes the ones about Yann are similar.

"No real reason. Do you know if he hooked up with anyone?"

"No, why?"

"I don't know...it seems like the girls he hooks up with is all you two talk about"

"Hang on! We also talk about the guys that I'm going to hook up with."

"All I mean is that you should have guys lining up around the block for you," Manon answers.

"Oh, I know. A total scandal that they aren't running up to me every minute of the day."

And then Manon starts going on about Tinder and Emma isn't sure what's going on with her friend. She's not letting herself be the only victim here though, so she turns the conversation around to Manon's love life. On that topic, however, Manon is as tight-lipped as ever. Even Emma's best guilt trip work isn't enough to get her friend to open up before class starts.

Monday morning while Emma and Manon are having their Boy Talk (and Emma didn't fail her Spanish test after all, so clearly, he and Jorge made the right decision to let her do it herself) Tyler is talking with Shay in the school courtyard before Marlon arrives. He's pretty sure Marlon was with his new girl. They've been spending a lot of time together, including the photoshoot over the weekend, which he had left the songbook behind to get to. Tyler had posted the "upgrade" comment before he thought better of it, and spent a while soothing Emma's feelings over. Suffice to say he's ok with the Shay time. Marlon nods at Megan and Grace before getting to him and Shay.

Tyler holds up the song book, wagging it in Marlon's face as a reminder.

"Sorry dude," Marlon comments, giving him a full blast of puppy-dog eyes before turning them on Shay.

"And dudette" he adds.

Both of them roll their eyes.

"By the way, congrats on turning into Beyonce," Tyler adds while Shay snickers.

Marlon shoves him, but it isn't like he's protesting the hike in attention from women since the SX sessions performance. Or since the girl told all her friends that Marlon went down on her. And then they told their friends, and they told their friends, and...

(He and Marti shudder together at, like, Girls, and Emma sticks out her tongue at them.)

Its kind of funny, actually, Daniel and Joe come walking across the courtyard then, and they don't get nearly the amount of attention that Marlon did. It seems like the tables have turned in favor of the artsy kids. Grace, however, is watching Daniel.

("Not a word." Mia says)

He doesn't say anything when they're watching each other in the cafeteria later either, or when another football player stops at their table to talk to Zoya.

Imann doesn't get back to school until Tuesday, still fairly out of it from the long few days of taking care of her grandmother. She follows Isa, Engel, and Janna as they sit down around Liv. Everyone is pulling out study materials, and she's pretty sure she knows what conversation is about to happen. And sure as Allah made green apples...

"Have you talked to Kes?" Liv asks Isa.

"Yeah, on Saturday. Why?"

"I saw he got a new scooter" Imann contributes, having seen him ride in on it that morning.

That becomes the topic of conversation for a bit, before Liv brings them back to the topic she was originally headed for.

"Do you know if he ended up going out with anyone that night?" she asks.

"No," Isa answers, "turns out going around with your ex isn't the best way to pick up new girls."

They rib each other for a bit, Imann zoning out. Maybe Kes didn't go down on a girl like his equivalents did. Maybe he did and Isa just doesn't know about it. She's so tired. Maybe just a little library nap...

(Britt snickers, thinking of the times that she "fell asleep in the library" back when they were first starting to figure this whole thing out)

Imann is brought back to the present by Engel's sigh, and Isa's question about the state of her heart.

"Has he texted you?" Liv asks.

"No, Noah doesn't reply to any of my texts. But he does post on Insta, and then I start looking at all the comments from girls, and then I end up spending the whole day looking at girls I don't know. I can't help it" Engel laments.

They all process that for a second. Imann wants desperately to say something, but she can't seem to think of what, and neither can anyone else.

It is Jann, of course, who redirects to Liv's love life, breaking the tension as is her skill. Liv shuts down the lesbian theory pretty quick though, so Imann guesses that that answers that question about it all of the Liv/Mias are into girls.The conversation finishes up pretty quickly after that, and they leave Liv to her studying.

Magnus probably should have told Jonas not to go over to where Noora, Eva, Vilde, Ingrid, and Sara were all standing around talking. Though he and Eva were maintaining some kind of odd friendship

("Hey!" Emma protested)

Jonas amd Ingrid were still pretty far from being back on good terms.

("You go that right" Britt confirmed)

All of the rumors about Jonas and the 3rd year girl probably weren't going to help matters either. The problem with Jonas was that once he had an idea in his head, it was going to stay there no matter what.

("I like to think that its a good thing!" Jorge sniffed.)

So off Jonas went. The conversation didn't seem to last very long. The five girls parted around Jonas to head, Magnus assumed, to class, paying no more attention to him that a river would to a stone in its path. Vilde, Magnus couldn't help but notice, looked very pretty.

("Hey, Silvia just pinched Luchino's face when she invited us to the radio staff party. You might be in with a chance" Marti pointed out.

"Is that guy going to be at the party?" Magnus asked, to save Marti from having to bring it up himself.

"Silvia says he will be."

"Good luck.")

Jonas is back by the time Magnus is done talking to Marti, and they walk to Geometry together. Magnus is grateful that Jonas doesn't comment on the girls' behavior, because he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to hold Emma or Britt back from taking over and giving Jonas a piece of their minds if he did.

Mia has dreaded a lot of Friday nights in her life. It is not a common or healthy thing for a girl who isn't even twenty yet to have dealt with, but there it is. Friday night dinners with her parents, Friday nights when she was ... nevermind. Even the occasional Friday night now when she doesn't want to go out but doesn't want to let the girls down. None of them, however, stack up to this dread over what she refuses to call a date with Axel. 

("Alex."

"I know. Shut up.")

Compounding gthe dread, of course, it the guilt over him breaking up with Kiki over it. But she had to do it. She had to. Between the ever-shrinking diet and now the possible breast implants, Kiki was falling further down the rabbit hole every day. Mia refuses to let one of her friends get stuck where she was. No way, no how.

She dresses and undresses, does and undoes her hair and makeup a dozen times. She's just about settled on her hoodie, hair down, lipstick off, when the girls text about going out. Apparently, her lack of response was cause enough to text Hans, as he comes bouncing in a moment later.

"Your friends texted asking what we are doing tonight. So. What are we doing tonight?"

"I already have a date" (Emma) answers.

(Mia smacks her on the shoulder, then looks her in the eye and feels guilty.

"Manon will be fine," Mia says.

"She could have at least come up with a better excuse than a fake birthday party" Emma replies.

Mia doesn't answer.

"You've got a lipstick stain." Emma points out)

Hans does at the same time, so Mia wipes at it with her hand until both give her an approving nod.

"With whom are you going out?" Hans asks.

"That's none of your business"

"OK then, I'll ask your friends"

"NO!" Mia exclaims, snatching the phone out of his hands.

And then she spills the whole damn story out to him. At least, as much as they have time for. And even as she protests, she knows that Hans is right. Kiki is going to end up getting hurt by this. She's just trying to figure out how to make that hurt as small as possible. She leaves him behind in her room, then bikes to where she agreed to meet Alex. The car that pulls up is, in fact, gorgeous. Mia can admit that, and that she's wanted to drive it since she first saw it.

("So do it." says Britt.

"And give me a turn," Jorge adds)

To his credit, he doesn't ask her if she can drive before he gets out of the left seat. Just hesitates for a second then slides out, and hands her the keys with an "ok" as he climbs in the passenger side.

The drive is silent besides him giving her directions.

After a brief post-parking bicker, he opens the door for her. Gentleman-like. Hmph. She's more than a bit proud of herself for figuring out his rooftop plan though, and the smile on his face is something she refuses to call breathtaking. The elevator ride, on the other hand, is the most tense one she's ever been on.

"Did the fact that it was predictable make it less nice?" Alex asks her once they've arrived.

"It makes it more bearable spending time with you" Mia replies.

And Berlin is gorgeous from here, all lit up and bright. A mild Friday like this means that swarms of people are wandering about to get to their plans, and this high up the roar of taxis and buses and trains is muted but not silenced.

(All eight of them line up on the railing for a moment to appreciate the view.

Marti is the last to disappear again. He puts a hand on her shoulder.

"If you need any help..."

"Thanks" she answers, then looks at the boy-Nico-who's kitchen Marti is in.

She can feel the lingering haze of the weed they smoked lingering. They can tell Jorge and Tyler are adding Earl Sweatshirt to their playlists. The sauce for the pasta is almost done, though in Mia's admittedly dubious culinary opinion, it will taste gross.

"Same to you," she replies, and can't help but add "But it doesn't seem like you will")

Alexander brings over a cup of cocoa for himself, even as he tells her about his family's history with the building.

"What's the point of this?" she asks him.

"What?"

"Do you think telling me all of this will convince me to be with you?"

"You are mean."

"I'm serious. Leave it alone."

"Ok. I'll stop talking about my Oma. What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't want to talk. I don't want to get to know you. I don't want to be here. Get it?"

(It's such a contrast tonight. Marti wanting to know more and more about Nico; Mia wanting to shut out everything about Alex. The warmth of the kitchen; the chill of the roof)

"Why are you here then?"

"Because you blackmailed me!"

"I blackmailed you? This, I have to hear."

"Stop playing dumb. i told you that I'm not interested, and you should leave Kiki alone. And then you hit on me while pretending to care about her."

"That counts as blackmail?"

"Because If I didn't come with you tonight, you wouldn't have left her alone. You would have kept hurting her."

"Why don't you just tell her that I'm messaging you but you're not interested?"

"It isn't that simple! That would hurt her too!"

(Britt glares at Mia. Mia ignores her. She can keep shutting down the fact that its complicated without Kiki's involvement too. She has to. She will.)

"Ok, but that just means you're claiming the right to choose how she gets hurt. And that isn't my fault." Alex answers.

Mia loses her words; Imann jumps in.

"You're right." Imann says in Mia's voice. "But If you hadn't hurt her in the first place, we wouldn't be here now. Using her for sex was your fault. Messaging her to get to me was your fault. I'm doing damage control the best I can, and you're right. I am making choices on how she gets hurt for her. But at least I'm trying to make it hurt less. Unlike you."

(Mia's body is out of breath when Imann gives it back to her, but she has plenty of energy to squeeze the Dutch girl tight.)

"And the point of all of this is that I'm not going to be interested in you no matter what." She finishes herself.

"Why?"

This man, Mia thinks to herself, has nerve.

"Because you're a selfish, manipulative, narcissistic control freak. And you're selfish."

"You said selfish already"

"The things you said to Kiki....that she isn't worth it. That she isn't pretty enough...why would you do that?"

"I wanted to hurt her so that she wouldn't develop feelings for me."

"You could have told her you weren't interested without saying such horrible things and ruining her self esteem!"

"If her self esteem is ruined that easily, she must not have had much to begin with."

Again, Mia finds herself as a loss. This time, it is Magnus who takes her voice.

"Maybe that's true. But people can't always control that, and it doesn't make it better for you to mess with what little she had."

"Look at this from my perspective!" Alex interjects as Mia slides back into her own skin again, "She hit on me. She came after me. I didn't tell her to expect anything. And then you come around screaming about my pubic hair in the middle of the schoolyard. How does that make you the good guy in this story?"

"I never said it made me good!" Mia answers. "I only said I was trying to help. Which is more than I can say for you."

"Well after all of this we're back where we started. She's keen on me, I'm not keen on her. So I hope you have a new plan for helping."

She sips the coccoa then, as Alex's phone rings. The part of the conversation that she hears is tense and angry, and the night ends abruptly.

("There's a fight." Britt informs her.)

Mia decides not to think about it, and thinks very hard about not thinking about it until she falls asleep.

Friday night, Jorge stays in. Mia has quite enough happening for them all to be getting on with in one evening, and adding Marti to that too means that he's perfectly content to watch football in his pyjamas. He's glad he did when Marti ends up coming home heartbroken. Apparently Nico has a girlfriend. Jorge lets him hang out in his bed watching the game, even turns the channel to Serie A instead of La Liga.

("I don't know what I missed." Marti whispers.

Jorge has no answer.)

Saturday night, Jorge goes out. There's some party that Eva invited them to, and he has no reason not to go. He spies Nora talking to Alejandro-interesting-and Eva drinking the spiked lemonade with Viri. Girl Chris comes up to join them, her long blonde ponytail swinging. She'll be meeting Amira later, apparently, but right now Eva goes to get her a drink.

In the meantime, Nora is decimating Alejandro again, though it seems like the mood of it has softened somewhat. He's teasing her back, for one thing, and her spines seem to be down a bit. He misses whatever happens next as his turn to take a shot comes around, and when he looks back over Nora is back over with the girls.

"Oh, there's that new girl in my bio class" Dilan says, as a young woman with purple hair enters the garage.

"New girl?"

"Yeah, apparently she just transferred here. Joanna is her name. Maybe I should say hi?"

Jorge is saved from answering when Girl Chris goes over instead. Whatever Joanna says makes Chris roll her eyes and blush, and Jorge starts putting things together in his head.

("I guess Shay isn't the only girl version of herself" Tyler says, sounding relieved.

Marti doesn't say anything but he's definitely watching Chris and Joanna together. He looks...wistful.)

The two girls are still talking to each other, smiling and standing very close together. They break apart when a tan guy with hair even curlier than Jorge's comes up to them. Joanna seems to be introducing them; Jorge catches the name "Eloy" through a break in the music.

(Marti has tensed up as he watches)

Joanna and Eloy kiss. Chris' face falls. All of their hearts break.

"So, did you hear about the beat boys getting in a fight?" Britt greets Jana on Monday morning.

They're not totally friends again, but this gossip is too good not to share around.

"No, what fight?"

"Marie told me about it. Apparently, Wolf, Luka-boy Luka not your Luca obviously,-and Max were leaving the theater the other day and a bunch of guys from that elitest school jumped them."

"That's crazy! But no Senne?"

"No Senne." Britt confirms.

"I wonder why not. And I wonder why it happened."

"He was off with some girl apparently, but he was the one they were looking for."

"Oooh, Senne with a girl. Wonder who."

Britt bites her lip, and reasons it out by thinking that Jana will probably figure out that it was Zoe soon enough. For now, she just shrugs. They're most of the way through the courtyard by now and their respective groups of friends are waving them over. They hug goodbye, and Britt goes about the rest of her day.

Chapter Text

In Austin as in Antwerp, the fight is all anyone can talk about at school. Who was there-Joe, Hunter, another player whose name he really should learn-and who wasn't-Daniel. Why it started. Every detail of it.  Tyler feels guilty. He knows he shouldn't. Being himself is not something he should feel guilty about, and that a bunch of high school football players in Texas-Texas!-were willing to stand up for the gay kid...the only thing he should be feeling here is lucky. Grateful. ("Yeah. You should." Marti says, a little bit bitter.) But still, he can't help but worry. What if this somehow messes up their season? Can't you be suspended for fighting?

Tyler's thought process is interrupted by Jo's voice, echoing across the courtyard.

"Oh. My. God. Here comes a whole bunch of Not Our Boyfriends."

Sure enough, the football players in question are piling out of Daniel's car. Daniel and Joe are in the lead. The rest of the team falls in behind him and Tyler just-he can't help it. He wiggles through the rapidly growing crowd and steps into the path of the oncoming football players. He's not sure what he's actually going to do but-

Joe doesn't hesitate, his arms wrapping around Tyler. Tyler doesn't hesitate to hug him back, their bruised faces resting briefly on each other's shoulders. The hug is brief but when they detach, Joe puts a hand on Tyler's shoulder, bringing him in to the fold. He walks with them through the courtyard.

(He lets Marti take a few steps in his skin, feeling what it feels like to not be afraid. Meanwhile, he checks out this guy that has his cluster-mate in knots. Definitely very cute.) 

They pass the girls at their picnic table, faces following the group like flowers following the sun across the sky. 

("I'm gonna make her tell me." Emma says, after the girls review the fight.

"Must you?"

"Yes. Don't you want someone to talk to who's actually there with you?"

Mia sighs but doesn't argue any more.)

Emma gets the opportunity later that very same day, after lunch. She, Manon, and Daphne are hanging out by the big picture window that overlooks the courtyard. Manon and Emma are mostly on their phones, while Daphne tries to figure out which one of the girls below Charles was out with instead of being at the fight. The topic turns quickly though when Daphne gets bored of that. Instead, she decides to fixate on Manon. Emma is honestly surprised that manon doesn't know about the party though; she may not be the most social but she's certainly very observant. Daphne's conclusion of a hidden girlfriend isn't ideal, but Emma supposes its better than the truth, at least for now.

She's gotta be honest though, something isn't sitting right with her. Something about this morning...oh. The girl who talked to Alex this morning. The one who made him smile, making him look so handsome even with the bruise on his face. The one who had rested her hand so comfortably on his shoulder. Emma can feel her eyes get wide as she recognizes the feeling. She's jealous. Alex is..not hers, but. Well.

Daphne flounces off to class and Emma takes the opportunity to stop thinking about her own deeply disturbing realization to slide down the bench towards Manon. She smiles as widely as she can, blinking innocently. Manon appears suddenly nervous.

"It's you." Emma says, without preamble. "Charles' girl, it's you!"

Manon's face screams confirmation as her mouth gapes, and Emma can't help but get...maybe a little excited.

"Santa Manonita! It's you!" she exclaims, bouncing to her feet.

("Must you be so dramatic," Mia sighs, exasperated but fond as she sings along to Drake while she drives.

Emma isn't sure why Germans have the week off, but one less person's schoolwork to get distracted by is a good thing.)

Manon hushes her in person.

"I only saw him once!" she exclaims, like she expects Emma to believe that will be the end of it.

"You're crazy if that's what you think!" Emma can't help but reply as Manon continues to try and calm her down.

"I did it for Daphne! He said he would stop using her if I went out with him!"

"Merde! I feel like I'm in Gossip Girl!" 

("Sci-fi gossip girl," Magnus cuts in, amused.)

Emma ignores him as Manon goes, "Do you understand why I can't go to the party?"

Okay, seriously?

"No."

"Daphne isn't gonna give up until she knows who the girl is! If I go, he'll be all over me and she'll definitely figure it out!"

Emma has to admit...

"That actually makes sense. Merde! Girl, you're in deep."

"I just hope Daphne doesn't ask Charles too many questions. I don't trust him at all"

"Ugh. It really is Gossip Girl. What will happen on the next episode?"

"There isn't going to be a next episode!"

Emma doesn't need to be in a Manon-clone's head to know that neither of them believe that.

Germany is off school for a week for some teacher-program-thing, and a trip up to Hanna's family cabin at the lake had seemed like just the thing. It's been a fun trip so far, gossiping and giggling with everyone. The fortune telling had certainly been fun, and Mia felt herself choking up as she gave her speech. She hands the champagne mike off to Kiki, because Kiki was the one to bring them together. She should be the one doing this. Sure enough, Kiki speaks up, tipsy but sure.

"Every one of you has become so important to me, and I know I can count on every single one of you. Amira, Hanna, Sam, and Mia, you are all so, so special. And I love you."

They gather in for a group hug.

"We love you too!" Someone says, speaking for them all.

They pop the champagne and light the sparklers, oohing and aahing over the glow. It is truly a wonderful night, full of hugs and kisses and the fireworks lighting up the dark, just close enough to reflect off of the water. It shimmers under the crescent moon, and Mia can't remember the last time she was this content.

They've moved on to the selfie stage of the night when Kiki's phone pings with a voicemail from Alex. In all the hubbub, they must have missed the ring entirely. Mia pushes down her pang of worry. Probably just a simple "we need to talk." Surely Alex wouldn't do anything tonight would he? Not on the Tuesday night of their week off?

He wouldn't.

He couldn't.

He did.

Mia lets Emma and Imann help to comfort Kiki while she hides in a corner of her own mind.

Wednesday, after school, all seven of them decide to get their nails done. Jayden had been invited, but declared it "not his jam." Imann, Liv, Isa, and Esra are sitting in a row waiting for their fingernails to dry. Janna and Engel are in the process of getting theirs done and Ralph, who had elected to get a pedicure instead, is participating in the conversation by calling over from the other room. Mostly, they're discussing the upcoming fundraiser, but Liv seems pretty distracted from the main conversation. 

("Gee, wonder why?" Tyler snarks.)

She keeps glancing down at her phone, and Imann can't help but notice that Liv's conversation with Noah is what's on screen. She tunes back in when Engel asks her about singing though.

"I've...got a bit of a sore throat," she says. "I don't know if I'll be able to sing."

Imann and Isa exchange a look behind Liv's head. 

"Sore throat?" Isa asks, as Engel exclaims "But you're the only act of the night!"

"We have the dancers too," Janna points out, before addressing the nail tech about her manicure.

"What are you doing?" Isa asks Liv, as she glances at the screen yet again.

"Is she looking at her phone again?" demands Ralph.

"YES!" Esra calls back, as Liv chides "Guys, don't be so childish!"

How she thinks she's being subtle, Imann will never know. Esra and Isa have clearly figured out that something is going on, and they don't even have Imann's extra advantage.

"You're bringing out the Sherlock in me" Isa says, playfully. 

Imann nods in agreement while Liv rolls her eyes.

"You are going to sing though, right?" Engel demands, determined to keep them on track.

Liv is spared from having to answer by Ralph and his ticklish feet yelping from the other room.

It's one of those Thursdays that should absolutely be a Friday, and Jorge finds himself even more jealous of Mia and her week of, all drama aside. To take the edge off, he goes with Eva, Lucas, and Cris to a cafe. They lean against the railing and chat, with Eva eventually suggesting that they check out guys. Lucas, of course, agrees enthusiastically. They both turn puppy dog eyes on him, and he rolls his eyes and agrees to play along just for fun. They go a few rounds, and apparently, if Jorge was into guys, his taste would be far closer to Eva's than Lucas'. Who knew?

Cris isn't saying much, just rolling a cig and staring at her phone. He walks over from his spot by Lucas to stand next to her. He obviously doesn't know exactly wht's going on, but judging by Marti's increasingly flimsy excuses to Emma Covitti, he can make a pretty educated guess. Besides, Lucas and Eva are talking about her whatever-it-is with Boy Chris. That's not exactly a conversation Jorge wants to be a part of.

He's about to try and say something to Cris, when he notices her staring at something. He follows her gaze to see two women, laughing and kissing. 

(In America, and Germany, Tyler, and Mia smile.)

In Spain, Cris lights her cigarette. More women have joined the group she was looking at, and one of them seems to be making eye contact. Jorge is going to make a comment about her being pretty, maybe try to break the ice, when Eva breaks in with a question about Girl Cris' opinion on the Boy Chris saga. Jorge, not that he really has a right to an opinion here, thinks she should probably just go for it. It seems like the other guy makes Eva happy, and really that's all he's ever wanted for her.

"You've been in your own world lately," Eva observes to Cris. 

"I was distracted!" Cris defends herself.

They're about to get back on topic when the pretty girl asks Cris for a lighter, not sparing the rest of them a glance.

Cris lights the cigarette, but then brushes off a compliment on her nails from the other girl. Definitely odd; Cris can usually go on for a while about her cosmetics. The other girl looks a tad hurt, but says her "ciao's," this time to all of them, and then flounces away.

"You were sort of rude," Jorge can't help but observe.

Cris looks startled, like she forgot he was there, and then her expression goes defensive.

"I don't know why she was flirting with me. Do I look like a dyke?"

Jorge can feel his expression of shock mirrored on Eva and Lucas' faces.

"All she did was compliment you and ask for your Insta! You wouldn't have treated a guy like that!" Lucas exclaims.

"That would be different!"

"What, lesbians can't flirt? Or they can only do it away from "normal" people?" Lucas demands.

Cris looks over to Jorge, maybe looking for support, but he's got none to give. He understands what Cris is going through, thanks, Marti, but right now she's being a dick to his best friend and he's not going to let that slide. 

"That isn't what I said!" She answers, definitely on the defensive now.

She turns to Eva this time.

"Wouldn't you think it was weird if a girl suddenly tried to flirt with you?"

"With all the annoying dudes in the world? No way! They're way worse than her. I would just tell her I'm not into girls and that's it. Though I did make out with one once at a party," She muses with a giggle. "Anyways, I don't know why you acted like that." Eva concludes.

"Me? I don't know why you are all acting like this!" Cris cries. "It isn't that big of a deal!"

"Yes, it is!" Lucas says, clearly incensed. "You're acting like being straight is the only normal way to be. What is normal anyways? What most people do? And if you're not the same as them you should just hide away or lie?"

"Calm down! You act like having a youtube channel makes you the ultimate guru or something."

The situation is rapidly deteriorating, with Eva quite literally stuck in the middle.

"There is something much more important here!" She exclaims, over the increasingly heated conversation, "I am out of beer and I have no money!"

Jorge steps around Cris to help Eva stand up and get out from between them, saying "Sounds like we need to find a solution."

Eva gives him a grateful look and goes "Come on, we didn't come here to argue! Let's go to the store."

Cris and Lucas glare at each other over Eva and Jorge's heads, but both follow when Eva gives a commanding "Vamos!"

Magnus isn't sure what Jonas or Isak are up to tonight, but he and Mahdi had no reason to avoid William's party so they wander over around 8:45. Already, the dance floor is packed and most comfortable places to sit have been claimed by a couple making out. Their first stop is the kitchen for drinks, and then they find a place to lean against that wall to stand and sip. Occasionally they chat a bit, but mostly they're just people watching. After a large red solo cup's worth of  booze, however, he is definitely feeling the need for a pit stop.

Magnus wanders through the apartment, only to find a crying Vilde in the bathroom. 

"Can I...can I help?" he asks, hesitant.

He wonders if she'll ask for Chris, like she must have at that party almost a year ago, but instead she hiccups and says "I think Eva is around here somewhere."

He nods and finds the redhead, filling her in on the situation before finding another bathroom, and then another drink. And then another drink. And then he says hi to Sara. And then gets another drink. And then he has just enough time to catch Mahdi's eye as he runs for the front door because this cannot wait for a bathroom. He's puking his guts up in front of the apartment complex, (Imann gingerly patting his back and her grandmother's through a coughing fit at the same time,) when he sees who he's pretty sure is Noora out of the corner of his eye. Eva must have called. Good, Vilde will have another person looking out for her.

Jonas follows soon after, waving at Magnus and calling "Headed in," as he passes.

Magnus nods in response. He's pretty sure he's done hurling, but a little more fresh air wouldn't hurt.

(He's about to go back in when Tyler shows up going "You do NOT want to go in there."

"THERE'S A FIGHT!" Emma contributes, phenomenally drunk and, from what he can tell, leaning on a somewhat displeased Yann)

Sure enough, the cops are coming up the driveway just as Jonas, Eva, and Mahdi come out of the house, all looking a little worse for the wear. A parade of other partygoers soon follows, and Magnus rushes to catch up with his friends. They've made it a few blocks when a couple of very obvious questions occur to him.

"What happened to Vilde?"

"Caaaaaaabbbb" Eva slurs.

"And isn't that Noora's coat and purse?"

"OOPS!" says Eva.

("Oh, shit." says Mia.)

As one tends to do, Britt had HUSTLED out of Senne's place when the police had shown up. Sara had gotten her own cab home, since she lived in the opposite direction, and most of the other members of Blonde Ambition had actually called it a pretty early night.  She'd caught glimpses of everyone else leaving safely as well, battle royale aside, and now its just Britt, the five blocks to her house, and the voices in her head.

(Magnus and Tyler are the ones to appear. They walk on either side of he down the sidewalk, taking up the entire strip on concrete.

"You shouldn't be walking home alone," Magnus observes, worried.

"Says the guy who was just holding his own hair back" Tyler snarks, making Britt laugh.

"Really, five blocks isn't far," she says, "I've done it before and I'll probably do it again."

"Yeah, but still, you don't have to do it alone." Magnus answers, looping an arm through hers. 

"Are we going to see the wizard?" she asks, as Tyler takes the other side.

"Overdone reference" Imann professes, nonetheless joining in on Magnus' other side when she appears.

"No such thing." Magnus replies. "And hey, shouldn't you like, not be touching me?"

"I don't think the normal rules apply when you can take over each other's bodies" comes the answer.

"Makes sense. How's your grandmother?" Britt asks, while the other two nod in agreement.

"Getting stronger. I'm hoping to be able to get back to somewhat normal by next school year. It would be nice to have one less thing to worry about."

"I'm glad," Tyler answers for all three of them, meaning it wholeheartedly.

"Me too."

"You guys can let go now" Britt says drily as they arrive at her door.

"Aww, but we wuuuuuuv you," Tyler replies, clinging closer and reminding them that he's not sober either in the process. 

"Everyone does!" Britt sing-songs, detangling herself. "Sleep well all!")

They vanish, and Britt stumbles up the stairs to bed.

Marti has to be honest, the conversation Jorge witnessed with Cris the other day was...uncomfortably similar to the one he had with his friends in the gym. And now here he and Nico are, standing outside of the dumpsters. After staring each other down while making out with other people. Making out with girls. And then the party had ended abruptly with the announcement that Silvia's parents would be arriving home early. Eva and Sana had turned into generals, commanding an army of high school kids into an impressively fast party take down. Somehow, both Marti and Nico had been assigned trash duty and now here they are in a stinking alleyway and...and they're talking about Nico's girlfriend.

His perfect, beautiful girlfriend, who has nicknames for him. Who he has evidently known his whole life. Who helped to take care of him when he was young.

Who he can't break up with? Because she has a...condition? That needs treatment? Something about..its a joke. And if its a joke, if there is no reason that Nico can't break up with her. And if Nico can break up with her, that means...

Marti's train of thought vanishes as Nico's pinky brushes his. The slightest touch and he feels more fireworks than he ever did kissing Sara, or dancing with Covitti earlier, or ever. He has never felt like this in his life and he moves he own hand slightly over so their little fingers can intertwine. He stares at them, interlocked, and when he looks up to catch a glimpse of Nico's sharp-chiseled profile, he instead is looking at him head on because Nico is staring at him. 

He is beautiful. This man is beautiful. Nico is beautiful.

And he's looking at Marti with those lovely, piercing eyes like he thinks Marti is too.

He's leaning in, and so is Nico, and it doesn't matter that they're leaning against trash cans, doesn't matter that he's gonna need to wash his hair forever to get the stink out, all that matters is Nico, Nico, Nico, closer and closer and closer and-

the door clicks open. A hoard of teenagers swarming out of Sylvia's house. Emma and Maddalena, Marti's date and Nico's girlfriend for crying out loud, are last in line, spotting them and waving them into the fray.

(When Marti gets home, he doesn't even realize that it's a bed in America that he collapses into until Tyler comes out of the bathroom. 

Tyler doesn't say a word, just strokes Marti's back as he sobs and pretends that he doesn't know why.)

Chapter Text

Barking dog is hardly Britt's preferred wake up call, but it's the one she gets the morning after the party. Actually, she gets two of them, yipping and jumping around her on the bed. Britt groans and covers her eyes with a pillow briefly before rolling out of bed. She takes a minute to drink some water and run to the bathroom herself, then slides into a pair of fuzzy socks and slides. She refills the water glass, leaving it on the little table by the door while snags a light jacket. She may be staying in the yard, but Belgium isn't exactly warm this time of the year.

Bundled up properly, Britt opens the door and hustles the dogs out back. Sitting on the stoop, she sips her water while they run around the chain link-fenced yard, doing their business and inspecting for any dramatic changes since they last went out. 

Through the links in the fence, a tall-ish, blonde figure is walking rapidly past, coming from the direction of Senne's place. Britt would be a liar if she said that it was an unusual occurrence. What is somewhat surprising is the identity of the person, clear despite being hunched over. Zoe Loockx stayed the night at Senne's. Britt supposes that wherever Zoe lives can't be too far if she's willing to walk it, especially this early in the morning, but it is kind of perplexing that she wouldn't have just gone home the night before if that's the case.

(Magnus and Emma explain to her about the jacket-taking situation. Makes sense, kinda, but couldn't Zoe have just borrowed Senne's phone. As one, they all turn to look at Mia.

"Don't look at me, I was playing laser tag with the my-year boys last night," she defends.

"No parties here either," Imann says in support.)

Zoe's figure is retreating by now, and Britt whistles for the dogs. Making sure they're inside and the door is locked, she spares a thought to wonder if Zoe said anything to Senne before leaving and then goes back to bed to continue sleeping off her hangover.

This week, France and Norway are on their winter breaks, and Emma and Magnus walk to Alexia and Isaak's cabins with each other's groups. The weather is a bit nicer in France than in Norway, and the walk is longer, so they spend most of their time there. Emma doesn't really mind, more company is not a bad thing for the hike out and talking out loud takes a lot of breath. She's especially glad for hist company when a figure pops up in front of the girls, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Well, we can ask him for directions and hope he isn't a serial killer," Daphne says, pragmatically. 

Alexia is the one to step forwards. 

"So, we're looking for a house near here. we're not sure exactly where." she says.

"We've been waiting for you." says the guy.

("You'll protect me if he attacks right?"

Magnus snickers, having just gotten comfy with a spiked hot cocoa in front of the fire.

"Of course.")

"Everything is ready." the boy goes on.

"You take care of my grandmother's house?" Alexia questions.

The boy confirms it, and the girls head on their way with a warning about the electricity being a bit sketchy at the moment.

"My name is Romain," the boy adds, as they pass him.

("Poor dude is just shy," Magnus says, softening.

"Alright, alright. But he did say 'we' and not 'I' when he said the cabin was ready."

"...that is a bit creepy.")

Romain spoke the truth though, and in short order, they have arrived at Alexia's country house. Inside is nothing like Emma expected. Everything is sleek and modern, some taxidermy the only concession to the rural setting. The girls all look around, a bit awed, until Alexia shows them to their rooms. They settle in, and as night falls, gather around a roaring fire in the fireplace with candles glasses of wine.

("This is nice," Emma says, as Daphne goes on about Charles. 

Magnus, in a similar position at Isak's cabin, agrees.

"Happy break Emma," He says, hugging her.

"Happy break Magnus," she answers, squeezing back.)

Alexia's guitar playing is a nice addition to the atmosphere. Manon appears absorbed in her book-Emma doesn't know how, with Daphne going on about Charles like this-and Imane is poking around on the shelves. She finds a creepy horror movie mask and puts it on, pretending to be Romain. Obviously, hooking him up with Daphne to help her move on is a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, Alexia can't get a signal on her phone, so that goes out the window almost as soon as it appears. Manon suggests board games next, and Alexia heads to the closet to grab a few.

"Hey, Imane, do you have to wear the hijab even though it's only girls here?" Daphne asks.

Emma was wondering that herself, but she had been figuring she could just ask her own Dutch Imann at some point.

(Speaking of which, Imann has just appeared, seemingly wondering about her almost-name-twin's answer.)

"I never HAVE to wear it." Imane responds, but before Daphne can reply, Alexia returns with a ouija board.

("Those things are sooooo fake," Mia says. "The name literally comes from putting the word 'yes' from our two languages together."

"But they are fun, oui?" Emma asks, and stares at Mia until she cracks and giggles.

"Ja.")

The topic is mostly boys, of course, and Emma asks about Yann because Alex is just a liiiitle too close to Charles for comfort. On that note, she's glad when the board suggests Romain for Daphne, and Alexia and Manon join in her "Team Romain," chant. Asking the board where Romain is instead of just waiting for Alexia to get service seems a little over the top, but hey, whatever works. 

The board says that Romain is here, and yeah, that is creepy.

There's a knock and they all jump. Manon, being Manon, starts trying to think of a logical explanation, but when the lights flicker, they all of them jump into each other's arms.

"Imane! Imane!" Daphne cries, worried, and merde, where is their other friend?

It seems as good a time as any to head off to bed, but Emma definitely has some trouble getting to sleep

Morning at the cabin dawns bright and clear, though it is hardly still morning when Jonas, Isak, Mahdi, and Magnus finally drag themselves out of bed. They go outside for a quick smoke, shivering in the cold, before hurrying back in to the warmth for breakfast. After they've eaten, everyone settles in to comfy living room chairs.

Isak, Mahdi, and Jonas pull up a round of FIFA, but Magnus isn't quite in the mood. Instead, he pulls out his laptop and looks at more sensate information. He compares what the internet says to Mia's knowledge from her BPO visit, as well as their personal experiences. It's interesting stuff. Also, he and his cluster-mates seem to be ahead of the curve on figuring out the visiting/sharing thing, and Magnus can't help but feel proud. Maybe they've been forced to since they haven't had a parent to guide them.

"What are you reading dude?" Jonas calls over.

"Just some stuff about brain chemistry?"

"Brain chemistry? What for?"

"It's interesting stuff man. And knowing more might help me help my mom."

Isak looks over at the mention of a mom with mental problems, but he doesn't say anything and it isn't any of Magnus' business until he does.

"Can that stuff get passed down?" Mahdi asks.

"Sometimes. But I'm more looking at information of different types of brain matter than the genetic aspect of it right now."

"So do you think something might be in your head?"

Magnus hesitates, not sure how much he wants to say.

"Not sure yet. You guys will be the first ones I tell though."

The boys seem content to return to their game after that, and Magnus decides not is as good a time as any to see how Emma and her girl squad are faring in Norway.

("Not. Well." Emma sighs, someone exasperated. "Daphne talked about Charles all through breakfast, and wouldn't eat when Manon offered her bread. She claims she has a gluten allergy, but all the symptoms she described were..."

"Anorexia." Mia says. "Kiki was doing the same sort of thing at the cabin last week. I'm really worried"

"Yes. Also, Alexia was finally able to contact her grandmother. She had no idea who Romain was. On top of all of that, the electricity is still out."

At that moment, Manon grabs Daphne to help cook lunch.

"Maybe she'll be able to help," Imann chimes in, joining them to get an update from Magnus on his research.

"I didn't have much luck, but I hope she will," Mia replies.)

Speaking of food, Mahdi is nudging him in Norway. Apparently lunch is ready, and the smell of roasting potatoes drifting over from France is definitely making Magnus hungry.

("Your accent is really good" Mia tells her as Imann, Isa, and Janna practice their German before class, as Engel looks on.

"Thanks. We have an exam coming up, would you mind helping me study?"

"Of course I'll help!"

"Danke")

Seriously though. Why can't she be the one with the week off?

Their practicing is interrupted by the arrival of Liv. The five of them spend a minute shooting the shit about the frustration of early school days and comforting Engel over the disappointing results of the fundraiser. Engel of course, is more focused on Noah.

"I'm just worried about him missing his exams," she explains.

"How do you know his exam schedule?"

"Doesn't everyone know other people's exam schedules?"

"No." Isa declares, before Imann can.

"He's definitely going to miss them if he doesn't come in tomorrow!" Engel protests.

"He has other things on his mind," Imann says.

"I know that. That's why I'm so worried."

"Who was he with when he found out?" Janna asks, "Apparently it was a girl."

Liv shifts uncomfortably.

("Damn, Liv got the short end of the stick on this one. Manon just ended up at Charles' place because of a party." Emma observes, as Tyler nods in agreement.

"Same with Noora and William," Magnus contributes.

"And Zoe and Senne" says Britt, though they knew already from witnessing Zoe's walk home.

As one, they turn to look at Mia.

"Alex is hosting a yearbook thing this weekend." Mia mumbles, barely discernible. Then, more clearly, "But I am NOT going to get stuck there.")

Engel is now trying to figure out the identity of Noah's mysterious girl. Thankfully, the class bell rings, sending them all scattering. Liv, however, stays behind to make a call. If gambling wasn't prohibited in Islam, Imann would put good money on the recipient. From the look on Isa's face, she would too.

Jorge DEFINITELY should not be snooping on this conversation ("You really shouldn't be," Magnus interjects unhelpfully) but, fuck, Marti had been so upset after the party last weekend. Jorge had joined Tyler in comforting their friend after the almost-kiss and, well, it seems like Mia is a bit behind on staying the night at Alex's. Maybe something has happened with his Cris here that will give Marti some hope. Something to look forward to at that party this weekend.

At first, he thinks that there's no point. Amira and Cris are mostly just talking about their friendship, with Amira feeling hurt and Cris contrite. He doesn't hear much, just that Cris missed some event that was important to Amira. Her birthday maybe? Something along those lines. She claims she was just working on a project, but Jorge can see that Amira isn't really buying it. Being Amira, of course, she doesn't let it slide, just calls Cris on her BS.

"It just all sounds like excuses, girl," she says to the tall blonde, "like you're looking for reasons not to hang out with me any more. Which is fine, if you don't. But tell me that!"

"That isn't is at all!" Cris protests, as Jorge follows them down the hall.

"But it seems pretty obvious that it is! You never come to see me, you barely even talk to me. You used to tell me everything, and now...nada."

"It isn't that, I swear! We're still friends! Like always!"

They're out in the open now, and Jorge is worried he'll have to find a hiding place, but the girls seem pretty focused on each other.

"Admit it Cris! It has been so awkward lately, and you've been avoiding me."

There's nothing but silence, and Jorge is beginning to lose hope.

"Look at me Cris. Why don't you trust me anymore?"

"I do trust you," Cris replies, and Jorge can hear the catch in her voice from here.

"That's not true," Amira answers.

"Amira, wait."

Amira turns, and Cris' words come rushing out.

"I like someone. A girl. We kissed on Saturday and...and I didn't know how to tell you. I've been so confused and scared and I know that Muslims do horrible things to gay people and...and...and you were having that whole conversation with my mom about tradition and family and...and you're laughing."

"Oh Cris," says Amira, "You can't believe everything you read on twitter. Islam is about love; it teaches me not to judge anyone for who they are. People who use it as an excuse for bigotry...that is them being cruel, not the religion. As for what I said to your mom, I just wanted to win her over, not to scare you. And besides. No one is gonna stop me from being your friend."

(In Italy, Sana is telling Marti much the same about Islam. He feels marginally better, especially hearing it from two sources. And, of course, hearing that Cris and her crush kissed doesn't hurt.)

"Are you sure?" Cris asks Amira.

"100%."

"OK, but don't tell anyone. Not even the girls."

"Of course not. But I want a picture!"

Jorge leaves them to it.

(Marti lets out a gasp of relief. Sana gives him an odd look, so he tells he's doing breathing exercises before they record. She doesn't seem to fully believe him, but lets it go.)

Friday night, Tyler goes to the fundraiser party with Shay, her beard-yeah, yeah, his name is Nic, but really-Marlon, and Marlon's new girl-yes he should know her name, but there's gonna be another one soon so what's the point. It sucks a little, being the only single person. However, the band is getting more and more well known, so he has plenty of people to talk to and he's pretty sure that one of the guys is someone he saw on grindr the other day.

He's back with Shay and Nic when Megan comes stumbling over. She's waaaay too drunk for so early in the night. Unfortunately, that seems to be becoming her regular routine. He's not sure quite what to do, but there's no harm being done to anyone but herself really. That is, until she puts her arms around Shay's shoulders and plants a firm but sloppy kiss on the other girl's lips. Now there's a problem.

"Okay, get off her," he says, stepping between them to push Megan back. "Look, I know you're feeling psycho right now but leave Shay alone." Tyler continues, moving himself in front of his bandmate.

Thankfully, Kelsey and Grace have rushed over, and Kelsey is holding Megan and walking her away. Grace, however, looks like she's gearing up for a fight. Tyler is Not In The Mood. He gets it-there's shit going on with everyone (even if all the hubbub in France was just Alexia and her Imane playing a prank,) but Megan knew-knows-how Shay felt about her. Kissing her drunk at a party is just messed up and manipulative.

"Tell her to leave my friends alone," he says to Grace, shooing them off with a wave of his hand.

"Ok, well, you leave us alone," She replies.

Tyler wants to point out that he's not the one who went stumbling across the party just to slobber all over someone in a pretty precarious mental state, but Grace is already gone, following Megan and Kelsey. She peels off soon though, and Tyler shoots one last glare her way in case she's coming back. Instead, Grace is moving towards the bathrooms. Also, in the direction of Daniel, but that isn't any of his business.

Not his business when Daniel himself strides through the party and out the door a couple of moments later.

Not his business when Grace follows, practically sprinting.

Mia must admit, she's spent a decently large portion of her Friday plotting how to Not Get Stuck at Alex's. Don't get her wrong she's rather not go at all ("suuuuuuure," Britt and Tyler comment, in unison,) but she isn't one to let her friends down. The point is reinforced when Hanna texts as she's brushing her teeth, asking for an ETA.

"On my way!" Mia replies.

The next text is from Alex, saying he has a toothbrush for her. She can't help the brief smile, before reminding herself that she isn't going to need it. No way. She leaves the apartment. 

Her keys, she realizes, are still inside but her phone is charged, and Lynn may be with her parents tonight but Hans will be home around midnight. She texts him to double check as she heads downstairs, and he replies in the affirmative. 

They all go through the comments that have been made about them for the yearbook, and though she sticks to her guns about not crossing any of her own comments out, she has to admit Leonie has a point. Chasing down everyone in the class would be a pain. Alex, of course, is the one to come up with a solution, a compromise. Give everyone two weeks to look over the comments. If they don't take advantage, they're SOL. Leonie has just agreed to the new plan when the doorbell rings announcing pizza delivery, and since Mia had been the last one to go anyways, The meeting turns into a low-key party. It is fun, Mia admits. everyone seems to be getting along well; there's plenty of pizza, beer, and good music to go around.

She goes to the bathroom (and okay, maybe lets Britt and Emma convince her to snoop a little,) but as she's finishing up, she gets a text from Hans announcing 1AM as his new expected return time.

"Fuck."

Leonie, Amira, and Hanna are the only ones still there when she gets out of the bathroom, and all three of them have plans. Double fuck. The door closes behind them, and then its just her and Alex in the  big, sparse apartment. Surprisingly enough, he seems as awkward as her. The other bathroom door opens, revealing another committee member, and then he too is gone, Alex smiling after him rather fondly. They both chuckle.

"And you?" He asks.

"I left my keys at home, and my roommate won't be home until one. I'll go to a movie or something to kill the time though."

"I can drive you home after I clean up,"

"I told you I'm not going to let you drive me anywhere,"

"I can call my chauffeur,"

She stares at him.

"Does he really have a chauffeur? Is he really that rich? No. Maybe?" He says, narrating her thoughts. Its a mock, but a gentle one.

("Judging by this apartment, I'm going with yes," Britt observes)

"I'm making cocoa," he declares-half an invitation, and then "I'm out of milk. Do you like rosehip tea?

"Mhm."

Mia wanders around the apartment a bit. It is stunning, she'll give him that one. The mural on the wall is fantastic.

"This is a condo right?" she asks, trying to fill the silence.

"Mmmhmm. It was my sister's. Do you take milk?"

"Yes. What's this?" she asks.

"Nothing," he answers.

It isn't nothing. Its an upright piano.

(Faint rap music in Italian is playing in her head. Nico certainly makes a very handsome dracula, sitting on a stool on the other side of Emma Covitti and Maddalena.)

"Do you play?" she asks Alex "Or is it here to impress girls?"

"No," he says, to both, she assumes. 

She sits down at the bench. The motions of opening up the piano are familiar, and she does so without thinking as she speaks.

"Seriously though. Why are you so nice all of a sudden?"

"Can you play?" he asks. A question for a question. Typical. In the dim light leaking in from the hallway, Alex is handsome too. Well. She's never denied that bit.

"Of course." She tells him, though she hasn't in a bit.

"Really?"

(Imann echoes him, then says "You and Liv and Tyler could all work together." 

Tyler is busy comforting Shay, but he agrees.)

"Really."

"Don't lie."

"Why would I?"

"To make fun of me."

"I can play."

"Do it then."

"I don't feel like it," she says, even though she does, wouldn't have started this if she didn't.

She's not sure how she convinces him to pay 50 euros for it

("Because he adores you," Britt says.

"He adores me," Marti says, a hope, as he and Nico talk while the girls are in the bathroom.)

She starts with some children's songs, to warm up as well as to bust Alex. When he runs out of patience...

She thinks for a second, puts her hands on the keys, and her fingers play Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" without her permission.

And then she has nowhere to stay because Hans met some guy, and then she has too many places to stay because Hans' one night stand was a bust and Hanna says of course Mia can come over and all in a rush she realizes why the others got stuck. They didn't. They wanted to stay and so does she, so she pays him his 50 Euros back for a stay at "Hotel Hardenberg," and doesn't make him sleep on the floor. He sees the texts from Hanna and Hans, but he doesn't say anything besides "Good night Mia," and she's glad she did.

("He looks lovely shirtless" is her last thought before bed, and she didn't look but she's sneakily glad Britt did.)

Marti feels like he's flying, riding on the back of Nico's bike. Tonight is the night, he knows it, (really does thanks to Jorge's spying,) and since he does, he can relax and enjoy the journey there. Their costumes are billowing behind them in the cool Roman night, and the lights of the eternal city are glowing. Nico brings them to some old building, and they break in by squeezing through the partially-lifted gate. It doesn't really matter where they are, Marti realizes as they make there way through the building. He would follow the older boy anywhere. 

They wander through the basement until they pop out at a massive, Olympic-sized pool.

"Did I mention I was a water polo champion as a child?" Nico asks.

"No..."

"I used to come here every day"

"Look, I don't want to be a Debbie Downer and tell you that we're going to get caught, but I'm pretty sure they can," (and while usually Marti is grateful for Magnus' pragmatism, he does NOT appreciate that,)

"I used to come here all the time at night. We even threw a whole team party once. The guard is super deaf."

That makes everyone, Marti included, feel better. The joking around makes him feel less nervous as he sheds his layers, and then they're hurling each other into the pool and Marti has just enough time to take a breath before they're in. Its a childish discussion-who can hold their breath longer- but Nico is drawing closer and closer in the lapping water and Marti needs-a breath, so to speak. 

The count off together.

One.

Two.

Three.

And then its just him and Nico, Nico and him. They're facing each other beneath the surface, hair billowing in clouds around them. Marti floats, and Nico reaches out in quick little jabs. Marti doesn't stop him, just savors the contact. And then Nico surges forward and kisses him, the quickest brush of lips ever to take Marti's breath away and so he surfaces. Nico follows, grinning.

"You lost," Nico says, and no, Marti thinks, he didn't, but he keeps the game going anyways.

"What? I lost because you cheated!"

"Cheated?"

"Cheated!"

"You think there are rules down here?"

"Of course! I want revenge!"

"Revenge?"

"Yes, rematch. And you can't touch me," Marti says, knowing as he does that its the furthest thing from the truth.

"Ok," Nico agrees, even though Marti is pretty sure he feels the same.

One.

Two.

Three.

They're barely down when Marti kisses him, wrapping his arms around Nico as the other boy does the same. They float there, overhead light glowing like a yellow sun through the water, kissing. When they do come up, a beautiful forever later, they're both panting and smiling and Nico cups his head and kisses him again and this...this is where he belongs. With Nico. Kissing him, touching him, being with-

"What the fuck are you doing?" says a voice from the doorway, and they scramble out of the pool, clothes, can't forget clothes, out through the creepy basement

-"Thought he was deaf?"

"I haven't been here in a decade!"-

to the bike and then back to Marti's apartment, blessedly dark, Filo is probably partying. 

"Stay," he says to Nico, not wanting the night to end.

"I  will," says Nico, and kisses him.

Chapter Text

Mia wakes up alone, the other side of the bed already cold. There's no music playing, no water running. She sits up, stretching and looking for a sign of life, and is rewarded with a sticky note on the back of her phone.

"Needed to go. Sorry. You were snoring. <3"

She wasn't? Was she? Well. Anyways, she needs to get home. Mia dithers with the linens for a moment, eventually folding them at the end of the bed. In the living room, the pizza boxes are stacked neatly, beer bottles lines up in rows. There's also a silver thermos, with another sticky note. 

"Ran out of coffee, so I made you more rosehip tea."

She puts it on top of the other one on her phone, then gathers her things. Shoes, coat, purse. There's one last sticky note on the front door, almost exactly at her eye-level.

"Hotel Hardenberg thanks you for your visit. See you next time :)"

Mia opens the door, smiling, Perhaps she will be back, at that. On the other side of the door, there's a guy, about her age.

"Hi. I'm Bjorn, a friend of Alex's" he introduces himself. 

Polite, but there's a bit of an odd air to him. Something just slightly skewed.

"He's not in actually, and I was just leaving."

"Alright, have a good one."

Mia thinks she's going to get away clean, but partway down the stairs, she hears

"What's your name?"

She hesitates, but there's really no good reason not to, so "Mia."

"Bye Mia"

"Bye,"

Further down, her phone buzzes with a text: one last note from Alex. 

"So are you awake? Found everything? I'm away in London for a few days. Real estate business. #ishereallythatrich"

She answers "I did :)" and debates mentioning Bjorn, but the other boy had seemed perfectly comfortable in the apartment so she doesn't really see the need. Instead, as she reaches street level, she realizes she's within a few blocks of BPO. Might as well see if Daya has any more information.

("Wanna join me?" she sends out to everyone.

"Sounds interesting, but I'm ok where I am," says Marti, curled up in Nico's arms.

Most of the rest of the cluster is hungover, so its just Imann who joins her.)

Mia heads straight to the front desk again, not making eye contact. It would be a little less jarring than the first time, she's sure, but she's still not entirely ready. When she gets there, she introduces herself and snags a visitor badge before being send up to Daya's office.

"Mia! How are you?" the other woman greets in her Indian-accented German. "Have any of your cluster come with you?"

"I'm really well actually. Imann is here, she's Dutch and she's studying to be a doctor. Marti wanted to join but he was busy."

"Alright, just the three of us then."

"So, have you narrowed down who our parent might be?" Imann asks, taking over Mia's speech.

"Lovely to meet you Imann! Yes, we actually have, a bit. There are a few prominent sensates running for public office right now, and they're all on blockers. It can be a safety risk campaigning with no form of mental protection, even with Whispers gone. I assume you've read up?"

"We have. Are you reaching out to those sensates? And how did you know it was me?"

"I'm glad. Knowing history is an important part of building a future. We are reaching out to them through the archipelago. As you would imagine, it isn't quite as brief of a process as it usually is, since they're rather busy, and we have to talk to their friends and cluster-mates instead of them directly. There's a person in Brazil, a woman in Japan, a man in Kenya, and a woman in Poland who are our most-likelies. And my sister is a sensate, so I've gotten rather used to figuring out when I'm speaking to someone besides her. The little things-changes in posture, breathing patterns, that sort of thing-give it away."

"What was it like when she told you?"

"Confusing, I must admit. But she is a pharmacist as well, I knew she wouldn't be telling me something without evidence, and she is a faithful woman, so I knew she wouldn't be saying it without true belief."

"Your sister sounds like an amazing woman. Perhaps I can meet her someday."

"I think she'd like you very much. One of her cluster-mates is here in Berlin, I think I may mention you the next time he stops by."

"Thank you,"

Mia takes her body back. 

"And thank you for all of your help with finding out parent."

"Stop by any time," Daya replies, smiling warmly.

Marti does not wake up alone. Nico's warm body is as close as it was last night, their breath intermingling. At some point, the other boy gets up to bring coffee, and Marti lets his mind wander to Berlin and BPO for a brief while. Mostly he is content to bask in the moment.

They drink their coffee slowly, laughing and talking, and when the mugs are empty Marti carefully places the tray on the bedside table and rolls them a morning blunt. 

When Nico and Marti both are pleasantly stoned, they pull out Nico's laptop and watch dumb youtube videos. All Marti can think of is Nico's arm around his shoulders. The ukelele is next, and through it all they talk and kiss and cuddle, sprawled out across the bed. Nico's fingers tracing his tattoos is fast becoming Marti's favorite feeling. Or maybe his favorite feeling is the way Nico kisses, or the balloon that expands in his chest whenever Nico laughs. Maybe his new favorite feeling is just Nico.

They find themselves talking about tv shows, and Marti tries to describe the plot of one of his favorites. 

"Basically, it's about this guy that finds himself, for no reason at all, being the last man on earth."

"Like 28 days later?"

"No, no zombies. This one is a comedy, he's kind of a jerk. He plays all this weird pranks like filling swimming pools with vodka. But then, he discovers he's not the last person on earth, there's this girl and..well, you'll see," he cuts off, not wanting to spoil anything.

"What would you do if you were the last man on earth?"

"I'd go to the Vatican."

"The Vatican?"

"The Vatican. Mess around in the Pope's chambers, maybe use his toilet. Or the old Olympic stadium, for the world's best one-on-one."

"You could go to the pool without pissing off the keeper," Nico replies, and both of them giggle.

"What about you?"

"I'd run around naked. With you. Go window shopping on all the main streets without a single person to bother us."

They go on like that trading what-I-would-do stories util something shifts in Nico's voice.

"I guess I'm afraid of being alone. Sometimes, even with other people I'll just be...lonely. Sometimes I feel like I can't even breath."

Nico wants to tell him that he'll never be alone again, but that feels a little extreme for just after a first kiss, so instead he makes a dumb joke about Nico not being able to hold him breath under water and promises to move into the boy's bed for the next three days. It's a start.

(When he wakes up the next morning to a note on the pillow, Mia smiles. Apparently, their type is too-pretty boys with adorably dorky post-it writing habits.) 

While SOME people have been living out their adorable little love stories, Imann has been studying her rear end off for exams. Its part of why she was so eager to go with Mia to BPO. She needed a break. Now, however, it is Thursday and she is D-O-N-E done, happy to sit with the girls and chat about how hard it is being friends with your ex. Even the rain can't bring her mood down. 

"Hey, look at this," Engel says, looking at her phone. "Gijs just posted on Insta that the boys are planning a post-exam Mallorca trip."

Janna and Isa, at this point, are huddled around the phone screen, but Imann is happy to hang back with LIv.

"It is so expensive, that they're doing an auction. Bids start at 5 euros for a makeout."

"They're gonna make a ton of money," Janna predicts.

"Highest bidder kisses Noah!" Engel reports, reaching to end of the post.

"Guys, come on," Liv interjects.

"Is this really what we want to spend our money on?" Imann asks, picking up the thread.

"Ugh, you could try to have some fun," Engel protests.

Isa is the one to play peacekeeper.

"What if we didn't pledge money, but still go to the party"

Imann and Liv exchange glances.

"I think that that's a great idea," Imann declares.

Liv looks sort of betrayed, but that's ok. This is for her own good. She immediately pulls out her phone though, which means she's probably working out some deal with Noah to justify going to herself. Hey, whatever works.

"Maybe you can text Esra and Ralph, see if they want to come too?" Janna suggests.

Liv seems a bit distracted by whatever negotiation she's having with Noah, so Imann volunteers to text the flatshare, and the conversation from there devolves into attempted definitions of prostitution.

There's really no point in them going to the bachelor auction, but a party is a party after all. Besides, there's no harm in poking fun of Isak a little; Magnus is about 99% sure that boy would go for any one of the penetrators if given half a chance. If Marti and Cris are anything to go by though, he's got something better coming down the line. 

After a day spent talking to Mia and Imann catching up on what they learned from their recent BPO visit, Magnus downs a couple of beers, throws on a leather jacket, and heads to the club. Inside is loud and crowded. Getting a drink is a pain, and trying to have a conversation is worse. Jonas ditches him, Mahdi, and Isak almost right away for his third-year girlfriend, but Eva and Noora take his place soon after.

"I've MISSED you guys!" Eva croons, once again past drunk though the night is just starting. 

He's starting to worry about her drinking almost as much as much as Vilde's eating. 

She flings her arms around Isak. Magnus looks over to Noora, but she seems distracted looking for someone-no points for guessing who-as the redhead attempts to kiss Isak. He dodges, sending a panicked look over her shoulder at Magnus and Mahdi. 

"Is it...do you not want to kiss me because you like guys?" Eva slurs.

"What? I? No?" Isak scrambles, and if Eva weren't so drunk she'd probably keep pushing.

Thankfully, Noora tunes back in then. 

"Sorry, she'd really drunk," says the blonde. "We'll go get water."

"I'll help," Magnus volunteers, taking Eva's other side and giving Isak time to get away.

Together, he and Noora get Eva over to Vilde and Boy Chris by the bar. Both of them seem reasonably in their right minds, but Magnus turns to Noora to see if she wants him to stick around anyways. She's already gone though. Magnus excuses himself and heads back to Isak and Mahdi. Through the crowd though, he can spot Noora and William having a conversation. Noora looks mildly panicked; WIlliam seems exasperated but fond. It ends when William leaves, striding briskly through the party, shaking off anyone who tries to speak with him. A moment later, Noora follows.

Emma's not going to be making out with the most popular boy in school tonight, so she might as well get trashed. She goes straight for the wine bottles hidden under her bed for pregam, then switches to hard liquor once she gets to the club. And maybe she isn't the world's most coordinated dancer, but Alexia isn't either. Its still fun. 

After a while, she heads over to the bar, where Daphne is chatting with Boy Alex. Wait. Why is Daphne chatting with Boy Alex? Alex is HER Boy Alex. Oh whatever. They're both her friends, and she loves them. Friends should love their friends' friends. Everyone should love everyone! The world would be a better place that way. Wait. What would make the world a better place? Oh! Loving each other. She loves Boy Alex and Daphne, so she tells them that.

And Daphne is so pretty! She should kiss her! Bisexual girls definitely have the right idea. Maybe she'll kiss Boy Alex after she kisses Daphne. Or maybe not, because 

"Wait, I have to throw up,"

To her credit, Daphne is on top of it. 

"Not here, not here," The blonde says, hustling her out the door. 

They wind through the apartments hallways-with a couple of stops for her to spit into trash cans-and finally emerge into the night. Together, they hustle down to the waterfront. Daphne holds her hair back out if her face while she regurgitates her last several drinks into the Seine. She's so lucky to have a friend like Daphne. She's about to tell the blonde that, but when she can stand up straight, Daphne isn't looking at her. Instead, Emma follows her gaze to the bridge, where two figured are locked in an embrace, totally absorbed in each other. Emma is confused. What does it matter to Daphne if two random...oh.

That isn't two random people.

That's Manon and Charles. 

She's up on her tiptoes to reach his lips, and her hands are around his waist under his jacket. Charles' hands are cupping her face as he tenderly returns the kiss. They look so beautiful, silhouetted against the river with the lights of the City of Love glimmering around them. Emma feels her heart swelling (and it isn't just Mia's joy as her lips collide with Alexander's). If only Daphne's wasn't breaking beside her.

Kelsey et al being pissed off about the kissing aside, everything actually seems to be going well for everyone in the cluster and their associated people. Emma saw Manon and Charles kissing, Magnus saw Nora follow William, same with Imann witnessing Liv and Noah, and Mia went to sleep still grinning. Marti and Nico had their perfect days in bed, and as far as Jorge knows Cris and Joana are still humming along. Britt is pretty sure she saw Senne and Zoe disappearing into a closet together, and Tyler knows Grace and Daniel have probably been doing the same. Yes, everything seems to be humming along nicely, so Tyler probably should have checked the laws of the universe and known it was all going to go south.

The evening of the all-class picnic is cloudy but warm, which is pretty standard for an evening in Austin this time of year. Tyler is hanging with Shay and Marlon, but he's been trying to stop by as many blankets as possible, accepting and gathering support for the band. He can see the football players up against the building wall, though Zoya and Hunter, one of the lineman, have stopped to chat with one another. The kittens have a blanket to themselves; Kelsey is over there instead of with her other friends. No guesses why.

That leaves Megan, Grace, and Jo, giggling together on a blanket by the volleyball net. Grace and Daniel are gazing at each other in a way that's almost nauseatingly obvious, but that isn't his business. Zoya gets back over to them pretty quickly, and Abby follows. 

(Tyler looks at Britt, who shrugs.)

Megan scoots over on the blanket, presumably offering Abby a place to sit. The other girl shakes her head. She looks at Zoya instead, and she says something that Tyler can't hear from this distance. Zoya does not look impressed-does she ever?- but Abby persists, making a sort of "over there" gesture. Zoya stays where she is. Abby makes a few more gestures and leaves, and whatever she said seems to have stirred up an argument among the others.

This drama becomes entirely secondary as 2 pickups and a Jeep pull up to the lot.

"Shit, those are the Saint Paul's guys who beat you up the other day, aren't they?" Marlon swears.

Tyler feels nauseous. "yeah."

Shay gets to her feet, and pulls him up too. 

"We gotta get you out of here," She comments. 

Tyler hesitates. He can't always let other people fight his battles. He makes eye contact with Joe, who is striding across the field with the rest of the football team. Joe looks tense, but jerks his head in a clear "get out of here." That settles it. Tyler helps Marlon close up the picnic basket while Shay folds the blanket. He's facing the lot though, and therefore sees Grace blow her cover fully to smithereens trying to stop Daniel, but her brushes her off and keeps going.

"Let's GO dude, we can go around back and get to my car from there," Marlon is saying. 

The three of them hustle away, but Tyler looks over his shoulder one last time to see Daniel smashing a bottle-where did he even get that?-over some dude's head.

That night there's another Beat Boys party. As far as Britt can tell, Zoe and Senne are one of the faster couples on their timeline-she's not sure what if anything will happen to the two who seem to be off on a tangent, so to speak-which means that the fight Tyler witnessed earlier is probably barreling towards Belgium. Sure enough, Britt is about a third of the way through her second g&t when one of the Blonde Ambition girls comes up to her, breathless with the news.

"They're fighting outside."

The whole party seems to be surging for the doors. Most of the guys are joining the fray. The girls are staying for the most part behind the club's front gate. Everything is getting uglier and uglier when someone knocks Luka to the ground. He's getting kicked, repeatedly. Senne goes over to help, but he gets knocked down too. From her place further down, Britt can see Zoe's shock. He, unlike his friend gets up quickly though. Britt knows what's coming, but as Senne goes for one of the bottles left by people who were drinking outside, she flashes out of her own body.

(She's not sure where she is, who's body she's in, until she sees Nico. He's on a couch with a girl who Britt is pretty sure is Maddalena, and he looks happy. Before she/Marti can investigate, Emma Covitti steps up to them.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She demends, and Britt can't blame her.

"My friends wanted to come. I'm sorry, so much happened the other night..." Britt is doing her best to help Marti be convincing, but the Italian girl isn't buying it.

"How many times can you lie?" She asks. "No one fucking cares if you're gay or not. Just say it next time."

Britt can't blame her for being angry, but neither she or Marti get the chance to say anything before Covitti disappears back into the crowd. When they turn back towards NIco, he and Maddalena are kissing. Marti flees the club basement, and as he reaches fresh air, Britt goes back to Belgium.)

She arrives in her own body just in time for Senne to smash the bottle on the head of Luka's main tormentor. Even knowing what was going to happen, it isn't pretty. She gasps along with every girl there. That action, and the boy crumpling to the ground in response, seems to be the end of the fight. The other boys drag their fallen friend's body out of the way. The Beat Boys gather around Luka to help him stand. There is a wave of bodies moving as Zoe pushes her way out of the crowd.

(As the crowd breaks up, Zoe finds herself back in Italy. Jorge is there too, trying to calm Marti down without much success. The Italian is ranting to his friends about how all the girls are inside hookign up with seniors, but its clear who he's really thinking of.

"Dude just because you're upset doesn't mean you can take it out on your friends" Jorge is saying, exasperated. 

Marti's friends seem to have it pretty well covered though. 

"We might look dumb in out blazers, but at least we're not being assholes," says the one Britt is pretty sure is Elia. "Go fight with your parents or something."

And Marti snaps, shoving at Elia while Gio and Jorge try to hold him back while Luchino and Britt do the same for Elia. When Marti tears free, he races off down the street. Britt and Jorge look at each other, then follow. He hurls himself down some alleyway next to what seems to be an abandoned warehouse, taking out his frustration and rage on some stacked up palettes. Eventually, the fight goes out of them.

"This is gonna happen to the others, isn't it?" He says, hollowly. "And there's not a damn thing I can do to stop it."

There's nothing Britt or Jorge can say to that. Instead, they stay with him as the trains roar by until Marti drags himself home.)

As far as Jorge knows, there were no parties in Madrid last night. Cris, as she strides through the schoolyard, certainly doesn't seem like a woman who has just had her heart broken. Instead, she looks cheerful and excited as she waves at him and the boys on her way in to the building. He can see through the big picture window that she has joined her girls at their usual spot at the big window overlooking the courtyard. He can't tell if Joana is with them or not, so he goes back to chatting with his own friends.

A few moments later, the new girl enters the schoolyard. She seems a bit lost, and Jorge wonders if she's looking for Cris. Instead, when she seems to catch a glimpse of the tall blonde through the window, she turns away. Alejandro and Ines enter the building next,

("Did you and Senne ever..."

"No, but he and Sara did.")

but Joana stays outside, biting her thumbnail. The person to join her, eventually, is Eloy, who runs up behind her and kisses her soundly. Joana reaches for his hand as they go inside.

("Like I said." Marti observes bitterly, "not a damn thing I can do.)

Chapter Text

"Is NO ONE at this school capable of talking about anything besides boys fighting with each other?" Britt exclaims as Blonde Ambition makes their way inside the Monday after the fight.

They must have passed at least four conversations about the whole affair, and they're barely halfway through the courtyard. 

(She glances over and sees through Jorge's eyes for a second. Joana is kissing her boyfriend, and Marti looks like he did while he was breaking down those pallets.)

"I mean, it was very dramatic." One of the other girls says, "I mean, did you see the pictures? There was so much blood!"

"I didn't need to see the pictures, I was there. I hope that guy is OK, or Senne is going to be in even more trouble."

"Speaking of Senne, did you hear he has a girlfriend now?"

Britt rolls her eyes so hard she's worried they'll get stuck there like her mother always threatened they would. She wonders about how this whole thing is squaring up with Zoe's whole peace-love-get along worldview. Britt debates asking Mia, but figures there's no need to burst the bubble that the German girl has been in since her first kiss with Alex a couple of nights ago. Even with the fighting and everything going down with Marti, they've all been trying to respect Mia's space. No need to drag her down too.

(Mia is bubbly indeed this morning as she heads downstairs to get to class. Alex is there in his 430 HP black porsche ready to give her a lift, though Mia turns it down so as not to alert Kiki. 

"Pretty sure that ship has sailed," Emma observes, cocking her head.

Still, they keep both that and the fight from Mia. No need to panic over things that haven't happened yet, even though Zoe and Grace seem to be the canaries in the coal mine for their clones. Bubble, bubble, bubble.)

What is happening is that the police are arriving. Britt sort of remembers a cruiser driving by while the fight was finishing up, but she never thought that it would lead to cops actually showing up at the school. Friends groups are huddling closer together now. No one wants to risk being caught alone and giving the police a chance to grab them to talk. Heck, no one wangts to talk, period.

"I heard the principal is talking about cancelling freefest, since the beat boys are the one who organized it this year," says another Blonde ambition girl.

"They're worried it would look like they're not being punished. Or that those other guys will show up, and there will be another fight." Sarah agrees.

Senne comes out of the building then, eye still blackened. He high fives with Luka-at least he's not in handcuffs yet-and they go back to the rest of their crew. Senne is scowling though, and he keeps glancing across the courtyard. Britt follows his gaze to Zoe-big shock-but the blonde seems to be ignoring him. Guess that answers that question. 

Imann isn't entirely sure how they decided on lingerie shopping for their girls-afternoon-out, but here they are in the store, with a fancy set of undies apiece waiting for fitting rooms to be available. Engel keeps giving her and Esra strange looks, and Imann is pretty sure she knows what's coming. 

"Can I...can I ask you two something?" 

"Mmhmm," Imann repllies, though technically, Engel just did.

"Why are you buying those?"

Imann and Esra exchange glances. Esra is generally better at giving Engel the benefit of the doubt, so she's the one who replies.

"What do you mean?"

"well, I mean...when you buy something like that," -gesturing at Esra's lacy black bodysuit-"I mean, isn't it a shame if no one gets to see it?"

"When you buy lingerie, is it for the people who who will see it?" Imann asks.

"Yeah,"

"Well, I don't. "

"Who are you buying it for then?"

"For me," Esra says, taking back over the conversation.

"Only for yourself?" Engel asks.

Imann's heart breaks a little bit at that. Engel sounds so lost, so confused at the idea of doing something for yourself. Just because you like to. Just because you want to. Who told you you didn't deserve to be your own happiness?

"Only for myself," Esra confirms, "Because I think it is beautiful, and I like to look pretty. Get it?"

"No, actually," the blonde replies, looking small. 

"I hope you do one day," Imann responds.

They all split off into their dressing rooms then, but the conversation circles back around anyways.

"I wouldn't get plastic surgery," Isa states definitively. "You have to learn to embrace those things."

"What things?"

"The things that make you feel insecure, or that you think aren't so pretty, those are the things that you need to learn to love."

Emma has been working on her insecurity issues, so she's really happy that she sat in on the Dutch girl squad's trip to the lingerie store yesterday. Imann and Esra had sounded so sure of themselves, and if Isa, her clone as far as they could all tell, could be that confident about learning to love her so-called ugly bits then surely Emma herself could as well. Nonetheless, there's something amazing about watching Alexia dance. The other girl is so sure of herself, so confident and exuberant in her twirls and cartwheels. Emma feels simultaneously cowed and inspired.

"Girl, I thought you were going to show me that picture of Yann?" Imane asks, and Emma zones back in.

"Yeah, sure." She replies, pulling it up on her phone.

"Girl, that's awful," Imane observes, just as Alexia sits down next to them to grab water.

"Oh fuck that's bad!" She says, peering over Emma's shoulder. 

Yann's nose is pretty clearly broken, blood pouring out.

"It's my fault he got beat up," Emma says as they look. "Some really awful guy tried to hit on me while we were talking. He was way taller than Yann, but Yann stood up for me anyways."

"Did they really have to fight?" Manon asks, out of breath from doing crunches with Daphne, "Violence never solves anything."

(Emma, Britt, and Tyler exchange a look.)

"You have such strong values Manon! I admire how you much you defend causes that you care about." Daphne responds before Emma can say anything.

(MIs bites her lip as Sam talks about how much Kiki looks up to her.)

Manon's face freezes, and she makes eye contact with Emma for the barest second before Daphne switches them to bicycle kicks.

"Anyways, are things with you and Yann ok besides that?" Alexia asks.

"I haven't talked to him since. He keeps leaving me on read, and I'm not totally sure why. Probably his new girl Ana though. She's so possessive of him" Emma responds.

"I mean, I can't blame her," Imane says, picking at her sweatshirt strings.

"Why?"

"She's right to keep you away from him,"

"It isn't like I'm going to get back with him!" Emma responds, debating whether it's worth telling them that she's way more focused on Alex at the moment. 

"You still have feelings for him though. He is your ex, and you have the advantage."

"What do you mean?" Ugh. She totally should have told them about Alex.

"You're single. Everyone knows that when guys are in a relationship, they find single girls attractive. It's like, their instinct. If you're gonna keep a guy, you have to fulfill his needs while also keeping other girls away. "

"Imane, you're such an expert," Alexia teases, smiling.

"Oh! Are you all excited for the party this weekend?" Daphne asks, rolling over on her stomach.

"Absolutely!" Emma, Alexia, and Imane confirm. 

"And you?" the blonde asks, turning to Manon.

Manon is saved from having to answer by the basketball team's arrival. She leaves for class, while Emma allows herself a bit of drooling over Alex in a basketball jersey and Daphne attempts to get Charles' attention. Emma considers saying something-she knows Daphne saw them the other night-but that's Manon's mess to deal with. Emma will be happy to provide support, but she's not going to clean it up for her. 

Magnus tosses his backpack down, then flops out along the rest of the bench using it as a pillow.

"Not cool dude," Mahdi pouts.

Magnus makes a face at him, but kicks his bag to the ground instead and sits up. His friend sits down next to him and puts his own bag on the ground as well.

"Thanks. So. How is your brain chemistry research going? Learn anything cool?"

Magnus hesitates. On one hand, he definitely feels like he has enough of a handle on the sensate thing to explain it accurately. Mahdi is one of the most chill, understanding dudes Magnus has ever met, so he would totally just roll with the knowledge. On the other, he doesn't want to have to go over and over it. And he definitely feels like owes Isak honesty, since the other boy came to him about being gay. 

"You good dude?"

"I'm good. I definitely figured some stuff out. Promise I'll tell you and the guys soon."

"But you're not like, dying or anything?"

"Definitely not."

"Cool."

Magnus is about to ask about Mahdi's morning in class when the sounds of people settling down on the other side of the hedge behind them interrupt. Girl Chris and Sana seem to be arguing over whether Chris should take down a picture of Sana with a beer. Surprisingly, Sana is the one arguing for leaving it up, saying she's not going to be bullied by the other Muslim girls who have been getting on her case about it. Chris, on the other hand, is trying to protect her friend, while Eva referees.

("We're having the same problem here," Emma sighs. "Imann, what would you do?"

"I would leave the picture up. My practice is my own, and only Allah has the right to judge me. And besides, they were holding the beers for their friends, right?

Magnus and Emma nod.

"Helping friends is definitely encouraged in Islam. Sad that so many people are so quick to make assumptions."

Marti makes a face at her, remembering his talk with Sana about homophobia in Islam, and Imann sticks her tongue out in response.

"Calm down children" Tyler snarks.

Magnus has to shove him for that, and the three boys scuffle for a moment while Imann and Emma snicker. It's nice, Magnus thinks, that they're getting to the point of just being able to hang out even with the mystery of their missing parent still in play.)

Noora hasn't said much and Magnus can't see her through the hedge.

(Manon is on her phone in France though, so Magnus suspects the same of the blonde Norwegian girl.)

Vilde's voice, slightly out of breath, joins the conversation then and Magnus perks up. Mahdi smirks at him, but doesn't say anything.

"Were you working out during lunch?" Chris asks.

"Both Russ and Bikini season are coming!" Vilde answers cheerfully. "Who else is excited to see what the penetrators come up with for their bus?"

"Something crazy I bet." Eva answers.

"I wonder how many girls William will sleep with during Russ" Vilde continues.

"And you're ok with that?"

"I've learned to accept it. I mean, after three years who wouldn't take the opportunity? Apparently his brother went through 130 girls."

Magnus and Mahdi both muffle snickers at that. Magnus isn't actually sure there are that many women at Nissen, and anyways, when would one even find the time? Or the stamina?

"William has a brother?" Eva asks.

"Yeah. He graduated two years ago, and was a total fuckboy. Chris, tell them what your sister said."

He didn't know Chris had a sister either, but whatever. Magnus figures that Alexander's creepy friend Bjorn in the German equivalent of William's brother.

"My sister studies with him in Stockholm," Chris obliges, "Says he gave half of the class chlamydia."

"That is super nasty"

(In France, the mirror conversation has continued. Manon looks lost.)

("You're stalking again," Britt says.

"He's my best friend! I have to find something to give him hope."

"He's like, half a clone of your best friend. And what if you don't see anything?"

"I'm staying positive. And besides, do you really want to keep dealing with him moping around and yelling at his mom?"

"...no."

"That's what I thought."

"It is still kinda creepy though."

"Thanks so much for your input Imann.")

Cris doesn't even notice Jorge when he comes out of the subway behind her and heads for a nearby seat in the shade. She looks pale, with red-rimmed eyes as if she's been crying, and her music is up so loud he could hear it walking behind her. She freezes when she sees Joanna waiting. Cris reaches up and pulls out her earbuds; Jorge can see her shoulders shake like she's resigning herself to the conversation. The way they're standing Joanna actually appears taller than Cris, and Jorge hates it, hates seeing someone who is usually so loud and bright and confident looking so...small. Joanna says something Jorge can't hear-he further justifies his mild stalking by reasoning that at least he isn't eavesdropping-and then she doesn't speak. Cris' head shakes as she replies.

Whatever Cris says, Joana replies with a tiny smirk. Cris doesn't seem to be buying whatever it is, shaking her head all the more. 

Joana starts speaking again, and maybe the wind shifted or something, but he can hear her now. There goes his plausible deniability?

"For real. I'm sorry" The purple haired girl is saying. "I don't know what I can do to make you forgive me"

There's another beat of silence, and the Joana's voice rises: "I broke up with Eloy."

Cris stops shaking her head, and the wind dies down so Jorge's audio goes away. There's a bit more said though, and then Cris seems to ask a question that Joana doesn't seem to know how to answer. But then the she speaks. The wind picks up again, but Joana is crying as she talks, so the words are still a bit hard to make out. Jorge catches the words "different if I could," "intense," and "someone I like a lot."

Whatever the blanks are, Cris seems to like what she hears, because she and Joana start kissing right there on the sidewalk.

("Okay." Marti says. "Okay.)

After seeing Cris and Joana make up through Jorge's eyes the day before, Marti finds himself dazed and distracted during the radio broadcast about Virginia Wolf. Even the Dreadnought Hoax, which he had laughed at while researching, can't permeate the fog in his mind, and Sana's gratitude goes in one ear and out the other. He's just finishing up signing them out when Nico arrives. 

"How are you?" the other boy asks.

"Fine, and you?"

Nico starts talking about the rooftop, and Marti is waiting for that apology but it never comes. When he can't take it anymore, he texts the school psychologist's number from the billboard asking for a last minute meeting. Thankfully, his request is granted, and Marti wanders his way down to the school basement. 

The psychologist doesn't seem much like a doctor. He introduces himself by first name, his hair and his office are a mess, and he seems more concerned about other people's lack of sleep than Marti's. And then he starts asking about Marti's home life. About his parents. About the friends that he's been so effectively pushing away lately. About maybe getting a regular psychologist to help. Marti doesn't want any of that. He just wants a good night's sleep.

"Let's do an experiment." the man says. "Get up."

Marti does as he's told, leaning back against the other man. 

"Do you realize we could stay like this as long as we wanted? We could even fall asleep here." The older man explains. "But if I decide I'm done, and I break contact, THIS happens" he continues, stepping away and sending Marti crashing to the floor.

Marti Looks up at him as the psychologist asks "Did it hurt?"

"A little, yeah."

"Do you get it now?"

"No."

"I think you get it," says the doctor, and sends him on his way. 

When Marti gets upstairs and sees Gio, he realizes he does get it, so he invites the other boy home with him. They settle on to Marti's couch with FIFA and snacks, and for a while, they just play. It's nice to just hang out, but that's not why they're here. Or, not all of it.

("We've got you." Jorge tells him. 

They're all there; even Mia has exited her Alex-induced bubble for the moment. Marti nods and takes a deep breath.)

"So, remember how you said you didn't know what was going on with me lately?"

"Mmhmm."

"Well, there's something I haven't told you."

"mm?"

"I like someone."

"Emma?" Gio asks. A reasonable assumption Marti supposes.

"Not Emma."

"Who then?"

"You haven't figured it out?" Marti teases, buying himself time to work up more nerve.

"Marti, I can't figure anything out about you lately."

OK. Fair. 

"Is it Sana?" is Gio's next guess, and that eases the tension as they rib each other for a moment about the possibilities that the radio booth offers. 

"I'll give you a hint." Marti says, but then the words stick in his throat.

("You can do this," Imann tells him, unflappable as ever.

"And it only gets easier from here," Tyler adds, while Mia nods in agreement.)

"It's not a girl," There. He did it. He came out.

Gio doesn't say anything for the longest moment of Marti's life, but when Marti looks over, Gio looks back.

"Is it me?"

There's a whole lot to unpack there but "No," Marti laughs. "No. It isn't you."

"You repulsed by me?" Gio asks, a grin starting to threaten.

"Not at all. But still. Not you."

The FIFA game has default paused while they talked, but that isn't what Marti si referring to when he says "Are you not playing anymore?"

"Is it the guy who gave you your earphones back the other day?"

"Yeah."

"Well he's hot."

"What?"

And then they're both laughing, and when Luca calls about the class notes, Marti feels like a million pounds have come off his shoulders. Like he has someone to lean on. He finds the class notes, and a flipbook made of post its from Nico in his schoolbag. Nico must have slipped it in there when they were talking at the radio station earlier this afternoon and a million years ago. 

When he sits back down on the couch, Gio says "I think he should dump the girl" before messing up Marti's hair. Then they go back to FIFA.

If Marti can come out to his best friend since childhood, Mia figures that it's about time she exit her bubble and be honest with Kiki. As much fun as sneaking around is, the guilt is starting to get to her. Mia has had more than enough chances to come clean, but she's managed to chicken out every time. Hanna knows, Amira knows, Sam knows. Boy Sam probably knows too, Mia is well aware that he and Alex don't keep secrets but since Boy Sam isn't at school any more she doesn't really mind. But still. Time to tell Kiki. Past time. She invites Kiki over for dinner, then spends the afternoon cooking up the most healthy yet filling meal she can think of while trying not to be nervous. She succeeds at one of those tasks.

When Kiki arrives, Hans and Lynn are still around, complaining about how Mia never really cooks for them. Soon enough though, they head of to their own dinner plans. Kiki exchanges cheerful goodbyes with them; Mia can't bring herself to say much at all.

"They really could have eaten with us," Kiki comments as Mia brings over the bowls of stew. "This is nice too though. I like that we're spending time together."

"Me too." 

Oh god. She's going to break Kiki's heart, and her own while she's at it.

"Or should I be worried?" Kiki asks.

"Worried?"

"Is this a date? Do you want to hook up with me?" she says, teasing.

"Just because I'm bi doesn't mean I want to hook up with everyone!"

"I know, I know. I was just teasing."

Mia giggles a little, then becomes somber again.

"There is something I need to tell you though."

"Mmhmm?"

"I. Well. Alex has been flirting with me. For some time now, and it was awful there at the beginning. And I told him to leave me alone. I don't know what happened but...but we kissed. After that party last weekend. "

"Okay..."

Kiki's face is impassive; Mia can feel herself breaking down.

"I know I never should have done it. It was horrible of me, and I never meant to betray you. I never wanted to hurt you. I swear, I will be totally, completely honest with you from here on out, and I want you to know that no guy, no girl, no anyone in this world is as important as my friendship with you."

"Well, apparently one guy is."

"Tell me to stop. Tell me to stop and I will."

"Stop. Stop what? There was more than just a kiss?"

"I slept over. Not like that but. I stayed the night."

"YOU were always the one who said Alexander is an asshole. That he's not good enough for me."

"I know." 

("Is this how it would have gone?" Emma asks Britt.

"I...I don't know."

"Me neither.")

"He is good enough for you though?"

"I'm not nearly as good as you" Mia thinks, but that's a bit useless, so instead she just says no. And then

"I don't want to lose you as my friend Kiki!" She takes a deep breath. "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Please."

"Ok. Ok then end it."

It's no more than Mia expected, but it still feels like someone kicked in her ribs. "Okay."

"I should go." Kiki says, and then she's gone. 

Mia texts Alex the second the door swings closed, and gets to his apartment 40 minutes later. She goes straight to his bed, and pulls his arm around her when he hesitates. Tomorrow morning, she'll do what needs to be done. 

Tyler helped someone come out yesterday, so he's actually feeling pretty good. He's scrolling around on grindr when he comes across a torso a few years older than him. He skims through the bio:top or bottom, in town for a little while, still in the closet-no surprise with only a torso-tested clean last week. Ok. Tyler shoots him a message, and gets a response almost right away.

"Party tonight. You in? You'll have to be my friend for most of the night but we can crash there."

Eh. Why not.

"Sure."

"Nice. Here's the address. I'll be in a purple polo."

Tyler takes the bus across town, then walks the extra few blocks to the house he was given. Loud music is already coming from inside. When he knocks on the door, a vaguely familiar face opens it.

"Hey! If you're looking for Daniel he's out of town."

Aaah. This must be the older brother of school legend.

"Nah, I'm meeting a different friend."

"Cool cool, welcome to the party. Come on in, I'm Clay."

Tyler does, hanging his coat on the rack and heading towards the kitchen-thank goodness for open floor plans-to grab a drink. On his way back through the living room, he spots purple polo, who is actually really cute. Good. Coming all this way for nothing would have been a major pain in the ass. He starts making his way over, and the guy sees him and waves him over, introducing Tyler to his friends.

He's been at the party for about 45 minutes when pretty much the last person he expects walks in. Sure, he knows that Grace and Daniel are a thing, but wouldn't she know he's out of town? Whatever. Not his business. Maybe she's friends with the brother, they certainly seem to know each other. She's even got a drink in her hand, which is something Tyler is pretty sure he's never seen before.

The night wears on, and Tyler is honestly too busy to keep tabs on grace. Sure, its a little jock-ier than his high school crowd, but they all seem pretty cool. He sees a guitar at one point, and his "date" asks him if he plays.

"I'm in a band" Tyler answer.

"Play for me!"

They find a spare bedroom, and Tyler strums some of the band's stuff. When They get back out to the main party, Grace is very clearly drunk and dancing in the middle of the crowd. For a minute, he worries. Should he call Megan? No, she'd mad at him over the Shay stuff; she probably wouldn't pick up. Kelsey? He's not sure if Grace has told her yet. He doesn't have Zoya or Jo's numbers, and besides, that's the Kelsey problem again. Guess he'll have to keep an eye on her himself. Right after this next round of shots.

She's dancing on a table at some ungodly hour of the morning when she falls over.

"Oh no!" Cries a voice, Tyler isn't sure whose.

Thankfully, Clay catches Grace before she can hit the floor. He puts her on a couch and she seems pretty content to stay there as the party dies down. Eventually, when most people have gone, Tyler's date gets him another beer and pulls him to the same room where he played guitar. They kiss, and kiss, and then the shirts come off...

When they're done, Tyler heads to the kitchen for a glass of water. A car pulls into the driveway, and Clay and Grace stumble out. Shit. They weren't driving like that, were they? They were. Thankfully, neither they nor the car seem banged up. Maybe God is real.

They stumble inside, not noticing Tyler in the kitchen, and he hears a door open somewhere down the hall. He finishes his water and makes his way haltingly back through the house, going into the first bedroom he sees and collapsing onto the mattress. 

Chapter Text

One thing Emma really loves about being friends with Manon is that they don't have to do anything when they hang out. Daphne is always bubbling with ideas, Imane is ready to conquer the world at any given second, and Alexia always is off on another adventure. With Manon, Emma can just be.

Right now, for example, it's a Thursday afternoon and they are lounging on Manon's couch, scrolling through their phones and bitching about low battery life.

(Britt is apparently Bored in Belgium so she's joined them as well.)

"What are you looking at?" Manon asks, when Emma pauses in her scrolling.

Ema flips her phone around to show Manon the image of Lucas and Boy Alex hanging out.

"I didn't know they knew each other," Manon comments, "But then, I did see Lucas getting into Alex's car the other day. They looked pretty friendly"

"Well, you know...people can have friends."

"Maybe a little more than that."

(Marti appears to glance at the photo and snicker.

"What?" Emma defends, "He's cute."

Britt nods.

"He's all yours. There is noooooo way that dude is his Nicolo. Maybe he'll meet his soon though."

"Maybe.")

"Lucalex does have a nice ring to it," Emma says out loud, playing along.

Mikael enters then.

"It does have a nice ring to it. Who is our new celebrity couple?"

"No celebrities Mikael, just friends from school."

The older guy snatches Emma's phone before either of them can protest.

"Well, I haven't seen any of the on any dating sites," Mikael observes, pulling out his ow phone to cross-check, "But I suppose there still could be something there. I'm going to go subtle, maybe message him on instagram."

"He's never going to let it go now." Manon comments, as her roommate wanders out.

The next afternoon Hugo, Jorge, Lucas, and Dilan have a game before accompanying Lucas to get his ear pierced. The man is becoming a youtube icon, he obviously has to have a look. After the deed is done all four boys go to meet the girlsquad.

As they approach, Jorge notices that Amira and Cris are standing slightly apart from the others. Jorge assumes that Cris is updating Amira about the status of her relationship with Joana. When they get to the girls, it's a laughing mass of people. Viri is showing off her new flamingo slippers, Lucas is showing off the earring, and everyone is hugging.

He finds himself in conversation with Eva, talking about how their football ("That's not football," Tyler sing-songs) team is still the worst. Dilan joins in too, and then Eva asks about the girl he had been seeing. When Jorge tells her that she won't be able to make it, he changes the subject fast. They may be getting to be friends, but still, he's not sure he's entirely comfortable yet. Instead, he redirects to mocking Hugo for forgetting the ice.

(He misses the look that Eva and Nora exchange, but Britt doesn't and she files it away for later.)

Thankfully the girls brought some ice of their own, and they're just starting to distribute that and the rest of the picnic when they are rudely interrupted by a group of guys mocking Lucas.

"Let it go, not worth it," Lucas says (and Marti agrees).

The guy keeps going, mocking Lucas, bringing up all sorts of nasty stereotypes about gay men and femininity. Much as he hates it, it's stuff Jorge is sure Lucas has heard before, in person or on youtube. He trusts Lucas to handle it. Cris, on the other hand, looks terrified and Jorge hopes, damn he hopes, that this bullshit doesn't stop her (or Marti) from coming out.

"You're a piece of shit." Lucas tells the asshole, and the guy pops him in the nose.

There's blood everywhere but that's not the only red Jorge sees as he and Eva (and the rest of the cluster) lunge at the guy, intent on getting payback. The rest of their friends split between getting Lucas ice and tissues, and holding him and Eva back.

When Jorge's head clears, he helps the rest with Lucas.

(The entire cluster stays too. Mia gives Cris a shoulder squeeze, Imann gives him her medical advice for Lucas, Tyler give Jorge a hug. Marti looks grim.

"Are you ok?" Emma asks him.

"Yeah. I just...that sucked. But everyone jumped in to help, everyone defended him. I've already come out to Gio. I'm going to talk to the rest of the guys. Soon."

On Monday, with the rest of the cluster and Gio cheering him on, he does just that.)

P. Chris, in the spirit of the newfound alliance between their friend groups, invited Magnus, Mahdi, Isak, and Jonas to join them on the bus for the party. Isak demurs, but the rest of them agree. They get there a little late, and by the time they have filed on to the van things are in full swing. Eva is making out with half the party, Noora and William are making eyes at each other over Julian and Vilde's shoulder -seriously, do they really think they're being subtle?!? ("Tell me about it" Tyler grunts)- and everyone else is swaying with the music like a many-armed dance animal.

Out of the corner of his eye, Magnus sees P.Chris pull away from Eva to take a phone call.

"Fuck." He says out loud.

After hanging up, Chris immediately starts rounding up the other Riot Club guys, some of whom grab Jonas and Mahdi as well. Magnus supposes that's his cue, and he diverts from his path towards Vilde to join the gathering mass of boys near the bus entrance. As they exit,  he sees that Isak has joined them. And, of course, he's currently standing alone facing the Yakuza guys.

The whole bus group swarms around him immediately, and not a moment too soon. One of their rivals steps forward to shove at a Riot Bus boy the second they've all arrived. William's hand comes down, bottle taken from the bus in it, Magnus notices in the sort of detached way of being nearly sure this was coming, and from there everything devolved into utter chaos of a fight. People are shoving and punching and yelling, himself among them.

In what seems to be becoming a recurring theme of "male roommates bursting in with terrible timing," Hans decided the best time to enter her room Monday afternoon with barely a knock is just after Mia has removed her sweatshirt, feeling Alexander's gaze burn through the thin material of her tank top.

"What do you want?" Mia asks, exasperated.

"Aren't we in a good mood," Hans teases.

"A very good mood" Britt replies through Mia's mouth, because she is even if Mia won't confess to it herself.

"Did you make grumpy cat angry?" Hans asks Alexander.

Mia won't admit it ("You just did," Tyler points out) but something swells in her chest watching Hans and Alexander interact. Annoying as he is, Hans has been a really important figure in her life since she's moved back to Germany. Alex is shaping up to be a significant part of her life, and he could definitely use a little guidance from time to time. Better for everyone that they gets along.

("Filo has been good for me," Marti adds, Emma nodding her agreement about Mikael.

"God help us if they all ever end up in the same room though." Imann contributes, though she concedes that Ralph is a good person to have around.)

Lynn walks through the open door then, announcing that someone has arrived with soup.

Kiki's voice drifts in, and all of those warm fuzzies that had been developing in Mia's chest turn to angry hornets. Not now, not now, not now, she was supposed to have more time.

("You shouldn't have lied to her." Britt states, flat.

Emma is somewhat more sympathetic but "Come on girl, didn't you learn anything from my mistakes?"

Everyone is annoyed at her because c'mon don't they have enough going on without this totally avoidable additional drama?!?)

And while Mia can appreciate Hans' scrambled attempt to cover for her by tossing his robe over Alex to hide him, in the end, there's nothing for it.

"It's one thing to fuck up and apologize for it." Kiki says, "But this is the worst."

She leaves the soup and storms out, and Alex turns to face Mia.

"Why did you lie," he demands.

"I...I don't know. But It just proves what I've been saying since the beginning. I can't do this to Kiki."

The words taste like ash in her mouth, nevermind literally the entire cluster yelling at her.

"That's bullshit and you know it." Alex says, and then he's gone, the cluster leaves with him, and Mia is left with Lynn, Hans, and a whole lot of regret.

Imann and Esra spent the morning at the Mosque. Imann needed to clear her head, but she finds praying with another person to be soothing and Esra had been happy to tag along. Afterwards, Esra invited her back to the apartment for lunch and Imann had been happy to accept.

When they get in, Liv is perched on the loveseat, looking lost.

"Where's Ralph?" Imann asks.

"Showering with a friend." Liv replies.

"So no bathroom for me. Got it." Esra nods and they all chuckle.

Imann, meanwhile, has reached for Liv's off-brand m&ms and the other girl doesn't bother to protest as Imann and Esra dig in.

Liv's dies pretty quickly though, and she reaches for her cell phone. She seems to consider typing, but then puts it down.

Esra and Imann exchange a look.

"What's going on with you?" Esra asks, eventually.

"I think I'm in love," Liv says, though with her hands over her face, Imann isn't sure she would have been able to understand the words without knowing what they were going to be.

Esra seems to have the same thought, making Liv say it more clearly.

"I'm really in love. And it's making me question who I am." Liv says to them, nodding her head to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation.

Even though Imann knew it was coming, the words still it hard. She's never been in love like that, though maybe she could be heading that way with-nevermind. Point is, she's never felt that way and she tries to put herself in Liv's shoes. What would it feel like to care that much about another person, but feel like she has to give up a part of herself to do so?

"How do you do it?" Liv continues.

"Do what?" Esra asks.

"I mean, have either of you ever been in love?"

Esra nods, while Imann makes a noise in the affirmative.

"So how do you not just, just go for it? How do you keep your faith, your principles strong? Because I keep trying, and still, all I want is to be with Noah!"

"Why aren't you with him now?" Esra asks.

Imann keeps quiet to let the other girl catch up, but her mind is still racing.

"He thinks it's ok to just beat people up!" Liv exclaims in frustration, "And whenever I try to talk to him about it, he makes me feel like a child."

"Well, then that might be step one." Imann breaks in. "It's ok for you to have different principles if you can find a way to make them work together, but it isn't ok for him to make you feel like your are invalid."

"I can never seem to find the words when he's standing in front of me." Liv states. "Nonviolence is something I believe in pretty strongly. I just...I wish I could be more like the two of you. You're both so confident, so secure! I can't see either of you ever giving up your convictions for some guy."

"I think that depends," Esra says, the voice of wisdom. "I think sometimes changing your mind is proof that you're strong. It's proof that you can evolve as a person."

"But only if you're growing in a good direction, not shrinking yourself to fit into someone else's world." Imann adds, while Esra nods in agreement.

"I guess. He still hit someone though."

"I hit Olivia last year when she called Engel a slut," Imann points out.

"That's different! You were defending her!"

"I was at the bowling alley, it looked like Noah was defending Gijs." Imann parries.

Liv sighs. "I guess you're right. I just don't want violence to be the automatic response, you know?"

"Then that's what you say to him." Esra declares, "You get that sometimes violence is sometimes necessary, but you're frustrated by the fact that it was option one. If he finds a way to weasel out of that, you know you're not going to be able to find common ground. If he's able to see your point of view and work with you on it..."

Liv flings herself over the coffee table to hug them, and they eat candies in a pile on the couch until Ralph comes in to the room to introduce them to his shower buddy.

"I think I'm gonna head to Noah's place." Liv says once the boys are gone again.

Senne's older brother is friends with Britt's older brother, so she usually gets invited to his parties whenever the boys are back from uni. Soon after Britt arrives, Zoe greets her with a drunken giggle that has her immediately suspicious that Zoe won't be remembering a thing in the morning. However, before she can say anything Zoe is whisked away by the crowd of people.

Britt goes off to find herself a shot or twelve, and soon finds herself lost in the crush as well. It's good booze because these are rich kids and they can afford it; shots go down a lot smoother when the liquor isn't so cheap it freezes.

Someone is going around with a bottle, pouring it straight down people's throats. She thinks maybe she sees Zoe again?

Dancing on tables is so fun!

She steps outside for a breath of fresh air. The stars are so pretty!

Wowee, she's drunk.

She should go home.

Britt stumbles the few blocks back to her house (vaguely aware of her cluster-mates flickering in and out) and passes out immediately.

Tyler woke up the morning after the party in an empty bed, naked and aching. He stumbled into his clothing and then wandered out into the kitchen. Clay was brewing a pot of coffee and scrolling through his phone. When Tyler entered, he looked up and gestured towards the coffee pot with a hungover grunt.

As he walked behind Clay, he noticed the guy was scrolling through photos.

"Any of me with the guitar?" Tyler asked, because he had never claimed not to a a narcissist,

As the photos zoomed by, Tyler couldn't help but notice a LOT of naked skin.

"Who is that?"

"Huh?"

Clay paused in his scrolling.

"Some friend of my brother's? Maybe?"

"Oh shit, that's Grace." Tyler said without thinking, as he recognized the short brown waves.

"Well fuck. Don't feel like getting arrested for child porn anytime soon," Clay grumbled, deleting them all with a few clicks.

Tyler laughed even though it wasn't really funny. Then he get some coffee, hailing a ride while he drank it.

It's been a whirlwind of a week with all the fighting, and the partying, and how could he forget the coming out to his friends?!? With everything going on, it's a relief to escape with the boys to Gio's cabin in Bracciano to drink and play FIFA and be idiots. Even Niccolo's mixed messages are easier to deal with when he has three extra sets of eyes helping him to parse everything out.

Apparently, Gio really is a love wizard though, because after their brief text exchange, Noco has evidently decided to drive up to Bracciano to see him. arti has never in his life been more grateful for Gio, ushering everyone else out of the house, or for his cluster, reminding him to get past his panic in order to brush his damn teeth.

He's about 75% sure that Jorge took over his body for a few seconds just to keep him breathing steadily.

When he opens the door though, it's all him.

(It's Tyler who tells Nico that the rest of the boys are out, Marti doesn't trust himself to say anything.)

It's all Marti, all him, pulling Nico to him and attaching their lips.

All him being spun in a circle until his back pressed to the wall; it's his shoulders shrugging off his hoodie.

It's his hands in Nico's hair as the other boy tugs down the zipper on his jeans.

It's his cock in Nico's mouth and the way this feels Marti thinks they may have entered that story he was telling Nico about, that they are they only two people left alive. And then all he thinks is "Nico," and then he can't think at all.

("We should leave the bed" he half-thinks, much later.

"Shhh," Imann soothes, kissing his forehead nearly as softly as Nico had. "You should sleep.)

Chapter Text

("So this is why you like binge drinking!" Mia giggles, and Emma hesitates but nods.

"Why do you look like that?" Mia asks next.

"Like what?"

"Like...something is wrong. It's good to make new friends!"

"It is. We just want you to be safe." Tyler says, snagging a sip of Mia's beer for himself as he does.

"Hmph. Better than studying anyways." Mia replies, taking the drink back.)

What do her cluster mates know anyways? They're not the ones in the most ridiculously over complicated relationship ever. Bjorn is such a sweetheart, and Mia has seen firsthand how cruel Alex can be. Possessive too, so it make sense that he wouldn't like his sister being in a relationship. That is. That is. That is some anti-feminist nonsense right there is what it is! And Bjorn is so funny and friendly and nice! What girl wouldn't want to hang out with him? Anyways, she would have hung out with AxelAlex but he wasn't at his stupid condo! And Mia had been all ready to make up with him after their fight about using violence, too. Oh well. Bjorn is here!

Oooooooh. This is why she doesn't binge drink. She has to pee.

Mia alerts Bjorn to this fact, and together they find a restroom. He waits inside while she stumbles in. She does her business in the stall, then washes her hands before bending to sip from the sink faucet. Fuck. She has to puke. This is why she doesn't binge drink. She rushes back into the stall, not bothering to close the door behind her before she's diving towards the toilet.

There are footsteps behind her. Someone probably needs the stall.

Fuck.

That's Bjorn. And he has a camera? And his hand is...his hand is...

(Britt is really drunk too, probably beyond remembering any of this, but she's hauling Mia to her feet and out of the filthy bathroom and Mia can feel herself flickering, can feel Britt flickering.)

Mia falls into bed and does not dream.

(Britt knows that she went to bed alone last night, so why is she waking up with someone else? Surely her brother didn't accidentally stumble into her room or something? But no, when Britt opens her eyes she's somewhere she doesn't recognize.

The guy whose chest she's lying on, though...well. She certainly doesn't mind the view.

"Yeah, me neither." Marti says, quietly, and Britt glances at her still-sleeping bedmate again, this time recognizing the sharp angles of his face from previous visits to Italy.

"Seems like things are going ok for you then?" she asks.

"Yeah, but now I have to introduce him to my friends," Marti responds, looking anxious.

"Want me to stay?" Britt offers.

Marti nods before Britt can really think through what she's just offered. Well, It's better than going back to her own undoubtedly hungover and aching body anyways. She feels awkward though, as Nico wakes, and as he and Marti tease each other gently. When they start kissing again, she gazes out the window, taking in the view.

"I'm glad he's happy," Jorge says, joining her.

"Me too," Britt replies, almost surprised at how much she means it.

There's some shuffling behind them as Nico and Marti get dressed; Marti taps them both on the shoulder when they're ready. He and Jorge greet each other with a bro hug before the four of them head out to the main room of the cabin. Luca, Elia, and Gio are dancing around the kitchen, singing along to the radio with cleaning supplies as microphones. Britt laughs while Jorge jumps into the fray. The boys quiet down immediately when Marti greets them though. It's practically comical watching them trip over each other to greet Nico and offer him breakfast. Something in Marti relaxes. When Nico offers to take everyone to breakfast, Britt and Jorge exchange a look. Marti catches it, and nods. Their work here is done.)

Any hope that the time in Italy would buy her own exhausted body more time to recover from the previous evening is dashed when Britt wakes up for real-was she in Berlin last night or not? Jesus she drank a lot. Her head feels awful. Once she feels ok to stand, she stumbles to the bathroom and fills her water glass, then lets the dog out. It's too cold to leave the house herself, so she just watches from behind the door. She can still see Zoe pass by though. Zoe looks...well, she looks exactly like someone who doesn't drink generally looks after a bender. Worn out. Drawn. There's something else there though; she keeps glancing around as if terrified of something. Or maybe someone?

(Now that she is out of the warm bubble of Marti's morning, she can feel a frenetic buzz coming from Mia. Something about last night? Seriously, was Britt there or not? Britt reaches out to Emma.

"I feel it too." the French girl responds.

Mia doesn't respond to ether of them when they try to go to Germany.

"I'm going to call Manon," Emma says decisively.

Britt nods and returns home.)

She looks in her phone, but can't find Zoe's number. Damn.

After talking with Britt and trying to contact Mia one more time, Emma dials Manon's number.

Nothing.

She sends the other girl a good morning text as well, with an invitation for coffee, then goes to take a shower. When she's done there's still no response. Emma stares at her phone, debating if sending a facebook message would be overkill or not.

Emma paces her room, then checks in with Mia again.

(Mia is on her phone, talking to her mother. That can't be helping anything, but once again Mia doesn't say anything to Emma.)

Emma goes back to France, and calls Mickael instead. Maybe he'll know where Manon is?

Miky picks up the phone on the first ring.

"Emma, bonjour"

"Bonjour! Is Manon there? I think her phone might be dead. I wanted to invite her for coffee."

"Um. I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I'm not sure. And if she is home, she might be asleep."

"Can you check?"

Mickael sighs. "She is home, but she won't talk to anyone. Not me, not Lisa, not even Charles when he stopped by a minute ago. I don't want to bother her more, she sounded awful. Like she had been crying."

Emma chews her lower lip. "OK. Thanks. Let me know if anything changes."

"Oui."

After she and Mickael say goodbye, Emma is in Berlin for just long enough for Mia to google the definition of sexual assault. Merde.

(Imaan is there too; like Emma she gnaws on her bottom lip. The two of them go to the Netherlands together. They perch on the bed in Imaan's room at her grandmother's house.

"What are we going to do?

"I...I don't know.)

Magnus gets out of the house early-his mom had just finished recovering from an episode and with her stable he needs some time for himself. First stop was the cafe, second was a quick early skate session taking advantage of the empty park. He reapplies deodorant, then wanders to school. He goes upstairs to an empty classroom and takes the time to catch up on some schoolwork he had been putting off. Before long, it's nearly 8:30 and time to meet the boys in the courtyard.

As he descends, he hears voices in the hallway. It sounds like their Norwegian teacher is offering Noora a slot to write for a local paper. Seems like a pretty sweet gig, but Noora is protesting, and it occurs to Magnus that the middle of a personal crisis is probably not the best time for professional development. He figures he'll just go down once their conversation finishes, maybe say hi to Noora and say something kind if he can think of something that doesn't sound creepy, and be on his way.

That plan is derailed by the appearance of William.

"You tried to call me Friday?" He asks her, once the Norwegian teacher is gone.

Magnus has a feeling this is a conversation that he doesn't need to be here for, but if he turns and goes back upstairs now they will surely hear him. He's stuck.

"Butt dial," Noora explains.

"Six of them?" William isn't buying it, Magnus can tell from his tone of voice. "What's going on Noora?" He inquires, softer.

"I just, I just need the space I asked for!" Noora stammers out, and there's a flash of panic from Berlin, there and gone.

Magnus decides to go for it then, clattering down the stairs with as much noise as he can to warn them that he's on his way. Noora acknowledges him briefly as she heads up the stairs, but William seems lost. Magnus goes to meet his friends.

This is not what she needs on a random fucking morning. She doesn't fucking need graffiti calling her all sorts of horrible things all over her fucking locker. Not when some of her best friends are  going through a horrible, horrible crisis. She needs to focus on Liv, focus on Mia, focus on Emma helping Manon. She doesn't need...this.

("It happened here too." Tyler says.

"And here," Magnus adds.

"And here," Emma contributes, hugging Imaan briefly.

"Of course it did. Because there's nowhere that we can just live! No where we can just be without being questioned and shamed. Why is it such a huge deal to these people that I wear a piece of fabric on my head!"

The other three look taken aback; Imaan is pretty sure this is the first time she's ever let some of her frustration really shine through to, well, anyone who isn't Muslim themselves. It's all about keeping up the facade, heaven forbid she scare someone and they decide she's about to set off a bomb. But it's all in her head, so these people were going to find out about it sooner or later.

Magnus is the one who step forward this time, wrapping her in his arms.

"We're never gonna live through this the same way you are." He says, rocking her back and forth, "But please, stop trying to hide it from us. We're not scared of you. We're part of you. And we'll help you, and we'll help our friends, and we're gonna do whatever we can to make out corners of the world a little bit better for you. No matter what is or isn't on your head."

Imaan sniffles into his shoulder a bit, which the others take as their cue to join the group hug.

"Thank you." she say, when she can make the words come out.

"Always." Emma responds. "Sure, there's other stuff going on. But this isn't any less important because of that. We're with you Imaan. No matter what.")

"Are...are you gonna be good? Because I will fight literally anyone for you," Janna says, the beads in her hair bouncing as she nods for emphasis.

Imaan nods, sharp. "Thanks."

Cris has evidently decided that the best way to kick off a long weekend is to throw a party at her place. Not a big one, mind, but the girls will all be there, and the guys. Jorge wouldn't be surprised if Alejandro got an invite as well, and he and Cristian are rarely separated. And, of course, Alejandro is still dating Ines, and Alicia is still Ines' best friend so it should be quite the group. Besides all of that, Marti coming out to the boys probably means that Cris is about to do the same with her girls, so Joana will probably be there too. Jorge counts off on his fingers as the bus rolls along. A little over a dozen people.

He gets off the bus at the correct stop, then walks the remaining two blocks to Cris's place. When he gets there, Cris opens the door with a wide smile.

"Can I take your coat?" She asks, and hangs it up when he nods.

"I think you know everyone her besides Joana," Cris comments, leading him further into the house and pulling the girl in question to her "We met in literature class, she's my girlfriend."

Cris keeps looking at his for a beat after she says this, like she's waiting for him to say something disparaging. How could he? Lucas is his best friend, and it wasn't like he had a problem with gay people before the guy came out either.

"Nice to meet you!" he greets Joana with a hug and an air kiss to each cheek.

(Marti looks her over, noting the pale skin and dark hair and defined jawline.

"Good to know I have good taste in all genders," he remarks.

"We have good taste in all genders," Tyler corrects.

"Nah man, you're like...Elia or something. Shay is obviously US me."

"Hey, I could meet the man of my dreams soon!"

"Come on. Besides everything that happened last year, you're too ugly to be US me."

"Oh you piece of-")

Jorge tunes out their bickering to chat with Nora about some music stuff while Eva and Ines do some awful awful karaoke. He's been in love with both of them, he still cares about them deeply as friends, but neither one of them can carry a tune to save her life. Cris and Joana are making eyes at each other, and everyone seems to be laughing. It's a nice way to spend the evening, and when Nora gets volunteered to be next at karaoke, Jorge knows it will get better since she actually has a decent voice.

Nora goes with a Billie Eilish tune. She sings and Alejandro can't take his eyes off of her. Like sensing an oncoming storm, Jorge knows suddenly that the drama isn't going to be dying down any time soon.

But then again, it might be, Tyler considers as he sees Grace pushing Daniel back into a just-emptied classroom on Friday afternoon. She's not exactly smiling but there's something soft about her face, like she's dropped some stress. Tyler can picture her getting bent out of shape about having had so much to drink at that party, but if she's confessed to her girls or whatever, then things are probably back on track for a happy ending for her and Daniel. By extension, that means things should be clearing up soon for Mia and Alex, Liv and Noah, Manon and Charles, and the others living their story too. Maybe. Granted, he did tell Clay to delete those pictures, and he has no way of knowing if the other Clay Williamsons of the world had someone to be their drunk morning after consciousnesses. Fuck.

("Hey Imaan?

"What's up?"

"When you and Mia went to BPO, did you ask about all the parallels in our lives?"

"Not the time I went with her. What about you?" She answers, turning to Magnus. "Find anything in you research?"

He shakes his head.

"Damn. OK."

"Why, did something happen?"

"Seems like things turned out ok with Grace. I was hoping it was a sign that things were gonna turn around for all of our clones.")

Tyler is momentarily distracted by Joe saying hello before snagging Daniel from the classroom, but he goes back to his chat with the others almost immediately.

("It might be. I hope it is." Imann says.

"How are you holding up by the way?" Magnus asks her.

"One day at a time. I'm not going to let one bad incident define me."

"You are such badasses. Zoya is turning her locker grafitti into the basis of her campaign for Prom Queen. Kelsey's idea I think. Strong Like Zoya."

"I like it." Imaan replies, "And I'll like it more if she winds."

"Well, I know who I'm voting for" Magnus says, and Tyler snickers.

"Anyways," he says, getting them back on track. "Just wanted to update you guys. I've gotta get to class."

"Seeya."

"Bye.")

His optimism was apparently ill-timed however, because Grace appears to be near tears as she exits the empty classroom only a few moments after Daniel had, grinning. Well fuck.

Well fuck is right, Marti thinks as he looks around the empty Milan street about 24 hours later. Nico had been off as their evening in Milan had wrapped up, acting like Marti's "only men in the world" story had come true and then shadowboxing himself in the mirror. The whole whirlwind trip had been odd, honestly, but Marti was just so goddamn caught up in Nico he hadn't even thought to question it. And now...

Marti walks towards the bridge, calling Nico's name. The guy must be freezing, he was only wearing a bathrobe when he left the AirBNB.

"Nico!"

"Nico!"

he hears his voice echoing as his cluster helps, but none of them see-

("There!" Magnus says, spinning Marti around.)

Nico's naked form is sprinting across the street back the the building where they are staying, and Marti breaks into a run as well, ditching his bag so he can move faster, calling out

"Nico! Nico what the hell are you doing!"

Not fast enough. He's gone again and Marti can feel himself coming apart in the middle of a strange city, alone, in the dead of night. He pulls out his phone and selects a number he never thought he would dial, hoping against hope that she'll pick up. It's beyond a relief when she does.

"Maddalena! I need help."

Chapter Text

(Marti is sitting outside of the hospital shivering in the cold when Tyler finds him.They rise together when Maddalena comes out, and Tyler says the words that Marti can't bring himself to speak.

"How is he?"

"He's calmed down a lot. His parents will finish signing his release papers, and then we'll bring him back to Rome"

"Can I see him?" Marti asks on his own.

"I don't think that's a good idea. And besides, you'll have to hurry if you want to catch the 9AM train." she answers, in clear dismissal.

"I want to see how he's doing," Marti insists, and Tyler is immensely proud of him in that moment.

"I can tell you how he's doing. Not well."

"Why?" Marti pushes, as Magnus joins them, leaning over the railing of the deck.

"BPD. Borderline Personality Disorder. He got the diagnosis years ago."

"I don't believe you." Marti answers.

"You should." Magnus says. "You're not gonna be a good boyfriend to him if you're not willing to understand him."

"Do you think people who aren't crazy run around naked when it's nearly freezing out? He's not in love with you either. It's just another thing his mind has made up for him. Wouldn't be the first time either. He memorized the whole Quaran for a guy last year." Maddalena counters.

Magnus bristles.

"Crazy is a bullshit word. Nico's brain is different. Our brains are different. It doesn't make any of us crazy. And it certainly doesn't mean he doesn't love you."

"How do you know so much about this?" Tyler asks, remembering Magnus had said something similar when they were first figuring out that they were homo sensorium.

"My mom is bipolar," Magnus explains with a shrug.

"I should talk to my mom," Marti says to them. Out loud, he tells Maddalena "I'm going to go catch that train."

Magnus and Tyler walk him to the station before going home.)

Tyler arrives back in Austin to hear the hosts of the morning show on his radio alarm doing prank calls. Shit. That's a later part of the program; he'll have to hurry too if he wants to make it to school on time.

Mia feels drained. Like every fluid in her, tears and vomit and sweat has poured out of her leaving her as a husk. A shell. How could she have been that stupid? How could she have-

("You're not stupid. You couldn't have known." Imann says.

"But I did know. Alex warned me."

Imann says nothing to that, just rubs her shoulders comfortingly.)

There's a knock on the door and Hans pokes his head in.

"You doing ok in here?"

Mia shrugs.

"You should get out of the house. Fresh air maybe?"

("We could go to BPO," Imann suggests. "Take your mind off of things."

Mia hesitates, then nods.)

She gets dressed, waves goodbye to Hans and Lynn, and rides her bike over to the increasingly familiar BPO building, where she takes the elevator up to Daya's lab.

"Mia! How are you?" The pharmacist greets her cheerfully.

"I'm. Well, I'm not great really."

"Do you need me to beat someone up for you? Any friend of Daya's is a friend of mine." declares a scruffy jawed man sitting on a stool in the corner.

Mia gives a watery laugh. "Maybe. I think I'd rather do it myself though."

"A girl after my own heart Ms...?"

"Winter. Mia Winter. And you are?"

"This ruffian is Wolfgang, my brother in law. Or, one of them." Daya introduces.

"Kala and I are in the same cluster. It was love at first apparent hallucination," Wolfgang explains.

"For you maybe." Daya teases, rolling her eyes.

Mia watches them tease each other with a comfortable fondness and the ache in her chest loosens slightly.

"Capheus, who might be your parent, is also in their cluster," Daya says, bringing Mia back into the conversation.

"Wow. That's. Um."

("That's amazing!" Imann exclaims through Mia's mouth.

"Which one was he, when you mentioned potential parents?" Britt asks.)

"The politician in Kenya," Wolfgang explains, incredible fondness in his voice. "He'd join us but he's still on blockers. The reelection campaign is almost over though; when it is he can share with me here and you can talk. See if anything clicks."

"Thank you! I did have another question though. Have you noticed clusters sharing other parallels in their lives?"

"What do you mean?" Daya asks.

"Well, Imann, who you met the last time I was here, she's really similar to my friend Amira here. And Emma, who is in France, reminds me of my friend Hanna. Both of them went through nearly identical breakups last year, with guys who are pretty similar to Jorge, who is another member of our cluster. It goes on like that. it seems like for every one of my friends here, there's someone in my cluster who fills that roll in another country. And all of them (she double checks this very quickly with her cluster-mates) know a girl like me."

Daya and Wolfgang exchange glances, and Wolfgang's posture shifts.

"Mia, this is my sister, Kala. She and her other husband, Rajan, are also pharmacists who have been researching sensates."

"Ah, I see." Mia responds, trying not to get too caught up on "other husband."

"Mia! So wonderful to meet you," Kala says, warmly shaking her hand, and Mia understands now what Daya meant when she said she could tell when someone was talking through someone else's body if she looked.

"So? Have you heard of anything like that?"

"Unfortunately, no. None of us have found anything in our research leading about parallel lives within a cluster. However, we would be happy to help you figure it out."

"Thank you." Mia responds.

Kala gives her another warm smile, stretching wide across Wolfgang's cheeks, and when it fades Mia can tell Wolfgang is himself again.

"You look better."

"I feel a little better. I just...I want things to work out. For all of us."

Daya give her a hug.

The feeling better lasts until she gets back to her apartment when she sees the clothes from the other night in the hamper and promptly begins crying again.

If Mia is struggling, that means Liv is struggling, and Imaan decides that it's high time she and the rest of the girls did something about that. She calls them all up and they head for Liv's apartment. Ralph and Esra open the door.

"How is she?" Imaan asks, not bothering with the niceties.

"She ate," Esra shrugs. "Still hasn't gotten out of bed yet though."

"We want to see her," Isa says, while the rest of them nod.

Ralph hesitates before nodding, leading them into the flat. He knocks on Manon's door.

"Fuck Ralph!" She exclaims when he bursts in immediately after, then seems to notice the rest of them.

"What are all of you doing here?"

"We hadn't heard a thing from you," Imaan says (as do Kiki and Emma). "We called Ralph because we were worried."

"I told them you didn't want to see anyone," Ralph explains, "but they insisted."

"What's going on?" Imaan asks, as they all file in and arrange themselves around Liv on the bed.

"I'm sick." Liv answers, rather unconvincingly.

"Hmm." Imaan puts a hand to Liv's forehead. "No fever."

"I'm getting better, it will pass."

"Why won't you talk to us? What's happening?"

"Exams are coming up. I didn't want to be a distraction. And besides, it's the weekend. You should be going out and having fun, not sitting around here worrying about me."

"Liv, we're your friends. We're always going to worry about you," Jana replies decisively.

"Anyways, I have to write this article for the paper."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Esra says.

"But I do want to! And I do want to hang out with you! But I feel like I'm drowning!

("I can't sleep" sobs Manon.

"I can't eat" cries Mia.)

"I feel like I'm suffocating, like my throat is closing up, and I have no idea what happened the other night!"

(There is a collective, shuddering gasp, and they very quickly divide up. Britt goes to Mia since she was there. Emma and Imaan stay in France and the Netherlands for obvious reasons. Jorge goes to France as well, and Magnus takes the Netherlands. Marti has his own problems to be dealing with, while Tyler pulls out his phone to begin creating a new instagram account.)

"Deep breaths Liv, deep breaths. You're having a panic attack. We're going to get you through this. Breathe with me."

All of them, the girls and the roommates and Liv herself, follow Imaan's example. In, out. In, out. In, out.

(Imaan shares with the others, so on three beds they are breathing together. In, out. In, out. In, out.)

"Good. Good. Do you want to tell us what happened?" Isa encourages.

Liv takes another few breaths. In, out. In, out. In,out.

"I went over to Noah's (Alex's, Charles') house. I wanted to talk to him about the fighting. Tell him that I understand why he did it, even if I don't like it. My phone was dead though, so I couldn't check if he was home. And he wasn't, but his brother was. Had a party going on. Offered to let me charge my phone. I said ok."

In, out. In, out. In, out.

"His brother. His brother said all these horrible things. That he was in bed with another girl. That he was never going to change for me. That I was just another notch in his bedpost. I don't know why I believed him, but I did."

In, out. In, out. In, out.

"I took a shot with him. The next thing I remember is waking up in Noah's bed, naked. It didn't smell like Noah though, it was. It was disgusting. and. And I wasn't alone."

In, out. In, out. In, out.

"His brother was there too. And someone else. A girl from school."

In, out. In, out. In, out. 

"We have to go to the emergency room," says Engel.

"I don't. I don't even know if anything happened. Better immediately, but also better now that never."

"I don't even know what happened though. It would be his word against mine. And besides, he. He took a video. What if. What if he shows it to people?"

"We're in the Netherlands." Engel responds firmly. "There are laws set up for when things like this happen. To help you. To protect you. And I believe that good triumphs. Always. I have to believe that, because no one is going to believe it for me. For any of us."

"I've tried telling her that," Ralph responds.

"I don't. I don't think I can." Liv says.

"Ok, what if you confront him directly? We'll all come if you'd like. Tits out, that would probably terrify him." Jana proposes.

Liv gives a watery laugh. "I don't know if I can do that either."

"If anyone can, it's you." Engel declares.

"It's true," Isa agrees.

Liv sends the text.

In France, they actually managed to convince Manon to go to the ER. Mickael and Lisa stay home, promising that they're gonna cook and clean and make the place nice for Manon for when they get back. And so it's the five of them (plus Britt and Imaan,) who walk through the sliding glass doors of the hospital together.

They walk up to the counter first, and Imane is the one to hep explain what they need. The nurse hands Manon the paperwork. No sooner has Manon finished then she gets called. An orderly tries to stop them.

"We're her family," Emma explains, and they are let though.

They gather in the seats around her while Manon speaks with the doctor, hand over her phone to show the photos. Emma has never been prouder.  When they're done in the hospital, Manon sends the text to Charles' brother, telling him she wants to meet.

(Tyler sends the instagram DM from his new account.

"I don't think anything happened at the party. But you should still talk to Clay."

"Who ru?"

"I've seen you around. At parties and stuff. I was hooking up with a friend of Clay's that night."

"What's ur name?"

"Can't say. Guy I hooked up with is in closet. Can't risk it. He's got a GF and everything"

"Sus."

Tyler hesitates, then sends a picture from the party, cropping it down so he isn't visible like he was in the original. It may have just been his back, but Grace isn't dumb and he doesn't wan to risk her figuring out who he is.

"Ok, so you were there. Clay told me nothing happened, but I don't trust him. Then he also told me he took and deleted photos."

"Can confirm that the photos got deleted. I was there when he did it."

"Do you know anything else?"

"I know you were both crazy drunk. And I know I kept waking up because he was snoring so loud.Could hear it from the next room."

"Oh. Ok."

"Feel better?"

"I wish I did. Still feels like I'm trying to pull myself back together."

"I feel that")

Marti has had plenty of time to think over the past few days. About Nico's brain, his brain, all of the brains in his cluster, and all of their parallel selves, which the people in Germany said they've never seen before, so that's another mystery to solve. And about his mom. And her brain, and all the ways that maybe he's never understood it before.

So when his Mom comes in to check on him, Marti is on edge.

"Leave me alone," he demands.

"Marti, what's wrong?" she asks, sitting herself down on the bed.

"Mama. Please. Just leave me alone."

"No. I'm worried about you."

"Mom! Please!"

"No!"

"Fine then, I'll leave!" He cries, recognizing that this is not particularly helpful but too frazzled to deal with it properly as he slams the door behind him.

He leans against it, sliding down and resting his head against the barrier. He wonders, maybe-

"Are you sitting there?" he asks.

"I am."

"We're all so happy in this house aren't we?"

"Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't want to," Marti answers, half a lie.

"Marti, your father called yesterday."

"Well I'm glad you two can still talk if it's about me."

"Marti, do you really think I care if you're gay?"

"I don't know Mama."

"Martino, you are the most important thing in my life. Do you know that?"

He can hear the tears in her voice, feel them on his cheeks as well.

"Come to your aunt's house with me on Friday? We can talk on the way." she asks.

"We'll see."

"I know that means no, Marti,"

He laughs through his tears.

"Can I come out then?" His mother asks, and Marti says "We'll see" just to hear her laugh too.

When he eventually stands and opens the door, they hug for the first time in longer than Marti cares to remember.

(When Marti finally goes back to school, Magnus pops in to check on him throughout the day. The fourth or fifth time, it's when Marti and his friends are skipping class to go down to the school psychologist's office and get a professional opinion on The Nico Situation.

"With the proper meds, he's going to be able to live a perfectly normal life," the man is explaining.

"There, you can unblock him now," Gio tells Marti.

"You blocked him? When did you block him?" Magnus asks at the same time as the psychologist goes "what's blocking?"

"On the train on the way home" Marti tells Magnus while Luca explains blocking to the doctor.

"Why did you block him?" The shrink and Magnus ask together.

"He has a girlfriend, and only calls me when his brain is acting up."

"Who told you that?" They ask again, in unison.

"His girlfriend did."

Magnus, Gio, Luca, Elia, and the school psychologist groan in impressive harmony.

"His girlfriend?" asks the doctor, speaking what's on all of their minds.

"She's in med school!" Marti defends, though Magnus can tell he's starting to figure out where they're going with this.

"And you're convinced that she told you this because she's in med school, and not because she's a jealous bitch?" And ok, the phrasing it a little more harsh that what Magnus would have used but that right there is pretty secure confirmation that he and Luca are the same person.

"Look, how long has she been in med school for?" The doctor asks.

"Three months or so?" Marti replies.

"She must be quite the prodigy if she can give so much information after only three months of med school."

Marti shrugs, and the shrink decides it's time for another round of the "trust your friend exercise" so Magnus decides that it's time to go.)

Jesus. He hopes getting Isak a boyfriend won't be this complicated, though he had a sneaking suspicion in will be. At least Isak is already out to him, so maybe that will avoid a little bit of the trouble.

It really, really, really wasn't on purpose this time. He swears. But as Jorge had been going to a game in the park, he passed by Joana and Cris talking and, once again, has overheard something he probably shouldn't have.

"I have BPD." Joana says.

("Of course she does." Marti sighs.)

"And when I'm not having an episode, I think I'm normal. But when I drink, or I smoke, it throws me all the way out of whack and I just do all of these impulsive things," Joana is explaining to Cris.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to look at me the way you're looking at me right now! And because. Because I didn't want you to worry."

Cris doesn't say anything.

"I have to go," Joana declares, and goes back the way that she came.

Cris looks lost, standing there in the middle of the path, but Jorge isn't sure that there's anything he say do to help. He continues on his way, but sends Eva a quick text mentioning that he thinks he saw Chris in the park, and she looked a little upset. Maybe Eva could text her?

An affirmative reply comes back a moment later, and Jorge feels marginally better. Now all they need is to figure out what happened is for Mia to confront Bjorn, Marti to talk to Nico, and BPO to figure out what the hell is going on with their cluster. Nothing to worry about.

("Well, we're gonna check one thing off that list right now." Britt says decisively a the next afternoon. "You ready girl?"

Mia shakes her head.

"No. But if I don't do this now, I never will."

"Megan said she was gonna be out of town, so I bet she's driving Grace to Dallas" Tyler contributes. "You're not doing it alone."

"Never alone." Emma promises.

Britt looks Mia over. She's not quite back to her usual level of sharp style, but she is wearing the lipstick Kiki got her for Christmas. Definitely not alone. They walk together to the cafe where Mia has made plans to meet Bjorn.

And they wait.

and they wait.

Imaan helps them breathe. In, out. In, out. In, out.)

Britt has also taken a page out of Jorge's book, and when Zoe walked briskly away from the schoolyard after the final bell, Britt had waved off Blonde Ambition and followed. She's seated at the same cafe as Zoe, in a nearby section that means she can hear but not see what's happening. She orders a cappuccino and breathes.

In, out.

In, out.

In, out.

Senne's brother arrives about the same time that Bjorn does, both with impressively terrible little smirks. Then the Flemish boy is out of sight around the corner.

Zoe and Mia turn down the offers for a drink.

Britt decides, for now, to focus on Zoe.

"They will be the judge of that," Senne's brother tells Zoe, when she tells him she's not 18.

"Big mistake." Britt thinks.

He's charming now, telling Zoe how excited he is to finally meet up with her. How worried he was over the period of radio silence. Britt is sure that it's supposed to be charming, but instead it comes off as creepy. Oversweet like cough syrup.

"Perhaps you're busy with exams?" he is asking now, playing at concern.

"That night." Zoe says, the words coming out as if each one takes great effort.

(It does. They do. She can feel their weight on her tongue in Berlin.)

"I don't remember anything." Zoe says.

("You're angry." Bjorn says, and if this were her confrontation, Britt would be saying "no shit" right about now but it isn't so she doesn't.)

"Really!" says a voice in Antwerp, far too delighted for the situation.

"I'm a bit worried about what happened." Zoe's voice is shaky, but she doesn't stutter and Britt is suddenly, fiercely proud.

"You really had a total blackout?"

"How much did I drink?"

"Just some white wine. And some gin-and-tonics."

A waiter with two g&t's has just passed her table; Britt can guess where they're headed.

(Bjorn is attempting to apologize to a superbly unimpressed Mia.)

"You certainly seemed to enjoy the gin that night."

"I did not come here to have a drink with you," Zoe's voice rises. "I came to find out what happened."

"Not even one drink?"

"I'll leave." Zoe says, unequivocal.

There's a rustling like someone is standing up, and then another.

"Do you think it's wise do behave this way to someone with your nudes?"

(Bile rises in eight throats, even as Bjorn attempts to gaslight Mia into thinking that she wanted-)

"Is that a threat?" Zoe asks.

"Did it sound like one?"

"Yes. It did."

"Hmm. Well, here is one for you then. I just told you I am under 18. You're a finance student, right Viktor?"

Aaah, so that's his name. Scumbag suits him better.

"I am," says scumbag.

"It's too bad. If you had studied law, maybe you wouldn't be on the line for child pornography.

Two thumps like people sitting back down.

("You seriously thought I was sending signals for you to whip your dick out in front of me?" Mia demands.)

There's a long silence.

("I've already reported you." Mia tells Bjorn.

"I have a record!" he protests. "Hmm. I wonder what Alex will think of the photos."

"You're going to blackmail me? Besides. It's nothing he hasn't seen."

They can all feel Mia's hesitation though. Alex would...probably not be pleased.)

Zoe lays out all of the relevant articles and statues about child pornography and serving alcohol to minors and threats-huh, apparently she had been recording the whole time- and Britt is duly impressed.

("That's our girl," Emma says decisively.

In Berlin, Bjorn is scrambling. Threatening Alex, which Mia doesn't think much of, accusing Mia of being hysterical, a fake feminist, of lying.

"Brave of you. All alone like this." he says as he stands to go.

"I'm not afraid of you," she says to him.

"And you're certainly not alone," Imaan adds as Mia exhales shakily and sends a "headed your way" text to her girls.

"No. I'm not.")

In Antwerp, Zoe finishes her little talk with Viktor with a quick reminder of what they do to child pornographers in prison. Her shoes click on the tile floor as she passes Britt without seeing her and heads out the door.

(On the other side of the world, they all lean in to see the DM Tyler's fake insta just got from Grace.

"Nothing happened! When I was drunk I asked him to take nudes of me for Daniel. My phone was dead and I wouldn't leave him alone. He was afraid I would go running back out to the rest of the house naked if he didn't do what I said. He passed out too and deleted the photos the next morning like you said. He's taking me and a friend to lunch. Definitely kind of a douche, but not a rapey douche. Hope you're feeling ok today.")

Britt laughs a bit in relief, then checks her own phone. There's a text from the guy she's started seeing, Sander.

"Coffee?"

"Busy today. How's tomorrow?"

"Sounds nice!"