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[ it won't take much for michael to start going on and on and on about how fucking cool reggie is, with or without prompting. he's barely able to stop himself from doing it after being called mikey. kinda makes his heart flutter, getting a nickname from someone he likes so much. this is a good day. ]

why does there have to be anything else?? it really just... sucked, thinking there was a chance you'd be gone for good.
idk, man. life's real boring without people you like. and it's hard to like anyone more than reggie fucking mantle.

it went okay. i think. she helped me out with some stuff, i promised i'd help her find a way home if she wanted it.
she's rad.
definitely romcom material.
totally thinking about asking her out.

[ he's totally not. he actually has a bit more to say about her - gotta try and make his introduction to sabrina sound totally normal in case she springs the slightly gorier details of their meeting on reggie behind michael's back - but then reggie goes and mentions tate and michael's easily distracted. ]

tate and i aren't best buddies.
he got angry at me while you were gone for like, no reason.
i didn't even do anything. i don't know what his problem is.

no there doesnt but
idk
just was wondering is all

[ He should feel flattered by this... and he does, but, some part of it is still odd to him. Reggie's not used to this much (seemingly) pure and unconditional appreciation for him from people other than shallow high school sports groupies, so he still doesn't know how to respond to it except to be equal parts casual, enabling, and dismissive. ]

u can do that? help her find a way home?
maybe u should ask her out
not that u'll have a lot of time w/ her if she does decide to leave

[ Even Reggie doesn't know if he's serious or not about that suggestion. It's still too early for him to know how he feels about Michael or Sabrina, except that he of course enjoys Michael's company so far (what it offers, all that implies), and he feels... a vague connection to Sabrina by virtue of their respective hometowns, one that allows a vague flicker of possessive jealously to stir, but that's all. He's still not too close with either of them. However: ]

wait why did tate get angry at u
what happened

pffshh, ok.

[ reggie asks if michael can send people back home and, well. if Sabrina hadn't talked to michael about consent, he would have forged ahead and just said "yeah! actually, i think i brought you back!", but. it's kind of hard to do that, now. when he'd bled all over reggie's carpet, sabrina had spoken to him in that same tone of voice ben would take with him every time he was doing something wrong. he thinks if he says "i think i'm the reason you're back", reggie might get mad at him for yanking him out of his life... so maybe it's one of those things he should hold on to, for now.

you know, until reggie's lonely and crying and sad or otherwise vulnerable in some way and michael can just throw it out there in a last-ditch manipulative attempt to make reggie like him. or at least enjoy the devotion he could cultivate in michael if he wanted to. sounds like a good, normal person plan. ]

i mean, we all have powers. seems weird to think the porter's completely outside of the scope of what we can do.
so. maybe? i'm gonna try, at least.

as for tate, ugh.
i don't know, he's just being unfair. i messaged him to tell him you were gone, and i asked why you two didn't get along, and he lost his mind out of nowhere.
i didn't say anything bad? or do anything wrong? he just got really angry for no reason.
it sucks. i thought he was cool, but you don't just freak out on people like that.

pfff well if u say so
no ones been able to pull it off before tho
like everyone thinks they SHOULD be able to but no ones actually done it
but yknow, like
good luck w/ it i guess
lmk if u figure out how to bring ppl in

[ Joking, serious...? Again, not even Reggie really knows. Both at once, kind of.

As for Tate... ugh. Ugh is right. ]

yeah tbh he does that all the time
just blows up for basically no reason
we get along better now than we used to but thats a big part of why i cant stand the little freak whenever we dont

yeah, well...
the porter hasn't met someone like me before.
i'll let you know the second i make it my bitch.

but, uh, yeah.
kind of explains why you were so angry when i said you guys were both nice.
feels like there's a lot of history there.
not that i'm asking you to go into it.

ok mikey i believe in u ;)

[ Does he, though? Anyway... ]

yeah see dude? he can be a total dick
& not to mention creepy too
he always likes to act like im the one who was mean to him but he either had it coming or just yknow
flipped out over crap that had nothing to do w/ him in the first place
so basically what im saying is dont put up w/ it

good.

[ tate was always like that back home, too. yelled at him for no reason, told him to stay away from him when he hadn't done anything wrong. maybe he doesn't just hate michael, maybe he's just - like this. which means he has a chance to get in his good books after all. ]

okay. i won't.
thanks. my grandma always told me to turn the other cheek, when people weren't kind to me. but.
i don't know, it sort of seems like bad advice, when there are guys out there who are just gonna be creepy dicks for no reason.
like what's kindness going to do to tate other than make him yell at me more?

anyway.
dooooooo
youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
rememberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
everything about being here?
not even in a "i disappeared for ages and the nanites ate my brain!" kind of way.
just in an "i was off my balls on vodka and i don't completely remember what me and michael did under the overpass" kind of way.

Edited 2018-12-11 06:32 (UTC)

it IS bad advice
100%
when someones a creepy dick to u just dont put up with it
then either theyll cut it out or they wont but at least u wont have to keep dealing with it
like the only reason tate and i are ever cool now is BECAUSE i wont take that kind of shit
not from him or from anyone

[ And really, they're more "cool" than not these days, but Reggie stands by that. Tate is absolutely the kind of person he normally hates, if not for the little ways they've learned to compromise when dealing with each other.

Anyway, speaking of being a dick, the temptation to fuck with Michael for asking that question is strong. Really strong, but... for now, he probably doesn't deserve it. ]

yeah michael relax
ur dick was in my ass thats kind of a hard thing to forget
i mean
no pun intended

man...
you're kind of a badass, huh.

[ from anyone else, this might sound kind of - patronizing? or sarcastic, at least. but, like, it's michael. being genuine and sweet despite all the darkness in him is michael's whole game. reggie's strong and confident and, again, cool as fuck. michael admires him. ]

but, um, yeah. okay, cool.
soooooooooo

[ he doesn't know how to ask if reggie's still... interested in hanging out, after getting stuck in small town america for a year. michael low-key presumes all the farms and church sales and soup kitchens riverdale must have might have chipped away at the guy reggie was when he was three sheets to the wind and willing to do anything to feel good. type backspace type backspace type backspace. ]

i'm still gonna do what i said i'd do.
bend this city over the side of my bed. get high, drunk, fucked up. do everything. feel everything.
you promised you'd come with me.

u know it

[ It's Michael and it's praise, so of course Reggie believes him. Even if Michael wasn't so blatantly endearingly innocent-seeming Reggie would probably still believe him-- as long as words like that aren't coming from a sardonic sarcastic wise-ass like Tate, or Jughead, or even Derek, he's usually more than happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But then... okay. Maybe he did speak too soon, because now Michael's describing things Reggie doesn't remember agreeing to-- at least, not explicitly. Maybe that had been some of the vodka talking, because he isn't really sure what Michael means by any of that. ]

u mean like
come with u on a bender?
cuz yeah we can do all that
or idk like, most of it
depends on what u have in mind

[ michael sits up a little straighter, reading reggie's response and feeling something shift. reggie really was pretty fucked up by the end of it - they both were - so michael shouldn't be entirely surprised that he's acting less interested in some of the things he wanted now that he's sober. but. drinking is still really new to mikey. he takes reggie's restraint as a bit of a personal slight. ]

bender, yeah.

[ which is unfair. michael's projecting pretty hard here - they had one fun night together, that's all. he shouldn't demand more, just because reggie drunkenly slurred that he needed more friends like him. a bender should be enough. if michael really wants to go wild with it and push the both of them to their limits, he just... has to make it a really, really good bender. maybe. ]

can we do that? get wasted. properly, this time, not just under a bridge somewhere.
really hit the town. just to celebrate the fact that you're back.
it doesn't have to be, like, a big thing. sorry if i sounded a bit intense.
i'm just really eager to spend some more time with you.

[ Reggie can sense that maybe he's answered wrong in some way, Michael's replies seem a bit terser suddenly than they did just a few minutes before, but even if he has... does Reggie really care? He doesn't think he does. It's nothing against Michael, really, but--

Michael talks about making the city burn and tremble not too unlike how the Black Hood always spoke of purifying Riverdale of sin and sinners, and while Reggie doesn't assume Michael is a serial killer, the passion is pretty intense, in a way Reggie doesn't -- and possibly can't -- quite relate to. ]

its ok
we can do that
go to a few clubs
do body shots
dance on a table
throw crap off the side of bridges
yknow just whatever we feel like
dusk to dawn partying bro

[ if reggie's gut is telling him that there's something off about michael, well - he wouldn't be wrong to feel like that. with any luck, michael's intensity and sudden changes in mood still manage to come across as awkward homeschooled kid trying to fit in rather than anything else... but even if it does, he can't skate by on that forever. michael's starting to get pretty carried away. he's gotta start focusing on pulling back, if he wants to keep his friends, but - if anything, he's just gonna amp it all up until his hunger for attention and experience bites him in the ass. ]

yeah!!!! that sounds so fun. that's what i want.
i've spent barely any money at all since coming here, other than what i gave you for a fake id. i've got, like, an entireeeeeee month's pay we can blow if you wanna go all out.
can we do it tonight? or are you still kinda fucked up from getting back?

[ Mostly still "awkward homeschooled kid" vibes, yeah; Michael seems eager and inexperienced, and maybe all the more overly enthusiastic about the wrong things or at the wrong moments because of it, but not to a point Reggie has any real alarm bells sounding. Even Tate gives off worse vibes to him -- did from the start -- and that's somehow managed to even out, so, Reggie's threshold for giving someone the benefit of the doubt is pretty wide these days, and even more so than at home. Here there's a certain amount of weirdness you have to innately expect or allow for half the time; almost everyone Reggie's met has been pretty weird, even compared to the people in Riverdale. ]

speaking of which
i can have that ready for u by tonight, if we do go out
which tbh im fine with
i actually could stand to blow off some steam
did u wanna wing it or was there something specific u wanna do

awesome. tonight sounds great. i will absolutely help you blow off some steam.
wink wink wink wink!!!!! ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

winging it's fun. i like chaos.
we're young. we're hot. well, you are, at least. we're young and we're 50% hot and we have the whole world ahead of us. we're somewhere new and wild and crazy where the only people who know our names are the people we tell them to.
no family, no real responsibilities. we've got these fake, immortal lives to do whatever we want with.
why would i go and do a silly little thing like make plans?

[ eager and inexperienced is right. if Michael were good at making plans, his life here would be going far smoother than it has been. he'd have gotten a better in with Tate, he'd have somehow figured out what he could have said or done to make Reggie obsessed with him, he would have handled the situation with Sabrina better, or else avoided it altogether - but planning and Michael typically don't go well together. he asks for forgiveness, not permission.

well, most of the time. sometimes he gets hung up on something small and dwells on it. like now, when he ruins his whole embrace chaos vibe by hitting reggie back again. ]

but, like... they're not going to actually ask if i'm over 18, are they? i don't like to lie.
if i just show them the card then it's not really lying. it's just... a false assumption on the bouncer's part that the card i show them is legitimate.
ssso.

well ur hot too
or else i obviously wouldnt of fucked u
but yeah, exactly
what else is there to even do here except live life and enjoy ourselves
this is all just a break from our real lives anyway
no one here rly knows us or cares
so what we do doesnt matter the same
its not like we have to worry about our futures

[ Michael reiterates the perspective Reggie's had on this place for ages that no one else ever seems to agree with him about, and that raises his opinion almost instantly. For Reggie, it's not necessarily coming from a place of "nothing here matters, so it's fine to ruin your life and hurt other people" and some people may interpret that sentiment, but rather, "this is temporary, so why get invested in building futures here like its not temporary?"

Because it's a lot of work; going to school and thinking about an independent life, careers, marriage, families, whatever, are all great way to waste time here better spent partying, since none of those long-term investments will pay off. ]

over 21 u mean
idk they dont always
but so what?
they cant exactly prove u ARE lying

people around here come back to life when they die.
there's limitless potential here.
i know we're supposed to be doing things like... like fighting crime... but i'm not a superhero, i'm a kid from la who lived with his grandma.
i just wanna, i don't know. explore?
these are the perfect hunting grounds to figure out what kind of person you are. to push the limits on all the things you want to do but never could.
why wouldn't you spend every day figuring out the relationship you have with carnal pleasure.

[ still sounds kind of creepy, maybe. dot dot dot. moving on. ]

wwwwwwwait
i have to be 21 to drink?! i thought it was 18!!
there's no way i look 21. god damn it
i'm gonna have to use my powers if i want us to get anywhere tonight

im not a superhero either
never wanted or asked to be
and like dont get me wrong, i dont care if thats what turns someone on
ive got nothing against ppl wanting to play hero
its a little annoying when ur friends get a death wish over saving everyone & helping ppl they dont owe anything to but like
yknow, whatever
but i dont even think what we do here HAS to say a lot about what sort of ppl we are
not when we're rly just killing time

[ But he's spent a lot of that time figuring out the relationship he has with carnal pleasure, too, so. They're still not really in total disagreement here. ]

21
tho most places dont rly care that much when it comes to imports

[ At least clubs that aren't as interested in bouncing out dudes to let more women inside... so... although: ]

what sort of powers?

if i can't figure out who i am here then i probably never will.

[ it's hard being satan's kid. self-exploration is a bitch to conquer. ]

but yeah. i'll leave the heroics to people who know what they're doing.
as for my powers, uh... i have a lot of them. actually, i don't think there's anything i can't do. the porter really liked me.
but.
mind control is one of them, i guess. and... being able to read people's thoughts.
i could just make the bouncer let us in against his will. if it came down to it.

u wont remember it when u go back home
are u cool w/ that

[ It seems like a wash to Reggie, who hasn't even been trying -- well, at least not consciously, that is -- to figure out who he is or what he wants while he's been here, because he doesn't see how he'd find the answers to those questions in what's effectively a purgatory anyway. Even if he did, what good would they do him? But...

Well, he's still a ways ahead of the curve than Michael is, so he supposes he can understand that to an extent. If Reggie had showed up here as a virgin with no social skills, he'd be rushing to catch up, too. ]

mind reading & mind control?

[ ...... Hm. (Unsure), but also: ]

yeah why not?
thatll be way easier
itll be fine dont worry about it so much

yeah.
i get that it's pointless, but.
i don't know a lot about who i am. i grew up with my grandma, and i loved her very much, but she was all i ever had. i went to school for a few years when i was little, but then i was taken out and taught at home. she kicked me out of her house when i was around 15, and then she died before we could patch things up.
i had a therapist for a while to help me deal with her death, but it didn't work out. i tried to start a relationship with my dad, but he was horrible to me. really, really horrible.
and then i was ported in.
i haven't had the time to make real friends, or figure out who i want to be, or what i want to do when i'm older.
figuring out what i want might make me more... i don't know.
happy?
even if it's only for a little while. even if i forget.

[ oooooor something. he's actually a little embarrassed saying this shit, because reggie's too cool for things like self-doubt and emotions and talking about his problems and his feelings is just... immature, maybe. he feels like reggie's going to be weirded out or judge him for saying the things he's saying. michael scratches his fingers through his hair and moves on. ]

sorry. anyway.
you're right, ok.
let's just make this a really good night, yeah? if i don't see you laugh until you cry at least once tonight i'm gonna take it as a personal failure.

yeah.
i mean i guess i sort of get it. like
im not gonna bother trying to figure out most of that stuff while im here unless i have to
my futures still back home, im not trying to build a life here
cuz if none of this is real real that just isnt even possible
but im from a small town so
i still wanna know what its like to live in a city
most ppl dont know me or have expectations about who or what i need to be
so like whats the harm right

[ Reggie's grown up sheltered in his own way, also never really having to question who he is or what he's gonna be -- apart from what his parents want -- or even, in depth, what he wants to be, so confident though he seems, his identity has mostly been built around superficial status and accomplishments that won't apply to him forever. Eventually he'll have to figure out what he wants be,to do with his life, but for now... nah. He wants to enjoy the time he has left before it's time to grow up. ]

sucks about ur family tho
my dad can be kind of a dick too
i mean i think most dads are but
idk
at least they never kicked me out

[ Would they, ever? Reggie isn't sure. Even if things got really bad, he'd probably run away first before they'd go that far; he is their only son. No matter how disappointed or angry they might get, he doesn't know what line he'd have to cross to make them disown him.

But anyway, quickly moving on from mommy/daddy issues... ]

but challenged accepted bro ;)
ngl i could use a few laughs anyway
sounds like u could too

i think that's a really smart way of thinking about all of this. do what you can and have fun with whatever comes your way. live how you want until you go home for good.
that's all i want to do, too.
self-discovery aside.

[ it's a shame that reggie doesn't want to build a life here, if only because michael takes it to mean that he won't treat any of his relationships here as - real? and that's unsettling, to michael, who so desperately craves attention and validation from the people he likes. to think he could put all his affection into reggie and be told at the end of it that their friendship isn't real - it scares michael to think about, so he just... doesn't. ]

yeah. it's okay. thank you. sorry for sharing all of that.
dads are the worst.
my therapist was kind of like a dad. we played catch and everything.
but he turned out to be a dick too, so.
maybe dudes just weren't meant to have kids.
anyway.

anyway anyway anyway.
ok.
tonight!
hrghrghgh!
get pumped!

surprisingly most ppl dont agree w/ u
but yeah, it is smart
summer camp rules, yknow
whatever happens here stays here
& then afterwards u move on

[ It's what Reggie says, and certainly what he thinks he wants -- what he thinks is the smartest approach to take here -- but as a plan it really only works in theory. He's still here while he's here, which means his mind and his emotions still function as normal; whether or not the relationships he makes here aren't supposed to be real or important, they will be anyway. Even if only here, in this little vacuum of reality.

But that's the hardest part to accept, maybe-- that something can be temporary yet still meaningful. Summer camp rules tend to demand the opposite... but you usually still do remember summer camp afterward. If they won't rememeber any of this, if it'll just be like it never even happened again once they're home, how meaningful can it really be? ]

my boss is a therapist

[ And also kind of like a dad; Reggie thinks of him a bit as such, if not in such a direct way. Still also kind of a dick, but a much better dad-figure than Reggie's real dad. Not that Reggie's going to make any further comment to that point-- maybe dads are (or can be) the worst, but he still has too much respect for his own to say so. ]

& hes all right
not MY therapist tho
seems like kind of a bad idea to get that close to ur own doctor

dw im already pumped
ill start getting ready

yeah.

[ michael being abnormal was what lead to constance's death, so there are a couple of alarm bells ringing in his head when reggie says this whole live fast die young thing doesn't have a lot of traction outside the two of them, but. so what? even if most people don't agree with him, reggie does, and that means more to him than anything else. he thrives under conditions like these. ]

oh, that's cool. you're right, though. going to him would be a pretty bad idea.
i don't need therapy anymore, so. i won't make things weird and messy between us by trying to talk to him, either.
you don't really strike me as someone who needs it, anyway? therapy, i mean.
i feel like you could fix anything that was getting in your way. all by yourself.
'cause you're a badass, like i said.

but okay, uh. i still don't know where you live.
you wanna meet up somewhere, or can i come over this time?

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