Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

                 Chapter 1: Hatred

I hate Mike. Why is he here in the first place? All he does is just go around on anything that has only one wheel, like as you guys know a unicycle or just one wheel from the cart or anything that's a wheel. He even juggles those balls around as if his circus hasn't been burned down.

He then starts to struggle and he falls on his back. I hope his back finally got broken. It didn't unfortunately but that pendejo is so fucking stupid.

He looks at me and smiles as if he didn't fall off something. I rolled my eyes because that was very stupid of him to smile at me. Does he know how much I hate him? Maybe not.

He then stands up and tries to get the sand off him which he does, and walks in my direction.

My heart starts pounding fast and loud. Not loud like someone could hear it without a stethoscope. I mean that only I can hear it. I assumed a Hunter was behind me.

I turned around to see nobody behind me. Just carts. I look up just in case. Still, no one.

That's weird I thought to myself. I then see Mike being a dumbass yet again and Demi is laughing at his jokes. I have nothing against people laughing at his jokes but they're so fucking bad. I wonder if they're just laughing because they want him to feel good about himself.

We go back to the manor and I immediately get ready for the game. I just hope he isn't gonna be on the same team as me.

As I sit down on the table to wait for the game to start, surprise surprise, he sits next to me. God, I hate him so much.

"Ready for the game?" That dumbass asks me.

I ignore him because not only do I hate him but, I just want this game to be over with so that I can go to my room and just do my own thing.

"I wonder what the map is gonna be." He puts his head in between his hands and looks up like he's imagining something.

"Oh, what if it's Moonlit River Park? I'm so excited!" He lowers his head like he's in love. Of course, he wants it to be the Moonlit River Park.

"Of course it is," I say annoyed.

He looks at me a little annoyed but shrugs it off as a joke. I wasn't joking.

Emily comes and sits next to him and waves at us. He waves excitedly and it annoys me. Emily looks at me and asks me if I'm okay. I nod my head and put my head down.

Then, Ganji comes and sits next to me.

"Hey Norton! What's up?" He looks at me smiling.

I look at him and tell him that I'm just tired and that I just want to go to my room. Before he could say anything, the game began.

It wasn't Moonlit River Park but the Lakeside Village. I fucking hate that map. I'm near the wrecked ship and the cipher is right next to me so I instantly go there to decode. I then hear someone saying "Focus on decoding!" Of course, someone had to say it. It frustrates me every time. I also bet that it's Mike.

As I decode, I see a mirror facing somewhere. I was lucky it wasn't me this time. When matching with Mary, she always makes sure to target me. I sigh in relief as I continued to decode. I then heard a hurt scream and it sounded familiar.

I didn't think anything of it until I realized that it was Ganji's scream. I stopped decoding and I ran to the direction to where the scream came from and Ganji was trying so hard to not get downed by Mary. I throw my magnet at her and she looks at me.

"Don't you dare Norton!" Mary warned as she knew what I would do to trigger the magnet.

Ganji then ran behind me to take deep breaths. I walk forward and Mary steps back.

I continued to taunt her until the magnet triggered and it pushed her away from me and Ganji. She looked at me with anger and huffed angrily as she walked away to find another survivor. Hopefully Mike.

Ganji starts huffing as he laughs. "That was so good man!"

"Thanks. Now, let me heal your dumbass." I say with a playful smile as I start healing him.

As I finish, Ganji and I hear a cipher pop and Emily's hurt scream. We didn't think anything of it because she has been in the game longer than us, so she knows her way around these maps.

We then run to the next cipher that has been decoded but not fully and hear another cipher pop but, no screams. We decided to decode it since we wanted to get this game over with.

Out of nowhere, Mike comes to us and immediately starts decoding. I looked at him with disgust but continued to decode anyway.

We popped another cipher. Mike then starts running to another one when Ganji follows him.

"Ganji!" I say in a scream whispering voice. "Why are you following him?"

"Because, the faster we pop each cipher, the faster we can get out!" He says back in a scream-whispering tone and continues to follow Mike.

I scoffed and started running in the other direction. As I was about to decode, my heart started beating and I immediately realized that it was Mary trying to get "revenge" on me.

I threw my magnet at the mirror, big mistake, and she immediately switched to where I put the magnet. Mistake gone right, right? The magnet is then triggered and she gets even more pissed.

"You will pay Norton!" She exclaimed as she's about to hit me.

I run faster than I'd ever run before. She catches up just from walking. She then hits me before I could even give her another magnet to eat.

I scream in pain because, of course, it's gonna hurt like a bitch. I aim the magnet again and she stops to make me miss but knowing myself, I taunt her.

She groans in frustration as I continue to taunt her. I even did a dance she hated just to mess with her. She activated her mirror and she instantly hit me again and I was down.

Now I'm frustrated.

She then balloons me and puts me on a rocket chair. She then starts laughing at me as she stays there. I knew she was satisfied that she finally got someone chaired after not doing so for whatever reason for three ciphers, max at least.

Luckily, Ganji had his bat ready. Unfortunately, Mike was there with him. Why him?

Ganji hit Mary with the ball, stunning her and Mike took me out the rocket chair to save me. We all start running. Mary is furious now, for the millionth time.

"How many ciphers are there?" I ask desperately, but also because my coughing was starting to get bad

"There's only one left! When one of us gets downed, the doctor will pop it!" Mike said as he ran behind me.

Why does he call Emily "doctor"? She has a name. I mean, it's okay to call her, "Doctor Emily", but not Doctor. I swear, he needs to know how to call those by their name or profession and then name. Like, Dr. Emily or Dr. Dyer.

Ganji is still trying so hard to slow Mary down. Poor guy. Sometimes I wish the hunter wasn't Mary or Joseph. I hate rich people.

She uses her mirror, again, and she hits me. As she hits me, the cipher pops and I'm fine. Well, still in pain but, at least I'm not downed.

Mary finally surrenders and we are back in the manor.

I don't say anything as I go to my room. I don't want to be around anyone right now. Especially when I'm still injured and I just need some quiet.

But here comes to Mike ruin it, like always.

I sigh and ask, "What do you want Mike?" It was in a very annoyed tone.

"I just wanted to say that you were amazing!" He says in a happy voice that literally makes my ears hurt.

"Thanks. I know." I say as I push him away and go to my room. I open the door and immediately close it as I walk towards my bed. The bed was alright, in my opinion. My eye started to close on its own as if it had a mind of its own.

As I doze off, I start thinking about Mike. The way his blond hair basically floated when he was in the air, the way his freckles lit up in the sun or in any light. Wait, why am I thinking about the acrobat idiot that I hate so much? Why Mike? Out of all people, Mike? I hate him! Right?

Chapter Text

I woke up from a nightmare that has haunted me since I first got in the manor; Me beating Melly to death all for money and afterwards, I stand up and look at my knuckles. I then gasp as I look back at the ground to see Melly's decaying body facing me. She then points at me and yells, "It's your fault," and I then wake up.

I am sweating like an animal and panting as if I had just been chased for hours. I hate being reminded of what I did. I tried to hide it from everyone around me, including my best friend Ganji, but it seems to always come back when I don't want it to. I don't want to be reminded of what I did all for money. But in my defense, Orpheus manipulated me since he knew I would do anything for money.

I lived in poverty my entire life. I was also treated horribly by my coworkers, what do you expect someone like me to do? I was desperate. I needed money and I was starving. Bread wasn't enough to keep me fed.

I slowly rise from laying on my back and sit up straight. I then rub my eyes and yawned, which resulted in me coughing. In the morning, I keep forgetting that my lungs are extremely damaged from the hours of mining I have done for many years, since I was seven. It annoyed me, but it's the reality I face everyday. Breathing is difficult, standing is difficult, walking is difficult, hell even talking is a chore. Anything I do is a chore. I might be used to it, but that doesn't mean that I hate it.

I stand up and walk to my closet when a knock came at my door. Nobody knocks on my door, especially in the morning, so I knew that somebody wanted to annoy me; And that somebody was Mike, the damn acrobat himself. Why is he at my door this early in the morning? I'm still in my pajamas and I'm not even half awake.

"What is it you need," I say as I reached for the doorknob and pulled the door open to see Ganji instead of the blond acrobat, "Ganji." I finished the sentence as I expected Mike, not Ganji.

Why did I expect Mike when Ganji is the one who tolerates me the most and is the one who is always checks on me even if he's with William or at the first floor? No idea.

"Norton," The batter says in amusement, "Did you expect Mike again?" He teased in his accent, which made me roll my eyes in annoyance.

"Actually, I wasn't," I say defensively, "He's really annoying and you know that when someone is annoying in Mike level, they can end up at your door any moment." I continued as I folded my arms against my chest.

Ganji didn't seem convinced, which is usually the case, as he shook his head. At this point, I don't know what he's thinking. All I know is that he could be thinking about William, the next match, or something that I know nothing about and I prefer it that way.

Ganji sighed as he stood up straight and looked at me as if I knew something. He most likely will not tell me what it is, so I always let it go.

"Stop looking at me as if I know what's going on in your mind," I started off with a scowl, "And no, I wasn't thinking about Mike."

"Nobody accused you of thinking about Mike, Norton." The batter pointed out, making my heart skip a beat and my stomach churn from unease.

Of course nobody said anything about me thinking about Mike. I don't know why I said anything about that. Why did I say that? Why did I think that Mike was behind the door when it was Ganji all along? Those questions ran deep into my mind that I completely forgot about Ganji for a moment. Ganji then snapped his fingers in my face to get me out of my thoughts. I hate it when people do it, but I always have to take it in and let it happen.

"Norton, are you thinking about Mike again?" Asked the batter, who had a smug smile on his face.

I frown and shook my head, "No," I responded defensively, "I would never think about Mike; Let alone think about him in the way you're thinking." I continued with a scoff.

But Ganji didn't seem to be impressed or convinced. I don't expect him to though.

"Yeah, of course you don't," Ganji started off with a head shake, "That’s why you always assume that people think you’re thinking of Mike when that’s not even close to what people think. You’re just outing yourself.” He finished off with a chuckle that I can only assume was smug.

I hate it when Ganji, of all people, say things like that. It makes me question myself when I know my truth. I don’t need anybody to tell me otherwise.

“Whatever,” I say gruffly, “Just let me get dressed and I’ll be on my way to breakfast.” I continued before nodding to Ganji, who nodded back, and walked away from my door and down the hallway.

I look at the direction he went before shaking my head and slammed the door shut. I didn’t care if I woke the others up, all I needed was some time to think. What was Ganji thinking? Is he trying to confuse my feelings or is it something that I don’t know? I would ask Alice to help, but I highly doubt she’s going to help me after what happened.

I carefully walked to my bed when I felt my heart had gotten heavy, like carrying piles and piles of coal and other minerals on my back, and my stomach felt queasy, as if someone had kicked me so hard in the stomach that I might actually puke.

I sigh as I took a deep breath in and out one time, then two times, then three times. It worked a little bit, but not that much. I then decide to push it down and ignore it. What could go wrong, right?

I put on my clothes when I remembered that Nightengale gave me a costume that I never thought I would ever wear. The storyline is also weird since I’ve never raced in my life and I actually don’t care enough to do so.

I walk to my closet to see the exact costume I was just talking about. I know that I’ll have to do my own makeup, but I promised Fiona that she could do the makeup for me. And I can’t disappoint Fiona.

I then put on the clothes only to realize that I had to bleach my hair. I can always ask Mary, even though she hates my guts, to help me bleach my hair.

But that’s when my mind started thinking about Mike again. The way he uses his circus balls to gain a speed boost or actually use it for good; The way the wind blows on his hair and how I want to touch it. Wait, me? Touching Mike’s hair? Ew. I would never touch his hair. Or maybe he could touch mine. Why am I thinking that? I don’t like him and I never will.

But the way he speaks, it gives me butterflies in my stomach. I stop myself and smack myself across the face before I compose myself.

I stood up straight and walked to the door. I grabbed the knob and turned it left before walking out of my room and closing the door behind me.