Toxic Hearts

[Kang Taebin]

"That's real tempting right now," Josh said in a low voice, slanting a dangerous look over at Rae. He probably couldn't get away with knocking the guy out... Well, not for the entire weekend, since they were stuck in a cabin together.

All alone together, away from prying eyes...

Josh did love a challenge and seeing the way that his best friends had changed virtually overnight from wolves to pussies really disappointed him. Maybe there was a way to get them back, if they weren't too far gone. Aldon seemed like a lost cause but Rae...

Smiling to himself, he kept his eyes on the road instead of on Rae. The idea was only half-formed--not even serious, really. Josh's feelings for Rae had waned somewhat from the fierce crush of a few years ago but the embers still smoldered, deep down inside. He wasn't in love with Rae or anything like that. He was just... very fond of him, in his own antagonistic way.

"You know that new guy that Aldon's been dragging along everywhere? What's his name again? I think he's the one who stole my pants last time."

[Reagan Ryang]

Smirking, Rae slanted a Look right back at Josh. He crossed his arms and then slouched slightly, stretching his legs out in front of him. Yeah, he bet it was tempting. Just clock him one and there would be no more bickering. Sometimes, he thought if they both kept their mouths shut for long enough, they would be better friends.

But where was the fun in shutting up?

"Ugh, you mean that Gregg guy?" Nothing against the guy and all but Rae similarly reacted to every new pack member. It took time to get used to them and it took time to slot them into their pack. He didn't know where Gregg would fall in but he sure better not think he was going to be higher ranked than him.

"Like he could even fit in your pants."

[Kang Taebin]

"Oh right, Gregg. And I know! I don't know why he didn't just steal somebody else's pants."

Like Rae's. They would have fit Gregg better than Josh's, even though he brought along loose-fitting ones just for the occasion. It must've been uncomfortable. Josh frowned. "Bet Aldon had something to do with it too." He wouldn't put it past Aldon to do a scumbag thing like that.

Of course, that only doomed some other sucker to losing their pants, because Josh grabbed the first one that looked like it would fit him and hightailed it out of the area before its owner could come around looking.

"Did you hear about the fight?" Josh took his eyes off the road briefly to look at Rae. "I heard there was a bad fight between two ferals. Somebody said it might've been... Jae." They both knew how that fight would end, if Jaesung was involved. Josh knew him well before he became infected; the difference was like night and day, honestly.

[Reagan Ryang]

Leaning against the door, Rae let out a snort. Yeah, fights like that one were usually talked about at length. It was like their version of water cooler gossip, really. As for the participants, Rae ran a hand over the back of his head and yawned. Okay, he could use some beauty sleep too.

"Okay, so who was the other one, then?"

If there was a fight between two feral, then who was the other one, right? Jae was almost a given at this point. If there was a fight, even between ferals--especially between ferals--then Jae was almost always involved. Something about the virus or bacteria or whatever the fuck it was that got to them all, it really fucked with Jae's brain.

Maybe it was because he wasn't born with it.

[Kang Taebin]

"Somebody said it was Ryan."

Josh frowned as he turned his eyes back onto the road. Ryan was something of a mutual friend--or really, a mutual acquaintance. They had to stick together, though, as ferals. God knew everyone else looked down on them for being 'diseased.' They didn't need to be taking each other out!

A sigh slipped out as he leaned back a little, setting the car on auto. "Maybe we need to find some other place to change." Somewhere far away from Rae's crazy cousin, the one who hunted the hunters. Most ferals went after each other but... they were all basically matched in terms of strength. Something about Jae's craziness lent him extra strength, and more than one feral had fallen to him.

But, true to form, Josh glanced over with a smirk. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to... Aldon, after all."

[Reagan Ryang]

Is he dead?

He didn't ask and Josh didn't say. It seemed like bad news, regardless. And one of these days, it might be one of them--himself, Aldon, Josh. Rae frowned slightly but turned his head away so that it wasn't apparent.

"Yeah," he agreed, although he was irritated by the way Josh said Aldon. Since it was obvious by his smirk that he was trying to get under his skin, though, he tried not to respond to it. He'd already taken Josh's bait several times that morning already.

"There's plenty of forests here in Washington. Not like we all have to change in the same one."

But his voice still held irritation and he could hear it, which annoyed him even more.

"Or we could just lock Jae up."

[Kang Taebin]

Lock Jae up? Josh's glance flicked over to Rae, noting the annoyance in his tone. Was it just the talk of Jae that put him on edge, or was it something else? Something was bothering him. Maybe because he wasn't the one Josh named.

What a dummy. Even though he knew Josh was teasing, he still rose to the bait. Ah, Rae was just too easy.

"That's kinda harsh, isn't it? He IS your cousin." Although cousins didn't necessarily have to be close. From what Josh gathered, Jae had never really been a part of Rae's life and when he was, he had already begun to change. Thankfully Josh had no problematic relatives like that! Just his parents, who had definite Issues of their own that Josh wanted no part of.

"Anyway, maybe we can bring it up with Andrew later," he said, as he turned off the highway and onto a smaller side road. "Ugh, I forgot how rough it gets around here," Josh complained as they jostled and bumped around. There was another hour of rattling around, and then they would come out onto the lake, and the cabin situated close by, backed by the forests.

[Reagan Ryang]

...He didn't mean they needed to lock Jae up forever, just whenever he was taken over by the feral side of himself. Then again, something had really twisted Jae up. The rest of them were worse around the full moon but it seemed like Jae was just escalating with every passing day, no matter the phase of the moon.

"Yeah," he said, both to bringing it up to his father and to the bumpy road. He reached up and held one hand against the roof of his car as the bumps started to jostle him around.

This was also part of the reason he just let Josh have the wheel. If he was the one driving this part, they'd probably fling off a cliff.

"It'll be worth it when we're up there."

[Kang Taebin]

An hour bumping and jostling around later, Josh's ass was sore. And not in the way he preferred it to be sore, either. Grumpily he pulled up to the picturesque cabin, along the slightly smoother dirt path which led, winding gently, to the back entrance. Before them was the expanse of shining blue lake, and the long grassy slope leading down to it.

"Finally!" He all but exploded out of the car, rubbing his backside ruefully. "God, now I remember why we don't come out here anymore!" His parents likely couldn't handle the ride into the woods. It was taxing on anyone, but when he had to bear the road conditions and drive, avoiding potholes and flattening whole bushes sometimes, it was a nightmare.

"Okay, let's get inside with the stuff. We'll have to air the place out, too." He hadn't been here in months. Josh grabbed his stuff and hauled it to the door without waiting for Rae. He didn't need to--Rae was capable of getting his own junk. Josh fumbled for keys, found them in his keyring and opened the door to a blast of musty, dank air. He made a disgusted noise--his very sensitive nose couldn't bear all the dust, either.

The first thing that he did was to fling open all the windows, and soon a cool breeze was wafting through to clear the air. "So! What did you bring? I have the blankets and I brought a portable stove."

[Reagan Ryang]

By the time they arrived, Rae was more than happy to get out of the car and stretch his limbs. They should have come by wolf legs--it would have been a much more enjoyable journey. Here they were, though. And anyway, the car was kinda necessary if they wanted to bring anything along. And clothes. That kind of thing.

Rae grabbed his shit from the car and brought it into the cabin. He couldn't help it; he had a sneezing fit when he first entered but it was more tolerable after Josh aired the place out.

"I brought everything we need for a good time," he said. There were the obvious things--clothes and toiletries. But in the cardboard box he hefted off the ground and onto the quaint "log" table, he presented bottles of various hard liquors.

"Music, drinks, food. What else do we need?"

[Kang Taebin]

Ah, that was what Josh was looking for. The booze. His eyes lit up at the sight of the bottles, even as he forced a nonchalant look onto his own face. "We need someone willing to get drunk and make a fool of himself by jumping onto the table to do a striptease," he laughed, recalling one vivid incident at a private party.

"But tequila is good too," Josh amended as he picked up a bottle and studied it. Good old Rae, he brought the hard stuff. Beer was fine and all--and there was plenty of it sitting around in one of the cupboards--but it was more like a refreshing beverage for most of them by now. Josh personally had his first taste of alcohol at age fifteen; he was no stranger to it by now.

"All right, let's get this party started! You take our suitcases into one of the bedrooms and I'll go start the grill. Speakers should be over there, put on some music. I think we have patties and hot dogs in the freezer."

He ambled over to check, bringing out various meats to toss onto the barbecue. Then he went outside to remove the cover from the grill and attempted to start it without setting his own hair on fire.

[Reagan Ryang]

"Ha-ha." Nobody was going to be doing that tonight! No striptease, no dancing on tables. Just good old fashioned drinking and drunk shenanigans. Rae didn't know what those would be yet. He had to wait until the alcohol was running through his system. The ideas--the stupid ideas--would flow then.

"Let's do it!" He clapped his hands together like an overly enthusiastic camp counselor. Then he grabbed the suitcases and dragged them up to one of the rooms. He left them there--no need to unpack or shit right now.

Rae bounded down the wooden log staircase, skipping steps as he went. He skidded toward the speakers and flicked through his music playlist until he found a thumping hip hop beat. Turning it up, he started dancing over toward Josh and the grill.

"Guess what?" he said. "I'm taking dance classes now."

[Kang Taebin]

Cute, dancing his way over to the grill. Despite himself, Josh's lips twitched into a crooked smile. "Ballroom or tango?" he asked just to be a thorn in Rae's side, as he stepped back from the grill to let it warm up.

The patties and hot dogs had been laid out on a tray beside him; he had found buns in the box that Rae brought, too, and there were condiments in the mini-fridge in the kitchen. Their cabin wasn't a lodge, but it was still fair-sized and they could run a few smaller appliances (like a mini-fridge and a freezer) on the strength of the solar panels and the generator out back.

Crossing his arms, he leaned slightly back to give Rae the once-over. "Okay, show me your moves. What did you learn in dance class, RaeRae?" His voice was saccharine and teasing, but his eyes betrayed coy interest as his gaze remained fixed on Rae.

[Reagan Ryang]

"Shut up," he said mildly, although the words were accompanied by a playful punch to Josh's arm. Neither, obviously! Did he look like the ballroom or tango type?

Dancing, he knew, could be made fun of but he didn't honestly care if Josh thought it was some kind of pansy move. The whole thing happened on accident, through a wrong number but he pursued it because... well, why the fuck not? It was a form of exercise and it was more fun than just jogging or some shit.

So, despite the fact that that he knew Josh was fucking with him, he decided to show him what he learned in class. A hip hop class, thank you very much. Not some kind of girly dance.

He moved in on Josh, taunting him to the tune of Usher's Caught Up. If Josh knew how to dance, they could have held a dance battle--those were popular before class when they were waiting for the instructor.

[Kang Taebin]

Oh, Josh knew how to dance but the sort of dancing that he did, he had a feeling that Rae wouldn't like... or that he might like a little too much.

He let Rae dance up to him, smirking, perfectly nonplussed, one plucked brow arched meaningfully. Is that all? the arched brow intimated, alongside his "unimpressed" posture and glance.

Not bad, though. Rae wasn't clumsy and the way that his body moved clearly indicated a latent skill. Dance class, huh? Now was that Alva's idea, or Rae's own idea? Hip hop wasn't as pansy as some of the other forms of dance, it was true, although it also did amuse him to associate Rae, of all people, with anything artistic.

"You're cute," he said patronizingly--a cover-up for what was a perfectly truthful comment. Josh stepped forward, into him, like he was challenging him. Was this where they dropped the beat and challenged each other with their moves? Rae probably couldn't handle Josh's moves, though. The thought produced a smug smile.

"But those only look like beginner moves, Rae. Is that the best you can do?"