Kade
Fandom Fanatic
Name: Shin Hyun Seung
Nickname: Sagikkun/Sagi
Age: 22
Birthday: April 1
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Bi-curious
Role: The Criminal
Nickname: Sagikkun/Sagi
Age: 22
Birthday: April 1
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Bi-curious
Role: The Criminal
Height: 178cm (5ft 10in)
Weight: 73kg (161lbs)
Eye Color: brown
Hair Color: natural black (may dye it later)
Skin Tone: lightly tan
Build: toned, athletic
Piercings: Both ears pierced mulitple times, may wear single studs or have loops up either ear
Tattoos: Ace of Spades on upper right arm, jester hat on left pectoral
Scars: long, diagonal slash on lower right side, slight scarring on knuckles, multiple tiny scars here and there from average dumb kid stuff (falling off bikes, getting scratched up climbing trees, etc)
Fashion: t-shirts (often sleeveless), jeans or cargos (often black), boots, hoodies, biker jackets
Accessories: chains, rings, earrings, snapbacks
Weight: 73kg (161lbs)
Eye Color: brown
Hair Color: natural black (may dye it later)
Skin Tone: lightly tan
Build: toned, athletic
Piercings: Both ears pierced mulitple times, may wear single studs or have loops up either ear
Tattoos: Ace of Spades on upper right arm, jester hat on left pectoral
Scars: long, diagonal slash on lower right side, slight scarring on knuckles, multiple tiny scars here and there from average dumb kid stuff (falling off bikes, getting scratched up climbing trees, etc)
Fashion: t-shirts (often sleeveless), jeans or cargos (often black), boots, hoodies, biker jackets
Accessories: chains, rings, earrings, snapbacks
Sagi likes to laugh and have fun, but oftentimes it's at the expense of others. He's mischief in a nutshell, born to play pranks and cause general mayhem, but isn't one to actually hurt someone unless they aim to hurt him or someone he cares about first. Generally he's a pretty laid back guy and prefers smiles over anger, the kind of person who laughs and makes smartass comments even as he's being handcuffed and thrown into the back of a cruiser. Even the cops can't help but like him as they're rolling their eyes at his nonsense and asking him when he's going to stop causing trouble.
He can, of course, get very serious when he needs to be or when life just weighs on top of him a bit too heavily. He knows he's smart enough where, if he'd been raised differently, he might've made something of himself. He also knows that's not an excuse, but sometimes logic just plain can't win over habit and upbringing. He'll go through short phases of hating himself on a deep level for that, but they never last long before he's back to his old antics. The only way anyone can tell when he's going through one of his rough phases is that he doesn't talk as much and he tends to drink a bit more.
Any sort of temper he has is virtually nonexistent unless someone is bullying him, his family, or his friends. Basically he's not a pushover by any means and isn't afraid to get physically violent if things get ugly. The scars on his knuckles might as well be medals for every fight he's won. Moral: Don't piss of Sagi. It'll open the door to a lot of pent up rage. On your face.
He can, of course, get very serious when he needs to be or when life just weighs on top of him a bit too heavily. He knows he's smart enough where, if he'd been raised differently, he might've made something of himself. He also knows that's not an excuse, but sometimes logic just plain can't win over habit and upbringing. He'll go through short phases of hating himself on a deep level for that, but they never last long before he's back to his old antics. The only way anyone can tell when he's going through one of his rough phases is that he doesn't talk as much and he tends to drink a bit more.
Any sort of temper he has is virtually nonexistent unless someone is bullying him, his family, or his friends. Basically he's not a pushover by any means and isn't afraid to get physically violent if things get ugly. The scars on his knuckles might as well be medals for every fight he's won. Moral: Don't piss of Sagi. It'll open the door to a lot of pent up rage. On your face.
Sagi did not grow up in a wealthy neighborhood by any means. His father, disabled in a work accident when Hyung Seung was just a toddler, couldn't find a suitable job afterwards and was forced to move his family into the slums. He took to drinking to ease his pain and boredom, and though he wasn't an abusive man, he did little to earn his son's love as Hyung Seung grew older. His mother, not much for anything other than basic cooking skills and a bit of stitching experience, was a kind woman but distant following their move. Adjusting to such a low poverty level and to her husband's downslide was difficult for her, and though she loved her son very much, she spent more time in her room in their top floor apartment staring out her window at the cityscape than she did with him. Hyung Seung, not liking the fact that his mother was so sad all the time, did his best to try to cheer her up every chance he got by acting cute in front of her or telling her jokes or bringing her flowers. When his silly antics ceased to amuse her over time, he went out in search of more valuable items instead. He was nine when he stole his first bracelet from a thrift shop, just a fake silver trinket with missing rhinestones, but it was pretty and something he could have feasibly afforded had he done odd jobs around the neighborhood like he'd told his mom he had done (which he had attempted to do before delving into thievery, but he was a small child with a skinny frame and no skills in anything, so there was simply nothing he had to offer that people would pay him for).
It was her smile, the first he'd seen in ages, that encouraged him to do more for her, to bring home more so she would smile for him more often. One theft led to another to another to another over the next couple years, Hyung Seung picking up tips and tricks from new friends he made along the way. He never outright joined a gang, but he certainly ran in some of the wrong circles, eventually getting himself into enough trouble at thirteen years of age where he got caught trying to lift some real jewelry from a high end store on some bad advice from one of the older boys. The security wasn't supposed to have been as tight as it was, but Hyung Seung barely took two steps after pocketing the necklace before he got snagged. He got thrown in juvie for a month for his "first" actual offense outside of general mischief; the older boy who put him up to it ran off before the cops even showed. Needless to say, Hyung Seung was a little bitter about that, more so about how disappointed he had made his mother, and went to confront the boy once he'd gotten out. It was supposed to have been a verbal lashing only, but the boy got defensive and then downright mean, openly insulting Hyung Seung's father and mother. That was the first fight Hyung Seung had ever gotten into, the blackout rage kind after all the stress he'd been under, and it ended with the boy going to the hospital. Hyung Seung, even though he'd just gotten out, spent another six months in juvie.
He earned his nickname while he was inside, easing his boredom by pulling pranks on the other kids or the guards. Harmless, all of them, but still, it was enough to earn him the reputation of the in-house trickster. It was sort of a title of honor to him so he decided to go ahead and keep it as his street title after he finally got out, promising he wouldn't cause anymore trouble that would get him tossed back inside. He'd put his poor mother under enough stress, after all.
He did well for a little while, going to a decent school further away from the slums so he'd be around some better influences, working out a lot to give him something to occupy his time, actually doing odd jobs here and there to bring home a little extra money for the family so that his mother could be proud of. He formed tentative bonds with some of the "romantics" crew, generally good kids who kept him on the right path for awhile. Unfortunately for him, old habits die hard, and when his father really began drinking all of his disability money under the table, Sagi slipped back into his delinquent ways.
Afraid they'd be evicted from the shithole of an apartment they already lived in, Sagi hooked up with some of his old crew in his free time, at first lifting small valuables from purses and pockets, then working up to stealing full wallets and more expensive goods off shelves that could be pawned for cash. It still wasn't enough. Desperate to keep a roof over his mother's head, he sought out something more, a bigger game, the kind that involved cars and chop shops. He successfully stole his first vehicle, some cocky asshole's crotch rocket, two months after he got his driver's license. The pay was small, but more than he'd ever hope to make pinching trinkets from low end markets. It would've been very easy to fall into that life had it not been for Joo-yun happening upon him on the scene of a crime in progress. Hearing that his mother was ill, she had braved a journey into his neighborhood and had gotten a little turned around, and just by sheer luck or fate or some guardian angel stepping in, she spotted Sagi as he was staking out his choice car. Startled to see her in the area, and more than a little concerned for her safety, Sagi abandoned the car in favor of escorting her to somewhere safer (not to his place; he would never take any of his higher class friends to his apartment where they'd be subjugated to his father's drunken slurring), and they wound up talking for hours in a park not too far from her own place. She pressed him about what he'd been doing with that car, and after a few failed attempts at lying, he finally confessed to his activities. Joo-yun, upset not by his return to criminal activity but more by the fact that he hadn't just asked any of his friends for help, made him promise not to do anything like that again. Seeing that she was genuinely afraid he might go back to jail, and more afraid that he might wind up getting hurt or killed, he reluctantly went along with the promise. It wound up being a good thing, since he found out the next day that the car he was looking at stealing was a plant, and Joo-yun had inadvertently saved him being locked away again.
The other good thing about keeping his promise was that he was truly able to find out what good friends he'd actually made. While Sagi could be a bit proud at times, he was not foolish enough to turn away the offering of money that the rest of the romantics pooled together to help his family keep their home. It was such a kind, honest, selfless gesture that touched Hyung Seung on a deep level, and made him want to show his friends what a worthwhile person he could be all over again. He worked harder to improve his grades after that, and got himself an actual job at a gas station nearby Joo-yun's place where the people weren't as aware of Sagi's reputation as a troublemaker. His father kept obliviously drinking and his mother still stared forlornly out her window while she made pennies repairing tears in clients' clothing, but Hyung Seung was at least able to keep the eviction notices away and keep some basic food in their cabinets. It was a start to something bigger, he was sure of it, and he had plans after graduating to go to college and get a good degree and a job as maybe like a student counselor or something where he could help troubled kids like him. Then he could maybe get his father some actual help and move his mother to somewhere that would make her happy and life would be good for once.
It was all there, all lined out neatly ahead of him.
And then Joo-yun died. Joo-yun, the one who kept him in line, the one he talked to when things turned south, was gone, and everybody else fell apart with her death. There was simply no one left. His whole support system just vanished, blown to pieces in the same car wreck that took his friend's life.
Then his mother got sick again. She got sick and he couldn't afford her medicine on his wages and didn't have his circle of friends to turn to for help.
With all the added stress and grief, street Sagi made a swift reappearance, sweeping Hyung Seung right back under the rug. He quit his job at the gas station and went back to stealing cars, earning enough money to make sure his mother was healthy again. Once she was okay, he did walk away from it all, but he didn't get too far before the chop shop he was contracted under finally got raided. He hadn't worked for them for nearly two months by that point, but some idiot squealed on everyone so he could get a lesser sentence, and Sagi, at nineteen, went right back to jail. Real jail this time. Where things weren't nearly as fun and games as they'd been in juvie.
Sagi was supposed to have been in for five years, but he wound up getting out at two for not only good behavior, but for actually stepping in to help out a rookie guard who'd been grabbed by a crazy brandishing a piece of broken glass he'd gotten from god-knew-where. It had all happened so quickly that the other guards barely had time to react to the situation until it had already pretty much diffused itself. Sagi had been walking by when the inmate had flipped out and grabbed the poor guard, and on pure instinct (Sagi kind of liked the rookie) Sagi grabbed the inmate's wrist to pull the glass away from the rookie's neck. The guard scrambled away fine, but Sagi wasn't as lucky, earning himself a long gash down across his side before he was able to knock the glass (and the inmate with a couple solid punches) to the ground. He hadn't realized how deep the cut was until the adrenaline began to wear off and he was being rushed to medical, the rookie sticking by him and thanking him profusely all the way there. Several stitches and a few weeks later, they were talking about cutting his sentence down. Two months after that and he was a free man.
He found his mother in the care of one of his neighbors (thank god), his parents having been evicted a few months prior after his advance rent had finally run out. He never found out what happened to his father. Probably drank himself into a coma on the street somewhere, and while part of Sagi remains sad about that, another part can't seem to care. The man had always been a useless waste of space anyway.
Knowing that his mother was in safe hands for the time being, Sagi set out to start fresh (again). He found work for a landscaper who let him stay in his rundown guest home turned equipment shed. It wasn't much, but it was somewhere off the street, and it was free as long as he kept it clean and quiet and continued working for the business. It seemed like a good way to get himself back on track with his life; or at least it was better than being homeless and risking getting thrown back in jail for delving back into criminal activity.
Then one of his teachers died and he was facing the group of friends who had walked out of his life all over again, the friends who he, too, had turned his back on. And Mark was talking about a road trip. In America. Somewhere far, far away from everything that sucked about Sagi's existence. It was completely ridiculous, and yet...yet...
Before he knew it, Sagi found himself packing his minimal belongings, not even caring whether or not his job and his tiny home would still be there waiting for him by the time he returned. He was going to America! Maybe it was the true beginning he needed, a true place to start over. It was supposed to be the land of opportunity, wasn't it? And besides, what did he have to lose?
It was her smile, the first he'd seen in ages, that encouraged him to do more for her, to bring home more so she would smile for him more often. One theft led to another to another to another over the next couple years, Hyung Seung picking up tips and tricks from new friends he made along the way. He never outright joined a gang, but he certainly ran in some of the wrong circles, eventually getting himself into enough trouble at thirteen years of age where he got caught trying to lift some real jewelry from a high end store on some bad advice from one of the older boys. The security wasn't supposed to have been as tight as it was, but Hyung Seung barely took two steps after pocketing the necklace before he got snagged. He got thrown in juvie for a month for his "first" actual offense outside of general mischief; the older boy who put him up to it ran off before the cops even showed. Needless to say, Hyung Seung was a little bitter about that, more so about how disappointed he had made his mother, and went to confront the boy once he'd gotten out. It was supposed to have been a verbal lashing only, but the boy got defensive and then downright mean, openly insulting Hyung Seung's father and mother. That was the first fight Hyung Seung had ever gotten into, the blackout rage kind after all the stress he'd been under, and it ended with the boy going to the hospital. Hyung Seung, even though he'd just gotten out, spent another six months in juvie.
He earned his nickname while he was inside, easing his boredom by pulling pranks on the other kids or the guards. Harmless, all of them, but still, it was enough to earn him the reputation of the in-house trickster. It was sort of a title of honor to him so he decided to go ahead and keep it as his street title after he finally got out, promising he wouldn't cause anymore trouble that would get him tossed back inside. He'd put his poor mother under enough stress, after all.
He did well for a little while, going to a decent school further away from the slums so he'd be around some better influences, working out a lot to give him something to occupy his time, actually doing odd jobs here and there to bring home a little extra money for the family so that his mother could be proud of. He formed tentative bonds with some of the "romantics" crew, generally good kids who kept him on the right path for awhile. Unfortunately for him, old habits die hard, and when his father really began drinking all of his disability money under the table, Sagi slipped back into his delinquent ways.
Afraid they'd be evicted from the shithole of an apartment they already lived in, Sagi hooked up with some of his old crew in his free time, at first lifting small valuables from purses and pockets, then working up to stealing full wallets and more expensive goods off shelves that could be pawned for cash. It still wasn't enough. Desperate to keep a roof over his mother's head, he sought out something more, a bigger game, the kind that involved cars and chop shops. He successfully stole his first vehicle, some cocky asshole's crotch rocket, two months after he got his driver's license. The pay was small, but more than he'd ever hope to make pinching trinkets from low end markets. It would've been very easy to fall into that life had it not been for Joo-yun happening upon him on the scene of a crime in progress. Hearing that his mother was ill, she had braved a journey into his neighborhood and had gotten a little turned around, and just by sheer luck or fate or some guardian angel stepping in, she spotted Sagi as he was staking out his choice car. Startled to see her in the area, and more than a little concerned for her safety, Sagi abandoned the car in favor of escorting her to somewhere safer (not to his place; he would never take any of his higher class friends to his apartment where they'd be subjugated to his father's drunken slurring), and they wound up talking for hours in a park not too far from her own place. She pressed him about what he'd been doing with that car, and after a few failed attempts at lying, he finally confessed to his activities. Joo-yun, upset not by his return to criminal activity but more by the fact that he hadn't just asked any of his friends for help, made him promise not to do anything like that again. Seeing that she was genuinely afraid he might go back to jail, and more afraid that he might wind up getting hurt or killed, he reluctantly went along with the promise. It wound up being a good thing, since he found out the next day that the car he was looking at stealing was a plant, and Joo-yun had inadvertently saved him being locked away again.
The other good thing about keeping his promise was that he was truly able to find out what good friends he'd actually made. While Sagi could be a bit proud at times, he was not foolish enough to turn away the offering of money that the rest of the romantics pooled together to help his family keep their home. It was such a kind, honest, selfless gesture that touched Hyung Seung on a deep level, and made him want to show his friends what a worthwhile person he could be all over again. He worked harder to improve his grades after that, and got himself an actual job at a gas station nearby Joo-yun's place where the people weren't as aware of Sagi's reputation as a troublemaker. His father kept obliviously drinking and his mother still stared forlornly out her window while she made pennies repairing tears in clients' clothing, but Hyung Seung was at least able to keep the eviction notices away and keep some basic food in their cabinets. It was a start to something bigger, he was sure of it, and he had plans after graduating to go to college and get a good degree and a job as maybe like a student counselor or something where he could help troubled kids like him. Then he could maybe get his father some actual help and move his mother to somewhere that would make her happy and life would be good for once.
It was all there, all lined out neatly ahead of him.
And then Joo-yun died. Joo-yun, the one who kept him in line, the one he talked to when things turned south, was gone, and everybody else fell apart with her death. There was simply no one left. His whole support system just vanished, blown to pieces in the same car wreck that took his friend's life.
Then his mother got sick again. She got sick and he couldn't afford her medicine on his wages and didn't have his circle of friends to turn to for help.
With all the added stress and grief, street Sagi made a swift reappearance, sweeping Hyung Seung right back under the rug. He quit his job at the gas station and went back to stealing cars, earning enough money to make sure his mother was healthy again. Once she was okay, he did walk away from it all, but he didn't get too far before the chop shop he was contracted under finally got raided. He hadn't worked for them for nearly two months by that point, but some idiot squealed on everyone so he could get a lesser sentence, and Sagi, at nineteen, went right back to jail. Real jail this time. Where things weren't nearly as fun and games as they'd been in juvie.
Sagi was supposed to have been in for five years, but he wound up getting out at two for not only good behavior, but for actually stepping in to help out a rookie guard who'd been grabbed by a crazy brandishing a piece of broken glass he'd gotten from god-knew-where. It had all happened so quickly that the other guards barely had time to react to the situation until it had already pretty much diffused itself. Sagi had been walking by when the inmate had flipped out and grabbed the poor guard, and on pure instinct (Sagi kind of liked the rookie) Sagi grabbed the inmate's wrist to pull the glass away from the rookie's neck. The guard scrambled away fine, but Sagi wasn't as lucky, earning himself a long gash down across his side before he was able to knock the glass (and the inmate with a couple solid punches) to the ground. He hadn't realized how deep the cut was until the adrenaline began to wear off and he was being rushed to medical, the rookie sticking by him and thanking him profusely all the way there. Several stitches and a few weeks later, they were talking about cutting his sentence down. Two months after that and he was a free man.
He found his mother in the care of one of his neighbors (thank god), his parents having been evicted a few months prior after his advance rent had finally run out. He never found out what happened to his father. Probably drank himself into a coma on the street somewhere, and while part of Sagi remains sad about that, another part can't seem to care. The man had always been a useless waste of space anyway.
Knowing that his mother was in safe hands for the time being, Sagi set out to start fresh (again). He found work for a landscaper who let him stay in his rundown guest home turned equipment shed. It wasn't much, but it was somewhere off the street, and it was free as long as he kept it clean and quiet and continued working for the business. It seemed like a good way to get himself back on track with his life; or at least it was better than being homeless and risking getting thrown back in jail for delving back into criminal activity.
Then one of his teachers died and he was facing the group of friends who had walked out of his life all over again, the friends who he, too, had turned his back on. And Mark was talking about a road trip. In America. Somewhere far, far away from everything that sucked about Sagi's existence. It was completely ridiculous, and yet...yet...
Before he knew it, Sagi found himself packing his minimal belongings, not even caring whether or not his job and his tiny home would still be there waiting for him by the time he returned. He was going to America! Maybe it was the true beginning he needed, a true place to start over. It was supposed to be the land of opportunity, wasn't it? And besides, what did he have to lose?
**Chosen mostly at random from a previous role play (Q aka Switch is a hacker kid who just got accepted into an underground vigilante type organization in New York and he is being shown to his new living space by a cute girl, and as I used Jungkookie as my FC, I adapted that whole part of his personality involving him being terrified af of girls, lol):
Q was standing there trying to think of what to say when a door in the hallway opened and several people came meandering out...most of whom happened to be ladies. Dressed up ladies. Was that Jess? Why was she not, like, in bro mode? What the fuuuuuck? Now he would never look at her the same way again! He was not prepared for this.
Trying not to look like a fish out of water, he stepped out of the way a little and ducked his head, knowing he was acting very much like the kid everyone always mistook him for. Why are you like this? he asked himself, wishing he wasn't so freakin' shy around women all the goddamn time.
Well, not all the time. Once he familiarized himself with them he could be fine. It just took a little while before he'd be comfortable; and in all fairness, he wasn't exactly his usual friendly self when he met guys for the first time in real life either. There was a reason he was being classified as a Bird and not a Butterfly. The word "social" didn't much fit into his vocabulary unless he was online where he could be Switch and not Q (and Switch was badass); or until people went from strangers to acquaintances. Then he'd still be a little weird sometimes in their eyes (that's what happened when already-shy people got bumped up too many grades and missed out on some key years of normal socialization--so not his fault), but at least he wouldn't be stuck backed up against a wall not making eye contact and not saying--
"HAY! I'M RIA! JESS WANTS ME TO SHOW YOU AROUND AND HELP YOU UNPACK AND STAY WITH YOU UNTIL THEY GET BACK FROM THE THINGIE!"
Q startled at the sudden loudness--did that come out of that cute little girl??--and blinked dumbly as she introduced herself like a normal person would (like he really should've been doing) and found himself being grabbed and dragged into the biggest, coolest apartment he'd ever seen in his life (also, a cute girl was touching him!!!.....He really needed to get out more...)! Like, legit, this place was insane! With a real kitchen and couches and a kickass TV and stairs that wound up to a bedroom loft thing--this was his???
Oh, shit, the girl was still talking.
"Ramen, man. Saved me," she was saying, and that's when his idiot genius brain finally decided to kick back online.
"Ramen. Ha ha!" Oh god, why did that laugh sound so fake? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS???? He clamped his eyes shut and shook his head like one does when trying to shake a terrible mental image out of it and tried again. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I always think it's kind of funny when people say they survived off ramen because I didn't know the instant microwave stuff even existed until I was like eleven and there was like this Freshman contest thing at my school where everyone had to see how much they could eat, and I was so weirded out because my dad always made the real ramyun with bean sprouts and pork belly and hardboiled egg and everything--but not the seaweed because that might've killed me--and if you get that kind at a real restaurant it's not actually all that cheap--I mean, there are more expensive things to get, but it's not like ninety-nine cents or anything--so when people say they're broke and have to live off ramen my first thought is always, Well, you can't be that broke if you can afford to eat ramyun everyday. Weird huh?"
The entire time he was rambling he occupied himself by getting a feel for the room (that's what he was doing, not avoiding making eye contact. Nope. Not all), leaning his skateboard up against the wall and chucking his bag in a corner of the couch, then pausing to look out one of the many windows at the view of...well, an alley and the building next door, the only thing here that was pretty much just like his old place. He wondered if the people across the way ever opened their blinds. He had seen some pretty interesting things from his window at the loft; not that he was a peeper, but when people left their blinds or curtains open and then proceeded to play out real life soap operas only an alley's length away, it was hard not to pay attention. Better than real TV, that was for sure.
Not that he was much better. He wasn't one of those hackers who liked to turn their space into like the Batcave or anything. Sunlight was a good thing (which he wouldn't be lacking at all in a place like this), so he tended to leave the curtains open. It wasn't like he ever did anything exciting, after all. If anyone peeped on him, they'd see a kid on his computer every hour of the day that he wasn't sleeping. Or changing. He closed the curtains if he was changing. People who didn't do that were pervs...
Oh, or building shit! They couldn't see him if he was building shit because he liked to do that on the floor where he could spread all the pieces out around him. Anyway, the point was, from what they could see they would just think he was just playing games or something, which he was half the time, but he got the feeling he wouldn't be doing too much of that anymore. He was going after bigger fish now.
"Oh, hey, so speaking of making money, what's the mission--case, I mean case--the others are going on? Jess said I'd get a cut, but I don't like getting paid for work I didn't do. I mean, I could probably just look it up, but I'm not down with invading privacy too much, not with people I'm working with...which I know sounds kind of weird because you'd think I'd dig up everything on people I should be trusting, but that sort of takes the fun out of it, ya know? It's like Googling spoilers on an RPG. Who wants to play 'Final Fantasy' when you already know the end of the story? Lame, right?"
Stop. Talking.
Looking away from the window might help, too. Because normal people looked at each other when they conversated. Fuck. Why did it have to be a girl? He was clearly making the best first impression ever.
Q was standing there trying to think of what to say when a door in the hallway opened and several people came meandering out...most of whom happened to be ladies. Dressed up ladies. Was that Jess? Why was she not, like, in bro mode? What the fuuuuuck? Now he would never look at her the same way again! He was not prepared for this.
Trying not to look like a fish out of water, he stepped out of the way a little and ducked his head, knowing he was acting very much like the kid everyone always mistook him for. Why are you like this? he asked himself, wishing he wasn't so freakin' shy around women all the goddamn time.
Well, not all the time. Once he familiarized himself with them he could be fine. It just took a little while before he'd be comfortable; and in all fairness, he wasn't exactly his usual friendly self when he met guys for the first time in real life either. There was a reason he was being classified as a Bird and not a Butterfly. The word "social" didn't much fit into his vocabulary unless he was online where he could be Switch and not Q (and Switch was badass); or until people went from strangers to acquaintances. Then he'd still be a little weird sometimes in their eyes (that's what happened when already-shy people got bumped up too many grades and missed out on some key years of normal socialization--so not his fault), but at least he wouldn't be stuck backed up against a wall not making eye contact and not saying--
"HAY! I'M RIA! JESS WANTS ME TO SHOW YOU AROUND AND HELP YOU UNPACK AND STAY WITH YOU UNTIL THEY GET BACK FROM THE THINGIE!"
Q startled at the sudden loudness--did that come out of that cute little girl??--and blinked dumbly as she introduced herself like a normal person would (like he really should've been doing) and found himself being grabbed and dragged into the biggest, coolest apartment he'd ever seen in his life (also, a cute girl was touching him!!!.....He really needed to get out more...)! Like, legit, this place was insane! With a real kitchen and couches and a kickass TV and stairs that wound up to a bedroom loft thing--this was his???
Oh, shit, the girl was still talking.
"Ramen, man. Saved me," she was saying, and that's when his idiot genius brain finally decided to kick back online.
"Ramen. Ha ha!" Oh god, why did that laugh sound so fake? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS???? He clamped his eyes shut and shook his head like one does when trying to shake a terrible mental image out of it and tried again. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I always think it's kind of funny when people say they survived off ramen because I didn't know the instant microwave stuff even existed until I was like eleven and there was like this Freshman contest thing at my school where everyone had to see how much they could eat, and I was so weirded out because my dad always made the real ramyun with bean sprouts and pork belly and hardboiled egg and everything--but not the seaweed because that might've killed me--and if you get that kind at a real restaurant it's not actually all that cheap--I mean, there are more expensive things to get, but it's not like ninety-nine cents or anything--so when people say they're broke and have to live off ramen my first thought is always, Well, you can't be that broke if you can afford to eat ramyun everyday. Weird huh?"
The entire time he was rambling he occupied himself by getting a feel for the room (that's what he was doing, not avoiding making eye contact. Nope. Not all), leaning his skateboard up against the wall and chucking his bag in a corner of the couch, then pausing to look out one of the many windows at the view of...well, an alley and the building next door, the only thing here that was pretty much just like his old place. He wondered if the people across the way ever opened their blinds. He had seen some pretty interesting things from his window at the loft; not that he was a peeper, but when people left their blinds or curtains open and then proceeded to play out real life soap operas only an alley's length away, it was hard not to pay attention. Better than real TV, that was for sure.
Not that he was much better. He wasn't one of those hackers who liked to turn their space into like the Batcave or anything. Sunlight was a good thing (which he wouldn't be lacking at all in a place like this), so he tended to leave the curtains open. It wasn't like he ever did anything exciting, after all. If anyone peeped on him, they'd see a kid on his computer every hour of the day that he wasn't sleeping. Or changing. He closed the curtains if he was changing. People who didn't do that were pervs...
Oh, or building shit! They couldn't see him if he was building shit because he liked to do that on the floor where he could spread all the pieces out around him. Anyway, the point was, from what they could see they would just think he was just playing games or something, which he was half the time, but he got the feeling he wouldn't be doing too much of that anymore. He was going after bigger fish now.
"Oh, hey, so speaking of making money, what's the mission--case, I mean case--the others are going on? Jess said I'd get a cut, but I don't like getting paid for work I didn't do. I mean, I could probably just look it up, but I'm not down with invading privacy too much, not with people I'm working with...which I know sounds kind of weird because you'd think I'd dig up everything on people I should be trusting, but that sort of takes the fun out of it, ya know? It's like Googling spoilers on an RPG. Who wants to play 'Final Fantasy' when you already know the end of the story? Lame, right?"
Stop. Talking.
Looking away from the window might help, too. Because normal people looked at each other when they conversated. Fuck. Why did it have to be a girl? He was clearly making the best first impression ever.
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