living with roommates is fun /s

Sebastian Stan- Wired Autocomplete Interview

Requested by anon. I know this is not exactly what you asked for, but since I saw your request I had this idea, I’m sorry! I couldn’t really write it any other way... I hope you like it! Besides, it wouldn’t be my blog with a tiny bit of angst.

Plot: fans watching your interview with Sebastian are going to get more than what they bargained for.

“Hello! This is Y/N Y/L/N, from Capitan America: Winter Soldier”

“And this is Sebastian Stan, doing the wired autocomplete interview!”

The bright white light that was in front of you was turned off, and you heard someone from behind the cameras to cut for a few minutes. The introduction was done, and they wanted to make sure it looked good before going on with the main part of the interview. Whispers started filling the room and you dropped the happy fake smiled you had on your face.

Sebastian’s arm, that had been sprawled on the backrest of your chair, fell down, and he moved a few inches to his left. Your stylist gave you thumbs up from the other side of the room, signalling that he didn’t need to redo your hair or make up. So you got stuck those five minutes before the interview with the person who you didn’t want to talk.

Your happy and cheerful attitude had already disappeared, and you decided that your shoes were the most interesting thing in that room. More interesting than your boyfriend, who was sat beside you and didn’t have the courage to look at you in the eye. Not after that the previous night argument.

“Hey, um, h-hi Y/N”

You looked up to see a teenage girl with big helmets on, her hair up in a small ponytail. She was wearing the identification of the interview, so you guessed she was part of the crew. Smiling sweetly at her, you nodded.

“So, uh, could we take a picture?” she asked, fingers playing with cords of the headphones. “Or not! I don’t want to invade you, I-I know this is not exactly professional but, I’m such a big-“

“Of course!” you interrupted her rambling and got up. For the occasion, you had chosen a beautiful blue dress with white flowers, and you were glad you did. Because your other option was the old pyjamas bottoms and torn t-shirt from your best friend.

“That’s-That’s so cool” she giggled, taking her phone out of her pocket. “Thank you so much, this-this is the best day of my life.”

“Don’t worry” you said, smiling at her. “Maybe we could ask my manager to take the photo”

“I’ll do it”

You turned on your heels to see Sebastian with a tight smile, offering a hand to the girl. He got to his feet too, and took a few steps backwards to take a good photo. It was the first time you really looked at him since last night, and he looked awful. Tired eyes, bags under them and chopped lips. He seemed more like a homeless man than a famous actor. All of it because the stupid argument.

You had had it before. Actually, you had had the same arguments since the second month of your relationship, and you had been dating for two years already. Neither of you liked to argue about it, but you couldn’t reach an ending point. While you said it was time to make public your relationship, he was against it. Bad publicity for you, too much stress, the press being too pushy or not being ready for it. You had heard all type of excuses by then, and none of them convinced you that what you had with Sebastian had to stay hidden.

The flash hitting your eyes made you blink in surprise, and Sebastian lowered the phone with a small smile on his face. He looked at the photo for a few seconds, and then gave the phone to the girl. She melted in ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re so cool’s before leaving giggling and jumping a little.

Back in your seat, you folded your hands in your lap and fidgeting with the ring. As if he was testing the water, his hand itched closer to you. It was his fingers moving a little; up and down, as if he was tapping in a table, only that each time they moved closer to your leg. You were almost touching, so in a few seconds, his hand was resting on your knee, and you took that as a peace offering. Sure, you would have to talk about it later, but for the interview it was alright.

You put one of your hands on top of his, feeling how they were much colder than yours. On the contrary of what people used to think, his hands were as cold as ice. You put your fingers in between his, and he had to swallow down a smile. For the first time since he met you, he didn’t care about people watching you linking hands. Last night he had been too close to lose you.

“We start in five!”

Some people started running behind the cameras, trying to get everything under control so that the interview could start. The girl who had asked for the photo had the white tabloids in her hands, ready to be handed out to you.

“Five!”

You squeezed his hand one last time and gifted him with a small smile, letting him know that it would be alright.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sebastian’s laugh filled the room when the next question was revealed; what does he uses on his hair? Your face as you read the question changed from happiness and joy to complete horror. You looked at him with wide eyes, wondering why someone would wake up and ask themselves what does he do with his hair. Joking for a few minutes about how his hair should be something protected at all cost, you continued with the next question.

If you were being honest, you were having a good time. Interviews usually got boring after the third in a row, since all of them asked the same. You liked doing them, though, but that one was being your favourite so far. And Sebastian, without a doubt, your favourite partner.

“What… God, why are this things so difficult to peel off?” you whined, trying to get a grip on the white cover.

“To answer the question, is Y/N Y/L/N a diva? Yes, she is. She needs someone to peel off this things because she doesn’t want to mess up her nails” Sebastian teased, looking straight into the camera, and you slapped his shoulder playfully.

“I can’t stand you”

“You love me”

Yeah, you loved him. You wanted nothing more to than to kiss him right there, and to stop the gossiping about him dating fans who he took photos with or his cousin that came to visit once a year. You forced the thoughts out of your head, not wanting to be seen annoyed or disappointed in the interview.

“Finally” you chuckled, when the paper came off. “What was Sebastian’s first film?”

“Oh, God” he closed his eyes and a faint blush covered his cheeks. Sebastian laughed and looked at you briefly. “You know it?”

“What? It was some teenager shameful comedy?”

“No, I-“ he cut himself before saying the name of the film, and you looked at you with raised brows. “You know it! I told you the last time we were playing Mario Kart!”

A few laughs were heard from the crew behind the camera, but you didn’t mind them. Playing Mario Kart with Sebastian could end in two ways. First one, each one of you in either side of the couch with scowls in your face and aggressively sneaking glances. The other one, video game long forgotten in TV and you riding him in the couch. You rarely payed attention to what he talked about.

Blinking confused, you tried to remember what his first film could had been.

“That-That one with the witches, and so?”

“W-What? What witches?” Sebastian laughed, not bothering to hide the way he was starting at your thoughtful face. You scrunched your nose and resisted the urge to nip at your finger.

“You know, that one where you’re the bad guy. With, with spells and black eyes and those things. There is also, like, a scene with a pool? That’s the only thing I remember, you were shirtless.”

“The Covenant?” Sebastian asked, as if he was not entirely sure what you were talking about. It was common of you to gush ramble about his ‘shirtless scenes’, saying that they were worthy of an Oscar. “I can’t believe you actually said witches.”

“What? I thought you were one! All black, mean.”

“I’m, I’m gonna ignore that” he turned his face towards the camera, his smile not disappearing. “Actually, that was the second. First one was Tony and Tina’s wedding. Small role, nothing important.”

“Nothing that you do is small” you looked at the camera with a small scowl. “He’s the diva”

Two questions later and you had finished his third panel. Sebastian had moved slowly from his seat and had wrapped his arm around your shoulder once more. His arm was touching your back, nothing that the camera could see, but enough to set you in a comfortable state where could set the anxiety and nervousness of being in an interview aside.

His head was in a slightly lower position than yours, and while you waited for your third panel, he propped it on your shoulder and left a quick kiss there. Even though there wasn’t skin, showing, you stuttered with what you were saying and almost dropped the car to the ground. Giving him a pointed look, you placed the panel your lap, and waited for him to start peeling the white papers.

As the rest of them, the first ones was innocent. That type were covered completely asking mostly about your whereabout in that moment. If your best friend lived with you, your next projects and how many pets you had had.

“Alright, next one” Sebastian said, bending forwards to rip the cover. He was, by then, resting his head on your shoulder, and the blush was permanent in your cheeks.

“I’ve seen grandpas faster than you”

“Whatever you say, kid”

The age different was not much. Only a few years, but enough reason to tease each other endlessly. Something changed on Sebastian’s face, as if he had just remembered an important fact. Quickly, he recovered and threw the paper to the side.

“How to seduce Y/N Y/L/N?” Sebastian frowned as soon as the words left his lips. “What kind of freak as that? Who still use ‘seduce’?”

You let out an awkward laugh at the question, uncrossing and crossing your legs. Your fingers tapped on the white board as Sebastian kept talking.

“And-how many people ask this to become trending?”

“Seb, maybe you should-“

“Here is a tip for that”

A small sigh left your lips, knowing that he would say something sassy. Sebastian was not the jealous one; you had to admit you were a little bit more jealous of him. He trusted you and knew you could handle yourself, that you were loyal to him. Still, there were special occasion, like that one, where he didn’t like that fans thought you were available and tried so hard to get you. Then, Sebastian would come up with a sassy comment, making everyone go wide eyed and leave the topic, him looking just like a protective friend.

Certainly, you didn’t expect his next words.

“Just find another one, cause she’s actually taken. And I don’t like sharing.”

The remark that you were going to make died in your tongue, and you looked at Sebastian surprised. Behind the camera, they didn’t hide their shock; they whispered, giggled and you swore you heard someone curse. But you were too busy looking at Sebastian with a open mouth, that he quickly sealed with a small kiss.

His lips closed around you and, after being hit by a sudden wave of cockiness, he even bit your lower one while he tore away. The only laugh that was heard came from you stylist, who you had tired out too many times with talks about Sebastian and your hidden relationship.

“Yeah, so” Sebastian said, his face still close to you. “Y/N Y/N/L can’t be seduced because she’s already with me”

He turned back to his seat and, with a sweet and innocent smile, told the camera that ‘that was all’, saying goodbye for the both of you, since you were too busy staring at him with wide eyes and shaky smile.

That’s how you seduce Y/N Y/L/N.

Want to know more about me? Here is my Masterlist! Feedback is always appreciated!!

(First off, I'd just like to say that reading your stories and your replies to asks, really puts a smile to my face when I have bad days. You're amazing💙) Hi! If this is not too much trouble, I'd love to read more of the awakening trio sharing an apartment. It's such a nice slice of life thing that makes me happy. Just them trying to survive adult life and loving each other 💙

I(Aww, I’m so glad you like my fics and asks and what not! I’m glad you get a kick out of them!!) Secondly, I’ve been a bit slow to reply to this ask because I’ve been busy with school, but this ask did make me happy because I also love this AU and I’ve been thinking about it too! 

So here is some more HCs for romantic but platonic if you want/platonic but romantic if you want (because either works for me, tbh) modern AU where the awakening Trio live in an apartment together AU!

All 3 of them dressed up for Halloween. Owain wanted coordinated costumes but Severa and Inigo vetoed all his ideas and aren’t into most of his anime/game series characters that he wanted to cosplay (or his OCs, who are just all grizzled antiheroes) so they ended up doing their own thing. Owain made his own and almost nobody knew who he was dressed up as. Severa did a combination of buying a costume (she went through like 20 before finally picking one) and then putting her makeup skills/handicraft skills to good use and making it even better. She was very proud of herself and did help Owain a little. Inigo was lazier with his and just bought a pair of fake vampire teeth and a little cape he just threw over a white shirt so he could be a “handsome vampire,” he claims, without having to wear fake blood or anything more grotesque. Severa and Owain were not impressed with his lack of effor.

Owain and Severa did force him to watch a bunch of scary movies with them to make up for his lack of enthusiasm. Inigo is a bit of a scaredy cat, though, so he ends up being terrified when they move on from the campy movies to more actually spooky ones. Severa and Owain get actually into it and talk over each other during the movies, alternating between discussing character motivations, rewriting the story in their heads, and predicting what will happen. Inigo is definitely jumping at every little noise by the time they go to bed.

Also, this is a separate fic topic I will touch on one day, but Inigo has a more sensitive stomach than Severa or Owain, and as a result the other two have become very familiar with what he can eat and keep it in mind when they go to restaurants together/order takeout. 

Severa is definitely better now regarding her inferiority complex with her mom than she was when she was a teen (and she might have gone to family or individual therapy for bc that exists in this world) but even so, Owain and Inigo make it a point to give her a lot of compliments when she has clearly worked hard on something or gets a promotion or basically does anything that deserves praise.

Severa’s like “I know what you’re doing, shut up” but she actually does appreciate being told she’s appreciated/having her efforts recognized, so they keep it up and she’s not really complaining. 

This is just personal HC now but Severa is several inches taller than both Owain and Inigo, so when they stand together in squad formation, she is often in the middle and visibly taller than them, especially when she wears any shoe with a heel. 

This goes back to what I said a few posts ago about Owain or Inigo just sitting on each other’s shoulders to change the bathroom lightbulbs rather than get a ladder (though as a person who pulls out the ladder a lot, pulling a whole ladder out is a hassle.) It’d be a lot safer and smarter if they just used a little stepladder or something though, so one of their parents probably do insist on them getting one at some point

Between Inigo and Severa, they take So Many Baths. So many. Owain will do so only when he finds a cool bathbomb he wants to use, but Inigo will take a bath about once a week (or sometimes after dance practice, so maybe a little more frequently) and Severa takes a bath like Every Other Day. 

Lissa canonically has trouble sleeping when she’s stressed, and Owain inherited this sleep trouble via Sleepwalking. He doesn’t tend to do it now that he’s an adult, but there has been the rare occasion where Severa or Inigo have woken up to see just a Dark Silhouette looming over them in the dead of night and they did scream very loudly, which woke Owain up and did cause some brief Chaos. Alternatively, they have woken up once or twice to find that Owain sleeping in the middle of the floor rather than on the bed, pillow and blankets moved and all.

Owain plays Luigi’s Mansion as one of his many childhood comfort games and can beat it in just a few hours. He plays it (among other games) when he has bad days but also when he’s just feeling nostalgic and doesn’t want to do another hobby. Severa and Inigo will ask how he’s feeling if they catch him playing it and have often been found chilling on the couch while he plays. They’re almost as familiar with the game as he is by this point.

Their apartment is always Noisy

Severa loves playing music out loud while she does her makeup and changes clothes or cooks; it’s always on blast. Inigo uses headphones a lot when he’s doing his own thing but has been found to unplug them and play his music and podcasts out loud when the others aren’t home. He does put Netflix on and then will just leave the room and listen to the audio while he’s doing other stuff though. Severa also does this with TV shows. Owain always has his laptop open and is playing random tutorial videos for Literally Everything Under the Sun and Lets Plays while he does hobbies or housework or anything. His attention is always Split like that. 

So their apartment is Never Quiet.

This is getting long so I’ll stop here, lol. But I hope you enjoy!

HARPKITTY

( SHIP HEADCANONS MEME | accepting )

— ➣ who hogs the duvet ?         could be both! i feel like with either one of them, it would be a ploy to make the other whine and scoot closer in the end. not that they would need many initiatives. — ➣ who texts/rings to check how their day is going ?         probably lynx. he always has his communicator with him, and if they’re in a relationship, i feel like he wouldn’t hesitate to text harper often to see how she’s doing. all in all, he’s also probably less busy in the day, and would bug harper through it if they’re away.— ➣ who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts ?        they both have a lot up their sleeves. and would probably enjoy shocking the other a lot. lynx would like getting eccentric gifts after researching a lot about it, but i feel like harper would be good at finding something that would shock lynx without that much effort. or you know, he wouldn’t mind a good making out session.— ➣ who gets up first in the morning ?        depends on the day, lynx likes sleeping in almost always, so i’m gonna go with harper. technically speaking, it’s likely that lynx would be up until the morning, but he wouldn’t wake up at such hour.

— ➣ who suggests new things in bed ?        harper maybe? she is more experienced. lynx also likes being wild in that area, and would be delighted with any suggestion she makes.— ➣ who cries at movies ?         gonna go with lynx. it happens rarely, but i feel like it’s more likely for him to cry at a movie than harper.— ➣ who gives unprompted massages ?        lynx tends to always sit on a chair, so maybe harper could surprise him with it. but lynx would also love to do it as well, especially when they’re chilling together.— ➣ who fusses over the other when they’re sick ?         lynx. he wouldn’t know what to do when harper’s under the weather, and seeing her off would worry him a lot. plus, he hasn’t really tended a sick person before, so he would be fussing a lot. — ➣ who gets jealous easiest ?        with his lack of experience in relationships, it has to be lynx. plus, harper is surely out of his league, so he would get insecure easily, and wouldn’t know how to talk about it either. so he’d be jealous in silence, which would surely lead to problems.— ➣ who has the most embarrassing taste in music ?        since he has a lot of exposure to the internet, i’m going to go with lynx. weird synth pop, dubstep etc.— ➣ who collects something unusual ?         i feel like neither of them like getting chained down with memorabilia, so neither of them. if you don’t count the collection of anime on lynx’s laptop.— ➣ who takes the longest to get ready ?         if it’s a special occasion, i feel like both of them would require a good amount of time to get dressed. lynx on the other hand, usually likes dressing up regardless of the situation, so it might be him who tries to pick an outfit for half an hour for a night out to the club.— ➣ who is the most tidy and organised ?        harper. she has fewer belongings in the room, and lynx is messy by nature. his room has clothes all over the place, cables, different technological devices.— ➣ who gets most excited about the holidays ?        neither of them, if not for the specific alcohol beverages for the holidays. i feel like they might like st. patrick’s day, for obvious reasons.— ➣ who is the big spoon/little spoon ?        hm, both. but lynx would love holding harper for sure. and vice versa. — ➣ who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports ?         ooh, they’re both pretty competitive if you ask me. lynx would be the more loud type when it comes to it, but i feel like harper would be more sleek and resolute than him.— ➣ who starts the most arguments ?         if anything, i feel like arguments would rise from them not speaking about emotions and problems they have. for example, lynx wouldn’t say something if it bugged him, but perhaps harper would. if it was too direct, that would throw him off rhythm as well. when it comes to real problems, it’s likely that they would let it simmer until it exploded, and i don’t think it would be pretty.— ➣ who suggests that they buy a pet ?         lynx could, he wouldn’t get a high maintenance pet, but with how much time he spends cooped up in rooms, he’d try to convince harper to let them get one.— ➣ what couple traditions they have ?         drinking together, going out and trying new restaurants, trying kinky sex things they heard about — like ‘that position can’t possibly work — or could it?’. lynx would be playing video games with a headphone, and harper would be reading a book by his side, something lowkey, but they would still appreciate the company. perhaps sharing intimate stories, anecdotes with each other when they are both too drunk to remember anything the day after. lynx would easily fall into that feeling of trust and open up more than he ever would. perhaps they could go searching for different snacks, try the weirdest combinations possible because of a dare.— ➣ what tv shows they watch together ?         things with an interesting plot, those with many cliffhangers that they binge watch. or they might like one of those feel-good shows and watch it once in a while together with some popcorn.— ➣ how they spend time together as a couple ?        like i wrote above, i don’t think it would be anything extravagant. mostly spending chill, lowkey time together, letting each other in their own spaces. harper could take him to her favourite places / bars / restaurants in different planets, and lynx would also do the same. they could go out to different night clubs, and try to one up each other, compete in which place was better.— ➣ who made the first move ?         lynx might have. for a one night stand kind of thing, purely sexual, it could be harper, but for something more romantic lynx could ask her — but truth to be told, he’d definitely expect to get rejected.— ➣ who brings flowers home ?        it would be rare that they are planetside, but lynx would. it would be sappy for sure, but he wouldn’t mind it too much, bring a meaningful bouquet with a proud grin on his face.— ➣ who is the best cook ?        gonna go with harper, lynx doesn’t cook at all, he lives off of instant food, microwave meals, takeouts and mostly junk food. even if it’s just eggs, she would be better than him.

hello, i’m in bmc hell so i wrote a fic. this is canonverse and post-squip (but not by much). thanks to @toosicktoocare for helping me out with this!

J: hey, can you come over?

Jeremy hesitates, his fingers hovering over the phone keypad. Theoretically, he already knows the answer–Michael lives just a couple blocks down, so it’s not exactly inconvenient for him to come over. Then again, he’d probably still say yes even if he lived an hour away; he's the kind of person who will be there for anyone, no matter the occasion, and Jeremy doesn’t ever want to be the one to take advantage of that.

Then again, today has just felt off in general. Everything’s been too quiet after the SQUIP incident; Michael hasn’t been over as often, and everything feels out of balance without him. Jeremy’s house is too empty and there’s too much space on his couch and it’s not half as fun to video games by himself.

He hits send, half by accident, and immediately racks his brain for an excuse to follow up with. I have a new video game to play, or I found a way to torrent this new movie that’s still in theaters or something–anything to cover up the fact that he’s asking out of pure, selfish vulnerability. But before he has the chance to come up with an elaborate explanation, his phone buzzes with a response:

M: sure lol, thought you’d never ask :]

He shoots back with a quick, ‘thanks, dude’ that really carries a lot more gravity than a simple ‘thanks’ and turns off his phone, a small smile pulling at his lips. It's irrational and stupid, but today feels better already.

Michael isn’t coming down with anything.

Maybe he’s been sporting a headache all day, and maybe pain grinds at his throat and stabs at his eyes. Maybe he can’t breathe through his nose and he’s wearing way too many layers in proportion to the mild New Jersey temperature. But that doesn’t mean he’s coming down with something. It’s possible that all of those bodily reactions are entirely coincidental and not at all related.

And it doesn’t mean that he’s going to pass up on going to Jeremy’s house, either. In all honesty, he’s been kind of cautious about coming over lately. The whole mind-control incident is over, but the social circles at their school have still shifted–for all he knows, Jeremy’s kind of considered cool now, even if he hasn’t really changed all that much. He’s dated Christine Canigula–past tense, but still, dated–Rich doesn’t bully him anymore, and the popular kids at their school actually sort of acknowledge his existence.

Not that Michael would admit it, but he’s actually a little worried about where he fits in. The metaphorical picture of Jeremy’s life already looks pretty damn complete without him.

But for Jeremy to ask him to come over so simply–no explanations attached–well, Michael can’t turn down an offer like that. Even if he’s maybe-sick and maybe-contagious. They’re best friends, and in the past, Jeremy’s never really cared much about things like that.

So, Michael adds a few more layers to his already too-warm outfit and heads out the door.

The door swings open just seconds after he knocks. Jeremy stands there for a moment, looking Michael over with the intense, focused gaze he always has when he’s analyzing something, before he finally steps aside so Michael can come in. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself,” Michael responds, entering the house and shutting the door behind him. The warmth from inside engulfs him all at once, and he almost breathes out a sigh of relief. It’s nice.

“Aren’t you… too warm?” Jeremy asks, an eyebrow raised in question.

“Not really.” If anything, it’s the opposite, but his best friend doesn’t need to know that. “It’s just cold outside.”

Jeremy doesn’t look like he believes it, but he shrugs noncommittally, turning around to head up the stairs. Michael trails a couple steps behind him and tries to sniffle as discretely as possible. His limbs are shaky, and the short walk up the stairs is more physically draining than it should be. Not that it matters. They haven’t hung out in weeks, and he’s not going to let a stupid cold ruin this for him. He’s not even that sick.

Two minutes later, they’re settled on the couch. Jeremy hands him a controller and pulls out his own, and Michael unplugs his headphones from his MP3 player so the music threads softly out of the external speakers. It’s as if nothing’s changed.

Except, it’s taking more and more effort for him to pretend everything's fine. Jeremy knows Michael well enough to be able to tell if something’s off, but only if he’s paying attention. To compensate, Michael tries to make his symptoms as unnoticeable as possible–he squares his shoulders to keep his shivering to a minimum, directs his attention to the screen to distract himself from his throbbing headache, holds his controller close to him so Jeremy won’t see that his hands are shaking. It seems to work well enough.

Until he launches into a coughing fit halfway through a level. He sets his controller down and lifts the crook of his arm up to his face, his frame shaking with each cough. His breath comes in short, his chest aches with the pressure, and he can’t stop coughing. Everything feels wrong.

“Are... you okay?”

When he looks up, the game is paused in the background and Jeremy’s staring at him. The expression from earlier is back–the one that suggests that Jeremy can see right through him, which probably isn’t too far from the truth. Michael blinks and turns away, uncomfortable under the sudden scrutiny. “I’m fine,” he says, but his voice comes out raw and harsh and if anything, it’s probably proving the exact opposite of his verbal point. He clears his throat hurriedly. “Totally fine.”

“You sure? We can call it a day if you–”

“No,” he says, perhaps a bit too quickly, and then backtracks. “I rarely even come over here anymore. I’m not going to let you kick me out just like that–”

“Why don’t you?”

Michael blinks, his vision blurring and refocusing again. “What?”

“Why don’t you come over more?”

The silence that stretches between them is suddenly stifling. “You,” Michael starts, adjusting his glasses self-consciously. His eyes sting without his consent. “You never ask me to.”

“I never used to ask. C’mon, we’ve been friends for twelve years, since when did you need my permission to drop by?”

“It’s–I don’t know. It’s different now.” He swallows, stopping himself before he can say something more damaging: I didn’t know if you wanted me around anymore. You didn’t ask, so I sort of assumed the worst.

Jeremy doesn’t say anything. He simply turns to face the TV again, picking up his controller and unpausing the video game onscreen. “The next game in this series comes out Friday,” he says evenly. “I really want to finish this one before then.”

Michael’s about to ask what that has to do with anything when it dawns on him. The game they’re playing is going to take more than a day to beat–they’re still on level three out of twenty–and it’s a two-player game.

He ends up spending the night on the couch. Jeremy only has one bed in his room, so they have a system where they alternate between bed and couch whenever Michael stays over. The room is at a relatively normal temperature, and Michael is already wearing more than enough, so he falls asleep comfortably warm.

The same can’t be said when he wakes up. Everything’s disproportionately cold; his whole body is trembling with shivers, and he just can’t seem to get warm. In the few hours that he’s been asleep, his headache has somehow developed into a harsh, grating pain, and his lungs seem to burn every time he takes in a breath.

He turns aside, burying his face into the crook of his arm as he muffles cough after cough into his arm. He needs to get back to sleep, he thinks to himself, huddling closer to himself and wrapping his arms around his frame in an attempt to keep warm.

Except, for some reason, he can’t. His head hurts too much for him for him to stay in one position for too long, and whenever he feels himself start to drift off, he’s interrupted by a sudden cough or sneeze that restarts the entire process.

Eventually, he gives up on trying altogether. Jeremy’s a light sleeper, but it’s still dark outside and Michael doesn’t want to wake him up. He feels for his glasses in the darkness and finds them tucked in the crevice of a seat cushion, then fits them carefully onto his face and stands up. The world tilts precariously for a moment, darkness engulfing the sides of his vision, before he shakes his head and everything snaps back into tentative alignment.

He heads over to the bathroom, keeping one hand against the wall to help him navigate; it’s dark, and he can’t see much more than two feet in front of him, but he knows his way around well enough. When he finds himself at the doorframe, he pushes the bathroom door shut behind him and fumbles in the darkness for the light switch.

The harsh, bright lighting floods over him all at once, and he has to blink a few times for his vision to readjust. Now that he can see himself in the mirror, it’s immediately obvious that he’s not well. His face is paler than usual, but his cheeks are flushed with an unhealthy sheen, and his eyes look glazed over in a way that probably indicates that he has a fever.

He sinks to the ground, shivering as his hands come in contact with the cold bathroom tiles, then pulls his legs to his chest and wraps his arms around his knees. It’s not the most comfortable place to spend the night, but if he’s not going to get a good night’s sleep, the least he can do is make sure that Jeremy does.

Jeremy wakes up alone.

It’s not an uncommon occurrence. Sometimes, if Jeremy sleeps in too late, Michael goes home by himself. But it’s still dark outside–dark enough that all the streetlights are still on–and he knows that Michael wouldn’t leave the house this early without a good reason.

Blinking groggily, Jeremy takes his phone off of the nightstand and unlocks it with his fingerprint, then opens up the messaging application to check for texts. There’s a grand total of… zero. That’s weird. Michael wouldn’t just leave the house without telling him, right? Unless–

Unless he hasn’t left at all.

Jeremy’s mind flashes immediately back to the SQUIP function that completely blocked Michael out just a few weeks back. Optic nerve blocking; capable of manipulating his senses to completely remove a person from his perceptions. It is–well, was–one of the SQUIP’s main functions. And maybe it’s the explanation behind all of this.

At first, he dismisses the possibility, but the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense to him. What if his SQUIP’s reactivated without his knowledge? What if the half-destroyed remnants of it have somehow rebuilt themselves within his mind? The SQUIP is a supercomputer, after all; surely it must have been built with some basic self-regenerating properties.

Jeremy knows he has the tendency to jump to the worst conclusions, but still–what if Michael’s still here, and Jeremy just can’t see him? He runs through his emergency mental checklist: does he have any spare Mountain Dew Red in the fridge? When’s the last time he’s had any? Shit. Where does Michael usually get his from, anyways?

He sets the phone down, standing up shakily, and heads over to the bedroom door. Anxiety tears at his senses, and suddenly everything is hyperfocused and he can feel the rush of blood in his ears, can hear the sound of his erratic heartbeat like the fluttering of a caged bird. He can’t lose his best friend again. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to fix things between them if he does. And just when their friendship was just starting to go right again...

There are no windows in the hallway, which means no natural lighting. It’s almost completely dark, except––except a thin sliver of light seeping out from under the bathroom door.

Forgetting his trip to the downstairs fridge, he turns on his heels and wanders over to the bathroom door instead. He knocks, once, twice, then leans back on his heels, his hand falling back to his side.

“Michael, if you’re in there, you’d better answer me,” he mutters, before he gives the door a loud kick. Silence, again.

“Okay, I’m serious. Are you in there?” His voice wavers ungracefully on the last note.

When there’s still no reply, his fingers close around the door handle. “I’m coming in. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Michael doesn’t remember falling asleep.

But when he opens his eyes, Jeremy is hovering above him, looking a mixture of frightened and pissed off at the same time. It’s not a nice expression, Michael decides.

“Michael, what the fuck?”

“Morning to you too,” he responds, and then winces immediately afterwards because wow, his voice really sounds like shit. It’s congested and dissonant and cracks on the last syllable. He turns away, muffling a few dry, scraping coughs into the crook of his arm.

Jeremy cringes, setting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? You sound awful.”

“First of all, rude–”

Then there’s a hand on his forehead and it’s cold. He shivers and tries to move away, but Jeremy removes his hand first, a frown pulling at his lips.

“–and second of all,” Michael continues, “don’t do that. Your hand’s cold.”

“It’s not. You have a fever,” Jeremy mutters under his breath, his eyebrows furrowed. “What were you doing here?”

“Uhh,” Michael starts off, then clears his throat sheepishly. “–sleeping?”

“In here?”

He nods, just once. Jeremy’s looking at him like he’s crazy, which isn’t very reassuring. His head is throbbing and all this conversation is using up too much of his energy. He just wants to get back to sleep.

“In what universe is sleeping on cold bathroom tiles preferable to spending the night on the couch?” Jeremy deadpans, but cuts him off before he has the chance to answer. “The window’s open and I’m pretty sure you got yourself sick like this–”

That wasn’t how I got sick, he almost says. But Jeremy’s taking his arm and helping him up, so Michael shuts up and just goes along with him.

He lets the brunet steer him back to the bedroom. It’s not like he’d be able to resist, anyways. His legs feel like uselessly shaky, and he doesn’t quite trust them to keep himself upright; besides, Jeremy’s hand around his own is warm, and he hasn’t been warm all morning.

“Lay down,” Jeremy instructs, stopping at the foot of his bed.

Michael’s gaze flickers critically from the mattress to the ground, wondering if he’s heard wrong. “This is your bed.”

“Yeah.”

“I was sleeping on the couch.”

“Well,” Jeremy draws out, patting the sheets with one hand, “it’s warmer here.”

Michael opens his mouth to protest, but then he remembers that the only reason he woke up at such an ungodly hour was because the couch was too cold in the first place. He sits down reluctantly, the bed dipping slightly with his weight, and shifts so that he’s leaning back against the headboards.

Jeremy pulls the covers over him and hovers anxiously at the bedside for just a moment. “Do you need anything?”

“Not really.”

“Then stay there.” He turns on his heels and heads towards the door again, and suddenly the room is uncharacteristically quiet. Michael rolls onto his side, muffling a few coughs into a cupped hand, and sniffles, feeling pathetic.

Jeremy is back a moment later with a glass of water and a bottle of pills. “Take these,” he says, dropping two pills into Michael’s palm, then holds out the glass of water.

Michael takes it and downs the medicine, but even after he’s done, Jeremy doesn’t look at him. He’s staring off at nothing in particular in a quiet way that makes him look hurt, almost.

“Hey,” Michael starts, then clears his throat. “Are you okay?”

Jeremy shoots him a glare, but even that is only halfhearted. “You’re sick, you definitely have a fever, and you’re asking if I’m okay?”

“Yeah. Are you?”

“Never better.” Sarcasm drips from his voice, but his expression closed off and is impossible to read. “Finish your water.”

Michael drains the rest of the liquid from the cup, grimacing a little as he swallows against his painfully sore throat, then sets the empty glass back down on the bedstand. “Seriously, what’s up?”

“You... remember what optic nerve blocking is, right?”

“Yeah.” Of course he does. “That was only one of the worst experiences of my life.” The statement is lighthearted, but he regrets it immediately when he sees the way Jeremy’s expression crumples in on itself, his eyes snapping downwards and his lips pulling into the semblance of a frown.

“Well, it’s kind of stupid,” Jeremy starts, “but when I woke up and I didn’t see you, I kind of assumed… that I couldn’t see you.”

And suddenly, his tenseness makes sense. Michael looks down, studying his hands. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” A tentative pause. “And that wasn’t the case, but I... was thinking. What if it happens again?”

“It shouldn’t,” is Michael’s first thought. “Your SQUIP’s–”

“–powerless, I know. But it isn’t gone.” Jeremy takes a seat at the edge of the bed, leaning forward so that his elbows rest on his knees. “I just… don’t want you to disappear again.”

His voice is quieter than usual, but Michael doesn’t miss the tremor that breaks the flow of the words. He bites his lower lip. “Hey. You’d notice if I went away, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then, if you can’t find me, you can always come over and raid my fridge for Mountain Dew Red. I keep a stash in there.”

Jeremy glances back at him for the first time. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. You know, optic nerve blocking won’t work on you if you actually remember that I exist.”

They stay like that for a moment, eyes locked in a comfortable silence, and neither of them speaks because neither one has to. This, Michael thinks, this is nice. It feels like the weight of two weeks without nearly enough contact has been lifted off his shoulders.

And then he coughs and the moment is broken when Jeremy shoves him back onto the bed, telling him to stop talking and get some sleep, idiot. And things aren’t exactly like they were before, but maybe they’re close enough.

LG G6 first look: LG finally delivers a great flagship

Welcome to the brave new world of tiny bezels.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The LG G6 is sitting pretty.

This year, smartphones are expected to become little more than big, bezel-less screens, and LG’s new flagship has a head start on Samsung’s Galaxy S8, which will launch in late March, and is way ahead of Apple, whose new iPhone is expected in September.

SEE ALSO: The next big trend in phones? Nostalgia.

I’ve been using the G6 for the past several days, and it’s a beautiful smartphone, quite possibly the nicest LG has ever built. It has a huge 5.7-inch, QHD+ screen with a taller-than-usual 18:9 aspect ratio and a very compact body. It’s covered with a glass surface on both front and back. And it has an innovative, fun-to-use dual camera on the back that’s different in a good way from the cameras on its competitors.

It’s not without drawbacks: Some of the specs could be better, and software (which admittedly wasn’t finalized on the phone I’ve used) was sometimes quirky. But it’s the best phone LG has built in a long, long time.

I’ve spent more than a week with a pre-production unit of the G6, but I didn’t mind turning it into my daily phone while I tried it out. This thing is handsome, and it worked well despite the early software.

LG’s got a looker

The G6’s design feels new, but it was a logical step for LG. The company has been pushing ultra-wide screen ratios on its TVs and monitors for a while. And its previous flagship phone, the ill-fated modular G5, already had the fingerprint sensor (which doubles as a power button) on its back.

Apple and Samsung may make a drastic change, and move the home button/fingerprint sensor from the front to the back for their upcoming phones, but for LG this was an evolutionary step. The G6 improves on the G5’s design by making the screen taller, with tiny bezels on the side, and just enough space on top for the camera, sensors and speaker.

Even though the G6 has a 5.7-inch screen, I had no problems using it with one hand, because its body is much smaller than those of most phablets with a screen that big.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The design works well. The phone is simple-looking: A huge screen in the front, with rounded corners that should prevent damage in case of fall, but are also a very nice visual differentiator from other flagships out there. I did notice, however, that when looked upon closely, the rounded screen corners look imperfectly cut and have a slightly different curvature than the bezels.

Even better there are no camera bumps!

On the back, the uniformity of the shiny Gorilla Glass 5 surface is only broken by two, symmetrically placed rear cameras, the flash and an unobtrusive fingerprint sensor.

Even better there are no camera bumps! All of those components sit flush with the phone’s back.

The device comes in black, silver and white. I checked out the silver (Ice Platinum, as LG calls it) variant, and in my opinion it’s the best looking of the three. The aluminum-under-glass design of this version subtly changes color from grey to blueish, depending on the viewing angle, and reflects its surroundings in a fancy, but not overly shiny way.

The phone’s aluminum frame is comfortable to hold and has pretty much all the features you’d expect: volume buttons on the left side, a headphone jack on top, and a USB-C slot, as well as a speaker grille on the bottom.

It looks like the back of the G6 is a polished metallic surface, but it’s not. It’s a glass surface over a polished metallic surface.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The whole package feels solid; much more so than some of LG’s previous phones (especially the flimsy, modular G5). Plus, it’s water- and dust-resistant up to IP68 specifications, which is pretty much the standard among flagships these days. If you do get one, I strongly suggest you get a case for it, as the phone’s glass back will scratch (and, possibly, break) if you leave it unprotected.

Great specs with some exceptions

The LG G6 comes with some standout specs, including the 5.7-inch, 2,880 x 1,440 pixel LCD screen and the dual 13-megapixel cameras on the back.

Other specs are what you’d expect from a flagship these days: 4GB of RAM, 32/64GB of storage (depending on the region; thankfully, you can upgrade that with a microSD card), a 3,300mAh non-removable battery (with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support) and Android 7.0 Nougat.

The system-on-a-chip powering the phone is a Snapdragon 821. It’s a powerful chip, but a slight disappointment given that Qualcomm will soon launch a new flagship chip, the Snapdragon 835. Also, the selfie camera is just a 5-megapixel sensor, which is underwhelming now that 8-megapixel selfie cams are the norm.

Finally, some features will only be available in certain markets. The phone will have wireless charging in the U.S., but not the 32-bit Quad DAC (digital-to-analog converter) audio chip. That particular feature will be reserved for a handful of Asian markets, including Korea, but there the phone won’t have wireless charging. Europeans get neither, and while these features aren’t deal breakers for many, it still hurts to get a worse deal for the same (or higher) price.

That crazy screen

The screen on the LG G6 deserves a closer look. Its unique, 18:9 (or 2:1 if you will) aspect ratio means there’s more space for apps such as the camera than on a conventional screen. To prove its usefulness, LG included a special Square Camera app that takes full advantage of the elongated screen; you can, for example, take a 1:1 photo and immediately see its preview in a box below; then, you can take another pic and compare the two.

The LG G6 has a huge, 5.7-inch screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio, leaving just enough space for the logo at the bottom and camera, speaker grille and sensors on top.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The screen should, ideally, be better for watching video content and playing games, though you’ll have to find a way to convert most videos to an 18:9 aspect ratio to use every pixel on the screen. It supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision standards, meaning videos in those formats will look more vivid if you can find them.

Due to lack of HDR content Amazon and Netflix offer some, but not for smartphones at the moment I doubt many users will care about HDR support. And I doubt even more that app makers will create special apps to take advantage of LG G6’s screen (they might, however, do that if other manufacturers follow suit with displays that support HDR, and LG said it’s counting on it).

But even if you don’t really care about the aspect ratio, it’s a beautiful screen, with tons of pixels for clarity and solid brightness in direct sunlight. More importantly, it’s huge without being huge; LG actually removed the one-handed operation features from its software and was right to do so, as the phone is much more small hand-friendly than some of the 5.5+ inches phablets I’ve used.

Fast performance, OK battery life

The LG G6 doesn’t have over-the-top specs, but it does have good specs compared to any phone that came out in the last six months, and it never felt slow.

My one fear was battery life. I use a lot of different phones, but the only ones that last me more than a day are the phablets with huge batteries. Switching to a comparably small phone made me reach for my battery pack, and I did need it, as the LG G6’s battery was just barely enough for a heavy user like me.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

On one occasion, with Wi-Fi tethering on and several devices connected to it, the G6’s battery drained in a few hours. But that’s a rare use case; most of the time, it just barely made it through an entire day. This can be alleviated by using the “battery saver” icon, available from the notifications menu that appears when you slide your finger down from the top of the screen. Then, however, the phone gets a lot less smart.

I can’t provide any benchmarks for either battery life or performance, as LG didn’t allow me to benchmark this pre-production unit. Generally, from experience, the G6 performs exactly how its spec sheet suggests, but don’t expect miracles from that 3,300mAh battery.

Software tailored to a 2:1 screen

LG’s UX 6.0 user interface is not vastly different from stock Android, but there are differences. For example, the LG G6 comes without an app drawer by default, but you can enable it in the settings if you like (it’s not easy to find: Go to Settings > Apps, tap the three dots in the upper right corner, select Configure Apps, tap Home and choose Home & app drawer).

Save a few tough-to-find options, I didn’t have trouble getting used to the LG G6’s user interface.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

In general usage finding a particular setting, making a call, sending a text the G6 took some getting used to, but never to the point of annoyance. But LG’s UX user interface does change things quite a bit when it comes to built-in apps.

Some of them, like Camera and Music, take advantage of the screen’s 2:1 ratio, either by splitting nicely in the middle or by adding more options on the side. I don’t see any of it as a huge advantage, but it’s a nice touch that makes the phone a bit different from your run-of-the-mill Android.

Built-in apps, such as Music, take advantage of the LG G6’s elongated screen, both in portrait and landscape mode.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The G6 also comes with a special feature, so far reserved only for Google-branded phones: Google Assistant. We’ve covered the feature at length; it’s not at all different from the version that comes with the Pixel, but is definitely a welcome addition to the G6’s feature set.

I’ve experienced bugs here and there. For example, I couldn’t get the time on the “always on” display to work properly, and I couldn’t get file transfer to work when I connected the phone to my MacBook Air. But once again, the phone was running pre-production software. With a bit of polishing unless you absolutely must have stock Android using the G6 should be a fine, unobtrusive experience.

The dual cameras are now in sync

LG’s last flagship, the G5, had dual cameras that did a nifty trick; one was a regular camera, while the other had a wide-angle lens (great for those shots in crammed spaces), and you could seamlessly switch between the two. But the main camera had a far superior, 16-megapixel sensor, and switching to the secondary, 8-megapixel shooter yielded significantly worse photos.

The dual 13-megapixel camera sensors don’t have the same specs, but they do have the same resolution, so switching from one to the other won’t make a huge difference in most cases.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The LG G6 fixes this. The phone has two 13-megapixel cameras, and switching between the two is faster. They’re not exactly the same; the main, 71-degree lens has a far better, f/1.8 aperture, while the wide, 125-degree lens has an f/2.4 aperture with no optical image stabilization. But in many cases, you’ll be able to switch between the two with no huge difference in quality.

In practice, I was pleased with how the LG G6’s cameras performed. Both were reasonably fast, if not the fastest I’ve seen. The UI is cluttered with tons of options, but you’ll get used to them or switch to “simple view,” which eliminates all but a few key features.

As for quality, the photos I’ve gotten on sunny days were great, but that’s not surprising for any phone camera these days. On a rainy day, the photos weren’t as good; the colors were vivid but the contrast was too strong and details were smudgy, likely the result of too much post-processing. Check out a photo I’ve taken on one such day.

Had the sun stuck around for a few more minutes, this photo would’ve looked a lot better.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

However, the G6 shined where most smartphones stumble: in those dark, indoor shots. While I didn’t have time to do a detailed comparison, the photos were brighter than those taken by an assortment of other Android phones I had lying around, and the usually unavoidable yellow tint was barely there. I assume there’s a lot of post-processing magic making these photos so great, but I’m not complaining.

You might not notice it in the photo, but the room was relatively dark.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

You’ll want to use the main camera for darker shots, as they’ll be much grainier if you shoot with the wide lens sensor. However, that 125-degree angle is very useful for taking a photo of a group of people in a small space.

This photo was taken from about 3 feet away.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Would I have preferred to have 16- or 20-megapixel cameras instead of 13-megapixel ones? Sure. But the photos the G6 took were mostly great, and I’d rather have good photos in a lower resolution than shoddy photos with tons of (ugly) pixels.

If you’re shooting video, you can do it in the 18:9 or the more standard 16:9 aspect ratio, but you won’t get a bigger resolution than 2,160 x 1,080 pixels on the former. In other words, you won’t be able to take a video that will fully take advantage of the phone’s screen, which is a pity.

The selfie cam also has a regular and wide shooting mode. The photos are bright, but the quality is meh.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Finally, the selfie cam also has a wide-angle lens, which is good, and takes bright photos even in poorly lit rooms, but the overall quality is mediocre at best.

A winner with some (minor) caveats

If you need a phone with an exceptional battery life, the G6 might not be for you. Or if you’re hell-bent on having a phone with all the best specs, including the upcoming Snapdragon 835 chip.

But in nearly every other case, I can easily recommend the LG G6. The phone is gorgeous, with a huge screen in a compact body, an innovative take on the dual camera trend, and more than enough extras and cool features to make it stand out in the crowd.

Nice looks, a decent amount of innovation, and a few minor issues. We’ll need some time with the final product, but right now it looks like LG has a winner with the G6.

Image: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Gone are the modular gimmicks of the G5; gone are the wildly unnecessary features such as the second screen on the LG V20. The tradeoff is a good one: The LG G6 is a surprisingly solid and simple phone that somehow manages to be the most interesting flagship you can buy right now.

Of course, the price has to be right for me to give a full recommendation, and we don’t know it at this point. And yes, a very big competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S8, is coming fairly soon. But if LG prices the G6 reasonably, it could be a great choice for a lot of people.

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