MT   ...

MT   I can't say I expected you to look like that.

You scoff, deigning to snap out of your thoughts to look over at him.

GL   charming.

GL   that's champion material right there.

MT   Well, honesty is the crux of a strong partnership.

MT   And I say that you look like HOT SHIT.

MT   I know they took us in the dead of night, but could you at least clean up?

MT   I can see a ring of dust and lint orbiting around you.

MT   Saturn-looking ASS.

MT   Gotta add another gas giant to our line-up.

GL   are you done?

MT   ...

MT   We'd only need a telescope to capture all that mass.

MT   But we'd still need to stand far away to get it all into view.

GL   thanks. i wouldn't have understood the diss otherwise.

You give him a good-natured kick, which he takes just as fondly by yelping like a stray dog.

GL   how do you talk exactly like you post?

GL   you really are honest. (authentic, straight-to-the-heart shithead...)

MT   What, you think I was a poser or something?

MT   This is as real as it gets. I'm an O.G.

You'd smack the smirk off of his face in another life. One where you decided against DM-ing a conspiracy-addled Huetuber with too much time on his hands.

GL   i was hoping you were playing it up for views or something.

MT   Playing what up?

GL   ...

MT   What?

You look him up and down. The alien pin on his beanie, the try-hard custom jacket hanging off of his shoulders, the damn anime-inspired shades... it's almost admirable how shameless it all is. And to think he's going to be seen like this on international television.

MT   You need a picture? It'll last longer.

With spectacles thick enough to be opaque, you've gotten away with gazing wherever you wanted. Unfortunately, you forgot that it inspires people to come up with the worse-case-scenarios.

GL   please don't. i've already been through enough.

MT   Don't even pretend like you weren't undressing me with your eyes just now.

GL   if it meant sparing everyone else...

MT   Oh, you ASSHOLE.

GL   i will gladly sacrifice myself to eliminate that outfit.

MT   You wanna talk outfit?

MT   Look at that. What's the zipper hanging there for?

GL   they're shorts.

MT   They were longs at one point.

GL   they can be both. (practical, i'd say...)

MT   That's the lamest SHIT I've ever seen.

MT   Don't even get me started on the mess down there.

MT   Looking like an uncle. Socks with slides are criminal at our age.

GL   you wish you were me.

MT   Stuck here, with a guy like me on your side?

MT   Yeah, I'd love to be you. It's a GODDAMN PRIVILEGE.

This continues on well into the night, Matt getting up several times to pace animatedly while you remain seated on your bed. It's strange how the more he acclimates to your space, the more it begins feeling safe to you as well. As if you're just two guys shooting the shit on a random night.

You're grateful that this is what he meant when he surreptiously pulled you aside and asked to meet you in your dorm; it's respite from the full-blown panic you've been surrounded by since this morning. Though you held it together much better than some of your frantic peers, it took a toll regardless.

MT   You know your bed looks like a rocket, by the way?

At one point, Matt started wandering around your room and pointing out details courtesy of The Program design team. Now he's standing in front of the bed, his hands on his hips.

MT   The shape of the headboard, for one.

MT   And it's got that metallic look to it. Opposed to wood or whatever.

MT   I have no idea how they pulled it off.

GL   what, you like it?

MT   It's a HELL of a lot more effort than they needed.

MT   Trying to ingratiate us... manipulative FUCKS.

The custom dormitory rooms are a genius move on the staff's part. Like zookeepers replicating natural, specialized environments to calm their collection. It's the closest you can imagine to a room 'perfect' for you. All it's missing is the dulled edges, memories etched onto the blankness to make it dirtier, more human.

MT   You don't even want to see what mine looks like.

GL   now that you bring it up...

MT   Please. It's like the most surface-level aesthetics you can imagine.

MT   Bare-bones black and mint.

MT   There's even little FUCKING... green men on my desk.

MT   Figurines. Like those army men toys.

MT   This is what they're spending the budget on. GODDAMN TOYS.

GL   wish i got toys.

MT   Yeah, your stuff is mostly furniture, huh?

MT   A lot more barren, now that I look at it.

MT   What's up with that?

You shrug. You were half-joking about the toys, but you're going to get terribly bored with how little there is to do in here. Asking for a computer would be too much, obviously, but would it kill them to let you melt your brain with a tablet or something?

GL   it looks like a normal room to me.

GL   what, is it that different? (you're making the rounds...?)

MT   I mean, I haven't really seen the others' yet.

MT   Except for Kim's. I caught a glimpse of it earlier.

MT   It's a gamer's paradise in there. Lucky BASTARD.

GL   no way. they have video games?

MT   Shelves of it. I doubt the TV is connected anywhere important...

MT   But more dirt they've got, the more easily they can cater to us.

MT   Man, I almost wish they knew me better. I want some DAMN games.

GL   what were you doing around their room?

He jolts, righting his balance with his arms like you tripped him or something.

MT   Wh-what do you mean?

MT   It's not like I went in. I just happened to see it.

GL   how'd you even catch them before the meeting?

GL   i wouldn't be surprised if they woke up right before it. (heavy sleeper...)

MT   I just happened to be around.

MT   The dorms are close to the lounge, y'know? It's a coincidence.

His arms are now folding inwards in an interesting, awkward manner.

GL   it's going to be the same in here.

GL   all the intel i have, i'm sharing with you.

GL   you know that right?

He grimaces and looks away.

MT   Yeah. Of course I do.

MT   And I'd tell you anything that matters.

MT   Only once I get something. Not when I'm still looking into it.

GL   ...

GL   you have weird taste.

GL   it's always the gamer girls, the ones who're -

Faster than you can blink, he slams his hand over your mouth. He looks absolutely haunted.

MT   Don't joke about that.

MT   I swear to FUCK. Don't even joke about that.

GL   mmph?

MT   I know we've found some workarounds to the microphones,

MT   But I'll be DAMNED if the producers find material like that on me.

MT   You speak it into existence, and I'll for-real end you.

MT   It's a fate worse than death.

You peel his hand off, frowning.

GL   i didn't think it was that serious.

MT   Are you kidding? SHIT like that is the lifeblood of this show.

MT   And you know they're looking for any little crumb they can find, early on.

MT   That absolutely cannot happen to me.

GL   so what, you're abstaining from any relationship drama that'll come up?

MT   Absolutely.

GL   what if kissing someone is integral to the mission?

MT   Shut up?

GL   strategically speaking, sociable people make it far.

GL   you don't want to get eliminated first, do you?

MT   Shut the FUCK up. GOD, you're so insufferable. ASSHOLE.

You thought you'd be more let down, discovering that your conspirator-in-crime is such a wuss when it comes to matters of the heart. Too much emotional investment leds to fits of reckless passion - a fatal flaw in any intellectual crusade.

However, as you laugh at his flushed cheeks and re-invigorated pacing, the disappointment you feel isn't towards him.