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 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2025 4:30 pm
The Youth Conservation Corps program inside the city parks was supposed to be the less aggressively dirty, tiring, and demanding than the ones out in the nearby national forest. Which Jason figured was probably true, but somehow that didn't make him any less dirty, tired, or relaxed while he cleaned up yet another trail during the third week of the program. It'd be easier if he partnered up with someone, as was generally encouraged, but his team was in the midst of not one, not two, but three summer romances and he just didn't want to get involved or infected by that mess. Which was how he found himself in one of the more unused corners of their current park, smoothing out trails and cutting back branches to the tune of birdsong, snapping twigs, and... guitar.Not exactly professional, or near busking level, but still inoffensively pleasant enough guitar. Tamping down a section of path he'd had to dig a large rock out of, Jason decided he'd take a break at the rest area ahead. Take a look at the musician, and maybe check to see if anything repairing. Quietly slipping over from the small path, it took a moment to recognize the profile, not least because Riker Starmount simply wasn't someone he'd ever imagine playing romantic pop songs in the middle of a forest by himself. Or at all. Not that Jason knew him all too well outside of a brief Is Luke Safe? investigation. But still, the guy had the general aura of AC/DC on high blast, not Swiftie out in nature.Cool to know, though. When the music came to a stop it was greeted with the muted clapping of Jason Everleigh, wearing heavy work gloves, a telling amount of dirt and sweat, and a green shirt declaring him part of the DCYCC; bearing a tamper, trash bag, and grin. "Not bad, Starmount."
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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 11:03 am
It wasn’t that Riker was trying to avoid Julian when he played. He knew Julian supported him, knew how much he encouraged him to keep practicing, but it still felt weird, knowing Julian hadn’t been playing his violin lately. He always had an excuse that sounded reasonable enough, and Riker never pushed, but he noticed the way Julian tugged at his sleeves when the subject came up. How he’d quickly and casually change the topic. How his eyes drifted toward some imagined horizon, like he was trying not to think about it, or that it didn’t hold his interest enough to focus on.
So… Riker stopped bringing it up.
He didn’t stop playing his guitar around the house, but… well… he also didn’t want to be judged by the others who lived there. Especially since he never thought he’d be learning Taylor Swift. Not that the music was bad -- it wasn’t -- but he’d spent so long building up armor that the idea of handing someone an easy reason to tease him felt reckless. Maybe even dangerous.
Which was exactly why, when he strummed the last cord and heard someone clapping, the breath in his chest caught sharp and hard. So much for peace. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. His ears flushed red.
It wasn’t that he was embarassed to play any of the songs he was practicing, but he was prepared for the mocking and teasing and name calling.
And to make matters worse, they knew his name??
Oh-- wait… Julian’s friend.
“I swear to god, I do not want any snacks!” Riker snapped, already too keyed up for this kind of surprise. He could probably make a run for it. He wasn’t really dressed for the heat, but he rarely, if ever, wore short sleeves. Even playing baseball, he usually had long sleeves under his jersey. Today was no different. Dark jeans, his usual lightweight zip-up hoodie hanging loosely on his shoulders… which he immediately straightened, like he could brace himself against whatever was coming next.
His hair was pulled into its usual low ponytail, with his red dyed bangs sticking slightly with sweat. The humidity made everything cling, made him feel on display. He hated it, especially now that he had an audience.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2025 3:10 pm
The less than welcoming attitude wasn't at all unexpected, so Jason was mid-eyeroll when the declaration against snacks was made. "What?" It caming laughing, and a little incredulous. What a weird thing to say when...oh! Oh.In a way, it was even funnier now, but Jason swallowed back any further laughter as best he could. "You probably mean my brother, Luke. He's the one that likes to use food to..." he gave a vague gesture, walking toward the other boy now. "Make friends. Apologize. Comfort people. Fill awkward pauses." Rolling his shoulders into a shrug, he explained, "I'm Jason. The smart twin." He almost mentioned that they'd been in track together, but for one, it felt like almost half the school was on track team sometimes, way too many people in it to keep tabs. And second, the guy's hackles were already up, and it was all too easy to seem passive aggressive.
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 6:58 pm
“Your-- what.”
The words came out like he’d choked on them. Like they got caught in his throat and refused to move until he forced them out.
Twin. Twin.
The word bumped around in his brain like it was something foreign and made no sense… until everything caught up with him.
No. No no no.
He stared at Jason’s face, as if he could force it into something familiar -- except that it already was, and wasn’t, at the same time. Similar enough to make his stomach drop uncomfortably. Different enough to put him even more on edge.
His fingers tightened around the neck of his guitar. It had been a gift from Julian, something he’d found at his Wonder. Delicate in design with pale wood and mother-of-pearl inlay. Nothing like Riker’s usual taste, but something he cherished anyway.
Maybe it was a good thing it hadn’t been Luke. Riker knew Luke was Lisse, and there was no telling how familiar things were for Lysithea Knights when they had no clue the person holding the object was also a Knight.
For now, he held onto the guitar like a lifeline. Or maybe just something to hold so he didn’t have to admit that his hands were shaking.
“Julian didn’t--” He started but quickly snapped his mouth shut. Maybe Julian did. Maybe Luke did. Maybe it hadn’t been something that interested Riker at the time because it hadn’t felt like a threat, because he’d already decided Luke was filed under ‘mostly-safe’ and therefore not worth the energy. Or because he was busy. Or didn’t care. Or didn’t want to care. It didn’t matter. At least not at the time.
“You can’t just say ‘smart twin’ like that,” he snapped, latching onto the smallest, pettiest part of what Jason said because it was easier to deal with than the rest of it. “What does that make him? The dumb one? The snack one?”
He looked over Jason again. At the dirt and sweat and stupid grin and stupid shirt and stupid tamper. His ears were burning hotter.
“Congratulations on being the smart one, I guess,” he forced a scoff. He could hear himself. He knew he sounded ridiculous, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
He sucked in a breath in an attempt to calm himself down at least, but the humidity and heat made it worse. Oppressive. Like everything was pressing in on him.
He shoved his hoodie higher on his shoulders like it could protect him from… what? The idea of there being two of them? Maybe the implication that he’d missed something important?
“I’m not hungry,” he growled again, despite the fact that Jason hadn’t offered him anything, but it was apparently the hill his brain had chosen. “I mean-- if you brought anything. I don’t-- I don’t want it.” He paused, awkward and defensive at the same time. “I have water. If you want it.” Ah, maybe he could have made the offer sound less like a challenge.
He reached up to rub the back of his neck, shifting awkwardly on the bench. “You said Jason right? Not Luke pretending to be Jason, because that would be a really stupid prank, and I don’t think he’s that mean.” He caught himself and sighed.
“Look, I don’t--...” He paused again and gestured, vague and frustrated, at everything in between himself and Jason, at the entire situation.
“--do great with surprises. Or… multiplication,” he grimaced, but it was at least the closest he could manage to attempting a joke under the pressure of all the sudden self imposed weirdness.
Although, if he thought about it, he wondered why there were times that ‘Luke’ hadn’t attempted to bother him in the halls when their paths crossed. Had he really missed the fact that there were two this whole time?
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 4:36 pm
Had he really missed the fact that there were two of them this whole time? It was probably the best, most funniest thing Jason had heard all week. Maybe even all summer. It felt like he and Luke had pulled off a huge prank, with zero effort or planning on their part. Honestly, the worst part was not just bursting out laughing outright. Starmount seemed in the middle of working himself and down over the whole thing, so Jason figured it would be better to just let the other boy cook for now. He accepted the redirection to make him the person who did something wrong with a sage, satisfied nod, "Yeah. That's just how it is with twins, you know? I'm smart, so he gets all the dumb. He likes food, so I can't, but it just means I like drinks instead." Settling down near Riker, Jason put his equipment to the side and watched the other boy come to terms with this shift in his reality. Poor guy, he just came out her to secretly practice Taylor Swift songs on his pretty guitar, and found himself in the middle of what probably felt like either a grand conspiracy or the realization that he had been a profound dumbass. "Cool yeah, I'd love some water," Jason accepted with the grin that had yet to leave and an appreciative batting of eyelashes. Nodding along with the dislike of surprises, and the painful equation of what is one times two, he offered, "Well, then it's a good thing we decided not to jump out of a cake in your geometry class." Jason gave Riker a sympathetic look, "It was a close thing, though." Then he gestured to the guitar, "Have you been playing long?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2025 6:27 pm
He hadn’t meant to recoil when Jason sat down next to him. He didn’t think the guy had cooties or anything like that! But he was still waiting for the catch. For something horrible to happen. For Luke to jump down from a tree with a cursed coconut cake and try to smother him into a sugary, anaphylactic death. Which-- whatever. That would be fine. It was fine.
But now Jason was there. Sitting next to him. Accepting his offer for water. Batting his eyelashes.
And worst of all -- Riker felt his ears go hot, and then his cheeks, too.
Absolutely not. This was not okay. This was nothing to get flustered about. He was just going to grab the stupid water and give it to the stupid smart twin and then maybe survive the afternoon without being mocked to death.
“I would have punched you if you jumped out of a cake,” he grumbled, snatching up a water bottle he had in the bag like it personally offended him. He held it awkwardly, defensively out to Jason like he was ready for it to explode. Or be smacked out of his hand with some a*****e comment of just kidding! Or get some kind of comment about being lame for drinking normal water.
Thankfully, his attention was drawn to his guitar. He smoothed his hand over the mother-of-pearl inlay and shrugged.
“Uh… since Christmas,” he said, not really looking at Jason. “Julian-- you know Julian, right?” The question felt ridiculous. Of course he knew Julian. He had to know Julian. But something about the twin-thing threw off every assumption Riker thought he could safely make. Wait, what if he didn’t actually know Julian??
“Anyway, he gave it to me,” he shrugged again. “I’ve had a couple lessons but nothing serious. Elliot Reid’s dad played in a band apparently. The one who doesn’t look like he’s always going to cry,” he clarified, since both of Elliot’s dads were teachers at Azure. He might have felt a little guilty for knowing he was one of the people who’d made Elliot’s dad cry.
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