Chapter 2

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"Tamir..." Ethan sat on the chair in front of the now-former mafia boss—at least he convinced Ethan so—and put his hands together on his lap, "I think it's time we talk about your kidnapping addiction."

"Ohh, hell yeah, tear him a new one, Quirky Boi!" Mattias, who had been leaning on the kitchen island watching them from there to the living room conjoined to it, cupped his hands around his mouth and cheered.

Tamir scowled. "I don't have a kidnapping addiction. It was three times!... Five other times before you bought me..." he mumbled the last part.

"Any times is too many! Tamir, they have families, you know! A life of their own!"

"Mattias has a life? Please." The mafia boss rolled his eyes.

"Do you have any idea how bad this could get? What if the police catch wind of this? We're both dead! It'll harm you, it'll harm my band, it'll harm me!"

"There it is," Tamir said, relaxing back in his seat.

"There what is?" Ethan flinched as Tamir suddenly got in his face, the latter's hands on the armrests, trapping Ethan between his chair and the mafia boss' body. The latter was so close to his face that Ethan can feel his breath ghosting over him; Ethan's heart was pounding in his chest. It didn't help that the mafia's brown orbs were staring coldly into his.

(Hold on, the author had to take a five-minute break after writing that last sentence.)

(K, I'm back and I brought food. Who wants cookies?)

"You need to stop acting like you care about me," he said in a low voice, "You don't. All you care about is yourself, your job, and your reputation. Guess what, that's not gonna stop me from kidnapping people because I do what I want and get what I when I want. You know what, I might just kidnap another unassuming little kitten out of spite."

Ethan's stunned expression was replaced with a look of boredom. "When you referred to potential victims as 'little kitten', I internally cringed."

Tamir retracted himself quick as if being close to the boyband member burned him. He looked rather confused, Ethan might even say embarrassed.

"But... people get all hot and bothered when they're being called 'kitten'," he muttered to himself.

"What kind of people did you hang out with?? Go touch some grass or something. It's clear you haven't been outside in a while." Mattias said, gesturing to Tamir's pale-ish skin that used to be tan. "If I didn't know better, I'd believe you were a vampire."

Tamir just glared at him like a petulant child being told to clean his room. Ethan would have found it funny if it wasn't a problem. And speaking of problems...

"Look, why did you kidnap Mattias? I understand kidnapping Carter and Marcel—which doesn't make it right, by the way!—but Mattias? He's about as rich as a singular chopstick and has the importance of one too!"

"HEY!"

"To teach him a lesson," the mafia boss said simply.

"...What?" Ethan tilted his head in confusion.

"Because if he keeps on bullying and bullying Marcel, the little lover boy's already depressed little self might just run past a crowd of people, crying his eyeballs out, somehow not mess up his mascara-"

"He doesn't wear mascara," Mattias pointed out brazenly, his eyebrows knitted.

"You don't know that. Then he would try and climb to the top of the highest building and step on the ledge, looking at the concrete floor far below contemplatively before... belting out the lyrics to Fight Song by Rachel Platten."

"What?" Ethan and Mattias said in perfect sync, the former standing up abruptly.

"It was a good song, but it got old the first few times he did it. Almost got arrested for it too, and I do not want to have to go through that again." Mattias shuddered at the thought. "And that's why, Ethan Darrow," he said, then turned his head to look at Mattias for emphasis, "If Mattias stopped bullying Marcel, then Marcel would stop disrupting public and inevitably bothering me and giving me secondhand embarrassment."

Mattias just rolled his eyes and turned around to make something to eat. "Pfft, whatever! Fuck if I care about that stupid nerd and his stupid ways-"

Mattias yelped as a dagger zoomed past his head, barely missing and hit the cupboard he was about to open. The blue-eyed man turned sharply to glare at the mafia boss, only to yelp again in shock as the latter was now only a few inches away from him, fiddling with another dagger. "What is wrong with you?!"

"You know, I am good with all types of guns and blades. I am fast, agile and a great tracker. I am good at combat and could easily overpower any enemy, big and small. It would simultaneously be a shame and an honour if I get to show my talents off to you." Tamir smirked at Mattias who growled lowly before stomping off to do who knows what in who knows where, muttering angrily on the way, his earlier hunger all forgotten.

Ethan sighed in exhaustion. "Look, I'm already having trouble with the bad and having to deal with your kidnapping addiction isn't helping me any."

"I'm not addicted!"

"You kidnapped Mattias just because you wanted to save yourself from having to deal with Marcel who doesn't even need to be here in the first place!"

"He does! With both of the Geiszlers' and Williams' money combined, I can get out of here in no time!"

A look of hurt flashed across Ethan's delicate features. "You mean... you don't want to be around me anymore?"

"'Anymore'?! I was forced to be here! My aunt sold me to Quirk Rush!"

"But your aunt sold you to me..."

"By extension Quirk Rush, which doesn't make it better! Do you know how many death threats I've gotten from fangirls because they think I'm dating one of you?! Some even think I'm dating all of you!"

"Oh god... T-Tamir, I didn't k-know. I-I-I'm so so-o-orr-y..."

Tamir growled and stomped past him, roughly bumping his shoulder on the way to his bedroom. Ethan watched him go in stunned silence; the blonde boy's knees felt weak and soon enough, they gave out. He was lucky to not have moved from his spot right in front of his chair or else he'd be hitting the cold, hard floor and fell on the cushioned chair instead. The boyband member just sat there in silence, staring at his hands...



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A/n: Melodrama - mel·o·dra·ma /ˈmeləˌdrämə/ noun

1.
a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions.

I can't think of a fanfic I've read back then that didn't have this so... -dumps it in my story-

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