Here is the second entry in the Stay Alive 'verse, you can read the first one here: https://www.lpfiction.com/story.php?id=17002

Hope you guys enjoy the fic!

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Mike was in the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror as he adjusted his suit and tie. In his reflection his eyes shone golden instead of the dark brown he was originally born with. It had been months since he and Chester had been kidnapped and rendered non-human halfway around the world. Honestly the shock of it all didn’t fully hit them until after they all arrived back home after their whirlwind of a tour.

And when it did, it was Mike that was hit the hardest comparatively speaking. Every so often when he saw himself in a mirror, he would be caught off guard. A stark physical reminder that both he and Chester were no longer human. A fact Mike didn’t want brought up too much, at least not right now when it was still all too fresh in his mind.

Chester on the other hand, has seemingly been taking all these newfound changes in stride. He even joked about it to the point where Mike had to put his foot down. No excessive tiger jokes or singing Eye of the Tiger around him for the time being.

Mike even said it started to get a little obnoxious. Everyone in the band not named Joe or Chester agreed.

A silver lining in this whole tiger shapeshifter mess was Joe’s friend from childhood. They already knew Anna for about as long as they’ve been a band. She would come to shows whenever she could and hang out with them sometimes during breaks. She also would often accompany Joe to award shows as his ‘date’ (read: friend who tagged along to support him and his band).

But what five out of six Linkin Park members didn’t know was that she was a Fae. Which in turn meant magic. Thus she was able to put up a glamour where anyone who wasn’t privy to, or a part of, the much bigger magical world at large would only see their original eye color.

Hence why Mike didn’t bother to put in any colored contact lenses. Just his regular prescription ones.

“Hey Mike there you are,” Joe beamed in casual relief as he entered the bathroom. He walked up next to him, “It's almost time to be seated, the Grammys are about to start. Rob and Brad are looking for Chester.”

Mike nodded. Last he saw his longtime boyfriend he was mingling with some of the other artists.

“Whoa dude you look sharp,” Joe beamed a complimentary smile. He had caught sight of Mike’s reflection before he shifted his gaze to him properly, “Your hair makes your eyes pop. Really brings out the gold in them.”

Mike just kept his voice steady and neutral. Honestly it was nice to hear the nice comment, and there was no real annoyance, but at the same time it felt more like bad timing. Joe could’ve left the painfully obvious out. But at the same time, how the hell would he know Mike’s mind unwillingly flashed him memories of what led to his and Chester’s supernatural status.

“Thanks Joe,” Mike simply answered, accompanied by a friendly smile as he turned to face his shorter bandmate.

“How long do we have before the show starts?” Mike continued, swiftly ending the topic.

“About a half hour, our manager thought it would be a good idea to get together as soon as possible.”

“Probably a good idea,” Mike said, more as an afterthought. Any sudden nerves he may now have was naturally because of the performance they were slated to do. Well that and the couple or three awards Linkin Park were nominated for.

Mike also would’ve been nervous about the glamour itself if it hadn’t been done weeks ago. Since then there have been plenty of opportunities for someone to notice and take a picture to blab it all out on the internet and the media. That was the last thing he and Chester needed. A headline in bold letters announcing two sixths of Linkin Park were now tiger shapeshifters of the Korean kind.

Well of course if that happened, there would be other much bigger consequences to deal with. Such as the sudden revelation that the world was much bigger to the majority of the population and whatnot. But the point was Mike didn’t want a big deal made about it. Even if the world already knew about the supernatural, both him and Chester wanted to lay low about it. And he didn’t know about Chester but he wanted some form of normalcy.

Neither of them were in great denial mind you, it is was it is. But to blissfully pretend he was still human who hadn’t been forcibly changed into a beom here and there was very much welcomed. At least for the time being. He reckoned he’d come to terms with it a hundred percent eventually but now was not that time.

Mike and Joe both walked out of the bathroom and into one of the wider corridors of the venue. At this very moment, the universe decided to throw a little wrench into their evening in the form of a text message from Dave. The two stopped, unlocked their phones to look at the groupchat and immediately they felt their blood run ice cold. A sense of dreaded horror fell over them like a two ton brick.

Chester has transformed.

Mike sent a text back asking where they were and a scant two seconds later a reply came through. As soon as they were done reading, both Mike and Joe shared a panicked look. Eyes wide as they were rooted in place for what felt like an eternity. In reality it was only a split second before the two bolted down the corridor towards the lounge.

This was definitely not good for a multitude of reasons. Worst case scenarios, a million of them, ran through Mike’s mind as he ran. His heart pumped rapidly against his chest as if he was the drummer in the band instead of Rob.

Strangely enough Mike wasn’t too worried if Chester lost complete control of himself. Well of course he was worried, but he felt like he wasn’t about to witness a scene from a bloodfest of an R rated horror movie. In fact it was a concern of his, Chester once confided that he was scared that when he transformed, he was going to automatically turn feral and go berserk. Scared that the moment he went into tiger hybrid mode, he’d give in and let blind rage take over completely.

Mike shook his head and had reassured Chester he wouldn't. He went on to say he knew him well enough to know he’d try so hard to not lose any iota of humanity in the process. He has a big caring heart after all. So it stood to reason Mike had faith Chester would retain enough control to not become feral and thus hurt any innocent people.

Just like Mike had when he went into tiger hybrid mode all those months ago.

Still though, Mike did hope that when the time came for Chester’s first transformation, it would be in a setting with as few people as possible. Ideally with just Mike and/or the rest of the band.

Obviously it didn’t turn out that way. This was a venue with tons of people on music's biggest night, the least desired time and place for Chester to make the rite of passage so to speak. But alas life can be a cruel bastard with a fucked up idea of entertainment.

Mike rounded the corner into the lounge and almost instantly stopped in his tracks. He surveyed the scene, celebs towards the wall on one side frozen with fear and uncertainty. Towards the other, Rob had both of arms firmly around Chester. The latter had both hands on Rob’s arms and it appeared to be that Chester was not putting up any sort of serious fight to break free.

It was nice to have some of his worries be unfounded. There was a small amount of relief to be had.

At this point Mike then took a brief moment to take notice of Chester’s hair. It was almost halfway down his back and more wild than he ever remembered it being in his given form. Of course there were also the telltale ears on the top of his head. They were white as opposed to the orange ones he had.

Further on from them was Brad who had someone else pinned to the wall. He was in a yelling match with him. And off to the side were about three or four other people. They looked just as horrified and in shock as all the rest of the other celebrities in this room. Also Justin himself was notably absent.

By now Joe joined him by his side. He arrived a few seconds after him and had to catch his breath for a second before he was able to take in the scene in front of them.

At this point Mike caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He shifted his gaze to see Dave rushing towards him and Joe. Mike subsequently took a deep breath to help stay composed as he sprung into action.

“Joe, where’s Anna?” Mike swiftly turned around to face him.

“She said she was gonna take a phone call while I went to find you.”

“Go get her. Got a feeling we’re gonna need her magic,” Mike instructed with a steady, confident tone. The other man nodded and scurried off to find his friend.

“Dave what happened?” Mike shifted his gaze just in time to see the bassist stop in front of him. There was no hiding the seriousness in his demeanor

“The guy Brad is yelling at is Kyle Williamson, Justin Timberlake’s manager. He pretty much said some, err….very ignorant jokes,” Dave went straight to the point which Mike was appreciative about. He added, “Justin wasn’t a part of it by the way, he and his wife went out to their seats about ten minutes ago.”

Mike spared a glance at said guy just in time to see Brad land a justified punch on the side of his face. Said aforementioned manager fell to the ground but that didn’t stop him from angrily getting back up and yelling something back at Brad.

Dave continued, “He was with the rest of Justin’s entourage. Chester overheard and rightfully called him out on his bullshit. Unfortunately Kyle doubled down, and the rest of the idiots with him joined in. Me, Rob and Brad tried to de-escalate the situation. But they just kept on riling him up and being complete utter douchebags.”

As if on cue, a distinct loud growl pierced through the air the very moment Dave finished his sentence. The abrupt noise caused a cacophony of terrified screams from the rest of the celebrities present in this room. It also startled Dave enough to automatically get partially behind Mike.

“If you have any goddamn sense left in that empty space you call a brain you’ll shut the fuck up right now!” Rob yelled, his voice thick with justifiable fury. It was plain to anyone watching he was equally just as pissed off as both Chester and Brad.

Mike surveyed the current scene as he clenched his fists. Brad was on the floor, he appeared to have a bruise forming around his eye. Rob still held Chester in a tight embrace despite looking like he was about to break off to land a punch himself. Kyle, the asshole manager, stood right in front of them. He didn’t look like he was getting the memo anytime soon.

He also, for some inexplicable reason, appeared to be unfazed by Chester’s tiger-like appearance.

“Why should I?” Kyle yelled back defensively. He scoffed as he let out a condescending laugh, “I can’t take you two seriously if you get this worked up over a harmless joke.”

“Harmless jokes?! Are you fucking serious?” Chester’s clawed grip on Rob’s arms tightened, the taller man bit down on his lip to hold in any sudden pained noise.

Chester spat as he continued, his white eyes full of intense righteous anger, “In what fucking world are they harmless? You’re a downright fucking idiot if you can’t fucking see why your so called jokes are hateful and ignorant.”

And then there was a plot twist. Kyle was from a family of hunters. People who specialized in taking down any supernatural beings. That was why he didn’t appear to be scared out of his wits like all the others. Which honestly added to the already high tension of the situation. The revelation grinded everything to a halt. So quiet one can hear a pin drop from the other side of the room. An ominous sense of great horrified dread filled the atmosphere.

Kyle took this as a cue to further spew his unbridled bigotry. He continued to display the sheer audacity to be nothing but a narrow minded numbskull. A dangerous idiot with the means and knowledge to destroy any sort of supernatural being.

People like what Chester and Mike have become.

In short, this wasn’t good.

It wasn’t until after Kyle insulted Chester and revealed how all supernatural folk are abominations who should be locked up when Mike made his presence known. He emitted a deep snarl with such ferocity it startled everyone. Both Justin’s manager and the Linkin Park members immediately shifted their attention to Mike.

“Care to say that again? I didn’t quite catch it,” Mike said with an easygoing smile that belied the ire in his voice. His exposed fangs were the most obvious signs Mike brimmed with barely controlled power. An immense power at that. Like he was on the fence and one slight push would send him into the same physically changed state as Chester.

Mike slowly walked closer with his hands in the pockets of his dress pants, eventually he stopped at a spot right near Chester and Rob. Kyle on the other hand took a few steps back in fright. A false sense of bravado as he put on too much confidence for his own good, “I'm not afraid of you. I can kill a vampire with my bare hands.”

Mike can already smell the great waves of fear from the other man in front of him.

“Oh I’m not a vampire. Close though,” Mike blinked and his golden pupils were instantly gone. His eyes now an eerie shade of white.

_____________________________

“Houston we have a problem,” Joe called out once he finally spotted Anna. It was a code they came up with early on in college back in Texas. It was supposed to be an inconspicuous way to mean a problem only magic can solve. A common enough phrase that nobody would think twice about it if they happened to overhear it in public.

Well to be fair any phrase that wasn’t in any way related to the supernatural would have sufficed.

Anna was in a sparsely used hallway adjacent to one of the main ones of the venue. She was about to end her phone call when she heard the familiar voice of her friend. She turned around to see Joe headed towards her way at an urgent pace. It only took a split second for her to register the implication behind the innocuous sentence.

“Sorry to cut this short but I gotta go,” Anna quickly said to the person on the other side. She felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins while she tried to hurry up to think of a suitable lie. Anna hoped her nerves didn’t show too much, “Got hit with a huge inspiration for my book and I need to write it all out right now. Bye!”

Anna hung up and put her phone away in her purse just in time for Joe to catch up with her. Her eyes wide with panic mixed with anxiousness, “Joe what’s going on?”

“Chester is in tiger hybrid mode!”

“What!? What happened?” Anna tensed up with shock as she grabbed Joe’s arms. The two were both in a mutual state of panic.

“I don’t know, Mike just told me to come get you. Come on,” Joe grabbed her hand as he started to lead the way back to the lounge in a frantic run.

But they weren’t able to make it too far before an onslaught of people and loud screams spilled out from a corner several feet away. Their pathway to the lounge was quickly becoming obscured, just their damn luck. No way to get to the lounge in a timely fashion. Which wasn’t good because there was also the very real possibility of this spilling out into the outside world, whether offline or online.

Joe swore as he stopped in his tracks. This was increasingly getting out of hand. But even so the ball was in their court, the band had Anna to help out after all.

“I should do something right now,” Anna said out loud, her voice riddled with anxiousness as she looked around.

“Yeah that’ll be good,” Joe agreed as he also took a glance around to assess the situation.

It was just one thing after another, Joe was on the verge of feeling too overwhelmed. And he was sure Anna wasn’t too far behind. He still held her hand in his grasp so he gave it a gentle squeeze. The reason was twofold; to ground himself and keep calm and to let her know things would be ok. He was right there with her. And vice versa, they got this.

A beat.

“Time freeze,” Joe’s sudden exclamation startled Anna out of her concentration. Joe looked at her with a big smile as if he just discovered the biggest secret of the Universe, “Freeze time for only this venue.”

Anna’s eyes widened. A second passed between them before she was able to get a sentence out. It was a miracle it wasn’t broken up into an awkward stammer, “That’s-that’s powerful magic for a big venue like this Joe,”

“I know but you’ve done it before. Remember the place in Nashville? The year before me and my friends started a band?” A split second passed before a look of realization hit and Anna nodded readily. Joe continued, “You can do this. Fighting!”

“Fighting?”

“It’s a Korean cheer,” Joe quickly explained to her slight confusion.

Anna then remembered and nodded once more. She took a deep breath, grabbed Joe’s hand as she didn’t want to freeze him along with the others. She closed her eyes as she threw her hand up in the air. Then just as out of the blue as it all began, the noise stopped. Chaos died out to be replaced by a sense of peaceful, albeit almost eerie silence.

“Did it work? Please tell me it worked.”

“It worked,” Joe replied with a giddy smile. It was always impressive to see Anna’s Fae magic in action if you asked him. He felt like a giddy little boy everytime he watched one of his best friends do her thing.

The movement of a car outside the glass windows caught his eye. There was a surge of awe from deep down inside him. This was just so cool despite the circumstances. Life went on outside with nary a thought while everyone and everything inside this building was as if a movie was put on pause. It was just as surreal as the last time Joe witnessed this timey wimey power in effect.

Anna opened her eyes and smiled in both relief and satisfaction. It's been years since she froze time in a large contained area such where they were at right now, the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles. All she needed was a moment to breathe before they moved to the next part of, just now named, Operation Manage Chaos.

“I need a second,” Anna said. Joe agreed, he wanted one too honestly, it would be good to take the opportunity to mentally prepare for whatever they’d find at the lounge.

After Anna gave the ok that she was ready to continue, Joe led the way through the forest of people. No time to let the creepiness factor of humans frozen like statues settle in. They got shit to deal with.

When they finally made it to ground zero, it was easy to guess what caused the stampede. Once they got closer to their friends, who were also rendered frozen, they both noticed Mike had someone pinned to the wall. And Mike’s fangs were sunk into the skin upon closer look.

“Holy shit,” Joe swore as he took a couple paces, there were a few lines of blood running down the guy’s neck. It was, contrary to once might’ve guessed, his first time seeing the whole vampire feeding thing.

Now he really wanted to know what happened when he went to get Anna.

Usually if Chester and Mike don’t have any blood bags and were hungry, they would drink from one of the other four band members' arms if they consented. Or they would go to one of those places vampires go to get fresh blood. In the beginning it was more of the latter. They, especially Chester, didn’t want to trouble the others by asking to basically be their food.

But nowadays they’d go for the clinical route if there weren't any of the aforementioned blood bags handy. This was due to half the time being mobbed by fans at the designated feeding centers. That sure as hell wasn’t beneficial for both the Linkin Park vocalists and whatever place they visited.

By the way Mike would most often ask Brad to be his donor while Chester would go for Joe.

Meanwhile Anna had walked to the center of the space where their friends were at. The kind of time control magic she was using didn’t need a magical force field but she found it helped when it came to unfreezing certain parts that were surrounded by the greater area where time completely stopped. The colorful forcefield served as a visual for the boundary and as a way to calculate how much power to put in.

Once time was resumed, everyone aside from Mike and the manager noticed the newcomers so to speak. Anna explained what she did magic wise to the four Linkin Park members before Joe asked what happened and why Mike was going all Dracula on some seemingly random guy.

Rob’s grip on Chester finally slacken enough to the point where Chester can calmly break free. Rob rubbed his arms in an attempt to alleviate the soreness and the slight lingering pain from Chester’s claws. Luckily there wasn’t any blood. Chester would be beside himself with great regret and guilt if there were.

No harm foul, the soreness was honestly just as much from Rob as it was from Chester. Something told him Chester did all he could to keep himself grounded and not lose sight of himself. Rob just provided extra help.

Chester was still rooted in the same spot in front of Rob, but his gaze wasn’t towards Brad and Dave who explained things to the other two. No it was locked on Mike who now pulled his fangs out and let the manager fall down to the ground with a satisfied thunk. The muted smell of blood told him Kyle was still alive, just unconscious.

Honestly he deserved more comeuppance thrown at him than Mike just going all vampire on him.

Chester slowly made his way over to Mike, his flattened tiger ears betrayed his nervous state of mind. A small part of him was weirdly hesitant to call his attention just yet. It was illogical and he wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t the ignoramus asshole on the wrong end of the stick here. Pretty sure it had something to do with the way Mike carried himself throughout this whole thing. He exuded intimidation and ire beneath his otherwise calm appearance.

To the point where anyone sensible should wisely step the hell back and give them space.

Chester was about to open his mouth to call his attention but then Mike turned around. He first laid eyes on Chester before he shifted his attention to Anna. There was a leadership quality in his expression, “Don’t resume time just yet. Wait until I say.”

She nodded and Mike proceeded to lead Chester over to a nearby black L-shape couch. Mike’s face softened and his posture was more relaxed. This was in juxtaposition from the wrathful state he was under just a short minute or two prior.

A moment passed between the two, the mood still wasn’t fully back to the excitement and fun as before. But it was much more bearable. More calm and peaceful where they can take a moment to breathe. The only sound that can be heard was from their friends nearby. But they were far away enough that Mike and Chester could tune them out with the rest of the world.

Mike took Chester’s hand in his. He rubbed tiny circles on the back of his palm in a soothing motion. A nonverbal way to tell him things were going to be ok. Chester was noticeably more relaxed now as evident by his cat ears being upright.

“I tried so hard to not transform, Mike. I seriously did. I didn’t want to fucking go all tiger in public, especially here of all places,” Chester said with sincerity, an apologetic countenance as he faced Mike, “But that guy, that fucking bastard….”

Chester trailed off, the rest of the sentence left unsaid. Mike however picked up on the implications nonetheless.

“Fucking pissed me off,” Chester eventually added, his voice sharp with lingering anger.

“Part of me wants to ask out of morbid curiosity about what the prick said,” Mike admitted as he took his hand in his.

Chester stared at him a scant moment before he awkwardly shook his head. He really didn’t want to lay it all out in explicit detail. Didn’t want to revisit the hateful words Kyle spewed.

“You don’t want to know. It just was all fucking bullshit anyways, fucking nonsense. The fucker is a bigoted asshole,” Chester said vehemently. A beat of silence passed before he rolled his eyes in irritation, “He even did the old assuming you were from China thing.”

“Of course,” Mike wearily sighed as he rolled his eyes with poignant exasperation. And a greater amount of understandable irritation.

“Brad punched him. I also wanted to fucking punch him too. Send him fucking clear into the next century. Drinking his blood doesn’t feel like enough punishment for him,” Chester paused to think for a second then brightened with inspiration, “Anna can lay a fairy curse on him.”

Mike considered it. He certainly felt vindictive enough to do that.

“He did say he was a hunter and he has to be well connected behind the scenes via being Justin Timberlake’s manager,” Mike thought out loud as he looked at a random spot ahead of him.

“Oh,” Mike said more forcefully, abrupt enough to cause Chester to startle. There was a spiteful glint in his eyes with the smile to match.

“What?” Chester asked with curiosity as Mike swiftly put his full attention back on him.

“Oh you’ll see,” Mike grinned cryptically. He held it for a split second before it left just as quickly as it came. Now there was an easygoing smile in its place. It was wild how fast he switched between vibes so to speak, like night and day.

Mike reached into his suit jacket to take out a silver flask. He continued as he held it out towards him, “But first, we need to get you back to your human form. I want to give you all the time to change back but…we’re not exactly in the best place for that.”

Chester nodded in agreement. He took the flask and unscrewed the cap while he took a deep breath. It was tempting to just lay on the couch and take a 20 minute breather, scroll on his phone and maybe take a short nap even. Take his mind off of what transpired.

But Mike was right and to be fair, the award show itself would provide enough distraction anyways. Plus they got a performance, music was always a good way to let out stress. Especially when he screamed like nobody’s business.

Chester took a swig and let out a satisfied noise. He felt a weird mix of feelings. He wanted to lay down with Mike and have tonight be over, snuggle with each other with their limbs in a tangled mess. But at the same time he didn’t want to let the whole encounter with a racist numbskull put a damper on the whole night. He wanted to have fun, watch other artists perform and put his all into his own performance as part of Linkin Park.

“I want to go home and lay in bed with you,” Chester confessed softly as he leaned back.

Mike smiled warmly as he placed a gentle hand on Chester’s leg, “So do I Ches but we can’t. We got a show to do. And a speech if we win any Grammys,” Mike stood up followed by Chester to make their way back to the group.

“Yeah. Don’t want to disappoint the fans either,” Chester added with a smile as he followed close to Mike. He already started to feel the power inside him subside. His long hair gradually disappeared, it was as if a weight was lifted off the top of his head.

Honestly it was disappointing in a way that the long hair didn’t stick between forms. It would be such a badass rockstar look if you asked Chester. For both him and Mike. He can imagine how crazy the fans would go for it.

But alas, his head was back to its shaven glory. Probably a good thing at the end of the day cause lord knows he’d be distracted by Mike’s sexy long dark hair. Especially if, hypothetically, Mike took his shirt off and let his long hair cascade down his back.

“Mike-” Brad said as he, Dave and Rob met them halfway. Joe stayed behind a little further away with Anna. They appeared to be fully into their conversation as they searched through Anna’s digital spellbook on her phone.

It was also apparent Kyle has his wrists tied together behind his back. That explained why the three men didn’t have their ties on anymore. All he could do was struggle to get out of his binds but couldn’t. Served him right

“-We figured out a suitable punishment,” Brad finished straight to the point.

“So did I,” Mike interjected before Brad could go any further.

“Oh, what are you thinking of then?”

“What do you say we cut him out of the music business?”

___________________________________

Time has resumed, the events of the evening were now blessedly forgotten by everyone outside of Anna and the Linkin Park boys. A straight up miracle life went on as if nothing supernatural had transpired. Not to mention the fact there wasn’t anything on the internet about it. Now that truly felt like a miracle and a half considering how intertwined the internet was in society.

As for Justin’s asshole of a manager, well, he was now cursed to be forgotten by everyone in the industry. Both by the entertainment and by those in the supernatural hunting business.

There was just a hitch. Anyone with some form of protection spell would be spared. Everyone crossed their fingers and prayed to any deities they believed in that Justin would also magically forget him. But alas it was not to be when he came through the doors and began to ask where his manager was.

Anna apologized profusely for this. Before when she explained the nature of the spell and after when it turned out Justin was unaffected. The six men and Anna watched Justin walk around to various other artists asking if they’ve seen a man with slightly greying hair. This was precisely all the evidence they needed. Because at the very basic, the spell was supposed to remove any memories one had of the target.

It was one of those spells that could either be used for insidious means or to cut a toxic person out from their life. It just depended on the user.

This also carried the implication Justin knew about the existence of magic and the supernatural. Even though he was completely human a hundred percent according to Anna. No spark of magic whatsoever to be found inside of him. But because of the protection spell casted on him, it stood to reason he knew at least one person that was supernatural in some way.

This also begged the question, why the hell was Justin friends with a hunter then? Not that Mike and Chester had anything against all hunters no matter what. It was just the unhinged, black and white thinking kind like Kyle who posed a problem.

Or was it merely just a business relationship?

Mike reassured her things were fine. More than fine even. In fact this was the perfect opportunity to make sure nothing would be a problem from Mr. Big Famous Popstar Justin Timberlake or his associates. Intimidate him even, just a little. Enough so that the importance of vetting his next group of potential managers would stick to his brain like a permanent tattoo. It would be pure idiocy not too.

The award show was about to start in about ten minutes. So while Mike and Chester casually led Justin away from the doors, the rest of the group left with the other celebs to go sit down in the audience. There was a good chance Mike and Chester would join them on the first commercial break.

Right now all three were in the nearest bathroom. The bathroom was purely for logistical reasons. There weren't any cameras inside to catch any non-human abnormalities. Justin was nervous. He obviously didn’t expect this exactly. Probably thought he’d just get a quick simple answer before he went out to join his wife at their designated table.

He didn’t think he’d be led away to a secluded area by two members of Linkin Park. If he was in Justin’s spot, Chester imagined alarm bells would be ringing left and right. An ugly cacophony of alarm bells. He’d think the worst case scenario. Honestly he wouldn’t blame Justin if his mind went there too.

“Like we said earlier we’re not gonna hurt you,” Chester reassured him, his hands out in front of him to placate him. Mike had flashed the white eyes earlier which had the intended effect. Justin’s steady demeanor faltered just enough and was very much willing to do as Mike asked.

The white eyes might’ve been a little too much in Chester’s opinion. No need to drive the intimidation factor any deeper than it was for pete fucking sakes. Justin can already see their golden eyes, the glamour didn’t affect him. That last part also further confirmed he knew about the supernatural.

But the point was, Justin was properly intimidated.

Chester continued carefully. He made sure to keep his voice casual enough, “We just want to talk about Mr Williamson.”

Next to him Mike stood straight as a ruler, his posture never unwavering. At least for the time being. His hands were clasped together in front of him and his legs were comfortably apart. Combine all that with the gold tie and black suit, and Chester can see how someone could take a wild guess and assume Mike was a mob boss of the dangerous kind.

Hell his first thought would’ve been the same if he didn’t know any better.

“My manager?” Justin then grew rigid then his face fell into that of exasperation with the eye roll to match, “What did he do now?”

From the annoyed way Justin asked, Chester thought of a parent who was disappointed to discover his kid was a bully. He was sure Mike caught that too.

Mike grew curious as he kept his steely gaze onto the slightly taller man, “So you weren’t friends with him?”

“No, no I wasn’t. I mean I thought we could at first but then I got a funny feeling about him,” Justin explained as he glanced at Chester then returned his attention back to Mike, “It was right after he explained how he was a hunter, a supernatural hunter. This was shortly after I hired him and-and something in my gut told me it was better to keep my distance from Mr. Williamson so that’s what I did.”

“He told you he was a hunter right off the bat,” Chester commented with a visible note of shock in his eyes, “That sounds like a fucking dumb move.”

Yes, granted Chester might have only in recent months learned about the existence of hunters outside of the usual animal sense of the word. But come on, even he got the memo that hunting down the supernatural was perhaps something you shouldn’t divulge freely to people you’ve just met. Much like those who aren’t human have to do the same fucking thing. Both sides have to be careful on who to trust with the information lest you want shit to go all pear shaped.

Kyle looked more and more like a cocky, arrogant moron with every passing second.

Justin easily agreed, “I thought so! I asked him why he was telling me he hunted the supernatural and-and he actually fucking thought it was the thing to do to recruit new hunters.”

“And you didn’t fire him?” Mike spoke as he looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He walked a couple of steps closer as he loosen his hands, “Not solely because he was a hunter of course. But it sounded like Mr. Williamson was too much of a liability. Too much of a risk to keep around. You’ve realized that, haven't you?”

“Yes, yes actually and I brought it up with the rest of NSYNC. They agreed too,” Justin explained. By now he was backed up against the edge of the vanity.

Justin might have had two inches over the other but with the way Mike carried himself, he might as well have been shorter than him.

“Your former bandmates? They know about the supernatural too?” Mike asked. He stood in front of the other man with his hands in his pockets.

“I mean they should. They’re not human. All of them aren’t. I was the only human in NSYNC back in the day.”

“What are they?” Mike’s interest was piqued. The words were firm despite the casualness of his tone. Brought no room to think too hard for the answer.

“Two are Fae, two are Elfs.”

At this point Chester lost a good chunk of his focus on the conversation. Ever since he became a beom his senses have heightened. Especially his sense of smell. Became more acute. Chester can easily identify if someone was either just slightly nervous or scared out of their wits.

And Justin was headed towards the latter. He radiated levels of anxiety into the air around them to a palpable degree. No doubt because of Mike. Chester had to turn around and stare at the boring brown door in order to ground himself as he took a deep breath. He really didn’t want to lose the contents of his stomach.

Right now it was still at tolerable levels. Chester was thankfully able to keep it under control, at least for the time being. Taking another drink from the blood filled flask seemed to help. But it can very well change if Mike doesn’t cool it any time soon.

Actually speaking of, Chester has half a fucking mind to tell Mike exactly that.

“…What are you? Vampires don’t have gold eyes,” Justin asked, a little fearfully as he held on the edge of the counter. It was obvious he tried his hardest to not show it. Don’t show others how scared you are and all that.

Chester caught the question so he returned his attention to the other two. Justin appeared to want to curl up into nothingness while Mike still bored holes into him. Another wave of intense anxiety was expelled and it hit Chester like a freight train. He wrapped one arm around his stomach while he covered his nose with the other.

How the hell was Mike not affected? How the hell was he still standing perfectly fine and dandy while he was over here trying to keep the nausea at bay. Chester moved backwards until he was halfway between the bathroom stall behind him and Mike in an attempt to escape the stench of fear. He stared at a random spot on the ground.

Mike answered in a decidedly more casual way, “Good catch. Me and Chester aren’t vampires. We’re beoms. Korean shapeshifters. Although I suppose to be fair there is a similarity to vampires.”

“How so?” Justin carefully asked after a brief moment passed.

“We drink blood.”

Afterwards the words became an incomprehensible mess.

Chester felt the nausea creeping into more corners of his body. The convo became muddled as a swell of dizziness threatened to overtake him. Practically impossible to pick out words. This wasn’t good. He needed to get the fuck out of here before he gets ever more overwhelmed. The sour bitter smell of Justin’s frightened state of mine began to permeate every nook, cranny and everything in between.

Fuck. Chester wished he had the wherewithal to tell Mike to tone his little intimidation game the fuck down. He’s scaring the shit out of Justin. The words are fine, it’s just the aura that surrounded Mike that was the complete opposite of fine. It was too much, way too much. He was being overstimulated and not in the fun way.

And because the universe royally sucked, a sudden loud noise burst through the air like a bullet followed by a familiar voice. Chester closed his eyes as a sharp headache made itself known. He wanted to lift his head up to see who it was, probably one of his bandmates, but unfortunately he couldn’t muster the energy to do so.

Thankfully the voice died out quick and a blessed silence fell over them.

“Oh Bradford, came just in time-” Chester could pick out those words from Mike even though it still felt like he was underwater. The dead quietness probably had something to do with it. He also didn’t miss the use of Brad’s full first name either, “-Would you mind taking Chester out of here, he doesn’t look too good.”

Then just as quickly, Chester felt himself pulled into strong arms. Brad held one of his arms firmly around his neck while the other was wrapped around Chester’s waist.

“I’ll be right out,” Mike said with an easygoing smile as Brad led Chester to the door. As if everyone was just hanging out with the boys. As if Mike currently wasn’t going over the top with his scare tactic on poor Justin.

As if it wasn’t the Shinoda Incident of ‘93 all over again.

Brad shot Mike a glare over his shoulder. “This isn’t over,” He said matter of factly before he led Chester out the door.

Eventually Chester was laid face down on the couch. His face was half buried in the cushion below him while Brad sat on the edge. He lazily rubbed Chester’s back in small circles in order to sooth him. He appeared to be looking comparatively better now which was good. Less pale and looking like there was about to be an unsightly mess.

Chester wanted that as much as Brad did. Which was to say not at all.

“What exactly happened?” Brad asked, concerned. He and the rest of the band already knew that Mike and Chester had a more acute sense of smell than humans. But everything he just saw flew against his frame of reference.

Mike was unaffected while Chester was hunched over about to pass out.

“Michael fucking Kenji Shinoda happened,” Chester answered halfheartedly, the words more muffled then clear. There wasn’t any emotion to the way he said it. No energy.

Even if he was at the peak of health, Chester still would’ve said it without any bite whatsoever.

Brad automatically chuckled. Chester turned his head to better see the other man before he continued, “He scared the shit out of Justin. He didn’t need to fucking go as far as he did. Whole place smelled like shit.”

Brad can understand that. He saw that with his own eyes, Justin looked scared as all out. He didn’t need any superhuman senses to get the memo. Hell it got him thinking Chester and Mike would do good with the idea of a safe word. Something Chester could use with all of them really. He’d have to bring up the concept, either tonight or on a day with cooler heads prevailed.

“I thought both of you could smell fear. Is it only just you then?” Brad was curious. He wanted to understand any possible issues to help mitigate and make the human world easier to deal with for both of his bandmates.

Only if they really needed any help of course. Brad knew not to go overboard in that department.

A beat then Chester subtly shook his head, “No we both can. I think…I think I just might be more attuned to that shit. I want to ask Jungkook about it. Not right now though.”

“Oh. Makes sense from what I saw. You didn’t look too good,” Brad commented softly. A few seconds of contented silence passed between, “Now I’m curious how sensitive your sense is compared to Mike’s.”

A moment passed.

“Can you tell how annoyed I am at Mike right now?” Brad removed his hand as he calmly looked at Chester with a casual smile.

Chester chuckled under his breath, “Uhh, yeah I think that’s from your aura rather than smell…but yeah it’s muted. I’m confused on how it all works still. I can also hear it in your voice anyways, which kinda defeats the purpose of the question.”

Just then, a second after Chester finished his sentence. Mike entered. As soon as Brad noticed, his face hardened as he stood up. Disapproval seeped into every inch of his face. Like a parent who caught their teenaged kid as they tried to sneak back into the house. Brad meant business.

Chester meanwhile just stayed put in his spot on the couch.

Brad crossed his arms as Mike walked over to them. His voice displayed no amounts of uncertainty, “Michael we need to talk.”

The fact Justin hurried across the room at a frantic pace shortly after and disappeared into the auditorium, Grammy rules be damned, didn’t escape his notice.

“What about?”

“You went overboard,” Brad plainly said, straight to the point.

Mike stared at him in confusion, “What do you mean? All I did was have a civil discussion with Mr. Timberlake on how to do better next time with his choice of tour manager.”

“You know what I mean,” Brad removed his arms and gestured to the door behind him, “Did you not see Justin run like hell just now? He’s scared shitless of you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you lied and told him your grandfather was a crime boss in Japan.”

“I think you know I wouldn’t do that Brad,” Mike shot back with narrowed eyes, affronted by the accusatory tone that was leveled at him. The emcee got closer to Brad’s face “I would never lie about my family history.”

Brad straightened his posture as he glared at Mike. Like Justin, the former just barely had the height advantage over the latter. Well, that was not accounting for his afro to be fair. Hair included, the height difference was noticeable.

“Well you can’t blame me for asking. You’ve done it before. You got the entire fucking high school into thinking the Shinodas were part of the yakuza. For six fucking months.”

“He did what?” Chester piped up. He pushed himself up into a seated position, curious to know what the story was behind Brad’s statement.

Both Brad and Mike paused momentarily to face Chester. The latter pushed himself into a seated position.

“It was nothing Ches-” Mike tried to dismiss it. Unfortunately for him, Brad cut him off and beat him to the punch.

“He got the entire Agoura High School believing his grandfather was head of the biggest criminal gang in Japan who had sent his father over here to start up an American chapter. Even a couple of teachers believed it.”

A beat then.

“Holy shit!” Chester exclaimed as he bursted out with bubbly laughter. Mike proceeded to swiftly turn around to shoot Brad a death glare.

“Brad. You know damn well I had my reasons. I didn’t go overboard back then and I sure as hell didn’t with Justin,” Mike jabbed his finger down in the air for emphasis.

Brad wasn’t fazed by his reaction. Neither by the gold eyes nor by the pointed way he spoke to him.

“What reasons? You did it to impress a guy that you ended up scaring off to another school,” Brad deadpanned matter of factly. Chester let out another burst of laughter.

“Anyways,” Brad continued as he got back on topic. He didn’t budge from Mike’s glare, “My point is you didn’t need to go as far as you did.”

“Yes I did. He deserved it Brad. He was a coward,” Mike argued.

“You made him sick,” Brad firmly shouted as he gestured towards Chester with his left hand, “He told me he may be more sensitive to fear and from what I saw, I can fucking believe it.”

Mike stiffened, increased frustration etched all over his face. He gritted out, “You weren’t there. Justin-”

“You’re right I wasn’t,” Brad abruptly cut off whatever Mike was about to say for the second time. He stared at him with an expectant look, “Care to enlighten me Mike?”

Mike stood there stunned, the interruption had thrown him off course. Speechless, he inhaled harshly as he balled his fists tighter. He closed his eyes in the process. He opened them with the intention to speak but unbeknownst to him he had blinked gold to white.

In an instant Chester jumped up to his feet and got in between Mike and Brad. An alarmed expression written over his face.

“Michael!” Chester exclaimed as he grabbed his shoulders and gave him a light but strong shake, “Cool it.”

Gratefully, it was enough to startle Mike out of his state of mind. He didn’t protest or fight back or anything of the sort. Not that he was seriously worried about that. But once in a blue moon Mike can get too caught up in the heat of the moment. Enough for outside intervention. His eyes returned to gold as he stumbled back a step or two. The wind severely knocked out of his sails so to speak.

“Chester it’s alright,” Brad calmly said as he placed a hand on his shoulder. Chester turned around as he continued, “I’ve dealt with actual tigers before. I can deal with mythological ones.”

“Oh….wait you worked with animals? That’s so cool!” Chester was momentarily distracted as he beamed in awe. Something in his mind told him he didn’t need to worry about Mike losing control.

“Yep. My aunt and uncle owned a wildlife rehab place and I worked there every summer when I was a teen.”

“Nice,” Chester said. Brad nodded before he took a glance over at Mike. The latter appeared to be calmer now, his pissed off countenance now replaced by sincere guilt.

“I’m still curious to know what Justin did. Was he friends with Mr. Williamson?”

“No, he got a weird vibe from him early on. I don’t think he liked him at all,” Chester began as he shook his head. He explained how Justin thought it was too late to fire him. How Kyle foolishly told Justin what he did on the sides and how his NSYNC bandmates weren’t human.

“I didn’t catch much else after that because Justin was so scared. His fear was so fucking bitter and potent that it was getting me fucking sick. I was dizzy as shit and I felt like I was gonna throw up,” Chester continued. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Mike winced in shame.

Mike no doubt heard every word of it from his spot right behind Chester. It just increased the overall regret he felt. As he rightly should. He didn’t even stop to think if he scared Justin too much and how it might’ve been connected to what was going with Chester. He remembered seeing Chester in the mirror but he was too zoned in on his conversation with Justin to really notice.

Brad nodded then directed his next statement towards Mike, “Care to fill me in on the rest? And no bullshit Mike,” He pointed a finger right in front of him.

Mike looked at Brad and nodded abashedly, “Chester pretty much told you the gist. Justin and his team felt like they didn’t have a valid way to kick his tour manager’s ass out to the curb. Justin was also afraid Kyle was gonna blacklist him in the industry, he said he got connections. He was pretty sure Kyle was lying but he was so afraid of having his career ruined in any way.”

“I told Justin what happened tonight. He vehemently doesn’t condone the nasty comments Kyle made. He was very apologetic. Justin was also relieved Kyle is finally cut out of his life,” Mike finished.

“Did Justin say why Kyle freely told him he was a hunter on the first meeting or whatever?” Chester asked out of curiosity as he faced his boyfriend.

“Oh yeah he did. Apparently Kyle thought the best way to recruit people to be a supernatural hunter was to outright tell them about the bigger world. Scare them into joining the cause based on widely stereotypical information.”

“Glad we don’t have to deal with that fucker anymore.”

Brad agreed with Chester before he faced Mike. He crossed his arms and gave him a skeptical look, “So was that all? You didn’t, I dunno, let Justin think you were the most powerful beom or something?”

“Wh-what?! No I did not say that at all,” Mike stammered just a little but mustered up enough confidence in the nick of time. However it wasn’t totally foolproof, Brad knew Mike up and down. A byproduct of having known him since high school.

The fact Mike grew pale and his eyes darted everywhere but him and Chester was all Brad needed.

A few seconds of tense silence passed between one half of Linkin Park. Both Chester and Brad stared at him as they waited for an answer. Finally Mike buckled under the pressure.

“Fine. I didn't explicitly say me and Chester were the most powerful. I only let that be implied.”

“Uh-huh,” Brad adopted a look of disappointment. So did Chester and if that didn’t metaphorically kick him in the ass then, well, he’d be a lying ass liar there too.

Mike felt an increased level of shame. Right now he wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out.

“However I might’ve told him me and Chester weren’t born human.”

Brad groaned with disapproval while Chester gasped with the same sentiment.

“Michael!”

__________________

Chester closed the front door to their house. It only took seven business days for Justin’s NSYNC friends to confront them. JC and Chris to be more specific. And even then technically it was two days because apparently Justin didn’t tell them what happened until four days after.

He locked it before he slowly made his way to the living room. Mike was on the couch, he still hasn’t moved from his spot. He was shaken up since he got ripped apart. Mostly by Chris. JC did at first but he admitted Chris was better with cutting to the chase. Along with a more cussing style.

Chester stepped over the threshold and his nose was bombarded with the smell of anxiety. He hated seeing Mike so anxious on any sort of level, but the callout was necessary. Mike got the message loud and clear he went over the top.

Mike stared blankly ahead at the tv mounted on the wall. There was also one of those small square grey cushions held tightly in his arms. He didn’t fully register what was happening until Chester sat down and scooped him up into his lap.

Chester gently pried the cushion out of Mike’s hands before he wrapped both arms around his waist. Mike rested his head on his shoulder as several moments went by with nary a word.

“Now you know how Justin felt,” Chester said, short and sweet while maintaining a casual tone. Going by Mike’s aura, Chester can tell the other man very much regretted what he did.

“I know, I know. I got my own comeuppance,” Mike softly said as he half buried his face in Chester’s neck, “I learned my lesson.”

“Did you ever get in trouble for the yakuza thing in high school?”

Mike replied with mildly hollowed laughter, “Oh boy did I ever. Got yelled at here and there for days. Grounded for the rest of the school year. Only people that could come over to my house outside of group projects were Brad and Rob. And I couldn’t go on the summer long family trip to Japan.”

Chester nodded, “I don’t know about the trip but being grounded for the rest of the school year sounds like apt punishment.”

“Mrs. Delson would agree with you,” Mike commented with a smile, this time full of humor.

“Yeah?” Chester was curious.

Mike smiled easily, “Yeah. She was torn between my dad being a good disciplinarian and my dad ripping me apart from a stronger connection with my heritage.”

Mike paused for a second, then clarified as his smile fell into a neutral line, “Her parents didn’t do a good job in that department with her adopted sister. She was born in South Korea.”

“Did you get the chance to go another time?” Chester asked. He already knew Mike did go once before when he was five or six, “I mean before Linkin Park.”

Mike let out a deep breath as he idly picked at a random spot on Chester’s black tank top, “No. We were supposed to go the next year, a new tradition of taking an annual trip abroad to visit the rest of the family. But that never happened. Stopped before it even started.”

“Oh,” Chester stayed quiet as he gently soothed Mike’s back. There was a small amount of forlorn melancholy in his gaze. Chester rubbed his back sympathetically.

“It was weird too. When my parents and brother came back they…it was like they were completely different people. They weren’t the same. Clearly something happened over there but they never told me what. They just denied things were any different and kept whatever happened from me. But I could tell. Everyone can fucking tell. The neighborhood, their friends, whoever associated with any three of them could.”

“How so?” Chester idly ran his fingers through his fluffy hair.

“Nightmares. Paranoia. Became very afraid of the world and everyone in it. They stocked up on weapons and with each passing month, they’ve slowly become reclusive,” Mike looked up at Chester with dulled eyes, “There was a sort of persistent hauntedness to them.”

“Damn,” Was all Chester could say. He felt genuinely sorry for Mike, that can’t have been good for his mental health. To see all that played out without even being told the reason must’ve been wholly frustrating.

“I spend most of my time with either Brad or Rob for the rest of high school. Don’t get me wrong, I still helped out my parents but my brother was the main caretaker I guess. Jason dropped out of high school in order to get a job and provide for the family. For a time I thought it was my fault.”

“It wasn’t,” Chester reassured gently as he gave him a loving kiss, “Whatever happened took place in Japan, you stayed behind in California. Logically by that alone, I highly doubt you planned it.”

“Yeah but a yakuza member, or someone with connections, could’ve gotten wind of my lie and believed it,” Mike spoke pensively as his words trailed off into nothingness for a scant moment, “I do have confirmation that whatever happened wasn’t caused by the yakuza.”

“You do?”

Mike softly nodded before he locked eyes with Chester, “Remember how I told you before I learned Japanese on my own time from sophomore year and beyond?”

Chester pondered for a second. Then he nodded with a quiet chuckle, “Yeah you did. You taught me how to cuss in Japanese.”

The two shared a good natured laugh before Mike continued on, “Well I had a reason. I wanted to do my own research the next time I was in Japan to see if whatever happened was significant enough to warrant a newspaper article about it.”

Chester pondered over the information given. Eventually not too long after he gasped in surprise, “That must’ve been in 2001, during the Hybrid Theory tour. Am I correct?”

“Yes,” Mike was able to better recall the memory now that the year was mentioned. He let out a heavy sigh, “That was it. I slipped out one night to a PC cafe. I believed I told you, Dave and Joe, I wanted to do some research on my family clan. Rob and Brad already knew the actual truth long beforehand. Sorry I lied to you about that.”

“No no it's fine, I get it. I fucking would’ve done the same. I’ve done my share of white lies,” Chester grinned and Mike felt more at ease. Who the hell the world over hasn't told a white lie here and there.

“Did you find anything?” Chester asked after a minute passed them by.

Mike sadly shook his head. It was a slight movement but it was there, “Nope. Nothing.”

A sudden thought crossed Chester’s mind. Whatever happened the summer of 1993 could’ve been the result of the supernatural. They were after all part of that world now so it would be naive to not account something non-human for being the cause. The thing was Chester just wasn’t sure if he should bring that up or not. Mike was already checked out for the rest of the day and he didn’t want to stress him out further.

But at the same time he felt like it should be brung up. Just as something to keep in mind, “It could’ve been committed by someone non-human.”

Mike didn’t say anything and Chester didn’t expand on it. Instead after a brief moment of peaceful silence, he stood up. Mike was in his arms bridal style and looking pretty well surprised at how easier it was for the older man to hold him up.

Chester smiled, flashed his teeth, and playfully said, “Beom strength baby.”

Mike didn’t say anything but his lips curled up into a smile. Chester walked into the bedroom and slowed to a stop at the side of the bed. He placed Mike down on top of the bed, “What do you say we don’t worry about anything for today and just watch shitty movies.”

“Wait, what about dinner tonight?” Mike asked worried but Chester dismissed it as he fished his phone out of his jeans. There had been predetermined plans for all six members of the band to go out and eat.

Chester reassured Mike he’ll let the others know with a smile and the latter visibly sagged in relief. The rest of their friends would definitely understand. He added, “I’ll get the drinks and snacks.”

Mike nodded as he began to get on his pyjamas. Chester gave him a warm loving smile before he left the room.

Honestly, after he paid witness to seeing Mike getting called out even worse then when Brad did it a week ago, he can sure as hell take the rest of the day off too. Was it weird he kinda resented Chris for sending Mike’s mood into a deep dive? Maybe, who knows.

In the end it doesn’t even matter. All he knew was Mike needed to hear the good points Chris made about unnecessarily scaring someone half to death. Especially if you’re a supernatural being. It was needed, even if Chester thought Chris didn’t have to go as hard as he did at the end of the day.

On the other hand, both he and Chester don't have to worry about going out of the house for the rest of the day anymore. They can just snuggle in bed together for the rest of the day, plans be damned.