Young Writers Society

Landon Brassey

“Oh… right.” Landon gave a sluggish blink and smiled a little in apology. He hugged the clothes to him and quickly made his way to the bathroom.

A little bit later, he had finished getting dressed and stepped out again. He'd really just put on whatever he'd deemed was most comfortable in the clothes pile, which, in this case, was a snug grey turtleneck and jeans. They were a bit tight on him, but nothing that he couldn't move around in.

“I guess I can worry about shoes later.” He muttered, staring down at his bare toes as he ran a hand over the material of the sweater.

They stared at him for a moment, a light blush quickly spreading across their cheeks when they saw how good he looked in the clothes he had picked out. Magic hadn’t realized that Loki had clothes like that, but a quick glance - a necessary distraction from Landon’s current outfit - in the clothes pile’s direction showed that Loki had a wider taste in clothing than they had expected.

“You look good,” Magic blurted, face growing even more red before they looked away again. They decided to stare at a random missing paint chip on the wall instead. “And I’m sure Loki can find you a pair of shoes, since I think you might be his size for those, too?”

Landon Brassey

“Oh. Thanks.” Landon blinked and smiled at the compliment, showing off his crooked incisors.

He nodded quickly at their comment on Loki’s shoes, and stepped toward the door, obviously feeling much better now that both his body and clothes were clean.

“Alright so, shoes from Loki and then tour?” He had reached the door and was grinning expectantly over his shoulder at Magic, starting to display some of his characteristic excitement again.

Magic grinned, allowing themself a brief look in his direction.

“You got it,” they confirmed. It hopefully wouldn’t take long to get Landon back to the reality he was supposed to be in. They didn’t want him to go, but they also knew it would be safer if he wasn’t there. They wouldn’t have to worry about Landon being forced into the same situation they were in-

There was a sudden knocking on the door.

“Sam?” Loki said, an almost stressed tone to his voice. “I just got a text.”

Their heart skipped a beat.

“...A job?”

“Yeah,” Loki confirmed through the door. “They said you could bring Landon with you.”

“...You mentioned Landon?” they hissed, pushing past Landon and listening carefully at the door.

“I had to,” Loki hissed back, but didn’t further explain why. Magic had to resist the urge to groan; of course he had decided to mention him! Now Landon being there was official, and Loki would have explained that Magic thought he was interested. “I can go without you-”

“We’re partners,” Magic interrupted. “I’m coming, and...and Landon is, too.”

Landon Brassey

Landon’s eyes widened and his brows raised as he listened to this exchange. He leaned over Magic’s shoulder, but pulled back a little to look at them at the end of this.

“A job?” he asked quietly, adopting the tone they and Loki were using. “What kind of job, exactly…”

His mind reeled a bit as he took this in. Magic worked for an evil corporation, and therefore had to serve missions accordingly. He didn’t particularly want to find out what exactly was involved in those missions, but he also wanted to support Magic. And of course, there was no way he wanted to be left alone in the room.

“Yeah, I- I’m coming too.” he repeated, a little louder than he was speaking before, and hoped that Loki didn’t catch the waver in his voice.

Carefully, he turned the handle and opened the door between them, stepping into the threshold.
“I’ll, uh- I’ll need to borrow a pair of your shoes first, though..”

Loki nodded.

“I’ll go get you a pair,” he said. He seemed distracted, but Magic didn’t think it was because of his crush and Landon. Loki slipped Thor back into his pocket and started to head down the hallway. Magic watched his figure as he walked away from them - noticing how the usual skip to his step was replaced by a much more solemn walk. Something was wrong, and they hated how much that worried them.

But they couldn’t focus on Loki right now. They had to focus on Landon, and they had to focus on how they were going to get through this. They ran through the list of possible jobs, but none came to mind. There wasn’t anyone they had heard about recently that wouldn’t have already been taken care of.

That was when it hit them.

Paling considerably, they grabbed onto Landon’s arm and pulled him back into the room. They carefully shut the door behind them and locked it again, trying to ignore the growing knot in their stomach.

“This is bad,” they said. “This is really, really bad.”

They glanced at the door before turning back to Landon, hands shaking as they balled them into fists at their side. “I don’t think this was a mission that was planned out in advance,” they said. “It took both Loki and I by surprise, and we’re both usually on top of missions. And...And if it took us by surprise, whoever’s been informing Celeste of our missions wouldn’t have been able to get the message across. Which means the person we’re supposed to capture, harm or...or kill is going to be there, and it’s going to be impossible letting them go with Loki there.”

Landon Brassey

Landon’s eyes widened as Magic locked the door again, and his they grew even further as they explained the reason. He gulped, and ran both hands through his hair, staring at the bed as he thought hard.

“I- is there anything I can do?’ He whispered harshly. “I mean, maybe we can come up with a plan or something- Loki thinks that I’m evil too, right? So I could pretend to want to prove myself, and let them get away… it wouldn’t be a big deal if I was the one who screwed up the mission- it’s probably expected, anyway..”

He let out a breath and shifted his feet, turning once again to look at them for an answer.

Their eyes lit up.

“Landon, that’s genius!” they whispered. “They allowed me a few blunders when I first joined, so it’s not even like we’ll have to worry about what they’ll do to if you let them get away. As long as we pretend to be as evil as we possibly could be, they’ll never be the wiser!”

They paused, then looked him over.

“...Have you ever pretended to be evil?” they asked. It was a good idea in theory, but Landon was just too nice to act like a bad guy…

Landon Brassey

Landon’s bright smile at Magic’s praise quickly faded at their question, and he faltered, reaching up to rub at his neck.

“Um, no… not exactly.” he mumbled. “But, um, if it’s something I have to do I’ll try as hard as I can! And- maybe you could give me some tips? Do I just.. Act like a movie villain?”

He gave a nervous chuckle at this, only partly joking. In truth, at first he was uncomfortable with the thought of pretending to be evil, especially considering what he’d just learned about himself, but now he was just scared that he wasn’t capable enough- that he’d blow their cover.

Ha. That would be just like him- to screw up a plan in which he was supposed to be screwing up anyway.

“It depends on the movie,” Magic said after thinking for a minute. “Most of the time, I just act like myself. I just add in a nonexistent hatred for most magical things, and I’m all set. So I guess be you, but pretend that you’re racist instead?"

Landon Brassey

"Okay. Racist. Got it." He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

A little idea was growing on him, and though it twisted in his stomach painfully, he figured that maybe he should act like he thought the real him did. Method-acting, in a way.

He needed to do the best he could, both so that he and Magic's cover wouldn't be blown and so that the poor soul who they were targeting had a chance to escape.

They sent a worried glance in Landon's direction as they watched the door, knowing just how hard this had to be for him. They needed to talk about it with him. Even though Landon was convinced he had been evil before he lost his memories, Magic wasn't sure they believed that. How could someone like Landon be a cruel and heartless person? It just didn't make sense.

But if Landon thought he had been evil before, the thought of acting evil now must have been torture for him.

They opened their mouth to say something, but then they heard a knock as Loki returned with a pair of shoes.

"I got you a pair of sneakers," he said as Magic opened the door, awkwardly holding it out in Landon's direction as his face turned an interesting shade of red. "Since sneakers are good for moving around in..."

Landon Brassey

Landon composed himself a little as the door opened, and sent a grateful, if not strained smile toward Loki. He took the shoes and wasted no time in bending over to slip them on.

"Thank you. These will be perfect." He stood and wiggled his toes in them. They were only slightly too big, but nothing that would be noticable.

"Alright." He let out a little breath and mustered some professionalism, pushing down his unease. "Where are we going?"

Loki pulled out his phone and looked at the text he had received. "It looks like we're going after a witch," he said.

Magic raised an eyebrow. "Another one?"

"There's a lot of witches," Loki said, his reply defensive. "I wonder what she did to get the organization's attention. She must be a pretty good witch - or she's confident at what she does."

Magic pulled out their own phone and looked the message over, tilting it in Landon's direction so their friend could get a good look at it, too. "It looks like she'll have some protection of some kind," they commented. "It doesn't specify what, but it says that some powerful visitors are supposed to be at her house at some point today."

The phone was returned to their pocket. Loki mirrored the action.

"So if we hurry," Loki said, "we can beat them there, and avoid Celeste showing up."

He grinned.

"Sounds like a victory to me," he said.

Landon Brassey

Landon nodded slowly, a gaurded look on his face.

"Um. Powerful visitors. I get your drift. More to round up?" He brought it up hesitantly, very much unsure of himself and his internal dilemma.

This was turning out to be more people that he had to accidentally let get away than he thought.