Answers to Keep
Oh, the things insomnia let you plan on your third day of being in Japan. The things staying home let you do.
John and Kano sat grinning, sandwiched in a sea of the exact same person. They were two of many in a bucktoothed mob, focusing on Con Air's climax and not the kitchen covered in popcorn. They were a pair in a blue hoodie flood that filled the living room and halls around it, made of…How many doppelgangers, again? About sixteen including Kano, maybe? John lost count about an hour ago. Did he ever know how many selves there'd be, even while planning this prank on a cool nighttime city walk at three in the morning? Perhaps he did. Perhaps not. Perhaps it'd be better to just watch Con Air and stop thinking about it.
They heard chatter burble from below the windows, popping at the walls behind them. A rhythm of footsteps with no rests in between played beneath the audio on the TV. Plastic, shuffling plastic and keys that just wouldn't fit in the locks. John and Kano could feel the excitement in their veins.
The handle on the door turned downwards, revealing rainbows of hoodies and heights. "We're home!" sang the same old call – until it cut off. The rest of the Beta kids and Mekakushi Dan scanned unpopped kernels, a crowd on the couch, an upturned kitchen. They looked up, looked down. This was not the base when they left it for a shopping trip and a couple of missions.
No one wanted to say anything.
Time and space stopped moving, and even when the trickster and deceiver returned the call with "Welcome home!" all words fell on deaf ears. Kido's eyes were narrowed in barely concealed rage. The Betas and Shintaro had faces of tired dread, as in why-didn't-we-see-this-coming. Everyone else was painted with upshot eyebrows and dropped jaws, little nuances that didn't know what they wanted to be in reaction to all those Johns in front of them. But for all the different expressions in eyes and on faces, everyone knew in their silence that this was not normal. There were not supposed to be this many Johns in one apartment, or at all. Not normal.
The dialogue and soundtrack flowed on in the TV screen, until Kido swiped the remote from on the couch and paused the movie. "Whatever you guys were planning here," she shouted," it's over now and you're never doing it again. Now, which one of you is Kano? Reveal yourself!" The commander put up a fist. All but one moved.
The remaining Johns watched the deceiver stunned and sprawled out on the couch, blinking out of existence without any warning needed. The one trickster who truly belonged to the current moment, slumped over on the floor of his and his friends' room, snapped back to the waking present. He heard Kido shout something about this being against the rules from behind the muffled walls. He also heard an uncomfortable silence that hung in the air, and then footsteps of everyone disbanding.
Operation Johnference was over.
-midnightDeceiver [MD] began pestering ghostyTrickster [GT]-
MD: hey~!
GT: kano?
GT: you do not need to pester me, you know.
GT: we're staying in the same building together!
MD: that may be true, but...
MD: you see, I'm not allowed to be anywhere near you right now~
GT: that would explain it!
GT: so, about that prank.
GT: we did pretty good.
MD: no kidding~!
MD: and you doubted me about how well I could prank.
GT: but not anymore!
MD: and that's for sure, right?
GT: of course it is for sure!
GT: i am not a dirty liar like you are, kano.
MD: that's true~
MD: aah~, that was fun.
MD: guess you're never too old to play jokes on people~!
GT: hehe, true.
GT: i mean, my nanna back at home is a prankster!
GT: i don't know why we didn't film this.
GT: she would have loved to see it!
MD: eh?!
MD: you actually have someone who'd be proud to see you play pranks, John?
MD: that's really lucky~!
MD: I can't imagine anyone ever feeling that way whenever I do this kind of thing~
MD: oh~?
MD: aah, Kido found me! her face looks so scary~
MD: she must know we're talking!
GT: haha, time for you to die.
GT: see you later!
-ghostyTrickster [GT] ceased pestering midnightDeceiver [MD]-
Nanna would have loved to see the Johnference, wouldn't she? The thought lingered in John's head from beyond the sounds of smacks and pained grunts. Who else should have seen that prank that didn't? Someone else in his family, maybe, like…
Though he would definitely be proud, it'd be best if that question was left unanswered.