Alright, welllcommmeee back!

This isn't a sequel to anything. Pretend none of the other stories ever happened! :)

Another slash, potentially. So be warned. Not sure if it'll be Mac/Viggo or not, or Mac/Kaori, or what, so it might be… might not be… if I know, I'm not telling :P

Just a quick btw, everyone's ages are a little mixed up, because I wanted it that way :)

That being said, I hope you enjoy!!!

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The back-and-forth ranting had always been normal. As Mac tore down the slopes, he would yell taunts over his shoulder at whoever was back there, and for that last race, it had been Viggo close to the entire time. The two had kept it up for most of every race, that one in particular. But, staring out the plane window, Mac was unable to recall even a single conversation they'd had besides those exchanges of hostilities, where the icy wind took their yells and tossed them around the empty forest for no one else to hear. But they'd never really talked beside that. And he wasn't exactly sure how he'd arrived at such a thought. Mac reinforced his attempt to screen it out, turning up his mp3 player's volume again. The icy look from the business man next to him told Mac that his music wasn't appreciated, and he reluctantly turned it back down. Outside was no distraction either. The foggy darkness just served to make the pane show his own reflection. He ran a hand through his brown hair, vanity running away with him for a moment as he realized with faint irritation that the faint reddish and blondish tint his genes graced him with wasn't visible in anything but sunlight. Mac sighed softly. I definitely shouldn't have said that. It was at least the five-hundredth-and-sixty-seventh time he'd decided that. He'd been obsessing over it since the moment he'd said it. Just… fuck it, he thought, also for the four-hundred-and-sixty-seventh time. Viggo, he was sure, would have forgotten it by now. He had to have. Mac wound a loose thread from his hoodie's sleeve around his finger, biting his lip. He had to have forgotten. He can't remember. That would suck way too majorly. Mac tried to remove the Swede from his thoughts, turning back to the window. And it was so damn memorable too, he recalled sulkily, since I ran into the finish sign right afterwards.

Allegra and Griff were sitting at a table before the café. Griff was seeing how far back he could tip his chair without falling, and Allegra was seeing if staring at him would make him so nervous he'd fall.

"Allegra, you're freaking me out!" Griff whined, curling his fingers around the edge of the table to hold against falling back. Allegra smirked and kept staring, resting her chin in her hand. "Allegra!" Another smirk, and the stare intensified. She was sure to think menacing thoughts, convinced it would push him over from all the negative energy. "Allegra!" Griff's fingers slipped against the tile tabletop, and he hit the ground. Allegra leaned over, nearly getting kicked in the face by his kicking. "Ow…" Griff righted his chair and sat back down, not even noticing that quite a few people were staring at him.

"Can't I leave you two alone for two minutes without you causing chaos?" Elise pulled out a chair and sat down. As usual, the model-material blonde wore discreetly designer clothing, and when next to Allegra, was quite a contrast, as Allegra was in cargo pants and a shirt that showed her midriff, with long, fishnet-like sleeves. Allegra arched an eyebrow, giving Elise a look.

"Did'ya ever think that chaos just follows you? I mean, just as you come back, stupid kid here decides to smash into the floor-"

"Shut it."

"Where'd you even go? Waltz off to find some stud model to seduce?" Allegra sneered, and Elise glowered at her, eyes like the coldest sort of ice.

"Before this tour is over, I swear I'll kill you." Allegra wasn't even fazed. To demonstrate this, she yawned, playing with the ends of her braids.

"Nice of you. So? Where were you, then? Slashing taxi tires?"

"That sounds more like something you'd do. I was just looking for the others." This got her only a blank look from both the other two.

"The… others." Allegra repeated. Griff's eyes widened.

"You mean… the others?" he asked in a hushed voice. "Like… we're really not alone?" He got only puzzled looks in return. Griff saw their lack of response and took it as confirmation. "ALIENS!" he screamed, leaping out of his chair and starting to sprint away. People turned in their seats to stare at the screaming and running boy.

"Hold up there" Elise reached out and yanked him back by his hood. Griff stumbled back.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Allegra added. Griff looked between them wildly, brown eyes reflecting his honest shock.

"Aliens! Elise said that the 'others' are here! Alieeennnssss!"

"Griff" Elise said firmly, snapping his hood down so he fell back into his chair, "I mean the others. You know. Kaori, Viggo and Zoe.

"Oh." Griff's shoulders slumped. "Those others…"

"Yeah. They were all coming with us to meet Mac."

"Where'd they go?" Allegra asked.

"I don't know." Griff's eyes widened at Elise's words, and she held up a hand as he opened his mouth, eyes widening again, "But I'm sure that they were not abducted by aliens."

"So where are they? Now that you mention them, yeah, they were here for like, half an hour!"

"I'm surprised you forgot" Elise rolled her eyes. "Seeing as you took the opportunity to try and lock Zoe in the men's bathroom."

"Well, who else could I do it to?" Allegra made a face at her, "Viggo probably would have enjoyed getting thrown into the ladies' room, the stupid womanizer."

"Right" Elise raised her gaze to the ceiling, "he's a womanizer, Zoe's a secret serial killer, and Brodi's the embodiment of wheatgrass, right?"

"Oh, and you're the devil's mistress" Allegra added, not understanding her sarcasm. Elise pursed her lips. "So where are they, anyways?"

"Ditched, most likely."

"Oh, yeah" Griff looked up. "I forgot, but I remember now. I'd said 'I wonder when Mac's plane is coming' and then they kinda got all weird and ditched. Viggo was going to drive, but Zoe took the keys and hit him in the head, so he started whining and then Kaori tripped him by mistake and he ran into a wall, so she started saying she was so sorry about a million times, and then Kaori saw this little shop and wanted to go in, but Zoe said no, and-"

"Maybe they went to the ER" Allegra suggested. "I mean, Viggo could have gotten a concussion, right? Zoe hits damn hard! Not as hard as me, of course, but you know-"

"No, they were leaving when that happened" Griff started leaning back in his chair again; Elise reached out for the back of his chair, and slammed it back onto its four legs.

"Why?" Allegra asked vaguely, but already half knew the answer. "I mean, I know why Kaori would ditch, but why the other two?"

"Most likely, Moby called Zoe and invited her to do something, and Viggo just plain got bored" Elise rolled her eyes, swiping Allegra's cup of iced tea from in front of her and taking a sip. "Typical, really. Shoulda asked whose plane it was before they came. Oh, and you really need to branch out more. Try new flavors besides just lemon iced tea" Allegra snatched her iced tea back, making a face at Elise.

"Or maybe he's not just a womanizer, he's also secretly helping with the plans for a time machine, and they had an emergency meeting because people suddenly started coming out of the past, so-" Allegra began, but Elise silenced her with a look. "It was just an idea…" Allegra muttered, pouting. "I like lemon iced tea. That's not closed-minded, not like you are. And you never know, he could be a time-machine maker, so he can go in the past and be a womanizer then, too. You're so closed-minded."

"It's called not being crazy!"

"OW!" Griff yelped as he hit the ground again. The two girls just sighed.

Even though he'd spent over six hours convincing himself that it didn't matter and that it was already forgotten, Mac was still on edge as he weaved his way through the airport, hoping the snow gods- they'd been nice to him so far, he figured, so why not now?- that he'd have some sort of warning before meeting him again, and that when he did-

"MAC!"

"Aiiiieeee!" Mac's knees buckled from the sudden added weight as someone tackled him from behind. He flung out his arms to catch himself, catching hold of the arm of one of the seats in the terminal. He clung to it for dear life, as whoever had attacked him fell and somersaulted away from him… taking his baggy jeans with them. "Oh. My. Fucking. God. GRIFF!" He howled, glaring over his shoulder at the small boy sitting on the floor, who had Mac's jeans in hand. People walking by stared, reminding Mac that not only was he only clad in boxers where he'd once had jeans, but he was also in the middle of a busy terminal. Mac curled up closer to the chair, feeling himself blush dark scarlet.

"Oops. My mistake" Griff looked at him placidly. For all his response- or lack thereof- he may have simply made a spelling mistake, not rendered Mac the object of all desperately undesired attention in the middle of an airport.

"Give me those!" He snatched back his jeans, but Griff hardly even noticed his outrage, starting to go through Mac's backpack.

"I've been dying for you to get here! I got to level sixty four and I'm stuck, and- ooh there's a buckle in your backpack, that's for a skateboard, huh, but you can't even skateboard because you're bad with wheels I remember that, because you fell when you tried Moby's skateboard, and ooh I found your game guide, can I read it, can I, please, please, please, can I? And ooh-" Mac ignored the twelve-year-old as he yanked his jeans back on, wishing desperately he hadn't forgotten a belt that morning.

"Oh, my God…" girls' hysterical laughter was heard, and Mac blushed even harder. Elise and Allegra were both laughing themselves breathless. "Nice entrance, Mac" Elise gasped out. "Very… memorable."

"I so wish I'd had a camera" Allegra convulsed into laughter.

"Shut up." Mac got to his feet, wish becoming a desperate plea to not be blushing so much. He stormed off past the giggling blonde and snickering brunette, trying to hold onto his last shred of dignity. Don't look back. Pretend you weren't just stripped of your damn pants in the middle of the airport. Auuugghhh…it's hopeless!

"Genius, the baggage claim is the other way!" Elise sang out. Mac felt himself turn scarlet. "To your left."

"I know that" he announced. Several people looked over their shoulders to stare at him. Mac turned and walked away.

"Your… other… left…" Allegra struggled to speak between laughing. Mac clenched his teeth and tried again. Something was swung at his head, though, and he stumbled.

"Forgot your bag!"

"That's it" He growled, "I'm goin' back home!" He snatched up his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder and nearly knocking himself off balance, and stalking off back in the direction he'd come.

"Wrong way, Mac!"

"Damn everything!" Mac stood there until they came over and directed him towards the escalator. "I could have found my way to the lodge by myself, you know" Mac grumbled, pushing past people in order to keep up with the girls and distance himself from the babbling Griff.

"You had a bigger welcoming party, but half ditched" Allegra said cheerfully, leading the way through the crowd. "Guess you've got that effect on people."

"Shut up. Who ditched me? I'm gonna get 'em later!"

"Zoe, Viggo and-" Elise stopped, though, and reconsidered.

"Kaori" Griff filled in for her, completely oblivious. Allegra groaned and Elise rolled her eyes. Mac hadn't been listening, though. He'd stopped paying attention after the second name.

By the time they arrived at the lodge, Mac was thoroughly flustered, Griff had yet to take a breath from his constant babble, and the girls couldn't have gotten better entertainment anywhere else. Mac hauled his bags out of the car, resolving to make them far more easy to identify- he'd picked up the wrong luggage multiple times, which had proved to be just endlessly amusing for the girls- and looked up at the lodge. It was two stories high, with the typical mountain-rugged appearance, snow surrounding it, windows fogged up, four-wheel-drives parked in front. Elise and Allegra both ran to be the first inside, doubtlessly to tell everyone about the airport. Mac sighed and slammed the topgate down. At least I'm here, was his reassuring thought.

Viggo, meanwhile, was lying across the leather armchair, watching the scenes around him with interest. The main room of the lodge had black leather furniture, a widescreen TV mounted above the fireplace, and a bay window overlooked the forest surrounding the lodge. Moby and Psymon were stealing the TV remote back and forth, Kaori was curled up in the corner of the couch reading, and Zoe was talking to Brodi. Viggo, Kaori and Zoe had been at the airport an hour previously, but each had found their own reason to leave. Zoe, Viggo knew, had just gotten bored, and Kaori must have had her own reason, and Viggo himself did too. The front door flew open and Allegra jumped through, Elise just behind her.

"Mac's here, and Griff tackled him in the airport and-" Allegra began to announce, but Elise then stepped up.

"And yanked off Mac's ridiculously jeans by accident-"

"Leaving him without pants in the middle of the airport!" Allegra finished with a bright smile. The other boarders stared at her.

"Seriously?" Moby let Psymon snatch the remote and looked between the two. Viggo decided to pay attention, due to the mention of Mac. Mac's last words had been echoing around in his mind ever since the past winter.

"You're sayin' he was in the middle of the terminal wearing only boxers?" Viggo couldn't hide a smirk, especially since Mac walked in exactly as he said it. Mac flushed deep scarlet and turned to glare at the two girls.

"You so didn't tell them!" Their giggling fits confirmed that they had done exactly that. Whatever response Mac may have had was cut off when the director of the tour walked in from the kitchen, where he'd been making a phone call.

"Is everyone here?" he looked around, counting people, and waited until Griff ran in from outside. "Great. Room assignments are here. No complaints this time" he sent a meaningful look at Psymon. "No mysteriously disappearing beds, either." The director handed the list to Elise, rattled off the number of his cell again and said that it was also taped to the refrigerator as he knew no one was listening to him at the moment, and took off.

"I'm with you" Elise said to Allegra, rolling her eyes. "In room one. Griff's with Brodi in room two. Kaori and Zoe are in three."

"Thank God" Zoe said, getting to her feet, "Cuz you, Elise, are a total nightmare of a roommate."

"Right, because I really enjoyed getting woken up every morning at three-"

"It was only once" Moby interrupted, "and we were going to see a movie, and you were invited, but-"

"But I've got better stuff to do at three AM. Like sleep." Elise looked back to the list. "Moby and Psymon in four."

"So, uh, what was the dude sayin' about disappearing beds?" Moby asked as Psymon started for the stairs. Psymon just smirked. "Hey, if I get locked out of my room or whatever, someone better let me bunk with them." He ran up the stairs after Psymon, yelling. "Mate, you better not do anything to that lock, you hear me?!"

"Mac and Viggo in five. " Mac grabbed the list from her to confirm it for himself. Yes, their names were there. Viggo breezed by, shooting him a smirk. For a moment, Mac thought that maybe Viggo wouldn't remember-

"Catch you upstairs" there was precise word choice that Mac instantly noticed. Mac scowled, thoughts dark. Fuck. He remembers.

He grabbed his stuff and tramped upstairs. Down the hallway, rooms one, three and five were on the right, two and four on the left, followed by two bathrooms, which several of the girls beat the guys to, as that was where the best mirrors were. Mac forced himself to open the door to room five. The room was fairly large, with a long window along one wall. One of the beds was next to it, the other not even a foot away from it, and at the other end of the room were two dressers and one closet. He couldn't see Viggo, but when he heard a crash from the closet, he assumed that Viggo was currently losing a fight with the clothes hangers. Viggo looked out when he heard the door close.

"Which bed d'you want?"

"Uh… don't care." Mac let his duffle bag fall to the floor, sliding his backpack from his shoulder. Viggo threw his backpack across the room, where it bounced onto the bed farther from the window.

"That one's mine, then." Mac just nodded. Silence ensued. Viggo hardly noticed, still trying to untangle the clothes hangers. Mac wandered over to the window. "You comin' downtown?" Viggo gave up on the hangers, grabbing a jacket out of his duffle bag and pulling it on. Mac just looked at him in confusion. "Everyone's goin' out, cuz there's nothing to do around here" Viggo pulled open the door to the hallway, "catch ya downstairs." The door closed. Mac kicked his backpack, frowning at Viggo's so deliberate wording. Why does he have to remember?

……………

Ooooh, mystery elements! :)

I might not be able to update verrryyy soon, school's intense right now, and I'd like to finish my other story, but I was just really excited about this one and wanted to post it!
Review, pleeaaasssseeee! I'll soooo love you for it! And you'll get good karma! So click the button and enjoy your deserved dose of fantastic karma!

Love, love, love!

Wild-sunshine