On Repeat || The Promised Neverland (Ray x Emma)

The Talk

Notes:

So, it's gonna be a different kind of spice this chapter :3 Let's call it a "Norman-likes-to-torment-everyone" spice xD I meant to fit another dream or two in this chapter, but I ended up having too much fun with the plot, so... oops!

Also, mad kudos to the several fic writers I've been seeing around the tag recently who introduced me to the idea of Mama's trashy top-shelf romance novels being a thing! I love it — absolutely had to include it.

I love scheming Norman vs chaotic Ray, but also low-key manipulative Norman vs trusting Emma is my new toxic vice >:D

Was super busy this week so forgive me for any inconsistencies/the speedily written mess that is this chapter. Enjoy!

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The next few days were torture for the whole full score trio.

For starters, Ray ended up going to sleep paranoid each night, fearing that his now recurrent dreams featuring sultry Emmas would be further discovered by the others. His dirty laundry was getting suspiciously out of hand, his appetite was dwindling, and his reading comprehension could only be considered foggy at best. He knew he was getting close to succeeding with his electro-magnetic tracking device nullifier, but was still getting spotty results during testing. Not to mention, he'd nearly zapped a burn mark onto the library table in the wee hours of the morning and felt shaken by the unprecedented scale of his carelessness in that moment. Hey shit for brains, get it together or you're gonna kill everyone! It was taking all he had to maintain the minimum viable steps of his plan, not to mention he was at the point where he needed to prepare to frame Don as the spy...

As for Emma, her test scores had suddenly dropped for 3 straight days in a row. Admittedly, it was only by a point or two, but still it was obvious to everyone that something was up. She wasn't about to let anyone find out why, but she had pestered Gilda about the whereabouts of all those "love stories" she'd once gushed about during their late night talks in days past; talks Emma now wished she'd actually paid attention to. Breaking the rules and sneaking out a tome or two from a top shelf in Mom's study, hiding them under the bathroom cupboard, and devouring them in the middle of the night was probably to blame for her dipping mental acuity. But she HAD to find a reference for the turmoil she was feeling... and maybe an answer to whatever the heck she'd seen Ray overcome with in the library that night. I have to find out or I'm gonna go crazy!

Norman, ever the calm, cool, and collected one, was actually worried the most out of the three, although no one else would have been able to notice. Not only did it look like his two best friends had effectively gone off the deep end the last few days, but he was also getting the sense that despite that fact, things were going a little too smoothly. Smoothly in a way that reeked of treason and confirmed their recent suspicions about there being a spy. And if his intuition served him correctly, it was going to end up as both the best and worst case scenario at the same time. He was dreading it, but it was going to be up to him — he was going to have to have a talk. With each of them.

Norman's first target was Emma. Mainly because he knew he could crack her like a walnut in about 2 minutes, but also because she'd been neglecting the mission and he needed to know why. He hated himself for suspecting her (even if it was only a little), but if Emma was also in on it with the traitor, that was a wild card he needed extra time to deal with. But... he thought, relaxing with a little grin... if I can prove that the awkward blushing and dark circles under her eyes are about what I *actually* think they're about, I can definitely use it to smack Ray back into line with!