liu-yu

[liu-yu]

Yu almost managed a chuckle, a slow roll of his eyes. "Funnily enough, you're the second person to say that to me this week." He didn't think he was that hilarious, it was mostly just the sarcasm instead of making any actual funny comments. Sarcasm and being funny were two entirely different things, not to be confused. Though he wasn't going to be having any argument about it, especially not when he was too busy feeling like absolutely garbage.

"We're you just looking for an excuse to touch my forehead?" He teased lightly, leaning back a little in his seat to get somewhat comfortable. "But sure, you have permission to feel my forehead." He knew it was just to take his temperature, as apparently it wasn't cold in here. Which Yu could have figured for himself as he was shivering everywhere even after he had jacked up the temperature in his own apartment. "I am drinking a lot," he also had to point out, "I've also just been sleeping a lot."

He did have to wince a little as it was pointed out it had been a hot minute since they had caught up. That was probably mostly his fault for being a hermit half the time. "Coursework for my masters, mostly," he offered with a small shrug, "It's nothing exciting."

“Ha ha. You’re a comedian.” Mickey chuckled dryly. The two had never been huge jokesters with each other. While Yu seemed to have a dry sense of humor, Mickey had stayed consistently anxious that if he had ever said the wrong thing or made the wrong joke, any progress the two had made to actually become friendly would be ruined immediately. It had kept him mostly tame around Yu. Though he supposed after a while of not seeing each other and the odd reason for a reunion had thrown Mickey off of his game. 

Mickey noticed the shiver. A cold chill was too broad of a symptom for Mickey to use the thing as some epiphany, but he still wanted to get a closer look. “Can I feel your forehead? Could be a fever. And I keep my apartment had a perfectly respectable temperature.” Was twenty degrees celsius a normal temperature? Mickey always felt like he was able to pass out from heat exhaustion. “You need to drink more water. If you’re dehydrated, that's only going to make the sickness last longer.”

There was too much medical talk. Sure, that was what Yu was here for after all. But that didn’t mean the two couldn’t distract themselves by trying to catch up. “So uh- what have you been up to recently anyways? It’s been a minute since I’ve heard from you.”

[liu-yu]

thomas-reyes​:

Thomas_Reyes: Have you seen my wife? Of course you have. Anyhow, I think I’ve got a pretty good clue.

Thomas_Reyes: Yeah, well I always had a problem with that. I either whole ass it or don’t ass it at all.

Oh he took things seriously, alright? Sure enough, he made a point of giving the impression of never giving two shits about anything or anyone but that was just impossible to him. Everything mattered and he could be obnoxious just because he did care about something and he didn’t like said something to be disrespected.

Thomas_Reyes: I don’t have anything else to do right now. Waiting for the editor to come by and give me the ok on your story.

Thomas_Reyes: I didn’t ask for your biography, hermano.  You’re a nerd, I’m a nerd, and we both don’t give two shits about “personal life”. This being said, I’d appreciate if you didn’t peak into my computer.

He could get into every computer at the Sun, that was alright, but he didn’t like the idea of someone probing into his private life. Thomas was fairly certain that the guy would refuse a steady job like that. Maybe he already had one, because Thomas doubted this paid a lot.

Thomas_Reyes: I don’t know, what did he say?

Thomas_Reyes: You wouldn’t want to work for someone, would you? Cause I know people who could use your skills and pay well for them.

He didn’t mean the Sun, but he could see Javier needing completely secure communications within associates. Of course the other didn’t need to know this was what he meant. He was happy to keep it that way.

Ph4ros: Again, debatable :/ Ph4ros: You just need to learn how to ass in moderation

Yu liked to think he was quite good at it himself. There was no point in putting in 100% all of the time, and at other times, you needed to do better than putting in absolutely no effort into things at all. Then again, most of the time he generally didn’t bother putting his full effort into things. There was barely anything he needed to put full effort into in the first place. These days the hacking was just getting too easy and even his coursework wasn’t that hard to keep up with. 

Ph4ros: Could always start writing it anyway. Give you something to do instead of writing to me. 

Ph4ros: Who’s to say I haven’t already taken a peek? You think I don’t check out who I work with beforehand? 

Of course he had done his homework before reaching out to anyone. You had to be careful in this business. Passing information over to the wrong people could lead to so some pretty dicey situations. There were certainly some journalists out there who had already been bought off and wouldn’t hesitate to happily hand over the information and Yu right to the authorities. And while they might be already looking for his social media accounts, he’d rather avoid the extra hassle of having them right on his ass. 

Ph4ros: Where’s my tractor? Ph4ros: Depends what kind of work you had in mind. 

Price didn’t matter, he didn’t really need the money and was quite fine. But he supposed it could be interesting, but it really came down to what ‘work’ he would be doing, and who he would be doing it for. 

[liu-yu]

lydiacaine:

“Oh, it’s totally fine! Makes me feel like I’m actually doing something, and not just taking advantage of your kindness and willingness to bring food.” Another nod, “chips are excellent. There’s very few, if any, ways that you can cook up a potato and have it not be wonderful.” Lydia took a quick sip of her water before taking one of the wrapped packages of chips and quickly unwrapping it, biting into one of the chips. “Yes, this is one thousand percent just what I needed.” She grinned.

“I’m glad you’ve been good. I think that’s a good sort of way to be - I mean, obviously, I can’t imagine why anyone would wish for anyone to be bad, but still.” She shook her head. “I’m good too - though maybe I could use more sleep, given my apparent recently acquired inability to make cohesive sentences.” Lydia let a light laugh escape her lips. “It’s busy, always, but I like the work - the thrill of finding answers, and also of helping others while I do so.” She took another bite of the chip, “but a break is also extremely welcome.”

.

He chuckled just a little at her words, quickly getting to work on unwrapping his own bundle of chips. Honestly, he hadn't even noticed how hungry he was until he had sat down and started waiting for her to arrive. "I can think of a couple of ways potatoes could be cooked so horribly wrong," but he supposed she was mostly right, there were few ways you could mess up a good potato. And chips was exactly what he needed right now. And sure, it wasn't exactly the healthiest option to have for lunch, but Yu hardly cared much about that. Someone else could complain about his diet, it most certainly wasn't going to be himself.

Biting in a chip was enough to make him start smiling, settling back in his seat as he started rummaging for all the small crispy chips. Some people preferred the nice and fat ones, but he much preferred the small little crunchy bits. "You been working on anything interesting recently?" He decided to ask, wanting to push the conversation forward towards the whole reason he had come up with this meeting in the first place. "What's the next big scoop for Lydia Caine?"

[liu-yu]

[liu-yu]

"Really? I thought I was better at hiding my concern." He didn't really know why he was bothering to continue to play along with this little bit anymore. It was almost a kneejerk reaction to keep up with sarcasm when it was being served. And maybe that made him a bit of an asshole about it, but hey, that was just who he was. He was not someone who could let sarcasm go so easily. (Though maybe he should try when Mickey was trying to nice and help) Rubbing the back of his neck for just a moment, Yu sighed, reaching for the water to take another sip of it. Though almost instantly a shiver ran down his spine and he slumped back in his chair, rubbing one arm as if that was going to help. Why was it so damn cold in here? "Sleeping, mostly." He didn't really have much energy to actually get out of bed in the morning. "Thankfully my course is mostly online learning so I can do it all from home. Haven't actually left the house in days."

“Yeah sure, you seem very concerned about it.” It didn’t really matter at the end of the day. It wasn’t like Mickey was about to pull out a scalpel and start operating on Yu. There wasn’t anything illegal about listening to some symptoms and giving advice. It wasn’t even like Mickey was trying to diagnose his friend with anything. This was all perfectly fine and legitimate.

So why did Mickey feel so stressed out? Well, most likely because he didn’t feel prepared to make any actual medical calls without a real doctor present. No matter how many exams he aced or compliments he got from the medical staff, confidence wasn’t something that sprouted overnight apparently. “Could just be a stomach virus too. They usually only last a couple days, but sometimes stick around for a week or so.” Mickey sighed, but continued to study Yu as if watching him would bring some epiphany to mind. “What have you been doing while sick? Getting plenty of rest? Drinking plenty of fluids?”

[liu-yu]

thomas-reyes​:

Thomas_Reyes: The way you misinterpreted every single word I just said. Thomas_Reyes: Anytime I agreed to writing a beautiful article for you. I could half ass it and they’d post it. I put in some effort. 🙃

It wasn’t in his habit to explain himself but it also wasn’t in his habit to not be one step ahead of his interlocutor either. Not knowing was among the worst things of all for Thomas and his controlling, detail obsessed brain, but it was a lot better than being found out by someone who so very clearly knew how to get places. He could let his patience stretch a bit more for this guy. You didn’t want to upset someone who could do whatever they wanted in a matter of a few clicks.

Thomas_Reyes: Fuck off. Kindly. Thomas_Reyes: And do what? There’s not much I can do with a journalism degree.

Now that was not entirely true, but Thomas wasn’t about to start talking about the manuscript and short stories he wrote on his free time. Isabella could read those, or rather some of those. He knew she wouldn’t sugar coat her review if it ended up being absolute rubbish.

Thomas_Reyes:  Hilarious? That’s what they say about Ross Matthews and he’s… definitely not funny.

Thomas_Reyes: But go on, give us your best joke.

Ph4ros: See, now you and I have very different ideas what the word ‘beautiful’ means. Ph4ros: You realize you work for The Sun? I think their company motto is ‘just half-ass it’

At this point, Yu was more of less losing track of the whole point of this conversation. He had gotten in contact with new info, that should have probably been the end of it. But hey, he supposed at least it was kind of an amusing conversation. And Yu would say that he tended to take small pleasure in pushing people’s buttons and annoying them to the point they very much weren’t in a good mood about it. And usually no one fought back through a computer screen. But, if they did, they didn’t come out on top by the end of it. 

Ph4ros: You can always stop responding to my messages if you’re that grumpy about it Ph4ros: I don’t know, I’m not a journalism degree expert. Cyber security or computer programming, however, I could help you with.. 

Companies were always looking for competent computer programmers and people to deal with their online security. Yu wasn’t exactly worried that he would never find a use for his degree. It was not like he was doing something useless with his time like the thousands of people taking liberal art degrees. 

Ph4ros: See, my talent is not in joke telling. But fine.  Ph4ros: What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor? 

[liu-yu]

"Yeah. Same page. Very important." He didn't really think it was incredibly important in the slightest. It should have been obvious from that start that he was well aware of the fact Mickey was not a trained doctor yet. Which should have then made it obvious that Yu didn't actually care either way or he wouldn't be here in the first place. He had just come here to find out of it was at all serious of if he was going to be fine a couple of days from now. Anything to avoid actually having to go to a doctors office.

"If it is food poisoning I don't know what I could have eaten to even get that." He had only eaten the usual stuff, and he was pretty sure that everything was still in date when he had cooked it. He only tended to buy stuff the day he was going to eat it in the first place. Yu was just not one for doing large shopping trips. "The headache comes and goes. It's not too bad right now, but sometimes it hurts to keep my eyes open."

.

As expected, Yu didn’t seem to care that Mickey wasn’t actually a doctor. “Perfect. Just as long as we’re on the same page.” Medical student was certainly not the same thing, but arguing the pedantics seemed moot at this point. Mickey certainly didn’t feel ready to have anyone refer to him as Doctor Hart. Just the thought made him scratch nervously at his neck. Could he break into hives based on hypothetical anxiety? A real doctor could probably answer that question. 

“Depends on how severe it is. Food poisoning can last for longer depending on what caused it. Especially if you end up dehydrated.” If Yu stayed sick much longer, the non-medical treatment options would only grow smaller and smaller. If it was some type of stomach infection the best method would be antibiotics. Short of stealing it from the hospital, Mickey had no way to obtain those. For obvious reasons, that wasn’t going to be an option that Mickey laid out to Yu. “How bad is the headache? A migraine could also cause symptoms like nausea.”

[liu-yu]

thomas-reyes​:

Thomas_Reyes: Not like that matters when they end up in your plate. Thomas_Reyes: Huh uh, and thanks aren’t? I show you I’m grateful in many ways.

Thomas knew that this didn’t fucking matter. He’d be his usual eloquent self and serve the Sun with quality prose. That MP was going down as soon as the Sun hit the stands tomorrow morning.

“Harold, get me the fucking editor in chief over here,” Harold was the intern, and he was an absolute jackass. Thomas couldn’t believe someone could have such a rotten empty head at the glorious age of 19. Chem trails, reptilians, and possibly flat earth too. God, did he fucking hate this kid.

Thomas_Reyes: I wouldn’t brag about that. It’s not hard to be a rat. Thomas_Reyes: I’d be worried if I cared about this job.

This wasn’t something he’d share with most folks. He had everyone convinced he was having the time of his life working for this thing. The paper was so bad it wasn’t worth wrapping your chippies in, but if you listened to him any time he opened his mouth, he took pride in digging his nose in the dirt like a truffle hunting pig and digging up the worst out of people.

Thomas_Reyes: Well fuck you too. Thomas_Reyes: Yeah, I’m not precisely a fun guy but neither are you. That’s why we get along, heh.

Ph4ros: Well one difference is I have no intention of eating pig looking MP’s. That’s illegal in most countries.  Ph4ros: Name one time you have ever shown you were grateful? 

He was picking holes in things just for fun at this point. The back and forth was somewhat interesting and he was having a bit of fun. For now, he supposed he could put the rest of his dumpster diving on hold. He had found enough, the MP wasn’t the only person he had dredged up some stuff about. There were a few more leads he could look into, but they weren’t as important right now. 

Popping another crisp in his mouth, Yu slouched back in his seat, shutting down the background windows for the time being. He wasn’t in the groove anymore, he’d get back all of it later on. Maybe a bit more before he went to sleep. 

Ph4ros: Wow sharing some deep stuff here Ph4ros: Ever thought about just not doing it?

He didn’t know why he was sharing life advice, but in his mind, if you didn’t like doing something then just don’t do it. There were plenty of jobs out there, especially in a place as large as London. Then again, there were also thousands more people to compete for said jobs. 

Ph4ros: I don’t know what you’re talking about Ph4ros: I’m actually pretty hilarious. 

[liu-yu]

Yu did smile just a little at the moral obligation to mention that he wasn't actually a doctor. "And I am morally obligated to tell you that yeah, I know and I don't care. Medical student, more or less the same thing." Minus years of training and hands on experience and the like. But hey, it was better than using WebMD to look up what was wrong with you. The only thing that website is good for was telling you that you're dying when you very clearly aren't. And Yu most certainly was not dying.

Even Mickey had to point that out as he came back with some water, Yu taking the cup with a smile and gratitude and taking a small sip. "Well yes, even I could tell I wasn't dying." Or, more like he had hoped it wasn't anything that may lead to his eventual death. He had so much to live for... or something like that.

"See, I thought it might be that. But isn't the flu and food poisoning just supposed to pass over a few days. It's been a few days and I still feel like I've been steamrolled by a truck or something."

.

Mickey still found it odd that Yu had showed up at his door so unexpectedly. Visits weren’t really like him, let alone surprise ones. Aside from seeing each other around campus every so often, the two had mainly stayed in touch through minimal text messaging. The downside to a friendship built by two anti-social people was the lack of motivation for either one to start a conversation. 

It wasn’t until Yu dropped his comment about his sickness that the purpose behind the visit made itself clear. Ah, that makes more sense. This was a doctor’s visit, not a social one. “Morally I think I’m obligated to tell you that I’m not a doctor for the record.” Not that that was going to dissuade Yu, who clearly knew that Mickey wasn’t a doctor yet. “But since I know you aren’t going to go to the hospital I’m glad that you at least thought of me.” He had never asked why Yu had such an aversion to the hospital, but he remembered it coming up at least once when they had been living together. 

Mickey left Yu on the couch while he went and grabbed a cup for water, listening to the symptoms as he did so. “I’m not saying that you’re on your deathbed or anything, but it definitely looks a little serious.” He circled back around to the living room to pass off the water to Yu before finding a seat of his own. “Just based on what you said I’d either think the flu or maybe some sort of food poisoning. Any diarrhea? You said you can’t keep anything down? That include fluids?”

[liu-yu]

thomas-reyes​:

Thomas_Reyes: Oh no, it’s mean to pigs. I shouldn’t compare them to these guys. Thomas_Reyes: You still haven’t said hello, by the way. Thomas_Reyes: Thanks.

Touchy, heh? Or maybe Thomas was rude. He’d often be told he was rude, because he couldn’t stay in place, didn’t seem to care for other people’s feelings or what they were telling him. Out of focus, he struggled with those aspects of life, and he wondered what would have become of him if it hadn’t been for his parents or being born in the upper middle class. He’d probably would have ended up right here, but with even less perspectives. His eyes strayed to the manuscript on his desktop. He needed to finish that, whenever he found the time. He’d written chapter after chapter in one afternoon and hadn’t reopened the word document in weeks. How often did this happen to him?

Maybe was this why he took a job here. He could have gotten a spot elsewhere, perhaps as a writer instead of a proper journalist. Thomas went to journalism school expecting to drop out, which perhaps wasn’t the best start to a career. It made sense that he didn’t try to search for a place elsewhere. Start low and climb the ladder, y’know? It was comforting, in a way. People expected him to write trash articles, and he did. Well written trash, but trash none the less. It was no pressure, and that allowed him to do that one problematic, terrible thing that kept him ticking.  The one thing he couldn’t tell his wife about, and the very thing he hoped Ph4ros would never figure out. Thomas_Reyes: You’re describing journalism. Congrats on your new label. Thomas_Reyes: What are you up to? Anything interesting?

Ph4ros: idk man, I’ve seen some pretty ugly pigs before Ph4ros: Hello’s are overrated anyway

He didn’t usually see the point in saying ‘hello’ or even ‘goodbye’. Just starting to talk usually announced your arrival in the first place. And it was not even like they were talking face-to-face, this was just messaging each other. Yu didn’t even really know the man the other side of the computer screen, or knew anything about him besides the fact he worked for probably the crappiest excuse for a newspaper Yu had ever read. But hey, people actually read it and just so long as the word got more viral that was all he really cared about. 

Ph4ros: I could probably do your job better than you could. And I never went to journalism school Ph4ros: Bet you’re worried now

Maybe he was being just a little bit cheeky about it, but that was all part of the fun. And besides, he never had any intention to take a job as a reporter anyway. He would much rather stick to his whole illegal vigilante thing. Being an official reporter would require following the law and crossing too much red tape. His usual hacking methods would most likely be frowned upon. Even if they were what got results and exposed people in the first place. 

Ph4ros: Talking to you. Wouldn’t really say that’s interesting, though.  Ph4ros: You can be pretty dull

[liu-yu]

lydiacane:

She believed in good deeds and helping others. In tandem with such beliefs, Lydia believed that if she was in a position where she could use privilege to aid someone else, she’d always do that. She’d been lucky enough to meet someone who she saw as very similar to her - someone who had inside scoop on any number of various things, and was willing to use that insider knowledge to help point her in beneficial directions for her research. 

So when their talks had turned to lunch meetings, Lydia found herself even more excited to see Yu - both for the knowledge that he provided, and for his company on the whole. She’d logged off of her computer, mentioned that she was running out for lunch - and that she’d be back soon - before making her way down to their usual bench quickly as she could.

She spotted Yu already there, and her smile brightened as she quickly moved toward him, sitting down next to him on the bench. “Nice to see you,” she handed him a water bottle. “In case you didn’t bring drinks - figured the BBC’s fancy water supply ought to go to some sort of use, and not just with everyone who makes tons of money.” She paused, “how’ve you been?”

.

Yu instantly perked up the moment he noticed Lydia approaching, a warm smile on his face as he scooted over just a little to make enough room for the both of them to sit comfortably. He moved the bag he had brought between the two of them, already pulling it open just a little to make it easier to pull everything out. He really hadn't noticed how hungry he was until he got a good waft of the contents. He was trying to ignore the way his stomach was starting to rumble quite loudly.

"You know what? I had quite forgotten to get drinks. Next time I'll remember to buy a soda," he chuckled, accepting the bottled water. "I hope you don't mind chips. There is this really great chippy around the corner I've stopped in at a few times now." It was a lot better than the crappy one around the corner from his flat. If he wanted a decent sausage and chips he had to walk out of his way for it.

Bundling two small wrapped up piles of chips, he smiled, holding one of them out to his lunch buddy. "I've been good," it wasn't a lie. Same old, same old, really. "How about yourself? Hope they're not working you to death in there."

[liu-yu]

with @lydiacaine

The trip to the BBC was a journey that Yu was starting to take more often these days and always around lunchtime. Ever since he had happened to bump into Lydia and further learning that she was a researcher and assistant at said broadcasting outlet, he had made rather a point of getting on her good side. It was always useful to have an 'in' in these sorts of situations. And while he would say he cared about her marginally, yeah, he was mainly just using her for her job. But she didn't have to know that.

He'd already set up his little breadcrumb trail online before heading to their lunch date. A couple of hacked servers to upload his own files there, some photoshop there. Just enough to get her on the right track after he had so generously given her a little bump in the right direction as he usually did. And only enough for someone to find if they were purposefully looking for them.

So, he had a smile on his face as he approached their usual bench just outside the BBC headquarters, setting down the lunch he had bought on the way over here for the both of them (it was his turn to buy, after all). Now all he needed to do was wait.

[liu-yu]

Admittedly, at first, Yu was fully expecting Mickey to just close the door in his face. It wasn't even like they were close, they hadn't been 'friends' for years. And even back then the word 'friend' was a rather loose term for it. They shared a dorm for a year, that was about the long and short of it. Neither one was a bad roommate or even a talkative one. Their whole friendship was purely based on the fact they didn't bother each other too much. And even when they did 'hang out' it was never grabbing drinks or anything of the like.

"Hadn't noticed, thanks," he half-heartedly chuckled at the first comment, waving it off as he quickly accepted the invitation and slipped in through the open door. "Though I was rather hoping you would tell me that." He was sick, yes, that was obvious, but he rather wanted to know if it was at all life-threatening or not.

"Probably nothing serious, just been off past couple of days," he added, quickly playing down how bad he actually was. Last thing he wanted was pity. "Headache, the chills and a bit of a struggle to keep anything down. Was hoping it would just pass on it's own."

Mickey had been restless the night before, his thoughts consumed by an upcoming exam. Realistically, he knew he would pass. But that never stopped the anxiety from creeping in and forcing him to spend half the night tossing and turning instead of dreaming peacefully. At some point, Mickey never looked at the time to know exactly when, he gave up on the idea of sleeping entirely and flipped on his light and started looking through his notes again. At the very least, he should ace this exam.

The knock on the door had come as a surprise. Mickey hadn’t been expecting anyone, and had half a mind to ignore the knocking on his apartment door to see if the person would go away. But he needed a break from studying anyways, and the door was on the way to his kitchen to refill his water bottle, so he decided to chance it. Peeking through the peephole of the door surprised Mickey. He hadn’t known who he thought may be at the door, but it definitely wasn’t Yu. It wasn’t that the two didn’t get along. In fact, considering they were both pretty anti-social their random pairing in their first year of uni had been a blessing in disguise. The two had become friends based on proximity lone. Spending enough time alone in their rooms together forced them to bond somewhat.

At first it was a pleasant surprise. Until Mickey swung the door open and saw the state that Yu was in. “Jesus dude, you don’t look so good.” The man was incredibly pale and looked like he was shaking. A strong gust could probably knock him over. “Yeah, yeah of course. Come in. I’ll grab you some water or something.” Mickey stepped aside and waved his former roommate in, closing the door behind him before leading towards the living room. “What’s wrong?”

[liu-yu]

thomas-reyes​:

Thomas kept on waiting for the day when this fella would reach out to him with a grimmer truth hidden behind one of those shady looking links. If he was honest, the first time he’d clicked on one of those, he paused only to figure that heh he didn’t give a shit if that got the whole Sun redaction infested with a virus. These days, he was more worried about his anonymous friend finding out who the journalist was. Seemed unlikely, as Thomas didn’t leave traces of his other identity online, but who was he to say that others did him that courtesy.

Thomas: Hello. Thomas: Come on, you make it so easy to roast you. One of them’s your mom, right? [deleted] Thomas: Oh come on. Why is it always the pig shaped men with the worst behaviors?

Thomas paused his train of thought briefly, to reflect on his own shape. Clearly, he lacked too many pig features to ever get caught. You just had to see how the 50 something women of the office treated him, as if he were their son by proxy. He doubted they’d want that perv as their son.

Thomas: I’ve always wondered (and you’re probably gonna log off without answering) but hear me out : how do you pick your “victims” ? Do you suspect them before hand or is it more of a fuck this guy mentality?

Yu had already moved on from the chat window, going back to his skimming to see if there was something else he could uncover before the night was up. While it would not be the first time I ended up online all night, he did have an online lecture he was supposed to be attending in the morning. And he’d much rather be awake for it than half-asleep at his desk. (Though that also wouldn’t be the first time). It was only when the little ping in the corner of the screen signalling that he’d gotten a response did he navigate his way back to the messaging screen. 

Ph4ros: That’s just being mean to fat people Ph4ros: You’re welcome for the tip, by the way

Maybe one of these days someone would actually thank him for his hard work. Not that he ever did this for the praise in the first place, but still, some gratitude would still be nice. he wasn’t expecting another response, so it was a surprise to get another notification. But it still wasn’t the gratitude he was looking for. 

Ph4ros: It’s called dumpster diving Ph4ros: I don’t pick anyone specifically, I just follow the trail and see who it leads me to Ph4ros: Dig deep enough on the internet and you’re always bound to find dirt. 

[liu-yu]

The room was dark aside from the blinking lights of the computer screens surrounding the desk in the corner of the room. Though it was still bright outside, Yu much preferred working in the dark and with his music playing. He'd even brought some food for his planned hours long diving through his resources and notifications to see what dirt he could dig up that day.

Honestly, it didn't even take him very long to find something of interest. And with a little extra digging to confirm what he had found was real, Yu was pretty satisfied. Of course, he could just publish it on his social media, but he felt like it needed just a little extra attention. After all, the politician in question was a well known figure in the public image. and the public deserved to know that he was cheating on his wife of fifteen years with three separate women. Not mention these women didn't appear to know of each other's existence. And didn't they deserve to find out as well?

So, popping another crisp into his mouth and chewing, Yu quickly navigated to his messages, uploading the files and copying the link into a new message.

Ph4ros: got something for you Ph4ros: not suspicious link Ph4ros: women's identities will remain anonymous for their own sake Ph4ros: don't think they know he's sleeping with all of them at once

For: @liu-yu​ Setting: Thomas’ desk in the Sun open space / Yu’s ___________

This had started a couple of years ago. Thomas had not been a huge fan of it at first. He usually was the one with the code-name, the secrecy, the one in control of the narrative, and even more often, the one to torment others with his simple presence. He wouldn’t have called ph4ros a nuisance, but Thomas couldn’t precisely call them a friend either. They were on friendly terms, as long as they kept from benefiting from the other’s work.

He was sipping on “an excuse of a coffee cup”, which would be how his coworkers called his habit of surviving on a ridiculously high amount of cafe con crema with an unhealthy dose of sugar. If only he’d been one to care for criticism. Instead, he made a point of adding an extra sugar if someone was staring loudly his way in the break room (and then pour the inhuman beverage down the bog). 

He was finishing an article trashing dear old Boris Johnson (something he’d have done for free) as the notification popped up on his screen. “New message from 𝚙𝚑𝟺𝚛𝚘𝚜“

[liu-yu]

with @notquitedoctorhart

If there was one place in the world Yu hated, it was hospitals and doctors offices. It just reminded him of his dad a little too much. So, even if he was as sick as a dog, he tended to avoid going to see a doctor and would just ride his illness out in bed and hope it passed on it's own. However, this time, it was not passing. He'd had the shivers, a raging headache and a bit of an upset stomach for some days now, making it think it was more than just a common cold. But like hell he was going to drag himself to see a doctor. So, instead he decided to drag himself over to Mickey's.

Sure, he wasn't a fully trained doctor. But he was a med student, that was about the same thing in his mind. And sure, they hadn't kept the greatest of contact since they shared a room back in uni, they had kept in contact enough to at least know where the guy was staying. Which was why he now found himself on the doorstep, a shake smile on his lips as it opened. "It's not as bad as it looks," he was quick to cut in before Mickey could even say anything about how pale he looked. "Can I come in?"

[liu-yu]

⟨ chen feiyu. cismale. he/him. 23. ⟩ We just saw Liu Yu entering King's College London. I heard through the grapevine that they are a post-grad student / hacker. Although they are civilian, they can sometimes be arrogant, imprudent, or even petty but I’ve also heard some people say that they were intelligent, meticulous and quite daring.

Statistics.

name: liu yu aliases: ph4ros, the london underground age: twenty-three d.o.b: december 16th gender: cismale pronouns: he/him orientation: heterosexual place of birth: wuhan, the people's republic of china current residence: london, united kingdom nationality: chinese religion: agnostic occupation: post-graduate, hacker/activist affiliation: none family: liu chao (father, deceased), liu hua (mother, deceased), mei taylor (aunt), arthur taylor (uncle-in-law), elliott taylor (cousin), louisa taylor (cousin) languages spoken: mandarin chinese, english

Biography.

{tw death during childbirth, poverty}

Liu Yu was born on a cold winter's morning though his mother never got to see her new son, dying ten minutes after he was born due to complications. Liu Chao was devastated by the loss of his wife, but vowed to keep going for her son, taking Yu home a few days later and quickly throwing himself into trying to care for a new born while trying to juggle his job as a software developer.

But he struggled, they were never a well-off family to begin with, but after Hua's death, money was even tighter than usual. Most nights, Chao went to bed with an empty stomach, putting most money towards trying to keep the lights on and making sure his son had enough food not to cry through the night.

Yu grew up with very little and when he was old enough to go to school for most of the day, his father took on a second job at a convenience store to try and make some extra money. It was clear his father was exhausted most days, but he tried to always have a smile, not letting his son know that he was struggling. It only became clear how bad his father was running himself into the ground just to survive when he ended up in hospital after collapsing at work.

Five days later, his father passed away when Yu was just fourteen years old.

He was taken in by his Aunt and her husband and two kids, Yu finding himself on the first flight over to the United Kingdom. It was a bit of a culture shock. Being in Devon was the first time Yu had ever seen the ocean before and for awhile he struggled with the language, making very little friends in his new school. So, it was no surprise he found solace in the online world, spending most of his time outside of homework learning the ins and outs of computer code, learning how to break things down and fix them up again. It wasn't long before he was quite proficient at it.

Over the years he grew more confident, getting to grips with English and scoring high in his tests. He was sixteen and in his last year of senior school when he hacked the school servers for the first time, exposing the Principle of his school for cheating on his wife. And the attention it brought caused Yu to become quite bold, turning his eyes on exposing even more secrets, taking enjoyment in taking down politicians and celebrities for their blatant lying, leaking data to the press and exposing them on social media.

He moved to London for university when he was 18, soon after setting up his new social media online presence as The London Underground. And from there he has grown from strength to strength, spending most evening trawling through the internet and hacking into servers to uncover all the dirty secrets of London. He's determined to take down every corrupt politician, celebrity and police officer he can dig up the dirt on, giving the public the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Headcanons.

While studying for his masters degree, Yu fixes computers for a little bit of extra cash on the side. It's not something he advertises very much, only when he needs the extra money.

He has splashed out on his own private anonymous server to run his 'london underground' accounts from, making them untraceable and giving him an extra layer of anonymity.

When in the zone he pays very little attention to anything but what's in front of him. You could be trying to have a conversation and it'll be like talking to a brick wall because he absolutely won't even register you're talking to him in the first place.

Though he is now fluent in English, he absolutely still pulls the 'I'm Chinese I don't understand' card when he wants a quick exit from a conversation or to get out of trouble. He even pulls it with people who know damn well he speaks English just fine.

He always had headphones in listening to music or podcasts. Yu just can't go without any kind of background noise when he's working.

Incredibly petty. Like incredibly. He's the sort of person to hack your PC and changed your home screen wallpaper to something stupid if you steal some of his food.

He rarely writes in English, still preferring to write in Chinese. The only written English is his media posts and his coursework. Notes and everything else are always in Chinese.