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sleeping-on-cracking-ice · 3 years

Note

Hi, I have an idea for Chishiya if it's okay! He have something going on with Kuina's friend, and after she didn't came back from a game everyone thought that she died, but she actually just left (she didn't want to become too attached to Chishiya maybe?) and 1 month later the militants found her and Chishiya is rather cold toward her because she left him without saying anything. Happy ending if possible, please

Thanks for requesting, here you go. Enjoy! 🥰

Home | Shuntaro Chishiya

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

Character(s): Chishiya (ft. Kuina, Niragi)

Summary: You run away from the beach, but soon were found by the militants again. Chishiya, your closest companion, is mad when you return for not saying anything.

Warning: mention of sexual harassment, swearing, grieving, heavy angst

Word Count: 4.8k

*reader is female

Author’s Note: I’m sorry if the ending is a bit cliché, but I really enjoyed writing this one!

“I’m so sick of this shit Kuina. She’s gone. What the hell do we do now?”

Chishiya and Kuina sat on the top roof of The Beach. Their legs were dangling over the edge, above the groups of people who sang their hearts out over the loud music. They couldn’t be down there themselves, not that night.

“It’s so unfair,” Chishiya grumbled, rubbing his stained eyes with his hands. “I hate how everyone just moves on like nothing happened.”

Kuina sniffled, trying to control her runny nose as she listened to Chishiya’s pained words. “Look Chish, it was going to happen to one of us three at some point, it just happened to be Y/N.” Kuina tried to keep her voice stable, but the occasional voice crack gave away her sadness.

“Yes I know, but it still hurts so fucking bad.”

You hadn’t returned from your game. You hadn’t returned back to Chishiya and Kuina. You hadn’t returned home.

*******

“Oi Y/N! Slow the hell down!”

You heard Kuina yell out to you from down the hall. You laughed at her desperate attempt to catch up while Chishiya walked at his own pace watching you guys.

“Why are we suddenly having a race?! We have all day to get down to the pool!” Kuina called out. You stopped in your tracks and turned around to face her. “I want to get down there before the sun comes out and everyone wakes up! Don’t you want to have it just for us three for a while?”

“I suppose so,” Kuina breathed out heavily.

Chishiya’s lips pulled up into a smile as he watched you too bicker. “Oi you two. Be quiet. People in these halls are still sleeping,” he said.

Kuina turned to Chishiya and pulled a mocking bored face towards him. “Well you’re fun this morning,” she muttered in a sarcastic tone.

All three of you made your way to the pool on the bottom floor of The Beach, tripping and shoving each other playfully while giggling. You hardly ever did this together, because Chishiya always slept until noon, so you were excited about having the pool to yourselves before the sun came up.

When you reached outside, your chatters and the sound of your bare feet on the pavement broke the silence of the night. You hoped that Hatter kept the windows closed to his suite because you knew if you woke him up he would come down and beat your asses for being awake so early.

You looked over towards the pool that was still lit up with underwater neon blue lights from the night before. You’d think that they would shut all the lights off at least to save a bit of electricity, but apparently not.

Kuina had thrown her towel down carelessly on a nearby deck chair and was now chasing after Chishiya, who powered his short legs to try and escape her.

“Chishiya you’re going in the pool! You can’t chicken out forever!” she yelled as she caught up to him and wrapped her strong arms around his waist.

You could tell the years of martial arts training paid off for Kuina as she lifted Chishiya into her arms like he weighed nothing. “Bitch, put me down! I don’t want to go in the pool! Why is that such a crime!?”

You doubled over in laughter as Kuina held the cat-like blonde in her arms, him squirming more violently as she got to the side of the pool.

“Goodbye!” she yelled and dropped him into the pool. His screaming cut off as he was submerged into the water. You walked over and placed your stuff down, listening to Kuina and Chishiya bickering in the background.

It was a shame that you were planning on walking out on these guys. But in a world like this, the bad moments really outweighed the good ones.

“Alright you’re next!” you heard behind you, making you snap out of your short daze.

“Wait, no!” you bellowed as Kuina repeated the same thing she did with Chishiya. This time, it was his turn to laugh at you.

“Jesus christ woman. The fuck got you so lively this morning?” you laughed at Kuina, who gracefully dived into the pool to tease you two.

You felt Chishiya tuck his chin on your shoulder gently, taking you by surprise. “I guess we got to act as happy as we can now. Our five day visa ends tonight.” Chishiya mumbled to you two.

The air around the three of you suddenly became stiff at the mention of the games. You lifted your hand and placed it on Chishiya’s damp hair. “It’s alright, it was a fun and relaxing five days while it lasted,” you said cheerfully.

“Don’t say that like as if you’re going to die,” Chishiya scolded you. “You won’t die, none of us three will.” He was trying to reassure himself that he would come back from his game with you all happy and healthy waiting in the lobby for him. He hoped for that exact reality every time he had to leave you to restore his visa. He panicked even when you were ten minutes later than usual. It was a constant battle with anxiety when it came to caring for you in a world like this.

But unfortunately, while Chishiya was willing to fight against the growing anxiety that came with loving you, you didn’t want anything to do with it.

You and Chishiya have been as tight as two peas in a pod since Kuina introduced you. Kuina and you happened to meet at a diamonds game that was further in the centre of the city which was where you appeared in the game. She was nice enough to take you back to The Beach, because she thought that your intelligence and gentle personality would be useful.

But the plan of using you for Kuina and Chishiya’s own personal gain went out the window when both of them built a strong connection with you. They tried so hard to stop it, but in the end, they decided to make you an addition to their little manipulative games with the others. A mysterious duo became a peculiar trio.

That’s when Chishiya began to notice other things he felt.

He began feeling an irrational attachment to you, always wanting to be around you and always wanting to make sure that you were safe. You began noticing his additional little quirks as well, as soon you both fell for each other, without the other knowing of course.

Kuina obviously knew, as she was incredibly observant. She always kept her mouth shut though, wanting to see the drama play out in front of her. It was entertaining at times.

“You two are cute,” she gushed at you and Chishiya, holding a cheeky smile on her face.

Chishiya tucked his face into your neck to hide his blush, but it only made your heart skip a beat. “Shut up,” he mumbled into your skin.

You sighed heavily as he kept his place there, snaking his arms around your waist. This was honestly normal. The closer you’ve gotten with Chishiya, the less shy he’s been to convey physical affection. You loved and hated it at the same time, because you knew the more he made your heart race, the harder it would be to leave him.

At times you thought you’d rather deal with his cold and untrustworthy personality, like how he was when he first met you. It was easier to dislike him then, but now that his real personality has shown through, you realized how good of a person he actually seemed to be.

Chishiya never became close to someone, because he knew it would be hard to pull away when he needed to use them for his own survival. So he’s just always chosen to keep everyone at a distance.

You on the other hand, you hadn’t fallen down the deep whole of caring fully for someone in this world, but you knew you were about to stumble off the edge.

While Kuina and Chishiya waited to renew their visas, you waited to run away from the stress of waiting for your friend’s potential deaths.

******

You, Kuina and Chishiya trudged down the steps that led to the lobby. Hatter had called everyone to meet there a few minutes ago to prepare for the games. Hearing the familiar bell ring throughout the so-called paradise made your heart weaken. It was calling you to your end, every single time.

The trio of you took your usual place towards the back of the lobby, leaning against the cement walls and looking over everyone’s heads. How weird it felt, that by the time you gathered here next, the number of people would reduce by a couple dozen. It made your stomach sink in remorse. You truly were nothing more than soldiers fighting a war that wasn’t your own.

You looked down at your own feet, beginning to feel guilty about your plan of running away. The people you would abandon, the friends who would miss you. And even they can’t come find you, but you knew it was for the best. For both you and them.

You felt something tickle your hand. You glanced your eyes down to see that it was Chishiya, trying to sneak his hand into yours as Hatter began his booming speech across the crowd. You looked up to the blonde’s face, but he was focused on Hatter. You smiled sadly and accepted his hand into yours, earning a soft squeeze from him.

Kuina placed her head on your shoulder, leaning closer towards you. It was as if they knew, and they were trying to get you to change your mind. You felt tears building up in your eyes, but quickly wiped them away with your hoodie sleeve before anyone noticed.

Damn. You were never going to forget them.

******

Chishiya sat in the leather lounge in the lobby. He had just arrived back from his spades game. Wasn’t too difficult, for him at least.

Only now he was stressing inside, leg bouncing up and down on the carpet quickly. He knew you wouldn’t return for a good while, but yet he always was worried about you. No matter the situation.

Niragi didn’t help the situation. He strolled over earlier with a few of his militant mates and roughed Chishiya up for a bit. He honestly wasn’t in the mood for their antics, so he didn’t fight back much. They eventually got bored and walked away.

There hardly was anyone in the lobby, it was strangely quiet.

Chishiya looked towards the entrance to the lobby where a small group of people just walked in from. He recognized them as the group Kuina was placed with, so he stood up from his seat and quickly made his way over.

He managed to spot Kuina walking by herself at the back of the group. Chishiya let out a relieved sigh and strolled up to her. “Thank god you’re okay,” he said, giving her a short hug. “You too,” she replied.

They walked back over to where Chishiya was sitting beforehand and sat down. “Do you know who Y/N went with?” Kuina asked.

“No idea, I had to leave with my group before hers,” he answered.

They both sat in silence for a while, hearts squeezing in on themselves from tension.

As group after group piled into the lobby and moved to go to the back pool to celebrate their wins. While their hearts and minds were overflowing in joy of surviving, Chishiya’s and Kuina’s slowly became heavier and heavier with grief.

One of the last groups finally came back, being a few hours later than everyone else. Chishiya searched the small crowd for your familiar face, but didn’t see it.

“Kuina,” he started with a tense voice. “Don’t say it,” she immediately cut him off. “Don’t say anything Chish. She’s fine, I know it.”

That became harder and harder to believe the later into the night it got. Soon enough, no one was left in the halls and the lobby, either gone to bed or stayed out in the pool area.

Chishiya didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t feel anything. His body was tired from the constant tensing, the constant anxiety.

He stood up abruptly and looked towards Kuina, who had her head in her hands. He gave her a sad smile, and reached his hand out to help her up. “Come on, let’s go to the roof like old times,” he smiled, fighting the tears building up in his eyes.

*********

When they reached the top of the building after climbing many annoying flights of steps, Chishiya tilted his head back to feel the wind blow around his head. He opened his eyes and saw the galaxy of stars above him. ‘So weird,’ he thought to himself. ‘In a horrible place like this, such beautiful things can still exist.’

Kuina and Chishiya sat on the edge of the roof, feet dangling off the edge. Complete silence took over them. Neither of them knew what to say.

Kuina broke her gaze off the staggering height of the drop below them and glanced at Chishiya. He was staring straight ahead of him, hoodie covering his face so she couldn’t see what he was looking at.

“Chish, are you okay?” Kuina asked quietly, leaning forward to try and see his face. It felt strange to her, having Chishiya be completely silent for a change. Usually he would be making a smartass comment or a teasing joke towards her or Y/N. It was like the happiness in him had drained out.

He didn’t answer for a short moment, but then he turned his head to look at Kuina in the eyes. Kuina was taken back.

Chishiya had pools of tears cascading down his pale face, mixing with the sweat that he still endured from the game. He let out no sobs and no cries. Just dry, empty tears running down his cheeks like doves flying down the edge of a cliff.

“No, I’m not okay,” he muttered to her. “This fucking sucks.”

*******

It had been a few weeks since your death, not that there was a huge difference at The Beach from your disappearance. Everyone carried on like normal, everyone except Kuina and Chishiya.

They became secluded, more than usual. Kuina spent most of her time in the hotel’s gym, trying to distract herself from everything that happened. She wanted to get stronger so she could win games, she knew that’s what you would have wanted.

Chishiya however, he wasn’t taking your death well at all. Chishiya lost his fire, his headstrong attitude and snappy remarks. He kind of disappeared himself, but only his body stayed.

He felt stupid at times. What would he have expected? Of course you died, knowing his luck. He began irrationally thinking, believing that the world took you away because he didn’t deserve someone as warm-hearted as you. He felt cheated almost. It was like the universe had you dangling on a string in front of him, and when he finally had the courage to reach towards you, it yanked you away out of his view.

When he was having particular hard days, he would lie on his bed in his room for hours, not bothering to get up for food or the bathroom. He felt numb inside, he honestly thought nothing would be able to hurt him anymore, because he’s endured the worst of his emotions.

The mirror in his room was smashed, due to his own doing. He broke it a few days after the incident, screaming into the stuffy air of his room and throwing one of his makeshift knives at it. He watched in pain as it crackled and crumbled under the impact, seeing his own reflection fall into a million pieces, much like how he was feeling at that moment.

He had never experienced this kind of hurt before. He always thought other people were being dramatic when they broke down crying after hearing their significant other or friend didn’t make it back to The Beach. He thought that it should’ve been expected, that they shouldn’t be surprised that it happened. But he guessed you never know what another person is feeling unless you experience it yourself.

But god, does he wish he didn’t, because it hurt more than a thousand knives to his cold, stone heart.

**********

One day, Chishiya was standing on the edge of a balcony that looked over the entrance to The Beach. He enjoyed standing up there because he loved the spectacular view of the ocean. It reminded him of his real home, when he used to ride his bike down to the beach with his friends and swim in the water for hours. He missed life when it was so easy for him.

The breeze was cool on his skin, giving him goosebumps. It felt refreshing and somewhat free, a small taste of bliss for him. His eyes were shut as he listened to the crows screech in the distance and the ocean waves hit the shore. The sound of nature rang in his ears, making his endorphins swirl in his brain.

It was a good break every now and then from the usual melancholy emotions that swarmed around him, keeping his happiness locked down in chains. While he was on that balcony, actually breathing fully and normally for once, his demons decided to let loose of the chains that held his sweet happiness trapped.

Chishiya opened his dark eyes and glanced downwards towards the bottom level and saw something that caught his eye.

A group of three militants seemed to have a young woman in their grasp, one of them being Niragi himself. Chishiya watched as they tried hard to hold the smaller person at bay, as she was thrashing around trying to escape.

He frowned, confusion painting across his face. That girl, she looked oddly familiar.

Niragi told the militants to bring her around the side of the building, where a small alley was located beside the entrance. Chishiya knew that’s where the militants dragged people to kill them off, they were planning on killing her.

Chishiya wondered what she did that was so bad. Hatter hardly ever gave the order to kill someone, unless the situation was betrayal or anything worse.

He moved himself along the balcony towards where the commotion below him was occurring. He wanted to hear what they were saying, because who knows what shit Niragi gets up to without Hatter knowing. It seemed a little too suspicious to be dragging someone to their death in broad daylight, especially where everyone could see.

Chishiya heard slight fragments of what they were yelling: “You thought- … run away?!” Niragi screamed in his psychotic voice. “Let go of-...! …could have just left me there!”

Chishiya felt his heart drop. That voice, it was all too familiar. How could he have forgotten what your voice sounded like.

He lifted his head and stared forward in shock. That couldn’t be right, you’ve been dead for weeks!

He thought for a second, trying to come to a possible conclusion with the horrific yells in the background of his mind. How is it possible you could still be alive?

That couldn’t be you, it just couldn’t be. Chishiya shook his head and chuckled. “The fuck am I thinking? Great, now I’m hallucinating. No one told me that was another stage of grief.”

He turned his body to walk back inside to look for Kuina, until he heard the young woman getting attacked yell again, this time, clear as day.

“Chishiya! Kuina!”

That was it. That was definitely you.

Chishiya lifted his legs and began sprinting towards the staircase inside. There was no doubt in his mind that that wasn’t you. The way you said his name was too real to not be you.

He tripped and stumbled down the stairs, almost falling flat on his face on one flight. He had to get there before you were dead, for real this time.

As he pushed his entire body weight against the entrance doors to the hotel, he pulled a small knife out his white hoodie pocket. He had made it out of glass from his broken mirror, considering that Hatter wouldn’t allow him to have his own weapons.

Your screams were much more prominent now, more desperate sounding and more fearful. The sound pierced through Chishiya as he made his way quickly around the side of the hotel.

There you were, being pinned against the wall by two militants while Niragi held the barrel of his rifle against your chest, right over your heart.

Chishiya yelled out, which probably wasn’t the best idea considering his current situation. It was three tall men with guns against a small, frail man with a makeshift knife.

“Chishiya! The fuck you doing here?” Niragi asked with a cheeky smirk on his face. God, Chishiya wanted to punch him so bad.

“Let her go Niragi, you don’t want this to get ugly do you?” Chishiya threatened, holding his glass knife out.

Niragi laughed along with the other two militants. You still struggled against their grip, seemingly more calm with Chishiya distracting them.

“How cute ‘ey? Little blonde twink coming to save the love of his life, how sweet of you.” Niragi pressed, pushing his rifle harder against you just to push Chishiya’s buttons.

“If you haven’t noticed Chishiya, she ran away! She never died like you thought she did! She ran away from The Beach, she ran away from you!”

His words were like bullets in Chishiya’s chest. He felt belittled and mocked, he hated it.

“Shut up! She wouldn’t do that!” he yelled frustratingly.

“Oh really?! She wouldn’t?! Then explain why we managed to find her strolling the streets of Tokyo! Not a scratch on her, and she seemed smart enough to run away when she saw us.”

Chishiya’s scowl dropped on his face. He looked at you to see if you would deny it, but you had stopped struggling against the two men and hung your head low, not looking into his eyes.

He shook off the hurt he felt from this fact. He had to focus on getting you away from Niragi before he took time to think about other things.

“Niragi please. Just let go of her, I promise I’ll make it up to you,” Chishiya begged. He felt small, never has he ever begged for something in his life.

“Hmm? How though? I was just about to have some fun with her before I killed her off. Why should I give that up just because you want me to,” Niragi spat at him. Your eyes widened in fear and you thrashed around in the grip that the militants had on you, panicking from Niragi’s threat.

Chishiya thought for a second. He would honestly give anything to bring you over to him. “My cards. You can take credit for every card that I collect for a couple of months. If Hatter or Aguni asks, just say I’m slacking. I’ll take any punishment they throw my way.”

You saw Niragi consider it before lowering his weapon off of your torso. You breathed out heavily in relief.

“Fine, but don’t expect me to do this again. You can’t bribe me with everything you sneaky fuck.” Niragi growled. The two militants let go of you and followed him out of the alleyway and into the entrance of The Beach.

You leant against the wall, staring at Chishiya as he stared down at the ground below him. The air between you two was tense. You could tell he was mad, Chishiya was always silent when he was incredibly angry.

“Chish, I-”

“Don’t talk to me. Just come.”

Don’t get me wrong, he couldn’t have been happier to see that you were alive and well. But the betrayal he felt from the fact that you ran away from him greatly outweighed his happiness.

He walked briskly ahead of you, you didn’t dare walk next to him or too close to him. He was scaring you a bit, and you wanted nothing but to sprint to your own room and hide from the rest of the world.

You were embarrassed and also frustrated you were caught. Trust Niragi and his cocky ass to find you.

Chishiya stopped in front of his own room, opened the door and gestured for you to walk inside. You hesitated before slowly making your way through the door. You hated how tense it was, it was the complete opposite of what you usually felt when you were around Chishiya.

You sat down on his bed, sitting in an awkward position and looked towards Chishiya. It was complete silence as he was frozen at the door, back towards you and holding the door handle harshly.

“What the fuck Y/N?” he mumbled. It was almost inaudible, but you could hear pain in his words, which made you immediately feel guilty.

“What the fuck was that? You ran away!?” he turned and yelled at you, tears building up in his eyes.

You flinched as his loud voice. You had never heard him yell in anger before, usually he kept his calm. You looked down to the ground, feeling your own eyes fill with hot tears. You felt like you were back in high school with your parents screaming at you for running away from home.

“I THOUGHT YOU DIED!” he shouted louder, “DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH PAIN YOU PUT KUINA THROUGH?! HOW MUCH YOU PUT ME THROUGH?!”

You couldn’t breathe. Pain and suffering dripped off his words like rain on a roof, coming together and creating an atmosphere that held air that was unbreathable. You suffocated on the oxygen, making you choke and cause tears to begin running down your cheeks.

“Why!?” he cried. “Why did you run!? There was no reason, me and Kuina could have protected you if you were too scared! Why did you think that running away was the only option!?” Chishiya stumbled closer to you, almost tripping over his own feet.

You flinched heavily as he placed his cold hands on your shoulders roughly. They were shaking from trying to hold your sobs in.

“WHY DID YOU LEAVE-” “Chishiya!” you interrupted him by snapping your head up to meet your eyes with his. His face dropped as he saw the sadness behind yours, replacing the wonderful and cheerful happiness that once swam in your eyes like dolphins in a sea.

“I l-love you,” you mumbled out between your shaky breaths. “That was the problem Chish. I-I’m in love with you and it hurt too fucking bad to know that you could disappear out of my reach at any moment. I ran because I didn’t want to watch you and Kuina die!”

Chishiya’s own hands shook violently against your shoulders. He gazed into your eyes which were red and puffy from your tears. They were shining more now than they had ever before.

“You don’t have to leave Y/N,” he whispered, still trying to control his own breathing. “I want you here, next to me. Not out there, because when you’re out there, I can’t be with you.”

You nodded and smiled sadly. Chishiya pulled his hand from your shoulder and cradled your face gently. He swiped his thumb over your cheek to get rid of the tears there. “I love you too, but I can’t be without you.”

A grin crept onto your face as you looked into his eyes. You felt safer than ever in his arms, why did you think of ever leaving?

Chishiya wiped his own tears with his hoodie sleeve and put on a happier smile. “You want to know how pathetic I am without you?” he giggled and held your hands in his.

“I almost threw myself off the top of the hotel the night you didn’t come back. Kuina had to tackle me to the ground to keep me away from the edge.” he laughed at himself.

You chuckled along with him. “Imagine if you did! What a shocker it would’ve been if I came back and Kuina saw me alive after you killed yourself because you thought I was gone!”

You both sat on Chishiya’s bed and laughed at each other. You had to do it, humour is best in times of stress and anxiety.

*********

You opened your eyes slowly, only to be met with the blinding light of the sun seeping through the blinds. You hissed and turned your head the other way.

Chishiya chucked at your reaction, making his chest that was underneath your head vibrate. “So cute,” he muttered to himself.

You pushed your face deeper into his chest and breathed in his scent. It felt good to be back with Chishiya. It felt good to be home.

Author’s Note: oKaY so this ended up being a lot longer than expected. Please send in some requests if you have any! 🥰🥰

1K notes · View notes

missyasf · 3 years

Text

Game Of Hearts

| 1 |

↳ Summary: Your life is in monotonous tones of grey, day in, day out. Nothing matters besides your sister, the only thing you remember is seeing fireworks before waking up to Tokyo abandoned . Soon enough you are properly introduced to the deadly Borderlands where you must fight for your life in Games to survive. When things can’t possibly get worse soon division arises and rivalries are made. No matter what though, you are constantly plagued by a blonde who, no matter how hard you try, just can’t seem to go too far without.

↳ Pairing: Chishiya/Reader

↳ Genre: Angst, smut, thriller

Word Count: 11k

___| Next

Trigger Warning: ⚠️ much like the manga/Netflix adaptation this will be a dark fic which includes mentions of prostitution, attempted murder, child ab*se, sexual harassment, heavy grief and attempted suic*de among other things. Additional warnings will be added for chapters when triggers are brought up. Please read with caution if these are triggers for you or just skip all together!

Side mention: This could be considered a prequel to the current Alice In Borderland. I’m writing based off the Manga bc I was a glutton and couldn’t wait no spoilers will be present as of...

Escapism

noun

the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy ♡

You had known all about this during your short lifespan, as a child you’d often play pretend with your sister that you were movie stars living in a five star hotel rather than the shitty busted up apartment on the wrong side of town. Escapism came in, many forms. It was often a way for people to cope psychologically, simply because sometimes, facing the reality of your situation can be too much for one person to handle mentally.

Or at least, that was the topic of your lecture today in class. The human mind always fascinated you. Even at the young tender age when your mom died and you watched your once cozy little family fall apart piece by piece until nothing was left in its wake.

It was your fascination that drove you now for most things, why? Why, why, why? You always wondered what the motive was behind someone’s actions, not only thing but you wanted to understand them better, to try and sympathize. You were already fairly intuitive in nature. It wasn’t difficult to read people. In fact your line of work made it easy, you’d watch a man who would be excited to be with you reach for his left finger as if used to touching something. A wedding band perhaps?

The lowlife cheater was fairly common in a whore house after all. Or the man who had been pissy this morning behind you in line because you had decided to try something new on the menu and you weren’t fast enough, obviously because he was tardy and woke up late, his shirt unbeknownst to him was button the wrong way and his tie loose and even the way his hair fell were all signs of being late to work.

It was the little things you noticed in people’s facial expressions, the way they moved and spoke. You could read people like a book, and sure sometimes it was useful. But you often wished you weren’t so perceptive. It drove you mad knowing when a potential love interest was no longer interested through a simple text or a friend not wanting to talk by their tone. Sometimes you wished you could just blot it all out, still, you lived like this day in and day out, you were used to this kind of thing and honestly. Friends? Love? Your gaze dropped a little to your feet, the pumps you were wearing a jet black and the heel too high for any respectable woman to ever wear.

...It wasn’t like you ever had any of those in your life and you had struggled to come to terms with the fact that you could survive without that kind of support. Still...it made you envious, the couple happily holding hands on the sidewalk. The group of friends all laughing at a table while they studied. Oftentimes these feelings are muted, but when you’re faced with something you’ve always craved, those muted feelings suddenly become hyperactive in your mind.

It’s pathetic, honestly.

“How dare you! You disgusting slut!”

In this moment however, you were brought back to reality at just what was happening, you squeaked loudly as you dodged the shoe the woman had thrown at you. This was all a regular occurrence, you had a lot of regulars who weren’t the most amazing people but hey, money was money. But along with them they also left a trail which their wives and girlfriends always followed. And then they always blamed you instead of their partner for leaving them for a prostitute despite you never having agreed to anything such as that.

It really wasn’t your fault, you were just trying to make a living while juggling with keeping up your own education, paying your fathers debts, rent and still somehow getting food on the table. What part time college job could provide that?

Prostitution wasn’t a job you would’ve gone into willingly but given the past and your trauma that was already laced in it you had been learning that sometimes because of the trauma we experience, sometimes people go back to that same trauma and actively participate in it as a way of feeling like they’re in control.

That whatever happened before, would never happen again if you were in control. You weren’t sure if you qualified under this category, trauma came in many forms but the one most used as an example in your class was that a study showed that women who were assaulted often develop a kink for consensual non consent as a way of coping with what happened, except this time, it’s in a controlled environment where it can end the moment they want it too.

Again, you weren’t sure you fell into this category, but you often wondered if your line of work was intertwined with your earlier memories when you were younger, if anything it brought comfort to you. Much of it, blotted out now simply because your mind couldn’t take it. Trauma expressed through amnesia was also much more common than many thought, and it’s so small, so easy to miss. After all how can you be aware of something if you have no memory of it anymore?

“Security!” Your manager screeched, two of the bodyguards were already between you and the feral woman who was ready to gut you clean as she screamed hysterically, her husband...your regular....at her side trying to get her to calm down only for her to come to her senses and slap him clean across the face. You didn’t condone violence, but he did have it coming...

You weren’t about to justify cheaters, you couldn’t imagine the hurt someone had to feel that not only did their partner cheat on them, but it was with someone...like you...You had been trying not to put down your job occupation, sex workers were just as valid as anyone else...you knew you would’ve thought this way if it was anyone but you in this position.

You sighed as you ran your hands through your hair, watching the couple get dragged out of the tight space of the brothel, “Jesus christ....didn’t you say you stopped using perfume because of this?” Miki, your manager sighed as she crossed her arms. You didn’t want to say your manager was your friend but she was the closest you had as you’d often complain to her about most of your problems. Sex work often attracted broken people, it wasn’t something she wasn’t used to.

“Yeah, but apparently he never got around to washing his clothes…” You wiped your mouth on the back of your hand, “Lipstick stain,” You glanced down at the ruby pink color that stained your skin now, “Fuck...that did hurt.” You rubbed your sore cheek that was still throbbing from where she had first slapped it when she ripped the door open of the room where she got to see with her own eyes you riding her husband.

It had happened so many times now you weren’t even embarrassed about someone walking in let alone a partner. Miki gave you a lopsided smile as she patted your shoulder, “Guess that just pays for being one of the best here. Did you at least get paid.”

You nodded, “Yeah, I always make them pay in advanced but I was hoping to get a tip afterwards...He was a lawyer so you know he had good money.” You sighed, crossing your arms, you were well aware of his partner because a lot of the time he didn’t even come in for sex anymore. It was funny how humans work.

He often felt his wife was overbearing and you had suspected some sort of verbal abuse by the way he talked about her constant screaming. Truthfully, you don’t think he ever intended on cheating with her. He just wanted someone to talk to without being judged, you could relate with sympathy to that, but he unfortunately chose to walk into a brothel instead of a therapy clinic and this truly was the only inevitable outcome. Still, you hope if for anyone’s sake, he gets that divorce for himself.

“Hey I think I’m gonna call it a day. I need to get back to Nanami, she was wanting to talk to me about college applications.” You sighed as you rubbed your neck, ever since she had graduated high school she had been chomping at the bit to start applying for college, maybe to just get out of the house and into a dorm. You couldn’t blame her and if she did that it would lighten your load a little.

Guilt washed over you at the thought as Miki chuckled, “They grow up pretty fast huh? My brother was the same way, except the moment he found out I was a sex worker was the moment he called me a whore and we haven’t talked since. That was probably about five years ago,” She crossed her arms as she sighed, “Crazy how the things we do for the ones we love, never appreciate our effort...I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“If I’m not bruising.” You offered a weak smile as you nodded at her before going back to your room to get changed. Truthfully, you much like anyone else, often wished you could go to a world where reality wasn’t a concept any longer. Where you could lay out in the sun for the whole day and just soak up it’s rays with no worries or trepidations.

But sooner then later everyone had to face their fears. Even you, you supposed. But no matter how hard you fought your demons, they always came back tenfold. Again, you supposed your story was no different from tens of thousands, and yet you all live on regardless. Maybe it’s you who should be the one seeking therapy. Pulling on your jeans and the cropped top over your head before pulling the jacket over your arms and grabbing your bag.

The walk home was as quiet as ever, your hood over your head and earbuds any unwanted attention, it wasn’t too late at night, only eleven PM and your work had just been getting started but that had ruined the night for you and besides, you had already failed a test today, you could use the sleep tonight.

Occasionally you’d hear the sirens of a cop car passing by or a bystander shout, nothing out of the ordinary in this neighborhood. Walking up to the apartment complex you pulled the key from your bag as you unlocked the door. Quietly stepping insides as you shut the door before locking it once more. Your nose wrinkled at the smell of stale air mixed with rotten...something…

If anything, you were always lacking in something, you had been so busy most of the day that you never had time to clean anything leaving the house in a horrible state. Not that you thought this was much of a house.

Walking down the narrow hallway you opened the rickety door with a missing lock as you gave a brief smile to the small clump of bedsheets. Your sister was curled up and on her phone, eyes darting to the door with a hint of fear before she jumped up, “Y/n! You’re home earlier from night shift already!?”

You offered a smile as you set down your bag and nodded, sitting down on the mattress that laid on the floor as you replied, “Yeah, a coworker needed the extra hours so I let them cover for me tonight. Besides, you wanted to talk about college applications?” Your sister was under the impression your late night job was bartending at some hole in the wall downtown, where in all actuality you just went there to drink a few days and talk to the loud and sometimes obnoxious, but good hearted bartender who loved talking about his nerdy underaged friends that couldn’t do anything beside stay and drink soda.

It wasn’t that you didn’t think your sister would accept you, if she knew what you were actually doing. Fear, most times came in many different forms and this was one of them. You simply didn’t want to be judged, even by her. So nobody in your life truly knew who you were, and therefore, how could you hold the expectation for people to accept you into society if you were already self sabotaging yourself?

All philosophy aside, you were simply a lost soul, looking for your way in the cruel reality called life.

“Yes!” Nanami was chipper as always as she squealed, clapping her hands, “I…! I was thinking about applying to the university you attend! Maybe I'll get a grant and move into the dorms there? I already applied for several jobs, I’m just waiting on a callback!”

You offered a small smile as you hugged your knees to your chest, “I think you’d like it there, there’s lots to do around campus. But what will you go in for? The only advice I can offer is be sure it’s what you want to do.”

Nanami’s face faltered a little as she hummed, “Well...I thought maybe working with animals? I’d love to be an assistant surgeon in veterinarian? I know it’s a pretty...sad job but...I really like the idea of being able to heal such innocent things.” Your smile tugged into a gentle one at your sister. She was too tender for this world.

It had been your goal sense the day your mother died that you took care of your sister, it didn’t matter what happened to you. You could rot for all you cared at the end of the day, all you wanted was to look up and see your sister's smile and her happiness in life blossom. She more than anyone deserved it.

“I think you’ll be great at it.” You encouraged as you rested your chin on your hand, always happy to see her bounce in excitement as you yawned, your body was used to your demanding schedule but it was always more than happy to welcome a few extra hours of sleep.”

Hearing the door loudly slam close caused you both to jump, Nanami hurriedly crawled back in bed, pretending to be asleep as you frowned. Your dad must’ve come back home from wherever he was.

“Y/n! Just stay here! Can’t you talk to him later?” Nanami looked scared, she always did when he was around. But you weren’t about to stand down to the bastard any day of the week, you offered a weak smile as you replied.

“It’s fine Nami, I’ll be just a few minutes.” You replied, you knew that she knew, that was probably a lie. But you’d try your best, for her sake at least. But somebody had to put this guy in his place occasionally and it was always you. It results in a lot of screaming sometimes, other times he’d break down in tears or on a bad occasion you’d get shoved to the ground, a few times hit. Nothing major.

Walking out of the room you leaned against the wall of the entrance of the hallway watching your father stumble around in the living room, “Did you finally talk to the loan company?” You called out as you asked, not in a forgiving mood tonight. He had said he’d do this for two weeks in a row. The company that sank your whole family into the ground. The reason your mother couldn’t take it anymore and put a blade to her wrist.

Your father stood up, looking a little wobbly, obviously drunk, “Now listen here little girl I don’t have shit to own to you or anyone else.” You sighed as you tucked your tongue into your cheek, annoyance flowing inside you as you straightened up. You weren’t going to be bullied into being scared of this guy.

“Actually you do,” Your smile twisted into something more sharp, more bitter and sinister as you walked forward, “See, if you hadn’t of gotten involved in something shady like loan sharks we wouldn’t be drowning in debt and mom wouldn’t have killed herself because of you and both your daughters wouldn’t hate you. I know you drink away all our money in some pathetic attempt to escape from the cold reality that you fucked up your whole life and watched your family slip from your fingers while not even trying to do anything other then put us in further shit,” You closed your eyes as you tilted your head, “But the least you could do, is admit that. You owe us at least that for being a total fuck up.”

You opened your eyes to find pure rage brewing in your fathers eyes as you smiled once more, this time a false sense of sickly sweet tone to it as you shrugged, “Or you could live in denial, at this point, there really isn’t anything you can do to get anyone back ♡ ”

You had turned around, planning to tell Nanami that maybe she should go sleep over at a friends house today but you never got the chance, suddenly being slammed into the wall and flecks of spit hitting your face, “I am your fucking father! I deserve respect from you and your worthless sister! Do you know how much I provide for you both?”

Anger splintered through your veins as you grabbed onto his wrists, his fingers digging into your neck as you squirmed, “Like fucking what!? A shitty broken down apartment that your vacant from because you’re too fucking ashamed of yourself to even look at us sober!?”

Much like years in the past you weren’t surprised to hear Nanami cry as she rushed out of the room at the sound of you both screaming, “Stop!” She cried out, trying to break you both up, “Stop! Don’t fight! Why…! Why can’t we all just get along!” She sobbed only for your dad to shove her down making her curl up in defeat.

Alarm bells were triggered in your head at the sight of Nanami on the ground, she had never actually gotten hurt while in your sight and it was triggering something deep inside you as you watched him stalk up to her. Your hands shaking and rage boiling in your mind as you grabbed the closet thing you could find. An empty beer bottle on the table.

Your vision blurred and you don’t quite remember what happened other than glass shattering over his head and the brute force of you shoving something before blood was stained on your hands.

How did you end up sitting against the wall? Why was there….blood on your hands…? Your fingers trembled at the metallic sticky substance. All you could hear were Nanami’s sobs and cries as she frantically pushed herself away from the body slumped on the ground.

“You…! He…!” Nanami’s eyes brimmed with tears as you heard a loud boom making you jump, your eyes darting to the open window where….fireworks, big and bold crashed and crackled before you felt like you were sucked into a vortex making your whole vision black out.

Your head felt fuzzy and there was ringing in your ears as you groaned, curling up into yourself as the darkness beckoned you closer before you forcibly opened your eyes. You were laying against the hardwood floor. Beams of light streaked through the window and you could see dust particles in the air against the shower of sunshine that streamed in.

...Wait...Light? The thought had perplexed your head enough to make you push up from the ground, memories pulling into your mind as your breath became shallow, suddenly looking to the side where...you slumped against the wall. It must’ve just been a bad dream….your eyes flickered to Nanami’s curled up figure...a really vivid dream…? Something wrenched in your gut as you rubbed your eyes. What happened? “Nami…!” You whispered, forcing your muscles to move despite their protest as she whined.

After another moment she reluctantly opened her eyes, flickering around before she suddenly scrambled up, taking a deep breath as if realizing what had happened before, looking towards where your dad once was she frowned, “...I...What…” She seemed just as perplexed as you and if her face was anything to go by, last night had obviously happened, “Is dad…” She looked at the absent place of the floor.

Leaning against the wall your eyes darted around the room, “I guess so…” You silently felt relief at knowing your dad was still very much alive as you leaned back as you closed your eyes, trying to remember what had happened before everything went dark...oh..! The fireworks...had it been a celebration last night? Your brows pinched together, something felt...off...getting up you opened the door to the apartment walking out.

“Y/n? Y/n! Hey! Where are you going!” Nanami called out, quickly chasing after you as you frowned, cars were parked odd and there was no one out on the street...as in...at all...Something was very wrong and you couldn’t figure out what.

“Wow...it..must be a slow day…” Nanami felt a sense of discomfort at the lack of life as you both walked down the side walk, it didn’t just feel like a slow day it felt, apocalyptic. As if humanity just left on it’s own leaving nothing but an empty city behind. Cars were parked on the curb and a few even left in the street.

“No, it’s like everyone vanished...This is really weird.” You wrapped your arms around yourself as you frowned, looking around as you came closer to where typically it would be a booming part of the downtown but it was empty, just as everything before.

“Well, maybe it’s a national holiday?” Nanami rubbed her head, trying to make sense of the situation just as much as you, surely everyone wasn’t...gone...right? She looked around as she bit her lip, second guessing herself at all the cars that were vacant, “Hey Y/n.”

You paused as you looked at your sister, curving an eyebrow as she offered a weak smile, “What if everyone got raptured away like they talk about in christanity?” Your expression flattened as she giggled, obviously getting a rise out of you as you crossed your arms.

Raptured? Where? To heaven? “Wouldn’t it be fire and brimstone then if that was the case?” Nanami pouted at your words as you shrugged, snickering yourself at her expression, the tables now turned as you sighed, “I don’t think there’s anyone left in Tokyo...I mean, it feels like...we’d have seen someone by now...right?”

“Well…” Nanami frowned once more, a little disturbed at your words as she spoke, “There’s no way everyone could be gone I mean, where would they go? And how could we miss something like that...Maybe the police found us and now we’re under some weird simulation.”

Chills spilled down your spine as you shoved her making her whine, “Don’t say that! That makes me feel all weird…! I didn’t…!” You cut yourself off, you didn’t what? Murder your own dad in cold blood...you looked down at your hands, they were free of any blood but it still felt like something like sin lingered. Like no matter where you went, it would always be stuck to you.

You didn’t like this, not one bit. Briefly you felt the urge to go hunt down your dad, he was a deadbeat but you would never...you’d never kill him....Right?

“Well…” Nanami hummed her eyes scanning ahead before they jumped to the mall that was up ahead, “Hey…! If nobody is here...maybe we could make use of it! Come on! Let's go!” You yelped at her grabbing your arm before dragging you ahead. Cars were all parked and yet not a single person exited through the mall's entrance. Something just felt off! You wrapped your arms around yourself as you warily looked around the empty mall, “Nanami I really don’t like this!” You looked around, concern bubbling inside you as she ran ahead into the store, digging through the section of clothes as she giggled.

“Relax! I doubt any of this is real and even so…! Who’s going to stop us!?” She shrugged as she bounced in excitement, “Oh my god! I had dreamed of something like this happening! Now we can do whatever we want! Go wherever we want! Y/n!” She gasped with a smile, “Now we don’t even have to worry about money!”

“We don’t even know if this is permanent.” You looked around warily, not partaking as she began plucking off the racks, “Regardless of what this is, I don’t like it. I want to go back home, our home. This just doesn’t…” You shook your head, “This just doesn’t feel right.”

“Well you can feel that way!” Nanami clacked her tongue as she gave a childish smile, “But I’m gonna go through this whole store and get a new wardrobe so feel free to sit on the bench and tell me what you think looks good!”

Looking away you sighed, unable to pinch the anxious feeling you had away as you sat down reluctantly as Nanami went into the changing room. Well...at least she was smiling and she was happy...With each outfit Nanami tried out and giggled, you giggled with her and maybe things weren’t so bad after all…

“What a perfect day.” Nanami hugged you close as she sighed, yawning as you looked up at the sky in awe, you had seen a single star while living in Tokyo before, but now it was filled with constellations and millions of stars that stretched for miles. You could stare at it for days and days. The sun had just set a little over half an hour ago and you were ready to retire and find something to eat at the apartment.

You and Nanami had tried going to the food court but much to your dismay everything had been...rotten...soiled and ruined, meaning there was no point in trying to find anything there and you were getting really hungry despite devouring bags of chips you had both got at the convenient store, another thing that stood out to you was that there was no electricity...at all..

Looking back up to the sidewalk something caught your eyes...was that…! Light!? “Hey! Nanami look!” You shook her making her squeak as she looked up ahead, “It’s the hospital! They have electricity there which means there’s other people! Of course! Why didn’t we think to check essential areas!? Come on! Lets go! I wanna figure out what happened.”

“Alright! It sucks that this is already over but at least I can finally charge my phone, the battery is pretty low.” Nanami nodded in agreement as you both made your way up the road.

The walk wasn’t too far and you felt excitement fill you at the sight of the hospital all lit up as you walked into the entrance, a frown slowly setting on your lips once more as you walked past the receptionist desk and…! Oh there’s other people!

You felt relief wash over your as you ran up, there were at least seven other other people here at least! “Hey! Guys oh my god. I thought everyone was gone! What’s going on?” You asked, smiling bright in relief that you and Nanami weren’t the only ones left behind. Was this some kind of evac point or…?

Silence ensued and you slowly began to frown as you felt everyone stare at you as if you were insane, “Um…” You wrapped a hand around your arm, suddenly feeling as if everyone knew something you didn’t, “What’s going on…?” You furrowed your brows as you tilted your head, unsure of why everyone was looking at you like this.

Somebody looked like they were going to talk to you, a guy relatively around your age but a woman stopped him- his girlfriend maybe? “Stop, the less that know the better chance we have.” She said quietly though you still heard just enough. Fear twisted inside you as you took a cautious step back...The...the less you knew?

“Wow, you guys are assholes,” A girl suddenly whistled out, she was sitting in a waiting chair, a cowboy hat on her head paired with distressed jeans and...a bikini top? Strange but you’d roll with it if it meant getting answers. She stood up as she offered a smile, “Akari, nice to meet ya’. You folk must be new to the Borderlands huh?” She jutted her bottom lip a little as you frowned.

“Um I’m Y/n and this is my sister Nanami...?” You introduced yourself despite feeling confused as you raised a brow, “Borderlands…?” You echoed, what was that supposed to be? Other than Tokyo?

Akari gave a nod as she let out a brief chuckle, as if amused by your confusion but you sensed she had no real ill will unlike....your eyes checked to the couple that stood off in the corner on their own, “That’s what they call it here,” She nodded in affirmation as your eyes darted back to her in confusion, “To be frank with ya’, I don’t have a damn clue what's going on. Nobody does. But ever since you crossed the threshold there’s no going back, so I’ll be brief. We’re all considered outsiders here and we participate in games at venues such as this to extend our stay.”

Nanami and you looked at one another confused as Akari waved you over to the table in front of a TV, “Here, you’ll wanna put these on, it’s for the game.” She explained as you carefully picked up the metal bracelet, something about it felt ominous as you reluctantly put it on, jumping at the way it latched together and there was no getting it off now, “Word of advice, just don’t panic and you probably won’t die.”

“What?!” You screeched as Akari smacked your back, panic evident in your voice as you turned around to face her making her laugh again, this girl was insane! She had to be! “You’re…! You’re joking!”

Akari wrinkled her nose as she tilted her head, “Ah shit, I wish I was- Oh…! There’s the last player!” Just on que everyone turned to look at who had arrived, someone heaving breaths with their hands on their knees as if they had sprinted. You were mildly worried at why he seemed so scared but you had a feeling that was the least of your problems right now.

“Y/n what’s going on…?” Nanami frightened grabbed your arm as she hid a little behind you due to all these immensing strangers that looked like they were ready to feed you to the sharks, literally.

The guy walked past you both as he put on his bracelet, your eyes sharp as you watched it latch together automatically, your gaze jumping to everyone's wrists to notice you were all now wearing one. The TV suddenly lit up.

Game

You squinted your eyes a little at the sight of the screen, just what were you about to unwillingly participate in…?

Difficulty: 5♣

“The game you will be participating in is, Monster under the bed.”

A playing card? Monster under the bed? Your brows furrowed as you looked at Nanami who shrugged a little despite her concerned expression, looking just as confused as you. You could’ve made a joke out of this, surely it would’ve been easier. Maybe everyone would bust out laughing and you’d be at the end of a poor joke but...somehow you felt that wasn’t the case. Thus paying very close attention to whatever was on this screen,

“Everyone will be sectioned off into pairs by the number chosen on your bracelet, when the doors to the ward open you will have three rounds ten minutes each to figure out who is the monster under the bed that must be returned to its own, once the ten minutes is up you must hide before you are found. If the selected pair that is the monster is chosen correctly it’s a Game Clear. If the monster is not found by the end of the third round or if the pair fails to hide it’s a Game Over.”

Rules:

Once the doors are open you and your partner must find a hiding spot by the time limit

Both partners must be hidden. If one is exposed to the monster it’s a Game Over for both partners

There will be an X marked on the ground to place the monster of your guess onto.

You will have three rounds of ten minutes each to find the monster.

Any attempt to remove bracelets results in a Game Over

If the monster is not found by the third round a Game Over.

The only Game Clear condition required is for the monster to be returned by the third round.

What…

What!?

“Now the game will commence, you have five minutes to figure out who you have been paired up with before the doors open.”

Your mind was blanking as you watched everyone look down at their bracelet, hurriedly you lifted your arm as your mind blanked 2 looking back at Nanami her lips were already quivering as she sniffled lifting her arm in defeat as your lips dropped open, 5.

“Hey! Guess you’re my partner!” Akari grinned as she wrapped an arm around Nanami who sniffled, “Oh…” She looked between you both, “Oh! Oh don’t worry! We’re not the monster so I’ll make sure your sister lives! You should go find your partner.”

Your hands trembled unsure of what to do before you went to hug Nanami, “Whatever happens just stay calm okay! I need to go find my partner now!” You whispered, kissing her cheek as she sniffled while nodding.

Everybody was shuffling around looking for their partner now, you passed by a few people, 4, 1, 3...did you even have a partner…? You scanned around, your throat tightening a little in panic, there had to be a mistake! There were only 8 people surrounding you- you yelped at the tight grip that suddenly held your arm forcing you to turn around to be met with a white hooded figure, a lollipop handle hanging and earbuds in before sighing, “So it appears I’m stuck with someone useless.” The man concluded as he stood up making you back away a little as your lips parted somewhat indignantly.

How...how rude! You looked up, unable to fully make out his face but you could tell you didn’t like him one bit, “I’ll…! First of all I’m not useless! I’m just trying to understand what's going on! This is insane! We aren’t actually going to die from this, are we!?” Pushing his hood down you were immediately met with a snide gaze and cat eyes that leered at you like you were nothing more then dirt beneath his feet, long blonde hair pushed behind his shoulders and his bangs hanging low, suddenly a viscous side smile appeared on his lips, “Apparently so, otherwise I wouldn’t have watched half my last game get their brains blown out and the other half hung.”

You reeled a little away from the blonde, your face dropped in semi horror, unsure if this was just a sick joke or he was serious. You searched his face a thousand times over, but for the first time in your life, you couldn’t figure out what his goal was. You couldn’t figure out anything about him, except he was exceptionally cold, “Well I don’t suppose I have much choice to doubt you,” He said with an annoying sing song tone as he rattled his wrist that showed the bracelet with a matching 2 on it, “My name is Chishiya, just stay out of my way and we’ll both live.”

How arrogant! You scoffed as he walked past you, not the least bit bothered at your offense as you whipped around, glaring at his back. How come out of everyone you got stuck with the most…! Pompous! Arrogant! Ugh! You crossed your arms as you followed behind him, stilling secretly sending daggers into his back with your eyes as everyone shuffled into the ward.

Hospital beds were scattered around the room, a few closets and one large vent at the bottom right corner of the room ahead.

“Wait, what is this?” The first person to speak was a fair thin older gentleman, he appeared friendly as he observed the room around him, everyone looked around in confusion as you noticed what he meant.

Any possible hiding spot was covered by either sheets of metal or locked tight...How were any of you supposed to hide if…!? The rules mentioned nothing about solving puzzles to gain access to a hiding spot!

“Forget that,” Another man said with a sneer he was broad and a bit older, well into his late twenties at least, perhaps a gym coach? Or maybe a wrestler of some sort? He looked like he could break you and nearly every other person in this room like a twig, “We need to figure out who’s the monster. “ He cracked his knuckles as you leered a little away and nobody spoke for a second.

Of course, who would out themselves as the monster, more importantly, how does one even know they’re the monster? You could immediately feel tension rise as the previous, more patient man spoke, a little more collected, “How about we just check one another's’ watches! If anywhere it would show us on that! One pair should work on solving these puzzles here so everyone has a place to hide”

“Unless the monster is among us and it sabotages us so we all die by the time limit.” The girlfriend crossed her arms as she darted her eyes around. Truthfully you didn’t know what to believe, the wording on the soundbox was rather confusing as to just what were you looking for. Was the monster supposed to be in the group or it’s own entity?

“If that were the case it would’ve showed up on our watches, which it didn’t. So that won’t work.” Chishiya spoke matter of fact, his tone cool as his eyes gazed across the room before he walked away from the group inspecting various hiding spots granted you didn’t think he was about to help anyone but himself, if anything you were at least lucky that him securing a hiding spot meant it was one for you as well.

You looked at everyone in confusion, some arguing while others scattered to look for a hiding spot as the clock ticked down. You breathed in relief at the sight of Nanami and Akari both going for a bed to hide under. Your gaze finally found Chishiya’s form before following him, unsure of what you were supposed to do, if anything outside trying to figure out just what the monster even was.

You glanced up at the digital clock that stood above the entrance you had just come in from, it was already a minute in before you searched the floor where you found a red X in the center of the room, that must’ve been the...what? Offering spot? You cringed a little at the idea. Looking forward you peered behind Chishiya’s shoulder deciding to not think about that, it seemed the metal sheet that had wrapped around the bed and was sealed to the ground was locked by some sort of metal device…? Contraption? Lock?

“Isn’t hiding under a bed a bit obvious…?” You frowned as you crossed your arms, unsure as you looked behind your shoulder once more to where accusations were already being thrown in the group.

“The vent is a decoy to make you waste time, I already checked,” Chishiya replied, his fingers nimble as they rattled the metal, “And even if someone were to accomplish it in the time limit it’s the most obvious spot the monster would first check. Next would be the closet given it’s at eye level and the first thing one is drawn too when they walk into a room.”

Your lips parted a little in surprise at his assessment...obviously he wasn’t just overconfident, “And why this spot?” If he had really thought about all this in less than a minute then...did he have a reason for this spot? You now found yourself, slightly less annoyed and a little more curious as to what was going on in his mind.

“If the monster were to check a bed it would be after his eyes are drawn to the closet. Next in that line of sight would be the vent directly across it, which would be his next place to look if not his first and vice versa. The beds are all staggered throughout the room making them less conspicuous compared to the other hiding places, the bed on the far end of the room would be no good.”

Your brows furrowed in curiosity at his assessment as you watched Chishiya blow a piece of hair from his face, wiggling out one piece of the knotted metal, “It’s too far from the entrance where as the one in the middle is by average the one most people would start with, where as the first? It’s almost too soon in the start to look there thus making it the safest.”

“It’s them! They’re over there conspiring!” You both twisted around to watch the broad man point an accusing finger at you both as your eyes darted from him to the clock on the wall, which read at six minutes. A few other pairs, relievingly so was your sister had started working on a hiding spot while a few others stood around and argued.

Your face coiled a little as you replied, not appreciating the accusation to such a baseless accusation, did they not realize the longer they argued the less time they had to secure a hiding spot? “Someone who’s terrible at playing the minority would often be the first to point fingers. There’s only six minutes left before the first round is over and we need to hide. But if you want to talk about this then sure,”

You stepped closer as you crossed your arms, scanning over him before continuing, “Let’s talk about the chances of you being the monster, ever since you first came in you’ve been all twitchy and acting like something is wrong. Even when we first got paired up, you seemed a little panicked. Anyways,” You turned around as you spoke, “How do we know one pair is a monster and not one single person?”

“Eh,” Akari sat on the bed that her and Nanami chose as Nanami fumbled to work out the puzzle, she had always been good at those! You felt assured as your heart beat frantically at the idea of them not being able to get a hiding spot in time, “Let’s all calm down,” She gave an awkward laugh, “This isn’t a hearts game, we shouldn’t divide our trust. This is a team building after all which means this game should be making us work together, the last thing we need to do is throw that away on our own accord.”

“...Team building?” You frowned as you murmured having not been aware that this was some sort of game category...Hearts? Clubs? The memory of the playing card flashing on the screen appeared in your mind again, right...was that to stand for some kind of game genre? If Clubs stood for team building then...there should be no reason that the monster is any of you. Why would they even suggest that to begin with?

Then...what was the monster?

“One minute remaining.”

The lights suddenly began flickering, “Got it.” Chishiya yanked the last piece of metal undone as he pulled the sheet of metal off, everyone was now scrambling and the few who had not done their puzzle were now panicking. Getting down you crawled under the bed, your back flat to the ground as you inhaled sharply as you noticed the lights beginning to dim, “This is...uncomfortable.” You mumbled, trying to ignore being pressed shoulder to shoulder with a man you didn’t even know besides him having a god complex, “We should’ve went with the vent.”

“By all means, if you want to try and get yourself killed already. Go for it.” You turned to look at him, dark endless cat eyes meeting you as you harshly glared at him, why was he so condescending!?

You were about to snap back something before you realized it was completely dark and the door slammed open causing you to jump. Was your heart always this loud? You could see the heavy boots step against the ground making you unsteadily inhale, swallowing as you closed your eyes. You could only place your trust that Chishiya hadn’t picked a horrible spot.

More importantly your mind was plagued with worry for your sister, you had been so caught up you hadn’t even tried to help her yet...did she even…! You heard a sudden loud scream from two people causing you to stiffen as you looked up at the bed frame lined with wooden planks. You could only cower back down at blood suddenly painting the floor.

Your stomach suddenly churned as you covered your mouth. So he wasn’t lying. Chishiya however looked just as nonpulsed as he did when he first told you himself, his eyes blankly staring up at the bed frame as if this was just a regular game of hide and seek as people screamed as they were torn apart.

Or that’s at least what you assumed it was.

After an agonizing few minutes the doors finally closed and the lights flickered back on making you breath in relief as you waited a moment, could you even bear to face what was waiting on the floor? You winced a little before something caught your eye. What was with all this extra wood stuck in the frame?

Chishiya had already gotten out from under the bed and before you suddenly heard a few girls scream, your sister among them making you puff and breath as you scrambled from beneath the bed.

Standing up your mouth agape at the horrid sight of the female and the broad male that had been too focused on accusing others, they didn’t have...enough time...it looked like they had been completely mutilated, blood pouring on the floor and the smell made you want to gag as you looked away.

“Well, now what do we do.” Akari scratched her head, also not looking phased that two people had just been brutally killed. Your eyes stayed placed on the bodies before they slowly trailed to your hands, the memory of blood staining them still fresh in your mind.

“Well we have to figure out where the monster is?” The girlfriend of the couple spoke up, she looked around somewhat suspiciously, “But I’m not sure where we could find it? Maybe it has to do with the bracelets? Maybe there’s a clue hidden.”

“Oh what about in the cabinets?” The collected man from before offered as he went to search the cabinets, your frown furthered as you glanced around. Everyone was now getting along, still on edge but along at least.

Chishiya only leaned against the wall, his hands in his pocket as he rolled the lollipop in his mouth, his gaze the same steely one it was before as if he had done his job in securing his temporary salvation and was now done.

Or maybe he just didn’t know what to do? It was obvious his strength didn’t lie in teamwork, clearly. But then again, you weren’t sure what was going on, you couldn’t get a read on him. Crossing your arms you stayed beside him, your eyes briefly washing over your sister who was working Akari to dig through a desk together.

“Cabinets and drawers are too obvious.”

Chishiya’s eyes flickered to your figure, his expression just as cold if not...a little smug maybe? He said nothing in return as you continued, “If we’re looking for a monster, it’s obvious it’s a metaphor for something. Inanimate most likely,” Your eyes flickered around the room, inhaling sharply, why did it feel like the answer was right in front of you?

Think…! You glanced at the clock, only six minutes left. The rounds were really short…! “It’d be something small and inconspicuous, something that’s in plain sight….but easy to miss...and the game said it was a pair which means there’s more than likely two.”

“Three,” You glanced at Chishiya as he spoke, pulling the lollipop from his mouth, that permanent smug look on his face as he answered, “Two is what they want you to think and if you spend a round searching for each like they hope it’s game over by three.”

You rubbed your neck as you frowned, “It’s already the second round and we haven’t even found one…” You glanced around before you suddenly perked up, “Wait…!” Getting back down on the floor you laid on your back as you pushed yourself under the bed, “Chishiya! Help me get this thing out!”

Within a moment the blonde appeared as well, his eye sharp and keen as they noticed straight away what you were tugging at, “You think this is the monster?”

You looked at him as you raised a brow, “We have less than four minutes left on our second round, you have a better idea?” Chishiya said no more but helped regardless, successfully with the both of you maneuvering it around from beneath the wooden boards you managed to get it out.

Holding it up you looked at it, “It’s a poppet doll.” You turned to face him as you smiled in accomplishment, “They’re typically used as curses to place upon people in folklore. If anything is a monster, this would be it.”

Excited at your first victory you pulled out from beneath the bed as you waved it up, “Hey guys! We need to start looking for something similar to this! If not a replica.” Everyone huddled around you examining the doll before the microphone sounded, “One minute remaining.”

Everyone had immediately scrambled back to their hiding place as you ran to the red X, placing the poppet on it, that's the reason that had to be there right!? You’d just have to see, hurriedly you ran back to your spot under the bed. Making it just in time as the lights flickered off.

The door slamming open once more as you slowly inhaled, it had to work right? If not...then you were at a loss for what to search for and you were utterly screwed.

The boots stomped against the floor past the bed as you closed your eyes, unable to calm yourself. After a moment you heard a screech and something rip open before screams followed making you jump. Chishiya’s eyes were on the feet that stood by the closet that had been obviously ripped open.

You heard the sound of something wet and a gurgle before a body slumped to the floor and you could hear begging before something got snapped in half causing you to close your eyes once more...Did you make it angry!? Was that not it? Fuck. You had never felt this stressed before as it roamed around, passing in front of your bed as you tensed.

Was this your last moment alive? Truly?

Much to your relief, the door closed once more before the lights followed, flickering on, relaxing a little you sighed as you reluctantly got out from underneath the bed with Chishiya to see what had happened. Much to your horror it was the man who had been so kind this whole game and his partner.

The monster didn’t check anywhere in the first round, yet he did this round? You tried to block out the bodies slumped in the corner as you glanced at the red X, the poppet doll gone.

“Why- why were they killed!” Nanami’s eyes began to water as she grabbed her head, “This makes no sense!”

“If it accepts the doll that means we only need two more. What happened to them is irrelevant.” Chishiya stuffed his hands back into his pocket as you glared at him sideways, not appreciating his careless tone. You could deal with it, but you didn’t want your sister dragged into it.

Grabbing your chin you thought about it for a moment, “Well...the game said to return the monster to its own and…” You glance down at the X, was there some kind of unsaid rule that if you didn’t get all three of them on the first try that it would start hunting down players? “How would a mother feel if they only returned one of its children?”

“This thing doesn’t have feelings,” The girlfriend of the partners replied coldly, her eyes like steel of her own as she clung to her boyfriend, “It’s as he said,” She waved to Chishiya, “It doesn’t matter, we’ll be like them if we don’t figure this out.”

You glanced around the room, “Tell me this, if it doesn’t matter, then why did they give us all these different hiding spots?” Everyone was silent, all eyes on you as if your question didn’t make any sense, your eyes flickered to the clock that was nearing eight minutes, you didn’t have time to monologue, “No think about it. The monster never intended to look for us- that was never stated in the rules. So why did they give us all of these choices if we only needed one per pair? My point being, if we found one poppet in our hiding spot then...You get where I’m going with this? Chishiya.”

He glanced up at you acknowledgement as you curved a brow, your lips threatening to tug into a smile as you tilted your head, “How confident are you in solving that vent?”

He glanced back down and for the first time, you watch a cocky wide smirk twist onto his lips, “You’re lucky to have someone as smart as me here to be able to open it.” You tucked your tongue into your cheek as in annoyance as he sauntered over to the vent already getting to work, “As for everyone else, we need to open up as many of these as possible to find the other two.”

Everyone immediately scrambled to get to work, with only seven minutes on the clock this was...going to be difficult. First Nanami and Akari searched all the opened spots as you worked on another bed. Rubbing your head as muttered, “Shit...I never was good with puzzles.” You awkwardly hung your head in defeat temporarily, briefly letting your eyes shift to Chishiya who was fiddling with several locks, his gaze sharp and you couldn’t even imagine all the calculations going on in his mind. You were somewhat envious of what it would be like to be that perceptive to anything adhering to logic and solution.

“Aha! Found one!” Akari yanked the poppet from the top of the closest as Nanami covered her mouth, looking like she was gonna throw up being so close to so many dead bodies. You ignored the grisly sight at the second victory of the poppet doll. Akari quickly placed it on the X as you began to work on the puzzle once more, looking up at the clock. Oh no...Oh no there was only three minutes left!

“Chishiya! Hows that puzzle coming along.” You called out, trying not to sound alarmed but you could see the clear cut annoyance on his face as he continued working through the locks, “If you’d like to help while struggling on a novice lock feel free.” He replied condescendingly, not appreciating the pressure.

You rolled your eyes with huff as you finally managed to get it undone, feeling triumphant as you searched under the bed but there was no luck, “There’s nothing here!”

“Or here!”

Several people called out as well as you rubbed your head, standing up, “If the only other place that hasn’t been searched is the vent then maybe there’s only two? It did say a pair.” You felt a lump of anxiety well in your chest at the sight of the clock ticking close to a minute and half.

“Should we really take the risk?” The boyfriend asked as he rubbed his neck, concern on his face as he looked around, “If we’re wrong then we’ll all…”

You hadn’t even thought of that…

“...! Hey.” You turned to Chishiya who seemed to be trying to get your attention making you immediately come over, if he was asking for you it’d have to be for something important given there was nearly less then two minute on the clock, “Hold this right here.” He immediately pushed your hand onto the lock right where he wanted it, “This is a two handle mechanism meaning that there needs to be two people unlocking it. Push down and out at the same time.”

“Hide! Everyone needs to hide now!”

The lights were beginning to flicker as everyone scrambled to hide, stress evidently put on your shoulders now more than ever. You could only hope he was right with your life on the line, “Now!” You pushed down on your side, the lock sliding as you pulled out, pulling a piece of metal holding up the lock directly out as Chishiya did the same with his side.

The lock fell off as well as the metal of the gate of the vent, you immediately with no hesitation leaned inside it was dark and hard to make it out anything besides the steep drop off. So he was right, this was a waste of time for a hiding place.

Looking down you caught sight of wood before laughing in relief, “It’s here! Wait shit! Chishiya! It’s too far down in the vent, you’re gonna have to lower me down to reach it. Time?”

“Forty five seconds.” You felt unfamiliar hands on your hips lifting you up as you were lowered down, “We have time.”

You squinted trying to see as you reached down, “Lower me further! I’m not quite in reach,” Your muscles began to ache in your shoulder as you reached harder, growling in frustration, “Time!?” You were lowered a little further, the wooden poppet brushing against your fingers.

“Thirty seconds! Could you go a little faster?”

“Could you lower me a little quicker- Ah! Hey did you almost let go!?” You snarled back, grabbing the poppet doll, giving a good yank as it lodged in between the crevice it was in, “Get me back up! I got it. Time!”

“Twenty seconds.” Chishiya called back, pulling you up as you gasped, pain from the metal jabbing into your stomach evident as you were met with a darkening room. Setting your feet firmly on the floor your eyes flew to the flock fifteen seconds and your spot was all the way across the room….!

“Where are we supposed to hide!? We can’t get all the way there in time!” You hissed out running to the X as you dropped the poppet down. The lights shut off as the final five seconds counted down and before you could do anything you were shoved to the floor as you squeaked. Your body throbbing in pain and your mouth immediately covered as you were met with the coverage of a bed but neither one of you were bold enough to try and scramble beneath it as the doors slammed open.

Fuck.

Your whole body was tense as your eyes squeezed shut, you were just a little ahead of the X here, if this is all the poppet dolls...they’d have no reason to go further into the room...unless...Your hand squeezed tight around the wrist of the hand that covered your mouth as you tried to calm yourself at the loud thudded footsteps.

It was quiet for a moment before you heard more walking before the doors closed.

“Game Cleared”

The lights turned on as you fell limp against the side of the bed, Chishiya’s hand removed from mouth as you pushed your hair from your face, closing your eyes as you breathed in relief, “Holy shit.” Was all you could mutter to yourself, you had never been more grateful to breathe air in your whole life.

“I guess you weren’t that useless after all huh.” Chishiya clacked his tongue as you turned your head to look at him, raising your brows as your face contorted into something between insult and amusement.

You’ve only known this man for a half an hour and yet...something about his words, if you dug down deep past that smug expression of his, was this a compliment? Looking away you pressed your tongue into your cheek, trying to keep from smiling, “Yeah, and you’re still conceited and arrogant but, I guess you have a good reason to be.” You glanced back at him again but you could hardly hold his gaze, something in that brief moment was electrified between you both as you laughed somewhat sheepishly, closing your eyes as you looked away once more.

What the fuck was even wrong with you? If this was back before today you would’ve totally kicked this guy in the balls and went about your day.

“Y/n!” You straightened up at the sound of Nanami’s voice, your expression brightening as you stood up, quickly running to her as you hugged her tight, “I can’t believe that just happened…” She whispered to you as she pressed her face into your neck. You couldn’t either but, you were thankful you had survived this game. Whatever it was.

“Come on, let's get out of this room.” You tugged on her arm, no longer wanting to be in this death room despite knowing it was all over. Pulling her out you paused at the sight of the TV and a...register…? You bracelet unlocked as you took it off, tossing it on the table as you tilted your head.

“Congratulations Game ''Clear ``.''

“...Now issuing visas to those who survived the game…?” You furrowed your brows as you glanced at Nanami who rubbed her head in confusion. You grabbed the receipt as you looked it over with a frown before picking up the 5 of clubs playing card along with it. Odd.

“It’s how many days you’re allowed to stay now! Almost a whole week, that's a good score for a first game!” Akari called out as she patted your back making you jump a little.

Almost a whole week…”Until we have to play again to...continue our stay?” You raised a brow, deciding not to ask what happens if you refused. While you had many questions, you had a feeling you knew the answer to that one.

A part of you couldn’t even believe this had happened, or was it all still a dream.

“Hey…! Sorry for all of that in there,” You turned to see...oh…! It was the boyfriend of the partner, the gifrlfriend stayed behind looking brooding, “I’m Ryu and that’s my girlfriend Hiroko I was...ah…” He faltered a little, rubbing the back of his neck as his gaze flittered to his girlfriend who was glaring him down, “You should stop by the Beach- I...I think you guys would make good additions! Bye!” He hurried not even finishing his original sentence before scurrying off making you furrow your brows at what he even meant.

“The hell?” Akari raised a brow as she watched the guy run off, “Seems to me he wanted to chat more…guess we know who's really pulling balls in that relationship.”

Nanami suddenly snickered, covering her mouth as she giggled, “Hey Akari! Why don’t we stay together! We did really well in the game together!”

“Awh shit, if you guys really want me too!” Akari offered a quirky smile as you laughed, you had no problems with someone staying behind with you. Looking past Akari your smile faded a little at the sight of a white hoodie exiting the entrance.

“Hey- I’ll be right back!” You pushed past the both of them who paid you no mind as you pushed out of the exit and down the stone steps, not sure why your feet were making you chase after such an egotistical man but…!

“Chishiya!” You called out, making the man pause, he turned around, pulling the earbuds out as he glanced up from his hoodie, raising his brows in acknowledgement, “Um…” Why did you even chase after him…? You stepped down the last step as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

It was silent for a moment as you berated yourself internally for why you seemed so speechless all of a sudden. Chishiya however didn’t seem to mind, his eyes absent now as he stared up at the hospital, “I used to do my clinical rotations here.”

You were broken out of your silent thrashing of internal humiliation as you raised your brows, lips parting in curiosity as you asked, “You were a doctor?”

“No,” Chishiya snorted, that amused calico look of his on his face once more as he looked down at you, “I was a medical student. Training to be a doctor but that obviously didn’t happen…” His lips curved into a frown, his eyes cold once more as they looked back up at the building, “I came here tonight to see if anyone I knew would be here.”

“Oh…” You looked away, feeling somewhat awkward and unsure of how to reply to him as silence took over once more beside the occasional rustling of the wind in the tree’s, the urge to speak overtaking you to the point you couldn't resist, “Chishiya...I…” You looked away, feeling somewhat bashful, “We...made a really good team back there.” You forced yourself to look up at him as you offered a bright yet subtly shy smile, “If you want...you could stay with us…?”

Chishiya pulled the lollipop stick from his mouth, letting it drop to the ground as he spoke, “No thanks.” You turned to him in surprise as you frowned a little, you shouldn’t have expected anything less…

“Oh...I understand.” You offered a weak smile as he turned his back on you and began to walk once more, “I just have one more question,” You called out causing him to pause, “...Do you by any chance know about a place called the Beach?”

Note: Whew...! As a lurker in the Alice in borderland fandom I saw a lot of people complaining about the lack of Chishiya fics so I decided to volunteer myself and take on for the team to write a series for this little blonde fucker so PLEASE let me know your thoughts and I hope you enjoy!! Also

#alice in borderland #aib #alice in borderland imagine #alice in borderland x reader #chishiya x reader #chishiya x reader smut #shuntaro chishiya #shuntaro chishiya x reader #aib imagine #aib x reader

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bxcketbarnes · 3 years

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Tag

Pairing: Ryohei Arisu x Reader

Words: 1400+

Author’s Note: ANOTHER CHARACTER HEYOOOO. So, I watched this show called Alice in Borderland last week and I am very attracted to the main character, Arisu, and decided to write for him lmao. I hope whoever reads this likes it! I do have another idea in my head that I’m gonna try to write down before it disappears so look out for another fic in the future! Happy reading xox

You stand in the waiting area for the second game to start, your eyes darting to the other ten people standing around. You tap your foot against the ground, becoming more anxious by the second as a few more people join in.

"There's a lot of people here," a man mentions as two guys come up the stairs. The guy on the right looks down at you and you suddenly look away, feeling a blush come to your cheeks.

Why does he have to be cute? You think to yourself as the two pick up a phone. You tightly grip the phone as the devices begin to ring.

You look down at the now lit up device as it starts speaking. "Registration is now closed. There are a total of thirteen participants. The game will now commence."

Your heart starts to beat quickly, mentally preparing yourself for whatever this hell might be.

"Excuse me," a guy in a flannel gathers the attention of the two teens that registered last, pointing down at the phone in his hand. "What is this? I ended up here and I have no idea what's going on."

"It's a game," the guy with the shaggy brown hair informs him and the blonde beside him cuts him off before going any further.

"Shut up."

You watch as the man leans closer to his friend, speaking quietly into the guy's ear. You furrow your brows at the behavior, trying to make out anything he was saying but having no luck.

"Difficulty," the phone starts to speak once again and your attention moves away from the two boys. "Five of spades."

The girl beside you crouches and begins to stretch. You watch her for a few seconds before taking a deep breath, calming yourself.

"Game is… Tag. Rule: Avoid whoever is it."

Distinct chatter flows through the waiting area as many begin to slightly freak out. You stare at the phone, waiting for more instruction.

"Clear condition: Discover and touch the symbol that's hiding in one of the rooms within the time limit. You clear the game whenever the objective is fulfilled. Time limit… twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, the time bomb hidden in the building will explode."

"Jesus Christ," you mumble to yourself as everyone begins to wander off. You're one of the last people still standing in the front of the apartment building when someone bumps shoulders with you.

"You gonna try to get a head start or just stand there?" A guy wearing a white hoodie asks you and you clear your throat.

You shake your head as you start walking away from him. "No, I guess not," you mumble and see the cute guy, his friend, and another dude begin to head upstairs.

Gunshots go off causing you to jump and halt your movement. You glance over your shoulder and try to decipher where the shots were coming from. Two girls scream as you slowly lean over the balcony wall, seeing them running away from a masked man.

Your heart pounds against your chest as the man raised his gun before killing the teenagers. Your eyes widen and feel your hands begin to shake, crouching down a bit in case the man looks in your direction.

"Lovely to meet again," a familiar voice says and your eyes snap to the left, seeing the guy in the white hoodie standing a few feet from you.

You narrow your eyes at the guy before looking back down towards where the gunman was, noticing that he's now gone. "Are you following me?" You ask him while standing up.

He lets out a laugh and shakes his head, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets. "No, I'm not. Just happened to run into you. Be safe out there," he mentions before walking past you.

"What's your name?" You call after him and the guy stops in his tracks, slightly looking over his shoulder.

He doesn't answer you and continues walking down the hall before turning towards the stairs. You let out a sigh, a bit defeated that you couldn't muster up an ally. You quickly head downstairs, checking each of the doors to see if they open when you hear footsteps sprint towards you.

"You need to hide!" The cute guy from before tells you in a panic and you look around for a place.

"I-I-"

He grabs your arm and shoves you into the tight space beside one of the apartment doors. Your heart beats wildly as he scoots in beside you, your hands brushing against each other. You can hear the slow heavy footsteps of the gunman coming up the stairs.

You begin to panic and start to hyperventilate, causing the guy to look down at you. "Shhh," he whispers and gently places his hand over your mouth.

You grip his arm as your eyes meet his, your chest rising and falling rapidly. He looks away from you and listens to see if the coast is clear. You close your eyes and take deep breaths through your nose, your hand slipping off of his arm.

He looks around the corner and lets out a sigh of relief before stepping out. "I-I'm sorry about that," he apologizes and you shake your head.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for almost giving us up," you tell him and he chuckles nervously.

"It's understandable to react the way you did. This whole thing is just… crazy."

You nod your head in agreement, tucking some hair behind your ear. You hold your hand out unexpectedly, looking up at him through your lashes. "I'm Y/N," you introduce yourself and he looks at your hand for a few seconds before shaking it.

"Arisu," he smiles a bit before some more gunshots go off, causing the two of you to jump and look in the direction it came from. "We gotta go, c'mon."

You're roaming around the inner city of Tokyo, desperately trying to find something to eat. It's been a few days since you met Arisu and his friend Karube during the Tag game, and you're still shocked that you've survived it.

You come to a halt as you eye a body lying in the street. A gasp comes from your lips when you realize it's Arisu and sprint towards the boy. "Arisu," you whisper as you reach him, looking over his shoulder to see his eyes open. "Arisu?"

He doesn't move and you fall to your knees, reaching out to move some of the hair from his eyes. His brown eyes meet yours and you give him a small smile. "Hey," Arisu mumbles faintly and the smile you're wearing turns into a frown.

"You okay? Where's Karube?" You ask while sitting completely on the pavement, crossing your legs.

"Dead. Along with my other friend, Chota," he says with no emotion and your eyes widen. Arisu squeezes his eyes shut, seeing a few tears begin to stroll down his cheeks. "We played a heart game… a game of betrayal. I didn't deserve to live. They had so much to live for. All I had was them and now they're gone."

Your heart drops and a quiet oh leaves your lips. You swallow the lump in your throat, shifting your position so you're laying beside him. Arisu opens his eyes and his lips part a bit as you try to get comfortable.

"What are you-"

"I know what it's like to lose your friends and I don't blame you for reacting this way," you cut him off and the boy furrows his eyebrows together. "My best friend was with me when we entered this strange place. I've known her since I was about four years old," your eyes well up with tears at the memory of her dying in front of you, "we survived two games together until she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't want to "live" like this. So, I was with her when the last day of her visa ran out. Our eyes connected as soon as that laser pierced her skull."

Your lip trembled as the scene replays in your head, looking away from Arisu. He places a hand on yours before squeezing it, causing you to look up at him. "I'm sorry," he whispers and you sniffle before shaking your head.

"The point I'm trying to make is that you need to live to remember the good times. To beat this cruel game for them. To show whoever created this hell that they fucked with the wrong people," you tell him sternly and you begin to get a bit angry. "I'm getting out of this hell and I would like it if you joined me, Arisu…"

His brown eyes widen slightly, your hands still touching each other's and you lace your fingers together. "Okay. Let's do it for them," Arisu mumbles and you smile softly before the two of you slowly get off the ground.

Tagging: @bumblebet-20 @maddz-world

#ryohei arisu #arisu imagine #arisu imagines #arisu x reader #arisu x you #arisu fluff #arisu angst #arisu fanfiction #arisu fanfic #arisu fic #arisu #alice in borderland #alice in borderland imagines #alice in borderland x reader #alice in borderland x you #alice in borderland fanfiction #alice in borderland imagine #alice in borderland fanfic #alice in borderland fic

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danetobelieve · 4 years

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In Sweetness There Is Strength || Ricky, Rio and Winston

When: 30/06/2020 Who: @ricky-corderbro, @3starsquinn & @danetobelieve Where: Room Mate Squad HQ Summary: After Rio’s fight with the trolls. Warnings: medical blood tw - they clean Rio up quite a lot and there is indepth discussion of Rio’s scars / bruises / injuries, also there is abuse mentions too.

The events of the night swam through Orion’s head in a thick, convoluted fog. After Kaden dropped him off, Rio stood outside for a while. White noise filled his head. He was trying to process what had happened, but his brain seemed to refuse the request. Probably some kind of coping mechanism. It had still been too fresh on his mind. The attack, the pain, the murder. Everything clung to Rio’s throat, threatening to spill out at any moment. But instead, Rio felt lifeless. Like he had cried every lost ounce of liquid that he could to Kaden. Kaden. Who had gotten hurt trying to protect Rio from doing something stupid. Who had no choice but to listen to Rio scream about the pain. Who had listened when he had refused to go to the hospital. And he had done all of it knowing that the two didn’t actually get along or agree on anything. But would Rio have changed anything? Would he have attacked the trolls first, knowing what was coming? Or would he have simply put the two in danger again to try to avoid the violence. It felt like a lose-lose. That no matter what Rio tried to do, he was doomed to fail. Wow, poetic. Really hit that nail on the head. Isn’t that all Rio had been doing his life anyways? Failing?

But he couldn’t stand out here forever. Winston or Ricky would find him eventually. Or worse, some random passerby on the street would see Rio covered in blood and he would end up arrested. He couldn’t avoid them forever. It seemed like now was the best time to get the freak out over with. He stepped slowly towards the door, each step another stabbing pain in Rio’s side. He hadn’t exactly figured out what to do about the broken ribs yet. But he knew that the hospital wasn’t an option. Everything else would heal fine. The ribs were a bit more concerning. Tonight, he just wanted to crawl in bed. He moved to reach towards the door knob but stopped himself. Blood on carpet? Not a great idea. Ricky was having someone over on Friday. The place needed to stay clean. So he knocked with his elbow, careful to avoid getting blood anywhere. Rio was too embarrassed to look at whoever answered the door. His eyes were trained on the ground and locked onto a single space of the porch. “I’m sorry.” Rio breathed in, a small groan escaping his lips from the pain of breathing, “Can you uh- can someone go into my room? And grab me something to change into? And maybe a wet towel.”

Things were going good. It was blissful. Things with Rio were going slow, but even something as little as holding hands was enough to send a cacophony of electric butterflies whirlwinding in the pit of Winston’s stomach. Rio was out and Winston and Ricky were fucking around on Borderlands Three. Literally fucking around. Winston was literally lying on the sofa so that their head hung off of the cushions and everything was flipped. “Ricky, I fucking told you that if you invert everything on your controller and flip yourself over it’s basically the same as just playing normal way up. Just more s-” they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Dashing to the door, they slid to a stop on just their socks (this was a strict no shoes in the home household) and pulled the door open spotting Rio. “Hey R-” they didn’t finish their sentence. “Is that blood?!” Winston’s hands flew to their face, pushing it up so that Rio had no choice to make eye contact with them. A veritable Jackson Pollock of injuries had been forced upon Rio and a fury that Winston rarely felt filled them. “Sorry, don’t be sorry, come in….” they spoke quietly, mainly because if they didn’t whisper they would scream, “Ricky, I’m going to get Rio a change of clothes for Rio, can you get the first aid kit and help clean him up and then we can take him to the hospital…” Winston headed straight up the stairs, not waiting for a response, their fury causing them to shake slightly with each step.

“That’s just Borderlands with extra steps.” Ricky was draped half in/half on/half off an armchair as he and Winston ran around a swamp planet, shooting absolutely everything in sight, “Can we just fucking finish this and hop to the next planet? Everything here is green which means I can’t fucking see shit. Promethea was better. Urban landscapes don’t fuck with my color blindness like swamps do; and while I”m loving the gay romance subplot here, I’m ready to be able to land headshots successfully again” There was a knock on the door, which in and of itself wasn’t weird they were pretty popular and enough people just swung by to say hi, but the knock sounded strange like it hadn’t been made with a hand. Winston managed to extricate themselves from their strange position before Ricky could and went to swing the door open. Craning his neck to try to see who was in their entryway Ricky managed to fall fully out of the chair and onto the floor when he saw it was a bloody Rio, “WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU KNOCKING AND NOT JUST COMING IN JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.” He hopped to his feet, tossing his controller onto the chair and bolted for the very robust first aid kit he kept in one of the kitchen cabinets, digging out some alcohol wipes as he came back, “Sit on the stairs” he pointed to one of the lower steps as he tore the wipes open, “What happened and who do Winston and I have to kill. I’ll do it. I’ll rip a motherfucker’s throat out. That’s why I’ve got fangs.” He used said fangs to tear at a length of gauze, holding it out to Rio, “Is it okay if I touch you? To wipe your face?”

Winston and Ricky reacted pretty much exactly how Orion expected them to. They were concerned. Shocked. He hadn’t expected them to be so… angry. Far angrier than Rio could manage to be right now. But the two wanted the trolls to pay for what they had done. Rio wished he could explain how they had already paid. Rio and Kaden limped away from that encounter alive. Could they say the same thing about some of the trolls? Winston pushed Rio’s face up, but Rio could hardly focus on their face. His sight felt glossed over, a mix of exhaustion, pain and shock. But he was being led inside, “But the floors…” Rio heard himself mumble as he was dragged inside. Rio gasped and held his side as he stepped. He hoped they didn’t notice the injury. They would want to look at his side. And they couldn’t see him like that. “I don’t want to get blood anywhere” He tried defending himself to the two. The carpets were important right? What about those antique floors Ricky always bragged about? Still, he mindlessly followed Winston into the home, only focusing when he heard the mention of the word hospital. “No!” Rio yelled, the volume surprising him. Up until now, he had barely been able to speak more than a whisper to Kaden or them. “Please. No hospital. My dad will be there. I can’t-” He didn’t finish his sentence. Ricky and Winston may not know everything yet, but it wasn’t hard to connect some of the dots. They knew he couldn’t risk seeing his dad. Especially not like this. Winston rocketed up the steps and Ricky settled Rio down on the steps, asking him questions that he didn’t think he could answer. “You can touch my face.” Rio sighed, wishing that they had been out when he had gotten home. The desire only worked to make him feel worse about himself. As Ricky asked more questions, he dotted cloth across Rio’s skin to clean the blood. He jumped as the cloth touched his cheek, the bruising and cuts stinging his face. “You- I do-” He tried to figure out his wording multiple times, stumbling through sentences and cutting himself off each time. Because he didn’t know what to say. Or how to say it. “It’s dead.” Rio finally settled on. Not all of them. Rio remembered their threat. But the two that had done this to Rio were both dead.

Winston came down the stairs with fresh clothes for Rio and a pile of towels, not to mention more first aid supplies just in case they had run out. “Fuck, I forgot-sorry,” Winston moved slowly to Rio’s side, “Rio’s right the hospital is a no go…. I would offer to help clean you up but I don’t think my hands are gonna be steady enough, I can try some healing magic once we’ve got you all cleaned up if you want…” Winston should’ve been there. Watching Rio like that made them angry. Seeing them in pain made Winston furious. They would’ve gone out and killed whatever had done this to them if it hadn’t been already dead. Swallowing. Winston pulled out a chair for Rio and motioned for them to sit in it. “Ricky is going to need to work on you for a bit if going to the hospital isn’t an option then the very least we can afford to do is get you all cleaned up.” Winston paused for a moment, glancing nervously at their shoes and then at the kitchen wall. “What do you want to do first? You can get cleaned up and get changed and get right and talk to us, or you can tell us as you go. But eitherway, I think-” Winston didn’t want to press him, “Rio,” they slipped their hands into Rio’s and gripped them firmly, “can you tell us what happened so we can try and help?”

“THE FLOORS?!” Ricky scoffed a little and shook his head, “If I have to pick between you and the floors it’s going to be you every single time, Rio. I don’t give a single flying fuck about blood on the floors. I care about you being okay.” he knelt down next to Rio, carefully wiping his hands clean with one swab before ever so gently holding Rio’s chin and carefully cleaning off the wounds on his face, “I know this stings like a motherfucker. Did I ever tell you about the time I had to stitch up a mermaid bite on my side? You think you’re bleeding on the floors now you should have seen that. I’m pretty sure there’s still a stain on the landing.” He attempted to keep the conversation light, distracting Rio and Winston as best he could as he cast a moderately-trained gaze over his friend, “If we can’t go to the hospital I need you to tell me exactly where it hurts and how it hurts. I can do a decent amount; I’m used to having to care for myself, but if there’s something outside my field of knowledge I’ll have to make some calls and try to get somebody discreetly out here to take a look at you.” Shoving the bloody wipe into a bag near his feet Ricky opened another one, looking over Rio and sighing heavily, “I’m sorry we weren’t there to help. With whatever this was.”

When Orion thought that Winston was moving to touch his side, Rio jerked, flailing his arm out to try to stop Winston before they had a chance to press it. “Don’t!” Rio hissed. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut, embarrassed that he had just done that. To Winston of all people. “Sorry- sorry. Just- please don’t touch it. I’m fine. I heal quickly.” He just hoped that they healed correctly. But there wasn’t another option. Could Winston’s healing magic even work with Rio fully clothed? He didn’t have it in him tonight to have that conversation. Rio grabbed at one of the towels and began mindlessly wiping at this arms. It didn’t fix the red stains across his body, but it at least took off the excess blood. And it served as something for Rio to focus on other than the looks Winston and Ricky were giving him. They were asking so many questions. But that wasn’t the scariest part. They were… caring? He wasn’t told to brush it off or get back up. They were protecting him. Just as they always did. “I got attacked. I- You don’t have to be sorry. Neither of you do. You can’t always be there to protect me. It was so pathetic that he even needed protection. He was supposed to be the strong one. Blessed with some divine gift for protecting others. It was all just meaningless words to him. “I- It’s dead.” Rio breathed deeply, ignoring the pain and trying desperately to stop himself from crying again. Hadn’t he done that enough tonight? “I- I killed it. I tried to stop it. To get away or beg them to leave us alone. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do. And I didn’t want to die and I- I killed it. It was a troll. And it’s dead now because of me.” His breath was catching in his throat, threatening to cut off his breathing all together. Ricky was trying to distract him with other stories, which Rio was happy to latch onto in an attempt to get his mind off of things. Ricky’s story and Winston’s hand wrapping around Rio’s were the only two things keeping him grounded right now. “I- I don’t know. I think I’m okay. Just… sore. He threw me into a tree.”

This was a lot to deal with. Winston wasn’t sure what was more overwhelming. The level of endearing that Rio was managing to achieve by being concerned about the fixings and furniture of the house over their own well being, over something that meant absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things compared to Rio’s life. Maybe it was how upset Rio was that he had physically recoiled from Winston trying to touch him. “Hey, hey,” Winston could see the fact that Orion was upset and they could completely understand why, they remembered when they had killed the vampire that had gone after Ricky. They remembered when they had killed themself. They still remembered the look in August’s eyes as the energy was sucked whole from his body and used to bring Bea back from being a ghost. “I don’t know what happened, you tried everything you could by the sounds of it and you had nothing more that you could do.” Winston slowly stepped forward and held Rio close to them, pulling Rio’s head into the crook of their shoulder and running a calming hand through his hair. Leaning closer, Winston whispered quietly to Orion as they held them. “Listen, I- I saw Athena’s scars and I know that you probably got it worse then her if what you’ve said is true, but we can’t look after you if you’re gonna keep your hoodie and everything on. I know this is hard, but I can get Ricky to not bring anything up. We don’t have to talk about it right now. We just need to look after you okay.”

Orion almost broke down when Winston hugged him. The hug was gentle and cautious. And Rio didn’t care how much it hurt because all he wanted was for Winston to keep hugging him the rest of the night like this. To run their fingers through his hair and promise Rio that he wasn’t a monster. Rio felt like a monster. Worse, he felt like a hunter. He needed to stay strong. If he cried now, he wouldn’t stop. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Rio wasn’t expecting Winston to know about the scars. But a moment later and it clicked into place. God, what an awful time to remember that Winston was probably super familiar with his sister’s scars. “It’s not- They’re not like hers.” Rio warned Winston. Athena’s scars were battle scars, won from killing creature’s and training. Rio’s were different. Unevenly healed wounds, burn marks. His scars were a punishment. But what choice did Rio have? It was Winston and Ricky after all. They knew him. Rio trusted them with his life, so why not trust them with this? “O-okay” Rio finally whispered back, making an attempt to grab at the hoodie so he could start to slowly peel it off. But the pain was way too severe to do it himself. “I- I can’t get it off myself.” Rio groaned. This was so embarrassing. This wasn’t something he should be asking from either of them, but especially Winston. They were nowhere near getting undressed near each other stage. “Can you help me please?” Rio finally asked, holding his arms into the air and trying to laugh, though it sounded more pained than humored, “This is so awkward, I’m sorry.”

Honestly, Winston wasn’t sure what they had been expecting. They had been ready to back right off and to find another way for them to fix this without having to get Rio to take off the hoodie. But Rio agreed and gently peeled away from Winston. Winston had to admit that they were reluctant to let him go, but they did so anyway. “It doesn’t matter, they’re just scars, they’re not you.” Winston had their own scar. It wasn’t going to be comparable to Rio’s but they thought maybe they could at least try and sympathise. Winston gave Rio a weak smile before nodding. “Yeah, don’t worry Rio I got you,” stepping forward, Winston carefully held Rio’s t-shirt down whilst slipping their hand under the hoodie and pulling it up. Once they were sure that the hoodie wasn’t going to pull away at the t-shirt, Winston grasped it with both hands and slowly and carefully helped Rio peel it off of their body. It was wet. With blood and sweat and god knows what. Winston dropped it into the empty kitchen sink. Thank fuck that Ricky kept this place spotless. Glancing over at Rio, they squeezed his hand and nodded at them, doing their best not to look at the exposed skin on Rio’s. It was clear why Rio had been afraid, had been embarrassed even. Winston could tell that there had been a lot of pain and a tidal wave of sympathy and anger over took them. Tears threatened to rush to their eyes and Winston insisted on remaining calm. “We’re good okay, I’m gonna get you a soda or something, you should get your blood sugar up and Ricky is going to start looking you over.”

Ricky remembered the first time he’d met Rio, when they’d been caught on the beach in a sudden storm and taken refuge in the workshop. How he’d had to go wait outside in the rain for Rio to finish changing because the man was so secretive about his bare skin. So, in an attempt to alleviate the pressure of being looked at and give Winston and Rio a little bit of privacy in this moment, Ricky busied himself tying his hair back and making sure his glasses were absolutely spotless. When out of the corner of his eye he could see that the sweatshirt had been removed he nodded to Winston, “Grab me one too please.” It was immediately concerning to him that Rio couldn’t manage the range of motion to remove his own sweatshirt and Ricky pushed his glasses up on his nose, leaning forward to look over Rio, “It should go without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway, inside these walls any secret we learn is safe. Nothing is going to reach anyone else. Where on your chest is it hurting? Since it clearly is.” He was very very careful not to touch Rio, who was clearly in a fragile state at the moment, “Though I think we both know that the answer is probably ‘broken ribs’ especially if you got thrown into a tree.”

Orion never knew how people were going to react when they saw the scars. For the most part, he had kept them secret. Only a few in town had ever seen them. Rio had only ever actually told one person where they truly came from. But Winston and Ricky knew enough about Rio by now. He knew they were smart enough to connect the dots. Winston went to grab drinks, something Rio realized that he desperately needed. He hadn’t even realized how dry his mouth had been until they mentioned it. Ricky paid no attention to the scars aside from ensuring that the secret was safe with him. Of course it was, because Ricky was an incredible friend. And Rio shouldn’t have been so scared about telling either of them about it for this long. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you both I- I just can’t tell anybody about it right now. Except for Blanche. She’s the only one that knows.” Rio’s heart was going haywire, never having anybody quite those close to him when he wasn’t wearing a hoodie. He felt exposed, like he was on full display to his roommates. “I’m pretty sure it’s broken ribs.” Rio nodded his head in agreement, lifting his right arm to attempt at pointing to his side, “This side has the most pain, but I hit it face forward so it could have gotten both sides, I don’t know.” He still couldn’t believe that this was actually happening right now. When Winston returned with drinks, Rio took a long drink from it, almost coughing the thing back up from pain. But he forced it down and felt the instant relief in his throat. “If- if you need to get a better look at it you can…” Rio paused, too embarrassed to speak the words. He had to force himself into a pained deep breath before rambling out, “takeofftheshirtifyouneed.” He groaned, wishing he hadn’t just offered but trying to lighten the mood as best as he could. “I trust your intentions.” He hoped that his attempt at a smile came through to the both of them. But he didn’t want to do so without warning them ahead of time, “But it’s uh- it’s worse. Under the shirt. Just so you know. The arms aren’t as bad.” He just didn’t want Winston to get too freaked out. Some of the wounds were recent. Some of the bruises were from the tree and would eventually go away. But most wouldn’t. “Someone will have to help me again if that’s the case…”

“Listen, you don’t need to apologise for not telling us anything, you don’t ever need to tell us anything.” Winston slipped Ricky’s drink down beside him and crouched besides Rio, a hand gently placed on his knee doing everything that they possibly could to be reassuring for him right now. “Whatever happened, we don’t need to talk about it right now, if you need Blanche here I can get her now, right now we don’t need to be thinking about what could or should be one way or another, what we’re thinking and focussing on is getting you patched up so everything heals right.” Winston tried not to think about the scale of the injuries. They’d started reading up on healing magic but they could do about as much as an aspirin right now, healing major wounds or setting bones wasn’t really something they were going to risk yet. “Don’t worry about your shirt, I got it.” Winston quickly and carefully slipped Rio’s less damaged arm through the hole, before tugging the shirt over Rio’s head and finally pulling the rest of the shirt off of him. Grabbing a towel, Winston carefully folded it over before placing it around Rio’s shoulders. That way Ricky could still see and at least Rio would have some privacy. Winston tried not to look at the bruises and cuts too carefully. There were clearly a patchwork of fresh wounds, but then again there was also older scars. Burns for some reason. Winston’s very soul was a blaze in that moment. No wonder Athena was the way she was. No wonder Rio never wanted to take his hoodie off even in the middle of a roasting hot club. Anger bubbled inside of Winston. White hot. Fuelled by the pain of someone who truly didn’t deserve this. Someone who had literally been thrown through a tree and needed love and tender affection and not to be burned by the people who were meant to protect and care for him.

In the heat of the moment there was a lot that ran through Ricky’s mind, but if he had any skills it was the ability to compartmentalize so he could deal with emotions later, “I second that. You owe us no explanation for anything. You owe nobody that. The only thing we need from you right now is to let us help you however we can.” Ricky’s own chest was a fairly well covered network of scars from aquatic monsters, a tree vampire, and just being fucking stupid, but it had absolutely nothing on the novel’s worth of scar tissue that ran across Rio. He could feel the very animalistic part of him, that only ever lurked just behind the bright smile and easy laugh, raging at the story the scars told, coupled with what he knew of Rio’s family. But his anger was his own burden, not something he would ever ask Rio to help carry. “Yeah that troll fucked you up pretty good my dude.” he didn’t even have to raise his fingers to feel for broken bones, he could tell from the bruising and the swelling that some ribs had been broken. “It sounds like you’re breathing okay. It probably hurts like a motherfucker but I don’t think you punctured anything.” rocking back on his heels Ricky took his glasses off and massaged the bridge of his nose, “I can’t fix that. I could have set an arm or a leg, and I can do stitches, but ribs…. I just have field medic training. If you look me in the eye and tell me Ricky my hunter healing will take care of this just fine, I’ll believe you, and carry you up to your room to rest and heal up. But, if that’s not the case, I know someone I could call to come over and discreetly patch you up.” sliding his glasses back onto his face he gave Rio a smile, “It’s up to you, my dude. We’ll follow your lead here.”

“It’s fine I don’t need someone else here freaking out too. You both are enough.” Orion wanted them to not worry as much. Maybe if he could convince them that he was okay, they would be too? They had both already worked magic for him. Rio had come home feeling like everything in the world was ending. Now, Rio was in pain and his heart still hurt for those trolls. But he felt loved. Accepted. Safe. There wasn’t anything more that he could ask for. “I’ll tell her tomorrow. Let her get a good night’s sleep before she freaks out.” Winston, as per usual, was Rio’s savior. They wrapped the towel around Rio’s neck to give some sort of security. Nobody had seen Rio shirtless in… years. Probably since childhood. Rio had always found excuses to get away. To hide and avoid any prying eyes. Somehow, in what was probably one of the most revealing moments of Rio’s life, he still felt incredibly safe. These two were something else. “I’ve had broken ribs before.” Rio admitted. He didn’t give any further details. He didn’t need to . “They healed.” He wasn’t sure that they had ever healed correctly, but they had stopped hurting eventually. “This will all heal. I promise.” Rio couldn’t risk Ricky’s contact being anyone that knew his parents or sister. It was a small town and the Quinn’s weren’t invisible. They would heal. They had to heal. “I- I don’t know how to thank the both of you for this.”

“You don’t need to say thank you to anyone for cleaning you up after you were put through a tree,” Winston took a step forwards in front of Rio and took both of his hands. “Here, let me try something, I hope it’ll help a little.” Grasping Rio’s hands gently in their own, Winston gave them a gentle squeeze before muttering a string of Latin that they had memorised a few weeks ago. A cascade of power began to gently trickle out of Winston’s fingers, little tendrils of light braiding themselves up and through the air before they tracked back into Rio’s hands. The light slipping through the skin. Winston could feel a brief moment of exhaustion and their eyes felt heavy. Their breath became laboured and a moment later they pulled away from the power. “I can’t really do healing magic, but that should at least help with some of the pain for a bit. It’s the only spell I can really do and… I hope it helps.” They really needed to keep a doctor on retainer, between the three of them. “Well, Ricky it seems like you still get to take the next trip to the hospital,” Winston moved over to their fridge and tapped the colour wheel that Ricky had drawn up months ago, as a joke of course, next to their house chore chart. “Yeah, says Ricky’s up next.”

Ricky watched quietly as Winston wove their magic, seeing them grow more tired as the energy left them and flowed into Rio, quiet latin filling the room “Careful there Merlin.” RIcky gave a wry smile, “I don’t want to have to carry you both upstairs if you knock yourself out doing too much magic.” He squeezed Rio’s knee gently, leaning back against the wall at the foot of the stairs, “Rio. There’s nothing to thank us for. I dunno how to make it more clear, but I love you with every single ounce of my rotten heart. Fervently. Deeply. Truly love you. Both of you. You guys are my family. This is your home. Not just your house. You deserve to feel safe and comfortable here and I’ll do absolutely everything in my power to make this a refuge for you. But Winston’s right. You gotta obey the hospital wheel. It’s my turn next. This is why we have the rota.” Ricky pushed himself back to his feet, wiping his now-slightly-bloody hands on his jeans, “I’ll make some dinner. Y’all get upstairs and comfortable. I’ll bring a few trays up. We can watch something stupid while we eat. You’re home now, Rio. Any troll who wants a piece is gonna have to get through me and Winston. I will go full goddamn seal beast mode to stop that from happening.”

#p: ricky #p: orion #wickedswriting #para #chatzy para #chatzy #in sweetness there is strength #abuse mention tw

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achieveandhunt · 5 years

Text

live typing extra life 2019

warning: this a fucking LONG post. if you plan on reading it all, godspeed.

i typed all of this as it was happening on stream so this gets progressively less coherent as i grow more sleep deprived. prepare yourselves. i may or may not go off topic at some points

larry vehemently vomiting pure malic acid. we’re off to a great start

what the fuck the soggy ass popcorn in that ranch jesus christ

lindsay in the song from AH the musical. i love her so much

jeremy going YAAAAAAY after someone eats a cursed oreo

matt getting AGGRESSIVELY kissed by larry

“this kiss this kiss” before geoff and jack kiss

geoff “i’m from alabama” ramsey

THIS FUCKING RANCH SEGMENT HAS ME GAGGING

jeremy “the alcohol demon the whiskey goblin” dooley

alfredo “you wont believe what the white people did today” diaz

DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS DUSK BOYS GET THAT DICK ESSENCE

wait why does it sound like wonderwall

they look like characters from the matrix

the speaking parts. make my teeth hurt

in conclusion: they weren’t kidding abt the tight pants

okay everyone get ready for eric soundboard spamming YEAH BABEY

“hi i’m from broadcast and i don’t want to be here” they represent themselves well

also, let’s take a second to appreciate broadcast here!! they have a really tough job and don’t get a ton of credit. lots of love to all of broadcast!!! you guys are awesome

i am: foreseeing problems with this eric sound board

which one is eric?? will the real eric please stand up?? was the real eric the one we found along the way??

“i’m... just really worried that i won’t ever find love-” “i really don’t care”

WHY DO THEY HAVE THAT ON THE SOUNDBOARD (what does that apply to? whatever it is you’re thinking of, but mostly “daddy wants some”)

ooh someone’s about to get a fReE tongue piercing from a pineapple

god dammit i went to the bathroom for thirty seconds and now they’re eating chad’s chest hair

owie the shock collar and belly slap look painful, but drinking natty light from a shoe? that’s a true punishment

“and this roast was brought to you by meundies”

ah yes what better way is there to end a segment than people throwing up

“man action” oh no

THROBERT MULVEINY

K A R B is blind in T W O of her eyes

“my last name is cottagecheese”

I HAVE A PIECE OF METAL SHOVED UP MY A S S

chris has somehow managed to lose 23 years of age and roughly 412 pounds

“just open throat like baby bird” who the fuck is writing this and why is it jeremy

jon. jon you’re breathing in adam’s ass fumes

a summary of this segment: ass and cottage cheese

BARB IS HERE I REPEAT BARB IS HERE

“to fitness” -starts choking-

final fitness coach: tad, here to workout your issues so they can beat you into submission

“will you buy my wet” well i don’t see that on the raffle items

we’re back folks & i’m loving this walk around segment

moonball wall and gavin&michael will soon be reunited can we get an F in the chat

jeremy getting a borderlands tattoo is very on brand

what’s extra life without a little satan

“starvation army, putting lead back into paint, increasing childhood obesity” people in chat: TAKE MY MONEY

chris “i’m doing a different hole” demarais

ah yes. the game we all play in hell: twister

nobody edit chris getting mustard shot down his throat. i’m scarred enough from the original clip

oh fuck. oh god. the mayo. oh god what the fuck is up with the misuse of condiments this year

this just in: a human soul costs roughly $12,700

D̷̯͑̆̈́͝Õ̸̲͎̥̬͈̬̙͕̲G̸̢̧̠͉͚̙̲̙̓̔̀̇S̷̥̀́͆̈́̇̀ ̶̣̞̗͚̬̭̖̦͇̈́̎̈́̿̓̈́͆̒̋D̷̙̟̩̫͉̺̐̊̚Ö̶̥́̋́̓ͅĜ̵̞̌͋̏̉̌̕͝͝S̵̤̹̣̫̮̻͛̍̑̕͝͝ ̷̧̨̞̙̥̟̜͍̉̍̑̏̇̀̾D̴̻̮̩̯͓͉̖͎̘͐̒͋̓̉͝ͅỎ̶̰͓̳̥͑̅͛͊̒͐͊͘̚G̵̩̻̦̥̠̃̔Ş̶̹͚̩̱͖̀͆͘ ̸̢̢͇̻͔̗̺̼͖̱̏̾̔̚D̴̨̨̫̙̃̾̋̾̆̓̓Ớ̷̡͓͎͊G̶̱̣̣̰̝̖̰̗̓͐̐̊͋̀͊̀̕͝Ş̷̩̺̬̖͙̺̟͗̈́͒͗̀̑́́̕͠ ̷̡͈̼̲͈̳̫̺̝̈́̋͌͗̒ͅD̸̨̬̞̪̗̘̄̑͆̿̈́͘͠͝O̸̡̡͇͕̻͎͍͉̅̌͗̄͌̑̉̔͂̎Ḡ̸͙̟̪̞̬̬͕͐̈̏S̶̝̪̼̮̠̜̭̳͖̘̑

urine: to help with aerodynamics

jon: maya, speak! maya: *the smallest arwoo*

today’s mvp: any dog. pick one. no matter which you pick, you’re right

how the fuck did blaine change back from satan so quickly

barb as a cat is... my new sleep paralysis demon

blaine: barbara speak! barbara: climate change is real

#dogsforkids

this just in: extra life killed my wifi

we’re back & kdin is in the business of killing people with spice. she is the spice queen

queue six thousand well-timed 1337 donations

HOLY SHIT THAT’S COLIN FROM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY

hmm “questionable liquids” is very... questionable

trevor: oh there’s four of them! we all get to join in the Fuckkkk

“what’s your favorite kind of candy” “any meat”

i like pickles and i would rather rip my eyebrows off than drink the juice so i feel for trevor

the only thing worse than drinking apple cider vinegar is shooting it out of your nose

“can you feel the love tonight” “i used to and that’s the problem”

“flubs every word man” damn, really missed the chance to say captain hair

jeremy not being able to intentionally flub his words is so fucking funny

OK BOOMER

wow i can feel my blood pressure spike just watching these shots

Xavier Woods is here and he wants to know if it’s Christmas

miles doesn’t know what a question is

WHERE’S YOUR HAIR

oh no. oh no helping hands is next. everyone clear a splash zone

CHEF MIKE CHEF MIKE CHEF MIKE

miles bossing around chef mike is priceless

“you leave that fucking dough on the floor”

“you wanna slam your hands down on the table” *pizza sauce goes flying everywhere*

HOEDOWN HOEDOWN HOEDOWN jesus why do i keep doing that

“If Colin Mochrie is listening, I’ll see you here next year” OH FUCK YEAH

--- this is when i take a break so my soul can return to my body (aka i have work to turn in. college will never not be a pain in my ass) ---

oh god dammit i missed all of Always Open. fuck college who needs a medical degree

so... we have some very interesting things happening in family feud and i’m not sure if i like any of them

hmm. is now the time to get drunk

oily twist feels very... ominous

what do you mean you don’t remember gandalf having a taser in lord of the rings?

someone in the chat said “big stupid sleeping thing is what my parents called me in high school”

i think i’m blacking out what’s going on i don’t remember the past two hours

ah yes. voldemort and snape having a talk show together sounds exactly like something J.K. Rowling would make a spinoff book or show or porno of

can we just talk about how much shit chris has been doing this year? what a guy. what a dude

“coldy with voldy” actually means getting knocked the fuck out cold because you only got three hours of sleep last night and you don’t want to miss chef mike and lindsay cooking

this snape poem is summarized by one phrase: “that was terrible sit the fuck down” (sorry chris)

“let’s destroy a weasley” enter chad

fucking called it

“you smell poor” i need a caffeine drip

heh the wheel spins are at 69 heh nice

i’m a grown ass woman

welcome to a section called: we torture chad for your entertainment

“who wants us to kill weasley?” *massive cheers from the audience*

“wait weasley step away from the wideshot so i can masturbate to this later”

“i’m not gonna rub my eye mom”

oh they’re really gonna kill chad on stream huh

i felt that chest slap in my soul

i think i felt my own ribs crack

oh fucking

tumblr deleted my thoughts on the fanfic section

alright. fine. brief summary: my teeth are burning

my mom lindsay is on next and i’m so excited but i’m nearing the point of loopiness so things will go downhill dramatically from here

this is my fucking fourth extra life, you would think i’d be smart enough to sleep the night before

LINDSAY LINDSAY LINDSAY THAT’S MY MOM

JEREMY JEREMY JERE- wait a second... did jeremy get taller

oH CHEF MIKE CHEF MIKE CHEF MIKE

i hope Xavier comes back next year because he’s funny as fuck

m y a t t

oh god the mcdonald’s shade i’m rolling

lindsay “who’s the chef here” jones

chef mike mentioned mayo and i involuntarily gagged

chef mike clowning the big mac. i’m crying

he made the right choice with ryan bc i’ve seen his cooking stream(s) and it’s nothing if not great content

i heARD A MICHAEL JONES

“lindsay you haven’t done anything but warm up cookies so far” “yeah and?? you’re welcome”

you know that classic snack. slightly warm oreos

JEREMY THE LIQUOR GOBLIN DOOLEY IS BACK

oh god him screeching across set is making me cry laughing

why does it remind me of trevor’s voice cracks in the one minecraft ep where they’re singing the lion king

the biggest spoon for the smallest shot glass

i just realized we’re not even halfway through yet and i’m scared for the length of this list i’m gonna end up falling asleep involuntarily at some point

lindsay no your teeth are going to errode from that shot in your mouth

well timed leet donation #1829495

this gorden ramsey bit is so fucking good

jack: what do you think of the arugala? matt: i don’t even know what you said

iT’s NoT jUsT tWo CoOkIeS miCHeAL

jeremy and michael just chillin amidst the choas is exactly my demeanor at any party i’ve ever been to

lindsay scores: ryan = 7 because diet coke, matt = still eating lindsay’s meal so it’s a 10, xavier = also still eating it so it’s an 8. total: 25

“deep fry everything but a remote control”

chef mike scores: ryan = 9 for no death, matt = greens are present, words were said, score is 8. xavier = Gourmet Mcdonald’s, food is edible, score is 8. total: 25

oh fuck it’s a tie

now they fight to the death. death = doing as many shots as possible

i think we’re all going to need liver transplants after tonight

no jesus please don’t vomit oh goD oh fUc k please- oh thank god

okay i’m making a part two this is too much

#extra life 2019 #i’m going for full 24 hours this year #rooster teeth #achievement hunter #jeremy dooley #michael jones #lindsay jones #jack pattillo #geoff ramsey #gavin free #ryan haywood #matt bragg #alfredo diaz #trevor collins #fiona nova #i regret everything in my life that has led to this moment

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

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Bubble Shit (The Borderlands Series, Part 9.)

Series description: Not many people had the chance to see a vault or to mean anything in the world of Pandora. Will a hardly built relationship in the loneliness of the desert would have the potential to change anything in the world of anarchy and chaos - or will the friends try to murder each other?

Part Summary: Along with landing on Eden-6, you actually had to go through the plan to know how many people you recruted and how much of a chance you might stand.

Warnings: A lot of guns, violence, reader is a tough badass - not a vault hunter tho. They’re badass and don’t give a fuck. And Scooter is a dumb bitch, as always.

Word count: 2 K

Tagging: @notaliteraltoad @mayacaroni (maybe you’ll like the series and you’ll stick around, I just thought you might wanna get notified!)

Series master list: H E R E

In every meaning of the phrase, it was sir Hammerlock to the rescue. It also turned out that sir Hammerlock was the one who Scooter had contacted and the one who was willing to go with you on the suicidal mission along with his lifetime partner, Wainwright Jakobs - who turned out to run the whole Jakobs company alter. Which was exciting you - you were just too furious to show any emotion.

"Thank for savin' our asses back there. I couldn't exactly handle the landin'." - Janey smiled at the duo driving the car while the rest of you sat in the trunk pressed on each other. It was rather uncomfortable for everyone, but everyone shut up so you wouldn't start another conflict.

"No problem, miss Springs. Wainwright and I knew about your planned arrival and as soon as you weren't on the spot on time, we knew something went wrong. Excuse us for arriving as late as we did, it wasn't the simplest task to find you in here." - Sir Hammerlock answered nonchalantly and you looked at that dude with a furrow. It wasn't that you hated him, but you were too angry to even say thank you. Scooter was pressed up to your side and you tried to scoop away to Rayray's side without a stroke of luck. That gross son of a bitch was just pressed to you and you could say that it makes him extremely happy.

"No problem, Hammylock! How had ya been? Ages since I saw ya for the last time!" - Scooter yelled directly to your ear and you were just ready to strangle him to death when the nearest chance comes by. That guy was just a pain in your ass.

"It was rather difficult, Scooter if I might say. I had a hard time accommodating here on Eden-6, but the fauna gives me much more choices than the Pandora's did!" - Hammerlock's big, rosy lips curled into a happy smile and you almost melted under the look he gave to Wainwright. These men were in love, there was no doubt about it. And you were with love at their idea of love.

"I have a new girlfriend, see?!" - Scooter yelled all over the car and suddenly, you two were the main interest of everyone. You were his what? He said what? Your patience was wearing thin and Scooter seemed to just make himself sure he'll piss you off as soon as he can. - "Ya have a similar arm, that's super cool!" - Athena was just as confused as you were along with everyone else in the car. Exactly since when you became his girlfriend? Did you miss that? Was he assuming this based on the fact you two held hands for about ten minutes? Was Scooter actually five? You moaned in distress and bit your lip.

"I see. Nice to meet you, miss! My friend's friends are my friends!" - Hammerlock turned at you with a smile and offered you a handshake. He had the metallic hand on the same side as you did - on his left. - "By any chance, are you two distantly related?" - Hammerlock asked with a furrowed face and you almost choked at the question once again.

"I haven't met this dude until two weeks ago. We're not even friends." - You yelled back at Hammerlock and he raised his eyebrows in wonder.

"I see, miss!" - He answered after a short while. - " You're stepping up your game, Scooter." - Hammerlock told the man beside you with a wink, whatever that meant. The rest of your way was almost awkwardly quiet since anyone knew why the hell Scooter would say that you two are in fact in a relationship. That dude seemed to be an actual five-year-old not having only severe brain damage, but showing a case of schizophrenia with seeing and feeling things that weren't based in reality at fucking all.

"This is some bubble shit." - You muttered out when you were getting off of Wainwright's car and almost hissed at when Scooter offered you his palm. No. Last time you held his hand, because you were scared to death, he figured out that you're dating.

But the amazement over Wainwright Jakobs' mansion was something that made you forget about everything as you tried to look at the house. Is was huge. Like fucking huge. You heard stories about this house being the foundation for every Jakobs rifle, revolver, shotgun, and stuff like that ever made. You loved to use the guns since you found yourself on Pandora’s surface, so this was like a beautiful dream.

"Are you shitting me?" - You looked at Athena and she gave an unknowing look back. - "This is the goddamn Jakobs mansion. Every Pandorian cowboy’s dream." - You whispered.

"That's true, miss. It's always nice to meet someone whos interest in my family's business... In a good way. And may I say, I haven't seen this shotgun for a long time." - Wainwright took the shotgun from your back and he skillfully flipped it between his fingers. - "I think that we don't make these for more than fifteen years. A true ancient one." - He put it back on your back.

"You-you’re... That Jakobs? Like that gunman Jakobs?" - You stuttered out, following him inside as Hammerlock offered everyone food and something to drink before a long meeting you were scheduled to have.

"As far as I am concerned, I think I am. I can show you some of my wares and maybe give you a good-luck gun, how does that sound?" - Wainwright smiled at both you and Athena entering the meeting hall by his side. You almost suffocated. That Jakobs was willing to give you one of his guns as a gift? This adventure was slowly looking better and better.

"You won't be going with us?" - Athena asked when she saw you being on the verge of screaming, laughing, crying, smiling, and freaking out.

"No, unfortunately, I have a family business I have to keep my eyes on, but Hammy will be accompanying your little party. He already contacted a lot of people, so you don't have to be alarmed, ladies." - The man smiled, yet you barely got a word from what he said. You were still drooling and having heart-eyes because of the offer you got. A Jakobs’ gun will be given to you as a good-luck gift. Oh, dear Buttstalion, this was your best day.

It was kinda funny seeing Rayray and Blindy not being accustomed to such a luxury - any member of your party was, but in fact, you at least were living like normal people. These bandits were living in Ham’s Creek, one of the creepiest looking assholes you've ever had seen. Hammerlock offered you plates of fresh vegetables and fruits, which almost made you cry since it felt like centuries since you saw normal food for the last time. All you were eating on Pandora was Skag bacon and home-made bread, sometimes you didn't eat at all and drank vodka only. And they even had some normal water and juice. That house was heaven and you didn't want to leave. Ever.

"Now that we’re in safety and everyone's here, we might go through the plan Scooter and I had put together, shall we?" - Sir Hammerlock smiled at everyone and adjusted the monocle with the broken glass he wore.

"We know that the distress call - if you wanna call it like that, came from Athenas. For those who might not know, this place was and is inhabited by sirens. So we knew that Maya is there possibly, which is why I didn't contact her for our cause - I'm sure she already knows what's heading their way." - He told you and suddenly, pictures of Athenas’ landscape appeared everywhere around you. It was a beautiful place - which you hummed to Athena while stuffing your face with slices of carrot.

"I tried my best with calling Brick, just as you said, Scooter, but he is off to his own business, I guess. Unfortunately, he won't be able to reach us. However, mister Mordecai had answered my call and he has only one condition - nothing shall happen to his new pet friend on our adventure." - Hammerlock smiled and when you saw pictures of these men, your breath got stuck for a moment. Youve only heard stories about Vault Hunters, since you were a child. But these men looked dangerous and unpleasant, especially Mordecai with his bottle of alcohol, just... Just like you were looking all the fucking time.

"I contacted miss Tina next, and I am courageous enough to say that she is more than thrilled to accompany us on our journey since she was screaming something including the world's bomb, mothersuckaz, and blowing up." - Another picture was showed to you and holy fucking christ, that girl looked insane. And that wasn’t meant to be a compliment. She looked nuts.

"Next on the list was mister Zer0, Marcus and Torgue, miss Gaige, mister Krieg, and mister Axton yet neither of them answered the call. And... The last one came to volunteer herself. This young lady’s name is Fiona and according to her words, she is a con-artist of sorts, as far as I was able to understand." - Hammerlock looked at Scooter. His eyes opened up and you didn't know what on Earth should be your response. You didn't know anyone from the names you've just heard.

"Naturally, I thought about the route we will have to take and to calm miss..." - He pointed your way since he hadn't even know your name. - "We won't be taking a flight by a rocket since our Fast Travel system is working just fine. We shall take a small detour to... Uh... Boom Town as it is called, to pick up Tina and mister Mordecai. Miss Fiona told me that she will meet us in Athenas. In my opinion, ten people, especially as dangerous as miss Tina, are enough to make a difference on the battlefield." - Hammerlock told each of you honestly. That sounded like a plan that someone thought about.

"And the attack, Hammerlock? How do we plan to do that?" - Athena next to you asked. Hammerlock nodded and pointed his finger at her, showing you other landscapes from Athenas.

"You had to notice that this terrain isn't exactly the most pleasant to have the surprise factor on our side. We talked with Scooter about this." - Hammerlock nodded and Scooter stood up.

"Janey and Pickle were using a thingy called Stingray on Elphis and I tell ya, man, that thingy is cool as hell. So, I thought about playin’ with the engine and gravity sensors a bit, makin’ it fly much higher than before! And we might need a machine to, ya know, even make us the damn car on that planet since I don't think it's connected to the network." - Scooter told Athena, and it could be heard that he's an expert in this area, and Janey jumped into the conversation with her engineering and mechanic talents.

"In that case, we have to do somethin’ about the core and the coverin’, mate, because I'm worried that this will be our biggest problem. Elphis didn't have atmosphere and Athenas do." - She said seriously and you looked at Wainwright with your heart-eyes again. Scooter nodded and both of them left the room to work on the machinery. Everything seemed to be too real for you. Just too real.

#borderlands #scooter Borderlands #borderlands 2 #Borderlands fanfic #scooter x reader #sir hammerlock #wainwright jakobs #eden-6 #athena borderlands #janey springs borderlands #*terminator laughter* i am back

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lumiolivier · 3 years

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The Good Old Days Chapter 30: Hijo Favorito

A/N: Hi, friends! So, this is a little different from the other posts going up today. But I got two others going up and I need to make this short and sweet. So, here goes.

My trip to Michigan last week? Totally could've been better. I get home and my Wi-Fi was out. I'm currently doing a little better than what I was. But I'm doing alright. How...How are you?

My awkwardness aside...I missed you. I love you. And I'll see you next week. x

“So,” I pulled up one of the kitchen chairs, well aware that I’d be here for as long as I could. It’s only been a day and a half since I last heard from Vanessa, but goddamn, I missed this girl. And it really did do my heart wonders to hear her voice again, “How’s Rome? You doing ok?”

“Oh, Frankie…” Vanessa awed, “It’s absolutely beautiful here. Everywhere I look is just…It’s amazing. I wish you could see this, too. I mean, I got my camera with me, but it’s not going to be the same. Well, I’m sure you’ve seen parts of Italy before. It’s not all that far from Spain.”

“It’s further than you’d think,” I pointed out, “But no. I’ve never been to Italy. But I can’t wait to see your pictures when you come back. What are you up to right now?”

“I just sat down for dinner,” she let out a heavy sigh, “It’d be nice if you were across the table instead of across the ocean.”

“I feel your pain,” I didn’t like it any more than she did. And in a perfect world, you’re damn right, I’d be across the table from you, baby girl, but I don’t need you feeling guilty for something out of your control. I don’t want to ruin that for you, “But you know what? It’s a few months, Ness. We’ll be alright. Even if this is your mother’s fault, the only way we don’t let her win is that we persevere through her bullshit. We’ll be fine.”

“God, I hope so.” I fucking hate her mother. I hate her for putting Vanessa in this position. I hate her for hurting my girl. Every part of me wanted to introduce her to Mama, but Mama didn’t deserve to go through that. No, no, Vanessa. Don’t you dare let her win, “Hey, Frankie…If I ask you a question, do you promise to give me an honest answer?”

“Pinky promise,” I swore, “What’s on your mind?”

“Are you sure you’re doing ok?” Vanessa worried, “Because…I know you said you were alright when you brought me home, but…”

“Vanessa,” I stopped her before she could start spiraling, “Don’t do that. I promise I’m alright. If you want the God’s honest truth, it was a rocky start. But I promise you, baby girl, I’ll be fine. Between Veronica and the Old Man…”

“What does Veronica have to do with it?” she wondered.

“Veronica and I were hanging out last night,” I smiled a bit, “And she came to work with me.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Frankie,” Vanessa groaned, “Don’t get me wrong, baby. I’m alright with how you put food on the table. That has never been a problem for me. But for the love of all things holy, tell me you’re not getting Veronica into it, too.”

“No, no, no,” I assured her, “I couldn’t do that to Veronica. She’s got a bright future ahead of her. I’m not going to throw her into the wonderful world of what I do. Ever. That’s not what I meant by me taking her to work with me. She knew I was feeling like shit, so she came down to the Narrows and hung out at the bar for the night. Everything was fine. I made sure to keep an eye on her because I knew if I didn’t, you’d find out, come home, and beat the utter shit out of me.”

“Damn right,” she giggled, warming my heart like nothing else. Fuck, I needed that, “So, what brought Veronica to the Narrows?”

“Actually,” I bit my lip, hoping this wasn’t a total overstep on my part. I don’t think it is. I’m sure Vanessa’s going to find out eventually anyway, “Veronica met someone. I had to be her wingman.”

“Good for her,” Vanessa gushed, “What’s her name?”

“Tessa,” I told her, “She’s new in town, plays in a band, and Veronica is fucking smitten.”

“And?” she listened intently, “Is she worthy?”

“She’s going to definitely cause trouble at a family function,” I giggled, “What can I say? She’s a kindred spirit.”

“Frankie…” I knew when Vanessa pulled out her mom voice, that was the time to back off.

“I don’t purposefully cause problems at the family functions,” I defended, “That’s your mother’s fault. I just stand there and that’s enough to piss her off somehow.”

“You do know my parents don’t know about Veronica, right?” she cringed, “Because that’s not exactly something that’ll keep her in the will, if you know what I mean.”

“I know,” I had a feeling that Veronica wasn’t out to many people. But I know Vanessa’s safe. She knows. Of course, Vanessa knows. Vanessa and Veronica are close as hell. They’d take bullets for each other. And I loved that about them. They remind me of César and me. The oldest and the youngest being best buddies. Being super close. Knowing everything there is to know about the other. And if that wasn’t Vanessa and Veronica, I don’t know what is.

“You would be the trouble at the family functions if it meant keeping Veronica safe…” Vanessa hoped, “Right, Frankie?”

“Vanessa,” I just wanted to hold my girl in my arms again. Was that too much to ask for? Because this was one of those times where her words broke my heart into a million pieces. But my heart is nothing if not a mosaic because of her, “I would streak one of your parents’ parties if it meant being the distraction to get Veronica somewhere safe.”

And if that didn’t hit her right in the giggles, “Dammit, Frankie, I’m in public…You can’t say shit like that and expect me to keep my composure.”

“It’s true!” I squeaked, “I’d definitely streak one of your parents’ parties. Hell, maybe not even just for keeping Veronica safe. That just sounds like good, senseless fun. I’m sure that’d make your mother happy as a clam.”

“Then, my ass would be out of the will!”

“I love you, Vanessa…” I laid my head against the wall.

“I love you more,” I always knew what that girl’s voice sounded like with a smile in it. And goddamn, did I miss her, “I have to go. Can I call you tomorrow morning?”

“Call me when you wake up,” I told her, “I’ll still be awake.”

“Frankie,” Vanessa pointed out, “You realize there’s six hours between us, right?”

“Don’t remind me,” I chuckled to myself, “But yeah. I know. You got the number for the bar. I’ll be there at midnight. I promise.”

“Alright,” she let it go, “I love you, Frankie.”

“I love you, too.”

“You better be waiting for me.”

“Always.”

And those were how our nights went. I’d call her to tell her good night. She’d call me to say good morning. I’d go hang around the Narrows as I did every other night and the Old Man made sure to send me on jobs that would get my ass back to the bar by midnight. If I missed that call, I’d get pissed. And no one would want to deal with me. The one time I missed my call, the Old Man let me loose in the warehouse for the rest of the night. And not too many of them walked out of there. They had to be carried. Usually on a stretcher, but that’s here nor there.

After a few months of dealing with that emptiness, winter had successfully coated the city. Nothing quite like good old fashioned lake effect snow over Williamsburg. When the snow came off the water, there was a chance that no one was leaving the house. Which meant Mama not dragging us to a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, which was greatly appreciated. God understood that I was tired as hell and rolling through my good days and my bad days without Vanessa, so He thought He’d throw me a bone and let me get a couple extra hours of sleep. However, Christmas morning? That was interesting.

After a morning of opening presents, both Tony and César were screwing around. And I sat by the phone, waiting for it to ring. I knew the whole Scarlotti family would be spending their Christmas in Italy with Vanessa, so that meant me going without my little buddy for a while. However, I might have had an idea that would serve as my beautiful ace in the hole. Everyone would be happy. I’d be over the fucking moon. And the world would be a better place.

“Niños,” Mama called for us, “Ven a comer.”

“Mama…” I pulled a little box from behind the Christmas tree, “You’re missing a present.”

“Where did this come from?” Mama looked the box over carefully.

“Someone you love very much,” I kissed her cheek, “And that same someone loves you, too.”

With the way things have been working at the office lately, the Old Man got quite generous with that Christmas bonus. Because letting me skim big off the job in the borderlands wasn’t enough. However, this might be just the thing to give Mama a heart attack and land her in the hospital. But I knew better. She may beat my ass for making her cry, but I knew deep down in my heart of hearts that I’m going to be the one to win Christmas this year.

“Francisco…” Mama shook the box, “You didn’t need to get me anything more than you already did.”

“Oh, trust me,” I started squeezing churro batter into the deep fryer, “That’s totally worth it.”

“Que es, mijo?” she kept shaking the box. Not that it’d do her much good. There’s paper in that box.

“Abrelo, Mama,” I insisted, “It’s not going to do you any good just looking at the box.”

“Alright, alright,” Mama started tearing back the gold paper and pulled off the lid. As she looked over what that paper said, I watched as she clutched my gift to her to her chest, “Francisco…Ay dios…”

“Frankie, what’d you do?” César yelled at me.

“No, no, César,” Mama stopped him, her voice thick from crying, “Es algo bueno…”

“So, Mama,” I put an arm around her, “What do you say?”

“What did you give her, Frankie?” Tony wondered, trying to peek over Mama’s shoulder.

“Francisco…” Mama hugged me tight, whispering in my ear, “Por eso es mi favorito…No le digas a tus hermanos.”

“I won’t,” I kissed her cheek. But I always knew Mama had a more special place in her heart for me, “So? You want to go home for New Year’s or no?”

“Of course!” Mama sang, fanning through the plane tickets from the box, “Uno, dos, tres, quatro…Are we all going?”

“Either the four of us,” I suggested, “Or you and three of your closest friends.”

“Francisco, these tickets must have cost you a fortune,” Mama gasped, “These are first class…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I brushed her off, “You let me worry about that.”

“But…” she read them carefully, “These are for tomorrow.”

“I know,” I smiled, “You should probably get packing now. Our flight takes off pretty early tomorrow morning.”

“Te amo, mijo,” Mama snuck in a quick kiss, “Muchas gracias, cariño.”

“De nada, Mama,” I sent her off to her bedroom.

“First class tickets home?” Tony whined, “What the fuck, Frankie? We set a cap!”

“Hold on, Tony,” César stopped him, noticing the smile on my face getting bigger and bigger by the second, “There’s something else he’s not telling us.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” César studied my face a little closer, “The fact that, sure, it’s going to be nice to go back home for New Year’s and see the family, but there might be something even bigger afoot here.”

“Still not following you, César.”

“Let’s think for a second,” César threw an arm around Tony, “Who gave those tickets to Mama?”

“Frankie.”

“Eso es, Antonio,” he praised, “Muy bien. And on top of that, who has someone on that side of the world that he probably misses something terrible? Especially around this time of the year?”

“Um…” Tony thought for a minute or two, “Frankie? Right? Because Vanessa’s still in Ital…Oh…”

“I think it’s finally clicked, Frankie,” César giggled, “Admit it. There’s totally ulterior motives for this, isn’t there?”

“Well,” I confessed, “When I was talking to the Old Man not too long ago, I might have told him that I was missing the cute little angel that used to hang around here a lot. So, he might have given me some first class tickets to Spain, telling me to go get my girl. But that’s here nor there.”

“I knew it,” César rolled his eyes, a smile on his face, “Why would I be surprised?”

“Tearing her away from her parents is going to be a pain in the ass,” I grumbled, “But I’ll manage. We always do.”

And if it means sneaking away from my own family to run back to the girl I love most, then so be it.

#the good old days #fan fiction prequel #oc backstory #mafia au #switch #for the family

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lumiolivier · 3 years

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The Good Old Days Chapter 22: Our Piece of Pie

A/N: Hi, friends! This is some of the cutest shit I've ever written. And I'm going to let my work speak for itself, k? I don't have any warnings. I don't have anything to pimp out. It's just me here. And you. Hi, you. <3 Love you x

ICYMI: Chapter 21: The Borderlands Job

I know I’ve done a lot for Vanessa. And there’s not much I wouldn’t still do for her. I dealt with her mother. That was enough for a lifetime. But I’ll be damned if I don’t take her for pie. So, we holed up in the Downtown Diner for a while. This place was nothing but maybe a few people other than us. But these were drunk and junkie hours. Chances are, anyone who came in here past midnight was drunk or high. Still, Vanessa wanted pie. I wasn’t going to tell her no. If anything were to go down, I’d make sure she was taken care of. We’d be fine.

Swear to Christ, though. If I could give Vanessa the same orgasm that coconut cream pie could, I already knew what she was going to say what I propose to her. I knew better than to come between the two, though. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to fuck with her a little bit, “Would you two like a moment alone? I’ve never felt like a third wheel against a piece of pie before. I’m not sure how this works.”

“Shut up,” Vanessa laughed, “Let me have this. It’s not often I get to come this way.”

“Clearly…”

“Goddammit, Frankie,” she held her face in her hands, already done with me.

“Oh, come on,” I nudged her under the table, “I’m adorable and you know it.”

“In the right light, I suppose…” Alright. My girl can take it and dish it out. I knew I loved her for a reason.

“And you tell me I’m the asshole…” I teased her. I’d never have the heart to tell her I hated coconut with a passion. I could barely stomach a piña colada and that was only if it was heavy on the rum. Anything to burn the fucking taste of coconut out of it. That was the devil’s work. But to see the look on her face when that pie came out…Heart melting, “Hey, Vanessa, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she licked her fork clean, “What’s on your mind?”

“What really happened yesterday?” I wondered, “What didn’t the news say?”

“Come on, Frankie,” Vanessa whined, “I just had a magical piece of pie and I get a quiet night with my boyfriend. Do we really need to have this conversation now?”

“I guess not,” I let it slide. I could see it on her face. That sheer ecstasy the pie gave her started to wear off. And I started feeling guilty. I didn’t mean to wipe the smile off her face. That would never ever be my intention. Not for her.

“I kept you out of it,” she took my hand, “I’m not going to let her take you away from me.”

“And I’m not letting her take you away from me,” I assured her. I didn’t exactly have the ring in my pocket, but I might as well have, “Don’t worry, baby girl. We’re not going anywhere.”

“I know…” There it was. It started coming back, “I never saw the man that kidnapped me. Not his face anyway. So, even if they wanted to send me to a sketch artist, I’d have nothing to give them.”

“That’s comforting.”

“I did see his ass, though,” Vanessa swooned, “Damn, that was nice.”

“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes, giggling to myself. Whatever made her happy.

“Do you hear me complaining?” she let out a little sigh, “And me without a roll of quarters…”

“Jesus Christ, Vanessa,” I held my face in my hands. Yes. This is her. This is the one. I’m going to marry this girl. And she will make me so fucking happy, “You’d be proud! The guy with the nice ass you want to bounce quarters off of worked legit for the first time in months today because of this mess.”

“You worked legit for me?” Vanessa clutched her chest, “Frankie…That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“All fucking day, too,” I knew she was screwing with me, but I knew it came from a place of love, “I forgot what it was like. But it wasn’t the restaurant and my boss there isn’t a total dick, so I couldn’t complain.”

“Where in the hell were you working today?” she wondered, “Where did you get a legit job so quickly?”

“Where else?” I shrugged, “Where a degenerate scumbag asshole like me would be expected to work. The Old Man had me bartending in the Narrows. It was pretty great. I wouldn’t mind doing that again. It’s shit that I had to start working legit in case the cops came around, but it wasn’t bad.”

“Hey,” Vanessa kicked me under the table, “Be nice to that degenerate scumbag asshole. I love that degenerate scumbag asshole…”

“And that degenerate scumbag asshole loves his prissy debutant…”

“Aren’t we a pair?” Vanessa kicked her feet up on my knees, “I swear, they should make Disney movies about us.”

“Yeah,” I scoffed, “Disney doesn’t have the balls to make a movie about us. Baby, we’re just barely this side of West Side Story. Only I’m not Puerto Rican. You’d be amazed at how many people made that mistake when I was working the restaurant.”

“Really?” she looked at me strange.

“Yeah, yeah,” I nodded, “I know. Hard to screw up. But when that’d happen, my brothers and I had this game we liked to play. Whenever we had someone ask if we were either Puerto Rican or Mexican, we’d change up ethnicities all the time. It’d be the best when we’d say we were American. It’d confuse the fuck out of some of the more racist pricks.”

“What do you mean, you’d change ethnicities?” Vanessa asked, “I don’t know how to tell you this, Frankie, but I’m pretty sure you’re Spanish and American.”

“I know,” I laughed a little, “But we’d say we were brothers. What we wouldn’t tell them is that we were Spanish. I’d be Canadian. Tony was German, I think. And César was French. It was so obvious.”

“You three worry me,” she shook her head, “Did people ever believe you?”

“Every once in a while,” I nodded, “Those were some of my favorite days at the restaurant. Although, I’m pretty sure Tony said once that he was Australian. Maybe Chinese. You know…Something kind of off the wall that no one would think. We liked to get a little cheeky every now and then. Good times.”

“Hey,” Vanessa thought for a moment or two, “Do you think we could get the Old Man’s hotel room again? I really don’t want to go home tonight. I don’t want to go home and deal with my mother.”

“Trust me, Vanessa,” I felt for her. I wouldn’t want to go deal with her either, “The Old Man’s given me plenty today. I’m in no position to ask favors right now.”

“Oh…” she let it go, “I guess I can go home then…”

“Or,” I suggested, “You could just come stay with me.”

“Or you with…” Vanessa stopped herself before she said something incredibly dumb, “Yeah, never mind.”

“I wouldn’t say no,” I brushed it off, “I’d go stay with you any time you’d want me to.”

“But I don’t want to subject you to my mother in the morning,” her grip on my hand tightened, “I appreciate the solidarity, but you don’t deserve that. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I held back a little smile, “But I’m serious, Ness…If you want to come stay with me, I’m not going to tell you no. And I know Mama wouldn’t mind.”

“You’re serious?” Vanessa gasped.

“Yeah, I’m serious,” I assured her, “You’re more than welcome to come stay with me when you don’t want to deal with your mother. Just as long as it doesn’t end up with us on the news the next morning and with cops on our door.”

“I’ll tell Mr. Pearson I’m staying with a friend tonight,” Vanessa grabbed a phone out of her bag. Damn…Aren’t we fancy, “I have a few that are spitting distance from the Columbia campus, so it’s not like it’d be out of character for me. And you’re not going to be under suspicions for kidnapping.”

“That’s my girl…” I think I’m going to marry this one. I think I’ll keep her for as long as I can. Forever sounds like a hell of a place to start.

“Hi, Mr. Pearson…” she waved at me, getting me to effectively shut up, “I know. I’m sorry…I got caught up with one of my friends from school and I think I’m just going to stay at her place tonight…I will. Good night.”

Vanessa hung up her phone and put it back in her bag, “Well…? Don’t blue ball me here, Vanessa. What’d he say?”

“I have to be home by noon,” Vanessa beamed, “As far as anything else is concerned, I’m good to go. No kidnapping charges. No problems.”

“Alright,” I could breathe a little easier. And even more so since I know for sure Vanessa’s going to be ok. But then, something popped into my head. Something I could’ve lived without, “Uh…Vanessa…You do know I share a bedroom with my brothers, right?”

“That’s not a problem,” she let it go. Oh, dios mio. De donde vienes, angelita? Yeah. This one. She’s the one, “I’m not sleeping with your brothers, Frankie. I don’t know if you knew that or not. It’s just a room. At the end of the day, I’m sleeping with you.”

“I know,” I slid out of the booth and offered her my hand, “Just…You’re sleeping on the inside. Ok?”

“That’s fine with me,” Vanessa took my hand, “And if I wake up tomorrow morning with Tony or César breathing over me, I will not hesitate to throat punch them.”

“And I won’t stop you.” If only the courthouse were open right now, Vanessa. Your last name would be going from Scarlotti to Mendoza very quickly, “Shall we then?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “It’s been a long day of dealing with reporters and police and my mother…I just want to go to bed.”

“Good enough for me.” In a twisted kind of way, I lucked out today. I didn’t exactly luck out when there were cops giving my brothers shit this morning and the potential for me going to jail. But Vanessa had to deal with the mess more than I did. And in a much more high profile setting. This poor baby just wanted to spend a night with me after her mother tried selling her off like livestock. She’s just pissed Vanessa’s thinking for herself. I’m surprised she hasn’t told her to drop out of school because of what kinds of ideas it’s putting into her head. Next thing we know, she’ll start wearing pants and demand the right to vote, too. She’s a fighter, though. She doesn’t show how much of a fighter she is, but damn, this girl can be scrappy when she wants to be. And I couldn’t be fucking prouder of her.

By the time we got back home, things were quiet. Mama was already in bed. Tony and César were asleep. Not a peep came out of anyone. And I loved it. Vanessa and I tiptoed into the bedroom and I let her in bed first. Once I was next to her, nothing else mattered. She curled into my chest and shut her eyes. She knew she’d be ok. Because she knew what kind of protection she had when she was with me. Vanessa said it herself when someone thought she had been kidnapped by some lowlife from Williamsburg. She feels safe with that lowlife gutter rat from Williamsburg. I kissed her forehead and let her get some sleep.”

The next morning, I could’ve sworn it was all a dream. My bed wasn’t cold, but it was empty. Just me. Tony and César were still asleep, so I had that going for me. But if that were the case, where the hell did Vanessa go? Her shoes were still at the end of the bed, so she couldn’t have gone far. Unless she’s doing something stupid like walking on these sidewalks barefoot. But then, I heard music in the kitchen. That was usually the sign Mama was awake. If that wasn’t the giveaway, the smell of coffee and breakfast would. Although, the assorted mutterings had me concerned. Either Mama was losing it or…Uh-oh. Mama didn’t usually take too kindly to me having young ladies stay with me. But Vanessa wasn’t like them.

I got out of bed and made peace with any deity listening. Tony and César stayed asleep while I braved whatever waited for me in the kitchen. Fortunately, I found my girlfriend and my mother at the kitchen table with coffee between them. Ok. I can’t be too worried. But still, I wasn’t sure what kind of hornets’ nest I’d be kicking here.

“Buenos dias, Mama,” I kissed her cheek. Then, Vanessa’s shortly after, “Y buenos dias, hermosa.”

“Good morning,” Vanessa turned into a puddle. She’s cute when she first wakes up. Her dark curls are pulled back and a few escaped to fall in her face. Her mascara from the night before was a little smudged, but not too terribly bad. And that little glimmer in her eye. She wanted to go back to bed, but she had things to do today. I love her.

“Francisco…” Mama had that one voice. That voice that I knew shit was about to go down and my ass was about to be beaten black and blue. That voice that said, ‘cuidado, Francisco…’.

But I treaded lightly, “Si, Mama?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having Vanessa over last night?” she asked, her tone unchanged. However, her face didn’t read pissed to me.

“I didn’t even know until last night,” I admitted, “It was kind of a last minute thing, Mama. I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be too upset about it.”

“I didn’t want to go home,” Vanessa had my back. At the end of the day, Mama could be pissed off at me all she wanted, but she could never do that to Vanessa. Oh, no. That girl was already on a pedestal, “But you know all about that already.”

“Of course,” Mama held her hand, “Mi casa es su casa, niña. Siempre…”

“Gracias, Mama.” I could see it in her eyes. Vanessa didn’t know whether to cry tears of joy or tears of great sadness. She knew there was better. She had that better in front of her. But at the same time, she was stuck with worse…Mi pobre bebe.

“Shit…” Vanessa caught a glimpse of the clock, “It’s knocking on eleven. We should probably get going.”

“I was just about to say the same thing,” I pulled her onto her feet, “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

“We need to make one quickish stop first, though…” Vanessa dug her heels in for a second.

“Quickish?” I wondered.

“Quickish,” she nodded, “Adios, Mama.”

“Adios, Vanessa,” Mama smiled, sending her off.

“Hasta luego, Mama,” I gave her one last kiss.

“Francisco,” Mama stopped me, keeping her voice down, “Cásate con ella…”

And that was all the confirmation I need. Not exactly confirmation, but more like permission. I hid the little smile on my face, “Hablaremos más tarde, Mama…Te amo.”

#The Good Old Days #fan fiction prequel #OC backstory #mafia au #for the family #switch

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