Chapter Text
Night Terrors
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For some odd reason he was frightened and he couldn’t run. Whether his brain shut off or he was restrained by some unknown force.
As comical as it sounds, he remembers being put into a drill by a bear. A menacing looking cartoon bear with a half shark tooth smile and a regular bears muzzle. It laughed as it threw Souda into the drill and closed the exit shut, leaving him in temporary darkness.
Then suddenly, the insides lit up. Inside the drill were many lights and screens showing people he knew outside. His old classmates. Wait, but one person was missing, how could--?
Before he could even register the name in his mind, only remembering the face, the drill started digging into the ground. Even though the bear was outside, he could hear it laughing with more mirth. It made him shit in his pants.
The drill made a very rigid jerk which caused his head hit what was the roof or a wall inside the metal drill, then he collided into a chair which he magically became strapped in, restricting him of any movement. It took a few seconds until he felt hot. And not in a good way. His face started burning and his skin started prickling with a weird sensation as if he put his hand in a oven.
Then it connected into his brain. A metal drill moving, him being inclosed with no windows.
He was going underground. He was going to the Earths Core. How was this even possible?
It soon felt like hell inside. Literally. The inside of the machine caught on fire and soon Souda was burning alive, unable to do anything. Carbon Sulfide flooded his lungs which made it hard to breath, he’s pretty sure his feet are charred black...well his whole body really but his feet were just in horrible pain. He was helpless, and he didn’t know why the fuck he was here in the first place? What the hell was that bear and why was he being punished like this?
The thoughts swirled until he couldn’t think anymore. The oxygen cut off to his brain and heart completely. It took awhile for the pain to stop until there was a loud ring and his vision went black.
He knew he was dead. Until he saw the bloody, pale face of Gundam Tanaka.
Drenched in his own disgusting sweat, he shot up from his bed as a loud ass guitar riff over rided his unmanly, ear split scream.
His roommate’s girlfriend Ibuki Mioda, busted through the door singing along with Souda and the guitar riff, spit sprinkling from mouth. That caused Souda to scream again only this time, a much higher octave (like a prepubescent girl) than the one he did before.
“Wahoooo! Souda-chan has amazing chords!” Ibuki sang swinging her arms. “C’mon! The guitar riff is still continuing!”
Souda flung the comforters over his head making a makeshift hoodie. “D-don’t fuckin’ scare me like that! Shit!”
“Huh?” Ibuki tilted her head to the side with a quizzical expression, “Ibuki thought that Souda-chan was screaming with the music!” she shouted over said music. Souda slammed the snooze button on his phone and pouted, poking his bottom lip out like a kid.
“Fuck no!” Souda wailed. “I just woke up from this horrible nightmare, and then ya’ come in screaming like a banshee!”
“Does Souda-chan want to tell Ibuki--”
“No!” Souda cut her off. “Just, leave me alone! Go bother ya’ boyfriend or something.” he tried to shoo her away but Ibuki lingered around for a little bit before singing an ‘Okay~ Ibuki will leave Souda-chan alone’, and finally exited the room.
That left a still terrified Kazuichi Souda in the middle of his shock, shaking like a underdressed prostitute into the warm summer air. It wasn’t the first time he’s had a dream about himself dying or someone he cared about…
Not one to look into symbolism of dreams (maybe he should contact Hagakure about that) but something triggered it. There was a reason he kept dreaming about death. Souda took a moment to look around his room and see if anything weird was left there, like a dreamcatcher or occult ritual type of thing. However, all he found was scraps of metal and little trinkets he half way made and then just got bored of the project quickly.
It wasn’t too long before the door opened again, well slammed open and Leon Kuwata former underclassman and baseball player, barged in looking around like he left his whole life savings in the room.
“What the fuck was tha’ shit earlier?” Leon shouted in aggravation as the door banged closed from force thanks to Leon barging through like the hulk.
“Wha-huh?”
“You fuckin’ screamed like someone was murderin’ you! I thought Ibuki stabbed you, but now I see you just screamed in your sleep.”
“...c’mon dude, I don’t wanna talk about it.” Souda tried removing his covers and getting up from his bed. Leon, the Athletic fuckhead he is, pushed Souda back down on the bed with ease and stood over him with his arms crossed.
“This is the eighth time you’ve done this shit. What? You played too many horror games in the mornin’?”
Souda made a whiny noise in the back of his throat and flopped on his back facing away from Leon. “Just leave me alone dammit.”
“Something is causing you ta’ do this shit, you know, it’s not fuckin’ normal or healthy ta’ have 8 nightmares, 8 nights in a row.”
“...” Souda remained silent.
Leon clicked his barbell piercing against his teeth taking his friends silence as a time to leave. Ibuki was poking her head in but ducked when Leon turned around and started running down the hallway singing about breakfast.
“Of course it’s not normal. But what the hell am I going to do? Go see a damn doctor?”
- x -
At lunchtime, all of the nightmares came crashing down on him like a brick house, haunting his brain with the screams, the expressions, the emotions of his old classmates. Souda’s head started spinning as he stood in line to pay for his lunch. He felt his balance go off and his body tilt towards the left. A taller body had pushed or nudged him to stand upright, gently. Souda was rather taken aback at how gentle a push could be and went to thank the person.
Right when he turned his head and was about to mutter a thank you, his words went dead in his mouth and thankfully the nightmares completely spilled out his brain like pudding.
It was Gundam Tanaka in his proud honor. Head tilted up, eyes casted down, looking just as weird yet handsome (dammit how the fuck does he pull that off?). Souda sat there like a gaping fish until the silence was broken with a dark, low chuckle.
“Tch. You mortals can’t even stand on your own feet...” Gundam had a twisted grin on his face as he spouted out his sentence, looking at Souda with amusement. The latter stayed in place with his jaw still slackened, unable to utter a single damn word.
“...Gundam, uhhh...” he tried incoherently, but was interrupted.
“Yes that is my name mortal. Why do you speak of me so casually?”
‘Oh fuck.’ “Do ya uh, remember me?” Souda hesitated to ask suddenly shy instead of shocked to see the face of the guy he saw with a bloody face in his nightmare.
Non-existent eyebrows drew inward. For a second Souda thought Gundam was laughing internally until the other looked off to the side and muttered a quiet and deep ‘yes’.
“Ah okay, so it’s a little less awkward. Heh.” Gundam stared at Souda intently waiting for more to be added to his statement. Awkwardly enough, nothing was. Just silence.
At the opportune time, Souda heard a loud ‘next’ and turned towards the register. He paid for his food quickly but lingered around when Gundam paid for his vegetarian lunch (just a salad with vegetable toppings of course) and walked away from the counter briskly, like he was in a hurry. Souda knew why but didn’t stop himself from following and catching up to the Animal Breeder.
Gundam has always shut himself off from people ultimately, but it wasn’t like he was mean or anything, he was just...withdrawn. Often at school people thought he was weird yet the way he dealt with animals and communicated with them was either considered cool or cute. That was the only contributing factor to his popularity. Other than that, he was just some weird goth kid who thought he could do sorcery and was ruler of Ice and called his hamsters dark lords. Souda didn’t think any of that though, okay, Gundam is a little weird but it’s endearing.
During school he had been so blindsided by his crush on Sonia Nevermind (probably the most beautiful woman he’s seen in his life) that his advances became altered and getting to know the Animal Breeder was at a limited time. However, he knew that he had some interest in the guy but didn’t exactly know why he had the interest. Back then, he suspected it was just to tease him further or just resolve in his mind why Sonia liked hanging around him so much (she was so infatuated by Gundam it was like they were dating) but now it’s clear, it was simple attraction. Souda realized he was attracted to Gundam as well almost like Sonia stalking him. He was attracted mentally, emotionally and later, physically. The weird two different eye colors became attractive, soon the white streaked black hair, and the contrast with his pale skin. All fell into place, and quiet as kept, it was rather the opposite on how he saw and became attracted with Sonia. It was the physical first, then all the rest later.
In high school, it was futile to talk with the man because he seemed stuck in his ways. Consistently talking about his Dark Gods of Destruction or ranting about his dark powers and poisonous skin, constantly belittling people. However, once they got out of high school and Souda started working a few doors down from the pet shop he works at, he realized there was a lot more to Gundam than he had thought.
He can actually be a conversational guy, he’s watched a few people from his old high school and returning customers walk into the pet shop and hold lengthy conversations with him. He’s even talked to the guy on numerous occasions, but of course they were very short altercations, like “hey, how are ya’?”, “Fine on this sunny wondrous day!”, “Mm! Damn, great! Well, I’ll see ya’ later!” That was Souda’s fault for cutting that convo short. He sort of had no choice since he bit the shit out of his tongue and blood was beginning to seep out of his mouth.
Each time Souda gets better, less of a wreck who consistently turns every conversation into one between bros…
Wait, that’s what he wants right? A broship?
…
“Souda, are you following me?”
Without really thinking, his feet stopped in place and his jaw fell open. ‘Oh shit’. Hesitantly he looked up to see Gundam staring straight at him with the container of lettuce in his hand. Souda opted to look at the lettuce and make a nervous laugh, “Haha, oops. I didn’t mean to.” ‘Poor excuse, poor excuse, add more so you don’t look like a fuckin’ tool.’ “Oh, well actually, I have a question.”
There was silence for a second, Souda reflexively grabbed for his beanie and tugged it down over his eyebrows expecting to suddenly be rejected for conversation.
“Ask then.” Gundam declared in a low baritone.
Relieved, Souda let go of his beanie and stood up straighter giving a small smile. Until he realized, what the hell was he going to ask about? Not the weather again. ‘Fuck, I digged a hole, I should’ve left it like how it was earlier. Okay I need to get the hell out of here before I embarrass myself.’ Souda smiled a bit too bright and superficially setting up to try and make his escape as less awkward as it is already. “Uhm, what type of animal should I get?” ‘Hold up, what the fuck? Why did I say that? God damn, so much for trying to escape!’
Gundam’s eyes lit up as he put a hand to his chin. A craze smile that Souda knew too well twisted on his lips when he removed the hand. “You will have to come inside if you want to find the perfect pet for you, me simply telling you what you should get is careless.”
Souda nodded falling into conversation quickly. “Y-yeah, that makes sense.”
Gundam glanced at Souda briefly before turning around and walking into the pet shop. Souda followed suite, actually interested in what Gundam had up his sleeve.
The bell chimed when they both walked in and Souda couldn’t feel anymore on edge.
After all these years he has never walked into this place, but here he was standing in the pet shop.
Nervously, Souda stood by a huge cage and sighed rather loud. Gundam must be sound sensitive because he turned around and looked at Souda with curiosity. “Is something unsettling you?”
Souda leaped up and let out some weird Hanamura nervous laugh, “Ah, no, I’m just a little..tired…” ‘Tired of looking like a goddamn lovefool.’ He thought bitterly glaring at a empty glass case.
Gundam looked at Souda again like how he did before they walked in the shop. Like he saw through him but didn’t want to comment on it. Very quickly thankfully, his attention was taken off when he heard chirping by his ear. Maga-G, still alive and well ran up to Gundam’s devil dog earring and began what Souda believe is communicating. Gundams eyes lit up and he began chuckling to himself before taking the container of lettuce and opening it. his eyes were gentle but his laugh was a little rough, Souda wasn’t sure if him laughing to himself was a good or bad thing. Nevertheless, it all gave him time to calm his nerves and stop fidgeting in the middle of all these animals.
“Souda, you wanted me to acclimate you with an appropriate furry companion right?” Souda literally leaped up in his shoes when Gundam off handedly used his name. Gundam usually calls people ‘mortals’ or ‘something-one’. But this time it was on purpose. Souda’s pink contacts lit up and he began grinning like a dumbass.
Gundam furrowed his eyebrows in slight amusement of Souda’s reaction. “Fine, I take that as a yes.”
Souda made a sound of objection, but it died in his throat when he saw Gundam begin to feed Maga-G a dried piece of fruit, completely abandoning his lunch to feed the hamster. Souda was dumbfounded, no, not dumbfounded, he was mesmerized by how fucking adorable the scene in front of him was. Who the hell cannot like this? If Souda had a camera, he’d whip it out and take quick shots, but since you’re not allowed to do that inside the store that idea was abandoned. He didn’t want a cute moment to all of the sudden turn into a fearsome scolding from the owner.
So he opted to just sit there and watch until Gundam said something or did something else. Which he did, noticing how creepy and quiet Souda was acting. “Souda...are you alright?” he turned his one red eye towards the antsy mechanic.
Souda let out a nervous laugh, a very nervous laugh and scratched the back of his fabric covered head looking up at Gundam shyly. “Oh,” he started scratching his chin, “I-I-I didn’t mean t-to space off, I was just sort of going through my next line up of fix ups.” he lied, very badly, with stuttering and everything else you can do bad under the damn sun. Shit, Souda just wanted to spontaneously combust after uttering whatever the hell he just did and not give a shit because little bits of him will be scattered everywhere meaning immediate death.
However it was hard because Gundam acted like it didn’t happen, giving Souda false hope of not making himself look stupid as hell. Very calmly, the raven haired man nodded but then turned fully towards Souda with focused eyes and a gentle smile. Souda groaned inwardly at the man’s handsome smile. “Very well then, if you would like to look for your companion another time when you are feeling up to it---”
“NO!” Souda belted out cutting off the animal breeder. The taller of the two widened his eyes in surprise. “W-we can do it now…” Souda started. “I’m sure he’s standing here in this room.”
It took awhile for the reaction to surface, but when it did Souda coulda died in a drill going into earths core. Gundam lifted his patterned purple scarf over his face and muttered an, “Oh gods.” Turning away slowly from Souda like he had just been disturbed out of his mind. When at all that wasn’t it, he just read too much into what was just said to him.
“Uhm…wait...uh...” Evidently, Souda got nervous like a shy school boy confessing to the popular girl and pulled his beanie over his eyes. He could see a little bit so he could manage with walking around half blindly. Souda began to back out of the shop, completely done. He just fucked it up even more than he thought was possible. “O-on second thought, I uh, really need to uhm, I finna eat my sandwich and...yeah, I’ll s-see ya around Gun-uh, I mean Tanaka.” Then the pet shop door closed a little too hard, leaving a strong gust of wind to blow through the room.
That certainly was not a rational way for Gundam to react but he couldn’t do much about it, could he? Souda said something a little suggestive, then realized what he had done and bolted out like his pants unbuttoned by itself and fell down.
As cool as Gundam Tanaka could, still wondering what the hell exactly happened and wondering how a mortal could make such a normal encounter strange, he flipped the closed sign to the open side and went to feed his Dark Gods of Destruction absently. With an arm propped up on the counter and staring out the window not watching what he was doing, he accidentally shoved a piece of carrot into Chum-P’s mouth, almost choking it.
Meanwhile, Souda booked it to his shop so fast he might’ve rivaled Sonic the Hedgehog. Embarrassed tears stinging his eyes. Man, way to go gear head.
When he got home, he was greeted with silence, which was good. Last thing he needed was Leon suddenly bugging him about his day or whatever the hell upset him. The guy sort of had a sixth sense, or he just knew Souda well enough to know when something is up.
Content with the silence in the room, or rather home. Souda lazily, plopped down on the couch in the living room emotionally and physically exhausted from his day. He wanted to take a nap, but when the thought crossed his mind he immediately remembered those horrible nightmares.
Souda gave out a frustrated grunt opening his eyes and just sat there, staring at the blank television screen.
‘God dammit. So all that was really for nothing?’