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When they first walked into the room together, hand in hand, and were told to pick a partner it was a no brainer. There was no one else they both would have wanted to choose at the time, no one else they would have wanted to shake hands with at that moment. Only now, as the timer slowly counts backwards by the second and the bag of ten marbles in their possession weighs them down much more than a small object should, they both know that they should have expected the worse from the situation. For as soon as the game was announced, they knew that nothing would be the same when that timer hits zero.
Bokuto is distraught, and rightfully so. He doesn't want to die, of course he doesn't. But looking at the love of his life in front of him, he knows that he doesn't want to stay alive either if it means that the one good thing in his life will disappear. Nothing good can come out of it. With duos around them playing in an attempt to get the other's marbles, bokuaka don't move an inch.
Akaashi can see Bokuto's inner turmoil. He's trying his best to conceal it, but Akaashi notices the little twitches of his lip and eyebrow, the soft taps of the soles of his shoes hitting the floor lightly, the slightly heavier breathing coming out of his nose. That's not to say Akaashi isn't scared either. Because he is. He may even be more scared than Bokuto is. But regardless of his own inner turmoil, he knows what he has to do.
He takes a step forward to take his boyfriend's hands in his slightly longer ones. His thumb runs up and down the side of Bokuto's hand to calm the older boy down.
“Kou.” He starts. “Calm down. Everything is going to be okay.”
“How?” Bokuto snarls out, shocking Akaashi at the sudden anger coming from his usually joyous and excitable partner. “How is any of this going to be okay? Only one of us can make it out alive Ji! Or did you forget that we only have twenty marbles between us? There’s no way that the both of us can make it out alive!”
More people are being eliminated around them. The sounds of gunshots and people dropping to the floor echo around the room, but Akaashi makes sure Bokuto is looking directly at him before continuing. “We've always faced everything together. I know that life hasn't been the fairest to us, but we've always managed to do it. We’ve always managed to persevere and come out of it with a smile on our faces.” He flicks his eyes to the clock to see there's a minute and a half left. How long had they been staring at each other?
He slips his left hand out of Bokuto's and with the other hand still in his grasp he squeezes the calloused hands belonging to his boyfriend. Hands that saved him from falling over during game one. Hands that directed him to the triangle shape during game two after Bokuto had realised what the game was when he was originally planning to go for the umbrella. Hands that gripped the rope in front of him during game three that stopped them from going over the edge. Hands that have saved his life so many times.
“Everything is going to be okay.” He repeats, a weak smile playing on the edges of his lips. “Can you smile for me?” Akaashi’s own smile wobbles and unshed tears form in his eyes as the sides of Bokuto’s mouth turn up to show off his bright white teeth. Without warning, Akaashi tugs his hand out from Bokuto's – grabbing the front of his shirt instead where the number 4 is displayed across his chest – and smashes his lips onto the others.
Akaashi feels his boyfriend melt into it but he knows they’re on limited time so he regretfully pulls away earlier than he would have liked to. “I love you. Never forget that.” He whispers when they part. As much as he tries to look away he can't, the pair of golden eyes in front of him being all he wants to focus on.
“I love you too Ji.” Bokuto whispers back in the same soft tone. “We can get through this together. Maybe I was wrong and there is a way where one of us doesn’t have to die. Maybe there's a loophole where we can both stay ali—”
BANG!
As Bokuto's eyes widen, Akaashi's become lifeless.
A slim body drops to the floor, blood seeping out of the hole in their forehead. The blood curls down the side of the body, where it gets soaked into the shirt that displays the number 5.
The countdown hits zero.
“Player 5, eliminated.”
Bokuto can't breathe. He can't move. He can't do anything except stare at the dead body lying at his feet. His fingers itch to run their hands through Akaashi's messy back locks one last time, to see the small smile that occasionally graces his features, to hear the soft laugh that not everyone has the pleasure of hearing.
From the corner of his vision, he sees two of the people in red walking in his direction and that's when he steps into motion. He lunges on top of his dead boyfriend and rubs his thumb against his cheek. The once warm skin is now cold and Bokuto sniffles heavily as his vision becomes blurry. “No... Ji, I know you're still there. You said that everything would be okay. Keiji you promised. Keiji come back to me. You know I can't do this without you. Keiji!”
A hand is placed on his shoulder, and he glares at the person in the red jumpsuit behind him who is trying to get him to move away. “Don't you dare try and move me.” He seethes. “Don't you dare try and take him away from me.”
“Go back to your room number 5. You passed.” One of the masked guards say. A couple more come up to them in an attempt to get Bokuto away from the corpse below him and out of the area.
“I didn't pass. You just shot him.”
“You have all twenty marbles in your possession. Therefore you pass.”
Helplessly, Bokuto closes his eyes and lets out a loud sob; already knowing what he’ll find if he checks the pockets of the jacket he’s wearing. He didn’t want to think about it, but he knew there was a small chance that Akaashi would probably do something like this; the younger boy had a habit of always putting his boyfriend before himself (all those years ago when Bokuto said it would eventually get him killed, he never actually thought that it would have come true).
If he knew then why didn't he stop him? This whole thing could have been avoided! The worst-case scenario was that they both died but at least they'd still be together. All anger immediately leaves his body and instead a feeling of desperation washes over him. Suddenly, he jumps to his feet, stands in front of the closest masked guard, and with tears streaked across his face says:
“Shoot me... please...”
“You need to—”
His slightly bloody hands fist in the front of the jumpsuit and he screams in their face. “Shoot me! I can't live without him... so if you don't shoot me right here, right now then I will fucking take that gun from your hands and shoot myself.” His grip loosens as the tears keep flowing. As his hands fall to his side he takes a couple of steps back and looks up at the guard through his blurry vision. When he doesn’t see the guard moving to comply with his demand, his gaze travels to the gun and his index finger twitches.
.
.
.
.
.
“Player 4, eliminated.”