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Published:
2023-03-22
Updated:
2023-03-23
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2,112
Chapters:
2/?
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Off-Balance

Summary:

*On Indefinite Hiatus*

Test Tube's experiment, dubbed "Experiment 626," has worked MORE than enough wonders. But even after their separation, Yin wants nothing but to keep Yang under control. But Yang? Yang is terrified out of his fucking mind.

-

AKA, S2E3, except Yang gets away from Knife when he's trying to force him to drink the antidote.

Notes:

Hi there! This is my first fic on AO3, but I'm pretty excited to finally post on here! For full disclosure, I'm not a system, but I've done my best to portray Yin and Yang's headspace, and how it would work when they're separated by 626.

Also, thank you to my best friend Indy. I can't get these two out of my brain journal because of you.

Chapter 1: Off-Balance

Summary:

Yin and Yang are separated by Test Tube. However, when trying to merge the brothers back together, Yang escapes and runs away.

Notes:

Hi there! This is my first fic on AO3, but I'm pretty excited to finally post on here! For full disclosure, I'm not a system, but I've done my best to portray Yin and Yang's headspace, and how it would work when they're separated by 626.

Also, thank you to my best friend Indy. I can't get these two out of my brain journal because of you.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe you threw me at Knife! You almost killed us both!” Yin yells at him.

Yang’s heart throbs violently against his chest, pushing against his ribs. Yin has no right to talk. He wanted to separate from him, but still be in control? That’s NOT fair. He’s NEVER fair to him. He never thinks about how he feels. How fucking TERRIFIED he is. WHY can’t he ever understand?! This is stressful, being separated! When things get overwhelming, there’s no way to slip back into headspace without leaving his body unattended now. His hands tremble as Yin berates him. Before he can think rationally, his mouth is going before his thoughts at this point. A natural defense. To be angry, to push others away from him. Because clearly, he put too much trust in Test Tube.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what you think! You don’t control my feelings now!” He’s seething. Impulsively, he tacks on, “And one-by-one, YOU WILL ALL DIE!”

He’s tense, and a STUPID… ANNOYING voice comes from behind. “Woah, Yang! Take it easy! I think somebody needs to sit down in the calm-down corner!”

Like a STUPID corner would help?! He spins around to the new victim of his rage. Marshmallow. Someone from the STUPID Bright Lights. He grits his teeth. SHE’S berating him now too?! His knuckles turn white. “SHUT UP!” He punches Marshmallow straight in the jaw, and she stumbles away. His breathing is ragged, almost as if taking deep breaths would feel like knives piercing his lungs.

And of course, Yin has to pipe up again. “No! Yang will never calm down!” In this state? Definitely not. “Now I realize why we were put together. So we could balance each other out… There’s only one way to fix this!”

Oh… That makes him mad. He doesn’t NEED fixing. And besides, Yin was the one who wanted to be separated from him SO bad. He watches as Yin turns to Test Tube. The one who MADE THIS WHOLE MESS?

“Test Tube, you have to put us back together!”

“But, Yin, I thought you couldn’t stand Yang!” Oh of course, it’s ALL about Yin.

“I can’t, but we need to be together! Someone needs to control his anger!” Yin pleads. Maybe, if Yin had any foresight or consideration for Yang’s feelings, he wouldn’t be THIS upset and angry! Yang glares at him. The one person he could at least trust, the person he shared his headspace and body with, HIS BROTHER, was conspiring with the one person that has put them in the most vulnerable state their body has EVER been in. The stupid scientist pulls out two vials, filled with a blue liquid.

“Okay… Luckily, I happened to make an antidote. Drink up!” She must be genuinely insane if she thinks that Yang would ingest ANYTHING she makes again.

He snatches the antidote from her hands, while his brother takes it more politely. “HAH! No way, you losers!”

“Gimme that!” `A gruff voice yells before grabbing Yin by the collar of his torn-up jacket. “It’s payback time!”

For once, Yang looks outwardly, genuinely terrified. The mask of anger falters as he’s grabbed and hoisted above the ground. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” He yells swinging his foot into Knife’s stomach in a panic. He coughs harshly, dropping the boy and the antidote in favor of clutching himself. The bottle of blue slowly rolls away from Knife.

“Yang!” Yin is yelling at him again, but this time he’s too angry, TOO upset to keep quiet about it.

“NO. YOU listen to ME, Yin! YOU wanted to be separate, but did you EVER ask ME what I wanted?!” Angry tears threaten to fall down his cheeks as he slowly backs away. Everyone is staring at him when they should be staring at YIN! This is his fault! Not his! Why does he always get the blame?! “There’s a reason I called you a dummy back there. Because this is a stupid idea! AND DON’T get me started on–” He heightens the pitch of his voice to mimic Yin, although very poorly, “–’I wouldn’t do anything wrong!’ Because THIS was wrong! You aren’t any better than I am and I’m TIRED of you thinking you are!”

He looks like he could keep going. Probably for hours, if he wanted too. But he’s snapped back to the situation they’re in. Knife bends down to grab the antidote, and some of the more… Aggressive… Contestants were beginning to approach him. Nickel, Baseball, Trophy, Paintbrush, all were trying to do what they could to for Yang back together with his stupid brother. Yang looks around, desperate for some way to get out of this. He felt stupid, and weak, and like he wasn’t good at protecting himself. But before any of them can get close enough to grab him, he runs. He’s really not used to using two legs, so he stumbles at times, but he’s surprisingly fast.

Yang can only hear the footsteps behind him and the blood pounding in his ears. A voice cuts through the crowd. Yin’s voice.

“Stop!”

Yang couldn’t tell if that was meant for him or for the people chasing him. Either way, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t be around them. Not around the cameras, not around the contestants, and DEFINITELY, definitely not around his stupid brother. By the time Yin says something else, Yang can’t hear exactly what he’s saying.

And soon, he can’t hear Yin at all.

Chapter 2: Off-Air

Summary:

Yin realizes how badly he has been treating Yang, and how badly Yang is treated by everyone else. He has some regrets, some fears, some questions.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“What’s wrong, Yin? I thought you needed to balance out!”

Yin frowns, rocking on his heels. Ideally, he’d be seated, gently swaying back and forth, but at the moment, the spotlight was on him. He covers his face slightly as bewildered and confused faces of his peers stare. “I… He’s scared. Forcing him to drink the antidote will only make him angrier and…” The realization hits Yin hard, forming a knot in his chest. He falls silent except for whimpers—preludes to utter sobs. You aren’t any better than I am runs through his head on a loop. A terrible, guilt-filled loop.

A particular angry face storms toward Yin, but it’s hard to see through his fingers. A gruff voice stabs at him. “So you’re saying that him BREAKING my leg, and almost KILLING you, is justified just because he’s upset?” Knife leans in toward the boy, and Yin balls clumps of white hair into his fists, rocking faster.

“No! I mean, I don’t… I don’t know. I’ve never agreed with Yang’s actions, but… He’s upset for a reason. And that reason is me.” Fresh tears brew in Yin’s eyes.

There’s a moment of silence, and Yin can’t say anything. All of a sudden, though, Knife starts hurling out curses, not towards Yin, but to the cameras. He’s visibly shooing them away. Yin peaks up, brought out of his panic with curiosity.

“Knife! Geez, watch your language around him-!” Test Tube starts up before quickly being cut off.

“If they can’t air what I’m saying, they can’t air this situation, genius.” Knife says bluntly, before going right back to his stream of whatever obscenities that could come to mind, joined in by some contestants letting off steam in their own streams of consciousness. Some very harsh comments about the audience’s mothers are said, for sure.

Test Tube’s brow furrows. Though that’s definitely true, still... Yin is rather young. Probably the youngest contestant by far, alongside Yang. However, the boy seems to be laughing a bit at the protesting of his fellow competitors. While tears certainly are flowing, they’re accompanied by a fit of giggles. Perhaps… She miscalculated a lot of things in this situation. Her expression softens as Yin starts to steady himself.

Instead of chasing his brother, many competitors were chasing the cameras away. He sniffles, rubbing at his eyes. A few of his peers remained. Test Tube stands by, awkwardly looking at the ground as she tries to think about the next few steps. Suitcase and Balloon were nearby, offering to talk it out if he’d like. Microphone, though not focused on Yin, was nearby, carrying Cheesy away. (In all fairness, it was likely needed. While he hadn’t cracked a pun yet, it was bound to happen without intervention.) Fan sits on his laptop, and Lightbulb sits next to him. She cheerfully suggests not entirely false stories to put on his blog in order to replace… Well, THIS. Yin, for once, feels like his peers truly care about him. It’s almost overwhelming.

And then the realization hits him again.

Yang would have never had this level of care. He would have never gotten a chance to bond with his competitors, and it’s largely Yin’s fault. His attempts to control Yang, to force him to play nice, to try to keep Yang away from any possible relationships because he was scared that Yang would ruin them? They all only made it worse. Yang wasn’t aggressive and mean just because he hates people… He pushed people away to minimize the number of people that would hurt them. He frowns, dragging his hands down his own face. He feels horrible. Not just for the pinnacle of everything that’s happened… For YEARS of him trying his best to keep his friendships away from Yang. For YEARS of lying to Yang. For YEARS… of treating Yang like he’s the worse brother.

He sits down on the grass, rocking slowly. He looks up to Test Tube. She was just trying to help him, right?... She made that serum before they came to her because she was looking for a solution. She wanted to fix… Something that wasn’t broken in that way.

“Test Tube?” His voice is hoarse from the emotional rollercoaster.

“Yes, Yin?” Test Tube squats down next to Yin, a serious look on her face.

“Do you think… Yang would ever forgive me? Even if I treated him really badly for years?” His voice gets quieter. He always hates doing things wrong. He tries to do what’s right, or at least, what he thinks is right. But… None of this was right. Yang didn’t deserve to be treated the way Yin had treated him for their entire lives.

Test Tube sighs and takes a seat. “I… I don’t like admitting this, but… I… Really don’t know.” She fiddles with her hands, staring off into the distance. “I really thought that separating you would help. Not… Make it worse.”

“I mean… You couldn’t have known. I should have, though.” Yin curls up further, hugging his knees.

“You’re… Very young, Yin. What you’re going through… What you and Yang are going through… It’s a lot for someone your age to handle. Of course, you’ll make mistakes. And so will Yang.” She offers a side hug. Yin reluctantly scoots over. The pressure would certainly help, but…

“Did you really see us as… as a problem you needed to solve?”

Test Tube’s brows furrow. She sighs. “Not… You. Not you as people, Yin. Your arguing. That’s what I wanted to fix. It was overwhelming to deal with, I can’t even imagine filling your shoes.” Her arm tightens around him slightly. “But… In short… Yes, I guess I did. And it’s something I highly regret. I see now that, not only should I read up more on DID, but… I should have listened to both of you. I just figured it was just another petty argument but… Well, Yang certainly did have a point that I didn’t consider previously.”

Yin frowns, resting his chin on his knees now, quietly nodding along to Test Tube’s rambling. He looks over as she hesitates to say something, nose wrinkling as she considers the possible reaction.

“I… I think you should go talk to him,” she decides, gently letting the boy go. “I’d… I’d ideally like to talk to him… To explain myself--my thought process, but… As you said. He’s upset and scared. He has every right to hold animosity toward me. And more importantly?... I think you need to be the one to talk to him first.” She opens her lab coat, pulling out another vial of the antidote. “I made more of these, just in case someone dropped one, or if one of you tried to destroy one of the bottles. But… If he wants to merge with you… He won’t have to approach me, first.”

Yin looks at the bottles. As much as he yearns to be free of his brother… They can’t survive without each other. Today was just one, huge, unignorable statement of that. He stands up, thanking the scientist under his breath, before ambling after Yang, holding the two bottles close to his chest.

Notes:

Probably will have one or two more chapters of this left. Everyone say thank you Indy for their Yin Yang illness (which I have INDEED caught). Also it's like, 00:40 and I'm out of town right now, so sorry if this isn't polished.