Work Text:
Well, this was a problem.
You were at the last boss of your hard mirror dungeon run, when Dante had decided it would be a good idea to try and duo the boss with you and Hong Lu.
The thing was, it was not, in fact, a good idea. You were on the brink of death, and Hong Lu, at no sanity and with Roseate Desire equipped, had corroded. Just your luck.
The pink ribbons tied themselves around Hong Lu tighter and tighter, and you crossed your fingers and prayed he would hit the enemy and not you. Being pierced to death by pink ribbons was not a pleasant way to go from what your fellow Sinners had told you, and you would like to avoid such a fate for as long as possible.
As this thought ran through your mind, you felt the telltale touch of satin upon the skin of your legs, and you realised you may have just jinxed yourself.
<Aw, shuckaroonies,> mumbled Dante into your earpiece. <Looks like–>
Before they could finish their sentence though, static sounded, and you realised up the connection was cut. Now it was just you, corroded Hong Lu and a dying abnormality. Amazing.
Hong Lu stared straight at the Abnormality, the whites of his eyes pink from the influence of the EGO.
“Ankle to ankle… clip, clop…”
Well, this was it. You closed your eyes, accepting your fate. When you were revived, you would treat yourself with an ice cream or something. You deserved it after having to go through all this bullshit.
Hong Lu launched his attack…
…but not at you.
You watched in somewhat relieved surprise as the abnormality went down with a shriek in a flurry of ribbons, and promptly transformed into an egg.
“Well, that was lucky.” You looked at Hong Lu. “So, Hong Lu, should we…” You trailed off as you realised something.
He was still corroded.
Why? How? The battle was over. So surely that meant he would stop being crazy, right? That’s what usually happened. That was what was supposed to happen.
But, since the universe hated you, Hong Lu began making his way towards you, the ribbons still very much tying him up and dragging long the floor.
“Uhh, Hong Lu? Hello? The battle’s over. You can stop corroding now. Hong– argh!” The ribbons wrapped around you tightened, and you felt sweat form upon your brow. You were done for.
Or so you thought, until Hong Lu reached out jerkily, like a puppet, and brushed your cheek with his claws, while smiling in a dreamy, dazed way. “Aren’t you beautiful?”
Well.
Well.
This sure was a change in atmosphere.
“Uh… thank you?” A tiny part of you was, admittedly, rather flattered. Hong Lu was by no means unattractive, and to get this sort of attention from him was… well…
But the larger, more rational part of you screamed “Hong Lu is corroding! Hong Lu is corroding!” and you quickly shook away the feeling.
“Hong Lu, could you… calm down? It’s alright. There aren’t any more enemies. We can leave the dungeon.” Wow, (Y/N), super persuasive. This is why you punched things, not talked to them.
“I am calm,” said Hong Lu. “Well, I guess if you exclude my burning desire to make you mine, you could call me calm, haha~”
“…”
“What’s that look for?” Hong Lu pouted a little. “You always smile when you’re talking to me, but you’re not doing it now…” He leaned even closer to you, and you would have moved back if the ribbons weren’t so tight. “Do you hate me?”
“No?” You hoped that was the right answer.
“Ah… That must mean you love me!” The ribbons suddenly tightened around you, and you felt your legs start to go numb. “I feel the same way… so let’s be together forever!”
That… that did not sound good.
“Uh, but Hong Lu… we’ve got to do our jobs. You… realise that, right?”
“Eh? You mean the Golden Boughs? Who cares about that?” A frown settled on his face. “All everyone wants is power, and when they have it they want more and more even though no amount of it will ever be enough… why don’t we just let them waste their time, while we spend the rest of eternity together~?”
Oh, he was really off his rocker. It seems like there would be no convincing him, not while he was in this state. So, just how would you entangle yourself out of this situation?
You considered for a minute, and then realised. Your arms were free. The solution was easy.
“Hong Lu?”
“Yes?”
“Close your eyes. No peeking.” Your voice was smooth, low, and a flush rose to Hong Lu’s cheeks in anticipation. He giggled, and obeyed, hiding his pink-turquoise whites from sight with his hands, and the ribbons around your legs loosened just a little.
Slowly, you leaned in…
And punched him in the gut, as hard as you could.
If Hong Lu was in top shape this would have done nearly nothing to him, but much like you he was on the brink of death, and you had effectively pushed him over it.
He stumbled away from you, blood oozing out of his mouth and stared at you in shock. “Ah… how sneaky,” he muttered.
“Next time, ask me out to dinner before trying out all the ribbon stuff, ‘kay?” You crossed your arms together
Hong Lu slumped to the ground, and promptly and unceremoniously died, the ribbons that marked his corrosion fading away.
“…God, it’s gonna be a bitch carrying him back.”
At that moment, you spotted a pink ribbon on the ground. Huh, weren’t they all supposed to disappear? Strange. Well, you probably should leave it.
Or…
“Hey, Hong Lu?”
Hong Lu was sitting in his place at the bus, trying. Trying to what, exactly? Well, trying to remember exactly what happened in the mirror dungeon.
He had the vague memory of corroding, of course, but after that much of it was a blur. He was almost inclined to brush it off as him dying after, but he knew that something had happened, something unusual, what from the looks Dante and the other Sinners were giving him. Well, he hoped it wasn’t anything too embarrassing, especially since you were right beside him…
“Yes?”
“Faust told me there’s a nice ice cream place at the next stop.” As always, blunt and straight to the point. He liked that about you. “Wanna get something with me?”
Hong Lu smiled wide, practically splitting his face in half. “That would be amazing!” he chirruped, feeling butterflies inside his stomach.
And you smiled back. Just a little bit, but it was enough to send his heart soaring. “Right. It’s a date, then.”
You walked back to your seat, and as you left, Hong Lu spotted, tied right around your wrist, a pink ribbon.