Work Text:
...
"...Did you really think you were going to win this time?"
23
"Pico, just focus on fighting. There's nothing we can do for him now."
117
"Gigi, get your ass over here now, we need backup!"
466
I'm sorry
758
"I hope you understand that this happened because of you."
it's always the same
"We won't let you get away with this, motherfucker!"
981
why isn't this working
1,034
PLEASE
IT HURTS
1,256
I CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS
1,572
"Boyfriend!"
The rapper quickly snapped his head up, looking around to find the source of the voice.
Pico then cleared his throat, revealing himself as the speaker.
"Your go, Morse Code."
He looked down to see the UNO cards in his hand.
Oh. Right.
Looking over the cards, and seeing only one viable option that wouldn't result in him picking up from the deck, he looked over at Soul, who was sitting beside him.
"I'm both sorry and not sorry for this."
With that, he placed down the +4.
Soul stared for a moment, before snickering.
"I think that 'apology' should go to Pico instead~"
He slammed down his own +4, and Pico froze in irritated shock.
"...I hate the fact that the majority vote allowed stacking in this game. This shit sucks."
"Hey, you were literally the one that swapped cards with Soul two turns ago, dude, you should've known that was coming!"
"Mike, shut up, it's your turn!"
BF and Soul laughed before high-fiving.
They then heard a sigh come from the TV a bit further away, and looked over to see Senpai shaking his head.
"I think I'm starting to regret placing that $20 bet on you."
His side comment resulted in a laugh from Girlfriend, sitting on BF's other side next to BB.
"I could've told you it wouldn't be a good idea to place your bet on Pico, Sen~"
"Is it too late to switch my-?"
"Yes."
*Yes.
Pixel and Spirit immediately gave him a look, speaking at the same time.
With the lively chatter going on between everyone else, Soul took a moment to talk to BF.
"Hey, you okay, Bee? That's like, the 20th time you've zoned out like that in the past couple days..."
"Y-Yeah, don't worry, Soul. I'm fine."
"...Alright, if you say so..."
It'd been a few days now since the "incident" in the Mix universe.
Where Soul almost died.
Thanks to GF, Pico, and Michael staying over to keep an eye on the two, word of it spread pretty quickly.
The Hating Simulator trio found out due to them switching on the game while the former three were discussing what else to do.
BF's phone blew up with texts from the quartet at Carol's (likely culprit, one of them was an angel), with especially angry and worried texts from Sunday and *surprisingly* Whitty.
BB's phone had received a mass of texts from Armaros, who'd been working with him and the ghosts to find leads.
And Pico's phone had been getting messages, too... but he refused to divulge who they were from.
It was clear since then that none of them could ever really recover afterwards, either.
The events had left a scar much too deep for it to heal properly.
Boyfriend especially, given that he'd vowed to find the identity behind that thing's mask - but the group had been getting nowhere since then.
Pico and BB tried to tell him it'd take time to figure all that out with what little they had, but his impatience fueled by his distress got to him more than anything.
So, earlier that evening, they'd started the UNO game just to take their minds off of things for a little while.
The trio from Hating Sim had shown up just because.
...Clearly, it still didn't stop BF from getting lost in his own head. He didn't even want this to be bothering him so much right now...
He sucked in a breath, watching GF place down a reverse card onto the pile.
BB immediately put down another one.
...Oh no, they're in a loop now, aren't they?
"You motherfuckers, we're gonna be here all day, one of you play something else."
Pico was instantly chided by Senpai and Spirit for the cursing - not that Pixel didn't swear anyway, but the two tried their best.
Finally, BB placed down a skip card, making GF pout at him.
Currently, she was the one with the least cards, only having two in her hand.
Why was she so good at this game.
BF placed down a red 8, and Soul quickly seized the chance to play the swap hands card he had, looking over at GF.
"Oh, come on! Really?"
"Yes, really, you have the least cards. Now hand them over~"
With a small huff, she did so. However, she took a moment to think after the card swap.
"...He has a red 4, a blue-"
"Gigi!"
"Hehe~ What can I say, it's everyone for themselves~"
"I did not realize we were making this round of UNO a fight to the death."
"Are ya stupid? It's UNO. It's always a fight to the death!"
Pico then slammed down a +2 card, getting a groan out of Michael as he picked up two cards from the deck.
Girlfriend rolled her eyes with a smile, throwing down a wildcard.
"Yellow."
BF placed down a yellow 4, and immediately Soul threw down the red 4 in his hand.
"UNO!"
"Goddammit!"
Pico quickly placed down a blue 4, and BB responded with a reverse card.
"...I am NOT letting that shit from earlier happen again."
Without actually thinking, he dropped a blue 6 onto the stack - and the mere second Soul threw down his last card with a triumphant smirk was when he realized he'd practically allowed him to win.
Everyone else in the room groaned except for Pixel, who had placed their bet on Soul being the winner.
"...Soul, you little shit."
"Hey, you're the one who changed the color to blue. Got no one to blame but yourself there~"
"Alright, alright, bro, come on. Run it back."
"Pfft- and here I thought that was MY line?"
"Not when you win, duh."
"Mike, I am NOT playing another round of this shit."
"Aw, come on, just one more round, and we'll put the cards away, okay Piki?~"
"Gigi-"
"Pleeeeeeeeeease?"
The ginger paused for a moment, before letting out a resigned sigh.
"Fine."
"Cool! Let me just..."
She trailed off, having noticed BF remaining silent.
"Babe?"
No response.
There was that distant look in his eyes which were trained on the floor, all the thoughts in his head seeming to take control for just a moment.
And that feeling of something ripping open, desperation filling his mind and a choke in his throat because he wanted to scream-
"Keith!"
The older sibling's shout of his name registered, and he jolted, coming back and quickly realizing what happened.
"Wh-Wha...? Oh- Shit- sorry..."
"Are ya sure you're okay, Bee? Maybe we should take a break or somethin', let ya have some time to rest-"
"Nonono, it's fine! I-I can handle one last round, promise!"
The rest of the group stared at him for a second, before finally relenting, and reshuffling the cards.
While the others remained busy with that and the trio in the game started placing bets again, Soul turned back to BF.
"...あのことがあったからですか?" [...Is this because of what happened?]
BF stayed silent for a moment, before he sheepishly nodded.
He had a feeling it wasn't the whole answer, but he'd take what he could get.
"そのことを心配するのをやめなければいけない." [You need to stop worrying about it.]
"分かってる..." [I know...]
A few seconds passed before he heard Soul sigh, and he wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a small side hug.
His cheek rested against the other's shoulder and he felt Soul resting his head on his cap, now whispering to him gently.
"Bee, it's okay. We're both fine, I promise, you have nothing to worry about."
He placed a hand over Soul's, and the latter couldn't help but smile at it.
"Well, really the only thing you need to worry about is losing this next game, silly~"
BF laughed a little at the joke, and it caused a massive wave of relief to sweep through him.
Good, at least he'd gotten him to feel a little better.
The two stayed like that for a short moment before Pico spoke up again, causing them to pull away.
"Alright, cards are ready. Who wants to deal?"
GF quickly reached for the deck, and Pico handed them to her for her to deal out.
But during the process, everyone spared glances at the rapper when he wasn't looking.
Whether it be out of worry, anticipation, or something else.
...And Girlfriend found herself doing it the most. The way he'd been acting the past few days, especially right now, tugged at her with just the tiniest bit of familiarity.
The last card was dealt, the rest of the stack placed in the middle.
"Okay! Game on!"
10 minutes later...
"WHY AM I CONSTANTLY CURSED WITH PICKING UP 20 CARDS EVERY TIME I PLAY THIS??"
BB laughed as he picked up the rather ridiculous amount of cards he'd just been burdened with.
"I think you're just bad at the game, bro."
"No, no, I swear I'm actually cursed, this happens every single TIME-"
"It can statistically be possible for every player here to have a +4 card, XML."
"SHUSH IT."
A snicker came from Soul beside him.
"Stop whining and pick up your cards, goofy."
"うるさい." [Shut up.]
Girlfriend eyed him, a mix of concerned and curious.
His voice was a little tired, she could tell, even with the lighthearted bite to it.
...Hm.
Still, the game had been normal for the most part once it began.
Well, normal as an UNO game could possibly get.
"You're gonna have to start storing them in your hat at some point if you pick up any more."
"Let me collect all my cards in peace."
"Peace is nonexistent in this game, you should know that."
GF found herself laughing at the two's small bit of banter before placing down a green 5, followed by Michael playing a blue 5, and Pico putting down a red of the same number right after.
Soul stared at the pile, almost unimpressed.
"...Hm."
And then he threw down a reverse card.
"Do that again."
Pico scoffed, getting a laugh out of him - and then Pico played two red 8s and the game came to a screeching halt.
"Woah, woah, woah, who said you could do that??"
"Mike, you guys are the one who said doubles were allowed in this round! I'm just following what ya said!"
"Aw, wait, I thought we said we were using the 0 and 7 card rules...?"
"Gigi, this is a clear reminder that you guys play the online version too much."
"Okay- anyway, fine, doubles are allowed. Just stop trying to cheat."
"Then it's still your turn. And I'm not cheating, you literally just said it was allowed."
With a sigh, he placed down a red 2.
GF was in the middle of trying to decide what card to place down afterwards when she heard Senpai speak from the TV again.
Only this time-
"Excuse me for interrupting, but... is Boyfriend... okay?"
-her attention immediately snapped over to BF.
There were tears streaming down his face, but his expression remained as dazed as it had been last time.
And on the hand that had been laid at his side, not holding the cards, she could see a slight buzz on his fingertips.
...Why was that-
"Boyfriend?"
She looked at his face again.
There was that distant look in his eyes, his hands are shaking, he can't keep himself anchored to the present because all he can think about is-
"Boyfriend!"
With that shout, Soul dropped the cards in his hands to place them on the rapper's shoulders instead - and the contact seemed to do it, as he pulled himself back into reality with a sharp gasp, his friend quickly pulling away.
"I- Wha- ...S-Sorry, is it my go-?"
"Bee, stop. You're literally crying right now, there's no way in hell you're okay."
"I'm... what?"
And, sure enough, he raised a hand to his face, only to find that there were in fact tears streaming down it.
He paused for a moment before finally, and rather hastily, standing up, wiping the tears away.
"You know what? I-I'm just gonna go out, get some air... clear my head maybe. I'll be back, you guys just- keep playing without me."
Before anyone could do or say anything, he was already out the door.
Silence settled over the room, before Pico ended up breaking it.
"Does anyone know what the hell is up with him?"
Everyone else in the room shook their heads.
"Seriously, why the hell would he just randomly start crying like that...?"
"And maybe it's just the TV screen, but I could've sworn I'd seen something on his hand before you snapped him out of... whatever that was."
Her eyes widened a tiny bit at that.
So he'd noticed, too? She wasn't seeing things?
"Soul, can ya tell us anything?"
"...I don't know. I mean, I know he's feeling some sort of 'off', and I can only guess it's related to what happened recently, but... it's hard to pinpoint anything. It's weird, and for once I can't even tell what kind of weird."
GF looked away at that last bit, unnoticed by the others.
She didn't want to admit that some part of her might know what kind of weird.
"That's... not good, is it?"
*Maybe you should go after him and find out!
"Nah, it's alright Pix. Sometimes it's better to let him have the space."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, bro?"
"Yeah, I'm... sure he'll be fine. He can't be going far."
It was obvious that he was having trouble really believing that.
Honestly, though, who could blame him?
Actually, it was already a challenge for the two of them to be apart and not being in the same room, so the fact that BF had suddenly left like that, alone, without issues was... a little strange.
"...So... what now?"
"Well... he did say we could keep playing."
"You want to- after that? I don't know, Gigi."
"Okay- yes, we're all worried about him, I get that, but-"
She stopped herself after hearing her phone buzz, and looked on it to see that she'd gotten a text.
...Looks like she was going to have to step out for a bit, too.
"Gigi? Who's that?"
There was no way she could say who the sender was.
She put on a slightly annoyed face, forcing a seemingly irritated tone into her speech.
"Oh... just my dad, asking me to call him. You know how he is. Keep playing, I'll be back!"
She quickly walked over to the door, closing it behind her.
Michael was the first to speak following a short moment of quiet.
"...And then there were three."
"Well, nothing better to do, so..."
Soul quickly gathered up his cards and threw down the swap hands card in his possession, already looking over at Pico with a smirk.
"How the fuck do you keep getting that thing?!?"
BB laughed at the situation as the trio in Hating Sim began changing their bets.
Meanwhile, Girlfriend made her way over to the stairwell.
Once more, she took a look at the text that Boyfriend had sent her.
Honestly, she couldn't help but be concerned at how serious it sounded.
can you come to the rooftop
please
I need to talk to you. just you.
Sent 9:26pm
She put her phone back into the pocket of her jeans, and walked through the door to the stairs.
It didn't take very long for her to actually find the rapper.
The demon girl arrived on the rooftop, and quickly saw him sitting a few feet away from the edge, legs pulled up to his chest and his arms crossed over them, looking out at the city ahead.
Carefully, she walked over to sit down next to him.
And it took her a bit to finally speak.
"I... thought you usually came up here with Soul? You two talk about stuff here a lot."
"...Y-You're the only one who could understand what I wanna tell you."
Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded in response. Guess that was why he was (somewhat) fine with being up here by himself.
"Want to tell me what's on your mind then?"
She got a small "bep" in response.
Ah. He wanted her to be less direct about asking. She could do that, surely.
"Okay... let's just start with the tearing up. Was it because you were sad, or angry, or something else? Were you thinking about something that was making you feel that way?"
This time, a smaller beep followed her question.
Something different, but the second question was mostly true.
"...Is it related to what happened a few days ago?"
She was met with silence... and then the tiniest nod from him, as if any bigger motion would make him burst into tears.
"Aw, babe..."
Trying to provide what comfort she could, she wrapped her arms around him in a side hug, and he leaned into her, welcoming the motion.
Finally, she let the question spill from her mind, and out through her lips.
"Can you tell me what about it's bothering you, love?"
She could see him pause, trying to compose himself enough before he could dare to answer.
"The last song we sang that night... trying to get me free..."
His grip on his arms tightened, her worry for him only increased-
"That wasn't the first time I had to live it."
Even though he wasn't directly saying it, deep down she had a feeling she knew what he was alluding to.
And yet, a wave of shock paired with a little confusion shot through her.
Didn't that mean...?
"Why... why do you say that?"
Yet another pause.
"...Because every time before that, it... it was where he died."
Oh.
So her gut feelings were right. And the buzz on his fingertips earlier had been his retry.
The zoning out? Due to the memories he couldn't escape from, that he couldn't get out of his head. The tears? A byproduct of his reminiscence.
It all finally made sense.
That's why he'd said only she could understand.
She used to be able to do this for him, way back when he was fighting her dad for the first time. Then he started doing it by himself due to the exposure, which was crazy enough.
And it seemed to cool to him then, sure...
...Yet, after something like that, it must feel like some sort of curse, or a cruel trick.
Ever since that power became his own, he immediately confided in her easily every time - without fail, without hurt.
But... now...
"Boyfriend..."
Her sweet voice called his name in sympathy, concern, somewhat out of terror.
She hugged him closer, he allowed it.
"...How many times?"
The two of them had gone through this pattern again and again.
It was a question she'd always ask after finding out that he'd had to retry, and he'd never hesitated to answer.
Not until now.
"...I, um, kind of lost count after the first couple hundred..."
He was lying through his teeth, she could tell. He always knew exactly how many retries he'd gone through whenever he had to use it.
But the words "first couple hundred" were enough to send a dash of dread through her.
"Boyfriend."
He grimaced, knowing he'd been caught, and attempted to steady himself enough to just let out the actual number-
"...1,572."
Silence.
"...That's how many times it took. To get me here. Kinda lost track of time in the midst of it all, so it didn't hit me until later that... that I'd retried so much, I... I was just focused on trying to keep everyone alive."
A loss of words gripped her throat. He'd never used that many before, on any song, or set, or whatever- he'd never used that many in general.
It didn't take a genius to understand how shaken up he'd be by all that.
How much he'd endured.
"...Are you okay? P-Physically, I mean."
He nodded.
Mentally... she's sure it's an entirely different story. One that, at this point, she was afraid to hear.
The question still slipped through her lips anyway.
"...Do you want to talk about it?"
What she got in response was a dry chuckle, he pulled away from her touch, that distant look had shifted now and he seemed so much more broken-
"Yeah. I've kind of... needed to let everything out. For a while."
She was the one to nod this time, watching him carefully.
"Do you... remember... any of it?"
Boyfriend sighed, the tension in his body releasing, even if just a little.
"...Mhm. Every single one. It's there in my memory somewhere."
"Is... is that what you were thinking about earlier? Why you keep zoning out?"
She saw the tiny nod that came from him at that question.
"Even when I try not to think about it, I can still feel- I still remember, every time that hole in my chest tore open, how desperate I was to fix it the first several times it happened... and then it kept going. It'd always end the same way. It'd keep ripping open, and knowing I can't feel he's alive anymore I'd keep screaming until my throat was going to give out, crying, raging at the thing that did it when it taunted me, and it- ...it felt like my nightmares all over again. Except now I was living every last one of them, and I was getting used to it."
GF winced a little at hearing the painful recollections, but she still let him continue.
"When I was free, and he'd passed out from the pain after, I thought I lost him again, that I had to go back- it's so hard just to look at him now without thinking about how many times I saw him..." He couldn't continue that - and willed himself to just move on. "...I'd been constantly pleading to absolutely nothing wanting the cycle to end, watching everyone else fight a losing battle, looking away for just a second only to look back and see that he's already fading and everything hurts and-"
"Babe. It's okay. Catch your breath, I'm here."
He didn't even realize that his breathing had sped up until she pointed it out.
She guided him, let him take a break, let him rest for a few minutes until it was clear he was okay again, and then she finally spoke.
"...I-I'm so sorry, Boyfriend..."
"D-Don't be. It still happened, I can't change it. I already know that. I'm trying my best to recover, but this stuff just has a grip on my mind right now. It's just... difficult to keep acting like I'm fine. Like it wasn't as bad as it actually was."
"Well... is it at least helping to let it out?"
"I think so... a little. But... I'm probably still going to wake up with the urge to check and make sure you're all still alive."
"You know we will be. We're not going anywhere, okay?"
BF didn't respond to that.
Leaving her to think back to something he had said earlier.
He'd had to endure that, everything that'd happened in those retries... over 1,000 times??
"...Though, I- with that many... I d-don't know how you did it."
"Did what?"
"Push through like that- you already know how taxing that many retries can be on you! And on top of that, having to watch Soul die every time?? You already came to me before, telling me how afraid you were of it!"
Tears surprisingly came to her own eyes at that - she remembered that night as well as he did.
"...I know. I just- did. It's what I usually do, isn't it?"
"Yes, but- BF, this is different."
"...What more was I supposed to do...?"
She knew what he was saying immediately.
"I know how much I pushed it- hell, on the last try, I'd pushed myself to go back even farther than the last track just to talk to him while he was out in between songs, anything that could keep him from dying. ...I just got lucky it worked this time. That I even had enough energy to fight back in there. That he didn't start dying before the song started- god, there's- a lot of what-ifs... it almost still feels like too many."
Hm. That would explain why he'd been so tired the day after.
Admittedly, the more light he shed on what was going on inside the Mix, or whatever it was... the less she wanted to hear.
"...Right. Sorry. You still did do all of it to save him, so I-"
"It- wasn't just him."
GF looked up at him at that, her expression turning confused.
"...On some of them, a-after a certain point, Soul wasn't the only one dying- sometimes that thing would get Pico or Mix too or both of them, other times P-Pico would've called you for help, and you would b-be-"
She placed a hand on his arm - a warning. He can't let himself fall too deep, to the point where she can't save him.
"...All it did was just force me to keep going. Despite the fatigue, the pain, the mental toll, everything, I had to. I had to keep pushing, waiting for something to give, anything to change so I wouldn't need to keep watching you guys die, to keep pressing that stupid button and hearing that thing's stupid voice-"
He stopped, already feeling the tears starting to flood his eyes, the anger starting to boil over.
Well. At least his outburst the night it happened made a little more sense now.
Once he was sure he'd calmed down a little did he speak, in a quiet voice that screamed volumes about just how drained he was.
"...You have no idea how many times I wanted to just break down, or to pass out then and there under all the strain of trying to go back so many times... But I just c-couldn’t. Not when I knew you'd all be d-dead if I gave up."
He paused. Girlfriend remained silent - she was speechless by now, as a matter of fact.
The silence took over fully for a few moments until she finally brought herself to speak again.
"Boyfriend..."
She took his hand in hers, and squeezed it gently.
"It's okay. We're all here, we're all alive, love. You don't need to retry anymore. It's not helping you by thinking about it, and you know that."
"I-I know. I couldn't believe it either at first after it was all finally over. B-But... I can't stop. Just- knowing what went wrong, all the times I f-failed, that I had to go back because I c-couldn't just leave it all unfixed..." Finally, the tears came flowing down, his hands moved to cover his face- "...and knowing how close I came to losing everybody..."
"Babe, you still didn't lose everybody in the end. Yes, it's absurd that it took you that many, but I promise, it wasn't all for nothing. We're here. No tricks, not a dream, none of that. You can trust me."
He stayed silent, but through the sniffles, he shifted closer so that she could wrap her arms around him in a full hug, and given the way he relaxed into her arms, the comfort was everything in the world to him right now.
She just continued to hold him, letting him cry out what he could, and when he settled down once more she didn't dare to pull away until he did.
"...Do you feel better now?"
He nodded.
"A lot better. Th-Thank you."
"Of course! You're my boyfriend, I'd do anything I can to make you feel better, babe."
The rapper let out a slight chuckle at her words, and it's like a light just shone in the darkness of the night sky because it's a sign he's genuinely a little more okay.
But... a couple more thoughts of hers naturally came to take it away.
"...Can I ask you something...?"
He'd noticed the hesitance in her voice, and answered her with a careful tone.
"Yeah, s-sure. Anything."
"So... he doesn't know about this, does he?"
...And he shook his head, an almost regretful expression on his face now. Oops.
They'd figured out shortly after pulling Soul out of his mindscape that when BF retried, he kept the memories from it and Soul never did.
It was a little bit confusing because in some way, they were the same person... but it seemed that didn't apply to everything.
GF knew the question she entertained the idea of asking wasn't going to make this moment any better.
Regardless, it fell out anyway.
"Shouldn't you... tell him?"
Boyfriend remained silent again, but after a few seconds, she saw him shake his head.
Girlfriend slowly stood, looking down to speak to him as he was still sitting - curled into himself on the rooftop, and she began speaking again, starting to walk back towards the door as she continued.
"Babe, come on, he's still part of you. He should know about this, about the pain that thing put you both through, about the pain you're putting yourself through-!"
"NO!"
He'd been quick to reach over and grab one of her hands with both of his own to stop her from moving away any further, the tears starting to seep out of his eyes again.
"I can't, Gigi. I can't do that to him, please."
"But you-"
"Do you really think I'd want him to know about all this?? Do you really think I'd want him to know how many times I let him die?!"
And that was when she realized that this whole thing was layers deeper than she thought it'd been.
There was a pause for a moment, GF looking at BF sympathetically as he tried and failed to pull himself together again.
Slowly, she crouched down and placed a hand on his cheek, gently wiping away the tears that fell down his face.
"He won't see it that way, babe. He'd never blame you for any of it, you know that."
"...I know, really. But I still think it'd freak him out to know he's died that many times, that it took going back so much to save him-" He stopped himself, seeing the almost reprimanding look on Girlfriend's face- "...I don't want to put any of this pain on him either. Besides, he doesn't even go back with me when I retry, so... what's the point in telling him anyway?"
"But you know he'll still understand, Boyfriend. He's still able to comfort you, it doesn't matter what you live through and he doesn't. I've seen it before. ...But, if you really don't want to say anything, then whether you tell him or not, I'll leave that up to you, okay? But none of that was your fault, BF. Don't forget who's really to blame for all this."
Her little reminder seemed to help, even if she wasn't sure he'd believed her when she said he wasn't to blame.
"Right... right. ...Thanks, Gigi."
"No need to thank me~ I'm just glad I could be someone to talk to."
"God... I love you. So, so much."
"Aw, I love you more~"
They both leaned in for a gentle, but long kiss, going back in for another once they'd pulled away.
He'd pretty much melted into it - yet another sign that he'd needed this.
Finally, after the two lovebirds pulled apart for real with a small laugh, GF was quick to bring up something.
"By the way?"
"Hm?"
"Do yourself a favor, and at least spend a little more time with him, okay? Yes, I know we're two peas in a pod, but I like seeing you both being close with each other, too, you know."
"Like we don't spend enough time together already to the point where he knows every possible way to annoy me?"
There was that lighthearted tone she hadn't heard from him in forever.
Both of them laughed a bit at his half-joke, GF quickly coming back from it to speak seriously again.
"I'm serious, though. I want you to spend time with him. We all may be here because of what happened, and to watch over you both, but... I know that was a heavier hit for you than it was for us, even just by a little bit. I'd be very happy just knowing that you two will still have each other when you don't have anything else left. Alright?"
"Alright, alright. But for that to happen, we gotta go back inside."
She laughed, walking with him to the door.
Until he suddenly stopped, and she looked back at him.
"I, uh, know I already kinda said this, but... thanks for the talk."
"Anytime. And anything for you."
She reached her hand out to him, he took it, and they walked back into the building together.
By the time the two reached BF's room, the UNO cards were gone and BB was setting a movie up instead, both him and Pico sitting on the floor still.
"...What exactly happened here?"
"Hey GF!"
"Hi, BB!"
"To answer your question, Pico got really fucking salty over losing to Soul again in UNO, so-"
"So he decided that getting me to rewatch Spirited Away after a million years would make me feel better."
"Oh! Is it working?"
"...Maybe."
"He means yes."
"...Shut up, Mike."
Michael laughed a bit, and Pico just rolled his eyes.
"Your video game friends called it a night after we wrapped the game up, too."
"Ah. Speaking of... where is Soul?"
"Right next to you."
The couple looked to the side to see the entity in question laying across the far end of the couch.
Letting go of BF's hand, GF sat on the other end of the couch, and began waiting for the movie to start.
"So, won twice in a row, huh?"
"That I did~"
"Stop flexing. We're in the same room, dumbass."
"Stop being salty first."
Boyfriend laughed and followed her, now sitting in between the two.
A few seconds later, as BB reached the main menu, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Soul now sitting right next to him.
"You okay now?"
"Yeah... sorry for bailing like that. Y-You're okay, right...?"
"I'm just fine. Honestly, though, I got kinda worried about you. Glad Gigi was able to grab you on the way back."
Oh, right, GF had almost forgotten she'd put up the ruse that her father was on the phone the whole time she'd been gone. However, BF gave her a look, and she understood that it wouldn't be beneficial to spill what happened - not that she was going to, anyway.
Soul went back to laying across the end of the couch, and the rapper briefly glanced at him.
...He let out a sigh.
No more sabotaging himself tonight. He needed this.
Reaching over a bit, he tapped Soul on the shoulder, and his friend looked up at him with a questioning look.
"...寄りかかってもいいですか?" [Can I lean on you?]
Once he nodded without hesitance, BF then flopped on top of him - and out of some mixture of concern, confusion, and amusement, Soul whispered to him with a small smile.
"本当に大丈夫ですか?" [You sure you're okay?]
The other nodded, mumbling a response back at a volume that was meant for only him to hear.
"...今はただ、君の近くにいたいんだ." [I just want to be close to you right now.]
Soul didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around him and let him snuggle closer as the movie finally began.
As BF began humming the theme of the film as it played in its opening, Soul saw GF lovingly staring at the two in the corner of his eye.
When he looked over at her, she seemed a bit surprised at being caught, but he easily reassured her with the soft, but playful smile he gave her, mouthing a lighthearted questioning "what?" a few seconds later.
"Oh, nothing... just watching my boys being my boys~"
She chuckled a little at the small blush that grew on his face as he averted his eyes, and they went back to watching the movie.
He wasn't sure how much longer he'd sat there as the film played on before Girlfriend got his attention and whispered to him again.
"...You really mean a lot to him. You... know that, right?"
She'd glanced at BF as she spoke - Soul easily got the hint, and nodded in response. She nodded also, though more out of understanding.
"...Don't ever underestimate how much he cares about you, okay? He'd sacrifice a lot for you. Like he'd do for the rest of us. I can see it. ...I just want to make sure you realize that."
He sighed after a short moment, running a hand through his hair.
"I know. ...Anything short of him giving his life, I'll take."
Soul looked down at the rapper, who was currently asleep in his hold.
...Hm.
He didn’t seem that tired a few minutes ago.
Yet, it was better for them, since it meant he wouldn't hear the conversation taking place between the two.
Meanwhile, BB and Pico briefly glanced back at the two as they continued to talk, but they very well knew it wasn't a conversation they were meant to hear - at least if their hushed tones were any indication.
So with a mutual shrug, they kept themselves out of it, focusing on the movie.
"All I'm saying is, don't be surprised if he ends up wanting to spend a little more time with you."
She smiled knowingly - he knew she meant what she'd said.
Even if he didn't understand it fully.
But it was something that he could still believe wholeheartedly.
He smiled back, and her focus returned to the movie.
...Though, he couldn't help but spare one more look down at the rapper before also going back to watching the film.
And in that tiny moment, there's a part of him that gets the feeling the scars run a little deeper than he wants to believe.