Chapter Text
“Just give it a tap, and it'll play any song in your memory.”
Crowley’s words echoed in Yuu’s head as they left the Headmage’s office and walked with Grim back to Ramshackle. They adjusted their arms to better hold onto the heavy gramophone that was found in storage, excitement growing within them. Grim was rambling on and on about their new discovery, but Yuu wasn’t even paying attention to the direbeast.
“Oi, hench-human! Are ya even listening to me?” Grim huffed, slight concern showing on his face when he saw the Prefect’s devious smirk.
“Any song, huh? Heheheh, this is gonna be great,” they said, walking down the hall faster. “Grim, you have no idea how important this thing is. Do you realize what this means?”
Grim shrugged and shook his head. Yuu grinned even wider, hugging the gramophone closer to their body. “I’ll be able to listen to any song that I remember! Ones from my world that I haven’t heard in forever!”
“Is that really that important?” Grim asked.
Yuu stopped in their tracks and stared Grim dead in the eyes.
“Yes.”
Grim gulped and continued trotting along next to the Prefect when they started walking again. Didn’t realize music was that special to them… he thought.
“I know just the song to play first! I’ll have to invite Ace and Deuce over before I do, though. Yes…they’re the perfect victims…”
Grim didn’t know what Yuu was talking about, but as long as they were happy, he guessed it was okay.
Once the two were back at Ramshackle, Yuu immediately placed the magic gramophone in the guest room and quickly texted the A-Deuce duo to come over. Yuu practically sprinted to the door when they heard knocking, and they greeted the two boys with enthusiasm.
“You’re in an unusually good mood today,” Ace noted, a hint of suspicion in his voice and expression as Yuu pushed them into the guest room.
“Did something good happen?” Deuce questioned.
“Yes, something GREAT happened today and I can’t wait to show it to you both,” Yuu exclaimed.
“I don’t like the look on your face.” Ace raised an eyebrow at them, sitting on the couch next to Deuce.
“This is how I always look! Now…get a load of this …!” Yuu threw their arms out towards the gramophone sitting on the table.
Ace peered at the object with disinterest and disappointment, but Deuce humored the Prefect by asking, “What is it?”
“It’s a magical gramophone! Me and Grim found it in the storage room. Do you know what it does?”
“Um, it plays music?” Ace deadpanned. “Is this really what’s got you so excited? Didn’t think you were this into antiques.”
“WRONG. It doesn’t just ‘play music’, Ace . It plays any song in your memory.”
“Whoa, really? That’s pretty cool!” Deuce remarked. “What song are you gonna play?”
Yuu’s mischievous smile was starting to unnerve even Ace. They made a grand gesture of tapping their finger to the gramophone, manically laughing, “THIS SONG!”
We’re no strangers to love
You know the rules, and so do I
A full commitment’s what I’m thinking of
You wouldn’t get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” blasted through the room, with Yuu laughing uncontrollably all the while. Ace and Deuce sat there dumbfounded as they watched them dance and sing along.
Once the song ended, Yuu’s laughter died down to just giggles as they wiped a stray tear from their eye. They looked down at the confused boys in triumph, pointing a finger at them and saying, “You…just got rickrolled.”
“...HUH?” Ace’s mouth hung agape, unsure of what he just witnessed.
“Whew! I haven’t listened to that in a good while! Usually you would send the link to this song to prank someone, but seeing as it doesn’t exist here…playing it in real life was the next best thing.”
“Oh, so that was…a prank?” Deuce concluded, his head tilting to the side.
“Well, it was a weird prank.” Ace crossed his arms. “You should take notes from me next time. Ya know, since I’m a pranking pro.”
Even though Ace and Deuce didn’t really get it, Yuu was still satisfied. Maybe if they did it enough times, it would become an inside joke between the three of them.
“Alright, let’s listen to it again!” Yuu declared, causing Ace to yell out, “NO!”
Yuu laughed as the song played again, watching Ace cover his ears as he turned to leave. Internally, though, it felt…strange for Yuu to hear music from their own world again. So many songs have played in their head, and honestly? They were starting to think they’d never get to hear them again. It was good to know that they could still be played, even in an entirely different universe.