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It started as a deal.
It was simple; Damon would go with Kai to Jett and Cassidy’s dumb game tournament in exchange for sleeping on Kai’s bed. He much rather would have stayed away from the pointless public event. After all, it seemed like a murder waiting to happen.
…And, well. It was. And honestly? It was a good thing he went, or else everybody very likely would’ve died. After all, he didn’t care how much Grace claimed they would’ve discovered the culprit anyway and won the trial. He knew damn well they would’ve died without him, and the fact that nobody acknowledged that pissed him off. Speaking of that horrific trial…
After the trial… after seeing Wolfgang’s mortified expression, Diana’s devastating tears, Damon’s trust being completely betrayed as Eva used the secret of him having Wolfgang’s blackmail against him, and Eva’s pierced and bleeding body getting thrown into a pit of fire…
“All I could do was watch him die!”
“Bring… her… BACK!”
“I practically risked my life pretending to be his ally, but in return, he let me see the extent of his deceitfulness.”
“Damon… I thought you trusted me…”
He wanted nothing more than to drown in his sorrows alone that night, but he knew that was asking to get killed, especially after carrying the trial like he did. So, he went to the only place he felt relatively safe; Kai’s dorm. Safety in numbers was important, after all. Besides, he was pretty confident he could probably fight Kai off if need be.
And that’s how it went from a deal to a bit of comfort.
The silence was tense. Kai and Damon were both sitting on the bed, staring off into space. Despite both of them usually being very loud, the silence was comforting.
“…How did you do it?” Kai asked quietly, breaking the silence Damon had kind of grown accustomed to.
“Do what?” Damon tilted his head, matching Kai’s volume. He didn’t look at the influencer, however, and from what he could tell from his peripheral vision, Kai wasn’t looking at Damon either.
“Act so composed, even while Eva was betraying you,” he clarified.
“…I just wanted to survive. I knew I was the only one who could convict her…” Damon mumbled. In all honesty, he fully expected Kai to make some snide remark about how everyone contributed or something along those lines.
“Yeah… We’d all be dead if it weren’t for you, man, so… Thanks,” Kai muttered.
“…What?” Damon blurted. While he was always careful about his words, thinking them through thoroughly to make sure anything he said was as logical and intelligent as possible, he couldn’t help but express the genuine shock he felt when hearing someone actually thank him.
“I know Grace said we would arrive at the same conclusion without you, but, like… we so would’ve voted for Diana. Ughhh, and I pointed out that she ‘confessed’ too… Man, I’m awful at this…” Kai mumbled, putting a hand in his hair.
“Not everyone is suited for that type of thing. Besides, that was a good observation,” Damon shrugged.
“…It was?”
Damon nodded. “You made a lot of good observations, Kai. And, uh. Thanks for actually acknowledging my contributions…”
“No one thanked you though.”
Damon’s lip quivered, much to his dismay, upon remembering Eva’s words. Was she being genuine when she said that? Or was she trying to coerce information out of him? Either way, she ended up using that conversation against Damon.
“…Are you okay, man?” Kai asked nervously, snapping Damon out of his stupor.
“I… I’m fine,” Damon huffed, trying to make sure his voice didn’t waver to protect his dignity. Kai paused a bit before speaking, as if trying to figure out the right thing to say.
“Okay then,” he decided on replying with, realizing pressing Damon on the issue would do nothing but make things worse. “I’m gonna go to sleep.”
“Me too…” Damon said, glad Kai wasn’t going to interrogate him on his feelings. He turned over and laid down, relaxing as his head sunk into the soft, plush pillow. He tried to go to sleep for a few minutes, but sleep didn’t seem to come. He eventually sighed, letting himself stew in frustration.
…Until that happened.
Damon almost jumped in surprise when Kai’s hand laced together with his own. He was about to question the other ultimate before Kai gently squeezed his hand. He had no clue why, but he decided to not say anything about it. Somehow, he was able to go to sleep pretty quickly afterwards.
Neither of them acknowledged the hand holding the following morning. Damon really didn’t know why Kai did it nor why he let him. However, he assumed it was likely just going to be a one time thing. Just a little bit of comfort due to the realization that Eva and Wolfgang were gone for good.
Unbeknownst to him, that bit of comfort was going to turn into frequent comfort.
The day after the trial was rough. Most people just stayed in their rooms. Diana tried to get everyone to meet in the dining hall, but it didn’t work. Most people, Damon included, were too tired to deal with anybody else.
He stayed in his room all day. Out of paranoia, he snuck into the kitchen and stole a kitchen knife. While it wasn’t exactly the most original idea, and while the original idea didn’t work out whatsoever, he felt safer with a way to defend himself.
The previous day, Damon’s never-ceasing thoughts seemed to just shut off after the trial. Everything just… happened. Between the execution, the aftermath, the unbridled rage he felt towards Diana’s stubborn words, and his and Kai’s unspoken interaction, everything seemed to just blur together into a strange, mismatched symphony.
Now, however? He had time to think. Time to truly process the situation he was in. He was in a game where he had a literal 1 in 7, or 1 in 14 if he ended up snapping, chance to make it out of this place alive. Either way, he was very likely going to die at some point… but there was still a chance. Still a chance to make sure he survived. As long as he kept his wits and kept himself isolated from any dangers, he knew he could pull through.
However, despite wanting to be isolated, he couldn’t help but miss him. He couldn’t help but go back to Kai’s dorm at night.
He couldn’t say he missed Kai’s room. After all, the obnoxious pink color scheme and overall influencer feel of the room made his head spin a little every time he entered. However, similarly to Kai’s presence, it didn’t take long to get used to it.
Speaking of Kai…
“Damon, hey,” Kai said dryly. He was sitting on his bed, appearing strangely disheveled for the (who he assumed to be an) appearance-obsessed social media star.
“Hi,” Damon replied simply, sitting on the bed with him. He felt obligated to check up on him. He really couldn’t have cared less about Kai’s current mental state. After all, he was both weak, loud and annoying, three things that would make someone vulnerable in the game.
However, he immediately dropped that train of thought that he desperately wanted to uphold the moment Kai’s hand held his once more. Neither of them reacted nor spoke. They just sat there.
He wanted to believe Kai was nothing but a good-for-nothing crybaby. He wanted to believe the influencer was nothing but a means to an end. A stepping stone that would eventually be another lamb to the slaughter.
Another sweet voice whose trusting words towards Damon would inevitably die out alongside his body or, even worse, get completely destroyed by cold, selfish, murderous actions.
The longer he had to stew about it, the more pissed he got.
He knew he had absolutely no reason to trust Eva. He knew that should have been an easy lesson learned to ensure he never did it again.
Yet, when he felt Kai’s hand, those tense thoughts melted away. His distrust towards the other ultimate came completely undone for some bizarre reason.
“Damon?…” Kai spoke up, just as quiet as the previous night when they had spoken.
“Yeah?” Damon asked, looking at Kai.
“Would you tell my fans if I died?”
Damon froze slightly. Out of all the things he had expected, that was not it. “…What?”
“…Would you?”
“What makes you think I’d survive to the end of the game?”
“Just answer the question…” Kai huffed.
“Jeez, sorry. I guess? How the hell would I even do that though?” Damon asked, still a bit incredulous about the idea as a whole. This was a random, morbid topic and he had no clue where it was going.
Kai hummed and hopped off the bed. He grabbed a pen and a sticky note from his desk, sitting back down. He wrote on two sticky notes before handing them to Damon. Damon started reading the notes, only to realize…
“You’re giving me the passwords to your social media accounts?”
“I mean, yeah? I want the world to know what happened here…” Kai mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. “Y’know… I think it would be a lot easier to convince people if the Ultimate Influencer—well, at least the accounts of the Ultimate Influencer—spread the news of this weird death game…”
It was a surprisingly profound idea for Kai to have, and Damon couldn’t agree more. By word of mouth of one or two people, nothing would get shared. The UTP would probably sweep it under the rug to maintain their image anyways; After all, what kind of company would let something as big as a killing game ruin their reputation? With the Ultimate Influencer, however? It didn’t really matter how many people hated Kai after the UTP screwed him over, that might be the only way to get them to listen, and Damon was shocked Kai had already thought of that.
…But that begged the question; Why him? Everybody was in danger here. Nobody was safe. Why did Kai believe Damon would survive so badly?
More importantly, why did Kai think he himself wouldn’t?
“Kai?” Damon asked, voice quieter upon a certain realization.
“What?”
“…You really do think you’re going to die here, don’t you?”
…
Kai didn’t have to answer before Damon’s suspicions were confirmed.
“Kai…” Damon mumbled. He hesitated for a second, a realization washing over his chest.
Did he… trust Kai?
Seriously? Despite everything he had already been through: being isolated from the group, having his blind trust of Eva betrayed like it was nothing, and knowing both Kai and him hated each other only a few days ago… He started to trust him. Despite having every logical reason in the world telling him to not trust him, he couldn’t help but trust anyway.
He was a fool, wasn’t he? He was a complete and total hypocrite.
Regardless, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling Kai in for a hug.
Kai froze before relaxing. It was comforting for both of them. Neither of them spoke. The background noises of the world around them seemed to wash away. It was completely still, and completely silent, as if the world seemed to be giving them a small break from the chaos and tragedy of the game. They didn’t need to say anything else. They knew they trust each other. Kai trusted Damon with his social media, one of the things he held dear to his heart, and Damon trusted Kai with his life, letting himself be vulnerable in front of him. Damon couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming warmth enveloping him.
This wasn’t similar to the warmth he felt around Eva. Eva was a strange person. There was a weird charm to her Damon couldn’t help but find endearing, but more often than not, Damon felt strangely cold when around her. Maybe that was just some twisted way of the world subtly foreshadowing what Eva would do. What she would become. What she would ruin.
Kai wasn’t like that. The kind of warmth he emanated off of him was almost obnoxious, much like a lot of other features of the influencer. However, Damon couldn’t help but love it. It was relaxing, being in his arms like this. For the first time since the killing game began, he felt safe.
“Ow… Something feels like it’s poking me.” Kai complained quietly. Damon was about to brush it off before realizing he was still wearing his blazer. His blazer that had a knife hidden in it.
Should he… tell him? On one hand, it might scare Kai off or, worse, break his trust. On the other hand, if he didn’t tell him, and if he found out, it would 100% do both of those things.
Why did he care so much again?…
Regardless of the unanswered question, Damon made his decision with a sigh. “Right, uh…” He broke away from Kai (ignoring the immediate coldness he felt) and opened his blazer to reveal the knife. Before Kai could freak out, he quickly chimed in.
“It’s for defense. Just… a safety precaution. I wouldn’t use it on you, I promise.”
He expected to hear questions, maybe even interrogations. He expected to see Kai visibly terrified or see him run off. What he didn’t expect, however…
“Okay. I trust you,” Kai said, pulling Damon back into the embrace they found themselves in earlier.
After that night, their frequent comfort turned into their nightly routine.
Every night, Damon and Kai cuddled. It didn’t matter to them how childish it sounded. Calling it childish didn’t worsen it for either of them. The comfort they received from one another and the trust they placed in one another were more than enough to make the slight embarrassment more than worth it.
They didn’t always talk. In fact, they were usually quiet, and they had an unspoken rule to never actually talk about the affection they shared. It was something either of them felt the need to make a big deal out of. After all, making a big deal out of it would make the realization of just how embarrassing it was all the more apparent. As it was, it was really just a small victory within the confines of the killing game, and it seemed to actually make their time in the game less miserable, which was a feat on its own.
They had known one another for a week and a half, but they knew they trusted one another with their lives. Both of them knew that was a foolish decision to make with someone who was mainly still a stranger, but neither of them minded.
After all, both of them knew the warmth wasn’t sustainable. They both knew they had to make the most out of this small victory before at least one of their times were up.