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"Like this." Noli had been tapping impatiently on the keyboard for what had felt like forever, 007n7's patience was wearing thin as he nervously glanced between Noli and the analog clock on their desk, he was going to be late for his lecture. He judged the others clotted movements, noting the lack of error checks or purpose in the frantic typing, was it really okay for him to be letting his new roommate who he hadn't even managed to introduce himself to yet mess with his first project.
"Listen, It's okay if you don't know how to execute this program, its advanced stuff, I'm sure our professor will let me off easy just this once." No he won't, 007n7 thought to himself as he erratically paced the small living space, he and everyone else in this place had set the standards ridiculously high for him after his previous successes, it seemed he couldn't catch a break after beginning his studies here; socially and mentally.
"Fini!" Noli exclaimed, pushing himself away from the desk with such mannerism that 007n7 was sure he felt the ground beneath him shake, he watched as the stranger gave a light tap to the enter key, the previously faulty program now executing with ease, lines of neon green code falling across the screen like raindrops would on an autumnal evening, hypnotizingly so, coding was an art form that never ceased to amaze 007n7.
"Wait how did you-"
"Noli, pleased to meet you!" Noli interrupted, offering the other his hand to shake, 007n7 flushed, oh right, things had been such a rush this morning with his entire project going kaput that he barely had time to introduce himself to the other, he nervously smiled as he took the others small hand that Noli had kindly extended towards him.
"Pleasure." 007n7 awkwardly mumbled, his last rooming didn't go so well, and by not so well he meant he asked to be moved to another dorm within 3 days of living there, the reminder embarrassed him as he shifted his gaze to the floor, it wasn't his fault his personality didn't meld well with the frankly overtly extroverted campus folk.
"And you?" Noli asked.
"And me? Well uh, I'll be going now!" 007n7 unsurely retorted, running his free hand through the back of his long messy black hair, which in turn made him realise he never quite let go of Noli's with his other.
"Your name is 'Well uh, I'll be going now'?" Noli sarcastically remarked raising his eyebrow at the other, 007n7 frowned much to the others amusement.
"What, no? Listen I've been in such a rush all day and-" 007n7 gracelessly rambled, Noli who was only half listening moved from the desk and began to nosily search through the mess that 007n7 had dumped on the bed not long after he made his grand entrance earlier this morning.
"007n7." Noli pronounced slowly, 007n7 paused his endless ramblings to turn and face Noli who sat next to his pile of belongings reading through what looked to be his past report cards.
"Y-yes, it's sort of like a code name, do you like it?" 007n7 replied, carefully placing his emotions on the others opinion of something he felt was very dear to him, Noli glanced up at him and back to the report card as if to weigh out the negatives and positives in his head, 007n7 thought Noli's mask was hiding a rather calculating glare, maybe he should adorn a mask too 007n7 thought to himself.
"007n7, sounds like a code name they'd give to a criminal." Noli finally spoke, his mask mouthpiece twisting into that of a smirk, 007n7 made a mental note to remind himself later on asking Noli about this mysterious mask that wore so much character and life, it must've been a pain to program.
"Thanks.. I think."
"Anyways, clearly you have somewhere to go so.. Let's go!" Noli chirped jumping from the weak bed frame onto his feet, he scrambled a couple of stationary into a bag before standing by the doorway, waiting on his new roommate with a friendly smile.
"D-dont you have something better to be doing?" 007n7 weakly protested as he clumsily stuffed his satchel filled with items he quite frankly didn't need, paying more honest attention to his fascinating new friend who tapped idly at the door frame with impatience. He struggled with the interaction, nobody had ever been this friendly to him before now and he wasn't quite sure he was used to the way his stomach tied a knot after he spoke to the unconventionally welcoming individual.
"Nah, I think I'd much rather accompany my rather clumsy new friend to his first lecture of the new year." Friend, 007n7 almost reached for his heart with his free hand, his brain was so hormonally driven he felt in that moment he could rip it out of his body and place it into Noli's hands to keep, his entire previous year had been so socially isolating, where had this guy been when he needed him.
"Wait a minute, clumsy?" 007n7 snapped back, his fanciful façade of the other subsiding as he glared back with sharp narrow eyes, Noli just shrugged and laughed.
"You arrived, dumped your stuff everywhere, muttered loudly about your 'dumbass professor' and then nearly fell apart at the scene when your holy grail of a project didn't execute properly." 007n7 flushed red upon hearing this, he couldn't decide how to response, there was no point in arguing either way since Noli was undeniably right about all of this.
"W-whatever lets get going." 007n7 responded whilst arranging the inside of his satchel more neatly, as if to try and prove Noli's allegations of the other being quote on quote a mess incorrect. Before he could reach the hallway outside the door he felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him to the side.
"Before we go, just some friendly advice." Noli offered with a smile.
"As long as it's not fed to me with a shit eating grin." 007n7 added with a roll of his eyes.
"There were a lot of careless spelling mistakes and such in your project, now I don't doubt your ability to spell or anything but you seem a little, tense." Noli began, 007n7 digested the advice noticing how the other didn't make him feel belittled or small unlike any of the other students who offered him anything similar; usually unsolicited.
"If you reach out your hands like this." Noli continued, with a demonstration.
"And stretch them out like so, in and out, it can relieve a lot of tension and cramps that secretly reside within our muscles, these types of cramps make your movements sloppy, and relieving them would make silly mistakes like this less probable." Noli finished, 007n7 was taking him seriously until Noli pulled a gesture akin to that of a nerdy scientist, pointing his finger up in the air, 007n7 let out a small laugh he couldn't contain.
"What?" Noli retaliated with confusion.
"Nothing." 007n7 snorted through stray giggles, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
"This is important advice! Remember it!" Noli dramatically declared, waving his hands about to demonstrate his seriousness, which in turn only made 007n7 laugh more.
"Sure, sure." 007n7 answered mockingly, mimicking the other as he did so before adjusting his glasses that had nearly fallen down his face in the moment, Noli who portrayed himself as offended stood in the doorway to prevent 007n7 from leaving who just cast an affectionate stare to the smaller man, 007n7 already felt quite fond of him.
"We're not leaving until you try it, you'll fall to your knees and thank me for relieving several years of built up stress in your cramped as hell hands." Noli theatrically begged.
"Haha, all right, all right." 007n7 surrendered, stretching his hands out slightly before placing them in front of Noli's view.
He glanced fondly at Noli, then back down at his hands.
Blood.
"7n7, Hello!?" Chance yelled, waving a hand in front of 007n7's face. 007n7 had been staring down at his shaky blood coated hands for a solid minute or two, his mind inconveniently taking him on a trip through memory lane, not that 007n7 felt these flashbacks were ever going to be convenient, let alone make any sense. He couldn't think of anything to say as he glanced up to meet Chance's expression, a large gash like wound graced the gamblers face, a crack in his sunglasses revealing his always hidden eyes, the gateway to his soul. 007n7 noted that his expression didn't seem that of someone who cared about his polka faced façade anymore and rather of someone who desperately wanted to stay alive, a bead of sweat ran down his bloody nose as he struggled to accept 007n7's silence.
"Yes it's all very shocking but we've been through this before, you have little to no means to defend yourself therefore; you take the med kit." Chance explained, 007n7 noticed Chance was struggling with his words, every breath taken was laced with an underlying pain, every move the guy was taking appeared to be putting a strain on his consciousness.
"And me, I'll-" Chance paused as he stared down at his revolver, 007n7 had never seen the other so hesitant before now, Chance was always so coolheaded, seeing this side of him made 007n7 uneasy.
"Well you get the gist of it, now go!" Chance yelled, roughly pushing 007n7 into a protective corner with the last remaining strength the other possessed, as shortly following this move Chance almost collapsed to the ground, barely catching himself on the side of a wall, the impact of his hand hitting the concrete tearing weak skin off causing 007n7 to grimace as he helplessly watched it all unfold. 007n7 made no sudden move and instead analysed the situation carefully, frantically organising his thoughts as precious seconds ticked by, seconds possibly of his life. Although he and all the survivors knew at this point death was no means to an end in this purgatory when their punishment was due to end was even more unclear, with no set rules any twisted game could possibly be their last, the endless nature of the rounds were perhaps meant to give them a good probability of survival, separating the weak from the strong, the soldier had once suggested this in the group; bringing up his previous training and how there were glaring similarities within it.
"Fuck man, just use your teleporty thingy." Chance gasped, every word rolling of his tongue feverishly like that of a drunk man.
"My what?" 007n7 shouted back, he knew exactly what Chance was talking about but considering any word could be his last with the state he was in he'd much rather keep the other talking as he figured himself out.
"Y-your..." Chance mumbled with short breath, his back sliding against the wall he had previously been using to keep himself upright, 007n7 felt his heart drop watching this, he was running out of time and it was him or the gambler in the palm of the grim reapers hands.
"Shit." 007n7 panted, pulling out the c00l GUI, his hand shakily hovered over the commands as he glanced down at his own reflection, staring back at him on the device. Red lines of code surrounded his sullen worn out face, he thought he looked less like himself and more like somebody was wearing his skin and impersonating his character, like he was backseat to his own actions, a passenger of his mind.
His eyes widened as he something purple in the corner of his reflection caught his eye.
"Right so lets-"
"Give it here!" 007n7 huffed, snatching the newly finished gadget out of Noli's grasp much to the others dismay.
"It was me who designed this, it's practically virgin technology so the last thing I need is you getting your grubby little fingers into its wires." 007n7 countered, casting the other a mischievous smile as he toyed away at the finishing touches on the small tablet, Noli just laughed, he knew the other meant no harm. He sat himself on the bed next to 007n7 who was completely engrossed in what he was finishing.
"We should run some tests." 007n7 half mumbled, just enough so that Noli couldn't catch what he said.
"What was that?" Noli teased, placing a hand to his ear and leaning closer to 007n7 who playfully pushed the other away in response.
"Tests! Idiot, lets run them." 007n7 replied, straightening himself up once Noli retracted from his personal space.
"Oh, and here I thought my 'grubby little hands' were gonna ruin your precious invention!"
"Maybe not grubby, but defo' small." 007n7 teased back as he looked Noli up and down, much to the others offense. 007n7 stood up before the other could physically retaliate with more playful affection, admiring his device in the limelight after he finished tinkering away at it, he peeked a prideful look Noli's way, who nodded in response silently offering the other permission to boast.
"I present to you... The GUI!" 007n7 proudly exclaimed to his imaginary audience, placing a hand on his hip as he carefully offered forward the small device to Noli, who bashfully accepted it with his usual theatrics, 007n7 thought with how the other effortlessly the other entertained him Noli should've been studying dramatics, he had perfected his over-acting just for his own amusement.
"And now, watch! As i transport myself to the other end of the campus." Noli slyly declared as he hastily fumbled with the few commands 007n7 had half hazardly placed in not long after finishing, this action snapped 007n7 out of his prideful posture as he reached to snatch away the tablet before Noli could input the command, upon realising what the other had said. The lack of testing previously done making this very test not safe in the slightest without any precautions taken, the command was complicated to say the least, 007n7 would know, he slaved away for hours creating it.
"Wait!" 007n7 cried out, he barely managed to take the tablet from Noli's grasp, like a parent might do a toddler before placing it under his arm like Noli would try and steal it again, that's when 007n7 felt a breeze of cold air hit the side of his cheek and noticed a strand of his long dark hair wave in his vision.
"Holy shit 7n7, look where we are!" Noli excitedly chirped, skipping to 007n7's side with the whimsy of a small child, it appeared that 007n7 hadn't prevented Noli from entering the command in, which could only mean one thing.
"B-But we both-"
"Two people! Your GUI can transport two people 7n7, fuck, this is major!" Noli shouted, grabbing 007n7 by the shoulders shaking the now shivering man who was not by any means dressed for the weather, 007n7 was still in disbelief as he scanned his surroundings cautiously.
"But I didn't..."
"God who cares what you meant to do, just take the risk god dammit, you made one and it paid off" Noli happily interrupted, pulling his friend into a hug, 007n7 slowly returned the hug, the warmth of his dear friend rejuvenating him from the shock of the icy cold winter breeze that encapsulated the two.
"You're so uptight sometimes, but y'know I reckon if we just let go of all your silly rules, we could make more wonderful 'mistakes' like this." 007n7 felt his gut twist at these words, he held so dearly onto his rules and his morals for many years up until now, he pondered what the other truly meant by all of that. Deep down he knew he needed to change if he wanted to progress with their stupid projects and what made him less fearful of the mistakes, was this time, he wasn't doing it alone.
"Shall we?"
"Chance!" 007n7 yelled, staggering towards the other, he almost tripped over himself from the adrenaline that accompanied the anticipation of what he was about to attempt.
"You gotta stop spacing out, your window to escape has just passed..." Chance weakly complained as 007n7 placed an arm around the mans shoulder to support him of off the wall Chance was dying against, he'd much rather die in the arms of another person then leaning on a cold concrete wall Chance rationalised to himself as he leaned into 007n7's grasp.
"Hold onto me and don't let go." 007n7 commanded with more courage than he actually possessed, he clumsily entered multiple commands into the GUI after a quick stretch of his trembling hands.
"You don't gotta tell me twice." Chance voiced resting his head against 007n7's, placing the last of his trust into the other as he finally allowed his weak body to slip into unconsciousness. 007n7 didn't dare look back as he hit execute into the device, he had a small inkling of hope that he wasn't about to crush by taking a foolish glimpse into reality. Chance's blood dripped down onto the device as it struggled to execute the complicated command, as 007n7 looked up he noticed their surroundings distorting, the very plain of reality shifted before his eyes, the device having been old and worn out made the process of rematerializing two people somewhere else rather sluggish but as a new but familiar view appeared within his field of vision he felt a euphoric wave of relief flood his mind, it had worked.
"I did it." He peeped a look at Chance, the gambler had long passed out but was still breathing, albeit frighteningly slow and now that the adrenaline had subsided 007n7 began to notice that he was struggling to carry the weight of the other, considering he was quite frail and weak himself, he quickly searched the location for any sign of intermediate danger with his eyes, the only two major landmarks in the new area being the ball pit and the main stage.
"Psst." 007n7 jumped out of his skin at the sound, whipping his head left to right in a hasty motion to discover the source of it, in the far corner he saw brown curly hair and a familiar face casting him a worried glance from out of the ball pit.
"Cmere!" Shedletsky ushered making a motion with his hand's from the safety of the neon yellow arena, a few balls spilling out of the overflowing pit as the other shifted his weight around. 007n7 rolled his eyes, the least the stronger man could do was help him carry chance over there. He slowly stumbled over, Shedletsky meeting him halfway grabbing a hold of Chance's free side, they didn't exchange further words until they safely placed the injured gambler into the pit, propping the other's back up on the side of the wall.
"Shit, did you carry him all the way over here, I didn't notice you come in." 007n7 paused upon hearing this question, would Shedletsky call him useless if he revealed he could teleport multiple persons this entire but only just happened to remember, would the man think even less of him if he explained he had forgotten simply because his brain had blocked and pushed down any such memories involving his dear friend from the past, would he despise him like the rest of the group did if he revealed any such mention of the man's name could easily send him into a fit of pathetic tears that should've been shed years prior, 007n7 decided to subside the thoughts for now, remembering Shedletsky had not a clue who Noli even was.
"You're not as weak as you look." Shedletsky complimented, offering the other a comforting half smile, 007n7 was so sure he recognised it from somewhere.
"You look after this lunatic, use the med kit, I'll go look out for the other survivors, if there are any." Shedletsky stated, making a move to leave as if the others company would be worse a punishment than tackling the relentless killers they faced, 007n7 knew even if he argued against this there was no changing the others mind, the stubborn hero complex the sword wielding survivor possessed wasn't easily deterred, the other was as stubborn as Noli. 007n7 shook his head, cursing to himself, he refused to keep seeing Noli in everything, it was a curse to his vision, he reckoned if his thoughts were to be visualised they would be tainted purple.
"You'll be alright?" Shedletsky asked, 007n7 chose to stay silent and nodded in response, afraid he would choke on his own words if he spoke anymore. Shedletsky glanced back at 007n7 before he left, narrowing his eyes before smiling knowingly to himself. 007n7 so wrapped up in his own thoughts chose not to notice this as he half heartedly fumbled with the med kit, he truthfully had little to no experience at patching others up, he usually had to do it for himself with the others rejecting his help 90 percent of the time, the only exceptions to this so far had been Shedletsky and Chance, not that either of them were particularly close to him by any means because of this. 007n7 sighed to himself as he wiped the blood from Chance's face, the damp cloth he was using to soak up the blood was doing a half arsed job he noted, tossing it aside and reaching for another to replace the bloodied fabric. He stopped himself for a moment, admiring Chance, lightly placing the cloth against the younger man's bloodied stubble.
"You growing a beard or something?" Noli sleepily asked, he carefully stroked the sides of 007n7's face, they laid there together on the grass, Noli resting on top of 007n7 rather comfortably, the only source of light being the fireflies that danced around the pair, 007n7 unbothered by this gesture smiled to himself.
"Only with your permission." 007n7 replied jokingly, playfully stroking the back of Noli's head, he was pleased with the other peacefully resting on his chest, moments like these were never few or in between, in fact, affections like such had only grown in number in the months they had gotten to know each other, 007n7 felt particularly lucky to meet someone like him, he thought Noli one of a kind. He cast his gaze up at the endless stars that painted the sky, prior to meeting Noli he usually missed things like these in his life, the other had opened up his eyes to some simple but easy to miss qualities of the world he used to hate.
"Hmm, I'm not sure, I think if a girl was to kiss you she might be a little grossed out by your unkept facial hair." Noli teased back, earning a playful laugh from 007n7.
"Would it bother you?" 007n7 asked without much thought, his mind lost up in the sky, he envisioned him and Noli dancing together up in the sky, skipping from star to star like they were the leads in a musical who had just discovered what life was all about.
"I don't think I know any girls with a beard 7n7."
"Yeah." 007n7 emptily replied, he didn't mean to sound so disappointed at Noli misinterpreting his question, before he could shift the topic that weighed heavy on his heart Noli traced a finger down 007n7's neck and remarked;
"I don't think that sort of stuff is for me anyways."
"Really?" 007n7 asked, not meaning to sound too hopeful, raising his head up so his starry eyed gaze could admire Noli's cradled figure.
"Yeah, I think I much prefer this actually." Noli confessed, shyly removing the unsettling mask that 007n7 had come to adore, a lump formed at the back of 007n7 throat as the other positioned himself mere centimetres away from his face, he could feel Noli's warm shaky breath kiss the tip of his nose as they stared at each other, anticipating the inevitable.
"Lets test it out." Noli whispered, closing the distance.
"You alright?" An almost drunken voice questioned, 007n7 opened his eyes that he didn't recall closing finding his face uncomfortably close to Chance's, his cloth covered hand still gently cleaning the others stubble, 007n7 flushed pulling back quickly.
"I'm flattered." Chance joked, adjusting his weight weakly against the wall of the ball pit, not questioning 007n7's actions any further, he seemed quite distressed by the unfamiliar surroundings to which 007n7 quickly cast aside his own sorrows to comfort.
"Don't worry we're safe, I brought you here." 007n7 reassured, distracting himself by absent mindedly tending to one of Chances countless wounds, praying that a task as simple as fixing up one of his allies cuts wasn't going to remind him further of his bygone lover.
"Your mind always seems somewhere else exploiter." Chance remarked, his usual blank expression once again returning to his face, as if the façade had never slipped, 007n7 winced at the use of the word exploiter, to him it was derogatory even if there was a slight possibility Chance didn't mean it in such a way.
"I don't need this place to live a nightmare." 007n7 confessed whilst inattentively wiping away the blood that never seemed to stop seeping through Chance's wounds, he thought if someone were to look inside his head, his mind would be bleeding in the same way.
"Oh yeah?"
"I think I've been living my worst possible life for a long time."