Chapter Text
It was one of those dreams again, playing on a game of cat and mouse with some random hunter. It reminded you of a game you saw a couple of times, was it Eggy pantry? Or Alive by dawnlight? You weren’t sure, 5 survivors instead of 4? Well that was new, you looked at your teammates and saw some familiar faces, pretty sure you have seen this guys either around the campus or maybe social media? Wait weren’t this guys from the E-sports team or something like that? OP-something, Luca, Qi Shiyi, Lily and uh Naib? Pretty sure this would be the first time you would be playing with versions of people you knew.
In some cases, if the hunter knew another version of you and all your team died, sometimes they felt enough pity they would let you out, cases such as versions of your dear sister Gracie would let you use dungeon, while some others, would also let you, but not without making you work for that. Like Joseph, who would force you to finish the rest of the ciphers and open the door. Was already bad enough that it took you longer to decode, this guy would camera world just to mess with you, him and that smug smile never failing to give you butterflies. Ah, you ended daydreaming again, wait it was already a dream so does it even count as daydream?
Much to your annoyance, the match started, already familiar with this dreams you just went on as usual, until a familiar click was heard… You stopped decoding for a moment to let the information sink in, you hated long matches, you hated when your progress reached halfway of the cipher just for camera world to end and the progress to turn into 10%, the worse part here was that instead of the usual 5 ciphers, this time it were 6. Your dread was stopped the moment you saw someone’s mirror version getting hit and went back to the game.
What an interesting game mode, seems that survivors could only take 1 chair, which meant that you and Naib were kinda useless in this game, the poor unfortunate soul was Luca, meaning that the match just turned 1000% longer, plus unfortunately it was Lily kiting with Qi Shiyi supporting, which meant that slow decoding duo had to lock in and keep decoding. There was also the constant camera world, maybe surrender wasn’t that ba- oop messed calibration, hopefully he didn't notice that hunter changed targets.
Talked too soon, not even 5 seconds, and he appeared just besides you, he definitely had teleport, he was supposed to be on the other side of the map, you mess a calibration, and now he’s at your ass. At least it wouldn’t be too hard, just try looping him arou-... Confined space… You still had some time, maybe you can get to another plac- “my my, lucky me” or maybe you should just shut up, oh wait right your ability, you threw him your weapon, stunning him in place, and then you ran the other side.
Your luck seemed to do a 180 turn due to the amount of pallet stuns you pulled on him, how was he even having time to use camera world and why the hell were you still at 3 CIPHERS. Were you the only one hearing the ominous bell toll? Again, talked too soon, distracted, you didn’t see the tram, and it was then when your kiting was stopped.
You liked hearing his voice, it was silky and soft, he also had such a nice laugh. But right now you would prefer not having him laughing at your fail, and you went down. You didn’t even bother struggling, long match, let’s just be sacrifice to make him waste time. To your surprise, he didn’t chair you, but drop you on top of dungeon, giving him a questioning look, he just gave you a shushing sign, to which you complied, you would thank him later, maybe invite him out.
“Is he bullying them?” asked Lily curiously, “I don’t see Joseph doing that to anyone” Qi Shiyi replied
“Maybe they did something to him a long time ago, and he’s just getting vengeance” she proposed
“Lily, you need to stop overthinking so much, I’ve seen them around the campus sometimes, they seem to get along with Joseph, so chances he’s just messing with them” said the captain, they keep talking about their theories till they decided to go investigate as the hunter didn’t move for another 4 minutes while you were still down.
Heal yourself! Oh yeah, you could do that, you decided to just do that, since the match wasn’t getting any shorter, waiting for Joseph to take down everyone else would take as much as bleeding out, plus you didn’t want to annoy your teammates, the moment you finished healing yourself this guy comes and insta downs you again “bro-” “don’t call me bro, I’ve been inside you”
“That was the corniest reply I have ever heard” “well it’s the truth” “well do you want me to call you mister or lord Desaulnier?” you teased, he actually thought about it.
“Nah, not a big fan of power dynamics my dear, but would you prefer if I referred to you as my pet?” You got this far, no way you’re backing down, “didn’t expect you to be into that my lord, but if u want to I’ll get on knees and bark for you, or maybe you prefer if I acted like a cat?” raising your arms to mimic a dog
“If I were you, I would be more careful with my words, after all” he held your chin up, while leaning close to whisper the last part “I might get too fired up”
Unbeknownst to you, there also were 3 other guest (and maybe a spectating ghost) who were listening to the whole conversation, and they were flabbergasted. That wasn’t in any of their theories, the closest thing was you dating any of his relatives, like cousin or something like that. Like Joseph always felt so, unreachable? Also kinda disinterested on dating, also how on the other side they didn’t know much about you soooo.
“Maybe we should leave before this escalates” Lily whispered, not wanting to see whatever outcome the argument had, the other 2 exchanged agreeing looks, so slowly and quietly they walked away, but of course nothing goes well, one of the 3 accidentally dropped a pallet which snitched their location.
An immense sense of shame just hit you harder than the tram, you wished the ground swallowed, or you just bleed out, anything would be better than being stuck in this embarrassing moment. An awkward silence filled the air, you tugged on Joseph’s clothes hoping he could put you out of misery, he understood the task and went to balloon you. Poor Qi Shiyi, not knowing if she should stun Joseph or let you both leave, you weren’t even struggling, just covering your face, God they felt so bad now, curiosity killed the cat, this time curiosity killed any confidence you started with. Hunter has surrendered
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Waking up, you were hit by a sense of sleepiness, a pair of arms stopping you from moving, finally opening your eyes, you’re meet by those way to shiny blue eyes (derogatory) “what were you dreaming about mon coeur” he asked, with that sweet sweet voice (no fair how could he both look and sound good after just waking up) your sleepiness was replaced by a growing amount of shame, before you could hide your face with the pillow or anything else, he moved closer, resting his head around your chest. Something you noticed after dating him is how much he could act like a cat sometimes, a really needy cat.
Noticing the lack of attention, he decided to place a bite around your neck, you let out a yelp to which he replied with his usual demanding tone “you haven’t replied my question nor are giving me any care”
“Isn’t it too early for you to act this spoiled? Plus you already know the answer you brat” You asked as you started to pet his head, “it’s never early to get what I want” you sighed looking at the clock
“You know I have to get out soon, right? Unlike you, I don’t have a free day”, all you heard was a muffled “fine” which gave you the green light.
Not so long after, you got out of the room, preparing breakfast for you, your sister (she usually had classes less early than you) and the freeloader (he pays for groceries). The way to class was just as usual, nothing relevant happening, though you did feel some eyes on you. Creepy. Maybe if you ignored it, maybe it or they would leave.
Turns out, the -if I don’t see them, they won’t see me- worked, maybe they lost you, or you were just imagining things, damned you early morning classes, always messing with your sense of surrounding. Arrived to class and followed the everyday routine, dissociate while pretending to put attention. During a break, a new teacher had entered the room, explaining how we would have to share class with some other students due to reasons you didn’t hear and felt too lazy to ask.
Blablabla nothing else relevant, why do classes feel 100% longer when it’s the middle of the week, more dissociation, at some point your brain disconnected, only returning when you noticed someone tapping your shoulder, you have never been so glad to have trained a poker face, because right now what the hell was that damn rat in your class. Okay that was mean, seems that one of the other students included Luca, who hopefully would not talk about the dream. “Hey, have we meet before?” You motherf-
“Uh, I don’t think so, maybe you seen me around campus?” You lied
“Oh my bad”, he took the seat just besides you, you weren’t a fan of people, so in these situations you just lied about it, yes you remembered the dreams, but you would prefer not talk about embarrassing moments, like maybe a failed rescue, or an incredibly early down, or any other situation like the recent dream. Worked most of the time with exceptions such as Grace (you both started to experience this type of dreams at the same time, she felt bad for chairing you first) and Joseph (Grace accidentally snitched)
Classes ended for the day, the moment you left the college grounds (you didn’t live in the campus, but not like your apartment was far from college) you saw a big group of students surrounding someone, curiosity got the best of you, and you joined the crowd and turns out the center of attention was none other than Joseph, you were none to judge people on how they would spend a free day, but the idea of willingly visiting school felt stupid.
Seems like he noticed you, flashing a smile in your way that you chose to ignore, it was starting to get too loud and the amount of people started to feel obnoxious, so you left. It was after some time when you felt some eyes following you, again, well this was getting creepy, if you don’t see them, they won’t see you (your survival instincts are fast, but you were faster).
“Hey, so if they don’t remember us wouldn’t be better to just, I don't know, leave?” Naib always the voice of reason, the group wanted to apologize for the match, well “apologize”, do you know when you notice someone and then proceed to see them everywhere? Well, it was kinda like that now, they didn’t mean to follow you or constantly bump with you, “you know, if we just went on and pretended to not know them we wouldn’t be looking like stalkers right now” he continued.
“I feel that it’s an important moment to remember that I just talked with them in class”
“So we agree to blame Luca for this” Lily proposed, “how is this my fault, you were the ones eavesdropping” he protested “well if your kite lasted longer maybe that wouldn’t have happened” and talking about the devil… Wait what.
Awkward silence filled the air, mostly because Joseph appeared out of thin air, it kinda looked like he was terrorizing the group, “so-” “no, goodbye” didn’t even let her talk and left.
“Wanna get some pastries?” always so sneaky, he somehow appeared just besides you, standing still like a deer in headlights, trying to process when he got so close, he just took your lack of response as a yes and started to drag you to the nearest bakery. (Which sadly was too expensive for you, but no worries like always, he’ll pay)