Work Text:
Pin woke up, still feeling as though she were half-asleep.One moment, she was being waved away by Two, and the next, her vision had went entirely black, like she’d just been knocked out by something.
She groggily picked herself up and inspected her surroundings, as her eye-sight adjusted to the newly introduced light.
…So…this is what the elimination place looks like.Huh.
She peeled back the deep purple curtains of the pastel room to be met with what seemed to be…an upside down city?It was a little difficult to describe.
A pale orange sunset loomed over the entire world, as if everything was trapped in a bubble(technically it was, considering this was some kind of pocket dimension), and hundreds of grey buildings stretched out further than the eye could see.
It was terrifying, yet beautiful, an unknown, yet peaceful dimension.It certainly calmed her nerves a little.
However, after a single glance to the side, she was suddenly reminded of the comically short door to her left, which sparked a realisation within her.
Everybody must be outside somewhere, through the door!She could finally reunite with everyone she’d lost!They were all here!
She scrambled to get herself out from between the curtains, and slammed the door open with her foot.
She just barely fit herself through, turning on her side to get in.It was like playing limbo, only with a stupid wooden door and potentially a room full of people watching you struggle through this strange conundrum.How fun.
She got herself back on her feet, and glanced forward.Infont of her were multiple sets of winding staircases, one north, one east, and one west.The entire area was painted in pale blue, making the room almost appear as though it were made of plastic.Pretty tacky, she thought.
She had no time to think about the way the room was painted, however, as she heard a pair of footsteps approach from her right.
Pin froze.She wasn’t certain how scared she was meant to feel right now, considering it was probably just a contestant.But regardless, she stood there, quiet as a mouse.Hearing a pair of unknown footsteps WAS still a little terrifying after all.
What she wasn’t, expecting, though, was for her to tear up after realising who it was.
It was Coiny.
Oh, of course it had to be him.
She wondered how he’d felt for all of that time, after realising how he’d ended up leaving the game.How his final appearance, and his final goodbyes to her were wrecked by that stupid outbreak.
But now she’d wonder no more, for her was right infront of her, carrying a pile of tools.He immediately dropped everything he had when he saw her.
“..Pin?!”
“Coiny!”
She sprinted as fast as she could, and didn’t look back.
She barrelled into him with a warm hug, and wrapped her arms all the way around him.The two collapsed to the floor.
“I-I haven’t see you in so long!I’m still sorry, I didn’t make it as far as you wan-“
He immediately put a finger over her lips.
“Shush.Pin, you did great.You literally lead an entire team to victory.Don’t ruin this for yourself.”
She chuckled bashfully.He’d reacted so quick, as if he knew exactly what she’d do in advance.Was she really that predictable?
“Haha…thanks…”
“No, seriously though!We all saw the recent episodes from a massive TV in here!The way you were able to command your team during that mountain trek was amazing, Pin!”Coiny gently elbowed Pin with a sly smirk.
She rolled her eyes amusedly to distract herself from the slight heat that emanated from her face.He always knew just how to make her blush.Ugh.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.A great leader, as always.”
“You sure are.~”he winked at her lovingly, pulling her just a little closer by the waist.
Her heartbeat skyrocketed.
Um.Was that flirting?Was he flirting?Is she missing somethi-
“I-I’m-“she stumbled on her words.
“Anyways,”he suddenly continued as if everything was normal between the two.
Ugh, of course he changes the subject, like he didn’t just make her almost have a heart attack.
“The others, most of them, anyway, are downstairs, that way!”Coiny pointed to the left staircase.
“We could stay here for a little longer if you’re not ready to greet them, but if you want, we could go down there-“
Nope.No way.As much as she wanted to see the others, she was way too fixated on the guy infront of her to go right now.
“NO!-I mean, no thanks.I don’t think I’m ready.”
That was a complete lie.But she went with it anyway.
“Oh, alright then!”Coiny chirped,”I guess there IS a pretty big window up here to look out at the view.The room it’s in even has a glass floor to look down below!That could keep us entertained for just a little while.”he lightly tugged her hand,”Follow me!”
“Alrighty, then!”Pin responded.She curiously followed his lead, walking through the ever-winding pathways and twisted corridors.Until eventually, they both came to a halt.
________________
“Here it is!”Coiny excitedly opened the door for her, as she peeked inside.She hesitantly took a step forward.
Wow.This was amazing.
The glass was pretty much completely see-through.It was like stepping onto an invisible platform.It took a moment to get used to, of course, but it left her in awe.
Below was, unexpectedly, thousands of other buildings, just like the ones she could see in the distance from the front panel.She felt as though she could leap onto one of them with enough force.She wasn’t actually going to try that, of course, but it was still a cool feeling regardless.
Coiny watched her shocked expression cathartically,”Cool, isn’t it?”he stepped into the room and knelt down.
“Sometimes I wonder if there’s other people, like, people other than the contestants around here.There are are, at the very least, functional lights in the other buildings, after all.”
Pin turned away from the front glass panel and knelt down beside him.”Yeah, its actually kind of nice to imagine that.It’d mean we’re not alone here.”
He put his hand on her shoulder,”We aren’t alone, Pin, since we have each other.But, yeah!It still is nice to imagine that.”
…….
“It’s still looks pretty beautiful, either way, doesn’t it?”she focused on the buildings beneath her.
“Yeah.”his eyes didn’t look down from her.
“It sure does.”