Chapter Text
Gabriel grabs the paper he was toiling with, crushing it in his palm before throwing it at the nearby trash bin to join the other crumpled notes. Why the fuck did I pick the history of creative writing as my history essay? He slumps into the back of his chair, his head in his hand as he feels the cold air around his face from his hair falling forward like a wave.
"You know, you could just erase what you were writing. Or do it on your phone. I think I've heard of American students doing that." Junichiro said quietly as he peered over the top bunk of their bed, his silver dyed hair glistening near the ceiling lamp. Gabe took a deep breath before acknowledging his roommate's comment.
"I can't, the Professor wants it done in pen, on paper." Gabe reached out to tear another page from the nearby binder, though there was nothing left for his hand to reach. Cursing under his breath, he'd resign to put his head on the desk, hiding it under his hair and hands.
Jun tilted his head at this before sliding down the ladder. "Is that unusual for schools here?"
Gabe would sit in silence for a second to ponder before raising his head and shrugging. "I guess its more common now with people using ChatGpt to write essays. Because of them people like me have to work harder than we already fucking do." There was a low growl in his voice by the time he finished speaking, though he'd quickly turn away from Jun once he realized. "Sorry."
"Its alright," Jun smiled in an attempt to reassure his roommate. "I think you're right to be upset, but if it makes you feel better, I think your determination is a good trait."
Gabe would be silent again, only breaking it after briefly looking at Jun. "Thanks, I guess..."
Junichiro, still smiling, would grab his jacket from off their coat hanger. Though as he put it on his eyes would light up. "Hey, maybe you should take a break and hang out with the tennis team. I think the rest of them would like you."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Gabe would yawn before getting up from his chair only to face plant into the bottom bunk. "You go get drunk with your friends, what I need is a nap."
"Are you not sleeping well? Maybe you should see the campus nurse?" Jun's expression would sour a little with worry.
"I'm not sick! I just keep having weird dreams." Gabriel covered his head with a pillow, "Go have fun, let me sleep."
"A- Sorry..." Jun would bow on habit before leaving.
Gabe would listen as the door creaked closed, that bit of wood being the last bit of noise before his world went quiet again.
—
The loud comfort of drums and electric guitars rang through Gabriel's ears, keeping his eyes closed for a few moments now. For now at least, the past up until now didn't exist.
That was until he noticed Junichiro, the small thumping of pacing just enough to distract him from dissociating. He was looking at his phone, his expression harder to read than usual, sad but perhaps conflicted?
Realizing his roommate was looking towards him, Junichiro's smile would once again flit across his face. "Ah, sorry, I was just thinking about going out for a bit."
"You do that a lot." Gabriel would sit up a little more, "What makes this different?"
"Well, I had something with less people in mind, like food and a movie?" Jun set his hand on the back of his neck, "There's a nice 80's Americana themed diner not too far from campus, and I figured that since we're roommates we should hangout and get to know each other better."
Gabriel raised a brow at this. "You have the money for that?"
Junichiro blinked, quickly looking at something on his phone before chuckling awkwardly. "I-uh, my apologies, I didn't realize it was expensive, I can cover the cost of everything."
Gabe bit his tongue, on one hand he really just wanted to return to his music. Though, on the other hand, his stomach rumbling and his empty wallet were hard to ignore now.
"I can't turn down free food," He sighed, "Sure, let me take a shower first."
—
The diner is small and exactly what Junichiro promised—red-and-white booths, a jukebox in the corner, and the smell of sizzling burgers in the air. Gabriel follows him to a booth, the two sitting on opposite sides of a table. Being around dinner there was a sizable amount of people here, other students, families, and a whole other ocean of faces and voices. Gabe moved a little closer to the window. Sure, the traffic outside wasn't exactly comforting either, giant metal death machines blaring at each other as they sit to wait for a green beacon, but from behind the window it was at least quiet.
"Howdy boys, can I take y'alls order?" A heavyset blonde waitress stood over them with a soft smile, the bags under her eyes apparent even under her foundation. Gabriel flinched at first, being taken out of his thoughts suddenly, then realized that he had no idea what was on the menu as his brain fogged over.
"We'll have two double cheese burgers, two large fries, and two chocolate milkshakes." Junichiro replied in an equally fake southern accent.
Gabriel, flabbergasted, would just quietly nod. He was a bit unsure how much of this food he could actually eat.
The waitress chuckled, appreciating Junichiro's enthusiasm as she wrote down the order on her notepad. "Well alright y'all, I'll be back shortly."
The sound of racket nearby kept Gabriel painfully aware in this moment, not unlike there was sandpaper rubbed against his inner ear. Trying to distract himself he'd look over to Junichiro.
"You really have the money for this place?"
Junichiro would pull out his wallet, the thing swollen near to burst easily with several thousand dollars, looking through it unsure for a moment. "I think so, the menu said the meal would be about 30 dollars, would 50 be enough for a tip?"
As Gabriel opens his mouth to reprimand Jun for not telling him about carrying an entire college tuition around in public, the soft clank of metal trays in front of the two gently startles Gabe out of it.
"Y'all enjoy," The tired waitress smiled again before heading back off.
While Jun was saying thank you, Gabriel struggled to finish his thought, resorting to shaking his head and sighing. "Do what feels best, I guess"
—
The theater had a similar "out of time" vibe to the diner. The movie times put up on a Marquee that was decorated by round blinking lights, the orange of their color expanded out more as it shined through the fog like little lighthouses.
Inside, the two would sit in the middle of the theater, being the only two in attendance as the lights dimmed.
Gabe noted the modern projector, rolling his eyes at the falseness of this place. A husk of another era that only cared about guest's money.
The movie was simple, some kind of slapstick 80's comedy. Gabriel, bored, turned to look at Jun, initially going to ask why he brought him, but stopping as he noticed his bittersweet expression. A longing smile with watery eyes that almost blinked away the moment he saw it.
"Ah, sorry," Junichiro chuckled softly, not taking his eyes off the screen. "It's just...My Dad really liked this movie."
"Your Dad?" Gabe said quietly in return.
"Yeah, we watched a lot of old American movies like this together, but he said he really liked this one." Junichiro shifted his sitting position a little, clearly uncomfortable, but not saying anything about it.
"At least you have something to remember the good times," Gabriel felt a twinge of jealousy, but kept it to himself as he feigned watching the movie again.
"Yeah," Jun whispered, mostly to himself as he kept watching.
—
Gabriel was sitting at the edge of his bed, his fingers tracing the edges of a textbook he wasn’t reading. The dim light of his desk lamp flickered as he stared at the words, his mind miles away. The silence of his room felt suffocating, though it was better than the noise of everything outside. It had been 13 months and 5 days since he was freed from his father's compound, yet the anger still simmered beneath his skin. It always did. The echoes of his past were persistent, always clawing at the fabric of his thoughts.
His father was wrong, he was always wrong. No, his very existence is incorrect. An unloving bastard who could convince the gullible to believe in his lies, in his god.
Gabe would toss the book off of his desk, wanting to hear its spine crack on the floor. However, all the plastic crackling on the floor did was remind him that he was alone in his dorm room. He'd put his head on the desk with his arms on him, his long brown hair draping over him once more.
"Hey Gabe!" Followed a loud knock on the door before Junichiro waltzed in, chipper as always. "I was going to go out again tonight, I know you don't like house parties, but I talked with Ryan and he agreed to play some of that Metal music you like."
"...Cool?" Gabriel sighed, he understood Jun more than likely had the best intentions, however this just felt like bribery at this point.
"Now I'm not going to force you to go out, but—" He'd gently bump Gabe's shoulder with a fist. "I thought I'd try to help make things more your scene if I'm going to keep asking you out to these things."
Gabriel would stew on this for a moment as he finally picked his book from off the floor. On one hand, he wasn't exactly in a great place mentally right now, though on the other, he understood that the near isolation wasn't good for him.
Things being quiet for so long, Junichiro's excitement deflated slightly."...I'll just grab my things."
"Fine, I'll go, I just need to shower first."
"It's okay don't worry about —" Jun would double take, Gabe's words taking a moment to process before the glint in his eyes appeared. "You're actually going?"
"Yeah?"
Junichiro ran over, then paused for a second like he was going to hug him, stopping at the last second. "I— uh." He'd clear his throat and stand up a little straighter before giving Gabe another gentle punch on the shoulder. "That's awesome, thanks so much man."
Jun lingered at the door longer than he normally did, his smile warm. "You'll have a great time, I'll save you a drink!"
The light left the room as the door closed behind him, in its place was the shadow of Gabriel's doubt.
There's gonna be like a hundred people I don't know, what if they hurt me, what if they think—
No
He said he would go, so he had to push the darkness away. Wishing it would disappear after tonight, Gabriel set out to go and get that drink.
---
The party had swallowed them whole—voices overlapping, music pounding, heat pressing in from all sides. Gabriel had been gripping his drink too tightly, the condensation slick on his palm. His eyes darted from face to face, scanning, wary, trying to ground himself in the chaos.
He finds Junichiro at the end of the room's horizon, bright-eyed and eager to please among a group of people. It was too far for him to hear what was being talked about, but Gabe could see what they couldn't. His words were a bit too loud, his laughter just a little too practiced. Seeing him do this made him feel ill, yet he couldn't quite place why. Gabriel would finish his drink a little too quickly, his head spinning as he lost sight of his friend and stumbled into the house party's kitchen. It was a little more quiet, an oasis in comparison to the rest of the house.
Then, he saw him.
Not his father, not really—but close enough that the room shrunk around him. Ryan had the same broad stance, the same smirking confidence. The way his eyes flickered with the promise of a joke that would cut just deep enough to sting.
Junichiro, oblivious to the static tension radiating from his roommate, clapped him on the back. “This is Ryan! We have Calculus together. He’s cool, you’ll—”
The words blurred. Something wasn’t right.
Ryan was looking at him now, amused, like he could see it—that weakness, that anger, that raw, open wound.
“What’s wrong, man?” Ryan grinned, lifting his drink. “If you really are a man with hair like that.”
Gabriel’s breath hitched.
His fingers twitched against the cup in his hand. The music was suddenly too slow, like syrup dripping from the speakers, stretching in a way that made the whole world feel wrong.
Junichiro would chuckle awkwardly as he backed away, realizing he was between a rock and a hard place, he'd turn to Gabriel and motion to leave. “Hey, let’s just—”
In spite of this, Ryan took a step closer to Gabe, his smirk widening. “Relax princess. What are you gonna do, cry?”
The words hit like a fist to the gut. A direct echo of something his father had once said, all those years ago. It came rushing back in pieces—his father’s voice, his father’s hands, the weight of the past pressing against his chest like a vice.
Gabriel didn’t remember moving, despite that his fist connected with Ryan’s jaw before he could think. The crack of impact was lost in the music, the ripple effect was instant. Ryan stumbled back, his drink splashing to the floor.
Junichiro was on him in seconds. “Hey—hey, stop!” His grip was firm on Gabe's arms, yanking him back before he could throw another punch.
“Get off me!” Gabriel's voice was sharp, regardless Jun didn’t let go.
The party had frozen, every pair of eyes locked on them. Someone was yelling. Someone was pushing him toward the door. The next few moments were a blur—yelling, shoving, the sudden rush of cold air before his face hit hard, wet concrete.
----
Gabriel sat on the curb outside, wiping the blood from off his face with his oversized hoodie sleeve. The world outside was barely lit by the light posts, the clouds above only visible in their radius. Thankfully for him it wasn't raining anymore, perhaps that was the only thing that went his way tonight.
His thoughts were disturbed as he heard the front door open and close behind him, Junichiro joining him on the curb quietly and looking at him briefly before looking down at the puddle in front of them.
"I didn't mean to snap like that..." The words were bitter in Gabe's throat. Of course he was the one who actually punched the guy, though in his mind this wasn't entirely his fault.
"Why the hell did you ask me to come here?" He turned to face him suddenly, clenching his fists. "You know I can't just blend in with people like that, even if I wanted to!"
Jun blinked, looking up at the smaller man like a deer in the headlights. "I...I just thought..." a million rebuttals flooded the back of his mind, a cloud of anger and bile. He wanted to ask him why he couldn't just be quiet and amicable—why he needed to cause a scene—Why did any of this have to happen. There was a rush to the idea of arguing back.
However, he bit his tongue, like he always had in situations like this. Who was he to ask that of him?
"I'm sorry, we'll go somewhere else next time, maybe a concert or—" He would set a hand on Gabe's shoulder as he spoke only to have it slapped back at him.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why do you think you live in some kind of fantasy where everyone's your friend! You need to wake up and face reality!"
The reverberation of Gabriel's scream hung in the air for a little too long, causing both men pause.
Something was off.
The street was too quiet. The shouting from inside the party should have still been audible. The hum of the city—cars, distant music, night air stirring through trees—was gone.
Only silence.
The air pressed in, thick and heavy, like a hand against his throat.
And then, instinctively, he checked his hands.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Six.
His breath caught. His fingers blurred at the edges, shifting, warping. He had too many.
A sharp, electric panic surged through his chest.
I’m dreaming.
His head snapped up to Junichiro, who was still talking, still real. Or—was he? The air around him shimmered, as if the street itself was struggling to hold its shape. The street lights flickered, stretching like melting candle wax.
Jun’s voice slowed, warping into something distant, distorted.
“…What’s… wrong…?”
Gabriel took a step back, heart hammering against his ribs. He clenched and unclenched his fists, the dream logic unraveling reality in front of him.
“I—” His voice felt detached from his own throat. “We’re not awake.”
The moment he said it, the world shattered.
The street cracked apart beneath them like glass. The buildings twisted, bending into impossible angles, neon colors bleeding from their surfaces like wet paint. The sky above split, revealing something vast and endless beneath it—a cosmic ocean of swirling shapes, shifting gears, and glittering fragments of light.
Junichiro stumbled, reaching for Gabriel's arm. “What’s happening—”
It was too late.
A shock-wave of color rippled through them, a weightless sensation pulling them downward, downward, downward—
And then, everything went dark.