Chapter Text
Malim wakes up with a groggy groan, feeling the dull ache of oversleep still clinging to his body. It's a normal rare day off—no genie duties, no meetings, no streams planned for the day, no fans to entertain—just him and his boys having fun, hanging out, a couple of guys being dudes, a couple of dudes being bros.
It doesn’t mean that he or the other boys dislike streaming for Ravanights of course, quite the opposite in fact! Streaming was one of the best things that ever happened to them and they were grateful FSP EN had given them the opportunity. Just that it’s not everyday they’re able to be in Beruda all together at the same time.
Everyone knows that because they’re usually in different time zones, it’s hard to align everyone’s schedules. Even for a full five member Ravanis collab, someone was either sleepy in the morning or losing sleep by staying late.
Stretching, Malim stumbles out of bed and wanders his way to the shared kitchen while rubbing sleep from his eyes. They’re all currently in a recently bought shared dorm just this week; FSP decided that it would be easier for Ravallum to be there whenever they have work to do in Beruda.
Malim starts to hear everyone’s noises.
They're all already awake!
He really can’t wait to spend time with them. There’s some ideas on his mind, maybe gaming until someone rage-quit; chaotic and loud mess. Definitely wasn’t thinking about Nayu’s infamous scream in particular.
When he turned the corner to greet everyone, he froze.
Altus is standing at the counter, calmly sipping tea from a cat-shaped mug, the sun haloing him like some divine being descending to grace mortals with his presence.
Then he sees Ryzar leaning against the fridge, shirtless while just wearing some random shorts, abs casually on display and grabbing some lasagna to eat and treats for dessert.
Across the living room couch, Nayu’s transparent clothes cling to his body, showing his rib cage as he moves furiously over his switch controls and mutters fiercely, barely audible groans and screeches.
And last but not least, Nix is laying down on the couch, laughing as he swings tight soft fabric pants that clung to his legs. A mischievous smile curled at his lips as he watched everyone with a catlike interest.
Usually, Malim wouldn’t have thought much about anything that they’re doing. Except today, floating above everyone’s head, some weird AR, little status indicators like a video game graphic with red heart and gold star icons.
Is he still sleepy or is he dreaming right now?
Three hearts and two stars for Altus.
Two hearts and two stars for Nix.
Two hearts and two stars for Nayu.
Two hearts and three stars for Ryzar.
Malim blinks hard. Rub his eyes. Look again.
At first, Malim thought it was some weird aftereffect of staying up until 3 AM. Maybe he was just tired, yeah. But when he squints harder—
Nope. Still there.
He staggered backward into the hallway wall with a soft thud, heart pounding. "Brother, what the fuck are those???"
Four pairs of eyes turn toward him.
Altus lifts a brow. "Well morning to you Mlem, rough night?" he teases while sliding a mug across the counter. "You look like you saw a ghost.”
"I was the one who made the lasagna by the way!" Nix adds cheerfully, he signals it by proudly pointing to the food that’s on the dining table. "They're only slightly burnt.”
"I already told you the oven was broken and you didn’t listen to me!" Nayu muttered, mashing buttons furiously. "This is so stupid.”
"Yo, Mlem" Ryzar greets him before munching the food in his mouth and swallowing it. "You good, man? Did you not have a nice sleep?”
"No! I mean–" Malim opens his mouth, then close it again quickly. He waves frantically at the empty air, panicking. "Never mind..."
He forces himself upright, brushing off imaginary dust and offering a dazzling, if not slightly cracked, smile.
Stay cool. Act normal. Maybe you’re just losing your mind. Don’t let them know you're hallucinating weird game status icons above their heads like you accidentally downloaded a cursed visual novel mod.
Without thinking Malim took the mug Altus had slid to him with trembling hands and muttered a "thanks" as he sipped automatically. Altus has always known how he liked it.
The sudden realization nearly made him drop the cup.
Is this situation really what he thought was happening?
He snuck another glance.
Nothing changes. He doesn’t know what he’s expecting at this point. The thing floats happily(?), pulsing faintly—like it was alive. Malim doesn’t even wanna know how it could do that.
He glances to see everyone’s reaction to this new found discovery that he’s seeing. They interact with each other normally, joking and bickering, and not even reacting at all to the floating icons.
Malim, however, felt like he was on the verge of combusting. He needed answers.
Badly.
None of them acted or noticed anything strange. The hearts and stars just... stayed there. Which meant this was only happening to him.
Brilliant.
Fantastic.
Absolutely normal behavior for a retired genie, right?
Maybe it was a side effect of all the years he’d spent granting wishes. Maybe the universe was bored and decided to prank him today. Maybe it was just some kind of sick joke. Maybe he has officially gone insane.
Either way, Malim decides right then and there. He has to figure out what the fuck is happening before the others noticed he was acting like he’s one word away into a full mental and physical breakdown.
Although… Malim would be lying if he says there wasn’t a small and reckless part of him that’s tucked away in the back of his mind—that wasn’t just curious, but could potentially be dangerous if he bites more than he can chew on.
If these icons actually meant something similar to a game stat... could it change?
His entire being leapt to his throat.
If the hearts and stars could change... based on what he did… through his words and actions…
Altus glanced over at him again, sipping his tea.
"You coming to the gaming room or not?" he tilt his head.
Malim blinks, he was in a daze for so long that he didn’t even realize they were talking to him. "Huh? What?"
"Heck yeah," Ryzar grins. "Tournament time. Loser makes dinner."
Nix smirks and hops down from the couch, landing lightly. "Hope you're ready to lose, especially you Mlem~"
Nayu shot Nix a sharp look. "Oh, you're all going down. We all know I’m winning."
Everyone pushed Malim toward the game room, his mind racing.
He doesn’t have time for this, he has a mystery to solve!
And apparently, four hearts and four stars icons along with four handsome, attractive, infuriating, yet confusing genmates were somehow involved.
One thing was certain though:
This was his reality now.
And he was so, so fucked.