Chapter Text
The fireplace burned quietly, warmness embraced the main cabinet as usual. The tiring rounds of the day had finally come to an end, except someone was still chasing some…thrill?
Not to mention they were all exhausted after a day of fighting, but playing games after rounds had somehow become one of their normal, though it was mostly just Chance, Taph, Elliot, Two Time and Noob. Sometimes Shedletsky and Builderman would join, but that was just for occasion. Guest, 007n7 and Dusekkar never joined the game, but always sat somewhere around the main cabinet, watched them play and yelled in silence.
“Come on guys! It’s the time!” Chance was the one to first break the almost suffocating quietness tonight.
Taph was the first person to move, pulling a chair himself and sitting beside Chance without further question.
Elliot signed, also getting a seat next to Chance. Two Time and Noob joined second later, and the usual game group members had all arrived.
“So, what are we playing today?” Elliot questioned, eyeing Chance for an answer.
And the gambler was smiling, more like smirking.
“I have a bad feeling.” Taph watched as Chance flipped their coin one more time with the mischievous grin.
Two Time gave Chance a suspicious stare. “For the love of Spawn, please don’t involve us in anything stupid.”
“So…Chance…what’s the game?” Noob asked finally.
Chance took out a bottle, shaped somewhat like a wine bottle, and laid it flat on the wooden table. Taph was apparently confused about where even the bottle came from, but before he could ask, Chance was already speaking.
“Let’s play Truth or Dare, but we turn the dare into dish washing.” The smug grin grew wider as they finished the sentence.
Before the game group could react, a familiar voice cut through the conversation.
“That sounds fun, can we take part?” Shedletsky asked from the far away couch.
“Of course! The more the merrier, isn’t it?” Chance smiled.
Builderman, who was sitting beside Shedletsky, narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’?”
But the fried chicken lover was already dragging him towered the table with a smirk.
Builderman sighed in defeat, as Chance clapped their hands in approval. “Now, shall we start the game?”
Taph gave out a thumbs up in the trounce, “Spin the bottle.”
The bottle spinned, the sound of glass colliding with the wood table filled the room quietly.
Chance’s gaze lingered on the spinning motion for a second too long.
It pointed straight to Two Time, and the end was pointing at Noob.
“Okay! So Noob, you can ask Two Time a question.” Chance smirked, already curious about how this game would develop.
Noob hesitated for a moment before they finally spoke up. “What’s one thing you regret doing the most?”
Two Time froze at the sentence, apparently that flashed back some bad memories of them.
“I’ll do the dish wash tomorrow.” They replied in a small voice after a long silence.
Elliot furrowed his brow in concern, but didn’t ask. The tension was a bit too thick for a game of Truth or Dare, but Noob quickly spinned the bottle again, as if to brush off the somehow wrong landed question.
The bottle pointed at Builderman, the end pointing at Taph.
Taph flinched slightly as they suddenly got the right to ask a question.
“What’s your relationship with Shedletsky?” Taph asked, probably with a smirk under his mask.
Now, this was something fun.
Builderman gave Taph a suspicious look in return, like silently asking ‘Where the hell did this question even come from?’ . On the other hand, Shedletsky was grinning, so bright that the whole situation seemed even more suspicious.
Chance was the one who broke the supposed eye contract between the two. “Wait, that was something. You two were like, always next to each other, even sometimes during rounds!”
Two Time slowly lifted their head up, the former dark expression could no longer be seen. Instead, a smirk formed on their pale face. “I’m curious too.”
“Weren’t they just sitting on the couch together right before joining us?” Elliot asked, joining the gossip conversation.
Shedletsky tilted his head, looking at Builderman now. “What do you say?” The smugness was unignorable in his voice.
Builderman gave an annoyed look in return, sighing as he threw the question back to the other admin. “Is this your purpose?”
“Not the main target, but also welcome.” Shedletsky smirked.
“So you’re gonna answer the question or do the dish wash?” Taph broke through the tension before the two could have more protest.
“Fine, me and Shed are in some kind of relationship." Builderman answered finally.
“Wait, really?” Elliot seemed to be a bit surprised, while Taph just nodded like he always knew the answer. Noob went still, still processing the whole situation, and Two Time kept their usual crook smile on the pale face.
Shedletsky gave Chance a silent cryptic look during all the chaos. Chance narrowed their eyes in confusion, but the admin just returned a smirk back.
The bottle spinned again, this time pointing at Elliot, the other side pointing at Two Time.
Elliot clearly couldn't help but let out a sigh, while a malicious glint flashed in Two Time’s eyes. Noob, who was sitting between the two, seemed to be confused but also excited about what kind of question the cultist would ask.
This was getting more and more interesting.
“If you had to kiss someone in the room, who would it be?” The question broke through the tension velvety, and no one saw that coming.
“What…What the hell, Two Time!” Elliot stammered, slightly flustered at the sudden spicy question.
Shedletsky let out a small chuckle, while Two Time stared at the pizza worker mischievously.
Chance, somehow, didn’t want to admit it but Elliot looked kinda cute like this.
“dish wash or truth?”
Elliot took a deep breath, finally recollected himself from the mass. “I guess I’ll choose the dish wash.” He replied finally, looking away from the table.
Chance watched him gripping the table slightly, avoiding any eye contact.
“Aww Elliot you’re so flustered! Is there actually someone here you want to kiss?” Chance teased in a mock affectionate tone, but half curious about what Elliot's answer actually was.
“Shut up, Chance.” Elliot huffed with a fake pout.
Taph shook his head in acknowledgement, exchanged a knowing look with the other admin, who was smiling way too bright at the other end of the table.
So the bottle spinned yet again, pointing at Taph and the other end at Chance.
The tension in the warm cabinet grew as Chance considered their choice in silence.
“If you have to get seduced by someone in this room, who will you choose?”
Oh, a very Chance question.
“What the hell, Chance.” Before Taph could give out any reaction, Elliot reacted first.
“I…think that’s not really…out of our…anticipation…since it’s Chance.” Noob gave out a fair comment as the others waited for the answer from the demolitionist.
Chance laughed lightly at the compliment (They took that as one) as Taph sighed in annoyance (Can he even sigh?), mostly out of frustration.
“Probably Elliot if I’m forced to choose, the most tolerable one.” Taph answered eventually.
“Wait what? Is that a good thing or bad thing?” The pizza worker cut in confusion, mouth slightly gaped in shock.
Chance nudged the demolitionist as they faked a mock offended look. “Really? Thought you would choose me sweetheart.” They flirted smoothly as usual.
Elliot freezed for a fleeting moment upon hearing Chance calling someone sweetheart. It was not like he wanted to be called like that or something….Luckily, no one seemed to notice that. (At least he thought)
On the other hand, Taph chose to ignore Chance’s usual flirty joke, and the game went on.
The bottle spinned, pointing at Shedletsky and the other end at Builderman.
Builderman instantly sighed the second that damn bottle stopped spinning, looking at the other admin with pure hopelessness.
“Well, Builder.” Shedletsky smirked in victoryness.
“What do you value the most in life now?”
That question was kinda out of expectation from someone like Shedletsky.
The room fell in silence for once in a long game.
The life now, not just Builderman, but all of them—survivors, or even killers, were trapped in a purgatory like this. Money didn’t matter anymore, not even your job or your fame. Maybe reputation still mattered a little, but most of them didn’t even know each other until they all got stuck in this hell.
The only thing they really had to care about, was just surviving though endless rounds repeating every single day. The life before this? Perhaps it was still good to just imagine getting back, or it hurt more in silence.
They all had a totally different life before being sent to this jail, and maybe if one day, they somehow figured out a way to escape from this eternity torture, they would continue walking on thier own life path.
Maybe they would never meet each other again.
It had been months since they were all being teleported here. They all had to admit, the earlier days were definitely not something anyone would ever want to endure again. Not just getting used to the daily torture, endless rounds or learnig how to use their skills well. But also, getting to know each other, the boundaries, the hobbies, the ability and maybe a small part of other’s past.
Though after countless arguments and conflicts, the atmosphere changed, or maybe it were them who changed.
The interactions were smoother, or even sometimes, could be called as warm. Light jokes, silent help, divided duties or even caring for each other. An invisible bound was formed without notice between nights and nights (since there was no daytime here).
Forever seemed far away, and sometimes even tomorrow was, too.
Yet another round still started nonetheless.
So what really mattered the most between these incessant survival games?
Builderman finally came up with his answer after a long silence.
“The desire to keep living.”
Well, why was their game of Truth or Dare (dish wash) suddenly so serious again?
“I thought you would said me…is love dead?” Shedletsky’s voice cut through the thick tension, a slight mock hurt in his voice.
That won some annoyed looks from the table, especially Builderman.
But Builderman’s answer and the question itself did lead the survivors into some kind of thinking. The life before everything, the life in this purgatory, and maybe the life after this total mess.
Though that was not the problem for now, since they still had an unfinished game of Truth or Dare.
Someone spinned the bottle again, the sound of glass colliding with the wood table filled the room quietly. Since the night was getting late, so this was probably the last round before they called it a night—
It pointed straight at Chance and the other end at Elliot.
Shedletsky let out a small chuckle, and Chance just shot a whatever-you-think stare back to the admin. Elliot seemed to be thinking about the choice while everyone else waited quietly.
“Do you have a crush with anyone in this room?” The pizza worker’s voice was too calm for some kind of spicy question like this, if Chance had to be honest.
“Didn’t expect you to be the one asking this kind of question, Elliot.” Chance gave out a shining smile back to the other, while trying their best to ignore Shedletsky’s smirk on the other end of the table.
Elliot let out a frustrated sigh. “Well, quickly answer the question or do the dish wash tomorrow!”
“I think we already have enough people for the dish wash duty tomorrow.” Taph suddenly spoke up.
Two Time let out a cunning laugh. “Yup, me and Elliot were already in charge of the dish wash tomorrow!”
What the hell is happening now, were they cornering them to answer the question?
Whatever, but if they had to be honest…
Chance replied after a moment, taking their time to consider the answer. “I don't think I have one…unless anyone wants me to fall for them?” And of course they wouldn’t miss the chance to flirt.
“Really? Not in love with the pizza boy already?” Shedletsky teased immediately after the gambler finished their sentence.
Chance flinched a little at the question, but they soon regained their composure before anyone seemed to notice.
“Whatever you say, man.” Chance sighed in mock annoyance, as they lifted the bottle off the table.
Soon after the game ended, they all prepared to leave and return to their own cabins for a rest before the next new round started.
The fireplace was still burning, and the room remained warm as usual. But the hanging question left Chance into a self-debate as they walked toward their own cabin. After they answered the question, Elliot didn’t really say anything, it was mostly just that annoying admin mocking them or whatsoever.
Them being in love with Elliot…?
Sure they found the other sometimes cute, though was that enough to call falling in love?
But they remembered Elliot’s flustered face.
The way he huffed.
The way he looked away.
And that unsettled them more than the teasing.
Chance didn’t know anymore.