Archive of Our Own

Lukey usually wasn't a fan of microwave meals, but today had been busy. The entire day he'd been rummaging through Tubbo's office to borrow some IRL streaming equipment, he still needed to pack, Pangi would be at his door any minute now, and then they would only have about six hours to sleep before leaving for the airport early tomorrow morning. They had a sponsored trip to Japan coming up, and although he couldn't be more excited, he was also stressed as hell.

He popped his meal in the microwave and clicked the button five times, setting the timer for two minutes thirty seconds. Another meal sat in the fridge waiting for Pangi's arrival. He went to scroll on his phone in the meantime, but Pangi's name popped up on his screen.

He answered the call and put it on speaker. “Hey, man! What's up?”

“So, the Uber dropped me off at the parking lot. Wasn't your building the one in the back?”

Lukey slumped to lean against the counter, letting the hand holding the phone droop next to the microwave. Damn, he was tired. “Not the furthest one, but the one before that, yeah.”

“Okay... I think I see it,” Pangi said, voice almost being muffled by a vague, loud noise. It was probably his suitcase wheels rolling on the gravel. “And what was your apartment number?”

“Five.”

“Dude, what's that noise in the background?” Pangi complained. Oh, rich coming from him...

“It's my microwave! Do you like it?” Lukey snickered and put the phone on top of the device, hoping it sounded moderately obnoxious on the other end of the line. There were fifty more seconds on the timer. “I have a meal for you too.”

“Well, that's nice and all, but why is your phone inside the microwave?”

“Of course it's not inside the microwave, I'm not stupid! And you're one to talk, I can barely hear you over that rumbling.”

“Well I'm sorry I have my suitcase with me! What, do you want me to just leave it behind?”

Lukey giggled. “Yeah, man. You should be a little more considerate. The audio quality is awful.”

“But how could I move in with you if I leave my suitcase behind?”

“Wait, you're moving in?” Lukey went with the bit. Ten more seconds, so peered inside the microwave. He was so hungry that the cheap ready meal looked actually good.

“Yeah bro! I thought that's what we agreed!”

5 seconds.

Lukey smiled wistfully at the thought. Unfortunately neither of them were in the position to move countries right now. “Man... It would be so fun–”

3 seconds.

“–having you–”

2 seconds.

“–as a–”

1 second.

“–roommate.”

The microwave beeped. Bright, blue electricity sparked inside of and around it in dangerous arches. Lukey had just a fraction of a second to jump before his brain started to feel just... weird. Funny.

Colors and shapes blended together, sounds became indistinguishable from one another, and Lukey blacked out.

He came to in the white hallway, blinking profusely. His head felt a little bit funny, but otherwise he seemed alright. But... hadn't he been in the kitchen?

The bathroom door opened next to him, and Pangi walked out.

“Oh! You got in already?” Lukey asked, astonished.

“What do you mean? What am I, a stray cat that broke in?”

“No,” Lukey said, now feeling physically quite normal but still trying to wrap his brain around what had just happened. His heart was still racing from getting scared of the microwave. He hadn't gotten electrocuted, he was pretty sure, but he had felt really funny for a second there. “I just... I didn't realize you got here already. Umm, hi.”

Pangi gave him a stare with his brows deeply frowning. “What are you talking about? I haven't been out yet.”

Now it was Lukey's turn to frown. What? “But... Weren't you just outside? When you called me?”

“Are you having a stroke?” Pangi asked, mostly joking, but it also seemed like Lukey was making absolutely no sense to him.

Lukey was stunned, but also started to feel self-conscious about how stupid and weird Pangi apparently found him right now. He needed to get a grip. “No, I think... I think I'm fine. Or, maybe I feel a little bit... disoriented. I'm probably just stressed and sleep deprived, or some shit,” he tried to reason. Memory problems were a common symptom of stress, after all.

“Dude, that's not good. Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Pangi asked and walked into the kitchen.

Breakfast?

Lukey followed him, and that's when things started getting from weird to really fucking weird. The hallway they had just been in had seemed normal, but the kitchen was entirely different. The room was bigger than it should be, and the fridge, sink and everything else was placed along two walls instead of just one. On top of that, the window opened up to the same courtyard as before, sure, but from a completely new viewpoint. The midday sun lit up the room.

Lukey tried not to let his shock show, because Pangi waltzed to the fridge like everything was absolutely fucking normal. “There's some leftover pizza, if you want,” he said casually.

“Umm... Maybe... Maybe later,” Lukey mumbled. He recognized loads of his own possessions – his microwave, cutting board, some mugs – but there were also some completely new stuff. A tiny table with two chairs, for example.

“You feeling alright?”

“Umm...” Lukey was not feeling alright. His mouth was dry, and he tried to blink in case this was just some weird, visual trick. “Did I... Did I hit my head?” he asked slowly, running his fingers along his scalp.

Now Pangi started looking real concerned. “Did you? I didn't hear anything, at least. Does your head hurt?”

“No?”

“Oh. Then what's wrong?”

How would he even explain it when he had no understanding of what had happened? Then again, he started feeling really awkward for making the situation so weird. Pangi was acting like everything was perfectly normal. He had seen Lukey's house before and didn't seem to think the kitchen was any different now. “I– I guess I'm just having a really odd experience right now. But... I'm sure it's fine.”

“Are you drunk?”

Lukey huffed. He never could escape these allegations, huh... “No.”

“Dehydrated?”

“I... Maybe?”

Pangi opened the fridge again and pulled out a can of iced tea. “Here, you can have one of mine for now. I was gonna buy more soon anyway.”

Even though Lukey was still confused as hell, he didn't want Pangi to worry any more so he accepted the drink without fuzz. And who knew, maybe he was just dehydrated and tired. He knew the human brain could pull crazy tricks if the body was under stress, and lord only knew how stressed he'd been lately.

“Oh, by the way,” Pangi said, “Did you wanna see the bit I edited? For the new video.”

“Sure,” Lukey said, feeling like he shouldn't make a bigger scene right now.

He followed Pangi into another room that turned out to be completely strange to him. This one had an unmade bed in the corner, a PC and a streaming set up by the window, some sports gear and random plushies and trinkets on shelves and even on the ground.

There were loads of stuff he remembered seeing in Pangi's house when he'd last visited the Netherlands.

Again, the window from this room opened up to a familiar view, but from a new viewpoint. The room layouts were different than he was used to. It was almost as if they were in the same apartment complex, but in a different, slightly bigger apartment.

Suddenly, the word 'roommate' played back in his mind.

They had been joking about that on the call just minutes ago, right? When Pangi had called to make sure he got the apartment number right, and Lukey had prepared a microwave meal for himself, and they had joked about loud suitcases and Pangi moving in, and then...

And then the microwave had malfunctioned and flashed dangerously, and Lukey had blacked out.

Had he actually hit his head? Gotten electrocuted? He felt fine now, aside from the utter confusion. Was this a dream that he was having while actually laying unconscious on his kitchen floor?

Pangi had sat down by the computer and opened his editing software. He showed a short, nicely edited clip of a Minecraft recording that Lukey had no context for. Lukey had a bit of a hard time paying attention, until he noticed that he himself was in the recording. LukeyTV, his little Minecraft character with his lab coat and headphones, was competing in a Pangi-style game show with Pentar and JumperWho.

He had no recollection of this.

“So, what did you think?” Pangi asked.

“It's good,” Lukey answered. He felt like he was having an out-of-body experience.

“You don't think it's too fast-paced? I'd ask Joel but I don't wanna bother him on his holiday.”

As far as Lukey knew, Tertel hadn't been planning on taking a holiday, but nothing else was adding up either so he didn't really bother to care. It seemed almost like he had entered an entirely different universe...

But of course he hadn't. That would be impossible.

Right...?

Had he???

“The pacing seemed fine.”

“Okay, sick! Thanks, man.”

“So, what's your plan for today?” Lukey asked, continuing the small talk on autopilot as if he wasn't having the most literal existential crisis of his life right now.

“I thought I'd just edit for a bit, then go for a run. And then after dinner I'll probably stream,” Pangi answered. It didn't sound like they were going to travel to Japan either, at least not today.

“Mhm.”

Should he tell Pangi? Should he tell him that just minutes ago Lukey was under the strong impression that he lived alone and Pangi was just visiting, and that now the fact that they apparently were roommates was throwing his whole sense of reality into the wind?

But how? How was this happening? And how would he word this without sounding absolutely fucking insane?

Was he insane?

Had he hit his head?

“What about you?” Pangi asked, while already continuing to work on the video.

“Huh?”

“What are you up to today?”

Travelling between alternate realities...? “Sem, how long have you lived here?”

Pangi didn't seem to mind the topic change. “Like, four months I think.”

“Uh-uh...”

“Why?”

Should he tell him?

On one hand, he trusted Pangi a lot. He knew he wouldn't be mean, he knew he would have Lukey's best interest at heart and try to solve this thing with him. At least probably. Or maybe he'd call an ambulance, which honestly would be quite reasonable.

But then again, Lukey kept thinking back to the phone call. They had just been talking about being roommates when the timer had hit zero, the microwave had flashed and now this had happened. That couldn't have been a coincidence. So maybe he should take it slow and think this through. Perhaps he could even run a couple of experiments with the microwave to see if he could recreate the phenomenon. Best case scenario he would find his way back to the normal world, and then everything would be alright. It sounded absurd, but somehow also plausible.

He decided to play his cards close to his chest for now. “No reason, I just couldn't remember. And I don't have much planned for today. Maybe... I'll edit as well?”

“Yeah, cool.”

After hovering for a bit while Pangi got distracted by the video, Lukey left the room, closing the door behind him.

There was another new door next to Pangi's room, and it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Stepping inside, Lukey immediately recognized most of his stuff. His PC, his bed (this one neatly made, thank you very much), his camera equipment... The wardrobe held mostly white clothes inside of it, giving him at least some sense of comfort.

He sat on the bed and downed half of the iced tea in one go. The cold liquid ran through his throat in a way not even his most vivid dreams had ever replicated, so no matter how insane it felt, he was genuinely starting to believe that this was real right now.

Logically thinking, in order to replicate the circumstances where the microwave had malfunctioned, he would need to A) have some food to heat up, B) get somebody (possibly specifically Pangi) to call, C) put the phone on speaker and on top of the microwave, and D) maybe have the same two and a half minutes on the timer of the microwave. He couldn't think of other parameters, except maybe the time of day, since it had been late evening when the phenomenon had happened and it was now noon. The topic they discussed also seemed to matter.

Pangi did say he was going to go out on a run today, right? It would be weird to call him when he was still in the apartment, so Lukey decided to wait until then.

Without a better plan he left his door ajar to hear when Pangi would leave, and booted up his computer. He might as well check what was going on in his life in this crazy new reality he had stumbled into.

After an hour or so of going through his video files – some familiar, some completely new – Lukey heard Pangi's door open.

Lukey suddenly felt more alert. “Are you going for a run now?” he asked, feeling like he was gathering information for a heist.

“Yeah. I'll probably be an hour or so,” Pangi answered from the hallway, putting on his shoes and earpods.

“Alright. Have fun!”

“Thanks, see you!” Pangi said, and walked out of the door.

After listening for possible sounds in completely stillness for a couple of moments, Lukey sprinted to the kitchen – which was still unsettlingly foreign – and stared at the microwave. Obviously he wouldn't call Pangi immediately, but he could still begin the experiments.

He opened the fridge. There were no microwave meals there, but he took out the leftover pizza. It would have to do. He put it inside and turned the microwave on for two and a half minutes.

And then he waited. Seemingly the microwave worked just fine. The cheese started to melt and bubble, and soon the timer ran out. Nothing special happened.

He put thirty more seconds on and decided to try talking out loud.

“Oh holy microwave!” he started, “Bless me with thy powers and bring me back! Back to... wherever the hell I was before! Where Pangi and I weren't roommates, and the apartment was normal, and–”

The timer beeped. Nothing happened, except, of course, the cheese on the pizza was starting to bubble even more explosively.

Lukey sighed and took the pizza out. It smelled delicious, and he was still very hungry, so he decided to take a well-earned lunch break before making the call.

Pangi answered quickly. “Yo, what's up?”

With no more pizza to use for the experiment, Lukey put a mug of water into the microwave and pressed the button five times again. Two minutes and thirty seconds started ticking down the clock. “So, Pangi,” he said, “Before you moved here, you lived in the Netherlands, yeah?”

“Yeah bro, obviously.”

“So, did you like that? You know, you living in the Netherlands and me living here?”

“Umm, I guess? What is this question?”

This was one of the most awkward conversations he'd had in a while, but he just had to power through it. Anything in the name of science. “Well, I was just wondering, would you ever want to go back to that?”

“I don't know, bro. Did you call me just to kick me out of the UK?” Pangi laughed, a little out of breath. Maybe some other time the sound of Pangi breathing heavily into the microphone would have brought a blush to his face, but now he was too invested by his hypothesis in order to even notice.

“What if I did?”

“Excuse me?! If somebody's getting kicked out, it's you, buddy!”

Lukey smiled. The world was odd and this microwave experiment was honestly dumb as hell, but at least the banter between them was completely familiar. “Me? Now what did I do?”

“I don't know, probably some terrible shit.”

“Nah, I would never...”

There was a slight lull in the conversation. Lukey looked at the timer. There were around thirty seconds left.

“So, why did you call me?” Pangi asked.

No matter how silly the microwave experiment felt, Lukey supposed he should at least commit, even though he honestly had no idea how he should go about it. “Well, I was just wondering: what would it take for you to kick me out? To make us not live together anymore?”

It was a weird question, so he wasn't surprised Pangi's answer was very curt. “Dude, I don't know.”

10 seconds.

“What if I like, doxx your entire family or something,” Lukey joked. “Would that do?”

Pangi snorted. “Yeah, obviously–”

3 seconds.

“I'd probably–”

2 seconds.

“–cut you off–”

1 second.

“–entirely.”

Lukey went to laugh, because this whole thing was just silly and he was probably just having a dream anyway, but then the microwave beeped. Bright blue electrical fire flew all around it, and his brain suddenly felt funny.

Lukey blacked out.

This time Lukey put the dots together much quicker. The microwave timer running out, the phone call, talking about cutting off contact...

He was back in his old apartment where he lived alone, standing in front of the microwave. With a disbelieving laugh he opened up his Discord messages with Pangi, only to find out that he was blocked. Their last conversation was from months ago, with a short last message from Pangi:

'ggs bro hope it was worth it'

Cold.

He scrolled for a bit, and pieced together an absurd fucking picture. It seemed like Lukey had actually done it. He had doxxed Pangi, and perhaps even some of his family members, for reasons not quite clear.

It had to have been an accident. He would never do something like that on purpose, even if they would have been on awful terms beforehand.

He kept digging and found out that he was blocked everywhere. Discord, Instagram, WhatsApp... He tried calling Pangi, but the call cut off before ringing. Even his direct phone number had been blacklisted.

How... Huh?

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

He had to find a way to call Pangi, right? That's how it had worked the two previous times. But how should he go about it?

He scrolled through his Discord contacts, clicking on Tertle's profile just to find himself blocked even there. Damn. Next up he pulled up Tubbo.

Tubbo was the reason Pangi and he had originally met each other, and was probably the strongest link between them. Without overthinking it, he called him.

“Yoo, what's up Lucas,” Tubbo answered loudly but not very energetically.

“Hi, Toby,” he said, smiling to sound a bit more cheerful and win some goodwill. “Listen, I have kind of a huge favour to ask.”

“Oaarghh,” Tubbo groaned dramatically. Lukey could practically visualize him slumping in his chair right now. “Lucas Osborn, you suck me dry, you do!”

Lukey snorted. This guy... “Dude, what! I don't ask for favours that often!”

“Oh, I suppose... Alright. Ask away, ask away!”

“Umm... So, this is potentially very awkward, but... I need to get in contact with Pangi. But... But he has me blocked everywhere.”

“Well, yeah, I'm not surprised,” Tubbo said bluntly, dropping the dramatic act. “What you did was kind of a dick move, no?”

Lukey's smile faltered. Fuck. This was starting to feel a bit too real. “Yeah... Yeah, I know. And I regret it. A lot.” Obviously he had no recollection of how or why he had done what he apparently had done, but he couldn't think of a single reason that could make it somehow redeemable.

“Right.”

He'd been right to think this would be awkward. “Okay, I know he has a perfectly valid reason to have me blocked, but I really, really need to talk to him. It's kinda life-or-death,” he said, exaggerating only slightly.

“Life-or-death, you say,” Tubbo repeated lamely.

“Yes. And I'm sorry to put you in this position, but could you please ask him to unblock my number for just a moment?” Lukey asked, feeling like he was a Lifesteal chatter asking to get unbanned in someone else's chat. “It'll be just a quick call and then I'll... I'll leave him alone. If that's what he wants.”

Tubbo sighed deeply. “Fine... What do you want me to say to him?”

After a little bit of brainstorming, they formulated a short message. 'hey man, lukey's asking to have his number unblocked for a short call. He says he's really sorry and that he has something important he needs to talk to you about and will leave you alone after that if you want'

Lukey thanked him and ended the call. He sat in the kitchen biting at his nails, but soon enough he got a message back from Tubbo.

'he says you have a minute'

Damn. Now Lukey was getting really nervous. He took a deep breath and called Pangi's number.

It was answered in just seconds of ringing. “Alright. You have a minute before I hang up.”

Lukey froze, suddenly all words leaving him. Pangi's tone was cold and closed off, those few words layered in hurt and resentment in a way that Lukey could never have imagined.

“I'm sorry,” he blurted out, not at all sure what exactly had happened between them but now wanting desperately to fix it, or at least not make it worse and have Pangi hang up. He needed to win him over. “I'm so sorry. I regret everything. I am so sorry I hurt you. I've... I've just been thinking about... how well we used to get along. How important you were to me. You still are.”

“Don't give me that bullshit,” Pangi snapped, his voice cracking.

Lukey had to act fast. With horror he realized he had no food or drink prepared to warm up, so he turned the microwave on empty. Thirty seconds started counting down. He prayed it would work, even though he hadn't tried out these parameters beforehand.

He did know, however, that what they talked about played a huge role in what would end up becoming reality, so he just started rambling. “It's not bullshit! It's true! I miss you, I miss us. I loved being friends with you! I miss meeting up and hanging out, I miss all the dumb shit we used to do. The dumb bits, the banter, everything!”

10 seconds.

He put the phone on top of the microwave and pulled at his hair. He was about to keep going but Pangi spoke up. “Don't tell me,” Pangi started, and Lukey was maybe delusional, but he swore he could hear a tiny glimmer of astonished amusement in his voice, “that you've called me after all you've done–”

3 seconds.

“–just to–”

2 seconds.

“–bring back–”

1 second.

“–yaoi!?”

Lukey's jaw dropped.

The microwave beeped, the blue sparks flew all around it.

Lukey blacked out.

Lukey woke up in a soft bed with the morning sun peeking through the curtains. The room was completely foreign to him, but it was nice, the warm tones of the furniture making it feel cosy and homely.

Then he noticed he wasn't alone. To his left in the double bed quietly snored Pangi, and admittedly the scene started to feel quite familiar. Quickly he deducted that they were in some Airbnb somewhere around the world. San Diego, Rotterdam, Amsterdam... They had shared so many beds during their year or so of knowing each other – platonically, of course. The last words Lukey remembered hearing was 'bring back yaoi', and he couldn't help but giggle in relief. He must have managed to escape the weird universe where they were fighting, and now they were right back to queerbaiting.

Pangi stirred next to him, yawning deeply. “M'rning.”

“Good morning, dude,” Lukey answered, but his smile faltered a little as he noticed something new. He was wearing a ring, even though he very rarely used rings, let alone slept with them on...

And the ring was on his ring finger.

Pangi reached over sleepily to hold his chin, snuggled closer and pressed a kiss to Lukey's cheek. “Sleep well?” he mumbled.

Lukey froze.

What the....?! This wasn't queerbaiting anymore, this was just queer. (Not that there was anything wrong with that, to be clear, but like.... what the fuck??)

“Mhm,” he answered, swallowing loudly.

Pangi used his hand to slightly turn Lukey's head, and then kissed him. On the lips.

It was warm, and gentle, and Lukey's heart was ripping in half.

What... What was he supposed to do?

He was in yet another universe, and now they were together. How had this happened? He was missing so much context again, and he felt out of breath, not just from the kiss but from his brain trying to desperately piece things together.

Pangi pulled a bit away to look at him with a small frown. “Are you okay?” he asked, voice still deep with sleep.

Lukey's heart kept tearing under the gaze, like a plastic bag full of too heavy groceries.

He had wondered, alright. He had thought about if Pangi and him would work as a couple, and maybe he had even had some thoughts and feelings that could have been classified as crushing. Sue him, alright. But he was an adult man, and as soon as it became clear that Pangi was, indeed, most certainly, definitely, one hundred percent (maybe) straight, he had accepted that and moved on. He wasn't a bitch who would complain about getting friend-zoned, especially when he had gotten such an amazing friend out of it.

But now he was in a universe where they apparently were in love, and all those canned emotions tried breaking free.

He wasn't even sure where he was, and more importantly, he had no idea if his microwave was with him or not. He could be stuck here. Would he be taking advantage of Pangi if he now just played this new role he'd been given? Would it be unfair to fake it until... until what? It became real?

But what if his microwave was here. Should he rush to try to find it? Or should he just cut his losses and stay in this universe, because realistically, he didn't know if it was even possible for him to return. The worlds so far had been so drastically different from one another, there was no guarantee the next one would be any better. It could get way worse again.

Pangi's frown deepened, and his thumb caressed Lukey's face. “Lucas? What's wrong?”

Lukey took a deep breath, trying to neutralize his expression. He didn't know what to say. He needed more time, more information, more context. If he'd now start to ramble something about a microwave defying space and time, and said microwave wasn't even here, then that'd be incredibly awkward and would probably cause unnecessary suspicion and concern.

“I'm okay,” he whispered. “Just, slept funny. I... I think I had a nightmare.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He tried smiling in a way that would ease Pangi's worries.

Pangi leaned in to kiss him again. Lukey let him. This time he was more mentally prepared, and he did his best to box his whirling emotions into new containers. This wasn't real. He just had to play for time.

Pangi's hand wandered from his face down to his chest and then to his stomach, and suddenly Lukey's mental preparation wasn't nearly enough. Trying to act as natural as possible, he grabbed Pangi's wrist and broke the kiss. “I have a headache,” he blurted out.

“Oh?” Pangi backed off, once again looking a little bit worried and confused. “You want some water? Paracetamol?”

“Mm... Maybe.”

“Well, I can bring you some. I might go start on breakfast, too.”

Lukey nodded slightly. “That'd be great. Thanks.”

Once alone in the bedroom, Lukey sunk back down into the bed, covering his face with his hands. What the fuck was going on?

Pangi was in the kitchen, making pancakes while listening to some Dutch podcast, but Lukey's eyes immediately found an extremely familiar microwave sitting on the counter of the foreign kitchen.

Pangi smiled at him. “You feeling better?”

Lukey leaned on the door frame, hugging himself tightly. The microwave was here, so he had to make the decision. He should try to get back... right? “Yeah... I feel a bit better. What are you listening to?”

Pangi scoffed, but it held no heat. “The same news podcast I listen to every morning?”

“Oh... right. Sorry.”

He looked around the kitchen. The window told him they were on the ground floor of some semi-rural apartment. Was this an apartment complex? A row house? Did they live here permanently?

There was a small table with two chairs by the window, and he decided to go sit there, but froze by the chairs. Had they stayed here long enough to establish their sides of the table? He had woken up on the right side of the bed, so on a whim he decided on the right chair as well. If it was the wrong one, then he'd just play it off as a little prank.

Soon a plate of pancakes was placed in front of him. Pangi ruffled his hair quickly before opening the fridge to get all sorts of sides, drinks and condiments out. Most of them had Dutch text on them, so Lukey had to assume they were currently in the Netherlands.

He swallowed a piece of pancake around the lump that was forming in his throat. Pangi's presence was so loving and sweet, but Lukey felt like he was drowning in uncertainty.

They ate without talking, the Dutch podcast still playing in the background. Lukey could imagine that if this was real, he would love such a small, everyday opportunity to learn the language he adored, but now he could pay no mind to it. Even whenever Pangi chuckled at a joke the hosts must have made, he couldn't find the curiosity to ask what had been said.

The episode ended just as they finished eating, and now Lukey was back to the not-knowing-what-to-do stage. What did they usually do in the mornings? Stream? Did they have actual jobs? Just hang around? Make out? “I can do the dishes,” he offered, as that seemed like the easiest, most logical next thing to do.

Pangi huffed as if he has just said an old joke. “Sure, man.”

Awkwardly Lukey stood up and gathered the plates. He put them in the sink and was about to start washing them, when Pangi asked, “Why aren't you using the dishwasher?”

Right. Lukey vacantly looked down, and indeed they did have a dishwasher, something he'd never owned before. “Sorry. Just... Old habits, I guess.”

He put the plates in the machine and took a deep breath. He had to get away from here. On the surface, this life seemed cosy and comfortable. He had a partner – Pangi, out of all people –, a house, probably some income... He had everything he could ever dream of. Obviously this universe was way better than the one before, where Lukey had broken Pangi's trust to the point of ruining their friendship completely, but still...

This wasn't his life. He didn't know anything. Which one of them had caught feelings first, and which one had admitted to them first? How long had they lived together, and why had they chosen the Netherlands? Did they go on dates? Where had the first date been, how had it gone?

Hands landed on his shoulders, and Pangi started giving him a gentle massage. “Are you sure you're alright?” he asked. “You're acting so strange. You seem really out of it.”

“I just... I just had an awful nightmare, is all.”

“What was it about?”

“I don't wanna talk about it,” he said, because he couldn't come up with any dream that had ever shaken him too badly, at least to the degree this reality swapping had. “Just, death, and stuff. I don't know.”

Pangi kissed his neck, and Lukey wanted to both shiver away and melt closer. He did neither. He didn't know how he should act, which unfortunately was making him shut down even more.

With another small kiss Pangi left to use the bathroom. Lukey stared at the microwave.

Again, just like in the roommates universe, he needed to wait for Pangi to leave to get an excuse to call him on the phone. It was awkward, since he didn't know what to do in the meantime. Did he work from home? Did he just lounge around, or read books? What would be considered normal Lukey behaviour in this weird new life?

He had no more mental energy in him to explore the house, so he just sat on the couch and fidgeted with the ring. It had a black-and-silver theme to it, probably not insanely expensive, but thought-out for sure. Something Lukey would absolutely love.

He wasn't sure if he liked it. A part of him wished it was real, and he did his best to lock that part back away.

Finally Pangi stopped whatever chores he had been doing and went to the front door. “So, do you want to come with?” he asked.

“Where are you going again?” Lukey asked, unsure if it was the right thing to say. He would be declining any way.

“To the grocery store.”

“Oh. I... I might just stay–” At home? Was this their home? Or could it still be an Airbnb? “Umm, stay here. If that's alright.”

Pangi shot him yet another small, worried glance, but put on his jacket and shoes anyway. “Yeah, of course. You really are having an off day, huh?”

Lukey didn't know what to say, so he just shrugged.

“That's okay,” Pangi continued. “Do you want anything from the store?”

“No. I'm good, thank you.”

“Alright.” Pangi grabbed the keys and opened the door, but paused. “I love you,” he said.

Lukey was distraught. He felt like he had won a million dollars but the authorities were on their way to arrest him for fraud.

“I love you too,” he said, trying to muster up a genuine smile.

Pangi hovered for just a second before smiling that brave, kind little 'everything-will-be-alright' smile of his and leaving the apartment.

Lukey got swallowed by the silence. He sat glued to the couch, feeling so unbelievably lost.

He waited fifteen minutes before calling Pangi and setting the phone on top of the microwave.

“Hi, honeybun,” Pangi answered, “Missed me already?”

“Umm, kinda. I was just thinking, you know?”

“Ohh, that sounds a bit dangerous,” Pangi joked, always the one to try to keep the mood light.

Lukey chuckled, even though he felt quite pained. “Yeah, I know...”

“So what were you thinking about?”

Lukey felt his heartbeat quicken. As far as he had figured out, whatever they were talking about would come true. He turned the microwave on. Thirty seconds started counting down.

“Umm, do you remember... Do you remember a time when we were just friends?”

“Yeah? Of course I remember.”

Lukey swallowed nervously. “Yeah? Well... I was just thinking about that. About how we were... umm, friends.”

“Are you breaking up with me?” Pangi asked in his typical Dutch cut-through-the-bullshit fashion. “Is that why you were acting so weird the whole morning?” He sounded mostly confident, as if there was no possible scenario where Lukey would ever want to do such a thing, but there was also a tiny, scared edge to his voice, and Lukey hated it. He hated playing with Pangi's feelings like this.

His brain was starting to blue-screen. Was he breaking up with him? Technically yes, but not with actual words, but with... a microwave? How the fuck was he supposed to navigate this?!

10 seconds.

“No! Umm... I wouldn't say that, exactly. I just miss... being just friends?”

5 seconds.

Lukey should have kept talking. He really should have, but Pangi cut in, and Lukey was awful at interrupting others. Especially him.

“Oh, okay–” Pangi said with a little bit of attitude.

3 seconds.

“I guess–”

2 seconds.

“–I'll just–”

1 second.

“–die.”

His tone was obviously joking and sassy, but Lukey's heart sank.

The blue lightning flashed.

(Had Pangi adopted that phrase from him?)

Lukey's brain blurred, and then he blacked out.

Lukey woke up in the front corridor of his apartment, the one with the crumbling walls and flourishing mold. His heart kept plummeting, and with clammy hands he took out his phone.

He opened Discord and hastily scrolled through his recent conversations. He saw Jacob, Freddie, Tubbo, Max, some IRL friends...

There was no orange pangolin profile picture anywhere to be seen.

He was breaking out in a cold sweat. His heart hammered painfully.

He opened his contacts and scrolled down.

P, but no Pangi.

S, but no Sem.

This couldn't be. How did it go so wrong?

Not knowing what to do, he just did what he had done before. He called Tubbo.

“Yoo, what's up Lucas,” Tubbo answered loudly but not very energetically. Lukey didn't care.

“Do you have Pangi's phone number?” he asked with a dry mouth.

There was a couple seconds of silence. “Uhh... Wait, what?”

“Pangi. You know... You know Pangi, right? Do you... I... I need his number.”

“Wait... Did you know Pangi?” Tubbo asked, tone serious.

Did.

Lukey ripped at his hair. The tears were threatening to fall. How did it go so fucking wrong?! “Don't tell me. Please don't tell me...”

“Lucas, I don't know what to say. You know that he's dead, right?”

Lukey couldn't breathe.

Tubbo kept rambling. “For like, two years now I think? I didn't know you two knew each other, I'm so sorry. And I'm sorry you had to hear this from me, I'm not very good at, umm, this sort of... this sort of stuff. Are you okay?”

Lukey was not okay. But this wasn't real. He tried telling himself that this wasn't real, because if this was real, then it was also all his fault.

“Do you have his number?” he choked out.

“His number?” Tubbo repeated. “Why do you need it?”

“Just... because.”

That seemed to suffice. After a little bit of heavy silence broken with few words, Lukey ended the call with Pangi's phone number saved. Apparently he hadn't even met Pangi in this universe.

He tried calling the number. It ended immediately, a robot voice telling him the number was not in use.

He sprinted to the kitchen, filled a mug with water to heat up and turned the microwave on. 30 seconds. He wiped at his eyes and put the phone on top. 20 seconds. He stared at the numbers. 15 seconds. He felt numb. 10 seconds. This had to be a nightmare.

5 seconds.

He called the number, but it ended immediately.

3 seconds.

He called the number.

2 seconds.

Again.

1 second.

But nothing happened.

He stood in the silent kitchen, staring at the microwave.

This had to work. He had to get back. He turned the microwave back on, and tried again, tried to time the call to the last second.

But nobody answered, and nothing happened.

This was all his fault. He hadn't meant to, of course he hadn't meant to, but somehow... Somehow this had just happened.

Why hadn't he stayed in the previous universe? He'd had everything handed to him on a silver platter – soft morning kisses, a beautiful Dutch apartment, Pangi saying 'I love you' in such a sweet, genuine tone – and he had known it could get worse, so why hadn't he just stayed?

(And why the fuck did Pangi have to have such awful fucking final words?!)

Calling Pangi's number wasn't working. So far the universe hopping had always involved the microwave timer going down, and Pangi being on call with with him with the phone on top of the microwave, and the words they used had determined which sort of a timeline Lukey was next thrown into.

He had the microwave and the phone, but calling Pangi wasn't possible anymore. It just simply put wasn't possible.

Feeling like it could work – it needed to work – he put his palm on top of his phone and turned the microwave back on.

30 seconds.

“I just–” he started, but his voice broke off. He took a couple of deep breaths. The kitchen was silent bar for the hum of the microwave, and speaking out loud felt surprisingly difficult.

15 seconds.

“I just want to go back. I want Pangi back. I just– I just need to go back to the world where he's alive, and we're friends, and–”

3 seconds.

“–and he was–”

2 seconds.

“–on his–”

1 second.

“–way here.”

The microwave beeped. No blue light sparked. The kitchen was silent.

Lukey turned the microwave back on, and wiped at his eyes. 30 seconds.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. His throat was closing up, and his vision was blurry, but he had to keep trying. He had to try something, he couldn't just accept this, he had to fix this.

3 seconds.

“Take me back.”

2 seconds.

“...”

1 second.

“Please...”

The microwave beeped. The water was boiling out of the cup, but nothing significant happened.

With trembling fingers he took his phone. He should try calling somebody else, but he didn't know who. He didn't want to worry and bother Tubbo any more than he already had, because during the call he would need to talk about Pangi, which might get quite depressing in his current emotional state. He had great friends who he trusted a great lot – or at least had trusted in his own universe, there was no way to know for sure in this one – but this was just so messy. If the microwave wouldn't work, then he'd just make his friends worry and maybe even seem somewhat crazy while doing so.

But what if he talked to somebody anonymous...

He opened Google and typed 'I just want to talk to somebody'. He got suggestions for AI chatbots, Reddit articles talking about loneliness, and even some random song lyrics. He added 'hotline UK' into the search, and suddenly got a lot more relevant results.

He chose one number that best fit his needs, but before he called, he took a moment to think of a strategy. The last words of the call seemed to matter the most, so he needed to be careful. No more 'yaoi', no more 'die'. How about... friend? Like, 'I want back my friend'? Or something like 'original', or 'previous'?

Would a vague sentence be better than a very specific one? How does one describe an entire universe with just one short sentence in a way that won't be misinterpreted?

There was no way to know for sure. He just had to be careful, make sure the person who he was talking to wouldn't say something crazy, and then time the microwave perfectly with some good last sentence.

He called the hotline number. The call was answered faster than he anticipated, and so he missed their introduction while still trying to keep down his sniffling. He did catch “How can I help you?” at the end. The person sounded lovely enough, probably a middle-aged woman who smoked like a chimney.

“Hi. My name is Lucas. Or Lukey,” he said, a little out of breath. He felt like a little kid introducing himself to a new teacher. “And I... I just needed to talk to somebody.”

“Well, that's what I'm here for! Nice to meet you, Lucas. Now, is there something particular you want to talk about?”

“Yes, actually. I would like to tell you about my friend, if that's alright?”

“Of course, sweetheart. I'm all ears.”

“I appreciate that,” Lukey said, and took a deep breath. He felt somewhat on top of his emotions again, but just barely. He didn't know how wrecked he sounded. Heck, he didn't even know if he was grieving or not, because technically, his Pangi wasn't dead. At least he didn't think so.

“His name...” he started, but halted. Is or was? He made a split-second decision and continued like nothing happened. “His name is Pangi. Or, well, that's his online name...”

And then he just kept on talking. According to his hypothesis, only the last couple of words mattered, but somehow it just felt right to paint the whole picture. He told this random hotline responder all about how Pangi and he had met on a Minecraft server, how well they had gotten along, how the whole yaoi-thing had become a bit, how they had travelled together, how they had attended events and parties together.

He noticed he kept switching between present and past tense, brain too drained to really keep it all coherent, but the woman didn't point it out. She listened and sometimes even asked for clarification whenever Lukey used a term she didn't know.

When he got to the part where Pangi had been actively on his way to his apartment for their sponsored trip to Japan, he realized the call had gone on for over 40 minutes. He knew he had to end it soon.

“I'm sorry, I've taken up so much of your time. You've been absolutely lovely,” he said. “But I do have one last favour to ask you, if that's alright.”

“It's been a pleasure,” she said sweetly despite her rough smoker's voice. “Now, what is this favour you need?”

“I... I want to do a little speech. Like, thirty seconds, or maybe a minute. And I don't want you to speak during that. I know it sounds a little strange, but it's very important that... that your end of the line is silent, okay?”

He wasn't sure how weird his request was, but she just answered, “We can do that, sweetheart. Just start whenever you are ready, and how about you tell me when I can chime in again, alright?”

If everything worked out according to plan for once, then he wouldn't be hearing her voice at all after this, but he agreed nonetheless. “Sorry if there's some background noise,” he said absent-mindedly as he turned the microwave on and put his phone on top of it.

30 seconds.

“Everything I just told you about Pangi happened in a universe where he is still alive.”

23 seconds.

“And I want to go back there.”

21 seconds.

“I don't know if it's time travel, or... or universe hopping...”

16 seconds.

“But I just need him back.”

13 seconds.

“I need to go back there. To the world where Pangi was coming to my apartment.”

8 seconds.

“Where he was about to walk through the door.”

5 seconds.

“I just really want–”

4 seconds.

“–my life back–”

3 seconds.

“–just–”

2 seconds.

“–the way–”

1 second.

“–it was.”

The microwave beeped, and blue electricity sparked all around it. Lukey's heart tightened with both relief and fear. It worked... but was it good enough?

He couldn't worry for long. His brain went funny, sound distorted with colours, and he blacked out.

Lukey woke up in his kitchen, standing in front of his microwave. His phone was on top of it and he grabbed it immediately, but it was dead. Had the battery ran out? He hadn't been paying attention.

Brimming with uncertainty and fear, he ran out to get his charger, but was stopped when his apartment door buzzer rang.

His chest squeezed painfully, and he wasn't sure if he was even breathing. Did he dare hope...?

He knew the phone line to the front of the building didn't work, so he just pressed the button to open the front door. He heard the door open and then close through the thin walls.

He lifted his hand to the apartment door handle. He trembled like a leaf in a storm.

He opened the door, and Pangi stood behind it.

“Hey, man!” Pangi greeted, one hand holding the suitcase handle. He looked a bit tired from travelling but otherwise fine, with a happy smile on his face. “The call cut off but I made it here.”

Lukey couldn't help but stare, feeling like he might faint at any moment. Wordlessly he stepped aside and gestured for Pangi to come in.

“Are you good?” Pangi asked off-handedly while taking off his shoes.

Unshed tears were stinging at Lukey's eyes, and he wasn't sure if his voice would carry with how emotional he was – relieved, exhausted, confused, anxious... just to name a few – but he tried anyway. “You have no idea how good it is to see you...”

The sight of Pangi furrowing his eyebrows in worry was getting way too familiar, but this time it was real.

Lukey pulled him into a hug and tried not to burst into tears. The fact that he had just barely escaped a reality where he would have never seen or talked to Pangi ever again was hitting him like a truck.

Pangi's arms wrapped tightly around him. “Hey, what happened?” He asked, voice full of concern and confusion. “Did you get some bad news?”

Lukey shook his head. “No,” he whispered between his shaky breaths. “Everything's good now.”

“What, everything's good now that I'm here?”

He knew it was meant as another one of Pangi's egoistical jokes, but Lukey just nodded sincerely. “Yes.”

“So... nobody died? I'm just making sure.”

You did.

Lukey pulled back and, once again, wiped his eyes from tears to see Pangi more clearly.

As far as he could tell, he was back in his own original world. Pangi was here with his suitcase, the darkness outside indicated it was late evening, and the apartment looked to be just like it always had been. He supposed he should do a little more research (like going through his phone and PC and maybe the news) before making that conclusion final, but still he felt certain. This was his apartment. This was his Pangi. This was his life.

Now he was once again faced with the decision of if he should tell Pangi about what had happened, but he was too exhausted to ruminate on it for long. There was no way he would keep this experience to himself, it would probably eat him alive, and nobody seemed more fitting than Pangi to hear the whole story.

Lukey smiled, the relief and joy slowly starting to win over the residual anxiety. “You died,” he said smugly, “But it's alright. I forgive you.”

Pangi looked even more confused, which made Lukey laugh. Damn, it felt good to laugh again. “I died?” Pangi exclaimed. “I'm right here!”

“Yes! Because I brought you back with the microwave!”

“Oh, right, of course!” Pangi said, clearly thinking this was a bit that he was going along with. “The microwave, how could I forget?”

Lukey ran his hands over his face just to somewhat reset his emotions again before ushering Pangi into the stream room to sit down. The whole reality hopping thing started to almost feel like a fever dream, even though Lukey swore he had never felt anything as vividly as he just had. He wasn't sure if he'd tell the whole story to Pangi right now – after all, they had to leave for the airport in under six hours, and should probably sleep at least a bit before that – but he was also slightly afraid he would start forgetting it, or doubting his memories. Maybe he should write it all down as soon as he could. “Dude, you have no idea how much happened after we called.”

“It was barely even a minute before I was here!”

“Then that was the longest minute of my life,” Lukey said cryptically, wanting to farm the mysteriousness for a bit more.

“Well, you'll have to tell me all about it then,” Pangi said. “But first, I am kinda hungry. You said you had a meal for me, right? Could I put it in the microwave?”

Lukey's heart nearly stopped. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, but he knew the answer without a second of consideration. “Oh... Absolutely fucking not.”