Archive of Our Own

Today’s game is making you nervous. You’re not proficient enough in go to dare to bet your life on your skill, but it’s the last day on your VISA and the go salon had been the only venue you’d come across.

Your nerves spike when a figure in a white hooded jacket walks up to the table with phones, listening to music on his walkman. He doesn’t bother to pick and choose like some people do, simply reaching for the closest phone, registering without trembling hands. Once he’s done so, he places himself in a corner of the room, carelessly leaning against the wall after plugging in his walkman.

His head doesn’t move as his eyes appraise each present player. When they meet yours, you can see the mole beneath his left eye.

It’s undeniably him.

But he doesn’t linger on you. His gaze is on you as long as it’s on the others, shorter even maybe. 

You give him a lot more attention than he does you. It’s been years since you last saw him, still in his lanky teenager body. He’s grown well into his features. You might’ve even appreciated the sight if it weren’t for the game you’re about to play.

You stand no chance in a round of go against Chishiya Shuntaro. You doubt anyone in this room does. If only a single player can make it out of this game, you’re dead already.

But there are currently seven players here. Surely that’s too much for a tournament, right? A single round of go takes a long time. 

For a moment you debate going up to Chishiya. For old times sake. You might very well die today after all. But he only spared you a short glance. Would he even care if you died here today?

It’s a pain dulled by age that pulls at your heart. Which surprises you, as you thought you’d gotten over him with the passage of time. You’d only been together for months, but you suppose the Borderlands makes emotions feel so much more raw. Real.

~~~

You weren’t immediately taken by Chishiya Shuntaro when the seating arrangement placed you next to him. You did absentmindedly think of him as cute, but you were more preoccupied by the frustration of not being seated with any of your friends.

You were immediately taken by him once he opened his mouth. It took a few days before it happened, and you’re quite sure you weren’t supposed to hear his sarcastic remark pointed at the teacher as he muttered it under his breath. It, unfortunately, caused you to laugh out loud. That was the first time you caught Chishiya glancing at you.

Unfortunately, it also placed the teacher’s attention on you. You immediately stopped your laugh, smiling awkwardly to placate him when he asked you, perhaps a bit too calmly, to explain what’s so funny. You lied. Obviously. Even if it landed you (unfairly, if you say so yourself) in detention. 

You didn’t know Chishiya yet, but you, still, have never been one to throw others under the bus.

You observed him more after that, hoping to catch more of his remarks. And he did make them, always low under his breath, mocking classmates, teachers or the people whose names you have to learn for tests. But they weren’t all mocking. His remarks on the subjects themselves proved that he must already understand them quite well, and when he seemed exceptionally bored he started to commentate on personal lives. His insights are often proved correct.

Once the first tests came back, you hid your mark the moment you spotted his perfect one. That does it. You already found him attractive, but now his score has proved his words weren’t just bluffs. So you asked him out.

His voice used the same tone it had when he dutifully answered a teacher’s question. “Are you aware of who my parents are?” 

No? You really didn’t see what that had to do with anything. Which is exactly what you told him. 

That managed to make him tilt his head, and his voice shifted a bit. “Then why?”

That flustered you, and you diverted your eyes under his intense gaze before boldly meeting them again. “Why not?” You asked him back. “I like your commentary. It’s clever. And you’re cute.” You belatedly remembered that boys idiotically don’t tend to like that terminology, so you corrected yourself. “Handsome. I meant handsome.” 

His eyes stayed on you, and you had even more trouble deciphering what’s going on behind them than you already had normally with anyone else. “Besides.” You muttered under your breath after the quiet stretched on a tad too long. “You’re really good at reading people. I admire that. I’m horrible at that myself.” 

He let out an amused exhale. “You really are.” He agreed, and your heart tinged as you averted your eyes, bracing yourself for rejection. “Sure.”

Immediately, you looked back up again, brightening. “Really?” You smiled. “Right. Yes. I thought… You like when an assignment is difficult, so maybe an escape room? Saturday?”

“You’ve already booked it, haven’t you? I suppose it could be worse.” Was that a good sign? He barely ever said something actually positive in one of his remarks. You took it, even if he still seemed amused.

“Good! It’ll be fun!” You were giddy at the idea. “See you then!” You turned to leave before you said anything embarrassing. 

“Wait.” He was definitely amused. Even you could tell. “I should have your number, shouldn’t I?”

“Of course!” That was actually definitely a good sign. Why would he have wanted your number if he had just been indulging you? You made sure your fingers brushed his hand as you took his phone, inputting your number, so very aware of his gaze on you.

The escape room was fun. Or, watching Chishiya solve the puzzles with an air that makes them seem marginally easy from the sole chair in the room was.

You’d intended to solve it together, of course, and you had tried, but you’d gotten distracted by his clever mind in action, staring at him instead of the puzzle you were supposed to work on.

He’d rudely told you that you were obstructing him, and placed you in the chair, telling you that if you wanted to stare at him you could, but to do it somewhere you wouldn’t be in the way.

You didn’t mind. This way you got to watch him in his element all you liked, making the occasional praising comment.

He made comments as well, although none were at you. He mocked some of the puzzles, telling you something obviously was a red herring that only idiots would fall for, and mercilessly pointed out an inaccuracy in the lore of the room. Then he did give you a compliment, telling you that you’re the most interesting part of this place before he, perhaps realising his words, immediately called out an ill-fitting key.

It wasn't much, but it made your week. 

Your relationship wasn’t what you imagined a relationship would be like, but you loved it anyway. You didn’t have to tell him your likes and dislikes, he just knew. When you called him a mindreader, he, with that oft-used amused tone, told you you’re very expressive. He didn’t mind when you get things wrong about him, at least, you didn’t think so. He just calmly corrected you. As he declined your offer to sit with your group of friends, you split your breaks between them and his otherwise empty table. While he didn’t respond much, he let you chatter all you wanted without once telling you to change subjects. While at first you assumed, like others, he wasn’t listening, he proved that wrong by casually repeating details days later. He even let you call him 'Shiya,

He actually paid attention to you, noticing things no one had before. 

He made you wonder whether it’s him that’s exceptional, or whether others in your lives were lacking.

He helped you with your homework, and while he’s a tough teacher, mercilessly making you find your own mistakes, suddenly previously difficult subjects seemed a lot easier with his guidance. Your grades even improved. 

Your friends didn’t like him. You protested that at first, and then you ignored their not-so-subtle comments. It started simple enough. “He’s a bit cold though, isn’t he?” Your friend sounded concerned, reading your texts with him over your shoulder. You sent him multiple messages, and Chishiya, not being one for texting, responded with a single short sentence.

“It’s just how he texts.” You quickly turned your phone off. It didn’t stop there.

The worst part was, some of their arguments made sense, didn’t they?

He did often reject your touch, but you argued some people are just touch averse. You stopped responding when they pointed out how little he says something positive about you. Didn’t it say something that he did at all? You’ve almost never heard him say anything positive about anyone else. One of your friends called his eyes creepy. “It’s like looking into a void.” She argued. “I’ve never seen him actually express feelings. I doubt he can. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a sociopath.” 

That one had you vehemently denying it. Obviously he could feel. “He cares about me. Why else would he spend so much time with me?”

“Anyone wouldn’t say no to someone doting on them.” Your friend shrugged. “When was the last time he was the one to reach out?”

And… well. You opened your mouth to answer, and then closed it.

When was the last time he had been the one to reach out? Had he ever? You’d started all of your conversations, hadn’t you? You’d initiated all of your hang-outs.

“He cares.” You protested, ignoring the heavy feeling in your chest. He did. Chishiya cared about you.

Did he?

Don’t be stupid. He remembered all those needless things about you.

“He’s a genius.” Your friend argued about that point. “I overheard one of the teachers call him that. Which means remembering means nothing to him.”

Your breathing quickened before you forced yourself to stabilise it again. That’s… well. 

He cares.

“Proof it, then.” Another friend interrupted. “Wait for him to reach out next.”

That was just such a small thing that, with your friends looking at you, you couldn’t say no. He cared. Surely he’ll reach out if you don’t?

You were anxious the first day, desperately waiting for him to approach you, all the while your friends whispered to each other just out of your earreach. 

But Chishiya did not. Nor did he the second day. You’d been assigned a new seat after laughing one too many times at his remarks, so you supposed there was no easy time to reach out if he was simply busy.

But the days stretched on, and he did not reach out a single time. Your friends were furious on your behalf. You were just desperately wishing you knew how to read his tells when your eyes locked with his in the hallway. As far as you could tell, your friends were right. They were empty.

After a week of no contact, a week of painful hope and heavy disappointment, you had enough. You approached him during breaktime, where he was sitting on his own at the same table in the courtyard as always. He looked up at you when you approached, and for a moment you could’ve sworn you saw relief in his eyes.

But it was only a moment, and you’re bad at reading people. “Why didn’t you reach out?” You asked him, hopefully hiding the pleading in your voice.

But his answer made your heart plummet into your chest. “Should I have?”

You bit your bottom lip, desperately trying to not let your emotions out. 

There’s your answer, no?

Your friends were right.

He didn’t react at all when you broke up with him, and that hurt so much more. You’d truly thought he cared.

~~~

For once you’re relieved when the rules of the games are announced. You’re an adult. There’s no reason for deeply buried feelings to come up when you’re about to play go to your death.

Fortunately for you, you only have to win against a single opponent. Unfortunately for you, that opponent turns out to be a mathematician. Who’s a lot better at the game than you are.

Chishiya melts away from your thoughts as you focus on the game, laying stone after stone, but as the amount of your stones she takes from the board heightens, you become more and more sure that you’ll lose.

Strangely, that doesn’t skyrocket your anxiety. No, it alleviates it as you focus on the game, refusing to give up.

The world becomes smaller until it’s only the board in front of you and the white and black stones. You don’t even feel the literal noose around your neck anymore.

It doesn’t help. You’re still losing. Until a hand comes into view, tapping a spot on the board.

You startle, straightening, only now aware of the feeling of someone standing close behind you, close enough for the smell of clean detergent to fill your nostrils.

“What are you doing?” Your opponent does seem anxious when she accuses them. You glance to the table on your left. Chishiya’s opponent is hanging from the ceiling, his own chair abandoned. “You’ve won your round. Leave.”

“Nah.” It’s Chishiya’s voice that comes from behind you, and you hear the scrape of wood against wood as he pulls a chair next to yours. “I’m bored. You seem somewhat competent and she’s losing. My own opponent was a moron. I’ll take this challenge.” He taps the same spot again.

Right.

You take a deep breath to focus again. 

Chishiya’s helping you.

Clearly not because of the goodness of his own heart, nor because of your past, which causes another pang through your chest, but you should take it anyway. You were losing.

He’s Chishiya. If there’s anyone who can still turn the game around it’s him.

So you place your stone on the spot he indicated. 

“You can’t!” The woman protests, her face starting to redden. “I’m supposed to play her. The rules-”

“The rules stated nothing about helping another player.” Chishiya says, that oh-so familiar amusement in his voice. “They did mention you’re not allowed to get up from your chair however.”

You wish he wouldn’t have added that last part. The woman had looked like she’d been about to get up in anger, but Chishiya’s words stopped her in her track.

It doesn’t stop her from pulling a machete from beneath her jacket. The rules said nothing about violence.

“Tch.” Chishiya doesn’t answer in words. What he does do is to reach beneath his own jacket, showing the woman a gun. “How about we skip the unpleasantries and just play?”

Where did he..?

The woman hesitates, her eyes on the gun before she puts her blade away. Chishiya, apparently satisfied with that, places the gun on the corner of the table. 

Just out of the woman’s reach, you notice. If she’d want to attempt to get it, she’d have to get up. She seems to know it too, her eyes fixed on the thing before you interrupt innocently. “Aren’t you going to play your turn?”

You are on a time limit.

The game goes smoothly after that. Your pile of stones grows larger and larger as you follow Chishiya’s strategy, but this time you can’t focus, distracted as you are by just how close Chishiya’s sitting to you, his arm brushing yours whenever he guides your hand.

You know what he’s like. He doesn’t care. You don’t even know whether he can feel.

So why are you feeling like you’re a teenager again, watching him solve that escape room?

Yet it isn’t entirely fair to say he can’t feel, is it? Even as an adult you struggle with reading people. You were both teenagers. You never got his side of the story. You, and your friends, just filled in the blanks.

You look at his face. He’s not looking at you, his gaze firmly on the woman across from you or the board. Had he been that focused when you’d watched him play boardgames back then?

Maybe you should just ask him.

You wait until the game is over, purposefully looking away from the woman. The Borderlands might have made you a lot more desensitised to death, but it’s still... death.

Chishiya doesn’t say a word as he walks outside, nor does he look at you. “Chishiya?” You ask him anyway. “Why did you help me?”

That makes him stop, and he turns his head to look at you. “Didn’t you listen?” Even to you, the cruelty is evident in his voice. “I was bored.”

So much for communication. You frown, but you’re not a teenager anymore. So you put on a practiced false smile, wish him the best and turn around to leave.

Maybe something did feel off, false, about his words. But you’re not interested in playing games anymore, especially when they won't grant you days for your VISA.

You’re not sure whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate that you meet him again in your next game. There’s tall woman standing next to him, dwarfing his stature, talkis with him as she waits for the game to start. He even responds. Barely, acting as if each single word is expensive, but he does.

You pride yourself on not feeling any jealousy. 

You do feel a sense of awkwardness as the clock ticks closer to six, and not a single other player is approaching. Surely you won’t be forced to play with your ex and his new… ally? Or against them?

Yet the hands of the clock reaches the six without a single other player entering the venue. 

Great.

The rules confuse you. They announce it as a clubs game, which the woman responds to by glancing at you and giving you a small smile, yet all the rules state is that you’ll have to solve the sudoku. Which sounds very much like a diamonds game to you.

“I’m Kuina.” The woman introduces herself as she walks towards you. She points with her thumb towards Chishiya, whose face is blank as his eyes meet yours. “And this is Chishiya. Don’t be intimidated by his demeanor. He’s a genius, so we’ll definitely be able to solve this sudoku.”

You introduce yourself back, watching as Chishiya makes towards the next room. He hadn’t even waited for you to finish your name.

“He can be a bit of an asshole.” Kuina rolls her eyes at that. “But we do need to play the game. C’mon.”

You don’t want to ruin the mood, but you do warn her that there’ll likely be a catch. 

“Chishiya is great at those too.” She shrugs. “And I’m not too bad either.”

For once, Chishiya isn’t actually good at the catch. The sudoku is huge. The size of a classroom. There is a foam number in Chishiya’s hand that he places on the sudoku. “I suppose we’ll have to find all of the numbers to fill in the sudoku.” He sighs. 

You and Kuina leave him behind to solve the sudoku, for which you leave the notebook you keep on you behind with a pen. “When you’ve solved it you can come help with the search.” You smile faux-innocently at him, knowing he’ll dislike having to climb the stairs of the office building for it. 

The numbers are spread over the entire building, you even find some on the roof you had to reach through a safety hatch.

Chishiya doesn’t help search, of course. He stays behind by the sudoku for the first half of the game, pretending the puzzle is too difficult for him to solve that quickly. It takes Kuina threatening to make him run laps later for him to help.

Which strikes you as strange. It’s not like she could actually force him to. But he glances at you before he starts to help with the search, and once again you wish you know how to read people. How to read him.

You clear the game with ten minutes to spare.

Your intention was to leave immediately, but traiterously you linger. Just to see if-

It’s not Chishiya who speaks. It’s Kuina. She’d been looking quizzingly between the two of you, making you wonder whether it was you or Chishiya who gave anything away. It was likely you. “You should come with us.” She proposes. You’re about to roughly reject her when she adds: “We have working water and electricity.”

That’s… that sounds like paradise in this hellscape. How could you say no?

It is paradise. Sure, you’re aware enough to know to stay away from the militants, sure, your ex is one of the higher-ups. But that doesn’t change that you’re currently on a beach chair, sipping from a colourful cocktail that would’ve been expensive in the real world, enjoying the sun as so many people live around you.

You can pretend you’re just on vacation. That the reality of the games doesn’t exist.

You wish you had a book. Maybe one of the others can lend you one. Or you’ll just have to visit a nearby bookstore.

Someone sits down in the chair next to you. Kuina has two cocktails in her hands, this time the one you told her was your favourite, and holds it out to you. You place down the one you were enjoying, who cares about waste in a place you’ll likely die in weeks anyway, and take it from her.

You wait until she has tried it until you ask her. “So. You and Chishiya?” You hadn’t been able to gauge their relationship, but Chishiya had listened to her. That means something.

She stares blankly at you for a moment before she bursts into a laugh. “No. Oh god, no. We’re just allies. Friends on a good day. He’s really not my type.” Her laugh turns to a mischievous smile. “Why? Are you interested?”

“He’s my ex.” You tell her, not sure which one of the two Kuina means. “I was just wondering.”

She doesn’t seem rejected, so she likely meant Chishiya. It does the opposite, she brightens up like you just handed her the deck of playing cards. “Chishiya? You’re his ex? I knew he was acting odd. So he does have a heart somewhere in there.”

Oh. You grimace, not wanting to give her the wrong impression. “That’s not proof.” You warn her. “I broke up with him because he…” Why is it difficult to say? You are long over him. You only had him for a few months. You hide your hesitation by taking a gulp of your drink. “He didn’t care for me.” You finish your sentence. 

“You think so?” Kuina asks you. “I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

What? He looks at everyone. He’s always watching people. “How does he look at me?” 

“Like your survival is part of his calculations.” Kuina says. And doesn’t that light an old, hopeful spark in your chest?

~~~

“Sooo~” Chishiya already dislikes Kuina’s words before she has spoken them. He had an idea what she was coming to bother him about the moment he opened the door and saw that delighted glint in her eyes. Kuina, predictably, proves him correct by saying your name in that airy voice.

Chishiya postpones her with seconds by ignoring her.

“C’mon. She’s your ex.” Kuina does not give up that easily.

“Congratulations.” Chishiya splits a wire of his walkman. Now that he has joined the Beach, he can’t have his gun on him anymore, so he’ll have to make a different weapon. “You found out something human about me. Would you like a price?”

Kuina ignores his words, continuing to needle him. “You still care for her.” 

Chishiya stills.

Ridiculous. 

Has he really let Kuina that close to learn him that well?

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” He warns her. “She was just an experiment. Nothing more.” You’d been the first to want to get closer to him who didn’t even know nor care whether his parents were rich enough to own a hospital. The first who hadn’t been deterred by his cold demeanor. His empty eyes. So he’d agreed. 

It’d just been another experiment. To see whether he could feel. Care. An experiment he’d done in countless different forms before.

“Bullshit.” Kuina scoffs. “I told you about Ann. You owe me.”

“I wasn’t aware that that’s how that worked. Nor was I exactly willing for that.” Chishiya forces himself to continue working on the future taser. 

He doesn’t like talking about you. Chishiya doesn’t make mistakes. His continued survival in the Borderlands is proof of that.

Yet there you are.

He can feel Kuina’s eyes on the back of his head. She is his ally. Useful. And she’s not intolerable to be around. He supposes he has to give something back sometimes.

A little, then.

“I never expected the experiment to work.” He admits. You’d genuinely been so happy to just... be around him. He hadn't been able to understand. It’d been a new, lavish feeling. And he’d had no idea how he was supposed to deal with that. How he had been supposed to act.

“Do you still care?” Kuina sounds giddy behind him as she pushes her luck, knowing full how much that little tidbit is from his mouth.

He’d known the moment doubts had crept into your head. He hadn’t known how to fix that. He’d known what your friends had likely been saying, and much of it wasn’t exactly wrong.

He’d miscalculated. It had cost you. He’d assumed you’d seen the small ways he expressed his care. But how could you have? A big part of why he’d agreed to dating you was because you’d been horrible at reading people. Because you wouldn’t have been able to see the lack of care on his face.

“We were teenagers.” He reminds Kuina coldly.

You’d broken it off and he remembers the deep hurt on your face you wouldn’t have seen on his. 

He’d had no idea how to fix it.

“So you won’t join her in her next game?”

He presses down the urge to send a glare Kuina’s way.

Of course he will.

~~~

You’re surprised when Chishiya is waiting at the car. He has his earbuds in again, listening to music you’re curious to know what it is. But he hadn’t been on the roster for your team. Still, he sits down in the passenger chair without acknowledging any of the members of the Beach, including you.

Are you the reason he’s there? You remember Kuina’s words. Would he really want to ensure your survival?

You remember how he was when you were teenagers. You wouldn’t be surprised if he plays more games than needed. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that he’s here.

Maybe.

What certainly is a coincidence is the venue you’ve been driven to. You glance at Chishiya, but his face is as blank as ever as you walk into the building that, years later, still offers escape rooms to solve.

When the announcer tells you you’ll be split off and whichever team solves their room first will clear the game, you instinctively look at Chishiya.

But another member of the Beach is quicker, claiming Chishiya in a no-nonsense voice.

Chishiya does not care about being claimed. He doesn’t as much as glance at the man before he walks up to you, removes one of his hands from his pockets to place it on the small of your back to guide you into a room.

The same room you watched him solve all those years ago.

Does it affect him as well? Is that why he led you by touch, something he hadn’t even done while you were together?

You miss the feeling of his hand as it leaves your back, and he wordlessly starts to start the puzzles. You’re sitting sideways on the chair, leaning your chin on the back of your hand as you watch him. He doesn’t need your help.

Damn it. It’s still attractive. Especially as he actually seems to remember what the answers were instead of solving them. 

He’s silent this time however. Just like you are. “They actually fixed the lore inaccuracy.” Are the first words he speaks, and you tilt your head.

Is he trying for something? “Are you bored this time too?”

He glances at you. “Yes.” It lacks the cruelty of last time. Then he sighs. But he just keeps going, neglecting to tell you what’s on his mind.

“‘Shiya.” You scold him, not sure why you feel the urge to use that old nickname. 

He says your name back. A low, teasing drawl that ignites something in your lower chest. 

“Kuina claims you look at me like you want me to survive.” You press.

Maybe you should let him finish the game first before you have this talk. But it’s the environment, the fond memories, that make you want to know.

You didn’t expect his answer. “Of course I do.” Your head lifts from your hand.

Did his voice sound soft?

“You do? Why?”

Chishiya is very pointedly keeping his gaze on the puzzlebox in his hands, inputting the code. “You’re the only thing or person I’ve ever cared about. It’d be a waste to lose you to the games.”

The words hit you like a tidal wave, freezing you over before heating you up. Is he honest? You want him to be.

Why would he lie?

I think he's a sociopath. Your friend's voice sounds in your mind. It could be manipulation.

But then wouldn’t he have acted differently, nicer, from the start?

“You’re horrible at showing it.” You accuse him.

“You’re horrible at noticing.” He shrugs.

“I know. But I had to do all the work. You didn’t reach out even when I didn’t.” You say more for yourself, as to remind you that this, he, is a horrible idea. No matter how much his attention makes you giddy.

That makes him look at you. “You could’ve talked to me instead of assuming.” But something changes in his eyes as they’re on you. “I… I didn’t know how. I had no idea how to do this. I still don’t.”

Oh.

You’d never even considered that option. Why hadn’t you? You’d seen the distance between him and everyone else. 

Still. He’s talking in the present tense as well as the past.

Don’t. You warn yourself. This is a horrible idea. You’ve been over him for a long time.

Your mouth betrays you. “Try.”

You could communicate better. If…

He’s quiet, his gaze intense as it rests on you. Then he steps closer, tilts your chin up with his hand and brings his lips to yours.

His lips are unfairly soft for someone in a post-apocalyptic worldstate. You close your eyes and let out a content sigh as his lips move against yours. You can feel his tongue tracing the seam of your lips, and you don’t even think about parting your lips, your hand coming up to rest on the back of his neck. He’s lazy as he explores your mouth, taking his time as if there isn’t a timer above your head.

The timer.

You’re currently playing a death game. 

You break the kiss reluctantly, dropping your hand. Chishiya doesn’t move away, his lips brushing against yours as he talks. “Is this clear enough?”

“Game, ‘Shiya.” You chastise him. Which he apparently takes as a sign to dive back in, firmly pressing his lips against yours again.

You almost give in. Almost. But you have no interest in dying. “‘Shiya!” You push him off. “I want us both to live!”

That gets his cocky smile back on his face. “Don’t worry. Those other two are morons.” He leans in again. But, likely knowing you won’t put up with it, he doesn’t kiss you this time. “How else would I be clearer?”

That makes you pause. Would he..? “Tell me how you feel about me.” 

“You’re the only one I’ve ever cared for.” You do like hearing that.

You tilt your head. “Compliment me.” 

That clearly amuses him. “You’re conventionally pretty. Is that what you want to hear?”

It is, actually. He almost never complimented you. “Yes.” You tell him. “Keep repeating those two often. Mix it up sometimes. That’ll go a long way into making me believe this is real.”

You can feel the smugness radiating off of him. “So little.” He muses. “Yet it’s enough to convince you for us again.” It’s not even a question.

You punish him for that by scolding him again. “Go finish the game. We’ll see about anything else later.”

But he doesn’t need your words, does he? He can read your yes clear off of your face.