Archive of Our Own

A knife leaves a shallow score in the tiled countertop. Scissors close, and nothing breaks between the blades. The knot won't come undone.

But when Kai grabs the red string and yanks it, Damon tumbles to the floor like it's real, catching himself on his hands and knees.

While Damon is on the floor, Kai screams, "What the fuck!?"

"Can you stop that!?" Damon hisses back, whipping his head up to glare at his roommate of a week and three days. Of course on a stupid, random, somewhat unimportant Tuesday, they wake up to find that their hands are tied to one another.

"I'm just testing it, c'mon!" Kai Monteago whimpers, looking down on him without remorse as he fusses more over their current issue. "It's weird, right?"

"You have already tested it several times," Damon stands up and dusts himself off, making a mental reminder to sweep and mop the floor later this week, "we don't need another."

His eyes are drawn to the string. It's barely a few feet long, just enough to loop a few times around their pinkies and cling with a tidy knot, leaving room for them to have a few steps of walking distance between one another. They hadn't even noticed it when they first woke up; it's only after they convened for breakfast that it made itself known, not allowing them to step far from each other.

Even though it looks so breakable. It's not thick at all, barely 3 millimeters in diameter, at best. It reminds Damon of the string his mama would use for patching up torn clothes when he was young. Pierce, then pull, drawing the frayed sides together.

Kai plucks at the string, the tremor swaying Damon's attention. "It's so strong, like… Did someone prank us, or something?"

"How?" Damon rolls his eyes, glancing around just to entertain the thought. "I would have noticed if someone came in and messed with my hand."

"Same! So, it's super weird." Kai tries to hook his nail into a break in the knot, finding no progress on the efforts they've made for the past thirty minutes. "We can't even undo it!"

"And nothing we do damages it." He sighs in irritation. There's no point in messing with it. Their scissors and knives must be dull, somehow, so outside help might be necessary.

The Ultimate Influencer, yellow eyes brimming with anxiety, stares silently at him before hesitantly calling attention, "… Hey."

Damon looks to him.

"Do you think… soulmates are real?"

Damon responds to the concept with a completely blank face and flat tone. "Soulmates?"

"Uh. Yeah… Like, we only met a few days ago, but we have this red string. Soulmates have this kind of thing, right?" He starts fussing with the rings on his right hand as he speaks softly about such a ridiculous concept. "People bound to always be together, no matter what."

"That's stupid." Damon scoffs. "Soulmates aren't real. You're on the internet too much."

"Wh-" Kai balks, eyes going wide. Then they narrow as he finally realizes he should be reacting angrily to Damon's correct observation. "Hey!!"

He goes for the string, but Damon is prepared. He twists his left hand and circles it around before pulling it hard. Too hard. Rather than landing on the floor in a defeated heap, Kai is sent stumbling closer, arms outstretched in panic as he flails for something to latch on to.

Rather than letting himself get dragged down, Damon reacts quickly. He catches Kai, who immediately circles his waist, head against his chest and fingers curled tightly into the fabric of Damon's jacket.

He can't relax. Kai is latched onto him like a damn koala, mindlessly panting with his face buried against Damon's chest. He's warm, too. A human heater. Golden eyes peek up from Damon's wrinkled tie, far too slow on the uptake. "W-Wait, uh…"

This idiot… The debater shoves Kai off him, ignoring his yelp to grab the string again. The space between them feels smaller, it's too claustrophobic.

"We need to go show someone this and get them to help us." Damon growls, glaring with the hope that it will get his roommate to stop panicking so damn much, and start having rational thoughts for once.

Kai, of course, still looks with that same panicked expression, his face sporting a blush. "Wait, wait!" He yelps and yips like a clueless lap dog, and it's really getting on Damon's nerves. "What if– Ghk-!"

"Shut up." He gives the string another tug, throwing him off balance before another word can leave his mouth. Then, to make sure the conversation isn't entertained further, Damon turns around sharply and starts towards the door of their shared dorm. "Let's find someone, and they can help us untie this stupid prank string."

"What are you even talking about!? I-I mean…" The influencer follows after him while clearly attempting to form a retort, though he lacks any of the skill to find something useful to say. "I guess there are gag products like this where you have to break it a certain way. It's probably like that."

"It is." He grabs the doorknob and twists, swinging it open in a dramatic fashion. "So, we're going to find someone that can do it."

"… Do i actually look delusional, or is that just you two? Go away."

"Uh, sorry bros, but… there's really not a single thing there! And you know my eyes are sharp… Like a canine, heh!"

"Wh-What…? Just leave me be…"

"Sorry, hons. I've looked as hard as I can, but I don't see what y'all are talking about!"

There is no red string tied to Damon's left pinkie and Kai's right pinkie. There's only air, and the slight awkwardness of their consistently close proximity and the space given for the non-existant knot to not brush against their fingers. But it's definitely, absolutely there. Forcing them to stay bound as they sit in an abandoned corner of the cafeteria, the mood low as they eat their breakfast.

Kai unfortunately breaks the silence with a dramatic sigh. "Man, I can't even enjoy any of the food here today." He groans, pushing his bowl away to put up his elbows, making Damon's life just slightly more difficult as the string gives less freedom of movement. "Are we really both insane?"

"No," he huffs around a mouthful of cereal, "we're not."

"Then what the hell is it!?" Kai snaps, serving to further annoy his apparently sole company, "I can't do anything if I need you to be within two feet of me all the time!"

This is ruining his appetite. "How am I supposed to know?" Damon drops his spoon to glare at him. "You brought up the red string thing, you figure it out! Instagram videos have all the answers for you, right?"

Those golden eyes roll in the most infuriating way possible. That must be part of his talent, in some stupid way. "They're called reels. And obviously not! I've never even seen stuff like this before, man…!" Kai begins to hold himself, shaking like a scared dog hiding from thunder.

"Then we'll find a way to cut it." He nudges the string, watching it sway between them. "It's stuck to us, and everyone is pretending they don't see anything." The frustration of the situation is getting to him. Damon grabs his spoon again and takes another bite of food, chewing angrily. "But the joke will be over when it's cut."

Kai follows his lead, taking a hesitant bite of his own food. "Right."

For a moment, Damon believes they might have a peaceful breakfast. Then, he just has to keep talking.

"Ughhh," Kai continues to complain, "I can't believe the people here really hate me that much…"

"You?" Damon has to doubt that. People obviously dislike being around the debater, but he's learned long before coming here that it doesn't matter. He just had too high of hopes for what this academy could have been, and now he's stuck to this guy.

Kai acts like his claim wasn't strange. "Yeah?" He even gives Damon a confused look, which makes his face burn. "They put this string on us and now we have to walk around together all day. It's terrible."

"You?" Damon incredulously insists once more, putting his left hand on the table. "The people here hate you?"

"Obviously…?" Kai meets his baffled stare with one of his own. His head even tilts a little to the side. "What, you think that I'm super popular or something?"

"You're the Ultimate Influencer."

The confusion drops into clear offense. "Dude."

"It's a natural assumption." He pushes his point. There's really no need to back down, because what Kai is saying is blatantly illogical. "Your talent says you're supposed to be charismatic and have garnered a large following, but you're acting like that isn't relevant to you at all. You're making quick judgements where it's unneeded." Damon says all of that, but can't help himself from mentioning his gripes with the system while they're on the topic. "It's annoying that the UTP gives out talents so inconsistently."

"This again—Can you not get butthurt over talents for once!?" Kai snaps back, escalating on the last portion while completely ignoring the rest of his points.

"What? I wasn't saying anything about if you deserved to be here or not."

"What else am I supposed to assume!?" Kai shies away with an upset whine, "You said that to me like it's relevant, so…"

Damon's chair is pushed out as he stands up suddenly, scornfully glaring down at Kai. "I'm just critiquing the poor choices made by the UTP in validating talents! It's not wrong to do!"

Kai stands up to meet him, making their stares slightly even with one another. It's just more infuriating to see his face up close, screwed up in a furious snarl. "Maybe it is when I'm one of the guys you're talking about! Man, you're seriously awful…!" Of course, it takes no time at all for the crocodile tears to well up. "Why do I have to be stuck to you?"

"W-Why do I need to be stuck to you!?" Damon hisses back, gripping the edge of the table tight enough to make his knuckles white. "I'm suffering too! You're loud, obnoxious, and have no emotional regulation at all!!"

The influencer lurches back, but returns with just as heated words. "Speak for yourself? You're yelling at me when I'm, like, two feet away from you!! And you're so judgemental, what's wrong with people like you? Do you have nothing better to do besides bitch about others!?"

Damon bitches about people? Damon? There's no way he's throwing that accusation when he's heard what Kai mutters to himself when he's in the kitchen. He's already finding things to gossip about, when they're barely into their first semester! "Y-You…!"

It's then that he realizes it. This is not worth his time, even slightly. Damon is far too aware that they're bound together by this stupid red string, but he still turns and moves to walk away, forgetting even about his bowl. He can pick it up later. Being around Kai is just so, so—

A sudden thud and a yelp that resounds through the dining hall resounds behind him, right after his first step. Ignoring the dozen or so eyes suddenly on them, Damon wheels back around to see the issue.

Kai lays sprawled on the table, seething after being faceplanted into it. He doesn't care much about that, but its cause. The cherry red string, once lax between them, is suddenly taut. It's shorter.

"Owww, owowow…" Kai puts a hand on the table to raise himself up, narrowly avoiding some of the milk that had been rattled out of their respective bowls. "Fucking… Huh?" His gaze lands on the string, gawking at it just like Damon. "W-Wait…!"

This is bad. Damon stares down at his pinkie in a panic, but sees no way it could have gotten tied tighter around his own. "Did you… Did you tie it around your finger?" Voice dipping into a growl, he points an accusatory finger at the other man. "Untie it!"

"Why the hell would I do that?!" Kai yelps, sitting back in his chair. He looks like he wants to put a hand over where his head hit the table's surface, but his attention is mostly fixed on Damon now. "I don't want to be around you, I'm sick of you! I haven't been able to relax all morning!"

As if to add more fuel to the fire of this embarrassing situation, Kai points back at him, just as accusatory. "What about you!?" He leans over to peer at Damon's hand, suspicion gleaming in his eyes. "Did you do something?"

"No?" He scoffs, hiding his hand behind his back. Kai's hand jerks forward, which allows him the chance to grab it and raise his string-bound finger up. It can't be more than a foot long, likely less than even that. "This is awful for classes, there's not that many we share." Today's schedule would let him drag Kai into his classes, but he can't rely on this whiny idiot to want to comply with that. He starts picking at the knot with his nail, glaring intensely. "We need to get this thing off us!"

Unaccompanied by sound, a young voice chimes in suddenly. "Get it off?"

"H-Huh—?" Kai stutters, glancing over the table at the sudden interruption.

Damon has a harsher reaction. "AAAAH!"

Kai's gaze whips back over to him, accompanied by an irritated scowl from… that other pink student? Not Diana, he remembers her. He's completely forgotten the name of this one. But she can glare, apparently.

"… What?" He meets their stares, growing incredibly fed up with the silence. At least those that remain in the dining hall don't seem to care about the goings on over here anymore. "Stop looking." He motions to their uninvited guest. "Why is the kid bothering us?"

The child doesn't like that. She makes a frustrated sound, stomping her foot against the floor and gripping the fan hiding her face ever tighter. "This again? How many times must I insist that I am not a child!?"

Kai, apparently remembering language as a concept, stops looking around and settles back into his seat. "You are, though?" He leans over to Damon, which he sits down to meet and hear his whispers. "Seriously, what is she on about?"

"I don't know." Damon responds in an equally low voice. "A kid shouldn't be in a university."

"Well, Wolfgang was a kid in law school, right?"

"Ah. Wonderful." The kid… Toshiko? Toshiko is her name, right. She scowls and glares at them, clearly listening to their gossip. "And now I'm being ignored."

Damon doesn't feel like caring about being secretive, so he doesn't change his behavior. "Really? How old is he?"

"Twenty-Two!"

"What?"

As consistent background noise, Toshiko hums. "I guess I won't mention anything about the…" she tilts her head to stare at the space between their hands, which are held up to cover their mouths without effectively muffling their chatter, "short red string between you both. Sigh…"

Damon slams his hand on the table, internally desperate. "Tell us."

Kai also slams his hand on the table, more outwardly desperate. "PLEASE."

That attention is enough to change her tune, apparently. She gives a cheery laugh that grates against Damon's ears. "Fine!" She pulls out a second fan and strikes a pose too dramatic for any possible situation. Actually, who in the world casually wears a yukata around school? "But only because I want to see your future relationship thrive~!"

"Mmh." The influencer sinks into his seat. "Do I want to hear this…?"

She marches up and slams her own hand and fan on the table, her face still covered. Is all of this slamming actually necessary? "YES! Because…" She points to the material binding their pinkies, like it actually is real. "That red string, right there… It's the red string of fate!"

Right. This again. "Okay." Damon responds positively and nods, hoping that's enough to believe she's brought up something useful.

In contrast to his dry reaction, Kai's eyes go wide and his jaw drops open, yet nothing is said. He suggested the idea earlier, so why is he so baffled now? Does the answer to that question matter? No.

"Well?" Toshiko prompts after a pause for them to assumedly process the information. "You both are bound together as soulmates!" Her attention centers specifically on Damon as she continues, "do you have any comment on that? Questions, thoughts, feelings?"

"No, because it can't be true." Damon motions a hand to Kai, who still remains silent. "We're completely incompatible. Our personalities and interests completely contrast each other. Even down to the way we dress and the people we surround ourselves with, we're polar opposites."

It's not as though Damon surrounds himself with much of anyone, though. At best, the debate club could be that for him, but they're not going to be friends or anything. As the Ultimate Debater, even other Ultimates in the club are of a different standing there. They have had a couple of interesting conversations, but not interesting enough to stick in Damon's mind. Kai, however, is an influencer. The Ultimate Influencer. Millions upon millions of people must dream of being in the same room as him.

The amount of support Kai has behind him is immeasurable. Which can't be compared to Damon, who has no need for such attention.

"Uh." Kai realizes, again, that language exists. He looks to Damon, a weird expression on his face that quickly settles into something calmer. "Yeah… We're really not good together. At all."

"Oh…" The kid's tone turns mournful, though her body language remains rigid. "Your relationship will have to be starting from its lowest point, then."

"Do we really need to have a relationship?" His roommate shuffles awkwardly in place, back to fidgeting with those rings. "Maybe if we just, like, stop talking…"

As if enraged by the mere notion of refusing contact, the string cuts away more of its own length, taking their fingers with it. Damon flinches when he's pulled at, their hands forced to hang in the space between the chairs, barely a few inches of tightly woven string between their bodies.

"Tch." Damon wants to pull on it, to even plead for it to offer some recompense. It will be useless, so he lets it stay, merely with a quiet complaint. "Come on…"

Also unwilling to toy with it, Kai throws up his free hand. "I'm never allowed to say anything ever again, I guess!"

"Hah!" Infuriatingly uncaring, Toshiko points a closed fan at their worsening issue. "Do you not get it? Hatred towards each other only brings you both closer. Only by expanding your relationship beyond pretty insults and silent treeatments can your souls feel comfortable having space!"

"Our souls…?" Their souls. She's so insistent on this, isn't she? "Right, okay."

Damon stands up. His roommate is forced to follow suit with another pathetic yelp.

"Our cereal is soggy now, because you came over and decided to interrupt us." He picks up his bowl, nudging the other man with his elbow to encourage that he do the same. "So, we're leaving."

"Wh- No, dude! My food is still fine!" He does pick up his bowl, but only to complain mournfully.

"Will you shut up if I buy food on the way to the library?" he snaps, poising a glare like a dagger to his throat. "I need to study."

His roommate pauses, pondering the idea for a few seconds with a narrowed stare, before he does the right thing and complies. "… I don't want to go to the library, but fine. Sure."

They step from the table and walk off in tandem, necessary now that their curse offers no room for asynchrony. "You can find something to read. It'll be good for you."

Toshiko says nothing, but he feels her stare following after them, locked onto his back like an arrow might pierce his chest at any moment. He shrugs it off; she is just another weird student at this academy, anyway. Not even worth thinking about.

"But what if she's right?"

They're in the library, Kai following after Damon like a dog on a short leash as he looks through the shelves of textbooks. With how the string has shortened in their cursing and fighting, Damon's hand is lowered and Kai's is raised, for their pinkies to nearly meet each other. Inconvenient, but he can't be bothered to think about it with a debate on the horizon. One that will solidify his worth to a skeptical audience, now that he's attending Eden's Garden Academy.

Damon picks a book off the shelf, flipping through it. 'Tongue-Tied: A Study of Expressed Desire throughout History' is its title. "She can't be right. She's a child that found a chance to create lies to make fun of what others think is a weird shared delusion or prank."

"Okay, maybe, but!" He lurches his hand up, the motion forcing Damon to close the book before it can slip from his hands. "I want to be away from you!"

He seethes, slotting the book back into its spot. It wasn't of his interest anyway, he just needed a distraction. "Stop raising your voice." He doesn't want a librarian walking over here to reprimand them, as has already happened to others before while he was studying.

Kai, ever ignorant, stays persistant. "I think our problem deserves some voice-raising! I haven't been able to do anything all day, and the same goes for you!" He glares at Damon like it's going to be effective, only paid attention to out of the corner of his eye. "Shouldn't we be trying to fix this?"

"It will fix itself," ever-doubting, Damon feels compelled to add, "probably."

"Wow." Kai puts his unburdened hand on his hip. "You're stupid, huh?"

"What?" He whips around to face him, a snarl to his words as he bites back, "I'm not stupid. You're the idiot for—!"

The red string, as if fed up with their nonsense, finally unravels. Gold and green sets of eyes are drawn down to stare in awe, wondering if the curse that threatens to ruin their careers is done. But after some wavering, it ties itself anew, this time binding tight around both their pinkies in one terrible bow knot.

They're forced to completely face each other, disallowed even the freedom of looking away. Anger and disappointment clashes in Kai's gaze, surely reflecting Damon's own feelings on the matter.

"See!?" Kai points frantically down at their bound hands, frustration prickling at his tone, "I'm telling you, it—"

"Okay." Damon mercilessly cuts in. "Compliment me."

"H-Huh??"

Damon nudges half an inch closer. So close, their breaths mingle together as they fixate on each other's eyes. Kai stiffens, but Damon refuses to back down. Privacy will always be a thing of the past if they aren't forceful.

"You said that Toshiko might be right, and not just slightly more delusional than every other person we know. If insulting each other is shortening the string," Damon's voice lowers to a whisper, "then give me a compliment."

Heat radiates off of Kai's body, warming his face to a bright pink. "U-Uh, uhm. Wait, wait, I—"

"Do you want this undone or not? Say something, now." Damon demands with an increasingly intense glare that Kai can't look away from. Not now, and not ever, if he continues to remain stagnant.

That seems to kick Kai's motivation into gear. His eyes flick across Damon's face frantically, as if fishing for something to offer up and appease him.

"Y-You're, uh… You… Y-Your debates are good?" He whimpers out, not at all confident in it being substantial.

" … You have never seen one of my debates."

He doesn't actually know that, but Kai blindly confirms it anyway. "What else am I supposed to say!?" He cries, "I'm not going to— No, actually, you should say something!"

Damon frowns. "No?"

"Yes? Why do I need to be the only one complimenting you?" He stubbornly pushes his point, folding only his left arm over his chest, now that his right one is held hostage. "Say one good thing about me."

"…" Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He doesn't know anything about Kai. "You post well?"

"Is that… a compliment?"

"Yes." Maybe he can get away with confidence alone.

"Even though you still don't even have Instagram? or Twitter?"

Rather than speak tangentially on the uselessness of those sites, he stands by his point. "Kai. You're the Ultimate Influencer. Of course you make good posts, or something."

Rather than just accepting the compliment and letting them have some space, Kai scoffs. "That's not even…"

He quickly begins sniffling, tears welling in his eyes. Damon feels tense seeing them, even though he knows they're likely fake. That's just the impression Kai gives off; a person that can act however he wants to achieve his goals. That's just what an Influencer must be.

"W-Why do I need to be stuck with you?" He whimpers out, his words weighing heavier than the previous times he expressed this same sentiment.

Despite his clear superiority in this situation, a rush of shame makes Damon pause. It's not like he's seen Kai post anything at all, so maybe he posts… badly? That can't be the right conclusion here. But if they're going to try compliments, then he's going to put actual effort into it.

"Your…" His eyes are drawn to stare up. "Your hair is well kept." That's something.

Still sniffling, Kai gives him a look of frustration. "Okay?" He wipes tears from his eyes, which does little to prevent them from brimming still. "You're still s-saying that just t-to help yourself…"

"I'm serious." Damon motions up, though it's not like Kai can look. "The pink dye with the dark brown looks good, and you comb it well. I don't know how you dyed it so neatly. It looks nice."

It's not a professional look, of course. But it's better than some of their classmates. Mark and Wolfgang both look like they've never brushed their hair thoroughly. Some people here just don't seem to care for their appearances at all, which is idiotic. The way one presents themself is everything to a stranger.

"Oh." The influencer pauses. Then, he fusses with the ends of his bangs as he shyly continues. "Uh, thanks. I just dye the whole thing and then trim it, though?" Blinking the tears from his eyes, his gilded eyes are drawn up. "Don't you dye your hair, too?"

"N-No." He instinctively disagrees.

Kai scoffs out a laugh. "Yeah, right. That's totally dyed."

"It's not."

"There's blond hair dye on your side of the sink, man." He rolls his eyes, only slightly less infuriating this time. "But to be honest, I wouldn't have guessed you did dye your hair."

Kai reaches out with his unbound hand and brushes his fingers against the fringes of Damon's hair. A rush of heat floods his face, but it's paid no mind. Which sucks, because he can't help but tense up and go silent when he's touched.

"It's really nice." His roommate continues obliviously, or entirely ambivalent to the effect it's having as he teases at strands. "Diana was talking about it, too, you're really good and thorough with it. And, like…"

Suddenly, his demeanor turns sheepish, and he hastily pulls back. Kai stares forward with an unsure expression for a few seconds too long, and allows Damon the time to speak.

"Hey."

Having been distinctly aware of every little sensation against his body, Damon points to the string. It's longer now, enough for Damon to step back and put a normal distance between them.

The pressure in the air lessens to something breathable. "O-Oh!" Kai perks up a little too quickly, stumbling over his words. "Hey, I was right! Great!"

He looks back at Damon with wide, sparkling eyes. Damon tries not to pay them mind, but he just demands so much attention.

"It's still not enough to be away from each other."

"Sure, yeah. But it's progress!" Kai chirps, his optimism unwavering. "We just need to be nice to each other, I guess? It's kind of weird, but if it works, I won't complain."

Damon huffs, crossing his arms. Kai is still brought a little closer, but at least it's not that close. "Well, if we're soulmates, then…"

If they're soulmates. Damon has to doubt it. Even if this magical string connecting their pinkies mirrors that tale perfectly, Damon can't imagine a life with a man like this. A spontaneous social butterfly like Kai can't mingle with him. It's an impossible concept.

They're being forced to spend at least a semester together. In that time, they will need to find a way to either get rid of this string, or Damon will need to find a redeeming trait about Kai that would allow them the space to be away from each other.

"… I need to find a book." Damon insists, presented like he has a goal in mind as he turns back to the shelf.

"Uh. Alright." Kai sounds… vaguely disappointed. But that must be because they aren't able to solve this issue as promptly as he wishes. Damon shares that sentiment completely.

That redeeming quality he needs comes fast, actually. The rest of the day passes by uncomfortably, with excuses given and side-eyes received as their close contact remains unbroken. It's miserable to attend Kai's few classes, and terrible to attend his own and have Kai distracting him every five seconds from taking notes. This string is a curse meant to ruin their lives, Damon was sure of it.

Until dinner came around, anyway.

Damon rolls his eyes as he's forced to stand in the kitchen while Kai cards through cabinets, shuffling around every few seconds to be able to reach in. "Why don't we just order something? There's plenty of restaurants near campus."

"Because it sucks." Kai insists once more, for no good reason. "We already have ingredients for food! We don't need to get some random, cheap food delivered. Really not in the mood for that stuff."

"So what are you going to make?" He looks at the things Kai pulls out to stare at, but none of them look like they'd amount to a meal. Random cans of food, seasoning, whatever. Cooking isn't exactly Damon's forte, anyway.

"Well, we have the basics? Meat, beans, rice, spices and sauces…" Kai pulls open one of the top cabinets, pulling out another can of vegetables. Canned potatoes, maybe? It's not the value brand, but instead one Damon doesn't recognize. "They actually hooked us up with some really good stuff."

"Are you always this crazy about cooking?" He scoffs, making his disinterest evident.

Kai turns with an exasperated expression. "Are you addicted to asking questions?"

"It's good practice. Can you ask questions for once, rather than blindly accepting the advice of a random child at lunch?"

"Shut up, we're already way past that!" He steps back to stare between the counter, the oven, and the fridge. "Anyway, what do you want for dinner?"

Damon doesn't know. "I don't know."

He's brought into the rotation of things Kai feels like staring at. "Are you hungry?"

Is he? Damon isn't actually sure. He just sticks to time to keep track of when he needs to eat. "Kind of."

"You're so…" Kai sighs like Damon is a problem. His papa never had an issue with when he didn't know what to eat, he would just make something and Damon would like it anyway. "Alright, I'm doing this myself." Kai taps his foot against the tile floor as he thinks, "it's been a terrible day, so it wouldn't be bad to cheat a bit…"

Damon does have some distrust for Kai cooking anything of quality. Knowing the kinds of things he advertises based on what he hears him doing in the dorm, he assumes it's going to be some sugary, unhealthy slop anyway.

He walks over to the pantry and pulls it open, pulling out a bag of rice. After studying the brand, he shrugs and looks to Damon. "Curry sound good?"

What Kai suggests doesn't fit the criteria of Damon's assumption, under normal circumstances. It's even a basic choice, but… he'll take what he can get, then.

"That sounds fine." He walks a little closer, just so that he won't get dragged over anyway. "What kind?"

Kai's brow furrows. "Uhh…" Proving his efforts in vain, Kai speedwalks to the fridge, dragging Damon after him by the tight grip of his string. Dropping the rice bag on the ground, he squats to check the freezer drawer, moving around packages. "Ah, we have this." He holds up a package with two chicken breasts. "Chicken curry?"

He shifts from side to side, making sure to be prepared to move when he's forced to next time. "Sure."

"Great!" Kai stands back up, chicken and rice in tow as he trots back over to the sink, setting them both on the counter. Grabbing a mixing bowl from the nearby cabinet, he begins filling it with hot water. "Alright, now get out of—Uh."

The pause reminds them both that they can't go on as normal. As much as Damon does wish he could leave, even preparing for it when Kai resolved on what to make, the string insists. They have to stay within each other's orbit.

Quiet now, Kai turns off the water after it's filled the bowl, setting the chicken in it to thaw quicker. Then, he turns and leans back against the edge of the counter with a sigh, idly twisting his rings. "Just stay out of the way, alright? I'll handle it."

Well, that's stupid. He's not going to let Kai just order him around. "It's not like I don't have cooking experience." Damon crosses his arms, forcefully demanding attention. "Tell me what to get and I'll do it."

Kai may not treat it with the same seriousness, merely raising a brow at the display, but Damon needed to prove his point. "Alright? If you want to, I guess it's better than you just standing there and waiting." He looks back at the sink. "We'll need to wait a bit, though. It's going to take some time for the chicken to thaw."

Ah. Hm. Damon shrugs, losing some of his interest in it. "Why not just cook something that doesn't need chicken?"

Kai pauses, but doesn't do more than shrug. "It sounds good. We can just be patient."

Kai determines it to be such, and Damon finds it in himself to agree. The following minutes are silent, however. They end up sitting on the couch, space left between them to feel comfortable, doing nothing more than scrolling their phones. Damon to read, and Kai to keep up with trends. Their talents still take precedence above all else, after all. Their bond will always be secondary to their purpose.

After some time, Kai stands up and says that it's probably thawed enough for cooking. Damon only follows his lead due to his own lack of direct experience, but it really does feel better than nothing. However, they do struggle to work around each other anyway. Kai can't send Damon to do much, since Damon needs Kai to move around to get close to what he needs. Multi-tasking is barely feasible until they're prepping the ingredients, wherein things become calmer. Measuring out seasoning and sorting things while Kai prepares the chicken, the stove turned on to warm while they work.

So absorbed in their work, they have no need to speak to each other. It's the one peaceful moment he's had all day. That red string stays, however. Swinging lazily between their working hands, as if it hasn't doomed them in all kinds of ways.

He chooses to stay focused on the stream of little tasks he's offered. After prep comes actually cooking it. This time, Damon has nothing to do. He leans against the counter and stares at the stove, the chicken sizzling in a pan as Kai routinely checks the pot of rice. Damon's hand is brought up and down, following his movements. At least after they eat, he can finally…

Wait.

"Kai?" He starts, a little panicked at the dreadful realization that's just struck him.

"Y-Yeah?" He takes a step away from the stove to devote his full attention to him. "What's up?" Foolishly, Kai looks down at their hands. "Is the string longer?"

"What? No, Kai—" Damon puts a hand under his chin and forces him to meet his eyes, "How are we going to sleep?"

His roommate blinks rapidly, a bit of pink dusting his cheeks. "We'll… Uhm." He pulls back from Damon's hand, anxiety becoming evident as he is struck with a realization. "Oh shit."

Damon nods. "Right." Everything about this really is terrible.

They stand there, staring at each other until Kai hums, hesitant in bringing up an idea. "… Sleep on the floor? Maybe?"

He understands the hesitation. To offer for himself to sleep on the floor is a tough thing to do, but Damon is glad Kai decides on that. "Alright. I have an extra set of blankets and pillows in my room, so that should be fine." Kai can use his own pillows and blankets, and Damon can bring his over to sleep with. What a simple solution.

For some reason, Kai also looks shocked. Damon doesn't have reason to needle him about it, though. "Really? Why do you have spares?" Whatever did shock him, it is dismissed. Likely unimportant, then.

"Obviously, I use them when it gets cold." He has a notoriously low body temperature. He understands if that wasn't picked up on yet, though. Kai probably has no idea he's a human heater until he touches someone.

"R-Right. Yeah." The influencer doesn't say more on the topic, opting instead to pay attention to the stove. Damon is ready to settle back into silence as well, but as it turns out, he does still hold a use.

After mixing the sauce, Kai cut a bit of chicken off one of the breasts and scoops up a bit of rice, carefully drizzling both in a little sauce to give them flavor. Then, he offers it to Damon. "Here!" He chirps, a slight smile on his face. "Try some, then tell me what you think."

Suppose he's a taste-tester now. Again, it's better than nothing. "Alright."

He brings his right hand under the spoon, leaning in to blow on it and ensure it won't scorch his mouth, before taking a slow bite. His teeth glide lightly against the metal curve of the spoon as he cleans it of its contents, ignoring his roommate's intense stare to focus on the food's flavor.

"… It's good." Damon settles on that. It's very good.

Kai blinks at him. "So, is there anything I need to—"

Damon interrupts immediately, licking his lips hungrily. "Can I have another bite?"

"It isn't ready yet? So no, you can't."

He feels like he's being talked down to, but he doesn't care about that anyway. "I didn't taste it well enough." He insists, his patience subsisting off of the lingering taste of sweet, deliciously seasoned sauce.

Perhaps in reaction to the look on Damon's face, Kai raises the spoon away from him. "Okay, well, you're not eating it before it's d—W-Woah, hey!!"

The string has grown several inches longer. Damon doesn't think much of it, because he's focused entirely on using its two feet of length to twist it around Kai's wrist and pull him back down.

"Just one more bite." Damon insists, very clearly. Patience would be right to abide by, but his appetite makes a rare showing to combat that. "I'm hungry."

"O-Obviously you're hungry, yeah…" Kai fights against the pull of the string, but Damon's will forces his hand to stay between. There's a certain sense of helplessness in the influencer's gaze as he meets Damon's aggravated glare. "God damn, y-you look like you're going to eat me."

Bringing that up, Damon realizes that he does feel the need to bite something, teeth aching with a phantom pressure. He focuses on smothering that feeling. Biting is a habit he broke years ago, and indulging it again won't do more than break headphone cords and embarrass him.

Isn't begging for food like he's a starved child equally embarrassing, though? "Shut up." Damon hisses, letting go of the string. It unravels all on its own, going slack to return to dangling betwen them. "Just keep cooking."

"So demanding… " Kai rubs at his hand that was previously being squeezed. Though the string didn't even leave marks, so he's just pouting for no reason. "Fineee. I don't want you to maul me."

Damon isn't the kind of person that would maul anyone, but Kai is making him start to reconsider.

Thinking that, he stays back, watching the string sway between them to occupy himself. It actually did get longer during that little spat, or at least a few moments prior, which confuses him. Wasn't that aggressive? He complimented Kai's cooking, but their bickering should have counteracted that completely, right?

Questioning its logic isn't useful to them when it won't garner answers. It's just stupid. That's it. A shared delusion that will dispel itself by morning, which they will never speak of again.

Later, dinner is served, wherein Damon cleans his plate and Kai does a… poorer job of that. It's not his place to push, though. The leftovers are packed into the fridge, which then leads them to getting ready for bed, starting in Damon's room.

"I'm not gonna lie," Kai starts, looking around at the somewhat barren room, only the wall lined with shelves of books and the desk Damon has yet to clean of papers garnering attention, "I don't want to see you naked."

Stupid. Damon is grateful he's facing away, digging through his dresser for what pajamas he wants. "I don't want you to see me naked. Just turn around."

There's a wishy-washy hum from behind him. So whiny. "But what if I still see you?"

He bites back an annoyed remark, ever mindful of their binds. "Just don't look." He says simply, nudging a drawer closed. His clothes are stacked together, a plain set of gray pajamas he bought for when he moved in.

"Then you promise not to look when I'm changing?"

The question trips him up. He turns around, giving Kai a clear look of confusion. He looks strangely serious for such a weird question. "O-Obviously, yes." He insists, a little embarrassed by the topic. He doesn't particularly want to think about him being naked.

You promise?" Kai's hands are raised slightly, fingers curled in, reminding him of—No, that's enough of the dog comparisons. "I'm kicking you out of the room if you do."

"Yes, I promise," he replies again firmly. "Why are you so insistent about this?"

Those golden eyes look his body over, before he proceeds to sigh dramatically. "You wouldn't get it."

Rather than elaborating on anything, Kai turns around, allowing Damon the thin veil of privacy. Which is fine, as he's not sure he's interested in whatever is being hinted at anyway.

He strips off his jacket and vest and sets them on the dresser to be folded later. But as he unbuttons his shirt, he becomes distinctly aware of the movements of his left hand. He feels the push and pull as it responds to his movements, like it wants to pull Kai in and force him to look back. What would he think if he glimpsed the scars under Damon's chest? The persistent acne that stains his skin? There's so little he can do to control the presentation of his own body.

Damon has to trust that he won't look, even if it makes his skin crawl to think about. Worrying about it is just making him hesitate and waste time. The shirt is shed and set aside, and his pants follow suit. It's not like he's completely naked, anyway. It's fine.

His roommate lets out a dog-like yelp while Damon is hastily pulling up his sweatpants. He freezes, realizing that the movement tugged hard on the string. He doesn't bother to look back and check if Kai reacted only to that. "S-Sorry." Damon ends up stuttering out.

Kai swallows loudly, but doesn't move. He must still be turned around, then. He would feel if it was different. "Uh. It's fine." Is his response, plain and awkward. Impossible to read, too.

It doesn't have to matter if Kai makes no comment on it, though. His shirt is pulled on without further incident, leaving him in a decent state. "Done." He chirps, turning around to look. Kai really is facing away, thankfully. "There's spare blankets and pillows in my wardrobe."

"Oh! Great." Kai whips around with another sigh, this one presumably of relief. His eyes glance over Damon's body, but there's not much to look at now. He's dressed, and it means they are allowed to continue on.

Though there's a few complaints about how apparently baffling it is for Damon to want both of his weighted blankets when it's still summer, they move on to Kai's room. He can't remember a time he's gotten more than a glimpse of his room, but it's… definitely pink. Pink, and a bit of black here and there to even out the brightness. Fairy lights are strung up around the edges of the room, providing low light to combat the otherwise darkness that consumes it. There's a few shelves against the walls, but all they have are vinyl records or framed pictures, mostly of people Damon is entirely unfamiliar with. The amount of pillows on Kai's bed is baffling as well, but his attention is demanded without room for Damon to make comments.

While he had been looking around, Kai had already dumped the blankets and pillow on the edge of the bed and exchanged them for a set of sleepwear, looking back at Damon with obvious distrust. "Turn around."

"Okay." Once again, Damon is ordered around as if he wasn't going to do it anyway, but he doesn't bother to fight with him again. That's asking only for this to be drawn out further than necessary.

Even after Damon turns, though, Kai doesn't start moving for a few seconds. He can practically feel those golden eyes burning into his back.

After another second too long, Damon clears his throat. "You can start undressing, now. I'm not looking." He even covers his eyes to emphasize his point.

"Wh—O-Okay!" Kai splutters, his whimpering voice drifting into a mumble. "Don't need to rush me…"

Except he did, because Kai is actually moving around now. Damon once again feels the string sway and tug. He believes the sensation to be similar to what a puppeteer must feel when controlling a puppet. Feeling the tug of its strings as its weight fights against their hold, carefully communicating the cause and effect of every movement. It's a more intimate sensation than he expects, more intense than his own experience as the muse.

It's exceptionally easy to tell what Kai is doing. He's quick to shed his pants, but slow on his jewelry and shirt. He can feel the rings brush against their link, the cool metal somehow felt enough to send a shiver through him. Kai stops.

"You're… not looking, right?" He asks hesitantly, voice weak. He must have noticed Damon's reaction.

"No. I'm not going to look." Damon won't. As much as his curiosity begs for a peek, he should avoid being weird.

Kai scoffs. Was that not a good enough answer for him? "Okay, I get it."

Thankfully, he doesn't needle for more assurances. Damon feels that right hand curl around fabric, and begin to pull up. Damon only says something when he hears his sweater and undershirt get carelessly tossed to the carpet floor.

"If you get it, then why do you keep asking?" Damon has to question something, just to sate a bit of his curiosity. He only realizes after it leaves his mouth that he's needling Kai slightly too much about this, but if Kai doesn't want to answer, then he can do that.

Kai does have a response, albeit delayed. He reaches over to grab a piece of clothing, and begins putting on a new shirt.

"My body isn't good," he replies matter-of-factly. "That's all."

What could that possibly mean? "That's a vague answer."

"Yup." Once again, he refuses to elaborate. "If you don't get it immediately, you'll never understand. Someone like you, that doesn't have to…"

Kai pauses. He tugs lightly at what Damon imagines is the hem of his shirt, frozen for a few more seconds before he continues about the process of dressing himself.

"Sorry. Forget I said anything." He adds in a more troubled tone.

"I won't." Not tonight, anyway.

Kai's next words lose their friendliness, tinged with a warning. "Then stop asking."

Feeling merciful, Damon complies. He keeps his eyes covered, ignoring the sweat starting to accumulate on his palms.

"O-Okay." He finally is informed, after another minute too long of assumedly fumbling around with his appearance. "You can turn around, now."

He does so. Kai is wearing a set of fluffy black pajamas, presumably of the same brand as his everyday wear. That little pink butterfly design persists on the breast, as if it belongs to him. It might as well be his, in Damon's understanding.

More importantly, his eyes are a different color.

"Wait, do you…" Damon motions to his own eyes, the word he wants slipping his mind at the sight of those dark brown irises.

"Huh?" Kai tilts his head, but only for a moment of confusion that's doomed to pass. "Did you…" his eyes squint as he smiles, a laugh underlining his voice, "did you think I actually had yellow eyes?"

"Eloise has red eyes," Damon counters. "Aren't those unnatural?"

It's not met with the right reaction, however. "That's, like, totally different?" Kai rolls his eyes as he scoops up his discarded clothes into his arms. "C-Come on, did you really believe I was that special or whatever?"

Damon isn't sure of how to answer that. Maybe he did. It just made sense that Kai would have such striking eyes. It's hard not to feel pinned by Kai's gaze when it's upon him. Everything about him just demands that you give him all of your attention, good or bad. Damon would hope it's favorable attention, though. Since he's the Ultimate Influencer.

They stare at each other awkwardly. The weight of sleeping in the same room dawns on them all at once, reflected in the sudden bout of fidgeting Kai gets into with his necklace. Damon stays stiff, struggling to find words.

Slowly, the influencer turns and dumps his clothes into a basket in the corner, choosing to move forward without awaiting a better answer. "We should just go to sleep."

Kai's fingers card through his hair, making it messy. He supposes that Kai doesn't need to care about it now that he's going to bed, but Damon fixates on the flow of pink and brown strands over his fingers anyway. "Y-Yeah." He nods emphatically, not that Kai will notice. "Definitely."

His roommate turns back around, swapping sides with Damon so that their red string hangs between them. Kai on the right side of the bed, and Damon on the left. "Maybe this string will be gone in the morning." He chirps too optimistically, walking along the side of the bed, blankets ignored. "That would be embarrassing tomorrow."

Damon mirrors him, choosing not to mess with the blankets either. as he passes them. "Yes. But at least in that situation, we could move on with our lives. "

"Yeah!" At the top of the bed, Kai turns right to face him, flipping open the blankets. Not pulling them off. "Yeah. That would be nice, I guess."

They stand and stare at each other from across the mattress, the string settled into the folds of the pink duvet draped over it. There's something unspoken here, but Damon sees no reason to speak about what should be obvious here. Evidently, Kai believes there's no issue at all, as he turns off the lamp closest to him and pushes down his blankets to make room for himself.

Damon decides to do just the same, making space to lay down.

"Well, goodnight." Kai lays down. Damon follows suit, crawling into bed and laying down on his side. Just like Kai decides to do.

Damon even returns the sentiment, his head sinking into the too-soft pillows. "Goodnight."

They're still facing each other. A strip of the duvet remains undisturbed between them, like a line they aren't allowed to cross.

The fairy lights were initially charming, but now they're getting annoying. "The lights are still on," Damon whispers, "shouldn't you get up and turn them off?"

"Shouldn't you be sleeping on the floor? Your blankets are still at the edge of the bed, you know."

Kai's tone is snappy. Entirely unearned, as Damon sees no reason for Kai to have ever possibly made that assumption.

"I'm a guest in your room," Damon argues. "Why aren't you pulling off these blankets and letting me put mine on?"

He pulls a face. "That's way too much work? It's my bed, so I'm staying here." He curls further into his blankets and pillow, giving Damon an irritated glare.

There is absolutely no reason to back down, though. It's uncomfortable, sure, but it's not Damon's job to resolve that issue. "I won't sleep on the floor, so I'm staying here."

"That's…" Kai frowns deeply, his voice dipping lower into frustration. "Don't you feel weird?"

That question makes Damon's heart seize, but just for a moment. "No. There's plenty of space for us." He just has to insist. There's no reason to make sleeping in the same bed seem weird.

"But it's way too close."

… He's right. It is too close. They can hear each other's breathing, quickened yet heavy on every exhale. But Damon can't back down. Kai should bow first, because Damon has the superiority here. Kai's authority over his own room shouldn't matter.

"I don't care."

"W-Well, I…" Kai fidgets awkwardly. Without his rings, he fusses with the golden necklace around his neck. That's a hazard, isn't it?

That thought is just a distraction, useless and forgotten as soon as their bound hands brush against one another. Damon isn't even sure of who moved first, or if both of them did, but the string is completely relaxed. It's not forcing them together, yet beneath the duvet, they meet anyway.

Damon's face burns as Kai's turns crimson. He feels Kai try to retract, but hesitation allows Damon to strike. Not by his own desire, surely, but by some kind of instinct. Their hands become interlocked, their fingers invading the space between each other.

A shaky breath resounds from the right side. "We should really…" Kai trails off, hesitation his muzzle.

The conversation constricts them both, but Damon continues with spontaneous questions. "Why are you so worried about your body?"

"Huh?" The single eye Damon can see crinkles with displeasure. "D-Did you seriously look…?" That eye begins to brim with tears, sparking panic.

"No, of course not." He squeezes Kai's hand. "But I assume you're not hurt or scarred, since you don't move as if you've had an injury before. There's nothing wrong with how you present yourself, either." In spite of previous misgivings about this topic, the words flow easily out of him. "You're handsome, so I don't see why you were so paranoid about me seeing something wrong."

Kai's tears recede, but that sour look in his eye still remains. His face partially buried in the fold of the pillow beneath his head, he mumbles something out.

The debater moves himself closer, keen to understand Kai's words. He doesn't want to miss anything, no matter how small or unimportant. "What is it?"

Kai inhales deeply, but refuses to do more than slightly lift his head to make his voice heard. "Y-You make it look effortless. Even though you've ordered takeout almost every day since we moved in, and you don't have a good sleep schedule, and you don't even watch what you eat. I bet it's been like that your entire life, right?"

"I-I…"

Damon can't do more than stutter. Disappointment drips off Kai's voice as he continues. "… Right. You've never had to care about what you eat."

Damon stays quiet rather than struggling through his words. Instead, he sits and processes. He knows he cannot form a response to anything he was just told. It's true that he's never had to care about what he eats. His body has stayed as it is, unburdened by worries for fickle beauty standards concerning body type. But, still…

"I did, for a while."

Kai perks up, his eyes finally locking onto Damon. "Hm?" His fingers flex around Damon's, like kneading.

He's already regretting saying anything at all. But the string is awfully tight around his finger, making him imagine it tightening around his throat. Forcing out words he shouldn't tell to someone he hasn't known for even a month.

"My family was homeless." Shame grows thick in his chest as he admits it.

Kai's eyes go wide. His attention alone feels like the stress enforced by a theater packed with thousands of strangers.

"Shit, uh, th-that's…" He sits up as he stutters, rolling back over onto his side to face Damon properly. His stare is so intense, pinning him to his spot. "That sucks."

Damon shakes his head, looking away. "It was only a month." A month he can barely remember, save for the sensations. A fading sense of hunger, a growing sense of dread. Discussions of the weather and a constant fear of time's passing.

He doesn't even realize his thoughts are drifting until Kai speaks back up, pulling him back to earth with his quiet, worried voice. "No, like. It doesn't matter how long it was, that sucks." His words are heavy with concern, making everything about this easier to understand and harder to bear. "I get it."

Ah. Kai must have gone through that too.

"I'm sorry that happened." The topic makes it harder for Damon to do more than express simple, awkward sympathy. It must have been worse for him. Shoving his own issues into the conversation was a poor choice.

"D-Don't apologize, that's…" He closes his eyes and exhales sharply, expression screwed up with frustration. "Ugh. Sorry for bringing this shit up."

The double standards Kai is expressing are annoying, but Damon chooses not to comment harshly on it. He must be embarrassed enough already. "I'm the one that started talking about this. And I pushed you to talk about your problems. I shouldn't have asked."

Kai shrugs, relaxing into the mattress. "It's fine. I didn't think you actually cared."

Damon isn't sure he did before. He was just curious about what was constantly hinted at, yet wasn't being given to him. But what's the point of asking if he didn't care?

A lofty question. His eyes droop, exhaustion occupying the space for introspection. The fairy lights strung overhead illuminate his roommate with a dream-like glow. "Let's sleep." Damon can't help but sigh out his words. "It's late."

Sleepy giggles trail out, more nervous than humored. Kai's eyes droop too, blinking slow. "Okay."

Before he's allowed to start drifting off, however, he feels Kai's grip tighten over his.

"Goodnight, Damon." The influencer murmurs sweetly, seeming unburdened by their proximity any longer.

It feels like his fingers strum at the debater's heart, sending another shiver along his limbs that trembles through the string. "… Goodnight."

It's so easy to close his eyes, even in an unfamiliar bed. Their shared touch parts as sleep takes them, but it doesn't matter. They're bound together, connected for as long as they breathe.

Both of them stir the next morning with the blankets kicked off the bed, Damon's body keeping Kai in an inescapable grip, while Kai's limbs are spread out in turn. The red string remains, just as Damon had begun to hope, tangled and swirled around them like an unraveled ball of yarn.