Chapter Text
—--Saying Goodbye and Hello—--
Honestly? You were praying that the storm wouldn’t knock out your internet the last minute.
It was a Friday night in the LADS discord chat. Something that had become your new normal over the last few months. Some online friends had found out your obsession for pretty pixel men and introduced you to a crack game. Love and Deepspace had taken up an EMBARRASSING amount of your time (and phone memory space), turning your normal chats into ‘look at this fanfic or art I found on Twitter’. Yes, Twitter. You refused to call it X, no matter how many years it had been since the Husky Musk had changed things.
It had only been a few months playing, but this band of friends had tried catching you up on literal years of content you had been blissfully unaware of in a matter of weeks. It was ALOT, but it was so so so much fun. Late nights with conspiracies that they confirmed or giggled about with you, fanfic ideas, and general drooling over these attractive characters was a bonding point. You felt included, loved, and just..happy in a way some IRL friends didn’t get.
But then came the dreaded day that Infold announced it..the end. They were working on a new game in the universe, but this one was ending. You had legitimately cried in the server with your friends, feeling like an era of your life had come to an abrupt halt.
And that was what led you to this current night.
The farewell, a server shut down party that your little band of friends had put together. People had called in sick to work, cleared schedules, taken PTO.. for a whole day of watching favorite cards and talking about the character's unresolved storylines or endings everyone liked or disliked. Sniffles were had..snacks were eaten, and promises that whatever the new game was, you all would play together when it released.
Your thumbs hovered over the tablet on your bed as you buried your face in the pillow.
“Yall said this happened before, right? Something called Mr. Love or some shit?”
Jami_catlisp spoke up, or that was their username at least. They were the one who had dragged you into the game after finding out your love for Astarion. All it really took was a clip of the character and a message that said ‘pspsps, silver white hair and red eyes, pspsps’. That was all it took to clear space off your phone and hit download from Playstore.
“Yeah, that was the prequel game. Never played though. Only watched the anime.”
“How'd they get an anime and not this!?”
“Cause this shit got too spicy is why.”
L00mitunes, the other major player in your group laughed as a couple of the newer players to the group, SunnyBunny and MADAMS0DaLite, squeaked and wheezed as the asmr of Caleb hit a particularly steamy part. Something in your heart ached as the group chatted on and you fell silent, staring at the shared screen.
A small discord message flickered up on the side from FireDrakeGirl.
~”You ok?”
Typing back quickly, you muted so the shaky sigh that fell from your lips didn’t ruin the vibe as DannyMew.0 began posting art, pinging Megladonnabun, who had gone AFK for snacks. A shriek from the other side said they were now back and very much enjoying the artist offering of Xavier in a bunny costume on all fours.
~”Yeah, just..idk. part of me feels like I will lose the group once this goes away.”
You watched the username flicker up and down for a few moments as Firedrakegirl began to respond. Chewing your lip as chaos erupted in the voice call as someone cued up Zayne’s Silent Poem, your eyes watered as the response came back.
~”Nah. You’re stuck with us now. You know too much..>8D.”
You really loved this group.
____________________
It was a morbid countdown as the servers went down at midnight, the whole group chanting it on discord as if you all were at the New York Ball drop. Giggles, words of comfort, some sobs, and an ‘I love you guys’ later, the call ended and you sat on your bed as the quiet closed in. The storm outside was pounding so hard it rattled the window and you shuddered as thunder rolled loudly, like gods playing bowling.
The lights flickered a hair as the growling beast of the weather raked on, making you bundle up in your weighted blanket. Taking a sip of water and yawning, you reached over and turned off your nightstand light, the glow of the tablet now casting haunting little shadows across your wall. You curled on your side to stare at it once more. As you had many nights in the past, your finger hit the START button out of instinct.
~Sever is no longer available.~
A profound emptiness settled, making your throat ache from emotion.
It really was over.
Sighing sadly as the notification immediately pulled up, your eyes became heavy as you let the intro keep playing. Sarah Brightman's soft voice lulled on, like a haunting of past happiness of the joy the game brought you.
~Some long for longevity..
Xavier trailing fingers over a bookcase full of media, blue eyes finding the perfect details..
~Before fading to dust..
Rafayel Painting his grandest homage, staring at a painting..
~Some long for eternal sleep..
A Library meeting with Zayne, as he shyly smiled over an accidental simultaneously grabbed book..
~And eulogy chanted by stars..
Sylus being extra as he leapt from a skyscraper, landing impeccably to wipe the wound from his cheek as he strutted into the N109 Zone..
~Into that serenity..
Caleb’s bare, sweat slaked back as he fought his mechanical arm pain, the trauma of it reflecting in his violet eyes.
~Their lost time forever buried..
Blackness took your vision as sleep dragged you under, unable to stay awake despite your upset.
~She rambled a thousand times, a million miles searching for light..
It was just a game..
It wasn't real.
Then why did it hurt so much to say goodbye?
_____________________
Blinking slowly after what felt like forever, you squinted at a piercing light that wrenched you from your rest.
What the..
You were definitely not in your bed. It was daytime and the sound of restaurant patrons and servers began to invade your ears as if someone had turned on a TV suddenly at full volume. Blinking hard as your vision cleared, a yellow and beige menu was being clutched in your hands, knuckles white with the sudden, jolting change. The bright green lettering made your head hurt as you blinked rapidly.
What the..hell..?
MENU:
Sirloin Steak
Seafood Pasta
Grilled Salmon
Lunch Special for One
Lunch Special for Two
Wait, you had seen this somewhere before..
Peering over the menu as you heard a light, masculine clear of a throat, you saw that across from you sat a familiar figure that you had gotten VERY acquainted with over the last several months. Hazel Green eyes, dark hair, glasses, black dress shirt. His face was neutral, displaying no intense emotion as he scrolled on his phone. Zayne looked confused as he peered back at you, before looking back at his phone as if to appear casual.
WAIT..you knew this! This was the lunch scene toward the beginning of the game! The really awkward one where MC and Zayne had to share a booth together when he was making little snow seals and got caught! You blinked harder..Jeez, you must have started lucid dreaming with how sad you were.
What was the line.. oh. Yeah food. Duh.
“I'll have the lunch special please!”
Handing over the menu mechanically, you gave Zayne an awkward glance. While the game’s graphics had been amazing at the time, nothing compared to this. You could see him, every pore, the stray hairs that stuck up around his bangs, the white lines of scars on his arms..
Even the one on his face that was the faintest.
He noticed your intense stare, finally meeting your eyes as he had in the game. Brows furrowed. You had always loved when he did that in game, the little dimple downturn confused frown thing he did.
“Hm?”
Oh, yeah, he was resuming the dialogue.
Shit uh, fuck.. what was the line MC had? What..snow birds. no..balls?..CAT? Was it a cat? Christ. Leaning a bit, you rubbed your brow, but then realized, this was YOUR dream. You didn’t have to follow the script like a weirdo! Leaning back against your chair, you folded your arms.
“SO.. how long have you been perfecting the snow seals thing? Cause when you made them as a kid, they kinda looked like snow poo emojis.”
Zayne blinked hard, setting his phone down as red tipped his ears as he looked practically mortified at your comment. He made several flustered noises as he straightened his sleeve cuffs.
“Pardon me? What..are you talking about?”
Aloof in your dreams even, huh? Least you played the game long enough to get the personality right. Raising an eyebrow, you rubbed the back of your neck with a chuckle.
“Look.. I saw what you were making. Don’t lie..it’s cute. Like you. You know that though, right? You were one of my favorites out of the boys after all. And this is my dream, so I get to tell you before I wake up. You're cute..and I am gonna miss knowing more about you. I never got all your cards.”
Zayne stared at you like you had grown two heads, his green eyes widening behind the lenses of his glasses like two, jade marbles. You leaned up on the table a little, grinning at the reaction. This was amazing! Best dream ever!!! You could even smell the scent of clean linen, antiseptic, and cashmere coming from him.. It was so damn realistic! As you leaned in, he shifted away nervously, before moving back in again. His voice was soft, reprimanding you before turning concerned sounding.
“What are you doing..we are in a public setting? Why are you acting strange? Do you have a fever again?”
Zayne leaned in further, pressing a cool wrist to your forehead. But you paid no heed, merely jerking his hand off of your face and flipping it over. His skin was flawless save for the scars that you ran your fingertips over, causing him to flinch as if you had burned him. L00mitunes had told you once his evol was unstable and it would hurt him on occasion.. it had made you love the character even more when you found that out. Gosh, you needed to learn how to lucid dream more often. He felt..warm..REAL. Even the little hairs on his arm were beginning to stand up with goosebumps. Letting his arm go, you clapped a hand over your mouth and giggled.
“I.. this is amazing! holy shit. This is the best..dream I have ever had. Maybe I need to go to bed sad more often…..”
Zayne began to move from the booth, coming around to try and take you by the arm. But as he did so, a server rounded a bend with piping hot food. Instinctively you tugged him close, but not soon enough. The soup bowl clipped his shoulder and spilled down the two of you, burning its way through clothing. The waitress panicked, trying to clear up the shattered plates and bowls as a coworker rushed over to help.
“I AM SO SORRY!”
Zayne didn’t even seem to mind the pain as he went into full trauma surgeon mode.
“Cold rag, water..and your first aid kit.”
The waiter scuttled off as a small group watched in hushed tones, eyes wide. Your arm had gotten his and his hip with some sort of broccoli cheese nonsense, both stinging and making your nose wrinkle. Soon he was kneeling before you, yanking your sleeve up. A med kit was flicked open as he gently patted the area on your arm clean before opening a jar of burn cream. He looked absolutely consumed with fear for you, as if you had just run around the building with your underwear on your head. You winced as he applied the cream..
“Ssss…ow.. “
Zayne clicked his tongue, scoffing at you as if you were a child who was insisting the sky was purple.
“A dream? You think this is a dream? Why would you say that..?”
This..this dream was turning into embarrassment, not sexy lunchtime snu snu you had thought you could rewrite this into as if it were an AO3 novel. You gave him a flabbergasted look as he bandaged your arm. How was he so CALM? Screwing your eyes closed, you tensed up with a grunting noise.
“Pfft.. you.. ok. Time to wake up. I..why am I not waking up if this hurts..nnnf..ow..mmmmgh! Oh come on..poof. dream over!!”
Then Zayne said something that had your whole racing mind come to a stuttering halt.
“If this is a dream, how did you read the menu? …”
____________________
He messed up..
When he asked that question, you practically fled from the restaurant, yelling something about ‘lucid dreaming, this couldn’t be right, no no no no..’
Zayne stood at the table, soup on his clothing, a rag and burn cream in hand as he watched you run out to the sidewalk and circle..Then circle again..and again, eyes up toward the sky, scaring pedestrians as you flailed and yelled at things. Then you saw your reflection in the mirror window of an adjacent building and sat down HARD on the pavement.
It took him a moment to process this, shaking his head to clear it.
Sighly deeply as he turned toward the waiter who had just arrived with the food they had ordered earlier, he fished his wallet out of the back pocket of his pants and handed over easily triple what the lunch cost.
“ Sorry for the waste…please accept this. I have to..go ..uh.. check on my companion.”
Zayne practically made a beeline for the door, leaving behind the very confused service staff. The little bell on it jingled violently as he threw open the glass and brass lined oak door, sucking in an apprehensive breath. He needed to get you back to Akso to check you over..
But by the time he had gotten out of the restaurant, you were nowhere to be found.
The street was empty save for confused locals and your Hunter watch that was abandoned on the sidewalk..
“Oh dear..”