CATER X YUU, ๐๐Photographic Evidence ๐๐ (this was an old post so she/he is used instead of they, for Yuu)
๐๐ เฃชห ึด๐ โ.ห แกฃ๐ญฉ .๐ฅห ๐๐ เฃชห ึด๐ โ.ห แกฃ๐ญฉ .๐ฅห ๐๐ เฃชห ึด๐ โ.ห แกฃ๐ญฉ .๐ฅห
Cater Diamond had always been the type to document everything.
It wasn't unusual to see him pulling out his phone in the middle of lunch just to snap a picture of Trey's baking or Ace making some stupid expression. His Magicam account was practically a second life for him at this point, overflowing with filtered selfies, group photos, and random moments most people wouldn't think twice about.
So at first, Yuu didn't think much of it when Cater started taking pictures of her/him too. It began innocently enough. A quick photo while they were feeding Grim behind Ramshackle. A blurry picture taken during lunch while Yuu was laughing so hard they nearly choked on their drink. A candid shot of them asleep at a table in the library, face buried in an open textbook.
"Delete that," Yuu groaned the second Cater showed them the picture. "Nope," Cater replied cheerfully, already saving it. "You looked adorable."
"I looked dead."
"Same thing sometimes."
Yuu rolled her/his eyes, but they were smiling despite themself. That was the problem with Cater. He made things feel harmless. Easy. His smile was bright enough to distract people from looking too closely. But eventually, Yuu started noticing things that felt... off?
Cater took pictures even when Yuu didn't realize he was there. At first it was small things. Yuu would catch the flash of his phone from across the courtyard before he casually lowered it with a grin. Other times, he's/she'd notice him aiming his camera toward them during class while pretending to scroll through Magicam. Then the photos themselves became stranger. Not strange because of what they showed, but because of how personal they felt. Yuu tying her/his shoes outside Ramshackle Dorm. Yuu asleep on the couch with Grim curled against their side. Yuu staring out a rain-covered window during a thunderstorm.
Moments no one else would think to save. Moments that looked less like pictures and more like memories someone was terrified of losing. One afternoon, Yuu finally confronted him. "Cater," he/she said carefully, lowering his phone with a hand against his wrist, "don't you think you take a little too many pictures of me?" Cater blinked. "There's no such thing."
"I'm serious." Something in Yuu's tone must've reached him, because his smile weakened slightly. "You make it sound creepy."
"I mean..." Yuu hesitated. "Sometimes it kinda is." The words hung between them. For the first time since she'd/he'd met him, Cater looked genuinely caught off guard, not dramatic, not playful, just hurt. "Oh," he said quietly. Yuu immediately regretted it.
"No, I didn't mean-"
"It's okay," Cater interrupted with a weak laugh. "Guess I got carried away." After that, he stopped taking pictures around Yuu. At least openly. And somehow, that made Yuu feel worse. Because Cater became quieter too.
Still smiling. Still joking. Still acting like himself. But there was something strained underneath it now, like he was forcing himself to stay lighthearted. Yuu noticed it most during the silences. Whenever Cater thought nobody was looking, his expression changed completely. Like he was grieving something that hadn't happened yet.
A few days later, Yuu was sitting in Cater's room while he showered in the connected bathroom. The room smelled faintly like strawberry shampoo and fabric softener. Cater's hoodie was tossed carelessly over his desk chair, and soft music played from his speaker while steam drifted beneath the bathroom door. Then Cater's phone buzzed. Once. Twice. Again.
Yuu sighed and reached over to silence it before the vibrations knocked the phone off the desk completely. The screen lit up immediately. Unlocked. Yuu froze for a second.
Normally he/she wouldn't snoop. Really. But as she/he went to place the phone back down, something caught their attention. An album folder.
"People and things I don't want to lose or forget." The name alone made something twist strangely in Yuu's chest. Before she/he could stop herself/himself, he/she tapped it open. Hundreds of photos filled the screen. Not just of Yuu. Pictures of Heartslabyul during sunset. Trey laughing while frosting cupcakes. Deuce asleep at his desk. Ace grinning with a split lip after a fight. Grim sprawled dramatically across Yuu's bed. And Yuu.
So many pictures of Yuu. Some were ordinary. Selfies together. Group photos. Pictures from school events. Others felt painfully intimate. Yuu half-asleep in the Ramshackle lounge with messy hair and unfocused eyes. Yuu sitting alone outside while reading. Yuu smiling softly at something outside the frame, unaware they were being photographed at all.
The deeper Yuu scrolled, the more her/his chest ached. Because every single picture looked treasured. Not like social media posts. Like proof. Then Yuu noticed a video near the bottom of the album. Their thumb hovered for a moment before pressing play. The camera pointed toward Ramshackle's garden. Yuu sat beneath a tree in the distance, completely unaware she/he were being photographed at all.
The deeper Yuu scrolled, the more her/his chest ached. Because every single picture looked treasured. Not like social media posts. Like proof. Then Yuu noticed a video near the bottom of the album. Their thumb hovered for a moment before pressing play. The camera pointed toward Ramshackle's garden. Yuu sat beneath a tree in the distance, completely unaware she/he were being recorded. For several seconds, there was only silence. Then Cater's voice spoke quietly from behind the camera. "She'll/he'll probably leave someday."
Yuu stopped breathing. Cater laughed softly after a moment, but it sounded sad. "I mean, everyone does eventually." The camera zoomed in slightly on Yuu's face. "So if that happens..." his voice wavered almost imperceptibly, "at least I'll still have proof she/he were here."
The bathroom door opened. Yuu looked up sharply. Cater stood there, towel hanging around his neck as water still dripped from his hair. The moment he saw the phone in Yuu's hands, he froze. Complete silence filled the room. Then Cater's shoulders slumped slightly. "...You saw it." Yuu swallowed hard. "Cater..."
"I know it looks bad."
"Why would you think I'd leave?" The question came out softer than Yuu intended. Cater looked away immediately.
"You wanna know something dumb?" he asked quietly. Yuu didn't answer.
Cater laughed weakly, rubbing at his damp hair. "I don't really remember a lot from when I was younger. Faces blur together after a while. Moments too." He glanced toward the phone. "I hate that." Yuu listened silently.
"So when I find people I care about..." Cater continued, voice growing quieter, "I keep things. Pictures. Videos. Anything." His smile trembled faintly. "Because if I lose them someday, at least I'll still have evidence they existed." Something painful tightened in Yuu's chest.
This wasn't obsession. It was fear. Raw, desperate fear hidden beneath pretty smiles and playful teasing. "You could've told me," Yuu whispered. "Yeah, well." Cater laughed again, though this one sounded more exhausted than amused. "That sounds super unhealthy when you say it out loud." Yuu stepped closer slowly. "You're an idiot."
"Ouch."
"But..." They reached for his hand gently. "You're not creepy, Cater." For a second, Cater just stared at them.
Then his expression crumpled slightly around the edges. Not enough to cry. Just enough to show how close he constantly was to it. "You promise?" he asked quietly. Yuu squeezed his hand. "I'm not going anywhere." Cater smiled then. Small. Fragile. Real. And when he wrapped his arms around Yuu afterward, he held her/him tightly enough that Yuu could feel his heartbeat racing against their chest.
The magical accident happened four days later. Everything became chaos too quickly. Students shouting. Magic exploding through hallways. Smoke flooding the air. Glass shattering across the courtyard. Yuu remembered someone screaming for her/him to run. But humans without magic couldn't react fast enough in a world built around it. One second Yuu was standing there. The next, pain. Then nothing.
Cater didn't remember much afterward. Only fragments. Ace holding him back. Someone crying. The horrible ringing in his ears as healers rushed past him too late. And Yuu lying motionless beneath the ruined courtyard stones. It didn't feel real. It couldn't. Because only that morning Yuu had laughed at one of his stupid jokes. Only that morning she'd/he'd promised he/she weren't going anywhere. The funeral passed in a blur. People spoke to him constantly, but Cater couldn't understand any of it. Their voices sounded distant, muffled beneath the crushing weight in his chest. That night, he sat alone in his room with the lights off. His phone rested in his shaking hands. For a long time, he couldn't open it. Because opening it meant accepting reality. Accepting that the only version of Yuu left now lived behind a screen. Eventually, his thumb moved anyway. The album appeared instantly. "People and things I don't want to lose or forget."
Cater stared at it for several silent seconds before opening it. And suddenly Yuu was alive again. Smiling at him from across the cafeteria. Complaining while shielding her/his face from the camera. Laughing breathlessly beside Grim. Breathing. Existing. Cater watched every video that night. Every picture. Over and over and over again. Like if he stopped looking, Yuu would disappear completely. Near sunrise, he reached the final photo in the album. It was taken outside Ramshackle Dorm only hours before the accident. Yuu stood beneath the porch light, smiling softly toward the camera. Toward him. Cater's vision blurred as he stared at the caption beneath it. Please don't become a memory. But Yuu already was one. And no matter how many pictures Cater kept, no matter how desperately he tried to preserve every laugh and smile and tiny moment, none of it could bring her/him back.
