no, i'm not a human ; n.rk
in which: you never know who to trust during a solar apocalypse.
pairing: riki x gn!reader
warnings: no i'm not a human au, mentions of death but not explicit?? lwk js angst no comfort, kinda unsettling?????? entities and shit, profanity, riki and reader are in a situationship, lmk if i forgot any!
🎧 insomniac — memo boy, suffocation — crystal castles
a/n: hi guys!!! this is my first proper one shot on here lol.... i saw some tiktoks of crossovers between the game "no i'm not a human" and enha and thought it would be kinda cool to make it into a short fic :3 if ur not familiar with the game, it's essentially about being in lockdown due to a solar apocalypse which makes people nocturnally active, the player (you in the fic) has to interview others who show up at their door looking for shelter and identify whether they're human or an entity. anyway! yap over i hope u guys enjoy <3
the first thing you learn is that silence is safer than answers sometimes.
the second is that silence never lasts.
you and riki were never anything.
you'd text all day everyday, walk home together even when it was out of the way, share earbuds, hoodies, late nights that turned into early mornings.
but whenever things got too close, one of you would pull back.
"tomorrow" and "next time" had to have been your most used words of the year.
there was always a tomorrow and a next time.
the last time you saw him, a few hours back, he stood outside your building, with his hands in his pockets, rocking slightly the way he always would when he got nervous.
"text me when you're inside," he said, holding himself back from smiling too hard.
"i always do you," you chuckled.
then he hesitated, and you noticed, like always.
"...goodnight y/n," he waved.
you waved back, smiling, "goodnight, ki."
once you got back inside, you didn't text him back right away.
the broadcast cuts through late, at exactly 1:03am, tearing you out of sleep almost immediately. your phone vibrates violently on your bedside table, your screen flooding with one of those alert notifications.
Mimics detected in residential zones.
They replicate human behaviour with extreme accuracy.
Do not open doors after midnight.
Ask for verification questions.
Watch for the eyes, nails, and teeth.
your first thought was riki.
you reach for your phone, noticing a message from him you hadn't seen earlier.
riki: fuck i should've just told you
riki: are you still awake?
you feel your chest tighten. you sit up almost immediately, your fingers hovering over your keyboard.
but you don't get to send it.
instead, you shift your focus to the sudden knock at your door. three even taps.
you feel your heart stutter for a moment, and you don't move. you just listen. every instinct inside of you tells you to stay where you are, in your bed, wrapped in your warm blankets, pretending you didn't hear anything.
but the knock comes again.
a soft, familiar voice calls out.
you hated yourself for how fast you let relief flood you.
you stand slowly, your legs unsteady as you walk to your door. you peer through the peephole and see him standing outside, black hoodie, messy hair falling into his eyes, hands tucked into his pockets.
you don't unlock the door.
"what are you doing here? it's 1am," you ask.
he smiles a little, "i couldn't sleep. you didn't answer."
you feel as if guilt eats you alive right as he says that, "fuck, i'm sorry, i fell asleep and only saw your messages now," you explain.
"it's okay," he says quickly, "i just... wanna talk."
you swallow, hard. "about earlier?"
a pause so short that if you had still been half asleep you would have definitely missed it.
"...yeah," he replies, "about earlier."
you feel your heart start to sink, and you immediately force yourself into remembering the rules.
"riki, i need to ask you something," you state, trying your best to prevent your voice from breaking.
this time, the pause is longer.
and you feel it stretch for so long that it starts to become unbearable.
"i'm human," he responds finally.
but something about the way he replied felt rehearsed, like he practiced the sentence over and over again.
"i'm human," he repeats, faster this time. too fast.
your lips involuntarily press themselves into a straight line.
"what did you regret not saying to me when you left earlier?" you asked, hoping this could turn things around.
his smile falters, "what do you mean?"
"you texted me earlier," you state. "you said you should've told me something."
but instead of being empty, it was heavy.
"... i don't really remember," he responds.
that's when your stomach drops. not all at once, but slowly. so slowly you can basically feel yourself being eaten alive by something your body understands and something your mind is trying it's hardest to protect you from.
"you always remember," you whisper. "you replay things in your head for days."
his gaze shifts from the peephole to elsewhere, his hand reaching for the back of his neck, almost as if he's trying to downplay something he's about to say.
"you make me nervous," he says softly. "it's hard to think when you're around."
tears start stinging your eyes.
not because you felt moved by what he said, but because it feels nauseatingly unbearable to hear something he definitely would say said by someone who isn't him.
"where did i want us to go next monday?" you ask suddenly.
wrong. you wanted to go to a cat café.
your silence caused a shift in his expression, to something subtle and frightening. less uncertain and much more focused.
"he was going to tell you," the thing says quietly.
"tell me what?" your breath hitches.
"he liked you, a lot," it continues. "after you went back inside, he kept practicing it under his breath."
then you froze, and your stomach churned.
you were awfully still, like something inside you hit a wall and refused to go any further. your muscles lock in place, your hands don't drop, your feet don't move— you don't even realise you stopped breathing for a moment until your chest starts to ache.
your stomach twists hard, sharp, and sour, like you're about to be sick.
"he waited because he didn't want to ruin what you already had," it says. "he thought time would be kinder than honesty."
"where is he?" you ask, your voice unable to come out as anything but a whisper. "please."
the silence that follows is enough of an answer.
"i learned from him," the thing continues, softening its tone even more. "from the way he looked at you, and the way his heart sped up when you smiled, and the things he never got to tell you."
like it's not trying to scare you.
"i won't wait," it says. "i won't hesitate. i'll choose you every time."
the door opens, and the hallway is suddenly empty.
then your phone vibrates in your hand.
riki: i'm outside, idk if you're awake
riki: i need to tell you something
the timestamp reads 1:02am.
you feel someone exhale behind you.
and for the last time you hear his voice.
"i already said it for him."