★ I DON'T CARE THAT YOU HAVEN'T REBLOGGED IT YET WHEN U DO IM GONAN BE HERE
PK★★/10 [star status achieved! X2!] with a healthy side of ?????
“Remember you made that promise that you’d never leave me way back when? And yeah, okay, I know that happened, but I’m still gonna hold it to you, yeah?”
So Athena I’m not entirely sure how or when we decided Rover and PK should have a thread, just that it was going to involve a guitar and they were going to ROCK OUT, but then something neither of us expected blossomed from a five minute interaction. If I’m remembering correctly, this entire thing started off when Rover was walking down the hall and heard some music playing from the radio room — obviously, he’s going to follow it. Why wouldn’t he? So he gets there and hovers by the door and watches this pretty girl play on her guitar, completely obvious to him standing there. He even turned down his own music so he could hear it better. The entire thing was very much like the start of a romance movie, and had his voice not been as high pitched as it was, even his first comment would have been smooth.
But then PK grabs her whiteboard and starts writing, and the second she does Rover’s gut drops and his heart sinks and he’s suddenly TRAPPED, he’s considering just BOLTING IT and forgetting this even happened, that he even stopped to talk to her, and that’s not because she can’t talk, but because he doesn’t know how to read Japanese (or barely, he’d need to sit down and concentrate for a long time). It doesn’t matter that she can’t talk — that never mattered to Rover, because some people are just different, and that doesn’t mean anything (see: his limbs), but the fact that he might not be able to understand her one way of communicating sits in his stomach the wrong way. It’s not like he wouldn’t try, but he just doesn’t want to be a pain. He doesn’t want her to get tired of him sitting and very slowly trying to read out each word out, and like just generally being really inconvenient? So they’re both mildly freaking out, PK because he looks lost and is scared he won’t understand her, and Rover that he’s going to be too much trouble to deal with in general, and then like a second later PK writes really awful English and the tension.. very, very slowly ebbs off.. And Rover covers all his nerves with rambles, getting off topic and confusing himself.
He doesn’t get too far into the conversation before PK quite suddenly and without much warning to why takes his wrist and pulls him, sets him down in the chair she was just sitting in. And he freaks out, albeit silently, because nobody is allowed to touch his hand or wrist or even really his arm if we’re getting really into it, and he’s already on an edge because of the white board thing (yeah, she’s writing in English, but she clearly isn’t good at it, so she’s probably thinking how much easier it would be if he just could read Japanese), so PANIC, CONFUSION, FEAR,
AND THEN ??? HE’S PLAYING THE GUITAR ???
Lots of emotions very quickly, lots of feelings that I probably don’t really need to get into because it’s pretty clear?? Like it’s one thing if he’d lost his limbs and stopped being able to play the guitar, but this is the first time he’s playing, the first time anything like this has happened. So OBVIOUSLY he’s getting emotional, and then PK writes a little thing to him, one that he only actually ends up reading up to “you can do anything you want” and he’s looking away and rubbing his eyes..
Which is? So nice… that’s so, so nice to say to him… he’s grown up trying to convey that message through his actions, to prove he’s able to do just as much as anyone who has two arms and two legs. But it’s hard, because at the end of the day he can’t. Like he physically CAN’T. And it SUCKS to have to accept that, so he.. REFUSES to accept that. He tells himself over and over and over again that he can do whatever he puts his mind to, but there’s always reminders of how WRONG he is. Hearing it from someone else is literally the. Very best. Especially after what she just did for him. It means a lot to him.
SO PK HAS SKYROCKETED TO THE VERY TIP TOP OF HIS LIST. They hang out for a bit after that, going up to her room to watch the Lego Star Wars on the little televisions they have up there, only to find they don’t ACTUALLY work, so instead they just sit on her bed and munch on snacks and chat about random things. Everything is? Really nice and cool and Rover’s PRETTY PUMPED about the whole deal because FRIENDSHIP… his nerves about the language stuff has faded away because she genuinely looks EXCITED to be able to talk to him, so awesome!!
A couple days later, after the first motive, PK and Rover decide on a whim they want to STEAL A DEER HEAD so they can mount it on Rover’s door because why the hell not. They meet up with Cerys and Yoshiki on the way down, who both just so happened to be looking for taxidermy, and then WHAM A BODY
Which was a big sort of revelation that oh GOD this is REAL. THIS KID JUST DIED RIGHT HERE, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, I WAS TALKING TO HIM A SECOND AGO? HOLY SHIT. So he freezes and PK panics, and she drags him away while he’s still processing what’s going on, and they both sink to the floor a few paces away and PK grabs his sweater and SOBS, and that’s what snaps him back.
….Snaps him into realizing a few things at once actually.
First just confirming that he didn’t just make this up, that PK was distressed and upset so it HAD to be real, and then just what she was doing? That she’d tried to distance him and pull his gaze away from the body, TRIED to help him and protect him and that now she is SOBBING against him like?? Holy shit that’s never happened to him before? He’s usually the person sobbing, and now this girl, this small girl is holding him and crying her HEART OUT from fear and loss and even though he’s too shaken to really speak Japanese to her, he tries his VERY BEST to be a support to her?
SOMEONE IS CRYING AGAINT /HIM/, SOMEONE NEEDS /HIS/ COMFORT.. THIS IS.. REALLY HUGE!! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED!! She sparks this almost like… hero-adrenaline and DETERMINATION to PROTECT her. He gets super defensive, super protective, super ATTACHED. He makes a shaky promise that he’ll make sure she’s okay, and then NORIAKI approaches. PK’s mentioned his name a few times, but he doesn’t really have an opinion on him? But right now the idea that he’s got to PROTECT PK FROM EVERYONE is pretty dominate in his head, so it doesn’t really matter that PK is friends with him, Rover still doesn’t TRUST him. He squints, eyes him, and even though he agrees that they all investigate together, when Rover races around to investigate he’s always racing back and giving PK hugs and making sure this STRaNGER hasn’t done anything to her.
The investigation goes on and then. And then Rover discovers Noriaki is the murderer. It’s PK’s friend that killed Yoshiki, and he’s already made it up in his mind that he can’t just LET this guy go, he KILLED someone, and even though he’s PK’s friend he can’t… he can’t give him the go-free card. By the end of their conversation Rover feels ANYTHING but great. He’s kind of likes Noriaki now, but he’s going to have to reveal he’s the murderer, and more importantly for this star is. is what’s PK going to think? What’s PK going to think when she starts defending Noriaki during the trial but it’s ROVER who will confirm everything in the end, that will essentially get Noriaki caught? He’s doing this to PROTECT her, isn’t he? But why does it feel wrong?
Noriaki and Rover made a promise. A promise that revolved around PK. To make sure she’s okay, that because Noriaki might not be around anymore after this, that Rover’s going to have to look out for her.
And it’s true — Noriaki is killed and Rover backs up into the very far corner of the elevator and pulls his headphones up to his ears and tries not to hyperventilate. When the door opens up again it takes him a few moments to gather himself, remember that promise, and make a break for it. He searches the entire lodge looking for her, barely able to keep HIMSELF composed, reminding himself over and over and over again that he needs to PROTECT PK he needs to BE THERE for PK, and when he finds her in the freezer his heart,, totally sinks,,
He has no idea what to do. How is he suppose to protect her? Or… did he even protect her? He caught the murderer like he said he would, but that ended up hurting PK so… was it right? Did he do good? He can barely keep himself together right now, but he he has to try and keep a promise (and he… he promised her, too, didn’t? That he would make sure she was okay?) with the guy he just PRETTY MUCH KILLED and how does he even know if PK hates him or not?? He crosses the freezer and slides down into the spot next to her and he tries to form words but in the end he. He has nothing. He apologizes, tells her he isn’t good with stuff, apologizes again and… and she gets up and holds out a hand for him and they both just go up to either his room or her room and they PROBABLY JUST CRY LMAO
But after that they’re like. Glued to each other. They sleep curled up in the same bed and PK teaches him sign and when they aren’t hanging around each other, if they see each other in passing then they wave and sign hellos and it’s NICE… IT’S REALLY NICE…
And then he picks the night after motives to not sleep with her. She’s run off somewhere, talking to someone, out of her room, SOMETHING but she’s not around when he’s tried so he just goes to sleep and when he wakes up
PK is dead.
SHE’S DEAD. LIKE?? ?
It doesn’t register. Because? What the hell? Like honestly I’M writing this star and this feels WAY TOO SUDDEN… Everything was good and they were supporting one another and SHE JUST DIES. IT’S LIKE SOMEONE JUST CUT THIS OFF.. And like I think it’s the same kind of deal with Rover? That he isn’t REGISTERING THIS. He walks up to her body and tugs at her sleeve and asks if this is a joke because? This has to be a joke. SHE CAN’T, SHE..
AND HE CRACKS, OF COURSE HE DOES, AND HE’S JUST?? NO!! NO NO NO NO NO NO!! NO SHE CAN’T BE DEAD HE HAD PROMISES TO KEEP HE WAS SUPPOSE TO KEEP HER SAFE HE… THE ONE DAY HE DIDN’T… IF HE JUST WENT TO FIND HER WHEN HE WAS TIRED THEN MAYBE…. Her body is taken down and Rover holds her and just BAWLS for a good chunk of time, only eventually pulls away because he HAS to find her killer he HAS to put her death to justice HE…. but it still really hasn’t CLICKED, like sure it’s her body, and yes he cried over it as a natural reaction, but his mind hasn’t really completely wrapped its head around the fact that there is no more PK. That when this investigation is over he won’t get to hang out with PK. She’s gone, and he doesn’t completely understand that.
They don’t end up finding her killer, and Rover doesn’t know what think. He… let her down, didn’t he? Her killer is still around to kill someone ELSE, which?? Man he has NO IDEA what to think, so he distracts himself with the fact the lodge is now open and he can SEE THE STARS. He sits out and stares at them all night long, until his neck hurts and he has to lie down on the ground instead. He tries not to think about PK, because if he does he starts getting confused and upset and FRUSTRATED with himself. But yeah he just distracts himself the best he can, probably passes out when he’s EXHAUSTED so he doesn’t have to think about the fact he’s now not sharing a bed with anyone anymore. He talks to Bopper Raspberry mostly, because if Rover couldn’t keep one promise to Noriaki, and a promise to PK, maybe then at least he can keep a promise to a fish. Bopper probably knew all of Rover’s spoilers like. right off the bat. he just GETS EVERYTHING OFF HIS CHEST….
So then Rover dies.
(and he breaks his promise with BOPPER NOW)
The first person that shows up at his door is… PK! …PK? WAIT YEAH PK SHE’S ALIVE!! AND SHE CAN TALK? WHATEVER SHE’S ALIVE!! He’s like? He’s got this really weird feeling about what’s going on, and PK’s clearly upset by something, but AGAIN, HE JUST DISTRACTS HIMSELF, because NOTHING MATTERS asides from the fact that it was just a dream (lol), PK is fine!! PK is fine. Only she doesn’t really last that long and she just starts CRYING and admits that he’s actually dead, that they’re both dead, and Rover like. HAHA NO WE’RE NOT. WE’RE PERFECTLY FINE.
(Which is? honestly less that he wants to deny that she’s dead, but more of the fact that that means that HE is dead, and HE can’t be dead, no way! not today! not yet! that means he’s been taken away from his parents and! nope!)
PK passes out from previous stress and this stress and he picks her up in a really awkward?? One arm/half-arm thing and carries her into his room, sets her down in a chair and covers her with his star blanket. It’s around this time the trial has ended so he like?? Has started to remember things, and all this anger and hurt is starting to bubble in him, but he still takes a second to just. Pause and stare at her and let his chest sort of swell up because she’s HERE, and okay maybe he’s dead but for like one second before the rage really hits him he reaches out and brushes her bangs out of her face and very briefly considers kissing her forehead like she’s done to him before but just NAH and leaves. He confronts Hibiki and Suffers in Many Ways and they don’t see each other until the next trial.
And next trial comes around and it’s… oh GOD CERYS… and PK FLIPS OUT FOR GOOD REASON?? She’s by the elevator crying and panicking but Rover can’t go over to help her because he can’t leave Aya’s side right now, she JUST died, she NEEDS him, Rover has to be there for her, so he shoots Noriaki a glare, an order to go comfort her, but HE DOESN’T THANKS NORIAKI… It sits really, really badly in his stomach that he didn’t go over to comfort her, like,, really bad,, Even though he DID break his promise about making she she’ll be okay when she died, it’s still like? lingering? He’s super guilty about it for the rest of the trial, and they find out SULLY KILLED PK /AND/ AYA AND OH BOY…. This weird mix of GUILT for not being there for PK when she needed him, plus ANGER towards Sully over killing PK (and Aya) in the first place?? God he can’t even go find PK after the trial to see if she’s okay because he’s SO PISSED OFF he just needs to sit outside and calm the fuck down before tracking her down again,,
They meet up after the next trial, during the… dead kid trials, where they actually get to talking about some?? Pretty deep stuff?? Rover apologizes for not coming over to her when he should have and PK explains, pretty vaguely, why it was she freaked out. Rover doesn’t really completely understand what HAPPENED to her, but he tries to comfort her, tries to assure that her that the surgeon maybe didn’t do it on purpose, maybe they made a mistake and it’s been bugging them for a really long time? Maybe they quit their job after that or maybe they got motivated to NEVER MESS UP AGAIN…. He admits to her that he sometimes… got mad at his mom, thinking that the reason she drank during her pregnancy was because she was trying to get rid of him, but she just didn’t get the job done so that’s why he is the way he is and she’s just been lying,, of course he. Knows that isn’t true, but when he’s really emotional it starts?? Feeling true?? So it’s his way of trying to comfort her fear,, like emotions making her THINK certain things that might not be true? WHEN IN FACT WE ALL KNOW THAT SURGEON DID IT ON PURPOSE RAAAAH
They talk a bit more, Rover tells her how cool she is and PK tells him how cool he is, they run around a bit to complete the trial and then they… And then Rover tells her she can call him Roland, is she wants. He explains that he only really lets his parents call him that, it feels really weird and wrong when other people do but, but he thinks it’s okay if…. If she calls him that.
WHICH IS… MM…. This is going into a little bit of? How he’s starting to feel towards her. Which is OBVIOUSLY LIKE, A REALLY GOOD FRIEND, HIS BEST FRIEND AT THIS POINT, but also? Like family. Like a sister. She’s there for him and supportive and they both REALLY CARE FOR EACH OTHER, but the way things have been playing out, he honestly does see her more as family than anything else? Which only grows more when they continue talking, and Rover asks her if she happens to have any hair dye? Because he wants to dye his hair back to black, and when she tells him HER natural hair color is black too, they both decide to dye their hair together.
AND AAAA… AAAA!! PKS REASONS STILL MAKE ME,, MM,, So they head to her room and PK digs out her hair dye and while they’re like setting stuff up I guess? Or sometime around then Rover explains that he looks a lot like his mom. Like when the two stand side by side he looks SO MUCH like her, but he stopped looking as much like her when he started dyeing his hair, which has been a while. And now he misses her, and he,, and he kind of reasons in his head that dying his hair back to its natural color will comfort him? Make him feel better… also like this vague sense of GROWING UP, but that’s mostly shoved down. But then PK explains to him about how she only dyed her hair red so she could NOT look like her parents, so she didn’t seem related to them at all. It’s totally… the opposite from what Rover’s wanting to do now, but she’s goes on to explain that she’s not going to dye her hair back to look like her parents, she’s going to dye her hair back so that she looks like ROVER’S family, so she looks related to ROVER…
A VERY.. SENTIMENTAL INTERACTION.. They finish up dyeing their hair and everything is REALLY NICE and HAPPY and then Rover goes off to do Miko a favor and on the way he probably literally ruins his own life in the process. nice going son. after the trial that follows messing things up for himself, when his scared and jittery and paranoid, she
FUCKING DIES AGAIn
AND ROVER RUNS INTO HER BODY!! NICE
AND THIS IS JUST AS SUDDEN AS THE FIRST ONE LIKE?? PK WHY EVERYTHING WAS SO HAPPY AND NICE AND THINGS WERE JUST STARTING TO LOOK UP!!
So Rover obviously goes into a panic, even WORSE than the first time she died, because none of them have ANY IDEA what’s going to happen when you die up in the mountain. Is she gone for good? Did he lose her again, forever? Noriaki explains that he just found her like that, and judging by the scene around her it looks like she fell from a ladder and snapped her neck. There’s no murder and there won’t be any investigation, it’s just… an accident. PK is just DEAD… and tbh I’m not sure if it’s THAT fact that makes Rover freak out to the extent that he does, that it’s just so REAL and an ACCIDENT or if it’s because this is the second time it’s happened and he honestly thought they were going to be okay? she promised him she wouldn’t leave him ever again and now she’s?? Gone?? IS SHE GONE FOREVER…
He can barely BREATHE and considers forcing himself to pass out because OOHH GOD HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS, SHE’S TWISTED IN A HORRIBLE WAY AND THERE’S BLOOD AND HER EYES ARE STARING AT THE CEILING AND OH GOD OH GOD CALLS USAMI UP AND BEGS HER TO FIX THINGS
He breaks down, completely, and clings to Noriaki to keep him on stable ground and when he cries himself out they stick together, hang out and try to distract themselves from what might happen to their friend.
(and cracks up bc pk dying was what really brought noriaki and rover together)
It takes like a few days but PK IS BACK, only they don’t actually cross paths because I think PK is scared to face him? Either way they don’t see each other until much later in the trial, which happens to be Hana’s trial,, which also happens to be when they catch Miko,, and Rover’s on the floor NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME. Hana crawls over to cheer him up but PK chimes something over to him and he looks over and !! INSTANT RELIEF… LIKE!! LIKE SHE’S OKAY THANK GOD…
They don’t really get a chance to REALLY interact during that trial, but Rover leaves while the execution is going, as does PK, and they meet up in the lounge and PK starts RAMBLING, trying to cheer him up and trying to apologize and she uses cool metaphors and just TALKS AND TALKS and ends up saying how much she? Cares about him? How cool he is and finishes with saying that
She loves him.
Rover’s too much of in a daze to totally reply, plus she sort of skedaddles after that, but he gets distracted with Miko things right after that so he doesn’t get to really? Think about that? It isn’t until a bit later, during the NEXT trial, that when he sees PK curl up against the elevator doors does what she says really kind of? Wash over him? Like he was THINKING about what she said to him before, but it was kind of more this?? vague sense of registering. like huh. Huh she loves me? That’s… hmm… like it not REALLY COMPLETELY CLICKING about what that means, or what SHE meant by that, because he’s numb and tired and worn out because Miko’s death REALLY took a big toll on him and he’s just?? So tired of all of this.
But when he sees PK alone, sitting there, HIS feelings start to surface. He looks at her and there’s this overwhelming amount of care and LOVE… so he walks over and sits next to her, and he starts talking, apologizing for not being around as much as he should considering he’s her friend and he made her promises, and then he shifts himself around so he’s just in front of her, leans forward so their foreheads touch and their noses squish and he tells her he loves her too.
HE TELLS HER HE LOVES HER……
Now Rover? Like Rover loves a lot of people, he’s a REALLY EMOTIONAL KID WE ALL KNOW THAT, but there’s something Extra Special about when he tells it to her, because it’s different than FRIENDSHIP love, it’s like?? FAMILY… LIKE HE’S HONESTLY SO ATTACHED TO HER,, THEY HAVE THEIR BUMPS BUT EVERYTHING ABOUT PK HE JUST? ABSOLUTELY ADORES… She’s fun and funny and knows what to say and excitable and they LIKE so much of the same things it?? It makes sense.
But when he says that it it becomes really clear (at least for us bc. We both knew) that PK doesn’t mean love like how Rover means it, she means it as in she honest to God romantically loves him.
Well hecko.
… And then we have the kiss.
In context, basically what happens is Rover, PK, and Noriaki were out on a Bayou trip together. Noriaki was still checking out something they found and Rover and PK left to go back to the boat. They’d planned to move and hide the boat to prank Noriaki, but it wasn’t working, so they sat next to each other and Rover was rambling about different ways they could move the boat, and when he looks over to her to ask what she thought, she stutters and then… just kisses him. Impulsively. A.. BIT OF A HUGE THING FOR A BOY THAT STILL MAKES FACES WHEN HE SEES PEOPLE SMOOCHING… PLUS THIS IS?? PK??? She gives him two kisses — the first quick, something a lot like when she kisses his cheeks and forehead, so within those first few seconds he can probably like?? COME UP WITH AN EXCUSE FOR IT… PROBABLY… MAYBE SHE JUST MISSED HIS CHEEK? OR SOMETHING LMAO
But when she pulls away she doesn’t break the distance, and she hovers close and then leans back in for ANOTHER kiss, like an ACTUAL kiss this time
AND ROVER’S ????????????????
like he is a CHILD, he has absolutely no idea what’s going on or WHY this is going on yeah okay it does start feeling kind of good, so he doesn’t actually push away for a little bit, but when they do it comes crashing down on what just happened and man it’s SO AWKWARD, Noriaki comes back and they sit next to each other BURNING UP and Noriaki kind of eyes them like “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED HERE” and the second he can he bolts off to hide.
AND DON’T YOU LOVE TEENAGE GROWTH… I SURE DO… because now Rover’s stuck sorting out his feelings. Which is pretty much: I.. think I liked that?? If I liked that then does that mean I like her? Or does it mean just I like kissing?? If I almost kissed her back does that make me a bad person if I don’t like her?? How do I even know I don’t like her like that?? I mean I love her but?? Is that love love or family love or? ?? MM NORMAL TEENAGE THOUGHTS.. BEAUTIFUL…
Like simply put, Rover’s really slow to develop romantically/sexually. Naturally he’s a really late bloomer, but he’s hardly ever been exposed to that sort of thing either! Sure, he’s got his parents, he has movies, but it’s very rarely around his age? It’s more of a grown-up thing, something pretty foreign to him. Since he didn’t have any friends, he was never around kids that dated, or talked about their crushes, or gossiped about who was dating who… it just never really was a thing, so he didn’t think about it and never got curious about it enough to explore it himself! So while he likes PK a lot, he doesn’t look at her as anything more than that. It doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of doing so, but it just means that as of this moment, he isn’t looking at people in that way. It isn’t even a “my friend is attractive, but I don’t like her like that” because he… doesn’t even see her as sexually attractive? HE KNOWS SHE’S PRETTY, AND IF HE ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT “SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE” MEANT AT IT’S LIKE, CORE-CORE, THEN HE’D PROBABLY THINK THAT TOWARDS HER AS WELL. BUT HE DOESN’T. He hasn’t gotten to that point in his development yet.
(bee voice: LeT’S WRITE A BOY GOING THROUGH PUBERY IN A MUTUAL KILLING SETTING YEAAAAAH)
So anyway they AVOID EACH OTHER until the trial, because they’re both flustered and Rover’s confused and re-evaluating what it was SHE meant when she told him he loves her and what exactly HE meant when he told her he loved her, so it’s just a lot of ????? But every time he catches a glimpse of her in the hall they both go red and AVOID so it’s hard to?? Judge how he feels?? IF ALL THE TIME HIS HEART RATE PICKS UP…
But anyway it’s the very final trial, like just before endgame, and PK approaches Rover’s podium and they just… like a quiet sort of stare before PK signs an apology, and Rover takes her hand and doesn’t say a word because that’s his way of telling her it’s okay. She leans in and whispers something to him, WHICH I HAD SAVED SOMEWHERE BUT LOST IT…. But it was an apology for the kiss, I think? She just doesn’t want to lose him.
ROVER.. DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING.. LOL… but he squeezes her hand, and they enter endgame together like that.
AND… YES… WHAT A TRIP… endgame stuff happens and I guess they HEAD ON OVER TO DENMARK TOGETHER one way or another, and nah they don’t ever get together Rover turns her down but they STAY FRIENDS…
Does she. Ever leave to go off doing her own thing I. I have no idea. Rover might honestly just take off to travel one day?? But for Sure let her know a good chunk of time in advance.
