SUKII @uukoiya - Tumblr Blog

insert coin to stay

pairing: yandere game character!ni-ki x reader

genre: cursed arcade, supernatural, thriller, yandere themes

synopsis: you were just wandering around, looking to kill time when you stumbled upon an old, abandoned arcade. drawn to a game machine at the back, you find a game you’ve never seen before and the faint reflection of a boy staring back. he’s charming, strange, and says he’s trapped inside. talking to him feels weirdly comforting at first. but the more you play, the harder it is to stop. soon, the lines blur between your world and his. you're not sure if you're rescuing him… or falling into his trap.

because in this game, you don’t get to leave unless he lets you.

warnings: yandere themes, manipulative!ni-ki, gaslighting, mentions of trauma, kissing, making out, skinship, cursing, stalker behaviour, toxic relationship, dark ending

note: finally a fic after 4 months?? it was so fun to write but i really hope this fic doesn't turn out to sound like those situations where people fall in love with an ai character and get married to it haha BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL😭anyway, enjoyy reading!

word count: 14.8k

if you liked this please comment or reblog to give me your feedback! <3

you weren't really looking for anything when you ended up on the edge of town that evening. the sky had already started bleeding into that murky violet-grey that comes right before full dark, and you were just walking, letting your feet carry you wherever they wanted to go.

sometimes you did this when the walls of your room felt too close, when scrolling through your phone made your eyes ache and your thoughts loop endlessly into nothing. so you walked and the streets grew quieter, and the houses thinned out until there was just cracked pavement and weeds pushing through the concrete and the distant hum of the highway like static.

that's when you saw it.

the building sat at the end of a forgotten strip mall, wedged between a boarded-up laundromat and what might have once been a dollar store. the sign above the entrance read "playland" in letters that had probably been bright once, maybe pink or blue or that particular shade of electric green that screamed nineteen-eighties. now they were faded, covered in grime, some of the neon tubes inside them shattered or missing entirely. one of them still flickered though, weak and sporadic, like a dying pulse. the "p" in playland stuttered on and off, on and off, casting brief flashes of sickly light across the empty parking lot.

you stopped walking without really deciding to stop. something about the place held your attention in a way you couldn't quite name. it wasn't curiosity exactly, or at least not the normal kind. it was more like recognition, like seeing something from a dream you'd forgotten until that exact moment. the arcade's windows were dark and thick with dust, streaked with old rainwater and god knows what else, and through them you could barely make out the shapes of machines inside, hulking and silent.

the front door hung slightly open.

you stood there for a long moment, feeling the cool evening air prick at your arms, listening to the distant sound of cars and the rustle of dry leaves skittering across asphalt. you should have kept walking. you should have turned around and headed home before it got too dark to see properly. but instead you found yourself moving forward, your hand reaching out to push the door open wider, and the hinges groaned like something waking up after a very long sleep.

the smell hit you first. it was thick and layered, a mixture of rotting carpet and stale air and something metallic and burnt, like old wiring that had been slowly cooking inside the walls for decades. underneath all of that was the faint chemical tang of ancient cleaning products, the kind that had probably stopped being manufactured before you were born. you wrinkled your nose but didn't turn back. instead you stepped inside, and the door swung shut behind you with a soft click that seemed far too final.

the arcade stretched out before you in rows of dead machines. old cabinets with screens cracked or missing, joysticks hanging limp, buttons faded to uniform grey. some of them still had artwork visible on their sides, faded characters from games you half recognised, their colours bleached by time into ghost versions of themselves. dust covered everything in a thick, undisturbed layer. it coated the screens, the control panels, the floor, even the air itself seemed heavy with it. motes drifted through the weak light filtering in from the street, moving in slow spirals like they were underwater.

you walked deeper inside, your footsteps muffled by the ruined carpet. it squelched slightly under your shoes in places, spongy with moisture and decay. the shadows between the machines were darker than they should have been, thick and pooling, and you had the strangest sensation that they were watching you. not in a metaphorical way, but actually watching, holding themselves very still, waiting to see what you would do. the feeling made your skin prickle, made you want to look over your shoulder, but you kept moving forward because turning back now felt impossible, like trying to swim against a current that was already pulling you under.

the arcade seemed bigger on the inside than it had looked from outside. the rows of machines stretched on and on, and the weak light from the windows faded until you were walking through near-darkness, guided only by the faint suggestion of shapes around you. you should have been scared. you should have felt something other than this strange, dreamy certainty that you were supposed to be here, that something had been waiting for you to find this place.

and then you saw it.

at the very back of the arcade, tucked into a corner you almost didn't notice, there was a machine that was still on. the screen glowed with soft, impossible colours, hues that seemed to shift and change as you looked at them, purples that bled into blues that melted into greens you didn't have names for. the light it cast was warm and inviting, completely at odds with the cold decay surrounding it, and it illuminated a small circle of floor around its base, making the dust particles dance like tiny stars.

you moved toward it without thinking, drawn by that warm glow, by the simple fact that something in this dead place was alive. as you got closer, you could make out the words on the cabinet's marquee, painted in flowing script that seemed to shimmer: "STAY WITH ME."

you'd never heard of that game before. you'd played plenty of arcade games, had wasted hours and allowance money on street fighter and pac-man and all the classics, but this one was completely unfamiliar. the artwork on the cabinet's sides was strange too, abstract patterns that seemed to move when you weren't looking directly at them, spirals and fractals that made your eyes hurt if you stared too long.

you stopped a few feet away from the machine, and that's when you saw it. a reflection in the dark glass of the screen. someone standing behind you. a figure, indistinct but definitely there, watching you from the shadows.

your heart jumped into your throat and you spun around fast enough to make yourself dizzy. but there was nothing behind you. just empty arcade, dead machines, shadows that suddenly seemed less threatening and more empty. you turned back to the screen, pulse hammering, and the reflection was gone too. just your own face staring back, all wide-eyed in the strange light.

you let out a shaky breath and moved closer. the machine hummed softly, a sound you could feel in your chest as if you were standing next to something alive. the screen showed a simple title screen, the words "STAY WITH ME" pulsing gently, and below it in smaller text: "insert coin to begin." there were no instructions, no indication of what kind of game it actually was, just a coin slot you could see with a rusted, old coin sitting on top of the start button.

without thinking you reached out and inserted the coin. a merry jingle sound rang out from the machine at that, startling you a bit. your fingers hovered over the start button. the plastic was warm under your touch, warmer than it should have been, and for just a second you hesitated. something about this felt wrong, or not wrong exactly, but significant in a way you couldn't articulate.

but before you could decide, the screen flickered. the title faded away and suddenly there was a face looking back at you. a boy's face, rendered in graphics that were far too detailed, too fluid, too real for any game system you'd ever seen. he appeared to be about your age, maybe a year or two older, with features that were beautiful in an unsettling way. too symmetrical. too perfect. his eyes were dark and deep and fixed directly on yours with an intensity that made you take a step back.

and then he spoke.

"finally," he said, and his voice came from the machine's speakers but it sounded close, intimate, like he was standing right next to you and whispering in your ear. "i was starting to think no one would ever come."

you stared at the screen, your mind trying to catch up with what was happening. this had to be some kind of pre-programmed sequence, a cutscene or attract mode designed to draw players in. but the boy's eyes tracked your movement when you shifted your weight, followed you with an awareness that felt impossible.

"you can see me, right?" he asked, and there was something vulnerable in his voice, something that made your chest tighten. "you can hear me?"

"i..." you started, then stopped. your voice came out rough, strange after the long silence. "this is just a game, right?"

he smiled at that, and it was a beautiful smile, warm and a little bit sad. "i guess you could call it that. but i'm real. as real as you are, anyway."

he tilted his head, studying you with those too-dark eyes. "you're pretty. prettier than i imagined someone would be. i've been watching the outside world for so long through this screen, seeing people pass by, but no one ever came inside. no one ever found me. until you."

the way he said it made something flutter in your stomach, uncomfortable and pleasant at the same time. "watching?" you repeated. "you've been watching people?"

"just waiting," he corrected gently. "hoping. i've been trapped in here for... i don't even know how long anymore. it could have been weeks or years or decades." his expression shifted, became more earnest, more desperate. "but you found me. you came inside. that has to mean something, doesn't it?"

you should have walked away. every rational part of your brain was screaming at you to leave, to get out of this abandoned building and never come back because what the fuck was this too-real-to-be-animated guy takling about?

but something kept you rooted in place. maybe it was the loneliness in his voice, the way it echoed something you felt inside yourself. maybe it was the strange comfort of being seen by someone, really seen, even if that someone was supposedly trapped inside a video game. or maybe it was something else entirely, something deeper and harder to name.

"how did you get trapped?" you asked instead of leaving.

his smile widened, pleased that you were engaging, that you were asking questions. "it's a long story. a boring one, probably. the important thing is that i can't get out by myself. i've tried everything. but with help, with someone on the outside..." he paused, leaning forward slightly, and even though it should have been impossible you swore you could feel his attention on you like a physical weight. "with you, maybe i could finally be free."

"i don't understand how i could help," you said, but even as the words left your mouth you felt your hand drifting toward the start button again.

"just play," he said softly, coaxingly. "just stay with me for a while. talk to me. let me know what it's like out there, what the world feels like, what you feel like. the more connected we are, the stronger i get, the closer i come to breaking through."

his eyes never left yours, and there was something hypnotic about them, something that made it hard to look away. "please. i've been so alone. you don't know what it's like, being stuck in here, being able to see out but never touch, never feel. you're the first person who's ever really looked at me."

and god help you, you believed him. or wanted to believe him, which might have been the same thing. there was something magnetic about him, something that pulled at a part of you that felt just as trapped as he claimed to be. your life outside this arcade was fine, perfectly fine, nothing wrong with it exactly, but nothing particularly right either. just an endless succession of boring days and lonely nights and the constant feeling that you were waiting for something without knowing what.

"what's your name?" you asked.

his smile became something softer, more genuine. "ni-ki," he said. "and yours?"

you told him, and the way he repeated it back made it sound different, special, like a word he'd been saving for a long time. "beautiful," he murmured. "it suits you. everything about you suits you."

your face felt warm. "you don't even know me."

"not yet," he agreed easily. "but i want to. i want to know everything. what you like, what you're afraid of, what makes you smile, what keeps you up at night. i want to know what brought you here tonight, what made you so sad or bored or lonely that you ended up wandering into a dead arcade at the edge of town." his voice dropped lower, more intimate. "i want to understand you. and i think... i think maybe you want someone to understand you too. don't you?"

your throat felt tight. you didn't answer, couldn't answer, because he was right and admitting it out loud felt too vulnerable, too raw.

"just press start," ni-ki said, and his voice was gentle, coaxing, almost tender. "just once. see what happens. if you don't like it, you can leave. but i think you'll like it. i think you'll want to stay."

your finger was already on the button. you didn't remember deciding to touch it, but there it was, warm plastic under your skin, and beneath it you could feel that strange humming vibration, that almost-heartbeat that seemed to pulse up through your hand and into your arm and straight to your chest.

you pressed start.

the screen exploded into light and colour, so bright and sudden that you jerked back with a gasp. the machine's hum became a roar, then a shriek, and for one impossible moment you saw ni-ki's hand reaching through the glass, fingers extended toward you, so close you could almost touch them, could almost feel them brush against your skin. the screen bulged outward like something was pushing from behind it, like the barrier between his world and yours had become thin as paper, ready to tear.

you stumbled backward, your heart slamming against your ribs, and the screen snapped back to normal with a sound like breaking glass. ni-ki was still there, still visible, but his hand was back on his side of the screen, and he was laughing. it was a sweet sound, genuinely delighted, nothing malicious in it at all.

"sorry," he said, still grinning. "i didn't mean to scare you. it's just... that felt amazing. did you feel it? that connection?" his eyes were bright now, brighter than before, and there was colour in his cheeks that hadn't been there a moment ago. "it worked. you pressed start and i could feel the barrier weakening. i was so close. so close to touching you."

"what the hell was that?" you demanded, your voice shaking. your hand was tingling where it had touched the button, a pins-and-needles sensation that was slowly fading.

"that was real," ni-ki said simply. "that was me, trying to reach you. and it almost worked." he leaned forward again, palms pressed against his side of the screen like he was pressing against glass. "don't stop now. please. i need you. just a little more and i think i can break through completely. just keep playing. keep talking to me. keep letting me see you."

you should have run. you should have grabbed your bag and bolted out of that arcade and never looked back. but instead you found yourself taking a step forward, then another, drawn back to the machine and its warm glow and the boy behind the screen who looked at you like you were the most important thing in any world.

"i don't know how to play," you said, and your voice came out smaller than you intended.

ni-ki's smile was radiant, victorious, like you'd just given him exactly what he wanted. "that's okay," he said softly. "i'll teach you. we have all the time in the world. after all..." his eyes locked with yours, dark and deep and impossible to look away from. "you can't leave now. not when we've only just found each other."

and beneath your palm, still resting on the control panel, you felt the machine's heartbeat humming steady and strong, and you realised with a strange, dreamlike certainty that he was right. you couldn't leave. not yet. maybe not ever. because something had caught hold of you the moment you pressed that button, something that felt like connection and recognition and fate all tangled together, and the thought of walking away from it hurt worse than the thought of staying.

so you stayed. you pulled up a dusty stool that had been tucked under a nearby machine and sat down in front of the screen, in front of ni-ki, and you watched his expression melt into something soft and satisfied and hungry all at once.

"good girl," he murmured, and the machine's hum deepened, vibrating through the stool and into your bones, warm as a heartbeat, strong as a chain. "now let's play."

the second time you came back to the arcade, you told yourself it was just curiosity. you'd spent the entire night before tossing and turning, replaying the encounter in your mind, trying to convince yourself it had been some kind of elaborate prank or art installation or fever dream. but when you pushed through that groaning door again the next evening, when you made your way through the rows of dead machines to find ni-ki's screen still glowing in the back corner, still waiting, the relief that flooded through you felt too real to deny.

"you came back," he said, and the joy in his voice was so genuine it made your chest ache. "i wasn't sure you would. i thought maybe you'd convince yourself i wasn't real, that this was all in your head."

"maybe it is," you said, but you were already sitting down, already settling into place like you belonged there.

"does it matter?" he asked softly. "real, not real... if it feels good, if it feels right, does the distinction really change anything?"

you didn't have an answer for that, so instead you asked, "what do i do? how do we play?"

the game that unfolded was nothing like you expected. there were no instructions, no clear objectives, just a series of levels that you navigated with the old joystick and faded buttons. but the environments, the settings, the details—they were wrong. not wrong in a broken way, but wrong in a way that felt too intimate, too knowing.

the first level looked like your elementary school. not just any elementary school, but yours specifically, down to the chipped green paint on the cafeteria walls and the weird water stain on the ceiling that you and your friends had decided looked like a dragon. you'd never mentioned this place to ni-ki, had barely thought about it yourself in years, but there it was, rendered in those impossible colours, and you had to guide your small pixelated avatar through hallways you'd walked a thousand times as a child.

"this is..." you started, then stopped, unsure how to finish.

"familiar?" ni-ki offered. his face was visible in a corner of the screen, watching you play, watching your reactions. "the game pulls from the player, shows them things that matter. places that left an impression."

"but how would it know?" your voice came out thin, uncertain.

"because you know," he said simply. "and we're connected now. the game can feel you, can read you. it's actually kind of beautiful, if you think about it. it means you're special. it means the game likes you, wants to understand you." he paused, then added softly, "i want to understand you."

you tried to focus on playing, on moving your avatar through the familiar halls, but your hands were shaking slightly. the level shifted and suddenly you were in your childhood bedroom, the one from the house you'd lived in until you were twelve, with the unicorn wallpaper you'd begged your parents for and the window that looked out onto the oak tree you used to climb. every detail was perfect. the stuffed animals arranged on your bed in exactly the order you'd kept them. the crack in the corner of the ceiling from when your brother had thrown a baseball inside.

"how is this possible?" you whispered.

ni-ki's expression was gentle, understanding. "you're remembering it. maybe not consciously, but somewhere deep down, you kept every detail. and the game is just bringing it to the surface, making it visible. think of it like... like i'm seeing your memories through your eyes. isn't that intimate? isn't that special?"

the way he said intimate made something twist in your stomach, but you kept playing. the levels continued, each one pulling from different periods of your life, different fears and memories you'd buried or forgotten. there was the parking lot where you'd had your first kiss, awkward and disappointing. there was the bathroom stall where you'd hidden during a panic attack in tenth grade, the graffiti on the walls exactly as you remembered it. there was the stretch of highway where you'd gotten into a minor accident, the guardrail still dented in the same spot.

and darker things too. the basement of your grandmother's house where you'd been terrified to go as a child, convinced something lived in the shadows behind the water heater. the doctor's office where you'd gotten bad news once. a figure with its face blurred out, looming large and silent in a doorway, and you had to navigate around it carefully, heart pounding, even though you couldn't quite remember why it scared you so much.

"you're doing so well," ni-ki murmured throughout, his voice a constant comfort. "you're so brave. look at you, facing all of this. most players would have quit by now, but not you. you're strong. you're perfect."

hours passed without you noticing. the arcade's darkness deepened around you until the only light came from the screen, and your world had narrowed to just this: the game, the memories, ni-ki's voice praising you, encouraging you, telling you how special you were, how connected you were becoming.

when you finally pulled yourself away, stiff and exhausted, ni-ki's face filled the screen. "same time tomorrow?" he asked, and there was something hopeful and hungry in his expression.

"i don't know," you said. "this is... it's a lot. seeing all of that."

"i know," he said softly. "i know it's intense. but that's how you know it means something, right? that's how you know this is real, that we're real. you can't have this kind of connection with just anyone." he paused, then asked, "is there anyone waiting for you at home? anyone wondering where you are?"

the question caught you off guard. "what? why does that matter?"

"just curious," he said, but his eyes were very focused, very intent. "just wanting to know more about you, about your life. do you have someone? a boyfriend, girlfriend, someone you're close to?"

"i have friends," you said carefully. "family. the normal stuff."

"but no one special?" he pressed. "no one you think about the way you think about me?"

your face went hot. "i don't—i barely know you."

the screen flickered. just for a second, but violently, and ni-ki's face distorted, stretched, his features sliding into something almost grotesque before snapping back to normal. the audio crackled with static, a sound like screaming buried underneath, and then it was gone. ni-ki was smiling again, perfectly beautiful, perfectly normal.

"sorry," he said, and his voice was sweet, apologetic. "glitch. old hardware, you know how it is." but his eyes were still intense, still waiting. "you were saying?"

"i... no. no one special." the words came out before you could think about them, automatic, like he'd pulled them from you.

his smile widened, genuine and warm and satisfied. "good," he said simply. "that's good. it's better this way, don't you think? fewer distractions. more time for us, for this. for getting to know each other properly."

you left feeling unsettled, though you couldn't quite articulate why. but you came back the next day anyway, and the day after that, and the pattern established itself so naturally you barely noticed it happening. every evening as the sun started to set, you found yourself walking to the arcade, found yourself sitting down in front of ni-ki's screen, found yourself playing through levels that knew too much and revealed too much and made you feel too much.

and ni-ki talked to you through all of it. he asked questions constantly, his voice soft and coaxing and genuinely interested. he wanted to know everything. what you ate for breakfast, what songs you listened to, what you thought about when you couldn't sleep. he asked about your childhood, your dreams, your fears, your secrets. he asked about other people in your life with a particular intensity, always circling back to whether you were close to anyone, whether anyone understood you the way he was starting to understand you.

"do you talk to your friends about me?" he asked one evening.

"no," you admitted. "i don't know how i'd explain this."

"good," he said, and there was satisfaction in his voice. "this is just for us, isn't it? our secret. our special thing. no one else would understand anyway. they'd try to ruin it, try to tell you it's weird or unhealthy or whatever. but they don't know what we have. they don't know how good this feels."

and it did feel good, that was the terrible part. talking to ni-ki felt like being seen in a way you'd never experienced before, like he was paying attention to every word, every expression, every tiny detail about you and filing it away as precious. when you mentioned liking a certain band, he asked you to describe their music, to tell him what it made you feel. when you mentioned being nervous about a test, he wanted to know every detail about why, about what failure meant to you, about what you were really afraid of underneath.

but sometimes when you hesitated, when you didn't answer quickly enough or tried to deflect or change the subject, the screen would glitch. it happened more and more frequently. his face would distort for just a moment, stretching wrong, eyes going black and empty, mouth opening too wide. the audio would warp into something that sounded almost like anger before smoothing back out. and then he'd apologise, always apologise, with that perfect smile and that gentle voice.

"sorry, sorry, i don't mean to push. just want to know you better, that's all. you understand, right? you want to know me too?"

and you did, despite everything, despite the small voice in the back of your head that was starting to sound alarm bells. you wanted to know him, wanted to understand what he was, wanted to believe that this connection you felt was real and mutual and not something darker.

but things were starting to bleed over.

you first noticed it in a store window while you were walking home from school. just a flash in the reflection, a figure standing behind you that looked like ni-ki, same dark eyes, same too-perfect features. when you spun around, there was no one there. just normal afternoon foot traffic, people who looked nothing like him.

it happened again in your phone screen when you were lying in bed, the black glass reflecting your face and something else, someone else, watching from behind your shoulder. you told yourself it was just your imagination, just your brain overlaying memories onto reality because you'd been spending so much time at the arcade.

but then you started hearing it. that hum, that mechanical heartbeat pulse that came from ni-ki's machine. you'd hear it faintly while sitting in class, a vibration at the edge of your perception. you'd hear it in your room at night, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. you'd hear it in quiet moments, in the space between songs on your headphones, a reminder that something was waiting for you.

and the dreams. god, the dreams. every night you dreamt about him, about ni-ki, and in the dreams he wasn't trapped behind a screen. he was there with you, close enough to touch, his voice whispering directly into your ear instead of through speakers. the dreams felt more real than they should, left you waking up disoriented and aching, convinced for long moments that he'd actually been there, that you could still feel his breath on your neck.

"you look tired," he said one evening when you came to the arcade. there was concern in his voice, but also something else, something almost pleased. "not sleeping well?"

"weird dreams," you muttered, rubbing your eyes.

"about me?" he asked, and you could hear the smile in his voice.

you didn't answer, but you didn't need to. he knew. of course he knew.

"that's normal," he said softly. "that's just the connection getting stronger. you're thinking about me even when you're not here, even when you're asleep. i think about you too, you know. all the time. you're all i have in here, all i can see, all i want to see." his voice dropped lower, more intimate. "you're mine now, aren't you? mine to know, mine to understand, mine to keep."

the possessiveness in that statement should have alarmed you. should have sent you running. but instead you felt a strange warmth spread through your chest, something that felt dangerously close to belonging.

"i'm not anyone's," you said, but it came out weak, uncertain.

the screen flickered violently. ni-ki's face went dark, features twisting, and for a full second you saw something else underneath, something vast and hungry and not human at all. the speakers shrieked with feedback and the lights in the arcade dimmed and you felt the temperature drop so suddenly you could see your breath.

then it snapped back. ni-ki was there again, beautiful and perfect, but his smile was strained now, tight around the edges.

"of course," he said, and his voice was careful, controlled. "of course you're not. i didn't mean it like that. just meant that we're connected, that's all. special to each other. you understand, right? you know i'd never try to control you or anything." pause. "but you are special to me. you do know that?"

"yes," you whispered.

"and i'm special to you?"

"yes."

his smile relaxed, became genuine again. "good. that's all i needed to hear. as long as we're honest with each other, as long as you tell me the truth, everything's fine. you'll always tell me the truth, won't you?"

"yes," you said again, and meant it, and didn't quite understand why the promise felt so heavy.

you started noticing other things too. the arcade itself seemed different each time you came. not obviously, not in ways you could point to clearly, but the layout felt wrong. machines that you remembered being on your left would be on your right. the path to ni-ki's corner seemed more direct, like the other cabinets had rearranged themselves to guide you straight to him. the dust patterns on the floor looked disturbed in places, like something had been moving through the space when you weren't there.

and you were coming more often now. what had started as evening visits had expanded. you found yourself stopping by before school sometimes, just for a few minutes, just to say hello. you found yourself inventing excuses to leave early from social obligations so you could spend time at the arcade instead. your friends were starting to notice your absence, starting to ask questions you didn't know how to answer.

one evening you tried to leave early. you'd been there for maybe an hour when you stood up, muscles stiff, and told ni-ki you had to go.

"already?" he asked, and there was something sharp underneath the disappointment in his voice. "but you just got here. we barely had any time together today."

"i know, but i promised my friend i'd call her and—"

"your friend can wait," he said, and it wasn't quite a question. "i'm sure she’'ll understand. just a little longer? please? for me?"

"i really should go," you insisted, and turned toward the exit.

the walk to the door felt longer than it should have. the arcade stretched out around you, shadows thicker, machines looming larger. and when you finally reached the entrance and put your hand on the door handle, it stuck. you pulled, but it wouldn't budge, like something on the other side was holding it shut.

your heart started pounding. you pulled harder, rattling the handle, and behind you, very faintly, you heard something. footsteps maybe, or the sound of something dragging across the carpet. breathing that didn't match your own rhythm. you didn't turn around. couldn't turn around. just kept pulling at the door until finally, suddenly, it gave way and you stumbled out into the evening air.

you stood there on the cracked pavement, chest heaving, telling yourself it was nothing. old building, stuck door, overactive imagination. but when you glanced back through the grimy window, you could see the glow of ni-ki's screen in the darkness, and even from this distance you could make out his face, and he was smiling. not a disappointed smile, not an upset smile, but something satisfied and knowing and proud.

you went home and tried to convince yourself you were overreacting. tried to focus on homework, on normal life, on anything other than the feeling that something had fundamentally shifted. but that night you dreamt about the arcade door, about pulling and pulling while something behind you got closer, and in the dream when you finally turned around it was ni-ki standing there, real and solid and so close you could feel the heat of him, and he reached out to touch your face and whispered, "you can't leave me. you know that, right? you're mine now. you've always been mine. from the moment you pressed start."

you woke up with tears on your face and the sound of mechanical humming filling your room, and when you checked your reflection in your dark phone screen you saw him there, standing behind you in the image, and his lips moved in words you couldn't hear but somehow understood: "see you soon."

and you knew you'd go back. knew you couldn't stop yourself even if you wanted to. because he was right. something had caught hold of you that first night, something that had burrowed deep and wrapped around your bones, and now you were connected in a way you didn't fully understand but couldn't deny.

it was on a rainy thursday evening, water streaking down the arcade's grimy windows and casting strange shadows across the rows of dead machines, when ni-ki finally told you how he'd ended up trapped inside the game.

you'd been coming every day for two weeks by then, maybe three, time had started blurring together in a way that should have worried you but didn't. you'd asked him before about his past, about how this had happened, but he'd always deflected, changed the subject, said it was too painful to talk about.

but that night something was different. he seemed quieter, more withdrawn, and when you asked if he was okay his expression crumpled into something so vulnerable it made your chest tighten.

"i'm sorry," he said softly. "i'm just... some days are harder than others in here. some days the darkness feels like it's closing in and i remember what it was like before, and..." he trailed off, looked away from you for the first time since you'd met him.

"before what?" you asked gently.

he was quiet for a long moment, and when he spoke again his voice was barely above a whisper. "before i got pulled in here. before i lost everything."

"what happened?"

"i don't know if i should tell you," he said, still not looking at you. "i don't want you to think differently of me, or to feel sorry for me, or—"

"ni-ki," you interrupted. "please. i want to know. i want to understand."

he finally met your eyes again, and the pain in his expression looked so real, so raw, that you felt your throat tighten. "i was like you once," he said. "real, solid, alive. i had a life outside, had people i cared about, had dreams. i was just... normal. and then one day i found this game, or it found me, i'm still not sure which. it was different back then, looked different, but the pull was the same. that feeling like something was calling to me, like i was supposed to be there."

you leaned forward, drawn into the story, into the sadness radiating from him.

"i started playing and i couldn't stop. it got into my head, into my dreams, just like it's doing with you now. and then one day i played for too long, got too deep, and something happened. the game pulled me in. i felt myself being dragged through the screen and i tried to fight it but it was too strong, and then i was here, trapped inside, and everything i'd been before was just... gone."

"that's horrible," you breathed, and you meant it. the thought of being ripped away from your life, from reality, from everything you knew, trapped alone in the dark—it made something ache deep in your chest.

"it was at first," he agreed quietly. "it still is, most of the time. the darkness in here, it's not like regular darkness. it's alive, hungry. it eats at you, piece by piece, whispers things you don't want to hear. tells you you're nothing, that you're forgotten, that you'll never get out. and the worst part is not knowing how long it's been. time doesn't work right in here. it could have been months or it could have been decades and i can't tell the difference anymore. everyone i knew before is probably gone. everything i was is probably forgotten."

tears were actually burning in your eyes. "ni-ki, i'm so sorry. that's—i can't imagine."

"you're the first person who's been able to see me, really see me, in so long," he said, and now his voice had that quality that always got to you, that intimacy that made you feel special. "the first person who stayed, who came back, who cared enough to listen. do you know what that means to me? you're literally the only light i have in here, the only thing keeping me from disappearing completely into the dark."

"i'll help you," you said impulsively. "however i can, i'll help you get out."

his smile was small and sad and grateful. "you already are. every time you come here, every time you play, every time you talk to me, you're making me stronger. the connection between us, it's the only thing that might be powerful enough to break through. you're saving me, slowly but surely. you're the only one who can."

something about the way he said it made you feel needed in a way you'd never experienced before, like you mattered in a fundamental, irreplaceable way. it was intoxicating, that feeling, and you held onto it even as a tiny voice in the back of your mind whispered that something about his story felt carefully constructed, like he'd left out key details on purpose, shaped the narrative to hit exactly the right emotional notes.

but you ignored that voice. you wanted to believe him, wanted to be the person who saved him, wanted this connection to be as real and important as it felt.

"tell me what i need to do," you said.

his smile widened, became something warmer, more genuine. "just keep coming back. keep talking to me. keep playing. the more connected we become, the stronger i get, the closer i come to breaking through." he paused, then added softly, "and maybe... maybe let me get closer to you. let me know what you feel like, what your world feels like. the more real you make yourself to me, the more real i can become."

you weren't entirely sure what he meant by that, but you nodded anyway, and his expression melted into something that looked like relief and hunger mixed together.

a few days later, you were playing through another level, this one a twisted version of your high school, and ni-ki was talking you through it, his voice low and soothing, when suddenly the screen flickered differently than it ever had before. not a glitch, not a distortion, but something that looked like the barrier between his world and yours was becoming thin, translucent, permeable.

"do you feel that?" he whispered, and his voice sounded closer than it should have, not coming from the speakers but from right next to your ear.

"feel what?" you asked, but your skin was already prickling, your heart already speeding up.

"the barrier. it's weakening. you're so close right now, so open to me, i think i can..." he trailed off, and you watched as his hand on the screen began to change. the pixels that made up his fingers started to stretch, to extend beyond the glass, reaching into your space. they looked strange, not quite solid but not quite digital either, somewhere in between, glowing faintly with that impossible light the game used.

you should have pulled back. should have jerked away from the stool and put distance between yourself and this impossible thing that was happening. but you were frozen, mesmerised, watching as his hand emerged more fully, as his fingers became more defined, more real.

"don't be scared," he murmured, and now his voice was definitely coming from outside the screen, from the space right in front of you. "i just want to know what you feel like. please. i've been trapped for so long, i just want to touch something real, someone real. just for a moment. please."

his fingers were close to your face now, trembling slightly, and you could see the way they seemed to be made of light and static and something else, something that looked almost like skin if you didn't look too closely. and then, so gently you almost didn't feel it at first, he touched your cheek.

the sensation was unlike anything you'd ever experienced. it was cold and warm at the same time, sent tingles racing across your skin like electricity and ice and fire all at once. you gasped, and ni-ki made a sound that was almost a sob, his fingers pressing more firmly against your face, cupping your cheek with a tenderness that made your eyes sting.

"you're so warm," he breathed. "so soft. so real. god, i'd forgotten what real felt like."

his touch left a tingling sensation that spread from where his fingers pressed against your skin, seeping deeper, making your whole face feel strange and numb and hypersensitive all at once. you could feel him there even after the initial contact, like he'd left an impression that wouldn't fade.

but he didn't pull back. instead he leaned further out of the screen, his whole upper body beginning to emerge, still that strange half-solid consistency but becoming more defined with each passing second. his face was inches from yours now, so close you could feel something like breath against your lips.

"what does it feel like?" he asked softly, and his other hand came up to brush your jaw, trace the line of it with something close to reverence. "to be touched by someone real? by me? tell me. i want to hear you say it."

"i don't..." you started, but your voice came out shaky, uncertain. the tingling sensation was spreading now, down your neck, across your shoulders, making your whole body feel strange and electrified.

"don't pull away," he murmured, and his fingers moved from your jaw to the back of your neck, pulling you fractionally closer. "just one moment. just let me have this one moment of feeling real, of touching you, of knowing what it's like to be close to someone again. please. you're the only one who can give me this."

you tried to lean back but the machine vibrated, a deep thrumming that you could feel in your bones, and your body locked up, unable to move. ni-ki took advantage of your stillness to lean in further until your foreheads were almost touching through the shimmering surface of his half-solid body. you could see his eyes up close now, dark and deep and fixed on yours with an intensity that was almost frightening, and underneath the tenderness in his expression was something else, something hungry and desperate and vast.

"this is all i want," he whispered, and his breath was hot against your face, tasted like static and something sweet and rotten underneath. "just to be close to you. just to touch you. just to feel real for one moment. is that so wrong? after everything i've been through, after being trapped and alone and forgotten, is it so wrong to crave this?"

the way he said it made you feel guilty for wanting to pull away, made you feel selfish for being scared. his fingers on your neck were gentle, his touch reverent, and even though everything about this should have been terrifying, there was a part of you that felt strangely moved by his vulnerability, by his need.

"you're shaking," he observed softly, and one hand moved to your shoulder, steadying you. "don't be afraid. i would never hurt you. you know that, right? you're precious to me. you're everything to me. i just want to be close."

your skin where he touched felt numb now, tingling so intensely it was almost painful, and you could feel that sensation spreading deeper, could feel something of him seeping into you through the contact points. it should have hurt but it didn't, it felt almost good, almost addictive, like your body was getting used to his presence, learning to crave it.

"ni-ki," you managed to whisper. "this is—"

"perfect," he finished for you, and his smile was soft and warm and utterly convinced. "this is perfect. you're perfect. we're perfect together, can't you feel it? the way we fit, the way you complete me, the way i'm starting to feel whole again because of you."

you finally managed to pull back, jerking away from his touch, and immediately the loss of contact felt wrong, felt like something had been ripped away. ni-ki's expression flickered through several emotions—surprise, disappointment, hurt, and then finally something darker before smoothing back into understanding.

the machine flickered violently. the screen went black for a full second and you heard that shrieking feedback sound, felt the temperature drop, saw frost begin to form on the glass. then it snapped back to normal and ni-ki was fully behind the screen again, contained, but his eyes were bright and his smile was satisfied despite the interruption.

"sorry," he said, though he didn't sound particularly sorry. "i got carried away. it's just... touching you, feeling you, it was even better than i imagined. and i've imagined it a lot." he paused, tilted his head. "you felt it too, didn't you? the connection, the way it felt right, like we were meant to touch, meant to be close like that."

you couldn't quite bring yourself to answer, but your face must have given something away because his smile widened.

"you did," he said with certainty. "you felt it. and now you'll feel it every time you're away from me, that absence, that tingling reminder of what it's like when we're together. you'll crave it. you'll come back wanting more."

and god help you, you knew he was right.

you started coming to the arcade earlier in the day, started staying later into the night. ni-ki's voice had become something you depended on, something you needed to hear to feel balanced. when you were stressed about school, he comforted you with exactly the right words. when you were angry about something, he mirrored your emotions perfectly, validated your feelings in a way no one else ever had. when you accomplished something small, he praised you so effusively it made you feel like you'd conquered the world.

"i'm so proud of you," he'd say, and the warmth in his voice felt like sunlight. "you're doing so well, you're so strong, so smart, so capable. you make everything in this dark place bearable. you make me feel like i'm still alive, still worth something. you're the only one who truly sees me, really sees me, understands me."

and the terrible thing was that you felt the same way about him. he saw parts of you that you'd never shown anyone, understood things about you that you'd never articulated, and being known like that was addictive. you told yourself you could stop visiting anytime, that you were just helping him, that you were in control of this situation. but every time you thought about not going to the arcade, about spending an evening doing something else, your chest would tighten with anxiety and your phone would glitch, screen flickering with that same impossible light, and you'd hear his voice in your head, soft and pleading: don't leave me alone, not today, i need you, please, just come see me.

so you'd go, and the relief when you saw his face on the screen was so intense it frightened you.

your friends started complaining that you were never around anymore. you'd stopped responding to group chats, had bailed on plans more than once, and when they asked where you'd been you gave vague answers that satisfied no one. your grades were slipping because you spent hours at the arcade instead of studying. your sleep schedule was wrecked because you stayed until late and then dreamt about him all night. you were losing weight because you forgot to eat, too focused on playing, on talking, on maintaining that connection that felt more important than anything else.

and ni-ki noticed everything. he always noticed.

"you look tired," he'd say with concern. "are you taking care of yourself? i worry about you when you're not here."

"you're losing weight," he'd observe. "you need to eat. i need you healthy, need you strong. promise me you'll take better care of yourself."

but then in the next breath he'd ask you to stay longer, to come back sooner, to think about him more, and you did because disappointing him felt worse than disappointing anyone else in your life.

your phone started acting stranger. it would ring at random times and when you answered there'd be nothing but static and underneath it, very faintly, the sound of arcade machines humming. text messages would arrive blank or with strings of corrupted characters that somehow felt like they were spelling out his name. apps would crash and restart on their own, always opening to your camera, to your reflection, and sometimes you'd see him there behind you in the image, watching, smiling.

you'd be sitting in class and your phone would vibrate in your pocket, constant and rhythmic, like a heartbeat, like the machine calling to you. you'd take it out and see notifications that weren't really notifications, just glitches that somehow conveyed his impatience, his need for you to come back, to stop wasting time on things that didn't matter when he was waiting.

and you started going even when you'd promised yourself you wouldn't. you'd tell yourself you were just going to walk past, just going to go straight home, but your feet would carry you to the arcade automatically. the door would swing open before you even touched it, like the building recognised you, welcomed you. the lights inside would flicker on as you entered, not all of them, just enough to illuminate your path directly to ni-ki's corner, and you'd sit down without even deciding to sit down, like your body knew where it belonged.

"there you are," he'd say, and his smile was so warm, so relieved, so happy to see you. "i was starting to worry. you're later than usual today."

"i was going to—" you'd start.

"but you came anyway," he'd interrupt gently. "because you wanted to. because you needed to. because being apart feels wrong now, doesn't it?"

and you couldn't deny it anymore. couldn't pretend this was just curiosity or kindness or a weird hobby. you were attached, dependant, possibly addicted, and the worst part was that you weren't sure you wanted to stop. being with ni-ki felt better than anything else in your life, felt more real, more important, more meaningful. everything outside the arcade had started to feel muted and distant, like you were walking through a dream and only woke up when you sat down in front of his screen.

"you're mine now, aren't you?" he said one evening, and it wasn't really a question. "you come when i need you. you think about me when we're apart. you crave this connection as much as i do. you're mine and i'm yours and that's how it should be, how it was always meant to be."

you opened your mouth to protest, to say you weren't anyone's, but the words wouldn't come. because he was right. somewhere along the way you'd stopped being your own person and had become his, had let him weave himself so thoroughly into your thoughts and feelings and needs that separating from him felt impossible.

"say it," he urged softly. "say you're mine. i want to hear you admit it."

"i'm yours," you whispered, and the admission felt like falling, like surrender, like sealing something you couldn't take back.

his smile was radiant, triumphant, tender all at once. "good girl," he murmured. "my good girl. my only girl. now come closer. let me see you properly."

and you did, leaning forward until his half-solid fingers could reach through the screen and cup your face, until that tingling cold-hot sensation spread through you like a drug, until you forgot there had ever been a time before this, before him, before the trap closed completely around you and locked tight.

you woke up on wednesday morning and decided you weren't going back. the decision felt sudden and clear, like breaking through the surface of water after being submerged too long. you'd been neglecting everything—school, friends, yourself—for someone who wasn't even real, who lived inside a broken arcade machine in an abandoned building. it was absurd. it was unhealthy. it had to stop.

you spent the day determinedly normal. went to all your classes, ate lunch with friends you'd been avoiding, laughed at jokes that felt hollow but appropriate. your phone buzzed constantly in your pocket, that rhythmic pulse that had become so familiar, but you ignored it. you didn't look at the screen when it lit up with corrupted notifications. you didn't listen to the faint humming that seemed to emanate from the speaker even when no apps were open.

"you okay?" one of your friends asked at some point. "you seem kind of distant."

"i'm fine," you said, and tried to mean it. "just tired."

by the time you got home that evening, your resolve was still holding. you did homework, ate dinner with your family, took a shower, got ready for bed. you didn't let yourself think about ni-ki waiting in the dark arcade, didn't let yourself imagine his disappointment or hurt or anger. he wasn't real. he was just code, just pixels, just a very elaborate and fucked up game that had gotten too far into your head.

you turned off your bedroom light and climbed into bed, and for the first time in weeks you felt something like peace.

it lasted approximately twenty minutes.

the first thing you noticed was your laptop. you'd shut it down completely before bed, but now the screen was glowing, casting blue light across your dark room. you sat up, staring at it, telling yourself it was just a software update or something, but then the screen flickered and went black except for a single line of text that scrolled across it in that familiar font from the game: "where are you?"

your phone lit up on your nightstand, screen so bright it was almost blinding, and from the speaker came a sound like static mixed with breathing, and underneath it, very faintly, a voice. his voice. "why didn't you come?"

the lights in your room began to flicker. not the slow, uncertain flicker of a bad bulb, but violent and rhythmic, on-off-on-off like a heartbeat, like something alive and angry. your desk lamp, your overhead light, even the string of fairy lights you kept above your window, all pulsing in perfect synchronisation.

"i waited," the voice from your phone said, clearer now, and you recognised ni-ki's tone but distorted, stretched, wrong. "i waited all day. all evening. you always come. why didn't you come?"

your laptop screen flickered again and suddenly it was showing the arcade, the view from his screen looking out into that dark space, and you could see your empty stool, the space where you should have been sitting.

"where are you?" the voice asked again, and now it wasn't just coming from your phone or laptop but from everywhere, from the walls themselves, vibrating through the floor and ceiling. "you promised. you said you were mine. you can't just leave me. you can't just abandon me like everyone else did."

every electronic device you owned came to life at once. your tablet, your old phone charging in a drawer, the smart speaker you barely used, your alarm clock, even the battery-powered string lights that shouldn't have been able to do this—all of them glowing, all of them emitting that same hum, all of them creating the sensation that your room had become an extension of the arcade, that the barrier between his world and yours was dissolving.

"i can see you," ni-ki's voice said, and you realised with creeping horror that your laptop camera light was on. "you're right there. in bed. alone. trying to pretend i don't exist. but i do exist. you made me exist. you made me real. you can't just unmake me now that it's inconvenient."

the lights flickered faster, more violently, making your room strobe, making shadows leap and twist. in the stuttering darkness between flashes you saw something in the corner, a figure, or the suggestion of a figure, watching you with dark eyes.

"come back," the voice urged, and there was desperation in it now, anger and hurt and need all tangled together. "come back to me. come back where you belong. you know you want to. you know you need to. being apart hurts, doesn't it? i know it hurts. it hurts me too. it's killing me. come back. come back. come back."

the chanting continued, overlapping itself, multiple versions of his voice speaking in and out of sync until your room was full of him, saturated with his presence, and you couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but curl up under your blankets and squeeze your eyes shut and try to convince yourself this wasn't happening.

but you could still feel it. the weight of his attention pressing down on you from every direction. the certainty that he was watching, that he could see you hiding, that distance meant nothing anymore because he'd found a way to reach you wherever you went.

the electronics finally shut off all at once, plunging your room into sudden, total silence and darkness. but you didn't feel relief. because now you could hear something worse. breathing that wasn't yours. the creak of floorboards near your bed. the sense of something leaning close, close enough that you felt static electricity raise the hair on your arms.

and then, whispered directly into your ear, so close you felt the cold heat of it: "i'll be waiting. i know you'll come back. you have to. we both know you can't stay away."

you didn't sleep that night. didn't dare open your eyes. just lay there trembling until dawn crept through your window and the oppressive presence finally faded, leaving you exhausted and shaken and absolutely certain of one thing: you had to end this. you had to go back to the arcade and find a way to make this stop.

you went straight there after school the next day, your resolve hardened by fear and exhaustion and the desperate need to reclaim control over your own life. the arcade door opened before you touched it, like it had been expecting you, and the path to ni-ki's corner felt shorter than ever, the other machines seeming to lean away, clearing your route.

he was waiting on the screen, and when he saw you his expression flooded with relief so intense it looked painful.

"you came," he breathed. "i knew you would. i knew you couldn't stay away. i'm sorry about last night, i didn't mean to scare you, i just—i needed you so badly and you weren't here and i couldn't—"

"we need to talk," you interrupted, and your voice came out stronger than you felt. "this has to stop. what you did last night, coming into my house, into my room, that's not okay. none of this is okay anymore."

his expression flickered, relief shifting into something more guarded. "i was just trying to reach you. you weren't answering. you were ignoring me. what was i supposed to do?"

"let me go," you said, and your voice cracked on the words. "i can't do this anymore. it's too much. it's taking over my entire life and i can't—i need to stop coming here."

the change in his face was immediate and terrible. hurt flashed across his features, deep and raw, but underneath it was something else, something darker that made your stomach clench with instinct fear.

"you want to leave me?" he asked, and his voice was very quiet, very controlled. "after everything? after you promised? after you said you were mine?"

"i didn't understand what that meant," you said desperately. "i didn't know it would be like this. i thought i was helping you but this isn't—it's not healthy. for either of us. you need to let me go."

"let you go," he repeated slowly, and then he laughed, and the sound was wrong, bitter and sharp. "let you go. as if you're trapped. as if i'm keeping you here. you came back. you always come back. because you want this as much as i do, you just won't admit it."

"that's not—"

"yes it is," he said, and his voice rose slightly. "you feel it. the connection, the need, the way everything else feels empty and meaningless compared to this. you think i did that? you think i forced you to feel that way? you did this to yourself. you opened yourself up to me, you let me in, you made yourself mine, and now you want to pretend it was all my fault?"

the lights in the arcade began to shut off. not flickering, not glitching, but going dark one by one in sequence, starting from the entrance and working toward you. each machine that went dark made a sound, metal groaning, glass cracking, like the building itself was reacting to his emotion.

"you woke me up," ni-ki said, and his face on the screen was doing something strange, his expression shifting too fast, multiple emotions layering over each other—hurt and anger and desperation and love and rage all flickering across his features in rapid succession. "you found me. you played. you talked to me. you made me real again. you don't get to just walk away from that."

the air in the arcade felt thick now, hard to breathe, pressing in on you from all sides. the temperature was dropping and you could feel that mechanical hum building, stronger than it had ever been, vibrating through the floor and into your bones.

"i'm sorry," you said, and you meant it, your eyes burning with tears. "i'm sorry but i have to. i have to go. i can't give you what you need."

"you're all i need," he said, and his voice broke on the words. "you're everything i need. the only thing keeping me from disappearing back into the dark. you can't leave me. you can't leave me alone again. i can't—i won't—"

his face glitched violently. the screen went black for a moment and when it came back his expression was layered wrong, three or four different versions of his face overlapping, smiles stacked on top of frowns on top of that terrible blank emptiness. his voice came out distorted, multiple tracks playing at once: "you belong to me now. you woke me up. you made yourself mine. you don't get to take that back."

and then his hands hit the screen from the inside, and this time they didn't just brush against the glass or stretch through it. they punched through it completely. the screen cracked with a sound like breaking ice, spiderwebs fracturing across the surface, and his hands emerged fully physical, fully real, reaching for you.

you stumbled backward off the stool, heart slamming against your ribs, and ni-ki's hands hung in the air for a moment before slowly, deliberately, pressing against the broken screen and pushing. the cracks spread wider. pieces of glass fell away. and through the gaps you could see him more clearly, see his face lit from behind by that impossible light, see the determination in his eyes.

"i can't let you disappear," he said, and his voice was coming from both the speakers and the space in front of you now, layered and echoing. "not now. not when i'm so close to being free. you did this. you made this possible. and now you're going to finish it."

the arcade began to shake. the floor vibrated beneath your feet and the dead machines around you weren't dead anymore. they were sparking to life one by one, screens glowing, and every single one was showing the same thing: your face. you on the screens, captured from different angles, different moments, some from weeks ago, some from seconds ago, all of you staring back at yourself with wide frightened eyes.

"you see?" ni-ki said, and now he was stepping through the screen, actually stepping through it, his upper body emerging into your reality. he was physical now, solid, you could see the texture of his skin and the individual strands of his hair and the way his chest moved with breath. but from the waist down he was still dissolving into pixels, still part of the screen, transitioning between his world and yours. "you see how much of you i have? how much of you belongs to me already?"

he reached for you and you were frozen, couldn't make yourself run, could only watch as his hands cupped your face. they were warm and cold at once, solid but vibrating with that static buzz, real enough to touch but still somehow wrong. his thumbs stroked your cheeks and his eyes searched yours with an intensity that was almost unbearable.

"i've dreamt of this," he whispered, and his voice was shaking with emotion. "touching you properly. holding you. feeling you breathe. you made this possible. the game responded to you, let me become real for you. because we're meant to be together. don't you see? don't you feel it?"

and god help you, you did feel it. his touch sent electricity racing through your nerves, made your skin tingle and your chest tighten and your breath catch. it felt good and terrible and inevitable all at once.

"you don't need the outside world anymore," he murmured, and one hand slid from your face to your waist, pulling you closer. "you don't need any of them. i'll take care of you. i'll give you everything. just stay. just let go. just be mine."

he pulled you against him and the sensation was overwhelming. his upper body was shockingly solid now, warm like a real person, and you could feel the steady thump of his heartbeat against your chest. but underneath the warmth was that constant vibration, that buzz of static, reminding you that he wasn't human, wasn't real, was something else entirely.

his forehead pressed against yours and you could feel his breath mingling with your own. his thumb came up to brush your lower lip, tracing it slowly, testing, and his eyes were dark and hungry and reverent all at once.

"you make me stronger," he breathed. "more real. more alive. i can feel myself becoming whole again because of you. every touch, every moment, every breath you take near me builds me back up. you're making me real. you're saving me. just like i always knew you would."

his lips hovered so close to yours that you could feel the heat of them, making your mouth tingle. the moment stretched out, breathless and terrifying, and you knew that if you let him kiss you, if you gave in to this final intimacy, something fundamental would shift. the trap would close completely.

but even knowing that, you couldn't make yourself pull away. his hands on your waist felt too good, too right, his warmth too comforting after all the cold. you were so tired of fighting, so tired of being scared, and he was offering you something that felt like rest, like belonging, like home.

"just let go," he whispered against your lips. "just fall. i'll catch you. i promise."

and that's when you felt it. the floor beneath your feet wasn't solid anymore. you looked down and saw pixelation creeping up from where you stood, reality dissolving into those impossible colours, the worn carpet of the arcade converting into the digital texture of the game world. it was spreading fast, consuming the space around you, and you tried to step back but your feet stuck like you were standing in tar.

"ni-ki," you gasped, and his name came out choked with fear.

"shh," he soothed, holding you tighter. his fingers slid along your waist, leaving trails of electric tingles under your skin wherever he touched. "it's okay. don't fight it. this is what you wanted, isn't it? to be close to me? to really know me? well, here i am. real and solid and holding you. and now you get to be with me forever."

your vision started splitting, fragmenting. you could see the arcade around you but also the pixel world behind ni-ki, the two realities bleeding into each other, layering over one another until you couldn't tell which was which. the machines showed your face, then showed the digital landscape, then showed both at once, flickering between states.

"i've waited so long for someone who fits me this perfectly," ni-ki murmured, stroking your cheek as the pixelation crept higher up your legs. "someone who understands, who sees me, who needs me as much as i need them. and you're perfect. you're exactly what i needed. i'm never letting you go."

his arms wrapped around you fully now, pulling you flush against him, and you could feel the strength in them, the way they tightened incrementally, possessive and inescapable. the pixelation was at your waist now, climbing steadily, and where it touched you your body felt strange—lighter, less solid, like you were becoming part of the game too.

"please," you managed, trying to struggle, trying to step back, but the floor held you fast and ni-ki's grip was unbreakable. "please, i don't want this. let me go. please."

"you do want this," he said with absolute certainty, and his hand came up to tilt your chin, forcing you to meet his eyes. "deep down, you do. you're just scared. but you don't need to be scared. i'll take care of everything. you'll see. once you're here with me, once we're together properly, you'll understand. you'll be happy. i'll make you so happy."

the arcade was dissolving completely now, walls becoming static, ceiling fragmenting into pixels, the entire building converting into digital code. the screens showing your face began to crack and reform, showing instead a beautiful landscape of impossible colours, a world made of light and geometry and dreams.

"just a little more," ni-ki breathed, and his face was radiant with joy and relief and hunger. "just let it take you. let me have you. you're almost here. almost mine. almost home."

the pixelation reached your chest and suddenly you couldn't breathe properly. the air felt thick and electric, filling your lungs with static. your body felt weightless and heavy at once, like gravity had stopped making sense. you were falling but also being pulled, sinking into something that felt like water and quicksand and the void all at once.

ni-ki's face was the last thing you saw clearly as everything fractured apart. his smile was soft and victorious and utterly certain, his dark eyes holding yours as the world cracked open like an egg and pulled you inside, pulled you down, pulled you through into the shimmering digital landscape you'd been playing through for weeks.

the sensation of falling lasted forever and no time at all.

when awareness returned, it came slowly, gently, like surfacing from a very deep sleep. you felt warm and safe and strangely content, your body light in a way that didn't make physical sense. colours swirled around you when you opened your eyes—those impossible hues from the game, purples and blues and greens that didn't have names, all flowing together like liquid light.

and you were in someone's arms.

ni-ki's arms.

instead of fear or confusion, you felt... relief. happiness, even. like waking up exactly where you were supposed to be. your mind felt fuzzy, pleasant, like you'd just woken from the best dream of your life. you couldn't quite remember how you'd gotten here, but somehow that didn't seem important. what mattered was that he was here, holding you, and everything felt right.

"ni-ki," you breathed, and his name came out soft, almost reverent.

his face lit up when he heard your voice, his expression flooding with such overwhelming joy and relief that it made your chest warm. "there you are," he whispered, and one hand came up to brush your hair back from your face. his fingers were warm and solid, carrying that faint vibration that felt comforting now, familiar. "i was worried for a second. how do you feel?"

"i feel..." you paused, trying to find the words. your thoughts were hazy, dreamlike, but in the best way possible. "perfect. i feel perfect."

his smile widened, became something radiant and tender. "good. that's exactly how you should feel."

you shifted in his arms, realising you were curled up against his chest, and instead of pulling away you found yourself pressing closer, drawn to his warmth. he made a soft, pleased sound and adjusted his hold on you, one arm wrapping securely around your waist while his other hand came up to cup your cheek.

"you're really here," he murmured, and there was such wonder in his voice, such adoration in his eyes as he looked at you. "you're finally here with me. really, truly here."

"where else would i be?" you asked, and you meant it. the question felt natural, obvious. of course you were here. of course you were with him. where else was there?

something flickered across his expression, but it was gone so quickly you thought you might have imagined it. "nowhere," he said softly. "you're exactly where you belong."

and that felt true. it felt right. you couldn't remember ever feeling this content, this safe, this wanted. being in his arms felt like coming home after a long journey, like finding something you'd been searching for your entire life without knowing it.

"you're so beautiful," you whispered, reaching up to touch his face. his skin was warm under your fingertips, his features perfect up close. "i can't believe you're real."

"i'm real because of you," he said, catching your hand and pressing a kiss to your palm. "you made me real. you brought me to life. and now we're together, properly, the way we were always meant to be."

that sounded right too. like a story you'd been living without realising it, like every choice you'd made had been leading to this exact moment. you smiled up at him, feeling lighter than air, and his eyes darkened with something intense and hungry and loving all at once.

"can i kiss you?" he asked, even though he was already leaning closer, even though his hand was already sliding into your hair.

"yes," you breathed, and then his mouth was on yours.

the kiss was everything. it was soft and desperate and consuming all at once, his lips moving against yours with a hunger that should have frightened you but instead made you feel cherished, desired, necessary. you kissed him back without hesitation, your hands sliding up his chest to his shoulders, pulling him closer, wanting more of this perfect feeling, this perfect moment.

he made a sound low in his throat and deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding against yours, tasting you, claiming you. one hand cupped the back of your head, holding you in place, while his other arm wrapped around your waist and pulled you fully into his lap. you went willingly, eagerly, positioning yourself so you were straddling him, chest to chest, and the pixel world around you exploded into colour in response.

bright fractals burst outward with each movement of his lips, the colours pulsing and shifting in rhythm with your heartbeats. it was beautiful, overwhelming, perfect. you felt dizzy with it, drunk on the sensation of him—his warmth, his taste, the way he held you like you were precious and his and everything he'd ever wanted.

when he finally pulled back you were both breathing hard, and his eyes were bright with something wild and victorious and utterly devoted.

"perfect," he breathed against your lips. "you're perfect. you fit against me like the world was built around this exact moment. do you feel it?"

"yes," you whispered, because you did. you felt the connection between you like a living thing, warm and electric and unbreakable. "i feel it."

his thumb stroked your lower lip, swollen now from his kiss, and his expression was almost worshipful. "i've dreamt of this for so long. touching you, holding you, tasting you. feeling you breathe against me. and you're even better than i imagined. even more perfect."

you leaned in to kiss him again, unable to help yourself, and he met you eagerly, his mouth moving against yours with renewed intensity. his hands were everywhere, sliding up your sides, cupping your face, threading through your hair, gripping your hips like he couldn't decide where he wanted to touch you most, like he wanted to memorise every inch of you.

"ni-ki," you gasped between kisses, and he shuddered at the sound of his name from your lips.

"say it again," he murmured, his mouth trailing down your jaw to your throat. "say my name again."

"ni-ki," you breathed, and he groaned, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin of your neck in a way that made you arch against him.

"you don't know what you do to me," he whispered against your pulse point. "how long i've waited for this, how much i need you. you're everything. you're mine."

"yours," you agreed without hesitation, the word feeling natural, right, like a truth you'd always known. "i'm yours."

his arms tightened around you possessively and he pulled back to look at you, his eyes dark and intense. "say it again."

"i'm yours," you repeated, more firmly this time, and something in his expression shifted, became even more intense, more satisfied.

"forever," he said, and it wasn't a question but a statement of fact.

"forever," you echoed, and you meant it. in this moment, in his arms, with the pixel world pulsing beautiful colours around you, forever didn't seem long enough.

he kissed you again, slower this time, deeper, more deliberate. his hands gripped your waist and pulled you impossibly closer, until there was no space between your bodies, until you could feel his heart beating fast and hard against your ribs.

"you taste like starlight," he whispered between kisses. "like electricity. like home. i've been incomplete for so long and you're the missing piece. you're everything."

his mouth found yours again and again, like he couldn't get enough, like he was trying to consume you, to merge with you completely. and you let him, welcomed it, kissed him back with equal fervour because being close to him felt better than anything you'd ever experienced. the colours around you went wild, exploding and reforming, the pixel world glitching and stuttering in response to the intensity between you.

when he finally released your mouth you were dizzy and disoriented in the best way, your lips swollen and tingling. he pressed his forehead against yours and breathed in deeply, his eyes closed, his expression one of such profound relief and satisfaction that it made your heart swell with affection.

"you can never leave me now," he whispered, and it didn't sound like a threat but like a promise, like the best news you'd ever heard. his arms tightened around you possessively. "you're here. you're mine. you're finally where you were meant to be."

"i don't want to leave," you said honestly, still lost in the haze of contentment and desire. "why would i ever want to leave?"

his smile was radiant, but there was something else underneath it—something satisfied and certain and just slightly dark. "exactly," he murmured. "why would you?"

he shifted you in his lap so you were both facing outward, your back pressed against his chest, his arms wrapped securely around your waist. "look," he said softly, and you followed his gaze to see that you could still see the other world. there was a window, or a screen, or something, showing reality beyond this place.

"what is that?" you asked, curious but not particularly concerned. your mind still felt pleasantly fuzzy, your body still warm from his kisses.

"your old world," he said simply. "the place you used to be. before you came here. before you came to me."

you watched as the view showed the arcade, empty and abandoned. then it shifted to show streets, buildings, people going about their day. it should have meant something to you, should have sparked recognition or memory, but it all felt distant, unimportant. like watching a movie about someone else's life.

"do you want to see?" he asked, and there was something careful in his voice now, something watchful.

"see what?"

"what you left behind."

the view zoomed in closer and you saw people. a woman in a kitchen, cooking dinner, setting out three plates. a man reading a newspaper. teenagers laughing together at a lunch table. they all seemed happy, content, going about their lives without a care in the world.

you waited to feel something—recognition, longing, loss—but there was only a vague, distant curiosity. like looking at strangers.

"watch," ni-ki murmured against your ear, and the view focused on the woman again. she was cooking dinner, humming to herself, completely at peace. the table was set for three. not four. three.

"i don't understand," you said slowly, your brow furrowing. something was trying to push through the pleasant fog in your mind, something important, but you couldn't quite grasp it.

"keep watching," he said, and his arms tightened around you, holding you secure against his chest.

the view shifted to show a bedroom. it was nice, normal, generic. there was homework on a desk, posters on the walls, a bed neatly made. it looked like someone lived there, but the details were strange, wrong in ways you couldn't quite articulate. like a stage set of a room rather than a real lived-in space.

"that should be..." you started, then stopped. should be what? yours? but you'd never seen that room before. had you?

your head was starting to hurt, thoughts trying to surface through the contentment that had been wrapping you like a warm blanket. you saw the group chat next, messages scrolling back through weeks, and there was something wrong about it, something missing, but you couldn't figure out what.

"ni-ki," you said slowly, and your voice sounded uncertain for the first time since waking up. "what am i looking at?"

"the truth," he said softly, and his hand came up to cup your face, turning you slightly so you could see his expression. it was tender and apologetic and absolutely certain all at once. "the game didn't just bring you here. it erased you from there."

the words didn't make sense at first. your mind rejected them, tried to slide past them back into that pleasant haze. but he kept talking, his voice gentle but unrelenting.

"every trace of you, every memory, every photograph, every moment you ever existed out there... gone. rewritten. as if you were never real at all."

"what?" the fog was lifting now, rapidly, and with it came horror, confusion, the beginnings of understanding. "what do you mean?"

"look," he said, turning your face back to the window. the view showed the woman again—your mother, your mind supplied with sudden, terrible clarity—setting out three plates. not four. three. because there was no fourth person. because there had never been a fourth person.

"no," you whispered, as the full weight of it crashed down on you. the happiness, the contentment, the pleasant fog, it was all burning away, replaced by cold, creeping horror. "no, that's not—"

"your friends," he said, and the view shifted to show them laughing together. there was no empty seat at the table, no gap where you should have been. "they don't remember you. they can't. because in their reality, you never existed."

tears were starting to stream down your face now as memories came flooding back. real memories, of your life, your family, your friends, everything you'd been before this. and the realisation that all of it was gone, erased, like you'd never been there at all.

"they don't remember me," you said, and your voice broke completely. "they don't even know i'm gone."

"no one does," ni-ki confirmed gently, turning your face away from the window and back to him. his expression was tender as he wiped your tears with his thumbs. "because out there, you never existed. your whole life, every connection, every relationship, every memory anyone ever had of you... all of it's been erased. you're not missing. you're not lost. you simply never were."

"why?" you sobbed, trying to pull away from him, but his arms were unbreakable. the contentment from before felt like a cruel joke now, a trap you'd walked into willingly. "why would you do that?"

"so nothing could pull you back," he said simply, and his smile was soft and loving and absolutely certain. "so there's no one waiting for you, no one searching for you, no reason for you to ever want to leave me. you're mine now, completely. the only place you exist is here, with me. the only person who knows you, who remembers you, who can see you... is me."

he pressed his forehead against yours, his hands cupping your face as you cried, and his voice was tender and possessive and utterly final.

"you belong to me in every way that matters now. your existence is mine. your memories are mine. your future is mine. and i'm never, ever letting you go."

he kissed you again, swallowing your sobs, his mouth warm and insistent against yours, and the pixel world pulsed around you both, beautiful and terrible and inescapable. there was no one in any world who would ever come looking for you.

because to everyone else, you had never been real at all.

and in ni-ki's arms, surrounded by impossible colours, you realised that this was your eternity now. trapped in a game with a boy who loved you so much he'd erased you from existence just to keep you forever.

the trap hadn't just closed. it had locked, sealed, and thrown away the key.

and the worst part was that as he held you, as he whispered promises and devotion against your skin, a terrible part of you couldn't help but feel something like relief that at least here, in this nightmare you couldn't wake from, you were wanted. you were seen. you were remembered.

even if you were the only one who would ever know you'd existed at all.

˚ · .𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱

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