Archive of Our Own ^beta

"And you're sure that you wanna do this?" Kuro asked, sending a skeptical look sideways.

"I'm not a little kid, Kuro," Mahiru shot back, although there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"I just wanted to make sure you know what you're getting into." He stood up to put the game into the console and then returned to the sofa. "This game isn't something for scaredy-cats like you."

There was an underlying playfulness in Kuro's voice, a challenge.

"I'm not a scaredy-cat!" Mahiru yelled while delivering a painful blow to Kuro's biceps.

"And I'm especially not scared of some video game."

Kuro didn't miss how Mahiru stressed the words "video game" and he smirked inwardly.

Oh, he was definitely gonna show his eve just how scary video games could be.

"If you say so," was the only thing he said though. "Don't say I didn't warn you when you start crying."

His eve send him a withering glare before leaning back into the cushions of their sofa.

This time the smirk actually reached Kuro's lips and he quickly turned on the TV and the console to distract Mahiru.

This was going to be a fun night.

*

A few minutes later everything was set up and they were ready to start. The TV displayed the menu screen of the game that they were going to play and on their coffee table were a few bottles of coke and energy drink.

Kuro took the two cups that were also standing on the table and filled each with one half coke and the other half energy drink. He turned around and handed Mahiru his cup who looked at it like he may look at a dead mouse he found somewhere while cleaning.

"I'm not drinking that."

"Why not?"

"I have a feeling it could kill me."

The sincerity with which Mahiru said that made Kuro snort.

"I promise it won't kill you. I drink it all the time."

"The way you look, you aren't really a prime example of someone who's considered to be alive. Those dark circles should have killed you months ago - vampire or not," Mahiru chastised, going into full blown mom-mode.

Kuro just rolled his eyes and muttered "what a pain" under his breath. A bit louder he said: "Just drink it if you wanna get through the game. Or are you not feeling up to it anymore?"

For some reason Mahiru seemed so intent on playing this game that he immediately took the bait. He gripped his cup a bit tighter and downed half of its content, although not without grimacing at the taste.

"How can you drink something with that much sugar?" he asked, but Kuro knew that he didn't really expect an answer.

Instead he took a sip of his own drink and then handed the controller over to Mahiru. The latter just looked at it incredulously for a few seconds before his eyes widened with understanding.

"I thought we were playing together?"

There was just the tiniest hint of panic in Mahiru's voice and Kuro wondered yet again just why his eve was so adamant about playing this game.

"That isn't really possible since it's not a multiplayer game," he explained and shrugged.

"Then why aren't you playing?"

"You just seemed like you really wanted to."

Mahiur opened and closed his mouth a few times, apparently unable to think of an answer. In the end he just murmured "fine" and took the controller.

Kuro was a bit surprised at that. He thought that it would take more to get Mahiru to play the game alone, but he wasn't one to complain. About this at least.

So he just leaned back and watched as Mahiru fiddled with the controller for a bit.

"To start the game you should press 'start'."

That comment earned him another glare and a hit to his arm.

"I know," Mahiru snapped and finally started the game.

The menu screen faded to black and the intro movie started playing. After they got a general idea of the story the tutorial part started.

Kuro watched Mahiru complete all tasks with relative ease, but he knew that this was nothing compared to what was happening later in the game.

So he decided on observing Mahiru's reactions rather than looking at the game.

He held his ground pretty well - up until the very first jumpscare. They were currently in a very dark area in the game, looking for a key that would get their character through the door to the next area. The flashlight they had only illuminated the tiniest part of the room and when Mahiru opened a closet to look inside, a body fell out of it.

To Kuro, being very familiar with horror game clichés, it wasn't that much of a scare and especially not compared to the ones later on, but Mahiru flinched so hard that he lost his grip on the controller and it clattered to the ground.

Without looking at Kuro he reached down and picked it up again, but didn't continue playing the game. After a few seconds he glanced at Kuro, an unspoken question in his eyes at which Kuro only raised an eyebrow.

He wouldn't let Mahiru off the hook just yet. He needed to see how he would react to the rest of the game.

"You wanted to play, right?" He asked, meeting Mahiru's eyes with an even stare.

Clearly uncomfortable Mahiru shifted a little.

A sigh escaped Kuro's lips after he received no answer from his Eve.

"Okay, I'll take over playing in a bit," he said, at which Mahiru's eyes lit up.

With a little bit of hesitation Mahiru started maneuvering the character around again, but now seeming intent on getting as far as possible as fast as possible so Kuro would take over.

However his plan wasn't as effective as he would have liked. Kuro knew that the simple way of just rushing through everything wouldn't work in this game so he just watched with amusement while Mahieu grew more impatient and antsy as the game progressed.

"Why can't I go further?" came his irritated question about half an hour later when he was standing in front of a locked door with no apparent way to open it. Kuro took a couple of sips from his drink to hide his grin.

"It's because you need the key," he finally answered.

"Key? What key? I don't have a key!"

There was a hint of desperation under all the irritation in Mahiru's voice and Kuro couldn't do anything except give in and help him a little bit.

"Well there was one in the room you rushed through about, um," he took a quick look at the clock next to the TV, "20 minutes ago."

"What?! How was I supposed to get that?! There was this weird monster-ghost-thing chasing me the whole time I was in there!" He paused the game for a second and turned towards Kuro, the silent plea apparent from the look on his face.

As much as Kuro would have liked to see Mahiru play a bit more he wasn't going to force him when he was clearly so desperate for him to take over.

"Alright, just give me the controller."

Almost immediately Mahiru pressed the controller into his hand and leaned back against the couch with a relieved sigh.

Kuro couldn't suppress the smile that stole it's way into his face at his Eve's reaction.

"What are you grinning about?"

"Nothing," he said, schooling his face into a neutral expression. He didn't want to hurt Mahiru's pride any more than necessary.

Without wasting any more time he resumed the game and backtracked to the point at which he could get the key they needed to progress.

He successfully avoided the monsters and other enemies that chased him and quickly continued with the story.

However Kuro wasn't all that focused on the game as he played. He watched Mahiru out of the corners of his eyes and sometimes glanced at him for a few seconds, observing his reactions.

It was obvious that Mahiru disliked watching Kuro play the game even more than playing himself. He alternated between leaning back into the cushions of the couch, hiding his face behind a pillow and leaning forward so he was perched on the edge, anxiously watching their character.

When they got to the second - and much scarier - half of the game Mahiru suddenly leaned against Kuro after another jumpscare that almost sent him running, hiding his face in the folds of his coat. The vampire froze for a few seconds, but after Mahiru offered no explantion he continued with the game although now his focus was directed on the feeling of another body leaning against his side than the actions in the game.

He played for a another half an hour during which he died several times (which usually never happened) before he paused the game and said Mahiru's name. He got no reply and only now did he notice the unusual even breathing coming from his Eve.

Kuro only shook his head in disapproval, but still with a certain kind of fondness to it as he got up and picked up the sleeping boy gingerly.

He carried him over to his bedroom and laid him down onto his bed which startled Mahiru slightly and woke him halfway up.

Kuro used that chance to ask the burning question that had been on his mind the whole evening.

"Mahiru?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you want to play that horror game today? I could see that you weren't enjoying it."

Without hesitation Mahiru answered him, completely honest in his half sleeping state.

"I just wanted to get to know more about you and the things you like..."

Kuro was taken aback by that reply for a few seconds, his mind trying to come up with the right way to react to that.

"...but horror games are awful, I don't know how you can spend so much time playing that when you could do something productive."

The mumbled continuation of Mahiru's response saved Kuro from that state of paralysis and he smiled down at his Eve as he pulled out a blanket and spread it over his body. In the back of his mind he was still trying to comprehend what Mahiru had said and was trying to formulate a reply, but at least he had some time to think about everything since Mahiru was already fast asleep again.