Work Text:
Y/N sat at their computer for hours trying to work on their next novel. Keyword being TRYING, as the pieces just weren't coming together properly. Nothing is good enough. It needs more depth and detail. The negative thoughts flowing through their head. Until one popped up, crazier than the rest of the voices, but it could be their saving grace! They opened a new browser and went deep. How they got to the dark web? They probably don't even remember, but it's better than nothing, right?
After continuous searches, Y/N taking some notes in the process, they finally jumped to posting on forums. One post finally caught someone's attention, though the person told Y/N to be more discreet about it, and sent them a suspicious file link with a password associated. "What the hell? Just like that?" They asked themself, staring at the screen in shock. "Well, fuck it, I've already come this far."
Y/N noted the password before opening the link, typing it in when prompted. The computer loaded for a bit and then they realized they were looking at a very bootleg looking version of Discord. I mean if the Discord format works, it works I guess. Still, I wasn't really looking to socialize, I just wanted answers. Suddenly they got a ping. A user by the name of "goreboy" had welcomed them to the chat. After that, the chat basically exploded, everyone was excited to see a new member.
Y/N's overwhelmed feeling quickly turned to confusion, however, when they realized what exactly was being said. This has gotta be fake right? They're just roleplaying right? Those thoughts aren't convincing them. Once again, a ping, this time noticing their silence and asking if they're okay.
(Username): oh, yea, sorry, I'm just overwhelmed
Some chatters tried to comfort Y/N, but goreboy decided to call them out. Y/N had yet to introduce themself and pick roles. They went to the introductions channel and gave a brief and vague introduction, and then stared at the role selection channel. This is legit, what the hell!? I guess I could just make something up? Or be generic? Yea I'm gonna do that. They picked their pronouns, and then chose, what they thought was, the most innocent option of the killer types, and then picked a knife for their weapon. Very generic.
The chat members made supportive commentary on Y/N's roles, scaring them a bit. They spaced out again until they got another ping. User "Angelic" offered to give them a server tour. Though that's not what they had in mind, they accepted just to go with the flow. After learning about the server and meeting everyone better, user "K9" invited them to chat.
They don't know why, but they accepted the invite. Immediately, K9 started interrogating them. Not wanting to converse, they gave short, vague answers. When K9 asked what Y/N killer name was, they denied him a proper answer and left it at that.
-----
It's been some days now. The chats been active, but Y/N hasn't. They tried to take their mind off this whole thing by going back to their writing with what little they've managed to pick up from stalking conversations. They were never a fan of talking to people, period. Much less a group of serial killers. However, Y/N didn't notice that the chat was still active in the background, every time they turned on their computer.
Eventually they started getting notifications. Goreboy was sending them DM's, accusing them of faking, and asking them to prove him wrong. When they didn't respond, he told them he can see that they're online. Wait, it's like Discord I should be able to... Ah yes! They went to their profile and set their status to offline. Goreboy responded to that with a "touche" and Y/N went about their business again.
Angelic also tried to reach out to Y/N. They ignored her though. This book is my priority. I don't need to socialize to write it. They thought to themself as they skimmed through the chat to see if there were any new ideas available.
-----
Y/N tried to go about their daily life, not even bothering to converse with anyone. They just, existed. Work, home, eat, write, sleep, repeat. One night, when they opened their fridge, they noticed that important stuff was missing. Shit, I guess I'm going to the store now. They grabbed their keys to lock up and then walked to the convenience store a couple blocks away. No notice to the misplaced shadow trailing behind.
Across the street, hiding in an alleyway, a tall figure obscured by the shadows pulled out his phone and sent a message to someone. Inside the store, a young woman in pink clothing with long blonde hair checks her phone before making her move towards the only other shopper in the store at this time.
Y/N was walking through each aisle, grabbing what they could find to put together a decent late night, post-writing meal. As they reached for an item, another hand happened to grab the same thing. Y/N pulled their hand back and turned to look at the woman.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were going for the same one." The blonde woman said in a very sweet tone. "Here." She held it out to Y/N.
Y/N backed up in surprise, voice coming out lighter and more awkward than they would have liked. "Oh, no, it's fine, you can have it." And then they turned around and quickly moved to a different aisle of the store. They leaned against the doors of the refrigerator wall at the back of the store and looked down in embarrassment. "Forget all my efforts, how can I ever expect to be successful when I'm too afraid of basic human interaction?" They mumbled to themself before grabbing the last items of their list and going to the checkout.
From the other end of the aisle, the other woman heard the question Y/N asked themself and pulled out her phone again. The man in the alley checking his soon after, and then peeking out to watch Y/N leave the store.
As they were walking home, Y/N thought they heard a second set of footsteps behind them, but when they turned they saw nothing. I'm just being paranoid, clearly. They turned back around and continued walking home. Once they arrived, they put their groceries away and made a quick meal.
Y/N planned to eat by their computer while watching gaming videos online. Y/N did NOT plan to go to their computer and see a particular DM from a particular chat app they thought they closed.
goreboy: So, you've been awfully quiet These days for how Often you're online
Really makes me wonder if Everything is okay with you
or if you're Not being honest and you're trying to avoid us because Of that
we're all Very interested to see what our Enigma has been up to Lately
care to prove me wrong? or you can meet my crowbar
Y/N started at the screen in shock. What does he mean prove him wrong? Does he want me to...? I hope not. They were about to exit the app altogether when they glanced back at the series of messages again and noticed something peculiar. Why does he type with random capital letters? They scrutinized the messages again for a moment before putting the message together. STORE. That's where they just were when the messages were sent. NOVEL. That's why they're here. He knows. They know.
Y/N's heart raced as a near panic attack hit. With shaky hands they reached for the keyboard and began typing.
(Username): sorry, I'm just not a very social person. I honestly thought I was getting a link to some advice and not a link to a chatroom originally. I didn't intend to intrude or stay this long, I can go now if you guys are that bothered by my lack of conversation.
And just like that, Y/N left the chat. Deleted the application. And then opened the file with their novel on it and stared at it. "You got me into this mess." They said, pointing at the screen. They let out a sigh of defeat and pointed at themself. "No, you did actually." Their forehead softly hit the desk. "I'm so screwed."
-----
The next few days went by normally. Y/N was surprised to say the least. They thought for sure someone would have come after them by now. Afterall, it was obvious at least, that goreboy knew their location. He probably hacked their IP address when they joined the chat. It seemed like his chat anyway. How he knew they were writing a novel though, they couldn't figure out.
Y/N decided to take it easy for their day off and just watch some videos again. There was some new gameplay they wanted to watch. Annoyingly though, the algorithm decided to not work out in their favor today. Their usual gaming video recommendations were replaced with vlogs? One caught their eye. The channel belonging to a woman named Maria. The thumbnail showing the woman from the store the other night. HOLY SHIT! I sacrificed my food for an Internet sensation and then embarrassed myself right in front of her.
Suddenly they didn't want to watch videos. Or stay inside the house wasting away. They got up and decided to get dressed before leaving home and going out for a walk. They just wanted to clear their mind a bit and get some fresh air.
As they walked down the sidewalk, an alleyway up ahead started giving them an uneasy feeling out of nowhere. Why do I feel like I shouldn't walk by there? But they watched a pair of other people walk by just fine. I'm just paranoid I guess. And they continued walking, averting their gaze away from the alley.
They should have looked at their surroundings. Suddenly the sound of metal scraping against asphalt caught their attention.
It's too late now. They turned their head towards the direction of the sound.
They're screwed. A tall man with dark reddish-purple hair mostly hidden under a beanie with devil horns stood there, holding a crowbar.
Y/N was about to run when a deep voice interrupted them. "Darlin' (username) or should I say Y/N." He let out a cackle. "I tried to settle this with you peacefully, but you left me no choice." He grabbed their arm before they could react, and pulled them into the alley.
"I, I swear I was telling the truth. I really don't socialize that much. There's no need to be there. That's all. I'm not planning to snitch or anything. I just don't feel like getting to know strangers." They responded in a panic.
"I could tell from my research on ya that you don't socialize much, but I really hoped I could have more fun with this." Ronin said as he put his free hand against the wall near Y/N's head, trapping them there. "You say you won't snitch though? Prove it."
"What do you mean prove it? And is my lack of socializing not enough proof already?" Y/N asked, pressing their back against the wall almost as if they thought trying hard enough would let them just sink straight into it.
He let out a cackle that sounded like a mix of amused and annoyed. "Oh darlin' it's not that simple. You'll have to do something that will guarantee you also get in trouble if you tried to."
"You want me to kill someone!?" Y/N nearly shouted, but stopped themself from being so loud because they ARE in public after all.
"I didn't say THAT specifically but if that's how you want to do it." He smirked.
"N-no!" Y/N stuttered out, turning their head to look away from him.
Ronin let out another cackle before taking one of their hands and placing it on his crowbar, wrapping their fingers around it fully. "Your prints are on here too now, try anything and I'll make sure they're aware."
Y/N gulped as they quickly pulled their hand off the weapon. "Fine, that's our deal I guess." They averted their eyes to the ground afterwards, suddenly feeling awkward and tense, not knowing how to continue the interaction.
"Ya' know, I originally invited you to the chat to mess with you." Ronin began, noticing Y/N's gaze shoot back up at him. "But of course I got bored when you stayed so quiet. So I did some extra digging on you. I found an old blog you ran, well it was anonymous, but it had your IP address attached to it."
Y/N felt their stomach drop. They opened that blog in a fit of rage when they were at the lowest of lows during their transitionary period. No one was ever supposed to connect them back to it, especially after the things they wrote. They never did anything, but they sure had a lot of dark thoughts towards those who weren't accepting them. "I wasn't in the best headspace, I was in the middle of tra-"
"You don't need to explain yourself." Ronin interrupted. "I have been through similar, except obviously I acted on those thoughts."
"Wait, you're-" Y/N started, but then quickly stopped because they didn't want to make assumptions.
"It would have come up eventually since we celebrate pride on the server too, but yes. Paired with living in a super religious town, it wasn't the best situation for me, so I did what I had to." Ronin said, his voice low and barely audible.
Ronin's vulnerability was enough to break Y/N out of their shell a bit more. Finally having someone they could relate to, they relaxed as their gaze on Ronin softened. "I... guess I don't have much room to judge then, regardless of if you knew or not it would be hypocritical of me- I mean, the things I wrote and published back then, they for sure would have locked me up if anyone traced it back to me. Even if I didn't act on those thoughts." They let out a sigh. "It was just immature of me."
"Immature?" Ronin scoffed. "Nah, fuck those bigots. They don't deserve sympathy. Hate is a choice they went out of their way to make. They intend to harm. That's why I like to get back at them."
"Is that your motive?" Y/N asked him skeptically.
"In a way, yes. There's more to it than that though." He responded. "Though don't worry, you've given me no reason to make you a target in any other way either. In fact, I'd actually like to get to know you more, if you'll open up." He finished the sentence a bit more calmly.
Y/N thought about the idea for a moment. On one hand, the man in front of them is a killer. On the other hand, they can't deny they've had the intrusive thoughts that would have brought them to the same point in life. After another moment of silence, they finally spoke up. "Alright, I'll give this a shot."
Ronin smirked and took out his phone, adding Y/N back to the chat and then sending a message to the chat.
goreboy: @(username) is going to finally open up to us, don't overwhelm them
Angelic: I'm glad to hear that! They seem like someone I would love to get to know more
Y/N grew curious at Angel's choice of words. "What does she mean by more? I never really talked there."
"Oh, about that." Ronin began. "She sort of helped me assess you in person a bit ago. At the store. She said you were pretty shy but respectful."
"Wait, that was HER!?" Y/N accidentally shouted a little too loudly. Thinking about the rather gorgeous woman they had encountered that one night. "Uh, tell her I said thanks for the good review." They followed up awkwardly.
Ronin smirked. "I'll leave that up to you actually, since you are supposed to be chatting more now. Make sure to get back home safe. I look forward to seeing how well you'll get along with everyone."
--3 months later--
Y/N finally published their novel. They had a persistent hater, not for their writing but for their identity. Ronin had noticed, afterall, they started dating the same day it was published. He originally took them out as a publishing celebration, but then some feelings and confessions happened and suddenly they were official. After a month straight of the persistent hate posts on social media, Y/N got flashbacks to the old blog but was still too scared to act on the thoughts themself. Eventually they went to Ronin's place and handed him his crowbar. "Please help."
And that's how he ended up coming back in through the door about an hour later. Y/N got up in anxiety, whether it was good or bad they couldn't tell. But Ronin approached and offered a hug, leaving it up to them since he was covered in blood. "You'll never see another post from that account again."
Y/N accepted the hug and cried into his shoulder. "Thank you."
"Of course darlin'" Ronin responded.
Y/N's life with their newfound friends actually wasn't bad at all. They even ended up guest starring in one of Angel's videos after the novel became an instant sensation. Though they haven't met Misaki or V in person, they were still pretty close friends with both of them. Thinking of all the moments, their tears turned into a smile as they gently pulled away and gave Ronin a kiss instead, shocking him with the sudden mood change.
Ronin smiled at the response. "I'm going to clean up real quick, but meet me in my room?" He suggested with a half smirk.
"Ronin!" Y/N exclaimed in embarrassment, leading him to laugh as he approached the bathroom.
"Or you could join me in here now." Ronin winked as he opened the door, leaving Y/N as a blushing mess, deciding what they should do.