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“9 people, 81 hours, 18 doors.” Zero’s voice was staticky and cold over the speakers.
“Ah I get it. 9,” Santa deadpanned. He looked extremely bored with the entire shtick and it’d only been two hours. He yawned obnoxiously.
Lotus rolled her eyes at the man, but the rest ignored him. Ace addressed the speaker.
“Why these numbers? Why not 9 hours or 9 doors?”
Zero was silent for a moment. “A new experiment. Different this time.”
“This time?” Junpei questioned, but the mysterious man didn’t answer. Seemed it was the end of the conversation.
“Intriguing,” Snake mused, tapping his chin.
A bell chimed in the distance.
11 o’clock.
Their group stood around, stunned. Shocked faces, scared and confused. For most of them anyway. Santa still looked bored and Lotus seemed almost irritated. Whispers erupted immediately as they all compared knowledge. It was loud. Noise echoed through the large room and Junpei shut his eyes.
18 doors, each numbered. He wondered if they went consecutively through 18, or if they were double numbered. The latter seemed more likely. They couldn’t get a digital root of 18, it’d always have to be 9. So two doors of each number. And a group of 9. Seemed difficult.
But if it was just puzzles like the room he’d woken up in, it might not be too bad.
Besides the almost drowning thing.
“Are you okay, Jumpy?” Akane- well, June now, asked from next to him.
He nodded, cracking his eyes to look at her. She’d really grown since he’d last seen her. Which was elementary school, so that made sense. Her head reached his collarbone now, so different from when they were both 4 feet nothing.
“We should get movin’. We’ve got plenty of time, but we need to find these doors first,” Seven chimed over all the chatter. Everyone paused and Snake nodded.
“I agree. They shouldn’t be far, there’s only a few rooms we haven’t investigated.” His voice was calming but assertive. Clover grinned beside him.
So the group quickly moved to search. It didn’t take long to find the doors.
It didn’t take long before one of their members died too.
The 9th man took Clover hostage and forced them to open the 5th door. But it did him no good to be the only one passing through.
After hearing the explosion behind the door, Snake revealed to them what had happened.
Apparently everyone who authenticated on the RED needed to do the same on the DEAD. Which was on the other side of the door. The 9th man couldn’t have known this and his death had been one of desperation and ignorance.
A bomb.
In their intestines.
Junpei’s stomach churned. It didn’t help that everyone had started yelling in horror. Santa shoved two fingers down his throat and tried to throw the thing up, despite Snake’s warnings. The retching really didn’t help Junpei’s nausea.
After they calmed down, which took a bit of convincing, they stared at the doors.
4 and 5.
5 and 4.
The number after 3 and-
“Okay time to decide who’s going where.” Ace considered the openings. “As much as I hate it…,”
“We’re going to have to play by Zero’s game to move forward.” Snake finished. “I’d like to go through door 5.”
“What? We’re actually going through them?” June exclaimed. Sweat rolled down the side of her face.
“I’ll go through 5, too.” Seven gruffed, ignoring her question.
“Well obviously I’m going with my brother!” Clover latched on to his arm and stared at them all. Like she was daring them to object. Snake just sighed.
“Then we will need Ace as well, that will make a digital root of 5.”
And with that, the last four would go through door 4.
So starts this nightmare.
--
The puzzles weren’t that hard, just a little tedious. Junpei was getting kind of sick of swapping between all the rooms. Not to mention he had to spend more time with new people.
Now, it wasn’t like he disliked them. They seemed fine, but he’d rather just stick with June. After having that strange conversation with Santa about a bookmark and then listening to Lotus talk about telepathy, he was all tuckered out on social activities.
Everyone was on edge. His muscles felt bunched, like he could fight or flight at any moment, and a constant humming stayed right below his skin. Made him want to rip his spine out and wring it out, just to let his nerves settle.
Surprisingly, they met back with the others on the other side. A vast room filled with medical beds and 8 reunited people.
“It only makes sense, we wouldn’t be able to open most of the doors if we got split up for good,” Seven explained.
They all nodded and Junpei yawned. Which caused Santa to yawn. Then June. Clover looked two seconds away from falling asleep.
The adrenaline of first showing up was wearing off hours later. The fact that it was the middle of the night was setting in and the mental weariness weighed on his brain.
Snake paused.
“Perhaps before going in the next ones, we should rest for the night. We can always pick up in the morning.”
Junpei didn’t know how he could tell they were exhausted, but he appreciated it.
“Do we really have the time for that?” Lotus questioned. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Plenty. 81 hours is close to 3 days and a few hours.” Seven sat on one of the beds. It creaked under his weight like the croak of a squashed frog.
Santa huffed. “And it won’t take that long for 18 doors. We’ve already gone through two.” He held up two fingers and waggled them.
“16 doors in 3 days isn’t bad!” Clover smiled.
Optimism floated through the room. Like a soft mist, it filled their lungs and left them warm.
“Fine, then we rest until 6. That’ll be 9 of our hours gone,” Lotus amended.
A sigh of relief escaped Junpei’s lips, shoulders dropping. He really was quite tired. Santa and Clover glanced at him with amusement.
The only problem now was to figure out where to sleep.
According to Seven, there wasn’t anywhere to rest behind door 5, not that many people were inclined to sleep next to a corpse anyway. The kitchen wasn’t very comfortable, but the two rooms in the beginning of door 4 would do nicely. There were also all the medical rooms in that long hallway. The cots weren’t very comfortable, but they’d take what they could get.
They decided to draw rooms in pairs unless people just wanted to stay in this central room. Seven and Ace decided they didn’t care and both took a cot in the vast medical room.
Snake and Clover opted to stay together as siblings. Junpei opened his mouth to say he’d stay with June when Lotus cut him off.
“Uh uh. No young ladies staying with young men.” She waggled at finger at him, nose scrunched in disgust. “Who knows what you two would get up to?”
Both June and Junpei’s faces flushed and he stuttered protests. Santa just snickered.
“I’ll be staying with June, you can stay with Santa.” She was still giving him the stink eye. Geez, what did Junpei do to deserve this?
June glanced at him bashfully. “It’ll be okay Jumpy, we’ll see each other in the morning.”
His heart skipped a beat.
“Ye-yeah.”
Maybe it was a good idea they didn’t room together, he’d probably explode.
“Alright lover boy, let’s go.” Santa rolled his eyes.
In the end, Junpei and Santa got one of the comfortable rooms in door 4 by drawing straws. Lotus had preached that the girls should get the nice rooms, but Santa fought back for the luck of the draw. Surprisingly, they won. Junpei palmed the four-leaf clover bookmark in his pocket. Lotus and June got the other room, which Snake and Clover were fine with since they hadn’t been the ones to explore door 4. They choose one of the medical rooms with two cots.
As the night drew on, they retired to their rooms.
Junpei reluctantly bid good night to June before closing the door across the hall.
Santa was waiting for him with his arms crossed. He hummed a song under his breath.
The tension was light. The two men got along generally, able to appreciate each other’s sense of humor. But sometimes Junpei thought Santa was almost too laid back. It was like he kept himself at a distance, unwilling to trust anyone in the group.
Even still, after solving a room together, a bond was formed.
“Alright. Where should we sleep?” Santa asked, head cocked to the side. He had a light smile on his face. It was pleasant.
Junpei gave him one back. “Well, there’s the couch and the bed in the other room.” He tapped his chin. Both were decently comfortable, but the bed was the obvious choice. It did have two pillows…
“Guess I’ll take the couch.” Santa shrugged. He stretched his arms above his head and Junpei traced the lean muscle with his eyes.
“Why don’t we both just share the bed?”
Grey eyes blinked in surprise. His arms dropped back to his side and Santa rose an eyebrow in amusement.
“Share, huh? Haven’t you ever heard of stranger danger?” He was…he was teasing him, wasn’t he?
Junpei rolled his eyes. “There’s two pillows, it’s enough room for both.” He probably should have relented and just let Santa take the couch, but he was too far now. He was digging himself a bigger and bigger hole. With no one to blame but himself.
A moment of silence stretched between them. Then Santa shrugged.
“Sure, why not?” He cracked his neck and started towards the other room.
“In all honestly, I volunteered for the couch because I figured you’d be a gentleman and offer to take it instead, not we both take the bed.” Santa explained as he walked. Irritation creased Junpei’s brow.
“I’m not gonna take the couch for another dude.”
“Rude. Not a true gentleman.” Santa waved a hand at him. “Bet you would’ve for June.”
The taunt was obvious, but Junpei’s cheeks heated nonetheless. “Whatever. You’re supposed to sleep on the couch for a lady.”
Santa tilted his head. “Sounds miserable. And not very fair.”
“You’re just selfish.” Junpei countered.
The white-haired man gave him a wolfish grin and shrugged again. “Sure. But I’m not the one who volunteered to share a bed with another guy.”
Heat radiated from his face now. God, he could only imagine what it looked like. Probably a really stupid tomato.
Santa let out a loud laugh, one that involved his whole body. His shoulders shook with mirth.
“Oh shut it!” Junpei hissed. Sweat pooled in his palms.
“It’s not a big deal, dude. It’s like a...,” Santa chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. “A sleepover.”
Junpei grit his teeth. A sleepover, huh? He couldn’t say he understood. His uncertainty must’ve shown on his face because Santa’s eyes lit up.
“Have you never had a sleepover?” He pushed forward, face close to Junpei’s. It was taunting and teasing and wow he had little specks of green in his eyes. Junpei swallowed. Air stuttered in his lungs.
“O-of course I have!” Junpei shoved him away and the man snickered. “I have a roommate at home.”
Santa looked at him incredulously. “A roommate doesn’t count.”
“Sure it does! We sleep. Sleepover.” The college student gestured lamely with his hands.
Santa stared.
Junpei fidgeted.
“Okay so maybe I didn’t have many sleepovers.” Aaand promptly cracked. “I always got scared and ran home crying.”
That clearly didn’t help his case. Santa laughed again, somehow even louder this time. Steam practically rose off his head, Junpei was so embarrassed.
“Just. Get in the bed,” he grit through his teeth.
“So forward.” Santa smirked but started to do as he was told.
“And shut up.” Junpei ground out.
The white-haired man quickly removed his scarf, placing it on the vanity in the room. He tried to remove his gloves too, but the bracelet held one of them in place. Junpei followed suit and took off his vest. The flannel would stay, as the bracelet was over it, but he also didn’t feel super comfortable sleeping shirtless. Next to Santa.
Luckily, the other man also kept on his tank top. He did take his headband off though.
Soft white hair fell around his face, framing his eyes.
Santa dragged a hand through it and Junpei tried not to stare too much.
He was pretty sure he was failing.
Santa was—objectively—pretty attractive. The stark white hair, sharp grey eyes, and enticing smile would draw anyone in. Uh, any girl that is.
It’s too bad about his personality.
Junpei laughed at his own joke beneath his breath.
Santa rose an eyebrow at him and he responded with a smirk. The other man just huffed. Like they had a whole conversation just between looks.
The man clearly had his own style too, and it worked for him. Now though, in this quiet night, with his hair down, it softened him. Took the spiky hair and made it smooth, dulling the sharpness of his eyes. The lack of scarf also took away some of his contrast. It exposed his collarbones and his pale skin. He looked almost younger in a way. Like he’d let his guard down and just lived.
Junpei shook his head.
So stupid.
After shucking their extra clothing, they threw their shoes in the corner and crawled into bed.
Or at least, that’s what they’d do in theory.
Santa hopped in without hesitation, scooting as far to the wall as he could. He hummed. “It’s not quite a double, it’ll be a bit of a tight squeeze.”
Junpei thought about the couch in the other room. But he was too tired to care.
Yawning, he shuffled in.
It was close.
Close enough to feel Santa’s body heat.
He tried not to think about it.
The bed itself was cushy, way more comfortable than the cots. Junpei practically sunk into it, bones cradled by the plush mattress. All his muscles relaxed at once. Sick exhaustion weaved its way through him now that he was off his feet. To just relax. Even if it was just for a few hours. Even if he was kidnapped on a strange boat in the middle of the ocean.
“I feel like I’m drowning,” Santa mumbled.
Junpei could relate. The pressure and stress of the situation would surely give him gray hair. Maybe he’d look like Ace by the time he was 25. That’d be unfortunate. He wondered how many of them would snap before the 3 days were up. If the weight of death would pull them under before the ship could even sink.
“This pillow is way too soft, literally can’t breathe.” The other man shifted, pulling the pillow from behind his head.
Oh. Perhaps he hadn’t meant drowning as in mentally.
Santa stared at the bed, thinking.
“Here I’ll make a wall.” He shoved the pillow between them. It was one of the saddest walls Junpei had ever seen. A single pillow dividing their heads. Santa shrugged in a “I-tried-to-make-this-less-awkward” way, then flopped back down, tucking his arm behind his head.
He turned away from Junpei and the college student did the same. He could barely make out the vanity on the other side of the room. His eyes hadn’t quite adjusted to the dark. He instead listened to Santa’s breathing, soft in the quiet.
“You better not snore.”
“Goodnight to you, too.”
Santa just kicked his ankle under the covers in response.
--
The morning came violently. Six hours wasn’t enough and when Lotus banged on their door to wake them up, Junpei wanted to cry. He cracked his eyes, hating how uncomfortable they sat in their sockets. Even his eyes disagreed with waking this early. The first thing he saw was the wall.
Which was strange because he definitely fell asleep facing the room.
Next thing he saw—well, more felt—was white hair. It tickled his cheek and made his nose twitch. Now, last time Junpei checked, he didn’t have white hair. He was also so comfortably warm. Like hot soup on a winter night.
His numb arm was the last straw.
Well, that and the man pressed to his chest.
Santa’s breath was warm where it skittered across his collarbone. His arm was lazily tossed over Junpei’s waist, the other one tucked to his chest. Ankle pressed to ankle, their legs were tangled under the covers. Junpei, on his part, also had his arm around Santa. Like he was cocooning him to his chest. It almost worked, except for the fact that they were the same height and Santa’s feet poked out of the blanket to accommodate. The wall pillow had fallen to the floor.
Pink flushed his cheeks. Again.
He tried not to breathe.
Was it possible to extract himself from the hold without waking his companion? It was a miracle he hadn’t already woken when Lotus nearly broke down their door. They were supposed to meet with the others. They couldn’t stay here.
Goddammit.
Junpei stared at Santa.
His eyelashes were long, white where they cast over his eyes. What was it called when one brushed them against someone’s cheek? Oh yeah, a butterfly kiss.
Santa didn’t exactly strike him as a butterfly.
Maybe…a moth.
With their silk pupae and neutral coloring. With soft wings and sharp pasts. Junpei had heard once that moths could represent the light and the dark. That white moths were symbols of death and ill wishes. Some people thought they were stories of growth and transformation.
Like a bug could be anything more than just a creature trying to live.
Maybe Santa was that white moth, or maybe he was just a normal person.
A cynical one, but one nonetheless.
With his hair down, wings folded up, tucked into a plush bed, he wasn’t particularly threatening at all.
Junpei let his thoughts run. Of butterflies and moths. Of purple wings and large eyes, of white antennae and sharp wit.
Of moth kisses, but not of butterfly’s.
His brain ground to a halt when Santa shifted in his arms.
Junpei tried to scoot back, but it was too late. The man’s grey eyes snapped open. He was met with red flannel and tanned skin.
They both froze. Like if they made a move, the room would explode. Which it very well might knowing this ship.
The walls held their breath and the candle in the corner watched with interest. What would they do? What would they do? It almost felt like the bed was giggling. A kid playing a funny prank.
Junpei’s heart rabbited in his chest, pulse fluttering in his veins. He wondered if Santa could hear it. He wondered if he wanted him to.
Finally, the spell broke. They both shoved each other back, Junpei nearly falling off the narrow mattress.
“Ahem.” Santa cleared his throat, very clearly not looking at Junpei. He felt much the same way, gaze flicking around the room to avoid Santa. That could only last so long though. His eyes were drawn back to the man next to him.
Santa had his arms crossed in front of his chest and had turned his head towards the wall.
Junpei’s brain stuttered.
Pink flushed across Santa’s cheeks. The color burned his ears and reddened his neck.
That was interesting. Delight zinged through Junpei’s nerves.
Something giddy pressed against his sternum and he wondered what it took to get Santa to flush like that again. How far would the red go? Would it bloom across his collarbones? Flush down his pale chest?
His own face was flaming at just the thought.
“You must be clingy in your sleep,” Santa mumbled, glaring at the wall. Embarrassed. He was embarrassed.
“Uh- sure.” Junpei nodded dumbly.
Santa turned to him, hands gesturing like he needed Junpei to believe him. Or needed himself to believe him. The rouge in his cheeks just darkened when they made eye contact.
“And I’m always cold, so I must’ve gravitated towards the warmest thing.” He pointed with an accusing finger towards Junpei, like he was at fault for them cuddling.
Oh god, they had been cuddling.
A strangled squeak escaped his throat.
Santa took it as agreement and started nodding. He would’ve looked dead serious if not for his cherry red skin. Junpei almost laughed. But he, too, understood the gravity of the situation.
“Yeah, yeah and I run warm. Basically a space heater.” He offered. Because that’s what they needed. An explanation. Something to brush off this thing as just a freak incident. That they had been cold. They were naturally clingy. That there was nothing there that made him want to hold Santa again.
It was stupid.
Two people finding comfort in each other in a death game.
And yet, they couldn’t call it as such. Because they’d been taught not to.
They both bobbed their head, a mutual agreement to never speak of this again and to sweep it all under the rug. Junpei almost wanted to shake his hand to seal the business deal.
Once the manly men established their mutual manliness, they both hopped up and got ready to face the music. Scarf swirled around a pale neck and vest secured over thick flannel. Hair secured once more by a head band.
Any traces of the night disappeared and it was like they were the same people from yesterday.
Perhaps the only clue that anything had changed was the beat of their hearts.
But as they left to meet with the others, with jokes and smiles and lingering looks, no one would know. No one but Santa and Junpei.