Work Text:
Itoshi Rin loved horror films.
Blood, tension, unrelenting dread. He used to eat that shit up like popcorn. The louder the screams, the better the vibes. But tonight, the girl on screen was being chased by a chainsaw maniac, and Rin was just. Crying. Not in fear. Not even really paying attention. Just... leaking. Curled up on the couch with a blanket over his head like some grief-stricken widow, Rin clutched his phone to his chest and stared blankly at the movie, tears silently sliding down his face. It was pathetic. He knew it. But still, the pain in his chest refused to let up. Because Sae was getting married. To Shidou fucking Ryusei.
That loud, smug, punchable demon. The same one who’d broken Rin’s nose in high school. The same one who’d screamed “CRY HARDER, BITCH BOY” after dunking Rin’s head into the gym trash can after a match. That Shidou. That’s who Sae chose. To elope to Iceland or wherever the hell with, Rin doesn’t care anyway, "it’s fine, he’s fine,” he told himself as his chest cracked open like soggy drywall.
He finally caved and dialed Hiori.
The screen lit up, and after three rings, Hiori picked up with his usual quiet voice, “Hey. I thought you liked horror.”
“I do,” Rin croaked, nose stuffy, voice dead. “I’m just... processing.”
There was a long pause, the chainsaw from the movie revving violently in the background.
“You’re crying,” Hiori said plainly.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m mourning the death of good taste. My brother’s marrying the human equivalent of a screaming feral raccoon in a Gucci fur coat,” Rin snapped. “He, Shidou, he kicked me in the ribs once for flipped him off.”
“…Yikes.”
Silence. Rin sniffed.
“You wanna talk about it?” Hiori asked gently.
Rin did. So he did. For an hour. He trauma-dumped with the grace of a drunk soap opera character. About how Sae had stopped visiting. About how everyone acts like Shidou’s “just a little intense” when he’s obviously a goblin in cleats. About how he’s tired of being angry, but also tired of pretending he’s not still angry. And also the Iceland photos looked good and he hated that too.
After he was done, a very long silence followed.
Then Hiori said, “You wanna play a game?”
“…What kind of game? If this is some weird ‘touch grass’ thing I’m gonna block you.”
“No, an MMORPG,” Hiori said calmly. “Low effort. High distraction. Very little real life. You like punching monsters, right?”
Rin grunted.
“There’s fishing.”
“…Go on.”
“It’s called Harvest Saga Online. You get to be a battle farmer. You can punch cabbages. Grow turnips. Kill skeletons. Or date people, if you want.”
“Date people?”
“NPCs. Or players. There’s one girl who keeps trying to sell me virtual goat cheese. You’d probably like her.”
Rin exhaled, dramatic as always. “Fine. Send me the link. If I become a potato farmer out of emotional collapse, I’m blaming you.”
“Deal.”
And that was how Rin, heartbroken, tomato-eyed, and still in his horror movie mourning blanket, downloaded Harvest Saga Online and created a dual-wielding emo warrior named "Shadow_Rin".
Rin expected the game to be boring.
He expected to hate the pastel colors, the cheery background music, the way everything sparkled when you picked a damn carrot. But after exactly five minutes of slashing wild boars with a hoe and throwing turnips at undead farmers, Rin found himself... kind of into it. The combat was decent. The farming system was strangely addictive. And the chat feature let him ignore everyone, which he liked.
So he played.
Every night. After homework. After sulking. After another text from Sae saying “you should come to the wedding though, it'll be fun lol.”
He farmed. He fished. He unlocked a rare goose with glowing eyes. Hiori kept to his own peaceful herb garden across the map and occasionally sent Rin passive-aggressive gifts like “Friendship Bread 🍞 (for people who don’t talk about their feelings)” or “Comfort Duck Plush (YOU NEED THERAPY).”
It was Day Four when it happened.
Rin was trying to plant onions in a graveyard (long story) when a stranger’s character appeared out of nowhere and threw a glitter bomb on him.
The screen flashed:
💌 You’ve been BEE-BLESSED by BeeLovin420! 💌
“Hiya!! You looked like you were dying inside so I gave you sparkles 🌟✨"
Rin blinked.
The stranger stood there in a frilly witch outfit—pink pigtails, butterfly staff, heart sunglasses, and the name BeeLovin420 floating above her head. The game let players customize their avatars to hell and back, and this one looked like Hatsune Miku had a breakdown in anime convention.
Rin stared.
Then typed:
[Shadow_Rin]: …What the hell is this.
A reply popped up immediately.
[BeeLovin420]: Happiness!! :D
[BeeLovin420]: And also fertilizer. That was actually a buff potion. Your onions will be HOT now. 🔥🔥🔥
“…Jesus Christ,” Rin muttered out loud.
Then—
[BeeLovin420]: You’re new, right? You got the vibe of someone who hasn’t learned how to emote yet. Here— /wiggle
The character started dancing. Badly.
Rin couldn’t look away. Part horror. Part morbid curiosity. But mostly confusion.
[Shadow_Rin]: Why are you helping me.
[BeeLovin420]: Because you looked like a sad turnip left out in the rain 🥺💦
[BeeLovin420]: And my mom says I’m too intense so I’m working on kindness quests this week 💪🌼
Rin stared at the screen, half-mortified, half-fascinated.
“…I hate it here,” he whispered, as he watched BeeLovin420 drop a bouquet of in-game marigolds into his inventory.
Over the next few days, Bee kept appearing.
Every time Rin logged on, she’d show up. With sparkles. With snacks. With terrible jokes. She talked a mile a minute and called him “Rinnie-kun” in chat. Rin never added her as a friend—but she kept showing up anyway.
And Rin, despite himself, stopped logging off after just one hour. And started typing more than three words at a time. And even laughed. Once. Quietly. Alone in his room. It was stupid. It was silly.
But BeeLovin420 made the ache in his chest feel just a little less heavy.
Rin told himself it was nothing.
It was just a game. A time-waster. An emotional crutch. That was all. The fact that he now waited for BeeLovin420 to log on every evening like a wife waiting at the window for her sailor husband to return from war? Totally normal. Definitely not weird.
And it wasn’t like he liked her or anything. …Even if he did spend an extra thirty minutes customizing his avatar’s jacket so it matched her favorite color. …And maybe also bought a virtual ring item from the cash shop “just to see what it looked like.”
Totally. Normal.
Bee’s avatar didn’t help. She looked like some kind of fairy-girl idol witch explosion. Pink and gold curls, sparkly eyes, thigh-high boots, and a ridiculous hat that said “Buzzin’ 4 U 🐝💕.” Her voice lines (the character’s preset audio) were aggressively cute. Half her animations involved hearts or glitter or tossing candy into the air like she was summoning cavities.
Rin should’ve been annoyed. Instead, every time her avatar skipped toward him yelling “RIN-RIN~ 💖!!! I got you bee syrup!!” like a Looney Tunes character on ecstasy, something warm and terrible blossomed in his chest.
Even worse, she was kind. Actually kind.
Not performative kindness. Not just emoji spam and fake flirting. But genuinely remembering the things he liked. Sending him rare items because “you said you wanted this, right?” Telling him “you’re cool even when you act like a cactus 🌵” after he failed a dungeon and rage-quit mid-boss fight.
She’d even said one night,
[BeeLovin420]: I think you’re a little sad IRL, Rinnie. But I hope I can make you feel less sad here. Just a little 🐝
That message lived in his head rent-free. Rin had screen-capped it. Twice. For no reason. Shut up.
Even Hiori noticed.
"You’ve been playing with the bee witch a lot," he said one day over call, monotone but just a little too amused.
“I haven’t.”
“She gave you a nickname.”
“I didn’t ask her to.”
“You log in faster when she’s online.”
“I—"
“You called her cute yesterday.”
“I meant annoying-cute,” Rin snapped, red in the ears. “Not cute-cute.”
"Sure," Hiori replied, sounding like someone sipping tea.
Rin groaned into his pillow.
.
.
By the end of the week, Bee had dragged him to in-game festivals, flower-picking contests, and a mini co-op mission where their characters had to “act out” a love story quest for NPC villagers.
She picked the couple's name. Team “HoneyDripLove.”
Rin hated it. (He did not hate it.)
He caught himself thinking about her when he wasn’t online. About the way she laughed in chat. About how she never asked him for anything but always gave something. About how, for the first time in months, he didn’t feel completely hollow when the screen went dark.
Maybe he didn’t know what she looked like.
But she was kind. She was sweet. She was chaos. She made him laugh.
Maybe… just maybe…
Maybe he was into her?
Rin checked the time. 10:03 PM.
BeeLovin420 always logged in at 9:45. At the latest. And yet. Her name stayed greyed out, the little “offline” tag glaring at him like a personal betrayal. Rin sat in front of his monitor, hoodie up, hood down, hoodie up again, glaring at the home screen like he could will her into existence.
Maybe something happened. Maybe she was sick. Or sad. Or had a life.
He’d already finished all his farming tasks and rearranged his entire in-game house twice. He even helped Hiori water virtual lavender like some lovesick assistant, but it wasn’t the same. Bee usually spammed him with emojis the second he logged in. Tonight: silence.
"You're pouting," Hiori said in voice chat.
"I'm not."
"You renamed your goose 'Regret Lord II'."
"Shut up."
"You should just get her Discord or something. Talk outside the game. Y’know. Like a person.”
“I’m not trying to date her,” Rin snapped, instantly defensive.
Hiori paused. "You called her cute in twelve different emotes yesterday and gave her a chocolate pear named 'My Heartfruit'."
“That’s just lore,” Rin muttered.
But the idea stuck. Discord. Just to talk about the game. Keep it casual. Totally normal. Maybe if she wanted to send him tips or updates on her bee sanctuary questline… or just say hi…
So the next night, when she finally logged in (at 10:26 PM, and Rin was already 67% spiraled into imagining her funeral), he almost exploded with relief.
[BeeLovin420]: heyyyyyy sry im LATE 😭 i was helping mom fix the washing machine (it ATTACKED ME)
[BeeLovin420]: but it’s okay now i think the wires are friends again 🐍🤝🐍
Rin stared at the screen, heart rate slowly stabilizing.
[Shadow_Rin]: …You’re late.
[BeeLovin420]: awwwww did u miss meee~?
[Shadow_Rin]: No.
[Shadow_Rin]: Just thought you got eaten by a slime. Or fell down a well. Or ghost-nuked by a game patch.
[BeeLovin420]: cute 🥺💛 that means u did miss me!!
Rin didn’t reply right away. His fingers hovered over the keys.
Then, screw it.
[Shadow_Rin]: Do you have Discord?
[Shadow_Rin]: For talking about quests. And monster stats. Outside the game. In case the servers crash or something.
Bee’s avatar on screen spun in a circle and threw a heart-shaped pumpkin into the air.
[BeeLovin420]: AWWWW YOU WANNA KEEP ME EVEN WHEN UR NOT ONLINE 😭😭😭
[BeeLovin420]: okokok wait lemme make my user cute first
He watched in real time as her status changed from “in-game” to “BeeLovin420#BuzzBuzz. Rin added her immediately.
And then spent ten minutes staring at the empty message box, trying to type “cool thanks” in a way that didn’t sound like “hi I’m deeply obsessed with you and thought you died.”
Rin stared at the Discord screen like it was going to bite him.
The chat window blinked at him:
🐝 BeeLovin420 is online.
A profile picture of a smiling cartoon bee holding a knife greeted him cheerfully. Her status message read “💛 Buzzing through life with vibes and violence 💛.”
He hesitated.
What was he even supposed to say?
Thanks for the fertilizer? Please never stop talking to me?
After an entire five minutes of pacing his room in a slow, deranged circle, Rin finally cracked his knuckles, sat down, and typed:
Shadow_Rin: hey
Immediately
BeeLovin420: RINNIEEEEEE 😭💛😭💛😭
BeeLovin420: omg u look like u type with angst HAHAHA i missed ur lil angry texts 😤💖
BeeLovin420: this app feels so grown up what if i say something cringe. what if i say “poggers” and u block me
Shadow_Rin: you just said it
BeeLovin420: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rin cracked the tiniest smile. God, she was so annoying. But also… not. Talking to her here felt different. More real. Her energy still bounced around like a sugar-high squirrel, but there were pauses now. Real time. Typing indicators. Silence filled with breath and not just game music.
It made him nervous. In a good-bad way.
Shadow_Rin: do you always talk like this
BeeLovin420: like what 🥺
Shadow_Rin: like you swallowed a glitter bomb and a bag of memes
BeeLovin420: YEAH THAT’S JUST MY BRAIN SORRY
A pause.
BeeLovin420: do u not like it? 🐝
Rin stared at the screen. His heart did something stupid in his chest.
Shadow_Rin: no
Shadow_Rin: i like it
Shadow_Rin: …it makes me feel less shitty
And there it was.
He immediately winced, like the words physically left his soul. Why did he say that. Why. WHY.
Bee didn’t respond for a few seconds. Rin’s entire spine stiffened.
BeeLovin420: 🥺💛🥺💛🥺💛🥺
BeeLovin420: i’m really glad u feel that way
BeeLovin420: sometimes i get scared i’m too much… like maybe i talk too fast or ppl don’t wanna deal with my weird jokes
BeeLovin420: but u don’t make me feel that way, rinrin
BeeLovin420: u always make me feel like being myself is ok 🐝💛✨
BeeLovin420: so thx for that
Rin read it three times.
He had to put his phone down.
What the hell was this warm feeling in his chest. What the hell was this fluttery mess behind his ribs. Was this what liking someone felt like? Was he in love?? Was he going to die like one of those anime protagonists who chokes on emotions??
He was suddenly aware that he hadn’t spoken to a real-life girl (or "girl") this much since… ever. She liked him. She liked him. And she made him feel calm. Normal. Liked back.
He was doomed.
Rin Itoshi, 21, emotionally repressed horror film addict, was now in love with a pink sparkle bee witch from the internet.
.
.
It started with a meme.
Bee had sent it randomly at 12:43 AM. A badly drawn MS Paint image of a skeleton sobbing into a keyboard with the caption:
“when u try to make a joke but ur unresolved trauma leaks out mid-sentence 😭💀”
Rin stared at it. Something in him stirred.
He tapped the keyboard. Hesitated. Backspaced. Rewrote. Paused again.
And then, without really thinking about what he was doing, he typed.
Shadow_Rin: hey
Shadow_Rin: i know we’ve only been playing together for like. a month
Shadow_Rin: and this might sound weird. whatever
Shadow_Rin: but i’ve been in a really bad place lately
Shadow_Rin: like capital B bad. mental illness speedrun any% kind of bad
He stopped. Finger hovered.
Shadow_Rin: my brother just got engaged
Shadow_Rin: to someone who used to make my life hell
Shadow_Rin: and everyone’s acting like it’s fine. like i should be happy. but i’m not. i can’t be.
Shadow_Rin: it feels like every time i try to move on, the universe dropkicks me back into my own personal clown show
He stared at the blinking cursor. Then kept going. Because it felt easier like this typing into a screen, not looking anyone in the eye.
Shadow_Rin: my friend hiori told me to try this game to distract myself
Shadow_Rin: and then i met you
Shadow_Rin: and you were just. loud. and weird. and stupid. but kind
Shadow_Rin: and for the first time in a while it didn’t feel like the world was trying to rip out my lungs
Shadow_Rin: so yeah
Shadow_Rin: thanks i guess
Shadow_Rin: for talking to me like i’m not broken or annoying or dramatic
Shadow_Rin: just. thanks
He sent it. Then immediately closed his laptop and screamed into a pillow.
Fifteen minutes passed.
Rin rolled over to check his phone like an abandoned housewife, and found her replies.
BeeLovin420: rinrin 🥺🥺🥺
BeeLovin420: u made me cry a lil bit (in a good way!! like soft sobbing with blanket type cry)
BeeLovin420: i don’t think ur broken. or dramatic. i think ur human. and hurting. and trying. and that makes u strong, not annoying 💛
BeeLovin420: u always listen to me ramble about bees and garbage birds and u never make me feel small
BeeLovin420: so i wanna be that person for u too!! even if i’m weird or too much sometimes
Another message popped up.
BeeLovin420: also i kinda wanna punch your brother’s fiancé in the face with a sock full of bees. metaphorically. unless?
Rin made a sound between a laugh and a sob.
His heart was doing that fluttery, dangerous thing again. God, he was so, so—
Doomed.
Shadow_Rin: metaphorically would be fine
Shadow_Rin: …thanks bee
BeeLovin420: anytime, rinrin 💛💛
BeeLovin420: also. for real. if u ever feel like dying or exploding emotionally, text me first ok??
BeeLovin420: i’m not always stable but i AM always online 🐝
Rin didn’t know when it stopped being a distraction.
At first, the game had been a bandage. Something to keep his mind off Sae’s wedding, off his own bitterness, off the way his chest felt hollow when everyone else kept smiling like he should be happy, too.
But somewhere between the nightly farm raids and late-night Discord chats, it stopped being just a game. It became something warm. Familiar. A part of his routine. A part of him.
Or maybe it was Bee. No—definitely, it was Bee.
They talked about everything now. Not just about quests or loot drops or which fictional vegetable had the best emotional support energy (“emotional asparagus,” Bee insisted). But real stuff too. Dreams. Scars. Rin’s horror film obsession. Bee’s weird fascination with dolphins. Family, loneliness, healing.
Rin found himself getting comfortable. Letting his guard down. Typing faster. Laughing. Sharing pieces of himself he didn’t even know were still buried there.
And Bee? Bee just accepted it all.
She never pried. Never pitied. Just sent stupid GIFs, terrible puns, and the occasional drawing of their avatars holding hands under a giant strawberry moon.
BeeLovin420: look at us 🥺 we r magical and hot and also slightly feral
One night, without warning, Bee sent a photo.
Not a selfie, she never sent selfies, which Rin was used to by now but a candid picture of her hand holding a sandwich the size of a baby raccoon, with glitter nail polish and twenty friendship bracelets stacked on her wrist.
BeeLovin420: made this w my mom!! it's technically food. technically.
BeeLovin420: we call it the meat mountain
Rin stared at the picture longer than he should’ve.
It wasn’t the food. Or the absurdity. It was the fact that she trusted him enough to share something from her real life. A glimpse. A fragment. He didn't even notice the smile tugging at his mouth.
Shadow_Rin: is that edible
BeeLovin420: not legally
BeeLovin420: but i’m built different
.
.
The “Couple’s Harvest Event” dropped into the game like a cheesy, glittery nuke a week later.
Limited time quests. Special cutscenes. Unique loot drops only available to in-game married players. New outfits, new dances, and an exclusive “Love Fortress” expansion that looked like a Hello Kitty shrine exploded inside a castle.
Rin scrolled through the event rewards with mild annoyance.
He didn’t care about glitter bomb crafting or heart emotes—but the combat bonuses? The XP boost? The rare dual weapon set with customized names? Those he cared about.
There was only one catch: You had to be married. In-game married, of course.
He chewed the inside of his cheek for five solid minutes before messaging Bee.
Shadow_Rin: hey
BeeLovin420: hi!! what’s up!! did u see the new event they made everything disgusting and pink i LOVE it
Shadow_Rin: yeah
Shadow_Rin: listen
Shadow_Rin: this might sound weird
BeeLovin420: 🥺
Pause.
Shadow_Rin: wanna get married
BeeLovin420: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
BeeLovin420: rin i am WEEPING i didn’t think u’d propose like this
BeeLovin420: in front of the melon patch. under the moon.
BeeLovin420: is this bc u love me or bc u want to unlock the “passion scythe of eternal rage”
Shadow_Rin: yes
Bee’s avatar started spinning in frantic circles, throwing heart emotes everywhere.
BeeLovin420: OMG I’M SAYING YES
BeeLovin420: yes to love
BeeLovin420: yes to loot
BeeLovin420: yes to u 🐝💍
Rin let out a short breath, somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. He swore his face was warm.
They clicked through the marriage quest. Picked a flower theme (“strawberry blood roses,” Bee demanded). Held a small ceremony in-game with Hiori standing off to the side as a judge NPC, sending them a deadpan congrats and a free mushroom as a gift.
Their avatars kissed in a pre-programmed cutscene. Bee spammed heart stickers in the chat. Rin didn’t say much.
But he didn’t stop smiling for hours.
He told himself it was still just a game.
But when he logged off that night, lying in bed with his phone on his chest, staring at their wedding screenshot…
He wasn’t sure that was true anymore.
.
.
.
.
Bachira Meguru was a lot.
He knew that.
Too loud. Too much. Too weird. He said things that made people blink and laugh nervously, like they weren’t sure if he was joking or about to eat drywall. Most people thought it was funny at first. Then they got tired. Or confused. Or uncomfortable. They’d drift off, slowly, like helium balloons someone forgot to tie down.
That’s why he tried not to get attached.
Or rather he got attached fast, hard, stupidly, but pretended he didn’t. Because he knew what happened next. They laughed at his jokes. They liked his weird energy. And then, eventually, someone else came along easier, quieter, normal. And they left.
It was fine. He was used to it. Probably.
Meguru had Isagi. His best friend. His Person.
…Sort of.
Isagi was kind. Kind in a way that made Bachira cling to him like a stray cat, convinced that if he stayed close enough, maybe that kindness would keep him safe. For a while, it did. But Isagi had other friends now. Friends from the team. From class. From life. People who didn’t weird him out or derail conversations with frog facts or cry at episodes of cooking anime.
Meguru never said it out loud, but he hated how small he felt standing behind Isagi’s smile. Like he was a spare part. A background noise. Just a flicker in someone else's highlight reel.
He told himself it was fine. He wasn’t lonely. He was just… independent.
Whatever.
It was late on a Monday when he downloaded the game.
Harvest Saga Online.
He found it while googling “low-stress games for people who talk too much and cry in department stores.” It had farming. Monsters. Bright colors. You could even get a virtual pet lizard.
He was in.
Meguru played alone for a while. Tried befriending strangers, but they mostly ignored him or logged off mid-sentence. That was okay. He made a pretty farm with pastel mushrooms and called it “Beeville” after the sticker he kept on his phone case.
Then, exactly 34 days into playing, he met Shadow_Rin.
A tall, dark, and brooding emo-ass avatar who tried planting carrots on a lava tile and couldn’t tell a cow from a boss monster. His house was a depressing square. His goose had no name. His friendship level with every NPC was stuck at zero.
It was beautiful.
Meguru watched him flail for two full quests before deciding I’m gonna fix him.
He dropped a sparkle bomb on him. Gave him fertilizer.” Made him laugh once (he thought?? Maybe??).
Rin was grumpy. Dry. A little mean in that funny way. But… different. He didn’t treat Bee like a joke. Or a distraction. He was awkward, sure. But he stayed. He replied. He didn’t drift.
And then came The Message. The one where Rin said he wasn’t okay. That things sucked. That he hated the world a little bit. That he was tired of pretending it didn’t hurt.
Meguru read that message three times in a row, sitting alone in his room with the monitor light flickering in the dark.
Something in him cracked open.
He thought about how he always made people laugh before they could get too close. How he filled the silence so he wouldn’t have to hear how loud his own heart was. How maybe—just maybe—this moody, spiky, sad vegetable man on the other side of the screen… could understand him.
Maybe Rin needed someone who didn’t walk away.
And maybe—just this once—he could be that person.
Meguru didn’t mean to fall for Rin.
He really didn’t.
He just wanted to help some random sad guy water crops and beat up skeletons with a glitter scythe. But Rin—Rin—wasn’t like other players. He didn’t ghost him. He didn’t laugh at him. He didn’t get tired of the bee jokes, or the brain fog rants, or the way Meguru sometimes typed like a raccoon on sugar.
Instead, he stayed.
When Meguru overshared, Rin didn’t flinch. When he flooded the chat with chaotic energy, Rin just replied with dry sarcasm or a quiet “you’re so annoying” that always, always came with a gift in-game after.
Rin never said much.
But Meguru learned how to read between the lines.
How “lol” meant he actually laughed. How “…” meant he was thinking really hard. How “do you want this item” translated roughly to “I remembered you said you liked purple gear even though I pretended not to listen.”
It was stupid. It was digital. But it felt real.
And it made Meguru’s chest ache in a weird, sweet, terrifying way.
One night, they were chatting as usual.
Rin had just gotten back from something terrible-sounding called “family brunch,” and Meguru was cheering him up by drawing bee versions of them in MS Paint. He’d sent over a blurry picture of their characters holding pitchforks and Rin had typed:
Shadow_Rin: you’re so weird
Shadow_Rin: you’re like. the weirdest girl i’ve ever met
Shadow_Rin: but thanks i needed that
Meguru’s fingers froze over the keyboard.
The weirdest… girl.
Oh.
Right.
He forgot.
Well not forgot, exactly. But he never corrected Rin either. His avatar was a girl. His voice lines were cutesy. His username had “lovin” in it and glitter stickers all over. He never once said “I’m a girl,” but he hadn’t said he wasn’t, either.
And now Rin—Rin, who made him feel like maybe he wasn’t too much, thought he was someone else.
Someone he wasn’t.
Meguru stared at the screen, a little hollowed out.
He didn’t blame Rin. It made sense. And maybe if he were stronger, he’d just say it. Drop the truth. Send a selfie. Use voice chat and say, “Hey I’m not a girl, I just like bee costumes and bad puns, and I’m kind of in love with you so please don’t go.”
But he couldn’t.
Because what if Rin left?
What if the only person who made him feel okay saw the real Meguru and decided that’s too much after all.
He knew it was dumb.
He knew it was unfair.
But Meguru backspaced what he was going to say and instead typed,
BeeLovin420: LOL YEAH guess i’m weirdest girl everrr 😅💛
BeeLovin420: buzz buzz gender crisis 🐝✨
Rin didn’t question it. He just sent back a little skull emoji and said, “thanks again, bee.”
And Meguru smiled, even though it felt crooked.
Later, when Rin asked again about voice calls, Meguru laughed it off.
BeeLovin420: my mic’s cursed lol it makes me sound like a dying blender
BeeLovin420: also i have a cold. all year. every day. forever
BeeLovin420: tragic
He sent another sandwich pic instead. Hands only. Never his face.
And then, just as he was managing all those feelings keeping them locked up in a box labeled “DO NOT OPEN OR FEEL TOO MUCH”, Rin proposed.
In-game, sure.
But still.
It was sudden. Casual. Practical. “Better rewards,” Rin said. “More loot.”
But Meguru’s hands had been shaking when he typed “yes.”
Because it wasn’t just a game to him anymore. Not really.
He was married now. To someone who didn’t know who he really was. And he didn’t know how much longer he could keep pretending that didn’t hurt.
Meguru tried to keep it normal.
He really did.
He tried to be his usual Bee self, loud, sparkly, goofy, full of dumb little keyboard smooches and jokes about bee-themed divorce papers. Nothing too serious. No scary feelings. No slipping and saying things like “you make me feel safe” or “I wish I could see your stupid face.”
Because Rin was too sweet now. It wasn’t fair.
Ever since they got married in-game, Rin had become… kind of ridiculous. Not outwardly. Not in words. But in little things. He sent Bee resources for quests before he could even ask. Left gifts in his inbox with messages like “saw this and thought of you, it’s purple and ugly.” Bought them a matching in-game home and decorated half of it in Bee-themed furniture (which he claimed he “hated” but didn’t change back).
And worst of all,
He started calling him “mine.”
Shadow_Rin: our XP is better now
Shadow_Rin: you're mine in-game so if someone tries to duel you i can kill them
BeeLovin420: omg?????? possessive much??? 😳💛
Shadow_Rin: yeah
Shadow_Rin: problem?
Meguru had to physically throw his phone across the room.
His feelings were spiraling into deep, gay chaos, and the guilt was eating him alive. Rin still thought he was a girl. That BeeLovin420 was some cute manic-pixie dream gamer girlfriend with good vibes and soft hands.
But Meguru, real Meguru, was just a dramatic, clingy, way-too-emotional guy with weird hair.
Still. He couldn't let Rin go. Not yet.
So he stayed Bee. Stayed soft. Stayed sweet. If this was the only place he could be loved like this, then fine.
.
.
Meanwhile, in real life hell, Meguru was about to become homeless.
Third years weren’t allowed to stay in uni dorms anymore, and his original housing plan had fallen through because his old roommate decided to move in with his girlfriend (traitor). He had a week to find a new place or risk having to move back in with his mom and her blender cult neighbors.
So he scrambled. Found a listing for a cheap shared building not too far from campus. Tiny apartment. Decent neighborhood. Slightly cursed bathroom tile. Whatever. It was fine.
He moved in on a Thursday, dragging boxes by himself and sweating through his hoodie because the elevator didn’t work. He only saw one person on the way in—some guy stepping out of the building just as he arrived.
Tall. Black hair. Cold expression. Headphones in. Looked like he hated the world and most of the people in it. Their eyes met for a second before the guy gave him the flattest “don’t talk to me” stare Meguru had ever seen.
Meguru, drenched in sweat and emotional baggage, blinked.
“…Oke fuck you too, I guess,” he muttered to himself as the guy walked off.
Rude.
Weirdly hot.
But rude.
He shook it off, made cat noises to himself as he set up his desk, and logged in to the only place that still felt like home: Harvest Saga.
Sure enough, Rin was there.
Waiting.
Shadow_Rin: hey
BeeLovin420: RINRINNNN~ i had the worst day can i cry into ur pixel arms pls 🥺
Shadow_Rin: you’re already doing that
BeeLovin420: i moved today. new place. new box goblins. the floor smells like sadness
Shadow_Rin: do you like it there?
BeeLovin420: eh. haven’t seen much yet. one guy looked like he wanted to kick me in the soul
Shadow_Rin: sounds like a great neighborhood
BeeLovin420: right??? i feel so safe 💀💖
Meguru giggled, heart full again.
The first time it happened, Meguru was already late.
He’d overslept again, because obviously, he and Rin had been farming rare XP mushrooms until 2:47 AM the night before while arguing about which one of them had worse fashion sense (Bee said Rin, Rin said Bee, both were correct).
Now he was running out the door with a protein bar in his mouth and one sock barely on, when the front gate of the building creaked open and—
“Seriously?” he groaned.
The Tall Grumpy Guy from next door—hoodie, headphones, that forever miserable expression like someone ate the last slice of his soul was standing right there, also clearly late and speed-walking like he hated the sidewalk.
They made eye contact.
Meguru gave him a tiny, polite-ish nod. “Morning.”
Grumpy Guy blinked slowly. Then looked away. Did not reply. Just kept walking.
Meguru blinked.
“…Okay. Rot, then,” he muttered under his breath, shoving his headphone in and taking the opposite sidewalk like they were in a Cold War.
It happened again two days later.
Another late morning. Another post-midnight co-op session with Shadow_Rin.
Another awkward elevator ride with Silence McSide-Eyes.
Meguru tried again. “Hey.”
No reply. Just a grumble. Maybe a sigh. Definitely judgment.
“Wow, okay,” he said, clutching his tote bag full of art supplies like it was a weapon. “Friendly neighborhood ghost. Got it.”
He told himself it didn’t bother him. He wasn’t trying to make friends or anything.
Except—he kinda was.
He didn’t know why it bugged him so much. Maybe it was because Grumpy Guy looked like someone who had never in his life smiled unless paid. Or maybe it was because the guy never made eye contact when talking to people, but always managed to scowl just enough that it made Meguru feel like lint.
He even tried venting about it in Discord.
BeeLovin420: rin i hate my neighbor
BeeLovin420: like. HATE.
BeeLovin420: he’s so rude. he looks like an anti-social anime boss character and walks like every step is a burden
BeeLovin420: if we were in a manga he’d be the emotionless guy who stabs ppl in their tragic backstory
Shadow_Rin: sounds cool
Shadow_Rin: send pic
BeeLovin420: I WISH I COULD
BeeLovin420: I’D SEND A PUNCH INSTEAD
Shadow_Rin: lol
Shadow_Rin: maybe he’s just bad at mornings
BeeLovin420: MAYBE I’M BAD AT HIM
But then it just kept happening.
They got the same bus. Lived on the same floor. Went to universities right down the street from each other. And unfortunately were always tired at the exact same time.
They didn’t talk. Barely grunted. But Meguru noticed things.
Grumpy Guy always wore the same dark hoodie. Always kept his headphones around his neck but never actually played anything out loud. Always looked vaguely exhausted but still somehow put-together. Like a sad magazine ad for depression.
Meguru hated how sharp his jawline was. He hated that he had beautiful bottom eyelashes. He hated that once—just once—Grumpy Guy muttered “thanks” when Meguru held the door open, and Meguru blushed like a loser.
He stormed into his apartment that night and messaged Rin.
BeeLovin420: what would u do if ur real life neighbor was rude and tall and probably cursed by the moon
Shadow_Rin: ignore him
Shadow_Rin: sounds like he’s just annoying
.
.
.
.
Rin didn’t hate his neighbor.
People might assumed he did, probably because he never smiled at him, barely said hello, and gave off a general air of don’t breathe in my direction but really? He didn’t care enough to hate them.
The guy was just there. A presence. Loud shoes, jangly keys, always dressed like a second-year art student going through a frogs-and-sunshine crisis. His hair was half-golden, half-mess, and his oversized hoodie sleeves were usually covered in paint smudges or maybe highlighter. One time Rin saw him wearing fuzzy bee socks with sandals and a matching bucket hat and nearly had an aneurysm.
But.
He also had yellow eyes.
Like actual, weirdly bright yellow eyes. The kind of yellow that reminded Rin—annoyingly—of someone.
He couldn’t put a name to it. Didn’t care to. Just filed it under “eh, unfortunate coincidence.”
Still, it was hard not to notice how the guy always seemed like he was actively mad at Rin. Like his existence was a personal inconvenience.
Which… was fair, Rin guessed.
They always ran into each other half-asleep in the morning, both late, both annoyed, both barely functioning. Rin never spoke first. The neighbor always gave him this look like I can’t believe God put us in the same zip code. Rin just shrugged internally. He was used to being disliked. It didn’t bother him anymore.
Which was probably why it was so weird that he clearly hated Rin.
It wasn’t subtle. There was this stiff, strained kind of tension in the air whenever they were near each other. The guy would glance at him, mouth pressed tight, like Rin had kicked his dog or insulted his childhood cartoon.
It was… fine.
Rin had been glared at more times than he could count. By teammates. By classmates. By his own reflection sometimes. He was used to it.
So he just stared back, said nothing, and got used to the silent “fuck you” energy wafting in the air every time they crossed paths.
He had better things to think about anyway.
Like Bee.
His dumb, sparkly, way-too-cute online wife who used too many emojis and made terrible sandwich abominations. The only person in the last few months who made Rin feel like… maybe he wasn’t some background NPC in life. Someone who listened to him. Talked to him. Made him feel Warm.
They played nearly every night. Talked about dumb things and deep things and farming things. Sometimes he scrolled through old chats just to reread their weird jokes and stupid goose names.
God, Bee.
Bee who said she had a cold forever. Bee who never sent voice notes. Bee who once told him, "I feel like I'm too much for everyone except you."
Rin never said it back, but… He understood.
That night, Rin stepped out onto the balcony with a cup of tea, like he always did when he needed quiet. His and the neighbor's balconies were only separated by a flimsy divider—thin enough to hear muffled conversations if someone was loud enough.
He usually tuned it out.
But tonight, he paused. Because the neighbor was talking to someone on the phone, probably on speaker, and his voice carried over like wind. Laughing. Muffled back-and-forth. Rin didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but then—
“No, mom, I am eating properly, I swear—okay well, cereal counts—no, listen, anyway, I made this new house with someone online, we’re doing a marriage event thing right now.”
Rin blinked.
“What’s the game called? Harvest Saga? I think? We’ve been playing for a while now. I met them while they were trying to grow eggplants in a rock tile, and it was so sad I had to help—yeah, I know, I’m enabling. We have a goose together. Named him Regret Lord II.”
Silence.
Rin’s breath caught. Goose. Regret Lord II.
That was their goose. No one else would say that.
He looked up just a little and caught a flash of honey-gold eyes past the balcony divider, glowing faintly in the light of the phone screen. The neighbor’s hair caught the breeze, his voice still rambling to his mom, soft and fast and animated in a way Rin had never heard.
Rin stared. Not Bee’s voice. But Bee’s words.
His pulse spiked.
He didn’t say anything. Just turned back inside, quiet. Eyes wide. Heart doing something it wasn’t supposed to.
And in his room, across the wall, his phone buzzed with a message from BeeLovin420:
BeeLovin420: did u feed Regret Lord II??? be honest rinrin i KNOW u forgot 😤🐔💛
Rin stared at it. Thumb hovering. Mind racing.
He didn’t know exactly what it meant yet.
But he was starting to get the feeling…
Rin wasn’t panicking.
He wasn’t.
He was just… confused. Deeply. Existentially. Cosmically confused.
Because it couldn’t be his neighbor. Right?
The rude, bee-sock-wearing, “I hate you with my whole soul” neighbor couldn’t possibly be Bee—his Bee. The person who called him “rinrin” and spammed him with cursed frog emojis and said things like “u make me feel like my heart is doing backflips (but in a good way!!)” couldn’t be the same person who gave him dirty looks in the elevator.
Except…
Except the neighbor talked like Bee. Same weird energy. Same stupid jokes. Same goose name. And—this was the part that annoyed Rin the most—the neighbor looked like how Bee might look in real life. Cute, chaotic, way too yellow. Just. Too much. In a way Rin didn’t mind.
In fact, it was bothering him how much he didn’t mind.
So now Rin had a problem.
Because if Bee was the neighbor… Then Bee wasn’t a girl. And Rin was—technically—married to him.
And if Bee wasn’t the neighbor, then Rin was spiraling for no reason and would die alone with only his goose and his shame.
He had to find out.
But how?
They didn’t even know each other’s names. And Rin couldn’t just show up at his door like “Hi, are you my in-game wife?”
He needed a plan. Something normal. Casual. Not suspicious.
…
Salt.
He was going to borrow salt.
It took him twenty minutes to work up the nerve, which was embarrassing considering he’d faced championship finals with less anxiety.
He stood in front of the neighbor’s door and took a deep breath. Totally normal. He was totally a normal person doing normal things.
Knocked twice.
Nothing.
Then a muffled thud inside. Footsteps. And the door cracked open.
And there he was.
The bee-boy from hell himself. Hoodie too big, hair tied up messily with a pencil stuck in it, a yellow sock on one foot and a frog slipper on the other. He looked… surprised.
“…Yeah?” He asked warily, eyes narrowed. “You lost or something?”
“No,” Rin said flatly. “I need salt.”
He blinked. “Huh?”
“I’m cooking,” Rin lied. “Ran out of salt.”
“You cook?”
“Do you have salt or not?”
The neighbor frowned but opened the door a little wider and vanished for a moment. Rin heard clattering. Possibly a mug breaking. And then he was back, handing Rin a little container with “💛 EMERGENCY SEASONING 💛” written in glitter pen across it.
“…Thanks,” Rin muttered, taking it.
“No poison in it,” He said, voice flat. “Probably.”
“Charming.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Awkward silence.
Then Rin said, trying to sound casual, “You game much?”
His eyes flicked up sharply. “What?”
“Game,” Rin said, shrugging. “You mentioned something on the balcony. Goose. Regret Lord II?”
The boy visibly froze for a half-second.
Then smiled. Bright. Too bright.
“Oh, that? Just a dumb game I play to kill time. My friend’s the one obsessed with it, I just tag along.”
Rin stared.
The neighbor smiled wider. Like someone trying to cover a grenade with confetti.
“Right,” Rin said slowly. “Well. Tell your friend Regret Lord II is a stupid name.”
“Yeah,” he laughed nervously. “I’ll do that.”
Another pause.
Rin looked at the salt. “Thanks.”
“Don’t die from bland food.”
Rin turned to leave, and the boy closed the door behind him with a soft thud.
Rin didn’t breathe until he was back in his kitchen.
Was that panic in his eyes?
Was that a deflection?
…Was that glitter on the salt container?
Rin narrowed his eyes.
Rin placed the glitter-covered “💛 EMERGENCY SEASONING 💛” container on his kitchen counter like it was radioactive. He stared at it. Then at the wall.
Then at the wall behind which Bee, or possibly Bee, currently existed.
Still barefoot, still holding the mug, he went back to his desk, sat down in the dark, and opened Discord.
No new messages.
He refreshed it anyway.
Still nothing.
His eyes flicked to the time: 9:12 PM. That was prime Bee hour. They always logged in or messaged by now. Rin leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. Waiting.
Not because he was suspicious. Not because he was hoping for confirmation. He just… wanted to see something.
He paced a little.
The conversation played on repeat in his head. That pause when he said “Regret Lord II.” The too fast smile. The way Meguru’s voice cracked slightly when he called it “just a dumb game.”
He was hiding something. Rin knew it.
He pulled out his phone. Opened Discord.
No message yet.
Which was fine. Totally fine. Bee didn’t always text right after dinner. Sometimes she was doing something dumb like “showering” or “touching grass.” Whatever.
He refreshed the app anyway.
Still nothing.
He opened their last chat thread and stared.
BeeLovin420: rin u ever think about how geese are just ducks that got possessed by demons
Shadow_Rin: no
BeeLovin420: do u think Regret Lord II loves us
Shadow_Rin: i hope he chokes on corn
Rin sat on the edge of his bed and scrolled up. Past the heart stickers. Past the screenshots. Past the dumb argument about whether you could romance the mushroom merchant (Bee insisted you could).
He didn’t know why it bothered him so much.
It shouldn’t. It didn’t matter if Bee was a guy. It didn’t matter if Bee was that guy. Except… it kind of did.
His phone buzzed.
He almost dropped it.
BeeLovin420: heyyyyy 💛 sorry was cooking (aka microwaving soup lmao)
BeeLovin420: u log in already? 👀
BeeLovin420: also ur goose is trying to clip through the floor again. iconic.
Rin stared at the screen.
Then slowly typed.
Shadow_Rin: just got back
Shadow_Rin: you decorate your kitchen with bees irl too?
There was a pause.
A long pause.
BeeLovin420: HAHA
BeeLovin420: what gave me away??
BeeLovin420: wait do u think i’m the type to brand my salt. that’s so mean. but also accurate.
He stared.
Did she—he—they know? Was this an admission? A joke? A dodge?
Shadow_Rin: just wondering
Shadow_Rin: saw something today that reminded me of you
The typing bubble came up again. Then vanished. Then came back.
BeeLovin420: 👀
BeeLovin420: omg
BeeLovin420: did u see a hot beein a crop top?? bc that’s my vibe irl tbh
BeeLovin420: tell him i said hi 💛🐸
BeeLovin420: and also rinrin u will NOT believe the bullshit i just experienced
BeeLovin420: tell me WHY my grumpy, rude, emotionally constipated neighbor just showed up at my door to ask for SALT
BeeLovin420: like??? he’s never said a full sentence to me in his life and suddenly it’s domestic needs hour???
Rin inhaled.
He stared at the screen. Read it again.
The glitter salt. The goose name. The sudden energy shift when he asked about gaming. And now this.
He didn't respond right away.
He just sat back, stared into the abyss of his monitor, and thought:
Holy shit. My online wife is my real-life neighbor. And he hates me.
BeeLovin420: i gave him the ugliest salt jar i owned on purpose
BeeLovin420: i hope it haunts him
Rin blinked slowly. Then typed.
Shadow_Rin: he probably deserved it
BeeLovin420: right??? thank u
BeeLovin420: anyway log in i want to show u the new goose hat i made
BeeLovin420: it has LED lights. it’s cursed. u will hate it. 😌
Shadow_Rin: looking forward to it
He sat still for a second after sending it. Then slowly smiled.
So. It was true.
It was him.
And now Rin had to figure out what the hell to do about the fact that the boy next door, the one who looked at him like he was trash was also the one who made his nights bearable, who knew his secrets, who made him laugh, who made him feel—
…
Rin buried that thought.
He got up. Grabbed the glitter jar. Put it in his cabinet next to the rice.
He didn’t throw it away.
Rin wasn’t really the scheming type.
He preferred the “sit silently and hope the world fixes itself or dies” strategy. But now he was dealing with a crisis that required a delicate, emotionally intelligent, multi-step operation.
Step One, Confirm that Bee = Neighbor = Chaos incarnate.
Step Two, Figure out what the hell to do about the fact that you’re in love with someone who openly wants you dead IRL.
Step Three, Maybe get his name first???
Simple enough.
Except it wasn’t.
Because Bee still didn’t know Rin was Rin. Not the IRL Rin. Not the guy who asked for salt and got death-stared. He was still Shadow_Rin, online husband, emotional support emo. And that Rin had privileges.
Like messaging late at night. Like trauma-dumping at 2AM. Like receiving Goose Hat Version 1.0 (which, yes, had LED lights and blinked “Honk” in morse code).
But IRL Rin? IRL Rin got eyebrow raised and door shut.
Which made everything infinitely worse.
Because now Rin saw it. Clearly. Every time they passed each other in the hallway. Every time Bee glanced at him with that ugh, it’s the bastard again expression. It stung in ways he couldn’t explain.
Still, he had to move forward.
Carefully.
That night, he sent the message.
Shadow_Rin: hey
Shadow_Rin: random but. you ever wanna voice call?
Shadow_Rin: i don’t mind. if you’re comfortable.
And immediately regretted it.
He stared at the screen, fingers poised to delete it. But then,
BeeLovin420: 😳
BeeLovin420: oh??? this is a development rinrin
BeeLovin420: u sure?? i sound like a frog with seasonal depression
Rin smiled, just barely.
Shadow_Rin: sounds about right.
BeeLovin420: rude
Shadow_Rin: serious tho. only if you want. no pressure.
BeeLovin420: …i’ll think about it 🐸💛
Progress. Tiny. Glacial. But it was something.
The next morning, Rin left earlier than usual.
He was fully prepared to loiter casually near the mailboxes for a glimpse of the cursed bee boy and hopefully, hopefully, hear someone say his name. Mail? Maybe a package label? Maybe he'd scream it into the void? Rin didn’t care. He needed something.
He caught him just as he was locking his door.Bucket hat. Yellow sneakers. Tote bag with cartoon puppy printed on it.
And of course, zero recognition.
He squinted at Rin like he’d just smelled something suspicious. “You again.”
“Unfortunately,” Rin muttered.
Bee huffed and stomped past him toward the elevator.
Rin followed. Casually. (Okay, not casually. Stalk-ily.)
Elevator dinged. They both stepped in.
Silence.
Then, as the doors started to close.
“Hey,” Rin said, as neutrally as possible. “What’s your name?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You never introduced yourself,” Rin said, looking forward, hands in pockets like he wasn’t hanging on every millisecond of silence.
“…Why do you care?” He asked suspiciously.
“I asked for salt. Figured we should at least be on first-name terms.”
He studied him for a second, clearly trying to figure out if this was a trap. Rin just waited. Calm. Dead-eyed. Like he wasn’t dying inside.
Finally, He muttered, “…Meguru.”
Rin nodded slowly.
Meguru. Bee.
Same person.
Somehow, hearing it confirmed made his chest feel both heavy and warm.
“…I’m Rin,” he added. “Itoshi Rin.”
Meguru turned to him, "Rin? Common name.”
“Don’t start,” Rin said flatly.
Meguru laughed. Like, actually laughed. A little bright, surprised burst that made Rin feel uncomfortably light-headed.
“…I knew you looked annoyingly familiar,” Meguru said. “God. No wonder you walk like you hate your own knees.”
Rin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t mind the sound of his name in Meguru’s mouth. Not at all.
.
.
Meguru didn’t like to jump to conclusions.
But he was like, 94.5% sure his emotionally constipated, bee-hating, salt-borrowing, rage-jawed neighbor was planning to kill him.
That was the only explanation.
Because suddenly he was being nice.
Like, weirdly nice.
It started the morning after their elevator name exchange. Meguru had been juggling a stack of boxes his mom sent him from home (which was code for “I sent you twenty jars of jam and one adult-sized Pikachu onesie”) and trying not to drop them down the stairs.
Then out of nowhere, “Need help?”
He almost screamed.
Rin, Itoshi freaking Rin was standing behind him, already grabbing the top box off the pile like a responsible, competent adult who hadn’t previously ignored him for weeks straight.
Meguru just stood there. Shaking slightly. “Uh. Sure?”
They walked up together, mostly in silence, except Rin said “Your mom sends you a lot of stuff” and Meguru didn’t know how to reply except to nervously laugh and say “She thinks I’m starving emotionally and nutritionally.”
Rin made a sound like he was trying not to laugh.
The next morning, Rin greeted him.
With words.
Like, actual words.
"Morning," Rin said in the elevator, voice calm, expression unreadable.
Meguru almost dropped his bag. “Uh. Morning…?”
NOPED NOPED
Okay. So maybe Meguru was freaking out just a little bit.
And by “a little bit” he meant “catatonic frog screaming into the void” level of panic.
Nice weird.
Which was terrifying.
And then the final blow
Like this morning, Meguru opened his door to find his horrifying glitter salt container sitting neatly on his doorstep except now it was returned with a slice of strawberry cake and a sticky note that just said:
“To balance out the salt. – R”
First of all, WHO THE HELL DOES THAT?? Second of all, Why was the cake good. Third of all: WHY WAS IT CUTE.
Meguru put the half eaten cake on his counter when he got inside bedroom, paced the floor three times, sat down, stood back up, and then aggressively opened Discord like a man about to report a crime.
BeeLovin420: rinrin listen to me
BeeLovin420: i think my neighbor is going to murder me
Shadow_Rin: hm. why
BeeLovin420: HE’S BEING NICE
BeeLovin420: like suspiciously nice??? he helped me with my boxes and left me cake like who does that??
BeeLovin420: maybe he’s feeding me to soften me up. like a frog. before boiling me alive
Shadow_Rin: maybe he just likes you
BeeLovin420: he HATES me. he’s looked at me like roadkill for months
BeeLovin420: now suddenly it’s “here’s strawberry shortcake and mild small talk” and i’m supposed to just??? trust that???
BeeLovin420: suspicious. evil. jail
Rin leaned back in his chair across the wall, expression calm, heart absolutely doing gymnastics.
Shadow_Rin: maybe he figured out you’re cute
BeeLovin420: rin WHAT
BeeLovin420: why would u say that???
Shadow_Rin: just saying
Shadow_Rin: i think you’re cute
BeeLovin420: 🚨 THIS IS A CODE RED 🚨
BeeLovin420: rin u can’t just say that casually i’m unstable
Rin laughed under his breath, hands still on the keyboard.
Meguru’s panicked little typing dots flickered on and off for a good thirty seconds.
BeeLovin420: okay but
BeeLovin420: like he trying to lure me and leave me when I’m already fall in love with him???
Shadow_Rin: if he did, what would you do
BeeLovin420: die probably
BeeLovin420: cry
BeeLovin420: throw myself in a ditch made of glitter
Rin was silent for a moment. Then,
Shadow_Rin: i wouldn’t leave
BeeLovin420: huh
Shadow_Rin: after I lured you
Shadow_Rin: i’d stay
BeeLovin420: 😳
BeeLovin420: rin stop i’m going to cry over cake rn
Rin closed his eyes for a second, heart squeezing.
God, he wanted to tell him. But not yet. He wanted to see how long Bee would keep squirming.
Because watching Meguru try to unravel this mystery while unknowingly venting to the exact person he was panicking about… was kind of the best thing ever.
Now that “Bee” had a name, a voice, a face, Now that “Bee” was “Meguru,” who lived ten steps away, who wore fruit-print pajamas at 11AM, who cursed at vending machines and once tripped into a bush while yelling about his arts supplies.
Rin couldn’t stop looking.
And now, he couldn’t stop wanting more.
Every glimpse felt like a cheat code. Every sound, every detail, every little mannerism— It was Bee, it was Meguru, it was his, but not yet. And it was slowly driving Rin insane.
So when the apartment building’s alarm suddenly blared through the walls one afternoon—a blaring, shrill BWAAAP BWAAAP BWAAAP—Rin assumed it was just another dumb drill.
Until he heard voices outside his door.
And Meguru.
Swearing.
Loudly.
By the time Rin stepped out into the hallway, most of the tenants were already halfway downstairs, shuffling in slippers and bathrobes and very suspicious expressions. Rin didn’t care about them.
He only looked for one.
And he found him halfway down the stairwell, only wearing socks, dragging a giant Totoro blanket over his head like a child who’d just been forced out of bed mid-dream. His curls were wild. His glasses were crooked. His pajama pants had tiny smiling tacos on them.
And he was holding a toaster.
“Why,” Rin said blankly, “do you have a toaster.”
Meguru jumped three feet in the air and spun around like he’d been caught committing tax fraud. “It’s important to me,” he snapped, hugging the toaster tighter. “You wouldn’t get it.”
Rin stared.
Meguru blinked.
“…Don’t look at me like that,” he muttered, ducking his face into the blanket. “You’re always judging.”
“I’m not judging,” Rin said flatly. “I’m processing.”
“Process quieter.”
They ended up outside in the courtyard with everyone else, waiting for the building staff to finish a sweep and declare it safe. Rin stood near the edge, arms crossed, but Meguru plopped down on the grass five feet away, yawning so hard his entire face scrunched.
“You look like a wet bee,” Rin said.
Meguru flipped him off without looking. “You look like sleep paralysis.”
Rin smirked.
He didn’t mean to stare. But it was hard not to.
There he was. Bee, in all his chaotic, real-life glory. Unfiltered. Grumpy. Sleepy. Mismatched socks. Hugging a toaster like it was a teddy bear. And Rin didn’t know how to deal with the fact that it only made him want to know more.
What did he eat for breakfast? What music did he listen to when he cleaned? Did he talk to his plants? Did he have plants? (Probably. Knowing him, they had names like “Chonky Steve” or “Leafy Bastard II.”)
Meguru caught him staring.
“What.”
“Nothing,” Rin said quickly, looking away.
“…Are you okay?”
“What?”
“You’re being weird,” Meguru said, pulling his blanket tighter. “You usually ignore me unless you’re glaring. Now you’re being, like, nice. And hovering. And weird.”
“I’m not hovering.”
“You’re literally next to me.”
“I live next to you.”
“Exactly. Suspicious.”
Rin looked at him again. Wind ruffling his hair. Barefoot on the grass. Toaster in his lap like a sacred artifact.
He wanted to say: I know who you are. I love who you are. I love that you’re real. But instead, he said,
“…Nice toaster.”
Meguru blinked.
“It’s my emotional support appliance.”
Rin almost laughed.
That night, back in his room, Rin opened Discord.
Shadow_Rin: do u believe in fate
BeeLovin420: 😳 um????
BeeLovin420: r u gonna propose again or smth bc i left u for dead in that dungeon yesterday
Shadow_Rin: just wondering
Shadow_Rin: feels like i see you everywhere lately
BeeLovin420: weird
BeeLovin420: i feel the same
BeeLovin420: spooky soulmate vibes
BeeLovin420: don’t make it weird rinrin
Rin smiled to himself in the dark.
Too late, Bee.
It was already so weird.
.
.
Rin was acting weird again.
Not Rinrin—his lovely little emotionally stunted in-game husband. No, him, the neighbor. Itoshi Rin, who used to look through Meguru like he was a ghost with a sticker on his face. Now?
Now he held elevator doors open.
Now he said things like “nice hoodie” and meant it.
Now he left cake.
Meguru didn’t know how to deal with this emotionally complex tsundere redemption arc.
So, naturally, he ignored all of it.
That night, Meguru couldn’t sleep. His game was lagging. Rinrin hadn’t messaged in like thirty minutes (was he okay? was he mad? was he sleeping? was he dead?), and the air felt heavy in his tiny apartment. So he grabbed a blanket, his phone, and wandered out onto the balcony.
It was dark. Quiet. The city buzzing low and distant.
Then because the universe loves drama he heard a door slide open.
Next door.
He froze.
And then, from the other side of the balcony divider, a low voice. “…You good?”
Meguru jumped out of his skin and nearly dropped his phone. “Jesus—! Rin?!”
The Itoshi one. The neighbor one.
There was a soft exhale that might’ve been a chuckle. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I wasn’t scared,” Meguru lied, heart doing kickflips. “I was vibing.”
“Uh-huh.”
Meguru leaned on the railing, blanket still around his shoulders, phone clutched loosely in his hand. “You always come out here at night?”
“Sometimes.”
“Same. Air’s better. Brain’s louder. Y’know.”
A soft hum from the other side. Then silence.
It was… oddly nice.
Like a secret room in the middle of a noisy house. Just the two of them, split by a thin barrier and bad lighting.
Meguru smiled into the dark.
“I’ve never really talked to you like this,” he said. “You’re way less murder-y than I expected.”
“High praise.”
“I mean it. You’re like… kinda chill.”
Another pause.
“…So are you,” Rin said eventually. Soft.
Meguru blinked. Okay… flirting???
Maybe Rin was lonely. Maybe that was why he’d been acting weird lately. And Meguru couldn’t ignore lonely people. His soul physically wouldn’t allow it.
So he offered gently, “If you ever wanna hang out or something. Not like. Weirdly. Just. Y’know. Chill.”
Rin didn’t answer for a second. Then a soft, “Maybe. Hold on.” Rin says as he pull out his phone.
Meguru didn’t think much and also looked at his own phone.
Then—ping.
Meguru’s phone buzzed with a new Discord message. From his other Rin.
Shadow_rin: hi, what u doing
BeeLovin420: rinrin u will not BELIEVE it
BeeLovin420: i actually TALKED to my neighbor today
BeeLovin420: again!!! like on the balcony
BeeLovin420: and we didn’t murder each other. character growth 💪💛
Rin’s reply was instant.
Shadow_Rin: cool cool cool
Shadow_Rin: so you’re talking to your neighbor now huh
Shadow_Rin: but not to me
BeeLovin420: ???
Shadow_Rin: you choose to hang out with your NEIGHBOR
Shadow_Rin: and not your LOVING VIRTUAL HUSBAND 😔
Shadow_Rin: betrayal. scandal. emotional cheating.
Meguru choked back a laugh.
He typed,
BeeLovin420: omg stopppp
BeeLovin420: ur being dramatic again
Shadow_Rin: dramatic?
Shadow_Rin: i’m CRYING. in my field. our goose is watching. judging.
Meguru wheezed. He glanced sideways at the balcony.
Rin—Neighbor Rin—was also looking at his phone, faint glow lighting his sharp profile. A tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth. He looked… pleased.
Meguru blinked.
Wait.
WAIT.
No. No no no. That would be crazy. Right???
Right???
He stared at him. Then down at his phone. Then back at him.
No. …Right?
“Hey Rin,” he said cautiously, still half-joking. “You wouldn’t happen to be secretly married to someone online, right?”
Rin glanced over.
A beat of silence.
“No… but would that be a problem?”
Meguru's brain blue-screened. “I’m gotta go.” And immediately went inside and closed his balcony.
BeeLovin420: rinrin i’m spiraling
BeeLovin420: he’s SMILING at me rn like he KNOWS something
Shadow_Rin: huh. weird
Shadow_Rin: maybe he’s just into you
BeeLovin420: 🧍♂️
Shadow_Rin: i see how it is
Shadow_Rin: you choose your neighbor over your online husband. divorce arc???
BeeLovin420: NO NO NO DON’T DIVORCE ME I’M FRAGILE 😭😭😭
BeeLovin420: rin ur being so weird lately is everything okay
Shadow_Rin: define weird
BeeLovin420: like. u wanna talk to me all the time now?? u keep asking for my voice. u call me cute??? u send me snacks in-game. i’m scared. who died
Shadow_Rin: maybe i like you
BeeLovin420: HAHAHA
BeeLovin420: shut up
BeeLovin420: wait. ur not joking
Shadow_Rin: maybe i’m not
BeeLovin420: rinrin why are u being nice to me
BeeLovin420: is it because i’m annoying
Shadow_Rin: no.
Shadow_Rin: it’s because you’re you.
Meguru had to lie down dramatically for ten full seconds before he could process anything.
And when he sat up, cheeks hot and heart full of regret and cake and suspicion, he typed:
BeeLovin420: okay then prove it
BeeLovin420: let’s voice call
BeeLovin420: right now
BeeLovin420: frog voice and all
The typing bubbles on the other side froze. Then blinked out. Then came back.
Shadow_Rin: okay.
Meguru threw himself backwards on his bed with a scream.
.
.
The voice call ended 43 minutes ago.
Meguru was now lying face-down on the floor of his apartment. Still. Motionless. Dead.
His phone was somewhere behind him, glowing faintly. Rinrin’s last message still open.
Shadow_Rin: sweet dreams bee 💛
Shadow_Rin: hope ur toaster’s safe tonight
Which. EXCUSE ME. How did Rinrin even know about the toaster?? That wasn’t in any texts. That was only real-life Rin stuff. That was neighbor stuff. And Rinrin should not know about Bee's emotional support toaster.
Unless.
Unless—
“Nope. No. No no no no,” Meguru muttered into his carpet. “It’s not. It can’t be. That’d be crazy. That’d be, like, catfish reverse trap brain-level crazy.”
He rolled over and stared at the ceiling like it had answers. It didn’t. Just a crack shaped like a pigeon.
What if it really was him?
What if the soft-spoken, sarcastic, stupidly hot neighbor was actually Rinrin?
What if the guy who returned his salt jar with cake and passive-aggressive flirting was the same person who called him "bee baby" when they won a raid?
What if—
What if—
What if his online husband was his real-life crush enemy confusing monster boy NEIGHBOR?
His body glitched.
BeeLovin420: rinrin
BeeLovin420: be honest.
BeeLovin420: do u have like. an evil twin or something.
Shadow_Rin: what lol
BeeLovin420: like. an evil twin. or an emo twin.
Shadow_Rin: i am the emo twin
BeeLovin420: 🤯
BeeLovin420: okay but do u maybe live. like. near tokyo??
Shadow_Rin: lmao bee u okay
BeeLovin420: NO IM NOT OKAY UR VOICE SOUNDS FAMILIAR
Shadow_Rin: good familiar or "i’m being stalked" familiar
BeeLovin420: STOP
BeeLovin420: IM HAVING A PERSONAL CRISIS
Meguru grabbed his pillow and screamed into it.
Meanwhile Rin, just one wall away, was sprawled in his chair with the smuggest smile known to mankind, kicking his leg like a smug schoolgirl.
Shadow_Rin: you said you’d talk to me
Shadow_Rin: now you’re accusing me of being multiple people
Shadow_Rin: is this slander
BeeLovin420: why do u sound EXACTLY like my neighbor though 😭😭😭
BeeLovin420: like not a little. EXACTLY.
Shadow_Rin: maybe ur just projecting. maybe u miss him
BeeLovin420: SHUT UP OMG
Shadow_Rin: 😌
Meguru kicked the air uselessly.
BeeLovin420: im gonna cry
Shadow_Rin: over me?
BeeLovin420: STOPPPP
BeeLovin420: why r u like this
Shadow_Rin: bc watching you squirm is the highlight of my week
In the apartment next door, Rin rolled over onto his bed, still grinning, heart buzzing.
He could wait. Meguru would figure it out. Eventually.
But until then?
He was going to enjoy every single moment of watching his online husband try to solve the mystery of… himself.
.
.
“Is that guy your support?” Hiori asked, hiding behind a crate in A site. “Or is he just feeding again?”
“Sorry,” Rin muttered, still smiling like a man high on serotonin. “My bad. Slipped.”
“You slipped into the enemy ult.”
“I was distracted.”
“…Rin.”
Rin, usually the definition of hyper-focused precision and emotional constipation, was now… Chatty. Soft. Radiating strange energy.
And Hiori did not trust it.
Rin let out a weird little exhale—a laugh, even—and leaned back in his gaming chair, head tilted toward the ceiling like the ghost of joy was trying to possess him.
“Okay, what happened,” Hiori said immediately. “Who died. Who lived. Who kissed you.”
“Nobody kissed me.”
“Yet?”
“…Shut up.”
Hiori sighed and abandoned his gun to let himself be shot. “Fine. You’re useless anyway. Spill.”
Rin scratched at the back of his neck, lips twitching again. “It’s nothing. Just… Bee.”
“BeeBee or NeighborBee.”
“…Same Bee.”
“You monster,” Hiori whispered.
Rin made a strangled noise of pure glee, muffled by his hoodie sleeve. “He’s not home today. Said he’s helping his mom move canvases. She’s an artist, apparently.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He told me on Discord,” Rin added. Then paused. “And also in real life.”
Hiori blinked at his killcam. “…He gave both Rins the update?”
Rin, still staring at the ceiling like he’d swallowed a sunbeam, nodded. “I think he likes talking to both of me.”
“You are both of you.”
“I know.”
Rin pulled his knees up to his chest in his chair and continued rambling like someone cracked his stoic character DLC.
“He was so excited,” Rin said, eyes soft. “Said ‘MamaBee’s gonna pay me in lemon soda and curry bread.’ on discord I could hear him smiling even through chat. and to real Rin he said I'm gonna bring you magnet from my mom's fridge. Gosh, he's so stupid.”
Hiori, meanwhile, was actively losing his mind.
“Okay but who are you,” he asked. “Where is my shadow-dwelling trauma lizard.”
Rin ignored him. “He wears these strawberry socks sometimes. And he’s always humming something stupid when he walks down the hall. And today he held the elevator open for an old lady with both hands full of bubble wrap. She thanked him. He bowed. With bubble wrap.”
Hiori was now staring at the round timer.
“Rin. My brother in depression. Are you… happy?”
“I think so,” Rin said, almost shy. “Is it that bad?”
“No. It’s just. Weird.”
“…Sorry.”
“No, no, don’t stop.”
A pause.
“Actually wait—yes, stop. Please queue ranked after this in a cold shower because you just lost me two games being romantic.”
Rin grinned again, helpless. “My bad.”
“You’re disgusting,” Hiori sighed.
But his voice was warm.
.
.
Something was wrong.
Meguru didn’t know what, exactly, but he knew it. The vibes were off. The universe had tilted sideways.
Because both his online husband and his irl neighbor—both named Rin, might he add—had said the same thing to him today.
Word for word.
And it was messing him up.
It started when Meguru came home from helping his mom move her massive “expressionist inner soul trauma” canvases. He was sweaty. Covered in glitter and paint. Holding three empty curry bread wrappers and a lemon soda in his mouth.
He shuffled down the hallway, opened his door, and froze.
Because standing right outside his door, leaning lazily against the railing, was Rin.
Neighbor Rin.
Looking… oddly smug.
“Hey,” Rin said casually. “How’s MamaBee?”
Meguru choked on his soda.
“HUH—?!” he screeched.
“You said she’d pay you in curry bread and soda, right?” Rin added, straight-faced. “Payment fair?”
Meguru’s entire body short-circuited.
“…Did I tell you that?”
“You must’ve,” Rin said coolly. “Maybe you’re just tired.”
And then he walked off.
Casually. Calmly. Like he hadn’t just dropped an existential bomb on Meguru’s head.
Two hours later.
Meguru was curled on his couch, reeling, when Rinrin—his lovely, harmless, clearly normal Discord husband—sent him this:
Shadow_Rin: back from MamaBee duty yet
Shadow_Rin: i hope she paid you in full 😌
BeeLovin420: STOP.
BeeLovin420: WHY ARE YOU AND MY NEIGHBOR THE SAME LEVEL OF CHAOTIC.
Shadow_Rin: uh
Shadow_Rin: what did he do
BeeLovin420: he said MAMABEE
BeeLovin420: you said MAMABEE
BeeLovin420: HE KNEW ABOUT THE CURRY BREAD
BeeLovin420: HOW DO YOU BOTH KNOW THAT
Shadow_Rin: 🤔
Shadow_Rin: maybe we share a braincell
BeeLovin420: I AM LOSING MY MIND
Shadow_Rin: you love it
BeeLovin420: NO I DONT
BeeLovin420: YES I DO
BeeLovin420: NO I—idk anymore shut up
The next day didn’t help.
Rinrin sent him this message while they were idle in game.
Shadow_Rin: u should wear the strawberry socks again
Shadow_Rin: they’re cute on you
And that would’ve been cute because his in-game character also had strawberry socks, except
He had worn them. IN REAL LIFE TODAY.
And who else had made a comment this morning, when they ran into each other at the vending machine?
“Strawberries today?” Rin had said. “Sweet choice.”
And walked away like a damn fruit-themed phantom.
Now Meguru was curled up in his kitchen chair, whispering to himself like a man cracking under pressure. “Okay. Okay okay okay. So either I’m being stalked. By two Rins. One online, one next door. Or…”
He gasped.
“…They’re collaborating. They’re both dating me. Without knowing each other.”
He typed furiously.
BeeLovin420: okay serious question.
BeeLovin420: do you have a twin
Shadow_Rin: again??
Shadow_Rin: no twins. no clones. no dark web replicas. only one brother that you know.
BeeLovin420: then HOW
Shadow_Rin: maybe we’re just cosmically connected
Shadow_Rin: soulmates, you know
BeeLovin420: ur giving me brain damage rn
Meguru slammed his face into the table.
Rinrin was being cute. Neighbor Rin was being hot. And somehow they were both messing with him using the SAME FLIRTY DIALOGUE and INSIDE JOKES and DETAILS OF HIS LIFE.
“I’m gonna die,” Meguru whispered to himself.
And from the balcony?
Rin sneezed.
Which was, again, suspiciously adorable.
.
.
It took three days.
Three days of psychic spirals, of parallel teasing, of too many coincidences stacking like cursed Jenga blocks until Meguru finally snapped.
All the pieces clicked.
The strawberry sock comment. The MamaBee curry bread line. The voice. The timing. The teasing. The way they both made him feel the exact same kind of seen.
And most damning of all? He loved them both.
And they were the same person.
He gasped so hard he dropped his lemon soda.
"OH MY GOD," he whispered, “I’M MARRIED TO MY HOT NEIGHBOR.”
He didn’t think. Didn’t plan. Didn’t even put on socks.
He ran.
Meguru slammed through the door of Rin’s apartment like a dramatic anime heroine on episode 11.
“RIN!!!” he shouted. “I THINK YOU’RE MY HUSBAND!!”
And then stopped.
Dead.
Because sitting on the couch, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in a posture that screamed big brother judgment and unresolved trauma, was none other than Itoshi Sae.
Rin’s older brother. The emotionally radioactive one.
Oh no.
“AHH!” Meguru gasped, covered his lips with his palms.
Rin blinked up from where he’d just stood, mid-argument, mouth still half open. His face said what the fuck. His eyes said oh my god I love you. His posture said this is not how I wanted this to go.
“…Hi?” Rin said.
Sae just slowly turned his head to stare at Meguru like he was an unpaid tax return.
“You’re his husband,” Sae said flatly.
Meguru made a noise that was part squeak, part wheeze, and part fight-or-flight ghost.
“I—I’m so sorry,” he said, backing toward the door. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your very emotionally charged sibling summit. I just—um—I had a revelation. And feelings. And it was urgent. Very husband emergency. Very goose-related. You know?”
Neither brother answered. Rin was still staring at him like a kicked cat that just got adopted. Sae looked like he aged five years in real time.
“I’ll just—go. And then maybe come back. Or stay. Or die in the hallway. That’s also fine.”
“No,” Rin said quickly, recovering, stepping forward. “Don’t go. You’re right.”
“I am?”
“You’re my husband,” Rin said. And for the first time—with no teasing, no smugness, no sarcasm—he smiled. “I’ve been waiting for you to catch up.”
Meguru melted into the floor. Sae stood up with a groan.
“I’m going home,” Sae muttered. “You two figure this out before you give someone a stroke.”
As he passed Meguru, he added dryly. “Congratulations. Your wedding gift is Rin’s entire personality.”
“I—I like his personality!” Meguru squeaked.
Sae just muttered “insane” and shut the door behind him.
Silence.
“…So,” Meguru breathed, finally looking up. “You’re Rinrin.”
“And you’re Bee,” Rin said softly.
And that’s when Meguru burst into tears.
“I LOVE YOU, YOU STUPID TSUNDERE EMO GREMLIN—!”
And tackled him.
.
.
The apartment fell into a hush again, the kind that made every sound louder like the low hum of the fridge, the quiet rush of the AC, the way Meguru sniffled softly into Rin’s hoodie.
Rin didn’t move. Didn’t breathe, almost.
Meguru’s arms were still tight around him, face buried in Rin’s chest, voice muffled as he whispered, “…I’m sorry.”
Rin blinked. “For what?”
“For interrupting,” Meguru mumbled. “I didn’t mean to barge in like that. You and your brother, It looked serious. I just… I panicked. And I was excited. And I think I blacked out for thirty seconds, actually.”
Rin slowly pulled him back a little, just enough to look at him. Meguru’s eyes were red-rimmed, cheeks pink, mouth trembling like he was still waiting to be scolded.
But Rin… He felt light. Like something deep in his chest had finally loosened.
“You didn’t ruin anything,” Rin said quietly.
Meguru hiccuped. “But you and your brother—”
“I was about to say something I’d regret,” Rin cut in, voice firmer now. “We were… saying things we didn’t mean. Or maybe we did. But they were the kind of things that burn everything down.”
Meguru’s fingers curled tighter into his shirt.
“I was going to say something I couldn’t take back,” Rin murmured. “And then you burst in. Screaming about husbands.”
Meguru let out a wet laugh that cracked halfway through. “...It was really bad timing.”
“It was perfect timing,” Rin said.
He reached up, brushing Meguru’s bangs from his eyes with unexpected gentleness. “I didn’t want to lose him. But I think I would’ve. If you hadn’t shown up when you did.”
Meguru blinked at him, confused. “But I didn’t do anything.”
“You did everything,” Rin said simply. “You gave me a reason to shut up. To stop. To remember I actually… care.”
He paused. Then added, quieter.
“I think you did the same for him, too.”
Meguru blinked again, lips trembling. “So… I’m not in trouble?”
Rin huffed. “You’re my online wife. You’re contractually obligated to save me from myself.”
Meguru burst into tears again.
Rin let him cry.
Let him cling. Let him hiccup apologies and laughs all mixed together.
And when Meguru finally calmed down, slumped against him in a boneless heap of warmth and emotion, Rin rested his chin on top of Bee’s head and closed his eyes.
“…I’m glad you figured it out,” he murmured.
Meguru’s voice was a quiet, exhausted mumble. “Me too. Took me long enough, huh?”
“You’re an idiot,” Rin said fondly.
“But I’m your idiot,” Meguru replied, already halfway to sleep.
“…Yeah,” Rin said softly. “You are.”
.
.
They didn’t do anything fancy for their first in real life date.
No candlelit dinners. No surprise karaoke. No matching shirts with “hubbee” written on the back.
Just a quiet evening in a quiet café. Warm lights. Cold drinks. It was just a little café tucked between two bookstores, where they could sit outside and hear soft music drifting through the ivy-covered patio, and nobody looked at them too long.
Meguru ordered something sugary and impossible to pronounce. Rin ordered black coffee and stole two sips of Meguru’s drink anyway. Meguru caught him the second time and said “I KNEW IT,” like it was a federal crime. Rin didn’t deny it.
And somehow—somehow, that was enough.
And Rin… Rin couldn’t stop staring.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Meguru asked, trying to lick icing off his thumb and missing entirely.
Rin huffed a small laugh. “You’re a mess.”
“You love it.”
“…I do.”
Meguru blinked. Then turned red.
Then, quietly, Rin said, “I think I’m going to talk to my brother again.”
Meguru’s head lifted slightly. “Yeah?”
Rin nodded. “Not to argue. Just… to talk.”
He picked at the edge of his sleeve. “I think I’ve been angry so long, I forgot I didn’t have to be. I thought I hated him for choosing Shidou. For throwing everything away and running off.”
Meguru said nothing. Just listened.
“I thought it was betrayal,” Rin continued, “but maybe I just didn’t want to accept that people can love people I don’t understand. That not everything’s about me.” He glanced at Meguru, then looked away again, embarrassed. “And maybe I was scared. Because if Sae can love someone unexpected, and be happy… maybe I could’ve, too. I just didn’t know how.”
Meguru gently slid his hand into Rin’s. “But you do now?”
“…Yeah,” Rin nodded slowly. “I was… angry for a long time. Not just at him. At everything. For leaving. For marrying Shidou. For being happy when I wasn’t.”
Meguru didn’t say anything. He just watched. Listened.
“But now…” Rin’s voice softened. “I think I get it.” He looked down at his hands, where his fingers were curled near Meguru’s. “He didn’t want to live under expectations. Not mine. Not anyone’s. And Shidou—Shidou’s insane, but I think Sae needed someone who would burn every rule just for him.”
Meguru nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”
“I used to think he owed me something,” Rin said, voice a whisper now. “A different ending. A better choice. But I was being selfish.”
“You weren’t,” Meguru said gently.
“I was,” Rin insisted. “But I get it now. Because…” He smiled faintly. “… now I don’t care. Because I have you.”
Meguru’s eyes were glassy now. “You’re gonna make me cry again, Rinrin.”
Rin smirked. “Don’t. I’m out of tissues.”
Some times later, they crossed the street in silence, their fingers brushing.
And then finally, Meguru reached out and actually held Rin’s hand, squeezing just once.
“…Do you think you’ll tell him?”
“I will,” Rin said. “Eventually.”
“Think he’ll believe you?”
Rin looked at him.
And smiled. Soft. Real. Warm.
“He will,” he said. “He’ll see it in my face.”
Meguru tilted his head. “What face?”
“This one,” Rin said.
And he leaned down and kissed him.
Later, as they sat on the swing set of an empty playground, Meguru leaned into Rin’s shoulder and said, “So what now?”
Rin looked up at the stars, then down at their intertwined fingers. “Now we live,” he said.
“No epic boss fight?”
“Only against taxes.”
Meguru groaned. “That’s worse.”
Rin smiled. “Not if we file jointly.”
“OH MY GOD STOP—”
Later that night, Rin sent one short message to Sae.
[Rin]
[I’m sorry. i get it now.
i’m not mad anymore
and thanks for choosing your own story.]
Few minutes later, a simple text came through.
[Sae]
[don’t screw up your own story then]
Rin smiled.
Meguru looked up from the couch, curious. “Sae?”
“Yeah.”
“Everything okay?”
Rin looked at him—his Meguru, his chaos, his heart—and nodded.
“Yeah. Everything’s good now.”
.
.
The in-game sun set with soft golden pixels spilling across the fields.
Bee’s little bee-hooded avatar bounced along the garden path, holding a bouquet of enchanted cabbage. Shadow_Rin followed behind, his brooding black cloak and spiked boots somehow still radiating soft domesticity as he carried a sparkly watering can called “Emo Tears II.”
Their farm had never looked this good.
Rows of soul lettuce and hopeful carrots. Sparkle berries growing in neat rows. A chicken named Unforgiven Egg.
And right at the center—
Two geese.
One wearing a tiny crown. The other in a glittery pink scarf.
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]
🎉✨ The Wedding of Regret Lord II & Lady Miracle I is now in progress! ✨🎉
Please direct all offerings to the Sacred Compost Bin. May your eggs be ever fertile.
Meguru—BeeLovin420—squealed in real time.
BeeLovin420: REGRET LORD FINALLY FOUND LOVE 😭💒💞
Shadow_Rin: this is the only marriage i approve of
BeeLovin420: EXCUSE YOU
Shadow_Rin: i said what i said
Rin’s avatar stepped closer to Bee’s and clicked [Hold Hand]. Their avatars locked together, standing under the pixelated heart tree that bloomed during spring events.
Shadow_Rin: hey
BeeLovin420: hey 💕
Shadow_Rin: thanks for saving my dumb sad emo farm
BeeLovin420: thanks for letting me love u even when i lied about being a girl and panicked and cried and almost choked
Shadow_Rin: wouldn’t change a thing
Shadow_Rin: except maybe ur goose naming taste
BeeLovin420: HEY
Shadow_Rin: “Lady Miracle”?? really??
BeeLovin420: SHE DESERVES IT OK
The geese waddled in perfect sync, circling their little nest made of rainbow straw and sparkly moss. They honked twice. Affectionately.
The game screen zoomed out, camera pulling high above the field of crops, the tiny wedding shrine, the soft blinking fairy lights wrapped around the love tree. Peaceful music played.
And in the real world, Rin glanced over at Meguru curled up beside him on the couch, both controllers in their laps, their shoulders pressed together.
“Do you think they’ll be happy?” Meguru asked, chin on Rin’s shoulder.
Rin smiled.
“They already are.”
.
.