“LEE,” someone hissed urgently in his ear, their breath tickling his neck.

“Ten more minutes,” Lee grumbled. He attempted to smush his face further into his pillow, but a hand took hold of his shoulder and forced him to roll over onto his back.

Thomas was glaring down at him, frowning worriedly as he hissed, “You need to wake up now and look at this! What am I supposed to do?”

Lee blinked sluggishly up at the other boy. As he waited for his sleep muddled brain to catch up, he allowed his eyes to trail absently down Thomas’ form. His gaze admiringly fixated on the President’s wild bedhead and glossy pink lips.

“LEE!” Thomas repeated more insistently.

Lee blinked again and finally noticed that there was text hovering in the air behind Thomas.

[WEEKEND ONE]

[NEW EVENT: ROMANTIC PICNIC DATE!]

(Take your Love Interest out for a sunny breakfast in the park and partake in delicious food, sweet conversation, and beautiful scenery.)

[DO YOU ACCEPT?]

[Success: +10 Affection & New CG Unlocked]

[Failure: -10 Affection]

[OR SKIP TO WEEK TWO]

Lee’s heart raced at the thought of going on another date with Thomas. An intimate picnic would have much clearer romantic undertones than a night of gaming and movies.

“We need to refuse this. How do we do that?” Thomas inquired, squinting as he forced his poor eyesight to study the words.

The question pierced right through Lee’s barely formed daydream of relaxing on a colorful blanket beneath the shade of a tree while cuddling up beside Thomas.

“You want to refuse it?” Lee asked, disheartened.

“The rewards aren’t worth going,” Thomas asserted. “I assume that a ‘CG’ would just be another image of us for the gallery, and raising my affection would not benefit either of us in this situation. We need to focus on making progress; the chance to skip past such a waste of time isn’t something we should pass up.”

Lee's picnic fantasy completely withered and died in the face of his classmate’s pragmatism. He could understand Thomas’ point of view, and even agreed overall once he thought about it.

Even so, there was one notion he wanted to argue.

“Don’t say your affection level doesn’t matter, because it matters quite a lot to me,” Lee stated firmly.

“Did I misunderstand some mechanic of the game?” Thomas wondered, confused. “What is there to gain from it when my route is already finished?”

“I like you,” Lee declared. After the words left his mouth his emotions briefly wavered with insecurity. However, they quickly settled into resolute acceptance, so he continued, “And I want you to like me too.”

(+1%) [Affection 77%]

Thomas crossed his arms over his chest and scowled down at the mattress beneath them, biting his lip in a way Lee found particularly endearing.

“...It just went up again, didn’t it?” Thomas asked, voice strained with embarrassment. He must’ve caught the way Lee’s eyes reflexively darted to look above him when the number changed.

With a tiny smile, Lee nodded sheepishly.

Thomas quietly groaned and dropped his head, letting his messy locks conceal his expression. Lee gave his shoulder a consoling pat.

Thomas had chosen to avoid vocally acknowledging Lee’s confession, but Lee still felt optimistic based on the redhead’s telling reaction.

He turned back to the floating text and reread the event one last time. It would be a shame to pass up on the opportunity, but Thomas was right. They needed to focus on escaping the curse as soon as possible, not indulging in it.

Lee recited, “Skip to week two.”

Then, like the flick of a light switch-

BLACK.

Everything was swallowed up into an empty void.

His sight, his hearing, his sense of touch; it was all gone.

He tried to call out for Thomas, but produced no sound.

He couldn’t move.

Did he even have a body to move anymore?

All he currently had the ability to do was think increasingly panicked thoughts.

Terror like that of which he’d never felt before flooded his psyche.

If he still had lungs, he might’ve started hyperventilating.

Was this it? Would this be his forever?

An eternity existing AS nothing.

IN nothing.

Then he blinked.

He blinked?

And suddenly Lee was back. He was still at Haverford Academy for Young Men, sitting on his bed inside the sophomore dormitory, with Thomas right next to him.

[WEEK 2, DAY 1]

He saw the words, but didn’t care. There were no choices to accompany them, and they disappeared as soon as he processed their meaning.

Lee was dizzy with the abrupt return of all his senses, and his body broke out into a cold sweat.

He wheezed and reached out with reckless desperation toward his partner.

Thomas snatched up his hand and also grasped onto Lee’s upper arm, immediately shuffling as close as it was possible to be without climbing directly on top of him.

At first, Lee thought the redhead was only trying to provide comfort, but he quickly realized that Thomas was in need of it too. While Lee was mostly rigid and dazed in his fear, the boy next to him was absolutely quaking against his side.

Despite still processing his own emotions, Lee turned to wrap his free arm around Thomas’ shivering back. He used his weight to pull them both down to lay on their sides as they curled into one another.

Thomas let out a shaky exhale and buried his face in Lee’s collarbone. His chin was trembling as he croaked hoarsely, “Okay, that- …Let’s not do that again.”

Maybe after some time passed and they were able to pull themselves reasonably together they could discuss logically what had occurred, but for now…

Whatever that was?

Definitely never again.