#date everything angst

Everyone from Lux, and Rebel to Rainey, Betty, Dunk, Hoove, Kopi, Keyes, hell even Celia can’t look you in the eye due to the overwhelming complaints she’s been getting!

The nail in the coffin was getting thrown out of the Breaker Box club, you still can feel the shock in your arm when Volt grabbed you out the door. You were shaking and starring wide eyed at the breaker closet that Doug surely would’ve appeared if Reggie didn’t.

You couldn’t hear him, lost in your own thoughts when you cut off his passive aggressive pity party for you by…taking the dateviators off.

It still had charge left but you felt so tired. You don’t know what you were doing wrong, maybe you came off too strong or said something that was hurtful despite you just trying to fit in. Similar to what Tony said in his workshops.

Changed to fit what you thought they’d want in love or even friendship. Though, it doesn’t matter now cause almost all of your household objects hate your guts.

You curled in your spot, head tucked in your knees with your eyes peering over to stare at the glasses you held by the frame with your pointer and thumb tipping it up and down.

Maybe the hacker guy that gave you these would take them back, or maybe you can return them to David without getting accused and arrested by the government?

You just know one thing…

You don’t want to put them back on.

You tried to got back to your mundane life before realizing that everything around you is alive. But it started to make you paranoid and self conscious. Like you couldn’t live in your comfort space anymore.

You swore to Sam that the water was hot one second then cold then hot again, the coffee didn’t taste as good, you tripping on air, zapping yourself when you plugged a charger in, the food going spoiled even though you got it a day ago, the piano playing loud keys randomly, your white clothes getting stained right out of the wash, and now your comfort blanket wasn’t feeling so comforting.

You’ve had it.

One night you were laidback on the now springy uncomfortable bed, venting to Sam about how you need to get out of the house—she offered you her place for the time being. Understanding about your weird struggling relationships.

However. Out of all the people you’ve made hate you, one still remained the same throughout it all and never inconvenienced you.

Dorian. His friendship status didn’t waver at any moment of your—very fast—conversations. He found you rather interesting…respectable. When you met the firt time with Skylar he knew you’d try to get along with everyone, knew how you’d change yourself even to get everyone to like you. You were kind, thoughtful, and a little pathetic but in a charming way.

Currently, he thinks he needs to initiate the conversation this time.

You were shuffling through Dirk clothes when you heard Sam’s car honk outside. Quickly you stuff your luggage with things you knew weren’t sentient and rushed downstairs and opened the door.

Or well…tried too. Each time you turn the top lock then the bottom it shuts again. With a frustrate groan you knock your head on the front of the door, a hand still on the knob.

“Open, Dorian…” You whisper, you mind reeling in the fact that you might’ve made even Dorian upset with you. You try to open it. You curse loudly when he it doesn’t budge

You turn on your heel, leaving the luggage there as you head to your office, opening the junk drawer Jerry and searching for those fucking glasses. It was in the far back with a little dust on them. You put them on, walking pass Skylar trying to warily greet you and straight to Dorian at the front door.

He’s in his typical pose. Arms folded and chest pushed up with a ‘taking no shits’ expression. It reminds you of a conversation you had with him where you said he’d make a great bodyguard or bouncer if he were human. He had cracked a tiny smile and said that just being a door for this house was enough.

“Dorian-“

“Don’ say nothing. Let me speak.” He says, you tsk and roll you eyes but don’t say anything else.

“I don’ think you running away from your home is a good idea fro-“ You wave a hand stopping him.

“They all hate me”

“Not all-“

“Then they likely will” You voice is stern, but there’s a sadness laced in the words. He doesn’t respond to that letting you rant.

“I’m over feeling like trash in my own damn house. I need to leave, so open!” You yell, you don’t care if you’re being watched by Sam from outside or anyone from the living room.

“It’s dangerous out ther-“

“It’s better than here.” There’s a long pause.

“You’know…” Dorian starts as you’re about to take off the glasses, you glance at him. “If it means an’thing—I think we’re still friends.”

The confession makes you want to sob but you grit your teeth, look ahead at Sam’s vehicle.

“Respectfully, Dorian…I wish I never got these glasses…”

Your words stung but he doesn’t show it. You know being angry with him will likely end the same as it did with everyone else, but he remains still for a moment longer then steps aside. Letting you leave.

You toss the dateviator somewhere and walk away. Dorian closes, staring blankly at the glasses that landed in the middle of the walkway. He ignores the whispering in every room—some confusion, some even cheering

He huffs bitterly, arms still crossed and up against his chest. Dorian is ever in balance and composed, he takes his job serious and to not let any detractions get to him. However, this situation is getting out of hand even for him. He’ll have to get an appointment with Mayor Celia layer, but for now he regains his position and awaits your arrival.

How ever long that would be.

When you’re talking to Lux, even though you started off with hating them, they’ve kinda grown on you by now. You’ve started to spend so much time with them, they were just so fun now! Their jokes actually started to land and make you laugh really hard as you kept going through their dialogue every day, you, like any other player, usually forget to visit objects after getting their love or friendship ending. Volt & Eddie are no exceptions to this, sadly. Watching you aim those glasses at Lux every day, using at least one charge every day instead of coming to their show once, did piss them off. 

Eddie slammed his drink down on the counter with a huff as Volt rolled his eyes, the sound of Lux’s obnoxious laughter was drowning yours out and honestly, at this point it’s became so much. Volt has noticed how… agitated, when he- they both realized what they were. What you were. The fact that you’ve been romancing almost everyone didn’t sting as badly as finding out that nothing happened to the ‘MC’, you, the real human, just forgot about them or deemed their story done, without any say from them. 

Volt was pulled from his musings with an audible sigh from Eddie, “Hey,” he spoke softly, his hand caressing Eddie’s neck, “I’m sure we’ll find a way to get their attention back, we are the electricity! How hard can it be if Dorian, of all people, managed to mess up their game one time?” Volt’s heart sunk at Eddie’s gaze, he’d never saw his other half this… grim, before.

“It’s not about getting them back, Volt. Why did they forget in the first place? Were we too muc— did we do something wrong?”, his voice was gravelly, almost shaking with grief, as if they’d lost them. In a way, they were grieving, they were grieving the loss of your giggles when they flustered you, how you’d look at them like they were everything— they felt your gaze on them; it warmed their skin like the sun they never saw. 

The next time you’re talking with Lux, excited that it was most likely your last conversation before their route ended, you pressed on. All smiles until the power cut out. It was so instant you felt a little winded, the whole game just went dark, Lux disappeared, only the empty chat box in its usual place. Your heart actually picked up when you heard, “Ah, live wire! We’ve missed you…”

Mac feels empty. Not in the emotional way, oh boy they are full of emotions about you in that regard, they just… feel abandoned, tossed aside. They were one of the first to realize they were actually in a game and the puppet talking to them was controlled by a being so complex their CPU ran hot thinking about what you looked like. Your voice, whether a cough, sneeze, a coo at them or a comment about what they said, made their heart swell a thousand times more than when you double clicked. Though, you were save scumming, they found that term on the internet, trying to test every kind of ending you could get with them. Really, they are flattered and flustered that your attention was so fixated on them but, they hated the way you sounded when you kept picking the answers that lead to a hate end. There’s no way they’re letting that happen.

The next time you open their dialogue to finally get the hate ending and finish this god-damned challenge you forced on yourself, now though, Mac seems downright elated to see you. You… hurt them pretty badly, and yet they’re acting like nothing happened. Did you bug the game by how much you save scummed? You felt yourself freeze when Mac asked, “Hey, what do you say to being mine forever? Save the hassle for both of us? Oh, I’m overheating with the thought of hearing you say I love you to me!”, there’s only one option you can click, it reads, ‘Of course, I love you, Mac!’, your mouse moves on its own. 

Hoove knew he wasn’t an easy object, he never claimed to be one! He needs trust from a person he could even think to call his lover. When he realized what he was, when he saw just how hard you were trying over and over again, his heart warmed. He felt loved, yes he heard your disgruntled groans and huffs when you got his bad or friendship ending again, yes he wanted oh so terribly to reach out to you himself, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know how. When you stopped visiting him after a while, it felt like his heart was slowly sinking down to his stomach in this grueling pace. Every second he didn’t hear your adorable noises, your laugh, how you got up to get water and talked to your pets or to yourself about something to do with your real life, he felt like his heart could burst right there. Your very being consumed his, and yet, he just couldn’t break himself from his code. One time, you got so frustrated, he heard you crying. You probably had so much more going on and this was the thing that broke the dam, but… he couldn’t help but blame himself. He is too difficult to love, isn’t he? His vision blurred as he felt you closing the game, the tears threatening to fall any moment as he looked down, suffocated in a prison he couldn’t escape.

you go from talking with everyone, helping endlessly, forming friendships and relationships…to slowly withdrawing from everyone.

it starts small. shorter conversations, less laughter, a slight drag to your step.

it develops into blank stares mid conversation, a later start to your mornings…refusal of intimacy because you’re not in the mood or don’t have the energy.

you stop giving good advice, stop being so ready to help, stop kissing your partners.

and then, you just stop putting on the dateviators and sink into your bed until you physically have to get up relieve yourself or eat. even then you wait until the very last second.

sometimes it looks like you’re thinking about putting on Skylar, you get as close as pulling her out of the drawer and laying in bed with her for hours before finally just giving up and putting her back in your night stand.

the house would be absolutely distraught. sure they’ve seen you have depressive episodes before, but never when you actually knew they existed and they had genuine relationships with you.

they don’t take it personal because they know you can’t help it, but damn do they wish they could help you more but without the dateviators, there’s little to nothing they can do.

those who have the power to do something, use it to force you to take care of yourself. if you won’t talk to them, fine. but they’ll be damned if they let you just try to rot away.

Stefan and Freddy who make meals for you and have Phoenicia lock your screen until you come to the kitchen. they celebrate if you manage to take even a few bites.

Betty and Mateo, who can’t do anything but comfort you and cuddle you as you bed rot

Teddy who is used to his place in your arms and the tears that soak his fabric.

Curt and Rod who open up your curtains at a reasonable hour, because they want you to get sunlight but they still want to respect your autonomy.

Wyndolyn opens to get you some fresh air. if you close her or the boys, they just open again. they always win because you just don’t have the energy to fight with them.

Dunk who rolls across the hallway into your room as every type of sports ball you have, and teams up with the Hanks to put on a little show for you. it always gets a little smile out of you and that’s all they want.

Eddie and Volt who will refuse to charge your devices after multiple days of doomscrolling to force you over to the breaker box to fix it. the switches refuse to move until you take a break

Bathsheba and River who overhear your meltdown afterwards and run you a hot bath to relax. Barry adds bubbles and perfectly lines up your products to make bathing as easy as possible.

all the objects work together to do what they can to keep you on a decently regular schedule until you’re through the episode or at least feeling better enough to put the dateviators back on.

everyone is SO excited to see you but try not to overwhelm you the first few days. they make sure you don’t feel guilty for not talking to them and just focus on getting back to where they were with you.

Naturally, you don’t handle it very well. Job hunting has only been met with rejection after rejection. You were sure Reggie would have been so giddy. Being alone with no one but your rapidly decreasing mental health has pushed you past your breaking point.

When the day finally came, you sent a single goodbye text to the household group chat and finally fell into an eternal slumber you so desperately craved.

The panic of the chat, the horror of finding your body, the devastation when your death is confirmed, the shattering of bonds and hearts…all because they neglected their beloved human, the human they all knew had difficulty reaching out for help.

Over a hundred people show up for your funeral, shocking outsiders who thought this was just an average suicide. Imagine some of the Dateables overheard someone call you stupid and selfish for killing yourself when there were so many people who cared for you. If only they knew. Anger boils over, yelling occurs, possibly a fist fight, but the others break them apart before things get too nasty. Your death was already hard enough.

I think Sam would blame the Dateables, having been the only one to keep contact. You had a long distance friendship and you were a hermit to begin with, so Sam couldn’t see you often. Still, she did her best to talk to you weekly. But even her friendship couldn’t heal your broken heart and shattered spirit. You had given so much to people who unintentionally abandoned you, leaving only the ugly parts to keep you company.

The Dateables visit your grave for years to come. Some cry; others sit in silence; but many talk about their day, their careers, how much they miss you, how much they love you, how much they regret not being there for you. There would never be a day where at least one person didn’t visit your grave. How ironic that everyone only made an effort to visit you after you were gone.