ROSÉ -corpse husband-

FRIENDSHIP (1)

CORPSE / PRESENT: MARCH 2021

Corpse stared at his phone screen, re-reading the message over and over again. His hands shook as he tried to focus on the words, his bright screen burning his eyes as he stared in the dark. His eyes scrolled the list of names quickly again and again, making sure he didn't miss it, making sure he wasn't imagining this.

After the information registered, he stood quickly. His head spun from the quick movement, but he ignored the dull pulsing in his temples. Corpse was nearly running as he rushed to his office, seeing the loading screen of Minecraft abandoned on his computer screen. He had been using the rain sounds to lull him to sleep with no avail.

He closed the game, and opened discord, moving to his private conversation with Rae. It was her Among Us lobby, and she knew, and he was hurt that she wouldn't have asked him first.

After beginning to type out a message, pain and bitterness behind his words, he stopped. His hands were shaking too much to formulate the proper sentences to make sense. He would have to call her.

Corpse opted to call her personal phone. He was desperate, and in the starting stages of a panic attack. He needed to talk to Rae, get clarification, figure it out.

"Corpse?" Rae's voice sounded raspy, and Corpse could imagine the way she would look if he could see her. She was probably rubbing her eyes in confusion, Mika waking up from the sudden sound of his owner awake and talking. Corpse hadn't realized it was nearly 5 in the morning.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was so late... or early... I'm sor-"

"No, no." He could hear some shuffling from the other end of the phone. She was probably sitting up in bed now, flicking on the lamp on her nightstand. "It's okay. Is everything okay? What's wrong?"

Corpse sighed, his eyes closing unwillingly as he heard her calming voice. Rae and Corpse were close. He was close with a lot of his friends, but Rae was different. He knew it was unhealthy, the way he relied on her to keep him sane but he couldn't help it. Most of the time, she didn't seem to mind it either. Rae was the only person he ever felt comfortable enough to argue with. He knew, at the very end, they would be there for each other despite the confrontational nature of the two of them. No one else could handle Corpse's anxiety and stress the way Rae could.

His heart rate began to return to normal as he took deep breaths, sitting in silence in the presence of his friend. She had probably done this for him one too many times, he thought. She was silent on the other end of the line, patiently waiting for Corpse to begin talking. He wouldn't have called for nothing.

"You let her into tomorrow's lobby," Corpse nearly spat out, his anger reconnecting to his head.

He heard Rae sigh. "Corpse, I didn't really have a-"

"You did have a choice, Rae! You knew I was playing, and you just didn't care... You know how many friends we have? You couldn't have found another fucking fill, Rachell?" Corpse hissed. He was hurting, and no, he didn't mean it, but he was still so upset.

"I did care, and I did think about you when she asked to play. She said it wouldn't become a habit to play with us. She's a great imposter in game-"

"She's not better than me," Corpse snapped stupidly, feigning confidence before deflating.

"You two are very different players. It's just a game," Rae sighed again, and briefly Corpse felt bad for how tired she would be tomorrow because of him. "She... she wanted to talk to everyone again and I felt bad-"

"Everyone except me? She wanted to talk to everyone but me." Corpse whispered. He felt insecure, and like he could cry.

"She didn't say anything like that," Rae reassured.

"She didn't have to," Corpse muttered. He tossed his phone onto his desk in front of him, keeping it on speaker phone. Placing his head in his hands, he tried to take deep breaths to calm himself down. "Rae, you don't understand how hard this is for me. Have you seen any of her recent content? She's become a stuck up bitch. You know how I am with people like that."

"I do know, Corpse. It's not easy, but you guys work in the same industry. This would've happened eventually," Rae reminded. "You know how hard it was for me to play with Michael for the first time after we broke up? But now, its all fine. You just need time to adjust. Sometimes you have to be patient with people you don't like." He could hear the white lies in her throat. She wasn't very good at lying to Corpse, she never had been. "You'll be streaming anyway, you shouldn't have to worry about it."

Corpse wasn't worried about the stream necessarily. He was incredibly good at faking it when it came to being in front of hundreds of thousands of people; nearly too good. It was what would inevitably come after the stream. The group always had post-game chats, off of stream, and he knew this game would result in no different. She would sit and brag about her new life, and complain about how terrible San Diego was to her, and he wasn't ready to hear any of it. And what would guarantee this would be a one time thing? For all he knew, she could force herself into one of their groups, and become part of the larger picture.

He couldn't handle that.

"I remember you two being quite sweet with one another, Corpse. Good friends... you have to like her at least a little bit. I mean, I know she just kinda up and left the group, but I'm sure you'll be okay," Rae's voice was hinting that she was getting tired of this conversation, or maybe she was tired in general. She slept more than Corpse did.

"I... we were more than sweet with each other, Rae. That's the problem," Corpse admitted quietly, and he had never said it like that aloud before.

Being friends with someone is easy, Corpse had discovered. When they needed a fill, or wanted to put him in a thumbnail, he could easily say yes or no, and not feel guilty for the outcome. Being friends was like him and Sykkuno, or him and Rae. There was nothing tying them to each other aside from their games and conversations and pre friendship.

Being there for each other inconsistently is very different than being a couple. Being exes, as of now.

And to do it all without your friends knowing? Nearly impossible.

"Oh," Rachell said, surprise in her tone, but she was too sweet to dive further into a conversation Corpse wasn't ready to have, and he knew that. "I'm so sorry, Corpse," she said genuinely.

"Has... has it already been decided, or can I convince you to not make me do this?" Corpse asked, nearly whining.

"I already tweeted the list of players... you know how your stans are, Corpse. If you're not in the lobby tomorrow..."

He could tell she felt bad, and he tried not to hold it against her.

"Okay, I'll be there," he tugged at the ends of his unruly curls. "But I won't like it," he added quickly.

Rae laughed quietly, "Thank you, Corpse. Try to get some sleep, love you."

"Love you too, Rae."

NOTE!!
alright :) updates daily for now, see you tomorrow at 12pm est :)

how do you guys feel about this book so far? its a little different than other corpse stories i've seen and written. not everything is rainbows and butterflies! BUT it'll be good :) trust me!!!