Deathshipping one shots

Here and Now

I didn't actually go through the rules of Monster World or how anything is set up so I'm just gonna wing it and hope I'm right.

It was fascinating to see how Ryou's skilled hands worked so diligently in creating the figurines for his favorite game of all time; Monster World. The smile on his face was genuine and excited.

"You seem like you're already having so much fun." Mariku pointed out, sneering.

He chuckled. "I can't wait! I'm glad you agreed to play. Usually there're more people, but..." he paused for a moment, and scratched the back of his neck. "That didn't turn out too well..."

"Oh?"

What was once giddiness turned to an awkward, dreadful air. Ryou set his brush down for a moment, trying not to recall the time...

Mariku could tell it was a touchy subject. "You don't have to explain. I don't care enough, anyway."
He took a sharp breath and tried to correct himself. "I mean, I care. About you. And. You're---life. But, like...not the situation. Well, I care. About the situation. But not---"

Ryou laughed. "I know what you mean, Stud Muffin." He offered him a smile. "Thanks for understanding."

His smile was kindly returned. "When can we start?"

"Almost. I'm just perfecting your hair."

Mariku walked over to him and leaned over his shoulder, audibly breathing in his ear. Ryou laughed at this, needing to set everything down until he regained his composure.
"What's so funny?" He grinned, breathing through his nose onto Ryou's neck.

The boy just kept laughing and laughing. "S-stop it!!!"

He flared his nostrils on command, tickling him.

"Mariku! Stop!"

Then he kissed his cheek. "Okay."

Then Ryou returned to fixing Mariku's hair on the figurine. It spiked up and out in all the right ways, it just needed to be painted the right shade. It was supposed to be a sandy blonde, but for the moment it was all too highlighter yellow.

"It's perfect." Mariku joked.

"I don't recall your hair being the inside of my school textbooks."

"I think whatever you do is perfect, but it's missing something," Mariku went to the kitchen and grabbed a napkin, then came back and tied it around the figurine. "Now it's perfect-er."

"It's not 'perfect-er' if your cape is actually black, not white." Ryou took it off and set it aside so he could focus on the hair. "Besides, the paint is still wet."

Mariku pouted. "Fine. Be that way."

With Ryou at work, he decided to observe the game itself; it was indeed a world on the table. Ryou would soon add the monsters into it, so it could live up to the name.
However, Mariku looked at the layout and raised a brow when he noticed that there was an odd amount of space on Ryou's end of the table. There were trees surrounding an area in a certain shape, and it was clear from the remnants of glue that something used to be there. A building, maybe. It was clear that Ryou tried to replace whatever it was with a miniature cottage, but it was right next to a castle and a series of towers. It didn't make sense for a cottage to be there.

But Mariku had never played the game, so he didn't think anything of it. Ryou seemed to know what he was doing.

He wandered back around the table to watch Ryou some more, and it was at that moment that he caught a glimpse of something he hadn't seen before.