Chapter Text
A month or two had passed since the X votes had won over the O votes, everybody got to go home with whatever sum of money was left when it was split up amongst every player. It had ended right after the six-legged pentathlon, still leaving Thanos with a pretty hefty debt hanging over his head…
Thanos trotted down some random sidewalk, his head hung low as people passed by without noticing him. No one recognized him, asking to take a photo; he couldn’t even hear a far away ‘is that Thanos?’. He was just Su-bong right now. His dark colored hoodie made sure to cover up the majority of his faded purple hair and tattoos, he felt like shit right now…
He let out a rough sigh, running his hand down his face with enough force to make his skin ache for a few moments afterwards. Su-bong made sure he didn’t bump into anybody as he was sulking, but of course, his luck wasn’t that good, and he ended up bumping shoulders with someone.
“Ugh… Sorry,” he murmured an apology, glancing in the stranger’s direction— only to realize, this wasn’t just some stranger. “Nam-su?” He raised his brows, the sides of his lips tugging up to form a slight smile.
The other man’s expression seemed just as surprised, and for a moment he almost seemed pleased— then quickly flattened his face to a frustrated look. “Nam-gyu.” He corrected unhappily.
“Yeah— yeah— sorry sorry,” Su-bong— no, Thanos, quickly brushed off Nam-gyu’s correction, turning his body so he could loop his arm over Nam-gyu’s shoulders. He began to walk in the direction Nam-gyu had been walking previously, not wanting to stand in the middle of the sidewalk like a total douche (he was an asshole, but not a monster!!!).
“I haven’t seen you in months dude, how’ve you been?!” Thanos asked with a toothy smile, slightly jostling Nam-gyu to urge him into speaking.
Nam-gyu didn’t need any hype from Thanos to have to speak, immediately grinning back at him, “Eh, not too bad! I was actually able to pay off my debts,” Nam-gyu hummed in an upbeat tone, seeming quite proud of himself for the accomplishment, “I’m still broke as hell though, don’t get me wrong,” he scoffed afterwards, averting his gaze away for a moment.
Thanos kept a giddy smile on his face, despite the gnawing feeling of jealousy in his chest. This little prick must know Thanos wasn’t able to pay off his debts, and now he’s rubbing it in his face.. just to make him feel like shit… Fuck, was everyone else around him also thinking the same thing? That he’s some pathetic wanna-be rapper who gave up the moment things went south?
Thanos didn’t even notice he was just staring at Nam-gyu with a dull smile until Nam-gyu finally spoke up, “Yo, you good?” Nam-gyu waved his hand in front of Thanos’ face, raising a curious brow. “You high right now?” The shorter man scoffed, he wouldn’t be surprised if Thanos said yes.
“Huh?” Thanos blinked dumbly, realizing that he was zoning out. “Oh! Sorry sorry,” he chuckled, leaving no weight in his apologies. “Nah, I’m not on anything right now, surprisingly,” he hummed, glancing around at the people passing by, all engrossed in their own activities. “But uh, you said you paid off your debt? Good for you man, that’s awesome!” As he turned his head back to look at Nam-gyu, he was caught off guard by Nam-gyu’s peculiar expression.
“Seriously?” Nam-gyu gawked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
“Wh—“ Thanos looked around, still smirking and unaware of what Nam-gyu was shocked about, “What? Something wrong?” He questioned, slightly loosening the arm that was around Nam-gyu’s shoulders.
“You’re seriously not on something right now?” Nam-gyu clarified, leaving Thanos with a knowing expression.
“Ohhh…. ohhh… Yeah! Yeah I’m not,” Thanos nodded, smiling dumbly, “I uh, I don’t know why I’m sober right now actually, kinda just been zoning out a bit,” he murmured absentmindedly, staring up ahead at the sky. He focused on a specific gray cloud as it passed by, so slow that it looked like it wasn’t moving, but it seemed to disappear so fast. Thanos’ eyes were unfocused, he didn’t even realize. He blinked away the feeling and looked back at Nam-gyu.
“Huh… Alright…” Nam-gyu seemed suspicious of Thanos’ answer, which just made him shrug in response. “Anyways, what are you doing here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around… Who knew you were so close!” He chuckled, trying to brush off the slight bit of awkwardness that had found its way into the conversation.
“I was just taking a walk, had to leave my room man,” Thanos answered easily, having a slight rhythm to his voice, “-fucking gloomy, man-!” he whined in English, leaning his head on Nam-gyu’s head for a moment before perking back up.
By looking at Nam-gyu’s face, he could tell that the man didn’t understand what he said. Meh, who cares, Thanos didn’t feel like clarifying.
“A walk? You don’t seem like the type,” Nam-gyu smirked, eyeing a bench up ahead and guiding Thanos to sit with him instead of walking aimlessly.
“The type to go on walks?” Thanos raised a brow, “how do I not seem like the type of guy to do that?” He huffed, taking the comment as an insult.
Thanos’ reaction made Nam-gyu chuckle, his own hands intertwining together as they sat beside each other. “I dunno man, even if you did seem like the type— you seem more like someone who walks outside at night, like your nocturnal or something,” Nam-gyu laughed at himself, making Thanos do his signature pout.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Thanos questioned curiosity, leaning back on the bench and shoving his hands into his pockets. His leg bounced absentmindedly, but Nam-gyu took notice of the habit.
“It's neither good nor bad, just a random assumption,” Nam-gyu shrugged, analyzing Thanos.
Now that they had finally sat down, Nam-gyu was able to look over Thanos properly. He definitely wasn’t very well put together, but he was messy in a way that looked cool— like he didn’t care about how he looked and still looked good anyway. Nam-gyu’s eyes peered over Thanos’ loose gray jeans, his brightly colored sneakers, bouncing up to his darkly colored hoodie; he could see a bright red shirt slightly poking out from underneath. His eyes also caught the slight shine of Thanos’ necklace, Nam-gyu wondered if it was the same one he wore during the games. Nam-gyu’s eyes then slowly trailed up to Thanos’ face, he noticed the other man’s expression was distant, like he wasn’t on this current plane. Good, then he wouldn’t notice Nam-gyu staring him down.
Nam-gyu took a long hard look at Thanos’ face, engulfing his tired features. This was different from how he was in the games, much different; but not bad. Thanos’ faded purple hair and mismatched earrings were charming for some reason, cute, maybe. He felt a little bad for a moment, realizing he found Thanos even more attractive when he was obviously down in the dumps… Maybe Nam-gyu should help cheer him up instead of undressing him with his eyes.
“Ahem..” Nam-gyu cleared his throat, making Thanos focus back into reality.
“Oh, sorry, what were we talking about again?” Thanos murmured, blinking away the fuzziness in his brain as he stared back at Nam-gyu. Once again Thanos felt a little jealous; Nam-gyu was much more put together than him… They had a similar fashion sense, Nam-gyu also wearing baggy jeans with a loose fitting top, but something about the way he wore it made it seem classier. Maybe it was the jewelry he wore, and the fact his clothes actually looked new and clean, while Thanos’ stuff was run down from being worn so often. With a bit of shame, he looked away from Nam-gyu and stared down at the pavement. Ah… Nam-gyu was probably judging him, he thought.
“What if we moved in together?” Nam-gyu asked out of the blue, his arm atop the back of the bench as his body faced Thanos directly. The rapper immediately perked his head back up with a curious look.
“Huh?” He tilted his head to the side, making Nam-gyu wanna grab his head and shake it around… gently of course..!
“Rent would be easier to pay, and we’re already friends, right?” Nam-gyu explained, watching as Thanos blinked at him.
“Uh…” He placed his hand on the back of his head, digging his nails into the soft skin thoughtlessly, a random habit he had. “Move in together? Isn’t that super sudden?” Thanos hummed. Despite his words being uncertain, he looked like he was actually considering the idea.
Nam-gyu shrugged, “I mean, why not? I’m kinda lonely, too,” he sighed, shifting around so his back could lean on the back of the bench. “Shits been boring as fuck,” he ran his fingers through his hair, fixing any messy strands.
Thanos still looked a bit weary, leaning forwards and placing his elbows atop his knees, “I still haven’t paid off my debt,” he admitted in a low tone, looking away from Nam-gyu so he wouldn’t have to see whatever expression he made at that comment. “Not sure if I’d be the best roomie either,” he sighed, once again digging his nails into his skin— not enough to draw blood, just enough to ground himself from his spiking nerves. When he wasn’t high on something, Thanos was pretty different; far more anxious, much more of a coward.
Nam-gyu pulled himself up so he could be able to speak to Thanos more properly, glancing at the rapper’s hand as he dug into his own neck. This action made Nam-gyu raise a brow; he never noticed this habit during the games… Maybe that was because Thanos was always on whatever shit he had in his cross? Damn, poor guy. Nam-gyu didn’t exactly pity Thanos, he just saw him as someone in a similar situation. Nam-gyu brought his hand up to flick at Thanos’ hand, making the rapper immediately pull his hand away from his neck.
“I don’t really care, honestly,” Nam-gyu hummed, staring at Thanos’ neck, his eyes focused on the line that started from behind his ear- running down his neck. “If you don’t wanna, it’s fine, I’m not forcing you to live with me,” he chuckled, running his hands up and down his legs for no reason whatsoever, just doing it to do something.
Thanos turned his head back to Nam-gyu, “No no— I wanna,” he waved his hands, cracking a small smile. “I don’t know why I’m being so weird, all indecisive,” he scoffed, carefully building up his mask; he didn’t even realize it dropped at some point. “Yeah, yeah—“ he nodded to himself, “let’s be roommates Nam-su!!” he suddenly had a burst of energy and swung his arm around Nam-gyu.
“It’s Nam-gyu…”