Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Monday 3rd October: Weekly report

Room 1: Nothing particularly new to note. Since the previous week’s report, the number of pranks has gone up. Ayato and Laito have decided it’s funny to be little shits to cause trouble within the ward and wind up other patients. Kanato is also still loopy as shit having trouble adjusting to the recent changes in prisoners, though he seems to be improving marginally.

Room 2: Azusa is still sulking depressed over Kou leaving, and Yuma and Ruki have made attempts to cheer him up. At the same time, Yuma remains troubled by his break up with Shu, but seems to have gotten a grip cheered up now that Shu has been released. Ruki has made significant improvement following his cocaine relapse a few weeks ago and the new medication appears to be helping, although he’s still shit not great at talking about his feelings.

Room 3: Shu has now left. Because of this, Reiji is sulking having difficulty coming to terms with his brother leaving before him, though Noé has mentioned he is addressing it in therapy. As for Kino, he’s a cunt and I want to punch the living daylights out of him is still being annoying and joining in Ayato and Laito’s pranks.

Room 4: Elliot and Leo seem to be enjoying Oz’s absence a little too much. My staff have walked in on them every single day. Elliot’s OSDD integration shows promise although is a slow process. Leo is stable surprisingly.

Room 5: Since Oz’s departure, Gilbert is somewhat down, but Break continues to give unsolicited wisdom. Break seems to have noticed that the staff are hiding news and I have no fucking idea how because he’s literally blind.

Overall, things in the ward have calmed down since Oz, Kou, and Shu’s department, and following Subaru’s death passing. New prisoners are due to arrive tomorrow and everybody else will be informed later today.

With a long sigh, Vanitas pulls away from the desk, drops the pen, and files his report for review later. After all the events of the past few months, equilibrium had mostly been restored. And he knew it was about to be destroyed.

As he stands up, there’s a knock on the door, before the person lets themselves in, making it clear that it’s Noé. Nobody else would just let them into Vanitas’ office, fearing that Vanitas and Domi might be doing something, but Noé is clueless and has not learnt his lesson yet.

“Did you finish the report?” he asks.

“Just now,” Vanitas huffs, pointing to the folder. “I’ll upload it later.”

Sceptical, Noé cocks an eyebrow. “Do you need me to proof read it? You can’t call Kino a cunt like last week’s.”

“I scribbled it out this time!” Vanitas throws his arms up defensively, placing a hand over the folder so that the other can’t reach it as he rolls his eyes. “I didn’t say I wanted to punch him again.”

That’s a lie. He absolutely said that, but he had the decency to cross it out this time. Vanitas thinks he deserves a medal for that. He deserves a medal for dealing with Kino every single day. And everybody else, for that matter.

“Where’s the other staff?” he asks, walking out of the room with Noé.

“Domi and Jeanne are supervising breakfast, and Astolfo is filling out paperwork with reception.”

“Why the fuck’d you get Astolfo to do that?! He’s stupid!”

“That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about,” Noé deadpans, “and at least he won’t call patients names in their files.”

“That’s what you think,” Vanitas grumbles under his breath, as they walk towards the cafeteria together. “Alright. Let’s break the news.”

When they enter the cafeteria, everything is as usual. The triplets and Kino are engaged in a heated food fight, and Elliot and Leo appear to be touching under the table (he doesn’t want to look down to check). On the other table, Gilbert is eating in silence, Break, Reiji and Ruki seem to be engaged in a deep philosophical debate, and Yuma and Azusa are forcefully maintaining small talk despite the fact both of them look like they’re ready to bash their heads into the table.

“Checks out,” he comments, before walking over to Domi and Jeanne. “All good?”

“Except for Leo threatening to take it outside when Kanato threw a fork at him, sure,” Domi says.

“It de-escalated when Elliot went to take Leo’s hand and grabbed something else,” Jeanne adds.

Promptly, Vanitas raises a hand to shut her up and rubs his forehead with the other. “I don’t wanna know. If everyone’s semi-okay, I need to do the announcement now.”

At that, Domi and Jeanne both freeze and then sigh in unison. The staff all know what’s coming to them.

“Go get Astolfo,” Vanitas whispers to Noé. “I doubt a fight is gonna break out, but he’s good at getting everyone to shut up. Laito, at least, and he’s one of the loudest.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Noé mutters, as he turns around and heads out to do as told.

Vanitas’ gaze flits around the room as he waits for Astolfo to join, his focus zooming in on the two seats where Kou and Subaru used to sit. Nobody sits in those seats, as if believing they’re cursed. The thought of newcomers making a home of this place, oblivious to the traumas everybody went through not too long ago with Subaru’s death, makes him feel a little sick almost. Undoubtedly, the new prisoners will find out what happened in no time at all, but the thought of anyone getting an inaccurate recount of events stirs concern.

A couple of minutes later, Noé returns with Astolfo in trail, the other glaring at Vanitas. They stick their tongues out at each other, before Vanitas flips him off then turns back to the room.

“Alright!” he shouts, clapping loudly. “Everybody shut up!”

Like in a classroom, most of the room do stop talking. Except the triplets. If Vanitas were a teacher, he’d kick them out and make them sit in the hallway to reflect on their actions, but Ayato, Laito, and Kanato have the self-reflective skills of a brick.

“You three,” he hisses, at which point Ayato’s head whips around and he sneers.

“We’re havin’ an important conversation here!” he yells, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Didn’t ya know it’s rude to interrupt?!”

“Yeah, talkin’ about each other’s dick measurements is not important,” Vanitas deadpans. He wants to be joking, he really does, but he heard snippets and he cannot unhear them. “And Kino. Stop throwing food.”

“I’m not throwing it,” Kino refutes, despite the grape in his hand two seconds from being catapulted at Kanato’s face. “Unless you want me to.”

“God, you’re such a—”

“Vanitas,” Noé cuts him off with a scolding glare.

“Whatever. Now that I’ve finally got all your attention, I have an announcement.”

“Oh? I knew it,” Break snickers, “You know I can smell when somebody is hiding something.”

“Secrecy doesn’t have a smell,” Vanitas scoffs, “That aside, I know you’re all gonna freak out, but this is out of my control, alright?”

“Just spit it out already!” Ayato yells.

Vanitas wants to spit on him, actually, but he refrains from saying so. Instead, he takes a deep breath and says, “We’re getting new transfers. Six new prisoners coming tomorrow.”

Immediately, everybody stares at each other in concern. Although it’s unspoken, all the people in that room know how hard it’s been to settle down after all the catastrophes as of late, and new people always causes problems. Case in point: when Oz, Elliot, Leo, Vincent, Gilbert, and Break arrived many months ago.

“One of them will each go in rooms two, four, and five, room three will get two more, and two of them will go in room six. We haven’t decided who yet, so don’t ask me,” Vanitas continues. In the corner of his vision, he sees a flash of dread strike across Reiji’s face in particular, and he understands why: nobody has touched Subaru’s bed since he died. “So just a reminder of the ground rules: don’t hurt my staff, don’t kill anyone, and most importantly, don’t piss me off.”

Nobody seems bothered by the rules, so Vanitas sighs and repeats only one. “Just… don’t kill anyone. Please.”

“No promises,” Kino calls out, winking at him.

“Ugh, it’s always you who pisses me off, isn’t it?” Vanitas grumbles, rolling his eyes and shaking his head before turning to the rest of his staff. “Alright. Briefing at lunch. Don’t be late.”

That afternoon, Vanitas, Domi, Jeanne, and Noé congregate in the main office, sat in a circle around Vanitas’ computer.

“Why did you make Astolfo watch over everyone at lunch?” Noé asks, raising an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you have called Roland and Olivier here? They’d have been happy to have overtime to accommodate new people and then catch up later.”

“Because I don’t like Astolfo and I don’t wanna see his stupid face,” Vanitas says, before holding a hand up to silence Noé before he can protest. “Alright. Six prisoners. We need to decide who’s going where.”

“Are there any you have an idea of yet?” Jeanne questions, as she glances over the six profiles open in tabs side-by-side. “There’s a few murderers, right?”

“Two murders, one fraud, one rape, and two… everything,” Vanitas explains, as he opens two of the profiles wider and zooms into the crime profiles. “Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. They know each other. Boyfriends, supposedly. Apprehended at the same time for connected crimes.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to put the couple together?” Domi cocks an eyebrow. “Aren’t we always just going to walk in on them?”

“Maybe,” Vanitas shrugs, “but Xie Lian has a life order and charges for everything you could imagine — murder, accidental manslaughter, DUIs, robbery, trespassing, suspected terrorism. There’s no notes on his profile expect saying the holding department suspect he’s in drug withdrawal. His and Hua Cheng’s court dates were only two days ago, at which they were taken to a facility immediately. Like I said, Xie Lian is in withdrawal, they think heroin, and Hua Cheng is showing signs of withdrawal and had a drug test positive for cocaine, hence they’re both being sent here.”

“Another heroin addict,” Noé hums, “We should—”

“Methadone, I know,” Vanitas says, “If he refuses I’ll just set Break off on him. He’ll be convinced in no time.”

“Suspected terrorism?” Jeanne reads off the concerningly long list. “That sounds… terrifying.”

“Yeah, I dunno what this guy’s gonna be like, so I want to put those two in a room on their own. Everyone agree?”

The other three nod, at which Vanitas makes a note next to them: room 6.

“Alright, next up there’s two siblings,” he continues, opening the next two tabs. “Shi Wudu and Shi Qingxuan. Shi Qingxuan was only recently arrested after being found guilty of mass fraud, but he’s got a history of bipolar and anorexia, apparently. Shi Wudu, on the other hand, was convicted of murder a few weeks ago, but is supposedly causing problems in his current prison. There’s not many details though, just says he’s a narcissist.”

“Shouldn’t we put those two together?” Noé suggests, “If they’re siblings.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s necessary,” Vanitas says, “There’s a note under Shi Qingxuan saying he regularly receives oestrogen though, so that might not be a ‘he’, but we’ll find out tomorrow. Stupid fucking transphobic prison system…”

“So where are you putting Shi Wudu?” Domi asks.

“Given the fact he’s older, I’m thinking Break and Gilbert instead of Elliot and Leo. Obviously we know Gilbert is innocent, but Break is dangerous if he wants to be. They’ll be safe. And Shi Wudu doesn’t seem that bad. The notes about him are full of waffle trying to justify why he needs special treatment.”

“Vani, he might have deeper issues,” Noé scolds him. “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“I can, and I will,” Vanitas replies, “Both Shi Wudu and Pei Ming’s transfer notes were by a woman called Ling Wen. She’s deliberately made it vague it seems. I dunno what the fuck is up with that.”

Oblivious to the spat around her, Jeanne nods along, glancing to the next file. “There’s another one from the same prison?”

“Yeah, Pei Ming,” Vanitas says, skipping to the fourth. “Convicted of rape but pled innocent, so he’s probably an asshole. Notes say he’s started fights in the other prison, hence he’s getting sent over with Shi Wudu. I’m not sure where to put him though.”

“I have an idea,” Domi speaks up, “Put him in room 2. Yuma will beat him up.”

“You know what?” Vanitas purses his lips, thinking for a moment before nodding. “That’s a brilliant idea. If he gets beaten up, skill issue I guess.”

“Both of you… need serious help,” Noé sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Though I agree putting him with Reiji and Kino might not be a good idea.”

“I don’t think putting anyone with Reiji is a good idea,” Jeanne says.

“Yeah, he’s still bummed out about Subaru and Shu being gone,” Domi adds.

“… So that’s true,” Vanitas mutters quietly, swallowing back the lump in his throat at the mention of Subaru. “But I’m reluctant to put anyone who might cause fights in a room with Elliot and Leo. Elliot is improving in therapy and Leo is unpredictable. If we have one room left who doesn’t have an addition, it should be room 4.”

“I see your point. Elliot doesn’t need provocation,” Noé agrees, “So… Shi Qingxuan is going with Reiji and Kino in room 3?”

“I guess.” Vanitas groans, reluctantly putting room 4 next to Shi Qingxuan’s name before opening the final file. “Last person is He Xuan. Pled innocent to murder. He’s coming from another ward, apparently there’s been problems with his health. Something-something eating disorder, I don’t know. It’s vague. I can’t assess him until he arrives.”

“Reiji can be put in a room with a murderer,” Jeanne points out, “He murdered someone too.”

“And if there’s a scrap, Kino will make it about him,” Vanitas also notes. “He Xuan is trans, it does say that much.”

“Does Reiji know trans people exist?” Domi snorts.

“Probably not, and if Shi Qingxuan is trans, he’s gonna have a field trip,” Vanitas snickers, making the final note. “Alright. So Shi Wudu is going in room 5 with Break and Gilbert, Pei Ming is going in room 2 with Azusa, Yuma, and Ruki, Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan are going in room 3 with Reiji and Kino, and Hua Cheng and Xie Lian are going in room 6 alone. Sound good?”

Everyone nods in unison, as Vanitas smacks the print button on the computer and says, “Let’s get this shit started.”

Chapter Text

“Why the fuck am I here?” Astolfo asks when Noé summons him to the main therapy room, scowling at Vanitas.

“Because the first guy we’re assessing was convicted of every crime possible,” Vanitas explains, kicking back in the chair and pretending he’s not prepared to get stabbed. “I need back-up.”

“I don’t think he’s going to kill you,” Astolfo says, folding his arms over his chest as he leans against the wall. “Domi is currently with him. He’s reaching he peak of heroin withdrawal.”

“And? Pretty sure Break killed people in heroin withdrawal.”

“Break isn’t normal!”

“We appreciate the back-up, Tolfo,” Noé sighs. It’s a well-known fact that Astolfo avoids Vanitas altogether. “You never know… But yes, I’ve heard he’s ill.”

“I better get the methadone promo speech ready,” Vanitas sighs, pulling out his file and glossing over it again. “Xie Lian, hm…”

“There’s not much information on him,” Noé says, “It does say him and Hua Cheng are from China though, but both of them have a permanent visa so they must’ve been here for a while.”

“I’m lookin’ for some backstory,” Vanitas grins, before pulling out the walkie-talkie. “Domi? Can you send him in now?”

“Don’t rush me.”

“Hurry up.”

“Bitch.”

“You’re so in love,” Noé chuckles, shaking his head. “You know I always thought Domi could do better though.”

“Hey!” Vanitas yelps, as he smacks his arm. “What happened to being nice?!”

“I’m always nice,” Noé smiles sweetly, and when he says it like that, it’s convincing. Whilst Vanitas would complain, he regularly bullies and insults Noé’s long-term boyfriend, so… he’ll take it.

Before either of them can continue bickering however, the door opens. Domi leads the way, with a man taller than her trailing behind. Vanitas, Noé, and Astolfo all remain on edge, trying to gauge this individual who committed various serious crimes and managed to go without being apprehended for it for many years. His hair is long but neatly kept, a thin glean of sweat coating his forehead and a stagger in his step; classic opiate withdrawal.

But he’s… smiling. He’s smiling. And not in the creepy way Vincent smiled, no, or the smug way Shin grinned at everyone, no. He’s smiling… genuinely? In a friendly way?

He looks… rather quite normal, actually.

“Xie Lian, is it?” Vanitas asks, trying to conceal the shock in his expression as Domi moves the cushions to help Xie Lian sit. If Domi is helping, he must’ve been polite to her as well, because she doesn’t take shit from any of the men here.

“Yes, that’s me,” the other says, thanking Domi before turning back to Vanitas, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a dry chuckle. “Sorry about… this. I’m a little sick.”

“A little sick?” Vanitas snorts, listening to his generally polite and slightly remorseful tone, a very subtle accent in his words but not noticeable unless you knew he was from China. “You’re in heroin withdrawal, Xie Lian. Of course you’re sick.”

“I guess,” he laughs nervously, looking as though he might cry otherwise. “So what’s this?”

“This is just an assessment. We gauge how your treatment will progress, including therapy and medication, and any accommodations you might need, as well as explaining a little bit about how things work,” Noé explains, as he flips to the first page of his file again, trying to hold back the visible gawking reaction. “Age 23, convicted of, uhm…”

“Everything,” Vanitas deadpans, spinning the pen between his fingers. “So, Xie Lian, what’s that all about?”

“Ah, I suppose it is a lot,” Xie Lian says. He runs his fingers through his hair, swallowing thickly as his body trembles; it’s clear he’s feeling like absolute shit physically, but he holds it together surprisingly well. “It’s a long story… I got myself in a bit of trouble, some bad people here and there, some bad luck, and did some not-so-good things for a couple of years… But I stopped when I was 19, so I’m okay now!”

“Okay might be a strong word,” Vanitas huffs, “You say a couple of years. When did it stop?”

“Well… I came to this country when I was young. I was adopted by someone who’s a bit… Ah, well, anyway, things went downhill when I was 17, but I met San Lang when I was 18, and he helped me get out of it!”

“San Lang?”

“Oh, Hua Cheng,” Xie Lian corrects himself, laughing sheepishly. “I call him that. Hua Cheng, I mean. I spent a couple of years a bit… unwell, but when I was 21, someone started searching for us, and he took me on the run. We were homeless for two years, but he always had money.”

“You say 18, but a couple of years. Was Hua Cheng involved in the crimes for a year?” Noé asks.

“Sort of. If anything, he was trying to take the fall for me,” Xie Lian says, “To be honest, I don’t remember a lot of it. I don’t doubt that I did the things I was charged with, but some of the really big instances are a bit of a blur and I—”

“Dissociative Identity Disorder,” Vanitas cuts in, cocking an eyebrow. “Yes? No?”

Xie Lian turns to stare at Vanitas, blinking a couple of times before chuckling. “Yes, no, sort of.”

“Yes, no, sort of,” Vanitas repeats, as he clicks his pen on dramatically. “Elaborate.”

“I mean sort of,” Xie Lian replies, “When I was 20 I dropped out of university and did something a bit… bad. I was hospitalised for a couple of months and they diagnosed me with OSDD-1a and C-PTSD. Oh, I’m also autistic, should I mention that?”

“Helpful to note,” Vanitas snorts, “And you were using heroin at the time?”

“On and off,” Xie Lian recalls, wrapping his arms around himself as he shivers again, but he never expresses discomfort. “I had a drinking problem in my teens, but when I was 17, about a year before I met San Lang, I got stabbed a few times in the liver and was told I could never drink again, so I turned to heroin.” He laughs again. “It wasn’t my most lucid moment.”

Vanitas blinks, with a concerned side glance at Noé. “You have liver problems?”

“Yes,” Xie Lian nods, like it’s nothing. “Is that a problem?”

“… No,” Vanitas mutters, “Forget it. It’s… alright.”

Noé, sensing Vanitas’ hesitance and fully understanding why given the incident with Subaru, takes it upon himself to continue the assessment. “Xie Lian, was Hua Cheng aware that you were using heroin?”

“Mhm,” Xie Lian nods, as his gaze flits downwards a little sheepishly. “He knew shortly after we met. San Lang was very protective of me, but he understood I was struggling. It was a difficult situation, because he didn’t want me to hurt myself, but he also knew I’d be in insufferable agony if I went through withdrawal and stayed off the drugs. I don’t think he was ever happy about it, but… he supported it.”

Vanitas looks up from his paper again, raising his eyebrow. “Supported it?”

“I guess that sounds a little weird,” Xie Lian chuckles awkwardly, placing a hand on his stomach. “He paid for the drugs, checked them, bought them… He learnt to give CPR, how to inject safely, carried naloxone. Like I said, I know he didn’t like doing it, but… I’d suffer one way or another. San Lang supported whatever I wanted. Withdrawal never went well.”

“I’m aware,” Vanitas snorts, “Would you be alright if we put you on methadone?”

“Sure,” Xie Lian nods, “I was put on it in the psychiatric hospital, but I never went back to the pharmacy to get the rest… I just started doing heroin again instead. I guess that sounds a bit sad, doesn’t it?”

“Nothing surprises me anymore,” the other scoffs, “Alright, I’ll get that down. You’re not the only methadone patient here, so it’s nothing new to us.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Once more, Noé and Vanitas look to each other in pure shock. Xie Lian, the man convicted of every crime imaginable and suspected fucking terrorism, is so… polite and normal. Obviously he’s got issues, but they’re no longer concerned someone is going to get killed in the ward.

(Not by him, at least.)

“We’ll find out more about Hua Cheng when we speak to him,” Noé continues, “For the time being, you won’t be expected to go to meal times while you’re recovering physically, and don’t hesitate to ask anyone here for assistance.”

“That’s good. I don’t think I could stomach anything right now…”

“We have an infirmary on-site if something does happen,” Vanitas says, glossing over his notes before asking, “D’you smoke?”

“Oh… Yeah, San Lang and I do. Is that an issue?” Xie Lian replies, “If we’re not allowed, that’s also fine.”

“If someone is sending you guys money, you can.”

“Not me, but San Lang has someone who sends him money… He keeps all his money,” Xie Lian laughs once again. “It’s a long story.”

“I’m sure he’ll be generous enough to buy you cigarettes,” Vanitas smirks, “You and Hua Cheng will be in a room on your own, but don’t get too handsy. The doors don’t have locks.”

“… Okay?” Xie Lian responds, as if he doesn’t quite understand the implication, and suddenly him being autistic becomes clear; that, and the complete lack of hesitation to disclose his whole life story like it’s nothing. He rubs his stomach again, sitting up slowly. “Is that everything? Sorry, I feel sick again.”

“Yeah, you can go.” Vanitas waves him off. “Domi should be waiting in the corridor. She’ll take you somewhere.”

“Thanks!”

When Xie Lian stands up and semi-hastily stumbles to the door, silence befalls the room. In absolute awe, Vanitas, Noé, and Astolfo turn to stare at each other.

“He’s…”

“So normal. I know.”

Hua Cheng is less normal.

It’s obvious from the moment he walks in the room, his aura cold and irritated as he sits down on the sofa in front of them. When he glares at Vanitas and Noé, Vanitas suddenly regrets sending Astolfo away, saying they didn’t need him anymore — and that’s significant, because why the fuck would Vanitas want Astolfo there by choice?!

Before either of them can get a word out, Hua Cheng speaks. “When can I see gege?”

Vanitas stares at him, blinking a few times. His accent is a little more obvious than Xie Lian’s, but still not overly noticeable. “What?”

“Gege,” Hua Cheng repeats, a sly grin tugging at his lips. “Are you uncultured?”

“Clearly,” Vanitas says with a derisive snort. “So enlighten me.”

“Xie Lian,” Hua Cheng clarifies, looking down at his nails, the slight tremble in his hand not going unnoticed. “It’s an endearing name. You wouldn’t understand.”

“You better—”

“Vani,” Noé warns him, before turning to Hua Cheng and smiling nervously. “You can see Xie Lian as soon as we’re finished here. You two are in a room together.”

“Good,” Hua Cheng says, “We’d be having words if it were any other way. I’m not being separated with gege in a place like this.”

“You make me homophobic,” Vanitas comments under his breath, already pissed off by this guy and his smugness, and he’s also pissed off by the fact he’s a little scared of him too. “Xie Lian has already told us a little about your history, so I won’t bother asking.”

“I wouldn’t disclose anything without his permission,” Hua Cheng replies cooly. “I have nothing to say about myself.”

“Beg to differ,” Vanitas mutters, meeting his smirk with another smirk (a little less intimidating). “What’s this about a positive cocaine test?”

Immediately, Hua Cheng’s grin drops a little, his expression quickly shifting to a scowl. He looks between Vanitas and Noé, remaining totally silent.

“The silent treatment. I see,” Vanitas hums, “We’ll go slower then. Xie Lian said you were supporting his heroin use, so I’m going to guess you were also using drugs.”

Hua Cheng stays quiet.

“For fuck’s sake,” Vanitas grunts, “Money. Where’d the money for this come from? Xie Lian mentioned you had an acquaintance keeping your money. What’s that about?”

“Yin Yu,” Hua Cheng answers eventually, his expression just as stone-cold as it was when he walked in.

“His relation to you?”

“Business partner,” he says, “Spouse, technically.”

“… Spouse?” Noé questions.

“For convenience,” Hua Cheng explains, “I needed a visa. Gege is the only one I love.”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ—”

“Vani!” Noé hisses, “Hua Cheng, Xie Lian spoke positively of your help during his addiction. If you were using drugs at the same time, I’m sure he was understanding.”

“I wasn’t,” Hua Cheng denies instantly.

“The positive drug test suggests otherwise, and I can see you shaking. I’ve had enough patients in my career lie to me about doing drugs, so that shit doesn’t work on me,” Vanitas says, “So I’ll ask more bluntly: are you a coke addict or what?”

“No.”

“Incorrect.”

“What my colleague is trying to say,” Noé continues, “is that if you need help managing withdrawal, it’s better for your comfort if you tell us. For cocaine, we could suggest something like benzodiazepines.”

“I can’t have that,” Hua Cheng says, “I need to stay awake in case gege needs my help. He’s in heroin withdrawal. Didn’t you know?”

The smug smirk returns with that comment, and Vanitas is close to sending him out the room. He’s not as insufferable as Kino or Ayato, nobody is, but he’s a similar level of cocky and annoyingly vague as Vincent was, and Vincent’s presence didn’t end well for anyone.

“I give up,” Vanitas says, “Xie Lian said you both smoke, so whenever your bestie Yin Yu sends you cash, you can both chain-smoke to your heart’s content. Just… don’t kill anyone, alright?”

“No promises,” Hua Cheng responds nonchalantly, “If nobody hurts gege, then everything will be smooth.”

Without another word, Vanitas stands up, opens the door, and gestures for Hua Cheng to leave. Of course, Hua Cheng sees this as his opportunity to reunite with Xie Lian after they were transferred separately. Once he’s gone, Vanitas sits back next to Noé and bashes his head against the clipboard. He’s decided it’ll be Noé’s job in therapy to get the rest of his personal history out of him, because there was no way Hua Cheng was ever going to say a word about himself today.

“He’s not normal.”

“No… he’s not.”

“I don’t have high hopes for this guy either,” Vanitas says, returning to the therapy room with Noé after a brief intermission.

“I’d say not to judge a book by its cover, but… he did supposedly rape five women…” Noé sighs, before narrowing his eyes at the other. “Also, what kind of bathroom break takes ten minutes?”

“A bathroom break which also involved going for a smoke,” Vanitas replies, flipping through the notes, not missing Noé’s judgemental stare aimed at him. “What?! Xie Lian and Hua Cheng stressed me out!”

“You’re meant to be quitting.”

“Suck my dick.”

“Just…” Noé sighs heavily, rubbing his temples as he pulls out the walkie-talkie, ending the conversation there. “Domi? Can you bring Pei Ming in?”

“Can do, but he’s annoying,” Domi responds after a while, hearing someone talking behind her. “Jeanne thinks he’s hot though.”

“Jeanne is ploughing through room two, damn,” Vanitas snickers, “Who’s next, Yuma?”

“Don’t joke about that…” Noé groans. There’s so much unprofessionalism around him. “She might actually.”

“Well Yuma’s gotta find somewhere to stick it now that Shu’s gone, and I don’t think Jeanne is gonna get it on with Azusa,” Vanitas comments, “Azusa will die a virgin. Unless he gets horny for someone new coming.”

“From the looks of the newcomers, I think that’s unlikely,” Noé replies bluntly, before the door swings open, revealing an exasperated Domi and a tall man with long hair and a sly grin.

“Oh God,” Vanitas huffs under his breath, whispering to Noé. “It’s giving Laito.”

Noé promptly elbows Vanitas in the ribs, then turns to the others. “Pei Ming, is it?”

“The one and only,” Pei Ming replies, winking at Domi as she leaves. Once she’s gone, he whistles and sits down opposite them, commenting, “She’s sexy.”

“Don’t whistle at my staff,” Vanitas scolds him, “and to set the record straight: don’t rape my staff. It’s happened before, it doesn’t end well, so don’t even think about it.”

“I would never,” Pei Ming replies, his smile dropping slightly but his expression remains smug, with a touch of bitterness now added. “Though I think you should hear me out by making judgements.”

“Ahem.” Vanitas clears his throat and adjusts his glasses, flicking the paper up dramatically. “Pei Ming, age 24. Life order for raping five women. I have judgements to make.”

“Contrary to what you think,” Pei Ming says, “I didn’t actually do any of that. I’ve been with many women in my time, but I never did anything without consent.”

“Oh yeah?” Vanitas snorts, flapping the papers at him. “Explain this, then.”

“It was a set-up,” Pei Ming explains. Although Vanitas wants to hate him, there’s an absence of deceit in his eyes.

Noé, suspicious as well, raises an eyebrow and asks, “Elaborate?”

“One of my exes, Xuan Ji, hoooh boy. She was fit, incredibly so, but terribly possessive,” Pei Ming recalls, “When I broke up with her, she made a plan to frame me and ruin my life. Crazy, right?”

“Crazy,” Vanitas deadpans, “And why should I believe you?”

“You don’t have to,” Pei Ming hums, “Believe what you like, I know what I did and didn’t do.”

Narrowing his eyes, Vanitas continues scanning his face for any trace of denial or deceit, but he seems annoyingly transparent about it. In contrary to Laito, who admitted what he did and harbours intense guilt for it, Pei Ming is confident he did nothing wrong yet he’s accepted he’s here and can’t change it. Noé seems to understand too, and Vanitas realises that they’ll probably never know if he did it or not.

“Anyway, you’re mainly here to get a psychiatric assessment, because you got sent to me under the accusation of being mentally ill,” Vanitas explains, “Tell me about that. What brand of fucked up are you?”

“Not at all,” Pei Ming says, “I only got sent here because everyone was scared of me.”

“You got beaten up because you’re a convicted rapist.”

“I didn’t get beaten up. I won all the fights I got into at my last prison ward.”

“Fighting isn’t recommended,” Noé tells him, still struggling to warm up to him evidently. “You’ll be in a room with three other people, and I can’t recommend talking too much about why you’re here. One of your roommates won’t appreciate it.”

“Ooh, a fight incoming,” Pei Ming smirks, “I like the sound of that.”

“I’m not sure you’ll win against Yuma in a fist-fight, so calm it with the cockiness,” Vanitas says, “Have you ever been accused of being a narcissist?”

“Many times,” Pei Ming answers shamelessly, kicking one leg over the other and straightening up. “But you haven’t met my good friend Shi Wudu yet. Honestly, you’ll think I’m very normal compared to him.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Vanitas curses under his breath, “The murderer?”

“The murderer,” Pei Ming nods, “and unlike me, I can’t promise you that Shi Wudu didn’t do it.”

At that, Noé and Vanitas exchange a concerned glance; they haven’t heard good things about Pei Ming or Shi Wudu, and know about their reputation at the previous ward, and if Pei Ming says Shi Wudu is bad news, he must be bad news.

“We’ll speak to Shi Wudu next,” Noé says, “Pei Ming, did you ever receive any psychological intervention at the previous prison?”

“Nope,” Pei Ming replies, “I’m telling you, I’m very mentally healthy. My biggest weapon is my c—”

“Do not finish that sentence,” Vanitas interjects, holding up a hand, tempted to throw the pen at him but knowing it’ll get him told off.

“My cock.”

Vanitas throws the pen at him anyway, and amazingly, Noé doesn’t scold him.

“Well you can keep your weapon in your pants here, because I promise you won’t need it,” Vanitas says, “Any history of drug use or addiction?”

“Never,” Pei Ming replies, a little sarcastic. “I’m partial to a good bit of coke, but I was never a drug addict.”

“I can’t say anything critical to that,” Vanitas mutters, going to make a note of it before realising he threw his pen at the other and now has nothing to write with, so he swipes the pen from Noé’s hand and uses that instead. “You smoke?”

“Will you think I’m sexier if I say yes?”

“No,” Vanitas retorts, “I don’t think you’re sexy at all.”

“Shame,” Pei Ming hums, “Yes, I do.”

“Well summon up a rich friend and you can buy cigarettes here,” Vanitas replies. Even though Pei Ming annoys him, he’s nowhere near as frustrating as Laito. “Anything else you want to ask?”

“Only one thing to mention,” the other says, “If a woman called Xuan Ji tries to contact me, tell her she can’t.”

“Noted,” Vanitas nods, making a note of that too. “Alright, get out, and quit making googly eyes at my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Pei Ming asks.

“Girlfriend?!” Noé exclaims.

“… Uh.” Vanitas coughs, realising he’s… never actually referred to Domi as his girlfriend before. “Domi. I mean Domi.”

“You, my friend, have exquisite taste,” Pei Ming comments as he stands up, flashing a wink at both of them. “Goodbye, sexy people.”

As Pei Ming leaves, Vanitas tries to avoid Noé’s stare as he mumbles, “Girlfriend…”

“Shut up,” Vanitas hisses through gritted teeth, cursing himself when his cheeks heat up slightly. “Just… shut up.”

“Sure,” Noé snickers, “So, Pei Ming? Do you think he’s lying?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Vanitas sighs, “You can pick apart his brain in therapy. I’m not using my special MBT skills on him.”

“Great,” Noé deadpans, “I can’t wait.”

Chapter Text

Not in a million years could Vanitas and Noé have mentally prepared themselves for Shi Wudu.

Somehow, despite wearing the generic prison clothing, he looks rich. Vanitas can’t put the aura into words, but he appears stuck up and snobby, turning his nose down at Vanitas and Noé as Domi leads him into the room and points at the sofa. He doesn’t say a word, as if he’s assessing their vibe and that itself makes Vanitas deem his vibes to be rancid.

“So, Shi Wudu,” Vanitas says, flicking his glasses down to squint at him. “You killed someone.”

“I pled innocent,” Shi Wudu replies plainly, sitting up straighter.

“That’s not what I asked,” Vanitas responds, as Noé already begins taking notes. “Frankly, you’ve been convicted and sentenced several weeks ago, and you were determined to have done it, evidence and all. I don’t give a shit if you decide to tell me you did it now.”

“Hmph,” Shi Wudu sneers. The motherfucker sneers, and that’s his only response.

“You…”

“Vani,” Noé warns him, before turning back to the other. “Crime aside, because that’s… Well, that’s not up for debate anymore. We’re here to assess why you’re here specifically and not your previous prison.”

“Ling Wen already sent a letter, did she not?” Shi Wudu asks, a slight cocky grin tugging at his lips.

“Familiar with her, are we?” Vanitas returns said smirk, already trying to catch him out. “Did you choose to leave the other place?”

“Never,” Shi Wudu snorts, “I wouldn’t voluntarily be couped up with a bunch of mentally unstable criminals. I was sent here against my will.”

“Well, you’re one of ‘em now, so get comfy,” Vanitas retorts, glossing over the notes briefly again. “Your previous doctor said he thinks you had a mix of NPD and ASPD, but it’s up to my discretion.”

“Diagnose me with whatever you want,” Shi Wudu says, “It doesn’t affect me.”

“You’ll change my mind when I prescribe you some shit to make you shut up.”

“Vani!” Noé hisses, kicking him from the side. He sighs, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. “Shi Wudu, we have notes from your brother’s psychiatrist before this. We’ll see him next, but I was wondering if you’d ever been seen by the same person?”

At that, Shi Wudu cocks an eyebrow, unimpressed by the question. “My brother? I don’t have a brother.”

Vanitas shifts one leg over the other, spinning the pen between his fingers and giving him a questioning stare, but Shi Wudu’s denial doesn’t budge.

“Shi Qingxuan…?” Noé asks, pulling out his sibling’s file.

“I don’t have a brother,” Shi Wudu repeats, then a frown tugs at his lips. “Hand me the paper.”

“I’m not giving you confidential shit,” Vanitas refuses, “Are you siblings or not?”

“Yes,” Shi Wudu replies, cold as ever. “Qingxuan is a woman.”

“… Right,” Vanitas nods. He had a hunch, given the regular hormone therapy. Stupid fucking transphobic prison system. “Pardon, your sister. Did you see the same psychiatrist as your sister?”

“No,” Shi Wudu answers, now that the others have corrected themselves. “I only sent her there when our parents died and she became unwell.”

“Oh, your parents are dead?” Vanitas grins, leaning forward with his pen at the ready. “Some backstory, finally. Spit it out, I’m listening.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Shi Wudu says, “They passed, I took over the finances. I got Shi Qingxuan whatever she wanted, but I didn’t want her to be sick.”

“Well, she got herself arrested a few weeks after you were, so I don’t think it worked.”

“She stopped taking her meds when I went to prison.”

“God, what fun,” Vanitas grumbles sarcastically under his breath. This guy is not giving him a lot of confidence in Shi Qingxuan who’s next on their list.

“How long ago did your parents pass?” Noé questions, trying to move on from Vanitas’ tragic interrogation.

“About four years ago,” Shi Wudu replies, “We moved away. I had to get Shi Qingxuan away from some bad people.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it worked out,” Vanitas comments, “What medication was she put on? Since she stopped taking it, so I doubt she’ll tell us.”

“You should put her back on all of it. I don’t want her being more unwell,” Shi Wudu says. “400mg lithium at night, 2,000mg sodium valproate, split into two doses, 300mg quetiapine at night, and 200mg sertraline in the morning. PRN diazepam 5mg too.”

Vanitas does not appreciate being told how to do his job, but it’s a comprehensive list and maybe helpful, he guesses. At the same time, she sounds overmedicated even by his standards (he didn’t even put Subaru or Kou on that much!) and the fact Shi Wudu knows it in so much detail says a lot. Either he was just trying to care for her, or he was forcing her to take it all.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Vanitas says, “As for you, I’m not medicating you, but I’ll consider it if you piss me off. Do you smoke?”

“Absolutely not,” Shi Wudu replies, “and don’t let Qingxuan.”

“Shi Qingxuan is 22, she can do what she likes as long as she has money coming in,” Vanitas responds bitterly, before a smug smile tugs at his face. “You wouldn’t financially deprive your sister, would you?”

When Shi Wudu narrows his eyes at him, it’s not quite as threatening as Hua Cheng, because that was slightly terrifying, but it does make him shut up. Noé continues watching him closely, still scribbling down something.

“Alright, you can go now,” Vanitas says, waving him off. “Domi will take you to your room. You’ll be staying with two others. One of them is blind, although don’t try anything on him. He’ll kill you.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Shi Wudu retorts, before standing up and walking out without another word, seemingly annoyed upon being greeted by Domi at the door.

“Yeah, fuck him,” Vanitas mutters, “There’s a lot of assholes in this place, but I don’t think any of them are quite as stuck-up.”

“Hmm…” Noé considers it, tapping the pen against his lips. “Reiji?”

“Reiji didn’t murder someone— Wait, never mind.”

Their hopes for Shi Qingxuan, given her brother, were understandably not high. So when a woman enters the room, engaged in a full discussion with Domi about how much she loves her nails, Vanitas and Noé are shocked. She has long brown hair, half plaited at the back, and grown-out acrylic nails.

She waves Domi off, before bouncing over to the sofa and smiling at them. “Hey! And you are?”

Vanitas blinks several times, as does Noé.

“Uh, Vanitas,” he replies, “Lead psychiatrist.”

“Noé Archiviste,” Noé answers too, smiling back. “I’ll probably be your therapist.”

“Therapist?! That’s wild,” Shi Qingxuan says, “Ahahah, I won’t need therapy, I promise.”

“The court has your full medical history and said you would,” Vanitas deadpans, “So, your trial was a few days ago, and you were taken into holding yesterday. Correct?”

“Correct,” Shi Qingxuan nods, twirling her hair around her fingers which have a slight tremble to them, suggesting she’s not having as good of a time as she thinks. “Haha, it was an interesting experience! Really, I had no idea I was using somebody else’s money that whole time, so being told I committed mass fraud was really crazy. I just thought my brother had an endless pit of money.”

“Yeah, we’ve met your brother,” Vanitas mumbles, rolling his eyes. “So you were spending this money, hm…”

“Yeah! Something-something happened, I was told people were looking for me, so what better way to spend the rest of my free time in Mallorca?”

“How long were you abroad?” Noé asks.

“Two, three weeks…? Since Shi Wudu got arrested, more or less,” Shi Qingxuan replies.

“Right, so that was actually six weeks ago,” Vanitas replies, his eyebrow raised. “Might I ask what you were doing in Mallorca?”

“Getting drunk, obviously!” Shi Qingxuan answers like it’s nothing, waving her hands. “It was a great time! I don’t remember who I went out there with in the first place, you know, but I met lots of great people! I think, though I don’t remember their names.”

“Figures,” Vanitas huffs, before taking in her body language; the way her fingers shake and her eyes seem red. “Just alcohol? Anything else?”

“Uhm… Are you going to drug test me?”

“If you say no, then yeah.”

“Oh, right, uhh, some. Maybe. Actually, I’m not sure if I remember, so if you want me to take a drug test to remind me, that’d be helpful.”

Noé and Vanitas, left speechless, just stare at each other. Never before has anyone asked them for a drug test because they forgot what they took. With that said, if she forgot, she’s probably not abusing anything specific, though there’s a pretty strong chance she’s an alcoholic — she’s not in severe withdrawal, but she’s not fine either.

“Never mind,” Vanitas sighs.

“So… back to your court hearing,” Noé continues, also remaining baffled. “There was some documents from a psychiatrist you saw, and Shi Wudu mentioned that too. Bipolar type one, anorexia…?”

“It’s not a big deal, trust me,” Shi Qingxuan insists, “I just had a bad period and I broke up with my girlfriend after we moved away, that’s all.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, but that’s over now. I haven’t seen her in over four years, so it’s okay. Shi Wudu hated her anyway because her family was poor.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Vanitas snorts, making a note of that too. “You were diagnosed with bipolar though, so I’m not going to dispute it, but I do want to know how that manifested?”

“I dunno,” Shi Qingxuan shrugs, “Apparently it wasn’t normal to suddenly go on benders, spent two grand in one week, and not sleep, but how else am I supposed to have fun?!”

“… Yeah. Alright,” Vanitas blinks, adding to his notes quickly. He’s not sure he even needs to ask more about that. “Your brother mentioned being medicated, but frankly I don’t think the amount of medication you were on is necessary. What about the lithium to start?”

“No, not the lithium! It made me so sick,” Shi Qingxuan whines.

“By any chance, were you drinking alcohol when you were taking it?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“…”

When Vanitas is rendered speechless once more, Noé takes it upon himself to carry on. “So, back to the fraud, you really didn’t know you were spending money under somebody else’s name?”

“Nope,” Shi Qingxuan says, with a hint of guilt in her eyes. “My name changed legally when I was seventeen from ‘Xuan’ to ‘Qingxuan’, but I knew a few people with ‘Xuan’ in their name and I doubt Shi Wudu would steal the money of someone I know. Wouldn’t that be too obvious?”

“Well we don’t have access to the full investigation, but I’m sure whoever it was has protection now,” Noé reassures her.

“I hope so. It probably ruined their life…”

“You’re here anyway, so Noé can fuck around with your feelings of guilt ‘n shit in therapy,” Vanitas says, “For now I’ll put you back on the valproate then, because I’m not putting someone with bipolar on antidepressants. But I’m watching you closely, understand?”

“Yes…” Shi Qingxuan pouts, sinking back into the sofa.

“And your hormone therapy,” Vanitas continues, “Started when?”

“I was eighteen, I think,” Shi Qingxuan replies, “I got the top surgery — do you like my tits?”

“Very lovely,” Vanitas deadpans. Well, they’re bigger than Domi’s, though maybe he shouldn’t point that out later. “Anything else?”

“No… I wanted to, but my brother never really let me. He was always supportive, he helped me change my name, but he wasn’t happy about me having surgeries, especially not multiple.”

“Right,” Vanitas sighs, “Listen, I know you legally changed your name and birth certificate, but the fact you were charged with fraud probably meant the transphobic fucks in court didn’t trust it, and sent you here. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”

“Thanks! And I think it’ll be okay. Shi Wudu might kill anyone who hurt me, ahahaha…”

“We will… try to prevent murder here,” Vanitas mutters, “You can continue the hormones here, you’re not the only trans inmate.”

“Really?!” Her eyes light up. “We should be friends!”

“Yeah, you can go ‘n ask everyone if they’re trans once you meet the others. For now, we’ll try to keep everyone separate,” Vanitas explains, “Do you smoke?”

“If my brother asks, no. But… yeah.”

“Noted. Though you can only smoke if you get money sent in.”

“I’ll convince my brother, trust me,” Shi Qingxuan says, “Am I in a room with anyone?”

“You’ll be sharing with another new patient,” Noé replies, “and two others. They’re… Well…”

“Both a massive pain,” Vanitas corrects him. “But you’ll meet them soon. In the meantime, go and find Domi. She can let you buy cigarettes on the account for now, and then we’ll keep you separate from the other prisoners until tomorrow. You’ll meet your roommates, but that’s all.”

“Ahahaha, this is all really crazy,” Shi Qingxuan comments, her laugh forced and she looks like she might cry. “I can’t believe I’m in prison, aha…”

“You’ll come around to it,” Vanitas smiles slightly. In a sense, she reminds him of Kou a little and it stings. Hopefully there won’t be any double suicides at least. He pulls the walkie-talkie out, turning to Domi’s channel. “Domi? Come get your new best friend.”

“Very funny.”

Within a minute, Domi returns, escorting Shi Qingxuan out as the other asks what shampoo she uses. Once they’re gone, Vanitas turns to his colleague, raising an eyebrow as he stares at the notes. “Noé?”

“Nothing, I just…” Noé murmurs under his breath, glancing at Shi Qingxuan’s file beside the other new prisoner: the last they have to meet, He Xuan. “I just thought his name is He Xuan, and Shi Qingxuan said her money was coming from someone with the same name. Their birth certificates are from the same city.”

“Oh,” Vanitas blinks. It’s a very, very small chance, but the whole coincidence with Ruki finding out Vincent was one of his kidnappers is still fresh on his mind. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Yeah… I hope not.”

The final new prisoner, He Xuan, doesn’t arrive until that evening.

So far, it ran fairly smoothly. He didn’t hear much from anyone, except Shi Wudu not liking Break and Yuma threatening to punch Pei Ming, at which point Jeanne got put on surveillance duty with room two (which she was very happy about, because she thought Pei Ming was fit), along with Xie Lian still being sick from withdrawal and Hua Cheng not letting anyone touch or see him.

Right when they were ready to finish off and call it a day, Vanitas got a call from the ward where He Xuan was being transferred from, informing him he’d collapsed earlier. Astolfo complained about Noé having to stay late, and took off before Roland and Olivier arrived for the night shift — Vanitas doesn’t blame him, because he also hates interacting with Astolfo’s dads.

So, Vanitas and Noé clock in for their overtime and wait until evening, when finally the van shows up and Jeanne escorts the final prisoner in. He’s pale, with long hair half-covering his face, looking pissed off by the world in general as he sits on the sofa opposite them.

“So, He Xuan,” Vanitas starts, just wanting to go home already. “Aged 22, first-degree murder charge, diagnosed with—”

“I didn’t do it,” He Xuan cuts him off, his tone sharp. “Believe me or don’t.”

“It doesn’t matter if I believe you or not, and the court already mentioned you’d have a retrial at some point due to conflicting evidence, so I know you don’t think you did it,” Vanitas retorts bitterly, “I’m here to assess you. Can I finish talking now?”

With a brief nod, He Xuan kicks both feet up onto the coffee table and folds his arms over his chest.

“Diagnosed with depression and an eating disorder,” he continues, “and you collapsed earlier? Care to elaborate?”

“Not really.”

“I want to go home.”

“Not my problem.”

“Oh my God…” Vanitas groans, rubbing his forehead. “My head hurts.”

“Ah… Let’s go slower,” Noé chuckles nervously. He’s less easily irritated, though he has a whiny Astolfo to return home to soon, so he doesn’t want this to last too long either. “The previous ward’s notes say something about an eating disorder and your physical health, but there’s no details.”

“Idiots,” He Xuan huffs, obviously allergic to talking about him and Vanitas can tell that already. “I refused to take the insulin I was given. They didn’t care.”

“Yeah, that won’t fly here,” Vanitas scoffs, “A previous history of binge-eating disorder, I can see that. So, you’re also diabetic?”

Once again, He Xuan gives no verbal response. He just nods once.

“Diabulimia it is. Wow, I’ve only treated that once. What a treat,” he mutters to himself, scribbling that down. “Since you were young?”

“About twelve,” He Xuan replies, “Do I have to give a whole run-down? Do I get out of here faster if I do?”

“Yeah, actually, you do,” Vanitas says, “Give me your life story in two sentences.”

“Alright,” He Xuan says, sitting up straighter. His gaze is cold and stoic as he speaks, clearly disinterested in the conversation. “My father died when I was a child, my mother died when I was sixteen and then my younger sister committed suicide when I went to university. After that, I ran out of money to finish my degree and had to drop out right before my finals, became homeless and lived on my friends’ sofa, then couldn’t get the surgery I wanted.”

“Yeah, that was two sentences just about,” Vanitas nods, watching in the corner of his vision as Noé pulls out Shi Qingxuan’s file again. It’s weirdly similar, but he refuses to jump to conclusions. “Surgery, hm. You’re trans, then?”

“Yeah,” He Xuan answers, surprisingly fast. “I got hormones earlier on, top surgery and hysterectomy, but then I couldn’t have the other surgeries.”

“Right, right. Well, we’ll kept you on hormones here,” Vanitas explains, tapping his pen to his lips. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have asked for a short summary. “You mentioned university. Where’d you go?”

“Oxford. For biology.”

“Shit,” he snorts, “I don’t think anybody else here has a degree.”

“I don’t have a degree. I had to drop out.”

“Yeah, nobody here has to know that. Just tell everyone you have a degree from Oxford. What’re they gonna do, ask for the certificate?”

“Hm,” He Xuan frowns, glaring at him. “That’s not important.”

“We can make this short,” Noé forces a smile, clearly put-off by his demeanour too. “Did you try any medication?”

“No. I don’t want it.”

“Medication isn’t optional here, and you will be taking your insulin,” Vanitas says, “Your previous ward suspected depression, so I’ll put on this wonderful drug called sertraline. You won’t be able to cum, but what does it matter here, am I right?”

“I’m on T.”

“Yeah, and—? Wow,” Vanitas snorts, “Rub one out whenever you want, just be quiet.”

Even though it’s subtle, a tiny grin does appear on He Xuan’s lips at that.

“I’m going to keep you in the infirmary tonight and you can meet your new roomies tomorrow, but I don’t want you to collapse in a room with others while I’m not here,” he continues, “Your legal gender is male, and you’re here. I’m guessing you changed your name too?”

“No. I couldn’t afford it.”

Vanitas purses his lips. “Right. Okay. Never mind that. You smoke?”

“Yeah.”

“If you can scrape together someone to send you money here, then you can. Does anyone know you’re here?”

“I only had two friends,” He Xuan responds quietly. Behind his cold façade, there’s a touch of sadness there too. “One of them cut me off when they found out I was suspected of murder.”

“Tragic,” Vanitas says dryly, before dropping the pen onto the clipboard and dumping it in front of him. “Alright, I’m done here. Noé, take him to the infirmary room. I’m goin’ for a smoke and to brief Olivier and Roland, and then I’m leaving.”

“… Bye?” Noé cocks an eyebrow, watching Vanitas leave while escorting He Xuan out of the room. He mentally prepares himself for interacting with Roland, as he sits at the computer and begins rolling a cigarette. When the screen turns on automatically, he squints again at He Xuan’s file which was left up, reading over the history section and how his birth location is, indeed, the same as Shi Qingxuan’s.

Whatever. That’s tomorrow’s problem.

Chapter Text

After a day of being separated from all the other prisoners, with food brought to their cells and guards escorting them outside to smoke when they wanted, not many of the newbies are looking forward to meeting the old inmates, and vice versa.

There are, of course, some exceptions.

Xie Lian, for example. Even if he spent the whole night sweating, shaking, and throwing up, reaching the peak of heroin withdrawal he only experienced once before in a hospital, with Hua Cheng sat by his side not letting go once, he still decides to drag himself to breakfast. This place is his home for what might be the rest of his life — it will be unless he’s magically deemed stable and safe enough to be transferred to the normal wing one day — so he might as well get on everyone’s good sides, right?

Well, with the crime list he has tagged to his name, that might be easier said than done. He can’t imagine others interrogating him about it, but at the same time, the staff did warn them about the reputation of some of inmates, especially those who were incarcerated together for years prior.

“Are you sure you want to go to breakfast, gege?” Hua Cheng asks, helping him redress. “That quack doctor said you could stay in here instead.”

“I should meet everyone,” Xie Lian says, wiping the sweat off his forehead as if he didn’t just spend twenty minutes hunched over on the toilet, fighting for his life. “I don’t want to be known as the junkie here.”

“I’m sure there’s plenty of others,” Hua Cheng replies. He even puts his socks on for him. Xie Lian pretends he doesn’t see the way his hands are trembling as he does. “Don’t worry. I’ll hurt anyone who says anything mean to gege.”

“Ah, you don’t need to extend your sentence anymore because of me…” Xie Lian chuckles nervously, working up the courage to stand. Neither of them went out for a smoke before breakfast, but they did hear a few others outside. Xie Lian offered for Hua Cheng to go without him, because he could not stomach a cigarette right now; however, of course Hua Cheng wouldn’t go anywhere without him.

“No need,” Hua Cheng smiles, as he holds out his hand. “If you insist, let’s go.”

“Thanks,” Xie Lian says, shakily taking his hand and standing up. His legs are weak, head pounding and stomach churning, but he’s hell-bent on meeting everyone nonetheless. They walk down the stairs together, Hua Cheng’s hand not leaving his waist, before they reach the canteen, slowly filling up with people.

At the side of the room, there’s Domi and Jeanne, the two female staff members who he recognises. He smiles at them, while Hua Cheng glares. There’s two groups of six clustered together and a pair sitting alone, and Xie Lian isn’t sure where he fits in with this.

“Morning,” Jeanne nods at them, “Xie Lian, are you feeling well enough to eat?”

“No, aha, I don’t think the methadone is working yet,” he replies, trying to be discreet. “Who is everyone? Where should we sit?”

“Let us give you a rundown,” Domi speaks up, pointing at the first group. “That’s Azusa, Yuma, Ruki and Reiji. They were here before, and there’s Pei Ming and Shi Wudu sitting beside them. Pei Ming is in the room with Azusa, Yuma and Ruki, and I’m sure Yuma and Pei Ming have already tried to beat each other up once, so Pei Ming is probably just sitting there to annoy him.”

“Got it,” Xie Lian nods, trying to remember everything she says despite the brain fog.

“Over there is Ayato, Laito, Kanato and Kino,” Jeanne continues, “Stay away from all of them. They’re sitting with Elliot and Leo, and I think that’s only because Leo gets a kick out of winding Kanato up. Maybe he likes getting threatened with plastic forks!”

“And across from them sitting alone is Gilbert and Break,” Domi finishes, before adding under her breath, “Gilbert is a little depressed because his friend left, and Break is next to him. They’re in a room with Shi Wudu, though I get the impression they don’t like him. Break is blind, but don’t let that fool you. Say the wrong thing and you’ll either get killed or given unsolicited wisdom. But he’ll sympathise with you.”

“I heard that~” Break calls from across the room, waving at Domi with a grin.

“I see what you mean,” Xie Lian laughs quietly, “Alright. Thank you. San Lang, should we sit with them?”

Hua Cheng responds with a nod and his usual falsely innocent, sweet smile. “Whatever gege wants.”

Behind him, as they turn away, Xie Lian notices Jeanne and Domi making fake gagging motions. He ignores it, knowing Hua Cheng may come across as intense to literally any normal person. They make their way over to Break and Gilbert, gesturing to the spare seats.

“Can we sit here?” Xie Lian asks, “I’m not eating, but I’d like to meet everyone.”

“Certainly,” Break snickers, patting the seat next to him. “Sit, sit. Meet my good friend Gilbert.”

“Friend?” Gilbert cocks an eyebrow. He seems a little intimidated as Hua Cheng sits next to him, his cold aura radiating and preventing him from speaking another word besides, “Hey.”

“I’m Xie Lian,” he introduces.

“Hua Cheng,” the other nods.

“So I’ve heard,” Break says, “Give me time to memorise your voices and footsteps, and then you won’t even know I’m blind~”

“I’ll try to walk distinctly!” Xie Lian suggests, watching as Hua Cheng gets given a tray of food, staring down at it like it’ll kill him. Quietly, he says, “San Lang, you don’t have to eat if you don’t feel good.”

“No,” Hua Cheng replies, stabbing the fork into the dry bread. “I’ll eat.”

“Ahh, my drug addict friends, are we?” Break smirks, leaning across to Xie Lian with an elbow on the table. “Heroin, am I right?”

“… Yes,” Xie Lian sighs, “It wasn’t my smartest life decision.”

“I heard you mention methadone, so I needn’t give my usual wisdom,” Break says, before glancing in Hua Cheng’s direction. “And you, my fellow inmate?”

“That’s not your business,” Hua Cheng responds sharply.

“My, my. Alright~”

“I heard drugs,” someone from across them says, sliding into the seat beside Xie Lian. His hair is long, black, and half covering his face, and like Break, he dons a teasing smile which one might consider slappable.

“I don’t have drugs here!” Xie Lian declares in a shout-whisper, “And you are…?”

“Leo,” he answers, before kicking the leg of the blonde-haired boy sitting opposite him on Hua Cheng’s side. “This is Elliot. He’s my wife.”

“Wife,” Elliot huffs, reluctantly moving to the seat across. “Hey.”

“Good morning…?” Xie Lian replies, mindful of Hua Cheng now glaring daggers at Elliot. “I’m trying to learn everyone’s names.”

“Screw that. That’s boring,” Leo grins, as he places his elbow on the table, leans his chin on his hand, and lowers his glasses like he’s preparing for a criminal investigation. Well, it might as well be. “So, what’re you in for?”

“That’s… an interesting question.”

“Is it? Shoot me.”

“A bit of everything,” Xie Lian explains, before noticing the way Leo’s eyebrows narrow slightly. “No, no, not everything. As in I never assaulted—! Well, not— Only a bit of murder! And some of this, and that, maybe some other bad things, some back luck, wrong place wrong time. But none of… Ah, well… I’m making this worse, aren’t I?”

“I’m getting the hint,” Leo snorts, “So you didn’t rape anyone. That’s already better than some others here.”

With a sigh of relief, Xie Lian flashes the other a grateful smile. He doesn’t know much about prison, but he heard a few times that hierarchies exist, and he’s not right at the bottom. Across from him, Leo appears to glare at the man who Xie Lian remembers to be Laito, he’s pretty sure. Before the conversation can get too tense, someone else comes into the room, looking tired but friendly. She has long brown hair, pink and blue nails, and… well, breasts.

“I thought this was a men’s prison…” Xie Lian hums quietly, watching as the girl bounces over to Jeanne and Domi, oblivious to how silence has taken over the room and everyone is now staring at her.

“It is,” Hua Cheng replies under his breath. Not much baffles him, but even he seems confused now.

Only after a long pause of silence does the girl notice, turning to everyone and laughing nervously. “Ahaha… Hi.”

“’Sup queen,” Kino greets her with a wink, which she responds to with a small wave and uneasy smile. He turns to everyone else, announcing, “This is my new roommate. Aren’t you all jealous?”

“I am,” Laito says, likely having already been caught up on whatever situation is going on here as he gives her googly eyes.

“Keep your mouth and legs shut,” Domi threatens, before sighing and addressing the room. “Everyone, this is Shi Qingxuan. She’s trans and she’s here for no valid reason other than the court system being messed up. So stop staring, none of you are getting into her pants.”

“I’d smash,” Jeanne says discreetly, earning sniggers from some of the others.

“Thanks,” Shi Qingxuan replies, addressing Domi and either missing or ignoring Jeanne’s comment. “Where should I sit?”

“I’m not sure who I trust out of anyone,” Domi mutters in despair, scanning the room before landing on Xie Lian and his little group. “Over there. Leo’s there, and Break is one of the more friendly ones. Of everyone, they’re least likely to sexually harass you.”

Leo waves at her, gesturing her to sit with them. “Come join the other trann—”

“Quit dropping slurs,” Domi snaps, flipping him off from across the room. Shi Qingxuan, they learn, is blissfully ignorant to the tension in the room, as she walks over to the group and takes a seat next to Break.

“Morning,” she says, her smile dropping slightly. “Haha… I’m tired.”

“Me too,” Xie Lian chuckles dryly, wiping the sweat off his forehead as his stomach turns again. He glances at Hua Cheng’s plate of food, completely untouched, and that alone makes his gut lurch. Swallowing thickly, he maintains a pained smile and moves to stand up. “I’d love to get to know you, you seem really nice, but I’m gonna have to go now. Bye!”

Xie Lian can feel people staring briefly as he runs to throw up, Hua Cheng following close behind him. But no one is particularly excited by heroin addicts here anymore, clearly. They’ve seen it enough.

He’ll attempt socialising again later.

It’s not like Shi Qingxuan doesn’t know people aren’t staring at her. But bad attention is better than no attention, right?

Okay, so she might be delusional, but being here in general makes her feel insane, and God, she just wants to be drunk, but she’s scared the doctor with the terrible haircut will give her medication if she expresses feeling like shit. And Shi Qingxuan does not want to be forcefully drugged up again.

So far, she hasn’t met many people. Jeanne and Domi are her new best friends, she likes Elliot and Leo and thinks they’re cute, Break and Gilbert seemed nice, and Xie Lian also came across as nice until he ran off to throw up. Withdrawal, evidently. She hasn’t thrown up, but she might if she tried eating. Shi Qingxuan chooses to ignore the way her hands shake every time she tries to do something and how it’s been days since her last drop of alcohol.

Of the two roommates she’s met, Kino is funny but weird, and Reiji has straight up ignored her and has a massive stick up his ass. As for the other, there’s supposedly a fourth roommate who’s also new, but every time she asked to meet him, Vanitas explained he was in the infirmary, but after breakfast he informed her that he’d be out of there soon.

After breakfast, Shi Qingxuan concealed herself in the crowd of people going outside to smoke and managed to convince a nice guy called Azusa to gift her a cigarette. While they were sat in the corner smoking together, Azusa also smiled at her and told her quietly he was trans too and it was nice to meet her, and Shi Qingxuan has now decided Azusa is her new best friend too. Yuma, the guy he was with, spent ten minutes ranting about how much he hated Pei Ming, who she’s decided to stay away from too. With that said, her brother and Pei Ming seem to good friends and she doesn’t want to know why.

It was a fairly successful morning. Being in prison is never easy, but Shi Qingxuan was not expecting to see what she saw when she walks back into her cell and officially crosses paths with her new roommate.

Sat cross-legged on the middle bed, slowly putting the new sheets on, is a painfully familiar face. More masculine, but the long-back hair and sharp features, the cold resting-bitch face which would drive anyone away. Shi Qingxuan would never forget the face of her ex — the only person she ever loved and lost.

“… He Xuan?”

The moment the other hears her voice, his head whips up and his eyes widen. Only for a split second, before he looks back down and furrows his eyebrows.

“What are you doing here?” he asks quietly, a slight tremble in his voice, unnoticeable to anyone except his ex-girlfriend. His voice is deeper than when they were dating and he’s obviously been on hormones. Shi Qingxuan didn’t even know he was trans.

“Uh, long story,” Shi Qingxuan chuckles awkwardly, scratching the back of her head. She doesn’t even know if he’s changed his name yet. “Something-something fraud.”

“Fraud?” He Xuan croaks out, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah. Well, my brother. He was—”

Before she can finish the sentence, He Xuan’s hands pull away from the sheets and he stands up. He barges past Shi Qingxuan, too fast for her to even catch him. She tries to grab his sleeve, but just like that, he’s gone from the room, storming down the corridor and disappearing without a trace.

Shi Qingxuan desperately wants to chance after him. Then, something clicks and she freezes on the spot, staring at where He Xuan was just sitting.

Shi Wudu hated He Xuan. Shi Wudu got all of Shi Qingxuan’s finances from someone with the same name. He Xuan is now here in prison, for some unknown reason.

It can’t be a coincidence.

“Oh my God…” she whispers, her legs going weak as she sits on the edge of He Xuan’s bed, the dent in the shit quality mattress from where he was sat still there. “… Xuan…”

The person whose money she was using for all those years unknowingly, the person she inadvertently ruined the life of. It was her ex-girlfriend, now ex-boyfriend, all along.

He Xuan disappears for an hour after that, in which time Shi Qingxuan just sits on the bed where he was sitting, anxiously waiting for his return. She’s too numb to cry, until the door opens and her heart flips.

But it’s not He Xuan, and she soon deflates, instead meeting eyes with Vanitas.

“You good?” he asks, closing the door behind him.

“I’m fine,” Shi Qingxuan mumbles, but the knowing look on Vanitas’ face says it all. “… You know?”

“I do now,” Vanitas says, his tone strangely empathetic. “I don’t know the full story, so I need you to come with me, and we’re all going to have a talk.”

“All?” Shi Qingxuan’s attention piques again. “He Xuan too?”

“He Xuan too.” Vanitas nods. “We found him outside with Pei Ming and Shi Wudu. I didn’t hear what they said, but as soon as Astolfo found them, He Xuan demanded to be moved to another prison. So we need to talk.”

“It’s my fault,” Shi Qingxuan says sulkily, her face formed into a permanent frown. More like pout, actually, her hands shaking as she fiddles with the sheets. “He won’t want to see me.”

“Maybe not right now, but I know you two have history and we need to set the record straight. Not just for you two, but for us staff as well. We need to know what we’re dealing with,” Vanitas replies, opening the door again. “Come on, you’ll have company. Astolfo is in there with him now.”

Although she’s reluctant, Shi Qingxuan at least wants the opportunity to apologise to He Xuan. Hell, they’re going to be sharing a room and frankly that probably won’t change now. She follows Vanitas to the therapy room, head down the whole time, as he opens the door. He Xuan is sitting on the sofa, arms crossed and a cowl fixed on his face. He glances up at Shi Qingxuan briefly, his expression not softening for a second. Astolfo stands in the corner, seeming both nervous with a slight sense of twisted excitement at the thought of new lore.

They’ve likely had worse things here, but Shi Qingxuan can’t say this isn’t terrible either.

“Alright, sit down,” Vanitas tells her, gesturing to the sofa. When Shi Qingxuan sits down, about a metre from He Xuan, he doesn’t move further away but he does frown deeper, so Vanitas continues. “It’s my understanding that something happened between you two before you came here, and in some way another, the reason you’re both here is connected.”

“Her brother framed me,” He Xuan says straight away, glaring at Shi Qingxuan. “And you spent all my money.”

“I didn’t know!” Shi Qingxuan insists, close to crying. “I promise, I really didn’t. My brother didn’t tell me where the money was coming from, I didn’t think it was you! I didn’t think it was anyone else!”

“Hmph,” He Xuan huffs, “I have no reason to believe you.”

“But I… You know I wouldn’t…”

Although He Xuan looks ready to retort, he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he purses his lips and sinks further back into the sofa, staring down at the floor like before.

“Okay, so Shi Qingxuan didn’t know. Shi Wudu lied about that,” Vanitas says, looking between the two of them. “He Xuan, you say Shi Wudu is the one who framed you. How do you know that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He Xuan snorts, “I had no one else in my life except two close friends. Only somebody with a grudge against me would do that.”

“But my brother…” Shi Qingxuan stammers, her hands shaking in her lap. She doesn’t want to believe that her dear older brother, who looked out for her for her entire life, would do such a thing. “I don’t think he would… I-I mean he’s here for murder himself.”

“I don’t care who else he murdered,” He Xuan replies sharply, his words like daggers. “Maybe it was someone close to the same person as me. I never met the person I supposedly murdered.”

“Regardless of that,” Vanitas carries on, narrowing his eyes at He Xuan. “Can you be sure Shi Wudu framed you?”

“Yes,” He Xuan snaps, “He hated me, he wanted me out of Shi Qingxuan’s life completely. Take all my money, then frame me for murder to get me into prison. Too bad he was too stupid to cover his tracks and got his sister in prison too.”

“That’s not—!” Shi Qingxuan tries to protest, but gets cut off when Vanitas raises a hand to silence her, with a glare warning her to stop. “… Sorry.”

“And what good is your apology?” He Xuan scoffs, finally meeting her eyes. Even though his words are sharp, there’s a noticeable lack of vengeance in his glare this time, like he’s coming to terms with the fact Shi Qingxuan genuinely didn’t know and he doesn’t know how to feel.

Shi Qingxuan doesn’t blame him. He wants to hate her, and she doesn’t blame him, yet at the same time, she’s having a hard time believing Shi Wudu would actually frame him for murder just to get him out of her life. Shi Wudu always took care of her, that was what he promised. She wouldn’t be alive without him.

With that said, she also wouldn’t be in prison if it wasn’t for him.

“… I don’t know,” Shi Qingxuan whispers, pulling her legs up to her chest. “You don’t have to forgive me. You probably hate me.”

He Xuan doesn’t confirm nor deny that, and it gives Shi Qingxuan a pathetic glimmer of hope. If He Xuan did actually hate her, he wouldn’t hesitate saying it. However, he doesn’t address it all, rather taking a deep breath then turning to Vanitas. “Can I leave?”

“If you promise to be civil,” Vanitas says, “and you can’t hurt Shi Wudu. I’m not dealing with the paperwork for that.”

“Fine,” He Xuan huffs, standing up and storming out of the room.

As soon as he’s gone, Shi Qingxuan slumps backwards, rubbing her forehead. He Xuan was always a person of few words and it was hard to tell what he was feeling, though there were always signs. “He’s really mad…”

“How can you even tell?” Vanitas scoffs, “He didn’t say anything.”

“That’s why,” Shi Qingxuan says, wrapping her arms around her shins. “I’m scared he might hurt my brother.”

“I wouldn’t blame him,” Astolfo speaks up for the first time since they got there, shrugging when he gets a concerned glance from both of them. “He ruined his life in two ways. If he hurts him, it’d be deserved.”

“You know what,” Vanitas says, scanning the other up and down. “I’d tell you off if I disagreed.”

“I don’t want He Xuan to hurt my brother,” Shi Qingxuan insists, “I know he might’ve done wrong, but he’s— he’s my brother.”

“Well, let’s not exercise that thought too much for now,” Vanitas tells her, giving her a faint smile. “You two used to date and you never broke up on bad terms. If He Xuan still has feelings, he’ll warm up to you. Shi Wudu, not so much, but they can stay out of each other’s way.”

“I guess…”

“Go and talk to someone,” Vanitas tells her, “and come to me if you start feeling really bad, alright?”

“Sure…” Shi Qingxuan mutters, truly dejected. She feels bad enough as it is, and the worst part is that she can’t even go and get drunk, which was her usual coping mechanism. At the same time, she doesn’t want to tell anyone that, because every time in the past she’d told someone about her feelings, it resulted in either mandatory psychiatric admissions she genuinely didn’t need, or another psychiatric medication, always instigated her brother.

Still, Shi Qingxuan wants to believe Shi Wudu was only ever looking out for her, although seeing He Xuan here for a wrongly accused murder makes her question that. As she leaves the room, she looks at the door to her cell, but He Xuan usually isolated himself when he was upset or annoyed, while Shi Qingxuan went off and socialised. So, she heads outside, hoping to bum a cigarette from someone while she’s at it.

To her surprise, He Xuan is outside, along with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, who she remembers from breakfast. He Xuan is sitting on one of the tables, a cigarette between his lips, Hua Cheng is sat up against the fence with a cigarette between his fingers, midway through a sentence he was saying with a concerning smirk, while Xie Lian’s head is lying against his shoulder, like he’s blissfully unaware of the conversation. However, upon the door opening, Xie Lian opens his eyes, sits up, and greets her with a smile.

“Good afternoon,” he says, sounding groggy as he rubs his eyes. “Haha… Sorry for my presentation. Drug withdrawal, and all…”

“Don’t worry, ahaha…” Shi Qingxuan laughs dryly, walking over to the two of them. She sits down, discreetly observing the way Xie Lian’s hands tremble the same way hers do, yet she still convince herself she’s not actually a drug addict. Alcohol doesn’t count, even if she feels like dying without it.

As soon as she sits down next to Xie Lian, however, He Xuan stands up, throws the cigarette onto the ground, and walks back inside, not even sparing a glance at her. Xie Lian looks a little confused, while Hua Cheng’s grin only widens

“Is he really that mad at you?” Xie Lian asks.

“Yeah… I guess so,” Shi Qingxuan sighs, fiddling with her hair between two fingers, working up the courage to flash him a persuasive smile. “Can I steal a smoke?”

“Don’t look at gege like that,” Hua Cheng threatens.

“San Lang, it’s fine,” Xie Lian says softly, reaching for the pack of cigarettes and pulling out one for himself and another for Shi Qingxuan, passing across the lighter. “Here.”

“Thank you,” Shi Qingxuan says, as she lights the cigarette and tries to pretend the minimal nicotine rush is somewhat comparable to a shot of vodka (it’s not). “My brother won’t let me buy cigarettes here.”

“I’ve heard a lot about this brother of yours,” Hua Cheng says.

“Did He Xuan tell you everything?”

“Not all of it. Just the part about him framing He Xuan for murder and you taking all his money by fraud.”

“I really didn’t know, I swear,” Shi Qingxuan pleads. Even though the staff seem to believe her, He Xuan is apparently having a hard time believing all of that could’ve been done unknowingly.

“I’m sure he’ll come around eventually,” Xie Lian reassures her. “If he really loved you, he’ll find those feelings again.”

“I like to think he did…” Shi Qingxuan says, “but I’m not even sure anymore. I’m questioning everything now.” She sighs again, knocking her head against the fence as she exhales a long drag of smoke. “I just want to drink until I throw up and black out.”

“Is the withdrawal bad?” Xie Lian asks, giving her a sympathetic smile.

“It could be worse,” Shi Qingxuan answers. “I could be having seizures like that one time I got hospitalised!”

“Oh, same!” Xie Lian confides. Honestly, what hasn’t this guy done?

Rather abruptly, Hua Cheng puts out the cigarette and stands up. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” Xie Lian nods, his smile dropping quickly as he narrows his eyes in concern. Hua Cheng quickly goes inside, the door slamming shut behind him followed by hasty footsteps from the corridor.

“Is he okay?” Shi Qingxuan questions, taking another long inhale from the cigarette.

“Not really, although I don’t like to press,” Xie Lian explains, “I know he’s in withdrawal as well, but he never talked about it.”

“Heroin too?”

Xie Lian shakes his head. “Cocaine. He was using alongside me, and I always told him I didn’t mind, but I don’t think he liked me knowing about it. He’s struggling, because he’s trying to stay awake and comfort me, and I guess it builds when he keeps it bottled up for my sake. He’s been sick a few times, but for him, I think it’s better I pretend I don’t know he’s suffering. It’s been like this for a long time.”

“That’s so sad,” Shi Qingxuan comments quietly. “Are you sure he doesn’t want you to comfort him?”

“I tried,” Xie Lian smiles sadly again. “But he’d rather be the one looking out for me. I guess we can both get therapy, haha…”

“Therapy sucks,” she sulks.

“I’m going to try and make the best of it,” Xie Lian says, “You used to be an alcoholic?”

“That’s a big word,” Shi Qingxuan chuckles.

“Don’t worry, I used to be too!” Xie Lian replies like it’s nothing. “But then something happened and my liver got a bit damaged, and I wasn’t allowed to drink, so I started doing heroin instead.”

“That almost sounds funny,” Shi Qingxuan says. Even though it sounds slightly mean to say that, Xie Lian also laughs a little at the blunt, off-handed comment.

Well, at least some of the people here are nice, but that doesn’t take away from the fact her dear brother ruined her ex lover’s life and they’re now sharing a room in prison.

Chapter Text

Despite wanting to, Shi Qingxuan doesn’t speak to He Xuan for the rest of the day.

She did try, but every time they crossed paths, he either walked away or ignored her as if she wasn’t even there. There was so much she wanted to talk about: Where did you go? What did you do after I left? Did you finally achieve your dream of studying marine biology? But she can’t, because as things are, Shi Qingxuan simply doesn’t exist to He Xuan. She went to breakfast but didn’t eat anything, despite Vanitas threatening an intervention if she didn’t eat lunch either.

A couple of hours of sulking in her cell passes, during which Kino continues trying to befriend her, but he’s a little too weird. Noé saves her by calling her to therapy, but she doesn’t talk much in there either. Once it’s over, she’s fed up and wishing to just talk to someone, socialise like a normal person like she always did so well, so she goes outside, intending to bum a cigarette from whoever she finds.

When Shi Qingxuan finds He Xuan outside alone, sitting in the corner by the fence with a cigarette between his fingers, she’s unsure whether to be disappointed or relieved for another opportunity to talk to him. The cigarette is freshly lit, so it’s unlikely he’ll put it out already and storm off — she knows what he’s like — so she deludes herself into thinking this is her chance.

“Hey—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

His words sting, but to Shi Qingxuan it’s a win: he acknowledged her.

“Sorry…” she mutters, staring at the space on the ground beside him. “Can I sit?”

Although He Xuan doesn’t say yes… he also doesn’t say no. With a tiny smile twitching at her lips, Shi Qingxuan slowly approaches, waiting to be told to leave but He Xuan doesn’t say a word in protest. She takes a seat on the hard gravel, slightly wet, and crosses her legs. Nobody else would notice He Xuan softening up very slightly; however, she knows. Despite his hard exterior, he’s softer inside than he appears, and even though she knows he could harbour a lifetime of hatred towards Shi Wudu, and he probably will, he has a soft spot for her. He always has done.

They sit in silence for a while, as Shi Qingxuan stares at the wall opposite them, trying to piece together what to say, but she comes up empty. Surprisingly, the one to break the silence turns out to be He Xuan.

“Want a smoke?”

“No… thank you,” Shi Qingxuan sighs, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I’m trying to smoke less… I can’t get too addicted in here, or my brother will be upset…”

“Hmph,” He Xuan huffs, sucking on the cigarette again. “Fuck what he thinks.”

“Have you even spoken to him yet? He might surprise you…”

“No. And I don’t want.”

“Hey, listen…” Shi Qingxuan says, “I know he hurt you, but he’s… my brother isn’t really bad. I know he did bad things, but in his mind, he really just did it all to protect me.”

That pisses He Xuan off, his eyebrows furrowing and the hand holding the cigarette twitches. He takes another angry drag, exhaling the smoke through a scowl. Only then does Shi Qingxuan realises that mentioning her brother and defending him was probably not the right way to get in He Xuan’s good books again.

“He framed me for murder, stole all my money, and ruined my life,” He Xuan deadpans, throwing the cigarette onto the ground. “What part of that are you not understanding?”

“No, I just— Wait!”

Before she can get another word out, He Xuan stands up, stomps on the cigarette, and walks back inside, kicking the door open on the way with undisguised rage. Shi Qingxuan, her eyes already stinging, curls up tighter, burying her face in her knees.

She doesn’t want to be here. She just doesn’t want to be here, in prison, with a brother who did awful things yet she can only defend him, and her ex-lover who now hates her. She wants to be out in the world she loved, with people she convinced also cared about her, getting drunk off her ass and forgetting everything.

God, she just wants to be drunk.

Shi Qingxuan doesn’t know how much time passes before someone comes outside, and that person ends up being her brother.

“Qingxuan?” he says, walking across to her and crouching down, the hand on her shoulder feeling colder than it normally does. “What did he say?”

“Nothing…” she sobs, lifting her tear-stained face. “Why are you here?”

“I saw He Xuan walking down the corridor and he looked angry. I knew he’d hurt you,” Shi Wudu replies, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine…” Shi Qingxuan sniffles and attempts to dry her tears, inhaling shakily. “I just want to drink.”

Shi Wudu’s expression morphs into something between concern and anger, as he grabs her wrist and tries to pull her up. When she protests, staying put on the ground, said expression leans towards frustration. “Come on. We need to take you to that doctor and get some medicine to make you feel better.”

“I don’t want more meds!” Shi Qingxuan cries in an attempt to get away, but Shi Wudu’s grip tightens.

“You have to,” Shi Wudu insists, dragging her to her feet despite her resistance. “We only want you to be well, don’t you understand?”

“No! I don’t understand!” she yells, but she follows him anyway, unable to refuse him. “The medicine makes me feel worse, you have to believe me…”

“That’s only what you think,” he tells her, “Come on. Let’s go.”

Shi Qingxuan lowers her head and sniffs, keeping her gaze on the floor as they walk through the corridors. Part of her wishes to see He Xuan somewhere lurking but he’s probably back in their cell now, preparing to ignore her existence when she returns. Shi Wudu also doesn’t say a word as he leads her to outside Vanitas’ office, banging on the door.

“What is it?” Vanitas calls back, seeming annoyed.

“It’s Shi Wudu,” he responds, his hand so tight around her wrist it hurts a little. “My sister needs medicine.”

Vanitas seems to curse something unintelligible under his breath, followed by a door slamming shut and footsteps. Moments later, the office door opens, revealing him looking pissed off and the faint smell of cigarette smoke.

“I told you not to come to my office directly,” he says, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. His face is bitter as his eyes flit over Shi Wudu, meeting his gaze. “What did you want?”

“Qingxuan is in a distressed state,” Shi Wudu explains, “Diazepam, 15mg.”

Vanitas cocks an eyebrow, glancing at Shi Qingxuan, her face tear-stained but calm. “Don’t tell me to do my job. She doesn’t need the maximum dose of diazepam right now.”

“She does,” Shi Wudu insists, “She’s having one of her episodes.”

“Right.” Vanitas clicks his tongue against his teeth. “These episodes?”

“Yes. She’s experiencing alcohol withdrawal.”

“No, I want to hear it from her,” Vanitas says, turning to Shi Qingxuan. “Well? What’s wrong?”

“I’m just upset…” she mutters, keeping her head down.

“Uh huh,” he deadpans, glancing between the two of them and sighing. “Alright. Diazepam, but she’s only getting 5mg and she has to agree to take it.” 

“Ten.”

“We’re not haggling her drug dose. I’m the doctor here,” Vanitas replies sharply, before turning back into the office. “5mg. I’ll be back.”

Once he leaves, Shi Wudu turns to Shi Qingxuan and forces her head up. “You take it. Understand?”

“I don’t want to…” Shi Qingxuan protests weakly. “I’ll be tired all day if I do.”

“That’s what you need. You need to calm down and not be upset over that woman.”

“Man…” she corrects him, “He Xuan is a man now…”

“I don’t care,” Shi Wudu responds bitterly. “Don’t cause trouble and refuse. It’s for your own good.”

Although she doesn’t want it at all, Shi Qingxuan reminds herself that Shi Wudu is just looking out for her and that he knows what’s best. So, when Vanitas returns with a small pill and a cup of water, handing it to her, she takes the medicine without resistance.

Shi Wudu knows what’s best for her, she tells herself, but a part of her is beginning to believe that’s not actually true.

Getting arrested was absolutely not Shi Wudu’s plan, and getting Shi Qingxuan arrested with him was definitely not his plan.

It was one tiny slip in his plan, him not paying attention and getting distracted, which led to the arrest. And the moment he was arrested and criminal investigators searched his family, of course they found out about the fraud too. But getting into the same prison as Shi Qingxuan was calculated, with the help of the secretary at the previous prison ward he met through Pei Ming.

“How do you think Ling Wen is doing?” Pei Ming asks, leaning back against the fence outside as he inhales on the cigarette, the two of them chilling outside together after Shi Qingxuan fell asleep, like she was told to. “I bet she misses us.”

“I doubt it,” Shi Wudu says. He doesn’t remember how he befriended Pei Ming in the previous prison ward, but when he found out he was good friends with the deputy prison manager and main secretary, he took full advantage. “You caused her too much trouble, Pei.”

“Fighting wasn’t trouble,” Pei Ming insists, blowing the smoke towards the sky. “I won all the fights and stayed out of maximum security, didn’t I?”

“And gave her more paperwork.”

“You’re grateful to her too, aren’t you?” he smirks. “Where’s Qingxuan?”

“Asleep,” Shi Wudu replies, “She took her meds like she was supposed to. If she’s still distressed when she wakes up, she’ll have to take more.”

“Good luck convincing that doctor,” Pei Ming says, “He already hates me.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Shi Wudu points out bluntly. “How many times have you fought with that roommate of yours so far?”

“We only tried to fight. We got broken apart every time so far.”

“If it happens, I’d like to see it.”

“I know you would. I’ll give you a front row seat next time for sure,” Pei Ming chuckles, flicking the ash off the cigarette. “That ex of your sister’s, though. Have you spoken to him yet?”

“No,” Shi Wudu scowls, crossing his arms. “I have no reason to debate with him. I have nothing to do with him killing someone. He only blames me because he’s guilty.”

“But did he kill someone?”

“The court ruled that he did,” he replies, “That’s all that matters here, isn’t it?”

“Hm…” Pei Ming raises an eyebrow, still not knowing the full story. Shi Wudu will never tell him directly either; there’s cameras here, and everybody is watching them like hawks. But the look in Pei Ming’s eyes, from the little information he does know about Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan’s history, suggests he’s already got him figured out.

However, Pei Ming also knows not to pry. He’s also vague about his convictions.

Before either of them get to continue to conversation, the door swings open, revealing Yuma and Azusa: Pei Ming’s roommates and self-declared new best friends. (They both dislike him, Yuma more explicitly, but Azusa isn’t exactly friendly with him either.)

“Ugh, it’s you,” Yuma huffs, jabbing an unlit cigarette between his lips and digging for the lighter. “Don’t fuck with me, I’m just tryna have a smoke, alright?”

“Aw, come on,” Pei Ming grins, “Don’t be like that with me.”

“Fuck off,” Yuma spits as he lights the cigarette. “Disgusting whore.”

“Ah, Yuma…” Azusa says quietly, still having not lit his cigarette, suddenly pre-occupied with holding Yuma back. “Maybe… don’t fight…”

“Nah, this asshole’s got it comin’,” Yuma says, cracking his knuckles as he steps forward. “You’ve been beefin’ with me for a day ‘n half now but you ain’t got any balls.”

“Oh? Is that a challenge?” Pei Ming responds, tossing the cigarette aside. Shi Wudu knows Pei Ming doesn’t actually hold any hatred for Yuma, the anger isn’t mutual, but he does love a good fight. Pei Ming glances back at him with a wink. “Sit back and watch.”

“I will,” Shi Wudu smirks, kicking back against the fence. Azusa also seems to have given up on stopping the fight, sighing to himself as he lights the cigarette and hides in the corner.

Right before either of them can throw the first punch, the door opens again. This time, it’s only Kino, who steps out and smiles.

“Woah,” he says, “Fight? Can I join?”

“Nah, stay back, twink,” Yuma spits, “Hold my cigarette, though. This is a fight between real men.”

“Rude,” Kino pouts, but takes the free cigarette happily, moving back. He takes pitch next to Azusa, who looks like he might cry. Like Shi Wudu, Kino watches eagerly like it’s a free movie.

Yuma throws the first punch, and it quickly escalates from there.

Vanitas isn’t even fully redressed when he sees the email come through on his computer.

“Oh, shit,” he curses, his shirt half falling off his shoulder. Domi, also still half undressed as she sits on his desk buttoning up her shirt as if they didn’t just have sex on shift in his office, cocks an eyebrow at him, glancing towards the computer.

“What?” she smirks, “Your post-sex talk is terrible.”

“Shut up. We’re at work.”

“That didn’t stop you throwing me down and—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Vanitas cuts her off, his cheeks flushing a little red as she reminds him of what they just did, as if they didn’t just do it. “It’s an email about He Xuan’s retrial date. God, it’s sooner than I thought.”

“How’s that gonna go?” Domi snorts, “You think it’ll work?”

“Honestly, not really,” Vanitas hums, glossing over the email which he’ll have to reread later when he didn’t just come. “Shi Wudu’s evidence fabrication is strong.”

“And if it fails?”

“I don’t wanna think about it,” he sighs, “He Xuan didn’t actually murder someone, but it’s always the quiet ones. I wouldn’t put it past him to hurt Shi Wudu, or…”

“I doubt he’ll kill him,” Domi says, “Why would he want to get a second murder charge when he didn’t even do the first one?”

“Fuck as if I know what goes on in that guy’s head,” Vanitas scoffs, as he finally finishes redressing. “The whole lore with him and Shi Qingxuan makes my head hurt, and I know it’s getting to her. But Shi Wudu makes it worse.”

“She’s still asleep?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to medicate her, but Shi Wudu was pissing me off. I haven’t seen her have a proper breakdown and I know she’s got a few diagnoses. I don’t want a manic episode in my ward,” Vanitas says, “To be honest, in a weird way, they remind me of Subaru and Kou.”

“In what way?” Domi asks.

“I dunno. Just the way they are. Kou had an eating disorder and Subaru was quiet but had issues.”

“Right, but neither of them have borderline.”

“No, but…” Vanitas mutters, trailing off. He doesn’t want to say it, but there’s an awful feeling in his gut that if He Xuan’s retrial fails, he’ll do something to Shi Wudu and Shi Qingxuan will deteriorate, as well as He Xuan. Somewhere, there’s a chance for emotional co-dependence, and co-dependence in two suicidal people doesn’t end well in this place.

“They not going to commit double suicide, Vani.”

“Gross. Don’t use the petname my best friend uses for me.”

“So you admit Noé uses pet names for you?”

“Shut up!”

“No you—”

Before they can argue again, which may or may not lead to round two, Domi’s walkie talkie goes off.

“Hey, where are you?” Jeanne asks, sounding a little strained.

Domi glances at Vanitas, only moderately concerned, before picking it up and responding, “In Vanitas’ office.”

“I hope the sex was good, but I need your help. There’s people fighting outside.”

“For fuck’s sake…” Vanitas groans, quickly slipping his shoes back on. The two of them run outside, ready to witness a brawl. Part of him is worried it’ll be He Xuan and Shi Wudu.

His fears are slightly settled when he goes outside and sees Kino holding back Yuma (surprisingly well, actually) and Jeanne restraining Pei Ming… Well, restraining is an interesting turn of phrase. Really, she’s sitting on him in a rather suggestive pose, keeping him pinned to the ground, riding his… yeah. And Pei Ming looks like he’s having a great time.

“Jeanne, what the hell?” Domi sighs, shaking her head. “You can do so much better.”

“I’m doing my job!” Jeanne insists, before slowly climbing off Pei Ming. Domi heads over to Yuma, pushing Kino out of the way and pinning his arms behind his back. Yuma seems fired up, though he’s no longer trying to lunge at Pei Ming.

“Alright, what happened here?” Vanitas asks. He notices Azusa stood in the corner, resigned to whatever happened, as well as Shi Wudu stood at the fence with a disgusting smirk on his face.

“Yuma started it,” Kino says.

“Hey, fuck you man,” Yuma curses, thrashing against Domi’s grip to no avail.

Although Vanitas wants to say Pei Ming had it coming, he doesn’t seem to be the main aggressor. He sighs, nodding to Domi and gesturing inside. “Put him in isolation until this evening. I have to maintain some kind of fairness.”

“Hey, he was provokin’ me first!” Yuma yells, before resigning to his fate. Now that Shu isn’t here and he’s still sulking, he’s not bothered by anything. “Ah, fuck it. I don’t care. Put me in isolation.”

As Domi leads Yuma away, Azusa trailing behind with a defeated expression, Vanitas glances at Jeanne. “Go supervise everyone else. I don’t trust you around Pei Ming.”

“I wouldn’t do anything,” Jeanne replies. In all fairness, she probably wouldn’t get it on with a suspected rapist, albeit if Pei Ming convinces her that he’s innocent somehow, Vanitas wouldn’t put it past her. Pei Ming looks satisfied as he turns to head back inside, with Shi Wudu following.

“Not you,” Vanitas spits, taking this as his opportunity to talk to the other alone. “You stay.”

Pei Ming grins, clearly understanding what’s going to happen, and leaves without another word with Kino. Shi Wudu, more pissed off, reluctantly stops in his tracks, arms crossed.

“What?” he huffs, “Is it about Qingxuan?”

“No,” Vanitas says, checking nobody else is coming out before laying into him. “Listen, I don’t know the full story, but I know enough to tell you to stay the fuck away from He Xuan.”

“He Xuan?” Shi Wudu responds with fake ignorance. “I haven’t seen him in years. I don’t intend to reconcile with him.”

“Don’t even try,” Vanitas hisses, stepping closer. “He’s having a retrial, but if it fails, don’t go near him. Don’t speak to him. Don’t engage. Because if he hurts you, it’d be deserved.”

With that, he turns on his heel and heads towards the doors, unbothered by whatever shitty excuses Shi Wudu wants to spew.

“Hmph,” Shi Wudu snorts in derision. “You’d lose your job if somebody got murdered in your prison.”

That sets something off in Vanitas, as he freezes and glances back at Shi Wudu, that cocky smirk making him look highly punchable. He narrows his eyes, staring at him with pure venom.

“Someone committed suicide in my ward two months ago, it could’ve been prevented, and I still didn’t lose my job,” Vanitas says, “Don’t underestimate me.”

He doesn’t give Shi Wudu a chance to retort to that, kicking the door open and leaving him to it. As soon as he’s inside, however, he falls against the door and knocks his head back, taking a deep breath. After two months, a bit of therapy, and endless reassurance that it couldn’t have been prevented, Vanitas still believes deep down that Subaru’s death was his fault.

Chapter Text

There was something peaceful to Vanitas about walking into the canteen during breakfast and seeing Ayato and Kanato throwing food at each other.

A lot had changed in the last few days, but most of the prisoners hadn’t. Sure, Kanato was a little more unsettled than usual and Reiji was being autistic about the changes, constantly complaining and picking apart everything he didn’t like during therapy; however, everyone else remained the same.

“They’re at it again?” Vanitas asks with a dramatic, exasperated sigh. He kicks back against the wall beside Noé, sticking his tongue out at Astolfo briefly.

“Yep,” Noé sighs as well. “Ayato started it this time.”

“Of course he did,” Vanitas huffs. He winces when Kino joins in too, picking up the fork and getting ready to launch it at Kanato. Vanitas grits his teeth, stepping forward and going to grab his hand. “Hey! Don’t you dare give Kanato access to a real fork! He’s only allowed to plastic ones! I’m not letting him stab me again!”

“Oops,” Kino shrugs. Before he can get there, he winks at Vanitas then flings the fork at Kanato. But Kanato narrowly dodges, and instead the fork hits Xie Lian instead.

“Oh fuck,” Vanitas curses, seeing the absolute fury on Hua Cheng’s face when he turns to Kino.

“It’s okay,” Xie Lian says, placing a hand on Hua Cheng’s thigh (disgusting) to calm him. “It was an accident.”

“Hmph,” Hua Cheng frowns, continuing to glare at Kino. “Don’t you dare throw things at gege again.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Kino says, very clearly not sorry. “I’ll make sure I aim properly for his eye next time.”

“Alright, you’re getting moved to plastic forks now,” Vanitas replies, before doing a headcount of the rest of the room. “We’re missing two.”

“Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan,” Astolfo says, “Neither of them came.”

“What, and neither of them brought you their meds either?”

“Domi did it this morning during rounds,” Noé explains, frowning at Vanitas. “When you showed up late.”

“I was busy,” Vanitas says. He wasn’t busy at all. He just didn’t want to get out of bed after a totally unnecessary and irresponsible wake-‘n-bake. He exhales deeply then turns back to the others, calling out for sadly the most accurate reporter for room 3 (so, not Kino). “Oi, Reiji. Where’s the other two?”

Reiji turns his head and pushes his glasses up his face, his permanent bitch face bright as day. “They both refused to come to breakfast. I don’t believe He Xuan likes me very much, though I can’t understand why, and Shi Qingxuan said he did not want to eat.”

“She,” Astolfo corrects him aggressively. “She didn’t want to eat.”

“Hmph. He is in a men’s prison,” Reiji protests, “I will refer to him as such.”

“I’ll refer to you as deceased if you keep going,” Astolfo further threatens.

“Yeah, come on Reiji,” Ruki smirks, teasingly nudging his shoulder. “Be more woke.”

“Don’t patronise me.”

“What’s wrong with Qingxuan?” Shi Wudu immediately pipes up, rising to his feet. “I can go and talk to her.”

“No, you stay the fuck there,” Vanitas says, “I’ll go talk to her. Noé, in the meantime, write on Kino’s notes that he’s on plastic forks for the next week.”

“Aw.” Kino puts on a fake pout. “But the plastic forks always break.”

“Eat plastic then. Maybe the microplastics will make your micropenis even smaller,” Vanitas retorts, before turning on his heel and setting off down the corridor. He can hear Domi and Jeanne gossiping in his office, but he leaves them for now.

Once he’s at room 3, he knocks twice before letting himself in, poking his head through the door. As expected, He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan are both there. He Xuan is sat cross-legged on his bed, leant against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a deep frown fixed on his face. Shi Qingxuan, on the other hand, is lying on her front on the bed, flicking through the cheap prison magazines which are three years old (Vanitas didn’t even know they existed until Ayato told him what Laito had used them for.)

Neither of them are speaking. It’s surprising they even chose to sit in each other’s presence.

“Morning,” Vanitas says, closing the door behind him to lean on it.

“Good morning!” Shi Qingxuan replies, sitting up when she sees him. He Xuan just grunts, clearly not happy at the intrusion.

“Alright, let’s talk,” Vanitas starts, “Why are neither of you at breakfast? You know it’s non-negotiable, especially for you two.”

“I didn’t want to eat,” Shi Qingxuan insists, “I’m not hungry! I never eat breakfast.”

“Yeah, as far as I heard, you never ate any meals. Just the occasional Starbucks and random junk you ate while hungover.”

“That’s good food, you know!”

“Trust me, I know the bliss of a post-bender kebab, but you’re in prison now, so that’s not happening,” Vanitas deadpans, his interrogative gaze switching to He Xuan. “And you?”

“Domi told me I wasn’t allowed to smoke if I didn’t take the insulin injection,” He Xuan says. For someone with such a cold, seemingly scary face, he sure does pout as well. “So now I’m not eating.”

“Right, so I’m not dealing with a hypoglycaemic episode on my ward,” Vanitas replies, facepalming; this is far beyond his expertise. When He Xuan just shrugs, nonchalant to the whole thing, he rolls his eyes and realises he’s going to have to use bribery. Like a real doctor, of course. “Okay, how’s this: if you eat all three meals for the next three days, I’ll lift the ban on snacks. Under supervision, that is. No binge-purging either.”

Although he doesn’t give any verbal response, He Xuan does bless him with something like an affirmative hum.

“And you,” he turns back to Shi Qingxuan, “If you eat all three meals for the next three days, I’ll buy you cigarettes on your brother’s account. Just don’t tell him.”

“Hmm... That’s a good ultimatum,” she hums, before giving a dejected sigh and standing up. “Fine.”

Like a parent pleased with their successful bribery, making their kids behave with admittedly questionable parenting skills, Vanitas ushers the two out of the room. Except he’s not a parent: he’s a doctor trying to convince his two eating disorder patients to fucking eat breakfast.

He’ll fix the unspoken tension between them another time.

Now that she’s feeling less mentally drained, Shi Qingxuan continues working towards her goal: making friends with as many people as she can.

She’s already ruled a few people out. Everyone in room 1 seems weird and creepy, especially Laito and Kanato. Perhaps if she can get Ayato alone, he’ll be friend material, though she’s heard rumours about what he’s here for from Kino and isn’t too sure. Her transphobic roommate has also been struck off her mental “to make friends with” list.

When she goes outside, she finds everyone from room 2: yes, Pei Ming as well. Pei Ming seems a bit icky, especially with how suspiciously close he is to her brother, but she especially likes Azusa and Yuma is friendly too. She hasn’t spoken to Ruki much, though she’s heard rumours that he’s got something going on with Reiji, who she doesn’t like.

“Good afternoon!” she says, flicking her hair behind her shoulder as she frolics out.

“Afternoon,” Yuma nods at her, as Azusa and Ruki flash her a smile too.

“Good afternoon, beautiful lady,” Pei Ming says with a smirk.

“I don’t take compliments from people like you,” Shi Qingxuan replies, kicking one leg over her knee. “Anyway, I’m basically dying out here. Can someone lend me a cigarette?”

“Sure...” Azusa agrees right away, slowly reaching into his pocket.

“Nah, put ‘em away. You only get a tight allowance,” Yuma scolds him, swatting his hand away before picking up his cigarettes and offering one to Shi Qingxuan. “Here. My treat.”

“Thank you!” Shi Qingxuan beams, slipping a cigarette out from the pack. When Yuma goes to put away the pack, Ruki, opposite him, also swipes one out of pack, winking at him.

Yuma snorts, while Azusa gives him a sceptical glance, muttering under his breath, “You quit...”

“Yuma’s treat,” Ruki grins, lighting the cigarette. He turns to Shi Qingxuan, placing a finger on his lips. “Just don’t tell Reiji.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” she snickers. The smell of cigarette smoke wafts around them as Yuma and Pei Ming both light another cigarette; she doesn’t like the smell much. She only really smokes because it reminds her of drinking. “I don’t like Reiji much anyway.”

“Don’t take what he says to heart,” Ruki says, “And I apologise for him misgendering you constantly. He’s probably never met a transwoman before.”

“I can teach him a few things!” Shi Qingxuan replies.

“Oh, I bet you can.” Pei Ming gives a suggestive wink.

She turns to him, clueless. “What?”

“That sounded pretty sexual to be fair,” Yuma says, gesturing to Pei Ming with a sneer. “As much as I hate to agree with the guy.”

“Hey, I’m a very agreeable person,” Pei Ming insists. “I can teach a few things too. I’ve got a body count of over one hundred, at least.”

“Rape doesn’t count,” Yuma spits.

“I didn’t rape anyone,” Pei Ming responds cooly, “but regardless of whether you believe me, that was supposedly only six women, wasn’t it? What about the other hundred-odd women I got into bed?”

“Dude, I don’t wanna think about your fuckin’ sex life.”

Ruki and Azusa both grimace too, likely having heard this all already after only a couple of days. Pei Ming only seems to have two interests: fighting and sex.

“I guarantee I have the highest body count, though,” Pei Ming declares, smug as ever as he drags on the cigarette. He’s probably trying to seem sexy, even though nobody there is interested in him.

“No one’s questioning that,” Yuma says, “I only ever got with one guy, ‘n he’s... Well, he’s left now so it doesn’t matter. I doubt he’ll bother comin’ to visit anyway.”

“Yuma...” Azusa whispers, a sad puppy-like expression on his face as he gently places a hand on the other’s shoulder to comfort him.

“It’s fine, don’t even worry about me,” Yuma replies, “Worry about Shu. He’s stuck out there ‘n he ain’t worked a day in his life.”

“Ooh?” Shi Qingxuan perks up. “Is there break-up gossip?”

“There’s plenty of break-up gossip here,” Ruki smirks, inhaling on the cigarette. “Some of which may or may not include death.”

“Ohhh, yeah, I heard something about that,” she says, “Someone-someone died, right?”

“Shi Wudu told me Vanitas said someone committed suicide here,” Pei Ming notes, as he spins the cigarette between his fingers, smiling a little sadistically. “That doctor threatened Shi Wudu too. I wasn’t there, but I’d have loved to have seen it.”

“Vanitas threatened my brother?!” Shi Qingxuan yelps, dropping the cigarette in the process.

“Rest assured, darling, he wouldn’t do anything,” Pei Ming says. He picks up the cigarette for her, at which point Shi Qingxuan screws her face up at it and puts it out, only half-finished.

“I haven’t spoken to your brother yet,” Ruki comment, “though I heard Break saying he doesn’t like his vibe. Break is blind, so vibes are the only thing he has to go off.”

“You don’t need to see ‘im to know he’s dodgy as fuck,” Yuma says.

“My brother isn’t all bad...” Shi Qingxuan says. Then she thinks to He Xuan, and maybe that’s not true after all. “Well...”

“Enough of the sad talk,” Pei Ming cuts her off. “Tell me about your love life, Qingxuan.”

“Me? Oh, well... it’s a bit awkward,” she laughs nervously, “He Xuan was my only actual partner, but I’m sure I’ve had many one-night-stands while drunk and high. I don’t really remember, though.”

“One-night-stands while high are great,” Ruki says, “until you wake up wondering if you contracted a disease or got a girl pregnant.”

“I couldn’t rule that out for myself either,” Shi Qingxuan replies, still chuckling awkwardly. She doesn’t remember sleeping with any women (well, except He Xuan when he was still a woman), but it very much may have happened.

Yuma makes a fake gagging noise. “God, you guys are all whores.”

“That I am, and proud,” Pei Ming grins; a man of pride, clearly. He then raises an eyebrow, turning to the only person not engaging in the conversation. “You know, Azusa, you’ve been oddly quiet.”

“Uh...” Azusa stammers, his face flushing slightly red as he stares down at his lap. “Well... I’ve never... you know, done that...”

“Wait, no one?!” Shi Qingxuan exclaims, “Never?!”

“No...” Azusa answers despondently.

“Wow, that’s so sad...” Shi Qingxuan says, not quite realising that sounds mean. “Like, never? Not once?”

“Damn, ya’ll are such whores you can’t even comprehend the concept of a virgin,” Yuma scoffs.

“It’s okay!” Shi Qingxuan smiles, patting Azusa’s shoulder. “You won’t be here forever, right? You’ll get out eventually, so you can definitely change that one day.”

Although Azusa doesn’t seem convinced, he responds with a slight nod anyway.

“Noé, I swear to God, you can’t keep getting fucking boners when we’re at work.”

“It’s not my fault! That was really hot!”

Astolfo grits his teeth and elbows Noé in the gut, hissing in a hushed whisper, “Whatever. You need to get rid of that before someone sees.”

“Then why are you dragging me to the showers?” Noé asks, as Astolfo pushes him through the corridors. Admittedly, he is a little paranoid about somebody, whether it be a staff member or inmate, seeing the rather large bulge in his pants. They have less than an hour left of their shift, but nobody is banished to their rooms for another half hour and that’s plenty of time for an awkward conversation.

But really, it’s not his fault! Astolfo gave an intellectual, aggressive lecture while scolding Reiji for misgendering Shi Qingxuan all day, two steps away from punching him and excusing it as professional duty, and it was really quite sexy in his humble opinion.

“Because—! Nothing,” Astolfo hisses, his face a little flushed. He kicks Noé into the showers, gesturing to the (seemingly) empty room. “See? Nobody showers at this time. Not even Reiji.”

“I guess...” Noé says, still a bit apprehensive, though it’s hardly the first time they’ve done this. Besides, Domi and Vanitas fuck in their office all the time and Ruki got with Jeanne in the store room. If someone walks in, they can just say they’re... fixing the sink, or something.

With (what they think) is alone time, Noé drags Astolfo to one of the sinks. They’ve tried to do it in one of the toilet stalls before but it was uncomfortable and Astolfo’s phone fell out of his pocket into the toilet, so they’re not doing that again. He grabs Astolfo’s thighs and hoists him up onto the sink, his thighs wrapped around Noé’s hips. He grinds his hips against Astolfo’s crotch, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

Some hands end up in some clothes, but right before they can continue, there’s a large thump from one of the shower stalls, following by a suspicious breathy moan. Well, whimper more accurately describes it.

“What the fuck?” Astolfo cocks an eyebrow, albeit his hand doesn’t leave Noé’s pants. He lowers his voice, peeking over the partition. “Is there someone else here?”

“I didn’t think so,” Noé replies, his face a little flushed as he slowly slips his hand out of Astolfo’s underwear and wipes it on his clothes. Only after doing that does he realise that was his reflexes and that perhaps rubbing Astolfo juices on his work uniform wasn’t the bet call, so he grabs some tissue and washes his hand in the adjacent sink instead.

Astolfo withdraws his hand from Noé’s pants as well, sliding off the sink. There’s another few shuffles and moans from the showers, but it doesn’t make sense. Reiji and Ruki wouldn’t be here, because Reiji wouldn’t do anything on the dirty shower floors. Laito and Kino are outside, Elliot and Leo are in their room, and Hua Cheng and Xie Lian have a room alone so there’s no need to do anything in here. Those are the usual suspects, except Shu and Yuma or Subaru and Kou, but they’re, well...

Anyway.

Noé and Astolfo were not expecting to pass to the other side of the partition and see Shi Qingxuan sat on the floor, her pants discarded, with Azusa of all people in her lap, his pants also pushed down to his thighs. Neither of them notices as the two staff members turn the corner, their eyes shut and movement very obvious. The way Shi Qingxuan’s hips buck up and Azusa slumps back suggests very clearly what just happened.

“Um...” Noé speaks up, “Guys...?”

At the sound of his voice, Azusa’s eyes snap open and he turns around, his face immediately flushing deep red. He doesn’t move, not daring to show any private areas. Shi Qingxuan, however, is a lot more casual, giving them a sloppy smile as she holds Azusa’s hips.

“Oh, hey!” she says, “Ahaha... Maybe just forget what you saw here.”

“I don’t think I could forget,” Astolfo deadpans.

“It’s alright, we won’t tell anyone,” Noé manages a smile despite being visibly uncomfortable with what they just witnessed.

“What are you both doing here anyway?” Shi Qingxuan asks, covering Azusa’s crotch with her jacket before lifting his thighs off her lap. Her gaze then trails down to Noé’s crotch coupled with Astolfo’s unzipped jeans, and she snorts. “Oh. I see.”

“Shut up,” Astolfo hisses, “Just... this is a secret. Got it?”

“Please don’t tell anyone...” Azusa whispers, slightly breathless and incredibly flustered as he redresses himself.

“We won’t,” Noé reassures him. “You two should get going, before someone comes in. It’s... pretty obvious what just happened.”

As if the world is cursing them, the door swings open a moment later.

“Astolfo? Noé? Are you guys here?”

Of course it’s Vanitas.

“Ah,” Noé swallows. “We’re here?”

“Why are you both here?” Vanitas scoffs, marching over to them. “I was just gonna say you could go home early, everything is sorted.”

He then turns the corner and sees the spectacle: Shi Qingxuan on the floor, in the process of redressing, and Azusa perched next to her, his clothes dishevelled. Vanitas snorts, eyebrows raised. “Oh. I see.”

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Azusa begs again, covering his face. “I don’t want... word spreading...”

“What, that you lost your virginity? Everyone will celebrate.”

“I-I... Well...”

“It’s alright. I won’t tell,” Vanitas says, adding under his breath, “Apart from Domi. I gotta tell her this.”

“As long as you don’t tell Jeanne,” Noé replies, frowning at him a little. “Jeanne will tell everyone.”

“Jeanne is my good friend!” Shi Qingxuan insists. “She’ll keep my secret!”

“I don’t think she will,” Astolfo huffs, “Whatever. Come on, let’s go home.”

“Ah, okay...” Noé nods, also flustered and still very much aroused. At least they have a car parked outside which has seen many things already. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Vanitas leaves, snickering to himself, Noé and Astolfo also turn to leave. Despite them saying it’ll remain a secret, he knows it won’t. 

Nothing is secret in this place. Everyone will have heard the news by tomorrow: Shi Qingxuan , the new girl, took Azusa’s virginity .   

Chapter Text

“Pawn to D4.”  

“... Pawn to F5.”  

“... Really, Reiji? You never make a move like that.”  

At Ruki’s remark, Reiji looks taken aback at first, making Ruki smirk. Until he realises Reiji looks a little... sad?  

“No,” he sighs dejectedly, leaning his elbow on the table, staring down at the chess board. “I suppose not.”  

With a slight frown, Ruki moves their pawns back to the starting positions, feeling a bit too mean to continue playing. Reiji has already lost two games in a row which is rare for them. Typically, they win and lose equal games, some of which lasting up to an hour. There’s not much else to do in prison, after all.   

“Come on,” Ruki says, kicking Reiji under the table. “Talk to me. Why are you sulking all of a sudden?”  

“I am not sulking ,” Reiji huffs, repeatedly drumming his fingers against the edge of the table in a specific rhythm; something Ruki knows all too well by now is a sign that he’s anxious. It’s about the most expressive thing Reiji does and it’s only a compulsion.   

“You are,” Ruki responds with a chuckle. “Is having new people here really still bothering you that much?”  

“It is not them themselves,” Reiji says stiffly, “but simply the change of things around here. Things only recently restored to normality after Subaru passed and then Shu got released, and now it is thrown off course again.”  

“You know not much has actually changed. And at least your new roommate isn’t Pei Ming of all people.”  

“While that may be true, my new roommates are not much better,” Reiji frowns deeper. “Shi Qingxuan is rather irritating, constantly being loud and complaining about either wanting to be drunk or how He Xuan doesn’t love him anymore, and He Xuan is, I fear, even more difficult to make conversation with than me.”  

“Impressive,” Ruki snorts, “Alright, that’s your talking done with. You wanna start another game?”  

“Yes, I suppose I must try.”  

“Good. You can go first this time.”  

Peace and quiet never lasts in this place, unfortunately. Only four moves into their new game, frantic footsteps echo down the corridor, followed by Yuma bursting into the canteen room.   

“Ruki! We gotta talk to ya!” he yells, “Jeanne told us somethin’ crazy!”   

“Oh?” he cocks an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”  

“Azusa —!”  

“Wait... Yuma...!” Azusa calls after him, also running into the room, panting and breathless as he staggers up to the table. “Don’t...”   

“I am not interested in petty gossip,” Reiji states, shifting to sit up straighter.   

“Dude, nobody fuckin’ cares!” Yuma says, before flipping the chess board and sending the pieces flying. Azusa looks ready to bury himself in a ditch and never leave again when Yuma slams his hands on the table and says, “Azusa slept with Shi Qingxuan yesterday!”   

Ruki blinks several times, glancing between Yuma and Azusa. Yuma is grinning like a mad man, meanwhile Azusa’s face is deep red, his gaze fixed on the floor in shame and embarrassment. The fact Azusa isn’t even trying to deny it means it must be true.   

“Really?” Ruki says, “I think congratulations are in order.”  

“... Um... thanks?”  

“When did this happen? And where?”  

“That’s... uh...” Azusa stammers, scratching the side of his head, too ashamed to even answer.   

“In the evening,” Yuma answers on his behalf. “They fucked in the showers. Shi Qingxuan was top, obviously.”  

“I’m surprised you—”  

“Woah, holy shit?! Azusa slept with Shi Qingxuan?!”   

The worst possible people to walk past in the corridor at that moment are Ayato and Laito. And they just walked past, Kanato trailing behind them (largely disinterested, that is).   

“For real?!” Ayato exclaims, bursting through the doors.   

“Aah~” Laito hums, “Good for you, Azusa. I always knew you had a chance~”  

“Ah... um—”  

“Dude, we gotta tell everyone!” Ayato yells.   

“Mhm, absolutely. Kino would love to hear about it too.”  

“Don’t worry, Shi Qingxuan will tell ‘im everything if he asks.”   

“Wait...! No, don’t...” Azusa starts, but before he can finish, Ayato and Laito have already gone sprinting down the corridor. “... tell anyone...”  

“Ah,” Yuma chuckles awkwardly, patting Azusa’s head. “Sorry, man.”  

“It’s alright...” Azusa says, turning around and trudging back to their room, still blushing deeply, probably not wanting to show his face ever again.  

“Well,” Ruki snorts, “Everyone will know now.”  

“Yeah, I’m sure word would’ve gotten around already,” Yuma says.   

“How’d Jeanne know?”  

“Vanitas told Domi, ‘n of course Domi told Jeanne. And ya know what Jeanne is like.”  

A suggestive smirk twitches at Ruki’s lips, as he recalls his and Jeanne’s... endeavours. “That I do.”  

“Dude, gross. I don’t wanna know.”   

He's only saying that out of principle. Everyone also knows about that too. Secrets really don’t exist in a place like this.   

Xie Lian never expected Hua Cheng to make any friends in this place. So, when he willingly spends time with He Xuan of all people, the quiet and suspicious one who apparently has history with Shi Qingxuan, he doesn’t know whether to be happy or concerned. He Xuan doesn’t exactly seem to like him either, but there’s an eerie mysterious aura which they appear to share. Multiple times upon leaving therapy, Xie Lian has found Hua Cheng sitting outside, chain-smoking with He Xuan.   

He doesn’t know what they talk about, Hua Cheng doesn’t mention it, and from the way he’s often grinning suspiciously, he perhaps doesn’t want to know. Xie Lian knows when and when not to pry.   

Like today, when he walks outside upon finishing a review with that strange psychiatrist, and finds Hua Cheng sat on the ground against the fence, legs stretched out, with He Xuan sitting opposite cross-legged on one of the tables. Both of them fall silent when the doors open; He Xuan plants on a straight face immediately, and Hua Cheng snorts before giving his usual gege-infatuated smile.   

“Good afternoon...?” Xie Lian greets them, hesitantly walking towards Hua Cheng. “Am I interrupting something?”  

“Of course not, gege,” Hua Cheng says, patting the space on the ground beside him. He pulls out the pack of cigarettes, passing one across with the lighter. “Here.”  

“Thanks,” Xie Lian replies, still feeling a little awkward as he sits beside Hua Cheng and lights the cigarette. He takes a long drag, glancing between the two of them: the way Hua Cheng smirks with a raised eyebrow at He Xuan, and how He Xuan just glares at the ground instead, puffing on the cigarette.  

Xie Lian simply won’t ask.   

“How was gege’s appointment?” Hua Cheng asks.   

“It was fine. That doctor is odd, I think, but I get the impression he knows what he’s talking about. Well, maybe.”  

“He pisses me off,” He Xuan huffs, flicking the cigarette onto the ground before pulling another out and lighting it.   

“Must be tragic,” Hua Cheng says sarcastically, earning a sharp, murderous glare from He Xuan, but he doesn’t make further comment. “I don’t like him much either, though.”  

“He never offended me,” Xie Lian reassures him, placing the cigarette back between his lips and inhaling. Ever since coming to prison and getting moved onto methadone, he feels a lot better physically, though he has no clue how Hua Cheng is feeling, both physically and mentally.   

“He Xuan is just sulking over Shi Qingxuan,” Hua Cheng adds, his smirk widening. “The love of his life who he never stopped yearning for, even after she ruined his life. How tragic.”  

“Shut up,” He Xuan hisses, dragging on the cigarette with the bitter expression hardening.   

Xie Lian nods along. He only knows bits and pieces about this lore from Shi Qingxuan, with the exception of the vague recount He Xuan gave on their first day, and while Shi Qingxuan is genuinely a lovely person, she’s possibly not the most reliable storyteller. From what he can tell, Hua Cheng has gotten the story from He Xuan instead; likely a much more sinister version. Xie Lian is curious, but he’s had enough drama in his life and isn’t exactly going out of his way to enter more.   

Still, a little gentle wisdom and sympathy can’t hurt. “I think—”  

Before he can get another word out, the doors swing open. He looks up as He Xuan’s head whips around, watching as Ayato, Laito, and Kanato burst outside.   

“Guys!” Ayato yells, panting as he runs forward and crashes into one of the tables. “You’ll never believe what happened!”  

“It’s exciting, believe me~” Laito adds, leaning on Ayato’s shoulder. Kanato, on Ayato’s other side, drops down onto the bench right behind He Xuan and just dumps his head on the table, sighing in despair.   

“What happened?” Xie Lian asks, just to humour them.   

“I heard Yuma just sayin’,” Ayato says, “Shi Qingxuan slept with Azusa!”  

Silence proceeds the revelation. Xie Lian looks between Hua Cheng and He Xuan. He Xuan’s eyes widen immediately, his back to the gossips behind him. Hua Cheng cocks an eyebrow, staring right at He Xuan.   

“Haha,” he snorts, kicking one leg up against his chest. “Isn’t that interesting?”  

Without another word, He Xuan throws the cigarette onto the ground with the other three and stands up, storming inside. If his face was any more expressive than the cold and dead mask he usually holds, one might think he was angry or even upset? Who knows.   

“Hmm?” Laito smirks, pulling out a cigarette as he watches He Xuan leave. “Is somebody jealous?”  

“Man, I don’t fuckin’ know,” Ayato scoffs, “They’re only roommates, right? Does he already have a thing for her?”  

“I don’t blame him. I’ve always wanted to sleep with a trans woman. For the experience, you understand?”  

“No, the fuck?” Ayato grimaces as he lights a cigarette as well, stepping away from Laito.   

“They didn’t just meet,” Hua Cheng explains, the grin never fading despite him obviously trying to keep a straight face. “They knew each other before prison and were together years ago. It’s complicated, but don’t expect to get the full story from either of them.”  

“Shit, I’d kill for the drama,” Ayato frowns, “Anyway, can you believe the news? Man, that’s crazy.”  

Xie Lian tilts his head, taking in the frankly weird joy Ayato and Laito seem to have gotten from the news.   

“Why is this so exciting, if I might ask?” he says, “It’s my understanding that... well, things like that aren’t rare around here.”  

“No, no, you don’t understand,” Ayato insists, “This is huge for Azusa, dude!”  

“Why?”   

“Because our beloved Azusa is a virgin,” Laito explains, “Ah, you know, I don’t exactly recall why we all know that.”  

“I think Jeanne asked everyone at one point,” Ayato replies, “I don’t fuckin’ remember why though, now that you mention it.”  

“Because she’s weird,” Kanato says bluntly, lifting his head up and grabbing a cigarette from his pocket. He just seems exhausted and pissed off; an understandable and unsurprising side effect of sharing a room with Laito and Ayato. God only knows how they’ve all been best friends for years. “Everyone here is weird and creepy!”  

“Not us,” Hua Cheng says, “Gege and I are very normal.”   

“Ahaha...” Xie Lian chuckles nervously, “I’m not so sure that’s true either.”   

Shi Qingxuan, in all her innocence and faith in others, really thought the news about her and Azusa wouldn’t spread.   

Vanitas, to no surprise, addresses it with her briefly in their review the next day, and Shi Qingxuan uses her usual giving-a-vague-and-humorous-response tactic. Then again, does she even know how it happened? Not really. She just got flirty all of a sudden, Azusa got flustered, it turned her on, one thing led to another, and... yeah.   

But Vanitas seems largely unbothered and insists on discussing her mental state and feelings, at which point Shi Qingxuan wishes the conversation went back to her and Azusa’s endeavours. Vanitas tries to convince her to consider going back on antipsychotics, citing her lack of sleep and issues with eating, but Shi Qingxuan adamantly insists she doesn’t need it, so he lets it go for now. He then brings up the topic of her having a re-trial and when they can arrange a new date in court, but that would mean that her charges go to Shi Wudu and his sentence gets extended, which only depresses her more.   

Once she’s back in their room, Shi Qingxuan is already feeling a little down, and her mood is hardly improved when she walks in and sees Reiji sat on his bed, frowning as he stares at a book. Last thing she saw, he was playing chess in the canteen with Ruki (like a loser), and the fact he’s back here so soon suggests it wasn’t going well. Or Ruki got bored of his sulking, which Shi Qingxuan is beginning to feel too.   

“Hey,” she says with a dejected sigh, flopping face-first onto her bed and sighing.   

Reiji blinks at her, unsure what to say. His mouth falls open for a moment, then closes again, before he says quietly, “Are you alright?”  

“I’m doing so fine,” Shi Qingxuan responds, turning to face him, her cheek pressed against the pillow. She narrows his eyes at him as he stares at her, not saying anything. “You know, I’m not an enigma. You don’t have to stare at me.”  

“I never considered you an enigma ,” Reiji huffs, turning his attention back to the book in his hands and flipping the page.   

“Then you can stop misgendering me, too,” Shi Qingxuan says, “but it’s okay if you do! I won’t be offended, I’ve been misgendered most of my life, but I will be judging you profusely.”   

“Hmph,” Reiji frowns deeper, turning the page of his book once more despite clearly not having read it. “I am not doing it on purpose.”   

Shi Qingxuan tries to must up a clever reply, but before she can, someone kicks the door open. Her head whips up at the source of the noise, eyes widening when she sees He Xuan stood in the doorway. His face is mostly stoic, but there’s a trace of bitterness only she could detect in those eyes.   

“Why did you sleep with Azusa?”  

“... Oh,” Shi Qingxuan mutters. Yes, she actually thought the news wouldn’t spread. Seriously. Her mouth hangs open but she can’t seem to figure out how to respond without nervously laughing, but even that doesn’t seem appropriate right now.   

Reiji, by some miracle, seems to pick up on the tension palpable in the room, calmly closing his book, placing it on the bedside table, and standing up. “I will leave you two alone for a bit.”  

“Ahaha, yeah...” Shi Qingxuan smiles awkwardly, watching as Reiji leaves and closes the door behind himself.   

He Xuan doesn’t utter a single word, traipsing over to his bed under Kino’s bunk and sitting down, leaning against the wall. His glare doesn’t shift from her but he’s not speaking. She’s not sure what he wants to hear.   

“How did you find out?” Shi Qingxuan questions, pushing herself up and sitting to face him.   

“Ayato and Laito told me,” He Xuan says, “They heard it from Yuma.”  

“Yuma...? From... Oh, probably from Jeanne.”   

“Why the hell does Jeanne know? Did you invite her to join in?”  

“What? No! No, God, no!” Shi Qingxuan says, waving her hands frantically. “Noé and Astolfo walked in on us, followed by Vanitas. It was a little embarrassing, haha... ha...”  

“Stop laughing,” He Xuan hisses, “Why did you sleep with him?”  

“Because...! I don’t really know,” she sighs, “I was lonely, I guess.”  

He Xuan doesn’t respond to that, sinking further back against the wall. He crosses his arms over, huffing under his breath and pursing his lips. Things begin to add up in Shi Qingxuan’s head, albeit a little slowly, but she pieces it together eventually.  

“He-xiong—”  

“Don’t call me that.”  

“—Are you jealous?”  

The question obviously annoys him, as his eyebrows furrow and he crosses his arms over his chest, lowering his head. “No.”  

“Then why do you care?” Shi Qingxuan asks, “We’re not together anymore. We haven’t been for years.”   

“That’s not the point,” He Xuan says, “If you go sleeping around here, that’s not a good look for you. Wait until your icky brother finds out.”  

That basically answers her question. Yes, he’s jealous.   

“Okay, first of all,” she starts, “you’ve never once cared what my brother thinks. And secondly, if you’re not jealous, why would you care how it makes me look?”  

“Because—” He Xuan, but quickly snaps his mouth shut again. He’s dead silent, as if he knows his cover is blown. “Nothing.”  

“He-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan giggles, her tone mocking yet gentle. “I always knew you got jealous, but to think after all these years, ahahaha... and in prison too, haha...”  

She laughs through the nerves. In reality, seeing He Xuan’s response to this makes her uneasy. Since when did he still care? Should she not have done it?  

Maybe He Xuan has just been lonely, has somehow ended up in a lonelier place, and is now stuck with the person he became lonely because of in the first place.  

“You know—”  

“I’m not getting back together with you,” He Xuan says, “We broke up for a reason and you ruined my life.”  

“Ahah... We didn’t actually break up for a reason, you know,” Shi Qingxuan reminds him, deluding herself into thinking that him losing contact with her was just natural, them drifting apart as people do, and nothing wrong with their relationship.  

“Sure,” He Xuan huffs, “Whatever. You still ruined my life.”  

He’s said that a million times, and Shi Qingxuan is getting a little bored of it. And yet, when he says it this time, the bitterness once held in his gaze when he spoke those words seems to have been replaced with sadness.  

“I’m sorry, I said that,” Shi Qingxuan says, “I’m not asking to get back together with you, okay? But this is a really lonely place. If you need someone to keep you company, or... or just to cuddle with. Whatever you want. Maybe you can consider trying to hate me a little less.”  

“No.”  

“Be lonely, then.”  

“Shut up,” He Xuan grumbles, lying down on the bed and turning his back to her. He wraps himself in his covers, clutching his arms to his chest. From behind, even without seeing his face, Shi Qingxuan can tell he just looks... sad.  

He’ll never say it, though. He Xuan never talked about his feelings. He only ever showed them in subtle ways in which Shi Qingxuan could read, and nobody else. His hands are pale and shaky above the bed covers. Shi Qingxuan isn’t going to interrogate him about his eating disorder or physical state, but she knows he’s not in perfect health.  

He Xuan will never acknowledge that he’s human and needs caring for like everyone else. Thus, with a pitying smile on her face, Shi Qingxuan draws in a deep breath, stands up, and walks towards his bed. She might get punched for what she’s about to do, but it’s a risk she’s willing to take.  

“What are you doing?” He Xuan hisses when she reaches the edge of the bed, having already seen her shadow on the wall opposite.  

“Nothing,” Shi Qingxuan says, before hesitantly taking a seat on his side of the bed. His head immediately whips around and he moves back, narrowing his eyebrows.  

“That’s not nothing.”  

“Be quiet! I’m giving comfort!”  

“I don’t need comfort.”  

“Oh my God, yes you do, and so do I! So just lie still already!”  

By some miracle, He Xuan actually lies back down, still facing away from her. Snickering to herself, Shi Qingxuan slowly lies down on the bed behind him, shuffling forward until her front is pressed against his back. His shoulders tense as she touches him, but there’s no attempt at pushing her away this time. It must feel wrong to be comforted by the person who inadvertently ruined your life, but loneliness does weird things to a person.  

Tentatively, Shi Qingxuan then wraps her arm around his waist, resting at against his stomach. It makes her a little sad to think how much weight he’s lost since they were last together; when they used to do this, all those years ago, he actually had some muscle, and now there’s just... nothing.  

“How’s this?” she whispers, enjoying the touch as well.  

“Weird,” He Xuan grunts.  

“Do you want me to move?”  

“No.”  

Shi Qingxuan is glad he can’t see the way her face is beaming. It’s not a lot, it’s definitely not forgiveness, but at least they can hold each other again. Perhaps they can even find what they lost in each other, in a place as depressing and grim as this. Now, Shi Qingxuan just has to hope nothing significantly bad happens which will tear them apart like it always does.

(Wishful thinking, really.)  

Chapter Text

Three emails from three different lawyers. All of which could have completely different outcomes.

Email one: Gilbert. Recently, Vanitas was informed by the maximum security prison Vincent got upgraded to that the other had a complete breakdown and admitted to the staff he framed Gilbert and that his brother was actually innocent, like he’d insisted all along. It was never that simple, obviously. Vanitas first had to contact Gilbert’s previous lawyer, only to find he wanted no involvement in the case anymore — probably because the case was indeed fucked up and risky to take on. So, they had to find a new lawyer, and finally allocated one today. It’d be a lengthy process, involving the new lawyer needing to meet with Vincent multiple times as well, but at least they can get started at some point.

Email two: Shi Qingxuan. That one was a little less hopeful. When she was first arrested, the first thing Shi Qingxuan said was that she wanted a retrial. But as the events with He Xuan transpired, she seemed to lose hope in that, acknowledging that if Shi Wudu fessed up (which he most certainly would not do), he’d take her charges and she’d still probably end up charged with something. Vanitas hasn’t managed to get too deep into her psyche yet, but he’s pretty sure she feels a duty to be here for unknowingly ruining He Xuan’s life. And now he feels a bit bad for contacting her lawyer only to have to tell him not to bother for now.

Email three: He Xuan. Like Shi Qingxuan, the first thing he did upon being arrested was demand a retrial, and he was a lot more determined to go through with it. He hadn’t spoken to his lawyer since coming here, probably pissed that his lawyer had urged him to take the charge because the evidence wasn’t in his favour. Hell, He Xuan knew that too, and he wasn’t stupid: he knew the lawyer didn’t take him to be innocent. In truth, Vanitas isn’t quite sure why he does believe He Xuan, and a part of him is suspicious, but he has a gut feeling that He Xuan isn’t lying about this.

Hopefully the jury will believe him too, because when Vanitas reads through the email, he finds a court date for the retrial confirmed. In five days.

“Holy shit,” he mutters to him, reading over the email several times. He wants to believe He Xuan will get justice and he’ll get a happy ever after, but the evidence against him is pressing and his lawyer doesn’t seem convinced either, requesting an urgent meeting before the retrial. As he cracks open his third can of monster for the day, Vanitas picks up his walkie talkie and tunes into Noé’s channel. “Noé? You there?”

After a few crackles and odd noises, Noé responds. “Ah, yes, I’m just outside with Ayato, Laito, Kanato, Kino, and Pei Ming. Astolfo is with me too.”

“Gross,” Vanitas comments to him, choosing to be nice today and not transmit that message to Noé. “Where’s Domi?”

“I think she’s in the canteen, a few of them are in there.”

“Everything is good?”

“As far as I know.”

“Get your ass in my office then,” Vanitas says, “and bring Domi. I got some stuff to go through.”

“Do you really need me? Olivier is somewhere inside and Astolfo will be annoyed if he gets stuck with him alone.”

In the background, Vanitas hears Astolfo’s muffled yelling. “Hey! Don’t make me sound like a pussy?!”

“You are a pussy,” Kino responds faintly. Vanitas wonders what’s wrong with him to be laughing at something Kino said.

“I don’t care,” Vanitas says, “Just come here. It won’t take long.”

“Fine. I’ll grab Domi.”

With the others on the way, Vanitas tosses the device onto the table and then picks up the pouch of tobacco, deciding to roll a cigarette. His eyebrows knot together as he chooses not to look at the computer, a feeling of dread stirring in his stomach. He never expected the court date to be confirmed so soon, and he’s not sure if He Xuan is really in the mental or physical state to go through with it.

A minute later, the door opens and Domi and Noé walk in together, whispering to each other. Vanitas cocks an eyebrow, standing up and jabbing the unlit cigarette between his lips. “What are you giggling about?”

“Just you,” Domi says, walking over to his desk and sitting on it, taking a sip of his drink. “How you’re a petty loser.”

“Fuck off,” Vanitas scoffs, as he kicks the fire escape door open and leans against the frame, lighting the cigarette and exhaling the first drag into the open air. It’s getting darker in the evenings, and the collective seasonal depression on the ward will no doubt kick in soon.

“Why did you call us here?” Noé asks, walking over to the computer. “Did something happen?”

“Some emails. Gilbert got a new lawyer, Shi Qingxuan’s lawyer is about to get turned down, but that’s not important,” Vanitas explains, his lips pursing around the cigarette as he points at the screen. “Read that email.”

Together, Domi and Noé lean over the desk and glance over the email, both silent as they read it.

“He Xuan has a new court date?” Noé says, almost in disbelief. “Already?”

“Yep,” Vanitas nods, knocking his head against the door frame. “I don’t know if he’s ready for it. Nor is his lawyer, clearly.”

“You think it’ll fail?” Domi asks.

“I think it’ll definitely fail,” Vanitas says, “I still don’t know what to believe. He Xuan is weird and reclusive, but I can’t imagine him killing someone.”

“Azusa is also weird and reclusive. That doesn’t take away from the fact he slit his best friend’s throat in his own home.”

“Point taken,” Vanitas deadpans, “but this time it’s different. He Xuan’s evidence matches up too well. Nobody who actually commits a crime lets it add up that much. Especially not someone as clever as He Xuan. If he wanted to commit a crime, if he had it in him to do that, he wouldn’t let himself get caught.”

“It’s all very well saying that, but an assessment like that won’t mean anything in court,” Noé replies, reading over the email several more times. “It’ll just come across as biased.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Vanitas groans and rolls his eyes, taking another drag from the cigarette, not really caring as the smoke blows back into his office. “Did you get anywhere in therapy with Shi Wudu yet?”

“No,” Noé sighs, dejectedly. “He doesn’t talk about himself, only his sister. That, or he just complains about this place. The food is bad, the beds are uncomfortable, it always smells of stale cigarettes.”

“It’s a prison for psychiatric patients, not a five-star hotel.”

“Well… yeah. But even though he’s overbearing, arrogant, and nit-picky, he hasn’t done anything overly unstable yet.”

“Yuma was saying the same about Pei Ming too. He’s annoying, but he’s not mentally ill,” Domi points out. “Don’t you think the fact him and Shi Wudu were sent to this place together, despite both being relatively fine, is kind of weird?”

“They were both buddy-buddy with Ling Wen, the secretary of the last place,” Vanitas says, “I’m pretty convinced she pulled some strings to get Shi Wudu sent here to be with his sister, and Pei Ming came here for an easier time.”

“That’s just speculation,” Noé says, “I’m sure Shi Wudu wouldn’t have wanted to see He Xuan here.”

“No, but according to He Xuan, Shi Wudu’s big fancy plan should’ve never gotten him apprehended. He fucked up.”

“If He Xuan’s retrial fails, do you think He Xuan will hurt Shi Wudu?” Domi asks.

Vanitas frowns, sucking the life from the cigarette and throwing it onto the grass. His stomach flips at the thought, as he gently bashes his forehead against the wall. “I hope not. I don’t want another death in this place.”

“I’m sure he won’t kill him, Vani,” Noé says, trying to reassure him.

“Yeah,” Vanitas exhales, “I’m sure he won’t.”

By this point, Vanitas thinks he might as well be a lawyer.

He’s a doctor, not a psychiatrist. When he first came to this place, he did minimal training on legal processes. In theory, and Noé is hardly an expert either. The people on his staff who would know more than him are Astolfo, Jeanne, and Domi, who have all worked in law enforcement for man years, but he can’t ask for help from any of them. Jeanne isn’t at work today, he’d rather kill himself than have to interact with Astolfo one-on-one, and he can’t be trusted in the office alone with Domi for more than ten minutes or they’ll—

Anyway.

The original set of prisoners were easy. Their charges were set, none of them wanted retrials, and when the newcomers arrived the first time, it wasn’t complicated either. Only Oz wanted a retrial, and Vanitas knew enough about advocating for self-defence that he could get him out. But he doesn’t know anything about false charges or being framed, and by the time it’s evening and he’s due to go home, his head is pounding.

However, before he can go home, he has to deliver the news. He’s going to leave Shi Qingxuan out of this one, he decides, but Gilbert and He Xuan need to be informed of the updates. At dinner, He Xuan was in a bad mood anyway — probably because he was forced to take his insulin and eat — so Vanitas decides to start with Gilbert.

When he goes to Gilbert and Break’s room, it’s empty, but the commotion in the room over makes it clear they’re in Elliot and Leo’s room. Where Oz used to be; Gilbert is probably still sulking. Vanitas knocks on the door before letting himself in. The four of them are sat in a circle on the floor, a worn out deck of playing cards in their hands. From the set-up, it’s clear they’re playing poker with cigarettes as currency — a popular choice of entertainment in this place.

Lord only knows how Break appears to be winning by a landslide.

“Hey,” Vanitas deadpans, “Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” Leo says.

“Yes,” Elliot says, “I’m about to win one, I swear!”

“I don’t think you are,” Break snickers, running his fingers over the face of his cards again. “Hehe, I’ll win again. Give up now.”

“No! I will not give up!”

Vanitas steps forward, peers at Break’s cards, then Elliot’s, and snorts. “Give up now. Break’s gonna win.”

“Shit!” Elliot yells, throwing his cards down and crossing his arms over like a sulking child. “What do you want?”

“I just came to speak to Gilbert,” Vanitas says, meeting eyes with the other.

“Me?” Gilbert cocks an eyebrow. “Am I in trouble?”

“No. It’s only quick,” Vanitas replies, “I’m going home soon, but I wanted to let you know we found you a new lawyer.”

“Oh…” Gilbert mutters. He should be happy, but he doesn’t seem it. “Thanks. I’ll… meet them whenever they want to.”

“It won’t be for a while. They’ll have to speak to your brother first, so there’s no need to start stressing about it now.”

“Well that’s a really mood killer,” Leo says, throwing his terrible selection of cards down and standing up, grabbing one of the cigarettes from his pile. “I’m going outside. Anyone coming?”

“I’ll come~” Break chimes.

“I’ll go too,” Gilbert says, still looking like someone threw a rock at his face and he somehow thinks he deserves it. Vanitas will sort that out tomorrow (meaning he will tell Noé that Gilbert is his patient and therefore it’s his job). Elliot stays put, leaving the others to go outside as he grumbles under his breath about a stupid game and begins tidying up the cards.

For a moment, Vanitas considers just turning around and leaving without another word, but he feels like that might be a bit mean when everyone else just fucked off to smoke.

Elliot doesn’t appreciate being stared at in pity, though. “Quit looking at me like that!”

“I’m not,” Vanitas says, leaning against the door frame. “How have you been?”

“You see me literally every day.”

“I know, but the focus has been on the new people. So I’m asking: how have you been? With the integration therapy and all.”

“… Fine?” Elliot answers, albeit a little hesitantly. “Am I not supposed to be?”

“Well,” Vanitas sighs, “if you feel fine, it’s probably not doing much yet.”

That might’ve been an overly blunt way of putting it, because Elliot frowns immediately, looking like a puppy who just got kicked in the face.

“Don’t rush it, okay?” Vanitas says, “One day when your memories piece together a bit better, you might be able to get a retrial too.”

“Dream on,” Elliot snorts, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor as he stacks the cards and puts them back in the box. “It’s… fine. I don’t care. Focus on the annoying newbies.”

“You should be glad you and Leo lucked out of getting someone put in your room,” Vanitas scoffs, “Alright. Goodnight, then.”

As he leaves, he hears Elliot grumbling something else under his breath, and decides that’s not worth his time. He only has one more patient to visit now: He Xuan. Fortunately, as he walks through the corridor, he hears Shi Qingxuan in the canteen with Domi, gushing over her hair, along with Reiji, Ruki, Yuma and Azusa. Kino is likely to be fucking around with the guys from room one at this time in the evening, so Vanitas is lucky enough to catch He Xuan alone in his room.

“I’m coming in,” he announces, only gracing the other with two warning knocks before walking into the room. He Xuan is sat on the bed, leant against the wall, reading what appears to be one of Reiji’s books. “What’cha got there?”

“The Basketball Diaries,” He Xuan replies, “It’s shit. I don’t know why Reiji gave it to me.”

“Probably because he thought it was shit.” It’s actually one of Vanitas’ favourite books.

“Hmph. Why are you here?”

“I have news for you,” Vanitas says, closing the door behind him before breaking it as it is. “You have a retrial date. It’s in five days.”

Barely, just barely, He Xuan’s eyes widen. His hands around the book fumble and he loses his page, staring up at Vanitas in shock. “Really?”

“Yeah. Your lawyer is coming at some point in the next couple of days,” Vanitas explains, as he tilts his head at him. “It’s not too soon, is it?”

“No,” He Xuan huffs, “If I’m going to take the risk, I’m not waiting to do it.”

“That’s the spirit,” Vanitas chuckles, “We’ll have a proper meeting tomorrow. I just thought I’d let you know now.”

“Hm.”

Vanitas doesn’t even bother saying goodnight to him. He leaves him to his own devices, before heading back to his office. He grabs all his things, ready to go; however, just when he goes to turn the computer off, an urgent reminder pops up. A reminder he snoozed earlier for Xie Lian and Break’s routine methadone physical examination and blood tests, which also have to be dropped off at the hospital by the end of today.

“… Fuck!”

Well, he’s not going home yet after all.

Hua Cheng really doesn’t like Vanitas. Why?

Well, it should be obvious. He keeps stealing Xie Lian from him to do his job or some bullshit. Hua Cheng thinks it’s against his human rights not to let him join Xie Lian’s appointments. What if Xie Lian gets scared of the needle? (Xie Lian was a heroin addict for several years.)

Really, it ruined his day, so Hua Cheng takes pitch outside to chain-smoke, glaring at everyone else who dares disturb him. Fortunately, no one really bothers him, either intimidated or too pre-occupied with their antics.

There’s only one person (other than Xie Lian, obviously) who Hua Cheng cares for the company of, and that’s He Xuan. Maybe it’s because from day one, he could sense the bitterness in his eyes and the dark thoughts progressively creeping over him. The lore with Shi Qingxuan would interest anyone, after all.

Thus, Hua Cheng can’t stop himself smirking when He Xuan opens the door, the permanent scowl he usually dons deeper than usual.

“Evening,” Hua Cheng nods at him. “You look bitter.”

“Shut up,” He Xuan hisses, pulling out a cigarette. He seems to hesitate a bit, before taking a seat on the wet ground beside Hua Cheng. As he lights the cigarette, the tension in his shoulders hardly dissipates.

“Avoiding Shi Qingxuan?” Hua Cheng says, grinning as he takes a drag from his cigarette.

“Not specifically,” He Xuan grunts.

“Did you argue again?” Hua Cheng asks, determined to get the truth out of him.

“No,” He Xuan spits, “I only spoke with the doctor.”

“Oh? Are you dying?”

“I wish.”

“Hm.” Hua Cheng raises an eyebrow. The silence dwells for a little longer, before he pushes again. “What happened?”

Although hesitant, his frown deepening even more, He Xuan eventually answers. “I have a new court date. In five days.”

“Interesting,” Hua Cheng hums, throwing the cigarette across the ground then immediately lighting another. He watches He Xuan from the side. Generally, he considers himself quite good at reading people, even the most cryptic, but right now, he cannot tell how He Xuan is feeling or what he’s thinking. Sadness? Anger? Fear? Maybe everything at once, or nothing at all.

“Are you going to fight for your innocence?”

“I can try,” He Xuan scoffs through a puff of smoke. “I didn’t kill anyone. I was framed. But no one important will believe me.”

“I know. You’ve told me that before,” Hua Cheng says, letting out a snort. “It’s almost as if you’re trying to convince yourself of something.”

“What?” He Xuan turns to him, pissed off and bewildered. “Do you actually believe I killed someone?”

“Not necessarily,” Hua Cheng replies, “but I believe you’re capable of it.”

At that, He Xuan’s expression darkens, though it’s not clear why. “It doesn’t matter what you think. The people in charge aren’t going to believe me.”

“So why are you going through with the retrial?”

He Xuan, as if he doesn’t even know the answer himself, simply shrugs, sticking the cigarette back between his lips and inhaling deeply. “I don’t think Shi Qingxuan even believes me. Why would he believe me over his fucked up brother? You don’t even believe me.”

“I do believe you,” Hua Cheng says, “Anyone guilty wouldn’t talk about it an obnoxious amount.”

“Fuck you.”

Hua Cheng only laughs at that, knowing He Xuan doesn’t talk to him with anywhere near as much contempt as he does others. Maybe it’s because he can tell Hua Cheng believes he didn’t kill him, but he means what he said about thinking he is capable of killing someone.

He Xuan’s next question, straight out of nowhere, only proves it.

“Did you ever kill someone?” he asks.

“Yes,” Hua Cheng answers without hesitation. “For gege’s sake.”

“What’s it like?”

Hua Cheng’s eyebrows raise, the smirk returning to his lips. “I couldn’t tell you. I was high at the time.”

“Hm,” He Xuan lets out a frustrated huff, before standing up, stomping on his finished cigarette, and turning to leave. “Good talk.”

Right as he reaches the door, Hua Cheng speaks up again. “Would you really kill your ex’s brother? If the retrial fails?”

For a moment, his hand resting on the door handle, He Xuan hesitates. He narrows his eyebrows, saying quietly, “I’m a convicted murderer on paper. What else would I do?”

With that, he leaves before the other can get in another word to provoke him. A sinister grin tugs at Hua Cheng’s lips — things will get really interesting if the retrial fails.

Chapter Text

“So… the retrial is today?”

“Yeah. The retrial is today.”

It’s not Domi and Vanitas’ best post-sex talk, but in all fairness, it’s probably not their worst either.

“What do you think will happen?” Domi asks, buttoning her shirt back up. “Best- and worst-case scenario.”

“Best case scenario, the jury agrees He Xuan was framed, he gets released, and everyone gets a happy-ever-after,” Vanitas replies, as he pulls up his pants, perches on the edge of his desk (it still needs wiping; he avoids the edge), and picks up the pouch of tobacco. “Worst, He Xuan is found guilty again, he keeps his charges, and he does something to hurt Shi Wudu.”

“Do you think he’d actually kill him?” Domi cocks an eyebrow. “Or just hurt him.”

“I like to think he wouldn’t kill someone. He’s intelligent, had a bright future,” Vanitas explains, slowly rolling a cigarette, a permanent scowl on his face which likely won’t leave until later. Or never. “But… it’s hard to get into his head and figure out what he’s thinking. He has a lot of bitterness pent-up. He’s not mentally well, or physically well. One push and… I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it.”

“You have to think about it. If you think there’s a serious risk of him harming Shi Wudu, you have to put him on a watch,” Domi says, knowing it’s not what Vanitas wants to hear, but he needs to hear it. Lowering her voice, she adds, “You don’t want another death here, do you? So—”

“No,” Vanitas spits. That was harsh. Rolling his eyes, he slides off the table and goes to the fire escape door, propping it open with one foot and lighting the cigarette. “It’s… fine. I doubt he’ll be found innocent. Shi Wudu’s fabricated evidence was too strong. Maybe we’ll just… hope he doesn’t let it get to his head.”

Domi nods along, unconvinced. “What time is it?”

“This afternoon. We need to leave soon, though. I’ll grab him after I have a smoke.”

“Who are you taking as back-up?”

“I’ll take Jeanne. I trust you alone with Noé more than her. I don’t want to leave her alone too long or she’ll fuck with Pei Ming, and that’s just grim.”

“Oh, I’m flattered,” Domi chuckles, “Don’t worry. I’ll hold down the fort. You just go and… Damage control?”

“There’s not much damage control I can do,” Vanitas snorts, taking a long drag from the cigarette, frowning across the horizon. It’s cloudy, like it might rain, the sky dark as if it’s not only 9am. “Everyone should be at breakfast. I told He Xuan he didn’t have to go.”

“Wow, a pushover.”

“Shut up! I just don’t want him to have a freak-out about being forced to take his insulin and eat now of all times!”

 “Is Shi Qingxuan in the room with him, then? That’ll really help his mood.”

“No. She’s actually at breakfast,” Vanitas replies, still staring into the distance, the smoke from the cigarette rising in his view. “Noé said she was saying in therapy how He Xuan has been acting really… off. Quieter than usual. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad sign.”

“I’m surprised there’s even such thing as quieter than usual for He Xuan,” Domi snickers, “He’s never said more than a few words to me.”

“Nor me,” Vanitas shrugs, “but Shi Qingxuan was with him for a really long time. You learn, I guess.”

“Do you think you know me well?” Domi smirks.

“Well enough,” Vanitas snorts, taking one last long inhale of smoke before flicking the cigarette onto the grass. “Alright. I’ll go get Jeanne and He Xuan. You go find Astolfo and Noé and make sure they’re not fucking in the showers.”

“Got it,” Domi nods as she turns to do her job. Once he’s alone, Vanitas takes a moment to gather his thoughts and triple check he’s got all the documents he needs. After checking everything again five more times, he draws in a few deep breaths, and leaves the room, in search of Jeanne. Most of the prisoners have dispersed following breakfast now.

Soon after leaving the office, Vanitas finds Jeanne leaning against the doorframe of room two.

“Jeanne!” he yells, “Quit flirting with Pei Ming.”

“That’s rude,” Jeanne huffs, pulling away from the door and letting it fall shut. “I was flirting with Ruki, actually!”

“I don’t wanna know,” Vanitas grumbles, “Where’s He Xuan?”

“In his room, I think,” Jeanne replies, “We’re leaving now?”

“Yeah. I’ll get him.”

Taking another deep breath, Vanitas walks along to room three, knocking on the door before cracking it open. Reiji is on his bed, cross-legged, reading a book, while He Xuan is flat on his bed, staring at the bunk above.

“He Xuan,” he says, “Time to go.”

“Hm,” He Xuan scowls and nods, putting on his shoes. He doesn’t utter another word, standing up to follow Vanitas. Briefly, Reiji glances up from the bed, looking as if he wants to say something. Maybe good luck, or something provocative, and Vanitas doesn’t want to risk it; he subtly shakes his head at Reiji, and the other immediately looks away again.

Once they’re in the corridor, Jeanne puts the handcuffs on He Xuan in preparation for him leaving the prison, which he doesn’t protest to.

“Are you ready?” Vanitas asks quietly.

“I have to be,” He Xuan grunts in response. He doesn’t utter another word the whole journey to the court.

“Ahahaha, I’m not freaking out! I’m not freaking out at all— Why do you guys keep looking at me like that?!”

Shi Qingxuan frowns as Yuma, Azusa, and Xie Lian all snicker at each other, none of them buying her dismissive, nervous laughter. Okay, so she is shitting herself, thinking about He Xuan’s retrial; he’s due back any time now. If he’s found guilty, they’ll be spending a very awkward few years in prison together.

Thankfully, she’s not here alone. After pacing around the corridors, trying to spark conversation, Shi Qingxuan came across Yuma and Azusa in the canteen, watching Reiji and Ruki play chess together. She doesn’t know anything about chess; the sexual tension between Reiji and Ruki was far more interesting than the game. A couple of hours passed before Yuma and Azusa got up to smoke once it stopped raining, and she convinced Azusa to donate her a cigarette. When they went outside, they found Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, and half an hour after that, Hua Cheng had to go to therapy, glaring at all of them as if they had a duty to protect Xie Lian in his absence.

Naturally, Xie Lian noticed Shi Qingxuan was nervous, and the conversation veered to the retrial happening right now.

“It’s normal to be nervous,” Xie Lian says, leaning against the fence. Shi Qingxuan refused to sit down because the ground was wet, Hua Cheng apparently convinced Xie Lian he wasn’t allowed to sit down in case he caught a cold or something, but Yuma and Azusa are hardcore, so it seems, and have been sitting in a puddle for an hour.

“I know…” Shi Qingxuan sighs, pacing in circles. “I’m just worried about He Xuan. I don’t know what my brother really did, I can’t imagine him framing someone else like that, but… I also can’t imagine He Xuan murdering someone in the way he supposedly did. If He Xuan did ever kill someone, he’s too smart to get caught.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Yuma snorts.

“It makes sense,” Xie Lian replies, “I don’t know the full story, although San Lang told me some parts. If my understanding is correct, there were glaring holes in He Xuan’s crime, which Shi Wudu used to pin the blame on him. If He Xuan is as smart and cunning as you know, it’s unlikely that really happened.”

“Exactly!” Shi Qingxuan says, thumping her head against the fence in defeat. “Ahhh… I just don’t know what to do. There’s nothing I can say to He Xuan to make this okay. He probably hates me now too.”

“He Xuan doesn’t hate you…” Azusa speaks up.

“He will! It’s my brother who hated him and drove him away in the first place!”

“Why’d that shit-face Shi Wudu hate He Xuan so much anyway?” Yuma asks, “He’s dull, but pretty inoffensive from what I can tell.”

“Nothing to do with him personally,” Shi Qingxuan replies, “He didn’t like the fact He Xuan was from a poor family. He was always mad at the fact he smoked; he thought it was his fault I started drinking — which makes no sense anyway! He Xuan never drank alcohol. Not with me, at least. He also thought he was quiet and untrustworthy… It seemed like a pointless grudge, but he genuinely believed he’d ruin my life if we stayed together.”

“Damn,” Yuma scoffs, “What an asshole.”

“Well… my brother isn’t that bad.”

“Look, I know you’re delusional or some shit,” Yuma says, “but he did bad shit. Didn’t you say he dumped you in it too?”

“I-I mean… ahaha…” Shi Qingxuan returns to her anxious cackling, finally relenting and sitting on the ground beside Azusa, curled up with her knees to her chest. “I guess he did, but I should’ve noticed anyway…”

“You weren’t in a state to notice something like that. Don’t blame yourself,” Xie Lian says. He smiles softly at everyone sitting on the ground, giving up and joining them in the puddle, placing a hand on Shi Qingxuan’s shoulder. “Let’s just hope the retrial outcome is good, okay? And if not, Shi Wudu might get what’s coming to him.”

In disbelief, the other three turn their heads to him, gaping.

“What?” Xie Lian questions, completely taken aback by their shock. “I’ve heard enough about this.”

“Nothin’, you just…” Yuma mutters, “That was crazy out-of-pocket. You always seem so… innocent.”

“Oh. Ahahah.” Xie Lian takes his turn on the nervous laughter. “Anything but. And I’m autistic.”

“I could tell,” Yuma snorts.

“Has Hua Cheng heard a lot from He Xuan?” Shi Qingxuan asks.

“In parts,” Xie Lian says. It’s clear he’s not telling the full story, but apart from his sassiness, he generally appears to know when it’s his place to say thing. (Shi Qingxuan doesn’t want to know what he’s said about her behind her back).

“Like what?”

“Haha… Don’t even worry about it.”

“How am I supposed to not worry about it when you say it like that?!”

“No reason! It’s just—”

Before an uncomfortable conversation can proceed, the door opens and Domi steps out. She forces a sad smile, meeting Shi Qingxuan’s pitifully hopeful stare.

“Afternoon,” Domi nods to everyone, before re-focusing on Shi Qingxuan. “Let’s go. I need to talk to you.”

“Ahaha, that doesn’t sound good at all!”

“It’s a neutral statement,” Xie Lian tries to reassure her. To him, in all his life experience (and autism), it probably is neutral, but Shi Qingxuan knows ‘we need to talk’ is never positive. “Good luck.”

“I definitely need it!” Shi Qingxuan continues chuckling to herself the whole time she follows Domi through the corridors and into one of the therapy rooms. Her heart is pounding in her chest as she sits down on the sofa opposite Domi.

“Damn,” Domi mutters, looking around her then back up. “I’m never usually in the therapist chair.”

“It suits you,” Shi Qingxuan says, “I think you’d be a great therapist.”

“Yeah, no,” Domi snorts, “Alright, so today—”

“I know. I think… I already know,” Shi Qingxuan sighs, cracking a pathetic, wry smile. “You wouldn’t call me in here like this if He Xuan was being freed. You’d let him tell me himself.”

“… Yeah,” Domi nods subtly, folding her hands on her lap. “Sorry. There’s no subtle way of doing this.”

“… I know,” Shi Qingxuan murmurs, keeping her head down too. She lifts her feet onto the sofa and wraps her hands around her legs, tucked into her chest. Everything feels numb, her head a little dizzy. She knows what’s to come before Domi even says it.

“Vanitas called from court. They’re coming back soon,” Domi explains, “It wasn’t a success. He Xuan was found guilty again by the new jury and he’s keeping the murder charge.”

“Ahaha… ha…” Shi Qingxuan tries to laugh, but before she can stop it, tears begin pouring down her cheeks. “Ah…”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Domi says, clearly a bit lost with how to react. She stands up anyway, sitting beside Shi Qingxuan and wrapping an arm around her. “Vanitas will know what to do.”

Although she says that, Domi doesn’t sound too certain. Shi Qingxuan doesn’t know what he can do — lock He Xuan up alone for a crime he might do? Talking things out is hardly going to make He Xuan forgive Shi Wudu. When Shi Wudu hears of this, he’ll be as smug as ever.

“They’re on the way back now,” Domi continues, “For now, maybe don’t mention it to He Xuan.”

“I won’t. I swear I won’t,” Shi Qingxuan says, “If he wants to talk to me, I know he will.”

But he won’t want to talk to her. Why would he?

Not many people in that prison were excited for the outcome of He Xuan’s retrial. Most were terrified, fearing what would happen when He Xuan faced Shi Wudu again; or for those who didn’t know the full story, they feared how He Xuan would react keeping the charges he tried so hard to be excused from.

Hua Cheng, however, was excited for the outcome. He didn’t cross paths with him for the entire day until evening, when Xie Lian gets whisked away by that quack doctor to discuss his blood tests, and Hua Cheng decides to take pitch outside until he’s reunited with his long-lost lover (they’ve been apart for less than twenty minutes so far).

There, he discovers He Xuan sat cross-legged in the corner, legs crossed with a number of snuffed out cigarettes on the ground at his feet. Instead of his usual cold resting-bitch face, his expression is completely blank, like there’s no life behind his eyes.

“Evening,” Hua Cheng greets him, smirking as he approaches and gestures to the ground beside him. “May I?”

“Whatever,” He Xuan huffs, taking a long drag of smoke. His eyebrows furrow, shooting Hua Cheng a pissed off look. “I’m guessing you want all the details.”

“Some time, but not now,” Hua Cheng replies, slipping out a cigarette for himself. “The outcome?”

He Xuan’s eyebrows furrow tighter, as he throws the finished cigarette across the ground and slumps back against the fence. He fiddles with a strand of hair, a touch of maybe sadness in his eyes replaced the frustration which appeared briefly when Hua Cheng asked him.

“Guilty as charged,” he says with a fake mocking tone. Mocking the whole justice system which fucked him over. “I’m staying here.”

“Poor you,” Hua Cheng responds sarcastically, lighting his cigarette. “What now?”

Wordlessly, He Xuan just shrugs and lights another cigarette for himself. He seems to want to answer, but for whatever reason, his words get caught in his throat.

“I’ll phrase that better,” Hua Cheng continues, a teasing, innocent smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “What will you do to Shi Wudu?”

Almost, almost, He Xuan smirks. But he holds it back, simply snorted and maintaining nonchalance as he replies, “I told you: I’m convicted of murder. I have a life sentence. What else would I do?”

“Are you really going to kill him?”

He Xuan, drawing in a long drag from the cigarette, just shrugs. “Might as well.”

“I’m impressed,” Hua Cheng comments, “You’re darker than you seem.”

“Is than an insult?”

“Whatever you want it to be.”

At his response, He Xuan huffs and pulls his knees up to his chest. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“Or that,” Hua Cheng snickers, staring down at the ground, idly turning cigarette between his fingers. “If you want, I can help.”

He Xuan’s head whips around to him immediately, eyebrows raised. “What?”

“Mm, don’t tell gege,” Hua Cheng says, “but as things stand, I’ll leave prison long before him. I know I can’t do enough to get a life order like him, but adding a few years for another murder might be beneficial for me.”

“You’re insane,” He Xuan deadpans. “You really want to help kill a man so you can stay with Xie Lian longer?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it.”

“You—” He Xuan begins to speak, but falters as soon as he starts. What could someone say to that?

“Is that a yes?” Hua Cheng asks.

“How would you even help?”

“Create a distraction? Hold him down? Plug his mouth? Your choice. I’ll be your accomplice.”

“You’re fucked in the head,” He Xuan scoffs.

“Look who’s talking,” Hua Cheng smirks, “Do you want this plan to fail? I can guarantee he dies a painful death.”

“… Alright,” He Xuan relents. Not that it needs much convincing: as long as Shi Wudu dies by his hand, the rest doesn’t matter. “Hold him down.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow. There’s less staff and Vanitas has a day off, so there’s no doctor on site.”

“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?”

“I’m stuck in prison,” He Xuan grumbles, “There’s not much else to do besides thinking.”

“You need a lover, I think,” Hua Cheng grins wider. “How about getting back together with that ex of yours?”

“Don’t,” He Xuan hisses, glaring at him venomously. “I’m going to murder my ex’s dear brother. She’ll never want to look me in the eyes again.”

“I think that’s where you’re wrong,” Hua Cheng says, “but we’ll see, won’t we?”

Chapter Text

News of He Xuan’s retrial spread quickly.

By who? Nobody really knows, but as soon as one person knows, everyone knows. Shi Qingxuan heard first, and she obviously couldn’t keep that to herself, too busy freaking out and doing everything possible to avoid He Xuan. Not that he’d want to speak to her anyway.

When Shi Wudu caught wind of what happened, it wasn’t from Shi Qingxuan. His sister avoided him too, and Shi Wudu does plan to speak to her eventually; however, he still needs to put together his cover story. It was Pei Ming who told him first, pulling him aside at the end of the day and letting him know when nobody was around.

He’s smug, alright? And Shi Wudu is hardly going to go out of his way to have a conversation about it, but if he does see He Xuan, he’ll probably laugh in his face.

The day after the trial, it’s quiet in the prison. At breakfast, Shi Wudu sits with Pei Ming, on the opposite side of the room to Shi Qingxuan who can’t seem to look him in the eye. There’s no sign of He Xuan, and nobody has mentioned him. But He Xuan is hardly ever around. He could probably die quietly in his sleep and nobody would notice he was gone.

“No sign of the unspoken one, right?” Pei Ming whispers to him when everyone begins clearing the canteen, most of them going outside to smoke.

“I’m not surprised,” Shi Wudu comments. He tries to make eye contact with his sister as she walks out the door, wanting to attempt to reconcile with her and convince her that this isn’t her fault, or his; that He Xuan really did kill someone no matter how hard he tries to tell everyone he didn’t. But Shi Qingxuan doesn’t lift her head or look up from the floor at any point, trailing closely behind Azusa and Yuma.

“You wanna go talk to her when she’s outside?” Pei Ming suggests, “When there’s other people around, she’ll hardly get hysterical.”

“You don’t know her like I do. She’ll cry if she wants,” Shi Wudu snorts, standing up from the table when the room is finally empty. “I’ll shower first while nobody else is in there.”

“I’ll join,” Pei Ming says, nudging his shoulder and winking. “You know, to shield you from the sight of another man’s cock.”

“You’re vile sometimes,” Shi Wudu huffs, walking by his side as they head to the laundry room, grab some clothes and a towel, then head for the showers.

“Only sometimes?” Pei Ming snorts, “I need to do better.”

Shi Wudu doesn’t respond to that. Really, he’s heard a lot worse. He’s too smug to let some gross comment taint his twisted good mood. He considers today as his ultimate victory. You know, if you ignore the fact both him and his sister ended up in prison too.

But his ultimate goal, first and foremost, was ruining He Xuan’s life, and he takes today as confirmation he finally achieved that for good.

“That smirking gets a little scary, you know,” Pei Ming says, eyeing him up. “Are you really that happy about this?”

“Stop watching me undress, Pei,” Shi Wudu retorts, but remains unable to wipe the smug grin off his lips. “Why wouldn’t I be? I knew he’d stay.”

“You know, I knew you were crafty when I met you,” Pei Ming says, “and I always suspected you had something to do with. But you really did frame him, didn’t you?”

At first, Shi Wudu remains silent. But then he glances around the walls and reminds himself that here, in the shower room, is the one place there won’t be cameras. He sighs, facing Pei Ming, turning the shower on to cover their voices, and finally telling his friend the truth. “And if I did?”

“I won’t say it was a nice thing to do,” Pei Ming replies, switching the shower water on too. “But I am impressed you did it.”

“He had it coming. I told him to stay away from Qingxuan,” Shi Wudu explains, as if that’s somehow perfectly reasonable justification for what he did.

“But you’re here for murder too. Did you kill two people?”

“I didn’t know you were the court,” Shi Wudu snorts, “Didn’t you assault six people?”

“Hey, no, you know I didn’t,” Pei Ming says, somewhere between annoyed and amused.

“Ask for a retrial, then,” Shi Wudu says, quickly scrubbing himself. You never know when some weirdo will come into the showers and do something weird in this place.

“I can’t do that,” Pei Ming laughs dryly. “Xuan Ji will get her buddies to come into court with her. I’d somehow end up with more charges if I went back to court.”

“Fair point,” Shi Wudu shrugs, narrowing his eyes at the other. “Don’t speak a word of this to anyone. Am I clear?”

“You don’t intimidate me,” Pei Ming retorts, “It wouldn’t exactly benefit me.”

Whilst Shi Wudu would want to trust Pei Ming, he hardly screams trustworthy. He’s still not confident he didn’t rape all those women, but no one trusts anyone in this place when they say what crimes they did or didn’t commit. All Shi Wudu knows for certain is that He Xuan didn’t kill someone; however, everyone believes he did.

Perfect.

“Aren’t you worried your sister will be upset if He Xuan is being punished for something he insists he didn’t do?” Pei Ming speaks up after a short pause, turning the shower off once his hair is rinsed.

“She’ll come to understand the truth I tell her. I need to talk her through things a little more, but she wants space right now. I’ll give her a couple of days. If she seems a bit unstable, I’ll get her medicated again.”

“Crafty. Evil, I might say,” Pei Ming comments, throwing a towel around his waist. “Alright, good talk, but I’ll have to love you and leave you.”

“Why so suddenly?”

“Got hard. Need to sort it out in private.”

Shi Wudu grimaces. He’d thought it was suspicious Pei Ming was going to leave abruptly, but apparently not.

“Unless you wanna watch?”

“No,” he hisses, shooing the other off like a cat as he redresses, feeling rather icky being naked around the other all of a sudden.

“Alright. See ya later.”

“Bye,” Shi Wudu mutters, not thrilled with the idea of further conversation while the other is hard. While he’s alone, he takes a moment to brush through his hair and tie it up, before cleaning his teeth at the mirror. A few deep breaths later, and he’s somewhat able to appear normal, though the residual smirk trying to twitch at the corners of his lips never seems to leave, and no matter how hard he tries, he sort of ends up looking… evil.

Well, no harm in it. The incident with He Xuan is all over now, and they can all go back to pretending he never tried to get out.

That’s what Shi Wudu thought, until out of nowhere, a foot collides with his back at incredible force. He hadn’t even heard the door open, and the next thing he knows, his face smacks against the mirror, leaving a trail of blood and a small crack where his nose hit. Before he can even open his eyes and look up, head throbbing, he’s pulled to his knees by an arm under his neck. The same arm holds him upright while another hand clamps his mouth tightly shut.

When he opens his eyes eventually, he’s faced with He Xuan.

“Catch you off guard?” He Xuan taunts, stood tall in front of him with a threatening, sadistic smile on his face. Shi Wudu has never seen him smile, even when he and Shi Qingxuan were together, and it’s fucking horrifying. He refuses to appear scared, but when he glances up and sees Hua Cheng holding him firmly on the ground, suppressing any sound he attempts to make with his hand, his heart sinks a little.

Shi Wudu keeps his cool façade nonetheless, glaring up at the other.

“No one will come for you,” He Xuan continues, walking over and placing a finger on his chin, tilting his head upwards. “Not even if you try to scream.”

There’s a million things Shi Wudu could say to taunt him, but he can’t get a sound out, Hua Cheng’s hand not budging from his mouth. He tries to fight, but his arm around his neck makes it hard to do so without choking.

“Release his neck,” He Xuan instructs, and Hua Cheng does exactly that. However, before Shi Wudu can attempt to summon help, He Xuan leans down and clamps both hands around his neck, his thumbs digging into his throat. Shi Wudu lets out a strained cough, desperately sucking for breath. It doesn’t work, and he can’t draw in any air at all.

“Do you feel smug now?” He Xuan says mockingly, the evil grin widening. “Do you feel like you won?”

“Y-You…” Shi Wudu croaks out, his head already growing fuzzy. But still, he uses what little oxygen he has left in his lungs to speak. “You’re the real… loser… You’re here for life… and Qingxuan will—”

“Don’t speak on her!” He Xuan yells, as loud as he can without anyone else hearing. His grip on Shi Wudu’s throat gets even tighter, until he feels bones ready to pop.

“… never… forgive…” Shi Wudu attempts to finish his sentence, but without any chance to breath, he never manages to get the words out.

Moments later, everything goes black.

Supervising Ayato, Laito, Kanato, and Kino shouldn’t feel like a full-time job, but to whoever gets stuck watching them (which generally has to be someone at most times of the day), it sure is.

Noé and Astolfo are the lucky ones this morning. After breakfast and the obligatory post-breakfast smoke break, everyone mainly went back to their rooms or the canteen to chill. It’s Vanitas’ day off, which means it’s everyone’s day off from therapy too. Needless to say, that’s a big deal for most of them.

Originally, Domi got ditched with them, but her shift finished a little after breakfast and Astolfo took over. In theory, Roland and Olivier were due an hour after that, so he could off-load that job to them, but Noé decided Astolfo wasn’t spending a minute alone with Laito’s company. So, Noé and Astolfo both stand outside with the four children, making sure Kanato doesn’t set anything on fire and hoping Jeanne isn’t inside getting with Pei Ming.

“C’mon, why don’t you pussies join in?!” Ayato yells, throwing half the pack of cards at Astolfo and Noé when he loses his third round of make-shift prison poker. “The more players, the less chance I have of losin’!”

“I think you’d lose no matter what,” Astolfo says, “You suck at this game.”

“Ahaha, you just got humbled by the twink,” Kino chuckles.

“Says you!”

“Hey, it’s okay, no need to get mad,” Noé attempts to intervene. “I think everyone is a twink here!”

“Ohoho, bold statement,” Kino snorts.

“I AM NOT A TWINK!” Kanato screams, throwing the other half of the deck of cards at Noé.

However, before a brawl can break out, the door opens, revealing Elliot and Leo. They look more serious than usual, Elliot frowning at the ground while Leo’s typical smile seems uneasy.

“Good morning,” Noé greets them. “Is everyone okay…?”

“Ah, not exactly,” Leo laughs nervously. “I think you ought to come to the showers.”

“… Right now?” Noé asks, glancing back at Astolfo, who just shrugs. Everything seemed in order when they did a head-count not long ago.

“Now,” Elliot hisses, trying to pull Leo back inside as a gesture of urgency. Or he just wants to get the fuck out of that situation.

“Okay, I’ll… come too,” Noé says, nodding to Astolfo with a raised eyebrow. “You’re okay here?”

“I guess I have to be,” Astolfo shrugs, though he’s clearly a little nervous as well. There’s something unsettling about Elliot and Leo’s aura, as if they’ve seen something disturbing.

Quickly, just in case something really bad did happen — like, Subaru and Kou level bad — Noé follows them inside to the shower rooms.

He’s seen a lot in his time, having worked in rehabs and high-risk institutions, but actual dead people are a rare experience on the therapy side of things. Hence, he’s rather shaken when he walks in and sees it: Shi Wudu on the floor in front of the sinks, on his side, neck bruised, his face a little blue, chest certainly not rising and falling like it would for an alive person.

“Ah,” he chokes out, “I see.”

“Yep,” Leo says, “Now you see.”

“Um, this is…”

“Call time of death, then?!” Elliot yells.

“Oh, well… I’m not a doctor, I can’t…”

“I think Elliot has had enough looking at dead bodies for one day now,” Leo says, laughing nervously again as he takes Elliot’s hand and begins pulling him out of the room. He winks at Noé, placing a finger over his lips. “You get me.”

“Right, yeah…” Noé replies, watching as they leave. Yes, having Elliot’s alter front now would be really inconvenient. He hasn’t even decided what to do with this situation yet. There’s only him, Jeanne, and Astolfo on premises for the next half hour. But he can’t decide what to do alone, so he turns into their walkie-talkie channels and summons both of them with a code red.

Within half a minute, both of them enter the shower room together, freezing as they lay eyes on Shi Wudu’s body.

“Holy shit,” Astolfo exhales sharply, crossing himself without realising it.

“That’s… not good,” Jeanne comments, “You know, that’s really not good.”

“No shit,” Astolfo huffs, “How did this happen?”

“I assume He Xuan,” Jeanne answers, “but how come nobody heard anything? Did he have an accomplice?”

“Either way, we… we need to call for help,” Noé says, “and make sure not a single person sets foot in here. Especially not Shi Qingxuan.”

“Put everyone on lockdown, then?” Jeanne suggests, her tone sombre. They know the lockdown drill well, having done it twice before within a fairly recent timespan.

“Yeah. I’ll… call Vanitas. You two round everyone up.”

“Got it.”

Without hesitation, probably wanted to get away from the dead body on the floor, Astolfo and Jeanne rush out and begin the lockdown procedure, confining patients to their rooms with no explanation besides a ‘medical emergency’. Noé would love to leave the company of Shi Wudu’s corpse as well, but he has a duty to watch the room. He stands at the door and locks it from the inside with the key, before pulling out his phone and calling Vanitas. It rings a couple of times, but Vanitas doesn’t have much of a life, so he answers pretty quickly.

“Noé? Why’re you callin’ me on my day off?” Vanitas says, “There better be a good reason. I’m very busy right now.”

“Uh… Doing what?”

“Drowning my Sims family in a pool. What do you need?”

“Right, sorry, yeah…” Noé shakes off the obvious distress in his voice. “There’s been an incident. I’m really sorry, but you need to come in. We need medical assistance.”

There’s a moment of silence, before Vanitas scoffs, “Call an ambulance?”

“No, it’s…” Noé tries to explain, but the words get caught in his throat. “It’s a bit late for that.”

Immediately, the other end of the line falls silence, as Vanitas realises the situation. There’s some indiscriminate curses and rustling noises, before the jangle of his keys and a hasty, “I’ll be there in fifteen.”

With that, Vanitas hangs up, and Noé’s gaze falls to Shi Wudu on the floor again, his throat tight. Vanitas isn’t stupid, loathe as he is to admit that sometimes, and he undoubtedly knows this is about Shi Wudu; everyone’s nightmare became a reality.

Minutes feel like hours as they pass, as Noé paces around the shower room, waiting for confirmation from the others that lockdown is complete. Eventually, after about ten minutes, Jeanne buzzes onto his channel.

“Noé? Are you still there?”

“I’m still here,” he says, “How is everything?”

“I’ve got nearly everyone. Astolfo is with room two currently, because Azusa got really upset by everyone going on lockdown again. I’m only looking for a couple more. I checked outside a couple of times but rounded up whoever was out there.”

“I’ll check outside again, then,” Noé replies, “Vanitas is due any minute, assuming he floored it here. Keep an eye out for him too.”

“Got it.”

Hoping nobody else goes to the showers, Noé leaves and makes sure to lock the door behind him too. He checks the corridors leading up to outside, before opening the doors. There, he finds He Xuan and Hua Cheng, stood beside each other against the fence, a cigarette in each of their hands.

The smug grin on their faces — both of them grinning — speaks volumes.

“You…” Noé says, furrowing his eyebrows deeply as he looks between them.

Without a word or ounce or hesitation, He Xuan and Hua Cheng drop their cigarettes onto the ground and put their arms up. Noé doesn’t even need to ask: they did it. They’ve already admitted it without even saying anything.

“I’m taking you both to isolation,” he tells them, keeping his voice level despite the anger bubbling up. Fine, there’s a lot of murderers in this place, but murdering someone’s family member in here without a trace of remorse takes guts and pure cold-heartedness. Neither of them resists, following him inside the building and towards the isolation rooms.

Right when they get there, Vanitas comes running there, Jeanne trailing closely behind. The moment he sees them, he stops in his tracks, frantically trying to catch his breath as he glares at them bitterly.

“You… You little fuckers,” he spits. He doesn’t need to see what they’ve done to know. “I’ll deal with you both later. For now, get your sorry asses in isolation.”

“No problem,” Hua Cheng says, smiling sickeningly sweetly. He Xuan doesn’t utter a sound, but the slight smirk residing on his lips is nothing short of sadistic.

Jeanne and Noé both lock them each in one of the rooms, closing the shutters so nobody can see inside. Once they’re dealt with, they turn to Vanitas, watching him take a deep breath and rub his forehead.

“Take me to the body,” he says.

“… I’ll go,” Noé volunteers, nodding to Jeanne. “You should check on Shi Qingxuan. Maybe talk to Pei Ming, see if he noticed anything weird.”

“Right…” Jeanne nods, as the realisation hits all of them: Shi Qingxuan will need to be told this happened, and the truth can’t be kept from her forever when it was her roommate who killed her brother. As Jeanne leaves, Noé silently guides Vanitas to the shower room, taking a deep breath before unlocking it and leading him inside.

Vanitas’ face remains stoic as he walks in and looks down at the body. Even though it’s not necessary, he kneels down beside Shi Wudu and places two fingers against his neck.

“… Time of death 11:04am,” he announces, “Though I suspect he’s been dead a lot longer than that.”

“… I’m sorry,” Noé says, lowering his head in shame. “This happened while I was in charge, but we… we didn’t know He Xuan had left his room, a-and Hua Cheng was with Xie Lian for—”

Silently, Vanitas cuts him off by raising his hand, as he stands up slowly and backs away. “You couldn’t have stopped it happening,” he tells him, his words sounding nothing short of numb. Defeated, even. “We couldn’t have stopped it. He Xuan wanted to do this from the start. The retrial was only the last straw.”

Noé nods. “I understand. I’m sorry anyway.”

“Don’t be,” Vanitas mutters, sucking in a sharp breath. “Fuck, I just wish people would stop dying in this place.”

“I know,” Noé says softly, unable to bear Vanitas looking so sad. So, he pulls him into a side hug, and pats his head, trying to ignore the sounds of what might be sobbing. “Consider it a hospital, though. It’s… unavoidable, sometimes.”

“… I know,” Vanitas whispers, wiping his eyes. He’s seen enough death in his career, but the ones in his own facility always hit harder. “I don’t know how we’re gonna tell Qingxuan, shit.”

“Let’s tell her sooner rather than later,” Noé suggests, “then you can go home and process this. He Xuan and Hua Cheng are locked up now, and we’ll put Jeanne on one-to-one with Shi Qingxuan.”

“Yeah,” Vanitas breathes out. “Sooner rather than later.”

“Ahahaha… hahahaha… Hahaha! I am totally not freaking out! I am not freaking out at all!”

Shi Qingxuan tells herself that very confidently. How can she not? There’s a supposed medical emergency, everyone is on lockdown, and He Xuan is missing. He Xuan has medical problems she knows of (briefly), and an emergency has to be something really bad. God, what if he died before she gets to apologise sincerely? Before he believes she’s genuinely sorry? What if he died before Shi Wudu ever apologises?

Those are the thoughts racing through her mind, as Kino sits on the bed beside her and Reiji paces back and forth anxiously, drumming his fingers against his elbows.

“I’m sure he’s not dead,” Kino reassures her, as he rubs her shoulder. “You’d have noticed something wrong earlier, right?”

“No! He was especially quiet! Oh God, what if he really wasn’t feeling well?!”

“A quiet, peaceful death in confinement would not be made into a lockdown. We know that from past experience,” Reiji says. Comforting to Shi Qingxuan? Not really. He only said it for himself. “Everybody going into official lockdown means an incident happened in a communal area… We also know that from past experiences.”

“That’s no better!” Shi Qingxuan cries, “Ahaha, it’s fine! I just need a drink! God, I just need a drink, hahaha…”

“Me too, queen,” Kino confides, “Me too.”

Before Shi Qingxuan can burst into tears amidst the manic laughter, the door opens. Vanitas pokes his head in, followed by Jeanne behind him.

“Qingxuan, a word,” he says quietly, his expression stoic but unable to fully conceal his anxiety and… sadness?

“Me?” Shi Qingxuan points at herself with a shaking finger. “Ahaha… something happened with He Xuan, didn’t it? Oh my God, no—”

“Just… follow me,” Vanitas replies, eyes filled with anguish as he stares at the floor and gestures for her to follow.

Hesitantly, Shi Qingxuan stands up, trailing a couple of steps behind him as she’s led out. “Did something happen to He Xuan?”

For a moment, Vanitas stops in his tracks. “You could say that. But he’s fine.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Shi Qingxuan sighs in relief. For some reason, as she enters the therapy room with Vanitas, it doesn’t occur to her that He Xuan isn’t the only person in there who she cares about. She sits down on the sofa, growing nervous when Jeanne sits closely beside her, posture open, ready to comfort. “… Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

It’s silent for a minute or two, as Vanitas and Jeanne both stare at each other, brooding over the best way of going about this. In that time, Shi Qingxuan’s nerves teeter further towards the edge, as if she’s ready to cry about the news not revealed yet.

“There’s no easy way of putting this,” Vanitas says after a long pause, taking a deep breath and finally working up the courage to look her in the eye. “This is about Shi Wudu. He’s… He passed away this morning.”

All of a sudden, the world stops. Words can’t describe the combination of horror and emptiness which fills Shi Qingxuan. She can’t even come to terms with it, unable to even exercise the thought that her brother is dead and she didn’t know there was anything wrong.

“He…” she mutters, tears already forming. “He’s dead?”

“Yes,” Vanitas nods, solemn as ever. “By strangulation. He Xuan killed him.”

As if Shi Wudu dying suddenly wasn’t bad enough, Shi Qingxuan feels like she’s stabbed in the gut and the heart and everywhere else at once upon hearing what really happened. Her blood runs cold, the only proof to her that she’s even awake and alive being the hot tears trailing down her cheeks, and the nausea stirring in her stomach.

Shi Wudu is dead, and He Xuan — her ex-lover, the one she ruined the life of, whom she desperately wants to reconcile with — killed him.

“I… I-I don’t… No…” she stammers, sobbing a couple of times before letting out a quiet laugh. “Ahah… ha… I-I can’t even believe it! This is… This can’t…”

“I know it hurts,” Vanitas says, barely keeping it together as Jeanne wraps her arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a side hug. “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear after the news of the retrial.”

“It’s fine! I-It’s really fine! Ahaha…” she laughs and cries, bawling into her hands. “I-I just didn’t… I never got to talk with my brother about this. I never asked him for the truth, I was avoiding him— I never apologised for… for… I don’t know, ahaha…”

“Qingxuan, you can cry,” Vanitas tells her. “Let yourself process this.”

“It’s okay,” Jeanne adds, running her fingers through her hair. “We’ll give you support first and foremost.”

“Yeah, we’ll make sure there’s always someone available for you,” Vanitas continues, “and He Xuan will… will be dealt with.”

He says that, but it’s very clear he doesn’t believe that. After all, where else does a mentally and physically ill murderer have to go?

Chapter Text

For the rest of the day after Shi Wudu’s death, once everyone was released from lockdown just before lunch, the staff managed to keep quiet about what happened.

He Xuan and Hua Cheng remained locked in isolation, and Shi Qingxuan was kept in isolation in the infirmary and constantly supervised, though she was apathetic for the entire day and slept early after being given a high dose of diazepam. Thus, with a few people missing, nobody really knew what happened.

Only Xie Lian and Pei Ming had suspicions, given the fact Pei Ming hadn’t seen Shi Wudu too long ago, and Xie Lian asked too many questions until Vanitas sat him down and told him what happened, as well as making him promise not to tell anyone. If he was upset, he hid it relatively well, simply nodding, saying he understood, then hiding in his room the rest of the day, before going to dinner and acting perfectly normal. Elliot and Leo, who found Shi Wudu’s dead body, also stayed in their room, and when they did leave, they kept a normal front for the others. Rumours lingered, but no one predicted Shi Wudu was dead — just crazy conspiracies of people being ill or getting injured.

The following morning, after Roland and Olivier worked an extra night shift to cover for all the staff being there the next day, Vanitas summons everyone to the canteen for an ‘announcement’.

It gives him flashbacks to not long ago, when he gathered everybody here to tell them that Subaru had died, and Kou had almost passed with him. Because of that, everyone is gloomy and nervous, looking between each other and trying to figure out who’s missing. But with five people gone, it’s difficult to figure out what happened, considering the tension between He Xuan and Shi Wudu wasn’t known to most.

Vanitas stands at the front of the room, doing a final headcount, before Noé and Domi join his side.

“Where are the others?” he asks quietly.

“Jeanne is staying with Shi Qingxuan for now. She just woke up,” Domi explains.

“Astolfo is outside with Xie Lian,” Noé continues, “He asked to smoke but while nobody else was around.”

“Got it,” Vanitas says, before turning back to everyone.

Of course, to nobody’s surprise, Ayato is the first to speak up. “Yo, who died this time?”

“That’s not funny!” Vanitas yells, though it comes out more like a squeal. He rubs his forehead, rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out at the other, before returning to his (somewhat) professional face. “Alright, as some of you know, there was a… a medical emergency yesterday morning. Obviously there’s no immediate danger, but it’s… Well, you know the drill.”

As soon as he says that, everyone glances at each other. They do know the drill: first it happened with Carla, then Subaru not long after. Meetings like this are only summoned when someone died, or if there’s newcomers, and there can’t be newcomers. There’s no more space.

“Ahh,” Break speaks up after a moment of silence. “I get it.”

Vanitas cocks an eyebrow, though he’s not surprised. He knew more about the Shi Wudu lore than most, and he was in a room with him. He probably wanted to kill him too.

“Yesterday morning, one of the new inmates, Shi Wudu, passed away,” Vanitas says, swallowing the lump in his throat. Even though he hated Shi Wudu’s guts, he never wanted for him to die.

“I can confirm,” Leo chuckles, “Elly and I were the lucky ones to find him.”

“Woah,” Ayato mutters, “That’s kinda fucked.”

“Mhm, a grewsome sight.”

“You two, be quiet,” Vanitas snaps. “He Xuan was the one to kill him, with Hua Cheng’s help. Hence Xie Lian isn’t here right now.”

“Where’s my queen?” Kino asks.

“Your queen?” he cocks an eyebrow. “Right. Shi Qingxuan. She’s… being kept away for the moment too. Don’t ask her any questions or I’ll kill you.”

“Ah—” Noé places a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe let’s not joke about that.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m joking,” Vanitas snorts, “Anyway, that’s as much as I’m telling everyone.”

“When’re you kickin’ that He Xuan outta here then?” Yuma interrogates, “Ain’t he gonna kill us all?! You can’t keep murderers in this place!”

“Yeah, sure I can’t,” Vanitas says sarcastically, before meeting eyes with Elliot, Leo, Break (sort of), Azusa and Reiji. “Listen, I don’t know what’s happening with He Xuan or Hua Cheng yet, but they’re here for a reason, just as much as you idiots. But… it’ll be dealt with. Just be patient and don’t be nosey. That’s all. You can go back to normal, but don’t mention it to Shi Qingxuan when you see her. Got it?”

“Yes, boss man,” Kino says, winking at him.

“Never call me that again,” Vanitas deadpans. He sighs in exasperation at Noé and Domi, shaking his head then ushering them out. “Come on. I’ve got a phone call to make.”

“I’ll stay with these imbeciles,” Domi says, “Noé, you go.”

“Right. Thanks, Domi.”

As they leave, Domi is left to supervise the discussion which immediately commences, and Vanitas shuts his ears to the world as he heads back to his office with Noé. They lock the door behind them, Vanitas heading to his desk while Noé follows.

“Who do you have to call?” he asks, standing behind him. “You already submitted the report to Ruthven, right?”

“Yep. At least he’s not tryna fire me this time,” Vanitas grunts, scrolling the page of contacts before picking up the phone. “But I have a personal phone call to make.”

“Personal?” Noé questions, until he sees the other pull up a certain contact. “Ah. I see.”

“Yeah,” Vanitas deadpans, pretending not to be nervous as he dials the number and lets the phone ring. Sorry I let the prisoner you sent to me personally die. I didn’t mean to, trust.

When the call gets answered, the first thing Vanitas hears is the sound of a bunch of paper falling everywhere, some indiscriminate curses, then a tired woman speaking. “Yes? Who is this?”

“Hey, Ling Wen,” Vanitas says. He’s communicated with Ling Wen a lot, but it’s always been the form of emails with lots of typos. “It’s Vanitas. I’m the head of the prison you sent Shi Wudu and Pei Ming to.”

“Ah, yes. Vanitas,” she hums, “I’m very busy right now. What does this concern?”

“Just a quick one,” Vanitas huffs, “I’ll send the formal report over, but I wanted to let you know personally before I do.”

“Yes? What happened? Did Pei assault somewhere there? Honestly, I told him to behave himself around the female staff.”

“What? No, no, it was nothing with Pei Ming,” Vanitas sighs, banishing that thought from his mind. “It’s about Shi Wudu. He’s… Well, he’s dead.”

“Shi Wudu is dead?”

“Yeah. He Xuan killed him.”

“He Xuan? Who is that?”

“… Do you not read any of the emails I send you? The stuff about the retrial?”

“I am a very busy woman, Vanitas,” Ling Wen replies, as her fingers frantically tap away at the keyboard. “Ah, He Xuan. The man he supposedly framed. I see.”

“Yeah,” Vanitas mutters, “Listen, I’m sorry, I know you sent him to me to protect, but it… I don’t know if it could’ve been avoided.”

“Mhm, yes, I see,” Ling Wen hums. She sounds… totally disinterested. “You know, while I have you on the phone, I did have something to discuss with you. I was going to send an email later today, but I may as well let you know now.”

Vanitas’ heart stops. He glances at Noé, the other shrugging cluelessly. Please, no more announcements.

“Yeah? What?”

“I’ve been in contact with Ruthven, as this concerns one inmate I recently had transferred to my facility,” she explains, “I have four new prisoners coming to you in five days. They need mental and physical health monitoring, and there’s no capacity anywhere else.”

“Four new fucking prisoners?!” Vanitas yelps, his head whipping around to Noé, who seems equally as baffled. “I-I don’t have space for four more!”

“You see, I was discussing with Ruthven, and the timing of Shi Wudu’s departure is rather convenient.” The keyboard taps again, some paper falls over. “I’m looking at the floor plan of your facility, and I see you currently have space in room four with… Elliot and Leo, is it? And now you have a space in room five too.”

“Okay, okay, hold the fuck up,” Vanitas says, “Elliot and Leo are best left alone. Elliot is going through intensive integration therapy, Leo is feisty as fuck, and you just— You don’t want to disturb them. As for room five, one of them is blind and not to be messed with, and the other is still grieving his best friend leaving the prison.”

“Mhm, mhm. So what I’m hearing is, there’s two extra beds to be filled.”

“That is so not what I’m saying,” Vanitas deadpans, “Whatever. Where the hell are the two others going?!”

“I did wonder too, but Ruthven assured me he’s seen the space and that it’s possible to add two more beds to room six.”

“Room six?! No, no, you cannot do that,” Vanitas says, “Hua Cheng will kill them.”

“That sounds like something out of my capacity to deal with.”

“Okay, whatever. Why so suddenly?! Couldn’t I have had more warning than five days?!”

“You understand the system just as well as I do, Doctor Vanitas,” Ling Wen says, with a hint of mockery. “One inmate is new in my facility and he’s having some severe anger issues and has already broken somebody’s wrist. I want rid of him. There’s another prisoner currently in holding somewhere with a plethora of issues. He needs placing ASAP. Another is in a facility not far from here and doctors expressed concerns he’s depressed and needs closer monitoring. As for the fourth, it’s uncertain yet. He’s currently being monitored in the community due to being a carer, though he’ll be going to court in four days and from what Ruthven has heard from the social worker, we suspect he’ll need placing in your facility.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Vanitas sighs, “Alright. Thank you, Ling Wen. Appreciated.”

“No problem,” she replies, either unaware of his sarcasm or simply ignoring it. “Have a good day.”

“… You too,” he grunts, before slamming the phone down and dumping his head on the table.

Noé steps forward and pats his head. “Are you okay, Vani?”

“No!” Vanitas shrieks, “Can’t I just catch a fucking break?!”

Shi Qingxuan hasn’t managed to fully process what happened yet.

It’s been 24-hours since she learnt He Xuan killed Shi Wudu. She plays back every moment in the lead up over and over again in her head. Did He Xuan seem off? Did Shi Wudu know something was going to happen? Did He Xuan seem quieter than usual? Did Shi Wudu try to speak to her and she simply ignored him?

But no matter how much she thinks it over, she can’t accept it happened. Losing her brother is bad enough — having him killed by He Xuan is too much. Even though He Xuan wanted Shi Wudu dead because of what he did, Shi Qingxuan ultimately tied them together; she can’t help but think this is her fault.

She doesn’t leave her bed except to pee once in the whole day. She doesn’t eat or drink any water. Vanitas tries to stage an intervention, tries to make her eat, but Shi Qingxuan brushes it off as just being tired and in shock. She doesn’t talk about how she feels as though her life has fallen apart, or how she wants to just leave her and get drunk and high on every drug under the sun. Kino attempts to speak to her but she only laughs nervously in response, whereas Reiji can’t even look in her direction.

The first people who actually get her to do anything? Domi and Jeanne. The girlies, as she always says.

It’s mid-afternoon when they come to find her, a couple of hours since Vanitas tried to get her to go to lunch and an hour since Reiji last visited to just… stare. She’s almost about to fall asleep, when the door bursts open and something soft and large gets thrown at her face.

“Huh…?” Shi Qingxuan mumbles, grasping at her face to find a towel there, before throwing it onto the floor and seeing Jeanne and Domi bursting in. She yelps, dramatically flying up in the bed. “Hey! Why’d you do that?!”

“You need it!” Jeanne says firmly, as she grasps the duvet and throws it aside. “We’re going for a shower!”

“No!” Shi Qingxuan whines, throwing herself under the blanket again. “I don’t want to see anyone.”

“We’ll lock the door,” Domi reassures her, sitting on the bed beside her, gently squeezing her shoulder. “You don’t have to eat if you’re ready, but I know you like being clean.”

“I’m not dirty,” Shi Qingxuan insists, before sniffing herself and screwing her face up. “Not too much…”

“Come on, let’s go!” Jeanne says, grabbing her arm and hoisting her up. With a little yelp, Shi Qingxuan is dragged to her feet. But it’s been days since she’s eaten a proper meal, having not eaten in 24-hours now and even before that, she off-handed her food to He Xuan when he was eating and nobody was looking. A dizzy spell strikes and she almost falls, but Domi grabs her at the last second.

“Okay, stay up,” she says, hooking an arm under his elbow. “No fainting here. We don’t want any more medical incidents.”

“Haha, ahahaha…” Shi Qingxuan forces a laugh, her heart aching. It still doesn’t feel real. “Yeah, we don’t…”

Jeanne and Domi check the corridors before escorting her to the showers, locking the door from the inside. The sight of Shi Wudu’s dead body in here lingers on Jeanne’s mind, though Domi never saw it and obviously Shi Qingxuan doesn’t need to know the exact spot he died in. It’s a little eerie simply being in there and knowing that.

“We can’t lock this place too long, and we don’t wanna keep you too long,” Domi says, turning on the shower to let it warm up (you know, as warm as prison showers get). “Do you want us to look away?”

“I don’t really mind. A lot of people have seen me naked,” Shi Qingxuan replies, as if that doesn’t sound mildly concerning. “You might like it, ahaha…”

“I probably would,” Jeanne says under her breath, shrugging when Domi cocks an eyebrow at her. They try to be respectful as Shi Qingxuan undresses, her hair matted as she wrestles to get it untangled from her shirt.

Less than two minutes later, they hear a soft thud, a quiet splash, followed by the sound of sobbing. Both of them turn around instantly, to an unsurprising sight: Shi Qingxuan sat on the tiles, the water pouring around her, trailing down her hair and body as she cries into her knees.

“Hey, hey, let’s not sit on the floor,” Domi says, as Jeanne brings the towel over. “I’m telling you; you don’t know what’s been on that floor.”

Shi Qingxuan looks up at her, eyes shaky and tear-filled. “My dead brother…?”

“No,” Domi deadpans, “Cum. I mean cum.”

“Oh…” Shi Qingxuan sniffles, hiccupping. “Well, that’s gross.”

“Sit on this. Don’t worry if it gets wet,” Jeanne says, folding the towel under her, so at least she’s not sitting on the tainted shower floors while she has her breakdown. It’s the first time she’s let herself cry properly since Vanitas broke the news yesterday, as fat tears roll down her cheeks with each heart-wrenching sob.

Jeanne and Domi eventually say fuck it and sit down on the shower floor next to her, the shower pouring onto them and the water around them soaking their clothes. Whatever. There’s a supply of spare staff uniforms in Vanitas’ office. Domi wraps an arm around Shi Qingxuan’s shoulders, at which she shivers at first, but soon sinks into the embrace. While Domi side-hugs her, Jeanne takes the opportunity to begin washing her hair for her. Both of them used to work in a women’s prison, so this isn’t new to them at all.

“I feel awful…” Shi Qingxuan sniffs, her voice cracking at the few words she croaks out. “I never spoke to my brother… H-He must think I hate him.”

“He wouldn’t have thought that,” Domi tells her, “Nobody knew what he was thinking, but his priority was always you. He was probably just giving you space while you came to terms with He Xuan being here.”

“I guess… A-And He Xuan… How can I ever look at him again?”

“Vanitas will deal with him, and if you need to swap rooms, he’ll make it happen,” Jeanne explains.

“… No. I feel like I deserve it,” Shi Qingxuan mutters, letting out another sob. “He Xuan got… He got his revenge. My brother probably… did ruin his life, so I… it makes sense.”

“You don’t have to forgive He Xuan so soon,” Domi says, “He did kill your brother.”

“I know…” Shi Qingxuan sighs, sniffing. “I’m just not good at being mad at people for a long time.”

“He’s in isolation right now, so you have some time to decide what to say to him,” Domi replies, brushing the other’s hair away from her face when a little shampoo spills down her forehead.

“Yeah, and Vanitas is better at dealing with stuff in this place than he might seem,” Jeanne adds, “Everyone here has gone through a lot of changes. It’s big news now, sure, but it’ll blow over. Things always blow over.”

“I guess…” Shi Qingxuan sighs, sobbing once more before the tears stop. “I don’t want a retrial anymore. I deserve to be here.”

“You don’t deserve to be here,” Domi says, “You didn’t knowingly do anything illegal.”

“I know, but… He Xuan had his life ruined by my brother, and now he won’t serve his time…” Shi Qingxuan mumbles, “I’m just confused.”

“It’s okay to be confused,” Jeanne tells her, rinsing the shampoo from her hair. “You have a support system, and it’ll be okay. It’ll just take time.”

“… Thank you,” Shi Qingxuan exhales softly, before dumping her head in her knees. “I just want to be drunk.”

“Yeah, I think we all do sometimes,” Domi snorts, “but you can get through this without it. People smuggling alcohol in here never ends well anyway.”

Shi Qingxuan instantly perks up. “It happened before?”

“Yeah,” Domi deadpans, teasingly flicking her forehead. “Don’t get any ideas.”

When Vanitas summons a second meeting that day, people are understandably both fed-up and scared.

Group meetings are only summoned when someone died, when someone is leaving, or if somebody is coming. None of the options seem likely to everyone, and nobody is missing except for He Xuan and Hua Cheng, for obvious reasons. Even Shi Qingxuan is here, avoiding everyone’s gazes. All the staff are present, except Noé who’s stood outside the isolation cells, making sure He Xuan and Hua Cheng don’t communicate like they were caught trying to do earlier.

Once the last of them filter in, which is Jeanne with Pei Ming, Yuma and Azusa, Vanitas opens his mouth to start.

Ayato speaks up first. “Yo, who died this time?”

“That’s not funny, you piece of shit!” Vanitas yelps, ready to smash his face against the wall. “Nobody died! This is a quick announcement; I’m not spending any more time than I have to with some of you.”

“Mmm, I think I see what’s going on,” Break hums.

“You know what, I’m not even gonna question that,” Vanitas mutters under his breath, running his fingers through his hair. A few people have departed, there’s space, and a meeting similar to this was summoned not long ago. “I’m just gonna say it. We’re getting four new prisoners in five days.”

“Holy shit,” Ayato snorts, “I didn’t see that one coming.”

“I’ll kill them!” Kanato yells. Same thing he said when the current new prisoners were arriving. With that said, Vanitas learned the hard way not to underestimate Kanato’s death threats.

“Nah, fuck this,” Yuma scoffs, “This place is too crowded already. Where the hell are these new assholes gonna go?”

“One will be replacing Shi Wudu,” Vanitas says, before nervously glancing at Elliot and Leo. “Uh, one will be joining you two.”

“What the hell?! No!” Elliot yells, “Oz was annoying enough!”

“Ahaha, as long as they don’t piss me off, it’ll be alright,” Leo chimes, smiling as he always does when he says something mildly threatening. “Elliot might discover he’s into exhibitionism.”

“Gross!”

“Alright, chill, no one is cock-blocking you yet,” Vanitas groans. He’ll deal with them later. “The other two will be joining room six.” He shoots an apologetic glance at Xie Lian in the corner. “… Sorry.”

“Aha.” Xie Lian looks as if he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’ll be fine. San Lang maybe not, but…”

“Yeah, I’m not tellin’ those two idiots in isolation about this yet,” Vanitas says, throwing his arms up. “Meeting dismissed. Just behave yourselves until they arrive. And for the love of God, don’t kill anyone else.”

Chapter Text

“Alright. I’d rather die than do this briefing, but here we are,” Vanitas starts, sat at his desk with Noé, Domi, and Jeanne stood around him. The files sent by Ling Wen of all the prisoners arriving tomorrow are open on the screen in front of him; the screen he’d like to smash his head into any time now, actually. “These are the four prisoners arriving tomorrow.”

“Do you really have to leave Astolfo out of all these meetings?” Noé asks.

“Yes. I don’t wanna see his stupid face, and someone has to supervise everyone.”

“But how is he going to know everything important? Because contrary to popular belief, we don’t talk about patients when we’re in bed together.”

“Vanitas does,” Domi mutters under her breath.

“Hey!” Vanitas yelps, throwing a pen at her face, his face turning red. “That was only once!”

“One time more than Noé.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“You’ll do it.”

“Guys, guys,” Noé sighs, holding them apart as Vanitas scowls at Domi’s smirk. “Let’s just get this over with. We know what happens when everyone gets left unattended for too long.”

“Don’t go there,” Vanitas hisses, opening the first document. “Alright, Qi Rong. Age 19, charged with trespassing, property destruction, three separate charges of vehicular manslaughter on the same night, and a minor act of suspected terrorism. Pled innocent for some fucking reason, but given an indeterminate life sentence anyway. He’d have gotten a life order if he wasn’t clinically insane, as they worded it.”

“What is it with the sudden influx of suspected acts of terrorism?” Jeanne asks, “That never happened before.”

“Not a clue,” Vanitas snorts, “Maybe it was linked, I don’t know. He sounds like a diet version of Xie Lian, but more openly insane. Diagnosed with bipolar type one and ASPD by the court-ordered psychiatrist. By the sounds of it, he’s been on and off parole since he was a teen, but something snapped this year. Before that, there’s no record of him. I’m guessing he was either in another country or off the grid entirely.”

“I bet you’ll love investigating that,” Domi says.

“I’m not a detective?! He sounds fucking insane!” Vanitas yelps, “He was recently taken in and the prison where he’s in holding say they can’t mix him with the regular prisoners. He sounds Kanato-level fucked.”

“Oh God,” Jeanne mutters, “That’s really fucked.”

“Mhm. Precisely,” Vanitas nods, “I think there’s only one place we can put him.”

“With Break?” Noé suggests.

“Exactly. He can’t hurt Break. Nobody can hurt Break.”

“That’s an easy decision,” Domi says, “Who’s next?”

“Next is Lang Qianqiu,” Vanitas continues, loading up the next file. “Age 18, charged with property destruction and trespassing, two and a half years, so he’ll be out of here in just over a year if he behaves.”

“That’s an odd charge to have and still end up in a specialist unit,” Noé comments.

“Yeah, I thought the same, so I actually read the court notes which I very rarely do,” Vanitas says, snickering to himself. “It’s hilarious. He got mad and threw a stop-sign into a river. His lawyer told him to tell the court he was drunk, because then he’d only get a drunk-and-disorderly charge, which would mean a fine and community service. But this idiot refused to say he was drunk, saying he’d never drink alcohol. So, he got the actual charges.”

“That’s really stupid,” Jeanne snorts, “Why is he here though?”

“He’s coming from Ling Wen’s unit,” Vanitas replies, scrolling through her typo-riddled notes to him. “Sounds like he’s just got anger issues and keeps beating people up. She wants rid of him. Nothing a small dose of midazolam can’t fix if worse comes to worst.”

“Where are you putting him?” Jeanne asks.

“I’m not sure. He’s younger than the other two, so I’m inclined to put him with Elliot and Leo.”

Domi cocks an eyebrow. “Is putting someone with violent tendencies with a couple who also have violent tendencies a good idea?”

“Not really,” Vanitas snorts, “but the other two are twenty, and seem more balanced in terms of their charges. As long as Lang Qianqiu doesn’t piss Leo off, Leo will hold Elliot back.”

“He’s going to leave this place so sex-repulsed.”

“Okay? That’s his problem,” he says, making a note of the final decision then moving to the third newcomer’s file. “Next is Feng Xin. Age 20, charged with GBH and petty theft, coming to four years in total. The crimes were from over three years prior, but he pled guilty once he went to court.”

“How did he go over three years without being caught?” Noé questions.

“I didn’t really understand either. He moved away before he could be charged and the crimes weren’t serious enough to actually go after him,” Vanitas explains, “but there was a warrant out for his arrest. A month ago, he got pulled over while driving and given a speeding ticket, got his license checked, and then got taken to court shortly after.”

“Why’s he here?” Noé asks, reading over his shoulder. “He seems kind of normal.”

“I didn’t think much was off,” Vanitas shrugs, “though the doctor of the current prison says he thinks he’s depressed. Maybe burnt-out, I don’t know. He told the court he had three jobs. It’s the same prison Gilbert had been in, and I guess they just kick out anyone who requires treatment.”

“Makes sense,” Noé hums, “He’s going in room six, then?”

“Yeah. If his only problem is being depressed, he can’t cause Hua Cheng too much of a problem.”

“The last person better not cause him a problem too,” Domi says, “Hua Cheng would definitely kill someone if they so much as looked at Xie Lian wrong.”

“Can’t guarantee that,” Vanitas mumbles, switching to the final tab. “Last one. Mu Qing, also age 20. Charged with GBH as well, but also multiple accounts of theft, coming to seven years. Weirdly, the GBH charge and first accounts of theft were in the same city at the same time as Feng Xin’s. There’s no mention of each other in their history though, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were linked.”

“Were they arrested in the same place?” Jeanne asks.

“Nope. Two completely different cities, two hours apart. Feng Xin is further from here. Mu Qing isn’t far though,” he explains, “Mu Qing only went into holding last night. He lost his job recently after they found out he’d been stealing money from the cash register. He’d been monitored in the community since he was a carer for his mother, and he’d been under the community mental health team for over a year. I guess they were waiting for his trial to confirm, but he’s apparently in some kind of drug withdrawal, so he’s getting shipped to me. Such a delight.”

“Another drug addict. You must be excited,” Domi smirks, “What, heroin too?”

“I don’t know! He wouldn’t tell them and they were too stupid to drug test him,” Vanitas says, “but they described what probably is opiate withdrawal. He doesn’t speak much apparently. The community mental health team said they’ll release his records to me tomorrow.”

“How did he get apprehended?” Noé asks.

“Similar to Feng Xin. He got pulled over while driving to work and he admitted he was under the influence of ketamine. But that can’t be all he was using, because ket withdrawal doesn’t cause vomiting and such.”

“You’d know,” Domi snickers.

“Can you keep your mouth shut?! God, you’re like Kino!”

“Don’t insult me like that.”

“Keep it in the bedroom, girlies,” Jeanne says.

“I’m not one of the girlies,” Vanitas grumbles, “but whatever. Yes, I’d know. Anyway, his license was suspended on the spot and he was given a fine, but they also found the warrant out for his arrest. This was only a couple of weeks ago though. His job found out, they accused him of money going missing, and everything spiralled. Silent but dangerous, I’m guessing. If him and Feng Xin are linked, they put a guy in hospital three years ago.”

“Maybe it was just their teenage angst phase,” Domi says, “We all have a past.”

Noé turns to her, eyebrows raised. “Did you ever put somebody in hospital?”

“Only for my job,” Domi smiles innocently, patting Noé’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about that, my dear Noé.”

“I also put a girl in hospital,” Jeanne says, “but that was at my last prison! In my defence, she tried to strangle another inmate. I only broke three ribs.”

“Only,” Vanitas huffs, “Alright, Mu Qing is going in room six then.”

“But…” Noé speaks up hesitantly. “What if Feng Xin and Mu Qing have a bitter history? Do we really want them in the same room?”

“You know what, Noé?” Vanitas says, “That’s tomorrow’s problem.”

Vanitas really hadn’t wanted to let He Xuan and Hua Cheng out of isolation after only five days —they need time to reflect on their actions! — but with the four new inmates coming, he was left with little choice.

After a well-deserved cigarette, he begins with He Xuan. He knocks on the door on the isolation cell later that afternoon when everyone else is pre-occupied; he also made sure that Jeanne was with Shi Qingxuan. Although it’s strictly against policy, he let Jeanne bring in some make-up for Shi Qingxuan, after she insisted she wanted to pretend she was going on a bender. She’s grieving, alright? Vanitas didn’t question it.

He Xuan doesn’t respond to the knock on the door, so Vanitas takes it upon himself to let himself in. He opens the door slowly, feeling a little nervous. Not that He Xuan would have any reason to hurt him, but he’s been more or less silent for the last five days, and he is officially a murderer now.

When the door opens, He Xuan’s eyes open and he seems a little groggy, like he’s just been woken up. He sits up slowly, expressionless as he stares at Vanitas. The next thing Vanitas notices is the tray from lunch untouched on the floor, scowling at the other.

“When is the last time you ate?” he asks, closing the door behind him.

In response, He Xuan just shrugs, wiping the hair out of his face. Although he tries to seem fine, he’s pale and clearly weak. Vanitas hasn’t tried to delve into his psyche yet, but he’s punishing himself for some reason.

“He Xuan, I’m gonna be blunt with you,” Vanitas says, putting on his best I’m-the-boss face. “Unless you take your insulin tonight and eat something, I’m putting you on an NG tube. I’ve done it to patients before and I’ll do it again.”

“Hmph,” he huffs.

“Have you been put on an NG tube before? Because I promise it’s not nice, and I don’t like doing it either.”

“I have,” He Xuan replies quietly, “in hospital.”

“You were in hospital for your eating disorder?” Vanitas cocks an eyebrow, as the other nods. “You never mentioned that.”

“It wasn’t relevant.”

“It very much is relevant, but let’s unpack that another day,” he sighs, running a hand through his hair. God, these children. “Anyway, I’m letting you out.”

“Now?” He Xuan scoffs, “I thought you wanted to banish me.”

“Look, if you weren’t physically unwell, I’d probably be obligated to, and that might be better for everyone involved. Except you,” Vanitas explains, “But no other prison would take a patient with an uncommon eating disorder, and I don’t want you thrown in a high security prison.”

“So, that’s it?” He Xuan asks, standing up slowly; grabbing the bed and trying to hide his dizziness. “You’re letting me roam free again?”

“More or less,” Vanitas shrugs, lifting his hand to the other and holding out his little finger. “But you have to pinky-promise me that you won’t kill anyone else. Alright?”

Although he screws his face up, He Xuan actually returns the pinky-promise. “I won’t.”

“Good,” Vanitas grins. He stops at the door, turning around. “Oh, and there’s one more thing. There’re four more prisoners coming tomorrow. However, they won’t be in your room, so it shouldn’t affect you too much. Just… don’t kill any of them, got it?”

“I don’t have anyone else I want dead,” He Xuan says nonchalantly. He stops when Vanitas opens the door again though, asking quietly, “Where’s Qingxuan?”

“She’s in your room,” Vanitas replies, “Do you know what you’re going to say to her?”

Barely, He Xuan’s face twists into something like nervousness. “How is she?”

Vanitas tries not to smile at that, but he can’t stop his lips twitching upwards slightly. He Xuan showing concern for Shi Qingxuan speaks volumes. “She’s as good as she could be. Perhaps a little too good. She might be going manic I think, although it’s too early to say for now. Just… be gentle with her. I don’t think she hates you.”

“She should.”

“Well, she doesn’t, so suck it up,” he responds rather bluntly, leading He Xuan out of the isolation room. He glances at the door next to his and frowns; Hua Cheng can be dealt with a little later. However, he wants to supervise his and Shi Qingxuan’s first meeting since it happened.

Once they’re at the door of room three, Vanitas knocks twice before Jeanne calls back, “Come in!”

“Behave” rests on the tip of his tongue, but he bites it back and opens the door. Despite the fact he literally murdered someone, He Xuan is unlikely to hurt someone else here. Inside, Kino is chilling on the top bunk, attempting (and failing miserably) to intercept the girl talk, while Jeanne and Shi Qingxuan sit on her bed. Shi Qingxuan’s back is to the door, but the moment she hears it open, her head whips around.

Straight away, her and He Xuan meet eyes, but neither of them shows much emotion besides shock. He Xuan’s gaze perhaps hold a little guilt, though he’s skilled at seeming unbothered and cold. Yet, if that façade is going to crumble around anyone, it’s Shi Qingxuan.

“Your roomie is back,” Vanitas says, nudging He Xuan towards the bed. He trudges over and sits down with a huff, staring at the floor like a scolded child.

“Woah,” Kino comments, “I’d like to see this.”

“No, you won’t,” Vanitas replies, swinging the door open wider and gesturing him out. “Scram. You can come back in ten minutes.”

“Awe.”

“Laito is in the shower.”

“A’ight,” Kino says, leaping off the top bunk. Vanitas smirks; Laito is absolutely not in the shower as far as he knows, but Kino seems happy with the opportunity of a quick fuck. Once Kino is gone, he closes the door and glances briefly at Reiji’s bed. “Where’s Reiji?”

“In the canteen, I think,” Jeanne answers, putting the make-up brush down for now. “Last I heard, him and Ruki were in a two-hour long chess game.”

“Thrilling,” Vanitas mutters sarcastically. “Alright, He Xuan. Shi Qingxuan. Do either of you have anything you want to say to each other?”

At first, neither of them speak. It’s as if they truly have nothing to say; that, or they’re holding back a monologue each. Even though it’s He Xuan who owes one massive fucking apology, Shi Qingxuan is the first to say something.

“… I’m sorry,” she whispers.

He Xuan looks up immediately. “Why are you apologising?”

“For… I don’t know. Making you do that?” Shi Qingxuan says quietly, “I know you wouldn’t really want to kill someone.”

“Debatable,” He Xuan snorts. He looks to Vanitas, who glares at him scoldingly and nods to Shi Qingxuan. He lets out a long sigh, closing his eyes and sitting back as he grumbles a pathetic, “Sorry.”

“I forgive you!” Shi Qingxuan beams, “Ahahaha, I’m not good at holding grudges… It’s in the past, right?”

He Xuan really is speechless, as is everyone else. Yeah, Vanitas is going to have to keep a close eye on her.

“Don’t think too much about it. If either of you decide you want a real conversation, tell Noé or I first. I don’t want you have a deep talk when someone isn’t there to de-escalate,” he says, but then re-evaluates. What’s the worst that could happen? Even though He Xuan has proven himself to be cold-blooded, he trusts him not to kill Shi Qingxuan or even hurt her directly. He’s hurt her more than enough by now. “Am I okay to leave you now? I need to let out your stupid accomplice.”

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Jeanne says.

Shi Qingxuan snickers, turning to He Xuan and grinning. “I’ll forgive you if you give me a cigarette.”

He Xuan doesn’t seem too happy about that, but without Shi Wudu to threaten him for letting his sister smoke, he hardly has anything to lose. “Fine. Let’s go.”

When Xie Lian had heard what Hua Cheng did, he didn’t know whether to be shocked or not.

On the one hand, Hua Cheng as an accomplice in murder? Hardly new, and not unbelievable. But a part of Xie Lian always believed he’d only do it for his sake, whether it was entitled to think like that or not. He can’t wrap his head around why he’d do it, even if he was invested in the He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan lore.

So, for five days, he sits around and waits, pretending to be happy; pretending he’s not suffering from insomnia so bad Vanitas had to give him diazepam last night, because he can’t sleep when Hua Cheng isn’t holding him. It’s the longest they’ve spent apart since… Well, forever. Hua Cheng has been by his side every day since they met.

Eventually, there’s a knock on his door that evening. Xie Lian has little hope; he assumes it’s Vanitas. His heart leaps when it opens to reveal Hua Cheng, looking at him with a sorrowful expression.

“Gege,” he says softly in Mandarin, even though both of them have spoken mostly English to each other since coming here. “I’m back.”

“San Lang…” Xie Lian mutters, his heart racing as he stands up and walks towards the other. The first thing he does is throw his arms around the other, clinging to him and inhaling his scent. The second thing he does is grab his collar and look up at him, letting the hurt in his eyes show. “Why would you do that? You… You really…”

“I’m sorry, gege,” Hua Cheng whispers, wrapping his arm around his waist and pulling him closer. He cradles his head against his shoulder with the other arm, nuzzling his cheek against the top of Xie Lian’s hair. “It’s complicated.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Xie Lian says, eyes filling with tears. He told himself he wouldn’t get emotional, but he can’t hold back the way his chest tightens and his throat closes up. “They might keep you here longer… They can take you to court again. They have proof if they… Are they?”

“I don’t know,” Hua Cheng replies, stroking his fingers through his hair. “That quack doctor said he doesn’t know what’s happening yet. He has to wait until the higher-ups see the report.”

“But what if you have to stay longer?” Xie Lian asks, sniffling as the first tears trail down his cheeks. “You deserve to live a good life.”

“A life without you isn’t good, gege,” he says quietly, planting a kiss on the other’s forehead. “I will stay by your side in this place until we pass.”

“Don’t say that!” Xie Lian cries, pulling away and gazing up at him with tear-filled eyes. “You can’t give up your life and stay in prison for me! That’s not fair…”

“Life isn’t fair. I’ll always come back here,” he tells him, chuckling softly. “No matter how many crimes it takes.”

“You can’t say that…” Xie Lian murmurs, pulling away from the hug to wipe his tears away with his sleeves. “That’s not funny.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“… San Lang—”

“Don’t worry about it, gege,” he says, his hands cupping Xie Lian’s cheeks. “I’m back now. Focus on that. You look tired.”

“I haven’t slept a lot…” Xie Lian replies, staring at the floor as if the other isn’t honoured. There’s so much more he’d like to say, but Hua Cheng doesn’t seem to want to talk about it, so he won’t.

They stand in each other’s embrace for a little while longer before there’s another knock at the door. Hua Cheng’s head whips around as he scowls in disdain.

“Who is it?”

“Me,” Vanitas calls back, before letting himself in.

Xie Lian pulls away, his hair falling over his face as he looks down to hide the blush on his cheeks. “Ah… Can I help?”

“Just a quick one,” Vanitas says, evidently not wanting to talk to Hua Cheng more than necessary — the feeling is mutual. With that said, he seems nervous to say what he’s going to say. “So… the four new prisoners. Two of them are moving into your room.”

Immediately, Hua Cheng’s frown deepens. “No one is coming in here.”

“Listen, it was not my decision, and if it was up to me, I would not be adding two more beds to this room,” Vanitas explains, “but my boss decided it, so I have no choice.”

“San Lang, it’s alright. I’m sure they won’t hurt us,” Xie Lian says, squeezing his hand. He obviously wants to protest, but Xie Lian says it’s okay, thus he has to decide it’s okay too. “Is there anything we need to know?”

“One of them is currently in drug withdrawal,” Vanitas replies, “Heroin, I think, but he’ll get started on methadone if that’s the case. Until he’s better, just… be nice, alright?”

“Of course,” Xie Lian smiles slightly, “I can help!”

“Mhm. I’m not sure if he’d like that,” Vanitas mutters. He hasn’t heard a huge amount about Mu Qing yet, but he spent years as a carer — being taken care of is hardly going to be his thing. “That’s all.” He turns to Hua Cheng once more. “And don’t kill either of them. Understood?”

“I never killed anyone in here,” Hua Cheng says, with a sickeningly, creepily innocent smile.

“Like hell you didn’t,” Vanitas deadpans. “Alright. Goodnight. Someone will bring around your meds later. I’m going home.”

“Good luck for tomorrow,” Xie Lian wishes him. “I can’t wait to meet our newcomers!”

“… Uh huh.”

Chapter Text

“Okay, Domi, send the first patient in,” Vanitas says over the walkie-talkie. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”

Noé raises an eyebrow and looks at the other questioningly. “You’re 33?”

“Eight years older than the oldest prisoner here,” he grumbles, before scowling at the walkie-talkie, still silent. “Domi?! Stop ignoring me!”

There’s some crackling on the other end of the transmission before it lights up. “I can hear, don’t be so impatient. We’re just coming.”

“We’re?” Vanitas scoffs, “This isn’t a job which requires two people.”

“You’ll see.”

Vanitas and Noé both groan in despair when, as if on cue, some screaming sounds from down the corridor. Kicking, yelling, cursing.

“Oh fuck,” Vanitas hisses, scanning over the notes — there’s only one person this can be: Qi Rong. Feng Xin and Mu Qing don’t seem like trouble-makers and the records he got said Lang Qianqiu was mostly cooperative.

“Is this Qi Rong?” Noé asks, clearly thinking the same thing.

“Must be,” he sighs, as the door crashes open to reveal Jeanne and Domi both dragging along a younger looking man.

Black hair cut even worse than Vanitas’, terribly applied green eyeliner which looks like it’s been there for two weeks, kicking and thrashing around like a two-year-old denied candy at the supermarket. Jeanne holds his neck and left arm while Domi pins his right arm behind his back and holds the back of his trousers.

“LET GO OF ME! GET OFF!” Qi Rong (presumably) screeches, before yelling out a bunch of indiscriminate curses in what sounds like Mandarin.

“Fucking hell,” Vanitas sighs, rubbing his forehead as Domi and Jeanne force him into the seat and handcuff him to the arms of the chair. “He’s worse than Kanato.”

“Debatable,” Noé hums, “Kanato did stab you.”

“Yeah, and I’m still alive and kicking, so whatever,” Vanitas scoffs.

“Are you going to behave now?” Domi asks when her and Jeanne finish cuffing him to the chair.

“Hmph!” he scoffs, kicking the edge of the chair and giving a pretentious smirk. “Make me!”

“I can’t make you,” Vanitas says, retorting with an evil smirk. “But I can give you a high-strength midazolam injection directly into the ass, and that’ll knock you out. How does that sound?”

“DOG-ASS EATING SHIT FUCKER!” Qi Rong yells. But in spite of his protests, he slumps back in the chair and huffs in frustration, deciding to behave himself anyway.

“Good,” Vanitas grins, “Domi, you can go. Jeanne, you stay.”

“Why me?” Jeanne asks, seemingly offended.

“I think you’re stronger,” Vanitas shrugs, earning a glare from Domi as she leaves. Both of them are equal in combat skills, but Jeanne’s brute force is better. You know, in case Qi Rong needs to be pummelled into the floor. He opens the folder, glancing up at the other and finally starting what should’ve started several minutes ago. “Alright. Qi Rong, right? You’re nineteen, charged with trespassing, property destruction, three separate charges of vehicular manslaughter, and a minor act of suspected terrorism.”

“Yes. And?” Qi Rong asks, cocking an eyebrow as he sprawls out on the chair like it’s his throne, legs spread and all. If it were socially and professionally acceptable, Vanitas would kick in him in the balls right now (Jeanne probably would too).

“And? You know what, never mind,” Vanitas says, flicking to the second page. “Okay, I don’t really want to spend much time with you, so I’ll make this quick. Give me a two-sentence summary of your life.”

“My life? Hahaha, isn’t it in that special folder of yours?”

“That was basically two sentences,” Vanitas grumbles.

“Vani, we have to try somewhat,” Noé says, though it’s clear he doesn’t really see the point in trying either. He clears his throat, looking back up to Qi Rong and taking a deep breath. “Qi Rong. Can you tell us a bit more about where you were before this?”

“Everywhere, at once,” Qi Rong cackles, “I was trying to find somebody.”

“Was this family, or a friend, who you were trying to find?” Noé asks, like he’s talking to a toddler.

“Family. My dear cousin,” Qi Rong replies, before his smirk turns to an evil sneer as he punches the arm of the chair. “I went between two fucking countries finding him, trying to impress him with my tremendous talents, and some useless ass-eating fuckface steals him!”

“Two countries?”

“Yes! What?! Are you racist?!” Qi Rong yells, cursing him out again in Mandarin. He tries to break free from the chair again until Jeanne grabs his hair and pulls it back, keeping him fixed there. “Ow! Ow, ow, fuck, ow! Fine! I was in China, let go!”

“China, got it,” Vanitas smirks, making a note of the new information, before his face drops. His eyes widen, he looks up, and squints at Qi Rong’s face; his nose, eyebrows, the gentle touch which turns vile in a second. “Oh my God. You’re from China.”

“RACIST! RACIST!” Qi Rong screams.

“I’m not racist!” Vanitas yelps, “Your cousin. What’s the name of your cousin who you were trying to impress?”

“My cousin? You should’ve seen him on the news!” Qi Rong replies, digging his nails into the chair as he licks his lips and laughs evilly. “His crimes, so unique! I copied him the best I could, but the poor slug got caught anyway, hehe.”

“You copied… his crimes…” Vanitas repeats quietly. “Oh. My. God.”

“WHAT?!”

“… I see your problem,” Noé whispers to him, “Should we tell him?”

“… I think we should wait for it to happen naturally,” Vanitas replies. Fortunately, Qi Rong is still too busy muttering to himself in another language and hissing at Jeanne when she tugs on his hair, ignoring the quiet conversation opposite him. “Alright, Qi Rong. You’ll be in a room with two others, but one of them is an ex-assassin who killed sixteen people, so don’t even try it with him. As for medication, I see you’ve been taking lithium and quetiapine as prescribed by the court-ordered psychiatrist, so you’ll continue that.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I’ll shove it down your throat if you refuse, so deal with it,” Vanitas threatens, “Do you smoke?”

“What— OBVIOUSLY?” Qi Rong yells, now trying to bite his way out of the handcuffs. “DO I LOOK LIKE A PUSSY TO YOU?!”

“Somewhat,” Vanitas shrugs, “Okay, if you get money from elsewhere, you can buy them.”

“Hmph. My whore mother can send me some from China,” Qi Rong says.

“Not sure it works like that, but whatever.” Vanitas doesn’t usually allow people cigarettes without guaranteed payment, but if it stops Qi Rong setting this place on fire, then he can let it slide. “Alright, if you—”

Before he can finish his sentence, the door swings open and Astolfo storms open.

“Put him in isolation,” he says, arms folded over his chest as he visibly holds back fury.

“WHAT? WHAT DID I DO?!”

“He pissed in my shoes!” Astolfo yells, “My shoes which got wet in the rain!”

“HOW THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW THAT WAS ME?!” Qi Rong screams at the top of his lungs, once more trying to fight and bite out of the chains restraining him. “ASS FUCKER STUPID PINK HAIR TWINK BITCH—”

“Alright, you’re going in isolation for two days,” Vanitas sighs, gesturing for Jeanne and Astolfo to remove him from the room. “I’ll let you engage with everyone else after that.”

“FUCKER! PIECE OF SHIT ASS FUCKING CUNT FACE PISS—”

“I’ll be right back,” Vanitas declares as Jeanne and Astolfo literally drag Qi Rong away, showing no attempt to handle him delicately.

“Where are you going?” Noé asks, frowning at his notes. “We still need to decide what to do about the fact Qi Rong is Xie Lian’s cousin…”

“Can’t prove that yet,” Vanitas gives a shrug while leaning against the door. “We’ll figure it out in a couple of days.”

“… I guess,” Noé sighs, “but where are you going, seriously? Domi said earlier that all the newcomers are coming in close succession.”

“I’ll be quick, I swear.”

“You better not be going for a smoke again.”

“I’m not!”

“Then where?!”

“To take a picture of Astolfo’s shoes covered in piss, obviously!”

After obtaining his blackmail material and taking a couple of aspirin tablets, Vanitas settles back in his chair, grabbing his folder again.

“Okay,” he says, still grinning to himself. “Who’s next?”

“Domi said Lang Qianqiu is in the waiting hall,” Noé explains, “Only Domi is with him, so… that’s an improvement from Qi Rong, I suppose!”

“Okay, let’s get this fucker over with,” Vanitas replies, “I saw a note saying Mu Qing is running late, by the way.”

“Really? How come?”

“Something about him being sick, I don’t know. They still haven’t drug tested him because he’s refusing. He sounds fucking stubborn. I got the notes from his community mental health team this morning too. He looks like a pain.”

“You like the stubborn ones, really,” Noé grins, flicking his forehead teasingly. “What did it say about—”

Before Noé can finish asking, the door opens and Domi leads in a somewhat pleasant though peeved-off young man, with brown hair framing his face. He’s holding a polite smile, but it’s definitely forced and he doesn’t appreciate Domi manhandling him and keeping him in handcuffs.

“Lang Qianqiu,” Vanitas says, “Take a seat.”

“Alright,” the other sighs in defeat, yanking his arms out of Domi’s arms and dropping onto the chair. He takes a deep breath, sits back, then smiles a little more genuinely. “Hi.”

“Good afternoon. Welcome!” Noé replies, and Vanitas wants to gag at his fake kindness. Or real kindness; it’s Noé, after all.

“Hey,” Lang Qianqiu nods at him, fidgeting in the handcuffs. “Sorry, these are really tight. I’m not used to this.”

“Mhm, mhm. A novice, except you’ve beaten a few people up, correct?” Vanitas challenges him, tapping the pen against his lips.

“Only when they provoked me!” Lang Qianqiu insists, “And I only ever hurt other people in prison! No one innocent, I swear!”

“Right, well you’re not innocent in society either. Not that much harm was caused by throwing a stop-sign into a river,” Vanitas snickers to himself. “Lang Qianqiu, you seem pretty normal at face value, so I have some questions for you. Because normal people don’t get sent to me.”

“I am normal,” he says, “I was sent here on a misunderstanding.”

“You broke someone’s arm…?” Noé slowly raises an eyebrow. “That’s what Ling Wen says.”

“I didn’t intend to!” Lang Qianqiu cries, dumping his head on the edge of the chair. “Not that it matters, they just sent me here without further discussion, citing the fact I have anger issues.”

“Well, when you commit an offence, that’s usually what happens,” Vanitas asks, skimming his notes again. “So, do you think you have anger issues?”

“Not really, no,” Lang Qianqiu replies, his expression holding only an ounce of remorse, though it is noticeable. “Sometimes I just get really mad, and I get angry and… don’t really think. But I never intended to seriously hurt someone.”

“Right, right,” Vanitas nods, “When did that start? Before the little stop-sign fiasco, did you ever have any run-ins with the law?”

“Not formally,” Lang Qianqiu says, kicking his feet against the carpet. Sadness flits over his face briefly, as his silly pout turns into a deeper, more defeated frown. “My parents got killed on my seventeenth birthday, and the murderers still haven’t been caught. They assumed it was a money thing, because we had a lot of money, but… I don’t know. I still feel angry about it, even 18-months later, and I snap occasionally.”

“That’s not a long time in the world of grieving,” Noé says, smiling softly at him. “You’re allowed to be angry about it, and sometimes it can make you act out.”

“… Yeah.”

“Who’ve you been living with?”

“My uncle, on my dad’s side,” Lang Qianqiu replies, avoiding both their gazes. They clearly touched a nerve, but he’s cooperative to say the least. He seems… pretty normal, for now. “He just tells me I’m too rebellious, but I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’m not a bad kid, I swear.”

“Of course not,” Noé says, “Just hurting.”

“Blah blah blah, you’ve got PTSD, we get it,” Vanitas says, waving him off as he scribbles something down. “You get flashbacks? Nightmares?”

Lang Qianqiu furrows his eyebrows and almost gets ready to snap, but he takes a deep breath and holds off on it. “Yes.”

“Alright, I won’t give you any medication for now, but if you act out and hurt someone or misbehave in any way, get ready for eepy-time with midazolam. And you will be attending trauma therapy with Noé whether you like it or not,” Vanitas says, “Do you smoke?”

“God no! Why would I?!”

“That is not the response we normally get in this place,” Vanitas deadpans, “but alright. You’re being put into a room with two other 18-year-olds, Elliot and Leo. They’re… together, so just… knock, okay?”

“Knock?” Lang Qianqiu cocks an eyebrow. Clueless. “Why would I need to knock on the door of my own room?”

Vanitas blinks once, then twice. “Never mind. Don’t knock.”

He holds back giggles as he summons Domi back on the walkie-talkie and she returns, escorting Lang Qianqiu to room four where Elliot and Leo are. Once he’s gone, he sniggers to himself and entertains himself with the thought of Lang Qianqiu and his mighty ego getting greeted by his new roommates while one of them is getting railed.

“It’s not funny,” Noé scolds Vanitas, smacking his shoulder. “He might hurt them.”

“Pfft. Lang Qianqiu seems normal. Too normal for me,” Vanitas says, pulling out the tobacco, filters and rolling papers from his pocket. Domi let them know Feng Xin was still being searched and wasn’t ready to come in yet, and obviously Mu Qing is delayed for God-knows how long, so he deems it necessary to squeeze in a smoke break.

Noé raises an eyebrow, but knows better than to comment on it. “Lang Qianqiu seems normal on the surface, but he’s got a violent history and he snaps easily. He’s definitely got PTSD and we’ll have to be careful in case something triggers the same memories or feelings from when his parents were killed.”

“Yeah, yeah, do what you want with him in therapy, he’s all yours,” Vanitas says, licking the paper of the cigarette as he stands up. Before departing, he flings a community mental health team summary document at Noé, previously at the bottom of the folder he’d been using. “I’ll be back. You can read over Mu Qing’s notes.”

Ten minutes later, Vanitas returns to the therapy room and takes a seat next to Noé, leaning over his shoulder and smirking. “Ready to continue?”

“Mhm,” Noé hums, handing Mu Qing’s notes back to Vanitas. “He has borderline personality disorder, then?”

“Yeah, and the rest,” Vanitas snorts, “but there’s no specific notes about drug abuse, only unspecified recreational use, stuff like weed. So I assume whatever he was using regularly wasn’t known to them.”

“It doesn’t look like he told the CMHT much at all,” Noé comments.

“I know, but the difference is: he’s stuck here. I’ll ban him from— from… I dunno. Smoking, probably,” Vanitas shrugs. Bribery is actually his best method of behavioural control here. “Put that aside for now, though. Jeanne says she’s bringing Feng Xin in a second.”

“Feng Xin is the one who seemed fairly normal, right?”

“Yeah, supposedly,” Vanitas grins, cracking his knuckles. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“I think the psychiatrist who sent him here was actually the judge of that, but alright,” Noé says. Before they can enter a bickering match, the door opens and Jeanne walks in with a man taller than Vanitas, quite big muscles, long-ish brown hair which clearly hadn’t been cut in a long time. But despite his beefy appearance, he’s trying to break free from Jeanne’s hold, and yet failing.

“Let go of me, fuck!” he yells. It’s not uncommon for new prisoners to protest being restrained, it makes them angry, however this guy seems scared, if anything. “I said I’m not going to fucking run away!”

“It’s protocol,” Jeanne replies, squeezing his arm muscles before pushing him into the chair and sneaking a glance at his abs. “Nice pecks.”

“What the fuck?!” Feng Xin cries, shielding himself from her.

“… What the hell am I witnessing?” Vanitas mutters, raising an eyebrow at Jeanne. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Jeanne shrugs innocently. “My boobs touched him once, and then he freaked out.”

“Haha!” Vanitas snorts, turning to Feng Xin. “Are you scared of women?”

“No! Just— I don’t wanna be fucking touched by random women?!” he yelps, sinking back in the chair, fists clenched as he drops his head. “Never mind. I’m fucking tired.”

“This shouldn’t take long,” Noé says in an attempt to comfort him, while Vanitas writes a very sarcastic note on his file. “We just need to gauge your history a bit and figure out how to help you best.”

“I’m not that bad,” Feng Xin sighs, dumping his head in his hands. “My previous prison just sucked ass. I came in here burnt-out as fuck, and court isn’t fucking fun. So what if I was a bit depressed? Isn’t that normal?”

Vanitas seems shocked by the rationality — something they don’t see a whole lot of in here — and Noé gives him a soft smile. “It can be normal, yes, but if they decided you needed a little extra support, it’s not a bad thing. You’ll be incarcerated for… about two years of your four-year sentence.”

“This place is luxury, trust,” Vanitas says, “So, Feng Xin. Petty theft and GBH, but three years ago, hm? What happened there? You were a bit loopy back then?”

“Loopy? Fuck no,” Feng Xin scoffs, kicking his legs up onto the coffee table. “I was just in a teenage angst phase and I had a shitty break-up.”

“Tell me about this break-up,” Vanitas immediately pries, with a quick sneak-peek at Mu Qing’s file underneath. If their suspicions from yesterday are correct, this shitty break-up may be with the very same inmate arriving in a matter of hours.

“It was just… some asshole. We were always bitter at each other, but then we got together for some fucking reason. My mum had an affair, his father ran off. I don’t know why we stayed together considering we always just… fucking hated each other’s guts,” Feng Xin explains, rubbing his forehead at the mere thought. “We were together about a year and a half, then we had a really messy break-up. Big differences, he was using drugs and I got pissed off, but we were stupid as well. Kept challenging each other to do dumb shit.”

“And this person you put in hospital? What happened there?”

“We were drunk. Well, I was drunk. He was doing fuck-knows what drugs,” Feng Xin recalls, as he sighs deeply again and runs his fingers through his hair. “It doesn’t matter. I stopped talking to him when we were eighteen, then I got thrown out from my parent’s, and moved away.”

“What caused you to stop talking?” Noé asks.

“I got a girl pregnant,” Feng Xin explains.

“Oh, really?” Vanitas snorts, “Despite the woman phobia?”

“Fuck off! I’m not scared of women?!” Feng Xin yelps defensively, “I’m not even still with her! I just… I got a kid who’s nearly two-years-old. I was working seven days a week, twelve hours a day. I’m already fucking stressed about being here.”

“Who’s the mother?” Noé questions, glaring at Vanitas for his constant unprofessionalism. “Is your child in good hands?”

“Yeah, I guess. His mother is alright,” Feng Xin grumbles, “But my ex suddenly broke contact with me and moved away the moment he found out I’d gotten a girl pregnant. He was probably just fucking jealous, which doesn’t even make sense ‘cuz we’d already split up!”

Vanitas nods along enthusiastically, fighting back a smirk. If this illusive ex really is Mu Qing, it’s going to be both terrifying and exciting to see them re-unite, particularly if Mu Qing is in drug withdrawal. Okay, Vanitas thinks it’s exciting. Noé just seems stressed by the thought.

“I can tell you’re very hard-working,” Noé comments, “I’m sure your son will have support.”

“Fucking hope so,” Feng Xin groans, knocking his head back against the chair. “I’m just… I dunno, sorry. I can’t believe this all happened. I didn’t even know there was a fucking warrant out for our arrest, and I bet Mu Qing is still just… riding around out there, taking whatever shit he was taking.”

Mu Qing. So it is Mu Qing. Vanitas’ lips tug upwards for a split second but he holds back a smirk, turning to Noé with a knowing look. Noé nods back, making a short note on Mu Qing’s file as well. Without realising, Feng Xin has told them two crucial pieces of information about Mu Qing: 1) his father ran off in his early teens, and 2) he was doing drugs from at least age 16. Feng Xin doesn’t notice the moment of silence between them, thankfully.

“Mu Qing was his name, you said?” Vanitas asks.

“Yeah, though I dunno where he is now,” Feng Xin says, “I hope one day he gets arrested too. That fucker can share the consequences of the stupid shit we did.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Obviously. I feel like an ass for doing that just because we were full of ourselves,” Feng Xin explains, “but… at the same time, the guy deserved it.”

“How come?”

“He was just some asshole who bullied the shit out of Mu Qing. He was always the poor kid ‘n a weird loner. We saw him again ‘n beat the crap out of him. But we didn’t realise he’d almost died.”

“Well, it’s good to know you’re not a sociopath. That’s a lot of effort in therapy,” Vanitas says, tapping his pen to his lips. “You’ll be having therapy with Noé, though at low frequency. As for meds, I see the previous psychiatrist gave you 10mg of fluoxetine. Did that help?”

“Fuck no. Just made me feel sick.”

“Perfect. 20mg it is, then.”

“What the fuck?!”

“That’s how we work here,” Vanitas snickers, “Do you smoke?”

“No— Well, yeah. Only a tiny bit,” Feng Xin replies.

“Get your girlfriend or whoever to send you money, and you can buy a pack,” Vanitas says, before flashing a soft smile at him. “In the meantime, relax a little, alright? You’re here now, and, well, one of your roommates is normal.”

“Roommates? I have fucking roommates?”

“Yes. Three of them,” Vanitas tells him, which makes the other groan louder. “Two are a couple who arrived a few weeks ago, and one is coming today as well, but he won’t be here until later.”

Noé shoots him a side glance as he says that, as if asking whether they should tell Feng Xin that his roommate is, in fact, Mu Qing. But Vanitas shakes his head, ending the conversation there and summoning Jeanne back. Luckily for Feng Xin, they deem him cooperative enough to not need restraining as he’s escorted to room six to meet the wonderful company of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian.

Once they’re sure he’s out of earshot, Noé turns to Vanitas and cocks his eyebrows. “Are you sure it was a good idea not to tell him about Mu Qing?”

“I don’t want him to freak out on day one,” Vanitas says, “Besides, we don’t have undeniable proof it’s that Mu Qing yet.”

“Hmm,” Noé frowns in disapproval, closing the notes and setting them aside for later. “Alright. I guess we’ll find out.”

Several hours after the arrival of Qi Rong, Lang Qianqiu, and Feng Xin, Vanitas and Noé finally get ready to meet the final newcomer.

“How’s everyone doing?” Noé asks, returning to his previous seat and picking up the notes like he never put them down.

“Qi Rong stopped screaming eventually and is now just talking to himself,” Vanitas responds with an eye roll. “Lang Qianqiu and Feng Xin don’t seem to have caused any problems yet. I hear Lang Qianqiu and Shi Qingxuan got talking to each other, but Shi Qingxuan is bordering on manic so she’ll talk to anyone at the moment.”

“That’s good. How was Reiji’s therapy session?”

“He’s still freaking out about the change, but he’s getting better at talking about why,” Vanitas says, pushing his glasses up further as he scans over Mu Qing’s notes once more. “Alright. CMHT diagnosed him with borderline personality disorder but said he’s non-compliant with therapy and medication. There’s a lot of notes from their meetings but nothing particularly helpful to me.”

“I guess we’ll have to ask him to speak…” Noé says.

“Yeah, and Feng Xin already snitched on the fact he was using drugs for at least three or four years, so they can fuck that out later,” Vanitas snorts, before pulling out his walkie-talkie again. “Domi. What the hell is taking so long? My shift ends in an hour.”

The walkie-talkie crackles for a bit as the channel changes, there’s some indiscriminate curses, then she replies, “We’re coming now. We only just got him out of the police van.”

“The fuck…?” Vanitas mutters, “Is this guy insane as well?”

“Or just… sick?” Noé suggests, “if he’s in withdrawal…”

“Yeah, I might be cracking out the methadone.”

Just as he says that, the door opens slowly and Jeanne enters first. Beside her, being held up by her arm, is a man similar aged to Feng Xin, with long black hair, a small frame, and a delicate face. His eyebrows are sharp and he’s obviously trying to hold a frown, but his face is pale and sweaty, and he’s clutching his stomach in pain. He glares at Vanitas and Noé the moment he lays eyes on him, though his inability to walk without assistance makes it significantly less intimidating.

Once he’s in the room, Jeanne drops him onto the chair, at which he immediately falls sideways and rests his elbow on the arm of the chair, failing to suppress a pained grunt. Shortly after, Astolfo also arrives, holding a small bucket which Vanitas recognises from the infirmary. He gives it to Jeanne, who places it on the sofa next to Mu Qing in the space between his slumped over body and the arm of the chair.

“Hey,” Vanitas hisses at Astolfo. “You’ve been raiding my infirmary.”

“You should be thanking me,” Astolfo retorts, “He threw up in the police van. I was saving you mess.”

“Charming,” Vanitas mutters sarcastically, screwing his face up as Mu Qing gags and spits into the bucket. “Yeah, really charming.”

“Piss off,” Mu Qing hisses back, somehow managing to hold back the rest of his stomach contents (for now).

“Nice to meet you too,” Vanitas deadpans, “Alright, if you want to make this quick and go lie down somewhere where you can vomit in a dignified way, cooperate with questions, then I can put you in the infirmary.”

“’m not having a conversation right now,” Mu Qing refuses straight up, leaning his forehead against the arm of the chair and bringing up a bigger mouthful of saliva into the bucket. “Just let me lie down.”

“Mu Qing, I know you feel gross right now, but there’s some formalities to go through. Plenty of people have come here in drug withdrawal, so this is nothing I haven’t seen before,” Vanitas says, his gaze flitting over the other and taking in his symptoms: vomiting, stomach pain, chills, tremors. “I can start with my first question. What are you withdrawing from?”

“Nothing,” Mu Qing grumbles, swallowing back another gag.

“I’m not an idiot. I’ll drug test you otherwise,” Vanitas threatens, “Is it opiates?”

Mu Qing still doesn’t respond.

“Silence is a great answer. Heroin, then?”

With gritted teeth, Mu Qing stares down at the bucket and mutters, “Yeah, sure. Heroin.”

“That I can work with,” Vanitas says, “We can easily get you started on methadone.”

“No,” Mu Qing hisses, “No methadone.”

“Ugh, I’ll convince you eventually,” Vanitas sighs, “How long since you last used?”

Mu Qing’s head dips to the side for a second as he closes his eyes, obviously trying very hard not to show any vulnerability. He mumbles something under his breath before replying, “Two… Two and a half days?”

“You were taking into holding two days ago, correct?”

“Yeah,” he huffs, brushing the hair away from his sweat-covered forehead. “Stupid.”

“Mhm, yes, let’s hear about these charges, then,” Vanitas says, “Some stuff a few years ago in a different city, and theft from work. Tell me about that.”

“Don’t wanna talk about it.”

“You don’t get a choice.”

“Vani, slow down,” Noé scolds him, “Mu Qing, I know you don’t feel well and you don’t have to give too much detail, but we need to get things clear on the legal side as well.”

“Fuck— Ugh,” Mu Qing curses under his breath. He sits up a bit straighter, attempting to remain expressionless; however, before he can start answering the question, he leans over again and retches, clinging to the bucket with one hand and holding his hair out of his face with the other as he throws up bile only.

Vanitas and Noé wince, and although it’s gross, they’ve seen it before. He looks in agony, and Vanitas actually takes pity on him; he can’t help but think back to Subaru and Kou, who sat on that very seat, confessing they’d been sneaking heroin and had gotten addicted, clinging to a bucket and throwing up. He stands up, pouring a cup of water from the fountain in the corner and bringing it over. Once Mu Qing seems to have finished for the time before, he passes him a tissue and then the water.

“Take a few sips,” Vanitas says, his tone much softer than usual. “This will be quick, I promise.”

“… thanks…” Mu Qing whispers under his breath, barely audible to Vanitas and completely missed by Noé. He takes a few sips of water then sits up straighter again, rinsing his mouth with the water and spitting into the bucket a couple of times. Vanitas begins making some notes on his condition while Noé scans over the notes the community mental health team released, before Mu Qing suddenly speaks up. “The theft… Money from my job. They accused me of… of stealing from the cash registers.”

Vanitas perks up, meeting his guilt-ridden, pained eyes. “Did you?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Mu Qing mutters, taking a deep breath. For a second, it looks like he might cry, but he swallows it down with another gag. “They found evidence. I pled guilty because… there was no point.”

“Right,” Vanitas nods, repeating his question. “But did you?”

Mu Qing refuses to give a proper response, and Noé and Vanitas give each other a clueless shrug. If he keeps this up, they’ll probably never know whether he did it or not.

“What about this incident of GBH a few years ago?” Noé enquires.

“Somewhere else,” Mu Qing replies, refusing to look up as a slight bitterness pulls across his face. “Just… beat up a guy. I wasn’t thinking. That’s all.”

“That’s all?” Noé presses, but a lot gentler than Vanitas would. “It didn’t involve anyone else?”

Mu Qing scrunches his nose up and shifts uncomfortably. “No.”

“Really?” Vanitas snorts, “You know I’ve read your court notes. There was a warrant out for two people’s arrests from the same time.”

“Different times,” Mu Qing says, “I don’t know anything about the other person.”

It’s a blatant lie and they know thanks to Feng Xin, but it seems clear Mu Qing is adamant on not acknowledging Feng Xin’s existence. Maybe it’s not the best idea to put them together in one room after all, but there’s no going back now.

“And your life before?” Vanitas asks, “You moved away, right?”

“Mhm,” Mu Qing nods briefly, his eyes fluttering shut, as if he’s resigned to the fact he’s going to have to be honest. “Dad left ‘n then mum got sick. Had to move somewhere cheaper ‘n I had to get a job.”

“We got records from your community mental health team, but there’s not a lot of detail about it. Just that you were your mother’s carer,” Noé says, “Can you elaborate on that? Just a little.”

“… We got into a car accident,” Mu Qing replies quietly, holding his stomach tighter. He chokes briefly then spits up more saliva into the bucket. “I was fine but she couldn’t walk, got drugged up with painkillers, then she… she just… started other stuff.”

“Other stuff?”

“Just… other drugs,” he says, mumbling under his breath with a bitter scowl. “Hate the medical system.”

“I can understand why you would feel that way,” Noé replies, “Were you paying for her?”

“Had to… She was sick and in pain otherwise,” Mu Qing explains, “Never had money for food. Just… my stuff. Her stuff.”

“I see. And your stuff was just heroin, you say?”

“… Yeah.”

“Mhm,” Vanitas nods, smirking subtly as he pulls out the court notes. “Yet two weeks ago, you told the police who pulled you over for driving like you were drunk that you were on ketamine?”

Mu Qing stiffens a bit, hugging his stomach tighter. “… And a bit of ket. Some weed. That’s it.”

“Got it,” Vanitas grins.

“Where is your mother now?” Noé asks, “I know your social worker was working with the police to make sure she wasn’t left without help until the outcome of your trial was determined.”

“Dunno,” Mu Qing shrugs, his eyes glazing over slightly. “She has care workers, some disability funding, but… dunno how she’s gonna get her stuff. I did it.”

“I can imagine it was difficult for you to have to do that.”

“Not really. Just didn’t want her to be sick.”

At that, Vanitas and Noé can’t help but smile at each other. Even if he’s a pretty cold and rude person, it’s apparent that’s he’s just in a lot of pain and hated by the world.

“The CMHT notes say you were diagnosed with BPD, but you haven’t taken any of your meds in a while,” Vanitas says, “Correct?”

“I don’t like them,” Mu Qing mutters.

“Well, patients who need to be medicated in my facility get medicated,” Vanitas says, reading the notes again. “Quetiapine 200mg at night, and sertraline 200mg in the morning. That was what you were given?”

“’m not having sertraline again,” Mu Qing says immediately, gagging again but bringing nothing up. “Made me sick.”

“Hm. Fine, we’ll try escitalopram,” Vanitas negotiates, “I won’t give you 200mg of quetiapine straight away, because I’m not that mean, but you will be tapering up to at least that.”

“Whatever.”

“Don’t bring attitude with me,” Vanitas scolds him, though it’s more teasing than threatening. He taps his pen against the paper, thinking of the essential question. He has so many more questions he’d life to ask, but Mu Qing is hardly in the state to talk. As one of the BPD patients, he’ll have the absolute treat of Vanitas as his therapist anyway, so he has plenty of time to pry after detox. “Do you smoke?”

“Yeah,” Mu Qing huffs, choking again on something which tries to force its way up his throat. “Been two… two days.”

“Probably not a good idea to do that right now, but if your mum can send you a tiny bit of money, you can get cigarettes here,” Vanitas explains. Mu Qing rolls his eyes at that and grunts in frustration, though he doesn’t complain. “I know you don’t want methadone, but in the mean time I can offer you an injection of diazepam, since you probably can’t keep down—”

“Yes,” Mu Qing answers instantly. Very, very quickly. He even manages to lift his head, before his eyes widen and he sinks back against the sofa, planting on his cold and uncaring façade. “Yeah… That.”

“Sure,” Vanitas says, holding a hand up to help him stand. “Keep the bucket, I’ll take you to the infirmary. You’ll be in a room with three others but I won’t put you there until you stop throwing up every five minutes.”

Mu Qing’s nose scrunches up in disgust again at the mention of roommates, but he’s once again forced to double over the bucket and retch. “Ugh… Hate this.”

“I know,” Vanitas replies, sympathetically. “I know it sucks, but it’s nothing a little medication can’t fix, alright?”

Okay, so what if he sees Subaru in him? He’s totally over that.

Chapter Text

Feng Xin wasn’t too pleased when he was told he was getting roommates, but he doesn’t like to be difficult unless it’s necessary. He likes to consider himself to be fairly easy-going, even if many others from his life wouldn’t agree.

However, his roommates are weird. One is overly friendly and wanted to know his life story within an hour of meeting, and the other is creepy. He’s pretty sure he saw him staring when he was trying to sleep, but who the fuck can sleep during their first night in prison?!

Really, Feng Xin and his sanity was relying on having a normal fourth roommate. At least he wouldn’t feel like a constant third wheel to Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. But for the entire first day and night of him being there, Vanitas kept saying the fourth roommate wouldn’t be coming until the following day; something to do with something medical, and it didn’t give Feng Xin a good gut feeling. Especially when Vanitas and every other staff member tried hard to change the topic whenever he asked about the fourth newcomer.

So, you can imagine his shock when he finishes breakfast, goes outside for his first cigarette of the day, then goes back up to his new room, and sees a painfully familiar face. Feng Xin wasn’t planning on staying there for long, simply grabbing some clothes before braving the showers here for the first time. He assumed it would be Xie Lian and Hua Cheng here, since he’s not sure where they snuck off to.

But instead, there’s a small, slightly frail person curled up on the bottom bunk — Feng Xin’s bed, actually! — eyes closed and long, black hair draped over his back and stuck to his sweat-glistened face. Still, despite the terrible state of him, Feng Xin wouldn’t forget that stupidly handsome face, capable of looking like a model at the worst times, even if it’d been twenty years.

“… What the fuck?” he says, swallowing back the lump in his throat as he steps forward. “Mu Qing?”

It’s only been two years since they last saw each other, but Mu Qing also recognises his ex-boyfriend the moment he cracks one eye open. Both eyes then shoot open and he sits up, glaring at the other. “You…! Get out.”

“The fuck do you mean get out?!” Feng Xin yells, “This is my room too, you know!”

“What?” Mu Qing’s mouth drops open, as he leans on one arm and places a hand over his head. “Fuck…”

While Feng Xin would love to scream curses at him and throw insults without a second thought, the other looks… really fucking sick. Worse than he’s ever seen him, even the night his father ran off and he first tried whatever drug he was taking; he never even said.

“Uh…” Feng Xin murmurs, stepping forward slowly as he raises an eyebrow. “Are you, like, okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Mu Qing grunts, despite the fact it’s visibly sucking up all his energy just to sit up. “I don’t want to see you.”

“Well, big fucking surprise, I don’t want to see you either!” Feng Xin yells, clenching his fists. God, he’d love to punch this stupid face right now, but that would be mean when he looks on the verge of keeling over and just… dying. “But seriously, what the fuck is up with you?”

“Hah,” Mu Qing snorts derisively, “Don’t pretend you care.”

“Fuck off! Never once did I say I didn’t care about you!” Feng Xin yells, stepping forward. His impulse control falters and he can’t help it as he grabs Mu Qing’s shirt collar and pulls him closer to spit his words directly in his face. “You fucking left just because your jealous ass couldn’t hand me getting with someone else even after we broke up, and when I asked if we could just talk, you told me to go fuck myself and that you never wanted to see me again!”

Mu Qing smacks his hand away, standing up with the support of the metal ladder on the side of the bunk bed. He tries to look intimidating, but the trembling in his hand as he jabs a finger against Feng Xin’s chest makes it hard to be scared. “Don’t pretend you know anything about my life! Me leaving had nothing to do with you, but no, everything has to be about you, doesn’t it?!”

“Rich coming from you!” Feng Xin shouts back, backing away to hold back on decking the other square in the nose. “If it wasn’t anything to do with me, why did you get all cryptic about it?! Why’d you never talk to me again? Why did you move away when Jian Lan got pregnant?! That’s not a fucking coincidence, you know!”

“Why does it matter what I say?” Mu Qing scoffs, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the ladder. He screws his eyes shut, pressing his forehead against the cold metal.

And, God, Feng Xin hates his guts so bad right now. However, he was fiercely protective of Mu Qing for their entire relationship and even in the rough months where they were broken up but still in contact, and that flame didn’t die.

“Enough yelling, fuck,” Feng Xin says, reaching out to hold his shoulder. “Seriously, why are you so sick? You look like shit. You know I—”

“Shut up!”

Up until now, Feng Xin was mentally patting himself on the back for biting back the urge to hurt the other. Yet, it was all for nothing, because in a split second, before he can react, a foot connects with his stomach and he falls to the floor. Mu Qing kicks him over so fast he barely gets enough time to break his fall, almost hitting his head against the opposite bed.

“Hey! What the actual fuck is wrong with you?!” Feng Xin yells, scrambling to stand up. But before he can, Mu Qing steps over and rams his foot into Feng Xin’s chest, pressing down hard. “Get off!”

“This is your fault,” Mu Qing hisses, “It’s your fault we’re here.”

“Why?!”

“Because you got caught first! They… They wouldn’t have followed up my warrant if your stupid, dumb ass didn’t do something else!”

“You don’t even know how I got caught!” Feng Xin yells, grabbing Mu Qing’s ankle. “I didn’t do anything else! I got fucking pulled over for speeding on my way to work and that was it!”

“… Oh.” Mu Qing’s face drops, and he slowly pulls his foot off Feng Xin’s chest.

But he’s pissed him off enough already, and Feng Xin no longer cares he’s in a shit state. He grabs his ankle and flips the other onto the floor, watch him fall onto his chest, face-planting the floor.

“I’m not trying to hurt you,” Feng Xin says, pinning his hands behind his back and grinding a knee into the bottom of his spine. “But you can’t just kick me onto the floor when I’m expressing concern for you.”

“Fuck— Get off,” Mu Qing hisses, thrashing about beneath him, but Feng Xin can feel how weak he is with each frantic squirm. Quickly, he relents and presses his forehead against the floor, and then the next time Feng Xin looks down at his face, there’s tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Wait, fuck, did I seriously—”

The door swings open before Feng Xin can attempt any apology or reconciliation, Vanitas and Domi come running in. Feng Xin, if given a second, would’ve surrendered and let go of the other, but Domi is behind him with her arms hooked under his elbows, pulling him off Mu Qing.

“So that’s what that crash was,” Vanitas hums, slowly walking over to Mu Qing and cocking an eyebrow at the sight of him lying flat on the floor, crying silently.

“No!” Feng Xin yells, frantically trying to break free from Domi’s iron grip. Her boobs brush against his back and it makes him very deeply uncomfortable. “I swear to fucking God, he kicked me over first!”

“Weh, weh, he started it,” Vanitas imitates, clapping his fingers in a blah-blah motion, before crouching down in front of Mu Qing. He takes his shoulder, trying to roll him over. “Come on, wakey-wakey.”

“Hng,” Mu Qing just grunts in pain, clutching his head and pushing himself up with his elbow. “Hate this.”

“You got a bit better overnight,” Vanitas comments.

“Diazepam helped,” Mu Qing mutters, before collapsing back onto the floor.

“What the fuck is going on with him anyway?” Feng Xin asks, once again attempting to get out of Domi’s arms, “Get off!”

“Am I really that scary?” she asks teasingly.

“No! I’m just—! I don’t want to be restrained by you! It’s weird!”

“How on God’s green earth did you get a woman pregnant?” Vanitas asks, glancing down. Although it’s quiet, nobody misses the way Mu Qing snorts in amusement — it’s the first time in two years Feng Xin has seen that scathing, smug grin. Vanitas senses the tension between the two immediately. “Alright, I guess it’s out there now. You two know each other.”

“Never met him,” Mu Qing mumbles, clutching his stomach as he rolls onto his side.

“Cut the shit. They already know,” Feng Xin spits, “I already told them.”

“Asshole,” Mu Qing curses. “Then yes. We know each other.”

“Yeah, okay, we’re gonna have some work to do,” Vanitas says. As he helps Mu Qing sit up with one hand, he gets out the walkie-talkie with one hand, switching to another channel. “Noé? You know that crash Domi and I went to investigate?”

“Yes?”

“It’s room six. It finally happened, so get your ass up here.”

“… Alright.”

Noé’s reaction makes it clear that they already knew this would happen, probably from the moment Feng Xin said Mu Qing’s name.

“Can you let go of me now?!” Feng Xin yelps.

“Do you promise not to get violent?” Domi says.

“Yes! It wasn’t even me in the first place!” Feng Xin insists, and Domi reluctantly lets go of him, standing uncomfortably close still.

“The state of things when I came in suggests otherwise,” Vanitas responds, looking back at Mu Qing and gently smacking his cheek. “Mu Qing? Come on, stay awake.”

“Hate this…” Mu Qing grunts for the millionth time, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead. “… feel sick…”

“I can tell,” Vanitas says, grabbing his arm and helping him sit up. “Where did the bucket go?”

“Under the bed,” Mu Qing whimpers, crawling back a couple of steps before slumping against the ladder, groping for the bucket under the bed. As Vanitas goes over to help, Feng Xin only then notices the small patch of vomit on the bed. His bed!

“Hey!” Feng Xin yells, “He puked in my bed!”

“Oh, yeah. This was your bed,” Vanitas deadpans, pushing the bucket under Mu Qing’s head when his body lulls to the side a bit. “Well, it’s Mu Qing’s bed right now. He’s sicker than you.”

Feng Xin’s mouth drops open to protest, but when Mu Qing gags and throws up nothing but saliva and bile into the bucket, he closes it. That was his bed, but he’s not evil enough to expect Mu Qing to clamber up into the top bunk right now. “What’s even wrong with him?”

No one answers, as the door opens and Noé walks in. “What happened?”

“Feng Xin pushed Mu Qing onto the floor,” Domi says, smirking; she knows she’s winding him up.

It works. “Fuck off! I said he did it first!”

“They were battling for who tops,” Vanitas replies, pushing Mu Qing’s hair out of his face until he stops throwing up. “Alright. I’m taking him back to the infirmary for a bit. As much as I’d love to hear the gossip, you’ll have to update me later.” He reaches over, letting Mu Qing grab onto his arm; he very obviously doesn’t want the help, but he has no choice. “Come on. Let’s go back.”

Feng Xin watches in mostly shock as Mu Qing gets escorted out of the room. He’s in shock, both from seeing him for the first time in two years, and from seeing him in this state.

“Drug withdrawal,” Domi answers his question from earlier, now that they’re alone. “That’s why he’s sick.”

“… I mean, I guess I’m not surprised in theory, but holy fuck, he looks like death,” Feng Xin sighs. He looks around, wanting to sit down to process everything, but now he’s lost his bed and has nowhere to sit, so he stays standing up. “What was he using?”

“Heroin, apparently,” Noé replies, “He seemed unsure, though.”

“Shit? Mu Qing was doing fucking heroin?”

“It’s not uncommon here,” Domi shrugs, crossing her arms over and scanning him over with a cheeky grin. “So, what happened? You two forget the make-up sex part of your reunion?”

“You’re so weird, God!” Feng Xin yells, “I don’t want make-up sex with him! I’m just… in shock he’s here. And he accused it of being my fault he got arrested!”

“I assure you, it’s not,” Noé tells him, “He was arrested in the same way as you, by getting pulled over for dangerous driving. Ah, except he was high. But it was a similar story. A huge coincidence it happened only a couple of weeks apart.”

“So… he only got arrested recently?”

Noé nods. “Three days ago. Other charges came to light, but he was a carer for his mother in the community, so he wasn’t taken into custody until after the court hearing.”

“Lucky bitch…” Feng Xin grumbles, “Wait, a carer for his mother? She was… like, fine? Well, had a divorce, but fine.”

“… That might be for Mu Qing to tell you,” Noé says.

“I… I dunno anything about what happened after I moved away,” Feng Xin mutters, “I thought he just took off ‘cuz his petty ass was jealous about me getting Jian Lan pregnant, but he said it wasn’t that, and now I feel like somethin’ else happened. Not that he’ll tell me.”

“I think he will if you ask,” Noé smiles, “You two have a lot of history together.”

“Yeah, ask him while he’s sick and dying,” Domi says, “That was, he can’t run away.”

“Domi…” Noé sighs, “Sometimes you’re far too similar to Vani.” He glances at Feng Xin next, giving a nervous laugh. “I apologise. You might notice some of the staff here are… odd.”

“That’s a fucking understatement,” Feng Xin deadpans.

God, what a weird fucking first day.

Chapter Text

In hindsight, Vanitas thinks he should’ve made a plan for the moment Feng Xin and Mu Qing first saw each other.

The biggest mistake was probably sending Mu Qing back to room six to meet Feng Xin on his own, but Vanitas really thought he was doing better. The diazepam injection seemed to work and helped him sleep, and when he hadn’t thrown up all night, Vanitas assumed his opioid dependence just… wasn’t that bad. Stupid thought, he knows that now, and the magical improvement from the diazepam was a mere stroke of good luck.

But in his defence, he had a lot of other things to be done! Ayato and Break both had blood-tests due, Azusa and Leo were due their T-shots, and he had therapy with the high-risk patients as always. Fine, he could’ve put someone on one-to-one with Mu Qing; however, the other way adamant he wanted to be alone, and Vanitas knew he felt like utter shit and felt he should honour that.

It all went to shit though, and when he saw Mu Qing a couple of hours later, he was in the same physical condition as yesterday evening when he arrived… and also pinned down on the floor by Feng Xin.

He’s barely able to walk as Vanitas hauls him to the infirmary, settling him on the bed. Mu Qing doesn’t thank him and instead pouts, grabbing the blanket and lying on his side, an arm wrapped around his stomach.

“Do you still feel sick?” Vanitas asks.

“A bit,” Mu Qing grunts, reaching for a tissue to wipe his mouth. “Hate this.”

“Yeah, so you’ve said,” Vanitas snorts, before taking in his symptoms once again. He sighs, getting ready to deliver the same pitch he’s done many times before. “Okay, I know you said no yesterday, but I really think you should consider taking the methadone. I have— had many patients here who were on it, and it helped them a huge amount.”

Mu Qing purses his lips and swallows thickly, and remains silent.

“You’ll be physically sick for several more days, and you’ll deal with cravings for months to come if you go cold-turkey,” he continues, “I can’t force you to drink it, obviously. But there’s no other medicines I can give you to make you feel any better.”

“Just give me diazepam again,” Mu Qing says weakly, with a slightly cocky grin. “Isn’t that your job?”

“No, I don’t give benzos long-term,” Vanitas responds bluntly, “Do you want to get addicted something else instead?”

Immediately, Mu Qing falls silent at that, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He seems to want to say something, but he falters at the first word.

“Why won’t you take the methadone?” Vanitas asks, with as much genuineness he can manage. “At least give me a reason.”

“… I can’t,” Mu Qing whimpers, rather pathetically. “I don’t want to… to get hooked on opioids.”

“What, and you want to get hooked on benzos instead?” Vanitas snorts, “You’re already hooked on opioids.”

“… no…” Mu Qing says, almost inaudibly. He inhales another deep breath, rolling onto his back as tears prick at the corners of his eyes. “I’m not… It wasn’t…”

Vanitas raises an eyebrow, replaying everything he just said over and over. Then it hits — Mu Qing’s reluctance to explicitly say what drug he was using, the severity of his symptoms which only align with a few substances’ withdrawal, but most importantly, his sudden, brief improvement after being given diazepam.

“Oh,” he mutters, staring at the other, but he refuses to look at him. His gaze softens immediately and Vanitas actually feels immense sympathy for Mu Qing. In his time as a psychiatrist, he hasn’t seen a huge number of patients severely dependent on benzodiazepines. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t…” Mu Qing starts to speak, his breath catching in his breath somewhere between a gag and sob. “I didn’t want anybody to know.”

“No one knew?” he asks, “Not even your mother?”

“No,” he sniffs, covering his face with his hands. “She… She thought I was only using ket, and weed, she didn’t… I-I didn’t want her to know I was doing just as bad as she was.”

“So you were using ket regularly as well?”

Biting his lip, Mu Qing nods as well, the tremors made worse by the crying. At some point in the other’s life, he taught himself to cry silently. Vanitas feels another pang of sympathy. If anyone knows about ketamine withdrawal, it’s him.

“How long?” Vanitas asks, passing him a tissue.

“Which one?” Mu Qing scoffs, wiping his nose. He doesn’t bother wiping the tears, just closing his eyes and knocking his head back against the pillow behind his neck.

“Both?” Vanitas says, “Ket first.”

“Four years, something…” Mu Qing murmurs, subconscious wiping his nose. “Didn’t start using it regularly until mum was doing heroin, though.”

“Alright,” Vanitas replies, wanting to write all this down but he doesn’t want it to seem like an interrogation. “And the diazepam?”

“Wasn’t just… diazepam,” Mu Qing says sheepishly, tears welling in his eyes again. It’s clear without him saying it how much he hates himself for this. “I-I did everything,” he sniffs, fighting back another sob. “Mostly diazepam, but whatever my dealer had when I called… Temazepam, clonazepam, alprazolam sometimes, but… Xanax was expensive. The cheap illegal shit did nothing.”

“I see,” Vanitas hums, “Did you just take them? Or did you snort it?”

“Both. Just snorted it at night… mostly temazepam.”

He raises an eyebrow again. “As well as ket?”

“Yeah,” Mu Qing snorts, “I shouldn’t even be alive right now.”

“With all that, not really, no,” Vanitas chuckles, “How did that happen? Benzos is a weird thing to start abusing when you’ve already got ket by your side.”

“Wasn’t my choice…” Mu Qing whispers, sniffling as more tears well in his eyes. “I… When my mum first got hospitalised, I was homeless in a new city, and I-I tried to throw myself off a bridge. Someone called the police and I got put into the psych ward for three months. I hate… everything that hospital did. Doped my mum up on fentanyl half the time, gave me diazepam all day and at night. When we left I… I-I couldn’t do anything else. We were both screwed over.” Another few tears trail down his cheeks. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“The medical system failed you, and your mother. I know why you’re hurting,” Vanitas says, “but… I can’t give any medication for benzodiazepine withdrawal, unfortunately. You’re just gonna have to ride this one out I’m afraid.”

“Fuck.” Mu Qing lets out a shaky inhale, brushing his hands over his face. “It’s been three days and I feel like I’m dying.”

“You’re not dying,” Vanitas chuckles softly, “but I understand the sentiment.”

“Do you?” the other sneers.

“Yes, I do,” Vanitas says. He shouldn’t smile, but it makes him think of the first time he met Subaru. Is it unprofessional to give patients all the details from your own struggles? Yes, mostly, but he does it anyway. “I was like you, I was diagnosed with BPD on my eighteenth birthday, I got my ass really addicted to ket after my first year of med school, and I spent many years in and out of psychiatric hospitals. I know you hate the world, you’ve been let down, but… you’re here now. Embrace it or don’t.”

“Why would I embrace this stupid place?” Mu Qing scoffs, “I’m in prison and my stupid ex is here.”

“Consider it a break. You get a break from life,” Vanitas replies, “As for your ex being here… Well, that’s just a really unfortunate coincidence. But hey, if it makes you feel any better, you’re not the first person who’s ended up stuck in a room with their ex here.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Mu Qing deadpans, “This place is stupid.”

“A popular opinion, but you haven’t got a choice,” Vanitas says, “unless you want to pretend you’re all fine and healthy, and go to the main ward of this prison, with no help or support, surrounded by people who could kick your ass.”

“Hmph,” Mu Qing snorts, “Feng Xin and I put a kid in hospital when we were in our teens. I’m not weak.”

“So you admit it was both of you?” Vanitas flashes him a smug grin. “What’s up with that?”

“I don’t want to talk about Feng Xin,” he mumbles sulkily, before closing his eyes and breathing deeply, his face paling.

“One day we’re gonna have to, and you two are gonna have to at least agree to be civil,” Vanitas says, “but… I understand not wanting to right now.”

Mu Qing scrunches his nose up in disgust at the mere thought of that, but he doesn’t respond. He exhales a shaky breath as his head rolls to the side, hanging over the bucket again.

“You’re gonna throw up again?” Vanitas asks.

“Mhm,” Mu Qing initially shakes his head, then shifts to a nod, swallowing back a gag. It fails, and he ends up dry heaving multiple times, looking utterly miserable. Vanitas knows there’s nothing he can say or do as he watches him bring up nothing except saliva and bile into the bucket.

It’s over soon, considering his stomach is completely empty, and he slumps back against the bed, burying his face in the pillow.

“I’ll leave you alone for a bit,” Vanitas says, “Do you need anything else?”

“A cigarette,” Mu Qing huffs, “You told me I could buy them.”

“If someone sends you money,” Vanitas replies, but quickly re-evaluates when Mu Qing just looks sad. He sighs, adding, “I’ll get you some from the prison store. What brand?”

“I roll,” Mu Qing answers, pressing his hand to his forehead. “Cutter’s choice.”

“Hm,” Vanitas grins, “Same as me. Good pick.”

Mu Qing snorts. “You’re a shitty doctor if you smoke.”

“Yeah, maybe I am,” Vanitas chuckles, “Get some sleep. I’ll be back in an hour.”

As the other’s eyes flutter shut, Vanitas leaves and can’t help but smile fondly, though with a touch of sadness. In the best and worst ways, he reminds him of Subaru, and there’s a flicker of hope deep down that maybe this is a second chance at saving someone like him.

After three days of what felt like dying, Mu Qing finally makes it an hour without throwing up and manages to get outside.

By some miracle, the outside area is empty, though he can hear some commotion in the canteen area and assume there’s an intense game with the staff going on in there. The sun is beginning to set as he shivers at the breeze, but being outside feels like a relief. Although his legs are weak, Mu Qing stays standing up, sick of lying down like some dying person.

He feels icky, having not been able to shower despite throwing up on his hair several times and being left to clean it up with a wet flannel and some soap, but showering might take him out completely. His stomach is still painful and the tremors have yet to go away, but…

He made it outside at least, just about able to keep his hands steady enough to roll a cigarette with the tobacco he has yet to fund. Mu Qing finally feels a tiny bit normal as he lights the cigarette and takes a long drag, having been deprived for several days. If he’s not allowed to take copious amounts of benzos and ket to function, at the very least he’s allowed to smoke. The taste is comforting as he inhales on the cigarette again, closing his eyes and exhaling slowly, trying not to pass out or throw up.

The vague feeling of tranquillity is shattered a moment later, however, when the door opens, he cracks an eye open, and immediately scowls upon seeing Feng Xin.

Feng Xin doesn’t appear too happy either, halting at the doorway.

“What?” Mu Qing scoffs through a cloud of smoke, lulling his head back against the fence.

“Are you gonna kick me in the fucking balls again?” Feng Xin asks.

“Not unless you piss me off,” Mu Qing says, placing the cigarette back between his lips, but no amount of nicotine can make being in the presence of his ex-boyfriend bearable. He cocks an eyebrow as Feng Xin pulls out a cigarette. Back when they were dating, Feng Xin went out of his way to call him an idiot when he lit up a cigarette from the ripe age of fifteen. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

“I’m not like you,” Feng Xin retorts, lighting it. He takes a long drag and exhales slowly, adding, “I worked two jobs, give me a break. At least I don’t chain-smoke.”

“Get off your high horse,” Mu Qing hisses through a cloud of smoke, swallowing back a mouthful of saliva, because he refuses to spit on the ground. That’d be gross.

“What the fuck?”

“Looking down on me, thinking I’m some filthy drug addict now.”

“When the fuck did I ever say that?!” Feng Xin yells, stepping forward, obviously ready to fight.

Mu Qing backs into the fence a bit and stumbles slightly, a little put off. He knows he’s in no condition to actually fight again. “Please, I saw the look on your face when you were told I was in withdrawal. You’re not slick.”

“That was shock! How the fuck else was I supposed to react to finding out you were doing fucking heroin?!”

“It wasn’t heroin, okay?!” Mu Qing cries, knocking his head back against the fence and taking a deep breath when a dizzy spell hits and his stomach churns again. He was barely able to stand up before this, and getting angry makes it worse.

“Wh— Then what was it?!”

“Why do you even care?! I’m not using anymore, it’s none of your business!”

“How is not my business?! We were… We didn’t separate on good terms, I thought I’d never see you again, and then I come here and you’re like this! How the fuck am I supposed to feel?!”

“God, stop making everything about you!” Mu Qing yells back, taking a deep drag of smoke and trying to stop himself collapsing or throwing up. He tries not to look pathetic, but Feng Xin can’t miss the way he grips the fence behind him to stay upright.

“Just tell me, it’s not that hard! You’re… You can’t just keep this shit some big secret!”

“It was benzos and ket, okay?!” Mu Qing spits, forcing himself to make eye contact with the other at the brutal honesty. “Nobody knew. I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to tell anyone. Especially not you.”

“Why not me?! We… I knew you were doing something! It was fucking benzos and ket?!”

“Yes! That’s what I just said!”

“Ahh, I was addicted to ket once, too.”

At the sound of the other voice, Mu Qing’s head whips sideways to see two people stood at the door. Feng Xin jumps out of skin too. They’d clearly been too pre-occupied arguing that they didn’t even hear the door opening. Narrowing his eyes, Mu Qing stares at the two; they look a little younger. One of them has short blonde hair and looks pissed, arms folded over his chest with a scowl fixed on his face, while the other has a mess of shoulder-length black hair, and smiles cheerily to himself.

“Go away,” Mu Qing spits, “Nobody asked you.”

“I’m not saying anything about it,” he replies, stepping forward and holding out a hand, the other hand holding an unlit, badly rolled cigarette. “I’m Leo, and as I said, I used to do ket, so I get it.”

Mu Qing rolls his eyes, ignoring his invitation to shake hands, and looks aside, taking a drag of smoke. He can’t tell if Leo is mocking him or trying to show sympathy, but he doesn’t respond either way.

“That’s Elliot,” Leo says, hooking his arm around the other’s elbow. “My boyfriend. We’re quite the name here.”

“I don’t care,” Mu Qing replies bluntly, turning back to Feng Xin. “Well? Say something!”

“Say what?!”

“Tell them to go away!”

“What?! Why me?! I don’t care if they’re here!”

“We’re in the middle of a conversation, I-I don’t want two random people hearing it!” Mu Qing yells, because he’s embarrassed, okay? He didn’t even like telling the doctor about how down bad he was, let alone Feng Xin, and he definitely doesn’t want this random couple hearing it too.

“Oh, so now you want a fucking conversation,” Feng Xin scoffs, clearly not bothered as Elliot and Leo both sit down at one of the tables and Leo lights the cigarette.

“You started it,” Mu Qing responds bitterly, gripping the fence tighter and resting his head against it when a wave of dizziness hits once more. He takes a few deep breaths, the stomach cramps returning full force.

“Hey,” Leo chimes, resting his leg on Elliot’s thigh. “You two remind me of us.”

“Don’t insult me like that,” Elliot says, frowning at him and pushing his leg off. “These two are even worse, their arguing doesn’t even make sense!”

“Neither does ours,” Leo snickers, turning back to Mu Qing and raising an eyebrow, then glancing at Feng Xin. “Ah, but you might want to take him back to bed.”

“I don’t need to be escorted back to bed,” Mu Qing sneers, sucking on the cigarette but it only makes the nausea stirring in his stomach worse. “I’m not a child.”

“I’m not helping him,” Feng Xin scoffs, “He’ll kick me in the fucking balls again if I try.”

“That’s because I don’t need help,” Mu Qing hisses, but the bitter taste brewing in his mouth which he can no longer swallow back begs to differ. He visibly pales, trying to force it down, yet the queasy feeling only gets stronger. It’s at that point Mu Qing decides he needs to go back inside, so he throws the cigarette onto the ground and stomps on it.

However, two steps forward later, his legs grow weak and he stumbles forward, trying to grab the fence as he falls to the ground. He almost hits the ground, but when he opens his eyes, Feng Xin’s arms are wrapped around him, holding him up.

“Jesus fucking Christ, okay,” Feng Xin says, trying to lift him to his feet. “We’re going back inside.”

“Get off,” Mu Qing spits, yanking his arm back. He falls towards the fence on the other side, grabbing at the metal to steady himself. His attempt at standing up fails as the light-headedness worsens. With a hand pressed to his forehead, everything goes fuzzy, he doesn’t register Feng Xin talking to him, and leans his head aside like a reflex as he gags.

It’s truly humiliating being seen like this by not one but three people, two of whom are complete strangers, and the thought that anyone else could walk out at any moment and see this makes it worse. But Mu Qing can’t do anything except spit onto the ground before throwing up for the hundredth time. His stomach cramps as he retches, bringing up nothing but water and bile because he hasn’t eaten in days now.

“Holy shit,” Feng Xin curses, grabbing his hair and pulling it back. Although Mu Qing wants to throw him away, he can’t, and he’s overcome with a sense of déjà vu as he thinks back to all the times this happened in his teens; every time they got drunk and Feng Xin stopped at three drinks whereas Mu Qing was on a mission to finish whatever bottle they stole from the convenience store.

Their teenage angst rebellious phase really backfired, it seems.

He stops throwing up relatively quickly, barely able to keep his eyes open as he collapses onto the fence. The past few days have really shattered his dignity and he wants to cry, although that’d be the last straw, so he holds back the choked up feeling and doesn’t resist when Feng Xin holds his arms and pulls him up.

“Okay, we’re going back inside,” he says, giving him no space to protest.  

“Good luck,” Leo chirps, and Mu Qing would love to punch him as well. But he can’t, he can’t do anything except allow Feng Xin to haul him back inside and up the stairs back to their room.

To make matters worse, their room isn’t unoccupied. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are both on the other bottom bunk, cuddling each other like a cringe couple. It makes Mu Qing unbelievably bitter. Jealous? No, of course not.

Hua Cheng immediately glares at them, and Mu Qing would rather not be cock-blocking them either, but where the hell else is he meant to go?

“Are you okay?” Xie Lian asks.

“Stupid question,” Mu Qing grumbles, collapsing onto his bed and curling up into a ball, screwing his eyes shut as he clutches his stomach. “Hate this.”

“San Lang, maybe we should leave them alone for a bit,” Xie Lian says, pulling away from his arms.

“Hmph,” Hua Cheng scowls. “Okay, gege.”

Mu Qing thinks, for a brief second, that he appreciates Xie Lian’s awareness for a split second. He takes Hua Cheng’s hand as they leave, presumably heading outside. It makes Mu Qing paranoid thinking they’ll probably go outside and talk shit about him to Elliot and Leo, like everyone here is building some big conspiracy against him.

He wants to sleep, but he knows he won’t be able to. Feng Xin is relentless too, and clearly isn’t intimidated by him right now, as he sits on the edge of the bed.

“Mu Qing,” he says, sighing deeply. “I don’t wanna fight with you here.”

Mu Qing scoffs softly. “And you think I do?”

“Well, yeah, given how you’ve been ever since you saw me,” Feng Xin replies, “but we haven’t seen each other in years. I just— I want to know what happened. Why did you leave? Why did you never speak to me again?”

“Hmph. You didn’t try to reach out either.”

“You fucking blocked me on every social media we had! Were you somehow expecting me to?!”

With a little huff, Mu Qing pouts. Yeah, he did block him on everything, but somewhere deep down, he always thought maybe he’d reach out somehow anyway.

“Why did you leave?” he repeats.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Yes, it fucking is, you were my everything, Mu Qing, even when we broke up. You didn’t have to up and leave like that.”

Mu Qing scowls harder and buries his head into the pillow. His stomach is aching worse than it ever has in his entire life, and he hates everything about this whole situation. He hates every stupid little thing him and this fucking idiot did when they were dumb teenagers. He hates the fact his mother is home alone right now, maybe in withdrawal, or going out to buy drugs when she can’t even get out of bed on the worst days, knowing her son is in prison and he never really told her why.

“… my mum,” he mumbles, taking a deep breath and reluctantly accepting he needs to tell Feng Xin.

“What about her?”

“Just… didn’t have money,” Mu Qing mutters, “had to move somewhere cheaper ‘n… so I could get a job. She lost her job back at home too, got made redundant with no warning.”

“What, conveniently at the same time Jian Lan got pregnant?”

“Yes,” he hisses, “well, might’ve had… something to do with it.”

“… Alright, so you were jealous,” Feng Xin says.

“That wasn’t the whole reason, are you deaf?”

“Okay, whatever, but you could’ve contacted me again! I didn’t even know where you fucked off to!”

“Things were shit, okay?” Mu Qing hisses, swatting the other’s hand away the second he makes an attempt to touch his hand.

“What happened?”

“… We… We got into a car accident,” he admits, squeezing his eyes shut when the memories sting.

“Holy shit…” Feng Xin murmurs, eyes widening in disbelief. “Were you, like, okay?”

“I was,” Mu Qing snorts, “Sort of. But she couldn’t walk for a while, and got kept in hospital, and I…” He trails off suddenly, tears welling up behind his eyelids, which remain squeezed shut. “I-I was homeless for a bit, and did something… I got admitted to a psych ward.”

“Mu Qing—”

“Save it. I don’t want your pity.”

“But… But you were so…” Feng Xin says, unable to find the right words to say. “And you just… went back to working?”

“Mhm,” Mu Qing nods against the pillow, feeling the tears wetting the fabric beneath his head, but he refuses to let a single sob break out. “She was… They let her out of hospital without much help, and she started doing heroin.”

“Your mum did?” Feng Xin asks in disbelief, and Mu Qing would still be in disbelief if he hadn’t lived through it for two years by now. His mother, the sweetest person on earth, even when him and Feng Xin fought daily, who treated Feng Xin like her own son.

“It was hardly her choice,” Mu Qing says defensively.

“Well, yeah, I know that. But you were doing—”

“The psych hospital drugged me up on benzos, okay?” he snaps, trying to keep his head turned so the other doesn’t see his tears. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“Mu Qing, I don’t…”

“Know what to say? Yeah, don’t say anything.”

“Look, I’m not gonna say I get it, because I fucking don’t. But… you could’ve called. I would’ve helped in heart-beat if I knew.”

“I didn’t want your help,” Mu Qing retorts, “I didn’t want anyone’s help. I went to work, I paid our rent, I bought what we needed. We were fine.”

“You were both fucking drug addicts. You weren’t fine.”

Although his mouth drops open to snap back with a sarcastic remark, Mu Qing can’t bring himself to say it. He bites his tongue, holding back a sob, but all that comes out is a wretched sniffle and choking sound.

“… Sorry,” Feng Xin says, reaching over to rub his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’m even apologising for, but I’m sorry.”

“… Save it,” Mu Qing replies, his voice breaking midway through. He feels awful, physically and mentally, and he doesn’t know whether Feng Xin being here makes it better or worse. Deep down in a part of his psyche he always ignored, he wanted the other back, but not like this, and certainly not when he’s in this state.

“Come here.”

He wants to kick and shout when Feng Xin’s arms wrap around him, but he can’t. All he can do is let the other pull him into a tight hug, like they always used to do. Whilst he tried to be his best for Feng Xin, he slipped a handful of times, and he was the only person other than his mother who he ever let see him cry.

Burying his face in Feng Xin’s shoulder, Mu Qing finally sobs, his tears soaking the other’s shirt.

“I feel awful,” he whispers, gripping the back of his clothes. “A-And I miss my mum…”

“I know,” Feng Xin says, “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“She might not… I-I don’t know how she’ll get the… the stuff she needs,” Mu Qing sniffs, whimpering when another cramp hits his stomach and he slumps against Feng Xin. “I-I should be there for her. Not here.”

“Yeah, and I should be there for my son, but… we fucked up, alright?” Feng Xin replies, “And now we’re here. Just… You’ll be able to call her soon, yeah?”

“Mhm…” Mu Qing nods, wiping his tears with his sleeves. He collapses back against the pillow, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to stop crying. “I want to sleep.”

“Sleep then,” Feng Xin snorts, “Duh.”

“Easier said than done,” Mu Qing grunts.

“Yeah, maybe, but it’ll pass,” he says, “I never went through drug withdrawal obviously, but this shit won’t last forever. I’m sure that weirdo doctor told you that.”

Mu Qing lets out a bitter scoff. “I don’t trust doctors anymore. Not after what happened to me and my mum.”

“Alright,” Feng Xin chuckles, “Die quietly, then.”

“You’re such an ass,” Mu Qing mutters, curling up in the sheets, but it’s somewhat refreshing to hear the other tease him like that again. “… Now go away. I want to be alone.”

Feng Xin gives him a sceptical look, but he obeys his wish anyway, standing up. He looks a little lost, both for what to say and where to go, but he keeps his mouth shut and leaves the room without another word.

And by some miracle, Mu Qing actually falls asleep for a bit.

Chapter Text

Xie Lian didn’t realise how lucky he was to have not met all the new inmates yet. He could not have imagined what (or rather, who) was coming for him.

It was constantly in the back of his mind that he hadn’t met all four. He’d met Lang Qianqiu a couple of times and he was friendly, but after seeing him getting into a scrap with Elliot at breakfast, Xie Lian kept his distance. And obviously the other two newcomers… Well, he was a little too familiar with them.

A lot of people had warned Xie Lian when he was in his rebellious era, a lot of which he doesn’t even remember, that going to prison was brutal. Of course, they didn’t realise Xie Lian had a handy little mental health history behind him which would land him a place in the special psychiatric unit of the prison, and it’s not all too bad. He has Hua Cheng, the love of his life, by his side, and it’s quiet most of the time.

Okay, except for someone being murdered and everyone seeming to have weird coincidental histories with the people who come here, but Xie Lian considers himself lucky enough to be exempt from that. Well, his luck fucking sucks. Big news to nobody.

Still, it’s nice so far. He gets to sit outside with Hua Cheng, lying together on the ground against the fence. Most people wouldn’t consider that a luxury, but they slept on the streets when they were on the run far too often for Xie Lian to think the ground is uncomfortable.

“Is gege getting cold?” Hua Cheng asks after a while, as the sky begins to cloud over and it looks like it could rain.

“No, it’s alright,” Xie Lian says, which is genuine. He doesn’t feel the cold much anymore. “Besides, I want to leave Mu Qing and Feng Xin to themselves for a bit… I think they need to reconcile.”

“Hmph.” Hua Cheng’s face instantly contorts into a disgusted scowl. “Mu Qing is gross.”

“Withdrawal is gross, you saw me go through it enough times,” Xie Lian laughs nervously, grimacing at the memory of himself in the same state. “It’s exactly the same.”

“It’s different,” Hua Cheng insists, an amused smirk pulling at his lips. “At least gege didn’t shit the bed.”

“Hey, maybe you should stop bringing that up…” Xie Lian scolds him weakly. “Mu Qing was really upset about it.”

“Womp womp,” Hua Cheng snorts, wrapping his arm around his shoulder and kissing his forehead. “Nothing about you was ever gross.”

“I think throwing up all over myself on multiple occasions was arguably gross too.”

“No, never.”

Xie Lian lets out another dry laugh, resting his head on Hua Cheng’s shoulder. “Have you seen the fourth new person yet?”

“No,” Hua Cheng says, “I heard he was in isolation.”

“Really? That can’t be good. Well, not like I can judge, ahaha…”

Well. He thinks he can’t judge.

As if the mere mention of his existence summoned him, the door bursts open a minute later. And the second Xie Lian looks up and sees the new person, who is absolutely not new to him, he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Long, messed-up, badly-cut black hair, green eyeliner which was probably drawn on with sharpie considering make-up is banned here, a creepy smile with the angriest eyes…

Yeah. Who else.

“Are you serious…” he mutters, taking a deep breath. Maybe if he breathes too hard, he’ll pass out or God will strike him dead, because he does not want to see his cousin here. Or ever. But especially not here.

“Who the hell are you—!” the other starts to scream, before getting a proper look at Xie Lian’s face. His face lights up into something twisted. “… Cousin?!”

“Yes, regrettably,” Xie Lian sighs, forcing a clearly fake smile. “Hello, Qi Rong.”

“Ahaha… AHAHAHAHA! YOU’RE FINALLY HERE!” Qi Rong screams, “YOUR IDIOCY FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH YOU!”

He did not miss his screaming, or his shrill voice which hurts one’s ears. With that said… how the hell does Qi Rong even know what he did?!

“Say something!” Qi Rong snaps. There was an unlit cigarette between his fingers when he came out here, but it’s long forgotten on the ground now.

“Yes, my idiocy caught up with me,” Xie Lian says, raising an eyebrow. “What did you do?”

“I did what you did!” Qi Rong replies, stomping his feet on the ground like a scolded child. “Stupid fucking idiot! Fucking stupid crimes got me here!”

“… Your crimes, or mine?” Xie Lian asks. He doesn’t remember involving this demon-child in his crimes.

“Yours!” Qi Rong insists, “I COPIED WHAT YOU FUCKING DID!”

Xie Lian blinks at him a few times. After not seeing Qi Rong since they were young, he’d forgotten how one loses braincells with every interaction; he didn’t even know Qi Rong moved to this country. “… Why?”

“I wanted to be like you! Dog-fucker, stupid fucking criminal!” Qi Rong rants to himself, muttering an indiscriminate series of curses under his breath in very bad Chinese.

He starts walking closer, and Xie Lian isn’t sure whether he’s going to punch or hug him, but before he can get within a couple of meters, Hua Cheng is stood up, cracking his knuckles and blocking his path.

“You… fucking… Fucker!” Qi Rong yells, stepping right up to Hua Cheng. He’s quite a bit shorter than Hua Cheng though, and it looks rather quite pathetic. He narrows his eyes at him, his entire body vibrating. Not in a sexual way, it just looks weird. He’s weird. “Wait… You’re that stupid… DOG-FUCKING ASS! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO FOLLOWED MY COUSIN!”

“It seems like you’re the stalker here,” Hua Cheng says, before grabbing Qi Rong’s neck and squeezing. “How did you know he was here?”

“I DIDN’T—!” Qi Rong screams, frantically grasping at the hand around his throat to no avail. “MY AUNT TOLD ME! HE LEFT ME!”

Xie Lian sighs, burying his face in his hands. None of it makes sense, but it also makes perfect sense when it comes to Qi Rong, the child who was kicked out of the most specialist school in the region for setting another kid’s clothes on fire… while he was wearing them. It was one of his earliest memories. Of course Qi Rong would follow him to this country when he heard he moved. Of course Qi Rong would worm his way into the world of crime and follow what he’d be doing. Of course Qi Rong would copy everything he was doing. And of course no regular prison would take him.

And, yes, Xie Lian didn’t have much of an excuse either, but he was going through something and may or may not have been working under someone else’s influence. Qi Rong? He’s just an idiot. The only saving grace is that apparently, Qi Rong was too stupid to actually track down his exact location. There’s a lot which doesn’t add up, but he’d have to ask Qi Rong directly if he wants to know exactly what led to him getting arrested, and having an intelligent conversation with the other is virtually impossible.

“LET ME SEE MY COUSIN!” he shrieks, thrashing about and yowling in Hua Cheng’s iron grip around his neck.

“No,” Hua Cheng spits, lifting his leg and kicking him directly in the balls. “Go inside. And stay away from gege.”

“OW! FUCKER!” Qi Rong cries out as he’s thrown to the floor, holding his crotch in agony. It definitely hurt a lot, but Xie Lian finds it difficult to have sympathy.

“Go,” Hua Cheng orders again, slamming his foot into his chest.

“FUCK! I’M GOING! FUCK YOU! FUCKER!” Qi Rong screams, wriggling out of Hua Cheng’s grip before scurrying across the gravel towards the door. He doesn’t get up and run — no, he crawls back inside. As the door swings shut, Xie Lian watches as Qi Rong continues crawling down the corridor away from them. Truly, it must be a pretty horrifying sight to see some random weirdo on all fours, scurrying through the building like a rabid dog.

“Is gege okay?” Hua Cheng asks, holding a hand out. “Maybe we should go back inside.”

“Yeah, that’s probably best,” Xie Lian chuckles, taking his hand and standing up, a little shaken but mostly fed up. At this point, Mu Qing and Feng Xin and their constant bickering, with Mu Qing curled up in pain or throwing up every half hour, is better company than the risk of coming face-to-face with Qi Rong again.

Hiding in their room doesn’t last forever. Especially when Mu Qing throws up on the floor and they get escorted out for the room to be deep cleaned (Vanitas orders Astolfo to do it, and then they start arguing in the room too).

Xie Lian has been quite quiet since the events of the morning, and Hua Cheng tries to probe. His top priority is and has always been making sure Xie Lian is okay, but it’s hard to make sure he’s okay when his default response is I’m fine. Whilst Hua Cheng has never met Qi Rong himself, he’s heard Xie Lian talk about him from their childhood, and their first interaction made him want to punch Qi Rong’s face into the ground.

But… Hua Cheng essentially killed a guy in this place and got separated from Xie Lian for several days, so he likes to think he’s learnt his lesson about acting too impulsively.

Reluctantly, they head outside again for a smoke. At first, Ayato, Laito, Kanato and Kino are out there, smoking and playing tag with each other. It ends in Kanato tripping over on the fence and screaming his head off, Kino takes the piss, he gets even more upset, and Ayato and Laito have to carrying him back inside kicking and screaming when he tries to bite Kino. In some ways, Kanato reminds Hua Cheng of Qi Rong, but he thinks Qi Rong might actually be worse.

After that, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng get a moment of peace to share a couple of cigarettes.

Stupid thought. Nobody gets peace in this place.

This time, however, it’s not Qi Rong who bursts through the doors to outside in a fit of rage, but Lang Qianqiu. Neither of them has exchanged more than a couple of words since he came, so it’s odd when he comes storming out glaring daggers at them. Xie Lian, specifically.

“You!” he yells, jabbing a finger at Xie Lian. “You killed my parents!”

Xie Lian blinks, then turns to Hua Cheng with a clueless shrug. Obviously pissed off he’s accused his precious gege, Hua Cheng returns the venomous glare, stepping forward and placing an arm in front of Xie Lian protectively.

“Uh…” Xie Lian stares at him, tilting his head. “What?”

“I said! Don’t play clueless!” Lang Qianqiu says, taking another step closer. “You killed my parents!”

“I don’t think I did…” Xie Lian mutters, as he looks up at him, deep in thought. “I remember who I killed, and I don’t think it was your parents…? Well I don’t remember doing it, but I’m pretty sure it was only a certain group… Do I even know you?”

“Well…! No, but… You know my parents!” Lang Qianqiu yells, his eyes so full of fury there’s not a single thought behind them. Fists clenched at his sides, he totally disregards Hua Cheng’s threatening stance and steps forward again. “Why did you kill them?!”

“I’m sorry, I think this is one big misunderstanding,” Xie Lian says, backing against the fence and frantically waving his hands. Sure, if he wanted to, he could knock this measly 18-year-old with anger issues out in one punch, but he’d rather not. “I’m very sorry your parents are dead, but I assure you it wasn’t me.”

“Why are you lying?!” Lang Qianqiu continues shouting without a second thought. “I… I thought you looked familiar! I saw you, the night it happened at our house! You ran away like a coward!”

“Oh, you must be wrong, I never went to someone’s house to kill them!” Xie Lian insists, smiling awkwardly. Maybe he can’t use kindness to get out of this one.

Of course, Hua Cheng, his sweet, sweet San Lang, will not stand for such slander for a second longer. He grabs Lang Qianqiu by the neck and throws him onto the ground, pinning him down with his knee against his chest.

“Gege didn’t kill your parents,” Hua Cheng spits, “Who told you that?”

“Nobody!” Lang Qianqiu yelps, thrashing on the ground but ultimately failing to push the other off him. “I-I just figured it out! I knew I’d find you one day!”

“Bullshit,” Hua Cheng says, digging his knee harder against his lungs. “I’ll ask again: who told you that?”

“And I said, no one!” Lang Qianqiu repeats, but Hua Cheng’s brute force is strong and he relents quickly. “Fine! It was the new kid, Qi Rong! He… He told me he saw the news and he knew you killed my parents!”

Suddenly, it all makes sense, and Xie Lian looks like he’s about either laugh or cry. Hua Cheng looks back at him and nods, and they understand immediately. Qi Rong and Xie Lian, very unfortunately, look rather quite similar, their mothers being identical twins. From a distance or under dim lighting, they look nearly identical too.

By process of elimination… Qi Rong probably killed Lang Qianqiu’s parents. Why is he going around telling him it was Xie Lian? Probably just because he’s an asshole who wants to cause trouble.

“Please, I know you have no reason to believe me,” Xie Lian says, crouching by Lang Qianqiu’s side as he remains restrained by Hua Cheng. “But don’t believe anything Qi Rong tells you. He’s clinically insane and he’s causing trouble.”

“But—! But I saw you!” Lang Qianqiu yells, tears of frustration forming in his eyes. “Why else would I recognise you?!”

“Well, I think I understand why,” Xie Lian sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Lang Qianqiu, I think—”

As if on cue, Qi Rong comes running outside again, probably having heard the commotion and thinking, oh, yay, trouble! Hua Cheng is now presented with a dilemma; should he keep Lang Qianqiu pinned to the ground, or punch the living daylights out of Qi Rong?

“AHAHAHAHAHA!” Qi Rong howls with laughter, running in circles as he stares down at Lang Qianqiu. “You fool! I told you he was here! Why aren’t you killing him?!”

“I’m—! I’m not gonna kill him?! I just want to talk!”

Instantly, Qi Rong’s face contorts into disgust, stomping his feet against the ground. “No fun! BORING! KILL HIM!”

“Nobody will be killing gege,” Hua Cheng says, making up his mind. Reluctantly, he lets Lang Qianqiu free then stands up, marching over to Qi Rong. Qi Rong makes a pathetic attempt at hitting him, instead ending up in headlock as Hua Cheng throws him against the fence. His nose hits the wiring hard and blood trickles down his face, but he stays on his feet somehow. Until Hua Cheng kicks him in the balls again and he falls to the floor, at which point Hua Cheng forgets he’s supposed to be on his best behaviour, and rams his foot into his head.

“San Lang, stop!” Xie Lian says, running over to the other and trying to pull him back. Blood forms on the gravel beneath Qi Rong’s head, but he’s still laughing like a weirdo. “Don’t kill him!”

Hua Cheng doesn’t register Xie Lian’s pleading though, too overcome with rage at Qi Rong for trying to pin his own murder on his cousin for no real reason. His anger only grows as Lang Qianqiu gets up and tries to lunge at Xie Lian, at which point Hua Cheng turns around and punches him square in the nose.

“Ow!” Lang Qianqiu cries out, staggering back against the table. “What the hell?!”

“Stay back,” Hua Cheng warns, before lifting his foot again to hammer Qi Rong’s head into the ground. Xie Lian’s arms wrap around his waist, and only then does he stop.

But it’s too late, as the doors swing open and Vanitas and Astolfo come running out. They weren’t exactly being quiet.

As they survey the situation, Hua Cheng takes a step back, realising he might be in trouble. Guilt follows when he looks back at the hurt on Xie Lian’s face, like he did this all for his sake and he didn’t deserve it. To Hua Cheng, he deserves every bit of protection he can deliver, but obviously nobody else understands that.

“Okay, what the fuck happened here?” Vanitas asks, massaging his temples.

“Xie Lian killed my parents!” Lang Qianqiu repeats like a broken record.

Vanitas cocks an eyebrow, turning to face Xie Lian. “Did you?”

“No,” Xie Lian sighs dejectedly. “But he won’t believe me.”

“Because I saw it!” Lang Qianqiu yelps, as tears begin rolling down his cheeks. He doesn’t fight this time, instead turning around and running back inside.

With an exasperated groan, Vanitas turns to Astolfo, pushing his shoulder towards the door. “Follow him. Give him your dead-parents trauma therapy.”

“I’m not paid enough to be a therapist,” Astolfo scoffs.

“Neither am I,” Vanitas deadpans, “Now go.” He turns his focus to Qi Rong, his face covered in blood and eyes rolled back. “I might have a concussion to deal with.”

“Fine,” Astolfo hisses, throwing his arms up and chasing Lang Qianqiu back inside.

Vanitas then looks from Qi Rong, up to Hua Cheng, back down, then lands on Hua Cheng with an unimpressed glare. “You really have no self-restraint, do you?”

“It was necessary,” Hua Cheng says, “He told Lang Qianqiu that Xie Lian killed his parents. My gege would never.”

“Your gege killed many people and committed acts of suspected terrorism,” Vanitas points out, “I think he would, but I don’t think he did. All of Xie Lian’s murders were accounted for.”

“I never got to that part,” Xie Lian sighs, “I couldn’t convince Lang Qianqiu, and now he’ll hate me…”

“Forget about that. Astolfo will sort him out. Probably,” Vanitas snorts, raising an eyebrow at Qi Rong. “Why did you say that shit? Idiot.”

“HE DID!” Qi Rong yells.

Accepting there’s not much trying to get through to Qi Rong with the staff listening, Xie Lian takes a chance and switches to Mandarin, looking down at his cousin. “Qi Rong, did you kill Lang Qianqiu’s parents?”

Qi Rong looks up at Xie Lian in confusion for a moment, before grinning to himself and responding in much-less-fluent Mandarin. “Yes, why do you think he thought it was you?”

“Qi Rong…” Xie Lian sighs, aware that Vanitas is staring at them in confusion. “Why did you kill them?”

“They were going to press charges against me!” Qi Rong yells, pushing himself up weakly, despite the blood dripping from the gaping wound on his forehead. “Tch, they had it coming.”

“What for?” Hua Cheng asks, glaring at Vanitas when he screws the face up at the fact they’ve decided to have this whole conversation in another language. “Did you kill their parents too?”

“No! I just stole some money! They were rich, why does it fucking matter?!” Qi Rong says. It’s strange how he’s admitting all of this now, but when the staff can’t understand and he has nothing to lose, he’s hardly going to filter himself.

Hua Cheng turns to Xie Lian. “Should we tell them?”

“No. It’s not worth it,” Xie Lian replies, before taking note of Vanitas’ unimpressed scowl and finally switching back to English. “Sorry, sorry. Qi Rong was lying. He was feeling silly.”

“I’m inclined to believe you at this point,” Vanitas sighs, hooking his arms under Qi Rong’s elbows to hoist him up, the other barely able to stand in this beaten-down condition, then looks back to Hua Cheng. “You. You’re going in isolation once I get this idiot to the infirmary.”

Hua Cheng snarls but keeps his mouth shut, watching as Qi Rong is hauled inside by Vanitas, an obvious trail dripping behind his footsteps. Then he turns to Xie Lian and sees the hurt on his expression, arms wrapped around himself. He looks like he might cry.

“Gege…” Hua Cheng whispers, cupping his cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…” Xie Lian exhales shakily, clinging to his sleeves as he looks down. “A lot of people are getting hurt, and I’m starting to think it’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault,” Hua Cheng says quickly, kissing his forehead. “I’m sorry. I only wanted to protect you.”

“Please, just… ignore Qi Rong,” Xie Lian replies, “I already told you, I don’t want you to commit more crimes and stay here longer. You deserve to flourish without me.”

“I could never, not without you.”

“Ugh,” Vanitas suddenly appears behind them, fake gagging. “You two make me homophobic. You,” he waves his finger at Hua Cheng. “Inside, now. I don’t want to have to restrain you.”

“I’d beat you in a fight any day,” Hua Cheng declares with a cocky smirk.

“Maybe, yeah, but an injection of midazolam would have you on the floor, so get your ass inside.”

Although Hua Cheng wants to stand his ground and convince this quack doctor that it’s imperative he stays by Xie Lian’s side, he knows Xie Lian wants him to behave. So, he reluctantly allows himself to be escorted to the isolation room, weighed down by the guilt that he acted impulsively yet again and made Xie Lian feel bad.

Towards the end of the day, Xie Lian comes to the harrowing realisation that Mu Qing and Feng Xin are his best company at this point.

Yes, that includes with the two of them bickering constantly over stuff which either doesn’t matter or happened years ago. Yes, that includes Mu Qing being bedridden, curled up in pain but not making a sound except the occasional pained grunt or throwing up. Yes, that includes Feng Xin trying to convince Mu Qing to just take up the doctor’s offer and go to the infirmary until he’s better, at which Mu Qing yells something about not trusting hospitals and then they argue about that too.

When Feng Xin gets pulled aside for a review, Xie Lian watches Mu Qing lying in bed in complete silence for a bit, and he sympathises with him greatly; he heard from Feng Xin it’s not heroin but benzodiazepines, but the symptoms seem to be the same intensity. He also feels incredibly sad that Mu Qing doesn’t have anyone for him through withdrawal, like he always had Hua Cheng.

So, despite the fact he might get yelled at, Xie Lian gets up and goes to his side. It doesn’t really matter if he does get yelled at anyway. He’s been yelled at by enough people today.

“Hey…” he says softly, crouching by the side of his bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Go away,” Mu Qing hisses like a cat, curling up tighter with a little pained grunt.

“I want to help,” Xie Lian replies, “Do you need anything?”

“A bag of shitty rip-off Xanax maybe,” Mu Qing huffs, rolling onto his back as he clutches his stomach.

“I know it hurts,” Xie Lian says, giving him a sad smile, even if his kindness will be pushed away. “Well, I haven’t been through this, but I went through heroin withdrawal multiple times.”

“I didn’t ask for your sympathy.”

“No, but I’m—”

“I feel like shit,” Mu Qing says sharply, turning to glare at him. It might be vicious, but it’s the first time he’s made eye contact. “I don’t want to talk.”

“Can I at least get you water?”

“No. Not unless you want me to vomit on your face.”

“… Okay, maybe not then,” Xie Lian laughs awkwardly. He stares at the other for a moment, trying to think back to his time in withdrawal. But when he thinks about it, this is Mu Qing’s fifth day, and he never made it to five days without relapsing or being given methadone. “Uhm… do you want to shower maybe?”

“No.”

“… Food?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Okay then,” Xie Lian sighs. But he considers it a win that he hasn’t been yelled at yet. With that said, Mu Qing doesn’t seem to shout at other people; he responds with dismissive words and a sharp tongue, but he only yells at Feng Xin. “What about—”

“I said, go away,” Mu Qing snaps again, though his tone is more tired now.

Xie Lian is about to give up on giving him help, ready to go back to his own bed and sit in silence, when Feng Xin walks in.

“Mu Qing, stop being such a prissy asshole,” he says, then turns to Xie Lian. “Don’t even bother. He won’t accept any help.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Xie Lian replies, “I just wondered if he needed anything.”

“Probably, but he’s not gonna fucking say it,” Feng Xin scoffs. “I’ll show you how to help him,” he adds, before walking to Mu Qing’s side and grabbing his arm. “Alright, come on, you ass. Let’s go outside.”

“Get off!” Mu Qing grunts, though he’s far too weak to resist as Feng Xin pulls him up and throws his arm around his shoulders.

“No, you need to get outside. It fucking stinks in here,” he says, grabbing his cigarettes on the way out. “If you have a cigarette, will you be less of a prissy fucking bitch?”

Mu Qing rolls his eyes, his head falling against his shoulder as he mutters sheepishly, “Yes.”

“See?” Feng Xin snorts, looking to Xie Lian. “That’s how. Are you coming?”

“Right, yeah,” Xie Lian nods. It’s questionable company for sure, but without Hua Cheng tied to his side, he’s not sure what to do with himself in this place. He trails a few feet behind them as Feng Xin drags Mu Qing outside, finding outside empty apart from one person; one of the only people Xie Lian has actually managed to have an intelligent conversation with so far. “Hey, Break! Good afternoon.”

“Ahh, Xie Lian,” Break snickers, taking a drag from his cigarette. He narrows his eye at the figures beside him. “Hmm, let me guess. Feng Xin and Mu Qing?”

“Obviously,” Mu Qing huffs, collapsing onto the bench as soon as it’s beneath him. “Are you blind?”

“I am, actually,” Break says.

“… Hm,” Mu Qing mumbles some uncomprehensible under his breath, as his cheeks turn a little red. He grabs the tobacco from Feng Xin’s hand and begins shakily rolling a cigarette, seemingly a little embarrassed for his comment. In his defence, he hasn’t interacted with Break yet and has shown no interest in conversing with anyone else.

“Ignore him,” Feng Xin, standing behind Mu Qing in case he topples over. “He’s just in withdrawal.”

“Quit telling people that!” Mu Qing hisses, elbowing him in the crotch before lighting the cigarette.

“Hey! Stop fucking going for my balls?!”

“Hmph. It’s not like you need to make more offspring.”

“What the fuck?! That was unnecessary!”

“Ohh, you have a son?” Break asks, grinning at Feng Xin.

“Yeah,” Feng Xin snorts, “Somehow.”

“I see…” Break hums, then turns his head back towards Mu Qing. “Let me get. Benzos? That’s new.”

“How the fuck could you possibly know that?” Mu Qing asks bitterly, and Xie Lian sort of braces himself for a fight.

“I’m clever~” Break chimes, “I’ve heard about your symptoms, but I know that wonderful doctor would’ve put you on methadone by now if it were opiates.”

“I have free will,” Mu Qing mutters defensively, taking a long drag from the cigarette. “Does everyone here know about this?”

“Probably not now, but they will,” Break shrugs, inhaling the last bit of his cigarette before snuffing it out in the ashtray. “News travels quickly in this place. Nothing ever stays a secret for long. Remember that.”

“Stupid,” Mu Qing huffs, resting his head in his hand and squeezing his eyes shut. “Hate this.”

When he seems to get worse, Xie Lian slowly steps forward and places a hand on Feng Xin’s shoulder. “Hey, maybe he should go back inside… He looks like he might pass out.”

“Let him pass out, then,” Feng Xin says, flicking Mu Qing’s forehead. “Mu Qing? Wake up!”

“Hng?” Mu Qing groans, lifting his head again before gripping his stomach. “Ow…”

“My, my, you poor thing,” Break comments rather sarcastically, standing up and patting Mu Qing’s head. “It’ll get better, though benzos were a poor choice. Maybe consider heroin next time.”

At first, Mu Qing looks like he’s about to snap and bite his head off (not that he’d be any match for Break), but then he leans forward and spits onto the ground, face-planting the edge of the table and hiding his face from the world.

“Classic,” Break snickers, although his tone is surprisingly soft. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you throw up in peace. It’ll pass, I promise.”

After his departing wisdom, Break leaves without another word, right before Xie Lian turns around to see Mu Qing slumped over, barely held up by Feng Xin, dry heaving over the ground. Maybe he should’ve followed Break back inside. Mu Qing and Feng Xin probably aren’t the best company he can get right now.

But hey, at least it’s not Qi Rong. Xie Lian knows how to always look at the silver-lining. With any luck, Qi Rong will spend 90% of his time here in isolation, and avoid Hua Cheng out of fear for the rest, and Xie Lian can do what he does best: pretend everything is normal.

Chapter Text

“You know, Vanitas, I think it’s a little unprofessional that these meetings keep happening at your house. What if someone overhears? GDPR, and that stuff.”

“Well, where else do you suggest we have them then?” Vanitas asks, waving his middle finger at Noé across the sofa.

“Uh…?” Noé cocks an eyebrow. “At work?”

“Okay, let’s consider that hypothetical situation for a moment,” Vanitas replies. He chooses to ignore the way Astolfo, Domi, and Jeanne roll their eyes in sync. “On the rare occasion all five of us are on shift together, we’re the only ones. Who watches over everyone? Are we supposed to let everyone go unattended?”

“Well, no, but…” Noé frowns, still not keen on the fact they congregate at Vanitas’ apartment every now and again to drink wine and talk about updates. “Aren’t we leaving Roland and Olivier out too? Doesn’t this affect them too?”

“Astolfo will just tell his dads next time he goes for Sunday dinner, after mass or some shit. Whatever Catholics do.”

“I don’t go to my dads for dinner on Sundays?!” Astolfo yelps.

“That’s not true,” Noé adds, “Not every Sunday, but most of them.”

“Shut up, Noé! Can you ever keep your mouth shut?!”

“Wow, if I wanted to spend a night watching a dysfunctional couple, I’d go to my parents’,” Domi comments, as she sits there filing her nails.

“You’re one to talk,” Jeanne snorts, gesturing to her and Vanitas, who may or may not have gotten into an argument over what wine to open. You’d even think Domi lived there. (She more or less does, but they technically don’t know they’re living together.)

“Let’s not make this personal,” Noé says, as he continues being the only voice of reason. He picks up the glass of wine, taking a small sip since he’s the designated driver. Jeanne offered to drive herself, but Jeanne hasn’t quite understood the drink-drive limit yet and probably would’ve driven home after half the bottle. You know, as if working around a bunch of criminals hasn’t taught her anything about the consequences of breaking the law.

“Yeah, guys,” Vanitas scoffs, picking up his folder which also technically shouldn’t leave their place of work. “Don’t make this personal.”

“You’re the only one who—”

“Shhh,” Vanitas hisses, placing a finger over Noé’s lips before opening the folder. “Alright. The four new prisoners have been here just over a week now, but we’ll go room-by-room. But first, does anything have any important points to raise?”

“Yeah,” Domi says, kicking one leg over the other as she pours another glass of wine. God knows where the first one went. It evaporated, she’d say. “I think Shi Qingxuan is turning manic. Today she asked me to bring my speaker to work tomorrow and some lights so we could host a rave in the canteen.”

“Well, that’s about room three, I’m not there yet,” Vanitas says bluntly, “so take that concern and put it in your pocket for now, ‘kay?”

When Domi looks ready to punch him square in the face, Jeanne raises her hand too. “I have another point!”

“Yes?”

“Pei Ming asked if I was into anal play. Do you think that was an invitation?”

Vanitas blinks at her, getting ready to give up on life then and there. “Jeanne. First of all, that’s about room two. Second of all, I don’t want to talk about that at all.”

“Jeanne, baby,” Domi sighs, patting her shoulder. “You can do so much better.”

“Like Ruki?”

“He’s a taken man,” Astolfo says, “Don’t be a homewrecker.”

“Let’s move on, before Jeanne divulges too much detail,” Vanitas mutters, “Room one. I don’t have any updates to be honest. Kanato has surprisingly only had one bust-up with Qi Rong.”

“I think one of them is scared of the other,” Noé says, “but I can’t figure out who.”

“Maybe they fancy each other,” Domi smirks, “New ship?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Vanitas deadpans, “If M-Preg was real and they could, by some miracle, produce offspring, I’d be pushing to get them sterilised.”

“What an odd thing to say,” Astolfo grumbles. Not that he’s the normal one here.

“Actually, I saw Kanato and Qi Rong having an actual conversation outside the other day,” Jeanne says.

“About what?” Vanitas asks.

“Arson, I think,” Jeanne responds casually, “It was difficult to tell, I only overhead it in the corridor.”

“Watch out,” Astolfo snickers, gesturing to Vanitas. “They’ll be planning to stab you next.”

“God, you’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“I mean, you did get stabbed at work.”

“Yeah, well you got— Actually, I’m not finishing that sentence,” Vanitas says and clears his throat, thinking better of the words about to leave his mouth. He feels the judgemental stares on him and ignores it, making a note on Kanato’s file. “Ayato? Laito? Seen them doing anything out of the ordinary? For them, that is.”

“Ayato challenged Lang Qianqiu to an arm-wrestle,” Domi adds.

“Who won?” Jeanne asks.

“Lang Qianqiu, obviously,” Domi says, “He was quite proudly telling me all about how he was in the martial arts team back in school. He’s usually in a good mood, but I wouldn’t want to cross him.”

“Did you never figure out what happened with him and Xie Lian?” Noé questions, “I tried to talk to Xie Lian about it in therapy and it seemed like he knew something, but all he insists is that he isn’t the one who killed Lang Qianqiu’s parents.”

“I think Qi Rong did it,” Jeanne comments.

“Where’s your evidence?” Vanitas snorts, “You’ve pulled that theory out of thin air.”

“She’s onto something,” Astolfo says, “Qi Rong was the one who told Lang Qianqiu, right? And Qi Rong is Xie Lian’s cousin.”

“True, but there’s not much point theorising it,” Vanitas replies, putting down the pen for a moment to roll a cigarette. “There’s no chance of getting even a semi-intelligent conversation out of Qi Rong.”

“I think I’ve had more sensical conversations with Kanato, you know,” Noé says.

“Exactly,” Vanitas nods, lighting the cigarette before flipping to the next page. “Alright, room two. And Jeanne don’t you dare say it. You’re banned from talking about Pei Ming.”

“Aw,” she pouts, “then I have nothing to say. Oh, actually, about Azusa?”

Vanitas raises an eyebrow, blowing out a trail of smoke away from them. “Go on.”

“Azusa didn’t tell me, but Shi Qingxuan said she’d spoken to him only once after they slept together and he said he still felt too embarrassed to show his face.”

“That’s a good point,” Domi adds, “I haven’t seen Azusa leave his room much at all.”

“He hasn’t mentioned it in therapy with me,” Vanitas points out, “I asked once and he got all red and said he didn’t want to talk about it. Azusa isn’t bad at talking about his feelings, but he’s hell-bent on not mentioning that.”

“New spread a little too quickly, I think he was really embarrassed,” Noé says.

“It’s Jeanne’s fault in the first place,” Astolfo scoffs, “She’s the one who asked everyone if they were a virgin.”

“That was an important question!” Jeanne insists, “You know, for therapy or something.”

“Leave the therapy to the therapists,” Vanitas deadpans, “What about the others? Ruki and Yuma, I haven’t seen much of them either.”

“Ruki is hiding away with Reiji most of the time. Or playing chess. They had a six-hour long game the other day, worked up quite a crowd,” Domi says, “and Yuma is still beefing with Pei Ming.”

“I think he’s still a bit depressed about Shu leaving, too,” Noé explains, “I think a part of him hoped Shu would get back in contact and ask how he’s doing, maybe visit him, but nothing has happened.”

“Shu was pretty straight-forward about keeping to himself,” Jeanne says, “Have we had any updates?”

“Nothing yet. He’s not back in prison, which is a good start,” Vanitas chuckles, taking a drag of smoke to piss everyone off. His apartment, his rules, or whatever. “Last I heard he was following his probation. Other than that, I don’t know where he is. Probably sitting around his mother’s house. Anything else about room two?”

“I saw Ruki—”

“Nobody asked,” Vanitas cuts her off. Well, he did ask, but not about that. “Room three?”

“Kino is trying to befriend Shi Qingxuan,” Domi says, “He thinks he’s one of the girlies.”

“I’m getting worried about Shi Qingxuan, actually,” Noé adds, “From what I’ve heard, she’s not sleeping or eating much, and she talks faster than usual. She always talks a lot, but most of what she says in therapy doesn’t even make sense. I have serious concerns she’s entering a manic episode.”

“I thought the same,” Vanitas hums, blowing out a cloud of smoke before flicking to the front of her file. “When Shi Wudu was still kickin’ about, he gave me an extensive run-down of all her previous meds. It sounded like she was seriously over-medicated, but if this is what she’s like when she’s manic, maybe she really was on all that stuff.”

“She was okay without it for a while though, wasn’t she?” Noé says, “She stopped taking it all.”

“Okay is a strong word,” Vanitas snorts, “but mania can be triggered by stress. And I’m not an expert, but having your brother murdered by your ex whom you unintentionally ruined the life of might be considered stressful.”

“No shit,” Astolfo huffs, downing the rest of his glass of wine. “She’s gone crazy. She was talking to herself in the mirror the other day. Reiji complained to me the other day that she was trying to keep them awake at night too.”

“Why was Reiji complaining to you?” Vanitas scoffs.

“Isn’t that the point? She’s turned him crazy too,” Astolfo says, “Because I couldn’t give less of a shit about Reiji’s issues, but he rants about it to me anyway just because I tried to do rounds!”

“Leave the rounds to the professionals,” Vanitas replies teasingly.

“I quite like Shi Qingxuan,” Jeanne comments, “I’d smash.”

“We know, baby, we know,” Domi pats her shoulder, “Just watch out, she might get you pregnant.”

“Really? We’d have pretty babies, I guess.”

“I’m considering leaving you out of meetings at this point, because you can’t take anything seriously,” Vanitas says, before eyeing the bottle of rosé next to Jeanne which is now empty. “Never mind. You’re drunk.”

“Tipsy, at best,” Jeanne corrects him. “And I take my job very seriously! I managed to convince He Xuan to take his insulin the other day.”

Vanitas cocks an eyebrow. “How? Not even I can do that!”

“Told him he might die and that’d upset Qingxuan more,” Jeanne says casually.

“How did you even—? You know what, I don’t care.”

“He Xuan isn’t talking much either,” Noé further comments, “I’ve tried to probe him more about his life before coming here, but he doesn’t talk about it. Then I ask about how he’s feeling here, and he doesn’t speak. I’ve also tried to have a conversation about what he did to Shi Wudu and he gives the silent treatment, even more so than before.”

“Is he even talking to Shi Qingxuan?” Astolfo asks, “I haven’t seen them interact at all.”

“They don’t talk much,” Domi says, “but I was talking to Kino and apparently they sleep in the same bed at night.”

“They definitely still have feelings for each other, but it’ll go slow,” Vanitas hums, “At least they have each other, but I don’t like two suicidal people clinging to each other’s existence in this place.”

“Please, they’re not going to do what Subaru and Kou did,” Astolfo scoffs, throwing his arms up at the judgemental eyebrows raised from Jeanne, Domi and Noé for that comment. “What?! That was what we were all thinking!”

“They’re not suicidal,” Noé says, “Right?”

“… I wouldn’t rule it out yet,” Vanitas mutters, glancing between the others. “Just keep an eye on them for now. I need to do a medication review soon.”

“Don’t be so depressing, it could be a lot worse,” Domi says.

“Thanks, babe,” Vanitas deadpans with a heavy sigh, before flipping to the next page. “Room four. Slightly less grim, I guess.”

“I walked in on Elliot and Leo doing weird stuff,” Astolfo says instantly.

“So have we all,” Domi responds, “You’re not special.”

“No, like weird-weird,” Astolfo insists, “Not in the freaky sexual way, but Leo was reading 120 Days of Sodom out loud while riding Elliot. And Elliot was just sitting there.”

“Not really weird, just odd,” Noé chirps. Everyone stares at him. “What?! I’ve seen worse!”

“I don’t wanna know,” Vanitas scoffs, waving his hand and inhaling on the cigarette. As he exhales, he flicks to Lang Qianqiu’s file, narrowing his eyes at the weird notes scribbled over when the incident with Xie Lian happened. “What about the other one?”

“Lang Qianqiu cried in therapy twice since it happened,” Noé says, “Something about never managing to avenge his parents’ death. To be honest, I think it’s best his parents’ killer never got caught, because I wouldn’t put it past him to have killed them.”

“Try a little harder to get into his brain. I want him medicated,” Vanitas replies, “Does he still think Xie Lian did it?”

“He had a little existential crisis about it, but I think he’s pretty convinced he saw Xie Lian do it and that he’s just lying about not doing it.”

“So he’s still stupid. Got it,” Vanitas nods, dramatically flipping to the next page. “Room five.”

“I think we should get rid of Qi Rong,” Domi declares instantly. “He literally smeared his own shit on the corridor walls. He’s pissed on the floor multiple times. He’s been banned from more cutlery than Kanato. He’s started multiple rumours, which fortunately don’t spread because even the stupidest person there realises they’re bullshit. He’s—”

“Yeah, I know,” Vanitas says, “and while he’s a menace, he hasn’t seriously hurt anyone. Every time he’s tried, he’s been more hurt by either Hua Cheng, or Break. I can’t ship him off like I did with Vincent and Shin.”

“I hope he kills someone,” Astolfo huffs.

“Unfortunately,” Vanitas deadpans, “killing someone doesn’t mean you’ll get shipped off. He Xuan, for example.”

“Do better.”

“Hey! You try—!”

“Guys, guys,” Noé sighs, smacking both of them on the head. “Qi Rong is annoying, we get it.”

“Break has put him in his place multiple times, though,” Jeanne points out, “and I think Qi Rong has somewhat learnt to shut up around him.”

“You know, some times, I feel like Break is the only sane person in that place, and it concerns me,” Vanitas says, “What about Gilbert? He’s still not talking much?”

“He’s getting better,” Noé answers, “He’s stopped asking about Oz every session after I said for the hundredth time we didn’t know anything.”

“Minor improvements,” Vanitas says, “You can thank me for bumping up his venlafaxine to 225mg.”

“I don’t know if that—”

“It helped. Trust.”

“… Okay.”

“Good. Finally, room six,” Vanitas says, “The juiciest room, at this point. Mu Qing is still having stomach issues even after nine days off benzos, but I’m working on it. I consulted with a gastroenterology physician I know and got the go-ahead to prescribe loperamide semi long-term.”

“Since when did you ever consult with another doctor?” Domi cocks an eyebrow, smirking slightly. “Do you really have that much of a soft-spot for him?”

“What? No! I just—”

“He reminds him of Subaru,” Astolfo points.

Vanitas snuffs out his cigarette then throws the extinguished butt at the other. “Shut it.”

“I spoke to Feng Xin yesterday, when he asked to buy cigarettes,” Jeanne says, “He was keeping his distance, I really think he’s scared of my boobs. But he said he thinks Mu Qing is crying himself to sleep every night.”

“I find that absolutely not surprising,” Vanitas replies, making a note anyway. “He’s not good at therapy, even though he’s technically done it on and off for years. And annoyingly, the same speech I gave Subaru didn’t work.”

“Maybe it’s because they’re two completely different people,” Astolfo snorts, “and you need to stop—”

“Tolfo, leave the therapy to me,” Noé cuts him off, then turns to Vanitas, takes a deep breath, and says, “Vani, you need to stop comparing the patients to each other. Everyone has individual characters and struggles, and—”

“What is wrong with you?!” Vanitas yelps, trying to pretend his face isn’t burning up. “Don’t just— Reality-check me now?!”

“I don’t mind Mu Qing,” Jeanne says out of nowhere. “He’s more polite than some of the other newer people, and he doesn’t flinch when he sees my breasts.”

“How is he polite?” Domi scoffs, “I asked him if he was okay one time and he told me to piss off.”

“Okay, well he’s polite if you don’t ask about his feelings,” Jeanne says, “or challenge him, or get in his way, or mention Feng Xin or drugs or his mother. But other than that, he’s quiet and courteous.”

“Right, so he’s nice in you don’t breathe in his direction,” Vanitas mutters, glancing at Noé and Astolfo. “You hear that? Ignore him, apparently.”

“Feng Xin told me in therapy when I asked about the roommate situation that Hua Cheng stays awake at night glaring at him and Mu Qing,” Noé adds, “I wanted to reassure him that he won’t kill him, but I’m not a good liar.”

“Well I don’t think he will,” Vanitas says, “but you’re right, can’t exactly put it past him.”

“What’s your plan for Mu Qing, then?” Domi asks, “Keep drugging him up and failing to give therapy?”

“Please, I’ve dealt with worse patients. He’s got a chance,” Vanitas scoffs, “Visitors is coming up and his mother has signed all the necessary paperwork. If he sees she’s at least, like, alive, maybe he’ll get a grip.”

“Wishful thinking!” Noé chirps, “But I thought you’d want to know, I finally managed to get Xie Lian to talk about how him and Hua Cheng met in therapy today.”

“Seriously?” Vanitas raises his eyebrows. “How’d you manage that?”

“I asked…?” Noé says.

“Why didn’t you ask sooner?!”

“I had other things to discuss with him. Why didn’t you?”

“Because— You saw the state of him during our first meeting?! He was a wreck!” Vanitas yelps, “Ugh. Obviously we’re not getting the truth out of Hua Cheng yet. What’s the tea?”

“They were friends when they were really young in China,” Noé explains, “Xie Lian met him outside, apparently Hua Cheng was in a really abusive foster home. He was always beaten up, and Xie Lian swore he’d save him. They lost contact when Xie Lian moved to this country, but Hua Cheng must’ve tracked him and come here too. Xie Lian said he didn’t know how either, and he’s never asked. I tried asking Hua Cheng several times about his childhood though, and he says it’s normal, so I’m not sure I’ll get his history any time soon.”

“Try harder,” Vanitas says, “Did Hua Cheng seriously follow him all the way here?”

“Apparently,” Noé shrugs, “but when Hua Cheng found him again, he was at uni and already doing bad things. I don’t think either of them were in a great state, but Xie Lian insists he’d be dead if it wasn’t for the other.”

“I can’t figure out what the fuck is going on with those two,” Vanitas grumbles to himself.

“I’ve walked in on them having sex outside,” Jeanne says casually.

“Do you retain any other memories other than who and who fucked?!”

She shrugs. “When they’re relevant?”

“I don’t even wanna know half the shit you’ve seen, since you always seem to magically walk in on people,” Vanitas huffs.

“Who’s coming for visitors next week?” Domi asks, “And who do we need to keep on watch?”

“So far, I only know of Mu Qing’s mother, Feng Xin’s girlfriend and their kid are also coming, and Yui is bringing Ayato’s kid too. Some of Yuma’s mates might be there, though I’ve told the locum security to ramp up the searches in case they’re smuggling him drugs. Other than that, I’m sure Elliot’s family will be there to convince him he’s innocent, Break’s friends will come and bring him enough sweets to give a normal person diabetes, and Hua Cheng’s mystery husband Yin Yu is apparently coming to discuss finances. Keep a close eye on them,” Vanitas recalls off the top of his head, “so… keep an eye on Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan, mostly. Jeanne, you stay with them.”

“Am I allowed to bring my nail polish in?” Jeanne asks, “Shi Qingxuan said she’d cry if I didn’t.”

“… Technically not allowed, but whatever,” Vanitas sighs, before grabbing the nearest bottle of wine. However, when he does, he finds it’s empty, and instead stands up, walks to the kitchen, and grabs a full bottle of whiskey.

“… Aren’t you working the early shift tomorrow?” Noé asks. Astolfo has almost fallen asleep on his shoulder, Jeanne seems to be drunk too, and Domi is smirking at Vanitas in an almost threatening way.

“Maybe,” Vanitas mumbles, sticking his tongue out at Domi as he sits down again, pouring the whiskey into the wine glass. “I need this to deal with this bunch.”

“… You mean us, the staff, or the prisoners?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Vanitas scoffs, downing some of the glass. It’s times like these when he wonders what the prisoners say about them behind their backs.

Chapter Text

It was the first time any of the new inmates were having visitors, and Vanitas just had a horrible feeling about it from the moment he set foot in the building that morning.

Of the new people, not many had visitors anyway. Xie Lian had no one and Hua Cheng has only seen Yin Yu, his convenience marriage partner, twice since coming here. Pei Ming hasn’t actually had anyone visit, neither has Shi Qingxuan (or Shi Wudu when, you know, he was still alive), and He Xuan has one single friend who sends him money and has visited once. Not to mention, of the newer four, Qi Rong’s family obviously steer clear of him, to nobody’s surprise, and Lang Qianqiu’s family are, well, all dead.

That leaves Feng Xin and Mu Qing, and they do have visitors. When Vanitas logs in that morning, he double-checks the list of today’s approved visitors, only to be reminded neither of them are guaranteed to be smooth, and he’s not sure who’s worse.

Number one: Feng Xin. Feng Xin has a girlfriend, maybe ex-girlfriend, and a son. He hasn’t told anyone else there and Vanitas has kept his mouth shut so far, with the exception of the staff who were in absolute disbelief when they found out he had a son, because that means he actually got in bed and, like… had sex with a woman. And Feng Xin is pretty hot, it’s not surprising he managed that, but rather, he freaks out when Jeanne and Domi come within three feet of him. Both said girl and his son are coming to visit, and Vanitas just hopes there’s no child-conflict between Feng Xin’s son and the child Ayato somehow spawned as well, who happens to be visiting today as well.

Number two: Mu Qing. Mu Qing hasn’t been well at all recently, and Vanitas knows he’s worried about his mother. He knows she’s unwell, she’s disabled, and she’s also an active drug user. Whilst Mu Qing doesn’t really ever let on how he’s feeling, it’s easy to tell he’s looking forward to seeing her. If Feng Xin’s concerns were correct, he’s cried himself to sleep most nights. He’s doing a little better physically at least, albeit he’s still having stomach issues which are impossible to hide no matter how many times he says to Vanitas he’s fine and that he doesn’t need daily reviews anymore. Benzodiazepine withdrawal is hardly over within a couple of weeks, after all.

So, simply put, Vanitas doesn’t have much faith today will be positive. He sits in his office after morning medication rounds, reading through the relevant paperwork, until there’s a knock on his door.

“Come in,” he calls back, not bothering to ask who. Only the staff have a keycard to get in anyway. They don’t have a code anymore; not after the incident with Subaru and Kou.

Thankfully, it’s Domi who walks in, carrying a few empty methadone cups and putting them in the sink. “What’re you reading?”

“Today’s visitor notes,” Vanitas replies, smacking the papers down on the desk before pulling the pouch of tobacco out of his pocket and rolling a cigarette.

“What’s it looking like?” Domi asks, her arms folded over as she leans against the counter.

“Not too crowded,” Vanitas says. He stands up, heading towards the fire escape door, propping it open, and lighting the cigarette. “Feng Xin’s maybe-girlfriend and son, Mu Qing’s mum, Ayato and Yui are also coming. Other than that, I think it’s just Break’s friends, Azusa’s old friend, Elliot’s sister, and also one of Yuma’s friends. I’ve told the locum security to ramp up the searches just for today, because I don’t trust Yuma not to sneak drugs in now than Shu is gone.”

“You really think he would?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want drugs ending up in this place right now. There’s too many people who would take them.”

“Classic,” Domi snorts, “What’re you doing with Shi Qingxuan?”

“I have a long review with her scheduled for tomorrow,” Vanitas answers, taking a long drag of smoke from the cigarette. “I’ll probably need to put her back on antipsychotics and dish out a few nights of lorazepam or something. She might refuse it though, and she’s not a threat to herself or anyone else yet, so I can’t force it.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage anyway,” Domi says, “Who’s supervising visitors?”

“Noé isn’t coming in until later since he’s doing the night shift with Astolfo, so it’s only me, you, Jeanne, and Roland. I’ll put Roland with room one and Kino, since he somehow enjoys that. I’ll leave Jeanne to supervise everyone else, and me and you can watch visitors.”

“Exciting. Wanna place bets?”

“No,” Vanitas deadpans. “Last time we placed bets, I lost money. I’m not doing that again.”

“Boring,” Domi frowns, before glancing at her watch. “We better get ready then. Everyone finished breakfast a while ago and people start arriving soon.”

“I know. Just let me finish this first,” Vanitas replies, waving the cigarette in his hand. “I’ll need it.”

“You really think it’ll go that badly wrong?” Domi asks.

“I hope not,” Vanitas grumbles, as he finishes the last inhale of smoke. With a long exhale, he throws it onto the ground then closes the door, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. Thank God the smoke alarm in that office doesn’t really work very well.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I don’t know? Feng Xin and Mu Qing start beefing? Cuocuo and Adam start beefing?”

“They’re toddlers, so I reiterate: what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Biting? I don’t know! One of them might have rabies!”

“Stop overthinking it,” Domi says, flicking his forehead. “Come on, let’s go.”

Vanitas grunts “bitch” under his breath as he follows her. Really, you wouldn’t guess they were dating. Or maybe you would, knowing the standards for relationships in this place.

Once they’re in the canteen and the tables and chairs are set out for visitors, people start filing in. As per usual, Break’s two friends, Sharon and Reim, are the first in, sitting in the corner with him. Nothing eventful ever happens with them. Shortly after that, Elliot’s sister arrives and he gets dragged to the opposite table, looking like he might explode as she immediately begins lecturing him on why he’s innocent, but he never actually retaliates. After that, Azusa’s old friend comes in and they sit mostly in silence; she only really sends him money, having been the best friend of the guy Azusa murdered. Nobody really understands why they’re still in contact; probably because they bullied Azusa relentlessly for years, and look where it got him.

There’s a bit of a gap in arrivals after that, as Domi and Vanitas watch but with not much vigilance. Nothing exciting (or dangerous) will happen with this bunch. About half an hour after they all settled, Yuma’s friend comes in and he greets him.

“No drugs, then?” Domi whispers to Vanitas.

“I guess not,” Vanitas says quietly, “Keep an eye on them anyway.”

But despite their watchful stares, there’s no discreet exchanges. Both of them keep their hands above the table and laugh about inside jokes, talking about people whose names no one recognises. Only five minutes after that, Yui arrives, carrying Adam in one arm. Vanitas has to smile a bit; he’s grown a lot and even waves at people. Obviously he doesn’t recognise them and won’t understand where he is, but he seems to be growing up normally so far. Crazy, considering he was spawned from Ayato’s spunk. Ayato looks delighted as he hugs Yui and kisses her cheek, sitting down with Adam on his lap, while the kid hugs a dinosaur plushie and waves it in his face.

Within another couple of minutes, a girl walks in who Vanitas doesn’t recognise. She’s got long brown hair, straightened with visible heat damage, and orange foundation too dark caked around her face, accompanied by large hoop earrings (to really drill into the stereotype she’s fitting right into). There’s a toddler in her arms, who has a striking resemblance to Feng Xin, and at the same time, Jeanne comes in with Feng Xin.

“Jian Lan…” he mutters, staying at least a meter from Jeanne, obviously. He walks over slowly, reaching out for Cuocuo. “Hey, kid.”

“Don’t hold him,” Jian Lan snaps, walking straight past him and sitting down at the closest table. Which… happens to be the table next to Ayato and Yui. Feng Xin looks a bit like a sad puppy as he sits opposite.

“Holy shit,” Ayato mutters, glancing at the two of them. “You got a fuckin’ kid?!”

“Yeah?” Feng Xin asks, “Why the fuck is that such a surprise?!”

“Because you’re like, piss scared of women!” Ayato says.

“Ah, Ayato,” Yui chimes in quietly. “Maybe, like, tone down the language, around the kids…”

“Right, yeah. Fuck, sorry,” he replies, absolutely not understanding the request.

“I’m not fucking scared of women!” Feng Xin says, “How else would I have a son?!”

“A mistake,” Jian Lan says bluntly.

“That’s not—” Feng Xin tries to retort, but she glares at him sharply and he immediately shuts his mouth. Before they can have any actual conversation, Cuocuo seems to notice Adam, and Adam notices Cuocuo. Neither are really at an age where they have a vast vocabulary, and Cuocuo is a bit older.

However, Adam is holding a dinosaur plushie, and Cuocuo is holding a toy car. When Cuocuo waves the car at Adam, Adam giggles and flaps the plushie back, and then both of them start kicking around in their respective parents’ arms.

“What the heck…” Ayato mutters.

“He doesn’t see many other kids. He’s not in school yet,” Jian Lan says, before placing Cuocuo down on the floor as Ayato does the same with Adam.

Feng Xin turns to her and raises an eyebrow. “You still haven’t enrolled him with a daycare?”

“What are you, his parent now too?”

“Well, yeah! Just ‘cuz I’m here doesn’t mean I can’t—! …Wait, what the hell?”

When they both look down, Cuocuo and Adam are both playing with their toys together. By now, Adam has already thrown the car onto the floor several times, and Cuocuo has bitten the dinosaur plushie in multiple places, but they both keep giggle and grabbing at the toys.

Vanitas and Domi watch in pure awe as well, and other visitors and inmates seem to have tuned in too. It might be one of the weirdest but most wholesome things to have happened here.

But nothing is ever easy, is it? No, of course it fucking isn’t.

Because five minutes later, Jeanne comes in, looking a bit sad as she tugs Vanitas’ arm.

“Can I talk to you in the corridor?” she whispers.

“Sure?” Vanitas cocks an eyebrow, glancing back to Domi. “You okay here?”

“I’ll be fine,” Domi says, gesturing to the two toddlers playing together on the floor. “Most I’ll have to do is break up some two-year-olds or something.”

“Don’t get too beaten up,” Vanitas snorts, before following Jeanne into the corridor. Once they’re out of everyone’s earshot, he folds his arms over his chest and looks at her. “What’s wrong? Did something happen at security? Oh God, did we find drugs in Yuma’s friends’ bags?”

“No, not his,” Jeanne replies quietly, checking once then twice that no one’s listening before adding, “It’s Mu Qing’s mother.”

Vanitas’ eyes instantly widen, and only then does he remember — Mu Qing’s mother, like himself, is using drugs. That’s part of the reason he got himself into so much trouble in the first place.

“What was it?” he asks.

“Heroin, we think,” Jeanne says, “We wouldn’t have found it if it wasn’t for the full-body search, which we don’t normally do, but with Yuma and all, we were doing it for everyone…”

“Right. Which is… right,” Vanitas mutters, almost wishing he hadn’t put the rule in. So what if she’s bringing in heroin? It’s for herself, obviously! She wouldn’t be sneaking drugs in for Mu Qing because she didn’t even know he was using, but he can hardly let it slide for one person. “How was she?”

“She’s a really… really lovely woman. It’s sad, because she doesn’t look well and she can’t walk without help,” Jeanne explains, “She was very apologetic and pleaded me not to think it was something for Mu Qing, but she also understood it wasn’t allowed. I felt bad turning her away, but…”

“You can’t let someone get away with it, I know,” Vanitas says, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. “Fuck, how are we gonna tell Mu Qing…?”

“She asked me to tell him she was just ill, but… I’m not sure. I don’t think he’ll believe that.”

“I don’t think he would either. Not this late notice, at least,” Vanitas replies. He buries his face in his hands for a moment, wondering if he should just bash his head into the wall and give up now. “Shit, I don’t wanna tell him. He didn’t say anything but I know he’s worried about her. I thought seeing her would be good for him, ‘cuz he’s hardly the picture of health either.”

“Do you want me to tell him?” Jeanne offers.

“No, no, I’ll… do it,” Vanitas grits his teeth and gives in, accepting this is his job. It’d be easier if Noé was here, but he’s not coming for another few hours. Putting someone like Mu Qing, who’s hellbent on convincing the world he’s fine, on one-to-one is hardly going to be easy either, and it might do more harm from good. While Mu Qing has been very sick and generally not mentally or physically well since coming here, and he’s fought with Feng Xin multiple times, he hasn’t shown himself to be a threat to his own life at any point, and Vanitas can’t justify one-to-one monitoring on a hunch alone.

“He’s waiting now, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think he’ll leave him room and come searching. He doesn’t like seeing anyone else here. I think the guys from room one have only seen him once or twice, which is surprising how time much both him and them spend outside smoking. But he hasn’t been to meals for long and doesn’t talk to anyone then either.”

“Well, good luck,” Jeanne says, “Do you want me to take over?”

“Yeah, you go join Domi,” Vanitas nods, cracking his knuckles. “I’ll do rounds. Make sure no one has killed themselves.”

Jeanne raises an eyebrow, maybe a bit concerned.

“Joking, joking!” Vanitas disclaims, as he smacks her shoulder then speed-walks away. Was he joking? Well, yes, and no.

When the time came for the visitors to start arriving, Mu Qing sat patiently in his room. He anxiously stared at the clock, believing his mother would be one of the first there. He’d only spoken to her on the phone a couple of times and she was gone pretty quick, knowing he got limited time. Every time they ended the call, she said she’d see him soon, and he clung to that whenever he silently cried at night. But nothing happens.

He watched Feng Xin get called away about half an hour later, grumbling something under his breath about stupid Jian Lan and stupid child he spawned. There’s the sound of footsteps up and down the corridor for a while after that, people getting called to the canteen to see their friends and family. He waits for someone to come for him, refusing to even go outside to smoke in case he missed the chance and had to make his mother wait.

But still, nothing happens.

An hour passes, and he still hopes. Maybe his mother had trouble getting here, considering she can’t walk very easily and would’ve had to get a taxi. Maybe she’s ill and isn’t coming, and nobody has bothered to tell him. Maybe something happened and she can’t come.

There are a million possibilities why she’s not here yet, and the anxiety only grows as he lies in bed waiting. Nearly two hours pass, and still nothing.

Mu Qing does a very good job (he thinks) at pretending he’s okay, but it’s been two weeks without any kind of benzos or ket, and he’s sick and miserable. The acute withdrawal may have ended; however, the stomach pain and fatigue have yet to improve. He thought, maybe, he’d at least feel a bit better mentally after seeing his mother, just to know she’s alive and okay.

After two hours, Mu Qing starts to lose hope, burying himself in the covers and no longer trying to make sure he looks presentable. He only manages not to cry by telling himself she might come, and then he’d look all sad and pathetic and she’d ask what’s wrong, and then he might cry in front of everyone else.

But a faint slither of hope finally arrives when there’s a knock on the door. He immediately sits up, brushing the hair out of his face and trying to look semi-presentable. “Yeah?”

When the door opens, his heart sinks a bit to see Vanitas. When Feng Xin got called, it was Jeanne doing the rounds, yet Vanitas is the one here and he doesn’t look happy.

“How are you feeling?” Vanitas asks, as he closes the door behind him.

“That’s a stupid question,” Mu Qing scoffs, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Even though he wants to see cool and nonchalant, he can’t help but blurt out, “Where’s my mum?”

“She’s okay. Alive, at least,” Vanitas says.

“Then why isn’t she here?” Mu Qing interrogates, his fingers curling around the edge of the mattress.

“I came to talk to you about that,” Vanitas replies, taking a step closer and drawing in a deep breath. “There was increased security for visitor’s this time, due to there being a chance another inmate bringing in drugs. I’m sorry, but your mother was caught with drugs on her person as well. We couldn’t let her in.”

Mu Qing’s eyes widen very slightly, and he bites his tongue not to snap at the other. On the one hand, he understands those are the rules, and even though he knows it would’ve been heroin and nothing for him, they can’t let it in. On the other hand… he just wanted to see her, and now he can’t even do that.

“Is she in trouble?” is all he manages to ask, his chest feeling tight all of a sudden.

“No,” Vanitas says, “She’s suspended from visiting, because those are the rules, but she admitted straight away it was heroin. We knew her history from you, and we knew it wasn’t taken in here with intent to supply, so we turned a blind eye. But we had to send her away.” He pauses, trying to gauge Mu Qing’s reaction, but he’s very good at not showing it. “Sorry. I know you wanted to see her.”

“It’s… fine,” Mu Qing huffs through gritted teeth, averting his gaze to the floor. “She shouldn’t have… I didn’t think about that.”

“I know it’s hard for you two,” Vanitas tells him, “but she seemed well. She’s a nice woman.”

“Yeah…” Mu Qing mutters, a tiny smile threatening to tug at his lips. “She is.”

“You’ll see her again. There’s plenty of time,” Vanitas replies, “She’s only suspended from visiting for a month, and she wished you well. Thanked all of us for taking such good care of you.”

“As if,” Mu Qing snorts, before grabbing the tobacco and filters from the floor next to the bed. “You can go now.”

Vanitas instead lingers at the door. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes,” he hisses, shakily rolling a cigarette, trying to keep it together until the other leaves, in case he gets an intervention or some shit. “Now go.”

Whilst Vanitas seems to want to say more, he shuts his mouth and leaves without another word, leaving Mu Qing alone with his own company again. He finishes rolling the cigarette then fishes out the lighter from somewhere lost in the sheets. Talking to anyone isn’t exactly something he wants to do right now, but he needs a cigarette and if he glares at people hard enough, they’ll leave him alone. That’s worked here so far, mostly.

He throws the blanket over himself and stalks downstairs, ignore the sounds of chatter from the canteen, where visitors is just ending. It makes him bitterly jealous of everyone who got to see their friends and family.

Once he’s outside, he’s relieved to see it’s empty, depositing himself in the corner with the blanket. His hands tremble a little as he sticks the badly rolled cigarette between his lips and lights it. The smoke feels somewhat comforting, but it’s not enough to fill the hole inside him and the nagging paranoia that everyone is just lying to him, and that his mother is not okay.

At the sound of footsteps approaching the door to outside, he plants on his standard resting bitch face and gets ready to glare at whoever comes out, confident that’ll deter them from speaking to or perceiving him.

It usually works. However, it doesn’t work when it’s fucking Feng Xin who comes outside.

“Oh, fuck, Mu Qing. I was looking for you,” he says, sighing slightly in relief as he walks over.

“Why?” Mu Qing scoffs as he drags on the cigarette, his glare faltering slightly as Feng Xin moves closer. Because Feng Xin isn’t scared of nor intimidated by him, so it doesn’t work on him.

“’Cuz visitors just ended, your mum never came, and you weren’t in our fucking room!”

“Must’ve just missed me,” he shrugs, clutching the blanket tighter as he brings the cigarette back to his lips.

“Alright, why the fuck are you sulking?” Feng Xin asks, ignoring all his glaring and frowning, and sitting right next to him on the ground. “Wasn’t your mum coming?”

“She was,” Mu Qing spits, refusing to make eye contact. He exhales a long drag of smoke, hugging his knees closer to his chest.

“Uh?” Feng Xin cocks an eyebrow. “So why wasn’t she there?”

“It’s none of your business,” Mu Qing retorts.

“Fine, I guess it isn’t,” Feng Xin says, squinting up at the setting sun, and he doesn’t fucking leave. He instead sits there, as if he’s waiting for Mu Qing to crack. It’s exactly the same as it was many years back when they were together; when anything went wrong between them, Mu Qing would get upset, and Feng Xin would refuse to leave until he told him what was going on. It often resulted in tears or fighting, or aggressive make-up sex, but it was necessary.

Mu Qing swears Feng Xin doesn’t have the same effect on him which he used to. However, it feels stupidly nostalgic and he’s been alone for so long, he can’t help but crack momentarily.

“She got caught with drugs,” he says under his breath, barely audibly, yet Feng Xin hears.

“What the fuck?” Feng Xin replies, like he wasn’t expecting him to actually say it so soon, without any probing. “Like, today?”

“Yeah,” Mu Qing grunts, trying to ignore the way his chest constricts again and his bottom lip quivers. “They were doing more checks and she… It was her own stuff, but they… She couldn’t come in, so they sent her home before I could see her.”

“Oh, shit,” Feng Xin mutters, raking a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I didn’t expect that…”

“Neither did I,” Mu Qing mumbles, as the stinging returns to his eyes. “I should have thought about it. Maybe if I warned her… I don’t know. It’s hard when you’re…”

“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Feng Xin says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “She’s, like, okay though?”

“Apparently,” Mu Qing huffs, inhaling deeply on the cigarette. “They might be all lying to me so I don’t freak out or something, but I… want to believe it.”

“Then believe it. She’ll be back, right?”

“Mhm. In a month, maybe.”

“See? You got plenty of time,” Feng Xin says, but Mu Qing looks no less sad, and his eyes begin glassing over. Noticing it straight away, Feng Xin leans over and wraps him in a hug from the side. “Alright, come here.”

Mu Qing so desperately wants to shove him away; to tell him to fuck off, and not give him worthless sympathy. Yet he can’t bring himself to, and instead leans to the side and buries his face in Feng Xin’s shoulder. Tears slip down his cheeks and onto the other’s clothes as his breath hitches. He can cry really quietly, it’s a skill he’s learnt over many years, but the other can obviously hear the occasional sniff or sob.

“I miss her so much,” he whispers, the cigarette burning away between his fingers, long forgotten.

“I know,” Feng Xin says, stroking the back of his hair. “I know you do.”

Having Feng Xin comfort him instead of his mother is nowhere near what he needed, but it’s how things used to be. Mu Qing never wanted his mother to know how badly he was doing, and it’s easier to break down around someone he wholeheartedly believes doesn’t care about him anyway.

Visitors was torture, and Vanitas was in dire need of a debriefing with his good therapist friend Noé after all that.

Noé arrives later than everyone else and has a couple of therapy sessions with the people who are currently still on daily. Vanitas overhears Domi telling him about the incident with Mu Qing’s mother, which is a relief because it means he doesn’t have to break the news to Noé.

That night, Mu Qing doesn’t go to dinner and when Vanitas checks up on him briefly, he’s having stomach issues again and he decides not to force him. Mu Qing always seems one step away from being diagnosed with an eating disorder as well, but upon further assessment, it’s not that he doesn’t want to eat, but rather he spent so long spending all his earnings on drugs to keep his mother (and himself) well, and thus had gotten used to not eating more than a small meal a day, if that.

When Jeanne goes home and Domi gets put on night watch, Vanitas finally gets Noé alone in the office.

“Why are you still here?” Noé asks, glancing up at the clock.

“Just getting night meds ready,” Vanitas says, as he stands at the counter and rummages through the medicine cabinet.

“Does it take that long?” Noé questions.

“Always,” Vanitas mutters sarcastically, still searching through the cabinet. “I’m trying to find something I can use to get Mu Qing to sleep without him noticing he’s getting anything extra.”

Noé, slowly walking to his side, raises an eyebrow. “Is that ethical?”

“If I asked him, he’d say he wants diazepam or some shit,” Vanitas says, “Consider it necessary for his wellbeing.”

As Noé watches him scanning all the spare boxes they have, he starts helping with the other people’s meds, asking after a moment of silence, “Are you really that worried about him?”

“… A bit,” Vanitas mutters, finally locating the box he was looking for. “Aha. Extra 50mg of quetiapine will fix everything.”

“Um… sure!” Noé nods, as he pulls the chart over to his side. “You should really go home, though. You look tired.”

“It’s nothing a fat bong won’t fix,” Vanitas shrugs.

“Something is bothering you,” Noé comments, “I can tell. What is it specifically?”

“Nothing,” Vanitas insists, but he can’t lie to Noé about this stuff. Or anything, actually. Noé has seen him in far worse states than anyone else here — Noé’s first interaction was him crying in the library at their university. With a sigh, he admits, “Mu Qing reminds me of Subaru. Not necessarily the way he acts, because Mu Qing is a lot more refined than Subaru, to put it into one word. But the BPD, and… taking care of a sick mother.” He pauses, taking a deep breath as he writes a note in the other’s file. “What if Mu Qing’s mother dies? Will they tell us? Or will we have a repeat of Subaru?”

“We won’t have a repeat of Subaru,” Noé says, “because Mu Qing doesn’t have a Kou in his life. That’s the distinguishing factor, I really believe that. Subaru and Kou may have kept each other alive for a bit, but they decided to do it together. Would Subaru have been able to do it on his own? Maybe, but also maybe not. He did it because Kou was planning on doing it as well. They wanted to go together. And Mu Qing doesn’t have that.”

“… I know,” Vanitas grumbles, “Fuck, I hate it when you’re right.”

“I know you do, Vani,” Noé says, patting his shoulder. “But they’re not the same. Mu Qing isn’t as delicate as Subaru was. He got by in life, he had a job, he was a registered carer.”

“Yeah,” Vanitas sighs, as he steps away from the counter and decides that’s his job done for the day. “Feng Xin is nothing like Kou, I guess.”

“They’re really not similar,” Noé chuckles, glancing back to Vanitas when he shrugs his coat on. “Do we know how Kou is doing, by the way?”

“Nope. I haven’t heard anything from the hospital.”

“Have you reached out?”

“No. It’s none of my business now,” Vanitas says, sitting down at the desk to roll a cigarette ready for the drive home. Once it’s done, there’s a nagging itch in the back of his head and he can’t help but turn the computer back on, loading up the records.

“What are you doing?” Noé asks, walking behind him.

“Just checking Kou’s record,” Vanitas replies simply, “to see if he’s still alive.”

“Ah, maybe you shouldn’t…”

Before Noé can stop him, Vanitas copies his details into the summary care records, and he breathes a sigh of relief to find there’s no note about him having passed away.

“Well, at least he’s still alive and kicking,” he says, finally grabbing his car keys and getting ready to leave. “You’ll be okay for the night?”

“Should be,” Noé nods, “and yes, I’ll call you if something goes wrong.”

“Good,” Vanitas smirks. Right before he leaves, however, he decides he’s had a rough day as it is and now he doesn’t care. “Actually, no, don’t call me. I’ve had enough of today.”

Because visitors always sucks when there’s new people around and things are changing.

Chapter Text

Shi Qingxuan has tried her very best to stay sane after her brother’s death, really.

After crying for a couple of days, she decided the best way to cope would be to pretend it simply never happened. She could continue life as normal, talking to people, smiling like she does, trying to act normal around He Xuan even though she has very complicated feelings. Without Shi Wudu around, she can also spend her allowance on cigarettes — she’s not even sure where the money is coming from, she’s pretty sure it’s coming from her dead brother’s funds, but if it’s there then she can spend it.

(Spending money and not questioning where it came from obviously didn’t end well for her the first time it happened, but whatever.)

Unfortunately, her usual cheery upbeat personality earned some concern from the doctors, and Vanitas and Noé have both accused her of becoming manic on multiple occasions. She’s been threatened with being medicated multiple times; however, she adamantly refuses it, insisting she’s just trying to keep her head up.

Which is true. Even if it takes not sleeping and talking to herself sometimes.

So far, she’s managed to befriend everyone here except for Qi Rong, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing. She hasn’t seen a lot of Mu Qing and only heard he’s been ill and not much else, but she has tried to make friends with Qi Rong and Feng Xin. Feng Xin, however, seems to have a fear of women in general, and trying to have an intelligent, even half-coherent conversation with Qi Rong is like talking to a brick (one which screams a lot). Shi Qingxuan has had better interactions with Ayato, Laito, and Kanato from room one, and they’re just weird.

Lurking around outside in the smoking area is one of her best tactics for making friends, and occasionally she gets to witness drama too. So, as soon as it stops raining one Saturday afternoon, she heads outside and sits on the (wet) bench, lighting a cigarette and daydreaming about how great it’d be to be preparing for a weekend bender right now. Shortly after she came out, Kino appears as well, grinning at her.

“’Sup queen,” he says, sitting opposite at the bench and lighting a cigarette.

“’Sup… king?” she replies. She’s gotten pretty used to Kino now since they share a room, and he’s a bit weird and off-putting, but he’s definitely better company than Reiji.

“What’cha thinking about?” he asks, kicking both feet up onto the seat.

“Ahh, just about how perfect it’d be to get drunk right now, that’s all,” Shi Qingxuan sighs dreamily, leaning against her elbow as she inhales on the cigarette. “I miss going on a bender and forgetting what happened for several days.”

“That’s the spirit,” Kino says, pretending to raise a glass. “I’ll go clubbing with you when we get out of her. How long have you got?”

“Maybe… five years here? I don’t really remember, but then I’ll be on probation and that’s no fun.”

“I’ve been here a couple of years already, but I doubt I’m getting out early on good behaviour,” Kino snorts, “I smuggled alcohol in here once and everyone got drunk and did stupid shit. Boss man doctor got me in big trouble.”

Shi Qingxuan ignores the fact he unironically called Vanitas boss man and focuses on the former part. “You can get alcohol in here?!”

“It’s not easy, and I wouldn’t do it again. I might get sent back to the normal people prison wing, and that place is boring,” he says, before flashing her a wink. “But for you, I’ll consider it.”

“Thanks… boss man?”

“You’re welcome, queen.”

Before the conversation can get more awkward, the doors open again and Pei Ming comes outside as well, the pack of cigarettes in his hand. “Well, well, can I join the party?”

“Any time,” Kino says, scooting aside and moving his legs so the other can sit down.

Shi Qingxuan’s smile drops a bit, because she’s still not sure how to feel about Pei Ming, knowing how close he was to her brother, yet he didn’t seem too devastated about his death. She suspects he knows about what Shi Wudu did to He Xuan as well, which might be why he seems to avoid He Xuan entirely.

“What are we planning, then?” Pei Ming enquires, as he lights a cigarette for himself. “It feels like I walked in on two girlies planning their weekend.”

“We are,” Kino replies, “for like, five years’ time. We’re going on a bender together.”

“I wish,” Pei Ming snorts, “I’m here for many years longer.”

“That sounds like a you problem,” Kino shrugs, “but hey, we can play party games here, right? We’ve done it before, it’s always a blast.”

“It’s not the same without alcohol,” Shi Qingxuan sighs.

“No, but you can up the tension if you make people bet with cigarettes. That shit is like holy water here.”

“What have you played?” Pei Ming asks, inhaling on the cigarette and trying to look sexy, but you know, Shi Qingxuan got standards. “Personally I’m partial to seven minutes in heaven.”

“Hah!” Kino snorts, “It might work if you get the right crowd, but not everyone here is a bender, and a lot of us are in committed relationships.”

“I would not want to have sex with anyone here… I’d be worried about catching a disease,” Shi Qingxuan says, “and that’s not fun if you’re sober.”

“I thought you slept with Azusa, no?” Kino asks.

“… Okay, well, yeah!”

“And He Xuan, that ex of yours,” Pei Ming adds, “Surely you’d shag him again?”

“… Well, yeah,” Shi Qingxuan sighs. She’s not a whore though, okay?!

“We played Never Have I Ever once,” Kino says, “but that was with vodka snuck in by some dodgy guy called Vincent. Long story, he got kicked out.”

“Never Have I Ever is always a good one,” Pei Ming nods, putting out the cigarette in the ashtray and kicking one leg up onto the bench. “But we need more people.”

“I’m down,” Kino winks, then turns to Shi Qingxuan and grins. “What about you, queen?”

“I’m in, but it’ll be weird if it’s just us,” Shi Qingxuan replies, “I want gossip with more people!”

“Then it’s settled,” Kino decides, “The next people who come outside will be forced to play it with us.”

As if on cue, right at that moment, the door opens. It could’ve been someone fun, or… it’s Xie Lian, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing.

“Good afternoon!” Xie Lian greets them with a beaming smile. Feng Xin stays behind him and Mu Qing trails even further behind, looking like he might just turn around and go back inside.

“Hey bestie!” Shi Qingxuan says, “We’re playing a game! You’ll join! Right? You’ll join us, right?!”

“Ah, what kind of game?” Xie Lian asks, a little hesitant. He sits down next to Shi Qingxuan and lights a cigarette, glancing nervously at Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

“Never Have I Ever,” Kino answers, “Come on, it’ll be fun. Teach me about all the fucked up shit you guys did.”

“Absolutely not,” Mu Qing scoffs, leaning against the fence as he lights a cigarette.

“Don’t be such a buzzkill,” Feng Xin scolds him, lightly smacking the back of his head. “It’s just a game. They’ll keep being annoying if you don’t agree.”

“I don’t want to play Never Have I Ever with people I don’t know,” Mu Qing hisses, kicking his shin in response.

“Come on, we’re all family here, right?” Kino says, “Everyone knows everything. There’s no point hiding.”

“Shut up,” Mu Qing says, staying right where he is.

“Where’s Hua Cheng?” Shi Qingxuan asks, throwing her arm over Xie Lian’s shoulders as he pulls out a cigarette. “Aren’t you like, always together?”

“He’s in therapy,” Xie Lian says, “Ahaha, so you might want to get this started… If he joins in, it might get too tense.”

“How does it even work?” Feng Xin scoffs, “Seems like a stupid fucking game if there’s no alcohol involved.”

“Forfeit is cigarettes. That’s how we play poker at least.” Kino explains, “If you’ve done something dodgy, you put a cigarette into the centre, then the person who’s made the most creative life choices gets to keep them.”

“Well that’s stupid,” Mu Qing mutters, retreating further against the fence.

“Come, come, play anyway!” Shi Qingxuan says, “What’s the harm?!”

“I lose a bunch of my tobacco,” Mu Qing deadpans, “We’re not all rich.”

“Please, you’ve got enough,” Feng Xin retorts, hooking an arm under his and dragging him to the last two seats at the table. “Just stop being a prissy bitch and play, Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Fine,” Mu Qing hisses, throwing his arm away as he sits down next to Xie Lian.

“This game is going to be great with you two,” Kino comments.

“I barely know who you are,” Mu Qing mumbles, rolling his eyes as he pulls out the pouch of tobacco and starts rolling several cigarettes in preparation, at a rather impressive speed.

“We should make friends,” Kino says.

“No.”

“Okay, okay, let’s start playing,” Xie Lian declares, giving a nervous side glance at Shi Qingxuan. Probably one which says we need to start this before a fight ensues. Shi Qingxuan also appreciates why it’s best to leave the incredibly protective Hua Cheng out of this.

“I’ll go first,” Kino decides. “Hm… Never Have I Ever featured on the news.”

“Hooh, that was rough,” Pei Ming chuckles, the first to put one cigarette in the centre. “In high school, might I add. Nothing to do with my supposed crimes.”

“I wish,” Kino says, “My brother was in the news when he committed arson, but I kept clear of the cameras at that party.”

Xie Lian is next to take a cigarette from his pack and put it in the middle. “Do I have to forfeit one for every time it happened?”

They stare in silence.

“Multiple times…?” Shi Qingxuan asks slowly.

“Uh, yeah!”

“No, you don’t,” Kino confirms.

“Ahaha, good, because that might be the rest of this pack gone…” Xie Lian says, holding an almost full pack.

Right in sync, Feng Xin and Mu Qing then both slam a cigarette in the middle while glaring at each other across the table.

“Woah,” Kino snickers, leaning back and eyeing them up. “Together?”

“Anonymously,” Mu Qing says through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Relax, it wasn’t that bad,” Feng Xin replies, “They didn’t show our pictures or anything.”

“Tch. People knew it was about us,” Mu Qing grumbles, taking a long drag of smoke and pouting. Shi Qingxuan is close to asking what’s up with that, because they’re the two people she hasn’t really gotten the lore about, but Xie Lian shakes his head at her discreetly.

“Me next,” Pei Ming says, “Never Have I Ever… haha, pissed myself in public? I know many people who have, but not me.”

“In my defence!” Shi Qingxuan is first to step up, placing one of her cigarettes into the collection. “I was very drunk. I barely remember it, but I know it happened.”

“Also in my defence…” Xie Lian continues a little slower. “I had a seizure after I overdosed.”

Nobody has anything to say to that. Fortunately (or very unfortunately for him), Mu Qing goes to put a cigarette in the centre at the exact moment it falls silent, almost pulling his hand back before throwing it in and pouting.

“Don’t,” he hisses, flicking his burnt-out cigarette onto the ground then immediately lighting another.

“You were drunk too?” Shi Qingxuan asks.

“No,” he mumbles, leaning his head against his hand in an attempt to hide the redness creeping up his face. “Something else.”

“That sounds like a potentially depressing conversation,” Kino points out.

“It is,” Feng Xin says.

“Shut it,” Mu Qing hisses, kicking him under the table once again.

“Ladies, ladies, no fighting,” Pei Ming steps in, before nodding at Shi Qingxuan. “You go. Think of something fun.”

“I don’t think I have anything particularly fun, but maybe something oddly specific? Hahaha…” Shi Qingxuan chuckles, wracking her brain for something fun, but all her stupid decisions in life were made while drunk. Well, she can weaponize that. “Never Have I Ever been out drinking and actually remembered the whole night!”

She gets some confused stares for that.

“Clarify?” Pei Ming asks, “Do we remember, or not?”

“No, no, what I mean is, I’ve never gone out drinking and remembered the whole night, start to finish. It’s a whole thing, don’t even worry about it!”

“To be fair,” Kino says, holding his hands up. “I can’t say I’ve done that either. What’s the fun if you don’t black-out half the night?”

“Exactly, exactly! You get me!”

As Pei Ming, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing each put a cigarette into the middle, somehow falling into the forfeit because they can exercise some self-restraint around alcohol, Xie Lian also hesitates.

“This is tricky,” he says, “Not really. Does have OSDD count?”

Kino cocks an eyebrow. “Do you remember every night you went drinking?”

“No, not really, but… not because of the alcohol, I think? It’s complicated.”

“You don’t have to put a cigarette down,” Shi Qingxuan says, placing a hand on his arm. “Also, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s… okay. Sort of,” Xie Lian sighs, then his expression turns grimmer as he realises it’s his turn. Shi Qingxuan watches as he thinks really hard, which is understandable considering he’s in prison for every crime ever and has probably done basically everything.

Eventually, his face lights up very slightly. “Never Have I Ever had sex with more than one person.” Then his face drops again. “Willingly, I mean.”

“I’m not even going to question that!” Shi Qingxuan says. Nobody else moves a muscle.

Except Mu Qing, screwing his face up in disgust as he puts a cigarette in the middle. “You’re all whores.”

“Are you a virgin?” Kino asks.

“What the hell? No!”

“But just one person?” Pei Ming further presses, “Wow, that’s sad.”

“At least I’m not STI-riddled,” Mu Qing scoffs, glancing at Feng Xin. “Or at least I hope not.”

“Hey! What the fuck?!” Feng Xin yells, “I didn’t fucking have sex with anyone else while I was sleeping with you?!”

“Ohh, you two are ex-boyfriends,” Kino says, having a life-changing realisation. “Huh, I feel like I should’ve figured that out sooner.”

“You two really are a mystery!” Shi Qingxuan adds, “You should talk about your lives more.”

“Absolutely not,” Mu Qing refuses, then looks at Feng Xin and scowls. “Don’t say anything either.”

“I wasn’t going to?!” Feng Xin yelps, “God, just take your fucking turn so you don’t have to be shitty about someone else’s choice.”

“Fine, I will,” Mu Qing says, before giving him an evil, very targeted smirk. “Never Have I Ever gotten a girl pregnant.”

“Yeah, fuck you then,” Feng Xin frowns, throwing a cigarette into the centre.

Unexpectedly, or perhaps not, Pei Ming also puts a cigarette down.

“Fear not,” he says, throwing his hands up. “She had an abortion.”

“Thank God,” Mu Qing snorts. Not that Pei Ming ever actually did anything to offend him, but he’s clearly found grievances.

“I won’t put a ciggie down for that,” Kino says, “but I can’t be entirely certain the answer is no.”

“Your turn,” Xie Lian says quietly, nudging Feng Xin’s elbow. “Let’s keep this calm, haha…”

“Yeah. I’m not gonna give a dig at Mu Qing, or he’ll throw a fucking hissy fit,” Feng Xin replies, glaring at Mu Qing across the table. He takes a moment to think, before continuing, “Never Have I Ever been to a strip club.”

While Pei Ming and Kino both shamelessly put a cigarette into the pool, Xie Lian looks at him with a nervous smile.

“Willingly?” he asks.

“… Yeah?” Feng Xin responds, a little grimly.

“Okay,” Xie Lian nods, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. “Then no.”

“Ahahaha, Xie Lian, you’re so funny,” Shi Qingxuan says, slapping his back before putting a cigarette into the middle as well. “I don’t really remember going to any, but I’m pretty sure I went to some in Amsterdam. That entire holiday was a blur.”

“How many are we all at now?” Kino asks, “I’ve put in only two, I think. I could do better.”

“I’m at a fantastic five, I believe,” Pei Ming adds, “If we were playing with shots, I’d be plastered by now.”

“Don’t tease me like that,” Shi Qingxuan sighs heavily, “I’m at three, maybe?”

“Two for me,” Xie Lian says.

“I’m at four,” Feng Xin replies, “I don’t even fucking know why! I haven’t done a huge amount of weird stuff, I swear!”

“You’re in prison, my guy,” Kino says, “You can’t pull that card anymore.”

“Yeah, well Mu Qing is at three! He’s not doing much better!”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Mu Qing huffs, once more delivering a harsh kick to his shin under the table. He takes one more drag from his current cigarette before flicking it onto the ground and lighting a third. “I’m at three.”

“More than me,” Kino snorts, “Okay, back to me. Hm… Never Have I Ever been pulled over.”

“That, for once, I haven’t done,” Pei Ming says, kicking back in the seat.

“I can’t drive,” Shi Qingxuan replies.

“Me neither,” Xie Lian nods in agreement.

Mu Qing and Feng Xin, however, enter another glaring match, before adding a cigarette to the forfeit pile at the same time.

“Holy shit,” Kino snorts, “At the same time?”

“Not together,” Feng Xin says bitterly, “but yeah. I guess.”

“We’re not talking about this now,” Mu Qing adds through gritted teeth.

“You two lovebirds are always one step away from revealing something scandalous simply by your reactions coupled with denial,” Pei Ming says, “Get a room next time.”

“Hey! You’re just weird and suspicious!”

“Maybe so, but I’m also fun,” Pei Ming winks, “My turn anyway. Never Have I Ever thrown up from drinking. Proudly, I’ve never done this. Stomach of steel, I suppose. Not the only part of me made of steel.”

“Slay, king,” Kino says, dropping a cigarette into the centre. “I did in my early days.”

“I should pull a Xie Lian and ask if I should put a cigarette in the middle for every time it’s happened!” Shi Qingxuan beams, following suit. “But that might use up all the cigarettes kept in this entire prison.”

“I wouldn’t ask it so proudly, haha…” Xie Lian smiles, also forfeiting a cigarette.

“Assholes,” Mu Qing scoffs, aggressively throwing a cigarette down too.

“See, that’s your fifth now!” Feng Xin says, “You’re no better than me!”

“Never said I was,” Mu Qing shrugs, taking a long drag from the cigarette still between his lips.

“You two are really funny,” Kino comments, before also lighting another cigarette. “You’re like Subaru and Kou before they were properly dating, and if they were slightly more mentally stable.”

Nobody else understands that reference. Nobody else here has even met Subaru or Kou, and they certainly won’t ever meet Subaru. Shi Qingxuan has heard bits and pieces of that lore from Reiji, and she’s learnt it’s the one thing to genuinely not pry for details about.

“Me next!” she says, “Never Have I Ever… ooh! Had a job!”

Everyone, apart from Kino, puts a cigarette down, raising a slightly judgmental eyebrow at me.

“Me neither, queen,” Kino smirks, raising a hand to high-five her. “The pros of rich parents.”

“… Yeah, I think?” Shi Qingxuan returns the high-five slightly tentatively. Rich parents, rich brother, money stolen from her ex… Whatever, whatever. This time, maybe it’s her turn to abruptly change the topic. “Xie Lian, your turn.”

“I need to think a bit…” Xie Lian mutters, drumming his fingers against the edge of the table. It’s silent for at least an entire minute before he finally says, “Never Have I Ever slept with a teacher…” he trails off, but it’s clear he’s not quite finished for a second. “… Willingly.”

“Let’s not go there!” Shi Qingxuan says, slapping his back.

While Pei Ming smugly puts a cigarette with the collection, Kino raises a hand. “Does a student teaching assistant count?”

“Yes,” Xie Lian replies, “I would say so. Still a teacher, right?”

“Hell yeah, and I pulled,” Kino grins, taking a long drag from his cigarette. “Same girl Laito got with too. In the same week, though I didn’t learn until many years later.”

“What a slag,” Pei Ming comments. “Easy.”

“Exactly! You get me.”

“You’re both awful,” Mu Qing grimaces, as he drags on the cigarette in deep thought. Said deep thought occurs while he’s glaring venomously at Feng Xin, and it’s clear he’s scheming. With a bitter smirk, he says, “Never Have I Ever cheated on someone. Go on, Feng Xin.”

“What the actual fuck?!” Feng Xin yells, “That isn’t fucking catching me out! For the hundredth time, we were broken up when I slept with Jian Lan! Contrary to what you keep making up in your head, I didn’t fuck her when we were together!”

“This game is a safe space,” Mu Qing says smugly. “You can admit it.”

“Admit what?! I didn’t sleep with her when we were together! I’d barely even met her! I only slept with her once you fucked off without a trace!”

“Oh yeah? Your lonely ass took her as a rebound!”

“You disappeared without a word! Oh, fucking sue me for being lonely!”

Mu Qing opens his mouth to retort but promptly closes it, sheepishly shrinking back a bit and inhaling on the cigarette. The tension is so thick nobody questions Pei Ming and Kino both putting a cigarette down. No surprise there, sadly.

“I was being nice earlier, but I’ll fucking get you back now purely out of spite,” Feng Xin hisses, “Never Have I Ever done ket.”

“Oh fuck you,” Mu Qing spits, throwing down his final cigarette while also angrily snuffing his lit one out under his shoe. “What was that for?!”

“You’re not fucking special, see?!” Feng Xin yelps, gesturing to the table as literally everyone else puts down a cigarette.

“Well that’s not your place to tell everyone!” Mu Qing shrieks, standing up and storming off. Feng Xin obviously hit a nerve there, but they’re well-accustomed to each other it seems, and he has no fear also getting up and following Mu Qing back inside. There’s some indiscriminate shouting and cursing from inside, something which will probably alert the staff soon enough.

“Well then!” Shi Qingxuan smiles awkwardly. “Ahaha… Should we end it there?”

“Probably for the best,” Xie Lian sighs, “San Lang will be finished with therapy soon. I’ll be staying clear of our room for a bit, I think.”

“What, scared they might have make-up sex?” Pei Ming asks.

“That’s what I was gonna say!” Kino says, grinning as he jokingly hooks his arm under Pei Ming’s elbow. “We should be friends. We have a lot in common.”

“Seems like it, yeah,” Pei Ming replies, “but I’m not a bender, you know.”

“No worries. Laito will throw a hissy fit if I fuck another guy again.”

“I don’t know if this game was successful,” Shi Qingxuan sighs, “I think this just made me more depressed.”

“Don’t worry about them, really,” Xie Lian says. “They have issues.”

“That Mu Qing guy is really weird, though,” Kino comments, “What’s his deal? And why’s he so upset about doing ket? Hasn’t everyone done ket?”

“Everyone I know has done ket,” Pei Ming nods, gathering all the cigarettes in the middle for himself. He won (lost?) by a landslide.

“He was an addict, but it’s a long story,” Xie Lian explains, “Even I don’t know all of it. Most of their past I know about is because of them arguing.”

“We should get them arguing more often, then,” Kino says.

“I don’t know if that’s the excitement I want her,” Shi Qingxuan groans, dumping her head on the table. “This would only be fun if I was drunk.”

And when she does get out of here and finally gets to go on a bender again (because being sober is currently not on her agenda), Mu Qing and Feng Xin will not be invited.

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be a normal day.

Things had been, to an extent, stable between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian following Shi Wudu’s murder. For a couple of days, Xie Lian was annoyed with Hua Cheng; he didn’t say it explicitly except for two specific times, but it was clear from his actions. He refused to cuddle him as much, refused to talk about it, and occasionally hinted that Hua Cheng had acted without thinking about the consequences — how much it’d hurt Shi Qingxuan. Which made sense, because Xie Lian had taken a liking to Shi Qingxuan from day one.

But at the end of the day, Xie Lian could hardly scold Hua Cheng for taking another man’s life. Even if he didn’t remember most times he killed someone, he definitely did it multiple times.

Still, despite the tension, he seemed to warm back up to Hua Cheng after a few days, which stopped the other from having sleepless nights thinking his precious gege didn’t love him anymore. Xie Lian stopped mentioning it, even though he continued spending a lot of time with Shi Qingxuan where possible.

It probably helped that Shi Qingxuan seemed to be slowly turning manic, and decided to simply pretend it never happened.

Right when Hua Cheng is convinced everything had blown over and the only issues remaining weren’t his to deal with, and he could live his happy little prison life with Xie Lian, things shifted suddenly one morning.

Exactly one month after Shi Wudu’s death.

Hua Cheng doesn’t notice much different when Xie Lian wakes up. He naturally wakes up earliest, cuddling the other in his arms as the morning creeps on, long before anyone else rises. The second next person who always wakes up in Feng Xin, but him and Hua Cheng don’t speak. They just occasionally glare at each other while Feng Xin tries to go back to sleep.

Usually, Xie Lian wakes up next, but this morning, he remains in a deep sleep. Hua Cheng tries not to worry as he continues holding him, doing his best to ignore the slightly pained expression on his sleeping face, or the way he squirms and whimpers every few minutes, subconsciously clinging to his partner’s shirt tighter.

At exactly 8pm, the lights come on automatically. And like clockwork, Mu Qing wakes up next; Hua Cheng hates the fact he has two imposters in their room and that he’s tracked their precise schedules. Best way to intercept the enemy, he’s learnt. (They are roommates in prison. It is actually not that deep, but he learnt the exact movements of all the people out to get Xie Lian while they were on the run and it’s more like a habit.)

And as always, immediately after waking up, Mu Qing grunts a few times, obviously not impressed now he’s figured out Vanitas secretly increased his quetiapine dose, waits a few seconds while staring at the ceiling, then abruptly bolts out of the bed and out of the room, his footsteps fading towards the communal toilets. Hua Cheng has never bothered asking why he basically runs to the toilets upon waking up every day; Xie Lian tried to ask if he was okay once and got bitterly told to fuck off.

Feng Xin leaves shortly after that, and once they’re alone, Hua Cheng takes it upon himself to finally wake Xie Lian up.

“Gege,” he whispers, shaking his shoulder and whispering in Mandarin, “It’s time to wake up.”

Xie Lian stirs a little, before his eyes snap open instantly. His entire body freezes as he looks up at the other, and just stares blankly. Holding back a frown, Hua Cheng keeps watching him, observing. Every day, as long as he can remember since they’ve been together, Xie Lian always smiles at him and says good morning, sinking deeper into his embrace.

But today, that doesn’t happen. Instead, Xie Lian just stares at him with an empty gaze, not saying anything. That’s when Hua Cheng realises something really isn’t right.

“Gege?” he says again, stroking a stray strand of hair out of his face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Xie Lian mutters quietly, showing no fond response to his touch. He stays completely still, not flinching away but making no attempt to move closer.

“Breakfast will be soon,” Hua Cheng continues, “Does gege wanna go and smoke first?”

“… No,” Xie Lian mumbles, “No, I don’t want to.”

“Okay,” Hua Cheng nods. He doesn’t know what else to say, because that’s what they always do. When they first met, Xie Lian had smoked since his teens and he always asked to smoke in the morning. Delicately, he pushes more of Xie Lian’s hair away from his face, switching back to English. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“… No?” Xie Lian replies, looking around the room, his expression still mostly blank, but now with an air of confusion. “I don’t remember.”

“Mhm,” Hua Cheng murmurs, wrapping his arm around his shoulders, still watching the other closely. “Let’s wait until breakfast, then.”

“Okay,” Xie Lian nods, settling back against him, but he seems hesitant and delicate.

In the back of his mind, Hua Cheng has a slight hunch what might have happened; however, accusing him in this state isn’t going to be helpful. With any luck, a stress-free morning will help. Easier said than done in this place, though.

Twenty minutes pass before Hua Cheng stands up and holds out a hand, helping Xie Lian to his feet. They get dressed, and Xie Lian doesn’t stop staring at the floor, seeming numb but also a little shaken. At no point does he look Hua Cheng in the eye, even as he takes his hand and they walk downstairs to the canteen.

The canteen is about as lively as it gets at this time, considering nobody there already is a morning person, and room one, Kino, and Qi Rong aren’t here yet — the loudest of everyone.

Hua Cheng scopes out the room, assessing who would be safest to sit next to. He Xuan is generally a safe bet, especially since him and Hua Cheng have barely exchanged more than a few sentences since the Shi Wudu incident. But He Xuan isn’t here yet, and neither is Shi Qingxuan. So, he sits right at the end of one of the tables, a few seats up from Elliot, Leo, Lang Qianqiu, Break, and Gilbert. Break is rambling to all of them (and he’s blind, so what the hell can he do? Hua Cheng doesn’t know that lore yet.)

When the food comes around, Xie Lian barely touches it, and therefore Hua Cheng doesn’t either. If Xie Lian isn’t in the mood to eat and might go hungry, then so will he. Shortly after the food arrives, He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan finally emerge, both of them clearly not wanting to be there. They’re both followed by Vanitas, who’s somehow smirking proudly to himself. As He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan both begrudgingly approach the tablets, Vanitas goes to the side of the room where Noé and Astolfo are, whispering something to them while snickering.

Meanwhile, He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan also scope out the seating, before walking over to Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. Mainly because there’s not many seats left, and who the hell would want to sit in the empty spaces next to Ayato, Laito, Kanato, and Kino?

“Morning,” Shi Qingxuan groans, dropping into the seat opposite Xie Lian.

“Good morning,” Xie Lian mutters, still picking at his food, like he barely registered she’s there.

“Ugh, I’m so tired,” she whines, dumping her head in her hands. “That relentless doctor has now drugged me up! Honestly, what’s the deal with constantly giving me stuff I don’t want?! I’m fine! I don’t need any drugs to be sane!”

At that, Xie Lian barely, just barely winces, stabbing the fork into a piece of very stale bread. Discreetly, Hua Cheng reaches under the table and touches his hand. “Gege. You should eat.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Xie Lian snaps quietly, yanking his hand away with a weak but sharp glare. Even He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan notice, a little shocked by how different he seems from such a small gesture.

It takes an immense amount of effort for Hua Cheng not to flinch or show any reaction, but his tone and harsh words confirmed his suspicion, and he knows exactly why Xie Lian isn’t like himself right now. Nothing significantly triggering happened here; however, whatever nightmare he had pushed him into dissociation the moment he woke up, and now he’s not himself.

It’s been at least a year since Xie Lian’s alter fronted, or at least noticeably. When he was hospitalised and Hua Cheng learnt he’d been diagnosed with OSDD-1a, he researched every corner of the internet to understand it better, without ever probing Xie Lian too much about it. He knew it was linked to trauma he didn’t want to talk about, and Hua Cheng — more than anyone — didn’t want to probe about anything distressing. He knew more than Xie Lian thought he did already.

Xie Lian hardly recovered, but being settled (as settled as ever) with Hua Cheng, no longer committing crimes, and avoiding triggers, kept him in the same emotional state most of the time. He lost a lot of memories for the better, and having even one distinct, dissociated self-state protected him from those memories.

Being in prison had, for the most part, kept him stable. When they first came and he was in heroin withdrawal, there were times Hua Cheng worried he’d switch, if only briefly, but he forced himself to stay alert and vigilant to triggers even though it made him sick, and his alter stayed dormant.

Evidently, something overnight happened to trigger the switch, and Hua Cheng is left thinking he shouldn’t have bothered going to sleep.

Not that having Xie Lian switch is inherently bad, but he’d always seemed embarrassed when it happened or it was brought up, like he never fully came to terms with what it meant or what it said about his upbringing. Xie Lian had always done a good job at convincing himself he’d dealt with things well, and a lot of the time, he didn’t remember what happened when his alter fronted. He’d be paranoid he said or did something bad, or constantly apologise for nothing. It upset him so much that Hua Cheng decided it was better to simply avoid it altogether.

On top of that, if people notice something is different, they might find out and question him. Xie Lian is an open book normally, but not about the details of his past. Some parts are clouded by amnesia, and some parts he simply refuses to talk about. Being questioned by everyone, “what the hell just happened?!”, would upset him further.

So, Hua Cheng backs off. If nothing significant triggered it, and nothing aggravates him in this state, he should be back to himself soon.

“MOTHERFUCKING FUCKER! FUCK, SHIT, DON’T TOUCH ME!”

Everyone turns their heads at the same time, seeing Qi Rong pinned on the floor by Astolfo, flailing around like a toddler who was refused snacks.

“You can’t just walk in here and try to throw someone’s plate at the wall!” Astolfo says, his knee buried against the base of his spine; not hard enough to cause damage, yet enough to be painful.

“I DIDN’T! FUCKER! YOU’RE JUST STUPID!”

“You literally grabbed Azusa plate and tried to fling it at the wall! If Yuma hadn’t grabbed it back, that’s exactly what you’d have done.”

“AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW?! STUPID! STUPID!”

“You’re late, anyway,” Vanitas points out, walking up to Qi Rong and staring down at him. “Now, are you going to eat and behave, or do you want to go back in isolation?”

“BEHAVE! I’LL BEHAVE!” Qi Rong screams, fighting until Astolfo finally lets him up, but he doesn’t move back until Qi Rong deposits himself two seats along from Azusa. He stares at Xie Lian a lot, though since Hua Cheng beat the shit out of him, he’s generally learnt his lesson and avoided him.

When the screaming settles, Hua Cheng glances back to Xie Lian, watching him staring hard at Qi Rong.

“Gege?” he whispers, holding back the urge to hold his hand, or squeeze his shoulder.

“Is that… Qi Rong?” he asks quietly.

“Yes,” Hua Cheng replies, deliberately keeping it vague. He’s not even sure if Xie Lian really understands where he is right now, let alone who everyone else is or why Qi Rong is here, of all people. It’s never been clear how distinct his amnesia is between states, and here and now is not the time to ask.  

“Qi Rong?” Shi Qingxuan says, obviously having heard, as she raises her eyebrows and leans her elbows on the table. “Wasn’t he your cousin?”

Xie Lian narrows his eyes, pursing his lips and gripping the edge of the table. “Qi Rong is here…?”

“Well, yeah?” Shi Qingxuan replies, as she tilts her head at him. “You okay today? You seem a bit off.”

“No, I’m okay,” Xie Lian responds quickly, forcing a weak smile. Hua Cheng moves to squeeze his hand under the table, but he gives no response as he does; no flinching, but he doesn’t return the gesture. While Shi Qingxuan falls silent, He Xuan raises a knowing eyebrow at Hua Cheng. He’s talked about it with He Xuan once before, and He Xuan isn’t an idiot. With a tiny nod, Hua Cheng confirms his suspicions, only in the hope it’ll keep him silent a little longer.

Fortunately, Shi Qingxuan ends up focusing most of her energy on moving her food around the plate to make it look like she’s eaten, meanwhile He Xuan doesn’t make any attempt whatever to eat. Unfortunately, Xie Lian hasn’t eaten more than a few bites either, eyes squinting suspiciously at the food. And because he’s not eating, neither is Hua Cheng.

Because of the quartet across the room all staring at their plates as if the food itself insulted their entire bloodline, Vanitas soon comes over.

“Alright,” he sighs, rubbing his temples. “Why do we have a lil’ eating disorder corner over here?”

“I’m not hungry,” Shi Qingxuan says, “I swear, I’ll eat lunch! I’m just not a breakfast girlie.”

“I have absolutely no doubt you’d scran a kebab at 6am after a bender, because I would too, so I’m not buying that for a second,” Vanitas responds, “He Xuan. What’s your excuse?”

“I don’t have an excuse,” He Xuan shrugs, arms crossed over his chest. “I’m just not eating.”

“Right. Well, you took the insulin earlier, so expect glucogel or collapsing if you don’t eat,” Vanitas threatens, eyeing him up and down until he grabs the fork and stabs a piece of bread. With a smirk, he says, “Perfect,” then turns to Xie Lian, “And you, Xie Lian? You’re not skipping out on breakfast either.”

Slowly, Xie Lian turns his head up and looks at Vanitas, still a bit confused. “If I do?”

From the challenge, Vanitas narrows his eyes, because Xie Lian as always been obedient. He came to breakfast when he was in heroin withdrawal and couldn’t even keep down water. He took the methadone without hesitation. He came to breakfast when he was upset with Hua Cheng sort of killing someone for his sake. He’s always done as he’s told, avoided trouble, and Vanitas really seemed impressed by how cooperative he was for someone with a list of crimes almost longer than everyone here combined.

Fortunately, Vanitas is a professional, and Hua Cheng exchanges a subtle look with him; a slightly threatening glare which gets straight to the point, that yes, whatever he suspects is true. Vanitas knew about Xie Lian having OSDD-1a since he came, because Hua Cheng told him, and now he’s a bit stumped.

“Okay, nothing as a one off,” Vanitas mutters, waving his hand dismissively. “If you’re not hungry, you two can be dismissed.”

“Good,” Hua Cheng says, biting his tongue as he carefully hooks a hand under Xie Lian’s elbow, as he holds back on calling him gege. “Xie Lian. Let’s go outside.”

At first, there’s a bit of resistance as Hua Cheng attempts to pull him to his feet, so he gently lays a hand on the back of his shoulder, a soft yet reassuring gesture which will hopefully get through to him, even if he’s not his usual self right now. It works, with some success, and Xie Lian eventually relents and stands up. It’s not like him and Hua Cheng weren’t together when his alter fronted most frequently, but he was definitely a lot colder and less trusting towards him.

Not that Hua Cheng blames him. He was going through a lot at the time, after all, but his biggest priority right now is getting him away from everyone. If someone triggers him, he could do something he regrets, and worst of all, won’t remember it.

On the way out, Vanitas taps Hua Cheng’s shoulder and whispers, “Take care of him.”

Hua Cheng shoots him a sharp glare. “Don’t tell me that.”

The attitude makes Vanitas cock an eyebrow, but Hua Cheng leads Xie Lian out of the canteen, ignoring him. He guides him outside, sighing once they’re alone.

“Gege,” he whispers, holding his wrists loosely. “You’re okay.”

“What happened?” Xie Lian asks, his voice a little breathless. He continues looking around, gripping Hua Cheng’s shirt. “Where’s Jun Wu? Does he know I’m here?”

“No, gege,” Hua Cheng whispers. He holds back a flinch as Xie Lian utters that name; a name he hasn’t spoken since they came here. When they first met, Xie Lian was fully under than man’s control, and it’s no coincidence that once they escaped and eventually went on the run, Xie Lian grew more stable.

With any luck, he’ll never see his adoptive father again.

“Jun Wu isn’t here anymore,” he tells him, stroking the hair out of his face. “You can trust me. You’re safe.”

“He’s not here?” Xie Lian says, eyes widening slightly in disbelief. “Is he dead? Did I… Did I kill him as well?”

“Shhh,” Hua Cheng hushes him, cupping his cheek. He glances over his shoulder at once of the cameras; it’s no surprise his other alter also holds most of the clear memories of his crimes. “You didn’t kill him. Nobody killed Jun Wu. You’re just safe from him now. You’re being protected here.”

“No, I’ll get in trouble,” Xie Lian replies, his breath picking up as he claws at the other’s shirt, frantically looking around. “You have to get me out of here, San Lang. I have to go back, they’ll send someone after my friends if I don’t!”

“Shh, gege, it’s okay,” Hua Cheng says, cradling his head and kissing his forehead. It’s almost tempting to offer him heroin, if he even had some.

“It’s not!” Xie Lian cries, his eyes filling with tears. “He’ll send people after me, Jun Wu will— I know what he’s like, no one else deserves to get hurt because of me and my—!”

“No one got hurt because of you, gege,” Hua Cheng whispers, as he guides him back against the fence and to the ground. He sits beside him when he curls up in a ball, an arm around his shoulder just to hold him close. He pulls a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it and handing it to the other. Xie Lian takes it hesitantly, taking a few drags before burying his face into his knees and rocking back and forth.

“It’ll be over soon,” he continues, running his fingers through his hair. With any luck, that is, and hopefully he won’t remember it either.

But of course, their luck runs out a moment later, as the door opens and Ruki, Yuma, and Azusa all step outside.

“Woah, shit,” Yuma scoffs, an unlit cigarette already hanging between his lips as he hops onto one of the tables, and pulls out a lighter. Ruki leans on the edge next to him, holding out a hand with a grin. After lighting the cigarette, Yuma holds out the pack of cigarette, but questions it anyway. “Ya quit months ago, no?”

“One off,” Ruki smirks, taking the cigarette and the lighter. “Thanks.”

Azusa sits next to Ruki, keeping his head down as he also lights a cigarette. He still hasn’t quite rebuilt his dignity after everyone found out he slept will Shi Qingxuan. But he does stare at the two on the floor a little too hard. “Is… Xie Lian… okay?”

Hua Cheng’s head whips up to glare at him, at which Azusa instantly blushes and looks down again, taking a long drag from the cigarette and making sure not to even peek.

Ruki has less shame, always, as he scans the other up and down. “Psychosis?”

For a moment, Hua Cheng is about to correct him, but then he realises it might be easier to explain and Xie Lian won’t have to share all his mental disorders. Through gritted teeth, he replies, “Yes.”

“Been there, done that,” Ruki snorts, flicking the ash off the cigarette. “You gotta get the doctor, he’ll medicate him.”

“Quiet,” Hua Cheng snaps back at him, holding Xie Lian closer when he whimpers at the suggestion. He kisses his forehead again, switching to Mandarin and whispering, “Nobody will drug you, gege, don’t worry.”

“Jun Wu will be here soon,” Xie Lian mutters, “He always comes.”

“No, he won’t,” Hua Cheng tells him firmly, squeezing his hands. “He can’t get—”

“DOG FUCK ASS! YOU RAN AWAY LIKE A PUSSY BITCH!”

Qi Rong was absolutely the last person they needed to appear right now. He runs in circles for a moment, cursing in terrible Mandarin and screaming for literally no reason. God only knows how he was ever admitted to a place with other people. Xie Lian tries to look up at the noise, but Hua Cheng quickly covers his eyes and starts shushing him, while getting ready to defend him from Qi Rong.

However, the moment Qi Rong’s gaze lands on Xie Lian and he starts laughing manically, then starts charging for him with his arms out, screeching something about his cousin, Yuma grabs him by the scruff of the neck and throws him onto the floor.

“FUCKER! FUCK! YOU’RE IRRELEVANT! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE!”

“God, you’re even worse than Kanato, and I didn’t think that was fuckin’ possible!” Yuma yells, grinding his foot into the other’s back.

“LET ME GO! ASSAULT! ASSAULT!”

Hua Cheng almost thanks Yuma, but he seems to be having a good time kicking the shit out of Qi Rong. But the screaming is obviously getting to Xie Lian and he appears terrified, and Hua Cheng has nothing he can do. So much for some stability and quiet eventually switching him back.

Not long after the commotion arose, Domi strolls outside, immediately rolling her eyes. “What the hell?”

“Xie Lian is having a meltdown,” Ruki explains nonchalantly. “And Qi Rong is just being Qi Rong.”

“Figures,” Domi sighs, pulling out her walkie-talkie and switching channels. “Vanitas? You there?”

After a quiet crackle, the other replies, “Yeah. You find out what the screaming was?”

“Yep. Come outside. Bring two midazolam injections while you’re at it.”

“Fuckin’— Fine.”

“Leave it to me,” Domi says as she puts the walkie-talkie away and steps to Yuma’s side, removing his foot and kneeling on the base of Qi Rong’s spine.

“GET OFF ME! FUCKER! I DID NOTHING WRONG!” he continues screaming at the top of his lungs, “LESBIAN! LESBIAN! RACIST!”

“I’m not racist, and neither am I a lesbian,” Domi replies, pushing her knee harder against his spine as she snorts. “For your information, I’m a bisexual woman in a relationship with a straight man, unfortunately.”

“Damn,” Yuma scoffs, “Vanitas is straight?”

“So he claims,” Domi mutters.

Moments later, Vanitas bursts through the two, with gloves and two syringes. He looks around and takes in the scene, then sighs. “Who first?”

“This one, preferably,” Domi says, gesturing down at Qi Rong. “He won’t stop screaming about me being a racist and a lesbian.”

“Hilarious,” Vanitas snorts, before crouching down next to Qi Rong. Everyone watches as Domi pins down his arm at the side, except for Xie Lian, who Hua Cheng is still shielding the view of.

It gets quiet very quickly once Qi Rong is sedated, spare the sound of Xie Lian’s heavy breathing.

“Take Qi Rong to medical room one, then he’s going to the infirmary as soon as he wakes up,” Vanitas orders, then looks at Yuma, Ruki, and Azusa. “You guys, go back inside. You can come back out in five minutes.”

“That’s a waste of half a cigarette,” Ruki points out.

“Says the non-smoker,” Vanitas mutters, “Just go. I’ll tell Reiji if you don’t.”

That threat sadly works, and Ruki, Yuma and Azusa all put their cigarettes out before sauntering back inside, grumbling about a waste. Once they’re gone, Hua Cheng looks up at Vanitas and narrows his eyes. “What is it?”

“Midazolam,” Vanitas says, “I know you don’t want me to, but everyone will come charging out soon for their post-breakfast smoke, and if he’s—”

“I know,” Hua Cheng says sharply, “Let me do it.”

“No, I can’t do that,” Vanitas snorts.

“He won’t get upset if it’s me,” Hua Cheng counters, trying not to outwardly show any panic, but he’s at a loss. “If I tell him it’s heroin. Gege doesn’t know where he is right now.”

“How’s this— You can hold his arm, okay?” Vanitas proposes.

And Hua Cheng never, ever wanted to cooperate with this egotistical doctor who probes him and Xie Lian relentless, but his precious lover is so distressed, he sees no other option. Gently, he takes the other’s arm and rolls up his sleeves, the pattern of track marks along his inner arm from years of drug abuse yet to heal.

“Gege, breathe now,” Hua Cheng whispers, “This is your usual, you know? It’ll make you feel better.”

“The…” Xie Lian exhales quietly, slowly lifting his head, but his eyes are cloudy and he looks extremely dissociated again. He zooms in on the needle, and Hua Cheng almost entirely blocks Vanitas from his view. “… Okay.”

Hua Cheng gives Vanitas a discreet nod, before he pushes the needle in. It works quickly, and within a minute, Xie Lian’s eyes flutter closed and he slumps against Hua Cheng’s shoulder; he holds him up with practised ease. At least he’s not doing it in the context of an overdose.

“So,” Vanitas sighs, “What triggered it?”

“I don’t know,” Hua Cheng replies honestly, breathing out a shaky sigh. “He woke up and wasn’t himself. A nightmare probably.”

“How long since that happened?” the other enquires further, taking off the gloves as he stands up.

“A few months,” he answers, gently caressing Xie Lian’s sleeping face. He tries not to let on how helpless and useless he feels.

“Do you think some time sedated will fix it, or not?”

Hua Cheng frowns hard, replying quietly, “I don’t know.”

“Well, you can carry him to the infirmary, but I wouldn’t recommend waiting by his side. This is tough on you. It’s okay to take a break.”

Nobody ever really says that to him, and he doesn’t take it much to heart. “I’ll visit intermittently.”

“Alright,” Vanitas sighs, helping him load Xie Lian onto his shoulder, but Hua Cheng has no difficulty carrying his unconscious body bridal-style. “He won’t remember?”

“No,” Hua Cheng replies, “He never does.”

“Hm. And he didn’t hurt himself?”

“No.”

“But you don’t want other people to know, right?”

“No.”

“God, you’re a delight in conversation,” Vanitas mutters sarcastically, holding the door open for him before leading him to the infirmary. He sets up the bed and helps Hua Cheng set him down, before waving him off. “Alright, let me get him hooked up to an ECG just in case. Go and cope in the way you usually do.”

Hua Cheng raises an eyebrow, but relents and leaves anyway. Yeah, cope in the way he usually does when he fails to protect Xie Lian: sulking in the corner of a dark room with a bag of cocaine and a lot of self-hatred. But that doesn’t really work in prison.

… Or does it?

Chapter Text

After Xie Lian got knocked out and taken to the infirmary, Hua Cheng stood by his side for an hour, but he remained deeply asleep. Vanitas said the midazolam might take a couple of hours to wear off, and he gets too antsy standing there.

Whilst Hua Cheng would much rather never leave his side, he also knows that if Xie Lian wakes up and his alter is still fronting, him being there might stress him out further, and Xie Lian’s wellbeing has always come above his own comfort. Xie Lian’s other alter doesn’t remember much about their time together and has slightly hostile feelings towards Hua Cheng, nor does he like being touched or cornered in case it prompts flashbacks, so after an hour, he drags himself out of the infirmary and outside. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to face Ruki, Yuma, and Azusa; not that he’d bless them with an explanation, but he’s not in the mood to deal with intrusive questions.

A few people come and go, the idiots from room one take the piss, Mu Qing and Feng Xin come outside and talk shit, but Hua Cheng isn’t in the mood to fight with anyone, mostly because it’ll upset Xie Lian when he wakes up if he finds out the other got in trouble. (He’s very predictable in a way.)

Eventually, someone comes out who he can talk to: He Xuan, and without Shi Qingxuan around his arm this time.

“Morning,” he smirks, pulling out a cigarette and sitting on the table opposite Hua Cheng. After lighting the cigarette, He Xuan gestures at the ashtray full, raising an eyebrow. “Been busy?”

“Very,” Hua Cheng replies sarcastically. He takes a drag from his current cigarette, resisting the urge to cough. Xie Lian insisted they weren’t going to smoke earlier, so they didn’t, and now he’s making up from it. Maybe also chain-smoking just to cope.

“What happened earlier?” He Xuan asks straight-up.

“Nothing much.”

“Bullshit. Xie Lian was like another person entirely and you were looking like a slapped puppy.”

“Hm.” Hua Cheng narrows his eyes and glares at the other, exhaling a long plume of smoke. “He has OSDD. There was a switch, and he got upset. That’s all.”

“Oh, shit,” He Xuan mutters, “What’d you do?”

“I did nothing,” Hua Cheng says. “It happened before I woke up. He wasn’t aware of it.”

“Where is he now?”

“Sedated. Qi Rong came out and started screaming, and he got more distressed.”

“You beat up Qi Rong again?”

“No. Yuma did. I had more important things to tend to.”

“Right, your precious gege,” He Xuan says, imitating him in a mocking tone. He inhales on the cigarette, his gaze flickering over the other as he asks, “What now? You just sit here and feel sorry for yourself?”

“I have to see what state he wakes up in,” Hua Cheng shrugs. Once the current cigarette is snuffed out, he immediately pulls a new one out, lighting it and coughing a little.

“You must’ve had another coping mechanism back in the day,” He Xuan points out, “What was it? Cocaine, or meth, or something?”

“I didn’t do meth,” Hua Cheng snorts, almost offended. He looks down; he never likes talking about this, because he refused to accept it most of the time, convincing himself he was only using cocaine alongside Xie Lian’s heroin use so they’d burden the weight of addiction together. Hua Cheng never liked thinking of himself as an addict, even if coming here and being forced to stop cold turkey taught him the truth.

“Coke, then. I’m sure you can easily get some of that shit in this place.”

“I definitely have my ways,” Hua Cheng says, squinting at the security camera in the corner. They still haven’t figured out if that thing has a microphone attached. “I know a person.”

“That person being your green-card husband?”

“You remember too much. It’s irritating.”

“I’m smart,” He Xuan says casually, “and there’s not a lot to talk about in this place.”

“I didn’t know my life was a good topic of conversation.”

“More interesting than mine.”

“Fair point,” Hua Cheng shrugs. They sit in silence for a little long, smoking and staring at the ground. Now the idea is planted in his head, he starts thinking more about whether he should call Yin Yu and get him to bring drugs in. Visitors’ day is Wednesday and before him and Xie Lian came to prison, he set up a code with Yin Yu which would tell him to smuggle stuff in during visitors. He has full access to Hua Cheng’s funds and contacts. The moment he says the word, they’d get it.

“You’re thinking about it,” He Xuan accuses him after a long stretch of silence.

“Just a bit.”

“Would you actually?”

“Depends,” Hua Cheng says, “If gege wants stuff, I would. In a heartbeat, but I don’t know if he would.”

“You can use coke without him, if you wanted. He wouldn’t get hurt by it if you don’t get found out,” He Xuan points out, giving him a subtle smirk as he brings the cigarette to his lips. “Give me a line and I won’t tell anyone.”

“You?” Hua Cheng snorts, “I can’t imagine you doing drugs.”

“Didn’t much,” He Xuan mutters, “But I went to Oxford. Everyone and their rich asses do coke there. It went around, I did it.”

“Interesting,” he hums, flicking the ash off the cigarette and meeting He Xuan’s expectant stare. “Alright. I’ll ask gege.”

“You don’t need his permission. You deal with enough of his shit.”

He gets a rather vicious glare from Hua Cheng for that remark, but He Xuan can’t be intimidated by Hua Cheng. Not when Hua Cheng helped him kill a man.

“I’ll still ask if he wants his stuff.”

“Fine. But that’s not permission. You’ll do it anyway, for yourself,” He Xuan tells him, more like an instruction than a suggestion; like he’s firmly telling Hua Cheng to think about himself once in a while. You know, by doing drugs. “Just don’t give any to Qingxuan. She doesn’t need that right now.”

“Yeah, where’s your girl now?” Hua Cheng chuckles, “She’s been wrapped around your arm nearly every day recently. I know you’re sleeping in her bed, too.”

He Xuan stiffens slightly, a pout tugging at the corner of his lips. “Who told you that?”

“Kino.”

“I didn’t think you were one for relationship gossip like that.”

“Well, think about your own words,” Hua Cheng shoots back with an evil smirk, “there’s not a lot to talk about in this place.”

“It’s not a romantic thing,” He Xuan says quickly. “She’s not sleeping. It’s the only way to get her to settle down for the night. Consider it damage control.”

“Damage control?” Hua Cheng snorts in derision. “We’re in a prison. What’s the worse she could do?”

“You’ve obviously never seen someone in a manic episode,” He Xuan mumbles, taking a long drag from the cigarette. When he finishes it, he stubs it out in the ashtray and lights a second.

“No, I haven’t. Heroin is a surprisingly good mood stabiliser.”

“I bet,” He Xuan scoffs, “Best case scenario, she doesn’t sleep and talks loudly. Worst case scenario, she enters psychosis and hurts herself. She wouldn’t hurt anyone else, but she could hurt herself.”

“Doesn’t that stupid doctor want to medicate her?”

“He does, but she doesn’t want it. That’s the problem with mania. She might as well do coke, which is why she can’t have any.”

“So where is she now?” Hua Cheng asks.

“Asleep,” He Xuan answers, sounding a bit exasperated already. “She hasn’t slept a lot and started bumping into things. Quack doctor snuck clonazepam into her morning meds. She’s so out-of-it she didn’t notice.”

“Careful, he might start sneaking weight-gaining pills into your breakfast meds.”

This time, He Xuan is the one who glares rather venomously at Hua Cheng, blowing a cloud of smoke in his face, but he doesn’t flinch.

“I’m not manic. I’d notice,” he deadpans.

“You like to think.”

“Ass,” He Xuan grumbles, letting out a deep sigh. “Qingxuan is a mess, but she won’t accept it. She’s been off the rails since her brother died.”

“And whose fault is that, hm?”

“I don’t regret it,” he says, “Shi Wudu deserved it, and he would’ve ruined her in the long-run. But he kept her stable, and now he’s gone. Someone has to do it.”

“Sounds like you still have feelings for her after all.”

He Xuan cocks an eyebrow and visibly recoils, tapping the ash off the cigarette. “How’d you jump to that?”

“I know things, trust me,” Hua Cheng smirks, dropping his cigarette in the ashtray and finally standing up. “I have to go and check on gege now. Good talk.”

“You too,” He Xuan replies, somewhere between sarcastic and genuine. “And you better follow through with that promise.”

Hua Cheng snorts. “I didn’t promise anything.”

“No, but I expect it anyway.”

With a devious grin, Hua Cheng winks at the other before turning back to the door and heading towards the infirmary. Maybe he’d be encouraging Xie Lian’s downfall if he snuck in drugs for both of them, but until he figures out if Xie Lian wants it or not, if he misses it or not, he chooses to believe it’d be good to get them back to a mental state in which they were both stable.

More stable than in here, at least. Being stuck in a place like this wears you down with enough boredom and makes you want to go back to abusing substances.

Half an hour after Hua Cheng returned from outside, Xie Lian begins to stir, letting out a quiet grunt of discomfort. He stands up from the chair next to the bed, but hesitates before sitting down on the mattress. If Xie Lian hasn’t switched back, that could cause further discomfort and prolong the issue at hand.

As Xie Lian opens his eyes and looks around, there’s a slight emptiness in his eyes for a moment, and Hua Cheng holds his breath, thinking nothing has changed.

But after a few moments, Xie Lian turns his head and flashes him a weak smile, saying softly, “San Lang…?”

“Gege,” he says, trying to hold back a sigh of relief as he sits on the bed and grabs his hand, squeezing it for dear life. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah? It’s… morning, right?” Xie Lian asks, as he tries to sit up, but the sedatives linger in his blood and his limbs appear heavier than usual. He frowns a bit, looking between Hua Cheng and the familiar infirmary. “… It’s morning, right?”

“No, gege,” Hua Cheng says gently, stroking his cheek. “It’s coming up to midday now, but you’ve already been awake.”

“Oh…” Xie Lian mumbles. He squints down at the bed, like he’s wracking his memory and it’s coming up empty. “So I woke up already? Did I pass out?”

“Not exactly,” Hua Cheng replies, “Do you remember having a nightmare last night?”

“I don’t think so,” Xie Lian says, giving a light-hearted, self-pitying chuckle. “But I don’t remember waking up this morning either, so I wouldn’t know.”

“I guess not,” Hua Cheng hums, shifting slightly closer on the bed. “Gege, you’re okay now. That’s all that matters.”

“No, San Lang. I want to know what happened,” Xie Lian says, taking a few deeps breaths before closing his eyes. “Did I… Did it happen again?”

“Hm?”

“The… alter. Did I switch again?”

Hua Cheng purses his lips. There’s no use lying to him, because even if he wasn’t self-aware enough to figure out why there’s a big gap in his memories, everyone else would tell him what happened in a much less gentle way. “Yes. Only for a short time.”

“I see…” Xie Lian murmurs. He screws his eyes shut, trying to remember, but nothing comes up. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything, or what happened before I woke up. I don’t recall waking up in the night either, but…”

“Don’t apologise, gege. Don’t ever apologise for that,” Hua Cheng tells him, soft yet firm.

“I didn’t do anything, did I? Or hurt anyone, or…”

“No, you didn’t hurt anymore,” Hua Cheng replies. Well, he hurt his feelings, but that doesn’t matter obviously. He knew he wasn’t himself. “Nobody else noticed.”

“Are you sure?” Xie Lian asks, “Was it not obvious?”

“No, gege, don’t worry. Everyone else here is stupid.”

“Okay, even if that… Why am I in the infirmary then? I must’ve done something, and Vanitas wouldn’t have sedated me for no reason.”

Clearly, Xie Lian can tell just from feeling that he was forcefully sedated, so Hua Cheng can’t hide that either. Well, he’s been hospitalised before and dealt with this in much more severe situations, ones where he did hurt himself or someone else. This isn’t anywhere near as bad, but Hua Cheng will treat it as if it is purely so it doesn’t happen again. And if it does, he’ll be just as worried.

“We went outside, I tried to ground you, but Qi Rong came out and started doing what he always does. You got upset, and Vanitas insisted he sedated you, until this was resolved.”

“Did I hurt Qi Rong…?”

“No, you didn’t,” Hua Cheng reassures him, giving a snarky scoff after. “Not that it’d matter if you did.”

“… Fair point,” Xie Lian shrug, before eyeing up the other suspiciously. “But are you okay?”

“I’m always okay,” Hua Cheng says with an evidently forced smile. “I talked to He Xuan. Shi Qingxuan was the only other person who noticed something wasn’t right, but he’ll make sure she keeps her mouth shut.”

“Okay…” Xie Lian nods slowly, still not too convinced. He slumps back in the bed, burying his hands in his face. “I’m so embarrassed, San Lang. I really thought that wouldn’t happen anymore.”

“Don’t be. Never be. Being here isn’t as easy as it seems.”

“That’s true,” he chuckles, somewhat self-deprecatingly. “It’s funny, things really were easier when I was high all the time.”

Hua Cheng feels a slight grin tug onto his lips, as he moves closer and switches to Mandarin, keeping his voice low even though no one can understand them. “If you’d like me to bring some in via Yin Yu, just say the word. I can do it easily.”

For a moment, Xie Lian looks tempted, and Hua Cheng starts feeling hopeful. However, his eyes soon drop and he sighs heavily, with subtle shake of the head. “No, I don’t want that. It won’t get me anywhere.”

“Okay,” Hua Cheng forces a nod, feeling like his plan, his promise to He Xuan, is blown now. Even though He Xuan insisted he didn’t need permission, going against Xie Lian’s wishes isn’t one of his principles. “If you ever change your mind, tell me. I have a way.”

“You’re so sneaky, but there’s no need to get into more trouble because of me,” Xie Lian says, before switching back to English. “You have free will, San Lang.”

“I know,” Hua Cheng replies, fighting back any visible reaction. Even though he tries to smile, and Xie Lian tries to smile back, it’s obvious he’s forcing it and he can’t. Seeing him look so miserable is painful, and helplessness is an understatement for how he feels watching him like that. Even in a place where he’s meant to be kept stable, he’s not safe, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do except wait for him to maybe get better. But Xie Lian wouldn’t say if he was getting better honestly. Hua Cheng thought he was getting better here, and then this happened. He reaches forward, stroking the hair away from Xie Lian’s face. “How are you feeling now?”

“I’m okay. I’m just a little tired,” Xie Lian mutters, leaning his cheek further against Hua Cheng’s palm. “I think I need to sleep off the sedative a bit, if that’s okay.”

“Of course. Would you like to go back to our room, or stay here?”

“Stay here, please. I don’t want to show my face yet, in case anyone…”

Hua Cheng forces a bitter smile anyway, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “Sleep well, gege. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Wake me in an hour,” Xie Lian asks, as he turns onto his side and curls up in a ball. “If I sleep all day, I won’t sleep at night.”

“Of course,” Hua Cheng nods, standing up once his eyes flutter shut. Part of him doesn’t want to leave his side, nor does he want to let Xie Lian sleep in case his alter fronts again, but he chooses to have faith in the other and that he’s feeling okay now, even if he doesn’t know what triggered it last night or this morning; whenever it happened.

As soon as he opens the door, Hua Cheng is confronted with Vanitas standing right outside the room. Albeit it doesn’t make him jump, because he heard him breathing through the door anyway.

“What do you want?” Hua Cheng spits.

“I came to see how my patient is doing,” Vanitas replies, equally as harsh.

“He’s fine,” Hua Cheng answers, leaning on the door once it’s closed.”

“Back to himself?”

“Yes.”

“Alter gone completely?”

“Yes.”

“Joy,” Vanitas mutters sarcastically. “Alright. I’ll check his vitals when he’s next awake. He still has to take today’s methadone dose too. You can go… do whatever you do, as long as it’s not assisting in murder.”

“I would never,” Hua Cheng smirks, “I would like to make a phone call, though.”

Instantly, Vanitas raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I need Yin Yu to fill up mine and gege’s funds,” Hua Cheng explains, “He goes abroad every few months to visit a friend. I have to get him to do it before he leaves the country.”

Although Vanitas doesn’t seem convinced, since Hua Cheng isn’t on high alert anymore, he’s not allowed to refuse. With a long sigh, he gestures for him to follow to the reception, unlocking the door to the phone. Nobody in this place really makes phone calls, except to ask their family or friends for more money. Yuma used to call his buddies from outside a lot, but after bringing in drugs one too many times, he was put on a time restriction and extra monitoring, so he doesn’t bother anymore.

“You know his number, or do I need to get the phone book?” Vanitas asked, only getting a pissed off glare in response. “Yeah, stupid question. Go ahead. Two minutes and then it’s chargeable, you know the drill.”

“Thank you,” Hua Cheng says, though his tone is anything but grateful. Once Vanitas is gone, he sits down and picks up the phone, dialling Yin Yu’s number. Yin Yu really is a useful asset. He met him after finishing university when Yin Yu was being harassed by another student, and after pulling some strings to get him out of there (get him to leave the country, that is), Yin Yu was forever indebted to him.

So, like any normal person would, Hua Cheng negotiated he could pay him back by marrying him, to ensure he could stay in the country to be with Xie Lian. Even when Hua Cheng went head-first into committing crimes alongside Xie Lian, Yin Yu remained on his side without doing anything illegal, and then once they were on the run, he continued being an accomplice.

After a few rings, the phone gets answered. There’s a lot of background noise which sounds like trains, and Yin Yu seems a little confused. “Hello? Uh, who is this?”

“It’s me,” Hua Cheng replies, “Private number?”

“Ah, yes. Good afternoon. I haven’t… heard from you?”

“Everything is normal here. When are you going away?”

Yin Yu hesitates for a moment. Because he’s not going away, but he knows that’s a code. “… Next week.”

“Good. I need you to fill up mine and Xie Lian’s funds before you do,” Hua Cheng plays along, knowing full well these phone conversations are recorded. “Fancy visiting your husband before you leave?”

That in itself is the exact line they agreed upon prior to Hua Cheng coming here — the one which means something happened, he needs Yin Yu to visit, and the line about going on holiday means drugs.

“I can find the time,” Yin Yu replies slowly, “Is it Wednesday?”

“Wednesday is visitors. You have the address,” Hua Cheng says, keeping an eye on the time. “I’ll be there. Gege isn’t feeling well, so he won’t see you, but I send his regards too.”

“… I understand.”

Hua Cheng smirks to himself, covering his mouth from the cameras. That itself is the signal to bring only cocaine in, and not heroin. Sure, Yin Yu could get into a lot of trouble for this, but he knows what he’s doing. And at his end, it’s worth it, since while Hua Cheng is in here, he has all his wealth at his disposal, all the while working another office job.

“I’ll see you on Wednesday,” Hua Cheng says, before ending the call right when two minutes is about to hit. He sits back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling for a while as the guilt begins to set in.

Very few times, especially in their time in active addiction together, has Hua Cheng gone against Xie Lian’s wishes and used behind his back. But he owes He Xuan, they have an alliance, and he’s a man of his word. As long as nobody finds out, Xie Lian won’t have to be involved.

As they say, though, secrets don’t really last in this place.

Chapter Text

Hua Cheng had really hoped Xie Lian would be better with the coming days.

He was not.

The following day, he was fairly okay — well, he wasn’t okay, but he did a pretty good job at pretending. So much so that even Hua Cheng let down his guard and thought he’d recovered from the switch. But it fell apart the following morning, when Hua Cheng woke up to an empty bed; cursing himself for settling and falling out of touch with his instincts, when he’d wake up immediately if the bed was empty.

Before Vanitas came to find him, he didn’t even know what’d happen. He still doesn’t know what happened. All he knows is that Vanitas said Xie Lian was being kept in the infirmary following an incident. Unspecified, except Vanitas vaguely saying he’d tried to hurt himself. The news was absolutely devastating to Hua Cheng, because yet again, he failed to protect Xie Lian from himself. He tried to see him, but Vanitas said he’d given him a strong dose of clonazepam and he’d be out for a few hours.

Normally, Hua Cheng would thus sit and wallow in despair and self-pity. But today, he has other plans.

Today is Wednesday. Visitor’s day.

Hua Cheng has to put on one hell of an act. He trusts Yin Yu to effectively smuggle in drugs, they had a whole plan outlined before he came here, and, well… Yin Yu’s appearance is so plain and boring, nobody would bat an eye at him or suspect he’s doing anything suspicious. That brings Hua Cheng to his next task: pretending they’re married.

Whilst it’s common knowledge amongst the staff that Yin Yu was only Hua Cheng’s convenience marriage, he has to pretend to want to see him, otherwise his sudden visitation would turn heads. So, he has to pretend they’re actually fond of each other, even though Hua Cheng has only ever seen Yin Yu as a tool — nobody would know if Yin Yu felt the same or not. He just looks too boring to seem interested or disinterested.

Fortunately, as Hua Cheng walks into the canteen, already crowded, he concludes this was a good day to enact this plan. It’s almost full. Kanato and Kino are sitting with an older man with grey hairs who looks sick of their existence. Elliot is sat opposite a girl around his age who is just nagging him. Ayato and Feng Xin have their respective partners and kids, both of whom are entertaining each other. Qi Rong is sitting in the corner with an overly doting woman at his side, and he looks like a literal pet.

Gilbert is sat opposite a very bubbly looking blonde kid, and Hua Cheng is pretty sure it’s the first time he’s seen Gilbert actually smile. Break is sat opposite two people of a similar age, and both of them look like they’re scolding him in good fun. Ruki is sitting with an older gentleman with a creepy smirk; he doesn’t really look like he wants to be there, but he’s making sophisticated conversation nonetheless. Azusa is sat opposite another girl his age, in total silence, and finally, Yuma has two friends next to him.

Of those not there, Hua Cheng knows He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan are together in their room (Reiji is there too, probably ripping his hair out). A few others are missing, but they’re not targets for surveillance.

The staff seem to be monitoring Yuma and Qi Rong the most, and Hua Cheng’s appearance doesn’t turn any heads. He sees Yin Yu sat at the last available table, staring into space. As expected: nobody has even noticed him.

“Yin Yu,” he says, giving a fake smile as he walks over. “It’s good to see you.”

“Oh, yes,” Yin Yu mutters, void of enthusiasm. Until Hua Cheng gives him a moderately threatening warning glare, put in some fucking effort, at which he stands up. “You too.”

Playing into the act, Hua Cheng reaches forward and hugs him. He sees Vanitas squinting in the corner of his eye, but Jeanne and Domi at his side grab his attention again. Once he knows they’re not looking, he reaches into the back of Yin Yu’s jacket under his pants; Yin Yu doesn’t flinch. Covered by his jacket, and an intimate gesture to anyone maybe watching too hard. He finds the small bag wrapped in cling firm and grabs it, before instantly slipping it into his pocket.

Hua Cheng finally pulls away, considering his job here done. He’s secured the drugs, so he doesn’t really need Yin Yu here anymore. However, he can’t just stick his hand in his green-card husband’s pants and then leave. Thus, he sits down and keeps the fake, innocent smile on his lips. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been fine,” Yin Yu replies monotonously, sitting back down like nothing happened. “Busy with work.”

“How’s office life?”

“Stressful, but busy.”

“No sign of Quan Yizhen?”

Yin Yu stiffens slightly and frowns. “No. No sight of him.”

“I know he won’t be coming back, so you can relax,” Hua Cheng chuckles.

“Hm,” Yin Yu’s eyebrows remain furrowed. It’s a sore topic, but Hua Cheng did all the dirty work anyway. “How are things here?”

“Perfect,” Hua Cheng says. A blatant lie. But Yin Yu isn’t exactly the embodiment of an entertaining conversationalist. “Smooth, a good routine. The staff are annoying, but what else can you expect?”

“Not much,” Yin Yu replies, sitting dead still.

Hua Cheng wants nothing more than to leave this guy and go to Xie Lian, sit by his side until he wakes up, check if he actually hurt himself. The weight of what’s in his pocket makes him feel slightly guilty, knowing Xie Lian wouldn’t want him to sneak drugs in here, but the anticipation of actually using it outweighs that just enough not to return it. Plus, he made a deal with He Xuan.

So, he sits here. In silence. Staring at Yin Yu and waiting for a conversation to start itself.

When the majority of the inmates have visitors, it’s always two left out.

Leo and Laito.

Not the best of friends, but it’s sort of a tradition. Before the newcomers and Shu’s departure, everyone else did have visitors. Except them, who had zero contact with their families and no friends outside of here. Well, there was one other person who sat outside during the busy visitor days, refusing to speak to them and acting all angsty, but…

He needs a replacement.

Leo doesn’t have much respect for Laito (nobody does, especially after learning about what happened with Astolfo a few months back), but he doesn’t object to talking to him when it’s just them. He’s not bothered when Elliot’s sister arrives and he goes outside to find Laito sitting on the ground, cigarette butts snuffed out on the ground beside him.

“I thought I’d find you here,” he chirps, taking a seat next to him and lighting the badly rolled cigarette.

“I thought you’d come out here,” Laito smirks, sticking the cigarette between his lips. “Ahh, it’s kind of lonely, don’t you think?”

“Am I not riveting enough company for you?” Leo snickers.

“Not you, but we’re missing someone,” Laito says.

“Oh, it won’t be hard to find another ex-addict with mommy issues in this place,” Leo replies, taking a long drag of smoke. “Kanato’s father came today?”

“Yep. He looks greyer by the day,” Laito comments, “I think I witnessed a few grey hairs form when I waved at him through the door, even.”

“I’d go grey too.”

“Touché.”

It’s a depressing but nostalgic atmosphere, and both of them finish a cigarette before they’re interrupted. The door swings open, and out comes Mu Qing. You know, speaking of Subaru’s replacement.

Leo hasn’t spoken to Mu Qing much apart from the fucked up game of Never Have I Ever, but he’s heard some stories here and there. Enough to know him and Feng Xin are ex-lovers, and that Mu Qing was addicted to ketamine and something else which has somehow been kept a secret. If he wasn’t so prickly to interact with, Leo might have even considered befriending him.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Laito chimes, “Please, sit.”

“I’m not here to stay,” Mu Qing replies coldly, lighting a cigarette as he stands on the opposite side of the fence.

“It’s a tradition,” Leo chimes, “No visitors?”

“No,” Mu Qing hisses, inhaling on the cigarette and glaring at him.

“Come on, it’s fun down here,” Laito says, “The lowly rejects of the ward, didn’t you know?”

Mu Qing just glares again, showing no interest in engaging with him.

“We always sit outside like this when everyone else has visitors,” Leo continues, like he’s promoting some secret sad orphan club. “Ah, there used to be a third, but you can always replace him.”

“Go get him, then,” Mu Qing spits.

“No can do, I’m afraid,” Laito says.

“Why? He got out on good behaviour and you two failed?”

“Ahaha, no,” Leo snorts, “He died.”

Immediately, Mu Qing’s face drops. “Oh.”

“Ah, but you couldn’t have known. So don’t look so glum,” Laito says, “Subaru’s name isn’t spoken much around here these days.”

Mu Qing narrows his eyes, inhaling another deep drag of smoke before muttering, “Kino once compared Feng Xin and I to Subaru and Kou, whoever they are. I don’t think that was a compliment.”

“Mhm, nope, it definitely wasn’t,” Leo replies.

“Thanks,” Mu Qing deadpans sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He looks down, shuffling his feet against the ground, before glancing up to realise both of them are staring at him. “What?!”

“We’re waiting for you to ask,” Laito says, “All the newbies know nothing about the old-timers. I find it weird nobody asks.”

“Because you’re all being cryptic about it!” Mu Qing snaps, exhaling a puff of smoke. Now, he stares at them. “Well?!”

“No need to be sassy,” Leo snickers, putting out his cigarette and rolling a new one. “We’ll tell you if you’re into gossip. But don’t let word get around to Vanitas that you heard. He’s a little bit sensitive about it.”

“I’m not into gossip,” Mu Qing huffs, which seems like a lie. But Leo and Laito keep staring at him expectantly, and Leo gestures on more time to the space on the ground beside him. And finally, Mu Qing relents and sits next to him, taking a drag of smoke and pouting like a scolded kid.

“That’s better. Three’s company,” Leo chimes, lighting his next cigarette and exhaling thoughtfully. “So, Subaru… I wonder how to start.”

“Let the real OG explain it, fufu,” Laito smirks, “Subaru was here since the previous prison. We all got moved here.”

Mu Qing raises an eyebrow. “You haven’t been here forever?”

“Nope. Me, Ayato, Kanato, Ruki, Yuma, Azusa, Reiji… We used to be somewhere else, but that place got shut down due to some minor ethical concerns,” Laito explains, “It was a small bunch, really. There was also Shu, Reiji’s brother — that was a whole thing! Depressing but entertaining. But then there was Subaru and Kou.”

“Hmph,” Mu Qing scoffs, seemingly pissed off he didn’t know any of this. “Is Kou dead too?”

“He moved somewhere else,” Leo answers.

“Subaru and Kou had a little thing going on, if you will,” Laito continues, “Ah, but they were both very bad for each other. They snuck heroin into this place one too many times, spiralled together. I don’t remember when Subaru really snapped though. It was a long time coming.”

“Wasn’t it when his mum died?” Leo says.

At that, Mu Qing stiffens visibly, his hand pausing halfway to his lips. He brings the cigarette to his lips once he realises he displayed a tiny hint of emotion, and takes a long inhale.

“Leo and the others came shortly after that happened, but they were very much filled in on the lore. Things didn’t go as unspoken back then,” Laito reminisces, giving a fake dreamy sigh.

“Yeah, I’m not really an OG,” Leo chuckles to himself, dragging on the cigarette.

“You’re diverging,” Mu Qing says, as he flicks the ash off the end of the cigarette. “Are you going to tell me what happened to Subaru and Kou or not?”

“The build up is necessary, or the actual story seems too traumatic,” Laito says.

“Just get to it,” Mu Qing mutters, “I’m leaving after this cigarette. I’m not here for foreshadowing bullshit.”

“Kou and Subaru decided to attempt a double suicide by overdose,” Leo explains, straight to the point. Completely nonchalantly, like he’s just talking about his day. To them, that’s how it feels. “Subaru was in liver failure, so he died. Kou, on the other hand, survived.”

Mu Qing’s eyebrows furrow again, as he shoots a sidelong glance at the other. “Why are you telling me this?”

Leo shrugs. “I think it’s important to know.”

“Kou wasn’t in a great state,” Laito adds, “hence he left. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital and we haven’t heard about him since.”

“How long ago even was this?” Mu Qing asks.

“A couple of months,” Laito replies, “Kou left the day we were told you guys were coming.”

“Hm,” Mu Qing’s frown deepens, like he’s thinking deeply.

“I don’t think the thing with Subaru’s mum helped. He was set up for failure,” Laito comments, “She died months before he learnt. Nobody told him she’d passed.”

At that, Mu Qing swallows thickly, throws the cigarette aside, and stands up, stomping on it in the process. “I’m leaving.”

Neither Leo nor Laito stop him. As soon as he’s gone, both of them just laugh.

“I think we bummed him out too much,” Leo says.

“Maybe so,” Laito grins, “It must sound horrific to anyone who didn’t live it.”

“Mu Qing is soft inside. I can just tell,” Leo notes.

“Oh?” Laito wiggles his eyebrows. “Is that projection I see?”

Before Leo can respond sarcastically, the doors burst open. This time, however, it’s not some sad ex-addict Subaru replacement. Instead, it’s Qi Rong, cackling as he’s chased by Lang Qianqiu. Like Mu Qing, Leo and Laito haven’t spoken to either much, and both of them seem even worse at conversation than Mu Qing. Even though Lang Qianqiu literally shares a room with Elliot and Leo, they don’t interact much.

“Give it back!”

“NO! NEVER! AHAHAHA!”

“What the hell?” Leo snorts, watching (and doing nothing) as Lang Qianqiu grabs Qi Rong by the hair and shoves him against the fence.

“Ladies, ladies, calm down,” Laito says, although he also does nothing to stop the assault currently happening.

“No!” Lang Qianqiu yells at them, eyes filled with fury, before turning back to Qi Rong and shoving his foot against his throat. “Now give it back!”

“Agh—!” Qi Rong splutters, unable to breathe for a second. “I DIDN’T TAKE IT! IT WASN’T ME!”

“I saw you take it! Right after visitors!”

“He fights like Shin did, you know,” Laito comments.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was about to kill him,” Leo says, “Should we get someone?”

“Hmm, nah, they’ll tire each other out.”

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Qi Rong screeches, as Lang Qianqiu rips his shirt off. He stomps his shoe against his bare chest as he tears through the pockets, preventing Qi Rong from getting back up.

“Get a room,” Laito sniggers, “Lovebirds much?”

“Absolutely not!” Lang Qianqiu yells, “He stole my family photo from my room! This is the third time now!”

“IT WASN’T ME! IT WAS MY EVIL TWIN! IT WAS XIE LIAN! XIE LIAN DID IT!”

“I’m not buying that bullshit!” Lang Qianqiu yells, before finally locating the photo in the side pocket. “There! I knew you took it!”

“NO!” Qi Rong shrieks, covering his face as Lang Qianqiu swings his foot. “I TRIPPED AND FELL! I TRIPPED AND IT FUCKING FELL INTO MY POCKET! FUCK—!”

In the next second, Lang Qianqiu’s foot ends up rammed into Qi Rong’s ribs, knocking him down when he tried to move, and then Lang Qianqiu’s hands make it to his neck.

“I think we should stop them,” Leo says calmly, putting out his cigarette. “He might actually kill him.”

“Ah, I guess you’re right. We don’t need another murder in here,” Laito sighs, also dropping his cigarette as he stands up.

Now, Leo and Laito don’t look tough, but they both have prior violent history in one way or another. When Lang Qianqiu is so fired up he’s letting his guard down, Leo easily grabs his arms under the elbows and pulls him back, then holds his neck in headlock. Meanwhile, Laito goes over to Qi Rong, pulls him up by the hair, and pins him against the fence.

Right before they can take them back inside and off-hand them to the staff, however, the door opens, and two more people come out following visitors. Kino and Kanato.

Kino is fine, because he’s just amused to see some drama. Unfortunately, Kanato is not as calm, especially when he sees Qi Rong swinging at Laito.

“HEY! GET OFF!” Kanato screams, lunging for Qi Rong.

“Hey! Kanato!” Laito tries to stop him. “He didn’t even hit me yet!”

But Kanato’s protective instincts kicked in prematurely, and now both him and Qi Rong are wrestling each other on the floor.

“Well then,” Leo says, looking at the unfortunate sight. “That escalated quickly.”

“What even happened?” Kino asks, looking between Laito standing in despair, Leo holding Lang Qianqiu back barely, and Qi Rong and Kanato tackling each other on the ground.

“Mu Qing came out briefly, then Lang Qianqiu started trying to kill Qi Rong,” Laito explains, exasperated. 

“I wasn’t trying to kill him!” Lang Qianqiu yells.

“You were close,” Leo points out, looking back to Kino. “Make yourself useful and get some help? I can’t hold back this Elliot-wannabe much longer.”

“Fine, fine,” Kino says, surprisingly doing as he’s told.

Thankfully, he actually gets help. A minute later, before Qi Rong and Kanato can do any significant harm to each other besides clawing at the other’s faces and scratching like rabid animals, Jeanne and Vanitas come running out.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Vanitas groans, two needles ready in his hand. He gives one to Jeanne, cracking his knuckles. “You take Kanato down. I’ll put out that Qi Rong motherfucker.”

“Got it!” Jeanne says, seeming way too happy to grab Kanato by the back of his shirt, hold him down, and forcefully sedate him.

Vanitas has an easier time with Qi Rong, because he’s actually not strong at all. Laito and Kino watch, doing nothing, as both Kanato and Qi Rong go limp on the ground not long after.

“A little help here?” Leo says, Lang Qianqiu still held under his restraint. Right when he can break free and attack Leo, Vanitas grabs his shirt and pushes him down as well.

“I don’t have any sedatives left,” he mutters, looking down at Lang Qianqiu. Once the other sees Qi Rong is out cold from the sedative, he relaxes slightly. Vanitas narrows his eyes at him like a goddamn teacher. “I won’t sedate you, but you’re on thin fucking ice.”

“It was self-defence!” Lang Qianqiu insists, standing up and brushing off his clothes once Vanitas lets go. “He stole my family photo again!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re got anger issues, we know,” Vanitas sighs.

“I don’t have anger issues! That was justified!”

“Ahaha, Elliot was like that once,” Leo laughs, shaking his head to himself.

“Keep your boyfriend’s issues out of this,” Vanitas says, then looking to Lang Qianqiu. “I’ll let you off isolation this once, but I’m keeping an eye on you.”

“Fine. I won’t cause more trouble,” Lang Qianqiu huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ll see! I don’t have any psychological issues at all!”

With that, he storms back inside, and Vanitas groans, glancing at Kanato and Qi Rong on the ground once again. “I don’t even know who to keep an eye on in this place anymore.”

Vanitas should’ve kept an eye on some other people that night.

When he handed over the Roland and Olivier, he gave strict instructions: watch Qi Rong and Kanato, both in isolation now, make sure Lang Qianqiu doesn’t pick trouble with Elliot and Leo, and monitor Mu Qing for, uh, unspoken reasons.

He didn’t, however, make any notes about Xie Lian, Hua Cheng, or He Xuan.

He Xuan knows this, because once he heard Hua Cheng got the drugs in, he listened to the plans for the night to make sure the coast would be clear. Hua Cheng was moping most of the day with Xie Lian, and wouldn’t let him out of his sight. Until night time came, when Xie Lian was given a heavy dose of diazepam. Hua Cheng doesn’t like leaving him in their room to sleep alone — past trauma or whatever, He Xuan didn’t listen — but there’s no way Xie Lian is waking up this time.

As He Xuan slips out of Shi Qingxuan’s bed, making sure she doesn’t wake up, and creeps to the showers where Hua Cheng and him agreed to meet, he takes a look at the look of despair on Hua Cheng’s face, and realises this is why he’s willing to get high with him. Whatever has been up with Xie Lian recently, it’s gotten him down enough to agree to bring drugs in.

“You’ve got it with you?” He Xuan asks, sitting on the ground beside him. God only knows what’s happened in these showers. Well, he killed Shi Wudu in here, for one.

“Yes,” Hua Cheng says, double-checking for cameras before pulling the small pouch wrapped in cellophane out of his pocket. “It’s only a small amount. Yin Yu and I agreed before I came here that he’d never bring a lot in.”

“Why?” He Xuan smirks, “Scared you might get addicted again?”

Hua Cheng shoots him a warning glare. “Do you want it or not?”

“Sure,” He Xuan snorts, “Fine, I won’t tease you. Whatever’s getting you in a shit mood, I’m not interested.”

“It’s just Xie Lian,” Hua Cheng mutters, unravelling the bag to expose the white powder. “He won’t learn of this. Understand?”

“I’m hardly going to tell him,” He Xuan says.

“Tell your girlfriend not to blab her mouth either, then.”

“Qingxuan isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Your fuck-buddy.”

“We haven’t fucked since coming here either,” He Xuan grumbles, “The only action she’s gotten is with that Azusa guy.”

“The big news,” Hua Cheng laughs, before tipping some of the powder onto his hand. He dabs his finger in it, licking it. “Definitely coke.”

“What else might it be?”

“Heroin? Yin Yu isn’t perfect,” Hua Cheng says, tipping a larger amount onto the back of his hand and forming a line with the back of his pinky finger. Then he hesitates, not looking up. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I do,” He Xuan shrugs. He’s not the one with a history of cocaine addiction, though. Just a few stupid rich people parties. “Do you?”

“Yes,” Hua Cheng replies through gritted teeth. The guilt is visible on his face for a moment, but he shoves it down soon after and lifts his hand to his nose, sniffing the line in one go. It’s a practised move, something he’s clearly done a million times. After snorting it, he sniffs hard and swallows, wincing slightly. “Pure.”

“Good,” He Xuan says, grabbing the bag from his hand and tipping out what seems like a normal amount. Hua Cheng barely pays attention to him as he does it, staring at the wall like he’s anxiously waiting for it to kick in, while simultaneously fighting back the guilt of relapsing without Xie Lian knowing.

After arranging it into a sloppy line, He Xuan also snorts the powder off his hand, passing the bag left to Hua Cheng. There’s a fair amount left, maybe enough for another night if someone has a breakdown again. He Xuan swallows back the slight foul taste of petroleum dripping down the back of his throat.

“Tastes like shit,” he comments.

“That’s how you know it’s good,” Hua Cheng replies, wiping his nose again and sniffing harder with a subtle grin. “Give it a couple of minutes, you’ll see I have the best connections.”

“I trust that. Otherwise your ego wouldn’t be so huge.”

Hua Cheng glares at him for a second, while also seeming mildly amused. He Xuan isn’t sure how he became immune to his icy personality, but they struck a connection pretty quickly. Committing murder together also probably played a part in it as well, having said that.

After a couple of minutes, Hua Cheng visibly relaxes, closing his eyes and knocking his head back against the wall. From beside him, He Xuan chuckles and goes to make another sarcastic comment, but then his head comes up empty. Quickly, his senses dull and a feeling a euphoria strikes. His head is cloudy, like he’s underwater, and sitting on the ground is no longer uncomfortable.

“Good?” Hua Cheng asks, turning his head to the side.

“Yeah,” He Xuan says, his voice catching in his throat a bit. “It’s alright.”

“Just alright,” Hua Cheng scoffs, shooting him a subtle smirk. “Better with alcohol.”

“I was never much of a drinker,” He Xuan replies. As the sound of his own voice drowns out slightly, the alertness spikes. If He Xuan was at all a talkative person, he’d be talking Hua Cheng’s ear off, but he’s not, so they sit in silence. However, it’s a good silence; being locked in this place, for a moment, doesn’t feel like torture.

Their tranquillity is suddenly interrupted by the door swinging open.

They both perk up at an unnatural speed, fearing one of the night staff tracked them down.

“Hey guys! Woah, what’re we doing camping out in here? Are we having a party?!”

In some ways, the staff might’ve been safer than Shi Qingxuan walking in, of all people. The staff would’ve probably been safer. They get told off, put in isolation, a slap on the wrist, but then everything goes back to normal. Shi Qingxuan, however… She’s going to ask for some. He Xuan just knows it.

“Why are you awake?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Because you left the bed!” Shi Qingxuan insists, standing in front of them with her arms folded over her chest. “Of course I’d wake up!”

“Shit,” He Xuan sighs, rubbing his forehead. His head isn’t spelling out enough coherent thoughts for this.

What’s worse, they stupidly left the bag of cocaine sitting on the floor right between them, and Shi Qingxuan’s eyes quickly zoom in on it.

“Woahhh,” she gawks, “What’re you guys doing in here? Without me?!”

“Shh,” He Xuan hisses at her. “Don’t drag anyone in here.”

“Fine, fine,” Shi Qingxuan pouts, sitting on the ground next to He Xuan. “But what is it?”

“Nothing for you.”

“Aww,” she sighs, giving her best puppy eyes. “Please? It’s not alcohol, because I’m know I’m banned from that, but I’ll be so safe with whatever that is! Is it molly? Coke?”

“Neither,” He Xuan replies, glaring at her, albeit it’s weak.

Making eye contact was a mistake as well, because Shi Qingxuan’s gaze narrows in on his eyes. “Your pupils are dilated. It’s coke or molly, trust me, I’d know. I’m an expert.”

“Not molly,” He Xuan huffs, rolling his eyes. This was not the plan.

“You can have some,” Hua Cheng suddenly says, “as long as you don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t, I won’t, I swear.”

“Hey,” He Xuan turns to him. “She can’t have any. She’s already turning manic. How is coke going to help?”

“It’s coke! I knew it!” Shi Qingxuan beams, leaning over and throwing an arm over his shoulder. “Please?”

“Ugh,” He Xuan groans, facepalming. He doesn’t want to let her, knowing it won’t bring anything good, but she’s difficult to say no to. Through all the years they dated in the past, he never really learnt to say no to her. “Fine. Just a small amount.”

“Yay!”

“Give it to her,” He Xuan tells Hua Cheng, the high becoming too intense to think straight. It’s a lot purer than what he’s had before, and the feeling is good but unfamiliar. Hua Cheng, on the other hand, basically seems normal. “Only a tiny bit.”

“Give me your hand,” Hua Cheng says to Shi Qingxuan, tipping a very small amount of the white powder onto her palm. But before he releases his grip on her wrist, he repeats, “But you can’t tell anyone. Understand?”

“Yes, yes, I won’t,” Shi Qingxuan says, pulling her hand back once he lets go. She looks down at the powder, grinning to herself while asking, “You’re not even telling Xie Lian?”

“No. It’ll upset him,” Hua Cheng says, “so keep your mouth shut.”

“Ooh, okay, okay,” Shi Qingxuan nods along, before bringing her palm to her nose. In one swift inhale, she snorts the powder and sighs deeply, shaking the excess off her hand as she sniffs again and swallows. “Damn, that tastes strong.”

“It is,” He Xuan mutters, “That’s why you can only have a bit.”

“I’m happy with a small amount,” Shi Qingxuan says, “Honestly, anything the curb the boredom of this place!”

He Xuan shakes his head to himself, knowing this is technically a bad idea. But as Shi Qingxuan lets the drug kick in, she’s actually silent for a couple of minutes, and that’s rare for her. Once it hits, her eyes slowly light up and she smiles, giggling to herself and swaying side to side.

“I wish we had music,” she sighs dreamily. “This would remind me of my party days.”

“Music would definitely bring us attention,” Hua Cheng snorts.

“I can sing for you!”

“No,” He Xuan and Hua Cheng say in unison.

“Aw… Okay.”

Despite the warning, Shi Qingxuan hums to herself anyway, but she’s quiet other than that. He Xuan slowly feels himself leaning against her shoulder as well, a weird feeling of warmth spreading through his body. Next to him, Hua Cheng appears deep in a world of his own, though the twinge of guilt in his expression never leaves.

It’ll be alright, it’ll be worth it, so long as nobody finds out.