Yoshiya Kiryu was confused.

No, that is utterly incorrect.

He is completely and wholly bewildered and speechless.

He is not confused, because he knows what had happened even if he doesn't know how.

It was the middle of a game. The players were supposed to be on a mission, but suddenly this otherworldly force- more powerful than anythinghe's ever witnessed or even heard of – dragged all of them over into this world.

He's the Composer. What is he supposed to do? There is no game here. In this…this Traverse Town. It's empty, like its heart is missing. He is completely unable to hear even a single note from the town's soul because unlike Shibuya, it has none.

So he stood there, in the middle of the stone carved road, utterly bewildered and speechless. Jumping across worlds is something that can be done. Going back requires a great deal of power. Bringing multiple people across worlds without both parties planning on it…you'd have to have the power of an actual god.

Not a demi-god like Yoshiya Kiryu, nor a grand power like Neku Sakuraba, or even the powers of an angel like Hanekoma, but honest, pure, and true power.

"…"

"Wow. This is the quietest I've ever seen you."

He shoots Neku the darkest glare he can muster- which means the orange haired boy should be dead.

"Really. It's music to my ears."

And it's true. Neku's headphones are down.

Oh, how the surprises never cease.

An hour prior, they had all materialized in the town's plaza, all landing painfully on hard stone.

'They' as in all of the reapers and players personally involved in the Long Game. Joshua rather discreetly sent out a message to stop all activity, and another message a short while after when Uzuki had tried to attack Neku for finding the better empty building along the lines of 'attack or harm any of the players and I will make you regret your existence and the existence of anyone you've even said hello to.

Then there was the ridiculous reunion which Joshua spent snapping at miscellaneous reapers for fun, pressing random buttons on his surprisingly functional phone, and toying with the buttons on his shirt.

Noise didn't exist, so Beat was able to reunite with his (still memory-less) sister, Rhyme. Shiki was being held as a prize so she had to come along, but there are no planes, so where would they keep her?

It was all far too sickeningly sweet and full of teenage hormones for Joshua's liking.

Though he will admit that it was nice to see Neku smile, even though it was a confusing and small one directed his way as he stood off in the corner of the kitchen of their new tiny dwellings.

Why would he even smile at him like that? He's made a point to be as annoying as possible in the past six days.

He sent over a coy smirk, "See something you like, partner?" and Neku – rather than rolling his eyes and snapping something back – frowned…concernedly? He couldn't quite tell. His ridiculous shirt was in the way. And then after that odd little action, he returned to their debate –which was getting nowhere – on how to get home.

Sending Joshua these infuriating little glances the entire time.

The Composer had no idea what was wrong with his proxy.

Which was how he found himself standing outside in the middle of the street, alone.

The timers hadn't stopped. What would happen when they wound down? Were they going to all get erased and completely vanish in this soulless world? Or was it just a delayed reaction. Maybe they would just stop and they wouldn't have to worry about the game until they found a way back. Or maybe this is just a different way of being dead.

Suddenly Neku is in front of the Composer, mocking him about his silence, and Joshua can't see half of Neku's face through that stupid top of his and he and—

"Josh, breathe."

Joshua is about to send a snappy retort back when Neku does something unprecedented.

He touches him. He grabs Joshua's hand and brings it up in front of the both of them and—oh.

Joshua's hand is shaking, and he stares blankly at it, before looking back at Neku's face. He doesn't need to see through fabric to know the boy is frowning at him as he drags them both over to a nearby bench.

His other hand is gripping his phone so tightly Neku fears it might break, so he gently pries it from the other boy's hand and drops it in his pocket.

"Wh—"

"Breathe, I said. Deep breaths."

Joshua wonders what he must look like at that moment to Neku to produce such a reaction in the other boy. He'd just seen his usual bland look in the screen of his phone. Nothing different, nothing extraordinary other than it being his flawless face.

"You're panicking Josh. Trust me. The timers stopped a few minutes ago. Trust me."

Trust me.

The words echo in his mind, and he takes a deep breath, and—

"And out."

"I do know how to breathe. I've gotten quite a bit of practice in the past few years," he snaps back unthinkingly.

"Oh shut up and just do it, you asshole."

Joshua takes a few deep breathes and realizes how worked up he'd gotten himself. He hadn't felt this tightly would since his first Game.

A few more and he realizes that he really hadn't been getting enough oxygen before. Now that he actually needs it.

Minutes pass quietly and he finally calms down enough to notice how much he had lost control of himself before.

"Better."

"Much. Why, I didn't think you cared, Neku."

Neku's eyes narrow and he is about to retort when Joshua tactfully adds on, "I mean honestly, if you wanted to hold hands with me, you could've just asked."

His eyes widen in mortification as he tries to remove his hand from his partner's.

"Do you want to?"

"W-what?"

And suddenly they are back to normal, Neku completely blindsided by everything Joshua does.

"Well I do, and we both know it's what I want that matters."

"What?!"

"Oh, do shut up. You've been flirting with me since we met."

In the future, they think back on this moment and both agree that it is what things would always be like if they both led normal lives.

But they don't. They have a deadly Game to return to, strife with lies, deceit and battle.

And even now, they have the holders of the keyblades and the defenders of the Light to help.

A/N: This was written way back when the KH3D trailer came out so definitely isn't too well rooted in canon, but I did have fun with the semi-AU!