Not-so 30 Day OTP Challenge
Day 1: Holding hands
Ship: Rin/Len/Miku.
The Actual Summary-thing: Saying goodbye for the last time was the hardest thing in existence.
This is maaayyy beee borderline M because they talk about sex like once, but I want those views sweaty. :))
Pre-warning: I haven't written a proper story in a few months so this might just be painful to read. Also, I squished like a novel-sized story idea into 3k words so if that doesn't sound even more terrifying, I honestly don't know what is.
(By the way, do people who actually ship Rin, Len and Miku AT ONCE exist? Besides me, of course.)
friends for the end of the world
•
She was brushing her teeth in the kitchen and watching the daily horoscope segment on TV when the program was interrupted for some stupid Breaking News report.
Rin rolled her eyes, leaning forward to spit toothpaste into the sink. It's probably nothing, she mused, a little frustrated it had to cut in just before her horoscope was going to be announced.
However, as she lifted her eyes back to the television screen and listened in to the voice over, she soon realised she wouldn't need to know it.
"NASA announced today, after an emergency conference with world leaders, that an asteroid is on course with Earth…"
A scientist was featured on screen, reporting the evidence.
"The asteroid GM2028 is a fragment of one of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede, after a rogue asteroid from the Kuiper Belt collided with and destroyed it last September."
Rin stood frozen, eyes fixated on the screen – not even flinching when her phone sounded from somewhere in the house.
"Most of the debris were pulled into Jupiter due to gravity; however, the impact was strong enough to send the remaining debris into the middle of our solar system. Our calculations estimated that the debris would be destroyed, or set off-course, when passing through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but it appears that the asteroid belt has aided in sending GM2028 straight towards us."
She licked her lips, glancing away for a moment to gather her thoughts. So what, she thought, NASA can redirect it, right? They've researched this before, anyway.
As if the universe read her mind, the scientist was replaced with a grim-faced news presenter, who relayed, "Though NASA has done thorough research into sending GM2028 off-course, they reported in the conference today that GM2028 would be too large to redirect with our current level of technology."
"It requires too much energy that we don't have," the scientist continued, cutting back on screen. "We can't destroy it without exacerbating the problem, causing the asteroid shards to hit Earth anyway."
Rin's phone chimed again, and this time she peeled her eyes from the television to search for it. She found it lost in the covers of her futon with (6) Missed Calls flashing at her.
She was walking back down the hall when she overheard the news report once more –
"NASA scientists estimate around three months until impact with GM2028. We have yet to hear of any escape plans, if doable… But once GM2028 hits, the devastation will double that of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Scientists claim around 95% of the species will probably go extinct, and Earth will become near-uninhabitable, if not completely uninhabitable."
Her ringtone sounded again, and this time, she answered the call.
No words came out, though, as if she had a rock in her throat, so it was Miku who spoke first.
"Rin, Rin, you've already seen the news, right? We're going to die."
"What?"
She heard her friend perfectly fine; however, it just seemed horrifyingly out of place to hear those words come from her mouth, and for them to be true.
"I mean –" she said, pausing. "Yes. I saw the news."
"It's not a joke, is it?" Miku asked, seeming anxious. "They wouldn't joke about this kind of stuff, right? But I want it to be a joke. Please tell me it's a joke."
"I don't think it is, Miku. I really don't think it is."
Her friend fell silent, heavy breathing over the phone. "I just…" She trailed off.
"I know," Rin said softly, as if she knew what she was going to say. "It feels as if I'm in a dream. Like, if I pinch myself, I'll wake up and everything will be okay."
"I walked into a wall trying to wake myself up. It's not a dream," Miku answered, her voice trembling.
It was at the mention of wall that Rin remembered to look up at the clock on the kitchen wall – and nearly dropped her phone in the process. 7:45. Homeroom was going to start at 8:00.
"Oh shit! I'm late! Look, I'll talk to you about this at school –"
Just as she was hanging up, she heard her friend blurt out, "Wait, Rin, I might not go today –"
Frowning to herself, Rin slid her phone into her cardigan pocket and rubbed her face. It was too early in the morning to process a potential apocalypse. Too, too early.
•
Len met her along the way to school.
"Look, I know there's some big rock in space and all, but you're late, and you made me late, because I have to wait for you."
"You know you don't have to wait for me," Rin said. "I can find my way to school just fine."
He narrowed his eyes. "Sometimes, I doubt that."
It was true that she was notorious for having an abysmal sense of direction, often catching the wrong train and turning up at school at least three hours late, but the last time she did that was last year. She was sure she knew better.
"Miku called, that's why I was late," she explained, as they sandwiched onto their train. It was one of the busiest during rush hour, much unfortunately.
"Oh, what about?" Len asked.
Rin looked at the boy, over the shoulder of a middle-aged businessman. "What else about?"
He shrugged. "Boys?"
"Oh my god. Today. The apocalypse, or whatever."
He blinked. "Oh."
"She was, you know, panicking. I don't think she'll come to school today, either."
"To be honest with you," Len began, "I wouldn't come to school, too, but if I stay at home dwelling about how I'll die in three months time, I feel I'd lose my sanity rather quickly."
Rin pursed her lips in thought. He had a point. "So, what do we do? I doubt they'll keep letting us go to school. Give it a week and the whole city will be on fire, probably."
He gazed out the train window, humming. "I don't know. I guess most of us will try to make the best of our time left."
A moment of silence passed, as the train stopped, emptied, and filled up again.
She mumbled, "I'm a little scared. Maybe a whole lot scared."
Len glanced down at her, before his fingers found hers amongst the tight mess of bodies. He squeezed her hand gently, and even with that simple gesture, she knew he felt that same way too.
•
Miku showed up halfway through the day, looking dishevelled yet still pretty, something only her could miraculously pull off.
"Oh, it's you," Len sighed, as the girl plonked down onto the chair between him and Rin.
"It's the end of the world, and you're still sassing me," Miku groused, folding her arms over her chest. "Jeez, I was just thinking about how important it was to spend the remaining time with my two lovely best friends, and yet, here you are, being an asshole –"
"He secretly loves you, don't worry," Rin reassured, giving her friend's arm a pat. The girl pouted in response. "I'm glad you changed your mind in the end, though."
She flicked one teal pigtail over her shoulder. "I wanted to see your beautiful faces again."
Len pretended to gag, and held up his hand. "Look, Miku, I know you're a virgin—and yes, everyone is very much in the same situation as you right now—but please, your compliments are repulsive –"
Miku swatted at his hand. "Eat a bag of dicks. As if I'd ever consider sleeping with you, you soggy sausage! You aren't cute enough. Rin is the only one who fits that criteria."
He gasped, before wrapping an arm around Rin's shoulders and pulling her into his chest. "When did I imply that I'd ever want to sleep with you? I can't believe you'd think I'd choose you over Rin."
The blonde girl sat rigid in his embrace, a red hue spreading across her cheeks. "Well, I'm quite happy to die a virgin, much to your disappointment…"
Miku snorted. "Rin, we love you and all, but I feel like if any one of us were to be involved in a romantic relationship with you, it would be a mess. The remaining person would somehow end up in that relationship too…"
"It's an inevitable threesome," Len clarified.
"Oh-kay," Rin said slowly, ducking out from under his arm. "Look, maybe you could just leave me out of the, uh, threesome, and make it a friendly twosome between the both of you?"
Miku ignored her suggestion. "I actually don't know how threesome sex would work. Like, do you just stack the girls on top of each other, and change girl per thrust? Or is it like a 69 formation, and the third is the penetrator? Len, what have you learnt from six years of watching porn videos?"
"Wait, how do you know I've been watching porn for six years?" the boy asked, frowning.
"Well, a little birdie told me…"
Rin stood, cutting their conversation short. "I'm going to go get a drink. For a very long time. See you guys in fourth period." She then turned and left the classroom in a hurry.
Her friends watched her leave with furrowed eyebrows.
Once Len was sure she was out of earshot, he turned back to Miku. "She's too pure for us," he said.
"I don't think she's ever touched herself. Poor thing," Miku mourned.
•
As expected of a pre-apocalyptic world, final exams were cancelled and summer break began early, because it seemed that education no longer mattered when everyone was going to die in a couple of months, anyway.
Rin couldn't complain. It was every high school student's wish to have holidays extended and exams cancelled. So, yeah.
She spent a lot of her remaining days witnessing society crumble under the crushing weight of impending doom.
It was only now she realised what it felt like to have a terminal illness. Everything she did, she felt like she had to enjoy it meticulously, to savour the moment, because for all she knew, it could—or would—be her last.
One Friday afternoon, Len appeared on her doorstep, looking a little pale.
Her first thought was, Ah, he's finally caved, too.
But before she could even get to 'hello', her friend mumbled something about his parents.
"What?" she said.
"My parents," he repeated, eyes down. "I don't know… but… they kind of haven't come home in a week or so."
It took a moment or two for her to register the situation.
Missing people – it was old news by now. So many had disappeared without a trace since the announcement, only to appear days to weeks later floating in rivers and hanging from trees.
As soon as Rin pieced the evidence together, she stepped forward to pull him into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry," she said softly into his chest.
Len choked back a sob. "I-I don't know. Why am I crying? We're all going to die, anyway. Why does it matter? I don't know why I'm crying about this."
She was lucky; her parents were trying their best to spend every day with her.
They were trying their best to make things seem normal, even though having them there all the time now was something far from normal for them. Before the announcement, they'd worked full time, and like most others, only just left their jobs to spend more time with family.
In a way, she could comprehend Len's parents' decision, but also couldn't.
Staying alive until the very end, unknowing of the degree of pain and suffering that was to come – it was a thought that tore the human mind apart. When such a reality was mulled over too much, one would be bound to seek out a better way to go.
Suicide was often the alternative.
"I'm sorry," she reiterated, having no other words to say.
Perhaps, it was the best thing to say at the time.
Her mother soon found them standing in the doorway and ushered them in for lunch, and without much else discussed, Len found himself home with Rin's family for their remaining time.
•
"You know, I'm jealous," Miku said, hitting her heels against the smooth, concrete surface of the wall, her rubber-sole shoes acting as rebound.
They were sitting on a wall just outside Miku's apartment, watching the overgrown grass next door shudder in the warm summer breeze.
Rin glanced up, searching the girl's portrait. "Jealous? About what? Len?"
Len had gone back to his house to gather the remainder of his most needed belongings, and probably to mope. Her father had gone with him though, so she didn't have to worry about him following suit with his parents.
"Regrettably," her friend admitted, turning her head to face her. "I know his parents went and—you know—killed themselves, but now he gets to see you every day… and you live together, too. I mean, have you seen each other naked, yet –"
"Oh God, Miku, no," Rin interrupted, exasperated. "He… I don't even think Len's had that on his mind, lately."
"And you have?"
"If being terrified of the thought of accidentally walking in on him naked—or otherwise—counts, then yes – but the idea of performing some ritual involving pity sex with my best friend makes me feel genuinely unwell."
Miku screwed up her face. "It's just, you've spent so much time with him since he has no one else, and I'm trying to balance time between you guys and my parents, and it's… it's not fair."
Rin sighed.
"Well, is anything fair? Is our death even fair? I've heard rumours that world leaders, celebrities, and those who can afford it, have made deals with NASA to escape to the Mars colony.
"But what about us? Are the fortunate just going to sit on their sloppy asses and enjoy the show as they watch Earth, and everyone on it, get blown to bits?"
Her friend fell silent, eyes dropping to the ground.
"I'm sorry," she then said, a pang of guilt in her chest. "I'm just frustrated. I want to spend more time with everyone. I want to enjoy my life, not have this real-life nightmare looming constantly in the back of my mind. I want to have a happy ending.
"But I can't have it when I have less than a month until I get burned or suffocated or drowned alive. I want to spend more time with you, too, Miku. I don't want you to feel like you're less important, just because recent events have caused me to be with Len more than you. I love you just as much as him. I'm just so frustrated."
She clenched her fists so tight her knuckles started turning white, then red.
Miku closed her eyes and placed a hand over one of her fists. "It's okay. We're both frustrated. It can't be helped. I'm sorry for doubting your friendship. I just… I'm sorry."
She opened her hand, lacing Miku's fingers with hers. She didn't want to look at her face, because she knew she was crying.
They were both crying.
•
The closer it drew towards 'The End', the more surreal the days felt.
On one of those final days before the impact, Miku came over to spend the day with Rin and Len.
"It's supposed to hit tomorrow night, or in the early morning," the teal-haired girl was saying as she slipped off her shoes at the house entrance.
"Yeah," Len agreed. "It's supposed to hit the Pacific, right? So we'll have about thirty minutes to dwell on it before the sky starts falling and we're inundated with water and lava."
"I hope I sleep through it," Rin muttered.
"You probably won't," her friends chided.
Miku slapped Len playfully, telling him off for 'copying her'. He frowned, tugged at a pigtail—which earned a disgruntled 'ouch!'—and ran off down the hall before she could retort.
"Don't you worry, Rin," Miku said as they followed after him. "You'll have this loser to cuddle when you get scared."
"Ha-ha," Rin replied, rolling her eyes. "In his wildest dreams."
They made themselves comfortable in the living room. The week prior, they spent a day scavenging the empty aisles of grocery stores for popcorn and other snacks – and came back successful, with one unspoiled packet of the former food, at least.
Unfortunately, a movie day was a no go, since electricity was cut off the day before. Same went with water, but they'd already stocked up on the necessary bottles to keep them comfortable until – well, the end.
Len saved the day with a pack of cards, so they wrote out a list of games to play (which came to a grand total of three), and began their official final day together.
Time, although merely a human construct, seemed to sense their intentions and the due asteroid impact; eating up hours of their day like a ravenous beast, as if eager to see the demise of the human race. The sun rose high in the sky, then began its slow descent beyond the horizon, casting their soon-to-be deceased world into darkness.
After Miku glanced at the clock for the fifth time that day, she set down her cards and mentioned in a small voice, "My dad said he was going to pick me up at nine o'clock."
Rin and Len looked up as well, confirming it was 8:30.
Half an hour left.
A rather dull, heavy ache that Rin had been trying to ignore for most of the day made itself known in her heart at that moment. Thirty minutes left. Thirty minutes left with Miku.
"Oh," was all she could say in the silence that followed.
She couldn't look at any of her friends, just at the cards in her hands; ace of hearts, eight of clubs, seven of diamonds.
They had no deeper meaning, no secret message to share for her to save the world or get back time, but she kept staring at them intently, as if willing them to speak to her, to tell her that she needn't worry about anything.
"Rin?"
It was Miku's voice – quiet, on the verge of breaking. She'd heard that tone so many times before. That day on the wall, the day they found out about the end, even at times before they were aware of their inevitably horrible end. It was the tone that made her crash back down into reality, shattering her heart under brute force.
Rin opened her mouth to speak, only to sob loudly, her emotions getting the better of her. Then Miku and Len were there beside her, sobbing as well, for saying goodbye forever was too hard to say in words.
Where to start? What to say?
She'd thought about it so much in those last three months, but could only come to the conclusion that there wasn't a way to say goodbye forever. It just wasn't doable. There was too much to say, that the goodbye would simply never end.
Three months ago, maybe Maths was the hardest thing in existence, but now, she knew better.
Saying goodbye for the last time was the hardest thing in existence.
•
And all too soon, those thirty minutes were up.
And Miku had her back turned, walking towards the door.
Any last words? Any last thoughts? her mind demanded.
"Mi –" Rin choked out.
Her friend stopped, looking back at her with swollen eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "Yes, Rin?"
A beat passed, as car headlights flashed through the cracks of the curtains hanging over the window.
"I love you," she whispered.
Miku reached out to squeeze her hand, to squeeze Len's. He was being awfully quiet at that time.
"I love you too," she responded, the smile on her lips twisting into a grimace as she fought the urge to burst into tears again. "You too, Len."
The boy nodded, swallowed, and although he refused to speak—knowing he would cry as well—he meant to tell her that he loved her, too.
Then she was gone, and they were left standing at the door in darkness, listening as Miku's car pulled out of the driveway for the last time in human history, the hum of the engine fading into the distance.
Len squeezed Rin's hand, and mumbled, "I hope we see her again, wherever we go."
"Me too." She squeezed back as hard as she could. "Me too."
I'm trying to be conscientious of my grammar, since I'm taking a course on it this semester, but I feel like I still have too many dumb grammar mistakes in there. Woe, woe is me.
This was less romance and more friendship-y, because tbh, I hold hands with my friends too so idk how to make it romantic.
Anyway, I didn't want to make the theme Super Obvious in this one, but rather like a sneaky theme/trope thingy (what is the word? Subtle thingy? Help). I doubt I'll keep doing this with the other themes, because this took way too long to write (e.g. 3 days IS TOO LONG) and I was intending on writing really short stories/drabbles :((( Regretti.
The idea for this was loosely based of the movie, Searching for a Friend for the End of the World. I watched it a few years ago, hence the 'loosely'. It's quite enjoyable, please watch. It made me laugh, and it made me cry. P.S. It's on Netflix.
Apologies again if the story was too condensed and the pacing was awkward. I didn't want to go straight from learning about dying to just before dying, if you get me? (Probably not, but oh well.) But I didn't want to commit to like, 10k words or multiple chapters... dis bitch ain't got no time fo' dat. I have shit to study for hahahaaaa.
And yes, I posted this on my side blog on tumblr. I have some non-fanfiction related edgy poems on there too. I might also post og stories occasionally, when I get around to it.
Thanks for reading. I can't promise the 30-day thing will be done in 30 days because I'm a busy person (why tho), but I'll try to do it eventually... some day... far into the future...
P.P.S. um, about the other story on this account, so, uh, yeah, I kind of lost the document? Super Big Idiot over here doesn't back up their laptop and lost all of their writing. I managed to recover all my Vocaloid photos and music tho so that's all that matters tbh.