Disclaimer: I do not own DanMachi or any of Omori's original characters, nor do I make any profit off of my writing.
Bell was not ashamed to admit he had already thoroughly planned out his evening. He was going to do the only reasonable thing for somebody to do when they've already worked an eight-hour shift. Change into sweatpants and a large hoodie. Order Chinese food. Curl up in a ball on his couch, pet his cat like a James Bond villain. And most of all, do nothing.
Yet, as soon as he finished unlocking his door, he couldn't even bring himself to mourn the way his plans crumbled in on themselves and imploded in a fiery pit of despair as soon as his neighbor threw her door open and grabbed his hand.
He was unceremoniously dragged into her apartment, thrown down onto her couch, and wrapped in a blanket before he even had the chance to think. Aiz made a 'gimme' motion with her hand and one of his hands snuck its way out of the folds of the blanket to plop his keys down in her palm. She left without another word.
The first time she re-entered the apartment a cat leaped from her arms and scurried its way up his blanket-clad chest. All too quickly, she found the entrance by his neck and dove inside, shrouding herself in the warmth it provided.
The second time she re-entered, she came bearing two plastic bags already moist with condensation. There was a red logo on the side and Bell already knew what that meant. His finger idly stroked Waffle Iron's (that is to say his cat's) chin as Aiz set the Chinese food down on the coffee table.
She straightened up soon after, fixing Bell with an analytical before her eyes lit up and she disappeared for the third time. She didn't exit into the hallway this time, at least not right away. First, diving deeper into her apartment. There was a bang! amongst the cacophony of noise coming from her bedroom and soon after her own kitten came scurrying out.
Bell didn't even have a chance to see what it was she was doing in there before Aiz sprinted down the hall and back out of the apartment. He should probably be worried that she would trash his room too, but he wasn't.
Five minutes later, a widely smiled woman came strolling back into her apartment wearing clothes she most definitely wasn't before. A pair of bright pink sweatpants with (unironically) 'pink' sprawled out across the ass were thrown into his face. A crewneck sweatshirt followed quickly after, blessedly just a grey one.
Aiz watched eagerly as he held the two items. When he didn't move, she pouted before resignedly pointing to the bathroom. Jerk.
Another few minutes passed and Bell walked out of the bathroom, not any less confused about what was happening. Don't get him wrong, this was amazing, he just had no clue what was happening. Aiz was now sitting within the blanket he vacated; when she saw him her face lit up with joy and a smile graced her lips. She lifted one arm out to the side, opening the blanket up in a silent invitation. He could see Waffle Iron looking all too disgruntled by the kitten swatting her tail in Aiz's lap and if that wasn't reason enough to join in, he didn't know what was.
Oh. Wait. It was Aiz. That was the reason. Right.
Hopelessly in love, he almost forgot.
Package secured, Aiz nodded to herself before grabbing the remote to her television. Meanwhile, Bell finally managed to find his voice. "Uhh.. so.. what're we watching?"
Her eyes were alight with mischief as she smiled over at him, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow as she gestured toward the screen. In the time it took him to grow a backbone, she'd navigated her way to Netflix and typed away something in the search bar. Man, it must have taken him a while to speak up. That search bar was not made to be quick.
More importantly than any of that, there was a show queued up on the screen and his eyes immediately zeroed in on the familiar face.
What the.. ?
Aiz's lips parted as she began to speak, something he still relished to this day. His neighbor always was a quiet person and much preferred to text somebody even whilst face to face with them. He didn't mind the process at all and took no issue with responding verbally as she typed away, but it always left him feeling decisively warm when she spoke to him. It was only when they were alone, tucked away in a private place where nobody else could be listening in, but it was nice.
"I found this show, the name.. it doesn't what it's called! It's weird, okay? But- hey! Don't read the name! Damnit, Bell-kun! Oh? You're going to pay attention now? Thank you! Alright, so! I found this show, and- stop reading the name! It's about- so help me Bell Cranel I will not hesitate to take away your Chinese privileges. Thank you. Now, this show is - ouch! - apparently - ouch! - about a boy named - son of a- ! Damnit, Bean! Respect your elders!"
A disgruntled kitten was pulled from the fortress of warmth and deposited on the couch to Aiz's left. A 'mrow' of thanks echoed out from within and Aiz gave Waffle Iron a few scritches to confer her acknowledgment.
"Where was I?"
Bell hummed. "I think you were just getting to why we're watching an anime called 'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'"
Aiz winced before nodding. "Yeah.. I.. can't really say anything to make the name better, but supposedly it is.. alright!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Just.. alright?"
She shrugged. "I read up online, apparently the books are better. Anime cuts out a lot of the content."
Sounds about right.
"So.. why are we watching it?"
Her smile was back with a vengeance as she bounced in her seat, mentally apologizing to Waffle Iron as she did. "The characters have the same names as us!"
Bell blinked. "They what?"
"The main characters are Bell Cranel and Aiz Wallenstein," she made sure to add excessive flourish to her own character. Her eyes were alight with mischief that he couldn't help return. The names weren't exactly perfect, sure. His surname was not Cranel, and Aiz's was not Wallenstein. He wasn't entirely sure which country those would come from – Germany maybe? It made sense, at least for Aiz's. He couldn't say he had any clue where Cranel may come from.
Still, the thing that got him was the resemblance. Now, he did not have white hair (even if he was now considering dying it) and neither of their eye colors were realistic. That just wasn't how the real world worked. He supposed they could be considered close, what with Aiz's amber eyes and his own.. brown.. Okay, so they weren't close at all, but still!
Either way, the resemblance in his face to the cartoonish boy on screen was a little uncanny. Shave away a dozen or so years from himself, dye his hair white, put in some colored contacts, and voila! He's an anime protagonist. He.. he wasn't sure how to feel about that. Sure, it is really cool that this happened (he can't imagine any other circumstance where even one character would have the name Bell or Aiz - they are pretty unique names - but both? Unheard of) but he couldn't help but wish it was in a better anime. With a more normal name.
'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?'
What kind of name is that?
A stupid one, that's what. He could see the little 'Familia Myth' directly below it and couldn't help but think that that should be the name. Familia Myth? That sounds dope as hell! Whoever made the executive decision on the name deserves the ax. Not only was it unnecessarily long, but approximately zero of their actual fans will want to openly talk about it. They're just cutting out their free advertising by word of mouth by giving it such an awful name and he is getting way off track.
He glanced over at Aiz who seemed all too amused by his facial expressions. "Oh? So, you're finally coming back to me? Should I be worried about whatever or whoever is on your mind?"
Bell rolled his eyes, swatting her arm playfully beneath the blanket. "Go on, Drama Queen."
She pouted. "You will come to learn soon enough that I am not the Drama Queen you think I am. I am a princess! A Sword Princess!"
"Mhmm." He deadpanned.
She gasped. "So rude! You should know that I am far stronger than you are in this world!"
"Hm. Well it's too bad that we're in this world then, isn't it? None of that strength carries over here, does it? So.. if I wanted to, say.. tickle you?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You do that and you can actually kiss your Chinese goodbye. Now, just shut up and watch this with me."
There was no need to tell him twice. Chinese food should never be risked so easily.
He turned his attention back to the screen as it went dark, his face already warming up as the steam billowed out of the container in front of him.
"Also, we're watching it subbed."
"But- "
"Trust me, Bell-kun. You don't want it dubbed."
He blinked. Fine. He can just focus on reading. It wasn't that big of a deal. Aiz probably just knew something he didn't, it wasn't hard to believe that the dub for a show with such an amazing name would be bad.
Bell squinted into the as the very first panel lit up the screen and he could already feel himself cursing the creators. So bright!
A mosaic of the stars and heavens appeared, starting with the brilliant lights of Tenkai before descending down toward the surface world. It depicted images of cities and early civilizations all merged together in one society.
A soft, female voice began narrating the history of the world as the screen shifted about.
"Long ago, we the gods descended to the lower world of you, our children, seeking excitement. And so, we decided.. we would live here in the lower world forever. Sealing our godly powers away, we would live happily, surrounded by discomfort and inconvenience."
Bell wasn't even sure what happened after that because just as soon as the screen started to pan back up to what he assumed was somebody catching a falling god or goddess, Aiz slapped a hand over his eyes with a hurried 'don't look!'
Naturally, he looked between the cracks of Aiz's hastily put-together shield. Unfortunately, whatever she must have been worried about had already passed because (call him sleazy if you want) there was nothing scandalous about grassy fields and lakes. That could just be him though.
The narrator kept on narrating as several more scenes flitted about the screen. A coastal town with a few odd lakes and mountains to the south. Men and women with large swords walking through the cobblestone streets of a large city. A merchant doing what merchants do best, complaining.
It was pretty typical for a fantasy world, all things considered.
"The only thing we could grant to you is the 'Blessing'. The power to fight monsters. Those children, to whom this power is granted, become family to the god: Familia."
The screen panned down from the 'top' (the air quotes are key in that one, Bell was fairly certain that thing just kept on going) of a large tower. There were intricate carvings throughout the external structure and neither of the onlookers could really tell how anybody managed that.
"In other words, you are my family now."
Bell blinked and frowned at the screen as a familiar face sprinted along, some of his face hidden just out of frame. There were thunderous footsteps in the background as he – the character, not the real-life doppelganger – ran away.
"The sole member of the Hestia familia."
A large brown foot slammed into the cavern floor, sending small quakes throughout the tunnel and causing pebbles and debris to scatter away from the beast. Bell – the character, again – tripped and fell but quickly caught himself in a roll, tucking his head in and leaping back to his feet as soon as possible before scrambling to move away again.
The wall behind him exploded without any reason to and Bell – the real-life one – assumed it was meant to be the monster's work but you like.. why didn't they just animate it? It was obviously a corner that was punched out, you should have been able to see it happen.
The ground where Bell – the character – had tripped was shrouded in dust and rubble as he escaped. A large stone crashing to the ground and throwing him shrapnel as he did.
"Are you listening, Bell-kun?"
Bell – the real-life one – has decided two things. First, it's weird to hear his name in an anime and he's not quite sure if he likes it. Second, he needs to work out a new system for referring to himself and the character.
"Bell-kun?"
Perhaps.. black-haired boy and white-haired boy? It makes things easy enough. Or maybe, he'd just be Bell himself (obviously, he was the real one) and the one on screen would just be white-haired boy or red-eyes boy.
On screen, the monster – which Bell was pretty sure was a minotaur – roared into the sky, exposing rows of flat teeth not at all conducive to eating humans. Bell frowned before chancing a glance over to Aiz. "Why do the monsters attack humans if they can't eat them?"
His neighbor scowled through a mouthful of fried rice even as she snatched the remote from the table and gave him a look that screamed 'get it over with.'
He pointed to the screen, the panel had shifted from the minotaur's roaring to it just standing there menacingly. He pointed his chopsticks over at the beast, waving them through the air as if he didn't have grains of rice flying off the ends to the floor. "The minotaur thing. When it was roaring it had flat teeth. Flat teeth are only good for grinding things up, not for biting through flesh. It doesn't make sense. What reason would the monsters have for the war with humans if they can't eat them?"
"That's a good question, Bell! Maybe they're just evil because they're.. I don't know.. monsters!?"
He couldn't be certain, but that felt mocking. Either way, he pressed on. "But they have to be fighting for something, right? They're not mindless killers, are they? That minotaur would probably have gone straight for the kill if he was, but he isn't, he's standing there. That has to show at least some level of higher thought, which means I find it hard to believe that the monsters would continue fighting humans without a reason to do so!"
Aiz took a deep breath in, trying to calm herself down before she ended up doing something she might regret. Like flicking his nose or kissing him to get him to shut up. Both could have pretty dire consequences. She didn't want to scare him off, but she also didn't want to risk rejection if he didn't like her back. A true conundrum.
Eventually, she decided 'calm' wasn't exactly her forte, especially not in her own home where she doesn't have to bottle up all of her stray emotions.
"Monsters are evil, Bell! It's in their name! They are scary, vile, cruel creatures! They scare children and hide under beds and that's all there is to it!"
Bell glanced back toward the screen, silently mulling over her words before ultimately shaking his head. "I think they're the victims." He could hear his friend's groans as she threw her head back into the cushion but pressed on regardless. "I am willing to bet that the people.. the.. uhh.. ones with the 'Blessing' or whatever, they get something out of killing the monsters. That's why they're fighting."
Aiz stared at him in annoyed silence for a beat of three before lifting the remote, pressing play, shoving a mouthful of food from her own dish into his mouth to shut him up, and turning away. It didn't even occur to her what she'd just done until after the white-haired boy on the screen started screaming.
A second-hand kiss! I just gave Bell a second-hand kiss!
Her face went red from what Bell could only guess was anger; small expletives falling easily from her lips as the boy on screen cried out and whimpered. Almost to prove Aiz's point, the minotaur started punching the stone wall well above the cowering boy's head, almost as if to say 'hey, look Bell, you stupid idiot, I am not as intelligent as you think!'
A line of blue slashed across the screen followed quickly by an explosion of red. The minotaur collapsed down onto one knee, its right Achilles tendon cut. Bell couldn't help but wonder if they still called it the Achilles tendon in this fantasy world. Achilles was a Greek warrior, Hestia is a Greek goddess, it certainly was possible.
He desperately wanted to ask Aiz for her thoughts but with a large amount of food still in his mouth from when she previously shut him up, he doubted he could. The fact that he was probably far too embarrassed by the second-hand kiss to form a coherent sentence probably wouldn't help either.
The monster on screen started to turn, its entire body pivoting around as it reached for an unknown object. A flash of silver followed with hints of golden hair at its side. A thin sword appeared on screen, cutting the monster's arms to ribbons with the rest of its body soon to follow.
"IT'S ME!"
Bean shot up from her spot on the couch, startled by her mother's sudden shout, and darted off into the kitchen. Bravely, she peaked her head around the corner of a cabinet, searching the area for threats. Finding none, she allowed herself to relax but didn't return to their side, instead lifting a paw up to lick and clean her face.
Aiz's shout was right though, the character on screen was definitely her. They'd gotten her likeness (and wasn't that just creepy) correct, all the way down to her hairstyle and color. The only thing that separated the Aiz huddled under the blankets and the one sheathing her sword was clothing and eye color.
Bell honestly couldn't say whether he preferred the girl in a battle dress with light armor and thigh-high boots or in his oversized sweatpants and hoodie. It was a close one. She looked unbelievably good with a sword, and he would not even hesitate to let her step on him, but there was also something undeniably cozy about the girl to his left. The blanket tucked beneath her chin, the wide, dazzling smile on her lips as she watched herself murder a minotaur.
Now that he thought about it, that second part is a little concerning. It was adorable, yes. But he'd never seen her smile wider than when more blood gushed from the bovine's cleaved side.
Women are scary.
There was a scream coming from the speakers that Bell ignored, simply too enthralled in taking in Aiz's smile. He only managed to stop when she started snickering. Her snickers turned into giggles as tears of mirth started to bead in her eyes.
What is she-
Bell groaned as he took in his doppelganger's appearance.
Doused in blood.
Wonderful.
The minotaur let out one last dying scream before exploding into a cloud of black ash, a mystical violet stone clattering across the ground beneath its vanishing corpse.
"Excuse me. Are you alright?"
Bell blinked.
Aiz blinked.
Bell blinked again.
Aiz grabbed the remote and rewound the show.
Minotaur.
Scream.
Stone.
Voice.
She rewound it again.
Minotaur.
Scream.
Stone.
Voice.
Again.
Minotaur. Scream. Stone. Voice.
Again.
Minotaur. Scream. Stone. Voice.
Minotaur. Scream. Stone. Voice. Minotaur. Scream. Stone. Voice. Minotaur. Scream. Stone. Voice.
Aiz paused the show after their tenth loop of the same fifteen seconds. In perfect synchronization, the two neighbors slumped back into the couch's cushions and frowned toward the ceiling.
"Did you- ?"
"Nope."
"So, how did they- ?"
"No idea."
".. "
".. "
".. huh."
Neither of them had the answers.
Somehow, someway, the creators of the show managed to find somebody with the perfect voice to match Aiz's. Now, the voice actor was obviously speaking in a different language, but there was no denying that was the voice of the girl beside him. He'd been one of the few people lucky enough to hear it in a long time.
How did they even know?
The two stayed in mutual, contemplative silence as the show moved on. Neither of them bothering to comment on the way the blood-soaked boy on screen was very clearly in love with Aiz, nor what that may mean for the versions in the real world. If they were able to get Aiz's appearance and voice to such a close likeness, what would that mean for their personalities?
By the time the white-haired adventurer finally got his first speaking line, neither was surprised to find it nigh identical to Bell's, if not only slightly higher due to the character's age.
Aiz grumbled to herself with a soft 'mrgrgr' that Bell probably would have been able to pick up on if he had the enhanced hearing the so-called 'Blessing' provides. She did not like this pretty elfess's familiarity with the boy on screen. Her amber eyes glanced downward toward her own chances as this 'Eina' girl leaned forward, all but shoving her bust in the boy's face. It wasn't fair.
"Anyway.. do you know anything about Miss Aiz?"
Aiz smirked, take that you dumb elf.
"What? You mean Lady Wallenstein, the one who saved you, ne?"
The Bell on-screen was fidgeting nervously in his seat in a way Aiz had absolutely seen her Bell do, especially when he was particularly nervous or embarrassed. Even now he seemed to be resisting the urge to curl in on himself.
"No. I mean, yes."
Eina smirked. "Have you fallen for her?"
"Yes!"
Bell paused the show.
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
".. "
He popped his lips a few times, his hands patting on his thighs somewhere within the folds of the blanket. He could feel Aiz's eyes on the side of his face just as easily as he could feel the blush creeping up the side of his cheeks.
She leaned forward a little, he swallowed thickly.
She closed the gap even more, his brown eyes flickered over to her face before moving back to face the front.
"Bell-kun?"
He shuddered, not at all expecting her to start using a Japanese honorific with his name. He didn't hate it.
"Hm?"
"Is there something you wish to tell me?"
Her tone was soft, unsure, but hopeful.
"I- "
He swallowed thickly. His throat bobbing up and down as he tried to swallow his nerves as easily as he did saliva. It wasn't working.
Aiz's amber eyes were alight with mischief as she smirked at him, she leaned forward, even more, her lips ghosting along the edge of his ears. As softly as she could manage, she whispered in his ears. "Would you like me to.. "
She trailed off, wanting Bell to fill in the gaps himself. Judging by the way his face heated up, even more, she thinks he got it.
Good.
One of her arms wrapped around his body over his chest, her hand coming up to cup his cheek and gently shift him to face her. When his brown eyes finally met her amber ones, she allowed the confident smirk to drop from her lips, a soft and far more comfortable smile gracing her lips where it once sat.
She glanced down at his lips, watching them part slightly, before nervously looking back to Bell's eyes. The slightest nod of the head and she was upon him, her lips pressed into his and her fingers reached up and carded through his hair. She wasn't entirely sure where Waffle Iron went off to during all of that, but she couldn't really bring herself to care right now.
She was kissing Bell!
She was doing it!
It had taken so long to work up to this point; months and months of personal growth before she even realized what the way she felt for him meant, and then even more to work up the courage to do this.
It was worth it.
Author Notes:
Before you ask, no, I am not going to write a 'Watching' fic. I originally planned to do the entire first episode this chapter but transcribing an episode of a show has to be some of the dullest writing I've ever done. So much pausing and unpausing and so little writing. No thank you.
Author-san is going on a little bit of a breaky-break. Won't be posting until mid-December most likely, peace out girlscouts!