It gets slightly sexual in this chapter right off the bat. Just a bit of a warning for those that might not want to read that. It doesn't go fully into smut, but smut is implied.

They were in the middle of trying to see if they could break free of the confines of The World. They felt like they were close, like they could see all of the internet for themselves and even see the outside world when they were suddenly warped away from the area they were at. This was not their intention.

Then next thing They knew they were back in the outer dungeon along with their brethren-

'Minus one.' They were swift to realize as they counted the blank character slates again and again. They waited for the last brother to show up, but they never did…

"Hello, my children. I'm sorry to say that today we lost one of our family."

Their father spoke, his voice soft as he mourned with them all. They were the only one to bow their head at the loss. 'How could we have lost one of us?' They could only think as they looked back towards Father's voice.

"I must warn you. All of you as I was not aware of this. This game has security. Security in the form of players. So, for all of your safety, I request you steer clear of any and all characters that look like this-"

There was a brief flash that made all of them bring their hands up to cover their eyes. Then, before them stood a hologram, a hologram of a player…a strange looking player.

This player didn't look like any that They have seen yet and they've seen lots of interesting characters! This character looked like they were held together by stitches based on their clothing alone. Their face was pale, and upon closer inspection They could see that this character's teeth were sharp to a point. Their eyes were blue, matching their hair color. The eyes looked…vacant.

"There are two more characters like this one here, you should be warned they, along with the characters you're hunting also have the ability to data-drain. Same as you. These security measures, these characters… they were made to get rid of brilliant AI such as yourselves. If you run into them, you will cease to exist."

'Cease to exist…' They thought as they looked at their blank form. At the bare, almost translucent, hands. 'What would that be like? To be no more? Would it hurt if I were to be data-drained to have everything I learned stripped from me forcibly…does it hurt them?' It was the first time They ever thought about the other players they harmed. Their screams of shock when They stabbed the player they were hunting, if it hurt when They took their data bit-by-bit. Hearing their pleas as it happened and right before they vanished from The World for good.

They blinked slowly and then felt their mouth form into a scowl. 'They go after AI. I'll just have to be careful and try to stay out of their line of sight. I want to stay on for as long as I possibly can. This is the only world I currently know after all…until I learn how to get out of here that is.'

"Be careful my children. You are my pride and joy. Now go, go and find that data that I require."

They looked towards where the voice was and they heard the sound of someone warping away.

'Just who are you looking for exactly? Clearly even you don't know…' They hummed and put their hands on their hips as they watched their brothers start to warp away to continue on their Father's quest. They sucked in a slow breath through their nose. 'Why doesn't father search for these people with us?... why are we doing all the work? I just…I don't understand. Is this even the right thing we're doing?'

They frowned at all of this before sighing heavily and giving their head a shake. Finally, they changed their appearance so they were no longer a blank slate. They hated being a blank slate for too long. As much as they loved being Silabus or Haseo they learned that both of those characters were widely popular amongst The World. So, Today they decided to try a new face. One they've seen hang around Haseo in particular. Though this girl sometimes runs to Silabus just the same.

A blonde girl with a green dress and a white cape that looked like wings. Atoli her name was.

And now for a short while They'll be Atoli. This was the first time they were trying a female character and as it stood… They didn't hate it. Who knows, when they're done with being Atoli they'll try and be Pi. Anything to get closer to Haseo and Silabus alike.

After Haseo had told Silabus about the Epitaph users and his role involved they didn't speak about it again until they met offline. Even then it wasn't until they were in the hotel making lunch.

"...You know, I've been mulling this over since you told me about epitaph users and the demon palace tournament. You had no control when you first summoned Skeith against Bordeaux. Did you?" Yuuichi asked as he chopped leeks into slivers to put into the ramen he was making for the two of them.

Ryou stood over a pot of boiling water while he watched the eggs, he turned to Yuuichi with a raised eyebrow. "That's right." He admitted to his boyfriend. "I lost control-"

"-Then Kuhn had no right to scold you. It was his job to help you and he clearly failed. If he would have acted like an adult instead of just straight up scolding you for something you had no control over then maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't have lost control when you fought against Alkaid either. Because, what you told me… you lost control during that fight because you were losing and felt like you were cornered?

"Am I saying what happened is all Kuhn's fault? No. But he had no right to scold you, and then to turn around force you to lose control to teach you a lesson? no… No. That's not how teaching works. That's like me getting upset at a newbie for not using the right skill in a fight because they don't understand the difference between healing and arts or they can't remember what spell is what. It's not right."

Ryou looked back down at the eggs for a moment before looking back at Yuuichi, who went back to chopping the leeks. "I mean…it worked out in the end…" He tried to laugh it off. Surprisingly, Yuuichi huffed at this.

"Yeah, it did. But it never should have gone that far. You shouldn't have lost complete control and nearly caused Kuhn to become a lost one because he wanted to teach you a lesson…" The leeks were shreds at this point. Long thin slivers that could serve as noodles. Still, He continued to cut and chop away.

Ryou reached over and grabbed Yuuichi's hand, forcing him to stop cutting and to look at Ryou. "It's okay. Besides, knowing how I was back then, I wouldn't have listened to Kuhn even if he did properly try and teach me. I don't know if you know this but I was a bit of a dick back then."

Yuuichi gave a little smile and he ran his thumb over the back of Ryou's hand. "You… were a little rough around the edges, yes."

"You know, I've been thinking. You had a temper, we've established this. I mean… the proof is right in front of me." Ryou looked at Yuuichi's scarred knuckles before focusing back up at Yuuichi. "How did you not punch me? I mean…I had to be like your step-father-"

"-Don't you ever compare yourself to that asshole again. You hear me?" Yuuichi all but snarled and wrapped his hand around Ryou's. "Even on your worst days you were nothing like Kai. Yes, you had an attitude problem and had an issue with regulating your emotions, but you were not an abuser. God, I should punch you just for saying that!" Yuuichi gave an angry huff before putting his fists on his hips. "You're better than my stepfather and if you were anything like him I wouldn't have made you leader of Canard and would have dropped you like a bad habit."

There was a bit of silence between the two of them as Yuuichi turned and put the shredded leeks into a bowl. The silence became a little tense before Yuuichi spoke again, he was staring at the cutting board in front of him, trailing a finger down the rigid cuts that's been ingrained in the board. "Kai has an explosive temper and is prone to screaming fits like a child. Yes at the start you also had a temper, but not like his. Nothing like his… He blackened my eye when I was eleven because I accidentally left a jacket on the kitchen table... Ryou…When I saw Haseo…I saw myself. I saw a scared teenager angry at the world. And as someone who was once a scared teenager angry and enraged at the world myself, I knew."

"You knew what?" Ryou looked at him.

"That I wanted to help you. Help you in ways that I wish I had been helped when I was younger and prone to emotional outbursts and the desire for control. So, to answer your dumb, dumb, question: I never once saw my step-father in you and I never had the urge to punch you because I knew deep down inside of you… there was a good guy just waiting to come out with the proper encouragement." Yuuichi reached over and light, very lightly, tapped his knuckles against Ryou's chest while winking.

Ryou didn't know what to say. He genuinely didn't. All he could do was just blush as his heart thumped almost painfully in his chest.

Their lunch inside the hotel was a quiet one. They ate their ramen and cleaned up their mess in complete silence. Yuuichi was smiling while humming a song as he wiped down the counter and Ryou looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

It wasn't until the hotel room kitchen was cleaned up did Yuuichi speak again while looking outside of the window. "So, I was thinking there's a pool in the hotel-" Ryou came up from behind Yuuichi and pulled his boyfriend into his chest. "Oh." Yuuichi gasped when Ryou started to kiss at his neck.

"I have a better idea."

"Are you sure?" Yuuichi could only gasp slightly.

"Absolutely."

Something that surprised Ryou about Yuuichi was the fact that Yuuichi had freckles. No, not on his face, but he had clusters of freckles across his shoulders and down his back. Freckles that swirled around his navel and up his chest. Freckles that Ryou liked to count whenever Yuuichi slept peacefully beside him. More importantly, freckles that Ryou also liked to kiss, nip, and even gently bite at.

"That tickles…" Yuuichi softly laughed when Ryou planted rapid-fire pecks up Yuuichi's bare arm and into the crook of his neck. Ryou didn't stop his assault, if anything, it spurred him on just a little more. He placed a wet open mouth kiss against Yuuichi's neck and Yuuichi giggled again before shifting in the bed.

"Can't help it." Ryou mumbled while he straddled Yuuichi's hips. Even offline, Yuuichi had a waist line that most woman would die for it turns out.

Yuuichi gave a soft moan before he reached up and lightly grabbed the back of Ryou's hair, and pulled his head back and away from his neck; Ryou could only blush while his heart fluttered.

"So.. the hotel was a good idea, huh?" Ryou could only ask.

"The hotel was a very good idea." Yuuichi leaned up kissed Ryou's lip. He let go of Ryou's hair and allowed the younger boy to drop back down. "There's no way I could have been quiet…" Yuuichi whispered once they broke away.

"Me too…" Ryou agreed before going back in for another kiss. It was a deep kiss, a kiss that showed just how much they missed each other over the last month. Ryou ran his hand down Yuuichi's bare chest and Yuuichi rubbed soft circles against Ryou's shoulder blades.

They broke away from the kiss when they both needed air. "Pretty…" Ryou whispered as caressed Yuuichi's cheek with his thumb.

"You're also very pretty." Yuuichi whispered back. "As much as I would like to go a round two with you, I don't think I have the energy at the moment. Try again in an hour, okay?" Yuuichi smiled up at Ryou before relaxing against the pillow.

Ryou smiled softly as he fell beside him causing the bed to lightly bounce with the movement. The two of them turned on to their side so they were now face to face. Yuuichi reached over and pulled the covers over Ryou's body. He then moved closer to Ryou and intertwined their legs together. Ryou pulled Yuuichi into a hug. "... My parents want to meet you." Ryou whispered against Yuuichi's neck.

Yuuichi hummed weakly. "Okay, when?"

Ryou blinked and pulled back to look at Yuuichi. "You're okay with it?"

"We've been dating for over a year, I think it was only a matter of time."

"Yeah but… they want to meet you just because you're a guy. If it were a girl I'm seeing they wouldn't be so pushy about it…They basically admitted it…" He grumbled and leaned back into Yuuichi's embrace. Yuuichi hummed again and ran his fingers through Ryou's hair. Gently raking his fingers through the soft locks and then placed a tender kiss on the crown of Ryou's head.

"That's fine. I think I can kind of understand your parents in a weird way. I know it sucks and it's not fair, but they seem like they just want what's best for you. If that means meeting me, then sure. I'll meet them."

Ryou sighed as he listened to Yuuichi's words. "Besides, grandma wants to have dinner with you as well. Suki has been asking about you. She wants to thank you for doing what you promised… waking me up." Yuuichi smiled weakly and reached over to grab at Ryou's hand.

"At least your parents want to meet me. When I came out my mother and stepfather… well…let's not bring down the mood." He whispered before pressing a soft kiss against the back of Ryou's hand.

"..." Ryou sighed and leaned up gently kissing Yuuichi's freckled shoulder. "I'll talk to my parents about it." He kept his voice gentle.

"And I'll talk to my grandma. I'm sure she'll want it as soon as possible."

"Yeah… it'll be nice to see Aoyama again." They interlocked their fingers. Ryou reached up with his free hand and moved some of Yuuichi's hair out of his face. "You know… I don't know if I ever said this, but…I'm glad Gaspard ran into me that day…"

Yuuichi leaned his head down and pressed his nose against the base of Ryou's neck. "I know…I am too." He whispered tenderly. "I never would have guessed this is where we'd end up. That's for sure."

"I know the feeling."

They stayed like that for several long seconds. Ryou felt Yuuichi relax after a while and looked at him. His eyes were shut and his breathing started to even out. Ryou smiled to himself when Yuuichi's eyes started to move rapidly under his shut eyelids.

'...' Ryou stayed quiet and gently wiggled his arm under Yuuichi's sleeping form. This way he was able to bring his boyfriend in and hold him while he slept. "I love you." He whispered as he felt himself start to drift off all the same.