Chapter Text
"You look grumpy today."
"Oh really." James remarked sarcastically.
Curly cringed. "Nevermind you sound livid."
"Who hurt you boss." Daisuke asked. "Want me to beat them up?" He half-joked, Curly winced.
"No beating anyone up, please." He hurried to intervene. To Curly's horror, Daisuke's reaction was to pout in disappointment at the restriction; Curly tried to not mind it much and wave it off. "Uh, wanna talk about it?" He offered awkwardly.
James looks at him with a raised brow, considering. "Don't give me the chance because I will start ranting for hours."
Daisuke beams, looking excited. "Spill the gossip then!" He exclaims, his enthusiasm making Curly snort at his side.
James hums convinced. "Alright, sit down." He orders, pointing at the sofa in front of his seat. "Because I have a whole fucking ton of complains to share."
"Complains to what?" Aliyah's voice echoed thru the halfway, her frame appearing at the door.
"Arrived just in time." Curly points out greeting her.
"I'm always on time." She says with a confident smile.
"Sit down Ali!" Daisuke jumps, hand motioning towards them to come closer. "We were about to start talking shit about someone!" He exclaims. Aliyah chuckles, sitting on the unoccupied space near the end of the sofa right at Curly's side.
"How do you know it’s about someone?" James questions, slightly taken aback.
"With you, it’s always about someone." Aliyah teases him, receiving a flat glare in exchange. "So what happened?"
James's frown returns.
"Had a talk with my professor regarding the project," He starts, the others quick to paying attention. "I had some questions about how to approach a correct portray of some of the scenes; like the composition, perspective and stuff. When I needed to explain some of them, which most were about the gruesome ones like the ending party scene, he paled and restricted me from pursing them. That despite my story being allowed for the project, he said that I need to keep it low-key, basically."
"So he doesn’t want— the gore, right? Or was he referring to violence in general?" Curly asks confused. "I can see his worry, after all your story does touches on both heavy and delicate themes— but if he already gave you a green lit then why backtrack? Wouldn't just censoring it be enough?"
James crossed his arms. "I told him that; that I wouldn't be showing explicit scenes since this will be showed on school grounds, but he still freaked out and outright refused the inclusions." He explains. "Which means the death scenes can’t be showed as I intended." He pursues his lips, annoyed. "I think I also need to tone down Captain Curly's injuries, but the puppet is already done so fuck that."
Aliyah smiles sympathetic. "We can reshoot the scenes with the injuries toned down if needed, it’s just a few anyway so if we make no mistakes we can have them redone in a day." She offers. "The puppet can be off screen."
"No, the puppet is staying." James declines, sounding final. "If needed to be tuned down, I'll just pretend the captain still has limbs but his burnt state is crucial to show the gravity of the consequences from the crash." Aliyah nods in understanding.
"Well that sucks, especially since we already had some of those scenes recorded," Daisuke says, dissatisfied. "Are you discarding them entirely?" He asks, sounding disheartened.
"The plot will stay the same. That is to say, crew still dies; but I guess I'll have to imply it." His frown deepens. "Which also means I need to imply Anya's pregnancy, because knowing that professor if I explicitly make her admit it and he links it to the abuse, he will definitely freak out and lower my grade." He scoffs irritated, almost sounding like a growl. "I know for a fact the bastard is capable of failing someone if he doesn’t like the work regardless if it meets all the requirements. That attitude makes the class insufferable."
It's now Daisuke's time to scoff. "Then why the fuck is he a professor if he grades however the fuck he wants."
Curly's eyes widen. "He said the other f word." He murmurs, leaning to an equally surprised Aliyah.
"This is real talk." Aliyah agrees, whispering back.
James huffs, reclining on his seat, arms still crossed over his chest.
"Don’t get me wrong I like this class, when it comes to explaining he can be a good teacher; but his close mindset and old fashioned ways really limits the creative liberty for the assignments." He explains, making a face. "I was already forced to discard some of the scenes I had planned because of budget and time issues, but now I need to do this fixing for the sake of appeasing the old man." He purses his lips, annoyed.
"Wait— discarded?" Curly asks surprised. James nods.
"The ending for example." He admits with a slight dismissive wave. "I wanted Jimmy to put your character on the cryostasis pod, but because the utility room with the pods aren't ever shown, I feel like I can’t suddenly add it. It ends with an open ending anyway so I will try imply it regardless, but still, it won’t be shown on screen like I would have wanted." He sighs.
"But if you are already taking off the death scenes then why not add it again?" Daisuke raises a brow.
"I don’t have a budget nor time to build the utility room, much less the cryopods." James shakes his head, Daisuke oh's softly. "Besides, the film time is already too long for a school project and I don’t want to remove important context for the sake of expanding the already open ending."
"Then you know what this means right?" Aliyah intervenes with a smile.
"Another headache?" James guesses, sounding flat. Aliyah chuckles.
"Means you should open the Kickstarter already." Aliyah says with a shine on her eyes.
"Oh yeah!" Daisuke agrees brightening up, his fist hitting his palm. "There’s now no excuse to not try!"
"You can’t run outta this one mate." Curly laughs.
"If this thing ends up getting enough attention, then I swear I’ll will open the damned Kickstarter." James accepts tiredly. "I really want to do all the ideas I had planned and if university won’t give me an excuse then might as well try and do it for myself elsewhere."
"But why all the resistance you had shown previously in the first place though?" Daisuke asks. "’Cuz you have been postponing it despite our continuous insistence." He teases.
James looks away briefly. "I don’t want to get my hopes up just to be disappointed in the end." He admits sincerely.
Daisuke deflates at the depressing answer. "When you put it that way I guess it’s understandable." He acknowledges.
"I still think it sounds like a fun goal to pursue." Curly smiles, lifting up the mood. "I may not be much of an actor but I can help you with editing and special effects." He offers. James perks up.
"You know about that?" He says impressed.
Curly nods. "You know those neat video edits on Instagram and Tiktok? I wanted to try doing that so have been learning as a hobby." Curly says sheepishly. "And since I already know how to program, I have also been learning the basics of videogame making on my spare time as well."
"Of course you would try that huh." James says, sounding weirdly judgmental.
Curly's lips tremble, turning his easy smile in a nervous one. He unintentionally shrinks under James's piercing gaze, then gasps with a frown when he notices James serious face crack into a teasing smirk.
“You cunt.” He curses at him, feeling annoyed while James only barks a laugh.
"Whatthefluffyoudogames— ah?" Daisuke blurted immediately at the confession, stunned.
"He's married to the computer if you haven't already caught on." James jabs at Curly lightheartedly, making Aliyah snort. Not taking it to heart Curly only rolls his eyes.
"Maybe when I graduate I might try do a serious game." Curly continues, "I think it could be interesting."
Daisuke gapes. "Will you put it on sale?" He quickly asks. "I'm broke right now but I'll get a job and definitely buy it!"
"If I even end up doing a game, you mean." Curly says amused. "But if that happens, maybe you could beta test."
Daisuke beams. "No take backs!!"
Aliyah giggles at the display.
"I'll still help you with the usual makeup, costumes and prop making." Aliyah resumes the conversation. "It’s what I have been doing for myself by years now anyway."
"I can still act and help you with production, I'll even do you PR! Whatever you might need I'm down to help you as well!" Daisuke exclaims raising a hand with eagerness. "I'm sure dad will be chill if you decide to keep using our place and his stuff for the scenarios and recording." He adds smugly.
"I'll believe it when Sean confirms that himself." James smirks first, eyes then soften at the end. "It’s been a while since we have seen him, actually."
Daisuke gasped. "Oh yeah! I think he has recently been busy with company related stuff, but I can drag him to hang out with us if you'd like!" He offers eagerly.
"If he's busy then let's not bother him." Curly suggests softly. "We can catch up later when he has free time."
Daisuke pouts. "Alright."
"We'll caught him up with the gossip later." Aliyah assures. "I have the feeling that if he were to hear what James told us he would be pissed." She chuckles.
"Oh definitely." Daisuke agrees. "Guys like that professor are the type of people my dad can’t stand at all! Especially if what's getting restricted is something sentimental like a passion project."
James chuckles weakly, eyes looks down.
"I didn’t intended this to be a passion project but I guess— it’s just, when I heard from the seniors that the final project would be about creating our own short film, I immediately jumped into brainstorming ideas; writing down scenes and scripts." James admits. "Over time the idea became more fleshed out and before I knew it, Mouthwashing became a concept that been floating in my head and hasn't left my mind for years now."
"I do remember you had a strange fixation with space fiction and survival stories, like All Tomorrows and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream." Aliyah comments, then pauses. "Huh, I’m starting to see where the inspirations may have come from.” She mutters thoughtfully. “But my point being, you creating a story revolving those concepts was going to happen eventually."
"Maybe." James accepts.
“What are those?” Daisuke quietly asks Curly.
“I think they’re novels.” He clarifies.
Daisuke whistles impressed. "Neat, then tell us boss, for how long has you been planning Mouthwashing?"
"Ah," James's gaze goes up as he tries to recall. "I think— uh, I think around two years ago so 2016-ish? Probably?" He looks at Aliyah for confirmation.
"We entered in 2014." She confirms.
"Then yes, 2016." James nods. Daisuke oh's again, gives a little clap too.
"Sounds like you two know each other from before entering,” Curly points out. “Maybe even for a long time…? I now wonder, how did you both meet?" Curly asks intrigued.
Quietly sharing a mutual glance, James spoke first.
"We knew each other since middle school, then somehow we ended up in the same high school so we started talking a little." A shrug. "Though I think we were more like acquaintances back then."
"And because we ended in the same university and we're both introverts we started to talk again and eventually got closer, you could say it’s until recently that we genuinely became friends." Aliyah adds with a chuckle. Curly hums in acknowledgement.
"Well, I only knew James because his family are my hosts, and then recently I vaguely knew about Daisuke because I saw him at the baseball practice."
"Right! I saw you play from afar and thought you were so cool! I was itching to talk to you for weeks!" He shamelessly admits.
At his words, Curly hides his face with his hands, ears pink.
"Dearie me," He sighs. "I don’t get why people think I'm that good, I honestly just play for the scholarship benefits."
"Stop being humble, it’s disgusting." James makes a face. Grinning when Curly just glares at him, peeking from in-between his fingers.
"You stop talking." Putting his hands down, he scolds. James huffs.
Ignoring the dispute, Daisuke carries on.
"I usually ask to the people I meet about stuff they're into so I can check it out, because honestly I'm very into media with weird fanbases, so I'm unsure if they're good topics of discussion." Daisuke admits thoughtful. Aliyah immediately peeks up.
"Daisuke have you considered joining the transformers fandom." Aliyah suggests, the mentioned boy raises a brow.
"I mean—" Daisuke shrugs "I have gone to the live action movies at the cinema and I also remember watching the 2010 animated series on TV so you could say I'm somewhat aware about it." Aliyah nods eagerly.
"Alright, then hear me out." She stares at him critically, intertwining her fingers. "Optimus prime."
Daisuke immediate straightens up.
"Would." He says, equally sounding dead serious. His sudden shift in attitude being so drastically it makes Curly blink startled. "But you know who I'd would even more?" He smirks. "Bumblebee." Aliyah's lips immediately turn upward with excitement.
"What are you guys even talking about?" Witnessing everything, Curly says under his breath though mostly to himself.
James responds anyway. "If you don't get it, then you're in for a surprise."
Curly blinks. "What."
Aliyah huffs. "Stop being dramatic, I will never forget that you had a brony phase." Aliyah calls him out, making Curly blink repeatedly some more.
Daisuke gapes, turning towards James.
"You WHAT—"
"And I won’t deny it because it had peak storytelling." James jumps to defend himself proudly. Curly feels speechless at his unexpected honestly. "I can’t help but respect that the rainbow horses had shown better care for its world-building than other shows ever did." He points out.
"It’s ok man, I fluff with the rainbow horses," Daisuke says, then shifts his attitude "But ok, James quickly, hear me out: Twilight sparkle."
James raises a brow. "Would, though I prefer Discord." A pause. "Or Luna."
"No idea who Luna is but Discord is so fluffing based I like that answer."
"How in the fuck do you not know who Princess Luna, who is introduced at the first episodes by the way, is— but know about Discord who is a motherfucker who was introduced much later?" James says, sounding mildly offended. "She's basically the second pony god."
"Pony what." Curly asks.
Daisuke raises his hands in surrender.
"Not my fault there's a cool song about that dude— and besides! I just watch the cool clips! I'm yet to sit and watch the whole series." He shifts into a thoughtful pose. "Mostly because I have been more into Devilman Crybaby and Baki lately." He admits.
"Are you serious?" James says flatly.
"Listen, if it's for the freaks then it's for me! I'm the target audience goddamnit!! Peak shit!!!"
"Did you know James introduced me to Transformers and I dragged him into My Little Pony" Aliyah mentioned casually.
Daisuke gaped. "Wait really?"
"Yeah." She laughed.
"I was into Transformers for the nostalgia, then you went even further and read the comics." James says, looking towards her.
"Greatest fiction ever if you ask me." Aliyah puffs up proudly, hands on her hips. "You can basically summary the core issues as situationship then separation gone wrong."
"Oh shit, as in divorce?" Daisuke's eyes widen. "Well fluff, now I'm invested in the robot's situationship."
"But situationship between whom?" Curly tried to ask.
Daisuke shrugged. "No idea— guess it calls for a marathon so we can educate ourselves! Amirite Capt!?" He proposed, his body leaning heavily to the side where Curly who, left with no choice, catches him so he wouldn't slip and fall off the couch.
"I guess." Curly says. Resigned into being crushed with Daisuke's weight at his side, said boy grinning wide, making himself comfortable.
"I also once heard, probably on a Tumblr post, that the reason of why the Transformers fandom consists mostly of women who ships the robots in unhinged ways is a revenge against the men that infiltrated and claimed the My Little Pony fandom." Daisuke said randomly. "Which I find beautiful, truly a showcase of the natural balance at its finest." He half-joked, smiling.
"That sounds about right." Aliyah laughs.
"I never expected you getting that much into robots." James comments, raising a brow.
"The angst of a situationship that got divorced, started a war and made it everyone else's problem became quite appealing to me." She admitted, proudly and with no shame.
"Div— we’re talking about robots right?" Curly said again.
"It also has zombies, genocide, yearning, marital issues—"
"We're still talking about robots right?!"
"Slow burn, war crimes—"
"All I know is that the fandom is full of freaks that want to fuck the robots." James scoffs. Somewhere in the back Curly chokes while Daisuke gasps.
"And your fandom full of 40 year old men that want to fuck the rainbow horses." Aliyah challenges back, raising a brow.
James groans. "I’m aware this is gonna sound weird as fuck but—" He starts, then hesitates, cringes in maybe regret, but goes on regardless. "But. Horses. Are organic beings, therefore made of flesh. And, your robots are made metal with maybe some alien stuff." He argues. "Point is: how the fuck can you— how would anyone be able to fuck metal."
Unexpectedly, Daisuke is who answers instead. "It can be done if you're not a fluffing coward—"
"Alright that's enough!" Curly cuts them off quickly, somewhat shaken. "Why are we even talking about this? Better yet, how did we get from bitching about James’s professor to— to fucking?"
Aliyah snorts. James groans annoyed.
"You want to change the topic? Alright." James turns towards him. "Say Grant, what's your favorite color?"
Curly purses his lips. "What does that has to do with anything?"
"I'm changing the topic so say your favorite color."
“I don’t trust whatever this.”
“For fuck’s sake just say a color.”
Curly leans back nervously, sweat sliding down his cheek. "No, no, nevermind.” He shakes his head. “You guys can carry on."
“I wasn’t going to do anything!” James complains, lifting his hands. “Just going to say my favorite color is green and therefore better than yours.”
Daisuke snorts. “The superior color is pink actually.” He remarks, sounding confident.
“Pink sucks.” James immediately jumps to say.
Daisuke sneers, smug. “Denial is the first stage.”
“Never been in denial, I’m just stating facts.”
“He’s definitely in denial.” Aliyah whispers to Curly who snorts, then turns to the arguing duo. “Pink is cute.” Aliyah admits easily to Daisuke’s delight. “Though I prefer blue.” Daisuke smile falls, changing to a pout. James now being the smug looking one.
“Good to know you’re not joining the pink cult. I’m staying with green.” James says. “And I could have even more allies against pink if I just knew Grant’s goddamned favorite color.”
“I’m still not telling ya shit.” Curly replies, though now more visibly relaxed.
"Why are you intimidating Curly?" Aliyah calls him out with lighthearted offense. Daisuke catches on her act.
"Stop messing with the captain, James! Can't you see he's delicate?" He follows her tease, ganging up against him in revenge of pink’s honor.
"Wh— delicate?" Curly repeats, dumbfounded.
Daisuke smiles. "Just a little guy." He teases.
Curly frowns. "I'm a grown ass man."
"Then like a puppy." Daisuke follows.
"I'm taller and older than you!"
"A big puppy." He insists.
"Golden retriever energy." Aliyah nods.
“Not helping Aliyah!” He whines, making her laugh.
"Hilarious how both are babying the guy who’s into cosmic horror." James comments amused.
Daisuke pauses. "Into what."
"It’s more science fiction than cosmic horror though." Curly says after pulling himself together.
"But you aren’t denying so it means you’re also like cosmic horror right?" Aliyah asks.
Curly’s cheeks get slightly dusted in pink. "Well, yes, but—"
"Pause pause pause, someone rewind, Captain is into WHAT." Daisuke exclaims.
James grins. "Surprised? You can bet he's part of the freaks too." He taunts.
"No way," He exclaims softly, quickly getting up to face towards his senior. "Captain let's get married." Daisuke declares eagerly, holding both of Curly's hands with his own. Curly blinks, nor really registering the words.
"Hey!" James exclaims, pointing accusatory. "Mind who’s spouse are trying to steal."
"I can treat him better." Daisuke challenges.
"You with what economy?" He bites back, Daisuke opens his mouth. “Sean’s doesn’t count.” James clarifies fast, Daisuke curses under his breath. It makes Aliyah laugh.
"While you too can fight each other, I'll just go ahead and marry the blonde himbo." Aliyah jokes, joining the competition, Daisuke bursts out laughing.
"The hell?" Curly finally speaks up, feeling long lost into the conversation. Watching his distraught face makes James chuckle loudly.
Aliyah takes pity on him. "Never mind that," She says, brushing the previous discussion off. "What have you been into lately Curly?" She asks curious, shifting the topic.
Curly stops to think.
"I'm honestly more into playing games than watching movies or series." He admits. "Sometimes books or novels if I find interesting ones, though I have a preference for indie games."
Aliyah hums, genuinely invested. The other two also fallen into silence out of intrigue. "Then which game have you been playing lately or currently?" She questions again.
"Ah, it’s called Soma. I believe it got released a few years back?" He explains, a little doubtful about the last part.
Daisuke quietly oh's from his seat, getting his phone out with the intention of searching about the mentioned game. From the corner of her eye, Aliyah can see a shit eating grin on James's face.
"He's already laughing at me." Curly pouts, also noticing James amusement.
"I haven't said anything." James excuses. "So go on Grant, tell us about the game."
"Suddenly don’t feel like telling anything."
"Caring is sharing."
"No, don’t wanna."
"Less whining more speaking."
"No!"
"Oh shit, I did not expect this." Daisuke exclaims, cutting off the argument. "Looks sick as fluff don’t get me wrong! But I thought you were more into games with vibes like, I don’t know, Nintendo?" He shrugs, eyes still glued to the phone's screen.
"I do play Nintendo games; honestly, I consume whatever catches my attention."
"If you look deeper into the game’s lore you'll get why I said he's into cosmic horror." James suggests, then stops to think. "Though I guess whatever science fiction with a bonus of space related themes can easily become your cup of tea, doesn’t it Grant?."
Curly frowns, "Space is neat."
"Dude I know, Mouthwashing takes place in space for a reason."
Curly softly shakes his head, a smile on his lips.
"I find space beautiful as it is terrifying." Aliyah says. "Seeing the bigger picture is breathtaking to watch, but when you focus on the little details it can truly become something nightmare inducing."
"And is also so vast, I can’t help but think it must be lonely as it is empty. Especially since everything is so far away." Curly says, Aliyah nodding in agreement. "Isolating as well."
"You just described the fool of Captain Curly." James teases, Curly cracking a smile at the off-comment.
"If you think about it, all the space themes can also be applied to subaquatic voyages." Daisuke mentions, putting his phone down. "The beauty, the loneliness, the vastness and more importantly: the unknown." He explains. "I read it's said we know more about space itself than our own ocean; that we know more about a place we haven’t even gone to rather than our own planet, don’t you find that terrifying?
Curly gapes, amazed.
"When you put it like that then it's very unsettling." Aliyah softly admits.
"That's the smartest thing I have ever heard you say and that in itself is terrifying." James says uneasy, Daisuke gasps in offense.
"I can be smart!" He exclaims.
"I like you better when you're unhinged."
"What!"
"Thinking back at your original ending, I can’t imagine what it must be to being trapped.” Curly slowly says, gathering everyone’s attention. “Traumatized, mangled and now frozen, floating alone somewhere on the dead vacuum of space." A shiver crawls up his spine. "What the fuck, and that character is supposed to be me— now I'm going to have nightmares for days!" He laments.
"Let's watch the divorced robots." Daisuke says quickly. "Better yet, let's watch the rainbow horses, this conversation took a dark turn real fast." He sweats.
"Yes!" Aliyah jumps. "We can watch the ponies later but please please please let's first watch my divorced robots! I promise you won’t regret it!" she pleads.
“Huge mecha robots could never be boring!” Daisuke exclaims in support.
“Jamesss!”
"Alright sure,” He rolls his eyes. “Only if we can use the huge-ass screen behind you guys to see how the divorced robots beat each other." James says, pointing at said screen. Daisuke and Aliyah beam.
"I'll get the remote!" Daisuke announces, jumping off his seat and running off.
"We should be recording the last missing scenes." Curly reminds, watching him go.
Suprising the urge to groan, James huffs instead. "We can record them after we watch her robots and my ponies."
"I guess." He accepts without much of a fight. "Daisuke mentioned multiple versions, so which are we watching exactly?"
Aliyah smiles widely. "Just you wait, you'll love it!" She assures eagerly, eyes shining brightly.
As they wait for Daisuke with the remote, Aliyah falls into a passionate rambling about why the 2010 series is the best adaptation so far. Voice sounding so full of enthusiasm and her mood so equally contagious both men can’t help but helplessly match her smile as well.
Holding a movie marathon they get too focused on the respective robots and ponies’ films, to the point the intended recording for the day never gets done in the end.