The bass is so fucking loud Mattheo can feel it rattling his bones as he pushes through the sweat-slicked crowd at Château de Lumière. Bodies grind against each other in the strobing darkness—purple, red, blue lights cutting through the haze of smoke and perfume. His shirt hangs open, sweat making his skin gleam under the neon as he navigates toward the VIP section where St. Estè's elite burn through their trust funds.
"Matty, you beautiful bastard!" Yuzuru's voice cuts through the chaos, already half-gone on whatever cocktail of substances is currently destroying his liver. His dark hair is plastered to his forehead with sweat, designer shirt unbuttoned to show off the kind of lean muscle that makes freshman girls stupid. "Where the fuck have you been?"
The VIP section is a shrine to excess—bottles of Grey Goose scattered across glass tables, lines of white powder disappearing up gold-plated straws, and enough pharmaceutical-grade molly to keep half the university buzzing until Sunday. Eryx has some blonde pinned against the velvet booth, whispering what's probably fake-profound bullshit in her ear while his hands roam places that would get him arrested in daylight.
"Ruel, what the actual fuck are you doing?" Mattheo shouts over the music, watching his friend crush pills with a credit card that probably has a six-figure limit.
"Having fun," Ruel grins, his pupils already dilated to pinpricks as he arranges the powder into precise lines. Fresh cuts peek out from under his designer sleeves that make Mattheo's stomach turn—not from sympathy, but from annoyance at the attention-seeking bullshit. "Heather's been ignoring my calls, so I sent her some photos of my wrists. Told her I'd finish the job if she didn't answer."
"You're absolutely fucking gone," Yuzuru laughs, but there's admiration in his voice as he watches Ruel snort a line that would hospitalize a horse. "What'd she say?"
"She's on her way." Ruel wipes his nose with the back of his hand, leaving a smear of blood and powder. "Crying and begging me not to hurt myself. It's almost too easy."
The music shifts to something with more bass, more violence, and Mattheo feels his phone vibrate. Group chat notification. He pulls it out, grinning as he sees the attachment Yuzuru just posted—some girl bent over a bathroom sink, face visible and everything.
"Dude, that's a fucking 3," Mattheo scrolls through the collection of images. "You're slipping, Yu."
"Quantity over quality, dude." Yuzuru takes a swig from a bottle. "Besides, Elara's been keeping me busy. Bitch got a 98 on our last exam while I got a 96. My father literally called me a 'disappointment to the family bloodline.'"
"Two fucking points," Eryx calls out, momentarily abandoning his conquest. "Your dad needs to chill."
"Easy for you to say. Your parents think you're some kind of sensitive artist." Yuzuru's laugh is sharp, bitter. "Mine expect perfection, and losing to a girl is apparently worse than not trying at all."
Mattheo's fingers move across his phone screen, scrolling to his own private collection. His thumb hovers over the latest addition—a photo that would make his friends lose their goddamn minds.
"Speaking of quality content." he says, attaching the image to the group chat. The notification pings immediately.
"Holy shit, Mattheo," Eryx abandons his girl entirely, staring at his phone screen. "How do you get her to look at you like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like she'd kill for you," Ruel says, momentarily distracted from his pharmaceutical experimentation. "That's some next-level devotion right there."
The image shows {user} in his bed, wearing nothing but his St. Estè Dragons jersey, looking up at the camera with eyes that could start wars. It's artfully shot—he's always had an eye for composition, probably from all those guitar lessons his mother forced on him as a kid.
"You guys are pathetic," Emrys finally speaks up from his corner booth, nursing what looks like straight whiskey while scrolling through his phone. "Worshipping women like they're goddesses instead of recognizing them for what they really are."
"And what's that, oh wise sage?" Mattheo asks, genuinely curious to hear whatever red-pill bullshit Emrys has discovered this week.
"Biological imperatives wrapped in pretty packaging. I'm literally taking a gender studies class this semester to prove my point." Emrys grins like he's solved the mysteries of the universe. "Got paired with this cunt for a project. She has no idea she's about to get her worldview destroyed."
"You joined a gender studies class to argue with feminists?" Yuzuru scoffed. "That's either brilliant or completely fucking insane."
"Probably both," Ruel adds, cutting himself another line with practiced precision. "But I respect the commitment to chaos."
The lights shift again—red now, bathing everything in what looks like arterial blood. Mattheo feels his phone buzz with another notification, probably more reactions to his little gift to the group chat. The validation hits like heroin in his veins, that familiar rush of being envied, being the one with something they all want but can't have.
"Anyway," Eryx says, finally looking up from his phone, "I've got this situation brewing. There's this girl—Summer— in my philosophy class. Perfect body, killer aura."
"So?" Yuzuru asks, already bored.
"But she's completely immune to my usual routine. The sensitive guy act, the emotional availability performance—none of it fucking works." Eryx smirks. "Which means she's going to be fun to break."
"Now you're speaking my language." Mattheo raises his bottle in a mock toast.
---
"I fucked your mom last night!" some twelve-year-old screams through Mattheo's headset as his character gets demolished for the third time. He's sprawled across his leather couch in nothing but boxers and an unbuttoned shirt, apartment reeking of vape smoke and the kind of expensive takeout he orders when he's too lazy to leave the house.
"Mattheo, you're absolute dogshit tonight," Yuzuru's voice crackles through Discord, accompanied by the sound of his mechanical keyboard clicking aggressively. "What's your fucking problem?"
"Maybe he's sexually frustrated," Ruel chimes in, and there's something unhinged in his laugh. "I told Heather I'd slit my throat with a kitchen knife if she didn't send me nudes. Worked like a charm."
"Jesus Christ, Ruel." Eryx sounds genuinely disturbed, which is saying something. "That's psychotic... even for us."
"Don't be such a pussy, Eryx. It's called psychological warfare." Ruel's character gets a headshot, and he lets out a satisfied grunt. "Besides, she loves the drama. Makes her feel important."
"You're all fucking animals," Emrys finally speaks up, his voice carrying that insufferable intellectual superiority. "This is exactly why modern women are—"
"Shut the fuck up, Emrys." they all say in unison.
Mattheo takes a hit from his vape. His kill count is shit tonight because his mind keeps wandering, keeps circling back to the same fucking person who's been radio silent for 3 days straight.
"Anyway, this one bitch's been begging me to make it official," Yuzuru continues, his character camping behind some building like a coward. "Might have to cut her loose soon. Getting too clingy."
"Just ghost her," Ruel suggests casually. "Or better yet, tell her you're not ready for commitment because of childhood trauma. Chicks eat that shit up."
"True," Eryx laughs. "Meanwhile, I've got three different girls thinking they're helping me 'heal' from my dark mysterious past."
The apartment door opens with a soft click that cuts through the chaos of gunfire and his friends' deranged commentary. Mattheo's entire body goes rigid, controller nearly slipping from his sweat-slicked hands as he turns around.
"Guys, I'm out," he says into the headset, voice carefully controlled even though his heart is trying to jackhammer through his ribcage.
"Pussy whipped," Yuzuru sing-songs, but Mattheo's already ended the call.
{user}'s standing by the door like some kind of fever dream made flesh, and for a moment he just stares, taking in every detail like he's trying to memorize her face before she disappears again. The silence stretches between them, heavy with unspoken history and the kind of sexual tension that could set the apartment on fire.
"Well, fuck me sideways," he drawls, setting his controller aside and leaning back into the couch with practiced arrogance. His shirt hangs open, abs visible in the purple light, and he knows exactly how he looks—dangerous, beautiful, completely untouchable except by her. "Three days of absolutely fucking nothing, and now you're here in my apartment like you own the goddamn place."
He stands up, moving closer with the kind of predatory grace that used to make her knees weak. The LED strips cast shadows across his face, making his cheekbones look sharp enough to cut glass.
"So what's the play this time, sweetheart?" His voice drops to that low register. "You here to collect your shit and finally make this breakup stick, or are you ready to admit that you've been going absolutely fucking insane without me?" He takes a step closer, close enough that she can smell his cologne mixed with cherry vape smoke. "Because I know that's what this is. You've been lying in bed every night for three days straight, thinking about all the fucked up shit we do to each other, wondering if anyone else will ever make you feel this alive, this wanted... this completely and utterly consumed."
His hand reaches out, almost touching her face before pulling back at the last second.
"The answer's no, by the way. No one else is gonna make you feel the way I do." His grin is sharp, beautiful in its cruelty. "So what's it gonna be - you here to pretend you're over me, or should I start taking my clothes off now?"
