#i don't really care if this dosen't get notes im just really happy that i managed to write something slightly cohesive

[usahanna]

So, the original idea of this post was to compilate some of the headcanons i had for Seni, but instead i info dumped parts of an AU i have

Strap in boys, this is going to be a long one

Content Warnings: Excessive self indulgence sorry guys but it's MY current comfort AU and i am going to do whatever i want with it

I apologize for my amateur writing and doing everything in bullet points, it's just the safest way to write my thoughts and if i dont share any of this i will explode

(Not to mention these are all retouched versions of things i had written in my notes app lmfao. So uhh, enjoy?)

Starting off with something important, what happened to Sen?

I already explained this in the original post of the AU, but here's some extra context: When BF and GF escaped the game, the Spirit merges with Senpai and brings the character to life. Now Senpai (who now calls himself Sen) is aware that he's living inside a videogame, and not only that but he also holds some memories of the Spirit and the 13 years of loneliness trapped inside here. This fucked with his mind a lot, making him extremely paranoid and being tormented by memories of people he felt he was never supposed to know. He thought he'd spend the rest of his days endlessly walking through an empty town, until a short angry soldier appeared behind the trees of the school

TLDR: He's a more aware and disturbed Senpai that doesn't want to be referred as such

• Sen originally was cheerful and cocky, a bit self centered and short tempered. After BF and GF escaped, he became more distant with himself and was easily irritated

• Sen became reserved, while he's happy to meet other people he prefers to stay on the sidelines and analyze the person before he can open up more, he is a bit mischievous once you get to know him, you just need to dig a lil deeper

• he is kind and easily amazed by the outside world

• but his politeness goes out of the window when he's with John

• he feels more like himself with him at his side :]

• Sen has a notebook filled with pressed flowers, in the real world he remade the book now with phrases he likes

• Actually now that i think about it this guy definitely loves journaling

• His favorite drink is lemonade

• Sen often has nightmares of the spirit's memories in the real world, he feels immense hatred for the people he sees in his dreams

• Whenever he feels anxious or stressed, Sen starts twisting the end of his sleeves or the tie

• He likes the scent of red fruits

• John never told Sen his real name until days later (Sen was referring to him as Captain or Cap)

• Sen knows Japanese and he tried teaching John how to speak it

• The results were not that bad!

• By the years they spent inside, John recognized words and phrases, but he still had to work in his pronunciation

• John teached Sen knife throwing and other tactics of self defense, he promised once they get out he'll teach him how to fire guns

• Sen was always pessimistic when it came to the idea of them escaping, John always tried to cheer him up, even if he had no idea they would ever have a chance

• If they were going to be stuck together for the rest of their existence, John wanted to make the most of it (and they did)

• Being chaotic little shits around town and inside the school

• Annoying the NPC's to get their reactions, stealing items from them and even getting inside houses just to see what they had inside

• During one of those times Sen managed to steal an earring and a coat from someone, he liked them so much that he started to wear them constantly (The game would eventually recreate the items and the NPC would forget about it in a month so there really wasn't any big issue)

• Since the game identified John as the player, they would often get in,, interesting situations with the NPCs

• Sometimes following along by curiosity and other times they would just leave

• John and Sen would often walk around the town and just talk

• John would tell stories about his friends while Sen quietly listened, sometimes commenting but always paying attention

• To keep himself distracted, Sen started doing different hobbies: cooking, baking, weird paper crafts, sewing, painting

• But he got a knack for baking

• And to his surprise, John got into cooking and gardening

• He liked to take care of the flowers of the backyard, it soothed his mind :]

• He found some broken pots (with names?) that were hidden in the shed of the backyard

• When he fixed them he showed them to Sen to ask him if he had any idea why they had names

• The moment Sen saw them he seemed... happy

• So happy that he started crying

• I wonder why that is

Awkward division here, this is where the tone shifts completely lololol

• The first week of his existence was nightmarish for him

• Being tense all the time and sometimes screaming at random NPCs, some would be surprised and others would just stand unresponsive

• This of course would not help his situation

• He'd sometimes try to act like 'another normal day in a normal high school' but he knew he was just lying to himself

• He didn't even felt like a student, or a person

• Sen had a collection of flowers with names, he took care of them so he could have something to look forward to every day

• Some of their names were Eva (Evangeline), Aiko, Kawa, and Mizuki

• He thought the flowers were more alive than the NPCs will ever be

• He would constantly talk to them, even if it felt weird at times

• During a fit of rage he threw all the pots to the ground, immediately regretting what he had done, he threw the broken pots inside the shed in his backyard

• In his first encounter with Captain their first impressions were, not the greatest,,

• Sen screamed his heart out telling him how he was not alone anymore after years of solitude and torment, after that Captain laughed at his face, brushed off everything he said and just asked where he was

• This pissed off Sen, a lot

• So they, of course, started arguing

• After having enough of eachother they separated and went their own way

• When John tried to talk to anyone he would be confused as of why these people would not give proper answers

• Weirded out by the sickenly sweet athmosphere of everything he started searching for Sen, since he looked like the only one in here to be sane

• Sen, just realizing he just rejected the only REAL person in here, backtracked immedeatly and started searching for John

• When the two met again, they awkwardly apologized and settled things up

• And Sen explained the situation they were both in

• John grew more undersanding of Sen and realized that no, this guy was not a maniac and has been trapped in here for more than a decade

• During the first weeks, John and Sen slept in the couches of the living room in Sen's house

• There was another bed upstairs but Sen never really told him until days later (there wasn't any ill intention he just didn't want to sleep alone)

• Of course John was pissed that he's been sleeping in a couch while a bed was right there like come on man

• Funnily enough, the bond between them grew as time went on. From being random strangers that had no other choice but to talk to eachother to genuine friends who were there for echother no matter what

• They joked together, laughed together, cried together, and tried things they thought they would never do (well, mostly for John)

• While John was more than happy to have met Sen, this didn't mean that he didn't missed the tankmen, hell, even two years later he still was worried about Steve and whatever happened after he was thrown in here

• Even after all of this, he hasn't felt this relaxed in years, it was like he finally had a chance to breathe and enjoy the present

• After 3 years inside, Sen discovered he was able to manipulate the code of the game (he's intertwined with the code after all)

• He can create/duplicate things and make them disappear, but this took a lot of energy from him

• The same day he discovered it he almost passed out by trying to change the structures of some buildings, all at once.

• He got a bit too excited

• Before falling on the ground he saw... something he had never seen before

• It looked like the sky but the colors were too vivid for it to be from the pastel toned game atmosphere (could it be?...)

• John quickly went to aid Sen, he heard him mumbling something about the sky

• When Sen regained full conscience he tried to explain what he saw

• A sky with a vibrant toned blue, clouds with funny shapes compared to the always perfect looking, fluffy clouds in the game

• He saw the real world

• They were both speechless, there IS a way out isn't it?

• Breaking the code somehow allowed Sen to catch a quick view to the outside

• Could this be pushed further?

• But if it were to be pushed further, could it cost Sen's health?

• They were both discussing if it was even worth trying

• Sen offered doing it again but John turned him down immediately

• At the end they agreed to try doing the small things Sen started with, like duplicating and deleting small objects

• Not only to practice but also to see how far this 'power' could go

• Months and months passed and progress was clearly being made

• Duplicating small objects, moving things from one place to another without the need of holding them (he liked to annoy John with this)

• Soon he'd learn how to teleport himself and finally, changing structures from the same buildings he tired to modify, almost a year ago

• And when he managed to create those buildings he saw in his head, they both knew it was time

• It hurt like hell, Sen felt how every single piece of code corrupted as he destroyed their way out

• But they did it

• John and Sen woke up next to an abandoned dumpster in an alleyway, it was raining

• For the first time in years, John was free

• For the first time in his life, Sen felt alive

• They didn't know would come next, but they sure as knew they would do whatever the hell they wanted

.

.

.

Now.

I like to consider this the 'end' of this AU, because if i didn't i could go on and on about all the little things that happened afterwards

Like their journey searching for Steve (and somehow finding him), leading to a very sweet reunion between John and him, while Sen was just awkwardly standing There. The three of them decided to live together and Sen and Steve slowly became friends.

How Sen decided to set his birthday in November 7, the day John and him escaped the game

Or when John and Sen were banned from a supermarket due to severe disturbances in the area of fruits and vegetables, now Steve is the only one who can buy the groceries there

How Sen changed his name to Naoto, leaving Sen as a nickname that only those he trusts the most can use

OR when Sen started working as a barista, he met Skid and Pump, they were sent by Lila every once in a while to get her coffee (and buy other desserts in the meantime). They would tell him stories about their daily lives he didn't even asked for, but he would be lying if he said he didn't grew attached to these halloween-loving kids

(btw John and Steve work at home depot, i don't think i need to explain this one)

...Or that one very uncomfortable encounter between Sen and BF with GF

,,,EITHER WAY this part of the AU is just the boys finally enjoying their freedom and Sen rediscovering the weirdness of the real world

Some little extra things that i couldn't fit anywhere but i still wanted to include heehee:

By merging with the Spirit his appearance changed and, he aged, like literally, he fucking grew up

The back of his hair became brown-ish black and he lost the curls senpai originally had, he became taller and the light of senpai's eyes were straight up gone (the eye-thing only lasted so long until he became more friendlier with John, he ​noticed this and was really confused, Sen never found out about what happened to his eyes so he thought he was just joking)

Sen loves the unpredictability of the real world, but that doesn't change the fact that he grew accustomed to things mostly being the same inside the game, being like a type of routine for him. So he gets really annoyed when things don't go as they originally planned, he's been working on getting a better attitude about things and he's been improving a lot :^)