Chapter Text
Falling back into normal, real life should’ve been easy. At least, that’s what Pomni wished would’ve happened, but when you spend… however long stuck in a game, some things are bound to get lost on the way. Habits, mundane things people do. Like going to the bathroom, or eating. God, how she missed real, consistent food. When she had blinked her eyes open into reality, she tried not to freak out. Really, she did, but just like when she had first popped into the circus, she thought she was dreaming again. Although, you didn’t really dream in the digital world, unless Caine was getting bored.
So, as her head spun and her eyes flicked over her surroundings, which had stayed seemingly the same, she tried to make sense of it all, one shaky breath at a time. Her panicked gaze darted all over the dusty room where she had initially found the old computer still rolling the game, one glance out the broken window letting her know the sun hung low in the sky. She couldn’t remember what time of day it was when she had come here, couldn’t get herself calm enough to get her thoughts in order. As her breathing eventually calmed some, she glanced back at the desk on which the old computer rested, and flinched instinctively at the bright screen. It was still on, somehow. She felt her head start to spin again, her stomach turning. Before she threw up her guts like she did on her first day at the circus, she looked around frantically to find something to destroy the computer in a bout of anxiety, settling on a chipped cement brick and chucking it at the buzzing device. It sputtered and fizzled, the screen flickering to black as it gave its last dying electric breath. With one final deep exhale through her nose, Pomni let her body sag down, let gravity pull her to the ground, using the worn chair as a crutch as she fell to her knees. She didn’t spend much time in the building after that, beside taking a photo (with her somehow still charged phone) of the VR headset to have something to use to scour the internet for answers later.
The way to her apartment, for the most part, she remembered. She was lucky she had her address saved on her GPS, otherwise she was pretty sure she would’ve taken a wrong turn at some point. When she arrived, she didn’t notice much of a difference, her keys still working to open the lock and her belongings still in place. There was no thick layer of dust covering her apartment, no cellophane draped over her furniture as if whoever lived here hadn’t returned in a long time. As she locked the door behind her and discarded her shoes, she took out her phone to check the date and time. She wasn’t sure what day it was when she ventured into the abandoned building, but one quick check of her camera roll proved that, somehow, it was the same day she had put on the headset. That had nearly sent her into another panic attack, but she shook her head violently to will it away. She was sure she would pass out by sheer confusion alone if she kept trying to make sense of it. But still, she wanted answers. As many as she could handle, at least.
So, for the following weeks after that, Pomni – no, Juno, she reminded herself – dug through every dark corner of the internet to try to find any semblance of a clue as to what the hell happened to her, but she found close to nothing. No one else speaking of a weird, Jumanji-esque experience. She felt like she was going insane, like she had hallucinated the whole thing, but the computer still rolling the game when she had blinked awake served as her only anchor that what she went through had been real.
Besides her search, she pushed herself to keep going to work, which, for what it was worth, managed to give her at least some sense of normalcy back. She spent hours in the bathroom, just looking at herself in the mirror, analyzing her face and skin, that she could feel again. It was odd, to get it all back after getting so used to pretending. And, in addition to that, she had noticed a growing sinking feeling in her chest as time went on. She missed everyone else. Wondered if they were out too, if they were okay. Were they just as freaked out as her? Did they fall back into their normal life? Were they happy? She wanted so badly to talk to them again, but she had no idea where to even look.
On another one of those days that felt particularly like she was dreaming, she dragged herself to her local convenience store to get necessities. Just as she was staring blankly at the shelf full of cleaning supplies, her brain tuned into the conversation happening at the register. Wheels turned and locked into place as she listened to the voices further, one of them sounding uncannily familiar to Juno’s ears. Slowly, she weaved out of the aisles to take a look at the guy talking to the cashier, sounding ever miffed. The first thing Juno noticed was his hair, unkept and messy, wavy brown outgrown roots shifting into bleached ends. The guy had a loose, scuffed jacket on, his dark blue jeans ripped and looking just as scruffy. As if he had felt her scrutinizing eyes on the back of his head, the guy turned, the two of them making brief eye contact before Juno turned abruptly to walk into the closest aisle to avoid his gaze. Fuck, that was weird. But the brief glimpse of his eyes gave Juno that unsettling feeling of familiarity again, and she couldn’t shake it off. She had to know why this guy was fraying her brain so bad.
Grabbing one more thing from the shelf, she turned back to exit the aisle again, making her way to the register, and right behind the guy who was, thankfully, still there. She fidgeted with the basket in her hands, feeling like her entire body was buzzing with nerves. The guy said something else to the cashier, and Juno perked up embarrassingly fast to listen to his voice again, to analyze it further in her desperate attempt to figure out who the hell this guy was. As he paid, the guy turned to glance behind him again, noticing Juno's rather small frame compared to his looming one, and she attempted a small, twitchy smile. His returning grin threw her for a loop, because fuck, that was familiar too, but she couldn’t stare further as he walked out. She prayed to whoever was listening that he was still there after the cashier finished bagging her stuff and she almost stumbled over her feet in her hurry to get out of the store to check.
And by some god forsaken miracle, he was planted by the trash can next to the door, a cigarette between his fingers, pausing as he brought it to his mouth to glance at Juno, who probably looked insane in her rush. She straightened, running a hand down the back of her head to smooth her hair, then turned her attention back to him, his curious eyes also still on her. Gathering all of her courage, she approached him, clearing her throat before she said something stupid. “Um, hi, sorry if this- uh, if this is weird, but…” She started, her voice a little unsure. “You just seem very… familiar? Do we know each other?”
The guy curled a thin eyebrow at her, taking a drag from his cigarette as what she said computed in his head. “Maybe. What’s your name?” He replied, smoke curling around his words as he exhaled, Juno having a better time at analyzing his voice now that it was directed at her.
"Juno. What’s yours?” She answered, going for casual as she refrained from offering up a hand.
“Leo.” He stated simply, as if he wasn't particularly interested in the conversation, but Juno could see the small glint in his eyes as she spoke, and she wonders for a small moment if he recognizes her too.
And then they’re both silent, because what else do they say? This is, as it looks, the first time they met. And maybe Juno doesn’t know him, because his name doesn’t ring a bell and she’s still a little frazzled. Then she decides, after another minute of agonizing silence filled only by his deep breaths as he inhales and exhales the smoke from his cigarette, that weirding out a stranger she probably would never see again is worth finding out if he really is who she thinks he is.
A deep inhale, and she speaks back up. “Um… I know this might sound-” Her voice hitches as she fights the words out. “A little odd, but… do you know anything of a game called-”
But she doesn’t get to finish her sentence, because the guy chokes on smoke, and she jumps a little as he hacks up a lung. “Shit, my god, are you okay?!” She asks, rummaging through her bag for the bottle of orange juice she bought earlier, extending it his way as panic flares in her system. He waves a dismissive hand at her, a little uncoordinated as his body shakes with his coughs, but it gets the message across. “I’m fine-” He croaks, deciding that maybe he should take the bottle from her. Juno watches him as he stops coughing and grabs the bottle from her, drinking almost half of it in one go. She blinks at him, a little distraught, and waits for him to speak again.
He hands the bottle back to her, and wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket, his eyes falling back on her, now looking much more distressed than he did earlier. “I do. I know.” She hears him mumble from behind his sleeve, and her eyes blink open wider.
“You do…?” She mutters, surprise bleeding into her voice as her gaze flicks over his face, trying to piece him together. Leo moves his hand to drag it up over his face and into his hair, pushing it some out of his eyes, revealing more of his features to Juno, who stares at him like he held the answers to all of her questions. “Are you-?” She manages to get out, voice small as her body practically vibrates with anticipation, unable to even finish her question.
Leo looks back at her, lips pursed and eyes narrowed in mild discomfort. “Jax, yeah.” And Juno feels the breath get punched out of her lungs, her vision blurring for a second before she reels herself back into reality.
“No fucking way.” She breathes, pupils blowing as her eyebrows scrunch together.
Leo sighs, deep from his chest, like he’s been holding it in this whole time. “Pomni, aren’t you?” He mumbles, half through a huff, taking to look more… tired? Juno didn’t know, but something in his face changed, and she didn’t know why.
She nods, confusion now present in her movements as she tilted her head up at him. “You don’t look very happy to see me.” She mumbles, and it comes out weirdly insecure.
Leo hums, raking his eyes over Juno’s form. “I am. I just-” He scoffs, hand reaching up to rub at his eyes as he sighed again. “I figured it would be best if we never bumped into each other. Not as real people.”
Juno startles mildly, because what the hell did he mean by that? And she voices her confusion so, because this guy sounded like she had stepped in shit, and the shit was him.
“What the fuck does that mean?” She huffs, sounding more like herself than she did up until now. And Leo stiffens, because he hadn’t heard that tone of voice come from her since they fought.
He sighs for the third time. “I just- you put up with me in the game. Sure, we figured our stuff out, but what if I’m the same shitty guy in real life too?” His voice sounded small, scared, like it did when he apologized to her after their fight, and Juno felt a little like she could cry at the thought of him believing she wouldn’t like his real self.
“Ja- ah, fuck…” She shook her head at her mishap, still trying to get herself used to the real human in front of her that had Jax’s voice and Jax’s mannerisms. She tried again. “Why would you think that?” And the way Leo looked at her like he was desperate made something small flutter in her chest. Which was really weird, but she didn’t exactly hate it.
“Because! You’re- you! And I’m just…” He inhaled deeply, running both of his hands through his hair, Juno just noticing the bandaids wrapped around some of his fingers and the scuffs on his knuckles. “I didn’t care what you thought of me in the game, because it wasn’t real. We talked about that.” Leo started up again, and Juno felt the sudden urge to go somewhere else, not really liking the idea of having this conversation in such an open, awkward place, but she didn’t want to interrupt him in fear that he just wouldn’t open up again.
“But now… here? You could see right through me, and I don’t think I like it very much. What if you hate me?” He breathes, his voice trailing off as he turns his head to the street. With all his height, he looked as small as ever.
Juno swallows, and sighs. “Leo… I- don’t say that, okay? Don’t decide those things for me. Let me know you first, and then I’ll decide.” She spoke with a sense of finality, like there was no room to disagree further. “Though, I highly doubt I’ll hate you. I liked you just fine when you were a giant asshole for fun.” She reminded him, a little amusement seeping into her voice as she gave him what was meant to be a reassuring smile, the small desperate edge to it making her look unsure. Not of the idea, but of herself.
Leo closed his eyes, letting his head droop to stare at the pavement beneath his feet. “Okay. Fine. Let’s get to know each other then.”