Idea by my one and only superstar, Luna4605

She's working hard this is my way of cheering her up! Hope you like it cuz my humour is broken sniff

The variety show room was buzzing with people as they took their part in arranging the velvet sofas around the area. They were soon to host a new episode of Meet Your Fans and this time they had invited the Legend bladers as guests. There had been quite a debate for a while about these particular guests because they were invested in their careers and gathering them together from all around the world needed careful scheduling. And finally, they had achieved their goal and the six boys; Valt, Shu, Free, Lui, Honcho and Silas would be arriving at the set to meet their fans, quite literally.

Finally, everything was ready. The boys were seated on the sofas and Hanami was the special MC for the day. It was going to be a very special episode indeed.

Hanami: Hello boys and girls, it's your favourite announcer Hanami in the town! Today we're here with a new episode of Meet your Fans and the special guests are none other than the legend bladers! *inhuman screech* You guys look very excited.

Free: Mom, I wanna go home.

Lui: Drop dead.

Valt: *snickers* Stop it.

Honcho: Oh, we are actually. They've been fussing about appearing on TV for two months.

Silas: Lies and slander, get out Kiyama.

Honcho: No.

Shu: *looking around wondering what the show is about because they don't have a life beside beyblade, let's admit it okok?*

Hanami: Anyways, let's start with the introductions! From left to right.

Free: Free.

Hanami: ... okay... that's an enthusiastic introduction.

Lui: Lui Shirosagi.

Honcho and Valt in the background: I'm gonna show you your worst nightmare~

Lui: *flips them off*

Hanami: O-Okay, next we have-

Valt: Hello! Valt Aoi here! Nice to meet you all. *grins*

Hanami: *almost crying* Thank you.

Honcho: Rantarou Kiyama in the house, peace.

Silas: Those who know, know.

Free: Okay Broccoli.

Silas: Fuck you too deer boy.

Shu: Can we curse on TV? Is that okay?

Honcho: Don't worry Shu, they'll censor it.

Shu: It's a live show?

Free, Lui, Silas, Honcho, Valt: ... Fuck.

Hanami: *clears throat* That's okay, many of the celebrities curse out of pure surprise as the show goes on. Moving on, the last but not the least, please introduce yourself.

Shu: Ah yes, Shu Kurenai. Pleasure to meet you all.

Valt: So precious.

Honcho: Damn yes.

Shu: *huffs*

Hanami: Okay fellas! Now let's go on with the show! *background music plays* When you attain fame it's inevitable you gather an insane amount of people around you and we call them fans.

Valt: *literal fan noises in the background*

Free: *trying not to lose it*

Hanami: With fans comes the fandoms, groups of individuals grouping together to support their idols, write fanfics, make fanarts and boost their fame.

Hanami: Legend says these groups are worse than the fiery pits of hell. I do not want to succumb myself into that darkness.

Shu: *in a quiet voice* Hello darkness my old friend.

Honcho: Shu, no.

Hanami: Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, today we'd be reading some of the fanfics written by a fan about Beyblade and your life.

Lui: Lameee. Booo.

Hanami: *clears throat* Anyway, let's get into it.

Honcho, Valt and Free: YUH.

Hanami: The first fic is called Dark Web.

Shu: Ooh, creepy.

Silas: As creepy as a fanfiction can be.

Hanami: *starting to read the story description* Beyblade had always been a fun game. It united people all around the world and helped young ones to dream, to have courage and to have hope.

Lui: The fuck is this? A promotion advertisement?

Honcho: Oh my god, I can't.

Hanami: All these facts caused the major increase of its popularity. As Beyblade became one of the major sports in the world, companies, sponsors started to invest large amounts of money on tournaments turning Beyblade into a massive mine of gold.

Free: That's like every sport ever though.

Valt: Beyblade is not that bad, I mean is it?

Shu: *shrugs*

Silas: This is so boring.

Hanami: As every good thing has a bad side to them, it didn't take long for Beyblade to be covered in the dark shadow of an evil group scheming to take over all the investments and turn beyblade into their own monopoly. This mysterious group was blended with the high technological hell in the internet, DARK WEB.

Free: Mom, pick me up I'm scared.

Hanami: Shu was dragged into this evil schemes out of the blue and now he has to find a way to survive all the torturous ways to find a solution to this evil, overshadowing the purity of Beyblade.

Shu: Oh wow. That's fucked up.

Valt: No one touches our Shu. Back off.

Lui: Well, that escalated quickly.

Free: No, guys, look at the warnings. Mentions of child experiments, blood. Graphic descriptions of violence.

Silas: Is it a retelling of the Snake Pit?

Free: Seems like it. Yo Hanami, send me the link.

Shu: *sighs* Yeah no, I'm leaving. *Gets up*

Honcho: *pulling him back down while Valt in the background bursts into We Don't Talk About Red Eye no no no no no*

Lui: Say yes to the graphic descriptions of violence kids. And say hell yea to see them inflicted on Kurenai.

Shu: *muttering* Sadist.

Free: I don't know Lui, sounds kind of kinky. You wanna see Shu in- *wiggles brows*

Lui: Shut the fuck up De La Hoya.

Hanami: *god save me mood*

Free: Okay, I'm gonna read a random part. *clears throat dramatically slipping into that whole narrator persona thingie* Wait a damn minute, is Theodore the good guy in this one? That's uncalled for!

Valt: What do you mean?

Free: Ok, look. Shu blinked, unsure how to react about his comment. Theodore just smiled. His teal gaze fixating on him.

Shu: Creepy-

Free: A rare gentleness washing over them. For a moment, Shu thought Theodore was going to say something to him, but instead he turned to the others who were watching them intently.

Valt: I BEG TO DIFFER.

Silas: That wasn't gentleness, it's the sadistic energy measuring him up for the Requiem project.

Shu: I wanna go home.

Lui: Who the heck is that man? An Imposter?

Free: Okay, okay. But look, she'd written our battle differently Shu. *he sniffs* I wanted it to be this way. CHANGE THE REAL THING TO FANFICTION PLEASE!

Shu: What do you mean?

Valt: READ. READ.

Hanami: *being ignored*

Free: Free stopped in front of his door and pulled out the keys, just before he walked in, he looked over his shoulder. His dark eyes held a flash of admiration. "About your skill," He said, stopping Shu dead on his track, readying himself to hear another criticism.

Lui: You've traumatised him, man.

Silas: The kid's being through a lot alright.

Free: Hush. "It's admirable and you're a blader with potential. You have so much space to grow. Don't let yourself stop in the middle of the journey. Reach toward your destination because it's always the best." *Hugs the device* Oh my gosh, I'm so sweet.

Shu: *raises his hand* Can we switch the Frees?

Free: Rude.

Valt: I don't get it, who's the bad guy?

Free: I don't know, someone called Ethan, I guess.

Lui: This is so lame, where's the torture?

Silas: Shut up sadist.

Honcho: Do I appear too? SAY YES PLEASE.

Free: You're here and there, but Shu and I have a lot of quality time. I like this.

Lui: You self-centered ass, you're probably only reading about the chapters you appear in.

Valt: I wanna see!

Free: Okay, okay. *scrolls past trying to get to the next page* *An ad starts playing* What the fuck-

Silas: *burst out laughing* OH MY GOD.

Free: I found a good part!

Valt: READ IT!

Shu: Stop screaming, Valt.

Free: Shu just waited there when Free realized something was off-

Silas: *grabs the tablet from Free* Stop reading scenes when you're the star. Just give me it.

Free: Aw man, it was a good scene. Shu was crying and I was comforting him.

Shu: Cringe tho-

Free: I was being a gentleman.

Lui: The author needs a brain check. As if your stupid ass could be a gentleman.

Free: Why are you so interested in my ass, Lui?

Lui: FUCK OFF.

Silas: Oh I found the part where things go south. This is kind of interesting.

Lui: Bullshit, the story is so fucking lame.

Hanami: M-my job.

Silas: *reads the part where Shu finds the truth from Lucas and Theodore*

Shu: Theodore? FBI? Oh c'mon! People are going to love Theodore now.

Valt: THE FBI OPEN UP THOUGH. I kind of like this Shu.

Honcho: So according to the story, Shu messed up everything because of that big nose of his. Interesting. Sounds like something Valt would do.

Lui: Kicking that man was a fine move, I'll give kudos to that.

(Me: *crying* Thank you)

Shu: I wish I could do that not going to lie.

Valt: Are YOU GAY, FREE?

Free: WHAT?

Valt: Wow, that question does give big reactions. Imma use to next time when I want to get out of a shituation

Shu: Situation?

Valt: Shituation.

Shu: OK.

Silas: Ok, but look. "When I entered the Snakepit" Theodore stopped, dropping his face into his palms. "I realised two things. First, that place was hell. They trained kids as if they're monsters and their ways are ruthless. Two, they are going to do a major child experiment called Requiem Project which can literally kill even an adult"

Valt: WAIT, IS THAT TRUE?

Shu: Wow, the real thing sounds like a walk in the park. Is this writer okay?

Lui: She's writing about characters like us and twisting an already twisted story making it blood, gore and death. Do you think she's okay?

Shu: You've got a point-

Free: Read our quality time, please. I want to see a nice Free.

Silas: Be nice.

Free: Pass. Anyways-

Honcho: Wow, this is really Shu centric-

Silas: It says in the description. She basically says fuck off to haters.

(NO I DON'T.)

Shu: You go girl.

Valt: You're just sucking up the fame. Bad bad Shu.

Shu: Hush, let me at least feel the love of one single person who doesn't hate me.

Honcho: What are we? Potatoes?

Free: If I am a potato, I wanna be a sweet potato.

Silas: You're a rotten one.

Free: Rude.

Silas: Okay but look at this. It's Shu's first day in the Snakepit after he became the sacrifice.

Honcho: Sacrifice THE SHU.

Silas: There was no time for Shu to process everything. Ethan walked to the centre of the room, silencing every candidate inside, Everyone turned to face him as the raven haired male spoke. "Let me start with this, what you all have come to is not mere child play. Here it's hell. You'll have to go through many trials and the weak would be eliminated. If you think you have the strength to go on, stay. If not" He stopped and pointed at the door. "Get the hell out of here and don't ever come back"

Lui: Give me this Ethan guy's number.

Free: Is he your type?

Lui: Hell nah, I like the way he handles things. THAT. Is my type.

Valt: He sounds so rude though.

Lui: I don't see why you're making it a point.

Valt: ...

Lui: Good.

Honcho: I'd get the hell out of there.

Silas: Pussy.

Honcho: Something you're never going to get.

Free and Lui in the background: *whistles*

Shu: I don't know them. I don't.

Silas: He stumbled the first few steps, his legs trembling so hard that he could feel the muscles spasming. He leaned against the wall, trying to steady himself as his eyes wandered to the two talking with each other, not a hint of exhaustion in their features. Both of them were well built, with perfect shaped muscles which gave away their athletic inheritance. One of the guys had slate eyes with a thick muster of black hair covering his head. The other was slightly linear and shorter than him, his amber eyes glistening with excitement.

Lui: Running 25 laps does that to you?

Shu: Well, I don't know, and I was only eleven!

Valt: *sniffling* This is so sad.

Lui: Cringe. This story is so cringey. Why do we keep reading this shit anyway?

Honcho: Because this is what our life has become.

Silas: Sad, really.

Free: *dozing off and snaps his attention back to them* Wait, you guys only run 25 laps?

Honcho: Wait, you guys RUN?

Valt: *crying* Get Shu out of there!!

Shu: Home, I wanna, go.

Silas: Shu forced himself to keep his look neutral. He didn't want to show any hint of his dissatisfaction or his disheartened mind seeing Leo, the guy who he met on the plane and whom he thought was harmless, here in the Snakepit, working at one of the most hideous organizations in the country. "Same here"

Shu: Wait, who's Leo?

Honcho: The Zodiac sign?

Free: He's a character from Heroes of Olympus. I love his sense of humour.

Lui: Wrong. Leo is a social construct. He does not exist.

Valt: Leo is the good guy who's gonna help Shu!

Silas: That man's kinda sketchy.

Honcho: All good people are sketchy to you.

Free: UNCLE RICK TAKE ME HOME!

Lui: Let's stop reading this godforsaken book, please.

Shu: Stop screaming, we're live!

Valt: We're young and alive! Hell yeah!

Shu: VALT NO-

Silas: Okay nevermind, Leo is kinda nice.

Lui: I wish he would die. That Kurenai needs to suffer, why's that Lavender dude and Leo giving him love? What is this nonsense? If they are going to give us angst, don't give us comfort. World is darkness, happiness is a social construct. Just tell the fucking truth. Comfort does not exist.

Valt: ...

Honcho: ...

Free: Dam Lui who hurt you bestie?

Lui: *flips him off*

Shu: Uhm... do you need therapy? I can pay you if you want-

Silas: Why ya'll sweating over a fanfiction?

Free: *shrugs* Life.

Silas: Amidst all the chaotic fights, Valt was surprisingly silent. The truth was he was worried about Shu. They had been best friends since they were in kindergarten. There was something he always knew about Shu. Despite the walls he built when he was with others, for Valt, Shu was like an open book. He was different when they were together. For others, Shu was the same stoic, cool, genius blader who was a favourite from his hometown but for Valt, Shu is a different person. He had seen Shu waking up in the morning with his ridiculous bed head. He had seen Shu cry over losing his favourite Marvel figurine. He had seen Shu through his silliest days. He even witnessed Shu smashing his birthday cake over Xander's head.

Free: Awww, that's cute.

Valt: I wish Shu would be like this.

Shu: ... I-

Honcho: I mean the bedhead part is true.

Lui: The book is making Kurenai seem like a super deep person. He's deep like a puddle on the road.

Shu: Hey!

Lui: What?

Free: Shu's mysterious like the thorn princess. Thorn princess is a character from Spy x Family. She's such a queen.

Silas: How do you even find the time to watch all these?

Free: *grins*

Valt: Creepy- but Shu can you cry?

Shu: ... why?

Valt: So, I can comfort you!

Honcho: Valt, that's not how it works.

Valt: Aw ):

Silas: "This place is spooky" Honcho muttered to Wakiya who clicked his tongue.

"This is not some haunted temple. Don't expect ghosts to run towards us screaming bloody murder"

Honcho shuddered, "Shut up! You're making it worse"

Silas: I mean, she got the old couple chemistry nailed down to the point.

Honcho: We're not that bad.

Valt: You are Honcho. *pats his back*

Free: Who's Wakiya?

Lui: Yeah, who's that?

Shu: Really guys? You can't be serious.

Free: I am not serious. I am Free who's restricted by society. My parents were laughing when they named me. I just know it.

Lui: I'm pretty sure they were crying after seeing you. I mean if you were to be my son, I would.

Free: Fuck you.

Shu: ....home...

Valt: OKAY, I'M GONNA READ NOW.

Honcho: *taking the tablet away from him* No offense to Valt, but I'll do it.

Honcho: "There's a set of rules in here, in the Snakepit" He started, walking around him. Shu kept his gaze fixed to the screens in front of him. There was no sense of life which also meant that his friends had gone back. The slap against his cheek was a sudden that drew him out of his own world back to reality. Shu stumbled a step back out of the sheer force. A second passed before the pain finally settled on his jaw. "No one. Not a single person should space out when I speak" He threatened.

Valt: I hate this story!

Silas: Hate is a strong word.

Valt: Well, I have strong opinions. They slapped Shu!

Lui: Nice, keep this momentum going.

Shu: *unconsciously patting his cheek* Wow, I can feel this.

Free: Nice Free come here and save baby Shu!

Honcho: Okay, it gets worse.

Honcho: He took Shu's hand and kissed the back of it with a grin plastered across his face. Shu just watched him carefully as the man stood, "Next time, Red"

Free: FBI OPEN U- WAIT THEY ARE THE FBI.

Free: Shit.

Shu: Funfact: The Snakepit member actually called me Red sometimes.

Honcho: Where's the fun in that?

Shu: ... fact?

Silas: Better.

Lui: I like where this is going. Give him more trauma!

Shu: I'm suddenly fearing my life. Should I get a restraining order against you?

Valt: Murder him.

Everyone looks at Valt: ...

Valt: What? I was speaking facts.

Honcho: "Lav, can I get a hug?" His voice was small. He felt small. He finally felt like he's just a child.

Lav looked surprised from the request at first but his eyes suddenly filled with what it looked like empathy and maybe sadness. The male effortlessly opened his arms as Shu slipped into them embracing the older tightly, afraid of letting go. He felt Lav's hands on his head, fingers running through his snowy white locks. Shu relaxed, feeling secure. The initial fears inside his mind settled a bit. "You good?" He asked, not mocking, not condescending, just caring.

Valt: *jumps in and tackles Shu in a hug* Free hugs for Shu!

Free: Free doesn't hug, he choke. You into that Shu? *wiggles eyebrows*

Shu: No thank you.

Silas: Keep your BDSM kinks out of this place, Free.

Lui: Bruh, is that all you need to feel secure? This story is laaaame.

Honcho: Stop complaining.

Lui: It's the snowy white locks for me, asshole.

Free: Snowy white locks, that sounds smexy.

Shu: Two restraining orders and one Lav in my life.

Valt: What about me?

Shu: And always you.

Honcho: Are you two in love or something?

Valt: *offended face* Don't ruin our beautiful platonic love story. Go away.

Honcho: S-sorry?

Valt: Beg for it.

Free: *in the background* Hell yea, now that's KINKY.

Shu: Jesus Christ, calm down.

Lui: Angst, more angst.

Silas: *facepalms*

Hanami has left the room.