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"Do... Do you like it?"
"Is this-" Skeppy swallows once, then twice, then takes back his question, simply stating, "This is Sand."
"Yes!"
"You got me Sand?" Skeppy questions further, jar in hand.
"You said you wanted some!" Bad answers, as if that explained anything at all, because Skeppy's mind is simultaneously here and fifty other places at once.
"But... how did you know... I mean -- Do you, you know, know?" Skeppy asks coherently.
He knows, he knows, he knows?!
"Well, I went to the market yesterday, to just get you one of those little bottles I always see, and goodness, I got such an education when I started to talk to the merchant who sold me that jar, and all of it, it was a lot to take in, you know. So much more complicated than I thought! I hope you like the jar, the merchant seemed to think that it was the best way to go, and-and I really hope that you like the colors, the dye merchant recommended the purple, but if you don’t like it I can go and get something different, I just wasn’t sure what you would want..."
Skeppy's mind just goes blank.
Fiancé.
They're fiancés.
What a word.
"I, uh- If that isn’t enough-"
Bad pulls away the blanket.
Three buckets. Three full-to-the-brim buckets - one of blue, one of red, one of purple - sat at Bad’s feet.
Skeppy can't even think straight, which is fine, because he's by no means straight, and he's really not-straight for BadBoyHalo. He almost drops the jar, feeling light-headed from the shock of it all.
“Oh my gods,” he breathes out in utter shock.
“Is it, is it enough?" Bad gives him a sheepish smile, as if he didn't know what the hell he just did to Skeppy. "I can get mor-”
Skeppy brings Bad into a hug.
He feels so warm, and it's not just the wither hybrid's natural warmth from being a nether creature. All those fluttery feelings that he always gets around Bad has now increased tenfold - no, a hundredfold - at the grand gesture.
“Woah Geppy! I take it you like it?”
Bad holds him in his arms, as Skeppy buries himself further into his chest.
"Like it?! I love it, Bad! I didn’t- I wasn’t expecting this." Skeppy stutters out, face a bright brilliant blue blush as he leans back to look at Bad properly. "You... said you found out a bunch of stuff? At the uh, the market?"
"Yeah! The merchants were actually really nice and really helpful, they explained all sorts of stuff, and answered all the questions I had about it." Bad says happily, trying not to blush as well to the response he had gotten. "I'm just happy that you're happy, Skeppy."
Bad was trying to kill him.
He was succeeding.
"O-oh..." Skeppy says softly, hiding his face in Bad’s neck, still smiling but blazing with his blush. "So... you love me?"
Bad just gives him a large grin.
"I've liked you for a while, Skeppy. This was the final push to realizing that I... that we had a chance." Bad lets out a fond sigh. "I love you," he says, the words coming out of his mouth so naturally, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Really?"
"I got you sand, Skeppy, after you asked," Bad says slowly. "Even after asking that lovely gem merchant and finding out that it was basically an engagement gesture. Of course I'm in love with you, you silly muffinhead!"
Skeppy melts.
"I love you, Bad."
Bad tilts his head, smiling.
"I love you, Skeppy."
"Here to get some sand for that special someone?"
Bad blinks. "S-Sort of? I mean, we're friends, but he's really important to me." He swallows. "He wanted sand, and uhm, I'm not sure where to start?"
"That's incredibly forward, but some are like that."
"Forward?" Bad tilts his head. "He was just asking for sand."
The merchant blinks, then grins.
"... I think you and I need to have a long conversation." The merchant gestures him forward and Bad follows blindly, not sure where this is going at all. "A very, very long conversation..."
In the end, it is a spring ceremony.