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It was just beyond dusk, the sky casting its dimmest light into the room, flooding the space with a strange sort of serene peacefulness about the space as Skeppy lay silent in his bed. He was alone, for now. As far as he could tell, at least. He was pretty sure the world and scene around him was a night sight to see, except he couldn’t for the time being. Skeppy was blind, by his own choice of course.
It wasn’t a choice he made very often, especially with how the DSMP kept continuing to get more and more dangerous as the days passed. But sometimes it was necessary for the sake of his sanity and comfort. There were only so many fitful nights of sleep he could take in a row before the deprivation set in and he started to lose his marbles.
His genetics made it very clear that this choice of his was an immense risk, even going as far as to punish him further from a survival standpoint for choosing to use the ability. Which, to be fair, it was a very, VERY big risk from a survival standpoint. But survival wasn’t the only thing on his mind anymore, there were more things to life than just surviving. Surviving was just that- but with this ability his kind had come to develop through evolution, it showed the more fulfilling side of actually living. Something he had to take at every chance he could, before the window of opportunity to do so was fully gone.
What was this mysterious ability Skeppy kept thinking about? Well, everyone on the SMP knew he belonged to the gem folk. Gem kind, whatever you wanted to call it really. Beings like him were made of crystals just as much as they were made of flesh, being hybrids really. A balance between stone and living organisms. The gems his kind grew on the surface skin weren’t only a pretty thing to look at- they were powerful tools for protection and they always had been. But such armor, as one would know, came with its downsides. You didn’t see anyone happy to sleep in their diamond armor, now did you? Simply put, it was incredibly uncomfortable to try and sleep when you had many spikes of hard stone protruding from multiple points on your body. Finding a comfortable position to lay down in was nearly impossible- all in the name of protection and survival.
Well, Skeppy thought it was bullshit. It was tiring, every night giving into primal fears of being attacked in your sleep, and pitifully trying to doze off when you were solidly spiky. This is where that mysterious ability came in- an ability that was mostly frowned upon amongst his own kind. But he wasn’t around his own kind now- everyone on the SMP was different in their own special ways. They had no idea he even had an ability like his. The ability to retract all of his protective diamonds at once, leaving only smooth-- vulnerable-- skin behind. Where did the crystals go, you may ask?
Simple. They all went into his eyes.
Perhaps to anyone other than him, retracting super sturdy and sharp crystals into his eyeballs, such tiny things compared to the size of his defensive growths, may sound extremely painful. But it wasn’t painful at all. There was absolutely no pain involved in this process- which had been dubbed Crystaleyene by his kind ages ago. So it was good that there was no pain involved, but there was still a catch to this ability. All of the crystals being squeezed so snugly into a small space caused some type of reaction between them- to put it simply, the crystals glowed inside his eyes. They glowed so brightly that it rendered him completely blind until he decided to reverse the process. At the opportunity of comfort, the cost was his sight. Which wasn’t too bad, considering he only activated Crystaleyene when he was trying to sleep. But the idea of being attacked in the middle of the night, waking up and being completely blind and unable to escape- that was still something that struck ugly fear into every bone in his body.
“Your eyes are glowing.” The voice was gentle, almost like he already knew that Skeppy was easy to startle.
Skeppy sat up in bed, turning his head to face where the voice came from. To anyone else, it might’ve looked like he could still see, and maybe even have night vision due to the glowing eyes. Bad only knew so much- Skeppy had never bothered to tell him the blinding part of the ability to retract the crystals. It just never really came up, considering how sparsely he used it.
Skeppy heard a soft shuffling of feet and assumed it was Bad just coming closer. “I notice that you’ve taken your diamonds away… I don’t think I’ve seen you do that for a long time. Any particular reason for it?”
Skeppy sighed, rubbing one of his eyes. The overwhelming white shine didn’t falter. “Just… one too many nights of shitty sleep. It’s hard to get comfortable with them all sticking out in random directions. It’s a miracle they even allow me to lie down properly at all. It’s just been too long since I’ve been able to sleep soundly.”
Bad made a disapproving noise. “You’ve been sleeping so poorly for this long and you didn’t tell me? Why? Why wouldn’t you just retract your crystals every night then? Is it something to do with your eyes?” Bad then gasped. “Oh my goodness! Skeppy, our eyes! We match! We both have glowing white eyes!”
Skeppy chuckled, noting that the demon sounded happy about it. Well, now was as good a time as ever to explain why his eyes were glowing anyways. “Well, yeah. But uh, unlike you, I can’t see shit right now.”
“Language!” Bad complained as a habit. “Wait a minute. What do you mean you can’t see anything? Skeppy, are you blind right now?!”
The gem creature nodded. “I never mentioned it, but yeah. When I retract my crystals, they all sort of pool into my eyes. It doesn’t hurt at all, which is great, but since they’re so tightly packed in there, the shining light they give off is so intense it pretty much blinds me. I can’t see anything but white light right now. It doesn’t affect my sleep, though, somehow. Maybe something about it being an internal body thing. I’ve never really considered that part.”
There was a soft creak of the bed and Bad sat down on a corner, making sure not to accidentally sit on Skeppy in any way. “So… you trade your diamonds for your sight? I don’t get it.”
Skeppy chuckled again. “Yeah, it seems like a real lose-lose, doesn’t it? That’s because it’s supposed to be. No one of my kind has ever favored using the ability- we call it Crystaleyene, by the way- it just takes away our defensive armor and also takes away our sight. In terms of survival, it’s a huge risk with no payout. Survival doesn’t take comfort into account though. You mentioned how you’d use it every night- honestly, I would too. I love getting my sleep. But… there’s just a deep, learned fear of leaving myself so vulnerable. Even in the safety of my own home.”
Skeppy couldn’t see Bad’s frown, but he could almost hear it at this point. “That’s… Skeppy, why didn’t you tell me?” The nether demon’s voice was soft and gentle, and Skeppy suddenly felt a hand softly push him back down to lying on his side. “You’ve been suffering right under my nose and I didn’t even realize. I’m so sorry…”
Skeppy shook his head, trying to sit back up but Bad still stopped him. “Bad, it’s not your fault. You weren’t expected to know, anyways. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“But I am worrying, Skeppy!” Bad whined. “You’re my best friend, of course your health matters to me! You matter to me a lot! And you’ve been sitting here for the past god knows how many nights getting poor sleep without reaching for help.”
Skeppy made a noise of protest. “It’s just… silly. It’s fine. I can deal with it. I’ll get a good night’s rest tonight and then I can go back to being protected in my sleep. It’s just an off night.”
There was silence for a moment, before Skeppy felt Bad’s hand rest on his side, moving slowly in gentle, comforting strokes. He heard the bed creak under the weight of Bad shifting his position, closer to Skeppy to the point he could feel the heat radiating from the nether demon. “Oh, Skeppy... “ Bad mumbled lovingly. “You’re a dumb muffin sometimes. Always thinking you have to do things alone. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. I can protect you while you sleep. Whenever you need it. I know I can’t stop you from sleeping with your armor out completely, but I want to help you fix your sleep. So I will protect you while you sleep with your… crystaleyene active. Does that sound good?”
Skeppy frowned himself. “Bad, what about your sleep? You can't just sacrifice your hours because I’m struggling to get mine. That’s not beneficial at all.”
Bad made a little hissing sound. “Well, yeah, I guess. I never said I would be staying up every night. I will for tonight though! Other nights I can just shield you completely in my wings, so if anything happens, I’ll be alerted first and you’ll have a little layer of protection that isn’t so spiky and uncomfortable!”
Skeppy snorted. “You’re gonna cuddle me some nights? If you wanted to cuddle you could’ve just asked, Bad.”
Bad huffed indignantly. “Skeppy! You know that’s not what I was thinking about firsthand. Don’t act like you’d hate some snuggles too. Do I have to bring up all the times you were clingy beyond belief?”
Skeppy smacked his arm, or at least tried, but missed since he still couldn’t see. “Shut up you idiot. Just get under the covers with me already.”
Bad blinked. “Skeppy, I said I was going to stay up for this night.”
“Don’t care. Get in here and cuddle the shit out of me, you big teddy bear.”
“Oh my goodness, language…” Bad huffed under his breath, but Skeppy was victorious when he felt Bad pull up the covers slightly to try and slip in as best he could. “Skeppy? Could you just get up for a second so I can maneuver my wing under you?”
Skeppy groaned dramatically, pulling himself up into a proper sitting position while Bad continued to shuffle around. “Okay, you can lie back down again.”
Skeppy nearly crashed back down, only taking care to not hurt Bad’s outstretched wing as he settled back into position. He knew he didn’t need the blankets now, since Bad’s natural body heat would keep him warm enough. So while Bad nestled himself into the blankets, Skeppy shuffled close to his chest and pushed his nose into the skin softly. He felt Bad turn onto his side, draping his other wing over the other boy securely as his arms wrapped snugly around Skeppy’s torso.
Skeppy yawned, loudly and obnoxiously, the lull of Bad’s body heat already nearly knocking him out. Bad giggled, leaning forward carefully to place a kiss to Skeppy’s forehead, lingering only for a moment before pulling back and practically crushing Skeppy back to his chest. Skeppy didn’t mind though. It was safe and secure in the demon’s arms.
“Don’t worry about your diamonds bothering you, and don’t worry about your fears of protection. I’m here, and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. You’re safe with me Skeppy. Always.”
Skeppy smiled warmly into Bad’s chest, throwing an arm around his side tiredly. He yawned again, fading off finally. He mumbled something under his breath before completely falling asleep, void of his fears for once. Bad rumbled softly, shaking his head knowing Skeppy thought he hadn’t heard him.
“I love you too, Skeppy.”