Chapter Text
Every time a run ended, someone joined the roster of characters. Nobody knows why or how that happens, and no one ever remembers what happened before they fell. Or so the group called the act of randomly finding themselves in the basement, since there always was a trapdoor on the roof that no one could reach. Even if a character could fly, when they tried getting to that trapdoor it always appeared as it was getting further.
Every time all of them died everything restarted, all the items they had taken were gone into thin air and the rooms around them changed. That experience was traumatic at the beginning, dying over and over in horrible ways wasn't fun and hurt a lot, but people got used to it eventually. Judas referred to this phenomenon as "hell", he wouldn't have been wrong since it really did feel like that, but then why would hell allow you to go to heaven? And why wasn't it any better?
This time, Samson was the last one to die. They had gotten decent progress and were in ashpit, but the pesky bomb throwing bastards were too much to handle even for the group, besides a lot of people had already died and couldn't aid Samson a lot in his quest to kill the monsters.
The reset wasn't painful. Nor was waking up again in the basement, all items stripped away, especially considering a vast majority of them hurt to take and to use, if anything it was relief. One time Magdalene tried a wavy mushroom they had found in a secret room. She couldn't walk straight and complained she was about to puke, so the group collectively decided they weren't gonna take that ever again.
As usual, there was someone new. He wore an eyepatch and had a prosthetic foot. Isaac had seen that prosthetic foot before, in one of his runs, but considering that he had his feet intact, he held it in his hands. Even only doing that granted him a lot of luck, every pill he took kept being a positive one. The eye patch looked only like a downside, since not having an eye to cry made it harder to attack enemies. Of course they weren't just going to leave another human alone, and besides one additional eye is better than no additional eyes. Isaac ran at the eye-patch boy, who was still passed out on the ground. Eve followed right after, and gestured to move out the way, Isaac obliged. The girl checked his pulse like she always did with new people. She was the third to fall, Isaac was the first, Judas the second.
The boy slowly came to consciousness, but when he noticed unfamiliar surroundings he bolted up, looking around in a panicked nature. Eve whispered some comforting words in an attempt to relax the newcomer, who was shaking like an animal designated for meat slowly inching its way towards its torturer. He ran to a corner of the room, nearly tripping. Eve looked back at her friends, who just shrugged. Isaac took a few steps in the boy’s direction, who hit the wall with his back. He was terrified, he was shaking even if he wasn’t about to die. That was the worst reaction by anyone who had fallen down so far, which was concerning, but there really wasn’t much more to it, just a panicked boy with no idea what’s going on.
Soon enough some people started to leave the room. There was nothing they could have done to help if the one eyed guy didn’t settle down, eventually only Judas was left. He was treated harshly by Isaac when he first fell down; Isaac thought he was some sort of sentient enemy and left him behind, and it felt like that event was happening all over again, this time with someone that didn’t deserve it. Judas stared at the boy across the room, as he sat in a corner, his head between his hands. The satanist, making sure he still had his book with him, knelt down and also sat, looking at him and making eye contact. “We don’t want to hurt you, you know?” He spoke up in a soft voice; that didn’t happen often, Judas had a raspy voice and he wasn’t afraid of showing it off. When the boy he stared at didn’t reply and just looked down, Judas spoke up again. “My name is Judas, what’s yours?”, maybe that was going to make him speak up. “I’m… My name is Cain '' Cain blurted out, his words stacking on top of eachother in a huff. To this sign of responsiveness, Judas smiled as warmly as he could. “It’s not a good idea to stay separated in this place, Cain, you know? We should catch up to the others, and, if you want, I can explain how things work around here while we go”. And with that, Cain built up enough trust to follow Judas around. Whether Judas genuinely cared about Cain or was just putting up an act is a question with no answer. The satanist had a tendency of being a lone wolf, never talking with anyone except to annoy, making snarky remarks here and there, probably his sass was the main thing he was known for besides the whole “Book of Belial '' thing. Yet he was being so ever lovingly sweet to Cain, maybe he felt empathy towards that poor lost sheep?
They had finally reunited with the group when Judas brought up something that had been concerning him.
“I saw you stagger, did you get hurt?” Judas asked, his eyes piercing Cain, who had turned out to be a solar and excited individual. The initial startle that had taken him over was just from his sudden shock mixed with his hyperactivity, which turned out into a way exaggerated reaction, which relieved Judas. Cain looked down to one of his legs “Yeah! But I’m ok, it’s just a strain I think” the pirate looking boy said, vaguely gesturing. To discredit what he had just told his friend, he winced in pain just as he let his foot down, which rightfully alerted Judas. “I will have to check that. Sit here” He pointed to a rock, letting the rest of the group keep going without them. They were going to catch up again, it wasn’t a problem.
Cain awkwardly stumbled on the rock and plopped down on it, as he looked shyly on the side whilst Judas checked for bruises. They were both silent for a few moments, the scene looked like something one would see on old Victorian paintings. Every now and then Judas asked for what Cain felt when he touched him in specific spots on the leg, that kept going for a little until Cain loudly hissed in pain.
Bingo.
The position of the bruise was a little lower than the ankle, which reminded Judas of when Cain almost tripped. He must have dislocated something there, which was completely fair. Sometimes falling on the ground was better than awkwardly twisting your ankle.
He had found the issue, but what now? He had no way of fixing it up and the only option was trying to get some old bandages, even if a soul heart would work better, black hearts would be ideal.
“I’ll carry you” Judas concluded, stretching, getting ready to pick him up. Cain didn’t look very heavy, he was shorter than Judas which was convenient. Judas actually noticed that Cain was smaller than everyone in the group, he was even smaller than Eve, who was a girl that wasn’t known for her height. Sadly for him, Cain had more body muscle than he did, so he would have been heavy to carry either way, and the pirate-looking boy knew that well, that’s why he complained
“No, you really shouldn’t, I don-” He was cut off from Judas putting his arms around him, ready to lift him. “Well, I’m not letting that dislocation complicate, and I’m not leaving you here, so whether this is going to break my back or not, I kind of have to do this” and so he did. Just like Cain’s predictions, he did break his back, not literally of course, but it happened alright.
Although Cain wasn’t really hyped about this idea at the start, this was actually kinda fun! No more pain for a little bit and he got to spend time in Judas’s arms. Speaking of that, why was he excited for that specifically? He didn’t know, but spending time with Judas made him overly happy. He didn’t remember a lot about his life before the fall, but he can attest for a fact he never felt so… Buzzy. The two catched up to the group yet again, and Eve chose it was a good time to make a few snazzy comments.
“So you found a man all fo-”
“Shut up”
That shut her up. Most of the group was afraid of angering Judas, rightfully, Eve liked to tease him but he looked very out of it at that moment, so she rejoiced with Magdalene.
Thankfully, thanks to the balancing skills Judas had developed sometime in his life (or so he assumed considering there was no other time when he could have learnt that), he could bring Cain safely without making him fall until they had both found a heart. Judas often forgot about standard red hearts; they didn't work very well on him since he had too little health for them to be used to their full potential. No one in the group needed it at that moment, so Judas made Cain rest on a rock and passed the heart to cain. It felt like fresh, uncooked meat to the touch, but it was warm, like it was alive. But it wasn't, or so all the crew ended up assuming even if some red hearts go out of their way to run away.
"Eat this," Judas said as he shoved the heart in his hands. Cain looked at the object, weirded out by its presence as he slowly picked it up. Meanwhile the rest of the crew had entered inside the boss room, which was adjacent to the room Cain and Judas currently were in. The door closed and Judas was left with Cain, the blue corpse that Isaac insisted on bringing along after they had found it in the starting room of the basement, and Magdalene, who was a little too weak to fight the boss. Cain gulped down the heart, it left a sweet but metallic taste in his mouth, which made him want to puke it back up, but he restrained from doing so. Now he could use his ankle again! Sadly he wouldn’t have been carried by Judas anymore, but he could always ask. The heart had replaced the painful bone with a healthy one by some magic shenanigans that always occur in that hell. If someone asked Judas how that worked on a scientific aspect, he wouldn't have known how to reply. Not because he didn't know how to apply physics formulas to real life events, but because that place made about 0 sense.
Now they just had to wait until the people inside the boss room finished killing the boss, which didn't take a lot normally, unless Duke Of Flies was their adversary, for some reason that took a lot more time.
After a little while had passed, Isaac came out of the room and announced they would stay there for a few days and then they would ascend to Downpour. Downpour was a harder version of the standard basements, but it gave more and better rewards, so it often was worth it.
Another reason why staying in this basement for multiple days was a good idea, besides preparing better for Downpour, was because it was an XL floor. It was bigger than your average floor which made it a better living place, staying there forever wasn't an option because soon they would run out of hearts to eat or Clottys to harvest, but it was perfectly alright to stay there for a little. Judas always took dibs on the library, since it was a place filled with information. This time it wasn't different, the only substantial difference was that Cain was roommates with Judas.
At the start, they kept to themselves, Judas arranging the books in his possession and Cain messing around with a cool rock he found laying on the ground. Then Judas spoke up. “Do you wanna read a book together? I have a few over here” He vaguely gestured to the pile of books; it was, unsurprisingly, lacking the presence of Book of Belial, which was safely tucked away under Judas’s arm. Something peculiar also had happened; now Judas had a monocle on his left eye, which Cain found strangely funny. It fit his vibes a lot.
“Sure, I’m not a big reader though…” he looked awkwardly on the side, while he shuffled to get closer to Judas, who sat down on the ground. Judas handed him the pile of books, pointing to each one. “This one is a guide, so I wouldn’t recommend reading it, but it has a few funny segments. This one is an adventure book, just heads up it’s kinda long and will tell us exactly where to go; every time you re-read it it gives new information but at least it’s engaging. This last one is the Necronomicon, it’s a mix of a horror and an adventure book and it narrates terrifying horrors, personally like the last one out of these three.” Judas explained in the most clear way possible. Cain took the Necronomicon and opened the index, the titles were interesting, and besides he was going to read with Judas, so he might as well choose something they both like.
As they read it, Cain leant on Judas. Focusing on the book was difficult for the both of them, Cain was too busy being a little, just a little, homosexual. But what about Judas?
He never liked touching. Not on hands, shoulders, face, body, any kind of touching. So why was he so entranced by the boy leaning on him? Why did he enjoy it? And most importantly, why did he want him to do it more?
Eventually, just when they got to a very gross part, Cain felt sleepy. It felt like they were reading for hours, and they were soon finished, so he chose to mention that to Judas. “Can we finish this tomorrow..?” He asked and he slumped down on the ground. Judas nodded, giving a thumbs up and placing Cain’s head on his left leg. He didn’t know why he did that, maybe out of instinct, but he didn’t mind. Judas fell asleep 2 hours after Cain, after staring him for an uncomfortable amount of time, not because he was a weirdo or anything, he just couldn't sleep.
The following day was more relaxed than the previous one. When they both woke up they felt rested and chose to go and have breakfast. Judas led Cain to the room the group had always used as a canteen; the room where they always began. Normally they would ask from the shop if they had in stock a blanket, so they could feel like they were having a picnic. Somehow it always worked and the greed guy would lend it for half the original price, sometimes they couldn't buy it, and on those occasions they had to eat on the ground. Although the day itself was relaxing, Judas felt a lot of turmoil inside him. He kept questioning, Why did he like having Cain lean on him so much..?
His homosexual questions are not going to be answered right now, what mattered is that Cain loved to devour food. Isaac had brought enough food so that they'd have more for the following 2 days, sometimes a bunch of food left and it was also kept in stock for the following times, but now there was nothing left. Cain was like a voracious little worm, tiny but could consume plenty. After breakfast was finished everyone went back to their rooms, so they could relax and do whatever. Judas forgot about the fact that they were supposed to finish the Necronomicon, so Cain reminded him; he was looking forward to spending time with his friend(and maybe also crush).
"We were supposed to finish that book, Judas! Remember?" He said, bouncing on his feet from the excitement, to which Judas gasped "you are right, we were! Ok, we are going to do it right now, unless you want to do something different" Judas smiled in his direction as he picked up the book. Cain tried really hard not to say 'yeah but we can do that while we read', He barely succeded.
They sat down in the same position as the previous night, and finished up their reading. It took them around 20 minutes to get to the end of the book, they really were almost done!
Cain, once he read the last sentence of the book, hugged Judas, to which the boy blushed. It was very sudden to the both of them, Cain barely registered that he moved to hug him, but that felt right.
Judas looked around for a few seconds, maybe looking for judging eyes, before looking at Cain and responding to that hug with an even tighter hug. Maybe he didn't mind hugs after all, if it was Cain hugging him. "Cuddles?" Cain mumbled in Judas' shoulder. "Cuddles." Judas replied. That was the first time he had felt so overwhelmed with love, it made him feel good. He wasn't sure that the love he was feeling was platonic or romantic, but he was glad it was probably the same love Cain felt. It didn't have to go stated, they loved each other more than anything even if they had met each other not a long time ago. Or maybe they hadn't? Maybe they knew each other from their life before the basement. No one truly knew, but Judas knew one thing for sure; if once he had thought that the basement was hell, he now knew that it was a beautiful one.