Work Text:
crack.
seam almost passes out when it hits them. the pain is white hot, excruciating, and they feel the involuntary tears welling up in his eyes.
but the physical pain isn't the worst part of what's happening - they look at jevil, their friend, their partner, and see nothing in its eyes but confused mirth. jevil doesn't recognize them and it's clear to see, even with only one eye.
the crowd gasps, finally realizing as a collective that what had happened wasn't part of the show. seam the magician had really lost one of their buttons, and jevil the jester was the cause. seam can hear everyone running out of the hall, but not clearly; it's warped and fuzzy and it feels like they aren’t even in their own body. all they’re focused on is jevil as they cover their wound with their hand, keeping imaginary blood from spilling all over the floor.
finally, the fog clears from jevil's eyes, and its smile turns light-hearted again. it starts to say something, then stops, noticing the large, broken, orange button on the ground.
"...seam? what happened, happened?"
seam leaves the hall as well, disappearing into the chaos.
*****
"seam! hey seam!"
jevil's been calling their name all afternoon. seam can't bring themself to leave their bed, even as the little imp's calls become more and more desperate.
"seam...please, please come see me."
they’ve bandaged their face up for now. they’ve run out of sewing materials and even if they had them, his other button was broken. not just torn out, but cracked.
but seam barely cares about that.
jevil's cracked too.
seam can't bring themself to look at it. they know if they do, they'll probably start crying.
what had happened to their friend?
they aren't allowed to think on it further because of a soft, rhythmic knocking at the door - and in typical jevil fashion, it doesn't wait for a response and bounces in anyways. well, bounces is an overstatement. it isn’t bouncing today. jevil scurries over to seam's bedside, and seam can see it clutching their big button eye in its little hands, the jagged edges digging into its skin. "seam, seam! are you okay? you left so fast, fast!"
"of course i did, jevil. i was hurting." seam focuses their gaze on jevil's hands, refusing to look it in the eye in case that weird look is back.
jevil frowns - not that seam can see. "what even happened, seam-seam? you didn't tell me, me."
part of seam doesn't want to tell them, but of course they’ll never figure out what's wrong if they don’t. so they do. "i'm afraid you were the one to do this."
the broken button clatters to the floor, and jevil's hands are shaking, its tail lashing frantically. "what, what?"
seam nods, wanting to cry again because they can just hear the fear in jevil's voice, see the terror in jevil's body language. the pain in seam's face is still throbbing but it's nowhere close to the pain seam is feeling inside. they're losing their best friend.
jevil doesn't say anything much after that, and honestly, seam doesn't mind that. jevil crawls onto seam's bed and hugs them, inky black tears welling in its own eyes as it snuggles into the cat's side. seam silently hopes jevil doesn't lose itself again.
"i didn't mean to, seam, seam."
"...i know, jevil...i know."