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“I can’t.” Skeppy said to Finn. “I have to do those editor interviews. My normal editor is going to go crazy doing daily uploads. Maybe tomorrow I can join?”
Finn hummed, “I can join you in the interviews if you want? I know Bad can’t since he is busy.” Skeppy let out a shuttered breath at the mention of Bad. He had done that lately, Finn noticed. He got weird . At the mention of Bad. He shut down, picked at his shirt or bit his lip.
“Ok.” Skeppy said. “Ok, fine. Sure. Yeah.”
“Skep..” Finn said.
“Hm?”
“What’s going on with you?” Finn asked and Skeppy scoffed.
“Nothing, let’s just do this shit.”
Finn remembers joining the call, while Bad was still here and he and Skeppy were alone. Something had happened, he didn’t need to be a genius to figure it out, but he knew;
“ Baby,” Skeppy muttered. Bad sighed, or maybe he needed to force air back into his lungs. Skeppy wouldn’t mind the second option. “I hate that you’re with him.” Skeppy admitted.
“Skeppy-“ Bad started. “It’s okay to be jealous.”
“No Bad, you don’t understand.” Skeppy paused. “Everywhere he touched you…” his chest was heavy. “I want to retouch. With my hands or even my lips. I want to claim your body as mine so your skin can forget his stupid touches and his… everything. I don’t want you to remember this meet up with him. I want you to only think about me.” It was obsessive and down right crazy and Bad was silent. “I want to kiss your lips, Bad. So hard that you forget everything but the taste of mine.”
Bad was going to respond but was interrupted by someone joining their call. “Hey guys.” Finn’s voice said. Both of them let out heavy breaths. “Hey Finn!” Bad said with a smile, but it was easy to tell how distracted he was.
“Vurb should be here soon with Spifey and Zelk. And I know Bad has plans with Quackity.” Finn said. “You’re welcome to stay around, Bad, I’m not kicking you out.”
Bad really could only think of the words said to him; ‘ baby’, ‘I want you to only think about me’, ‘I want to kiss your lips’. The whole conversation was ringing in his head and he just couldn’t fathom any thoughts. He could imagine Skeppy’s hands wandering his body, caressing the areas that Quackity may have touched while hugging him or bumping into him. And then Skeppy would want to claim areas that were untouched, make them his from the start. And he would love it.
“Bab- Bad.” Skeppy said. “Are you alright?” Skeppy asked. How could he ask that? How could he ask if Bad was alright when Skeppy made sure he couldn’t alright? Skeppy made sure that Bad wouldn’t be able to process anything all day.
“I’m fine, Quackity is waiting for me.” Bad said, “bye guys!” Bad left the call swiftly.
“Ready to record?” Finn asked Skeppy.
That’s how they got to where they started. Where Skeppy was going to interview for a new editor and Finn is going to help.
And if they fell easily into accepting ‘SkepHalo69’ because of their personality, edited clips and the meme of their name. They would never admit that.
-
“I love him.” Skeppy muttered, hands tugging at his hair, face dipped low to avoid the camera before him. His friends sit on the other line. Everyone but the one he talks about. “I can’t love him because it’s stupid- Bad is smart for not loving me. I’m so stupidly in love with him and…” Skeppy trails off. “He doesn’t want me. It’s simple.”
“Zak,” Zelk started, “I think he wants you like you want him.”
“I told him that I wanted to kiss him…” Skeppy wipes a tear, “That I wanted to kiss him so hard that the only thing he can remember is the taste of my lips. What kind of a person does that?”
“One who is madly in love.” Finn said. “It’s not unreasonable.”
“He only loves me sometimes. When he’s lonely and it’s night and no one has to know. Did you guys know that? There’s nights.. It's late, too late.” Skeppy’s throat hurts from the tears threatening to fall in quicker succession, “Nights where in whispers I call him baby and he calls me something stupid like sweetheart. We talk about holding each other and being together and just… I mourn those times in the mornings. Mourn what I could have had because I meant the things I said but he was too tired to know the difference.”
“I want you . ” Bad whispered once. He was falling asleep as they were speaking.
“God,” Skeppy was breathless in his response, “Bad, I don’t just want you. I need you. I need you, Bad. Please let me need you.”
“Skeppy…” Bad had started. And Skeppy had left the call, telling Bad to go to sleep.
“I feel like I need him.” Skeppy told his friends. “More than I can fathom. It hurts. It hurts too much I don’t think I'll survive.”
“I can be there in a few hours.” Spifey said.
Skeppy just let out a sob. Had he been crying this whole time and only now noticed it was heavy sobs and not just small single tears?
“It’s just so fucked. I want to kiss him but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to handle it.” It was like Skeppy didn’t even hear Spifey, maybe he couldn’t process the world. He could hardly process his sobs, how was he meant to think about anything else? He tried for more words but it was just hard sobs. They tore through his body and made it hard to breathe. He was tugging at his shirt like it would strangle him and practically clawing at his chest as if taking his lungs out would help them get the air he was gasping for.
“Zak.” Skeppy didn’t hear himself get moved to a different channel. “Hey…” It was a soft voice, one that comforted him always but now seemed like just speaking alone wouldn’t help. “Sweetheart, I need you to breathe with me, okay? Do you think you can do that?”
Skeppy nodded weakly.
“Ok… 1…” Skeppy took a breath in and heard a count up till 5. He held the breath for a few beats, then released it as the person counted down from 5 to 1. They did this a few times, till Skeppy stopped trying to tear his lungs out and the panic in his eyes faded.
Skeppy was still crying, “I don’t want to talk about it.” He said in between sobs. “Bad, please. Please don’t make me.”
“I won’t make you.” Bad said. “I will sit here with you until you are feeling better. Or until Spifey can make it to your place.” Skeppy’s brows furrowed. “He’s on his way to see you. You must not have noticed him telling you earlier.”
“What are you doing?” Bad asked and Skeppy immediately stopped building what he was building on his server. It was a statue of BBH for his main lobby. A day had passed.
“I uh-“
“Why a statue of me? Wasn’t one of you there?”
“Well you see…”
“Hm?” Bad hummed to inform Skeppy to keep talking.
“I’m in love with you.” what? WAIT-
“What?” Bad asked and Skeppy could see his face going, 😃, as he asked the question.
Did Skeppy actually just say that? And why did he have to sound so fucking serious. Why did he have to not even try and hide that he was telling the truth.
“I uhm.. I actually have to go. Spifey is.. uhm..” Skeppy left the call and the server and just sat in his chair.
*
The first thing Bad noticed was the shirt on the floor of Skeppy’s room. It was not Skeppy’s. He knew all of the shirts that Skeppy owned. He knew Skeppy and he knew so much about him. Minus this new secret he has that is tearing him apart. But he notices the gosh dang shirt and his brows furrowed. Bad didn’t know why he was so upset over a shirt. But he was upset enough to clench his fists and have a tight jaw. Spifey walked into the room next to him. “What are you staring at?” Spifey paused, then let out a breath, “oh.”
“Whose shirt is it?” Bad asked. “You’ve been here for a week. Whose shirt is it?”
Spifey walked over and picked the shirt up. “Mine.” He said with a careful shrug. “Skeppy had stolen it out of the dryer the other day after I split something on it and had it washed with his load. Once he realized it wasn’t his shirt he just must’ve discarded it.”
“George.” Bad said, tone more serious. “Whose shirt is it?”
Spifey let out a breath and dropped the shirt, “I don’t know his name.” Spifey answered honestly, “he was here for 3 hours, tops.”
Bad grabbed the shirt off the ground and folded it, neatly setting it on Skeppy’s pillow with the copy of Bad’s plane ticket. Bad then pushed past Spifey and went to the last remaining guest room and shut the door. It took 10 minutes for Skeppy to come back with Rocco after taking him for a walk. It took 5 minutes after that for Skeppy to walk into his room. It took 2 minutes for him to walk into the room Spifey was staying in to ask him questions. And it took 45 seconds for Skeppy to grab the door knob of the room Bad was in and turn it.
Only to find it locked. “Bad?” Skeppy asked through the door.
“The shirt.” Bad said. “You speak of wanting to burn my skin with your touch all because I met up with and hugged Quackity.” A pause, “But you can have sex with a stranger?” Bad chuckled, “You wanted to kiss me so hard that I knew only the taste of your lips. But I don’t want to know the taste any longer.” Bad said. He was lying, if Skeppy was paying attention he would know. They have had so many years of friendship to know when they are lying. “I want to forget about you before I want to memorize your taste or your hands or anything.”
Skeppy’s hand fell off the door handle and he retreated to his room.
Skeppy tried the door again after the sun fell and Spifey was sleeping soundly in the guest room. The door opened with gentle ease and Skeppy slipped into the room, shutting the door softly behind him. Skeppy walked over to the bed and slipped into it, pulling Bad close to his body. Bad melted into the touch and turned to put his face into Skeppy’s neck. “You’re a liar.” Skeppy said.
“I am.” Bad whispered.
“I’m going to hold you until I can’t anymore.” Skeppy said and nuzzled closer to Bad, hands firmly around his body.
“Ok..” Bad spoke softly. “I need you.”
“You have me.” Skeppy pointed out. Bad pressed a kiss to Skeppy’s neck.
“I need you more than anything.” Bad confessed. Skeppy just kissed his head and listened as his breathing evened out and he drifted off.
Warm tears slipped down Skeppy’s face as he dozed off as well.
-
“Dude, I only brought that guy here to try and forget about the whole confession thing. Bad didn’t even say anything.” A pause, “He just.. he just went and got on the plane and didn’t say anything. It’s not like he loves me back.”
Spifey just blinked at him. Skeppy tilted his head and Spifey ran a hand through his own hair, considering just tearing it out right then and there.
“If you’re stupid ass doesn’t kiss him by the end of the week, I’ll kill you.” Spifey said. “He loves you and you love him. Just stop being an idiot. And I disposed of the shirt. Your bed shit is washed and folded on your bed.”
“I hate when it rains.” Skeppy muttered and Spifey raised a brow.
“What do you mean? You were laying out in the rain two nights ago.”
“It reminds me of him. We used to talk about dancing in the rain. I lay out in the rain to think about having him, and never having to lose him. I don’t want all we talked about to be a lie. I want him with every ounce I have in my body. And I need him with every fiber of my being. It feels like my soul cries for him every night. And it’s weeps make me sad, George.”
“Why suffer for him?” Spifey wiped a tear from Skeppy’s face.
“Because, I know someday I’ll be somebody he needs.” A breath, “not just someone he wants.”
-
“Bad, look at me.” Skeppy pleaded in the kitchen. Spifey was out and Bad still wasn’t talking to Skeppy. They just existed in space together like they hadn’t waited 4 years to be together like this. Like the pain wasn’t tearing through them both.
Bad gripped the counter in front of him, “I don’t want to talk.” Bad said.
“You’re mad at me, I know that.” Skeppy started, “but I had meant what I said.”
“Then you betrayed everything.” Bad pointed out.
“Bad-”
“Skeppy, you talk to me like simple words with smooth this over. You act like you can fix everything by telling me that you love me. Your words aren’t going to fix us. They couldn’t even keep us together.” Bad was speaking through gritted teeth.
“I’m sorry Bad but-“ he paused, he had no words, “I don’t- I’m not sure- I just..”
“I needed you asshole!” Bad finally yelled, turning to face Skeppy. Skeppy flinched and Bad wiped the tears off his face. “It’s all I ever needed! And you went and ruined everything! You took us and you broke us because you didn’t even care to let me reciprocate my gosh dang feelings!”
“Wha-“ Bad had sworn. Bad then told Skeppy that he loved him back. Skeppy blinked at him before he finally crossed the room and took Bad into a kiss, cupping his face. Bad melted into the kiss and gripped the front of Skeppy’s shirt.
They pulled away and pressed their foreheads together. “I love you, BadBoyHalo.”
“I love you too, Skeppy.”