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“Oh, ho ho!” Bdubs exclaimed as he just barely saved himself from a crash landing in the Hall of Goat, “So I hear Mr. Big Redstoner guy needs good ol’ Bdubs’ help with something, isn’t that right?”
Doc grumbled as he walked up to greet his fellow hermit with a hug. “It’s not the redstoning part that I need help with. It’s just… in a difficult-to-reach spot.”
Bdubs pulled himself out straight and followed after Doc, who was leading him down a winding flight of stairs toward one of his many workspaces. “Aha! So you asked your big and tall (and might I add, quite handsome) friend Bdubs to help you reach something too high. I see, I see.” He pretended not to see the side eye that Doc was giving him.
“No, no, it’s not like that. It’s just that I can’t quite reach my back, you know?”
“What, did you mechanize your spine this time?” Bdubs asked, the laugh evident in his voice.
“Nah, that was a few years ago.” Bdubs faltered, his foot freezing in midair for a second before he hopped down a few steps to catch up with his friend. “This time I just want to add something to it.” Before Bdubs could ask for any more information, he added, “You’ll see when we get there.”
Bdubs wondered what the slight tint of red on Doc’s natural cheek meant.
* * *
Bdubs now understood what the slight tint of red on Doc’s natural cheek meant.
As soon as they’d stepped into his workshop, he’d caught sight of his newest project. Not like it was much of an achievement, it would have been impossible to miss. It was huge, spread out over several tables pushed together to form a larger workspace, all of the adjustable lights pointing toward the beautiful THING of metal.
It seemed more craftsmanship than redstoning, really, and Bdubs was all the more impressed. It was difficult to work metal in this way, bending and swooping into such intricate shapes. And the spaces between the elaborate outline were paper-thin metal sheets in beautiful shades of orange and red that Bdubs would have to work hours upon hours to mix the proper dyes together for.
Butterfly wings. Gorgeous, graceful butterfly wings that twinkled like diamonds under the sterile white lights. Bdubds was mesmerized.
“What do you think?”
Bdubs told him every synonym for beautiful that he knew, which wasn’t really all that many, but he made up for that in enthusiasm. Doc was grinning by the end, and the blush on his cheek was unmistakable.
“So, you gonna help me attach it?”
Bdubs looked at the wings and then back up to Doc and promptly burst out laughing. “Those things? On you?”
“Yeah, man! It’s not that weird!”
“Is too,” he retorted, trying to quell his laughter, “So, whatcha need me to do? My very impressive redstoning skills are at your service!”
Doc looked positively frightened for a second, before managing he managed to school his expression, “No, no, no, there’ll be no need for any of that, you just need to screw in a few things, do what I tell you to do, that’ll all. No redstoning required, not at all.”
Bdubs rolled his eyes but followed Doc toward the other end of the room, where a completely empty table was set up beside the one with the wings on it. Doc grabbed the wings on the way, and with the help of a few ribbons attached to the machinery, he pulled it onto his back, laying down on the empty table face down.
"Okay Bdubs, I'm gonna need you to–" He was interrupted once again by Bdubs bursting into laughter as he caught sight of him. "It's not that funny, man." He waited patiently for Bdubs to start breathing again before restarting his request. "Over there, on the counter, just bring that– no, the other one! Yeah, that's it. You just gotta– see the red marks?"
"Mmhm."
"Just try to screw that in there. MIght be a bit tight. Oh, yeah, yeah... I can feel that, that seems good."
"Ah, was I hurting you?"
"No, no, you're good. It just feels kinda ticklish. Anyway, not get the other one. Yeah, the one you picked up the last time. Okay, and now you're gonna push that into the yellow ones– oh, ouch that was my back man, how bad is your aim?"
"Sorry, sorry!"
"So, as I was saying, push that in all the way, – into the yellow holes, not my skin, – and try wiggling it around until it clicks?"
"Was that it?"
"Uh-huh! You can pull it out. And now do all the rest of them!"
"Ohh, but there's so many!"
"Yeah, those are the things linking the mechanics of the wings to my spine. Lots of intricate work, so I needed a lot of different connecting points.”
"Oh, alright! And... I think I got it!"
"Ha HA! I knew you would miss the one on the bottom! Nah, on the left, there you go. Now it's done."
Bdubs took a few steps back, putting the thin instrument back onto the tray he'd picked it up from. Just in time, too, because as soon as Doc sat up and turned to face him, he burst out laughing once more, and dropping that sharp piece of metal onto his foot would not have been much fun.
Doc rolled his eyes and got to his feet to go look for the mirror he'd put up when he was still trying to put the wings on for himself. He turned this way and that, and tried to flutter the ends of the wings to see how they looked in work. He hadn't quite gotten the hand of manipulating the metal yet, though, and the wings pushed him over with the force of their flaps. He'd have to fine-tune his motor skills again, but it was very much worth it. He was grinning like a cat that got the cream as he regarded himself some more in the mirror once he'd picked himself back up.
“See! That doesn’t look all bad! I’m quite handsome, really!”
“Uh-huh! For sure, handsome! That’s the word…”
Doc glared at Bdubs over his shoulder, then swiftly turned back away to hide his grin as an idea popped into his mind. This time, he steeled himself as he flapped his wings as hard as he could, knocking Bdubs over from the force of the air current he’d created. The few spare screws that had remained on the table tumbled to the floor with a tinkle, and a light cloud of redstone dust billowed up above them.
“Handsome and powerful,” Doc concluded, then stepped over to Bdubs to pull the grumpy man up from the floor. He dusted himself off, sending the sparkling red particles in Doc’s direction. Of course, completely accidentally.
“So, what made you get the butterfly wings, anyway?”
“Oh, it was Doccy’s ideas.”
“Doccy? Is that your newest nickname for your huge brain?” Bdubs laughed.
Doc looked at him questioningly, “No? Doccy, like… my kid, Doccy”
It was as if the very air had frozen around them.
“You have… a kid.”
Their gazes locked onto each other for a long moment, one guilty and the other halfway between upset and surprised. Doc thanked his past self for his precognition as he took a step back and bolted toward the wide hallway leading out of the workshop. He stumbled a bit, but soon enough, got his feet under himself to launch himself into the air and zoom off with his brand new, Doccy-approved butterfly wings.
“Wait! Doc!”
He was most definitely not going to be having that conversation today.