Work Text:
<ForeverPlayerG> can we talk?
<BadBoyHalo> yes where are you?
<ForeverPlayerG> im at your base
Forever’s been waiting for fifteen minutes.
He’s been waiting in the dark room Bad so lovingly shoved his waystone into for the past slow, agonizing fifteen minutes, a thick sheen of finely-crafted paranoia coating the space from floor to ceiling in reinforcements and the dull blare of an alarm pounding ever so present in the background.
Forever taps his foot against the cold concrete floor and continues waiting.
It’s not exactly out of the ordinary for Bad to tell him he’s on his way only to finally show up thirty minutes later, but with the subject matter at hand Forever can’t help but feel a little impatient just this once. He doesn’t know whether it’s a blessing or a curse to be left alone with his thoughts for this long. He’s able to properly mull over what he’d like to say, for one, but he’s also been given time to overthink all the possible ways it could go wrong and then some.
He eyes the door. He has the code- he’s lucky to be one of the few Bad entrusts with it. All it would take is a couple button presses on the keypad and the door would click open and Forever could walk right through instead of waiting in what is in his opinion the most awful room imaginable for his friend to come greet him.
Instead, Forever sighs and stays exactly where he is, bunching the fabric of his shirt up under his fist.
Bad is paranoid- rightfully so, in Forever’s humble opinion, with all the shit the island throws at them it would be hard for anyone to come out of this without at least a little bit of trauma. Hell knows Forever didn’t. And he hasn’t been on the island nearly as long as Bad has.
So he waits.
It takes about three more minutes but finally- finally Forever is able to hear the distant sound of humming above the ever present buzz of machinery. He perks up and shouts to get Bad’s attention.
There’s the sound of footsteps, and then the door opens with a click.
“Forever! Come in!” Bad stands in the doorway, light shining in from the room behind him and haloing him in a warm glow. It’s ironic, almost, for a supposed demon to look so angelic, and Forever can’t help but think of how fitting it is for someone as kind as him.
Kind, but not unguarded, Forever reminds himself. They’re both alike in that regard. No wonder they get along so well.
“Hi, Badboy!” Forever echoes a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “How are you? Where is Dapper?” He’s grateful that Bad doesn’t seem to notice his hesitance, face squinted in genuine joy to see his friend.
“Just put him to bed.” Bad answers, wiping sweat from his brow. Blond hair curls out from under his hood and frames his face. Forever’s gaze lingers on the visible wisps for a few seconds. “Did a lot of exploring today.”
“Find any new animals?”
“Not anything new, unfortunately.” He says with a dejected sigh. “We did find a few dungeons though.”
Forever hums. “I see! Nothing too difficult, hopefully?”
“Nope. They were some of the easier ones. Some of them had pretty good loot, all things considered.”
The conversation lulls to a close. And Forever knows he’s stalling. He’s pretty certain Bad understands his apprehension too with the mildly uncertain glance he sees thrown his direction. He’s not exactly being his usual loud self. “Can I come inside?” He offers as an out for both of them.
“Of course.” Bad jumps at a chance for a change in conversation and steps out of the way, giving room for Forever to walk through the doorway and into the renovated dungeon Bad calls a home. “You know you can just use the code to get in, right?” He quirks an eyebrow curiously.
“I know.” Forever replies. “I just didn’t think you’d want to be snuck up on.” Bad hums in appreciation at the answer, but otherwise says nothing.
“How long were you waiting there for?” He asks after a pause. They pass by the automated sheep farm. The sound of ‘baah’s fills his ear on one side while idle small-talk fills the other.
“Longer than I would’ve liked.” He admits. “You always take so long, Badboy. You’re so busy. You never have any time for me!”
Bad’s lips quirk up into a smile under the shade of his hood, the demon sensing an opportunity. “You could say you were waiting for.. Forever?”
Forever barks out a laugh. “Oh! That’s a good one.” Most others would be at the least playfully exasperated at someone making puns out of their name, but Forever finds he quite enjoys the jokes coming from Bad, who makes them quite frequently.
Forever lets the lingering anxiety that had been building in the background fade into almost nothing the more he and Bad talk, each sentence getting easier and easier to say as the time goes by. Despite them being deep underground the atmosphere feels just as light and airy as it would on the surface.
Would it be selfish for Forever to draw out this peace for as long as he can? Maybe he could stall long enough for Bad to forget entirely why he asked to meet here in the first place and it could be passed off as nothing more than a casual visit. It’s wishful thinking, of course. He knows it’ll have to end eventually.
For now though, he’ll bask in the moment.
“Where’s Richarlyson?” Bad punches in the (unreasonably long) code for the next set of doors they reach. Forever can’t say he doesn’t understand the paranoia, because he does. It’s just that it makes it hard to visit Bad sometimes.
He feels a twinge of guilt at wishing Bad could trust him enough to give him all of the codes to his base. However, Bad just isn’t that type of person. It’s already an incredible show of trust to allow him access to the main room in the first place.
“With Felps, last I left him.” He answers honestly. “He’s back to digging out that giant square.”
“Oh yeah, why’s he doing that again?” Forever shrugs. He’ll have to ask next time he sees him.
They walk through the rest of the room in silence side-by-side, their steps echoing and bouncing off the walls. As empty as it is, Bad has managed to make this place feel lived in and well loved- a near impenetrable fortress in which a man keeps what he prizes most kept from the world somehow feeling homely. It’s a stark contrast to the suffocatingly small and cramped room Forever had warped into.
The conversation comes to a lull once again, and Forever is just about to open his mouth to go on a completely unrelated rant when Bad beats him to it. Forever realizes his time of blissful ignorance is up before the words even leave his mouth.
“So..” Bad starts, noticeable apprehension leaking into his first few words.“You wanted to talk about something?” He pulls his hood down to look at Forever properly. His breath catches for a brief moment. The light of the room catches on it in such an angle as to give it a golden sheen. Which shouldn’t be possible with the artificial lighting so deep underground, but maybe Bad is just that sweet of a person that he can defy the laws of what should and should not be possible on a whim, the universe itself distorting and conforming to his presence.
“Yes, uh..” Forever glances around the room. It’s filled to the brim with machinery. Dapper must have built something new since he last visited. He’ll have to ask about it when he’s not buzzing with nervous energy. “Do you have somewhere we could sit?”
“Oh yeah. Uh..” Bad glances around the room as well, drawing out the last vowel longer than needed. As if he’s not the one who lives here and would be the one to know if there’s anywhere to sit. “This way.” He points toward the door.
He leads Forever back through the two sets of doors they walked through just minutes before and all the way back to the main room they had started in. Forever comes to the realization that Bad too must have been stalling if he was willing to lead Forever that far through his base talking about absolutely nothing. That does little to reassure him, however.
Forever watches amusedly as Bad plops himself down onto a white sofa, muttering something about ‘high-quality furniture’ under his breath. He motions for Forever to sit down as well.
“Wow, nice couch. Where did you get it?” Forever asks in jest. He has a pretty good idea where Bad probably ‘acquired’ such furniture. He’d just like to see the way he sputters and comes up with an excuse.
Bad looks over his shoulder, playful annoyance in the grin that forms on his face. “First off, I don’t steal furniture, I liberate furniture.” His intonation contains a mischievous undercurrent to it. “Secondly, I'm a master craftsman, as you’re well aware. Where else could I possibly find furniture as high quality as this? We don’t even have an IKEA.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world and he can’t believe that Forever would ever question him on it. Yet the glint in his eyes gives away his true nature as the island’s resident furniture-thief.
Yeah, well, he’d believe that Richarlyson would willingly wear his armor when told before he believed that a piece of furniture in Bad’s home was actually crafted by the man himself. “Yes, I’m sure you did.” Forever smirks and makes his way over to the couch directly across from his friend, catching sight of the annoyed pout on the other’s face as he sinks into the cushions. Hm, he has to admit it is pretty high quality furniture. He’ll have to make a note of it to ask Baghera if she’s missing any couches later.
“Anyways” Bad starts, a clear yet lighthearted way to change the subject from his furniture thievery habits to something unrelated while he idly rearranges the plush couch cushions. “What did you want to talk about?”
Sitting directly across from Bad gives Forever a chance to admire the other’s hair properly. It’s longer than his own, reaching down to just above his hips. He’s not sure he’ll ever get used to seeing Bad with such long hair. He’s not even sure why it interests him so much. It’s literally just hair. Of course, he notices something different about the style compared to the last time he saw it. “Your hair isn’t braided anymore. Did something happen?”
“Hm?” Bad glances up from picking at a pointed fingernail. “Oh, I took the braids out.”
“Why?”
He shrugs. “Can’t leave it in one style for too long.”
“Doesn’t that ever get annoying?” Bad is brushing strands of hair out of his eyes, most of which just seems to go right back to their original location as soon as he pulls his hand away. He pouts and gives up.
“What does?”
“You know.” Forever lifts the long braid hanging over his own shoulder, plaited masterfully with years of experience. As someone who so often embarks on big projects requiring manual labor, he knows more than anyone how much it can get in the way when it’s not tied in its usual style. He’d decided to keep most of it down as a change of pace for the presidential debates and it was the single worst decision he thinks he’s ever made in regards to his hair. Even if it did look nice. “Having it all loose like that.”
“Oh.” Bad swipes most of the loose hair over his shoulder in one fluid motion. “I guess it gets in the way sometimes.”
“That’s why I always have mine tied up. You do ponytails?”
“Yep. That’s the style I usually have it in.” Forever’s never seen Bad wearing a ponytail, but he’ll take his word for it. He probably wears it underneath the hood, honestly.
“Have you ever thought about doing anything fancy with your hair?”
“Outside of the eggs braiding it?” He shakes his head. “Not particularly. I don’t really do much to it.”
“You have so much of it, I can’t imagine just having mine in a ponytail and nothing else when I’m working. Not even a braid?” Forever asks incredulously.
Bad rolls his eyes. “It’s really not that big of a deal to me, Forever. I can deal with it.” And realistically, it isn’t. Forever knows this. Bad knows more than anyone how to deal with his own hair. “I don’t show off my hair like you do.”
“So you’ve had long hair this entire time. And you’ve never told me.”
Bad shakes his head in confirmation.
“Why?” Forever leans back and sighs, wondering not for the first time how Bad became one of the most powerful and trusted players on the island when he keeps secrets as simple as the color and length of his hair. It would be infuriating if Forever didn’t experience firsthand the kind of environment that fosters this kind of paranoia so readily and just what it can do to a person.
“It just never came up,” He explains. “And I don’t really like doing things to my hair. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just more time than it’s worth. A ponytail does the job just fine.”
“Why not let someone else braid for you?” Forever asks. “Some people on this island would be happy to help.”
“Eh, that depends on who it is.” Bad is idly twirling a lock of hair around his fingers. “I’m not gonna let just anyone touch it, you know? The eggs are an exception because they’re children, but players are a different story.”
“What about Mike?” Forever leans forward in his seat. The couch creaks lightly under his weight. “Do you trust Mike?”
Bad sighs deeply at the mention of the hair cutting incident and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I let him cut it because it made the eggs happy.” Forever easily remembers how much Bad had griped about it for weeks afterward along with his reluctance to get it done in the first place, which gives credence to his words.
Despite the reassurance, Forever feels heat rise to his cheeks in what is most definitely not jealousy.
“Would you let me braid your hair?” Forever blurts out casually- or he attempts to ask casually. He’s pretty sure he manages it, because Bad doesn’t seem too weirded out by the question.
Bad is silent for a moment, assumedly mulling over the request. After a couple seconds he shrugs. “I don’t see why not, I guess.”
Forever’s eyes go wide. “You’re serious?”
“Pomme and Dapper got to, only fair you get a chance too.” He says. To his credit, he only hesitates for a second or two. “Are you asking to do it now?”
“If you have the time.” Forever stares in thinly-veiled disbelief.
“Do you need me to grab a brush or anything?”
“A brush?”
“For hair.” Bad clarifies.
“Yes, a brush would help a lot.” His throat feels dry.
“Alright, I'll be back in a jiffy.” Bad shoots him a brief, small smile and gets up to grab the aforementioned hairbrush, heading off presumably toward a storage room.
For the few minutes that Forever spends waiting for Bad to return with the aforementioned tools, he sits and stares at the hands cupped in his lap wondering how he got into this situation.
His head shoots up to the sound of a door opening to see Bad entering the room with a hairbrush in one hand and a comb in the other. Each item looks handcrafted, carved with a darker wood type that appears to be almost black, with a scythe carved into the handle of the brush and stained red. Forever eyes the design with curiosity and raises an eyebrow in Bad’s direction.
“It’s intimidating!” He exclaims like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“A scythe is a really strange design for a hairbrush, Badboy.” He comments with a chuckle. It fits Bad so well: Something so nonthreatening in nature adorned with anything it can in an attempt to come across as menacing. “Why do you need a brush to be intimidating? Are you planning to thwack me over the head with it?”
“Because why wouldn’t I want my hairbrush to be intimidating?” He grumbles in weak defense and tosses the brush at Forever. “Whatever. You and Baghera are always so mean to me. Are you gonna do my hair or not?”
“Yeah, I’m getting there!” Forever grabs a larger pillow on one of the couches and places it on the floor in front of him. “Why do you always complain so much?” Bad looks mildly perturbed by the action, but doesn’t comment on it.
“What kind of style do you want?”
Bad shrugs and situates himself on the pillow in front of Forever. “What about something more complex? Do it up and make me look all fancy, maybe.”
Forever thinks of his options and what kinds of braids he knows how to do. “That wouldn’t be any problem.” And then he gets to work.
Braiding someone else’s hair is different than braiding his own, Forever finds. First of all the angle is different and he doesn’t need to crane his neck or rely on muscle memory to see what he’s doing. The feeling of Bad’s hair in his hands is different too. Each individual strand is thinner yet balanced out with a higher density overall. It lacks texture other than the slight wave that makes itself visible about halfway down, curling slightly at the ends. Overall it’s not too different from trying to braid his own hair, but it does mean he has to adjust his technique a bit to account for the longer strands. It’s a nice change of pace.
He brushes through it first and foremost gently and carefully. The more hair he brushes through, the more tension seems to seep out of Bad. Something he hadn’t noticed was even there until it was gone. With his shoulders slumped and tension in his jaw dissipated.
“One or two braids?”
“One.” Bad answers. “Pomme and Dapper already did multiple.”
Forever nods and starts by dividing Bad’s hair into three even sections. It takes longer than it does his own with the sheer length of it, but not long enough that it becomes a hassle. He then begins the braiding process itself.
Bad is relatively quiet while Forever weaves the strands of his hair. The silence is only broken by the quiet humming of a song Forever can’t quite remember the name of, but he knows he’s heard Bad sing to Dapper before. It’s a soft tune that helps him fall into a rhythm.
“Can I add flowers?”
“Hm?” Bad takes a moment to process Forever’s request. “Sure.”
Forever leans back and pulls a hand away to summon a backpack out of his inventory to rummage through. His other hand holds what little of Bad’s hair had been braided in place.
“What is the color of the flowers you like in your hair?” Forever internally cringes a little bit. He can tell even as he's speaking that he's messed up his sentence structure. English is a difficult language, in his defense, but Bad either doesn’t mind or doesn’t notice.
“Blue.” Bad answers quickly. Forever’s hand holds slightly firmer on Bad’s hair and a quiet grumble emanates from his throat. He loosens the hold just as quickly as he notices it.
He sets down a backpack beside them and rummages through it. His fingers brush bunches a large bunch of petals at the bottom of his backpack. He pulls them out and his heart drops.
Oh.
It’s a bouquet of red roses. It’s relatively intact considering how it had been squished by bunches of items on top of it. Only a few of the petals are missing.
It’s no mystery as to where they had come from: Cellbit and Roier’s wedding. The day had started off with tears of joy and with a couple being wed and had ended with tears of sadness after Forever had presented the bouquet to Philza and been rejected outright.
Philza.
The man he’d been pursuing since the day he arrived on the island. Philza was rich, kind, and not afraid to speak his mind. Those were traits he could find in anyone. But most importantly he was gorgeous with the way blond hair framed his face and his appearance reminded Forever so much of..
“Forever?” Bad must’ve noticed that Forever had been silent for quite a while. “Oh my goodness, did you die back there? Forever?”
“I’m fine, Badboy!” Forever calls out to him. “You’re so impatient.”
“I am not!”
“You most certainly are!”
“I have no idea where you got that idea from!”
In the end, the flowers that make up the bouquet end up woven into the strands of Bad’s hair. Forever thinks the color fits him better, anyway.
It's only when he’s reaching over to grab a hair tie that he realizes he doesn’t actually have one on him. He purses his lips. Of course this is the one situation he didn’t prepare for. Shit.
He pulls the hair tie out of his own hair, shaking his head to let the strands undo themselves, and ties up the braid in Bad’s hair using it instead.
“I’m done with your hair.”
“Woah, that was quick.” Bad comments with surprise.
“I have been doing this for years, Badboy.” He chuckles. “Well get up and go look at it! Surely you have a mirror somewhere in this mansion.”
“Yeah, yeah, of course I do.” He stands, motioning for Forever to follow as he leads him toward the reflective glass in one of his aquariums. Forever doesn’t think this quite counts as a mirror, but whatever works. “If this doesn’t look good, I’m shaving it all off.”
“Don’t you dare! Long hair looks so pretty on you!” Forever exclaims as if the very idea was abhorrent. “And I put so much effort into that.” He adds as an afterthought.
“Your braiding skills are the sole decider of the fate of my hair right now. So for your sake I hope you did a good job!” Forever can tell the moment Bad catches his reflection in the glass just by the way the demon’s eyes widen. “Oh wow.”
The style Forever chose for Bad was a French braid with splashes of red roses woven between the strands. It reaches down to about the midway point of Bad’s back, and he tucks it over his shoulder like Forever does with his own to admire it. Nothing too complex, but nothing too simple either. The style Forever usually does for himself is more basic and easy to do.
“You better appreciate it, it’s my best work yet.” Forever places his hands on his hips proudly.
“I’ll admit It doesn’t look half bad.” Bad continues admiring his reflection. It shimmers in the glass. “I think my only complaint is that the flowers aren’t blue.”
“I just used the first ones I found.” Forever explains. It isn’t a lie.
“Food for thought, maybe you should use blue next time.” Bad grumbles.
“Next time?”
“Hey, is that your hair tie?” Bad ignores Forever’s question entirely with a well-timed observation.
Forever looks away bashfully. His own hair falls over his shoulders loosely. “Maybe.”
“Oh.. well..” Bad looks sheepish. “Free hair tie!”
“Hey!”
“You used it on my hair, it’s mine now!”
“That’s not how this works!”
“Yes it is!”
“So you’ve gone from stealing furniture to stealing hair ties? Badboy, how could you?” Forever tuts. Honestly, he doesn't mind too much. He has many more at home. But Bad doesn't have to know that.
“It’s not stealing!” Bad protests between sputtering laughter. The sound makes Forever feel light.
Bad’s laughter slowly fades out, and they’re back where they started. Forever watches the way Bad’s face drops, and assumes he’s come to a similar realization.
“I.. suppose we still need to talk.” He thinks about how clean the floor in Bad’s home is as he forces the sentence out. Not that he’s staring at it, or anything.
“Yeah.” Bad agrees reluctantly. His eyes are downcast in a similar manner. “Back to the..?”
Forever admits defeat with a groan and shuffles back over to the couches, which look much less inviting now. Bad Follows behind him only after Forever has situated himself on one of the sofas and seats himself quietly. Forever would think it ironic for Bad to act so out of place in his own home if he didn’t feel much the same right now.
“What do you want to talk about?” Bad sounds strained with a smile to match.
“I would like to..” Forever trails off. He’d practiced what he would say a million times in his head, but now that he’s here it’s like he can’t think. Anxiety bubbles in his throat. “I’m not good at talking in English.”
“Take your time.” Bad supplies helpfully, seemingly sensing his struggle. “I can read the translations, if that would be easier.”
“No, no. I want to talk like this. I want you to understand.” Forever explains. “I just need to think about what I’m going to say.”
“Alright.”
Eventually, his brain supplies him with something resembling a coherent sentence. “Yes, I wanted to talk to you about something important to me.”
Bad nods patiently. “Okay.”
“Because you mean a lot to me, and I don’t want to keep things from you.”
“Do you think it would be good for Baghera to be here too then?” Forever understands where the question comes from. They’re a trio that’s practically inseparable, so for Baghera to not be here for a serious conversation seems really strange.
“No, actually. I wanted to talk to only you.” He explains. “I don’t think this is something she would want to be here for.” He then adds quietly. “It’s not something bad, I just want to talk to you about it.”
“Got it.” Bad looks a little confused, but doesn’t contest.
“All that I ask is that you hear me out completely before responding.”
“I can do that.” Bad flashes an encouraging smile at him, a twinkle of something in his eyes. The roses braided into his hair stare back at Forever tauntingly.
“Thank you.” Forever sighs in dispirited unease. “I..” It dawns on him that this is the last chance he has to back out. It wouldn’t take much to mutter a ‘never-mind’ and walk back into that very same dark room and maybe he and Bad could forget this had ever happened. It's what every muscle in his body is screaming at him to do, anyway.
But he’s come this far already, he reminds himself. So after another look at the roses in Bad’s hair he wills himself to speak. “When I first came to the island I was in love instantly with Philza, you remember that?”
From the way Bad’s eyes are fully locked onto him and filled with patience, Forever can tell that the other is fully listening. Appreciation bubbles in his chest. Noticing the reluctant lull in Forever’s speech, Bad nods, the gleam of encouragement from the other urging him to continue.
Forever pretends he doesn't see the slight reluctance in the action, too.
Forever takes a shaky deep breath. “I.. thought I was in love with him for a while. I really did. I thought he was the most beautiful man I had ever met. And I thought thinking that someone was beautiful was what love is.”
“Thought?” Bad asks curiously. Forever’s eyes lock onto his braid and the flowers adorned in it, their bright red petals taunting him gracefully. It’s easier than looking at whatever judgment might be waiting on his face. “What changed?”
He idly fidgets with his hands. “I don’t know. Something about it just felt wrong. Listening to Cellbit talk about how much he loves Roier made me realize it didn’t feel like it was the same thing. Calling it love felt wrong, but I don’t know if there is another word for it.”
Bad opens his mouth to speak and Forever pauses to give him room to interject, heart beating in his throat. He feels a twinge of trepidation when Bad says nothing, instead waving at Forever to continue and shutting his mouth.
“And I’m.. confused Badboy, because I thought I knew what love is. But I think I love you, but it’s not the same kind of love, but it’s not any less strong. You are beautiful, yes, but you are also important to me in a different way.”
The silence that permeates the room after Forever finishes speaking is deafening. Bad is staring down at his hands like if he looks away the world will crumble, fiddling idly with the hem of his sleeve. Forever feels his stomach drop. Of all the possible reactions he’d thought up while waiting, this was definitely among them.
It wasn’t one he was hoping for.
“Badboy?” Anxiety wriggles its way into the forefront of his mind. Whether he likes it or not, Bad’s lack of a response scares him. It scares him more than he cares to admit. He begins to get up from the couch, unsure of what to do with himself in Bad’s presence.
“Where are you going?” Is the first thing Bad says. And it catches Forever off-guard.
Forever turns around mid-step to look at him.
“I need a moment.” Bad says, eventually, after far too long of a pause for Forever’s liking. “Just to process. You don’t have to go.”
“Okay.” Forever says softly and sits back down.
Forever fears that sitting next to Bad after that would be awkward. The demon seems to think so too, continuing to fidget with his sleeve.
The tension seems to dissipate however when Bad sighs and leans into Forever’s side. They sit in silence for a while with Bad’s head on Forever’s shoulder. It’s strangely peaceful, all things considered. The quiet bustle of machinery humming in the background. And despite the anxiety their conversation brought him, Forever finds he doesn’t really mind it.
If anything, he might even say it’s pleasant, sitting with Bad like this.
“I’ve never been good at talking about my feelings.” Bad murmurs after a couple minutes of silence, The strain in his voice makes Forever wonder just how hard it was for Bad to admit to that.
“What? Really? I spend all this time around you, and I had no idea!” Forever attempts to lift the mood a little and deems it a success when Bad scoff’s a playful ‘you’re the worst’ under his breath.
“Haha, very funny.” Bad says dryly. There’s the slightest lilt of affection, too.
“These things are.. Hard, you know?” Forever hums in agreement at Bad’s statement. “I don’t know how you speak about these things so easily, but I think I want to try, too.”
Forever is more than a little bit surprised Bad would say anything at all. He’d always known him to be a private person. If letting people he was good friends with into his home was hard enough, letting them into his emotions was nigh impossible. “I will listen.”
Bad pulls something out of his pocket: a singular rose. “Have I ever shown you this?”
Forever shakes his head. “You haven’t.”
Forever watches as Bad takes a deep breath and twirls the stem between his fingers. “Do you remember Roier and Cellbit’s wedding?”
Forever nods.
“Well” Bad pauses to contemplate his words for a moment. “They actually dropped two bouquets, you know.” He stares forlornly at the ground. Forever’s gaze bores into the back of his head.
“I think I was the only one who noticed. And I never planned on doing anything with it. You seemed like you had your mind set on going after Philza romantically and..”
‘I thought I didn’t have a chance’ goes unsaid. Silence falls between them.
His grip on the stem tightens. “I never really understood the human concept of love. I’ve tried. Many times. I’ve held affection for people but I’m not sure I would use the word love to describe it.” If he grips it any harder, Forever fears the flower might snap in half.
“Red roses are apparently supposed to represent romantic love, but I don’t understand why. It seems pretty weird, doesn’t it?” Bad turns his head to look at Forever. “Why’s that kind of love so important? Why can’t we just give nice flowers to people we care about?”
And then Bad reaches over, slipping the rose behind Forever’s ear with care. The moment is over just as quickly as it had begun. Bad is sitting just as he had been before Forever has any time to process.
“This whole world is just confusing, I think. And I don’t really understand it either.” His eyes are soft. “I get what you mean. Most of the time I’ve kinda given up on trying to differentiate platonic and romantic or whatever other words people are using to describe it nowadays.”
Forever’s cheeks are left burning and he reaches his free hand up to caress the lone flower. Its petals feel soft under his touch, much softer than the bouquet had. Like it belonged there. Bad is beaming at him like he thinks just the same.
Forever beams, reaching out in excitement to hold Bad’s hand in his. The demon seems momentarily startled by the action but doesn’t pull away. “You are so sweet, Badboy!”
A faint blush dusts the demon’s cheeks. “Only sometimes.”
“You should be sweet more often.” Forever says. “And you are right. I don’t know why there are so many kinds of loves.”
“They’re all equally important to me, so what’s the point in trying to figure out the tiny differences between them?” Bad says bashfully.
Forever raises an eyebrow at the implications. “Are you saying you like me?”
“I never said anything of the sort.”
“Oh come on! Don’t do the whole evading questions thing now!” Forever bumps Bad’s shoulder with his own lightly. Bad bumps him lightly in return and rolls his eyes.
“I’m just saying that maybe I understand how you feel a little bit.” Which is basically a confirmation when it comes to Bad.
“What about Skeppy?”
Bad flashes a meek smile and utters quietly. “Well, let's just say I have two hands, Forever.”
The gears in his head turn until he fully processes what Bad just said. Forever is momentarily shocked. It was certainly not what he had expected. He stares wide eyed as Bad bursts into laughter at his reaction.
It takes a couple seconds for Bad to collect himself. He raises his other hand up in playful defense. “I’m just saying!”
“You think he’d be willing to share?”
Bad squeezes his hand. “Well, he’s gonna have to. He’ll always be my number one, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have room in my heart for another person.”
Forever smiles. “I think I understand that feeling.”
“Well.” Bad moves his hands around exaggeratedly. “I think that’s enough emotional vulnerability for the next century.” He laughs nervously.
Forever laughs. “Same with me! I should probably go soon anyways.” He picks at a loose thread on his pants. “Can I ask you something?”
“Hm? What’s rattling in that mind of yours?”
“Do you wanna go exploring together tomorrow? Just us?”
Bad smiles softly. “That sounds fun, Forever.”
Forever hollers at his success and pulls Bad in for a hug. “It’s going to be so fun!”
Bad laughs and hugs back. If he’s surprised he doesn;t show it. “It will!”
“So tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow it is!” Forever beams. “I have to go. I can see Richarlyson in my mega-base on the map.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
“I told him I was going to get chorus fruits.” He’s asked for chorus fruit from Bad in the past, so it’s not too unusual for him to ask for more. He just has to hope the kid doesn’t pester him with questions when he returns home.
Bad rolls his eyes and hands him a stack of the aforementioned fruit. The teleportation magic emanating from it buzzes in his palm.
“Oh! Thank you.” He shoves it into a backpack. “This will help a lot.”
“Not a problem.” Bad waves it off. “What do you need them for, anyways?”
“That’s a secret.” Forever hints slyly.
“I can;t believe you’re going to ditch me to do something secret.” Bad whines. “And I just thought we had a moment!”
“It’s fine! It’s fine! I’ll be back tomorrow, Stop being so dramatic.”
“Me? Dramatic? Never.” Bad drawls. “My response is perfectly justified actually.”
Forever quirks an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because you’re leaving me!”
“I’m going to be back tomorrow!”
“Ugh, fine.” Bad relents. “I guess I can let you go.”
“Thank you, Badboy.” Forever pulls his warpstone out of his inventory. The purple gem feels heavy in his hand. “You’ll survive without me for a day.”
“See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” Affection blooms in his heart as he activates the warpstone. “See you tomorrow, Badboy.” Purple particles engulf him. Bad gives him one last wave and then he’s back in his base.
The remainder of the day he spends working on some ongoing projects and sidestepping questions from Richarlyson. Seriously, the kid really thinks it’s his right to ask as many questions as he possibly can about what happened while Forever was gone.
At the end of the day, he slips the flower out of his hair and places it in a vase by his bed. In Forever’s opinion, it goes with the rest of the room perfectly. He lets himself drift off to sleep with the thought of the day's events on his mind.
The morning is a relatively normal one. He gets up, makes breakfast for himself and Richas, and mulls over the things he has to do today as he goes to wake up his son. The quest for the day is to feed the baby their favorite food, so they eat tapioca crepes. Richarlyson keeps looking over at him with a sly expression, like he knows something Forever doesn’t.
It’s only when Forever goes to get himself properly dressed and ready for the day does he realize what that something might be. Most of it goes relatively well up until he needs to find a hair tie. Usually, he keeps them by the front door. Yeah, it’s not something most people do, but it helps him remember. So what if he does things a little bit unconventionally?
The problem is he can’t find them anywhere. And when he goes to ask Richarlyson if he’s seen them anywhere the kid gives him that stupid sly look again, so obviously he knew about this. He grumbles and continues looking for them on his own.
Eventually, he finds an unsigned book and quill in a chest sitting directly outside the door.
Thanks for the free hair tie yesterday. Richarlyson let me in and I figured you wouldn’t mind if I took some more. See you later :D
- Badboyhalo
Ps: You should wear your hair down more often.
He pinches the bridge of his nose but can’t help the smile that makes its way onto his face. He can't find it within himself to be well and truly mad. This is just how Bad is. All it shows is that today is going to be an interesting day to say the least.
He wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
His warpstone glows as he commands it to teleport him to Bad's base.
This time when he warps into the dark room that contains the waystone, he punches the passcode into the door, walks through, and greets Bad with a smile.
Well, he wouldn't trade it for almost anything. Except for maybe his hair ties back. But that's okay. He can deal with that.