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“Why did you do that?” And the words seemed frustrated. They weren’t angry, by any means– but they had a barely concealed frustration under the words. “Hm? Why did you think it was a good idea to blow yourself up?”
Arthur stared at Pheo, eyes wide and just as confused as Pheo was. It was kind of cute to see Arthur scramble to give an answer the moment Pheo asked for one. Eventually he responded, voice unsure. “I– I don’t know. My body moved for me, I–”
Pheo narrowed his eyes and cupped a hand to Arthur’s cheek, moving a bit closer. Arthur didn’t move back, which was a little unsurprising. Red eyes looked into yellow, and Pheo ignored the urge to smile at the color. The sudden movement startled Arthur enough into silence, and from that he sighed a small laugh. “You want to be with me so bad that you’d blow yourself up for me?” Finally, he smiled– a grin that was bordering on the edge of a smirk, but a smile nonetheless. “I’m flattered.”
That started up Arthur’s brain again, and he gently moved Pheo’s hand away from his cheek, although he kept a hand wrapped around Pheo’s wrist. The way his hands were curled his wrist made it feel like Arthur was trying to check Pheo’s pulse, which was a nice sentiment. When Pheo focused back to Arthur’s face, his eyes were unsure and slightly calmer than a moment before. “No– I told you. My body moved on my own. I wasn’t thinking.” A pause. And then, Arthur sighed. “Something about you… I can’t get rid of you. Even if I wanted to.”
Somewhere in the middle of Arthur’s speech, Pheo had gotten closer to him. There was a brief moment of silence shared between them before Pheo tilted his head. “Do you want to get rid of me?”
Arthur shrugged and looked away from Pheo, a slightly guarded expression crossing his face. He decided not to take it to heart. Arthur’s hand stayed wrapped around Pheo’s wrist, and if Pheo paid more attention, he would notice that Arthur’s hand was shaking. “I don’t know.” Then a small pause of hesitation, before Arthur looked back at Pheo. Something about his yellow eyes made Pheo frown a little. “If I wanted to leave you, I would’ve tried. Right?”
“I guess…” Pheo hummed, keeping his eyes on Arthur as he did. Eventually he gently pulled his wrist away from Arthur’s hand, interlocking their hands with ease. Arthur was a bit distracted from the surprise hand-holding to notice the smile that crossed Pheo’s lips. “It’s great for me, really. Means I don’t have to be alone.”
Arthur focused back onto Pheo after a moment, a small frown creasing his lips. He’d completely ignored what Pheo had said, instead paying more attention to the action he did. “What are you doing?”
Pheo’s smile grew as he took a small step back, going a bit deeper into the forest where there was a little more space and gently pulling Arthur with him. “Think about it.” Was all he said before putting a hand to Arthur’s waist– And that was when Arthur figured it out. His confused, and frankly concerned, frown turned into a flustered one, and it took Pheo some strength to not laugh at it as he pulled Arthur closer. “There we go– I was fairly sure you were smart.”
Arthur just needed a second to recover, and he put his free hand on Pheo’s shoulder, flustered frown turning into a more concentrated smile. “A bit mean, don’t you think?”
“I like to think I’m allowed to be mean after blowing myself up.” A pause, before he tilted his head and gently turned with Arthur. “And you. But I didn’t mean to.”
Arthur laughed under his breath and let Pheo move them, deciding to play along with Pheo’s dance. “As I said before, I don’t know why I did it.”
Pheo’s smile widened and he laughed. He moved his hand away from Arthur’s waist to move the hair out of his eyes, watching as the Vex blinked from the small surprise. “It’s very romantic, to blow yourself up for me.”
“Do you think so?” Arthur inquired, taking a small step back to participate in their small waltz inside the forest. “I didn’t think suicide could be romantic.” And Pheo laughed, leaning a bit closer to Arthur as the dance slowly became more steady. Arthur hadn’t noticed how close they were, which made Pheo feel like it was a ‘go-ahead’ to get even closer.
Pheo raised an eyebrow at his opinion, grinning a bit as he twirled Arthur around. “Are you serious? What do you think happened with Romeo and Juilet? Or… Actually, was Titanic suicidal?”
A pause, and Arthur giggled. “The ship? Are you asking if the ship was suicidal?”
“No– I meant the people! Rose and Jack! Was Jack suicidal? Technically he let himself die because there was clearly enough space for both of them on that door.” Pheo rambled, lightly squeezing Arthur’s hand like he was making sure he was still there. The moment felt a bit surreal and he wasn’t sure if he wanted it to be a dream or not. Either way, he continued their dance with that thought in mind.
Arthur rolled his eyes at the small rant, and side stepped unexpectedly, pulling Pheo forward and twirling him around. “It was self-sacrifice, not suicide.” Pheo got out of the small shock from the surprise twirl and moved close, keeping his hands securely intertwined with Arthur’s and his waist. “And I mean… Technically that ship went directly into the iceberg. It might have just been tired of life.”
“That’s because the crew didn’t pay attention.” Pheo pointed out, before being struck with a realization and tilting his head. He pulled Arthur closer and leaned in, surprising Arthur but not enough to stop the dance. “Hey, in a way, we’re kind of like Romeo and Juilet.”
Arthur laughed under his breath and raised an eyebrow. “What? Who is forbidding me to come and visit you?” Pheo laughed as well and shrugged, spinning Arthur around again with a grin before setting him down and slowing the dance to a pretty steady stop.
“Well, you aren’t supposed to be around me.” Pheo hummed, and for the first time since before they started dancing, Arthur noticed the color of his eyes. He noticed the moment Arthur’s smile faltered, and he sighed quietly. “So technically, you’re forbidding yourself.”
He didn't talk for a moment, but eventually Arthur looked down and sighed. “... I guess. But it doesn’t matter. I’m sure I’m going to die sometime soon anyway– From you or another Red Life.”
A beat of silence passed through the two before Pheo smiled and kissed the top of Arthur’s head, startling him enough to look up at Pheo again. “Aw, don’t be like that. I’d be perfectly fine with viciously murdering you, if you’d like.”
Arthur fumbled for words for a second. “Did you just—”
Pheo cut Arthur off with another kiss to Arthur’s forehead. “Yep.”
The Vex was too stunned to speak, and he could only stare at Pheo in what could only be described as genuine surprise. Or maybe terror– He could figure it out later. But probably today, as Arthur gained enough sense to gently push Pheo away from him with the most flustered expression anybody could muster. “What is wrong with you?!”
Pheo let Arthur move away from him, smile moving into a small grin. “A lot of things.” He admitted, moving closer to Arthur and tilting his head. “I don’t think any sane person would explode himself just to go on a killing spree, Arthur.”
“I– Wh–” He could see Arthur’s head trying to restart, but the process was abandoned judging by how Arthur buried his head in his hands to avoid looking at Pheo. It made him laugh a little.
He leaned down to at least try to be on Arthur’s eye level. “What? Did you want me to go lower?” A pause, and a small giggle. “I mean… I wouldn’t be opposed…”
“Stop talking!” Arthur demanded, lifting his head out of his hands to glare at Pheo before realizing the Sparrow had leaned down a bit and met his eyes– albeit hesitantly. “What–” A beat of silence went by. “Why would you do that?!”
Pheo leaned back a bit, rocking on his feet with a smile as he raised his hands defensively. “You were sad!” He considered his next words, smile turning into a small smirk. “And I think we both know that was a long time coming—”
“It was not!” Arthur shouted, face flushed as he did. It was slowly receding as the conversation continued, but he was just as flustered as before. “It– It very much wasn’t!”
He tilted his head after Arthur was done stammering and raised an eyebrow, stopping his rocking to grab Arthur’s hand and hold it close to his body. It was a bit surprising that Arthur didn’t try to take his hand back. “Really?” He hummed, blinking innocently at Arthur and watched as the Vex furrowed his brows. “There was just no shot for me?”
Arthur hesitated, but nodded. “Yeah.” Unbeknownst to him, he had fallen into Pheo’s trap. Pheo grinned, pulling Arthur close to him again.
“Oh, so it should be no problem then?” He smiled as Arthur yelped out of surprise from being pulled close. “If there was just no possibility.”
Arthur frowned and stared up at Pheo, brows creasing together once more at Pheo’s words. “That does not mean you get to randomly kiss me– Is that even allowed?! I feel like that’s worse than being teamed with a Green Life.”
“It’s better than what me and Powder do.” Pheo shrugged, clearly not caring about Arthur’s worries as he smiled. “Besides, I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t know you would be fine with it.”
That gave Arthur some pause, and the Vex blinked at Pheo when he had figured it out. “What do you mean?”
Pheo raised an eyebrow, not saying anything for a moment and letting Arthur piece it together. After a bit, he sighed and leaned close to him. “Think about it, Arth. Just for a little bit.”
There was a very long pause of silence between the two while Arthur was wracking his brain, but eventually it dawned on him, and his eyes widened as he looked at Pheo. “Oh my god.”
He barked out a laugh as Arthur pulled his hand away from Pheo’s to bury his face in them, groaning as he realized it. Pheo kept giggling as Arthur experienced his turmoil, and he decided to pull Arthur into a hug. “Aww, it’s okay. We don’t have to do anything.”
Arthur let himself be pulled into the embrace and mumbled something under his breath when Pheo was done talking, too embarrassed to actually talk. He did have enough strength to mutter; “I hate you. So much. I never want to see you ever again.”
“I feel like by now you should know that’s a lie.” Pheo pointed out, gently moving the duo to lean on a tree. Through their silence, they somehow made it on the ground, sitting on the grass of the forest and watching the sun go down. “But I’ll let you live in denial.”
Arthur glared over to Pheo, and Pheo smiled back at the Vex. “I need you to be the first one out.”
Pheo moved to lean on Arthur, resting his head on his shoulder as he grinned at him. “We both know I’ll win.”
“Yeah, because you’re going to kill everyone in your path.” Arthur grumbled, crossing his arms but making no move to push Pheo off his shoulder.
He stuck out his tongue at Arthur and shrugged. “Is that a bad thing? I don’t think it is.”
Arthur stared at him, yellow eyes narrowing to softly glare into Pheo’s red ones. “One hundred percent is. I imagine if you kill things, it’s a bad thing.”
Pheo was quiet for a moment before he hummed and wrapped his arms around Arthur’s waist, pulling him close with a grin. Arthur was getting pretty used to being practically dragged around at this point, and only just blinked in surprise. “I like to think it isn’t. And my opinion is always right. So… Suck on that.”
He ignored Arthur’s eye rolling and turned his head to stare at the rising moon. Arthur frowned at the night coming, but made no move to find shelter. “You are way too full of yourself.” He realized that Pheo could make all kinds of innuendo’s with that, and he turned his head back to narrow his eyes at the Sparrow. “Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Pheo frowned, looking back at Arthur with an almost offended expression. “You’re so mean to me.”
“Sure you weren’t…” Arthur muttered, keeping his eyes on Pheo for a moment longer before sighing and leaning his head back to rest on the tree. “I’m tired.”
“I don’t think it’s a smart idea to sleep in the middle of a forest, Arthur.” Pheo chimed in with a hum. “And you wouldn’t be as tired as you are if you didn’t explode yourself.”
Arthur frowned and moved his head back up to look at Pheo with an eyebrow raised. “Wouldn’t being exploded and respawning basically be like sleeping?”
“In the shortest time frame ever possible, yeah.” Pheo shrugged. “I’m just still annoyed that you decided to explode yourself.”
Pheo watched Arthur roll his eyes again and lean his head back to rest on the tree again. “You’re happy you got two kills out of it, though.”
A beat of silence passed by before Pheo sighed and shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose so… Doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to be mad that my closest ally exploded.”
Arthur grinned. “But not mad enough to just leave me in the dust?”
“I would never.” Pheo gasped, smiling playfully. “I am so loyal!”
“You have like four ongoing relationships right now. And I don’t think any of them know about each other.” Arthur laughed, and Pheo muttered a defense under his breath.
“Hey now, it’s only three—” Pheo paused, then turned his head to look at Arthur. “... Did you just count yourself as one of my bitches?”
Arthur looked at Pheo quickly, an expression of misery crossing by his face. “Do not phrase it like that—”
“You’re one of my bitches?!” Pheo sounded incredibly overjoyed.
“No–”
“The slut of this SMP has so many hoes! This is incredible.”
“Stop that–!”