Work Text:
Two opened their eyes.
Their surroundings were that of a playground with colourful apparatus, all too familiar. The usually bright blue sky was now a mesmerising orange as the sun set over the equation playground. At first, Two was confused. What were they doing here? They were supposed to be in the grasslands, hosting TPOT and they couldn’t recall travelling here.
They were suddenly jolted from their thoughts as an eerily familiar voice called out to them.
“Hey two! Come and sit with us!”
The green number craned their head around to locate the source of the voice and locked eyes with the unmistakable appearances of two algebralians Two thought they’d never see again.
One and Three. There they were, sitting on a pleated picnic blanket nestled comfily on the emerald grass. Both numbers were looking up at them expectantly and Three patted the space next to herself, beckoning Two over.
At first, Two was too (get it, two?) stunned to utter a word. This whole scenario felt unreal. Three had gone missing years ago and Two had cut contact with One a while back. It was like none of that had ever happened.
“What are you waiting for, c’mon!”
The red algebralian beckoned Two once again with the movement of her hand.
Finally, Two was able to muster up the courage to utter a sentence.
“W-what are you guys doing here?”
They announced hastily to the other numbers and took a few steps closer to them.
“What do you mean, dude? We agreed last night to meet up here to hang out! Don’t tell me you forgot, you airhead!”
One exclaimed with their usual chirpy, sing-song voice.
Two was dumbfounded. Maybe they had forgotten and must be misremembering things.
“Yeah..maybe I did, sorry guys.”
The green algebralian gave in and walked over to the picnic blanket and settled themself down, neatly crossing their legs. They were still a bit weary of the strange situation they had found themself in, but it wouldn’t hurt to reconcile with some old friends, ..right?
“Man, do you ever get tired of being so formal, British boy?”
Three chuckled in their gravelly voice, observing Two’s proper way of sitting.
“Hey! It's not a crime to be polite around other people once and a while, maybe you should try it sometime, you red tomato!”
Three playfully butted Two in their side with her elbow before laughing heartily, the two other algebralians doing the same.
One giggled as she ushered the two playfighters to quiet down as she pointed to the dark sky. At this point the sun had completely set and the inky black darkness was dotted with countless gleaming stars. It was a perfect night. The blue algebralian always had a great fascination with the vast expanse of space and, as she glanced up at the sky and encouraged the others to do the same, started to point out the many visible constellations riddled in the void of the night.
“Look! There's Ursa major! Ooh! And Ursa minor is just to the right of it!”
One happily rambled on about the beautiful stars as the other two listened contently, all of them gazing at the glorious expanse of space.
After She had stopped her ramblings, the three friends had chatted long into the night. Cracking jokes, having banter, and spending the night they had together to the fullest. Throughout this, Two hadn’t spoken much, just chiming in once in a while. They didn’t mind, of course, they were perfectly content with watching the other two’s shenanigans, feeling a warm sensation build up inside of them that they hadn’t felt in a long while.
After a long night of fun, the three of them had gotten weary and laid their heads down on the blanket, huddling up against each other. Two could feel the heat emanating from their friends' bodies and felt their warm breath on their skin.
“This is nice, isn’t it?”
Sleepily Muttered One.
Even though Two didn’t exactly know what was going on and how they got here, they couldn’t help but agree. It was nice to have a break from the stressful duties of hosting and go back to a simpler time, just hanging out with their closest friends.
“Yeah..”
They agreed.
“Hey guys?”
Three sat up from her comfortable position and looked at the algebralians looking almost… embarrassed?
“I, uh, have something for you..”
Two and One perked their heads up and stared at Three with intrigue.
“What do you mean?”
Said Two with confusion.
The red number turned around, grabbed something from behind them, and presented her friends with three similar bracelets resting in the palm of her hand. One red, one blue, and one green.
“Awww Three! You’ve gone soft!”
One clapped their hands together and spoke teasingly.
“ I have NOT gone soft! I just, uh , t-thought you guys looked so bland and pathetic so I got you some accessories. That's all!”
A dark red hue appeared on Three's face as she handed out the bracelets to each of her friends, according to the colour.
Two looked down at their own green bracelet and marvelled at its beauty. They could tell that it had been lovingly hand-made (and shoddily, mind you) but that didn’t matter. For all that Two was concerned, this was the most priceless gift they had ever been given. They slipped it onto their wrist as One did the same, the latter exclaiming,
“Hey! This doesn’t look half bad!”
With a cheeky grin on her face.
Three grunted as she begrudgingly put on hers too, but Two could tell she was secretly pleased that One and them had accepted her gift so merrily. Two gazed longingly at their friends, wishing this night could last forever. There was something about One and Three that Two couldn’t put their finger on. Every time they were around them it felt comfortable, like they could truly be themself and not hide anything from them. No one has ever made Two feel like that before.
The name of the feeling they were experiencing hit Two like a brick. A feeling that for the longest time they had been trying to deny. But no matter how hard they tried to ignore it, they still felt a surge of compassion overtake them as they looked into their friends eyes. Their friends obviously noticed this as Three muttered,
“Are you okay Two? Is it the gift? I can make a new one if you li-”
“N-no! It’s not the gift at all, I love it!”
Two exclaimed suddenly.
“It's just..I need to tell you guys something...about how I feel towards you both.”
This was their chance. An opportunity to finally let them know.
“Well, what is it? Spill the beans, man!”
One shouted curiously.
Two wasn’t going to deny that they were terrified of speaking their feelings out loud. But they had to. They couldn’t keep this a secret any longer. It would destroy them to keep it in any longer.
“I hope this doesn’t come as a shock o-or change the way you feel about me..but…I…I think I might Lo-”
Two was abruptly cut off as they opened their eyes once again and appeared in a different setting. They looked around nervously. Where did One and Three go?
A feeling of utter dread overcame them as they realised where they were. Currently, they sat upright in their bed located in their hotel room in the grasslands.
They knew it was too good to be true. Of course it was a dream. How could they have been so stupid to not realise?
The green numbers' eyes pricked with tears as they thought about this fake scenario in their dream. Why did they have to wake up? They would’ve been absolutely fine with living in the dream forever, even if it wasn’t real. Their body started to shake as they let out quiet sobs of desperation.
Through the veil of tears covering their face, Two spied something resting on one of their shelves, collecting dust. They stood up shakily as they stumbled over to it, hoping desperately that it wasn’t what they thought it was. Two thought they’d thrown it away after Three’s disappearance out of rage and upset. As they approached the object, it felt like a hard lump had formed in their throat.
“ No…no, it can’t be..”
Two managed to vocalise between their miserable sobs as their fears were cemented into reality.
They laid their tear-filled eyes on a long forgotten, small, green bracelet.
The only memory left of the loves of Two’s life.