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The Dark Lord tapped his feet against the grass, waiting for the Chosen One’s response. Solid, slow thuds echoed through his ears, the Chosen One’s heartbeat steadily going beside him. The cold wind was a relief against Dark’s constant heat, gently taming the fire flowing through his veins. Chosen had been silent for a while, what was taking him so long? It wasn’t a hard question, yet he looked… concerned. It wouldn’t bother the Dark Lord, except these moments were becoming regular occurrences. The Chosen One would just stare, eyebrows furrowed at the horizon, and Dark didn’t know why.
Time to figure it out.
“Has a cat got your tongue, Chosen One?”
Dark watched Chosen almost jump at the sound of his voice. Dark listened to his heartbeat change, the slow thuds speeding up. Within moments, Cho had regained his composure—visually, at least.
“No,” the Chosen One spoke, “but maybe a cat should catch yours so I can get some cursor-damned quiet.”
That was not the answer he expected. Chosen really wasn’t listening, but somehow he could still jump back from any banter Dark offered. It was adorable, really.
And so the Dark Lord laughed. This is what he loved about the Chosen One. Having this connection with him made rejecting his code worthwhile. Yeah, it was hard some mornings, if he woke up in a grumpy mood. But he always tried to keep Chosen out of the conflict constantly surging through his body. Luckily, website destruction was a suitable way to dispel some of that conflict, a way to distract his code from its real purpose. But no matter, right now, he was glad he had shaken Chosen out of his trance.
“He speaks! Of course you insult me, my dear Chosen One.” He watched as Chosen’s face went the slightest bit pink, his heartbeat getting faster, and Dark smirked internally, instead letting his delight show through his laughs. “Why, I expect nothing less. Although, a proper reply would be appreciated.” Dark winked and nudged Chosen’s shoulder. “I pick every location we visit in the Outernet, maybe you should choose the next one?”
This wasn’t just a distraction this time, Dark did want to hear what the Chosen One thought. It was clear to him that Cho didn’t take much leadership when they destroyed these places, maybe there was some coding conflict? He’d have to research that one later. Nonetheless, Chosen clearly didn’t feel the same as Dark did about the whole destruction thing, but shouldn’t it be worth it to defy Alan's code? He spent so much energy stopping himself from giving in, wouldn’t it be fair for Chosen to at least try and do it too? Good thing looking pretty helps. Dark couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if-
The Chosen One cut off his train of thought. “You choose. I’m not bothered where we go, so you can choose.” He then turned back to the horizon.
Dark sighed internally. People pleasers. (Did he use that right? He could be a people pleaser… maybe for a certain stick, at least~) Dark couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Cho had heard that? He laughed a little at the thought, then turned his attention back to the real Cho beside him.
“Oh come on, surely you have some place in mind you'd like to fuck up a little?” The Dark Lord nudged him again, gently pushing for an answer. “I always pick, you have to have a turn.”
Chosen paused, and his heartbeat was the only sound to be heard. If it was fast before, it was racing now. He looked over Cho as it continued to echo through his ears, noting the different features of the Chosen One. Their hands were just touching, and Dark could feel the dark softness in the tips of his fingers. He looked up, eyes tracing over the grey singlet hugging his torso and grazing past his collarbones. His eyes slowly moved over Cho’s face, the ever-growing blush blooming over his cheeks. The Dark Lord watched as Cho breathed, watched his chest move with each inhale and exhale, watched as he thought.
What was he thinking that made him like this?
Was this because of Dark?
The thought made him smirk.
“A thought for a thought, my dear Cho.” Dark continued to watch him as he processed the proposal.
They were both familiar with this game, a game the Dark Lord had created to not-so-subtly try and get answers out of the Chosen One. It was a suitable way of getting whatever was on each other's minds out into the open, since there was an unwritten rule that the thought had to be the one on their minds right before the game. Despite this, Chosen had gotten good at avoiding it. He would say he wasn’t in the mood, or would just outright reject it, since there wasn’t (yet) a rule against that.
Despite it all, Cho answered. “You first.”
He accepted. For some reason, this surprised the Dark Lord, but pleasantly at that. He smiled salaciously, teeth on show, and then responded.
“That’s more like it, Cho.”
Dark looked away, taking the moment to listen as the heartbeats in his ears continued their steady, albeit rapid thuds, constantly reminding the Dark Lord of the situation on his left. He picked his words carefully, knowing how blunt he is at the best of times, and after a moment, he spoke.
“I’m thinking that I’ve enjoyed destroying these websites recently…”
The Dark Lord paused. Here went nothing.
“…with you.”
He kept his eyes on the Chosen One, flicking to the slightest movement as he watched for a reaction. Not that he needed to watch him, if his heartbeat was any indication. He couldn’t miss the sound of endless thuds, of not blood but code and binary pulsing through his body.
To this, he continued.
“You make it better, I think. I mean, alone is fine, but it’s more worth it to have someone… special… to do it with.”
Chosen looked shocked, almost. His eyes were wide, his mouth had parted just enough to be open. If it weren’t for the growing blush on his cheeks and the heartbeat ringing out from his chest, Dark would’ve taken it as horror. Fortunately, his reaction was clear, and by Alan’s name, the Dark Lord was drinking it in like nectar. He knew he would never be sick of this feeling, so long as Cho would indulge him.
So with a sense of pride and accomplishment and perhaps a bit of tentative wonder filling his 1s and 0s, he finished his part of the game.
“I, my dearest Cho, am thinking that I want to do this with you more. Just… you and I.”
The Dark Lord continued to watch Chosen intently, watching as his eyes flickered between his own and the place where their hands rested. As much as he enjoyed watching the cogs turn, his curiosity was getting the better of him.
He spoke, breaking the silence between them. “Okay, your turn!” Dark felt a facade cover himself, acting as usual. Chosen seemed stunned, his mouth further open than before, closing for a moment and reopening in silence, as if the words had been ripped from his parted lips.
The Chosen One’s eyes landed on the horizon as he shakily inhaled, then spoke.
“I do too.”
There it is. While Dark would’ve liked to say he completely expected this, especially from the Chosen One, in truth, he couldn’t ignore the little feeling of joy and relief from inside him at the confession. He kept his eyes on Cho as those beautiful flashes of red met his, and he smiled further, letting his own joy show, promptly deciding this wasn’t the end of it for his dearest Chosen One.
“You what?~”
The thudding got louder. The heart within the chest of the Chosen One sounded like it was beating against his ribs as if reaching for the Dark Lord himself, and in that moment, that same heart told the Dark Lord everything he needed to know.
He knew those heartbeats sped up for him.
And he knew that Chosen, his fellow Hollowhead, had finally figured it out. Not how, but he knew it was true. Cho knew that Dark knew, and he knew that Dark was absolutely using it to his advantage.
Although the prospect seemed to be troubling the Chosen One. Dark could see the code flowing through his mind behind those eyes, the blush painting his cheeks the same way the screens painted the sky. And so he waited. He sat, eyes still trained on Cho’s, and he waited until Chosen decided to grace the Dark Lord’s ears with his voice once again. He watched the vibrant red in his eyes flow and swirl, just as he felt the red heat in his body do the same, and he waited.
“I want to do this more-”, Cho started, “with you. I don’t know why you enjoy this so much, but I know that-”
He paused, and the Dark Lord beamed even further.
“I know that I enjoy being with you like this. I enjoy doing this with you, my Dark Lord.”
The Chosen One jolted at his own words, and the Dark Lord heard his heart skip a beat in fear. While he knew he could tease Cho for days over this, while he knew he had the power to play with him for hours, there was a genuine feeling burning through the code building his body. Something stronger than that knowledge, and something that deserved more than sharp-toothed remarks. Before he could respond, the Chosen One spoke quickly.
“Wait,” Chosen stuttered, “I didn’t mean- I- Fuck-”.
Watching this display of vulnerability from the Chosen One, the Dark Lord felt his hand begin to move, and as he felt that heartbeat pulsate from the hand beneath his palm, he lowered his own to touch Cho’s. The gentle affection surprised even him, and by the look on his face and the sound of his heart, Chosen had been shocked a little bit too.
There was a tingling electricity in the touch, something neither of them had really known before. Something about the way their code intertwined, something about how this contact was building itself into the 1s and 0s within their bodies. In all of his time exploring the internet and learning (which wasn’t that long, but still developed enough to be considered credible), the Dark Lord had never read or seen anything like this. Anything to explain the shocking, existing energy and tension and electricity bridging their bodies.
The Dark Lord gently cleared his throat and stared off into the horizon before speaking. “Does it feel strange, Chosen One?” He paused. “This feeling. I know you’re feeling it too, but you’ve been around longer than me, so maybe it’s not as… foreign.”
Dark was met with a silence, almost asking him to turn back. Original code ignored, heartbeats be damned, the Dark Lord wanted to care, wanted something more from the Chosen One and the silence began to shake that from him. The weakness in these actions was the perfect opening for an attack, while he’s open and-
A deep breath from the being to his left.
His heartbeats were strong and steady, a reminder of what he chose to betray, and what he is choosing to accept. He can’t destroy this, he can’t lose this. If the Outernet has taught him anything, it’s that this is precious, this is special. This is something worth more than fulfilling a command from someone not worth obeying.
“Yes, Dark Lord.” Chosen’s voice drew him back. “It feels strange, it feels foreign, and I get the feeling not a hundred years could explain what this is, or why this is.” The Dark Lord felt Cho’s heart jump within his chest, his hand tensing under Dark’s.
He confessed, “It scares me, Dark. More than I think I want to admit.” Dark knew it scared him too, although not the confusion or the unconsidered territory, but the danger of this… relationship. The danger of the thoughts crossing his mind mere seconds before, and the code they were embedded within, the same code that filled his body. His hand tightened around Cho’s, almost as a reflex, as if the Chosen One were to disappear if he let go. Grasping at this chance, this feeling. He looked to Chosen, his own black eyes reflecting the black stick figure before him.
“But I don’t think I want it to go away,” Chosen added, turning to face the Dark Lord.
Their eyes met, sending a warmth through the Dark Lord’s body. He knew heat, he knew the fire in his veins, but this was different. The warmth painted itself over his cheeks, gently caressing his face in a softer, calmer way.
No, he decided.
He can’t lose this.
[♥]]] [♦]]] [♣]]] [♠]]]
Words pushed at the Dark Lord’s lips. They had been sitting in silence for a bit, except for the beats filling Dark’s ears, the duo blushing and feeling. Feeling the gentle wind caress their bodies. Feeling the calm chill of the night setting around them. Feeling the lightning in their connection, even in the smallest touch between their hands. The dark skin beneath his crimson fingers was so soft, artificially perfect and unmarred. Despite the warmth radiating from his own body, Dark could feel a similar, yet softer warmth from Cho’s hand, intermingling with his own.
The Chosen One’s heartbeats were calmer now, less frantic and overwhelmed, but no less fast in their repetitive thumps. Maybe they weren’t so much teasing him, but yearning for the Dark Lord. Reaching, much as he had reached his hand for Chosen’s. Buried in his thoughts, he shifted, sliding his hand under Cho’s and interlocking their fingers together, closing the gap between their hot and destructive palms. He felt Cho’s fingers tighten around his hand in affirmation, prompting him to speak.
“What does this mean, Cho? What does this make us?” Dark knew about how these things worked, but only really in theory. Was this right? Was he jumping to conclusions? Was he making the right decision, rejecting his code so boldly like this? As far as he knew, it wasn’t normal for stick figures to have coded commands like this, let alone to do the complete opposite of them. (Another brilliant perk of being a Hollowhead, courtesy of Alan-mother freaking-Becker.) His concerns were silenced, though, as he heard the Chosen One take a breath beside him.
“I don’t know.” Chosen looked forward, his eyes darting around the view before him, pools of deep red absorbing the sight. “There are a lot of words we could use on the Outernet, but I don’t know how to tell if they’re right. I don’t know what we are…” He trailed off, and Dark held his breath for a moment, watching the Chosen One swallow before speaking again.
“...but I know you’re my Dark Lord.”
And with those words, the Dark Lord felt as though there was nothing else around him. His eyes widened, meeting those of beautiful crimson, and he smiled brighter than the coded moon above them. There was something genuine here, and the Dark Lord completely knew this, almost cemented by Cho’s little claim.
“My Chosen One…”, he muttered, smile somehow growing. Not even destroying Alan would make him this happy, not when he knew there was something more than that right by his side. Dark leaned down, resting his head on Cho’s shoulder and looked up at the sky, just as he did.
His Chosen One had perfect crimson red eyes, just like the blood neither of them possessed, circulating as though running through a bloodstream. Blood to the heartbeat that forever pulsed in his chest, a reminder that this was real and that he was alive.
And code be damned, this was worth it.