Work Text:
There he is!
You sped up a bit at the sight of him at Ramb's bar, all by himself.
"Batts!" You exclaimed happily, slapping a gloved hand on his shoulder.
He turned to look at you, defensive at first, before he relaxed at the sight of you. "What's up?"
"The other Pippinses, and Shadowguys, are hosting a pizza party. Why aren't you there?!"
He rolled his eyes. "They don't like me."
"That's not true!"
"Then why do they always prank me? And make stupid jokes at me?"
"Batts. That's such a dumb question. We're all pippins. That's what we do," you reasoned back. "Anyways, I went and you weren't there. So I came running. SO, that means someone wants you there!" You puffed your chest proudly and clapped a hand on it as you grinned playfully at him.
Thankfully, that was all the convincing he needed.
He reached into his pocket with a sigh, and dialled someone. You hear the trill of a Shadowguy on the other end. "Can you cover my shift tonight, Plues?" Battat asked into his cell. "Thanks. You're the best. Wha-? Me? Well- yes. Them. They're inviting me out... shutupshutupshutup. Okay. Great. Thanks."
His face was a little greener than before when he tried to nonchalantly meet your gaze after hanging up.
"Let's go."
You smiled wickedly, and grabbed his arm. "Finally! I feel like I can never pry you from work..."
He scowled. "Did it look like I was still working?"
"Well! No! That's why this was perfect timing. It's after-hours, boss is probably asleep by now, and even better: pizza time."
You dragged him down long, dimly lit starry corridors, the only sounds being your heels clicking the checkered floors, then wooden floors, Battat's huffing as he tried to keep up.
Usually, you ran on low battery like he did. But the opportunity to drag your favourite coworker to an after hours party was always something you looked forward to. He was constantly in a state of stress. Working, or wasting maybe too much time figuring out "mike". You knew about his conspiracies and you were the only friend who wasn't Pluey or Jongler who he let in on the secret. So you loyally kept his secret and let him vent out his frustrations to you. It felt like he was never fully able to unwind and properly relax. Mr. Tenna, unknowingly, worked the poor green Pippins to the bone. The idea of spending time with Battat unrelated to work felt like a fever dream - so of course, you seized every opportunity.
When you finally made it to the cafeteria (well, glorified bar), dozens of Pippins and Shadowguys were seated, or hanging around chatting alongside the walls and few tables. A Zapper watched the door. No one seemed to notice you and Battat's clumsy entrance, but as soon as you dragged him to two free stools, one of the bartenders came to you.
"I'll get you guys some water, you look wiped!" A cheeky Pippins giggled behind the table.
"Thanks," you laughed. "I had to basically drag him here!"
"No! I would've still come even if you didn't drag me, as long as you asked," Battat started defensively. "You just decided we needed to speedwalk the whole way!"
You ignored him with a smug look as the Pippins left and came back quickly with water. You downed the drink as they spoke.
"So, like," they started. "We have a BUNCH of pizza. Of different types. Meat lovers, veggie, olives and feta, Hawaiian or pineapple for sickos, stuffed crust, double cheese, bruschetta, arugula and proscuitto, and plain pepperoni if none of the first ones sound good. We got sick of TV dinners so we just ordered as much pizza as Cyber World could deliver."
"I'll have the bruschetta pizza. Sounds good." Battat didn't look up from his water. "And what do you have for drinks tonight?"
"The usual. Iced teas, coffee, lemonade, ginger ale, pepis, fruit punch, acid for the sickos, beer, and a buncha fruity drinks if you wanna browse the normal alcohol menu."
"Just coffee, then." Battat smiled up at the Pippins, who then turned to you.
"As for you?"
"The proscuitto pizza sounds good, aaand iced tea." You smiled warmly at them.
They fluttered for a moment before nodding and running off. You turned your attention back to your companion.
"You looked miserable alone at Rambs, glad I found ya."
"Oh shut up." He huffed and leaned on his elbow, slightly away from you. "I just was winding down."
"Yeah yeah," you snorted. "Winding down so when you retire to the residential floors you could swing out the corkboard. I know how you are."
That got his attention, he straightened before giving an awkward side-kick to your feet.
"And then you play footsies with me. You're an oddball but not for the reasons you think." Now it was your turn to lean on your elbow, except towards him.
His face was greener than ever, about to bark out an abrasive reply, when he suddenly looked past you and forced a smile. "Thanks! Looks amazing."
The pippins from before was back, with a tray with 2 drinks and two plates of pizza. They met you with a shy, "here you go," before scurrying away. Whatever their deal was, you didn't mind too much, you were more concerned with your green companion.
You take a bite of your pizza as you smile gently at Battat. "You're allowed to chill sometimes, y'know. I see you're always hauling ass and never relaxing."
He sighed. "Who can even relax at this job?"
You motion to the whole room.
"They don't count."
You sputtered out a loud laugh. "Then who counts?! Just you?!"
This flustered him further, but he chose to silently eat his pizza and favoured to glare at you instead. Despite the grouchy demeanour, you knew the fact he even let you drag him here and tease him over a late night meal at a party, surrounded by others, was if nothing else a clear sign he enjoyed your company enough to tolerate whatever antics you bring.
"What else are you doing tonight, Batts?"
He mulled it over for a few moments before answering, his mouth half full. "Maybe a movie or something before bed. I actually wanted to be lazy tonight."
You nodded, thinking about it. "Wanna watch something together?"
"Like what?"
"Do you like horror?"
"I'm not watching a horror movie at whatever early-morning hour-"
"I'll protect you, babygirl," you teased. You were in dangerous territory, but sometimes, deep down, you wished he even had an idea about your feelings. Teasing him, at least, was a fun way for you to cope. Primarily because of his reactions.
"Wh- who the heck says I need protecting?!" He sputtered after his horrified pause. His eyes looked ready to pop from his head. "And babygirl?!??!?! Babygirl?!?!?! Excuse you! I'm no babyanything!! I'll be the one protecting you!! You jump at your own shadow and you're saying you'll be protecting me?!?! Are you kidding?! I hate you so much!!"
You laughed loudly. "Sorry, sorry. But it'd still be fun to watch something with ya if you're up to it." You followed up earnestly. "You know I just like spending time with you."
"Yeah, yeah." His embarassed scowl dropped, before turning his attention back to his food. "Whatever. You can come over."
You both ate in a strangely comfortable silence for a bit, then chatted over your drinks after you were done eating.
Finally, Battat rose. "So we payin and going or what?"
You nodded, and waved down the Pippins at the bar. They only wanted 30 points to cover both of your share of the cost of the pizza. 15 points per person, you guessed, as you handed them over.
They smiled, and waved you goodnight, as you and Battat left quieter than you came.
The walk to the elevators was relaxing, as was the ride up. You both were naturally quiet individuals, and while you did enjoy riling Battat up, silence between you both rarely felt awkward. It felt natural.
Now, TV world was something like... a really large building, surrounded by a near perpetual snowfall. Residential floors were sorted by Darkner types, with Tenna in the massive penthouse above everyone else. The lower floors were for stages, storage, costume and prop rooms, and one of the upper floors was also for news segments - Tenna's least favourite type of broadcast. But the large windows, and city skyline made for the perfect backdrop for late night news or talk shows. That was when the boss had you and Battat the busiest - since the sports segments were cancelled due to low viewership from the Holidays and Dreemurrs (hockey playing in the background of Christmas dinners, the kids enjoying the bloodsports that are hockey fights vanished overnight, golf and baseball ran their course quickly as the Dreemurr family fell apart), you now were often at the whim of whatever tasks Tenna needed that "Mike" would be too busy for. Any errands Mike couldn't attend to for one reason or another, you were the next in line to summoned. An extra assistant, basically. Without the double shifts. Knowing Battat's secret, it meant it was mostly you and Battat running past each other pretending you weren't close.
The Pippins floor was on the fifth floor - a long, old-fashioned hallway. A bit shoddier than the other residential halls, but nothing terrible. The wallpaper in the hallway was a bit cracked and a few stains lined the floor - you were certain if you submitted a refurbishing request to Mr. Tenna, he'd have it done the same night. But that thought required more care than you had in you, and none of the other Pippinses seemed to care. So nothing was done about it.
A lot of the Pippins shared rooms, decked out with cute bunkbeds and often they hosted room parties, but you knew Battat lived in his own room. As well as never attended these parties. He had confided in you about hating the idea of roommates, and preferring to be alone, but once in a while wished he'd have someone hang out with him. He seemed to get that wish when he befriended Pluey and Jongler, but you still frequently caught him moping by himself or worse - looking wrung out. Jong and Pluey also couldn't get him to stop being such a workaholic, you found, and Battat's stress had risen as he had to constantly keep them in the loop about the current Mike status - constantly comparing notes so they were all on the same or at least similar pages regarding dealing with their high-strung boss.
As you both quietly made your way down the hallway, your heart drummed in excitement. You prayed he couldn't hear it. Finally. You get to see your cute bastard friend's place.
He reached into his pockets and fished out his keys before unlocking the door. "Sorry if it's kinda messy," he mumbled. "Boss has me working double shifts a lot, you know how it is. Come home, microwave shitty food, sleep, and head downstairs or upstairs again." He smiled sheepishly at you before opening the door, and flicking on the lights.
It wasn't that messy, really, but you giggled anyway. "No messier than mine. No harm."
He snorted a bit before something came over him. Then he made a small embarassed huff.
"So, uh. I forgot my TV is in my bedroom. Do you care?"
"No." You hoped he couldn't hear your heart hammering. "That's fine."
"Cool, cool." He strutted towards his fridge and fished out two drinks. "Catch."
He tossed one to you, and you looked down at it as you caught it. "Oh my god. You are the best." You practically purr as you recognize one of your favourite drinks. "How'd you know?"
"W-what do you mean, 'how'd you know'?! I'd be a bad friend if I didn't pay attention to the same damn drink you get from the vending machines. Every. Day. I'm always paying attention!! - wait. No. Not like that, but. You get it!! Stop laughing!!"
He always sputtered like this whenever embarassed, which made you giggle more as you cracked open the large teal can.
"Yeah yeah yeah Batts! Heard it all before. So what movies you got?"
"Uhh. Let's find out. C'mon."
He leads you to his bedroom, before turning on the small television. It was a slightly older model of a flatscreen. Something Tenna used to seem aghast about before hanging them all over the walls of TV world. Sometimes, if you walked by them too fast, they'd flash smiles on their screens. You were certain it was meant to be cheeky, but good god it was creepy. Nobody dared tell the boss this.
"Ugh I have a lot." Battat flipped through his collection of DVDs. "What's your poison? Slasher, paranormal? Thriller?"
"Paranormal's fun. I also recently got into space horror," you added.
"No space horror. But I do have some good ghost flicks. I like anything that keeps me on my toes."
"Pick whatever one then," you sat down on his bed, surprisingly soft. How much was Mr. Tenna paying him that he could have such a nice bed?!
He looked at you, his resin face forming a weird expression. You thought to yourself that tonight, you didn't think you see his cheeks return to their normal colour once. He looked back down at his DVDs.
He picked one, finally, after seeming to weigh on his choices, and shoved it into the DVD player. He moved to turn off the lights, before he stopped.
"So. Um. How are we."
"I'll lay here, at the bottom of the bed," you playfully rolled to lay across the bottom of his bed. "I'll be like one of your french girls or something. But getting scared with you."
"You're unbearable. Worse than the boss, even. Maybe I shouldn't have called Plues to cover my shift," he laughed as he hopped onto his bed. "Get up here beside me. It's more comfortable. And I don't need to squirm to see past your fat head."
"MY fat head?!" You gasp, "your head is the same shape as mine, loser!"
"And you're on that losers bed. Now get up here."
You laughed and moved up beside him, only a few inches between you as you both laid on your backs.
Despite all of the banter, all of the teasing and "oh my god shut ups" exchanged, you felt comfortable beside him.
The movie had you both on edge, and thank god you tolerated Battat's commentary. He commented a lot. The man's brain never stopped rolling even when terrified. At one point he jumped closer to you - taken off guard by a jumpscare, only for you to hide your face in his shoulder several minutes later during a gnarly gorey scene. Maybe that was a little on purpose. Maybe.
And somehow, despite you both being scared out of your trees, neither of you remembered how you fell asleep, cheeks pressed into each other's, and tightly embracing. Sure, you were slightly overheated, but the green die's embrace was comfortable and warm.
Maybe he should let you in more often.
You'd avoid talk about the cuddling directly that week, but you'd catch his gaze lingering before he'd quickly look away. He often looked like he wanted to say more but would drop it.
One day, he caught you as you were heading to the elevator after a long shift.
His green, gloved hand caught your arm before you could press the button.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Do you... want to like... come watch another movie? I had fun with you last time." His eyes were glued to the wall, cheeks greener than a forest as he tried to avoid eye contact.
"Are you asking me or the wall, eh?" You nudge him with a small laugh.
"Oh my GOD shut up. I'll knock when I'm coming to get you so don't fall asleep," he sputtered before storming off.
In the back of your mind, you knew you were too thrilled to consider sleeping.