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Battat sipped at her coffee, slowly. She was trying to nonchalantly gaze over at the other darkners chatting amongst themselves at the Color Cafe, people watching.
Pluey was out of costume and messing around with some of the other Shadowguys, playfully trumpeting away. Battat rested her head on one hand, sighing and smiling at them. She was in costume, dressed as the dapper microphone persona she had designed. She technically didn't need to do it anymore, as TV World had come to an end, but she realised she did actually enjoy wearing it more than she cared to admit, though she wouldn't tell the other two that. (They probably knew.)
She was very happy that she'd met those two, and relieved that they'd managed to think of another way they could spend their times together as Mike. Tenna was getting given away soon, and she shuddered to think of the possibility of her being one of the only darkners actually able to turn to stone in castle town. As a failed loaded dice that could only perform Mike magic, having spent so much of her life dedicated to being *Tenna's Mike*, and nothing else, she couldn't easily fit in with the Pippinses anymore. And Jongler was a remote whose buttons barely functioned anymore. The Ploob streaming service had gone offline years ago, and even if it hadn't, Tenna hadn't been a smart TV and could never bring it up when they had tried, anyway. Pluey... well there was nothing unusual about Pluey, other than the fact that they were a dedicated fursuiter who loved nothing more than having a good excuse to wear it. Still, the mismatched trio had managed to find their new calling, running the Cat Petterz minigames in the Castle town arcade.
Even still though, she caught herself hoping she'd run into Tenna outside of the Mike room as Mike before he left. He still hadn't been to visit them yet, and she really wanted to see him. She had been casually hanging around in the cafe, the castle, the dojo, hoping she'd bump into him. Always looking around expectantly, as if she'd spot him already across the room, despite how glaringly obvious it'd be if he was indeed there. But going directly to his room to say goodbye felt a bit too - too much. A bit too personal, a bit too Real. She felt butterflies rising in her stomach as she considered it again, then pushed that thought down, but she was aware that she was running out of time.
Just then, a 12ft tall, bright red and besequined beanpole of a man walked in.
"TENNA!", Mike jumped up from his chair, almost knocking over his coffee. Embarrassing. "Tenna! So good to see ya, boss! How are ya feelin'? Want to chat to your old pal Mike?"
Tenna paused in his tracks suddenly, looking taken aback.
"O-oh, Mike! Fancy um,.... seeing you here!" He glanced around at all the other darkners, looking nervous, and dropped his voice to a sidemouthed whisper. "No time to chat, Mike. Not... not here. Not with all these people- ah! SWATCH, my good pal! Just a takeout coffee, please!" Tenna suddenly turned to Swatch as if Mike had become totally invisible to him, took his coffee, and briskly walked out.
Mike looked aghast, jaw dropped. What the hell was that!!!!! What the HELL was that!?!??!? Why was Tenna being so - so weird again!? Was he avoiding him after Mike left him during their fight yesterday? ....Was Tenna and Mike's relationship something they had to hide in public......??? And just what would that mean!! The people in castle town weren't....... homophobic, right? And its not like they definitely WERE together, as far as her research had shown. Battat wracked her head, even more confused than ever. She turned to Swatch and hurriedly purchased two cinnamon bunnys, a pastry she knew Tenna would adore, then grabbed them along with her coffee and stormed out.
That was it. She was going to Tenna's room to see what the fuck was going on.
She knocked on the door, and let herself in without being invited.
"Mike's here!!", he said cheerily, putting his huge grin back on. "I brought you a little somethin' somethin'. Since I spooked ya in the cafe earlier." He held out one of the cinnamon rolls, to which Tenna giggled with delight, wiggling his fingers and plucking it out of the microphone's hands.
"Ooh! Don't mind if I do, Mike!! Looks scrumptious!!" He polished it down in one single bite, "Yum!"
"Tenna, I, uh -", Mike stopped and took a small nibble of his own pastry, unsure of what to say.
"Oh! I am ever so sorry about that earlier, Mike. It was lovely seeing you but...... well I've just... I've never seen you leave the Mike room before!! Well, not for ages, anyway. But then, I thought I told you that time that I can't exactly be seen, y'know, interacting with you in front of people like that."
"I just... I just thought I needed to bump into ya and say bye before I lost the chance. And um - if ya don't mind me askin', since it was so long ago and all," (Battat had no memory of this ever happening,) "- mind reminding me why I can't speak to you in front of people?"
Tenna sighed and laughed weakly, "Oh, Mike. You know people already think I'm weird enough as it is! If people SAW me acting like that - well. Imagine!"
Battat was still just as confused, and squinted under the costume, trying desperately to understand what he was talking about. "Yeah, imagine......."
As Mike finished up his cinnamon roll, Lanino, Elnina, and a suspiciously shaped lamp entered the room. Tenna instantly tensed up again, sweating a little, and Battat could tell that Tenna's vision was flicking rapidly back and forth between Mike and the new arrivals. (Luckily, she knew that she was one of the only darkners who had learned Tenna's tells like that.)
Mike cleared his throat, knowing he needed to scram. "Well I better head off, you'll know where I'll be if ya need me! Bye, Tenna!", he stood up to leave.
Tenna gulped and put one finger to the side of his head, as if talking on the communicator, "Yes, good! Sure! That'll be all, Mike!" He lowered his finger as if signing off and perked up again, "Hi guys! How was the Dojo?"
Lanino and Elnina looked at each other, confused. "What was that about, boss? Mike's right there..." "Yeah, later, Mike!" They waved at him.
Tenna's smile instantly dropped. He crossed the room in one large stride and clapped the two of them on the shoulders, gripping them tightly, shaking. "Y..... you can see him?"
"Uhh.........."
All four of them stood stock still.
"What d'you mean, Boss?" Lanino awkwardly broke the silence.
"You're... you're messing with me. Please, please don't mess with me right now. You can see him? You can actually see him, too? You knew exactly where he was. You looked right at him!! How... how can this be happening, is this some sort of Castle town fountain thing?"
"We aren't messing with you, darling. We don't know what you- "
Mike finally spoke up, "Did you.... Tenna, didya not think I was real?"
"OF COURSE you're not real, Mike! You never have been, ever since - ..! I... I just made you in my own head! I just... I needed you and then, then there you were! But - Oh god, I really have lost it??" Tenna gripped the sides of his screen with both hands and laughed, manically, "I really have... this is it. I don't know what happened when I got damaged, but now I really, really have lost it."
Lanino and Elnina patted him on the sides soothingly, "There, there, Tenna!! It's fine, you haven't lost it, we've met Mike before!! We don't really know when he showed up, but we just assumed you'd hired him, look, he really is right here!" They gestured towards Mike who was still frozen.
Battat's head spun. It was all clicking into place now. There really was no Mike. There never was. At least nowhere in TV World. She really had just been larping as Tenna's imaginary friend, all this time.
Tenna turned to face him. "Then,... can I try to-" Tenna reached out a hand towards him shakily.
Battat breathed and put her smile back on. "Ey, I'm here, boss." Mike outstretched both his hands and took Tenna's shaking one into his own.
"You... really are real. I can touch you, speak to you, even with other people -" he choked up, starting to cry, overwhelmed, "Oh- Mike!!!" He pulled him into a strong hug, making Battat squeak. She hesitantly hugged back, and closed her eyes as she let herself fall into Tenna's embrace.
"So....", Mike coughed, "if you thought I wasn't real, how did you think all that stuff got done?"
Tenna laughed sheepishly, "Well... I wasn't really sure! I always knew my mind and my memory weren't always the best, so if it got done I just sort of accepted it! Maybe I was dissociating, maybe I just forgot who did it. Haha, I don't know!"
"What about when I brought things to ya, the coffees and such?"
Tenna shrugged, "Magic?"
Battat blinked. Everything she had ever thought about Tenna and Mike was true. Wow.
"Oh, but, if you're the real one, Mike... What about the other three of you? Are those ones just in my head?"
"Oh, no, the other two are real, too - wait, did you just say other three?- "
"More Mikes! Wowzers! Am I a lucky guy, or what?"
"So, is that why ya never questioned that we all looked different? Like you noticed but just never said anything?"
Tenna smiled back, annoyingly genuinely, "Yeah!"
Battat breathed again, "Wow. Okay."
"Hey, Mike -"
"Yea- "
Tenna whipped Mike up into his arms again, lifting him off the floor.
"If you are real, I can finally take you out somewhere!," a flower bloomed on the tip of his nose as he twirled him around, "I've always dreamed of being able to do that!"
"O-oh okay, y-yeah!" Battat was glad the majority of her deep, embarrassing blush was hidden by the costume. This night was going to be the death of her.
Tenna walked them back down to Color Cafe, bursting in the door, and lifting Mike up like a cat. "Look everyone, Mike's here!!!!" He exclaimed cheerily as Battat felt herself go red in the face.
They plonked themselves down at a table and Tenna ordered them some wine. He looked like he was on top of the moon. They spent the rest of the night sharing a very pleasant meal together, exchanging stories about times Mike had pulled something off, and how he'd done it. A day ago, Battat would have been mortified for any of her trade secrets to get back to Tenna like this, but he looked fascinated.
"Wow, what movie magic, huh! If I'd known, I would have had you on the show, proper, too! I just can't believe it... You really did do all that, for me?"
As the night wrapped up and they walked outside, Mike suddenly remembered, growing solemn. "Tenna... - doncha think its... its a shame? Only just now getting to hang out like this, when you gotta leave tomorrow? I mean... I'll never see ya again... and - "
Tenna stopped and looked down. He chuckled sadly. "Hey, it's okay. I'll probably just make another one! Haha. That was a joke." Tenna deflated a little.
Battat had the feeling it wasn't completely a joke and Tenna would definitely try to make another Mike.
"But, I'm glad I got to spend at least this night with you, Mike." He knelt on the floor to match their heights and took Mike's hand again. "You always were my favorite Mike. And this TV will always need his favorite Mike. I will see you again, someday." Tenna gently reached for the side of Mike's face, bringing him into a soft, deep kiss that conveyed all the years of never having gotten to do that. They remained like that for some time, though not long enough, as Tenna finally broke the kiss and whispered, "That's a TV promise, okay?"
"T- Tenna...." Mike's hand lingered on the side of Tenna's screen, he didn't want to let go of him.
Battat got back to the Mike room and removed her helmet to wipe the tears running from her eyes.
"Hey boss, you okays?" Jongler inquired as she rushed past them.
"Don't talk to me, okay? I - Just shut up -", she felt herself choke on a sob, "Look, its finished. We can get back to making the minigames now." She stood in front of the pinboard and sighed. She began wordlessly removing the pins one by one, taking down all the information she didn't need to look at anymore.
"Woah, did yer figure out who Mike is?"
"It was us, Jongler. It was always us. Now we just get to be... whatever we want, I guess?"
"Can I gets a different jacket, then? Or maybe Mike could wear a dress?"
She sighed again, smirking slightly and sniffling. "Yeah, sure. Why not."
She removed the last pin from the pinboard. A photo she had taken in the Mike room of Mike and Tenna, doing the iconic TV pose together, which she placed carefully in the drawer of her desk.
This really felt like the end of an era.