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♫ Meet me in the city - Lord Huron
Zedaph
There was a knock at the door.
Well, there would’ve been a knock at the door if his base had had a door.
Really, Impulse just walked in.
“Oh, Zedaph!” His partner sang joyously, practically skipping into the pyramid. “-I’m here with a proposal!”
The blonde raised an eyebrow from where he was studying a dispenser intently.
“A proposal, you say?” He asked, looking up to make eye contact as his partner peered over the edge of the sugarcane farm.
Seriously, why had he chosen to build it like this? The entire thing was a safety hazard.
He'd just had to be different, hadn't he?
The wood of the ladder was damp against his fingers as he propelled himself upwards, trying to ignore the excitement bubbling in his chest at the thought of Impulse in his base. It felt like they hadn’t seen each other in forever, what with the various contraptions and projects being constructed.
“Need a hand there, buddy?”
Zedaph chuckled appreciatively as a hand, scarred and strong, was held out to him.
He took it gratefully, grinning as he stepped over the brink of the farm and half fell, half jumped into Impulse’s outstretched arms.
The demon huffed a laugh at the close contact, placing a hand into the back of Zedaph’s curls as he held the man close.
“Been a while, huh?” His voice was soft and caring, and the sheep hybrid felt safer than he had in a long while wrapped in the man’s embrace. Seriously, the guy got stronger every time Zed saw him.
“M’ssed you.” He mumbled into Impulse’s shoulder, giggling as the man pulled away to press a feather-light kiss to his cheek, the press of his stubble tickled slightly but- well, he wasn't complaining.
“I missed you too.” He said quietly, “-I’m sorry I’ve been so busy.”
Zed brushed him off. “It’s no problem! We all have our own projects to see to-” He gestured around the base.
“-You may have noticed that I’ve been pretty busy myself.”
“Oh, boy-” Impulse grinned. “Have I? You and your hundreds of bases! You’re not exactly an easy man to track down, dude.”
It was a nice feeling, knowing his partner had been looking for him. Was that a slightly pathetic thing to be happy about? Maybe.
Zedaph wasn't overly bothered.
“Well…” He shrugged. “-Gotta keep you on your toes, y'know.”
They were fully apart now, and the scientist found himself instantly missing the warmth the contact had brought. Sure, they were in the desert, but- well, he’d always struggled with the cold, and the sun was setting now. Being a sheep hybrid without any wool wasn’t exactly ideal in situations like this.
“So!” He attempted to steer the conversation away from him sounding like some tragic damsel in distress, and more towards something productive, prompting himself to move away from Impulse and towards his farming chest where he intended to deposit the pocketfuls of sugarcane he'd just harvested.
“-What can I help you with, my friend?”
“Well…” Impulse’s voice had grown a couple of notches higher, and he began to bounce on the balls of his feet at the question.
“-You maay be aware of the civil war currently underway, and-” He spread his arms wide like a super villain in a movie.
“-We here at Team Star wanted to formally invite you to join the winning side!”
Zedaph froze where he was kneeling in front of the chest, one hand rising to hold the lid open as he turned to look up at Impulse.
“…Why?” He asked suspiciously. “-You guys have been fine without me up until now.”
Impulse fidgeted with his hands slightly, shoving them into the pockets of his jeans and then pulling them back out again.
“Well, I wanted you there from the start! But, honestly? We… need a scientist.”
The blonde resumed his organisation.
“So get Cub.”
There was a strangled cry of protest from the demon.
“We- want you! Tango- he's up to something, man! He and Grian are making some sort of terrifying defence mechanism for the G Team, and we could really do with your super-charged potions of awesomeness!”
“Oh, right.” Zedaph replied, trying very hard not to come across as ungrateful.
“-Listen, Impulse-”
“You don’t want to.” The man said simply, shoulders drooping in disappointment.
“No!” Zed insisted.
“-No, it’s not that. It’s just… y’know.” He put emphasis on the last word, hoping Impulse would cotton on, begging him silently to understand.
He didn’t.
“What?” The demon asked, tail wrapping around his leg slowly.
“I’m sorry.” Zedaph said quietly, trying his best to soften the blow.
He didn’t want to hurt Impulse. Hell, there wasn’t a single thing he wanted to do less. But he couldn’t do what his partner wanted him to do. He couldn’t.
“-But- you’d be better off asking Cub, really. I don’t do very well in conflict as it is, you know me-” He chuckled sadly.
“-I’m much happier out here by myself.”
Impulse tilted his head in confusion. “Zed, I- I don’t get it. Why don’t you wanna get involved? It’s not an actual war, you know that, yeah?”
“I-” He could feel heat rising in his cheeks now.
“-C’mon, man,” The sheep hybrid groaned. “-Don’t make me say it.”
“What? Say what?”
“-Don’t make me choose between you and Tango!”
Impulse laughed. “-It’s just a prank war, Zed! It doesn’t mean anything. He’s not going to break up with us over some ghast cannons and splash potions.”
Zedaph sighed as he shut the lid of the chest, back turned once more to his boyfriend.
He couldn’t do this.
“You think Tango hasn’t already been over to ask me the same thing?”
“Oh.” The brunette replied. “Oh, I get it. You’re already working with the G Team. That’s alright then.”
“No- Impulse, I mean, I’m- shit. I'm not working with either team!”
The demon scoffed at this, and Zedaph couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
“Sure.” Impulse said sarcastically.
“-The resident inventor of Hermitcraft isn’t getting involved with the server-wide prank war. Whatever you say, Zed.”
The sheep hybrid sighed at this, bringing two fingers up to the bridge of his nose and pinching it, hard. He could practically feel the oncoming headache forming behind his eyes.
“I mean it, Impulse.” He said sternly, returning to his (now pointless) rummaging.
“-Don't make me choose.”
“Why?” The man’s voice sounded cold and hurt for the first time since he’d arrived.
“-Cause you'll choose him?”
Zedaph whipped around at this, practically stumbling to his feet in an attempt to reply.
“No!” He cried. “-It's not like that! You know it’s not like that!”
“It’s fine.” The man said bluntly. “-Really, don’t worry about it, Zed. I hope you have fun playing spy.”
“Impulse-”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
The blonde ran over to the doorway, reaching out, desperate to convince his partner to stay.
But the man had already flown away, the momentum from his wings hitting Zedaph in the face like a monumental gust of wind, sending sand and dust far into the air.
Impulse left nothing but smoke fumes and the smell of sparks behind him.
The younger man could feel tears burning behind his eyes as he watched the last dust particles re-settle on his sandstone floor. Quietly, watching the sun set in the sky, Zedaph brought a hand to his mouth at the realisation of what had just happened.
Of what he’d just done.
“Shit.” He whispered into the night.