Work Text:
The Showgrounds were quiet, too quiet. Every room in the castle was accompanied by complete darkness, except for one. A dim light shone from an electronic device, displaying what seemed to be a green frog, a hairless teacher and four other multicoloured characters. The light cast over a figure furiously pressing keys on a keyboard.
From what could be seen, the figure was dressed in their signature blue and white outfit; it was SMG4. However, he appeared extremely dishevelled: his hair was messy, his clothes were creased, and he'd developed large bags under his eyes due to lack of sleep. SMG4 was leaning so far forward in his chair that his face might as well have been pushed against the computer screen.
SMG4 had locked himself in his room once again, creating endless amounts of content. No one had seen SMG4 in a while. They tried to invite him to hang out, but he was impossible to pry away from his computer. Luckily, he wasn't anywhere close to committing another "It's Gotta Be Perfect" incident, but it was clear that he wasn't taking proper care of himself.
As time passed, SMG4's behaviour grew increasingly unstable. The typing turned more erratic, and the clicking sounds became almost deafening. The pressure and tension of the situation were evident on SMG4's face and through his actions. He had become entirely absorbed in his content creation.
Until everything was consumed by complete darkness.
All movement and sound came to a halt as SMG4 froze. It took him a minute to process that his computer had crashed, likely losing a good couple hours of his hard work.
"GODDAMMIT!" SMG4 shouted, harshly slamming his fists down on the keyboard.
"Geez, overreaction much?"
SMG4 snapped his head around so fast that he almost gave himself whiplash. The room was still dark, but due to the light from the now-opened doors, he could make out SMG3 leaning against the doorframe.
"Three? How the hell did you get in my room? I thought I locked the door!" SMG4 exclaimed.
"Come on Four, you do remember I'm a former villain, right?" SMG3 then flicked something towards SMG4, hitting him in the head.
"You think I wouldn't know how to pick a lock?" SMG3 laughed. SMG4 picked up the item that SMG3 threw at him from the floor. From what he could see, it looked to be a bent paper clip. He then looked at SMG3 with an annoyed expression, clearly bothered by this presence.
"What do you want? SMG4 asked coldly, turning back around. SMG3's expression shifted from a cocky smirk to a stern frown in seconds.
"What do I want? Your friends are worried sick about you man! How have you not realised?" SMG3 stated seriously. SMG4 twitched out of his irritated state for a second but stood firm.
"Why do you care?" SMG4 hissed.
"I don't, but I also don't want you to go crazy and try to kill everyone again!" SMG3 claimed, raising his voice. SMG4 froze in a state of shock; he wasn't expecting SMG3 to mention the incident that contributed to the castle's existence, and he was livid about it.
"YOU CAN'T JUST BRING THAT UP LIKE IT DIDN'T AFFECT ME, THAT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN THREE!" SMG4 yelled, turning around and letting all the anger that had built up from his isolation spill out.
"OH YEAH? I FIND THAT VERY HARD TO BELIEVE, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU EVEN LEFT YOUR ROOM?" SMG3 argued back.
"Well, I-... uh..." SMG4 was prepared to fight back but went quiet fast when he realised that he couldn't remember anything from the past few days that didn't involve him working on his computer.
"EXACTLY AND THAT SITUATION DIDN'T JUST AFFECT YOU Y'KNOW" SMG3 shouted, turning away from SMG4. SMG4 was quickly flooded with guilt when he understood that he had made a mistake by selfishly arguing with SMG3.
"I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that" SMG4 apologised. SMG3 turned to look back at SMG4; from the expression on his face, he could tell that he was truly being genuine.
"It's fine, but you need to understand how unhealthy this is. People care about you" SMG3 exclaimed. SMG4 was shocked by SMG3's uncharacteristic kindness, yet pleasantly surprised. SMG4 felt himself wanting to heed to his advice, but his extreme stubbornness held him back.
"I know, I know, but my computer just crashed, and I was so close to finishing my fourth video" SMG4 sighed.
"You've made three videos in five days? Dude, you should really take a break" SMG3 strongly advised.
"Ok, I just want to check if any of my progress saved" SMG4 said, going back to working on his computer. SMG3 groaned; he realised he hadn't fully gotten to SMG4. While he was distracted, SMG3 walked over to the wall and unplugged the cable connected to the computer.
"Wait, what hap-" Before SMG4 could finish his sentence, SMG3 gripped his wrist and pulled him out of his seat.
"WOAH! Three, what the hell are you doing?" SMG4 yelped.
"Getting you away from that computer, by getting you to help me clean my cafe" SMG3 replied, slamming doors so hard that he almost ripped them off their hinges.
"Seriously? You dragged me away from my work just to do your dirty work f-" SMG4 stopped complaining as he and SMG3 made it outside. The cold night breeze hit him like a slap in the face. The change in the environment he'd grown accustomed to completely stunned him, causing him to stumble over. Luckily, SMG3 managed to catch him in his arms before he hit the floor. The two stared at each other for a moment, the only sounds being the hums of the wind.
"God, you look worse than I thought" SMG3 laughed, quickly returning to guide SMG4 to the cafe by his arm. The night sky impaired SMG4's vision enough that he failed to notice the blush on SMG3's face.
"Hey! That's a bit harsh dude!" SMG4 complained. SMG3 didn't respond as he opened the door to his cafe and basically shoved SMG4 inside. SMG4 hissed and covered his eyes, the bright cafe lights blinding his already sore eyes.
"Oh, don't be such a baby" SMG3 rolled his eyes as he went to grab something. He returned to SMG4 with a mop in his hand.
"You start with the floor, I'll do the dishes" SMG3 stated, holding out the mop.
"Y'know this wasn't exactly my idea of a 'break' " SMG4 smirked.
"Shut up and do as you're told" SMG3 said coldly, glaring at SMG4. If looks could kill, SMG4 would be dead by now. That got him to stop complaining and start mopping.
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It took a gruelling two hours, but SMG3 and SMG4 eventually got the cafe looking spotless.
"Thank god I don't have to do this tomorrow" SMG3 said, stretching his arms. SMG4 was leaning against the countertop, letting a hand slide down his face.
"Well, now that that's done, I'm going back to the castle" SMG4 sighed as he began walking to the cafe door. Suddenly, he was forced backwards by his arm. He turned to see that SMG3 had a hold of his wrist again.
"Oh no you don't, you're staying here tonight" SMG3 said, trying to get SMG4 to follow him. SMG4 attempted to worm his way out of SMG3's grasp. He tried pulling his arms away, but it seemed that the sleep deprivation had finally kicked in. His limbs were so weak that SMG3 grabbed his other wrist and turned him around with no effort.
"Dude, what are you doing?" SMG3 asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Come on Three, can I just go home?" SMG4 struggled.
"No way, you're just gonna go back to being a shut-in on your computer" SMG3 replied as he guided SMG4 to the elevator. SMG4 didn't argue with that cause he knew he wasn't wrong.
"But Three, I don't have clothes or anything with me" SMG4 protested.
"You can just borrow my old clothes I don't care about" SMG3 dismissed. SMG4 stopped talking at that point, knowing SMG3 was just as headstrong as he was and apparently had an answer for everything. The two finally made it to the elevator and headed down to SMG3's room.
As they entered the room, SMG4 saw that Eggdog was already asleep and probably had been before he got there. By then, SMG3 was searching through his wardrobe. He walked back with some clothes and handed them to SMG4.
"Here, you can use these as pyjamas" SMG3 then practically shoved them into the other man's arms.
"Now go take a shower, you smell like shit" SMG3 stated.
"Charming" SMG4 rolled his eyes as he headed to the bathroom. As he turned around from locking the door, he noticed himself in the mirror. He hadn't looked in a mirror since the start of his content grind, seeing his reflection made him realise how terrible he looked. SMG4 began feeling repentant again; it's no wonder everyone was so worried about him.
He quickly shook his head, pulling himself out of his trance. He then had his first proper shower in who knows how long. Afterwards, he dried himself and put on the baggy t-shirt and shorts SMG3 gave him. He observed how much better he looked just from the shower alone; he still looked exhausted, but at least he didn't look like a rotting corpse. Lastly, he brushed his teeth before exiting the bathroom. (He used SMG3's toothbrush but we're not gonna tell him that 😉)
When he returned to the bedroom, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw SMG3. The man was shirtless, wearing bomb-patterned pants; he was clearly in the middle of getting changed. The two stared at each other, blushing heavily, before SMG3 put on a white tank top and grabbed his regular clothes.
"I'm going to brush my teeth" SMG3 blurted out before speed walking to the bathroom, still blushing. SMG4 went and stumbled onto the bed, feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He quickly sat up as SMG3 returned, standing in front of him with his arms crossed.
"Alright, time to get some rest" SMG3 instructed.
"Why? I'm not even tired" SMG4 yawned.
"Do you think I'm stupid? People could assume I punched you with how dark your eye bags are" SMG3 exclaimed.
"Plus, why would I bring you here otherwise?" SMG3 said.
"Because you wanna hang out with me~" SMG4 teased.
"W-What? I don't wanna hang out with a loser like you" SMG3 stuttered out as he turned away, blushing.
"Yeah, you do~" SMG4 continued. Although flustered, this gave SMG3 an idea since he knew SMG4 was too stubborn to admit he needed a break.
"You got me, of course I wanna hang with you SMG4" SMG3 said sarcastically. "Here, I'll put something on for us to watch"
"See, I knew you had a soft side~" SMG4 giggled.
"Just shut up and watch the show, idiot!" SMG3 demanded. They decided to watch the new season of Stranger Things that had just recently released on SMG3's laptop. (It's ironic because both of them are ending fml 😭)
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SMG4 managed to get 45 minutes into the first episode before falling asleep. Since he was sitting up, he slumped onto SMG3, his head resting on his shoulder. SMG3 blushed as he felt SMG4's body rise and fall with his breathing. As the episode ended, SMG3 turned off his laptop and lightly shook SMG4 awake.
"Alright Four, time to go to sleep" SMG3 felt like he was talking to Eggdog in that moment.
"I'm fine Three, I don't need sleep" SMG4 murmured. At this point, SMG3 was tired of SMG4's stubbornness and decided to take matters into his own hands. He swiftly pinned SMG4 to the bed and pulled him under the covers as the other man attempted to fight him off; however, there was no competition. SMG3 blushed once again when he realised the position they were in and quickly got off of him, sitting at the edge of the bed.
"Ok, you can stay in the bed, I'll go find somewhere else to sleep" SMG3 explained.
"Wait!" SMG4 uttered out, grabbing SMG3's hand as he was about to stand up.
"Can you stay here? Please?" SMG4 mumbled. SMG3 could have easily released himself from SMG4's grip and walked away. But he didn't. Instead, he climbed into bed with SMG4. Before he could move anymore, SMG4 wrapped his arms around his waist and lay his head in the crook of his neck, cuddling him.
"Thanks" SMG4 whispered as he drifted back off to sleep. SMG3 was frozen in shock for a moment; he definitely wasn't expecting his night to go like this. But, he slowly mimicked SMG4's actions, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in his hair to hide his blush.
SMG3 tried his best not to freak out and wake up SMG4. He felt himself enjoying SMG4's touch and the warmth of his body. They hadn't been this close since the i-
SMG3 quickly slapped himself out of his thoughts, somehow not waking up SMG4. SMG3 looked down at him, sleeping peacefully in his arms, which made him relax. He loosened up as his vision slowly faded to black.
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SMG3 slowly opened his eyes; he felt well-rested, though his body felt heavy. That's when he heard light, gentle snores. He looked down to see SMG4, who was still cuddled up against him. SMG3 smiled softly, hugging the other man slightly tighter. SMG3 then looked up at his digital clock to check the time.
"08:00"
He quietly groaned, he didn't want to get up and leave SMG4, but he had to open the cafe in 30 minutes or his customers were gonna cause chaos. He gently pryed himself away from SMG4's grasp and stood up. SMG4 stirred for a moment but didn't wake up, which made SMG3 breathe a sigh of relief. He started getting ready for the day, quickly getting dressed in the bathroom and waking up Eggdog.
He was about to leave before he turned back to look at SMG4. He walked over to the bed, SMG4 was still in a deep sleep. SMG3 softly stroked his face before placing a light kiss on his forehead. Realising what he had done, SMG3 rushed to the elevator and entered it with Eggdog. As the door closed, he covered his red face with his hands in complete embarrassment.
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The cafe had been open for a while now, a stack of dirty dishes was piled next to the sink. SMG3 had just finished serving a long line of customers, handing the last one their coffee. As they walked away, SMG3 heard a door open behind him. He turned around to see SMG4, yawning as he stretched. He was back in his regular clothes, which disappointed him immensely.
"Good afternoon, sleepyhead" SMG3 smirked.
"Wait, it's afternoon already?" SMG4 asked, surprised.
"Yeah dude, it's half one already, you slept for like half a day" SMG3 replied.
"Geez, I must have been really tired" SMG4 said.
"Yeah, no kidding, I was hoping you'd still be asleep so I wouldn't have to listen to your annoying voice" SMG3 scoffed.
"Thanks, man" SMG4 rolled his eyes while smiling.
"Anyways, do you want a coffee? It's on the house~ just don't tell them I said that" SMG3 asked temptingly, whispering the last part while pointing at the customers.
"Yeah sure, I'll just have a latte, please" SMG4 giggled.
"You got it chief" SMG3 said, walking away from SMG4.
"Uhh... Three?" SMG4 called out hesitantly.
"Yeah?" SMG3 asked, turning around. Before he could react, SMG4 wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Thank you, I don't know when I would have left my room if you hadn't dragged me out, sorry if I was being difficult last night" SMG4 proclaimed. SMG3 was stunned but hesitantly returned the hug.
"Don't mention it man, it's fine" SMG3 stammered. SMG4 moved back from the hug and let his hands cup SMG3's cheeks. He noticed the blush on SMG3's face and smiled softly. In one swift motion, he captured the other man's lips in a kiss. That was definitely the biggest shock in the last 24 hours for SMG3.
He memorised the feeling of SMG4's gentle touch and his soft lips. He didn't know if any of the customers were watching, and he didn't even care. Before he could gain enough sense to kiss him back, SMG4 pulled away. He smiled until he noticed SMG3's shocked expression and instantly turned bright red.
"I-I'M SORRY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME!" SMG4 stammered flusteredly. SMG3 was about to say something before SMG4 ran towards the cafe door. As he made his way there, Meggy and Mario began to enter the cafe.
"COMING THROUGH!" SMG4 shouted, running right past Meggy and Mario.
"Woah... wait, was that SMG4?" Meggy asked, surprised. However, Meggy had another question on her mind.
"Why is he running? That's odd"
"Mario thinks he's gone coo coo crazy" Mario exclaimed, twirling his fingers next to his head.
SMG3 was still standing behind the counter in pure disbelief. He brought his hand up to his face, letting his fingers trace his lips. He couldn't believe that just happened.
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SMG4 had returned to the castle, but he wasn't in his room. Instead, he was in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal. He was deep in thought about the events that had occurred. He groaned as he thought about the kiss. He shocked himself and felt stupid for scaring SMG3 like that. He was definitely gonna have some choice words for him later.
He was brought out of his thoughts as Meggy and Mario entered the kitchen. Mario happily waved at him as Meggy smiled while carrying a tray of coffees. Saiko, Bob and Melony followed behind them, eagerly chatting to each other. SMG4 smiled, he realised that his night with SMG3 had taught him something important.
"It's ok to take a break when you need it”