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Power. Peepers knew he had a lot of it. He had power back when he had worked with Hater, and he had plenty more of it now since splitting off. Being in charge of his own ship and his own empire of Watchdogs felt great. Though that left one thing he still didn’t have any power over. Wander. He had zero control over whatever that wandering weirdo did. So he especially didn’t have any control when he showed up to the Watchship.
“Sir!” One of the Watchdogs called from just outside of his room. “Wander’s here!” Now why in Grop’s name would he show up here? Probably either to congratulate him on the Empire, or make him apologize to Hater, or something stupid along those lines. Peepers sighed.
“Let him in,” he ordered. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Yes, sir!”
Peepers entered the main hallway of the ship, illuminated by the orange and yellow lights around him. The doors opened, and at the end of the hallway a familiar orange furry fellow could be seen. Wander’s eyes lit up when he saw him. The nomad smiled and waved. Peepers had to admit, it was kind of nice to see Wander again. He hadn’t spoken to many of the other Watchdogs on the ship unless he absolutely had to. He could use a little something to spice up his day. The ideal scenario would have been Hater coming to tell him he was wrong, and that Peepers was right, and that they should go back to doing villainy together. But unfortunately for him, that just wasn’t happening.
“Heya, C. Peeps!” Wander greeted him once they met in the middle of the hall. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“What are you doing here?” Peepers asked him, grabbing him by the shoulder. As much as he’d like to think he was intimidating Wander at least a little bit, if you have to stand on your toes to look your enemy in the eye, who are you scaring, really? Besides, this was Wander, he wasn’t even scared of Hater.
“Well, I jus–” Wander was cut off by Peepers dragging him down the hall by the wrist.
“You know what? Let’s go somewhere else,” Peepers told him.
“Oh, okay!” Was Wander’s chipper reply, letting Peepers take him wherever. He kept silent until they reached what appeared to be Peepers’ own room. Speaking of which, he had been softly muttering to himself the entire way there. Peepers then pushed Wander inside before promptly shutting and locking the door behind him.
“Now…” Peepers turned back to Wander. “Let me reiterate from before: What in Grop’s name are you doing here?!”
“Well, I just wanted to stop by and check on ya!”
“Check on me? You do know you don’t have to keep up with this deal of ours anymore, do you?”
“Doesn’t mean I still can’t drop in every now and again!” Wander replied, shrugging. “Besides! The deal was I just wouldn’t interfere with invasions, which would include yours, not just Hatey’s.”
“You just want to keep going with this whole ‘dating’ plan, don’t you?” Peepers sighed.
“A lil’ bit.” Wander nodded.
“Fine,” Peepers concurred. “From here out, I don’t care what you do. I won’t stop you.” He can’t stop him, but he wasn’t admitting that part.
“See, I knew there was a part of you that didn’t completely hate me!” Wander’s smile was almost as bright as the sun.
“Yeah? Well, don’t get used to it,” Peepers told him, crossing his arms.
“That’s not the only thing I wanted to talk about, though,” said Wander, looking down at the floor. He looked back at Peepers. “Thing is, I don’t think I can keep stoppin’ by as often as I have.”
“Oh.” Peepers should be overjoyed. Wander was going to stay away for longer. Why wasn’t he more excited about this?
“Yeah. Truth is, your ship takes a whole lot longer to find and sneak onto. It’s harder to make consistent trips.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry about this, Peeps, I really am,” Wander apologized. “I really like spending time with ya and all.”
“It’s fine, Wander, I get it.” Was Peepers actually disappointed about this? Neither of them looked at each other. Different parts of the floor were definitely just more interesting than looking Wander in the eye. Yeah, that was it. No other reason.
“I figured I’d at the very least tell ya this in person. Didn’t wanna seem like a bad boyfriend or anything, if ya still even wanna call me that.”
“Look, I can’t believe that I’m even suggesting this, but if you care this much, maybe you could stay.”
“You’d do that?” Wander perked up at the suggestion.
“As more of a ‘prisoner’ situation to not raise any sort of suspicion, but yes. Though I’d make sure the Watchdogs left you be.”
“Aw, that’s real nice of you, C. Peeps!” Wander took hold of Peepers’ hand in both of his own. Peepers had to finally look up and acknowledge him properly. Great. “But I don’t think I could do that. Syl would be real worried about me, and I don’t wanna give her or you any trouble.”
“You’re right.” Peepers slipped his hand out of Wander’s. “Sylvia would absolutely tear through the place, especially since she still doesn’t know about the whole ‘dating’ thing.” Wander’s eyes lit up at that second part.
“...You still wanna do that?”
“You said it yourself, the deal technically hasn’t broken yet.”
“I never said ya still had to agree to it, though!”
“I’ll admit it–and don’t tell anyone else that I said this, okay–but I kind of liked all those outings we had. Gave me something to do that wasn’t work. I’ve heard how the Watchdogs talk about me and my work when they think I can’t hear.” Peepers kept his voice low, just to be absolutely certain that no one else but Wander heard. If anyone else did, he was sure he wouldn’t hear the end of it. They couldn’t have their leader falling head over his heels for his enemy, now could they? (Forget about the Watchdogs who were sure they were actually dating, even if their whole little situation got exposed to the entire Skullship. No matter. Their opinions didn’t matter. It most certainly wasn’t fact. He just didn’t want any more Watchdogs to believe it.)
“Ya really mean it?!” Wander’s eyes were practically sparkling at this point, and it was obvious he was holding back a squeal of excitement. Peepers tried to shush him, paranoid that at least one of the Watchdogs would hear.
“Yeah. I–” He was cut off by Wander hugging him tightly, keeping him so close that Peepers couldn’t even keep his feet on the ground. He stumbled a moment when Wander set him back down. He was so caught off guard he had actually forgotten what he was going to say.
“I have an idea!” Wander told him. He took off his hat and started digging around, pulling out a pen and paper. “We could always keep in touch, and write to each other! Kinda like a pen-pal situation, but with a buddy that’s just a little more than a pal!”
“I think the term you’re looking for is ‘long-distance relationship.’”
“Yeah, that!”
“You also realize you can just text, right? That might be faster.”
“Oh, right!” Wander dug in the hat again, pulling out a phone. Wander typed something and soon there was a ping on Peepers’ own device. Upon checking it, he saw a simple “hi! :D” message from Wander.
“How did you even…?”
“Lucky guess!”
“That’s impossible, Wander. Do you have any idea how many number combinations there are? How could you have possibly guessed mine?!”
“This is so exciting!” Wander clearly avoided the question. “Now I can stay close with one of my favorite people in the galaxy!”
“Do I really mean that much to you?”
“Of course ya do! You, Hater, and Sylvia are my buddies!”
“I can’t even tell you we’re not buddies this time,” Peepers sighed.
“Nope!”
‘One of his favorite people,’ huh? Peepers couldn’t tell if he should be surprised or not that Wander held him in such a high regard. Though it kind of made sense to him. Wander never viewed him and Hater as enemies. He had always considered them his “buddies,” no matter how much they insisted otherwise. Come to think of it, at this point, did Peepers even have a reason to see them as enemies? Before, with Hater, Peepers had always chased Wander to get him to stop interfering with Hater’s plans. However, now, Peepers was on his own. Wander could ruin Hater’s plans all he wanted. Additionally, Wander had agreed not to mess with Peepers as well, so was he really a threat to his empire now?
Does this mean that if Peepers really wanted to, he could agree to date Wander for real? Were his subordinates right in believing their boss was truly head over heels? It was absurd, that’s for sure, but flap-drassit it was the truth, whether Peepers liked it or not. He noticed Wander walk past him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“Well, I better get goin’,” Wander told him. “Sylvia and I got a big day of adventurin’ and helpin’ folks, and I don’t wanna keep her waiting. This ended up bein’ a really nice chat though, Peepers, thank you.”
“Yeah, sure.” So this was it, huh? He was about to let Wander go, and it would be Grop knows how long until he saw him again. Maybe he could finish off their talk with one last confession… “Wander, wait.”
Wander turned to face him again. “Everythin’ alright?” he asked.
“Yeah, but just one more thing before you go.” Peepers put both his hands on Wander’s shoulders, looking into those soft blue and green eyes. He stopped himself. He couldn’t do this. He was an evil overlord for Grop’s sake! He wasn’t supposed to be caught with this wandering weirdo! What kind of villain would he be if he was seriously dating the goodiest do-gooder in the galaxy? “...Take care, alright?” he finally told him.
“Aw, you too, C. Peeps!” Wander gave him one last smile before he left. Peepers assured him that a Watchdog would show him the way out before shutting the door again. He waited a few seconds for them to leave before falling back onto his bed and screaming all his emotions out into the nearest pillow.
Once that was properly managed, he sat up again. How could he have been so foolish, and let himself get caught up in his emotions? That was a dangerous line he was walking just now. Was he seriously about to flarping kiss the guy?! Had he lost his flarf-narbling marbles?! Most likely. But another part of him knew he could have very well blown it with Wander just now. He let something he might actually care about go. Again. First, it was leaving Hater, and now it was Wander leaving him. Was he just not supposed to get close to anyone ever? Was he destined to always be alone, a cost to pay for having all the power he wanted?
That was the catch, wasn’t it? Sure, he had all the military power he could ever ask for, but there was one thing he would never, ever, have control over.
Wander.
Oh, how he felt so powerless compared to that wandering weirdo. He could order the Watchdogs. He could (sometimes) order Hater. But he just couldn’t keep Wander in his grasp. He was finally falling for him, and it was all his fault. Peepers has been left with a choice: throw his whole life and everything he’s worked for away for this wandering do-gooder, or completely forget about the thought of ever loving someone. Both options sounded miserable.
You win again, Wander.
Thanks to you, nothing has ever been the same.
He could push aside all his thoughts about Wander, but it would never change how powerless he is against his feelings for him.