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The sun was setting in blim city, although it was hard to tell with the mass amount of storm clouds blocking the sky. The rain fell heavily on the roof, you could hear the water rhythmically dripping from the gutter. All while small bursts of thunder rumbling in the distance…
It was annoying. And distracting.
Knifey didn’t even notice it was his turn.
“KNIFEY! Dude it’s your turn!”, sweezy snapped, trying to get his attention.
“Huh?? Oh…”, knifey focused back on the group, cards scattered across the bounty hunters bed. “Anyone…have any 6s?”
“I think you’re supposed to ask just one of us, buddy”. Gus corrected, being the only one who could pick up his cards and hide it from everyone else
“Ugh, whatever! I don’t fuckin know…Kenny? You gotta 6 or some shit??, knifey turned towards Kenny with an annoyed expression. Kenny used his antenna to fumble his cards around, slowly looking through them, testing what little patience knifey had even more.
“…no, I don’t have one, go fish”, Kenny finally said. Knifey let out an aggravated sigh. Stretching out his tether, he placed the blade on top of the card stack. Gus tried to offer to help
“You need me to get that for you-“
“I GOT it”, knifey snapped, obviously struggling but not wanting to admit it. After too many failed attempts, knifey finally got fed up. He slammed his blade through the rest of the cards. Flinging them up in the air as he retracted his tether back into his head. “I win”, knifey mumbled, still having a grumpy look on his face.
“Hey, that lasted longer than last time! I told you guys card night was a good idea!”, Creature said proudly. Knifey rolled his eyes, he couldn’t remember why he even agreed to hang out with these losers. Anything that didn’t involve killing or stabbing it just seemed like a waste of time.
The door opened, as Lizzie barged in with the bounty hunter, holding a small purple dog bed.
“Sorry to uh…interrupt whatever this is…”, Lizzie said, glancing around the room with stabbed cards scattered across it. “But we got knifey a new bed”, she gestured over to the bounty hunter, holding up the small dog bed meant for knifey.
“Fucking FINALLY!” Knifey said, exhausted by all the social interactions he’s been forced to do. “I got tired of sleeping on tha fuckin desk! I deserve comfort!”
“Didn’t you rip up your last one?”. Sweezy asked, with a snarky expression. Knifey shot her a dirty look. It wasn’t his fault he tossed and turned in his sleep, and just so happened to rip a giant hole in his last one.
“You guys are always focused on the past! This is why Kenny doesn't like any of you”
“H-HEY! I never said that!”, Kenny exclaimed . But nobody seemed to pay attention to his protest
“Sweezy does have a point, you DID rip up your last one”, Lizzie insisted. She interrupted Knifey before he could start to complain again, “so that’s why I got you one of these too…”. Reaching into her pocket, Lizzie pulled out what looked like a blue nightcap.
“…what that fuck is that thing?”. Knifey knew what it was, he just didn’t want to believe it was for him
“It’s a sheath! I got one that looks like a little sleeping hat…you know, so it doesn’t feel like you're being forced to wear one…”. Lizzie held it up in front of him. Knifey made a disgruntled face
“But you ARE making me wear this”
“Well, we have to do SOMETHING to keep you from tearing it up. Hold till.”. Despite Knifey's negative response, Lizzie forced the novelty sheath on his head.
“See, that’s not so bad, right?”
Knifey’s face sunk into a miserable expression. He could hear the quiet snickering from the other guns. Even the bounty hunter turned away to stifle their laughter. It made him growl in anger, but it was hard to be intimidating with a funny hat on. Kenny was the only one trying to say something positive
“I think it uh…looks good!” He meant to say sincerely, but knifey was not in the mood to appreciate it. All he could muster in response was a frustrated grumble. Which made Kenny sunk down in the awkward situation he put himself in.
“Whatever…”, Knifey finally mumbled. “I’m done with this stupid fuckin game”
He squirmed his body off of the bed, landing upright, swaying a little trying not to fall.
“And get this shit off me!”
Lizzie bent down and plucked the sheath off his head.
“Your still wearing it while you sleep”
Knifey didn’t respond. He just angrily wobbled to the closest, the bottom half covered in scratches from using his blade to open the bifold doors, and closing it behind him as hard as he could(which wasn’t very hard at all)
“Guys…”, Creature whispered loudly, “ I didn’t want to say it earlier…but I think knifey DOESN'T like game night…”
“Now don’t worry about him, creature. He’s always going to be like that if all he wants to do is stab things”, Gus commented, rolling his eyes. Something about what he said didn’t sit right with Kenny. It made him want to speak up.
“I think that might be a little unfair…he’s trying his best”
“Look I love the guy, he’s like the only other cool person here…”, Sweezy replied. “But you gotta admit he’s a little…you know…focused on one thing.”
“We all do it! I don’t know why you have to judge him for it!”
“Why do you even care? Since when were you and knifey even friends??”
Kenny didn’t know why he wanted to defend him all of the sudden. Maybe he was projecting too much of his own feelings onto knifey. Maybe it was because he never made him feel bad about the mistakes he’s made. Although it's not like they were super close because of it.
“We’re all kinda friends…aren’t we?” The awkward silence that followed made Kenny regret saying that
“Ok ok…MAYBE it was a little “uncool” of me to say that…” Gus admitted. “Lets just forget about it ok? It’s getting late, and I don’t wanna bring this to bed with me.”
He scooted off the bed, using his hands to crawl towards the door
“So is anybody going to clean up all these cards?” Lizzie asked
“Don’t worry, I got it covered!” Creature replied, “bounty hunter, can you pick up these cards, pretty please? Thank you!” The bounty hunter sighed as they bent down to gather the ripped up cards scattered everywhere.
“Yeah I’m gonna go too…” Sweezy said, “Lizzie, come carry me”
“Why do I have to carry you?”
“Because I don’t know what’s been on the bounty hunters floor! Now pick me up!”
Begrudgingly, Lizzie picked up sweezy, carrying her out of the room. Kenny shifted uncomfortably, with the creature being the only other Gatlian left on the bed for him to talk to. He didn’t talk to him much, not that he didn’t like creature, talking to him just always made him a little sad…
“I thought it was pretty cool to stick up for your friend Kenny…I’m sure knifey would appreciate it”, creature gave him a warm smile. Kenny smiled back at him, but he was still unsure. Knifey was still in the closet, the thought of him hearing Kenny fail to really defend him was embarrassing. He tried to shake off that feeling and forget about it…maybe he could talk to him tomorrow. Better than to bother him now
—————————————————————————
Night rolled around, everyone went to their respective corners of the house to sleep. Gene slept on the same couch he always slept on(might as well be attached to it at this point) with lezduit beside him. Sweezy laid on her own separate recliner, with a small blanket and sleep mask over her eyes. She had very specific requirements to fall asleep, unlike creature who would just plop down wherever in the kitchen, usually in a corner. “The cold tile helps me sleep.” He would say.
Gus was less picky about where he slept. Curled up with his favorite blanket was all he needed. Lizzie's room was off limits for any gatlians, after some incidents involving torn clothes and chewed up limited edition CDs, so her room was always locked. And as for Kenny, he always slept close to the bounty hunter. He never said why he had this habit, but it was most likely it gave him a sense of comfort.
Knifey however, liked to be alone while he slept. That’s what he would tell everyone. He whined for his own little sleeping corner, until they finally got him a little dog bed to sleep on. It wasn’t much but Knifey was happy to be gifted anything really. Unfortunately this time around he had to wear a stupid sheath.
Knifey already had a hard time sleeping at night, but this night was especially difficult. The cloth rubbing against his blade felt very uncomfortable, causing him to squirm and move around more than he usually did while sleeping. Eventually, in the middle of the night, knifey awoke to pitch blackness, facing up to see a blank ceiling. He could hear the rain that was STILL going, tapping against the roof continuously.
God dammit…
Knifey let out a quiet, irritated grumble, then tried rolling over to his side to see if he could fall back asleep. Nope.
He tried rolling to his other side. Didn’t work either. It took so much energy to just move in general for him, the kind of energy he didn’t have right now. He flopped back to his original position. Too tired to move, but too restless to sleep.
He began to grind his teeth together. This made him want to scream. He wanted it to be so loud, it made everyone wake up and not be able to sleep for the rest of the night. That way they could all suffer together.
…But he couldn’t. There was no point really. Nobody would probably pay attention to him anyway. Just like nobody checked on him after he stormed into the closet.
Closing his eyes tight, knifey tried to imagine all the violence and stabbing he’d get to do tomorrow morning, to make himself feel better. That’s when he heard shuffling around the room, sounding like something was moving towards him. He peaked out of one of his eyes, still facing the pitch black ceiling, but with a faint green glow out of the corner of his eye.
“Knifey? Are you still awake?”
Knifey lifted up his head to see Kenny, at the edge of his little bed. He had forgotten that the guns were bioluminescent, the green circles on the side of his barrel having a dim glow. Not enough to see far, but enough to see Kenny’s face.
“Yeah, so? Why tha hell are you even up this late?” Knifey whispered harshly. Although he did wish for somebody to have as hard of a time sleeping tonight as him, he didn’t expect for them to bother him like this.
“I couldn’t sleep either…”, Kenny whispered, “bounty hunter has been snoring a lot lately…thought maybe a walk would help.”
“Or...crawl…heh heh”, Kenny’s attempt at humor wasn’t appreciated by knifey. He was already having a bad night, and he had no energy to give Kenny a pity response. Kenny directed his attention to the window right above Knifey’s bed, swinging the rain droplets on the top racing down to the bottom.
“I always liked the rain…kinda reminds me of home, you know?”
“Oh my god he’s still fuckin talking”, knifey thought. Grinding his teeth again until he spat out. “Yeah well that sounds stupid.”
He didn’t really mean to say that out loud. But his current predicament made him forget he had to be nice to him, for a moment.
Kenny gave him an annoyed expression. “Geez, Alright, fine…sorry to bother you…”
Kenny began to turn away to crawl elsewhere. As he did the green light from him faded away, for some reason, Knifey felt a pit in his stomach, looking back at that black ceiling. Guess he didn’t want to be alone after all, as much as he hated to admit it.
“I uh-“ Knifey said, a lot louder than he attended it to be. Kenny took a pause, turning slightly so he could see knifey.
“…I never really…had rain where I’m from…it kinda annoys me…or something.” Knifey grumbled. Why all of the sudden he wanted to share something personal with Kenny of all people, he didn’t know…but there wasn’t any point to pretend like he wanted him gone.
“It didn’t rain? Like, at all?”
“Not a lot…it was pretty dry, I liked it like that…I mean, don’t mind it much, but now, everything on this planet is so wet, dark, and humid, fuckin irritates me…”
“Huh…”
“Whaddaya means, huh?? I’m Being fuckin venerable here, cunt!”
“No, sorry it’s just…I kinda forget you’re from a different sometime…I always just think of you as well…one of us, you know?”
That was a surprise to knifey. He never knew that was how Kenny felt about him. Didn’t think he thought of him at all really. Now here he was being all sweet and shit.
It made him feel sick…but in a good kinda way…
“Well…that’s fine I guess…”
“I uh…I’m probably keeping you up aren’t I? Heh heh…I should leave you alone-“
“Actually…the uh…the light does help….”
“The light?”Kenny looked at himself, just noticing the green glow coming from the sides of his body. “you mean from me??”
“Yeah…can’t see in the dark that well…just, being surrounded in all black is freaky…” knifey admitted, avoiding eye contact with Kenny. “I dunno it sounds stupid tryin to say it out loud…”
Kenny never realized knifey couldn’t see in the dark. Most Gatlian can, or at least can make light of their own…but knifey wasn’t a Gatlian. He was something else entirely. Kenny felt guilty, not acknowledging that…
“It’s not weird…is there any way I could help…?”, he asked.
Knifey turned himself in bed, facing away from Kenny.
“Forget it, it's fine…unless you’re gonna stand there all night, there’s nothin you can do.”
He didn’t hear a response, so knifey assumed he decided to leave. He shut his eyes to attempt to sleep once more, when he felt his bed move as a gatlian body jumped basically on top of him. Landing on knifey hard with a small thud, almost knocking the wind out of him.
“ugh! Jesus Christ Kenny!” , knifey whispered in an aggressive way. “You're gonna wake up the bounty hunter with all this ruckus!”
“Sorry!” Kenny scooted off of him, positioning himself beside him. They both laid with their backs against each other, facing different directions. It was only after adjusting did Kenny realize the situation he just put himself in
“Is this weird…?” He asked, slightly embarrassed.
“…no”
“You hesitated”
“Ok, so I would have preferred you NOT jump on me…but it’s…*sigh* it’s fine ok? Why would this be weird anyway??”
“I don’t know…just…being in the same bed like this with somebody…”, Kenny’s voice trailed off. He didn’t know why he started thinking about that, but it all of a sudden started to make him flustered about their predicament.
“…are you in fuckin high school?”
All the flusteredness immediately left Kenny’s body
“Wh-whatever man! Don’t make fun of me, I’m doing this for you!”
“Alrighty, just keep your stiffy in ya pants, mate”
Kenny let out an aggravated huff, which made knifey quietly snicker to himself. He was so easy to mess with.
A small silence went between the two of them. The only way knifey knew he was still there was his soft green glow. Of course Kenny would not be able to keep his mouth shut for long
“So… is there anything else about your planet I should know about?”
“Eh, it’s nothing special…I remember there were a lotta sharp jagged rocks. They could pierce through a body no problem. Heh heh it was a bloody legend.”
“Heh…what did you do for fun over there?”
“Oh mate, I had the best time of my life at home! Nothin but violence and bloodshed! I gotta do what I wanted, whenever I wanted, nobody cared! Damn I miss those days~”
The way he described it, Knifey’s planet seemed like his own personality times 10. Kenny wasn’t sure if what he was saying was true or not…if it was, then seeing a planet like that would be terrifying. If it was made up, knifey might have more severe mental damage than he first thought. But this was the first time Kenny ever heard knifey talk about something so passionately that wasn’t (mostly) about killing. He could afford to listen a bit more.
“Did your planet have space travel? How did you end up with Gene?”
“We did have somthin like that, but I never paid attention to how to use it…I don’t…actually remember how I got off my planet…must have had too much to drink, Ha!”, knifey laughed, but there was some strain in his voice,”Gene was just the first mongrel that came across me. Then we’ll…here I am. Laying in a dog bed with a silly fuckin hat.”
“The hat’s not that bad. I would wear one if the bounty hunter gave it to me.”
“Yeah well that’s cause your a Drongo”
“Is that…good?”
Knifey only chuckled in response. Guess Kenny will never know the answer to that.
“Well, I hope your not embarrassed to take a “drongo” back home once we go for a visit~”
“…”
“…knifey?”, Kenny asked, turning himself slightly when he didn’t get a response. “I-It was just a joke, you don’t have to take me, it’s fine…”
“You’re fine, Kenny, it’s just…it’s been a long time since I’ve been back there…I don’t know if I’d even recognize it”
“But…isn't it still worth seeing?”
“…I don’t know”
It felt like a selfish thing to say to someone who lost their home, but there was something about visiting his planet that made him uneasy, even though he missed it dearly. Truth be told, he can’t remember a whole lot about it, or even where it is for that matter. But he didn’t want to admit that to Kenny just yet. After a quiet pause, Kenny spoke up again.
“Do you miss it?”
“…yeah”
“Then I think it is worth it…you don’t have to decide anything right now, but when you're ready, we’d love to see your planet alright?
…I would love to see it…”
“…thank you.”
Kenny let out a small yawn
“No problem….”
Knifey was still wide awake as he listened to Kenny’s soft snoring. How was he supposed to sleep now? After revealing way more personal feelings than he intended to. God why did he do that?? That was so stupid, he would have shoved Kenny off the bed once he started asking questions like that.
Turning himself around to look at him, knifey saw Kenny peacefully sleeping beside him. His glowing body pushed up against knifey, as he breathed with an occasional snore. Knifey could almost feel his heart beat…
It made him feel…weird. Knifey hit that tingly feeling he got only when he would stab something.
“God dammit, now he’s making ME feel weird about this.” He thought, letting out an exasperated sigh. It was Kenny’s fault he was dealing with this situation anyway. If he didn’t act all concern, and nice, and took interest in things knifey liked to talk about, he wouldn’t be thinking all these weird fucking thoughts right now. Why even take interest now? Why is it that all of the sudden, Kenny wanted to know what HE wanted???
Fucking ridiculous
Fucking ridiculous, stupid, weirdo gun…
The rain had turned into a sprinkle, with the sound of falling droplets becoming more quiet. The sheath knifey was wearing still rubbed up against his blade, but it annoyed him less now. His eyelids were finally feeling heavy, as he began to shut his eyes, listening to the soft sound of rain, accompanied by gatlian snores…
Maybe the rain wasn’t so bad after all.