Chapter Text
After a week of living with Wakafante, Ze hasn't really been able to catch up with whatever Moe and Reject have happening within their own minds. Except for explaining what happened down underground. Ze just couldn't believe he was caught off guard for 2 weeks. 2 weeks, and.. a day. Possibly. Yet he thought that the fake Reject and Moe were.. real.
Well.. almost real. There was a sense of uncanny feelings about the fake world he was in. How did he not even notice that before?
Was he blind?
Or was he too self-absorbed into the 'Really Nice and polite' displays of his fake friends?
Especially Reject. Hearing Reject sound positive was a VERY rare occurrence. It sounded weird hearing Reject be polite. It was just how LONG the fake Reject was happy to see Ze. That honestly made Ze feel comfort from the fake Reject, but at the same time, that's when he started to notice something was off.
Was the real Reject happy that Ze was back, or at least relieved that he was alive at all?? That's such an odd ache in his head, or.. in his heart?
Moe on the other hand, those eyes seemed to capture her attitude. Even the ways that she spoke with her clown horn didn't quite give him the cue that something was wrong. Very wrong. She sounded too innocent and didn't bother getting upset nor mad.
As Ze slouched on Wakafante's couch, he let out a large sigh, trying to hold himself together. Only to hear tea cups cluttering together on the coffee table as Wakafante appeared out of God knows where.
"You.. You look down, care for some uhh.. Tea?"
Wakafante's, 'old and wise voice' asked as he settled down next to Ze.
"Fante, how did you even place down those cups?? Your arms are still.. uhh.." Ze tried to ask, but Wakafante interrupted him.
"Oh! I used Magic to place them down. I can.. still do that at my old age!" Wakafante mentioned. Once Ze glanced at the tea cups, he watched as the tea swished around the curves of the cup.
"So.. ermm.. if my mind can remember correctly, that weird fellow you brought along with you.. what was his name again?? Reject..? Regect?"
"I just call him Reject."
-
"Ah. What I can recall from him was that he was quite the concerned one. Reject mentioned something regarding you being missing for 15 days. Something about that makes me wonder.. if he missed you."
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"Yes, Fante. I am aware of that. I tried to explain to him, but him and Moe just needed to know if I was injured, but I don't think Reject meant the 'misses me' part."
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"That is true! He sounded quite upset and worried on his part. Maybe.. maybe you two should try to talk that out?"
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"That's quite complicating.. I mean. He bickers a LOT and complains his head off.. but yet at the same time, once I came back, he sounded genuinely concerned. He mentioned not having to worry about finding me anymore."
"I just.. I don't even think talking it out would work."
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"Something reminds me about that, Ze. My wife used to be the same. She used to complain a lot, she was cranky all.. all the time. Yet she still loved whenever I was near.."
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"Well.. what happened to your wife?"
…
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"Probably in a sewers somewhere. Just go talk to Reject, I have no idea what you want me to do"
"Anyways.. Alexa order me 10 packs of beer, bud light"
Wakafante told the AM that stood on the corner of the wall. What does he even need THAT amount of beer for?
Well, that was weird. Maybe Wakafante was.. onto something with that. Go talk to Reject, and try to catch up on things.. that should help.
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Now that Ze thinks about it, he's been noticing how.. odd Reject has been ever since he got out the hole. Sure, Reject and Moe were still concerned about Ze's health, but at the same time, Reject has been sort of.. touchy? Clingy? Getting way too close?
There were also.. little moments where Reject would tend to claim that he was cold and needed some warmth by sitting REEAALLY close, or holding Ze's hand and grip it with full force.
Once Ze stood up from Wakafante's couch, he walked up the stairs to spot Reject and Moe on Ze's computer, searching up something that he wasn't aware of.
"You two aren't putting viruses on my computer, right?"
Ze spoke up as he stood behind Reject, who was sitting down in Ze's gaming chair, and Moe, who was hovering above him. Reject then minimized the tab, trying to avoid any suspicion. "MIND YOUR BUSINESS!" Reject yelled as he covered the screen.
".. You suck at hiding tabs. What the hell is a pale forest?" Ze mentioned as he pointed at the tab that Reject's fake shoulder tried to block.
'Honk honk!!' Moe also spoke up, poking fun at Reject.
"Come on, Ze. I WAS THIIISSS BORED. You DO realize there's this creature in THAT forest!" Reject then expanded the tab, showing a tall creature with really bad posture.
"Ze. We GOTTA find it. COME ON!" Reject's claw gripped onto Ze's hand, the entity's sharp nails almost piercing his skin. Not giving Ze a second to answer.
Both men paced down the stairs, almost tripping onto one another.
As they ran out Wakafante's tower, Reject's hand felt cold against Ze's arm.
Their body temperatures differed from each other, Reject's claw was so close to holding Ze's hand. If he could just.. reach..
-
"Ze. I rather teleport. Give me a minute." Reject told Ze as he stopped sprinting while holding Ze's arm. He then let go of his arm, and instead held Ze's hand for 5 seconds as they spawned over to an unknown plot in the pale forest. Surrounded with pale oak and a scent of ash and possibly rot.
"Jeez, You feel cold." Ze mumbled to himself, shaking his hand as if he was flicking away Reject's touch.
"You're too warm anyways," Reject bickered back, letting his claw go from Ze's gloved hand, "I heard that these fucks spawn in at night, and we gotta.. look at them."
"Whhhyyyy exactly?" Ze asked, observing Reject suspiciously.
"I don't even know anyways. I need something to do to distract myself, you included." Reject then explained to Ze, beginning to search for odd pale trees with a 'Creaking heart.' - Which looked like orange resin from a mile away, but due to the fog, you couldn't see much, even if you had regular eye sight. Ze and Reject continued to search and scavenge around the pale forest, or.. for some sorts.. the 'Pale Garden', the garden seemed oddly calm for such a rumored over area. That's almost surprising how.. calming the place was.
"For a really strange forest, it's quite silent here." Ze spoke up, only for Reject to look over at Ze, who was sitting around, doing nothing. Ze watched as Reject was trying.., well, attempting, to climb up a tree to get a good look at the Creaking Heart. "I think I see something!" Yelled from Reject up above, only for him to grip onto a tiny branch, letting it snap, which led to Reject tumbling down off the pale oak trees. " AH SHIT!!"
'He forgot he could fly..' Ze thought to himself, watching as Reject whimpered and squealed in pain on the pale grass.
"You.. You good there?" Ze tried to hold in his laughter, meanwhile Reject was groaning in pain. "No I'm not, you DICK!" Reject then shouted, yet his voice was muttered since he was still face-planted into the grass. Ze crouched down, and helped Reject back up. Despite his urges to break out into laughter and pick on him for climbing a tree and being so careless, it was almost a free ticket to getting his ass beat by Reject.
Anyways, they remained on ground level as they searched for a suspiciously orange pale oak. Ze and Reject also stood close to each other while refraining from running off anywhere that caught their eye, which, made no sense. There's nothing quite interesting in seeing several pale oak trees and off-putting flowers that were planted near them. Still foggy, and cold too.
"Dude.. it’s fucking cold.. you mind giving me some heat?" Reject shivered, wrapping his arm onto Ze for warmth. Ze's face flushed red from the sudden contact, yet it felt awkward feeling the pressure from Reject's cold figure onto his shoulders. "Fuck dude, you’re heavy.." Ze mumbled, "You’re also heavy, fat fuck." Reject bickered back, almost hugging Ze for warmth, or maybe even trying to get onto his back.
"Dude,"
"What?"
"You mind?!" Ze yelled out, face blazed with red all over his cheeks, shaking Reject off his shoulders. “Guuuuuuuhhhhh… It’s cold thoooouuuugghh.. Warm me up, bastard.” Reject whispered into Ze’s ear, making Ze flinch. “Come on, man, cut that shit out!” Ze yelled while grabbing Reject’s hands to drag them off his shoulders. “I’m just messing with you, chill out.” Reject moved his arms off of Ze, continuing to scroll in the cold forest. Ze, on the other hand, watched as Reject shivered in the freezing temperatures while strolling in the Pale forest. “Auugghhhhh…. Fine. Here.” Ze followed back as he wrapped his right arm onto Reject’s possibly unknown shoulder, trying to keep it steady due to the lack of Reject’s head, nor his neck.
”you are.. quite warm.” Reject shot down the silence, the outline of Reject’s yellow eye glanced at Ze.
”you’re really cold. Is that natural?” Ze then questioned as he made contact with him in the eyes. Well.. sort of.. visible.. eyes??
”Yeah. Ooooo yeah. Natural. Totally natural.” Reject confirmed as he leaned his head..? Forward to Ze’s warm torso, especially his shoulder.
Feeling Reject up close to his body felt so.. awkward, yet at the same time, he liked how decent Reject was about it, despite his usual complaints, his casual bickering and arguing that comes out from nowhere. He even felt Reject’s yellow tinted ribs rub against his torso. Thankfully, the entity’s height wasn’t an issue to worry about while his arm was around Reject’s shoulder.
“Dude. We look so gay right now.” Reject blurted out loud,”Not only that, but youre blushing. You like this stuff?” He then proceeded to tell Ze, sounding stupid. “Probably. It’s the only way to not make you complain about being cold.” Ze told Reject, his arm still around his shoulder. Reject then decided to make a sudden move by moving his left arm around Ze’s waist, the gold chains that was around Reject’s wrists shackled and jingled around. Did Ze hear a little purr from him..??? Probably??
Would this be a one time thing? Were they even sure this was ok? Who knows. It’s foggy, it’s cold, close to being muggy, and they’re walking in a straight line to nowhere, almost like the trees were repeating their planted pattern, along with the flowers still not bloomed. Not only that, but the constant reminder of them being touchy inflicted Ze’s mind. Rushing sudden thoughts to his brain on feeling Reject all over. Touching him, holding hands, keeping their bodies close for warmth. When in reality, this might never happen again. Might as well make this moment count.
-
“Ze. I can't stop thinking about how you're blushing like a coward, I could see it as we’re talking, and walking down here. You haven’t even moved your arm yet.” Reject brought up while his claws poked at Ze’s jacket, not piercing through the cloth, but poking the tiny holes of the jacket’s fabric. “Don’t bring that up. That’s embarrassing to hear from you.”
“And? At first I was just poking fun at you for looking like a whimp earlier when I was joking around when I asked for warmth, now youre taking this moment seriously.” Reject then mentioned. Getting close to Ze’s face. Ze could only see the outline of Reject’s eye glaring so excitingly at him.
”Honestly, you’re quite lucky that I’m not acting like an ass by now, but your warmth is making me blush, so uh.. yeah.” Reject continued to talk, the embrace was soon to come, possibly.
‘This is so awkward.. what if somebody sees us??’ Ze thought to himself, he couldn’t tell what Reject was thinking as his shoulder was around Reject’s dandelion colored chain around his neck. Ze observed Reject’s flirty face, almost if he was about to come up with something out of his ass.
”Y’know, I never got to explore relationships. Didn’t really care for that.” Reject mentioned, hinting to Ze, but Ze didn’t really take the hint just yet, he wasn’t aware who was in the pale forest. He then stopped in his tracks, making Reject pause too. “What? Did I say something off?”
“Dude, what’s with you and acting off? You’ve been acting off ever since we’ve got here.” Ze asked concerningly. ”Oh? So I can’t just, not act an ass sometimes? God forbid a man wants a break from acting all rude.” Reject blurted out, “,but still, you’re still an asshole, no matter what."
As Ze observed Reject carefully, he noticed the shit-eating grin Reject would usually have whenever he was about to do something to him. Especially at him. That could be anything, either being beat to death, nailed to a tree, tripped over, or even.. wanting Ze. Thinking of that made Ze's face flush with red, blushing awkwardly. That thought alone flooded Ze's mind. Which made him back away a bit to keep distance.
"Auuuuggghhh.. Can you do anything else and NOT stand there like a pussy? Do something that MIGHT make this moment enjoyable." Reject bickered at Ze. Only for Ze to attempt to give Reject a tiny peck onto the dandelion tinted chain on his neck, but Reject covered Ze's mouth as a sudden response. Ze even heard a slight giggle from Reject's shit-eating grin. "Jeez Ze? Already getting romantic?" Reject snickered as he uncovered Ze's mouth, getting the stern yet embarrassed looks from him. That gave Reject the idea to wrap his arms around Ze's neck, adding fuel to the fire. Their faces met for a minute as they felt a slight breeze from each other's mouths. "We're.. actually doing this?" Ze murmured. "Yes, you dingus. Just let it happen." Reject muttered back.
Both of their lips then met in a warm kiss. Ze’s eyes watched as the outline of Reject’s right visible eye closed by the contact, then so did his. A tiny little growl escaped from Reject’s mouth as Ze felt a slight shiver down his spine once Reject’s claws went down from his neck to his waist, keeping him close.
Their lips parted from a small second as their eyes were in contact once more, along with Ze breathing a bit louder during the contact. "You're not so much of a bad kisser.." Reject purred as he slid his claws back up to Ze's face, cupping Ze's rose tinted cheeks. Reject's clawed hands guided Ze's mouth back onto his, letting Ze melt into the soft kisses. Reject's claws slid to the back of Ze's head, locking Ze's lips onto his. The sensations of their lips colliding together created a little burning ache in Ze's body.
Reject then parted his lips away to glance back up at Ze, seeing his flustered and unaware look. "You look an idiot when your all flustered, but you’re MY idiot." Reject teased. "Auugghhh.. We look so stupid.. and you are making this awkward." Ze spoke up, trying to concentrate on what Reject was saying. "So?"
Once they stared at each other, Reject showed a little smirk as he stared at Ze’s neck, which led Reject to angle his fangs onto Ze’s neck into a safe spot, leading to him gently gnawing at first, along with tiny licks on his skin. The sharp fangs slightly pierced Ze's neck, but not for long. For a split second, Reject sucked onto Ze’s neck into his teeth, his sharp fangs almost poking tiny holes into his flesh to pop out tiny beads of blood. "Shhhhiiit.. how long have you been even.. wanting this..?" Ze muttered, his breath hitching by the slight pain off of his neck. Reject slowly pulled his teeth away from Ze's neck, seeing his art in progress. "To be honest, I don't even know, myself. Your stupidity makes me laugh, your stern look makes you look.. cute. Oh, and not only that, but it makes me.. crave you." Reject whispered into Ze's ear, he then latched back onto Ze's neck, pressing his teeth into his skin, and sucking on the flesh to bruise it. A small streak of blood dripped down from a tiny punctured cut due to Reject's sharp teeth.
Feeling the pressure from the hickey made Ze groan out of sudden pain, but the pain wasn’t as sensitive as a usual bite. This bite was loving, yet it stung.
Once Reject finished up, he departed his fangs from Ze’s neck, observing his art. The obscure bite left a little spit trail from Reject’s yellow tinted tongue. “Ffffuuuuccckk...” a long groan that came from Ze’s throat.
-
When all of a sudden, the two men hear a sudden croak. Their fantasies were suddenly shattered away once they looked around, and caught a glimpse of a creaking staring at them in confusion behind them. The two looked up in horror as they spotted the creaking staring back at them. Intensely. MENACINGLY.
The creaking croaked again, the slight death stare that interrupted their make-out session. Deeply. Staring.
Ze then noticed the name tag attached to one of the branches of the creaking. He tried to get a good look at it.
‘Herb N Cheese’
“Jeez.. tough crowd here. Am I right??” Reject joked as he departed off of Ze’s body, still having an awkward pause. Ze on the other hand, was in a trance. The eye contact, the soft and sweet kisses, even the hickey, that caught Ze in a daze.
“Ze.”
“ZE.”
”ZE!”
“Nevermind. I remembered I can teleport.” Reject blurted out before using a sudden command so they could teleport to the coordinates to Wakafante’s tower.
Right as they got over there, Reject helped the dizzy Ze up the stairs and onto the platform, he slowly opened the wooden door, and spotted Moe and Wakafante on the couch playing Uno. Moe honked as she waved at them.
..
”What the fuck is wrong with him” Wakafante blurted out loud as he saw the dizzy Ze that was being supported by Reject’s arm. ”He’s alright, Fante. Probably tired.” Reject tried to cover it up. “Then why is there a mark on his neck??” Wakafante then asked, still having his arms up in the air.