Archive of Our Own

Things were dire - BF had just passed the kitchen counter for the 23rd time in the span of two minutes, fidgeting relentlessly.

Girlfriend was currently away for yet another family meetup of hers, so Boyfriend would be alone in the house for at least another two days. She even almost called it off when she realized it meant leaving him alone to deal with what was sure to happen - but he insisted he'd be fine.

However, the rapper's anxiety, all while he was still surrounded by the bright, warm sun of an August afternoon peeking in through the window told Soul that they were on track for a particularly nasty episode.

The guardian watched through the screen mounted on the grey nothingness before him - his window to the real world - as BF absent-mindedly bit at his nails, still pacing back and forth with those jittery eyes that would fit a cornered animal.

A part of Soul wanted to just curl up into a ball and brace himself.

Before that bad habit could swallow him whole, though, he shook his head, and gave himself two slaps on the face.

He had to focus - they only had a few hours. There was no GF safety net, and nobody had heard from Pico since they'd dealt with the Corruption, leaving BF with just about nobody close enough to reach in time.

And that's assuming the rapper was in a state to drive, or even leave the house at this point - maybe if the guardian had caught the full extent of it earlier, he could have convinced Boyfriend to stay over at his brother's apartment - but then again, maybe not, given how stubborn he could be.

Regardless, tonight, Soul and just Soul would have to do.

Shouldn't he have been more confident in taking that bet? He had been before... right?

He couldn't stop a sigh from escaping into the vacant space around him.

Some guardian he turned out to be. The old him would have found all of this utterly pathetic - had he really changed this much?

With barely a thought, he summoned his asymmetric, black guitar, contours sharp as ever as it fell neatly into his clawed hands.

He strummed a chord, and then another, then a short riff, then a melody.

It sounded fine enough - the instrument hadn't lost its edge, and neither had his fingers, despite being mostly dormant the last eight or so months.

Admittedly, that persona had never been completely authentic - so surely, he could still pull it off now, if he tried...?

He really did consider it for a moment - playing the role of that heedless, unstoppable force, eager to face whatever nightmares stood in its way with nothing but its voice - but one glance at the screen was enough to tell him that... it wouldn't have been proper.

And so, the guitar was sent back into the sweet embrace of Nirvana.

Leaving Soul back at square one.

A growl joined the sigh that still echoed imperceptibly in the empty space.

He had no idea what to do.

He could, of course, fall back on what he'd done before, but that'd be going against his word, and BF would probably put two and two together sooner rather than later.

Not to mention it'd make everything hinge on him not fucking it up again - which seemed like a tall order, if his runaway thoughts were anything to go by.

...did he really have no choice but to let it happen?

It wasn't fair - he was trying, they were trying, things were supposed to be different now! If nothing had changed, then what was even the point of-

This time, what saved him from the downward spiral was a loud crash and tumble, followed by a very pronounced expletive.

Soul's eyes darted to the screen, where BF was spread out face-down on the floor, next to the overturned coffee table and surrounded by the red ceramic shards of what had been his favorite mug just a moment before.

He just laid there, letting the spilled night-black liquid be soaked up by his shirt, as if stewing in the indignation.

It could almost be funny, if it wasn't so completely, utterly depressing.

Soul caught himself wishing that BF would just fall apart then and there, so that he could finally get to do something.

And that's when it clicked.

He took a few more seconds to weigh the newly hatched idea in his mind, before nodding to himself.

And then quickly approaching the screen.

As he set his clawed fingers against the veil, he closed his eye, inviting the familiar feeling of static crawling up his arm, and then swallowing him whole.

He'd gotten used to doing that shockingly quick, huh?

By the time he chanced a look, he was already suspended slightly above the ground, right over where BF was still sulking on the fluffy, beige carpet.

The sun was shining in through the glass door that led out into the lush garden, lighting up the rapper's back and the smooth, tiled walls of the open kitchen he'd been pacing in.

The scene looked strangely idyllic, to the point Soul could have almost tricked himself into thinking BF was just taking a nice nap in the warmth, if not for his clenched fists and the ugly, black stain spilling out from under him and onto both the carpet, and the wooden floorboards.

The demon floated down to a crouch, a little off to the other's side.

-"Okay, that's enough." - he put on a gentle, but firm tone.

The rapper didn't react, at least not until he laid a hand on his shoulder.

At which point, BF jolted at the contact slightly, before looking around in search of the source.

Once his eyes landed on the culprit, the demon gave him a tiny wave.

-"Soul?" - he blinked a few times, as if shaking off a daze - "How long have you been there?"

-"Not too long." - the other reassured as he reached out his hand -"Come on, you gotta get yourself together."

BF just eyed him with a strange intensity.

-"Should... should you be here? Right now?"

-"Where else would I be?" - Soul chuckled.

-"Well, I don't know, I just... isn't this worse?"

-"You were drowning yourself in half a cup of lukewarm coffee." - the demon deadpanned at him.

-"I'm fine!" - he protested, jumping up to his feet on his own, Soul following with a sigh -"You shouldn't be here, not yet!"

The only response he got was the guardian taking a step closer and putting both his hands on his shoulders-

-"Whoa, whoa, hey, I just said-"

-and then pulling him into a hug.

-"You're allowed to ask for help, remember?" - Soul whispered forcefully.

-"I'm fine." - BF grumbled, but didn't pull away -"...but, you too, y'know?"

-"I know."

A moment of quiet passed before the rapper took a step back, cleared his throat, and spoke again:

-"Are you sure it's okay for you to be here?"

-"Isn't this easier? Having something to focus on, instead of just running yourself in circles?"

-"I guess?" - BF conceded -"But that doesn't mean it's not gonna... screw something up."

-"Well, I was thinking, and I guess it kind of struck me that this whole thing might be a bit like the Corruption, to be honest. If you let it take up all this space in your head, then by the time it actually shows up, it's basically already won. So, I thought - let's test that."

-"That sounds a little optimistic." – the rapper didn't try to hide his skepticism.

-"You can't say it doesn't fit."

-"I'm not denying that, I just..." - he grimaced a little - "Is this really... the right time?"

-"Maybe not, but... I don't want to just sit there and watch you drive yourself crazy until one of us inevitably explodes. It makes it feel... like we're getting worse again."

BF fell silent for a bit.

"If it is that simple, I'm gonna feel really stupid. And if it isn't, there's no telling how bad it'll be. But... we can give it a shot."

-"I have it on good authority it can't end up worse than May." - Soul remarked, not entirely serious despite the matter at hand.

The rapper fell into thought momentarily, before a wry smile made its way onto his face.

-"How much would you be willing to put on that?"

-"Oh, ye of little faith." - the demon teased with a fake indignation, hand against chest -"I'm offended you'd think there is even anything to bet on. And then bet against me."

They stared each other down for a moment.

-"So, like, fifty bucks?" - BF asked.

-"You're on."

A small chuckle broke between them, before Soul gave the stain on BF's shirt a little tap.

-"You still need to get changed, by the way. GF would kill you if you got coffee all over the couch."

-"As if there weren't two people in this household able to just magic it away." - BF stuck out his tongue at him, before turning away -"But fine, since you want to get rid of me so badly-"
He didn't get to finish before he was tackled with the speed of a professional linebacker, both him and the demon landing right back in the black puddle.

-"You were saying?"

-"Soulll!" - BF whined as he tried to weasel his way out of the grip -"I was just joking, man!"

-"Mmm..." - Soul considered it for a moment -"Nope, not good enough!"

He set his chin on BF's back, getting him to stop his thrashing.

-"What about getting changed?" - the rapper pleaded.

-"Too bad, I've already gotten comfortable. Maybe next time you'll think twice before you say something stupid." - Soul giggled.

They just laid there for a moment in silence, BF pouting and even slightly tense, but otherwise not resuming his escape attempts.

-"...okay, fine, you win. Is that what you wanna hear?"

-"Close enough." - Soul quickly released his death grip, before getting up to a crouch and offering BF his hand again.

The rapper looked mildly annoyed, but took the offer this time.

-"You're lucky the shirt was already fucked up" - he grumbled -"otherwise I'd put you on laundry duty for a month."

-"That's fine." - Soul just gave him an eager smile as he pulled him up to a stand.

BF looked at him in consternation.

-"Uh... what?"

-"I've never gotten to work a washing machine before, y'know. Might be cool to give it a spin."

-"You... want to do chores?"

-"Well, not for the rest of time, duh." - Soul replied -"But yeah."

-"Wow. Okay, hmm..." - BF was very clearly still taken aback -"Then, uh... wanna set the washing machine next time?"

-"Sure!" - Soul sounded entirely content, his tail swaying rhythmically behind him -"At this rate, I might learn how to do it before you finally stop asking GF to remind you every time."

The response from the rapper came half a second later than it should have.

-"Yeah, I bet." - BF scratched his cheek with a slightly awkward laugh.

Soul's smile immediately fell.

-"I... was that mean to say?" - he asked, trying his best to get a read on BF's expression.

-"No-no, you're fine!" - BF chuckled again -"I just, um."

He spent a bit fidgeting with his fingers, before chancing a glance at Soul.

Whatever he saw on the demon's face made him look away just as quickly.

-"You know what, nevermind."

-"BF."

-"Don't worry about it."

-"BF."

-"It's nothing important, I swear!"

-"If it's not important, then you can tell me."

A moment of silence followed.

-"I just... don't think I've seen you this happy before. Besides like the very start. And I guess I just thought... you would probably enjoy doing all the stuff, y'know."

-"Stuff?"

-"You know, like actually exciting stuff! Like, drinking at the bar with friends, visiting a theme park. Things like that."

-"Oh!" - Soul seemed to be the one thrown off his rhythm now -"I'm... not sure I qualify."

-"Huh?"

-"I probably wouldn't even know what to do with myself, to be perfectly honest. It's not like I have anyone to go with." - the demon stated plainly, mildly peeved at having to remind BF about something so obvious -"Not to mention someone could still trace me back to you just off the way I look. And we're obviously not risking that. "

He completely missed the guilt that briefly flashed on the rapper's face.

-"Yeah, I guess you're right." - BF interrupted himself with a sour smile -"Dumb idea, sorry."

-"Don't sweat it." - his guardian reassured -"I promise I don't mind doing chores, even it doesn't seem very exciting to you."

-"Well, in that case, I'm, uh, gonna go get changed now!" - BF spouted out as he made his way out of the room, leaving the demon alone with his thoughts.

The results of his little idea were definitely mixed so far. He expected BF to put up more of a fight initially, but he also assumed things would get less awkward afterwards, and not more.

As it was, it really seemed like BF was just as much at a loss as the guardian himself, and Soul was also starting to wonder if he was even wanted here.

At the same time, it was hard to deny that he had at least snapped BF out of it enough to get him to get up off the floor.

And that little thought reminded him of the mess that still laid bare beneath his feet.

The stain had already been partially soaked in by the carpet, and the ceramic shards seemed unsalvageable as well, so he would have to resort to using magic whether he wanted to or not.

He still grabbed a few paper towels, doing his best to wipe down as much of the spill as he could, and gathered up all the scattered mug fragments into a small pile on the coffee table he set back to its proper place.

The less his powers would have to do, the better.

He gave the result of his work so far a tired look, before determining that he did about as much as he could.

And then, he willed the shards and carpet back to their previous state with a wave of his hand.

The mug snapped back into its unbroken form, the rest of the soaked up liquid appearing within and returning the warm beige color to the strands.

For a moment, he felt almost proud at how effortless the gesture made it seem.

But then, of course, the nausea hit.

His vision blacked out for a few seconds as he did his best not to entirely collapse under the weight of the wave.

If he was using his legs to stand, he was sure he would have.

To his relief, though, he managed to keep himself suspended in the air where he was as the pressure mellowed out, returning his sight and leaving only a small twisting perception in the stomach he didn't actually have.

-"I'm never gonna get better at this, am I?" - he mumbled to himself.

Soul had always found the physical world to be a bit... tricky, and his powers were no exception.

Unlike BF's mindscape, where he could do just about anything with barely a thought, it seemed that reality didn't particularly appreciate being altered by the likes of him.

Giving himself something resembling an actual body, or even bringing in other objects from the mindscape got much, much easier once he got the hang of it, but they still only lasted as long as he kept feeding them energy.

Making anything stick seemingly came much harder to him than it did to someone like GF... or her family.

From what he was able to gather, it wasn't even something he was supposed to be able to do in the first place, so he probably should've been more grateful for it than he was.

Regardless, he'd pulled it off this time, so now he just had to hope that BF-

-"What the fuck dude?!"

-didn't notice.

Soul turned around to face the newly changed rapper storming into the room.

-"Yeah?" - he put on his usual smile.

-"What are you doing? I thought you came out here to help?"

-"I am helping." - Soul's lighthearted tone didn't falter as he gestured at the restored mug -"If I didn't clean this mess up, GF probably would have had to."

-"Wh-" - BF looked downright flabbergasted -"And that would have been so bad?"

-"It makes more sense to get it done right now, versus waiting a few days for it to soak in deeper and dry."

-"Except you could have fucked us both over."

-"Except I didn't."

BF just huffed angrily, before changing up his strategy:

-"You promised you would stop doing shit like this behind my back!"

-"This doesn't count."

-"Like hell it doesn't! If you lose control, you lose control!"

Soul didn't really have a good answer for that one, so he just shrugged and crossed his arms, leaning back in the air with a smirk.

Even if he was starting to feel just a little guilty.

BF didn't find that copout of a response very amusing, if the death stare that followed was anything to go by.

The awkward silence lasted a few seconds as Soul refused to cave in under the pressure, floating there with his usual, defiant aura.

Once BF figured out the demon wasn't going to budge, he sighed.

-"Just... don't do that again." - he said, before adding an uncharacteristically timid, quiet "...please".

Well, what was Soul supposed to do with that?

-"I won't." - he floated down to a stand, facing BF with his hands clasped together in a nervous gesture -"I'm sorry, I know it was stupid, I just... didn't think about it."

His words came out hurried, but still remorseful, getting BF to cheer up just a smidge.

-"Thanks. I'll be holding you to it." - he put a significant amount of emphasis on that second part, getting a nervous laugh out of the demon.

-"Alright, now that that's settled... what's next?" - the rapper asked.

-"Well, what do you wanna do?"

-"I- hm..."

The demon looked curiously at him as he thought it over.

-"We could watch a movie or something."

-"Sure. Anything specific you're thinkin' about?"

-"Aren't you the one that wanted to hang out?" - BF spoke in a tone that was clearly meant to be teasing, but the implication still stung.

Not that Soul was about to let it show, of course.

-"I'm down to try whatever." - he shrugged, tucking away his hands in his pockets.

-"How about, uh..." - BF picked his phone up from the living room couch and into both hands, but didn't have enough time to turn it on before an idea came to him -"Oh yeah, there's that new Marvel movie that came out a few months ago."

-"Haven't they kind of... fallen off?" - Soul asked.

-"I haven't actually watched any of them since Infinity War. Besides the Spider-Man ones, and those are still... fine enough."

-"Maybe there's a reason the new ones haven't been hitting it as big?"

-"What happened to being down for "whatever"?"

-"Oh no, I am down for anything. But, uh, if I recall, you didn't even enjoy Infinity War that much. Or Endgame."

-"Blame me for not being wowed when I go through equally crazy shit on a weekly basis." - BF finally unlocked his screen, quickly opening the browser and typing something in.

-"I blame the fact you didn't watch any of the decade's worth of movies leading up to it." - Soul chuckled.

-"Har, har, har." - BF mocked as he picked up the remote and turned on the living room TV with a flick of his wrist -"I knew the basics! If the movies were good, that would have been enough."

-"Sure thing, man."

The rapper rolled his eyes at the sarcasm in Soul's voice before plopping down squarely on the center of the couch.

The demon just stood there, twiddling his thumbs as the other started booting up Disney+.

-"You gonna sit down, or...?" - BF glanced at him.

-"Yeah." - he finally took a step forward, before placing himself towards the closer end of the couch - still a decent distance away from BF, but not too far either -"This good?"

-"Sure." - BF waved his concern away, before focusing on the screen again.

Soul sat there, unmoving as the rapper started putting in the movie name letter after letter on the infamous alphabet-sorted keyboard.

Each press sounded exactly the same, but the awkward layout made the rhythm of the typing uneven as BF had to search for the right symbol and then navigate to it.

-"Do you maybe want snacks, or something?" - Soul finally asked, partially just to fill the silence.

-"I think I'm good." - BF was too busy with the typing to really pay much attention -"But if you want something, help yourself."

-"I don't-" - Soul was about to remind BF eating wasn't a thing he really did, but he figured there was no point in arguing -"I'll... keep that in mind."

A few seconds passed as BF continued playing with the remote, clearly growing a bit frustrated.

-"Who the fuck came up with this name?" - he mumbled under his breath as he booted up his phone again and took another glance at the browser page.

-"How about I take it from here?" - Soul asked, getting BF to look over at him.

-"Knock yourself out." - he threw Soul the remote -"It's called Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness."

Soul noticed that BF had already typed out more than half of the title - enough that surely, if he had just pressed enter, it would be the top result.

Still, Soul wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to compete a little.

Before he started typing, though, he turned the remote towards himself, clicking a few buttons and watching the little red lightbulb tucked into the plastic flare up in effect.

-"God, you're such a kid sometimes, y'know?" - BF asked in amusement.

-"Hey! I'm just... testing to see if it still works!" - Soul tried to deflect, but the knowing smirk he caught on the rapper in the corner of his eye told him it wasn't very effective.

So he decided to move on to the assignment at hand.

It only hit him how strange the ordering of the buttons really was once he actually tried to locate the letter "h", eventually resorting to just scanning the keyboard row by row until he landed on it.

The next few went by a little quicker, each press causing an almost imperceptible buzzing from the remote, and each buzz causing the screen in front of him to answer in kind.

There was almost something hypnotic to it, and by the time Soul was about to input the final letter, he found he almost knew what to expect.

And so, he decided to take a gamble.

-"Hey BF, wanna see something cool?" - he asked, turning to the rapper.

-"Oh?" - the other asked with a hint of intrigue, but notably still hesitant.

-"Don't worry, it's not gonna be dangerous." - Soul chucked him the remote, only causing BF to look at him curiously.

When the demon said nothing more, and just kept up his smirk, the rapper raised up the remote again, ready to complete the prompt.

But just before he could, Soul snapped his fingers, focusing on trying to mimic what he was feeling earlier.

The sound got the rapper to look over at him, so he gestured back at the screen.

Where the final letter was already in place.

BF didn't seem to catch it immediately, but when he did, his brows scrunched together in confusion.

-"That's weird."

Soul just chuckled as he snapped another time, a third S joining its brothers.

And then a fourth, and a fifth.

-"Okay, okay, that's enough!" - BF rushed in to stop Soul -"You shouldn't be doing stuff like this right now, man."

-"It doesn't really... take it out of me that much, actually." - Soul explained. -"It just feels a lot more natural for some reason."

BF stared at him quizzically, before sighing.

-"Alright. I believe you." - he said a little quieter as he deleted the extra letters and then hit enter -"And uh, thanks for the heads up, at least."

-"Of course." - Soul reassured.

Nothing else was said before the intro of the movie filled the room with sound.

...

-"Okay, yeah, no, this is ass." - BF's voice finally drew Soul's attention away from the screen about an hour and a half in.

The sun was already setting, bathing the living room in shades of gold and copper.

-"I mean, it could be worse."

BF looked over at him skeptically.

-"Okay, I admit, it's pretty bad." - the demon conceded.

-"Since when was Wanda even evil? I know her boyfriend died or whatever but still - what the hell is going on with that?"

-"Might be another one of those things that happened in a movie we didn't watch."

-"That argument is still bullshit."

The two just sat there for a moment as the dialogue kept filling the silence of the room.

-"Wanna do something else?" - BF asked.

-"I mean, we can, but it's not like I have any better ideas."

-"Well, my pick wasn't great, either. Come on, man, surely you had something in mind when you were coming out here?" - the rapper prompted, pausing the movie and turning to look at Soul.

The demon just shifted a bit in his seat in contemplation - BF did ask to hear it, after all.

-"I, um." - he still hesitated -"You're probably not gonna like it."

-"Let me hear it first, sheesh."

Soul took a long, deep breath as he readied himself for what the rapper's reaction could be.

-"I was thinking we could maybe..." - he tensed a bit in anticipation -"...write some music?"

BF's expression turned to that weird calm-but-not-actually-calm one Soul could never get a good read on, so he rushed in to get a head start on the damage control.

-"Of course, that'd be very personal, and might bring back bad memories, so you know, probably-"

-"Let's do it." - the rapper was fully facing him now.

Soul's words got stuck in his throat.

-"Oh. Are you... sure?"

-"Yeah, I'm sure." - BF shut off the TV, leaving the remote at the mercy of the couch cushions before standing up -"Come on."

Soul sheepishly followed the rapper into a part of the house he admittedly... hadn't actually been in before, even though he'd seen it countless times - BF's studio.

The room looked a lot bigger in person, or maybe there was just something about the perspective or lightning that made it seem that way - Soul thought as he soaked in his environment.

There was the dark-grey soundproof foam padding covering every inch of the walls, GF's speakers across from them, the deep red beanbag chairs gathered around the small, paper-covered table in the corner to the right, and the sleek, black desk on their left - objects he should have been more than familiar with, but which still seemed oddly foreign to him all the same.

The whole room was dim, the light of the setting sun only slipping in through a small, wide window higher up the wall - at least not until BF flipped one of the switches next to where the two were standing, bringing the LEDs suspended from the ceiling to life, giving the space a slightly ominous, yet cozy look - only fitting for a place where you'd drive your sleep schedule into the ground throwing shit at the wall until something stuck.

There weren't actually any instruments here, besides the beast of a PC Boyfriend got himself after his career started taking off - which was sitting comfortably on the desk, and was what he often used for his delirious composing.

There was also a microphone stand, just a bit too tall to be entirely comfortable for BF.

But that was all the music making equipment.

Besides the guitar, of course, which was pinned up above the large bean bag chairs in the corner.

It was something that hadn't always been a part of the room. BF had learned how to play a bunch of instruments over the years - too many to fit them all there, so they were usually stashed in the home's storage closet instead. He'd just drag them out on occasion when he was brainstorming songs, and then finish whatever jumped out at him digitally.

Soul never did quite figure out why BF had dug out and put up the red guitar for display shortly after he and Girlfriend moved back into the house again - that was months after the Corruption had ended, and in fact, he and the rapper weren't exactly on... speaking terms at the time.

And, while it hadn't actually been that long since then, BF had yet to use the darn thing.

For a moment, Soul even considered asking him about it right then and there, but he quickly figured that it was probably a bad time to bring up the Corruption - they weren't looking to tempt fate tonight, after all.

Though it seemed it might not have mattered, as the rapper turned around to look at the demon still standing in the doorway, and then following his gaze.

Soul tensed, but after a moment of staring at the instrument, BF just walked further in to sit on one of the bean bag chairs.

-"Alright. What's the agenda?" - he asked, shimmying a bit to make himself comfortable before leaning forward.

-"I uh, don't really know, to be honest." - Soul was finally brought out of his thoughts -"Are you 100% positive you're okay with us doing this?"

-"Why wouldn't I be?" - BF scrounged his brows at him.

-"Well, I dunno." - the demon shrugged.

The rapper just seemed to get more troubled at hearing that, because after a moment, he got up from where he had just sat down, and walked over.

-"Please, just tell me." - his words were quiet - "I promise I won't get mad... or whatever you’re so scared of."

Soul paused for a moment.

It wouldn't help anything if he said it out loud, but...

How could he not?

-"I just... still don't understand why you're even entertaining the idea of having me around."

-"Well- why wouldn't I? You still totally saved my ass back then."

-"It doesn't make up for anything that followed."

-"You didn't actually do any of that stuff on purpose, though."

-"And yet you still wanted me gone before. What's changed?"

Soul got hit by the instant regret the moment he heard those words leave his mouth.

He wanted to say something, anything to amend what had just slipped out, but what could he even follow that up with?

-"W-what I mean is-"

-"It's okay, Soul." - BF cut him off -"I'm not mad."

His tone might have fooled anybody else, but Soul was still able to faintly hear the slight hint of something in his voice.

-"I... to be honest, I can't even blame you for thinking that." - the rapper chuckled awkwardly -"I really, uh, said some stupid shit back then. It's not- not how I actually feel, though! You... know that, right?"

Honestly? Soul would have taken anger over this.

-"No, look, BF, it's fine! It's only fair, given how much I fucked things up for y-"

-"You're not at fault for literally every bad thing that happens to me!"

-"Well, if I didn't exist, none of those bad things would have happened." - the demon stated calmly, as a fact.

BF's eyes widened, and his mouth fell agape, but no words came out as he was rendered completely speechless.

-"That's why I have no right to blame you."

As second after second went by with no response, Soul was forced to watch while BF tried to process what he just heard, his expression growing more and more concerned.

Eventually, he just hung his head low and started mumbling.

-"I... thanks for trusting me enough to tell me that." - he turned away so that Soul couldn't see his face, but the shivers in his voice betrayed him -"I don't- don't really know why you would even say something like that, or what I can do to help, but..."

Soul was tempted to interrupt him as he wavered, to tell BF that he didn't need to worry about him, but...

-"I really wish you didn't... feel that way. I don't want us to go back to the way we were, y'know?"

The rapper wrapped his arms around himself, back still facing the demon.

-"BF, I-" - Soul eventually managed to blurt out - "I'm sorry. I want to get better about it. But it's still a little... hard sometimes."

After a moment, BF finally turned around, a determined glint in his eyes.

Without another word, he grabbed Soul by the wrist and led him across the room, before sitting down on one of the large beanbags, and pulling the demon down next to him.

Big as they were, they were still one person seats in spirit, so the rapper had to pull Soul pretty close to fit, but they managed.

Soul just let all of it happen, too drained to protest.

Though, he would be lying if he said some part of him wasn't hoping for something like this when he came out there in the first place.

-"Is this... okay?" - BF finally broke the silence.

Soul just nodded, getting the rapper to relax a little.

-"We're gonna take it easy, yeah? Start with something simple." - the rapper continued to talk as he reached forward towards the table, searching for a music sheet that was blank, but not totally crumpled.

After a bit, he managed to find something satisfactory, because he leaned back and let himself sink into the beanbag fully, laying the sheet down on Soul's knees, and then placing a pen on top of it.

Soul was... completely at a loss on where to start, given what he'd just let spill, so he was just left sitting there silently, almost wanting to shrink and disappear at the expectation he couldn't meet.

The rapper picked the pen up, sliding it into Soul's hand in a silent request.

It was unbearable- why couldn't he handle such a simple thing?

But before the demon could fully lose himself in his own head, BF started to hum, nudging Soul's hand over to the start of the paper with his own.

It was a calm, slow melody, and after maybe ten notes at most, BF smoothly transitioned back to the first note he sung, closing the loop.

Soul, still a bit unsteady, did his best to find the right line to place the first note on. The tiny circle he drew was stretched and shaky, not helped by neither his anxiety or the fact that the only support the paper had were his legs.

Still, he kept going, eventually transcribing everything successfully.

He looked at BF in a silent question, but the rapper just used the distraction to gently sneak the sheet and pen right out of the demon's grasp, before placing them down on his own knees.

And then he gently jabbed at the demon's side with his elbow.

Soul wanted to oblige, he really did, but his voice hitched on an erratic inhale, and the longer the silence lasted, the more impossible getting a single noise out of himself seemed, his throat tightening to the point it was almost painful.

And then, he looked to the side, where he saw the rapper staring at him in worry, but also with understanding.

He felt BF pull him a little closer with his left arm, before another note filled the space around them again.

This time, though, the rapper let it fade away into silence.

After a bit of grappling with his metaphorical vocal chords, Soul finally managed to squeak out the same note, getting a soft smile from BF, before he followed it up with another one.

Soul copied it a lot quicker this time, and the rapper, seemingly content, switched his focus to capturing their little reverie on the parchment, but still continuing the melody for Soul to latch onto.

The pause between the rapper's call and the demon's response shrunk and shrunk, the two voices eventually harmonizing as BF held the final note a little longer, and then suddenly withdrew, leaving Soul's voice ringing in the air alone.

The demon understood, of course, as he let himself just be for once, the wordless hymn spilling out of him with barely any input.

With every second, he was quickly re-adjusting to what had always felt so natural to him, enough that after a few seconds, he caught BF in the corner of his eye struggling to keep up, but smiling anyway.

A much more devious smile appeared on Soul's own face as he snuck his tail around BF's back and between his hands, quickly entangling and tying them together, getting the rapper to look at him in surprise.

Soul nudged him slightly with his own elbow this time, and before he even realized, BF's voice joined his again, the music sheet forgotten as the two broke out into full on song together for the first time in months.

But eventually, their acapella tune came to its natural conclusion, ending with a shared, genuine smile.

Soul didn't really know what to say, but luckily, BF came to his rescue yet another time.

-"Man, that is gonna be a bitch to write down." - he remarked as he finally realized Soul freed his hands a while ago, letting him start playing with the pen -"You better help me out to make up for how rudely you interrupted me."
Soul chuckled, before pointing to a particular spot on the paper.

-"That's a G here."

And so, the two swiftly moved on to actually transcribing the remainder of their duet.

They were on the same page for most of it, but when they disagreed about what note belonged, they would have to sing that part of the song again, going off what felt natural, and fixing a couple things, adding a chord or a pause here and there.

Another sheet of paper had to be used, and then another and another, and a few more as they went back to change an older section, the mountain of paper growing slowly as they chipped away at their work.

It wasn't until BF's yawning interrupted them that Soul realized they'd kind of lost track of time.

And when he turned to look at the window on the wall to his right, sure enough, it was the darkness of the night staring at him, though the sky itself was invisible at this angle.

He couldn't help the slight discomfort he felt at the revelation, but it was more of a nagging in the back of his head than the overwhelming flood he'd gotten used to.

-"Hey, would you look at that." - he remarked, shoving BF slightly, before pointing him to the view of the outside world.

BF's eyes narrowed in consternation as he grappled with the sight.

-"Okay, yeah, feeling extremely stupid right about now."

-"Hey, I only finally thought of it today. At least we know now we have a fallback plan."

To Soul's surprise, what flashed across BF's face for a moment was disappointment, but it was gone and buried under his usual confidence before the demon could address it.

-"Well, we're gonna have to make sure it's not a fluke, no?" - the rapper asked.

-"We have until GF gets back, don't we?" - Soul laughed, but quickly settled back into a more serious tone -"If you want to, I mean."

-"I..." - for a moment, it seemed like the rapper had to think about what he wanted to say -"You know what? Sure."

Soul couldn't stop a smile from worming onto his face.

-"Consider it done. But, uh, what do we do now?"

-"I think..." - BF put down the final touches, before setting the last piece of paper on the table - "I think you should pick the movie this time."