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The past few months had been slow without two hosting the show. The contestants clearly weren’t liking all the other hosts, and four didn’t like them either. Yeah, it was fun to host for a bit, but him and X worked in the kitchen, so that only lasted so long. Two’s room had also become a minefield of old food wrappers and random blankets. Which was to say, two was depressed and bedrotting- which proved annoying.
Four and X had tried everything they could think of to get two to move, but they seemed to be glued to the messy sheets of their bed. And they’d been like that since new years. Four didn’t even think he’d seen two eat anything except for the times he yelled at them until they ate the stuff that he brought upstairs.
And yeah, four wasn’t all buddy-buddy with the green algebralien, but they also had basic empathy and weren’t a monster, contrary to popular belief. Even though it wasn’t like two really cared either way, it felt better to not constantly berate them
Four headed over to two’s door, not bothering to knock and just walking in to see the host sprawled out across their bed like usual. He went over, staring down at them and sighing.“Are you gonna get up without me dragging you up today?” They asked half-bitterly, already knowing the answer.
Two just closed their eyes in response, with four putting their hands under the other’s back and hauling them into a sitting position.
“Look, I know you don’t really have the energy to do anything right now, but you smell awful and it’s bothering me. Take a bath or something.” Four stared at two, not receiving a reply other than slow blinking.
“It's either that or I drag you outside and rinse you off with a hose. And that really wouldn’t be fun for either of us.”
Two groaned softly in response, mumbling something about their clothes getting wet.
Two got up off their bed, slowly shuffling over to their bathroom.
“Also, I’m helping because I know for a fact you’re just gonna sit in the water for thirty minutes and not even try cleaning yourself.” Four added.
He grabbed two’s arm, trying to get them to go slightly faster, but it didn’t work very well.
Four flicked on the bathroom light, shutting the door and turning on the faucet to the bathtub. He stared down at the bottom of the tub, watching as the water slowly filled it; which was more of just a way for them to not be staring at two as they undressed. Finally, the water reached the top, and four grabbed a towel from the closet and placed it on the counter.
They gave a thumbs up, staring at the wall and waiting for two to get in the bath.Once they did, four rolled up their sleeves and kneeled over the edge of the bath; grabbing a hairbrush from the countertop and gently running it through two’s hair. They stopped a couple times when two would wince or make a pained noise, before resuming shortly after.
Four knew from experience that not brushing long hair for long periods of time wasn’t exactly a good idea, especially when paired with the fact that two most likely hadn’t cleaned themselves in a while. But four persisted, trying his best to get the algebralien’s hair to behave properly.
Once they were done, four put the hairbrush down and Took some water in their hands, splashing it onto two’s dark green hair. He repeated that until their hair was decently soaked.
They took a bottle of shampoo off of a shelf and squeezed it onto his hands, carefully rubbing it into two’s hair. Two seemed to be a bit more relaxed now, letting their hands fall to the bottom of the tub instead of tightly holding their knees to their chest.
“I really hope this isn’t going to be a regular occurrence. I’d rather not have to force you to take care of yourself, it’s not healthy.” Four said quietly, mostly to himself.
“I know.” Two sighed.
Four took some more water and rinsed the shampoo out of two’s hair before getting a bottle of conditioner and putting some in their hair.
“You know I care about you, even if I don’t really like you.” It was more of a realization rather than a statement, with four running his fingers through two’s now slightly-cleaner hair
“I know.” Was that all two knew how to say?
The silence after their short conversation was too heavy. It felt too real.
It was funny how people could change. For years four had resented two for stealing most of his contestants, yet here he was giving them a bath now. In his defense, they had known each other for most of their lives. So even if four held onto their bitterness for the rest of his existence, there would always be that part of him wanting two to be ok.
After what seemed like ages of combing through two’s hair, four finally rinsed the conditioner out and stretched their arms a bit.
“Should I get your back?” Four asked, fully prepared for two to say no.
“I don’t mind, just use a towel. And don’t go any further than that, please.” They replied.
Four gave a small nod and a ‘mhm’ before reaching his arm over to the counter and getting a handtowel. They dipped the towel into the water, squeezing out the excess water before putting a bit of soap on. He started at two’s shoulders, going at a brisk pace to try and make things less awkward.
While they were scrubbing, four’s eyes drifted to two’s arms. They were tucked near the algebralien’s sides, but what caught four’s attention were the scarred lines running along them. He stared down at his own arms, which had the same marks, but fainter. It didn’t surprise four much, but it hurt knowing what they meant.
They reached the middle of two’s spine, figuring not to go much further than that. After a few more moments of washing, four put the towel in the water again and used it to wash all the soap off. He dropped it by the side of the tub, standing up and stretching their legs a bit.
“Here’s your towel, you can get out now if you want.” Four stated while facing the wall, holding a larger towel from the counter out behind them.
He waited a second or so before the towel was grabbed from their hand.
“I’m just gonna drain the water and head out, I’ll wait for you there.” Four said, going back over to the tub and pulling the plug out before quickly walking out while half-closing their eyes.
Four gave a small sigh, choosing a spot near the end of two’s bed. His thoughts drifted a bit. ‘Why did I choose to help two?’ ‘And why like this?’ ‘Should X have just done this instead?’
They were all a bit scattered, and any questions four had probably wouldn’t be answered; the best he could do was aimlessly wonder.
After 5-7 minutes of waiting (it was hard to tell) two came out of the bathroom, towel still wrapped over their shoulders. Four patted the spot beside him, wanting to talk a bit before going back to him and X’s room. Two placed themself a foot or so away from four, staring off into space.
“I know you miss her.”
Two looked over, eyes heavy, “You’d probably be the same way if X was gone.”
Four opened their mouth to speak, to bitterly make remarks about how him and X were different, but paused before making a move.
“What I wanted to say is, I’ve been where you are before.” Four shared, “wanting to.. uh, not exist, for lack of better words.”
Two’s antennae twitched, their form still.
“And I’m not gonna give you some crap about how ‘it gets better’ because it doesn’t. But it does get less awful as time goes on.” Four explained.
Two half-heartedly followed along, shifting slightly closer to four.
“So maybe things won’t go back to the way they were, but they might be tolerable for a while.”
Four’s words hung in the air for a few moments, seeming to dissipate slowly. Two looked over again, their expression softer now. They waited a moment, before wrapping their arms around four.
Four got caught off guard immediately, about to take back everything he said and scream at two for ten minutes straight. But the angry hissing never came, or the part where four shoved two away and refused to visit for weeks. It took four a minute, but eventually he just accepted where he was. Even though they were supposed to hate two, he just couldn’t quite resent the algebralien like they used to. Maybe it wasn’t so bad like this.
He pulled away, watching as two sighed and flopped back onto their back. Four gave one look back at them before getting back up, and walking towards the door to the hallway.
Maybe he was hallucinating, but he could’ve sworn they heard two say ‘thank you’ while they were hugging him.