Work Text:
Foolish is restless. Tired to the bone, drowning in his own mind and the swirling painful unstoppable thoughts.
He’s been on the new island for a month now.
At first, it seemed like everything would finally go back to the normal he’s been craving since he left Quesadilla island that faithful day 2 years ago, when he boarded the newly built plane along with the family he had found, certain they could find a safe place for themselves to live, tranquil and together. When, without really knowing how or why, everyone drifted away, going to sleep and not waking up, traveling away in search of a new life. When Foolish himself became a pirate and a king in that time, earning some new golden scars harder to hide then the ones he already had, he still couldn’t feel as stable as he had felt on that damned island.
Which is why he jumped on that cruise ship as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
He reunited with many friends, ones that had drifted away, his heart growing complete at every familiar face that appeared on one ship’s end on the other.
And of course, he reunited with his lover. Vegetta, the man with the purple eyes that had been haunting his dreams all that time. The man that could quiet his thoughts and stop his anxious pacing. The man that gave him unconditional love and stole it back when he ran away on his adventure, abandoning Foolish to raise their-
Waiting. The man that taught him to wait.
Vegetta, the only one he had ever loved so fiercely and with such fervor.
Despite missing him for longer then he had known him.
He was running to the other side of the boat, panicking as it crashed, when he bumped into him. And when he says bumped, he means Vegetta ran to him yelling his name and collapsed in Foolish’s open arms.
Many emotions passed through the totem in that moment. Joy, of course. Joy to encounter that man in a place of desperation. Nostalgia, a wave of it hitting him as memories flooded his brain at the familiar scent gathered in his arms. And one feeling he couldn’t identify. A tightening in his heart, one he hadn’t ever felt, especially not in Vegetta’s presence. Foolish had never felt anything remotely bad in Vegetta’s presence.
He pushed the confusion aside, focusing on the conversation and getting reacquainted with the Spanish language, it being less natural on his tongue then it had been. Vegetta tried to update Foolish on as much as he could in the short time they had while panicked people passed them by, and Foolish did the same. They got pushed apart.
They weren’t separated for long. Foolish somehow bumped into him, 500 blocks away from spawn in a random swamp, and Vegetta immediately invited him to his boat. Buzzing with energy, the totem enthusiastically jumped in it, wrapping his arms around Vegetta’s waist while the man was giving directions and maneuvering them around the algae and lily pads blocking their way.
And in the same breath, Vegetta invited Foolish to his mansion in the mountain and Foolish accepted. The tightening in his chest grew, still unnameable, still unidentifiable, and still ignored.
After that first day where emotions were running high and affection was coming naturally, their relationship slowed to a confusing halt. Foolish couldn’t say they were partners, not quite knowing if they still were, but saying they were friends felt wrong. Their shared history was a weight he couldn’t shake away, and he himself didn’t even know what he wanted anymore.
Of course he still loved Vegetta, he kept telling himself. But the words rang less true then they used to, despite his efforts to make them true.
He hung out with the man as much as he could in hopes to clear his head, having early morning conversations on the still unbuilt foundations, gathering materials together, exploring their surroundings in search of interesting blocks or improved armor. However, the opposite happened.
A fog set in in his heart. The tightening he had felt at first had transformed into physical pain at the sight of purple eyes. The sound of his laugh started to irritate the totem. He couldn’t look at his smile without wanting to close his eyes forever and never open them again. And guilt overcame him. Guilt he didn’t understand the origin of.
Which was the reason he started building. Escape.
Escape from those noises, escape from that mansion, escape from the guilt, and the anger, and the suffocating air, and the needles in his chest, and the way his eyes frequently started watering anytime during the day.
He could have built anything, but all he could think of was a dragon that was once home. And of course he couldn’t build that place once more, but the dragon didn’t leave his mind. So he listened.
And when came the time to choose a color for the dragon, Foolish chose purple, and he chose to use amethysts.
And there, surrounded by the soft melody created when placing amethysts’ blocks, his mind could finally quiet down. And the fog left. And a calm contentement replaced the anger.
But the golden tears stayed.
***
Clarity came on a random afternoon a week later. When out of the blue, while working on his dragon, Foolish received a text to his communicator that turned his stomach upside down.
“The eggs are back”
Trembling, he teleported to spawn, only to see Nacho building a house next to the spawn building. A feeling he could only identify as disappointment flooded his head, and he saw red. Rushing to Nacho’s side, he prepared to hit him off the cliff when he got restrained by Ishan and SenpaiSpider, getting pulled back behind a bush.
Shaking, panic rose in his throat and all he could do was watch, hidden, the last egg standing build silently accompanied by the two federation workers.
Looking back, he thinks that’s what made the flashbacks start.
Two days later, he has just woken up and is walking towards the entry of the house when he comes across Juan and Vegetta talking. He stops in his tracks, trying to understand what they’re saying to practice his Spanish, when Vegetta suddenly smiles in that specific way of his, bringing a hand up to his mouth and crinkling his eyes, and Foolish almost doubles over at the sight of her.
His vision becomes blurry and he feels water streaming down his face, but he can’t move. He is stuck in place, her looking up at him and smiling the exact same way Vegetta does.
Clarity.
He can’t stand to see Vegetta’s smile because she had the exact same smile.
When she greeted Foolish; when she caught a big fish, turning to her dad so he could take a picture; when Foolish gave her something new, a pet or that plush of the panda; when she hung out with her brother, both teasing each other relentlessly; when the bedtime story ended in the most unexpected way possible.
His biggest heartbreak and the only one that managed to make a space in his heart for eternity, his daughter, Leo.
He feels hands on him getting him back up and when he looks up, vibrant purple eyes are staring back at him, torturing him.
Suddenly realizing he’s crying in front of people, despite the people being his best friend and his past lover, he irrationally panics and stumbles backwards, eyes never leaving the purple ones that once belonged to Leo. Distantly he hears Vegetta calling his name, but Foolish ignores it and runs to the entrance the best he can with a blurry vision and an accelerated heartbeat ringing in his ears.
Escape, escape, escape.
When he comes back to his senses, he’s leaning his head against a cool surface. Opening his eyes, an ocean of purple greets him, texture of amethyst on his forehead now identifiable. He’d almost laugh if his heart wasn’t hurting this much.
All the obvious references to Leo he has included in this build despite not realizing it himself. He locked her so far away in his own mind, refusing the harsh reality of her absence, blocking out the memories that would resurface until those same memories became inaccessible to him, that she disappeared entirely.
Now, however, the gates are open. And he can’t control the flood. His body is submerged in grief and he doesn’t have the time to take one last breath of air before drowning.
Flashes of memories drive through his mind and overload his senses. The scent of the tostadas Leo used to bake in the yard of the dragon, surrounded by the flowers she had given her father that he had planted with a thing close to reverence, each finding a perfect spot to grow. The tantrums the little girl use to throw when Foolish refused her something, stomping her feet on the ground and shaking her head angrily. The late nights where both of them were missing Vegetta and would go to his tower to sleep, curled up in each other, in the purple armchair next to the fireplace. The paintings Leo had made that adorned her bedroom, exposing the things she loved in precious pieces of art. Love for her friends, for her pets, for her builds, for her siblings, and, most of all and overwhelmingly so, for her pa. The crystal she had held so preciously in her arms while looking up at him, forming the two words that carved themselves forever in both their hearts, Foolish still carrying them around.
Always juntos.
Foolish is curled up against the violet stones, shaking with hurt when scars that he wished had already healed open up. Scars hidden and unknown to the outside world, present in his and only his heart.
Although.
There had been one other man. Even if he had been gone for most of her life, Foolish was certain he had loved her all the same, as he saw the pain and the guilt on his face when Foolish had told him with tears in his eyes that their daughter was dead.
An overwhelming and desperate desire to be close to the man comes over him, blaring like alarms in his head.
As if Vegetta heard his cries, Foolish notices some shuffling of cloth above his head and, forcing his eyes open, he sees the purple figure gliding down towards him, worry visible on his face.
When he lands close to Foolish, stabilizing himself the best he can on the uncertain surface of the dragon’s head, he doesn’t have time to say a word before he’s engulfed in two big arms.
Foolish manages to curl himself against Vegetta’s chest despite their height difference, and he lets violent sobs break out of him, truly knowing deep in his heart that Vegetta would never judge him.
Gathering all the strength he can, he voices over the feeling that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel for so many years. Gritting his teeth, between sobs, he manages to croak out:
“I miss her.”
Vegetta’s hold tightens against him, one arm coming up to the back of his head to hold him close in the crook of his neck, the other squeezing his waist in an attempt to ground him. Foolish feels the tears of the other man fall on the top of his head.
“La extraño también,” Vegetta whispers, voice cracking.
And suddenly, Foolish understands, clear as day, that he loves him. He has never stopped loving him. It’s hard being in his presence but he doesn’t want to be away from him ever again, wishing to hold him close for all eternity, until the stars burn away and the universe is plunged into eternal darkness. Never has he loved so forcefully, so desperately. The fog over his heart had moved, not cleared away, but not covering his affections anymore.
Moments pass and Foolish raises his head, forcing himself to look at fierce purple eyes, red striken because of tears and glinting in the sunlight as it lowers on the horizon. Vegetta takes the totem’s hand in his, brings it up to his mouth and kisses the knuckles, and Foolish loses his restraints.
He takes Vegetta’s face in his hands, thumb stroking over his cheekbones gently. As the last few tears roll down their cheeks, Foolish connects their lips together, gently, with all the love and emotion he has for the other man. Vegetta returns his kiss gladly, hand tangling in Foolish’s hair. The kiss stays slow and tentative as both relearns what it’s like to be wrapped up in the arms of the other. There’s fireworks exploding in the totem’s heart but they’re quiet, overridden by the familiarity and the feeling of coming home.
Slowly, Foolish pulls away, not far, resting their foreheads together. And when he sees purple eyes, the ones that both his loves had shared, the grief settles, still there, probably never disappearing, but finally shared between the two souls.