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“Hmmm, it's spooky looking outside.” They remark. Even through the rose tint of their glasses, the blood red sky above isn't difficult to notice. Well, at least not for them. It's a different, confusing story for Wifies.
Speaking of Wifies, behind them he stands, untying his bandana from his forehead and laying it to rest on the table beside the two beds they'd squished together,
“Yeah?” He turns towards them, “Why don't you come and cozy up beside me then?”
As loath as Squiddo is to admit it, the last thing they want to do is get into bed and fall asleep. Not because of Wifies, but because there's a great possibility of being teleported to the nightmare dimension (as they call it.) However, the alternative of staying awake and being confronted by their clones isn't much better, so they've got to pick one.
“Wifies!” They exclaim, crashing into him before he can react. Luckily, he manages to catch both them and himself before they can stumble backwards together. They're buzzing with energy, a mix of excitement and anxiousness. Listen, this isn't their first rodeo. They've been exploring these worlds for years, coming upon anomaly after anomaly. They never get any less scary, but Squiddo’s managed to get used to it at the very least.
Except this time, it's different. They're feeling.. a bit smaller, a bit more clingy, and way more anxious. It's probably because of the calming presence of Wifies. He’s not calm per se, but he's smart, and a figure that's easy for Squiddo to look up to. It's hard not to find yourself at ease around him, and for Squiddo, that ease leads to regression, which is a bit inconvenient in a situation like this.
Wifies' hands wrap around their middle and give them a slight squeeze, which is very nice pressure. He backs up against the bed, sits on the edge so Squiddo is partially in his lap, leaning their head against his shoulder. “I'm tired.”
“I know, I know.”
“I wanna go to sleep.”
“I know that too, silly.”
They tilt their head upwards at him, “How do you know everything?”
Wifies peers down at them, expression blank for a split moment before a grin spreads onto his face, and he holds a figure up to his mouth, “It's a secret. I've got.. kind of like, infinite knowledge from a certain king.”
He waves his hand around, Squiddo’s gaze following the motion. His hands are very soft looking, and they decide they want to hold them.
Squiddo reaches out, making contact with his hand. He doesn't pull away from them, allowing them to successfully intertwine their figures. They hum happily, “Yay. Alright! I'm ready for bed.”
“Are you sure? I think I see something still on you that you might want to take off.” Squiddo's not sure what he means until a hand comes up to tap at the lenses of their glasses. Oh, yeah. Honestly, they wear their glasses so often they forget they're there.
They glance off to the side, lowering their voice, “I don't want you to see my eyes.”
“That's okay.” He replies almost instantly. A moment of silence and quiet consideration on Wifies’ part passes before he speaks up again, “How about this, you take them off so you don't break them. But I'll turn around so I don't see your eyes?”
“But how are we gonna still hold hands?”
“Just around my back, like this.”
They perk up attentively, “And that's not gonna stretch your arm out or something?”
“Hm. Maybe it will. But it's worth it if it's for you, right?” Oh. That's.. really sweet of him.
Squiddo detaches themself from his side so they can carefully remove their glasses, slipping them off and placing them right next to Wifies' bandana.
When they turn around, they're pleasantly surprised by the sight of Wifies already tucking himself underneath the sheets, back facing Squiddo but his hand behind his back, waiting. They smile, climbing in after him.
It only takes a little shifting to get comfortable, latching themselves onto Wifies' back, their hand quickly finding his again. They hum happily, with their cheek pressed against his spine, “G’night, Wifieees,” They drag out his name, “Love you.”
“Mhm. Goodnight to you too, love you.”
They fall asleep against the warmth of Wifies, with the rustling of leaves outside acting as a lullaby. It's nice. It's.. nicer than they expected.
————
They feel sluggish. Still tired. Too tired for them to have gotten a proper amount of sleep, so too early for them to be waking up. The first thing they register is obvious, that Wifies is no longer with them, no longer holding their hand or at their side.
That convinces them to snap their eyes open, trying their absolute darndest not to move nor to show any visible shift in their breathing, because there could be something watching them, waiting until they woke up. It's happened before, who's to say it won't happen again?
It's no longer two beds pressed against each other they're laying on, it's one, singular red bed, pushed against the far left wall. They strain their ears, listening to silence, trying to notice any break of it. None. They must be alone.
They don't know if it's better or worse that way.
Squiddo sits up in the bed. It's dark outside. Not dark in the way that it is at night, more like in the way it is in the void. They're not in the void. They're in the nightmare dimension.
Okay, they can't stop their heart rate from picking up at that realization.
They've been alone during other worlds, with scarier anomalies, they figure, there's nothing so different about this one, right? Annoyingly, the convincing doesn't work as well as they want it to. Because they know it's different. They're alone, in a nightmare, without Wifies, without their friend, without—without their brother, without—wait.
Their glasses.
They turn towards the nightstand, where they remember leaving them. They're not there. Of course they're not there, how could they be so stupid to assume they would be? They're in an alternate dimension, of course they're not there.
They let out a small hiccup, hands moving upwards to scrub at the area around their eyes, because it feels so wrong. Everything feels wrong, none of it is right. It hurts, it's an itch they can't scratch. The only comfort they can get is the feeling of covering their eyes again, even if just with their hands.
With that newfound comfort, they manage to climb out of the bed, mindful of tripping enough to make it to the door, and thus, outside.
The world seems to circle around this cabin, they'd figured after the last visit. Shadows close around it, and they don't have the heart to explore alone, not with the fact that Wifies can't access this dimension. If something were to happen to them.. they shiver.
The breeze is harsh, harsher than it was in the over world. They make a small crack in their hands to look around. The pond, the gravestone, the small field of wheat are all sights they've gotten used to. There's a small cobblestone entrance in the ground. A mineshaft, right? It's gotta be.
If they're scared of the unknown, they shouldn't be walking towards it. They should go back indoors and fall asleep and hope they'll see Wifies again. But some strange, unknown desire compels them forwards towards the entrance. Through the gap, they can see.. a flash of purple, and a little grey. They're about to fully uncover their eyes when there's a noise.
“Squiddo?” A voice calls out. It's a bit distant, but it's absolutely recognizable. Wifies. It's Wifies. In this dimension? Really? Is it him?
Squiddo hesitates a moment, then replies, “Wifies? I'm—I’m scared.”
There's movement behind them, they can hear a door opening, and footsteps. In case it is Wifies, they keep their eyes fully covered. In case it isn't, they do the same. The presence gets closer, and closer, until it stops just shy of behind them.
“Hey, hey. You're okay. I've got your glasses, just..” He trails off, probably close enough to get a proper look inside the entrance of the mineshaft. “Let's go somewhere else. Can you trust me and do that?”
“Um.” Squiddo hesitates, then nods rapidly, “Yes, yes, I can. I can.” They tense up as a hand places itself on their back. The hands are gentle. They're.. like Wifies’. They're nice and soothing as they guide them away from the mineshaft and towards.. somewhere. Somewhere safe, hopefully.
“Okay. Here. You can uncover your eyes. You're fine, I promise. I haven't broken a promise, have I?” Wifies asks, so certain, and Squiddo thinks back. No, they decide, he hasn't broken a promise before. They shake their head, “No.”
The hand leaves their back and shifts towards their face, it hovers.
“Can I?”
They let out a shaky breath. They trust him. They want to trust that this is him. This is Wifies. It certainly is. They nod.
The hands slowly pry Squiddo's off their face, though they keep their eyes squeezed shut tightly. Their hands are guided back towards their sides, and with a little coaxing, they're able to unclench their fists.
There's a momentary pause before the hands move back upwards, holding something that feels cold to the touch and familiar. Oh. Their glasses. Wifies said he'd brought them, hadn't he? The glasses are placed over the bridge of the nose, both temples slotting nicely behind their ears.
Finally, they're able to properly blink their eyes open and look at Wifies. His hair is slightly messed up, bandana tied around his forehead again. But it's undeniably Wifies. He stares back at them, then finally cracks a smile. “Hi, you. I was worried you'd hurt yourself.”
That statement is what gets the dam to break, letting out a little hiccup that they felt deeply in their chest. The hiccup escalates to a gasp, then a little sob. From there it's a combination of all three as tears trickle down their cheeks.
Wifies lets out a soft exhale and pulls them towards him. They're tall, but Wifies is taller, and it manages to make them feel so small as their head is tucked underneath his chin. “I hear you. You must've been so scared, huh? I know I was. But you were really brave, weren't you? Didn't even scream once, I bet.”
They're able to laugh, although shaky, “I didn't!”
Wifies makes a noise of acknowledgement, “You want to know something though?”
“What is it?”
“I screamed. A lot, actually. Really loudly. I thought I might've crushed you or something.” He says, and that managed to get another laugh out of them.
“No, you didn't. I don't believe you. You're too smart to think that.. I'm—I’m the stupid one.”
He nudges them lightly, hands shifting towards their shoulders so he can properly look them in the face, “Hey, don't say that about yourself. You're not the stupid one. You're the good singer one, right? That's what you said you were?”
They grin, taking deep breaths, “I did say that, didn't I?”
“Yep. I know you did.”
Squiddo pulls away from him so they can lift their glasses up in an attempt to clean their face, their eyes red and blotchy and scratchy from the previous rubbing and new crying session. Not a good combination,
“My face feels all icky.” They complain.
Wifies sticks his hands into his pockets, digging around for a comically large amount of time as Squiddo stares at him. Eventually, he retrieves a handkerchief and hands it to them, “Fortunately for you, I have a handkerchief.”
They perk up, taking it from him carefully, “Thank you.”
While they're cleaning their face with their back turned towards the other, Wifies decides to fill in the silence. “I'll assume you don't want to go back to sleep.” A quick shake of their head tells him his answer. “And I noticed a little pond on the side of the house. You want to fish until you're ready?”
Squiddo glances back towards him, “Ready for what?”
He shrugs, “Ready to decide what you want to do after that, I suppose.”
“Oh.” They, as subtly as possible, shuffle towards his side and wrap their arms around his own. “Yeah. I wanna do that! Sounds like fun.” They smile up at him, just to see him smile back down in response. They like when he does that. They like when he smiles, and especially when he laughs.
He guides them over to the aforementioned pond, a small one surrounded by rocks of all shapes and sizes. There's a few cod swimming around in circles, they wonder if after they leave this dimension, they'll be able to keep the fish they caught. There's already a couple of rods lying there, off to the side. They don't know if they were already there or if Wifies brought them in.
They don't have much time to ponder before a rod is lightly being pushed into their hands. They fumble with it for a few moments, their hands not working the way they want them to. Wifies notices, and chuckles just a little.
“Wifieeess,” They groan, “Stop laughing at me!”
“Okay, okay, I'm sorry. You're just not holding it right. Here, your hand goes here.” He places their hand near the bottom of the rod, his own hand resting on top of theirs. The warmth is nice. Everything about Wifies is nice.
“And, here. Down here, you can reel it in. That is, once something latches on. There's already bait on it, you see? The fishes like worms, I'm not the biggest fan of worms personally—not of most bugs—but I can..”
He suddenly stops talking. Squiddo blinks, realizing they were spaced out for a majority of his talk. His voice has this drifty effect on them, like he's always telling a story. Maybe Squiddo should get him to read them a bedtime story. It's a nice voice, Squiddo likes listening to him talk, but can't quite process the words he's saying at the same time.
“Sorry.” They say.
Wifies assured them, “No, no, you're fine. Just a little distracted, maybe. It's fine. You can watch the master fish first.” Like they were saying, his voice itches their brain in all the right places, especially when he's concentrated.
Their head buzzes nicely, comforted by the presence beside them, and they're okay. They realize that now that they're fine. It's been a good while since they've had someone to share these scary moments where everything feels above them and too much, and Wifies is just who they need by their side. They cozy up beside him, content to watch him fish and to keep feeding the buzz in their brain.