Chapter Text
...Crap.” Coil mutters to himself as he uses what little strength he has left to press against the new bloody addition to their body. It was a minor slip-up that resulted in one of Subspace’s biografts landing a rather nasty slash on Coil’s abdomen, though the inphernal was able to make his escape by lodging a crystal into his horn to amplify his overall strength it certainly didn’t change the fact that Coil had to stagger the way back home while keeping a low profile. He could go to Skateboard’s house to patch himself up but he was too far away from it and Wolf’s abode was out of the question.
“...Coil?” A voice from behind calls out.
Coil flinches in brief-shock before his lips curl up into a weak smirk as he turns around to look at none other than Slingshot. “Shouldn’t you be getting your beauty sleep at this hour?”
The initial worry that was on Slingshot’s face quickly melts into irritation, sighing exasperatedly as the bakery owner strides over to Coil’s side, eyeing the blood-stained hoodie with narrowed eyes. “I should be asking you the same thing. What the hell happened to you?”
If Coil wasn’t at risk of collapsing due to blood loss, he would’ve easily noticed the abrupt shift of Slingshot’s tone. Soft and worrying. But regrettably in Coil’s case, the injured inphernal was too dazed to even notice as they were using what little energy they had left to keep themself stable.
“...Just a pile of scraps, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Is Coil’s response, his usual ragebaiting smirk disappearing within seconds to avoid the unsatisfied look that Slingshot gave Coil.
“Uh huh, sure it was.” Slingshot shakes his head before gently wrapping an arm around Coil to keep him steady. “C’mon, I’m patching you up at my place. You look like you’re gonna collapse any second now.”
At first, Coil stares blankly at the close proximity that Slingshot had given them which ultimately causes his smirk to reappear in all its glory. “Aww, are you giving me the princess treatment? How kind of you.”
Slingshot rolls his eyes in irritation as he starts to guide Coil out the alley. “Ugh, don’t make me drop you.”
As Slingshot pushes the door open, Coil is instantly welcomed by the faint smell of sugar and caramel as Slingshot continues to guide him to the living room where the inphernal slowly sets Coil down on the sinking couch.
“Let me go get some bandages.” Slingshot whispers before disappearing into the pitch-dark hallway, leaving Coil to make himself comfortable on the couch, his hand practically still attached to his wound.
As he waited for Slingshot to return, Coil searched through his new surroundings– the only word that he could find to describe the place was homey. It wasn’t like Wolf’s home or Skateboard’s, everything was well-organized and in its rightful place. Coil looks over the assortment of photos nailed to the wall, featuring memories of Slingshot with his siblings, Vine Staff and Shuriken. They look happy in every single photo and it makes something unpleasant to stir within Coil’s chest before it disappears the moment Slingshot returns with a box in his hands.
“Let’s hope you didn’t get any blood on my couch, that’s gonna be hard to get out.” Slingshot comments as he settles himself next to Coil, opening the box to pull out one of the elastic bandages.
Coil sways his free hand up and down. “Nah, unless you want me to.”
Slingshot grimaces, prompting Coil to laugh at the inphernal’s reaction before a surge of pain prevents him from doing so. Slingshot’s eyes widened, immediately hovering a hand over the wound when he heard Coil grunting in pain.
“I’ll– be quick… Can you pull up your hoodie for me?”
Pulling up his blood-stained hoodie, Coil nearly misses the pained expression on Slingshot’s face, his hand centimeters away from the open wound. “...As if a pile of scraps was responsible for an injury like this. You’re a terrible liar, Coil.”
Coil shrugs, it wasn’t entirely a lie. Biografts were just made from a bunch of scraps. “You wound me Sling, what if it really was a pile of scraps that did this to me?”
Slingshot takes an abrupt pause to wrap the first few layers of the elastic bandage before looking back up at Coil with furrowed brows, clearly not happy at Coil’s stubbornness about seemingly keeping quiet. “Fine, keep it to yourself or you can just tell Skateboard or Boombox about what actually happened.”
Coil doesn’t even think when he replies back to Slingshot. “They don’t need to know about this.”
Not this wound at least.
That at least catches Slingshot off guard as he blinks at Coil in confusion. “I thought they were your friends.”
Coil averts his gaze away from Slingshot’s. “Friends don’t need to know everything about me.”
At first, Slingshot leaves his jaw slightly agape as if about to say something but nothing comes out, seemingly giving up on finding the words for his next response as he continues wrapping the bandages around Coil’s abdomen in complete silence. Coil doesn’t bother to say anything else after that, in spite of how much joy it gave him to see Slingshot becoming frustrated with Coil’s antics, for once, Coil decides to keep the peace between them for the night to space off while looking back at the family photos.
By the time Slingshot is done tending to Coil’s injury, the inphernal instantly stands up from the couch, seconds away from heading out the door before Slingshot stops him with a silent. “Wait.”
Coil looks over to him, raising an eyebrow as he watches Slingshot head over to the kitchen to grab something from the fridge.
“I won’t be opening the Thieves’ Rest for a bit since Shuriken caught himself a fever.” Slingshot informs, pulling out a small plastic box with a few pastries inside of it. “But if you see Skateboard or Boombox, give them this. It’s for all three of you.”
Coil stares down at the box of pastries before perking his head up to look at Coil, blinking twice then thrice before finally taking the box from Slingshot. “For me too? You shouldn’t have.”
Surprisingly, instead of losing his temper to Coil’s words, Slingshot pursed his lips into a thin line, attempting to keep his cool. “Just go before I start regretting this.”
Coil snorts, pushing the door open. “Why of course, your highness.”
“...Be safe.” Slingshot mutters under his breath.
“What?”
Slingshot turns away, hand extending out to close the door once Coil was outside. “Nothing. Goodnight Coil.”
For a moment, Coil stood completely still– eyeing the door as if he were waiting for Slingshot to open it again before eventually taking his leave.
𑄝
“Coil!” Boombox calls out, waving at Coil when he spots the inphernal from a distance.
Coil smiles, waving back at both Boombox and Skateboard as they sat on the edge of a building– their usual hangout spot in the Craterdust Capital. Coil lifts his hand up, swaying with the plastic bag left and right as if he was ringing a bell. “Check what I got.”
The minute Coil threw the bag up in the air, Skateboard had wasted no time in snatching the box to pry it open to pop a big piece of the strawberry pastry into his mouth. Boombox cringes in disgust as they extend a hand out to grab the blueberry pastry which left Coil with the last pastry. A slice of a lemon-flavored tart that was sprinkled with dried-up strawberry slices.
“Dude, you look like actual shit.” Skateboard notes through his chewing. Boombox elbows Skateboard’s arm a second later, giving the inphernal a confused look of how he worded it.
Coil raises his hand in mock surrender, already done with his pastry by swallowing it whole. “Damn, I give you food and this is what you say to me? Not even a word of gratitude?”
Skateboard chuckles, sticking his tongue out. “Hey I’m right though!”
Coil elbows Skateboard’s shoulder in response. “Like hell you are.”
The LED eyes on Boombox’s visor began to narrow at Coil’s reply to Skateboard prompting them to point an accusing finger towards Coil. “Have you seen yourself though? You really do look exhausted.”
“Ehh I’ll be fine.” Coil waves his hand, dismissing their concerns.
An awkward silence fell between the three inphernals before Skateboard spoke once more.
“Oh yeah, Boombox said that they wanted to go to the phights this afternoon. Wanna join us?” Skateboard offers.
Coil could use the extra bux but Slingshot would be absolutely livid if he were to see Coil participating in today’s phights, especially when his wound– something that only Slingshot was aware of was still in the process of healing.
Though speaking of healing, Coil could take a quick trip to the store to pick up some medicine for Shuriken as a way to return the favor for Slingshot patching him up and offering a box of treats to share with Boombox and Skateboard. Plus, it’d give Coil a good excuse to tease Slingshot once more. “Nah, I think I’m good. Got somethin’ to do today.”
Skateboard licks the last few bits of frosting that got onto his fingers before looking over to Coil. “You gonna steal those crystals again?”
Coil shook his head. “Mm…nah just got some errands to do.”
He gets a suspicious look from Skateboard when Coil doesn’t bother to elaborate any further. “Don’t be givin’ me that look man.”
When Skateboard’s expression doesn’t flinch, Coil simply shrugs at him. “I’m a busy guy, man, what can I say?”
Skateboard waves him off, rolling their eyes. “Says the guy that naps for fourteen hours straight.”
Coil flips him off while waving goodbye at Boombox who reciprocates the gesture with a small smile before proceeding to jump off the building. As Coil allowed the force of gravity to play its role, he took a good moment to relish himself in the cold breeze before making a smooth landing. He starts to speedwalk down the streets of the urban city, reeking the stench of spray paint. It was a smell that once reminded Coil of fright and terror as he crawled through the blinding streets, on the brink of eventual death.
But now, the smell gave Coil the sense of artistic freedom and rebellion.
“Well look who we got here!” The clerk exclaims once they see Coil entering the store.
“Hey old man, got any painkillers I can buy?” Coil asks as he looks around the store, seeing if there was anything that’s been recently added to the run-down store.
“Mmm, we got a fresh batch to sell so I bet we do, let me see…” The old inphernal skimmed through his cabinets before pulling out a painkiller bottle, it stuck like a sore thumb given how perfect and recent it looked. “These things are gettin’ rare these days, better pay me real good ‘ere.”
Coil smirks, digging through his pockets before slamming a good amount of bux on the counter. The shopkeeper blinks, flipping through the stack of bux to count the approximate amount before averting his eyes back up at Coil. “Tryin’ to steal more crystals like last time?”
He shook his head. “Nah not today, I wouldn't even need things like these to do it anyway. I’m just getting these things for someone.”
The inphernal lets out a hum. “Returnin’ a favor then?”
“Mmm, let’s call it an opportunity instead.” Coil settles with, smile turning into a broad grin as he imagines the look of disbelief and shock on Slingshot’s face.
The shopclerk doesn’t verbally say anything back, only nodding in response to Coil’s statement as they placed it in a small plastic bag for Coil to take on his way out. Muttering a small thank you, Coil hastily took his leave to climb up to the nearest building.
𑄝
“Shuri, do you think you can eat something?” Vine Staff asks gently, patting Shuriken’s chest. “Sling made some rice porridge for you.”
“Mmm…sure.” Shuriken mutters, his voice sounding hoarse and deep from the mucus. Though his room was naturally messy, there were wrinkled-up tissues discarded around the bed much to Vine Staff’s dismay as she lifted up the nearby trashcan.
“How’s he doing?” Slingshot asks, popping his head out the doorway.
“I feel like I’m dying here.” Shuriken groans and Slingshot rolls his eyes, ruffling Shuriken’s hair.
“You’re not gonna die, Shuri.” Slingshot sighs with a tired smile. “You just need rest.”
Shuriken leaned into the touch, sighing through his mouth since he wasn’t able to breathe through his nostrils. In spite of how Slingshot didn’t enjoy seeing his brother in such a weakened state, the inphernal could only hope that this would allow Shuriken to get some proper rest and give Slingshot an excuse to keep the concerning amount of energy drinks away from Shuriken. For as long as Vine Staff and Slingshot could remember, the signs of fatigue were evident through Shuriken’s eyebags and the hoard of energy drinks that he attempted to hide from them, only to fail miserably when Vine Staff and him were doing chores around the house.
It was one excuse after another from Shuriken, shrugging off his siblings’ worries like they were nothing but flyers. Slingshot is well aware that he shouldn’t be breaking Shuriken’s right of privacy but with these effortless excuses, the boxes of energy drinks, and the constant state of exhaustion– Slingshot couldn’t find himself standing aside for long.
“I’ll go get a bowl for you. After that you can take some medicine.” Slingshot says before heading out of Shuriken’s bedroom.
“Can’t I just skip the medicine part?” Shuriken whines. “It tastes gross.”
From the kitchen, Slingshot can already hear the incoming sigh from Vine Staff as she proceeds to scold Shuriken in a light-heartedly manner. “Medicine is good for you, Shuri. It’s not meant to taste good.”
Huffing out a fond laugh, Slingshot went through the motions of scooping out the porridge into a small bowl while using his tail to search for the medicine in one of the kitchen drawers only to find that the bottle was completely empty. Slingshot mutters a small curse, discarding the metal ladle to dig through the drawer more thoroughly in search of an extra amber bottle. Vine Staff came out from the hallway, brows furrowing when seeing the growing frustration on Slingshot’s face.
“What’s wrong?” Vine Staff inquires as she extends a hand out to grab the bowl of porridge.
“I think I forgot to restock on medicine.” Slingshot replies, dragging his hands down his face before making a beeline to the door. “I’ll make a quick run to the pharmacy– just make sure Shuri eats something first.”
As Slingshot prepares to make a running start to the pharmacy, the inphernal barely has time to register Coil standing right outside his doorstep, causing Slingshot to collide into his chest. For a good second, both inphernals stand in place and it takes Slingshot another second to realize that Coil had his calloused hand resting on the latter’s back. As if he were being scorched with fire, Slingshot reluctantly moves away to create distance.
Coil blinks before an incoming grin replaces his blank expression. “Morning kitty. Got somewhere to be?”
Slingshot was seconds away from closing the door before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Oh my Swords…what the hell are you even doing here–”
“Oh hello, you must be Coil!” Vine Staff chimes in as she walks over to the two inphernals.
“The one and only.” Coil replies with his usual grin, nodding at Vine Staff as he lifts up the plastic bag that’s wrapped around his wrist. “Heard your little brother was sick, thought I’d get him some medicine in case you guys needed it.”
Vine Staff looked inside the bag before her lips curled up into a broad smile. “Oh how kind of you, thank you so much Coil! Guess that means you won’t have to run to the pharmacy anymore, Sling. How fortunate.”
Slingshot rolls his eyes, grumbling. Coil was the last inphernal he wanted to see today. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just give this medicine to Shuri so he can rest.”
Sighing, Slingshot reaches out for the doorknob to shut the door, avoiding Coil’s face before Vine Staff grabs his arm. “Wait a minute, Coil came all this way to deliver this medicine to us. How about we let him join us for breakfast?”
What.
“Vine–”
“Sure why not, how could I say no to a beauty like you?” Coil winks.
Vine Staff hums politely, Slingshot swore that he could’ve seen a hue of pink on her cheeks. “Vine…”
“What? We always invite Skateboard and Boombox to join us for breakfast. So why not Coil?” Vine Staff asks.
“Yeah I know but he’s not–” Slingshot pursed his lips into a thin line, lifting a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“I’ll handle the dishes today, Sling.” Vine Staff proposes. It was a usual tactic that’s constantly abused by the Thieves’ Den trio. Either it’d be used to get one of them out of trouble or for some sort of deal.
“So…you gonna let me in or are you just gonna break the doorknob?” Coil asks, eyes moving over to Slingshot.
Begrudgingly, Slingshot releases his grip on the doorknob to make some space for Coil to enter. Vine Staff takes the plastic bag from Coil as she gestured him over to the kitchen counter. “I’ll make some tea for us. Can you make sure Shuri takes his medicine after he eats, Sling?”
Slingshot, having already pulled out the amber bottle out of the bag, scoops up the small bowl of rice porridge onto his free hand before striding off into the hallway. He might as well use this as an excuse to not be near Coil.
“...was that Coil’s voice just now?” Shuriken asks, ears flicking up when he picks up Vine Staff laughing with Coil from the kitchen.
“He got medicine for you.” Slingshot answers, setting the bowl and bottle down on the nightstand. “Sit up for me.”
A sickly Shuriken begins to whine in protest but forces himself to sit up, relying his back on the hoard of pillows he took from the living room yesterday morning. Slingshot lifts up the spoonful of porridge to Shuriken’s mouth. “Sling…I can feed myself just fine–”
Slingshot chuckles, lifting the spoon back down. “Sorry, sorry. Just a force of habit.”
Shuriken grumbles as he shovels porridge into his mouth– without Slingshot’s assistance. As the inphernal opened the bottle of painkillers, he hears Vine Staff and Coil discussing about random little topics concerning Playground. And yet for some apparent reason, Slingshot listens in.
“Collapsing buildings…that sounds dangerous.” Vine Staff comments.
“Yeah it is, but my friend Skate has been rescuing other inphernals from getting crushed. He’s got guts to do something that risky.”
“Aw, how heroic of him! He sounds really uh…rad! Did I say that right?”
Despite Coil’s attempts at concealing his snickering, he can hear Vine Staff let out an embarrassed groan. “Yeah you got it, no worries Vine Staff.”
“It’s difficult to understand your guys’ dialect…I mean– what does homie even mean?”
At the unexpected question, Coil is now full on laughing with Vine Staff following soon after.
“...At least she seems to be enjoying his company.” Shuriken points out when he notices the annoyance beginning to grow on Slingshot’s face.
“I know, I know.” Slingshot mutters, keeping his voice low. “I just didn’t expect him to barge in here.”
He should be resting. He doesn’t owe me anything.
Shuriken sighs, lowering the spoon down. “Look I know you don’t like the guy but give him a chance. Vine’s been wanting to talk with other inphernals for a while now. Who knows, maybe they’ll become good friends.”
Slingshot’s head perks up in confusion. Coil of all inphernals? No, no, he’s not intervening in this. He only hopes that Vine Staff won’t fall for his rage-baiting antics. Sighing, Slingshot lies down on Shuriken’s bed and blocks out the background noise, shutting his eyes.
During the entirety of Vine Staff and Coil’s conversation, Slingshot occupied himself by tending to Shuriken’s needs such as freshening up his contaminated bedroom with freshly washed blankets and bed sheets while also making sure that Shuriken took his medicine once he finished eating.
Coil would occasionally shoot glances at Slingshot whenever he came out of Shuriken’s room to which the baker responded with nothing but absolute silence. Vine Staff seemed to be enjoying herself with Coil’s company as she ranted happily about her gardening hobbies. And to Slingshot’s surprise, Coil listened to her rants, asking the healer a few follow up questions and even gave her a brief lecture centering around slangs that were used amongst friends. In spite of how Slingshot was waiting for Coil to finally leave, seeing his sister talk to another inphernal that wasn’t her siblings gave Slingshot some relief and hope that she’ll become more sociable in the future.
By the time Slingshot is done with his fifth or sixth round of cleaning the house, Coil had finally left. Vine Staff was still in the kitchen, now washing the dishes as promised.
“Coil’s a really nice guy.” Vine Staff says when she notices Slingshot returning to the kitchen to eat his porridge in peace after occupying himself with a list of chores that he wasn’t assigned for today. “Oh before he left, he told me to tell you that Skateboard and Boombox liked the treats you made for them.”
“..That’s good.” Is what Slingshot forces himself to say for the sake of his sibling.
Vine Staff chuckles softly. “Thank you by the way.”
Slingshot blinks, swallowing his bits of porridge before speaking. “For what?”
Vine Staff turns off the sink, setting the cleaned dishware aside. “For tolerating Coil for my sake. I know you don’t get along with him but you still let me invite him over for breakfast and tea.”
At that, Slingshot begins to soften up as he recalls the moments when he noticed Vine Staff staring at the trio of playgrounders having their usual lunch hang out at the Thieves’ Rest. The look of yearning had said it all for Slingshot. She wanted to find the right moment to socialize, to get to know them better but would always cower away, resuming back to work if she was ever caught staring at them from a distance. “...Of course Vine– I want you to have friends. You deserve it.”
Vine Staff fully turned around, smiling gratefully at Slingshot’s words. “Thank you, Sling. That’s very sweet of you to say.”
Slingshot’s lips curl into a small smile before his eyes wander over to a slip of paper that was behind Vine Staff. “..What’s that over there?”
“Oh this? It’s Coil’s phone number.” Vine Staff answers with a widened smile, showing Slingshot the paper slip that Coil used to write down his number. “He said that I could call him if I ever wanted to hang out!”
“That’s–” Slingshot clears his throat as he internally repeats the number in his head. “...good to know.”
“Maybe I could wear something nice for the occasion!” Vine Staff ponders happily, remaining completely oblivious to the shift in Slingshot’s tone. “Hmm…guess I’ll have to do some shopping then.”
“Oooo!” Shuriken sings in a teasing tone, prompting Vine Staff to storm over to the inphernal’s room. Chaos follows soon after. “ACK- sis wait a minute- OW! SLING HELP ME SHE’S PICKING ON A SICK INPHERNAL!”
Slingshot doesn’t get out of his seat for another five seconds before finally pushing up to his feet and walking back into the hallway, preparing himself to drag Vine Staff out of their brother’s room. “Vine stop hitting him already–”