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All Derek knew was pain. It was a perpetual headache, and an even worse pain somewhere in his chest. Yet he also knew everything in this universe and beyond.
He didn’t even get to put punctuation in his last testament before he collapsed into a dream-filled sleep.
There was so much going on. Multiple things flashed in front of Derek’s face. There was an infernal voice. Derek couldn’t figure out what it was saying. A figure in yellow robes. One second, there was a jar of red flowers. The next, those flowers had wilted.
And then it was Avery. Avery was pictured in his bathroom, brushing his teeth. A completely normal thing to do. But he coughed and spat out something that did not look like entirely toothpaste.
He knew it was Avery, because he had memorized each and every contour and freckle on Avery’s face. However, he knew it was not Avery because this was a dream, and Derek had known everything for a while now.
Dream Avery was as beautiful as Derek remembered real Avery as. But he did not speak. He did not look up. Instead, he coughed again. This time, it was clear. It was a petal from the flowers in the jar.
“Stop it!” Derek yelled into the darkness around him and the Avery that could not see him.
“I know this is a dream. Stop showing me things that aren’t real!”
Just then, Avery looked up. But his irises were bright yellow. Derek came to the conclusion that this was never really Avery at all.
“How sure are you that this is not real?” came a voice from Not-Avery’s mouth. It wasn’t Avery’s. In fact, it sounded a lot like the voice he heard earlier in his dream.
“This is a dream,” Derek repeated. “I need to wake up.”
“Whatever you say, D3rlord3,” said the King.
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
Derek woke up from a hazy dream. He didn’t know how long it had been. All he knew was that he had a headache, and that needed to get to Avery. He needed to contact Avery. He needed to know and see for himself that Avery was okay.
His computer was off. It had been since a few minutes after he passed out. He didn’t want to boot it up and waste so so so much time.
Derek grabbed his phone. It had been on the charger since before the whole debacle. It had taken quite the toll on its battery, but at least it was charged.
He scrambled to type in the digits into his phone. The number he memorized, before he passed out so that he knew it without even taking a second to remember.
Avery?
Derek wondered how he had been since everything happened. Images of Avery, rotting in his bed, hardly eating, and doomscrolling were sent to his mind, courtesy of the new eldritch horror in his head.
“Stop it,” Derek said out loud.
“What? You know it’s true. You wondered, after all,” the King replied in his head.
“No. Because Avery’s been doing better lately. You know it, too. Don’t try to deceive me with untruths.”
Hastur said something, but Derek couldn’t have cared less. Avery was typing.
who is this??
Derek smiled.
“Are you ignoring me?!” the King yelled in his head.
Derek typed instead of responding to the angry voice in his head.
I think you already know.
what?? wdym who are u???
Derek let Avery figure it out instead.
“Stop it this instant!” the King screamed. If Derek was to be honest, it was rather amusing.
DEREK?!!??!?!
Derek’s grin grew wider. He loved Avery’s absurd amounts of emotion in his texts.
Yeah.
he typed, and because Avery was Avery and he was definitely concerned about him, he added,
And before you ask, I’m okay.
“This is absurd!”
Finally, Derek decided that the King had suffered enough.
“What?”
“I said, wouldn’t it be… more convenient to meet Avery in person? His apartment is walking distance away from yours.”
“Hm. That might be the first good idea you’ve ever had. I’ll consider it.”
Avery texted again.
how do i know its you?
Hm… what was something that only Derek would know? He was quickly supplied by an image in his head. Avery was looking at a Facebook page. Odd, because Derek knew Avery didn’t have an acc—WAS THAT HIS MOM?
Were you seriously just snooping around my mom’s facebook?
He gave Avery a moment to respond. When he failed to, Derek did it himself.
I’m coming over.
Derek knew Avery would flail and fumble to clean, but Derek needed to clean himself up anyway. He was… filthy to say the least, after spending quite literally the entire last few months rotting at his monitor.
He headed to the shower and scrubbed himself red.
Eventually, when he came out, he took one glance at the state of his room and decided he’d clean it later. There were more important things to do. Like going to Avery’s apartment.
“Procrastination does you no good,” chided the King.
“Yeah, well, I can deal with the piss cups later. Avery can’t wait.”
Hastur responded with a disgusted noise.
“Maybe if you had let me turn away from the damn computer, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Ever think of that, huh?”
That was the end of the conversation.
✿ . ˚ . ˚ ✿.
Up, left, up, up, left, up, building on the left.
Those were the directions to Avery’s building from Derek’s. Conveniently, Derek had a habit of going left every time he turned.
It took him 12 minutes to reach Avery’s apartment. But before Derek knocked, he checked if Avery was finished cleaning. He wasn’t. So instead, Derek sat in front of Avery’s door, waiting until he finished tidying up.
“What’s the point? You wanted to so him so badly, didn’t you?” Hastur asked.
“I want him to be comfortable when talking to me,” Derek murmured lowly, so that Avery couldn’t hear him.
Four minutes remained until Avery would sit down on his couch and sigh in relief that Derek hadn’t arrived yet.
But little did Avery know, Derek had arrived. Derek just waited for Avery. Derek always would wait for him.
✿ . ˚ . ˚ ✿.
Derek knocked on Avery’s door. Derek had a specific knock that he did each time. Two sharp knocks. It wasn’t exactly unique, but it was his.
And suddenly Avery was there, in front of Derek, whole and real. Derek almost couldn’t believe it.
“Your eyes are different,” Avery immediately blurted out.
Derek smiled and just answered, “The King. Can I come in?”
Everything was going well. The King was actually staying quiet for once. Avery, being curious, asked questions. And Derek was happy to answer. Until he noticed something behind Avery.
“…Is that a… jar of hanahaki flowers?”
Derek’s mind raced. Images of Avery hunched over that same jar, coughing up flowers filled Derek’s mind. The worst part was that Derek didn’t know if this was even in his universe or not.
“You know it is,” Hastur whispered in his head. Derek winced.
“God, Avery, I worked so hard for you to not be the King’s vessel, and you get hanahaki? Who are you even—“ Images of himself filled Derek’s head. A few heart-wrenching thoughts about Avery being terribly heartsick for Derek filled the silence in his head. Courtesy of the King.
“…Me?” Derek asked incredulously.
“Sorry,” Avery started.
“Avery, why are you apologizing? You were planning to tell me, right? I don’t want you to die.” Derek’s eyebrows furrowed with worry.
Avery hesitated and stuttered. By now, Derek knew he had to just say it before Avery fell into more overthinking.
“I love you,” he told Avery.
“Wha… Huh?!” Avery blabbered quite adorably.
“Avery, listen to me. I’ve known you in every universe. I know every choice you’ve made for me. I know every little thought you’ve had about me. I know how much you missed me. I know that if I met you earlier, in real life, I would love you too. I love you now. I always will.”
“…You love me..?” Avery asked almost disbelievingly.
Derek sighed. He had been staring at Avery’s lips for a while now. He knew exactly how they’d taste. He knew how warm they were. And he knew that Avery wanted him too. Derek wanted him more than anything.
“On with it, now,” the King said impatiently. Derek almost laughed at the absurdity. But he needed to do this more.
Derek pulled Avery into a kiss. It was warm and sweet and tentative. And it was possibly the best thing Derek had ever done.
“Not enough tongue,” Hastur commented.
Derek ignored him. Instead, he pulled back—just enough to see Avery’s face.
And then he kissed him again. Derek physically felt Avery melt into him. He smiled against Avery’s cracked lips.
Then, Derek pulled back to speak to Avery.
“Of course I love you, Avery. In this lifetime and in all the others.”
Avery made a sound adjacent to a mouse’s squeak.
Derek chuckled and guided them both inside.
✿ . ˚ . ˚ ✿.
That night, Derek learned a few things. Which was seemingly impossible, considering he already knew everything. But he found out that one, the King was incredibly bad at handling being a third wheel, and two, that Derek didn’t mind being a little spoon. He didn’t mind much of anything, as long as Avery was with him.