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It was useless. He’d never be a real antagonist. Nobody would ever be worse off because of his actions, and what was he if he wasn’t evil? He should just hide from everyone, forever. Waxwell sat alone on an empty floor, deep in the bowels of Gardenview. He sobbed, curled in on himself. His tears started out clear, then slightly murky, then full drops of ichor were pouring from his eyes.
“Wh-What..?” A searing pain ripped through his spine. He screamed for nobody to hear as his body elongated, getting taller, more hunched over. The pain caused his fire to light, wax melting and dripping onto his arms, covering his long sleeves. A burning itch erupted on a spot on his middle back. He reached a hand over to touch it, coming back covered in ichor. He wiped it on the floor. There was something growing out of him, and it kept burning and itching until he couldn’t take it anymore. He tried to rip it out, but it was a part of him. Eventually, it got long enough to whip around to his front. It was a long, thin tail, grown from his back. That… wasn’t where those usually go.
The skin on his feet broke, pouring forth ichor as something grew there, too. They looked to be claws, or maybe hooves, painfully poking out from his feet, tearing through his boots and dousing them in ichor. His eyes burned, as though he’d been crying for hours, instead of just minutes. He had to find a mirror, just to see what was happening to him. He tore through storage rooms, only to find one way back in the corner.
He looked horrible. His eyes were red, and his teeth were sharp. The spikes on his choker had grown, turning black. Funny, he didn’t think that his clothes were a part of him. He touched the tip of a spike, poking him in the finger and causing him to bleed sludgy ichor. There were lines on his exposed sides, reminiscent of gills. He touched one. It ached painfully. He decided not to touch them anymore.
“Waxwell?” He recognized that voice. “Are you down here?” He couldn’t let Goob see him like this, so he ran. Ran out of the storage room, through the main part of the floor, all in search of the stairs. He knew they were somewhere, they had to be! He turned a corner, only to see Goob standing there. He felt his flame extinguish. “Waxwell! What happened to you?” Goob… Waxwell needed comfort. He took a step forward. Goob took a step backwards. “S-Stay back…” He was scared of him. Waxwell understood, he’d be scared of him, too, after seeing himself. He started running again, away from Goob, towards wherever the stairs were. He just had to find them.
And there it was! A sign pointing to the stairs! He would go deep down into Gardenview, never to be seen again. He turned the corner, and… Goob? What was he doing there? He turned to look at him, tears in his eyes.
“Waxwell…” Goob took a step back, then another, then he fell. Waxwell tried to reach out to grab him, but it was too late. No, this was the worst possible outcome. He’d… hurt him. He scared him so much he got hurt. Goob fell down to the next landing, twitched a couple times, and stopped moving.
Waxwell woke with a start. That nightmare again… It was the fifth time he’d had it that month. Whenever it popped up, it would linger in his mind like the taste of spoiled milk. He wrote about it in his journal, took a look at the poster on his wall that Goob made, and tried breathing exercises. Eventually, he calmed down enough that he thought he could get to sleep. He grabbed his plush, pressed his lips to the top of its head, and closed his eyes.
…
It didn’t work. An hour passed, then two, before he realized he needed help. He got up, placing the doll on his nightstand, and went up to knock on Goob’s door. Scraps answered, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
“Waxwell? What are you doing here? It’s, like, three in the morning.” She yawned, stretching her arms out behind her head.
“I’m here for Goob. I… can’t sleep.” Waxwell felt embarrassed admitting that to Scraps, but she was the one thing standing between him and his boyfriend.
“Oh, uh, okay, I’ll go wake him.” She stepped toward Goob’s bed, leaving the door ajar. “Hey, Goob, wake up. Waxwell is here.” Goob yawned, getting out of bed and walking to the door.
“What’s going on?” Goob looked tired, which made Waxwell feel bad about waking him up.
“I need help, I can’t fall asleep.” Waxwell looked down at his feet, nervous.
“Say no more.” A hand wrapped around his, and Goob started leading him down to the elevator. Waxwell felt immediately comforted, lips forming into a soft smile. They went down to his floor, walking into his room. Waxwell closed the door behind him before Goob spoke again. “That same nightmare?”
“How’d you know?” Waxwell stepped to where Goob was and wrapped his arms around his waist, leaning down to put his head on his chest.
“You don’t always come to me when you can’t sleep. It usually has to be pretty bad.” Goob held Waxwell and kissed the top of his head. “Not that I mind, I like cuddling you.”
“Y’know, you’re smarter than people give you credit for.” Waxwell pulled back to look Goob in the eye.
“Hmm, sometimes…” He giggled, and Waxwell couldn’t help but chuckle back. Goob planted a gentle kiss on the candle’s lips. “Alright, now let’s get to bed, I’m sleepy.” He punctuated his sentence with a yawn. The two got in the bed and snuggled up together. “It’s cute that you still keep that poster, by the way.” Another kiss, this one tenderly returned.
“It’s grown on me.” Waxwell caressed the back of Goob’s head, just like his partner had done to him many a time. “Kinda like you.”
“I’m not a plant!” Waxwell rolled his eyes at the dumb joke, going in for another kiss. Goob pulled back after a few seconds. “Seriously, though. Do you wanna talk about anything? About the nightmare, or something else?” Waxwell hesitated for a moment.
“I think… you died at the end of it this time.” Waxwell curled up against Goob’s chest. “You were so scared of me that you backed off the edge of some stairs, and just stopped moving when you hit the ground.”
“I would’ve come back, though!” Waxwell just shook his head.
“Something about it felt different. Final. Like you weren’t going to come back.”
“Waxwell…” Goob held him tight. “That’s never going to happen. There’s already a Twisted version of you, and I won’t die forever.” Waxwell knew this, but it didn’t help with the dream.
“I think… I just need to be held for a bit.” Goob nodded, leaving his arms where they were. “...Thank you.” That was the second time he had ever said that, and the first time was also to Goob.
“Anytime.” They laid there, in each other’s arms, for around 15 minutes, before Waxwell finally drifted off into dreamless sleep.
-----
Waxwell had been holding onto that plush for hours, trying to fall asleep, to no avail. He just couldn’t fall asleep. He got up, leaving the thing on the bed, and went to seek out his boyfriend again. This time, when he knocked on his door, he answered.
“Can’t sleep again?” Waxwell just nodded. Goob pulled him into a hug. “Let’s go.” Hands were intertwined, and the two headed back down to the candle’s room. “Anything specific cause it this time?”
“I don’t think so. I just can’t fall asleep.” Waxwell opened the door and walked through, still hand in hand with Goob. As soon as the door was closed, Waxwell was pulled into another hug.
“Well, that’s what I’m here for.” A kiss was pressed to Waxwell’s forehead. He just smiled sadly, bringing Goob in for a real kiss. It lasted a while, before they both pulled away. “Okay, let’s get you to bed.” Waxwell murmured as he was led by the hand over to his own bed, settling underneath the covers with his boyfriend. Gently, slowly, Waxwell kissed him, which was immediately returned. Goob pulled back, and a slight flame lit as they looked in each other’s eyes. “Careful, you’re gonna burn your pillow more.”
“And whose fault is that?” Goob just giggled in response, pulling Waxwell closer. He couldn’t help but smile at the affection. Eventually, he curled up against Goob’s chest, snuggling into his fluff. It still took a little while, but he finally managed to fall asleep.
-----
This time, a knock came at Waxwell’s door, late at night. He wasn’t sleeping anyway, so it’s not like it woke him.
“Come in.” He called, and the door opened to reveal Goob. “What are you doing here?” Usually it was the other way around.
“Now I’m the one who can’t sleep…” Goob closed the door behind him, and Waxwell made room in the bed for him to snuggle up. Waxwell was immediately pulled into a gentle kiss, which he returned.
“Did you have a nightmare this time?” Goob just nodded silently. “Do you wanna talk about it?” Another nod.
“I had a dream where we were kissing, and then you melted! Right in my hands! I didn’t know what to do, your flame was still burning, and it scared me so bad I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.” Goob hugged Waxwell tight. “What if that actually happened?”
“First of all, that was your nightmare?” Waxwell seemed to have a different definition of ‘nightmare.’
“It was a good dream until the melting part!” Goob seemed genuinely distressed, and Waxwell felt a little bad for teasing him. Not bad enough to apologize, but still. He just gave Goob a quick peck on the lips to make up for it.
“Second of all, that’s not going to happen. My fire isn’t hot enough to melt me. It’s barely hot enough to singe things.” Waxwell stroked the back of Goob’s head to comfort him. “I’m not going to melt any time soon.” Goob’s smile returned.
“Not even if I do… this?” He pulled Waxwell in close, staring into his eyes before kissing him passionately. A hand rubbed at his side as Waxwell kissed back, flame wooshing to life. Goob took a page out of Waxwell’s book and climbed on top of him as they kissed, legs on either side of his torso. That just made the flame problem worse. Waxwell grabbed Goob’s face and kissed him until he was out of breath. He pulled back, a hand on Goob’s chest.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Waxwell felt like he could barely breathe after that. Goob just smiled at him again, as if he hadn’t just tried to melt him. “Maybe you are a bad influence…” Waxwell liked this more mischievous side of Goob. The craft settled back in next to him.
“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me…” He giggled, nuzzling Waxwell’s cheek. He was so cute, Waxwell couldn’t handle it sometimes. He went in for another kiss, immediately reciprocated. They kissed for a solid minute or two, before Goob pulled back. “Should we just start cuddling every night, so we’re not waking each other up?” Waxwell thought for a moment. He did like cuddling Goob, but he also liked his privacy.
“How about… we make this the default, but if one of us needs space, we sleep in our own rooms.” Waxwell figured that was a decent enough compromise.
“Sounds good!” Goob kissed Waxwell’s cheek, who reluctantly flipped around afterwards so he could get some actual sleep, back pressed up against Goob.
“Goodnight, Goob.”
“Night, Waxwell.”