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It was the hottest summer night on Unstable. Five fans were blasting at full speed directly onto the Immortal Demon’s bed as he attempted to rest. However, it wasn’t enough.
Yes, despite being ‘immortal’, FlameFrags found himself dying from heat in the comfort of his own bedroom. He already tried throwing off his blankets- much to his dismay because those blankets were soft. He tried changing into thinner and more weather appropriate pajamas, blasting himself with ice cold shower water before laying back down to sleep, turning up the AC temperature in the base, and even removing his blindfold in the hopes of cooling down his face. But nothing seemed to work.
“Mmph.” Flame turned his head to face the fan directly beside his head. He opened his eyes and squinted at it, “This is so stupid.” He punched the fan over, causing it to fall to the ground and break upon impact.
That would be the third fan Flame broke in one night. The first was a small handheld one that pissed him off because it required him to manually blow air in his face. The second was a desk fan that pissed him off because it didn’t even work.
Contrary to popular belief, Flame was not a violent person. He was good at fighting, sure, and he was definitely far stronger than anyone else his age, but he did not care to harm anything that did not wrong him. These fans, however, definitely wronged him, and they deserved whatever bad things that happened to them.
Flame checked the small clock above his door and read the time.
‘2:34 am’
He groaned and shoved his face into his pillow. His brothers were most likely peacefully sleeping under their covers right now, each none the wiser that one of their brothers was suffering.
The truth is, the hot temperature is most likely manageable for most players, but Flame (unfortunately) isn’t like most players. He had to lay awake as he slowly melted away while everyone else succumbed to the sleep that he needed more than anything else in the world right now.
Flame mumbled, “this is how I die…”
With every passing minute, Flame began to accept his fate. The sound of the fans were beginning to bother him, adding another reason as to why he should just burn them all and throw any remaining ashes of them into the depths of the Nether. And the heat wasn’t getting any better. So, he sighed as he, the Immortal Demon, accepted death.
Before he could close his eyes and truly mourn himself, he immediately sat up at the sound of a quiet knock on his door. He didn’t give an answer or a sign of acknowledgment, but he watched as it creaked open anyway and an unexpected guest stood in his doorway.
“Spoke..?” He whispered, "what the- what are you doing in my room, bro?”
His younger brother shifted awkwardly, seemingly not having expected Flame to be awake. He stood quietly with a blanket in his arms before he cleared his throat.
“Hahaha, sorry. I-um.. I thought this was the bathroom..” He stuttered.
“The bathroom?” Flame gave him a deadpanned expression. Normally, his eyes were covered with his blindfold, but right now, his disbelief in Spoke’s lie was made obvious to the both of them.
Spoke began playing with the door knob anxiously, “yeah…”
“You were bringing your blanket to the bathroom..?” He tried not to laugh at the younger boy. Flame wasn’t trying to embarrass him, it was his fault he was just embarrassing.
Spoke’s face scrunched up, cringing at himself, “Okay, fine. I wasn’t going to the bathroom…” He reluctantly admitted defeat, a pout now adorning his face.
“Yeah, I know.” Flame patted a spot beside him on his bed, indicating for Spoke to come sit with him instead of standing, “Did you really think that you tricked me with that lie? Nice one bro.”
“I’m too tired to think of anything betterrrrr.” He whined. Spoke joined him and took a seat, bringing his knees up to his chest with his blanket wrapped around him.
With him now closer, Flame couldn’t help but notice the shivers that were radiating off of the young voidling.
“Are you cold?”
“Mhmm..” Spoke admitted softly. “The air conditioning is blasting for some reason…” He gave Flame a side eye.
“For some reason.” The reason was FlameFrags and they both entirely knew that.
The same AC that Flame struggled to figure out how to turn up earlier in the night was the cause of Spoke’s distress- if distress was even the right word. Spoke didn’t seem stressed at all. In fact, Flame was certainly more stressed than him, although he didn’t want that to show to the younger boy.
Spoke just seemed really sleepy. It was almost unusual to see the normally energetic boy in a state of pure exhaustion as he sat on Flame’s bed.
Spoke smiled, "Although perhaps it wasn’t the best idea for me to come here. You seem to be trying to live in a freezer.” He pointed to all the fans.
“Whatever bro, it’s still hotter than hell in here. These fans suck.” Flame narrowed his eyes at the four good-for-nothing pieces of garbage. He really needed to kill them all.
Spoke giggled and rubbed his eyes, “I’m sure the evil pieces of plastic and metal are no match for you.”
Flame’s eyes softened as he turned his attention back towards his brother. Just what the hell was this little monster planning?
He raised an eyebrow, “Why did you come to my room anyway?”
Spoke usually was up to something. Whether that something was harmless like hiding Parrot’s spyglass, or destructive like throwing sticks at Wemmbu and placing the blame on Flame, he always had some kind of hidden ulterior motive to any and all of his actions.
Now, Flame wasn’t usually the best at seeing a person’s true intentions until it was too late. However, Spoke was his family and by now he should know all of his tricks. But even so, he didn’t know what reason Spoke would have to fake being tired and cold in his bed at 3 am.
Spoke’s smile faltered for a moment, an indicator that he was nervous, “I mean.. well, you’re usually pretty warm so… I don’t know.” He looked down, looking almost ashamed, “I just figured maybe I could stay with you..?”
Flame didn’t really know how to react to the confession. He believed him, because of course he did, but he wasn’t exactly the best at dealing with people invading his personal space, even if the person was family. It wasn’t that he necessarily hated affection, but it was often overwhelming and something he found it awkward - his best friend Lomedy was usually an exception though.
At the same time, seeing Spoke shivering under his blankets in front of him was bringing out his protective instincts. Spoke was his little brother after all. He couldn’t just turn him away because that wasn’t the honourable thing to do.
Flame began to wonder if Manepear had felt the same way about him back when they first met. Mane never cared about honour the way that he did, but he still didn’t hesitate to take him in and attempt to help him whenever he could.
“Sure, I mean, if you really think it would help.”
The voidling immediately began beaming with energy that certainly was not there five seconds ago. He perked up and excitedly crashed his body into Flame’s, forcing the both of them to lay down, “Thank you my friend!!”
Spoke was cuddled on top of him, and Flame watched as that split second of energy immediately dissolved from the warmth of Flame’s body heat. ‘Weirdo.’
Flame was netherborn, meaning that his body tends to run warmer than most people’s, hence why the heat affects him more than everyone else. However, despite the fact that he was dying from the heat just moments before, he did not mind the physical contact from Spoke. It was actually a lot better than he originally expected. Spoke was a voidling, meaning he was normally colder than others.
As they lay together, one cold and one warm, the two of them just so happened to compliment each other perfectly. Flame’s bedroom felt as though it was a bearable temperature, almost as if it hadn’t felt like it was a worse version of the Nether only moments before.
Flame pulled Spoke’s blanket up to cover them both. He wrapped his arms around Spoke and pressed him closer to his chest. From the sound of his heavy breathing, he could tell that the boy had already fallen asleep somehow.
Flame rolled his eyes. ‘Lucky.’
How the hell did he fall asleep so fast? Flame had no idea.
At the same time, he had a hunch that the younger boy somehow knew that coming to Flame’s room would warm him up enough to fall asleep. It’s possible that this wasn’t the first time Spoke had done this, but based on the way he seemed unprepared for encountering an awake FlameFrags, this was certainly the first time he’d been caught.
”stupid..” Flame whispered affectionately.
The cold radiating off of Spoke’s body completely defeated the hot air that not even the stupid fans could fight against. Even with a blanket on, Flame did not feel the same insufferable humidity that he did before.
He ran his fingers through Spoke’s hair. The entire scene would probably look ridiculous to any one else. Two brothers: one boiling to death, one freezing. One acting as a heater, one acting as an ice pack. Four fans blowing on the bed, and one blanket covering them both. It was ridiculous.
But Flame didn’t really care. If anything, he was grateful. He finally felt himself drifting off to sleep with the comfort of his little brother snuggled on top of him. His little brother, who for once, had no grander plan after all and truly just wanted the same rest he did. His little brother, who if need be, would always be welcomed into his room and didn’t have to hide his intentions anymore.
As his eyelids grew heavier, he placed a kiss onto Spoke’s forehead before he finally relaxed his muscles and fell asleep.