Work Text:
"I thought you were strong." Isaac tried to pull himself up to the roof using his arms while his feet were being held up by Riley's shaking hands.
Riley grunted, almost stumbling back and sending them both into the void, but he caught himself "I can't lift you more than this! Pull yourself up!"
"Oh, yeah." Isaac stared down, confirming Riley was right as he noticed his arms outstretched completely upward. "Okay, hold on, I'm gonna jump up."
Riley grimaced, expecting the jump to force him to use more strength, and so he tried to hold his own hands in place, one eye closed to brace for it.
Isaac propelled himself upwards, finally being able to climb up onto the roof, rather slowly to say the least. He heard a yelp from behind him, and he immediately turned back, now sitting on the roof.
The yell seemed to get quieter as he continued to listen. "Oops." Isaac commented, knowing he made Riley falls back.
But it would be fine. Isaac knew the other wouldn't take too long to drop onto the roof. He was already expecting it, staring up at the black void to see if he spotted the mooshroom anywhere.
Isaac wasn't used to falling down, but he knew that Riley was taking a bit too long to appear.
"Riley?" Isaac's eyes narrowed, attempting to look everywhere, almost hallucinating a spot of red, but he hadn't seen anything.
"Riley!" Isaac crouched down, trying to peer over the roof's edge and back down at the void below where he just heard Riley fall.
No sound.
"Riley, can you hear me? Hello?" His voice started to raise, a grimace forming on his face as he tried to notice any sign of Riley.
Isaac could feel his heartbeat start to quicken, a feeling of nervousness stirring in his chest as he glanced around.
Suddenly the silence he had wanted to get used to was the most terrifying thing at the moment.
"This isn't funny. What are you doing?"
__
"Whoa!" Riley yelled continuously, his breath running out as he never came to collide with the roof of the house.
Riley accidentally began spinning in one direction, and he tried to remain still as he looked around for any signs of the small building. "Where is it?" He asked quietly.
"Please land, please land." Riley repeated, knowing the impact would be greater the longer he kept falling, but he was sure that achieved nothing.
At first he treated it as a joke, and he wasn't sure when he had gotten so afraid, but this wasn't just a regular mistake of time they would usually have. He actually was spending...
Minutes up there.
Just falling.
And falling.
And-
"Isaac! Are you there!?" Riley tried to shout, realizing the attempt had failed after he was answered with silence.
Maybe he teleported too far off. Maybe if he yelled loud enough Isaac would figure something out. Anything.
He couldn't tell whether his eyes were open anymore. The blank darkness around him made him fear whether he was awake or not. It was only his obnoxious heartbeat that made his entire body shake that let him know he was still conscious.
__
Isaac had forgotten the purpose of being on the roof in the first place. He failed to acknowledge the fridge he had walked beside several times as he paced around.
Where was Riley.
Why was he not here yet.
Why was he taking so long.
He was supposed to be here.
He was supposed to fall back down.
The concern started to overwhelm him, and when he finally bumped into the fridge for the first time, the sight of it irritated him to the point he pushed it off the roof, also losing it in the void.
He was gone.
He was...
But it couldn't be-?
What if he was sent somewhere else-? Some other purgatory he had no idea of?
What if he was never going to see-
The faintest sound of screaming from above made Isaac's head snap up, a pang of hope striking him as the voice seemed to get louder.
"MOVE!" Isaac reacted a second too late, and suddenly he was thrown to the ground by a heavy object,but he was more focused on the grunt of the other.
"Riley!" His shaky voice held a relieved tone, and Isaac finally let his body rest at the sight of the other as they both watched the fridge that separated slide down, landing on the porch below.
"I felt like I was falling forever." Riley laughed, shutting his eyes. "Then that fridge came and I just grabbed onto it. That wasn't just me, right-" Riley wasn't even sure if Isaac knew of it, but his question was soon answered as he saw Isaac's face, smile dropping.
"Isaac..." Riley seemed surprised at the tears that wet his cheeks. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I thought you died, dude. Or- I don't know, went to hell?" Only then Riley noticed the tone of his voice, and how he seemed to already have already been crying.
"We're already in hell."
"You know what I mean." Isaac gave him a small smile, but the way his lips quivered made Riley's gaze soften, shifting over to the creeper and pulling him into a warm embrace.
"It was only a few minutes, it's okay." He rubbed his back comfortingly, but then his eyes snapped open in realization. "Or an hour. Or... How much was it?"
Isaac shrugged, holding Riley a bit tighter. "It takes like 5 seconds, though."
Riley carefully pulled back, a grimace on his face. "New rule, don't fall into the void."
Isaac questioned his pained expression, but he decided to respond to his comment instead. "That's a stupid rule. We've been knowing that."
"Yeah, but it usually doesn't leave you with 3 broken ribs." As he neared the end of the sentence, the words came out
"Wait, actually. Are you okay?"
"Yep. Totally fine." Riley brushed it off dramatically, laying back down. "You?"
Isaac could feel his face warm up at the thought. He couldn't believe how afraid he was once Riley was out of his sight.
"I'm just glad you're here." Isaac's gaze fell on Riley's face, never before being as grateful to have him as now.
His fingers subconsciously interlocked with the other, but when Isaac's eyes widened in horror at the realization of what he just did, he noticed Riley didn't comment on it.
He didn't even look his way.
Isaac only noticed the soft smile that formed on his face at the action. "I'm glad I'm here too. One more minute falling and I would've lost it."
Isaac let a laugh escape him, and Riley joined in soon after, adjusting his hand in the other's as his grasp tightened ever so lightly.