Averse

Chapter 14 - Reflection

"You can pick any game you want," Killer invited, loosely waving an arm towards the shelf beside Cross as he began setting up the console. The shorter skeleton began sifting through games, perusing the box art, until he found a rather endearing little shoot-em-up. The cover depicted two round cats in space suits holding futuristic lasers, surrounded by cutesy aliens. "How about this one?" He held the box up towards Killer, waiting for the other to turn towards him. The taller skeleton glanced over after a moment, eye sockets widening slightly as he read over the box. "Space Cats?" Cross could feel the other's gaze moving to meet his own, causing him to shift a bit. "Yeah," he began, suddenly a little nervous that he had somehow made the wrong decision. "It looks kinda goofy, I wanna see what it's about, y'know?"

"No one's ever played that one with me before." A smile spread across Killer's face, his voice light with disbelief as he spoke. "It's exclusively a co-op, so I've never actually played it myself either. I've asked the guys but they uh.. Nobody's ever been into it. Y-You sure?" Cross nodded, smiling a little himself as a slight relief washed over him. Opening up the case he made his way towards Killer's place in front of the TV, settling down on the bean bag chair beside him. He still couldn't believe that Nightmare just had those lying around to give to Killer, it seemed like such an odd thing for a guy like him to have.

Cross handed over the disk and picked up a controller as Killer pushed it into the machine. The two settled in as very upbeat menu music made up of plucky synths and autotuned cat meows began to play from the speakers. Cross glanced over at Killer, stifling a laugh at the rather silly game they were about to play. Killer rolled his eyes, looking back at him with a smirk. "Oh come on, don't bully it too hard. We haven't even started playing yet!" Cross chuckled a bit, turning back to the screen. "I didn't say anything," he playfully retorted, pressing a button to connect his controller to the game. Killer's smile grew, warmth filling his mind as he relished in the everydayness of the moment. It wasn't often he got to feel like a regular person, and, like Nightmare had said a few weeks before on the couch, it was nice to feel normal every now and again. It was nice to pretend. And with Cross, it was so easy to pretend. Neither of them discussed their past, so the monochromatic skeleton didn't know the true extent of Killer's violent tendencies. Then again, his nickname was Killer, so clearly Cross wasn't that bothered by the implied nature of such a thing. Still, their relationship was a blank slate. It could be molded into anything, no pre-made judgements could clutter its development.

Killer turned his attention back to the television, starting up the game and watching as the bubbly loading screen popped up before throwing them into the tutorial. It appeared to be a basic side scroller, with gun upgrades littered about the map and enemies flying in, although there were multiple pieces of terrain they had to figure out ways to get past. They could stack for some, but others were more like puzzles. It slowly became evident why the game was multiplayer only the longer they played. They breezed past the first few levels, but got stuck on a particular puzzle a little ways in. Killer suggested they take a bit of a break, much to Cross' agreement as they had been playing for an hour already.

The two skeletons made their way out of Killer's room, discussing their thoughts on the game as well as how to beat the difficult puzzle as they walked towards the kitchen. It was as good a time as any to stock up on snacks seeing as Cross had expressed his intent to beat the game sometime that day. To Killer's delight, it appeared that the smaller skeleton intended on spending the rest of the afternoon with him. He listened intently as Cross worked through another theory on how to beat the level they left off on, both of them grabbing as many snacks as they could. Killer loved listening to him talk, which was really a surprise seeing as he was normally quite the chatterbox himself. But when it came to Cross, he couldn't help but let the words wash over him like a lullaby. It wasn't like he had nothing to say. Far from it, even. His mind clouded with thoughts every time he looked at Cross, and he wanted nothing more than to open his mouth and let all of them spill out like a typhoon. And yet, he was terrified that it would be the end of this wonderful new chance at having a friend he had been given. He was redeemable when he was with Cross. Hell, he was even likable at times! How could he chance throwing that all away by getting mushy? He was lucky enough to have the other skeleton in his life anyway, it was pretty selfish of him to want more. Though he couldn't help but wonder what it might be like if his feelings were reciprocated. His imagination tantalized him with fantasy and whimsical delusions, and fighting them back was becoming a losing battle.