Oneshots! (Mostly Hermitcraft)

Seconds I wasted (I was fixated) [Impulse]

Febuwhump Day 14: Blood-Stained Tiles ft. human!Impulse

Summary:
The story of Impulse's unrequited love and his Notch-damned stubbornness.

TWs: blood, hanahaki, author being cringe at shipping because she doesn't emotion well

Okay, so Impulse might have a crush.

Let's face it: it's Gem. Medium height, fiery ginger hair, and perfectly pointed ears supporting a simple flower crown. Beneath that, she was even more beautiful, sporting a passionate heart of sunshine and kindness. She brought colour and life into every interaction and build, livening the atmosphere in small, creative ways that brought the entire atmosphere together. She wasn't afraid to ask deep, meaningful questions, nor was she scared of answering them.

There was just the problem of actually asking those questions. She was slightly (very) intimidating, holding up her 'Geminislay' reputation with a simple twirl of her sword. Either that, or she'd disarm him with a smile, and he'd be left speechless until he recovered himself, frantically covering up his lapse with a different inquiry or comment. She didn't appear to notice, so he congratulated himself each time, saying he'd ask her next time. He never got around to it.

He didn't realise he had a crush until he saw Etho riding over to her boat with a bouquet, stabling his horse (in the dedicated horse hole) and heading inside without a knock. Impulse shrugged it off and pushed down on his unease, nodding to Grian as he rode his horse back to his base and threw himself into his work.

A few weeks later, it was no secret that Etho and Gem were dating. Occasional romantic relationships would arise between hermits, although they didn't usually progress further than dating – with the potential exception of Stress and Iskall, who had been together since they joined the server. Regardless, such relationships were cherished and supported with genuine words and lighthearted teasing.

Skizz had been the first to point out his crush after watching him stare just a second too long at her when she built her lighthouse, adding the flowy fish circling the tower. He'd done it kindly, of course, but Impulse had brushed it off and changed the subject, which only confirmed Skizz's guess.

When asked later, Impulse simply stated that he didn't want to disrupt their relationship, so he kept quiet. It didn't stop him from staring every once in a while, nor did it keep the butterflies down in his stomach, but it helped him direct his focus elsewhere and ignore the jealous pang in his chest. The rest of Team ZITS helped distract him from the rest of his feelings and they remained unaddressed as he worked on the first building of the dystopian cyberpunk city.

Roughly a month after he learned Gem and Etho were dating, he realised he couldn't ignore his feelings anymore in a more physical way. It started as a slight coughing fit in the middle of a ZITS hangout. He shrugged it off easily, saying the pollen was getting to him, and urged his friends to continue doing what they were doing. He got sucked back into their shenanigans and, save for a few more sporadic fits, managed to make it through the day.

There was a prevalent feeling of wrongness when he woke the following morning. To start things off, his throat was raw and scratchy as if he'd developed a sudden cold. He took a drink of water and nearly choked on something in his throat. He spit the water out onto the floor, grimacing as he coughed and hacked around the obstruction. Finally, his throat cleared as the pale pink petals of a cherry blossom floated out of his mouth. He frowned, staring at the petals in confusion. A memory tickled the back of his mind, but it refused to surface, so he shrugged it off and returned to detailing his build.

"Dude, are you okay?" Skizz asked, watching him double over again as he struggled to hold back the petals. Impulse held up a hand to stop him, catching himself on his opposite hand as he struggled to breathe. Finally, the pressure broke and he coughed up a handful of the pale petals, intermixed with pieces of pearly lilies of the valley.