Requested by: Izu_Afton1483
Ship: Platonic!Arid Duo (Joel + Pix) + Platonic!Joel + Sausage
Word Count: 1855
joel angst + season 1 and 2 joel are the same person bc lore and magic and cool
He couldn't really remember who his parents were. It didn't bother him, he didn't need to know who they were beyond the history books. Joel was always a man of chaos.
But above that was loyalty.
Loyalty to his allies. To his wife. And along with that, to a simple man named Pixlriffs.
If he were to choose someone out of all the rulers to live with, besides his wife, he would've chosen Pix. It was just because of how much he had done for Joel. He was there when his parents weren't.
What Joel does remember was the first time he arrived in the desert. The sun blazed in his face as he looked for Pix, crowds swarmed the boy. He was 9. Nine years of age—ripe enough for a king he'd say. His guards had thrown him to the wolves, men and women alike asked him a million questions one after another.
He was pushed around, grabbed, slapped even. That was until the crowd suddenly dispersed. To make way for their ruler. The copper king of the desert. Joel remembers the first thing he had said to him; "You're the king of Mezalia." It was the first time he had heard it like that. It gave him a feeling of power.
Then he had spent his days with Pix. It was fun, visiting the man's farms and technological stuff. His 'parents' had left him a generally poorer empire. The amount of machinery Pixl had at his disposal was astounding to him. "Flowers? You have a greenhouse?" Plants were uncommon not only in the mesa, but in the desert as well.
Joel wasn't familiar with them, he didn't understand how they worked. "Lady Katherine of House Blossom gifted me some plants, I couldn't reject the offer." Pix laughed as he toured the building. It had skylights but there were currently sheets covering the windows, Joel didn't know why but didn't question.
Pix was there to watch him grow up, tutor him about the ups and downs of being a ruler. He was an amazing teacher. Joel didn't remember much from his mortal life, but he did remember going to sleep happy and content with himself. He would have to give props to Pix for that.
One day he asked the question, "Do you get upset when someone dies, Pix?" He was 11 now, looking up at the copper king. Looking for answers as Pixlriffs let out a lengthy sigh. "I can't say I don't get upset, but it doesn't hurt as much as it used to." Joel nodded slowly, looking to the ground instead now. "Why're you asking, bud? You won't have to worry much about that."
"I was curious..." He mumbled before his name was called, a knight on horseback. The man quickly got off the noble stallion, handing Joel a letter. It was closed with a wax print, "The Ocean Queen has requested you read this immediately, your highness." Joel thanked the kneeling man before going to rip the letter open.
The envelope drifted slowly down to meet the tile floors of Pixlriff's arena.
Dearest Smallishbeans,
It has come to my attention that you are not present in your empire, I must inform you of the malicious acts done by your people while you are away. I am afraid I can not watch no longer as they pollute the waters around your shores.
My citizens suffer grave danger when venturing out onto land because of the pollution. They have reported to become very sick because of your people. I formally request you, as my fiancé, to stop this act and clean up the mess.
Yours truly,
Queen Lizzie of the Ocean Empire
Joel furrowed his eyebrows as he finished reading the letter. His people wouldn't do that! They were keen on following the laws, and that was strictly forbidden. "I suggest you pay a visit home before you start making judgements." It was like the man knew what he was thinking just based off his expression.
"But they wouldn't do that." Joel huffed, crumpling up the paper carelessly. "You haven't been home for a while, you can't be 100% certain. A true lover wouldn't lie to their spouse." Joel grimaced, he didn't even know the woman. He didn't trust her at all. "True lover? I don't even know how she looks like."
"Your father was a smart man, don't doubt what you don't know." Joel sighed and nodded, Pix was right. If his father could drive an entire nation out of the greatest economic depression the empires have seen in centuries, he knew best.
Right?
He knew himself better than anyone else—no one else bothered to stick around to learn anything under the surface anyway. Don't doubt what you don't know. Right now, what he didn't know, was how they were back.
They couldn't be—if he wasn't how could they... But they were right in front of him. They've been right there this entire time. When Joel first came into contact with them again, he wanted to hug his wife. But then he remembered an important detail, she had lost her memory.
When he found her washed up on the sandy beaches of the plains, she didn't know her own name. Let alone him.
So his next best bet was Pixlriffs.
He was immortal. Everyone knew that, he was so old he remembered Mythland and the Oceans' first war. That's how old he was. Maybe Pixl remembered. Joel had followed Pixlriffs back to his empire that day, after the initial meeting. He noted that the Pixandria king wasn't wearing any of the traditional clothing he usually wore.
No sandy coloured shawls with a small fringe on the seems. No crown made up of copper because he wasn't afraid of lightning. Instead he wore a dark blue dress shirt, a brown vest, and goggles that oddly resembled Fwhip's. "Why've you decided to follow me home, Lord?" Pix broke the silence.
Joel paused, thinking of which card to play. He stung a little bit the man didn't just want to hug or something, Pix knew he liked hugs. "I—you remember, right?" He asked, hopeful. Maybe he was downplaying it. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal and Joel was overreacting. That was very much possible.
"Remember your name? Yeah, it's Joel, right?" Pixlriffs took a step into an outdoor canopy draped from his house as it started to rain. "No not that—I meant the past, you remember it?" Joel stood in the rain. It's not like it did anything anyway, the rain parted where he stood. His hair wasn't even damp.
"I'm a historian, it's my job. I know what I've discovered. Speaking of, are you—" Joel was pretty sure this wasn't 'doubting the unknown.' He knew what had happened. Pix was like everyone else. He wasn't special. So he took off. His poorly preened wings ached on his back as he flew, but he kept on flying.
He could stop the rain easily. He was a weather god after-all. But he didn't for the dramatic effect (also because he didn't feel like it). He could fly fairly well, he just sucked at managing his wings. Wings that haven't been preened are uncomfortable—painful even. Nobody's taught him how to preen so he's just been powering through it every time he wanted to fly. When he fell out of the sky, the last place he expected to be was Sanctuary.
It was a beautiful metropolis.
Sanctuary had the atmosphere Joel wanted to capture in Mezalia all those years ago. He wasn't sure whose empire this was. Maybe Pearl's?—No. Pearl wasn't here. Remember? "Joel? What brings you here in the middle of a storm?" Sausage's empire, that's it.
"I was just flying, decided to make a stop by." Joel suppressed a groan from the amount of pain he was in from his wings. What a stupid idea, using them in the rain. Sure the water couldn't touch him, but the winds affected him all the same. "During a storm? Come on in, I can't leave you in the cold!" Sausage opened the door to a small building.
Joel was way too tall to fit into it comfortably.
He decided to shift himself back to human, for the convenience of himself and Sausage before the door broke from his (very sexy) height. Joel was never that close to Sausage, he was one of Jimmy's enemies, that's all Joel knew. And that he was allegedly 'possessed' but nobody could prove that besides just stating it.
But now that he was appearing human, it was probably way easier to read him. Without the beard and the height advantage, his expressions were on full display—he was an open book. "You can do that? That's cool." Sausage left his umbrella by the front door, leading Joel to the kitchen area. "You want tea?"
"No thanks, I should really get going—" Joel couldn't stand the thought of flying again, especially against the wind, but the thought of being pathetic in front of a man he didn't know that well was arguably worse. "—No way, in that weather? And with you like this, I don't think so, mister." Sausage gave him a glass of water, sitting down at his island. "Come sit."
Like what? What does he know? He doesn't know me. Joel was offended. "By the way, you should probably go to Gem or Jimmy about those wings. They look awful, no offence." Sausage peered around him, back to his wings. "I can stop the rain, I have a palace to build. This has been nice meeting you, but seriously, I should—"
"I can tell something's wrong, if you don't wanna talk about it, you're free to go. I just thought it'd be better if you didn't keep it to yourself. I feel better when I tell someone." Sausage sounded so kind. How could Jimmy hate him? Joel found himself sitting back down, quietly drinking the water.
"Have you ever lost someone important to you?" Joel asked, Sausage nodded a neutral smile present on his face. "Yeah," He was so calm... "It feels like your world's ending. And then you have to run an empire and appear fine without them, it's rubbing salt into the wound." Joel slouched at the island as he spoke, thinking of his late friends.
"I don't know, meeting the new rulers unlocked some sort of—deja vu? I don't know what to call it." Joel didn't want to say much else. They fell into a silence. What was mortifying was the fact he could feel tears building up in his eyes, his vision was blurring. He didn't want to blink and let them loose. "I'm sorry."
"I'm so sorry that it's happened to you, can I hug you?" Sausage's request didn't go unnoticed, Joel nodded. Sausage made his way around the island, giving Joel a back hug. It made him feel better. "I just miss them, honestly."
He cried in Sausage's arms.
It thundered that day.