Dark was sitting at the edge of the new lake. This one was much more secluded than the last, hopefully harder to find, too. Nightmare destroyed the last place he went, so he hoped this place was more secure.
Dark loved being here, and he hated the way it made him feel. The way it made him question things.
Dark let his hand fall to the ground. He just barely hovered over the prickly grass before gently placing his hand on the earth. He breathed in, feeling the blades of grass on his skin and the breeze in the air. Of course, to no one's surprise, it didn't take long for the grass to wilt and turn yellow and the dirt to turn gray. His chest ached as he watched the life seep away from the earth as the darkness spread. Dark took his hand away hastily, but the darkness stayed. Each touch was a permanent reminder of the consequences of his power. He didn't understand why that made him sick to the stomach.
Anything that touched his skin was infected. He had tried to cover up his skin more—he tried gloves, long baggy pants and socks, he even experimented with some turtleneck sweaters—but Nightmare disapproved. He didn't force Dark to wear shorts and tank tops like an idiot of course, but the king didn't like the idea of his darkness slave wearing gloves and NOT infecting things.
The darkness would retreat ever so slowly. To the land, it was just a disease, and it'd run its course eventually. People, well...people weren't so easy, Dark had come to learn. People weren't reversible. People didn't heal with time like the earth did.
This was Dark's fate: to be a slave to both Nightmare and the darkness. He was nothing but a manifestation of darkness, a connection point between Steves and it. Each and every thought of him being even slightly worth more than that had to be selfish.
Still, he wished for more. Selfishly. The darkness was selfish, and so was he. He wanted more, always, constantly. A terrible thing. Such a terrible thing, to dream and to want.
—
Time and Dark were sitting at the couch in their shared house in comfortable silence. Sabre was gone—off doing chores and exploring, as he told them—leaving just the two of them alone.
Dark was, per usual, wearing heavy clothing that covered every inch of his body. Except for his hands. He used to have a pair of gloves, back when he was working with Reverse, but they had wore down, and he had thrown them away. And a lot had happened since then, anyways. He'd been gone for months. He kept his hands in his lap, nervously trying not to touch anything.
Time seemed to catch onto his anxiousness. "I made you something." Time pulled something out of his coat pocket; a pair of mahogany gloves, knitted with some fancy pattern. "It's skin contact that does it, right? So, in theory, if you wore these..."
"You...you made these? For me?" Dark questioned, eyes a little wide. Time laughed—a hearty giggle, Dark noted—and nodded.
"Yeah, of course! I figured the whole 'everything I touch turns to darkness' gets annoying. So..."
Dark stared down at him, almost bewildered. With shaky hands, he took the gloves (careful not to accidentally make contact with Time) and pulled them over his hands. Dark immediately felt the soft warmth of the gloves against his skin, a feeling of comfort that was rare for him. "I..."
"The yarn I used was a bit weird, I got it from some random villager, so if it's uncomfortable, I don't mind making you another pair with some yarn I'm more familiar with-"
"Why? Why would you do that?"Dark frowned, almost demanding it. He didn't mean for it to sound mean, but it probably did. He cleared his throat. "No, I'm sorry...I just- I don't get why you'd do this for me..." the gloves were warm against his skin, and he couldn't help but wonder why Time thought he deserved this.
"Well, we're friends, aren't we?" Time smiled all kind-like. "Like I said, I'm sure having everything you touch get infected with darkness isn't the greatest thing. And plus, with gloves on, we can touch." Time raised his hands up, hovering just slightly away from Dark's.
"I..." Dark gulped. "Maybe it'd be better if I experimented on something else? Like a patch of grass, or-"
Time's hands moved forward and interlocked with his. His fingers rested gently against Dark's tense knuckles, their palms pressed against one another's. Dark stood there, unmoving, not knowing at all what to do. Slowly, he relaxed a little, holding Time's hands. Time gave him a gentle squeeze and a friendly smile.
Time's hands were a little cold compared to the warmth of the gloves. He wondered if Time was the one who needed the gloves. Or maybe he was one of those people with weirdly cold hands, all the time.
"I'm surprised Nightmare didn't have you wearing gloves. Wasn't he against the darkness in some weird way?" Time murmured, not letting go of Dark's hands. "Well, I don't remember. I wasn't really paying attention to what Sabre told me."
"He...he encouraged it," Dark said, his voice shaky with emotion he did not want to feel. He had never touched someone before—not like this. It was always to hurt and infect. Never to gently hold in such a way, almost cradling. "He said it was a blessing."
"Crazy guy." Time grinned. "Must've been insufferable."
"I was just like him."
"People change," Time seemed to be almost sad when he said that. "For better or for worse." He added quietly.
Dark nodded, not saying anything in return. His silence said enough. Dark knew who Time was talking about, and Dark knew Time was suffering silently, which was one of the only thing's Dark knew a lot about. He gave Time's hands a gentle squeeze.
It was weird, knowing someone for such a short amount of time, yet feeling this close to them. Maybe it was Sabre's way of bringing people together rubbing off on him. Dark didn't really mind.
"You're rather good company." Time murmured, regrettably pulling his hands away. Dark missed the contact, but smiled a little at the compliment—a rarity for him. "And your hands are very warm."
"Thank you." Dark smirked. "You're quite the company yourself. Though I do think your hands could do some time in front of a nice fire."
"Ha," Time gave him an amused look. "Y'know, both Sabre and my brother used to say that. Sabre said Galaxy had cold hands too, so I'm convinced it's genetics."
"What, poor circulation?"
"Probably." Time stretched a little, yawning. "D'you think Sabre will be back soon? I mean, he's been gone for a while..."
"He said he'd be gone a while. Be patient."
"But 'a while' can mean anything in Sabre talk." Time whined. "What if he doesn't come back for two weeks? I could totally see Sabre pulling that on us."
"He'll be back." Dark relaxed into the couch. Man was that comfy. Time was glancing at him, eyes a little glassy. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm tired. Could I...?" Time leaned towards him a little, looking ready to fall asleep.
"Ah-" Dark quickly pulled up his shirt collar over his neck as Time leaned up against him. That could've been bad. "You have to be careful. My hands aren't the only body part with skin on them." Dark sighed.
"I know, sorry..." Time murmured. "So it's, like, JUST skin contact? I'm not gonna get infected if I touch your floofy hair?"
"Yes, it's just skin contact. Does my hair look like skin to you?"
"No, but that did give me a horrible mental image."
"I- ew!! Now you've got me thinking about it!!"
"Sorry." Time laughed, and Dark felt the vibration all over his body. This was something he had...never experienced. It felt strangely comforting. The warmth of another body against his.
"So your hands are cold, but the rest of your body is warm?" Dark raised an eyebrow.
"Genetics, man."
"Okay."
They sat there for an indefinite amount of time. Time was in and out of sleep, and Dark didn't dare move the whole time; he wasn't about to make this moment uncomfortable or wake up Time, who clearly needed the sleep. Dark had accepted the feeling of closeness—comfort, happiness. It was a beautiful thing, really—somewhere down the line, cuddling into Time just a little bit.
Eventually, the door opened, and Sabre stepped in, breathing heavily. "Oh my god, guys. Pigs. They're demons, I swear to all that is holy."
"Shh. Time's sleeping." Dark glared with no real anger. "I assume you had a tough day?"
"So, I ended up in a pig dimension."
"That's nice."
"Yeah, thought you'd say that." Sabre came up to the couch and paused at the scene. Dark got embarrassed for a second, thinking that maybe Sabre thought he was weird or doing something, anything wrong— but then Sabre grinned. "You guys're cuddling without me? Rude."
Sabre kicked his shoes off and crawled onto the couch, lying on the opposing side of Dark's shoulder. He let out a large sigh. "It's cold out."
"I'm so sorry," Dark was a little flushed at the contact from two people now, but really, now he was just warmer and comfier. Who would he be to complain? "Must've been rough. You want a sucker?"
"Mm, I'd like to sucker punch you to the face right now." Sabre said right as he wrapped his arm around Dark, carefully avoiding his skin. "Seriously though, I could go for a good lollipop. Like, one of those tiny ones that you find in liquor stores and just chomp on during the car ride home after your dad stocked up. They go crunch cronch between your teeth, and then get stuck to that little dip in the teethies in the back of your mouth. Y'know what I mean?"
"I have no idea what any of the words you just said mean, Sabre." Dark frowned. Sabre laughed in response, not offering up any sort of explanation.
"So. We having a sleepover?" Sabre smirked.
"I guess." Dark yawned. It was probably late, huh? He wanted to look out the window behind him, but he didn't want to move, for fear of possibly exposing skin that could infect Time. Sabre was relatively immune(or at least, capable of controlling it) but Time? He feared a future where he caused Time's infection because of some silly movement.
"It's about 11 pm." Sabre said, somehow noticing Dark's curiosity. Dark sighed and smiled.
"Thanks." He murmured. "I wouldn't mind going to sleep right now..."
"As long as you don't mind me cuddling the crap out of you." Sabre said, shifting to a more comfortable position up against Dark.
"As long as you don't snore."
"I don't make promises!"
Dark smiled, pulling his collar up a little more. He couldn't fall asleep like this; what if he lolled off and his head landed on either of his friends? Sabre seemed to notice this discomfort, too.
"Want me to grab you a scarf or something?" Sabre sat up, looking a bit reluctant.
"You'd do that?" Dark glanced up at him, a little surprised. Why was everyone being so nice to him?
Sabre nodded and went to grab a scarf. "You have a hoodie on, yes? Wear that." He said as he searched. Dark did as he said, pulling the hoodie up over his head. Sabre came 'round the corner with a big, beat up scarf, grinning. "You have the luck of being graced with my beautiful, wondrous scarf."
"That thing looks like it was around when Origin created the world." Dark gave him a silly look before putting it on. (Being very, very careful to not wake Time or have his gloves slip off as he did it)
When Dark got the scarf on, he raised it up past his cheeks and over his nose. Sabre laid up against him once again. "You're very warm, Mr. Dark Steve Sir."
"Why, thank you." Dark smiled, exhausted. He yawned a bit and relaxed. When was the last time he felt like this? Never, probably. Still, he welcomed it gratefully.
They'd be comfortable for at least a little while. Maybe it'd only be a few days, or even just an hour. But Dark would appreciate every second he got to spend like this.
(Lil notes)
I'm so normal about them y'all
Fellas, is it gay to share a house with your male friends and cuddle on the couch together and make them gifts?