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SMG4 stepped into the USB, finding it completely demolished on the inside, as expected. After it was used to contain Zero and then take control of the castle, everyone, himself included, had thought that the USB was destroyed for good. However, he’d recently discovered it after some kids made a dark web mini series that went viral, showing off SMG3’s USB, somehow still intact. It was permanently broken open, though thankfully the kids hadn’t been stupid enough to go inside. Four made it his own personal mission to see what was inside, and although he knew Zero was gone, there was still that ever present paranoia at the back of his head. SMG1 and SMG2 had approved of his investigation, deeming it as an important look at history, and had quickly urged him to check it out as soon as he could.
So now, here he was, standing inside of a broken USB at 3am, its interior completely demolished thanks to Zero. Everything was coated in soot and/or ash, books scattered across the floor, pages ripped and bookshelves clawed and destroyed on the floor. The carpet itself had been dyed black, the color splattered everywhere throughout the lounge area. Four stepped carefully, not wanting to disturb the haunting aura that had taken over the place. It seemed right up any ghost’s alley (or maybe it was the witching hour that made him this jumpy), and though he knew they’d probably steer clear of the place, he didn’t want to take his chances. One and Two had advised that he check the computer room to see if there was perhaps any footage of Zero in the moments that he’d been stuck in Three’s USB, so he figured he’d check there first.
He avoided the black stains, stepping over books and hopping over bookshelves as he approached the control room, a stark difference to his own USB’s, in that the room was all black. He exhaled as he finally got through the almost suppressive air of the lounge, looking around the room for a moment before approaching the main panel. The keyboard attached to the computer was glowing with red lights, and if that didn’t scream edgelord, Four didn’t know what did. He poised his hand over the keyboard, ready to tap at one of the keys when he heard a noise. He jumped, whirling around and peeking out of the room. One of the books that had been precariously balanced on one of the broken shelves had fallen off, and he sighed in relief before turning back around and back to the keyboard.
Recalling what he had learned from his experience with his own USB, he tapped at a key, seeing the screen light up above him. He still couldn’t decipher any of the text that had appeared on his screen, so he tapped at another key, watching as a different line of text popped up. Feeling unsure, he began spamming the keys until he felt himself being zapped by the machine. He gasped, vision going dark before he could do anything else.
—
The first thing he noticed upon waking up was the vast white nothingness he was in. He looked around for a moment, seeing nothing visible before starting to walk forward. It was almost lonely here, and there was an almost ominous ambience in the air. It vaguely sounded like music, but Four couldn’t decipher exactly what it was, or if it was any specific song.
He kept walking on, noticing… something coming up. He dashed forward, coming up to a glitchy white rectangle that looked like a door. The glitches on it were also white, but it was buzzing around fast enough to catch his attention, like static on a screen. He reached his hand out to it, noticing that instead of the door opening, his hand phased through the glitches. He noticed that his shirt had turned white as well, and he gasped, pulling his hand back out. It had gone back to normal, but he gently grasped at his wrist with the opposite hand, flipping it around and flexing it before carefully sticking it back through once more.
This time, if he focused, he could hear something. It sounded like someone speaking, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He took a step through the door, noticing the speaking had grown louder. He gulped, realizing what he had to do. He stepped through the door, and his vision went dark once more.
—
Four woke up groggily, blinking blearily as he looked around an unfamiliar room. He sat up in bed, looking around to see unfamiliar posters, clothes and general belongings. He looked down on the bed, noticing the familiar figure he was… sitting inside of? He quickly scrambled off the bed, looking down at the youthful face of Mario. However, this wasn’t Mario, and Four gasped as he looked at the purple long sleeve hanging on the office chair by the desk in the corner of the room. This was SMG3, and it looked like they were in a… dorm room? Holy shit, was this a memory of their school days?
He looked down to himself, finding that he was kind of transparent, like a ghost. He quickly rushed to Three’s bathroom, gasping as he went through the door. He looked into the mirror, seeing nothing there, which solidified his theory. This was a memory of the past, but it wasn’t of Zero like he’d hoped. It was SMG3’s past, and it looked like he would be living through it for a while.
He stepped outside of the bathroom and looked around. He jumped, finding he couldn’t fly, sadly. He walked over to the desk and jumped on top of it, finding it weird that he could sit on it without troubles. He noticed a small black journal beside him, and he quickly reached out for it, gaping as he pulled an exact copy of the book up with him, but also vaguely transparent like himself. He opened it with a grin, looking at the first page.
“If anyone else is reaching this, I won’t be responsible for any therapy you may need after you read the ramblings of a madman!”
Four always knew Three was the type to keep a diary. He snickered at the cute little opener, flipping through the pages. He admired how neat and loopy Three’s handwriting was, but it very quickly devolved into rushed, almost indecipherable scribbles as time went on. He noticed how long ago the date was for the entry he’d flipped to and gasped sharply, feeling a beat of almost nostalgia.
“Dear diary,
Today I was accepted into Memewarts! I’m one step closer to my goal of ruling the world!”
Welp, good to see that he was always like that.
“... I hope everyone likes me…”
Four felt a small pang of pity, remembering how isolated Three was during their school days. He flipped the page to something a little more recent, looking up to the sleeping form of the young Three.
“Dear diary,
Today I finally talked to him. He’s kind of a showoff, and he seems to get along with everyone, but… Today was the first time we’ve ever properly spoken. He bumped into me, but he helped me up and apologized. It was kinda weird. I never really expected him to apologize for something like that.”
Man, did Three always think of him so lowly? He let out a little chuckle at how far they’d come in recent times, but kept reading on.
“Despite that, he’s… ugh, I can’t even admit it to you. I’ll keep it to myself for today. Maybe I’ll tell you in the future.”
Interesting. Four flipped around, seeing no real note of what Three had meant by that, but he did take note of how happy Three seemed to be when they were hanging out, despite his rage at Four’s constant showing off. He flipped to the most recent entry.
“Dear Diary.
Exams are coming up and I’m not really doing good, at least grades wise. That idiot keeps trying to cheer me up, and while it works, I suppose, I kind of wish he’d show me how to be as good as him with memes. It would be more productive than just watching him show off again.”
That really hit Four hard. He recalled how hard Three was struggling, and how he’d only just barely managed to get at least high enough for a passing grade.
“… I really like this school, but I might have to think about dropping out soon if this keeps up.”
Four gasped as he read the last sentence. It had really been that bad for him? He feels bad that he’d never noticed Three struggling that hard, but he remembered Three also putting on a brave face and even pushing him away when he tried to help. Four felt sad, setting the book down.
Three’s alarm started ringing, and Four jumped, feeling the alarm ring in his head as he began to blink out of existence. Three’s dorm room flashed to white, Three waking up and seeming to notice him just before Four blipped back into the white expanse, falling on his ass as the desk had disappeared.
He groaned as he sat up, thinking about the whole experience. Now that he had more insight on what Three was thinking and feeling during school, he understood why he came to hate him as he did. He stood up, dusting himself off as he took off in a different direction this time, watching for any glitchiness.
As soon as he noticed one of the doorways, he ran through it, hearing the same mumbled voice as before, this time being able to identify it as Three. He let his vision go dark once more, thinking about where in the timeline he would be thrown next.
—
Four woke up in a familiar place, on top of a red roof that he’d come to know as his home. He looked up at the sky, late afternoon by the sun’s position. He looked around the roof, seeing Three’s figure hunched over a laptop, gleefully giggling away as he tapped away at it. There was another book there, but this one seemed to be like him, probably placed there so he could read it without it actually being there.
He carefully walked over to Three, being as quiet as possible despite probably not being visible to Three if he even tried. Four peeked over his shoulder, watching as he seemed to be editing his own video. He recognized when he was, and reached down for the book, picking it up and opening it.
The book seemed different this time, not a diary, confusingly. Three’s handwriting was uniform, as if it was a font and not something he’d actually written. The cute little diary messages were gone, replaced with single sentences that seemed to be trains of thought. Perhaps this was Three’s thoughts compiled in book form to be easier to read. He flipped back to the first page, beginning to actually read what the entries said.
“I want to make people laugh. How do I do that?”
That seemed to be the basis for this entire book, and Four recalled back during the Youtube arc when he had said something similar.
“I recently found this Youtube channel. I’m pretty sure the guy who runs it was that guy from school.”
Four knew where this was going, furrowing his brows as he got ready to read about how Three had stolen his ideas.
“He’s always inspiring me to be better. Even now, I know what I could do to get people to laugh. I… I don’t want to rip him off entirely, that’d be a little messed up. I do want to make it clear that I was inspired by his ideas, though… How can I do that?”
Oh, so is that what SMG3 had called stealing his video ideas? Four scoffed, rolling his eyes as he watched Three paste something onto his video and save the project.
“I want to make people laugh. I want to make him laugh. I hope he doesn’t think I’m trying to rip him off.”
Four looked up to Three, looking proudly down at his laptop screen as he uploaded the video. He looked back down at the book, flipping carefully to the next page.
“I wonder if he’ll recognize me.”
Four bit at his lip, remembering that he, in fact, did not remember Three, and had only come to the realization that it was his old school friend at some point after Three had made his silly gauntlet.
“His ideas inspired me. He inspires me. I want to make something special. Just for him.”
There was an inkblot covering the next line, as if Three was actively suppressing that last thought he had. Four held the page up to the light, hoping he could make it out, but saw nothing but the ink.
He placed the book down in his lap, watching as Three laid back, arms crossed behind his head as he watched the clouds with a soft little smile. As Four recalled what day it was, and how the day would be ruined for him in approximately 10 minutes, he looked back down at the book.
“I hope he likes my video. Maybe we can collab or something?”
He read the words as they appeared on the latest page, looking down sadly at the optimistic young Three. He sighed, watching with sudden awe as time began speeding up and suddenly the conflict that had happened was now happening right in front of his eyes.
His younger self was screaming furiously at Three, and he quickly looked down at the book, noting all of the new thoughts that had popped up, but focusing on the ones happening in real time.
“Shit. He thinks I ripped him off. There’s no way I can admit my feelings true intentions! Uh, let's pretend this was the plan the entire time!”
Four gaped at that, looking up to the young Three in shock, not even registering the second inkblot. Years of rivalry, of hatred and malice toward each other, all because he was that much of a tsundere?! He felt almost impressed at the dedication, watching as FM appeared and scared Three into submission.
The book disappeared from his hands, and he began blinking out of existence again. Three seemed to turn to him as he did so, dashing closer to him just as Four appeared back in the blank space.
He thought about what he had just learned, standing up with a sad, pathetic little face. Three had never hated him, but played his part perfectly until he actually did hate Four. Feeling rather down now that he had experienced all of that, he slowly began walking in a third direction. He had no clue what other haunting realizations would come to bite him in the ass, and he was feeling worried.
He walked with these haunting thoughts on replay in his mind, coming up to a third door without even realizing it. He looked up as he registered the white noise associated with these doors, stepping inside without a second thought, letting the darkness consume him again.
—
When he woke up, he was somewhere entirely different this time. Raw power thrummed through his veins, electrifying his body as he held… himself…? up by the neck. Nothing had ever felt like this to him, and the sheer audacity of the power had gone to his head. He was practically a god at this point, and with that, everything else was absolutely worthless. The man that was choking against his hand meant literally nothing to him, taking a sick pleasure in squeezing against his windpipe.
Four suddenly realized where he was as he began charging power in his free hand, pointing it at his enemy and about to fire. He couldn’t stop himself no matter how hard he tried, when the man in his hands suddenly smirked, looking away. Four- no, SMG3 looked over as well, noticing Mario with his leg pulled completely back, where Jubjub sat with a little spiny shell on his head. The SMG4 in his hands kicked his chest, making him fall to the ground, looking up in shock as Jubjub was launched at him, making him go flying.
SMG4 launched up above him, sneering down at him as he slammed his legs into SMG3’s body, that malicious smirk never leaving even as Three fell to his doom, looking up at his enemy and himself with shock. He landed directly on his left horn, making him screech out in an ungodly amount of pain, cut short by the rest of his body landing harshly. He cradled the now broken nub, furiously biting at his lip to keep the tears at bay. He curled up in a ball as he wheezed, coughing up the YouTube remote. He reached out for it, flinging it far away from him as possible as he held his horn.
Everyone crowded around him, all glaring down at him, some of them even grinning maliciously as he lay there, vulnerable and exposed. He bared his teeth, tail lashing out as he glared back up at them. SMG4 brought forth Susan, unpausing her and leaving SMG3 to his fate with the same malicious smile.
“What an idiot. He had unlimited power and now he’s lost it all. Hell, he even broke one of his horns! He’ll never live this one down,” Meggy jeered as the group began walking away, chattering about how much of a failure he was. SMG4 stayed behind to watch with that sick little smile as Susan summoned her YouTube minions.
“If he even lives,” SMG4 let out an evil little giggle, finally turning around to leave with the rest of the group.
Three felt the claws of the YouTube minions digging into his shoulders, dragging him away and into the fiery inferno of their portals. SMG3 screamed, reaching out for anyone’s help, and he just barely noticed SMG4 turning back to him with that grin.
Four and Three jolted awake, Four laying on Three’s bed as Three shrieked, looking around wildly. Four watched in alarm, unsure of what to do before a little mass under the covers began clucking gently, Three finally stopping as he looked down to the disturbed little meme in his bed. He let out short, sharp pants as he closed his eyes, carefully petting the little guy's head before getting up and off the bed, stumbling towards the window.
Four gulped as he realized that he had just lived through Three’s nightmare, looking down on the bed as he noticed another book on the bed with him. He noticed a quiet sound, and he looked up to find Three sobbing as he stared out of the window. He reached up to his broken horn, and Four felt his own phantom pain as he recalled just how awful that had felt in the dream. He picked up the book, flipping to the most recent page.
“How could I have been so stupid?”
Four looked back up at Three, still sobbing to himself as he looked down and wrapped his arms around himself. Four slowly stood up, knowing this wouldn’t do anything, but gently pressed a hand to Three’s shoulder anyway. Three paused for a moment, staring blankly before his head sunk back down, shaking his head. Four turned back to the book.
“I miss him. Isn’t that foolish? He hates me, thinks I’m dead… But I miss him. I miss him so much it hurts. I want to say I’m sorry.”
He watched as the page devolved into the phrase ‘I’m sorry’ being repeated over and over, and kept going until the page was completely black, with large, red indecipherable letters appearing afterwards that most likely read the same phrase. Four wanted to tell him how much he was forgiven, how much he enjoyed Three’s company, how sorry he was for letting him live this way for all of these years. He wished he had a pen to write down how much he was forgiven by everyone.
Lamenting the loss of the opportunity to communicate his feelings with Three, he failed to notice when the little meme in Three’s bed had hopped down. Four vaguely recognized it as that meme that Three had sacrificed during the God Box nonsense, saving them all. It tugged at Three’s pants until Three turned to it, his entire face lighting up with sudden joy. Four noticed this and looked down at the book for context.
“There is only one person in this universe who cares about me. He is my first real friend.”
Four’s breath hitched as he read the thought, recalling the Ugandan Knuckles’ final moments, Three sobbing while holding him gently, the little meme expressing his love as his final words.
“His name is Terrance. He matters so much more to me than any other person, except maybe SMG4.”
Four felt tears pricking at his eyes as he watched Three kneel to the floor, holding the meme in his arms gently as he sobbed quietly. He listened as Three vented out his horrible dream to Terrance, looking down to the book once more.
“Terrance is the only person I trust. He’s like… my son.”
Four let out a sharp gasp, unable to stop a tear from leaving him that time, eyes wide as he looked down at the pair. He let the memory of Three saying goodbye to his son play once more in his head, and had to swallow down a sob. He looked down at the book as it presented one more thought, SMG4 quick enough to catch most of it just before the book blipped out of existence once more.
“I love him just as much as I”
Four blinked as the sudden contrast of the vast white room clashed with the darkness of Three’s room, shielding his eyes until he was fully back in the blank space. He let himself sit down for a moment, staring blankly as he came to terms with how Three’s mind worked, with how Four had treated him, with how Three treated himself.
He let out a haggard, exhausted sigh as he got back up, heading for another door. He wandered for what felt like hours this time, unsure of where the next door was leading him but hoping that it was the exit this time. Four had enough revelations today, and didn't need anything else to dampen his mood. However, that never stopped the universe from messing with him even further before, so why would it have stopped now?
He finally found another door, stepping through it without hesitation, making Three’s words out clearly this time, recognizing it as one phrase being layered over each other dozens of times, with different tones and volumes. It ended this time with a soft whisper, something sweet as the darkness took him over once more.
“I love you.”
—
This time, Four woke up in a field. It wasn’t the one near the castle, but he had definitely been here before. It was early morning this time around, and he stood up, looking around for any clues. Just before the tree line, Three’s familiar figure stood alone, staring down at a large brown… oh, God.
Four wanted to run away from this scene. The pain of it all was too raw, too new… But he supposed this was exactly what Three had felt in the moment. He stepped closer, coming to stand next to him, noticing the next ghost book directly on the coffin itself. He picked it up, having half a mind to chuck it into the forest, but exhaled shakily, opening it and flipping to a recent page. It was split into two halves, the left reading reassuring comments while the right was… awful.
“His death was not in vain. It’s all your fault.
I did it to stop the universe from being destroyed. You killed your best friend.
He loved me. He should not have loved you.
He loved me. You could have used the power of the anti-memes.
He loved me. You killed him because you could never go against his wishes.
He loved me. You killed him because you’re in love with him.”
Four felt the page, feeling the indentations of the ink as though the two halves were at war, desperately trying to reach Three. He gulped thickly, flipping to the next page, regretting his choice instantly.
“You killed your only friend.”
The entire page was filled with the one phrase repeated over and over, thick and nearly ripping through the page as Four gently lifted it to move on to the most recent one. Thankfully, this one wasn’t as dark or inky, but the three word phrase felt like a punch to the gut as he read the small, almost nonexistent text pressed onto the page.
“I’m sorry, Terrance.”
Three let out a little sniffle, alerting Four, who clapped the book shut and looked at his expression. He stood there stiffly, arms clasped in front of him like a soldier as he looked down at the coffin. His face was wet, not even holding back his tears as he trembled. It was a sad scene to watch, Four stepping away and looking down to give the man some privacy.
Due to his focus on literally anything else, he noticed the little guy about 20 feet away, staring directly at him. He looked over at the meme, seeing an egg shaped body with the face of a dog. He blinked almost blankly as it carefully toddled over, stopping in front of him and then craning its head up to look directly at him. Four looked down at it with shock before looking away awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck before hearing another sniffle from Three. He looked over at the still sobbing man, getting a really bad idea.
He looked down at the little creature once more, a bittersweet smile on his face as he crouched down to the little guy, watching as its head tilted cutely. He pointed to Three next to him, watching as the creature’s face followed his finger to rest on Three’s hunched form. Four stood and stepped behind it, the egg dog watching him as he waved him towards Three. It blinked at him almost blankly before taking a step towards Three. Four beamed, nodding happily. The egg dog looked up to Three, then back to Four. It snuffled before waddling back to Four, making his expression drop. He shook his head, waving the critter back to Three.
It let out a quiet little huff before waddling back up to Three, nuzzling at his pants. Four grinned as Three jolted, looking down and seeing the little critter. He blinked in confusion, looking around the empty field (and directly through Four) but seeing nothing. He looked back down at the creature as Four opened the book back up, seeing more text appearing.
“Who is this little guy?”
The egg dog let out a little woof, Three picking him up.
“He seems lonely…”
Four’s eyes flickered back up as Three seemed to pause for a moment, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a familiar little top hat. Four smiled as Three placed it on the creature’s head, looking at it for a moment before hugging it. Four looked back down at the page, seeing two more lines in the book.
“I made a new friend today.
I won’t give him a name, but for simplicity’s sake I think I’ll call him Eggdog.”
Four felt accomplished as the world around him began flickering to white. Eggdog turned to look directly at him once more, letting out a bark that sounded thankful, Four waving as he blinked back into the vast white.
Surely that was it, right? He’d seen all he could, and now it was time to leave. With a bit more pep in his step, Four practically zoomed throughout the blinding expanse, excited to finally get out of Three’s head. As soon as he noticed the door, he jumped through it, realizing that he was still going through time as he heard Three’s laughter, still professing his love.
—
He woke up in Three’s room again, although the layout was a little different this time. There were a few more electronics present, Three’s room bathed in a purple glow from the LED lights along the wall. Three himself was laying in the middle of his bed, arms crossed behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, one of his legs propped up. Eggdog was sleeping next to his head, Four feeling confused as he took the scenery and Eggdog into account. This seemed very recent. The book laid on the edge of Three’s bed was different as well, with the emblem of Three’s USB present on the cover of it.
Four carefully reached down to it, opening the cover and reading the first page.Four gaped as he read the date in the center of the page. This was happening in real time. Three was actually in his bed, staring at the ceiling in deep thought. Four quickly flipped to the most recent page of the book, seeing Three’s current thoughts laid out before him.
“I wish I had a reason to go up there again.”
Four blinked curiously, looking at the stationary man laying in his bed. Three pulled out his phone, scrolling aimlessly as he had another thought. Four looked down at the page again.
“I want to see him again.”
Who did Three want to see? The thought intrigued Four, and he carefully slid onto the bed with Three, on the other side of Eggdog so as not to accidentally disturb him, of course, peeking at the phone screen. Three was scrolling through Four’s Instagram, pausing at every post like he wanted to like them, but stopped himself, quickly scrolling to the next one. He… wanted to see Four again? It… was strange, but Four had no way of assuring him that he could visit at any time. Three stopped his scrolling, face suddenly flushing as he seemed to have another thought, Four consulting with the book.
“Why do I want to see him again? That’s… weird.”
Four snickered in agreement, watching the flush on Three’s face get even redder. Three let the phone drop from his hand as his eyes grew wide.
“What are these feelings? I’ve never felt this before.”
Four tilted his head as he read that one, feeling suddenly nervous. He sat up quickly, scrambling to sit on the other side of the bed as he watched Three like a hawk, looking like he was milliseconds from having a panic attack.
“I’m not in love.”
Four felt his face grow paler as his worst fears came true. Three began breathing quickly, eyes wide in a panic as he scrambled for his phone. Four carefully crawled back over, watching as Three began tying something into his search bar.
hwo to tell if you have crusgh on someien
Four gave a concerned glance at the way Three had typed out friend and then deleted it, replaced with someone instead. They watched as the results poured in, Three pressing on the first wikihow link he found and reading it, shoulders tensing with each point that applied to him. Four’s book flooded with an excess of ink, Four looking down at the page with worry as it flooded, reading three words that pressed so hard into the paper that they leaked into the next one.
“I’M NOT IN LOVE.”
Three let out a sniffling sob, his breathing completely erratic and shallow. Four pressed a hand to Three’s shoulder, but nothing happened. Eggdog, seemingly startled by the commotion, popped up with a sleepy woof, looking directly at Four again. Four pointed to Three again, Eggdog boofing again and nuzzling at Three’s arm.
Three didn’t respond in the slightest. Eggdog and Four shared a glance, both trying to get his attention despite one being a ghost and the other not having any arms. Both of them could only do so much, and Four turned back to the book to maybe get some more insight.
“I can’t be in love with him.
Why not?
I can’t love him! That’s gay. He’d make fun of me if he heard the truth, especially because I’m in love with him.
Haven’t you been in love with him from the start?
No!
Don’t lie to yourself.
I have been for years. What makes you think I’ll stop now?”
Four gaped as he read the last sentence.
“Why? Why have you been hurting yourself for so long?”
Four’s eyes widened as the sentences he spoke wrote themselves in the book.
“You know why. No matter what I do, he’ll always hate me.
This is a secret I’ll take to my grave.”
Four bit his lip again as he realized the secret was out. And he understood why he would want to keep it a secret, too. Before this whole deep dive, he absolutely would have made fun of him if he knew that Three was in love with him. But now, Four wanted nothing more than to give him a hug. Maybe make fun of him for crying so damn much, but it would be friendly. At least, he wanted it to be.
For years, Four had always made fun of everything that Three did. Stealing his content, being so obsessed with him, for being soft, for… for being himself. Four bullied him for being himself so hard that he literally suppressed his feelings for him for years. Suppressed them so hard, in fact, that even the concept of being in love sent Three into a literal panic attack. Speaking of, the man had finally seemed to start breathing evenly again, having flopped over and was staring blankly at the wall. Eggdog had nestled himself in Three’s arms, dozing off once more. Four turned back to the book, seeing another phrase repeated all over another page.
“He’ll always hate me.”
Four felt another stab of guilt in his heart. He had built up this persona of hating Three, while Three had built up the same goddamn thing for him. And it was killing Three, if his blank, lifeless stare and the still repeating phrase in the book wasn’t a major fucking tell. It had practically probably already done so, if the broken horn, and probably heart, was anything to go by as well.
There was no way to help him in his current state, and Four felt so useless. Even if he could, there was nothing he could say. Apologies would feel empty, and Three would never forgive him for accidentally snooping in on his clearly very private moment, no matter how hard he tried to explain that he never wanted to see any of this shit, man.
What was the point of sharing all of this, anyway? What was the stupid USB trying to tell him? Four didn’t return his feelings, and he’d already screwed up any chance of even attempting to be friends…
Except he didn’t.
Four snapped to realization, leaving the sniffling Three alone in his room once more as he was beamed back into the USB. He fell to the floor, wheezing in sudden pain, but the thought still stayed with him even as he stood up, pulling out his phone.
Because they had saved the universe together, and Three wanted another chance to try and be friends again. And Four wanted nothing more than to finally let him in. He grinned as he sent a message to Three, and maybe the message was three letters long and way too short to convey all of the roller coaster of emotions he’d felt in approximately… five minutes (holy shit, all of that was only five fucking minutes?!), and maybe it was still three in the fucking morning and Three himself was still fucked up after that intense panic attack, but Four knew.
He knew both of them wanted nothing more than to try once more.
And perhaps that was all both of them had ever needed.
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