Back To You

8.

Ow.

Owww.

You didn't expect him to be that...

dense

You kept your word but a part of you wished you hadn't. Laying on the floor, you were as still as the pebbles around you while you held Wheatley, who had his eye shut way before he even detached from the rail, tightly to your abdomen which held the folder containing your data, a lighter version, since you only took the useful pages with you and tucked it securely under your jumpsuit.

The moment of pain passed and you let your arms fall to your sides which caused Wheatley to roll to the floor with a clunk and a half-hearted "ow." beside you.

At least the countdown method worked again. You wished he didn't catch you off-guard when he spontaneously decided he was going to "count to one" so that he didn't have to think too long about his necessary fall. You have to get used to his unpredictability as well as the boots now.

"HA! I'm not dead, WHEATLEY LIVES!" He cheered, "They told me that if I disengage from my management rail, I would DIE. They told me that about everyhing, even the flashlight! I don't even know why they bothered to give me that stuff if they didn't want me to use it. It's pointless. Mad."

You didn't respond as you tried to transcend into a different plane of existence for a couple of seconds. This sucks so much.

"Oh God—are you dead?" He worriedly joked.

This is a perfect opportunity to mess with him. You continued to play dead. You were slack-jawed with your arms limp, unmoving.

"Hello?" The worry in his voice was making the edges of you mouth twitch. Hold it in.

"No no no no no, this can't be happening," he frantically whispered to himself over and over again with some slight variations. Hold it in. The panicked taps of his handles hitting the floor was heard moving along slowly, very slowly towards where your head was. He was struggling to "walk" to you to find signs that you were still alive.

You still heard him trying to console himself with words like "they're just taking a short break," or "they'll wake up any minute now," it was cruel of you but a little prank won't hurt anybody.

Your eyes were closed but you could imagine him in his current state. In your mind's eye, he was crawling like a worm that had fell on hard times and was trying to evade the vicious birds with only a third of its body left. Wheatley worm.

HOLD IT IN. HOLD IT IN.

You could not hold it in any longer.

Your shoulders trembled as a pfffttt sound escaped you. "AHAHAHAHA! I'm sorr—HAHA," You wheezed on the floor while Wheatley went speechless with what you imagine was a scowl.

"Oh. Brilliant. Did you enjoy yourself?" Wheatley's attempt at sass was adorable and had only earned another eruption of laughter. His voice had no ability to hold anything other than what a friend sounds like. He rolled his eye to indicate that he was annoyed. "Alright, you got me there," He gave in to your antics, "Hehe, that was a good one. Don't do that again," his lower 'eyelid' was raised, giving him a look of amusement. You laughter died down.

"Goodness," you composed yourself, "I haven't laughed like that for—well, since I woke up," you realized that you had your first laugh thanks to Wheatley. It was nice. You wouldn't want to spend your first laugh with anyone else, not that you had a choice. Oh what would you do without him.

—

"Ummmmm. Yeah, I can't do it if you're watching," Wheatley nervously laughed at himself "I know it seems pathetic given what we've been through. But just turn around, please?"

You dumbfoundedly looked at him half-expecting that he was just joking. Earlier, he'd been eager to show you "something impressive" but now he doesn't even want you to look at his general direction. You are now sure that he was serious with his request because of how he was shifting uncomfortably under your gaze. Being the good friend that you are, you respected his privacy and boundaries no matter how questionable they are.

Not even two seconds while your back was turned he called out, "You can turn around now," The panel beside him vibrated and revealed a passage. "BAM! Secret panel! That I opened. While your back was turned," He said, smugly. You turned your head and cocked your brow at him, "Was turning around even neccessary?" You genuinely asked.

"Now, now, don't question the process. Impressive, isn't it?"

"I admit it, I'm impressed and I definitely don't want to know how you did it,"

"You can continue to praise me later. Pick me up and let's get out of here."