The Red String || A SMG34 fanfic

Chapter 14 - Lay All Your Love On Me

As soon as they heard the thud, Meggy, Boopkins and SMG3 stopped what they were doing to look towards the direction of the sound.

What could have made that sound?

Was it another corrupted Meme? An eldritch being coming out of the lake? DID BOOPKINS' HATSUNE MIKU FANFIC COME TO LIVE??

They expected to see a lot of things when they looked towards that lake.

What they didn't expect, was to see SMG4 laying there next to the water on his back with just one glove on.

"FOUR!" the three of them screamed in unison and ran towards their friend, who was slowly getting up from the floor.

"Four, my gosh what happened?? Are you okay?? Why are you laying on the floor??" Meggy hugged SMG4 and scanned his face, trying to see if he was hurt anywhere.

"Im fine, im fine" SMG4 rubbed his head. "I just got pushed back from some.. sudden burst of energy and landed on my ass"

"Sudden burst of energy?" SMG3 stepped back. SMG4 wasn't talking about..

"from the lake water" SMG4 looked at SMG3 and raised his right hand.
He wasn't wearing his glove and the hand was clearly wet.

Everything around SMG3 went silent. All he could focus on was SMG4s hand and the sound of his own heartbeat.

"Did you-" SMG3 began to ask but he was interrupted by a sudden cry coming from Boopkins "OMG, is that the red string?? It's so pretty"
The four of them stared at the string, now clearly visible to all of them and somehow glowing.

"Woah" Meggy carefully picked up a part of the string "so THIS is what you've been hiding from us all day?" she said, while analysing the glowing red string.

So they can see it now? Oh god, that must mean..

"Four" SMG3's voice was shaking "did you.. put your finger in the water as well?"
SMG4 gave SMG3 a tired smile. "Yeah, I guess I did"

"Huh?" Boopkins, Meggy and SMG3 stared at SMG4 in confusion. They couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"B-but why??" SMG3 raised his eyebrows "Didn't we JUST spend the entire day curing Memes from the effect of that lake water?? Why would you do something like that??"
"Because of you." SMG4 said.

SMG3 was rendered speechless for a second. All the aggression from before was suddenly replaced with confusion.
"Wh- what?" he muttered.

"That's how you said you got the red string in the first place, right?"
SMG3 stared at SMG4 who just continued talking.

"Three" SMG4 started to get up.
"When we became Friends.. I didn't hang out with you because of Meme Energy alone; I hung out with you because I wanted to."

He brushed some dirt off of his overalls

"Every time I invited you to one of our adventures it wasn't just because of our cosmic link or whatever fate we share; It was because having you around makes things more fun for me."

SMG4 was now face to face with SMG3. "And when Peaches' castle sank into that pit and you almost fell inside, I didn't save you to fulfil some prophecy or manifest destiny; I saved you because you mean a LOT to me."

SMG3 felt his heartbeat speed up - What did all of this mean?

"We're friends because we choose to be. And now, " SMG4 raised his right hand "we're tied together because of our choices as well"

SMG4 smiled. "If you have to deal with a weird red string that's tied to me, then it's only fair if I have to deal with a weird red string tied to YOU, right? We're in this together."

He stepped closer "And we make our own choices."

SMG3 blinked wildly. He couldn't believe his ears. "Four.. you didn't have to do this."
"But I wanted to, dumbass" SMG4 crossed his arms. "That was like.. the whole point of my speech - did you not even listen to me?"

SMG3 had to laugh. Only Four would call someone a dumbass during a super serious moment like this.

SMG3's laugher however was interrupted by SMG4 being dragged towards SMG3. The sudden pull of the red string almost made SMG4 fall, but SMG3 caught him before he could fall face first into the ground. The two of them looked at each other for a second, SMG4 in SMG3's arms, before SMG4 stood back up and coughed nervously.

"What- what was that?" SMG4 asked, looking at the now very short red string.

Three just shrugged. "Eh, the string just randomly pulls at you. You gotta deal with that, I guess."

"Oh, I've read about a similar thing in some fanfictions" Boopkins chimed in, reminding SMG4 and SMG3 that they weren't alone.

"The string can sometimes pull people around according to the wishes and emotions of the people who are tied to it!"

"But every time I got pulled around it was involuntary." SMG3 protested, remembering all the moments he couldn't get his hand to move no matter how much he wanted it to.

"Well then what about Four?" Meggy asked, smirking.

"Huh?" SMG4 turned his head towards Meggy "What about me?"
"What if SMG3 got pulled around according to YOUR wishes?"

"Oh! That makes sense!" SMG4 looked towards SMG3 "When you were trying to grab Boopkins back there I still couldn't see the string but I just thought hard about holding you back and apparently it worked!"

SMG3 tried to remember all the other moments he got pulled around by the string;
Falling through the portal that morning, being stopped from leaving the castle without SMG4, holding Fours hand..
Did SMG4.. WANT all these things to happen?
Did SMG4 want to be close to him?
Did SMG4...

"That's so cool!" Before SMG3 could finish that last thought, Boopkins interrupted him.
"And now that Four is officially connected too, it means that you can drag him around aswell, Three!"

SMG3 quickly turned his head away, before anyone could notice that the red on his cheeks wasn't just coming from the light of the string. "Yeah, cool."

"Okay guys". Meggy clapped her hands together. "Let's get home for the night"
"Wait what?" SMG3 asked. "Shouldn't we get rid of this string first?" he said, raising his left hand and causing four to lift his hand as well. "Getting rid of the effects of the trope lake was like.. the entire reason we came out here in the first place?!"

Meggy looked at him with a deadpan look. "Three, buddy, I don't know if you've noticed. But we're surrounded by complete darkness."

And she was correct; They had spent so much time talking that the moon had risen fully and the stars above the forest were clearly visible.

The only thing illuminating the area was the moon, the little bit of light coming from inside the Coffee Shop next to the lake and the weak red glow coming from the string tied between SMG3 and SMG4.

"It was chaotic enough figuring out how to deal with that fanfiction energy in the daylight, but Im not gonna run around this forest in the middle of the night." Meggy stretched her arms. "And besides, Im starting to get tireeeed"

Meggy had to yawn and SMG3 realized how tired he himself has gotten aswell.

They've really been at this for the entire day, huh?

He had to admit that she had a point: It was clearly too late to get rid of the string now.

Get rid of the string.

For a second SMG3 frowned. After that whole speech the thought of getting rid of the string seemed to bother him. But he just shrugged it off, chalking it up to him just being tired.

He looked at the others, who all seemed to be tired as well.

"Okay then, let's go home people."

But trying to get home isn't that easy when you're tied to someone who lives in a different dimension than you.