be gay do crime || Dream SMP chatfic [abandoned & unfinished]

we started this mess too early, now we're seeing the consequences

– I feel... broken – started Quackity after longs silence. – Remember this place in the beginning? Rich bastards, constant card shuffling, drinks and music. Now it's gone, so long gone even these couches stopped smelling like cigars which never felt even slightly possible.

They were sitting in an old pub on an even older couch in the corner, shielded from everyone by shade. The room was only half-way filled by some locals lethargically playing card games dealed by people who tried their best to look like they actually wanted to be there. Music mentioned by Quackity wasn't playing only sound distinguishable from intangible words of conversations was low humming of the bartender. Techno knew that song, it was pub's most played piece in the past. During it's biggest days.

– I used to love this place, y'know? It felt like home, between millionaires ready to sell their souls I felt one with them when mine was freshly lost. – Quackity looked unseeingly into Techno's face, tangling his hands into his hair. – We were so young back then, yet so old. Hell, we're barely adults, why I feel like and eighty years old?

– Because we started this mess way to early, but would you do it differently? Would you wait until adulthood to start The Empire if you then knew what you know now?

– No, I wouldn't. This is my creation and I'm proud of it. Even if it just broken my last normal piece of life outside of it.

– Wanna share with the old enemy?

– You're not an enemy, Techno, even after all this time. I could never think of you in that way.

Someone lost a game, it seemed, as yells drowned out bartender's humming. Suddenly it felt like the old days even if only for a minute. Maybe they could start over, make the place better even if it will quickly be dimmed, again, by the tempting promises of the Palace.

– The Empire swallowed me, I could say. It was the only thing on my mind for so long that I didn't even realized that I broke my last meaningful relationship. – He stopped and looked around the place. – Do you think making all of this was a mistake? Don't lie to me, Techno.

The piglin sat silently for a moment, studying its hands laid out on the table, clad in golden rings reflecting the low light of the room. Vi seemed to contemplate deeply, as if knowing the weight of the answer.

– No, I don't think it was a mistake. The Empire, the Palace weren't mistakes. Nothing was but your own choices when it came to priorities. I want you to own up to the fact that you let the good slip away from you because you took it for granted.

– You're in as deep as I am, how do you manage it?

– I thought it's obvious. I don't take for granted anything, I make sure that I'm worth keeping around.

They sat there some time more until Techno had to go to work. When Quackity wanted to leave the room, bartender stopped him gently and pointed to the backroom. As if Syndicate couldn't wait for the worse moment to have new job. He forwarded the message through the fastest underground lines and fled the area, it was going to be a gruesome night.

[private message] wilbahsuit → technothepig

wilby: wait for me 4am?

techno: roof?

wilby: my room

techno: i might be a tad late but sure

– It's the time you tell me what you've been up to in Europe? – asked Techno immediately when Wilbur closed the doors.

– I guess so, how was the work? – gho sat down on ghosts bed, slumping against ghost's twin. – It's not that bad honestly, I just... sometimes I wish I never took part in creating Blue, you know? That I never said that I know how to expand this business. And now it's too late for all that. Blue will be in Europe before I can even notice it and world will be in shambles again. Because of me.

– I thought you decided to drop it.

– Ye I tried – Wil chuckled breathlessly. – Turns out The Empire has a lot of shit even on me. I was supposed to be an untraceable shadow, turns out it only works for people of lower rank. And you'd think ghosts aren't noticeable.

They sat in silence, tired after a day of work, their bodies casting long shadows in the room lit up only by the moon. It was unbearably silent that night, even cars weren't that often seen on the roads and it was that one weekend when no party happened nearby.

– I was in Hypixel the whole time. Living, breathing, trying to avoid death. – said suddenly Techno, pulling back in spaced-out Wilbur. – I- I don't want to bring in details, no- not yet at least, one day. That city seems... Rotten at the core held together by people trying to get by everyday. Wherever I looked I saw violence and trauma, so many children left to play alone. You have no clue how many times I almost died because someone took offence to my existence.

– I'm here if you need to talk, remember, ok? You're not alone, not any more, this summer was just an exception from the rule.

– I know, Wil, sometimes it's just too much on my mind... – it hung it's voice, considering vi's next words. – Can I sleep with you, or ask you to come to mine until I'm asleep? I just- I don't- I know it's kinda weird and I could go to Eret or Sam but it's so late and I'm sorry I promise it's just one time-

– It's okay, Techno, you can. Whenever you need, whatever you need. I'm your favourite for a reason.

– My favourite is Ranboo, but I think you're trailing close by.

– Glad to hear you still have some sense of humour.