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“Look again maybe?”
His eyes jumped from one piece of clothing to the next, skillfully ignoring the right side in the progress, the low ticking of the clock a constant background noise against the tense silence from the other.
Bad shook his head, caught the phone that was squished between his shoulder and cheek in the last moment, turned the speaker on and put in on the cupboard next to him. “Nope.”
He wondered how many more times he would ask, wondered how many more times he could lie to him without feeling bad about it.
The silence on the other side of the line stretched on for a few more seconds, until-
“What do you mean, nope?”
Rat lazily lifted her head to glance at him when he moved past where she was sleeping on the bed and Bad cooed, leaning down to pat her a few times.
“I mean-”, he said when he straightened up again, a warm feeling in his chest at the way she curled up into a small ball and fell back asleep, right on top of one of his hoodies.
Catching his own reflection in the mirror had him pulling his hair back, looping it back through the cap again. He should probably invest in some more hair ties, now that he thought about it.
“I mean just nope. Literally. I don’t have one. I told you I wouldn’t, so why are you surprised?”
The suit pants and dress shirt in the far right of his closet went ignored, and he even went as far as to close the door.
If he couldn’t see it, he wasn’t lying. Technically.
He just had to tell that to himself often enough.
The world totally worked like that.
Well, Bad’s part of it at least. He was still working on the rest of it.
“What happened to the suit I helped you get last year?”
His eyes flew back to the now closed closet.
Muffins. He forgot about how he had gotten that one.
“I uh”, eyes jumping around, trying to settle on an excuse, Bad cringed even before his mouth opened. “I lost it?”
Keeping his hands from fiddling with and pulling his hair back out of the cap again, he grabbed his phone and left the room, keeping the door open a bit so Lucy could follow if she wanted to.
“You lost it.”
It wasn’t even a question, but Bad still nodded, with all the conviction of a five-year-old that denied stealing from the cookie jar- with their hand still in the cookie jar. “Yeah?”
He pretended the snort did not make him smile. Very hard.
“How?”, came Skeppy’s next question when he entered the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. And it was a good question. Too Bad didn’t have an answer for it.
So, instead of answering, he put a fresh cup into the machine, humming under his breath, while his brain worked a mile a minute to figure out what to say.
“When I was uh, moving?”, he finally settled on.
The silence on the other side spoke volumes.
Bad squirmed when his head immediately (and very unhelpfully) added how Skeppy must look right now, with one eyebrow raised, the sharply focused look on his face that Bad loved so much and-
“Bad, you’ve been living in the same town for the last five years.”, the younger huffed out, amusement clear in his voice. “Just tell me what happened, I’m not gonna be mad.”
“Well,” his eyes glanced back to the door where, behind a tightly closed door, the perfectly fitting outfit hung, before taking his now filled coffee cup into both hands. “I, uh, it shrunk.”
Silence.
“It what?!”
He had to stifle a chuckle at the incredulous tone in the others voice, stomped down the warmth in his chest on instinct, until he remembered Skeppy wasn’t here anymore to catch his lovesick smiles.
“Shrunk. Mhm. In the dryer, you know? I, uh, I accidentally threw it in there.”
Bad was pretty sure Skeppy could hear the grin and the amusement in his voice, but shrugged the thought off easily.
If there was one thing he was good at, it was ignoring things he did not want to acknowledge after all.
And no, that had nothing to do with the fact that he had been doing that for two years before meeting up with Skeppy, what were you even talking about?
“Are you lying to me?”, Skeppy thankfully brought him back out of his head, and he leaned back against the counter, letting the warmth wash over him while blowing on his coffee.
He sneaked a glance towards his phone, grinned when he could hear Skeppy shuffling around and immediately recognized the sounds of him stretching and moving back and forth on his chair because he had been sitting too still for too long, grinned at the reminder that they just knew each other that well.
“I would never. Skeppy, how can you even say something like that?”
His faked offended tone went ignored and Bad could practically hear the other roll his eyes excessively, little Dramaqueen that he was.
Not that he would want it any other way.
Skeppy was perfect, with all his imperfections and flaws, perfect in a way only Skeppy could be to him.
“Well, then tell me what happened to your suit.”
Even though he was rather stubborn.
Then again, he would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t enjoy their arguments immensely. Especially knowing that Skeppy felt the same and how long both of them had waited for someone like the other.
“I told you-“, he began, bit down the giggle that wanted to escape him, before Skeppy cut him off.
“And I told you.”
He huffed, pushing down the glee that appeared in his chest whenever he argued back and forth like this with Skeppy.
If none of them broke the argument up at this point, they would be able to go on for hours, back and forth like a ping pong match.
It was one of the things that belonged only to them, the arguments, the bickering and teasing.
Bad couldn’t imagine being like this with someone else, not to the same extent they were. This was just so uniquely them, so Skeppy and Bad- and maybe it was stupid or unnecessary, maybe it made people overanalyze their friendship or whatever, but Bad wouldn’t want it any other way, couldn’t imagine their relationship any other way.
They met over Skeppy griefing his server, for Goodness's sake!
A smile stole itself on his face, nostalgic and soft, as Bad drunk, contentment in every fiber of his being.
“So anyways. You will have to get a new one then!”, Skeppy’s voice crackled through the phone and for a second, a grimace passed over Bad’s face. “You can’t go to the Streamer awards without a suit, dude.”
His smile fell and Bad sighed, heavily, half-heartedly sipping the coffee that suddenly didn’t taste as good anymore.
Right.
The streamer awards.
He had almost forgotten the reason he had called Skeppy in the first place, with hands shaking like crazy from nerves and anxiety.
Because he was invited to the streamer awards, was nominated for some silly little thing or another- it wasn’t like he cared too much about it.
Sure, it was nice to know people liked him enough to vote for him for some award, but actually going there?
He had just met up with Skeppy, and Hannah, and Sylvee- and the Dream team!
There were limits as to how much he could push himself to do.. alone, that is.
But.
If he happened to not be alone though, that was an entirely different story.
Which was the other reason for his call.
And also why he would have to get rid of his ‘shrunken’ suit one way or another.
The squeaking of his bedroom door brought him back out of his head and a second later, Rat came trotting into the kitchen with a yawn and a stretch, making a bee line for the food that he had filled up earlier.
He chuckled, and downed the rest of his coffee, sparing a glance outside before putting the cup down.
“Are you still there?”
He hummed a reply and went to slip his shoes on, smiling at the excited barking that immediately started.
“Are you taking Rat out?” There was shuffling on the other side again and he heard Skeppy get up and move around.
“Yeah, she just woke up from her nap.” He gave himself a quick once over in the mirror, grabbing Lucy’s leash with a shrug. “Are you still working on the server thing?”
Bad listened to Skeppy hum and explain the new problem with the bug that had appeared on his server a few days ago, something that kept Skeppy occupied enough to make him lose sleep and miss food and totally did not make Bad unreasonably jealous.
“I just don’t know why it happens. I looked through everything but there was nothing. I should-“ he could hear the other stretch and fall onto his mattress, giggled while clipping Rat’s leash on. “- take a break. I should take a break.”
“You really should. You’ve been working on this for days nonstop. That’s not healthy, Skeppy.”
“I know I know.”, the younger replied, slightly muffled, which probably meant he’d pressed his head into the pillows. Bad wondered if they still smelled like him. “You know how I get. I’m still working on taking breaks and everything. It’s harder when I’m alone.”
He softened, embraced the warmth when he thought back to how he had helped Skeppy relax and kept him from overworking himself when they had met up, how they cuddled and watched movies, how Bad would take his hand and simply pull the other away whenever he overdid it again, how a simple look, a single touch was enough to make Skeppy focus only on him.
Bad loved being the sole focus of his attention, knew Skeppy felt the same about sharing Bad’s attention.
Which reminded him about the reason for his call again, and he grabbed the leash tightly to prevent Lucy from running away, pocketing his keys and took the phone in his other hand, firmly ignoring how his heart beat faster.
“Well, are you coming then?”
“Coming where?” Skeppy sounded so confused, Bad may as well could have asked him the square root of a banana. “And when?”
The older rolled his eyes, pushed the door close behind him with his foot, a nervous grin on his face. “Over. Are you coming over? You were the one who said I can not be trusted to buy a suit by myself so..”
Inwardly cheering about how neutral his voice stayed, Bad walked down the block, listened to Skeppy splutter and mumble on the other end of the line.
“You want me to come over so I can help you buy a suit?!”
Okay. So if he said it like that, it sounded weird. Well, not weird weird. But weird enough.
He buried his face in his scarf, hid his blush behind his hair, even though the other couldn’t see him and the streets were empty. “Yeah.”
Skeppy snorted. “No other reason? Just the suit?”
And the grin on Bad’s face was downright mischievous. “Also to help you with the bug, of course.”
Now that got a whole giggle out of Skeppy, muffled as it was, and Bad felt his cheeks grow even hotter, all the way up to the tips of his ears.
He let Rat choose which way to go, walked past the older couple that lived across from him, saw them smile knowingly at each other, probably both noticing his flaming cheeks.
He nodded politely back at them, blush deepening, until he rounded the corner, and they were alone again, in the park Rat liked to go the most.
“I’ll only help you pick out a suit for the Streamer awards if I’m your plus one, dude.”, Skeppy replied eventually, and just from the tone of his voice alone Bad knew he was blushing like crazy. Not that he was any better, just for the record. “I’m not dressing you up all pretty for everyone to see but me.”
And yeah, that did it for him and with wobbly knees and a racing heart, Bad half sat half collapsed into a bench, a doopy grin on his face.
“G-Geppy! You- You can’t just say things like that!”
The chuckle on the other side sent fire through his veins and Bad had the sudden urge to steal it away with a kiss or two- or twenty- or-
“Why? I think actually I’m the only one who’s allowed to say that.”, the other replied, in a voice so cheeky and familiar, it sent warmth pooling in his stomach. “I certainly hope I’m the only one who says that.”
Bad shook his head, giggling softly. “Of course you are, you muffinhead.. So, you’ll come with me to this thing?”
He could hear Skeppy hum and get up again. “Sure. Sounds like fun. And you really have to go, right? Can’t let you go alone.”
Bad perked up at that, noticeably enough to alert Lucy, who came running over to him, excitedly pawing at his legs.
“When will you be here?”
He patted the dog a few times, cooed over the excitement, and waited more or less patiently for Skeppy’s answer.
“How long do you want me to stay?”
Forever, his heart screamed, and he bit his tongue to keep the thought there.
Not yet., he calmed it down. Soon, but not yet.
“A week or two maybe? Do you want to bring Rocco?”
“Nah, he’s with Sam right now and-“, he answered and Bad could hear him rummage through his room. “Hey, you’re home, right?”
Bad, who had just clipped Rat back on to make his way back home, raised an eyebrow. “I told you I'm out with Rat, Geppy. Didn’t you listen to me?”
A chuckle.
“Oh course, of course, Badboy. But are you like, far? Or just to the park round the corner?”
It warmed Bad’s heart that Skeppy knew the places he went to to take Rat out. Even though he knew the other knew them- this was nothing new after all-, it still left him feeling all tingly and happy.
He listened to the other huff and move around while waiting for Rat who was sniffing at something. “I just went to the park. I’m on my way home now though.”
“Oh cool, cool.”, came a quick answer, slightly out of breath. “You might wanna hurry up though.”
There was a bang in the background that sounded like a door being thrown shut, before the rattling of keys became audible over the line.
“Hurry up? Skeppy the park is like fifteen minutes away from the house. Why would I need to hurry- and what are you doing?!”
“Getting in my car”, he answered, with a grin so cheeky, Bad could hear it in his voice, accompanied by the sound of a car door being closed. “And you should hurry cause knowing you, you’ll want to clean everything- even though everything is already cleaned and you know I don’t care about how it looks at your place- before I’m there.”
He could hear the car come to live, hear the loud humming of the motor, and for a second he wondered if anyone had sat in the passenger seat since he had left Skeppy’s.
He shook the thought out of his head, reminding himself that it didn’t matter.
Because Skeppy had chosen him. No matter how many other people were in his life.
“Oh yeah, I really do. Rat has stolen so many water bottles and I haven’t cleaned in a bit.“, he mumbled after getting his thoughts back under control. “You didn’t answer my question. When are you coming? Do you think tomorrow is too soon or-”
“My flight goes in an hour.”, a cheeky voice answered, and for a second Bad wanted to facepalm. Well, facepalm Skeppy.. With like, a chair or-
“See you soon, Badboy”
Or- Or actually, maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.. when he said his name like that and-
And Skeppy let the motor rev and hung up before Bad could say anything.
Jerk.