#snippets request

Green used a fishing line to do a complicated twist out of the way of a multi-person attack, hanging on to the thing with just one hand in order to swing the sword in retaliation. Orange let out a jaw-cracking yawn. Purple side-eyed them in disbelief.

"How are you getting sleepy at a time like this?" they accused.

Orange laughed. "As long as they're making noise, I know they're fine. And they never let me get enough sleep anyways."

Fair enough. Purple turned back to the fight. It looked like Blue was getting the upper hand.

"Hey," Orange said, getting their attention again. "You want a beach chair?"

Purple blinked at the chair their friend had produced out of nowhere. It was striped white and orange. Probably a clipart asset of some kind. Orange stored the weirdest things in their hammerspace.

"Sure," Purple said belatedly. They felt rude, and added, "Thanks."

Orange beamed, and pulled out a matching beach chair. With an easy flourish, they set it up next to their own. Purple stared at the new chair. It was striped white and purple. Oh.

Orange didn't make a big deal of it, flopping back on their seat and crossing their arms behind their head. Purple gently sat down on their own, and leaned back. It was comfortable, for a beach chair. They gently stroked a purple stripe, a little off-color from their own hex code.

It was definitely a stick-world cat. A single line for the tail, stumps for legs. As Chosen watched, its bean body slowly arched into the classic Halloween shape, with fur sticking up along its back. They cocked their head to the side, curious.

Well, they were stuck in this back-alley until the bounty hunters moved on anyways. Might as well make friends.

Chosen walked forward a couple steps, and the cat made a strange hissing sound, like the noise that came before one of Dark's explosions. They paused, wary, but nothing came of it. The cat just whipped its tail around, staring straight back.

Maybe it was talking? Chosen tried a poor imitation of a hiss back, and the cat growled in return. Successful communication! Now they just needed to figure out what it was saying.

Chosen closed the distance, and started to crouch to its level.

The cat finally exploded.

It yowled, pouncing to latch onto Chosen's head. They startled back onto their butt, panicked. It bit and scratched wildly, and hot pain sprung all over their face. Chosen desperately tried to knock it off without powers, clenching hard on the impulse to laser the threat away.

Not soon enough, the cat sprang off with some final deep claws to the shoulder. Chosen whirled around to see it race down the alley and out of sight.

The only reason Yellow hadn't left was because The Dark Lord was supposed to have somebody to babysit him while Orange was having "family time" with Chosen, and the others had escaped when she wasn't looking. Assholes.

"Your code is abhorrent."

Yellow twitched, and glared sidelong at her undesired companion. He was still staring at the screen, with a lip curled in disgust.

"It works fine," she decided to counter with, and decisively compiled the script to prove it. The debug log scrolled along the screen, showing no errors, to which Yellow gestured at proudly.

The Dark Lord apparently took that as an invitation to scoot up into her personal bubble, click out of the log, and scroll through her code. "Yeah, with random copied-pasted garbage that makes it twice as long as necessary." He leaned back when Yellow made a shooing motion, but didn't return to his original seat. "Why are you using Java to set up a web server, anyways? What are you, a corporate bootlicker? PHP interpreters exist for a reason. Or, fucking, use C#, which is more relevant to this PC hellscape you live on anyways."

"You can use Java anywhere for pretty much anything," Yellow said, frowning at him. "And it's a language I'm very familiar with it, so it'll be easy to maintain." She pointedly did not mention that her familiarity came from Minecraft.

"You're setting up a web server, what maintenance."

"Extra security protocols. I'm literally putting my life in the hands of this thing, I don't want anything to go wrong."

The Dark Lord's eyes widened, and a sharp grin crept over his scarred face. "Are you now? What exactly is the goal here?"

It occurred to Yellow that she was arguing with someone who might be very interested in seeing her life end. Explaining that she was working on turning the Raspberry Pi she made Alan buy into the new server for their version of sticksfight.com as well as the backup for ALANSPC including Orange's animation file would be... Well, it would probably be a bad idea to share.

"Nunya."

The Dark Lord blinked a couple times, brow furrowing. "What's nunya?"

"None of ya' business!" Yellow crowed, smacking the keyboard shortcut she programmed to make taunting horn sounds.

The Dark Lord gaped at her. Then, to her surprise, he busted out laughing. "H-holy shit, you--aha! You-- hee hee!"

A reluctant smile crept over Yellow's face as she watched him struggle to get control of himself. He looked like a goof, rocking back and slapping his legs.

Eventually, The Dark Lord calmed down, wiping a tear from an eye. "Okay, that got me. You're a little shit, you know that?"

"So I've been told," Yellow said agreeably. Told by her friends and Alan alike, whenever she pulled off a good prank.

They settled back into silence, as Yellow turned back to her code. It was noticeably less tense than before. It was almost even... companionable.

"Okay," The Dark Lord groaned after awhile. "This is killing me. Can I just show you how to shrink that section down to a couple lines?"

Yellow considered him, and considered all of his impressive--if evil--technological accomplishments. Maybe The Dark Lord would be good to learn from. She trusted she'd be able to identify if he actually worsened the security of her project. And since he was offering...

Red was starting to feel the prickle of loneliness, though. His animals were all engaged in their own mid-day siestas, which he had reinforced with lots of treats and affection so that nobody would interrupt meditation time. Yellow was probably busy working on some invention as usual, and he could hear the muffled, repetitive chords of Green and Purple working on their collaborative song again. And he already decided against meditation time today with Blue and Orange.

The lonely ache in his chest grew a bit, mixed with some restlessness. Cat videos weren't cutting it anymore.

Using the growing tension as energy, Red sprang out of bed and tossed his phone on the covers. Given his options, the friend who was alone was the best one to bother.

Upon hurrying to Yellow's closed room, Red decided the best way to knock was scratch at the door like he was a cat. He gently rasped on it a couple times, and leaned in to hear her response. There were a couple thumps, but no footsteps. He scratched again, a little harder than last time.

Yellow's muffled voice held a tinge of annoyance. "What, Red?"

He grinned, and started scratching vigorously against the door. He heard a groan, and after a couple seconds finally got what he wanted. Yellow yanked open the door, glasses crooked and looking thoroughly irritated with him already.

"What?" she repeated.

Red replied by pouncing and wrapping his arms around his beloved friend. She stumbled back a bit, before getting her bearings and returning the gesture. He nuzzled into her neck and inhaled deeply, admiring the heady smell of sweat, engine oil, and redstone powder. With a sigh, Red relaxed into Yellow's arms.

"You okay?" she asked, tone tipping more concerned as she started rubbing his back.

"Yeah," he finally said. "Just needed some attention."

"Ah." Yellow continued to rub. "Battery running low, huh?"

"Yup," Red agreed, popping the last letter.

After a moment, Red nudged Yellow in the direction of her far-too-underused bed to continue the cuddles. She resisted a bit, frowning at the incomplete machine she was working on. It was probably long overdue for break-time, though, so Red scooped her off the floor and tossed her onto the bed.

Yellow yelped as she landed awkwardly, and glared at Red. He grinned at her flushed face and jumped after. Ignoring her complaints, Red adjusted the blankets and pillows so that Yellow could comfortably sit upright, and then plopped his head and shoulders onto her dusty legs.

"You're as needy as a real cat today," Yellow commented, finally deigning to pet him how he liked.

"Meow," Red answered, using his least-convincing cat impression. She laughed.

They settled into the quiet cuddles, Yellow idly combing through his hair. Normally this would lead to Red falling asleep, especially at such a good time of day for a siesta. Half an hour later he'd wake up and stretch and Yellow would bodily shove him off and complain about her legs having gone numb from holding up his thick head. Then he'd hang around and be nosy about whatever invention she was working on, or they'd get drawn into a new prank planning session, or he'd convince her to come do a one-on-one spar together until the others inevitably found them and joined in.

This time, though, Red found himself enraptured with staring up at Yellow. She had taken off her glasses while they relaxed, making her eyes look smaller than he was used to, but also clearer without the dirty lenses in the way. He saw the bags under her eyes and wanted to rub them away into restfulness. He saw the redstone powder mixing with the freckles on her cheeks and wanted to clean it off. He saw her slightly-chapped lips and wanted to moisten them with his tongue--

Red blinked, surprised at his own train of thought. That was maybe a step further than what he usually wanted to with his friends. That was like... A kissing sort of thing. For a pairing kind of relationship.

He'd never really had the urge to kiss anyone before. Red took a moment to investigate the thought a little more. Kissing... Yellow. Holding her even closer, cuddling her even longer. Being allowed to lick and nibble her. Annoying her with smooches at an unholy hour until she let Red drag her to bed. Waking up in her arms the next morning to admire the blurry expression on her face he's been missing since they all made their own Minecraft bedrooms.

Oh.

Yeah. Red wanted that. He wanted her.

"Why're you staring at me like that?"

Red blinked again, and real Yellow was aiming a slightly uncomfortable smirk down at him, having paused petting his hair. He gasped, and reached up to grab both sides of her face. She blinked in surprise, raising her free hand to hold one of his.

"Red?"

"Yellow," he said breathlessly. "I think I like you. Like, a lot. A lot a lot. Can I kiss you?"

"Wha-- er," she stuttered, as a flush built up in her cheeks. Her hand clenched around his. "I. Where-- I mean. Sure?? I guess?? Um--"

Red took full advantage of the permission, quickly wiggling to get up and straddle Yellow's lap. Without losing a second, he leaned in to lick her lips like he wanted. She laughed disbelievingly, and Red captured the noise in his mouth.

He didn't know anything about kissing, and it felt a little awkward and wet. But it was still electric, because it was Yellow he was kissing. Yellow, who adjusted to securely hold Red in one arm. Yellow, who used her other hand to orient his face to fit more naturally against her own. Yellow, who apparently knew more about kissing and drew him in and kissed and kissed and kissed until Red had to pull away, gasping for breath.

They leaned against each other's foreheads, breathing the same air. It was calming, for all that Red's heart was beating wildly in his chest. He felt as light as a cloud and warm as a sun.

As he recovered his breath, Red grinned happily at Yellow's cute face. She snorted in return. Red let out a high-pitched giggle, and it set the both of them off. They laughed and laughed, pushing and pulling against each other until they fell over on the bed.

When the giggles died down, Red found himself gently brushing a thumb along Yellow's temple, where the ridge of her glasses usually sat.

"I can't believe we just did that," Yellow said, smiling. She was brushing her own thumb on the baby hairs on his neck.

"Can we do it again?" Red asked hopefully.

"Anytime, kitty cat."

Second's heart rate slowed. He lifted an arm to stare at it. It didn't hurt. The only pain in his body was the faint ache in his throat. Had he been screaming in his sleep, too?

Second tensed and glanced over at his brother's side of the room. No movement. Just a familiar lump under the covers. He relaxed a little.

Another strike of lightning lit up the room before the thunder crashed. He briefly thought the glow was green.

Second scrambled out of his bed, heart rate suddenly kicking into high gear again.

There was nowhere to go, though. He stood in the middle of the room, feeling cold and stupid.

Well... While he was up.

Second fetched a cup of water from the kitchen, and hurried past the deep shadows reaching out to grab his ankles. The door snapped shut a little too hard behind him. The pile of blankets shuffled, and a head full of flyaway hairs raised up.

"Sec...?" Chosen blearily murmured.

Second sipped his water guiltily, and looked away. "Nothing, Cho," he reassured quietly. His stomach flipped a little at the unexpected liquid, and he set the cup down.

Second stared out the window, not ready to climb back into bed where his nightmare was waiting to gallop through his head again. Another crash of thunder made him flinch, and he turned to see his brother still propped up in his own bed, watching him. Second suddenly remembered what his friends had said about asking for help being good for everybody.

"Could I sleep with you?"

Wordlessly, Chosen shifted backwards and lifted a corner of the blanket. Second eagerly slipped into the opening and shuffled around to get comfortable. Chosen reached around to tuck the blanket around Second's body, who pulled it down the rest of the way.

Like an old dog, Chosen huffed a sigh. He wrapped a protective ankle around Second's, and let his arm relax around Second's shoulders. In turn, Second turned to bury his face in Chosen's neck, and hug Chosen's free arm between their chests. He sighed as well, letting the tension leak from his exhausted body.