splitting, barely fitting; show a smile, we’re rather bored, nothing lines up anymore!
hihi so this is. longer. so i cut the chapter in half. yea :] ima go sleep now
relationships: shadow/vio, red/blue, blue & red & vio & green, mentioned past green/vio
ao3 link; x
“So, let me get this straight..”Red paused, her eyes still fixed onto Vio’s face. “You’ve been living in the fire temple since Shadow’s death—a death you claim was your fault—and had an accident which resulted in you losing your hand last week. Oh, and let’s not talk about your unhealthy eating habits during that time. Is that right?” Vio winced, sheepishly nodding. “That…is correct, yes.” “Okay,”Red took a breath, shutting her eyes before they snapped back open. “Why in the world didn’t you contact us?” “Um…well, for a while, I assumed you all still hated my guts, so there’s that.”Vio stated simply, playing with the cloth on the table. “I thought you all…wished that you’d never see me again.” “Oh, Vio—we looked for you for months..”Red frowned gently. “We didn’t even want to stop but we had to.” “...yeah. Green mentioned that.”Vio sighed, glancing up at Red. “I’m sorry.” “You disappear on us, for a long time, let us believe you’re dead, lose a hand, and you say you’re sorry?”Red deadpanned, clearly unimpressed. “...yes?”Vio winced, a nervous grin on their face. The response was met by three sighs from their companions. “..was…that the wrong answer?” “Yes, you idiot. What happened to you being smart?” “I’m still smarter than you lot.” “That isn’t exactly a challenge.”Blue shrugged loosely. “We’re fucking dumbasses.” “I’ll drink to that.”Vio laughed softly. “So…um. Should we head home?”Red smiled. Blue nodded slightly, glancing at Green. “Are you coming with, or going back to the castle?” “I probably need to tell Zelda that Vio isn’t actually dead.” “Oh, yeah, I forgot you all thought I was dead.” A beat of silence before, “Vio, we were talking about it less than five minutes ago.” “Oh, really?” “Yeah.” “..oh.” Red frowned, then shook her head and stood up, blowing the candles out. “Well, let’s go! Greenie, are you fine with Vivi using your bed til we get one for them?” “I never use it anyways.”Green shrugged as he got up. “Hey, make sure Vio bandages that up.” “We know what to do, Green.”Blue deadpanned, locking the bakery door behind them as the four of them stepped outside. “By ‘make sure’, I mean force the fucker.”Green clarified bluntly, and Blue nodded along. “Ah, got it.” Red sighed gently, grabbing Vio’s hand and walking ahead of the other two. “It’s nice to have you back, Vivi. We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”She smiled, to which Vio faintly returned the gesture. “Hey, Red, um…”Vio began, trailing off as they struggled to find words. “I have a question.” “And I probably have an answer!”Red laughed, swinging their arms. “Why…why do you care that I’m not dead? You’ve done well for yourself…all I did was cause problems. I’ll probably just make more problems for people to hate me for, anyways. Why not just let me go back to the fire temple?” “O..kay, so, that was more than one question. However! I have your answers. We care because we love you, you’re our friend. The fire temple isn’t a good place to live in, Vivi, you could get sick or worse! Plus, we want you here with us.” “Oh.” “Oh?” “...I didn’t expect that,”Vio admitted, shrugging loosely. “I mean—I obviously know the fire temple was a terrible decision for a place to stay for an extended period of time, but…I didn’t expect you guys to want me here. After all I’ve done..” “Well…we all do dumb things when we like someone.”Red whistled lowly, giggling when Vio’s face lit up. “Did you think we didn’t know?” “Know what?”Vio coughed, looking away nervously. “You liked Shadow. Maybe you still do…but we did notice it. He seemed to like you back, too!” “I sure hope so.”Vio muttered under their breath. “Um…thanks for not…acting like I’m insane. I’m sure everyone else would if they knew.” “People thought me and Blue were weird too, everyone was convinced we were all siblings.” “We aren’t even related, though?” “Yeah, people seem to struggle with that. Anyways! We’d never act like you’re insane.” “It wouldn’t really be acting anyways.”Blue piped up, grinning when Vio laughed at the comment. “You think I’m insane?” “No,”Blue paused, humming. “I know you are.” “Blue—”Red huffed, but fell quiet when Vio continued to laugh. She missed seeing Vio, and seeing them smile is nice. “Because Vio is laughing, I won’t get mad at you for that.”Red sighed. Vio smiled faintly, letting out a breath once they’d calmed down. “Well, you are talking to the idiot who cut their own hand off.”Vio mumbled, wincing when Red and Blue both froze up. “That's how you lost it?!” “...oops, did I not say that originally?” “No, Vi, you said there was an accident. Not that you cut it off yourself.”Blue deadpanned. “What the fuck?” “Oh. I thought I’d said it was myself…my bad, then.”Vio laughed, shrugging. “I cut it off myself, in a poor attempt to revive Shadow. I had read that, to bring someone back from the dead, a part of my body would aid in it. Maybe I did it wrong..” “Hold on—you do necromancy now too?”Red frowned, staring at Vio. “I…yes, I’ve been practising it for a while now.”Vio paused. “Is…is that weird?” “A little, yeah.” “Oh. Okay.”Vio hummed, heading into the house after Red and Blue unlocked the door and went in. “I can make you a new hand, if you want.”Blue glanced at Vio, wincing when Red pinched his cheek. “You won’t be doing anything until your wrist is healed!” “Well no shit, Red.”Blue rolled his eyes, sighing. “When I can get back to work, I’ll make it. You might have to come to the shop with me, though, so I can make it right.” “Oh, okay..”Vio nodded, glancing around the home. It’s relatively small, but it’s not claustrophobic. It’s actually a comfortable kind of small. …if that makes any sense. The walls are a standard beige, and the floorboards are dark oak, but there’s a few rugs scattered around. The rugs were all in all four of their colours—the purple ones were no doubt gifts from Zelda, as purple is very expensive and only nobles and royals even had permission to purchase such a colour—and they were in various different shapes and sizes. “Green said you can take his bed, but…are you comfortable with that?” Vio paused, eyes trailing to Blue and they winced once they saw Blue’s knowing look. “You knew.” “I’m not a complete idiot, Vi.” “Are you sure about that?”Vio grinned, poking Blue’s side teasingly. “Ay—” Vio snorted softly, then sighed. “To answer your question, I’m comfortable with it.” “You sure?” “Mhm! I’m sure.” Red blinked, grabbing the med kit as she made Vio sit on the couch. “Do you two know something I don’t?” “How could you not know? I know you’re not the sharpest blade in the shop, but c’mon Red.”Blue sighed, shaking his head. “Vio and Green had a thing before Vio’s fake-betrayal.” “Oh…”Red blinked, then gasped. “Oh!! That makes so much sense now!” “It’s why Green was so—”Blue paused, glancing at Red. “Permission to swear?” “...hesitantly granted.” “Thanks. It’s why Green was so pissed when he saw Vio with Shadow.” “He did seem a little mad.” “A little? He was more than a little mad. He chose the violence route.” “Ha. Violence.”Vio grinned, their grin widening when Red laughed and Blue cracked a smile. “You’re fucking weird,” “And I embrace it.” Red giggled softly, carefully bandaging Vio’s wrist up. “It’s good to have you back. It’s tough having the braincell, can you take it back now?”She pouted, and Vio nodded. “Of course. Thank you for keeping it away from dumb and dumber.” Red stood back up when she’d finished her work, pulling Vio up. “C’mon! Um, if you don’t like the fact the covers are green, we have some blankets you can put over it. They’re white, but better than nothing! We’ll probably have to ask Zellie for purple themed things, but she loves us so she’d agree.” Vio nodded along, following her into the bedroom. The house is a one-bedroom house, so the beds are in the same room, but Vio doesn’t mind. In the far corner is a single bed with mint green sheets and sage green covers. It looks untouched. On the other side of the room is a double bed with red and blue patterned covers, along with a simple white bed sheet. “Yeah we’re…looking to get a bigger house. Even more reason to now that we’re all together again, right?”Red smiled. “Where does Green sleep if not here?”Vio mumbled, an eyebrow slightly raised. “Oh! In the castle.” “His job requires it,”Blue added with a loose shrug. “He’s never here long enough.” “Ah.”Vio nodded, sitting down on the bed quietly. They haven’t been in a real bed for so long…they forgot how comfortable they are. If it could, their back would be thanking them for finally sleeping in a bed. “Vio, why do you look like you’ve never been on a mattress before?”Blue snorted, snapping the other out of their daze. “I..uh. Well, there wasn’t,,,exactly a bed in the fire temple—well, there was, but it was Shadow’s and it felt wrong for me to sleep in his bed—and, well, basically, I haven’t really been in a bed or on a mattress for months.” “Oh, that’s so sad.”Red pouted, rushing over and pulling Vio into a hug. “Why didn’t you take the bed? I know Shadow was…important to you, but he wouldn’t have minded.” “I know he wouldn’t have, it's just…he’s gone, Red. It felt wrong, especially because of what I did to him..” “You did what you had to. And Shadow chose to do what he did, that isn’t on you.” “...it feels like it is. I should’ve—maybe I could have convinced him to work with us, in a way that didn’t involve me abandoning you three..” “Oh, Vio…” “He liked drawing. Maybe if I’d convinced him, he coulda been a professional. He was good enough to be.” “He liked drawing?”Blue hummed, subtly asking Vio to elaborate. Vio nodded and quietly grabbed Shadow’s sketchbook from their bag, opening it once Red and Blue sat on the bed on both sides of them. “He did it in the little free time we got. He uh…had a preference.”Vio mumbled, embarrassed as they flipped the pages, encountering a few drawings of the violet hero pretty quickly. Quite a lot of them were drawn when Vio was asleep—looking peaceful, which is the rarest state for Vio to be in—but there were the odd few drawn when Vio was awake. The one they were looking at right now…Vio loves it, in a weird way. It was from one of their dates—one Vio chose, which also means there was no arson involved—and it appeared to have been drawn when Vio was talking about something. Their head was tilted back, seemingly staring up at something. Now, the drawing wasn’t coloured, but Shadow can make something really detailed only using various blacks, greys and whites. Somehow, Shadow had made Vio’s eyes seem to shine, and he seemed to be observant, if the small details were anything to go by. Vio was smiling in the drawing, and Shadow had remembered to add their dimple, along with freckles scattered across the hylians face. If you looked close enough, he’d even caught Vio’s slightly crooked teeth. They’re not really an obvious thing—you have to really look to see it—but also Shadow did have his tongue in their mouth a lot so maybe he felt that they weren’t straight. Vio let out a breathy laugh, thumb tracing over the little heart in the corner. They had a lot of time these past few months, and they’d looked at this sketchbook many times. The hearts were only on pages with Vio drawn on them. It was sweet, really. …Shadow loved them. He—He said it once, but Vio hadn’t wanted to believe it, knowing what they had to do. So they told him to shut up. They told him not to say it, and Shadow listened. Vio wishes they could hear it again. Just one more time. “Vivi?”Red frowned, shaking the other slightly. “Are you okay? You zoned out…” “Oh.”Vio frowned, then shrugged. “Got lost thinkin. He’s a great artist, ain’t he?” “He was, yeah.”Blue hummed. “It’s super detailed. Shit, Vi, he noticed your teeth.” “You notice it too?”Vio winced, glancing at Blue, who quickly shook his head. “No, Vi. It’s not obvious, promise.”He reassured, continuing when Vio seemed less anxious. “All four of us have slightly crooked teeth, Vi. Link had ‘em.” “Really..? I never noticed.”Red blinked, tilting her head. “Yeah. All of us have it, but nobody usually notices. The fact Shadow did…” “He liked looking at me.”Vio mumbled quietly with a soft sigh. “It was one of his favourite things. He’d let me talk and just—watch me. Not enough to be creepy or uncomfortable, but enough that he noticed little things about me. Fuck, he noticed a lot—did you know my left ear is shorter than my right ear?” “Is it?”The two blinked, clearly surprised by this. “I didn’t…know that.” “I didn’t either! Shadow was the one who pointed it out to me. He noticed my ears, my dimple, my teeth…he noticed everything except the fact I was lying to him.” “Well it’s…it’s good he didn’t notice that, right?” A silence. “My plan failed anyways,”Vio shrugged. “Guess I forgot he knows my sleep pattern and that he’s clingy.” “Um…Vivi? You keep…talking about Shadow like he’s still here, I think…” “You should get some rest, maybe? You’ve had one hell of a night.” Vio sighed, nodding and placing the sketchbook on a shelf, slipping into Green’s—their?—bed as Red and Blue headed over to their own. “Hey Vi?” “Mhm?” “It’s good to have you back.” Vio cracked a smile, staring up at the ceiling as they waited for sleep to take them.