Chapter Text
SMG4 stared at the screen in front of him. His eyes were burning due to the exposure of blue light emitted, and because he had been awake much longer than recommended. He was a mess both physically and mentally.
Even though Mr. Puzzles was gone, and it had been years since the “It’s Gotta Be Perfect” incident, SMG4 still felt affected by it sometimes. Not in the same extreme way as before, but to the point where he would lose himself to his editing software and burn himself out like he was a candle. Sometimes he would shut people out too, even if he didn’t want to.
3:21 AM, the small clock displayed at the bottom right of the computer screen. SMG4 was supposed to have a video out by 2 that afternoon, yet everything he had done so far hasn’t met his standards. He sighed out loud and pinched the bridge of his nose out of frustration. He had it so easy compared to a lot of people, a lot of his friends. So why was it so difficult for him to make something he was satisfied with?
SMG4 clicked out of the software. Maybe he just needed inspiration. He opened YouTube, and what he saw when the page loaded made him pause.
SMG3 was live-streaming. At 3:25 AM. What is he still doing up?, SMG4 thought. He clicked on the stream without thinking twice.
The stream was titled DRUNK QNA. And, sure enough, in front of SMG4 on the screen was SMG3, who also looked tired. But he had a slight grin on his face, one that made SMG4 feel his heart beat faster. Next to Three was a text that said, “$10 per question. If I don’t answer the question, I take a shot.”
Smart bastard.
“So, no, I don’t think that Bob’s music is good. Saiko’s is more my style. In general I like a lot of rock bands.” SMG3 had finished saying. Four assumed it was something about Bob’s rap music and Three’s opinion on it.
In the chat, SMG4 saw a message from bob_sexy that read: “FUCK YOU EMO BITCH”. Four laughed, and apparently Three saw it too, because he laughed and flipped off the camera.
“Wait, Bob, why are you awake?” Three asked reasonably. It’s a good thing SMG4 hasn’t said anything in chat.
“IM WATCHING YOU RUIN YOUR CAREER LMAO” bob_sexy responded. SMG3 rolled his eyes. He moved his mouse and clicked loudly a few times, before turning to the camera with a smile.
“I banned him for a week. You’re welcome everyone.” SMG3 said proudly. The other people in the chat spammed laughing emotes, and some were thanking Three as well.
Four found it endearing how even though Three could be a pain in the ass sometimes, he also loved his viewers and had a great community. It was as if there were a few people Three selected to not completely hate. Four wondered if he would be considered one of those people.
A text-to-speech voice rang in SMG4’s headphones. It asked, “What are your favorite SMG4 videos to film?” Four perked up at his name. He was undeniably curious as well, what did Three like to record?
“None of them. Hate that guy.” SMG3 replied shortly, before laughing. “I’m kidding. Honestly, I really like the videos where it’s just us two messing around. Like the tier list video! I rewatch that one a lot.”
Four felt his face heat up embarrassingly. His favorite videos are when it’s just us two. SMG4 also loved those, he liked it when they would spend time together. Alone.
“Oh, shut up chat. I should’ve just drank.” Three mumbled. SMG4 looked at the chat, which was spamming all sorts of messages.
“GAY”
“I know what you are”
“SMG34 canon?!?!?”
“I rewatch that one all the time too :D”
SMG4 covered his face with his hands. Three didn’t even know that he was watching, yet he felt like his red eyes were staring directly into his soul. His stomach was doing flips, and quite frankly SMG4 wanted to perish.
Four had tried to get rid of his feelings for Three for years. He didn’t know when they exactly started, but it had been a long time. He’s tried ignoring them, pushing them away, but no matter what, Four was still in love with Three.
And it sucked.
SMG4 and SMG3, the world’s most unlikely couple. They were friends, yes, but why on earth would Three like Four?
Four wasn’t likable. He had put his friends’ lives at risk so many times, and was honestly quite selfish. He thought back to when him and Three had that argument in the junkyard over the Michael Jordan endorsement. The audacity he had to call Three selfish— it disgusted him. He was disgusted with himself. He was disgusting.
“What’s one thing you wish you could say to SMG4 but will never have the balls to?” Another question.
“Chat. What the fuck is your obsession with me and Four? And I’m not answering that. It’s none of your business.” Three responded. A part of Four felt disappointed, because he wanted the answer to that question as well.
Three got a bottle of lemonade vodka from offscreen, and poured some into a shot glass. Four watched intently as he put the glass to his mouth and drank it. He wished he also had some alcohol with him.
“Okay, you only get three questions left guys. I’m getting tired and I’m pretty sure Four is making me be in a video later today.” SMG3 said. Four groaned, he completely forgot about that.
“Besides purple, what is your favorite color?” A new question read out loud. Three looked confused.
“Black. Are you stupid?” He answered with a dumb grin. SMG4 giggled, it was so obvious. And now there were only two questions left. Clearly, the rest of chat was upset too, many people saying “bruh” and “guys what was that”.
“What’s your biggest fear?” The second question was asked.
“Being rejected.” Three answered without hesitation. Four moved back in his chair, surprised by his answer. Three himself was shocked that he said that, because his face went red, and he faked a cough. “I mean, being rejected by my friends. I don’t want him to. . . I want them to accept me.”
Oh, that makes sense. Four felt his heart sink a little. Maybe Three wasn’t feeling that appreciated.
“I think it’s hard to be honest with them sometimes. For so many years I’ve been the villain, and everyone hated my guts. It feels weird for me to be their friend when I’ve hurt them all.” Three continued. Four stared at the screen with a sad expression.
“I’m thankful to have them in my life. I don’t deserve them.” Three finished. He was avoiding looking at the camera. It was like he knew that SMG4 was watching him, and he felt ashamed.
SMG3 cleared his throat, and brought back his usual laidback and sarcastic composure. He waited for the last question.
“Why are you gay?”
Four snorted. Three looked at the question, then at the username, and he looked at the camera furiously.
“MARIO! GO TO BED!” He yelled. Sure enough, the message was sent by spaghettilover. SMG4 laughed, the entire ordeal feeling unreal.
Four clicked out of YouTube and every other not important tab open. He shut off his computer, and sluggishly made his way over to his bed. He fell down onto it, face first into his pillows.
He turned over on his side. The darkness of the room felt like an abyss. It was engulfing him. However, once Four started thinking about Three’s stream and previous moments they had together, he felt like a fire warmed his heart.
He fell asleep with one person in his mind.
———————
“Why are we doing this again?” SMG3 asked boredly. They were in the car, driving to some lake that Boopkins had become obsessed over.
“I need content, and Boopkins said that there’s supposed to be treasure at the bottom of the lake.” SMG4 answered. It was Four driving, Three in the passenger seat, and Boopkins, Mario, and Bob were crammed in the backseats.
“Oh fuck yeah. I need some more riches to get some more bitches.” Bob said approvingly.
“I hope there’s lotsa spaghetti!” Mario added. Boopkins, who was in the middle, was looking at a map that was upside for thirty minutes until Bob corrected him.
“We’ve been driving for hours. What if there turns out to be no treasure? What if we did this for nothing?” Three continued to complain.
“There’s definitely treasure! You just have to have faith!” Boopkins exclaimed. Three rolled his eyes.
“Do I turn left or right up here?” Four asked Boopkins once they reached a fork in the road.
Boopkins stared at the map intensely. “Go left.”
Four did what he said, and continued down the dirt road. After a few minutes, they reached a clearing. In front of them was the lake, but there was also—
“A tank?” Three stated with confusion. The group exited the car, and across the lake was a large military tank. That could only mean.
“What the hell are you losers doing here?” Swag appeared out of nowhere in front of SMG4. He stumbled backwards in alarm.
“Looking for treasure!”
“None of your business.”
Boopkins and Three glared at each other.
“Chris, they’re trying to take the treasure.” Swag said, turning his head behind his shoulder. Chris walked over to them.
“Sorry guys. That treasure is ours.” Chris added.
“Fuck you.” Bob said, before pushing past them and diving into the water.
“Wait, stop!—” Chris desperately reached his hand out, but it was too late.
A large tentacle wrapped around Bob and yanked him underwater. Four yelped in fear as Swag and Chris pulled out guns. They began to shoot at the tentacle, which did barely anything since it had already submerged back into the lake.
“Boopkins, what the hell!” Three yelled, not necessarily in anger, but in shock and confusion.
“I didn’t know that there was a giant monster! I’m sorry!” Boopkins replied, a large frown on his face.
“That’s not fair! Bob got a head start!” Mario exclaimed, running to the lake and also jumping in. Four stared with awe and slapped his forehead.
“We need to go save them, come on guys!” He shouted, running to the edge of the lake.
“How the fuck are we supposed to save them lol. And why would we.” Swag said.
“Because they’re our friends! And uh. . . I don’t know actually.” Four paused. How were they supposed to save them?
“Guys, wait! I can just give you guys the ability to breathe underwater.” Boopkins grinned. Before anyone could say anything, he outstretched his hands and what looked like lightning bolts left his fingers. Four felt a slight shock, and he watched as Three, Swag, and Chris also got struck by the lightning.
“Thanks, now let’s go!” Three said with determination.
They jumped into the lake, and it was a bit hard to see. However, after a moment, Four saw the tentacles retracting backwards, Mario entangled with them. SMG4 pointed at him, and he and the rest of his group swam to where the tentacles were dragging him.
“HELP! MARIO DOESN’T WANT TO DIE!” Mario yelled, but it was unintelligible to the others.
Chris and Swag were in front, Boopkins right behind them. In the back was SMG4 and SMG3. Four glanced at Three, and he had a slightly annoyed expression on his face.
Cute.
Four’s eyes widened. Really? Of all things he could be thinking about, it was about how Three looked cute with the frustrated look? And how the water made his hair drape messily over his face, which Four found oddly attractive.
“Bob! Mario!” Boopkins yelled from in front of him, making Four snap back to reality. They had entered some sort of underwater cave, and up ahead was Mario and Bob, trying to escape the grasp of the tentacle monster.
Boopkins reached out and struck Bob and Mario with his water-breathing lightening. Now they wouldn’t drown, so that was one less thing to worry about. The group continued to swim until they were all in front of the mass of tentacles and their two idiotic friends. Just past the tentacles was what looked like a head.
Four swam up and made eye contact with the tentacle monster. “Let our friends go!” He demanded.
“No.” The monster replied. It grabbed onto Bob and Mario tighter. Three swam up next to Four, which made his cheeks feel warm despite the fact that they were in cold lake water.
“Why did you take them in the first place?” Three asked aggressively. While him and Four were at the top of the cave, Boopkins, Chris, and Swag were attacking the tentacles holding onto Mario and Bob.
“Because they’re trying to take my treasure. That’s not nice.” The tentacle monster answered simply. SMG4 and SMG3 looked at each other, sharing the same confused expression.
“If we leave your treasure alone, will you let them go?” Four asked.
“No.”
“What the fuck— why not?” SMG4 exclaimed. Three balled up his fists, sharing Four’s anger.
“Because I’m lonely.”
Apparently, Boopkins heard this, because he enthusiastically swam up next to Three and Four. “I’ll be your friend!” He offered with a smile.
“Really?” The tentacle monster asked with intrigue. Their eyes seemed to sparkle.
“Yeah! I can swim and breathe underwater too, so you don’t have to worry about me drowning.” Boopkins replied.
At once, the monster let go of Mario and Bob. They reached up and grabbed Boopkins, and pulled him up to its head, where they hugged. The rest of the group stared at the situation in front of them with confusion.
“Do you have a name?” Boopkins wondered.
“You can call me Deniz.” The monster— Deniz— responded.
“Nice to meet you Deniz! I’m Fishy Boopkins. And these are my friends, SM—”
“Enough of this My Little Pony Friendship is Magic bullshit. Let’s go.” Bob said. Swag and Chris were already swimming away.
“Bye Deniz! I’ll visit you soon!” Boopkins waved, before joining the rest of the group as they swam back to the main area of the lake.
Once they resurfaced, Three stared at Boopkins. “Why are you becoming friends with a giant monster that almost killed Bob and Mario?”
“Because I think that everyone deserves a friend, even if they’ve done something wrong. I mean, I’m friends with you, aren’t I?” Boopkins grinned. Three looked at him with wide eyes, before turning away. Four recalled the events of the QNA stream that occurred a couple days ago.
“For so many years I’ve been the villain, and everyone hated my guts. It feels weird for me to be their friend when I’ve hurt them all.”
Obviously Boopkins didn’t mean anything mean by it, but he must’ve noticed how Three reacted, because he frowned. However, before anything else could happen, Chris spoke.
“I guess neither of us get the treasure. Come on Swag, let’s go home.” Chris said, beckoning Swag over to him.
“I’ll get that treasure someday. Just you wait.” Swag said ominously. He walked over to Chris and the two went to their tank.
“Well, I guess this was a big waste of our time.” Bob shrugged. He climbed into the car.
“I still want spaghetti.” Mario stated, also getting into the car.
“I’ll see you soon, Deniz.” Boopkins waved at the lake, as if they could see him from their cave. He struggled to get in the car, and needed Bob’s help climbing in.
Four saw Three looking off into the distance. Some sort of energy coursed through him, and he walked over to Three and put his hand on his shoulder. Three whipped around, but Four’s hand stayed.
“I’m sorry that we didn’t do anything exciting.” Four started. Three’s eyes were darting around nervously.
“It’s fine, not a big deal.” Three replied.
“I know, but I feel bad for dragging you out here for nothing.” Four stated sincerely.
“It’s okay, really—”
“Can I join you on your stream tonight?”
They stared at each other. Three cocked a brow, and Four swore that he saw him blush. But maybe he was just imagining it.
“You want to stream with me?” Three clarified.
“I mean, I’ll go to your room and be on stream with you in there. Unless you don’t want me to.” Four said.
“No, no, that’s fine. I wasn’t really planning any games or anything tonight. I was going to go through ban appeals, which can be interesting.” Three replied. Four only halfway understood what any of that meant.
“Yeah, sounds cool. Just let me know when to head over, alright?” Four smiled. Three smiled softly back.
“I will.”