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Ken and Wato, when they’re not aiding the Resistance or fighting invis players, live in a cherry biome tucked away from the rest of the world. Early on, when they had found that they were there to stay on the Unstable server, they had built a little treehouse within a cluster of cherry trees. It’s decently hard to find from a ground perspective and nigh impossible to spot while flying.
“Nobody ever looks up nowadays,” Ken had said, “a good spot to drop dripstone or tnt minecarts if it comes down to it.”
The amethyst Ken placed at the foot of the door chimes softly when walked on, and Wato pokes his head out of the bedroom. Wifies is a monochrome blob against the pinks of the walls, and Wato smiles, the action strange like she hasn’t done so recently.
“Wifies,” Wato greets, “you don’t visit often.” Wifies toes off his sneakers next to Wato’s boots, looking up at Wato’s presence.
“No, I don’t,” Wifies replies, voice low. “I really should come by more.”
“You should,” Wato agrees.
“Is Ken here?” Wifies asks, and Wato pauses. Their mouth opens, but they’re not sure what to say. Ken—
“Wifies!!” Ken yells, a gold-green blur as she crashes into Wifies. Of course, Ken was in the bedroom with them just a while ago, how could they have forgetten? It’s like the missing piece just slotted into the puzzle.
“Why are you here?” Ken questions, and Wifies fires back with “Can’t I be here just to see you two?” Everything feels so right. Wato lets themself bask in the warmth of it all.
(Everything feels so wrong. Why? Wifies can’t be here. Why? She doesn’t know. Something’s off. Ignore it ignore it ignore it ignore it—)
It’s nearly sunset, the sun nearly touching the horizon, and Wato suggests making dinner together. His idea is met with agreements and nods, and the three of them pile into the probably too small kitchen.
Ken is instantly banned from all knives and electronic devices. “I try to rewire the redstone stove one time. One time and they think I’m forever incompetent in the kitchen,” they complain, like the melodramatic bitch she is. Wato ignores him. Wifies does take pity on her though, letting her crack some eggs when she whines too loudly.
Wato takes his place at the stove, simmering vegetables, while Wifies scrambles eggs in a pan. The rice cooker puffs out steam, and really it should be hot and stuffy with three people cooking in a tiny kitchen, but all Wato can feel is the exuberant chatter of Ken and the fond chuckle of Wifies.
~*~
By the time they finish dinner, it’s raining.
“I should leave,” Wifies says, and Wato feels a vague sense of strong disagreement in her heart.
“It’s raining,” they state, and droplets patter down against the glass like it proves their point. The rain is so thick and heavy it seems like a flurry of snowflakes.
“You can stay for the night,” Ken agrees. “Please?”
With much pestering and Wifies not finding it in his heart to leave, he chooses to stay, and Ken places down a purple bed next to the green and pink ones.
Wato isn’t sleepy, but the three of them in the same room makes it feel so safe. Ken’s on her left and Wifies’ on her right, and the three of them are talking about redstone and beacons and prisons and Wato’s eyes drift shut to the sound of low murmurs and soft breathing.
He wakes. The room is dim. It’s still pouring outside. There’s no breathing except harsh, breathy gasps. That’s him, they realise distantly. There’s no purple bed placed down next to theirs. Ken’s bed is empty. (It’s been empty ever since she joined the invis mafia.)
She pokes her head out, hoping. Maybe Wifies and Ken just woke up for some midnight tea and didn’t want to wake her. Maybe Wifies chose to leave after all and Ken just wanted to watch the rain fall for a bit. Maybe—
The central room is empty, dull and devoid of all life. It's too clean. None of Ken’s “organised chaos”, gadgets he’s tinkering with scattered across the table. None of the little things that Wifies sometimes forgets when he leaves and takes back the next time he visits. Everything is tidy and still and Wato has the urge to just break it all, mess up the house with her own two hands.
Wifies is dead. His remains? Probably lost to the void. Ken left them for the mafia and left her again as they were both reeling from Wifies’ death.
Wato looks out the window. They don’t want to believe anymore. All reality did was hurt them. If she squints hard enough, she can see Wifies’ purple headband fluttering in the wind as he flies through the storm. If she strains her ears hard enough, she can hear Ken’s stifled yawning as she tests out a new glitch they found.
They let themself fall into a similar routine, this time opening the door when Wifies lands neatly in the nestle of cherry trees. They greet him, and he returns the gesture, saying that he got caught in the rain and was nearby. They lead him to the bedroom to dry him off and also to ambush Ken to prevent her overworking herself again.
What were they just doing? Their memory is fuzzy and they don’t feel like poking holes in their own logic. Probably just woke up from a bad dream.