Ch. 4 - Repetition

The cafe was back in good condition! In order to apologize and not lose any good costumers, smg3 gifted everyone a free coffee and that indeed did satisfy costumers. Meggy informed three that she had since she had something planned for today and Mario went ahead fo bother Luigi for the day.  Three called four to come over so four could keep his mind occupied and take a break from making memes just for today. Three was happy he agreed, in that way he could keep an eye on him and try talking to him some more.

Four got dressed and ready, washed his face from the all crying he endured while staring at himself for a moment. Thoughts on his worth and physical appearance suddenly rushed into his head. He stared, lifted his hand and rested it on his cheek. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable on how he looked, couldn't help but feel the guilt washing all over him.

'You aren't a good friend.'You're nothing.''You don't deserve to be forgiven.' 'You don't deserve your friends.'You don't deserve hi-'

His thoughts were louder this time and he hated it. He washed his face again, pushing the thoughts away and focusing on the sound of the running water coming out from the faucet.

'Don't think like that. It's not true it's not- it is. Don't deny it you monste-'

He turned the water off, dried his face off and grabbed his hat as he walked out of the castle making his way to Smg3's cafe and bombs. When he arrived, three was the first to turn and look at who had entered."Hey you," He grinned, lifting his hand and doing a small wave.Four shyly smiled, making his way behind the counter where three was. "Would you be willing to help make the costumers order? You don't have to pass them out I can do that." "Oh- sure, I'd be happy to help no problem!" With that, the day began to move again, with four making the orders and three passing them around as he said he would.

...

After a while, the sun began to set as costumers slowly started to show up as the day was almost over. Being at the cafe really helped four as he interacted with three a lot and with many different kinds of people as he took their orders. Beeg and eggdog appeared from the room smg3 had underground and beeg was very happy to have his owner back. He expressed to four as he had jumped into his arms how worried he was and how angry he was at four for making him feel so upset. Four apologized and explained to him it won't happen again. Eggdog had jumped into four's arm as well, licking his face in a loving gesture which four didn't mind and found it cute.

He felt happy, his heart feeling good and warm. Pounding at a faster rate each time three flashed him a sly smirk or made eye contact with him as they both managed the cafe. As the day had finally ended, three and four cleaned the cafe as beeg and eggdog were running around playing with one another."Hey three..?" Four had said , as he was the first one to finish cleaning around the counter and the half the tables. Three turned and looked at him.

"Thank you for having me here, it was really helpful and I felt more at peace.""I should be thanking you, today wasn't so heavy as usual , but you're welcome I'm glad to hear I was of service!" They both smiled at one another, making both feel at peace, both not being able to resist the burning feeling spreading across their faces once again and the pounding of their hearts in their chests.

"Well," four began, "I should get going, it's getting late.. see you thre-""Wait!" Three injected."Hm?""Will you be okay? I mean like for tonight?"Four didn't get what he meant but that until three supported his question."How long has it been since you've been having that constant nightmare ?""O-oh. Well.. I mean.. it's been a while like a couple months-""COUPLE MONTHS?! Wh-wha- WHY DIDNT YOU SAY ANYTHING BEFORE?!"Beeg and eggdog stopped and turned their attention towards the two meme guardians, beeg running up into his owner's arms growling at three. "Hey hey hey buddy, it's okay." Four began to pet beeg, trying to calm him down. "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" "Sorry four, I- I didn't mean to- I just, well why didn't you say anything to me before? Or at LEAST Meggy or someone else much sooner?""I- I.. don't know. I'm sorry three.." Smg3 signed. "No don't say sorry, you have no reason to be sorry since you've done nothing wrong,"Three made his way up close to four and rested his hands on his shoulders.

"Hey uh- well, if you're okay with it , would you want to stay over for tonight?.." He softly spoke as his lips formed a genuine smile.

"You'd- you'd let me stay over?"

"Well of course I would , plus it'd help me sleep peacefully knowing you're safe and I can be of help. You really did scare me when Mario and Meggy came by saying you weren't anywhere!" Four bowed his head in embarrassment. "Yeah I-I know..""Oi I'm just glad nothing bad happened to you, so! What do ya say about staying?" Four looked up and couldn't find any reason to deny, so he agreed, having three mentally be jumping with joy and feeling a sense of security.

...

They made it into three's "secret evil lair", four remembering the first time he's seen this place when smg3 first opened his cafe . Remembering the constant teasing he did towards him that three couldn't run a business. The chaos that had opened causing three to stress and more so with four's unnecessary comments, making him book it downstairs into his room.

He knew that they made up about it, in the end he eventually helped him around and everything was back to normal, that the teasing was normal but-

"Welcome back to my evil villainy lair! Make yourself at home!" His thoughts stopped as three began to speak. "I uhh only have one bed.. you can use it while I sleep on the beanbag chair over there-""What? Wait three, but this is your bed!" "I know but it's fine you can use it, unless you want to sleep togeth- UH- I- WELL I DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THAT-"Three began to panic as four's expression was full of surprise. Three had feared he had made him uncomfortable , that four would walk out of this and decide he'd be sleeping in his own room back in the castle. "Well.. I- wouldn't mind.." Smg4 had whispered but loud enough for three to hear. While all this went down, eggdog and beeg were standing from a distance, watching their owners act gay as usual. They both knew the meme guardians  had something going on between themselves but one or the other wouldn't just give in and admit to how they truly felt to the other. "You- you wouldn't mind?" "Yeah I mean, if it's okay with you.." Four felt his forehead and his hands become rather sweaty and the same thing goes to three as well. "I-it's alright with me, I'd honestly rather sleep on the bed than the beanbag chair-" Four smiled and with that, they both began to get ready for bed. Eggdog and beeg smirked at each-other, not feeling as frustrated as before that their gay owners weren't making any first moves to the other and finally something was eventually going to lead into another! They both left and slept on eggdog's bed, both getting comfortable and already falling into a deep sleep. Three was the one who covered four and himself with the bedsheets, his heart beating faster than usual, alongside four, as he fidgeted with his hands nervously. "Alright well , we are all set for bed! " he chuckled nervously, four made an effort to smile at him before turning his head towards the ceiling of the room and closing his eyes shut. Three turned off the lights and shifted his body to face the opposite direction from four, in case four would be uncomfortable. Four was the first one knocked out, as the room was filled with soft quiet snores. Three heard them and quietly laughed to himself, finding his snores rather adorable. Slowly, sleep also began to catch up to him.

...

"ˢᴹᴳ⁴!..  ˢᴹᴳ⁴! ᴴᴱᴸ⁻"

He opened his eyes, jumping up in fear from the sudden shouting of his name.

"Smg4? Are you okay?" He turned around , being face to face with Meggy.

"We are just on our way to have a picnic! Come join us! "He looked behind Meggy seeing all his friends together, everyone smiling at four and talking to one another with picnic baskets in their hands .

He then noticed three pop up behind Meggy, flashing his smile to four. This all seemed so familiar, like if he's been here before. He allowed himself to smile back at three, noticing the feeling of butterflies in his stomach take him over, causing him to blush at three. Until.. it happened.

Everything turned pitch black, he felt himself falling down on the floor as the lights came back on only to find himself tied onto a chair. 'no.. no no NO..!!'

The tentacle tighten to grip on smg4, not wanting to let him go. The tentacle's grip got worse by the each time four tried to wiggle out of its grasp, struggling to be free. He felt like he couldn't breathe, he felt sick. He felt like he's been here before. He felt some sort of feeling that something was about to happen. He was right as he found himself moments later gripping his hand on the floor as he found himself dangling from the ground. He looked down and noticed some weight on his leg, arms wrapped around him. Arms that had purple sleeves, hands with white gloves on with a Roman number on them. It's was non other but smg3.

"Four! H-HELP! I-I'M SLIPPING!" Three yelled out in utter fear. "T-THREE?! THREE HOLD ON!"

He reached down and managed to grab onto three's leg. "DON'T WORRY I GOT YOU!" He tried to pull themselves up only to be blinded with a sudden bright light. He looked down into his other leg and noticed a USB sitting on the top of his shoe.

That USB.. the perfect video. He couldn't move , he could only just stare at it, feeling an intense emotion taking over him. Voices in his head telling him to save the USB.. instead of three.

'No... stop.' He thought as he shut his eyes. 'Stop stop stop. Who cares about it..! I have three- I need to save three! I have to-'

"FOUR!" smg3 screamed out. He looked down, and his heart.. dropped. Smg3 wasn't holding onto his hand anymore, instead he was falling. Falling with no stop into the pitch black hole that was consuming the castle. The world stopped. He felt cold. He felt .. sick. He screamed his lungs out for three. He screamed until his throat was swollen. He screamed-

"ˢᴹᴳ⁴? ᵂᵃᵏᵉ ᵘᵖ!" His screaming came to a stop as he looked around finding where that came from.

"H-HELLO?!.."He shifted his body a bit too much and his hand lost its grip on keeping him alive, finding himself falling into the hole screaming as he fell down down down-

"Four?! Hey! Wake up goddamnit!" Four had finally woken up, being face to face with three. Three happened to be on top of him, his face filled with worry and fear. Four quickly sat up as his breathing began to quicken, bringing his legs up and buried his face into his knees. "Four! Are you-"Suddenly four broke down, sobbing as loud as he could. Three crawled forward and sat beside him, resting his arm around four's shoulder. "Did you have the nightmare again?" Three asked with concern, physically comforting him as best he could.Four began to settle down, his crying soon stopping with a little bit of him sniffing here and there. "I hate it.. I hate the nightmare..." Four began. "I hate myself, I'm not a good friend. I'm- im disgusti-""No you aren't four, AND don't hate yourself! Look at me," he grabbed four's chin and turned his head so he'd look at him. "I don't want to hear you saying things like that about yourself alright? You're a good friend four, believe me you ar-""How can you not hate me?.." Four interrupted with shame written on his face. Three was struck with confusion. "..What do you mean?""With everything before.. with me wanting the perfect video, I was the reason our original castle is gone and I- I almost lost you."

"Four, I could never hate you for that. I understand why that happened, I even expressed myself that day how I understood you. I also mentioned that you have us and that you won't be alone even when things fell apart remember?""Yeah but, I don't know how you could forgive me on that or just genuinely care about me- and it's not that I don't appreciate it I just- I just don't feel worthy of anyone's forgiveness on what I did or to be treated as a friend."Three shifted himself to be in front of four, careful not to squish him and embraced him with a hug. Four let himself melt into three's arms, hugging him back as he began to whimper quietly. "That's what real friends do four, they forgive no matter what. Everyone cares about you and you play a huge part in everyone's lives. Especially in mine.. I don't know what id do if you weren't a part of my life."Four felt his heart skip a beat, he snuggled his face into the crook of three's neck as he continued to sniffle. "I'm here for you four and I'm not going anywhere.." Three brushed his fingers through four's hair in a comforting manner, four feeling himself blush and feel the safest he has ever felt.

Three began to think to himself on how four really does play a big part in his life. It made him feel weak on thinking what life would be if four never existed, how he would live. Life would obviously be boring without his precious four's presence. He began ti think on how smg4 makes him feel. He feels this sense to be close to him, well, they are already but he desires to be closer, to be on a certain level with him. Smg4 makes him feel some type of way, a way no one has ever made him feel even when he and four were in meme school. No girl or guy had ever been enough for three since dating and love wasn't something that was a must-have. He thought he was crazy when he felt some type of fuzzy, melting feeling in his heart whenever they went on their adventures together after he gave up his envy towards four. He had always pushed his feelings aside because he didn't know if it was okay or if he was probably just feeling under the weather.

As three continued with his thoughts, he heard snoring. He looked down and noticed that four had fallen asleep again. He smiled at how adorable smg4 looked, he looked so vulnerable in this state. He slowly and quietly moved down along with four in his arms, laying himself and four back in bed. With one arm he managed to reach out for the bedsheets and cover themselves with them. His arm was stuck underneath four's head, so three didn't really have a choice but sleep facing him, and he didn't mind at all. He wrapped his other arm around him and watched him sleep, thinking how much four actually meant to him and with that, he meant how much he truly did like four more than just a friend since he was always more than that. Three rested his eyes and snuggled closer to four, allowing sleep to take over.