Work Text:
Wifies has always been an interesting character consisting of odd things that seemed to conjoin together, creating him into the person that he is. Parrot never thought much of him other than that, a friend that was unfortunately too loyal for his own good, especially with someone like him. There were so many opportunities and times where Wifies could've stood his ground and decided that he wished to cut off contact with the other entirely and start up a new life with a different group or by himself, yet he never did.
He continued to stay beside Parrot, eyes gleaming every time they'd cross the other's. Sometimes Wifies would comment on them randomly whenever Parrot was just trying to complete a simple task, completely throwing him off track.
'Y'know..' Wifies started, Parrot turning his head it the side somewhat while continuing to dig out the dirt in order to flatten the area around them for farming. 'Your eyes kinda remind me of those beads you find in the bracelet kits, y'know?' He chuckled. Parrot paused, feeling the pressure of Wifies' shoe on the back of his at the sudden halt. He couldn't remember if it was the thumping migraine forming in the back of his head or the sweat that dribbled down his neck, but he certainly felt like the world was starting to spin. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Parrot laughed, grinning before turning back to look at Wifies.
'The beads on bracelet charms, the fully black ones. Your eyes look like those.' Wifies smiled.
"..Okay, dude. Whatever you say." Parrot sighed, trying to shake away the feeling of exhaustion.
The specific memory always made him snicker every time he remembered it, recalling the dumbfoundedness he had experienced at the words which came out of his friend's mouth. It was something special that he carried around in the back of his mind, ready to recollect the moment that a tad bit of extra joy was needed during a dark time. Parrot reflected on it a lot more than he wished, but that's okay. Right?
It was more than okay, he realised. Today was the start of a tiring week, filled on a tight schedule that was bound to leave Parrot in hibernation for a damn year or two afterward. He had been wandering around all day, collecting logs and delivering them in exchange for iron and other useful items while the farms worked at a slow pace. For an odd reason, it had been his plan to start a brand new project that'd help him to understand the mechanics of redstone better. It was definitely a milestone that he could achieve through the process of building a huge structure then turning it into a safety base.
He made a mental note to ask Kenadian for some advice later.
Unfortunately his half-conscious daydreams had come to an end the moment that Parrot finished delivering some wheat to Wemmbu. He had thanked the other with sincerity, before immediately turning back to raise an eyebrow behind Parrot.
Looking at him with confusion, Parrot tilted his head. 'Is there a problem?' He spoke up, unexpecting the response he was given.
"You're aware of Wifies following you around, right?"
'What?' Parrot asked, looking back only to see his friend fidgeting with his fingers, looking at him somewhat like a toddler who wasn't expecting to be noticed whatsoever.
It wasn't abnormal for Wifies to sometimes quietly follow behind Parrot just to know where he was heading off to, why he was leaving, yet he always made sure that the other was aware of his presence. This time, however, something was different and he wasn't sure why. It was like some sort of switch seemed to go off in that complicated mind of his, and Parrot was struggling to decipher every bit of body language that gave insight on how Wifies was feeling. He sucked in a deep breath, exhaling while gathering his thoughts together, presenting them out nicely before opening his mouth to speak. "Is there a reason you're following me, Wifies?" He'd ask, a twinge of harmless curiosity as his pitch increased more than usual, yet received no answer. Wemmbu seemed to laugh at this, like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen in his life.
"So this guy talks to me like a regular human being when I ask him about why he was just staring into space outside my base, but just silences himself the moment you ask him a question? What spell did you cast onto him Parrot?" He'd joke, grinning at Wifies.
Wifies could feel the heat rush to his face the moment he and Wemmbu made eye contact, immediately turning away to stare at something else. 'Um.' He began, scratching the back of his neck.
"Is a certain someone scared to be alone?"
'..What?'
"No like seriously, Wifies. You always follow around Parrot and imitate what he does, no matter if it's on purpose or not. There definitely has to be a reason as to why you're doing this. I think like half the server has noticed it too? You're not that slick."
Parrot furrowed his eyebrows, sneaking a glance to look at the somewhat astonished face his friend would make. If a laptop crashing in on itself was an emotion, Wifies was most likely going through that right now. He never thought it was possible to look so out of it yet so self conscious at the same time, but somehow this guy managed to achieve that in a singular conversation about his actions. Whatever it was, he needed to get them both out of this situation that they were unintentionally dragged into, and fast.
"Ookay. Y'know what? I think that our business has concluded here, so I'm just gonna go do my own thing now. See you later, Wemmbu." Parrot said, hastily walking off. He listened to the sounds of another pair of footsteps trying to keep up with him, and he didn't have to turn back just to know it was Wifies.
"Is there a reason for why you don't want to leave me alone? It's not a bad thing, you can seriously just tell me, bro." Parrot asked, looking back at him. He immediately noticed the precise hesitation that ran across Wifies' face the moment the question slipped out of his mouth, a pang in the back of his brain silently cursing at him for trying to make his friend speak up about something he probably wasn't all too comfortable with.
'Okay, this is gonna sound a bit weird, just don't judge me, okay?' Wifies snickered, anxiously fidgeting with his hands. Parrot rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Can you just get to the point, dude? We're like almost at your base and you haven't even opened up whatsoever."
'Fine, fine.' Wifies sighed, turning away from Parrot. 'I'm a bit scared to leave your side.'
"..What do you mean? Like, you're afraid of leaving me alone, or just afraid to be alone?"
'A bit of both? I don't know- I get really shaken up when I don't exactly know where you are and sometimes it makes me super nervous just to be alone too, like something will go wrong if I'm not by your side at all times.'
"And this is how you feel almost everyday," Parrot would add in, mentally taking notes as Wifies would nod. "We can work with this, probably. How bad does it get?"
'I don't know. I mean, there are times where I have to make sure you're still like a physical being that's within like a 2 block radius from me just so I know that you still exist and you're not like, a ghost or something, I don't really know how to describe that part."
"Gosh, you are such a strange person." Parrot smiled. He pretended not to notice how Wifies would immediately reach for his hand afterward, clinging onto it like his entire life depended on simple contact.
He pretended not to notice the somewhat peculiar and curious looks other people gave them when their habit of holding hands was more frequent.
He pretended not to notice the way that Wifies seemed to relax more after giving him a detailed schedule of where he was going and what he was doing there, even if he knew well that his friend would show up anyway.
He pretended not to notice, because Parrot admittedly couldn't stand the feeling of Wifies feeling the slight bit of anxiety because in his brain, Parrot was 'dead' since they haven't talked in what felt like years when it was truly just a few hours or days.
Wifies made sure to never acknowledge the way Parrot would smile more after they set up this system, afraid that he would lose the ability to see such a small act from his friend.
Parrot always made sure to brush off that fear every time they were around each other, because nobody else would.