Work Text:
Pollux’s workshop was unusually quiet.
Sunlight streamed through the high windows in soft, golden beams, catching the dust motes drifting lazily in the air. The world felt like a soft, silent fairy tale, but something was wrong. It was as if something was about to fall out of place at any moment, disrupting the world’s delicate balance. Pollux had stepped out only minutes ago to fetch a new crystal for his compass, leaving the space warm and still, except for the faint hum of the projector Bubsy had found tucked under a cloth.
He hadn’t meant to turn it on. He definitely hadn’t meant to find that footage.
But there it was.
Flickering across the wall: low‑poly shapes, stiff animations, and a version of himself that moved like a puppet with tangled strings. Music that painted the walls of nightmares enveloped the world in a maelstrom of loud, grating chaos. Bubsy stood frozen, ears drooping, tail limp, staring at the awkward, clunky bobcat on the screen. “What could possibly go wrong,” the old recording shrieked, the face on the digital Bubsy filled with explosive, painfully familiar craziness.
The Bubsy in Pollux’s workshop winced. He felt the words like a punch and winced, looking nothing like his upbeat, radiantly cheerful self.
“Everything,” he whispered to himself, responding to the erratic monstrosity on the screen. “Everything went wrong.”
He sank onto Pollux’s workbench stool, burying his face in his paws. The workshop smelled like oil, parchment, patchouli and Pollux’s favorite berry tea, comforting scents that only made the ache in his chest sharper. “Everyone laughed at this,” Bubsy murmured.
“They STILL laugh at it. I’m a joke. A walking meme. A-”
The door creaked, revealing a wide-eyed, horrified black wolf.
Bubsy jolted upright, wiping his eyes quickly, but it was too late. Pollux stood in the doorway, arms full of glowing crystals, ears perked, mind racing with a thousand different ways to explain himself out of his sudden appearance, until he saw Bubsy’s expression. Then the wolf’s ears flattened.
“B‑Bubsy?” he squeaked, voice cracking like a dropped gear. “Are you-crap, are you crying? Did something explode? Did I explode something? You didn't trip over something in here, didja? Please don’t tell me you tripped and broke your paw. I swear I cleaned up this place yesterday, bro, you gotta believe me!”
No response came. There wasn’t any warm, sun-kissed cheer in the wake of Pollux’s words. For a moment, the wolf believed a nightmare beyond repair had happened. Maybe Bubsy had fallen over a flask or a gear he left on the ground. Maybe the bobcat had found his journal lying around. Maybe-
Pollux followed Bubsy’s gaze to the projection and froze. Iridescent eyes widened with even greater horror as they took in the madness of Bubsy’s ill-fated adventures. “Oh,” he whispered, feeling as though Bubsy’s pain had erupted in his own blood. And at that very moment, he would’ve given everything to erase the look on the bobcat’s face. Or at the very least, erase everything on that screen.
The crystals slipped from his arms onto the table with soft clinks. He stepped closer, wings dimming to a gentle shimmer as if trying not to overwhelm the moment. Bubsy, true to form, tried to laugh everything off.
“Heh…yeah. That’s me. The…uh…polygonal disaster. I knew things were bad, but I didn’t think they were THAT bad. No wonder there’s, like, a million memes of me. I’m the most popular guy in the room-and not in a good way.”
Pollux’s breath hitched. “Don’t say that,” he said, his voice like a sharp blade piercing the midnight. His tone was sharper than he intended, but hearing Bubsy cut himself down hurt like a knife to the skin.
“It’s true, kid,” Bubsy muttered, lowering his head. “Everyone saw this and decided I was a joke forever. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try…I’ll always be that guy. The guy that’s nothing more than a circus. And it’s tiring, kid. Always being a punchline isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
Pollux’s paws trembled. He took a step forward, then another, until he was right beside Bubsy, close enough that Bubsy could see the way Pollux’s big blue eyes shimmered with emotion. “Bubsy,” the wolf said softly, forgetting about the butterflies in his stomach. “you’re not a joke.”
Bubsy scoffed. “Tell that to the internet.”
“I don’t care what the internet says,” Pollux blurted, ears flattening even more. And in that moment, he abandoned the butterflies. The fear he carried, hour after hour. His sole focus was on the bobcat’s clear, blinding pain. “I care about you.”
Bubsy blinked.
Pollux’s tail curled anxiously behind him, but he pressed on, voice wobbling and uneasy, but gentle, jubilant and alive with light. “You’re brave,” the inventor said. “You keep trying even when people aren’t chill! You smile even when it hurts. You walk into every day like it’s a new adventure, and you make everyone around you feel like they matter!”
Pollux’s wings glowed brighter.
“You made me feel like I matter.”
Bubsy’s breath caught.
Pollux swallowed hard, cheeks burning. “So what if one game was crazy? So what if people laughed? That doesn’t define you. It doesn’t even scratch the surface of who you are. Besides, we all have our hits and misses! Look at me. I spend more time blowing things up than I actually invent them!”
He hesitated, momentarily thought about jumping into a hole and disappearing, but then gently placed a paw over Bubsy’s. “You’re one-in-a-million,” he whispered. “Not because you’re perfect…but because you’re you. And things are different now. You’re back, better than ever and brighter than a million meteors, bro. Every day you’re showing the world how totally awesome you’ve become, and you’re not backing down! That’s incredible. You’re incredible!”
Bubsy stared at him, really stared. He stared for what felt like so long, Pollux wanted to do nothing but jump into a hole and disappear. And for once, the bobcat didn’t have a quip or a joke or a deflection.
Just a soft, trembling smile. One that turned Pollux’s world inside-out.
“Thanks, Polly.”
Pollux made a tiny squeaking noise and nearly combusted on the spot, ears flattening so hard they practically disappeared. But much to his own surprise, he didn’t pull away.
And Bubsy didn’t let go.
The projector hummed quietly behind them, the old footage still flickering-but it no longer felt like a wound. Not with Pollux there. Not with Pollux looking at him like he was something worth believing in. “Why don’t we take a walk?” Pollux asked him, despite a thousand voices in his mind screaming ‘what do you think you’re doing’ and an army of butterflies wreaking havoc on his system. He quickly turned off the projector’s footage.
“C’mon. Let’s go. It’s a super beautiful night! Lots of stars out. C’mon!”
Bubsy seemed receptive to the idea, but his eyes didn’t leave the projector. “Sounds like a good idea, kid. Just gimme a minute to admire that wallpaper of yours. Good lookin’ fashionista!”
Pollux let out a shriek that shouldn’t have been possible for a wolf, then frantically turned the projector all the way off. “You know me, bro,” he told the bobcat, his voice sounding akin to nails grating a chalkboard. “I always have an eye for fashion! Yeah, fashion!”
Then, wanting to throw both himself and the projector out of the window, he laughed. Thankfully, Bubsy laughed along with him-not at him.
The inventor smiled, on the inside and outside. Mission accomplished.
For now, anyway.