-POV: Wels (because it's been for-fucking-ever, and I'm a simp. Also, I'm not sure if Wels left Hermitcraft or what, but let's just say he hasn't because everything reset)-

Yeah, well, I can say that whatever I had been doing, it was gone now. Not as in someone had destroyed it, or it had lagged out and disappeared, but I literally could not remember what it was, and it was irking me. It had been on the cusp of my grasp, and yet I had lost it. Whatever, it probably wasn't important if I couldn't remember it, anyways. What else needed doing, though? I couldn't remember that either. Sighing, I phoned Beef. Maybe he'd want to hang out, and I could cure my newly formed boredom.

Anyways- I took out my comm, clicking on his contact, and pressing the phone button. The ringer rang about five times, and then put me on the automated response ("Sorry, it seems you've missed me. Call me back later, or leave a message after the beep. Thanks.") and then the beep would have sounded like always, but I had already hung up. Alright, maybe he wasn't available or something. Maybe I could call xB or Hypno instead? Those two were always fun to hang out with.

I tried them, but received the same response. My frustration levels rising, I threw the comm across the room, flopping on my bed. And then I had to get up to go get the comm again, because even if I was angry, I needed my comm to try and phone other people, or in case of an emergency in chat. I sighed, trying Jevin. The comm rang a couple times, before he picked up, his end of the line a bit staticky. "Hello? This is Jevin, how may I help you?" I blinked, not expecting him to answer after my previous results, but taking what I could get. "Hey Jevin, this is Wels. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?"

He said something that ended out jumbled and uninterpretable, with an added "sure!" I smiled, before remembering that I had to respond, and blinking. "Uh, right, cool! Where do you wanna go?" I listened through the tense, almost silent static for his response, and finally, he responded. "Why not head to a movie or something? It's been a while, and it could be fun, don't you think?" I sighed, thinking. The movies sounded fun, but I didn't know what was coming out soon and all that, so I knew I'd be completely lost. "Sure." I agreed anyways, almost instantly regretting it.

I could nearly feel his excited fist pump through the phone as he gushed out more incomprehensible words, ending with a "see you in a bit", before hanging up. I blinked, turning my head to the side to ponder what had him all happy to hang out, and putting my phone down slowly. I knew he was fairly energetic and social, but when had he been that, I don't know- enthusiastic? Yeah, enthusiastic. It was whatever, though. Maybe I just called him at a good time? The fact that he ended the call so soon was strange, though...

I pushed it off, looking around my cozy, yet highly elegant home. I was honestly very proud of how it had turned out, and I liked admiring it when I had the time, which I could spare some of now to gaze... But no, I should be getting prepared, I'm meeting with a friend, and it's rude not to be ready and mostly on time, especially if you're the one who asked said friend to hang out. That said... Wasn't I already good enough as is? I mean, sure, I looked a bit uptight and cautious in my heavyweight, chain mail armor, but it was my regular attire anyways.

No, I reminded myself, it's not about my opinions, it's about the truth of the matter, and the truth of the matter is that I have a friend coming over in who knows how long, and I've gotta get changed. Groaning because I didn't want to, I made the small walk through the dining room, taking the stairs up to my loft-like bedroom, and opening my closet. There were some masks, shoes, and miscellaneous stuff organized in neat bins— though some things like shirts and pants were put in drawers— to choose from, and none of them looked quite appealing together.

I shrugged, taking out a random, gray Grateful Dead hoodie, with blue jeans, long white socks, and a faded black Greenpeace t-shirt, deciding it would work. Changing quickly, I took out a hairbrush, moving my fluffy, blonde hair in the mirror until it looked just right, and nodding. I didn't look half bad, and it had only taken me- Wait, how long had it taken me? I checked my phone, and saw that it had been about an hour total. How had it taken me that long to change? I didn't wanna know, but if Jevin hadn't shown up yet, then it was probably fine.

I didn't actually know what he said, so for all I know, he could be here in an hour or in ten seconds, so I decided to text him and ask. Whipping out my phone, I saw that he had texted twenty minutes ago saying he was gonna be a bit late. Chuckling, I nodded, and formulated a reply. It read: That's fine, though, when did you say you were coming over again? I couldn't quite hear you over the line static. The message first appeared as delivered, then a minute later as read, and then another couple minutes later, the dots showing that he was typing appeared.

I heard a painful sounding crash outside seconds later, and it showed that he had stopped typing. Rushing out the door from where I had forgotten to mention I was standing (in the foyer), I saw the crumpled form of the slime man crumpled outside my base, and blinked, shaking my head. "Jevin, please tell me you're okay, and that you didn't just crash into my very obvious house." I said shortly, helping him up. He grinned sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "I wasn't paying attention while I was typing... But to be fair, I thought I was farther away!" I just shook my head again, rolling my eyes, and taking my hands off of him.

"Sure. Just try not to do it again, you scared the living daylights outta me." He nodded guiltily, before taking a gander at the house he had crashed into, and raising an eyebrow. "Did you build this? It looks cool." I nodded, feeling the familiar pant of pride in my chest. "I did, though the exterior is only part of it's glory. I can give you a quick tour, if you want?" Jevin looked torn, before reluctantly shaking his head. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to, but I've already got tickets to the movie we're seeing, and I don't want us to miss it- more importantly, you to miss it, as you most likely haven't heard of it."

I blinked, a tiny bit offended, but curious nonetheless. Maybe this would be interesting? Who knows? Well, either way, we headed off towards the theater, happily chatting mid-air. It was nice, calm, and balanced, as things should be. However, life does not tend to stay balanced for long, and I was waiting for something to happen to prove that, like always. Nearing the Cowmercial District's knockoff island with entertainment centers and shops lining it's shore, opportunity struck. Jevin got a bit clumsy with his rockets, and ended up crashing into me, causing me to stumble in the sky, and veer off balance, crashing down in a spiral.

Watching the shore come ever-more closer, I tried pulling up, getting more tangled up with Jevin, who was now just clinging to me like a safe device, as he had lost his rockets in the tumble. Pulling into a harsh landing, I stumbled, falling over, just barely catching myself by anchoring myself in the sand. Jevin quickly detached himself from me, looking away again sheepishly. "Sorry..." I sighed, shaking my head in annoyance, but pushing it down. "Yeah yeah, just- try to be careful next time, okay?" He nodded, and I breathed a steadying sigh, gazing around. We were right outside the movie theater, as it happened, and right on time too.

There were other people waiting in line inside, some I recognized, and some I didn't. I was surprised to see both Beef and Etho there, though, flirting in an adorable manner. So that's why he hadn't responded earlier... Hm, well, at least he had something to do. Plus, he and Etho were totally being ship-worthy, so it was definitely worth not being able to hang with him. Jevin took my hand as we headed inside, and we walked past the receptionist after quickly completing the necessary transactions.

-Time Skip: one hour, forty minutes-

The movie, somewhat long, captivating, and heart-shattering, felt like it was over quicker than it had started. From the name of it, I hadn't assumed it would be so good, but honestly, it was, and Jevin's taste in movies was without a doubt, the best, this one being proof enough. I could even remember the title for once, whereas I normally just forgot them an hour afterwards because the movie wasn't that memorable. I believe this one was called 'The Call of the Wild', very fitting after how it went on, come to think of it.

We were just reaching the door to the theater— we had left during the credits— when Jevin stopped, patting his jeans pockets, and realizing that he had left his phone somewhere in the screening room on accident. Before I even knew what was happening, he had apologized profusely, and was running back towards the screening room to find it. I blinked, figuring I might as well help him search, and heading after him. In the screening room, it was light enough that I could semi-easily make him out, his nervous eyes scanning the rows for his phone, and not noticing me.

Spotting his phone a few rows down from where we had been sitting, I bent down, picked it up, and walked over to him, tapping his shoulder. He whirled around, on edge, before seemingly relaxing at the sight of me, for some reason. I held out his phone to him before he could ask, and he blinked, taking it, and pocketing it safely. The whole time, we hadn't exchanged a single word, and even if it was because of me, it felt weird. Not just the situation, but everything. My stomach was getting butterflies, and my face was heating up at how awkward it was. From what I could see of Jevin, the same could be said. At least I wasn't the only awkward one.

We continued standing there in silence for what seemed like forever, before the people for the next movie started trickling into the theater, and we realized that we should probably leave. "Let's just... Go outside. It's hot in here, people are coming." Jevin commented, taking my wrist, and pulling me almost firmly (for a slime) out of the theater. Stopping only once we were outside the literal theater building itself, Jevin let go of my wrist, turning to face me so we could converse like normal people. I opened my mouth to speak, to ask, or really do anything that would break the tense silence, but he shushed me.

"...Thanks for finding my phone. I wouldn't have seen it in the panic I was in to find it, considering I checked where you came from and passed right over it. So, thanks." I blinked, before nodding, a small smile tugging at my lips. "Sure, of course, no problem." He bit his lip, looking away as if there was something else he wanted to say, almost... wanted to ask. And then he shook his head, sighing. "I'm, uh... Did you like the movie?" He asked, it clearly not being what he had wanted to say. "Yeah, yeah it was good. I honestly didn't expect the middle to be the best part, it's normally the ending that gets me." He chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, it was a little weird how they did that, but then again, movies are improving and changing."

We continued talking about it for a while, him mainly going off about the scenery and the characters and the way new movies had a different affect than old ones, while I was more invested in the storyline. Both were very big fundamentals of a movie, but I hadn't really noticed that we both had picked up on the same things, even if for different interests. I don't think either of us cared that it was getting late either as we continued to chat, having migrated to a local ice cream shop to do so. Between messy bites of some strange ice cream flavor he had picked for himself called 'Coco-Pepperman', Jevin would comment on the scenery, and how it looked so beautiful at this time of night.

I could only help thinking how he was more beautiful than the scenery itself before I stopped myself. No. Na-ah. I did not like him that way. We were friends, and we were chatting, and he hadn't even made any advances suggesting that he liked me that way in return, so it wasn't logical. It wasn't, and yet... I did like him. But I didn't want to. With a conflicted sigh, I took another small bite of the plain, vanilla ice cream that I had gotten for myself. I had barely touched it since we started talking, and Jevin had evidently noticed that, as he asked me not a moment later, "are you okay? You've barely taken two bites of your ice cream... Is it bad or something? If you want, we can try and get a refund-"

I shook my head, sighing. "No, it's good, great even. I was just lost in thought, I suppose, and didn't think about eating it. You know how that gets." Jevin nodded, seemingly getting reminded of something himself, but shaking it off. "What were you thinking about, out of curiosity?" Shit. I hadn't expected him to ask that- Why hadn't I, I had no clue. I mean, it was an obvious question, and- "Wels?" He asked, as I felt a slimy hand (presumably his) gently place itself on my shoulder. I blinked, smiling awkwardly, and rubbing my neck. "Sorry, got lost in thought again, haha.!" Jevin didn't really look convinced, but nodded. "Well, alright then. Maybe it would be best if we headed home now?"

I almost said yes, but then something caught my attention. Behind Jevin, a few tables back... Was that- Hels? When had he come back? Why was he here, of all places? And who was that with him? Standing up, I received a bit of a strange glance from Jevin. "You go if you want, I've gotta go... Do something." I said, wanting to catch Hels before he disappeared, and I might regret it. "But- What on earth- Wels, that's not- Wait!" I was already Hels' table, however and sighed. "Can I sit here?" I asked, and Hels jumped, looking up at me, and then at whoever was with him, who briefly nodded. "Yeah, sure..." I sat down, nodding slightly in thanks. None of us talked.

Awkwardly, or so it seemed, Hels started up the conversation, surprisingly. "So, uh, Wels, this is- this is Glitchy Red, my counterpart. Glitchy Red, this is Welsknight, my brother." The assumed Glitchy Red looked me up and down, shrugging. "Cool. You look more like twins though." Hels seemed not to like the comment, but I nodded. "We basically are, he's just the more 'evil one', for whatever reason." Hels seemed to like that even less, but made no comment, looking off grumpily. "Yeah, I can see that. So, who's that guy you were with? You seemed to be getting along rather well before you came and interrupted us." He had put it a bit bluntly, and not in a kind way, but it was true.

"He's a close friend of mine, his name's Jevin. He's a slime hybrid." Glitchy Red looked somewhat interested at the last part, and nodded. "Well, it seems he wants you for something, he's coming over as we speak." Looking back, I saw this was true. Jevin had gotten up, and was heading over to the table we were at, though somewhat slowly, as he seemed to be freezing up slightly in the cold night air. Turning back to Glitchy Red and Hels, I found them gone. Great... Well, I should probably go to Jevin anyways, stop him from suffering more.

Getting up, I made my way to Jevin in a few steps, and sighed. "Are you okay? You look cold." He blinked, staring up at me, and smiling tiredly, before collapsing. My eyes widening, I caught him, looking around. The ice cream shop was completely deserted, and the sign in the shop window read 'closed', even though the lights were still on, as was customary at this time of night. I was still pretty much fucked, though. Trying to prioritize my options, I dubbed that taking him back to my place would be easiest. It was the closest safe place, and wasting time trying to find somewhere closer could be bad for Jevin. And so I took off, praying to god that whatever was going on would end okay.

(Did you enjoy the chapter? I know I sure loved writing it! Tell me what you think in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts and criticism. Also, I apologize greatly for this taking so long to publish, I just really wanted to fill the chapter to the brim with the ideas I had TwT. Nonetheless, have a great day as always! [3017 words])