Pix blinked open his eyes, staring at the sculk-covered roof with a slight frown. What... happened? He was lying on the ground (which was very- one might say unusually- cold), on his back, and there were multiple rope-like vines wrapped around him, tightening slowly.

His memory was incredibly fuzzy and it felt like he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer, but he vaguely remembered discovering the sculk-infested room and running out to warn the others before being dragged back in by...

The sculk.

It was at this moment that he noticed movement next to him, and Pix turned his head sideways to see Oli, who was on his knees next to the brunette and was quietly struggling to cut through a vine with a knife, staring at it with an annoyed expression as he did so. "Stupid- why are sculk vines so-"

"Oli?" Pix croaked, and the blonde jumped slightly, pausing and turning to look at him silently. "What are you doing?" He added uncertainly.

"What does it look like, genius?" The bard said with a laugh, grinning. "Cutting through these incredibly dumb vines. I mean if you really want to get infected then I can just leave you here but I'd feel really bad-" Oli let out a triumphant noise as he cut through the vine, freeing Pix's arm. "Tada!" He adjusted his position slightly, leaning over and starting to saw through the vine wrapped around one of Pix's legs.

"Why would you help me? Don't the Sculk Alliance want everyone to get infected?" Pix asked, more than a little confused.

Oli shrugged awkwardly, humming quietly to himself. "It's... a long story, but I'll try to shorten it... basically, I've sort of- figured out a way to trick the sculk into thinking it's still controlling me? But it... isn't?" He shrugged again. "I managed to slip away from the others- they were too busy arguing about how they didn't notice you go in this room- and I'm gonna try and- help you out." He let out another laugh as he cut through the vine wrapped around Pix's leg. "Take that, you stupid vine- and like, I think it could probably take over me again if it wanted to? It just doesn't know I've broken free yet."

"Oh. Is that- why didn't you tell me that you weren't being controlled anymore?" Pix asked quietly, sitting up as Oli cut through the vine wrapped around his other arm.

"Well- there was a bunch of people nearby, and I didn't figure out how to break out of its control until like, an hour ago, so..." Oli shrugged, slicing through a vine coiled around Pix's waist. "I was still... a bit confused?" The blonde added with a shrug.

"Oh. That... makes sense." Pix said with an awkward shrug, getting to his feet as Oli cut through the last vine. "Thank you." He added with a smile. Even though Oli being somewhat free was fantastic news, he still... wasn't sure how to feel about the bard.

His mind was made up for him when Oli pulled him into a hug, the blonde burying his face in the crook between Pix's neck and shoulder. Pix let out a choked sob that he didn't know he had been holding back before hugging Oli as well. I thought I- he-

The two stayed like that for a moment before Oli pulled away with a small smile, glancing at the door. "I have to go now, but maybe we can... meet up? Or something? Maybe... hm... at spawn?" He added brightly. "Tomorrow, at like- 6pm? 6:30 at the latest?" The blonde said thoughtfully.

"Uh... yeah. That works." He didn't say what he really wanted to, because he knew the answer. Why do you have to go?

"Okay." Oli took a step forwards, kissing him quickly before moving away. "See you then! Love you." He said with a laugh as he walked towards the door. "There's another door on the other side of the room, by the way. You can leave through that." The other man added before he opened the door and walked out of the room, closing it silently behind him.

Pix stared silently at the door for a moment, thinking over what had just happened, before smiling slightly and turning towards the other door.

——

Pix's friends had been very confused (to say the least) when he had walked up to them completely fine. They'd expected him to be incredibly... infected by that point.

When asked how he escaped, he simply shrugged and didn't answer any more questions.

He then simply retreated to his room to continue working on the necklace, with the occasional assistance of Sausage.

His only goal was to fix the necklace by the next time he saw Oli.

Sorry for the short chapter lmao

Anyways woo fluff

Also Oli is still kinda controlled but also he has free will

For now

🙃