Archive of Our Own ^beta

CEX: Hey, Zero. Are you free anytime this week?

Edgeboi: yeah, mostly. What day?

CEX: Could I come to your place tonight?

CEX: It’s been a while since we hung out

CEX: And I’ve been staring at my laptop for the past hour without getting anything done.

CEX: I’m done, though

CEX: I’m so tired I feel numb…

Edgeboi is typing

CEX: so! let’s have fun! You mentioned you were gaming tonight; mind if i join?

Edgeboi: X? Are you ok

Edgeboi: I’ll grab some snacks from the store after this shift

~~

X sat before a coffee table laden with a banquet of his favourite snacks.

Zero returned from the kitchen with three mismatched cups on a tray. He settled them between the hastily made cheese dip and the Hello Pengui-gos X loved in Primary. Steam gently curled above the hot chocolate. One cup had a lopsided chocolate ‘you can do it!’ drawn on the marshmallow top, which Zero nudged towards him. X wanted to cry.

“Zero, You didn’t have to—and all I brought were some chips lying around. I’ll pay you back.”

Zero scoffed.

“I can pay for some snacks. It’s fine, X. Take the rest home too, Bass’ teeth will rot even more if he eats it all.”

Just as X was going to object, a muffled “You bought snacks?!” sounded from another room. Zero yelled back, ”Special occasion!” before heading there with a cup and goldfish crackers.

X sank into the couch with a creak. Seems they hadn’t fixed the spring. X’s gaze wandered as he carefully didn’t think about upcoming deadlines and overdue bills.

There weren’t many changes to the Wily household since he’d last been. Either Zero or Bass added some bored doodles on Zero’s planner; red clovers dotted the memory aid. In the living room display case, Zero’s fencing trophies were slowly sharing company with Bass’ soccer medals. They were lovingly dusted; from what Zero told him, Dr. Wily fussed over them when he thought his sons weren’t looking, despite his grumbling about ‘raising two thickskulled jocks.’ There was one photo stand in the corner. It mirrored the photo Rock brought home a month ago, where Rock and a smiling Bass took the centre spots on their team’s victory pose.

There was maybe an extra bite mark on the couch feet, a suspicious burn on the carpet, and coffee stains around skull-shaped mugs…luckily, the elder Wily was out at a conference. He’d pitch a fit to see his Zero waste his time gaming, and with X Light no less…

Zero plopped next to him with a bundle of DVDs and a smile.

“I found a bunch of history documentaries at the library. Take your pick, buddy.”

X thumbed through the DVDs, back hunched. How was anyone scared of this guy, when he went through so much trouble for his friends…

The DVD descriptions blurred into each other. His headache throbbed. If he was with most anyone else, he’d watch one at random not to hurt their feelings. But X could be honest with Zero.

“I’m sorry, Z. I’m not really up for watching anything.” None of his hobbies interested him anymore. “I really did want to see you play that game.”

“…well, ok. Tell me if you want to do something else.”

X sipped his chocolate and felt warmer. He settled in as Zero booted up his laptop and connected the controller.

~~

‘Rock’n’Roll Out!’ was, of course, a fighting game in a series of fighting games Zero was obsessed with. As Zero explained it, this sequel departed from the other games in following Roll-bot, the ‘Red Witch’, instead of her brother, and going for a more close-combat system.

Roll did a little curtsy on screen and cackled in chiptune. Ah, what a sweet murderbot. Her design was always endearing to him, mostly because she looked like his sister.

X sat back and let the sounds of furious tapping wash over him. Zero glared at the screen as if it had personally insulted him, statue still besides his focused fingerwork. In another universe, X mused, that death glare would warn ‘you’re already dead’ to Zero’s enemies. Here it translated to Roll’s perfectly timed broom sweeps bisecting her enemies. It was mesmerising to watch; everything on screen seemed to come together like a synchronised dance.

Then Roll flinched as she got hit by a stray shot. Without pause, Zero restarted the level.

X shifted on the couch to face Zero more. “You’re doing it all again? Why?”

“There’s a level system in this game. You can’t take damage if you want the highest rank. And I will S rank every level.” There was no room for argument with that tone.

Except the game put up a very convincing counter-argument. X sipped his chocolate as Roll’s flinch animation became more and more frequent, and Zero’s eye started twitching.

At the 20th restart his friend had slumped on the couch, head tilted back and arms covering his eyes. X raised a pocky box to Zero’s face. After a beat, Zero took out a stick by his teeth.

“Are you open to advice? From someone who only games now when his siblings pass the controller, mind you.”

Zero wordlessly made a ‘go on’ gesture.

“You’re always getting hit at that one spot, with the rolling spike ball that doesn’t give you a lot of reaction time. And—does your rank depend on time?”

“Mm.”

“Yeah, ok. It looks hard because you’re always dashing and can’t cancel out in time. But I noticed there’s a marking on the ground where that one spike drops that could help you time your reaction.”

“I don’t remember that. I’ll redo the level, can you point it out?”

~~

Zero wordlessly handled the controller. X leaned forward, eyes on the screen, as Zero progressed through the level until Roll was back at the problem room.

They watched as Roll adjusted position at the marker X had pointed out. The sound cue played. A spiked ball rolled on screen—Roll batted it twice and leapt over the explosion.

X perked up. “You did it!” he cheered.

Zero grinned, satisfied as a cat that finally got its prey. He held off his own celebrations until he sped through the rest of the level and summarily executed the boss.

When the victory screen played with a cheery ‘S level: supreme edgebot’ Zero turned to X, arm raised. X bumped him back.

Then Zero tossed the controller at him. X fumbled the catch.

“You have a go, buddy.” Zero smiled.

The controller felt foreign in his hands. X bit back an automatic ‘no’, as he’d been guiltily saying more and more when his siblings invited him to play. He had a feeling one game would lead to ten and a worse headache than usual he'd have to carry to work tomorrow. But Zero looked encouragingly at him, and he knew his friend just wanted him to have fun.

…'Fun'. When was the last time he goofed off? He'd never been an impulsive person, but these days he always seemed to second guess happiness.

Until today, when he'd stared at his unfinished papers and unanswered work emails and just sat there unable to bring himself to do anything, head pounding like a countdown. He'd braced his fingers on his temples and tried to push back the pressure behind his eyes. And the thought swept over him that this couldn't continue. He needed an out, and just as a compass points North, he found himself reaching for Zero's chat ID. So why not ride that impulse more? He came here to enjoy time with his best friend, after all.

X started a new save file.

~~

“Oh, you’re right, the controls are so smooth.”

“Mm.”

“It feels much faster than the older games, yet it uses the same system. I’m curious how the programmers finetuned this—and I’m dead. I did not see that pit.”

“I think you’ll find the ‘jump’ button pretty smooth too.”

“Har har Z. Well, first retry.”

~~

“Zero. That death sound has imprinted over my brain. Everyone who plays this game is a masochist.”

“…fair. You gonna stop?”

“I never said that.” He was already figuring out how to dodge that last spike ceiling.

~~

“You know, you’re kinda slow, but you’re getting the hang of the platforming pretty quick.”

“Really?”

“I dashed everywhere my first tries and kept bumping into enemy hit boxes.”

Huh. “I guess I just like being careful.” Roll fired a precise distance blast at a bot on a ledge before climbing up. She walked ahead, coming up to a gated corridor.

“Hey, that’s the boss door. You can do it, X!”

~~

“…She slaughtered me. Who designs a bird with missiles?”

“Fuse Avian...truly a worthy opponent for beginners.”

“Zero, how do I…ok, no, I’ll just focus on dodging next go. Learn her patterns.”

~~

Zero silently passed the pocky box to X. He took out two and sighed from his sprawl on the couch. Zero patted his leg in sympathy.

“Want some tips?” he asked.

X mumbled a ‘yes’ around his pocky. Zero straightened up, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes. No doubt contemplating what wisdom he’d dispense.

His eyes opened with steely resolve.

“Get good.”

X kicked Zero, who copped it and laughed. He crossed his arms and glared; he had to sit up a little from the couch to meet Zero’s eyes. Zero cracked up again seeing his face.

“Ok, ok, quit pouting you widdle baby boo bop! Look, you gotta be more aggressive, buddy. If you cling to the walls and take pot shots she’ll out damage you quick. A lot of her moves leave good openings for broom sweeps if you keep close and moving, but if you’re too far it’s harder to dodge them. “ X stared at the paused screen. In the display art, Roll smirked at the viewer from the hilt of her broom, adroitly wielded like Excalibur itself in her hands. X slapped the pocky box to his forehead and groaned.

“...because Roll was designed as a melee character, so of course the bosses accommodate that playstyle...! Zero, the controller please.”

~~

“Yes yes yes—no!” Roll’s broom combo cut off when she dashed too far and clipped into Fuse Avian.

X mashed the controller pad to yank Roll out of range; Fuse Avian snuck two extra hits. Roll jumped to dodge the last hit…straight into a missile’s path.

But he’d finally chipped enough of Fuse Avian’s health to see a difference. Half health remaining. X’s eyes gleamed.

~~

“X, there’s an opening—just go in circles and bat her!”

Fuse Avian fired off missile after missile along the ground; X saw what Zero meant. There was a gap just between them that he had Roll jump off to reach the boss and back. Sometimes her broom swipes were too short of Fuse Avian, but he was making faster damage than his last tries.

Then Fuse Avian closed off her shoulder missiles and lunged. X eeped but reacted too slow; she grabbed Roll and bodyslammed her into the ground.

The game over screen played. Six hit points left on the boss. Just two more broomslashes in and he would’ve won. X slumped into Zero’s side; Zero nudged him back.

“You’re almost there, buddy.”

“Almost there…I think I’ve got her patterns down. Next round I’ll win this.”

~~

X’s hand slipped as Roll moved in for the kill. He huffed as Fuse Avian crowed over Roll’s crumpled body.

“Ok, next round I’ll get her.”

~~

Roll jumproped over a stream of missiles, touching down in the narrow gaps between them before lancing to Fuse Avian. Her broom hit true each time she honed in on the boss.

X and Zero leaned closer. Fuse Avian’s health whittled to the final quarter.

She retracted her shoulder missiles–X rapidly mashed the controller.

Roll darted back and leapt over her lunged talons, pixels away from her hitbox. She swung her broom down with a final slash that cleaved through the bird. Fuse Avian froze. So did X and Zero.

The living room was silent. Then X realised he had to click for the dialogue to play.

“Sq…Squawk!! No!! How can this be?!!!” read her dialogue box.

Then she lit up with a frankly unnecessary amount of pixel explosions. Roll curtsied over Fuse Avian’s remains.

31 retries. 31 grueling, infuriating, demanding retries where his carrot on a stick had been the satisfaction from learning her patterns like a new language as her health steadily lowered each run.

After 31 retries, X won.

The victory screen music could hardly be heard over X and Zero’s shouting. Zero crushed X in a bear hug that flopped them into the couch with a creak, hair splayed over the two. X was swept into laughing with Zero against the cushion. It was ridiculous! Nothing funny had happened, but he couldn’t stop, and the laughter bubbled away at his lightening heart. He felt twelve again, he realised, twelve and celebrating video game victories with his friends after school.

X glanced up at his best friend with fondness, and let himself relax in his embrace.

Then he felt more than saw Zero perk up. He was reading the victory screen.

“Hey, X, you made B-rank! And you unlocked the rest of the game–” Zero whipped his head back to him in excitement “-make A rank on the next boss and you could get the Ex skills on your first run.”

“...That was the intro?!”

~~

Treble’s ears flicked in her sleep, the husky curled at the foot of Bass’ bed. He inched his foot out from under her, careful like in those carnival wire loop games, then dashed his way to the bathroom.

He paused at the living room on the way back. Someone had left a light on.

The laptop light revealed his brother and Rock’s brother had, somehow, ignored that the couch was a tiny pain in the butt and slept on it. They made up for the cramped space by smushing up against each other, limbs a mess and Zero’s hair everywhere. And surprise, surprise, they were both huggers. The Zero of five years ago would scoff at the idea. But the Zero of today smiled more.

…Would this be good blackmail, or would Zero just glance at the pics and ask for a copy to give X?

Zero snorted in his sleep. X buried even closer.

Bass rolled his eyes, turned off the game, and went looking for a blanket. What a bunch of kids.