Chapter Text
Four was not happy. He was able to finish his show, he had finally earned the respect of his contestants, and even managed to make genuine friendships with some of the objects that had been terrified of him just a few years ago. Despite all this, the thought of Two stealing his show still lingered in his mind, and he knew he needed to talk to them again before he could move on.
He found his way back to the original competition area, shocked to see the grass and trees inverted in color. It was yet another display of the strange powers Two held, filling Four with both fear and anger. He ran into a group of contestants, and after learning about what had happened over the months he was gone he ran off to confront Two directly.
Eventually, he found them near the hotel and stopped for a moment to glare at the structure which had convinced so many of his contestants to leave. Two walked up to him, placing an arm around him as if they were friends, and commented, “It’s pretty cool, right? And there’s enough rooms for everyone, so they don’t have to sleep outside! You could have one too, if you’d like…”
Four pulled Two’s arm off of him and spun to face them. “I don’t want to stay here, I want you to apologize for stealing my show! You took away 40 of my contestants and then teleported me 3000 miles away! I came here to get an apology from you.” He found himself nearly crying by the end. Four never had good emotional regulation, and having to yell at someone like this after everything was difficult for him.
Two let Four get through his little outburst before grabbing his hands and pulling him back in. “Oh my, Four. I can tell that I’ve really hurt you. It’s actually been on my mind… But I do think I have a way to make it up to you. Here, come along with me!” They started pulling him into the hotel, and Four decided he may as well see where Two was going with this.
As it turned out, Two had not actually pulled out the entire structure of the hotel, taking Four a few floors underground to a room very reminiscent of the EXIT. They pushed him into one of the seats while saying, "Now you just sit down right here, I know you've been walking for such a long time. And that's given ME plenty of time to figure out just how to make you feel better about this situation! I've learned an awful lot about you~"
This last sentence incited a particular anger within Four. He got out of his seat and stormed up to Two, exclaiming, "How would you POSSIBLY know ANYTHING about me?? You STOLE my contestants from me, and then you SENT me thousands of miles away! The only person who could have told you ANYTHING about me was X, and I retrieved him from you MONTHS ago!!!"
Two walked up to Four and began cupping his face again, which he hated. It was making him feel all weird on the inside and warm on the outside. "Well, dear, it seems like you underestimate how much those contestants know about you. I think you have... let's call it a 'hormonal imbalance'. It's causing you to act irrationally, and I can- no, I WILL help you to be better." Two leaned in, making Four's heart race and his face flush. He could tell Two must have been casting some sort of spell on him, with how warm his body kept getting and how hard it was for him to think. He couldn't even bring himself to struggle as Two put their hands on his shoulders.
Two slowly pushed Four down to lying on the ground, leaning in further until they were fully over him, straddling him on their knees. They looked him directly in the eyes and said, "Now then, do you trust me?" Four couldn't bring himself to speak, sputtering out some attempt at a response as his eyes seemed locked on Two's. After a moment, they softly let out a "Don't worry, you will," releasing their grip as they prepared to stand back up.
"W-wait!" The words came out of Four's mouth before he could even think. Looking down, he saw that his arms were reaching out to Two, also without him even considering. He was afraid these strange urges coming out of him, knowing it surely must be another one of Two's tricks. He closed his eyes and drew in a breath to compose himself.
Before he could even open his eyes, he could feel Two back on top of him. Despite this, seeing them so close again surprised him so much his arms (which for some reason were still straining up towards where Two had been) suddenly snapped around them. Clearly caught off guard, Two fell from their kneeling position to be laying directly on top of Four. Embarrassment began piling on top of every other emotion Four felt, and while he wanted to apologize all he could do in the moment was cry. Nothing had even happened, but the past few minutes were making him feel pathetic and weak. Worse yet, he was doing the exact thing Two had been yelling at him about.
Four's crying was interrupted by that hand on his face again. He looked up, eyes still wet, at a look he had rarely seen from anyone before, let alone from Two. It was an unmistakable look of pity, a look that communicated that Two could tell how Four was feeling. Before he could speak, Two gently placed a finger over their mouth.
"Foursie, you really are a mess, aren't you? Breaking at the slightest displays of affection... Don't you worry, I have much more than this to give you. I can make you feel so much better than this. And all you have to do is trust me for a little while and go along with what I tell you. Do you think you can do that for me?"
What else could he say? How could he have possibly found it within him to disagree? He pulled Two in, nodding and eventually managing to respond with a quiet, "Yes. Please." They laid there on the floor for a few minutes, Four crying into Two's chest as they gently rubbed his back and comforted him. Two was preparing much more than he could have realized at that moment. They knew things about Four that even he himself didn't yet realize. One thing was certain, however: Two was determined to make sure Four came out of this feeling much, much better.