Chapter Text
SpokeIsHere joined the game
Parrot nodded to himself, his communicator lying in the grass beside him.
It was nice, here, between seasons. No craters, no cobwebs, no lava or death machines. Just a normal world, waiting to be remade.
This would be the last time he’d be the one to remake it.
Footsteps. Familiar, bouncing, dashing straight from spawn to their small clearing Parrot had found and customised specially.
“Parrot!”
Two seconds, judging by the sound of his voice. Parrot braced himself, not turning around, just to give Spoke his moment.
Spoke attacked him in just under two seconds, hugging Parrot aggressively and nuzzling into his shoulder like they hadn’t seen each other in months, rather than the few weeks it had taken him to reset the server.
“I missed you!”
Parrot reached up, patting his friend’s shoulder with a smile. Anyone else would have bothered his wings, bent his feathers the wrong way, but Spoke knew how to keep his distance and strangle him at the same time.
“Me too. Sit down, I need to t-“
“Talk, yeah, I got your message.” Spoke circled around, still bouncing, but something worried in his eyes as he adjusted his headband. “What is it? Please tell me I’m not getting banned.”
Parrot smiled, and gestured again for his friend to sit. Spoke did, shifting a little, and rearranging his legs a few times before he seemed comfortable.
“Thank you.” Nodding, Parrot reached for his communicator again, angling it so Spoke couldn’t peak.
“So? C’mon, it’s weird being here out of season.”
“Spoke, I want you to be the new admin.”
Parrot scanned his thumbprint, watched his screen flash with the reset message, then held out his communicator, smiling softly.
Spoke froze. His eyes went wide, not moving an inch to take the comm. He looked like Parrot had just pulled a sword on him, not handed him the controls to a server he’d spent most of last season trying to hack.
“I- Parrot, you don’t- me?”
“You.”
“Why? Like- I’m honoured, obviously, this is so cool, but-“
Spoke laughed, disbelieving, dipping into that terrified sort of tone that meant he was on the defence. Parrot knew him too well. Well enough to nod again, and not let his hand shake.
“Because I trust you. And I don’t trust myself to take care of this place anymore. I-“ Parrot hesitated, so unlike him, but for the first time in a while, he hadn’t planned out everything he wanted to say. “I’m leaving. Soon.”
“What- really? Parrot, no…” Spoke trailed into a whine, almost plaintive, but Parrot just set the communicator on the grass between them.
“Not important. You, and Ash. You’re in charge now. Can I trust you with this?”
“Me and Ash?” Spoke pulled a face, still keeping a cautious distance from the communicator. “Why him?”
“He’s sensible.”
“Rude. But- yeah. Fair. So… why me?”
“You care. And you’re my friend.”
Spoke made a confused noise, but Parrot just stared at him for a while, with the same small smile. He didn’t regret his choice. He’d tell Ash the day after tomorrow, somewhere more professional, but he’d wanted to make it special, for Spoke.
“You found exploits I couldn’t, last season.” Parrot grinned, and Spoke did too, even while shifting nervously. “You cared enough to trawl through server data to find how to break it. Trust me, you’re the best person to manage this place.”
And Parrot couldn’t bear to leave his friend without something. Lifesteal was his baby, and Spoke was more than his best friend, and giving himself this gave Parrot peace of mind to move on to new things.
“…That’s, like, the nicest thing someone’s said to me in ages.” Spoke laughed, reaching forward and picking up the communicator with just a little of his familiar eagerness for a new toy. “Ok. Maybe I’ll say yes. Does this come with, like, responsibility?”
“Not too much. Just consequences and admin.”
“Do I get op?”
Spoke’s eyes lit up, and Parrot smiled softly, his wings prickling at the delight in his expression.
“No. Not as a player. But you’d have an operating account.”
“Right. I can work with that.”
Parrot could already see Spoke plotting, grinning as the gears of mischief turned inside his head.
“No exploits, Spoke.” Parrot was sorry to burst his bubble, but he needed to get the important part out of the way, before Spoke got too distracted by the new toys. “None, ok? Ash’ll be there to keep you in check, and you can do the same for him.”
“Aw, c’mon.” Spoke turned the communicator upside down, sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. “Can I ban, like- two people?”
“No.”
“One person? If they kill me?”
“No.”
“Ugh. What’s the point then?”
“To keep this place alive.” Parrot stretched backwards, looking up into the watery sun in the pale sky with a certain lump in his throat. “It’s been fun, Spoke. Really fun. I think we all deserve to have it carry on, don’t you?”
He looked over at Spoke, who was chewing the inside of his cheek, turning the communicator over and over. He wasn’t looking for weaknesses, anymore. He was just feeling the weight of it in his hands.
“And… you’ll really be gone?”
“Not straight away. I’ll show you the ropes.”
“Good. No way could I do this straight away.” Spoke giggled, and Parrot winced internally at the havoc Spoke would wreak with full admin powers and only Ashswag to keep him grounded. “Wow. I’m going to miss you.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll still see me around. But is that good?”
“Yeah.” Spoke nodded, letting his hands find the grips on either side of the communicator. “I- I think that’s good. I seriously thought I was about to be banned, oh my god…”
Parrot nodded, picking up his satchel.
“Anything you want me to show you before I go?”
“No, Parrot- wait.” Spoke looked up, eyes wide, and Parrot had suddenly never been about to go anywhere away from his best friend. “I- wow, this is a lot. Can you just… stay? For a while?”
“Of course.” Parrot smiled, clasping his hands in his lap. “What do you need?”
“Just- you.” Spoke grinned for a moment, then took a deep breath. Then said nothing at all, and just sort of stared at Parrot, in something between adoration and fascination.
Parrot let his shoulders relax. He’d done it. Ash would be easier. He didn’t even need to tell him he’d be leaving.
For now, he could let himself relax, for the first time in four seasons, and knew his life’s labour was in capable hands.
The rain started suddenly, but gently. The sky had turned from pale, to ashen, to blurred with a light mist of raindrops. It soaked into Parrot’s wings, not weighing them down, but feeling fresh, like springtime.
But it was still cold.
Parrot started shivering before he realised, forced back to the real world by the chill seeping through his skin. Spoke was fine, with his hoodie, but his eyes snapped to Parrot as soon as he felt his friend staring at him.
“You good? Oh- frick, it’s raining.” Spoke glared at the sky for a moment, then back at Parrot, who was trying to wrap himself in his wings surreptitiously. “Stop that, you idiot. Come here.”
Parrot narrowed his eyes, but he’d already trusted Spoke with his server, so it didn’t take much for him to shrug, and shuffle across the grass closer to his friend, leaning into his side.
Spoke wrapped his arm around him, rubbing gently at Parrot’s lightly soaked feathers, cooing as smugly as could be expected from the only person who could get away with doing this.
“See, this… this is why I trust you with the server.” Parrot rested his head against Spoke’s shoulder, not even annoyed he’d forgotten to turn on weather controls during maintenance.
“Because I’m great.”
“Because you’re kind.”
“…Aw, Parrot! That’s so sweet of you.”
“Ugh. Shut up.” Parrot buried his face in Spoke’s collar as the rain began to come down heavier, wondering why they weren’t going under a tree, or into a cave. “You are so annoying.”
Spoke laughed, high and free and utterly uncaring of Parrot raining on his parade as ever.
“Its why you love me~”
“I do not.”
Parrot wasn’t helping his own case, in fairness. Not between pressing as close as he could manage to Spoke, letting his friend touch his feathers and tilt his chin up, grinning.
“Prove it.”
Parrot kissed him. It was arguably stupid, and definitely unplanned, but Spoke was warm, and dry, and so ragingly, beautifully alive and living that Parrot couldn’t imagine making a better choice.
And it shut Spoke up, for once, having Parrot’s lips pressed against his, his wet hand cupping his cheek, his wings flared into the rain as Spoke ran his fingers through his feathers like a man who couldn’t believe what he had.
Parrot pulled away suddenly, frowning.
“Spoke. Where did you put the communicator I gave you?”
Spoke was distracted for a moment, blinking and grinning and staring at Parrot until he snapped his fingers.
“Spoke. Where?”
“O- on the floor. By your foot.”
Sighing, Parrot reached down, picking it up and thrusting it at the man he was currently basically pinning down.
“Don’t lose it. Please?”
“I’ll try.” Spoke grinned, taking it from Parrot’s hand. “This is a lot of power. Maybe you should kiss me about it again.”
Parrot rolled his eyes, huffed, and leaned in, cutting off any further complaints or idiocy from Spoke by the simple method of getting his tongue in his mouth.
Spoke was an incredibly pathetic kisser. He just sort of went limp, and sometimes started moaning, if Parrot gave him long enough. He certainly didn’t make much effort in return.
But that was fine. Parrot needed some control, he needed a lot of it, sometimes, and it was reassuring to know the person he’d just handed his server to was still one he could make whine like that, just by getting close to him.
Spoke dug his fingers into his feathers, and Parrot murmured a warning that vibrated through both of them. Control. He just needed some control in his life, and Lifesteal hadn’t been giving it to him.
Maybe that was why he loved Spoke. Parrot could never hope to control him, and didn’t want to. There was something beautiful about a life lived in the centre of a whirlwind, walking a knife’s edge between insanity and genius.
And it gave him this. Where the road of organisation and clear-cut planning ran out, and it was all Parrot could do to stare out into the wilderness beyond, and hand the reigns over to someone who knew how to manage something that could no longer be controlled.
Spoke would be fine. He’d have Ash, who’d step up to the responsibility with all the decorum he thought would befit it. Parrot was sure Ash would take the opportunity as a compliment, a recognition of status.
It was. In a way. But it was also a gift, for Spoke, who Parrot hated to leave alone, but loved to see in his element. For Ash, it was just logic.
There was nothing logical about Spoke.
Parrot fucking loved it.
They kept kissing for a while, or at least staring at each other, as the rain began to pour down on them. There wasn’t any point getting out of it, anymore. There was just Parrot, searching for any reason to regret his choice, and Spoke, searching for any sign not to believe this could be real.
Parrot could feel his feathers getting clogged with water, sticking together uncomfortably, and resolved to make Spoke preen them before they went their separate ways, and Parrot never had to worry about turning on or off weather controls again.
It felt weirdly final, the way they were holding each other as the sky opened around them. Like Parrot really was saying goodbye, forever, and he’d never get to see Spoke’s stupid face again.
But right now, he was seeing it, and for once, Parrot forced himself to live in the moment. To adjust how he was practically on top of Spoke, and cup his best friend’s cheek, feeling himself smile in a way too soft for him.
“I’ll miss you.”
“Can’t believe you’re trusting me with the server…”
“Can’t believe I trust you at all.”
Spoke giggled, and Parrot stroked his fingers along his rainbow headband, tilting his head.
“My wings are ruined.”
Spoke rolled his eyes, shooting Parrot’s frank statement a loaded glare.
“You kissed me.”
“I know.”
“Your fault. This is all your fault.”
Parrot leaned down, and kissed him again.
If this was his last time in control of everything on this godforsaken server, he wasn’t going to waste it.