TW: Set in the time of Hole Diggers

Title: ~Sleeping Early~

Honeydew was asleep already. At five o’clock. Five o’bloody clock! He hadn’t even done any work all day! He just flew around on his silly jetpack, occasionally swooping down to bonk Lalna in the head and tell him that there was no golf on the list. But he left Xephos alone, surprisingly. The spaceman hardly saw the dwarf except for him passing overhead to fly to Craggy Island 2. It was as if Honeydew couldn’t even see him working down there.

That made Xephos annoyed, because there had been several times in the past day that he needed help, and the only way he could contact Lalna was by swimming over to the other island. He didn’t like getting wet and he was too busy to make a boat. So the only help he could get was the dwarf, but every time Xephos called to him, he just flew on by. The only time he did speak to Xephos was when he flew back to Craggy Island and said, “See you tomorrow, Xeph, I’m turning in for the night!”

Xephos watched as the dwarf turned into a black speck next to Lovely Island, mouth agape. He couldn’t believe what he had heard. Yes, Honeydew got tired out easily but he usually went to sleep somewhere around midnight. Him going to bed this early was both maddening and concerning. Xephos was tempted to actually go and check on him, but he didn’t want to deal with a tired, grumpy dwarf.

He went on with making more hard drives for the computer, sighing and shaking his head. What a lazy bunch of balls his boss was. He couldn’t believe they’d gotten this much done already. He glanced up at the H towers, one of them halfway built, the rest of them made of ghostly white blocks. And the giant… sphere poking out of the cliff overhead. Once again, Xephos sighed and shook his head. Ridiculous. That’s what this was.

"Hey, Xephos," a voice from behind said, and the spaceman turned around. Lalna stood there, a hammer in his hand. "Where’s H-Dew?"

"H-Dew?" Xephos said incredulously, eyebrows raised.

Lalna shrugged. “Thought I’d mix things up. So have you seen him?”

"Er, not since he told me he was going to bed and flew off to Lovely Island," Xephos grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the computer.

"Really?" Lalna asked, scratching his goatee. "He told me he was building something important. I thought you were the one sending him over to me."

"No, I thought he was just going over there to bonk you on the head and yell at you for building the golf course. You can hear his yelling for bloody miles.”

Lalna shook his head and hummed. “No, he only did that once. The rest of the time he just asked the weirdest questions.”

"What kind of questions?"

"Just… random ones. Like where to find cocoa beans and how to make a book and quill. Trivial stuff, really." Lalna shrugged, walking towards Xephos and looking at the computer. "How much have you gotten done today?"

Xephos sighed again. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “Today’s been slow without the boss to help mine stuff. Maybe we should go check on him?”

"Maybe. But then again, he said he was going to sleep. You know how he gets when he’s woken up, Xeph…" Lalna warned, tilting his head.

Xephos thought for a moment, then gave the scientist a solid nod. “I can handle it, I’ve done it before. I’m going over there.”

"Okay, just don’t come to me when he fires you out of anger," Lalna said, walking away with his hands up.

Xephos grabbed a Staff of Traveling from the computer and pointed it at the nearest teleportation point. In a split second he was whisked to the edge of Craggy Island, looking out over the sea. He pointed the staff to the next block, which stood out red on the horizon. He was brought to a large pillar in the middle of the two islands. The final teleport block was on Lovely Island itself, but when Xephos pointed the staff there, he couldn’t see the red block pop out.

For about five minutes he tried in vain to find the next block. ‘Honeydew must’ve disabled it,’ Xephos thought, frowning. He realised his only option was to either go back home and make a boat or just swim the rest of the way.

He took a deep breath and jumped off the sea pillar, falling for a few seconds and then plunging into the water. A tight hold on the Staff of Traveling, he swam to the surface and slowly made his way toward Lovely Island.

Once he arrived on the island, cold and wet, Xephos trudged along the shore and climbed the hill obscuring Honeydew’s base from view. Xephos reached the top of the hill and saw the brightly lit area before him, no mobs in sight. He checked his pockets and breathed a sigh in relief. Thank Notch Honeydew lit up the place, for he’d forgotten his sword.

The Honeyapple Store was made from the side of the mountain, two large squares carved into the stone surrounded by fluffy white clouds forming an “H.” Xephos could faintly hear singing coming from the base and he crossed his arms. Yeah, Honeydew was “sleeping” all right.

The spaceman stepped and hopped to the base, the singing becoming louder and clearer with every pace. It wasn’t Diggy Diggy Hole, it was…

"Neeeeaaar, faaaar, whereEEEEver you are, 

I beliiiieve that the heaaart does go onnnn…”

Xephos resisted the urge to snort loudly. Of course Honeydew would sing that. Of course. He smiled a little, remembering the good old days when Honeydew would sing while doing almost anything. Now he just… worked.

Finally Xephos reached the base. “Honeydew? Friend?” he called, and the singing stopped abruptly, replaced by terribly fake snores.

"I’m asleep, don’t mind me… Sleepy sleepy dwarf…"

"Honeydew, I know you’re awake," Xephos said louder, trying to combat the volume of the "snores."

They stopped, and the dwarf’s little head poked out from the top square. “Fine. What do you want?”

"I was just worried about you," Xephos said. "You don’t usually go to sleep this early. And I heard that you asked Lalna some weird questions?"

"Uhhhhh," was the dwarf’s response, followed by some stammering. Xephos pulled out some cobblestone and nerd poled up to his friend, who greatly discouraged his actions. "No! No, Xeph, don’t come up here it’s confidential JISM business and you’re not allowed to see it… bugger."

Xephos looked around at the scene before him. Pink dye and cocoa beans were scattered across the floor, several books and quills were stacked in a corner, along with about ten pieces of paper.

Amidst all the clutter was a pink heart-shaped piece of wool with a box of poorly-made chocolates and a folded-up note with “Xephos” written on the front in pink ink.

The spaceman walked to the heart and knelt down, reaching out to touch the wool. Honeydew sighed in defeat. “It was going to be a surprise. I’ve been working on it all day…”

Xephos picked up the note, unfolded it, and started to read.

Dear Xephos,

I love really like value our friendship. Uh, thanks for working for me and helping me with shit. And uh… I…

Just thanks.

Signed, Honeydew of Khaz Modan.

Xephos turned to his best friend and grinned. Honeydew nervously grinned back, not knowing what he should do.

That question was answered when Xephos stepped closer and wrapped his arms around the little dwarf, then bent down to press their lips together.

"I love you too," the spaceman said after they separated.

"Glad you got the message. Now can I eat the chocolate? It took bloody ages to make."