A/N: Hello there! I wanted to write something a bit different for today since it's Valentine's day. This is a much longer chapter with a lot more witty banter and some ships, so I hope you enjoy!

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2 years before chapter 7

late 2024

//The house//

Chosen sighs and walks out into the main room of the house. He enters the kitchen/living area and reaches up to open a top cabinet. After grabbing a fresh roll of dressing and a glass of water, he walks back upstairs. It's a warm evening as the sun starts to set over the horizon. Victim is...somewhere. Chosen doesn't really want to know with that guy, especially with what Victim did to him a few months ago. It never crosses The Chosen One's mind to go bothering about that sicko. Maybe he'll show his face again?

Chosen stretches his body to the side, making some of his joints crack. He sighs with relief and opens the door to Dark's room. He narrows his eyes at the twenty year old who is currently out of bed. "Get back into bed."

Dark looks over at Chosen and rolls his eyes. "Chosen chill! I'm not that weak-" he's cut off by a cough erupting in his throat and a shoot of pain up his chest. "Owww..."

"Yeah, don't bullshit me" Chosen puts the bandages and the glass of water down on Dark'd bedside table before walking over to Dark. He grabs Dark by the shoulders and moves him along back to his bed, sitting Dark back down on the side of the mattress. "You need to rest Dark, seriously." Chosen looks down at him with seriousness and slight concern.

"Tch..what do you care.." Dark looks to the side, still salty about the events of The Showdown four years ago.

Chosen sighs and glares at Dark. "We're not getting into this again." he mutters sternly. Chosen then grabs the roll of fresh bandages from the bedside table. "Lay down."

Dark rolls his eyes and does what he's told, only for the sole reason of having nothing better to do. He lets out a heavy breath as he lays down on top of his bed, his muscles and wounds sore.

Chosen takes a seat next to Dark's body, his legs hanging off the side of the bed. He then starts doing as he has been this past month. He reaches over lifts Dark's t-shirt up until the fabric is rolled up to the very top of Dark's chest. Chosen's black eyes run over Dark's torso, inspecting the current state of the previous bandages. He then shifts closer and starts removing the old bandages.

Dark stares off into nowhere, his head tilted to the side on his pillow, avoiding having to look at Chosen. "Don't you think you're being too precautionate about all this? I mean, i've been injured before."

"Dark, you were in a coma for four fucking years!!" Chosen scowls and raises his voice. "Don't act like nothing even happened!! I'm still fucking pissed at you for creating that damn virus!"

"And i'm still pissed at you for betraying me and fucking getting so angry that day!!" Dark's voice goes hoarse and he coughs painfully into his arm.

"...I DIDN'T-" Chosen stops himself from getting anymore worked up and just sighs, looking to the side. "Look, for now let's just not worry about any of that and instead, get you fucking feeling better." he says, his voice quieter.

Dark scoffs but doesn't fight back right now.

Chosen then slides a hand underneath Dark's torso and onto Dark's back, making him rise his chest a bit more so Chosen can take the bandages off. Chosen then removes all the bandages and tosses them onto the floor. His eyes direct back to Dark's torso, frowning slightly from the sight. It's not like he hasn't seen the scar before, but it's still pretty big.

A massive scar lies across all of Dark's torso. The remnants of a fatal blast. Faint streaks of lime green power. There's only one person that's ever held that power. Chosen was there to see it.

"I still can't believe that fucking kid beat me..." Dark grumbles.

"I can't believe it either..." Chosen mutters under his breath, staring at the scar.

Dark raises an eyebrow as a moment of silence goes by. "You can stop staring y'know." he smirks slightly in amusement and smugness.

"I still don't understand how you're not dead."

"Heh, me neither! But y'know, I'm The Dark Lord, Chosen, since when do i just give up?" Dark grins, tilting his head at Chosen slightly.

Chosen can't help but smile slightly and scoff. He keeps his eyes on Dark for a moment, silence between them.

"...."

"...."

"OW FUCK-!!!!" Dark winces in pain and jolts upwards, sitting up instantly.

Chosen raises an amused eyebrow as he pulls the injection needle out of Dark's chest, having to inject medication through the inner wounds.

Dark scowls. "WHAT THE FUCK CHO, YOU COULD'VE WARNED ME!!!"

"..." Chosen pauses for a brief moment.

"Chosen?"

"Haven't heard that in a while..." Chosen mutters, looking back down and putting the needle back on the bedside table.

"Haven't heard what!?" Dark raises an eyebrow.

"Nevermind, it doesn't matter" Chosen cracks an amused smirk. "Lordy"

Dark's eyes light up and then he smirks in amusement. "Oh i see now...........Choo Choo"

They both burst out laughing, but Chosen then covers his face in embarrassment. "Oh god not that nickname"

"You started this!!" Dark laughs loudly and grins, before he's once again interrupted his lack of health, spluttering and coughing.

"Hey, hey" Chosen relaxes and brings the glass of water over to Dark. "Drink."

"Yes sir" Dark says with sarcasm and playfulness, rolling his eyes and taking the glass. His voice is still hoarse and tired.

It catches Chosen's eye that Dark's hand is quivering from holding the weight of the glass. He sighs and raises his own hand up to Dark's, not only holding the glass for Dark, but also having his whole hand on Dark's.

Dark raises an eyebrow but doesn't mention anything as his hand is lifted by Chosen's up to his mouth. Chosen slowly tilts the glass so Dark can drink the water.

"Don't drink it quickly or you'll choke." he instructs, taking the empty glass away from Dark's grasp after the other is finished swallowing.

"I know."

After Chosen places the empty glass down on the bedside table, he reaches out his right hand and places two fingers on Dark's neck, feeling his pulse.

A faint red hue creeps upon Dark's cheeks, even though there's nothing to be blushing over. His black and red eyes end up lingering on Chosen for a bit too long, quickly glancing away with a scowl as Chosen narrows his eyes at him.

Chosen's fingers lift off of Dark's skin. "You're seeming pretty fine, mostly just internal wound stuff now. I'm still gonna put new bandages on you anyway."

"Aight boss"

"Anything but boss"

"Sir"

"Nope"

"General"

"Nope"

"King'

"Please stop"

Dark chuckles mischievously, grinning smugly.

Chosen starts pulling out fresh sheets of dressing from the roll, wrapping them around Dark's toned torso. As Chosen works away, he glances at Dark, his eyes focusing on Dark's hair. "You need a haircut.."

"Uh, excuse me. This is premium coma styled hair, straight from the ashes of a great battle, that i definitely won."

Chosen snickers and rolls his eyes. "Seriously, you need a haircut, badly."

"Do not"

"Do so"

"The why don't you cut it yourself Mr Critical" Dark says with a cocky and playful look, leaning a bit closer to Chosen's face.

Chosen raises an eyebrow with a deadpan look. "Do you remember what happened last time I cut your hair?"

"It sucked" Dark smiles blithely.

Chosen continues wrapping new bandages around Dark's torso. "Exactly"

"Sooooooo, what you're saying is I should cut it myself-"

"Absolutely not"

30 minutes go by as Chosen continues looking after Dark and keeping him company. As much as Dark hates to admit, he's in quite a pathetic state right now, rather confused too due to waking up from a coma four years after a massive fight.

Chosen lays Dark back down and pulls the blanket over him. "You need to get some rest now."

"Do i really?" Dark whines.

Chosen sighs, getting quite tired himself. "Yes, you do." he yawns, still sitting on the side of Dark's bedding.

"You seem quite tired yourself" Dark rests his head on his pillow and closes his eyes, relaxing.

"Yeah, I am: from dealing with you all day"

"What was that?" Dark smirks.

"Goodnight Dark"

"Damn, okay. Goodnight to you too.....do i get a good night kiss?" Dark cocks an eyebrow flirtatiously.

"You can dream about it" Chosen rolls his eyes and stands up. He tries to ignore the feeling of faint warmth growing on his cheeks. He yawns again, walking over and opening the window ajar to let the evening breeze drift through the room. Dark's room is fairly old considering how untouched it remains from the whole coma situation, but it never fails to have an abundance of character. From the bygone world domination plans, the countless blueprints to construct new technology and the dusty workbench covered in unfinished projects and scraps, to the dark red themes, the electric guitar, the factual spider posters and all the photos of him and Chosen back in the day. Dark's filthy room never fails to bring a wistful smile to Chosen's face, paired with some tired eyes of someone who hasn't yet found their place. Their security.

But as he looks over at his mostly annoying with that shit-eating grin, but special roommate. That guy he can never get rid of. That guy he doesn't really want to get rid of...

...He thinks that he might have already found his safe place.

//Purple and MT's house//

Green lays down across Purple's bed lazily as he nods along to the music playing in his black headphones. Meanwhile, Purple is looking through his wardrobe for the "perfect" outfit. What is the outfit for? Well, no one knows, including Green.

Green rolls over onto his stomach and kicks his feet back and forth in the air as he looks at his phone. He scrolls down through Stickchat, looking at all the latest stories and posts.

"Runaway grey stick figure left his workplace in shambles. Let's go explore it!!"

"Dark somehow made more spider friends, someone save me please"

"New drawing! By yours truly, The Second Coming" 

"The Second Coming is dumb - Dark Lord >:C"

"NEW CORNDOG STAND COMING YOUR WAY!"

"Purple braided my hair again. #lovemyson #genZ #lol" "Dad please stop using hashtags"

"Some tall ass guy with shades walked down the street today. Looked like the guy from the movie "Sticktrix - dodging bullets" I was shivering in my timbers."

"PUB AND DRINKS WITH THE LADS - yours truly, BULLET PIXEL MAN"

Green hums to himself as he keeps looking at all the photos people have posted, snickering to himself at some of them.

"New hairstyle, let me know what you think!"

"Dark sounds like a dying goose, help me"

"Boyfriends <3" "awww, love you"

"Pictures with Ruben and my pet bees! Oh and Second got in the photo as well, lol"

"Can someone please explain to me WHY THE HELL THE DARK LORD IS ALIVE AND IN CHOSEN'S PHOTOS"

Green pauses and chokes on air. He has to quickly scroll back up and take a double look at what he just saw. He gasps loudly, causing Purple to look over at him. "What?" Purple asks with curiosity and confusion.

"WHATTT" Green blinks rapidly and starts grinning like an idiot.

Purple walks over and sits on the bed, looking at Green's phone. He laughs quietly. "What!?" Purple then also gasps loudly as he sees a selfie of Yellow and Blue eating icecream at a park sent by Yellow's account (TrueMasterofRedstone) with the caption saying: "Boyfriends <3". There's a reply from Blue's account (:PMan) saying "awww, love you".

Both Green and Purple yell in surprised unison. "THEY GOT TOGETHER!!??"

//Bar//

Another glass of whiskey is passed across the bar counter, collected by another hand. The sound of many people chatting and enjoying lighthearted banter echoes in the background. People cheering and getting worked up over the current sport on the pub's TV. The building is relodent of the smell of alcohol and people, a cozy atmosphere filling the space.

"Putting that on the tab sir?" the bartender asks in a friendly and chill tone.

"Yep, put it on the tab." the person who got the glass of whiskey drinks it down in one swig.

"Wow, this must be a night to forget then. No wife or family to go back home to? Nahh, i'm just messin with ya"

"Heh, yeah no. I don't really got no one to be seeing." Victim gives a half-hearted grin, sliding the empty whiskey glass back over the counter.

"I see. How old are you, may i ask?"

"26"

"Really!? Wow, alright. Care to drop the skincare routine mr?"

Victim chuckles, propping his elbow up on the counter casually. "Haha, no. I keep my secrets hidden."

"Well, y'know sir. Valentine's Day is approaching around the corner. Might be a chance to get that flirt back in swing."

"Oh really? Well, i'm not one to really be interested in...romance" Victim glances around the room, starting to become distracted from the currently held conversation.

"Oh you sure sir? I mean, come on. Everyone has to have some romance some day-" the bartender continues pursuing Victim despite the face that Victim is clearly zoning out, with the occasional "mhm"s and "sure"s. He notices something out of the corner of his eye, making him stand up from his bar stool. He starts walking off, leaving the bartender speechless and confused. Victim doesn't really care to much since it was starting to creep him out how much the bartender probably wanted to ask him out.

The former boss's walk is confident, prideful but mysterious. His dark grey trench coat flows elegantly behind him with each step and his dark, withered halo flickers in the artificial light above his head. Many eyes are drawn to attention as he walks past through the crowds of people at the noisy pub.

Then, what caught Victim's eye earlier comes into view, making the man stop in his tracks. Over at a table of four, four certain guys chat and drink together. Four particular mercenaries. Victim's former mercenaries.

Ballista, a rather short and pixelated guy, full of fun and loud banter, and an absolute machine with the firearms.

Primal, at first glance, a quiet guy driven by discipline. At second glance, a loud beast who masters in the techniques of primal ages.

Hazard, a bathroom sign. Nothing more....JUST KIDDING. A STRICT UP TIGHT GUY WHO LOVES RULES AND AN ABSOLUTE WEAPON WHEN IT COMES TO MARTIAL ARTS.

And finally, Agent. A very tall mercenary who was the leader of the group and the right hand man of the boss, aka Victim. Mysterious and stone cold on the outside with intelligent and quickly thought fighting techniques. But if you get to know him, he's a total softie, if you get on his good side...

Victim goes wide-eyed as he stares at his former mercenaries. He's supposed to have "disappeared dramatically", not to suddenly show up at a pub!!

Ballista cackles. "So yeah! I told him, HEY LITTLE MISTER I'M DATING YOUR SISTER"

They all crack up laughing like idiots, hitting the table. Primal punches Ballista across the face from wheezing.

Victim just raises an eyebrow at them with an expression that says "wtf". He then freezes when he locks eyes with Agent, who was already staring at him.

"..."

"..."

Agent tips down his shades over his nose, his neon blue eyes showing. "Boss?" he raises an eyebrow. The other three also now turn their attention to Victim, their jaws dropping.

Victim stares at all four of them for a moment or two.... before swinging around and strutting off like a queen. "Fuck this shit i'm out."

A/N

Reminder that the actual fanfic is based in 2026! So this was two years ago, meaning Victim is 28 now and Dark is 22 now.

PS: Chapter 8 coming soon.