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Elliot stands a safe distance away from Two Time, watching as they and Coolkidd were playing a dangerous game of ring around the rosie in front of the haunted mansion. He only grows more and more anxious as time goes on, knowing Two Time’s health and stamina were steadily depleting while Elliot was waiting for his next slice of pizza to be ready. Elliot tried getting Coolkidd to target him instead, but Coolkidd seems to be set on getting through, at the very least, Two Time’s first life.
Elliot glances between the two in front of him, taking in Coolkid’s gleeful yet malicious expression in contrast to Two Time’s blank smile. Two Time was a mystery, to say the least. How could they go through these rounds over and over again and still keep that smile on their face? It was one of the only constants throughout this entire situation they were all trapped in, and all it did for Elliot was unnerve him.
That wasn’t the only thing that made Two Time such an odd one, though. Their ability to come back after death was remarkable, almost as much as it was perturbing. Two Time would run by Elliot looking like a regular guy the first minute, and by the next, they’d run by with wings that stretched out from their back, seemingly providing nothing except aesthetic. The wings definitely look cool, Elliot can agree with that, but he’s never seen how Two Time gets them. It’s something to do with them dying, he knows that, but how does that work? Do they just appear? Grow out of their back, maybe?
Two Time glances over at Elliot, which must’ve been the seventeenth glance in the last minute. Elliot doesn’t know why they’re glancing at him. Their expressions are always impossible to read, simply due to the fact their face never seems to change. They probably want another pizza, right? Elliot feels a bead of sweat drip down his face. The slice is almost ready. Just a few more seconds. They just have to hold on for a bit longer.
It’ll be alright. Two Time still has their second life. It might be inconvenient to use it so early, especially with Elliot so close to them, but the time they have given the other survivors to finish the generators is definitely helpful. They’ll be alright. Once they enter their second life, Coolkidd will probably turn his attention to Elliot, and he’ll be able to take Coolkidd off of Two Time’s hands. Either that, or Elliot’s pizza would finally-
He doesn’t have the chance to continue his thought as an explosion of red occurs in front of his eyes.
For a moment, his brain is unable to catch up. What happened? Did Two Time die already? There’s no way, they were on their first life. Then what could’ve possibly…
He saw them. Two Time’s wings, spread out wide behind them.
Dripping with blood.
Their expression, though even more manic, has one more thing shining through. Something Elliot’s assumed existed, but never actually saw.
Pain.
Elliot stares at them, and Two Time gives him one more glance. Visibly shaking, they begin running away, slightly faster than before. It’s likely an adrenaline rush. He sees Coolkidd charge at Two Time, only for them to dodge and split off in another direction, leaving Coolkidd to crash into a wall. They must be used to that. Finally, Coolkidd looks to Elliot, and Elliot looks back at Coolkidd. He’ll think about this later. Now is his time to run.
—
Elliot slips behind a wall as Coolkidd finally gets distracted, making a mental note to apologize to Chance when the round ends. He lets out a small sigh of relief. He only took one hit, but that was still a dangerous amount for him. He glances around and notices he’s right beside the graveyard. He knew that at this point in the round, there would no longer be any supplies there, but it was still a decent place to be if he were spotted by the killer again.
He makes his way over, but as he enters through the left side, he notices something peeking up over the fence near the back. It was black, and he thinks he could see a small bit of white accent.
Just then, it lifted up just a bit higher, and Elliot saw that there was something akin to a spike on it, a black outline with white in the middle.
Those were Two Time’s wings.
Two Time is here.
He needs to check on them.
He makes his way behind the graveyard, a bit cautious as to what he may see. Two Time is sitting on the ground, almost leaning against the fence behind them, as they attempt to wipe the blood off their wings. They’re struggling a bit as it seems their wings don’t have much mobility. They continue trying to stretch their arms behind them, and though it looks uncomfortable, they’re getting a surprising amount of the blood off. It makes Elliot wonder, how many times have they had to deal with this? All by themselves, too, if this scene is anything to go off of.
He watches them do their thing for a moment longer before beginning to inch closer. Once Two Time notices he’s there, which takes a lot longer than Elliot expects, they freeze, staring at him with crazed eyes as he sits crisscrossed beside them. He’s silent, blinking at them, watching as they slowly blink back.
“Do you.. um. Want help? With your wings?” Elliot glances back at their wings for a moment, before looking back at Two Time. All they did was stare at him. Maybe they were considering the offer? Or maybe they were spaced out and didn’t hear him. They seemed to be in a constant state of spaced out, though, and they could usually respond to things with some coherency. That’s what Elliot’s always assumed, at least.
“It’s no problem, I can do it myself.” Two Time’s tone was always odd for Elliot to process, especially when they were speaking to him specifically. He knows they’re usually a bit more formal. He’s heard them talk to Builderman and Dusekkar. However, whenever they speak to him, they take on something closer to a casual inflection, especially in tone and word choice. Elliot squints at them.
“I know that. If you have to do this every time, then..” Elliot trailed off, eyes sliding back to Two Time’s wings. God, they probably go through it a lot. Have to feel the pain of two sharp wings ripping through the skin of their back, of rapidly losing so much of their blood, of having to clean said blood off of aforementioned wings. Just thinking about it makes Elliot want to throw up. He realizes he’s staring when Two Time shifts their wings, hiding them behind their back the best they could. If he were honest, they weren’t really successful. Shoot, he didn’t mean to make them uncomfortable. He brings his gaze back onto Two Time’s face. “..I’m sure you’re great at it. But I want to help! Please?”
Two Time stares, Elliot stares back. He doesn’t really know why he’s being so insistent about helping them. Maybe it was just his innate need to help people whenever they get hurt. Maybe it was the fact that he witnessed what happened, what always happens, to Two Time for them to grow their wings, and feels ill thinking about how many times they’ve gone through it, over and over. He hears Two Time let out a small sigh, seemingly of resignation.
“I will allow you to do this. However, please be cautious.”
Two Time shuffles, changing positions so that their back and wings are now facing Elliot. He can see where their wings ripped through their skin and their shirt, the flayed fabric soaked with blood. The fabric clings to their skin. It looks really uncomfortable. He considers asking them to take off their shirt so he can properly clean their back, but he shuts the idea down instantly. In the middle of a round with no cleaning or healing supplies is definitely not the best time for this. He can just clean what he can.
He reaches for one of their wing’s ends first, cleaning the rest of whatever Two Time missed. He’s been in this hell long enough that the sight of blood didn’t cause him to freak out, but it was still a weird feeling to be cleaning blood, Two Time’s blood, off of their own wings. Now that he thinks about it, he’s never had to take care of Two Time after a round before. He checks in on all the survivors once they’re back in the cabin, making sure they don’t have any leftover blood on them, or that they aren’t on the verge of a mental breakdown, or both.
Guest is one of his regulars when it comes to needing help getting clean, and Elliot’s had to calm Noob down from a panic attack so many times he’d need more than an extra pair of hands to count it on his fingers, but he’s had to help everyone with something before. At least, almost everyone, except Two Time.
The more he thinks about it, the more confused he feels. He’s helped literally everyone except them. Hell, he’s even helped 007n7 before, and basically everyone knows about what has happened between them at this point. When Elliot would ask Two Time how they were doing, they’d show off that same old grin and answer, “I’m fine. May Spawn bless you for your kindness,” or something along those lines, at least.
It doesn’t help that Two Time is worryingly good at hiding their pain. Physical injuries always heal after rounds, but that doesn’t get rid of the ache that comes with the scars. Elliot’s pizza only has healing properties during rounds, so he has virtually no way of alleviating everyone's pain, to his dismay. Despite that, Two Time has only publicly displayed their pain once, which was a minute ago when they entered their second life. They always hide it behind their plastered smile, their eyes that have just about as much life as a rat that crawled into the pizzeria’s vents and died.
Two Time’s wings would often jolt and twitch under Elliot’s touch. Elliot assumes it’s just Two Time being Two Time, but he notices that they only seem to move when Elliot presses down on them. He rubs on a particularly stubborn stain and feels the wing flinch in his grasp. Finally, the pieces fell into place for him. Two Time’s wings were sensitive, weren’t they? Thinking about it, their wings did have the texture of frail skin. Why didn’t he realize that? Two Time isn’t speaking up about it, which is odd, but also, it is Two Time.
“Do your wings hurt?” Elliot tilts his head, trying to get a read on Two Time when they respond, but they didn’t even shift. Confused, Elliot looks a tiny bit closer, and saw that Two Time was staring at the grass beneath them, completely zoned out. Huh. Maybe they don’t notice the pain due to how spaced out they are, though that’s still a cause for concern.
He spoke again, a bit louder and more assertive, yet cautious. “Two Time?” Finally, they lift their head, glancing back at Elliot with unseeing eyes. Whether that be because they’re still spaced out or if that’s just what they look like in their second form, Elliot couldn’t say. He just wants to ask them now that he actually has their attention. “Do they hurt when I press on them too hard?”
It seems to take Two Time a moment to actually process the question, and even more time before they give a slight nod. “They are slightly sensitive.” Of course they are. They just broke out of Two Time’s back. God, now he feels bad for not treating them with more care.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t careful enough..”
“It’s alright.”
The two of them fall back into silence as Elliot works on Two Time’s wings, much more gently this time. This seems to be working, as the wings were barely twitching anymore. The softness doesn’t impact his task, either, because in due time, he managed to finish both of their wings.
At least, most of them. Elliot looked straight at Two Time’s back, feeling the sickness creep back up. “Do you want me to clean the base of your wings?”
Two Time was still for a moment before slowly turning their head, glancing back at Elliot. “I don’t usually get to do that part.”
Right, right. They couldn’t reach nor see behind them that well, and their shirt likely gets in the way. They didn’t exactly answer him, though. “Okay.. but do you want me to?”
He’s met with silence again, just for a moment, before hearing a hushed response.
“I suppose. If you wouldn’t mind.”
Elliot nods before remembering they can’t see him. “Okay.” He looks back at the wings, slowly growing even more anxious. Alright, he said he’d do it, so he just has to do it.
He cleans what he can, a lot of skin covered by their shirt. He thinks they’re still bleeding as he notices some parts he swears he already cleaned get coated with blood again. As he continues the task, both the shirt and the bleeding making it harder than the entire portion of the rest of their wings were, he feels a question on the tip of his tongue. He’s been curious for the entire round, and now that it was them two alone with Two Time making no attempt to flee, he might as well just ask.
“How did you get your wings?”
The response was immediate. “They are Spawn’s blessing.”
Elliot tilts his head. Once again, a pretty obvious answer, but still an interesting one nonetheless. Elliot wasn’t one to entertain Two Time’s talks about their religion, but he initiated the conversation, and he feels obligated to keep it going. “Neat. Were you, like, born with them? Did you have to do something in order to get them?”
Elliot continues working on the base of their wings, gradually slowing down the longer Two Time takes to answer. “Two Time?” He glances around to get a peek at their face again. Again, they’re staring straight down at the ground. Though they don’t seem to be completely unseeing, zoned out to some other place in their mind. They seem as though they actually see something in that particular patch of grass. When Elliot looks down, he doesn’t see anything special. Just the greenery that’s bent in some areas, making way for Two Time’s body. He furrows his brow.
“..Hello?” No response. They’re looking intently at that one spot. Elliot notices Two Time’s reactions to whatever they were seeing. The way their naturally shallow breaths were growing shaky. The way their hands started to shake. He needs to snap them out of whatever this is. He thinks for a moment, then remembers what he was originally doing.
He hesitates as he looks at their wings. He knows they’re sensitive, and he really doesn’t want to purposefully hurt his.. well, not friend, exactly. Acquaintance? Teammate? Ally? Whatever. He doesn’t want to hurt them. But he sees the shivering of Two Time’s hands beginning to slowly spread throughout their entire body. He feels the heavy weight of responsibility rest on his shoulders. Surely they’ll forgive him for this, right?
He tentatively brings his hands up to the base of Two Time’s wings. He stares for a moment, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and pushes as hard as he could bring himself to. He feels Two Time jolt, their head snapping up and entire body freezing. As if remembering the circumstances they're currently in, they turn around, blank eyes staring at Elliot. It felt as though they were looking straight into his soul, dissecting and gutting it empty. Elliot could feel himself grow more nervous, beginning to stammer in his defense.
“I didn’t- sorry for hurting you, you were zoned out or- something- and I got worried and you weren’t responding to me, so-” The longer Two Time holds their gaze on Elliot, the more he grows anxious, and the longer he rambles for. God, can’t they just say something? Or look away, at the very least.
Elliot is so focused on defending himself that he almost jumps out of his skin when he feels something make contact with his face. Or, more specifically, his mouth. He peers down to see Two Time’s tail, stretched out and laid gently on top of his lips. Were they trying to shush him? Well, it worked, so he can’t exactly be mad about it. They both sat there, as if stuck in a freeze frame, for a good moment.
Elliot hears Two Time begin to laugh.
It wasn’t anything loud, he would describe it as more of a soft giggle. The sharp edges of derangement don’t chip at the core. Amusement. Two Time is laughing at him. What the hell?
Elliot squints at them and pushes their tail away from his mouth, just far enough that he feels as though he can safely speak without suffering a mouthful of spikes. “Are you laughing at me? I was worried! That’s messed up, you know!” He feels the smile on his face giving away that he’s not exactly serious. Two Time continues to chuckle for a couple seconds, then clears their throat.
“I apologize. Your facial expression was… entertaining.” There’s some residual giggles, but Two Time manages to go back to their usual unsettling expression. They’re still staring at Elliot, but their gaze doesn’t feel as crushing as it did a few seconds ago. Elliot counts this as a win.
“Whatever.. just let me finish my job.” He breathes out a silent sigh of relief when Two Time finally lifts their gaze off of him, turning their head back around to their front. When he looks back to their wings, he notices that his wake-up call for them accidentally made the bleeding a bit worse. He lets out a quiet hiss, face scrunching up slightly. If only he had a medkit on him, but he’ll have to make do with just his hands.
And finally, Elliot’s done. It isn’t perfect, there are many stains and he swears he can still see some blood dribbling, but it’s the best he can do. He lets out a breath, allowing his hands to rest in his lap but making sure not to get any more blood on his clothes. “Alright, I’m done! Is that good?”
Two Time flutters their wings, though Elliot doesn’t know if he could really call it fluttering when they barely moved. “Yes. Thank you. The Spawn would be pleased with your benevolence.” Elliot offers an awkward smile in response to the compliment. He doubts he’ll ever get used to Two Time’s constant mention of their god, but their appreciation was nice.
Elliot opens his mouth to respond, but gets cut off by a distant yell.
“Elliot! I swear to Lady Luck, you better have your pizza ready! Where are you?!”
Oh, Chance is looking for him.
Once Elliot processes what Chance is actually saying, his eyes widen, and he begins scrambling to get up. Shoot, he forgot he left Coolkidd on Chance. How long has it even been? The round is decently close to over, but he should still heal Chance if he can. It’d be horrible if he died last second because Elliot didn’t help him.
“I’m gonna go, uh- yeah. I’ll see you in a bit!” Elliot runs off, gaining a large speed boost for a couple seconds simply to close distance faster.
Two Time, on the other hand, stays where they are, giving Elliot a small wave as he makes a break for the gambler that surely wasn’t too far away. “Good luck, Elliot! May the Spawn bless you with good fortune.”
—
Wood scrapes against wood as Elliot stands up, pushing the chair out from under him. He glances around at those sitting at the table with him, satisfied seeing that nobody died last round. For some reason, at the end of each round, they were always transported back to the cabin in these eight seats. It was another one of the many mysteries that surrounds this predicament, and it was one that none of them truly bothered looking into.
Elliot quickly gets to work, checking in with Noob first. Noob is the most prone to panic, so it’s become routine for him to check on them first whenever they’re in a round. The check ins go by quick, as they usually do when Coolkidd’s the killer. The only thing that can cause bleeding is his sword, and maybe his brick if he throws it in the right way, so there’s minimal blood that needs cleaning. Fights with him always leave bruises and nasty burn scars, though. Elliot could swear this isn’t a singular person here who doesn’t have a blemish somewhere.
Elliot checks in with Noob, then Chance, then Builderman, then Guest 1337, and eventually gets to the last person. He approaches Two Time, who has opted to sit outside on the porch instead of staying in. Two Time seems to like the outside, and he couldn’t blame them. He also appreciates the consistent cool temperature and the sounds of trees rustling in the breeze. The fact it was always dark outside was sort of unsettling, but it was likely another reason why Two Time likes it out here.
Elliot sits in the chair next to Two Time, feeling their eyes focus on him as he lets out a sigh. “Are you okay?” Two Time was back to their normal self. No wings, no obvious insanity in their gaze. Just their simple smile.
“Yes, I am alright. The Spawn would appreciate your concern.” Elliot would usually run away at this point, slightly offput by their comment. This time, however, Elliot stays right where he is, watching Two Time closely. He knows that, at this point, there’s nothing bleeding. He saw how stained their skin was, though. Saw the bleeding that he couldn’t quite fix, knows that there’s no way that blood magically disappeared unlike their injuries.
“Can I clean your back? Properly, this time.” Two Time tilts their head, observing Elliot. He looks back at them with sincerity. He’s not sure what changed, maybe he just wants something to do so he isn’t stuck with his thoughts.
Maybe he’s finding himself wanting to spend more time with them.
“May I ask why?” Elliot can’t blame Two Time for being skeptical, really. Before today, he’d barely be willing to even stand so close to them. It does hurt that they don’t completely trust him, though.
“I didn’t get to do a proper job during the round. I know the blood must be staining your back, and probably soaking your shirt…” Two Time’s silent, considering, while Elliot taps his fingers together. The longer Two Time stays silent, the more anxious Elliot grows. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to their gaze on him, not for long periods like this.
“..Are you sure?” That’s not the response he expected. He’s sure the surprise is shown on his face as he gazes at Two Time, who blinks back at him as if completely unbothered.
“Yeah? I wouldn’t be offering otherwise.” Nobody knows that Elliot is a people pleaser more than Elliot knows it himself. If someone asks him to do something, he’ll get to it as soon as possible. However, this isn’t him being told to do something for anyone. This is him offering to do something for an ally. He wouldn’t have brought it up if he wasn't up to it.
Two Time’s silent again, then lets out a breath. “Okay. Where do you.. wish to do it?” Elliot thinks for a moment. His first thought, obviously, is the bathroom. They’d have water, body wash, towels, everything they’d need. Though, thinking about it a bit more, he also knows that their bathroom isn’t the most high quality. It was cramped, he could swear there’s mildew growing in it, and the water from the shower was always either freezing cold or burning hot with little in between. The bathroom door has no lock either, which was really annoying considering how many survivors here haven’t developed the habit of knocking before coming in yet.
They couldn’t really do it anywhere else with running water in the cabin either, simply because there wasn’t enough privacy. The kitchen sink? No, people move through the kitchen all the time. He puts a finger to his chin, stumped, and then looks over to Two Time. Or, to be more specific, behind them. “We could use the lake?”
Obviously the lake didn’t have the most privacy either, but between the cabin and outside, the two of them were way more likely to be seen by someone else if they were inside. He barely sees anyone go outside, if he’s honest, besides Two Time themself, 007n7, and rarely Builderman, Chance, and Guest 1337. He can easily run to the bathroom and grab whatever he needs and bring them outside as well. He assumes the water is fresh, considering there’s likely no other place the cabin could get water from.
Two Time considers the suggestion for a second and nodding their head in agreement. “Alright, go sit in the sand near the lake. I’ll go grab some things from the bathroom.” Elliot stands up, feeling Two Time’s eyes on him as he walks inside. He sees Chance and Noob sitting on the couches around the fire places, doing their own things. He hears Builderman and Shedletsky talking about something in the kitchen. He walks up the stairs, going straight for the bathroom. He knocks, waits for a moment, then walks in after hearing nobody inside.
He quickly grabs anything he thinks he might need. Body wash, towels, bandages. After some consideration, he grabs shampoo and conditioner as well. If he’s honest, he could not say for certain that Two Time actually cleans themself properly. Their hair sticks out in every way, unkempt and probably greasy. He might as well help them with that too, right? He’s already washing their back. What’s one more little favor?
He leaves the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and walking back downstairs. As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he pauses for a moment. He should probably get a cup or something, just to make washing their hair easier. He turns the opposite direction of the front door, making his way into the kitchen. He passes by Shedletsky and Builderman, picking up that Shedletsky was annoyed by how Coolkidd’s brick could go through walls while Builderman nodded along.
He set down everything he was holding as gently as possible and opened a cabinet, pulling out a cup. It was one of those horrible quality plastic cups that you could easily squish. Elliot never liked them too much, but he has to make do with what he’s got.
He picks everything back up, keeping in mind that if one thing falls, everything would probably tumble with it as well. He exits the kitchen as Builderman and Shedletsky switch to a new topic and beelines for the front door. However, as he goes to leave, somebody speaks up.
“Hey, Elliot! What’cha doin’ with all that stuff?”
Elliot turns around, setting his gaze on Chance. He was spread lazily across the couch, flipping his coin again then looking back at Elliot. Elliot never knew why Chance flipped his coin in the lobby as it never did anything, but to each their own. “Nothing much! Why?”
“Well, I was plannin’ to get in the shower soon, so…”
Elliot hums. “I’ll be fast, don’t worry!” With that, Elliot rushes out the door, leaving a slightly confused Chance who mumbles something to themself before going back to flipping their coin.
As Elliot walks to the bank of the river, he sees Two Time sitting on the shore. As he comes up behind them, he notices they’ve been drawing spawn symbols in the sand. He can’t say he’s surprised. “Hey, Two Time! I got the stuff!” He sits down next to them and lays everything out, making sure to specifically hang the towels on the dock so that they don’t get too much sand on them. Two Time looks over at everything he’s spread out and Elliot looks at them. They sit in silence for just a moment.
“What is the shampoo and conditioner for?” Two Time looks at him and asks, blinking. Right, they weren’t expecting that part.
“Well, uh…” How does he explain this without inadvertently calling them dirty? “I just noticed that.. you don’t really… take care of yourself too well. When it comes to hygiene. So I just thought, you know… that I could help you? With that?” He smiles sheepishly, finding that waiting a couple seconds for their response has become a bit more natural.
“Oh, that is so kind of you. May the Spawn bless you for your goodwill.” Elliot can swear Two Time’s smile grows slightly wider and attempts to ignore the shivers down his spine. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever get used to their behavior. “What do you wish to start with?” Ah, yeah, they should get this done as fast as possible. No way of telling when the next round will be.
Elliot ponders. He should probably start with their back because that was the point of this whole thing. “We can start with your back, if you want.” In response, Two Time turns until their back is facing him. Seems like a pretty obvious agreement.
They’re both silent for a moment.
..Elliot needs to actually ask them to take their shirt off.
He stares at them as his mind begins to race about how they may react. Surely they’ll know he doesn’t mean it in a weird way, right? He needs access to their back to be able to actually clean it. He can feel his face heat up with embarrassment. Come on, it really isn’t that serious. He just needs to ask.
He takes a deep breath and rushes it out. “Can you take off your shirt?” He’s trying really hard to keep his composure as Two Time meets his eyes. God, why do they have to be so slow to answer things? It almost feels like they’re doing it on purpose.
“Of course.”
Two Time sits up straight and grips the bottom of their shirt, slowly pulling it up and over themselves. Elliot turns away, too embarrassed to watch them do it. He only looks back once he feels a brush of fabric on his arm, seeing Two Time holding out their shirt to him. “Please put this on the dock as well. I’d prefer for it to not get too sandy.”
Elliot stammers for a second before getting something out. “Of course, yeah.” He grabs their shirt and sets it on the deck, swapping it for a towel. He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. He doesn’t know why he’s freaking out so much over this. He’s seen people at the beach without shirts on. He’s seen his family without shirts on as well.
Maybe this just feels more.. intimate?
He needs to get back on task.
Finally, he opens his eyes, assessing Two Time’s back. The first thing he notices is, of course, the thin layer of blood coating their skin. He can tell that’ll leave a light stain, but nothing major. The next thing he registers is how truly skinny Two Time is. With the chaos of usually only paying attention to them during rounds, he’s never really looked at their body. They seem almost skeletal, like if he ran his hand down the side of their torso, he’d feel their ribcage. Did they even eat properly? They mention they haven’t had much pizza sometimes, but did that apply to just pizza or food in general? Not to mention the scarring. He’s seen the scars on their arms, but this tells him there’s scars covering their entire body. Jeez, what has this guy been through?
He makes a mental note of their body type as he dips the towel in the water, soaking it. It’s not a black towel, so it’ll probably get stained, but pretty much all their towels have some sort of stain by now. He grabs the bottle of body wash, pouring a bit onto the rag. “This’ll probably be pretty cold. Are you ready for me to start?”
“Of course. Begin when you’re ready.” With the go ahead from Two Time, Elliot begins washing their back. Luckily, their hair isn’t being too much of an annoyance, but that’s mainly because they’ve craned their head to look out over the water. He doesn’t blame them. The way the everpresent moon reflects on the water is beautiful. He should come out here more.
He pulls the towel away, satisfied with the cleanup thus far. He grabs the cup, taking a scoop of water and dumping it over their back. It gets rid of some of the body wash, enough for Elliot to see that the blood did, in fact, leave a faint stain on their back. Nothing he can do about that, unfortunately. He dips the towel in the water again, cleaning Two Time’s back of the rest of the body wash.
“Is this what beaches are like?”
Elliot pauses for a moment. He wasn’t expecting Two Time to speak. When he looks up, he sees they’ve craned their head a tiny bit more to look at him. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“Did I speak too softly? Apologies.” Two Time clears their throat. “What I said was, is this what beaches are like?”
Elliot considers the question. First of all, the implication that Two Time’s never been to a beach before. Though, considering what little he knows about them, he’s not very surprised. Second of all…
“Yeah, sort of. Beaches are usually salt water, not fresh. It’s pretty similar though.”
Two Time hums, taking their eyes off of Elliot to look back at the water. “Would you frequent beaches often before this?”
Elliot feels himself smile as he returns to cleaning their back. “Yeah. The place I used to work at was actually on a small island. There were beaches just about everywhere. I’d go with my family a lot if I ever had days off.” Which was a lot less often than he’d like to admit, but it was enough for him.
Two Time hums again, likely just as a sign of acknowledgment, and says nothing else. Elliot finishes wiping down their back, holding the towel over the water and wringing it out. “What about you? Did you have any places you'd go often?”
Two Time tilts their head. “Ah, no, not really. I wasn’t one to take trips outside. However, there was a.. flower field. That I would frequent.” Elliot hangs the towel on the railing of the dock and waits for them to continue. When they don’t, he grows curious.
“Is that all?”
“If there was more you needed to know, I’d have told you already.”
Their sharp tone leaves him speechless for a moment. He wasn’t expecting such a juxtaposition from their previously soft spoken voice. Alright, another thing to not pry at. Got it.
“Okay.. I need to wash your hair now. Can you tilt your head back towards me? You might have to look forward for this.” Two Time seems to hesitate for a second before following along, tilting their head back to give him access to their hair.
Oh, god, it really is a mess. He doesn’t know if he can see a spot where there isn’t a tangle. He sighs, collecting another cup of water. “Sorry if any of this gets in your eyes, I don’t have the most experience with, you know… bathing people.”
“I understand.”
With that, Elliot carefully pours the water over Two Time’s head. He wets his own hands a tiny bit, squirting some shampoo into them and rubbing them together. Once a bit of foam has been produced, he slips his hands between the strands of their hair, beginning to massage their head.
He’s thankful the shampoo blankets a bit of their hair textures. Even through the foam, he can feel how grainy and greasy their hair is. Not to mention how his fingers got caught in tangles every other second. He’s surprised their hair isn’t matted. Still, he gets to work, undoing every tangle he finds, kneading in the hair wash and pouring on a bit more whenever he finds it appropriate. It’s easy. It’s repetitive. It’s nice.
It takes a moment, but Elliot notices how Two Time seems uncomfortable. They’re straining to keep their head up, as if they’re dying to tilt it down. When Elliot deems the amount of shampoo suitable and goes to get a new cup of water, he speaks up. “You good? Are you comfortable?”
Silence for a moment. Then, “My apologies. Leaving my neck so exposed is.. disconcerting, for me.”
Elliot furrows his brow. Well, he didn’t consider that as a possibility. “Oh. Uh, hold on, let me just…” He dumps the water on their head, slowly washing the shampoo away. As he does this, he tries to think of ways to fix their problem. The point of them holding their head up is to not get soap or water in their eyes. What other way can he help them?
Once he’s confident he’s washed out most of the shampoo, he sits for a second and ponders. That second is all it takes as an idea dawns on him. He lights up. “I know!” He maneuvers his arms around his own head, reaching for the back and peeling apart the velcro of his visor. Once he slides the entire thing off, he holds it out so that Two Time can see it. “Here, wear this!”
Two Time barely moves, only tilting their head to look at the visor. They’re both silent for a moment, long enough for Elliot to feel confusion as to why they’re taking this long. He’s about to say something else, and they finally speak up.
“Are you certain? It will get wet.. and… bubbly.”
“I mean, not really. Yeah, it’ll get wet, but the conditioner doesn’t produce bubbles.”
“You are alright with getting it wet?”
“It’s just a bit of water! It’ll dry overnight.”
“..If you’re sure.”
Two Time takes the visor from Elliot’s hand, holding it as if it was something delicate. Elliot sits patiently as they put it around their head. “Okay. I am ready.”
“Cool! If that’s also uncomfortable, let me know.”
“..Alright.”
With that, Elliot gets back to his task. He coats his hands with conditioner and begins to massage their hair again. The visor’s only slightly annoying to work around, and he still believes he does a pretty decent job. The top of their head doesn't need a bunch of conditioner anyways.
Neither of them speak, allowing each other to simply exist. Two Time seems a lot more relaxed, enjoying the process more than anything. Elliot can’t say he isn’t enjoying this either. The repetitive motion, the simplicity of the task, it's nice. It reminds him of his job back home in a way.
In due time, Elliot moves on to washing the conditioner out, and before either of them know it, Elliot’s finished with his duty. “Alright, all done! Can I have my visor back?”
Two Time reaches behind their head, cautiously starting to take off the visor. The way they’re acting with it makes him question if they’ve ever used velcro before. They hand it back to him and he flashes them a smile. “Thanks! I hope it helped.” Two Time responds with a short nod.
He hangs the wet towel back on the dock, exchanging it for a dry towel as he wraps Two Time’s hair. He makes sure it’s secure, yet not too tight. As he finally rests his arms, the person in front of him speaks.
“Am I allowed to turn now?”
“Oh, yeah! I’ve finished all the work, so we’re good.”
Two Time shifts their body until they’re properly facing the water once again. Elliot turns with them, gaze laying upon the beautiful view. He breathes, taking in the scent of the freshwater mixing with the nature that surrounds them.
In this hellscape, Elliot doesn’t think he’s ever felt more at peace.
“The Spawn would praise your compassion.” Elliot glances over at Two Time, who's still looking out over the water. A small smile spreads across his lips.
“Let the Spawn know it’s really no issue. Anything for a friend.”
They bask in each other’s company for a moment before Elliot begins to stand up. “I need to return this stuff to the bathroom real quick. If I don’t, Chance might get me…”
Two Time looks up at Elliot. “..”Get you”?”
Elliot nods and doesn’t explain further, scooping everything back into his arms. “Just give me a second.” Elliot goes to walk away.
“Why?”
Elliot pauses, turning around to look at Two Time. They’ve turned their body away from the water, now looking at him. “Why what?”
“Why all of this? I know you all don’t see me as.. normal. That includes you. Why did that only change after witnessing my transformation? Was it pity?”
“What? No. I guess it was, uh.. sympathy? I never knew how painful that was for you. I just wanted to help alleviate it, I guess.”
Two Time stares at him, looking for something he isn’t aware of. They must not find it, as they turn back to the beach after what feels like forever.
“Thank you.”
Elliot can’t help but smile.
“It’s not a problem. I’ll be right back.”
Elliot walks back in the cabin, up the stairs, and into the bathroom. He puts everything back where it was, excluding the wet tower which he hangs on the bar holding the shower curtain. Once everything’s back in its place, he turns to the door, ready to make his way back to the shore.
He’s not thinking too hard, but there’s one thought in his mind that stands out a bit.
He wouldn’t mind doing this again.