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“It’s beautiful here. How did you find this place, dear Boothill?”
While it may have sounded typical coming from the Knight of Beauty himself, Boothill knew the compliment was genuine.
“Eh, I came across this planet when I needed a place to hide from those IPC shirtbags. It was perfect, since there ain’t much people livin’ here, as ya can see.”
The planet was full of green grass, slightly overgrown due to the lack of care from humans. The sky was dark, but occasionally the sun peeked out, feeding the plants just enough nutrients to thrive.
It had reminded him of home, briefly. But now it reminded him of his lover. “C’mon.” Boothill grasped the knight’s hand, pulling him away from his starstruck trance. “I got more to show ya.”
It took a bit of searching, but eventually Boothill found what he was looking for.
“Okay, now close your eyes. I want it to be a surprise.”
“Alright…” Argenti nodded, dutifully closing his eyes just as he asked. The cowboy smiled, glad the man trusted him so much.
He held onto Argenti’s hand, guiding him through the bramble and overgrown shrubbery before they reached their destination. “Three, two, one…open!”
Argenti let out a small gasp, soaking in the area. It was a garden, different types of plants were everywhere. Tall, marble walls secluded the garden from the outside world. And if that wasn’t enough, vines with roses on them covered the surface of the walls, preventing many from climbing it.
“You…when…?”
“Well, it ain’t mine, if that’s what you’re thinkin’. I found it, no owners in sight. I was wonderin’...if ya wanted to try to take care of it together?” Boothill asked shyly. Argenti’s eyes looked wet as he nodded before kissing the cowboy on the lips.
“I truly do love you so much, my darling ranger.” Argenti whispered into his mouth. “And I do believe this is the perfect time for me to give you something I have thought of for quite a while.”
Boothill blinked, confused but intrigued.
“Oh! Well, what is it, darli-” He barely finished his sentence before Argenti dropped on one knee. Boothill’s mouth formed into an o-shape at the sudden movement.
“Boothill. My dearest, the man who has taught me many things, the man who has given me such love and care, given gifts…I’ve realized how much I want to be with you forever. How much I would love it if you’re mine. So…” Argenti took a small box out, holding it in front of it.
“Would you please be my husband?”
Boothill stood there, processing. Then he started chuckling, a quiet sound, before it turned into a full body laugh. Poor Argenti turned red in the face, confused. “Is this a rejection…?”
Boothill stopped, patting the knight on the head as he crinkled up his eyes in delight. “No, no, nothin’ like that Rosey-it’s just…” He smiled as he, too, took out a small box. “You’re over here stealin’ my thunder, darlin’!”
Argenti’s face turned even redder as he started to laugh. “It looks like we had a similar idea…well, since I stole the spotlight, please do propose to me. I would like to see what you had planned.”
Boothill sank onto one knee, feeling a little silly now that his plans had been thrown off.
“Well…I didn’t make a big speech or nothin’, cause frankly if I did, we would be here for hours. But I really do love ya, ‘Genti. And it would be an honor if ya were to marry me.”
“I would marry you over a thousand times, my dear.” Argenti smiled as he held his hand out for the cowboy to put the ring on his finger. It was pretty, the perfect shade of red to match Argenti’s hair.
Boothill held out his hand to do the same, admiring the ring as the knight slid it on. Maybe it was nothing special-he didn’t really know, he had never been married before, so he didn’t have any idea what rings were worth more than others-but it was priceless coming from the man he loved most.
“I promise to take care of this garden with you.” Argenti rested a hand on his chest, showing off his new ring.
“I promise too. We’ll make sure this place looks better than it did before, I’ll tell ya that.”
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
“Do ya really gotta go?”
Argenti gave him a sad smile through the hologram video call they had set up before the knight had to leave on another one of his missions. “Yes, I do. You know that, dear.”
Boothill absentmindedly toyed with his hair. “I know, I know…I’ll just miss ya, that’s all.” The planets Argenti visited seldom had good service, so it would be difficult to contact him throughout the trip.
“I’ll miss you too, my silver cowboy. Do not worry, I will not be gone that long. Less than three weeks, at most.”
A shouting from the background could be heard through the call. “Oh, looks like the mechanics finally filled up my ship. I have to go now. I love you.”
Boothill leaned in close to the hologram, nearly passing through it. He made a kissing noise. “I love ya too, darlin’.”
Little did he know that this would be the last time they talked to one another for a long, long time.
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
[DAY 1]
[RECORDING START]
Decided to keep this log while Argenti is gone. I know, I know, a bit dramatic much? But this will be the longest I’ve been away from him in a few years. Besides, this’ll keep me busy, right?
I made sure to visit the garden after Argenti disconnected. I’ll try to keep my ship in orbit of this planet so I can visit it easier. Genti left some rose buds there before he left. I wanna make sure they grow nice n strong while he’s gone. He treats his roses like they’re his own children, I swear.
Anyway, I’ll leave it there for today. Nighty night.
[END RECORDING]
[DAY 7]
[RECORDING START]
Y’know, I really wish Genti had a signal right about now. I’ve been meanin’ to talk to him about what to do with a section of the garden that we ain’t fixed yet. Unfortunately, he doesn’t and I’m all outta ideas. So I guess I’ll just be leavin’ it alone until he gets back.
The ring he picked out for me is beautiful. Bit of a random thought, I s’pose, but it caught my eye while I was yappin’ about him. It’s obsidian, I think. Kinda matches my eyes. At least, my new eyes. I don’t remember what color my human eyes were no more.
Nah, don’t need to be goin’ down that train of thought. The past is the past. I’ll sign off for now then, I gotta water the rest of these flowers.
[END RECORDING]
[DAY 14]
[RECORDING START]
I’m real glad I had the forethought to keep my ship in the orbit of this planet. I’ve been visitin’ the garden a lot lately-not cause I need to, but cause it reminds me of Genti. I miss him.
Speakin’ of, he should be back soon, I hope. He did say at worst it would take three weeks and it hasn’t been that long yet.
I do hope he comes back soon.
[END RECORDING]
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
Boothill had been heading to the garden when a loud alert sounded from his phone. Curious, he stopped right at the entrance of the garden, pulling his phone out to look at it.
He nearly dropped it when he saw that it had been from Argenti. Opening his phone, he felt his hopes soar high before they crashed down to the bottom of the ocean.
[Automated message from the Knights of Beauty Faction]
[We regret to inform you, designated loved one, that Argenti of the Knights of Beauty has unfortunately passed away in an accident. At the moment, the current cause of death is unknown.
We have not been able to recover his body.
Hold the knights of beauty in your prayers, and pray to Idrila he lives on in the stars of the cosmos.]
He could barely make sense of the last few words, his senses overwhelmed with shock. He ignored the few alerts that popped up in his vision about overheating fans and walked into the garden. Maybe he just needed a distraction. Maybe this was all a dream.
The first thing he sees is the bright red rose that Argenti had planted, now fully in bloom.
He can’t help it. He falls to his knees and screams. If anyone had walked by, they would have assumed the man was dying, for he sounded like he was in absolute agony.
And they would be right, for he was.
[DAY 28]
[RECORDING START]
[Silence. Long, stretching silence.]
Fork.
[The sound of sobs fills the air.]
[END RECORDING]
[DAY 40]
[RECORDING START]
Still tryin’ to keep care of the garden. It’s the only thing I have left now, I guess. I’m makin’ sure to give extra care to the roses. He’ll be so proud when he gets back.
[A choked sob.]
He’ll…he’ll come back, right? Surely. They said they couldn’t find a body…
[END RECORDING]
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
His joints are getting stiff.
Usually, if he was still mostly human, that wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s very much a problem when you’re a cyborg that can’t simply just stretch out the stiffness and be fine.
Stiffness meant rust, which meant he had to clean that rust. But he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Taking care of himself was a low priority, even when his body would run dangerously low on battery and fuel some days because he neglected to check on his levels.
He had to take care of the garden.
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
[DAY 80]
[RECORDING START]
I’ve just ended up moving my ship from bein’ in orbit around this planet to landing it close to the garden. It’s been gettin’ harder and harder to get motivation to take care of the garden…so I moved closer so it could be easier.
I don’t…don’t think he’s comin’ back at this point. But I promised him I would take care of the garden. So…I will. For him.
I can’t even look at the roses the same no more.
[END RECORDING]
Boothill steps into the garden. He deliberately makes sure to keep his head angled away from the roses as he waters the other plants. He always saved the roses for last nowadays.
Argenti would’ve wanted him to take care of them first, but he couldn’t. Looking at the roses makes him want to scream, to claw all of the wires out of him until he finally shuts down, rotting into the ground with the moss and clovers.
So he doesn’t. Because if he shuts down, he can’t take care of the garden.
He does allow himself a few quiet, tearless sobs, though, as he tends to the beautiful roses.
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
[DAY 120]
[RECORDING START]
-that’s why I always told him to keep on racin’, even with his doubts. Cause y’know, it’s somethin’ he’s…he was, passionate about. Fudge.
[Shifting sounds combined with the clanking of metal against the marble]
What am I doin’? Talkin’ to a bunch of flowers-what am I, a lunatic?
[Silence]
…Yeah. Yeah, fudgin’ hell, I am a lunatic. A lunatic for a dead man.
I’ve been here for what? Four hours? Just yappin’ my mouth off to a bunch of plants?
[More shifting sounds, the crunch of dirt]
Few more hours couldn’t hurt I guess. I don’t really feel like goin’ back to my ship. It’s kinda nice out here…
[Silence]
Ah, shirt, is the thingy recordin’ again? Dammit, I thought I fixed that-
[END RECORDING]
[DAY 200]
[RECORDING START]
[Silence]
[END RECORDING]
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
It’s getting harder for him to leave the garden.
He just sits, doing nothing.
He feels nothing.
Is he even alive anymore?
Or did he die alongside Argenti?
He’s so rusty. There’s dirt in his wires. Some seeds as well.
The vines on the wall are slowly becoming overgrown. He no longer has the drive to cut them anymore.
Maybe they’ll bury me in thorns. I’ll be close to him then, won’t I?
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
[DAY 230]
[RECORDING START]
It’s nice to lay in the dirt.
I’m so tired.
[END RECORDING]
[DAY 240]
[RECORDING START]
Fudgin’ hell, that ain’t the right button-where is it…oh.
Low battery warnin’?
[Silence]
Guess I should do somethin’ about that.
[Silence]
[END RECORDING]
⋆˚✿˖°
[DAY 345]
“There.” Argenti says to himself, spotting the planet on his radar. The planet that Boothill had taken him to a year ago, the one with the beautiful garden they had agreed to take care of together.
I’ve certainly broken my promise by now…
Argenti had been through hell and back, nearly dying in a Swarm attack that had attacked the planet he had been visiting for his mission. Fortunately, he had survived, but had been severely injured and lost contact with the outside world for months.
He likely thinks I’ve been dead this whole time.
This wasn’t the first time he had thought of this on his way back to Boothill, but it still hurt. It twisted terribly within his chest. It would be a miracle if the man hadn’t gone mad while he was gone.
Finally, finally, his ship landed on the ground. Argenti wasted no time departing, following the path from his memory. At first he feared he wouldn’t be able to find the garden again, due to how much the planet had grown since he had last been here, but as he walked he found Boothill’s ship.
Quickly, he went inside, surprised that it was unlocked. “Boothill?”
It was dark inside the ship, like nobody had lived in it for quite a long time. Argenti felt his stomach sink.
He looked everywhere in the ship, not finding a single trace of his beloved cowboy.
Where could he be?
Argenti bit his lip as he thought for several moments, racking his brain for answers. The realization hit him and he swiveled back around towards the exit of the ship.
The garden.
Argenti is able to find the garden again easily, due to how close it is to Boothill’s ship. The knight realizes that Boothill must have deliberately parked it there to be next to the garden for ease of access.
He tentatively steps into the area, gasping at the tragic view that awaited him.
The vines that had previously only been attached to the walls were now spilling out everywhere, the dark green only broken up by the occasional bright red of a rose. The other plants are nowhere to be seen, only the vines. And in the middle of it all, a particularly large clump of vines are tangled together, like it had grown over something.
Argenti swallows.
It looks awfully akin to a coffin.
He hunts for the gardening shears he had given to Boothill before he left as a gift, finding them awkwardly placed on the last patch of uncovered ground. Argenti’s careful to navigate through the thorns, although it was likely unnecessary due to his protective armor. Eventually he makes it to where the clump is and begins to cut through it.
He lets out a sob after the vines start to give from his cuts, revealing a dirty silver hand. He clasps onto it for a second before continuing his work. The hand confirmed his suspicions, Boothill was under these vines.
More vines started to give. Unfortunately, it was getting difficult the more foliage Argenti snipped away. Some of the vines had gotten entangled in Boothill’s circuitry, sprouting beautiful roses in between the cracks. It would be an inspiring sight, if it were not for his husband that he hadn’t seen in almost a year being the one to bear such a pretty curse.
He would take care of it later. What mattered was getting his cowboy free.
Snip, snip, snip. Argenti could see more of his jacket, the fabric full of tears from the thorns and muddied with dirt from the ground.
How long has he been here like this?
It hurt him to even ask the question.
Snip, snip, snip. And there was his neck, the link between his human and robotic parts. A couple of thorns had pricked him there, causing dried blue blood to stay there like a mark. Argenti wiped it off with love.
How much pain has he been in?
Snip, snip, snip. His face.
Idrila above, his face.
His eyes were closed, the white and black hair usually covering his eye pushed aside by the vines. Argenti ran a finger over his dry lips before tilting his jaw to face him.
“Please, darling, just wake up.” He whispered.
Naturally, nothing happened. The cyborg was clearly powered down, unable to hear him. But he let his imagination wander, imagining him opening his handsome dark eyes and smiling his pointy teeth when he saw the knight.
Argenti laid his head down carefully before getting back to work, energized with new fervor. He would make sure his husband woke up again. He has to.
It took a lot more work, but Argenti managed to cut away all the vines that were encapsulating his lover. They had preserved him like a tomb, every aspect of him the exact same as he remembered…minus the dirt and roses in his body.
Argenti slowly picked the cowboy up, carrying him in his arms. He was afraid to jostle him too much, unsure of how badly his body might’ve been affected from all the mess.
First, I need to get him inside his ship to charge. If he even wakes up.
Before he walked out of the garden, Argenti gave a small bow to the sacred area.
“My silver cowboy, you did such a wonderful job protecting the garden while I was gone. And now it has protected you in turn. Thank you, Idrila.”
𐚁⊹₊ ⋆
It was bright. Brighter than he had seen in months.
Am I goin’ to heaven?
He nearly laughed out loud at the thought despite his throbbing head.
Nah, I’m pretty sure I’d be goin’ to hell.
He opened his eyes groggily before immediately closing them. Because maybe he did go to heaven after all.
There was no other explanation for why there was red hair in his face unless it belonged to an angel himself.
“Don’t move too much. I’m attempting to fix up your arm. There’s quite a lot of vines in it and I want you to be able to move freely.”
That voice…
“Genti…? Am I dead?” The question falls from his lips as he starts to shift from where he’s sitting, trying to turn towards where the voice was coming from.
“You’re not dead, dear. And what did I say about moving? I promise I’m almost done.”
“Are you dead?”
“I’m not dead either. We’re both very much alive, beloved.”
Boothill wants to say more, but instead waits for Argenti to finish. As soon as he’s done, the knight turns his head towards him. “Are you feeling alright? I’ve tried to make your awakening as comfortable as possible, although I had to do a lot of moving around.”
Boothill just stares at the other man. He’s alive? I’m alive? This is real? He reaches out to the man, despite the heavy weight he feels from not moving in who-knows-how-long.
“Argenti…” He whispers, choking out a sob. His arm is trembling from the amount of synapses he has to fire to move it, but he wants to hold his husband. Argenti smiles sadly, clasping his hand in the other’s before holding it to his chest.
“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
Boothill responds with more nonsense noises, trying to form words but ultimately failing due to the increase of sobs.
“Oh…my love…”
Argenti is hugging him close. They’re together on the floor, weeping into each other’s arms.
But they’re both alive.
And that’s all that matters.
“The garden…” Boothill whispers hoarsely, his Beacon glitching out from how hard he’s crying.
“I know, I saw. But we can clean it up together, once you’re fixed. You did a very good job while I was gone, Boothill. You should be proud of yourself. I know I am.”
That just makes Boothill’s sobs start up again as he holds Argenti tightly. The knight is shedding quite a few tears himself, wetness trailing down his cheeks.
“We’re going to be alright.”
⋆˚✿˖°
Later, much, much later, after Boothill had been fixed up and the garden was slowly returning back to its beautiful state, Argenti found the recordings.
He found them and listened to every single one.
Crying, he put the device back where he found it.
I am truly so lucky to have crossed paths with this man in my life.
I love you, Boothill.