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“Hey! Hey beanpole! Down here!”
Yellow was just coming back from his shift of giving Seth a much needed break from managing Aqua’s chaos when he felt something tapping his leg. He looked down as the mysterious voice instructed to see it belonged to Orange, who was putting all her strength punching his leg to get his attention.
“Oh! Howdy, miss! What can I do for ya?” He leaned down on one knee to get a bit closer to her, but still had to crane his neck down to properly face her. But that wasn’t out of the ordinary, he had to do that no matter who he was talking to.
“This stupid castle was built too big and I can’t get up on the railing to look out for intruders!” Orange explained. “And Green’s too busy to walk around with me, so I need you to pick me up and put me on the railing! …please.”
“Oh, of course! Easy peasy!” she glared at him. “C-cause I’m all tall an’ stuff, not that yer small or nothin’!” he backpedalled. That seemed to appease her, and she let him scoop her up into his hands.
Despite the flowers often not saying the obvious of Orange's size out loud to spare her feelings, it was still apparent just by looking at her, and especially holding her, just how small and light she was. And Yellow would never say it out loud, but he got worried because of that. He was the sheriff, the protector! It was his job to worry about keeping everyone safe, he just couldn’t help it! And boy, did he worry about Orange…
She didn’t like people talking about it, but the truth was that she was small and relatively weak. She definitely had a lot of training to do before she truly was as strong as she wanted to be and said she was. And he worried so much that her size and strength could be a problem. What if she got stuck somewhere she couldn't break out of? What if someone carelessly walked around and stepped on her tail by accident? Or worse, broke a limb by stepping on it. Or even worse than that…
What if someone crushed her little skull?
They wouldn’t even need to try that hard, or even use their foot at all! Just their hands could be enough. They’d just have to take her head in their hand and squeeze until it crushed like a can.
Her neck was even weaker. His hand would just have to wrap around it, and one quick, tight, balling up of his fist would snap it like a twig.
He could even prolong it, choking her with a single hand while the other held her body still and kept her from attacking back. Though maybe that wasn’t necessary, she wasn’t strong enough to fight him off.
And that body was pretty vulnerable. He took it in his hands so easily. Both hands wrapped around it, although one would have worked perfectly well. And he squeezed. He squeezed her in both of his hands as hard as he could, right around her little ribs. They snapped and shattered like glass under calloused hands, strengthened from hard work. Her breath grew shallow, and her eyes grew wet. She tried to scream, but the pressure his hands put on her defenceless lungs kept any noise from coming out. All she could do was stare at him with those big, pleading eyes, and beg for mercy. The force began to break skin and burst veins, blood beginning to leak through the gaps in his fingers and down his arms. Just a few more moments, and she was bound to pop like a water balloon-
“Hey, dummy!”
He gasped under his breaths, eyes wide, and body trembling as he looked down at his hands…
And the completely unharmed mouse in them.
“You-you’re not a very good elevator…” she grumbled. “You shake too much, and-and it could have really scared someone if they were walking past! So-so don’t scare that hypothetical person!”
“Y-ye’m! Sorry fer the trouble!” he placed her on the railing as requested, and turned tail just as fast. “N-now, I-I really gotta be goin’! Got-oth somethin’ it gotta do, ya know how it is! Have’a good evenin’!”
He ran off before she could get another word in. It was rude to leave before someone had an opportunity to speak themself, but he had to! He had to get as far away from her he possibly could, as quick as possible. The jail would be a good option, someone violent like him belonged behind bars! Oh, seven suns, how could he ever think such a horrible thing? Why did he think them in the first place?! Only the most violent criminals could ever think up something so downright evil! On second thought, maybe it was best if he never got the chance to even think about hurting anyone like that ever again! Burying himself alive was too slow for the immediate action that had to be taken. He’d better find the nearest window and make sure he was high enough up to splatter like a bug on a windshield-
But… that was breaking a rule. Blue had set a very stern, very specific rule. That he had to go see him when he’d done something wrong, that he would decide how to go forward because Yellow wasn’t really that good at that.
Although, it felt like a foregone conclusion. Surely Blue would be disgusted and want him put to death anyway. But, rules were rules. He didn’t deserve to go down with the dignity of keeping his horrible plans all to himself, anyway. It was for the best Blue knew before he was put to death so he could tell everyone that they shouldn’t feel bad or hold a funeral or anything, and that it was a good thing he was gone for good this time.
He didn’t want to, but he knocked on Blue’s door anyway. Of course he didn’t want to. He was such a filthy criminal that he didn’t even want to own up to it…
Blue opened the door, soft smile disappearing as he saw Yellow’s tear stained cheeks and trembling body.
“Oh… oh, my dear, my darling… whatever happened to put you in such a state?” He cupped Yellow's cheek. And even though he didn’t deserve it, Yellow took advantage and leaned into the touch. He really was awful…
“I-I done did somethin’ unforgivable, Blue…” he confused, breaking down further. “An-an’ I should’a just taken care’a it myself, but ya told me to come to you when I thought like that, an’ I’m so sorry yer gonna have to deal with th-that-” he collapsed into the ballerino’s arms, somehow managing to sob harder.
“Oh, darling, it’s going to be alright…” he placed the softest kiss to Yellow’s forehead. “I’m so, so proud of you for coming to me first. That was very brave, and very strong of you.”
“D-don’ say such nice things to me… I’m the worst kinda criminell…”
“Uh, uh, uh.” Blue tutted. “I believe that’s for me to decide. Now come inside, I’ll put some tea on.”
It took nearly ten minutes,plus the time it took for Blue to convince Yellow he was indeed worthy of drinking the cup of tea he desperately needed to replenish his body’s water supply, before he was finally calm enough to have a discussion that wasn’t a spiral.
“Now, could you please tell me what happened to make you feel oh so terrible? What could you have possibly done to think it warrants immediate death of all things?” Blue asked, trying to stay as calm as possible, though his worry seeped into his voice.
“W-well, I-I was helpin’ Orange get up somewhere she couldn’t get to on her own, and I started thinkin’ some downright nasty things about her!”
“Such as..?”
Yellow hesitated for a moment. Blue had to know, but it felt like too awful of a thing to say out loud. Still, he had to. “I was thinkin’ up about how easy it would be to-to… to kill her…” Blue looked concerned, but still motioned for him to continue. “I thought about how easy it would be to crush her in my hands, to pop her like some balloon! That-that she’d be awful scared too! I thought about how she’d look at me, and scream, and cry, and how I wouldn’ stop myself and just-and just-” he completely broke down again. This was such an awful thing to put out into the world. He was awful.
And yet, he felt a hand on his back, gently rubbing it, he looked up to see Blue staring at him with such an undeserved sympathetic look in his eyes.
“That must have been a very frightening thing to think about.”
“It was awful!”
“And… you didn’t follow through, correct?”
“Course not! That’s just plain evil! All I ever did was plan, didn’t do nothin’!”
“Plan? You thought this over several times to figure out how best to do it?” Blue encouraged his thought process along.
“No! No, never! Just came to me once and then I ran as fast as I could! I never, ever want to think of nothin’ that terribly ever again! Just too awful!” He buried his head in his hands.
“Then, Yellow… dearest…” Blue guided his head towards himself. “That doesn’t sound anything like planning to me.”
“It-it don’t?”
“Nothing of the sort. It sounds like a weed, a waking nightmare, an intrusive thought. Some nasty little thing that planted itself in your head without your permission. And I don’t believe it’s very fair for you to blame yourself for that.”
“But… but I still thought up somethin’ awful…”
“Did you want to think about it?”
“No! Never! It was terrifyin’! Hated every second’a it!”
“But Yellow, people who do bad things want to think about doing them. They think about what they’re going to do, like the idea, and carry it out. If it’s not something you want to do, just something that terrifies you to think about, then how could it make you a bad person? I, for one, think you’re very admirable and good for what you did, being repulsed by something so cruel. Being so very scared of the mere idea of someone getting hurt.”
“But if I didn’t want it… why was I thinkin’ about it?”
“Because your heart is filled with too much love for your own good. You worry so much about the people you care for that you can’t help but think about the worst case scenario, including one where you are the danger.” Blue explained in far more simply and metaphorically than the truth of ‘you have a complicated mental disorder that latches onto the things you care about the most and twists them to torment you’. That would have gone over Yellow's head in such an emotional state.
“So… you don’t think I’m dangerous or bad?”
“Not at all. I think you’re just so worried about the wellbeing of others to the point your nightmares about hurting them bleed into the waking world.” he gently took Yellow’s hands in his own. “But everyone has nightmares about hurting the ones we love. It does not make you a monster. You are not a danger, you certainly do not deserve to be put to death.
Yellow went weak and leaned in against Blue, the shorter man happily holding his weight.
“‘M sorry for botherin’ ya over nothin’, then…”
“No, no, not at all. It was a good thing you came by. You were troubled, and now, hopefully, future heartache can be avoided. It’s always a good thing to let out these big emotions before they can overpower your thinking. And know I will always be open to help you with such. Always.”
“...mhm… thanks, Blue…”
Blue looked down to see the man laid against his chest could hardly keep his eyes open. He couldn’t help but coo at him.
“Oh, you poor thing, those emotions must have put quite the strain on your mind and body. You look absolutely exhausted. Let’s get you to bed, alright?”
“U-huh…”
Blue effortlessly picked him up, and carried him to his bed, taking his shoes off, of course. He could sleep in here tonight, it was probably for the best someone kept an eye on him after an episode like that.
They were soon laid side by side, the blankets tightly tucked around them. Yellow’s eyes were just barely still open. Blue placed a soft kiss to his forehead.
“Sleep free from the nightmares that plagued you in your waking hours. Rest as you deserve for all the kindness you spread.”
Yellow didn’t respond, already out like a light.
But at the very least, he didn’t stir the slightest in his peaceful sleep.