Chapter Text
The botanist lied awake in his tent, unable to sleep, but tired as all hell. Despite being in this pocket dimension across realities his fear remained. His mother whispering psychotic chants at midnight, drunk, scratching at his door with whatever pointed weapon she could find at the moment, sometimes just kicking down the door and beating him with her bare hands and blaming him for the damage to the door the next morning and beating him again... and if she found out her son was gay... that's a whole new story, he'd be drawn and quartered... the scars left his body but not his mind.
A shadowy figure outside near the alchemy engine. "Hmph." it scoffed. The man still had an interest in science despite his corruption, ever since he took over the throne, he has become a god of sorts, hopping from one dimension to the next, back and forth. But after observing all the... "un-triumphant" versions of himself he took a liking to a specific version of himself... a rather peculiar Wilson... the... "verdant" as he called his little pet...
The Shadow King waltzed up to the tent door and instead of walking in, simply vanished from view and popped into existence on the inside of the tent, the verdant jumped, startled. "D-Don't scare me like that!". He trembled a bit but quickly calmed down at the sight of someone he could at least call a friend, in this harsh land that was kind of a foreign concept after all.
"Sorry pal, just dropping by...~", the other Wilson said in a rather calming tone despite his, well, to say the least, TERRIFYING appearance. The shadow king took off his overcoat and lied down next to the verdant. "I've been watching you... stressed lately, hm?". The verdant let out a nervous sort of fake-laugh and responded by simply nodding faintly and looking to the side. "I can't blame you." said the other, "This land certainly isn't very pleasant, hell, I wish I could do something about it...".
The two sat in silence for a moment, just looking up at the ceiling of the tent before the verdant said "It's the thought that counts, isn't it? And you've certainly put a lot of thought into me, as much or more than the thought put into this place's horrors...". The shadow king stretched, got up, and grabbed his coat. "G-going so soon?" the botanist pouted, somewhat disappointed. The other Wilson looked to a portal he had conjured, then back to his favorite pawn, then back to the portal. With a flick of his wrist the portal dissipated, no, he wasn't going so soon, tonight is the night he would stay and maybe get to know his little pet better than only seeing him through bi-weekly visits or watching him from the throne via shadow magic.
He sighed, but smiled before turning around, happy to do this but knowing he may be intervening too far. "No, no, just taking a glance into the darkness, still getting used to being able to see into it much more clearly... you'd be surprised what terrors lurk." The verdant sighed in relief as the other lied back down, after all he didn't exactly feel very mentally sound at the moment, and while that problem could normally be solved with some cactus, or bringing a dark sword to wherever a terrorbeak's throat would technically be, all he needed right now was someone to talk to... now, how to approach the subject...
As the verdant was staring into the abyss, half-cuddling up to the shadow king, looking for an answer, the darker clad one suddenly spoke up. "Ahem, so, erm, what exactly has you in such a rough state? Sorry if it's too personal of a question, I just-" Ah, nevermind. There's the answer. He asked it himself, hoorah. Now for the tricky part of explaining. The verdant trembled a bit and cuddled closer to the shadow king as he prepared himself. "W-well, uhhhmmm, I'm..." He was scared that maybe this shadowy Wilson was just as discriminatory as everyone else he's ever known in his life...
The botanist took a deep breath and sheepishly said "I'm g-gay... and-" The shadow one's ears perked up. "Hm? You'll have to speak up I'm afraid.". Uh oh. The verdant shook in fear, but said it anyways just in case he'd be accepted, maybe if he said it really fast it'd be easier...? "I-I'mgayandmymombeatmeasakidbecauseshe'sanevangelicaldrunkbastardwhodoesn'tgiveafuckaboutherson!". The man burst into tears and hid inside the fur roll he has crafted. "I... I'm gay and was beaten as a child...".
The shadow king simply said "Oh.", the verdant was scared, until the other spoke some more. "I am too, you know, and the other Wilsons across the constant, but I've never seen or went through such horrors with our mothers, that's... terrible... I could offer a shoulder to cry on you know..." he said as he laid his hand on where he could only assume the botanist's head was through the fluffiness of the makeshift sleeping bag.
The verdant without any further thought laid his head on the other's chest and lightly sobbed into it as he comforted his pawn.
"I'll stay as long as you need, err, what should I call you?"
"I suppose Wilson would work, b-but we're all called that aren't we...?"
"I'll call you it anyways... 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿~"