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spacedykez · 2 years

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get your aromantic double life content!

do you want aromantic double life smp? do you wish there were more aromantic fics in the world? do you love misunderstandings, angst, and/or hurt/comfort? do you love pearl, scott, cleo, and/or martyn and simply want more content about them? look no further! we’ve got it all, folks!

presenting: love loses, a now fully completed four-chapter fic with each chapter centered around one member of the divorce quartet for maximum angst!

(ao3 link, individual tumblr posts:scott/cleo/martyn/pearl) REBLOGS > LIKES!

SCOTT - ON FATE, SPITE, AND CHOICE

Scott was done with games.

He’d never wanted to be part of this. From the start of Third Life Scott had tried to find a bit of happiness despite the blood and war. He’d spited whatever god had created these twisted games and even managed to find a tiny bit of joy: a friend and a bright valley of flowers hidden away from the world.

A friend too good for him. A friend who, when Scott told him he couldn’t love him like he thought Jimmy wanted, had assured him it was okay. That he knew what Scott was trying to say, because he didn’t love like that either.

But they could still be each other's dearest friends; Jimmy could be Scott’s sunflower and Scott his poppy, and they could still love, just not in the same way, and that was enough for them. They didn’t need to fit into the mold of what love was; they loved in their own different way and they were content.

But it hadn’t lasted, and Scott’s happy life had been torn away from him. Jimmy had died, torn away unfairly, and Scott had failed to protect him. A beacon of joy as bright as his sunflower had no place in a world like this, devoid of the happiness and light he deserved.

When Scott had died for his third time, that day in the forest, he’d thought it was over. He’d accepted his fate as the axe swung downwards; closed his eyes in defeat and didn’t bother fighting back. What was there here for him, now that his light had been torn away?

Scott didn’t even feel it hit, already gone from the world. He’d thought that would be the end of his story; just a sad ending to a tragic tale. Dead and gone, forever.

But then, by the powers of some twisted god, he’d reawoken, and taken it as a second chance. Maybe his first life had been a tragedy, but his second would not be the same.

He found a new friend. Not one as special as his Sunflower, but a companion nonetheless, and he was loyal to her. They built a home, and Scott grew almost attached. He began to wonder if maybe, in time, if all went well, he would get a happy ending.

But fate didn’t agree with his ideas for a second chance. He had tried once again to find a happy ending; a bit of joy even in this dark place. But once again, it was ripped away from him.

It was almost worse to win; to watch everyone around die, to somehow survive only to see everyone he cared about be ripped away. He never regretted trying to be kind, but he instead grew to hate the world that constantly destroyed his every attempt at hope.

Scott didn’t remember his final death on Last Life. All he knew was that everything was gone, again, and now he awoke standing in a circle of players: his friends and companions and killers and victims and enemies, and he knew he would spite whatever twist the universe threw at him, as he always did.

But nothing prepared him for soulmates.

This was what he always wanted, right? A friend, someone- he’d been fighting for this since the beginning! And yet, why did it feel so wrong?

Because Scott didn’t want a soulmate. He’d never wanted a lover. He’d just wanted a friend, and instead he was forced into this by the cruel universe.

He was tired of being controlled by these games. Forget lives, forget soulmates, forget everything; Scott didn’t care. He wanted a choice, for once.

And when Scott found Cleo, who was also alone, abandoned by her chosen soulmate, who didn’t want a lover either, he knew exactly how to spite the universe that had brought them here.

Run away together, Scott told her. Let’s be our own soulmates.

And Cleo agreed. No more bowing to the whims of a world that didn’t care for them; they would choose their own paths, their own friends, their own lives.

When Martyn and Pearl walked into their lives, Scott almost regretted his decision. But he knew he couldn’t agree to go along with a written fate, and not when it was abundantly clear his soulmate didn’t care for him.

She’d already left him to go adventuring in the Nether with her new friend Martyn. Great for her! But Scott didn’t need her trying to crawl back to him, and he told her so.

Maybe they’d been friends in the past, but that was behind them. Scott was refusing to play by the rules, and maybe that would end in a few lost friends, but there was a part of him that hardly cared anymore.

He almost hesitated at the hurt look in her eyes, but it was for the best. He couldn’t let himself give in and go along with what the universe wanted.

He didn’t need soulmates, he didn’t need love, he didn’t need Pearl, and he didn’t need a predetermined destiny.

Scott was done playing their game.

CLEO - ON LOVE, FEELINGS, AND BETRAYAL

Cleo didn’t want to abandon her friends.

She’d panicked when she found out what this game’s concept was: soulmates. One simple word, but it set Cleo’s nerves racing with dread. Not because she hated anyone on Double Life; no, of course not! She adored her friends, they got along great, and it wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend time with them.

No, Cleo hated soulmates because Cleo hated soulmates.

Cleo couldn’t love one of her friends, and she didn’t want to. She was happy to share a base with one of them, to spend weeks on end with any one of them, but she couldn’t love them.

She couldn’t do this.

Cleo hated being forced into things, and now the universe itself was forcing her to do something she didn’t want to do, couldn’t do. She couldn’t love her soulmate, and she didn’t want to ruin any of her friendships with anything like love.

Cleo went caving alone, dread and guilt gnawing away at her. She just wanted to go back to when the worst thing she had to deal with was friends betraying her and red lives turning former allies bloodthirsty. And then, as if every part of this wasn’t bad enough, she felt a pain that wasn’t her own shoot through her body.

Fuck.

Cleo froze in horror, back pressed against the stone behind her. Not only did she have a soulmate, their lives were linked. Her soulmate’s pain was her pain, and her pain was probably theirs.

Cleo didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to be bound by a soulmate, trapped by a game she never wanted to play. At least before, she wasn’t truly bound to anyone; she’d made friends, but she was never really forced to look out for them. But now her closest ally was being chosen for her, and to be her lover, no less. Love: something else Cleo didn’t want.

Cleo sat and leaned against the cold stone wall of the cave. She was alone now; there was no one to see her breaking down. No one to see her on the verge of tears over something as stupid as not wanting a soulmate.

Cleo wanted to sob. She’d never let herself cry over anything; not the death, the betrayal, the pain. But the realization that she was being forced into a life she didn’t want and she couldn’t change a thing about it was breaking her.

She let herself break, alone in the dark cave, where no one could find her. Where just for a little bit, there was no one forcing anything onto her.

Cleo shuddered again as she felt a pain in her leg. She wasn’t moving, so it had to be her soulmate’s injury, and she hated it. Hated that she had to be bound like this to someone else. Hated everything about this.

She rubbed the tears off her face and scolded herself for crying. She was supposed to be strong, fierce; she wasn’t supposed to get emotional over losing control. After all, she’d never had control. None of this was her choice; not the death games, not the bloodshed, and not her friends turning on her. So why was this different?

Maybe because for once, she couldn’t fight it off. She couldn’t change that her very life was dependent on someone else, and she got no say in who.

Cleo shoved those emotions away, back where they belonged and stood up, continuing on through the cave. Small droplets of water hung from the ceiling, splashing onto the ground with an echoing drip, drip, drip, which grew louder and more frequent as she walked. The cave must be going under a river, Cleo decided.

She eventually emerged in a decent-sized cavern with a large opening letting sunlight spill in. Small stalagmites poked up from the ground in the deeper sections of the cave. Ren was already there, wandering around and lighting up the place.

Ren was excited to find his soulmate, which was great for him! But that only left Cleo more worried. In flooded her fears of whoever her own soulmate was and her deep want to not be bound by the rules of this world.

Scott wandered in and they talked some more, gossiping about who was soulmates with who like a group of high schoolers spilling tea about crushes. Cleo played along reluctantly, not wanting to lose them to her fears. After all, Scott and Ren didn’t mind having soulmates, and they were trying to find their own!

And so Cleo went along with them. She couldn't change it anyways, so she couldn't let it get in the way of her other friendships.

When Ren and BigB discovered they were soulmates, Cleo cheered them on. Great for them! And two less people Cleo could potentially ruin her friendships with (well, she still could, just not over this).

Every new pair of soulmates looked so happy together. Grian was groaning that it was Scar, but he didn’t seem to mind the soulmates part. Nobody else complained about being forced into this, so how could Cleo?

And then Pearl and Martyn came back, and oh, Martyn. Of course it had to be him that was her soulmate: reckless, distant, stubborn, stupid Martyn.

She hated him (she didn’t. She hated what the universe was forcing her into). She couldn’t spend her life with Martyn. It was a cruel joke, just another way that the world proved it didn’t care about Cleo.

Martyn was nice enough, really, but he was insufferable. She didn’t want to spend ten minutes with him, let alone forever.

And so they bickered. While Scott and Pearl had a civil conversation, like every other pair of soulmates before them, Martyn and Cleo were at each other’s throats. She hated him, and he hated her, and oh it was so awfully fitting. Each equally as stubborn and unrelenting.

But Cleo refused to fall perfectly into place like the universe’s little puzzle piece. She and Scott would defy their fates, leave their despised soulmates, and forget Martyn and Pearl. Cleo felt the tiniest bit bad for Pearl, but Scott looked at Pearl with contempt, just like Martyn was looking at Cleo, and Cleo couldn’t give in. She wouldn’t give fate what it wanted. She wouldn’t be a perfect little love story like everyone else (couldn’t, anyways).

And so Cleo abandoned her former friends, knowing they wouldn’t want her after she couldn’t be a lover.

MARTYN - ON REALIZATION, REUNION, AND TRUST

If you asked Martyn his opinion on soulmates, he would tell you they were lame.

After all, his soulmate had rejected him before he’d even met her. Not like he’d wanted a soulmate, but still! It hurt!

If that was how it was going to be, fine! Screw Cleo! Martyn didn’t need her or anyone, thank you very much (even if Cleo was actually a great partner, with her natural survival instincts and fighting skill. But never mind that)!

Cleo had always been stubborn, and so was Martyn (It was almost funny, how no matter how much neither of them wanted one another they matched each other so well). And so of course neither would give in and admit to caring about the other.

He didn’t care about Cleo, Martyn decided. If she didn’t care about him, then he didn’t care about her!

Never mind the giant heart he was currently standing atop. He didn’t want Cleo as a soulmate. He didn’t care that she’d left him!

“Hey Martyn!” Jimmy yelled, brandishing his goat horn. His little yellow canary wings fluttered excitedly behind him.

“Aw, come on!” Martyn groaned lightheartedly. “You got one now?”

Jimmy frowned, but continued on in a hopeful voice, sounding quite proud of himself. “Yeah!”

Martyn pulled out his communicator and typed out a message, then watched as Jimmy looked down at it, face falling. “Hey-”

<InTheLittleWood> what does Jimmy’s horn sound like?

Jimmy blew his horn defiantly right as Grian replied, a high-pitched “do-do-dooo!”

Nobody responded to the call. Jimmy frowned, looking incredibly sad, until a lone horn, a faint, matching “do-do-dooo!” called out in reply.

Tango skipped up behind Jimmy, his own bright flame-colored wings perfectly matching Jimmy’s. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Aw, Tango!” Jimmy grinned wide.

“Having fun with your husband?” Martyn called teasingly, and Jimmy flushed.

“Yes, thank you!” Tango answered coldly as he grabbed Jimmy’s hand and said something to him Martyn couldn’t hear, turning and leading Jimmy back towards their house.

Martyn sighed and turned back to gazing at Cleo’s base unhappily. He wasn’t jealous of Tango and Jimmy. He didn’t need a partner to care about him like that (he didn’t even want a partner as in a lover! He just wanted a buddy! A friend)!

He hated Cleo. They could have been a great team, but no. Cleo didn’t want him. Cleo left him for Scott, to ‘defy fate,’ and she didn’t care that Martyn was more than willing to help her. Instead she denied him without giving him a -chance.

A figure walked out of the door of Cleo’s house and Martyn watched intently. He didn’t want to see her! …but he didn’t have anyone else to go to. So here he was.

Martyn jumped down onto the bridge he’d made and walked closer, waving at Cleo. She scowled, but built her own bridge out to talk to him.

“What do you want?” Cleo demanded impatiently, standing with her hands on her hips.

“I just wanna talk,” Martyn told her. Cleo turned away, ready to leave, but Martyn called out to stop her. “No, wait-”

“What is there to talk about?” Cleo whirled and crossed her arms angrily. “I don’t wanna be soulmates.”

“I was trying to get resources for us!” Martyn yelled. He had been trying to help, but she despised him for some reason! And Martyn didn’t know why!

“You left me!” Cleo yelled back. And now there she went, offering her excuses for not wanting him!

“I didn’t know everyone else would be looking for their soulmates!” Martyn replied, throwing his fist to the side in frustration.

“You didn’t think maybe your soulmate wouldn’t want you risking our life in the nether!?” Cleo asked, clearly not listening to what he was trying to say.

“I was careful!” Martyn protested. Couldn’t she see that he was completely competent!? “I didn’t get us killed- I barely got us hurt!”

“But you could have! And you went to the Deep Dark!” It was Cleo’s turn to punch the air angrily.

“But I didn’t!” Martyn exclaimed. And that was the issue- she was dwelling on what-ifs to justify leaving him. She didn’t even care that he’d brought back valuable supplies. “What is your problem with me!?”

Cleo froze, like she thought he hadn’t noticed. Whatever her reason for hating him was, it went beyond a reckless trip to the Nether.

“I don’t want a soulmate,” Cleo spat finally. “Are you happy? Is that what you want to hear? That I hate this stupid game and I don’t want my life bound to you?”

Martyn paused a moment, considering. He didn’t want his life bound to her either, but it didn’t do them any good to work against one another. “What’s so different about this? Everybody else has accepted their soulmates, why can’t we?”

“Everybody else can love their soulmate!” Cleo screamed, immediately backing away in horror and stumbling backwards to get away from Martyn.

“Wait, Cleo!” Martyn called, but she was running away. Martyn pillared up to her bridge and ran after her, chasing her to the door of her house.

“Leave me alone!” Cleo turned suddenly and pushed Martyn away.

Martyn stopped, yelling after her. “Cleo, wait!”

Cleo stopped, turned, and asked desperately, “What is there to say, Martyn!?”

Martyn tried his best not to let her harsh tone hurt him. Cleo was upset, and he couldn’t take it personally. “I don’t want to love you!”

“You- what?” Cleo blinked. “That’s what soulmates are!”

“But do they have to be?” Martyn pleaded, talking quickly before Cleo ran again. “I just want to be a friend! And it’s not helping anyone for us to keep avoiding each other.”

“Can we be just friends?” Cleo asked hopelessly.

“If we can spite the universe? Yeah, of course,” Martyn grinned. “You wanna spite the universe together?”

“I like the sound of that.” Cleo smiled faintly. “Martyn, I- I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Martyn told her. “Lord knows I hate things being decided for me too.”

“We’re a bit fucked up, aren’t we?” Cleo chuckled. Martyn nodded and they both laughed.

“Hey, be fucked up together?” Martyn asked cheesily.

Cleo sighed with a grin on her face and shook her head amusedly. “Yeah, sure.”

Martyn couldn’t believe they’d ever let themselves get mad at one another for something so easy to change, but neither of them were great with actually telling people things. Yet another thing they had in common.

For how much they’d hated each other, they were quite similar. And Martyn loved that. Cleo was great, and he couldn’t ask for a better friend.

Soulmates were lame, but Cleo wasn’t. And Martyn would never forget that again.

PEARL - ON APOLOGIES, FRIENDSHIP, AND ACCEPTANCE

Pearl didn’t want to be alone.

But as she stood in slight shock, staring numbly at Tilly lying sprawled out limply in front of her, Pearl wondered if she was destined to be alone.

Her soulmate and her best friend had both abandoned her. It hadn’t even been a day when Pearl’s soulmate had somehow rejected her before they’d even spoken. She’d been trying to help, and yet somehow that had only made Scott hate her more. She didn’t want a soulmate, really, but it still hurt that no one wanted her.

At least she still had Tilly: the only creature in the world that didn’t care what Pearl did, who would follow her blindly into anything. Pearl wished her friends trusted her that much- even a little bit would be better than being hated!

“Pearl?” A voice called questioningly. She snapped her head up angrily to meet worried green eyes, internally grimacing. Of all the people to show up now, it had to be him.

“What is it?” she said brokenly. She was one wrong word away from snapping. It wasn’t like she had anything left to lose.

Scott stood in front of her with an unsympathetic expression. Good, she didn’t have any sympathy for him, either. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Pearl snapped back. What did she have to be doing? It wasn’t like she had any sort of goal.

Scott didn’t seem to have an answer. Pearl turned her back to him, debating whether to stay or go. She wanted friends, but did she want him? She didn’t want… that. She wanted no part in the strange act called romance, the thing she didn’t understand, that had no place in her life, especially in a death game like this.

“Pearl-” Scott began unsurely. “Are you okay?”

Was she okay? Was she okay? Were any of them okay!? They were in a death game, with no way out, their friends turning against, murdering and/or marrying each other. Her companions had all chosen to leave her and no one seemed to care about her at all anymore. But yes, she was just great, thank you!

“Oh, I’m fine, Scott,” Pearl said sarcastically, not missing the way Scott’s eyebrows raised in concern as she laughed brokenly.

Scott took a deep, steadying breath before replying. “Do you need-”

“Oh, now you’re gonna ask what I need?” Pearl interrupted scathingly. “Now, that you’re seeing what you caused?”

“I didn’t cause this! You were the one that decided to abandon me to go the Nether on Day One!” Scott protested. Of course he wanted to blame her for all of this, when she hadn’t even gotten a choice in any of it!

“I was just trying to be helpful! I didn’t know what everyone else was doing!” Pearl told him (which was true, no matter how much he denied it). “And you abandoned me, too!”

Scott looked down in slight embarrassment, and then, like the words were paining him, he asked, “Do you want to try… being soulmates again?”

“I don’t want to be soulmates,” Pearl scowled. She didn’t need him, or any chosen soulmate. She could make her own life without anyone else.

But then Scott cried out her name, panicked, and she turned to him annoyedly. Before she could even speak to defend herself from whatever he was going to say, he yelled again. “PEARL, LOOK OUT!”

Scott jumped for her, drawing his sword, but not looking to attack her. Pearl whirled to see a tall, green-ish figure behind her, which she could hear making a hissing sound as she watched it.

The creeper flashed a blinding white and Pearl stood not reacting as several things happened all at once.

Scott shoved her behind him and threw his shield up to protect them. Pearl stumbled backwards, tripping and landing on hard dirt. And a booming noise sounded as the creeper exploded, knocking Scott back to land beside Pearl, thankfully uninjured.

The two sat gasping for several seconds before Pearl spoke. “That was close.”

“Yeah,” Scott agreed shakenly. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, neither wanting to break the uncomfortable silence.

Footsteps came from in front of Pearl and she looked up to see Martyn standing above them, watching them curiously. “What happened to you two?”

“Creeper,” Scott said bluntly, shutting down his questioning, and Martyn didn’t press further. But from out of nowhere, Cleo brushed past him, running up to the two of them, meaning they were not in fact spared from an interrogation.

“Scott, are you okay?” Cleo asked worriedly. Pearl glanced down at the ground. Of course Scott was all Cleo cared about; never mind that Pearl was sitting right next to him, no less shaken.

“I’m alright, it was just a creeper, I’m not hurt,” Scott assured her. Yeah, sure, just don’t bother asking Pearl. She was just fine, thanks.

“Hey Pearl,” Cleo greeted (like an afterthought, like Cleo just had to deal with her being there). That was okay, though. Pearl was used to being left out, and anyways she was fine on her own. “Do you want to come back with us?”

“Come… back?” Pearl repeated disbelievingly. To.. they were… what?

“To where Scott and I live,” Cleo explained. Pearl didn’t reply for a long minute. Hadn’t they told her not to come near them? They certainly hadn’t wanted her company before. What had changed?

“You guys left me,” Pearl answered. Which wasn’t an answer to the question, but Pearl was still scrambling for words. “Now you want me back?”

Martyn frowned and turned to Cleo, exchanging an unsure glance before looking back at Pearl. But before he could speak, Scott. Scott sighed and stepped forward. “I left you because I didn’t want a soulmate. Not because I didn’t want you.”

“But…” Pearl trailed off unsurely. She wanted a friend so badly. But she had Tilly… And did she want a soulmate? Wasn’t that what Scott had just said? “You didn’t want a soulmate? Why not?”

“We thought soulmates had to be, you know, lovers,” Cleo explained sheepishly. “Scott and I, at least.”

Pearl’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Was Cleo… was Cleo saying what Pearl thought she was? “You just didn’t want arranged love?”

“Exactly,” Scott agreed, staring at the ground. “I’m sorry for abandoning you, Pearl-”

“Scott!” Pearl interrupted him giddily. “I don’t want that either! Love, I mean.” She grinned and laughed happily, jumping up from where she was sitting to rush over to Cleo. If that was all that had been keeping them from wanting her, then maybe, just maybe, she could have friends! Friends who didn’t want love either!

“Pearl!” Cleo exclaimed excitedly, then steadied herself. “Does that mean you’ll join-”

“Yes!” Pearl practically yelled, barely able to contain her joy. They wanted her! “Yes!”

“Fuck love, right?!” Cleo said determinedly, raising her voice as if to scream to the very heavens that she wanted nothing to do with their games.

“Hell yeah!” Martyn cheered, punching the air in agreement with his soulbound. Pearl nodded eagerly, and Scott quickly joined them, standing up and walking over.

Pearl beamed, a warm feeling spreading in her chest. She had friends now, people like her, and Pearl was happy to say she would never be alone again. if you’ve read this far, thank you and consider reblogging if you enjoyed! also, here have some bonus content!

#aro dlsmp #zombiecleo #inthelittlewood #scott smajor #pearlescentmoon #double life smp #dlsmp #writing #fanfiction #aro #aromantic #this has been sitting in drafts for DAYSSSS #i couldn't get on my computer to format ONE LINK #anyways here you go maybe people will be interested in the full thing #for the record i'm only posting this so i have a single post for the masterlist lol #the otter scribbles

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