"Wow…" Jecra breathed. The past hour had gone by in a blur as Meta filled him in on everything he had missed, the two sitting side-by-side against a tree. The smaller knight only nodded in acknowledgement, before sneaking a glance at the other's face. He felt a pang of sympathy as he caught a glimpse of sullen, downcast eyes.
"Ah… this may be too forward of me, but…" Meta paused, and shook his head. "No, it's nothing. I won't bother you with such trivial nonsense."
"I'm sure it won't bother me" Jecra said, forcing a smile. Meta gazed intently at the ground, resisting the urge to wrap himself up entirely in his cape.
"Would it ease your mind at all were I to…?" Meta made an odd motion. Jecra squinted at him.
"To what?" he said slowly.
"There really is no way to word this with dignity…" Meta grumbled. Jecra flushed slightly, eyeing his friend with trepidation. Was he trying to suggest what he thought he was..?
"You are starting to worry me, dude-"he was cut off as two small but strong arms pulled him into a loose embrace. Jecra relaxed, chuckling softly. "A hug, huh?"
"Hush" Meta snapped, though his tone was light "I am not well versed in matters of emotion." Jecra rolled his eyes, and obligingly rested an arm around Meta to return the gesture. No matter the circumstances, it was nice to see him relax, even more so without his ever-present helm. It was nice to actually see your best friends face once in a while. Or in this case once in a few centuries, though he wasn't sure if being dead counted or not.
Meta definitely looked far wearier than when he'd last seen him. Dark bags were under his usually bright and vibrant eyes, who were themselves a far duller tone. The years hadn't treated the man's mental state kindly, had they…
"…Uh…Sir Meta Knight?" the female voice shattered Jecra's thoughts and sent Meta skittering away towards his helm, flushing cherry-red. Fumu blinked. She'd expected the face under that visor to be grizzled and battle-worn, not… squishy and cute. He even had the same big doe eyes that Kirby had…
"Uh, hey there miss" Jecra greeted. He noted her suspicious expression, and extended a hand. "My name is Jecra, or Sir Jecra if you wanna get formal about it."
"Fumu" she said awkwardly, shaking his hand.
"Eavesdropping is very unbecoming of you" Meta interjected, striding up with his helmet now returned to its usual place. Fumu ignored him, and kept her gaze on Jecra. If Meta trusted him so whole-heartedly, he couldn't be dangerous, but just who was he?
"Um…Sir Jecra? Who exactly are you?" she asked.
"No need for the Sir part, I've never been a formal guy. Anyway, I'm a buddy of Meta's. In fact, he's sorta my best bud" he answered, putting a hand on Meta's shoulder. Fumu watched with no small amount of surprise as Meta made no effort to remove the limb. They really were close.
"We fought alongside one another in the war" Meta supplied. Fumu nodded, quietly observing how close he was standing to the other man. Jecra seemed to be totally open, but Meta was hiding something.
"Where have you been, then?" she asked.
"Well, I sort of-"
"He was assigned to a rather distant sector, but was re-stationed upon request after the fall of Nightmare due to the GSA becoming more flexible outside of war" Meta said, cutting off his companion. Jecra seemed to almost frown for a moment before regaining his jovial grin.
"He explains it better than I do" he added. Meta gave Fumu a pointed look.
"Perhaps my quarters will serve as a more suitable place for a private discussion" he quipped.
"Yeah, it's all just war stuff anyway. Trust me, you don't want to hear it, mi- Fumu" Jecra agreed, though he gave Meta a confused glance.
"It sounds interesti- hey!" she squeaked as Meta brushed past her on the narrow pathway. Jecra gave her a sympathetic look.
"Sorry 'bout him. He can get real weird sometimes" he said, darting after Meta. "Nice meetin' you, Fumu!"
"He's always weird" Fumu mumbled, though the two men were already too far away to ever hear her. Though now that she thought about it, Meta was acting especially strange today. Who fainted upon seeing their friend? Who got flustered and angry when caught spending time with their friend? She blinked as she thought of the most probable explanation for such behavior, and started laughing hard enough to necessitate leaning against a tree trunk.
"He's got a crush!" she wheezed.
Meta sat on his couch, watching his friend with amusement as he inspected the television. Technology had come a long way in the years he'd been…gone. He shook away his darker thoughts and focused back onto the very much alive man in his living room.
"Fascinating… you're saying this isn't an artifact?" Jecra gasped.
"Technology has come a long way" Meta responded. Jecra hopped up, and sat beside Meta, gazing intently at the screen.
"What's it showing?" he asked.
"It is called a movie, or motion picture. It is a story conveyed through the visual medium of the television" Meta supplied. Jecra watched as very poorly made cut outs were waved about, accompanied by equally poor acting.
"Um…" he started.
"This is a poor example" Meta explained. Channel DDD's only entertainment value came from how hilariously inept it was. Jecra chuckled as a portion of the set fell over, causing a purple haired man to yell at the group of orange-haired actors that had been moving it.
"It is kinda funny" he laughed. Meta smiled, and the two sat commenting on the sub-par programming until they both drifted off to sleep, their intent to have a serious discussion buried beneath shared laughs and familiar smiles.
(Two bros, sitting in the forest. Five feet apart cause they're not gay.)