Tee should have been the Keeper, but Ringo defeating him puts a wrench in his plans. At least her embrace is nice. Requested by a tumblr anon!

So, the anon didn't give me a prompt to work with so I picked one myself! It's "Come here, you need a hug."

All's Well That Ends Well

Every muscle in Tee's body ached. Slightly moving his hand caused his wrist to twinge. His fingers felt stiffer than the thick bark on the trees surrounding Suzuran, and with the amount of rotating he had done, he wondered if he would be able to call himself the Tetris King with such inflamed hands.

Panting, Tee clutched his knees and hunched forward. Sweat beaded on his brow, worsened by the warm, violet fires of the torches. He felt everyone's eyes locked on to him, their gazes refusing to waver, the realization that he had lost to her weighing heavily on everyone.

He was supposed to take over as Keeper. Freeing Ex from his position should have made everyone happy. Even if Ess yelled at him, even if Amitie and Arle insisted there had to be another way, even if all the color drained from O's body, he knew his decision had been correct.

But Ringo refused. She wouldn't allow them to swap places despite his victory. She had burned with palpable anger, and if he touched her, he believed he would have charred his fingers.

A part of him admitted she was right. Languishing at the farthest reaches of spacetime, succumbing to loneliness like Ex, those were potential results waiting for him. Tee tried ignoring that rationale even when the consequences were right in front of him. One quick glance at Ex confirmed what kind of future waited for him if he gave up everything.

They had battled, and she won, leaving him gasping for breath. He heard the others cheer, Arle's excitement matching her pet's. Amitie threw her arms around Ess, who quickly blushed and shoved her away. Ex heaved out a sigh, but Tee refused to look at them even when Ringo's shadow crossed over him.

Her hand grazed his shoulder and trailed down to his elbow. He willed himself to glance up, expecting her to smirk and make up a song as her fanfare. The little voice harboring cruelty in the back of his mind told him it was what he deserved for making everyone worry.

But she simply looked at him. Wide, pale shamrock eyes took in everything about him. From the blotchy red patches on his cheeks to the slightest twitches his fingers made on his knees, her analytical gaze never left him.

"Come here," she murmured, her voice light and airy, a tone meant only for him, "you need a hug."

Ringo cupped his shoulders and helped him stand. She brushed off dust when he thought there wasn't any and then wrapped her arms around his neck. Bringing him closer, she embraced him tightly, their long journey coming to a quiet end.

He would have been flustered under normal circumstances. Scrambling to come up with an excuse to bat off Ess' prying glare or Amitie's squealing should have been his next step. He should have been insisting that he needed to be the Keeper, that Ex deserved to have a life outside of his duties, but the scent of fresh red apples wafted around him and stripped him of speech.

"It's over," Ringo said, looping a few strands of his white hair through her shaky fingers. "Tee, it's over. We won."

We? But she had defeated him. She won their battle fair and square.

"We came a really long way. We traveled through dimensions and met so many new friends." She pulled away and pinched his cheeks, forcing him to grin and sang, "And oooh, it was fun! Ano~ther exci~ting ad~ven~ture!"

Fun? Exciting?

Traveling through time and space with her, exploring the stars, and playing Puyo and Tetris, when they all came together, it really had been the most fun Tee had in a long time.

And it was all because Ringo was by his side.

"It was," he said, closing his eyes, his heartbeat slowing. "When I think about it, yeah, it was pretty fun and exciting."

"So, don't even think about becoming the Keeper, mister! We're done with that!" she snapped, jabbing at his nose. Her scowl swapped for a smile when he chuckled. "Good. All's well that ends well."

"What a saying. All's well that ends well." He sighed and hugged her again, the scent of apples calming down the anxiety swelling in his heart.