Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Chapter Twenty

"Don't act irrationally."

Staring at Smiley, so powerless before me, I could understand why Phil would need to remind me of that.

I was so close. There, right before my eyes, was the man who had threatened my brother. A man who had the blood of so many on his hands. I could kill him. I could kill him in an instant. I didn't care if I did it in cold blood or not.

I wanted him gone.

"I can hear a discreet lack of footsteps from you," Smiley spoke up. "Are you going to say anything?"

"No," I said sourly. "Shut up."

There was a moment of blissful silence. Standing was tiring, and a tired Technoblade was a bloodthirsty Technoblade, so I leaned back against the glass wall and slid down to the ground.

"Do you even feel guilty?" I demanded. "You killed so many in cold blood. What's the point in that? All it does is hurt your honor and pride, and it makes you weak."

"I don't do it for the pride," Smiley said with a sharp edge to his voice. "I do it because they don't deserve to live."

"'They,'" I repeated. "Gifted are people too! There's no difference between them and you."

Smiley let out a wheezy laugh. "Ha. There is a vast difference, Technoblade. Just like there is between you and me. But even so, we're still similar, you and I."

"Please," I said. "I'd rather die than be similar to you."

There was a pause. It seemed like he was pouting. "Aw, come on, I'm awesome!"

"You're a killer. A self-absorbed jerk."

"That's just mean."

He seemed so different. I had to keep reminding myself that the person I was talking to was the same guy who I had fought literally a couple hours ago. Now that he couldn't attack anyone, his angry, spastic demeanour had disappeared.

"What's your real name?" I asked.

I could feel Smiley's frown, even without looking at him. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "There's no way 'Smiley' is your real name. No parent who actually cares about their child's life would ever do that. What's your actual name?"

"What's your name?" he shot back.

"Technoblade. Duh."

I looked over at him as he spread his arms out. "And my name is Smiley. Duh."

It was useless. I didn't know why I had even bothered to stay back and question him some more. "Technoblade" was an actual name. "Smiley" was not.

"We're like rivals, you know," Smiley spoke up suddenly. "You, me; the best of the best. Defeating every other opponent to even think of challenging us. We're too good. And so we're the only even match."

I scoffed. "Speak for yourself. I could defeat you in a heartbeat."

Smiley shook his head and smiled. "Oh, really? I seem to remember being the one who won."

"Well, you're in the cell now and I'm the one sitting outside of it. Who's the winner here?"

Talking so offhandedly, being so friendly around each other, as if the wall didn't exist... it felt off. We weren't friends. We were never supposed to be friends. And yet there we were, sitting almost side by side, just chatting. It wasn't right. We were supposed to be fighting. Rivals, he had called us.