Chapter Text
Deep breathes
It felt like he was pushing a weight off his chest each time he tried to breathe.
He held his chest and could already feel bruising.
He had dealt with worse, this is nothing to him, more of an annoyance than anything. Because of course he had to trip over a rat while coming back from another one of those things requests, and it’s just his luck that there was a pile of sharp rocks with water right outside the pipe he fell out of. The girl wanted some sort of woven basket and expected Huntsman to find it with no direction on what exactly he was looking for.
All he got out of that was a tear in his coat.
He tried to keep his low coughs to himself, mostly not wanting Syntax to bother him, Goliath would just be worried.
Small rays of sunlight drifted into the lair from various points. He was going to sleep like the rest of his crew but the water currently soaking his hair and part of his coat said otherwise.
“The hell do I do now?”
He stated to himself under his breath, sitting in the lair just seemed boring and it’s not like he had anything to do or anyone to hangout with.
Or
He did have someone he could see.
Huntsman had already visited Sandy a few times at this point, he hated to admit it but he found comfort in that big blue idiot.
…
He could just think about it while he goes on a walk.
The empty pipe echoed softly at each step of his boots, his coat having just enough momentum to not be completely limp off his torso. Following the scent of seawater he came to a stop, a walkway decently far from where the boats were.
The bright sun made the liquid in his jacket fade, but the smell of water was as strong as ever close to the ocean.
He really couldn’t get enough of how quiet the docs were.
“You’re back again!”
“AGHH-”
Huntsman quickly took a step forward as he turned around in one quick motion, trying to catch his breath after what felt like a heart attack.
Sandy had his same old smile with Mo on his shoulders, his hand was raised in a wave but Huntsman missed the actual waving, only Sanding lowering his hand.
“Give a warning next time blue, damn.”
“Sorry, you don’t usually show up during the day, I was just gonna put these away then head out.”
Sandy had three large bags of cat food which he carried like they weighed nothing, knowing him, they probably didn’t.
“Where’d you get all that if you’re heading out?”
“Donated, I guess a perk of being seen around with MK. But I was about to go shopping. Do you want to come with?”
Not like he had anything better to do
“Are you sure about inviting me out?”
“I thought you’d like to get out, when we hang out we’re always stuck at my boat.”
“It just seems like a risk.”
“Don’t worry, nobody I know really goes to this part of town.”
“Whatever you say Blue, I’ll keep my hood up for now.”
Sandy always attracted attention, he was used to eyes being on him which is why he always made a point to look nice, to just smile and make sure nobody around feels stressed about what he might do.
Huntsman tried to be more discreet, he was a hunter, even if he was ever confronting his first instinct was intimidation. He couldn’t help but scowl at everyone who would stare at Sandy, seeing their eyes drift from the fish demon to the smaller Spider.
“I was planning on heading to a garden shop, but we can go somewhere you wanna go, too.”
“Hm? Where would I wanna go?”
“I don’t know, it's your choice. Or we could take it easy since you’re nocturnal and all.”
“I’m not really tired so don’t worry about it.”
Huntsman wasn’t a big fan of the city, all the scents mix together and stand out at the same. Walking past a stall with fruits and vegetables, the distinct smell of sweet strawberries. Or past a restaurant with the scent of burnt food and fire. He followed Sandy in a shop that he enjoyed most, the walls canceled both the sound and smells of the city, with only the soft smells of flowers and earth inside its curtain walls.
There was a human at a countertop, distracted on their phone until they lightly lifted their head, lighting up as he saw Sandy.
“Sandy! Good to see you back, and of course Mo.”
Both of them laughed lightly as the cat jumped off Sandy’s shoulder and onto the counter, the cat gracefully accepting pets from the garden house worker.
“And who’s this? Brought a friend?”
The spider was caught up observing the things around the shop, of course there were things like gardening tools and plants. There seemed to be a bunch of small trinkets littered around the store, some bug and plant plushies made the place seem more friendly.
“Yep! That’s Huntsman, I’m just here to pick up the usual few things.”
“‘Course, go right ahead buddy.”
Huntsman followed Sandy quietly as he started to move throughout the store, stopping at a shelf with many kinds of fertilizer.
“Why do you come to this place?”
“Oh! I grow a lot of my own stuff for tea, but for some reason I can never find the right fertilizer for the Lungworts. They just don’t grow as well.”
“What are they?”
“I’m sure they’re somewhere, here, Lungwort.”
Sandy gestured to a section that had a selection of starter plants, ranging from things as simple as a tulip to scientific names that made him question what botanists do with their time.
Huntsman picked up a small plastic tag that was stuck in the soil of the plant starter which had the flower's name on it, looking at the back.
“How are you growing it?”
“Just like all my other flowers, my Chamomile always grows great but it doesn’t seem to flower right.”
“Yeah, it says it needs partial shade rather than direct sunlight.”
“Oh! You know flowers?”
The spider simply gave him a confused look before turning the small tag around, holding it up to Sandy.
“Those have instructions on the back?”
An absurd question for someone who was supposedly growing tea from scratch for a decent amount of time but it made Huntsman laugh. He had grown more comfortable overtime, laughing in front of him was nothing more than a nice feeling.
“Geez, you’re hopeless.”
A few other things caught both Sandy and Huntsmans attention around the greenhouse, but Huntsman stopped to ask another question.
“Can you really make any flower into tea?”
“Most, yeah you can. Even flowers that are toxic can make safe tea.”
“Weird, any tea that you can’t make?”
“Well there is a flower I always wanted to try but I can’t find it since it’s not native to here. It’s called Yarrow, it looks really nice in pictures though!”
With all his items selected, Sandy paid for all the things he got. Huntsman didn’t really know the name of anything but he still enjoyed the energy in the small shop.
“See you next time buddy!”
“Yeah, thank you!”
Huntsman took a break before he stepped back out into the city, just as loud and erratic as usual but he could deal with it.
“By the way Huntsman, I was wondering if I could get you something?”
“Hm, why?”
“Just a souvenir to remember our first time out! Of the boat I mean.”
“You don’t think that’d just be a waste?”
“Of course not!”
“It’s your money, just. Do whatever.”
Sandy isn’t completely inept at people. Huntsman had shown a gradual change in their time together but he seemed more accepting of Sandy’s attempts of affection, gifts are a good step.
As their outing went on, Sandy could tell Huntsman was slowing down. His eyes drifted more and he didn’t have the energy to scowl at everyone who looked at him funny. To be considerate, he decided to try and cut his outing short for the spider’s nocturnal sake, only making one more stop.
“Here.”
The fish demon held out an energy drink in front of his new friend as they stood outside a convenience store not too far from the docs.
“I don’t really know if you like these kinds of things but it wouldn’t be great if you fell asleep on your way home.”
Huntsman quietly stared at the electric blue can before accepting the offer, he didn’t feel like wobbling his way home anyway.
He took a sip of the strong liquid and was all to vividly reminded how he injured his chest earlier.
How did he not feel this pain for the last hour?
He coughed after swallowing the drink, started to hold his chest as the pain grew and felt his lungs cough.
“Huntsman?”
“I’m good, I’m good- just, got too reckless earlier, it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? Do you want me to look at it?”
Huntsman wanted to reject, he should probably get back to the lair but his words were interrupted by his own pain.
“At least let me patch you up, anything?”
Hate
Hate was probably the best word to describe it.
Describe how much he didn’t like the worried expression of his companion of the day.
“Fine.”
The rocking of the boat was uneasy to Huntsman at first, he wasn’t used to it and felt like his balance was constantly just a little bit off center.
Getting used to how the boat moves with each wave and wind felt natural now.
“How’d you get hurt like this?”
Huntsman was sat on the couch with his coat off, Sandy had a medkit off to the side while Mo sat just to his left.
“Might’ve been when I tried to hunt down a weird basket, maybe when I fell out of a pipe? Probably both.”
When he didn’t get an answer, his eyes went from Mo to his owner. His eyes looked way too worried for a villain.
Just try to
Change the subject
“Calling it quits early kinda sucked, you wanted to get me something.”
“I did!”
“The drink?”
“Nope.”
“What? Then what did you get? I didn’t even see you get anything.”
“Tada!”
Sandy pulled out two things out of a bag from the garden, he assumed he really was too distracted to see Sandy grab two plushes.
The small bug creature had a oval body that seemed to be filled with cotton, the six long legs however had adjustable wireframe with simple cloth covering it.
”You asked to get me something after you bought it?”
”I wanted to make sure you’d accept it! It’s a Water Strider.”
The item looked small in Sandy’s hands but the body fit snugly on Huntsman’s entire palm as he squeezed it slightly. Huntsman realized the intent of having one for each of them a moment later.
“You wanted to match or something?”
“I grabbed one at first but it was kinda cute, so I wanted one too.”
“Most people don’t really describe bugs as ‘cute’ but, whatever floats your boat.”
“I don’t think they’re that bad- was that a joke?”
“Hm?”
“The boat thing, did you just make a joke?”
Sandy’s expression was fixated on Huntsman, both were shocked but the larger one turned from shock to laughter.
“Hey! You look too deep into things you know that!”
“You actually made a joke!”
“Well I’m not that heartless! C’mon.”
Huntsman lightly pushed Sandy, not in an actual attempt to harm or move, god knows he couldn’t if he tried.
A small gesture that felt
Natural.