Chapter Text
It had been about a month since Geo found Spitz, and he had been keeping the promise he made to himself when he first found him.
He had never taken care of a kid before, but he thought he was doing an ok job so far. The important thing was that Spitz was happy, that was all Geo cared about. They still didn’t know how to leave, or if they even could, but at least they had each other now.
Things weren’t perfect, but they were good. They had a roof over their heads, three meals a day, and they had recently a found a stream of fresh water!
When they had first found it, Geo thought that following the stream might lead them to a way out, or maybe a settlement of some kind. Geo told Spitz to hold onto his hand and not let go no matter what, and led them both up stream.
As they went upstream the terrain become rockier with large cliffs they had to climb up. Geo also noticed that there were less trash piles the farther they went.
Him and Spitz followed the stream until they reached the fog, at that point Geo picked Spitz up and carried him on his back. He didn’t want to go through the fog while Spitz was with him, so instead of trekking through the fog they turned around to walk back.
After finding the stream he began mapping out the land so they wouldn’t get lost, and to hopefully make some sense of the strange land. It was also something to keep them occupied. Spitz was young, and it wouldn’t be good for him to just sit around doing nothing.
They were currently on one of their mapping expeditions, Spitz happily leading the way while Geo mapped out landmarks in a notebook.
“Geo, Geo look! There’sss a bird!” Spitz yelled excitedly
Geo looked up from his notebook, only to see Spitz had darted out of sight. He immediately started panicking.
“Spitz?! SPITZ WAIT!” Geo yelled, taking off after him.
“IM OVER HERE!” Spitz yelled back.
Geo followed the sound of Spitz voice until he found him standing on top of a large trash pile. He was looking up at the sky, trying to find the bird he spotted earlier.
“Spitz, you can’t just run off like that.” Geo scolded, making his way up the pile of trash.
“There wasss a bird, I know they’re wasss…” Spitz said with disappointed look on his face.
“I believe you bud, but you can’t go running off like that, you really scared me.” Geo tried his best to sound as understanding as possible, he didn’t want Spitz to think he was mad at him.
Spitz looked down at the ground and kicked a nearby can down the trash mountain. “I’m sssorry Geo, I just got exited…” Spitz said as he watched the can tumble down the trash pile.
“It’s alright, come on let’s go back. I can make some lunch if you’re hungry?” Geo said while patting the kids back.
Spitz looked up at him, eyes wide. “What about the bird?! We can’t just leave them!” Spitz said, stunned that Geo would even suggest something so outrageous!
“I’m sure they’ll be fine, I promise.” Geo tried reasoning.
Spitz looked back up at the sky. “Alright, I guesss I am getting kinda hungry.” Spitz said, still disappointed about losing the bird.
Geo smiled down at him and pat his back again to try and comfort him before they made their way down the large trash pile.
He hoped that Spitz wasn’t upset because he scolded him, or that Spitz got scared when he yelled. He’d never been responsible for anyone but himself, and was still nervous about letting Spitz out of sight. He knew that it really wasn’t that big of deal, but he always worried when he didn’t know where Spitz was. What if he got hurt, or lost? What if he gets trapped under something or-
His thoughts were interrupted by Spitz tugging on his robe “Geo, look! I think the bird isss following usss!” Spitz excitedly whispered to him while pointing up at the sky.
Geo looked to where he was pointing to see a bird flying just above them. “Would you look at that… do you think they’re hungry too?” Geo asked in a teasing voice.
Spritz giggled, “Birdsss can’t eat people food!”
“How would you know? Do you have bird friends I don’t know about?” Geo asked as genuinely as possible, trying his best not to laugh.
“Nooooo! And if they did eat people food, they wouldn’t want your awful cooking!” Spitz yelled before running off.
“What?! What’s wrong with my cooking?!” Geo yelled, chasing after Spitz.
They ran the rest of the way home, both slowing down as they reached the front door to their makeshift home.
“Well would you like to help me make lunch then? You can show me what serpentine eat, if you want.” Geo offered as he held the door open.
“Ok!” Spitz said as he went in.
Just as Geo was about to close the door behind them, he noticed that Spitz little bird friend had followed them, and was perched on nearby rock.
Geo closed the door and made his way over to their small kitchen, where Spitz had already started preparing lunch.
Spitz helped Geo cook lunch, he gathered all the ingredients and told Geo to chop the vegetables while he manned the stove. Spitz seemed to know what he was doing, so Geo let him cook while he supervised.
Spitz finished, and Geo prepared two bowls of the soup for them.
“Isss it ok if I eat outside?” Spitz asked as Geo handed him his bowl.
Geo thought about it for a moment, “Well… as long as you don’t go too far, ok?” Geo knew that Spitz was a smart kid, he had to stop being so over protective. Spitz would be able to handle going out on his own. Besides, there were still some things around the house he needed to fix without any distractions.
“Thanksss!” Spitz said excitedly, grabbing his bowl and rushing out the door.
He made his way over to the fire pit they had built together, and sat down with his food. As he was eating, he noticed the bird from earlier had landed just a few feet away from him. He froze, staying as still as possible so he wouldn’t scare the bird off.
The bird hopped closer and tilted its head, it looked like it was eyeing his bowl of soup.
“Are you hungry? I don’t think birds can have miso soup, but I bet he have some nut.” Spitz said to the bird.
The bird didn’t answer, but it did look up at him, which he took as a yes.
Spitz set his bowl of soup down and dashed inside. He grabbed the bag of nuts they had on the counter, and quickly rushed back out. But what he saw shocked him.
There was some weirdo in bird hat eating the rest of his miso soup!
Spitz ran towards the thief and tackled him to the ground. “That wasss mine! You can’t take ssstuff that isssn’t yoursss!” He yelled at the boy.
“AAH! Get off me you weirdo!” The boy yelled back before kicking Spitz in an attempt to push him off.
They continued fighting and yelling at each other, which quickly got Geos attention. He came running outside and pulled Spitz off of the boy.
“Lemme go!” Spitz yelled as he tried to wiggle free from Geos hold.
Geo did put him back down, but kept a firm grasp on his shoulders, so he couldn’t move.
“Spitz, you need to go inside and calm down.”Geo said in a serious tone.
Spitz crossed his arms over his chest and avoided making eye contact with Geo. “Fine…” He grumbled and stomped back inside.
Geo sighed and turned his attention to the boy Spitz had been fighting with. He was still sitting in the dirt, and looked like he was holding back tears.
Geo crouched down to the boys level before speaking. “Hey little guy, you alright?” He asked.
The boy didn’t respond, and instead pulled his knees up to his chest and hid his face. The boy didn’t make a single peep, but his stomach did start growling.
“Are you hungry? We can go inside and I could get you some food?” Geo offered.
The boy looked up at Geo and nodded.
Geo smiled at the boy and stood back up. He offered his hand to help the boy up but he ignored it.
They both went inside, and Geo heated up a bowl of soup for the boy. Once he set the bowl down in front of him, he went to check on Spitz.
“I’ll be right back, ok? And let me know if that isn’t enough for you.” Geo said. The boy still didn’t respond, to busy slurping down the soup. Poor kid had probably been starving.
He made his was over to Spitz room and knocked on the door. “Is it alright if I come in?” He asked.
“Yeah…” Spitz said from behind the door.
Geo walked in to see that Spitz had cocooned himself in blankets. He walked over and sat down on the end of the bed.
“I’m sssorry for hitting him…” Spitz said, but it came out muffled from all the blankets he was under.
Geo rubbed his back. “I’m glad to hear that buddy, but I’m not the one you should be apologizing to right now.” He said.
Spitz sat up and threw the blankets off. “Alright fine!” He exclaimed.
“That’s the spirit! Now please don’t get into anymore fights with him, I have to finish fixing the heater.” Geo said as he and Spitz left the room.
“I’ll try my best!” Spitz said to him before making his was to the kitchen.
Geo smiled at him before going over to where they kept the heater. It had worked for the first two days after he built it, but now it just didn’t seem to want to turn on.
Geo ended up working on it for the rest of the day, and only noticed how late it was when he saw the sun had started to set.
He got up and went to the kitchen to check on the two boy, only to see they weren’t there.
He immediately began assuming the worst had happened.
His ran to the front door and nearly tore it off its hinges when he flung it open.
His worries were quickly put to rest when he saw that Fritz and the boy had just gone outside to play tag.
Spitz noticed that Geo had come outside and yelling, “Geo, Geo! Come play tag with me and Fritz!”
Geo sighed, looked like he would be taking care of two kids now. He was sure he could handle it though.