Chapter Text
"Does it hurt?" His ivy companion asked him, holding what seemed to be a white stolen cloth in his hand. Then, he brought the fabric close to his injured cheekbone.
"I can't feel my face anymore," He said plainly, causing the reptile to freeze for a second before going back to what he was doing, which was just cleaning the wound as far as clean gets.
"It looks like it hurts," His counterpart argued softly, turning the red stained part of the rag over to continue wiping the scratch with the cleaner side of the cloth. His sun-kissed companion rolled his eyes. "You should have seem the other guy," He said, snickering.
"The human? I did. The other humans took him after you ran away," The reptile recalled. He clicked his tongue, "Which by the way, was very stupid of you. Someone could've seen you, dork." He pressed the cloth harsher than necessary, causing the golden beast to wince, before putting up a lazy front.
"Hell yeah, I got him good. Who does he think he is? Trying to steal our food when they have so much more of it? Greed can do magical things I tell ya" The ivy creature hummed in thought at the white-haired beast's depiction of humans. "You did try to steal from them though," The reptile argued, his tail fluttering lazily behind him.
"You shouldn't pick a fight with humans," The reptile moved to the beast's rose streaked arm to clean it. The injured hybrid hummed in thought. "Seriously Sunny, you always do this." Sunny huffed in amusement.
"It's like I'm gone for more than three minutes, what's that I see? A singular scratch? A singular scar?" The ivy companion huffed, irritated. Then he preceeded to dab the cloth harsher than necessary again, causing another flinch from his companion.
"Hey! Who's side are you on?" Sunny playfully shoved the reptile's shoulder. He broke into laughter. "Yours obviously, who else's side would I be on?" He said in between giggles. A small smile made it's way on Sunny's face. "Thanks Clove, where would I be without you?" Clover huffed. "Rotting somewhere in a cage probably" Sunny mock-gasped. "And here I was, trying to be nice, you wound me Clover," He said.
Clover's gaze shifted to the stolen food. "Reminds me, what did you steal?" Sunny quickly fixed his wording of 'stole' for 'borrowed.' He went back to the pile of food. "Oh! Some bread and cooked rice." He said.
Clover turned to him. "So, no matches for fire?" He deflated a little. Sunny rubbed his hand at the back of his neck, apologetic. "Sorry bud. Matches aren't easy to come by. Maybe we could go another night without fish, huh?" He proposed. Clover had a small smile painted on his face. "Yeah, it's not that important. Y-you can still eat though." He said, leaning into his personal space.
"Yeah, but I kind of want us to eat together. I feel like it's not fair." He frowned slightly. Clover shook his head. "No, it's fine. What isn't fare is that you have to put off eating meat because my body can't take raw meat." He huffed. Sunny put a hand on his shoulder. "Clover, hey, we eat together or don't eat at all. Remember?" He said softly.
Clover sighed. "Is there really no changing your mind?" His counterpart shook his head. "Fine." He forced out. Sunny smiled. "Look, at least we have other things to snack on." He bumped his tail towards Colver's.
"Yeah," He considered. He played with the hem of his plain shirt. Sunny poked his arm, curious of his thoughts. Clover looked at him hopefully. "I wondering if you could teach me some hunting methods." He requested shyly.
Sunny became nervous at that. He'd only taught Clover the basics, but nothing more than that. He never understood why his green bean even needed to learn in the first place. He had Sunny, he didn't have to go through the struggles of hunting.
He also didn't need to worry his head over insignificant things, like food or safety. Clover was still small, sure he parted ways with his parents too early, but he needed to be relaxed and lazy. The world was a dangerous place.
"Uhm, how about another time? I'm pretty tired and the sun is already halfway down." He brought up an excuse like always. Clover frowned at that. "You said that last time." He reminded him. Sunny sighed at that. "I know what I said. I just don't think you're ready." He admitted. Clover froze, the words landing harder than expected. He's sure Sunny didn't mean anything by that, but it didn't help that it hurt.
His eyes were downcast. 'Sunny didn't mean it, he's just impulse like that.' His mind supplied. His counterpart had noticed the change of mood, yet didn't think to do anything about it. "Okay." Was all Clover said.
Sunny turned to leave to their tree house home, but Clover stepped in front of him, blocking his way. The beast looked at him questioningly. "Y-you aren't going to like, leave me right? We'll always stay together no matter what, right?" Clover's eyes were hopeful and fearful all the same. 'Ah, so that's the problem.' The white-haired beast thought.
He put his hand on the reptile's shoulder. "Hey, I'm not going to leave. Never. Got it? Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Don't think you're so disposable. You're more useful than that." He mixed genuine caring with clinical indirect manipulation and called it reassurance. He knew it was messy, but it seemed to be enough since some of the tension in his counterpart released.
Then, he held up his pinkie. "Promise?" Clover asked. Sunny smiled at the familiar gesture. Without hesitation he held up his pinkie and they shook on it. It was something they learned from those humans. It was their thing that they did.
Sunny took hold of Clover's hand as he led him to their makeshift home. No small talk was made. Clover just stared at his hand intertwined with Sunny's. It felt... nice, to be cared for like this.
They reached the abandoned tree house and the beast climbed first and held out his hand for his counterpart. Clover took it as he was lifted up. He looked around the place. It was... somewhat a safe space.
Clover's little scraps and metal materials were scattered around. He liked to make things sometimes, though it never seemed to come together and always fell apart. His journal was wide open revealing an unfinished drawing with crayons not far behind.
Sunny's needle was tucked neatly in the red wool. An unfinished piece of clothing lay in the middle, completely forgotten. His scrapbook was also wide open, though not filled with paintings, but little leaves and flowers with names on the side. A stolen untouched cookbook was leaning against the far wall.
Sunny practically collapsed onto the handmade mattress in the corner, groaning dramatically while hauling the blanket over himself. Clover snickered, he sat on the edge of the mattress, the material dipping beneath his weight.
"That tired, huh?" He teased. "Didn't know you were such a diva," He said in mock disappointment. Sunny shoved his shoulder playfully. "Shut up, the bed is very comfortable" He defended the piece of fabric, his voice muffled under the blankets.
Clover rolled his eyes. Then, he settled down beside his friend, their heads facing each other. Their eyes found one another and they stared for a good couple of minutes.
"So, twenty questions again?" Clover suggested. Sunny smiled and nodded. Then, he shifted, staring at the sky full of stars. It was a good thing that their tree house didn't have a roof. "What's your favorite smell?" He started.
Clover thought for a few seconds. "Night blooming jasmine" He said at last. Clover's tentacles wrapped around his ankles, thinking of a question. "What's the one smell you hate?" He asked. Sunny answered without hesitation. "Rice. It reeks strongly of honey, I hate honey" He explained.
Sunny sat up and put his head on his knees, rocking slightly, thinking of a question he hadn't asked. He hummed, putting pressure on his mind. "Oh! What role would you have in a story? Like one of those Italian plays, or all in general."
Clover hummed, thinking of an answer. "Guess I'd be a comic relief character. Or a mom friend, like you always tease me about. You'd be the hero and maybe I'd be your knight and shining armor." His face heated as his eyes went downcast. "O-or something. Even though I'm not very- y'know, strong or whatever" He regretted bringing it up, but at the same time seeking Sunny's reaction.
He cleared his throat when Sunny stared at him quizzically. "In all honesty, I like the Cheshire Cat from 'Alice in Wonderland', he's very silly" He answered his second question.
"What kind of girl do you like?" Clover asked curiously, tilting his head. Sunny's tail swirled behind him at the intimate question. "Well, I guess someone who's very kind and generous. Obnoxiously bad at everything for some reason" He answered. Clover hummed in thought. '... Was that an indirect insult towards me or a love confession?' He thought of his friend's vague answer. 'Must not be me...' He sighed.
"What's your favorite animal?" Sunny leaned forward and asked him. "Cats," His counterpart answered. "Though, ducks can be cuter" He added. Clover turned towards Sunny. "Have you ever heard of empaths?" He asked, his interest suddenly piqued about the answer.
Sunny nodded. "Yeah, the ones that could read minds, right?" Clover frowned. "No, telepaths can read minds, empaths can feel emotions, feelings," Sunny quirked an eyebrow. "How does that work?" He asked. Clover thought of a way to explain. "It's not like they can't feel feelings, they just-..." He searched for the word. "Understand them." He finished.
Sunny thought about it. "Interesting. How do they do it though?" Clover's heart-shaped tail twitched. "With their tails," He said. Sunny hugged him from behind, causing Clover to tense for a minute before melting into it. "What interesting creatures around the world, huh? I wish we could explore it someday" He whispered, his tail intertwining with his counterpart.
Clover could feel his cheeks heat up slowly. Not with a sudden, sharp burn, but with a slow, quiet and hesitant warmth. It wasn't overwhelming, just... nice and there. He always did that around his friend. He found it weird, but not unwelcome.
He smiled hesitantly. "Someday," He repeated like a promise. He could feel his friend's warm breath on his neck, his hands around his waist, and his head on his shoulder. He tensed even more.
'Sunny really didn't know anything about boundaries.' He didn't know what to do when this happened. He really hated being touched in a way Sunny didn't mean it. Intimately. He probably thinks this is what friends do when it's not. This is different. He didn't bring himself to move away though. He stared ahead instead. With every shift in his companion's posture sending burn around his body. He didn't know if he liked that.
He squeaked when Sunny suddenly pulled him down with him to rest on the bed. The stars were reflecting in his eyes as Clover came face to face with them. Too close. He tried to run, but his counterpart had other plans. He snuggled him close.
Clover became rigid. He was sure his friend was fast asleep and wasn't even aware of what he was doing. He snuggled closer to him anyway. He felt selfish for abusing the situation, but it's not like his counterpart was against it. They hugged as Clover's tentacles pulled the blankets on them, then they proceeded to wrap around Sunny, not intimately of course.
Sunny tucked his chin over Clover's head as their eyelids got heavy and they dozed off into a dreamless sleep.