Chapter Text
It was a normal morning for Sam; nothing out of place, everything the same as it had always been since he’d built his base in the side of a mountain, hidden away from the outside world.
When he’d woken up, Ponk was curled in his side, tucked in between Sam’s multiple arms, sleeping soundly with his back to Sam’s chest. It was normal for Sam to wake to the human in his arms, despite him having a whole room for Ponk in the base and Ponk himself having his own place not too far from Sam’s. Not that Sam minded at all, no. In fact, secretly he liked this a lot better, even if it meant Ponk never let him stay up and work on projects.
Smiling softly, Sam gently and quietly rolled out of bed, careful not to wake Ponk as he started out to make a quick breakfast for the two of them. Of course, Fran was curled in a ball at the edge of the bed, always eager to greet Sam in the morning with happy wags of her tail, hungry for breakfast.
Sam said a quiet “Good morning,” petting the white dog on the top of her head before stretching and grabbing a green hoodie from the chair in the corner of the room, custom made to accompany his four arms. He slipped it over his head, yawning as he walked to the kitchen, Fran at his heels.
Breakfast was always an easy task for Sam. Having the ability to have four arms really helped with the whole process, not the mention his useful redstone contraptions sped up the process rather nicely. Sometimes all he had to do for breakfast was start up the machines and wait for them to work their magic.
He rubbed his eyes sleepily, figuring he was tired enough to let the machines do their jobs. He cracked a few eggs and poured some pancake batter into a mold. As eggs cooked and pancakes baked, Sam fed Fran before starting up the coffee machine, humming quietly to himself as he did so.
Yeah, things were pretty normal. The base was quiet, as it often was, nothing was off, and Sam felt at content.
As he watched the coffee pot filled with the dark liquid, someone lightly bonked their head onto his back, slightly startling him. He glanced back, seeing the light blond hair of Ponk, his hands dangling at his sides as he rested his head on Sam’s back.
“Oh, morning Ponkie!” Sam chirped, smiling down at the man, “you startled me, I didn’t hear you come into the kitchen.”
Sam only got muffled noises in response, Ponk not really one to be so cheery in the morning. Which, again, was normal for Sam, nothing he wasn’t already used to. Knowing it only lasted for a bit until Ponk got his coffee, Sam tried for a conversation. Something not out of the ordinary, something very simple.
“How did you sleep?” He asked, pulling out some mugs as the coffee maker beeped, announcing it was ready.
“Mmm, with my eyes closed,” Ponk answered before snickering at his own joke, pulling away from Sam, suddenly very awake.
Sam ducked his head, shaking it in slight disappointment. He honestly didn’t expect Ponk to fully answer him, it too early for him to do so, and if he did expect him to do so, then he should’ve expected an answer like that. Honestly, Sam walked into that one.
Sam sighed to himself and turned around, two mugs in his upper hands, frowning at Ponk with slight amusement in his eyes at the man’s antics.
Ponk grinned, his blond hair sticking out in a messy nest, still wearing his clothes from the other day. “Aha, see what I did there?” He asked, grinning as he waved a finger at Sam.
“Yes, I did,” Sam nodded, handing Ponk one of the mugs, “but you know that’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” Ponk hummed, grinning as he gratefully took the mug into his hands. “Thank you Sammy Wammy,” he chuckled, taking a happy sip of the coffee.
“You’re welcome,” Sam smiled, leaning down and kissing the top of Ponk’s head, making the other flush in embarrassment, gripping the mug a little tighter. It was just a simple gesture, nothing the two weren’t already familiar with. Sam liked to show affection for Ponk with sweet, short kisses here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was just too early for Ponk to really expect the gesture after he made such a dumb joke.
“So,” Sam smiled, holding his own mug in one hand as he used the others to get some plates out, the food ready, “besides the obvious, how did you sleep? Or, did you sleep well?” Sam figured that was what he should’ve asked first instead of his other question.
“I slept alright,” Ponk answered, following Sam to the table. He gave Fran a quick pat before sitting down, Sam sitting across from him. He always slept better with Sam by his side. The man, as big as he was, made it seem like he was cuddling a whole ass teddy bear. Needless to say, he slept more than ‘alright,’ but he kept the answer all the same.
Ponk’s mug hovered near his face, him taking a small sip before he lowered it, “What about you?” he then asked, looking up at Sam with a smile.
“Oh, me? I slept well,” Sam replied, setting a plate in front of Ponk, “I mean, thanks to you I actually got some sleep.”
Ponk thanked him for the food, picking up the fork as he chuckled. “Well, that’s what I’m here for. To make sure you take care of yourself, stoopid. You can’t be skipping out on sleep because you want to work on projects.”
Sam laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I know, I know,” He muttered, picking up his fork, “Thank you for that…”
They talked happily as they ate, going back and forth with their normal conversations as they always did during breakfast. Ponk complimented Sam’s cooking skills while Sam denied it and said it was all the machines. They chatted about random things, the dreams that they had, or Ponk’s next conspiracy theory,
Scrapping the last bits of food, Sam glanced up at Ponk. “So, you have any plans today?” He asked before taking his last bite.
Even if he often woke up with Ponk, the two would go their separate ways during the day, busy with their own things and projects before they eventually collapsed into Sam’s bed, exhausted from the day’s activities. Sam was just curious if the man had any plans for the day, though he already had an idea of what he’d be up to.
Ponk thought for a bit, his plate clean, hands behind his neck as he leaned back in the chair. “Uh, I’m probably just going to check up on my lemon orchard and base,” he answered, “What about-uh, what about you?”
Sam smiled, figuring that would be Ponk’s answer. He spent a lot of time in that lemon orchard of his, so he didn’t expect any different.
“I think I’m going to scout out a place for my next build,” Sam responded, getting up and taking their empty plates and placing them in the sink. “I have an idea for another farm, but I want to find somewhere to put it.” He explained, turning on the faucet to quickly wash the dishes.
Ponk turned in his chair, watching Sam’s back as he laid his arms on the back of the chair, his head resting on top of them. He hummed, smiling softly, “Another farm?”
“Yes, you can never have too many farms,” Sam claimed, washing the dishes with one pair of arms while the other rinsed them off before placing them aside to dry.
“Of course you would think that,” Ponk chuckled.
Ponk helped Sam clean up a bit, wiping down the table and drinking the last bit of coffee that was still left in the pot. He listened to Sam talk about his farm, a bee one for honey, before he said his goodbyes, grabbing his mask from the living room where he’d left it from the previous night. He left with a wave, slipping his mask back on before leaving through the hidden entrance, already making plans to return later on in the day.
The creeper hybrid, now alone with his dog, headed to his room to grab a few things before he set off in search of the perfect place to build his bee farm. He grabbed a chest plate, slipping it over the hoodie, before placing a golden circlet around his head, and some armored boots to go with it. He didn’t bother with his mask or gas mask, not planning on building or working with redstone, his pale face with green patches across his cheeks exposed to the world. Sam had no plans of running into trouble, he’d be back at the base before the mobs came out, so he didn’t need a complete armor set. but he did take his trident, just in case.
Before he left, he made sure that Fran had some water and grabbed some snacks for himself, leaving out the same door that Ponk had exited through just a few minutes ago.
Sam waited until he was sure the door was closed before taking a deep breath, inhaling the cold, crisp air of the morning mixed with the sweet smell of pine that surrounded his base, and climbed up the mountainside.
He took a quick look around, Ponk already long gone, before he set off in a predetermined route off to the left, into the woods where he planned to start looking for a place to build his bee farm. Sam made sure to keep his wits about him, walking happily through the forest, swinging his arms as he whistled a tune. His trident bounced against his back with every step, a quiet reassurance as he headed deeper into the forest, surrounded by green scenery and the occasional little critter that scurried past him.
It was such a nice day out that Sam decided to take a few detours, scouting out several different places for other possible projects, more farms, a picnic area, a safe house, and so on. Every time he stumbled across an empty clearing or area with a nice view, his brain fired off idea after idea. Even though he had no real use for a treehouse, he found three potential spots to make a huge treehouse, his mind already sketching up blueprints that he’d probably put onto paper as soon as he got back to the base.
“This would be a nice place for a picnic area,” Sam observed as he stepped into an open clearing covered with flowers. To him, they were all a single shade of red, but he knew that Ponk would appreciate the spot nonetheless since red was Ponk’s favorite color.
He made a mental note to come and bring Ponk to the place later, marking the spot off by noting that it was to the west of his base, next to a dead, charred tree covered in moss. The tree itself didn’t interfere with the serenity of the spot at all, if anything, Sam thought it built character. And he could build some lights around the tree to make it look even prettier.
With a satisfied hum, he gently patted the trunk of the mossy tree before turning around and carrying on with his travels.
For the next hour or so, Sam continued to wander around the forest near his base. While he was picking out potential spots for new projects, he was also enjoying the sights and smells of the nature that surrounded him. Very rarely did he get the chance to just be out in nature and enjoy it, always preoccupied with his different projects, so this was a nice change of pace.
As he walked he thought about how much better it would’ve been to have brought Fran along with him. He couldn’t remember the last time that he let the dog out of his base, way too overprotective of it. Ponk’s little, so-called harmless prank from a few months back didn’t help with Sam’s protectiveness either. But he was sure Fran didn’t mind. She was perfectly contempt inside the base, just happy to spend time with Sam when she could.
Sam’s walk slowed to a stop when he noticed a slight change in scenery. The flowers had slowly turned into colorful mushrooms, mainly red, and the several pine trees became few, leaving a valley of tall grass and different mushrooms of all shapes and sizes in its wake.
Blinking, Sam looked around in confusion. Sure, he didn’t often venture out into the forest around his base, but he was pretty sure that he lived in a mountain biome, not plains or mushroom one. Yet he’d somehow stumbled across the beautiful sight, despite him believing that he hadn’t wandered too far from his mountain base.
“Interesting,” he muttered to himself, looking around. Nothing came to mind when he looked around, no projects or potential date spots, though the area was very nice. The giant mushrooms provided shade, there were a few moo-blooms grazing in the field, and it was nice and open, aside from the tall grass that covered the floor.
Sam was about to turn back into the forest when something caught his eye.
Amongst the green grass and red mushrooms, Sam spotted a curious shade of blue that stood out from the rest of the colors in the field. To Sam, the blue was the same as the sky, as the water, as his friend Skeppy, his color blindness making it a little hard for him to pick out different shades of colors, but it stood out to him nonetheless.
Upon closer observation, and to his alarm, he realized that he was looking at a child and that the blue was simply the shirt that the child was wearing. Glancing around quickly, Sam didn’t spot a single another person in that field, meaning that somehow, this young child was all alone and out in the open.
Sam couldn’t just leave the kid there, so he quickly walked over, slowing his pace once he got closer, not wanting to startle the kid. He hoped that his presence would be alerted by the ruffling of grass as Sam walked through it, but when he reached the spot where he had seen the kid, underneath a tall, red mushroom, the child was gone.
Frowning, Sam looked around, stopping in the small clearing, now shielded from the sun thanks to the canopy of the mushroom. Smaller red and taupe mushrooms littered the ground, an indent in the grass next to the trunk of the taller mushroom signifying that the child had gotten up from the spot they were sitting at.
Sam sighed in frustration, chewing nervously on the insides of his cheeks as he took another look around for the child. He could’ve sworn that he was here! He knew he wasn’t seeing things because he’d been getting decent amounts of sleep thanks to Ponk, so it wasn’t like his eyes were just playing tricks on him.
“Where did they go?” Sam muttered, stepping forward as he looked across the field, wondering if the child had heard him and run off to hide or go back to their family or something.
He figured, if that last bit was the case, then he shouldn’t worry. But he couldn’t help but worry, concerned about the state of the child, unsure if they had a family to run home to or not. After all, they were just hanging around alone in a field that Sam had no idea was around his base. He was sure that he was the only resident so far out from the main cities several miles away from his base. So where did this kid come from?
Slowly, Sam’s gaze traveled back to the pale, white trunk of the mushroom and he nearly shouted in surprise when he saw a pair of wide eyes looking back at him from behind it.
He took a small step back, his eyes widening in shock as one blue and one brown eye stared at him, peeking out from behind the mushroom, a chubby hand on the soft trunk. Sam glanced down, spotting the blue he’d seen before, just slightly visible from behind the trunk, indeed the clothing of a very small child. It was a small boy, with brown hair and heterochromia eyes, a red mushroom hat with white dots on top of his head.
Sam froze, unsure what to do suddenly. He thought he was somewhat good with kids, at least, he liked to believe that he was. But this was so sudden, so out of the blue, so he wasn’t sure how to handle the situation at the moment. He knew though, that he had to do something, because this was a child, out in the middle of almost nowhere with no supervision.
“Um…” Sam cleared his throat, licking his lip nervously before slowly kneeling so he didn’t look so giant to the small child.
“H-hello there…” He waved, his voice quiet, calm, and as friendly as he could make it, afraid of scaring the child off.
Sam figured that if he approached the child like this, showing him that he wasn’t a threat or anything would be the way to go. He knew he wasn’t the friendliest looking, with his four arms and creeper features, so he wanted to seem as approachable as possible.
The child didn’t say anything though. Instead, he stared at Sam with wide eyes, slightly trembling as if he was trying to figure out if he should run away or not. He didn’t look any older than four years old, tiny compared to Sam, his bottom lip trembling as he looked up at the hybrid.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Sam promised, giving the boy a sweet smile, “My name’s Sam, what’s yours?”
Of course, the child didn’t answer, still looking at Sam with a slightly scared look, now seeming more curious than afraid. He poked his head out from behind the tall mushroom a little more, Sam able to take note that the child looked rather dirty. It was almost as if he’d been sitting in this field for quite some time, which made Sam frown a bit in worry.
“Uh,” Sam glanced up, pointing at the boy’s hat, “I like your hat...It matches the mushrooms.”
On the inside, he was silently panicking about the situation. He wasn’t sure what to do, afraid he'd scare the child off, or that the child’s caretakers would find him and misinterpret the situation. But what he did know was that the child was all alone, dirty, and way too young to be out here by himself. So Sam was going to try and get the child to trust him enough to let Sam figure out what was going on so that he could help him.
The boy frowned a bit, glancing up at his hat. He raised his hand, putting it on the hat, making it push out a bit, almost covering his eyes.
“Y-you...like it?” He finally spoke, his voice quiet and hesitant.
Sam sighed in relief, quickly smiling and nodding his head at the boy, happy that he finally answered. Sure, he didn’t know what he was doing completely, but he considered this to be a win anyways.
“Yeah! It matches the mushrooms around us,” Sam hummed, reaching out and plucking one of the mushrooms near him to hold it out to the small boy, “See? You look just like it.”
The boy blinked at the mushroom in Sam’s hand, frowning a bit before he dropped his hand from his hat. He stepped out from behind the mushroom, revealing that the clothes that he wore, a simple blue cloth wrapped around his torso like a tunic, were torn and dirty. Sam noticed also that his pale arms were a little scratched up, his face smeared with dirt as well, though none of that seemed to bother the small child. Clearly, the boy had been in the field for quite some time, which made Sam worry even more.
Reaching out slowly, the boy took the mushroom from Sam’s hand to take a closer look at it, as if he hadn’t been looking at mushrooms for quite some time now. If anything, he only took it not to seem rude to the man, seeing as he seemed friendly enough to him.
Sam lowered his hand, smiling softly as the boy looked down at the mushroom, Sam only really able to see the top of the red mushroom hat from where he was. With the child preoccupied, Sam looked around again, hoping to find maybe some clues about who the child was or where his parents were if he had any.
Unfortunately, he found nothing, everything seemed normal in the field, all except for the small boy with the mushroom hat in front of him.
Sam huffed, shaking his head softly. This wasn’t normal, he didn’t expect something like this to happen to him while he was out. He was looking for spots for projects, not seemingly orphaned kids in the middle of nowhere. But he couldn’t just leave him here!
“Uh,” Sam glanced down at the boy who was now sitting down, legs folded criss-cross. “Where...Uh, where are your parents?” he asked quietly, tilting his head a bit to see the boy’s face a little better.
The boy looked up, his hat tilting back to reveal confused eyes. Sam held his gaze until the boy shrugged and looked back down, “I dunno...They left.”
Sam blinked, frowning at the answer. “They...left?” He quizzed, his stomach doing flips as his mind raced with all the meanings behind that sentence.
“Yeah,” The boy muttered, seemingly unbothered by it. “Mama gave me this hat and left.”
He went silent after that, saying nothing more, leaving it all up to interpretation to Sam. The worse he could think of was that the boy had been abandoned or that his mother met some terrible fate that prevented her from coming back. Either way, the situation wasn’t ideal and Sam worried for the boy.
Of course, he couldn’t ask the child to elaborate on what he was saying because he was sure that the kid didn’t know how to elaborate. Being so young, Sam didn’t think the boy could talk well, let alone be out here in the open all by himself.
But Sam had so many questions. Where did he come from? Where did his parents go? What was he doing here? How long had he been waiting? What was his name?
Sam rubbed his face in frustration, the boy looking curiously at Sam with a pout, still holding onto the small mushroom that he’d been given. He wasn’t sure what to make of the man yet, but he hadn’t done anything yet, so he figured that he was okay. Plus, he liked his hat.
“Um,” Sam dropped his hands, clearing his throat as he looked at the boy with a small smile. “What’s your name?” he asked, hoping that the boy would answer him this time around, seeing as he seemed a little more comfortable with Sam.
The boy stared at him for a bit, hesitant about answering him. He frowned, looking down at his hands, observing the mushroom before he looked back up at Sam and simply answered in a quiet voice.
“George…”
Sam sighed in relief, smiling softly with a short nod. “George,” he repealed in a mutter, “That’s a very nice name.”
Unsure what to say, George stayed quiet, looking back down at his hands.
Scratching the back of his neck with one arm and tapping his thigh with another, Sam looked over George inhaling sharply. “Well, uh, George,” Sam hesitated, not really sure where he was supposed to go from here. “Do you know if your, um, if your Mom is going to be back anytime soon?” He asked, frowning just a bit as he lowered his hand.
George looked back up at him, staring until he shook his head lightly. “No…” he mumbled, putting the mushroom aside to adjust his own hat, “she said, “I’m leaving” not...not coming back.” he frowned, looking frustrated as he stared straight at Sam’s chest, tears starting to fill his eyes.
“Oh,” Sam frowned, “Oh...I’m sorry.” He scooted a bit closer to George, the confusion and hurt in his voice and the tears in his eyes making Sam’s heartbreak a bit for the boy. His suspicions for George being abandoned seemed to be confirmed by the statement, angering him, though he made sure not to show that emotion; wary of scaring George.
George sniffed, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at Sam in confusion. “Sorry…?” the boy inquired, unsure what the word meant.
“Mmh,” Sam hummed, “Sorry, uh, that your mother left…” he trailed off before shaking his head lightly, not really wanting to explain to the young boy what he meant by it. Instead, he tried something else, not wanting to have a crying child on his hands.
“Would you like to look for your mother?” he asked, tilting his head, “I could help you.”
“Help?” George questioned, frowning up at Sam in confusion. “Help find mom…?”
Sam nodded, grinning as he slowly got up, “Yes! I could help you look for your mother. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
He was lying, of course. Sam didn’t think that she was anywhere near the fields where they were. If George had been abandoned, and from what he got it was likely that he was, then it was very likely that his mother had taken off and moved as far away from this place as possible. However, he couldn’t leave George here waiting, so if he could get the boy to follow him, then maybe he could take him to the base to clean him up, give him something to eat, or other. Just to make sure that he was safe, regardless of his mom was around or not.
George stared up at Sam, eyes widening as the man towered over him to the point where he was completely covered by his shadow. He’d never seen someone so tall in his life, and while it scared him a bit, it also made him stare in silent wonder. Would he ever get to be that tall? He sure hoped so.
He didn’t think that his mother was around. When she left he spent almost all day looking for her but found nothing. Eventually, he had to give up and took shelter in the tall grass under one of the mushrooms, his hat providing him with camouflage from the monsters in the night. However, maybe with such a tall man to help him, he might find his mom.
“Help?” George repeated, “Help me?”
Sam nodded, “Yes, help you.” He held out a hand, “I can help you.”
George stared at the hand, hesitant to take it. But he felt that the man was kind, that he could probably help, and he was bored of his spot under the mushroom, so he reached out and took Sam’s hand, barely able to wrap it around two fingers, and stood up.
“Okay,” he nodded, speaking quietly, “you can help.”
Sam sighed in relief, smiling softly down at the boy, his heart-melting at how small he was. “Alright, let’s go find your mom, yeah?” Sam grinned, giving George’s hand a small squeeze.
“Okay,” George answered, smiling just a bit as he strained his head to look up at Sam.
“Okay,” Sam repeated, inhaling sharply, “Right...Let’s do this.”
It had started as a normal day for Sam, but very quickly it had become something completely out of the ordinary. As for now, Sam wasn’t sure whether or not he appreciated the fact. For now, he was just focused on making sure no harm came to the small boy who was named George. For now, he was going to do his best to go about this as normally as possible.