Work Text:
The sound of laughter filled the small interior of the Slushious.
“My name is Captain Smek! Shush, shush shush!”
As Oh struts from the front seat to the back, a comb held over his lip to imitate Smek’s mustache, Tip takes the lead by reciting Smek’s words with matched melodrama. “Boov technology is far too complicated for simple humansgirl to figure out!”
The two of them can’t contain it any longer, and explode into laughter once more.
Far below them, the picturesque mountainscapes of southern India scrawl out to the horizon, the snow-tipped peaks seemingly glowing under the refracted moonlight. They have been driving for most of the night.
After their laughter dies down, Oh watches as Tip gives a drawn out yawn, and his eyebrows raise with mild concern.
“Maybies I should drives now?” He asks tentatively.
Tip looked confused for a second, before she even realized she had yawned. “Ohhh,” she breathed, and was promptly cut off by her traveling partner.
“Yes?”
“No- I meant-” Tip’s lips pursed, and her face scrunched up with the effort not to laugh, but it was a futile effort. Oh looked very unamused as she struggled to regain her composure.
“Is you finished?”
“Yes. You can drive.”
The two took a quick break at the next feasible rest stop, and before long they were back in the sky, this time with Oh behind the wheel.
Tip looked down at the mountains below them, able to fully appreciate their beauty now that she didn’t have to keep her eyes on the- well.. nevermind. She fished out her phone, but before she actually snapped a photo, she had a better idea. She pushed the button that opened the sunroof, and Oh glanced up as Tip stood in her seat, holding the phone above her head with a gleeful “smile!”
Oh smiled hesitantly for the first picture, but after she showed it to him, he suddenly beamed, amazed at the prospect of immortalizing a moment in time. He enthusiastically posed and made faces for a series of pictures after that.
Finally Tip seemed satisfied, and settled back into her seat to review the photos. A silence stretched out between them, and Oh tapped his fingers on the steering wheel apprehensively.
The silence felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t know why. And he certainly didn’t have anything to say. So he let his thoughts wander. The events of earlier replayed in his head, and he worried over what these events would mean for his future.
All his life, Oh had only known one thing. He was Boov. And Boov had many enemies. They were always on the run. The Boov may not be as closely bonded to one another as humans were, but no matter what they were running from, they were always on the run together . There wasn’t any mutual affection or appreciation between Boovs, but they had safety in numbers, and in most cases, that was enough.
These past few days had been some of the worst days of Oh’s life. He would never ask to do it again. But even after all the trouble he went through to fix his mistake, apparently the Boov still wouldn’t accept him. It wasn’t fair. He was miserable.
Tip had a home to go back to, a family that loved her unconditionally. She knew where she belonged. Where did Oh have to go after all was said and done?
His skin involuntarily shifted to a more blue gradient, and a quiet sigh escaped him.
Tip was in the back setting up a place to sleep, but at the sight of her friend’s dejected demeanor, she paused, and crawled back into the passenger seat. “Hey, are you okay?” She shifted so she could cross her legs under herself and pivot to better face Oh.
The troubled Boov was silent for several moments. He looked at Tip, and was overwhelmed by the genuine look of compassion in her eyes. She was actually listening to him; actually cared to hear what he had to say. He didn’t feel like talking about it again, but something about her sympathetic gaze made him want to open up.
“It is being ideal that you get the full night’s resting.”
“You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
She waited for Oh to respond, but he seemed to still be contemplating his answer. “Come on, you’ll feel better if you do,” she prompted.
A pause, and Oh opened and closed his mouth several times before any words came out. Finally, he inhaled.
"Gratui- erhm... Tip —" he paused, “ —could not to understand how I am feeling.”
"Try me," said Tip, her expression calm and confident.
“It is just that… it is seeming I am only good at making mistakes. I am not a good Boov.”
He glanced at Tip, and saw her eyebrows crease, and whether that was confusion or dissent, he couldn’t tell, but he continued on before she could formulate a rebuttal.
“I mean to say- the Boov are not accepting me, and if I am not belonging with the Boov-”
“But you ARE good,” Tip interjected, not wanting to hear any more self-deprecation. “If the Boov can’t see that, that’s their problem. They don’t deserve you.”
Oh sat in stunned silence for several moments.
“Deserving me or not, if I am ever seen by the Boov again, I will be erased.” A glance back at Tip, then a glance away again.
"So... where can I to go?”
Tip regarded him silently, her expression unreadable. For some reason, Oh felt his heart twisting.
He was just about to tell her to forget it, when Tip spoke up instead.
“With me.”
Oh’s face took on a bewildered look. He took a second to entertain this idea, but quickly shook it away. “Wh- how can I stays with you? The Boov will always be chasing me. What if I did to put you in danger?”
She smiled incredulously, rolling her eyes. “Oh. We’ve already flipped the Eiffel Tower. And we made it out just fine. I can’t imagine anything more dangerous than that. Whatever it is, we can take it.”
“But, no- do you not- I am meaning-” He stopped himself, unable to find the right words, turning from blue to red as frustration bubbled up inside him. A muffled groan leaked out of him, as he pressed both hands to his head.
“Woah! Woah buddy,” she said, reaching towards him, then hesitating, unsure if touching him would overwhelm him more. She didn’t quite understand why he was getting so worked up. “It’s.. it’s okay, just take a breath.”
He seemed to take this advice, nodding ever so slightly as he inhaled deeply, and the red color faded away as he exhaled.
“Just use your words,” she suggested.
He glared at her, and she put her hands up submissively. “Or don’t! Just take your time,” she said with a nervous chuckle, and decided not to try and make more suggestions.
Oh relaxed slightly. Feeling less pressured, he could actually think straight. After another pause as he collected his thoughts, he seemed to come to a clear conclusion. “I.. I don’t understands why you aren’t hating me like the Boov are.”
Tip blinked, a melancholy flicker crossing behind her eyes. “Oh, I don’t hate you,” she said quietly.
“Why.. why not for?”
Why.. not? Oof. He really did believe he was bad. Tip felt her heart pang in her chest at the sad look in his eyes.
“Because..” she trailed off, thinking, then cleared her throat and adjusted her tone slightly. “Because.. you aren’t like the other Boov, you’re special. They don’t care about anyone, but you do. You’re considerate. And you’re funny, and.. you’re a good friend.” She looked at him to make sure he was listening, and saw that his eyes were locked on her, almost unblinking. “I can’t be mad about your past. All the mistakes you made, they led you right here- to me.”
Oh said nothing, but he blinked, as if his brain was still trying to compute her words. Tip blinked too, exhaling, feeling as though she hadn’t let out a breath in a million years. She hadn’t meant to sound so serious, it had just come out that way. But she didn’t regret saying it; it was the truth. It was what he needed to hear.
“You still with me?” She asked cautiously, tilting her head as he remained silent. “Oh?”
“Y- yes,” he said suddenly, appearing to jolt back to reality. “I am okay.” He looked up at her, but still didn’t have any kind of response to her heartfelt monologue.
They had long since been flying on autopilot. Oh had been too distracted to drive and also talk to Tip, and the Slushious had been gliding along at a steady pace. It was uncertain why they even had to take turns; Slushious couldn’t steer by itself, but 10,000 feet in the air, there weren’t a lot of obstacles to steer around. It was perhaps just the sentiment, or they just felt the need to make sure someone was awake at all times, so they didn't ever fly into some random floating garbage ball.
Oh smiled. The kind of smile that indicated there was still so much left unsaid, but wouldn’t be said, because it would be too hard to describe. He turned back to the wheel, his fingers lightly brushing its curves. The doubts that had been swirling in his psyche for the last 5 thousand or so miles were finally starting to dissipate, and it left Oh with some newer, more confusing feelings, but not entirely unwelcome ones.
Finally, after several moments of silence between them passed, Oh thought he had something to say.
“Tip, I-”
He was interrupted by the teenager lunging forward, and a flash of yellow rippled through him before he realized she hadn’t moved to hurt him. She was hugging him, like she had in the antenna. Like she had when she was so overjoyed at finally seeing her mother alive and well, that she had no other outlet but to hug him. Like she had when Oh wasn’t expecting it, but it somehow felt like his heart was mending. Like he hadn’t realized it was broken, but when she embraced him, there was something there that hadn’t been before, and he suddenly noticed its absence when she drew away. A cold and aching absence, like he was lost, desperately reaching out in the dark for something he didn’t know he needed.
She wrapped soft and gentle arms around him and held tight, and there was that feeling again, like a crack in his heart that was being taped back together, bringing him back to the present moment. It was warm, and he could feel the gentle thump of her heartbeat from where her chest was resting against his head. That heartbeat, that utterly human heartbeat, pulsing, fulfilling its never-ending task, keeping its owner breathing. The heartbeat was the representation of her humanity; she had a heart, that which drove her every action and was the sole provider of oxygen to her veins. The sole source of life itself. He could hear it, and it was the perfect reminder that she was alive, and he was alive, and they were both here together, and that had to count for something.
The shock melted away, replaced by a warmth. A happiness, a feeling of security, a sense of safety. The warmth started in his chest, and blossomed outwards, and despite the heat that engulfed him, he buried himself deeper in her embrace, the elation wrapping tendrils around his heart and further mending it.
He was here. There was no other place he was meant to be. He was home.