Chapter Text
“Hey there!” Sam hears a voice call out, looking up to see another boy, about his age, coming up to the table. “You’re smart right?”
The young man looked at his white hair and how it combined well with his tanned skin. "Huh?" Sam inquires.
“You’re smart?! Yeah?” The boy questions
“Do I know you?” Sam asks.
The boy shrugs, “Probably not. What are you reading?" He peers over him.
“It’s a history book,” Sam explains to the other, “it’s about a fierce warrior who-“
“Oh sounds kinda boring,” the boy says.
Sam looks at him, “I don’t know. It’s kind of interesting to me.”
“I guess that’s fine then,” He assures, “what’s your name by the way?”
“Uhm...” Sam mumbles, “I’m Sam.”
“Cool!” He yells, maybe a bit too loud for being in a library, “I’m Ponk.”
“Nice to meet you Ponk,” Sam remarks, “What did you exactly need?”
“Well, we’re in the same class,” Ponk exclaims, “and I know that you do well. Plus you can read. I just need help.”
“Well, reading is a good start!“ Sam replies, "I usually come here every day to do my homework. I like learning about things in the past, especially since it could be helpful later on.”
Ponk shakes his head, “The only informative books I like are about animals.”
Sam stands up, “We can start there, then. I’ll help you.”
The two spent the rest of the day studying, Sam teaching Ponk about Redstone as well as telling him stories of the past, describing wars and such. They stayed there for so long that they didn’t even notice how late it was until the librarian rushed the two out. They were met with darkness in the sky, the only light coming from the moon.
“Are you going to be okay going home? The zombies are terrible here at night.” Sam asks.
“I’ll be fine. I live on a farm that’s not too far from here.”
“You’re not even from this town? I thought we were in the same class?”
“I lied,” Ponk chuckles, “I’m homeschooled. You were just the first person I saw. I’ve been told that I need to make more friends that are my age.”
“Well if it’s a long walk back I should come with you just in case.”
“Okay,” Ponk agrees, “but only because you’re excellent company. I can handle myself.”
The two young teens started walking towards the forest. Sam followed close behind Ponk, keeping his bow in case a skeleton or zombie attacked.
Eventually, Sam saw the farm in the distance, Ponk walking up to it, “Well since you’re here now do you wanna stay the night?”
“Would your parents be okay with it?”
Ponk shrugs, “I don’t think they’ll mind. They’re not home.”
Sam nods, following Ponk into the house, “Do you know how to cook?” Ponk asks, “I’m hungry.”
“I know how to cook some things,” Sam mumbles, looking around the house. The building appeared almost to have been ripped from its surrounding environment. Some of the walls almost caved in, there were sparks coming from plugs, dishes piling up in the sink, and dirt all over the floor. Sam didn't know what kind of family lived here; it was dangerous.
“Cool!” Ponk says, “I don’t really know what we have.”
Sam walks around the kitchen, browsing through the cabinets and fridge. They didn’t have much, but he decided he could make soup with the few vegetables they had.
Ponk lent him some help, getting a pot filled with water to boil while Sam cut some vegetables. He ended up throwing the vegetables into the water and added some tomato juice and salt to the water to make some sort of broth. Once it was done Ponk got bowls out and ladled them in.
Ponk grabs his bowl. "Thank you for dinner!" he says as he walks over to the table. Sam just nods.
“You don’t say much huh?” Ponk questions, eating the soup.
“I guess I don’t,” Sam replies.
Ponk chuckles, “You’re a bit shy. That’s adorable.”
Sam blushes at the comment, as they finish up the soup, “Do you want me to do the dishes?”
“Don’t bother,” Ponk replies, “Are you tired?”
“A bit,” Sam says, Ponk adding their bowls to the growing pile in the sink, “are you sure it’s okay if I stay here?”
“Of course!” Ponk replies, “Unless your parents are gonna worry.”
“They’ll be okay,” Sam replies. It's not like he had parents that would care anyway. Bad might get a little upset, but he could handle it later.
Ponk ends up leading him to his bedroom. Sam noted that it was a lot nicer than the rest of the house. Mostly because there was nothing in it. Just a bed pushed next to a broken window, a small dresser that had some clothes in it, and a mirror hung above it. “Do you want some pyjamas? I don’t want anyone sleeping naked in my bed with me.”
“Yeah, pyjamas will be comfortable,"
Ponk nods, grabbing a sweater from his drawer and a pair of sweats, handing it to Sam. Sam noticed the bright yellow lemon stitched into the black of the sweater, the words ‘Lemon Society,’ underneath. Ponk ended up showing him where the bathroom is and Sam got changed, coming back to the room.
Eventually, after some more chattering from Ponk, they both got into the bed, Ponk drifting off to sleep right away. Sam stayed awake still, wondering what led him to agree to even come here, with a stranger he doesn’t know. It was silly, but he felt secure even if this house could fall apart at any moment.
Sam awoke the next morning in another person's bedroom. At first, he was taken back, unsure where he was, but once he remembered the past events from last night, he settled. Ponk was long gone from the bed, Sam getting up to go find him, not seeing him anywhere around the house. He then checked the backyard, finding Ponk sitting out there under some lemon trees with a few chickens.
“Hey, Sam!” He calls out to him, Sam walking over and sitting next to him. “Good morning! How did you sleep?”
“I slept okay,” Sam responds, looking up at the clouds with him, “What about you?”
“I slept well!" Ponk exclaims, “Didn’t even get a nightmare about the milkman.”
“The milkman?” Sam mutters.
“I can’t explain him to you,” Ponk replies, “but he haunts my house.”
“Ponk...” Sam says, looking at him.
“Yeah?”
“You live here alone don’t you?” Sam asks.
Ponk sighs, shaking his head, “Was it that obvious?”
“No parent would leave their kid alone in a house like that.”
Ponk chuckles, “I guess it is a bit of a mess,” which was an understatement, Sam thought. “Yeah, you’re right. I live alone, I don’t know if I have a family. I just, I don’t know, I think I sprouted from the ground one day. I’ve always been in this house, taking care of the farm.”
“Is that why you know so much about animals?” Sam asks.
“I think so,” Ponk responds, “I just like animals too though, I went to that library a lot to research them, as well as to look for a friend. But I don’t like bears, or dolphins, or butterflies. "
“I get you,” Sam chuckles, “So you think you sprouted from the ground? Like a-“
“Like a lemon,” Ponk responds, “I’m sour like one too.”
“Mhm of course,” Sam says.
“No seriously!” Ponk exclaims, “I’m part lemon. I have to be.”
“You’re part lemon?”
“Yeah!” Ponk responds, “I just told you that. Dummy.”
Sam looks over at the field in front of them, “So who raised you?”
“Huh?”
“Like… someone took care of you right?” Sam asks, “When you were a baby?”
Ponk shrugs, “Don’t know.” He says, “Maybe the milkman did.”
Sam giggles, “Right.” He looks around again, “Out here isn’t so bad.”
“Well yeah. I keep it all tidy."
“Mhm,” Sam responds, “Aren’t you worried that the house is about to collapse?”
“No,” Ponk says, “Is that something I should be worried about?”
“Well, nobody is taking care of it,” Sam responds, “and again it’s a mess.”
“Well what about you Mr Pristine House, what’s your life like?” Ponk asks, “Your parents must be very strict.”
“I don’t have parents,” Sam says. “I’m an orphan. But the orphanage I live in is clean, only because I have to keep it tidy.”
“Oh.” Ponk says, “Well now I feel terrible."
Sam shakes his head, “It’s okay, you didn’t know.”
“Did your parents die or just abandon you?” Ponk asks, then takes a pause, “Was that inappropriate to ask?”
“A little bit,” Sam responds, “but uh, I don’t really know? I just know I don’t have parents. I don’t know what happened to them.”
Ponk nods, “Do you think you’ll get adopted soon?”
“No,” Sam says truthfully, “I’m turning sixteen soon and nobody really wants to adopt a teenager and the only orphans in the orphanage right now are me, Bad, and Ant anyway. Since we're all hybrids, no one wants us, since we're more difficult to take care of. But it’s okay cause we take care of each other.”
“So you guys are like your own family?” Ponk questions.
“Mhm,” Sam mutters, “Bad is like my older brother, in a way, he’s eighteen and a demon and he’s really strict with things but he’s just protective. He could’ve left us since he’s an adult now, but he refuses to. Then Ant is twelve, he’s a cat hybrid, and he’s just a child but he’s really smart! And he helps out a lot.”
Ponk smiles widely, getting up, “Do you wanna come to the lake with me?”
“Uh, sure!” Sam says, also standing up.
The two teens make their way back into the wooded forest. They stay close together, as they make their way over to a small body of water. It looked clean, with some fish swimming around in it as well as different types of kelp and algae at the bottom.
“This is it,” Ponk says. “I usually like to come here and relax for a bit. It's also not far from the town so I usually stop there as well and borrow food. There’s a stand near the library with amazing cinnamon rolls.”
“Borrow food?” Sam responds, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, I'm totally not stealing," Ponk chuckles, as the two get closer to the water. Sam looks down at it, staring at the obscure reflection of himself in the water.
A gasp is let out of Sam’s mouth when he feels himself being pushed, falling into the water. He screams for a second before splashing, looking at Ponk who is laughing his head off, which makes Sam start to laugh as well.
“Ponk, help me out!” Sam yells, reaching his hand out. Ponk grabs it, Sam then pulls him into the water with him, a splash being followed.
“You dickhead!” Ponk exclaims, still laughing, then splashing some water at Sam, “now my hair is gonna be all wet.”
Sam continues to laugh, both of them now splashing each other. Once they were done fighting and could catch their breath from laughing the two of them got out. Walking back to Ponk’s house to change their clothes.
Sam shakes out his hair as soon as they get inside, "Can I have a hairbrush and a hair tie?" Ponk reaches over to hand him what he requested. Sam then braids his hair, tying it at the bottom.
“Wait you know how to braid hair?”
“Yeah,” Sam responds, “it’s useful.”
“Can you braid mine?”
“Sure,” Sam says. The two of them sit on the ground, Ponk’s back to Sam.
Sam is gentle when brushing Ponk’s hair since it was a bit of a different coarse than his own, and he then did as much of a braid as he could, since Ponk’s hair only went to his shoulders.
“There.”
Ponk gets up and turns to look in the mirror, “Thank you!”
“Of course!” Sam smiles.
“We can go to the town now! Unless you need to return back to your orphanage.”
Sam grabs Ponk’s hand, “I’m curious about the cinnamon rolls.”