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Tiso let out a low groan, reaching up to rub gently at his shoulder. Sparring with Hornet was always fun, but fuck if it didn't hurt. He was just going to count himself lucky that he hadn't broken anything this time.
He continued walking back to his camp, which was unfortunately on the other side of dirtmouth. Why Hornet insisted on using that particular area to spar, Tiso had no idea.
Tiso's expression remained irritated as he reached the edge of town. There were plenty of other clearings where they could practice, but nooooooo. She just had to choose the one that was the farthest away from his camp.
Tiso weaved between bugs as he continued to cross. With the infection gone, more and more merchants and travelers had started showing up in Hallownest. Hornet wasn't happy about it, but it helped with buisness, so Sly was enjoying himself.
As he continued to pass through the busiest part of the area, his eyes landed on a familiar figure. Tiso's annoyance faded, replaced by an easy grin.
"Hey! Hollow!" He called out, and when they didn't acknowledge him, he started walking over to them. They were facing away from him, a small bag in their hand.
They must've just gone shopping. He thought, grin growing wider at the prospect of a possible meal later on. Once he started getting near the vessel, he called out to them again.
"Hollow!" Tiso received no response, and he frowned. They had to have heard him, he wasn't very far away. He sped up slightly, closing the distance between them fairly quickly.
Once he was right behind them, he once again attempted to get their attention.
"Hollow? You ignoring me?" He followed it up with a quick tap to their leg, seeing as Tiso couldn't reach their shoulder. They didn't acknowledge him,rampant. shrugging off his hand and walking quickly away in a seemingly random direction.
Tiso couldn't stop the reflexive pang of hurt that flew through him if he tried. Did… did I do something wrong? He tracked Hollow's path unconsciously, his thoughts running rampant.
Were they finally getting sick of him? The thought caused Tiso's breath to freeze in his chest. He stood there, fear burning a hole in his chest, before he darted after Hollow.
Even if they hated him, and he wouldn't blame them, he had to know why. His mind quickly ran through the events of the past few days, trying to find any reason behind why they were suddenly avoiding him. Nothing stood out.
Tiso finally managed to catch up to them, in a more isolated area of town, and he ran to stand in front of them. They turned away, again, and Tiso felt his heart stutter. He should stop trying, they were clearly annoyed, but he had never known when to stop before, so why start now.
Tiso circled around them, faster this time, not giving Hollow the chance to turn around before they made eye contact. Any questions he might've had vanished the second he saw their face.
Hollow froze, dropping the bag they had been carrying and reaching up to cover their mask. Unfortunately, they were too slow to stop Tiso from seeing it. There was a crack running down the side of their mask, one that hadn't been there before.
There was no void staining around it, so they had clearly had time to clean it up. The crack wasn't very big, and it would likely disappear, given some time to heal. Tiso took this all in with a clinical sort of emptiness, before his emotions slammed back into his chest with all the fury of a garpede.
His eyes immediately narrowed into a glare, fury starting to burn bright in his body. A fierce undercurrent of protectiveness was there as well, but Tiso shoved it to the side, focusing on Hollow.
They were curled in on themself, their hand a protective barrier over their injury. Tiso reached up, gently grabbing their arm. He pulled it away from their face, and his vision tinged red once he got a better look at them.
"Who did this to you." His voice came out in a low growl, the darkest he had heard it since- ...in a long time.
Hollow pulled their arm out of his grasp, raising it to respond.
'It was an accident. I ran into a light pole earlier.' Their statement might have been believable, if not for the way their eyes remained trained on the ground.
"Bullshit." Tiso was still seeing red, and he wanted to take it out on whoever the hell had done this to them. "Tell me the truth Hollow, please."
They twitched at his request, giving him a wide eyed stare. Tiso barely even noticed, still determined to get an answer.
'It doesn't matter, no one did this to me.' They signed. They were a terrible liar, and even Tiso, who was usually an oblivious idiot, could see right through them.
"Like hell it doesn't matter." Gods, why was this so difficult. It wasn't like trying to hide injuries was beneficial, and refusing to say who did it was even worse. A possibility occured to Tiso, if Hollow wouldn't tell him, then they would probably tell their sister. And even if they didn't, having Hornet's help would be incredibly useful.
"Hollow, if you don't tell me, I'm telling Hornet." He threatened, and Hollow's eyes went wide. They seemed to brace themself, raising their hand to sign again.
'Go ahea-'
Their statement was cut off by sudden laughter from nearby. A pair of bugs were standing there, talking about something the taller one had apparently done earlier on the day. Tiso turned to glare at them, and managed to catch what they were talking about.
"Oh man, did you see their face!"
"Hell yeah I did! You've got a good throwing arm."
Normally, Tiso wouldn't give two fucks about these two, especially with and injured Hollow right next to him. Something about the way they were talking however, caught his attention.
He returned his focus to Hollow, but kept an eye on the pair. Their conversation briefly switched topics, before quickly returning to the reason Tiso had decided to pay attention to them in the first place.
"We should go look for them, see if we can't have some more fun."
"Sounds good. They probably went-"
"Wait, I found them. They're right over there."
Hollow's eyes flicked over to their left, and they froze. Tiso glanced back, and noticed that the two bugs were walking over to them-
Wait.
Wait a fucking minute.
It finally clicked for Tiso, and he felt the fire in his chest spark back to life. A good throwing arm, Hollow's reaction to them, the fucking crack in their mask.
Hollow must've seen something on his face, because they immediately reached out to grab his shoulder. Tiso shrugged it off, whirling around to face the two approaching figures.
The smaller one stepped in their tracks for a second, hesitance flashing across their face. The other one scoffed, shoving them forwards.
Tiso shifted, placing himself between the unknown bugs and Hollow, his eyes flashing. The taller one ignored him, their attention focused on Hollow. The smaller one, however, was watching him with narrowed eyes.
"Nice to see you again!" The taller bug said, a painfully fake smile stretching across their face. They then turned that same smile on Tiso, a dismissive look in their eyes.
"Hey, we're just here to take our friend here off of your hands." They laughed, but it turned awkward when Tiso remained silent. They trailed off, glancing at their partner for help. Said partner waved him off, their eyes still focused on Tiso.
A brief flicker of anger passed through the mask of friendliness the taller one wore, but it didn't last long before the smile was fixed back in place.
"Alright, so we'll just go ahead and-" They started reaching out, ready to grab Hollow and leave. They then barely managed to avoid getting their arm broken when Tiso slammed his shield down.
"What the fuck is wrong with-"
Tiso cut them off again, his voice frosty.
"Did you do this." He pointed at Hollow, who had given up on trying to get him to calm down. The smirk that immediately appeared on the taller one's face gave him away, and Tiso went right back to seeing red.
"Who cares if we did anything, it's not like there's any real damage." At that, Tiso glanced back at Hollow. They were still curled in on themself, their eyes flitting between the two parties. He returned to glaring at the other bug, his eyes glowing bright with fury.
"Besides,", they smirked, "what are you gonna do about it." Their hand went to their waist, drawing their nail.
Tiso immediately brought his shield up, his expression somehow growing angrier. Ignoring him, he could deal with that, underestimating him? Who cares. But threatening Hollow? That was a line they shouldn't have crossed.
The smaller one, who had remained silent until now, suddenly twitched, their eyes wide with recognition.
"Wait, Hearth, don't-"
The newly named Hearth ignored their partner, jumping forward. Tiso's expression twisted into a feral grin, and he blocked the attack with ease.
Hearth's cocky expression dissapeared, replaced by surprise. Tiso kicked them back, and they hit the ground with a gasp.
"...He was in the Coliseum." Their partner finished lamely. Tiso let out a low laugh as Hearth's eyes went wide. Seems like they knew the Coliseum and it's reputation.
As Hearth tried to stand, any amusement Tiso found in the situation dissapeared, and he threw his shield. The blades came out, and it hit right on target.
Hearth choked, their hand coming up to hover over the shield lodged in their torso. Their wide eyes found Tiso, who watched them collapse with no emotion. Then he was gone, and their partner was left standing there as Tiso walked forward to collect his shield.
He looked over at them, and then turned away. He heard their steps growing quieter as they ran away. Then he heard a second set of footsteps, this one getting closer.
Tiso winced, then turned around to face the music.
"Fuck, I'm sorry Hollow, I know that you can fight your own battles and everything, but they were assholes and-" His rambling was silenced as Hollow put a hand on his shoulder, looking him up and down.
Tiso didn't move, letting them finish whatever it was they were doing. They nodded to themself, seemingly done, and then pulled Tiso into a hug.
The ant went completely still, nearly dropping his shield from the shock. It was over quickly, and Hollow pulled back, removing their hand.
'Thank you.'
Tiso's expression softened, before he caught himself and looked away in a futile attempt to hide his blush.
"Yeah, they were underestimating me, and I couldn't let that continue." He scrambled to try and regain his usual tone, and Hollow covered their mouth to hide silent laughter.
'Of course, we can't have that.' Their hand had a slight tremble to it, and their eyes were still shining with amusement.
Tiso coughed into his hand, flustered. "Yeah, whatever. We should probably start heading back."
'Alright then, you lead the way.' They gestured at him, and Tiso started walking back in the direction of the pale sibling's house, after grabbing the bag Hollow had forgotten on the ground.
'... Hey Tiso?'
"Hm?"
'Are you going to tell Hornet about this?'
"Am I going to- yeah, I'm gonna tell Hornet about this."
'Dammit'
Tiso's laughter echoed through the empty streets they had left.